tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78043032024-03-18T20:03:14.948-07:00RockStoriesA place to talk about all things writing related: techniques, sales, good and bad writing in the world, writers' groups, the importance (or lack thereof) of using good grammar in today's world, and more.Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.comBlogger122125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-33910783211567832922013-11-14T11:56:00.002-08:002013-11-14T11:56:48.742-08:00Remembering "Awesome"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKdUIizxRMA-FPpunekpIVdom_dseE4bic7tzZ4-jL60WHndiHOKM4hhiTKXt_2aFjodwdFJD0TQPt-VkaXnty_0cUbeShWnXO_uxiUBB9p9NOaZ-nETzTsonx2fFMaMS1yXf/s1600/Cape+Cod+2012+346.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKdUIizxRMA-FPpunekpIVdom_dseE4bic7tzZ4-jL60WHndiHOKM4hhiTKXt_2aFjodwdFJD0TQPt-VkaXnty_0cUbeShWnXO_uxiUBB9p9NOaZ-nETzTsonx2fFMaMS1yXf/s320/Cape+Cod+2012+346.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I was twelve years old when I first saw Niagara Falls. I remember looking out at the water crashing over Horseshoe Falls and thinking that for the first time, I truly understood what "awesome" meant. The value of that discovery was short-lived, though; within a few years, "awesome" would have evolved into a designation for a new ice cream flavor, a solid test score or a plan to meet up after school.<br />
<br />
It nagged at me from the beginning, the loss of that word. Though I'm something of a preservationist, I'm also a fan of clear communication. I do understand that the commonly accepted meanings of words sometimes evolve, and sometimes that serves a societal purpose. Sometimes, it does not.<br />
<br />
"Awesome" was converted from a word with a unique meaning that conveyed something powerful into a shorthand reaction interchangeable with a dozen (or more) other words--and we no longer had a single word to clearly convey what "awesome" once meant. Sure, we can find workarounds--say "awe inspiring," for instance. But we had a perfectly good word for that, and it got broken.<br />
<br />
I've been thinking about that word again recently, since general misuse and the gatekeepers of our vocabulary joined forces to steal "literally" from the English language. In essence, the word has been redefined to mean, "literally" or "not literally." Which, of course, means that it conveys nothing at all. It's as if we've decided that the word "warm" now means either "warm" or "cold"--at the user's discretion and without any designated context to help determine which opposing thing the speaker is trying to convey.<br />
<br />
However language evolutionists might argue that updating the meaning of words aids in clear communication, the type of updating we're engaged in today does no such thing. Rather, it creates a rule of thumb that says that words don't actually have to mean a particular thing, and that a person speaking that word might mean anything at all. For example, she might mean "literally," or she might mean "figuratively."<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, we've lost the use of a perfectly good word that made a clear and important distinction. The old "literally" served a purpose; the new one, by virtue of its conflicting meanings, cannot. And, once again, we'll have to find a multi-word workaround to express what "literally" used to say with crystal clarity.<br />
<br />
Apparently, we've also redefined "evolution of language" to include "devolution of language."Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-48633382585023741202013-07-19T17:29:00.002-07:002013-07-19T17:35:02.198-07:00Another Overnight Success Story Years in the Making<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I “met” Thunder Levin minutes before his meteoric rise to
fame (we’re all hoping fortune is soon to follow). I encountered Levin entirely
by accident: I’m <a href="http://www.richard-grieco.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">stalking late 80s heartthrob Richard Grieco</a>*, and Levin wrote
and directed Grieco’s most recent movie.</div>
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<br /></div>
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My research included the intriguing discovery that Levin’s <i>AE: Apocalypse Earth</i> (The Asylum’s “mockbuster’
answer to Will Smith’s <i><a href="http://movies-with-mom.blogspot.com/2013/06/after-earth.html" target="_blank">After Earth</a></i>)
had climbed onto the list of the 50 most active movies on IMDB. In my book,
this was already a <a href="http://richard-grieco.blogspot.com/2013/06/looks-like-asylum-is-winning-this-round.html" target="_blank">pretty significant win</a>, but it doesn’t begin to compare with
what happened to Levin just weeks later, when a little film he’d penned by the
name of <i>Sharknado</i> set Twitter on fire
and drew news coverage from channels as far-flung as <i>Good Morning, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>!</i>
and <i><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/07/the-number-zero.html" target="_blank">The New Yorker</a></i>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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It turns out that a little thing like 5,000 Tweets per
minute can have a big impact on a writer’s career, and Thunder (who is also a
director, though he didn’t direct <i>Sharknado</i>)
now has a new agency representing him and bright prospects ahead. And I’m very
glad he does—he’s witty, intelligent and well-informed, which is basically my
checklist for people I’d like to see capturing more public attention. And, I
happen to know that he has a little project called <i>2176</i> in development that I’m interested to see on the big screen.</div>
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I suspect that most of you never heard of Levin before last
week, but that doesn’t mean he came out of nowhere. In fact, his earliest
director’s credit dates back to 1992, when he was just 27 years old. My point
isn’t to say, “Man, this guy’s old!” (he’s a year older than I am), but to
drive home the fact that—like most people who suddenly catch the public eye in
the creative arts—Levin has been building the foundation for years. Decades, even. And although I haven’t asked him, I’d wager
that he never expected <i>Sharknado</i> to
be the vehicle that brought his big break.</div>
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The moral of the story is one you’ve heard a thousand times
before (and probably at least 500 of them from me): you never know when the
first crack in the door is going to appear, or when the right piece of work is
going to catch the attention of the right person or when the life-altering
opportunity is going to come along. You might never expect that it will arrive
on the tail of a flying shark, but sometimes it does. And the only way to get to
that moment is to keep building the foundation in every way you can, doing what
you were meant to do, finding a way to make it pay and being ready to move
quickly when you see that sliver of light along the edge of the door.</div>
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*<span style="font-size: x-small;">No, not that kind of stalking. I'm hoping that Richard will agree to be the subject of my next, "no, really, there's a lot more to this guy than you realize" biography. So far, he's kind of a tease.</span></div>
Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-51337262601702358622013-07-10T16:52:00.001-07:002013-07-10T16:52:09.950-07:00Who Stole My Phone Booth?<i>I wrote this article in 2005, for a website called </i>CoolStuff4Writers. <i>Though I've obviously written much more significant pieces in my career, this one received a resounding response--probably because so many of us feel like imposters while we're out there in the world doing what we do best. The article archives went offline a few years ago, and I though it was lost forever, but recently re-discovered the original draft on an old back-up drive...so, here it is.</i><br />
<br />
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Unthinking, I answered my cell phone in Wal- Mart.
We were buying supplies for the Daisy Girl Scout meeting that night and I was
absorbed in the variations of color and shape in the sequin packets when I
found myself absently saying hello to a musician who's been making appearances
on the Australian equivalent of the Billboard Top 40 for more than thirty
years. <br />
<br />
I was a teenager and Rick Springfield was a
superstar when I decided, more than twenty years ago, that I was going to write
his biography. I guess that makes me living proof that teenage dreams come
true...but somehow I thought it would be different. I thought I would pack the
lunches and distribute the milk money and sort the homework and drop off the
kids, and then I'd transform from "Mom" into "Biographer to the
Stars" like Wonder Woman spinning away Diana Prince. I'd buy the right
clothes...except that when I went out to do that, I stepped out of the dressing
room to hear my mother laughing. "I wouldn't wear the Velcro gym
shoes," she said, "they kind of mark you as a soccer mom." I'd
fly off to Los Angeles to do interviews...except that when I did that, I had to
call home three or four times a day. I'd meet the coolest people...except that
I already knew the coolest person, and I didn't have to fly anywhere to see
her. <br />
I wanted to be a superhero. I really did. But I
couldn't find my phone booth. <br />
<br />
My daughter was everywhere, and when I stopped and
thought about it I realized that there was a simple reason for it: I wanted her
there. Being a mom was an important part of who I was, and my daughter was just
about the most important thing I could imagine. In an earlier age, that might
have meant making a choice, but the logistics were manageable. The issue was
one that apparently existed only in my own mind, an idea that it was somehow
unprofessional to be a mother. <br />
<br />
When I'd been teaching, I had never given it a
thought, blithely standing before pre-law students with a bunny sticker on my
jacket and calling home during the break to say goodnight. But the
"Biographer to the Stars" I envisioned wouldn't wear Velcro gym
shoes, not even to the grocery store. She could fly away on a moment's notice
without having to worry over childcare, and she would never be hiding a
chocolate handprint behind her lapel. She would not reach into her bag for a
pen and come out with a crayon, nor would there ever be a My Pretty Pony in the
pocket of her dress coat. Not even a very small, unobtrusive yellow one. <br />
<br />
The news flash that shouldn't have been a news
flash is that most people are parents. On the loading dock behind the EFX
Theatre at the MGM Grand in <st1:place w:st="on">Las Vegas</st1:place>,
I interviewed an actress/musician who had just released her first solo CD. At
the end of the interview she took my hand and led me to her dressing room
saying, "I have to show you my son." In <st1:place w:st="on">Los Angeles</st1:place> my interview with a record
producer with more than two decades of success behind him was interrupted
briefly while he made sure that his teenage daughter had sunscreen on before
she left for the beach. At a concert in <st1:place w:st="on">Chicago</st1:place>
the bass player brought his four-year-old son out to play the drums. I began to
suspect that many people had Velcro gym shoes hidden in their closets.<br />
<br />
Not long
afterward, I realized that just as many people kept them on a mat in plain view
of the front door. <br />
<br />
I happily tucked that knowledge into my pocket
alongside the glow-in-the-dark plastic alien and took to the road again, this
time secure in the knowledge that the glamorous people I met along the way
would understand--and maybe even approve--when I reached for a business card
and came out with a gap-toothed first grade portrait instead.Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-54463490204811872432013-04-13T10:05:00.000-07:002016-01-09T10:14:45.028-08:00Writers Don't Get Hazard Pay<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>This is a story I didn't tell publicly for a very long time, for reasons I expect are obvious. But a lot of years have passed, and I don't think I've ever shared the story with anyone who didn't say it was "great" (or some variation thereof). So...what the hell? Here it is. I think it shows Rick Springfield for the exceptional person he is, despite the fact that it begins with a head injury.</i></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In the summer of 2000, I was already writing about Rick
Springfield and had corresponded with him a bit by email, but I’d never met him
in person. So, when he bounced a camera off my head and gave me a concussion at
the Taste of Minnesota in July, he didn’t know who I was.</div>
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At that time, <st1:city w:st="on">Springfield</st1:city>
had a habit of taking a camera from someone in the crowd, photographing himself
and tossing it back to her. This had
been working out for months and of course the audience loved it. But at the Taste of Minnesota, there was a
barrier about ten feet out from the stage. That meant that when Rick threw the
camera back, it wasn’t the gentle toss we’d all become accustomed to. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Someone reached up to catch it, the camera tipped off her
hand and bounced…right into my forehead. Hard.
The corner caught me above the left eye and immediately my forehead
started to swell.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thus far, it may be difficult to see how this becomes
another “Why I love Rick Springfield” moment, but here’s what happened next:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rick saw the camera hit me and he dropped his guitar and
jumped off stage. Remember the barrier that caused all this trouble in the
first place? He climbed over it and was
standing in front of me in seconds. After asking if I was all right and kissing my
forehead, he dispatched someone nearby for ice. Then, he picked up my
then-five-year-old daughter and hugged her, started to turn away and then
stopped and said, “She feels hot. Is she
okay?” </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And then, while thousands of people waited patiently (yes,
really) for him to get back on stage and finish the song, he waited for an
answer. It was only after I showed him
that she had plenty of liquids that he turned away again.</div>
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<br /></div>
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To be totally honest, I don’t remember him kissing my
head. After all, I had a
concussion! I’ve heard about it from a
lot of people, though—some of them said I was “lucky”. I’m not going to go that far. I was in a lot of pain and six hours from
home, I had to cancel family portraits we had scheduled for the following week
when my stepchildren were visiting, I couldn’t drive for a couple of weeks and
my poor husband got dirty looks everywhere we went over the vibrant black eye I
developed. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was, however, very impressed when, about 15 minutes after
the show resumed, Rick walked to the part of the stage directly in front of us
and asked the people standing near me whether I was really okay. I even remember that part.</div>
Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-17307313606433494172012-11-21T00:14:00.000-08:002012-11-21T00:14:18.183-08:00Why I Love Websites that Pay Writers Like CrapWhat I really want to talk about is capitalizing on your strengths. Based on my own, I really do love websites that pay writers like crap. I'm not saying you should love them. Most people who make their livings as writers either hate them or, at best, have a love/hate relationship with them: they provide an easy way to get writing work, which is better than flipping burgers, but the pay is probably worse. More established writers lament, not without justification, the way these sites deflate market rates.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The reason I love these sites is the flipside of the reason most writers hate them. They're very lucrative for me.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
See, I know my strengths as a writer, and two of them are that I'm very fast and that I don't agonize. So while I agree in theory that it's an insult to offer a professional $8 or even $17 for a 500 word article, my hourly rate cranking out these articles often exceeds my standard freelancing rate of $50/hour. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A friend recently suggested that I was somehow cheating the system; he believed that the agencies that used these sites intended to pay writers minimum wage or less. Because they didn't know how fast I was, he felt that I was sort of tricking them into paying me more. But I don't think those clients care how much I'm making an hour. I think they want a decent-quality article for a few bucks, and that if I can provide that they don't care whether it took me two hours or two minutes to produce. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I know there will be writers who think I should refrain from making $40-60/hour on these sites because they're not lucrative for most writers, and I'm not even going to address that here. We can talk about it in the comments or another post if you wish, but I've written quite a bit already about writing for cheap/free and why my views differ from conventional wisdom in the industry. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What I'm getting at here is that what constitutes a "good gig" for one writer isn't necessarily what pays off for another, and that rather than thinking in terms of a black and white generally accepted hierarchy, anyone who wants to make a living as a writer should figure out what his or her strengths are and then find the market or the job or the niche that makes those skills most profitable.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For me, content production sites are easy work that isn't especially interesting or demanding, but offers flexibility and quick payment. I wouldn't want to do that kind of writing all day every day, but a few hours a week provides a nice little supplement with very little investment. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What's your secret strength?</div>
Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-50981818116689214962012-02-04T17:30:00.000-08:002012-02-04T19:15:04.294-08:00Self-Publishing Fiction - A Whole New BallgameBack in 2008, I wrote about <a href="http://rockstories.blogspot.com/2008/01/self-publishing-fiction.html">self-publishing fiction</a>, and my view was pretty negative. I wasn't a self-publishing naysayer by any stretch--in 2001 I made a significant profit on a self-published non-fiction book. At the time, though, it was pretty rare for a self-published book that didn't fit a specific niche with an easily-targeted market to generate a profit.<br /><br />That hasn't changed.<br /><br />Though self-publishing models are rapidly evolving and opportunities expanding, the bottom line is that most self-published books just don't sell a whole lot of copies. Some of the reasons for that include:<br /><ul><li>A wariness about quality that makes some readers hesitant to take a chance on a new-to-her author if the book is self-published;</li><li>Actual quality problems with a lot of self-published books--a self-published book isn't required to pass through an editor, and many don't.; and<br /></li><li>Writing a good book is the easy part compared with marketing and promoting your book amidst a <a href="http://rockstories.blogspot.com/2012/01/what-ive-learned-about-kindle.html">sea of other titles</a>.</li></ul>One big thing has changed, though: the risk. Back in 2008, print on demand options (POD) were newer and more limited. The cost per book was higher and depending on the company you used, you might have a minimum order. That meant, in most cases, shelling out cash to get started.<br /><br />Depending on the service you use, that may still be required. But there are other options, options that don't require you to invest a dime up front. When it comes to print books, even those options have drawbacks: your cost per book will still require pricing that's outside the typical range of a large publisher. For example, if I were to publish a 200 page romance novel through CreateSpace, Amazon's self-publishing POD division, I'd have to price the book at about $5.50 just to break even on Amazon.com. $5.50 is in range for a book like that, but if you want to actually turn a profit, you'll have to mark it up even further--and that's only for sales on Amazon.com. In the expanded distribution network that makes your book more widely available, the break-even price is about $8.15--far too high for a book of that length and type to be competitive, even without building in a profit.<br /><br />So why have I changed my mind about self-publishing fiction? It boils down to Kindle Direct Publishing, the Amazon option that allows you to upload a book directly to the Kindle store. That's it. If you're just publishing the e-book for Kindle, you don't even need an ISBN. No up front costs, a little bit of formatting, a quick upload, and your book is available in the Kindle store.<br /><br />Of course, no one will see it, let alone buy it. But it's there, quickly and for free.<br /><br />And then the games begin.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihJ0cGbysrLdpdDR-yUqSqQ53S08vdSxa9XXzjlT07LEV2UZVLG8MJRc3vnppci-cihyphenhyphenLGUYMGdizv4KZPmbZD8JqvQyLY4BXMrDhk6vIgy30OmRg0zW4LkbLa_cO2VGNuFBhg/s1600/Homecoming+Cover+Draft+1.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihJ0cGbysrLdpdDR-yUqSqQ53S08vdSxa9XXzjlT07LEV2UZVLG8MJRc3vnppci-cihyphenhyphenLGUYMGdizv4KZPmbZD8JqvQyLY4BXMrDhk6vIgy30OmRg0zW4LkbLa_cO2VGNuFBhg/s200/Homecoming+Cover+Draft+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5705484308279501778" border="0" /></a>I uploaded my romance novel, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Homecoming-ebook/dp/B006VPE4DM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328397421&sr=8-1"><span style="font-style: italic;">Homecoming</span></a>, to the Kindle store on January 9. The day I uploaded the novel, I posted about it on Facebook (where I have a relatively small number of friends--I don't use Facebook for marketing), but didn't do any other promotion. A handful of people, undoubtedly all friends and relatives, bought the book over the next few days. And then nothing.<br /><br />From what I've read, it seems that's the end of the cycle for many self-published novels. More for the sake of experiment than to revive this book, I agreed to the 90-day Kindle exclusive and offered the book free for 24 hours.<br /><br />In that 24 hours, 1352 people downloaded the book.<br /><br />"So what?" you might be saying. "You didn't make any money on those books." That's true. But that was okay with me, for a couple of reasons. One was that I have another romance novel almost done, and I figured that giving one away for free would be a good way to build an audience for that one...and the next, and the next. The other was that I suspected--though I was only guessing--that making the book available for free would make it more visible even after the free download period ended. That turned out to be true: the book started appearing in "people who purchased this book also purchased" and such, and strangers started to buy it.<br /><br />It was only a handful of strangers; it was still nothing to set the world on fire. But an interesting cycle started. Because sales of most books in the Kindle store are so low, it only took a handful of books each day to boost my sales ranking. Oh, I didn't make it into the top 100 or anything; the highest ranking I've reached thus far was about 16,000. But that's apparently high enough to once again increase visibility. And that increased visibility draws a couple of additional sales, which in turn bump my sales ranking.<br /><br />Right now, with no more effort than I've just described, I'm making about $12/day on the book. I'm not quitting my day job yet. But the sale numbers are increasing slightly every day, and even at $12/day this book is on track to pull in a few hundred dollars a month. That's certainly enough to have made it worthwhile to invest the five hours or so it took me to get the book formatted, uploaded, my account created, and formulate my strategy. And that's before factoring in the impact on sales of the next book, which will be available mid-February.<br /><br />More to come as I see whether the numbers taper off or continue to grow, and how adding books to the mix changes things.Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-19525276197801062602012-01-13T10:15:00.001-08:002012-01-13T10:28:35.986-08:00What I've Learned about Kindle Publishing Thus FarOver the past few days, I've been paying close attention to whatever data I could gather regarding sales and ranking. Though this is conjecture based on incomplete data, it appears to me that of the 478,000+ books currently available in the Kindle store, nearly 400,000 don't sell any copies on the average day and another 40,000+ sell about two copies.<div><br /></div><div>On the first day <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Homecoming-ebook/dp/B006VPE4DM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1326335729&sr=1-1">Homecoming</a></i> was listed, I reached the top 8% in terms of sales ranking after selling just five books. </div><div><br /></div><div>In a sense, this isn't surprising. We know that most self-published books, even in these days of easy and inexpensive self-publishing, don't make money. We also know that most people who write books and put them out there haven't given much thought to marketing and don't really know how to promote their books (or don't have the time to invest). And finally, not every book is going to sell copies through this one outlet every day.</div><div><br /></div><div>This cuts both ways for those considering self-publishing to Kindle. On the one hand, it appears that you're not really in competition with 478,000 other books--at least, not if you plan to do some strategic promotion of your book rather than simply relying on browsers finding it in the Kindle store. On the other, it means that the vast majority of books--particularly fiction books that fall into broad genres like Romance or SciFi--will never be seen by the typical shopper. Even the edge that should go to new publications is lost because sorting by publication date yields several pages of not-yet-released books...so even if your book was published two minutes ago, it's likely to be several pages deep in the listings.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's early in the game, and I will be doing quite a bit more monitoring and playing with different variables, promotions, etc., but thus far my conclusion is very similar to the one I offered about self-publishing in hard copy back in 2008: it can be successful if you have a niche topic that people are searching for, if your audience is concentrated, if your name or brand is already known or if you have the time and skills (and possibly cash) necessary to conduct your own marketing campaign. If not, only one element of the analysis has changed: if you use a system like Kindle Direct Publishing, it won't cost you anything to test it out.</div>Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-3163831551599744692012-01-10T10:01:00.001-08:002012-01-10T10:53:02.055-08:00Self-Publishing Fiction Revisited<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDnzKfTO44wQWd_AX8dKreqs6e-INcDE9TA68xwpJk15tae317A7RPicxHD43bQOAntFy6UrnyD2gPsdzoLzWfpYSacY5tD1JAPFy0csl2S9-obHv2ujNMLzto7qPmL2fSi_dh/s1600/Homecoming+Cover+Draft+1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDnzKfTO44wQWd_AX8dKreqs6e-INcDE9TA68xwpJk15tae317A7RPicxHD43bQOAntFy6UrnyD2gPsdzoLzWfpYSacY5tD1JAPFy0csl2S9-obHv2ujNMLzto7qPmL2fSi_dh/s200/Homecoming+Cover+Draft+1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696077846393547250" /></a>Back in 2008, I wrote a long post about <a href="http://rockstories.blogspot.com/2008/01/self-publishing-fiction.html">self-publishing fiction</a>, why I'd always been against it and why I was nonetheless considering it.<br /><br />In the intervening years, I never did self-publish that novel (despite a very successful history of self-publishing non-fiction) and I also didn't make much of an effort to get it published through traditional channels.<br /><br />Usually, ignoring things doesn't make them better, but in this case that turned out not to be true. For authors considering self-publishing, we're living in an entirely different world from the one we lived in four years ago. That's true for a number of reasons: the growing popularity of e-books, the increasing availability of POD arrangements that don't require a huge investment from the author up front and, most recently, Kindle Direct.<br /><br />So, I decided last week to take that old romance novel and make it available on Kindle Direct. The process was unbelievably easy; I set out to get it done mid-afternoon yesterday and it's live <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Homecoming-ebook/dp/B006VPE4DM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1326214227&sr=1-1">on sale right now</a>.<div><br /></div><div>In the next couple of weeks, I'll be writing a lot more about the process of uploading, marketing, and whether or not I'd recommend this route for publishing fiction--right now it's too early to tell anything except that getting a book formatted and listed is a breeze.<br /><br /><br /></div>Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-56687510575585190912011-06-19T11:28:00.000-07:002011-06-25T22:48:06.650-07:00Raising a WriterFor as long as I can remember, my daughter has been telling me that she's not a writer. I have a friend who believes that she is; she asks Tori about her writing and Tori says, "I'm not a writer." My friend laughs because she is herself a writer who wishes she weren't, and also because she's a little bit psychic and she believes otherwise.<div><br /></div><div>The thing is, writer or not, she's got words in her head. Not just words, either, but paragraphs, chapters, characters' entire lives. </div><div><br /></div><div>Each morning, she shares her plan for the day. And every morning, it begins, "I'm going to write until noon, and then..." This evening, she wrote her <a href="http://whatswrongaroundus.blogspot.com/2011/06/inside-information-about-dashing-cody.html">first guest post</a> for one of my blogs, though she already has a couple of blogs of her own. She's got the bug, whether she wants it or not.</div><div><br /></div><div>This makes me wonder whether having words in your brain is genetic, or a function of all that early reading, or grows out of the way you relate to language in childhood or something else I haven't thought of. Somehow, I created a writer, but I have no idea whether I did it by reading to her or talking to her or teaching her to print at three or simply by sharing my DNA.</div>Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-68370436333693211512011-04-06T16:16:00.000-07:002011-04-06T16:32:06.414-07:00Re-Made in the USA<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwQPLLZ5DaHO_hdHa9uXMsybW57yusqrTRMOUjbwmd-oI63wIi4d-mCeGFW3fMy3l32fgvcRGmnjzZ_RLhJVlzCfq7HL6G1v0B517qWwxJUw6ASJUOvNRsvPIQcdeJD8LHUTNb/s1600/Book+Cover+USA.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwQPLLZ5DaHO_hdHa9uXMsybW57yusqrTRMOUjbwmd-oI63wIi4d-mCeGFW3fMy3l32fgvcRGmnjzZ_RLhJVlzCfq7HL6G1v0B517qWwxJUw6ASJUOvNRsvPIQcdeJD8LHUTNb/s320/Book+Cover+USA.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592617364149086978" border="0" /></a>If there's one thing readers of this blog know about my writing, it's that it's eclectic: fiction, legal analysis, parenting articles, music bios, local newspaper reporting--for me, it's all about the words. Sometimes, though, it's also about the message.<br /><br />Last fall, I had the amazing opportunity to work with author and international businessman Todd Lipscomb on his book <a href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Re-Made-in-the-USA/Todd-Lipscomb/e/9780470929926/">Re-Made in the USA: How We Can Restore Jobs, Retool Manufacturing, and Compete With the World</a>.<br /><br />I will admit that before I started reading Todd's drafts and talking with him about the issues addressed in his book, I didn't give the trade deficit much thought. Sure, I knew it was a problem, but it was a problem that seemed a bit far removed from day-to-day life and the more immediate issues confronting the society I lived in. I couldn't have been more wrong about that disconnect, and I came out of this book truly wishing every American would read it before it's too late.<br /><br />Wiley & Sons will release the book on April 12, and I couldn't be more excited. Work like this really drives home the fact that we're all given our talents for a reason, and there's nothing better than being able to put our natural abilities and acquired skills to work in service of a good cause. That's what the author did when he left a lucrative career to found a business selling only goods made in America, and I'm delighted to have had the privilege of helping him get the word out.Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-52876618057821079072010-06-23T21:27:00.000-07:002010-06-23T21:45:33.667-07:00Bestselling Author Seeks to Reinvent Herself AgainIf you're a regular reader of this blog, then you know that Jacquelyn Mitchard is one of my favorite authors. You may even know the <a href="http://rockstories.blogspot.com/2007/10/its-okay-to-take-risks.html">story of how she set out to write her first bestseller</a>, <span style="font-style:italic;">The Deep End of the Ocean</span>, after she was widowed and left without a means of supporting her children. You probably don't know that thanks to a clever investment scam artist, despite having 8 bestsellers to her credit (or perhaps it's nine, now), Jackie has to work for a living just like the rest of us. <br /><br />But that's okay, because once again she has a plan. She's set out to reinvent herself as a television talk show host. And reinvention will be her theme--people well-known and people unknown who have faced challenges, fallen (or been knocked down) and gotten up again to choose a new direction and carry on. <br /><br />I'm sure it's much easier to pitch this sort of thing when you're a bestselling author, but Mitchard is approaching her idea just like anyone else and putting it out there for public reaction. You can watch <a href="http://myown.oprah.com/audition/index.html?request=video_details&response_id=14659&promo_id=1">Jacquelyn Mitchard's audition video</a> at MyOwn.Oprah.com<br /><br />You might be thinking (as I did when I first heard this idea) that Jacquelyn Mitchard has already had her "break" and it's someone else's turn. But as I've read more about her idea, I've become more convinced that she'll be delivering an important message--the same one that she delivered when she worked her way out of personal tragedy with a debut novel and that she's delivering now by identifying another road as yet untraveled and lacing up her boots. Check out the video, and if you agree please take a moment to vote for her.Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-54937417410801755782010-06-08T16:25:00.000-07:002010-06-08T20:32:25.507-07:00Literary ChoicesI've made no secret of the fact that I'm a fan of lightweight fiction. It's true that The Sun Also Rises is my favorite book and that I adore C.S. Lewis. I'm currently reading a book of short stories by Shirley Jackson, and I recently bought a collection of Updike stories and two of Orwell's novels to revisit. But the kind of books I've just described make up, perhaps, 10% of my reading. I devour disposable fiction at the speed of light. Despite the fact that I have a full time job and a child to raise, a new Janet Evanovich or Robert Parker novel will be devoured in two days--one if it's a weekend. I'm not above stretching out a bubble bath long enough to finish an entire paperback. <br /><br />While I've occasionally felt a little guilty about buying these $8 candy bars, I've never had any qualms about reading them. A well-turned phrase is a well-turned phrase regardless of the complexity of the story, and sometimes you just don't want to work at it. But this week I started trying to update my <a href="http://www.shelfari.com/tlsanders/shelf">Shelfari shelf</a> and I was in for a surprise. Since I started reading adult books in my early teens, I would conservatively estimate that I've read 3,000 books. There have actually been long periods of time during which I averaged about five books a week, but I calculated using an average of two per week. And after a lot of work, I've managed to get my Shelfari list up to roughly 400. And it's those little books I've been inhaling on the fly all my life that I can't seem to recall.<br /><br />I know exactly which of Orwell's novels I've read; I remember the misplaced commas in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0452011876?ie=UTF8&tag=rocks0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0452011876">Atlas Shrugged</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=rocks0e-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0452011876" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> and the way Jane Austen used apostrophes in "hers". Ray Bradbury springs to mind, along with Salinger and Steinbeck. But do I know which James Patterson novels I've read and which I haven't? Can I even tell when I read the descriptions which of Lisa Scottoline's books I actually read and which I just scanned the jacket copy? No.<br /><br />As a reader, that raises one set of questions, but as a writer it raises another. What is the goal in publishing a book? To make money? To gain fame? To achieve critical success? To bring people enjoyment? To change the way people think? To leave a lasting impression? Some authors, I suspect, would say "all of the above", while others (myself among them) might say that it was none of those things. The more important question in my mind is, "Does it matter what we set out to do?" That is, does the author who writes the kind of fiction that slides across my brain and then is gone set out to provide a delicious snack? Can one decide to write something more meaningful, or is that a question of insight and talent and whatever other intangible factors might have an impact? Should we even be asking these questions, or is it better just to write and take the result for what it is?Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-24982400310139163162009-12-31T20:52:00.000-08:002009-12-31T22:30:54.372-08:00So the Thing Is...I'm a NovelistLet me begin with apologies and a hat tip to my <a href="http://sothethingisblog.blogspot.com">favorite blogger</a>, Barb Cooper, who would have a trademark on the phrase "So, the thing is..." if it weren't too common to be protectable. I've really endeavored to avoid that phrase in my writing over the past six or seven years, since I was first introduced to Barb's <a href="http://www.sothethingis.com/">funny and enlightening column</a>. But the truth is, I used it a lot before I met Barb, and sometimes it's simply called for. In this case, I think it's especially appropriate because Barb's column was all about underlying truths, and this is a big one.<br /><br />I've made my living in a variety of ways, from making salads to practicing law and virtually everything in between. I've taught, trained, consulted, written curriculum and I've answered phones, placed calls, run cash registers, poured coffee, sorted mail, typed letters and even fried eggs. And, for many years, I've been fortunate enough to make my living writing. <br /><br />I've written for newspapers, magazines and websites. I've written educational materials, consumer legal information, parenting articles, musician bios, writing and publishing advice, local histories, and profiles...and those are just some of the things I've been paid for writing. I even wrote a book. And the fact that I'm able to make my living working with words is an unbelievable blessing.<br /><br />But here's the thing: I'm a novelist. I wrote my first novel at 10. I wrote most of another one in college and finished one while I was practicing law. I finished another one during NaNo six or seven years ago and a third during the same period three years ago. I also have a fourth half-finished and a fifth barely begun but which I'm entirely in love. Whenever I get a free minute, I write a novel...and I almost mean that literally, since two of my novels have been written in less than a month while I was working full time.<br /><br />Here's what I don't do: I don't sell them. It isn't that I CAN'T sell them (or at least, if it is that, I haven't found it out yet). It's simply that in almost two decades of writing novels, I've sent out exactly three submissions. And guess what? The only novel I've ever submitted is the one that I care least about, the one that I'm not invested in.<br /><br />Sounds like fear, I know, but I think it's just laziness. See, a funny thing happens to me when I write a piece, whether it's a book or an article or a blog post. I finish it, and then it's over for me. I move on. I don't look back. I've never read most of my articles in print; I don't even have copies of most of them. It's all in the writing for me.<br /><br />But a long time ago I had to make a decision about writing. I never needed anyone to read what I wrote and so I didn't bother to publish for a long time...and then I realized that so long as I didn't sell my writing, I was always going to have to do something else for a living. I realized that publishing was the ticket to having time to write. For some reason, it's taken me another decade to realize that that principle extends to novels, too...and it's novels I really want to be writing.<br /><br />So this is it. It's purely coincidence that this realization dawned on New Year's Eve, and I don't make New Year's resolutions. But this year, I'm going to start acting like a novelist.Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-51805416060669921722009-11-01T18:06:00.000-08:002009-11-01T18:50:38.276-08:00Putting NaNoWriMo to Work for You - Even if You're Not ParticipatingNovember is national novel writing month, and for many people that means signing up over at the <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">NaNo site</a> and gearing up for the challenge, receiving pep talk emails and following the progress of your fellow writers online. The challenge has inspired many aspiring writers to push beyond their previously perceived limitations, but it's not for everyone. <br /><br />I've discovered, however, that <a href="http://rockstories.blogspot.com/2007/09/national-novel-writing-month.html">NaNo doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing proposition</a>. For those who want to start a new novel from scratch and knock it out during November...you go girl (or guy). I'm rooting for you. But if you don't think that's realistic, set your own goal and calculate your own pace and use the energy and buzz surrounding NaNo to help you keep your momentum going, whether that means writing for an hour every day or aiming for 20,000 words in the month or whatever works for you.<br /><br />I think that the greatest value of national novel writing month for aspiring writers is that it says "Do it now." What "it" is turns out to be far less critical. This year, I'm finished up editing on a novel I wrote a couple of years ago and have been letting sit, and then I'm returning to work on one that I started in 2003 and never finished. Neither qualifies for NaNo and there won't be any new, complete work when I'm done, but the fact that it's November is important for me anyway. It's important because I can classify it in my mind as the month I'm "supposed" to focus on these things, the month it's okay to take time out and immerse in my writing.<br /><br />You can, too. Whether it's editing an old novel or finishing one you have in progress or cranking out a few short stories or writing some non-fiction articles for submission or focusing on your research for an upcoming non-fiction book or even just blogging every day, this is the month to make writing your priority and see what you can get done...and the fact that thousands of other people are working alongside you can be very motivational, even if you're not working exactly the way they are.<br /><br />So what are YOU going to do for national novel writing month?Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-20864577167033354182009-10-24T20:38:00.000-07:002009-10-24T21:56:51.384-07:00Writing and MemoryA question that pops up in my search stats fairly often is "<a href="http://seqp.blogspot.com/2008/01/does-writing-really-help-you-remember.html">Does writing really help you remember?</a>" I've even answered the question generally, on my <a href="http://www.seqp.blogspot.com">search engine question blog</a>. I think it's clear that, in several respects, the answer is "yes". But today, I've been thinking more specifically about how writing helps memory as a writer.<br /><br />I've been an avid journaler since the age of 9, which means that much of my life has been documented and remains available for review. That's not really memory, I know, but it has an impact in a way I might never have learned to capitalize on but for a conversation with another writer in a dive bar in Champaign, Illinois back in my early twenties. Over an unbelievably cheap pitcher of beer and quarter fish sandwiches, I mentioned my journals and he told me he was jealous.<br /><br />I didn't look back at my journals much, and so his meaning wasn't immediately clear to me. When he elaborated, it forever changed my fiction writing. "You know what it was like," he said. "It's right there down on paper. You can look back and think you remember what it was like to be 17, how you felt about something in the moment, but you don't really know. But you...you have it right there...you know what it was like because this is what you put down <span style="font-style: italic;">right then</span>." And just like that, I held in my hands the key to getting inside the head of a young character.<br /><br />But today, I started thinking about memory and writing in a whole new way. I remembered, today, the first time I met a certain young man. Though it was more than twenty years ago, I remember what he was wearing. I remember my reaction. There are many possible reasons, including randomness of memory or the momentary import of that meeting, but I think that the reason I recall his sweater, the jeans he wore, even where he stood is that I wrote it down. Where I wrote it, what happened to those words, I have no idea. If I ever re-read them, it was many years ago and I have long since forgotten. But I have an image in my mind that I don't believe is the real one. I have an image in my mind that I think arose out of my own words. I have seen it happen with the most insignicant of moments, the turning of my gray moccasin on pale concrete after midnight, things I would never have had cause to recall decades later.<br /><br />But what does this mean, this memory of the record of a memory? It is not unlike, I think, the way we sometimes believe that we remember long-ago scenes we've seen in photographs. But what is its impact, really, on memory? Does it enhance, or does it alter? And does the ability to see that moment forever as we saw it <span style="font-style: italic;">in</span> the moment somehow eliminate some other memory, the one we would otherwise have seen through the filter of time?Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-55245529885327879112009-10-09T21:08:00.000-07:002013-08-09T13:19:37.778-07:00Submission Guidelines...Take 'em or Leave 'em?I've written before about the <a href="http://rockstories.blogspot.com/2008/01/controversial-writers-meme-at-long-last.html">rules an aspiring writer can ignore</a> and the ones he can't. Some of the ones that can't be ignored may seem pretty silly (in fact, they may <em>be</em> pretty silly), but at the end of the day it doesn't matter. If your excellent article is never published because the editor didn't like your paperclip, perhaps the editor was unreasonable..but that knowledge won't get you a paycheck or a clip. In the simplest possible terms, it would be pretty damned stupid for you to miss out on a paying writing gig because you couldn't be bothered to read the guidelines and find out that the editor preferred that pages be folded in half (or in thirds, or not be folded).<br />
<br />
There are always those writer-hopefuls who say indignantly, "Well, if an editor is going to throw out a submission just because it's stapled, I don't want to work with her anyway!"<br />
<br />
Really?<br />
<br />
You'd rather remain unpublished? Well, okay then.<br />
<br />
But for those who want to make a living writing and are willing to invest a little effort to get there, paying attention to guidelines is important. No, not every editor will toss a submission because of a minor technical violation, but you don't know which will.<br />
<br />
I've been giving this a lot of thought recently because about a month ago, I posted an <a href="http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/wrg/1390866215.html">ad on Craig's List </a>seeking submissions for <a href="http://rational-outrage.com/">my webzine</a>. The posting brought a flood of traffic to the site, but only a fraction of that traffic made it to the submission guidelines page. The ad also brought a flood of inquiries. Maybe, given the fact that so few of the visitors from Craig's List had made it to the submissions page, it shouldn't be a surprise that the guidelines posted on that page were roundly ignored. <br />
<br />
I received submissions approximately half the length of the pieces we publish. I received satirical pieces, though we don't publish satire. Perhaps most perplexing, I received dozens of emails and resumes with no information whatsoever beyond publishing history...although the very brief ad text said directly "we don't care about your publishing history or your credentials". <br />
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I did, I must admit, dismiss those inquiries fairly quickly. When (several times) I came across a blank email with nothing but a resume attached, I didn't even open it. I even got a little annoyed. But what really jumped out at me were the submissions--and even just email inquiries--that clearly indicated that the author had been to the site, read the guidelines, looked around at our other articles, and then attempted to submit a piece or make a pitch that FIT OUR SITE. Those submissions, because they were so few and far between, made an impression on me. Enough of an impression that if for some reason a piece didn't fit, I responded personally, explaining why and inviting the author to edit and resubmit or to submit another article.<br />
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In a nutshell, all those sloppy writers mass-submitting without reading guidelines, tailoring their pitches, or removing their paperclips are creating an excellent opportunity for the rest of you. You can make your submission stand out just by doing what you're told. Of course, the quality of your work will have to stand up to a closer look, but getting the closer look is easier for the conscientious among you when the careless so outnumber you. Make the most of that edge.Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-44156999111438206942009-09-26T21:46:00.000-07:002009-09-26T22:19:18.544-07:00What if Writing Happened Out Loud?This evening, I took my daughter and a number of her friends to see the remake of <span style="font-style:italic;">Fame</span>, and during the movie something crystalized that's been nagging at me for quite some time: writing is the only art that occurs almost entirely internally. When a musician picks up a guitar or sits down at a keyboard to practice or to compose, for instance, that experience is to some degree shared with anyone in the vicinity. Notes and chords, ready or not, reach nearby ears--even if the musician is unaware. <br /><br />Visual arts are quieter, of course, but anyone who walks past a painter or sculptor at work catches at least a sense of the creation, can see what kind of work is in progress, what colors dominate, what feeling the piece conveys. Writing alone is different, isolated, hidden during its creation. Certainly someone could peek over the writer's shoulder as he scribbled on his pad or tapped away at his keyboard, but it would take effort, very close proximity, focus on the work before him. Nothing meaningful is, or could be, communicated at a glance, across a room, through a closed door. The writer's art exists in his mind alone until the moment someone turns to his work with the sole purpose of reading or hearing his words.<br /><br />How does this change the process, I wonder, the fact that a musician creates out loud, that an artist's work is readily visible while it is in progress, but that a writer's product can only be absorbed with effort?Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-39458017139603266162009-09-25T21:58:00.000-07:002009-09-25T22:06:40.721-07:00Self-Publishing RevisitedSome time ago, I considered the <a href="http://rockstories.blogspot.com/2008/01/self-publishing-fiction.html">pros and cons of self-publishing fiction</a>. As I mentioned then, I'm not against self-publishing in general; I did quite well with a self-published book several years ago and definitely think that in the right niche with the right marketing plan, self-publishing can be lucrative.<br /><br />However, I had (and have) reservations about self-publishing fiction. Quite by chance this evening I ran across a post that led me to a blog about this very process. As if self-publishing fiction weren't challenging enough, this author has <a href="http://mzadragon.blogspot.com/">self-published a children's book</a> and is handling his own promotion--a tough job for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is the inability to price competitively. He has a clear plan, though, and I'm watching with interest; if you're toying with the idea of self-publishing in a non-niche area, I strongly suggest that you follow along and see what you can learn, too.Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-37299526322490229302009-09-21T19:29:00.000-07:002009-09-21T19:38:44.387-07:00Writing for a Living in the Internet AgeRecently, a friend started a discussion on Facebook about whether this was a good or bad time to begin a career as a professional writer. The question, which referenced both the decline of print media and the proliferation of unpaid bloggers, seemed to contain the assumption that it was not.<br /><br />It’s an issue that’s ripe for discussion, both because there are valid points on both sides that bear consideration if one is embarking on a writing career and because the insights of the people who see opportunities in today’s market may be useful to anyone who hasn’t yet worked out how to make the most of the changes.<br /><br />Those changes are sweeping: a shift away from print to online media, international competition that impacts pay scales, the ever-growing volume of free content available online, shifting publishing and distribution models for longer works, and more.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Writers and New Media</span><br /><br />Print media is declining. That’s not up for discussion. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that professional writing opportunities are decreasing. The market is changing, and those jobs many think are disappearing have actually just moved out of our lines of vision. The answer may be as simple as looking over your left shoulder or off to the right, rather than staring straight ahead at the spot where the work used to be.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Decline in Print Media is Matched (or Outmatched) by an Increase in Online Opportunities<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br />The first step toward building a successful writing career in the digital age is understanding the opportunities. The new opportunities aren’t just web-based versions of the old ones. <a href="http://www.gnc-web-creations.com/web-writing.htm">Web writing looks different</a>, and writers must bring new skills to the table, and market themselves effectively by showcasing those skills.<br /><br />For example, most paid web writing gigs require:<br /><br />-faster turnaround<br /><br />-lower word count<br /><br />-Google-friendly text<br /><br />-shorter paragraphs <br /><br />-more visual formatting<br /><br />Those aren’t difficult changes to make, but they require consciousness of the differences. A web publisher is looking for writers who can create web-friendly copy in a format that works for both search engine spiders and Internet audiences. It’s up to the writer—new or seasoned—to let a publisher know he can produce content that’s competitive in that environment.<br /><br />This can be a problem for seasoned print writers; someone who has spent years writing feature articles for magazines may have a portfolio full of high-profile clips that simply don’ t reflect the skills a web publisher is looking for. The copy is typically too long and too dense; the paragraphs are probably too long and there are undoubtedly too few headers. Headlines and subheaders aren’t written with search engines in mind, and the visuals have most likely been handled by someone else.<br /><br />If your name is big enough and your credentials rock-solid, someone will see past that…but if you’re a mid-level writer you should be prepared to prove yourself all over again in a new arena.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Results are Measurable Online<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br />The goal of most paid writing has always been to sell something, whether it’s copies of a magazine or advertising space or a specific product. Online, though, it’s much easier to measure how effective those efforts are, down to the individual article. Whereas a print publisher knows only the number of copies of a particular issue sold and some rough information about the demographics of those purchasers, a web publisher knows exactly how many people opened your article, how long they stuck around, where they went when they left, whether they came back, and who linked back to you.<br /><br />That means that where you’ve been published is no longer the primary credential; instead, a writer must build and be conversant in his stats. Some writers will have to learn a new language in order to sell themselves: hits, unique visitors, bounce rate, time on page, click-through rate and inbound links. These are the currency in which online value is measured, and if you have no idea what I just said, it’s time to learn.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">When You Land the Job, It Won’t be the One You’re Used To<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br />Thus far, we’ve only talked about landing writing jobs in the new world of web-based publishing, but that’s only the first step. Once you get the gig, of course, you have to do the job—and the job is a somewhat different one than most writers are accustomed to. (See, just look at that. I REGULARLY end sentences with prepositions, and I have no trouble getting writing work in this brave new world. Nothing is sacred.) And, of course, pay scales and compensation systems are different, as well. More on all that in future posts; for now, please share your thoughts and experiences on making the switch from print to cyber-publishing.Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-6094719681825339922009-09-16T08:05:00.000-07:002009-09-16T08:23:18.760-07:00Jacquelyn Mitchard's No Time to Wave GoodbyeThe sequel to Jacquelyn Mitchard's first bestselling novel, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Deep End of the Ocean</span>, came out yesterday...and I don't have it yet. Of course, I wasted no time in ordering <span style="font-style: italic;">No Time to Wave Goodbye</span>, but I ordered it through Amazon--not because I didn't want to or have time to run out and pick it up at Borders, but because it doesn't take all that many sales in a short period of time to make the various Amazon lists that boost publicity and, in turn, more sales. Now that it's in transit, though, I'm having a hard time getting interested in reading anything else.<br /><br />If you've been here before, you know that I am a constant admirer of Mitchard's writing. I love her style and, above all, I love the truths that are dropped into her writing like surprise chips of chocolate in a creamy vanilla ice cream. As I've mentioned before, her novels always make me <span style="font-style: italic;">nod</span>. "Yes, that's true...that's exactly right." Even though, of course, I might never have consciously entertained that thought before.<br /><br />So I haven't even had the opportunity to start <span style="font-style: italic;">No Time to Wave Goodbye</span>, and I can't comment intelligently on it. But the book's release does have me thinking about character development. It's been thirteen years since <span style="font-style: italic;">The Deep End of the Ocean</span> made its splash, and we've all lived a lot of life in the interim. My daughter was an infant when I read it, and now she's teetering dangerously close to high school. We've all lived, laughed, cried: some of us have married and divorced (or divorced and married), some of us have had children, graduated from college, watched parents die, moved across the country. We are, most of us, in some way different people than we were in 1996. And yet, we care what became of this fictional family.<br /><br />That's what we have to do, as writers, isn't it? Create stories and people so rich and deep that we forget that nothing actually happened to those characters after the book ended and feel as if they're somehow out there continuing to live their lives and their struggles?<br /><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=21C16A&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=rocks0e-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&asins=140006774X" style="width: 120px; height: 240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=rocks0e-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=0140286276&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width: 120px; height: 240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe>Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-67537309904158808392009-08-17T21:03:00.000-07:002009-08-17T21:24:13.935-07:00The Worst Book I've Ever ReadYeah, that's not really what I'm going to talk about. If you've read my post about the <a href="http://rockstories.blogspot.com/2007/07/best-book-ive-ever-read-best-what.html">best book I've ever read</a>, you probably won't be surprised to discover that I'm not going to try to pick an all-time low. But earlier this evening, I was reading a thread on Blog Catalog where people were <a href="http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/worst-book-ive-ever-read-all-the-way-thru">nominating worst-ever books</a>, and it got me thinking about what bad writing can mean to us as writers.<br /><br />First, and perhaps most obviously, it can teach us what not to do. Many writers and editors and writing teachers suggest that the best way to develop a good sense of the language and improve your own writing is to read good writing on a regular basis. Sometimes, that provides direct lessons--sometimes we note a particular device that works well and adapt it to make it our own. But more often, we simply absorb the flow of good writing and it helps, almost unconsciously, to tune our ears. Reading too much bad writing, of course, could have the opposite effect; we don't want to immerse ourselves in badly-written prose to the point that it starts to sound normal.<br /><br />But those clunkers jump out when someone else gave birth to them, don't they? The occasional tour of some poorly-constructed text can be an excellent lesson in What Not to Write.<br /><br />More importantly, at least in my personal experience, bad writing creates perspective.<br /><br />I was about sixteen when I read The Novel that would change my life. Though I'm not inclined to award the title of "worst book I've ever read" to anything, this book stands out in my mind as having been the worst book I'd read up to that point. It struck me how bad it was; it was hard to focus on the story because the writing was so very questionable. And that made it the most fascinating book I'd ever read.<br /><br />You see, at sixteen I'd already known for years that I wanted to be a writer. I'd already been filling volumes--journals, short stories, bad poetry--for five or six years. But "writer" sounded a bit like "astronaut" or "rock star" back in those days. And then I held that paperback novel in my hands, published by an imprint of a major house, and thought, "I can do better." Not even "someday"--right then and there, in that moment, I was confident that I was a better writer than that published author. <br /><br />Years later, I had a similar revelation looking at a short novel by a best-selling author. It wasn't that this novel was bad, but that it was so concise and simple. I was convinced that it couldn't have taken more than two weeks to write. That changed my perspective on the likelihood that I could write fiction while working full time, and the new perspective turned out to be correct: I've completed two separate novels in just about exactly 40 hours each, something I would never have undertaken without that flash of insight.<br /><br />If you're an aspiring writer, read good literature. Study your heroes. There's no substitute for immersion in well-turned phrases. But every once in a while, make sure you look up and look around. Make sure you're aware of the full range of what's out there, and develop a realistic view of where in that spectrum your own work falls.Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-6581518797373491372009-03-11T19:12:00.001-07:002009-03-11T19:30:05.046-07:00The Conundrum of Successful CharactersLike most writers I know (perhaps most HUMANS), I am a fan of Robert Parker. I'm not particular, either. Naturally, I started with Spenser, but I love Sunny Randall and I'll take Jesse Stone. Since Parker published his first Spenser novel when I was 8 and seems to have put out a new book approximately every 14 minutes for several years, I still sometimes discover novels I haven't yet read. I'm always delighted when that happens, and I couldn't have been more delighted when I discovered that I'd never read the very FIRST Spenser novel, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Godwulf Manuscript</span>.<br /><br />I brought it home, dove right in, and....didn't like it.<br /><br />Now, this happens sometimes: I'll read one or two books by an author and get all swept away, and then I'll pick up another and be disappointed. But I'd hazard a guess that I've read between 25 and 30 Robert Parker novels, and I enjoyed them all.<br /><br />The thing is, in <span style="font-style: italic;">The Godwulf Manuscript</span>, Spenser wasn't yet the character he is today. He didn't HAVE the character he has today. When people told him that he wasn't as amusing as he thought he was, they were right. And he drank too much and didn't make very good decisions. I didn't like him all that much.<br /><br />Obviously, over time, his character evolved; undoubtedly, when Parker turned out that first novel, he didn't know that Spenser would become a cultural icon. If I hadn't been 8 years old when this book came out, if it had been the first Spenser novel I ever read, I'm not sure that I would ever have discovered the others.<br /><br />But something else jumped out at me that made even more of an impression than the evolution of the character. Spenser described himself, in 1973, as "approaching 40". That was 36 years ago, which has the man currently "approaching 76". Of course, that's glossed over--his character remains perpetually middle-aged, as he must if Parker is going to continue to crank out those books (and I hope he does). But an author gets into a bit of a bind when he announces an age like that. It's important to character development, sure, but who thinks, when he's describing a character, "I'm going to have to have this guy viable in a street fight 36 years from now"? I'm guessing no one--and suspecting that if anyone did, it would paralyze his writing and pretty much ensure that his character didn't have this kind of longevity issue. <br /><br />But it raises an interesting issue for fiction writers. Should we expect our characters to take on lives of their own and move beyond the plans we have for them? And if so, how do we keep their options open while still fitting them into the stories we've woven?Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-29238926356616580172009-01-10T09:36:00.000-08:002009-01-10T09:46:04.622-08:00Moral Clarity: A Review of 36 PagesI'm jumping the gun, I know, and this can't rightly be called a review. I was jumping the gun last week, too, when I emailed several friends and suggested that they buy this book, even though I hadn't yet reached page 20.<br /><br />Some time ago, I wrote about why I can't ever answer the question "<a href="http://rockstories.blogspot.com/2007/07/best-book-ive-ever-read-best-what.html">What's the Best Book You've Ever Read?</a>" "Best" is just such a nebulous term. There are most entertaining books, and best written books, and the books that touched me the most, and books that made me think.<br /><br />But in the end, I favor the books that make me think, even when they're novels. My favorite experience with a book is barely being able to get through it for the need to set it aside and write about the ideas that have sprung into my head while reading it. When I'm torn because I need to keep reading and I need to stop reading to write, that's my idea of a good book.<br /><br />With that standard in mind, <a href="http://rockstories.blogspot.com/2007/07/best-book-ive-ever-read-best-what.html">Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists</a> may be a great book. And I may never finish it, but I'll have reams of new writing by the time I get to the end. <br /><br />It's true that points of disagreement, holes in the presentation, are part of my motivation to write and extrapolate and expound, but Neiman herself points out that the book isn't and can't be an exhaustive analysis of the philosophers and philosophies she incorporates. <br /><br />Even now, I'm resisting the temptation to slip in a little paragraph or two on the oversight in the treatment of religious philosophy on "good", and I really want to analyze Socrates' assertion that loyalty and good can be at odds, but I'll bite my tongue. Err...um...fingers. Or something. If that all sounds dense and intimidating to you, don't be fooled--it's easy reading and I'd probably be done with the book right now (instead of on page 36) if it didn't keep sending me off on these tangents.<br /><br />If you think, if you like to think, if you'd like to start thinking, I can't recommend this book enough. At least the first 36 pages. I don't hesitate to make the recommendation on that basis because I've already gotten my money's worth out of those 36 pages.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=rocks0e-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=0151011974&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-42198822189557851132008-11-17T17:25:00.000-08:002008-11-17T18:03:44.156-08:00It Was Funny the First Time...We've all known people in the real world who come up with a line that gets a laugh, and the next thing you know, they're using it everywhere. Their spouses start to roll their eyes, and then the neighbors do, too. I suppose it shouldn't come as any surprise, then, that writers can fall victim to the same trap, enamored of their own cleverness or the response they once got...but what about editors?<br /><br />For illustration, I'm going to pick on Janet Evanovich--but before I do, I have to say that I REALLY enjoy Evanovich's work. I particularly enjoy the Stephanie Plum series, but I'm partial to Alex Barnaby as well. In fact, I like Janet Evanovich's books well enough that I recently took the outrageous risk of checking out <em>Fearless Fourteen</em> from the "Quick Picks" shelf at my local library--a shelf full of books that are due in SEVEN DAYS and carry a fine of $1 PER DAY if they're not returned on time. Since I haven't returned a library book on time since 1976 unless my mother called me up and reminded me, this was a serious gamble.<br /><br />So I mean no offense, truly. And, of course, if I did, Evanovich certainly wouldn't care, since she has millions of readers and millions of dollars.<br /><br />But here's the thing: one day I was reading one of the Stephanie Plum novels and Stephanie took Morelli's dog out for a walk and walked around "until Bob was empty". I remember the first time Evanovich put it like that--it struck me as mildly amusing, and as a writer myself I have a solid appreciation for a fresh expression of a mundane concept. The second time Stephanie walked Bob until he was empty it clunked a little, but I decided (consciously) that it must just be the way this character thought. Walking a dog until he was empty was just something Stephanie Plum did.<br /><br />And then...<br /><br />You know what happened, don't you?<br /><br />Alex Barnaby took a dog for a walk. It was Hooker's dog, Beans, of course. I was willing to overlook the whole "female lead walks boyfriend's dog, whose name starts with a 'B' thing". I mean, you stick with what works, right? But when Alex walked the dog until Beans was empty, it put me over the edge. If your neighbor's husband had used that line as many times, you'd be wondering why she didn't divorce him.<br /><br />Now, you're probably thinking (and you're quite right) that Janet Evanovich is doing just fine. You're probably thinking that it's likely the reason her editor didn't point this out is that MILLIONS OF PEOPLE KEEP BUYING HER BOOKS. And you're right. She can get away with it.<br /><br />But unless you're someone I'd be shocked to find reading my blog, you and I can't. And if a writer as accomplished as Janet Evanovich can become so enamored of her own turn of phrase that she doesn't notice when it starts to clank, imagine what risk the rest of us are at.Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7804303.post-43963685138250914992008-08-23T07:56:00.000-07:002008-08-23T08:31:16.043-07:00Dumbledore is Not GayI know it's been almost a year since J.K. Rowling announced that Dumbledore was gay, but that's okay--because this post isn't really about Dumbledore, or even Rowling. Not specifically. It's about the nature of literary characters.<br /><br />Dumbledore, of course, is a creature of fiction. J.K. Rowling made him up. He exists only in the pages of her novels. While many literary characters touch our hearts and minds and thus weave their way into our cultural consciousness, there is one thing they cannot do: grow outside the pages of the novels in which they are born, live, and die. As a character, he is fully formed within those pages or...he remains incomplete. <br /><br />I couldn't care less what Dumbledore's sexual history is like, except for one thing: he doesn't have one. At least, not one we know anything about. And Rowling's "revelation" doesn't change that. It's a cheat. The shot at developing a character comes WHILE YOU'RE WRITING THE BOOKS, and you either take it or you don't. But if you don't, you can't make things up later.<br /><br />Of course, no character's entire history can be revealed, detail by detail, in the course of a single novel--or even in a series. But the pieces that define the character are revealed through his actions, his interactions, his reactions, his backstory, the things other characters say about him. Sometimes that information is subtle and incomplete, and when a "revelation" like Rowling's makes the rounds, we readers say, "Ah, yes...THAT explains why in book three...." or "So THAT was the big secret in his past that he kept alluding to." Even those seem a little cheap to me, a kind of literary easy way out. After all, it's much simpler to announce a new detail about a character in an interview than it is to weave that characteristic or piece of history subtly into the story itself.<br /><br />But even that didn't happen with Dumbledore. The announcement was "bombshell". Why? In part, perhaps, because some groups had a moral opposition to the idea of a prominent children's character being "outed", but it was more than that--it was because no one had ever suspected. I don't doubt J.K. Rowling's contention that she always thought of Dumbledore as gay, but she didn't convey that notion to her readers. Dumbledore is a man without sexual identity. Kind of rough on the guy, perhaps, but that's the way he was made. And coming back later with an "oh, and by the way..." doesn't change that.Tiffanyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371944527312982978noreply@blogger.com6