Chris Baty's Blog, page 222

9 Questions for Pubslush, NaNoWriMo 2012 Sponsor

As the end of NaNoWriMo approaches, you may be wondering what to do with your manuscript after all the revisions and editing. Make sure to check out the soon-to-come I Wrote a Novel, Now What? page on our site. In the meantime, Pubslush, one of NaNoWriMo 2012’s sponsors, makes its pitch for why you should consider launching a campaign for your book on their site. Check out our sponsors page, too!

Why is your company named Pubslush? 

The name is a portmanteau, joining publishing and slush. The slush pile (where unsolicited manuscripts are set aside when sent to publishing houses) is the basis for the concept: bringing the slush pile online and letting real readers decide what books should be published. We’re re-branding the slush pile as something positive for the new age of publishing.

If Pubslush were an animal, what kind of animal would it be? 

Perhaps a monkey. We’re fun, free, and nimble, running around disrupting the industry. Plus we think we’re pretty cute.

I’ve heard it been said that “Pubslush is the publishing lovechild of American Idol and Tom’s Shoes.” Why is that?

On Pubslush, readers essentially decide what books get published. Also, for every book sold by our independent publishing imprint, Pubslush Press, a children’s book is donated to a child in need. Authors using the site to fundraise can choose to donate a portion of their proceeds to the Pubslush Foundation, committed to children’s literacy initiatives worldwide.

In these ways, Pubslush combines the crowd-sourcing component of American Idol with the philanthropy component of Tom’s Shoes.

Does it cost a lot of money to publish with Pubslush?

Well, Pubslush is a platform to publish successfully, meaning authors don’t actually publish their work with Pubslush (unless they’re acquired by our imprint). Most often, authors use Pubslush to raise money and understand their audience and then select whichever publishing route they prefer: authors are free to use the funds they raise to self-publish, or as proof of a successful Pubslush campaign to entice agents and publishers. Joining Pubslush is completely free to authors and there is absolutely no risk.

Authors who use the platform to raise funds and understand their audience pay a 4% commission if their fundraising campaigns are successful. If authors are acquired by the Pubslush imprint, there is no cost whatsoever.

Since there are other crowdfunding sites out there, why should an author choose Pubslush instead of, say, Kickstarter?

Pubslush is a crowd-funding platform strictly for books only. Authors represent a unique subset of the creative community, and we felt it was necessary to provide them with their own platform.

We also provide analytics to help authors understand their initial audience and tools for authors to engage with their readers and build their following. On other crowd-funding sites, books are often overlooked when positioned next to extremely dynamic and visual projects. This is non-issue on Pubslush. Also, we use flexible funding so authors keep the money they raise even if they fail to meet their goal. This is because the costs associated with publishing can vary greatly and any amount of money can help.

Beyond that, Pubslush is a community of trendsetting readers committed to bypassing the bureaucracy of the publishing industry and giving back. We are completely global and offer the most competitive pricing in the industry. Finally, if authors seek to be published by Pubslush’s philanthropic publishing imprint, we only acquire books that are on Pubslush first. 

As a writer, I know a lot about things like foreshadowing and imagery, but analytics? Why are analytics important?

Market analytics are super important on Pubslush. The question, “who is your audience” is ubiquitous in publishing, and we aim to answer this in advance of publication. By using Pubslush before actually publishing a book, authors can produce books with built-in demand and collect valuable information about the initial market that would otherwise be inaccessible.

This includes information such as age, gender, referral traffic, click through rates, and geography, enabling a more targeted, advanced marketing campaign. Actionable insights about initial audience will undoubtedly help sell more books and decrease costs by eliminating futile marketing efforts. The platform also encourages readers to leave feedback for books and allows authors to survey their audience much like a focus group.

What’s the single most important tip you’d tell a first-time author about publishing his or her book?

The most important thing an author can do to be successful on Pubslush is to research and prepare a well-thought-out campaign strategy prior to submitting their book. This means coming up with a promotion schedule and diligently working to garner attention for your book. Also, uploading a video is paramount to the success of a campaign. A video is a very easy, personal opportunity to share the story behind your book.

Tell us about a Pubslush success story.

Since our launch we’ve seen several success stories on Pubslush with individual book campaigns raising upwards of $20,000. Through our independent publishing imprint, we’ve also just acquired our debut title for publication in 2013. The book, a beautiful mess, was selected for publication after running a successful independent campaign.

Will Pubslush work with authors who write about pirates?

WE LOVE PIRATES! Write about pirates and bring them to life on Pubslush!

  is a global, crowdfunded publishing platform for authors to raise funds, gauge their readership, and publish successfully. Our publishing imprint, powered by readers, acquires books from the platform, and for every book sold, donates a children’s book to a child in need. 

Images courtesy of Pubslush.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 28

Today’s cover is brought to you by Bob Aufuldish!

Redwood by J Vandersande

In the unforgiving forests of Varrow, the Rahlan outlaws are scattered. Starvation threatens to destroy them before the Huntsman even has a chance, and many are driven to theft and murder just to stay alive. The cost of survival is becoming too high; something Tymah Redwood knows more than most. Known only for her escape from death row and from the grips of the Huntsman—something that earned her her infamous outlaw status—she now lives with the sacrifices she once made to stay alive.

Her past haunts her, but it is rivaled by the daunting struggles that the future threatens to bring. As winter draws closer, Ty is forced to take desperate measures in an attempt to ensure the survival of the small band of outlaws that she now leads. But it only takes one, fatal mistake during a raid on a town to unravel everything she had been fighting for.

Arrested for the highest count of treason against the crown and faced with the same death sentence she escaped once before, Ty never expects to be presented with one last chance for survival, least of all one from the Huntsman himself, the man so determined to rid Varrow of its outlaw scum.

The choice she has been given remains unchanged from the one made once before, but this time, Ty knows that her life is not the only one that now hangs in the balance. In the forests she was taken from hides Ren: the orphaned, youthful brother of Ty’s lover, who without her, doesn’t have a chance at survival. Tymah Redwood is no stranger to taking lives, but the bargain that the Huntsman offers this time might have a higher price than she is willing to pay.

Bob Aufuldish is a partner in the San Francisco area-based design firm Aufuldish & Warinner and a Professor at the California College of the Arts, where he has taught graphic design and typography since 1991. In recent years his professional practice has focused on work for cultural institutions. His work has been selected for many competitions and publications, among them AIGA 50 Books of the Year. He was elected into the Alliance Graphique Internationale in 2011.

Week 4, Final Boss

So I half-pantsed this novel, which means that with each new day, I’ve made up something else. I’ve created characters I thought were interesting, only to abandon them later because I didn’t know what to do with them. I have discovered a number of gaping plot holes and continuity issues in my novel. When I’m bored, my writing sounds boring. I yawn as I write it. I yawn as I read it over.

I have been told by a number of people that Week 2 is the hardest for many people. That’s when most Wrimos get discouraged, lose their enthusiasm for their novel, or become overwhelmed with life, and school, and work, and that bug that seems to be going around lately. It feels like such sweet, sweet relief to succumb to the challenges of Week 2 and await the turkey and mashed potatoes (if you celebrate American Thanksgiving) during Week 3.

But Week 4 is a whole other beast. I’ve never had the privilege of having to deal with Week 4 because I’ve never won NaNo before. I’ve never even come close to winning, in fact. But now that I’m here, on track, and well on my way to 50K, boy am I dealing with it. Week 4 is everything Week 2 is, but with added guilt.

My enthusiasm for my novel is long gone. I already have plans for researching and writing something else, and I’m trying not to get too excited by that because if I do, coming back to my current novel will feel like coming back to a dry well. The end is in sight, but it’s all vague, and janky, and not how I imagined it! And all of this is coupled with the conviction that if I stop now, I’ll never be able to forgive myself for giving up.

This week is my Final Boss week. In video game parlance, that means that it’s my hardest challenge yet, and is largely uncharted territory. As an excellent Final Boss ought to do, it takes all the problems I’ve dealt with since the beginning of the month, and throws them at me all at once. I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing, but the only thing that keeps me going is the fact that I know what I’ve done already.

I have sat down nearly daily, hammered out a few pages in the span of two to four hours and managed to make my word count. I have sat through days where the idea of writing three hundred more words felt like writing the long and involved Epic of Gilgamesh, and days when two thousand words whipped by as fast as See Spot Run. (Remember those days? I do… just barely…)

So I sit down today, just like I probably will tomorrow, and I give myself the briefest pep talk of all time: “Dude, I did this yesterday. I can do it today.” And then I do. It takes hours, but I know I can do it because I’ve done it before, and because I know I know how. The parts I enjoy are fewer in number and much shorter—sometimes even just a sentence—but I tend to them as I would tend to little buds of baby’s breath sprouting in the middle of the tundra.

How do you see, navigate, or experience Week 4? Do you NaNoWriMo veterans have any tips for making it through this last stretch of the month?

— Ari

Photo by Flickr user Monda@NoTelling.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 27

Today’s cover was designed by Tim Belonax!

Pop by Alice Newton

There are two types of people in the world: those inside the Bubble, and those Out of it.

Brielle has known this since she was little. It’s simply the way of the world, her mother would tell her gently. And after a disastrous attempt at escape that left her family with too many scars, Brielle accepts this fact. She plays by the Outsider’s rules. Goes to the Outsider-created classrooms, follows the Regulations. She takes care of her tired mother and ridiculously-cheery brother.

But above all, Bri cares for Christa.

Christa, the quiet girl with silky, hay-colored hair and absurdly green eyes, who burrows into her books and curls her knees into her chest. Christa, with her small smiles and peculiar grace and intelligent brain overflowing with knowledge. Christa, who is warm and solid and sweet—who grounds her when the Bubble gets to be too much, who tastes like apples on Brielle’s tongue.

But the thing is, Christa is smart enough to get out of the Bubble. Actually, she’s smart enough to do damn near whatever she wants, and she deserves to go Outside. Outside, where there is knowledge matching her own, where there are verdant forests and sparkling seas and brilliant white citadels. (At least, that’s what people say the Outside is like)

But although Christa may not belong in the Bubble, she belongs to Bri. Because Christa is everything to Brielle. Everything, and there’s nothing in the world—inside the Bubble or Out of it—that could keep them from each other.

Which means the idiotic Outsider who took Christa last night? They’d better start running.

Tim Belonax is a designer, writer and educator whose work has been awarded, retweeted, criticized, and passed over by individuals and institutions of high regard. He is the Social Impact Co-Chair at AIGASF as well as a Senior Lecturer at California College of the Arts. He currently works for your favorite love/hate relationship on the internet: Facebook. See what he made in the past year, here.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 26

Week 4! Can you guys believe it? We’re really in the home stretch now. Today’s cover was designed by me, Ari Asercion!

Figment by Serena Lawless

Having an imaginary friend isn’t so cute when you’re a teenager.

For as long as she can remember, Laurel has known Fiver. When she insisted a place be set for her at the dinner table as a child, her guardians were convinced it was a stage. When she didn’t grow out of it, they took drastic measures. Laurel grew up in doctor’s offices, talking to shrinks and taking tablets. They even performed an exorcism, much to the distress of Laurel and Fiver. Nothing ever worked.

Wherever she went, Fiver followed. No one else ever saw Fiver, never heard her or acknowledged her presence. She doesn’t know where she came from, but who remembers being born? All she knows is that Laurel can see her, and she clings to that thread of her existence desperately. If it wasn’t for Laurel, she wouldn’t exist at all… Until, one day, someone else sees Fiver.

Ari Asercion is a two-time intern with NaNoWriMo. Since graduating from the University of California Santa Cruz where she studied creative writing, she has pursued work in both graphic design and writing-related fields. In addition to her work with OLL, she has also blogged for the literary magazine, ZYZZYVA, and is a contributing editor for the gaming site, World [3] Games. She has never won NaNo before, but has managed to stay on track this year by making her novel public and bribing herself with sweaters.

Photo by yyy100.

Writing Advice from a Master Teacher and a One-Day Sale from Open Road Media

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As NaNoWriMo enters its final week, NaNo sponsor Open Road Media is pleased to offer a one-day sale on John Gardner’s classic book On Becoming a Novelist and other great inspirational and writing ebooks from Natalie Goldberg, Lawrence Block, and others. Today only, Open Road Media is offering its entire catalog of ebooks at 80% off for Cyber Monday. Save big on writing books, classic novels, and reader favorites.

Open Road Media’s Laura De Silva shares some of Gardner’s sage thoughts on writing to spur Wrimos on to the finish line this week.

“One has to be just a little crazy to write a great novel,” wrote John Gardner in his classic writing book, On Becoming a Novelist. “One must be capable of allowing the darkest, most ancient and shrewd parts of one’s being to take over the work from time to time. Or be capable of cracking the door now and then to the deep craziness of life itself. … Strangeness is the one quality in fiction that cannot be faked.”

Gardner’s critically acclaimed works include the novels Grendel, The Sunlight Dialogues, and October Light, for which he received the National Book Critics Circle Award, as well as several works of nonfiction and criticism. He was also a professor of medieval literature and a pioneering creative writing teacher whose students included Raymond Carver and Charles Johnson.

In On Becoming a Novelist, the master teacher identified five qualities important to writers. (He also noted that, while advantageous during the writing process, none of these are absolute requirements for success.) Here are some excerpts from his work:

Verbal Facility

“One sign of the born writer is his gift for finding or (sometimes) inventing authentically interesting language. His sentence rhythms fit what he is saying, rushing along when the story rushes, turning somewhat ponderous to deal with a ponderous character, echoing the thunder of which the story tells, or capturing aurally the wobble of the drunk, the slow, dull pace of the tired old man, the touching silliness of the forty-year-old woman who flirts. The writer sensitive to language finds his own metaphors, not simply because he has been taught to avoid clichés but because he enjoys finding an exact and vivid metaphor, one never before thought of, so far as he knows.

“… He’s interested in discovering the secrets words carry, whether or not he ever puts them in his fiction—for instance, how “discover” means “to take the cover off.” He’s interested in playing with sentence formation, seeing how long he can make a sentence go, or how many short sentences he can use without the reader’s noticing. In short, one sign of a writer’s potential is his especially sharp ear—and eye—for language.”

Originality of Eye

“Another indicator of the young writer’s talent is the relative accuracy and originality of his ‘eye.’ The good writer sees things sharply, vividly, accurately, and selectively (that is, he chooses what’s important), not necessarily because his power of observation is by nature more acute than that of other people (though by practice it becomes so), but because he cares about seeing things clearly and getting them down effectively.”

Storyteller’s Intelligence

“Like other kinds of intelligence, the storyteller’s is partly natural, partly trained. It is composed of several qualities, most of which, in normal people, are signs of either immaturity or incivility: wit (a tendency to make irreverent connections); obstinacy and a tendency toward churlishness (a refusal to believe what all sensible people know is true); childishness (an apparent lack of mental focus and serious life purpose, a fondness for daydreaming and telling pointless lies, a lack of proper respect, mischievousness, an unseemly propensity for crying over nothing); a marked tendency toward oral or anal fixation or both (the oral manifested by excessive eating, drinking, smoking, and chattering; the anal by nervous cleanliness and neatness coupled with a weird fascination with dirty jokes); remarkable powers of eidetic recall, or visual memory (a usual feature of early adolescence and mental retardation); a strange admixture of shameless playfulness and embarrassing earnestness, the latter often heightened by irrationally intense feelings for or against religion; patience like a cat’s; a criminal streak of cunning; psychological instability; recklessness, impulsiveness, and improvidence; and finally, an inexplicable and incurable addiction to stories, written or oral, bad or good. Not all writers have exactly these same virtues, of course. Occasionally one finds one who is not abnormally improvident.”

Compulsiveness:

“After verbal sensitivity, accuracy of eye, and a measure of the special intelligence of the storyteller, what the writer probably needs most is an almost daemonic compulsiveness. No novelist is hurt (at least as an artist) by a natural inclination to go to extremes, driving himself too hard, dissatisfied with himself and the world around him and driven to improve on both if he can.”

“The novelist is in a fundamentally different situation from the writer of short stories or the poet,” wrote Gardner. “He is the particular kind of writer he is, what William Gass has called a ‘big-breath writer,’ and in effect he does what is most natural for him. He has, unlike the poet or short story writer, the endurance and pace of a marathon runner.”

Here’s to the last stretch of the marathon!

Learn more about Garder and other Open Road Media writers in the videos below:

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 25

Today’s cover was created by Andrew Gibbs!

The Sapphire Briefcase by Sean Wright

Forty-five year old Kyle Waters went from being a successful lawyer to a disgraced campaign manager in no time at all, it seemed. After having successfully butchered the powerful six-term Senate incumbent’s reelection bid by being caught in a compromising position with an exotic dancer, Kyle laid low for a year with his wife and two children. As he begins to re-emerse himself back into reality, Kyle becomes friends with a quirky man at a coffee bar who only goes by Jack, who speaks very highly of a certain organization he is involved in. Kyle, armed with a new “live life to the fullest” attitude, reluctantly agrees to attend a meeting.

Andrew Gibbs founded The Dieline in 2007 – and has tended to its growth since then. Andrew’s passion for package design developed at an early age when he discovered Photoshop 4. He now shares his passion with millions of designers through TheDieline.com, the world’s #1 package design website. He received his B.S. in graphic design from the Art Institute of California at the age of 19. Formerly the Creative Director for the leading beverage development company in the nation, Andrew oversees The Dieline, The Dieline Package Design Awards, The Dieline Package Design Conference, and The Dieline Forum. He is also author of Box Bottle Bag - The world’s best package designs from The Dieline.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 24

Today’s cover was created by Bill Klingensmith!

Surrender by ovsc12

A girl and her best friend, through an adventurous series of events, find their way to an old, abandoned, amusement park in the woods. They find that one of the rides still works, so they decide take a spin. But when the ride breaks down and turn the lights on, the girls’ most valuable secrets are revealed, and the scattered bodies all around reveal that the park is most definitely, not abandoned.

Bill Klingensmith is Principal and Creative Optimist for the design studio, MYDARNDEST, in Rochester, New York. In 2007, after seven years in academia and a term as president of the AIGA Upstate New York chapter, Bill decided to focus full-time on his own studio. His primary client work is designing and building WordPress website projects; but also includes everything from packaging design to gig posters. An avid foodie, Bill has also partnered with an innovative local community food project in Rochester, NY, Good Food Collective.

Thankful for Our Unsung Heroes

In 2002, my husband became a widower. How, do you ask? After all, I’m clearly not dead… this is not some posthumous ghost-written blog! 

Every November  I embark on the same writing journey you guys do. Some years I win, some years I don’t.

Every year, though, I leave someone behind. Someone very important to me. And he’s not alone. All over the world, languish the unsung heroes of NaNoWriMo. The supportive spouses. The significant others. The children. The mothers. The fathers. 

This Thanksgiving, I’ll be grateful for the many NaNo-Widowers. 

Mine married me—but only a few months into our marriage, I discovered my other love. NaNoWriMo. 

He’s been competing for my attention every November since, mostly losing the battle. This year marks the tenth year he’s been a NaNoWriMo Widower. His 11th NaNoWriMo. I’d say he’s one of the longest-running NaNo-Widowers, and he even has the certificate to prove it, courtesy of our incredible local ML. 

Why does he tolerate my yearly deep-dive into murky literary waters?

He knows that NaNoWriMo is my passion, my hobby, my job. He has it worse than most Wrimos, you see. Instead of 30 days of literary abandon… he deals with it nearly 365. I spend hours of my time on the forums, moderating, to the point that there are those who believe I use black magic, or even clones to do my job. 

The reality is, I’m afraid, that there is no superpower. No magic. No secret OLL technology. What there is is a man who feeds my children, answers the phone, cleans my house, and occasionally shoves a sandwich in my hand to remind me that I need to eat. He does so without complaining. Much.

He’s not the only one, either. So many novels are written not just because of all your writer-ly brilliance, but because of the undying patience and support of a significant other who is sometimes neglected in favor of word wars, late-night bursts of brilliance, and write-ins.  No man is an island, and no writer writes alone. 

So today, I want you to remember those who are supporting you in your noveling madness this November. Know that they embrace your yearly creative flurry because they love you. They want you to be happy. Don’t forget to nurture this invaluable resource. I’ve made it a tradition to present my husband with a new, addicting video game each year. And this year, he’s taking on his own 30-day challenge: To take a Rift character from level 1 to 50 in 30 days while I slog through the busiest month of my year. 

And this NaNoWriMo, I have a new resolution: To make time, every single day, to be thankful for my incredible husband and partner, and to remind him how I could never do what I do without him. 

So I want to hear your stories. Who is behind you, and your novels? Tell me about your NaNo support team! 

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 23

Happy Food Coma Day! Oh, that’s not a thing? Well, today’s cover was created by Eric Heiman!

The Dreamerby Sapphire16 

Jane lives in a world where everyone disappears when they fall asleep and returns when they wake. No one remembers anything at all about what happens during the night, except for the rare Dreamers, like Jane. In the past, the government has requested that Dreamers work with them for research purposes, but when they suddenly change this request to a demand that all Dreamers turn themselves in, rumors start and suspicion grows. Jane must choose a side for the fast rising fight by finding out the truth about Dreamers and where people are disappearing to.

Eric Heiman is a designer, writer, educator, and occasional DJ when prodded out of retirement. He is a principal and creative director of Volume Inc., founded in 2002 with Adam Brodsley. Volume’s work has been featured, published, exhibited, and honored by the finest publications, museums and professional organizations the world ‘round. Eric’s writing has been featured in such publications as Eye, Emigré, AIGA’s Voice, and is a contributing writer for the SFMOMA’s culture blog, Open Space. He is also a Professor of Design at the California College of the Arts.