This is the CATCH 22 of being a published author; years ago, I felt no one could possibly understand the problems and bumps in the road a PUBLISHED author must face. What's HE got to complain about, after all he has one loaf of bread under his arm, and yet he is complaining he has no bread. Who wants to hear it?
With more and more authors now being published with indie publishing and the advent of the Kindle platform, more authors who are published are experiencding such round robins as --"You gotta get out there and market your books" but you can't be so foolish as to get out there and say anything positive about your own work."
This is the crucible. You are responsible for any and all that goes wrong with the book in traditional publishing, but you HAD no control over all the most important decisions from cover art concept to title to ad copy, PR, marketing, etc. But if and when the book TANKS, guess whose ""WRITING" is the problem? The 'true' cause of the failure to 'communicate'?
Then you go Indoe Author and YOU are responsible for all those same decisions, and the book TANKS -- guess who is all out willing to take the responsibility for the causes of the "tanking"? With the freedom of Indie Authorship comes responsibility and accountability. Down to editing, rewriting, all of it.
At the same time, there is a PERVASIVE view that unlike a carpenter or archetect or painter or sculptor, a WRITER has NO BUSINESS liking his own work out lout and in public, that for some damn reason we have to keep it under our beds, this idea that we actually love what we have spent years crafting...what our hands and minds have wrought. That we should have no opinion on our own works anymore than a Hollywood actor ought have a political view, that 'How Dare We be so presumptous! O r that we dare love our 'children' and show any PDA (public display of affection). Or that we dare pound home the fact that we had a BALL writing this last one, or that we dare think it is our BEST work, or that we extremely DARE call it our most literary attempt. Our greatest most ambitious work. Our most challenging work.
Actors are asked how they feel about a role they played and it is OK for Matt Damon to say that while the Bourne Identiy earned him more recognition and money than did Good Will Hunting, that the part he played in the film he co-wrote is his best work. It is OK for a cosmotologist to go on and on about what a fantastic job she did on someone's hair or nails, but GOD FORBID (for a pervasive number of idgits) that an author dare have a single word of praise for his own work, his own efforts, his blood, sweat, tears, and years of honing his or her skills in a culture that heaps praise and huge amounts of money on silly, insipid celebrity books.
I wrote and rewrote Children of Salem so many times it was rejected by every major publisher in New York twice and thrice in various drafts. I kid you not. I was so devoted to this story that I rewrote it countless times over a 30 year period, but I can get stoned at any time should I say, "This is, of all my books, my most literary work, my most amitious work, one that challenges the reader on every page." No good, BSP, but nowadays it is Kosher to lay out fifty bucks to have the same book reviewed by ten people on Amazon? It is OK to hear it from a paid lacky reviewer but not OK if I believe this aloud?
When I do get attacked, being a Scorpio, I generally sting back. I got into it with one group for a long time because I dared describe some readers, some reviewers, and even some editors as "hack readers" citing the fact that so many are so ready with the phrase "hack writers". Man did I catch hell. More recently, I used the term 'short-sighted readers' who just do not GET what I am doing and man, you'd think I was plotting the demise of the Pope. But when we pay reviewers to review our books, what does that mak
With more and more authors now being published with indie publishing and the advent of the Kindle platform, more authors who are published are experiencding such round robins as --"You gotta get out there and market your books" but you can't be so foolish as to get out there and say anything positive about your own work."
This is the crucible. You are responsible for any and all that goes wrong with the book in traditional publishing, but you HAD no control over all the most important decisions from cover art concept to title to ad copy, PR, marketing, etc. But if and when the book TANKS, guess whose ""WRITING" is the problem? The 'true' cause of the failure to 'communicate'?
Then you go Indoe Author and YOU are responsible for all those same decisions, and the book TANKS -- guess who is all out willing to take the responsibility for the causes of the "tanking"? With the freedom of Indie Authorship comes responsibility and accountability. Down to editing, rewriting, all of it.
At the same time, there is a PERVASIVE view that unlike a carpenter or archetect or painter or sculptor, a WRITER has NO BUSINESS liking his own work out lout and in public, that for some damn reason we have to keep it under our beds, this idea that we actually love what we have spent years crafting...what our hands and minds have wrought. That we should have no opinion on our own works anymore than a Hollywood actor ought have a political view, that 'How Dare We be so presumptous! O r that we dare love our 'children' and show any PDA (public display of affection). Or that we dare pound home the fact that we had a BALL writing this last one, or that we dare think it is our BEST work, or that we extremely DARE call it our most literary attempt. Our greatest most ambitious work. Our most challenging work.
Actors are asked how they feel about a role they played and it is OK for Matt Damon to say that while the Bourne Identiy earned him more recognition and money than did Good Will Hunting, that the part he played in the film he co-wrote is his best work. It is OK for a cosmotologist to go on and on about what a fantastic job she did on someone's hair or nails, but GOD FORBID (for a pervasive number of idgits) that an author dare have a single word of praise for his own work, his own efforts, his blood, sweat, tears, and years of honing his or her skills in a culture that heaps praise and huge amounts of money on silly, insipid celebrity books.
I wrote and rewrote Children of Salem so many times it was rejected by every major publisher in New York twice and thrice in various drafts. I kid you not. I was so devoted to this story that I rewrote it countless times over a 30 year period, but I can get stoned at any time should I say, "This is, of all my books, my most literary work, my most amitious work, one that challenges the reader on every page." No good, BSP, but nowadays it is Kosher to lay out fifty bucks to have the same book reviewed by ten people on Amazon? It is OK to hear it from a paid lacky reviewer but not OK if I believe this aloud?
When I do get attacked, being a Scorpio, I generally sting back. I got into it with one group for a long time because I dared describe some readers, some reviewers, and even some editors as "hack readers" citing the fact that so many are so ready with the phrase "hack writers". Man did I catch hell. More recently, I used the term 'short-sighted readers' who just do not GET what I am doing and man, you'd think I was plotting the demise of the Pope. But when we pay reviewers to review our books, what does that mak
14 Comments on Catch 22s in Publishing, last added: 7/2/2011
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By: Rob Walker,
on 4/15/2011
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Blog: ACME AUTHORS LINK (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: self-publishing, #writing ebooks, ebook reviews, secrets to selling ebooks. Kindle books, Indie publishing vs. traditional, indie authorshiip, selling Kindle books, #ebook sales, kindle community, Add a tag
Using Twitter and Facebook effectively can gain reviews for your ebook. While such prestigious outlets as Publisher's Weekly and even the New York Times have announced (finally) that ebooks will be reviewed by them, the number of slots for such reviews are miniscule at best, and I suspect most such reviews will go to the authors who least need the extra toot to their horns. I mean does Dean R. Koontz need another place to be reviewed? Evanovich? Now, you and I and many another upstart Indie author or midlist author with an ebook -- we are the ones who need a review outlet. There is Mysterical-e and a handful of others reviewing online but for ebooks and kindle books, the place where you will most likely be seen if you do garner a review is on Amazon.com.
But then how do you get people to review your book on Amazon? I recently put up new books for sale from the Kindle shelf, and to entice eReaders to review my books, I announced on Facebook and Twitter that I would gift a copy of a book to anyone interested in then reviewing -- FREE copy of Childen of Salem or Titanic 2012 and the eReader need only review it in some venue, preferably Amazon.com.
I recently recieved on April 14, 2011 -- the 99th year of Titanic's launch and demise -- another review of my T2012. The reviewer, a Chris Gibson, eReader, Joe Q. Public, remarked on how chills went through him when he realized he had placed up the review on April 14th--the exact night 99 years ago when Titanic sank. Next year at this time it will be the 100th year of Titanic. One of the reasons I tackled the manuscript which posed huge challenges.
The reviews I have recieved from this process have been terrific and detailed for the most part. in which I said I would prefer an ugly, nasty, bad or tepid review to NO review but that I would take my chances as I believed strongly in the novel. They also inform me that I was on the right track with these two titles and offer some strong vindication as both books were repeatedly shunned by brick and mortar publishers, but in the case of querying myself as Independent Publisher for Instinct InK, I sorta knew I was not going to get a rejection slip or a pleasant 'no thank you'--HA!
It is rather nice to know your book is accepted by the publisher even before you have completed the thing. Independent authorship/publising with Amazon.com/Kindle. Nice to know you will be all-in on the cover art, the script/lettering, and no one to fight you on your title. All copy writing in my hands, so the description is precisely as I want it to be. Marketing director, PR person, responsible for it all, and oddly enough it frees me up from a myriad of problems faced when dealing with brick and mortar publishers, includinng no confusion on earnings and no delays on earnings. No more waiting six months or a year to learn of the progress or lack thereof of the book. Instead of royalty statements, I have unit sales reports. Instead of an agent and a publisher, I have a partner in crime who allows me to take 70% off the top to his 30%.
It is all so remarkable that even after placing up 46 booklength works on the Kindle shelf, I am still flabergasted that I am realizing a childhood dream--to be able to afford to publish myself so I don't have to cow-tow to anyone or wait on others I consider far, far too slow as I write too fast for brick and mortar stores but never too fast for the Kindle Store.
People looking for advice on practical methods for selling ebooks/kindle titles, find me on Kindle Community Forums. Hope to see you there.
Robert W. Walker
Killer Instinct, Cutting Edge, and Thrice Told Tales
But then how do you get people to review your book on Amazon? I recently put up new books for sale from the Kindle shelf, and to entice eReaders to review my books, I announced on Facebook and Twitter that I would gift a copy of a book to anyone interested in then reviewing -- FREE copy of Childen of Salem or Titanic 2012 and the eReader need only review it in some venue, preferably Amazon.com.
I recently recieved on April 14, 2011 -- the 99th year of Titanic's launch and demise -- another review of my T2012. The reviewer, a Chris Gibson, eReader, Joe Q. Public, remarked on how chills went through him when he realized he had placed up the review on April 14th--the exact night 99 years ago when Titanic sank. Next year at this time it will be the 100th year of Titanic. One of the reasons I tackled the manuscript which posed huge challenges.
The reviews I have recieved from this process have been terrific and detailed for the most part. in which I said I would prefer an ugly, nasty, bad or tepid review to NO review but that I would take my chances as I believed strongly in the novel. They also inform me that I was on the right track with these two titles and offer some strong vindication as both books were repeatedly shunned by brick and mortar publishers, but in the case of querying myself as Independent Publisher for Instinct InK, I sorta knew I was not going to get a rejection slip or a pleasant 'no thank you'--HA!
It is rather nice to know your book is accepted by the publisher even before you have completed the thing. Independent authorship/publising with Amazon.com/Kindle. Nice to know you will be all-in on the cover art, the script/lettering, and no one to fight you on your title. All copy writing in my hands, so the description is precisely as I want it to be. Marketing director, PR person, responsible for it all, and oddly enough it frees me up from a myriad of problems faced when dealing with brick and mortar publishers, includinng no confusion on earnings and no delays on earnings. No more waiting six months or a year to learn of the progress or lack thereof of the book. Instead of royalty statements, I have unit sales reports. Instead of an agent and a publisher, I have a partner in crime who allows me to take 70% off the top to his 30%.
It is all so remarkable that even after placing up 46 booklength works on the Kindle shelf, I am still flabergasted that I am realizing a childhood dream--to be able to afford to publish myself so I don't have to cow-tow to anyone or wait on others I consider far, far too slow as I write too fast for brick and mortar stores but never too fast for the Kindle Store.
People looking for advice on practical methods for selling ebooks/kindle titles, find me on Kindle Community Forums. Hope to see you there.
Robert W. Walker
Killer Instinct, Cutting Edge, and Thrice Told Tales
2 Comments on Garnering ebook eReviews fr0m Joe/Jane Q. Public, last added: 4/15/2011
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For a writer with an ego as overinflated as yours clearly is, you ignore fundamentals such as grammar, spelling, and punctuation in your rant and then have the temerity to dismiss readers as trolls. Amazing!
Your obnoxious arrogance and your assertion that readers are fools but that you are a perfect writer are sufficient to dissuade me from reading your work. I would not be surprised to learn others feel the same.
Hack writers were called hacks not because of the speed with which they wrote but because they cranked out garbage. (Can you relate?) Writers like Rex Stout and Georges Simenon wrote fast, but neither has ever been labeled a hack. William Faulkner wrote As I Lay Dying in six weeks. No one has ever called it a hack work.
Typical it takes an anonymouse to place up such words and not take responsibility for them. As to spelling errors in a blog, get a grip.
I do not condemn all readers; in fact, I love intelligent readers. I grow tired of short-sighted readers who dismiss an author on the basis of say an amazon review for instance.
Rob
Furthermore, where do I say ALL READERS are slow? I am a university professor who routinely sees college students with a 3rd grade reading level...Yikes! As to my having an InFlAtEd Ego, whoever Anon is obviously does not know me in the least. Whatever ego I ever had has been kicked the shit out of me long time ago by this business. But also regarding my ego, if anyone ever deserved a big one it oughta be old timers like me who have put up with having every kinda sorta rugged pulled out from under their legs by publishers and more promises broken than a dog has fleas...but I guess time and experience in the novel writing business counts for nothing in Anon's fevered brain.
And so it goes....the Anonymouse squeaks.
Rob
OH DEAR LORD, I dropped an i for an o in one sentence, perhaps transposed a d with an e in another...did I drop a comma, OMY!! Behead the man! Behead the man!
99 percent of my rant is leveled toward publishers and professionsl or so called professionals who have made my life miserable, Anon, and not 99 percent of readers. Just that piss-poor brain dead 1 percent that go around saying crapola and always ending in, "I will never read your books ever! So there!" As if that is going to make or break someone.
Gore Blimey....God Save me! SHEEZE. And hey Anon, GET A LIFE.
Rob
Paying someone to write reviews for your books on Amazon does seems wrong. They can't be unbiased or factual. In truth, someone getting paid to read a book is equivalent to getting a tooth pulled, you may not like it, but you still have to get it done. I would consider myself a "hack reader" if I tried reading something not for the love it, but for monitory gain. It would be like writing a book about something you hated just because it's what's popular "now." I see no arrogance in what you wrote Rob. You have opinions and views based on what you feel, have experienced, ect. I think you have a right to be proud and happy about what you write, if not then why are you still doing it? I have seen many writers that don't promote their books in the least, and I wonder - how do they think they are going to sell any books??
"Typical it takes an anonymouse to place up such words and not take responsibility for them."
If that's what you're upset about, my name is Les. "Place up"? There's a construction! Oh--and you should've put a period after typical and capitalized It, Walker-mite.
"As to spelling errors in a blog, get a grip."
You posture as a professional. Pros proofread their work and take pains to present it as correctly as possible, whether on a blog or elsewhere.
"Furthermore, where do I say ALL READERS are slow? "
Where do you think I accused you of making such a statement about all readers? Examine my original post and you'll see no such accusation.
"I am a university professor who routinely sees college students with a 3rd grade reading level..."
Stop writing down to them.
"As to my having an InFlAtEd Ego, whoever Anon is obviously does not know me in the least."
I know you from various web groups, and have seen how you make any and every thread all about yourself in blatantly unsubtle efforts at self-promotion.
"Whatever ego I ever had has been kicked the shit out of me long time ago by this business."
I take it that ungrammatical sentences like the foregoing are also acceptable on blogs--professor.
"But also regarding my ego, if anyone ever deserved a big one it oughta be old timers like me who have put up with having every kinda sorta rugged pulled out from under their legs by publishers and more promises broken than a dog has fleas..."
Rugged?
You sound like a pouty kid. Pick up your marbles and go home already!
"...but I guess time and experience in the novel writing business counts for nothing in Anon's fevered brain."
My "fevered" brain? You're the one who couldn't handle the criticism in my original comment to the extent of having to post three separate responses. Seems like I pushed your buttons. :-)
"Behead the man! Behead the man!"
It would put a lot of readers out of their misery....
"99 percent of my rant is leveled toward publishers and professionsl or so called professionals who have made my life miserable, Anon, and not 99 percent of readers."
Aside from having misspelled "professional" the first time above, and omitted the hyphen in so-called, you sound like a whiny, bitter, egotistical old man who never got the recognition or acclaim he thinks he deserves. Get over it and get over yourself! Maybe you're just not that good.
"And hey Anon, GET A LIFE."
LOL! Take your own advice, chucklehead. As I said above, you're the one who couldn't let go of my remarks and had to come back three times to respond to them.
Can you say "insecurity"?
Did someone remove all of the previous comments because Walker's ego was bruised? You should call this site the Nadir Authors Link.
I read with interest this blog yesterday and the comments, pro and con, it generated. It is interesting that all those comments have vanished. Disappointing as well since valid points were raised on both sides.
I don't think there is any "pervasive" feeling against authors thinking their own work is good. I think the issue arises when the author self promotes on a list by tying every comment on every subject into his or her own work. Variations of "Interesting that you speak of Mayan Spaceships, Mary. When I was writing "insert title here" now available on Kindle, I learned that blah, blah, blah" certainly turn me off as a reader. I don't think I am alone in that. My sense of it is that authors who hammer list mates with constant ads for their work, don't get read.
In general, the pervasive attitude I am hearing from more and more readers is that the Kindle, Smashwords, etc is the new vanity publishing. Folks who don't want to be edited, can't get a traditional publishing contract for whatever reason, etc. are finding refuge there. That folks who go that way, no matter how many books they claim to have excellently written, aren't worth reading.
I don't see that as being totally true though I do believe the idea does have some merit. That perception is out there and spreading. Instead of blaming readers, (always a bad idea in my opinion) maybe the focus should be on writing and perfecting the next book?
Kevin
(an unpaid reviewer at Amazon and numerous other places online and in print)
http://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/
Just when the debate between Robert Walker and Morecombe was getting interesting, you removed their posts. Unfair!
I would also postulate that "published author" is now becoming a meaningless phrase because anyone can do it.
The notion that the title 'published author' is antiquated because there are new ways of becoming one is silly. The notion that "anyone can do it" even more so. One need not look very far to find lots of people trying and only a very small percentage of them actually finishing and publishing a novel, no matter how you define publishing.
Clearly not silly at all if you pay attention to what is happening in the industry.
By the way, Larry, I have a question. On Amazon, your kindle book is listed as published by "Xylocopa Press."
Who, exactly, is that? Is that you?
I did some internet searching and they don't seem to exist.
Kevin
Any healthy alpha male has an ego and without any ego we get those people who spend their entire lives on the porch swing. If I have too much ego for anyone, that anyone can lump it. I have for over forty years helped out other authors, have sold and published a book on average one and two a year. Began writing in 1955 in 4th grade or so and now at 62, have written 50 booklegnth works, a few that are pretty good, good enough to have won praise and acclaim and a couple of awards.
I don't have to waste my time with people who have only one interest and that is to attack others. As a group over the years, I have been judged a single genre author, and that was my main lament, and still I say anyone who can't see beyond his nose that I write in more categories than most READERS read in because so many decide they can only read in one category...well none of that would bother anyone who has NO Ego or reason to have No ego. You know the pedantic type.
rob
Where did my comment go??