Awesome writing advice from writer Cheryl Strayed: “Aspire always for greatness, but surrender to mediocrity.” Be sure to check out her excellent new book Wild.
Author Resources
The ascendancy of the ebook has truly reinvigorated the discussion about the viability of going the self-publishing route.
– So many screeds about “legacy” publishers.
– Publishers having to create powerpoint presentations explaining why they’re still relevant.*
– Countless articles about the millions Amanda Hocking made, first by self-publishing ebooks through Amazon, then by getting a monster book deal from a major publisher.
– Ever more manuals and articles which aim to show how you, too, can be a successful self-publisher — usually written by someone who has no self-publishing success under his or her belt (other than maybe the how-to works).
I’m all for this. It’s a great conversation to be having, but it’s not all that novel. I self-published a printed book about 10 years ago. The conversations and debates going on right now were going on back then. It was the dawn of the web, and since anyone could easily put up a website on the “world wide web,” the argument was that this new platform would allow us to reach the millions of readers out there and sell our books to them directly. There was no need for a “middleman.”
Technically, I suppose this was true. What’s also true is that millions of people did NOT buy my self-published book. That certainly would have been nice, but you know what? I still consider the whole venture a total success, and I will tell you why: because I learned a hell of a lot by doing everything myself.
In fact, the lessons I learned during that self-publishing experience have helped me throughout my career in publishing, which has included having a couple of books published by a major publisher, as well as working for major publishers.
That is the point that I want to make: you learn an immense amount of “on the ground” knowledge across the entire spectrum of the book business** when you self-publish, regardless of whether your project is a success or a failure. By doing it yourself, you touch all aspects of the process, down the the core levels. And all the things you weren’t aware of, don’t pay attention to, or forget about, those mishaps have a way of really sticking with you, once they come back to bite you somewhere down the line, that is. I would argue that these collective lessons — the good and the bad — will be invaluable as you make your way along your own, long-term, unique publishing path.***
*I can’t think of a way to make yourself seem more irrelevant than to make this argument with a powerpoint presentation.
**A business which is currently in a state of massive flux.
***Given all the options these days, in an ideal scenario, you’ll be able to mix it up — self-publish some works, publish experimental pieces with upstarts and new ventures, AND get books published by a major publisher.
I’m bullish on eshorts. Here are some reasons why:
I think eshorts open up a whole new space in the still evolving digital marketplace for written content.
There’s a definite need and desire for both fiction and nonfiction that falls somewhere between 5K and 30K words in the ebook format on digital readers. For fiction: something beyond a short story and edging up to the length of a novella. For nonfiction: longer than a magazine article, but shorter than a full-length work. There’s something about this length that just makes sense on a digital reader.
Eshorts are a good opening for writers to publish their own work in the digital space. It’s a good place to explore all the things you’re going to need to know how to do: produce an epub file, understand the retail procedures, environment and opportunities, and market a digital-only product.
The eshort form is inspiring new, exciting companies to enter the publishing space, like the frequently mentioned Byliner and The Atavist.
It’s also inspiring non-publishers to set up publishing operations, such as NBC News and TED.
I personally do not think it’s hard to publish an ebook. But there is a learning curve. Like anything, the only way to get good at it is to do it, over and over and over again. If you are also writing the content of the books, that’s not so easy, because writing a full-length work takes a great deal of time. Eshorts make this proposition a bit simpler. They take less time to write, there is less copy to edit, and the marketplace is a bit narrower in scope. Publishing eshorts, in short, is just a less daunting proposition. It’s an excellent point of entry to the business of publishing.
Writers are never short on longform magazine ideas. But there are very few magazines publishing long-form journalism or short-form fiction these days, and the ones that do are some of the hardest places for a writer to get his or her work published. The eshort marketplace allows a writer to pursue his or her idea and publish it all on their own. And possibly make some decent money.
Let’s face it — sometimes nonficiton full-length published books are padded. The reason for this is because in order to justify a work’s publication as a book (or rather, all the costs associated with bringing the work to the marketplace), it had to hit a certain word count (at least over 50K words). The stretch is obvious, and sometimes painful for readers. The eshort marketplace solves this problem by creating a middle ground.
Eshorts open up possible new revenue streams for newspapers, magazines, and other content producing organizations.
For established authors who fall on the more prolific end of the spectrum, eshorts offer up an opportunity to put even more works into the marketplace. With or without their publisher.
Speed to the marketplace will be improved. Publishers can take well over a year to get a book into the marketplace. Eshorts can be published in less than a week.
Will eshorts help serialization makes a comeback? Haven’t seen anything yet, but certainly this an opportunity for writers/publishers to serialize a work through the eshort channels.
The three main retailers for digital content — Amazon, BN.com, and Apple’s iBookstore — all have solid merchandising programs for eshorts. Amazon leads the pack with its Kindles Singles program, BN has Nook Snaps, and iBookstore has Quick Reads.
And while it’s true that most ebook reading and purchasing is happening through the Kindle, Nook and iPhone/iPad, with purchases for content coming from the companies associated with those devices (Amazon, BN.com, Apple, respectively), it’s possible that producers of niche eshort content may be able to sell direct (if they forgo worrying about DRM).
Eshort pricing — usually falling somewhere between .99 cents and 2.99 — helps establish an overall ebook pricing structure that makes sense. The price of full-length ebooks is currently in flux and one of the key issues for the publishing industry right now. But if an eshort costs $2.99 (at the upper-end), well, then, a full-length ebook at least has to cost more than that. I mention this because some readers feel full-length ebooks should be priced that low. Thinking long term, whatever prices are now for full-length ebooks, they will eventually come down. But eshorts, by inhabiting the lower-end of the pricing spectrum, establish an appropriate bottom.
Hari Kunzru points out the importance of being ruthless with regard to cutting material that doesn’t work in the context of your overall project. “If it doesn’t fit, it has to go.”
Note: Kunzru’s excellent new novel Gods Without Men was just published on March 6.
Make the video a creative, standalone experience. It shouldn’t just be a formulaic advertisement. Web video is an awesome medium. Don’t get suckered into the same old, same old commercial format.
Do not use stock photos. Just lazy and automatically says boring and unoriginal. Is that the message you want to convey about your book?
Do not use stock video. Even lazier, more boring, and usually looks way off the mark.
Do not put any blurbs in the video. Somehow this became standard. I have no idea why. There is nothing remotely interesting about watching manufactured praise flash across the screen.
Do not put the on sale date at the end. Just dates the video immediately, and you can easily put this type of information in the description area (updating the wording or removing altogether once the book goes on sale).
Do not put something like “Available in bookstores and online retailers” or “On sale now” at the end. Just obvious, unnecessary and anti-climactic.
Professionally shot videos with great lighting are nice. But you can do solid creative work with a decent digital camera. There’s a place for both slick AND low-budget videos on the web. Don’t let your lack of money or high-end camera prevent you from including video in your campaign for a book.
Videos with just the author talking are fine — good for fans, good for people looking for more information about the book, a nice asset to be able to leverage across your digital platform. But don’t expect too many views. And don’t spend a lot of money to make them. Keep them simple. No need for cutaways to the author writing at their desk or walking around their backyard.
Most likely no matter what your video is and how cool you’ve made it, it will NOT go viral. Overall it’s best not to use the word “viral” when talking about videos that involve books or authors. But it’s an asset that you can use in countless places — publisher website, Facebook, Tumblr, and more; retailer account blogs, social platform, and product pages; and of course the author’s website, Facebook, Tumblr, etc.
Most importantly, you should have more than one video. The web is about churn these days — think about how fast your Twitter feed, Facebook newsfeed and Tumblr dashboard move. You can’t just spend all your time creating ONE video. You need to create multiple videos for use on the web these days, which moves faster today than it did yesterday, and will be moving even faster tomorrow.
In this Writers on Writing video, author Charles C. Mann encourages writers to write in such a way that readers feel they are engaged in a conversation when they are reading the work. Mann says, “When you write a book, if you’re lucky, your voice — it’s like you’re having a conversation with the reader. The reader feels like they’re having a talk with you. I know when I read a really good book, it’s like the writer’s voice is in my head, and I have this sense of this sort of friendly presence. And that’s, I think, what you want if you’re trying to talk about ideas, is to write in such a way that the person feels like ‘I’m on your side, I’m not trying to talk down to you, I’m not trying to drag you into terrain that you don’t want to go, I’m not this authority who’s lecturing you, I’m more like a guy who’s worked hard and learned some cool things that he wants to talk about.’ And I think that’s really important when you write.”
This video is part of Knopf Doubleday’s Writers on Writing series.
This makes sense for an author like Seth Godin — he has a platform and a following, and he writes books with a very targetable audience. As Godin points out, he knows who his readers are. And with the rise of ebooks, which essentially removes the complexities and costs of distribution and inventory, the process of getting his books to his customers, though not simple by any means, is much more manageable and cost-effective.
Godin explains his decision here and in a MediaBistro interview. Jacket copy has a good post on Godin’s announcement, and the WSJ published this informative news story.
12 Things To Discuss with Your Website Designer If You Are Going To Build An Author Website
in Author Resources, Books, HowTo, Writing
(This article will be helpful to an author that doesn’t know much about the online space, but understands that he/she needs a website and is therefore planning to hire a website designer.)
1) Use a blogging platform such as Blogger (Blogspot), Tumblr, Typepad, or WordPress as the content management system for your site. Using a blogging platform will make it so that you can easily update your own site. A designer can create a unique look for any of these platforms, but the underlying content management system will allow you to easily post your own writing, photos, links, videos and more. Note that the terms “website” and “blog” can be used interchangeably, but that a blog implies more frequent updates.
2) You should look at existing sites that use these systems, and experiment with the platforms on your own before you decide which one to go with. This research and experimentation will help you have a more focused and effective conversation with your potential designer. You may also determine that you don’t even need to hire a designer, as the platform you like is easy enough for you to handle on your own. Note that these blogging platforms are free (Tumblr, Blogger), charge a reasonable monthly or annual fee (Typepad), or simply require you to pay for webhosting (WordPress). Note that if your site needs to be hosted, make sure you discuss any hosting server specifications with your designer before purchasing a hosting plan. WordPress, for example, requires a server that supports PHP and MySQL.
3) You should have a clear understanding of how your site will work in terms of updates and site changes — what will require the help of the designer and how much such help might cost, and what you will easily be able to do on your own. The more you can do on your own, the better.
4) Publishing simple updates, such as posts, news, links, reviews, photos, videos, event information, etc., should be very easy and not require the help of the designer at all.
5) Your site should easily be able to accommodate your future books, or whatever else becomes your primary focus. Obviously you want your current book to be front and center, but you DON’T want to build the site around the look and feel of that book’s cover. Such a look and feel will obviously not work once you’ve moved on to promote your next project.
6) Your site should have RSS capability. This allows users to subscribe to your updates via their readers (such as the Google Reader). This functionality is built-in to the above mentioned blogging platforms. Feedburner is also a good option here.
7) Your site should include “share” links. These allow readers to easily share links to your content in their social networks, such as Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Delicious.com and more. The above mentioned blogging platforms all have various “share” link options and implementations.
8) Your site should feature prominently any social network feeds/links you are a part of – especially your Facebook fan page and twitter acct, should you have them. Other popular social networks you may have profiles on that you might want to feed into/link to on your site: Flickr, Goodreads, Delicious.com, last.fm. In 2010, the web is less about blogging on personal websites, and more about social networks. It’s about making connections (following, friending, fanning, retweeting, commenting), easily sharing information, and participating in online conversation. It goes without saying that you should be participating in some or all of the above — if you are not participating and engaging, you will have very little success online.
9) Your site should feature a mailing list sign-up, so that readers interested in your books and your public goings-on (readings, conferences you are attending, etc) can sign up to your mailing list. Good mailing list services include Google Groups, Godaddy, MailChimp, Campaign Monitor, and Constant Contact.
10) Make sure to put “Buy the Book” links where your book(s) is featured on your site.
11) At the bare minimum, your site should include information about your book, a bio, backlist info, a links section, buy links, and feeds/links to the above mentioned social networks, and the homepage of your site should feature the content that updates most frequently (blog posts, most likely, as well as your twitter feed, if you have a twitter acct). It should be noted that a static site that is infrequently updated, while not totally worthless, is not going to do much for you. Sites need to be active. The more work you put into it, in terms of posting new and interesting content and being active in social networks, the more you will get out of it in terms of reaching and connecting with readers.
12) Your designer should make sure your site is search engine optimized (SEO), so that at the very least, when someone searches for you or your books, your site comes up. The blogging platforms such as WordPress, Tumblr, Typepad and Blogger all have basic SEO elements (such as tagging, categories, title tags, etc) built into their structure, but your designer should have additional strategies to make sure your site is search engine optimized.
Special thanks to Lorissa Shepstone at Being Wicked, Gordon, and Justin for their input on this article.
Website – You should have an anchor on the web, and the way to do that is to establish a website that is not single-book-centric. Think of your website not as a billboard where you are promoting your most recent book, but as an ongoing project that allows you to connect with colleagues and readers. Use a registrar like GoDaddy to purchase a domain name that you will use for the long haul, most likely your name (and not the title of your current book). Then, use a blogging platform like Blogger (blogspot), Tumblr, Typepad or WordPress to create your website. You may or may not need a designer to help you make the most of these platforms — try them out and see which one works for you. Note that social networks come and go (first there was Friendster and Myspace, now there is Facebook and Twitter… something else will no doubt come along), but your website will remain to anchor your online presence and the various social networks you will engage over time.
Facebook – This is currently the preeminent social network. It’s so preeminent that you probably already have a Facebook profile. You probably do not want to use this to connect with readers — it’s too much of an open book. Your profile should only be open to friends and family, given that those friends and family members might be posting and tagging pictures of you that only friends and family should see. That said, you can create a Facebook fan page to connect with readers. How do you do that? If you don’t know, google it.
More Facebook Resource Articles:
- Facebook Pages vs Facebook Groups: What’s the Difference?
- 5 Elements of a Successful Facebook Fan Page
- Mashable’s Facebook Guide Book
Twitter – This is in many ways much more useful than Facebook, as it does not trigger the same public/private concerns. It’s simple to sign up and learn how to use, but be aware that in order for it to be truly effective for you, you need to really put time into it. You can’t just “tweet” out your thoughts, links and news — you’ve got to respond and react to what other people are tweeting. In short, you have to join the conversation. Twitter is not for everyone but it is a very good way to connect not just with readers, but bloggers, book reviewers, journalists, fellow authors, and bookstore owners/buyers/managers.
Twitter Resource Articles:
- How To Use Twitter
- How to Use Twitter Without Twitter Owning You
- Mashable’s Twitter Guide Book
Mailing List – You should have a mailing list that readers can sign up for to updates from you from time to time. It’s a way to be able to connect with your readers to let them know about new books, events, or big news. And you shouldn’t always make it about you — include relevant info unrelated to you that would be of interest to those who have signed up for your mailing list. Good mailing list services include Google Groups, Godaddy, MailChip, Campaign Monitor, and Constant Contact.
Amazon’s Author Central – When people search for you or your book, your amazon book page(s) will show up in the first page of results. Amazon offers you the opportunity to post blog entries or feed your blog into your book pages, as well as update your bio, post videos and more. Full details at Amazon Central — sign up and take advantage of the real estate.
Note that these five things are just the basic foundation of your online presence, and in many ways, the easy part. In 2010, the web is less about blogging on personal websites, and more about social networks. It’s about making connections (following, friending, fanning, retweeting, commenting), easily sharing information, and participating in online conversation. It goes without saying that you should be participating in some or all of the above — if you are not participating and engaging, you will have very little success online.
Also note that establishing all of the above is easy. If your first instinct is to ask for a meeting with someone to get help, or hiring someone to do it for you, you are going about this the wrong way. The best way to begin is to simply try to figure it our yourself — that way, you can truly grasp how it works and more importantly, how it can work best for you. And if you have questions, the most effective way to get the answers you need is to “Google” it. Most likely, someone has written and posted a step-by-step tutorial to show you exactly what you need to know. Of course, there is no “one-source” for information about how best to handle your online presence. But if you understand and engage the basics, and keep working to grow your knowledge, the easier it will be for your to figure things out and take advantage of all the cool things going on in the online space. When you see something or hear about something you think you should be doing, do a search for it online — you will often find a quick tutorial explaining how it works, how to implement it, and how best to use it.
The best thing you can do if you are just starting out with a service like Twitter is to sign up and start using it. You’ll be able to figure things out very quickly. It’s so simple, in fact, that you might feel like a how-to guide is unnecessary. That’s how I felt, until I stumbled upon Mashable’s Twitter Guide Book — this is a great compilation of articles that can help you get the most out of Twitter. The articles range from the simple — “What is a #hashtag?”, to more in-depth — “How can I build my personal brand?” Even if you think you get everything there is to know about Twitter, this resource guide is worth a look.