Bruce Blake's Blog, page 20

Real Old School

In my regular, every day job (I am a sales manager at a car dealership but, please, don't hold that against me if you don't know me) I meet a wide variety of people. It's happening more and more often lately that I meet fellow writers, so there are either more people writing or there's something to that law of attraction (or maybe authors simply have to buy cars, too, just like regular folk).

The other day, I met a woman who had written and self-published her memoir. She did it as a kind of history for her family and was only going to print a few copies, but someone told her it was good and she decided to take it a bit further. Now, I'm not here to say whether or not her book was worthy of an expanded print run — I haven't read it, though she gave one of my colleagues a copy — I only want to relate how this woman was going about things.

She did a modest print run of 250 books (I'm not sure which vanity press she used) and said it cost her, including editing and printing — are you ready for this? — $9000.

Yup. 9 grand.

She claimed that each book cost her over $27 to produce (I know, I couldn't quite get the math to go, either) and she planned to sell them for $25 each. However, if she got her book into a book store, they would take half the cover price for their profit. I'm not sure if that meant she would lose even more money per book or if the bookstore would sell her memoir for the unlikely price of $50 (for a trade paperback).

Hmmm.

Admittedly, I'm neither a mathematician (the beads on my abacus are in need of some lubrication) or a business man (I had to look the word up to make sure it wasn't spelled 'bizness'), so I'm not the best judge of these sorts of things, but it sounds to me like her little history project has become a money-losing proposition. A loss of $500 minimum, plus whatever she comps and any sold at bookstores. My other question for this woman: how would she get her book into these bookstores? Would she drive around to each one, talk them into carrying it, and supply them with books? Sounds limiting and time-consuming.

And none of it makes sense to me.

When Cemetery Moon published my story "Another Man's Shoes", they paid one contributor's copy. Since it was my first work published, I purchased twenty more to give to family and friends at a cost of $3 each, meaning the publication of my story in someone else's mag cost me $60. The magazine only had a distribution of about 250 copies, I got 21, leaving 229 issues potentially out there for people to be exposed to my story, decide they love my work and determine to read everything I write thereafter. But wait! I bought nearly 10%, and there were a number of other stories in the issue, so is it possible that every copy was purchased by one author or other featured in the mag? Did anyone other than the authors buy it? No way to know. All the copies could be sitting in trunks or on book shelves, waiting to be sent to Grandma in Romania. Some of mine still are (though neither Granny nor anyone else in my family lives anywhere near Romania).

I haven't submitted another story to a magazine since. Instead, I give my stories away. Free. It costs me nothing and more people read them. "Darkness Stalks the Night" has been downloaded close to 1900 on Smashwords. I don't worry about printing, distribution or having to buy copies for my friends. It's quick, efficient, and my stories are available to anyone who has a computer, smart phone or e-book reader.

"But what about the traditionalists? What about the readers who like the feel and smell of paper, Bruce? Don't you like them?"

Of course I do. I love all readers, so a collection of my short stories is available through lulu.com where it's print-on-demand. Again, costs me nothing and available to anybody, and the book retails for under $10 plus shipping. Not $27, not $50.

In talking with this woman, I suggested she look into some of these possibilities for her book, but she either didn't understand or the idea of technology scared her (she looked to be in her mid-sixties, so the latter is a possibility — anyone in their mid-sixties, please don't call me out on that comment, I'm not generalizing, simply saying it's possible).

Through my research and reading over the past year or so, I've become convinced I will self-publish my novels electronically and through venues like Lulu and CreateSpace. Bookstores and publishers continue to struggle while e-book sales rise. The world is changing. It's time for writers to educate themselves and look for alternate paths to get their works in the hands of readers.

My thanks to this woman and her $9000 spent in order to lose money. Her story may be the last nail needed in the coffin I've been building around any kind of traditional publishing.

I'm sorry for the trouble and loss she will endure, but we can all learn something from it. As a famous philosopher once said… "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." Thank you, Mr. Spock.

Done

It's been a while since I blogged (bad blogger! Bad!). I have tons of excuses: my son graduated from high school, work's busy, my wife is putting together a one woman play, the Vancouver Canucks made it to the Stanley Cup Finals (and lost)…

Enough excuses, on to the blog.

I finished the first draft of my most recent novel yesterday (the as-yet untitled follow-up to "Harvester"). That makes three completed. It's funny how things change when you get used to them. I remember finishing the first draft of my first novel ("Blood of the King" — aiming for it to be available by the end of the year) and I may have actually shed a tear or two. This time, it was more  like "is this thing ever going to end?" Still satisfying, but without quite the same sense of achievement. When I tell people now that I finished a novel, they don't say "good for you, great job". Instead they give me a funny look and say "I know."

The challenge for tomorrow is what to do next. Now, I know many writers reading this will say "edit, dummy". Don't worry, that will come. I like to throw it in a drawer to ferment for a while (or just not open that file on my computer) before I get into the editing, that way it seems a little more fresh and I get a better view of the writing and the story. No, my friends, the question is: what other project to tackle in the interim? The choices:

1. Back to the half-completed first draft of "Spirit of the King", the second book to "Blood of the King"

2. Start a new novel. I have several projects in various stages of development including, but not limited to, a YA fantasy involving Fairies, a couple of sci-fi books, a short story I want to develop into a novel, and another fantasy (not to mention three more urban fantasies featuring the Icarus Fell character from "Harvester" and the latest as-yet-untitled conquest).

3. Write a couple of short stories.

4. Rest for a while and lose my chops.

I have to admit, I'm leaning towards the half-finished draft, my thinking being that, if I do manage to finish up everything with "Blood of the King" and get it released, I wouldn't want "Spirit of the King" to be too far behind. The difficulty becomes that finishing a novel will take some time and could keep me from editing.

I guess this is a more preferable dilemma than  not having anything to write.

Let me know what you think. Tell me what you do when you finish a project. I'm interested.

Plus I'm looking for something to do.

Creativity/Therapy

Writing can be difficult.

I don't say that to garner accolades from anyone about the fact I am a writer; I'm sure the same holds true for other disciplines. Sometimes a pianist finds playing piano difficult. Sometimes an athlete isn't as good at their chosen sports as they are at other times. Even birds fly into windows sometimes (Hell, I just saw a young lady trip over her own feet while walking today, and she's probably been walking for years). The problem with writing for me, as it is with anyone with a real passion for anything, is that I have to do it. I don't have a choice, really.

Which drive me to say: It sure can be a pain in the ass being creative.

I've been going through a time of non-productive writing. Just to be clear: I do not suffer from "writers' block"… ever! I refuse to acknowledge that such a heinous condition could possibly exist. I do, however, have the occasional time when I feel like I can't find the proper words. I write anyway because I believe putting crap down on paper (well, pixels, really) is better than being literarily (is that a new word I just created? Spellcheck says so) constipated. If I can't find any words at all, I edit. If I can't do that, I smack my head firmly against the closest hard object until I lose consciousness, that way I don't have to put up with the frustration. It's at times like these I realize how much the rest of my life is tied into my creative endeavours. When my writing is not going well, work suffers, I become irritable and I'm not the easiest guy to be around (ask my wife, my children, my co-workers if you don't believe me).

The funny thing is, it doesn't work the other way. If work isn't going well, it doesn't typically affect my writing. There's never been a time something gave me an excuse to be irritable and that kept me from going to my computer to find out what messes my characters have managed to get themselves into. It seems that, if I've got something to write, I write. At those times, writing is my therapy. It makes me happy, reduces stress, puts things in perspective. For all the time I spend ranting about publishing and what I need to do, I'd still write even if there was no chance anyone would ever read it.

Having said that, I'd really like people to read what I write.

There are times — like over the past weeks — when I think life might actually be easier without the creative urge, but then I think "can I really afford a therapist?"

A little off my usual topics related to writing and publi...

A little off my usual topics related to writing and publishing this time around because, apparently, there are other things going in the world (who knew?).

My wife, the beautiful Miss Rosie Bitts, is a burlesque performer, producer and teacher, an actress and a playwrite. One of the shows she puts on every couple of months in our area is called Naked Girls Reading. It was originated by Michelle L'Amour and Franky Vivid in Chicago and had been franchised to a number of North American cities and, recently, London, England. Rosie has put on three of these shows in our area so far (they are exactly what they sound like — naked women reading to an audience) while the fourth was scheduled for Sunday, May 15th.

Please note the words I chose: was scheduled. The show was cancelled. Why you ask? Because someone at the B.C. liquor board paid a visit to the venue and told them that if the event went ahead, they were at risk of breaking some liquor law or other and being shut down for two weeks. Naturally, the venue decided it was in their best interest not to lose two weeks of revenue for the sake of one event.

One of the cold, hard facts is that this establishment has a food-primary license which limits the type of entertainment they can have. If this was the end of things –  a restaurant was going to have a few naked women sitting around reading erotic stories while families had dinner — I could understand why they might think they were protecting the "public's best interest" by stopping the event (understand, but might not agree with — I'm all for nudity during dinner).  However, not only were the Naked Girls not going to be reading erotica on this occasion (they have before, but this time it was Fairy Tales), the event was also being held in a private back room, to which you had to buy a ticket and could not do so unless over the age of nineteen. And someone would be working the door to collect said tickets and keep out minors and other undesirables.

So who exactly is the law protecting? The people who wanted to have a nice dinner and enjoy beautiful women reading Cinderella in the buff? Maybe they were looking out for the families who were absolutely desperate to sit in that back room after 8 o'clock on a Sunday evening (we all have our quirks and habits, don't we?). We know a gentleman who used to own a restaurant and had a run-in with the liquor board. It was based around having a jam night. People got up out of the audience to perform with the band which, by B.C. liquor board laws, is not allowed under a food-primary license.

Please tell me exactly who that law is protecting.

Censorship is wrong. Telling people what to do in their own establishments is wrong. Go ahead, set some parameters about how it must be conducted, but what does the liquor board have to do with what goes on in a private room? As long as no one is being over-served or the place isn't over-crowded (which is more about fire laws than liquor) keep your nose out of it.

To find out more about what burlesque and other performers have gone through because of censorship and misunderstanding, check out Rosie's play she's writing about exactly that… life imitates art imitates life.