Meh! What’s failed? That’s what I want to know. If you are writing and you love what you write and you love the process, then you are not a failed writer. A failed writer to me is the writer who gives up their dream. Self-published writers, if anything, can be said to have zealously embraced the dream.

My idea of success is exactly MY IDEA, and it’s not how many books I sell in a week or a day or a year or in a lifetime or my Amazon ranking. It’s about being happy with what I have written. It’s all about the art for me, and so validation generally comes from my own internal sense of artistic self-worth. For others, validation comes in many different ways: sales for some, reviews for others, or maybe it’s an award or a traditional publishing contract … and sometimes it comes in the form of recognition one might not be expecting. I had this happen over the weekend. An Amazon reviewer/author who had reviewed my novella The Thin Wall contacted me to tell me that a NY Arts Foundation wanted permission to cross-post their review to a new Literary Fiction site they were launching. They had said yes, but they wanted to notify me. In the mean time, I had gotten a Google alert on the posting. I did some research on the site and found it to be legit, and I didn’t specifically know anyone involved with the project. Of course, I was thrilled to death that an Arts Foundation would find literary merit in my work. That is the sort of validation those who write for the art of it hope to get. The only thing nagging at me was the question of how they found my work and why they selected that particular review of it. So I emailed the foundation… Yes, I am bold that way.

Dactyl Review is a new Literary Endeavour funded by The Dactyl Foundation for the Arts and Humanities in NYC, founded in 1996. Ms. Alexander, one of the founding members, is an author herself and has some strong opinions about the current state of the publishing industry, specifically when it comes to Literary Fiction. By Literary they mean:

That the author pays attention to, for example, the sounds, double meanings, etymologies, allusiveness, or rhythms of language. Literary novels are prose poetry, at the sentence level and also at a larger level where themes, characters and events should also relate poetically. The subject of the work is engaged with something that might be called weighty, questioning, for example, how we think, how we make meaning, why things happen the way they do, how we decide what’s right or wrong, or musing over what might have been.

Dactyl’s stance on literary fiction in today’s publishing climate is as follows from their website:

For a number of years, publishing has been dominated by commercial fiction. Literary fiction novels and short story collections by small presses or independent authors have little chance of being noticed by reviewers or placed on bookstore shelves. Even the literary fiction written by relatively well-known writers published by big houses has been pushed to the side by pseudo-literary fiction — written and reviewed by those who don’t know the difference between thought and sentimentality, poetry and the use of adjectives — such that the meaning of “literary” is lost. Moreover, with the way the publishing system is currently organized books aren’t given much time in front of judges and audiences. Those that don’t make it immediately are tossed in the remaindered bin. A deep pity, as literary fiction is slow-growing and takes time to find its audience.

So how did Dactyl find me? According to Ms. Alexander, they are attempting to seed the site while they look for qualified reviewers. That effort included a search of all Amazon Reviewers who use the tags Literary and Literary Fiction and who are published authors themselves. From that list of reviewers, they selected specific books and reviews for inclusion on the site. Books must meet their definition of “literary” as listed above.

Flattering — yes. To have an arts foundation award you by finding literary merit in your work, enough to profile your book alongside Cormac McCarthy, is definitely something. I am still basking in the glow, but now I have to wipe the shine off and get down to business.

Dactyl is looking for reviewers to contribute to the site with original content or cross-posted reviews, doesn’t matter. So…do you qualify to review for the site? Dactyl answers that:

Who Can Submit a Review
Any published [including self-published and micro-press] “literary fiction” writer can contribute a review. No reviews of one’s own work will be accepted. A contributing reviewer must give his/her name and the title of one or more of his/her own book-length works of literary fiction.

What to Review
We accept reviews of books both new and not-so-new. In fact, we encourage reviewers to consider the under-appreciated and older titles of any contemporary author. (No reviews of long-dead classic authors, please.) Only reviews of book-length “literary fiction” will be accepted, including short story collections. It’s okay to review a book that’s already been reviewed on this site. You can also submit any review that you have posted or published elsewhere.

Dactyl Review will not hold copyright on any review and you are free to publish elsewhere. Allow five days for your review to be approved and posted.

More information about submitting reviews can be found here.

Dactyl is also currently running a Literary Award program and information on that can be found here.

Will I be submitting reviews to the Dactyl Review site? I am not sure. I have to confirm that my work being profiled on the site is not a conflict of interest. The Podpeople reviewed my work prior to my joining the team, and actually, a favourable review was a requirement at that time, so we shall see. Whatever happens, it’s nice to have the validation. I have always been happy with what I write, but now I know for certain that I am writing what I am meant to write, even if it isn’t marketable in today’s publishing climate.

You are only a failed writer if you give up the dream of writing. The dream of writing, not publishing.

Cross-posted from the PodPeople blog by Cheryl Anne Gardner

The art is Forbidden Literature by Rene Magritte circa 1936

A recent comment on the Web Presence Checklist post said this:

All good points, but not necessarily formulas for success. I have a web presence everywhere. I’ve done 95% of what you’ve listed above. Google me and you’ll find me listed from page 1-15, Right now my book The Price of Innocence in paperback languishes at the 1,588,000 rank mark on Amazon in the US. What do you do when you’ve done it all and then some? I’m beginning to think some of it is just plain dumb luck. I suppose if I made my 19th century Parisian prostitute into a vampire I would sell more. But I’ve also learned not all of the above guarantees sales, neither does your name plastered everywhere on the net. Not quite sure what makes it happen, but I’ll walk the road and keep at it.

It’s true, you can do everything right and still nothing happens.  Recently, found out about UpHype via a Twitter follow and it might be able to help out a bit.  There you can get some social media help (and other things) for dirt cheap.  This one intrigues me a lot – I will tweet Your Website, Hype or Service To my 121,450 Twitter Followers FIVE times for $8:

You’ll get minimum 400+ visitors to your website/landing page or I will tweet again five times FOR FREE (average from last 10 is 987 visits) . Message sent to OVER 121,450 english speaking followers across my 43 different niches/accounts within 24 hrs. YOU must devise your message. I will send instructions tips/after you order. VERY IMPORTANT:I WILL NOT BE SENDING OUT ANY MORE TWEETS UNTIL 31st JULY but you can reserve your place (only 100 orders/mth MAX)

Another: I will tweet about your product or service to over 20k followers 5 times a day for 8 weeks for $16:

I will tweet about your product or service to over 20k followers 5 times a day for 8 weeks. You will have your own control panel where you can edit your message and have full access to your stats 24/7. I have processed over 300 sales on other sites.

These things might lead to nothing, but if you’ve hit a wall, it could be helpful.  Most people probably have under 1000 Twitter followers, so this will reach a lot more people.  Of course, it doesn’t mention what niche these followers are, but for 8 bucks, it’s worth a shot.

One thing I would stay away from: I will show you around the Dallas/Fort Worth area for $16.

Yeesh, talk about something that’s open for corruption, even danger.  I’d recommend the site taking these sorts of offers down because the possible legal ramifications and bad press are immense.

If you’ve got a lot of Twitter followers, or something else, it’s also a potential way to make some money.  The first listing is doing 100 a month at $8 each – a nice amount of money every month for not that much work.

This morning, NPR reported that the Wylie Agency, a top literary agency, has teamed with Amazon on a joint venture to electronically publish what’s known as ‘back-list titles,’ best-sellers written long before the age of e-books. The publishing industry wasn’t happy, particularly Random House. In a quintessential display of the kind of pig-headed mentality that has alienated authors (like myself) from traditional publishing, RH essentially blacklisted the Wiley Agency, refusing to enter into any future (English language) agreements with any of its clients. This act on their behalf has left some bloggers, that is Café Lopez, extremely confused as to the message they’re trying to send. Last I checked, self-publishing made up an insignificant fraction of over-all sales. A non-threat, if you will, consisting of self-serving amateurs who know nothing about publishing. What changed?

Well, to be fair, these books are already proven best-sellers, so some of the risk has been weathered. But if you consider the recent news about Amazon selling more e-books than hardcovers, and the fact that the e-book market has grown over five percent in the past year, it’s fairly obvious that something else is at play. E-books aren’t going anywhere. Now that authors no longer have to accept pitiable royalties, we (finally) can earn a respectable income off of the art around which our lives are built.

Last week, I posted a reply from an agent who had declined my book. This morning I got another reply from the same agent, declining the same book a second time (I sent two requests months apart due to his initial failure to respond). The error suggests that he is so swamped in queries, that he (or his secretary) was unable to recognize a duplicate query. So again, should I let my success be determined by overworked agents and an industry increasingly hostile to entrepreneurial authors?

Yes, but only if I want to sell myself short.

Over 1 million books were published last year, many a result of the explosion of print-on-demand (POD) and electronic books (ebooks). This is great news for readers who can find the gems buried in the mountain of self-published books. Unfortunately, most self-published books are expensive and many are supremely disappointing.

The bestseller lists are packed with the same old cadre of hyped (and over-hyped) celebrity authors churning out formulaic stories that all sound the same. These books are safe bets, but wouldn’t you rather discover fresh new voices headed for the bestseller lists? Find them here.

We are here to sift through the mountain of self-published and small press books and stack the gems neatly for you to admire. We’re not a huge site. We may never be. What we are about is quality. We don’t give indie writers a break because they’re small. We expect a compelling story and a professional book that can hold its own against that paperback you bought last week in Wal*Mart.

If you are looking for a great book from a writer you’ve never heard of, IndieProse.com is the place to start.

Personally, I don’t have a problem with IndieProse putting this together.  It’s a big market and a good business model…for them.  I just wonder about its usefulness.  Gatekeeping in traditional publishing means that the publisher takes a risk – they put their money up in the hopes that the book will be successful.  This is the key to gatekeeping – not just that a publisher liked it, but that they liked it enough to put money behind it.  That value potentially means literary value.

The problem with IndieProse’s stamp of approval is that it really just gives writers another place to list a book online.  There is nothing yet suggesting what exactly writers get for the investment.  If IndieProse were to send out frequent press releases or otherwise aggressively promote the site, then the $150 fee to be listed makes some more sense.  But if your book’s just sitting there on a static website, this might not have a lot more value than, say, commenting on this blog post with a link to your book – which is totally free.

I don’t want to knock IndieProse too hard, because this model could help a writer or two get attention.  My novel won a couple of awards – for a fairly hefty entry fee – so I’m not immune to wanting to enter into this kind of arrangement.  The IndieProse stamp of approval is sort of like saying a book won so-and-so award.  Helpful, but only if IndieProse has clout and reach.

And only if the site is selective.  The problem with this is the operators need to be totally aboveboard ethically.  As a commenter says on LJ Seller’s site, IndieProse needs to be rejecting books at the rate publishers reject books.  But if their total investment is bandwidth (which is a minimal cost) you could see them accepting everyone just so they can get the entry fee.

This isn’t the only site of its kind – IndieReader does something similar.  The difference with Indie Reader is that they’re an actual bookfront as well, whereas IndieProse sells via Amazon.  April Hamilton mentions:

If we don’t need ’seal of approval’ services for indie films or music, why do we need them for indie books? When I read about programs like this and find self-publishers are using them, it makes me wonder if self-publishers, as a group, suffer from a collective dose of low self-esteem.

Maybe, or it’s just that the world of self-publishing, and books in general, is so insanely competitive that writers need every bit of help they can get.  If you can afford this, you might think about it.  But if you can’t, there are probably better ways to spend your money – unless IndieProse can guarantee you some amount of increased visibility beyond a badge and placement on a website.

Over five years ago, in one of my last attempts to get an earlier version of my book published through traditional means, I went to a local writers convention where numerous speakers talked about the need to establish a brand. At the time, I remember being discouraged by the news that marketing departments of traditional publishers seemed to have achieved the ascendency in publishing, and that only those authors who could demonstrate a sure-fire market for their “brand” had a hope of getting published.  Nevertheless, I had to admit as a reader I responded to the visual cues book covers and posters offered me when I browsed bookstores, looking for the latest work by a favorite author, or looking for new authors to try out. If this is what was meant by a “brand,” well, that I could understand!

Consequently, a year ago as I began to rewrite my manuscript, I also began to think about how I would establish those visual clues for my future readership. The most obvious information I needed to convey about my book was that it was an historical mystery set in the Victorian era. The book was also to be the first in a series of mysteries with the same protagonists, set in San Francisco, emphasizing different female occupations of the era. Ultimately the choices I would make for the title of the book, the name I used as author, and the cover of the book would all be part of providing the visual clues that would “establish my brand.”

Title:

I had already decided on Maids of Misfortune as my primary title, (it sounded dramatic, domestic servants play key roles in the mystery, and no other books by that title seemed to exist), but now I had to decide on the subtitle, which I would carry through the subsequent books in the series. I had done enough reading about the increasingly important role the internet plays in modern book marketing to know the title of the book could play a crucial role in determining whether or not a potential reader could find my book. Using “late Nineteenth Century” sounded too academic, and I eliminated the two most obvious alternative terms used for the late Victorian period, “Gaslight” and “Gilded Age” because a google search revealed too many other authors with multiple books had already expropriated those tag lines. So I decided simply to make my subtitle as descriptive as possible, referring to both the time period and the setting, and the sub-title A Victorian San Francisco Mystery has certainly done the trick.

If you do a search in Amazon books and use the term “historical mystery,” over 7000 titles pop up, but when you put in “victorian mystery,” the list narrows to 323. In addition, after being out for 6 months, Maids Of Misfortune is second on that list. If you put in another term that is popular for series with female protagonists “women sleuths” you get over 11,000 titles, but when you put in the term “San Francisco mystery” you get 589 titles (who knew there were so many mysteries set in San Francisco!) and I am pleased to say that currently Maids of Misfortune comes up first on that list. My intention is to use this subtitle on the rest of the books in the series, which should cement it as part of my “brand.”

Author’s Name:

My birth certificate says Mary Louisa Locke, but growing up I was always called Mary Lou, a hokey 1950s sort of name (for those of you out there of the baby boom generation-all I need to say is Ricky Nelson).  I never wanted to be called Mary (my grandmother’s and oldest Aunt’s names), and Mary Louisa sounded so old-fashioned-so Mary Lou it stayed. When I married in 1972 (not coincidentally the year Ms Magazine started) I decided to keep my own name, so I remained Mary Lou Locke. When I got my doctorate and started teaching, I shifted to Dr. Locke as the way I introduced myself because it was easier than correcting people when they called me either Mrs. or Miss, since nobody seemed willing to use Ms. Besides, as part of a small number of women with doctorates in history, I was proud of the honorific. Meanwhile, my husband and close friends got in the habit of calling me Lou.

So, what variation of my name should I use as an author? I find it amusing to realize I never spent any time as a girl wondering what my “married name” would be, but I have spent a good deal of time over the years wondering what my pen name would be. In part this was because when I started writing a novel, I was at the beginning of my academic career, had written several articles as Dr. Mary Lou Locke, and thought that it might be useful to keep my fiction and non-fiction personas separate. But fast forward thirty some years, and I was now at the end of my academic and teaching career, and this motivation was gone. I tried different iterations of my name (including adding my husband’s last name in the mix) but the one that sounded the most Victorian to me was M. Louisa Locke. In fact when I said it out loud, it always reminded me of the name “Louisa May Alcott,” and what could sound more Victorian to potential readers than that?  So M. Louisa Locke became my pen name, and not a few people have mentioned how very “nineteenth century” it sounds.

I also decided to use that name as my domain name for the website I established, for all social networks, and my email address. It was a name that didn’t show up when I first searched for it, so I knew that by using it consistently it would also start establishing a high web presence. Now when you google M. Louisa Locke it is the only link you find in the first page of listings.

Cover:

There are numerous articles on why the cover design is one of your most important marketing tools, and I decided that this was one area of self-publishing my book that I did not want to do myself. However, one of the benefits of publishing my own book was that I could have full control over the final design of the book cover. After doing some comparative shopping on the web, looking at book covers of historical mysteries, and asking everyone if they knew any professional designers, I came up with someone who met my needs perfectly. I wanted someone who was not only a professional designer, but someone who might actually read and enjoy the kind of light, romantic mystery I had written. Michelle Huffaker, who designed the cover of Maids of Misfortune, was local, so I could actually talk face to face with her and lend her books I had accumulated on Victorian fashion, interior design, architecture; she was both an artist and a professional web-designer, so she knew how to present for the web and prepare images for electronic books and print on demand; and she was a reader of light fiction (and didn’t begin her design until she had read the completed manuscript.)

I knew what elements I wanted on the cover. I wanted the background of the cover to represent Victorian wallpaper, which was characterized by linear patterns and I wanted a deep red, which is a signature color of the Victorian period. In the center of the front cover I wanted an illustration of a mistress and servant I had found in a late Victorian magazine.

Michelle Huffaker gave me that and more (and at a very reasonable price).

If you look closely at the cover you will see that she manipulated the classic Victorian pattern she found for the cover so that the edges were darker than the center, and, as a result, it really looks like the kind of fading you would find in old wallpaper. She researched Victorian fonts, finding fonts that not only stand out, even in small thumbnails pictures, but also evoke the nineteenth century. And she placed the black and white illustration into an ornate frame, again very historically accurate, so that it looks like you are seeing a reflection in a mirror. I have gotten nothing but compliments on the cover, including how professional it looks (a real plus for an independently published book.)

I couldn’t be happier, and I feel that the cover design, along with the title, and my name, provide the strong visual clues I was looking for. I don’t think that anyone who sees the book would think they are looking at a contemporary mystery, or a hard-boiled detective novel, so I feel confident I am on my way to establishing my “brand” as the writer of cozy-style, historical mysteries that are set in Victorian San Francisco.

They not only sell through their own website, but they also have contracts with Audible, iTunes, and, most exciting to me, with Overdrive, which is the holy grail for getting into America’s libraries, of which there are more than 100,000.  That was the selling point for me.  I don’t necessarily expect to make big bucks selling to libraries, but the important thing is that it gives access to folks to try stuff out for free who might go on to try my other books (when I have other books).  I’m a big believer in libraries as means for discovering new authors.

Now I don’t yet have an audio version of Forsaken By Shadow (I’m trying to talk my husband into helping me out with that since he runs a freelance recording studio), but it’s on my list of things to try for promo when I have more time.  But if you’ve got an audiobook, this is a great outlet.  If you WANT an audiobook, they offer recording and production services (you’ll have to get a quote).

Interested?  Go to their main website and click the “Publish With Us” tab.  You can also talk with Jeff on Twitter @springbrookaud.  Tell him Kait sent you.  We really need to help bulk up their selections for the female demographic!

The e-book version of Forsaken By Shadow (my debut paranormal romance novella)  just went up for sale in the SpringBrook catalogue.  If you missed the original $1 price, it’s up for $0.99 as an introductory offer here at SpringBrook.  Formats available include .prc, .mobi. PDF, and E-PUB.

*Cross-posted with Shadow & Fang*

Mr. Wylie said his new company would focus on older titles whose digital rights are not owned by traditional publishers. The books will be available exclusively at Amazon’s Kindle store for two years.

In making the announcement Mr. Wylie opened a new front, and a possible negotiating tool, in a debate over e-book rights for what are called backlist titles. Many traditional publishers have said they own the electronic rights to those books, but some authors and their estates have disagreed, arguing that since the books were published before e-books existed, the digital rights were not explicitly sold to the publishers.

Take a look at the site here.  I find this pretty profound myself, as the imprint includes many of my literary heroes long before I’d heard of self-publishing or ebooks.  So it’s a melding of the past and future of publishing.  Such as:

People are perhaps unwisely calling this a “self-publishing” enterprise, which it isn’t, technically.  But it is evidence of the changing face of publication, and how widely-venerated authors are going to bypass traditional channels to more-progressive models. In terms of royalties and a fairer contract, this form of faux self-publishing may be seen as entirely necessary.

However, it’s not 100% a perfect set-up. Macmillan chief, John Sargent, makes a fair point about this arrangement.  You could say this is the result of panic by a traditional publisher who may start losing major writers, but he’s got a point:

I am appalled, however, that Andrew has chosen to give his list exclusively to a single retailer. A basic tenet of publishing is that our function is to reach as many readers as we can. We disseminate our books and the ideas within them as broadly as possible.  I understand why Amazon wants an exclusive deal with Andrew. They have asked us too for exclusive product, as has every major retailer we deal with. This is smart retailing, and a great deal for Amazon. But it is an extraordinarily bad deal for writers, illustrators, publishers, other booksellers, and for anyone who believes that books should be as widely available as possible. This deal advantages Amazon, which already has the dominant share in this market.

OK, that’s fine about this specific deal.  But what if this enterprise wasn’t Amazon-specific?  Then there’s no real argument against it.  If the main thing that a traditional publisher offers is distribution (editors and designers can be hired), then there’s no reason to take an alternate path with the ebook market.

Today, publishers are stripping royalties from ebooks that are sold on places like Amazon at a discount.  This is in part because the big six needs to extract every dollar it can out of a dwindling marketplace. When given a choice between more royalties and less – with the same exact distribution – it’s not hard to see what direction authors are going to take.

Publishers then will strong arm authors into taking an unattractive ebook percentage for the rights to publish a book in print – as is currently the process.  But when ebooks are more ubiquitous and authors stand to make a lot of money selling ebooks direct, rather than having the publisher take a cut, mainstream authors will have an important decision to make.  At that point, publishers, ironically, will be like a vanity imprint – taking too much of royalties for something an author can do him or herself.

This scenario will take a long time to play out, as ebooks are not going to be a majority share of the market for a while, but contract terms are likely going to change soon.  Say Dan Brown said – if you don’t let me have my ebook rights, I won’t let you publish my book in print.  Things will change, and fast.

Update: JFBookman retweeted this with the simple addition “Agents take control.”  That’s the other amazing thing about this.  An agent becomes a “self”-publisher because he sees the current system – his lifeblood – collapsing and sees an opening.  All told, this is a major development – traditional publishers are becoming less necessary.  Or, rather, today’s non-traditional publishing will eventually become the norm.

It’s the best thing I’ve ever bought.  One of the main things that’s transformed for me that I didn’t foresee that it hasn’t just transformed book reading, but it’s transformed web reading as well.  If you’re reading this post on a desktop, you’ve got links in the sidebar, calling out for your attention.  One hand is probably on the mouse waiting to click away if it’s not interesting enough.  With the iPad – the web renders the same as a book, so the text of a post fills up the entire screen.  The somewhat awkardness of having to poke links with your finger is actually beneficial – I’m not constantly clicking away from something before I’ve had a chance to fully absorb what I’ve read.

This may sound sort of minor, but it’s not.  Maybe you have better browsing habits than I do.  But with the sheer volume of information, it’s not uncommon to read something half-heartedly and think, Next.  There’s something transformative about using the same device to read the web that you’re using to read books.

And the same goes for writing.  I’ve set it up with a keyboard like this.  I intend on writing an entire novel on it, using Pages:

At first I was disappointed – it’s only possible to lock it into the dock in portrait mode, not horizontally like a computer monitor.  But I’ve realized this is how it should be.  My screen is now the size and shape of actual paper.  There’s no desktop background beckoning me to distract myself.  I’m focused better. This may make me sound pretty unfocused and scattered, but for me these small changes are fairly significant.

The writer of this excellent post about writing on the iPad suggests ditching the keyboard entirely and getting used to the on-screen keypad.  I don’t see that happening.  He also recommends 3G, which I didn’t do.  Most anywhere I’m going to take it has Wifi, so the cheap version should be enough.

Maybe part of me is blown over because I’ve never had an iPhone, or any smartphone for that matter.  Apps are a new thing, as is a touchscreen.  The book reading experience is absolutely amazing.  As a book reviewer, the ability to add bookmarks to a book along with notes – on the same device I’m reading – is more than just “convenient.”  It enhances the entire experience.

On the negative side, one of the signs of a poorly printed book is if it’s printed on blinding white paper.  The iPad does have this feel.  Though you can switch to sepia mode, this isn’t quite ideal because reading brown print on a tan background seems a little off.  Black print on a tan background would be ideal.

Another negative – not having flash is a real problem.  My own site is a total mess, as it’s full of Soundcloud embeds that don’t show up.  I finally realized how my site renders and added additional links for iPad-only users.  You really do need to think about this when putting together a site.  Finally, having to shell out another $100 to upgrade my OS to work with the iPad is an annoying move by Apple, but it’s been worth it.

Some speculation: I’ve never understood how or why people read books on the small screen of an iPhone.  Now I think I get it.  In part, it’s because people are very attached to their iPhones – perhaps unhealthily so.  They like getting texts, new phone calls – they feel connected.  Reading on an iPhone continues that sense of connection.  This might not be totally healthy, but that’s how people are becoming wired, and it could very well increase people’s reading.

The same goes for the iPad.  At first, reading on the iPad was a little jarring.  The screen is not dissimilar to reading off a standard monitor.  But, again, this is a possible advantage.  There’s less of a transition from computer/smartphone to book.  It’s like a book meets the anesthetizing experience of TV.  Some might consider this a total nightmare.  It is and it isn’t.  It’s not great news that people are so attached to screen-based media, but I predict this is going to increase reading by a lot.  And not only on screens, but generally – for print books too.  It gets people in the habit of reading, reminds them what a joy it can be.  And it’s not like reading a book on an iPad is exactly like TV – it’s still sparking your imagination instead of having the imagination sparked for you.

Case in point, I’ve been reading the Alice in Wonderland book with my daughter.  This will revolutionize children’s publishing. On the one hand, there’s a danger that she’ll become attached only to books that are fully interactive.  I don’t think so – it just tells her that reading is a fun experience, rather than something you do for homework.  It’s not like she’s skipping the pages that have no interaction – she’s reading everything.  And the other night after we were done reading it together, she said, “I like reading.”  It was a breakthrough – because this year I’ve been hoping she gets more into chapter-based books.  We’ll see.

The kids in this article have had the same experience.

“It was like a breath of fresh air compared to my textbook,” said Teitgen, who lives in Pittsford, N.Y. “I was really amazed by all the things it could do. I just kept clicking so I could read more.”

Over time, this is going to increase people’s interest in reading, and that alone is a huge development.  That the iPad also makes every ebook immediately accessible is a profoundly great experience.

The Critics

The critics of this device have been fairly off-base.  I’ve heard people complain that it doesn’t work well with back lighting.  This is absurd, as the book is internally lit so you can read it in the dark.  I haven’t had much of a problem with glare. I respect Cory Doctorow a lot, but I don’t really agree with his post Why I won’t buy an iPad (and think you shouldn’t, either).  While I agree with his complaints about built-in DRM, I don’t agree with this:

Then there’s the device itself: clearly there’s a lot of thoughtfulness and smarts that went into the design. But there’s also a palpable contempt for the owner. I believe — really believe — in the stirring words of the Maker Manifesto: if you can’t open it, you don’t own it. Screws not glue. The original Apple ][+ came with schematics for the circuit boards, and birthed a generation of hardware and software hackers who upended the world for the better. If you wanted your kid to grow up to be a confident, entrepreneurial, and firmly in the camp that believes that you should forever be rearranging the world to make it better, you bought her an Apple ][+.

This seems to apply to a tiny subset of people.  I know if my computer breaks, I don't break out the screwdriver, I take it straight to the people who know what the hell they're doing.  This hardly seems like a dealbreaker. He continues,

The way you improve your iPad isn't to figure out how it works and making it better. The way you improve the iPad is to buy iApps. Buying an iPad for your kids isn't a means of jump-starting the realization that the world is yours to take apart and reassemble; it's a way of telling your offspring that even changing the batteries is something you have to leave to the professionals.

Yes, or it tells your offspring that they can create an app.  Using and creating apps has unlimited potential for self-publishers and other creative types.

DRM isn't even that big of an issue either.  You're only limited on the iPad by what you can download on your computer's harddrive.  You can add anything to iTunes and then sync it to the iPad.  There may be DRM on apps, but the iPad is not a closed system - it's connected to your computer.  While some might complain that the iPad is tethered to iTunes (it is, after all, why I needed to upgrade my OS) it increases the iPad's usefulness.  I can download any DRM free epub and add it to iTunes.

My suspicion all along is that iPad criticism has been a lot about the idea of the iPad without the critics using it for a week and seeing what it can do.  Is it perfect?  No, but it's progress.

This post about self-publishing is from February, but new to me.  It makes a persuasive case against self-publishing.

Professional editors of the level I work with now make money. Grown-up money that I cannot pay them, because I am not a rich person and never will be. Let alone copyediting, typsetting, and cover art (which is vastly important, don’t be fooled). I have zero interest in paying out $7000-$15000 before the book gets published, and almost certainly seeing minimal profit (especially since that 70% Amazon deal everyone’s so sweet on has a whole lot of strings attached). I like it when someone else does that. Publishers are risk-assesors, and they assume the risk, which is not insignificant, while I create the book. The “hire your own editor” handwaving strikes me as the strangest of this whole memescape. Really? Hire my own? With what money, without an advance?…

Publishers also, very importantly, pay me an advance. This is how I live and eat. I like advances. I don’t get big ones, but I still get them, and that’s damn important. I do not like paying the equivalent of an advance to others in order to publish my book. Because then I wouldn’t have any money with which to live while I write the book, see? Banks do not write checks to under-30 chicks who want to write about fairy tales. The idea that writers are going to make more money by getting Amazon’s royalty rate, when most ebooks a. sell a tiny fraction of what print books sell, and b. sell fewer than a hundred copies, when not backed by a publisher, is sort of hilarious. We are not even there technologically yet. Most people can’t afford a $300 machine on which to read books. And we’ll probably never be there culturally, where reading is held at such a premium that there’s millions to be made for everyone.

She makes some bad points too – “why isn’t publishing already dead, when ebooks have been available and viable for more than a decade.”  Ebooks have been viable for about five minutes. The talk about self-publishing is about the future when ereaders are cheaper/most readers have one.  This is going to happen.  Yesterday, Amazon revealed that ebooks are now outselling hardcovers.

But I get her main point: money is nice.  No argument there.  And there’s no argument about having to foot the bill for editing/cover art/promotion etc. etc. is a drain.  Anyone who argues that paying out of pocket is better than someone else paying the bill is pretty deluded – especially if the former means selling fewer books overall.

But that’s not the argument for self-publishing – at least for me.  Everyone should acknowledge that self-publishing is difficult and has risks, but in this climate it is increasingly necessary.  While it would be great for publishers to foot the bill, they are increasingly overlooking books that are worth publishing.  I don’t delight in traditional publishing dying.  It’s an awesome tool if done well.  It’s just not done very well.  This isn’t just a result of my own ego-bruising from stupid rejection letters, but seeing how many other writers are treated as well.

She says: “There’s a lot of kind of nasty subtext out there to the tune of: if the publishing industry doesn’t work for me, it doesn’t work at all.”  There’s also a subtext of: if it works for me, then it should work for everyone.

I don’t want traditional publishing to die.  I want it to thrive.  It’s a vital part of culture.  But so is self-publishing.  Is it easy?  No.  Is it sometimes necessary?  Yes.  Will it get a hell of a lot easier in the future?  Definitely.  The investment writers make will have a greater chance of being made back, so it’ll be less of a risk.  The ability to do that won’t kill traditional publishing because they still offer valid services, but it will kill the argument that self-publishing isn’t viable.

This writer has little use for commas, except for what I suppose is garnish. And he fails at every opportunity to trim superfluous words: “The boots she wore on her feet” is a mild example. Crashing several sentences together is routine. So is leaving vestiges of edits: “Getting to get there involved . . . ”

I’m no paragon. Forty books on, a degree in journalism, line editor of a hundred or so books, publisher, advertising copywriter . . . I’ve lived the writer’s life. But I screw up. I get impatient. I am burdened with attention deficit disorder. I know I’m prone to screwing up. I know I’ve read so much dreck over the years that I’m no longer certain what even looks right. I know there are words I’m never going to learn to spell correctly or rules of  grammar I’m never going to get right. That’s why I read and reread everything I write. That’s why I pay good money to copyeditors and proofreaders. I figure I owe it to readers who plunk down their hard-earned disposable income for my books.

I’m not asking authors to write at the level copyeditors edit. There is something wrong with people who know as much about rules as copyeditors know, who are as literal-minded as copyeditors tend to be. I’m not suggesting that anyone become bosom buddies with a copyeditor. I am asking that fellow writers and especially fellow independent publishers display a little care, show signs of respect for a reader’s time and sensibility.

As I age, as the full impact of the sheer joy and beauty of good language, especially good writing, comes home, I savor time with a good story well written. I spent a good deal of my career working at bringing good stories forth from bad or indifferent or just plain linguistically challenged writers. I stopped doing that because, for awhile, I spasmed and couldn’t read at all, there was no much crap in my head from my day job.

I don’t mind spending $3.99 on an amateur sci-fi yarn. I can overlook a lot in behalf of a good story, or even just a decent escape. This is a good story, but its sheer sloppiness disregards and disrespects me and my stake in spending most of a Sunday grappling with its avalanche of shortcomings. I have to put it down now, because the penny finally dropped: I’m sufficiently engaged to battle through to the end of one book, but there’s no way I’m going to read this hick’s next two volumes. When a sloppy presentation overwhelms a decent enough story, it’s time to fold.

Good books well written (or well edited) sell good books. Bad books badly written put us all in jeopardy.

I would like very much to have a place on SPR to post contact info and reviews about reliable editors, proofreaders, cover and interior designers, and other types of people who will ensure the creation of good books from concept to final execution.