The Slap-Your-Head-Simple Secret for Selling More Books

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Remember the wannabe-summer-blockbuster Battleship?

If you’re drawing a blank, I’m not surprised.

Released all the way back in May, the movie is based on the classic board game, which is fun, but not quite deep enough to plot even a summer movie.

So, they added Liam Neeson (who I hope just needed the money), the Nordic-looking vampire from True Blood, singer/celebrity Rihanna and…aliens. Yes, aliens.

Think there’s no way that movie could possibly be good? You’re right. It currently stands at a 33% on Rotten Tomatoes. And some of those positive reviews “praised” it only for not being as bad as expected.

As a result, Battleship made back only 30% of its production budget. A genuine flop.

For a big movie studio, that’s a disappointment, but not the end of the world.

As an author, however, making only 30 cents for every dollar spent could prevent you from ever publishing again.

 

Unfortunately, book flops are common. An oft-cited statistic is that 80% of published books (indie or traditional) sell fewer than 100 copies.

Wait! Don’t think I’m trying to pop your awesome indie balloon!

What if I told you that I know the reason for those flops? And, even better, I know what to do to make sure it doesn’t happen to you. It’s a secret so simple that (I promise) you’ll do a *headdesk* when you read it.

The Flopping Problem

Before we get to that simple solution, let’s discuss the problem. It’s rooted in the traditional publishing process, which probably looks pretty familiar:

  1. Write your book.
  2. Revise and edit.
  3. Publish.
  4. Market. Cry at lagging sales.

Even taking out my cheeky “cry” comment, do you see the problem with the above? To compare, check out this alternative process:

  1. Write your book. Build your fanbase.
  2. Revise and edit. Build your fanbase.
  3. Publish. Sell bookoo books.
  4. Keep building your fanbase. Repeat.

In process number two, you have a built-in fanbase ready to buy your book when it’s released! Which rocks, right?

Have you guessed the secret?

The Simple Secret for Selling More Books

Begin marketing before you release your book.

I told you it was simple! That single rule combats the number one problem I see among indie authors: the separation of the writing process from the marketing process.

It’s a huge shame! The writing process is the perfect time to begin building both momentum and your fanbase!

  • Think it’ll take forever? Wrong! Seriously, you can build your crazy-dedicated fanbase in an hour or two a week.
  • What if I don’t finish my book? Don’t let it happen! Getting fans onboard gives you motivation to complete your novel. Folks are waiting!
  • I don’t want to give away the farm! You won’t — you’ll get valuable feedback from the readers who will buy your book.

Anticipation is your ally.

I’m not going to lie, the Olympics have me totally obsessed — did you SEE the hoopla with that poor South Korean fencer? Seriously, though, why are they such a big deal? They only come around once every four years. There’s 3-years-and-50-weeks of buildup (and anticipation) for that one event!

Your book release is your Opening Ceremony, your very own epic event: work to make it that special!

So, how do you go about building the momentum for your epic book release?

1. Start building a fanbase at least 6 months before your book is released.

Yeah, six months might seem like a long time. Trust me, though, the more time you give yourself to build up your fanbase, the better. This also gives you plenty of time to revise, edit and polish your work!

“But I already released my book!”

If you sold less than 100 copies, pretend like you didn’t. I’m serious! If you don’t want to go the revisionist-history route, release a second edition 6 months down the road with some sort of added bonus. That could be:

  • A chapter from your next book
  • A short story from another character’s POV
  • A bonus prologue or epilogue
  • Added reviews and praise

Think of this re-release as your book going back in the Disney vault. You know how you want to buy Robin Hood as soon as they put the blasted thing back in the vault? This principle of scarcity is another one of your allies.

Now that you’ve planned that release (or re-release) date, use the principles of reader-centered book marketing to build up your fanbase.

If you’re thinking that 6 months is a long time to keep readers interested, I’m right there with you. Here’s how you do it:

2. Release exclusive content leading up to your launch.

To communicate with your fans, create a mailing list and give your signup form a prominent spot on your website. When folks sign up, send them a free sample chapter, short story or other (valuable) freebie.

The key? Make your freebie something quick and awesome. Don’t send them a 200-page tome from your backlist! Showcase your awesomeness through something quick to read that makes them decide they want to hear more from you.

Now that you’ve got folks on your list, plan to send out a weekly or bi-weekly email with (key point alert!) something of value.

Our attention is so divided nowadays that as soon as your reader stops receiving value from your emails, they unsubscribe. But, don’t freak out about making each email epic. Providing value doesn’t have to be complicated! You could:

  • Discuss a recent blog post in more detail
  • Promote a friend’s book
  • Share an exclusive excerpt
  • Spotlight a character with a detailed profile
  • Ask a discussion question

Basically what I’m saying is don’t endlessly spam/annoyingly promote. One tip to make things easier: write your updates like you’re writing an email to a friend. Jazz up your readers: get them excited about your book, the characters and the release!

3. Begin gathering reviews at least 3 months before your book is released.

Shannon has a great post on the do’s and do-not’s of requesting book reviews, but, in addition to those tips, think of how your fanbase can help out.

A few months before releasing your book, offer up 25 free copies of your book (via an electronic advanced reading copy) in exchange for reviews.

Encourage readers to follow through by offering a reward: this could be chosen at random or for the best review (it’s up to you). Something like an Amazon gift card, a signed paperback copy or a specially-packaged limited edition (more on that later) all work well.

4. Take preorders and make preordering rewarding!

A month before your release, begin taking preorders. Make preordering an awesome deal for your fans!

Your goal with preorders isn’t to make a ton of money — you will be rewarded in other ways. A successful preorder builds up excitement for the official release while encouraging your early-adopters to read the book, leave reviews and spread the word.

A few ideas on creating a special preorder:

Even this preorder release should be an event! It’s like a dry run for the REAL release, so don’t be afraid to go all out.

5. Release the heck out of your book.

Warning: the week of your release will make you want to cry — out of both exhaustion and relief! You’ve (finally) made it, but your work isn’t over. To escape that 80% trap, finish strong!

Be everywhere your readers are! Show them why they should be your fan — don’t tell (kind of like writing, right?)! In every interview, guest post, Q&A and whatever else, share something new and valuable. Make being a part of your fanbase exciting and exclusive!

Talk Back!

What do you think? Is building up your fanbase before releasing your book a great idea or huge mistake? How did you make your book release an event? Are you a part of the 20% Did you actually pay money to see Battleship? Let me know in the comments!

 

This is a reprint from the Duolit team. Click here to download Duolit’s free 35pp guide to self-publishing.

Selling Books: The Only Guide You'll Ever Need

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Originally appeared as Selling Books: The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need on LiveHacked.com.

 

Note: This post is really long. I believe it’s pretty darn good, and there’s lots of information in it. If there’s one post I’ve ever written that truly sums up my thoughts on writing, books, and making money from them, this is it. Here we go! Since I’ve started this blog, I’ve grown a highly-targeted email list, gained attention in a crowded niche (writing and productivity), and have been able to correspond directly with literally hundreds of people. I’m not famous, and didn’t start by being well-known. In fact, if you would have Googled me six months ago, you’d have found my Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ pages, maybe my personal blog (now pointing to this one), and another dude with the same name as me who sings Backstreet Boys, albeit not well. Basically, I was a nobody.  Sure–I’m certainly not "famous" now, by anyone’s standards, nor have I become some sort of sage or guru. But I’ve definitely made an impact online, and the numbers don’t seem to be slowing down. There are lots of benefits to this sort of "impact," not the least of which is gaining attention and mindshare in a crowded world. For me, though, the best value I’ve received is having been able to help so many other people with their writing, business, and "platform building" online. …And, I’ve had a few book sales, to boot. That’s what this post is about I hope you’re writing for more than just making money. Selling a book is a great way to get your name out there, or promote an idea or mindset, and it can certainly lead to earning more money for yourself as well. Money’s a great thing, used wisely and for the right purposes, but it’s certainly not why most writers and creators are artists. That said, you do need money–either to spend on your family and lifestyle, or to reinvest into your writing business. Whatever the reason, I’ve been getting more and more questions lately about the writing + book sales dilemma. Most writers want to sell their books, and lots of them. But they have a (justified) hesitation when it comes to self-promotion, marketing, and spending hours and days on things other than writing. And I’ve harped on it enough to know that just writing and waiting is sort of a luck-based scenario. If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you’ll know that I believe in building platforms online, and these platforms help to promote us and get more books sold. The problem In a nutshell, the problem with this philosophy is that it’s unspecific. You might understand the concept of building a platform, attracting people to it, and then hyping your product, but you might not understand the intricacies of how it all works. For example, here are some questions I’ve been getting over and over again in my email inbox, in the comments section of some posts, and on guest posts I’ve written around the web:

  • I write fiction, not nonfiction. How can I blog and still sell fiction?
  • I don’t want to write about my life or other nonfiction stuff–how can I write a fiction blog that sells books?
  • How can I sell more of my books without a big publishing deal?
  • How much does it cost to build a solid platform online?

This post will hopefully answer some of these questions. Step 1: Ask the Right Questions First, though, it’s important to make sure you’re asking the right questions. Questions like, "how do I sell more books," or "how many books do  I need to sell to quit my day job?" These questions aren’t bad, they’re just too early in the process of building a platform. The first, most obvious, and most-forgotten question is WHY.

  • Why do you want to build a platform?
  • Why you? Why not someone else?
  • What do you hope to gain from your platform?
  • What do you want others to gain from your platform?

These questions are the "business plan"-type questions that are all related to vision. Vision is a fleeting, hard-to-capture entity that dances in our dreams and makes our mouth water, but it’s not something we usually write down on a piece of paper. For some people, the vision questions (and their corresponding answers) lack clarity, specificity, and action-based steps, so they ignore it, opting instead to "just have it in my head." I can tell you from experience that "just having your vision in your head" is way different than having it written out in perfectly clear sentence form. I’ve launched a few businesses and blogs, and the ones that had a chance of succeeding were the ones that I spent time working on a vision for. Note: Here’s a secret, though. The really good visions aren’t ones we usually have to think too long or hard about–they’re already floating through our heads and in our minds. We just need to actually write them down.  What if your vision is just "to be a writer"? That’s a good question–and the answer is that it’s really not your vision, it’s just the method you want to use to get to your vision. Your real vision is something like:

  • To provide a new, fresh perspective on modern-day cultural changes in humanity, provided through writing and blogging
  • To offer a style of horror novels that inspire, teach, and guide young adults into adulthood
  • To change the way the world views life in third-world countries by writing personal first-person accounts and testaments of the men and women who live there

Do you see the difference? These "vision statements" are bigger–much bigger than, "to be a writer." Your vision can change, and it often does, but it needs to be something big, lofty, and "change-the-world"-y. So again, ask yourself the right questions and come up with a vision you can stick to for awhile. If you need help with these questions, I’ve written an entire book giving them to you (101 in all), and you can grab it here. Step 2: Build A Platform Once you know the right questions, you’ll know the right answers. You’ve been around long enough to have heard all of the ins and outs of what you do, and you’ve read enough about it and studied it long enough. In other words, you’ve read so many answers that all you need to do is figure out the right questions, ask them, and then let your mind answer them the way you know is right. I realized long ago that my platform was going to be successful only if I provided a solid value to other people, first and foremost. Building a business on affiliate programs and product sales was one of the many "answers" floating around on the web, but for me the "right answer" was more about writing for other people and listening to their concerns, and then helping when I could. So, how do you build a platform? You start by figuring out your value. What are you going to offer me that’s going to save me time, earn me more money, entertain or enlighten me, or give me something to think about? You can pick any of these things, but the secret to providing value is doing it well enough that I’ll want to come back later. Platforms range in all shapes and sizes, but the ones we’ll talk about (because that’s what I’m trained to talk about and what I know how to build) are those platforms that are built and grown online, using technology like social media and blogging, and are teaching-based and product (books)-based. This website is a good example of that kind of platform. And here are instructions for building one:

  • Set up a home base. Your "Home Base" is a website, preferably a blog, that will act as your online start and endpoint to everything you do. You don’t need to spend forever building this Home Base, but you do need to take some time to get it right. Here are a few posts describing this process in more detail. Use Google Analytics to track your Home Base’s activity.
  • Set up your outposts. Like your Home Base, these "Outposts" are websites, but they’re usually owned and controlled by someone else. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are all Outposts, and they should all be set up with one and only one goal in mind: Get people to click through to your Home Base.
  • Start promoting. Use the "Slow-Drip Marketing Method" to promote other peoples’ content most of the time, and your own stuff a much smaller portion of the time. Don’t be afraid to promote your own stuff if you’re promoting other stuff most often. Shoot for an 80/20 ratio of promoting other content versus promoting your own. Figure out how to promote almost on autopilot, so you can focus on the next step.
  • Start writing. Actually, you’ll be writing throughout this entire process. You are a writer, so this shouldn’t be difficult. Specifically, you need to write about things people want to read about, and don’t be afraid to try out new things. Again, get this on autopilot (blog every Tuesday and Thursday, for example, no matter what), and then start writing other things, like guest posts, manifestos, and books.

Tweak as you go, adding/subtracting/changing/whatever until you feel like your platform is looking polished and running like a well-oiled machine. Once you get to the point where you don’t need to actively be working on your blog’s theme, widgets, and plugins, use that energy to write more and broaden your horizons. Once you’ve started writing more, measure the results of everything you do, which is the next step. Step 3: Measure and Improve What gets measured gets managed. You don’t want to micromanage for too long, though, or you’ll get analysis paralysis and burn out. However, don’t use that excuse to not track what your efforts are leading to. Here are some key points:

  • Watch Google Analytics data on your Home Base and track things like Bounce Rate, which pages are bringing in the most visitors, and where your visitors are coming from.
  • If you’re using WordPress, install Pretty Links and set up some "pretty links" on your site. An example is the link I use for my new book: www.livehacked.com/blogging-101, which is a "pretty" link that just sends you on to Amazon–but it also tracks how many clicks there are on it, and now Analytics can track it as well. If you’re not using WordPress, start. If you won’t, then I guess you can use gaconfig.com.
  • Using the data you’re starting to measure, tweak things on your Home Base to hopefully improve them.

The formula for all of this is build-measure-tweak-repeat, over and over again. It’s not fancy, pretty, or even fun sometimes, but it works. Having a vision that excites and invigorates you is going to help you run with this formula without getting sick to your stomach. "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." Alright–that covers it! Wait–you thought I was going to give you a top-secret recipe for selling loads of books? Well, I can’t do that–but what I can do is help you figure out how you, as a horror/romance/memoir/investing author, can actually get people to pay attention to you and take the time out to visit that awesome platform you’re building. There are a few tried-and-true methods in the industry that still work, and probably always will. Pick one of them if you want:

  1. Writing about writing. Companies like Writer’s Digest do this very well, and probably make a killing. The goal is to teach other writers about the craft and business of writing, and sell them products, services, and books that further help them. LiveHacked is doing this to some extent.
  2. Writing about yourself. Memoir writers and some other nonfiction authors can usually do this pretty well. Basically, you’re blogging about yourself, your life, your cat, your kids; whatever. It can sometimes be more difficult to make a long-term career out of this style, unless you have a large catalog of your work for sale or you have a bestseller or two.
  3. Writing about your fiction. Every now and then, I’ll come across a blog that’s just a mashup of an author’s fiction–blog posts are really snippets of short stories, character shorts, or serialized books (one chapter or section each day/week). If you want to sell books like this, you might try starting with releasing your book as serial fiction, one post every other day or so. This way, you can "set it and forget it" while you work on your next novel and promote the blog.
  4. Writing about your subject matter. This one’s cool, but it’s difficult. Basically, you’re writing nonfiction blog posts about your fiction’s subject matter. Let’s say you write a novel about a wizard kid who has to defeat He Who Shall Not Be Named. You might write a few posts about the history of wizardry, maybe another few on castles, and some on fantasy in general. You can certainly build a successful platform, but be careful when you try to turn around and write a Tom Clancy-esque military novel–that might need another platform (or pen name) altogether!

I hope all of this makes sense–blogging and platform building is not as much about the subject matter (what you’re blogging about) as it is about to whom you’re offering it. If you can figure out a subset of your demographic that really loves the stuff you blog about, it doesn’t really matter if it’s related to your book’s subject or not. WHAT?!? Yeah, okay, I said it. If you can build a great, successful, and popular platform, your readers and fans will buy your book.  They might not all buy it, but don’t think that just because they like reading your blog about military history, they won’t like reading your YA fan fiction. If you’re building a platform correctly, people will know you as a good writer, not just as a niche-focused writer. An example Trent Hamm, a very popular blogger, is known primarily (and almost exclusively) for his blog, TheSimpleDollar. He’s written so many blog posts on personal finance and helped so many people find financial answers, it came as sort of a shock to me when he announced that his next book (after his first, called The Simple Dollar) would be a novel.  Huh? That’s right–a novel. I don’t know what it’s about, but I know that I’ll buy it. Part of it is just trying to support the guy–hey, I love his work–and the other part of it is that I know he’s a great writer, and even if the book’s a flop, it’ll be like having a friend’s book on my bookshelf. I’m pretty sure that there are about 100,000 other readers of The Simple Dollar who feel the same way. Last thing–let me paint a picture There’s one other way I can illustrate this. I had a comment from a reader not too long ago asking (basically), "how can I promote and blog about nonfiction stuff, and expect these readers to buy my fiction?" It’s a good question, and it warrants a good answer. So here’s my best shot: Imagine you’re at home, having a nice dinner with a friend, whom you know through work. You often exchange work-related ideas, and help each other on projects and such. After dinner, you start watching TV, and the friend says, "hey, man, is this book on the coffee table yours?"  You of course reply, "Yup! I wrote it last year–I’d love for you to read it, but I don’t have another copy here." They will, no doubt, say, "Oh please! Just tell me where to get it! Is it available on Amazon? I’m more than happy to help you out!" You’ve just sold a novel to a "nonfiction friend" (does that analogy make sense?). There will be some friends who congratulate you and pat you on the back, but who never actually buy the book. There are also people who read only one book per year (usually Harry Potter, Twilight or Hunger Games, etc.), so you can’t really expect them to read yours, too. The point The point, if you’re still following along, is that this little parable of The Friend in Your Living Room is really People Who Read Your Blog. Your "living room" is your "Home Base," and the "friend" whom you invite over is the reader whom you attract through your platform-building efforts. Keep plugging away at your platform, and there will be more and more friends in your living room. The end.  I’m really sorry this post ended up so long–thanks for holding on there with me, and if I can ask one more favor–let me know what you thought. Leave a comment, and add your thoughts on the subject!

The Five Mistakes Killing Self-Published Authors

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 I Don’t Take Sides

I feel that traditional publishing has a lot to offer the industry. If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t spend so much time and effort challenging them to innovate to remain competitive. Self-publishing is not a panacea, and, since I spent last week focusing on the traditional end of the industry, today we are going to talk about the top five mistakes I feel are killing self-publishing authors.

Mistake #1 Publishing Before We Are Ready

The problem with the ease of self-publishing is that it is, well, too easy. When we are new, frankly, most of us are too dumb to know what we don’t know. Just because we made As in English, does not automatically qualify us to write a work spanning 60-100,000 words. I cannot count how many writers I have met who refuse to read fiction, refuse to read craft books, and who only go to pitch agents when they attend conferences at the expense of attending the craft sessions.

Additionally, too many new writers I meet do not properly understand the antagonist. They don’t grasp three-act structure, and most don’t have any idea what I mean when I mention POV, Jungian archetypes, or the phrase, “scene and sequel.”

I see a lot of new writers who believe their story is the exception, that the rules make for “formulaic” writing. No, rules are there for a reason, and, if the writing is too formulaic, it has more to do with execution than the rules.

Three-act structure has been around since Aristotle, and there is a lot of evidence in neuroscience that suggests that three-act structure is actually hard-wired into the human brain. Thus, when we deviate too far from three-act structure, it confuses and frustrates readers. Stories have clear beginnings, middles and ends. Without a clear story objective, it is impossible to generate dramatic tension, and what is left over is drama’s inbred cousin, melodrama. Yet, many writers start off writing a book without properly understanding the basic skeleton of story.

Writing fiction is therapeutic, but it isn’t therapy. Yes, characters should struggle with inner demons, but that does not a plot make. Struggling with weakness, inner demons, insecurity, addictions are all character arc, not plot arc. There should be a core story problem that we can articulate in ONE sentence. The plot arc should serve to drive the character arc. If the character does not grow and change she will fail, but it is the core story problem that drives this change. Without the problem, there is no crucible.

Yes, we are artists, but we need to understand the fundamentals. I played clarinet for years, and yes it was an art. But this didn’t excuse me from having to learn to read music, the finger positions and proper embouchure (the way to position the mouth to play).

The better we are at the basics, the better we know the rules, the more we become true artists.

I’ve received contest winners whose first pages were filled with newbie errors. Yet, when I sent them my critique filled with pages of corrections, I would then receive a reply telling me that the book had already been self-published.

OUCH.

Sometimes there are reasons we are being rejected and we need to take a hard look and be honest. Self-publishing is suffering a stigma from too many writers publishing before they are ready. If you really want to self-publish, I am here to support you and cheer you all the way, but remember, we have to write better than the traditional authors.

 

Read the rest of the post on Kristen Lamb’s blog.

Publetariat Endorses Kindle Nation Daily For Kindle Book Marketing

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A message from Publetariat founder and Editor in Chief, April L. Hamilton

Publetariat has never taken the endorsement of goods and services intended for indie authors and small imprints lightly. Publetariat has always erred on the side of caution in this area because there are lots of rip-off artists out there who specifically target our community, making their living off our hopes, and in many cases, our desperation. We take our audience’s trust very seriously, and understand Publetariat’s reputation as a reliable, respectable resource hinges on that trust.

However, in the interests of bringing deserving, effective tools to the attention of Publetariat’s audience, I am giving Kindle Nation Daily‘s Sponsorship Program my personal endorsement, and the endorsement of Publetariat. 

KND is one of the oldest, most heavily-trafficked and most respected sites dedicated to Kindle content; Kindle owners flock to this site, and they trust it. The site made its name with news and commentary of interest to Kindle owners, and then built on that core content by adding categorized lists of free, quality 99 cent (‘quality’ means an average Amazon review rating of 4/5 stars or higher), and Kindle Lending Library -eligible Kindle books, all of which are updated all around the clock.

One of the reasons I can recommend KND’s Sponsorship program without reservation is that KND is totally transparent when it comes to sharing the results of advertising on their sites. KND has advertising options starting as low as $30, and since the site insists on a minimum quality level before agreeing to run advertising for a given book, site visitors know the books they find advertised there have already been subjected to some scrutiny.

Perhaps most importantly, KND is truly dedicated to serving the needs of both authors and readers. One example of this dedication is their recently-launched eBookTracker service: a very useful and totally free tool that makes it easy to track sales rank and pricing changes on any book Amazon carries—like yours, for example.

So if you’ve got a Kindle book that’s not selling as well as you’d hoped, take a look at the Kindle Nation Daily Sponsorship Program. It carries the Publetariat seal of approval.

– April L. Hamilton

 

Book Marketing Toolbox – Free Conference Pro

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Today I want to share another of my favorite free book marketing tools with you. Free Conference Pro is one of several companies that provide free conference calling and recording services.

Here are just a few ways that authors can use this no-cost resource to promote their books and run their business:

 

  • Record yourself reading an excerpt from your book to use as a promotional tool.
  • Do conference calls with your project team or author group.
  • Conduct and record teleseminars with up to 200 live participants.
  • Do recorded interviews of other authors or experts.
  • Record consultations with clients so they don’t have to focus on writing notes.
  • Record audio presentations to distribute on your podcast or website, or sell as a downloadable product.
  • Record an audio greeting to play (on demand) on your website.

What other ways can authors use a free conference call service? Please share your ideas in the comments area below. See previous book marketing toolbox columns here.

 

This is a cross-posting from Dana Lynn Smith‘s The Savvy Book Marketer.

Why I Signed With A New York Literary Agent

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Last week I announced on my author blog that I have signed with literary agent Rachel Ekstrom from the Irene Goodman Literary Agency in New York. Thank you for all the congratulations I have received!

Many of you have been incredibly supportive of my independent publishing career so far and I know you will have some questions. Since I have always been transparent with my journey, I’m happy to share what I can.

I am a fan of publishing in all its myriad guises, and none of us know where the industry is going.  It’s also quite ironic that I feel like I have to defend my decision, since in the past, self-publishing has needed the defense more!

Why do I even want an agent?

I am an author and an entrepreneur, so my goals center around:

  1. Creating great books and quality products that will delight, entertain, educate and inspire my readers
  2. Building a long term career as an author and widening my reader base
  3. Growing a sustainable income that enables me to travel and spend my time on (1) above!

In working towards these goals as an independent author over the last 3.5 years, I have used business partnerships with professional editors, book cover designers and formatters. I also depend on distributors like Amazon, Kobo and BookBaby to get my books into the hands of readers. I use tools like blogging and social networking to market and I pay for internet hosting to enable this. I sell from my site so I use Paypal as a merchant service.

I could not run my business without these business partners.

I look at signing with an agent, and possibly a traditional publisher, in the same way. They are business partners who I will work with to achieve a mutually beneficial goal. I am not a newbie in this business anymore. I have been learning about publishing for nearly four years, so this is certainly done with forethought. I have also done a lot of research on contracts and legalities, attending the Rights workshop at the London Book Fair as well as poring over books on contract clauses. I’m not going to sign anything that doesn’t fit with my goals.

Being an indie author is not only about self-publishing anymore. It’s more about taking control of your career as an author and becoming a creative director for each book. The Alliance of Independent Authors has a fantastic definition here if you want to read more.

So signing with an agent and pursuing traditional publishing reflects on my overall goals above as follows:

(1) Traditional publishing is excellent at creating quality products.

I’m an ebook only author right now and although I have dabbled in print, I don’t enjoy the process. I know a lot of indies do it successfully but I am a huge fan of doing things I enjoy :)

I currently employ several different editors during my writing process, and I absolutely believe this is critical for any author to invest in. Traditional publishing will hopefully take me to a new level with my writing and push me further. I will certainly be looking for a great editorial team as part of any deal.

(2) Traditional publishing will enable me to build a wider audience.

There are still many readers who will only buy print books in bookstores, or who hear about books through more traditional venues e.g. book clubs. I can reach an online audience myself but there are possibilities with traditional publishing that I also want to pursue.

(3) On the income question.

I am the kind of indie who wants a hybrid approach combining traditional publishing with self-publishing. After all, traditional and independent publishing are not mutually exclusive.

This approach can bring in spikes with advances, and then a monthly rolling income with self-publishing. I specifically went with the Irene Goodman Agency because they understand self-publishing can be an option for some of their authors at certain times, depending on the specifics of the author’s career and goals. I know some of their authors who are already following this hybrid approach successfully.

Nothing changes right now in terms of my books being available for sale. You can still buy Pentecost and Prophecy at the moment (better snap them up though!).

Here are some of the other reasons for pursuing this opportunity.

Authority, experience, social proof and let’s face it, ego.

You guys know I am proud of self-publishing and absolutely intend to continue doing it in some form. Indeed, I recently re-released my first book on career change. But originally, this blog was sub-titled ‘Adventures in Publishing’ and it was always my goal to have a traditional book deal one day.

In the UK, there are still bookstores on the high street and my parents read books in print that they buy from Waterstones. I do want to be on those shelves among the bestsellers. There is definitely still some authority and social proof with traditional publishing that I want to benefit from, so long as I can integrate it with my self-publishing goals.

I would also like to say I have ‘done it’ so I can justifiably join in the discussions on traditional publishing that I can only report on second-hand at the moment.

Film rights and other subsidiary rights.

As well as my lovely agent, Rachel Ekstrom, the Irene Goodman agency has a couple of great rights agents who focus on specific areas of subsidiary rights. I am interested to see what they can do with my books.

Lee Child talked at Thrillerfest about the upcoming movie Jack Reacher, starring Tom Cruise. Very exciting. I want Morgan Sierra to be the next Lara Croft, so I need people with the right contacts to make that happen. I know the film deal is a lightning strike type of luck, but some authors make it, and I have always had stretch goals and dreams!

Peer respect, blurbs and networking.

At Thrillerfest, I was excited to meet some of the big name authors who I call my writing heroes. Much as I love self-publishing, even in the current market, I think I am more likely to be able to get blurbs from big name authors if I get a traditional book deal. I have to build my author brand over time and peer networking is critical for this.

Entry into prizes.

This is an arena that is slowly opening up to indies, but most prizes are still currently based on traditional publishing. I think nominations and awards can help marketing and enable the expansion of readership.

Speaking opportunities at festivals.

I already have a professional speaking career but it doesn’t currently include talking specifically about my fiction :) The festivals in the UK especially are only about traditionally published authors, and this is an area I want to break into. (btw, I’m speaking at Zurich WriteCon in October if anyone fancies some Swiss chocolate with their scribbling!)

Why a New York agent when I live in London?

I am British but I moved back to London last year after 11 years in Australia and New Zealand. In the last four years, I have learned about online marketing from mainly US blogs so I am enmeshed in their business models. My Mum also lived in the US for many years so I have visited a lot. I love my homeland but in terms of publishing, I believe the Americans are still ahead of us in terms of the new paradigms in publishing. I wanted a forward thinking agent at an innovative agency.

It’s also a bigger book market in the US and my current sales are about 4:1 US:UK split. I wrote for the US market and even use an American spell-check. My traffic for this site and my podcast is over 50% US so most of my existing audience is there. In publishing terms, books that make it big in the US are more likely to be picked up in the UK and in other countries. So it is a business move that hopefully will put me in a better position for achieving my goals.

I have years of writing ahead of me.

The books I have out right now are not the end of what I can create. They are not precious snowflakes (much as I love them!). I have stacks of ideas and I am writing more books. At the moment, I am mostly in the library working on edits for Exodus, ARKANE book #3 and researching my next book, Hunterian, which is possibly a stand-alone or the beginning of a new series.

This is a serious career for me. I want to sell some books to the right trade publisher and self-publish others.

I am 37 with (hopefully) 50+ years of writing ahead. The decision to sign with an agent and pursue traditional publishing for some of those books opens possibilities but it certainly doesn’t stop me from doing all kinds of exciting things in the future.

This is just the beginning. I hope you will join me for the ride!

I’d love to hear what you think as I know it’s an emotional topic. Please do leave your comments [here, in the post’s original location].

 

This is a cross-posting from Joanna Penn‘s The Creative Penn.

15 Steps to Create Great Blog Videos

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Video is everywhere in blogs today. As many people predicted, when web surfers get broadband internet service, they want blog video and lots of it.

Let’s face it, we’ve all be raised on television in one way or another, and that’s got to be a powerful influence.

Lots of people enjoy learning through video lessons, and if it’s entertainment that drives your blog and your books, there’s no better way to deliver it than through video.

In order to deliver great content, it seems like you have to get your videos to look good, too. A year or two ago you could probably get away with bad-looking video if your content was good.

But the spread of video has also raised the bar as far as what looks “good” to the average viewer.

A few weeks ago a woman walked up to me at a publishing group meeting and introduced herself. “Actually,” she said, “I feel like I already know you since I’ve been watching your videos.”

Wow, that was great, because that’s just what I was aiming for. It’s also the way I feel about people I’ve watched on blog videos, and it’s a powerful testament to how we humans connect and how, if we invest ourselves in what we’re doing, it can really affect other people.

Which is Better, Video or Text?

Last week I posted a video instead of writing a post. At times I’ve wondered whether making a video takes more or less time than writing a typical 1,000-word article.

Over the past year I’ve acquired equipment for doing videos, gotten a ton of practice, and created hours of video for my online training course for authors, The Self-Publishing Roadmap.

So while I’m sitting at my desk pounding on my keyboard, right behind me are the lights, tripod, camera and a big whiteboard just waiting to be used.

The two processes—writing and making video—use completely different skills and equipment.

Writing a post is pretty straightforward:

  • outline
  • write
  • edit
  • format
  • add photo
  • post

With video, you get much more involved with technology and completely different kinds of processes. For short videos you might not need a script if you already know what you want to say, so at least you can avoid the writing part if you’re confident on your feet.

Of course, it’s far simpler to create screencasts where you make a movie of what’s happening on your screen, and you add your voiceover. I use a lot of these, too, but it’s the live action videos that I like the most.

With all that in mind, here’s my method of dealing with web video for blog posts, and for products and services that you might create from your blogging activity.

How to Create Blog Videos in 15 Steps

This is the basic process I go through—along with the tools I use—to make blog videos like the Book Marketing Continuum, a pretty simple whiteboard presentation that ran about 13 minutes:

  1. Outline content—there’s no way around this, and it’s very similar to outlining a written post. Regardless of how it looks, most people can’t just turn the camera on and start shooting impromptu and hope to get anything of quality out of it.
     
  2. Create a cheat sheet—I hang a single piece of paper on the front of the tripod so I can glance at it during filming. I do them with a Sharpie marker which makes creating diagrams very easy and quite visible from 4 feet away. I’ll use this as I work through the content. The illustration at the top of this article shows part of one of these sheets from a recent shoot.
     
  3. Adjust the lighting—On the recommendation of a cinematographer I bought a set of 2 “softboxes” on tripod stands. Unless you’re adept at shooting outdoors, you pretty much need to have lighting to get a good looking video.
     
  4. Check the microphone—You may have realized this, but while you can watch a video that’s not very well made and still get a lot from it, if the sound is bad, it’s likely you will stop watching. When I realized that microphones don’t have to cost that much, I got an Audio-Technica ATR-3350 microphone for less than $25, and it works great.
     
  5. Set the camera—Last year I made a bunch of videos using my iPhone. Although these came out better than expected, eventually I realized I needed a camcorder, and bought a Canon Vixia MF400. This allows me to zoom, adjust white balance and exposure, and generally takes great HD video.
     
  6. Shoot the video—Surprisingly, this part can be just a small part of the process. I know what I’m going to say, I’m all set up with equipment I’ve used a lot before, so I’m comfortable and just launch in. I was super pleased to find a tiny remote control that came with the camera, too. This allows me to flip the screen around so it’s facing front, which makes it easy to see if you’ve got the shot framed properly, then start filming with the remote. Love that.
     
  7. Transfer the video—My camera uses SD cards, so I’ve got a couple of those, and they are very cheap for mass storage. Not only that, I discovered the new Macintoshes now come standard with a slot for SD cards, making it very easy to get them onto my Mac.
     
  8. Convert the video—Unfortunately, I can’t use the videos in the format the camera uses (*.MTS) so the first thing I do is run them through a converter to get a .MOV file. I use Wondershare, a fast and capable program with lots of options.
     
  9. Edit the video—When I first got started with video I realized it would work for me if I could keep it simple. Like a lot of people I don’t have time to learn a ton of complicated new software. iMovie looked like what I wanted, but the interface was frustratingly hard to learn. Eventually I started using the editor in Screenflow, a fantastic screen recorder for Macintosh. I love this software for its simplicity, range of tools, and speed at getting video done without getting hung up in editing minutia. What a great program.
     
  10. Export the video—Once you’re finished adding titles and editing your video, you export it from Screenflow. You can send your videos straight to Youtube.com or Vimeo.com or just dump them to your drive in .MOV format. I’ve been hosting my videos on Amazon S3, a bulk hosting service. This means I’ve got another step to do.
     
  11. Convert the video again—The standard for web video is the MP4 format, and that’s the one that also plays on mobile devices like phones and tablets. So now I run the video through a great free product, Handbrake, to get them encoded properly for all kinds of uses.
     
  12. Upload the video—Since these files can get pretty big, you either have to use FTP software to transfer them to the server you’re using for hosting, or a special program. Right now I’m using a nifty free plugin for Firefox called S3 Organizer that does the job quickly and easily.
     
  13. Set permissions—By default all media files uploaded to the S3 servers are private, so you’ve got to go in and set the permissions through the ACL (access control list) because otherwise people will get an error when they press the “play” button.
     
  14. Create a player—If you use a host like Youtube.com you won’t have to worry about this, but for S3-hosted videos, you have to create the player that will actually show your video on your blog. I use the (paid) EzS3.com service to do this.
     
  15. Embed your video—Grab the code from your host (or EzS3.com player) and make sure it’s sized properly for your blog. The main content area on my blog is about 500 pixels wide, so I want to stay within those boundaries. Embedding is just a matter of putting the HTML code provided into your blog post.

Extra steps can include creating an MP3 audio file for those readers who would rather listen than watch, and that has its own conversion and uploading chores, too.

Is all that faster than writing a blog post? I don’t think so, but if you want to get the benefits of a great connection with your readers and the ability to explain complex or visual tasks, it’s really worth it. This whole process probably took me about 2 hours to produce that 13-minute video.

Have you thought of trying out video on your blog? Have you been able to streamline the process?

 

This is a reprint from Joel Friedlander‘s The Book Designer.

Of Sentences And Stories

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This post, by Craig Lancaster, originally appeared on New Wave Authors on 7/30/12.

Listen up, kids. If you want to make the writing life even more difficult than it already is sometimes, have this for an answer when someone asks you what kind of stories you write:

"Um … well, they’re sort of literary, but … you know, a bunch of stuff happens, but it’s, like … you know … I guess it’s sort of family drama stuff. Sort of. You know?"

That’s, like, a direct quote or whatever.

And if you want to stump even people who write for a living, ask them to define for you, in a single sentence, what constitutes "literary fiction." A few bright souls might have a simple answer, but for the most part, expect some stumbling around.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately–as I try to tame my current work in progress into what I think it wants to be, as I read Dwight Allen’s bizarre complaint about Stephen King (accurately subtitled "a snob’s notes") and then cheer Sarah Langan’s astute takedown of that same piece.

(Let me stop right here to posit that I consider Stephen King a literary writer. Yes, also a horror and fantasy writer, but his best work illuminates the human condition, bringing the things we fear the most and love the most together and telling us some fundamental truth about them. That, to me, is the very essence of literary writing. If we cannot agree on this point, we’re not likely to agree on much else, so perhaps it’s best to part ways. I’ve gotta finish writing this post. Maybe you could go over here.)

When we’re not careful about how we define our terms, we tend to get bifurcated into these extreme points of view: Literary writing is about the beauty of language and the depth of character. Genre writing is about the pace and plot of the story.

 

Read the rest of the post on New Wave Authors.

Curiosity Quills Press Hosts A Cover Art Giveaway

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We often post articles here that urge indie authors to seek out pro services, so we’re happy to highlight this contest from Bone Wires, which is awarding a professional cover design.

To show support for self-publishing and independent authors, Curiosity Quills Press is giving away free professional cover art design as part of a giveaway to promote their latest release – Bone Wires by Michael Shean.

If you win, your cover art designer will be Michael Shean. In addition to being an author, Michael Shean is a professional graphic designer and designed his own covers for Bone Wires and Shadow of a Dead Star. Even if you don’t win the free cover art for your novel, by entering you have a great chance of winning a free copy of Bone Wires.

If you win the grand prize of cover art and don’t need it at this time, Michael can assist you with a blog banner or similar graphic design project.

 

Enter the giveaway here: http://curiosityquills.com/bone-wires-cover-art-giveaway/

Living In The Past

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This post, by Liza Perrat, originally appeared on The Writer’s ABC Checklist on 7/30/12.

Some wonderful advice from historical novelist, Liza Perrat, on how to breathe life into your novels.

I was initially drawn to historical fiction because I love history, and historical novels bring it closer to us in an entertaining fashion. I have only just set out on my third historical fiction adventure, so I’m far from being an expert, but this is what I’ve gleaned about this fascinating genre so far.

It appears very few historical fiction writers have university degrees in history. Most authors of historical fiction are, first and foremost, novelists who must master the craft of good fiction in the same way as contemporary novelists. Knowing how to write a good story, which hooks readers and keeps them turning the pages, is as vital as getting the historical details right.

Yet we do have to get those period customs and technological details right. Our ancestors had very different attitudes about many aspects of life than people of today. What was your heroine’s relationship with her husband, her children, the people with whom she lived? Did she use cutlery and plates? What job might she have had? Would she have been literate? Historical fiction falls flat on its face when the characters jump off the page as modern-day people dressed up in period garb, and details like this can be frustrating to research. But these days, with all the historical resources available, and the internet, authors spending the time and effort can usually discover those golden nuggets that will bring their story to life.

Besides spending hours online and frowning over the barely legible print of yellowed letters, postcards, diaries and old books, there’s nothing like spending time in a place, trying to imagine how it might have looked, felt and smelled, in the past. Readers like to sense the spirit of place –– the vegetation, the seasonal light, the odours. It pulls them into the story, makes them empathize with the characters, and provides a stage on which they can visualize the story. But readers will quickly become bored with history lessons, so information should be integrated into the story, without it coming across as school textbook.

Historical monuments and structures evoke the past and I like to study them as closely as possible, and take lots of photographs (preferably minus any lurking tourists!). A walk around the rural French village in which I live gave me the idea for Spirit of Lost Angels, the first novel in my historical series, set during the French Revolution, and recently published under the Triskele Books label. On the banks of the Garon River, I came upon a cross named croix à gros ventre (cross with a big belly). Engraved with two entwined tibias and a heart shape, it is dated 1717 and commemorates two children who drowned in the river. Who were they? How did they drown, and where are they buried?

 

Read the rest of the post on The Writer’s ABC Checklist.

The Dark Knight Rises – Thoughts On A Trilogy

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

There aren’t any spoilers in this post, but there are some spoilers at the places I link to at the end, so be warned.

It’s no secret that I’m a Batman fan. In fact, that’s an understatement – I fucking love Batman, in a totally platonic way. I’ve often said that Batman and the Joker are the two greatest fictional characters ever created and I stand by that. So when talk of a new Batman film started back in 2003 or 4 or whenever it was, I was dubious. But it was to be made by Christopher Nolan, a man whose talents I already admired. The result was Batman Begins, the first of a proposed trilogy. I was very pleasantly surprised.

The first thing to remember when films are made from established literary canon, be they novels, comic books, games or anything else, is that a film is a self-contained thing. It’s finite. Batman comics have been going since 1939 and there’s a metric fuckton of established canon and ongoing story with which a film can’t hope to compete. Nor should it try. So a film will always make changes to established canon and we fans can’t be precious about that. It’s how the film plays with that canon that matters.

In Batman Begins, Nolan turned the notion of Ras Al Ghul a little bit on its head. He made Ras and Henri Ducard the same character, which they absolutely aren’t in the comic canon. He also made Ras an Irishman. But the things he then did with those characters, with Ras’s mission as an idealistic eco-terrorist, were bang on the money. Nolan did a brilliant job of retelling the Batman genesis and origin, and adding in a well favoured supervillain. Within that, he kept the darkness essential to the Batman’s story. He kept the gothic, noir edge of the characters and setting. He made Gotham an integral character in the film. So while he played with some aspects of established canon to make a film-sized story, he did it well and kept enough of what we already know intact to make a very impressive, cohesive whole. I was very happy with the film.

But all along it was touted as a trilogy. And this is where we go back to the nature of film compared to an ongoing series. This film was to be finite in three instalments. The second film, The Dark Knight, stands tall for many reasons. Not least of these is that amazing performance from Heath Ledger as the Joker, which is still the highpoint of the trilogy for me. And again, Nolan took some liberties with established canon, but stayed true to so many parts that we love that we went with him for the ride. I did, anyway. And most importantly for me, he totally got what the Joker is all about. The Joker is the worst monster imaginable, because he’s the embodiment of absolute chaos. No rhyme, no reason, no appealing to any sense or intelligence. Just pure, insane chaos. Some men, after all, just want to watch the world burn.

So I’d been waiting patiently and slightly nervously for The Dark Knight Rises, the third and final instalment. So often a third film is where a series can jump the shark. It can be the step too far. But Nolan always said this was to be a trilogy and I trusted him as a storyteller enough to hope that he would see it through well. Again, liberties were took. The big bad this time is Bane, and he’s very different from the comic book character. In the comics, Bane is addicted to and fuelled by Venom. But in this film, Venom doesn’t even get a mention. Bane’s origin is also played with, as are the origins of other key players (who I won’t discuss for fear of spoilers). But that’s okay, because Nolan is using Bane in his own way, like he used Ras Al Ghul in the first one. And he does a good job of it.

Nolan also does a very good job of using the Selina Kyle character. She’s never called Catwoman in the film, her cat ears are just her night goggles, pushed up onto her head and so on. But the core of the character is there. She’s a tough, sassy, very capable cat burglar. She’s a real-world foil to the Batman’s black and white view of crime and culpability. She’s so much more than a sexy accoutrement and Anne Hathaway does a brilliant job with a character that is very hard to play well.

And using these characters and settings, Nolan brings threads from both previous films together in The Dark Knight Rises and ties them into a truly epic story, worthy of its comic book roots and also worthy of its cinematic grandeur. He does tell a complete story in three films and he does it bloody well.

Each of the films is successively darker, more epic and more daring than the last and by far the best thing about them is that Nolan has made an absolutely self-contained trilogy. It’s not the same as the comic books, because the comics are still going on, and will continue to do so. Nolan has taken the characters and spirit of those stories and turned them into one complete and very clever tale. We see the full life of the Batman, from genesis, through origin, through rise and fall and rise again, right out to final closure. And it’s very satisfying.

Sure, the films have flaws. With The Dark Knight Rises there are illogicalities, there are strange timing issues, there are simple nonsensical things (like the one I mentioned the other day – how the hell does Bane eat? And he’s a big boy, so he must eat a lot.) There’s actually not nearly enough Batman in the third and final Batman film. There are often certain events in the movies which are entirely too convenient and plot-driven. But, these things are relatively few and far between and largely eclipsed by all the good stuff.

There are those who have suggested that this final instalment is a pro-fascist movie (although I disagree with most of that post and the author obviously doesn’t have any real understanding of the ideology of Ras Al Ghul). I mean, sure, all superhero stories are fundamentally fascist – the super power steps in with violence, operating outside the law, to battle the greater threat on behalf of the people. But that’s a whole other discussion and not one limited to Nolan’s interpretation of Batman.

There are those who have asked what the hell happened to the Joker after the second film. Although Ledger died and couldn’t reprise his role, it’s strange that there was never any mention. Though one possible answer lies here.

(Remember – spoilers at the above links!)

There are several other concerns raised in various reviews and posts I’ve read, some valid, some not so much. Regardless, Nolan has created in his Batman trilogy something rarely seen from Hollywood these days – an intelligent, complex, complete and satisfying story along with the incredible special effects and cinematic epicness we’ve come to expect. Effects are so often utilised at the expense of story, but not with these films. The Dark Knight Rises is possibly the best of the three when it comes to simply amazing set pieces of action and downright brilliant photography. But it’s the combined power of the three films together that really stands out as Nolan’s crowning achievement here.

Personally I can’t wait till The Dark Knight Rises is released on DVD so I can put aside a day to sit and watch all three films back to back in a beauteous Bat-filled marathon of cinematic awesomeness.

 

 

This is a reprint from Alan Baxter‘s The Word.

Fifty Shades of Hypocrisy

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When it comes to books like Fifty Shades of Grey, the Twilight series and The DaVinci Code (huge commercial successes that are pretty universally acknowledged as poorly written), outrage among authors who haven’t been as successful in finding a monster, dedicated fan base is generally off the scale.

I’m not going to reduce this to a simple case of jealousy, though jealousy is certainly a factor. It’s more like a sense of injustice, a feeling that authors who seem to be lacking in skill or talent haven’t truly earned the riches and fame being heaped upon them—particularly in the eyes of those who have labored long and hard on craft.

Anyone who aspires to authorship has been told her entire life that eventually, quality work rises to the top and finds the audience it deserves. Fifty Shades of Grey and Jersey Shore memoirs notwithstanding, I still believe this is absolutely true. The part that angry, hardworking authors seem to miss is that when "quality work rises to the top and finds the audience it deserves," that audience may not be large enough to crack the NYT Bestseller list, nor even necessarily the Amazon Top 100.

Why does this come as a surprise to anyone?

Look at the most popular television shows, musical acts and movies in the West. And by "popular", I mean the most commercially successful. With very, very few exceptions, it’s all lowest-common-denominator tripe, aimed at the 18-35 demographic, promoting the pursuit of youth, physical beauty, material gain and fame, above all else. If I wanted to put it more kindly, I might say it’s escapist wish-fulfillment material.

For many of us, life is already throwing enough physical, mental and emotional work our way that when we have a few minutes or hours to spare on entertainment, all we want is the cinematic, musical or literary equivalent of junk food. We want something shiny to distract us for a little while, that’s all. I’d have to count myself as part of that population most of the time, for the past few years.

Then there’s the (possibly larger) population of people who never seek out anything but the shallowist escapism in their entertainment. If a movie, song or book happens to make them think a little, fine. But they’re not looking for that, and if it requires them to think too much, they’re turned off because it starts to feel more like work than entertainment. It stops being fun, and nowadays, consumers expect everything from driving directions to language lessons to be fun.

Guess what? Quality prose is rarely described as "fun". It can actually be quite demanding. Clever turns of phrase often hinge on historical or literary references. Similes and metaphors are built on the foundation of a shared vocabulary between writer and reader. Intricate plots require the reader to keep track of multiple plot threads and character arcs. 

Writers who sweat these kinds of details in their manuscripts do so not only because they take personal pride in quality work, but because they want the reading experience to be the best it can possibly be for the eventual reader. But here’s the thing: if you’re preparing a seven-course, gourmet meal for dinner guests who only have the time or inclination (or both) to wolf down fast food, your eventual disappointment is both inevitable and predictable. Nobody who’s craving a Big Mac is inclined to seek out haute cuisine.

Here’s where the "Hypocrisy" from the title of this blog post comes in. As an author, you can strive to write prose your fellow authors and the literary establishment will admire, belittle the quality of a lowest-common-denominator bestseller, and mock the lowbrow tastes of the majority. But if you do all those things while simultaneously being angry that the majority isn’t buying and loving your book, you’re being a hypocrite. You’re not writing what they’re lining up to buy, and you don’t even want to write what they’re lining up to buy, so why begrudge them their choices and purchases?

In fairness, there’s definitely some skill and plenty of work involved in engineering entertainment so that it will appeal to the widest possible demographic. Nicholas Sparks is a master of this, and has the piles of cash to prove it. Adam Sandler isn’t likely to win an Academy Award in his lifetime, but he’s amassed as much wealth as a small island nation, and is beloved by millions the world over for bringing laughter into their lives.

None of which is to say that quality writing and commercial success are totally incompatible. When art and commerce meet and play nice together in the literary world, the result is a Neil Gaiman or Nora Ephron. Authors like these, who hit the magic trifecta of talent, skill and zeitgeist time and again are a rarity. They are the Bonos, Beatles and Bowies of the literary world: hugely popular, successful, admired, respected, and influential in their medium—all at the same time, both within their own profession and in the eyes of the general public. The most that the rest of us can hope for is to achieve maybe two of the things on that list, and not necessarily both at the same time or even in the same book. Anyone can hope to become a literary rockstar, but no one can plan for it the way one can plan for a successful career in medicine or teaching.

So pick a goal, art or commerce, and devote yourself to it. Accept that while it’s possible you may achieve both, it’s not too likely. Accept that in fact, it’s not even truly "likely" that you’ll achieve either one. Accept that writers who are willing to pander have better odds of enjoying the kind of sudden, ‘overnight’ success enjoyed by E.L. James, the author of Fifty Shades of Grey, just as an Us Weekly with a picture of a Kardashian on it is the odds-on favorite to far outsell an issue of the Economist with a picture of a Prime Minister on it. But also know that the likelihood such books will become beloved classics that future generations of readers will reach for, and recommend, time and again is remote.

 

This is a cross-posting from April L. Hamilton’s Indie Author Blog.

Remember When Amazon Set the Pace for Ebook Pricing? It’s Back!

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This post, by , originally appeared on Digital Book World on 7/26/12.

 

Remember when Amazon set the pace for ebook pricing?

Remember when they set prices designed to build a market from scratch – and did just that – built a market from scratch?

If you don’t recall a time before Agency Pricing, a time when Amazon fully ruled the ebook roost, dust off your history books. That time is coming back, in very short order, and it’s going to completely redefine the publishing and ebook landscapes (again).

Once the DoJ case is officially adjudicated (with all signs pointing to the Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster deal being the final structure of the settlement) we’re going to see an unprecedented 30-70 days where the ebook market and competitive landscape will be complete re-written – literally in real-time.

Despite all of the upheaval that’s coming, what I’ll be watching most closely is discoverability – specifically the ability for authors to build audiences in light of massive price competition from retailers and publishers.

With prices crashing through the floor, upstart authors losing their ability to compete / differentiate / build an audience based on price and publishers frantically racing to develop direct to consumer (reader) relationships in a bid to re-establish themselves as the foundation of the ebook market, it’s going to be increasingly difficult for readers to keep finding new quality works.

When best sellers are priced at (or nearly at) the same level as unknowns, the decision to venture off the beaten path will become more difficult. This is the same concept as purchasing Kleenex vs. the store brand tissue. If the price is close enough (<10% variance), you’re buying Kleenex. It’s only when the price variance exceeds 25% that consumers begin to react negatively to a brand and seek information about alternative products.

 

Read the rest of the post on Digital Book World.

The Ebook Marketplace is About to Change…a Lot

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This post, by Mike Shatzkin, originally appeared on The Shatzkin Files on 7/26/12.

Now that the DoJ’s response to the public comments has made it overwhelmingly likely that the settlement it negotiated with Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster will be accepted by the Court, it is time to contemplate the changes we’ll see in the ebook marketplace in the next couple of months.

The settlement requires the three affected publishers to inform retailers working under agency agreements that they can be released from them. Ten days is alloted from the time of the Court’s acceptance for that to take place. Then the retailers have 30 days to terminate their agreement and then the publishers have 30 days from receiving that notice to actually end it.

So the process could be almost instantaneous, if the publishers served notice immediately, the retailers responded immediately, and the publishers reacted to the response immediately. Or it could take as long as 70 days from the Court judgment, if everybody used the entire time alloted by the judgment.

Assuming that Amazon acts with competence and alacrity in its own interests (and I’d expect nothing less), the entire process could take no more than 40-45 days with them. (Each retailer can be on its own clock.) That should liberate Amazon from most pricing constraints on the three settling defendants’ books by the middle of September.

There’s a bit of confusion in the settlement language here. In the same paragraph, IV-B, that lays out the 10-day, 30-day, and 30-day requirements as described above, it also says that 30 days after “entry of the Final Judgment” (the starting gun for everything), the Settling Defendants take “each step” required to terminate or not renew or extend the agreement. Or maybe the language makes sense to a lawyer but I’m just confused. It seems like they’re asking for results before the first 30-day period would have expired.

The settlement, which ostensibly does not eliminate agency agreements (although it clearly eviscerates them), requires that any new agreements not allow publishers to dictate final sale prices by the retailers, except to cap them (in an unwieldly way we’ll consider below in more detail) and also disallows any “most favored nation” (MFN) clauses protecting any retailer from the impact of other retailers’ pricing decisions. These restrictions are specified to last for two years for each retailer, starting from the date the old agreement’s price-controlling clauses are mooted, whether by the agreement being terminated or by the publisher notifying the retailer, in writing, that the offending clauses will not be enforced.

It is back to the drawing board for new agreements. Ostensibly they can be “agency” agreements by which the publisher sets a price and pays a commission for sales based on that price. But since agency agreements were actually attractive because they achieved what is now deemed illegal price parity across the marketplace, these publishers must be rethinking the efficacy of the model. I would be.

So new contracts will be needed between the three settling publishers and all the retailers. And they’ll need to be crafted, negotiated, and signed within a maximum 70-day window.

Anybody responsible for this who remembers what a combination marathon-and-sprint these negotiations were in 2010 won’t be planning any 2-week vacations over the next few months.

There is one big fat joker in the settlement. The publishers are allowed to negotiate agreements limiting the retailers from discounting from the publishers’ (now) suggested prices. The settlement allows the publisher to prohibit discounts on their books which in the aggregate over one year exceed the margin the retailer has earned on those books.

 

Read the rest of the post on The Shatzkin Files.

Words I Never Want to See in Your Novel. Please.

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This post, by Jamie Chavez, originally appeared on her site on 5/17/12.

When I get to the end of an edit, I generally make a list of the author’s “favorite” words and phrases—words he or she used over and over without realizing it. It’s quite instructive.

Usually they are words like so and well used at the beginning of sentences of dialogue. Often it’s amazing (and you know how I feel about that!). Smirk shows up a lot too. Recently a manuscript I worked on had dialogue littered with you and I both know and listen as a way to begin a sentence (Listen, Sam, you and I both know the president will never approve that death squad).

You can’t hide much from your editor, my friends. We’re like hairdressers. 🙂

But in the spirit of self-improvement, let’s talk about some words and phrases I really wish you wouldn’t use, because I am, frankly, tired of reading them. It’s good for you to know these things now. Honest.

• I couldn’t help but … (notice, think, wonder)
This phrase shows up in many variations, and all of them are unoriginal and empty. Stop it. Just say, “I noticed …”

• Truth be known
Aside from the fact it’s way overused, it’s awkward. If you really must use it, it should properly be If the truth were known. Don’t tell me it’s your voice. Please.

• Suddenly
The hallmark of an inexperienced writer. Think about it: everything in fiction (in life!) happens suddenly. One second it wasn’t happening … and then it was. Suddenly.

• Blurt out
You remember my post on dialogue tags, right? I’m already not crazy about blurt for that reason, but when you write he blurted out, I cringe at the redundancy. 

• I thought to myself (or he thought to himself)
Of course you think to yourself! Who else is in there with you? Now, you can say things to yourself. That means you’re speaking out loud, but are not engaged in a dialogue with another character. And that’s fine. Although it is, they say, one of the first signs of insanity.

• Then, then, and then
It’s not necessary to keep reminding me that one action came after another.

 

Read the rest of the post on Jamie Chavez’ site.