Category Archives: Fictorians Alumni

Never Surrender!

Brandon M. Lindsay Publishing The Writing Life 5 Comments

With so many people officially on the self-publishing bandwagon, there have been a lot of proclamations going around to the effect that grand success as a self-published author is no longer possible. Even our own guest, David Dalglish, a paragon of self-pubbing success if ever there was one, has admitted that a significant factor of his triumph was timing. And now, it seems, the moment has passed.

The secret is out. The vast sales a few authors achieved in the early days of ebook self-pubbing led to an avalanche of me-too-ers. The market is flooded, and now the chance to have your book become a blockbuster requires you to compete with horde upon horde of writers who had the same idea as you. The picture painted by the self-publishing statistics floating around on the interwebs seems a bleak one indeed. Having seen it, some people may even decide that it is not worth the struggle.

But when taken in context, nothing has really changed on that front, at least not in a negative way. According to a recent survey, the average yearly take of a self-published author was $10,000, with a majority making less than $500 a year. How is that a bad thing? Before self-publishing was a viable option, failure was much harsher. Failure meant no money and no readers. I would gladly take $500 a year and a paltry following over nothing at all.

I should also point out that I hate statistics as a guide to personal action. The reason is that it’s easy to look at a given pie chart and think, “Oh, I have a 78% chance of failing to achieve my goals, so I’m not going to bother.” But no graph can ever tell you who you are. You are you, and there is a 0% chance that you are anyone else. Always keep that in mind when looking at statistics that attempt to tell you what kind of life you will have and thus how to live it.

Besides, there are exceptional writers out there. Imagine if your favorite author had looked at the odds of getting published and said, “Meh. Not worth the risk.” They would have never taken the plunge; they would have filed their TPS reports, always wondering, “Could I have been a success?” And the world, deprived of their creations, would have been a dimmer place. Perhaps you are one of those outliers. Perhaps you are really as good as your mom says you are.

And if you are that good, if you are the next Patrick Rothfuss, Stephen King, or [insert favorite author here], and you quit now, I am going to be very, very pissed off at you.

Hopefully, none of this means anything to you, because deep down, you are a writer. And writers write, no matter what anybody else says.

Never surrender.

Brandon Sanderson Dishes on Publishing

Guest Posts Joshua Essoe Publishing 5 Comments

It has been a busy and wonderful month here at Fictorians.com. To finish off our Publishing Month of Madness, Brandon Sanderson was kind enough to agree to take some time out of his crazy schedule for a short question and answer style blog post.

Here it is in all its glory.

Joshua Essoe: It used to be that producing a book a year was sufficient, even productive, but now it seems if you’re not getting at least two or three books out there every year to feed the cavernous maw of impatient e-readers, you’re too slow and the tide will just pass you by. What do you think of the difference between e-books and traditional publishing?

Brandon Sanderson: Authors are doing some interesting things in e-books. One thing you’re noticing is that in e-books-probably for pricing reasons-the books are growing shorter and coming out faster. It’s moving closer to a much older model, where you would release serialized editions of books that were more like episodes rather than an entire novel. Some of the market is going that way. I think it’s just a different model; I don’t necessarily think it’s going to be the only model. It’s just a new and interesting thing that e-books are doing.

JE: Is there a pressure that has developed from traditional publishers for their authors to be pushed towards more production? When should an author consider self-publishing instead of trying to land a book deal in NY? Should one self-publish while trying to land that book deal and use potential sales numbers as part of the pitch?

BS: I don’t feel that there has been any push from New York to publish books at any different speed at all. In fact, one of the main reasons to publish with New York as opposed to self-publishing is if you are an author who doesn’t write at least one book a year. If we’re to take The Way of Kings as an example, there’s no way that I’m going to be producing 400,000-word epic fantasies as fast as a lot of the self-published writers can put out books. There’s no way that anyone could have made that book at that speed. It’s a book that takes a year, maybe eighteen months to write. So for long epic fantasies, New York certainly has some things going for it.

One of the reasons that it’s really good to publish fast and short when you’re doing self-publishing is that you don’t have any sort of marketing push behind you. You don’t have bookstore shelf presence, which is one of the major forms of marketing-people seeing your book there on the shelves. Word of mouth is always the most important thing, but it becomes even more important for the self-published writer. Publishing quickly and getting a lot of books out helps to get your name in more places in the market and helps to push some of that momentum through. That seems to be the key way to make it as a self-published writer.

When would I self-publish versus New York-publish? I would not abandon either model. Self-publishing has proved itself so viable recently that if I were a new writer, I would be looking at doing both at the same time. Maybe taking the longer, more epic-style books to New York and doing the faster-paced, more thriller-style books online, and seeing what works best.

So the expansion of the e-book market gives you more places to go. That said, if you’re not a particularly fast writer, self-publishing is going to be a very hard route for you because everything I’ve seen-granted, I’m not an expert on this; there are places to go other than me for expertise-shows that being able to produce quickly is a key factor in being a successful self-published author in this market.

JE: How long does it take to be forgotten in this fickle book market, and what should an author be doing to prevent it?

BS: It depends on your method. What you’re getting at here is the balance between promotion and just writing the next book. That’s a balance authors have had to work with for decades, if not centuries-the idea being that promoting your book keeps it in people’s minds. Right now you can do that through engaging blog posts, being on Twitter, going to conventions, doing book signings, and all of these things. They take time. If they take so much time that you’re not writing your next book, then the question becomes are they worth it?

Do you want all your eggs in one basket? Do you want to write one book and then spend the whole year promoting it, trying to get it to take off, or do you want to, in that time, write three books and try to get one of the three to take off? I don’t think there’s any right answer; they’re both valid ways to go. You could end up writing that one book and, with your promotion, turn it into a big success that builds a name for you. Or you could be in hindsight wasting your time promoting it when it never ends up taking off.

So you have to find the right balance for yourself. Part of the question that I would ask myself is, are you an engaging blogger? Can you write interesting things on a topic and build a platform that is not just about “Buy my book!”? Would it be something interesting and fun for people to read, and can you leverage that to make people interested in your writing? If you can, then blogging would certainly be helpful to you.

Guest Bio: Brandon Sanderson writes epic fantasy novels for Tor Books.  He is the author of Elantris, the Mistborn trilogy, Warbreaker, and his newest grand epic, starting with The Way of Kings. He was also chosen to complete Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series, the final book of which, A Memory of Light, is due out in January 2013. Find out more about Brandon at www.brandonsanderson.com.

 

Joshua Essoe: Editing Saved My Life. And It Could Save Yours.

Editing Guest Posts Joshua Essoe Publishing Rewriting The Writing Life 8 Comments

Writers frequently ask me if an editor is really necessary. The answer is no. An editor is not necessary, an editor is essential.

Many indie authors say, “But, I can’t afford it.” The truth is, if you can’t afford it, then don’t publish a book. Something I think many indie authors tend to miss is that you guys are running a small business. You’re the boss and the employee and everything in between, and should expect a certain amount of upfront cost. Releasing a book before it’s ready because you won’t hire an editor or cover designer does more harm than good. It is better to wait and make sure that your book is as strong as you can make it before you throw it to the wolves.

Especially your first book. There are thousands and thousands of self-published books out there and they’re all inexpensive and easy to get. If a reader gets hold of it, finds a few spelling errors, a missed word here or there, and an abundance of passive voice, they’ll put your book down (or remove it from their e-reader) and just move on to the next thing. They’ll never give your potentially wonderful story a chance to be potentially wonderful—and there goes your chance for future sales to that reader. Think what your reaction would be as a reader. First impressions mean everything. That goes for your first book in a new series, your first book ever, your first chapter, your first page, your first sentence.

The New York Times has editors, TV news stations have editors, Vogue and Maxim have editors, all the publishing houses have editors. Why would successful businesses like those all use editors? There must be a reason. . . . Ah, yes. It is because they’re essential to a finely tuned, professional product.

An indie editor is different from a trad editor. The only person who pays an independent or freelance editor is you. The only person that editor is beholden to is you. Their job is to strengthen your words and your voice to help make your story as good as it can be. The way you want it. A good one will be enthusiastically in your corner, working to help make you a success. And you want them in your corner. You wouldn’t think of going into an MMA match without having had a trainer. You’d get killed. Likewise, you shouldn’t throw your darlings to those wolves without some ninja skillz.

An editor’s job is not to rewrite you. Writing is your job. Their job is to help you make that writing shine as brilliantly as possible.

And another huge difference between indie and trad editors? Between hiring your own editor and having one imposed on you? If you hate what they do, you don’t have to use it—any of it.

So what can your friendly neighborhood editor do for you? There are several forms of editing; copy or line, content, substantive, proof reading. We’ll focus on line and content which will be the most applicable and reasonable for an indie author.

A copy or line edit, as the name suggests, is a meticulous edit of each line in the text looking for missing and misspelled words, superfluous language and redundant phrases, mixed tenses, and all technical inconsistencies. Line editing is editing for tone, style and flow—focusing on polishing the author’s words to improve the overall effect and increase the impact of the writer’s message. And to make sure that horrible passive voice is not yammering all over your story. You don’t want readers to admire your writing. You want them to be so engaged by the story that they don’t notice your words.

A content edit is more involved. It is checking the story for logic holes, inconsistencies of plot and character, patching any holes in the fourth wall, finding spots in the story that are weak or don’t make sense, then suggesting possible solutions.

An editor’s job is to help you get the movie you see running in your head playing the same way in the heads of your readers. What makes a story work is an emotional connection with your readership. If you get that, they’ll love your book and they’ll love you.

A good content editor is not easy to find; there aren’t many out there who can tell you what’s wrong and offer solutions on how to fix it. So be careful. Get references, talk to people you trust or people with experience.

When you contact an editor be professional. Be prepared to send a sample. Be prepared to give the editor a deposit for reserving time for you. Be prepared to meet your deadlines so that you have time to do a couple passes on your own before handing it off. Not only will those passes make your editor happy, but it will make your wallet happy. Make sure you know what format the editor needs. For example, I use industry standard—I know how long an MS formatted to those specifications will take me to edit based on a five page sample.

What will amaze and appall editors of all shapes and sizes is that a large percentage of manuscripts submitted for review have not even basic formatting set correctly. It immediately gives the impression of laziness, that the author didn’t care enough to do a little research.

If you are curious what the vaunted Industry Standard looks like, read Vonda McIntyre’s handout. This is a good starting point, but keep in mind that the industry is in flux and many online submissions will vary from this. If they do, they’ll certainly state it in their submission guidelines. If not, always go with the old standard.

A good content editor will also be able to help you sculpt your story to best appeal to the audience for which it is targeted. Do you want to enrapture teenage girls? Or do you want men in their thirties on the edges of their seats? Knowing who you are writing for and what appeals to them is as important as having a wonderful story. Because what might be an amazing story to that thirty-five year old guy is almost certainly not going to appeal all that much to a sixteen year old girl.

So, all you indie authors out there, go out and find an editor you love (and hate—if the editor is any good you’ll curse their name more than a few times). Get that editor working for you, and let them help you and your business produce the best product possible.

 

Joshua Essoe is a full-time, freelance editor. He’s done work for best-seller David Farland, including the multi-award winning novel, Nightingale, Dean Lorey, lead writer of Arrested Development, best-seller, James Artimus Owen, and numerous Writers of the Future authors and winners, as well as many top-notch independents. He is currently the finishing editor at Urban Fantasy Magazine.

Together with tie-in writer Jordan Ellinger, indie success-story, Michale J. Sullivan, and traditionally published author and NY Times best-seller, Debbie Viguie, he records the weekly writing podcast Hide and Create. You can find his interview episode here.

When not editing . . . ha ha, a joke. He was a 2014 finalist in the Writers of the Future contest, and lives with his wife, and three horrible cats near UCLA.

 

So, You’re Considering Indie Publishing “¦

Moses Siregar III Publishing The Writing Life 6 Comments

Hello, neighbor. It’s so nice to see you again. I heard you’re thinking about dipping your toes in the indie end of the publishing pool. Well then, come away with me to a world of wonder, where authors can do anything they wish and even make a little money at it (but sorry, you’re not getting laid-that’s only for rockstars, CEO types, and firemen).

Right. Onward. Resources … resources are very good. They help you do stuff. You want resources. So then, knowledge … leads to power. Power. You like power! Yes you do. That’s why you’ll want to do some reading, follow some blogs. Otherwise you’ll fail, and failure is, like, really bad. So start with these, because the world of indie publishing changes at lightning speed. You’ll always need to stay on top of what’s happening (and be wary of any e-book on the subject that’s more than a day old).

The Writer’s Café at Kindleboards. It’s a jungle over there, but if you’re looking for current discussions, be there now.

Lindsay Buroker. Lindsay is quietly conquering the world. The best part? She shares all of her secrets.

David Gaughran. This one is quite the hub. Keep it on your radar. Btw, David actually wrote a better version of this very blog post.

Kristine Kathrine Rusch’s The Business Rusch. Good stuff.

Victorine Lieske’s “Why Isn’t My Book Selling?” Vicki is one of the classiest humans around, and you can learn a lot from this blog.

The Passive Voice. Smart people read this. You’re smart. You should read this.

Dean Wesley Smith. After reading his blog and his great series of posts on killing the sacred cows of publishing, I met Dean at the recent Superstars Writing Seminar. He was cool.

Robin Sullivan. Her postings have slowed down lately, but she has a righteous blog.

Joe Konrath, poking bears in the eye with badass style.

Elle Casey recommends YA Indie, a blog run by some indie YA authors. Looks good.

World Literary Café. I’m not familiar with it, but Melissa Douthit says “WLC is good for connecting authors to readers and vice versa. If you’re new, it helps to get your books up off the ground.” So yeah. That’s good. Another one that some people like for this sort of thing is Wattpad.

Looking for something else? A particular service, maybe? Jennifer Powell has a nice list of resources for self-publishers. As does Katie Salidas. And here’s a crapton of useful links for indie authors, from kindleboards.

Next, neighbor, we will discuss philosophy. Writer’s write. So, write. Moving on …

Some basic advice:

Make sure your work is ready. Don’t be stupid. Everyone thinks their writing is great. Make sure you can find some total strangers who think your work is the bomb before uploading to Amazon.

The most common regret indies have is that they didn’t hire a good editor. Hire a good editor. Also, copyediting and proofreading are kind of important. Ask around, ask for referrals, and get an editing sample before you splurge and spend big bucks on a crappy editor. They’re definitely out there. Don’t pay for crap.

Joshua Essoe, one of my editors and a fellow Fictorian, isn’t crap.

If you’re writing science fiction or fantasy and you want to sell books, don’t even think about not writing a series. This also goes for any genre where series are a big deal.

A good book cover has two ingredients: art and typography. Lots of indies have great art and awful typography. If you don’t have the skillz, spend some money on typography. Find someone who knows what they are doing and pay them to make the lettering on your cover look professional (Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone your secret).

If you’re the shy type …

You don’t necessarily have to do social media, you don’t have to have a platform, and you don’t have to do a ton of marketing. BUT, if this is going to be your path (the path of the shy gal/guy), you’ve got to write really frickin’ fast. Like, a lot of fast. And pick a big, hungry audience (for example, romance or thrillers), and know exactly what that audience wants, and then get up early every morning and make those readers their  frickin’ donuts. Serve up their donuts. You are going to be a slave to all of those hungry readers and you’re going to consistently give them what they want. Worship the readers, serve the readers, and you’ll do just fine. Yep, it’s a lot like a job. Disclaimer: I’m still working on this part.

If you’re the social type …

Set writing goals, stick to schedules, and make the writing the number bleeping one (#1) priority. Put your game face on. No smiling! Eye of the Tiger. It’s business time.

Thanks for going on this little trip with me. Just remember, the most important thing is to have fun and enjoy the journey. Don’t get too caught up with numbers. Live from your heart. And listen to Mr. Rogers …

 

Moses Siregar III is the author of The Black God’s War. It’s okay.