Here’s The Thing: Neither Side Has It Totally Right Yet

I have a lot of thoughts running around for this particular topic, and it’s been a bit of a challenge trying to figure out how to cobble them together into a coherent post. Here’s my best shot.

It seems to me there are three groups in publishing right now:

1. The ones who are hardcore traditional publishing
2. The ones who are hardcore indie publishing
3. The ones in between – either in practice or mentality – who we’ll just categorize as “hybrids”

For the sake of this post, hybrids doesn’t just mean those who have published books both traditionally and independently. It means those who recognize that both forms are viable, that both forms offer different risks and benefits, and that it entirely depends on the book and the author.

More and more people are drifting into the hybrid area every day, and I’m fucking ecstatic about it. I think this is publishing’s future. Not the epic, crumbling downfall of the Big 5. Not the book industry collapsing under the weight of “all that self-published crap.” But an open-minded mindset that embraces the possibilities of both avenues and stays flexible.

What frustrates me is when I see the hardcore groups lashing out, refusing to admit that the other side is doing anything right. Because they are, guys. Each side is doing something right.

I’m gonna be honest – this gif doesn’t really apply. I just love Avatar.

Hardcore traditionals: Can we step up and recognize that indie publishing has the pace and flexibility to keep up with the new marketplace? That they’re being nimble and adaptive in a way that’s making you look like a dinosaur? That the more control you take away from the author, the more you’re hurting yourselves?

Hardcore indies: Can we step up and recognize that traditional still does some great things? Like pulling in people with different skill sets to help make the book better? Like taking a little bit of time to plan, invest, gear up marketing strategies and build buzz?

The fact of the matter is that the authors who are willing and able to learn from BOTH sides of the industry are the ones who I believe are going to rise to the top. Yes, traditional publishing needs to break out of its old models, but indie publishing can learn a thing or two about promotion and quality.

When Amazon initially kickstarted the indie craze, you could get by with throwing a book out there with very little prep, a cheap cover, maybe editing but probably not, and yeah – sometimes those books still sell. And no, I don’t think indies need to dedicate two years to producing and marketing one book at a time – like I said, the nimbleness of this path is one of the best things about it.

But continuing to encourage writers to rush books onto the scene, books that aren’t ready? To throw together a “decent” book with a “decent” cover and call it good enough?

Seriously? Fuck decent. Decent is limp. Decent is passive. We’re worth more than decent.

Yes, I believe the best indie authors are those who release books often. No, I don’t believe that you should just put all your book-eggs in one book-basket. But I also believe you can stay flexible without shortchanging yourselves and your readers on things like editing, editing, editing – oh, and also packaging and maybe even a little bit of promotion. You can be prolific without totally sacrificing quality.

If indie publishing wants respect, it has to fucking earn it first.

And in case you think I’m just bagging on indies here – hardcore traditionals? It would help if, instead of throwing away all indies away as “self-published crap,” you could get your noses out of the air and recognize that a lot of indies are working their asses off and producing killer stories.

We’re starting to filter to the middle – hybrids are slowly becoming the name of the game – but there are still so many people drawing dividing lines where lines don’t need to be. We all want to give readers great stories.

And the best way to do that is to learn from both sides and move forward.

Here’s The Thing: The Best Advocate You Have Is You

I seen a lot of tweets today about the Random House digital-only imprints – specifically Hydra. Right on the heels of the Writer Beware post that revealed details about the contract they seem to be offering writers came SFWA’s announcement that they will not consider Hydra as a viable publishing credit for entry into the association. If you want more explanation as to why not, John Scalzi explains things with his usual efficacy.

I think, at this point, it’s pretty obvious who Random House was trying to snag with these digital imprints: unagented writers who are:

• Hungry for publication
• Frustrated with the traditional process
• Considering indie publishing
• Yet still are somewhat attached to the idea of traditional validity and the desire for a “Big 6″ label

In other words, writers like me.

I remember hearing about the launch of these imprints back in November. I remember staring at the Hydra page and thinking, “Oh my god, this is it. This could be my in. My way to be published by freaking RANDOM HOUSE.”

I didn’t have anything ready to send to them at that point, and this has turned out to be a good thing. But for those who did and who signed that contract… Well, Hydra, the word “predatory” comes to mind. But when you pair this with news items like Pearson/Penguin Group purchasing the notorious Author Solutions, then it just drives home one, clear message:

The best advocate you have is you.

Even if you have an agent. Even if you have a GREAT agent. Your writing career is 100% yours and the only one you have. There is no one else who depends on the success of your work quite like you do. And it is work. It’s a business. Which means anytime you partner with anyone, you should investigate the shit out of that person or company.

You’ve heard “no agent is better than a bad agent”? Well, that’s true. Trust me when I say that it’s fun being able to tell everyone you have a literary agent, but it loses its luster if you end up knee-deep in a mess of incompetency or extortion or worse.*

Y’know what else is true? No publisher is better than a bad publisher. It seems strange and a bit sacrilegious to say that, but for reals, people. It’s not worth signing on the dotted line just to get your work out there if they’re going to bend you over a table in the long run. Not these days; not when we have other options – direct-to-consumer options – available to us.

Which, speaking of, if you go indie, it’s the same shit, different day. It’s your book, your product, so don’t just hire any ol’ person to help you put it out there. No cover designer is better than a bad cover designer. No editor is better than a bad editor. Repeat it to yourself. Do your due diligence. Make sure they’re going to help you put out something quality, something you’re proud of.

I’m not trying to be self-righteous. I’m an impulsive person, and if I had submitted to Hydra back in November and gotten a contract in December, I probably would’ve signed it. Because I want my books out there and because I would’ve trusted Random House.

I would’ve trusted them, and they would’ve screwed me. Not because they hate me personally but because they’re a business trying to get a slice of the sweet self-publishing pie. Because their goal is to advocate for themselves. It’s their job.

And our only defense against the predators is to advocate for ourselves just as hard.

 

*Note: Just to make it clear: I adore literary agents. I would love to have one of my very own someday. But not everyone who calls themselves a literary agent is one or is a good one, so make sure you don’t just like the agent personally. They also need to be an effective business partner.

Here’s the Thing Part Deux: On Self-Publishing and Why It Often Crosses My Mind

So considering my soapbox post on Monday and my Twitter rant on Wednesday, now seems as good a time as any to straight-up lay out what my thought processes have been regarding my own authorial career.

Fact #1: I am working on book project with Brenda that will be subbed out and go through the traditional publishing process once it’s ready.

Fact #2: Despite this and despite all the wonderful people in the industry, when it comes to my own works, I am pretty much planning on going the indie/self-publishing route.

I hate to say “will” or “definitely” because I have a lot of work to do yet and life likes to throw curve balls when we least expect them, but honestly, this has been under serious consideration for awhile. Pretty much since I first got back into writing by taking up PECULIAR DARK again over a year ago. I’ve gone back and forth, struggled with it, discussed it extensively with The Man and with other writers, read every article and perspective on the matter I could possibly get my hands on, had a thousand different pro/con sessions with my CPs and other writers.

I keep coming back to self-publishing.

And it’s not because I hate traditional publishing and legacy house. I’m still a big fan and excited to help other writers pursue that path if that’s their dream. It’s not because I’m “giving up” or just don’t want to receive anymore rejections from agents/editors. Anyone who thinks getting an agent and/or editor is the end to getting negative feedback on your book is crazypants.

It breaks down like this: Self-publishing is scary – you’re putting your work out there for everyone to see and you’ve got to know how to market yourself and your books in order to succeed.

On the other hand, traditional publishing is scary – you’re putting your work out there for everyone to see and you’ve got to know how to market yourself and your books in order to succeed.

Did you catch that?

Exactly.

Either way, it’s terrifying, and unless you make it big-time, you’re going to have to do some hard-ass work to promote your books, promote yourself, and make sales happen. The days of hermit authors in turtlenecks hiding up in cabins, banging away at a typewriter, mailing off the pages to their editor and that’s it are totally fucking finito. They have been for a long while. Sorry.

So the question becomes whether you want the agent-editor-house backing or not. As someone smarter than me put it: do you want the canoe or the kayak?

I can totally understand why people love the traditional route, want the traditional route, and there’s a part of me that still craves it just a little. The validation of it, the glamour, the idea of hardbacks in Barnes & Noble stores and being able to say, “My book is being published by [insert uber-famous house here].”

But more and more, I’m finding the idea of putting out my own product my own way really appealing. It sounds like such an exciting challenge. Picking my own publishing team of editors, designers, etc.; electing the cover and marketing materials; setting up my own strategy based off my own research; having only myself to answer to about my public persona, how I come across, what project I should work on next. I have ideas all over the board – an adult scifi, an epic contemporary fantasy, maybe a YA contemporary and an MG adventure. I’m a potential marketing nightmare for a publishing house, but if I’m the boss of my own writing career…

Yeah, I could fail. I could fall flat on my face and only sell three books – all of them to my mom – because my work is crap and I just can’t see it. And if I pursue traditional publishing…I could fail. I could fall flat on my face and only sell three books – all of them to my mom – because my work is crap and I just can’t see it.

Yup. I’m a one-trick pony today.

I’m just saying - there are no guarantees when you put a book out there, no matter how you put it out there. I’m going to make my decision based on what’s best for me and my work. Ya’ll go out there, look at your amazing options, and make the decision for your work, and I promise to 100% back you for whichever path you choose. With chocolate. And pom poms. And cute animal pictures.

Because canoe or kayak – it doesn’t matter. We’re just trying to make it down the river.

What the DOJ Lawsuit Means for Aspiring Authors

There’s a lot of talk going around the industry about the Department of Justice lawsuit against Apple and 5 big publishers. People are writing about what it means to the publishing people, what it means to the readers, what it means to the authors. I could talk about the ickiness that crawls all over my skin when I imagine why – with everything going on in our country – the DOJ went, “It’s that book industry that needs looking after! Let’s get ‘em!” (Hint: It involves money and back-rooms and skeevery.) I could wax poetic about how this will hasten the already sad decline of bookstores, those wondrous bastions of imagination that smell like ink and paper and serenity.

But when it comes right down to it, most of the people who read this blog are aspiring authors like myself, and we have our own unique perspective on the events unfolding. For those of us still interested in breaking into traditional publishing – signing with an agent, getting an editor complete with PW announcement, working with marketers and cover designers – these developments change things for us as well.

The slim chances get slimmer. DOJ wins their lawsuit, Amazon slashes prices on ebooks to ridiculous lows because they have deep pockets and can afford to, and the publishing industry takes a hit. So they have to be choosy. Even moreso than now. They slash marketing budgets and staff and can only afford to take their chances on a few books with blockbuster potential – established authors with rabid audiences are even better – so those trying to break in, especially those trying to break in with ideas not easily packaged, categorized or consumed, are SOL. If you’re trying to freak in and you have no connections, that gap in the doorway is aout to get a lot skinnier. If you happen to write in “oversaturated” markets (like YA spec, apparently) or non-markets (like new adult), then you’ll likely be effectively screwed. There’s going to be very little budget and very few opportunities to go around. If you think the competition and the uphill battle is bad now, just wait.

The hardback dream deteriorates. Many of us who are seeking out the traditional publishing route have an old-fashioned dream of what it means to be a published author. It’s that idea of seeing the hardback copy of your book sit on a bookshelf in a store. It’s ARCs coming to your house that will give you that first thrill of, “Oh my god, this is REALLY happening!” It’s the dream of having a book signing and a launch party in a cafe and just having that physical entity exist in your hands to hold onto as part of the ride. But while I’m of the opinion that the paper book is on life support anyway, the lawsuit will hasten its demise, and it won’t matter which way you choose to go – traditional or indie – the output is going to the the same: an ebook and only an ebook. Which leads me to my last point…

The old guard stumbles. What’s happening already will happen more and more: writers will wonder why they need the publishers in the first place. And can you blame us? Amazon is poised to create their own monopoly of low-low ebook prices, which means the Kindle will dominate the ereader marketplace in the 90th percentile, just like they used to. And every author out there who dreams of being published is going to start to question why they need to go through the whole song and dance of agents and editors when the end result is going to be the same: an ebook on Amazon. I’m going to be honest – it’s already crossed my mind. Several times. I can’t imagine I’m the only one. This whole situation is likely going to make it harder for debut authors and current midlist authors to succeed and to feel like publishers have something to offer them, so they’re going to start skipping them. Everybody has a different opinion on whether this is good or bad, whether they say down with the old guard or all hail the traditions. Personally, I was rather fond of the market as it is now – where there is space and opportunities for independent publishing and people to find an audience and still paths for those writers who want to take the traditional path.

I have no clue what the future is going to hold. Apple and two of the publishers are holding their ground and fighting the lawsuit, and maybe they’ll win. That would be a good thing for booksellers and bookstores, helping them hold back the floodgates a little longer. It’s debatable whether it’d be better for readers and writers, depending on who you’re talking to, depending on their outlook toward the industry and the old guard.

Personally, I love indie authors and I love traditional authors. I love a book marketplace that allows us all to coexist and choose the path that’s best for us and stay competitive. Hell, I even like Amazon – The Man and I have our wedding registry on there. But this lawsuit…I’m not sure about this at all.

I think it’s feeding a beast, and no one is going to benefit down the line when it’s all we’ve got left.