Maria Savva's Blog - Posts Tagged "the-literary-consultancy"
Guest Post: When Indie met the establishment! by Laxmi Hariharan
**Today, I'm featuring a guest post from a fellow author, Laxmi Hariharan, about the The Literary Consultancy's upcoming conference: 'Writing in a Digital Age', which takes place next weekend in London.**
When Indie met the establishment!
Cut to twelve months ago—as a just born Indie, I listened to Kate Mosse (author Labyrinth) talk about how she was not on Facebook, Twitter or any of those necessary evils, which help Indie authors like myself build a platform. On a panel discussion she made it very clear that she preferred not to have her peace of mind destroyed by social media chatter, in order to really focus inwards and write. A fellow author confessed how she was beyond the point of being a social media junkie—she stayed connected even when she took her dog for a walk. It was clear to me that as a writer and a marketer I needed to find the sweet spot somewhere between the two. I needed to become a spider—a black widow?— an arachnid who sat square in the entre of a 720 degree social network web, and controlled everything that went around me, not the other way around.
It was about choice. I absolutely had the right to decide when I wanted to dip in and went I wanted to unplug. Isn’t that being an Indie author was all about.
Exercising your right to be read, to be seen and heard unadulterated by veils. Just one of the many insights I gained from attending the writing in a digital age conference, held by TLC. I will be back at the 2013 instalment of the same, as part of the storytime sessions, talking about where I am twelve months on—wiser, more confident, and in the throes of completing Return to 7 Islands (#2, Bombay Chronicles.) If you are wondering whether to go Indie or if you are Indie and pondering what next, then this is where you want to be. You will get the chance to meet fellow Indies as well as published authors, publishers, and agents too (some of them are really nice too, I promise.)
Writing in a Digital Age, June 7-8, London. Tickets on sale till June 6th.
Laxmi Hariharan is a content branding strategist and award winning author of epic fantasy. Find her at LAXMIwrites
When Indie met the establishment!
Cut to twelve months ago—as a just born Indie, I listened to Kate Mosse (author Labyrinth) talk about how she was not on Facebook, Twitter or any of those necessary evils, which help Indie authors like myself build a platform. On a panel discussion she made it very clear that she preferred not to have her peace of mind destroyed by social media chatter, in order to really focus inwards and write. A fellow author confessed how she was beyond the point of being a social media junkie—she stayed connected even when she took her dog for a walk. It was clear to me that as a writer and a marketer I needed to find the sweet spot somewhere between the two. I needed to become a spider—a black widow?— an arachnid who sat square in the entre of a 720 degree social network web, and controlled everything that went around me, not the other way around.
It was about choice. I absolutely had the right to decide when I wanted to dip in and went I wanted to unplug. Isn’t that being an Indie author was all about.
Exercising your right to be read, to be seen and heard unadulterated by veils. Just one of the many insights I gained from attending the writing in a digital age conference, held by TLC. I will be back at the 2013 instalment of the same, as part of the storytime sessions, talking about where I am twelve months on—wiser, more confident, and in the throes of completing Return to 7 Islands (#2, Bombay Chronicles.) If you are wondering whether to go Indie or if you are Indie and pondering what next, then this is where you want to be. You will get the chance to meet fellow Indies as well as published authors, publishers, and agents too (some of them are really nice too, I promise.)
Writing in a Digital Age, June 7-8, London. Tickets on sale till June 6th.
Laxmi Hariharan is a content branding strategist and award winning author of epic fantasy. Find her at LAXMIwrites
The Literary Consultancy's Conference 2013: Writing in a Digital Age
I have just come back from a two-day conference at the Free Word Centre.The conference was organised by The Literary Consultancy, in partnership with The Times Literary Supplement.
I am very grateful to my fellow indie author, Laxmi Hariharan, for telling me about the conference and arranging a press pass for me so that I could attend the event.
I enjoyed the conference and learned a few things that I am sure will help in my ongoing publishing adventure. Highlights for me were:
1. The keynote speech by Audrey Niffenegger (author of The Time Traveler's Wife). I picked up a signed copy of her novel, Her Fearful Symmetry, which I am very much looking forward to reading.
2. Steve Bohme's statistics about book sales (Bowker Market Research).
3. The speech by Robert McCrum, an associate editor of The Observer, about his perspective on the change in the contemporary book world.
4. Audience Storytime, where we heard from some independently published authors about their experiences with self-publishing.
5. Canon Tales: Stories Behind the Book, where we heard from various industry professionals about their love of literature and their hopes for the future of literature.
I'm going to be reporting back on what I learned at the conference in a short series on my blog in the coming weeks. There was a lot of information about how the book world has changed with the digital revolution. There were discussions about self-publishing, editing, what works best for marketing both traditionally published and self-published books.
It was well worth attending the conference. I met a few fellow writers who I will be keeping in touch with too. All in all, it was an enjoyable experience, and an informative and entertaining couple of days.
I have taken some comprehensive notes of all the speeches and discussions and will be writing about those soon.
Notes from The Literary Consultancy's conference 2013 - Writing in a Digital Age: Audrey Niffenegger
I attended The Literary Consultancy's conference at the weekend and really enjoyed it.
In the coming weeks I am going to be sharing some of the highlights of the conference with you, and also my thoughts on the event.
I'm hoping the series of blogs will be useful to writers and readers.
*******************************************************************************************
The first speaker at the event was Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife.
I found her speech interesting and inspirational.
Audrey is a visual artist as well as a writer. She said most people's reactions in the publishing industry to the way the digital age is developing is "jumpy and alarmed".
The backdrop for her speech were various slides based on the history of typography and how the letters of the alphabet developed over the years and in different languages. I think she said the pictures were from Meggs' History of Graphic Design.
Audrey Niffenegger was trained as a visual artist and she said that the way she thinks of a book is in terms of putting images and words together. She was 40 when she wrote her first novel.
When she trained as an artist, she said it was all about expressing ideas, not going with the flow, not following trends, breaking new ground. She was inspired by Aubrey Beardley.
In Niffenegger's last two years at art school she wrote a book that was mostly pictures with a bit of text, The Adventuress. When she graduated she tried to get it published but it was rejected because it was too original and different. She went on to show it at an art gallery and sold a few copies.
14 years later she wrote another illustrated book, The Three Incestuous Sisters and sold only a few copies. In the process of doing that, she got involved with other people doing conceptual books. She and a group of other book artists, papermakers, and designers founded a new book arts centre, the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts. The idea was to tie in art with computer, sound, film, video, interdisciplinary arts.
Tn 1994 they started offering classes and a couple of years later graduate dregrees (MFAs Master of Fine Arts). Many of the students were graphic designers. The idea behind the book art centre was to allow students to do what they want.
While working there as an assistant director, she was in charge of writing the catalogues describing the classes and she wanted to find ways of making the descriptions of the classes more interesting, so she started writing them more creatively and this made her mind think differently. It was around that time she started writing The Time Traveler's Wife.
The idea behind that novel, for her, developed by asking questions. She began to find that her own reality worked its way into the fiction, for example one of the characters in the book is a paper-making artist.
When she sent the manuscript out, it was rejected more than thirty times. Then an independent press picked it up and published it. At the time, that independent press MacAdam/Cage only had 14 employees. The novel has since sold 7 million copies and has been translated into many different languages, and of course there is now a film.
She found that the success of that book allowed her the freedom to experiment with other publishing. Her first book picture book, that had been initially rejected, was then picked up by Abrams and has sold well.
Audrey stated that the reach she now has, due to the success of that one book, has created opportunity. Her current project is a fairy tale that has been made into a ballet, Raven Girl.
The whole nature of publishing has changed since she first published The Time Traveller's Wife. She explained how when she signed the contract, the concept of e-book rights wasn't even considered, so she found she still owned all the rights. She didn't publish it in e-book for quite a while, wanting to wait for the right moment.
A great influence on Audrey has been her agent, Joe Regal. In 2011, he started a company called Zola Books, named for the writer Émile Zola. Audrey helped Joe set up the company. The idea behind it is that e-books could and should be better. The idea is also to bring the community together through social networking and partnering with independent bookshops and authors.
For The Time Traveller's Wife e-book, she is writing a sequel to go with it.
Audrey says that things that succeed are: "Useful, beautiful, friendly, and make themselves available to you." These are the ideas behind book production on Zola Books. She mentioned that there is an idea to make e-books available on 5 devices so that you can register on the site and move your e-book to any of your reading devices.
She believes that distribution is the most important thing when it comes to e-books.
She recommended a book, "The Gift" which is a study of creativity.
She says that she believes creativity has to be somewhere people can interact with it. She pointed at fan fiction as one of the most active ways this is happening lately, with readers becoming writers and back again.
In her book that is now a ballet, she has an idea to include sound and animation that would be an extension of the text. Although, she did say that she finds it distracting to listen to music with lyrics when she's writing. I do too. I know that there are some writers that can write and listen to songs at the same time, though.
Audrey's experience in the publishing industry is a good example of how much has changed, and at quite a rapid rate, over the past twenty years or so. What Audrey's students were once doing in the paper arts centre is now being done on computers and in digital form for e-books. Despite all the changes, she says that in the publishing world everyone depends on everyone else, and she doesn't see e-books as a challenge to paperbacks.
Audrey's speech affirmed to me some things that I already knew about the publishing world and writers in general, but it was good to hear it from a multi-million bestselling author. She has her feet firmly on the ground even after all her success, and I believe that is because she had to work hard to become successful and didn't quit.
**************************************************************************************
In the coming weeks I am going to be sharing some of the highlights of the conference with you, and also my thoughts on the event.
I'm hoping the series of blogs will be useful to writers and readers.
*******************************************************************************************
The first speaker at the event was Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife.
I found her speech interesting and inspirational.
Audrey is a visual artist as well as a writer. She said most people's reactions in the publishing industry to the way the digital age is developing is "jumpy and alarmed".
The backdrop for her speech were various slides based on the history of typography and how the letters of the alphabet developed over the years and in different languages. I think she said the pictures were from Meggs' History of Graphic Design.
Audrey Niffenegger was trained as a visual artist and she said that the way she thinks of a book is in terms of putting images and words together. She was 40 when she wrote her first novel.
When she trained as an artist, she said it was all about expressing ideas, not going with the flow, not following trends, breaking new ground. She was inspired by Aubrey Beardley.
In Niffenegger's last two years at art school she wrote a book that was mostly pictures with a bit of text, The Adventuress. When she graduated she tried to get it published but it was rejected because it was too original and different. She went on to show it at an art gallery and sold a few copies.
14 years later she wrote another illustrated book, The Three Incestuous Sisters and sold only a few copies. In the process of doing that, she got involved with other people doing conceptual books. She and a group of other book artists, papermakers, and designers founded a new book arts centre, the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts. The idea was to tie in art with computer, sound, film, video, interdisciplinary arts.
Tn 1994 they started offering classes and a couple of years later graduate dregrees (MFAs Master of Fine Arts). Many of the students were graphic designers. The idea behind the book art centre was to allow students to do what they want.
While working there as an assistant director, she was in charge of writing the catalogues describing the classes and she wanted to find ways of making the descriptions of the classes more interesting, so she started writing them more creatively and this made her mind think differently. It was around that time she started writing The Time Traveler's Wife.
The idea behind that novel, for her, developed by asking questions. She began to find that her own reality worked its way into the fiction, for example one of the characters in the book is a paper-making artist.
When she sent the manuscript out, it was rejected more than thirty times. Then an independent press picked it up and published it. At the time, that independent press MacAdam/Cage only had 14 employees. The novel has since sold 7 million copies and has been translated into many different languages, and of course there is now a film.
She found that the success of that book allowed her the freedom to experiment with other publishing. Her first book picture book, that had been initially rejected, was then picked up by Abrams and has sold well.
Audrey stated that the reach she now has, due to the success of that one book, has created opportunity. Her current project is a fairy tale that has been made into a ballet, Raven Girl.
The whole nature of publishing has changed since she first published The Time Traveller's Wife. She explained how when she signed the contract, the concept of e-book rights wasn't even considered, so she found she still owned all the rights. She didn't publish it in e-book for quite a while, wanting to wait for the right moment.
A great influence on Audrey has been her agent, Joe Regal. In 2011, he started a company called Zola Books, named for the writer Émile Zola. Audrey helped Joe set up the company. The idea behind it is that e-books could and should be better. The idea is also to bring the community together through social networking and partnering with independent bookshops and authors.
For The Time Traveller's Wife e-book, she is writing a sequel to go with it.
Audrey says that things that succeed are: "Useful, beautiful, friendly, and make themselves available to you." These are the ideas behind book production on Zola Books. She mentioned that there is an idea to make e-books available on 5 devices so that you can register on the site and move your e-book to any of your reading devices.
She believes that distribution is the most important thing when it comes to e-books.
She recommended a book, "The Gift" which is a study of creativity.
She says that she believes creativity has to be somewhere people can interact with it. She pointed at fan fiction as one of the most active ways this is happening lately, with readers becoming writers and back again.
In her book that is now a ballet, she has an idea to include sound and animation that would be an extension of the text. Although, she did say that she finds it distracting to listen to music with lyrics when she's writing. I do too. I know that there are some writers that can write and listen to songs at the same time, though.
Audrey's experience in the publishing industry is a good example of how much has changed, and at quite a rapid rate, over the past twenty years or so. What Audrey's students were once doing in the paper arts centre is now being done on computers and in digital form for e-books. Despite all the changes, she says that in the publishing world everyone depends on everyone else, and she doesn't see e-books as a challenge to paperbacks.
Audrey's speech affirmed to me some things that I already knew about the publishing world and writers in general, but it was good to hear it from a multi-million bestselling author. She has her feet firmly on the ground even after all her success, and I believe that is because she had to work hard to become successful and didn't quit.
**************************************************************************************
Notes from The Literary Consultancy's conference 2013 - Writing in a Digital Age: "A Remarkable Year of Change"
One of the comments at The Literary Consultancy's conference this year, was that 2012/13 has been a 'remarkable year of change' for publishing in general.
A panel of publishing professionals gave us their overview of the changes this year and how they are adapting.
Here are a few significant points that were made:
Gordon Wise, a senior literary agent at Curtis Brown talked a bit about how agents are now getting involved with assisted self-publishing for authors. The Amazon "White Glove" service was talked about. I had never heard of that before. Here's an article that explains a bit more about the idea behind it: http://paidcontent.org/2012/12/04/ama...
At the moment it seems to be geared towards helping authors who already have an agent becoming published with the help of the agency. I think the idea is also to help more well-known authors with maybe uploading their back catalogue of books, that many be out-of-print, onto Amazon.
Little is known about the "White Glove" service, but it's something that we may be hearing more about in the future.
***
Dan Franklin, who works at Random House Digital talked a bit about how the growth in self publishing has affected the larger publishing houses.
He said that e-books make up 23% of the publisher's revenue.
He said that authors demand much more from the publisher now because of the changing environment. They are working more towards author transparency, for example in respect of how royalties are paid. They are running social media tutorials for their authors because that is becoming more important for published authors.
Publishers are now obliged to provide more data to authors than before.
He also talked about how there are going to be mergers between publishing companies.
Interestingly, he believes that the words are more important when it comes to e-books and it seems the major publishers are not too concerned about evolution of the e-reading form.
***
Stefan Tobler, of And Other Stories, a small publisher, gave a bit of insight into the way they have met the challenges presented by the digital revolution.
The volume of e-books they sell is 5% of their total sales. They don't do heavy discounting on e-books. They were lucky that one of their titles Swimming Home was short listed for the Man Booker Prize. Before that, they had a book that was a bestseller, Down the Rabbit Hole.
They charge £10 for an e-book but with Amazon discounts their titles are about £4 in e-book format.
For more popular titles, Amazon will decide to discount to 20p - £1. What the publisher gets, it was stated, is much more than that. Amazon makes the decision to cut the e-book prices, not the publishers, yet Amazon pays the publisher much more than they get from sales.
***
A few other points of interest that came out of that panel discussion were:
1. Children's books are not very popular as e-books. Some people have said that they don't like the idea of children's books as e-books and prefer their children to have the experience of reading real books. One audience member said that she only buys children's books as e-books when travelling because it's easier to have the books on an e-reader rather than carrying lots of actual books.
2. The forecast is that sales of e-books will overtake paperback/hardback books by 2017.
3. One journalist in the audience stated that outside of London, in the UK high street bookstores are "practically dead".
I'll be posting more about this conference soon.
A panel of publishing professionals gave us their overview of the changes this year and how they are adapting.
Here are a few significant points that were made:
Gordon Wise, a senior literary agent at Curtis Brown talked a bit about how agents are now getting involved with assisted self-publishing for authors. The Amazon "White Glove" service was talked about. I had never heard of that before. Here's an article that explains a bit more about the idea behind it: http://paidcontent.org/2012/12/04/ama...
At the moment it seems to be geared towards helping authors who already have an agent becoming published with the help of the agency. I think the idea is also to help more well-known authors with maybe uploading their back catalogue of books, that many be out-of-print, onto Amazon.
Little is known about the "White Glove" service, but it's something that we may be hearing more about in the future.
***
Dan Franklin, who works at Random House Digital talked a bit about how the growth in self publishing has affected the larger publishing houses.
He said that e-books make up 23% of the publisher's revenue.
He said that authors demand much more from the publisher now because of the changing environment. They are working more towards author transparency, for example in respect of how royalties are paid. They are running social media tutorials for their authors because that is becoming more important for published authors.
Publishers are now obliged to provide more data to authors than before.
He also talked about how there are going to be mergers between publishing companies.
Interestingly, he believes that the words are more important when it comes to e-books and it seems the major publishers are not too concerned about evolution of the e-reading form.
***
Stefan Tobler, of And Other Stories, a small publisher, gave a bit of insight into the way they have met the challenges presented by the digital revolution.
The volume of e-books they sell is 5% of their total sales. They don't do heavy discounting on e-books. They were lucky that one of their titles Swimming Home was short listed for the Man Booker Prize. Before that, they had a book that was a bestseller, Down the Rabbit Hole.
They charge £10 for an e-book but with Amazon discounts their titles are about £4 in e-book format.
For more popular titles, Amazon will decide to discount to 20p - £1. What the publisher gets, it was stated, is much more than that. Amazon makes the decision to cut the e-book prices, not the publishers, yet Amazon pays the publisher much more than they get from sales.
***
A few other points of interest that came out of that panel discussion were:
1. Children's books are not very popular as e-books. Some people have said that they don't like the idea of children's books as e-books and prefer their children to have the experience of reading real books. One audience member said that she only buys children's books as e-books when travelling because it's easier to have the books on an e-reader rather than carrying lots of actual books.
2. The forecast is that sales of e-books will overtake paperback/hardback books by 2017.
3. One journalist in the audience stated that outside of London, in the UK high street bookstores are "practically dead".
I'll be posting more about this conference soon.
Notes from The Literary Consultancy's conference 2013 - Writing in a Digital Age: "Literary Values"
One of the panel discussions at the recent TLC conference was about literary values. How has the digital age changed literary values?
A definition that was put forward of 'literary fiction' was: writing that uses language in an interesting way, re-invents language in a way, challenges the world. I think a quote from author Hilary Mantel was that literary fiction provides us with "news from the world".
There was a lively panel discussion on this subject. There definitely seem to be two camps: those who think self-published writers should be burned at the stake, and those who welcome the innovation and change that has been forthcoming from the diversity and wealth of new fiction and non-fiction flooding the market with the digital revolution.
Personally, I think this an exciting time for literature in general, and if we as self-published authors make the most of it we can enhance the publishing industry.
One important point that was raised was that with the ease of self-publishing, it is very easy for writers to publish 'too quickly'. I agree with this. You can write a story today and upload it onto Amazon Kindle tomorrow. In most cases that story will be in need of editing.
Editing is such an important part of the publishing process. New writers often don't appreciate how important it is. It's an easy trap to fall into: new writers are keen to publish their masterpieces to the world, but it is so important to hold back, take time to make sure the work is as perfect as it can be before it's published. The reason self-published writers are getting a bad reputation is because of those who are too eager to push the button and publish.
I am strong supporter of independent writers and I know there is a wealth of talent out there. But--and it's a big BUT--lots of authors cut corners when it comes to editing and this leads to all of us getting a bad name.
For example, one of the panel members at the conference, Andrew Franklin, of Profile Books, stated that the "overwhelming majority" of self-published books are "rubbish". He said being a self published writer is like standing naked in the pitch dark. He said a "miniscule number" of self-published writers will break out and succeed. He called the self-publishing world "deeply corrupted", referring to how it's possible to buy Facebook 'likes' and friends. He said to compare self-published books to traditionally published books, is like comparing Alcopops to good quality wine. While I totally disagree with all of that and feel he went a bit too far, worryingly I can see why he said it.
I read a lot of independently published books because I want to support indie authors, but some of the books make me wonder if writers are taking themselves seriously. There is no excuse for publishing a sub-standard book. If you're a traditional publisher or a self-published author, you must make sure your product is the best it can be before you publish it.
The e-book and digital age is a great opportunity for talented authors and authors who care about their craft, who care about the future of literature, to carve a niche for themselves in an industry that was once beyond their reach. It makes no sense to bring down the industry by letting standards drop. All writers should get their books professionally edited and proofread before publishing. Anything less leaves the door open for critics such as Andrew Franklin to make such sweeping and derogatory remarks about self-published books.
I don't know how many times I have repeated myself about this issue, but it is an ongoing one. People can forgive maybe the odd typo in a 200 page book, but where you find a typo on each page or every other page, it is really off-putting. From my own experience of reading lots of indie books I do know that more writers are investing in an editor these days because I am finding less editorial issues. I hope that somehow the message is getting across to people that it's unacceptable to call yourself a writer and yet produce a book riddled with grammatical and typographical errors.
The message is: take your time and make sure you edit your work, get feedback from a proofreader or beta readers.
One of the other points that was brought up by editor Toby Lichtig in this panel discussion, that I agree with, was that in the old days of publishing there were gatekeepers i.e. editors who would decide whether a piece of work was ready to be published. With the ease of self-publishing, the gatekeepers are no longer there. This not only means that people can publish whenever they want, easily, but it means that writers are not being challenged to improve themselves.
Writers can only become better at their craft when there is criticism of their work. They are then forced to try harder, push themselves further. One of the concerns raised in the panel discussion is that with this ease of publishing writers won't be taking the time to develop their craft.
The other side to this argument is that perhaps what readers want from fiction is changing, perhaps the old 'literary values' are no longer a prerequisite. Maybe I am just a dinosaur holding pre-historic views about the need for good editing in fiction.
An example is the growth of fan fiction.
Fan fiction, for those who are not familiar with the term is where readers will go onto various forums/websites that have been set up to enable them to make up stories using their favourite characters from fiction. Probably the most famous recent example of where something like this made an impact is the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' series. That series started off as fan fiction on a fan fiction forum, where the Twilight characters were used to create a new story. That went on to be published by a major publishing house and sold millions.
Fan fiction is on the rise, whether we like it or not. The 'Fifty Shades of Grey' series, is an example, in my opinion, of traditional publishers letting 'literary values' slide in favour of making money from a popular fad. I haven't read (and have no desire to read) the series, but from what I have heard, it was badly edited, if indeed it was edited at all. One panel member, editor Sally O-J, made a good point that perhaps if it had gone to a good editor it would not have sold as many copies as it did. It was the flaws that maybe made it popular. An editor may have changed it and it would not have been what the readers of that particular fan fiction wanted.
So, we can see that it's not only self-published authors who sometimes skimp on editing, but why is it always self-published authors who are blamed for this lack of standards? Makes you think, doesn't it?
The panel discussion highlighted that literary values are changing. Most fan fiction, it was stated, leans towards the Erotica genre.
Sally O-J said that it is worth looking at fan fiction to see what people like reading. Trends seem to go out into the world from these fan fiction websites.
'Literary fiction' as a genre does not appear to be at the forefront of this new digital age, and I don't think that is only down to self-published authors. Readers are voting with their feet. One of the most popular genres at the moment is crime, and with the rise in fan fiction, Erotica and Fantasy fiction are more popular.
The panel discussed the new Kindle Worlds product. This allows readers and writers to publish fan fiction and get paid for it. Ready made characters from popular fiction of the past can be utilised to create new stories.
I'm on the fence about that really. As a writer I like to create my own characters so Kindle Worlds doesn't appeal to me at all. But with the success of 'Fifty Shades' this is obviously a market Amazon want to tap into. There's undeniably a large readership for this type of thing.
To sum up, I would say that there is still a divide between traditional publishers and self-publishers, with strong attitudes held by each side. The tone of the debate made me realise that there are still some in the traditionally published world that will never accept indie authors. However, it seems that the boundaries are blurring with the likes of E.L. James being published by a large publishing house, and fan fiction becoming more acceptable as a product with 'Kindle Worlds'.
Literary values are changing, it seems, but one good thing that seems to have come out of the new digital age is that more people than ever before seem to be picking up books, or e-readers, and reading. That has to be a good thing, right?
A definition that was put forward of 'literary fiction' was: writing that uses language in an interesting way, re-invents language in a way, challenges the world. I think a quote from author Hilary Mantel was that literary fiction provides us with "news from the world".
There was a lively panel discussion on this subject. There definitely seem to be two camps: those who think self-published writers should be burned at the stake, and those who welcome the innovation and change that has been forthcoming from the diversity and wealth of new fiction and non-fiction flooding the market with the digital revolution.
Personally, I think this an exciting time for literature in general, and if we as self-published authors make the most of it we can enhance the publishing industry.
One important point that was raised was that with the ease of self-publishing, it is very easy for writers to publish 'too quickly'. I agree with this. You can write a story today and upload it onto Amazon Kindle tomorrow. In most cases that story will be in need of editing.
Editing is such an important part of the publishing process. New writers often don't appreciate how important it is. It's an easy trap to fall into: new writers are keen to publish their masterpieces to the world, but it is so important to hold back, take time to make sure the work is as perfect as it can be before it's published. The reason self-published writers are getting a bad reputation is because of those who are too eager to push the button and publish.
I am strong supporter of independent writers and I know there is a wealth of talent out there. But--and it's a big BUT--lots of authors cut corners when it comes to editing and this leads to all of us getting a bad name.
For example, one of the panel members at the conference, Andrew Franklin, of Profile Books, stated that the "overwhelming majority" of self-published books are "rubbish". He said being a self published writer is like standing naked in the pitch dark. He said a "miniscule number" of self-published writers will break out and succeed. He called the self-publishing world "deeply corrupted", referring to how it's possible to buy Facebook 'likes' and friends. He said to compare self-published books to traditionally published books, is like comparing Alcopops to good quality wine. While I totally disagree with all of that and feel he went a bit too far, worryingly I can see why he said it.
I read a lot of independently published books because I want to support indie authors, but some of the books make me wonder if writers are taking themselves seriously. There is no excuse for publishing a sub-standard book. If you're a traditional publisher or a self-published author, you must make sure your product is the best it can be before you publish it.
The e-book and digital age is a great opportunity for talented authors and authors who care about their craft, who care about the future of literature, to carve a niche for themselves in an industry that was once beyond their reach. It makes no sense to bring down the industry by letting standards drop. All writers should get their books professionally edited and proofread before publishing. Anything less leaves the door open for critics such as Andrew Franklin to make such sweeping and derogatory remarks about self-published books.
I don't know how many times I have repeated myself about this issue, but it is an ongoing one. People can forgive maybe the odd typo in a 200 page book, but where you find a typo on each page or every other page, it is really off-putting. From my own experience of reading lots of indie books I do know that more writers are investing in an editor these days because I am finding less editorial issues. I hope that somehow the message is getting across to people that it's unacceptable to call yourself a writer and yet produce a book riddled with grammatical and typographical errors.
The message is: take your time and make sure you edit your work, get feedback from a proofreader or beta readers.
One of the other points that was brought up by editor Toby Lichtig in this panel discussion, that I agree with, was that in the old days of publishing there were gatekeepers i.e. editors who would decide whether a piece of work was ready to be published. With the ease of self-publishing, the gatekeepers are no longer there. This not only means that people can publish whenever they want, easily, but it means that writers are not being challenged to improve themselves.
Writers can only become better at their craft when there is criticism of their work. They are then forced to try harder, push themselves further. One of the concerns raised in the panel discussion is that with this ease of publishing writers won't be taking the time to develop their craft.
The other side to this argument is that perhaps what readers want from fiction is changing, perhaps the old 'literary values' are no longer a prerequisite. Maybe I am just a dinosaur holding pre-historic views about the need for good editing in fiction.
An example is the growth of fan fiction.
Fan fiction, for those who are not familiar with the term is where readers will go onto various forums/websites that have been set up to enable them to make up stories using their favourite characters from fiction. Probably the most famous recent example of where something like this made an impact is the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' series. That series started off as fan fiction on a fan fiction forum, where the Twilight characters were used to create a new story. That went on to be published by a major publishing house and sold millions.
Fan fiction is on the rise, whether we like it or not. The 'Fifty Shades of Grey' series, is an example, in my opinion, of traditional publishers letting 'literary values' slide in favour of making money from a popular fad. I haven't read (and have no desire to read) the series, but from what I have heard, it was badly edited, if indeed it was edited at all. One panel member, editor Sally O-J, made a good point that perhaps if it had gone to a good editor it would not have sold as many copies as it did. It was the flaws that maybe made it popular. An editor may have changed it and it would not have been what the readers of that particular fan fiction wanted.
So, we can see that it's not only self-published authors who sometimes skimp on editing, but why is it always self-published authors who are blamed for this lack of standards? Makes you think, doesn't it?
The panel discussion highlighted that literary values are changing. Most fan fiction, it was stated, leans towards the Erotica genre.
Sally O-J said that it is worth looking at fan fiction to see what people like reading. Trends seem to go out into the world from these fan fiction websites.
'Literary fiction' as a genre does not appear to be at the forefront of this new digital age, and I don't think that is only down to self-published authors. Readers are voting with their feet. One of the most popular genres at the moment is crime, and with the rise in fan fiction, Erotica and Fantasy fiction are more popular.
The panel discussed the new Kindle Worlds product. This allows readers and writers to publish fan fiction and get paid for it. Ready made characters from popular fiction of the past can be utilised to create new stories.
I'm on the fence about that really. As a writer I like to create my own characters so Kindle Worlds doesn't appeal to me at all. But with the success of 'Fifty Shades' this is obviously a market Amazon want to tap into. There's undeniably a large readership for this type of thing.
To sum up, I would say that there is still a divide between traditional publishers and self-publishers, with strong attitudes held by each side. The tone of the debate made me realise that there are still some in the traditionally published world that will never accept indie authors. However, it seems that the boundaries are blurring with the likes of E.L. James being published by a large publishing house, and fan fiction becoming more acceptable as a product with 'Kindle Worlds'.
Literary values are changing, it seems, but one good thing that seems to have come out of the new digital age is that more people than ever before seem to be picking up books, or e-readers, and reading. That has to be a good thing, right?
Notes from The Literary Consultancy's conference 2013 - Writing in a Digital Age: 5 Key Stages of Self-Publishing (Part I)
At the recent TLC Conference in London, there was a Digital Masterclass on the 'Five Key Stages of Self-Publishing', in association with SfEP (Society for Editors and Proofreaders) and ALLi (The Alliance of Independent Authors).
I'm going to split this into two separate blog posts because there was a lot of information given.
**********
Dr Alison Baverstock, Course Leader for MA Publishing at Kingston University, made the following points:
1. Take care
It's very easy to self-publish a manuscript and the sites that you upload to won't check the content, the quality of the product.
She warned that negative responses to books can hurt and be damaging for a writer.
2. Think about the objectives.
There are many different formats you can publish in. Consider the flexibility of formats.
3. Think of an e-book as a scroll.
A digital book is flowing text. A reader can change the font and font size, as well as line spacing.
She went on to say that there is no restriction on the length of an e-book. With e-books, she says there is a much more level playing field between indie and traditionally published books because no one can really tell who published it.
She says it's best to make e-books widely available.
4. You don't have to do it on your own.
There are various supports out there. Guides to formatting.
On Smashwords.com, for example, there is a free style guide.
She mentioned BookFlower a website where you can easily format your books on your own.
There was a demonstration of that website, and it does seem very easy to use to convert a document into an ePub.
Dr Baverstock also recommended the book Let's Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should, by David Gaughran.
She also recommended Jutoh.com
She gave a few tips for effective distribution:
The aim is to drive traffic to your book. Social media is useful. She recommends trying one thing at a time; changing one variable at a time to see what works and keep a record to learn from.
In regard to the question as to how much to charge for an e-book, she stated that we often underestimate how much people are willing to pay. The presentation of the book is important. We should not look at price in isolation. There are other factors that influence the decision to buy a book.
5. Gain vital market information
Whether you're self-published or published by a traditional publishing house, authors need to get involved in media/marketing. Publishers have become more reliant on authors for this.
Wendy Toole, Chair of the SfEP, stressed the importance of editing.
She said that at least 2 of the following should be done before publishing:
1. Get a manuscript assessment/critique
2. Developmental/structural editing
3. Copy edting
4. Proofreading
She said that it's best to use SfEP members, and also recommended TLC's services. She said you could also use someone who has been personally recommended to you by another author whose books are well-edited.
It was also stated that it's best to get your manuscript into the best shape possible before sending to an editor as this will save time and expense.
***********
In Part II of this part of the series, I will tell you what the speakers said about cover design and font type, and also pass on some tips from an author who switched from traditional to self-publishing.
I'm going to split this into two separate blog posts because there was a lot of information given.
**********
Dr Alison Baverstock, Course Leader for MA Publishing at Kingston University, made the following points:
1. Take care
It's very easy to self-publish a manuscript and the sites that you upload to won't check the content, the quality of the product.
She warned that negative responses to books can hurt and be damaging for a writer.
2. Think about the objectives.
There are many different formats you can publish in. Consider the flexibility of formats.
3. Think of an e-book as a scroll.
A digital book is flowing text. A reader can change the font and font size, as well as line spacing.
She went on to say that there is no restriction on the length of an e-book. With e-books, she says there is a much more level playing field between indie and traditionally published books because no one can really tell who published it.
She says it's best to make e-books widely available.
4. You don't have to do it on your own.
There are various supports out there. Guides to formatting.
On Smashwords.com, for example, there is a free style guide.
She mentioned BookFlower a website where you can easily format your books on your own.
There was a demonstration of that website, and it does seem very easy to use to convert a document into an ePub.
Dr Baverstock also recommended the book Let's Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should, by David Gaughran.
She also recommended Jutoh.com
She gave a few tips for effective distribution:
The aim is to drive traffic to your book. Social media is useful. She recommends trying one thing at a time; changing one variable at a time to see what works and keep a record to learn from.
In regard to the question as to how much to charge for an e-book, she stated that we often underestimate how much people are willing to pay. The presentation of the book is important. We should not look at price in isolation. There are other factors that influence the decision to buy a book.
5. Gain vital market information
Whether you're self-published or published by a traditional publishing house, authors need to get involved in media/marketing. Publishers have become more reliant on authors for this.
Wendy Toole, Chair of the SfEP, stressed the importance of editing.
She said that at least 2 of the following should be done before publishing:
1. Get a manuscript assessment/critique
2. Developmental/structural editing
3. Copy edting
4. Proofreading
She said that it's best to use SfEP members, and also recommended TLC's services. She said you could also use someone who has been personally recommended to you by another author whose books are well-edited.
It was also stated that it's best to get your manuscript into the best shape possible before sending to an editor as this will save time and expense.
***********
In Part II of this part of the series, I will tell you what the speakers said about cover design and font type, and also pass on some tips from an author who switched from traditional to self-publishing.
Notes from The Literary Consultancy's conference 2013 - Writing in a Digital Age: 5 Key Stages of Self-Publishing - Part II
Part I of this segment of the series can be found here: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
Those of you who follow my blog will know that I have been writing a series of posts about what I learned at the recent "Writing in a Digital Age" conference. The staff at The Literary Consultancy have collated various press reports and write-ups on their website. Check it out here: http://www.literaryconsultancy.co.uk/...
My blog posts are included!
Now on to part 2 of this topic. Today I'll tell you what was said about the importance of book design.
There was a very interesting presentation about how book design (the cover and interior) can be an effective marketing tool for writers.
Lots of market research goes into creating covers that sell books. This is one area that I found quite eye-opening. I've always thought that little or no imagination goes into the book covers created by the big publishers, but there is a method in their madness. They know which covers sell, so why bother spending lots on a cover? They have researched the elements that have to be included on a cover for the book to stand a chance of selling to a target market, and they make sure that their covers have those.
Kristen Harrison, found of The Curved House, said that the covers of commercial books 'speak' to the target market.
An example given was that for chick-lit books, typically marketed at 30-40 year old professional women, the usual key requirements are:
1. The colour pink included somewhere on the cover
2. A font that looks like handwriting
3. A woman's legs from the knee down
4. A pencil skirt
Yes, weird, but true... Some covers were shown at the conference and it really was obvious that most of the chick-lit books had followed this winning formula to some extent using one or more of these elements.
Here are some covers I found that kind of prove the theory:
Lots of pink, and legs, and handwriting font there...
Another important point brought up at the conference was about brand identity and how that can help to attract readers and sell books. We see it with the bestselling authors, where they have many books with similar book covers that identify them as the author. For example, they may always use the same font type for their name, or maybe a similar picture on each cover.
The example given at the conference was Rachel Hore. If you take a look at her website, you can see how similar all her book covers are: http://rachelhore.co.uk/
Many indie authors (myself included) do not set out with a marketing plan when designing a cover; they will just choose a cover they feel suits the story and the book. There is a subjective feel to many indie authors' covers. However, from a marketing point of view this is probably not the best strategy.
Some indie authors are aware of the need for brand identity. A couple of authors that spring to mind are Terry Tyler and Susan Buchanan. If you take a look at their book covers, you'll see what I mean:
Susan's books:
Terry's books:
(click on the book covers to see larger images).
It definitely gives a more professional image when you have these types of 'brand image' covers.
******
It's not only the outside of your book that will influence what readers think of it; you have to think about the inside as well.
The type of font you choose is important.
The standard type fonts used by most independent authors are Times New Roman, Helvetica, Arial. At the conference, we were told that these types of fonts may put readers off as they are associated in their minds with office documents, and the look of the book will be 'home-made'. To elevate your book to a more professional status, it was advised that writers should move away from using the standard fonts available with MS Word.
Suggested fonts for use inside a book are benbo and garamond. But it was also mentioned that sometimes publishers will state which font is used at the start of the book on the book information/copyright page. If you read a book by a large publisher and like the font, you can try looking there to see which font it is. Most professional fonts can be bought. A few websites mentioned where you can buy fonts: 1001fonts.com, dafont.com, fontgrill.com, Google
Apparently, readers like the tried and tested book interiors. For example, it's usual in traditionally published books to start the first few pages by numbering in roman numerals, e.g. i, ii, iii, and then when the actual book starts you go onto normal page numbers.
Chapter drops are usually about one third of the page. It was advised that authors stick to this when publishing. The idea is to make readers feel at home, and to associate your book with traditionally published books.
This design strategy does not stop with your book cover. It was advised that things like the fonts used and the colours used on your covers should become your identity online also, for example on your website or your Facebook Page.
Make your website look interesting, add images and videos.
It was also advised that you should use good quality images on your website and other networking sites.
There are some great websites that provide free photos for book covers under the creative commons licence, i.e. you can use the photo for free and just have to credit the photographer. One example given was Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
I've also found a good site http://www.morguefile.com
Another tip given was that you should complete fully your profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other such sites. Often they are left incomplete. Make sure you add an image to your profile pages and a bio.
Wordpress.com was recommended as a good site for creating a website/blog as it has good quality images.
Something that was mentioned was how big publishers often have different designs for covers depending on where they are selling the book. Different markets around the world respond to books covers in different ways. The point was made, however, that indie authors do not really have the option of designing different covers for different countries because the way we can publish is limited. One book design goes all around the world with independently published books.
There is a website, that I had never heard of before, called Fixabook.com where you can get opinions on book covers, which could prove quite useful: http://www.fixabook.com/
********
Well, I think that is quite enough information for you to get your heads around today. I was going to write up this part of the series in two parts, but I will add a Part III. In the next part of this section of the series, I will pass on some tips from an author who switched from traditional to self-publishing.
**********************************************************************************
Those of you who follow my blog will know that I have been writing a series of posts about what I learned at the recent "Writing in a Digital Age" conference. The staff at The Literary Consultancy have collated various press reports and write-ups on their website. Check it out here: http://www.literaryconsultancy.co.uk/...
My blog posts are included!
Now on to part 2 of this topic. Today I'll tell you what was said about the importance of book design.
There was a very interesting presentation about how book design (the cover and interior) can be an effective marketing tool for writers.
Lots of market research goes into creating covers that sell books. This is one area that I found quite eye-opening. I've always thought that little or no imagination goes into the book covers created by the big publishers, but there is a method in their madness. They know which covers sell, so why bother spending lots on a cover? They have researched the elements that have to be included on a cover for the book to stand a chance of selling to a target market, and they make sure that their covers have those.
Kristen Harrison, found of The Curved House, said that the covers of commercial books 'speak' to the target market.
An example given was that for chick-lit books, typically marketed at 30-40 year old professional women, the usual key requirements are:
1. The colour pink included somewhere on the cover
2. A font that looks like handwriting
3. A woman's legs from the knee down
4. A pencil skirt
Yes, weird, but true... Some covers were shown at the conference and it really was obvious that most of the chick-lit books had followed this winning formula to some extent using one or more of these elements.
Here are some covers I found that kind of prove the theory:
Lots of pink, and legs, and handwriting font there...
Another important point brought up at the conference was about brand identity and how that can help to attract readers and sell books. We see it with the bestselling authors, where they have many books with similar book covers that identify them as the author. For example, they may always use the same font type for their name, or maybe a similar picture on each cover.
The example given at the conference was Rachel Hore. If you take a look at her website, you can see how similar all her book covers are: http://rachelhore.co.uk/
Many indie authors (myself included) do not set out with a marketing plan when designing a cover; they will just choose a cover they feel suits the story and the book. There is a subjective feel to many indie authors' covers. However, from a marketing point of view this is probably not the best strategy.
Some indie authors are aware of the need for brand identity. A couple of authors that spring to mind are Terry Tyler and Susan Buchanan. If you take a look at their book covers, you'll see what I mean:
Susan's books:
Terry's books:
(click on the book covers to see larger images).
It definitely gives a more professional image when you have these types of 'brand image' covers.
******
It's not only the outside of your book that will influence what readers think of it; you have to think about the inside as well.
The type of font you choose is important.
The standard type fonts used by most independent authors are Times New Roman, Helvetica, Arial. At the conference, we were told that these types of fonts may put readers off as they are associated in their minds with office documents, and the look of the book will be 'home-made'. To elevate your book to a more professional status, it was advised that writers should move away from using the standard fonts available with MS Word.
Suggested fonts for use inside a book are benbo and garamond. But it was also mentioned that sometimes publishers will state which font is used at the start of the book on the book information/copyright page. If you read a book by a large publisher and like the font, you can try looking there to see which font it is. Most professional fonts can be bought. A few websites mentioned where you can buy fonts: 1001fonts.com, dafont.com, fontgrill.com, Google
Apparently, readers like the tried and tested book interiors. For example, it's usual in traditionally published books to start the first few pages by numbering in roman numerals, e.g. i, ii, iii, and then when the actual book starts you go onto normal page numbers.
Chapter drops are usually about one third of the page. It was advised that authors stick to this when publishing. The idea is to make readers feel at home, and to associate your book with traditionally published books.
This design strategy does not stop with your book cover. It was advised that things like the fonts used and the colours used on your covers should become your identity online also, for example on your website or your Facebook Page.
Make your website look interesting, add images and videos.
It was also advised that you should use good quality images on your website and other networking sites.
There are some great websites that provide free photos for book covers under the creative commons licence, i.e. you can use the photo for free and just have to credit the photographer. One example given was Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
I've also found a good site http://www.morguefile.com
Another tip given was that you should complete fully your profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other such sites. Often they are left incomplete. Make sure you add an image to your profile pages and a bio.
Wordpress.com was recommended as a good site for creating a website/blog as it has good quality images.
Something that was mentioned was how big publishers often have different designs for covers depending on where they are selling the book. Different markets around the world respond to books covers in different ways. The point was made, however, that indie authors do not really have the option of designing different covers for different countries because the way we can publish is limited. One book design goes all around the world with independently published books.
There is a website, that I had never heard of before, called Fixabook.com where you can get opinions on book covers, which could prove quite useful: http://www.fixabook.com/
********
Well, I think that is quite enough information for you to get your heads around today. I was going to write up this part of the series in two parts, but I will add a Part III. In the next part of this section of the series, I will pass on some tips from an author who switched from traditional to self-publishing.
**********************************************************************************
Notes from The Literary Consultancy's conference 2013 - Writing in a Digital Age: 5 Key Stages of Self-Publishing - Part III
In June, I attended a very interesting conference about how the publishing industry is changing now that it is easier for authors to self-publish. I've been writing a series of blogs about the conference, and hope they will be of use to authors, both indie and traditionally published, as well as readers who might want a bit of insight into how the publishing industry works.
One segment of the conference was called "5 Key Stages of Self-Publishing". You can see Parts I & II of this part of the series here:
Part I: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
Part II: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
Now on to Part III
Orna Ross was one of the speakers at the conference. She's an author and founding director at the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLI). She explained why she decided to go from being traditionally published (her books were published by Penguin) to self-published. She is now self-published because she prefers it.
One of the key differences she mentioned was that she always found it difficult to understand her royalty statements, but now with self-publishing, it's so much easier to have control over such things. There was a discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing.
Advantages of Self-Publishing:
Higher royalties - the author doesn't have to pay a percentage of his/her royalties to a publisher. Of course, there are costs involved e.g. when you publish through Amazon Kindle, it is usual for the author to get 70% of the sale price. There are similar fees on other publishing platforms.
Creative freedom - in traditional publishing there are often changes made to the book and sometimes the author may not have particularly wanted those changes. In self-publishing, the author decides.
Clear sales and royalty statements - monthly or quarterly - easier to understand
Book never goes out of print - unless the author wants it to, of course. In traditional publishing, titles often go out of print. There is usually a certain time limit for when promotion is done for a particular book, but with self-publishing you can promote a title whenever you want.
Disadvantages of self-publishing
Bookstores
It is difficult to get bookstore distribution, especially front-of-store placement. This is usually reserved for bestsellers, and traditionally published books. Browsing in book stores accounts for a lot of sales, and indie authors are missing out on these.
There is a campaign that ALLI is currently running called "Open Up To Indies", to try to help change this policy in bookstores. They are currently seeking volunteers who can help with the campaign: http://selfpublishingadvice.org/blog/...
Distribution
Distribution of books is more limited in general in the self-published sphere. It's important for indie authors to ask questions about distribution before they decide to publish on a particular site.
A couple of warnings were given about some unscrupulous services. Agent-assisted self-publishing is on the rise for traditionally published authors with a back list of books that may be out of print. Some of the services are good, but a warning was given that authors should research well. Some problems that have occurred include agents uploading the book in the agent's name and taking control. Also beware of fees charged for these types of services.
Another warning given was about digital-only presses, who offer to help self-publish. This is seen as a form of "vanity" publishing. Authors should avoid paying fees to such services as they are usually good for the publisher but not the author. Research should be done into what this service is actually offering the author.
It was also pointed out that authors should avoid publishing with companies who sell services more than books.
A bit of advice given to indie authors was: slow down -- when you write one book, put it in a drawer and write another, then go back to the original one you wrote to edit it so you can see it with a fresh eye.
Get a good editor and designer, and take time on the book.
Anyone can join ALLI, and there is self-publishing advice on their blog: http://allianceindependentauthors.org/
I hope you found some useful tips here!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One segment of the conference was called "5 Key Stages of Self-Publishing". You can see Parts I & II of this part of the series here:
Part I: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
Part II: http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
Now on to Part III
Orna Ross was one of the speakers at the conference. She's an author and founding director at the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLI). She explained why she decided to go from being traditionally published (her books were published by Penguin) to self-published. She is now self-published because she prefers it.
One of the key differences she mentioned was that she always found it difficult to understand her royalty statements, but now with self-publishing, it's so much easier to have control over such things. There was a discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing.
Advantages of Self-Publishing:
Higher royalties - the author doesn't have to pay a percentage of his/her royalties to a publisher. Of course, there are costs involved e.g. when you publish through Amazon Kindle, it is usual for the author to get 70% of the sale price. There are similar fees on other publishing platforms.
Creative freedom - in traditional publishing there are often changes made to the book and sometimes the author may not have particularly wanted those changes. In self-publishing, the author decides.
Clear sales and royalty statements - monthly or quarterly - easier to understand
Book never goes out of print - unless the author wants it to, of course. In traditional publishing, titles often go out of print. There is usually a certain time limit for when promotion is done for a particular book, but with self-publishing you can promote a title whenever you want.
Disadvantages of self-publishing
Bookstores
It is difficult to get bookstore distribution, especially front-of-store placement. This is usually reserved for bestsellers, and traditionally published books. Browsing in book stores accounts for a lot of sales, and indie authors are missing out on these.
There is a campaign that ALLI is currently running called "Open Up To Indies", to try to help change this policy in bookstores. They are currently seeking volunteers who can help with the campaign: http://selfpublishingadvice.org/blog/...
Distribution
Distribution of books is more limited in general in the self-published sphere. It's important for indie authors to ask questions about distribution before they decide to publish on a particular site.
A couple of warnings were given about some unscrupulous services. Agent-assisted self-publishing is on the rise for traditionally published authors with a back list of books that may be out of print. Some of the services are good, but a warning was given that authors should research well. Some problems that have occurred include agents uploading the book in the agent's name and taking control. Also beware of fees charged for these types of services.
Another warning given was about digital-only presses, who offer to help self-publish. This is seen as a form of "vanity" publishing. Authors should avoid paying fees to such services as they are usually good for the publisher but not the author. Research should be done into what this service is actually offering the author.
It was also pointed out that authors should avoid publishing with companies who sell services more than books.
A bit of advice given to indie authors was: slow down -- when you write one book, put it in a drawer and write another, then go back to the original one you wrote to edit it so you can see it with a fresh eye.
Get a good editor and designer, and take time on the book.
Anyone can join ALLI, and there is self-publishing advice on their blog: http://allianceindependentauthors.org/
I hope you found some useful tips here!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Literary Consultancy's Writers' Conference 2014
Last weekend I was at The Literary Consultancy's conference: Writing in a Digital Age.
Those of you who follow my blog will know that I attended last year and ran a series of blogs afterwards with lots of advice for writers.
This year's conference was just as information-packed and useful as last year's.
I came away with lots of scribbled notes and there is probably too much information to fit into one blog post so I'll do another series of blogs here.
I'll also be copying the blogs to my UK Arts Directory blog so that more people get to see the advice.
As an overview, a few interesting snippets from the weekend that stood out for me were the following:
1. Traditional publishers and independent/self-published authors now appear to be working more in unison. Last year there seemed to be a resistance to change. This year, however, there was a wonderfully author-friendly aura about the whole conference. The industry is changing and it felt more like the big players in publishing are embracing the changes more. I imagine that there will be much more collaboration between indies and mainstream publishers over the coming years. I'm happy about this because most of the books I read these days are by very talented indie authors and -- as some of the speakers at the conference proved -- indies are finally finding a place in the market. Although not yet equal, the playing field is levelling out a bit. There was the use of the term 'Author-Publisher' rather than 'self-published' that is becoming more popular, giving more credibility to independent authors.
2. One important thing that kept being repeated at the conference by different speakers was the importance of targeting your readership for effective book-marketing. Many authors (especially self-published) try to market their books too widely and miss their target audience. It's important to know who the perfect reader for your book is and to seek them out.
3. The past year has seen a significant rise in self-published eBook sales. I'll be posting more details about the numbers in a future blog.
4. Agents can be very important to writers to help secure things like foreign rights and TV/film rights etc. Some of the largest book markets are abroad and authors need to know how to promote effectively to those countries. Again, I will post more information about this in future blogs.
There is a lot more, but I think I'll stop here.
Stay tuned for more information coming soon...
Those of you who follow my blog will know that I attended last year and ran a series of blogs afterwards with lots of advice for writers.
This year's conference was just as information-packed and useful as last year's.
I came away with lots of scribbled notes and there is probably too much information to fit into one blog post so I'll do another series of blogs here.
I'll also be copying the blogs to my UK Arts Directory blog so that more people get to see the advice.
As an overview, a few interesting snippets from the weekend that stood out for me were the following:
1. Traditional publishers and independent/self-published authors now appear to be working more in unison. Last year there seemed to be a resistance to change. This year, however, there was a wonderfully author-friendly aura about the whole conference. The industry is changing and it felt more like the big players in publishing are embracing the changes more. I imagine that there will be much more collaboration between indies and mainstream publishers over the coming years. I'm happy about this because most of the books I read these days are by very talented indie authors and -- as some of the speakers at the conference proved -- indies are finally finding a place in the market. Although not yet equal, the playing field is levelling out a bit. There was the use of the term 'Author-Publisher' rather than 'self-published' that is becoming more popular, giving more credibility to independent authors.
2. One important thing that kept being repeated at the conference by different speakers was the importance of targeting your readership for effective book-marketing. Many authors (especially self-published) try to market their books too widely and miss their target audience. It's important to know who the perfect reader for your book is and to seek them out.
3. The past year has seen a significant rise in self-published eBook sales. I'll be posting more details about the numbers in a future blog.
4. Agents can be very important to writers to help secure things like foreign rights and TV/film rights etc. Some of the largest book markets are abroad and authors need to know how to promote effectively to those countries. Again, I will post more information about this in future blogs.
There is a lot more, but I think I'll stop here.
Stay tuned for more information coming soon...
TLC's Writers' Conference 2014 - DRM: what is it, and do you need it?
The Keynote speech from the TLC writers' conference this year was from Cory Doctorow a successful Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author.
His speech centered around the use of DRM in digital publishing and he says we don't need it and shouldn't use it.
What's DRM?
When you publish an e-book you have the option to 'protect' the content with Digital Rights Management. This means that your book will be effectively locked and no one can copy the words and steal it. Well, that's the theory anyway.
This part of Cory's speech stood out for me because as an independent author I have always been concerned about piracy and I always check the box when I publish on Amazon to make sure my books are protected with DRM.
The truth is DRM doesn't make it impossible to steal the words. I have always been aware of the existence of software that can remove DRM, but I thought it's better to have the protection in the first place because any pirates might only target text that is easier to get hold of without having to go to the bother of getting software to remove the DRM. After hearing Cory's speech, I am left thinking that it probably doesn't make a difference whether you have DRM protection or not. The fact is your e-book is vulnerable to piracy either way.
Not only that, Cory thinks that you're actually giving away control of your work to the book seller e.g. Amazon, when you allow them to 'lock' your product.
Cory Doctorow says there are 3 things that publishers must understand for digital success. He calls it 'Doctorow's Law':
1. When someone puts a lock on something that belongs to you and won't give you the key, there is something wrong and it's not there for your benefit.
So this goes back to the DRM issue. It is illegal to remove DRM protection unless you're the company who published the product, so once you've given the go-ahead for DRM protection, you can't then change your mind with that particular product. However, pirates happily remove DRM immediately, and very easily.
Cory Doctorow is adamant that DRM doesn't prevent piracy.
2. Fame won't make you rich, but you'll have a hard time making sales if no one's heard of you.
Cory believes that the problem most digital publishers should be more concerned of is obscurity, not piracy.
It's becoming more common for publishers to approach and offer publishing deals to authors who are successful on Kindle.
Piracy can actually help you get noticed. It only takes one person to read your book and become a 'super-fan' and that may help with promotion. People who download from pirate sites will always be downloading that way, whether or not a book has DRM doesn't make the decision for them. Potentially, you are missing a market by 'locking' your books.
3. Information doesn't want to be free but people do
Cory says DRM hands over control to the companies that publish the digital material.
Information that’s supposed to be free and public is shut away, where it’s kept under lock and key. There is a law that prevents companies telling people about the flaws in DRM.
He says that his publisher (a Macmillan imprint in the US) has dropped DRM and hasn't seen a resulting fall in sales.
Cory says that most indie authors are naive about DRM.
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It was an interesting speech and definitely made me think.
One of the audience members did make a comment after the speech that perhaps the use of DRM has prevented large-scale piracy.
I'm not really sure where I stand on this. As an author, of course I don't like the idea of anyone getting my writing free when I hardly sell any books. Writing is hard work and authors deserve to be paid for it.
What I'm now thinking, though, after Cory's speech, is maybe I'm losing out on reaching a wider audience by insisting on DRM protection of my work.
It would be interesting to hear other authors' views on this topic.
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I'll be posting some more stuff from the conference soon...
