Andrea Zanetti's Blog, page 3
August 7, 2011
Is Self-Publishing good for a writing career?
Today during Blog Jog day I came across an article by Tiffany Jansen about whether self-publishing hurts chances at a traditional publishing career.
It's an interesting question and here's my take. As I do, I'll take you back to the 1970s and 1980s. At that time I was just a youngster, and everyone was buying LPs. I never ended up buying a lot of records. Why? Because I didn't agree with the idea of having to buy a whole LP just to get the title track. I felt that it was somehow forcing the consumer to buy more than they intended. And then Napster and others came along to provide individuals with the tools to be able to share music, making much of the music sales cycle instantly obsolete. The music industry started making a stink, and I thought "Serves you right. You've been gouging people for decades, and now you don't like the decrease in sales resulting from people who have figured out how to get only the song they're interested in." Let me clarify that I don't agree with people getting for free what others have worked hard to produce - that's not my point. My point is that an industry shouldn't be holding consumers and producers hostage by claiming that the only valid way is their way. I didn't like it when the industry concerned was music, and I don't like it now that the industry concerned is written works. I for one am thrilled that resources are now available to regular people to get their creations to the markets that want them. (And individual songs can be bought for a dollar - gees, how long did that take? 30 years?)
Interestingly enough, I was watching a program recently in which the interviewee said that, at traditional publishing houses, decisions about what gets published are made by accountants. Exactly my sentiments. Unless you're a well-known celebrity like Tom Cruise, or already a prolific author like J.K. Rowling, publishing houses don't want to talk to you because there's no guaranteed profit - they have to figure out what the probability of financial success is, and fewer and fewer publishers want to take that risk. So, just as music has begun to be published by independent resources, I say publishing should follow the same route. Traditional publishers are grasping at the ever disappearing reins of the power they once wielded. And they had authors begging to be signed on (same idea goes for agents, by the way). Authors are the creators, and let's not be deceived that publishers and agents should be revered and pursued to get that elusive deal. For some reason, the balance of power has shifted away from where it should reside - with the author.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who read the story of Amanda Hocking's A-to-Z self-publishing success and said "Aha! I thought so." And the fact is that the connected world is now so huge and full of diverse interests that everyone's written works have markets and no publisher or agent should be touting themselves as the gatekeeper to success.
So go and publish traditionally if you wish, but celebrate also the freedom to do so independently through self-publishing. Success is all in the effort you expend, with some skill thrown in.
Happy publishing!
It's an interesting question and here's my take. As I do, I'll take you back to the 1970s and 1980s. At that time I was just a youngster, and everyone was buying LPs. I never ended up buying a lot of records. Why? Because I didn't agree with the idea of having to buy a whole LP just to get the title track. I felt that it was somehow forcing the consumer to buy more than they intended. And then Napster and others came along to provide individuals with the tools to be able to share music, making much of the music sales cycle instantly obsolete. The music industry started making a stink, and I thought "Serves you right. You've been gouging people for decades, and now you don't like the decrease in sales resulting from people who have figured out how to get only the song they're interested in." Let me clarify that I don't agree with people getting for free what others have worked hard to produce - that's not my point. My point is that an industry shouldn't be holding consumers and producers hostage by claiming that the only valid way is their way. I didn't like it when the industry concerned was music, and I don't like it now that the industry concerned is written works. I for one am thrilled that resources are now available to regular people to get their creations to the markets that want them. (And individual songs can be bought for a dollar - gees, how long did that take? 30 years?)
Interestingly enough, I was watching a program recently in which the interviewee said that, at traditional publishing houses, decisions about what gets published are made by accountants. Exactly my sentiments. Unless you're a well-known celebrity like Tom Cruise, or already a prolific author like J.K. Rowling, publishing houses don't want to talk to you because there's no guaranteed profit - they have to figure out what the probability of financial success is, and fewer and fewer publishers want to take that risk. So, just as music has begun to be published by independent resources, I say publishing should follow the same route. Traditional publishers are grasping at the ever disappearing reins of the power they once wielded. And they had authors begging to be signed on (same idea goes for agents, by the way). Authors are the creators, and let's not be deceived that publishers and agents should be revered and pursued to get that elusive deal. For some reason, the balance of power has shifted away from where it should reside - with the author.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who read the story of Amanda Hocking's A-to-Z self-publishing success and said "Aha! I thought so." And the fact is that the connected world is now so huge and full of diverse interests that everyone's written works have markets and no publisher or agent should be touting themselves as the gatekeeper to success.
So go and publish traditionally if you wish, but celebrate also the freedom to do so independently through self-publishing. Success is all in the effort you expend, with some skill thrown in.
Happy publishing!
August 6, 2011
Blog Jog!
Welcome to Blog Jog Day! Please enjoy my site then click over to
http://manicnetwork.blogspot.com/
to see what the next Blog has to offer! Lost in the links? You can always go back to the main Blog Jog Day Blog at
http://blogjogday.blogspot.com
and find a new link to jog from. Thank you for stopping by my site!
August 4, 2011
Blog Jog: August 7, 2011
On Sunday I will be participating in my first Blog Jog.
Blog Jog Day is a one-day event where Bloggers are joining together for a pyramid effect promotional rally. We all post on the same day with each post leading the visitor to the next Blog, and so on full circle. Visitors explore your Blog, and then click on to the next one bringing potentially thousands of unique visitors to your site. Nearly 2,000 joggers showed up last November!
Bloggers can sign up at http://blogjogday.webs.com. Join us!
Blog Jog Day is a one-day event where Bloggers are joining together for a pyramid effect promotional rally. We all post on the same day with each post leading the visitor to the next Blog, and so on full circle. Visitors explore your Blog, and then click on to the next one bringing potentially thousands of unique visitors to your site. Nearly 2,000 joggers showed up last November!
Bloggers can sign up at http://blogjogday.webs.com. Join us!
August 3, 2011
2011 Giller Prize
Hi everyone,
Us regular people may not qualify to submit an entry for the Giller Prize (only publishers can), but we can add our vote for the Reader's Choice Award and Giller Prize long list. Submit your nomination by August 28, 2011 and become eligible to win prizes. The Giller Prize long list is announced September 8, 2011; the short list is announced in Toronto on October 4, 2011.
Happy reading!
Us regular people may not qualify to submit an entry for the Giller Prize (only publishers can), but we can add our vote for the Reader's Choice Award and Giller Prize long list. Submit your nomination by August 28, 2011 and become eligible to win prizes. The Giller Prize long list is announced September 8, 2011; the short list is announced in Toronto on October 4, 2011.
Happy reading!
August 2, 2011
Big news, Blog Tours, Google Blog Search and New Canadian Publisher Seeks Authors
Hi everyone! Sorry I've been away for over a month. During that time I finished my second novel, Grounds for Death, and now I'm working on hiring an editor, researching cover art and determining my marketing plan.
I recently learned about blog tours, in which an author sets a timeframe during which s/he arranges for book reviews and does Q&A sessions with bloggers, in advance of a novel's release. (Here's a great link explaining blog tours.) It sounds like a fantastic idea, so I'm planning to arrange that as soon as I 1) figure out how long the editing process will take, and 2) who all those bloggers might be! Another strategy is to set a specific release date and solicit pre-orders to cause opening week sales to spike and hopefully cause a book to hit bestseller lists. Okay, this might be beyond my reach, but I can always dream.
Google has a blog search tool (click here), so I'm easily able to locate suitable bloggers. The trick is in identifying those that review cozy mysteries, and what their review policy is - yes, bloggers actually have rules they go by for reviewing novels, who'd have thought?
Also, I want to let you know that The Workhorsery, a new Toronto-based publisher, is looking for authors to represent. Here's the link for more information.
But the past month hasn't been all work. I recently took these pictures and wanted to share them with you.
A female gold finch sits on a clutch of eggs in a Red Maple on my front lawn. Five babies hatched last week. It seems late in the year (end of July) but I trust they know what they're doing.
A male grossbeak eyes me suspiciously
from an Austrian pine outside my breakfast
nook to determine if it's safe to visit the feeder.
I recently learned about blog tours, in which an author sets a timeframe during which s/he arranges for book reviews and does Q&A sessions with bloggers, in advance of a novel's release. (Here's a great link explaining blog tours.) It sounds like a fantastic idea, so I'm planning to arrange that as soon as I 1) figure out how long the editing process will take, and 2) who all those bloggers might be! Another strategy is to set a specific release date and solicit pre-orders to cause opening week sales to spike and hopefully cause a book to hit bestseller lists. Okay, this might be beyond my reach, but I can always dream.
Google has a blog search tool (click here), so I'm easily able to locate suitable bloggers. The trick is in identifying those that review cozy mysteries, and what their review policy is - yes, bloggers actually have rules they go by for reviewing novels, who'd have thought?
Also, I want to let you know that The Workhorsery, a new Toronto-based publisher, is looking for authors to represent. Here's the link for more information.
But the past month hasn't been all work. I recently took these pictures and wanted to share them with you.
A female gold finch sits on a clutch of eggs in a Red Maple on my front lawn. Five babies hatched last week. It seems late in the year (end of July) but I trust they know what they're doing.
A male grossbeak eyes me suspiciously from an Austrian pine outside my breakfast
nook to determine if it's safe to visit the feeder.
June 28, 2011
How do you write a book outline?
One of the first things I heard about when I started down the path of writing my first novel was that a book should start with a book outline. Okay, I thought, show me an example. I surfed the web and came up empty. That was over a year ago. More recently, I've had two books on the go, and after 30,000 words or so, it was getting pretty hard to remember where all the various plot threads stood. Does X know that the death was a murder? In this chapter, does she already know the name of the victim, or not? I really needed a better outline tool. I had been using a word document in which I provided a brief outline of what happened in each chapter, but it was cumbersome to find the exact piece of information I needed when I needed it. So I thought I'd take another look for a "book outline" tool. Thankfully, Cameron Mathews of Truckpoetry.com came to my rescue with a useful tool. It's a simplified take on the "snowflake" method, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's called Cameron's Outline helper (http://www.truckpoetry.net/2007/09/author-resource-outline-helper.html). It helps you build the scenes and characters and helps you track your progress towards completing the various scenes. It was originally designed to help with NaNoWriMo (which I haven't participated in), but I'm using it pretty successfully for my two works in progress. I have made my own modifications to it as well. For example, I don't really want to know how many more words I have to write to get to my goal; I'd rather go by words completed. I guess I'm just a "glass half full" kind of person; I want to know what I've achieved because it gives me the motivation to keep going. I'm also tempted to combine some of the tabs. For example, two tabs are about the characters in your book. I'd prefer to include all of the information in just one tab, so I know that when I click on the tab, I'm bound to see the information I was looking for. And, something simple, I've renamed the tabs because I couldn't remember what information was which step. So far, so good. It's helped me summarize the plot points of each scene much better. And I wrote over 1,000 words today, bringing me up to over 38,000 in Grounds for Death.
I hope your writing is making progress, too.
Andrea
I hope your writing is making progress, too.
Andrea
June 21, 2011
Stuff I learned yesterday
In addition to figuring out how to set up this blog, yesterday was a day rich in learning. I read Amazon's e-book publishing process. Wow! Easy, and with better royalties than I'm currently experiencing with my iUniverse contract. Amazon is also associated with createspace.com, who will produce a treebook at no cost, provided it's given to them in complete form. Which means you have to have the artwork, inside layout, and editing completed beforehand. That seems doable. They also obtain an ISBN number for the work. So I thought I'd make some strides by publishing my book "Death in the Forsythia" in e-book format right away. Yesterday. But then I realized I had a contract with iUniverse, and what the heck did it say about my publishing the same book through another source? I spent an hour looking through all sorts of boxes and files, and finally found it lying on top of my "in-tray" in the office. I guess I'd dug it out already following a major office clean-out by hubby so he could paint the room (dark taupe - amazing with our black desk, filing cabinet and book shelf). Darn, the contract was 3 years long! But then I checked the date: I'd signed it June 24, 2008. I was within days of it ending. Perfect! But before I go down that route, I want to be sure I understand exactly what will happen if I end the contract, so I have a couple of days to figure that out.
In the meantime, I'll work on one of my other in-progress novels.
In the meantime, I'll work on one of my other in-progress novels.
