Publishing: Your Options and the Pros and Cons
I don’t think I’ve done a post like this before and it occurred to me that many of my readers and folks out in the blogosphere might like a post that looks into the various options for publishing and whether they are worth it. So, for this post I’m going to put together a short list of the various publishing options and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Here goes: Standard Publishing (Big Press) Pros Bigger print runs. More potential exposure (big presses may or may not put money into advertising your work). Editing services provided. Automatic “respect.” Large advance (w/ royalties also earned). Cons Hard to break into this side of the industry. Even good manuscripts get rejected. Run on a profit platform where selling many copies of one book (or many copies of multiple books) is the standard. This means books are bought based on their profitability, with content taking a close second. This doesn’t mean crappy books are picked up, it just means that if a book is too niche, big presses are unlikely to take them. Long wait times for submissions. Long wait times for publication. Sometimes weeks, but most of the time months or even over a year. No simultaneous submissions to most big presses. One place at a time. Niche Publishing/Standard Small Publishing (Small Press) Pros Greater attention paid to individual books. Variety; there are an enormous amount of them. Most pay with royalties. Much more receptive to short story collections than big presses. Cons Fewer titles published each year than big presses. Because they are often niche markets, they are limited in what they take. Low advance or no advance. Smaller print runs. Depending on the publisher, there may be low distribution (Amazon and some bookstores, but not necessarily places like Borders). Rare instances of unprofessional behavior and publishers caving due to economic pressure (and I mean rare). Print-on-Demand (POD) Publishing (Small Press) Pros Your title never goes out of print. Books printed as needed. They pay in royalties. Other pros are roughly the same as for standard small presses. Cons Low distribution. Many chain stores will not take these books. Low advance or no advance. Low print runs if any (print runs are made obsolete by POD technology). Can be difficult to tell the difference between legitimate POD presses and ones simply trying to take advantage of you. Other cons roughly the same as for standard small presses. Print-on Demand (POD) Publishing (Self Publishing; Lulu, etc.) Pros Low cost to the author to get a novel printed (sometimes nothing). Titles are printed a needed. Complete creative control, with some exceptions where ISBN #s come into play. Pays in royalties. Cons You have to market your work on your own. Usually costs extra to distribute via major websites such as Amazon. Books usually cost significantly more than those published by small or big presses. Some free POD methods exist (such as via Lulu), but those tend to be limited. Most companies charge a large fee for printing packages. Selling books is, for most, nearly impossible. You have to really have something worth the money. You are stuck in a sea of other people who think they are great writers when, in reality, they aren’t. This makes getting people to view your novel difficult at best. Sometimes distribution doesn’t work properly. When something goes wrong, you have to take care of it. There is no company to perform those tasks for you. Many POD self-publishing companies intentionally take advantage of writers by promising them things that aren’t actually provided, etc. If you get into POD self-publishing, be aware of what you’re actually getting. Editing services almost always cost extra. Other professional services (formatting, etc.) almost always cost extra as well. Those companies that claim to provide these services for free are usually lying. POD self-publishing companies can be difficult at best, even when they are good companies. Getting your novel in stores is practically limited to what independent bookstores are willing to take the risk. Self-publishing comes with a stigma that is often justified by the overwhelming amount of garbage printed on a regular basis and thrust on the public. Standard Self-publishing (Note: Many self-publishing houses are switching to a POD format these days) Pros Complete creative control, with some exceptions where ISBN #s come into play. Pays in royalties (technically). Cons Basically all the same as POD self-publishing (minus the bits related directly to POD printing). Many of these companies will intentionally misrepresent what they do and con you out of your money. Know what you are getting into before you cough up the big bucks. Almost always costs an exorbitant amount of money for a publishing package. You have to print the quantity you want. No POD. The cost for the books you print comes out of your pocket. Podcast Novels (Podiobooks, Podnovels, Author-distributed Audiobooks) Pros Free (technically). Complete creative control. You can essentially do whatever you want. An enormous community for support. Audio format makes it easier on the listener/reader as they can take the book wherever they go. Cons Can cost a bit of money to get set up (mics, etc.), but generally getting started is low cost. Limited audience (and sometimes a picky audience). It’s hard to break into the field and do well now that podcasting has grown. Has unfortunately been stuck with the stigma surrounding self-publishing, though to a lesser degree. All marketing, etc. is the responsibility of the author. Self-published eBooks (downloadable books in various formats) Pros Basically the same pros as self-published work (creative control, etc.). Can be good marketing tools for blogs, when done properly. Cons Basically the same cons as self-published work. Can be hard to sell since it is an electronic only format; a lot of people still won’t read electronic stuff (this is the same with most electronic formats, though). Fiction is especially hard to sell in this format primarily because eBooks have and continue to be the domain of
How To Be a Writer
…Or do you have what it takes? I’ve talked about some aspects of this before, but I think it all bears repeating. Young writers constantly ask other people whether they have what it takes to be a writer. Often times they ask based on writing alone and when you think about it that’s not the best approach. While it is important that you be a good writer, or even a fair writer, it’s not the only thing you need to be concerned about. Being, or trying to be, a writer isn’t easy, even if you’re published. It’s a rough road full of disappointment and rejection. It can be an emotional ride too.With that in mind, here is a list of things that you need to do if you want to be a writer: PracticeYou can’t go from being an okay baseball player to a great player if you don’t practice. Same with writing. Don’t kill yourself, but you should write when you can. ReadWhether it be books on the craft, your favorite authors, or whatever, reading will teach you new things. For example, I learned ways to use the dash and the semicolon in fiction from authors who did it well. Grow Thick SkinLearn how to take rejection. This is life. Whether it be an editor, a friend, some random person on the Interwebs, or someone in your writing group, you will get rejected and criticised. It’s okay, though. If a story gets rejected, don’t fret! Submit it elsewhere! Don’t get ticked off at the editor. That’s never a good idea. Grow a SpineDon’t be afraid of what people will think about you and your writing. Being afraid of criticism means you lock up all your writing and never let anyone see it. If you’re okay with doing that, then no problem, but if you want your writing to be read by other people, well, then you have to put your writing out there! Develop a Web PresenceSome vote against this because it sucks time away from writing, but I recommend you try to get involved with potential readers now rather than later. You can make new friends, learn a lot about the craft and promotion, etc. It’s up to you if you want to do this through a blog or just being a part of a social network or group. The WillYou can’t just like to write. You have to have the desire to be published and the desire to do whatever it takes to get there (and when you get there, to do whatever it takes to make sure you can keep doing that–all within reason, of course). Plenty of people fail at this because they don’t have the will to learn, to write, to do anything that is required of you to be a writer. This applies to any form of writing. Be GraciousThis is one that took me a while to learn. If someone is kind enough to look at your work and offer a critique, be sure to thank them! Don’t spend your time arguing and disagreeing. There’s nothing wrong with disagreeing on some things; not all of the changes another person suggests will be useful. But it doesn’t help if you’re going to be disrespectful of ungrateful. Remember, they put a lot of work into their critique for you (or, at least, they were supposed to). Accept FailureEmbrace it! Tack your rejections to your wall or laugh about them. It’s important! You can’t expect to win from the start and you can’t let it get you down. Turn the emails or rejection letters into paper airplanes and toss them around the house or, if you’re not the sentimental type, collect them together and have a bonfire! If that isn’t a good starter list, then I don’t know what is! Any suggestions for things that should be included?
Creating Aliens: Ground Rules
Over at HowStuffWorks you’ll find this brilliant post called “How Aliens Work“. Pay careful attention to it. If you want realistic aliens, some of those rules should be firmly planted in your brain. Aliens, of course, would be bound by many of the same rules that we are (the laws of physics for example). Yeah, good little post. (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)
Science Fiction: Sometimes it’s wrong.
Browsing through today, I discovered a very interesting website that discusses the errors within science fiction, particularly in TV and movies. Some of these errors are, quite frankly, rather stupid on the part of the creators. Such as: In the Star Trek Voyager episode “The Fight”, Voyager encounters a Negative Space Wedgie that is “2 light years across”. They start “11,000 km” away from it and yet, the whole phenomenon is visible on the viewscreen. As the Agony Booth review of this episode points out, this is exactly like “putting your nose on the ground, and still being able to see the whole landscape from horizon to horizon” except…you know…even worse. The thing also looks about as big as Voyager when it engulfs it, which might make slightly more sense (for a given value of “sense”) since Voyager is apparently the size of a planet. Yup, that’s Star Trek. There are even a few related to literature. Such as: The original Dune series was set 10,000 years (human history goes back 7,000 years at present) after the Robot War known as the Butlerian Jihad, featuring an old, decadent society that had presumably been going downhill for a long time. However, when Frank Herbert’s son picked up the reigns and wrote prequals set before and during said Butlerian Jihad, the prequels end with all the social orders and customs, and even the religion, of Dune already established as nearly identical to the ones in the original novel. And the reader is expected to believe that they stayed exactly the same for almost a third longer than the time between the invention of writing and the present. Yeah, pretty interesting, don’t you think? Check out the site. Maybe one of your favorite shows is on there with an error.
Endings: To be happy or not to be happy?
I was watching an interesting program today, even though I should have been doing something else, and I became rather interested in something I saw, so much so that I actually want to write a story that incorporates a similar idea (it’s a documentary). The thing is, it’s dealing with a grim subject that I’m going to set in the future and, given that, I’m not sure if I want it to end happily.So my question is this: does a story (and in particular a short story) have to end happily? Could one end a story at an extremely low point, perhaps with some resolution to certain aspects of the story, but with the main character not technically achieving his or her main goal?What do you all think? (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)
Rambo’s Good Advice (Part Two)
And Cat Rambo has posted another five great bits of advice for increasing our manuscript’s chances. Read them. Go on, you know you want to! (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)