The Way In: Where to publish?

Publishing has never been easy. First, there’s writing the beast, be it a poem or a story or an essay or an entire book. A large accomplishment, pouring yourself onto the page. Let’s not lose sight of that.

From there, it used to be that f you wanted readers, you had to find a way into publishing. You might submit to a journal. Query an agent or editor. Work your way through the gates. The odds were small, but writers are a persistent bunch.

With the right combination of craft and talent and luck and possibly connections and definitely perseverance, you were in. You were golden.

Well, okay. It was a start. As any published author will tell you, all sorts of struggles and frustrations are visited on authors after a book is accepted for publication. The advance is too small, which means the publisher likely does little to promote the book. Or the advance is too large, which means the author’s chances of earning out (and getting a decent offer on the next book) are slim. The books aren’t in stores. Or they’re in stores, but not face out, because the publisher hadn’t bought co-op space. The book doesn’t get reviewed. Or it gets reviewed, but the reviews aren’t starred, or glowing, even. The editor leaves the press. The agent turns her interest from the now-midlist author to the hot new talent.

And so on.

For the most part, these difficulties are as troublesome today as they were sixteen years ago, when I started publishing—maybe even more so, as the market shifts and tightens. But now there are options.

Last summer, I met up with bestselling author Dana Stabenow at La Baleine, a little café on Alaska’s Homer Spit, owned by another writer, Kirsten Dixon. I’d read in the paper that through sales of independently published reprints of titles that had previously gone out of print, Dana had earned enough to pay off her mortgage. That’s right: after an agent and thirty books in print and time on the New York Times bestseller list, Dana was reaching more readers on her own, without going through a traditional publisher.

Ever since the first rumblings about the digital revolution in publishing, I’d been telling myself I needed to get my two out-of-print (OP) books back into print. When I met with Dana, I’d finally gotten to one of them—it had been out for precisely ten days. But already I was excited. The process had been easier than I’d expected. There were nice reviews from readers. I could track in real-time how the book was faring, an impossibility with traditional publishing, owing to a complicated system of distribution.

“We have to let authors know,” Dana said. “There’s another way. They have options.”

We came up with the idea for a workshop: “The Pressure is Off: Independent Publishing Options for Writers,” so titled because with the advent of digital publishing and print on demand, the pressure is now off for writers to be traditionally published and to strive for bestseller/blockbuster status.

These days, you can make a good living—maybe even a better living—as a writer who publishes independently. But is it for you? How does a writer decide whether to go the traditional route or strike out on her own? It’s a lot to sort through. In your search for answers, what you find are cheerleaders, authors firmly in one camp or the other.

I should know. If eighteen months ago, you’d told me I’d be leading a workshop on independent publishing options for writers, I’d have laughed you right out the door. I’d been lucky enough to get through the gates, to have not just one book but several published in the traditional way. Self-publishing—well, that was for people who couldn’t get published any other way.

Authors like Dana Stabenow changed the way I think about getting books to readers. One way of publishing is not part and parcel better than the other. Authors need to know their options—not in the form of cheerleading for one camp or the other, but through a reasoned and thorough understanding of what to expect from their adventures in publishing.

Dana will open our workshop with an informal discussion of today’s publishing options. I’ll follow up with resources and strategies for deciding whether independent publishing is the right way in for you. Among the topics we’ll cover: assessment of your goals and expectations; project readiness; digital and print production, distribution, and marketing; budgeting time and money; balancing art and business; and sustaining momentum. You’ll leave knowing whether independent publishing is right for your book, and if it is, you’ll know the basics of how to make it happen.

In the spirit of the workshop, I’m also in the process of assembling a comprehensive guide to publishing, tentatively titled What Every Author Should Know, No Matter How or Where You Publish, to be released later this year. Where to publish is a big decision, and every author needs the facts to make an informed choice.

High Concept: What Agents and Readers Want

If you’ve spent any time at all researching agents, publishers, and submissions guidelines, you’ve no doubt encountered one phrase that appears more than most: high concept.

What does it mean, exactly?

Let’s start with an example that I recently came across in, of all places, the thirty-second thumb-through I give the Costco magazine before I toss it in the trash.

The featured book was Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being. According to the article, this novel has “resonated with readers worldwide.” It has also been nominated for one of the biggest literary prizes around, the Man Booker.

Ozeki had completed the fifth draft of this book and was getting ready to send it to her publisher when the 2011 tsunami hit Japan. Perhaps because her father is Japanese, her emotional response to the tsunami was so great that she decided to rewrite the novel yet again. In the new version, the one that not only made it into print but found both readership and acclaim, the sixteen-year-old protagonist decides to end her own life as soon as she finishes documenting the life of her great-grandmother, a Buddhist nun. In the tsunami, the girl’s journal is swept away. It washes up on the coast of British Columbia, where it is discovered by a woman who becomes a second protagonist, drawn by the tale told in the journal, and concerned about the girl’s threatened suicide.

That’s high concept. Whether you care about suicidal sixteen-year-olds or Buddhist nuns or Japan is irrelevant. The set-up is irresistible: strangers drawn together by circumstance, the proverbial message in a bottle, evocative settings. You care even before you crack the cover. There’s much at stake, both overtly and lurking within the set-up.

You’re hooked.

Here, a few thoughts about the “high concept” premise, to apply to your work:

·         High concept goes beyond a unique topic or situation. Alien armadillos who fight gladiator style on top of skyscrapers—that’s unique, but it’s only high concept if the set-up makes us care about what happens and if readers can sense the story potential in complexities they feel compelled to explore. The premise need not be complicated, but the possibilities should be.

·         Let concepts evolve. (For more on this, see my post on first thoughts.) Be open. Of your premise, ask what else, and what else, and what else.

·         There’s much to be said for a concept that can be articulated in a sentence or two. A publisher’s salesperson or a reader recommending a book to a friend doesn’t have all day to explain. Early in the drafting stage, after I have a strong feel for how my book will unfold, I like to also draft some flap copy—a sentence or two that would entice a reader to buy or borrow my book. I do this for both fiction and non-fiction projects. If this flap copy isn’t irresistible, the concept likely needs to evolve.

·         Books come from where they will. You can’t force or impose a high concept. And keep in mind that, important as it may be, concept alone won’t make a book worthy. Without masterful development, a concept is only a concept.

·         Despite all that’s said here (and elsewhere), not everything you write will be—or needs to be—high concept. Alternative markets and readerships welcome other types of writing.

Covers: We Need Your Help!

I'm excited to be working with author David Marusek on an “Alaska Sampler” aimed at expanding reader interest in Alaska-inspired books. The Sampler is an e-book collection of quality work by Alaska authors that we'll give away for free through Kobo and other online vendors. Included will be work from several fine Alaska authors: short stories, essays, excerpts from novels. The idea is to bundle Alaska-themed selections for readers to sample cost-free. 

I can’t wait to announce our author line-up—it’s awesome—but first, we need your help choosing a cover.

David came up with these two cover designs. I like them both. Which do you think is the best fit for this project? Which would convince you to click for a free download?

Ready to Publish: The Galleys

From its earliest beginnings—voice, character, concept, scene—your book has grown into itself, from crappy first draft through revisions (lots of them) guided by astute readers and editors who understand what it takes for your book to stand out from the thousands that hit the market daily.

Of course, you’ve proofread. If you’re not a for-hire proofreader yourself, you’ve contracted with a professional proofreader, one who’s good—really good. (Subject for an upcoming post: I’ve noticed of late a rash of author services “professionals” who make basic mistakes in punctuation and grammar in high-traffic spots like their bios and email signatures.)

You place your manuscript, either through an agent or with a small press or with the smallest of small presses, which is to say yourself. Additional rounds of edits and proofing will follow. You’ll play a part in each.

The final round involves galleys, or proofs, which may also be ARCs (pronounced “arks"), which stands for Advance Reading Copies. If your book will be released in both print and digital formats, you should have galleys for both. Print galleys go to reviewers no less than five months in advance of the release date. The authors who’ve offered to endorse (“blurb”) your book will get galleys, too, ideally in whichever format they request.

The galleys also go to you as the author, for final proofing. If you’re under contract with a publisher other than yourself, there will generally be a cease-and-desist clause that limits what you can change at this point. Common language reads like this: “With the exception of errors of spelling, errors of printing, or errors introduced subsequent to the previously edited proof by someone other than yourself, you agree to pay the cost of all alterations to the page proof made by you that are in excess of ten percent of the original cost of composition.”

If you’re indie publishing, of course, you can change as much as you like. But at some point you have to call “uncle” and say you’re done.

The galley stage can be exciting. It’s your last dance with your manuscript before it waltzes into the world. Yes, if you’re both publisher and author, you can make changes after you press “publish.” But if you’ve rushed and pushed out something sloppy, with formatting and other errors, you’ll have earned nothing more than a spot on someone’s “No Read” list, and it’s hard to undo that kind of damage.

The galley stage can also be tedious. You’ve read your book more times than you care to count. And even after all of that (or maybe because of it), you feel a little blind to its flaws. Insecurity creeps in.

This week I’ve been going through the galleys for Cold Spell, a literary novel (for grownups, I always add, since I’ve also written for children). Here, tips for authors when they reach this part of the journey:

·         Though you feel over-familiar with the book, stay alert. No matter how many others have worked to spot them, errors still creep in. Only when proofing for the fourth printing of one of my novels did I notice the phrases “insulted coveralls.” I’m not sure how they became offended, but my character would have done better with coveralls that kept him warm.

·         As a writer, you’re always growing, yes? And you’re already thinking about (and with any luck, drafting) your next book? Then use your galley proofing as a chance to look objectively at your (almost) finished book, as a reader would, with the idea of crafting an even better one the next time around. Note which parts sing. You’ll want to do more of that. Observe your characters. What are there longings? Their struggles? Their conflicts? Their complexities? How does the reader discern all of that? What will keep your readers turning the pages?

·         In a similar way, I consider as I go through the galleys the changes I made based on input from early readers, both to remind myself of how helpful their comments were, and also to remind myself what I didn’t change and why. This sort of thinking—educators call it metacognition—helps strengthen your writing, and it improves your ability to see your work from multiple perspectives.

·         As I go through the galleys, I also think about outtakes—why I removed material, and what, if anything, I might do with it in the future. In revising Cold Spell, I took out several chapters written from the point of view of an older woman. She’s an intriguing character who might appear in other books. One or two of the chapters might be transformed into short stories. 

Market Your Book: Working with Booksellers

I’ve written before about finding the right home for each book, and how sometimes a small press makes more sense for a particular project than a big one.

The same follow for distribution. Amazon is the Big Boy of connecting readers and books. But in all the buzz over algorithms and bots and rankings, let’s not forget the importance of independent bookshops, where actual human contact and word-of-mouth work quietly and effectively to connect readers with books they’ll love.

Don’t be that author who shows up with a bunch of books printed on CreateSpace and expects a bookseller to host a signing or take titles on consignment. That’s like showing up at a family-run restaurant with your bag of McDonald’s takeout and demanding a table where you can eat your French fries for free.

To build relationships with independent booksellers, you’ll need to make your books available through vendors other than Amazon. For e-books, that means foregoing KDP Select, or foregoing the program after a 90-day run or two, and uploading your book to https://www.kobo.com/writinglife.

In the same vein, you’ll want to have softcover (or hardcover) editions available from sources besides Amazon’s CreateSpace. Ingram’s Spark (for authors) and Lightning Source (for small presses) are affordable print-on-demand options if you’ve chosen not to warehouse a large inventory of your books. You’ll need an ISBN; these can be bought in batches from Bowker.

For the “tree book” editions, you’ll want to upload bibliographic information to IndieBound, which is maintained by the American Booksellers Association (ABA). My thanks to my fine local bookseller David Cheezum of Fireside Books for providing these instructions for authors:

1) Log in to IndieBound.org using your personal account.  If you don't have an account on IndieBound.org, create one at http://www.indiebound.org/join

2) Search for the 13 Digit ISBN (no spaces or hyphens) of the book to see:

        If it’s already listed in the database (go to 3c)
        if it needs to be added (go to 3a)
        if it's just missing a cover (3b)

3a) For missing books, go to: www.indiebound.org/addabook
3b) For missing cover art, navigate to: www.indiebound.org/addabook/cover
3c) To edit a book description, go to: www.indiebound.org/addabook/ISBN 

4) Enter your data, attach an image, and submit

5) Allow time for approval by someone at ABA.  You will receive an email when your image is approved.  Once approved, it can take up to 24 hours for your book cover to appear in search results and on IndieBound.org.

Once you’ve created indie access for your titles, be sure to link to Indiebound as well as Amazon from your website, newsletters, etc. You can even become an Indiebound Affiliate and receive a referral percentage from the sales generated by your links.

Now you’re ready to connect with indie booksellers in a way that builds positive, long-lasting relationships. 

A Writer’s Income: A Hard Look at the Facts

Source: Hugh Howey, "The 7K Report," authorearnings.com

Recently, I read an Associated Press story about how changes in health care laws have given workers a new sense of freedom, a way out of jobs they’ve stuck with primarily because they feared losing insurance benefits.

Two American workers were held up as examples of this phenomenon. Both plan to leave their day jobs in order to write. One is a 50-year-old IT guy who has spent his free time on a team that’s scripting a start-up web-based comedy series. The other is a 62-year-old nurse who, after quitting her job, plans to move to the West Coast and promote her self-published book by blogging, doing radio interviews, and speaking to groups.

Both writers are pleased that they’ll be able to replace the health insurance provided by their employers with plans priced at $400 to $650 per month. And I agree that’s a good thing. Where I worry is that they may be misinformed about the income they’ll earn as full-time writers.

Let me say first off that I’m all about pursuing your passions. One of the nicest things my son ever said to me was how much he admired me for doing what I truly love­­—making writing my career—even though I could make a lot more money doing something I truly hate.

Still,  no one wants their dream to turn to a nightmare. And one of the fastest ways for that to happen is to count on your dream for paying the bills, only to find that it can’t and it won’t.

After my first novel came out from a big publisher, my editor gave me this advice: Don’t quit your day job. She didn’t mean this as a reflection on my work—the book was doing fine—but rather as a cautionary note. At the time, the average author was making $5000 a year.

I was only a year from retiring; my hope was that I could live on my pension (an admittedly sweet deal that allowed me to retire after twenty years of teaching with full benefits, including medical coverage) and fulfill my dream of writing books. But a couple of royalty statements convinced me that my editor was right: It’s not easy to make a living off book sales.

When there’s a large gap between the life you’re living and the creative passion you hope to fulfill, it’s easy to get caught up in “if onlies.” If only I didn’t have this job, I could write a blog. Do radio interviews. Speak to groups. If only I did those things, which everyone says writers must do to sell books, I’d see a dramatic increase in sales, enough that I could live off the proceeds.

No.

It really doesn’t happen like that.

Live your dream. Live your passion. But if that’s writing books, realize that very few published authors earn a living wage from the proceeds of book sales alone. I’ve never seen a statistic, but given the number of published authors (rising by the minute) and the challenges inherent in both kinds of publishing, indie and traditional, I’d ballpark it at maybe 2 percent.

Passion is among the very best reasons for writing books. But rarely do passion and profit intersect as fully as we wish. Most authors, regardless of how they’re published, either keep their day jobs or supplement their income from book sales with freelancing, pensions, investments, and the link.

At the risk of coming off as a dream-killer, I offer these considerations before you quit your day job:

·         Study the facts. Don’t Google “writer salaries”—what you’ll find are the easiest of writer salaries to report, those whose day jobs (technical writers, grant writers, journalists on payroll) involve writing. Instead, check out Hugh Howey’s recent author earnings report; the Guardian’s 2012 report on the earnings of “DIY” authors; NYT bestselling author Lynn Viehl’sreport on income from her book sales; and Chad Harbach’s recent book MFA vs. NYC—particularly the essays that describe how quickly authors burn through their six-figure advances. Among the interesting stats: only 800 authors earn $10,000 per year on the sales of their genre Kindle titles; half of self-published authors earn less than $500 from sales of their books; proceeds from sales from an NYT bestseller will nudge your family income above poverty level, but not by much.

·         Beware the echo chambers where writers talk up how they saw jumps in sales figures from doing this, that, and the other thing. It’s true that regardless of how you publish, you’ll have to work to promote your books. But promotion will not necessarily yield a significant, sustainable jump in sales. Promotion is mostly about the long haul, the slow building of your fan base and brand. To think that extra time for promotion will launch your slow-moving self-published title into the sort of sales that will allow you to quit your day job isn’t all that different from planning your retirement around winning a lottery—it could happen, but it’s not likely.

·         Recognize that few authors live on the proceeds from book sales alone. Most of us freelance, teach, do paid events, and the like in order to make ends meet. To live our dream, a lot of us forsake what was standard fare from our paycheck days: eating out, shopping, travel. I know published authors who choose to be homeless and who live without running water so they can afford to write.

·         Create a viable business plan based on conservative sales estimates. Consider the underlying economic principle of supply and demand. An estimated three thousand new books are published every day in the US. With e-publishing, few if any will ever go out of print. Awash in choices, what exactly will compel readers to buy your book from among the thousands and thousands of truly fine books flooding the market? Yours is brilliant. Unique. Okay. But a more brilliant, more unique title may well come out. Then what? Make sure you’re ready to launch your Plan B if sales don’t spool out as you’d hoped.

·         Delightful though it may be (there’s no work I prefer to writing), authoring is a tough way to make a living. And that’s if, like most authors, you’ll spin out several books in your lifetime. For a single book to be your ticket to financial freedom is extremely unlikely.

·         More time ≠ more productivity ≠ more sales—not in the direct proportions you’d expect, anyhow. Ask any author who has quit her day job to write.

Spring brings a Fresh Look (and a free book!)

Hurrah!

The first day of spring. Here on Alaska's Hiland Mountain, it dawned with sunshine and fresh snow and a fine view of Mount McKinley.

With change in the air, there's no better time to unveil a fresh cover, or to offer this novel at no cost to all takers, in the Kindle edition.

That's right - to celebrate the changing of the seasons, we're offering A Distant Enemy free of charge, today and tomorrow, March 20 and 21.

About the book: In this remote corner of Alaska, survival’s no game. On the vast, wind-blown tundra, a simple mistake can mean death. But as the old ways slip away, anger pushes fourteen-year-old Joseph into a series of confrontations that pit him against an unforgiving wilderness.

“A gripping story” ~ Kirkus Reviews

Come have a read...it's on us!