Self-publishing vs. traditional publishing

This week, NPR has run two opposing radio spots: one about the evolving self-publishing industry, featuring the founder of Smashwords, and one about traditional publishing's "golden age."

This hits close to home for me, since I've been planning on self-publishing the novel series I am currently working on -- as the first radio spot said, self-publishing is the first choice for some authors (and I was planning on using Smashwords as well).  So, granted, I may be a bit biased in my assessment of these two stories.

Are ebooks creating increases in self-publishing opportunities?

I blogged recently on Livre du Jour about some of the amazing statistics for self-published ebook authors.  Here is the original article from USA Today:

Authors catch fire with self-published e-books

Amanda Hocking, who has been selling her popular ebooks via Barnes & Noble's and Amazon's self-publishing programs, has had almost unheard-of success for a self-published author.  According to the article, she sold 164,000 ebooks in 2010, and more than 450,000 ebooks last month.  She has written maybe half a dozen YA dark fantasy novels, and she seems to be doing a good job of marketing and pricing: 99 cents as a teaser price for the first in each series and for her short novella, and $2.99 for the later books.  According to the article, she gets 30 percent of the sale price for the 99 cent books, and 70 percent for the $2.99 books, so you do the match.  Suffice it to say that girl made more in January alone than most people make in a year!

This brings up an interesting issue: Is self-publishing becoming more accepted, or at least more acceptable of a career choice for authors?  I'd argue no on the former, yes on the latter.  That may seem contradictory, but it's obvious to me that digital self-publishing is providing opportunities for authors such as Hocking who simply never would have been published at all a decade ago.  Yet the stigma of self-publishing is far from gone: People on the B&N forums are constantly complaining about the fact that the site search doesn't allow you to eliminate PubIt! selections.  One can hardly blame them, either — although there are some high quality self-published ebooks, such as Hockings's, there are also a lot of ebooks with crappy covers and book descriptions that are riddled with spelling and grammatical errors.

Ultimately, though, I think self-publishing is on the road to greater acceptance.  It's taken the market a while, but ebooks are becoming more accepted now — the New York Times has even started including them on the bestsellers lists.  Since digital publishing makes self-publishing much easier and more affordable, it's providing alternative avenues that hasn't previously existed for many writers.  While that is sure to mean more junk hitting the virtual shelves, it will be weeded out by the market, in favor of the good stuff (like Hocking).  I think this is just the beginning of a major shift in how publishing works!

It's called a conflict of interests...

I just want to pass on a quick warning from this week's Writer'sWeekly.com.

Apparently, Author Solutions, Inc. — the owner of three POD publishers, AuthorHouse, iUniverse, and Xlibris — has started up a supposedly independent website for the purpose of helping would-be authors choose a POD publisher that is right for them. However, Angela Hoy did a little investigating, and discovered that the only three publishers the site would recommend to her were the ones affiliated with the parent company.

I think this is more than just deceptive — it feels to me like something that ought to be illegal. I think disclosing the relationship to the parent company ought to be a requirement, don't you?

To make matters worse, the website likens POD publishing with the "indie" movement. So now you've got a website advising wannabe authors under false pretenses, implying that paying to publish their books puts them right up there with the cool, artsy folk who film indie movies and release indie music? Talk about taking advantage of people...

Now, I have nothing against POD, and I've thought pretty seriously about using Booklocker (Angela Hoy's company) if and when I have a novel ready for publication. But I also have no illusions about what POD means. I know it requires your own money and a lot of work to promote your book, but it's worth it to me because — IF you go with an honest publisher — the author retains the rights to their own work and all the files for the finished book.

I think it's shameful that Author Solutions and FindYourPublisher.com are misleading wannabe writers in this manner. Talk about a conflict of interests!

Three articles on writing and publishing

Today there are three articles on NPR that I want to share with you. All three have to do with writing or publishing.

First of all, Strunk and White's Elements of Style turns 50 today. This little book is a well respected guide to grammar and writing. As I told Kathy Kerhli, I can't say I've ever read it, but it's sitting on my shelf. Maybe someday I will see what all the fuss is about.

Second is a review of three books on writing and publishing a novel. I've read Stephen King's On Writing, which I loved even though I don't really like his novels. The other two books are Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass, and Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell.

Third is an interesting story about the current trend in the publishing industry of paying bigger bucks for fewer books. Publishing houses are apparently paying 7-figure advances to a few lucky authors — but it seems like you have to be famous in order to get it. (Even the supposedly "unheard-of" authors discussed in the article are paid the big advances after their first novels make a splash, so yeah, the famous thing still applies.) At the same time, they are publishing fewer books — not good odds for those of us who aspire to novelist status.

I also wanted to share with you a "bonus article" on a book that doesn't focus on writing, but is definitely related: No Right to Remain Silent, by Lucinda Roy. You may remember that Roy was the professor that tried to get help for Seung-Hui Cho, the troubled shooter at Virginia Tech that killed 32 people two years ago today. Roy's book talks about potential motives, but also about the writing connection. I think Roy's voice bodes well for the quality of her book: calm, soft-spoken, but self-assured. Clearly she wrote this book because she felt certain things needed to be said. Be sure to listen to both the radio spot and the excerpt.

The Borders shakeup and the publishing industry

We've all been hearing about the struggles of the publishing industry lately. Apparently, booksellers are being hit hard, too — even the major ones.

Amid Slumping Sales, Borders Replaces CEO

Michael and I spend a lot of time in bookstores, frequenting their cafés as well as buying the occasional book. Admittedly, we're not Borders people — our bookstores of choice are usually Barnes & Noble or our local independent chain, Tattered Cover. However, reading about any big bookstore having problems interests me because of its implications for the publishing industry.

The story says that one of the reasons Borders is suffering is because of competition from online sellers such as Amazon. This is a trend I see in the writing industry in general — pretty much every writer I know does business primarily via the Internet. But combined with the growing interest in ebooks, I would say this is a sign that the industry is going virtual with a vengeance.

Kindling an interest in ebooks

In the midst of a disappointing holiday season for the publishing industry, this article appeared in the New York Times: Turning Page, E-Books Start to Take Hold.

I think this is interesting for several reasons. For one, it's hard to believe that ebooks have been around for as long as they have — my awareness of ebooks has developed mostly in the last five years or so, and I have to admit I am a fan, though I don't often sit at my computer and read.

I have never seen Amazon's Kindle in person, though at one time I really wanted one. I have seen Sony's Reader, though, and I have to say if I were going to spend that kind of money on an ebook reader, the Sony would be the way I'd go — partly because I want the one I've had a chance to handle and play with, and partly because I think Amazon is turning into an evil corporation. Just look how many times in this article the author notes that Amazon won't report the Kindle's sales data!

I also was interested to learn that you can download ebook readers for the iPhone. Since eventually I want one, I will have to look into that some more. I might be able to have my phone, music, and my digital library all in one place!

As you may know, I self-published my own short ebook, How to Restring a Strung Doll, for collectors of vintage dolls. I've sold well over 200 copies now, and thinking back to when I first started selling, I think I have definitely seen an increase in sales — although, considering the nature of my ebook, that is probably due to more successful marketing rather than ebook readers gaining in popularity.

As much as I love ebooks, though, I can't say that I think they will ever overtake regular books in popularity — at least not those of us who really love to read. There is just something so comforting about the feel of a book in one's hand!

What about you? What are your experiences with the ebook industry, either as a reader or a writer? What do you think the future holds for ebooks?

Another self-published novel success story

It's really too bad self-publishing has such a bad rap in the industry. Generally people assume a book is self-published because it wasn't good enough to get picked up by a traditional publisher, but really there's a lot more to it than that. Many of the books that do get picked up are crap, just marketable crap. And there are plenty of reasons why good authors choose to self-publish — for the better royalties, for example, or to avoid giving up rights to, and control over, their work.

With all this in mind, I really get a kick out of hearing self-publishing success stories — such as this one, from NPR, about a self-published Christian novel that has made a number of bestseller lists.

Of course, it definitely helps that Christian fiction is a hot genre right now, not to mention that there's lots of community networking opportunities there (which can help sell books). Although in William P. Young's case, the marketability of the book was inadvertent, it just goes to show that self-publishing success requires as much business sense as writing skill!

Dogs are hot in publishing right now

You've probably heard that any good writer needs to also be good about following the current trends in publishing. Well, evidently the hot trend right now is dog books.

This made me think of Anna Quindlen's Good Dog. Stay., which I read a couple of months ago. I haven't read Marley and Me, the book that supposedly kicked off the trend, but I have definitely noticed the number of dog books on the new arrivals table lately at Barnes & Noble.

Of course, I also immediately thought of Kathy Kehrli of Screw You!, who has a dog book idea of her own. Looks like your idea has got the green light, Kathy!

I wonder if horse books are the next trend, or perhaps an offshoot of the dog books trend? On my shelf of books I plan to read, I have a memoir called Chosen by a Horse, about a rescue horse. And of course, since I rescued Panama I have plenty of ideas for a horse book of my own!

No Child Author Left Untapped

On Monday, Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware posted on a disturbing trend that has been growing recently: The tendency of vanity presses to prey on child authors. Her post got me thinking, for two reasons:

1) Because I also started writing novels as a teenager,

and

2) Because I have had firsthand experiences with one of the child authors she mentioned in her post, Adora Svitak.

In regards to #1, I agree with Victoria Strauss completely when she says that some youngsters may be able to write beautifully, but most don't have the maturity to deal with the publishing industry. We're talking about an industry that can be pretty cutthroat — there is a lot of competition and a lot of rejection, whereas most children and teens are still at the point where social rejection is the end of the world. Plus, they lack both the experience needed to know the publishing industry's standards, as well as the maturity to learn and apply those standards.

Of course, as with any rule there are exceptions, but I am pretty certain I wasn't one. I wrote my first novel at age 14, and I know looking back at it that it was not and will never be publishable. My second novel was better, but it is my third novel — written when I was 15 — that I think has the most potential. However, even that one needs work — revisions and corrections that I don't think I would have seen the need for earlier in my career.

In spite of the fact that I once complained about my parents not encouraging and helping me to pursue publication, I think now that I wouldn't have it any other way. Maybe I haven't published a novel yet, but I'd rather get there on my own two feet than to have my work sell because I was some kind of child prodigy, an oddity and a fascination.

Which brings me to #2: My experiences with Adora and Joyce Svitak. I got involved almost exactly two years ago, when Adora's book, Flying Fingers, was first published. Joyce advertised looking for reviewers, and being a little naive about how the industry worked, I agreed to work with them. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I got burned.

Victoria's post about Aultbea and their child authors made me start thinking about the situation with the Svitaks for the first time in many months. It occurs to me that Adora was not the only one whose work was being exploited — by looking for writers to work for free and betraying our initial agreement regarding my review, Joyce was also taking advantage of other writers. This makes me wonder: Is it only the vanity publishers who are guilty of exploiting children's talents? Or are some of the parents equally as guilty?

UPDATE: First Chapters Writing Competition

Just yesterday, I posted regarding a book competition for unpublish romance novel writers, Gather.com's First Chapters Writing Competition. Although a representative of Gather.com had asked me to post on the contest, my biggest point in the post is the need for writers to thoroughly research contests before submitting.

One problem I've seen before is contests taking all rights to all submissions, whether or not you are a winner. I think contests like those are simply attempts to get a whole bunch of copy for free.

The other thing I was concerned about with First Chapters is the requirement of posting your chapters online: online posting can be counted as first publication, ruining your chances of selling first rights to your work. The exception is if the work is posted in a membership-only forum -- that's considered pretty much the same thing as emailing your work to a select group of friends or a writers' group. Fortunately, in this case the contest submissions are open only to Gather.com members, so I decided the contest was "safe."

However, I have an update on the First Chapters Writing Competition. While reading Writer Beware this morning, I noticed a post regarding the contest. While Victoria Strauss found no problem with the rules of the First Chapters Writing Competition, she did note that there have been some problems lately with Simon & Schuster contracts. Since by submitting to the Gather.com contest you are promising to give Simon & Schuster first dibs on your book until you are eliminated, this could be a problem -- after all, if they know they have you between a rock and a hard place, how willing to negotiate will they be?

Please keep this information about Simon & Schuster in mind if you decide to submit to the First Chapters Writing Competition!

Writing competition for aspiring romance novelists

I had an email this morning from Gather.com about their First Chapters Writing Competition, and I thought I'd post the information in case any of my readers might be interested. The contest goes from August 1st through the 22nd, and the winner will receive a guaranteed publishing contract (with a $5,000 advance) for their romance novel with Simon & Schuster's Pocket Books.

Be sure to read the full contest guidelines and the FAQs.

As a copyright-conscious writer, my first question to them was where I could link to the contest guidelines -- I wanted to verify what happens to the writers' rights to their submissions, particularly if they don't win. I saw one contest a little while back that took the copyrights to all submissions, whether you won or not, so I am a little wary of these things.

Basically, the only condition concerning copyright that I see is that you are agreeing not to submit the novel elsewhere until you are eliminated from the competition; in other words, until you are eliminated from the competition, Simon & Schuster has first dibs on publishing your book. Seems fair enough -- after all, that's why you're entering the competition anyway!

The other concern is that in order to compete, you have to publish your first chapters in the First Chapters Romance Group. The concern here is that posting your writing to an open forum can hurt your chances of selling first rights to the work, but usually not if it's a membership-only forum (i.e. a way for you to share your work with just a few people, without everyone else online reading it).

No worries with this contest -- submissions are viewable only by other Gather.com members. (Yes, you have to be a member to enter, but it's free.)

Basically, what I'm saying is that I've done the research for you, and I've verified that the First Chapters Writing Competition looks like a valid contest. I suggest reading the guidelines and FAQs for yourself before commiting to anything, but I am satisfied that the two main problems I usually see in writing contests aren't present in this one.

The trouble with wannabe writers: The redux

Fair warning: This diatribe is about crazy people. More specifically, a crazy person who thinks he's a writer. And the things I'm going to say could be interpreted as slightly mean if you sympathize with crazy people, so read at your own risk.

I posted about wannabe writers several months ago, when I started getting emails from advice-seekers following the publication of my article in Writers Weekly. Today's story beats them all hands down.

I rather liked the guy at first (we'll call him C.G., since I want to rant about him and what he represents, not embarrass him). He keeps a momma cat and her three kittens in his vintage clothing store, and they run around greeting customers, climbing furniture, and playing amid racks of brightly sequined dresses. The way he talks reminds one of the stereotypical gay guy running a clothing boutique. And he has some really great vintage costumes in his shop.

I started noticing little stuff at first. Like the long, unwashed hair that poked out from under his cap and trailed down his back. Or the fact that the couch, coffee table, and TV setup in the back room -- amid racks of costumes and pieces of leopard-print second-hand furniture -- seemed like it might be where he lived. The store was really cold, too, and in retrospect it was probably because he couldn't afford to heat the place.

My mom and I were looking for a dress for her to wear to my 1920s-themed wedding, and although we did find it there, the fact that I was waiting while she tried on dresses meant that I was a captive audience for C.G. He started talking about his upcoming book, and I was going to mention that I'm a writer -- until he said his book would be the next biggest spiritual book since the Bible. At that point, my bullsh!t radar switched to hyper-sensitive. Several seconds later, it just about overloaded when he asked me to email Oprah and ask her to let him on her show.

Over the next twenty minutes, whenever I couldn't escape by checking on my mom or fetching a kitten, I was held hostage by this guy. The premise of his book sounds more like something the crazy homeless guy on the street corner would be muttering under his breath or shouting at nervous passersby. Seriously, if C.G. and I met on a street corner and he started ranting about the "flesh house of 2007," I'd cross over to the other side.

At one point, he told me, "This is a line from my book." He started quoting, and I smiled, nodded politely... Kept nodding... Kept smiling and nodding... And he went on and on and on. I think this "quote" lasted at least a minute. It started out okay, but as he went it turned into this long, run-on sentence. The meaning of what he was saying fizzled out completely after about six words -- after that, it was just a string of pompous- sounding phrases. Either he just made it up on the spot, or he shoved everything he wanted to say in his book into one sentence and memorized it.

Oh, but wait -- it gets better. My mom asked for his business card, because she liked the store, and instead he gave us each a "billion dollar bill." It's basically a mock-up of U.S. money with a head shot of him dressed as a pirate. Really weird stuff. All of his store info is on this bill, like on a business card, except that it's a really awkward size. When I went to fold mine, he said to me, "Don't fold it. It'll be a collector's item someday. Just wait a couple of years."

I'm at a loss to explain C.G. as anything other than crazy. With the wannabe writers that I ranted about before, there was an obvious lack of understanding about the writing business, combined with delusions of grandeur. With this guy, I think it's more like a psychosis of grandeur. (And I shouldn't doubt that it has something to do with the drugs he probably did in the 60s and 70s. And probably still does, for that matter.) Although this may be simplifying the issues here, I didn't get the feeling that this book was a real work-in-progress -- no matter how much he talked about how famous he was going to be.

Okay, so I know this guy probably isn't playing with a full deck, but he is still indicative of a rather large group of people: The "writers" who talk endlessly about their idea for the great American novel, but never actually write anything. They want the attention without having to put forth the hard work of actually writing a book and seeing it through to print. It's the fear of becoming like this that keeps me from ever talking much about a novel or short story idea before I write it. Another writer once wrote that talking about how great your novel is going to be is only wasting time that you could be spending writing it, and I take that advice very seriously.

McGraw-Hill and the threat of stolen submissions

On the last couple of weeks' issues of Writers Weekly, the "Whispers and Warnings" section has included a thread about McGraw-Hill and a book containing a stolen submission. Basically, the writer had submitted an essay, which the author "twisted into a profile" for use in her book, without permission from the writer. The author of the book, Jan Goldberg, has not (as of yet) responded to either the writer or Writers Weekly, and McGraw-Hill seems to be giving them both the run-around. Basically, the author and her publisher stole someone else's work, and they're going to get away with it because of how large and established McGraw-Hill is.

This whole thing reminds me of a fear that constantly keeps me from submitting to anthologies or similarly-minded collections. I'm always afraid that exactly this is going to happen: My work will be published without my consent, without payment, and perhaps even without my byline. Even in a best case scenario, anthologies usually pay very little, and the chances of being selected for publication are fairly low. In my mind, submitting to an anthology, or even a collection that is being published by another author, is a gamble that I'm just not willing to take.

Books on agents and more about the minimum wage for writers debate

I just finished a book called How to Be Your Own Literary Agent, by Richard Curtis. Although I reviewed the book on my Reading For Writers blog, I thought it was worth making some comments here, too.

As a little background, after my article How Society Supports Low-Paying Writing Jobs ran in Writers Weekly I had (as some of you already know) a lot of questions from readers. Although a few of the emails I got were from delusional wannabe writers, I also got a good many kudos, congratulations, and legitimate questions.

Several of the legitimate questions had to do with finding agents. Since I've never published a traditional book myself (only an ebook, and self-published at that), I had to admit I had no idea how to answer them. Inspired, I decided to check out a few books on finding a literary agent.

One of the most intriguing books I found at the library was Curtis's How to Be Your Own Literary Agent. I am an eternal do-it-yourselfer, so anything that tells me how I can do something myself is worth reading. It's not only about the money, either - it's about 1) not getting screwed by being ignorant and expecting someone else to do it all for me, and 2) being able to feel really, really good about myself.

I learned to work on my own car so that I could get it done when I wanted to, know what was done, and not be taken advantage of by mechanics who see fair game when a woman walks in the door of their shop. When it comes time for me to seek a publisher for my first book, I intend to handle the submissions and sales negotiations myself for virtually the same set of reasons.

Interestingly, an ongoing theme throughout the book is that publishers are out to take advantage of writers. They want to maximize their profits, of course, so the writer who doesn't know what his or her contract means could be losing out on their rightful portion of the book's income. With all of these dire warnings ringing in my head, I'm thinking that publishing with Angela and Richard Hoy's Booklocker sounds better than ever. At least I'd know I could trust my publisher.

The usefulness of this book aside, I found it extremely interesting that Curtis included a chapter about writers and organizing. The passage harkens back to the ongoing debate about whether writers deserve a minimum wage.

Curtis says writer unionization - true unionization, that is - is virtually impossible for the following reasons:

1) Freelance writers aren't employees.

2) Because of the nature of the business, freelance writers can live and work virtually anywhere, making one of the union's favorite last-ditch efforts - protesting - highly unlikely.

3) Writers do a wide variety of work, making it more difficult to establish a reasonable minimum wage that would apply to everyone.

4) Perhaps most importantly, the National Labor Relations Act of 1933 excludes independent contractors - i.e. freelance writers - from the right to strike.

Curtis has some extremely good points here, and basically what they mean is that we're on our own here. He does point out, though, that a good agent can act in lieu of writer organization - your own personal negotiator. Additionally, he cites the National Writers Union as having made a major impact in the way book, newspaper, and magazine publishers treat their writers.

With all of this in mind, I urge all writers to do the best they can to promote living wages for writers - but to remember that, for us, the most important battles are often those we wage in our own careers.

The trouble with (wannabe) writers

Publishing my article in Writers Weekly earned me a lot of emails, guestbook entries, and other attention. I have to admit this felt rather nice - most of these people assumed I was wildly successful, and more than just a few sought my approval. However, I also got a number of highly amusing emails from would-be writers who wanted me to confirm their delusions of grandeur.

One such writer wrote to me to tell me how she had also always felt wrongly discouraged from being a writer. Okay - that I can understand. She also talked about how she dreamed of being a world-famous novelist. I gave her what I thought was some perfectly sound advice for achieving her dream: start small. Most of today's successful novelists started out publishing short stories, newspaper articles, or anything else that allowed them to make a reliable income writing and earn a name for themselves. I told her the more you publish, the easier it is to publish more, so start with the easy stuff.

Her response was rather hoity-toity. I had the distinct impression that she thought of herself as a real writer, and was talking down to me. She started out by telling me,

It gives me great honor to inform you that I have completed my first suspense-thriller. It is a novel that took six years to finish, and I am currently searching for a literary agent... I feel confident that an agent will see my raw God-given talent, which has been polished from my education, and give this first-time author a chance.

Wow, is she in for a shock. I wonder how she'll handle her first dozen or so rejections.

She concludes her email with this unbelievable statement:

I strive to reach nothing but perfection as I compose each inspiring, meticulous word. Hopefully, after people read my thought-provoking words, they will view life rather differently and contribute toward the betterment of mankind.

The last statement in particular reminds me of the kinds of things you hear out of beauty pagent contestants, each with Barbie's smile pasted on her lips.

Another would-be writer wrote to me asking for advice on starting his career. He started out by asking - no, demanding:

What are the proper channels a writer needs to seek to become a high-paid writer? Does one need credentials? Define credentials? Out of the choices of having a book published, working on a team, writing for a paper, blogging, or movie screenplays....what's the best one?

He then continued on to describe his disappointment that his writing hadn't been "discovered" via MySpace. (That part made me laugh quite a bit. Does he think there are talent scouts out there combing MySpace for the next Stephen King?) Finally, he explained his goals as a never-been-published writer:

I realize there are several routes I can take to make a name for myself, but the only one that reall [sic] appeals to me, is either 1) getting a book published and/or 2) being part of a creative team writing for a movie or T.V. show that's already made a name for itself.

And therein lies the rub...

This guy also thinks he is not just going to rise straight to the top, but start at the top. I tried to explain to him the natural order of things, but I don't think he understood (or appreciated) my advice, because I never heard back from him.

Although it might seem like I'm making fun of these people (okay, I am, but only a little), I'm really posting about this for a couple of very good reasons. For one thing, I think other already-established writers will see the humor in a bunch of wannabes being rather too big for their britches.

However, I am also posting this because it reminds me of who I - and probably every other published writer - was when I was just a dreamer and a wannabe myself. Back in high school, when I wrote whole novels only to stuff them in a drawer because I so feared editing, I too thought that becoming a writer was my destiny. And in retrospect, I think I was right, but only because I got myself here. Writers aren't born or discovered; they achieve their dreams at the price of their blood and sweat and tears. And although I've only traveled a short distance upon this path, I am proud of every single step I have taken.

As for the betterment of mankind... Well, it's quite enough for me right now to know that right now, somewhere in the world, someone is reading words I was paid to write.