Writing: Contract Negotiation Horror Stories

This is from the blog of Kris Rusch:

... I got something from a New York Times bestseller who, in the middle of a contract negotiation, was promised 10 and 12.5% royalties on a mass market paperback as a deal sweetener in a contract negotiation. The publisher added this sweetener in lieu of better terms elsewhere in the contract, terms the writer had asked for and the publisher refused. The writer then discovered through another source that the publisher never planned to publish a mass market edition of the book.

In other words, the sweetener became sour. The great royalty rate was only added to get the writer to sign on, not because the publisher ever planned to publish that kind of book. If the writer had been a little less savvy, he would have lost some other positive contract terms by believing that this one was important.

Not illegal or even unusual these days, but still, bad enough to make the writer feel cheated in the midst of negotiating a new contract. Dumb on the publisher’s part, but only because the publisher got caught.

Read other stories as well as how to avoid this happening to you: The Business Rusch: A Good Offense.

Other articles you might like:
- Amazon's KDP Select Program: The Power Of Free
- 8 Tips For Blogging Success
- Book Promotion: Where's The Line?

Photo credit: Unknown

Should You Use A Pen Name?

When I stared writing, one of the questions I asked was: should I use a pen name? One of the first people I posed this question to was an enormously helpful mid-list author of spicy romance novels. Her response: Don't do it! She had been forced to take a pen name by her traditional publisher who had then used her real name on the first book in her trilogy and her pen name on the subsequent two. The result: lots of emails from fans complaining they couldn't find her books!

In his most recent blog post Dean Wesley Smith gives the pros and cons of using a pen name.

Why use a pen name?

1. Your output exceeds what your publisher can use
If you're a prolific writer and your publisher will only buy two books a year, writing under a pen name allows the creation of another income steam. Dean writes:

At one point, Kris and I were joking around at a conference and actually counted the career income streams coming into our home at that moment in time. We had nine writers’ incomes coming into the house. That was more than we had cats at that point.

Today we have about that many, maybe a few more, but some are not making much, at least not enough to live on. Luckily the pen-name writers don’t eat much.

The key is the same with all aspects of the publishing industry: Diversity and a lot of product. If you have three or four writer’s incomes hitting your house, it’s a ton better and safer than only one. And nine or ten incomes just makes things much easier.

2. You write in multiple genres
It's a good idea to create a pen name for each genre you write in, that way your fans know what to expect when they pick up one of your books. For instance, if you write brooding vampire mysteries under the moniker Alice Darkbody and then go ahead and write a comedic western under that name your goth readers are not going to be happy.

3. You have a day job and don't want to get fired
If you're a medical doctor, or a psychiatrist, or psychologist, or social worker, and so on, your clients may believe you have used them in your book. If anything can help save you a trip to the courthouse, even if you're sure you'll win, it's probably a good idea. (This was a different kind of suit, but it reminds me of what happened with the Hurt Locker.)

4. Your sales numbers go down and your publisher drops you
I've heard countless stories about book sales tanking even when the book is terrific. What do you do then? Start writing under another name! Traditional publishers use what Dean calls "the produce model". He writes:

In traditional publishing, they have to gamble that your book will sell a certain number in a certain amount of time. Remember the produce model? In traditional publishing, your books spoil, so if they paid you too much in comparison to your sales numbers, you can’t sell another book UNDER THAT NAME.

5. To hide your work from your family
Melinda DuChamp, author of the erotic romance Fifty Shades of Alice in Wonderland, writes under a pen name. Here's why: "My mother reads all of my books, and I decided this one was a bit too spicy for her." (That's from the post Fifty Shades of Alice in Wonderland.) I think that's a great reason! Why make Christmas dinner any more uncomfortable than it has to be? ;)

6. You have the same name as a celebrity
There are lots of folks named Stephen King but only one of them can be published under that name--at least when it comes to works of fiction.

7. You think your book makes Dick and Jane seem intellectually stimulating
Dean writes that if you think your book is awful, publish it under a pen name and let readers decide. Although this advice makes me cringe, I think he's right. (And, of course, Dean has written hundreds of books and knows vastly more about publishing than I do!) I think that we can be our own worst critics. If the book doesn't sell, it doesn't sell. You gained valuable experience writing the book, and no will ever know you wrote it  ... not unless you tell them!

Okay, so, let's say you've decided to write under a pen name. You might have some questions.

- Do you have to keep the name a secret? Only if you want to. If you have a pen name because you don't want your family to find out you write erotica, then secrecy is probably a good idea, otherwise list your pen names on your website so your fans can find your other books.

- Do I have to have separate Twitter accounts, etc., for each of my identities? No! Dean advises setting up a static website for each identity so that your fans have somewhere to go to see what books you've written, how they can get in touch with you, etc., but you don't need to do social media for each identity, especially if the identity isn't secret. Just post the link to your blog and explain that you use a pen name.

- Should I get a separate domain name for each pen name? Yes! The more you use a pen name the higher it will rank in Google, etc., so someone else will buy it if you haven't. It's only about $10 a year, well worth the investment.

Dean's parting advice:

So when deciding about which name to publish a book or story under, think first of your readers.

Then think about your readers some more.

And then decide which name would be best for them. And which name you can live with the rest of your life.

And then have fun.

Sounds about right to me! You can read Dean Wesley Smith's article here: The New World of Publishing: Pen Names

Other articles you might like:
- Stephen King's Latest Book: A Face In The Crowd
- Are You Writing The Right Book? 5 Ways To Find Out
- Fifty Shades of Alice In Wonderland: Sales Peak At $1,000 Per Day

Photo credit: bert23.com

Amazon's KDP Select Program: The Power Of Free

From Forbes regarding Amazon's KDP Select program:

... Amazon is using “free” in a novel way – to level the playing field between large publishers and self-published authors. The open question is whether this is just to improve Amazon’s store of proprietary content or if it’s a radical play to totally disintermediate publishing. Either way, Amazon has built an economic and promotional model for self-publishing that is too compelling for any author not signed with a six-figure advance by a big publisher to ignore. Remember that Kindle books are not just read on Kindles but on any device with the Kindle app – including iPads, iPhones and Android phones.

. . . .

The second reason an author might choose KDP Select and promote his book for free has to do with cross-selling. Many of the most successful indie authors are selling a series, not a single book. (Barbara Freethy is a good example.) By using the KDP select program, they effectively “sample” their newest book for free, enticing readers to engage in the series and purchase the previous books.

Read the rest here: How Amazon Quietly Subverts Bestseller Lists With Kindle's KDP Select. Thanks to PG for the link.

I think a verdict, a consensus of sorts, is emerging regarding KDP Select. If you're an author who is relatively unknown then KDP Select is well worth trying out, especially since it only requires a three month commitment. You'll have five free days and, with any luck, you'll get thousands of downloads. This will give you much needed exposure and you might be into some "also bought" lists.

On the other hand, if you already have a following then having your books in every online store may have more value since you've already been discovered and your readers are actively looking for your work.

Ultimately, I think a mixed strategy will probably be the way to go.

Other articles you might be interested in:
- Stephen King's Latest Book: A Face In The Crowd
- Creativity: Use It Or Lose It
- Writing, Publishing and Productivity: Links

Photo credit: Unknown. I altered the picture a little.

A Writing Taboo: Never Begin Your Story With Weather

I was surprised the first time I heard someone say, "And, whatever else you do, never, ever, begin your story with weather!"

Roz Morris disagrees and here's why:

That summer, the summer all the rules began to change, June seemed to last for a thousand years. The temperatures were merciless: thirty-eight, thirty-nine, then forty in the shade. It was heat to die in, to go nuts in, or to spawn. Old folk collapsed, dogs were cooked alive in cars, lovers couldn’t keep their hands off each other. The sky pressed down like a furnace lid, shrinking the subsoil, cracking concrete, killing shrubs from the roots up…

That's an excerpt from Liz Jensen's book, "The Rapture," and I thought it worked beautifully! Read Roz's article to find out why some weather scenes work and some don't: Never begin your story with weather – a writing taboo examined.Thanks to the Passive Voice Blog for the link.

Roz linked to an old article (July 2009) by Joe Konrath where he lists some things writers shouldn't do. He'd just finished judging a writing contest and was in recovery. Here's his list:

DO NOT START A STORY WITH WEATHER
Yes, you can work weather into the scene. But I don't care that it was sixty-five degrees on a spring morning, and if you make that your first sentence you're going to remain unpublished.

DO NOT START A STORY WITH CHARACTER DESCRIPTION
Your protag may be named Bob McTestes, and he was born in Sunnydale, Ohio in 1967, but you need to work that into the body of the story and not make it the first sentence. Better yet, don't work it in anywhere.

DO NOT START A STORY BY ADDRESSING THE READER
"You'll never believe what happened on July 2, 1943." You're right. I won't believe it, because I just stopped reading.

DO NOT START A STORY WITH PREMONITION
"Phil Assmaster didn't know he was going to die that day." But Joe Konrath knows you're not going to win this contest.

DO NOT START A STORY WITH THE PROTAG WAKING UP
Frankly, it shocked me how many stories began like this. More so than any other way I'm warning against. Opening your eyes because you had a bad dream or heard a strange noise is a quick way to put the reader to sleep.

DO NOT START A STORY WITH CLICHES
Once upon a time. A long time ago. This is a true story. Ugh. Next time, save me the trouble and put the story in your own recycle bin.

DO NOT START A STORY WITH SETTING DESCRIPTION
"Moronville, Ohio was a town of 8371 people originally founded in 1872 by Quakers." Hopefully, one of those Quakers has a gun and will shoot me.

DO NOT START A STORY WITH TELLING
"Josh felt terrible." Really? How am I supposed to picture that? Maybe I picture Josh's stomach aching, his head throbbing, and the hole where his heart is supposed to be. If I'm picturing that, perhaps you should have as well and written it that way.

DO NOT START A STORY WITH ANY DESCRIPTION
I don't care if you're describing a person, place, thing, era, or whatever. I want to read about conflict, not helper words.

DO NOT USE HELPER WORDS
Force yourself to pare away every adverb, and half your adjectives. Also kill any speaker attribution other than "said" and "asked."

DO NOT START A STORY WITH A PROLOGUE
Your short story doesn't need a prologue. Your novel probably doesn't either.

DO NOT USE EXCLAMATION POINTS!
Especially a bunch of them!!!!!!!

DO NOT USE THE SAME FARUQING WORD TWICE IN THE SAME FARUQING PARAGRAPH
Get the faruquing point?

GRAMMER AND SPELING SHOULD BE PREFECT
If you don't care, why should I? Ditto annoying dialect spelling. Y'all get a-ight wit dat sheet, 'kay?

And finally:

DO NOT MAKE YOUR MAIN CHARACTER AN ANIMAL
Ever.

Are there exceptions to these rules? Of course. There are always exceptions. But I didn't see any in the 2000+ stories I had to endure.

You can read the rest of Joe Konrath's article here: How Not To Write A Story.

Those are good rules of thumb to keep in mind, as long as you feel free to break them if you have a reason.

Good writing!

Other articles you might like:
- 8 Tips For Blogging Success
- Ursula K. Le Guin On Academic Criticism & Philip K. Dick
- 19 Ways To Grow Your Twitter Following

Photo credit: Anonymous

The Secret Of Learning To Write Well: Write

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows I'm nuts about Seth Godin. The man has the best ideas!

Today Seth blogged that the best way to learn marketing is to market. Makes sense! I think this is true as well:

The best way to learn to write well is to write.

I read somewhere that the most important asset a writer can have is an eye for good writing, or at least for what he or she likes. I think many writers have this and that's exactly why it's so painful in the beginning. You know your writing falls far short. (Keep in mind, though, that if you're comparing yourself to someone like Margaret Atwood ... well, just don't. No ego can survive that!)

Having an eye for good writing allows us to spot mistakes in our own work. Perhaps in the beginning we just know that a certain passage is aweful without knowing why or what would fix it. That's fine, we put it away and keep writing new things, we continue reading, then, eventually, we can look at what we've written and have an idea WHY it feels clunky and what we can do to fix it.

Perhaps surprisingly, I've found reading prose which grates on my nerves helps me discover what, exactly, doesn't work for me.

Kinda seems magical, doesn't it? Just write, and read, and you'll become a better writer. But writing is a skill, and like any other skill, one has to practice to get better. Perhaps this is a silly example, but when I started typing I used to fantasize about the day I wouldn't have to look at my keyboard and could type more than 40 words a minute. Today I don't even think about typing, it has become second nature. What did it take? Lots and lots of practice!

Slowly, painfully slowly, the understanding of what works for us and what doesn't becomes part of who we are and we begin to write less clunky prose. Or at least that's the idea, I'm afraid I can't tell you since I'm not there yet! ;)

Keep writing!

Other articles you might like:
- Seth Godin on Creativity, Childhood and Heroes
- Fifty Shades of Alice In Wonderland: Sales Peak At $1,000 Per Day
- Amanda Hocking's Unusual Writing Schedule

Photo credit: foxrosser

Authors Speak Out Against Fake Reviews & Sock Puppet Accounts

Ian Rankin and dozens of other authors spoke out against the practice of writing fake reviews. The following is from an open letter published in the Telegraph:

We condemn this behaviour, and commit never to use such tactics. But the only lasting solution is for readers to take possession of the process. The internet belongs to us all. Honest and heartfelt reviews, good or bad, enthusiastic or disapproving, can drown out the phoney voices, and underhand tactics will be marginalised to the point of irrelevance. No single author, however devious, can compete with the whole community.

You can read the rest here: Authors condemn fake internet reviews.

I think that's a great idea! Everyone outraged by these fake reviews should go to their favorite on-line book store and write a review.  I've reviewed only a tiny fraction of the books I've read. For instance, on this blog I've written again and again how much I love Jim Butcher's Dresden series but I've never given him a review.

Time to change that!

Other articles you might like:
- Book Promotion: Where's The Line?
- John Locke Paid For Book Reviews
- 8 Tips For Blogging Success

Photo credit: Dick Penn

And Now For Something Completely Different

Yesterday I watched this YouTube video in which Jonathan Harris, Co-Creator of We Feel Fine, Founder of Cowbird, talks about his creative life. One of his many richly imaginative projects struck a resonant chord with me.

The Ephemera Project

Beginning when JH was 30, he blogged once a day taking as his subject one of his photos. In addition, he would share whatever thoughts or feelings were related to the picture. (At least, that's how I understand it.) His musings could include poetry, or a part of a story, or ... well, anything. The goal was to preserve a memory. He said he stopped the project abruptly when he began to feel like an observer in his own life as opposed to an active participant.

While I have no plans to alienate myself in my own skin, I thought this would be an interesting project, though not for this blog. And not everyday! I have a blog over on my website, http://site.karenwoodward.org, where I'll be posting these odd reminiscences as well as other irreverent and irrelevant details about my life as an independent writer living in Vancouver BC.

Other articles you might be interested in:
- 8 Tips For Blogging Success
- Indie Authors: Don't Give Anyone Ownership Of Your Work
- Stephen King's Latest Book: A Face In The Crowd

Photo credit: Jojo372

Orlando Figes, Award-Winning Historian, Wrote Fake Reviews

It seems that, ever since the New York Times article about buying reviews was published, the one which revealed indie bestseller John Locke had bought reviews, the floodgates have opened.

Every day a new writer with an, as Sir Humphrey Appleby might have said, 'a creative interpretation of the facts,' is brought to light. What is perhaps most notable about the latest dramatic revelation is that it doesn't involve an indie author. This comes from The Telegraph:

Orlando Figes, the award-winning historian, has admitted writing derogatory reviews about his fellow writers' work.

Apparently Dr. Figes even "threatened to sue a fellow historian for libel when his name was linked to the online reviews."

But not only did Dr. Figes rubbish the work of his colleagues, he heaped praise on his own:

The reviewer [Figes] meanwhile described The Whisperers, Prof Figes's latest book, in more positive terms.

"Beautifully written ... leaves the reader awed, humbled yet uplifted ... a gift to us all," he said.

A spokesman from Birkbeck College said of Prof Figes: "He's on sick leave and we're offering our support."

You can read the article here: Award-winning historian Orlando Figes: I posted anonymous reviews on Amazon. Thanks to the Passive Voice Blog for posting a link to this article.

I must admit I'm stunned by the apparent ubiquity of the problem; I'm guessing this could be the tip of a very big iceberg.

Other articles you might like:
- Book Promotion: Where's The Line?
- John Locke Paid For Book Reviews
- 8 Ways To Become A Better Writer

Photo credit: A miniature painting of the Baum des Todes und des Lebens (The Tree of Death and Life), by Bertold Furtmeyer for the Missal of Archbishop Bernard von Rohr of Salzburg, a handmade miniature manuscirpt commissioned by him around 1481 and now in the Museum of the Bavarian State Library (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek), Munich, Germany.

8 Tips For Blogging Success

1. What's your angle?
Since you're reading this chances are you're going to blog about writing. That's terrific! There are SO many sub-topics no one can adequately cover even a fraction of them.

2. Narrow your focus
There are many ways to blog about writing. For instance:

- Authors: blog about your books, your book tours, the progress you're making on your current manuscript, where you get your inspiration, your process, writing tips, and so on. Kim Harrison's blog is a great example.
- Writing News: What's going on in the writing/book publishing world. New markets (e.g., Kobo's Writing Life), new reading devises, trends in the industry, who is in court for what (e.g., the DoJ lawsuit), etc.
- Writing 'How-To': Give writing tips, interview writers, editors, book publishers. Talk abut different writing systems (eg. Michael Hauge vs Christopher Vogler vs Blake Snyder), etc.
- Book blog: This is an idea for the brave. Post the unedited first draft you're working on, day by day. Or, serialize a longer story. Could do this with several authors contributing.
- Book Review Blog: These are sorely needed, especially for independently published books. Involves reading books and given an honest opinion.

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) matters
Choosing a blog name
I think everyone, even writers that hole themselves up in a cabin, 100 miles away from the nearest hint of civilization, know the importance of optimizing their website and/or blog for search engines. Hands down, the most important part of SEO is your choice of name.

This deserves a post--heck, a series of posts--all on its own but the rule of thumb I keep in mind is to use a name that is going to be relevant to nearly every post you make. (For instance, "Karen Woodward" is the name of my blog and each post includes the line: "posted by Karen Woodward". That's a very simple way to make sure the title of your blog is always linked to the content of your posts.)

If you're going to be setting up an author blog then you've got the name of your blog, it'll be the name you write under. Otherwise, try to pick something that exemplifies what your focus is. For instance, David Gaughran named his blog after one of his books, "Let's Get Digital" which also nicely summarizes the theme of the majority of his posts. And I think "Let's Get Digital" works especially well because it is easy to remember.

Choosing a domain name
Having decided what you're going to name your blog you now need to hope that it's available as a .com or, if not, a .net or .org.

Even if you won't be using your domain name right away--this may be the case if you're starting your blog over at Blogger.com or Wordpress.com--you still want to grab your domain name before someone else does. It only costs about 10 dollars a year and is well worth the investment.

4. Read great blogs
This probably should have been my first point. Just like writers have to read the work, both good and bad, of other writers so bloggers need to read other bloggers.

Naturally you're going to read other blogs--lots of other blogs--in your area, but you also want to read successful blogs outside your area.

For instance, I love Penelope Trunk's blog. I don't always agree with her--wouldn't that be boring--but I like reading what she has to say. She's engaging. And she shares what she has learnt from blogging, what has worked for her, what hasn't. Great stuff.

5. Commit to your blog
I feel as though my blog is like a child, or at least a needy cat. Through it might not seem like it in the beginning, having a blog is quite the committment and, like any committment, it can be stressful.
It helps--and it helps your blog to grow--if you have a set writing schedule. For me, I post 2 blogs each weekday and 1 on Saturdays and Sundays. That said, you also have to be flexible. For instance, last week I spent 6 hours on one post so I only posted one blog that day.

I think the single biggest factor in growing a blog is the number of posts per day. That and the quality of the posts. The second most important factor is consistency. Even if you blog only once a month, make sure you are consistent. That said, sometimes to need to ignore all the rules and do your own thing. Whatever works.

6. Learn what your audience wants
Blogger has analytics/stats you can use to see which of your posts was the most popular. You can also find out which of your posts were the least popular. This will give you an idea what your audience is interested in. If you're not set up on blogger (I think wordpress.org & wordpress.com also have built in analytics), or even if you are, I highly recommend using Google Analytics. It's free and it'll tell you everything you ever wanted to know about your blog traffic. I also recommend linking your Google Analytics account with your Google Webmaster Tools account.

7. Connect your accounts
Don't forget to, at minimum, tweet your posts. I would also advice cross-posting to Facebook. Even if you're like me and you don't use Facebook much, enough people do that it's probably worth it. Also, make sure your readers can subscribe to your feed and give them the option of having your posts emailed. Feedburner is great for this.

8. Guest posts
I've had wonderful experiences with guest posters. Not only have I received fantastic content for a fraction of the work, but I've made connections within the writing community. I want to put up a page with guidelines for guest posts in the hope this will encourage more of my readers to submit content. For instance, do you accept guest posts (yes please!), what topics you'll accept, how long the posts should be, how much lead time you need (this is important for folks doing promotional posts for a new book), and so on.

Okay, gotta run! I hope you've found something helpful in this post and best of luck to you. If you have a blog please do leave a link to it in the comments. :-)

Other articles you might like:
- Ursula K. Le Guin On Academic Criticism & Philip K. Dick
- Are You Writing The Right Book? 5 Ways To Find Out
- Fifty Shades of Alice In Wonderland: Sales Peak At $1,000 Per Day

Photo credit: Geoff Campbell

Snake Oil Salesmen And The Indie Author

I know I posted about this yesterday, but this article by Kris Rusch is excellent. Kris talks about companies that charge for things like editing, formatting, etc., and then ALSO take 15 or more percent of the author's royalties.

In one of my previous blog posts I called these companies Vanity Presses because the moniker seemed to fit, but no one else is using that name. To make things easier I'm going to call these companies Snake Oil companies, because not only are they selling authors something they don't need, they're selling something which can harm them.

Judging from what I'm hearing in the community and from friends, as well as friends of friends, it seems that more authors are turning to Snake Oil companies to put their books online. I had thought, though, that these scams appealed mostly to writers who didn't have the money to pay a flat fee for cover design, etc., but it seems I was wrong. Kris writes:

This writer has multiple New York Times bestsellers published at more than three per year for at least twenty years. She has sold 35 million copies of her books. She can afford to pay someone a flat fee to put her out-of-print backlist up as e-titles. She can afford to pay someone with real experience to handle her social media for her.

Instead, she gave it all to a start-up for 15% of royalties earned.

That’s not the scary part. The scary part is the Terms of Use that she had to agree to in order to go with this company.

.  .  .  .

And then this POS [the Terms of Use] gets even worse. Let’s say  you do cancel. Do you get the e-pub or MOBI files of your e-book, the one that  you paid for through 15% of your royalties? Nope. Those files are proprietary to this service.

By the way, the service doesn’t pay for copyedits or proofreading, and so you get charged for those services by a flat fee separately. If you read the bestselling romance writer’s supposed Facebook post, you can see why this service doesn’t do copy edits. But really, there’s no one at the service who knows how to design covers either, certainly not covers worthy of a New York Times bestselling author.

And speaking of that author, she’s spending thousands for a service she’s tied to at 15% of royalties earned. If she cancels, she gets nothing.

To read Kris Rusch's article in full click here: The Business Rusch: A Warning To All Writers Who Need Help Indie Publishing.

There are many reputable companies who charge a flat fee for things like cover design, formatting, and so on. Joe Konrath has links to the folks he uses (you may need to scroll down the page) and John Locke has recommended Telemachus Press and still uses them to format and publish his work.

This is from the landing page at the Telemachus Press website:

Telemachus Press is a "work for hire" author services epublishing company. What makes us different than a vanity press? You keep 100% of your royalties and receive complete sales reporting. All material that we create on your behalf belongs to you — it's your property. We store all working copies of your book (interior and cover files) on a secure FTP site where you have access to your work 24/7. You don't need our permission to retrieve a copy of your files. We set up all eBook accounts in your name. It's your book - access sales reports and keep all royalties. Some of our channel partners are listed below. We work for you.

I've never used Telemachus Press, but that's the sort of information you need to ask about when you're shopping around for someone to help you put your book online.

Best of luck to you. And, remember, don't get so caught up with these publishing details you forget to write!

Other articles you might like:
- Writer Beware: The Return Of The Vanity Press
- Indie Authors: Don't Give Anyone Ownership Of Your Work
- Book Promotion: Where's The Line?

Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org