The advantage of burning bridges is it forces one to take another route.
Summer vacation started today, and not by choice. After four years of building a business, it all came crashing down late week. All that remains is a domain.
I know there is a market for my talents, I’m just not sure which ones. For now, I am going to take a well deserved break. I have all summer to find a new direction.
“Look in the direction you want to go and trust your abilities.”
Those were words of advice I had for a fledgling cyclist wobbling all over the bikepath. As I rode home, I realized how much they apply to me.
As a fledgling indie publisher, I am wobbling. I can’t see where I want to go because I am allowing my inabilities to become an obstacle on which I am fixating (and I’m good at fixating on things).
Although I have the graphic and web designer skills to create ebooks, I have always made excuses for “not wanting to bother,” without addressing the real issue: I don’t know how to make a functioning e-commerce site. When I finally admitted this, my spouse replied, “You’re not supposed to know how. You’re the creative one.”
With renewed resolve, I wrote down what I want to do, with a sketch of how I think it should happen. It doesn’t matter how the programs and services work, just that the means exist.
Road map in hand, I can focus on the direction I want to go, trusting my abilities, which include finding the right someone or service to manage the aspects I cannot.
Books: Tips, Stories, and Advice on Writing, Publishing, and Promoting, by Dan Poynter, Para Publishing, 2012, ISBN 978-1-56860-155-7(eBook), 225pp, $2.99
Reference/Book Writing
Each page contains a tip illustrated by a story and quotation. The advice is generally sound and, for the most part, common sense: practice your craft; get someone else to proof-read your manuscript; write what interests you the most; promote where there is a high concentration of people interested in your topic; etc.
While the focus of this book is on non-fiction, it does contain general information that pertains to fiction writers as well.
That said, he repeatedly puts down fiction writing because it doesn’t make money. Sorry, Dan, I’d rather be a “creative, interesting” person than compensating with an expensive car.
The price is reasonable for what you get ($2.99 eBook; free for Kindle Prime members). A few inspiring quotations, but otherwise, nothing I didn’t already know.
The Indigo King by James A. Owen, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2008, ISBN:978-1-4169-5107-0, 375pp.
Young Adult fantasy fiction
The third in the Chronicles of the Imaginarim Geographica series, this book is darker and more intellectually challenging than the previous two. In those earlier books, the Caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica travel to the Archipelago of Dreams for their adventure. In this installment, the Archipelago has been devoured by an evil that has taken over the world. Their adventure becomes a matter of survival for both realms.
When a door from the Keep of Time mysteriously appears in Oxford, and John and Jack’s friend Hugo vanishes through it, England suddenly becomes the dark and dismal Albion, ruled by the Winter King.
With clues left by previous Caretakers, John and Jack travel through time to rescue Hugo. However, in order to set the world right again, they must also figure out the true identity of the Cartographer.
I thoroughly enjoyed this tale, the inspiration of which was the conversation between J.R.R. Tolkien, Hugo Dyson, and C.S. Lewis that led to Lewis’ conversion to Christianity. Using the legend of the Holy Grail and Arthurian myth, Owen creates an alternative reality brought about by the choices one makes.
The problem with being a writer is I don’t have anything to say.
I have a confession: my stories aren’t really my own. That’s not to say I plagiarize, far from it; instead, I am merely reporting on events in the lives of my characters. If they’re not talking, I have nothing to write. However, when they do speak, I write obsessively for hours on end, days, even weeks at a time until I get the story out.
A novella usually takes me two weeks to rough out and three months to edit into a first draft. That said, I once wrote the first draft of a novel in just under 59 hours over the course of eight days, longhand (it took 3 weeks to type up the 52K+ words). I started with a scene, no outline, and let it take me where it wanted. To my surprise, it turned out to be one of the best things I have written.
Outlines don’t work for me. Every time I try to use one, my characters decide to do something completely different, like my omnipotent alien in a Cold War/MAD sci-fi saga who decides to sacrifice himself for the love of a human. No matter how much I tried to make him follow the synopsis, he refused, which left me screaming, “Nooooo, not another romance!” On the plus side, after a year of stagnation, the ending wrote itself in two weeks.
This makes writing a blog even more difficult; I don’t have someone telling me what to write about. I have already strayed from my original objective, despite having a list of topics. But I think it is more than that.
For me, it isn’t a matter of not knowing what to say, or how to blog, but more an issue of why do it. It is amazing how lonely social media feels. It seems to be a place where everybody does a lot of talking without anyone having a meaningful conversation. Perhaps that is why I prefer the company of my characters when I’m at the computer.
They say writing is the loneliest job. Finding company in solitude.
Writing groups provide a forum for authors to present their work of critique and encouragement.
On the negative side, they can have a mixed-bag of participants. Some are fortunate enough to have published writers or others who how to write and can give genuine critiques. However, most people do not know the difference between critique and criticism.
Critique is feedback given by mentors and peers to help artists improve their craft. Good or bad, each comment requires justification.
Criticism is by definition “judgment,” and unfavorable at that. As equally unhelpful are the well-meaning people who say they love everything. Either they are that easy to please or don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.
Finding a writing group can be difficult. Fear not, there are online communities worth looking into.
Authonomy.com is sponsored by Harper Collins UK. It is touted as away to get unsolicited manuscripts to their editors (the odds are actually no better than via the slush pile). Because of this mentality, it is essentially a popularity contest, which means getting spammed with read requests. On the plus side, there are plenty of people who will provide feedback and proofreading. Fairly diverse genre list (plus) that is very broad (minus). Minimum 10k word upload required.
BookCountry.com is Penguin’s writers’ community and strictly for genre fiction: mystery, thriller, romance, sci-fi, and fantasy. Each genre is divided into nine or so sub-genres, allowing users to filter based on the sub-genres they are interested in reading. It also has a feature than allows authors to ask for feedback on specific aspects, such as plot, character development, pacing, etc. Maximum 30k word upload.
Goodreads.com is a reading community that lets members upload their own manuscripts as well. Due to the shear number and diversity of groups, writers can find readers for any genre/sub-genre.
WritersCafe.org is for any type of writing, not just novels (or even prose, for that matter). In addition to a place to post manuscripts, it has individual writing groups, contests (the prizes are kudos), and “courses,” which are “how to” posts.
A web search will turn up others (like ABCtales.com, which I haven’t tried). The best advice for any of these is just to check them out. Most will allow visitors to browse and read manuscripts/forums. See what others are posting to judge whether it is a good fit.
A platform is a writer’s capacity to attract a fan-base of potential readers.
The good news is, the Internet is a great way to go viral; the bad news is, everyone is trying to do just that. So what is an author supposed to do?
Figure out who the audience is and then how to reach them. What websites do they go to? What magazines/books do they enjoy? etc. Following a target audience will lead to more people like them.
Establish a reputation that reflects the quality and style with which an author wants to be associated, but at the same time, not be something the author is not.
Create “brand” recognition that people can recognize from one site to another.
Content, content, content. Oh, and did I mention, content? People will make assumption about a book based on the substantiveness of an author’s other writings, such as blog and forum posts.
Other Tips
A robust platform is not a luxury for an author in the business; it IS an author’s business.
Indie Publishing: How to Design and Produce Your Own Book, edited by Ellen Lupton, Princeton Architectural Press, 2008. 175 pages. ISBN 978-1-56898-760-6. $21.95
This is what a graphic artist looks for in a book: bold images combined with clean layout. Although the cover isn’t overly enticing, a quick flip-through will grab the attention of the reader who digests information better visually.
Each chapter focuses on different aspects of the process, from basic design and production, to the unique requirements of various literary forms, to promotion and marketing, to the craft of book-making — literally, a DIY section on binding pages together using different techniques.
Is this the one book that every self-publisher must have? No, but it does provide an excellent introduction to basics of layout and book design. The layout of the book itself furthers the message its illustrations exemplify, which is books are an art-form.
My only criticism is the implication that book design requires expensive page layout software. I find my trusty, open-source word-processing program to be far more “effective and efficient” and far less “frustrating and time-consuming” than QuarkXPress or InDesign.
Overall, it is well researched and because of its graphic-centric format, only has room to present the most important and relevant textual information.
The main reason most people don’t succeed is they never define what success is.
Why does anyone want to publish? The answer boils down to money, validation, or a combination of the two. That one wants to “make a difference” or some similarly noble claim requires validation of one’s intentions. No matter what authors say, the act of seeking publication is seeking validation of their work, and ultimately themselves.
That may seem harsh, but without identifying one’s true motivation, one cannot come up with an accurate definition of success. And without that, one is destined to fail. Failure results from not having a concrete goal and thus no means of measuring progress, or from setting unreasonable expectations. In either case, one gets discouraged and gives up.
Personal satisfaction is not a reason for publishing either; it’s for “privishing.” Think about it before telling me I’m full of it. If holding a book is really all that matters, Kinko’s will bind a manuscript nice and professional-looking for less that twenty bucks. Having an audience is driven by a need to have one’s satisfaction stroked.
What most authors actually want is something in return for all the work put into writing their masterpieces. There isn’t anything wrong with that, nor is there any reason to be embarrassed to admit it. It’s normal. However, they have to define what “something” means in order to aim for it or they will never reach it.
How do you define success?
Will ebook readers kill the ebook?
I read a fascinating blog post by Jani Patokallio* (and ensuing debate) over the future of ebooks, with the prediction that in 5 years, dedicated e-reader devices will be replaced with tablets and smart phones, and EPUB 3.0 will be replaced by straight, unzipped HTML5. And I agree with that assessment.
This doesn’t mean the Kindle or Nook is obsolete. However, at the rate these manufacturers make their own devices out-of-date with newer models, consumers may think long and hard before upgrading.
Will that happen in the next 5 years? Maybe. However, the cynic in me says as soon as the masses start to bypass Amazon and BN, corporate America will find a way to cash in on it.
Last weekend I discovered an ebook publisher that has gone the HTML5-only route. I knew they were onto something big (and this was before I saw the above-mentioned post).
Don’t get me wrong, the printed book will still be with us for a long time to come, but the majority of reading will be done electronically on devices that can do more than one thing.
*http://gyrovague.com/2012/04/30/why-e-books-will-soon-be-obsolete-and-no-its-not-just-because-of-drm/
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