E-books? Meh.
I’m kind of curmudgeonly about e-books. I like the smell of ink on paper. I like the tactile feel of a book in my hands. I want to see my name printed on a book cover, with a real jacket and a spine that creases. You know the spiel.
But e-books are here. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with them. They’re a legitimate form of publishing. Because they are less expensive to produce they will open doors to more authors.
So: Meh. I’m in a sea of wishy-washy where e-books are concerned.
Do I think they’ll continue to snag a growing share of the market? Absolutely. There’s a younger generation of readers who don’t think reading a 350-page novel on a 3×5-inch iPhone screen will make them go blind. (Just you wait, kiddies.) For the rest of us, there’s the iPad. Do e-books excite me as an author? Not a lot, but then again I only began writing fiction two years ago so I haven’t gotten jaded yet. And I think there’s too much flux in the market right now to really know where things will end up. How well the e-book market grows will determine how excited I’ll get about it as an author. I think in two years I could get really excited about it, the way things are growing. But we’ll see.
In my sea of wishy-washy float random thoughts:
* I’m a music junkie who loved my big collection of LPs. I don’t have them anymore. I don’t even have CDs. At last count I had almost 3,000 digital songs on my iPod. Has digital music killed the music industry? Of course not. And e-books won’t kill off traditional publishing. People have a tactile love of books they never had with music, plus digital music is more durable and of superior quality than other delivery methods and I’m not sure that’s true of e-books. Apples and oranges.
* The piracy issue has to be addressed somehow. Music piracy is a huge issue too, of course, but recording artists have metrics of success other than album sales. Midlist authors simply can’t afford their books passed around e-mail lists and Internet sites and sold illegally on eBay or they’ll never get new contracts. I recently came across a woman who’s making a living selling pdf versions of books on eBay. They shut her down, she reinvents herself, registers under a new name, and just keeps selling. A couple of months ago she was offering a complete set of Laurell K Hamilton books (about 30 novels) for $10. Maybe LKH can afford to lose those sales, but I can’t.
* I love gadgets and I’m all about instant gratification, so I’m tempted by Kindles and iPads and Nooks and such. But right now the hardware is too proprietary. I don’t want a bunch of books I’ve bought for my Kindle suddenly being worthless because whatever reader I’ve bought in five years can’t “read” them anymore. It’s like all my print books suddenly being transformed into Arabic. Unreadable, in other words. A recent essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education said e-readers are for people who read fast and then toss or give away their books. They’re not for people who want to build a library, to compare passages, to highlight or dogear, or to re-read ten years down the road. Don’t know if I’d go that far, but I’d like to see the pissing match between e-reader manufacturers get resolved before I invest in the market.
I’m sure there are other issues, but right now, for me and e-books? Meh.
Have you taken the plunge yet?
The Recall…
For most writers we wait and wait for that elusive thing we’ve heard about only known as “the call”.
We send out those agent and editor queries and submissions and then we wait for the phone to magically ring. We lift the phone, breathless with anticipation, and hear the voice of that dream editor who will make all of our writing dreams come true by saying… “I’d like to extend you an offer on your manuscript.”
At last! Then the phone call goes something like this…
Who me? You loved my book? You want to publish it?
What’s that you say? My book will be on bookshelves throughout the country in less than a year? It is sure to sweep the NY Times bestseller charts?
Well, thank you. I’ll accept your kind offer. Please send the contract and advance right away.
That, folks…is my dream of “the call” and it happened to me just earlier this year. Well, okay…it didn’t go exactly like that. Some of that has been embellished like the bestseller part but that was the gist of it.
Yes, it was wonderful. Yes, I wasn’t sure if it would ever happen to me. But yes…it did. Finally.
After 15+ years of writing and after my 20th or so completed novel–I finally got THE CALL!
Celebration commenced. Plans were made. Contracts were signed. Release date was set. Cover art was designed.
And the wait for my BIG DAY began.
You see, even though I was already published–multi-published even…all my other contracts were with smaller houses who only publish in e-book and/or e-book plus print on demand formats. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with this and I love being a member of each of these publishing families–I still had the dream of the big time NY publisher with the advances and the mass market world wide distribution of my book.
I daydreamed about seeing someone pick up my book at the bookstore and reading the back cover. Or, seeing someone in public reading my book. It has been a dream of mine forever.
Finally, I’d have the exposure and distribution that I’d always dreamed of. Alas, all that hard work paid off! Victory was mine!
AND THEN…
THE RECALL
The what? Can they do that? Can they take away your call?
Well, they can and they did.
The truth of the matter is that publishers are businesses just like anything else. They are subject to the market and the economy and are run by people who sometimes don’t really know what is best for their employees or their customers. That’s the sad truth of the matter.
Unfortunately, I discovered it the hard way. Recently, I received the news that my contract terms were not going to be honored. My book would not release worldwide in mass market paperback and basically when it came down to it I’d have yet another e-book deal. Again, nothing wrong with that. But not exactly the dream call that I’d been typing my fingers to the bone to obtain. And the terms were now extremely unfavorable to an already established e-book author. Not exactly the career boost that I’d hoped for.
So, now…I’m back where I started. I’m still a multi-published romance author with 6 different publishing houses (whom I adore and will be eternally grateful to) but I’m now I’m back to waiting for that phone to ring once again.
Will it happen? I’m not sure. But I can still dream of “the call”. And for those other authors out there who’ve also experienced a “recall”…I know it stinks but at least we got to enjoy it for a little while.
Now, this week’s topic is about the future of e-books in the industry…
I can say this without hesitation…I’m an e-book author and I’m proud of it. I will continue to write and publish e-books and will continue to purchase and read e-books with glee and vigor.
However, I will never give up my print books. There is nothing like opening up a crisp newly printed book, breaking in that spine, and inhaling those printed pages. I’ve done it all my life and I simply won’t give it up. As long as print books are available, I’ll buy them and read them. And until they stop printing them…I’ll still be striving to see my name on the cover of one.
Oh, do I hear the phone ringing? Gotta go…
Contest Time:
For those of you to whom I owe prizes…I will get those out ASAP. I’m on some editing deadlines this week that are killer.
So, I’ll give away to one commenter your choice of one TutorMeWrite session from my website. Visit here to see your choices: http://www.kerrinelson.com/10.html
Winner announced in 2 weeks here at the blog! I’ll be back then to celebrate my birthday with a gift for YOU!
Let Me Look Into My Crystal Ball…
Ah, how I wish it were that easy. The industry is undergoing some radical changes right now. Where do we think the future of books and ebooks will be? It would be so easy for me to say one of two standard party lines:
The print book will never die, some people love holding a book in their hands.
The ebook will rise and printing on paper will slowly decline.
In fact, both statements are true. But for different reasons. I think it’s more of a generational thing. Most of us are too young to remember the “fad” of personal computers coming out. But I’m not one of them. My father was an electrical engineer and used to design satellites for Comsat General back in the 60′s and 70′s. I grew up in a techie-household.
We had a TRS-80 that loaded programs with a cassette player around 1980. Yes, a portable, desktop cassette player– about the size of a shoebox, only not as tall. We’re talking before floppy discs. I won’t walk you down memory lane and bore you my tales of geek-dom, but it was exciting times for us.
Now, thirty years later, people will own computers, even phones with many of the same functions, before they’d have cable TV, or unfortunately in recent recession times, even a job.
Lots of studies have shown reading as a leisure activity has declined, but then more studies show that more people than ever are reading, but not through “traditional” means (meaning a screen over paper). A newer generation of “must havers” and instant gratification is here. The rise of texting and tweeting has produced a group who can’t gather their thoughts and convey them coherently into a proper sentence.
Which I have to say, usually makes me dismiss the person entirely. No matter their wit and intelligence, if I see things like “it wuz so kewl” or lots’ of “u” “ur” and other text speak in their email, messages, status updates or whatever, I mentally put them in a different category. I don’t want to have to feel I’m deciphering a complex license plate, like I do on boring car trips, just to get the gist of what the heck they’re trying to say.
This leads me to writing in general. We are in a completely different place than just one year ago. Last year when I talked about self-publishing my book, I got a TON of well-meaning feedback from peers telling me in great detail why I should not do it. Those same people have changed their stances. But of course, new ones keep cropping up to tell me not to do it.
Rather than this topic being about where do I feel the future of books and ebooks is, I think it really pertains to what do I think is in store for the publishing industry.
Change.
Pure and simple. I have no grand answers about what the percentage of ebooks over print books will be in the future, despite Amazon’s claim that their ebooks outsold hardcover books in a recent quarter. But what I do see is the beginning of a huge change in the industry.
NY publishers are moving too slow. Their pipeline of what will go on the market and when is too far out. It shouldn’t take 12 to 24 months to get a book from contract to the shelf. They are so out of touch with trends that they try to bend the trends to how they’d like things to be, rather than how they are. Authors are becoming savvy enough, especially with great sites like savvyauthors.com, to tackle self-publishing and do it right.
Unfortunately though, all this self-pubbing is not the greatest for a quality product. Some authors pay for an editor, and unwisely, some do not. Others don’t have the technological skills to format files correctly for ebooks, and that reflects on the product too. Still more have no concept of how to sell and thus are sorely disappointed when their book tanks.
If we look at the big picture, meaning where we are now and where we will be – I don’t think either market will die. I think they will evolve. There is an entire elderly generation that does not read on computers, gadgets, or phones, and they visit the libraries extensively. There are also lots of people who are financially unable to have a computer or phone who will still seek out books at libraries and Goodwill stores.
Ebooks are here to stay and so are print books — now it’s all up to pricing and how much the market will support. I predict the next big war is going to over ebook pricing. The big guys want to control it and the consumer isn’t falling for it. Another way the NY houses are going to shoot themselves in the foot — discount the intelligence of your consumer in a recession and price things like we’re all raking in big bucks is not a wise solution.
What do you think? I’d love to hear.
Contest update: I forgot to post my results from my contest on August 4th, so sorry about that! The winner is Barbara! Please contact me at cj_ellisson@yhaoo.com and I’ll mail you your books.
Rules are made to be broken!
Okay, maybe not all rules…
I have conflicting feelings about rules. I was raised by an Irish, Trade Union-mad father who taught me to fight against anything ‘The Man’ says, and a mother who has a panic attack if she accidentally sorts the recycling into the wrong bins. The result was a daughter who now suffers from a split personality. One half of me sees ‘rules’ and screams, ‘rebel, rebel’, while the other half of me is terrified that I will do something wrong.
I have a confession to make. I have never taken a single writing class, never been to a crit group, or joined any kind of writing organisation. I was always terrified that doing just that would mean someone pointing out everything I am doing wrong and completely crush my self-confidence. I was also worried that any class would try to remove my individual style. A recent bad experience with an editor confirmed my fears. This particular person stuck to the rules – every last one of them – and the results were characters who spoke as though they had all been to an English finishing school, and description that had the soul sucked out of it. When she tried to remove every trace of ‘me’ from my work, I chose to end the contract. Then, out of curiosity, I googled this particular editor’s name and found that she also ran writing classes. Hmmm, possibly just a coincidence, but I am a believer in trusting your gut feeling, and that was mine.
Saying all of this, I do believe that there are some rules that should be followed. Writing every day is one of them. I try to split my day into two parts. In the daytime I edit and write my blog posts, and in the evening I write my new stuff. I set myself goals and targets, just as I would have in a ‘regular job’. Like many writers I try to add one thousand words to my new work and set a target for my editing. Of course I don’t always manage it, sometimes life gets in the way, but I always try.
Other rules such as ‘show, don’t tell’, and ‘be consise’, need to be adhered to in order to make your writing of a good quality.
There isn’t much leeway to be had with punctuation (if there are any writers out there who don’t have a copy of either Strunk and White, The Elements of Style, or Lynne Truss’s Eats, Shoots and Leaves – go out and get a copy RIGHT NOW! I have both books, together with my dictionary and thesaurus, beside my right hand at my laptop and I refer to them constantly). I agonise over punctuation. Neither spelling or punctuation are my strong points, and, when I am editing, the positioning of a single comma can have me pulling my hair out! I know I get it wrong all the time, (and probably have done numerous times in this post alone), but I am working on it.
Here are some brilliant uses of punctuation. I just had to share!
A little bit of rebellion is important – no one ever did anything powerful or important by playing it safe. Never-the-less, some rules are important, particularly those of punctuation and grammar. As my idol, Stephen King, says in his book, On Writing; never forget, while it is perfectly okay to prick your finger in public, you should never finger your prick!
Hands Off Method of Writing
One of this week’s topics is ‘our personal rules of writing’. As I have no writing rules I spent fifteen minutes staring at my flashing cursor. Blink—blink—blink, the repetitive motion taunted me. So instead if imparting clever ways I’ve found to accomplish my writing goals or what I like to call lies, I’ve decided to tell you what has not worked for me.
1. First off, not writing doesn’t work. I’ve tried to get published several times by not writing and it just hasn’t produced the results I want. I call it ‘The Hands Off Method of Writing.”
2. Editing and driving doesn’t work. No matter what handy-dandy high-tech gadget I’ve attempted to operate, it’s difficult to avoid a head-on collision and pare down my prose at the same time.
3. Waiting for the muse to come to me doesn’t work. If the tightness of my wongie waistbands were any indication, I’d say my muse spends far too much time at Big Earl’s House of Donuts and Ribs.
4. Eating Cheetos and typing doesn’t work. I’m tired of my J not working because it’s encrusted with cheese dust.
Watch out for the drool.
5. Editing in bed doesn’t work for me. Though I’m incredibly rested after a grueling session of bed editing, my storyline never progresses much beyond a paragraph or two. In addition, drool is a problem. Nothing wakes me up quicker than a little string of drool on the electrical cord—ZZZTT!
6. Having a family doesn’t really work for my writing, but there aren’t many options I’m willing to exercise on this subject.
7. Writing sex scenes with the Disney Channel playing in the background hasn’t worked all that well. Erotic scenes where the hero is naked except for a pair of mouse ears and big black shoes aren’t nearly as inspired upon later review. I still can’t tell you why I thought a heroine who couldn’t climax unless the hero called out her name in his Donald Duck voice would be sexy.
8. And while we’re on the subject of sex—having sex on top of my laptop has hinder the writing process. Need I say anything about the beating my piece of hardware took while performing circus act-monkey sex (and I’m not bragging) on top of it? Not to mention the cleaning it required when I regained consciousness. Seriously, that stuff dries like concrete. Chisels are required. I’ll move to the kitchen counter if I have to.
9. Using large, topless tumblers full of sugary liquid next to my computer or keyboard is a bad idea. I imagined myself editing and refilling, editing and refilling, never once exiting my editing zone, but it didn’t happen like that. In reality, I ended up spilling my drink everywhere, getting up to pee eight hundred times an hour, and my raging yen for Cheetos kicked in, cause I need chips to go with my keg-o-soda. See # 4 (double trouble).
10. Last but not least, talking about how frustrated I am about not writing doesn’t seem to work. I can kick out a two thousand-word email detailing how frustrated I am with myself for not writing on a daily basis. I’ll even spend a paragraph on how I’m going to write today as soon as I can get my thoughts straight. Well heck, the only way to get my thoughts straight is to hash it out in another six emails to six unsuspecting friends. And while I’m at it, I’d better twitter and Facebook about my woes. Oh hell, I may as well call my mom for a two-hour conversation so I can get some much-needed feedback. Email is too slow. Seven hours later, the kids walk in the door and I have successfully spent another day not writing.
So these are my not to do writing rules. They won’t get you published. They won’t improve your craft. And they won’t turn you into a beautiful super model. I know. I’ve tried them all.
Do you have any non-productive writing rules? Share your insights. You may just help another writer avoid the bog of nonproductivity. Yes, I just made up that word.
I’m running a contest this week for a beautiful leather, hand-beaded bookmark and a $10 gift card to Barnes and Noble. So, make a comment and you could win.
The Day the Music Died
Five years ago today, I was sitting at a desk much like the one I’m at now. I was in New Orleans, at work for Tulane University, probably kvetching about something. Out in the water, just above Cuba, a tiny storm was moving toward the tip of Florida. Tropical Storm Katrina wasn’t expected to amount to much. She’d brush across the Miami area, curve up through the Gulf, and bring somebody in the Florida Panhandle a lot of rain. No big deal.
August 24 fell on Wednesday that year. I had a rule for tropical storms, even little piddly ones like Katrina, so I went ahead and made “just-in-case” hotel reservations in Bossier City, Louisiana. I guess the rest is history. I left home on Saturday, August 27, with $50 in the bank and two days’ worth of clothes. I wasn’t able to go home until Oct. 17 when the mandatory evacuation for my zip code was lifted. I won’t complain, because a whole helluva lot of people had it worse than me, and I had friends who took care of me. Without Katrina, I never would have tried my hand at writing fiction. As my character DJ says in my novel Royal Street, “Katrina took, and she gave.”
And that’s all I’m going to say, because pictures are worth a thousand words, right? Here are some of the photos I took on Oct. 17 on my first day home. Click on the individual shots to get a better look and see what’s what. Comment on your favorite shot, and be entered for a New Orleans Surprise Pack!
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- House in Gentilly subdivision near a levee breach–once the water receded, it left…sand. Note the water lines on the house.
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- A shot from the Gentilly neighborhood. Multiply this scene by more than 100,000 homes.
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- My first New Orleans home, about ten blocks from breach. It’s in my novels as character Gerry’s house.
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- Top quadrant=date. Left and right=National Guard unit. Bottom quadrant=number of bodies found inside (thankfully none on this one, a friend’s house, but he was trapped for a month).
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- Before Katrina, this house was not sitting diagonally in the middle of a street–uh, and it had walls.
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- Note to looters on the wall: I will shoot your sorry ass.
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- Bad shot, but funny. The more people returned, the more fridges got “parked” on the curbs. About 400,000 of them.
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- Urban renewal, a la Katrina
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- About a mile from my house.
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- These trees fell in the street, then got cut and dragged to the curb so cars could pass. Lots of firewood!
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- 60-foot cedar on my roof. Removal $4,000. Experience: Priceless.
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- Uh, yeah, the house is back there somewhere. Dig my taped-up fridge. No way I was opening that thing after six weeks with no electricity!
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- It’s really weird to see your stuff piled on the curb. It took another six weeks before trash pickup started.
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- Note different water lines as water reached different levels–and check out the porch lights.
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- Rush hour six weeks after the storm. It was like living in a bizarre ghost town.
Rules of Writing
We had a choice this week: blog about our own rules of writing or blog about hurricane Katrina. I have to admit, I know more about one than the other, so I chose to share my thoughts on my rules of writing and some of the things that I think writers should do to find that path to publication.
Writing Rule #1 – Write or edit everyday. This rule seems obvious, and those writers who follow it have a backlist. Backlist = more money, baby. I have to admit, I don’t always follow this rule, but I’m going to try and get better. It was a New Year’s resolution. heh
Writing Rule #2 – Stay positive, motivated and focused. Throughout your writing career you’ll have severe ups and downs, good writing days and bad writing days, contracts and rejections. If you really want to write, you’ll keep at it and not let anything steer you from that path to publication. I almost made this my #1 writing rule, but without the first rule, this rule wouldn’t make much sense. J Make specific goals that you can tackle and don’t waste your time on generic goals. Good goal = Write ten pages a day. Bad goal = Get published by the end of the year. You can’t control when an agent or editor will love your writing…but you can control productivity.
Do whatever you have to do to stay motivated. I used to frame my rejections and hang them on the wall of my office. I might have even flipped them off as I sat down to write for the day (in a good-natured manner, of course). LOL
Writing Rule #3 – Join a writer’s group. I think one of the most important things a writer can do – other than write a fantastic book – is to join a writer’s organization. There are enough organizations out there to choose from, with a wide range of prices, interaction and intensity to differentiate one group from the next. There’s RWA (Romance Writer’s of America). If you write romance and you haven’t heard of them, you haven’t been doing your homework. Joining RWA can be expensive, especially when you attend their National Convention. There are other online groups, such as Savvy Authors and Romance Divas. Savvy offers many exciting workshops and pitch appointments, and you can access all of these from the comfort of your own home. Romance Divas offers tips and resources for romance writers, and the website has a very friendly atmosphere.
Writing Rule #4 – Website. When I first started out – even before I was published – I invested in my own website. I used it as a place to showcase my books and my personality. Do you NEED a website to get published? Short answer – no. Do agents and editors Google your name when you submit to them and they like what they see? Absolutely. Show the industry professionals on your radar that you’re serious. You can easily make a website using WordPress. It’s free and relatively easy to navigate.
Writing Rule #5 – Make friends in the industry. There are so many authors willing to help out newbies…find these authors and learn from them. I’ll throw a name out there – Candace Havens ( check out her workshops page). I met her online, took her Fast Draft class, and the things I learned from her helped me finish my second book (in two weeks, mind you.) Not only that, this wonderful writer and friend helped me and a few others with our pitch appointments at a conference. She got up early to listen to our pitches, and because of her knowledge and her willingness to spend her time with me, I nailed that pitch and got a request for a partial. Just remember – when you reach the top, don’t forget to help out others and pay it forward.
Writing Rule #6 – Read. What came first, the romance writer or the avid romance reader? Okay, so that might be an easier question to answer than the old chicken and the egg crap, but you get my drift. If you’re trying to wrestle your butt into an industry, you need to study that industry. Don’t just read your favorite authors. Read agent and editor blogs, then mark your favorites. BookEnds, LLC has a wonderful blog. If you go to their website, be sure to check out their must-read posts on the right-hand side. Great stuff.
Writing Rule #7 – Don’t quit. This rule only applies to those who are hungry to get published. They say getting old isn’t for sissies…well neither is writing a book and then trying to get it published. Hell, writing the next bestseller is easy. Getting someone other than your mother to believe it’s the next bestseller is the hard part. Most writers I’ve known throughout the years have thought about quitting at least ten times (or more), but they didn’t because of one reason – they were determined to get published. Percentage-wise I’d say eight out of ten are published now. 
One last rule, and this one is my personal favorite – keep enough coffee and chocolate at your desk to survive a nuclear attack. That will ensure BICHOK (Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard). 
Now think about your own ‘rules of writing.’ What is your #1 rule? Share it with us.
Da plane! Da plane! My Own Fantasy Island
Ah, “Fantasy Island.” There’s probably nobody here but me old enough to remember that classic TV series, in which rich, vapid people paid huge sums of money to escape to an island resort with a strange white-suited man and a Little Person. During their holiday their evil ways would invariably be exposed and they’d be set on a course for eternal misery or happiness, depending on how they responded. And doesn’t that just sound like the ideal fantasy?
Yeah, right. Give me a good book anyday.
Among my earliest memories is being dropped off at the tiny library in my hometown of Winfield, Alabama (population about 2,500), and spending hours in the stacks. I was into escapism even then. I inhaled all the Peter Rabbit books, read a whole kiddie biographical series on people like Hellen Keller and George Washington Carver. I went home and drank milk out of a bowl pretending to be Heidi., and idolized Jo March. When I’d exhausted the children’s section, I wandered into the next room and hid in the corner with Gone with the Wind and Erle Stanley Gardner. (When I re-read GWTW as an adult, I realized I had understood very little of the story at age ten: I’d mostly just wanted to be Scarlett because all the boys liked her and she bossed everybody around. I thought these were very good things. Hmmm. Actually, I still do.)
I never liked traditional fantasy, so while my friends were all traipsing to Mordor with Frodo and Sam (okay, I later came around), I went on a wandering path through the complex, gothic romances of Susan Howatch (I read Cashelmara until the cover fell off), the gargantuan sagas of James Michener, and fell in love with the series format through the pop-history of John Jakes.
Finally, I discovered Stephen King and The Stand, which forever changed the way I looked at books. In college, as I read Thomas Hardy and Dickens and worked toward a totally useless degree in Victorian literature, I secretly pored over Carrie and The Shining and It, which I thought was the scariest damned book I’d ever read.
It really wasn’t such a leap to reach Anne Rice and the Vampire Lestat, who looked NOTHING like wimpy, sofa-hopping Tom Cruise. (Puh-leeze, don’t get me started).
I guess what I’m saying is that, like most writers, I’ve been escaping through books my whole life and believe popular fiction has a noble calling, despite the highbrow critics who’d have us believe if it’s fun and sexy and keeps us up all night it isn’t real literature. Popular fiction takes us to worlds we haven’t imagined, brings new ideas to life, and explores the human condition through humor or horror or high magic.
My fantasy island? Give me a few blenders of pina coladas and a big TBR pile, a spot in the shade (and maybe a fan), and I’m happy.
The Publishing Puzzle
Forgive me for the lateness of my post today but I’ve decided to go “off course” today and write about something other than the weekly topic. I’m a renegade like that. Woohoo!
Today, I want to chat a bit about the Publishing Puzzle. In my experience, the world of publishing can easily be equated to that of a jigsaw puzzle. Finding the right piece (your manuscript) to fit in the right slot (the publisher) and sometimes placed there by the right person (an agent).
Well, that would be the ideal order of things. We’d get to look at the picture on the box and try to make our puzzle match the original image on the outside of the puzzle box. Only, in publishing, there’s not really a picture to guide us. Because every situation is different and every author is different. We can’t just go by one single set of rules and achieve our perfectly completed puzzle.
We must struggle to find the right piece. Sometimes we get frustrated and we try to force a piece in somewhere it doesn’t belong but that only warps our puzzle. Sometimes we try to cut corners and make our own puzzle. Writers are creative artists after all.
But in the end, we have to take our time selecting the pieces and place them with care.
I write all of this as I’m currently in the middle of getting 4 separate novellas ready for publication with 4 different publishers. At the same time, I’m dealing with a huge publisher crisis on yet another project and still trying to find time to promote the books that are already on the market.
So, my brain is a bit puzzle frazzled at the moment. But I want to chat about some off the most common publishing puzzle questions that I get asked on a frequent basis.
To self publish or not to self publish?
Let me start by saying that there is absolutely nothing wrong with self-publishing. Now, some publishing snobs will tell you differently but I believe that for some books this may be the absolute best way to go. While I’m not an expert on self-publishing by any means, I can tell you that it certainly has benefits.
Some of the benefits may include, complete control over your title, word count, editing, genre choice, cover art, and promotion choices. Not to mention the fact that while you will have some up front out of pocket costs–you certainly won’t have to share your royalties with anyone.
I do believe that you should feel that this is the correct choice for you and your project. Not just that you are “giving up” and making this choice out of desperation. Research the ways in which you can go about self-publishing including finding the right printer and distribution agency. Make an informed decision.
I can tell you that I was about 2 months away from self publishing when I sold my first novella (just less than 2 years ago). I’d been writing for over 15 years and I was tired of waiting already. I was very close to pulling the trigger on that project when I entered a contest and received my first contract. After that, things seemed to take a different direction for me. So, you never know how your puzzle will change.
To publish with an e-book publisher or a print publisher?
Now, most of my current books that have been contracted are with e-book publishers but three of those publishers also use the print on demand model in addition to e-book releases. I’ll tell you that my e-books sell far more copies than my print books. But there is something very nice about holding a hard copy of your book in your hands and touching it…feeling it…smelling it! I’ve always been a book addict and having my name on one that I can hold is a feeling that I cannot describe.
It doesn’t matter to me if it is print on demand, per se. But, like a lot of authors, I still dream of walking into a store and seeing my book on the shelf. Having the random person happen upon it in the store and pick it up because they like the cover or the title or the back cover blurb. That is something that I’d still like to experience and something that I’m still working to achieve after all of these years.
That being said, if I had not become published in the e-book market…I would not have the following that I currently have. Nor would I have the experience that I currently have. There is definitely something to be said for the e-book publishing model. Everyone says that it is the “way of the future” for books. It may, in fact, be the only future for books.
But for now, I still like to have the option of a print book. I haven’t really figured out how to autograph an e-book. And…really…why can’t you just do both?
To publish with a smaller house or wait for the big one?
This topic kinda sorta goes with the last one. The smaller houses will tend to publish via e-book format because the cost of publication is so much less–keeping their overhead way down and allowing them to take more chances on new authors.
This is exactly why I chose to go with several smaller publishers during my early published career. I have 6 such publishers and I’ve had mostly wonderful experiences with them. Some of them are better at helping me promote my work than others. Some of them have better cover artists. Some of them have better editors. Some offer better royalties and (as I mentioned above) some offer print and e-book formats.
I truly believe that the experience and exposure that I’ve garnered by going with smaller houses first has been absolutely crucial to moving my career forward. And while I’d like to work with larger houses in the future, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to these other houses and the notches in my writing bedpost that they’ve given to me over the past two years.
When it comes to the large houses, don’t think that you can’t have problems and issues arise. You certainly can and you certainly will. One issue will be the slowness of everything. From their review of your manuscript to the length of time until your release date. They are just bigger, slower machines. Of course, they do have resources and distribution that may get you more sales and more worldwide exposure, too. So, if you want to go this route–you should definitely do so.
Again, I just recommend not putting all your cards in one deck…
To sell your manuscript yourself or try to find an agent?
I get this question a lot. I’ve struggled with the answer to this myself. I know several people who have agents but don’t have any contracts. I know people (like myself) who have a ton of contracts and no agent.
Obviously, you’d like to have the perfect agent and the perfect contract. But how tough is this to accomplish?
I’ve pitched to more agents than I could list here. I’ve gotten positive feedback from some and brutal comments from others. I’ve gotten requests for partials and fulls. I’ve even been offered representation once. But none of these experiences have been either positive or successful for me. Perhaps, just as I mentioned in my puzzle example…I just haven’t found the right person.
I’m not really sure. But I do know that if I were still waiting for an agent…I wouldn’t be half as far along in my career as I am now.
Does this mean that I never want an agent?
The truth? I’m really not sure. A part of me knows that it is smart to have someone knowledgeable represent your work enthusiastically. It can help you get multi-book deals and bigger advances and sell those movie rights on down the road (in my dreams).
Then again, you will do more waiting. You will have less control. And you definitely will share the wealth with yet another party involved.
Not to mention the fact that you absolutely must find the right fit. You need to find someone who is just as excited about our novels as you are. They have to want to make that sale just as much as you do. They have to get along with you personality wise and be willing to work WITH you. It is definitely a relationship of trust.
Bottom line, I don’t know when or if I will decide to sign on with an agent in the near future or further down the line. I’d like to believe that I will find the right person when the time is right.
But until that time, I certainly can and do go about selling my own work. Now, a little warning note here…I have a law degree and thus feel comfortable negotiating my own contracts. If you don’t have any legal experience or don’t feel comfortable with certain terms, I do recommend getting some advice. If not from an attorney, then from several writing organizations that are out there to help.
How do we solve the puzzle?
This is the question of the day. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this question or on any of the topics that I’ve listed above. Tell us what has or has not worked for you. Tell us about your good or bad experiences. We’d love to hear them.
In the meantime, I’m off to work on my puzzles some more.
Until next time….
Later, peeps!
Contest Time:
No new contest from me this week due to deadlines and other obligations. But check back in 2 weeks when I blog again for a big prize!
The WINNER from my last blog is as follows:
One participant will receive 1 Pitch Session Critique (1 pitch/3 drafts) from my Tutor Me Write program
and the WINNER is…Amber Scott! Congrats and please contact me via my website for your prize!
Calgon… Err.. Aragorn Take Me Away!
I loved reading Liz’s post yesterday. It made me smile, envisioning her ready to whip out a shot-gun and blow away the jerk in the next car. Oh wait, she didn’t say that… must have been me I was thinking of!
Books were my companions during horrible teenage years, being bullied and ostracized because I saw things a little differently and would not succumb to peer pressure because someone cool was doing it. It’s hard being strong when you’re a kid – and having an overdeveloped sense of “right” and “wrong” doesn’t always make you friends. Rich, colorful stories were what I escaped into when my bat-shit crazy brother went on a rant he was going to kill us all (that didn’t happen often, but he was an ass all the rest of the time, too). They helped me to realize sex was supposed to eventually feel good and to not settle for the bumbling idiots I currently dated.
But most of all – they transported me into a world of the author’s creation. I learned a life lesson the same time the main character did. I visited a foreign land, or a made-up one, and lived the culture first-hand. I learned more from fiction books about history, other countries, the opposite sex, and myself than I ever did in school.
Discovering Tolkien in eighth grade was pivotal. A fantasy world opened up at my finger tips and I jumped in, never looking back. I vanquished bullies in my mind, my brother and I got along like we did as children, I plotted my own treasure-seeking adventures, and later, I discovered role-playing games in college where I got to share a wild adventure with a room full of like-minded people. Granted, looking back, they were not all normal people, per se — but I certainly had fun at the time!
Without fantasy where are we? We’re locked in our daily lives, 
counting the hours until the day is over and we can go to bed. Only to wake up and repeat the painful existence that has become the day-to-day drudgery we were so excited as children to rush to be a part of.
This journey through life is a long one. It’s not always fun, it’s not always pretty, and it’s unfortunately not always exciting. If our folks had told us this whole parenting gig was so freakin’ hard (and long) would we have signed the best years of our lives away so easily? I love my kids, I truly do, but raising them to be responsible, independent adults, who contribute to society instead of becoming a drain to it, is incredibly hard.
For the happy kid-free days I want to spend hours naked with my husband, I have Emma Holly and Portia De Costa to thank. Pete was so thrilled with the results from my reading novels from the UK-based Black Lace series, he encouraged me to buy as many as I’d like. And if true Erotica isn’t fantasy, then I don’t know what is!
More common, are the days I want to smother him in his sleep. The days he asks me where he put something, forgot the answer to a question he’d just asked me (translate to: he never listened when I answered the first time), or asks me something he knows because it’s easier than trying to remember for himself… Those are the days I look at him and smile and say,”You’re soOoOoo good-looking.”
It’s become a on-going slam between us. When he acts like a good-looking, but very dumb guy, I tell him he is one. We won’t mention how long it took him to figure out I was not complimenting him. 
Those days – combined with the ones where I wonder if my kids will make it to adulthood and if I’m doing a passably sane job at raising them – those are the days I need to slip into a world where women rule. I want a hard-nosed, kick-ass, takes-no-shit type of chick. The one I am in my mind and the one who comes out every now and then when I’m really close to the edge. I loved the early Anita Blake series for that reason, although once Hamilton crossed the line into multi-partner, badly written erotica that went on for 100 pages, I stopped enjoying Anita as much.
I believe, with all my heart, that fantasy needs to be in our day-to-day lives. Whether it be in the form of picturing Alcide from True Blood when the lights go out, wielding a sword and slicing the bad guys, to out smarting the villain and saving the day, never doubt it — Fantasy is King.
What are some of the books you’ve lost yourself in? Some of the fantasies that have saved you from the daily drudgery that can sometimes be our lives?
C.J. Ellisson
Nicole Hadaway
Marissa Farrar
Kerri Nelson
Liz Pelletier
Suzanne Johnson
Boone Brux
Dawn McClure
Liz Pelletier loves to write dark paranormal romances, although they tend to turn into black comedies by the time she's done. 
In her spare time, she co-owns and manages two fabulously popular sites dedicated to writers and readers.
Dawn McClure is a multi-published paranormal romance author. She lives in BFE South Dakota, where the nearest mall is a depressing 80 miles from her house. 
Between the ice storms and the tornados prevalent in her area she works at an elementary school as a paraprofessional by day and writes humorous, snarky paranormals by night.
C.J. Ellisson lives near Washington DC with her husband, two children, two Staffordshire bull terriers and a young cat to whom she’s newly allergic. 
After spending most of her working life associated with real estate, she’s now pursuing a new passion of fiction writing. Her Erotic Urban Fantasy series stars a smart, strong, and slightly sarcastic female vampire running a resort for the undead in Alaska.
Suzanne Johnson grew up in Northwest Alabama in the shadow of Elvis Presley, Bear Bryant, and the annual Mule Day festivities. A finely honed sense of the absurd was inevitable.
A longtime New Orleans resident, she exorcised her Hurricane Katrina demons in Royal Street and River Road, first installments in a new urban fantasy series coming in 2011 from Tor Books. Suzanne lives in Auburn, Alabama
Kerri Nelson- After an education and career in the legal field, Kerri began to pen romantic suspense novels with a legal or law enforcement theme. Kerri is a multi-published author of romance in many different genres and her latest paranormal 
“Vegan Moon” will release from Eternal Press in September 2010.
She is a true southern belle and when she’s not reading or writing, you’ll find her baking homemade goodies for her family.
Boone Brux lives in Anchorage, Alaska, where there’s never a pesky sunshine problem during the winter. Living seventeen years in the bush gifted her with valuable life lessons like, 
Nicole Hadaway, a former lawyer, is now much happier as a writer. She's the author of the literary paranormal novel, 
She currently lives in Texas with her family and is working hard on the sequel to her debut novel, entitled Return.
Marissa Farrar, born in Devon, England, loves to travel and has lived in both Australia and Spain. She now resides outside of London with her husband and two children. 
She has a degree in Zoology, but her true love has always been writing. Marissa writes horror as well as paranormal romance. Alone is her debut novel and her second, The Dark Road, will be released soon.
