50 Shades Trilogy Has Outsold Harry Potter on Amazon UK

Wow! That's when you know you're popular. Apparently in only 4 months EL James has become Amazon UK's biggest selling author OF ALL TIME. Again, wow.

And to think that E.L. James started out as a self published author. Yep, I'm smiling.

E L James Fifty Shades trilogy has out-sold J K Rowling’s seven-book Harry Potter series on Amazon in the UK, the online retailer has announced.

Although James’ erotica books have only been on sale since March 2012, they have sold over four million copies in print and digital, making James the bestselling author ever on Amazon in the UK.

Rowling’s final book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is being outsold by the first book in the James trilogy, Fifty Shades of Grey, by more than two to one.

To read the entire article click here: James 'has outsold Potter' on Amazon UK.

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Photo credit: theilr

10 Tips For Decluttering Your Life and Increasing Creativity

I don't know about you, but my life is too cluttered with things I never use that get underfoot.

Part of the problem is I try and see the usefulness in everything; it seems rude to say to the cardboard packing case my wonderful new computer came in: You are no longer useful to me, begone! I mean, with the right tablecloth, perhaps a few flowers, it could be a fashionable side-table. Maybe. (Sometimes creativity can really come back to bite one in the posterior.)

The following tips for decluttering your life and channeling your energy in creative yet productive ways are from Sara Rauch.

1. Say no.

To invitations and purchases, to guilt about disappointing others and items you don’t need. We all have our weaknesses—mine is shoes, my partner’s is helping people—but learning to say no, is really the first step in simplifying your way back to creativity. It isn’t selfish to honor your creative self; it’s self-care.

.  .  .  .

3. Keep the editor away.

The editor has her place in creative “work”—like when I write book reviews or polish stories for publication—but she has no place in the creative sphere. Figure out a way to keep her busy or send her packing, and only call on her when her not-picky voice might actually be useful.

.  .  .  .

5. Expect and embrace imperfection.

Perfection is creativity’s enemy.

.  .  .  .

8. Keep it simple.

Don’t run out and buy anything you think you need to be creative. Creativity isn’t about items—though you may need brushes or a pencil or paper—it’s about the act. Start small, start with what you have.

.  .  .  .

10. Make it a routine.

This might sound anathema to creativity—it’s all about inspiration right?—but it’s actually the key. The grass doesn’t get green from the occasional heavy watering. It gets green from regular tending.
Creativity is the same: Attend to it everyday—the results are worth the effort.

I don't want to list all of Sara Rauch's tips so I've only given 5 here, the rest are listed in her excellent blog post: 10 Tips to Nurture Your Creative Life: Making Time and Space. Thanks to C.G. Cameron for the tip!

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Photo credit: Rebeca Stovall

Non-Compete Clauses And A Writers' Career

Kris Rusch on non-compete clauses:

In reality, it’s a “do-not-do-business-without-our-permission” clause.

I did write about this in last year’s article, but I was a bit more lenient toward publishers than I am now. What changed? I certainly didn’t. I believe that writers should protect their rights as much as possible.

What changed is this: publishers have started requiring non-compete clauses in almost all of their contracts, and are making those clauses a deal breaker from the publisher’s side. In other words, the publisher will cancel the deal if you do not sign a non-compete.  The choice you are given is this: either you let the publisher control your entire career just because you sold that publisher one book for $5000 or you walk.

If that’s the choice you’re given, walk. Hell, run.

You can read the rest of Kris' article here: The Future And Balance (Deal Breakers 2012).

If you're thinking about signing a book contract I recommend that you get an IP attorney to look it over.

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The Lawsuit Against Harlequin In Plain English

Joe Konrath hit another home run, this time by explaining the lawsuit against Harlequin in terms anyone can understand. That make his post sound dull but I assure you it's anything but. Here's Joe's summary of his summary:

Recap in layman's terms: Harlequin assigned rights to itself, which I'm pretty sure is a no-no legally, and it licensed those rights below fair market value, which is another no-no, and then it sold ebooks on its website without having the rights to them, yet another no-no.

I highly recommend reading Joe Konrath's entire post: Harlequin Fail Revisit.

Laura Resnick also did a darn good job of explaining this and you can find that post here: The Harlequin Class Action Lawsuit Explained.

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Photo credit: carbonated

Ripley Patton: The Self-Validated Writer

I am honored to have another guest on my blog! Ripley Patton is soon publishing a young adult paranormal thriller, Ghost Hand. Her book has everything: ghosts, the paranormal and it's a thriller! What's not to like?

Ripley: I always thought I would get published via the traditional route. After all, I had been writing and successfully publishing short stories for seven years. I had been nominated for an award multiple times and won once. I already had a strong author platform, blog following, and fan base (in both hemispheres). I was pretty sure I was an agent or publisher's dream client. But, apparently, that was not the case.

When I began to shop my YA novel Ghost Hand around in the traditional manner, I didn't even get a nibble. Beta readers had loved it. I had revised it savagely three times. A well-published, award-winning novelist had read the manuscript and thought it was both well-written and marketable. Still, I got form rejections and finally a "no" from a major agency on the full manuscript.

A dark cloud descended over my dream. No one wanted what I had spent two years writing and polishing. I won't lie that I found myself in a dark place. I was depressed. I couldn't believe that all those years of people enjoying my writing were a lie, or something that had suddenly dried up and blown away. My one passion in life was to be a writer, but I had hit a serious road block. Maybe it really was all over.

Then I went to a Con, because that tends to cheer me up. And there I was, sitting in the audience at a panel on women in the gaming industry when some woman I don't know said something I will never forget. She said, "As women, we are always waiting for others to validate us. We want to be told we've done a good job or made something worthwhile before we will ever believe it ourselves. It is time for women to rise up and self-validate. It is time for us to take our place and toot our own horns."

I don't think this concept applies only to women. I think it applies to writers as well. The entire traditional publishing industry is an endless gauntlet of seeking the validation of others. We seek the validation of our peers. We seek the validation of an agent. We seek the validation of a publisher and an editor. We seek the validation of reviewers and sales. And last, but most importantly, we hang on the edge of our writerly seats, waiting for the daily validation of our readers. Traditionally, an author who wanted to get published had to run that gauntlet of spanks and paddles before they could ever reach their readers.

But not anymore.

And when that woman said what she did, I had an epiphany. I realized I had already circumnavigated the gauntlet. My writing had already been validated numerous times through contest wins and awards won and publications accepted. I had readers. I had a fan base. I had people who loved my writing. Yet, there I was lining up for a tunnel of punishment when I didn't have to.

That was the day I decided to self-publish Ghost Hand. That was the day my depression lifted, and I got really excited about being a writer again.

Of course, the self-publishing route isn't easy. It isn't any easier than the traditional route, though it certainly has been much more enjoyable for me. I love being a self-validated writer. 

Recently, I commissioned a professional cover design for Ghost Hand and that was a blast. Then I realized I was going to need money to pay for a quality professional edit, and I turned my eye to Kickstarter. Right now I am running a Kickstarter Project for Ghost Hand, and it has been very validating. My family, friends, and fans have gotten behind me. At the moment, I am nearly half-way to my goal. When I reach the half-way mark, I will be doing a BIG Unveiling of the Cover of Ghost Hand, so head on over and be a part of that by backing me today.

One thing I like about Kickstarter is that it isn't charity. Every backer receives a reward related to the creative project they are backing, and payment is made securely through Amazon, so if you have an Amazon account, you're all ready to go.

Want to join me in validating Ghost Hand? The first two chapters can be read on my website HERE. Two more chapters can be acquired by sending a request to my Ghost Hand mailing list. And of course, I hope you will go to my Kickstarter and back Ghost Hand with your financial support.

Karen: Thanks Ripley! I love your writing style and I can hardly wait to read Ghost Hand. By the way, for anyone interested in reading a great essay on agents I highly recommend Ripley's article, When Agents Fail.

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Google Wallet And Writers

Here's Google Wallet Overview, from YouTube:

You've probably heard about this. Rather than carry around a bunch of plastic you just carry around your smart phone which, chances are, you were going to take with you anyway. Rather than store a gazillion credit cards in a bulgy wallet you just use your phone to make purchases.

You might be wondering: Okay, but so what? This is a blog about writing and the publishing industry, not about new apps no matter how nifty.

It seems this technology could help change the way indie authors sell books. I don't know much about it, I've just watched a couple of Google videos, but wouldn't it be great if it made setting up an online store easier? Or at least gave us more options, more ways for folks to pay?

Wouldn't it be great if it made selling paper copies of our books easier? Just get your customer to use their phone to log into your online store, make the purchase, you'll be emailed a confirmation, and there you go! No more expensive wireless credit card machines.

Or am I on the wrong track? What do you think?

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Joel Friedlander Interviews The Passive Guy/David Vandagriff

Ever seen David Vandagriff, aka The Passive Guy (PG)? Here's your chance! Joel Friedlander just put up an interview he did with PG--I'm going to continue calling him that--and introduces us to the man behind the The Passive Voice blog. Warning: It's over 40 minutes long, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Here are the highlights:

Joel asked PG something I've been wondering: Why so many posts? PG publishes 6 to 8 posts a day. Granted, curating an article--especially one without commentary--takes less time than writing 1,000 words (trust me, I know!) but it's still a significant investment of one's time. Thus the question: Why do it?

I enjoyed PG's answer. Joel came up with the image of an 'information whale' taking in information about the world of publishing just as a whale strains skims plankton from the ocean. Like me, PG has dozens of Google alerts and a huge list of blogs in his RSS reader, and he posts those few articles that catch his attention, that he thinks are remarkable or interesting in some way.

For those of us who have blogs and find it interesting to talk about where we get most of our traffic from, I thought it was interesting that both PG and Joel said Twitter accounts for a good percentage of their pageviews each day. PG said it accounted for at least 25% while Joel mentioned that it is his second biggest source of readers. My experience is similar.

Conclusion: If you're not tweeting your blog posts on Twitter you're missing out on potential readers.

At the end of his interview PG gave four tips for anyone thinking of publishing their own work:

1. It's not hard
It's one of those things that I'd say was simple but not easy. For instance, how to lose weight is simple: eat less, but it's far from easy to do that. Publishing your own work in the same. What you need to do can be explained simply enough, but seeing the process through to the very end is far from easy.

2. You can control everything
I often hear authors say that they hate the cover their publisher chose for their book. This never happens when you self publish because you are in charge of all those details. As Mr. Monk might say: a gift and a curse.

3. It's fast!
In traditional publishing it is common to wait a year or more before your book is published. PG's wife got her edits back and her book was up for sale on Amazon a week later. Her editor (who used to be her publisher) was astonished, that sort of speed is unheard of in the traditional publishing industry.

4. You can fix your mistakes
This is a boon of biblical proportions for perfectionists. Time and again it happens that an author's book is published and then you find a typo. Sometimes on the first paragraph. The author cringes, the fans cringe, but what can you do about it? In traditional publishing you can't do anything, not even with the ebook version. It has been published and that's that. Not so if you're the publisher. Just correct the typo and upload the new version of your book. It's as simple as that.

To see the PG's interview for yourself read Passive Guy Speaks over on Joel's blog, The Book Designer.

99Designs.com: How I Solved My Book Cover Dilemma, and How You Can Too

I'd visited Ryan Casey's blog a few times to read his posts, so when he approached me about doing a guest post I was thrilled!

And curious. "What," I wondered, "would he write about?" I imagine this might be a bit like turning your car over to one's teenager for the first time. You are proud and terrified all at once.

As it turned out I needn't have worried. As with all his other articles I was entertained and informed all at once. One can't ask for better than that.

Ryan: Shall we get the elephant in the room out of the way, then? Okay, here goes: a lot of self-published books look ugly.

Before you sharpen the pitchforks and start declaring me a traitor, bear with me. I too am a self-published author, or at least will be when my debut novel, What We Saw, drops this Autumn. I also believe that we’re in the midst of a revolution, and that there really has never been a better time to be an independent writer.

But, I think we need to start taking responsibility for ourselves. We can begin by setting some basic standards with regards to design.

About that cover…
Didn’t you get the memo? Unfortunately, people do judge books by their cover, it seems. Actually, I say ‘unfortunately’ lightly, because I don’t think it’s such a terrible thing. Having something aesthetically beautiful really adds to that sense of achievement upon novel completion, after all.

So, be honest with yourself. Are you a Photoshop pro? Then give it a spin, and see how it goes. If not, then don’t kid yourself. It’d be much wiser to employ a designer to do the work for you.

‘But designers are so expensive, and don’t necessarily understand my vision. What should I do?’

I’m going to argue for a somewhat unpopular stance in the design community. I held a design contest with 99designs.com to find my winning What We Saw cover.

Have a look at it…

It’s not bad, is it? It cost me £199. That’s… around $300 dollars; much cheaper than some of the ‘premium’ alternatives.

How it works
I’ll explain how 99design’s unique interface works: you pitch an idea, and write a brief for your project. You pay the money, which acts as a cash prize. Designers from around the world read your brief, and enter a design of their own into a competition. You work with your favourite designers to create something truly eye-catching, and can ask for revisions at any time. Often, they are more than willing to co-operate.

Eventually, you pick your finalists, work closely with them, and choose a winner. You both sign a copyright agreement, and the rights are transferred to you, 100%. The designer receives their cash, and everyone is happy. Oh, and if you don’t like any of the designs, you get a full refund. It’s perfect, right?

The flipside of the argument

Well, apparently not so, for designers anyway. I can see the argument: imagine if someone were to put hours on end into a design, only to find themselves shot down by a harsh 1-star rating, just because it doesn’t quite match your vision.

Also, the winning designer might receive a cash prize, but they lose control of their work as soon as you sign that agreement. That technically means that you can ‘claim’ you designed the piece yourself, if you’re a real ass.

However, the internet is a changing landscape. Sure, some designers will complain, but nobody has to take part in a design contest. If you’re looking to set up your own service, then go ahead. I’m just saying that, as an author, the sheer amount of designs that came my way in a 5 day period was overwhelming to say the least. For an approximate figure: well over one-hundred.

And, now I’ve used it, I don’t think I’ll ever turn back. Holding a design contest taught me that there are hundreds of talented designers out there, but not all of them match my own personal vision. By being able to see a myriad of designs, it enabled me to work out just what my vision was, and actually also helped strengthen my synopsis. Think about it: if your designers keep incorporating something completely off the mark, then aren’t your readers going to get the wrong impression from your blurb too?
I don’t speak for designers, because I don’t pretend to be one; I can’t even draw a four-legged animal. But for authors looking for options, at a competitive rate, a design contest might just be the way to go.

And no, I won’t show you my sheep drawing.

How do you go about creating a good cover for your book? Have you had any good or bad experiences hosting a design contest?

Karen: Thanks Ryan! I'd encourage you all to take a look at Ryan's blog, Ryan Casey Books, and sign up for his free Top Ten Tips For Writing A Mystery Novel.

Ryan Casey is a 20-year old author from England. He is set to launch his debut childhood mystery novel, What We Saw, in Autumn 2012. He offers writing advice, social media guidance, and documents his writing journey over at Ryan Casey Books.

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Derek Haines: Are Free Ebooks A Good Marketing Strategy?

Derek Haines over at The Vandal talks about whether offering one of your books for free is a good marketing tool. His conclusion:

I suppose the conclusion I have drawn is that the free book promotion option offered by KDP Select is a worthwhile marketing tool and a chance to get noticed and get your name out there as an author. Although it’s a bit pot luck, that’s still better than nothing. Trying to get a few good free book listing sites to add your book is certainly a way to help boost your exposure and is definitely worthwhile as is a bit of good old fashioned self promotion on your own social media networks.

It looks as though, even after Amazon's changes to its ranking algorithm, making ones ebook free can still be effective in raising paid ebook sales. It's interesting, though, that it doesn't always work. Out of four books Derek tried this with, only one did amazingly well. Still, he writes that "I can see from my unit sales and borrows that July was a very good month. A five fold increase on June".

You can read Derek's entire article here: Do Free Ebook Promotions Work? My Conclusion

Of course luck will always be a factor, but, if Derek's experience is representative, it's a mistake to put too much weight on how any one book does. If one book doesn't take off, that doesn't mean another won't.

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Penelope Trunk: How To Win In Life? Trust Yourself

This is a blog post I wish I'd read when I was in my 20s. I wouldn't have changed any of my choices but I would have worried about them less. Penelope writes:

“What should I be doing now?” is a question I get a lot from people in their 20s. The answer is that you should be respecting yourself as you learn about yourself. You should give yourself the space to do anything and then look closely to see what you enjoy. You do not need to get paid for what you enjoy, but you need to find a way to commit to what you enjoy, and then use that as a foundation to grow your adult life.

Read the rest here: Best advice to twentysomethings: trust yourself.

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Photo credit: RenoTahoe