A Project

An interesting project has finally come up and started rolling.

As I think I've said before, I'm part of a writers' group that meets at a local arts center every Sunday. It's a nice group of people. We have fun, and once in a while I actually produce something worthwhile ("Last Man Standing", published this past summer, was born in my writers' group, as I think I have said).

The director of the arts center has been talking for at least a year now about trying to publish our work in a book. As it stands, we've already had 'featured writers of the month' in the newsletter the center puts out. The book idea has largely not gone anywhere--we are not publishers, by and large, and she's too busy. So for the last year or so the talk would surface from time-to-time, but it wasn't going anywhere. Until now.

Yesterday we sat down with a person who is a new employee of the center, a young lady who has a freshly-inked piece of sheepskin in the field of creative writing and publishing, and is in charge of making the book happen. She handed out a production schedule, we talked a bit about what needed to happen, and when it needed to happen by, we talked contracts and rights--and then I had to leave for a potluck dinner for the Catbird's Cross Country team.

I have to say, I have mixed feelings about the venture.

On the one hand, it's always nice to claim publication, isn't it? This will not be a paid gig; I will not make any money off this, but that's okay, even though I want people to pay for my writing. Also, this will be a self-published book. As of now, our Editor-in-Chief is looking at Lulu for printing. As all of us will be involved in the project, this is a great opportunity for me to learn about the process, should I ever choose to self-publish. It's a low risk situation for me, submitting a few short pieces that likely wouldn't see the light of day anywhere else, anyway. And, of course, it's a way to show my support for what I think is a great organization.

But I am the doubting writer, so I have some doubts.

First, I am a notorious non-completionist when it comes to writers' circle. Most of what I write in the circle are fragments, bits and pieces of things picked up from here and there. Some of them are fun, some of them could be good, but most of them are not. The things that really grab me, the ones that I come home excited about, and actually do more with, are things that I aim at publication. And it often takes me time to get there. "Last Man" was initially drafted in about a week. It then sat for over a year before I dusted it off and started playing with it again. Yesterday, I printed out five pieces that I thought were kind of fun, that I thought had potential for this book. Two of them were pieces I submitted here and there, the other three were things that I liked well enough, but never polished to a high shine. To get all of them ready, I'm going to need to spend more time with them, and time is in shorter supply than it had been.

Second, I do have to say I worry a bit about quality. There were eight of us around the table yesterday, most of whom have been in this group for at least a year, some for longer. The skill level varies greatly. I'm no Tolstoy, but I do consider myself one of the better writers in the group (Yes, I actually said that; can you believe it?). At the risk of sounding like a complete ass, I worry a bit about having my work surrounded by things that may not be as good, quite frankly. There's a fear that someone may buy this book, read a story or two, and throw it against the wall--after putting all the contributors' names down on a blacklist. There, I said that, too. Could this hurt me in the long run?

No. I suppose that's my fear for the day, my doubting self coming up to the surface. This will be an interesting look at the book production process from the inside, and now that I've vented my fears, I can move forward.

Monday Musing: But Wait

Over the weekend, an article appeared in The Guardian about a self-published author who turned down an offer of publication from Amazon's Montlake Press. Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with this. It sounds like she had a better deal, and more control, as an independent than she would get from Montlake. Currently, her book is available for Kindle and Nook, and as Print-On-Demand via CreateSpace. The deal she was offered would make it Kindle only. Turning down Amazon/Montlake seemed like a pretty good decision on her part. What struck me, however, was something she said in the interview:

It was hard for me to say no. Ever since I was a little girl I'd dreamed about being a 'published author'

Wait, what?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that what she is? The moment she hit 'upload' or 'publish' or whatever it is you do when you self-publish, she became a 'published author.' Or so I thought.

I threw that question up on the Absolute Write thread discussing this story not really expecting an answer. I suppose I was aiming for irony, the sort of mildly-amusing one liner you take note of and pass by. However, I got two answers, and I should have seen both coming. "Validation,"* said one. Then there was "some feel that 'published author' = 'actual books in actual bookstores,'" and things started churning in my head.

I understand those answers. Honestly, both are part of why I'm choosing the path of so-called traditional publication. I found myself drafting and redrafting a response, and then scrapping them, because I couldn't quite think of a way to express myself (some writer, huh?). I even went to the blog post of the author in question, seeking explanation, and I found another quote that just made things worse for me.

This deal was Kindle-only, so I wouldn’t be getting the benefits of paperback publishing, which to me is one of the greater advantages of a traditional publishing deal.

What I do understand from her post is that she's getting a better deal right now. Her book is available via Barnes&Noble and Amazon in e-format, and as Print On Demand. Financially, she's apparently making more money NOW than she would under the deal. It's all sensible. That stuff I get. What I don't get is this: If she doesn't consider herself 'published' because she's not 'traditionally published', why did she self-publish in the first place?

Please note this is not a knock against self-publishing. It works for many people, and it seems to be working for her. I guess I just don't get why a person who wants one thing, i.e., traditional publishing, would do something else. While 'discovery through self-publishing' is on the rise, it's not the norm, and it's not something you'd want to hang your future on. Or maybe I'm just hopelessly behind the times.

Monday Musing: Nibbling Away at Yog's Law

I think I'll be leaving now, thank you.

You know about Yog's Law, don't you? Sure you do. Yog's Law, coined by James D. MacDonald, is the principle that states, "Money flows toward the author." We are told, time and again, that if an agent asks for a 'reading fee', run. If a publisher asks for you to split or absorb the costs of publication, run. If the publisher tells you they'll print your book, but you have to buy a crap ton of copies and sell them yourself, run. Run as if Yog himself was reaching out his slimy tentacles for you, and don't stop until you find an agent that works on commission, a publisher that pays YOU for your work.

There are legitimate exceptions to Yog's Law. Contests for short stories, novels, poetry, often require an entry fee. Ten, fifteen, twenty-five dollar entry fees are often asked for, and we are wise to pause and wonder if the contest is legitimate. Fortunately, there are sites like Writer Beware, and the Warning thread over at Absolute Write (registration required) that can help sort out real contests from scams. Indeed, most contests are legitimate, and entry money helps fund the Fabulous Prizes! offered for winning the contest. Just read the guidelines cautiously, and ask questions if you have any doubts at all, and you'll be fine.

The other legitimate exception to Yog's Law is with self-publishing. Since there is no editor buying your book for a publisher, there's no one to pay you for the work you've done, and the work you have yet to do. There is no one to shoulder the costs for editing, or cover design, or layout, etc., etc. It's on the writer. To make that book good, to make it stand out in the crowd, the writer has to violate Yog's Law and pay for one or more edits, and all the rest. The writer has to assume the up front financial risk normally taken on by publishers. (Or, I suppose, you could not. You could trust to your own skills in all departments and do it all yourself, but you probably really don't want to take that chance. But I digress).

Nibbles are being taken at the toes of Yog's Law by literary magazines, of all places. Once in a while I come up with a short story that I think can actually be published, and I scour the markets and look for places I can submit. Most markets now allow you to either e-mail or submit electronically, using a submissions manager interface, such as Submittable. If you've worked with them, they're pretty handy. Anyway, at least one journal I've sent to has this statement in the author guidelines:

Please note there is a fee of $3 to submit electronically. This is used to cover costs such as printing.

I have to admit, this leaves me scratching my head, because other journals that use the same program do not charge for submissions, and other journals don't charge for electronic submissions, but DO charge for snail mail/hard copy submissions, and for the same stated reasons. Huh?

As far as things go, it's not much. Two, three dollars for a submission, sure, it helps cover the cost of the software--but it seems to me this sort of thing is a cost of doing business, and should be covered the way office supplies, rent and salaries are. Still, it's a tiny little nibble, a mere annoyance, but it makes me wonder if we're going to see this spread more widely across the industry.

Eh. I'm sure I'm just worrying over nothing, right? Have a great week!

Encouraging Fan Fiction

Hugh Howey. Chances are, you've heard of him, he's been in the news a lot lately.

 Howey is the latest self-publishing success story. His self-published science fiction series, Wool, was so popular it allowed Howey to dictate the terms of a major print deal, a deal that allowed him to keep the digital rights for himself. In other words, he's managed to keep his cake, and eat it, too.

(He's also the latest author to run afoul of Little Brother, having written a blog post at the beginning of April that showed, at the very least, poor humor and even worse judgment. It has since been taken down and apologized for—twice—but it's out there if you choose to look. And, yeah, after telling you all to beware of Little Brother, this is me playing Little Brother. The irony is not lost)

He's also taken an unusual position regarding fan fiction. From an interview with blogger/author, Patrice Fitzgerald:

"When readers got in touch to ask about fan fiction, I not only gave my blessing, I insisted that they charge for the work. Even if it’s just a dollar...I’m making enough money. It warms my heart to see Ben Adams selling Wool prints and keeping 100% of the profit. The same goes for fan fiction."

I'm not sure how I feel about this. As a writer, my mind balks at two points. First, the idea of piggybacking to such an extent on the work of others. It just feels wrong. I'm not saying it is wrong, and I've done it myself (of course, I was like ten years old), but there comes a point where it seems you should just break away and do it on your own. If you can come up with a good plot and proper dialogue and all that, you can come up with all the elements to make a good, original story. Go for it!

"Don't even think about touching my stuff!"

The second point is the more irrational one. It's that possessive streak I have. I would be flattered that someone might be so inspired by my work that they create a spin-off or extension of it. But there's also a fierce beast inside that would want to stand guard over it. "Leave it alone," that beast snarls when someone gets too close. "It's mine. MINE!" And when you add money into the equation, it gets worse.

The fact is, once something's published, it's out of our hands. People are going to do whatever they want with it. And if they want to put two characters together who would never in a million years get together, or write a pre-story story, or write about what comes next, or ten years later, or transport them to Moonbase Alpha, there's not a damn thing we can do about it.

Is there a danger to it? Can fan fiction hurt the author? Is Howey potentially shooting himself in the foot by encouraging this level of fan fiction, or is he a genius for extending the life of his series? I guess time will tell.

What do you all think?


Photo by Princes Milady

Anne Rice Gives Advice

Before there was Edward Cullen, there was Lestat.

Before there was the Cullen 'family', there was the Theatre des Vampires.

Before there was Stephenie Meyer, there was Anne Rice.

Rice is the author of the bestselling Vampire Chronicles, a series which have sold more than 80 million copies since the debut of Interview With The Vampire in 1976. I personally enjoyed the first few books in the series, though I stopped reading after...book 4, I think. The Magpie picked up Interview a couple of years ago and loved it. The tales of Louis and Lestat were much more interesting to her than Bella and Edward, though I think she also stopped reading after book 3. Of course, as a college student, who has time to keep reading for pleasure?

Anyway, Anne Rice knows a thing or two about writing and publishing. Late last week, she posted a video on Youtube, offering encouragement to new writers.


Now, on the overall, I like what she says. She's encouraging. She gives a great, positive message on persistence. It's a message I needed to hear, as I have to say I've been a bit down this month. There is one problem, though. If you didn't watch the video all the way through, at about the 9-minute mark, Rice says:

"...you've sent it to every New York publisher you know of, and they've all rejected it. What do you do then? Do you give up? No, you do not give up. Self publish."

She goes on to discuss how it's never been easier to self publish (true), then touts the seemingly-weekly stories of little authors gone big (think Amanda Hocking, E.L. James, Tracey Garvis-Graves).

Rice is absolutely right, it has never been easier to self publish. But she leaves out the critical piece, and that is this: is your novel ready for publishing?

Presumably, if you've been sending it to agents and/or editors, you believe it's ready, but writers make mistakes all the time. We alternate between self-doubt gnawing away, telling ourselves we'll never be good enough, ever. And then we have moments of soaring self-confidence, where we're convinced we're the second coming of...someone super-incredible. Being objective is not easy. The thing is, what Rice doesn't say, and what a lot of writers either don't realize or choose to ignore, is this: If a novel is getting constantly rejected, there's a reason for it. It could be the query is not doing its job. It could be you're not reaching out to the right people. It could be the market is just not quite there. Or it could be the novel isn't good enough, or isn't quite polished to the shine required to get it to the next level.

And this is the toughest part of this whole publishing thing, really. Writing the book is perhaps the easiest step, at least in my (admittedly limited) experience. It's also the most fun part of it all. The joy of creating worlds, breathing life into people and putting them through heaven and hell. That's easy. That's exhilarating. Bringing those characters to a wide audience is the hard part. As Rice points out, however, not as hard as it used to be.

There was a person over in AW recently who posted his query letter for review. He mentioned that in the first 25 queries he sent out, he got a 60% response rate. SIXTY PERCENT! Ultimately, everyone passed on his fulls, so he was seeking feedback on his...query. Uh, seems to me there's nothing wrong with a query that garners a 60% response rate, even if, as he said, the rate fell off in recent rounds (I'm not sure how many total he's sent out; he says 'many more.') He's got something there, a story that's good enough to hook agents in, but if he's getting rejected on fulls he needs to do more work on the rest of his book. But if this guy follows Rice's advice, his book will be hitting the shelves sometime soon, and that may actually be the worst possible thing he could do. His book just may not be ready. By rushing to publication

Look, the fact is, agents and editors are often wrong, and they're more than willing to admit it. They may be wrong about your book, too. But before you rush to self-publish, make sure your story is ready. I mean, really, really ready.

This is all obvious stuff, I realize, but sometimes it just needs to be reiterated. Especially after a famous author like Anne Rice tells you to self-publish. Meanwhile, I recommend popping over to Chuck Wendig's blog today. He's got some advice on cultivating instinct, to help you know when you're ready and when you're not. Thanks for stopping by, as always.

Things I Am Not

In my life I am and have been many things. Husband, father, brother, son. Friend, student, educator. Before my time is up I hope to experience many more things. One of the things I choose to call myself these days is a writer.

I've had jobs in a variety of sectors, and those jobs have required me to do many things at different times: Fire warden. Historian. Public speaker. An actor, a Master of Ceremonies.

But there are things I am not. Last week I invoked Dirty Harry: "A man's got to know his limitations." I invoke it again. This morning Rachelle Gardner posted "6 Reasons Why Authors Still Want Publishers." She closed by asking Why are YOU pursuing traditional publishing? Here are my reasons:

I am not an editor. Yes, I edit my work. I look for continuity errors. I look for plot holes and logical gaps. I constantly ask myself if my characters are behaving, well, in character. And I look for typos and grammatical miscues, analyze word choices. I proofread and line edit. But I am not as quick and efficient at it as a professional, nor as proficient. I am not an editor.

I am not a graphic designer. In my life I have created many things. And I have done layouts and project design on printed pieces, and I've done some pretty nice work, thank you very much. Can I choose the right font? Can I get the page numbers just exactly where I want them? What I end up missing all the time are the little details, the things that allow you to show paged numbers on these pages but not those, without losing the sequence. I can do a passable job, but the finished work will lack "polish." I've worked with a lot of design people and I'm amazed at what they can do, the way they make things 'just right.' I can carry a project so far, but I am not a graphic designer.

I am not a cover artist. Hey! Check this out at The Bookshelf Muse! Simple truth, once upon a time I was considered to be very good at drawing. Now, I'm not. I can doodle a mean doodle, but I can't draw pictures, and I never really learned to paint. If I'm doing the work, my books will look like The White Album or Spinal Tap's Smell the Glove. I am not a cover artist.



I am not a marketeer. Okay, any agents considering my query who may have found this blog have just crossed me off their list. What I mean is this: I can market. I can plug. I can do events. But I'm going to have a hard time convincing Ye Olde Bookstore in Fargo to carry my book. Traditional publishers have connections and ins and knowledge of the industry that I just don't have, because I am not a marketeer.

One of the commenters on Rachelle's blog, who chose to ignore Rachelle's entreaty to not "get a whole “us vs. them” thing going here" called traditional publishing "a v expensive EGO boost IMHO". Maybe there's some ego involved, but it's not my sole motivator. If you have what it takes to take total control over your book publishing, good for you. I give you a lot of credit and wish you the best. For me, I will seek out traditional publishing, because I am not a publisher.