Nenia Campbell's Blog - Posts Tagged "greed"
I Wanna Be a Billionaire So Freakin' Bad?
It's been a while since I've posted an essay/rant, and this is something that's been on my mind for a long time. I just watched the Southpark episode making fun of EA games, and it made me wonder.
Why do people need so much money?
We're seeing the so-called Rags-to-Riches fairytale more than ever with people who started in 'obscurity' and then rose to fame.
And yet... when these people are interviewed, they don't seem humbled or even particularly grateful to their fanbase. Yes, talent is important, but talent would be nothing if you didn't have people willing to support you--either fiscally, socially, or even by word of mouth.
You can't take all that money with you, and I am not cool with the idea of heirs and heiresses--I feel like that only exacerbates the effect of entitlement, knowing that you have a nest egg. Money should be contingent on effort.
Shouldn't these people give something back? Look at what Bill Gates and Paul Newman did--they gave so much.
I won't lie--I wouldn't mind the idea of spending the rest of my life being fiscally secure. But there's secure, and there's hedonistic. And it definitely shouldn't be about a race to the Fortune 500.
I'm going to make a resolution, right here and now, that if I ever find myself with more money I could possibly spend in one lifetime, I'll carve out a chunk for my younger siblings' higher education, make sure my parents live out their twilight years as comfortably as my dawning ones, and set up a scholarship fund at my three alma maters.
Why do people need so much money?
We're seeing the so-called Rags-to-Riches fairytale more than ever with people who started in 'obscurity' and then rose to fame.
And yet... when these people are interviewed, they don't seem humbled or even particularly grateful to their fanbase. Yes, talent is important, but talent would be nothing if you didn't have people willing to support you--either fiscally, socially, or even by word of mouth.
You can't take all that money with you, and I am not cool with the idea of heirs and heiresses--I feel like that only exacerbates the effect of entitlement, knowing that you have a nest egg. Money should be contingent on effort.
Shouldn't these people give something back? Look at what Bill Gates and Paul Newman did--they gave so much.
I won't lie--I wouldn't mind the idea of spending the rest of my life being fiscally secure. But there's secure, and there's hedonistic. And it definitely shouldn't be about a race to the Fortune 500.
I'm going to make a resolution, right here and now, that if I ever find myself with more money I could possibly spend in one lifetime, I'll carve out a chunk for my younger siblings' higher education, make sure my parents live out their twilight years as comfortably as my dawning ones, and set up a scholarship fund at my three alma maters.
25 Things Every Indie Author Should Know
1. If you are vending inferior goods, don't be surprised if you don't have any takers. You wouldn't buy moldy food or a shirt that's falling apart, right?
2. Do set your book at a reasonable price. Cheaper is probably better. People are more willing to branch out and experiment if the cost to them is low.
3. Your readers are not walking bags of money. Don't treat them as if they are. They are people with thoughts, feelings, and opinions, and their respect and interest must be won, not wrested.
4. Big egos are lethal. If you are your own worst critic, nothing anyone says will bother you and advice will be easier to stomach if you admit to yourself that you are not perfect.
5. What happens on the internet does not stay on the internet. Anything you say can and will be held against you. Don't be a jerk. Not just because you'll inevitably get caught, but also because it's just not professional.
6. Don't take your readers for granted. Having a steady following doesn't mean people won't notice when you let your writing go.
7. Don't write things you're not comfortable with, even if it's a popular trend. Nothing is more painful to read than an awkwardly written sex scene.
8. Do read over your stories. Spell-check doesn't catch all typos--in fact, sometimes it causes them--and it doesn't do anything for grammar.
9. Do feel free to engage with your readers. If you're enthusiastic and positive, other people will be, too. Readers don't have to stay readers--they can also be friends!
10. Don't attack people for negative reviews. If they were unhappy, it was probably for a reason. Pay attention to their criticism and be honest with yourself: is it warranted? If yes, read over your draft again and see if anything needs fixing. Feel free to ask for elaboration (politely), but don't be pushy. If no, ignore them. Seriously. Some books just aren't for some people.
11. Don't be derivative. No matter how clever you are, people will know when you are copying other works and writers. Dare to be different!
12. Do write flawed and realistic characters. There is a Mary Sue Litmus Test that can tell you how cliche your character is. Take advantage of it.
13. Do be an active user. Presence is great publicity. It lets people get to know you and, subsequently, your books. Plus, you'll meet a lot of interesting people, and it'll make your readers feel like their opinions are actually heard.
14. Don't get involved in internet drama. It's like trying to rollerblade on a mountain of gravel. Not just a bad idea and potentially dangerous, but also a total downhill slope.
15. Do be passionate about your writing.
16. Do participate in ARC giveaways, sales, special events, interviews, conventions, tours, and other promos. It's a great way to build hype around a book and meet new people.
17. Do trim your books. If you find yourself repeating words or overusing adverbs, remove them. Unnecessary passages and excessive descriptions can also go. Remember: if a passage is boring to you, your reader will find it doubly so.
18. Write what you love. Your work will be so much better because of it.
19. Don't preach at your readers. Unless you're writing to a very specific audience, excessive religious, political, ethnic, and/or gender-based undertones should be treated with caution. Be expecting more negative reviews just because of that.
20. Don't rely on tropes, cliches, and stereotypes, unless there's a point (i.e. hipster irony). If you find yourself resorting to stereotypes try to think about the situation in a new way.
21. Do think of your characters as actual people. Understand that their motives and thoughts might differ from yours, and that sometimes they will frustrate you, creep you out, and/or piss you off.
22. Do have a plot. Few people can do a successful character-driven story. Plus, your plot is a handy guideline to keep you and your story on track.
23. Preview your formatting, especially when converting files to different formats. Sometimes automatic settings don't transfer, and everything gets screwed up.
24. Make reading as easy and effortless as possible. Don't use tiny, hard-to-read font. Do be concise. Don't use words just because they look fancy, especially if you're not 100% sure what they mean. Don't rely on thesauruses; sometimes the words they supply are only related to, or approximations of, the words listed. Do use spacing correctly. Do vary the length of your sentences to keep the flow of the narrative. Don't have large, blocky paragraphs of text.
25. Don't be afraid to research! With the internet, fact-checking is easier than ever before. You might be surprised by what you learn.
And most importantly--be professional. If you want to write for a career, think of your readers as your bosses. Even if you don't agree with your boss, you wouldn't insult him or stalk him and his friends, right? Nope! Not if you want him to keep giving you your paycheck.
Happy writing!
xNenia
2. Do set your book at a reasonable price. Cheaper is probably better. People are more willing to branch out and experiment if the cost to them is low.
3. Your readers are not walking bags of money. Don't treat them as if they are. They are people with thoughts, feelings, and opinions, and their respect and interest must be won, not wrested.
4. Big egos are lethal. If you are your own worst critic, nothing anyone says will bother you and advice will be easier to stomach if you admit to yourself that you are not perfect.
5. What happens on the internet does not stay on the internet. Anything you say can and will be held against you. Don't be a jerk. Not just because you'll inevitably get caught, but also because it's just not professional.
6. Don't take your readers for granted. Having a steady following doesn't mean people won't notice when you let your writing go.
7. Don't write things you're not comfortable with, even if it's a popular trend. Nothing is more painful to read than an awkwardly written sex scene.
8. Do read over your stories. Spell-check doesn't catch all typos--in fact, sometimes it causes them--and it doesn't do anything for grammar.
9. Do feel free to engage with your readers. If you're enthusiastic and positive, other people will be, too. Readers don't have to stay readers--they can also be friends!
10. Don't attack people for negative reviews. If they were unhappy, it was probably for a reason. Pay attention to their criticism and be honest with yourself: is it warranted? If yes, read over your draft again and see if anything needs fixing. Feel free to ask for elaboration (politely), but don't be pushy. If no, ignore them. Seriously. Some books just aren't for some people.
11. Don't be derivative. No matter how clever you are, people will know when you are copying other works and writers. Dare to be different!
12. Do write flawed and realistic characters. There is a Mary Sue Litmus Test that can tell you how cliche your character is. Take advantage of it.
13. Do be an active user. Presence is great publicity. It lets people get to know you and, subsequently, your books. Plus, you'll meet a lot of interesting people, and it'll make your readers feel like their opinions are actually heard.
14. Don't get involved in internet drama. It's like trying to rollerblade on a mountain of gravel. Not just a bad idea and potentially dangerous, but also a total downhill slope.
15. Do be passionate about your writing.
16. Do participate in ARC giveaways, sales, special events, interviews, conventions, tours, and other promos. It's a great way to build hype around a book and meet new people.
17. Do trim your books. If you find yourself repeating words or overusing adverbs, remove them. Unnecessary passages and excessive descriptions can also go. Remember: if a passage is boring to you, your reader will find it doubly so.
18. Write what you love. Your work will be so much better because of it.
19. Don't preach at your readers. Unless you're writing to a very specific audience, excessive religious, political, ethnic, and/or gender-based undertones should be treated with caution. Be expecting more negative reviews just because of that.
20. Don't rely on tropes, cliches, and stereotypes, unless there's a point (i.e. hipster irony). If you find yourself resorting to stereotypes try to think about the situation in a new way.
21. Do think of your characters as actual people. Understand that their motives and thoughts might differ from yours, and that sometimes they will frustrate you, creep you out, and/or piss you off.
22. Do have a plot. Few people can do a successful character-driven story. Plus, your plot is a handy guideline to keep you and your story on track.
23. Preview your formatting, especially when converting files to different formats. Sometimes automatic settings don't transfer, and everything gets screwed up.
24. Make reading as easy and effortless as possible. Don't use tiny, hard-to-read font. Do be concise. Don't use words just because they look fancy, especially if you're not 100% sure what they mean. Don't rely on thesauruses; sometimes the words they supply are only related to, or approximations of, the words listed. Do use spacing correctly. Do vary the length of your sentences to keep the flow of the narrative. Don't have large, blocky paragraphs of text.
25. Don't be afraid to research! With the internet, fact-checking is easier than ever before. You might be surprised by what you learn.
And most importantly--be professional. If you want to write for a career, think of your readers as your bosses. Even if you don't agree with your boss, you wouldn't insult him or stalk him and his friends, right? Nope! Not if you want him to keep giving you your paycheck.
Happy writing!
xNenia
The Cost of Free: A Few Notes on Cheap/Free Online Publications
One of my friends recently directed me to an author rant bemoaning the devastating effect free books had on her own profit margins and claiming that they were hurting her business. Really? I'm not going to name names because gossip is not very polite. (Google is more into that sort of thing than I am.) Chronic foot-in-mouth-disease is not the topic of the day, however. No. Today, I'm going to talk about why cheap and free is actually a very good thing--particularly in the here and now, in the age of social networking.
I feel quite strongly about this because I started out on fictionpress.com, where I posted for several years. I wrote for free, because it was a free site, and really, it's a good thing I did because looking back on what I wrote as a teenager I think I would feel really guilty if people actually paid money for what I wrote. It wasn't bad, mind, but it was clearly written by a teenager.
And you know what? I didn't care I wasn't making money. Granted, I was in high school at the time so making my own livelihood wasn't an issue. But the thrill of knowing that people were actually reading my--yes, MY--books was infinitely more valuable. Even better was the fact that, because my stuff was free, people were more willing to branch out and try my atypical plots. And some of them liked it! And became fans! And gave me really good writing advice!
For free!
I ended up leaving the site because of the massive plagiarism attacks. People seem to be under the impression that if you post your work for free you must not care about it, and that it's fair game. I blame this attitude on people who tote the idea that the only good books you can find out there are the ones that cost money. I can think of about ten books offhand written by indie authors that are currently available for $3 or less (some are even free) on kindle that are 10x better than that erotica novel that shall not be named, but rhymes with thrifty even though the price of it now is anything but. And that book initially started off free, too.
Free books are good because they make more people read your books. Yes, it's nice to get money for your writing, but I think what a lot of people fail to take into account is the fact that retail-priced books are expensive, and with the economy being as crap as it is, a lot of people don't have the money to spend on them. But cheap books, and free books? You're making your stuff accessible to more people, and therefore opening the gates to more reviews and publicity. I think people underestimate the power of word-of-mouth. That's how Twilight and certain other over-hyped books became so famous. And that's also how so many writers ended up on thousands of blacklists within the last two years. Word spreads fast.
Now that I do hope to make a career out of writing, my books are no longer free (although I am more than willing to post the odd teaser for occasional promotions--wink wink). But that doesn't mean that I'm against the idea of free books, or that I'm going to charge $7.99 for an ebook that hasn't had any professional editing (seriously, who does that?), or that I'm going to be screaming mad if a group of friends pools their money to buy ONE copy of my book so they can all take turns reading it. In fact, I'm down with that idea. Yay for people reading my books! The more the merrier--especially if they all write reviews, or come find me on GR, or tell their friends about my books.
People love free stuff. That's not going to change. Ever. It makes us super happy, and that means people are going to be in a better frame of mind to read your book. I'm certainly more judgmental about books I've paid good money for than books I've gotten for a buck, or for free. That's why I enabled lending for the kindle editions of my books, and signed up for the package where plus users can check out my book for free as part of their one-free-book/month perk. No, you can't get rich off free, but you can get famous off free.
Plus, starting out free really makes you take into consideration what makes a writer worthy of spent money. A lot of my old fans purchased my books, and in anticipation of this I spent a lot of time revising and making my books new, because I didn't want readers to feel like they were paying money to read the exact same story they already read for free. I added new scenes, tweaked character development, made back stories more complicated, and really upped the amp in terms of quality. My books are still a long ways from perfect, but I think they are worth the $2-3 dollars I've set them as. More importantly, my readers seem to think so, too.
I finally feel like I'm on my way to fulfilling my dream of being a published writer--and it's all thanks to free.
I feel quite strongly about this because I started out on fictionpress.com, where I posted for several years. I wrote for free, because it was a free site, and really, it's a good thing I did because looking back on what I wrote as a teenager I think I would feel really guilty if people actually paid money for what I wrote. It wasn't bad, mind, but it was clearly written by a teenager.
And you know what? I didn't care I wasn't making money. Granted, I was in high school at the time so making my own livelihood wasn't an issue. But the thrill of knowing that people were actually reading my--yes, MY--books was infinitely more valuable. Even better was the fact that, because my stuff was free, people were more willing to branch out and try my atypical plots. And some of them liked it! And became fans! And gave me really good writing advice!
For free!
I ended up leaving the site because of the massive plagiarism attacks. People seem to be under the impression that if you post your work for free you must not care about it, and that it's fair game. I blame this attitude on people who tote the idea that the only good books you can find out there are the ones that cost money. I can think of about ten books offhand written by indie authors that are currently available for $3 or less (some are even free) on kindle that are 10x better than that erotica novel that shall not be named, but rhymes with thrifty even though the price of it now is anything but. And that book initially started off free, too.
Free books are good because they make more people read your books. Yes, it's nice to get money for your writing, but I think what a lot of people fail to take into account is the fact that retail-priced books are expensive, and with the economy being as crap as it is, a lot of people don't have the money to spend on them. But cheap books, and free books? You're making your stuff accessible to more people, and therefore opening the gates to more reviews and publicity. I think people underestimate the power of word-of-mouth. That's how Twilight and certain other over-hyped books became so famous. And that's also how so many writers ended up on thousands of blacklists within the last two years. Word spreads fast.
Now that I do hope to make a career out of writing, my books are no longer free (although I am more than willing to post the odd teaser for occasional promotions--wink wink). But that doesn't mean that I'm against the idea of free books, or that I'm going to charge $7.99 for an ebook that hasn't had any professional editing (seriously, who does that?), or that I'm going to be screaming mad if a group of friends pools their money to buy ONE copy of my book so they can all take turns reading it. In fact, I'm down with that idea. Yay for people reading my books! The more the merrier--especially if they all write reviews, or come find me on GR, or tell their friends about my books.
People love free stuff. That's not going to change. Ever. It makes us super happy, and that means people are going to be in a better frame of mind to read your book. I'm certainly more judgmental about books I've paid good money for than books I've gotten for a buck, or for free. That's why I enabled lending for the kindle editions of my books, and signed up for the package where plus users can check out my book for free as part of their one-free-book/month perk. No, you can't get rich off free, but you can get famous off free.
Plus, starting out free really makes you take into consideration what makes a writer worthy of spent money. A lot of my old fans purchased my books, and in anticipation of this I spent a lot of time revising and making my books new, because I didn't want readers to feel like they were paying money to read the exact same story they already read for free. I added new scenes, tweaked character development, made back stories more complicated, and really upped the amp in terms of quality. My books are still a long ways from perfect, but I think they are worth the $2-3 dollars I've set them as. More importantly, my readers seem to think so, too.
I finally feel like I'm on my way to fulfilling my dream of being a published writer--and it's all thanks to free.
