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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Whitacre goes on to address out of date, poorly designed websites that are not taking full advantage of the technologies available in the digital era.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!

#fridayflash: Spiderman, The 2 1/2 Minute Version

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Here’s an old chestnut from my screenwriting days. Back then, for fun, I used to enjoy creating three-minutes-or-less editorial screenplays of movies I’d seen which strained my credulity, patience or sanity on some level. In other words, I’d mock those movies by rewriting them. This was my take on Spiderman.

 

INT. UNIVERSITY LAB – DAY


TOBEY MAGUIRE, KIRSTIN DUNST and JAMES FRANCO attend a high school field trip to a college laboratory where for some reason, scientists are using a scanning electron microscope to study genetically mutated spiders that are visible to the naked eye.

 

TOBEY MAGUIRE: Look, I’m wearing glasses and carrying a camera and I’m mooning awkwardly over Kirstin Dunst. I am a nerd, not someone you’ve seen on People’s 100 Most Beautiful People list and certainly not anyone you’ve seen boinking Charlize Theron in a John Irving adaptation.

 

KIRSTIN DUNST: Hello, Tobey.  Even though I’m class princess, I’ll be friendly to you so everyone will know I’m actually a good person and worthy of your geek love.

 

JAMES FRANCO: Even though Tobey is my best friend, suddenly deciding to take an interest in Kirstin will set up a love triangle subplot and may enlarge my role in this movie. Hi, Kirstin.  How you doin’?


A genetically mutated spider bites Tobey Maguire. Despite the fact that most spider venoms attack and debilitate the nervous system, this one just gives Tobey a 24-hour flu and then he wakes up with superpowers.

 

INT. ROW HOUSE – MORNING

 

CLIFF ROBERTSON: Hi, Tobey. I’ll be playing your Uncle Ben—no, not the rice guy. Let’s share a bonding moment, then you can tell me to f**k off, then I’ll get killed to provide you with a superhero ethos of defeating evil and to leave you with nagging doubts about whether or not you’re actually just a prick in red spandex.

 

TOBEY MAGUIRE: Cool.

Uncle Ben gets killed, Tobey acquires superhero ethos and nagging doubts.

 

EXT. SKYSCRAPER ROOFTOP – AFTERNOON

 

WILLEM DAFOE: I am such a whore. What happened to me? I won so many accolades and awards for my portrayal of Max Schreck in Shadow of the Vampire, yet here I am chewing scenery as the Green Goblin. Why, oh why did I take the check?

 

TOBEY MAGUIRE: Stop whining, and cackle your lines.

 

WILLEM DAFOE: Aha, Spiderman, my arch-nemesis! I will kill you before you can stop me from…from…well, I haven’t got an evil master plan yet, but when I work out all the details it’ll be really great. And evil, too. By the way, James Franco is my son.

 

Tobey Maguire, now dressed in a space-age spandex suit that appeared out of nowhere, and Willem Dafoe, now dressed in body armor that was lamely introduced as some kind of military product in an earlier, contrived scene, fight in a sequence of very obviously computer-animated encounters. 

Much scenery is chewed. Lots of stuff blows up. Innocent citizens and Kirstin Dunst are saved. The Green Goblin is killed.

 

EXT. CEMETARY – MORNING

 

KIRSTIN DUNST: Oh, Tobey! Even though Spiderman is hot for me and he’s way cooler and sexier than you, I love you and not him.  Pay no attention to the fact that I’m dating your best friend, James Franco. You are the one I love.

 

TOBEY MAGUIRE: Kirstin, despite the fact that I’ve worshipped you from afar since we were in the fourth grade together, I must pretend not to share your feelings because you are dating James Franco and I just killed his Dad. Wait, that’s not a good reason…

 

JAMES FRANCO: Thank you for killing my father, Spiderman. I have succeeded in enlarging my role, and my payday for the sequel is assured since I’m now a handsome young guy with money to burn and an axe to grind against you. And I think I’m still dating Kirstin Dunst.

 

TOBEY MAGUIRE: Okay.  See ya in the sequel, then.

 

AUDIENCE: We’ve never seen such a blatant set-up for a sequel.  We are outraged, and will not be taken advantage of! 

            (beat)

Where can we buy the limited edition action figures?

 

 

54 Tips For Writers, From Writers

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This post, from Marelisa Fabrega, originally appeared on her Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online on 5/24/09.

The entire writing process is fraught with perils. Many writers would argue that the hardest part of writing is beginning. When asked what was the most frightening thing he had ever encountered, novelist Ernest Hemingway said, “A blank sheet of paper.”

tips for writersOther writers believe that ideas are easy, it’s in the execution of those ideas that the hard work really begins. You have to show up every day and slowly give shape to your ideas, trying to find just the right words, searching for the right turn of phrase, until it all morphs into something real.

Then comes the wait to discover how your writing will be received. Chilean author Isabel Allende once said that writing a book is like putting a message in a bottle and throwing it in the ocean. You never know if it will reach any shores.

So just how do you go about facing an empty page, coaxing your ideas into the world of form, and steering the end result toward shore? You can start by studying the tips and advice from writers presented below.

Creative Commons License photo credit: visualpanic

Stephen King – Read A Lot and Write A Lot

“If you want to be a writer,” says Stephen King, “you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”

King, who has written over 50 books, emphasizes that writers have to be well-read. He adds that he has no patience for people who tell him that they want to be writers but they can’t find the time to read. The answer is simple: if you don’t read, you can’t be a writer. You have to read just about everything. In addition, you also have to write in order to develop your own style.

When it comes to the reading part of it, King explained during a lecture at Yale that if you read enough, there’s this magic moment which will always come to you if you want to be a writer. It’s the moment when you put down some book and say: “This really sucks . . . I can do better than this . . . And this guy got published.” So go ahead, read all you can, and wait for that magical moment. (Watch the YouTube video clip).

“On Writing”–published in 2000–is both a textbook for writers and a memoir of King’s life. Here’s an excerpt from “On Writing” in which King offers advice on pacing:

“Mostly when I think of pacing, I go back to Elmore Leonard, who explained it so perfectly by saying he just left out the boring parts. This suggests cutting to speed the pace, and that’s what most of us end up having to do (kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings)…I got a scribbled comment that changed the way I rewrote my fiction once and forever. Jotted below the machine-generated signature of the editor was this mot: “Not bad, but PUFFY. You need to revise for length. Formula: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft – 10%. Good luck.”


Read the rest of the post, which includes advice from authors John Grisham, Erica Jong, Ernest Hemingway, Kurt Vonnegut, Anne Lamott, Annie Dillard, Maya Angelou and Seth Godin, on the Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online.

Excerpt from Christmas Traditions – An Amish Love Story

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"If it wasn’t for these ornaments thou gives me each year, the tree wouldn’t look near as pretty," said Luke, bending with his hands on his knees to inspect the presents. "Which one of these presents is the ornament thou brought this year, ain’t?"

"It’s a small package." To look among the pile of presents, she leaned over as far as she could without dragging the popcorn strings on the floor. "I don’t see it under the tree. Either your father left it in the sleigh, or he dropped it in the snow between here and the barn," Margaret dared to say in a scoffing tease, giving Levi a sideways glance.

"That’s the thanks I get for helping thee, is it?" Levi countered back.

He actually smiled at Luke and her. What a switch! Not that Margaret intended to read anything hopeful into his actions. As long as she’d known Levi, she knew he could go from hot to cold in a second. Oh how she wished no matter how slight it might be that Levi would have a change of heart for the better that would last.

She could tell Luke appreciated his father’s placid mood at that moment, too. "It’s fine. I’ll go look in the sleigh. Daed, would thou please put the popcorn strings on the tree for me? Thou are taller. Thou can hang them higher than I can so the strings are evenly spaced. We need to get that done quick. Poor Aunt Margaret’s arms must be tired. She won’t want to stand like that all night." The boy rushed to the kitchen door. He twisted around. "Just don’t start on the ornaments until I get back. I want to be here for that."

"Never would have thought to wait for you if you hadn’t said so," said Margaret with a teasing laugh.

Luke grabbed his coat from the nail by the kitchen door and put it on. He pulled his gray, woolen mittens out of a pocket and yanked them over his hands. He had his hand on the door knob when his grandfather called after him.

"Take the lantern with thee, Luke. It’ll be too dark in the barn to see the sleigh let along a small package in it. While thou is out there check on the cow again. Save me a trip."

"All right, Dawdi," agreed Luke. Lighting the lantern that hung on a nail next to the coats, he held it out in front of him as he went outside.

"You heard your son, Levi. Start draping these popcorn strings over the branches before my arms give out," Margaret dared to order.

"Daed, thou want to help her?" Levi looked at Jeremiah for a way out.

"Ach! I’m too old. I’ll just watch the two of thee have the fun," Jeremiah quipped dryly, stroking his bushy beard.

Finding no way to decline, Levi sauntered across the room to stand beside Margaret. They looked at each other until she broke eye contact when he took an end that dangled from her arm. As his warm fingertips touched her wrist, Margaret’s skin tingled. Her pulse sped up. She flinched and drew her arm back slightly. When she shrank away, his intense gaze flickered over her face before he twisted back to the tree and looped the string over the branches.

"Levi, the boy seems to be happy," Margaret ventured softly, hoping for a break in the chill of resistance she felt radiating from him at having to be so near her.

Lifting the popcorn string up high to drape it over the branches at the top of the tree, Levi answered, "I told thee he was. No need to spoil that. Not if thou cares for him as thee says." Was it possible that Levi’s voice soften? Or, did she just want to believe that. Was she hearing something that wasn’t there?

"I just want to do what’s right," Margaret maintained.

"For who? Luke or thee?" He searched her face as he took the next string from her arms.

Just for a moment, Levi’s eyes seemed warmer somehow, but his words didn’t sit well with Margaret. She glanced across the room at Jeremiah. His eyes closed, the old man’s head relaxed against his rocker. His shallow breathing lead her to think that he’d dozed off.

Just the same, she kept her biting voice low to keep Levi’s father from overhearing. "That’s not fair. If I was thinking about me, I’d impose myself on you more than one time a year to see Luke."

Levi held the popcorn string in mid air, ready to lay it over a bough. He twisted toward her and retorted, "Strong willed as thee are, Margaret, peers to me if thou wanted to have done that, not much way I could have stopped thee. Always thought that lawyer man thou married had more to do with thou not protesting how often thee comes to see Luke than the shunning did."

"Don’t blame this on my husband after all these years. You’re the one who said that once a year was all I could come," insisted Margaret, feeling her efforts to defend herself futile, but she felt the need to try.

"I did say that," Levi agreed vehemently. "That should have been the last time I spoke to thee as long as thee are under the shunning. I had to kneel for confession before the bishops soon after talking to thee to keep from being shunned myself. I confessed to permitting thee to stay here this week in December. Thou could have gone before the bishops also if thee had the desire to lift thy shunning. That would have made things so much easier for both of us." He made a wide scallop of the string over the boughs and turned back to her for another string.

Margaret noticed he purposely didn’t continue with what he had to be thinking. Lifting the shunning also included the fact that she would have to come back to live with the Plain people. That was the only way. Levi knew that wasn’t an option for her because of her marriage to Harry.

When he did finally break his silence it was to rehash their agreement. "If thou recalls, thee is the one who picked the week before Christmas to visit Luke. The day also happens to be Luke’s birthday. Not just one, but two very important days in that little boy’s life that I allowed thee to be here with him." Levi hadn’t mince words. He stooped to drape the last string over some of the tree’s lower branches.

"Luke needs a woman in his life, Levi," Margaret stated quietly to his broad, strong back.

Levi straightened and spun to face her. "Faith gave that right up when the boy was small. As far as Luke knows she died. We are going to keep it that way." His narrowed eyes froze her. "Thou didn’t want the job either as I recall," he said curtly, wanting to make how he felt very clear.

"You never understood." Margaret lowered her gaze. Even if she could get the words out, it was way too late to defend her reasons for giving away Luke. She bit her lower lip to stop it from visibly quivering. She couldn’t cry now. She’d appear weak. The only way to stand up to Levi Yoder was to remain cold and strong just like him. She’d learned that a long time ago. Never give that man the upper hand where Luke was concerned. She wanted the child in her life no matter how short a time she had with him. But she knew if she angered Levi beyond reason, the man was as good as his word. He’d never let her see her son again.

Levi glanced toward the kitchen. "Seems like it’s taking my son too long to find that ornament. It’s cold out there. I should go help him. Maybe something’s happened with the cow." He started toward the kitchen.

 

 

Margaret thought, feeling let down because Levi had tried to put a damper on her pleasant evening. Levi speaks bluntly and runs away.

 

                                                        Chapter 5

Levi paused with a hand on the door facing and stared into the dark kitchen. He whirled around. With his head slanted to one side, he studied Margaret. "Tell me the truth for once. Why didn’t thy husband come with thee this time?"

Margaret didn’t know how much longer she could hold up under Levi’s probing. She wished he’d just leave the subject of Harry alone. She gazed at the floor while she rubbed the prickly feeling away in her left arm caused from holding it out straight so long. She always felt as if Levi could read her mind. He certainly could tell if she chose to lie to him. In a barely audible voice, she broke the vow of silence she’d made to herself on the trip out from town. She blurted out, "Harry left me."

"Did he?" Surprise was in his voice. "The lawyer man did know the truth?" Again Levi’s slanted eyes raked over her face as he questioned her, trying to read her mind before she answered him.

She hated that Levi kept pushing. If being truthful was what he wanted, she’d be truthful since he asked. Maybe he would ease up on the way he treated her if he knew the truth.

"Not until a few days ago," she admitted.

Levi pounced in front of her. He poked his finger under her chin and raised her head so she had to look at him. Gazing down at her, he asked incredulously, "Maggie, thou never told him before this?"

Out of words, Margaret shoved his hand away and lowered her head. She nodded no slowly, contemplating the one word she’d just heard that surprised her. In the midst of this heated discussion, Levi called her Maggie. The mention of that long ago term of endearment was a reminder of happy times in her youth. For many years now, Levi hadn’t used the nickname when he spoke to her. She had always felt lucky if he managed to call her Margaret Goodman. But now that he was so worked up, he didn’t seem to realize he’d called her by her nickname. Strange what it took to rattle this man. He remained cold and distant or angry when discussing his son with her but seemed on the edge of exploding when he talked about her husband.

Levi grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her as if that would dislodge her answer. "Why not?"

"Because I knew Harry finding out about you and me would hurt him. I feared he’d leave me," Margaret stated flatly, pulling away from his rough grip.

"Ach! Why tell him now then?" Levi said with a frustrated sigh. "If thou thought that, just leave the truth hidden. The fewer Englishers who know the better. Burn thy sister’s devil book and let well enough alone."

Margaret’s admission came painfully slow, because she knew it would only infuriate Levi further. "Because I promised Faith I’d give Luke the journal this year. If Luke was to know the truth now, I had to tell Harry first. Eventually, you know very well my husband would have found out somehow if I hadn’t. To find out from someone else wasn’t fair to him. It would have hurt Harry much more than my telling him."

"Is what’s in that journal thy only reason for telling Harry Goodman?" Levi asked, searching her face as though he expected more.

She didn’t understand. "What other reason would I have?"

Levi stared at her. His unwavering eyes filled with sadness. "Thou should have stayed home with thy husband this time. If thou had kept silent, his leaving thee would never have to be. Now what are thou going to do when thee leaves here?" Levi’s voice held a note of concern. In his eyes was tenderness. His face soften while he waited for her reply.

Or was she imagining his feelings toward her changed. She’d wished for that to happen for so long. Her resolve to be cold and defiant melted away. She wasn’t used to this type of emotion from him. He hadn’t displayed a hint of gentle feelings toward her in years.

Margaret sighed deeply. "Perhaps you’re right about me not giving Luke the journal. He’s well and happy with the way he believes things to be. After all these years, surely Faith is gone for good. What difference could it make to her now if I didn’t carry out her wishes if that’s the way you want it. I’ll give what you say some thought in the next few days. As for me, you needn’t worry. Harry gave me the house so I have a place to live. He’s using the time I’m here to move his things out." She sighed again. "The worst part will be trying to explain to the busy bodies in town why my husband left me. They’ll notice sooner or later."

"Don’t try to explain. Tell them it’s none of their business. Or better yet just ignore them," Levi said, his tone soft and husky.

"If only that would work," she said, doubtfully.

Suddenly, Margaret felt so very weary from the weight of her world being turned upside down. One thing she was certain of, she could only blame herself for what had happened to her

recently. Her sister, Faith, wasn’t there to blame for her misfortune this time. She sagged closer to Levi. He placed his hands gently on top her shoulders. His gaze didn’t budge from her face as he slid his hands until he touched her throat. With his thumbs, he caressed her neck. Mesmerized by his gaze and touch, Margaret felt helpless to pull back even if she had wanted to. Her pulse pounded under his thumbs. Levi lowered his head close to hers. He tucked a finger under her chin to lift her head up. She held her breath, daring to hope that Levi intended to kiss her.

"Oh, Maggie, —-," he whispered.

At the sound of Luke’s footsteps in the kitchen, Levi dropped his hands to his side. The boy watched his father glide away from Margaret. Luke paused in the doorway. Fearing tension between Levi and Margaret, the child hesitated in the door. He’d been raised with the belief that harsh words and raised voices were a forbidden sin. Margaret knew the only time heated moments occurred around Luke was when she visited. She saw the alarm on the child’s face. She hated what Levi and she did to him. They continually tugged that little boy back and forth between them like a piece of pulled, molasses candy.

Luke looked from his father to his aunt and back. In one hand, he held a small, snow covered package. In the other, he grasped a black book bound with twine.

Margaret’s breath caught.

Levi let out a low groan.

"The journal must have slid out from under the sleigh seat where I hid it," whispered Margaret out of the corner of her mouth to Levi. "He mustn’t read it yet."

"Come on in and warm up, son. Cold out there tonight, ain’t?" Levi invited, holding his hand out to encourage his son to enter the room.

 

Always the same pattern,

For Writers: Get Off Your Ass (Whether You Want To Get Paid or Not)

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This post, from Jennifer Topper, originally appeared on her Don’t Publish Me! blog on 11/10/09 and is reprinted here in its entirety with her permission.

If it takes an hour to write 1000 good, solid words, at let’s say, $35 per hour, and we’re talking about a 75,000 word novel, that novel should net you $2625. It’s valued at a literal price of $2625. Ok, you can bump it up, what with revisions and all. 

Or is $35 per hour too low? You think your writing is worth more?

Partners at major New York law firms list their hourly rates at $750-1100 per hour. Paralegals, though they don’t get paid this much, are billed to clients at about $200 per hour. You think a good novelist is worth more than $35 per hour?

Shrinks cost about $200-350 per hour, with or without insurance.

Getting your car fixed is about $70 per hour for the labor. Parts are separate.

What about a clogged toilet or other plumbing problem? Expect a baseline of $150 for the plumber to come to your home, and then about $200 per hour in labor costs thereafter.

I’m sorry, did you say you think your writing should be valued at more than $35 per hour?

Because you can go down the street and get raped at McDonald’s for $7 per hour of ballbusting work.

Or you could be a cook, like I did, and work 18-hour days and take home $120.

Maybe we can bump that writer’s rate up a notch, to include the marketing we must do for ourselves to get our books on shelves, and to get people to know who we are. How many hours will that cost? We can build it into our overhead.

*
So what I’m getting at is this price versus value argument we’ve seen so much about. Why is it important? Because as we (writers) agonize over who’s going to publish our work and what are we going to get out of it, the form and medium must come into play. If going to e-readers is going to lower the cost of production and therefore more dollars go into our pockets, then great, I guess?

But does that mean fewer books sold and more money? Yeah, kinda. In the indie record business, my argument to sign bands on my independent squat of a label as opposed to their signing with the big boy labels was that they’d get a better split with me– 50/50 versus the bigboy’s convoluted royalty-advance formula, which left little-to-nothing for the bands after recouping "costs" of production and marketing. (Well, the trustee appointed by the United States Bankruptcy Court of the Eastern District of New York-Brooklyn "valued" my surplus CDs at $0 so that I could seamlessly file a Chapter 7 (no liquidation) bankruptcy, hence the dumping of CDs in the East River on a dark night.) So it depends what you think you’re in the business of writing for: selling books for money or spreading your gospel. The two objectives are not mutually exclusive.

Are independent bands’ objectives that much different than writers’? I guess it depends–sure, we would all like a few extra bucks in our pockets. Doing it for the ahhrt? Please. Doing it because we HAVE to? In a metaphorical kind of way I would buy that argument.

Here’s where the bands and the writers diverge, though. Every band knows that to get a following they need to tour. They need to tour like crazy and do shows in every nasty corner of every bumfuck city. Are writers doing the equivalent of that? Or are they waiting for their publisher to hook them up with a few readings near where they live on the weekends between 2pm-4pm but no Sunday because my kid has soccer practice? See where I’m going with this? Every writer must be pounding the pavement and knocking on doors to get their books on shelves, whether that book is released digitally or otherwise, the work must be done at the grassroots level to cultivate a following. Readings, doing posters and handing them out at stores, crafts fairs, schools, universities, senior centers, homeless shelters: get your ass out and READ to the people whom you ostensibly wrote for. How the hell else are people supposed to know about your work–by the cover of your book? (guffaw, guffaw)

We value our work because we think there is enormous intellectual value. But without an audience, that value cannot be quantified. Writing without an audience is therapy. Last week I posted about offering advertising space on my book. I don’t see anything wrong with that. I mean, I do, but really, we’re in business, let’s face it, we need to earn a buck. And maybe someone who places the ad will be interested in reading your book. (just one, is all it takes.)

With that said, I can’t WAIT to get going on it. I’m going to self-pub 29 Jobs and a Million Lies and get it in everywhere I can. Then I’ll adapt it to a screenplay and whore myself to indie film production houses with a copy of the book and get the damned movie made. And so on and so forth, with Getting the Gang Back Together (working title to be completed by 12/1/09), and the Intuitive Cookbook (completed, just need photos…anyone?). DIY style.

word.

Jennifer Topper is the author of 29 Jobs and a Million Lies, and member of the Year Zero Writers Collective.

The "Market" For Short Stories

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This post, from Nick Mamatas, originally appeared on his nihilistic_kid blog on 12/8/09.

All right, all right, here we go. These are reasons why one should write and seek to publish short stories, in order:

1. one enjoys writing short stories
2. one enjoys reading short stories
3. one can gain some benefit from publishing short stories.

If you’re writing short stories to "get your name out there", let me assure you that there are many many easier ways unless your short stories are superlative. (And yes, plenty of people publish some stories and then some novels, but that is not the same as saying that the publishing of stories contributed to the publication of the novels.) If you’re writing short stories to "practice" writing novels, please stop right now as this practice tends to lead to both mediocre stories and mediocre novels. (Which doesn’t mean you won’t make money or get awards or have little fanboys or anything, but you will stink up the place, regardless.) If you don’t like writing short stories and don’t like reading them, the benefits you can even hope to gain from publishing them will be even slimmer than otherwise.

The benefits of publishing short stories depend partially on genre. In science fiction/fantasy/horror, one of the benefits is the payment of anywhere from $25 to a thousand dollars or so. Generally, payments for stories fall somewhere in the low three-digits and there are some opportunities for reprinting or repurposing stories. Perhaps as many as a couple tens of thousands of people will read your story as well, which is both a psychological benefit and some level of commercial benefit—more solicitations, for example, and to a much lesser extent some way of having one’s novel looked at (not published!). Venues that do not pay very well or at all are generally not read by more than a few hundred people, many of them submitters. Thus, there is no value in publishing in most of these venues, especially since the editors are generally dim bulbs themselves, so anything they may have to tell you about good writing will likely be idiosyncratic at best or just wrong at worst.

There are exceptions, of course, and these are generally based around this or that particular marginal aesthetic (e.g., Lovecraftian fiction, contemporary versions of "classic" ghost stories, First World attempts at "literary fantasy", etc.) It’s not that these venues are widely read despite not paying well, but that they are closely read by some editors and other "important" people and that help with having a specialty press put out a collection, or almost winning an award, or republication in a best-of annual, or a soliciation to a larger venue, etc.
 

Read the rest of the post on Nick Mamatas’ nihilistic_kid blog.

Hunting For Search Words

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I’ve written a book titled Christmas Traditions – An Amish Love Story ISBN 0982459513

The story is set around Christmas, but that shouldn’t stop readers from buying the book any time of year. Having said that I can tell you this book will make an excellent Christmas gift and if purchased from me, I’ll sign the book.

The book is about an Amish man and a once Amish woman. When forced to spend time together at Christmas, the couple make each other miserable while they try to carry out Amish and English traditions for a little boy they both love.

Here is a list of sites to check out my book or to buy it. Looks like Christmas Traditions isn’t that hard to find if you know where to look. If anyone is interested in purchasing Christmas Traditions from the author so the book is signed you may go to my bookstore

www.booksbyfaybookstore.weebly.com

Ebay – the synopsis and physical description for the book is on my seller’s site and reviews from buyers

Free classified ads websites

Www.freeclassifiedads/fayrisnerstore

Www.oodle.com/christmastraditions

Amazon sells my books so look up search words – amish fiction – an amish love story or put my name in the advanced search Fay Risner – Christmas Traditions – isbn 0982459513

Curious about what search words bring up my book for internet searchers to find, I typed in a few to see what I’d get and was surprised at what I found, including my books advertised in other countries.

Search – Iowa authors

That search didn’t bring up any authors. Another self published Iowa author mentioned to me recently that Iowa should find a way to promote Iowa authors. That would especially be a help to self published authors. I’ve had buyers purchase my books because I am from this state and because some of my stories are set in Iowa. If there is a website or organization that does promote Iowa authors (without fees attached) as part of our state’s creative resources, I’d like to know about it.

Google searches

Amish fiction didn’t work. I don’t understand that since Christmas Traditions is Amish fiction.

Search – Amish christmas love book

For this book amish christmas romance book didn’t work. I think the reason is I used love story as the subtitle.

Page 1 www.amazon.com/Christmas Traditions

www.olx.com/christmas traditionsanamishlovestory-41502734

Search – Amish christmas love story

Page 2 www.oodle.com/view/Christmas Traditions

Page 4 books.google.com/books

Search – Fay Risner

Page 1 www.flipkart.com/…fayrisner

www.librarything.com/author/risnerfay

Page 2 reviews.ebay.com/christmastraditions-byFayRisner

Page 3 www.oodle.com/view/christmas…an…fayrisner

Page 7 www.kalahari.net/books/Christmas-Traditions/911/34687679.aspx

Page 8 tweetmeme.com/…./amazon.com-Christmas-Traditions-9780982459515-sylvia-fay-risner-books

Page9 www.classified.com/books-magazine-ad 1858361.htm

Page 10 www.scribblygumbooks.com.au/9780982459515.html-

Page 12 www.booktopia.com.au/christ…/pro970982459515.html

Page 15 www.campusbooks.com/authors/f/fay-risner.html

Page 16 www.bookrenter.com/products/details/9781438248899

Page 17 66.220.11.194/visit/viewwork.asp?authorID=87483&id=27698

Search – Booksbyfay (this is my login name)

Page 7 books.google.com/books/christmastraditions

Yahoo search engine

Search – Amish christmas love story

Page 1 www.oodle.com/view/christmastraditions

Page 3 www.amazon.com/tag/fictions/christmastraditions

Page 11 www.alibris.co.uk/search/books/author/risner-ChristmasTraditions

Page 13 www.booktour.com/author/fay_risner/christmastraditions

Search – Fay Risner

Page 1 search.barnesandnobles.com/ChristmasTraditions

Reviews.ebay.com/christmas-traditions-by-Fay-Risner

Page 2 www.weread.com/book/christmastraditions

www.authorden.com/visit/viewwork.asp?christmastraditionsid=27698

Page 3 www.oodle.com/view/christmas-traditions-an-amish-love-story-byfayrisner

www.classifiedad.com/books_magazines-ad1858361.htm

www.published.com/published/8207published.aspx

Page 6 www.flipkart.com’christmas-traditions (India)

Page 7 www.amazon.com.uk

Page 9 www.amazon.de/religion-spirituality/spie=utf88christmastraditions

Booksbyfay

Page 7 www.weread.com/book/….&container_type=booksread

Happy Hunting!

　

　

#fridayflash: Untitled

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As per usual, I’ve been struck with inspiration for a new novel at a time when I have a plate that’s already filled to overflowing. I’ve made some notes and will probably steal an hour here and there wherever possible to keep working on it in the months to come. It’s a crime drama, something I’ve never attempted before, but who can argue with the muse? Here’s the opening scene.

 

The tableau of the dead girl lying on her side in the bed of the truck was beautiful.

Loosely curled into a fetal position, her head resting on her backpack and her glorious, sable mane fanned out behind her on the irregular oval of dark red that could just as easily have been a satin sheet as blood, the girl bore a countenance of peaceful, contented sleep. The clear, pale skin of her face took on a translucence in the dawning light, and a silvery film of mist clung to the cardigan and skirt of her immaculate school uniform. Her small purse, cell phone, iPod and car keys, the totems and talismans of her life, were arrayed before her in a deliberate semicircle, and as the sun rose in earnest the shadow cast by her shoulder imbued the scene with the impression of a carefully constructed sundial. Maroon gapes ran from her wrists nearly to the inner bend of each elbow, the one on her right arm shorter and more jagged than that on her left. A box cutter lay directly in front of her abdomen, seeming to point to the 4 o’clock marker of her iPod. Her name was Lily.

 

 

The Inconvenient Truth about Voice

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This post, from Dan Holloway, originally appeared on the Year Zero Writers’ Collective site on 12/5/09 and is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission.

(with thanks to @cinemamanche for his lovely description of voice as the aroma of a text)

Voice is one of the great mysteries of writing, and the bearer of a couple of inconvenient truths for any author. It’s the one thing you can’t do without; but no one will tell you how to get better at it.

So what is voice?

Put it like this. What do Stanley Kubrick, Radiohead, DBC Pierre, Frank Gehry, Bob Dylan, Elfriede Jelinek, Morissey, Anish Kapoor, and the Coen Brothers have in common? Apart from that night ten years ago, outside the Brixton Academy, when… The answer is obvious – and it should end the topic right there. But somehow it never does. What I want to do with this article is figure out why an article like this needs to be so long.

The answer , in case it’s not self-evident (or in case there really was a night 10 years ago…), is that most people with a basic knowledge of the field in question – be it film, music, literature, architecture or art – if shown a piece of hitherto unseen work by one of them, would instantly be able to tell you who’d made it. And that, in fewer than 200 words, is all there really is to say about “voice”.

And yet we keep talking about it. Everywhere writers meet there is almost as much hot air and verbiage about voice as there is jealous bile about the latest vampire hit. Why? Simple, really. Editors, agents, publishers. They all agree on this one (and possibly only) point – voice is the essential ingredient a writer must possess. The “experts” also seem to agree on one other point – that of the key elements of writing – including characterisation, pacing, plotting – the one that can’t be taught is voice.

I want to look briefly at why It is that these two things make voice so controversial, and then ask the questions – is voice really essential? Where does it come from? What do we mean by saying it can’t be taught?

It’s obvious why saying voice is the one essential quality for a writer should make it controversial, especially when “experts” seem to go out of their way to be obfuscatory about what they mean by it. It’s true that in much genre fiction voice is slightly different, because there are genre norms, and what is valued most is often that elusive quality of “transparency” – an author who doesn’t intrude on their world. But I don’t want to get too het up on that distinction because if one does it can become an excuse for “literary” authors like us here to start sticking their nose into their text and, unless you’re making a point of that a la Kundera, it’s no more acceptable here than in genre fiction. A novel should (Ooh, I used the “s” would – spank me), even if it’s cross-referential, be a self-contained world in which the reader can lose themselves.

“Voice can’t be taught.” Publishers, agents, and editors seem, in my experience, to say this in the sense of “if someone comes to us and they can’t plot very well we can, and will, work with them on it. But if they have no voice, there’s nowt we can do.” There’s a very obvious reason why this is controversial, and it has to do, I’m afraid, with political correctness. I had a girlfriend once who took (more than) umbrage at my supervisor’s assertion that first class academic work could not be quantified but was evident when he was faced with it. Her complaint, that it wasn’t fair because it gave people nothing to aim for, that it discriminated against the hard-working and perpetuated an elite, was understandable. The need for fairness is one of our deepest yearnings.

But in this case, I’m afraid the complaint is utterly irrelevant. Artistic merit is nothing about rewarding hard work. It’s about, well, artistic merit. And that, I’m afraid, is unquantifiable but evident when you’re confronted with it. Which means that the thousands of writers who “write beautifully”(how often on sites like Authonomy do we hear reviewers say “this is beautifully written it should be published”?) are naturally going to feel aggrieved, but their beautiful writing is, frankly, very little to do with the artistic value of their book. If it was, the Tate would be full of Royal Doulton special edition plates.

So that’s why voice is controversial. But hang on. There’s a deeper question. Are people right that it matters at all? Well, it sounds like a dogma, and dogmas are things we at Year Zero dislike, er, dogmatically. And to an extent it IS nonsense. The value of much art lies in what it does for the people and communities that produce it – it gives hope, aspiration, self-esteem, vision – a sense of future, and to be honest, no aesthetic bollocks I spout in the next 500 words is going to trump that. As a punk ideologist and humanist, voice means precisely bugger all in art.

Except. Well, except look at those things – self-esteem, hope, vision. What do they mean? How are they real to an individual unless those hopes are specific? Unless the art produced has meaning to the community/individual? And a lot of that is about distinctive voice. So there IS, kind of, a crossover with “art for art’s sake”. And so there ought to be, because we’re not JUST absinthe drinking dilettantes.

Nonetheless, I’m part of Year Zero because I DO care about the arty nonsense. I want my writing to be the best it can. I want to push boundaries, connect with readers in unique ways, produce a body of work that (a subject for another blog) “matters”. And that means I need voice.

Which brings me to how to develop voice if it really is unteachable, and how to know if I have it because, if I don’t, I might as well leave the Zeroes now.

I want to start with Malcolm Gladwell’s oft-cited rule of 10,000 hours. His work on this is really at the heart of all the “learn the rules to break them” vs natural genius debates. He showed that most of the people we think of as geniuses – in the arts and in sport – actually did nothing of any real brilliance or originality until they’d put in 10,000 hours of practice.

What does this mean? Well, it means the “I don’t need rules, I’m a genius” brigade really are, as we thought all along, just lazy and will probably never produce anything any good. It also means something very useful. It means, if I understand correctly, that a natural aptitude for following the rules well is a good indicator that you may at a future stage develop an original voice. So that “beautifully-written” prose isn’t valueless. But it’s an indicator of what might be to come and not of the work in which it is displayed.

So what, practically, does that mean? Well, it means it’s a great thing to experiment. Which we kind of knew already. Why does it mean that? Well, first because it will accelerate the progress through your apprenticeship (question: why, when we hire a plumber, or go to a doctor, do we consider it essential they have served a full apprenticeship but as writers we expect to have a hit with our first novel?). If you spend them all on just one area of writing, it’s unlikely you’ll emerge fully formed. It’s also important that you find what suits you, pick up new tricks, borrow from here, pastiche from there until slowly something begins to emerge that’s you.

So it turns out there are not two but three inconvenient truths about voice. It IS essential. And it IS something that’s unquantifiable and unteachable in itself. he good news is that one can work on it, practising the basics until one’s voice emerges. The third inconvenient truth is that the practice will take a lot of time and angst and sweat and pain. Just like anything else worth doing.

Do discuss at will and leisure – I’d also like to hear your examples of great, original voices – in any form of the arts.

[Publetariat Editor’s note: you may prefer to join the discussion over on the Year Zero site, where Dan and the Year Zero community will be sure to see your remarks, rather than commenting here on Publetariat]

Curmudgeoning is Getting Older Faster Than I Thought! Thanks!

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Well, at least it’s getting somewhere! I’d like to extend a Holiday Thank you to all the Publetarians and various assorted other readers out there who’ve enjoyed, or been annoyed by my rants and articles.  Thanks, especially to those who’ve left me comments I could actually use — there have been quite a few of them. I may be an old crank, but I’m still learning, and the cranking is beginning to get easier as I turn the handle!

My day job will be taking all together too much of my time through the Holidays, so my curmudgeonly output may become a bit sporadic.  If any of you have the desire to read my weigh-in on any subjects close to the heart of book marketing techniques, or anything else, for that matter, please feel free to contact me by leaving a comment below. 

The past few days have had lots of breaking news that seems to be "all good" for Indie Authors and Publishers.  I’m going to concentrate on doing whatever I can to maximize the benefits for my own publishing, and I’ll let you all know what I think, of course, as I get results worth thinking about.  There are quite a few bumps in the playing field that are getting in my way, so something will have to be done.

Now, get out there and work your levels and shovels — we still have a long way to go until the field is indeed, democratic!

 

 

What's The Right Way To Respond To A Critique?

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This post, from Lynn Price, originally appeared on the Behler Blog (of Behler Publications) on 11/30/09.

“Thank you.” Nothing more, nothing less.

Are they attacking me personally?

Eh, sometimes. Face it, there are some real wheezbags who, for any number of reasons, enjoy ripping the heart out of writers  – anyone seen Authonomy lately?

Maybe they were dropped on their heads at birth. Who knows? Regardless of their motives, they took the time to read your work. Don’t own those critiques, even when they’re good. It’s one opinion of many. Look beyond the sting or the joy, and see if they may have a valid point. If they do, great. If they don’t, great.

The long and short of crits is that they are designed to point out flaws that the reader felt existed. Remember, our writing doesn’t come directly from the hands of the Great Cosmic Muffin, and we all need to be critiqued and edited.

Am I ready for crits?

My philosophy is that anyone who reads crits and goes into the fetal position and cries while sucking on a pound of chocolate may not be ready to put their work out there. The only time you’re allowed to drink heavily, eat pounds of chocolate, and cry is when you’re writing your book and when you get your edits back from your editor. Everyone else is navel lint and not worth expending such emotion. [Edited to add: Ok, fetal position, drinking, eating chocolate is also allowed with crits PROVIDED you understand you’re being unreasonable] …thanks, Pelo.

I remember one a friend of mine blew his stack over a tepid review from Publishers Weekly. He was ready to contact the reviewer and read him the riot act. I told him that under no circumstances would he do anything of the sort. First off, the reviewer took his time to read the book. Secondly, out of the thousands of books that come into the magazine each week, he chose his book. That’s nothing to sneeze at.

Do they have a point?

 

Read the rest of the post on the Behler Blog. Lynn Price is the Editorial Director for Behler Publications and the author of The Writer’s Essential Tacklebox.

Character and Personality Theory

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This post, from The Denver Bibliophile, originally appeared on The Denver Bibliophile blog on 12/2/09.

In fiction, probably the most important question and certainly the very the first question that needs to be asked is, who is my protagonist character? This question invariably relates to another–who is a person? One may answer this question, as many writers do, by the seat of their pants, relying on personal observation and nuggets of insight gleaned from reading other fiction. But this leads to a poverty of ideas and a poverty of characters. There is a better way.

The question of the nature of personhood has been explored by theorists of personality. There are many theories out there, the most famous, to most people, being that of Freud.  But the writer of fiction would do well to familiarize himself with all of personality theories, adapting them for his own use. In this article, we will look at the Snygg and Combs theory of personality and the work of Carl Rogers and work with the  concepts to create a theory of story character. (A good introduction to personality theories, with citations for further reading, can be found here, http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/perscontents.html )

Snygg and Combs theorize that there exists something called the “phenomenal field,” which is a way to conceptualize our subjective reality, the world of a person’s awareness. It includes a person’s thoughts, concepts, beliefs, and ideas. If we wish to understand why a person behaves as he does, we need to understand their phenomenal field.

But the field is not something that can be observed and certainly it is not something the writer should explain in exposition.  Rather, the writer must present this phenomenal field to the reader through the character’s behavior. Specific action in specific situation becomes, then, like a snapshot of the phenomenal field. Character’s phenomenal field, therefore, is revealed continually through the character’s actions in the story.

Initially, the character’s phenomenal field is only hinted at and its totality remains unknown to the reader. In fact, the phenomenal field should never be revealed completely, nor can it be, for the character in a story may not go through the required range of behaviors to allow such a complete revelation. And this is as it should be, for a character that is completely knowable is boring. The character must be understandable, but not completely knowable, for no human being is.

Read the rest of the post, and many more excellent articles on craft, on The Denver Bibliophile blog.