Ryan Field's Blog, page 493

Quality Control in Self-Published E-books

Being that I'm releasing a self-published .99 novel on Amazon very soon, "Chase of a Lifetime," I've been concerned about the quality issues of e-books in a general sense. Concerned because I've experienced one e-book of my own that had a few mistakes over which I had no control because it wasn't self-published. And concerned because now that I am self-publishing my own e-book I want to be absolutely certain the quality is there.

I'm not talking about content or subjective issues. I'm talking about mistakes in grammar, spelling, and other things that could go wrong. I've contacted QED, an organization that gives what could best be described as the e-book seal of approval with regard to quality. But I'm not certain erotic m/m romance is something they would consider. So my goal is to continue to make sure this book I'm releasing soon, "Chase of a Lifetime," is up to standards as far as quality goes.

I can tell you this. I have twenty years experience in publishing. I've worked as an editor many times, both with anthologies and with freelance clients. But more than that, when I get my manuscripts back from copy editors that work for my publishers there aren't many mistakes. Usually the revises are more about the subjective content, where the editor didn't agree with something in the content. And I usually change it to please the publisher, without complaints. But now that I'm doing this on my own my only goal is to please the reader, not the publisher. And the quality of the e-book is extremely important to me.

I'll post more about QED when I hear from them. I'm hoping they will allow me to submit the e-book, for the required fee, so I can be considered for the stamp of approval. If not, I'll continue to post about my own quality concerns and issues so readers know and understand that this self-published e-book is going through some intense editing before it's released.

A Very Humble Venture: "Chase of a Lifetime," a M/M Western Romance

When Amazon launched the Kindle e-reader, it seems as if that was the day publishing changed forever. History was made that day and nothing has been the same since then. A lot of us were in digital publishing before that, but we weren't being taken very seriously. I think I recall e-book sales were less than 1% of the overall market. I could go back and link to old publishing blog posts that laughed at e-publishers.

In l999, I went to a dinner party where one of the guests worked in the art department for Random House. I'll never forget the conversation we had during cocktails. He started talking about these "devices" that were being developed, where people could store their entire libraries and manage as many books as they want. He also said the publishing industry knew about the technology in l999 and no one was doing anything about it.

I started submitting my fiction to e-publishers around 2005. I remembered the conversation I had with that art director and I saw a future in digital publishing. And though it's still not clear where anything in publishing will go, I don't see digital publishing disappearing. Especially not when you look at the way younger generations have embraced technology.

I've enjoyed working with all the e-publishers that have published my novels and short stories. A few I started with in 2005 (Tassels and Tales) aren't around anymore. They had the right concept; just not the right business plan. But I hope to continue submitting my fiction to the same digital publishers I've been working with. My experiences have been positive and I've been thankful for the opportunities they've given me as an author.

But I've also been curious about self-publishing with Amazon for a long time. I've posted about it enough that I'm not even going to link to the posts right now. You can do a search if you're interested. The main appeal for me, as an author who has always worked with publishers, is finding out what it's like to have complete control over what I'm publishing. My background, aside from twenty years of publishing fiction, is in business. Other than a few jobs in publishing where I worked as an editor, I've never actually worked for anyone. I opened my small businesses because they allowed me the freedom to write part time. They were both successful and I loved every minute of running a business. I'm still in business to a certain extent because I'm a landlord. And trust me, that's not easy.

As an author I'm also a business person. And my latest little venture is going to be publishing a full length, 60,000 word novel, on Amazon. The title is "Chase of a Lifetime," and it's m/m erotic romance. It's also a very humble venture. I'm not expecting to be the next Joe Konrath and I'm not expecting to blow anyone out of the water, so to speak. I'll be thankful for however many copies of this book I sell and I'll be here to answer any questions readers have. One thing I learned after years of owning my own businesses was how to relate to the public...to consumers. In all those years of owning a gallery I only had one client return a statue. She thought it was bronze; it was resin. I gave her the money back and sold the statue to someone who really fell in love with it a few weeks later.

I don't want this post to wind up too long. And I will continue to post about the self-publishing process, for me, and what I've been doing. As I said, the main reason why I'm doing this is to get the control I've wanted all my life. Publishers are all different. Some let authors have a lot of freedom, and then others control every single aspect, from concept right down to the title and cover of the book. That collaboration is nice sometimes, but I've also learned that publishers who like to control the most aren't always right and it's the author who suffers in the end. The genre also suffers to a certain extent. I love the m/m romance genre and I've loved watching it grow and evolve. I even love the controversy that m/m romance sparks sometimes. It's the kind of passion I never thought I'd see in my lifetime. Sereiously! People are arguing over a book with gay male characters? I never started writing lgbt because it was a trend. It's because I'm gay and it's what I know best. But in order for the m/m genre to continue to grow, authors have to be trusted and some publishers need to step back and let them do what they do best.

The second reason I'm doing this is because I want to price the book on my own this time. "Chase of a Lifetime" will be released as a .99 e-book. It is an original and has never been published anywhere before. I won't be handing out free copies. As a business person giving away anything for free is counterproductive to the overall goal of being in business. But I do think .99 for a full length novel is a fair price.

Right now, I'm in the final stages of launching "Chase of a Lifetime." I hired a cover artist and copy editor. I suck at cover art and I wanted a copy editor to back up my own extensive edits. And I've always believed that copy editors are the most important people in publishing. There's this concept out there that a lot of self-published books aren't up to certain standards and they lack quality. All I can say is that I've never worked so hard and edited so much in my life. This is a small, humble venture for me, but I also want it to be as perfect as I can get it. Just ask Tony, my partner, what life had been like since I started this. I have driven the poor man crazy.(smile)

I'll post more soon. I'm hoping to have the cover art ready either this week or next. And if anyone has any questions about publishing on Amazon, feel free to ask.

Here's the blurb for COAL (still subject to change):

When Jim Darling graduates from Princeton and goes back home to Texas, he dreads everything ahead of him. He's almost twenty-one years old, still in the closet, and has never been with a man. Though his father wants him to go to law school so he can join him in his law firm, it's the last thing Jim wants to do.

On Jim's first night home, during his college graduation party at his mom and dad's ranch, he runs into his best friend's dad, Len Mayfield, a rugged, handsome investment banker in his late thirties who rides horses and wears a cowboy hat when he's not working as an investment banker. Len's life isn't much different from Jim's. He's been in the closet forever, he's trapped in a marriage of convenience with a wife who cheats, and he's resigned to his circumstances.

That is until Len runs into the grown up version of Jim Darling at the graduation party. What happens after that blossoms into something neither of them ever expected. A long seduction leads to fantastic love-making. There's enough passion, heartache, and frustration to challenge their fragile relationship in more ways than one.

Will Jim Darling find a way to come clean with his mom and dad so he can find the happiness he's always wanted? And will Len Mayfield find the courage to finally come out of the closet and walk away from a life that has never made him happy?

Sunshine Award!!

A short time ago I found the most refreshing young blogger, TD McFrost, I've seen in ages. He's a writer with a distinct voice who is always doing something different. It's always something nice, too.



Yesterday I found out I'd been given the "Sunshine Award," by TD McFrost and I couldn't have been more thrilled and can't thank him enough. I've always said the main reason I blog is to have fun, and something like this makes blogging fun.

Now I'm supposed to pass the award on, so here are the rules:

* Thank the person who gave you the award and provide a link.

* Write a post about it

* Answer the questions below.

* Pass it on to 10 bloggers who you think really deserve it and let them know

* Answer 10 Questions:

Favourite colour: blue

Favourite animal: dog

Favourite number: 13

Favorite non-alcoholic drink: Diet Pepsi

Facebook or Twitter: Facebook (Twitter takes too much time)

My passion: Writing and Reading

Getting or giving presents: Both.

Favourite pattern: Florentine




Favourite day of the week: Sunday

Favourite flower: Impatiens

Now I'm passing the award on to these people:

A Guy in Love (Ryan)

Matthew Darringer

Rebecca Leigh

Michele Montgomery

And to this blogger, Eirik, whom I don't think is with us any longer. I followed his posts about cancer for a while and then one day he stopped blogging completely. I can't bring myself to delete his blog, and I'm hoping he's still with us in spirit.

Is It "Mommy Porn?"

I've posted about the popular book Fifty Shades of Grey a few times. My interest in the book is mostly geared toward the fact that an erotic romance became popular in the mainstream. It's not something I would normally read. But I have to say I've enjoyed reading it in spite of this.

Over the weekend I read a few posts about FSoG with regard to romance, erotic romance, porn, and women. One by Lori Perkins, and another by Sarah Wendel. The mainstream, as usual, came up with the ridiculous term "Mommy Porn," and people are commenting about this everywhere. These aren't the only things I've read. They just happen to be the two I found most interesting.

There's also an interesting post here, on the Dystel & Goderich blog, which discusses books like FSoG going mainstream and whether or not the publishing industry has overlooked the fact that digital books offer readers a certain amount of discretion that print books never did. In other words, no one knows what someone is reading on an e-reader, which makes it safe to read erotic romance anywhere. I've posted about this more than once. Erotic romance is, and always has been, a secret pleasure for most people, and this includes men, and it's always been about discretion.

But I'm on record about never commenting about women's issues because I'm a man. I like reading about them and learning about them because many of my own readers are women. But for me to comment on how a woman feels about an issue would be as bad as a woman commenting on how I should feel about issue as a gay man. I don't like it, and I don't think women would like it very much if I started talking about women's issues.

But I do think the posts that I've linked to are interesting in the sense that they give insight into something that seems to have everyone talking. The buzz about FSoG covers a lot of territoty, from fanfic (where this book allegedly originated) to women reading erotic romance. And I walked away from each post learning something I didn't know before.

Posed As A Woman, Stole Identity, For Medical Care

A homeless man in California is accused of stealing a woman's identity for 13 years and racking up more than $100,000 in medical care expenses.

Police in San Clemente say they found Perla Serrano -- who appeared to be a woman -- sleeping Sunday in a public area. But a deputy noted a hospital wristband with a different name than the one the person gave.

Read More Here...

I can't even imagine what kind of medical care this person could receive without having a healthcare professional figure out he wasn't really a woman.

Release Day: Cowboy Howdy

Cowboy Howdy is the newest release from loveyoudivine.com. It's a short story, and can be purchased on most web sites where e-books are sold. Here's a link to ARe and to Loveyoudivine. I'm a little surprised, because it already got a silver star on ARe and that doesn't usually happen often. Huge thanks to those who've bought it already!!

Here's the blurb, and I'll post more over the weekend with excerpts. If anyone has any questions about the product description, please feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment.

Payne is a typical gay guy from New York City, with the right haircut, clothes, and attitude. He spends a great deal of time keeping his slim body smooth and well-toned for strong, dominant men. Although he's not looking forward to his new roommate at first, he soon discovers things could have been much worse. The minute Payne meets Howdy he can't take his eyes off his huge shoulders, long legs, and the bulge in his jeans. Howdy's thick Texas accent and his authentic cowboy hat make Payne cover his crotch with a sweatshirt. When he finds out Howdy is there to play football, Payne wants to bury his face in Howdy's jock strap. In fact, Howdy is the full grown man of Payne's dreams and he considers seducing him the first day they meet. This leads to an interesting experience that may wind up changing the rest of their lives. Will these two full grown consenting adults fall in love and will Howdy accept Payne's romantic, subtle advances? Or will he find them repulsive and move out that night?

Joe Konrath's Blog, Amazon, and My Quiet Venture

Although Joe Konrath isn't the reason why I've become so interested in self-publishing on Amazon, I've been a fan of his blog and his opinions/reactions on the subject. Especially his most recent blog post, here. Coming from a background in "traditional" publishing, I tend to focus more on my readers than I do other authors. The main perk for me with self-publishing on Amazon would be I could offer my books and stories at a much lower price, and have control over all the content...for my readers. I have one wonderful reader who has been corresponding with me for a while now. This reader suffered medical problems a few years back and was left with disabilities. I want people like this to have affordable e-books, and with regard to amazon publishing I like knowing the author can control his prices. Even though my e-books with digital first publishers are nowhere near as high as e-books are with "traditional" publishers, I often wonder how many pass by my books and choose another because they have e-book budgets they have to follow. I know I do this with books I want. And I've passed on quite a few that I thought would push me over the lines I set for buying e-books. I wouldn't, however, pass on a .99 e-book.

I haven't done it (not even with a pen name), but self-publishing with Amazon is something I've been looking into for a while. I haven't made any set decisions yet, but I will make one small announcement in the coming weeks on the topic. It's not going to rock the world and I'm not going to start slamming all my friends on social media with announcements and spam. It's just a small, quiet venture I've been thinking about for a while. I love all the publishers I work with and my interest in self-publishing on Amazon has nothing to do with whether or not I'm satisfied with the results I see from my publishers. I am satisfied and I hope to continue to work with them for as long as they want me. I love them all. But the thought of having complete control is just too interesting to ignore. And the thought of being able to offer a brand new release...not a backlisted book...for .99 to my readers is even more appealing.

If you're like me, and you've been interested in learning more about Amazon, please take the time to check out the blog post I linked to above by Joe Konrath. I can promise you one thing, it's not the kind of material you're going to read on literary agent blogs or "traditional" publishing blogs. I do think it's still too soon to make huge predictions about the future of publishing (although I did make the same predictions Konrath made a few years ago, while a good friend in publishing sat at my dinner table and laughed at me when I said e-books would only continue to grow, and that's why I got into digital first publishing about seven years ago in spite of being laughed at). Konrath's POV is just different than what you've been seeing for so long, based on his own personal experience. And I can tell you this for certain, and this has nothing to do with the future of publishing, based on my own personal experience with digital publishing, Konrath has been telling the truth about what has been happening in the past ten years.

PayPal's Newest Policy on Erotica

From Techcrunch: PayPal has decided to update its policy regarding erotica. Here's the link. And here's another link to PayPal's statement.

This part of PayPal's statement interests me:

"Instead of demanding that e-book publishers remove all books in a category, we will provide notice to the seller of the specific e-books, if any, that we believe violate our policy," he notes. "We are working with e-book publishers on a process that will provide any affected site operator or author the opportunity to respond to and challenge a notice that an e-book violates the policy." It says it has not shut down any accounts of e-book publishers as a result of this situation.

A few weeks ago one of my books was removed/banned because of harmless words in tag line, not actual "banned" content. I wrote several posts about it here. I wonder how many others had to deal with this. I have a feeling I wasn't the only one.

Mark Coker from smashwords said this:

"This is a big, bold move by PayPal. It represents a watershed decision that protects the rights of writers to write, publish and distribute legal fiction. It also protects the rights of readers to purchase and enjoy all fiction in the privacy of their own imagination. It clarifies and rationalizes the role of financial services providers and pulls them out of the business of censoring legal fiction."

I agree with Mr. Coker. This is a huge move by PayPal. And it not only protects the rights of both writers and readers, it protects the rights of innocent people who get caught in the middle for no justifiable reason.

Please take the time to read the article I linked to in full. It's short and it's worth knowing all the facts. It's also interesting to see how PayPal updated their policy after Visa and MasterCard made public statments saying they had nothing to do with PayPal's original decision to censor.

Deer In The Headlights by Levi Johnston

In January I posted about reading Levi Johnston's "Deer in the Headlights," and I wanted to follow up with a short post about the book.

I'm giving it five stars and there's a reason for this. It's an easy read, it sounds honest enough, and I'm glad I got to read Levi's side of the story. He seems like a simple, uncomplicated guy, and for him to take on the task of actually getting a book of his own out I think is commendable in itself. I don't mean that in a snarky way either. I know how hard it is to write a book, and I've never even tackled a memoir. Most young guy Levi's age don't even read books let alone write them. For that alone he would have received at least four stars from me. And even if he had help with the book, he did it.

If Levi wanted to get his story out and show what he's really like with this book, as opposed to what's been written about him in the mainstream media and said by the Palin family, he succeeded. This post is not a knock against the Palin family. I'm not a political person (I don't trust any politician.)But as I've said before, you don't get to the position of becoming Governor of a state the size of Alaska...or any size for that matter...by being a simple girl with a simple dream. The Palin family, good old simple Todd included, are hardcore players and all that simple working man nonsense never passed with me. I could say the same thing about our current President, or anyone out there in a position of political power. It simply stands to reason. We aren't talking about simple down home folk when it comes to winning in politics.



But I did find a certain amount of innocence in Levi's book, where he was thrown, pardon the cliche, in with the wolves and they ate him up alive...or at least they tried. I believe his descriptions about certain family members. I like that I didn't get a sense of bitterness either. After all he's been through, he sounds as if he's still basically a nice person who is willing to maintain a balance and give credit where it is due, which is more than most in his position would have done. In fact, I didn't come away from the book thinking how terrible the Palin family is. I came away with the same thought I had before I started the book: these are complicated, powerful, ambitious people who know how to get what they want through determination and manipulation. I'm not being snarky about that either. Without ambitious people like Sarah and Todd Palin we wouldn't get anything done.

I didn't get the impression Levi was on the defensive, which is more than I can say about other books like this. Though I'm sure he could have sounded that way, it sounded more to me as if he came to terms with his situation and put an end to it with this book. Or, at the very least, he came to terms and showed us who he is. I could be wrong. I could be reading far more into this than I'm supposed to be reading. But I like to think that people write books like this to tell their stories, share their personal feelings, and let the world know who they are. I believe he did this in DITH and he did it well, too. I would recommend the book to anyone as well written, fast paced, and nicely executed. And I'm going to give it five stars because it deserves all that and more.

Parody, Pygmalion, and Retelling Classic Storylines

Although most people know what parody is, I find that there are some who don't. So I wanted to write a short post about it, keeping it as simple as possible. (Even though writing parody isn't simple to do.)

According to Wiki, this is parody:

A parody ( /ˈpærədi/; also called pastiche, spoof, send-up or lampoon), in current use, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation. You can read more about it here.

A good example of parody would be the logo above, of MTM Enterprises. This was a parody of the old MGM logo, and clearly done very well.



Parody is something that has been done for a long time, and will continue to be used over and over again.

Pygmalion comes from Greece. The story has been retold many, many times by authors like George Bernard Shaw.

In George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, a modern variant of the myth with a subtle hint of feminism, the underclass flower-girl Eliza Doolittle is metaphorically "brought to life" by a phonetics professor, Henry Higgins, who teaches her to refine her accent and conversation in social situations.

Retelling this story isn't something new. I did it, with a cast of all gay characters, in my book "My Fair Laddie." The title of my book was a parody of the play, "My Fair Lady," and I retold the story just like Shaw did, with gay characters, plenty of erotica, and distinct differences in the storyline so that it would work for gay men. You can read more about Pygmalion here.

The film, "Pretty Woman," is a classic retelling of the Cinderella story.

A modern-day retelling of the Cinderella story, PRETTY WOMAN catapulted its star, the then 23-year-old Julia Roberts, into the film stratosphere. Her portrayal of Vivian, the call girl whose low self-esteem disallows her from thinking she can live any other way, was popular not only with men but also women, seeing in her their own insecurities and vulnerabilities.

You can read more about it here.

When I wrote "Pretty Man," I did the same thing, with all gay characters, a bulter, and plenty of erotica that no one's done before. I changed the characters completely, changed the setting, reworked the entire storyline. But I did use parody with the title. I thought my gay readers would enjoy reading the Cinderella story about gay men for a change. We rarely get an opportunity like that. All those deep, emotional, dark books about gay men are great. We love m/m romances with cupackes, cute kiddies, and ribbons and bows and picnic baskets filled with puppies and kittens. We really love them. But we like to have a little fun every now and then, too...with plenty of sex!!



These are just basic concepts of parody and retelling. For those who already know this, I hope I added something in the links that said something new so I didn't bore you to death. For those who don't know anything about parody, or how classic stories have been retold in very different ways, I hope I taught you something.