Superhuman effort

I am reading a very promising metahuman novel right now and I consider myself a bit picky when it comes to metahuman stories.
What makes this novel even more exciting is that it is self published.
I love when I come across self published work that is really good. There is a lot of self published stuff that is less than ideal so when one rises above the others, it makes me happy because it means that the self pub movement can survive because there are diamonds in the rough.

So...two things to take from this short and enigmatic post:

1. Stay tuned for a full review of this promising self published metahuman novel
2. If you are considering self publishing then GGE says "go for it!" but if you do, make sure you have an excellent website, cover design and your editing is top notch.

Self Publish or Traditional Publishing? (Best answer I have ever heard)

Read a great blog today about Self-pub versus Traditional written by Chuck Wendig. I can't recommend it enough! Great insight!

I can sum it up in a couple of quick works = "Do both"

Each year, write two novels. One for traditional publishing and one for self-pubbing. The Self-pub work can be hip, indie, niche or whatever. The traditional one should be...more traditional.

Still read the post though. Really insightful!

How best to utilize our time

GGE is in a bit of a "phase" right now. For the first three years of our little venture, we have been creating, brainstorming, planning, writing, drawing, etc.
Now, we are trying to decide how best to put our next foot forward. Here is what I mean.

With a handful of projects developed and in a viewable form do we:

• Submit them to publishers, gatekeepers, industry folks and hope that we become "the chosen"
• Do we "choose ourselves"?
• If we choose ourselves, which sounds great, what does that look like? Independent press status? Small press publishing of our own books and comix?
• Or do we put content online for free so we aren't bogged down with sales figures, reviews and things like that?

Maybe it's a little of all of that. Some free content to test it out. Some items produced by GGE so we can garner some reviews and some sales and see how we stand. It's all a learning experience.

If we choose ourselves, and we choose well, then the industry gatekeepers either come and find us...or their choices become less essential.

Great information about Self Publishing

I put this info on Twitter as well as here in today's blog entry. Excuse the redundancy, but it seems really interesting and thus bears repeating.
I wondered across J.A Konrath's blog entry today and he discusses the state of Self Publishing. For anyone who doesn't know, Konrath is an already etablished print author, but his insight is still really interesting.
It's an eternal question for writers and it is getting to be a more commonly asked question as publication options, distribution options and marketing options become more and more varied.
I'm not taking a position on this one. It is a question for each writer/creative to decide when to seek acceptance by their industry's "gatekeeper" and when to go it alone instead.
This blog makes some compelling points though.

Getting it Right

It's pretty likely to hear me say (often) "Get it written, THEN get it right."
I say this for the obvious reason. Many people get hung up around the thought that they can't get it "right" so they obsess in the outlining phase, or they write and rewrite the first chapter ad infinitum. For these folks, my advice is right on the money. Write it first...then get it right.
There is a second part though...when I say get it right, I mean really get it right.
If you want to attract a publisher, sending them a crap manuscript is not "getting it right". After you get it written, you need to spend a while getting it right. This, to me, is the hardest part because you want to be doing something else, but you have to force yourself to focus on getting your work right. This means editting, polishing, rewriting, etc.
You need to get all of this done before sending it to an editor. If you want to stand out, then a great story is part of it. Good characters is part of it. Sending them a work that is already substantially "right" will definitely help get some attention.
If you plan on foregoing a traditional publisher and do it yourself...then getting it right is even MORE crucial! You'll have a huge stigma to overcome. That stigma is out there for a reason. Lots of do-it-yourself books don't have the quality of a traditionally published one. They can. They should. People just haven't taken the time to do the second part. I have bought several self published works with a great storyline, awesome characters and even a really nice looking book with an eye-catching cover, only to have my heart broken by poor editting, common errors and stilted dialogue.
So, now that you've got it written, now you really have to get to work.

Self Publishing

I read a great article on self publishing in the Raleigh News and Observer this weekend. It's a good article because it reminds me of many things:

• Self publishing is so much more than just "vanity publishing" now - though publishers probably disagree (I think they have to at this point since their whole business model is based on being the gate keepers rather than the enablers)
• There are more ways to publish than ever with the NY Times now having an e-book best seller list and the Kindle being such a viable option for so many people
• That self publishing winners are currently non-fiction writers who find a niche in the market (Maybe this won't always be the case?)
• That excellence is required in self publishing due to the stigma.

A couple of things I would add

• Doing it yourself doesn't stop at books. Comics, movies, even tv shows are being done independently. More so than ever. The internet has made it possible to get your art in front of eyes in more ways than ever
• Being successful still takes hard work whether you try for the traditional route or blaze your own trail
• If your long term success depends on being "discovered" you might as well be playing the lottery
• You cna start something with very little risk in terms of cash. The only risk, I suppose, is in being laughed at. That's not much of a risk. If they laugh or ridicule, then chances are you aren't creating for them anyway.

Interesting insights from Seth

Seth Godin had some interesting things to say about book publishing yesterday (and it continues in today's blog entry).

Thoughts? We have talked a lot on this blog about self publishing, but by itself, when dealing with fiction, self publishing has been like a bridge to nowhere. At least historically? Is that changing?

There are thousands of writers who hope so and a bunch who will vehemently say that it is changing, but is it really or is that wishful thinking?

Some industries see this working well, or reasonably well...comics, music, non-fiction...but even those require a huge amount of effort from the artist in terms of self promotion and self marketing.

Is now the time to launch and independent publishing empire with multiple product lines, speaking engagements, convention appearances, conferences and opportunities to connect like minded people?

Sounds great, but is it a bridge to nowhere?

The Slushpile

Read an article in the Wall Street Journal about the death of the slushpile. It's pretty poignant for an aspiring author to read that the slushpile is considered dead and that publication through that means is becoming less and less likely. Of course, there are still success stories, like Stephanie Meyer, but it sounds like the more accepted approach is to get an agent first. Orson Scott Card gave different advice in his book. He said get the agent after you had an offer to buy your work. 
I guess the best thing is first, to write something that is better than anything in a "slushpile" but secondly, we have to decide if traditional means best.
Maybe the actual best way to do things is to build a resume before seeking publication from a large firm. Maybe if you bring a dedicated group of rabid fans, then you won't have to worry about slushpiles and all the rest.
I would say the best thing would be to create something first. Get 1000 fans. Then have an agent come find you.

Making it as an Independent Publisher

There is no doubt that  person who decides to launch all of their products independently has a tough row to hoe (to use a Southern euphemism - what can I say, I was raised on a farm).

D.A. Adams at Third Axe Press seems to be making it work.

How? A lot of writing and a lot of tireless work marketing and promoting his work.



('’)

Vacations

I love vacations. I am always so much more enthused and inspired after getting away for awhile and everything seems so clear to me when I get back. My advice...if you haven't been on vacation in a few months, schedule one. Even if it is a staycation.
Good news. Got some initial interest from a publisher for Forsaken. (Western Gothic novel).
They asked for some revisions, which we happily made, and it is back with them.
Why would we happily make revisions? Some people would say to revise nothing and stay true to the original story. Of course, I would say to those people "have fun self publishing" because most successful publishers feel they know what will sell (and their track records usually support their opinion). So, certain allowances are made.
Of course I am pleased just to get something other than "REJECT".
Now I hope they come back and say "We love it!".

The publishing procedure

I don't pretend to know the trick to being published. In fact, I once read there are just three things to know to get published, unfortunately no one knows what the three things are. I don't know about that, but I do know one thing. Patience is a requirement. Of course everyone talks about persistence, but you don't hear about patience often.

Here's my example. GGE is working on two properties right now. "The Forsaken" and "Insurrection" (both working titles). Both of these are substantially finished. Note, I said substantially finished. Not finished. I was very tempted today to send the works off with some query letters. Finally, my better nature took hold of me and I held off. The works should not (and will not) be sent out to anyone until they are more than substantially finished. They need to be finished and polished and polished and polished.

I am always once to seek out a metaphor...here is my metaphor: I am currently working on restoring an antique armoire from near-destruction to its original grandeur (another hobby of mine). Anyway, the armoire is re-assembled, but is not yet stained or covered in a coat of polyurethane. It needs sanding with rough sandpaper and then sanding again with finer sandpaper and then sanding again with even finer sandpaper all so that when I finally do stain the armoire and cover it in poyurethane it will look as good (or better) than it did a hundred years ago. If my patience ran out and I stained it right now, it would still look good, but it would not look perfect. The same is true for a story and my odds of selling a story on behalf of GGE go up considerably when it is perfect.

Our stories will be in competition with hundreds of other stories received by agents and editors. I hope to only compete with the other polished stories, not the ones that are just "good enough".

Publishers for Self-publishing

Regardless of your individual view of self-publishing, it seems to me to be on the rise. I don't have a ton of experience with self-publishing, but I have some. In any event, a friend and an aspiring author asked about self publishers a few days ago and I compiled a list with some links for him. Here's the list...

Dog Ear Publishing
Authorhouse
Booksurge (Amazon owns this one)
Infinity
Iuniverse
Lulu
Outskirts
Publish America
Trafford
Wheatmark Book Publishers
Wordclay
Xlibris
Xulon Press

If you are interested, check them out. I don't want to recommend a specific one because I don't have experience with all of them. Check online forums and you can get info on most of them. When I do that, most of the "complaints" I see are really about self-publishing and not about the self-publishers. If you go this route, just make sure your expectations are realistically set and a lot of the complaints will go away.

Be accessible

One reason I wanted to start this blog was so that GGE is accessible to everyone. I think it is really important. I know when I have emailed authors to crow about their work, I am always thrilled when I get an email back. Most of us writers and aspiring writers were fanboys (or fangirls) first. We should all remember that! I know I do. If you have a comment, concern, question or just want to geek out...email me! GGE loves to hear from you!

What Motivates You?

"I love to create things, but I lack the motivation to put pen to paper."

That is a really common problem. If everyone had the motivation, we would be awash in awesome stories and media and movies and tv and the independent market would be flourishing and those less-than-stellar stories would become stellar or disappear.
So, how does one get motivation when there is none in ready supply? For me, I have to fake it. Like working out or dieting or building a fence. I may not feel great about doing some work that day, but I force myself to do it anyway. I tell others how excited I am to be working on it. Sometimes the enthusiasm is so infections that it infect me! Other times, I force myself to nail up a couple of planks in the fence (metaphor for typing a few paragraphs) and usually this motivates me.
I am a firm believer in "get it written, then get it right". I find I am much more motivated to polish a "completed" work so I force myself to get it completed. To quote my favorite motivator, Dale Carnegie, "Act enthusiastic and you'll be enthusiatic!"

What's the best way to publish?

There are a lot of ways to get your work "out there" these days. Let's name a few:

• Traditional publishing - send out query letters, either unsolicited to publishers or to agents until you land an agent and let them work with you. This is powerful, but hard to break into and we receive pretty limited success until we get a name out there. In my opinion, this may be "old school" and while I, just like anyone else, would love to have Del Rey or Tor on my book, it may be fading in importance as more and more means appear for an author to spread the word
• E-publishing - Wow. This is easy. Either as an Ebook or even for the Amazon Kindle. You can make your own ebooks or work with an ebook publisher or have someone make the ebook for you. You could have an ebook out on the web today! (assuming you have it written)
• Subsidy (Vanity) Press - You pay someone to print a bunch of copies of your book and then you market them yourself. There is a stigma with this sort of publication, but it is still used. Of course the benefit here is that you control every aspect of the story and what happens to the characters and all of that. Full creative control.
• Print-on-demand (POD) - Similar to Vanity publishing, but you only pay for the set up and then the publisher prints the books as they sell so you aren't stuck with two thousand unsold copies of your book. Here again you retain full creative control and many of these throw in an ebook version as well as the print-on-demand ability. The softcover books are typically a little expensive as compared to a mass market paperback.
• Lulu.com - This one has its own version of print on demand where you can print a single book for a price. Pretty cool for family genealogies and stuff like that, or if your kids want to write a book, see it in print, and give their friends a handful of copies, then this works great!

Now, we all could probably come up with examples from each of these types of publications where people gained a large readership or made lots of money. The key is not luck...it's writing something people want to read. If getting readers is your goal, then you have to write something readers will enjoy and share with others. If it is good, then it will spread. If your goal is just to publish, then what are you waiting for...you can do it today. If you want readers, then write and write well. The important thing though...is to write!