Zoe Winters, Paranormal Romance Writer

I’ve talked about this before, but I don’t think any writer is really ever truly prepared for it. Not until it happens. And it will happen whether you publish through traditional channels or on your own. And I’m not sure that it’s easier for trad published authors just because they were “vetted” by the mainstream.

We all know that publishing and writing are both highly subjective businesses, what one editor or agent hates, another one loves. And that’s because publishing is filled with human beings with opinions, rather than gods. But IMO, they are not the ones you have to worry about, even if you trad publish. Because at some point those who choose to trad publish, it they find an editor or agent who loves their work then the rejections where it wasn’t to the agent or editor’s taste just fade into the background. Because it becomes irrelevant.

(more…)

Okay for some reason I feel like I’m in a Pull-ups commercial… “I’m a big kid now!” (And that’ll be even funnier with my accent, trust me. In your head, I don’t actually *say* it.)

Anyway so I didn’t *do* my own podcast, but I was *on* a podcast as a guest author. It’s an hour long show with a couple of other guests and we talked about our current work, and our feelings on publishing as independent authors in the current publishing climate.

We talk about platform, publishing on Kindle, what our thoughts are about traditional publishing right now.

And… I have a southern accent. You gotta hear my little twang.

Emma Petersen also called in to say hi to me and gush endlessly about me. I didn’t ask her to call and totally blushed when she did, lol.

Listen here.

Something I’ve noticed in the Self-publishing world is an extreme cynicism toward any service that is aimed toward self-publishing authors. And I really think it’s gone too far. I understand the outrage over vanity publishers of days past who charged thousands of dollars to print a book (often poorly) that often robbed an author of a lot of money and drove them into debt where they had nothing to show for it and no hope of anything to show for it. I’m fully against crap like that.

But now it’s just gone too far. There is a HUGE difference, IMO in losing $20,000 for crappy books you have to store and can’t sell in bookstores, and paying $120-$149 a year for a service meant to enhance your business (as a self publishing author.) Especially when the former is a misleading scam and the latter is a legitimate opportunity.

In every other business in the world you’re expected to spend money to make money, but you are not required to invest in every service out there to enhance your business. If something isn’t for you, you just don’t do it. That’s fine. But just because it isn’t for you doesn’t make it empirically wrong. Each self-pubbing author needs to decide for themselves what services are right or wrong for them and act accordingly.

I feel like self publishing authors are already at a high enough disadvantage when it comes to ability to produce a quality product, distribution, and sales, why oh why would you not welcome opportunities which may help you?

Two recent examples of shit-storms stirred for no good reason (IMO)

Indiereader.com

and

The Vault (of publetariat.com)

The first, Indiereader, is a site meant to help quality indie authors gain visibility for their work among consumers. It’s an online bookstore especially for indie readers. One of the problems with self-publishing is the stigma. Many people still get up in arms about all the “Crap” out there, and how do they wade through it?

Well Indiereader attempts to address that problem, by “vetting” work and allowing only work that meets a certain quality standard. Meanwhile authors, even self-publishing authors have had a rabid fit over it. (Because it’s like the gatekeeper system, why does it cost money? etc. etc. To be fair, I was one of these rabid authors initially but then stepped back and thought about it a bit.)

I still don’t necessarily agree with every part of Indiereader, i.e. I personally feel it would be more well-received if it was charged month-to-month so people could cancel at any time, instead of an annual fee which requires a larger leap of faith on the part of the author. Not everything about it is perfect, but I’ve spoken with Amy Edelman, the person behind IndieReader, and I think her motivation/heart is in the right place.

If Indiereader.com proves to be successful, then I would think the largest benefit for authors won’t be direct profit from the IR site, but will be the cachet of being able to say they are on IR, and therefore have been “vetted,” and are a proven higher quality indie work and a lower risk for readers. I also think the overall benefit would be the exposure of several GOOD indie-produced books in one place that reach a certain quality standard and therefore help to combat a lot of the stigma of self-publishing.

The Vault is a site meant to help indie authors who are looking to go to the next step (To clarify here, IR and The Vault are in no way affiliated with each other) and acquire a publisher, an outlet to get that exposure in front of publishing pros, by having a site that showcases their self-published work, along with sales stats, author platform pieces, reviews, and etc.

The Vault is being criticized by some because it’s a subscription listing service that charges authors, but not publishing pros. The reason for this is that publishing pros are more likely to use the site if they don’t have to pay, making it more beneficial to the authors listing, and if authors didn’t have to, there would just be another huge slush pile for publishers to go through. (i.e. even authors without enough reviews/sales/platform pieces to interest a publisher would list their books with the ‘just in case’ mentality. If an author is paying a listing fee to be there, they are more likely to only post if they believe their work actually has a chance and meets the standards that publishers will seek.) Nevertheless, as The Vault is new, the first 300 authors to sign up are given a free 90 day trial period (which will start after the first 300 subscribers are reached and it goes live for publishing pros to search. All authors that sign up after that, get the first thirty days free. Then it’s $10/month, with a cancellation option at any time.

Self-pubbing authors have complained about this fee, despite the fact that you can’t even get two triple cheeseburger meals at your local fast food joint for $10. And authors already spend at least this amount per month if they are actively seeking publication through traditional channels. (How many authors buy toner, paper, envelopes, stamps, don’t forget that all important SASE, writing books and magazines, etc. etc.)

I really don’t understand this cynicism and this desire to shoot down anything and everything that may offer self pubbing authors help and exposure they might not otherwise get, for…zomg a fee. Things cost money. Nothing in life is free. And even those who provide services for self-publishing authors, should get paid.

I have spoken extensively with both the creator of IndieReader.com and the creator of The Vault. And while I don’t yet know whether either or both sites will be a success, or the extent of the benefit to indie authors, I don’t feel that either one is a scam, nor worthy of this level of cynicism.

ETA: The original title of this post was: “Tired of the Cynicism, Park it Elsewhere Please.” I thought it was a cute/catchy title that might encourage more people to read, but Mojo’s comment let me know that it could cause people to go into the post thinking that I want to squash all discussion/debate on a topic, which isn’t my point at all. So the title has been changed to something a bit more neutral-sounding for that reason.

Well, not just the Kindle, but E-readers in general. I don’t know if I’ll ever actually break down and buy an e-book reader, but being an avid romance and erotica fan (despite skimming a lot of sex scenes in romance I don’t skim them in erotica. I can’t really explain the difference, but it’s just different) the idea of being able to read anything anywhere without any kind of arched eyebrows or inappropriate chuckling, sounds like heaven to me.

I’ve long contended that the racy covers and often embarrassing titles of many romance novels is exactly why e-sales of romance are so high. Both in terms of shopping for print books online (you don’t have to take an erotic novel or romance with a goofy title up to the counter while some “superior” college boy rings you up and smirks… ) and in terms of ebooks where the entire reading experience becomes more private.

I’m not the only person to recognize this. Recently I participated in a discussion on the romance forums on Amazon.com about this very phenomenon, and then The Washington Times did an article about it:

Washington Times Article

Okay so… My kindle sales rank was staying around 1200, which isn’t bad. But… right now I’m at 3,197 (yes I know this constant stats tracking is unhealthy.) I find this bizarre because I’ve been a lot more active on the interwebz, including discussion forums on the romance forums on Amazon and a couple of things in the kindle boards.

I think it’s some universal bitchslap. Like a case of “you brought up your numbers, now the universe is going to make a liar out of you.”

bleh.

Who knows? I wonder if I go radio silent for a few weeks if my numbers will go back up? I wonder if there is any correlation at all.

Here’s the paradox: You want people to see your name and know you’re out there, but any time you engage in any way with any person on a discussion more meaningful than: “This weather is crazy, LOL” then you run the risk of offending some and annoying others. There’s no real way to have meaningful dialogue on the internet without it.

And even if you’re super perfect and nice and never argue about anything, and never post more than a paragraph or two in a discussion, someone will think you’re a fakey-fake. You really can’t win. And actually you can’t have an opinion and share it without annoying someone. Because all human beings just simply don’t have chemistry online or off.

The goal then I guess is to have more people who like you than who don’t like you. Or at least who aren’t in any way turned off by you to the point where they wouldn’t read your fiction or recommend your fiction.. if in fact you write something they would read in the first place.

Which brings me to another issue, I hate that at the end of the day it’s all a popularity contest, but it is. Life is high school. It’s always been high school and it always will be high school, and we are all constantly trying to decide the face we want to show to the world. Fiction and the people who write it should remain a separate thing, but it isn’t.

There are authors who I read because I like them as people (or the part of them they let me see online.) There are authors I will never read because they pissed me off one day on the internet (and I’m sure they won’t read me either.)

You don’t get a second chance at a good first impression. I’ve got a second book by an author whose first book I read I didn’t really like. I loved it until about page 250 where it fell apart for me (mainly because I thought it was going to be something that it wasn’t because of the way the publisher marketed it.) I got the second book because a friend of mine assures me the second book will give me the ending I was hoping for in the first book.

Even though I threw the first book against the wall, I bought the second book.

But… If I’d caught the author being a jerk to me or someone else online, I wouldn’t have bought the second book even if I’d loved the first book.

It really shouldn’t matter. If I love a book I should be able to separate the book from the author, but I can’t. And I’m not sure many others can either. And in an internet world, gone are the days of the reclusive author hermit where everything was shrouded in mystery. Maybe that’s not such a good thing.

Then again, I’ve seen some authors behaving badly and then later I bought their work, because something they said later changed my view on them. Maybe they were just having a bad day that day, or maybe it was an issue they were working on. None of us is perfect.

But I feel like I’m back in high school again. I remember in high school (and hell even after), I’d be in a social situation and I’d say or do something that while some people thought it was wildly hilarious, some others thought it was annoying, and I’d get home and it would run on a loop in my mind for freaking ever.

It’s like that online too. I’ll constantly think “why did I say that?” or more normally: “why did I use so many words to say it” LOL. And I wonder if it’s just me or if everybody feels this way. This is why I have long spells of almost silence online (and IRL), and then spells of activity. Sometimes I get too overwhelmed by the people. Even though I enjoy engaging and debating and conversing, it still gets to be “too much” and I want to retreat for awhile back into my little cave.

Okay so on Twitter someone linked to this awesome video that was really well done except I wish they’d blended the colors a little more for some of the scenes to make it feel more like it was really happening like it’s spliced together.

This is a story basically about what would have happened if Edward had met Buffy instead of Bella using scenes from the Twilight movie and seasons 1-7 of Buffy. It’s a pretty co-herent storyline too, pretty good stuff:

Buffy Vs. Edward

Do I really have to tell you who wins?

Several months ago, I saw a T-shirt that fits this video: And Then Buffy Staked Edward, The End.”

After watching this little video, it’s kind of true.

LOL.

One of the reasons I chose to self publish can pretty much be summed up in Jackie Barbosa’s post about the realities of NY publishing

What it comes down to, is I have a very low tolerance for shitty working conditions. There is a limited amount of crap/shit I will tolerate if I’m not being paid REALLY well. Even then, there is a limit. I don’t need the pressure, insanity, crap that comes with the odds on the above-linked post.

I understand for many authors this doesn’t matter and they’ll keep on keeping on and NY is what they want, and I say great and good luck. (sincerely) But the fact is to very briefly paraphrase Barbosa’s great post:

1. Your chance of landing an agent is about 1% for any given project you submit (with about 200 chances, maybe with all the diff agents out there, but still 1% each time.)

THEN…

2. You have a 25% chance or lower of selling that project (that is agented) to a NY publishing house.

THEN…

3. You have about a 2-3% chance of getting a second contract (though see the article, no one is “totally” sure how this works out, but the bottom line is… most debut authors don’t get a second book deal.)

THEN…

4. Assuming you cross all those hurdles only 15% of pubbed authors make enough money not to have a day job, another 5% earn enough to be the sole breadwinner for their families. And the average income for a published author is: $10,000 a year.

So simple recap: This is a lottery. You are free to play it, but now you understand why I do not. I know you gotta play to win, but anyone who builds a large enough platform and strong enough sales on their own has that shot for the “big league” sales/contracts too. NY publishers smell money in the water like sharks smell blood. So I don’t trouble myself with worrying about it.

You also get “validated” through any form of traditional publishing because someone official vetted you and said you were good enough. For a lot of writers this is important, and because I respect when others can respect “my” personal goals, I can respect it if that is one of yours. It’s just too high a price to pay for validation from a small circle of people “for me.”

I applaud any writer who makes it through all of these hurdles, but still, for me: DOES NOT WANT! (Imagine kitty picture here)

Even if I was interested and I was one of the “lucky ones,” chances are good that it would take at least 5 years before my first book would be in print and I could be finding readers. (starting from step 1) I can do a lot platform building in five years.

Self publishing in 5 years I can have several podcasts if I so choose, as well as a few freebies to promote my work, print and e-format releases of 5 different books while every single one of those books stays in print. i.e. i’m not running endlessly on a treadmill I can’t gain traction on. When I have 10 books published, I have 10 books in print, earning me money in their various formats and distribution channels. Unlike many trad pubbed authors who unless they reach critical acclaim by that point will have a good portion of those books “out of print” and no longer earning them money, except in E, where the royalty rates are pitiful in NY publishing anyway.

In order to make the average $10,000 a year I would have to sell: 2,283 print copies (without factoring in any e-sales. With e-sales I may be able to subtract some of this number.) I think it is possible for a well-written, well-designed, well-edited book, put into several channels of distribution and formats to sell 2,283 copies in a year.

Maybe I won’t get it in my first year, but even if I didn’t get it til my fifth year (a scenario I find highly unlikely personally), I would STILL be ahead of alternate-reality-me on the other publishing track just getting their first book in print. And by year 5 remember I’ve got 5 books in print.

If I ever get to the point where I sell 5,000 print copies a year (without factoring in any e-sales), I’m making a teacher’s salary for my area of the country.

So that is part of why I chose to self-publish.

Other reasons are creative freedom and control of my work, less pressure to perform at the risk of losing a writing career, working at my own pace, the fact that I love publishing and creating my own project start to finish, and the indie community in general.

A few years ago I worked third shift at a hotel. Every morning at 4 am without fail, I would watch Robert Tilton, the tele-evangelist. Now I’m not particularly religious, I just found it to be the most fucked up, entertaining, and bizarre thing to watch at 4 am and I think the only other thing on was Bonanza, and I never got into Bonanza.

The donut man arrived around that time, so I’d plop down with my coffee and chocolate-covered donut to see what bizarre theatrics Tilton would be up to next. Without fail he’d reach out toward the screen (something that never stopped being creepy, I swear he could see me through there) and he’d solemnly tell me that he just KNEW that I was supposed to make a $1,000 vow of faith.

He was very hung up on this. $998 dollars wasn’t good enough, that was a definite show of a lack of faith. In fact, one’s entire spirituality could be called into question if they didn’t pledge just that exact number to his questionably worthy program.

Seeing the recent shitstorm with the RWA and Diane Pershing’s asinine comments defending her decisions, makes me recall fondly good ole Robert. I wonder if Pershing and Tilton met for coffee to discuss this whole $1000 thing, because she seems to obsess about the $1,000 advance as some kind of marker of legitimacy with the same rabid zeal as our friendly tele-evangelist.

In fact, her message is much the same: “Publishers, make that $1,000 vow of faith, so we know you believe in your authors.” Forget the fact that e-publishing is an entirely different business model than print publishing and asking an epub to give a $1,000 advance, is like asking a publisher using print-on-demand, to use POD to do a 5,000 copy print run.

Epublishing is just different, but no less legitimate because an epub can’t make a $1,000 vow of faith.

Pershing was almost as entertaining as Tilton. I’d like for her to get her own TV show with a cheesy set that airs at about 4 am. Then I can flip between her ranting about $1,000 and Tilton’s. I can start a pool going over whose plea is most impassioned and most ludicrous. And I’ll get double the entertainment value for stupid.

Cheryl Anne Gardner was kind enough to review my novella on PODPEEP.

An excerpt of the review:

Greta is our pretty pussy — cat that is — a shape shifter about to come of age and in heat continuously. But alas, her clan has other plans for her, plans of the unpleasant predestined sort. So, she says with bated breath, who will save me? Maybe the handsome and notorious sorcerer Dayne Wickham, who may or may not be in on the conspiracy.

“[...]he was hot, debonair even. Except for the evil.”

Well of course, except for the evil, that goes without saying. But doesn’t the evil make the bad boy even hotter??? Yes it does, especially when he is conflicted. Oh, and apparently the magic users hook up on internet message boards and use expletives such as: for God’s sake. Now that is over the top camp: I have power unlimited at my disposal, and yet I must invoke God and reduce my majestic interactions to online chat. Hilarious!!!! And logical, since he was: “only human with a few fancy language upgrades.”

The sardonic tone doesn’t stop there …

Read the full review here

So lately it’s become very hard for me to finish a book (reading.) I’ll really love it until about page 250 where it almost universally now starts to fall apart on me.

I get bored and start skimming. By page 250 I’m tired, I want the author to get to the point and i want to know what happens. If the journey itself stops being exciting and interesting the only thing left is to find out what happens.

I find often what happens is by page 250 I’m like… blech… I skip ahead 50 or 100 pages to about the point where the story is supposed to start to wrap up, then it gets good again. But all that sagging middle in between is like being in a waiting room. It’s not really moving things forward fast enough for me.

Maybe I have ADD. I don’t know.

I happily sat reading JK Rowling’s 700-900 page novels. Not once did I skim. And when I got to the end I was sorry to see it end. I wanted more.

Outside of Rowling though, there aren’t a lot of writers I’ve read who I feel can sustain a narrative past 300 pages. That being the case, please authors, consider cutting more.