Susan Barrett Price's Blog, page 61

Passion & Peril Web Site Update

Revised design, new photo (bottle of beer cropped out), and updated retailers. Writers are talking about their "author platforms" these days, so I'm hip.

Take a look at http://www.PassionAndPeril.com.

If you catch any typos or have any ideas how to get the right message out to people looking for complex characters, twisted heart-of-darkness plot, and exotic setting, let me know.

New book trailer promo posted

Today I posted radio book trailer #2 here. Something in me can't resist the radio. One of my readers pointed out that radio is like reading: you limit yourself to one sense in conjuring up the world you are reading or listening about. I like that connection.

And I like this other layer -- of reporters and stringers keeping their eyes on the characters as they play out their drama. The broadcaster of Passion and Peril Radio looks at the action from a different angle. That intrigues me.

Tips for Publishing Ebooks

Reformatting my novel for yet another new ebook outlet seems like my life's work these days. As soon as I think my work is done -- hey! another opportunity -- and another fun day of cursing at software and generally keeping myself confused.

But I've gone on record saying I like life on the digital frontier, so I can't complain.

I think I'm done. A format for every major device with every major retailer.

To consolidate my learning I put together my tips for publishing ebooks guide>>> Funny, how a week's worth of hair-pulling can boil down to just a handful of critical tips. That's life, ain't it?

Writer's Life in August

The most consistent advice you hear to writers is read. So I'm trying to catch up on good fiction authors, whose language and writing style can permeate mine. This week I started The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates. I've heard of her forever. Should I be embarrassed (as a blossoming author) that I've never read anything by her?

The writers with the best run-of-the-mill success are genre writers: romance, mystery, suspense/thriller, fantasy/science fiction categories. Their books are fast, easy, a nice escape without much challenge. I have great respect for the imagination and craftmanship of these authors.

But (naturally), I'm reaching beyond the genre formulas, striving to be a little more complex, a little more character-driven. I love a mystery or a thriller that turns out to be a grand morality play. Like the best of John LeCarre (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy). Or Graham Greene (The Third Man).

So, August: reading. And I continue to outline novel #2, though I am easily distracted into marketing activities for novel #1. Yesterday morning I fell down the rabbit hole of Google Book Search -- reformatting and uploading yet another PDF of P&P so that I can activate a " Preview this book " button in Goodreads and on my website. Why? Because other authors have it, I want one too.

We're having a warm spell, so yesterday Jim and I took a lazy 3-hr float in a kayak down the Irondequoit Creek to the Bay. In the middle of the float, I got a phone message from a dealer who was interested in closing a deal on some items in a list we'd sent him. It reminded me how much easier it is to sell stuff out of our closets as opposed to wrenched out of my soul.

Self-Publishing As Genuine Option, Not Last Resort

Since I chose to self-publish my novel, I find myself defending that choice to fellow writers who still think it should be only a last resort -- after you've been rejected by all the real publishers. On a writers' forum I wrote:

At age 60, I have an attitude problem. I no longer want to hand the rights to my babies over to a moribund industry. I'm impatient. I'm excited about technologies/networks of the future. And I've accumulated a lot of skills I love putting to work. So I've published my novel as an indie, through the POD services of Createspace and Lighting Source.

The cons:

Yes, there is a stigma. Yes, there are a lot of crappy self-published books. But we also forget about all the wrong decisions publishers make, all the wonderful books rejected, and what all those rejections do to the spirits of talented writers.

You can purchase many services, from editing to marketing, a la carte, if you enjoy being a project leader. I'm a DIY type -- love doing it all. Warning: DIY demands lots of technical skills and patience playing with software. Without an agent or publisher cheering you on, it's lonely.

I've noticed that a lot of authors are paying a few bucks and forming an LLC. This allows a self-publisher to hide behind an imprint. The thought crossed my mind. But, since "transparency" is the mantra of the day, I thought to hell with it. Elbowing my way up to stand tall as an author with those published by St. Martins and Random House gives me a little bit of a Rosa Parks frisson.

By the second forum yesterday, I was a little more impatient.

Talking about self-publishing as a "last resort" only after you've been rejected by the entire mainstream publishing industry serves to deepen the stigma.

I look at it this way. If you want to get to California from NY, you can fly or drive. Flying is your mainstream agent/publisher route. Break out the champagne... zoom! But there are those of us who enjoy the challenge of driving -- maps, camping gear, adventures along the way. That's today's indie author-publisher. Jet-setters look down on campers. Campers celebrate their DIY motorcycle-zen skills. My advice is to pick your mode of transport and enjoy the trip.

I could learn to become a brat about this. But I figure it'll all be cool once indie author-publishers get our own Robert Redford and our own equivalent to the Sundance Festival. Ever hear anyone put down indie films anymore?

eBook Authoring: Just Shoot Me

I'm on the last leg of my book distribution journey as I prepare electronic versions of "Passion and Peril" for Lightning Source. I'm getting the feel for what it means to be a pioneer out here in the Wild West of digital publishing. There are rules. There is a body of knowledge. But no one has written much down. Every new foray into the woods requires brain-twisting problem-solving having nothing to do with the final goal of entertaining readers. And my brain isn't getting any younger.

Lightning Source will distribute my novel worldwide in three different electronic formats: Adobe Reader (.pdf), Microsoft Reader (.lit) and eBook (aka Palm) Reader (.pdb). All I have to do is send them the text in the correct format. BUT how to get the book into those formats, they're not saying.

So I'm googling, exploring forums, cursing and swearing. Each reader has special authoring software. But what? Each software program mangles your text in its own special way. And there is either no help function or only the skeleton of one. "We're too busy counting our money," the implied message goes. "Talk among yourselves."

And does any device still use Microsoft Reader? I can't even get the reader to install on my Vista machine. Nobody's saying.

Okay, enough sitting by the fireside. I'm putting on my six-shooters and grabbing my machete for another day in the wilderness.

Stroke of Insight

Reading: My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey
by Jill Bolte Taylor. At age 37, neuroanatomomist Taylor had a massive stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain. She lived to tell the tale of two brains.

Here's a woman -- a brain scientist to start with -- who experienced the shut-down of her left hemisphere, where our ability to speak and process language resides. She got first-hand experience of what it means to be "right-brained." She discovered that without the immense information-processing and brain-chatter of her left brain, she was literally in nirvana. Total peace. Total communion with the universe. She might have enjoyed it more if she hadn't also been panicked about her life going down the crapper. (You can watch her 20-min TED Talk video here>>>)

She reminds us that our brains give us two ways of perceiving and interacting with the world. Being aware of that and keeping a balance is good.

I'm always struggling to hush up my brain chatter -- the genie on my shoulder who is constantly worrying, instructing, editing, judging, planning -- so I can better enjoy being totally in the moment. But storytelling (what I do) is strictly a left-brain activity. Good to have right-brain Moments. Very good to be able to tell the tale.

My problem is that I get to a point where I've totally overworked and overwhelmed my left mind. It becomes a "monkey mind" jumping unproductively from tree to tree. That's when I need a vacation to right-brain land, to let my left brain reboot.

I think this is why I always have a burst of productivity after a good long vacation. Our travels are visual extravaganzas. We move along in tune with the road. Interesting that during our long trip last October, my creative activity was drawing. And when we got back to Rochester, within a few days, I was not an artist but a novelist. Good ol' left brain was refreshed and ready to get back in the driver's seat.

Hemingway, Revisited

I have to confess that I never paid much attention to Hemingway stories. I always thought of him as the guys’ writer. War. Big game hunting. Bull fights.

But I might be changing my mind.

After reading a few novels in the “indie” category I decided that many of us have a problem with overwriting — too many adjectives and adverbs, using 10 words where 3 would do. Is it that we don’t trust our readers to “get” what we’re saying? Is it an unwillingness to do that last couple of drafts? An unwillingness to challenge the precision of our sentences?

Whatever, I decided to pick up some Hemingway, that master of the spare sentence.

I’m listening to an audio collection of his Nick Adams short stories. Yes, the sentences are perfect. But what I’m most impressed with is Hemingway’s judgment against insensitive men. Men being perfect assholes and shaming boys into following their lead. Stories that mothers of sons should read.

I guess I’m on my way to re-evaluating Hemingway. “Re-evaluating” is a stupid word to use. I mean to say it’s time for me to hear what he has to say.

Authors & Social Networking, Still Dazzled

I'm dazzled by the number of resources for writers and authors. Friday on Goodreads I posted this:

This morning I sat down to try to clear my head about all the social networking sites I'm trying to keep up with (including this one). My thoughts are in today's goodreads blog -- no solid conclusions, more of a status report. Has anyone else reached conclusions about the value of their social networking?

Got a variety of responses, from (I paraphrase) "I'm done with it" to "you get what you give." And I connected with "Dr. Paradise" who was born in St Mary's Hospital, same as me. And people volunteered more links to more networking sites.

I'm sure that no single networking site and no single tactic is the cure-all. So much depends on how you click with any group of networkers at any given site at any given moment. Serendipity. Kismet. Luck o' the Irish.

Meanwhile, since I'm actually trying to write another book, I joined NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. People who are, you know, crazy, spend the month of November each writing a 175-page novel, with lots of mutual support. No kidding, in 2007, 100,000 people participated and 15,000 actually finished their books by midnight on Nov 30. I'm thinking this might be a great Jack Kerouac way of unleashing the imagination.

Writer's Review of Social Networking, So Far

Some publishers send their authors on a book tour. My publisher gives me a computer and a Roadrunner account. I'm hook, line, and sinker into the innovation of social networking. But is it fulfilling any purpose?

I do not want to be one of those commerce-focused people who view every contact as a "marketing opportunity." I DO want to feel like my creative world is enhanced through a lively exchange with people interested in similar things.

With all of the networking sites I've joined, I'm not so much worried about "what's in it for me" -- I'm perfectly capable of quickly blowing off or ignoring useless connections. I worry about fitting in -- in so many ways I'm still the shy kindergartner standing in the corner of the schoolyard wondering why everyone else seems to know one another already. I want to be a contributor, I want to be someone other people enjoy knowing, I want to show my work without being a show-off. Know what I'm saying? When does Pinocchio become a real boy?

For my status reviews of various networking sites, continue here at Mad In Pursuit