Tudor Robins's Blog, page 20

Super Amazing Times

Russell Blake’s Amazing Times post hit me at just the right time.

This is my best sales month, so far, from Amazon. I’m not making the two million dollars Russell Blake references in this post. I’m not even making a living. But I’m making the most I’ve ever made from my writing … and I know, for a fact, there’s better coming (because this month, I’m being paid for sales from September 1 – 30, and my sales have gone up since then), and I have no reason to believe I won’t continue to grow my sales as more people discover my books, and I write more books.

So, amazing times. Yes they are.

And self-publishing? In case I haven’t been clear about this up until now: BEST DECISION EVER.

And to all those who have supported me: BEST READERS EVER.

Now, back to writing …

Wednesday Riders

That’s the new title.

Not Appaloosa Summer Sequel. Not Book Two. Not Appaloosa Summer’s little brother or sister.

It has an identity of its own – Wednesday Riders.

And I’ll be rolling out a cover, and then ARCS, and then announcing the release in the weeks, and months to come.

If you want to be the first to know about any of this stuff, just sign up for my newsletter.

Are you a Wednesday rider? Do you have a story about a group you rode with on a Wednesday? Do you have a picture?

If you send stories and / or pictures to me, along with your permission to use them, I’ll use them on Pinterest, or share them in some fun way with my other readers.

Living – every day

If you want to make the most out of life, I really recommend listening to this podcast from CBC’s The Current – and also the November 17 podcasts which preceded it, and which are linked to in the “Related” section at the bottom of the page (“Palliative care experts say it’s time for Canadians to talk about end of life care”).

I don’t find this talk about dying depressing – instead I find it essential, and hopeful.

One doctor, in this conversation, makes the point that there is never no hope – there is just hope for different things. Hope for one good day at a time. Hope to spend your time doing what’s most important to you.

I think, if you listen to these podcasts, you will be refocused on what’s important to you.

Also, while listening to them, two sayings came to mind. One was gifted to me many years ago – when I was pregnant with my first son – and my neighbour told me, “Enjoy each stage, and live it completely, and you won’t miss it, or have any regrets.”

Thank you Jan.

Then, just yesterday, another neighbour told me her husband stopped her one day, when they were in a frenzy of looking after their young children, and being run off their feet, and said, “Every day is a decision.”

I agree, completely.

So, another thing this post highlights is the value of having good neighbours and getting to know them.

When do I have time to listen to these podcasts? When I wash the floor, or fold the laundry. And, you know what, looking forward to listening to something great has allowed me to reframe my time spent looking after the house as time to look forward to. I get to listen to a podcast while I clean. I get to watch Netflix while I fold the laundry. Every day is a decision, and my decision is to enjoy taking care of our house.

(As long as I still have time to write!)

Weighing in

I went to the doctor’s today for my annual check-up.

I quite like going to the doctor’s because (a) I adore my doctor (b) I can walk there – ultra-convenient (c) I can finally get answers to some of the niggling little questions I’ve been dealing with for nine months (like, is it normal for my ears to have been popping all the time, every day, for nine months? Answer: no) and (d) it’s a time that’s all about me. Just a little time, but there it is. Me time.

There is, however, one part of the doctor’s visit that I dread every single time and it is the Showdown With The Nurse.

It doesn’t matter if I have the same nurse as the year before, or a different nurse, but there’s always that moment where she asks me to “pop on the scale” and I say, “Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t get weighed.”

The look on her face is always as though I’ve just said, “I don’t breathe oxygen.” And then, even though I’m a confident, articulate, forty-two year old woman, who has just said a very clear sentence, she has to chase it up.

“Excuse me?” or “What?” or “Never?” And I always say, “No, never.” Depending on my mood I sometimes add, “I had anorexia when I was younger, and being weighed isn’t good for me.”

And then the nurse (all the nurses) always say, “Is she OK with it?” (“she” is my doctor) and I always say, “Yes, she’s fine.” Which she is, because my doctor gets it, and, also my doctor sees me multiple times a year (my whole family attends the same practice) and she knows what I look like, and can tell whether I’m significantly bigger, or smaller, than she would expect. If I was, and she said, “I would now - for a medical reason – like to record your weight,” then I’d be good with that. But just because it’s always done? Not so much …

It’s a little thing, but it’s there, every year. And I’m someone who’s pretty prepared to deal with this. I’m someone who’s confident to insist on no weighing. I think it could be much harder for someone who knows weight is a trigger, but gets pushback on not being weighed. And that makes me sad.

Interestingly, when I had my children, with midwives, they were awesome about the weight thing from Day One. No problem at all. Never asked me to be weighed at my appointments; never worried about my weight. They measured my belly, and asked me how I was feeling, and observed the parts of my that weren’t growing a new baby, and I had two perfectly healthy pregnancies and never once knew how much I weighed.

It was great.

It’s a small thing, but I guess I’m just saying if there’s something in life that bothers you, and it’s done just because, and you’d feel better if it wasn’t done, then just ask, politely, for it not to be.

One day I’m hoping I’ll get the nurse who nods and says, “Great, fine, let’s move on to your blood pressure,” and we can skip all the awkwardness about the weight.

And, when I do, I’ll thank her.

You might also want to read Why Anorexia is so Complicated

After the editing

The time immediately following an intense period of revision / writing / editing can be weird. A manuscript has been foremost in my mind for weeks and then I send it to my editor, or to someone else involved in helping it become a book, and there’s a lull.

Now, to be honest, this lull is mostly symbolic, because while I’ve been doing the above-mentioned weeks of work in the manuscript in question, dozens of other things have piled up. However, there’s an empty space in my heart and my mind.

This last round of revisions on the next book after Appaloosa Summer, was one of the most intense I’ve ever gone through. And, I did something a little different when I was done.

I went winter camping.

And, you know, it seemed to work well. For the weekend my only concerns were warmth, shelter, and food. Anyone who has camped knows time and priorities get shifted while you’re living in a tent.

Now I’m back and ready to let a new manuscript crowd into my head. Oh yeah, and try to catch up on those dozens of other things that have fallen by the wayside …

Here’s what my time “after the editing” looked like:

Those tire tracks weren’t there when we arrived – we broke trail to get in.

There was lots more snow than in the city!

The “facilities” were primitive, but in a picturesque setting.

This isn’t where we slept – but there were all kinds of neat things to discover in the woods.

Wet snow, wet mittens. These will smell like campfire the rest of the time we own them …

So, that’s a recap of my post-revision weekend. Now back to work!

This, exactly

I’m tempted to just leave it at that, and send you to the brilliant Joe Konrath’s blunt post on the subject in question.

However, just in case, you don’t click through to the Newbie’s Guide to Publishing, I’m going to repeat this important message from there:

DON’T PAY ANYONE TO PUBLISH YOU.

Up until now I’ve been telling people this, but in a polite way. In a diplomatic way. In a “please make sure you know what you’re getting into before doing anything” way.

But I realize that people who don’t obsessively read publishing blogs like I do, and who haven’t actually self published, like I have, don’t necessarily get my subtleties. They nod, and say “OK, I’ll make sure I know what I’m getting into.” But they don’t.

I’m really not doing them any favours by being gentle in my message. So, no more. From now on it’s:

DON’T PAY ANYONE TO PUBLISH YOU.

If you want to discuss this further, or have any questions, feel free to send them my way.

In the meantime JUST DON’T DO IT.

Buy your books where you want to buy your books

Unlike many other people, that’s as close as I’m going to come to telling you where to buy your books. That link, by the way, is just one example. Lots and lots of people will tell you not to buy books at Walmart, or from Amazon, or they’ll say you must always try to buy your books at an independent bookstore first.

Fuddle duddle.

I suspect many of you don’t want to give in-depth thought to where you buy your books and, if so, good for you. Just buy them as, and when, and where, you please.

If you are giving thought to where you buy your books, and someone’s blog post, or a press release from an association, is telling you not to buy your books from Amazon (I’m going to use Amazon as my example, because in this pre-Christmas season, all the people I’ve seen trying to influence others, are telling them to stay away from Amazon) – then please ask yourself (1) Is the person who wrote that blog post fully informed? (2) Does the association who wrote that press release have a vested interest? (3) Why does somebody else think they have the right to tell you how to shop?

It will come as no surprise to any of you who have walked this earth for any length of time that very few issues are black and white. Very few organizations are “good” or “bad.” And things are rarely as they appear on the surface.

So, if you hear people saying:

(A) You MUST support poor, beleaguered independent bookstores - well, no, you mustn’t. You may if you want to (and if they make you want to). I’m not saying it’s easy to run a bookstore – because it’s not easy to run any business – but bookstores have some nice advantages. They have this sweet deal with publishers where they can return books that don’t sell. And guess what happens to author royalties when those books are returned? Yup, you got it – the bookstore gets their money back, and the publisher claws the author’s royalties back. I’m not going to weigh in on whether this is fair, or not, but it IS. That’s how it works. If you didn’t know that – if nobody telling you to only buy books from bookstores didn’t mention that – it might be an interesting piece of information.

(B) Amazon is evil, and crushes the small guy, and treats little people like crap, and is ruining the world. Well, from my perspective NO. At least to a lot of that. I’m the littlest of the little people, and Amazon treats me better, and pays me more for my second book, than I will ever get from my first book which was traditionally published and sold in bookstores. So, as it pertains to authors, the ones Amazon deals with directly get paid (IMHO) fairly. The others are not paid by Amazon - they’re paid by their publishers, and if they’re not getting a fair deal, that’s who they need to talk to. With regards to allegations of tax dodges and labour issues. Sure. It’s a huge company. I’m sure there are some issues. Just like there are issues with the massive companies that own the publishers that supply most of the books to bookstores. Just like there are issues with the working conditions at some of the printing companies that print those books. Some of the complaints I’ve heard about working conditions at Amazon’s US warehouses sound, quite frankly, like entitled whining from people who may not have worked some of the tough jobs I have in the past. Am I saying Amazon is perfect? No. I’m sure they have workers who need to be treated better. But before you boycott them for that, you need to look at working conditions and tax dodges for all big companies involved in making books. It’s simply not the case that dozens, and dozens are angels, and Amazon is the devil.

(C) Motherhood and apple pie. This is the kind of feeling some people have that meandering down your local main street and shopping at a local bookstore is good, while clicking online is bad. It’s a kind of lifestyle argument. I call nonsense on this one. If you like shopping, and you want to shop that way, please do. However, yesterday I was able to spend the entire afternoon volunteering at my sons’ school (for a Scholastic Book Fair, which is another post to come soon) while packages quietly piled up at home for me. To me, this is the lifestyle I want – using my time to interact with children, and raise money for their school, and shopping online lets me do this (plus, my husband works at Canada Post, so I think of all the people who are getting more money and extra hours for delivering during the Christmas season). See – I’m not saying you’re bad if you want to take your time and go shopping. But I am saying, it’s not cut and dried. Everyone has a different idea of what makes for a good lifestyle decision.

I know, in some circles, it’s cool, and trendy, and hip to bash Amazon, but like we’re always telling our twelve-year-old, it’s cooler to think for yourself!

Happy book buying – however you do it!

Something to say? Or nothing to say?

I feel stuck between the two above. Like I have so much to say – that’s why I’m now up to 39,500 almost-entirely new words on my manuscript written since Wednesday, November 5 – and like I can’t say any of it because, you know, that’s the whole point of publishing it as a book. For people to read it all together, when it’s ready.

I guess what I can talk about is this process, and how it takes me by surprise every time. How I should know by now that, after my editor’s first read-through, I’m going to completely trash a majority of the book – and I do mean a majority, although this time, at well over ninety per cent, it’s a pretty extreme case.

So, I should know that, because it always happens, but it also always catches me off guard. That I’m going to need to do this. That I’m going to want to do it. That, very quickly, it will be hard for me to believe the book was any other way than the new way, with the new words.

The other thing that’s so weird about it – and I still don’t have an explanation – is how I literally re-write / revise the book a minimum of a dozen times – and probably closer to twenty times – and I feel like each time I’m getting a little closer, and a little better and then, in one fell swoop, I turn the whole thing upside-down, and write completely new scenes, and characters, and kill old storylines, and characters and then that version – the one that’s really just been written once, very quickly – is usually very nearly the version that I publish and, also, it’s still the same story. Different words, same book. Maybe just a truer version of the book.

I asked my editor about this last time; how can this new, fresh, piece of work be OK to publish without also going through twenty revisions? And how can it still be the same story?

I don’t think either of us can nail it down, exactly, but I do think it links to something Hugh Howey said, that I’ve referenced before, that we’re not writing these stories – we’re remembering, and re-telling them. Maybe, for me, it takes all this writing around the perimeter of the real story, before enough layers are peeled back for me to really get at it. And then, finally, I see it glittering in front of me, and scribble it down, and all is good.

Or, maybe, I’ll send it to my editor and she’ll ask, “What on earth were you thinking, and why did you do this?”

All I can say is it’s been an awesome ride, and well worth it. A binge I wouldn’t trade in. An extended high.

But I’m not sure if I have the stamina to do it again, so I hope she likes it …

Love and Writing

If I had another degree, in addition to my English and Journalism degrees – if I had, say, a sciencey-type of degree, and I was looking for an interesting research topic, I would hunt down writers in the throes of a project, and I would also hunt down couples in the first fresh, over-the-moon phases of love, and I would compare their brains.

And I bet they’d be similar.

I’ve written (wait, quick word count check) 33,500 words in less than ten days. And in those ten days I also fed, clothed and got my children to school, attended a Remembrance Day Assembly, supervised a school field trip, presented a writing workshop, wrote two resumes, and hosted a friend in town from Washington DC for the weekend. I even made it to my Stretch class. In other words, when I have been writing the words have been POURING out of me.

I’m in love. I’m in glorious love with this manuscript right now. I want to be with it all the time. When I’m not with it, I’m thinking of it. My physical state mirrors it. If my protagonist is worried, my stomach stays clenched until I can write her out of her worry. When she’s happy, I sing, I smile all the time. I get up from my desk to see snowflakes, and think the world has never been so beautiful.

I know this state can’t last long. I know it’s fleeting, and precious. I want to make the most of it while it lasts. I figure I’ve got at least another 15,000 words to go before I can send it back to my editor.

Which is why I can’t write anything more in this blog post, right now. I want to get back to Scrivener. But I want to be able to look back on the days when I’m not as inspired, or I’m not as captivated, and remember what it’s like to be in love with my work.

So that’s what this post is for. To emphasize the love of writing.

Today, I love my writing!

Reader questions

Last week I received an email with some great questions from a second-year English and Creative Writing student at the University of Bolton in the UK.

I ended up writing quite a lengthy reply and so I thought I might as well post it here in case anybody else is interested in my answers to the same questions, which are:

Was it easy getting your books out there?
If you could change anything, would you?
Are you self-published, or agent published? Also, who with?
Please could you disclose five tips for anybody out there, concerning publishers and agents?

I’ll post my answers, as I sent them to her, below. However, I also want to mention that if you’re an author, this student is looking for more authors to answer these same questions. If you’d like to help her out, just email me and I’ll connect the two of you.

Here are my (very long) answers:

3) Are you a self-published or agent published? Also who with?

I’m actually going to answer this question first, because I think it’s important for you to understand my background to understand my answers to your other questions.

My first novel, Objects in Mirror, was traditionally published, by a small Canadian press specializing in children’s fiction. I don’t have an agent, and didn’t require an agent to submit to this press. As you probably know, had I wanted to submit to one of the major publishing houses (Random House, Harper Collins, etc.) I would have needed an agent.

With my second novel, Appaloosa Summer, there were three ways I could have gone (broadly speaking). I could have stayed with the same publisher, as they were willing to publish APS. I could have tried to get an agent, and approach a bigger publisher. Finally I could have self-published.

After weighing all my options, talking with many people, considering my experience with OIM, and taking into account all the research I had been doing, I decided to self-publish APS.

So, a short answer to your question, is that I’m both self and traditionally published, but I don’t have an agent and, based on my current situation, don’t think it likely I will ever sign with one.

1)Was it easy getting your books out there?

I’m going to take the liberty of splitting this question into three, because in my mind “out there” could reference simply getting a book published, or it could refer to distribution and / or marketing and promoting a book.

Getting published:

This was, for me, and I think it’s fair to say is, for ninety-nine per cent of people who try, very difficult with a traditional publisher. There are hoops to jump through, rules (written and unwritten) to play by, and long, long waits at every stage. To give you a more precise idea, I completed the first draft of OIM in 2007 and it was published in spring 2013.

Self-publishing, on the other hand, is very easy. You decide which steps you’re going to follow, you follow those steps, and when you have a product you deem to be ready, you upload it and, in the case of Amazon, it’s available in often less than twenty-four hours.

Marketing and promotion:

This is about the same for both methods in that, unless you’re a huge star / celebrity, you will have to do pretty much all of your own marketing and promotion.

To give you some examples, with OIM I paid for my own book launch, I lined up, and paid for, my own author photo, I found a designer and paid for my own website. I paid for multiple review copies and sent them myself, because it took too long for them to be sent from head office, and I could never be sure they had been sent. There were also things that fell through the cracks because I didn’t do them, because I thought my publisher would, but my publisher didn’t, so nobody did.

With APS, my promotion has been less expensive, more effective, and I’ve had more options because I can do whatever I want to promote the book. I’ve given away well over a thousand free copies, and that has probably been the single most effective promotional activity I’ve done. Those copies have given me access to new audiences, have secured thoughtful reviews for me, and haven’t really cost me a cent. The book was already written, formatted, uploaded, etc. – I just had to choose which days to make it free on Amazon. This is not something I would have been able to do if the book had been traditionally published.

Distribution:

There is no doubt traditional publishers are still the best at print distribution. If you want your book in bookstores, traditional publishers have the sales forces in place to convince more bookstores to carry your book than you, as a single author, could ever reach on your own.

Having said that, your distribution “push” will almost always be limited to the first few months after publication. Many bookstores will order a few copies of your book when it first comes out, but after that – unless they have readers constantly coming in and asking for copies – they likely won’t order more, and the sales rep will have moved on to recommending other, newer books.

My experience with OIM was that a certain number of print books sold right away, and that was pretty much it. After that it slowed to a trickle, which is where it remains.

If you’re talking about eBook distribution, things are much different. It’s very easy to distribute digital books. Amazon, of course, is the main market, although there are others as well.

My personal belief is that self-publishers generally understand how Amazon works better than many traditional publishers do, and are able to price, describe, and categorize their book to sell more effectively than many publishers. My first book simply does not sell as an eBook because my publisher has not made it available on Amazon, has priced it VERY high ($12.99 – actually higher than the print book), and does not promote it in any way. APS, on the other hand, is available on Kindle and in Kindle Unlimited (“Netflix for books”) and costs $2.99, and sells steadily and consistently as an eBook.

The sales trends are also very different with eBooks – an eBook is never “sold out” or off the shelves (unless you take it off). So, whereas OIM initially sold about one thousand print copies, and will likely never sell many more, APS initially sold just one or two copies a day, but has been not only staying steady, but growing month over month as more people have time to discover it. So, the sales trends for many print books would be a sharp spike, sharp drop-off, and then not much else. For a strong eBook, it could easily be steady and solid growth – or maintenance of steady sales – over a long period of time.

2) If you could change anything, would you?

Definitely. If I could go back in time, knowing what I know now, I would change one of two things; when I got the publishing contract for Objects in Mirror, I would:

a) Pay a lawyer to review it. When you’re signing a contract, you (almost) never think you’ll want to break that contract. This is why a lawyer is essential. They aren’t emotional. They’ve seen lots of people who want to break contracts. They have the knowledge, and objectivity to help you create a contract you won’t want to break or, if you do eventually want to, one you have an exit strategy from.

b) If I was unable to get certain concessions written into that contract, I would walk away from it. I grew up in a time when a publishing contract said you were a “real” writer. I definitely had that point of view and, at the time of signing that contract, I felt recognized. However, looking back now, I know the sign of being a professional is doing business professionally. If you can’t get what you want in a contract, you shouldn’t sign it.

4) Please could you disclose five tips for anybody out there concerning publishers and agents?

Here are my tips for anybody deciding to publish their work:

1) Think hard about your personality and your goals. What do you hope to accomplish by getting published? Do you want recognition and awards? Do you want to reach individual readers? Do you want to reach a targeted audience? Do you care how much money you earn on each sale? Do you expect to be a bestseller? How independent are you? How confident are you?

Traditional publishing, for example, is probably your best bet if you want recognition and awards. I would say self-publishing is better if you want to reach individual readers.

2) As part of the above, think about your timelines. There are exceptions to every rule, but for ninety-nine per cent of people pursuing traditional publishing, it will be a multi-year endeavour. It would not be unreasonable for it to take a year to secure an agent. It could then take many months / a year, to secure a publishing contract. After that, it will likely be at least a year before your book is published. And this is all IF you secure an agent and / or a publishing contract. Many, many writers never do. This risk / length of time may seem reasonable to you – after all, you’ve probably spent a long time writing your book – if so, great.

If not, you can self-publish on a timeline of your choosing. Some people bring out a new book every month. Some four times a year. Some, every couple of years. Right now, I’m aiming for a new book every nine months.

3) What are your expectations? In the majority of cases it is reasonable for you to expect that a traditional publisher will provide you with a cover and design for your book. However, you will not likely have any say into how those look. It’s reasonable to expect that a publisher will assign you to an editor and then, after that, a copy editor. You will be expected to work with those people to make the book suitable for publication according to the publisher’s standards. It’s also reasonable for you to expect your publisher’s sales force to sell your book into the bookstores they have relationships with.

Unless you have a specific reason to believe otherwise, I would say you should not expect that your publisher will do very much marketing for you. This is likely mostly going to fall on your shoulders.

So, if you want a publisher so you don’t have to source, and pay for, an editor, and so you don’t have to source, and pay for, a cover designer, that’s great. If you want a publisher so you don’t have to market and promote your book, I think you will be disappointed and find you have to do that anyway.

4) No matter which route you take, make your book the very best you can. It’s a tiny number of unsolicited manuscripts that ever get traditionally published and, for yours to be one of those, it already has to be very polished by the time you send it to agents / publishers.

If you’re self-publishing, the readers will be your judges. If nobody thinks enough of your book to recommend it to their friends, you can do all the promotion you want, and sales will grind to a halt. On the other hand, even without promotion, it’s possible for a book to sell if readers are moved by it, and take it on themselves to recommend it to friends.

5) Please don’t give your rights away lightly. Think hard before you sign any contracts, or commit to any agreements, no matter how you publish. You worked long and hard on your book – you will be very sad if you find you can’t sell it the way you want because somebody else has the rights to it. An example I’ll use is the terms for entering into Amazon’s Kindle Select program. Amazon agrees to give you xyz benefits in return for you granting them exclusivity to sell your Kindle book for ninety days. This is very important. Of course you want to make sure the terms are fair in the first place, but even if you find you don’t like them, you can be out after ninety days, and make a different choice. Be wary of people who want lifetime commitments from you. A lifetime is a long time!