Might Be Light

 Still trying to figure out pasting issues into Blogger, and work is getting crazy.  Plus, I still need to get back to writing my new novel, so January may be lighter than usual on blogging.  Just wanted to let y'all know.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!  May the promise of the season find its way into your
hearts and homes.  And if you’re thinking about a good present for someone you 
know, my books are always for sale!  😉  

Something Odd

Normally I cut and paste from a Word document into this blog to save time since it's easier to write in Word than on here.  I'm just more comfortable using Word, so I write everything in advance and then cut and paste it in before publishing.

However, this month, as I try to cut and paste in, something bizarre is going on - my text is showing up as one long run-on sentence that I then have to painstakingly correct.  In other words, it's taking me three to five times longer just to put in my "normal" posts.
(Don't worry - I typed this one directly into Blogger to make sure everything worked)

I need to figure this out.  It happened with only a few posts - not all of them - but it's annoying and making posting not worth the time.  Anyone have an idea why it's doing this to some of my posts and not others that I write the exact same way?

Traditional Publishing Consolidation and Competition

Eons ago, there were a multitude of publishing houses.  These houses created true competition for not only established, blockbuster authors, but their hunger to come out on top led them to take risks on new authors no one had yet discovered in the hopes of finding the next big thing.  Yes, there were lots of failures, but they also found JK Rowling, Stephanie Meyer, Tad Williams, and Timothy Zahn.  They appreciated a Stephen King, but they took time to develop a David Weber, because they had to find fresh blood to keep up with everyone else.

However, in the late 1990s, publishing houses began to merge and consolidate until today there are only five major publishing houses(Penguin/Random House, Hachette, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, and MacMillan).  And if the merger between Penguin/Random House and Simon & Schuster goes forward, we’ll be down to four.  That consolidation and monopolization of the market is why the DOJ is stepping in to limit it.

The continuing mergers of large publishing houses in restricting competition, to say nothing of shutting out new voices…at least in the traditional publishing market.  Resources are becoming so scarce, and traditional publishing houses have become so risk-averse, that they tend to dedicate resources only to “proven” blockbuster authors.  The few new authors that get a contract are kept on meager wages and onerous contracts that strong them along without allowing them to breakout.  They can try to take their work to one of the other publishing house in search of better terms, but that has become increasingly more difficult as competitors shrink.  In the olden days, an author with talent could find a friendly editor willing to develop raw talent and turn them into a star, but those days are long gone.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch does a great job talking about the what-ifs of the business and how consolidation has hampered new talent growth.  If you want to see something analogous that you can relate to, look at how Hollywood is looking for the next sequel or summer blockbuster in an established franchise rather than taking chances on something new(could Star Wars or Blade Runner get made today?).  She muses that the move by the DOJ is 15-20 years too late, and that the damage has already been done and is lasting.

She has a point…when it comes to traditional publishing.  There are fewer and fewer auctions for books, and advances and marketing has dwindled.  However, that has opened up opportunities for indie publishing.  I could go into how indie publishing has gone from “you’re shit” to viable in the last decade and a half, from POD platforms to cover artist relationships, but the main point is that indie publishing has become a valid path for so many that it wasn’t early this century.  A writer that can’t break through can use an indie platform and make a successful living.  And just like with traditional publishing, an author that finds a viral moment can get big(like Andy Weir).  It still takes talent and a large stroke of luck, but it’s doable, and I think traditional publishing has enabled it.

That’s right – traditional publishing restricting itself has signed its own death warrant.  It froze out all but the top tier, established writers, leaving folks with no choice.  If dozens of houses still remained, breaking through the noise would be much more difficult given that indie could still be written off as not being “good enough” to find someone to publish them.  However, with options being so limited and so exclusionary, and platforms like Amazon and IngramSpark  providing such quality, indie writers can find their own path and people will give them a chance.  Ebooks especially make this possible since they’re cheap and don’t take up space.

So, is the limiting/consolidation of traditional houses, and more merges into larger and fewer entities, truly a bad thing?  I’m not so sure.  I think the narrow vision of traditional houses opens up lanes for those looking for more control.  I think if the traditional houses marketed their newbies worth a damn, they could still crowd out indie competition, but since new authors know they’re on their own until they break through, most figure they might as well keep control if they have to do most of the stuff for themselves anyway.  Now all we need is for the audience to follow suit.  Many are coming around, and if we can reach a critical mass, then the entire structure of traditional publishing will collapse.  In its place, we can build, and are already building, a more open world for artistic expression.

Lag Time And Profligacy

In a previous post, I gave aspiring authors advice on how to approach their writing careers.  I tried to be balanced, although I’m still pretty sure my obvious bias against traditional publishing came out.  Well, this post will be even more open about it.

For those looking to go traditional because they don’t want to worry about cover design, 
editing, or their own imprints, know what you’re getting into regarding both being paid and
your own profligacy.  I mean, although I know everyone enjoys writing just for the sake of
writing, we all also like to get paid, right?  Well, traditional houses tend to only pay every six
months(if you got an advance, then you don’t get paid anything more until your books have
made more in royalties than what you were advanced), and the best you’ll get is 15%(before
you pay your agent and your taxes).  Let’s hope you make enough from one paycheck to 
last the next six months.

There’s also profligacy, which means how many titles you can put out in a year.  Most writers 
make their money from not one, but multiple titles being in the public sphere.  Unfortunately, 
most traditional publishing houses won’t put out but one title a year(two if you’re really lucky).  
This goes back to the dumbass idea that the public will grow bored of you, so you don’t 
want to much out there in succession.  But that’s stupid since most people immediately 
search for other titles by an author that they find they like.  It limits authors’ ability to take
care of themselves.  And don’t give me this garbage about maintaining quality – any industry
that can publish either Pregnesia or Moon People has no real interest in quality.

Just take this stuff into consideration when you are considering whether to go indie or
traditional in your writing journey.  Maybe you can live with this stuff; I can’t.

Procrastinating Blog Topics

As I’ve mentioned before, I try to write my blog posts the month prior, and, for the most part, I’m successful.  I allow room for occasional breaking news, but staying ahead helps keep me out of a perpetual deadline panic.

This month, however, I’ve procrastinated even coming up with the topics for this month’s posts, much less writing anything.  Yes, procrastinated even for me.

I keep a small notepad on my desk at home, and when I get an idea for a post, I jot it down.  I went to this method once I figured out my memory – I’m sure I’ll remember that topic – wasn’t as good as I wished it was.  Most of the time, ideas will just come to me, and writing it down is easy.  Sometimes, though, I have to make a more concerted effort to find topics.  That was the case this month…except that I didn’t make that concerted effort, so I found myself mid-month with exactly one topic written down and no posts complete.  It forced my hand, so I sat down and gave several minutes of deliberate thought to topics, which is something I almost never do.

On the plus side, whining about not having enough topics provided a pretty good topic.  I’ll try to do better over Christmas…

Foreign Spam

As many websites do, I get spam comments from time to time.  However, I seem to have gotten on some Russian spam list, as so many of my most recent comments have been in Russian.  Here’s a small sampling of what I’ve been getting, and what they translate to:

Поставка продукции из ГидраРУ осуществляется по территории Российской Федерации. Громадное количество ответственных поставщиков https://www.playstationforum.pl/thread-32302.html обеспечат путевый товар по выгодному курсу. На сайте Hydra представлено огромное количество товаров различного предназначения. Надежный интернет-магазин осуществляет специализированную работу шести лет и продолжает активно развиваться.

Delivery of products from HydraRU is carried out on the territory of the Russian Federation. A huge number of responsible suppliers https://www.playstationforum.pl/thread-32302.html will provide travel goods at a favorable rate. The Hydra website contains a huge number of products for various purposes. The reliable online store has been performing specialized work for six years and continues to actively develop.”

 

Онлайн-магазин HydraRU обеспечит любому юзеру прекрасную степень защиты при обработке определенной операции. Стоит только авторизироваться на платформе Гидра, а личная информация направится на хранение в засекреченном формате на облачном сервере. Используя площадку вход гидра зеркало посетители получают наивысшую степень безопасности.

“The HydraRU online store will provide any user with an excellent degree of protection when processing a specific operation. One has only to log in to the Hydra platform, and personal information will be sent to storage in a classified format on a cloud server. Visitors get the highest degree of security using the hydra mirror entrance area.”

 

Множественное число водителей реализуют самолично доработку авто, но некоторые вещи лучше передавать профессионалам. Все автотранспортные средства разнятся не лишь только производительностью, но и дизайном определенных деталей. Реализуйте оригинальный дизайн через покраску дисков покраска штампованных дисков порошковой краской.

“A plurality of drivers personally implement the finalization
of the car, but it is better to transfer some things to professionals.
All vehicles differ not only in performance, but also in the design of
certain parts. Realize the original design by painting the rims; painting
the stamped rims with powder paint.”
 
I like getting comments, but I have no idea what these mean or why
I’m getting them.  Am I being recruited by the StarLeague to defend
the Frontier against Xur and the Kodan Armada?

Advice For New Authors

Bouncing off of my previous post, I wanted to expand on what advice I gave to my friend about starting his intrepid journey into the writing world.
(see what I did there about splitting one potential post into two?  😊)

First off, understand that writing is the fun and easy part.  I think a lot of us thought that our writing careers would entail us waking up when the sun was warm, brewing a fresh pot of coffee, and sitting down to craft our masterpiece.  After all, we went into this to write…right?

As I relayed to my buddy, writing is the least stressful and least time consuming part of what we do as writers…

Staying on the topic of just the writing, know that unless you’re a prodigy, rarely can you just sit down and churn out something grand.  Sure, lots of writers are what are known as “pantsers,” as in “writing by the seat of your pants”(little outlining), but even the most prolific panster needs to know where he or she is going, and that involves just sitting and thinking about your story.  Even if you don’t outline it, figuring out where it’s going is a huge time commitment.

Then there’s the editing.  Again, unless you’re a master who has bene doing this for more time than has ever existed, the first thin you put on paper isn’t going to be flawless.  There will be continuity problems.  There will be errors in spelling and punctuation.  There will be LOADS of extraneous words that make your story seem overwrought and cumbersome.  So you’ll need to invest time in editing.  This means you, the author, going back through your work and culling large parts while you correct others.  And this isn’t even to preclude working with an editor for hire whose edits you till need to look over to determine their worth(remember – never, ever, ever submit your stuff without outside eyes looking it over…no matter how good you think you are, you’ll miss stuff and come off as an amateur).

But let’s say that you’ve gone through all of that – the outlining, the writing, the editing, etc.  Now you have to get folks beyond you and your family to read it.  And that is multi-layered in itself.  You need to figure out if you want to go with traditional publishing or indie publishing.  Have you researched agents and how to write a query?  Have you thought about semi-annual reimbursement rates?  Are you willing to accept whatever edits the publisher says are required, and how comfortable are you with giving up control over the cover?  If you go indie, do you have the financial resources?  Do you know what you want your cover to look like?  Who will format your book for release, and what platforms do you think will be good to offer it on?

Yet even that pales in comparison to getting the word out.  Whether traditional or indie, you will be expected to generate your own buzz unless your name is Rowling, King, or Patterson.  It’s a lot like trying to find a job – you need to network, you need to attend trade shows(ie, writers’ conferences), you need to join readers groups, etc.  Remember, until you build a name cache, no one knows who you are, much less do they care about your story.  You have to find ways to make them care.

You also need to consider how you’ll run your business as an author.  In traditional, do you like the terms the publisher demands(pro-tip – when you’re a newbie, the publisher holds all the power)?  In indie, will you set up an LLC or a sole proprietorship(remember, Uncle Sam wants his cut)?  I know you got into writing to write, but there are laws about this stuff if you ever hope to make any money.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy writing just for fun too, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to eventually get paid for my creativity.

I’m not trying to scare anyone off – I just want to make sure those entering our world understand what is involved.  There’s a difference between being an amateur, just-for-fun writer, and a professional author.  Know what that means going in so you can make an informed decision.  You’ll be so much happier with whatever path you choose if you do.

Helping Out

A buddy of mine called me up recently to talk about how to get started as an author.  He knew I wrote books, and he wanted to know how I got started and kept going.  It was a great conversation, and I wanted to use it as a springboard to encourage other authors to help out those new to the craft.

There should be nothing about writing that we view as proprietary.  Unlike the product at Pizza Hut or FedEx, someone using another author’s product(ie, reading their book) does not mean ours is not being read.  In fact, increasing a reading audience usually means that more folks are reading books and, thus, are more apt to read yours.

If you’re an established author, and someone asks you for advice, give it.  Be helpful.  Maybe your protégé will turn into a best seller and return the favor by turning people onto your work.  Or maybe they’ll just increase the reading audience in general.  Whatever it is, you lose nothing by helping out, so take whatever time you can spare when someone asks.  It’s the write thing to do.  😊

More NaNoWriMo Thoughts

Okay, NaNoWriMo is now over, so I’ll give my unvarnished(and possibly offensive) thoughts on what I consider to be a bunch of hoity-toity virtue signaling rather than something good for writing.

For those who don’t know, NaNoWriMo stands for Nation Novel Writing Month, and it happens every November.  The idea is for folks to start a new project and write 50,000 words by midnight on November 30^th.  In order to accomplish this, a writer must write an average of 1667 words a day.

Now maybe this helps spur some folks to find the motivation they need to get to that book project they’ve always talked about.  Lord knows that I’ve had my own challenges with getting off my ass and writing on my newest novel.  However, I dislike NaNoWriMo for a number of reasons.

For starters, any book worth its salt requires thought and planning.  Yes, as I wrote Salvation Day or Akeldama, I managed 4000-5000 words in a single session, which is more than NaNoWriMo requires, but I didn’t write every day.  Sometimes I outlined.  Sometimes I corrected previously written work.  Sometimes I just needed a day off.  Whatever it was, while I could’ve reached 50,000 words, I think the quality would’ve suffered.

Second, if you need a specific month to finally write, are you really a writer?  Shouldn’t you be writing regardless of what the calendar says?  Or are you just looking for kudos from your friends as you make the cut?  And do you stop writing just because December is finally here?  It just feels so forced.

Finally, I dislike the pretension around NaNoWriMo.  Some say we should be encouraging each other, and I’m all about that, but I’ve found so many use it as an excuse to brag, and I despise that.  A good writer doesn’t need to brag about it, but rather should just do his or her best and write the best story possible.  But NaNoWriMo seems like a dick-measuring contest among writers.  Yes, we usually write for ourselves, but mostly because we like the story and want others to enjoy it, not to be self-righteous and tell other writers how awesome we are.

Of course, I am awesome, but bragging about it is unseemly.  ;-P

Blogging Interfering With Writing?

I enjoy blogging, even if the styles of blogging are different than novel writing.  However, as mentioned in the previous post, sometimes time gets away from me and I have to cram to get in the blog posts necessary to make it through a month.

However, since this creates a multi-day effort to catch up, and it has happened several times, I wonder if blogging is affecting my ability to write.  Admittedly, some of this is laziness – which I haughtily refer to as “breaking the inertia” – because I just haven’t done much at all on my most recent novel.  I finally found time to complete a recent chapter and get halfway through another, but I then promptly out it away and haven’t touched it in a few weeks.  Still, maintaining this blog does take away from writing time, and given the traffic, I wonder how useful maintaining the blog is.  If I let it wither for a month or two(as has happened in the past), would I be able to do more on my novel?  Or would I now have two writing projects that are neglected instead of just one…