Fleecing the Flock

There has been much ado about nothing regarding Amazon's new KDP select program. Some authors/publishers/etc. have cried foul, saying Amazon's practices are tantamount to a monopoly.

Pu-lease. They're asking for a minimum of 90 days exclusivity for a few promotional benefits. Don't like it? Don't sign up. I don't know that I've ever signed a short story contract for less than 90 days exclusivity, and several of those were for token-paying markets.

But--and here's the fleecing--Kindle Nation Daily is offering a "Free Book Highlighing" Service to "Help Indie Authors Get the Word Out About New Free Book Listings!"

You see, KDP will now allow an author to list his/her book for free for up to five days within the 90 day period. For the low (cough, cough) cost of $25.99 a day, Kindle Nation Daily will highlight the book for you.  Go on. Read the fine print. 

I know how I feel about this. Your thoughts?

Some Thoughts on Going Solo (and Why I Did)

The decision to go "indie" or self-publish did not come easily.

I'm a gut guy most of the time, going with feeling rather than logic (even though I tend to score higher on analytic items on standardized tests--go figure). Sometimes my gut leads me in the wrong direction. Sometimes I make mistakes.

I wrestled with going solo for quite a while. I tried to play the game, querying for three novels before punting. I sold well over one hundred stories to paying markets (token to pro) and gave a number away as well. Close to one thousand rejections have come my way. I wrote Loathsome, Dark and Deep specifically with the small press in mind, and thankfully, Belfire Press published it.

I never planned to self-publish. I'm glad I started writing five years ago--self-publishing was cost prohibitive then and not a viable business model. I believed all the negative hype because most of it was true. If I would have self-published at first, I wouldn't have had any drive to be a better writer. Rejection is your friend, folks. Really.

Things change. E-books happened. My craft improved. The system failed me (i.e., disillusionment happened).

But being a gut guy, I worried. I worried about what some of my writing colleagues might think. I worried about them more than readers because, to be perfectly honest, most readers just want a good story. I hope I can supply that more often than not. I'm sure I've alienated some of my writer buddies (or at least have given them pause) by choosing this path.

But it is the right path. For now.

Here's why I ultimately decided to go "indie" (a moniker I don't wave like a battle-flag as some do--I'm a writer first):

The first two reasons could fall under the sub-heading How I've been treated by agents:

I know it's bad form to snark about agents. I don't care. Unrepresented authors need to stop being afraid and demand humane treatment. These are not our overseers, folks. Too much power corrupts. 

1. Once upon a time an agent showed interest in one of my books. Said agent suggested he/she would call and talk about some revisions. I played hooky on the prescribed day, calling in sick and hanging out around the house, waiting for the call which never happened. Later that evening, I received an email: sorry, I was having drinks with so-and-so. Clean up your book and send it in again.

Yeah. Right. I guess I was the naive one. 

2. Once upon a time I sent a query for a book. Six months passed. I sold the book to a small press. The agent I queried half a year ago asked to see a full. I told him/her the book was no longer available. The reply: "bad form, man".  No--bad form was making me wait six months without reply. At that point, I assume rejection. Time is the most precious commodity, and six months is a long time.

3. Running a small press (the now semi-defunct Strange Publications) taught me that most modern small presses were just folks doing the same thing I was: using desktop publishing technology to churn out books via on-demand printing. I learned all about layout and book design. I know I can do it better than some of the crap I've seen from so-called "small presses".  Some are top notch outfits with solid followings (Permuted Press and Belfire are both prime examples); many are hucksters and glorified vanity presses.

4. Self-publishing has moved beyond a vanity affair to a viable business solution. The up-front costs are not prohibitive (and really nothing but time and effort if you e-publish and are willing to do the work yourself). Authors are making money.  I know some want to claim making money isn't important, but I'm not going to lie. If I wasn't making any money writing, I'd have to quit and find a new part time job. That is the reality of my economic situation and the pending birth of our third child. Time is the most precious commodity--and you can't just print more.

That's my story, more or less.

I'm not perfect. I'll continue making mistakes. I'll continue writing.I will work harder.

Have a good one.

Reasonable Book Promotion

I received an interesting piece of mail the other day. An author (who will remain nameless) sent a glossy, two-sided postcard, a glossy 5x7 photograph (signed, no less), a business card, and a "special extra" item related to his/her forthcoming book. A small press (with which I am unfamiliar) is releasing the book.

I was unfamiliar with the author or book before receiving the mailing.

I'm not going to buy it.

Yes, you have to promote your work for people to discover it. Of course. But take this anonymous author's work for example. The glossy, two-sided postcards aren't cheap. Add the photo, business card (glossy and full color), and the bonus item--not to mention the first class postage and envelope... Well, there was probably a good dollar's worth of stuff in that envelope (and that doesn't include the stamp).

Reasonable promotion? Not hardly--I don't know what anonymous author's percentage is, but considering a mass mailing will not have a very high success rate, I can't imagine it paying off.

Promotion should pay off. Writing is a business. Business is about making profit. If expenditures outstrip income, well... Find another business. I mailed a bunch of bookmarks, press releases, and review copies of Loathsome, Dark and Deep when it was released. You know what? With my latest royalty check, I've almost paid for my "promotion". I think the review copies (I mailed about ten), netted three or four reviews. Not good business sense, but I've learned.

Too many self-styled Indie-writers focus too much energy on the promotion of their books. Yes, promotion is necessary, but not as necessary as a good book. Are you getting what you "pay" for in terms of book promotion? Remember, your time has value, too. Time spent promoting is time away from writing. Or hanging out with your family. Or some other worthwhile pastime.

So I'll mention two new releases of mine, collections of stories (reprints from the small press with a few new nuggets tossed in):

The twelve stories in These Darkened Streets play on the foggy boundary between horror and magical realism . You'll find shivers here, dear reader, and other, more thought-provoking flights of imagination all set in small towns with dark, quiet streets...


A Feast of Flesh: Tales of undead fiends, bloodthirsty monsters, and hideous nightmare-ghouls waiting to rend and tear human flesh...

I'll mention them, but for now, that's about all. I have more stories to write.

Have a lovely day.

The Big Experiment: Jekyll and Hyde

I've been feeling a little like a man split in two lately. More soon...

Thanks, dear readers for all the feedback on the cover. Have a fabulous weekend.

This Post is About Writing

I've resurrected "The Write Addiction" and will post five prompts a week.

Today's writing prompt (a non-traditional one): Make a list of food the world's heaviest person might eat in a day.

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A little announcement about the Big Experiment. I've decided to donate 10% of each month's sales (right now, that amounts to about 3 cents--woo-hoo!) over the next year to a charitable organization. I've also decided to let my blog readers vote each month on the charity which receives the cash. If I win, so does someone else. Due to JA Konrath's latest plea to let the experiment take its course, I'll be running the big experiment for the next year. At least. Some may not believe in the Church of Konrath; I'm not sure if I do, but he is one of the lead advocates for self-publishing. The experiment is about his sermons as much as anything.

_____

I have something special to share (and it's about writing), but I figured it needs its own post. Hint: it's about someone else. Three someone elses, in fact.

I've Got This Devil on My Shoulder...and It's Talking About the Kindle

...or maybe I have too much Rain Man playing in my head. (Three of my classes watched the first half today...a little comparison/contrast thing I do with Of Mice and Men).

Today at JA Konrath's blog, A Newbie's Guide to Publishing, he interviews Karen McQuestion, a self-pubbed Kindle author with some serious sales numbers. Go ahead. Read the article. Be wowed.

I am. I tossed up The Bottom Feeders and Other Stories a few weeks ago, knowing short story collections are a hard sell in the real world, let alone via ebook. Thanks to you lovely blog-reader people, I've sold a few copies. Nothing to write home about.

It was an experiment. Still is.

And now I'm prepping another one. There are so many ways to fail as a writer, I might as well try them all, eh? With The House Eaters forthcoming from Virtual Tales and Loathsome, Dark, and Deep on sub with a publisher with whom I'd really like to work, I still have one decent novel floating around in a drawer. One I haven't really worked to hard too sell. (we won't mention the unmentionable books hiding in the darkest reaches of a hard drive)

Stay tuned...or not.

If You Build It, They Won't Come

...or Self-Publishing in the Era of Self-Publishing Part 2

Thanks to Michael Stone for pointing me to Brian Keene's post of January 4th. (I can't seem to read Keene's blog at school...something about "adult language" filters it on our network...go figure.)

Keene starts the ball rolling nicely, and the comments (and there are a lot of them), are almost more insightful. The take home message (in my opinion): Brian Keene would sell a fair amount of self-pubbed books. I wouldn't. Not that I needed 125+ comments on Brian Keene's blog to tell me that.

Yeah, my Mom would buy a copy and that's all great. I'm sure some other folks would, too. Most people in my life wouldn't be able to tell the difference between self-pubbed and anything else, just like they don't know the difference between POD and traditional publishing. People who don't think about and discuss writing everyday...well, they don't think about this schtuff. Duh.

But I'd sell more self-published books now than I would have three years ago. Technology (web, POD, ebooks) allows me to have a voice, but no one has to listen. I have to give them a reason to listen. Keene has done that. Author's with name recognition have name recognition for a reason: consistent, professional performance. Building that audience doesn't happen overnight, and with the weird crap that I tend to write, my potential audience size is probably limited. I'm okay with that. If writing becomes just another job, I'll quit. The stories will make me quit because I won't be writing them. Not the right ones, anyway.

If my name is my brand (and as a writer, it is), I want readers to know what to expect. I want them to be happy they spent fifteen minutes in my head. Well, maybe not happy, but fulfilled in some way. Freaked out, maybe.

So will I self-pub a book of my work? Maybe. Someday. I think cost has to be correlated to name recognition, though. Little name = little price. Clear the path for potential buyers to take a chance on you. And for the newbie who hasn't, at the very least, made the rounds of the small press and semi-pro markets who thinks his/her short story collection/novel is going to the top at the low Amazon.com POD price of $16.95...good luck with that.

The New Gatekeepers? IndieReader.com

This story from GalleyCat gave me pause. Go ahead...read it. (Right click on the link and open in a new tab so I don't lose you, of course ;))

So basically, I self-publish and hope these folks (IndieReader.com) agree to let me pay them a yearly fee to list my self-published book on their site (plus they take a % of sales). The supposed benefit, I guess, is that their site would have more traffic than another website, giving said self-published book visibility. Because face it: a website without traffic is just digital doo-doo. I haven't even heard of IndieReader (not that I'm any kind of gatekeeper or 'net expert) but they launch um, like now.

I don't think so.

First of all, "gatekeepers-jeepers creepers". The fee is what they are after, plain and simple. The base cost is $149 (regardless of book #s), plus a $25 submission fee for each book after the first. I don't pay to submit, unless it's a contest. This gatekeeper crap is ridiculous. Maybe, just maybe the "gatekeeper" mentality is what has hindered traditional publishing? In the world of infinite variety (thank you, Interweb^TM), artists find their fans, making the quality of work the gatekeeper, not some third-party profit monger.

...and wait. Doesn't Amazon have more traffic than just about any other book-related site out there? (For better or worse--I know some peeps have issues with Amazon) Um, you can self-pub with them for next to nothing (how about a $3 proof?). Sure, you haven't been "gate-keepered", but well...you didn't shell out 150 bucks, either.

Shite like this makes me oh-so-mad. This is akin to those charlatans (masquerading as agents or publishers) that charge all sorts of fees to look at a manuscript. I'm not the first to take a shot at the cost of being an IndieReader author (look around your friendly neighborhood internet). Not that taking a % is a problem, but up-front fees certainly are. I think the business model is all kinds of jacked up.

But guess what? I bet they have truckloads of hopefuls sending in their books.

(shakes fist at ceiling)

(oh...and for the record: self-publishing wasn't invented with the 21st century)

Edited to add: This post (or non-post, as the post has been removed but the comments haven't) sums up a lot of my feelings. ;)

More goodness from Publisher's Weekly: It seems IndieReader.com is partnered with Blurb.com (a Lulu knock-off). The plot sickens me.