publishing evolution #84: writers communities & author websites

1) Let me tell you a story. Back in April 2006, I read Twilight for the first time. I loved it. Loved it to bits and pieces. Loved it so much that I skimmed the entire book in one day, wrote an entire paper that same day, and immediately picked the book up again. (Since then, I've come to really despise everything related to Twilight. Oversaturation, perhaps? A realization that the series isn't all that great? Who knows?) I loved the book so much, that I went online, googled Stephenie Meyer, visited her website, and wrote her an email.

An excerpt from my email:

I started reading your book late Monday night (or, rather, early Tuesday morning!) By the end of the first chapter I was completely hooked, and it almost cost me a grade. I am the world's biggest procrastinator, and so it should come as no surprise that I had a paper due by 11:59 Tuesday evening that I had yet to start writing. It should have been easy. I should have woken up early that morning and written my 6-10 pages before evening. Instead, I woke up and stared at the cursor blinking on my pristine word document, my mind contemplating not the USA PATRIOT Act and its affect on libraries, but Edward Cullen. Noon came, I'd yet to write a single word (besides the title page, of course) and decided PBJ was the order of the day. Well, everyone knows you can't type and eat a sandwich at the same time so I picked up Twilight. BIG MISTAKE! I ended up being so drawn into the book that every hour or so when I'd try to put it down and write my blasted paper, I'd end up back with the book five minutes later. I ended up skimming through the entire book that day because I simply had to know what happened and didn't, for the sake of my paper, have time to read it all the way through. At six o'clock I managed to finish skimming, and get down to work, turning in eight pages and a gazillion citations by 11:45 that night. Just made it, and since I have serious doubts that my professor actually reads any of our papers, I'm not all that worried about my grade.  

And she replied! First I got a form email, but a week later I got a second email, actually written in response to my story. It was thrilling. It still is, even though I've since left Twilight behind.

So, yes. I frequently visit author sites, either to gather information before a book club or to learn more after discovering a book or series I love. My favorite author websites are the ones that also have blogs written by the authors. I find blogs fascinating because they give a peak into what another person's life is like. It's a glimpse of secret thoughts, realizations, upcoming news, and proof that even the most famous people can have humdrum days.

One of my favorite author websites and blogs is that of Meg Cabot. Her blog is hilarious! I've been reading her blog for a few years now, and I'm constantly amused at what she writes about. I have even emailed her a time or two when she has done giveaways of advanced reader copies of her books. (And I've received the books, too!)

For this post, I decided to look up Carrie Ryan, the author of the YA books The Forest of Hands & Teeth and it's companion novel, The Dead-Tossed Waves. Guys, I LOVE these books. They are beautiful, haunting, memorable, angsty, action-packed, and completely original. They made me cry. Imagine how ecstatic I was when I saw on her blog that the third book is coming out next spring and that three short stories set in that universe are coming out at various times this year. This is FANTASTIC news! And I never would have known those short stories existed had I not read Carrie Ryan's blog.

2) Do I think an American Idol-esque contest for book publication is a worthwhile idea? No. In fact, I think it's pretty dumb. In my opinion, the general public does not always get things right. I mean, Chris Daughtry came in 6th place on AI and now practically every song on his albums plays on the radio. Jennifer Hudson, who didn't make it to the end of AI won an Oscar for a role in a movie-musical. And Taylor Hicks, who won the fifth season of AI has completely faded into obscurity. See how easily the American public can get things wrong?

What I would like to know is, how many people actually know this contest exists? How many votes do they get each week? It's hardly a popularity contest if no one knows about it.

publishing evolution #83: paper to pixels (or e-ink)

1) For the most part, I prefer books in paper format. I like the freedom of carrying a book around with me, folding down pages, marking my progress through the book. I also like knowing that I can take as long as I want to read a book, without worrying about a dying battery.

But I am not completely opposed to e-books. I have found that some books (mostly classics) are easier for me to read on a computer screen. I finally read all of Jane Austen's Emma last year - online. I had previously tried reading that book half a dozen times, but found it incredibly boring. I don't know if it was determination that pushed me to finally finish it, or if the online version actually helped, but reading it a computer certainly didn't hinder me.

I also recently purchased a Sony Reader, which has been great so far. It is compact and easy to carry around, but I know that free book availability will keep me from using it exclusively.

2) I think price is a concern for the majority of book buyers, particularly while the economy is still struggling to recover. I know I have bought fewer books over the past year than usual. The books I have bought have been from the Friends of the Library, at Half Price Books, or used from sellers on Amazon.

As I mentioned above, I recently purchased a Sony Reader. As of now, I refuse to spend money on digital copies of books. Instead, I've been downloading public domain novels and checking out ebooks from HCPL. It's worked out well for me, and I'll probably stick to this plan for a long while...at least until I get desperate!

3) I think previewing a book before I buy it is a fantastic idea. I do this a lot with cookbooks and knitting books, trying to check them out from the library to see if they are worth the money. However, I wasn't that impressed with iFiction. I suppose it's a good idea for people who are trying to self-publish in the most simplistic fashion, but the quality of the handful of stories I previewed was lacking. It certainly wasn't worth purchasing, even if the rest of the story was only 75 cents.

publishing evolution #82: print on demand

1) I browsed through all of the sites listed in the post and was shocked at how expensive self-publishing can be. There is a basic package (that is still almost as much as my monthly rent) that offers quite a bit, including a full color cover, but the nicer packages are several thousand dollars each. Crazy! I had no idea. It's hard to tell from the website, but the books seem to be decent quality - when the author puts the effort in. Some of the books lacked appealing covers, but that is probably the fault of the author, not the companies.

I can honestly say I have never read, nor do I have any desire to read any of the books I saw in my brief browse through the bookstores on the self-publishing sites. Besides, my TBR list is already a mile long. It would take a strong recommendation from someone with similar reading tastes to mine before I added a self-published title to my list.

2) What do I think of self-publishing? Not much. I think it has a place in the publishing world, but not for people trying to make a living through writing. For recipe collections, family histories, personal biographies, etc, self-publishing is fantastic. It allows the author to print a limited number of books at a relatively low cost to distribute to family and interested friends. But, in my opinion, that is the extent of self-publishing's usefulness.

I found the following quote in the Writer Beware article, which is the perfect springboard for my thoughts on self-publishing.

If you’re a new writer looking to establish a career, however, a POD service is probably not a good choice, except possibly as a fallback option for a manuscript that has failed to find a home.

This is exactly why I don't make a habit of reading self-published books and would never self-publish anything myself. I don't feel that the majority of self-published books could have been accepted by a major publishing company. If you have sent your manuscript to all the major publishing companies and they have all turned you down, there is probably a reason for all the consolation letters. Write something new. Extensively revise your manuscript. Find an agent to represent you to the publishing companies. Don't self-publish, because that is just subjecting an unwitting public to a bad manuscript.