Category: Publishing

Self, Vanity, Traditional Publishing

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With my second review going up today on ePublishaBook.com, I have started reading another novel for future review–one sent to me by its author. Though I haven’t nearly read enough to give a proper opinion (and I’ll save what thoughts I have on the story/the writing’s actual merit for the actual review) reading the first few pages has made me pause to think about all of the different forms of publishing out there, be it ebook, paperback, hardback, self, traditional, or even vanity.

If you’re a writer, you probably have some idea what these different things are, but if you aren’t (or you just stumbled across this page–in which case welcome) I’ll give a short rundown.

ebooks, paperbacks, and hardbacks should be pretty self-explanatory. ebooks are books in electronic format (like for Kindle, Nook, iPad, or any other digital format) paperbacks and hardbacks are print books, the only difference being their binding (and generally price).

Now, for the different types of publishing.

Traditional Publishing is generally what people think of when someone talks about “getting published.” Here, an author submits their manuscript (either by themselves or through an agent) to a publisher. If the publisher likes it, they offer the author a contract and then helps the author edit, publish, and market their book.

Self Publishing is really more a recent trend in publishing, with the internet, social media, and cheap alternatives for getting a book out there, many authors have started cutting out looking for an agent and/or publisher altogether and produce their books themselves (often through a platform such as createspace.come [a NaNoWriMo sponsor, for the record] or lulu.com).

Vanity Publishing, also called “joint” or “subsidy” publishing, is a publisher who charges the author to get their book out there, either charging them up-front, or slipping a clause into the author’s contract that stipulates they buy a certain number of books once published for “self-promotion” (If you get the question “How many copies of your book are you planning on buying” right up front from a publisher, that should be a red flag. You can read more about “back-end” vanity publishers here.)

Of the three, I fully support all but vanity publishers (if you’re going to pay money up front to publish your book–something that should never happen in traditional publishing–just self publish. It will be most likely be cheaper and I, at least, find it infinitely more respectable). Self publishing, for the most part, still has a relatively bad reputation, which I can understand with the number of unedited, semi-readable books that have made it out there without picky publishers acting as gatekeepers. Some self published novels, though, are wonderful (and I admit, a good number of the people who hire me to edit books for them are planning on self-publishing). If you are willing to act as your own publisher (edit your book, do your own cover art, etc.) I see absolutely no problem with self publishing.

There’s an odd sort of middle ground, though, when I see a book that says it’s from a publisher–not a known vanity publisher–but looks self published. As previously stated, createspace.com is a popular self publishing platform, it is also a NaNoWriMo sponsor. Though it changed its policy for last year’s NaNo Winners’ prize, in previous years it offered a free proof copy to winning participants. Since I’ve done (and won) NaNoWriMo a few times, I have a couple of these proof copies lying around for books that were never actually put up for publication (it’s sometimes nice just to have things bound, and hey, it was free). With something  like three or four proof copies of things lying around my house, I’m pretty well acquainted with how the books look. Another plus, for some self publishers, is that createspace.com has a cover-maker. You put in a picture (or chose one of theirs) put in your title and name, and there you go, you have a cover. Since I wasn’t actually publishing those proof copies I mentioned, I’ve used more than my share of these easy-to-make covers. Holding the book I got today, it looks like a createspace.com book.

Like I’ve said many times, I have no problem with self published books. I encourage both traditionally and self published authors to contact me for review. What was odd, then, is that a publisher was listed on the back cover. As my point here isn’t to besmirch an author or publisher, I won’t name any names, but already it seems suspicious. Beginning to read, there are some very simple formatting errors that even I, with my short, short stint in layout as an intern at Leucrota Press before moving to editing full-time, can pick out right away. The most condemning–the 0.5″ indent for the paragraphs. It seems much too big on smaller pages, almost always means the book was reformatted into a 6×9 standard book from a word processor (such as Word or Publisher) without changing the standard indent you use on a 8.5×11 page.

After a couple of typos, I finally check the permissions page. Final nail in the coffin. Though there is the author’s copyright, and a pretty standard “All rights reserved” paragraph, there’s no publisher listed, even though there is one on the back. Likewise, no publisher logo on the title page. Either this is someone making up their own company, or it’s a publisher that has no idea what it’s doing.

A quick google search shows that the publisher website is minimal at best, only listing this one book in its catalogue, making it the publishers one and only release going back a good few years. If they are a fledgling publisher, that’s a pretty bad business model.

Now I’m torn. I’d be fine if the author had said they had self published. I’d be fine if the book had come from a small publisher that’s just getting their footing. I have the sinking feeling that this is neither, just an author who went to the trouble of making up a business name and buying a domain to make their book look traditionally published when it isn’t.

I may be wrong, of course. As a legal procedural would have to say, I only have circumstantial evidence. But, with everything combined, that’s what it looks like. And, at least in my own personal opinion, that’s worse than either a new press or self publishing. Every small press has to start somewhere, and there are plenty of fine, or great, self published novels out there. It’s the pretense–a not very well pulled off pretense–that gets to me.

I’ll still read it, give it a fair review either way. But for anyone out there thinking of self publishing–if you’re going to self publish, do it proudly. If your story is interesting and your writing good, it will speak for itself. Should the thought have crossed your mind, there’s no reason to try to hide behind an odd, one-book publisher, much less pay for the domain name. I’ll review you either way. And, if you don’t, I personally will think more of you for it.

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Concerning Pseudonyms

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This morning I woke up to an always welcome sight in my inbox — a “You may have gotten however many rejections before on this manuscript, but this isn’t one. We’re interested in publishing your novel” letter.

They are currently working out a contract, so nothing’s signed (I won’t fully be excited until I’ve looked that over. No counting chickens before they’ve hatched), but it got me to thinking about one very important topic: pseudonyms.

Now, anyone who has ever gone over to glance at my biography page can see a list of published works. I didn’t use a pseudonym for any of them. Honestly, I never saw much of a need to/my name is awesome/I’m a little vain (if the previous slash didn’t get that across, I mean, Dall – beginning of the alphabet, easy to pronounce, generally pretty…)

This manuscript, however, is a little different. While I have never written anything like a memoir (see my “Write What You Know” post to see why. My life just isn’t that interesting) this manuscript is closer to being autobiographical than anything else I have written. And while I will neither confirm nor deny this, there might be some characters surprisingly close to people I know in my real life. None are those people, none are named to be those people, but there may more may not be some striking similarities.

I assure everyone in my life who is now wondering if her or she has told me anything incriminating, everything is completely fictional, and with each edit it has become more and more so (again, my life=boring, had to spice it up a little), but still…

And thus we find ourselves back where I started. Obviously a pseudonym would be handy in separating anything personal that is left in the work from me, and thus anyone who might feel they are unfavorably portrayed in a book that may or may not contain a likeness of someone potentially like them. Of course, I’m not talking about slander (note: pseudonyms do not protect you from being sued for slander), but it would add a little more privacy for everyone. And there are other benefits of course, as outlined in articles such as this, this, and this.

But then, there are the bad things, like what do you do about marketing? Obviously, having written under the name “Jessica Dall”, I have always marketed myself as such. Everything from my webpage (jessicadall.yolasite.com), to my Twitter account (@JessicaDall), to this blog are, quite noticeably, under Jessica Dall. People talk about “branding” in many articles about pseudonyms. This work would be a stark break with the “brand”.

And there’s the fact that everyone who might be in the book would probably know I had written it anyway. I would still have to market it, of course. And I’m not planning on undergoing any sort of identity-hiding plastic surgery just to separate myself from the novel. It is just a novel after all. (Though I bet doing all book signings with my head under a paper bag would be quite a marketing gimmick…)

So is a pseudonym worth it? I actually don’t know. When I sign something (assuming I actually sign something) I will have to come to a decision. But for now, I’m still rather up in the air. Truly, it seems to be a matter of personal preference. People chose to use, and not to use, pen names for any number of reasons. And so, I’ll actually have to figure out those reasons. Great.

That’s Just…Wrong

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In my last post, I wrote about my own take on the old writer adage “Write What You Know”. When you take it with a grain of salt, I agree, it’s a good thing to do. But, of course, there are always things you can’t know. And, there are things you don’t even think about possibly being wrong, just because we’ve read and seen too many things that tell us that the wrong things are true.

So, for this blog, I will make it my mission to correct at least some of these unknown mistakes that won’t seem to die in fiction. (If you feel I’ve missed an important one, feel free to add it in the comments or message me and I’ll add it.)

1. If you’re knocked out for more than a minute, it’s very possible you will have brain damage. Despite what you’ve seen and read time and time again, if you are hit over the head and are knocked out long enough to be moved to an entirely new location (generally by the bad guys) you aren’t going to wake up a little dazed and then be walking around a few seconds later. It’s hard to get knocked out for a reason. If every bump on the head took you out for 10 or more minutes, many more humans would have been eaten by lions back in yonder-times.

2. Gold bars are HEAVY. Ever dream of breaking into Fort Knox (or the New York Federal Reserve if you want to be different) throwing a bunch of gold into a duffel and heading out rich? It’s a great “bank heist” standard after all. Yeah, gold is dense. The men who move gold bars around wear special toe protectors to make sure their feet aren’t crushed by a dropped bar, and each bar is something like 20 pounds. By all accounts, those 20 pounds being contained in such a small object makes each one feel more like 50 (sadly, I’ve never gotten to hold one to see…) Stick a bunch in a duffel bag and you’re either not going to be able to lift it, or the fabric’s going to tear before you get it out of the room.

3. The Middle Ages lasted for 10 centuries. Look it up, from about 400 A.D. to 1400 A.D. Fashion changed in that millennium. A lot changed in that millennium. If you’re doing a historical fiction (or a time travel fantasy, or…) it’s easy to fall into historical inaccuracies by grouping it together as one cohesive time.

4. “Blowing up” a picture doesn’t make it clearer. There’s only so many pixels in a camera picture. At some point, zooming in is going to just make the picture blurry (try it yourself. Find a small picture and start zooming in, or stretching it, on your computer. It will get bigger, but not get clearer).

5. Defibrillation doesn’t bring people back to life. The electric jolt “shock paddles” give actually are made to stop the heart for a split second so that the heart will “restart” with a regular beat. If the heart’s already not beating, it can’t help.

6. Potatoes aren’t native to Ireland. One that’s more important, again, for historical/time travel fiction, even though they are associated with Ireland these days (what with the Potato Famine and all) potatoes did not exist in Europe (the “old world”) prior to the Columbian Exchange.

7. Cars don’t explode. If you watch Mythbusters, you probably already know this, but cars don’t tend to explode (or catch on fire) when they crash. Not unless explosives have been set inside them. Yes, gas is flammable, but car manufacturers are careful about those things. They don’t want to, you know, kill their customers.

8. Sounds doesn’t travel in space. Without any matter (air) to move through, the sound waves aren’t going to travel. Doesn’t matter if it’s a giant explosion or someone talking, there’s some finagling you’ll have to do in your sci fi for that to work.

9. Just because you aren’t in the fire/explosion/lava doesn’t mean you can’t get burned. Heat travels away from things that cause heat. It’s why, even if you aren’t touching the flame, holding your finger over a candle will still end up with you getting burned. Standing next to hot lava will, likewise, burn you.

10. Elevators doors won’t open onto empty shafts. As a safety mechanism, the part of the elevator that opens the doors is on the car. If the elevator is not at the floor, the doors aren’t going to slide open (at least for newer models, I’m not sure about older ones if someone wants to look into that.) It is, however, possible to get stuck in an elevator. I speak from experience there…

Hopefully those will help writers with any plot holes, and–like I said–if you think I’m missing something important, contact me or add it yourself in the comments. Happy writing.

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“Accidental Plagiarism”

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Yesterday I talked about how great the NaNoWriMo Forums have been to me. And today’s post has once again been inspired there.

As I’ve said, I’m on the NaNoWriMo forums nearly every day. It’s a great community. And in the couple of years I’ve been hanging around there, I’ve seem more than one post like this one (posted this morning in the All Ages Coffee House):

“I’m watching a wonderful, wonderful BBC show called Being Human.  The story they’re telling is different from mine, but the bones of it … it’s like they read my mind and stuck it on the screen.  It’s so beautiful and amazing and I love it, but it’s also heartbreaking because now I’m not sure if there’s a point in telling my story.  They already said it.”

Or this:

“So all of November I was writing in speed racer mode, getting as many words down as possible. Come December first I had a week of major writer’s block. Finally I went back and began writing. I started with rewriting my first chapter. I was so proud of my work that I had to show my friend. My friend read it, and immediately accused me of plagiarizing L.J. Smith’s Vampire Diaries. She lent me her copy of the novel, and she was right. My first chapter looks as if I changed a few key details of L.J’s first chapter.”

While it is never fun to find out that our ideas aren’t quite as unique as we might think they are, truthfully the anguish man writers feel when they find these similarities seems to come from the thought that ideas are what make novels great. This thought is also what leads many new writers to ask how to copyright an idea (which you can’t do) just so someone won’t come across somewhere they’ve mentioned their story and all of a sudden swoop in and take it, as is summed up in this post:

“I’d be gut wrenched to wake up one day and see my plot silently taken and on top of the NY Times Best Seller list – for instance written and published off my synopsis – by another person without my ever knowing. As such I’ve never given a synopsis of it on any kind of forum before. It’s just too risky to me.“

I admit, I fully understand this fear. I was definitely someone who was scared of being scooped, so to speak, back when I first began writing. Scared that someone would tell my story first and all of a sudden I wouldn’t be able to do anything with my baby since it was already out there. And that is the reason finding out something you’ve written seems dangerously close to something already published is devastating. It isn’t so much the idea that people are going to sue you for plagiarism (which they couldn’t do, since it is not possible “accidentally” plagiarize someone) it’s that the idea that has been so precious to you, that you’ve been working with, tweaking, rewriting, and polishing isn’t as unique and special as you thought it was.

In a recent interview I did, I was asked for the top five things I’d tell aspiring novelists. For Number Five, I said, “Trust People.” The longer you write, spend time with writers, or deal with anything in publishing, the more you realize that nothing is truly original. Something can be an interesting idea that hasn’t been overdone, but if you can’t find one part of your book that is like any one of the millions of books out there, you more than likely just haven’t looked around enough. Furthermore, even if two people came up with the same idea right now, the actual writing would be nothing alike. It’s why you don’t get thirty of the same story in a creative writing class when everyone is given the same prompt.

It’s no fun when you have someone accusing you of taking someone else’s ideas. It’s no fun when you find out that your amazing idea isn’t quite as original as you thought it was. But ideas are only one very small part of what makes a good novel good. The writing, the characters, the actual plot…they are all more important than the premise.

So keep writing, trust others, and trust yourself. Your novel is going to be good or bad based on what you do. There are always going to be other people who come up with something that seems eerily similar to your book, but that doesn’t mean yours is any less (or any more) worth reading. Just keep writing, and see what you end up with.

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