Money, Money, Money Wednesday, Feb 18 2009

When you live in a capitalist society, it’s hard sometimes to appreciate the value of things that don’t come with a price tag.  But if you’re willing to put dollars and cents aside for a moment, here are some things you can do:

Write every day—even though it doesn’t earn you a dime.

Finish the draft of a novel, a screenplay, a poetry collection, an article or essay.

Take you Starbucks money for a week and make five copies of your manuscript to hand out to friends.

Make five more to hand out to strangers. 

Congratulate yourself: you’re now a published author!

Take the feedback you get and revise your draft to make it stronger. 

Write a children’s book, get your artistic neighbor to illustrate it (the one who also understands the value of willing to work for free), call the librarian at your local elementary school, and make an appointment to come in and read your book out loud to the kids.

Congratulations!  You just gave your first reading.

Take your vacation money and instead of going away for a week, stay home and publish your book through a print-on-demand service.  Give copies away to six of your friends.  When they’re done reading it, invite them over for wine and cheese.

Congratulations!  You’ve just hosted your first book party.

Tell your friends to list your book on Goodreads.

Congratulations!  You just got your first reviews.

When the summer comes, pack the kids in the back of the car and drive them to Florida/Arizona/North Dakota to see that aunt/cousin/college roommate you’ve been meaning to get around to visit for years.  While you’re there, ask your aunt/cousin/college roommate to hold a barbecue so that you can meet all of her friends.  While you’re all together eating chicken and ribs, tell them about your book.

Congratulations!  You just gave your first book talk.

Be sure to have a few copies in the trunk of your car to sell. . .just in case. 

Congratulations!  You just made your first sales.

Well, we never said money didn’t matter—just that it shouldn’t stop you from doing the things you want to do.

When you get back home, start on a new book.  Congratulate yourself!  You’re part of a new grassroots movement made up of writers who have decided to take their destiny into their own hands and bring their work to audiences on their own.

There are people out there waiting to read what you have written.  All you have to do is find them.  So put your money where your mouth is.  Get your work out there.  You know that you want to.  What are you waiting for? 

One Response »

 

Double double, toil and trouble Thursday, Feb 12 2009

Double, double toil and trouble;/ Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

First the trouble.

 According to yesterday’s New York Times, HarperCollins has just announced the closing of Collins.  In the last six months of 2008, Harper Collins saw a staggering 75% loss in its income, leading to lay-offs among editors, sales, marketing, and publicity staff–and now the closing of the entire Collins division, despite the fact that it has several blockbusters on its list.  HarperCollins joins a long list of publishing houses that have had lay-offs in recent months, including:

Random House

Simon & Schuster

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

St. Martin’s Press

Meanwhile, bookstores continue to struggle, with sales down in double-digits in recent months, and this past holiday season the worst in memory.  The decline of commercial publishing, which has begun in recent years to look like a train wreck in slow motion, has accelerated in our worsening economy.  Close your eyes.  It’s painful to see.

But all is not lost.

Now for the bubble.

Despite the bad news, there is one sector in the publishing world that has shown growth in recent months: self-publishing.  Author Solutions alone grew by 10% in 2008.  By all accounts, readership is up, but the way readers are getting their books—and the way writers are getting them to them—has changed. 

Here’s how Time Magazine put it in their recent article on “Books Unbound”: “[M]ore books, written and read by more people, often for little or no money, [are] circulating in a wild diversity of forms, both physical and electronic, far outside the charmed circle of New York City’s entrenched publishing culture.” 

The result?  Instead of being handed down to readers by a self-selected priesthood of editors from above, books are bubbling up from below, in a delightful, chaotic stew, everything from the best new literary fiction to fan fiction and Cell Phone novels—which have reached the bestselling lists in Japan.

Hang on to your hats.  The new world is here, and the only question left is: How will you fit into it?

One Response »

 

Myth Busters#2: Book Stores Friday, Sep 26 2008

Myth Busters

 

This week’s topic: Bookstores

 

Myth #1:  Most people go to bookstores when they want to buy a book.

 

Reality:  The shopping habits of readers have changed.  Nowadays roughly half of all book purchases are made outside of bookstores, most of them through the internet.

 

Myth #2:  The best way to attract new readers is to get your book into a bookstore.

 

Reality:  Most people who go to a bookstore come already have a specific book in mind that they want to buy.  If they aren’t already planning on buying your book, the chance that they will pick it off the shelf is small.

 

Myth #4:  If your book is in a bookstore, it will stay there until it is sold.

 

Reality:  Publishers compete for shelf space in bookstores.  If your book doesn’t sell quickly, it will be pulled and replaced by a new title.  Sometimes new books have a window of only a few weeks in order to sell.

 

Myth #5:  Anyone who publishes a book can get it into a bookstore.

 

Reality: Your book has to be handled by a distributor in order to get into major bookstores—and distributors do not handle books that are self-published or published by many small presses.

 

Myth #6:  When your book comes out, your publisher will send you on a tour to give readings and book signings in bookstores all over the country.

 

Reality:  The book tour is a thing of the past.  With the exception of well-known, well-established authors, in most cases publishers have given up on the expense of sending writers on tour.  Instead, they are forgoing tours entirely or doing virtual book tours on sites online.

 

Myth #7:  Emerging, new writers should give up on bookstores.

 

Reality:  Not so fast!  Small, independent bookstores are still very excited about discovering new talent, especially when the writer is local.  Many of these stores are struggling, so when you take your book to them, you have the joy of meeting people who will support your work, and the satisfaction of supporting a local business, too.

 

 

 

Leave a Response »

 

An Interview with Leslie Goetsch Wednesday, Sep 10 2008

This week we are talking to Leslie Goetsch, a high school English teacher and the author of Back Creek. Back Creek is one of those unique books that appeals equally to adults and teens.  Here’s how Leslie got it into print.

 

Leslie, first of all, congratulations on publishing Back Creek.  It must be a very exciting time for you.

 

The publication and promotion of the book has been such a surreal whirlwind—talking with all kinds of book clubs, being interviewed on a local news program, being invited to do readings and signings:  it has all reenergized and invigorated me and my focus on writing fiction.

 

Tell us a little about the book.

 

Back Creek started out as a short story in which I introduced (to myself) the characters of Grace and Cal.  I started out with some intense pictures in my mind and the strong urge to do what Eudora suggests is the creation of fiction:  writing what I didn’t know about what I knew.  The story of the novel is completely fictional; the setting is completely nonfiction.  Back Creek is a coming of age novel set in Tidewater, Virginia in the 1970’s.  The last summer before she leaves for college, the main character, Grace, is swept up in a series of family troubles.  A good friend dies suddenly in a suspicious accident, her mother abandons the family, and her older sister, whom she has always looked up to, comes home needing her help.  As her father sinks into troubles of his own, it’s up to Grace to put things back together. Over the course of the summer, she discovers she has strengths she wasn’t even aware of and a basic liberating understanding, as one reviewer put it, “you can love people, even your family, without really liking them.”

 

You published Back Creek with Bancroft Press, a small publishing house.  What brought you to Bancroft?

 

It took me ten years to write Back Creek.  Well, I was working full-time as a high school English teacher and raising two children at the same time!  When I was finally done, I spent about a year and a half sending out queries to agents and received some “nibbles,” but no bites.  I was unsure how to proceed, or even if I should continue to try to get the book into print.  I knew Bruce Bortz, who runs Bancroft Press, because I had taught both his children.  One day I impulsively solicited his advice on what I should do next with the manuscript.  He asked if he could look at it, so I sent it to him.  He offered to serve as my agent for a time, and then publish the novel if it didn’t sell to another publisher.  Bruce helped me edit the novel and he published it this year.  So it was really just a bit of serendipity. 

 

I guess the lesson here is that writers should keep their eyes open.  You never know where you might meet someone who can help you along the way.  Why do you think Bortz chose to publish Back Creek?  What made your book a good fit for his list?

 

Bancroft publishes quite a bit of young adult literature and Back Creek certainly fits in that category, but it also “crosses over” into a literary fiction market.  Bancroft is in Baltimore, Maryland, and because of the Tidewater setting, Back Creek also has a local appeal. 

 

What has been the best part about publishing with a small press?

 

I certainly have had a good deal of input into the editing, design and marketing of the novel.  Communication with the publisher has been comfortable, easy and immediate.  I never hesitate to call or email if I have a question or suggestion. 

 

Is there anything you wish were different?

 

I wish the publisher did more of the marketing—setting up signings, contacting bookstores, etc.  I have hired a publicist and pounded the pavement a bit.  I really can’t fault the publisher, though—I think it’s just the way things are in the publishing world.  You have to prepare yourself for a lot of self-promotion, something I have always been uncomfortable with—but it’s getting easier!

 

Good advice!  What kinds of writers do you think should consider publishing with a small press?

 

I feel that small presses may be more willing to take risks—to publish someone new, to take a manuscript that needs some work, to take a chance on a novel that doesn’t fit an exact market.  Writers of literary fiction and young adult fiction should consider submitting to small presses—and perhaps memoir, and nonfiction writers. 

 

Do you have any other advice to offer aspiring writers who are looking to publish their books?

 

Hang in there!   Don’t tie up your ego or your check book with your work and keep sending it out—it only takes one agent or editor to like it. 

 

Thanks, Leslie.  On a personal note, I’d like to add that I’ve had the pleasure of reading your book, and have recommended it to many of my friends, who have responded with enthusiasm, too.  Grace is such an engaging character and her world is so beautifully rendered—anyone will enjoy spending time with her.

 

Back Creek is available through Bancroft Press, www.bancroftpress.com, or at amazon.com.

 

 

Leave a Response »