Molly O'Keefe's Blog, page 56
July 7, 2011
I Bought Hermione's Wand
No, I am not crazy. No, I do not dress up as characters from the book when I go to see the movie. And no I don't think the wand actually works.
I tried it. Wingardia Leviosar…. Nothing.
No, the reason I bought this wand is because I was in NYC at the conference and during a lunch break I went to see the Harry Potter exhibit at the Discovery Museum. It featured all sorts of movie props from all of the different HP movies.
Props, costumes – I can't believe how tiny Helena Bonham Carter actually is - and a life size Kreacher and Dobby. Really cool amazing stuff. And as I was walking through the exhibit I thought of all the things I had learned at the conference.
Where publishing is going, where self-publishing is going, how agents are reacting and the numbers. Lots and lots of numbers. Twenty five percent, seventeen percent, fifteen percent.
I'm not a numbers girl at all, but I paid attention. Also I listened once again to why Tweeting is essential to career building. I'm very proud to say I actually signed up, but I'm still learning. Hashtags. Apparently it's all about hashtags.
As I meandered through the exhibit and saw the Dragon's Egg and Hermione's Time Twister necklace and Voldermort's wand I realized that all of this came about from a person's imagination. Just that. One person had an idea and turned that idea into a book for people to read and enjoy.
It really struck me. Sometimes we get so bogged down in the business of writing we (me) forget about the joy and fun and creativity of writing. We're all just people who have ideas and any one of us could write a story as amazing as Harry Potter as sweeping as Gone with Wind as emotional as The Room (I'm going by what Molly said about this book).
It's all in us. For those of us who make up stories and write them down.
So I bought the ridiculously expensive silly toy wand and I put it on my writing desk to remind me always what writing is really about.
Also I use it to tease my cats… I think they're afraid I'm going to curse them but I've already explained to them it doesn't really work. Silly cats.
I tried it. Wingardia Leviosar…. Nothing.
No, the reason I bought this wand is because I was in NYC at the conference and during a lunch break I went to see the Harry Potter exhibit at the Discovery Museum. It featured all sorts of movie props from all of the different HP movies.
Props, costumes – I can't believe how tiny Helena Bonham Carter actually is - and a life size Kreacher and Dobby. Really cool amazing stuff. And as I was walking through the exhibit I thought of all the things I had learned at the conference.
Where publishing is going, where self-publishing is going, how agents are reacting and the numbers. Lots and lots of numbers. Twenty five percent, seventeen percent, fifteen percent.
I'm not a numbers girl at all, but I paid attention. Also I listened once again to why Tweeting is essential to career building. I'm very proud to say I actually signed up, but I'm still learning. Hashtags. Apparently it's all about hashtags.
As I meandered through the exhibit and saw the Dragon's Egg and Hermione's Time Twister necklace and Voldermort's wand I realized that all of this came about from a person's imagination. Just that. One person had an idea and turned that idea into a book for people to read and enjoy.
It really struck me. Sometimes we get so bogged down in the business of writing we (me) forget about the joy and fun and creativity of writing. We're all just people who have ideas and any one of us could write a story as amazing as Harry Potter as sweeping as Gone with Wind as emotional as The Room (I'm going by what Molly said about this book).
It's all in us. For those of us who make up stories and write them down.
So I bought the ridiculously expensive silly toy wand and I put it on my writing desk to remind me always what writing is really about.
Also I use it to tease my cats… I think they're afraid I'm going to curse them but I've already explained to them it doesn't really work. Silly cats.
July 6, 2011
Optimism
Like Eileen, I'm not yet back in my regular schedule and by the time I remembered it was Tuesday last night, it was midnight and I was exhausted. Exhausted at midnight... That's one thing from being off my regular schedule I hope to keep... No more 4:00 am bedtimes for me. We'll see how long that lasts... :)
Anyway, sorry for the very late post.
The past few years, I felt like the overall vibe at the RWA National conference was apocalypse preparedness. And no, I don't mean writing in that genre, I mean the general "the sky is falling!" vibe.
I've read a lot of articles/essays that point out that at almost any time in the past century, many people were predicting that publishing was about to die and that authors perpetually reminisce about the good old days. And maybe it has become consistently worse, decade after decade, but I'm not certain I believe that. And even if it has, well, unless you have a time machine there's no sense worrying about a time that has past.
These days the blogosphere is filled with doomsday theorists. People predicting the end of agents, the end of traditional publishers, the end of midlist aurhors, the end of bookstores, the end of the printed book.... And at last year's National conference all the talk at the published authors workshops was about decreasing print runs, shrinking shelf space, dropping advances... doom, doom, doom.
And it's certainly true that things are changing right now. Rapidly. And change is scary. No doubt about it.
But, while I'm no expert and really have no solid stats to back this up, I feel as if right now, the people in publishing who have the most reasons to be optimistic, not terrified, is authors.
Why are print runs going down? Why is shelf space shrinking? Not because people aren't reading. It's because of the huge expotential growth of e-books.
And if advances have gone down or stayed steady it's likely because of all the uncertainty. Publishers are likely less willing to take huge risks or make big investments up front when they are in the process of going through rapid change themselves. And probably their budgets are a little tighter because of the expenses involved in evolving their businesses....
BUT... if sales of e-books are growing exponentially, I do not see how this can be anything but a good thing for authors. I know that romance readers are ahead of the curve on the e-book trend, but based on what I heard last week, e-books are rapidly becoming dominant in that genre. And most other genres, paricuarly those sold in mass-market format are sure to follow. And while e-books are a great replacement for mass market books, I think books sold in the more expensive trade and hardcover formats will see a big increase in e-book sales, too, if readers are reluctant to put out the higher price for an unknown-to-them author. I know people (including myself) who've bought two copies of books--both e-book and hardcover--for recent favorites. The possibility of getting two royalties from the same reader. Awesome.
Yes, brick and mortar bookstores are struggling and are stocking fewer copies of new books and fewer backlist books... but suddenly, all these authors whose backlists were hard (or impossible) to get, have their backlists up for sale again as e-books. And this could be huge. An unexpected royalty gift for multi-published authors.
Sure, there are still some things to work out in terms of finding a fair way to pay royalties on e-books. And while I'm not saying we as authors shouldn't be pushing our agents to get us more there... I think stressing over it too much right now is short term thinking. Look at the horizon. E-books means more books available. More reading. More sales. More royalties.
Everyone I know who has a kindle or other e-reader has bought and read MORE books since they bought their device, not fewer... More books sold. Um... Am I missing something? How is that not good for authors?
The rise of e-books possibly sucks for brick-and-mortar-only stores and I hope most can find a way to specialize and survive, because I love book stores... but I honestly think this is a great time to be an author.
Thoughts?
(I've been asked to write on this topic on another blog and plan to mine the comments here to improve my essay. :)
Anyway, sorry for the very late post.
The past few years, I felt like the overall vibe at the RWA National conference was apocalypse preparedness. And no, I don't mean writing in that genre, I mean the general "the sky is falling!" vibe.I've read a lot of articles/essays that point out that at almost any time in the past century, many people were predicting that publishing was about to die and that authors perpetually reminisce about the good old days. And maybe it has become consistently worse, decade after decade, but I'm not certain I believe that. And even if it has, well, unless you have a time machine there's no sense worrying about a time that has past.
These days the blogosphere is filled with doomsday theorists. People predicting the end of agents, the end of traditional publishers, the end of midlist aurhors, the end of bookstores, the end of the printed book.... And at last year's National conference all the talk at the published authors workshops was about decreasing print runs, shrinking shelf space, dropping advances... doom, doom, doom.
And it's certainly true that things are changing right now. Rapidly. And change is scary. No doubt about it.
But, while I'm no expert and really have no solid stats to back this up, I feel as if right now, the people in publishing who have the most reasons to be optimistic, not terrified, is authors.
Why are print runs going down? Why is shelf space shrinking? Not because people aren't reading. It's because of the huge expotential growth of e-books.
And if advances have gone down or stayed steady it's likely because of all the uncertainty. Publishers are likely less willing to take huge risks or make big investments up front when they are in the process of going through rapid change themselves. And probably their budgets are a little tighter because of the expenses involved in evolving their businesses....
BUT... if sales of e-books are growing exponentially, I do not see how this can be anything but a good thing for authors. I know that romance readers are ahead of the curve on the e-book trend, but based on what I heard last week, e-books are rapidly becoming dominant in that genre. And most other genres, paricuarly those sold in mass-market format are sure to follow. And while e-books are a great replacement for mass market books, I think books sold in the more expensive trade and hardcover formats will see a big increase in e-book sales, too, if readers are reluctant to put out the higher price for an unknown-to-them author. I know people (including myself) who've bought two copies of books--both e-book and hardcover--for recent favorites. The possibility of getting two royalties from the same reader. Awesome.
Yes, brick and mortar bookstores are struggling and are stocking fewer copies of new books and fewer backlist books... but suddenly, all these authors whose backlists were hard (or impossible) to get, have their backlists up for sale again as e-books. And this could be huge. An unexpected royalty gift for multi-published authors.
Sure, there are still some things to work out in terms of finding a fair way to pay royalties on e-books. And while I'm not saying we as authors shouldn't be pushing our agents to get us more there... I think stressing over it too much right now is short term thinking. Look at the horizon. E-books means more books available. More reading. More sales. More royalties.
Everyone I know who has a kindle or other e-reader has bought and read MORE books since they bought their device, not fewer... More books sold. Um... Am I missing something? How is that not good for authors?
The rise of e-books possibly sucks for brick-and-mortar-only stores and I hope most can find a way to specialize and survive, because I love book stores... but I honestly think this is a great time to be an author.
Thoughts?
(I've been asked to write on this topic on another blog and plan to mine the comments here to improve my essay. :)
July 5, 2011
Home!
Home from conference and totally forgot this was Tuesday! Eek!
The conference was fantastic. I got to run in Central Park with Molly. I got to admire Steph's shoes. I got to send Maureen cryptic text messages. Really, does it get better?
I ended up getting a National Readers Choice Award and a runner-up designation in the Prism Award. I ate my way from one side of Manhattan to the other. I saw a show. I saw an exhibit. I ate oysters and drank prosecco. I talked with both my editors and my agent face to face.
It was fantastic. I leave you with an oysters and prosecco image. I'll try to post something smarter next week.
June 24, 2011
What to do if you are not going to the national conference
OK, so I'm not going, which sucks, because I love New York, and hanging with other writers and drinking, but I've tried to come up with things that will make me feel better being left behind.
1) Drink - not my usual, but a nice mohito maybe, or a fruity cocktail. I'll pretend I'm in a bar in NY while I drink it.
2) I'm going to read a lot. I'm reading the Karen MArie Moning Fae series and loving it. I'm onto book 2 and expect to get to book three before the other drunk writers return from the conference.
3) Work, on my writing - If I make it a really productive writing week, I know I'll feel better about not going.
4) Watch Tru Blood - because that show always cheers me up.
5) Buy a new pair of shoes - a guaranteed pick me up, always. A pair of wedge strappy sandals perhaps.
6) Not run - because if I'm not running through central park with Molly and Eileen, then screw getting exercise.
But truthfully, I'm mostly planning to work this week, try and finish up the edits on the current WIP. Because if I can't be at the conference, then what will make me feel better is being productive.
There you have it. Anyone else have any suggestions for what to do if you're not going to nationals?
1) Drink - not my usual, but a nice mohito maybe, or a fruity cocktail. I'll pretend I'm in a bar in NY while I drink it.
2) I'm going to read a lot. I'm reading the Karen MArie Moning Fae series and loving it. I'm onto book 2 and expect to get to book three before the other drunk writers return from the conference.
3) Work, on my writing - If I make it a really productive writing week, I know I'll feel better about not going.
4) Watch Tru Blood - because that show always cheers me up.
5) Buy a new pair of shoes - a guaranteed pick me up, always. A pair of wedge strappy sandals perhaps.
6) Not run - because if I'm not running through central park with Molly and Eileen, then screw getting exercise.
But truthfully, I'm mostly planning to work this week, try and finish up the edits on the current WIP. Because if I can't be at the conference, then what will make me feel better is being productive.
There you have it. Anyone else have any suggestions for what to do if you're not going to nationals?
June 23, 2011
I'm ready to be a Romance Writer...
I know we've all talked about the conference that's happening next week a lot, but I have to say I am so ready. I have a very stressful day job that has gotten even more stressful since my assistant went on maternity leave. I don't save lives or keep government secrets or protect American security. What I do is very pedantic. But in my neck of the world what I do is essential. And right now the pressure of it is killing me a little.
So I'm ready to be a Romance Writer. I'm ready to hear about how publishing is changing in radical ways, sales are shrinking across the board and contracts for new authors are unheard of. I'm ready to listen to how I'm killing my career by writing in strange historical time periods and be told that unless you're doing some form of social networking (I'm not) then you're dooming your chances of a successful career forever more.
Now you might think - isn't that even MORE stress? How can a person who has developed an irrational fear of tornadoes (I live in New Jersey for pete's sake) - which is really my subconscious telling me I'm stressed to the max - handle more stress?
But it's different stress. It's writer stress. I'm not the same person I am as a romance writer as I am at my day job.
I'm creative. I'm struggling. I'm a novice instead of an expert.
For whatever reason it does me good. For those of you out there coming to the conference and to my fellow DWT ladies who are coming… Come find me. Because I want to get drunk and talk about writing. I want to go to class and learn something new. I want that horrible feeling that says… you need to work harder or you will never get anywhere to settle in. I need to pretend to think I'm actually going to tweet as soon as I get home.
I'm ready to be a Romance Writer.
So I'm ready to be a Romance Writer. I'm ready to hear about how publishing is changing in radical ways, sales are shrinking across the board and contracts for new authors are unheard of. I'm ready to listen to how I'm killing my career by writing in strange historical time periods and be told that unless you're doing some form of social networking (I'm not) then you're dooming your chances of a successful career forever more.
Now you might think - isn't that even MORE stress? How can a person who has developed an irrational fear of tornadoes (I live in New Jersey for pete's sake) - which is really my subconscious telling me I'm stressed to the max - handle more stress?
But it's different stress. It's writer stress. I'm not the same person I am as a romance writer as I am at my day job.
I'm creative. I'm struggling. I'm a novice instead of an expert.
For whatever reason it does me good. For those of you out there coming to the conference and to my fellow DWT ladies who are coming… Come find me. Because I want to get drunk and talk about writing. I want to go to class and learn something new. I want that horrible feeling that says… you need to work harder or you will never get anywhere to settle in. I need to pretend to think I'm actually going to tweet as soon as I get home.
I'm ready to be a Romance Writer.
June 21, 2011
Book Launches
I just came home from a fabulous book launch party and once again felt like kicking myself for not having some kind of event when my books were released this spring.
But... on the other hand... I'm just not sure it's me. I do think for my next book I will try to have a launch, but it's definitely outside my comfort zone.
This party tonight, for the lovely Lesley Livingston's new release Once Ever Never, was the kind of event I wish I could hold, but know I don't have the, um, whatever it takes to plan and host such an event.
She had actors in costumes! A stage! A musician playing! Free wine and beer! At least 200 people! Including Robert Sawyer, who's a pretty damn big name in the sci-fi world... (Among other things, he wrote the book that that TV show Flash Forward was based on.) And reps from both of her publishers, Harper Collins and Penguin showed up... (The new book is Penguin Canada, her previous series was HC in the US.) And her reading, well, she's an actor and it showed. So good.
I can't imagine the stress of planning and executing something like this event. I'd be imagining that no one would come... or that I'd get on stage and shake uncontrolably (whereas normally I'm good with public speaking) or that someone would heckle me and tell me to get over myself already.
Have you had a big book launch? Would you like to?
But... on the other hand... I'm just not sure it's me. I do think for my next book I will try to have a launch, but it's definitely outside my comfort zone.
This party tonight, for the lovely Lesley Livingston's new release Once Ever Never, was the kind of event I wish I could hold, but know I don't have the, um, whatever it takes to plan and host such an event.
She had actors in costumes! A stage! A musician playing! Free wine and beer! At least 200 people! Including Robert Sawyer, who's a pretty damn big name in the sci-fi world... (Among other things, he wrote the book that that TV show Flash Forward was based on.) And reps from both of her publishers, Harper Collins and Penguin showed up... (The new book is Penguin Canada, her previous series was HC in the US.) And her reading, well, she's an actor and it showed. So good.
I can't imagine the stress of planning and executing something like this event. I'd be imagining that no one would come... or that I'd get on stage and shake uncontrolably (whereas normally I'm good with public speaking) or that someone would heckle me and tell me to get over myself already.
Have you had a big book launch? Would you like to?
Because I have no place else to put this
I don't know what to do with this and it needs to go somewhere. This seemed like a place where I could process this.
During a family dinner on Friday night, my brother-in-law mentioned that while he was out mowing he'd run across "evidence" that a rather large animal had been on their property. They live out in the country and no longer have dogs. There was some discussion of what might be out there.
On Saturday, we all had lunch together (my aunt and uncle were visiting - we don't usually take ALL our meals together). I was a few minutes late and walked in to find a print out of several photos on the table. I looked and was sure I must be mistaken about what I was looking at. But no, I wasn't. It was a series of color photos of the "evidence" that my brother-in-law mentioned. In other words, they were photos of pooh. Four of them. Two of them with my brother-in-law's flip flop in the photo for scale.
And so began our luncheon chat . . .
Uncle Sam: That's quite large. Why, those must be at least an inch and a half in diameter.
My Sister: And look at those seeds. I thought it could be from a mountain lion, but I don't think they're carnivores.
Uncle Sam (peering more closely at the photos): You're right, girl. Those are seeds. Must be an omnivore, but it must be a big one. I mean, those piles are large and there are three of them.
My mother (who is having increasing difficulty talking these days): Were the fec-fec-feces fresh?
Okay. I have gotten through a lot of family moments like this one by reimagining them into scenes for books, but I've got nowhere to go with this. I cannot imagine what kind of book I would have to write to create a scene where everyone sits around discussing poo.
During a family dinner on Friday night, my brother-in-law mentioned that while he was out mowing he'd run across "evidence" that a rather large animal had been on their property. They live out in the country and no longer have dogs. There was some discussion of what might be out there.
On Saturday, we all had lunch together (my aunt and uncle were visiting - we don't usually take ALL our meals together). I was a few minutes late and walked in to find a print out of several photos on the table. I looked and was sure I must be mistaken about what I was looking at. But no, I wasn't. It was a series of color photos of the "evidence" that my brother-in-law mentioned. In other words, they were photos of pooh. Four of them. Two of them with my brother-in-law's flip flop in the photo for scale.
And so began our luncheon chat . . .
Uncle Sam: That's quite large. Why, those must be at least an inch and a half in diameter.
My Sister: And look at those seeds. I thought it could be from a mountain lion, but I don't think they're carnivores.
Uncle Sam (peering more closely at the photos): You're right, girl. Those are seeds. Must be an omnivore, but it must be a big one. I mean, those piles are large and there are three of them.
My mother (who is having increasing difficulty talking these days): Were the fec-fec-feces fresh?
Okay. I have gotten through a lot of family moments like this one by reimagining them into scenes for books, but I've got nowhere to go with this. I cannot imagine what kind of book I would have to write to create a scene where everyone sits around discussing poo.
June 20, 2011
Getting in the Mood...
This is not what you think it is. Sorry to disappoint. Right now I am not in the mood for anything. I just want to watch tv and wait for Nationals to come. I can't write, books aren't holding my attention. My internal motor is revved up and I can't seem to relax into anything. All of this leads me to how specific a mood I have to be in for books. I have to be willing and ready for the world the books will foist upon me.
I started a book weeks ago. A historical - lots of promise, a historical jail break! But, man, could not get into it. Could. Not. Get. Into. It. I put it down, read all these YA books Maureen and Sinead give me - Divergent (amazing!) Incarceron (Good!) If I Stay (Amazing!) but they're all gone, now.
So, last night (after a truly disturbing Treme! Honestly, I can't watch that right before bed - it's too much!) I looked at the pile of books by my bed and picked up the historical jail break book - and I LOVED IT! I was swept right up! It was clever and subtle and I could have read for another hour if my husband wouldn't have beat me over the head with the book.
How about you guys? What books have you given a second chance and loved, despite a bad start? How many of you are killing time waiting for Nationals? How many of you were truly disturbed by Treme last night....
I started a book weeks ago. A historical - lots of promise, a historical jail break! But, man, could not get into it. Could. Not. Get. Into. It. I put it down, read all these YA books Maureen and Sinead give me - Divergent (amazing!) Incarceron (Good!) If I Stay (Amazing!) but they're all gone, now.
So, last night (after a truly disturbing Treme! Honestly, I can't watch that right before bed - it's too much!) I looked at the pile of books by my bed and picked up the historical jail break book - and I LOVED IT! I was swept right up! It was clever and subtle and I could have read for another hour if my husband wouldn't have beat me over the head with the book.
How about you guys? What books have you given a second chance and loved, despite a bad start? How many of you are killing time waiting for Nationals? How many of you were truly disturbed by Treme last night....
June 17, 2011
June 16, 2011
Housekeeping..
Not the actual house kind, but the writing kind. As I continue on "Steph's Quest Toward Possible Self-Publishing" I realized it might be a good idea to figure out where all my stuff is. Do have all my manuscripts? Was everything backed up and more importantly can I retrieve what's been backed up.
I'm a HUGE believer in backing up for obvious reasons, I'm sure we are all. Where I have problems (I have recently discovered) is in cleaning things up part. I thought I had a system, but really the system sucked.
I've probably gone through 6 or 7 computers since I started writing. I can't imagine how many versions of Word.
Was I always moving everything forward to the new computer? Was I always converting all my older documents each time I upgraded? Was I carefully putting finalized edited versions of published books in easily accessible folders?
Am I asking multiple questions like this if the answer is anything but no?
No. I don't have my old books. I have them on a bookshelf. I have the really old ones on floppy disks. (I don't have a computer that takes a floppy disk anymore.) And even if I could find a way to load them, Word will only go back so far.
Why did I need to save everything, I mean it was already a book? See this was my 1990's thinking. Now my 2011 self knows what an idiot I was.
I'm not naïve enough to think there is no way to retrieve, load and convert all this old stuff. I'm sure there is. But let this be a lesson to all you sloppy housekeeping writers. Each completed work should be migrated into a single document instead of left as 24 separate Word docs representing things like Chapter 1 and Chapter 1 A. Those documents should be stored in a folder with a name that makes sense.
Not… Stuff I Never Finished or… Stuff that is Almost Done, and my personal favorite…. Old Stuff.
And with each new version of WORD you upgrade to each completed/partial book should be updated and saved with that version.
I'm just starting to get into the whole idea of the HTML conversion and what all that means, so maybe it makes sense to store these documents differently, I don't know.
But the point is you should be able to lay your hands on an electronic version of every completed manuscript or partial you have.
Sounds like a reasonable thing for a writer to know… Uh yeah not me.
I'm a HUGE believer in backing up for obvious reasons, I'm sure we are all. Where I have problems (I have recently discovered) is in cleaning things up part. I thought I had a system, but really the system sucked.
I've probably gone through 6 or 7 computers since I started writing. I can't imagine how many versions of Word.
Was I always moving everything forward to the new computer? Was I always converting all my older documents each time I upgraded? Was I carefully putting finalized edited versions of published books in easily accessible folders?
Am I asking multiple questions like this if the answer is anything but no?
No. I don't have my old books. I have them on a bookshelf. I have the really old ones on floppy disks. (I don't have a computer that takes a floppy disk anymore.) And even if I could find a way to load them, Word will only go back so far.
Why did I need to save everything, I mean it was already a book? See this was my 1990's thinking. Now my 2011 self knows what an idiot I was.
I'm not naïve enough to think there is no way to retrieve, load and convert all this old stuff. I'm sure there is. But let this be a lesson to all you sloppy housekeeping writers. Each completed work should be migrated into a single document instead of left as 24 separate Word docs representing things like Chapter 1 and Chapter 1 A. Those documents should be stored in a folder with a name that makes sense.
Not… Stuff I Never Finished or… Stuff that is Almost Done, and my personal favorite…. Old Stuff.
And with each new version of WORD you upgrade to each completed/partial book should be updated and saved with that version.
I'm just starting to get into the whole idea of the HTML conversion and what all that means, so maybe it makes sense to store these documents differently, I don't know.
But the point is you should be able to lay your hands on an electronic version of every completed manuscript or partial you have.
Sounds like a reasonable thing for a writer to know… Uh yeah not me.
