Month: December 2009

For Authors: Hard Way to Get Kindle Readers

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This post, from switch11, originally appeared on the Kindle Review – Kindle 2 Review, Books site on 8/19/09.

We’ll call this the ‘Own Your Niche’ strategy. Joshua Talent at Kindle Formatting has already demonstrated it. However, it’s Aileen Harkwood’s Kindling Romance that really shows how powerful it is, and that authors can do this.

Picking the Right Niche

This is pretty simple – pick the niche that your book or kindle related product is in.

Take Kindling Romance – the author writes romance novels so she picked ‘romance ebooks and kindle romance’.

One thing to note is that you should own www.yourname.com – However, it has ZERO value until you’re a big author. So there’s no point in making it your main blog.

Things to take note of –

  1. By choosing ‘kindling romance’, it still shows up for ‘kindle romance’ on Google. In fact it shows up in the top 5 results. 
     
  2. Her own book is prominently advertised on the right. 
     
  3. The site’s general focus is ebooks from various companies, not just Amazon. 
     
  4. She blogs relatively often and provides good value (see section on value).
     
  5. Cater to authors and readers. More on this later, perhaps in another post.
     
  6. She started on July 11th, 2009. In approximately 1 month she’s #5 on google for kindle romance books.

The last one is crucially important. The two sites running ads are paying hard money and she gets traffic for free.

Things to avoid –

  1. If you must go with a free hosted solution like wordpress, at the minimum buy your own domain name so that all links are to your domain, and not to wordpress.
     
  2. If you can, host your own site and use your own domain. WordPress does not let you run ads, does not allow affiliate links except to Amazon, etc.
     
  3. Trademarks. Check with a lawyer.

Providing Value and Owning the Channel

At the moment, if you are an independent author, there is no one who has much incentive to promote you.

Readers might – however, the middlemen control everything.

How you change that is by providing value to people, and thus making them use your site (and you) as a resource. Let’s look at Kindling Romance –

  1. Daily features such as Bestsellers in Romance eBooks, New Releases, eBook Stats.
     
  2. A blog that provides updates on romance book deals and news.
     
  3. A blog that lets authors promote their books.  

Provide a ton of value so that users use you as the channel for books and ebooks in your niche.

Handling Competition – Authors


Read the rest of the post on Kindle Review – Kindle 2 Review, Books.

The Science of Editing

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This post, from Kim Wilkins, originally appeared on her Hexebart’s Well blog on 7/25/09 and is reprinted here in its entirety with her permission.

I’ve just finished my first edit of “Field of Clouds” and the whole process went really well. Now it’ll go off to my agent, who may have more to add, and then to my publishers, who will no doubt have much for me to fix.

For those of you embarking on a self-edit, the most important thing to remember is to be methodical and detached.

You can get swamped in an edit very easily. I always tell my students that it is like autopsying a puppy. If you can’t be methodical and detached, then more puppies may die. Rule number one is to have a printed copy of the MS, and go through it first with a pen, marking what’s wrong. Don’t try to fix it on the first pass, just make a note in the margin about what’s wrong. (Okay, if you know the perfect substitute word then put it in, but in general don’t fix, just mark). I do this, all the while imagining that I’m not the person who has to fix it. Makes it far less overwhelming (though a little more pathological).

Then take your MS back to your computer, and start at the beginning making the changes you’ve noted. Do the easy ones right away (e.g. typos, deletions, small rewrites) in order. The ones that are a bit harder or need a bit more thought, mark them with a note (I used the “review” menu in Word for Vista) and keep moving on. Once you get to the end of the MS, you can count up your notes. For this MS, I originally had 63. Then you can work on screen, methodically fixing them one at a time. They don’t have to be in order: fix the easy ones first so you get a sense of satisfaction, seeing the number grow smaller and smaller.

For those big structural issues, isolate the sections that need to be worked on. For example, in this MS I had a love affair that felt a bit rushed. I isolated the problem to a particular group of nine chapters, then just concentrated on reading through those, weaving in an extra line here and there, and then writing one extra scene.

What always surprises me about editing (pleasantly, as I’m usually daunted and avoidant about doing the work) is how little is actually needed to effect big changes. I had a huge motivation issue with one of my characters: she does something that seemed awkward and implausible. So, again, I isolated the group of chapters that were bothering me and made a note for every scene on “how is she feeling about her current situation?”. It took minutes to identify that her feelings were inconsistent, and minutes again to excise the internalisations that didn’t fit and replace them with ones that did.

It’s impossible to know if the MS is working now. Ideally I’d put it away for a few months and come back to a complete read-through, and I don’t have the luxury of that time. The next person who reads it will have to tell me if it’s okay. So this is a good stage to seek feedback from trusted writing buddies. Certainly, the next pass will involve finessing the expression a bit more.

Right, on to the changing of the notebooks. All of this paperwork and research is being filed, and my next story’s notebook is making its way onto my desk. Onwards.

 

Kim Wilkins is an author and teacher. You can learn more about her Queensland Writers Centre classes here, and purchase her books here.

My Favorite Links and Search Words

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The end of another year has arrived. Seems like time goes by too fast. I hear people say all the time, where has this year gone? I think the same thing. Sometimes I wonder if I made the most of the last year, but I have no intention of reflecting back long to see if I did. My intention at the beginning of 2009 was to try. I ‘ll never know if I succeeded, but my New Year’s resolution this year is to try very hard to concentrate on my writing in 2010 and see where that resolution leads me. With that in mind, I’m going to start blogging once a week on Tuesday instead of twice. The book I’m working on is about two thirds done. While working on the story I get caught up in the characters and lose all track of time. Perhaps, that’s why I can say I don’t know where the last year went. I consider myself very lucky. I’m doing something that makes me content and keeps me busy. What more can I ask for any year in the future?

Did Santa bring me my book Computer for Dummies? No, but I found an answer to my problem on my own. Well, I had some expert advice from my brother who knows computers. Happily, I find I can buy a small device that will play my new printshop photo software. That means I won’t have to send the software back and keep struggling with my old software. It means I don’t have to unhook everything attached to my computer and take it to the shop in the middle of winter. My problem is solved. Would I have spent so much on the software if I had known that it downloads from a DVD which I don’t have the means of playing? No, because I wouldn’t have wanted the expense of the player. Perhaps, there is a reason for everything that happens. No matter the cost, I am looking forward to trying my hand at new and improved pictures to use as book covers. However with that problem solved, knowing that the coming year is only a few days away has me reflecting on more important things. I was recently absorbed with links and search words while trying to get the word online about my books. However, I know my most important links and search words have nothing to do with the computer.

I retired a year ago from my CNA job which I really liked. I go back to the nursing home once a month to visit. The handful of women residents that I visit are always glad to see me. A couple weeks ago, I stopped to talk to one of the CNAs. While I was in the break room I noticed a envelope on the bulletin board with my name on it. Always in a hurry in the winter to get the errands done and get home before the wind blows the roads or my driveway shut, I laid the envelope in the car seat until later. When I finally looked to see what I had, I found a Christmas card from one of the residents I hadn’t visited in the last year. His family had enclosed a Linda Eder music CD as thanks for my taking good care of him. My first thought was didn’t they know I’ve been retired for a year? The resident certainly must have missed me or maybe not. I called the administrator to find out if I should bring the CD back in. How could I deserve a gift for a year I hadn’t worked?

It turns out there wasn’t a mistake. When the man’s family asked which of the staff did he want to have a CD, my name went on the list. I made it a point to go see that resident and thank him. The pleased smile he gave me when I told him I appreciated his thoughtfulness and that I really loved Linda Eder’s music told me a mistake hadn’t been made. Though he has made me a fan of Linda Eder’s singing, the gift he gave me had far less to do with that CD and more to do with how he appreciated my company and help in 2008. So often while nursing home staff are caught up in the hard work they do, they don’t take the time to contemplate the little things they do for the residents that might not have been a part of their training. Things that mean so much to them and make them remember the staff like a pat on the hand, staying long enough to listen and really hear, and giving a hug when needed. The staff might not get a CD, but they certainly will make the residents day.

The search words family and friends are very important words to me. They are the blessings I count this time of year, because I have them in my life. The last day of the year is the birthday of one of my nephews. He a second grader, full of enthusiasm for life, smart beyond belief and a joy to be around. I look forward to watching him grow and seeing each new year through his eyes.

That next book I talked about. It’s the second in my Nurse Hal Among The Amish series. For those of you who read the first one watch for the release sometime in the next year. The tentative title is Nurse Hal’s Rainbow. Now I wish you a safe and fun New Year’s Eve and good luck and health in 2010 from http:/www.booksbyfaybookstore.weebly.com

Know Your Characters

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This post, from Megan Rebekah, originally appeared on her Megan Rebekah Blogs…and Writes blog on 10/26/09.

I had a wonderful weekend! How about all of you? I got to spend two days with my best friend, her husband and their 3-week old baby.

As any parent knows, a household with a newborn is somewhat chaotic. We noted several times how great it is that we know each other so well, and are so comfortable and and open, that there was no awkwardness or need for apologies. I could blend in easily with her new life because we’ve been friends for almost ten years. Not just friends, but best friends. 

Like everything else in life, I made the mental connection back into writing. There are different types of characters in our books, and they each play an important role.

Background characters.
In real life, I would equate these to people I see at work but don’t really know. I might see them come in and out of the lobby, I may even know their name, but that’s often it. We’ll exchange friendly smiles as we pass in the hall, but that’s the extent of our relationship.

In our books, these characters need to be just as fleeting. They flit in and out of the novel so quick, or play such a minor role, that we don’t need to know much about them. We don’t need to know the full name, age, occupation and dream date for the doorman at the heroine’s apartment building (unless he’s her love interest, but then he wouldn’t be a background character).

Intermediary characters
The real life comparison would be co-workers, neighbors, and maybe that blind date your great-aunt Gertrude set you up on last month. You learn details about these people, but you might be hard pressed to describe them to a police sketch artist if the need ever arose. I know our receptionist has a twin sister and she takes cream and sugar in her coffee. She wears slacks and skirts. I’ve never seen her in a dress. But I don’t know if she hates dresses, or just doesn’t have any appropriate for work.

In our books, these characters might be the same roles: a minor co-worker, a bad blind date, a random neighbor. We need a tiny taste of who they are, and that’s it. Enough that we understand their role, but significant or personal details don’t need to be revealed.
 

Read the rest of the post, which covers Recurring Characters and Main Characters, on Megan Rebekah Blogs…and Writes.

My Self-Publishing Saga Continues

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My 3rd book, Surviving Hostage Situations, was turned down by 35 publishers. Those who were kind enough to explain why had a common theme: No one likes to think about the bad things that can happen to them. They were correct, but as an intelligence professional who lived for contingencies, I really didn’t understand that attitude. So, that experience plus the bad publisher experiences convinced me to self-publish.

This was fortunately the same time I acquired a Mac clone made from a Mac mother board and a PC case. I also acquired Page Maker software and entered the dizzy world of book design. I eventually sold 5,000 of these in English and 2,000 in German through a German publisher of a military magazine in Düsseldorf, Germany.

I also acquired rights to a Army Promotion Board study guide written by an Army education specialist. That became my cash cow. The first order for that little manual came from the European Stars and Stripes bookstore system in Germany. Their initial order was for 5,000 copies. The catch was it would be 6 months before they would pay. I had just paid out of my own pocket for 1,000 copies each of the hostage book and the study guide. I was tapped out of cash and credit.

I went to our bank across the street seeking a $15,000 line of credit to print more books based on the study guide order. After they finished chuckling, they said they’d be happy to set one up if I 2nd mortgaged my bookstore building. I didn’t really have a choice, so I did it. That study guide eventually sold 25,000 copies and funded the printing of several other books.

I took on one other book by an author other than myself–an exercise book by a Marine officer who combined traditional physical exercises with visualization exercises. It was a flop. Traditional exercise adherents thought it was too airy fairy. New Age readers thought it was too traditional.

The next book was Close Quarters Combat for Police and Security Forces. It was the non-lethal version of Survival on the Battlefield. It sold about 3,000 copies, but was never as popular as the military manual.

In 1992, after double knee operations, I had recuperation time on my hands. I wrote and typeset 126 pages of my next book, Military Knife Fighting. A month later, my Korean son, Patrick, and I went into the photographer’s studio with my 14-year-old daughter, Desiree, who was my script girl. She read each technique’s captions, and Pat and I went from pose to pose. We took over 350 pictures in an hour, completely blowing the photographer’s mind. That book became another cash cow.

In the BEA held in Miami, I obtained a table at the Military Book Show held in conjunction. Doubleday’s Military Book Club editor, Moshe Feder, looked over my books and signed me up for Survival on the Battlefield and Military Knife Fighting. They both became best sellers for the book club, selling over 25,000 copies. I didn’t make as much money per book; however, they used my printer and allowed me to order copies on the same print run. Instead of paying for books at the 1,000-2,000 copy price range, I could piggyback along with Doubleday’s 5,000 book printing, getting the 6,000-7,000 per book price, which was much cheaper. Economy of scale is a great thing.

Marketing became my primary focus. I met and made friends with the editors of men’s magazines such as SWAT, Soldier of Fortune, American Survival Guide, and Fighting Knives Magazine. They began giving me very positive reviews in their magazines. I in turn paid for display ads and classified ads, building up my direct marketing business. I began writing anti-New World Order books and became a popular interviewee on talk radio–so much so, that I was offered my own radio show–a 5 day a week hour-long show called the preparedness hour. With that ready-made marketing venue, I put together a 200-book mail order catalog operation and performed all operations myself, invoicing, picking, packing, wrapping, mailing, and inventory management. I was also traveling all over the US giving workshops and selling books at survivalist and book trade shows.

By 1997, I was completely burned out after 8 years of 12-18 hour days. I gave all 8,000 of my catalog customers a month’s warning and pulled the plug. This had been a 1-man endeavor and I couldn’t do it any longer. I never had time for writing. It had all become a full-time job of marketing.

After a 2-year hiatus of college to gain music teacher certification in the State of Kansas and 2 more years of teaching all subjects at our Juvenile Detention Center, I pulled the plug on that and began Heartland Reviews on line. I saw so many books submitted that weren’t ready for publication, that I began offering editing and designing services as a book packager.

Today I am focusing on writing fiction and helping self-publishers and small presses. At age 64, I am slowing down a little, but helping people has always been foremost in my mind. Thus ends how I fell into the wacky world of self-publishing.

This is a cross-posting from Bob Spear’s Book Trends Blog.

A Cautionary Tale…

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Several years ago, I was just a writer. I wrote what I felt like writing, and had penned at that point, two complete 97K novels plus two additional novels in progress. I was happy to write as the mood struck, and after completing the first two the two WIPs grew in fits and starts. It kept my mind off the usual business-related stresses and panics.

Then I started thinking about publishing.

The first book became my obsessive focus, editing until I had literally worn out the keys on two keyboards! Then there was refining the pitch, researching agents and small press publishers, and so forth. I learned a lot over the 6 years I was thus engaged, but what I didn’t really do, was work on the WIPs much. Especially number four. Conceptually, it was a greater reach, but the writing showed a lot more maturity. Of all my work, up to that point, I secretly believed it had the most market potential.

But, in light of my efforts in bringing Novel Number One to market, I set it aside to wait.

 
The fifth year, 2008, of my publishing endeavor, I had two catastrophic equipment failures. First, my desktop computer system lost a power supply, but when the replacement one was installed, it had an internal flaw, which melted the motherboard, and smoked every component hooked up to it, including the hard drives.

 
I had a regular back-up regimen well established, plus I always synched files to my laptop as well, plus making copies of all books on flash media cards. Then after resurrecting my desktop machine with a complete re-build, I restored my files and went on as if nothing terrible had happened. But, in those few months, before the laptop also failed utterly, I let a level of stupid complacency begin to set in.

 
I still made back-ups, but not so often and I decided that burning CD-ROMs was too slow. I stopped doing the flash media backups at some point. I’m not sure why – it just evolved. The day my laptop died – again, an actual hardware failure, I was so angry at the builder, ACER, that my venom took control of my thinking for enough time to hide potential issues. The old laptop literally went into a dumpster – with gusto! My ears greedily ate up the crunching, shattering sounds as it hit the steel floor.

 
I loaded everything on the new laptop and got on with it, but of course, never checked as to the existence of older backups of my WIPs No. 3 and No. 4. This is forwarning. I neglected to give it a thought.

 
After a few good months, I had a dream which gave me the idea for the plot twist I’d been vainly trying to find for WIP No. 3, and took a few weeks to add chapters and edit those I had already written – it was shaping up nicely. It took my concentration away from Novels 1 and 2 for a while, but soon, I was releasing Novel 1 to the publisher, and wanted to take advantage of my perceived readership’s attention span, so I began into more work on Novel 2 to ready it for a 2010 Summer publish date.

 
Now bear in mind, I must also work at my day job in the hopes of making a living, so I was pretty well occupied.

 
Last week, after another expository dream, I decided it was time to add some chapters to Novel 4. My favorite one – remember? I remembered the chapter count had been up to ten or eleven when I last worked on it, or maybe it was fourteen. As it turns out, I’ll never know, because it is gone. Nothing remains of either the old, hard-copy backups, or anything on any hard drive, including the ACER drive removed for just such a reason.

 
The moral of the story is simple. Don’t take any back-up for granted when it comes to your work. Actively go down the filenames and be sure that everything is there before you abandon a computer or move to a new one. I’ve been at this for many years. My first work computer was a 286 PC machine, back in the 80s, so I thought I knew what I was doing, but clearly I had gotten sloppy and stupid along the way. Don’t trust any machine completely. They are fickle, nasty bitches, who will skewer you if you let them! Back up your backups regularly, and keep them somewhere safe, outside of the box. If you don’t want a complicated backup system, then go out and buy a cheap usb thumb drive and use it every time you write, by saving a copy of the current version and overwriting the previous one.

 
Now, after beating myself up all week, I’m cautiously approaching this debacle from a new angle. It’s an opportunity. Really. I’ll rewrite it better than it was. Oh, and by the way, I have a really inexpensive bridge I can show you that’s for sale, in Brooklyn. Interested?

 

 

Maybe We're Not Doing It Wrong

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This post, from Roxane Gay, originally appeared on HTMLGIANT on 12/23/09.

Every single writer and editor these days has some idea or theory about how to change publishing or save publishing because, haven’t you heard? Print is dying and people aren’t reading and the sky is falling and the literary world is coming to an end.

Criticism is leveled against big publishing and independent publishing and micropublishing and often times, that criticism is delivered with the rather self-righteous sentiment that everyone is doing it wrong. Often times, it seems that publishers spend more time detailing how they are innovating or how they will innovate rather than letting their actions speak for themselves. Some days, we’re talking about publishing more than putting out great books and magazines and just doing the work of publishing.

Two recent blog posts got me thinking about all this.

First, at the ZYZZVA blog, Howard Junker wrote an awesome post about the McSweeney’s Panorama issue. I don’t necessarily agree with everything Junker says but I really appreciate that he’s taking a critical stance instead of simply fawning all over the Panorama issue because it was published by McSweeney’s. The Panorama issue is an interesting but flawed endeavor. The issue is by no means a salvation, a notion which may not have been actively encouraged by McSweeney’s but wasn’t necessarily discouraged either.

The second interesting post is at Identity Theory in which editor Andrew Whitacre questions the relevance of the (small) print literary magazine in the digital era. Whitacre calls out many of the print journals on a list of journals he received from a professor in 2002 for not publishing content online, referring to them as “technologically stingy.”

Whitacre goes on to address out of date, poorly designed websites that are not taking full advantage of the technologies available in the digital era.  He says that in this digital age, people want access to literature and that many of the more established print journals are not communicating as effectively with their readers as they could. He suggests that print journals don’t need to print a bound issue four times a year because the purposes those journals satisfied are now being met by online journals.  Finally, Whitacre defines the mission of the literary journal in the digital age as such:

The mission of journals, as I now see it, is to contribute to and nurture conversation around good writing. To be experts without excluding. To offer literary context without condescension. To carve out space for literature.

 

Read the rest of the post on HTMLGIANT.

2009: The Year That Was (Jan. – April)

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This post, from Mick Rooney, originally appeared on his POD, Self-Publishing and Independent Publishing blog on 12/24/09.

So, here we go, 2009, the year that was in publishing. This is by no means a conclusive round-up, but the stories and events that caught my eye.

 
JANUARY
 
The year began with a lot of anxiety in the publishing world. There were already plenty of rumours and murmurings of editors walking the plank, staff layoffs, and publishers dramatically cutting back on their title commitments for the coming twelve months. We always knew 2009 would be a year of pain and change, whether we liked it or not.
 
In January, Author Solutions, owned by equity investors Bertram Capital, continued its strategy of development and expansion in the digital print-on-demand publishing world by purchasing Xlibris, a leading publisher in self-publishing services to authors. The purchase was announced on Thursday, January 8th, by Author Solutions CEO, Kevin Weiss. Little did we know in January that Author Solutions would stay firmly in the news, give us plenty to talk about, and ultimately, provide us with the biggest story in publishing later in the year.
 
The judge presiding over the Amazon/Booksurge antitrust lawsuit requested both legal representatives to attend court in Bangor, Maine. Amazon & Booksurge filed for the lawsuit against them to be dismissed in August 2008. The Judge would eventually rule that Booklocker’s action was valid and Amazon/Booksurge had a case to answer.
 
The case was taken by Booklocker.com last year following moves by Amazon to cajole some POD publishers into using their own print-on-demand company, Booksurge, for books sold through Amazon.com in the United States. For a period of time last year some POD publishers had their ‘first party’ buy buttons removed by Amazon from their online site. The strategy of Amazon was seen as an attempt to monopolize the POD book market.
 
I mentioned in an article last Christmas that book retailers in Ireland had performed marginally better in 2008 than on previous profits for 2007. However, the early figures presented in January for the completed trade period suggested that the UK book retail trade recorded profits that were marginally down. This was to be the continued trend throughout the year with layoffs and store closures.
 
Newsstand beat Blackwells by getting their hands on the first UK Espresso Book Machine. They were confident that they could create a demand for ‘on the spot’ printed books and planned to charge £10 for a standard paperback version and £14 for a large print book. Blackwell Books, also based in the UK, had hoped to be the first company to install these machines, but following delays their first installed machine did not appear until April in their bookstore in Charing Cross, London. 
 

“The point may soon come when there are more people who want to write books than there are people who want to read them.”

 
And so wrote Motoko Rich in the New York Times, January 27th, 2009. It was one of the most widely discussed articles for a long time in publishing. Rich was writing about the rise in self-publishing and the changes the publishing industry faced. It was nice to see a well established newspaper cast a cursory eye over an area of the publishing business which has long exploded into life. You can reflect back on that article and read my own thoughts on it. 
 

Read the rest of the post, which picks up with February, on Mick Rooney‘s POD, Self-Publishing and Independent Publishing blog. Also see the May – August post, and watch the blog for an upcoming September – December post.

Christmas Eve

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I’m settling in. The day is winding down. All the snow’s been shoveled, the gifts are wrapped, the tree watered, the cards organized, the rum poured over the fruitcake.  The cd player on our stereo system finally gave up the ghost three nights ago, but this morning, the Fedex man appeared miraculously with a replacement I hadn’t expected until well past the weekend. 

So, we’re listening to one of Harvey Reid’s Christmas CDs.  Harvey, along with his wife, Joyce Anderson have been producing their own acoustic music for years. They live in Maine, sells their CDs and do concerts occasionally when they have the time, I suppose. The music is uplifting and relaxing at the same time.  It catches me off-guard, as it does every year — feeling thankful for the Season despite myself.

In the days before Padraigh brought the story of Jesus to the Irish, this time of year was referred to in the common Celtic tongue as Yule.  It was observed as a time of rest and re-grouping, gathering the family’s strength together to think about the year that had gone before, and prepare for the coming Spring.  Fires were kept burning until the days got longer, and the sun began to do its job full-time again.

It’sd no wonder that the new Church thought it was a good idea to embrace this existing tradition and assign to it a proper religious celebration.  Despite the excesses and stresses that have evolved to become identified with this time of year, the ancients really were on to something.  I ‘m sure that what I look forward to every year as the Holidays approach is primarily the gathering together, the "holing up" with loved ones, a cup of spirits and the thoughts of the year past.  It may be distracted by the large-scale celebrations, but the smaller, intimate observance of our need to rest is the one that propels me through the Yule ’til the Spring.

Traditionally, most cultures also make plans, or set goals, or see the new year as a new chance to grow and prosper in new ways.  It just seems like the proper time to prepare for change.  I’m not much of one for New Year’s Resolutions.  They;re usually impossible to keep, anyway, but thinking about Harvey Reid and his music — completely independently produced, and of exquisite quality despite the lack of a huge budget for promotion and publicity. 

I’m making one resolution.  I’m going to experiment with the music and writing I buy over the next year.  I’m not going to buy anything that is produced or published by a Big Operation. I’m going to buy only books that are either self published or from small presses, nor will I buy music that comes from the Big Record Companies. I’ll look for music the musicians themselves have produced. 

At the end of the year, I’ll see if I’ve lost any entertainment, been bored by the music or found any of the writing wanting, shallow or second rate in any way.  I expect I’ll enjoy my purchases just as much as I would had I succumbed to media-blitz advertising, publicity and high-powered, celebrity endorsed, "buzz". 

We’ll see.  Have a restful and happy Yule.

 

Publetariat's Holiday Hiatus

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Publetariat staff are taking December 24-25 off in observance of the Christmas holiday, and December 31st – January 1st off in observance of the New Year’s holiday.

Staffing will be minimal on the intervening days, so please bear with us if comment moderation or response to your emails is slower than usual.

We wish all of you a safe and happy last week of 2009, and hope 2010 will be a year of great productivity and writing/publishing success!

Writer's Night Before Christmas

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‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through my draft
Were examples of my inattention to craft
My characters all hung about without care,
In hopes that a plot point soon would be there.

 
My family were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of red herrings danced in my head.
The dog on its blanket, and the cat in my lap
Had just settled themselves for a long winter’s nap.
 
When on my computer there showed a blue screen!
(And if you use a PC, then you know what that means.)
Away to the cell phone I flew like a flash;
I dialed tech support and broke out in a rash.
 
The sales pitch that played while on hold I waited
Ensured my tech guy would be roundly berated.
That is, if he ever should come on the line.
And for this, per minute, it’s one-ninety-nine!
 
“Good evening,” he said, in a Punjab accent,
“I am happy to help you, and my name is Kent.”
More rapid than the Concorde was his troubleshoot,
I was back up and running, after one last reboot!
 
"Now Gaiman! Now, Atwood! Now, Cheever and Austen!
Salinger! O’Connor! Shakespeare and Augusten (Burroughs)!
Don’t withhold your wisdom! Upon me, bestow it!
Inspire me! Show me how best not to blow it!"
 
To their books I turned for some worthy advice;
I was pumped to return to my work in a trice.
So across clacking keyboard my fingers they flew,
With a speed and a passion—and no typos, too.
 
Hour after hour, the prose kept on flowing,
Though I had no idea where my story was going.
“But write it, I must!” I decided right then.
I resolved to see this project through to the end.
 
At one a.m. the second act came together,
At two I knew this book was better than ever!
My hero had purpose, my plot had no slack.
I cut my “B” story and never looked back!
 
I got up to make coffee at quarter to three;
Curses! My spouse left no Starbuck’s for me!
With instant crystals I’d have to make do.
Cripes! He used all of the half and half, too!
 
“I could add some Kahlua,” I told myself.
“There’s a big, honking bottle right there on the shelf.”
So I added a splash. And then a splash more.
At five, I finally came to on the floor.
 
With more Kahlua than coffee in the cup nearby,
An idea for the third act I wanted to try.
Werewolves! In high school! And vampires, as well!
It worked for that Meyer chick, my book’s a sure sell!
 
I tied up the plot in a neat little a bow,
With the arrival of aliens, and giant worms from below.
Defeated were foes of the Earth and the sky,
And thousands of townsfolk did not have to die.
 
With the Kahlua bottle all but drained,
I turned to do the last bit of work that remained.
To this one tradition, I was happy to bend.
Two carriage returns, all in caps: THE END.
 
I sprang to Facebook, to announce I was through.
From thence, on to Twitter, and MySpace too.
But lo, I exclaimed as my face met the sun,
"Twenty-four days late, my NaNoWriMo is done!"

 

This is a cross-posting from April L. Hamilton‘s Publetariat #fridayflash blog.

#fridayflash: Writer's Night Before Christmas

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Twas the night before Christmas and all through my draft

Were examples of my inattention to craft

My characters all hung about without care,

In hopes that a plot point soon would be there.

 

My family were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of red herrings danced in my head.

The dog on its blanket, and the cat in my lap

Had just settled themselves for a long winter’s nap.

 

When on my computer there showed a blue screen!

(And if you use a PC, then you know what that means.)

Away to the cell phone I flew like a flash;

I dialed tech support and broke out in a rash.

 

The sales pitch that played while on hold I waited

Ensured my tech guy would be roundly berated.

That is, if he ever should come on the line.

And for this, per minute, it’s one-ninety-nine!

 

“Good evening,” he said, in a Punjab accent,

“I am happy to help you, and my name is Kent.”

More rapid than the Concorde was his troubleshoot,

I was back up and running, after one last reboot!

 

"Now Gaiman! Now, Atwood! Now, Cheever and Austen!

Salinger! O’Connor! Shakespeare and Augusten (Burroughs)!

Don’t withhold your wisdom! Upon me, bestow it!

Inspire me! Show me how best not to blow it!"

 

To their books I turned for some worthy advice;

I was pumped to return to my work in a trice.

So across clacking keyboard my fingers they flew,

With a speed and a passion—and no typos, too.

 

Hour after hour, the prose kept on flowing,

Though I had no idea where my story was going.

“But write it, I must!” I decided right then.

I resolved to see this project through to the end.

 

At one a.m. the second act came together,

At two I knew this book was better than ever!

My hero had purpose, my plot had no slack.

I cut my “B” story and never looked back!

 

I got up to make coffee at quarter to three;

Curses! My spouse left no Starbucks for me!

With instant crystals I’d have to make do.

Cripes! He used all of the half and half, too!

 

“I could add some Kahlua,” I told myself.

“There’s a big, honking bottle right there on the shelf.”

So I added a splash. And then a splash more.

At five, I finally came to on the floor.

 

With more Kahlua than coffee in the cup nearby,

An idea for the third act I wanted to try.

Werewolves! In high school! And vampires, as well!

It worked for that Meyer chick, my book’s a sure sell!

 

I tied up the plot in a neat little a bow,

With the arrival of aliens, and giant worms from below.

Defeated were foes of the Earth and the sky,

And thousands of townsfolk did not have to die.

 

With the Kahlua bottle all but drained,

I turned to do the last bit of work that remained.

To this one tradition, I was happy to bend.

Two carriage returns, all in caps: THE END.

 

I sprang to Facebook, to announce I was through.

From thence, on to Twitter, and MySpace too.

But lo, I exclaimed as my face met the sun,

"Twenty-four days late, my NaNoWriMo is done!"

 

Lowered Expectations, Or the Dregs of Stupid

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[Publetariat Editor’s note: this post contains strong language.]

Does lowering our expectations mean that we’re settling?

Is settling a bad thing? Or does it reflect our maturity and experience in weighing what’s best to meet our long- and short-term objectives?

This is all about writing, of course. You can take any inferences of relationships to another blog and cry your little eyes out there.

Months ago when I made the decision to go full-throttle with the writing, I thought that I was publishing my writing with renewed optimism, lofty goals, and shoot-for-the-sky objectives. Then I re-read 29 Jobs and a Million Lies as I was revising it and adding dialogue, and I realized what a totally different mindset I was operating with years ago when those tales occurred. If I had launched into writing back then, I’m not sure I would be making the same decisions I am now. For those of you who have read 29 Jobs, you know that I head straight into things balls-out, changing directions like a Dominican cab driver in the wrong lane on the BQE.

My expectation was that I would find–watch out now, brace yourselves–an agent.

I tried to find an agent. I did. Dan and Marc both know I tried hard. Even Miss Pitch. And then I stepped back, took a look at my 3 dozen or so rejections after only one request for a manuscript (by William Morris, I might add!) and thought, fuck, there’s got to be a better way. Why the fuck am I wasting my time?

And here I am, writing an unending series of flash fiction at Year Zero, meeting amazing people as I whore myself all over twitter, completed first novel and holding out til the spring to release it, and publishing 29 Jobs on my own with a lot of help from kind souls who built the website and pulling me through the muck of formatting.

Now that’s optimism: I changed directions rather than settling for what one could construe as less. Less than a contract? Nah, just different route to garnering readers. And that’s what a writer does, attract readers. Whether you earn $ doing that is another story altogether. I never knew before I submerged myself in learning about the publishing industry that the monster pub companies could let authors go back to day jobs. It seemed totally incongruent to me. It changed how I thought altogether and learned quickly that (a) writing a book isn’t that hard [let’s not talk about originality or quality of writing at this point] and (b) that’s why so many people do it. The market is flooded with books and authors.

Would books be better if authors all could quit their fucking horrible day jobs? Think about the hypothetical: we’re in a Platonic society where writers are subsidized so we get to spend all day thinking and telling stories and writing. Where is the barrier to entry? What’s to keep the dregs of stupid from declaring themselves a writer? (Who’s to say I’m not the dregs of stupid?)

Now, I ask myself again, have I lowered expectations? Or have I reoriented my expectations using the information about publishing and my own appetite for the masochistic formulas, restrictions, and limitations of the mainstream print publishing industry?

I know my answer, and I’m pleased with my decision. Fuck them, ups to DIY, is the response you expect me to blurt out. Sure, on first glance that’s where I am. But I do continue to dream larger, so that 20-something who made an ass of herself in 29 Jobs is still in here somewhere, despite having that same ass kicked all over the place, getting beat down but having tried everything. No Regrets. NO MOTHERFUCKING REGRETS.

…however: I Want More. (readers?)

word.

Have you lowered your expectations? Do you know what you want?

Piracy

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This post, from Luke T. Bergeron, originally appeared on his mispeled site on 10/21/09.

Merry Holidays and all that noise. I wanna talk about copyright today. Everyone and their Mom is talking about copyright and piracy recently, so I thought I’d join the fun. Keep in mind, these musings are long (as all my musings tend to be), so please bear with me.

We begin personally, as all my musings begin. I believe that the individual viewpoint is how we all see the world first, so it’s a comfortable and easy place to begin. So let’s start by talking about how I came to this in the first place.

It’s hard for me, as a content producer (sure, maybe the content is bad, but I’m still producing it) and also a content consumer, to understand how I feel about copyright and piracy (also called file sharing). I’ve thought about it a lot, because I am the guy who releases content I spend hours (months) on to people on the internet for free. I’m also the guy who will read/watch things that are legally available for free (Doctorow’s fiction, Hulu content) and sometimes pay if I like it and sometimes not. I’m also the guy who would someday like to be compensated for my work, at least to a level that I could scrape by an income and do it full time.

So…mix all those things together and you’ll soon realize that the ideas don’t jive with any logical consistency, not without some creative and double-sided accounting. I’m on the verge of releasing a new novel for free on the internet, a work that took me the better part of 18 months, and before I do that I feel like I should get my head on straight about copyright and file sharing. I wanna know how I feel about it so I can stick to my guns and also not feel like I wasted my time or limited my options in a way I’m uncomfortable with.

The real issue goes beyond digital piracy to copyright itself. Now, I don’t believe that digital file sharing, even of copyrighted materials, is theft. That’s probably a generational thing, but we’re gonna do our best to suss out as much meaning as possible. Keep in mind, this entry is a fluid conversation, so comment if you wanna participate.

So, theft seems to me like it is inherently defined by defined by the taking of something from someone else, depriving them of it. Theft is a physical concept, based on a starvation economy, that there is a finite amount of resources to go around, and possessing resources means someone else will not possess them.

Information used to be like that, too, since information was passed on via physical items. The price of a book was determined by two things: the cost of production and the cost of the information. The starvation economy also played into this, because there were only so many copies of the book. Stealing a book from a shop meant that the shop owner no longer had a copy to sell.

But the thing is, a starvation economy does not apply in a digital age. Or, at the very least, the costs are so absurdly low that the profit margins are absurdly high in monetized digital distribution. We exist in a world where time is monetized, and that’s the only cost for me to release a book. The fifty bucks a year hosting costs I pay to the website company are nothing. So all it costs me to put a book out on the internet is time, the time to write the book, edit it, and format it for distribution. Putting a copy of my book on someone else’s hard drive costs nothing and does not take the book from my possession. I’ve made a copy at no cost.


Read the rest of the post (it’s very lengthy, and there’s a great deal more thought-provoking stuff in it), and check out the debate going on in the comments section as well, on Luke T. Bergeron‘s mispeled site.

Google Book Promotion: 5 Easy Ways

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This post, from Bob Baker, originally appeared on his Bob Baker’s Full-Time Author Blog in September, 2009.

If you think this is going to be about search engine optimization, a Google AdWords campaign, or Google Book Search … think again. Here are five things Google offers that you should consider using to connect with readers and promote your books:

1) Display your live event schedule with Google Calendar. Most people use this popular feature for personal appointments and scheduling. But you can also choose categories on your calendar to make public — and even embed them on your web site … AND make it easy for people to add your events to THEIR personal calendars. Visit this page for more details.

2) Help fans find your public appearances with Google Maps. This popular application is the next best thing to having a GPS system in your car. You can use it to find places you drive to, of course. But a really smart idea is to include Google Maps links to each event you speak at, not just the venue address.

Sure, fans can "map it" themselves. But why not save them a couple extra steps and provide a direct link? Learn more about Google Maps here.

Tip: Look up a venue address on Google Maps yourself first. Then click on "Link" just to the right of "Print" and "Send" to get the code.
 

Read the rest of the post, which includes three more Google Book Promotion ideas, on Bob Baker’s Full-Time Author Blog. Bob Baker is the author of 55 Ways to Promote & Sell Your Book on the Internet, among several other how-to books for indie authors and musicians. Learn more about Bob Baker by visiting his website.