Category: Publishing bizness

When indie publishing really freaking works

Hey, peeps!

Caught this article in the Wall Street Journal about author Hugh Howey and his runaway hit, Wool. It’s a postapocalyptic thriller that has sold more than half a million copies and generated over 4,000 reviews on Amazon.


Source: Amazon.com, re-sized here

Read that article at the WSJ. Howey worked his ass off to write Wool (it started as a short story, but caught on), and he approached publishing with an eye to promo and working hard to generate an audience. To that end, he turned down several publishing offers from major houses so he could retain his ebook rights (he’s made over a million bucks off Wool). What all did he do? Well, here:

Mr. Howey comes across as a charming, self-deprecating goofball (he posted a video of himself doing ballet on his lawn on YouTube after he signed his publishing deal), but he’s proven to be a savage negotiator and slick marketer. He sent free copies of “Wool” to book bloggers and reviewers at Goodreads, a social-media site for avid readers. Early raves prompted more people to try the book, and the reviews snowballed. “Wool” now has more than 12,500 ratings and around 2,200 reviews on Goodreads. He hosted an “Ask Me Anything” session on the popular website Reddit, fielding users’ questions for more than 12 hours. He encouraged fan art and fan fiction set in the “Wool” universe; his readers have designed book covers and written their own novella-length takes on the story. He conscripted 30 of his most ardent fans to be “beta” readers who edit early drafts of his books for free.
Source: “Sci-Fi’s Underground Hit: Authors are snubbing publishers and insisting on keeping e-book rights. How one novelist made more than $1 million before his book hit stores, Alexandra Alter, Wall Street Journal (March 7, 2013)

Did you read that paragraph? He used Reddit, Goodreads, and encouraged fan fiction and fan art. And he enlisted 30 of his most ardent fans to serve as beta readers of his drafts. And he turned down giant deals from traditional houses until he got the one he wanted.

I brought this article up to you, dear readers, to demonstrate how much publishing has changed even in the past 3-4 years. Savvy indie authors are writing really good books and generating fan appeal and then, if they’ve got Howey’s chops, they’re incorporating their fan bases into their writing processes and promotion, as active participants. And I think it’s important to note how Howey took charge of his writing life, and held out for the deal that worked best for him.

Not to suggest that what happened to Howey is going to happen to every indie author out there. It won’t. That’s the hard truth of writing. Howey wrote a book with a theme that is super-hot right now. It’s fortunate that he loves science fiction and has been reading it since he was a kid. The WSJ notes that the entertainment industry was looking for another “high-concept dystopian” (and/or postapocalyptic) hit like Suzanne Collins‘ Hunger Games. So Howey wrote a great postapocalyptic story and slowly built a fan base by releasing it in installments and working the social media sites. It took off. Kudos to him for how he approached indie publishing, and for what’s happened to him.

That said, the lesson here for all of us who do indie publishing exclusively or non-exclusively is to treat it like a job. Be professional. Put out professional work that is professionally edited. Give it a professional-looking cover. Interact with your fans (both extant and potential), and be willing to lose lots of sleep to constantly promote your work and build that fan base. It’s a win-win. You get to write stuff you love, readers get to read stuff they love. So give them a good product.

And don’t just take any deal that comes down the pike. Think about not just short-term, but long-term as well. Good luck!

Happy reading, happy writing!

by Categories: Books, Cool articles, Dystopia, Postapocalyptic, Promo n' marketing, Publishing biznessTags: , , , , 3 Comments

Cover Me

Hey, kids–

I’m getting ready to launch a romance novella on Kindle. (OMG, yes, Andi does indeed write romance! F/F, in case you wondered)

It’s an indie project and the manuscript is currently with an editor (because I’m all about other people looking at my stuff to determine its suckage factor [hopefully it’s low]) and I hired someone to do a cover for it.

But covers totally stress me out, people. Like, super stress.

Read on to find out why. . .

Continue reading →

by Categories: Ebooks, Indie publishing, Publishing biznessTags: , 5 Comments

RE: your author website

Hi, peeps–

Hope the new year is treating you well thus far. I know, I know. It’s just begun, but regardless. I hope it rocks for you.

I was thinking today (I do that sometimes) about websites. Specifically, sites that authors put up to provide info about themselves and their work.

Now, I do not pretend to be an expert on what the hell you’re supposed to have on your website or how it’s supposed to look. Please do not think that I’m sitting here all high n’ mighty with my fan-freaking-tastic website sipping wine with my pinkie out looking down my nose at all the rest of you. I do not pretend to have the end-all be-all awesomest website ever in the writing biz. What I have tried to do is make it relatively easy to find things on my site. Like, say, information about what I write and how to get in touch with me.

I say this because I was recently on a couple of author websites and both of them ended up frustrating me to the point that I actually had to go find images of their book covers on other sites. That is, these authors’ sites had no designated pages that clearly said: BOOKS or PUBLISHED WORKS or something that would indicate that if I clicked the link, I’d be treated to another page that would display the author’s fine wares.

So here’s what I’ve learned in my journeys through publishing and book land about author websites.

Continue reading →

by Categories: Promo n' marketing, Publishing bizness, Writing tipsTags: , , 3 Comments

Quickie writing tips

Hiya, peeps–

Something cool that you still have a little time to follow is the Thursday Tweet-o-rama session with Sara Megibow, an agent with Nelson Literary Agency out of Denver (yay!). She does this thing on Twitter called 10 Queries in 10 Tweets. She Tweets 10 times about projects from the slushpile, letting followers know if it’s a yes or a no. She states the genre of the project, and a very brief reason as to why she’s rejecting it or accepting it. No identities are revealed in the making of these Tweets. Sara’s Twitter handle is @SaraMegibow and the hashtag is #10queriesin10tweets. Sadly, I think she’s discontinuing it at the end of the December, but you can check out the hashtag regardless and see what it was about. And follow her anyway on Twitter. She’s got lots of cool tips and info.

Otherwise, you might consider signing up for the Nelson Lit Agency newsletter. It’s monthly, and provides info about what projects they’ve acquired and why, and updates you on other projects they successfully placed at publishing houses. They’ll also tell you about some of the super-cool webinars they do for writers.

AND. Here are some examples of successful query letters to agents. I think you can use these as examples, too, of successful queries to publishing houses that don’t require agents. Seeing examples of what works, I think, can be pretty helpful to get your groove for your own queries. Seriously. Go check those out. I guarantee you’ll be wanting to read the full project after reading the query. 😉

Just some tips from the ether from me to you. Happy Saturday, and happy writing!

by Categories: Inspiration, Publishing bizness, Writing, Writing tipsTags: , , 1 Comment

Writing news n’ stuff

Hi, folks–

Some cool stuff I ran across. For those who are not in the know, there’s a new professional organization out there for indie authors. The Alliance of Independent Authors can be checked out HERE.

Jane Friedman, guru of many things publishing, is one of the advisors, as is Mark Coker of Smashwords, Joanna Penn of Creative Penn, and Victoria Strauss of Science Fiction Writers of America.

Jane offers a video discussion about publishing, self-publishing, marketing, and groovy things like that at this link.

I’m a fan of professional organizations, because they offer networking venues, workshops, advice, and other benefits (some writers’ organizations can offer health insurance). So if you’re an indie author who’s looking to benefit professionally, the Alliance of Independent Authors might be for you.

Having trouble keeping with the writing? There’s an app for that. Write or Die is designed to encourage you to keep writing. Download the app and start typing in the box provided. There are 3 settings. The gentle mode provides a kind reminder to keep writing if you’ve stopped and haven’t written after a few seconds. It’s a pop-up box. The second, or “normal” mode, emits an icky sound if you’ve stopped writing that doesn’t stop until you start tapping away again. And the “kamikaze” mode starts erasing what you’ve typed after a few seconds. Whichever mode you choose, the app will dole out “prods” until you’ve met your word count and/or time goal.

Whew. Scary. Anyhoo, I’ve also posted a teaser from book 3 in my space opera series, the Far Seek Chronicles. You can check that out RIGHT HERE.

All rightie. Hope everybody’s having a great week!

Happy writing, happy reading!

by Categories: Indie publishing, Inspiration, Publishing bizness, Things that might make you think, Writing, Writing tipsTags: , , 1 Comment

Things writers should NOT do, part 2

Hi, kids!

So this whole writing thing can bring you down. It can stress you out, maybe make you say stupid things and do even stupider things.

Yes, a lot of this should be obvious. But to some, maybe not.

I blogged about that HERE, with regard to responding to a bad review (hint: DON’T).

And here’s another example of unprofessional and rude behavior. In this case, an author took offense at a forum administrator’s moving of his thread to a more appropriate section of the forum. That forum was the “small press/self-published” thread. The author had a very public meltdown on the forum, then took the nasties to Twitter, where he continued his insults. Read the comments on that blog that documented his behavior/meltdown, because many of those commenters note more of this author’s claims.

Continue reading →

by Categories: Bless Their Hearts, Publishing bizness, Things that might make you think, Things you shouldn't doTags: 4 Comments

Cool issue of Writer’s Digest

Hey, peeps!

Hope your week is treating you well. Mine’s outta hand, but no worries.

So I finally got around to reading the May/June 2012 issue of Writer’s Digest. Writers, if you buy one issue of this magazine this year, make it this one.

There’s a big ol’ piece called “The New Era of Publishing: Making It Work for You” by literary agent April Eberhardt. It’s a good primer for coming to grips with how publishing is changing, and what that means for you in terms of finding the right model for how you want to proceed as an author, regardless of where you are in your writing career.

There’s also an article by e-publishing guru Jane Friedman, called “The Basics of DIY E-Book Publishing,” which is another crash course in that subject, with Jane’s easy-to-understand info and tips. You can find her HERE, too, for more awesome-ness from her guru-ness. (No, SRSLY. Jane Friedman is considered an authority in e-publishing. She’s currently a professor in e-media at the U of Cincinnati and a former editor of Writer’s Digest.)

The next piece is called “Today’s Best Strategies for Savvy Self-Publishers,” by Joel Friedlander, author of a book on self-publishing and an award-winning book designer. Go see.

And one of my personal faves, WD’s best websites for writers. This is their 14th annual “101 Best,” broken down by category like “Creativity,” “Everything Agents,” “Online Writing Communities,” “Jobs & Markets,” and “Publishing Resources.” A couple that readers here might find intriguing include WOW! Women on Writing, an ezine that supports women through every step of the process. Go here. The current issue is about the art of storytelling. Novel Rocket offers tons of interviews and advice from published authors and literary agents. Grammar Girl (she is freaking supercalifragilisticexpealidocious) takes on grammatical quandaries that authors of all levels deal with. Check it out. And one more, to whet your whistle — Coalition of Independent Authors, a group of self-published writers who created the Coalition to gain exposure for their work.

That is just a taste of the 101 entirely useful sites in this list. The catch? You have to actually purchase the print copy of this mag, as these groovy tips are not available at the website. However, there are lots of cool things on the site for writers in terms of tips, writing prompts, exercises, and workshops to consider. So even if you opt not to subscribe or buy this issue, the Writer’s Digest site offers some good info for all kinds of writers.

Happy writing, happy reading!

by Categories: Cool articles, Cool stuff to read, Ebooks, Publishing bizness, Writing, Writing tipsTags: , , 1 Comment

Publishing biz stuff, and randomness

Hi, sexies!

I know, I know. Everybody’s rushing around for the holidays, gettin’ crazy. That’s fine. I hope everyone maintains their sanity and stays safe.

Okay, just to point you to a few things that you might find groovy. I do blogs over at Women and Words now and again that deal with the business of publishing for readers. That is, readers who might be curious about what goes on in the bowels of the industry.

Here’s one on royalties.
And here’s another on the editing process a manuscript goes through.

And here’s my handy holiday gift guide!

There you go. Don’t want to keep you too long. More randomness tomorrow, I think.

Cheers!

by Categories: On editing, Publishing bizness, Random WTF stuffTags: , , ,