How Much Has the Publishing World Changed

In looking through some old posts, I realized I hadn't talked much about the publishing industry lately. The why is even more astounding. A whole generation has passed since e-books have gone main stream.

Yeah, I know e-books have been around before 2000, but that's when companies started making inroads. I noticed them and started buying and reading them around that point. They were convenient when I traveled on business trips.

Back on November 19th, Kindle celebrated its 17th anniversary. It wasn't the first device to be a dedicated e-book reader, but it was the first to get some public traction.

Kindle Direct Publishing ("KDP") was introduced at the same time, though it was originally called Digital Text Platform ("DTP"). It changed the game. Writers were no longer dependent solely on mainstream book publishers to reach a national, or international, audience.

By 2010, the hue and cry arose from the publishing companies and trad-published writers that Amazon would totally ruin the industry with their tsunami of unfettered swill. Indie publishers responded by undercutting trad publishing's prices.

Weirdly, older folks led the charge into adapting e-book readers. They could modify the font and size of the print to make it easier to see the words, something they just can't do with print books.

Furthermore, readers had greater options. Contrary to trad publishing's claims they didn't cater to reader tastes. They expected readers to love whatever they put out. Suddenly, readers could find any genre their hearts desired at any time, day or night.

And now. . .

Now, you don't hear much of anything from anyone. Or maybe, I just stopped paying any attention. So, I went through my old blog lists. Nope. Pretty much everyone hollering back in the early '10's when I started Angry Sheep Publishing have stopped posting. The social media most common in the early '10's have been trashified, and the few folks I still keep up with are fleeing to the latest thing.

Furthermore, smart phones and multi-purpose tablets have taken over the entertainment sphere. I can read, watch, or listen to anything my heart desires on small, lightweight devices. I no longer search for purses that can fit whatever paperback I'm reading at the time.

In the meantime, wars have started left and right. We went through a world-wide pandemic. The level of hate and meanness have grown exponentially in both the real life and  virtual space. There are simply more things to worry about than whether some middle-aged lady is writing erotica in her own home and publishing it.

So, yes, it's quieter. I can carry a thousand books on my phone to read any time, any where. And I'm loving it!

Why Would You Take a Trad Deal?

The lovely Phoenix Sullivan posted an interesting Twitter thread yesterday. She talks about her efforts to secure a trad deal to expand her revenue streams and the lack of enthusiastic response to her frank talk about money.

I wish I could say I was surprised by the responses she's received from agents and editors. Five years ago, I talked about a post written by agent Donald Maass. His opinions of the worthlessness of both midlisters and indie writers was derogatory at best. This attitude has infected nearly every corner of trad publishing now. There's a few areas that remain open-minded, but those generally involve pet anthology projects from what I've been seeing.

The problem from the trad publishers' perspective is that we indies are competing with them for the same dollars. It doesn't matter what kind of hard-earned savvy we bring to the table. To trad publishers, why pay a competitor when there are plenty of shills willing to accept $0 advance just from the privilege of having someone choose them?

And that's what it comes down to--what is the real reward you the writer wants for signing a deal?

Indies are often mocked for only caring about the money. In some cases, that's true. However, a lot of us love the freedom being indie affords us. I can write what I want, when I want, instead of being ordered to write in a genre I detest.

And having a book with a trad publisher isn't really broadening your income stream. They go through the same retailers and distributors indies do. To broaden our income streams we need to look at licensing our stories, characters, and worlds. (For more on this, check out Kris Rusch's blog series on licensing starting here.)

Overall, it always come down to the readers. As long as I'm entertaining them, they will be willing to pay for my stories. When I stop doing that, they'll move on. This is a truth that applies to both trad published and indie writers whether we like it or not.

Big Publishers Now Looking to Indies for Marketing Ideas (And I'm Highly Amused)

On a Monday two years ago, a tip popped up on Alter Ego's Facebook feed. A handful of her friends were telling their friends that the first seven books of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series were bundled on Amazon for $1.99.

Yep, Randy Penguin had had a bundle sale.

When indies started doing stuff like low priced e-books and even lower priced bundles, the pundits were screaming from the rooftops that indies were destroying culture. Yet, here we are, ten years down the road since the Kindle was introduced, and the big publishers are doing the exact same thing.

Sadly, things can be traced back to L.K. Rigel's cover for her novel, Spiderwork. Harper Collins liked the original artwork so much that they ripped off cover artist Nathalia Suellen. The matter was eventually settled, but not before L.K. and Nathalia had to get their attorneys involved and the art director at Harper Collins lost her job. And poor author Alix Flinn was blamed for a lot of the mess though it was her publisher who started the kerfluffle, not her.

Obtaining one of the coveted promotional slots on BookBub has been difficult for the last few years. It's even more so now that trad publishers are using it to promote their backlists. I signed up for the SFF list years ago. I've been seeing a lot of old favorites that came out when I was in grade school or even before I was born. Authors like Katherine Kurtz, Andre Norton, and Anne McCaffrey.

The swing side of trad publishing BookBub slots are setting the first book in a series (or even all the volumes released so far) at a sale price to goose sales of the latest release of the series.

The odd part is the pricing for these sale books. The trad publishers are pricing books at $1.99, the price that most indies consider the dead zone. It does make the book stand out from the indie crowd. Part of me would love to know what their actual units are for one of these twenty-four-hour sales.

Finally, the trad publishers are contracting with indie writers again. After unit sales didn't meet the marketing department's expectations between 2012 and 2016, the trad publishers backed away from pursuing indie writers, and more than a few indie writers they did pursue refused to sign. Now, trad publishers are looking at high-selling indies again, but they are being more selective on who they are handing out contracts to. For example, J.A. "Joe" Konrath signed with Kensington Publishing. It'll be interesting to see how things work out with Joe.

As I said in the title of this post, I find these changes funny more than anything. A lot of the things authors have been asking for over the decades are now being delivered--now that those same writers proved they were financially feasible.

We must not be so crappy after all since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

Trad Vs. Hybrid Vs. Indie

It's been a little over five years since I jumped into the indie pool. I don't regret a minute of it. I've made some mistakes, and learned from them. I've had some successes, and learned from those too.

Five or six years ago, author Bob Mayer coined the term "hybrid" to signify a writer with one foot in the indie world and one foot in traditional publishing. He still champions that duel path. As I was reading his blog yesterday, my first thought was "I'll NEVER go traditional--"

And the realization hit me like the proverbial brick between the eyes. I was WELL AND TRULY a hybrid writer.

I'd been sending out two short stories a year to various publishers for the last five years, more for the practice of writing blurbs than actually expecting a sale. This year, both shorts were picked up by the first anthologies I submitted to. That makes a total of four sales in three years.

However, the sales have been to small publishers where I get my exclusive right backs in three to six months and they aren't asking for the whole hog. Would I submit to one of the big five house any time soon? Probably not with the way their contracts are written these days.

On the other hand, the first short I sold three years ago ended up launching a new series.

Will I keep submitting short stories? Probably, as long as the contracts aren't too onerous. In the end, the decision comes down to what I want as a career path.

Your mileage may vary.

Someone's Wrong on the Internet!

Duty Calls by xkcd, licensed under a Creative
 Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.

The generic cartoon by xkcd definitely fits the indie thought process lately. If someone, anyone, still submits to a traditional publisher, then they are WRONG! STUPID! MORONIC!

In other words, dishing out the same grief trad published writers gave indies five years ago.

*sigh*

Like this kind of crap helps anybody.

If you're reading this blog because I'm pro-indie, I hate to be the one who breaks the news to you, but...

I'm traditionally published, too.

And if you're reading it because I'm trad published, well, guess what?

I've said this before and I'll say it again and again and again.

The path you take depends on a lot of factors. Most particularly, what is your ultimate goal?

Some writers simply want to write. They'll never publish for others to read. More specifically, they don't want to. That's a perfectly fine path, the one Emily Dickinson took. (Just make sure you destroy your work before you die. Otherwise, your little sister may just publish your work anyway.)

Some writers just want to share their stories without thought of money. That's the purpose of things like fan fiction and Wattpad. Again, perfectly fine paths.

Some writers want to make money but like someone else to deal with the business details. That's fine, too.

Some writers like the business details as much as they enjoy the act of writing. Again, simply a different path.

No one path is perfect for everybody. The judgmental attitudes I've seen on the internet are disappointing to say the least. The question is have you, the writer, aligned your goals with what best fits your personality.

I admit I'm a super, A+++ control freak. I need to understand how things work, which is why I enjoy indie publishing. Also, I don't have to worry about deadlines when shit hits the fan, like Thursday when we had to put our beloved beagle to sleep or yesterday when my MIL fell and needed to go to the hospital. (Thank goodness, she didn't break anything, but if you're reading this over lunch, I'm over at her place, staying with her while my FIL goes to his doctor's appointment.)

I generally submit a couple of short stories a year just to stay in the practice of writing to someone else's specifications. By my own choice, especially if it's an editor I want to work with, a subject matter I want to try, or it's a way to market my other projects.

But this is my path. Not anyone else's. I'm not going to say YOU'RE WRONG when you do something different.

If you ask me for any writerly advice, the first thing I'll ask you in response is "What is your ultimate goal?" And I'll craft my answer based on your plans, not mine. If it's a question I've been asked more than once, it'll end up as a blog topic, and I'll try to make sure the appropriate caveats are in place.

HOWEVER (you knew there was an exception), I won't let my indie friends tear apart my trad friends or vice versa. And it's been happening with more and more frequency lately, even if most of it has been privately said.

Most times, I try to be gentle in my response to people, but frankly, that attitude is flying out the window. What someone else does in their writing career, DOES NOT AFFECT YOU IN THE SLIGHTEST.

Seriously, just let it go.

If you can't deal with both sides, then you probably shouldn't be reading this blog.

Editing Nightmares When You're Trad Published

Last night I was reading the latest book in a series of a new writer I've fallen in love with. Well, she's new to me. I stumbled across a couple of typos. I'm not normally a grammar bitch, but one glitch in particular really threw me off. I had to reread the sentence a couple of times to deduce what word "rt" was supposed to be.

This is the same author whose last book in this series had a glaring copyedit problem. The heroine started a scene drinking her favorite hot beverage, but ended the scene drinking a totally different beverage. Not just a totally different beverage, but one that has been mentioned several times in the series as one the heroine hates.

This writer's particular series is published by DAW which is part of Penguin-Random House. Allegedly, one of the greatest selling points of traditional publishers is the extensive copy editing, line editing, and proofreading that a publishing house book goes through until it is released into the wild.

Except it's not happening.

I've been hearing from traditionally published friends (those still talking to me anyway) that they're not getting any editing. Or that they need to pay for an outside editor. Or they get the galleys back with more errors introduced than the original manuscript contained.

What's worse is if no one catches the mistake, it's never fixed. Quite frankly, the publishing houses don't have the money or manpower to do so. They're cutting costs like crazy, and guess who goes first when a corporation needs to trim the overhead? Yep, the people who actually do the work.

So, my new favorite heroine from my new favorite author is going continue drinking coffee, which she absolutely despises even if that particular book goes into its hundredth printing.

As I said is a previous post, I'm paranoid I missed something when my editor okays the final copy. My story in the anthology may be marred until the end of time.

Or until I get my rights back, and I release my own version. And honestly, that's one of the biggest pluses of indie publishing over trad publishing. I have the power to fix my boo-boo's.

Jealousy Is a Four-Letter Word

My friend Angie, who comments here a bit, sold three short stories last week to three different editors. I'm ecstatic for her. This is her path. She's aggressively pursuing it and succeeding.

Here's the thing--her accomplishments are not a reflection of my lack of progress over the last year. (Let's face it--the last new thing I had published was "Justice" in an anthology that was released back in November of 2013.) I know her success has nothing to do with me. It's a fact of this business, hell, it's a fact of life, that everyone has ups and downs. And sometimes, my downs happen during other people's ups, and vice versa.

If a writer can separate herself, separate her ego, from other writers, she'll have a healthier and happier career. But I'm seeing a lot of people who can't do that.

On Monday, a long-time trad published writer ("Whiny Writer") bemoaned that her sales were lacking because of [insert her variation of the "self-publishing tsunami of swill" meme]. Normally, I'd link to her post, but a bunch of sock puppets popped up on another blog where commenters ruthlessly dissected her post (if you read me regularly, you know where), and I don't have time to deal with her bullshit. Oh, and I'm referring to her as Whiny Writer because none of her sock puppets, who all complained about indie writers' spelling and editing, could spell "whining" correctly.

Seriously. I'd be less critical if the sock puppets had used the British/Aussie spelling--"whinging".

The thing many of these folks like Whiny Writer above don't get is that no one's reading the really bad books. If you doubt me, go look at the rankings of them on the various retail sites. If you're ranked #2,999,999 out of 3,000,000, trust me, no one's bought your book in the last five years.

If you write well and want to sell, you have to do something to stand out. Either a new/neat twist on the subject matter, cover, or price gets people's attention. And frankly, price is fading fast as a gimmick. Free or $0.99 no longer gets a new writer the attention they need for sales traction.

So getting pissed because someone else found their traction is not going to help you find yours. And if successful authors offer to help you "fix" your cover or blurb, then maybe you should listen. In the same blog where Whiny Writer's sock puppets attacked, the long suffering Annoyed Writer made the comment that Whiny Writer was right.

First of all, I'm trying not to giggle because according to Whiny Writer, Annoyed Writer betrayed the trust of writers and readers everywhere by going indie. Secondly, Annoyed Writer is selling her books for a much higher price than Whiny Writer's publisher, and she wonders why she's not seeing any sales. Whenever someone points out Annoyed Writer's cover look like something for a non-fiction Eastern art history book instead of the genre fiction it is, she gets pissy.

As Albert Einstein once said, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.

Covers are one of the first things that catch a reader's attention, whether we or they want to admit it. Which is why Xxxxx and I have had an ongoing discussion over the last couple of months on how to brand our covers for the 888-555-HERO series.

And guess who also has some not-so-good covers? Yep, Whiny Writer. But it's easier to blame indie writers rather than her publisher.

So what am I trying to say out of all of this:

1) Don't get mad about someone else's success.
2) Focus on your own business.
3) If something isn't working for you, change it.

And, the most important tip of all:

4) If your sock puppets complain about someone else's spelling, make sure your sock puppets' spelling is impeccable.

Good Luck!

You Just Don't Understand

"You just don't understand." I've been hearing that phrase a lot over the last few years.

I can't possibly understand having a seriously ill spouse, even though DH was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer and dealt with two surgeries and ten months of chemo. I can't possibly understand having a chronic illness, even though I been dealing with an endocrine system that decided to shut down in the middle of my pregnancy, it hasn't restarted, and there's a medicine cabinet full of drugs that I have to take to stay alive. Apparently, I also don't understand what it's like to:

- Lose a job
- Lose my savings because of a medical catastrophe
- Have a child with special needs
- Have a parent who's alcoholic

...and the list goes on and on.

The same meme permeates my professional life as well. "You don't understand how trad publishing works!" has become the battle cry of some top-level publishers and writers.

Over the last week, Lee Child has popped into The Passive Voice. Yeah, Jack Reacher's creator. That Lee Child. You can check out the conversations here and here.

In my personal opinion, neither side acquitted themselves in a mannerly fashion. But I agree with one commenter who noted that Lee came in with guns blazing, telling us how we're wrong and we just don't understand trad publishing. And Lee did use one of Passive Guy's posts entitled, "We. Don't. Care. How. Traditional. Publishing. Works.", as proof that indies are ignorant.

What Lee is not considering is that there's a HUGE difference between "understanding" and "caring".

A lot of writers who have gone indie have been trad published. They're very much aware of how trad publishing works. And they see its limitations, which is one of the reasons those writers are taking their careers into their own hands.

In my case, my trad publishing career consists of five years writing a legal column for a regional magazine and having a short story accepted into an well-known anthology. In Lee's case, he's one of the best-selling novelists in the world and makes millions per year. Are we going to see trad publishing at the same level?

Hell, no! And that's part of the problem. Lee's forgotten what it's like to be at the bottom of the trad publishing totem pole.

Is it envy or bitterness on my part when it comes to trad publishing? I don't think so. I spent the first twenty years of my professional life figuring out that I'm not a company ladder-climber. Some folks can do it naturally (my brother-in-law Tim is one), but I'm "too independent" as a psych evaluation, given to me by a potential employer, said.

Do I want Lee's level of success? I can honestly say no. First, because my time will never be my own again if I reach that level. Second, because I've seen how a modicum of success in this field changes people. Sometimes for the better, but most times, not so much.

As I read through the conversations on the two TPV posts, I had one of those stuck-by-lightning realizations. Lee thinks he's talking to other writers.

He's not. He's talking to publishers. Small publishers who figured out how to eliminate the bloated overhead that's killing the Big Five in New York. Small publishers who are tapping the markets/subgenres that the Big Five feel aren't worth their time. Small publishers who have connected with the ultimate end users in this business--THE READERS!

So yes, indies do understand trad publishing, but to use it as a model will kill our businesses. While I may not get advances with seven digits like Lee does, I make enough collectively from my readers to pay most of my bills. And frankly, that means more to me than Lee Child's approval of how I publish.

The Battle Is No Longer Between Amazon and Hatchette

[Edit to add: I wrote this blog post during lunch yesterday. When I checked in after painting Genius Kid's old room last night, I thought the fumes had gotten to me. But no, Amazon issued their second volley in the propaganda war with Hatchette.

The news broke while the TPV crowd talked about Michael Stackpoole's blunt essay on the A-H battle. The last half of the comment thread talks about the Amazon bombshell. Folks there also posted the responses from Hatchette,

Joe Konrath posted the Amazon's press release and his personal thoughts, but I warn you Stevie Z. tries to take over the comments. Both TPV and Joe have links to responses from Hatchette, Douglas Preston, and The Author's Guild.

For those that don't feel like clicking on any links, the gist of Amazon and Hatchette's BS:

Amazon: Since you're accusing us of harming writers, we'll reinstate the pre-order buttons and order larger amounts of Hatchette books if ALL royalties go to the writers affected by our dispute.

Hatchette: How dare you offer our writers money!

Yep, kinda proves who's insane, doesn't it?]

Everyone's worried about who's drinking what Kool-Aid.

The two-month six-month long negotiations (changed based on Amazon's news release from yesterday) between Amazon and Hatchette have taken an interesting twist. In their efforts to get Amazon to back down, Hatchette and the other big publishers launched a massive PR campaign against the 'Zon.

None of this should be a surprise because the Big 5 announced their PR plan in January. What is surprising is that Hatchette and their minions tried to pull the indie writers into the fight by using scare tactics. They all run something along the lines of -- "If Amazon is screwing us over, just imagine what they will do to you once we're dead."

What Hatchette and the other big publishers didn't anticipate was the indies' collective "Fuck you!"

There's a large contingent of indies who have been trad-published, and they were treated horribly. Those who weren't kicked to the curb by Hatchette and their buddies ran as soon as they could. Then there's some of us who heard the horrible stories of how our fellow writers were treated, and we decided dealing with the Big 5 wasn't worth the soul-sucking pain. The rest of the indies, who never bothered with query letters, just shook their heads, published their books, and ignored the brouhaha.

Ignored the Big 5 until other authors (all of them in some kind of business with the Big 5) started insulting us. We pulled our heads out of our writing cubbies (or in my case, out of the closet I was painting), looked around, took in the obvious lies being spouted about Amazon, and said, "Seriously, dudes?"

So Hugh Howey and Joe Konrath put together a letter, posted it on Change.org and asked other indies to sign it. I did. Not because I think Amazon is the Second Coming. (Pornocalypse, anyone? Those fuckers banned my books!) I signed it because they're not lying out their assholes like Hatchette is. You see, Hatchette never would have touched me. And for that, I thank Djedhuti every day.

But the lies! Amazon is not boycotting Hatchette authors. Every Hatchette book in print and available from Hatchette is for sale on Amazon. Those books marked "Unavailable" HAVEN"T BEEN FUCKING PUBLISHED YET! Given the tenor of the current negotiations, why would any retailer do pre-orders for merchandise they may not be able to deliver? As for the delays in delivering print books, Amazon isn't warehousing them because they don't want to get stuck with the shipping costs if they and Hatchette do end their business relationship.

Sorry, folks, but I'd be doing the same thing in Amazon's position. Part of owning a business is keeping your overhead low.

By no means do I consider Amazon a saint. They are not perfect. (PORNOCALYPSE!) I get that. It's just one of the retailers I sell books through

In fact, I sell fewer books on Amazon than I do on any other retail site except for Kobo and the now-defunct Diesel. Hell, I did about the same business with them as I did with the departed Sony E-Bookstore. So I don't think you can call me an Amazon shill (the other favorite insult if anyone is even perceived as NOT taking Hatchette's side).

But the really sad thing in all of this are the organizations that are supposed to be FOR writers are publicly throwing their support to Hatchette. (SFWA, anyone?) *sigh* Where were these organizations when the Big 5 dropped e-book pricing from 50% of gross to 25% of net?

Let's assume the leaks are true, Hatchette is trying to reinstate agency pricing with Amazon. Now these writer organizations want their membership to support a pricing scheme where Hatchette gets more money and the writers still get pennies on the dollar? Why would any writer buy into that scenario?

So to trad-published authors, I have nothing against you or your choices. But your business interests are nowhere near mine. I'm not going to help you commit career suicide. And I'm sure as hell not going to agree to a suicide pact with you.

Since I'm allegedly the bad guy, I leave you with this:

Come to the Dark Side, my pretties! We have chocolate.

[2nd edit to add: Normally, I only get 2 hits from France on any given day. Woke up Saturday morning, July 12th, to 51 French hits on the blog. Wonder if Hatchette and their buddies are going to start calling me names.]

Non-Writing and Writing News

I haven't written in nearly a month so I swear it feels like I'm going through withdrawal. The final push of getting the house ready for the market has taken my full attention. Tiling, painting, gluing, caulking, etc. But my Inspiring Lilac and Bright White master bathroom looks pretty damn good! Once I get pics transferred from the iPhone to the PC, I'll show it off.

In the meantime, if you want a good laugh, watch the panel discussion that took place at The New York Public Library last night. David Vandagriff, aka Passive Guy from The Passive Voice, took part along with the likes of James Patterson. In addition to the comments on the library page, check out the Twitter stream via #amazonbau.

On second thought, if you're an indie writer, you might want to get good and drunk before you watch the video.

The RT14 Clusterf**k

I was going to avoid this topic. I really was. But I'm reading and hearing too much not to comment.

First of all, RT stands for Romantic Times. The magazine RT Book Reviews started in 1981 as a "tabloid newspaper" called Romantic Times that was for and about romance books and their readers. Over the years, RT Bookclub expanded to review other genres. In 1982, the founder of RT, romance writer Kathryn Falk, launched the RT Convention.

RT is NOT affiliated with RWA (aka Romance Writers of America). Personally, I'm annoyed that all manner of bloggers and commenters cannot differentiate between the two organizations. There is a lot of crossover simply because of the nature of the romance community.

For the record, I had an RT Bookclub subscription for five or six years, but I have never been to an RT Convention. But I've heard stories from friends who have gone.

Oh, boy, have I heard stories!

But this year, the stories that were normally private over margaritas and Tex-Mex went public. Well, that's not true. They went viral among the publishing industry. And for our size, we're really very small and insular so things get around.

This year wasn't like the time a well-known author did a striptease on a tabletop. (P.S. At business functions, limit your alcohol intake. And make no mistake, the RT Convention is a business function for writers.)

Nope, there were a series of problems that irritated both readers and writers:

1) Record attendance in a too small facility

RT14 had a record attendance (no official number yet, but I've been hearing unofficial numbers in the 2500 range). These were just the registered attendees, and does not include people off the street since the Book Fair was open to the public.

This means they surpassed the RWA conference which has had 1700-2000 attendees over the last ten years. And RT held its conference in the Marriott in New Orleans, a place RWA already knew was too small for them! (Remember, lots of crossover between RWA and RT people.)

FYI - RWA has had a contract with the Marriott chain for the last fifteen years, and there's a limited number of their hotels that can handle 2000 guests. Only one time in that fifteen years was the RWA conference held on a non-Marriott site. That was when flooding destroyed the Nashville Marriott a couple of months before the conference. Only Disney World could handle that size of a conference on that short of a notice.

The New Orleans fire marshal was at the Book Fair, keeping a close eye on the situation. Several attendees mentioned that he threatened to shut down the Book Fair, but hey, his job is to keep people safe.

Now, these weren't all people off the street. I had checked into attending RT14, and a month after registration opened, the Marriott was full, and the RT organizers needed a spillover hotel. It's not like all these people showed up the morning the first day of the conference, so RT had an inkling from the get-go that space was going to be a problem.

Possible solutions for RT:
- Find a bigger facility.
- Limit registered attendees.


2) Separation of authors and long lines at the Book Fair itself

So RT already has a space issue, and they knew it, but they didn't notify the attending authors that space had been reduced for their signing tables until they arrived. Many writers bring signage, displays, and swag to give away to readers, and there wasn't enough room for everyone's. A lot of writers were miffed because they would have been more conservative in their packing if they had known.

RT needed two ball rooms to accommodate all the signing authors, but they placed all the trad published authors in one and the small press, e-press and indie authors in another. There was also the major issue with the square footage of tables. Supposedly some authors got extra. If RT provided some authors less than others when every writer paid the same amount and was promised the same size of facility to participate in the Book Fair, RT is looking at a potential breach of contract lawsuit.

This bring us to the second major problem. A lot of writers are hybrids(TM Bob Mayer). RT organizers forced them to chose whether they wanted to sign their trad published books or their non-trad published books. Major fail here because readers follow authors. Sorry, Big 5, but it's true.

This made a lot of authors, including NYT bestselling writers, feel like second class citizens, which I'll get into a little more in Point 3 below.

The third major problem is the bookstore providing support for the Book Fair did not bring electronic scanners or POS cash registers to the conference. All paperwork was done by hand, which resulted in long lines in the hotel's hallways and rankled the fire marshal. This is the 21st century. Hand tallying went out with the horse and buggy.

I don't know which retailer this was. I've heard both Barnes & Noble and Anderson's mentioned. Either way it's no excuse for not bringing adequate equipment to a major conference.

Supposedly the separation of the two groups of authors was due to returnable vs. non-returnable books at the request of the bookseller. Makes me wonder how long this particular retailer will stay in business.

Possible solutions for RT:
- Writers need to be notified as soon as a potential problem is known so they can adjust whatever promotion they have planned.
- RT needs to research the booksellers they use during the Book Fair more thoroughly, i.e. can they provide adequate staff and equipment? If not, find someone else.
- Indie writers who publish print need to consider the return option since it can be a make-or-break deal with booksellers.
- RT should arrange signing seats alphabetically to make it easy for readers to find their favorite authors. The only authors who need a separate room are those whose lines are difficult to manage (Nora Roberts and Sherrilyn Kenyon come to mind.)


3) Issues with volunteers

I've done volunteer work for a lot of different organizations. It's an exhausting, thankless task at the best of times, but you need to keep a positive face because you represent the event.

There were several reports of the registration desk opening early late and closing late early. One writer who was trying to confirm something was bluntly told she couldn't ask anymore questions. And then there was the volunteer that raised hackles by stating the people in the small press/e-press/indie room were "aspiring authors."

Everyone who witnessed this particular incident agreed this was the only incident and the volunteer was quickly and firmly corrected. But with the pressure of the book signing, the feeling of packed sardines, and the long wait to check out, the comment was a match on the pool of stress oil.

That in turn set off a firestorm of blog posts this week, ranging from Hugh Howey, who didn't attend RT14, to Jennifer Bray-Weber, who did.

Steven Zacharius, president of Kensington Publishing, jumped on Hugh's blog and pretty much made an ass of himself. I understand he felt the need to defend RT CEO Kathryn Falk because he and his father have been friends with her for years. But Kathryn's a big girl. If she can handle her own company, I'm sure she can learn from and fix the problems for next year's RT Conference. But considering Stevie Z.'s own stance on the separation of trad and indie books, he's the last person Kathryn needs defending her.

Possible Solutions for RT:
- An apology to all writers for the muck-up that was the RT Book Signing.
- Full training for volunteers, preferably in person the day before the conference starts. Online training prior to the conference if logistics for in-person training are impossible.
- Hire an outside conference organizer who has plenty of experience with large events.
- A ball gag and fingercuffs for Stevie Z. With friends like this, Kathryn Falk doesn't need enemies.


Personally, I think RT needs to go back to the basics of what it did best, facilitate interaction between writers and cover models and their fans in a fun atmosphere. Leave the publishing politics out of the equation. If Kathryn and her people want to promote classes for the business side of writing and publishing, then make that a separate event.

But the writer/fan interaction? That's where I've always heard terrific things about RT.


P.S. Stevie Z., you really need to let go of your hard-on for Hugh Howey. I don't think he swings that way.

Lessons Learned: Return on Investment - Part I

In all the hubbaloo over The Passive Voice, Steven Zacharius of Kensington, Barry Eisler, Robert Gottlieb of Trident Media Group and the infamous Writers Digest poll, people are trying to frame the issue as traditional publishing versus indie publishing.

People are asking the wrong damn question. If you are writer who wants to be published, you should be asking, "What's the return on my investment?"

The return on an investment is when you divide the gain of the investment minus the cost of the investment by the cost of the investment. Or

ROI = (GOI - COI)/COI

I'm going to walk through two examples: one to show my ignorance as a indie publisher in the beginning and one to show how I did it right. I'm going to simplify a few numbers for math clarity.

Example 1
Seasons of Magick: Spring was the first book I put up as an indie author.

It's approximately 20K words. At the time, I wrote about 500 words per hour, so it took me 40 hours to write the story. Let's say I, the publisher, paid me, the writer, $10 an hour.

I paid a friend's teen daughter $25 to create a Photoshop file for my cover.

A friend and I edited each other's novellas over coffee, so throw in $10 for my Starbucks card.

I know just enough HTML to be dangerous so I formatted this myself using freeware.

My costs of investment? $400 + $25 + $10 + $0 = $435.

I priced the book at $0.99. 99 copies sold the first year it was on the market. Again, for simplicity's sake, let's say I made Amazon's rate of $0.35 for all the copies (which really isn't far from the truth). My gain on investment in Year 1? 99 X $0.35 = $34.65

Therefore, my ROI for this book is ($34.65 - $435)/$435 = - $0.92

Now the nice thing is this book will be available (hopefully) for the rest of my life plus seventy years. Odds are it will eventually earn a positive ROI.

Example 2
A year after I started indie publishing I wrote a BDSM erotic romance. Since I'm not ready to reveal Alter Ego, we'll call it Sluts in the City #1.

Again, this novella was 20K words so my costs as a writer remained the same. So did my editing costs.

By now, I'd learned my lesson about having a decent cover. I'd bought the picture to the left for $8 with the intention of using it for the cover until I saw how many covers, both indie and trad, used it. So I bought a different cover at Romance Novel Covers for $15.

I used freeware to tweak the picture and add the title and author's name by myself. (I had a lot of fun experimenting, too!) Again, I did my own formatting.

My costs of investment? $400 + $10 + $23 + $0 = $433

I priced the book at $2.99. My income per copy ranges from $1.05 to $2.68, so once again, let's use $2.00 for ease of math. The first year I sold 1,481 copies so my gain on investment was 1481 X $2.00 = $2962.00.

Therefore, my ROI for Sluts in the City #1 is ($2962 - $433)/$433 = $5.84

$5.84 versus -$0.92. See the difference?

Two erotica novellas. Same length. Same amount of time they were on sale. Little to no marketing.

The two big differences were the covers and the price. Both had a significant impact on my income.

On Monday, I'll talk about determining ROI for an indie published project, an assisted publishing project, and a trad published project.

On Wednesday, I'll talk about why using a picture like the Handcuffed Girl above will hurt more than help you thanks to the Kernel Pornocalypse.

Until then, stay toasty this weekend!

When a CEO Has No Concept of Social Media

For the record, I have nothing against traditional publishing. My regular readers know that I advocate READING AND UNDERSTANDING YOUR FUCKING CONTRACT before you EVER SIGN IT! But that's the former lawyer in me talking.

I also have nothing personal against Steven Zacharius, CEO and President of Kensington Publishing.

But apparently, Mr. Zacharius has something against me as an indie published writer according to an article he wrote in the Huffington Post. His diatribe about how I don't make any money, how I don't have any editing done, how I can't get quality cover art felt pretty damn personal. But I let go because I had a deadline...

Until a Kensington writer crafted a blog post aimed at readers saying how she was not rolling in gold. Apparently, she was being hit up quite a bit for free books. I would link to it, but within four hours of her post going live, it was taken down.

And that one big difference about indies. We talk money. We talk business. We give each other recommendations on services. But then we have our big girl and big boy panties on. I've got friends who make a lot more than I do. I have friends who make a lot less. And frankly, y'all know what I made last year.

Trad publishers don't want writers talking about their contracts. The scary part is they treat their writers like employees when they are independent contractors. Unfortunately, many writers accept this treatment because they are afraid they will be blackballed. And shunning was a real problem when trad publishers were the only game in town.

But the game has changed, folks. Big time.

Why did the Kensington author take her post down? I can only speculate in my own warped mind, but there's another problem.

Whatever you post on the internet takes on a life of its own. Even though she took the post down, it was cached. And copied. And spread. And discussed. Including at The Passive Voice.

And Mr. Zacharius responded at TPV.

All I can say is if I were Kensington's PR person, I wouldn't have any hair left after he was done. He apparently didn't know who hangs out at TPV. Sure, we're all writers. But we are also attorneys, doctors, psychologists, accountants, game designers, military vets, and teachers, just to mention a handful of the occupations. And a great many of us have been trad published.

One person published at Kensington was brave enough to comment though she did it anonymously because she's trying to get her rights reverted and fears retaliation. PG posted her comment as a main post because he felt it was important. And it is important because it shows Mr. Zacharius isn't talking to the people he needs to--those already under contract with his company.

However, J.A. ("Joe") Konrath took the questions Mr. Zacharius posed at TPV and crafted his own answers on his blog. Mr. Zacharius has said in Joe's comments that he's sending a reply to Joe, and Joe has said he will post the reply.

Can Mr. Zacharius have a meaningful dialogue with writers, or will he stick his other foot in his mouth? It should be a very interesting and entertaining Monday indeed.

Wise Ink Travels to the 2013 Writer's Digest Conference West

The ladies of Wise Ink, Dara Beevas and Amy Quale, report their findings at Writer's Digest conference. It's amazing to me the about-face by the trad publishing establishment in the last year.

Indie Cooties (Or Why You're Not a Real Writer)

Well, I thought the bullshit about indie v. trad publishing had died down, but it's back in full-force.

At the beginning of the month, horror writer Lisa Morton wrote a piece called "Ten Questions to Know If You're a Pro." If the article had been on Lisa's own blog, I doubt if it would've made that much of a wave. Lisa claims she was frustrated with associates who did not take the craft or business as seriously as she did, that it was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. Reading it a certain way, I can see this may have been her intent. Unfortunately, because of her word choices, the piece comes across as serious and not funny at all.

To add to the situation, Lisa is the vice-president of Horror Writers of America, and her article appeared on the Los Angeles chapter's website.

Another horror writer and fellow HWA member Brian Keene did not find Lisa's piece amusing and wrote a rebuttal.

Here's my two cents: I don't know either Lisa or Brian. In fact, I never heard of Lisa until I read Brian's piece, and I've been following Brian's blog for several years now. I can see what she attempted. I can see why he felt dissed by this list. I'd like to point out at no time did Brian attack Lisa personally.

And then like the whole Sue Grafton thing last year, the stupid situation went viral. You know it's bad when Neil Gaiman is making fun of the list.

Forbes contributor Suw Charman-Anderson wrote a thoughtful piece on the issues raised by Lisa's article, asking the real question of what makes a writer a "professional."

Some bloggers, such as Marie-Claude Bourque at Musetracks, have tried to start a serious discussion on the matter. And that's when the trolls came out, spewing the usual crap that self-published writers are not professional because they haven't been vetted.

Here's the thing: the publishing industry AS A WHOLE is totally UNREGULATED. Other than common law contract issues, we can do what we want because guess what? WE MAKE UP SHIT FOR A LIVING!

Anyone can start a publishing company. Anyone can be an agent. Anyone can write.

Do you really want to see stuff censored by a self-regulating industry? I sure as hell don't. It would stifle creativity.

Is there stuff out there that I despise? The Saw movies come to mind. And all the Harlequin Presents books.

Do I have a right to stop someone else seeing, reading or writing this kind of stuff? Only my underage son, and frankly, once he's eighteen, he can watch, read or write whatever he wants.

The other side of the coin is that if you as a writer are not producing things people want to read, you're probably not going to sell jack shit. You can make all the nasty comments about E.L. James and Fifty Shades of Gray you want, but at the end of the day, people read and liked those books.

Just because something isn't your taste, or someone does something in a different way that you would have, does not make them wrong.

As if that weren't enough, here's how Merriam-Webster defines "professional":

1:

a : of, relating to, or characteristic of a profession

b : engaged in one of the learned professions

c (1) : characterized by or conforming to the technical or ethical standards of a profession (2) : exhibiting a courteous, conscientious, and generally businesslike manner in the workplace

2:

a : participating for gain or livelihood in an activity or field of endeavor often engaged in by amateurs

b : having a particular profession as a permanent career

c : engaged in by persons receiving financial return

3: following a line of conduct as though it were a profession

According to one of the most noted dictionaries of the English language, I am a professional. For the rest that don't agree with that, well, I hope you have fun with your hobby.

Why Indies Taking over the World Is Not a Fad

There's been a lot of panic in the publishing world over the last few days thanks to Bowker's report that self-published authors now hold 12% of the total e-book market and 20% of certain popular genres, such as romance.

"Don't look, Ethel!"

I'm under no illusion that the e-book market is a miniscule percentage of the total publishing market. I also know that Bowker can only report on books that have ISBNs and that most indie writers don't bother with ISBNs on their e-books. (I'm one of those writers that bought ISBNs back in the day when it was the only way to get books into certain e-tailers like Apple. And dammit, since I bought them, I'm going to use them!) So deep down, most industry professionals realize the total indie numbers are much greater than what Bowker is reporting. We simply don't know by how much.

"Boogity! Boogity!"

Bowker's report and the trad industry's subconsciously acknowledged indie growth has prompted a spate of elitist diabtribes on the web, the worst of which I will not link to because of the author's obvious attempt at troll-baiting. The one person who surprised me was trad publishing guru Mike Shatzkin. Granted, his back-handed compliment regarding Anybody Press as the newest member of the Six Horsemen was probably the nicest thing he's ever said about indies. The rest of the article turned into an advertisement of his upcoming seminar on how to fight our growing market threat.

"It was too late. She'd been done incensed."

Except I don't think the trad pubs know what they're really fighting. Indies offer a wider range of selection at a lower price than they do. A lot of writers are now making a living wage as indies compared to the paltry advances and royalties offered by the trad pubs. On top of everything else are the draconian clauses and shitty treatment aimed at writers by what are essentially middle-men(women). The trad pubs really don't understand why experienced writers are leaving in droves.

"She done got a free shot!"

I'm not one of those writers who believes print will go away. Hell, Target is selling LP's again. Granted, as a specialty item, but it was weird seeing the cover of The Dark Side of the Moon again. What I'm saying is down the road, print will be the specialty collector's item that an LP is now. Right now though, publishers haven't hit that stage, and they still need source material. They think they can rest on their ability to distribute to bookstores.

"Get you clothes on!"

But what bookstores are they distributing to? Borders is officially gone. Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million are barely hanging on and have been closing stores as leases end. Costco, Target and Wal-Mart only care if the books are the NYT's top twenty. Indie bookstores are slowly making a comeback, but the owners are much more selective in their inventory, pleasing their customers rather than shoving the latest Grisham down every person's throat.

"He likes to turn the other cheek."

So what happens next? Who knows. But even the trad publishing people are seeing the writing on the walls. Indie publishing is not going away. What each side morphs into over the next couple of years is the real question.

And for your viewing pleasure (and the source of my quotes), here's Ray Stevens:

Slut Shaming in the Publishing Industry

Slut shaming (def.) - "the act of making a woman feel guilty or inferior for engaging in certain sexual behaviors that deviate from traditional or orthodox gender expectations, dressing in sexually provocative ways, for requiring access to birth control, or even for being raped or sexually assaulted"

There's a new tactic among traditionally published authors aimed at indie writers. It's the equivalent of slut shaming, and it's appearing with disturbing regularity in articles online. The disturbing part is how TP authors are even using sexually loaded language to describe indie behaviors they deem unacceptable.

The purpose within the publishing industry is the same within the social-sexual context--to make indie writers feel inferior for *gasp* daring to take control of their careers.

In all fairness, both of these articles appeared in The Guardian, a UK online newspaper known for its, um, provocative stance on subjects. Normally, I would take The Guardian with the proverbial pound of salt. However, in each woman's case, this is a direct quote, not an editorial insertion into the article.

In the first article, Chrissie Manby refers to herself "as a self-publishing virgin." In the second, NYT Bestselling author Audrey Niffenegger was quoted as saying "what I was doing was preserving my ebook virginity" in reference to releasing The Time Traveler's Wife through her agent's publishing company.

What bothers me is the "virginity" concept both women seem to embrace in regards to e-books.  It's both laughable and highly disturbing. Apparently to these authors, a female writer's worth is only measured in the value her e-book brings to male editors and publishers.

That concept totally destroys the self-sufficiency which is at the heart of indie publishing. That I and every other indie writer can manage our freelancers and produce a worthwhile product is something that should be shamed appalls me.

Frankly, it goes back to one of the reasons I left a national writing organization recently. I WILL NOT be patted on the head and told not worry about that silly, messy business that I CANNOT POSSIBLY understand. For the love of Murphy, I ran my own law firm. I think I can handle hiring editors, formatters and cover artists as necessary to keep my publishing business going.

And guess what, Chrissie and Audrey? Angry Sheep Publishing was in the black within eighteen months of its existence.

You ladies have every right to choose the path you wish for your career.

But you're not going to shame me into giving up my power just because you did.

There's Explosions, Then There's Alternate Realities

After my news yesterday about "Justice" being selected for Sword and Sorceress XXVIII, I spoke on the phone with Friend #1 who is trade published. There was the obligatory "Congratulations" (after I explained who the fuck Marion Zimmer Bradley was). Then she popped out, "You'll have to do a book signing."

WTF?

"I don't think so-" I started, but she burbled on with, "I can help you with arrangements. There's a couple of stores I've worked with. Oh, and maybe someone from New York will read it, and you'll get an offer from a big publisher."

nuqjatlh? (Which, by the way, is Klingon for WTF.) "I really don't want-"

"Or at least an agent! Think of what an agent could do for your career!"

"Why?"

 "What do you mean?"

"Why would I want an agent if I can make my own sales?"

There were some strange choking sounds before the portal between our worlds closed.

Later, I relayed the conversation to DH. He asked if I'd told Friend #2 about the sale yet.

"Are you kidding? No, I'm not going to tell her!"

"Why not?"

"I don't feel up to dealing with her screaming at me about how I'm a sell-out, how I'm being taken advantage of, blah, blah, blah. The usual indie rhetoric." I sighed. "They're both nucking futz."

Maybe that's the saddest thing about our strange new world. Everyone is so sure they are right; they cannot conceive of a world in between theirs and the alleged enemy.

The More Things Change, The More People Scream

What a week! The anxiety levels are rising again as the latest numbers come out, and e-books have taken over a significant chunk of the market. The range of responses has been amazing.

The funniest "news" was James Patterson's full-page ad in the New York Times, asking for government bail-outs for traditional publishers. Seriously? At a time when the Big 5 and 1/2 are making record profits?

The most misunderstood was Neil Gaiman's keynote address at the 2013 London Book Fair. In his speech, Neil freely admits that things are changing, no one (including him) knows how things will shake out, and now is the time for folks to experiment. Industry pundits are pissed because they sure as hell don't want to embrace the change. Writers are pissed because Neil's already made his millions.

Neil's comments on the backlash can be read on his blog. I suggest you listen to his speech and judge for yourself.




And the establishment's attitudes were not helped by this week's NYT Bestseller List. Yep, that right. Three of the top five are indie writers.

Things are changing, and this bickering is so 2011. Get over it.

The Famous Writer Facepalm

I'm getting really tired of the anti-indie sentiment floating around the internet. It's almost as bad as the anti-Amazon crap, but then according to Scott Turow, I'm too fucking stupid to understand that I need agents and publishers to ensure the quality of my manuscripts.

Really? If so, why am I getting daily messages from readers wondering where the hell my next book is?

Scott had an op-ed piece in last Sunday's New York Times entitled "The Slow Death of the American Author." In it, Scott accuses the U.S. Supreme Court, Amazon, Google, libraries, and pirates for the diminishing monetary returns of authors.

I won't get into all the factual inaccuracies in Scott's opinion piece. Suffice to say, many others pointed out the problems in more detail than I could hope to. Though if you want an entertaining read, Barry Eisler's commentary is the funniest.

First of all, anyone who can blame pirates and libraries in the same breath isn't inhaling the same atmosphere I am.

Second of all, what slow death? I'm doing just fine. (Just got my Apple numbers for March. Still ahead of Amazon sales. B&N still beating everyone. Go figure.)

But the thing is Scott's not talking about the death of authors. He's concerned about the slow death of the Big Six.

The really big problem that has the writers up in arms is Scott's position as the president of Authors Guild, a group that supposed to be on the side of writers. Or so we thought.

In some of the brouhahas lately like the RH Hydra fiasco or the Nightshade spiral toward bankruptcy, Authors Guild has not said one word. Not one. Other organizations, such the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, have. But not one word out of Scott on behalf of Authors Guild.

For those who think other writers are picking on Scott Turow, well, I think they have every reason to question where his loyalties lie when the shit hits the fan and authors get taken for a ride by publishers.

Because of the massive upheavals in the publishing industry, I'm not inclined to join another writers' association. Or even rejoin one.

You see, I quit the Romance Writers of America. Or that's what I was accused of in a private e-mail last year. As I pointed out to this person, I didn't quit. I simply didn't bother to renew my membership.

It's nothing against RWA. If you're a beginning writer, I highly recommend joining RWA. For the money, their craft classes outstrip any MFA program in the nation. I may rejoin down the road. We'll see what happens through the rest of this year.

But when it comes to the business side of your publishing career, look to your right. See those blogs I have links to? Those are the people who have a clue about business. Read them.

Or not. It's your choice.

But whatever you do, don't listen to Scott Turow.

[Edit to add: Stonekettle Station isn't exactly a writers' blog, but Ret. Navy Chief Warrant Officer Jim Wright is funny as hell. His style of social commentary reminds me of Mark Twain. Don't read it if you're easily offended.]