NaNoWriMo

I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this year, and 24 days in, I know I'm not going to be a winner.  For those who don't know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it's held each year in November.  You sign up online, with the goal of finishing a novel in a month by writing about 1660 words per day.  That's it.  There are no fees, no check-ins, nothing except the solidairty of working with other writers struggling to finish those words counts.  You "win" by getting to the 50,000 word mark by the end of November, and having it verified by uploading your file onto the website.  There are no actual prizes although several companies are offering discounts on products/services to the winners.

First of all, I think NaNoWriMo is a great idea, and run very well.  It is just loose enough to keep you from feeling as if you have added yet another adminstrative/reporting task to your day.  But through pep talks delivered to your inbox, charts to track your progression and a healthy online forum, you feel a strong sense of connection to everyone else going through the process. 

So, sometime around Halloween (nothing like waiting until the last minute!) I signed up with the hopes that I could finish a draft of book two of "Fame, Love and other Lessons".  Which I imagnatively titled "Book Two". 

I did great for the first three days, but then life intruded.  Now, the NaNo folks prepare you for this.  I've also done a modified version of NaNo on my own (reading founder Chris Baty's book, "No Plot, No Problem") so I knew what to expect.  But I have to say, this past November was the month I hit my limit.  I started an intense, accelerated Master's program in the Fall, and began working full-time; two huge changes in my life from the first book.  Either one would have been enough, but coupled with the typical Murphy's Law reality of my life, I realized very quickly that I had hit a wall. 

I love the Food Network and Pinterest boards showing beautiful 1%'ers homes in the same way I love time management books:  because they allow me to imagine a different version of who I am.  A well organized, efficient and creative woman comfortably ensconsed in a home where I have nothing to do except write in my beautifully appointed home office and concentrate on my work whilst gazing out at my peony garden through large, spotless bay windows.  Except this time, I realized that no amount of time management was going to save me.  This wasn't a time management issue, it was that I had jammed pack my life so full that there wasn't enough to find an extra two hours each day to crank out 1600 words.  I know that there are a lot of people who can do this, but I'm not one of them.  I'm neither well organized nor efficient, and I just can't get that much done in a day.

Now having said that, I'm still glad I went through the process.  In fact, even though I'm not going to finish, this month was invaluable in getting the ball rolling on Book Two.  I'm now over the beginning hump, and most of the plot points are now in place.  I'm no longer struggling with the the structure of the story, so it's much easier to pick up the laptop and just start writing.   Another difference is, I'm now more aware of what I did wrong in writing the first book (like, um, procrastinating and then rushing through the process…) and I want to avoid that with the second. 

In fact, the website allows you to just keep tracking your word count even after the month has ended, and I think I'll continue to do that.  Writing really is a lonely profession, and the beauty of a program like NaNoWriMo is that it holds you accountable.  It's no longer just me and my discipline battling it out in a room that doesn't overlook a peony garden. Instead, it’s a community of writers gently prodding and supporting each other, holding us accountable to just finish the damn book already.                                                                                       

How screenwriting is different from writing novels

I made a lot of mistakes in writing my first novel, but an inadvertent one had to do with the story's abrupt ending.

Now, unlike mistakes caused by carelessness (editing) or inexperience (the original book cover), this mistake was the result of being too experienced in a different genre---screenwriting.

In screenwriting, a writer has about 120 pages, or 120 minutes to tell their story.  This means that everything has to be distilled to its essence, and screenwriters strive to capture only the most emotionally impactful moments in any scene.  While novels also follow certain structures, they have an unlimited number of pages in which to do it. 

Films, on the other hand, have the most unrelenting editor of all:  time.  Few people will sit through a movie longer than two hours, and even fewer studios will consider reading anything longer than 140 pages.   Perhaps in no other medium is the approach so formulaic:  an inciting incident within the first ten pages, a set back by page thrty, a turning point on page sixty, the final set back on page ninety, and final resolution by page 120. 

In order to tell a complete story in this amount of time, screenwriters have to train themselves to think in terms of action rather than thoughts, impressions, or feelings.   Backstory is still important, but instead of ten or twenty pages showing a main character thinking, describing and remembering their troubled relationship with their mother, a script would summarize the conflict in a sentence or two or dialogue or description, and preferrably one that isn't even telling you about their relationship.  For example, "Camera PANS across her apartment, filled with lovingly framed pictures.  There isn't a single one of anyone related to her."   Done.  Twenty years of dysfunction in two sentences, without even a mention of the word mother.  This works in a script, but in a novel it would seem rushed, to say the least.  

There is even a phrase for when in the story a screenplay should begin:  in medea res, which means "into the middle of things".  Think of a Bond film.  The very first scene shows the hero in a car chase, escaping an underwater dungeon or free falling into the Hoover Dam.  Transport that same scene in novel form and a reader would flip to the Table of Contents, wondering if some pages had been truncated.

Then there are the endings, which are even more terse.  Once the golden elixir is found, the city is saved, the boy gets girl back---there's no point in lingering, and we immediately FADE TO BLACK.

Most of my writing experience is in writing for the screen---whether television or movies.  I knew novel writing was different; in fact, when I used to read screenplays for a production company, we could always spot the novelists because of the sheer amount of…words on their screenplay.   Some screenwriting gurus even recommend that any block of text in a screenplay longer than five lines be edited.  This seems absurd until you start reading scripts from films that were actually produced and realize that this is not only true for the most part, but it's one of the reasons the film succeeds.

Which leads me to the feedback I get the most:  that the story started too quickly and ended too abruptly.   I realize that this is true, and I'm writing about it now not as a way to make excuses, but as a way to remind myself that there is so much more to learn. 

Although now that it's been pointed out to me, I do wish I could re-write my book and flesh out the ending a little more…

Writing is an art.   Sublime writing IS art.  The most important thing will always be a great story creatively told.    My mistake (which I will correct with my next novel!) is in not respecting writing as a discipline---and experience in one genre doesn't necessarily carry over into another.

What happens next...

I've been struggling to write my second book for awhile now.  I really wanted the story of Jamie and Chase to continue, but as much as we would love it in our own lives, two hundred pages of a couple in love just wouldn't be that interesting of a read.  Shortly after finishing the final, FINAL versions of "Fame, Love and other Lessons", I was trying to imagine what would happen to the characters.   Something that would show that their story wasn't over yet, but something that would ring true.

I pondered.

I procrastinated.

Nothing.

So I thought I should move on.  Luke, Jamie's older brother, was a character worth exploring.  He was a nice, if typical guy in his twenties, albeit one who was handsome, had a great job, and the worldliness that came with having lived the life of a college athlete.  What would it be like if his heart got broken?  What kind of woman would he fall head over heels for?   I still may get back to Luke, but not yet.

Most writers can probably relate to what happened next, while those who aren't will wonder if I drink (the answer: no, because it takes me two days to recover from just one glass of wine).  But I had an image of Chase in a foreign country, seriously hurt, thinking that he was going to die all alone.  My first thought was, wait---what?!  No, no, this isn't what I had in mind!  Can we go back to Luke?  In short, I had that all-too-common experience of creating a character that began to take a life of it's own.  A writer friend of mine once told me that he saw his characters, like minature toy soldiers, enacting scenes of what should happen next on the top of his monitor.  Another one told me she would have dreams about them.  My characters sneak up on me unannounced, and I find myself watching them like a film in my head.  Anyway, I really didn't want to pursue this line of thinking.  One, because I didn't want to write a story about loss and two, because as a reader, you expect a certain trajectory in a series.  "Fame" is a light, happy read.  It would be as if the second installation of "High School Musical" suddenly turned into "The Virgin Suicides". 

So I procrastinated some more.

But eventually, it became too clear to ignore.  A scandal has caused Chase to be expelled from the NBA for a year, and he moves to Spain to play in the European League.  As a result of what he's done, he and Jamie break up.  During a game, a bomb goes off, and he's hurt.  As he lapses in and out of consciousness, unsure of whether he's still alive or not, he thinks about Jamie, and we find out what happened to get him to this point.

This isn't the story I expected, but now that it's crystallized, I think it's the story that I'm ready to tell.

More books, more problems

The good news is, "Fame, Love, and other Lessons" is doing well.  It's hovered in the #10 spot for the past week in the Sports Fiction genre, and even better, is around #50 in the Coming-of-Age bestseller list.

The bad news is, my book was placed on a website that has "pirated" works.  This may explain the large number of returns I got during a one week period---the week my book was first listed.

There's nothing to be done about this, apparently.  Online piracy exists and people who are willing to break the law can get any book, any song, online for free.  I've already written a letter to the site asking them to take the link down, but as I've read in discussion boards, it's only a matter of time before the book shows up somewhere else. 

Other writers should Google their book title:  I didn't think that my little ol' $2.99 book would be worth pirating, but I was wrong.   So if you, too, discover some bad news, this link was very helpful in learning more information:

http://stephanielawton.com/2012/06/24/for-writers-steps-to-deal-with-book-piracy/

the post also had this template, which I used:

Attn: Copyright Agent, [list illegal file share site here]

Pursuant to 17 USC 512(c) (3) (A), this communication serves as a statement that:

1. I am [your name] the duly authorized representative of the exclusive rights holder for [book title] as listed above;
2. These exclusive rights are being violated by material available upon your site at the following URL(s): [list URLs];
3. I have a good faith belief that the use of this material in such a fashion is not authorized by the copyright holder, the copyright holder’s agent, or the law;
4. Under penalty of perjury in a United States court of law, I state that the information contained in this notification is accurate, and that I am authorized to act on the behalf of the exclusive rights holder for the material in question;
5. I may be contacted by the following methods: [email address--many request physical addresses and phone numbers, too. I am leery of this].

I hereby demand that you remove or disable access to this material as it appears on your service in as expedient a fashion as possible.

Regards,

[Your name]

 

 

Writers who don't write

Hi, my name is Jo.   And it's been three weeks, five days and nine hours since I last wrote.  I am a writer who doesn't write.

 

There.  I've admitted it.  And like an addict, I probably wasn't even telling the truth about when the last time I wrote was.  My sense is that it's been longer.  I just don't want to know.

Now that I'm older, I've built up an entire warehouse full of what-could-have-been's.  How my life would have turned out if I hadn't done this, taken that call, listened to my instincts, moved to this city…I try not to do it, not only because it's useless and painful, but also because it's unfair.  At the time I made those decisions, I made them with the best information, and as the best; albeit misguided, weak, immature person I could have been back then.

But the one thing I WILL allow is the regret of not writing more.  Because what 18, 28, 38 year old aspiring writer doesn't know that they are supposed to write everyday?  I love writing, and can easily get in the zone when I'm writing free form like this.  But working on a novel, which is more long term?  Writing without an ending by the time I get up from my computer?  I have always had a hard time with that.  Much to my regret and detriment, obviously.  If I could have been discplined enough to write everyday, to commit to writing even when I didn't want to, I KNOW that I wouldn't be struggling today.

 

Do I really think I'm that talented a writer?  No, but I do agree with books like "The Talent Code" that says you will develop mastery over anything you do in a substantive way for ten thousand hours.  Any writer---unless you're F. Scott Fitzgerald---can pick up something they wrote ten, fifteen, years ago and be struck by how much better they are today.  If I can improve when I only wrote intermittently, I'm confident that I would have improved even more if I actually took the whole damn thing seriously.

Which is the point.  I wrote as a hobby.  I wrote blogs, articles, essays---quick one hour projects, in between the big projects like scripts and novels I'd work on twice a year.  I didn't exactly stop writing, ever.  I loved writing too much to do that.  But I was a careless and indifferent lover, to be sure, and I certainly took my writing for granted, always confident it would still be there anytime I wanted to return.

I'm thinking about this now because in a way, writing is no longer a hobby.  I have finally gotten paid for my writing (although the check is still in the mail) and I need to start treating it as if it's a job.  At least, if I want to continue getting checks, let alone aiming for bigger ones.  Which means I have to work even when it isn't fun, when I'm not in the mood, and a whole host of other excuses that I let myself get away with when I don't take my writing seriously.

It's time to start working on the next book.  I'm not sure if it's going to be a sequel to "Fame, Love and other Lessons".  This makes sense, and commerically, I know this is the way to go.  But the story ended with them HEA, and I really don't want to ruin that with some kind of crisis that tears them apart.  So I have to look towards another character; probably Jamie's brother Luke.  Anyway, this is why I need to get started writing.  I've read other writers talk about putting out a sequel within months.  And really, why not?  I've pushed myself to write 1500 words a day, and it's not that hard.  Well, it's hard for me, but on the scale of eight hours doing a job you hate (which I have to remind myself is the alternative) then it's really very easy.

 

Reviews

Another author scandal, this time by a British crime author, RJ Ellory.  Ellory was caught writing glowing five star reviews about his own books, and giving his competition scathing one-star reviews.

Before I published on Amazon, I would have heard about this and given a big "so what" to the whole thing.  But now that I see how important reviews are to the sales, and therefore ranking of our books, I can certainly sympathize with the need to help the process along.

As an author, reviews matter.  Not only are they a way for us to get feedback about our work, IMO they are also the best marketing tool we have.  I can spend hours promoting on social media, and expose the book to hundreds of eyeballs.  But these are all superficial.  The person who is on my Amazon page is the equivalent of the browser in a book store who has my book in their hands---this is the critical 'buy' moment and what influences them at that moment is golden.

If the person is like me, they will read the reviews.  True story; before buying a pair of pants online that I ALREADY OWN, I read the reviews.  I have a pair of pants that I love and simply wanted to get a different color.  Yet when I found myself reading what other people had to say about the pants, I grasped how influential reviews were.   

This influence is more amplified with self-published authors.  Reviews can reassure a buyer that what they are about to spend their hard earned money on is not an unintelligible vanity project, but a story that at least meets a minimum standard for editing and craft.

In turn, the more sales a book has, the higher it places in the rankings, and the more exposure it gets.  Which leads to more sales, etc.  Really, there's nothing I can do to market my book that is more powerful than someone leaving a good review.

My book has reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, and as much as I wish they were all five stars, I'm OK with the two-star ones because they legitimize the other reviews.  Full disclosure, I also gave myself (using my own name!) a five star rating on Goodreads.  I hesitated about doing this because I've read rants about how misleading such a practice was.  But ultimately, I decided that as a reader and purchaser of the book, I was entitled to that one vote.  If politicians can vote for themselves, I reasoned, then why couldn't I?  Of course, I didn't write a review, let alone one that called my book a "masterpiece".  I also didn't attack my competitors.

Which brings us back to RJ Ellory.  I'm fascinated by what he did because he is already successful---his books have sold over a million copies total, and one of them was named Crime Novel of the Year 2010---can a person with that kind of validation still be subjected to the same insecurities about his skill as a writer, and the worth of his books as the rest of us just starting out?

The answer, apparently, is yes. 

 

So far, so good

I think the changes I've made (changing genres, putting a 'sexually explicit' warning in the description) has worked, because I've been in the Top 100 list for Kindle ebooks this week. 

Next, I have to decide whether or not I'm going to use up my last two free Kindle book days. 

Sex doesn't always sell...

Know your audience.  Know who you are writing for. 

Sound advice.  Too bad I didn't take it.

I started out writing "Fame, Love" as a story about first love that also happened to be sexual---because quite honestly, when you are 19 and in love for the first time, sex is a very big part of the relationship.  However, the sexuality meant I couldn't classify my book as Young Adult.  I've read enough publishers guidelines to know that even though my protagonist is of age, and other books have college-age characters, YA is geared towards the younger readers in the 13-19 age spectrum.  OK, fair enough. 

But I didn't want to write "erotica", either.  The sex was neither gratiutous nor titallating, and quite frankly not that graphic.  Again, it was part of the story, but not the reason for telling the story.

So onto Romance.  The only problem was, this book doesn't really read like a Romance in the traditional sense.  Generally, virgins in Romance are firmly placed in the Edwardian era.  Virgins in modern times fall into two categories:  Young Adult, as in "Twilight", or Erotica, as in "Fifty Shades"...my book was neither, so around and around I went. 

I wrote the story I wanted, and only came across these issues when it was time to answer the all important question of which category this book would fall under.  I'm not sure I would have changed anything.  I MAY have made it less explicit to fall into the Young Adult category because these titles are so commercial.  But if I had, would I regret it now because Romance is such a consistent best seller?

What did happen is that my book has jumped from one category to another in it's short life.  Initially, I think I classified it as a Contemporary Romance, where it promptly fell into the black hole of all the Sex and the City-like books out there.  My character was not an urban, jaded, sexually adventurous woman in her late twenties on a quest to get married.  She was an innocent young woman in a committed relationship with someone who was just as crazy in love with her.  Clearly, this was a different story.  Because if the overarching conflict of most contemporary Romances is overcoming baggage from past relationships and learning to love someone, and if the question was whether the characters would wind up together, then...my book wasn't quite it.  As a Romance reader myself, I know there are specific elements I look for and I didn't want to annoy people because my book didn't deliver those elements.

Onto Fiction/Drama.  Initially, I felt better about this category because I liked focusing in on the "drama" of the story (celebrity culture destroying a sound relationship), rather than the will-they-get-together part.   However, I noticed that the book was getting returns, which didn't happen before.  Was this book was failing to meet expectations; or were the descriptions of sex were a problem?  I couldn't fix someone just not liking the book, but I could fix expectations.  When a reviewer addressed this by saying that the books was not for young readers, my suspicions were confirmed.  I had avoided any "teen" labels, stated "sexual awakening" in the description, and placed it in an adult category.  But without the Romance designation, was the book confusing people?   Again, for those who haven't read the book, this story is about two young people who are perfect for each other in every way, but because of their successes, are having a hard time staying together.  I kept the romantic and emotional elements in---but I certainly didn't use euphemisms when describing what happened between them. 

Now the final (or should I just say current) iteration of the book is that it is in the Sports Fiction category, and the very first line of the description states that it is sexually explicit, so the "Adult" designation is made clear.  The male character IS an NBA player, and the problems in their relationship are caused by the fame that this brings.  If found in a Chick Lit, Young Adult or Contemporary Romance category, readers may be disappointed at the role sports plays in the story (god forbid, I don't get into stats or anything, but if you "hate" sports, then it's probably too much).  Alternatively, women browsing the "Sports Fiction" category are probably women who like reading about the challenges that pro athletes face (fans of Basketball Wives?)  will find this book to be just what they are looking for.  Which is exactly who my audience is.

I may not agree with changing elements of a story to fit into a category, especially if done for marketing purposes.  But once the book is finished, I do see the importance of knowing who will love your book, who will hate it, who will be offended by it...and THEN market accordingly.

Choosing a cover

The changes continue...
I changed my book cover from this:

 



to this:

 

 

 



The dimensions are supposed to be 300 DPI and a 1:6 ratio.  Mine is 72 DPI because that's what it turned into after I shrunk it down to 625x950.  I'm not really sure what all that means; it's just what I was able to glean from researching.

Anyway, I did everything myself---can you tell??!  My Pinterest addiction notwithstanding,  I am not a visual person.  I don't know how to Photoshop anything, and I barely know enough to create a collage.  So when I first thought about design covers I wanted something simple; something that would convey youth, and would let someone browsing the book know that this wasn't a chick-lit, YA, kind of read.  In what was a completely unoriginal, derivative process, I came up with the idea of using denim to represent a story about college students.  Hmm, kinda like using a tie to represent a bondage loving billionaire...

I also looked through several book illustrations in my genre and realized that you could always spot the book written by a newbie by the proverbial cover.  Usually, they included some kind of vector graphic, or an illustration that shouted "public domain!".  Or worse, hand drawn artwork by someone who clearly was not an artist.

In contrast, I saw how good covers were rich and multilayered.  Titles weren't in just one color, font, or size.  Pictures weren't static, but enhanced and cropped with other images, then layered with the text.  I tried to create this effect myself, but to no avail.  So, like someone who decides to go with a Little Black Dress when in doubt about what to wear, I went with a minimalist cover.  I would be invisible and forgettable, but at least I wouldn't be inappropriate.  The result was clearly amateur, but at least it didn't have some sketch of a crying girl looking out of a window.  Or a dude with a gun.

Cover finished, I moved on to the editing (!), the preparation to get it to CreateSpace, the marketing, and the obsessive checking of rank.  Every now and then I'd even start to think about the next book. 

But in the back of my mind, I kept wondering if the cover itself, rather than being the plain, neutral but non-offensive cover I wanted it to be, was causing me to lose sales.  Because, really, that cover said nothing about the plot, and it didn't even say anything about what kind of book it was.  Then one day, when I was lucky enough to have it be in the Top 100, I scrolled through the list, and there was "Fame", drab and stark, looking very out of place.

That was it.  I HAD to make a change.  First on my list:  a cover with at least one person on it.   I noticed that I always looked at a cover with a picture on it, and especially if there were actually people in the picture.  I think this is just one of those reflexes---we're curious about other people's photos.  It didn't even matter if  liked the cover or not; like a speed bump, I slowed down for a closer look.  So, I downloaded a photo of a blonde woman at a crossroads.  The story's conflict is not solely about the dilemma Jamie faces between two men, but ultimately, it was the best of what was available.   More importantly, this picture was of a young blonde woman like Jaime, so that was a bg plus.  I also liked that you couldn't see a face on the cover.  Better, I think, for the reader to project their own idea of what the character looked like than to have them think, "that's not what I imagined she  would look like at all!"   I spent a few days on Picassa, and mostly through trial and error, I came up with a cover that is eye catching and hopefully gives the reader a sense of what is inside.

The fact that the cover developed organically is the true lesson for me.  The picture, the colors, the fonts are very different from my sensibilities.  Surprisingly, though, it suits the book better than anything I could have envisioned before I started working on it, and that's how I know the cover has captured the essence of the story.

"C" is for Controversy

Well.  Anyone with an interest in writing will probably be fascinated, as I was, with the latest controversy regarding self published authors.  (Read the article, here.)  The uproar started when best selling author Sue Grafton referred to SPA's as lazy and unwilling to do hard work.  What's even more interesting is reading the comments section at the end of these articles.  It's given me a chance to address my own feelings about the legitimacy of self publishing by seeing how vigorously and articulately it was defended.

Obviously, Sue Grafton is entitled to her own opinion, but that is not what people are reacting to.  "50 Shades of Grey is overhyped" is an opinion.   But this?   "Don't self publish.  That's as good as admitting you're too lazy to do the hard work."  Or, " Self-publishing is a short cut and I don’t believe in short cuts when it comes to the arts. I compare self-publishing to a student managing to conquer Five Easy Pieces on the piano and then wondering if s/he’s ready to be booked into Carnegie Hall" .

Those aren't opinions, they're judgements, and it's petty coming from an author with the success that Sue Grafton has achieved.

I understand her point about the flood of bad books out there; I said myself that anyone with access to a computer can now be published.  Yes, when there are no barriers to entry, a surge of unqualified people come into the market, and this dilutes/demeans/devalues the craft.  But this is true for any endeavor.  American Idol, America's Next Top Model, America's Got Talent, to name just a few, are wildly successful precisely because we see just how ordinary everyone else is.  Especially during the auditions.  But then, through hard work and "coaching", we watch as a handful of people with genuine talent emerge and are recognized---voted for---by the public.  Not the experts, not the gate keepers.  But the public.  It's fair, it's fun;  it works in entertainment, and apparently it works in writing, too.   

Now Sue Grafton has come along to tell us that we are not only ordinary but delusional, to boot.

Why would she even care?  I mean, I don't think Jennifer Lopez sees people who take polite applause at the Karaoke bar as evidence of their singing chops, an insult to her "art".   Does Simon Cowell consider the only road worthy of a platinum album one that involves years of singing in nearly-empty clubs?   My guess is that they don't spend too much time worrying about whether or not someone has paid their dues.  They recognize that things are different now and they use that difference to build new and more successful careers for themselves.

I am aware of the thousands of poorly written, poorly edited and aggressively marketed books out there because that is my competition.  If I resent anything, it's that the presence of these tens of thousands of bad books make it that much harder for other people to take a chance on my book.  But so what?   A quick preview, reader ratings, book rank---these give more than enough information about whether to proceed---for the reader AND the writer.  The market decides quickly, and the effect on me (if I've produced a book that people want) is minimal in the long run. 

Maybe I can be philosophical about this because I've already gone through this weeding out process in the course of establishing my blog.  After two years of writing and refining, I now have a small but solid following.  In the meantime, I've seen a few blogs do really well, but those blogs reflected the care and passion of their creators.  Some of the blogs that started at the same time as I did, the ones whose creators manically flooded every blog hop in an attempt to raise their Goodle reader count, but then promptly unfollowed everyone who followed them:  I've lasted long enough to see those blogs become abandoned.  At best, they are limping along with a post once or twice a month, their creators dreams of Internet riches through ad revenue or sponsorships sinking fast.  Again, the quality of the product and the market decides.

I also understand the entrepreneurial impulse to create and build something with your own (figurative) hands.  The economy is in tatters, millions of people are unemployed, and many women with kids are trying to find a way to earn an income while staying home.  It's an admirable and natural instinct to try a variety of different things.  I know I did, and I failed at a few of them myself (online customer service rep, anyone?)  I'm just a little more determined when it comes to writing, I think, because I've been doing it without pay for so long I've convinced myself that this is something that makes me happy. Writing, that is.  Not working without pay. 

Anyway, when a successful, established author criticizes "us" for being lazy, for taking shortcuts and worst of all, for being poor writers (!!) then it's no wonder she triggers a strong reaction.  Especially when most of the writers who are serious about being independent authors HAVE had to take rejection.  Years and years worth, actually.  And oh yes, we HAVE spent years refining plot, structure, character development and all the myriad other things that result in good writing. 

Worse, Grafton's is such an…ungenerous, uninformed and again, judgemental position to take.  Sure, there are now thousands of "wannabe" writers, but thousands (millions?) of new readers have been created as well, in the form of electronic readers, tablets and even mobile phones.  Perhaps Sue should move beyond thinking of herself as a master craftsman, toiling in a "salon" with a few apprentices at her feet, and into the 21st century where reading is neither as leisurely nor literary as it once was.

Books are no longer the discrete objects they once were.  Without the restrictions of space, weight and cost, books have become goods.  Not too long ago, a person who owned thousands of books had to have both space to store them and money to buy them.  Now, you can hold thousands of books in the clutch of your hand, and with free books being offered every single day, those books could be acquired without spending a penny.   Today, people own titles, not books.  They are acquired at a faster rate than ever before, and the explosion of sub genres like fanfic or steampunk means more people are reading because they have found something they can relate to.

Wouldn't it make more sense, then, to accept that whether people are reading books or simply acquiring them, the old paradigms have shifted?  And that perhaps, in this brave new world of online publishing, there is more than one way to be a legitimate author?

Here's the follow-up interview:

http://louisvilleky.com/2012/08/more-from-sue-grafton-on-publishing-indie-writers/

As well as a timely Forbes article about independent publishing:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidvinjamuri/2012/08/15/publishing-is-broken-were-drowning-in-indie-books-and-thats-a-good-thing/

Newbies

In an earlier post, I wrote about groups and communities I had joined in order to promote my book, and of how I would have to do more than just throw a link up with a smiley face to "read my book"!  Now that I've finally finished setting up accounts on AuthorMarketingClub, Shelfari, LibraryThing and Goodreads, and created my author pages on Amazon and Facebook, it's time to double back and start contributing.  Because what I've realized, and what every book promoter emphasizes, is that you have to give something back.  Whether it's just to comment on a post, or to participate in tag exchanges, it can't just be all about you.

Anyone who believes otherwise should look at how "self promoters" are either ignored, or attacked on forums.  As a writer with a book to promote, I understand how single minded you can get.  You read about how writers like Colleen Hoover and John Locke marketed themselves and their books to the top of the book seller lists, and it's easy to follow their steps as if it were a checklist:  Twitter, Facebook, Community Boards.  Twitter, Facebook, Community Boards.  Repeat until successful. 

The only problem is, the people receiving those tweets have to actually know and like you.  Even if it's in the most superficial, online sort of way.  Which is why participating, contributing, giving is important.  Otherwise, those are strangers on the other end of that keyboard, and they'll be the first to tell you that they did NOT log in today just to be of service to you by reading your book.  Despite your fifty posts imploring them to do so.   Worse, you've probably just lost some readers.   

Not that I'm an expert, but I think the best thing for a new writer to do is tread lightly.  To that end, I'm participating in Tag Exchanges where I list my book (like this one from Author Marketing Club).  As it's name makes clear, the purpose of the site is for author's to market their books so no one gets annoyed by people, umm, self promoting.   I'm also helping my book become more visible to readers who may be searching for books in my category.  Another bonus?  I'm getting to "know" other indie writers like me.

Gratitude

So yesterday I decided to put a link to my book from this site.   I had a link before but took it down because of the Amazon KDP Terms and Conditions clause:  "When you choose KDP Select for a book, you're committing to make the digital format of that book available exclusively through KDP. During the period of exclusivity, you cannot distribute your book digitally anywhere else, including on your website, blogs, etc. However, you can continue to distribute your book in physical format, or in any format other than digital."

I was pretty sure that providing a link TO Amazon from my blog could not be considered "distributing" my book somewhere else, but I didn't want any reason to get booted from the program so I took it down.  However, after doing some more reading on the Community boards, I came to the conclusion that distributing meant I couldn't sell the book through Barnes and Noble or some other channels.

I could be wrong on this.

Anyway, I decided I was giving up a way to market the book, and so went back to put up the links.  Where I discovered:

Which meant that the CreateSpace paperback was up there, it just wasn't linked to the Kindle edition.  Which meant that the reviews, tags and likes (as hard earned as they were) weren't helping sell the paperback.  I also wondered why the paperback version was designated as Volume 1, but that's something else I'm going to have to sort out.

I'm tempted to complain about what a huge hassle all this is, but I have to keep everything in perspective.  Three months ago I was an unpublished writer who had spent most of her adult life trying to get a contract, deal---hell, a call back---from anyone in the publishing industry. 

Today, my book is on Amazon (!), it's in the hands of thousands of readers, and now it's in print form.  And yes, it was all free.  Oh, and I have the ability to check sales on an hourly basis.  Which even authors like John Grisham couldn't do ten (five?) years ago.

A little bit of gratitude for the technology and opportunity is in order; I realize that. 

Maybe this will help me focus on how, in a very small way, I was able to manifest my dream of becoming a published writer.  Yes, the sales are small, and I'm floundering in the six digit rankings, but would that have been different if I had been published by a traditional publishing company?  I mean, is every book sold at Barnes and Noble a blockbuster? 

Instead, I bypassed celebrating and sending out a silent "thank you" and good karma to every single person who spent their money on my words and jumped directly into not-good-enough. 

I wonder---is life like this, in general?  I have dreamed for so long of seeing my name in print, yet when it happened, the moment passed as if it were just another item crossed off my to-do list.  When I saw the number of downloads ranking up during the free promo,  when I see actual (paid!) sales, I don't stop and savor what a frikkin miracle that is.  Why?

If someone had told me ten years ago when life was pretty bleak and I was tempted to give up: "keep writing, because in 2012 you are going to be published, and your book is going to briefly hit #1 on an Amazon chart"  I would have been delirious with joy.   Yet today, all I can think about is why the book isn't #1 on a REAL Amazon bestseller list, and all the crap I still have to do.
I think a silent moment to look back and see how far I've come will go a long way in changing my mindset.

Changes

I've changed several things since I last posted.

The first is I made my book available through CreateSpace.  I approved the proofs, and now I'm waiting for the book to show up on Amazon.  It's supposed to take 5-10 business days.  I'm on Day 4, and nothing yet.

I also sent a request to Kindle that previous buyers of my book be able to update their copy with a newer version.  I thought about this a lot.  On the one hand, it should be obvious: of course I would want everyone to have the newest version possible.  On the other hand, am I just highlighting my indie author status by doing this???  As in, hey, look at me, I couldn't get the book right the first time???

I was leaning towards NO notifications, but then I realized that with 7500 downloads out there, there are a lot of people who probably haven't read the book yet.  How would I feel if some of those people gave the book bad reviews because of typos, knowing that this time, I had a chance to correct it? 

So, I sent an email to Kindle Support.  Still waiting for that, too.

In the meantime, I'm realizing that I'm incapable of multi-tasking, at least when it comes to writing.  When there's a problem with my kids; even if they're just home with the flu---I find it hard to concentrate on anything else.  Well!  It feels like "Fame, Love and other Lessons" is one child that's sick, and I'm having a hard time trying to do anything else when all my focus is on trying to make sure this book gets "better". 

Which is a long way of saying I have done nothing with my next project.

No excuses on my part, but how does anyone else do it?  I'm trying to get a paperback version available, waiting to hear about updates, tracking sales, and trying to participate in the community.  I'm starting to feel overwhelmed…

Oh, and the other thing I've changed:  I moved the book from Fiction/Drama to Fiction/Contemporary Romance.  I know this runs counter to what I said earlier, but after looking at the books on the Drama best seller list last week, I just couldn't keep the book there anymore.  It seemed so out of place.  The biggest thing, though, is that this book has explicit sexual content.  Nothing on the level of erotica, but I thought that if I put it in Romance, there would be no suprises.  I mean, the book is not on the YA list, and I've been very careful to avoid any kind of YA designation for precisely that reason, but one reviewer said they wouldn't recommend it to anyone under 16.  Which leads me to believe that I hadn't been clear enough.

I continue to wait…

Free Fallin'

I have dropped out of the Amazon Top 100 in my category.  Urgh.  How could I have gone from a high of #17 (paid) to god-knows-what in ten days??

I'm trying to fight an impulse to deny what's happening:  there HAS to be a mistake.  Immediately after my book became "available" on CreateSpace, but before it's been posted on Amazon, my sales started dropping…to nothing.  Coincidence?  Hmm, I think not.

Maybe it's the Olympics!

Or maybe it's this blog!

Or maybe it's all this social marketing stuff having an adverse effect!

Or maybe I should just face facts and accept that my book is D-O-N-E.

Inside, I'm doing the equivalent of dropping to my knees, shaking a fist to the sky and screaming, "Why, God, Why??  Why don't they like my book?!"

But on the outside, I'm just sitting here trying to figure out what to do next.  And blogging about it.

The most productive thing is to:

1.  Be patient.

2.  Work on my next project.

3.  Try to figure out other ways to market the book.

Let's go through this one at a time. 

Be patient.  On the one hand, there's a lot going on.  Supposedly, Amazon is going through some system changes.  At least that's what someone posted on the Community boards, so the shit MUST be true.  And, again, I don't know what effect offering my book in paperback and Kindle version is going to have.  So, I should be patient.  It's not like I have a choice or anything.

Work on my next project.  This makes the most sense in a Buddhist/therapist-advice kind of way.  Instead of trying to give myself the appearance of control over this process by constantly checking my ranking and reports, I should focus on doing the thing that I actually, really, do have control over, and that's creating. 

Other ways to market the book.  Well, I guess this can't hurt.  Also, I should take advantage of this "lull" in sales and upload yet another, edited version of the book.

I'm exhausted from worry.  And now I'm worried that there's something wrong with me because I'm seeing some obsessive tendencies surfacing.  I mean, really, I need to check my stats every hour??  Do all authors go through this?  Or just me?

Job description

I've taken several career aptitude tests in my life, and ironically, "Writer" never shows up in the top three of recommended jobs.  Instead, I am apparently meant for a career as an "Actuary" or "Accountant".  No offense to either field, especially since the only accountant-types I know are pretty successful, but nothing could be further from who I am.  I've been writing all my life, and am happiest when I'm being creative.  (Honestly, if "Teacher" and "Researcher" didn't up on the list, I would think the program was too lazy to move beyond the A's, and completely disregard the recommendations.)

I also can't chalk up the results to inexperience or youth.  The last test I took was about ten years ago when my children were starting school, and I wanted to get back into the workforce.  So even as an adult with a career behind me, the best justification I could muster to being a writer was a lukewarm "Technical Writer" suggestion somewhere in my Top Ten.   I helped write technical manuals years ago, and that has about as much in common with writing a novel as working at a fast food restaurant does to being a chef.

I'm thinking about this now because I feel as if some of the skills I was identified as having:  analytical, communication, and technical---are what I'm using the most of now as an independent author.

The analytical part is necessary for editing (well, this aptitude is apparently trumped by impatience in my case).  But the communication and technical skills go hand in hand with marketing yourself, i.e., your "brand" through social media.

For the past few weeks, I've worked full-time to set up author pages on Facebook and Amazon, set up accounts on Goodreads, Author Marketing Club and others, joined groups, lists and boards, combed through dozens of online resources, and of course, started this blog.  And this is just the beginning.  I actually have to/want to contribute to these groups.  Which I will do as soon as I get through the rest of my marketing to-do list.

Way back in the 20th century, I thought being a Writer meant spending most of your time…writing.  It still does, I suppose.  Except now you're writing blogs, status updates, About Me pages, and posts. 

I guess I've become a Technical Writer, after all.

Learning from mistakes

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,532 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

o    #48 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Drama > United States
o    #87 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > United States

So what I worked on this weekend was getting my book ready to print in Createspace.  I am really taking my time with this process, though. 


There have been two reviews (one on Amazon, one on Goodreads) that said my book needed "editing help".  It bothers me because they're right.  This is a criticism that not only affected the readers' impression, rating and enjoyment of my book, it will also affect future sales.  I'm also beginning to wonder if the returns I've had (four this month) have to do with this quality issue. 

I've gone through about five revisions in the past two weeks, so the latest versions should be "clean", but the poor reviews are there to stay.  Hardest to take?  The fact that this is 100% my fault, and that it was 100% avoidable.

Rule #1:  Don't consider a book finished if you are still adding or changing scenes. 

This causes careless editing because you assume you've already gone over everything and begin relying solely on Spellchecker.  For example, I can come up with a great (new) line for my character and forget that she had said something similar in a previous page, or I'll end up adding an extra quote mark because I inserted this line in the middle of existing dialogue.   You know how the only way to tell when popcorn is done is when there are two seconds between pops?  I'm going to apply the same rule to my next book:  it's only done when I can go over the whole book (twice) and not want to make a single change.


Rule #2:  Pay attention to feedback. 
Before self publishing, I received a few responses from my query letters from traditional publishers.   One editor wrote back and helpfully suggested that I go over my manuscript again because she saw a lot of mistakes in it.  In that particular case, I realized that I had converted to PDF, an earlier draft of my book.  But this should have told me that I had lost track of which version I had actually been editing, and that there were serious problems in my manuscript---which to an editor is anyting over one mistake, and to a reader anything over two.

Rule #3:  Daily word counts are not my friend. 

Let me correct that:  word counts are my friend, because they have made the difference between the 10-12 unfinished manuscripts that I have and "Fame".   However, when you force yourself to write 2700 words a day, (in order to finish a 50,000 word novel in a month) there are going to be days when what you are writing is just filler and should be deleted.  There is also the tendency to throw yourself across the finish line like a marathoner when you've reached Day 30, regardless of where you are in the story.  One reviewer said my story ended abruptly.  She was right, and that's the reason.


There's a reason why this topic is my second post:  rushing something to print has been my biggest mistake (so far) in this process, and it's something that can't be undone.

Marketing "Fame, Love, and other Lessons"

The story so far, pun intended:

On June 21, 2012 I self-published my contemporary romance novel, "Fame, Love, and other Lessons" on Kindle Select Publishing (KDP).

Miraculously, two people purchased it that first week.  I call it a miracle now, because now I know just how unlikely it is for someone to buy a book from a self published unknown author.  But back then, I just thought it was a typical, if slightly disappointing, book launch.  If you build it, they will come and all that. 

So, more out of due diligence than any sense of panic, I began reading about book marketing, and a week after going live, I launched a one-day promo of my book.  After obsessively checking the download reports every fifteen minutes, I finished the day with 239 downloads, ranking somewhere in the #100,000 of Kindle books.

Still, I remained optimistic that with these 239 new readers, my book would somehow begin spreading through word of mouth.   This didn't happen.  At the end of the month, my book was burning up the charts at the #270,000 (approximately) range.  I finished the month with 4 sales, 1 refund, the 239 downloads, and zero reviews.

I was now beginning to get an appreciation of just how many books were available.  Especially after I began reading the Kindle community boards.  I thought most people had a background similar to mine:  I've written most of my life, I studied Writing in college, and I've attended conferences, seminars and read just about every book on Writing that the local libraries had.  The book that I uploaded was the result of years honing the craft.  Unfortunately, with the availability of self-publishing, there were no editors, no filters, no barriers and the market was (is) flooded with works from anyone with access to a word processor.

I say this without judgement, but only as a writer who must now compete with millions of people vying for a spot on the virtual bookshelf.  I am confident that the market weeds bad writers out, and that really good books will rise to the top.  I've seen it happen, and meanwhile, I'm grateful that I no longer have to send out query letters asking for the privilege of sending a one page synopsis to some editor's slush pile.   So, viva Amazon, hooray for the free market, and all that. 

But with so much competition at the bottom, how can I stand out?

I began to read even more about book marketing.  I realized that I would have to have some reviews and likes in order to improve my ranking.  I began looking at successful books similar to mine and discovered I was in the wrong category.   I joined FB groups, and signed up for any indie marketing community boards I could find.  I read through a LOT of the Kindle community boards (http://forums.kindledirectpublishing.com/kdpforums/forumindex.jspa) and the Amazon Kindle forum (http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle).

One of the things that came up over and over again was the need to spell check, edit, re-edit, and re-edit some more.  Apparently, nothing shouted "amateur" more than a book riddled with typos and errors.  I went through my book again, and even though I thought I HAD gone through the book (running it through spell check on Word and reading through my favorite parts is apparently not enough), I was embarassed to find several, a lot of mistakes.  I corrected these and uploaded a new version.  

Now, in my own defense, I have to say that none of the rants that the people on the community board indulged in applied to me.  Unlike the writers held up for scorn by the author's community, I knew the difference between "your" and "you're", "there" and "their" and mastered simple English phrases like "could have" when others wrote "could of".   No, my mistakes were caused by carelessness and rewrites.   I left words out, or didn't delete new sections completely.  Because of this, I assumed my mistakes would be minimal.  Unfortunately, I was wrong, but this mistake deserves a post of its own.

Anyway, I scheduled two more free days on Amazon for July.  I sent out notices to anyone offering free listings of Kindle promos, changed the category of my novel from Fiction à Drama instead of Fiction à Romance, and managed to get several likes and two reviews before my two free days on July 22nd.

The result was dramatic.  By the time I woke up on the 22nd, "Fame, Love and other Lessons" had received over 1000 downloads and was on the bestseller charts in its category.  Later on in the day, it eventually reached #1 in it's category (for free Kindle books), where it remained until the next day.  I was giddy with excitement and took screen shots of my book on the top of the list.

When the promo ended, my book had been downloaded 7500 times.

So…this is a blog about what happens next.  I'm going to figure it out as I go along, but since there are so many people (like me) who are doing the same thing, I thought I'd keep a journal about what I was doing, and the results of my efforts.

I hope you enjoy this blog, and that it can be helpful in your own efforts.