Writability: self-publishing

Showing posts with label self-publishing. Show all posts

Vlog: Why Didn't I Self-Publish?

Once upon a time, several years before I got an agent and well before I got published, I seriously considered self-publishing. But here's why I decided it wasn't for me.

RELATED VLOGS:

What do you think?

Twitter-sized bite:

Author @Ava_Jae vlogs about why she didn't self-publish one of her nine trunked manuscripts. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: Self vs. Traditional Publishing

What's the difference between self and traditional publishing? Is one choice better than the other? I answer these questions and more in today's vlog.

RELATED LINKS:

On Writing and Income (vlog)
Self vs. Traditional Publishing: STOP ARGUING (vlog)
Do You Need Connections to Get Published? (vlog)
Do You Need a Degree to Get Published? (vlog)
How to Get Traditionally Published (vlog)
Why Does it Take So Long for Books to Get Published? (vlog)
What Authors Control (vlog)
5 Myths About Authoring (vlog)
Self-Publishing: Not a Plan B (vlog)
Self-Publishing: It's Not for Everyone (vlog)
My Publishing Path is My Own (vlog)
5 Publishing Myths That Need to Stop (vlog)
Failing Forward: The Leap from Indie to the Big Five by Danika Stone (vlog)

What differences (or similarities) would you add to the list?

Twitter-sized bite:

What are some differences between self & traditional publishing? @Ava_Jae breaks it down in today's vlog. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: Self-Publishing: Not a Plan B

Self-publishing is a great option for some people and works well for many indie authors—but today I'm talking about why it shouldn't be used like a casual backup option.

RELATED LINKS:

Twitter-sized bites:

"If your MS isn't ready to be traditionally pub'd, then it's...not ready to be self-pub'd, either." (Click to tweet)

"[Self-publishing] is a career-altering move...not a stepping stone towards traditional publishing." (Click to tweet)

Vlog: Self vs. Traditional Publishing: Stop Arguing

So Hachette and Amazon are battling and it's made some writers start pointing fingers at each other and arguing about self vs. traditional publishing. It needs to stop—and I vlogged about why.

Happy viewing!

Twitter-sized bites:

Hachette? Amazon? Self-pubbing? Traditional? Here's why one writer says the argument doesn't matter. (Click to tweet)

In light of Hachette v Amazon, @Ava_Jae vlogs about why the traditional vs. self-publishing argument needs to stop. (Click to tweet)

New Adult: Here to Stay?

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If you keep an eye on the publishing pulse, or otherwise are a writer on Twitter, chances are you’ve heard of the emerging categorization of New Adult.

While there have been many definitions and speculations on what exactly the category entails floating around the internet, I’ve found the one off NA Alley to be the most helpful:

“Typically, a novel is considered NA if it encompasses the transition between adolescence—a life stage often depicted in Young Adult (YA) fiction—and true adulthood.

Protagonists generally fall between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six, though exceptions may apply. NA characters are often portrayed experiencing: college, living away from home for the first time, military deployment, apprenticeships, a first steady job, a first serious relationship, etc.”

For more information on what NA is all about, check out their full “What is New Adult?” page, which has a great explanation.

Far more interesting than the actual definition of the category, to me, has been people’s opinions on NA (which range from we don’t need it to where have you been all my life?) and people’s expectations of where NA will go from here.

Right now, NA has been pretty focused on contemporary romances such as Cora Carmack’s Losing It and Faking It, Jamie McGuire’s Beautiful Disaster and Tammara Webber’s Easy, which is fine, but I’d love to see it expand to other genres—and I truly believe that it has the potential to do so.

But as agent extraordinaire Suzie Townsend said in her post on New Adult and different genres, where the category goes from here will depend entirely on the readers. And to me, that’s an exciting prospect.

The eighteen to early twenties segment has always been difficult to break into—a large part of the reason most of the characters I’ve written about until recently are about seventeen. Many publishers were convinced that readers didn’t want to read about characters within that age bracket, and so it went largely ignored for a long time.

But now self-publishing has changed that. The massive success of self-published NA novels has brought attention to the previously unmarketable age range, and now people are starting to pay attention.

In essence, readers have created New Adult, and whether or not it evolves and grows will depend largely on readers’ reception of this new category.

And to me, that is something very special.

What do you think? Is New Adult a fad, or will it continue to grow and change?

Twitter-sized bites:

Do you think New Adult is a fad, or is it here to stay? Join the discussion at @Ava_Jae's blog! (Click to tweet)

Why one writer thinks readers are making New Adult something special. (Click to tweet)

Self-Publishing: It’s Not for Everyone

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I have written nine manuscripts. Four of them I have attempted to get published—three of which will likely never see the light of day—and four will need massive, book-altering revisions to stand a chance. Whether or not those revisions will take place remains to be seen.

Ten years ago, having nothing but a hard drive full of unpublished manuscripts and a dream wasn’t uncommon. Traditional publishing was just as hard to get into as it is today, and while self-publishing existed, it was extraordinarily difficult to be a successful self-publisher and was largely not taken seriously as an option.

But now things are different. Now self-publishing is a perfectly valid and wonderful option for many writers. Now you’re just as likely to hear about breakout indie writers as you are successful debut traditional authors. Self-publishing has proven itself, and there are opportunities for writers like never before.

And I’ve noticed for some time now, that there’s been a fair amount of pressure on writers like me—writers with books in the drawer who continue writing anyway without an agent, or contract, or other milestone of publishing success.

I’ve noticed people looking at writers like me and saying well, why haven’t you self-published?

I mean, it’s a valid question, particularly for those with polished manuscripts and a lack of response from the traditional publishing world. But the thing is, self-publishing isn’t for everyone.

Those who have self-published know that going indie isn’t a decision you make on a whim—it’s a career move, and one that you have to be fully dedicated to in order to succeed. It involves taking full control of the book publishing process, from first draft to final, fully e-book formatted ready-to-publish draft. It means finding an editor and a cover artist and taking on the full responsibility of marketing, all the while writing the next book. It’s a lot of work, and for some people, it’s a fantastic choice.

But then there are writers who would rather trade the control over the cover and layout and marketing decisions for an opportunity to work with a publishing team—to have an agent by your side and some career guidance along the way. Some writers prefer the collaborative effort of creating a book, and don’t mind trading the lower royalties for the chance at wider, in-bookstore distribution. Not that there’s any guarantee of that, mind you, but for some, the risk is worth it. For some, that’s the choice that’s right for them.

I’m not going to say that I’ll never self-publish, because I don’t know that that’s true. Maybe one day I’ll decide that it’s time to wade into the indie waters, but for now, at least, I’ll continue to pursue the traditional dream. And if it never happens, then it never happens, but I’ll keep writing anyway and I’ll do it with no regrets because I’ll know I pursued what was right for me.

What do you think? For those who have self-published, would you agree that it’s not for everyone? For those that haven’t, have you ever been asked why not?

Twitter-sized bites:

Going indie isn't a decision you make on a whim. (Click to tweet)

Self-publishing isn't for everyone—and this is why. (Click to tweet)

Self-Publishing: It’s Not a Backup Plan

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I’ve noticed a trend on the web as of late, or at least, I’ve noticed it in the comments here at Writability, and it’s something I think is worth discussing. You see, oftentimes when talking about the very real possibility of not getting published (whether it’s a WIP or at all), invariably, people will say something to the effect of well, there’s always self-publishing and I die a little inside every time I see it.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t think self-publishing is a valid option—quite the opposite, in fact. The problem is that a lot of writers view self-publishing as a backup plan should their attempts to traditionally publish fail, and truthfully, I don’t think that’s the right way to look at it.

Self-publishing isn’t meant to be a Plan B just as the e-book marketplace isn’t meant to be a last-ditch effort to sell failed manuscripts. Because it’s technically possible to go indie completely on your own, people sometimes take self-publishing lightly, but the decision to self-publish should never be based solely on the fact that you couldn’t sell your novel traditionally.

The hard truth is this: if you find that you can’t sell your manuscript through traditional means, there’s likely to be a reason for it. Now, sometimes it’s because you didn’t try long enough, or the market isn’t right for your manuscript, or you still haven’t developed strong query letter writing skills. Many times, however, it’s simply because you’re just not ready.

I know, no one wants to hear that. No one wants to be told that they aren’t ready for publication, because in the moment, you feel like you’re ready (otherwise you wouldn’t be trying to get published in the first place). No one wants to hear that they need more time to hone their writing skills, or that they’re going to have to spend even more time revising their already revised-to-death manuscript, but guys, sometimes that’s just the truth. It’s not pretty. It’s not fun. But if you can accept that you need more time to become a better writer or write a better manuscript before attempting to publish again, you may very well save yourself a major heartache.

Because the truth is, if your manuscript isn’t ready to be traditionally published, then it’s not ready to be self-published, either.

Deciding to go indie is a big decision. Self-publishing is a lot of hard work: it takes a monetary investment to do it right (editors and cover artists aren’t free), and the hardest work has only just begun when you finally do hit “upload.” It’s an enormous investment and when done correctly with a well-polished manuscript, you can certainly reap some significant rewards. Done incorrectly, however, and you’re only hurting yourself in the long run.

I know it’s not easy to wait, especially when the power to publish is literally just a few mouse clicks away. I know it’s not simple to say I’m not ready to be published yet, and I know it’s far from painless to put a manuscript that you truly loved and had dreams for in the drawer. I know that.

But I also know that dealing with the repercussions of self-publishing before you’re ready isn’t easy, either. And that’s a heartache that you can save yourself from if you give yourself more time to improve and reach the level you’ll need to be at to finally publish.

No, it’s not easy, but no one ever said this writing thing would be. But then again, you didn’t choose this path because it was a simple one, you chose it because you’re a writer, and that’s what you do.

What do you think? Have you ever considered self-publishing a backup plan?

How (Not) to Become the Next Kindle Bazillionaire

Photo credit: Nathan Congleton on Flickr

It’s no secret that we’re living in an age of opportunity for writers—an era where writers can trek out into the e-publishing landscape on their own and, with enough hard work, patience, and a bit of luck, can eventually make a living doing so. More writers upload their books to Amazon and Smashwords every day and success stories of all magnitudes remind us that there’s more than one path to publishing prowess.

And because every writer dreams of hoards of screaming fans chanting their name as they enter the room while money falls from the clouds and rains down upon them (or something like that), I’m sure you’re now wondering what you need to do to achieve the legendary status of Kindle Bazillionaire. So here’s how to get your personal mob of rabid fans dying to get their hands on your next book.

How to Become the Next Kindle Bazillionaire*

Photo credit: My genius work (obviously)

Create your cover on Paint. Tell me, who can resist a genius cover like the AMAZING KEWL FICTION NOVEL over there? (Seriously, tell me who. I’ll hunt them down for you).**

Publish the moment you finish your first draft. Everyone knows that the first draft is pure gold that must not be altered under any conditions, or else you risk losing the magic of your masterpiece. And no one wants to lose the magic of the masterpiece, so go celebrate completing your first draft by hitting the publish button. As a bonus, think of all the money you’ll save from not hiring an editor!

Don’t bother with formatting. Formatting takes forever and every moment you waste not publishing your masterpiece first draft is a moment that a reader isn’t buying your book. And it’s not like anyone really cares if your book looks like it was pasted together at random intervals with a bunch of seemingly unrelated symbols and funky spacing issues.

Avoid giveaways like the plague. I mean really, the audacity some people have. Give away your work for free? Who would do such a thing?

Price your book at $100 a copy. The logic for this is obvious. You will have to sell considerably fewer copies at $100 a copy to reach a bazillion dollars than you would if your book was priced at $2.99 or (God forbid) $0.99.

Tell everyone on Twitter about your work. Twitter accounts are useless unless you tweet about your book at least once an hour. Anything less just tells your followers that you’re not committed to selling your book.

Only publish one book. The last thing you want is to spread yourself thin by dividing your attention up between many different books. Write a masterpiece and sell nothing else. Besides, you’ll be making so much money you won’t need to write a second book, anyway.

E-mail publishers and agents to let them know about your success. The e-mail should go something along the lines of, “IM A KINDLE BAZILLIONAIRE NOW NO THANKS TO YOU SO HA. HAVE FUN DROWNING WIT THE REST OF THE PRINT INDUSTRY LOOOZER.” You know, something classy.

Bash others in your genre. You’re a genius—a prodigy and everyone else writing in your genre doesn’t know what they’re doing. Make sure everyone else knows that, too, so they only buy your books.

Answer poor reviews with a flaming letter of rage. I mean, you’re not going to get bad reviews, but on the off chance you do, make sure you scare anyone else off from repeating the mean reviewer’s mistake.

And that’s it! With those ten easy steps you’ll be well on your way to fortunes raining down from the heavens. Go to Malibu and celebrate. Or go buy Malibu. Whatever works.

*= Why yes, this is another sarcastic post! Please, please, please, please, DO NOT do these things, ok? Promise?

**=No I won’t.

Now it’s your turn! What fabulous tips would you add to the list?

On Writing and Publishing Trends

Photo credit: Horia Varlan on Flickr

When thinking about publishing, it's hard not to mention the market and the various trends that inevitably appear in the reading/ writing world. With Harry Potter came various books about witches and wizards, with the rise of Twilight came the explosion of paranormal novels, especially those involving vampires and creatures of the like, and now more recently with the success of The Hunger Games , dystopian novels have become very popular.

So when slaving away at their WIPs and rummaging through bookstores, writers often wonder how much they should be paying attention to the market while they write their books.

While I think it's important for writers to be aware of what publishing trends are rising in the book market (and, conversely, what is becoming more difficult to sell), and while I think it's especially important for writers to be well versed in their genre, I truly believe that it's far more important for writers to write the stories they want to write regardless of what's going on in the market.

Hear me out. The state of the publishing market is something that is completely out of the writer's control. What's more, it's a well-known fact that what is popular today probably won't be the hot in-thing in five years. That's not to say it won't be selling then, but publishing trends only last so long.

Writing a book, meanwhile, takes an excruciatingly long time. Even if you're a ridiculously prolific writer who can pound out a first draft in a month and revise in three and you either a) self-publish four months after writing the first draft with a fantastically revised novel done in record speed or b) manage to find an agent and land a publishing contract immediately (which usually takes time), in the case of the self-published writer it takes time to build buzz for your book, and in the case of the traditionally published writer it can take up to two years (or more, even) just to get that story on the shelves. By the time that novel is released (or really builds up buzz), who knows what the market will look like?

Then of course, there's the opposite problem of writers who write to a trend that already passed because they love the genre and spend time worrying about whether or not it'll be able to sell. Again, the state of the publishing market is something out of our control. The energy spent worrying about the trends could be spent bettering your book, instead.

Look, I'm not an agent or a publishing expert, nor will I pretend to be. But from what I understand, (and I could be wrong here) if you're looking to publish traditionally, very few agents are going to turn down an excellent story that they absolutely love just because you "missed the boat" so-to-speak, as far as trends go. And by the same token, very few agents (or publishing companies) are going to pick up a mediocre story that was written quickly just to fit the current market.

And I suspect it's not all that different for self-published writers: a good book is going to sell regardless of publishing trends and a mediocre book that fits the market, well, not so much.

In short, I think it's important for writers to be aware of the market, but it's far more important for writers to focus on writing a fantastic book. If you can manage that, your book will find a place in the market regardless of what the trends look like.

Now it's your turn: Do you think writers should write to the market? How important is it for writers to be aware of the publishing trends?

Writers: Would You Publish Traditionally if You Could?

Photo credit: Emily Carlin on Flickr

Imagine for a second that you've been offered representation for your novel. Although you know having a literary agent doesn't 100% guarantee that you'll be published, let's say this particular agent is very confident that your book will sell to one of the Big Six and your odds of being published are pretty good. Your initial reaction, I imagine, is pretty darn happy, but now you're faced with a choice.

You see, you have a good manuscript in your hands; one that you're pretty certain will sell. If you accept the agent's offer of representation, you will enter the ranks with other traditionally published writers. If not, you can take the title of self- published writer.

So let me ask you, my fellow readers: would you publish traditionally if given the chance?

It's a bit of a weird question, I know, and five years ago if you asked any writer, the answer would be a resounding: well, DUH. But nowadays the answer of how to publish isn't so cut and dry. More stories surface every day about writers who, when faced with the decision, choose self- publishing rather than going traditional. There are the Amanda Hockings and J.R. Konraths of the world who have made bundles through independent publishing and more than a handful of writers who have been able to make a living off self- publishing.

And yet, traditional publishing is still a very viable option, because while to some writers the how of getting published doesn't matter, to others it does. Then there's also the matter of all the work that goes into publishing that writers have to tackle largely by themselves when they choose to self- publish, that others would rather let a traditional publishing house take care of.

Some believe that there's more money to be made through self- publishing and others through traditional publishing—and still others don't care about the money either way: they want to see their book on the shelves (or in the case of self- publishing, they just want to be published one way or another).

When it comes to how to publish, I truthfully don't believe there's a blanket right or wrong answer— it most certainly depends on your goals as a writer (more about that in this post).

So I'm curious. If the aforementioned hypothetical situation happened to you, what would you choose? Would you accept representation or choose to brave the waters of self- publishing?

On Writing and Waiting

Photo credit: mynameisrichard on Flickr

In response to my post on whether or not writers should delay their gratification, I received many interesting and thoughtful answers. A common theme I noticed, however, was that most of us agree there isn’t a straightforward one-size-fits-all answer.

It goes without saying that when it comes to things of the writerly nature, answers will vary depending on the writer/ manuscript/ season/ day of the week/ what you ate for breakfast/ how many ferrets you have (ok, maybe not those last few). But delayed gratification is interesting because, for writers at least, it’s mostly inevitable.

Regardless of whether you choose indie or traditional publishing, a lot of work goes into a novel before you get anything in return. Writers spend years honing their skills before anything they write is anywhere near publishable. Writers work without pay and give up their precious free time to work on that novel/ screenplay/ poem/ short story/ what-have-you.

So at the beginning of a writer’s journey, at least, there is no escaping delayed gratification.

The question we truly face as writers, with the rise of indie publishing upon us, is how long to continue to delay that gratification. How long, for example, should you edit before querying agents or uploading to Amazon?

This is where matters start to get tricky. There isn’t a magic number we can point to and say after x-amount of hours, words or books you’re ready to be published (although there is a theory that in order to master any skill or subject, you have to spend 10,000 hours developing said skill, but that’s another matter entirely).

The best thing writers can do is practice some patience while honing their skills. Take your time to perfect your story, to learn about the craft, to become a better writer. Make publishing decisions carefully and take all the time you need to make the decision that’s best for you and your career as a writer.

Keep calm and carry on. Seriously. Whenever you start to feel rushed, take a deep breath and remember that time is working for you. Don’t rush the process.

What do you think? Is delayed gratification just part of the process? Can we (or should we) try to avoid it?

Publishing: Indie or Traditional?

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We are now faced with a choice. A choice that, ten years ago, wasn’t even a consideration. To go indie? Or to go traditional?

What makes the decision so difficult is that there isn’t a wrong option, per say. Both routes have significant pros and cons and regardless of which option you choose, you take a risk.

A Look at Traditional

Let’s say you choose traditional publishing. If all goes well, you get an agent, who then brings your manuscript to a publisher, who then gets it published. What are the pros and cons?

Pros:

Extra eyes on your work—you have an agent who looks at it first, who will likely help you edit it before you send it out to publishers. The publisher then has their own group of editors who go through it and help you improve it even further. It’s a team effort.

Don’t worry about covers, formatting or distribution—this one is pretty self-explanatory. If you publish traditionally, those things are out of your hands. You can focus on writing.

Career support—this is especially true if you have an agent (as opposed to submitting directly to publishers). I’ve never had an agent, but from what I’ve seen, agents are there to help you grow as a writer and develop your career. Many agents are in it for the long haul with their clients. They want to see you succeed.

Your work on the shelves—the bricks-and-mortar shelves, that is. For many writers, walking into a bookstore and seeing their book on the shelf is a dream come true.

Cons:

Publishing takes time—a lot of time. The average I’ve seen about is around two years, but it depends. Regardless, these things don’t come quickly. You have to be patient.

Advances are dropping—I’m no expert in this field, nor do I claim to be, however, from what I’ve read, it seems the advances are dipping much lower than they used to be. Blame the e-books or Borders closing, but it is what it is.

Low royalties—this is nothing new. Royalties for the author have always been much lower than they should be (in my opinion, anyway). This is especially true for e-books—regardless of what publishers offer you, it’s not going to be the 70% (or 35%) you can get from Amazon.

Selling your rights—how important this one is really depends on the person. Some people don’t blink an eye at the thought of selling their rights, while others take it much more seriously. Regardless of where you stand, when you go traditional, many of your rights are sold. Period.

Little control—again, some people care about this, others don’t. But when you go traditional, things like book cover and formatting aren’t up to you. It can be a blessing or a curse, depending on how you see it.

What about Indies?

Or maybe you go indie. But the DIY road isn’t all daisies and sunshine (or doom and gloom) either. Some pros and cons:

Pros:

Full control—this is both a pro and a con really, because everything is your responsibility. You have full control over the cover, the formatting, the editing and marketing. If one of those things are lacking, that’s on you. On the other hand, if you do a fantastic job you can pat yourself on the back because you managed it alone. And you did it exactly the way you wanted to.

Faster publication—once you upload you can have your book up on the e-book market in a matter of days. Viola. You’ve been published.

Higher royalties—how much you get depends on how you price your e-book, but the way I understand it, if you price your book somewhere between $2.99-$9.99 you get 70% royalties. Anything lower and you get 35%. Either way, it’s more than you get from traditional.

Never go out of print—this is something not many people talk about, but it’s a pretty big plus to indie publishing. E-books don’t go out of print, so as long as you don’t take it down, you could hypothetically sell your e-books forever. That’s a long time.

Keep your rights—this is also self-explanatory. Indie publishing gives you the chance to sell your books without giving away your rights. Good deal if you care about that.

Cons:

Full control—told you it’s also a con. Full control is great, but it can also be expensive. If you don’t have the skills, you’ll need to hire a cover designer. If you have trouble with formatting, you might need to hire outside help. Editing? Editors are insanely helpful, too—and not often free. Or you can do it completely yourself. It’s up to you.

No gatekeepers—this may not sound like a con, but it is. It’s hard for writers to look at their own work and decide if it’s ready. Sometimes it seems ready, but it’s not until much later that you realize it needed a lot more work, after all. And if you published prematurely, it might be a little late for that.

Stigma—it isn’t as bad as it used to be, but it’s still there. By going indie, you have to accept that not everyone will consider it a legitimate form of publishing. The fact is, there are a lot of self-published books that were uploaded way before they were ready. Your job is to prove that you’re different—and it’s not always easy.

Not in bookstores—this is a huge deal for some writers. Call it what you want, but many writers dream about the day they can walk into a bookstore and see their work on the shelves. Chances are this won’t happen if you go indie (unless you cross over, of course, but that’s another matter entirely).

Neutral Point: Marketing

Regardless of which option you choose, you’re going to have to learn how to market yourself. Publishers don’t put a huge amount of marketing into every single book they publish—let’s face it, they can’t. There are simply too many books. Some books will get more of a push than others, but either way some of it comes back down to you.

Do you have an online presence? It doesn’t matter which publishing road you choose—you’re going to need one. A blog, a Twitter, a Facebook page, whatever works for you, but you’re going to need a way to promote yourself and promote your book.

Not only that, but this starts before you get published. So if you’re planning on publishing any time soon and you haven’t started building a name for yourself online, you might want to think about getting started.

In Conclusion…

Both are great options—what you need to decide is what’s best for you. Only you can decide if you’re prepared to do everything yourself or if you need the extra help traditional publishing can give you. Only you know if you can live with the fact that your book may never sit on a physical bookshelf. Only you can answer those questions.

But don’t deliberate forever—in the end, you have to make a decision. You have to make something happen. Your career isn’t going to start itself.

What are your thoughts—indie or traditional? Have you tried either one? What has your experience been like?

Patience: A Virtue

When I wrote about being absolutely positively 100% sure that you were done editing your WIP before submitting to agents or uploading to Smashwords the other day, I noticed a theme cropping up in the comments: patience.

Ohh patience, you tricksy hobbitses you.

Patience does not come naturally to me, and I have a sneaking suspicion (correct me if I’m wrong) it doesn’t come naturally to many of us. Most people aren’t born with a large dose of patience (although some are blessed with more than others); it’s something we learn to embrace over the course of our lives.

Don’t believe me? Look at kids. Kids are about the least patient people on the planet. And it’s understandable; they’re kids. We don’t expect them to be patient. What about the elderly? As a whole, much more patient. Now of course, I’m making broad generalizations. I’m fully aware there are some patient kids out there and I’ve met some rather impatient senior citizens, but in general, patience is something we develop as we get older.

At least it was.

Nowadays we’re becoming accustomed to everything happening now. We have instant streaming online, music we can download in seconds, internet connections that (when working properly) get us from page to page within the blink of an eye, books we can download in minutes, on-demand movies available at our fingertips, now, now, now!

Not only that, but things are getting faster.

Ten years ago if a webpage took a minute or two to load, no one threw a fit about it. If downloads took five or ten minutes, we’d groan a little, but it wasn’t a big deal. Not so much today. Unless you’re downloading something HUGENORMOUS (like, say, Mac OS Lion?) we expect downloads to take a few minutes tops. Anything beyond three minutes is taking too long.

Technology is teaching us it’s ok to be impatient. It’s conditioning us to on-demand, to instant results. And I’m certainly not complaining about it, I like instant streaming and quickly loaded pages and speedy downloads.

The problem arises when people apply the expectation of now to other parts of their lives. Like writing. Writing is not a now industry. Writing takes time, editing takes time, and up until recently, publishing took time.

But once again, technology stepped in and told us it’s ok to be impatient. It gave us e-book publishing and offered us the gleaming red apple of now. You can get published now, it said. See? It’s easy! Just upload and press this button and voila! You’re a published author!

This is where traditional publishers are starting to run into problems. Why wait two years to get published when you could have your e-book up tomorrow?

So it’s true that publishing doesn’t necessarily have to take time anymore, but writing still does.

Repeat after me: writing takes time. Let me add to that, writing takes time and it always will. It doesn’t matter how quickly you can upload to Kindle or Smashwords or wherever you want to e-publish your book. Technology is getting faster, yes, but we aren't.

Here’s an important distinction: speed in technology = productivity; speed in humans = sloppy.

We can only work so quickly before we start to lose quality. We’re not computers guys, we’re only human. We need to take time in our writing, and we need to take more time in our editing.

Here’s a confession: I am currently working on a WIP that I’ve been slaving over for going on two years now. Granted I took a six month break, but that’s 18 months of writing, of editing, of re-writing, of re-writing, of gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair and REWRITING AGAIN.

Is it done yet? Nope. I’ll probably be re-writing it at least one more time. At least.

I know not everyone will take as long as I do, and that’s ok. Everyone is different; some people will take longer, some will whip out a fully polished manuscript or two a year like a machine. And that’s ok, too.

Guys, it’s entirely possible to get a first draft down quickly. But editing. Editing isn’t like that. You need to take time between edits to see your manuscript with fresh eyes. You need to let betas read it, critique partners rip it apart, then you need to rewrite and rewrite and rewrite until it glows like the Eiffel tower at night (which, if you've never seen it, is very pretty and glowy).

So does writing require patience? Not always. But good writing does.

And it always will.

Have you struggled with patience in your writing? Tell me about it in the comments below!

The E-Book Experiment

So in response to my last post about querying, I got an interesting comment about self-publishing.

Joe said:

I've never queried etc. but I do think that if you're good enough you should self-publish an E-book, sure you're going to have to raise a little capital for cover design and formatting. I'm not saying that you're going to become instantly successful like Amanda Hocking but if you can market your book properly then you have just as good a chance as any self-publishing indie author and will probably surpass that original capital raised at the start and get some nice profit.

Just my thoughts, and this is the route that I am going to be taking. Traditionally publishing is going to get HARDER to get into, where anyone can self-publish, even that of the slush...so everyone is fair game, right?

Joe

It got me thinking.

Before I tried querying again, I spent a long time considering self-publishing. It looks like a good deal. You get 70% royalties one-books $2.99 and up and 30% on e-books under that. They never go "out of print" and if you keep them up, will literally sell forever. Plus, while Borders is going bankrupt, the e-book market is skyrocketing.

But there is a down side. Horror stories of authors who published books that weren't ready and got slammed with scathing reviews.

So in the end, what scared me away was the fact that I couldn't hire an editor. I just don't have the money.

Everything else, however, I knew I could do. I'm a Photoshop nerd, so the book cover isn't a problem. I even have a mock-up about halfway done.

The formatting I was worried about, but I found a bunch of guides that take you through the process step by step (The Smashwords Style Guide, for example, is free in the iBookstore and online). It took me about two hours, but I was able to correctly (I think) format my manuscript for Smashwords.

So far my experimental mock-up and e-book formatted manuscript seems to be progressing nicely. But the editor thing still stalls me. I'm a perfectionist by nature, and it scares me to think that I might put something out there that isn't ready, even though it's been through complete re-writes and I've edited the hell out of it.

I've yet to make a decision, but I'm curious to see what you guys think.

So on to the eternal question!

What do you think? Self-publish? Or go traditional?