Both Robin and Kevin make good and valid points regarding the problems confronting any new author who hasn’t done his or her homework. The vultures who hide among legitimate agents, publishers and others in the community are many and are adept at concealment. Authors with low levels of tolerance toward legitimate criticism are another factor which affects all of us. Some things can be helped, others cannot.
My concerns are these: instead of trying to control the problems we all perceive with, for example, lists of “approved” publishers or “approved” agents, why not bend greater efforts to alert and advise new authors as to how the game is played with aggressively marketed workshop sessions? While responding to questions at presentations that “New York publishers insist new work come via agents,” why isn’t more attention paid to discussing good and poor contract language? Why don’t we offer and promote sessions on exactly what an author who self-publishes faces regarding distribution?
Joint ventures in which two or more parties invest in the possible success of a book are a perfectly acceptable business model, so long as everyone understands the limitations and responsibilities of each party to the contract. Has a small bookseller ever explained to a room full of authors what the real and hidden costs are to accept books on consignment? Or to set up yet another account? What decisions must a bookseller make when one of their wholesalers demands an increase in minimum book orders from , say $50 to $400?
Yes, I am aware that professional organizations like EPIC post acceptable contract language on their web site. What I am suggesting, however, is that passive resistance to evil is not acceptable. I think organizations like MWA, RWA, Sisters in Crime and IBS and trade associations like ABA as well as many others ought to mount aggressive educational campaigns to reveal to new authors and others, just what the business is all about.
I’d like to see a business track designed for new authors at Malice, at Bouchercon, at Left Coast Crime, to name just a few. For far too long, it seems to me, the publishing business, in all its facets, has just been going along with practices developed over years of neglect rather than with proactive profit-centric attitudes. Better books, better agenting and editing, better distribution can only result in better literacy and more profits for everybody.
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
RAMBLING OPINIONS ON WRITING AND PUBLISHING TODAY
There has been a lot of conversation on the net recently regarding self-pubbing, e-books and associated attitudes from various writer’s organizations. I ‘spect more than one or two independent publishers are also conversing with their counterparts on the subject. Much of it provoked by recent business moves from a long-established publishing house.
I think it’s fair to consider self-publishing print materials such as novels, short stories and non-fiction as one kind of business model. Perhaps more informal than going to an established publishing house. There are success stories and failures, just as is the case with the formal publishing of print materials. I also believe that e-publishing is simply another kind of business model. None of these models are inherently good or bad, in terms of product quality, any more than publishing with a small or independent press is good or bad.
An author who makes a rational decision to self-publish should be neither derided nor congratulated and wouldn’t be if folks on the sidelines were less emotional and more prone to pragmatism. The same should be true of decisions to publish via electronic means instead or in addition to traditional paper. Self-publishing puts a work into the realm of individual investment of time, talent and money. Publishing with a press that requires an investment of funds by the author should likewise be neither condemned nor applauded. It is the product that should count. Every year entrepreneurs come to the market place with new inventions. Most fail, some go on to fortune, if not necessarily fame. Why should it be any different for writers of books?
I don’t understand why it’s okay for a musician or a band to produce and distribute its own music via CDs or a website, but it’s not okay for an author to do the same.
If an author takes on the production of his or her work using the same or higher standards of quality in the editing and production of a given work, as the standards set by a business called “publisher,” why cannot the result be judged using the same standards? Instead, the work is largely ignored and the focus of most negative criticism falls on the decision regarding how to publish. Moreover, most of the critical comments are couched in broad terms. We read constantly, often from sources that insist they don’t read ebooks or self-pubbed work, that such work is inferior, not worth time and effort. How do these people know that? If you press them they’ll suggest that a long time ago they read an ebook, or a self-pubbed novel and it was really bad.
That kind of discrimination—which is exactly what it is—is injurious to our society.
Right now there is a kind of upheaval in several national organizations relative to policies regarding membership and association linked to the decisions regarding how a book is published. Interestingly much of the negative rhetoric is similar in nature and tone, if not identical. One could almost believe there is a small group of individuals who are dedicated to stamping out publishing business models which do not conform to “the way it has always been done.”
I don’t believe in conspiracies. Restraint of trade is a nasty way to interact with the Federal Government and can be very costly. Conspiracies to defraud are almost always found out, sooner or later.
What I really wish is that more time and energy would be spent helping authors to understand the business models that exist, their advantages and disadvantages, so that those who are unlearned in these areas could be guided away from the scam artists, the thieves and robbers who would take your money and deliver nothing. Or maybe there are and I just haven’t run across them yet. Maybe distribution is at fault. Which reminds me of an incident to illustrate my points.
As a reviewer of mystery fiction, a self-pubbed author once verbally attacked me when I read and reviewed her work but refused to submit it to the newspapers for which I was freelancing at the time. Before I read the book, I had determined that the paper would not print my review of the book because it was not available in local bookstores. That was their policy. Not set by me, but I was quickly perceived by the author to be the barrier. I was standing in the way of her success. She assumed it was my fault that the book would not receive local coverage. This author should have done some research into marketing and promotion before she elected to self-publish the novel. What local newspaper is going to devote space to any author whose books are not available in local bookstores? The answer is fairly obvious, although there are, of course, exceptions.
Authors need to learn in detail about the business model they wish to use and professional author organizations like RWA, MWA, Sisters In Crime and EPIC could provide great service to authors by concentrating efforts to help their members learn what they need to know for success, instead of squabbling over whether e-books are legitimate and whether publically admitting to having self-pubbed is a death knell for a writing career.
Woe betide the author who believes e-publishing and self-publishing are simply neat ways to get around the costs of fact-checking, copy and line editing, content editing and professional cover and book design.
Most emphatically, they are not. Like it or not, authors, to be successful are in business and they need to learn some basic facts, like how to protect themselves from thieves and charlatans, and how to improve their product to help it attain recognition and success.
I think it’s fair to consider self-publishing print materials such as novels, short stories and non-fiction as one kind of business model. Perhaps more informal than going to an established publishing house. There are success stories and failures, just as is the case with the formal publishing of print materials. I also believe that e-publishing is simply another kind of business model. None of these models are inherently good or bad, in terms of product quality, any more than publishing with a small or independent press is good or bad.
An author who makes a rational decision to self-publish should be neither derided nor congratulated and wouldn’t be if folks on the sidelines were less emotional and more prone to pragmatism. The same should be true of decisions to publish via electronic means instead or in addition to traditional paper. Self-publishing puts a work into the realm of individual investment of time, talent and money. Publishing with a press that requires an investment of funds by the author should likewise be neither condemned nor applauded. It is the product that should count. Every year entrepreneurs come to the market place with new inventions. Most fail, some go on to fortune, if not necessarily fame. Why should it be any different for writers of books?
I don’t understand why it’s okay for a musician or a band to produce and distribute its own music via CDs or a website, but it’s not okay for an author to do the same.
If an author takes on the production of his or her work using the same or higher standards of quality in the editing and production of a given work, as the standards set by a business called “publisher,” why cannot the result be judged using the same standards? Instead, the work is largely ignored and the focus of most negative criticism falls on the decision regarding how to publish. Moreover, most of the critical comments are couched in broad terms. We read constantly, often from sources that insist they don’t read ebooks or self-pubbed work, that such work is inferior, not worth time and effort. How do these people know that? If you press them they’ll suggest that a long time ago they read an ebook, or a self-pubbed novel and it was really bad.
That kind of discrimination—which is exactly what it is—is injurious to our society.
Right now there is a kind of upheaval in several national organizations relative to policies regarding membership and association linked to the decisions regarding how a book is published. Interestingly much of the negative rhetoric is similar in nature and tone, if not identical. One could almost believe there is a small group of individuals who are dedicated to stamping out publishing business models which do not conform to “the way it has always been done.”
I don’t believe in conspiracies. Restraint of trade is a nasty way to interact with the Federal Government and can be very costly. Conspiracies to defraud are almost always found out, sooner or later.
What I really wish is that more time and energy would be spent helping authors to understand the business models that exist, their advantages and disadvantages, so that those who are unlearned in these areas could be guided away from the scam artists, the thieves and robbers who would take your money and deliver nothing. Or maybe there are and I just haven’t run across them yet. Maybe distribution is at fault. Which reminds me of an incident to illustrate my points.
As a reviewer of mystery fiction, a self-pubbed author once verbally attacked me when I read and reviewed her work but refused to submit it to the newspapers for which I was freelancing at the time. Before I read the book, I had determined that the paper would not print my review of the book because it was not available in local bookstores. That was their policy. Not set by me, but I was quickly perceived by the author to be the barrier. I was standing in the way of her success. She assumed it was my fault that the book would not receive local coverage. This author should have done some research into marketing and promotion before she elected to self-publish the novel. What local newspaper is going to devote space to any author whose books are not available in local bookstores? The answer is fairly obvious, although there are, of course, exceptions.
Authors need to learn in detail about the business model they wish to use and professional author organizations like RWA, MWA, Sisters In Crime and EPIC could provide great service to authors by concentrating efforts to help their members learn what they need to know for success, instead of squabbling over whether e-books are legitimate and whether publically admitting to having self-pubbed is a death knell for a writing career.
Woe betide the author who believes e-publishing and self-publishing are simply neat ways to get around the costs of fact-checking, copy and line editing, content editing and professional cover and book design.
Most emphatically, they are not. Like it or not, authors, to be successful are in business and they need to learn some basic facts, like how to protect themselves from thieves and charlatans, and how to improve their product to help it attain recognition and success.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
BLACK FLIES A FINE TURBULENT NOVEL
Black Flies
by Shannon Burke
Soft Skull Press, May, 2008
Trade Paper Original, 184 pages, $14.95
ISBN: 9781593761912
Reviewed by Carl Brookins
A powerful debut, smoothly executed, about New York Fire Department paramedics working in Harlem. Paramedics everywhere will doubtless recognize the range of emotional scenes packed into this slender novel. The book’s essence is the constant pressure, in unremittingly unbelievable working conditions.
When the book opens Oliver Cross is a rookie emt. When it ends he’s on his way to a different career. The only mystery here is how he and the other paramedics in the city generally but especially those in Harlem, manage to survive and hold on to their humanity. There is something insidiously wrong in placing human beings into these pressured situations, expecting them to perform near miracles in saving the lives of a range of humans from murderers and addicts to diseased and uncaring predators. And the expectation is that they’ll do it while seriously understaffed, underfunded and inadequately equipped.
This darkly sympathetic novel is both a celebration of the dedication and expertise of the paramedics and an indictment of the system. Against the lethargy and remoteness lf the system, Burke examines the struggles of the men to maintain their sanity and continue to function. Intensely human on one hand, the brutality of their daily existence war constantly with the readers sensiblitites and struggle to accept the reality of the circumstances.
The author’s ear for swift and punchy real dialog is amazing. His integration of story and reality is sometimes amazing. What comes through is a turbulent stressful yet oddly satisfying occupation. Enthralling.
by Shannon Burke
Soft Skull Press, May, 2008
Trade Paper Original, 184 pages, $14.95
ISBN: 9781593761912
Reviewed by Carl Brookins
A powerful debut, smoothly executed, about New York Fire Department paramedics working in Harlem. Paramedics everywhere will doubtless recognize the range of emotional scenes packed into this slender novel. The book’s essence is the constant pressure, in unremittingly unbelievable working conditions.
When the book opens Oliver Cross is a rookie emt. When it ends he’s on his way to a different career. The only mystery here is how he and the other paramedics in the city generally but especially those in Harlem, manage to survive and hold on to their humanity. There is something insidiously wrong in placing human beings into these pressured situations, expecting them to perform near miracles in saving the lives of a range of humans from murderers and addicts to diseased and uncaring predators. And the expectation is that they’ll do it while seriously understaffed, underfunded and inadequately equipped.
This darkly sympathetic novel is both a celebration of the dedication and expertise of the paramedics and an indictment of the system. Against the lethargy and remoteness lf the system, Burke examines the struggles of the men to maintain their sanity and continue to function. Intensely human on one hand, the brutality of their daily existence war constantly with the readers sensiblitites and struggle to accept the reality of the circumstances.
The author’s ear for swift and punchy real dialog is amazing. His integration of story and reality is sometimes amazing. What comes through is a turbulent stressful yet oddly satisfying occupation. Enthralling.
Monday, October 26, 2009
MISSING OPPORTUNITIES?
Been following some of the blogging and messaging regarding promotion for signings. All good advice from knowledgeable professionals. However, (you knew that was coming, right?) I take note of a few things that seem to have been left out. It’s not surprising when you consider that most of us deal most of the time with the printed work on a page, whether on paper or via electronics.
Do consider the electronic media. Radio, television and cable. If you are bouncing about the country doing bookstore signings, and you ignore the other media you may be missing a big opportunity. While you are collecting names and addresses for print news outlets that service the areas you’ll visit, be sure to include the news directors of radio and TV stations. For cable it’s a little trickier since many cable providers don’t offer anything like local news/information programs. But some do. And almost every community in the country offers some kind of local cable access program that fits your need. Libraries produce regular cable programs, as do schools and even some bookstores. You have to dig up the information, but it is there.
One very important aspect of promotion for your travels has been largely missed in the current spate of advice. Get advice from the bookstore!
Let’s say you are scheduled for a local independent bookstore in
In another posting I’ll have a good deal to say about preparing for radio and television interviews.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
IDENTITY CRISIS A GOOD READ
By Debbi Mack
ISBN: 978-0-557-08325-1
241 pages, 2009,
available in print and downloadable
The novel rides squarely on the protagonists capable shoulders. She’s a bright and upright independent lawyer with her own practice. Stephanie Ann McRae can be a potty mouth at times, but her infrequent tirades are self-directed. Does she make mistakes? You bet. Does she fault herself when it happens. You bet. Does she occasionally skate a little close to the legal of not the ethical line? For her client, sure she does. Maybe her emotions are a little close to the surface, for a lawyer, but it all works and somehow, by page 10 you’re saying, “I’m on board. I wanna see this through to the end. Go Sam!” Because “Sam” McRae has grabbed you for the ride.
Sam is smart, but not infallible, doesn’t leap even low bushes at a single bound, so she’s easy to relate to. Early on she discovers that the FBI and her local cops are interested in her client, Melanie, because of a murder. Melanie isn’t exactly a suspect she’s a person of interest. The problem is, Melanie has gone missing.
The next thing you know Sam, who isn’t what you’d call well-off, learns that she—or someone using her name—is applying for a substantial line of credit. Mild panic insues and another layer is added to the mix. Is Sam’s client involved in the identity theft? And what’s that black limo doing, the one that appears to be shadowing her at times?
There are a lot of characters in this novel, most of whom are interesting, some of whom might has been more fruitfully developed. Sam’s love interest is at times al most an afterthought. Occasionally the writing meanders, but mostly the story maintains a high level of interest and forceful pace. The author has a keen eye for character and her writing is usually smooth and interesting. I enjoyed the novel all the way to its satisfying conclusion.
ISBN: 978-0-557-08325-1
241 pages, 2009,
available in print and downloadable
The novel rides squarely on the protagonists capable shoulders. She’s a bright and upright independent lawyer with her own practice. Stephanie Ann McRae can be a potty mouth at times, but her infrequent tirades are self-directed. Does she make mistakes? You bet. Does she fault herself when it happens. You bet. Does she occasionally skate a little close to the legal of not the ethical line? For her client, sure she does. Maybe her emotions are a little close to the surface, for a lawyer, but it all works and somehow, by page 10 you’re saying, “I’m on board. I wanna see this through to the end. Go Sam!” Because “Sam” McRae has grabbed you for the ride.
Sam is smart, but not infallible, doesn’t leap even low bushes at a single bound, so she’s easy to relate to. Early on she discovers that the FBI and her local cops are interested in her client, Melanie, because of a murder. Melanie isn’t exactly a suspect she’s a person of interest. The problem is, Melanie has gone missing.
The next thing you know Sam, who isn’t what you’d call well-off, learns that she—or someone using her name—is applying for a substantial line of credit. Mild panic insues and another layer is added to the mix. Is Sam’s client involved in the identity theft? And what’s that black limo doing, the one that appears to be shadowing her at times?
There are a lot of characters in this novel, most of whom are interesting, some of whom might has been more fruitfully developed. Sam’s love interest is at times al most an afterthought. Occasionally the writing meanders, but mostly the story maintains a high level of interest and forceful pace. The author has a keen eye for character and her writing is usually smooth and interesting. I enjoyed the novel all the way to its satisfying conclusion.
Monday, October 19, 2009
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