Jane Friedman's Blog: Jane Friedman, page 113

So You’re an Author Without a Social Media Presence: Now What?

Photo credit: lilongd via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-SA

When I work with authors who have a book launch coming up, and they’ve so far kept social media out of their life, three questions immediately arise:

Do I have to use social media?
If so, which social media sites should I use?
What should I do on social media?

There’s an unfortunate Catch-22 for every author in this situation: If your only motivation to use social media is that you feel you must to market and promote your book, your efforts are likely to be undercut by your own means-to-an-end approach. Your communication may exhibit less curiosity and interest in others, and be more focused on book sales—not to mention you’ll be entering social environments where you’re a stranger in a strange land, unaware of the local “language”, etiquette or history. For first-time authors especially, the existing social media community is rarely clamoring for you to join them and talk about your book, unless you already have an audience or readership (a developed platform) through some other means.

However, to ignore social media entirely is to ignore where the majority of your intended readership is probably showing up on a daily basis. It’s an opportunity to learn about your readership as well as better establish your platform—but not necessarily an opportunity to hard sell the book you’re about to release (assuming that release is less than six or twelve months away). It takes time to develop relationships and build trust—to belong to a community—through social media. Just as you wouldn’t ask someone for $20 right after meeting them at a party, you wouldn’t ask people on social media to make a purchase right after becoming acquainted.

So where does that leave you?

Take the long view—which is always your best bet with any social media activity. Let’s answer those three questions more directly.

Do authors have to use social media?

No. If you hate, dread, avoid, or rail against social media, don’t use it. There are other things you can do: write guest posts or articles for website and blogs, be a guest on podcasts or vlogs, do your own audio or video content, teach online classes, organize in-person events or signings, participate on private message boards, be a guest at book clubs, and reach out personally to people in your network through a personal email (which is always underestimated and undervalued as a marketing and promotion tool).

Assuming you have the funds, you can also hire someone to create and manage social media accounts for you. It won’t be cheap over the long run, and it may not give you much return on investment, but if it seems a “must” that you have something (because your publisher or agent says so), then hire out its care and maintenance. You won’t be alone in doing so.

Which networks should authors use?

There isn’t a single answer to this question that works for every author. It depends on the work(s) you’re writing, what your strengths and interests are, and where your audience might best be engaged.

However, Facebook is by far the biggest social media network and is considered the most important for authors of general-interest works that appeal to the traditional demographic of book buyers (adult women). For an author looking to reach the most people in one place, and gain excellent marketing insights and advertising opportunities, it’s hard to do better.

To gain more insight on using Facebook:

Facebook for Authors: Getting Started Guide
The Pros and Cons of Using a Facebook Profile But Not an Official Business Page
Best Practices for Author Facebook Pages and Groups

If you’re trying to reach a younger demographic, or if your content is very visual or multimedia driven, then it’s worth considering Instagram or Tumblr. Pinterest is a strong choice for nonfiction work in the categories of crafting, home decor, fashion, and other stereotypically female-dominated interest areas. Serious nonfiction writers and journalists—or those writing anything with a predominant current events angle—should consider Twitter.

What should authors do on social media?

Whenever I’m asked this, my mind goes blank, maybe because it’s like asking me how you should be as a person. Or what you should do with your free time. Or what you should be curious or care about. I have no idea.

As is often repeated, it’s called social media because it’s supposed to be social. When authors ask me “What should I post?” they’re likely thinking there’s some marketing playbook or strategy guide they need to follow in order to produce results. While that can be true once you have a foundation established—once you have work out there, some kind of following, and a readership that’s interested in what books you’re releasing next—at the beginning stages of your activity, what you should post is a fairly personal consideration. Mostly, it needs to be sustainable, or something you can continue doing indefinitely. Social media rewards you showing up, consistently, with a voice, personality, or message that will become identified with you over time. If you only show up when you have a book to promote, you’re not going to be effective. If you only show up to talk about yourself, you’re not going to be effective. If you only show up because you’ve been told to, you’re going to become boring or insufferable—the No. 1 cardinal sin of social media.

Once you do have a baseline of interest, here are some posts to help you become more strategic in your use:

How to Be Active on Social Media Without Losing Your Mind
How to Run Short-Term Social Media Campaigns
How to Use Facebook Contests and Giveaways to Build a Fanbase
When Less Is More on Social Media

Parting advice

There’s a ton of bad advice out there about book marketing and promotion, and lots of it relates to social media. While there’s no harm in copying other authors’ approaches or strategies on social media, or experimenting with the advice you read or hear about, I find that every author ultimately has to come up with their own unique model that works for them—which evolves over time as your career grows and as your experience grows. Plus, the social networks themselves are ever-changing, and everyone has to adapt their techniques over time. Probably the best mindset to have when approaching social media is flexibility and patience.

In the end, social media is just one component of your author platform, and not necessarily the most important component. It works best as part of a holistic book marketing and promotion strategy.

How to Pitch Agents at a Writers Conference

Photo credit: World Relief Spokane via Visualhunt / CC BY-NC-ND

This summer, I’ll be speaking at the Midwest Writers Workshop (Muncie, Indiana) and the Writer’s Digest Conference (New York City). Both events involve agent/editor appointments, and few things instill such a high level of anxiety in writers as an agent pitch. Because of this, some conferences wisely provide special rooms writers can retreat to after an appointment or pitch, staffed with knowledgeable folks, who talk them through the emotional high or low they’ve just experienced.

I’ve attended several hundred conferences over the course of my career, and listened to perhaps thousands of pitches. While it’s important to get out there and interact with professionals and understand how to pitch your work—and treat your publishing effort like the business that it is or can be—pitching can be a difficult task for the new writer. Here’s how to make it a little easier on yourself.

It’s normal to be nervous. Compensate by overpreparing.

If you’re inexperienced in pitching, you are more likely to walk into the meeting nervous and anxious—and unsure what to expect. And all of that anxious energy can detract from the quality of the pitch, particularly if you haven’t prepared what you’re going to say.

When I was an acquiring editor, writers who pitched me would often fill the first few minutes with apologies for being nervous, or rambling about inconsequential details of their personal life or writing life. That’s exactly what you don’t want to do.

The good news is that agents/editors know too well the pressure you’re feeling, and they’ll be very forgiving of your nerves. But it’s harder for them to help if you haven’t come prepared with a focused pitch. So come up with a 30-60 second pitch for your work using one of the following methods. While I’d try memorizing it, don’t hesitate to write it down and read it from an index card.

Option 1 (novels/narratives)

I have a completed [word count][genre] titled [title] about [protagonist name + small description] who [conflict].

Option 2 (novels/narratives) 

What does your character want?
Why does he want it?
What keeps him from getting it?

Option 3 (novels/narratives)

Character name/description
The conflict they’re going through
The choices they have to make

Nonfiction pitches (not narratives)

Answer the following three questions:

So what: What is the relevance of your topic and why is it important?
Who cares: Who is this book going to help? Whose problems will it solve?
Who are you: Why do you have the authority, credibility, and/or platform to be the author of this book?

Keep it short. Brevity is your friend! Just because you have three minutes (or 5 or 10) doesn’t mean you should take up all the time. Never talk for as long as possible—it can take a mere 15 seconds to deliver a convincing storyline. The longer you talk, the less time the agent or editor is talking. You want to hear their feedback and reaction.

Stop at a moment of tension and wait. Rather than talk and talk, remind yourself that it’s OK not to explain all the details or the final outcome. If possible, let the agent guide the discussion; find out what’s caught their attention or what piece is missing.

Demonstrate openness to feedback.

If you demonstrate flexibility and openness to feedback during the pitch, the agent or editor will remember that. In today’s publishing environment, agents and editors look for people they’d enjoy working with, who are focused on long-term career growth and success. A writer who’s too invested in a single project, and seeks validation for a book they’ve worked on for a decade or more, can be a red flag. It’s a sign of a writer stagnating rather than growing.

Don’t rely on an emotional approach or appeal.

Some writers expect their heart and their passion for their book to carry the pitch. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Unfortunately, feeling passionate about your work doesn’t always translate into a persuasive pitch. You have to know how to position and sell yourself, rather than stress your dedication to your work. Dedication is often assumed; salability is not.

Bring questions with you.

Develop a specific list of questions that, if answered, would help you better understand the strengths and weaknesses of your project or position. If you can, try to elicit answers that would help you develop next steps after the conference.

Take the pressure off: it really isn’t a make-it-or-break-it moment.

Some writers place too much importance on the pitch, treating it as the official verdict on whether they should continue as a writer or continue with a particular project. The truth is that in-person pitches have about the same success rate in gaining a writer representation as a cold query, less than 1 percent typically.

If you become overly focused on this mythic opportunity—and hearing that “yes” or “no” verdict—you might miss out on the biggest benefit of the pitch experience, which is getting instant feedback on your project. This is your chance to have a meaningful conversation with an industry insider about the market for your work. Such information can dramatically reduce future frustration and shorten your path to publication. Sometimes just five minutes of very insightful professional advice can change your perspective, approach, or slant. But this mindset is tough to adopt. “Education” or “course correction” are not the dream. The dream is “get an agent” or “get published.”

Writers often experience the pitch as a highly intense, emotional, and personal process. But whenever engaging in a business conversation (which is what a pitch is), it’s important to have some distance and perspective. That’s why I find it’s usually a pleasure to be pitched by authors who have a business or marketing background. They know that getting an idea shot down isn’t personal, and they’re more likely to be receptive to a conversation about the marketability of a project and alternative routes to success. To the best of your ability, try to approach the pitch process as part of the business of being a writer.

Be prepared for a lukewarm (or no) response afterward.

Agents and editors are human, too, and don’t want to reject you to your face. They may find it easier to say in person, “Sure, send us X pages.” And this is the dirty secret of pitch appointments: there’s a very high rate of agents and editors requesting materials. Many writers compare notes with each other at conferences, to see how many manuscript requests they scored. But this number is ultimately meaningless. Most writers, just like the ones who cold query, get rejected in a business-like fashion upon submitting their materials. Even worse, sometimes there is no rejection at all, just silence. Be prepared for this, no matter how well the pitch went. It’s just how the business works, and you have little control over how agents or editors respond after the fact. All you can control is your professionalism during the pitch, and how you steer the conversation while you have the agent or editor’s ear.

When is the right time to pitch agents?

I don’t recommend pitching your work unless you have submission-ready material—a completed, polished manuscript or book proposal, ready to go. It doesn’t do you much good to get an invitation to send materials, then not be able to follow up until the agent or editor has lost enthusiasm or forgotten all about you. It also puts you in the extremely unfavorable position of having to rush to get something done and possibly not put forth your best work. You don’t want to be in that panic, trust me. That said, if you’ve pitched before you should have, I think it’s much better to take the time you need to prepare and polish your work before sending. Rushing isn’t good for anyone in the end.

For all those writers who walk away disappointed from a pitch experience, remember that success is rarely attained in those specific five to fifteen minutes. Rather, it’s all the years of work leading up to that moment, and how someone’s years of experience give them the appearance of success—that feeling that they’re on the verge of breaking out. There’s not really any way to fake that, and it’s what agents and editors are ultimately looking for. People who have that breakout feeling look and feel prepared, and demonstrate a kind of easy confidence that makes them a pleasure to talk to. Breakout folks tend to ask smart questions. They demonstrate curiosity and engagement. And perhaps most important, they appear flexible but resilient when dealing with the business side of publishing. Agents and editors can tell they don’t have to fear saying the wrong thing around such a writer, or hurting their feelings. When agents and editors meet you and feel like they’d love to work with you, even if the project you’re pitching isn’t a good fit, then you’re on your way to breaking out.

A Basic Guide to Getting Permissions + Sample Permissions Letter

If you want to use copyrighted material in your own published work (whether a print book, magazine, or online venue), then it may be necessary to request formal permission for its use. And whether you really need to request permission depends on whether your use would fall under fair use guidelines.

Determining what’s fair use is a gray area, and depends on your risk tolerance. To eliminate all possible risk, then it’s best to either ask for permission or eliminate use of the copyrighted material in your own work. Here’s a flowchart that can help you evaluate what you might need to ask permission for.

Two important caveats about this chart

Nothing can stop someone from suing you if you use their copyrighted work in your published work.
The only way your use of copyright is tested is by way of a lawsuit. That is, there is no general policing of copyright. Therefore, how you handle copyrighted content depends on how risk averse you are. If you decide not to seek permission because you plan to use a fair use argument, be prepared with the best-possible case to defend your use of the copyrighted content in the event that you are sued.

If you’re concerned about your risk, you can also search for the rights owner’s name and the keyword “lawsuit” or “copyright” to see if they’ve tried to sue anyone. However, just because someone hasn’t sued yet doesn’t mean they won’t sue you.

If you seek permission, you need to identify the rights holder

Once you’ve decided to seek permission, the next task, and one of the most difficult, is identifying who currently holds the copyright or licensing to the work. It will not always be clear who the copyright holder is, or if the work is even under copyright. Here are your starting points.

First, verify the actual source of the text. Sometimes writers use quotes from Goodreads or other online sources without verifying the accuracy of those quotes. (As someone who is misattributed on Goodreads, I can confirm: people are misattributed all the time.) If you don’t know the source, and you don’t know the length of the source work, and you don’t know if what you are quoting is the “heart” of the work, then you are putting yourself at risk of infringement.

If you’re seeking permission to quote from a book, look on the copyright page for the rights holder; it’s usually the author. However, assuming the book is currently in print and on sale, normally you contact the publisher for permission. You can also try contacting the author or the author’s literary agent or estate. (Generally, it’s best to go to whomever seems the most accessible and responsive.)

If the book is out of print (sometimes you can tell because editions are only available for sale from third parties on Amazon), or if the publisher is out of business or otherwise unreachable, you should try to contact the author, assuming they are listed as the rights holder on the copyright page.

You can also check government records. Most published books, as well as other materials, have been officially registered with the US Copyright Office. Here is an excellent guide from Stanford on how to search the government records.


For photo or image permissions: Where does the photo appear? If it’s in a newspaper, magazine, or an online publication, you should seek permission from the publication if the photo is taken by one of their staff photographers or otherwise created by staff. If you’ve found the photo online, you need to figure out where it originated from and/or who it’s originally credited to. (Try using Google Image Search.) When in doubt, seek permission from the photographer, keeping in mind that many photographers work through large-scale agencies such as Getty for licensing and permissions. Photo permissions can get complex quickly if they feature models (you may need a model release in addition to permission) or trademarked products.

Generally, you or your publisher will want nonexclusive world rights to the quoted material. “Nonexclusive” means you’re not preventing the copyright owner from doing whatever they want with the original material; “world rights” means you have the ability to distribute and sell your own work, with the quoted material, anywhere in the world, which is almost always a necessity given the digital world we live in.

Also, permission is generally granted for a specific print run or period of time. For example, if you seek permission for a 5,000-copy print run, you’ll need to secure permission a second time if you go back to press. (And if you publish a second edition, you’ll need to seek permission again.)

If you’re under contract with a publisher

Just about every traditional publisher provides their authors with a permissions form to use for their project (be sure to ask if you haven’t received one!), but if you’re a self-publishing author, or you’re working with a new or inexperienced house, you may need to create your own.

To help you get started, I’ve created a sample permissions letter you can customize; it will be especially helpful if you’re contacting authors or individuals for permission. It will be less necessary if you’re contacting publishers, who often have their own form that you need to sign or complete.

To request permission from a publisher, visit their website and look for the Permissions or Rights department. Here are links to the New York publishers’ rights departments, with instructions on how to request permission.

Harpercollins permissions information
Penguin Random House permissions portal
Macmillan permissions
Simon & Schuster permissions
Hachette permissions

Will you be charged?

It’s hard to say, but when I worked at a mid-size publisher, we advised authors to be prepared to pay $1,000–$3,000 for all necessary permissions fees if they were quoting regularly and at length. (Publishers don’t cover permissions fees for authors, except in special cases.) If you’re seeking permission for use that is nonprofit or educational in nature, the fees may be lower or waived.

What if you don’t get a response or the conditions are unreasonable?

That’s unfortunate, but there is little you can do. If you can’t wait to hear back, or if you can’t afford the fees, you should not use the work in your own. However, there is something known as a “good faith search” option. If you’ve gone above and beyond in your efforts to seek permission, but cannot determine the copyright holder, reach the copyright holder, or get a response from a copyright holder (and you have documented it), this will be weighed as part of the penalty for infringement. This is not protection, however, from being sued or being found guilty of infringement.

Sometimes, the best strategy is to avoid seeking permission in the first place. With a little editing or reworking, it may possible for you to abide by fair use guidelines; in such cases, you don’t have to seek permission. Ideas are not protected by copyright, but the expression of those ideas is protected. So, putting something in your own words or paraphrasing is usually okay, as long as it’s not too close to the way the original idea was expressed.

If you want to consult with someone on permissions

I recommend my colleague Kelly Figueroa-Ray, who has experience in permissions and proper use of citations. She has also been invaluable in her insight and feedback on the information offered in this post.

Sample Permissions Letter

A Serial Publishing Platform That Earns Money for Indie Creators

Last year, a new startup, Tapas Media, joined the US digital publishing scene, hoping to offer a viable business model and distribution platform for authors and publishers to profit from serialization.

On the reader-facing side, Tapas offers bite-sized stories and the ability to try any story free before purchasing or “unlocking” installments. To unlock new installments, a reader might invite friends to read, watch ads, complete some other offer, or simply wait.

The platform has more than 1.6 million readers, primarily in North America. Since its launch in October 2012, Tapas Media has gathered about 23,000 creators; readers spend about 30 minutes per month reading in the app, and they open the app about 20 times per month. Headquartered in San Francisco and Seoul, Tapas has received more than $5 million in funding to date.

Not many American authors are familiar with Tapas Media, probably because it first gained its foothold in South Korea—plus, its primary niche has been comics. However, I’ve been particularly interested in Tapas because of the way it might help monetize serials or short works through a mobile and web platform—kind of like Wattpad, with some e-commerce and gamification added.

In 2016, Tapas announced a partnership with Andy Weir of The Martian as well as Hachette to release serialized content. (Here’s a recent interview with Weir and Sarah Andersen about their new fantasy comics collaboration for Tapas.)

In May, Tapas announced new functionality for creators to self-publish through their platform. Up until now, it was only possible to publish your work on the platform by submitting it to the Tapas content team; now any author can create an account, set up a new work, and begin uploading episodes of either a novel or comic.

Monetization currently happens in one of three ways:

Advertising. Creators can elect to have advertising displayed in their work and receive 30 percent of the revenue. This typically takes the form of a small banner ad at the top of each episode’s comment section, and/or ad placement at the end of free episodes. (Episodes of premium or paid content do not carry ads.) Tapas primarily uses Google AdSense and Facebook Audience Network to power the ads.

Tipping. Readers can tip the creator using the app’s virtual currency. Depending on various factors, the creator earns between 60 and 85 percent of the real-world monetary value of the tip. But the value of the virtual currency, as you might imagine, is rather small—a fraction of a cent. Still, Tapas’s senior director of growth, Josh Bakken, says, “If the Tapas community likes something, they’re usually not shy about rewarding it. We had a 24-hour tipping event in February where the goal was for readers to tip 2.5 million coins to their favorite creators. They ended up tipping over 4.5 million!”

Leveling up to premium content. All creators who self-publish start out by offering their episodes for free. But Tapas says they will move stories that show promise to their premium model, where readers have to pay to continue reading episodes. Bakken says, “The easiest way to grab the attention of the content team is to have a Trending or Popular title in our Novels section. Our editors are spending a lot of time there now. Trending is a combination of Subscribers, Reads, Likes, and Comments over hours. Popular is similar, but over days.”

It’s been about two months since the platform was opened to all, and authors are starting to see returns on their effort. Tapas alerted me to two creators in particular who have started pulling in meaningful audiences and earnings: Goh Chun Hoong (of DarkBox) from Malaysia who produces a webcomic, and Jessica Chapman in the United States who writes fiction. They were gracious enough to answer my questions about their experience so far.

Jane: Why did you begin publishing on Tapas, or what drew you to it?

Jessica: I heard about the site from a fellow Wattpad author a few months ago and decided to look into it. I found that the site and app were well put together and easy to navigate, which in my mind is a great indication of how good the site is. (Heck, most major store retailers can’t make a decent page to shop at.)

After that I contacted Tapas for more information, they patiently and promptly answered all my questions. I found that refreshing, as I usually expect to wait about two weeks for a reply from most any other place. Jessica Sanchez replied to my first email in just a couple of hours, and she was just so nice and friendly that it made me wished I had joined sooner. To this day I still haven’t gotten a reply to a request I sent to the Wattpad team.

Goh: In the early stages, we published our work on numerous free hosting sites like many other creators did. Our main focus is to expose our work to as many readers as we can. Tapastic [the previous name of Tapas] is one of those sites.

Are you publishing new work on Tapas or work that’s been previously published elsewhere?

Goh: Currently we are publishing all latest and premium content with Tapas.

Jessica: The first book I published on Tapas, The Dragon Prince’s Bride, was once my main series on Wattpad, and gained almost 2.5 million reads in less than a year. However, after moving the books to this new platform exclusively and seeing its quick success, I decided that I will also be adding my other works, and new original ideas to Tapas that have never been posted anywhere else (not until later this year though).

I’m a very creative person, and it’s not hard for me to develop brand-new concepts and run with them. I have lots of upcoming story ideas, and they will most likely only be debuted on Tapas. Even though I was popular on Wattpad, it didn’t exactly get me anything tangible. That’s why I’m so excited to post my work on a site where I actually see progress, both in gaining popularity and in developing an income.

Do you participate on any other publishing platforms or self-publish your work?

Jessica: Wattpad is the only other site I use, though it’s no longer my main focus, and will soon be down to just a few books for my longtime loyal readers. I did also try Amazon self-publishing for a bit, although it was not exactly productive. Both are good in their own way, but I honestly prefer Tapas overall.

Goh: We are publishing mainly on Tapas, Line Webtoon and 9gag. Some genres perform better on one platform than another. It’s good that the creator tries them out and finds the best platforms that suit their genre.

How did you develop a readership? Did it kind of happen by itself, or did you market and promote what you were doing elsewhere?

Goh: We used social media to engage with the readers. Tapas is also helping a lot on promoting Silent Horror on their portal. We work very hard on our work and we observe readers’ comments and responses closely.

Jessica: I have no online presence aside from my Wattpad. However, while Tapas is quickly growing into a popular webcomic and now fiction site, the competition is still far less than that of other places. My story was interesting enough to quickly gain me readers on this new platform despite starting from the bottom once again.

I do still practice cross-promotion with long time followers on Wattpad, who still check out my story sample and come over to Tapas. I make sure to keep them up to date with any new promotions and sales, which some do participate in. Overall though, I think the majority of my readers come from Tapas. Since my book gained popularity on popular lists and the site’s front page, I get a lot of interested people, even those who usually don’t read novels on there.

Aside from that, the Tapas team does their own promotions for authors who are interested, which I always am. This usually includes giving out free keys to unlock chapters or doing a sale on the entire book. Surprisingly, not every author participates in these, fearing they’ll lose money instead of realizing they will hook new readers, so honestly this has also helped me stand out over others.

How quickly did a readership develop? How much do you engage with the readers, if at all?

Jessica: Since my debut on Tapas just last month, I’ve gained 11,000 subscribers, and over 140,000 reads. I try to talk to almost all my readers like I used to on Wattpad, but not all of them chat back. However, a few have still noted their appreciation of my acknowledgment of them, which I think is very important because I truly do value and appreciate each reader.

At the end of each book I plan to do a short author’s note to thank them all again, which hopefully prompts them to like and follow me, not just my books. I love talking to my readers in those ways, showing them I’m not just someone who wants money, but that I’m a real person who simply loves to write!

Goh: It takes time, hard work and persistence to develop readership and fans. We respond to every single private message and wall post on our social media, and we appreciate readers’ effort to write to us.

How much have you earned and how has this made a difference in your life (professional or personal)? What are the earnings from? 

Goh: We earned zero income in the first year. After we published on Tapas with its unique ad revenue sharing with creators, we started to make some small income. Last year Tapas offered to publish us as premium paid content, and we started to earn an average monthly income of $2,000. 

Jessica: Mostly my revenue is from purchased chapters. Most of those were gained by readers watching ads and not direct purchases. I do receive tips, but they are not as consistent so I can’t really count their value yet.

In less than a month, I made more on Tapas than from my last full-time paycheck. This is a great help since I work to help support my mom and disabled little brother at home, and can only manage to find a minimum wage job that usually offers less than full-time with no benefits. It has also been a great encouragement to me as a writer, because everyone hopes to make money off their passion, but not everyone finds a way to.

Do you expect to keep working with Tapas?

Jessica: I do. I plan to move most of my Wattpad books over, and add all my new ideas on to this site exclusively. The whole team is just so helpful! This has been way better than any of my other online experiences, and I think it’s ideal for any new and serious author.

At one time I had dreamed of getting published traditionally and having my books printed in stores. Heck, I think most young and budding authors do. Then you come to realize that’s probably going to be near impossible, given the competition and your own lack of experience, expertise, and connections. No big-time agency is likely to give new talent like you the time of day, no matter how good your work is. In short, I think traditional publishing has simply become too difficult. Which is a shame, because I have seen so much talent get left in the dust. Publishing online at venues like Tapas helps not bad writers, but good ones gain exposure they might normally never receive. Honestly, since so many people use their computers and phones for everything nowadays, I think in time online publishing, not necessarily self-publishing, might overtake traditional routes, giving people the chance to read awesome books they would never be able to find on a store shelf.

When I first started writing, it was for my own personal entertainment. I never expected to gain fans or readers, but I did, and Tapas has helped me to reach a new level in my career.

Goh: Tapas understands that besides breathing to live, artists also need to eat and pay their bills. To us, Tapas is the best platform for indie creators. Their method of monetizing for creators is innovative.

To create a free account at Tapas, visit the Tapas website, and be sure to check out Tapas’s terms of service. (I didn’t see any red flags, but always be fully informed.)

Screenwriting Techniques to Strengthen Your Novel: Q&A with Nina R. Sadowsky

Today’s Q&A is by journalist and romance writer Cathy Shouse (@cathyshouse).

Nina R. Sadowsky (@sadowsky_nina) is a recovering entertainment lawyer who has worked as a film and television producer and writer for most of her career. Just Fall, published by Ballantine in March 2016, is her first novel, and is now in development as an original series for STARZ. Her second book, The Burial Society, releases in January 2018. She has written numerous original screenplays and adaptations and done rewrites for such companies as The Walt Disney Company, Working Title Films, and Lifetime Television.

Sadowsky served as executive producer for the hit film The Wedding Planner, starring Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey for Intermedia and Sony, produced Desert Saints, an independent film starring Kiefer Sutherland which premiered on Cinemax, and has served as executive director for numerous other films.

Recently, Nina took some time to answer questions via email about how screenwriting influenced the writing of her novel.

Is there a screenwriting technique or three that influenced your novel writing, and that others might benefit from knowing?

Develop multi-layered characters and let the story be driven by their actions. A strong protagonist needs a worthy antagonist. Know both the universal themes you are addressing and the specific thing that you as an artist bring to the telling. Understand the genre you’re writing in. Know the audience you want to reach. Does your story have significant stakes and real conflict? Is there a catharsis for the reader or the viewer at the end of the story?

But specifically, screenwriting teaches one about using words economically. Also, I use the experience of making films to help me when I’m writing in this way: Before I write a scene, I close my eyes and try to envision what every film department would have to bring to the set in order to realize the words on the page. What does the lighting look like? How would production design see this environment? What props would be used? What wardrobe? Many people have commented that my writing is very visual and I think this is why.

This may be controversial, but I don’t believe in writer’s block. Writing is a job and must be treated like one, by which I mean, one can’t only write when “the muse” strikes. If I have a day scheduled for writing, I write. One thing about working in film and TV is that they are collaborative mediums. Rafts of people are often waiting on the pages that serve as the roadmap for them to do their jobs, so being late on a deadline is no simple matter.

Are there ways a novel can be written to give a better chance that it might be picked up for a movie? Is thinking about that a good idea or not?

It’s always a crapshoot! The film and TV businesses are capricious and difficult to crack. I don’t believe in thinking about outcome, by which I mean all writers want their work to be read and all filmmakers want their work to be seen, but I think that desire has to be tucked away and one has to concentrate on the work itself. When I was producing full time, I could always tell if a screenwriter wrote a script because they thought it was “commercial” but didn’t really have their heart and soul in it. Personal connection to the material is always important and I think it shows in the work. When I wrote my first novel, I abandoned any thought about outcome. I just wanted to fulfill the commitment I made to myself to finish it.

Entertainment Weekly called Just Fall “a tense, wild, fever dream.” What strikes me is the rapid pacing, without feeling rushed. How were you able to accomplish this?

Because I was gleefully abandoning the highly codified structural requirements of film and TV writing, I wanted to play with structure. So the book has “Now” sections that are all linear and “Then” sections that are deep dives into the characters’ pasts, which are non-linear. I wanted the “Then” sections to be juxtaposed for character rather than advancement of plot, without losing the story’s momentum. As a result, my dining room table was covered with index cards for months as I played with and solidified the structure.

Do you feel that novelists have been told to strip out too much of their description? How do you decide when to use such details and when to leave them out?

One thing screenwriting teaches you is to be specific and brief in description. Specificity is required because details like make of a car or an amount of money have to be supplied by the relevant department on a film crew. Such details can also be very indicative of character, what kind of car someone drives, what they purchase, what color their clothes are, all these things can help visually reveal information about who a person is, which applies to all writing. But I think every writer has to find their own balance. I just try to think about what details will add color, flavor, mood, or character specificity to a passage and use those.

The inner dialogue of your characters is pared down yet effective. Any tips for novelists regarding the amount of inner dialogue and knowing what is too much? 

The best thing about writing novels is inner dialogue! What a luxury! One of the toughest challenges of screenwriting is conveying thoughts through character and action, rather than straight narrative. But whether I’m writing description, dialogue, inner dialogue, etc., I always ask myself this question: What are the essential beats needed to tell this scene? Once I’ve stripped my writing down to that, I add just a little to gild the lily. I believe this economy of language and information helps keep my pacing fast and entertaining.

You’ve recommended Save the Cat by Blake Snyder. Is there something in particular that novelists can benefit from in that book?

Save the Cat is a great book on structure for screenwriters. And while novel structure and film and TV structures are all quite different, understanding the value of structure in any form is valuable. I often liken storytelling to inviting people on your river rafting trip. The guests come aboard and a good writer steers them effortlessly through the shallows and the rapids, the rocks and the waterfalls, and delivers them breathless and satisfied on the other side. That is the power of good structure, making that ride seem effortless.

You’ve said that anyone who is married “knows there’s no such thing as happily every after. Everybody knows that’s where the trouble begins.” Is this one example of universal themes that Just Fall addresses? Do you start with themes, sketched out in your outlines, or do themes evolve? 

I sometimes rough out individual scenes based on people or situations I’ve encountered (as put through my writing prism) and tuck them away to find a home for later. But when I start any longform work, pilot, screenplay or novel, I always think long and hard about the themes I want to explore.

I’m not really a math person, but I always loved algebra, and I think a lot of writing is comparable to the idea of “solving for x.” By this I mean determining all the elements that make your story plausible on its terms, filled with characters that are real and relatable, compelling to read and satisfying emotionally, all while making these tasks seem effortless. If you don’t know what you are talking about, the characters through which you synthesize your themes have no anchor to their actions. I’m a big believer in character-driven plot, so part of my pre-writing process is deciding how the various characters feel about the themes I’m exploring.

What I meant by “that’s where all the trouble begins,” is that pop culture has created this myth of the “happily ever after.” Love stories are primarily about the chase and the obstacles to a couple getting together, with the proposal or the marriage being the end goal. Anyone who’s been married knows it’s damn hard work, filled with compromise, regret, frustration and alienation along with partnership, love, elevation and the joy of selflessness. I wanted to explode that myth of the happily ever after, and explore how emotionally complicated marriage can be but blown up with the stakes of a life and death thriller. Another related theme I wanted to explore was the extent to which we will compromise our own values in the name of love (or because of the other more twisted things that keep people in relationships). Do we let our moral lines creep? Shatter? What would you do to save someone you loved? What would you sacrifice? These questions also lent themselves to the thriller genre.

With Just Fall you’ve said you wanted readers to ask themselves “What would I do?” Will this concept carry through to your next book?

I always think the question “What would you do if….” gets very different answers depending on how it finishes. For example, “What would you do if a stranger was in danger and you could help?” Ok. Most of us would like to think we would help. How about if helping that stranger put you at risk? You might think twice. That’s survival, primal.

But what is your answer if a stranger is replaced by your sister, or wife, or lover, or child? All of our moral lines can shift. With Just Fall, I wanted to challenge readers to question their own moral lines.

The Burial Society also looks at sacrifice for love and family, but the strongest theme I’m examining in this novel is redemption. I also examine the nature and power of secrets; information withheld from intimates (whether friends, lovers or families) is often more compelling than the information that is shared.

You say a writer must know “the specific thing you as an artist bring to the telling.” Can you give an example?

Sure. Just Fall explores the darker sides of attraction, love and marriage and I started the book shortly after my own second, mid-life marriage, which included the explosive task of blending a family with four teenagers. I went in thinking “love conquers all,” and “love begets love,” and soon discovered I was living with strife, division, and conflict. Love did not conquer all. Patience, work, sacrifice and compromise have since conquered a lot, but even now, several years later, not all. Just Fall is about that tumultuous time in my life as much as it is about Ellie and Rob, their lives in New York and their adventures on the island of St. Lucia.

How Do You Respond to Criticism of Your Work? 6 Patterns to Recognize

One of the most popular guest posts at my site this year is How to Spot Toxic Feedback, which discusses signs that the writing advice you’re receiving may do more harm than good.

Its success isn’t a surprise to me because writers who receive criticism, constructive or otherwise, almost never forget it—and this post gave writers of all stripes an opportunity to sigh with satisfaction and say, “I knew it all along. Such-and-such critique was invalid and harmful and I should’ve been ignoring it.”

That might be true when it’s inexperienced writers or readers offering the critique. (And that’s why writing groups can be more dangerous than helpful.)

But how about cases where the person offering feedback is an experienced professional—someone who makes a living at offering and selling informed feedback? (Like myself?)

Let’s assume (and I know it can be a big assumption) that the experienced professional is self-aware and careful, and can offer feedback that’s useful and isn’t delivered in bad faith—that it’s an accurate and fair assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the work, at least from a market perspective.

I’ve found that writers, if they trust the source, generally respond in a few key ways. Looking for the pattern of your response can be useful in understanding if you’re getting the most from professional feedback, or if you’re inadvertently sabotaging progress.

1. You defend what you’ve done.

This is the stereotypical response of the inexperienced writer, who gets prickly and looks for ways to defend their work or excuse the weaknesses.

But there are more subtle ways that writers defend their work without looking defensive. Writers can argue that they’re trying to work against formula, or break the mold of what’s typically done. Their work is more enlightened because it’s not blindly following in the footsteps of all the other mediocre work out there. This is the “special snowflake” argument; the writer becomes the exception to the rule.

Alternatively, writers may cite other positive opinions they’ve received. “My writing group loves this” is a common defense. Or, “I worked with [another] professional editor.”

It’s perfectly normal to think of all the reasons the feedback might be wrong. (And it’s right to do so—not all feedback is useful.) But you also should consider evidence that the feedback might be right.

2. You rush to make changes.

Some writers do exactly the opposite of defend their work: they immediately look for ways to fix the problem. Not just that, they try to fix the problem within 24 hours of it being pointed out. This can be as problematic as ignoring feedback because it results in cosmetic changes that don’t really affect the quality of the work.

This is my theory as to why so many prologues exist in unpublished manuscripts. At some point, the writer’s first chapter was criticized. The solution: add a prologue! But easy or fast fixes tend to have a high failure rate.

Quality feedback can lead to large-scale revision or edits. Such changes can rarely be made overnight or even in a week or month. If you pull on one thread in a story, or reconsider something as seemingly simple as your first page, you’ve suddenly got a rewrite on your hands. But some writers don’t have the patience or fortitude for that.

3. You get a second opinion.

This is not a bad idea, assuming you have the time (and the resources, budget and/or necessary relationships). But it can put responsibility on other people—who may not be appropriate—to figure out the best way forward with your work. Know when you’re seeking a second opinion because you’re looking for additional clarity or dialogue (because it always helps to talk these things through), and when you’re trying to get someone else to make the hard decisions for you.  Avoid taking your second (or third…) opinion back to the first person who offered you the feedback. They’re not likely interested in having an argument or defending their position; in the end, you are the arbiter of what’s best for the work.

4. You sit on the feedback for a while.

I’ve often heard experienced novelists say that when they receive feedback that makes them angry or upset, they immediately put it away and don’t act on it. Then, after a week or two, they go back to it, and see that much of it was correct.

Whether you react to feedback with ease or anger, it’s always wise to sit on feedback for at least a few days before making any big decisions about it, or even responding to it. Give yourself time to digest it and let the emotional reaction dissipate. Then you’ll have distance and be in a position to make the best decision for the work.

5. You give up or move onto something else.

If the feedback is discouraging or overwhelming, sometimes you just want to hide from it. And hiding from it may mean abandoning the project, either temporarily or for good.

Worse things could happen. Sometimes we’re not ready to complete the projects we start and have to return at a different time. No shame in it.

6. You ask questions.

With any piece of feedback you receive, whether positive or negative, there were a million choices that went into crafting that feedback. Some things were left unstated; some matters were not expanded upon. But they could be. Just ask, especially during moments in the feedback where you wish: “Boy, I want to know more about that.”

After discouraging feedback, a good follow-up is always: What am I doing right that I can build on? Writers build on their strengths, and you want to know what parts of your work ought to be preserved.

Let me know in the comments: What strategies have you found successful for using feedback to improve your work?

Start Here: How to Self-Publish Your Book

This is an introductory guide to how to self-publish (both print and ebook), and how to choose the right services or approach based on your needs and budget.

A Quick History of Self-Publishing
The Most Common Ways to Self-Publish Today
Self-Publishing: The DIY Approach I Recommend
How Ebook Self-Publishing Services Work
Creating Ebook Files
How to Self-Publish a Print Book
Investing in a Print Run: Yes or No?
Print-on-Demand Recommendations
Maximizing Your Book Sales
More Resources


1. A Quick History of Self-Publishing

For most of publishing’s history, if an author wanted to self-publish, they had to invest thousands of dollars with a so-called “vanity” press, or otherwise learn how to become an independent, small publisher.

That all changed in the late 1990s, with the advent of print-on-demand (POD) technology, which allows books to be printed one at a time. As a result, many POD publishing services arose that provided authors with low-cost self-publishing packages. They could be low cost because—without print runs, inventory, and warehousing—the only expense left was in creating and designing the product itself: the book. Outfits like iUniverse, Xlibris, and AuthorHouse (which have merged and been consolidated under AuthorSolutions) offered a range of packages to help authors get their books in print, though most books never sat on a bookstore shelf and sold a few dozen copies at best.

What’s Changed Since 2007

Just as traditional publishing has transformed due to the rise of ebooks, today’s self-publishing market has transformed as well. Most self-published authors earn the bulk of their money from ebook sales. Furthermore, 85% or more of all US ebook sales happen through a single online retailer, Amazon. Anyone can make their ebook and print book available for sale in the most important market—Amazon—without paying a cent upfront.

That means the full-service POD publishers that used to make a killing are now largely irrelevant to most self-publishing success, even though you’ll find them advertising against Google search results for “self-publishing.” Don’t be immediately lured in; first understand your options, explained below.

2. The Most Common Ways to Self-Publish Today

There are several ways to self-publish in today’s market.

Self-publish completely on your own, hiring only the freelance assistance you need, and work directly with retailers and distributors to sell your book.
Self-publish by hiring a services company to basically act as your publisher.
Work with a “hybrid” publisher.

This post will expand on how to self-publish completely on your own. Before I explore that process in detail, here’s an explanation of the other choices you have.

Self-publish by hiring a service company

This is what I call the “write a check and make the headache go away” method of self-publishing. If you have more money than time, and have no interest in being a full-time career author, this may best service your needs.

Service packages and publishing arrangements tremendously vary, but the best services charge an upfront fee, take absolutely no rights to your work, and pass on 100% net sales to the author. They make money on charging authors for the services provided (editorial, design, marketing, and so on), not on copies sold. Such books will almost never be stocked in physical retail bookstores, although in some rare cases, it may happen. Most assisted publishing services have different packages or tiers of service, while others offer customized quotes based on the particular needs of your project.

The benefit is that you get a published book without having to figure out the service landscape or find professionals to help you. The best and most expensive services (which can easily exceed $20,000) offer a quality experience that is comparable to working with a traditional publisher. You should avoid companies that take advantage of author inexperience and use high-pressure sales tactics, such as AuthorSolutions imprints (AuthorHouse, iUniverse, WestBow, Archway).

Examples of good assisted services include Matador, Mill City Press, DogEar, Radius Book Group, Book in a Box, and Girl Friday Productions. To check the reputation of a service, visit Mick Rooney’s Independent Publishing Magazine.

Publish through a “hybrid” company

Some self-publishing (or assisted publishing) services have started calling themselves “hybrid publishers” because it sounds more fashionable and savvy, but such companies may be nothing more than a fancy self-publishing service. Fees dramatically vary and quality dramatically varies. You have to do your research carefully;

I discuss hybrid publishing in more detail here. As with self-publishing service companies, you will fund book publication in exchange for expertise and assistance of the publisher; cost is often in the thousands of dollars. You may receive better royalties than a traditional publishing contract, but you’ll earn less than if self-publishing on your own. Each hybrid publisher has its own distinctive costs and business model; always secure a clear contract with all fees explained.

Agents Who Offer Self-Publishing Services

Increasingly, agents are starting to help existing clients as well as new ones digitally publish their work. Help might consist of fee-based services, royalty-based services, and hybrid models.

Such practices are controversial because agents’ traditional role is to serve as an advocate for their clients’ interests and negotiate the best possible deals. When agents start publishing their clients’ work and taking their 15% cut of sales, a conflict of interest develops.

In their defense, agents are changing their roles in response to industry change, as well as client demand. Regardless of how you proceed, look for flexibility in any agreements you sign. Given the pace of change in the market, it’s not a good idea to enter into an exclusive, long-term contract that locks you into a low royalty rate or into a distribution deal that may fall behind in best practices.

3. Self-Publishing: The DIY Approach I Recommend

Today, anyone can get access to the same level of online retail distribution as a traditional publisher, for both print and ebook editions, through services such as Amazon KDP, Pronoun, Draft2Digital, CreateSpace, and IngramSpark. I will explain how and when to use these services throughout this post.

You don’t “pay” these services until your books start to sell. Every time a copy of your book is sold, the retailer takes a cut, and if you use a distributor, they’ll take a cut, too.

You, the author, manage the publishing process and hire the right people or services to edit, design, publish, and distribute your book. Every step of the way, you decide which distributors or retailers you prefer to deal with. You retain complete and total control of all artistic and business decisions; you keep all profits and rights.

Self-publishing on your own means making decisions about your book’s editorial, design, and production quality. I offer a checklist for the book publication process here.

What follows is an explanation of how to self-publish once you have a final, polished manuscript and/or printer-ready files. 

Some of the services I reference, particularly CreateSpace, offer fee-based services related to editing, design, and marketing. These package services may work OK for your needs, but I think it’s better to hire your own freelancers and always know who you’re working with. Also, you can take a look at Joel Friedlander’s book template system, which offers a way for total beginners to prepare ebook and print book files that are ready to be distributed and sold.

Setting Up a Formal Publishing Company

You don’t have to set up a formal business (e.g., in the United States, you can use your Social Security number for tax purposes), but serious self-publishers will typically set up an LLC at minimum.

For the basic information on how to establish your own imprint or publishing company, read Joel Friedlander’s post, How to Create, Register, and List Your New Publishing Company.

4. How Ebook Self-Publishing Services Work

The first and most important thing to understand about ebook retailers and distributors is that they are not publishers. That means they take no responsibility for the quality of your work, but neither do they take any rights to your work. Here are the characteristics of major services:

Free to play. You rarely pay an upfront fee. When you do pay upfront, usually in the case of a distributor (such as BookBaby), you earn 100% net. If you don’t pay an upfront fee, then expect a percentage of your sales to be kept. However, there is even one ebook distributor that charges nothing upfront and still pays 100% net: Pronoun.

At-will and nonexclusive. You can upload your work at any time and make it available for sale; you can also take it down at any time. You can upload new versions; change the price, cover and description; and you can sell your work through multiple services or through your own site.

Little technical expertise required. Major services offer automated tools for converting your files, uploading files, and listing your work for sale, as well as free guides and tutorials to help ensure your files are formatted appropriately.

Again, it’s important to emphasize: By using these services, you do not forfeit any of your rights to the work. If a traditional publisher or agent were to approach you after your ebook has gone on sale, you are free to sell rights without any obligation to the services you’ve used.

Most e-publishing services fall into one of these two categories:

Ebook retailers. Nearly all ebook retailers offer to distribute and sell self-published ebooks through their storefront or device, then take a cut of sales. The biggest and most important of these is Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. Ebook retailers do not offer any assistance in preparing your ebook files, although they may accept a wide range of file types for upload.

Ebook distributors. These services primarily act as middlemen and push your work out to multiple retailers and distributors. This helps reduce the amount of work an author must do; instead of dealing with many different single channel services, you deal with only one service. The most popular ebook distributors in the United States are Draft2Digital, Pronoun, and Smashwords.

One popular approach for independent authors is to sell and distribute directly through Amazon KDP, then use a distributor like Pronoun or Draft2Digital to reach everyone else. Because none of these services demand exclusivity, that’s possible.

A note about ISBNs: While an ISBN is not required for basic ebook distribution through most retailers, some distributors and services require one. Therefore, to maximize distribution, you’ll need an ISBN for your ebook. Some self-publishing services will provide you with an ISBN, or you can obtain your own ISBN. (If you’re US-based, you can buy through MyIdentifiers.com.)

What ebook retailers pay


Ebook priced at 99 cents



Author receives per unit sold


Amazon
33 cents (35%)


Nook Press
40 cents (40%)


Apple iBooks
70 cents (70%)


Kobo
45 cents (45%)


Ebook priced at $2.99



Author receives per unit sold


Amazon
$2.09 (70%)


Nook Press
$1.94 (65%)


Apple iBooks
$2.09 (70%)


Kobo
$2.09 (70%)


Ebook priced at $12.99



Author receives per unit sold


Amazon
$4.55 (35%)


Nook Press
$5.20 (40%)


Apple iBooks
$9.09 (70%)


Kobo
$9.09 (70%)


5. Creating Ebook Files

Nearly every service asks you to upload a final ebook file that is appropriately formatted. Services vary widely in the types of files they accept. Because standards are still developing in the ebook world, you may find yourself converting and formatting your book multiple times to satisfy the requirements of different services.

Here are the most commonly used formats for ebooks:

EPUB. This is considered a global standard format for ebooks and works seamlessly on most devices. While you cannot export an EPUB file from a Word document, you can save your Word document as a text (.txt) file, then convert and format it using special software.

MOBI. This is the format that’s ideal for Amazon Kindle, although you can also upload an EPUB file.

PDF. PDFs can be difficult to convert to standard ebook formats. It’s not a recommended starting point for ebook conversion.

Most major ebook retailers and distributors accept a Word document and automatically convert it to the appropriate format, but you still must go through an “unformatting” process for best results. All major services offer step-by-step guidelines for formatting your Word documents before you upload them for conversion.

Important to note: There is a difference between formatting and converting your book files. Conversion refers to an automated process of converting files from one format into another, without editing or styling. It’s often easy to convert files, but the resulting file may look unprofessional—or even appear unreadable—if not formatted appropriately.

Useful tools for formatting and converting ebooks include:

Calibre : Free software that converts and helps you format ebook files from more than a dozen different file types.

Vellum : popular ebook formatting software for Mac users

I’ve listed more tools here.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed at the idea of converting and formatting your own ebook files, then you may want to use a distributor or service that’s customer-service oriented in this regard, such as Draft2Digital. If your ebook has special layout requirements, heavy illustration, or multimedia components, you should probably hire an independent company to help you (eBookPartnership is one option).

But if your book is mostly straight text—such as novels and narrative works—then you might be able to handle the conversion and formatting process without much difficulty if you’re starting with a Word document or text file.

Designing an Ebook Cover

There are a number of special considerations for ebook cover design. People may see your cover in black and white, grayscale, color, high-resolution, low-resolution, thumbnail size, or full size. It needs to be readable at all sizes and look good on low-quality or mobile devices. For these reasons (and many more), it’s best to hire a professional to create an ebook cover for you. One designer I frequently recommend is Damon Za.

When Ebooks Can Be Problematic

Even though ebooks are the best-selling format for self-publishing authors (especially fiction), ask these questions before you begin:

Is your book highly illustrated? Does it require color? If so, you may find there are significant challenges to creating and distributing your ebook across multiple platforms.
Is your book for children? Ebook adoption in the children’s market is in the single digits, unlike the adult market. Ebook-only work will struggle to gain traction.

6. How to Self-Publish a Print Book

There are two primary ways to publish and make a print edition available for sale:

Print on demand (POD)
Traditional offset printing 

Print-on-demand technology allows for books to be printed one at a time. This is by far the most popular way to produce print copies of your book because it reduces financial risk.

Pros of print-on-demand

Little or no upfront cost, aside from producing printer-ready files
Your book can be available for sale as a print edition in all the usual online retail outlets (Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com, etc), as well as distributed through Ingram, the largest U.S. book wholesaler.
Most people cannot tell the difference between a POD book and an offset printed book—at least for black-and-white books.

Cons of print-on-demand

The unit cost is much higher, which may lead to a higher retail price.
You may have very few print copies on hand—or it will be expensive to keep ordering print copies to have around.

Most books printed by U.S. traditional publishers are produced through offset printing. To use a traditional printer, you usually need to commit to 1,000 copies minimum.

Pros of offset printing

Lower unit cost
Higher quality production values, especially for full-color books
You’ll have plenty of print copies around

Cons of offset printing

Considerable upfront investment; $2,000 is the likely minimum, which includes the printing and shipping costs.
Increased risk—what if the books don’t sell or you want to put out a new edition before the old one is sold out?
You’ll have plenty of print copies around—which means you have books to warehouse and fulfill unless you hire a third party to handle it for you, which then incurs additional costs. 

While it can be fairly straightforward and inexpensive to get a print book in your hands via print-on-demand services, virtually no one can get your book physically ordered or stocked in bookstores. Self-publishing services may claim to distribute your book to stores or make your book available to stores. But this is very different from actually selling your book into bookstores. Bookstores almost never accept or stock titles from any self-publishing service or POD company, although they can special order for customers when asked, assuming the book appears in their system.

Also, think through the paradox: Print-on-demand services or technology should be used for books that are printed only when there’s demand. Your book is not going to be nationally distributed and sitting on store shelves unless or until a real order is placed.

7. Investing in a Print Run: Yes or No?

The 3 key factors are:

How and where you plan to sell the book. If you frequently speak and have opportunities to sell your books at events, then it makes sense to invest in a print run. Also consider if you’ll want significant quantities to distribute or sell to business partners or organizations, stock in local/regional retail outlets or businesses, give to clients, etc. I do not recommend investing in a print run because you think bookstores or retail outlets will stock your book. If such an opportunity should arise, then you can always invest in a print run after you have a sales order or firm commitment.

Where you’re driving sales. If you’re driving your customers/readers primarily to online retailers, you can fulfill print orders with less hassle and investment by using POD. Ultimately, you do have to use POD regardless if you want to be distributed by the largest U.S. wholesaler, Ingram. (More info below.)

What your budget is like. Not everyone is comfortable investing in a print run.

You also need to anticipate your appetite for handling the warehousing, fulfillment, and shipping of 1,000+ books, unless a third party is handling it for you, which will reduce your profit. When the truck pulls up to your house with several pallets piled high with 30-pound boxes, it will be a significant reality check if you haven’t thought through your decision.

8. Print-on-Demand Recommendations

If you choose print-on-demand for your print edition, then I recommend the following:

Use Ingram Spark to produce a POD edition for all markets except Amazon. By doing so, your book will be listed and available for order through the largest and most preferred U.S. wholesaler, Ingram.
Using CreateSpace (a division of Amazon) to produce a POD edition for Amazon sales. For many authors, the majority of sales will be through Amazon.

I recommend using both Ingram Spark and CreateSpace to maximize your profits and ensure that no one is discouraged from ordering or stocking the print edition of your book. As you might imagine, independent bookstores aren’t crazy about ordering books provided by CreateSpace/Amazon, their key competitor. However, if you use Ingram Spark to fulfill orders through Amazon, you will reduce your profits because Amazon offers more favorable terms when selling books generated through CreateSpace. So it’s much more advantageous financially to use CreateSpace—but limit the scope of that agreement to just Amazon orders.

As soon as your printer-ready files are uploaded, POD books are generally available for order at Amazon within 48 hours. With Ingram Spark, it generally takes 2 weeks for the book to be available through all their channels.

Example of Print-on-Demand Earnings

This is for a $14.99 standard 6×9 paperback, about 240 pages.

CreateSpace
IngramSpark


Unit cost (to print the book)
$3.63
$3.94


Your earnings if sold at Amazon
$5.36
$2.41


Your earnings if sold outside of Amazon
$2.36
$2.41


9. Maximizing Your Book Sales

With print books, your success is typically driven by the quality of your book, your visibility or reach to your readership, and your cover. With ebooks, the same factors are in play, plus the following:

If you check the ebook bestseller lists, you’ll see that independent novelists charge very little for their work, often somewhere between 99 cents and $2.99. Some argue this devalues the work, while others say that it’s appropriate for an ebook from an unknown author. Whatever your perspective, just understand that, if you’re an unknown author, your competition will probably be priced at $2.99 or less to encourage readers to take a chance. Typically, the more well known or trusted you are, the more you can charge. Note: Nonfiction authors should price according to the competition and what the market can bear. Sometimes prices are just as high for digital editions as print editions in nonfiction categories.
Your Amazon page may be the first and only page a reader looks at when deciding whether to purchase your book. Optimization of this page—the marketing description, the book cover, your author bio, the reviews, and more—is critical for driving sales.
Giveaways are an important part of ebook marketing and sales strategy for indie authors. I comment more on that here.

This is but a scratch on the surface of the world of ebook marketing. Author Nicholas Erik maintains an excellent beginner’s guide.

10. More Resources

You can read more about self-publishing at the following posts:

Should You Self-Publish or Traditionally Publish?
How to Publish an Ebook: Resources for Authors

The Basics of Self-Publishing by David Gaughran
Mick Rooney’s Independent Publishing Magazine offers in-depth reviews of just about every publishing service out there. Read his review before using any service. You can also hire him for a consultation if you need expert guidance.

I Want to Pay Someone to Self-Publish My Book

Here are high-quality, full-service publishing providers that I trust.

Girl Friday Productions
Radius Book Group
Winning Edits

Near Charlottesville? Join Me for a Master Class in Author Platform

I’m delighted to announce I’m offering a month-long master class in author platform this summer, in collaboration with Writer House in Charlottesville, Virginia.

This is an in-person class only, held on Tuesdays in August from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. You can register for all five sessions, or just individual sessions. Here’s the registration page.

Session descriptions below; don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the class.

Session I (8/1/17): The Art and Business of Platform: A Working Philosophy and Approach. Writers are often baffled by platform because it’s seen as a marketing and promotion mindset—antithetical to the artist mindset. However, there is a way to approach platform that isn’t about selling, but rather understanding human behavior—including your own! During this session you’ll learn what it means to have a focused, consistent, and meaningful effort over a long period of time, in way that doesn’t exhaust you, but leads to finding high-quality readers who love what you do. We’ll discuss how you can make informed and meaningful decisions about how to best spend your time, and what advanced platform-building looks like for an established author. Click here to register for individual session

Session II (8/8/17): The Author Website: Your Most Important Storytelling Opportunity. Whether your website is one day old or ten years old, you want to make sure the resources you’ve put into your site will pay off with more readers, more sales, and more opportunities for your career. Learn about best practices for design and content, the most important areas to focus on (what do visitors see first or most often—and how can you take advantage of that?), plus valuable online strategies to help grow your career. We’ll also touch on the basics of search engine optimization. Click here to register for individual session

Session III (8/15/17): The Email Newsletter: Your Most Important Engagement Tool. Email marketing is the No. 1 overlooked means of reader engagement when authors evaluate their overall platform. Being able to directly reach your readers, or most avid fans, is a powerful capability that every author should have. Thankfully, it’s easy to get started with e-mail newsletters, and it doesn’t require technical know-how. This session will cover best practices of email design and content, strategies and tools for securing sign ups (to pop up or not to pop up?), as well as what email service providers to use. Click here to register for individual session

Session IV (8/22/17): Social Media for Authors: How to Make It Worth Your Time. Time is one of the most precious resources anyone has, so it’s a smart writer who asks, “Is this social media stuff really the best use of my time?” While it can be a highly subjective matter (every career has different needs and phases), we’ll talk about how to quantify your activity on social media, analyze its impact, and make the best choices for the short term and long term. Rather than being driven by trends (or what your friends are doing), we’ll look at how you can make the best decision for you. Click here to register for individual session

Session V (8/29/17): Content Strategy and Content Marketing: How to Attract Readers to You. Most authors have heard about blogging, but they don’t have a clue what it means to develop a content strategy or participate in a content marketing effort. For writers who want to see their online writing and activity pay off, it requires some high-level and strategic thinking about who that writing is meant to reach and who you want to attract over the long term. This session will look at key strategies and principles for producing content in a way that’s productive and even monetizable—and how to think beyond the blog and beyond the book to the different ways you can deliver your writing to readers.

The Advice to Pursue Your Passion: What Does “Passion” Even Mean?

Photo credit: pirate_renee via Visual Hunt / CC BY-ND

Here’s a word I have eliminated as fully as possible from my information and advice lexicon for writers: passion.

Endless books and courses advise people on how to turn their passion into a full-time career, and I meet many writers who say they are (finally) returning to their “passion for writing” after long careers in business, finance, real estate, law, and other occupations commonly chosen for financial stability. Yet, at the same time, such writers ask for an evaluation on whether it’s worthwhile for them to continue pursuing this passion. They seek some external validation that they’re not wasting their time.

Is that properly termed passion?

I’ve also met many who seemed unable to do anything but write, to the detriment of their health, families, and/or long-term financial stability. They make bad decisions for little in return, in the name of becoming a writer or being recognized as one. Such people I can’t discourage.

Is that properly termed passion?

There are also people who show up at the desk every day and treat their writing like a profession, who are willing to bend their work to the market, to be entrepreneurial and ensure that they earn a certain dollar amount per hour.

Is that properly termed passion?

In Zen, students are given koans—a puzzle or a problem to solve—that’s meant to bring awareness, or literally wake you up to the true nature of life. You’ve probably heard a koan even if you don’t recognize the word. A popular koan: “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”

A koan of my own, that’s been on my mind for the last decade: “What is passion?” And also: “What is my passion?”

I’ve come to the conclusion I don’t have a passion. As someone who has probably listened to too much Alan Watts, I wasn’t surprised by the answer, maybe because Watts encourages you to peel back every layer you have to find yourself, to help you realize that there’s no “there” there—the Buddhist belief that there is no self to find.

This is partly why I avoid the word “passion.” It is an excellent way to stoke someone’s anxiety: What if I’m not pursuing my passion? Shouldn’t I be? But is this really my passion? What if I fail at my passion?

And in the current cultural moment, the word has become ever more fraught—it’s tinged with a value judgment, that there’s something wrong if you haven’t discovered your passion and found the way to make it into your career. The capitalist pursuit of passion is the new horrible form of enlightenment we’re told to chase.

You don’t have to be Buddhist to take a page out of its book and set this particular anxiety aside. If you don’t have a passion, you may be closer to the truth of who and what you are than anyone else.

Yet I have always felt rather boring when faced with the quintessential questions from an interviewer that look for the origin story, e.g.: When did you know you were a writer? Or did you always want to work in publishing?

The truth is: I have no idea. Patterns emerged. Circumstances and serendipity dictated a lot of early life. I recognized and built on my strengths. When I failed, the failure wasn’t as important as the next steps I took.

Forget about passion; go for self-awareness instead. Ask:

What are you avoiding? (There’s a reason, and don’t feel guilty about it.)
What activities or interactions do you most look forward to, anticipate, and hope for more of?
What activities or interactions do you value or prioritize on a daily basis?
What activities can you get lost in? (Time stops; you’re in the flow.)

These questions have paved my way to a happier or more satisfying life.

A Writer’s Guide to Permissions and Fair Use

Andrea Costa Photography / Flickr

Whenever you decide to directly quote, excerpt, or reproduce someone else’s work in your own—whether that’s a book, blog, magazine article, or something else—you have to consider, for each use, whether or not it’s necessary to seek explicit, legal permission from the work’s creator or owner.

Unfortunately, quoting or excerpting someone else’s work falls into one of the grayest areas of copyright law. There is no legal rule stipulating what quantity is OK to use without seeking permission from the owner or creator of the material. Major legal battles have been fought over this question, but there is still no black-and-white rule.

For understandable reasons, you might be seeking a “rule” to apply to reduce your risk or reduce time spent worrying about it. Probably the biggest “rule” that you’ll find—if you’re searching online or asking around—is: “Ask explicit permission for everything beyond X.”

What constitutes “X” depends on whom you ask. Some people say 300 words. Some say one line. Some say 10% of the word count.

But any rules you find are based on a general institutional guideline or a person’s experience, as well as their overall comfort level with the risk involved in directly quoting and excerpting work. That’s why opinions and guidelines vary so much. Furthermore, each and every instance of quoting/excerpting the same work may have a different answer as to whether you need permission.

So there is no one rule you can apply, only principles. So I hope to provide some clarity on those principles in this post.

When do you NOT need to seek permission?

You do not need to seek permission for work that’s in the public domain. This isn’t always a simple matter to determine, but any work published before 1923 is in the public domain. Some works published after 1923 are also in the public domain. Read this guide from Stanford about how to determine if a work is in the public domain.

You also do not need to seek permission when you’re simply mentioning the title or author of a work. It’s like citing a fact. Any time you state unadorned facts—like a list of the 50 states in the United States—you are not infringing on anyone’s copyright.

It’s also fine to link to something online from your website, blog, or publication. Linking does not require permission.

Finally, if your use falls within “fair use,” you do not need permission. This is where we enter the trickiest area of all when it comes to permissions.

What constitutes “fair use” and thus doesn’t require permission?

There are four criteria for determining fair use, which sounds tidy, but it’s not. These criteria are vague and open to interpretation. Ultimately, when disagreement arises over what constitutes fair use, it’s up to the courts to make a decision.

The four criteria are:

The purpose and character of the use. For example, a distinction is often made between commercial and not-for-profit/educational use. If the purpose of your work is commercial (to make money), that doesn’t mean you’re suddenly in violation of fair use. But it makes your case less sympathetic if you’re borrowing a lot of someone else’s work to prop up your own commercial venture.

The nature of the copyrighted work. Facts cannot be copyrighted. More creative or imaginative works generally get the strongest protection.

The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the entire quoted work. The law does not offer any percentage or word count here that we can go by. That’s because if the portion quoted is considered the most valuable part of the work, you may be violating fair use. That said, most publishers’ guidelines for authors offer a rule of thumb; at the publisher I worked at, that guideline was 200-300 words from a book-length work.

The effect of the use on the potential market for or value of the quoted work. If your use of the original work affects the likelihood that people will buy the original work, you can be in violation of fair use. That is: If you quote the material extensively, or in a way that the original source would no longer be required, then you’re possibly affecting the market for the quoted work. (Don’t confuse this criteria with the purpose of reviews or criticism. If a negative review would dissuade people from buying the source, this is not related to the fair use discussion in this post.)

To further explore what these four criteria mean in practice, be sure to read this excellent article by attorney Howard Zaharoff that originally appeared in Writer’s Digest magazine:  “A Writers’ Guide to Fair Use.”

In practice, if you’re only quoting a few lines from a full-length book, you are most likely within fair use guidelines, and do not need to seek permission. But understand this is a gray area, and every case is different.

When should you seek permission?

If you use someone’s copyrighted material in such a way that it might not be considered fair use, then you should ask for explicit permission. Remember that crediting the source does not remove the obligation to seek permission. It is expected that you always credit your source regardless of fair use; otherwise, you are plagiarizing.

To seek permission means contacting the copyright owner of the work (or their publisher or agent), and requesting permission to use the work. Most publishers have a formal process that requires a signed contract. Often, you are charged a fee for the use, anywhere from a few dollars to thousands of dollars. I’ve written a separate post explaining the process for seeking permissions, with a sample request form. 

But there is an unfortunate Catch-22 here. Once you start asking for permission—to reduce your risk—that gives the creator/owner of the work the opportunity to ask for money or refuse to give permission, even in cases where the use would actually be considered fair. So you can get taken advantage of if you’re overly cautious.

How to avoid the necessity of seeking permission

The best way to avoid seeking permission is to not quote or excerpt another person’s copyrighted work. Some believe that paraphrasing or summarizing the original—rather than quoting it—can get you off the hook, and in some cases, this may be acceptable. But be aware you can still be found in violation of fair use, and guilty of copyright infringement, when paraphrasing.

You can also try to restrict yourself to using work that is licensed and available under Creative Commons—which does not require you to seek permission if your use abides by certain guidelines. Learn more about Creative Commons.

What about using work from websites, blogs, or in other digital mediums?

The same rules apply to work published online as in more formal contexts, such as print books or magazines, but attitudes tend to be more lax on the Internet. When bloggers (or others) aggregate, repurpose, or otherwise excerpt copyrighted work, they typically view such use as “sharing” or “publicity” for the original author rather than as a copyright violation, especially if it’s for noncommercial or educational purposes. I’m not talking about wholesale piracy here, but about extensive excerpting or aggregating that would not be considered OK otherwise. In short, it’s a controversial issue.

What about using images, art, or other types of media?

The same rules apply to all types of work, whether written or visual.

Typically, you have to pay licensing or royalty fees for any photos or artwork you want to use in your own work. If you can’t find or contact the rights holder for an image, and it’s not in the public domain, then you cannot use it in your own work. You need explicit permission.

However, more and more images are being issued by rights holders under Creative Commons rather than traditional copyright. To search for such images, you can look under the “Creative Commons” category at Flickr or VisualHunt.

Note: If you find “rights-free images,” that doesn’t mean they are free to use. It simply means they are usually cheaper to pay for and overall less of a hassle.

No permission is needed to mention song titles, movie titles, names, etc.

You do not need permission to include song titles, movie titles, TV show titles—any kind of title—in your work. You can also include the names of places, things, events, and people in your work without asking permission. These are facts.

But: be very careful when quoting song lyrics and poetry

Because songs and poems are so short, it’s dangerous to use even 1 line without asking for permission, even if you think the use could be considered fair. However, it’s still fine to use song titles, poem titles, artist names, band names, movie titles, etc.

If you need personalized assistance

With more authors publishing independently than ever, this can be a tough issue to navigate without having an experienced editor or agent to guide you. If you need help, I recommend my colleague Kelly Figueroa-Ray, who has experience in permissions and proper use of citations.

For more help


12 Copyright Half-Truths by Lloyd Jassin at CopyLaw—addresses mistaken beliefs commonly held by authors; Jassin’s entire blog is very useful and worth reading
Citizen Media Law: Works Not Covered By Copyright

Is It Fair Use? 7 Questions to Ask Before You Use Copyrighted Material by lawyer Brad Frazer

Copyright Office FAQ: very helpful—addresses recipes, titles, ideas, names, and more

Very helpful interview with Paul Rapp, an intellectual property rights expert, over at Huffington Post. Discusses song lyrics, mentioning famous people, what constitutes fair use, and much more.
Are You Worried Your Work or Ideas Will Be Stolen?