For the Writers: A Self-Pubber Goes to a Writer's Conference

The last time I went to a writer's conference, I traveled the traditional publication track, pitching my story in hopes of  finding an agent or editor.  I probably smelled of Twilight Woods body soap and desperation.

Then I self-published, experienced some nastiness and/or insensitivity from non-self-published writers, and decided I was going to gain some distance from the traditional publishing world. This included not going to writer's conferences, because a lot of the focus is on pitch appointments, so why bother, right?

Time passed, and I toughened up in regards to other's perceptions of self-publishing (and, I suppose, other's perceptions of how successful -or not- Finding Meara is.) The time for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer's Gold Conference came around, and it had some wonderful workshops listed, plus I could meet some of my online writer friends. I decided to go, and I'm really glad I did.

Two of the nicest people at the conference:
Jamie Raintree and Alyson Walker

I have never met so many nice writers in one place. In fact, getting to meet online writer-friends in person, and having them (especially Jamie Raintree) be so kind and welcoming was absolutely the best part of the conference. Everyone I sat next to or talked to were open and friendly. The atmosphere was relaxed and generally happy. There were other self-published authors there, but considering how many writers attended the conference, we were few in number.

There were workshops dedicated to self-publishing issues, but they were rudimentary and I chose instead to attend intermediate crafting workshops. I made good choices, because I learned something in all the workshops except one. I finally understand metaphor and theme, and how to use both thoughtfully to augment character arc. Now I get what subtext is, and wonder why it seemed like such a mystery. The exciting thing about understanding the concepts is that I can make planned decisions on how to use subtext, metaphor and theme to benefit what I'm writing, instead of writing and hoping it all comes out okay.

I learned how to develop a short story plot line, and how to incorporate a character arc. I really want to write a short story now, to see if I'll write them better. I need to finish the first draft, but I'm thinking while I'm letting draft one percolate, I'll try out a short story using Tavi or Quinn as the main character. Or maybe the Fairy King and Pixie Queen as a prequel to Book 2.

I finally got to meet Piper Bayard,
after following her on twitter!

One of the workshops taught us how to share better content online, supposedly in 30 minutes a day. Hopefully I'll get that organized soon, so I can start sharing some good stuff with you all!

Mark Coker from Smashwords was there, and it was truly a joy to hear him speak for self-publishing again. I went to several of his talks at the Pike's Peak Writer's Conference (the last one I went to), and got to sit by him at lunch one day. He's probably one of the reason's I decided to self-publish.

For the most part, people were non-judgmental. People's prejudices regarding their publishing preferences would show, but it wasn't bad enough that I felt like the black sheep of the writer family. One writer didn't know I'd self-published, and made a comment about "legitimately published" authors. There were awards given to people who had "successfully self-published a book" within the year. The presenter actually said something to the effect of "since anyone can publish a book, the requirement to receive this award is to be successful, and have written a good book that sells." Like there aren't so many other things that go into a self-published book selling. Maybe it sounds like I'm making excuses, but if you don't have visibility, not even the absolutely best self-published book will sell. I got the feeling they were kind of new to self-publishing. I used to have the same thoughts, after all.

What is it that makes us writers so judgmental? Even self-publishers have to create a hierarchy within self-published books. Instead of having agents and editors as gatekeepers, we erect our own gates. "My book sold XX and yours isn't selling, so that means my book is better than yours." Which may or may not be true.

That's why I liked hearing Mark Coker. He addressed in his speech the presenter's comment about

And I got to meet Heather Webb, too!

"successful self-published books." He noted how people say Smashwords lets anyone publish "crap" and how there's so much "crap" out there. (And he did it in a way that acknowledged the presenter's comment.) Then he said "I didn't want Smashwords to become a gatekeeper. I wanted to let people get their stories out to readers, and let readers decide for themselves what they want to read."

I left the conference both inspired and determined, and with new or closer friendships. I'm excited to write and I can't wait to use what I've learned in my stories. Each book I release will be better than the last, and because of that, I will be successful, without being measured by books sold or money made.

For the Writers: To Hell With Expectations

Ah, where to start? This is one of those posts that has been rattling in my head for a while-- about three weeks, at least--and ties in to the post It's Just Books.

I've been trying to sort out a lot since releasing Finding Meara and joining the race for writing success, and I'm finally to a point where I want to share another tidbit of my quest for sanity in the crazy business side of writing. I'm sharing this only because someone might relate to my feelings/thoughts. I'm not saying everyone has to feel this way or embrace my thinking. This post is about how I've changed to better cope with the highs and lows found in putting your work out there for public consumption.

Last week Sarah Callender wrote a wonderful, totally relatable post on Writer Unboxed called Becoming a Roses-Smeller. She talks about enjoying the writing journey instead of focusing on the end goal of writing success. What I especially appreciated about the post was this quote:

"The funny thing? I knew it would be tough to get published. As a no-name without fancy connections or credentials, I was aware the odds were small and low. I knew this.

But I was someone who Accomplished Goals. I was a High Achiever, a Hard Worker. When I got my first agent four years ago, I really and truly believed my hard work and goal-accomplishing would result in a book deal... I had done my 10,000 hours of practice, and while getting a novel published was hard, I figured it was hard for those who hadn’t worked their tails off."

Why did I appreciate it so much? Because it's almost identical to what I thought when I self-published Finding Meara. I said all the right things (and believed them, too) but my thoughts also went something like: Sure it'll be hard. But I'll be different. I'll be amazing! I'll be fantabulous! Watch out world, here I come!

And then, when things didn't go as I expected them to, I had a bit of a reality crash. What did it mean that my expectations weren't met? If I changed my expectations, did that mean I was giving up? Was I letting go of expectations or letting go of my dreams? 

It didn't stop there, either. I'm ashamed to admit this, but my own sense of self was wrapped up with being "more" and "different." I wasn't sure, when my expectations floundered in the mud, if I could be just me in the world. The social worker, mother of two, wife of one. Forever, and nothing more.

That's about when I wrote the It's Just Books post. I was struggling to figure out exactly what it all meant. I also struggled hard against changing my expectations. If I didn't have the expectations that others did for my writing (selling X amounts of books per month, having X blog visits, etc...) it felt like giving up.

One night I was thinking hard on all the dreams I've had in my life, and it occurred to me that the only dreams that have come true is marrying my husband and having my kids. And I realized that, as far as dreams come true, those are two pretty good ones, and if those are the only dreams that will come true in my life, I had to be pretty grateful.

Then Thanksgiving free days happened, and I rode the emotional roller coaster up that little incline, and then I got a couple of three star reviews and rode the emotional roller coaster back down, and then I got a couple of five star reviews and back up I went... And somewhere along the way, I decided I had to embrace being nothing more than me in the world, because the emotional roller coaster ride was taking away more than it was giving me.

So, I decided to hell with expectations - mine, other's and everyone's. I quit obsessively following my Amazon rank or reading reviews, I backed off of the stress of having to be present everywhere on social media, and I quit daydreaming my life. I have much to be thankful for, and living in expectations takes away from that thankfulness. Nothing is enough when you need more. And that is where I was. I needed more sales, I needed more reviews, I needed more stars, I needed more followers, I needed more time, I needed so much so I could meet the expectations of a successful writer. It was never ending.

Today on Twitter (because I really do like Twitter) I retweeted this:

I hope to be a good writer. I hope to write stories people will enjoy and relate to. I hope that I will find readers who enjoy my stories. I am willing to wait for the dawn to come, though, instead of expecting the sun to rise on my timetable. And if the dawn never comes, so be it. I will have been writing, and creating, and living, and loving the whole time - and so I will still be the winner.

How do you deal with disappointment and/or failed expectations? What do you hope for?

Something Bizarre Happened...Or not.

Apparently, when you're at home a lot, not much bizarre happens. At least, not the kind of thing a person can write a blog post about. I

The rock.

highly doubt anyone but me finds the fact that we found a polished and pretty rock my son lost three years ago when we planted one of our new cherry trees this summer particularly interesting. I may have to rethink the topic for this slot.

So, what to do today? I've promised myself that I wouldn't skip anymore blog posts, so how about a round-up of some other people's internet offerings I've enjoyed lately.

Writing:

* Redefining Success For Self-Publishing by Leslie Ramey on The Creative Penn was a welcome reframe of what constitutes success in self-publishing.

* The Madness of the Muses by Sarah Callender on Writer Unboxed was an enjoyable affirmation that I am not the only one who worries over the amount of time I submit to writing.

Science:

*It's OK To Not Understand These Pictures. Our Brains Weren't Built To Handle Them on Upworthy via Nicole L. Bates, Author reveals the grand size of the Universe. We are truly small.

* Mix of Housecat, Teddy Bear: New Mammal Discovered in Cloud Forest via Accuweather (But don't forget the monkey discovered in Columbia. It's got the prettiest eyes. Human or Monkey? on Keeping Babel at Bay.) Cute animals, but the monkey really does have a human-like face.

Scifi/Fantasy:

* Certain Doctor Who Phrases and how Olive Garden Customers React: An Experiment Done by a Server on The Stranger. Just cute!

Feel Good:

* Maroon 5 The Daylight Project (You Tube Video) Not sure why this is so powerful for me, but I suspect it has something to do with the song and the honest humanity of the people in the video.

On writing news, I have listed Finding Meara with Story Cartel, a site which brings readers and authors together. Readers join the site to receive free books, knowing they are "encouraged" to leave reviews on Amazon, among other sites. So if you know of anyone who might want to get a free copy of Finding Meara in exchange for a review, you can send them here.

Did any of the links pique your interest?

What's a Fair Price for an E-Book?

Warning: Super long blog post ahead, and it has qualities similar to that of a rant, so go forward with caution.

For quite a while now I've read the myriad discussions regarding what is a fair price for an e-book from the perspective of the writer.  

Many a blog post like this one by Melissa Foster on the Indie Reader question "Are Self-Pubbed Authors Killing the Publishing Industry?"  In the first sentence of the article, Ms. Foster states that self-pubbed authors devalue the written word with books priced low to gain attention.  Later on in the article she gives the pronouncement that yes, self-pubbed authors are the bane of the publishing world because they "give away" their books for "less than a buck" and use other "gimmicks" to garner sales.  Quite honestly, I found the whole article rather obnoxious, but didn't really feel the need to evaluate why.  I filed the article away under my Opinions That - While Interesting - Don't Really Seem Fair or Right mental filing cabinet.

Today I was reading a section of Writing on the Ether by Porter Anderson titled "Pivot: Jonny Geller, Enough to Go Around."  In the section, Mr. Anderson relates  several points Jonny Geller made in an article of his own regarding the state of the publishing industry, including this one, "Readers need to risk paying for books again."

Mr. Anderson followed up the point made by Jonny Geller by saying,

"We can talk all day about the reader as a nearly holy figure in our business — seriously overlooked too long by the traditional publishers. But it’s also time for that reader to play his or her fiduciary role in the equation again, and prove the bargain basement prices of the fin-de-agency period to have been what they were, the dive for algorithmic leverage of amateurs flooding the market."

Before I go any further, I need to say that Porter Anderson is a very intelligent, witty and friendly guy.  When I read WotE I often don't understand exactly the points he makes, and I definitely am not being critical of the article.  That being said, what the article did was force me to change my perspective from writer to reader and back again. Quite frankly, I thought "Whoa. Hold on there."

First, as a soon to be self-published author, if I sell my book for something less than... Heck, I don't even know what Melissa Foster or the other people who think a low price devalues a book thinks I should sell my book for.  At what price do I show the world that I value my work?  Can anyone tell me?  Is $2.99 enough, or does it have to be higher?  Should I match traditional publishing at $9.99?  Do you honestly think I would sell any books if I did?  And yet, if I price point my novel in order to get someone to take a risk and buy my book, I am accused of devaluing my work and undercutting authors everywhere, but especially the "professionals."  I am not exactly sure who the professionals are, but it sounds suspiciously to me that they are those traditionally published.

Secondly, as a reader, if I buy a $.99 priced novel by a self-published author, I am accused of not holding up my share of the author/reader bargain and shirking my duty of paying an author what they're worth.  What happens if I buy a $.99 priced novel by a famous author who is traditionally published, and the publisher is running a sale?  Am I still shirking my duty as a reader?  And why is a sale (GIMMICK) by a traditional publisher all right, but by a self-published author it's tacky and devaluing to the written word?

As a reader, when the price of paperbacks rose above $7.99, I quit buying so many books.  Gasp, I know.  I got really friendly with my neighborhood library.  Then, after I became invested in some authors for FREE, I started buying their books.  Let me ask you, did the fact that I read their novels for FREE mean that I devalued their work, their talent?  No, it means I didn't have a very lucrative cash flow and I still wanted to read.

I think part of the problem about the whole "devaluing" issue is the question of how you measure the value of your personal time and creativity.  Someone I read said something like "Writing books is art, selling books is a business."

Throughout my twenties, I worked in the head offices of a retail chain as an assistant to the clothing buyers.  I learned about mark-up.  With clothing, the mark-up is basically double.  You buy a t-shirt for $2.99, you sell it for $5.99.  When a person self-publishes the need for mark-up is diminished.  The book is going to be available digitally forever.  If a person spends $1,000 for editing, cover, etc... they can afford to be patient with the first book being a lower price and baiting the hook for readers.  It's a career being built, not a get rich quick scheme.

So, do you want to know the funny part of this post (if you've even made it this far.)  The funny part is, I totally plan on selling Finding Meara for at least $2.99 or more, unless it's enrolled in a special program like Kindle Select.  I'd made that decision even before I decided to self-publish.  My reasons?  When I am shopping on my Nook and I see a book listed for $.99, I don't even really stop to look at it.  I judge the book by it's price point.  However, the same is true for the other end of the monetary scale. Also, you can sell less books at a higher price point and make more money. Hard math there.  Dean Wesley Smith taught me that.  He's got a great blog every self-publishing author should check out.

Does the question of a fair price for an e-book have an answer?  I don't know. I think it's up to the person putting their book out there.

Did you make it through the whole post?  What are your thoughts about the whole pricing issue with e-books?

Lovely Links

I need to start writing blog post ideas down when they hit me.  For the second week in a row I've had some great ideas over the weekend and then totally forget what they were on Monday night when I'm scrambling to write my post!

Photo Courtesy: freedigitalphotos.net

My attention is all over the place, which means I've been gathering information on a variety of subjects including editing, editors, websites, marketing ideas and plot development.  Anyone who thinks self-publishing is the easy way out doesn't know all what it entails. Heck, I'm just scratching the tip of the informational iceberg and the amount of work is a little overwhelming.  But, guess what?  I'm really happy and calm about it all.  Just busy.

Since I can't really focus on any one topic right now to save my life, I thought I would share with you a couple of the links to blog posts I've read that have been helpful.

First, I've been working on plot development for a second book using the characters from Finding Meara.  I'd always planned to write more about Hazel and Arden, but thought I'd have some time before I needed to start.  Self-publishing wisdom indicates I need to get a second book out as soon as possible after the first, so I'm casting around the dark recesses of my brain for an interesting, book worthy plot idea.  

http://www.robinlafevers.com/books/

With Nano coming up there have been lots of posts around about plotting, but I found the posts Pre-Writing: It's All About the Character and Growing Plot from Character by Robin LaFevers, author of Grave Mercy, particularly helpful. I've got the characters, I just don't have the plot.  The questions listed in the posts have started my brain whirring.  Besides the great posts, I just have to say I love Ms. LeFevers' website. It's absolutely beautiful!

I've worried about marketing ideas for quite a while, even before deciding to self-publish.  It's no secret that the weight of the majority of marketing falls on an author these days.  With self-published books increasing by 287% since 2006, the competition for a self-published author to gain positive attention and readers is at an all time high.  The post The New Path to Writing Success by Jon Bard on the Writer Unboxed site was both enlightening and uplifting, but the link to the post How to Build a Network of Fans on Mr. Bard's own site was marketing gold.  In the post he gives several practical and not at all difficult ways to connect to the ever-elusive reader.  It was after reading this post that I decided I needed to go ahead and get my own website going, and soon.  Hopefully, before the end of November, I'll have a shiny new website to show off, and can start implementing some of his ideas.

Laura Howard

I've also read several great posts on Laura Howard's blog Finding Bliss, and also The Writer's Guide to E-Publishing (WG2E). If you're interested in all things self-publishing, head over to either homepage and take some time to browse.  The series of three posts A Business Plan for Self-Published Authors on WG2E was a real eyeopener for me.

It's quite fun to list Laura Howard today, because I actually met her through the My Name Is Not Bob Platform Building Challenge in April.  Between then and now her blog has become a hot spot for Indie reviews, interviews and information.  She's also super nice!

Have you read any posts in the last several weeks you've found helpful?  If so, feel free to share in the comments!

Special Edition: Why I've Decided to Self-Publish

Photo Courtesy of Freedigitalphoto.net

Let me start by saying it's not because I don't think I'll ever get an agent or a publisher.  I haven't thrown in the towel of traditional publishing because I believe I will fail at the process.  I queried Finding Meara approximately four months and received eight rejections. Because all but one of the queries were just the query letter, I feel like my query was rejected, rather than my story or my abilities.  Obviously I didn't query long enough to feel like my story is a lost cause and I should slink off with my tail between my legs.

In that four months of querying, I did learn some things about myself, though.

Quick backstory.  If you remember several months ago I wrote a post about what writing is to me.  What I didn't relate in that post is how I realized that writing was not going to be the replacement career I'd been hoping it would be.  I understood that, even if I did become traditionally published, the likelihood of sales ginormous enough to quit my job was pretty slim.

Another epiphany is that Finding Meara is incredibly hard to define.  It's not because it doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up, but it's because I tend to write unusual, genre mixed stories. I've had feedback on a couple of different short stories where the editors asked me what exactly the story was. Is it romantic comedy? Horror? Thriller?  When I pitched to Lou Anders at the Pikes Peak Writer's Conference last April, I believe he requested my manuscript solely because he wanted to see what a novel described as Janet Evanovich meets Roger Zelazny looked like.  He cushioned me for the rejection he knew would occur before my pitch session was over because he knew it wouldn't be something Pyr could publish.  I've been told by editors my stories are well-written, enjoyable and intriguing.  In traditional publishing today, that's not enough.

Finally, I have never been thrilled with the idea of having an agent, but because I wanted to try traditional publishing I bit the bullet and started drafting a query letter.  Initially I viewed it as a challenge.  Then the new wore off and I started really resenting the process.  I don't want to be nasty, so I won't tell you all the unkind thoughts I had about writing a query letter, sending the query letter, and then getting rejected off of the crappy query letter I'd written.

Because I was now dialed into different agents and their websites/twitter feeds, I became increasingly disillusioned with how many of them treated aspiring authors.  The attitude of superiority many of them appear to have left me with a nasty attitude of my own. I know there are lots of wonderful agents out there, but I seemed to be finding the not so nice ones.  The only exception is Russell Galen, who is known as the kindest agent in the business for a reason.

Last Wednesday I was watching the twitter feed of a small press editor I had sent FM to in July.  He was tweeting, not so kindly, about the queries he was reading.  There were two Urban Fantasy queries he mentioned, either of which very well could have been FM.  He was dismissive, obnoxious and entitled.  He didn't even care that he was publicly humiliating people who had tried very hard to "get it right."  It was the proverbial last straw.

When my husband came home, I told him I wanted to self-publish.  He's actually been pushing me to self-publish since I started writing short stories. I kept holding off because my personality wants that outside approval of the "experts."  I have changed my mind.

Photo Courtesy of Freedigitalphoto.net

Instead of sending my story to people who want to find a reason to hate it, I want to get my story out in front of people who want to find a reason to like it.

I wanted a traditional publisher to help me make my story the best it can be.  Now I will hire people to help me make the book the best it can be.  It feels really nice to have my future back in my hands, instead of waiting for someone to notice me.

Yes, I know it's possible I won't sell any copies.  I know the statistics for how many books are self-published a month.  I know how hard it is to get noticed in the sea of self-published books.  I know all the bad stuff about self-publishing.

But, I have to tell you, for the first time in five months I'm excited about writing again.  My story--which I really think is a good one--has the chance to be seen and enjoyed by people again.  I don't feel like I'm locked in a hole where I can't seem to find the key to open the door to get out.  Because that's how I've felt the last five months--like what I write, blog, tweet...none of it mattered because no one was going to see my stories, anyway.

And I write stories for people to enjoy.  I really do.  I've never understood people who say they write for themselves.


Besides that, I also had an epiphany regarding the fact I'm going to be fifty in nine years.  I don't have a lot of time to waste, first with trying to find an agent, next a publisher and then to get the darn thing out.  In nine years I could be sitting with nothing if I wait for traditional publishing to take a chance on me.  Or, if I keep a budget of $500 dollars, and sell ten books a year at a $4.99 price point, I might have made back my investment.

So, I'm entering the ranks of those who self-publish.  I know it's not the choice for everyone, but I am very confident it's the best choice for me.

Have you ever considered self-publishing?  If you have self-published before, do you have any tips or suggestions to share?  Anyone know of a good line editor who isn't insanely expensive?