Michelle E. Goldsmith's Blog, page 2

Book rec of the month – June 2016

During the five or so years I worked as a bookseller my favourite part of the job (other than the employee discount, of course) was recommending books to customers. It was especially rewarding to help someone find a book that they ended up loving but might not have picked up if I hadn’t suggested it.

I’m a big believer in personal book recommendations. Some of my favourite reads have been books that I may not have immediately considered if someone else hadn’t suggested them. It’s always easy to read within your comfort zone and online store algorithms are pretty good at suggesting ‘more of the same’ to readers. But I think occasionally stepping outside that comfort zone can be very rewarding. For readers and, perhaps even more so, for writers.

So I’ve decided that I’m going to try to recommend at least book a month for anyone who might be interested.

I’m going to try to recommend books that are a little left of centre, rather than the ones getting all the buzz. They might frequently be books that might not be that well known within the speculative fiction community, or necessarily be categorised as speculative fiction, but which I think will appeal to speculative fiction readers. I’ll also be looking to recommend books that provide food for thought and are good for discussion. They might be new, or they might have been published years ago.

Hopefully I can help someone find a new favourite book!

For this first month I am recommending two books! I’ve recommended these same two books for The Writer and the Critic’s patron’s choice episode. (The Writer and the Critic is one of my favourite podcasts for book discussion and recommendations – check it out!). But regardless of whether either is chosen for the podcast, I strongly recommend people read them both.

These two also happen to be books that I read because someone recommended them to me (the same person, in fact). So so technically these are re-recommendations! (Question of the day: How many levels of re-recommendation before it’s just general ‘word of mouth’?).

Heat and Light by Ellen van Neerven

The first book I’d like to recommend this month is Heat and Light by Ellen van Neerven. This excellent short story collection includes the novella Water, which uses speculative elements to critique the treatment of Indigenous Australians and is just generally a great read. All the stories in this collection are well worth reading and I’m excited to see what she writes next.

Features great writing, plant people, same-sex relationships, family tension and Jessica Mauboy’s ‘Gotcha’ as the Australian national anthem.

More about the book can be found on the publisher’s site.

About the author:

Ellen van Neerven is an award-winning Indigenous Australian writer. Her first book, Heat and Light (UQP, 2014), was the recipient of the David Unaipon Award and the Dobbie Literary Award. Heat and Light was also shortlisted for The Stella Prize, the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, the Queensland Literary Awards, and the Readings Prize. Ellen’s highly-anticipated second book, a collection of poetry, Comfort Food (UQP, 2016), comes out in June. Ellen’s writing has appeared in publications such as McSweeney’s, Overland, Frankie Magazine, The Griffith Review, The Lifted Brow, Meanjin, and Review of Australian Fiction.

Arms Race by Nic Low

Nic Low is another author who is probably better known in literary rather than speculative circles but who uses speculative elements to great effect. The stories in Arms Race range from amusing and playful, to rather brutal satire that pulls no punches. All of them are thought-provoking and fun to read, in my opinion (even when uncomfortable).

Among other things, this book includes a giant octopus, drone warfare, climate change, opium, people contracting syphilis to be better artists, internet memes gone wild and more.

More about the book can be found on the publisher’s site.

About the author:

Nic Low is an author and artist of Ngai Tahu and European descent. Born in Christchurch, he now divides his time between Melbourne and a bush retreat near Castlemaine. Nic’s fiction, essays and criticism have appeared in the Big Issue, Monthly, Griffith REVIEW, Lifted Brow, Art Monthly and Australian Book Review, and until recently he ran Asialink’s international writing program. His second book, a literary exploration of New Zealand’s Southern Alps, will be published by Text in 2016.

 

The post Book rec of the month – June 2016 appeared first on Michelle E Goldsmith.

On writing and chronic illness

(Originally published on my old site on 3 January, 2015. Since it was written I’ve changed doctors and treatments and I’m currently making slow but significant progress on reducing a lot of my symptoms. I still have a fair way to go, but I’m a lot less incapacitated than I used to be and no longer reliant on strong opiates to control my pain.)

I turned twenty-five recently. A quarter of a century. Not so very old.

I like to think I’m a little wiser than I was just a few years ago and that the trend will continue.

However, I’m still stubborn and prone to having unrealistically high expectations, standards or goals for myself.

This would be less of a problem if I didn’t tend to beat myself up whenever I fail to meet them.

For instance, a few years ago I decided that I’d have a novel finished by the time I turned twenty-five. Of course, finishing a book would be a great achievement and is a worthy goal.

Nevertheless, incorporated in this ‘motivational’ goal was the unvoiced, underlying assumption that failure was unforgivable; a kind of mark against my name. I would have nothing or nobody else to blame. It would be a result of laziness. No excuses.

So do I have a finished novel manuscript? No, I do not.

Part of me says that I should be ashamed, disappointed in myself. Another part says that being upset that I haven’t finished a novel at twenty-five reeks of a certain type of arrogance and privilege.

I should know better.

But why was my goal so unrealistic?

Firstly and most obviously, it was inflexible and didn’t allow for any unexpected events or change of circumstances. And in my case, it didn’t allow for reality. It was based on a kind of best possible scenario that I took for granted. Who knew I was such an optimist?

It assumed I would be physically capable of achieving my goal without doing myself damage. Balancing a novel with work and uni may not seem like too much of a stretch for a mid-twenties woman who (for all appearances) is whole and physically able. But for me it probably was.

I assumed that my chronic medical conditions would politely step aside to let me do my thing. Despite knowing better, deep down I still thought I was invincible and that my problems would go away because I had ‘shit to do’.

*

Let’s have it outright. I suffer from a chronic illness. Some parts of it are not curable. Some are meant to be controllable, but we haven’t quite got there yet.

I am one of many people who might not look particularly sick in person or in photos but is not particularly well in reality.

If you meet me on the street, maybe I look a little tired, but who doesn’t these days? If we are friends you might notice that I have a tendency to make commitments (I definitely will not miss your party!) then cancel at the last minute because of some ambiguously explained illness. Still, it could quite easily just mean I’m slightly antisocial or dislike crowds. If we are close, I will eventually give you more to go on and then a full explanation.

The exact details of my illness (which turns out to involve a number of separate but interacting conditions, one quite rare) are complicated, gory and quite personal. There are still some taboos about health and although my illness is a large part of my life I’m not quite brave enough to post the details online for all to see. In the past, refusing to give certain details has resulted in some people not believing I’m actually ill or making their own assumptions about what my mystery illness might be. You learn who your friends really are when you get sick. Hopefully it helps you appreciate those who stick by you even more.

My symptoms include severe pain, nausea, migraines (with vision impairment), fatigue and insomnia (those last two are a fun combination). Directly or indirectly, my illness also contributes to depression and suppresses my immune system. The only painkillers that are strong enough to work knock me out for a day or so.

Even when I’m not completely unable to function due to excessive physical pain or migraine, I often feel like I’ve just woken up the morning after a bender (without the fun part earlier).

I tend to downplay my illness and try to hide the symptoms most of the time (although I have got more open about it in the last few years). However, it does prevent me from being able to do a lot of things and has a large impact on my life.

Sometimes it feels like my life revolves around being sick and my biography might be titled ‘Strange and Unusual Illness and other stories’. Maybe it is a pop-up biography? Whenever I think I might get a break from being sick back up it pops!

*

I had symptoms that something wasn’t right since my mid-teens. However, I had a lot of other things going on at the time, including the long illness and death of my father, so I dismissed them.

When I look back, I ignored or explained away some pretty dramatic and obviously abnormal symptoms as ‘probably normal’ or ‘all in my head’. I wasn’t in the best state of mind at the time and I’ll admit that part of it was that I considered my own pain to be both a symptom of weakness and a deserved punishment for the only person I could bear to blame for the bad things that happened in life: myself.

I was wrong (and not for the first or last time). I was sick. And eventually, a couple of years ago, that was confirmed by multiple doctors.

Due to the complicated nature of my problems, they took a fair while to identify.

This is probably also why I am still trying to find a way to control them a decade after my first symptoms.

Complicating matters is the fact that I cannot tolerate any of the medications usually used for one of them. I have tried every one and they all just make me sicker. I’ve tried new drugs that are supposed to have fewer side effects and aren’t usually even available here. None of these worked for me. I hope they work for other people.

*

Why did I get sick? Probably just bad luck.

One of my conditions is thought to be caused by genetic autoimmune issues. This seems plausible, as I have a family member who suffers from a rare autoimmune disease.

Part of my illness involves uncontrolled tissue growth which attaches to nerves and organs. This causes a lot of pain and various other unpleasant symptoms. Luckily, in my case the tissue is not cancerous, despite what I’ll find if I Google search my symptoms.

On a related note, I avoid the internet for anything health related. If some article isn’t telling me I have cancer, it’s telling me that my conditions increase my chances of getting it or that the drugs I’ve trialled will give it to me.

I have read helpful articles by other people with similar conditions though. But usually these have been linked to me by friends and not found by typing my symptoms into a search engine.

*

As far as I know, there is little to no medical research ongoing to find a specific cure to my problems, although my doctors are still trying to find ways to control my symptoms. This is partly because it is not one disease, and also because my unique combination of conditions is quite rare (involving some genetic and some developmental mutations). Furthermore, most people respond to at least one of the available treatments to slow the tissue growth that causes a lot of the trouble.

It has become clear to me that I can’t sit around putting my life on hold while hoping someone will invent a perfect cure.

Personally, I tend to feel a bit better for about six months after surgery to remove the excess tissue caused by one of my conditions. I have a bit more energy and the pain is less frequent. However, symptoms of the other problems persist and the tissue that is removed seems to grow back unusually quickly in me.

I’ve had four surgeries now, the first two were for symptoms before the underlying cause was identified, the other two were to remove the tissue. It looks like I might need another one soon.

Sometimes it is hard not to dwell on my illness. It is easy to feel a little hopeless and get disheartened when there seems to be no end in sight.

But it’s not all bad. I have supportive friends and family, have achieved various things despite my condition and have a lot to be thankful for.

There are worse illnesses I could have and I am lucky I have access to the healthcare I need. Sometimes I need to remind myself of this. It is easy to forget when I’m feeling particularly ill and can’t stand due to spasms or see due to migraine.

I think I’m slowly coming to terms with being able to understand that there are people far worse off than me without necessarily thinking it means that my problems are invalid and that I am some kind of fraud.

*

My first serious foray into writing came partially as a result of my illness. Before the cause of my ongoing problems had been diagnosed, I needed to take some time off my university studies. I had always planned to write, but kept putting it off.

My first attempts at writing were a way to feel like I was accomplishing something while all my friends were at uni or working and I was stuck at home feeling terrible without knowing why. That first story sale was a great boost at a time when I really needed it.

I think writing also helped keep me (relatively) sane when I was waiting for a diagnosis and starting to believe that my physical symptoms might actually originate in my mind.

Sometimes I also use pain as a kind of inspiration. Is that wrong? When your body feels like it is conspiring against you, just finishing a story feels almost like a big, well-deserved ‘Fuck you!’ to illness.

On the other hand, my illness is part of why I am not as prolific a writer as I would like to be (who really is?). Some age-old writing tips are not applicable to me. For instance, ‘write every day’ isn’t really practicable when there are days when my head is throbbing with pain and I can’t focus my eyes or stand without the risk of throwing up.

Knowing that I can’t assume I’ll be able to complete a task tomorrow if I delay it today (be it writing fiction, uni work, day job work or anything else) does help prevent procrastination though.

*

Sometimes, I wonder what my life would be like if I had never been ill. I am quite certain I would be a significantly different person.

Would I have pursued a career as a research scientist if I hadn’t found lab and field work too physically draining? Maybe I would have realised I wanted to be a writer and editor anyway, but it might have taken a bit longer. Who knows? I don’t regret my current path.

I don’t believe that everything happens for a reason. But I try to make the most of the cards I’m dealt. If illness has taught me anything, it is resilience. Writers need a lot of that to keep going.

*

I will write that novel I promised myself, when I’m ready. And I’ll keep writing short stories in between. But it won’t be to fulfil the requirements of some inflexible promise to myself. I will do it because I want to.

Besides, I think it will turn out to be a very different novel than I expected anyway. I have refined the outline quite substantially since it was first conceived.

Some of the major changes are inspired by my experiences, including one of the character’s own battle with illness and their body not meeting the demands they try to place on it.

I think the book will be better for it. We probably don’t need another stock standard epic fantasy about a chosen one. That is no longer the book I am going to write. Maybe one day I will be able to share it with you.

*

I thought about this post for a long time before posting it. I wondered whether it was too self-indulgent. On the other hand, maybe it might do a small part to help someone else battling a chronic condition feel less alone. With a little encouragement I decided to share it. Thanks again to those who encouraged me, you know who you are.

Some other authors have talked about chronic illness before. They also partially inspired this post. These include Kameron Hurley and Stephanie Gunn. I recommend reading some of their posts on the subject if you would like more perspectives on chronic illness and writing.

Anyone who knows of any good resources on the subject or would like to share anything about their own experiences should feel free to post in the comments. Thanks for reading.

Header image: Modern Medicine of the Past by photosbyflick.

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Welcome to my new site

Welcome! I’ve made myself a new and updated writer site.

I designed it myself though, so there’s a possibility I’ve missed something. So if you find anything broken, it would be great if you could let me know through the contact page.

I intend to keep my old site (and its posts) online for the foreseeable future, but all new content will be on this site.

Mostly the choice to move was based on creating an easier place to find me (and information on my writing) online and to have a fresh site dedicated to my fiction writing and editing work, as opposed to the reviewing etc. I did in the past.

While I don’t necessarily want to delete any old content, the old site was originally made when I was around 20 (and I feel like I’ve changed a fair bit in the intervening six or so years) and I want something that suits my needs now as opposed to then.

Hope you’ll drop by occasionally.

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Some data for the 2015 Ditmars

Analysing the Ditmars and musing on fan-voted awards and distribution

 

So, because I am still mostly stuck at home after surgery and have a very odd idea of fun, I have analysed the 2015 Ditmar shortlist to look for trends.

I won’t be making subjective judgements on the quality of the listed works or telling you what I’ll vote for – I don’t even know yet in many cases. Instead, I’m going to briefly look at the formats in which the works are available and their distribution.

Just to make it clear, I think this is a very strong list (from what I’ve read of the listed works) and am definitely not suggesting that any work had an unfair advantage due to its distribution (people had to remember and like the story enough to nominate it, after all). Furthermore, doubtless there were other books (and even stories in the same books) with similar distribution arrangements that didn’t recieve the nominations to appear on the list for whatever reason.

However, it can hardly be controversial to say that if few voting readers have read a work, it won’t get on the ballot. Therefore, I thought it was worth taking a look at how the listed works were available.

I’ll only cover the fiction related categories, and not those that consider ‘body of work’ such as Best New Talent. I’m not willing to do that much work and consider that many publications and variables. Also, analysing a category I’m shortlisted for might be a bit weird. (But yay! Shortlisting!)

This is vaguely related to the preliminary research I am doing for my thesis, but obviously it is not very detailed or conclusive. Also, I’m only looking at one year (although I have noted some of these trends before). To draw any solid conclusions I would need to collect substantially more data or I would have scienced wrong.

If I have got any details about the works wrong, please let me know in the comments.

 

Best novel

 

The Lascar’s Dagger, Glenda Larke (Hachette)
Bound (Alex Caine 1), Alan Baxter (Voyager)
Clariel, Garth Nix (HarperCollins)
Thief’s Magic (Millennium’s Rule 1), Trudi Canavan (Hachette Australia)
The Godless (Children 1), Ben Peek (Tor UK)

Like last year, all the shortlisted books are available in print and as ebooks. This year, however, they trend more towards the major publishers. I have seen all these books in bookstores recently (so we can assume they have Australian distribution) except for The Godless, which appears to be available though Pan Macmillan Australia and has a B format paperback due out soon (as opposed to the larger, more expensive trade). In my experience as a bookseller, there is often a ‘gap’ where the trade paperback is either unavailable or book buyers are reticent to reorder just before the new format is due so this is due, so my having not seen it is not unusual.

In ebook form, these books are all available in a wide range of file types including ePub. I think it would be reasonably safe to say that these novels are all relatively easy for Australian readers to get.

 

Best novella or novelette

 

“The Ghost of Hephaestus”, Charlotte Nash, in Phantazein (FableCroft Publishing)
“The Legend Trap”, Sean Williams, in Kaleidoscope (Twelfth Planet Press)
“The Darkness in Clara”, Alan Baxter, in SQ Mag 14 (IFWG Publishing Australia)
“St Dymphna’s School for Poison Girls”, Angela Slatter, in Review of Australian Fiction, Volume 9, Issue 3 (Review of Australian Fiction)
“The Female Factory”, Lisa L. Hannett and Angela Slatter, in The Female Factory (Twelfth Planet Press)
“Escapement”, Stephanie Gunn, in Kisses by Clockwork (Ticonderoga Publications)

So where are Ditmar shortlisted novelettes and novellas published? How did readers get them?

Let’s take a look.

“The Ghost of Hephaestus” by Charlotte Nash was published in Phantazein, which is available in paperback from Fablecroft Press with worldwide postage included in the $22.99 AUD price. As an ebook I found it in a range of file types (including Kindle, Kobo and ePub) through different distributors including Smashwords, Amazon, Kobo and iTunes.

“The Legend Trap” by Sean Williams appeared in Kaleidoscope, published in both ebook and print by Twelfth Planet Press. The physical book is available direct from the publisher with shipping included and from an array of other online retailers. I found the ebook in a range of file types (including epub and mobi) and through different distributors including Smashwords, Weightless Books, Amazon, Kobo and iTunes.

“The Darkness in Clara” by Alan Baxter appeared in SQ Mag 14 (IFWG Publishing Australia). The story is available online for free and (I believe) as an ePub sent to subscribers.

“St Dymphna’s School for Poison Girls” by Angela Slatter, was first published in Review of Australian Fiction, Volume 9, Issue 3. Issues of Review of Australian Fiction are available as ebooks only (as mobi or ePub from the publisher via Tomely). However, this story is also available in print and ebook in the collection The Bitterwood Bible. This book is available as a physical book and an ebook (in ePub and mobi) through the publisher.  The print book and mobi ebook are also available from Amazon.

“The Female Factory” by Lisa L. Hannett and Angela Slatter appeared in The Female Factory (Twelfth Planet Press). The physical book is available direct from the publisher with shipping included. The ebook is available from the publisher (in ePub and mobi, I think) and I also found a Kindle edition on Amazon.

“Escapement” by Stephanie Gunn appeared in Kisses by Clockwork (Ticonderoga Publications). Kisses by Clockwork is available in print from the publisher’s indiebooksonline.com store and in print and mobi on Amazon. It does not appear to be available in other ebook formats at this stage (someone please correct me if I am wrong on this).

Best short story

 

“Bahamut”, Thoraiya Dyer, in Phantazein (FableCroft Publishing)
“Vanilla”, Dirk Flinthart, in Kaleidoscope (Twelfth Planet Press)
“Cookie Cutter Superhero”, Tansy Rayner Roberts, in Kaleidoscope(Twelfth Planet Press)
“The Seventh Relic”, Cat Sparks, in Phantazein (FableCroft Publishing)
“Signature”, Faith Mudge, in Kaleidoscope (Twelfth Planet Press)

All the stories are either from Kaleidoscope or Phantazein. As previously mentioned, both these books have various ebook distribution options and are also available in print with reasonable shipping costs.

Best collected work

 

Kaleidoscope, edited by Alisa Krasnostein and Julia Rios (Twelfth Planet Press)
The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2013, edited by Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene (Ticonderoga Publications)
Phantazein, edited by Tehani Wessely (FableCroft Publishing)

The only book not already covered is The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2013, edited by Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene (Ticonderoga Publications).  The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2013 is available in print from the publisher’s indiebooksonline.com store and in print and mobi on Amazon. It does not appear to be available in other ebook formats at this stage.

 

What could this mean?

 

For the big publishers, the availability of both a print and ebook in various different formats is practically a given. But what about small presses? Is diversifying the availability of books worth it if you want to win a Ditmar?

Looking at this shortlist would suggest it is.

Almost all the shortlisted works are available in both print and ebook.

The one story that wasn’t available in print was available online for free. People love free stuff. Making a book or story free is an alternative and proven way of increasing readership, but means working with a different kind of financial model which is not suitable for all publishers.

One other interesting thing to note is that none of the shortlisted works are available exclusively through Amazon or any other single online retailer in both print and ebook.

In the cases where the ebook is retailer exclusive, a print edition is available to order from elsewhere.

This may just be a trend in how small presses distribute books, except that there were definitely eligible books which didn’t make the ballot that were retailer exclusive. Furthermore, there were plenty of shorter works by Australian writers published in books that were available through more limited channels. Some were even by the same authors who were shortlisted for stories in more widely available books.

Why might retailer exclusivity be a disadvantage? It would seem odd that it would make a large difference when a retailer like Amazon is so dominant in the market.

The answer is probably more complicated than missing a few readers who are loyal to other distribution channels for whatever reason. I think it probably also relates to differences between the Australian and larger US and UK markets.

As I am not going to survey heaps of people for this blog post I can only go on my personal experiences and those related to me by others. So here we go…

Personally, retailer exclusivity, especially Amazon exclusivity, is a deterrent to me as a book buyer for a number of different reasons. From what I’ve heard from other authors and readers (many of whom were eligible voters) I am not the only one who feels this way.

The main reasons for this are:

I prefer physical books to read for enjoyment. My work, writing and study involves a lot of time staring at a screen. I think that my subconscious automatically views text on a screen as ‘work’ and I don’t seem to relax and enjoy reading as much. And, as Amazon cares little for the comparatively small Australian market, the shipping cost for print books from Amazon is rather high (in many cases, almost the cost of the book).


Related to the point above, is that I don’t particularly love or trust Amazon as a business (certainly not enough that I’d buy from them if there wasn’t a huge discount involved), so I prefer to support other retailers, particularly indie bookshops.


If I want an ebook, the DRM is pretty annoying. I also prefer ePub format so I can read it in more different ways.

For these reasons, I have delayed buying books that are retailer exclusive and I assume I’m not the only one. I have many books to read and if there is no urgent reason to get a particular new one immediately I often decide to wait and pick up a print copy (without paying shipping) direct from the publisher at the next convention I attend. However, I can’t afford to fly all over Australia, so sometimes the next convention is after the deadline for award nominations.

All in all, the trends seen in the 2015 shortlist might suggest that within Australia (or even more specifically, within the Ditmar voting community) having a retailer exclusive print and/or ebook might reduce the number of voting readers you reach.

Having both a print and ebook would also appear to be an advantage. A number of the stories that appear on the Aurealis (judged) but not Ditmar (fan-voted) shortlist are stories available only in digital format.

Although speculative fiction has a high digital uptake compared to most other genres, many readers still like print books. I would hazard a guess that perhaps the type of dedicated reader who buys small press books may be even more inclined to want print versions of anything they don’t consider ‘disposable reading’. Personally, I would not put money on being able to reread my ebooks in 20 years, but unless my house burns down, I should be able to reread my print books.

Paper books may also play a prominent role in convention and literary culture (which a high number of voters can assumed to be involved in) and are physically there to remind people of their existence.

Locally published books, or those with relatively easy Australian distribution, also traditionally do better in local awards.

Overall, the data would appear to support the theory that the more times and different ways readers eligible to vote encounter a book, the more likely that a greater number of them will read and nominate it.

 

But it could also mean nothing

 

There is also a chance that the trends seen in the shortlist mean nothing in relation to distribution, and are the result of other factors.

It is hard to extrapolate too much, and probably impossible to reach any solid conclusions, from a single year of data.

I also I don’t know my sample size (how many people nominated things) and what they each read.

I also don’t know and therefore cannot take into account factors such as how many people read ebooks vs print books. For all I know, nobody who nominated a book read it in print (except me) or none bought an ebook of a shortlisted book that was available on Amazon though any other retailer.

My online searches to determine how a book was available also mean overlooking whether some of the physical books (that either did or did not appear on the shortlist) were also available at certain conventions or in specialty bookstores etc (where there might be a relatively high number of eligible voters).

Lastly, while looking at a popular award, I am not taking into account the popular appeal and quality of the works themselves (as I can’t objectively compare the shortlisted works to every work that wasn’t on there) and various other factors.

This might make the data meaningless. Or it might not.

 

What do I think?

 

Overall, regardless of whether this data actually means anything, I think diversifying the formats and channels through which your work is available is the smartest move for authors and publishers in the mid to long-term, when possible.

While there are often immediate financial benefits to retailer exclusivity, I believe that in most cases the overall benefits of more diverse distribution outweigh these in the longer term. The more I learn about the industry, the more I believe this to be the case.

Of course, the benefits of diversification are not limited to the likelihood of winning local awards. In fact, this is possibly one of the least important benefits. Availability diversification is also important for reasons of security (such as future-proofing your work for unforeseen changes in the market), accessibility, discoverability and a variety of other reasons (most of which I won’t go into now, but may discuss another time). If you can afford to still produce the book without retailer exclusivity, I would generally recommend you do.

This is even more important if a work incorporates a broader artistic or social goal. For instance, when producing a book like Kaleidoscope, an anthology of diverse YA stories, the publisher might weigh up the financial benefits of retailer exclusivity with the social benefits of broader distribution. If making the book available through more different channels means that just a few more young readers who rarely see people like themselves represented in stories read the book, is that worth more than the higher % of royalties?  In this case, I would say that if the publisher can still continue to produce books without limiting themselves to one retailer, they would also be wise to make it available in as many different formats and through as many different channels as they can. This appears to have been done with Kaleidoscope.

All considered, I think this is generally one of the cases where the more choices available to a potential reader, the better overall and in the longer term.

 

Header image: Book Lover by Daniel Go

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Ditmar Shortlisting and Free Fiction

The Hound Returns!

 

The Hound of Henry Hortinger, my first ever published story, can now be read for free online at Pornokitsch.

Read it here.

The Hound of Henry Hortinger was first published in the anthology of Dickens-inspired speculative fiction, Stories of the Smoke (Jurassic London, 2012). It was later translated and reprinted as part of Лондон: время московское (‘London: Moscow time’, AST Publishing, 2014).

This is the first time it has been available online and I’m excited that more people can now read this story. In fact, it is the first story of mine that is available for free.

So if you feel like a bit of a old-fashioned comeuppance morality tale I’d love for you to give it a read.  If you want, you could also picture Henry as your least favourite politician for added enjoyment.

 

Ditmar Shortlisting

 

I’m also excited to say that I’ve been shortlisted for this year’s Ditmar Award for Best New Talent!

The shortlist came out a little while ago now but I’ve been away having some surgery so I’m a bit late to the party.

I was a finalist for this award last year, which makes this my last eligible year. I’m a bit nervous but also excited. I’m very thankful to the people who nominated me. After a bit of a hard year healthwise and with some other issues, the nomination is a nice confidence boost.

The other finalists are Helen Stubbs and Shauna O’Meara. They are both very talented and deserving writers. No matter who wins, it was an honour to be nominated with them.

Congrats and best of luck to all the nominees! There are lots of great works on the list and the number of great books and stories that are missing just go to show how much talent is out there.

The full 2015 Ditmar Ballot can be found on the wiki.

The voting form is up so can vote for your favourite works.

As for me, I’m going to read a few more of the shortlisted work first. My favourite thing about awards is how they highlight worthwhile reads that I’ve missed throughout the year.

Happy reading and voting!

 

Image credit: “Dog Prints” via Creative Commons.

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2015 Ditmar Award Eligibility

Nominations for the 2015 Ditmar Awards are now open. Remember to nominate all your favourite works from 2014!

To be eligible to vote you just need to be active in Australian fandom (which includes being a writer, reviewer, convention attendee or involved in any other way) and/or a member of the 2015 Natcon.

The rules are here: http://wiki.sf.org.au/Ditmar_rules

And here is a unofficial eligibility list: http://wiki.sf.org.au/2015_Ditmar_eligibility_list

Keep in mind that you can log into the wiki to add anything that is missing or to correct any mistakes.

I’m not hugely comfortable with overt self-promotion but I wouldn’t want to self-sabotage before the voting has even started. So here it goes…

I’m eligible for Best New Talent one last time this year and would love to be shortlisted again. So if you think my work is deserving, I would very much appreciate your support.

On the off chance that you might want to nominate one of my individual short stories for a different category, my eligible stories for the period are:

Of Gold and Dust, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 60.

The Climbing Tree, in Use Only as Directed, Peggy Bright Books.

Happy voting and to and good luck to anyone eligible for an award!

 

Header image by Nicolas Raymond.

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On writing and chronic illness

I turned twenty-five recently. A quarter of a century. Not so very old.

I like to think I’m a little wiser than I was just a few years ago and that the trend will continue.

However, I’m still stubborn and prone to having unrealistically high expectations, standards or goals for myself.

This would be less of a problem, if I didn’t tend to beat myself up whenever I fail to meet them.

For instance, a few years ago I decided that I would have a novel finished by the time I turned twenty-five. Of course, finishing a book would be a great achievement and is a worthy goal.

Nevertheless, incorporated in this ‘motivational’ goal was the unvoiced, underlying assumption that failure was unforgivable; a kind of mark against my name. I would have nothing or nobody else to blame. It would be a result of laziness, no excuses.

So do I have a finished novel manuscript? No, I do not.

Part of me says that I should be ashamed, disappointed in myself. Another part says that being upset that I haven’t finished a novel at twenty-five reeks of a certain type of arrogance and privilege.

I should know better.

But why was my goal so unrealistic?

Firstly and most obviously, it was inflexible and didn’t allow for any unexpected events or change of circumstances. And in my case, it didn’t allow for reality. It was based on a kind of best possible scenario that I took for granted. Who knew I was such an optimist?

It assumed I would be physically capable of achieving my goal without doing myself damage. Balancing a novel with work and uni may not seem like too much of a stretch for a mid-twenties woman who (for all appearances) is whole and physically able. But for me it probably was.

I assumed that my chronic medical conditions would politely step aside to let me do my thing. Despite knowing better, deep down I still thought I was invincible and that my problems would go away because I had ‘shit to do’.

*

Let’s have it outright. I suffer from a chronic illness. Some parts of it are not curable. Some are meant to be controllable, but we haven’t quite got there yet.

I am one of many people who might not look particularly sick in person or in photos but is not particularly well either.

If you meet me on the street, maybe I look a little tired, but who doesn’t these days? If we are friends you might notice that I have a tendency to make commitments (I definitely will not miss your party!) then cancel at the last minute because of some ambiguously explained illness. Still, it could quite easily just mean I am slightly antisocial or dislike crowds. If we are close, I will eventually give you more to go on and then a full explanation.

The exact details of my illness (which turns out to involve a number of separate but interacting conditions, one quite rare) are complicated, gory and quite personal. There are still some taboos about health and although my illness is a large part of my life I’m not quite brave enough to post the details online for all to see. In the past, refusing to give certain details has resulted in some people not believing I’m actually ill or making their own assumptions about what my mystery illness might be. You learn who your friends really are when you get sick. Hopefully it helps you appreciate those who stick by you even more.

My symptoms include severe pain, nausea, migraines (with vision impairment), fatigue and insomnia (those last two are a fun combination). Directly or indirectly, my illness also contributes to depression and suppresses my immune system. The only painkillers that are strong enough to work knock me out for a day or so.

Even when I’m not completely unable to function due to excessive physical pain or migraine, I often feel like I’ve just woken up the morning after a bender (without the fun part earlier).

I tend to downplay my illness and try to hide the symptoms most of the time (although I have got more open about it in the last few years). However, it does prevent me from being able to do a lot of things and has a large impact on my life.

Sometimes it feels like my life revolves around being sick and my biography might be titled ‘Strange and Unusual Illness and other stories’. Maybe it is a pop-up biography? Whenever I think I might get a break from being sick back up it pops!

*

I had symptoms that something wasn’t right since my mid-teens. However, I had a lot of other things going on at the time, including the long illness and death of my father, so I dismissed them.

When I look back, I ignored or explained away some pretty dramatic and obviously abnormal symptoms as ‘probably normal’ or ‘all in my head’. I wasn’t in the best state of mind at the time and I’ll admit that part of it was that I considered my own pain to be both a symptom of weakness and a deserved punishment for the only person I could bear to blame for the bad things that happen in life: myself.

I was wrong (and not for the first or last time). I was sick. And eventually, a couple of years ago, that was confirmed by multiple doctors.

Due to the complicated nature of my problems, they took a fair while to identify.

This is probably also why I am still trying to find a way to control them a decade after my first symptoms.

Complicating matters is the fact that I cannot tolerate any of the medications usually used for one of them. I have tried every one and they all just make me sicker. I’ve tried new drugs that are supposed to have less side effects and aren’t usually even available yet. None of these worked for me. I hope they work for other people.

*

Why did I get sick? Probably just bad luck.

One of my conditions is thought to be caused by genetic autoimmune issues. This seems plausible, as I have a family member who suffers from a rare autoimmune disease.

Part of my illness involves uncontrolled tissue growth which attaches to nerves and organs. This causes a lot of pain and various other unpleasant symptoms. Luckily, in my case the tissue is not cancerous, despite what I will find if I Google search my symptoms.

On a related note, I avoid the internet for anything health related. If some article is not telling me I have cancer, it is telling me that my conditions increase my chances of getting it or that the drugs I’ve trialled will give it to me.

I have read helpful articles by other people with similar conditions though. But usually these have been linked to me by friends and not found by typing my symptoms into a search engine.

*

As far as I know, there is little to no medical research ongoing to find a specific cure to my problems, although my doctors are still trying to find ways to control my symptoms. This is partly because it is not one disease, and also because my unique combination of conditions is quite rare (involving some genetic and some developmental mutations). Furthermore, most people respond to at least one of the available treatments to slow the tissue growth that causes a lot of the trouble.

It has become clear to me that I can’t sit around putting my life on hold while hoping someone will invent a perfect cure.

Personally, I tend to feel a bit better for about six months after surgery to remove the excess tissue caused by one of my conditions. I have a bit more energy and the pain is less frequent. However, symptoms of the other problems persist and the tissue that is removed seems to grow back unusually quickly in me.

I’ve had four surgeries now, the first two were for symptoms before the underlying cause was identified, the other two were to remove the tissue. It looks like I might need another one soon.

Sometimes it is hard not to dwell on my illness. It is easy to feel a little hopeless and get disheartened when there seems to be no end in sight.

But it’s not all bad. I have supportive friends and family, have achieved various things despite my condition and have a lot to be thankful for.

There are worse illnesses I could have and I am lucky I have access to the healthcare I need. Sometimes I need to remind myself of this. It is easy to forget when I’m feeling particularly ill and can’t stand due to spasms or see due to migraine.

I think I am slowly coming to terms with being able to understand that there are people far worse off than me without necessarily thinking it means that my problems are invalid and that I am some kind of fraud.

*

My first serious foray into writing came partially as a result of my illness. Before the cause of my ongoing problems had been diagnosed, I needed to take some time off my university studies. I had always planned to write, but kept putting it off.

My first attempts at writing were a way to feel like I was accomplishing something while all my friends were at uni or working and I was stuck at home feeling rather terrible without knowing why. That first story sale was a great boost at a time when I really needed it.

I think writing also helped keep me (relatively) sane when I was waiting for a diagnosis and starting to believe that my physical symptoms might actually originate in my mind.

Sometimes I also use pain as a kind of inspiration. Is that wrong? When your body feels like it is conspiring against you, just finishing a story feels almost like a big, well-deserved ‘Fuck you!’ to illness.

On the other hand, my illness is part of why I am not as prolific a writer as I would like to be (who really is?). Some age-old writing tips are not applicable to me. For instance, ‘write every day’ isn’t really practicable when there are days when my head is throbbing with pain and I can’t focus my eyes or stand without the risk of throwing up.

Knowing that I can’t assume I will be able to complete a task tomorrow if I delay it today (be it writing fiction, uni work, day job work or anything else) does help prevent procrastination though.

*

Sometimes, I wonder what my life would be like if I had never been ill. I am quite certain I would be a significantly different person.

Would I have pursued a career as a research scientist if I hadn’t found lab and field work too physically draining? Maybe I would have realised I wanted to be a writer and editor anyway, but it might have taken a bit longer. Who knows? I don’t regret my current path.

I don’t believe that everything happens for a reason. But I try to make the most of the cards I’m dealt. If illness has taught me anything, it is resilience. Writers need a lot of that to keep going.

*

I will write that novel I promised myself, when I am ready. And I will keep writing short stories in between. But it won’t be to fulfil the requirements of some inflexible promise to myself. I will do it because I want to.

Besides, I think it will turn out to be a very different novel than I expected anyway. I have refined the outline quite substantially since it was first conceived.

Some of the major changes are inspired by my experiences, including one of the character’s own battle with illness and their body not meeting the demands they try to place on it.

I think the book will be better for it. We probably don’t need another stock standard epic fantasy about a chosen one. That is no longer the book I am going to write. Maybe one day I will be able to share it with you.

*

I thought about this post for a long time before posting it. I wondered whether it was too self-indulgent. On the other hand, maybe it might do a small part to help someone else battling a chronic condition feel less alone. With a little encouragement I decided to share it. Thanks again to those who encouraged me, you know who you are.

Some other authors have talked about chronic illness before. They also partially inspired this post. These include Kameron Hurley and Stephanie Gunn. I recommend reading some of their posts on the subject if you would like more perspectives on chronic illness and writing.

Anyone who knows of any good resources on the subject or would like to share anything about their own experiences should feel free to post in the comments. Thanks for reading.

 

Header image: Modern Medicine of the Past by photosbyflick.

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2014: The Year in Review

The year 2014 is almost over and it’s time to take stock. I swear every year flies by faster than the last.

I felt like this year had been a quiet one for me and that I didn’t get that much done writing and publishing-wise. However, when I look back it appears that I may have accomplished more than I thought.

I had two new works of fiction published, Of Gold and Dust in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine Issue 60 and The Climbing Tree in Peggy Bright Books’ Use Only as Directed. 

My first published story, The Hound of Henry Hortinger, was translated into Russian as Собака Генри Хортинджера and appeared in the very swanky anthology, ЛондонЬ: Время Московское (Сноб, 2014).

I also attended the 2014 Natcon, Continuum X, and was shortlisted for a Ditmar Award for Best New Talent!

I’m hoping to attend the 2015 Natcon too, but whether I make it will depend on a few things (like the dirty ‘money’ word). I also have one more year left of eligibility for Best New Talent. I’m not expecting anything, but it was an honour to be nominated and I hope enough people like my newer work to nominate me again.

I was also interviewed for the first and second time about my writing. I love talking about writing so that was great fun.

I  finished my first year of Masters of Publishing and Communications with very good results (and had a lot of fun doing it). I also got promoted to Associate Editor and received lots of good feedback at my technical writing and editing job, despite ongoing battles with my uncooperative jerk of a body.

Despite not feeling very prolific on the fiction front, I have written a number of new drafts and am currently revising them as well as working on new stories. They may not be quite ready yet but I think they have promise. I also have many other ideas and drafts in the embryonic stage of development. Now that uni has finished for the year I have a lot of work to do!

I’ve been trying to work outside my comfort zone and experiment with new styles and genres. Being a little braver with my fiction might mean I have to work harder and experience a few more ‘misses’ but I feel that if I don’t I will only have myself to blame if I don’t keep improving.

I have one story currently on submission (fingers crossed that it might soon find a home!) with a few more to follow (hopefully sooner rather than later).

Best of all, I think I’ve learned a lot this year and plan to use it to improve as a writer.

I’d like to say thanks to everyone who helped and supported me and my writing this year (whether it was via crits and writing advice or listening to me moan about my surgery or medication). There are a lot of you and I hope I managed to pay it back in turn!

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The mistakes authors make online

Some authors seem to take to online interaction effortlessly. They have thousands of followers on twitter and Facebook, and every post on their blog gets hundreds of comments.

However, for every one of these online and social media savvy authors there are many others who struggle.

 

Why do authors have issues online?

 

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Avoid online interaction pitfalls!Invaded Again by Alex Dram. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

At first, it may seem that interacting online should be easy for authors. After all, much online communication is primarily based on words, which are supposed to be your thing.

However, talking into the internet abyss is rather different than putting together a compelling narrative for your readers. For instance, trying to engage people through the use of poetic language and metaphor will probably make you look more pretentious than intriguing online.

It is a different type of communication and often requires different skills.

For one, people read differently online. Usually you have much fewer words to work with and a very limited period of time to hook a reader.

Additionally, the online environment is crowded with distractions and competing content.

As a result, many authors feel out of their depth online. And when they are treading water, many make mistakes.

There a number of recurring mistakes that authors frequently make online.

In order to identify and avoid them, let’s take a look at what they are and why they are harmful.

 

Unrealistic expectations?

 

Many authors seem to have unrealistic expectations of online interaction and what it can achieve for them.

There are countless myths about the power of social media to sell books. Many of these are encouraged by people and companies who want you to pay them to unlock the ‘secret’ for you.

So here it is straight up:

Being good at social media won’t have thousands of otherwise uninterested readers flocking to purchase your book.
It won’t make you rich.
It won’t have your email inbox inundated with the cream of the literary agent crop begging for you to let them represent you, or publishers thrusting six figure advances in your face.

What it can do is connect you with individuals, build your following over time and get people to pay a bit more attention to you. If you are lucky, this might eventually nudge them over the line to read your work or talk about it.

Going online with unrealistic expectations will just set you up to be disappointed and make further mistakes as you desperately search for the secret formula to fame and glory.

 

It’s not all about you (and your book)

 

If you are an author, your work is usually a key aspect of your life. It is inevitable that you will want to talk about it. There is nothing wrong with mentioning your writing, your successes and your books – in moderation.

If you constantly try to talk yourself up and push your books, you will very quickly annoy people.

Try to moderate your self-promotion. As a guide, I would say that less that 15% of your online output should be self-promotional in nature.

There are a few key points to remember:

Directly trying to sell your books doesn’t work.
You can’t assume the people following you are your fans (or even potential readers).

Remember, people already see enough ads online. They can spot an ad and if you clog their feeds with more of them, they will probably stop following you.

This leads into the next big mistake authors make.

 

One way communication.

 

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 How people look at you if you make these mistakes. Pacman Pink Ghost by Drregor. CC BY-SA 2.0.

Your blog or social media accounts should not just be bulletin boards for your achievements. You should be talking with people, not at them.

This is well put by author Chuck Wendig, when he talks about the balance between broadcasting, rebroadcasting and conversation in his blog post, 25 Things Authors Should Know About Social Media.

Online engagement is not about treating everyone like customers and directly trying to boost sales.

To build your presence and make people remember your name, you need to have conversations with them and interact with them in relation to topics other than yourself and your books.

Also, more genuine interactions are far more rewarding and enjoyable in general. Not everything needs to be about self-promotion.

 

A little respect

 

In the rush to promote ourselves, we authors sometimes forget a little thing called manners.

Hijacking conversations on Facebook or twitter to direct people to your books, or spamming links to your work in the the comments of someone else’s blog, won’t do you any good (unless your aim is to annoy as many people as quickly as possible). However, this behaviour is surprisingly common.

Invading someone else’s online space to talk about yourself might make people remember you. But not in a good way.

Remember, burning bridges only provides light for a little while, and eventually you will probably get arrested for arson (or maybe just blocked as a serial nuisance).

That said, other people can help you reach a larger audience.

Third party endorsement is often more valuable than self-promotion. However, you have to make people want to help you. In many ways, it is about give and take.

If you expect other authors to help promote you, ask yourself why they would do that. Are you friends, or are you contacting them out of the blue? What have you ever done for them?

In many cases, they will share your content without you asking if they think it has something worthwhile to say, or if they like you. Begging for favours is not often the right way to go.

Likewise, if you want a blogger or reviewer to review your book, the least you can do is read their submission guidelines and ask them politely. Many authors don’t.

 

People can spot a fake

 

Fake it until you make it? Not in this game.

Trying to disguise advertorial won’t work.
Trying to pretend to be a unbiased party and promoting your own books won’t work.

However, not all fakes are so unsubtle. You might not even realise that certain actions might be interpreted as misleading.

For instance, there are lots of threads on writing forums where authors agree to ‘follow for a follow’ on social media. The aim (although not clearly stated as such) is to make you look like you have a larger following than you really have in the hope of attracting real followers to see what the fuss is about.

However, I would steer clear. Even if you do trick a few people initially, they won’t stick around for long if the content you post does not appeal to them. There is no magic trick or shortcut.

All in all, trying to mislead people online for your own ends inevitably results in backlash. Most people do not take kindly to being manipulated.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that nobody will ever find out. If you can think of a way to try and trick someone to promote your book, the chances are that dozens of others have tried the same thing before. And been caught. People learn to spot these tricks very quickly, and when they catch someone using them, they tell the world.

 

Spam, spam, spam

 

I’ve already said that spamming people with self-promotion is not good, but that is not the only type of spam you can annoy people with.

Personally, some of my least favourite author spam includes:

Prescheduled tweets of inspirational quotes every hour on the hour (they won’t make you seem deep).
Automatic private message responses to twitter follows (usually with link to the author’s blog or Amazon page).
Constant word count posts with too many hashtags.

 

Be yourself (but the best version)

 

People don’t want to interact with a contrived and artificial version of you. However, you should still present the most interesting version of yourself and avoid letting your less pleasant traits dominate.

If you have a tendency to complain about minor annoyances or even to badmouth others, have a think about who you are talking to. Your online interactions are not private. Would you be better off just venting to a close friend?

Mostly, it all comes down to moderation. Too much of anything grows tiring. For instance, followers probably want to know a bit about your life, but don’t need to see pictures of your every meal.

On the other hand, try not to be too contrived. If you can’t think of something funny or witty to say at any given moment, don’t try too hard.

 

Second opinions

 

My tips only covered certain areas and are based purely on my own observations, so it’s worth looking at what other people have to say.

Here are some of my favourite posts about the topic of online author engagement.

How to promote yourself and your books on social media without feeling like a soul-selling, sleaze-sucking slime-glob – Chuck Wendig tackles the topic of social media for authors in his trademark, sweary, irreverent and insightful fashion.

Zena Shapter on social media, getting more followers and what we should be blogging – An interview with social media savvy emerging author Zena Shapter.

 Always Be Branding: John Scalzi, Maureen Johnson, and Bill Barnes Give Social Media Advice at BEA – A video and writeup of the panel and some of what the authors describe as ‘the worst social media advice ever’.

 

Agree? Disagree? Feel free to comment with your opinion or any additional tips and useful links regarding author interaction online.

 

Header Image: Space Invaders by kurtxio. Licensed under CC By 2.0.

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Some thoughts on online engagement for authors

By no means do I consider myself a social media or marketing expert.

However, recently one of my Masters electives meant I had to create a series of blog posts about a digital media related topic. I chose to do mine about authors online, and in particular on social media.

I decided I may as well post a few of these blogs here rather than leaving them to fester behind password protection with only my tutor ever having read them. Hopefully there will be something worthwhile in there for someone. Enjoy!

Why go online?
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A solitary pursuit? Not anymore.
Image: ‘The author’ by streetwrk.com. CC BY-ND 2.0

These days, authors are often encouraged to be active online, to blog and use social media.

Authors without an online presence are becoming a rarity, especially in genres (like speculative fiction) with a high digital uptake and an active online community.

We are told that we should be active online, that publishers love an author with an established following and that self-promotion is now one of the facts of life for authors.

In many ways, this is correct. Interacting with others online can be an important and powerful tool that authors can used to get noticed in a crowded market.

An online presence is becoming more and more necessary for most traditionally published authors and is absolutely vital for self-published authors. As growing number of books are published via different channels, getting yours in particular noticed becomes increasingly difficult.

If you and your books are not visible online, then you might be at a significant and growing disadvantage. Additionally, as authors become more ‘celebrified’ and accessible to readers, the focus on the author themselves is growing. Like it or not, you will probably need to promote yourself just as much as your work.

However, there is one important factor that the countless blog posts telling authors to promote themselves online often neglect to mention: using social media badly is usually worse than not using it at all.

A double-edged sword

Blogging and social media are powerful tools that can help, but also harm, an author’s reputation.

If people cringe every time they hear your name, or have nicknamed you in their mind as ’that annoying person off the internet’, you are going to have a hard time winning them over again, never mind getting them to read your books. They will also be less likely to recommend your books to others in an field where word of mouth still has a large influence on what people choose to read.

Interacting with potential readers, reviewers, other authors and industry professionals online may seem relatively simple, but many authors still get it wrong.

Why does this happen?

This seems to come about when authors have unrealistic expectations of what their online presence can do for them and unsubtly try to make use of digital media as a promotional tool.

In many cases, the author seems to have considered what they are trying to achieve with their online presence (unsurprisingly, they often want to sell books) but do not seem to have considered why the people they interact with (who may or may not be potential readers) are online.

Considering the people you interact with online solely in light of what they can do for you often results in a large disparity between the content you are putting online and what people want to see. In other words, you probably won’t sell books and, worst of all, you may be unknowingly taking the first steps towards becoming an online annoyance.

Avoiding pitfalls and getting it right

In my next post I will be looking in more detail at some of the mistakes authors make and sharing some lessons I have learnt as an early career author online.

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