Monthly Archives: March 2011

03/27/11

Form Your Own Algonquin Round Table

Algonquin Round Table founders Art Samuels, Charlie MacArthur, Harpo Marx, Dorothy Parker, and Alexander Woollcott

There must be courage; there must be no awe. There must be criticism, for humor, to my mind, is encapsulated in criticism. There must be a disciplined eye and a wild mind.
—Dorothy Parker

One of the most common accusations levied against self-publishing is the lack of editing. As a professional editor, I understand completely. It’s a compulsion. If I carried a red marker with me, no sign or menu would be safe. However, in the face of this changing industry, such accusations are sometimes tossed out by people in the industry too easily, simply as a knee-jerk reaction. While I agree there is a lot of dross out there, the industry needs to examine its own ways. Many of them are, to be sure, and are adapting to change in interesting and creative ways. But still, some so-called “legacy” publishers cut back on editorial services, and typos that would have been caught by spellcheck are in books. And if we’re going to start talking about quality work, then why are we seeing books “penned” by the cast of Jersey Shore? It seems to be more about money than quality of writing. Everyone is grasping to make sense of this sea change, and there are those who cling to whatever they can: their accusations of lack of editing; lamenting that the publishing industry turning into the Wild West, etc. The same can be said of journalism with countless 24-hour news stations and the expanding universe of the Internet.

I’ve been in the editorial and publishing business since 1996. I have a grad degree in publishing and communications. I highly value the process. But sometimes writers need more than editorial services. They need other writers.

Last summer, I received an invitation to join a group of writers. I loved the diversity of the group: fantasy, screenplays, short stories, sci-fi, screenplays, and literary fiction. We meet weekly, and I’m often reminded of the Algonquin Round Table. I’m one woman in a group of six men. We meet up, we laugh and joke, debate works, and provide detailed feedback on each other’s work.

Case study: I gave them the first two chapters of my new novel. My protagonist, also a real woman in history who needs to tell her story, is very, very different from Ecaterina in The Veiled Mirror. Ecaterina was often passive, following the orders of her lover, Dracula. My new protagonist gives orders and does what she damn well pleases.

I’ve been mindful of the different voices of the two. During our discussion this week, I was asked thought-provoking questions: Why tell this in the first person? What is a certain conversation being played out like this? Why does chapter one end this way? Any typos were suitably marked up.

My playwright friend and I lingered after the lunch was over, and he gave me great insight into how I can improve the pacing and voice of this new novel. He had read the first couple of chapters of The Veiled Mirror alongside this new work, and noticed that Ecaterina’s voice was creeping in. His advice connected back to what my thesis advisor said years ago when I was still working on Ecaterina’s story. Pare down the flowery style of writing. Don’t overexplain historical elements. Show more action, don’t describe it from too distant a lens. Simplify.

It’s something I’ve always struggled with. I love dense, lyrical literature. My strongest influences are Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast trilogy, and the like. But this isn’t suitable for my new novel. It’s full of action and adventure, and the ship started to sink under the weight of detailed descriptions. My playwright friend revised three paragraphs to demonstrate what he meant. And he was absolutely right.

And so it goes. We help each other every week with our lunch discussions. My advice to any writer is to find the most diverse group of serious, dedicated writers you can. Meet as often as you can, and really dive into the works and help each other…as editors, writers, and friends. It worked for the members of the Algonquin Round Table, and that model can work at any level, anywhere.

The Algonquin Round Table in New York


 

03/17/11

The Veiled Mirror, the Interview and Video

Finding paths to market my novel has been interesting! Using social media has been successful, and I’ve been surprised by some of the contacts that have found my via the blog, the book….or wherever they may find me!

On March 17, my interview was  featured on The Author’s Radio Show. It’s about 10 minutes long, and I think they did a great job with the production! It isn’t archived on their site, but the podcast can be found here.

There is also a video trailer for my book, now making the rounds on YouTube and other channels. It can be found here. A feature about the novel also appeared on Above the Fold, done by Apex Reviews. Recently, while participating in a webinar about self-publishing hosted by Digital Book World and Publisher’s Weekly, I learned that PW has launched Publisher’s Weekly Select, a supplemental service for self-published authors. Being one of the key publications in the industry, it’s a great way to advertise your work.  They choose at least 25 books to be reviewed and featured in each issue. Yes, there is a processing fee. $149. But as one commenter said on the page full of negative comments reacting in horror to the price, “You want to run with the big dogs you have to at least have an advertising budget – whether you’re indie or not.” True. And furthermore, one of my friends does publicity work for two authors, and guess what? The traditional publishing industry is not always picking up the tab, and authors have to pay for their own publicity out of pocket. After reviewing other rates, it’s industry-standard. So be judicious when working on your marketing plan.

And in addition to Smashwords.com, I also made the ebook version available on the Berlin-based XinXii.com.

Update: July 16, 2011: Another interview posted! It’s with author Patti Roberts, and can be found here: http://paradox-theangelsarehere.blogspot.com/2011/06/up-close-personal-with-christine-frost.html

So thank you to those who have found and enjoyed The Veiled Mirror: The Story of Prince Vlad Dracula’s Lost Love!

The Veiled Mirror Video

Cover art by Dimas Reyes


 

03/6/11

Evolution vs. Revolution: ebooks and self-publishing

 

A medieval print shop

I often can’t help but wonder what my life had been like if I had been born about 25 years ago. Being a total tech-nerd, I love my cylon-looking Alienware desktop from Dell, My Droid 2, and I’m the kind of person who will read a software manual from cover to cover. In my mid-20s, I was a prolific writer of vampire and paranormal fiction. What if I had the opportunity to become like Amanda Hocking? She’s made a fortune by self-publishing. By self-publishing her work,she can set the price, and gets a much higher royalty than if she had been published through a traditional publishing house. Interesting questions can be drawn from this: If she had been traditionally published, would she have been as successful? With smaller advances and books going out of print so quickly, how would things have been different for her. She’s been philosophical about this lately, too, and has been using her blog to dispel the myths that have been circulating about her.

Indie Paranormal Book Reviews invited author Lori Devoti to write a blog post about why she left traditional publishing to self-publish. Her answer: to form a closer connection with her readers. Books that publishers may not have made it in the big industry now have the opportunity. Let the market, i.e., the readers, decide what they want. Devoti talks about how the author-as-self-publisher can respond directly and quickly to the readers. Change the price, change the cover, make revisions to the story. It’s a radical change from the norm, and I know what a lot of people would say about this. So doesn’t that make it an unfinished work? If there had only been an editor, etc. We need to change how we think about this industry. It’s art as a direct conversation with the consumers. I’ve done this myself. I released The Veiled Mirror as an ebook first, months before the paperback was out. I created a cover myself while I waited for the bookcover to be painted by a friend. A typo was found. I fixed it. And recently, I reset the price, having learned from the myriad articles and podcasts and webinars that I have seen about self-publishing and ebooks. There’s no overhead for me to cover, so why set it as though there is?

Every time I jump at the notion that the stigma of self-publishing is still out there, I find myself surprised at how welcoming people are about it. I work at Harvard. In the past few months, when telling various professors about my book, I start to make excuses for self-publishing. I’m immediately told that it’s a perfectly respectable way to publish. At a dinner last week, I explained that I’m not only a writer, but a professional editor and graphic designer, so why not be my own publishing house? I have a great group of writer and editor friends who read my work. My writers’ group is like having several editors working with me. Their thorough feedback has made me a better writer.

Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords.com, the first place I published, did a blog post on Huffingtonpost that says it all for me. The central question is: What can a publisher do for me that I (the author) cannot do for myself? He lists the reasons why in this day and age, an author may be better off by self-publishing. And I agree with many of his points, found here. And in this enlightening post on Forbes, the hidden (and expensive!) costs foisted upon the author who works with traditional publishing are found here. Author Meghan Casserly explains, “In fact, going with a traditional publisher can be extremely expensive. Authors are generally expected to pick up costs for their book’s website, a book’s outside publicist, marketing materials like postcards, and any costs associated with readings or tours. All of this can run into the thousands of dollars.”

And finally, a word about how traditional publishing houses are causing damage. In a greedy move, HarperCollins decided to revoke licenses of ebooks to libraries after an ebook has been lent 26 times, forcing already cash-strapped libraries to renew the license over and over again. The news spread like wild fire, and the hashtag #hcod on Twitter was quickly filled with calls for a boycott. We know. It’s a business. But really? Picking on already beleaguered libraries? Big publishing needs to think about its business model differently. Their survival depends on it, and the sooner they understand that and make wiser decisions, the better off the industry will be.