Category: Publishing

Modern Publishing Choices

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On her blog, Shannon Hale shares some thoughts on traditional vs. self-publishing. Very much agree with her stance overall, especially:

“For those who are self-publishing because they’ve been rejected by professionals, I would ask, Why in such a hurry to be published? Someday you may wish you waited to put your very best work out there. And if this book is your very best work and it’s smokin’ awesome, then patience, it will find a home.

For those who prefer the control of self-publishing, I say, more power to you. It’s not the route for me, but I can see it would appeal to some.”

The control factor seems to be huge in self-publishing. If you want to be the #1 person behind your books in terms of content, marketing, and sales, go for it. It’s a lot of work, but it’s doable.

But if you’ve been rejected by lots of editors and agents already, maybe your book isn’t ready to meet its audience. There are a lot of stories I’ve worked on that haven’t come to fruition and I’m really glad they’re not out in the world for everyone to see. Does that mean writing them was a waste of time? Of course not.

Like Shannon says, this does not mean that there aren’t fantastic self-published books out there. Heck, I’ve read some pretty amazing fanfics in my day, which were certainly as well-written as any given trade fiction. But if you want to go down the self-publishing route, you need to think a lot more about how your audience will find your book and why this is the best way for you to connect with readers.

Side note: every time I type “self-publishing” I really want to type “elf-publishing,” mostly because I like the image of elves in curled-toe shoes and adorable hats making tiny books.

Fair is Foul and Foul is Material

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At Sara Zarr’s blog, she talks a little about “foul matter“–printed material like manuscripts that were part of the book-making process but aren’t relevant after the book is printed. She says:

“Sometimes writers save this stuff for “posterity”. I have enjoyed going to special collections and looking at drafts and manuscripts of other authors…But generally, my drafts make me feel so completely exposed, I can’t imagine anyone but my editor and a few trusted friends reading them without feeling like shortly there will be a knock on the door and I’ll be arrested for impersonating a writer. And I’m not sure about the idea of predicting that work will be lasting enough to warrant a record.”

I feel pretty much the same. Okay, so most of my foul material consists of copies printed for workshops or previous drafts, but every so often I go through huge paper purges and recycle lots of previous drafts. Most of the time, I’ve already incorporated the necessary comments into my work; and if I haven’t, maybe that was because I went a different direction in my revision. It can be tempting to keep old material, but do you really need it? When I do a paper purge, I try to think that it means I’m moving forward in my work. And as much as I love seeing old material from famous writers, I don’t necessary need all my early drafts on file just in case I make it big.

Do you tend to save your previous drafts and other foul material?

(image: bionicteaching)

Financial Expectations for Working Writers

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My friend Andrew has a great post up about the recent McSweeney’s comic contest debacle and why writers should take notice. In very short, McSweeney’s ran a contest in which the winner would get to run regular, bimonthly feature on Internet Tendency for a year (so 24 total posts). But there was no monetary compensation, and 24 separate comics is a lot of work. There was an uproar among comic artists, and McSweeney’s ended up pulling the contest. Andrew notes how this might not have happened for a writing contest:

“I don’t mean to suggest that McSweeney’s hasn’t done great things for the publishing industry, and for writers, and for schools, and for the community. But it seems like a dangerous precedent to admit that contests of the sort they run—hell, business models of the sort they run—can be “used for the purposes of exploitation.” If it’s exploitative to ask graphic artists to produce work on spec, why is it not exploitative to ask the same of writers? Are we not also creative individuals trying to make an honest living doing what we love?”

Frankly, I think this would be a great opportunity for McSweeney’s to look at how it acquires content and what it can do for its writers. Most writers, even really successful ones, don’t make enough money from writing to have it be their only job. Not that McSweeney’s can save the day, but they can certainly take a step forward in fostering artists of all kinds.

The Secret Life of Publishers

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Movie pet peeve #312: how children’s publishers are depicted in movies. Whenever I watch Elf or You’ve Got Mail, I turn to the person next to me and say “That’s not how children’s book editors act.” (I’m a lot of fun to watch movies with.) Sure, maybe that’s how some editors act, but certainly not all or most of them. Most people who work in children’s or YA publishing are people who love these books.

So I was happy to see this video about Random House’s staff, in which they talk about what they do on a daily basis and what they love about their work. Like every industry, there are frustrating days and disillusioning moments, but I think for the most part, people in the children’s publishing world feel this kind of dedication and enthusiasm.

I’ve had the opportunity to interact with editors in a few different settings–at conferences, during work or internships, as a writer–and I’ve never felt like they didn’t care about the books they published.

Hollywood, please take note.

Links Galore

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Lots of cool links today:

Links Galore

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Lots of links to end the week:

Pulling Back the Covers

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You need to check out Kate Hart’s post about YA covers from 2011. Awesome graphics and information.

She also takes a good look at minority representation on covers. Not surprisingly, there’s barely any. Also:

“But hey! Only about 6.6% of our girls appear to be dead this year! Which is… still more than our POC representation! But only 1% are actively drowning! So… that’s… kind of a win?”

Curious to see if dead girls still dominate in 2012 and 2013. And can filigree maintain its hold as hottest cover design element?

Thanks to Kate for such an awesome resource!

Get Real

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At TLT, the YA trend watch includes:

Reality Bites
Finally, thanks in no small part to The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, contemporary fiction is returning in popularity.  Some of the hot titles include In Honor by Jessi Kirby, The Downside of Being Charlie by Jenny Torres Sanchez, Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson and Waiting by Carol Lynch Williams.  Dying, especially death by cancer, seems to be a prevalent theme in the current crop of titles that I have been reading.

So glad to hear that contemporary realism is making a comeback! I love fantasy and dystopian novels, but I think there’s a lot to be said for realism, and for a while the buzz in the YA community was that realistic novels just weren’t selling. I hope this move toward realistic teen experiences continues.

Second Novels

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At NESCBWI, I went to a workshop about expectations for your writing career and your second book in particular. It was refreshing to hear Cynthia Lord and Linda Urban talk about their struggles writing their second books. Urban mentioned spending a lot of time working on one book in particular and how it was a huge, stressful project. Ultimately, she had to set it aside fro a while and move onto something else.

It’s hard enough to think about getting published and how your first book will do. Then you have to worry about the second one and if anyone will like that. It’s like the work and worry never ends! (Apparently it doesn’t.)

Still, Rachelle Gardner talks about how second book stress doesn’t mean the end of the world. If your agent/editor doesn’t love your next manuscript, that’s okay. Gardner says:

“It’s true, many writers’ subsequent novels fall short of the mark. The most common reason is that most authors work on that first novel, the one that sold, for far longer than the second one. They may have even agonized over it for years. The following novels, by contrast, are usually written much faster and under the pressure of a contract and a deadline, so they might not be as strong…If you wrote one great one, and your second one is not quite as good, the world’s not going to end. You just fix it. Presumably you’ll have the help of whoever told you it wasn’t good enough—your agent or editor. You’ll get notes for revision and you’ll get to work. Or you’ll be told to junk it and start over. (Hopefully not the latter, but it’s been known to happen.)”

I think it’s good to remember that a writing career isn’t all or nothing. Sometimes there are disappointments, but that doesn’t mean your career is over. It’s all a process and it never stops being work. But on the upside, just because you write something that might not be your next book doesn’t mean that your agent will leave your or your editor will hate you. Again, it’s more work, but it’s not the end of your writing career.

Book Pricing and What’s Behind It

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In all this debate over what e-books should cost, here’s an interesting look at what consumers think. Many people (understandably) can’t see why an e-book should cost almost as much as a hard copy of the same book.

But it’s not as simple as “there’s no paper so it should cost way less.” A publisher still needs to pay the author (hurray for writers getting money!) and pay the salaries of everyone working on the book (editors, marketers, graphic designers, etc.). Even though you’re not paying for physical assembly and shipping, there’s still a lot that goes into making a book. As someone who’s worked in publishing, I have to agree that making a book involves much more than putting pages together, and the people doing that work (which is necessary for both e-books and hard copies) deserve to be paid fairly.

Does that mean the debate about e-book pricing is over? Not even close. But I think it’s good to keep in mind that just because it’s digital doesn’t mean there was no effort in the creation process.