Still writing?

Dani Shapiro, author of Still Writing on writing:

"I write in order to discover what I don’t yet know. To peel back the layers and see what has been previously hidden from view. I don’t choose the form this discovery takes. When I have tried to force the form, it turns around and bites me. And so I have learned to pay attention to what the work itself wants to be. If we’re quiet, the work announces itself. When it makes itself known, we had best pay attention."

Above excerpt from her Facebook post 7/11/15.
We all know how it feels to have dozens of writing ideas floating above our pen, or on our screen.
Read the full post if this feels familiar to you, as it does to me. http://danishapiro.com/on-inquiry/

Helen Gallagher

How to judge a book's covers

Beyond writing a good book, and creating the perfect title, the next critical element for a book's success is your book cover.

The 12-15-13 New York Times book review section has a disappointing photo piece titled The Best Book Covers of 2013.  It's hard to judge but I see better covers every day. How are these the best?  Of the twelve shown, I honestly only like the final one "The Art of Sleeping Alone."

As the columnist Nicholas Blechman (the Book Review's art director) quotes book designer George Salter, regarding a good jacket ... "must be in perfect accord with the literary quality of the book."  I agree but can't see why the covers chosen fit the bill. It sure does prove how difficult and how subjective the world of cover design is. It is becoming more difficult to settle on a cover that pleases the publisher's sales team, marketing department, and of course, the author. But again, it is of critical importance, whether your book in on store shelves, display racks at airports, or a one-inch image among thousands of other books sold online every day.

I realize it's no easy task to convey the book's tone along with an eye-catching cover, but it is a crucial element of your next book.

To see the slideshow of all twelve, visit http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/12/13/books/review/15covers-slides-1.html

New York Times article on self-publishing

There's an informative update on self-publishing and digital books here: The Joys and Hazards of Self-Publishing on the Web:

In particular, note:
The single toughest part of self-publishing is getting attention for your book. Nearly 350,000 new print titles were published in 2011, and 150,000 to 200,000 of them were produced by self-publishing companies, said Kelly Gallagher, vice president of Bowker Market Research, which conducts an annual survey of new books.

Same stuff I've been telling people for five years now.

Ebooks: Who buys them?

Every time I write an article about publishing or conduct a workshop, I have to give people the bad news. Having an ebook is not an end in itself. It is not automatically going to turn a profit by tomorrow.

The truth of ebook succcess is the truth of all bookselling success, and in fact all selling success. You have to know where your customer is, and know how to reach them. Here is an insightful graphic from Smashwords, a reputable, successful ebook production and sales avenue. Smashwords and Bookbaby are probably the two best places to look when you want to achieve ebook sales success. (click image to enlarge).

Four Smashwords authors make NYTimes bestseller list!

I've been a fan of Mark Coker and his firm, Smashwords, since 2007 when I uploaded Release Your Writing  to their service to publish an ebook and inadvertently crashed their server. It takes a great guy to talk to me on the phone and take over the project.

Look how far Smashwords has come as a superstar for uploading and distributing your books.
Here is an excerpt from their blog today:

Take a look at the August 5 edition of The New York Times Fiction Ebook bestseller list, out yesterday.  Lightning struck multiple times this week.

Congrats to Colleen Hoover (Slammed at #8, Point of Retreat at #18), R.L. Mathewson (Playing for Keeps at #16), Lyla Sinclair (Training Tessa at #17) and Bella Andre (If You Were Mine at #22, Can't Help Falling in Love at #23, and I Only Have Eyes for You at #24).

All the credit for these results go to the authors who wrote the books, the readers who purchased them and the retailers who connected these books with readers.

I'd like to thank each of the authors above for allowing Smashwords to play some role in their distribution strategy.  Some of them use Smashwords to reach most of the major retailers, and some use us to reach only a few.  You can find each of their books at Smashwords by clicking the title above, or find them at your favorite ebook retailer.  Show them your support because they're opening doors for every indie author.

It's a big deal to see a single Smashwords author on the New York Times Bestseller list, let alone four in one week.  A year ago, it was unheard of.  A year from now, it'll be more commonplace.  Tomorrow's global bestsellers are at Smashwords.  Maybe the next bestseller will be the title uploaded to Smashwords two minutes from now, soon to be visible at the top of the Smashwords home page.  Or maybe it'll be one or more of the nearly 9,000 new titles uploaded to Smashwords in the last 30 days.  Or uploaded three years ago.

Care to try the EL James strategy?

The New York Review of Books has an interesting article by Emily Eakin on how the author of 50 Shades of Grey grew into such a success without a publicity campaign, formal reviews or a huge endorsement. How did EL James do it? And can you do it too?

Read the full NYRB piece here -- in essence plan to take a crash course in the magic of word of mouth. 
The author's work originated as "fan fiction, a genre that operates outside the bounds of literary commerce, in online networks of enthusiasts of popular books and movies, brought together by a desire to write and read stories inspired by those works.* (EL James real name) "Leonard’s excursion in the genre provided her with a captive audience of thousands of positively disposed readers, creating a market for her books before they ever carried price tags. But fan fiction is inherently collaborative and by convention resolutely anti-commercial, attributes which make its role in the evolution of her work both highly unusual and ethically fraught."

The NYRB is a long, thoughtful piece - worthy of your time if this genre is relevant for you.

Books sure keep life interesting... 

This is what I wrote in the front flap of Release Your Writing: Book Publishing Your Way:

Attract a publisher if you can, but if not,

don’t wait your life away….

Publish your book yourself.

Things have sure changes since I published that book, but the message remains as true today. We've seen the publishing world move from a few big firms, to strength in numbers with indie publishers, ebook creators, and individuals who achieve high sales through self-publishing on their own. 

I continue to say there's never been a better time to be a writer, and to get published. 

In fact, today mainstream Penguin Books announced they are purchasing Author Solutions - which is a conglomeration of Author House, iUniverse, Trafford in Canada, and Xlibris, 

Why would Penguin buy up the top POD firms? Because self-published books increased 60 percent in 2011, over the prior year, according to Bowker's statistics. Penguin was eager to acquire  the firm to "gain skills in customer acquisition and data analytics that will be vital to our future," said Penguin chief executive John Makinson.

How clever publishers are using ebooks

 
Net Galley is an exciting company distributing digital titles to the media and to reviewers. They delivers secure, digital galleys to professional readers. I'm able to log-in, request any galley from a publisher, and receive it. I also track what I have read, alert the publisher when I'm finished, and avoid the long delay receiving print galleys or ARCs by mail.



Now, during Book Expo America, Net Galley has distributed an ebook with exciting excerpts from over 30 new works that will debut in Fall 2012. The book was put together by Publishers Lunch, and allows reviewers an opportunity to read excerpts and prep reviews now, well in advance of publication dates.Among the new works, I know you'll be glad to see a new Barbara Kingsolver title, Flight Behavior, and the fall-over laughing Does This Church Make Me Look Fat? by Rhoda Janzen. Those are definitely the first two I'll be reading, followed by, oh gosh... a dozen others!

The entire thing was conveniently made available via email, for a quick download to read on my computer or Nook. And how large is this Fall 2012 preview? It tops out at 624 pages; powerful yet weightless.

A fabulous use of digital books and technology.

Helen Gallagher

Yes, we still need real books

Seth Godin, a pioneer in independent published, just had a book rejected by Apple for distribution on the ibook. The reason? His book contains links in the bibliography to books at Amazon! How can firms like Apple and Amazon control the publishing business?

Media Bistro reports: "With Amazon removing IPG books from the Kindle Store, Barnes & Noble and Chapters Indigo not selling Amazon print titles in their stores, and now Apple not accepting a book with links to Amazon in the iBookstore, book retailers are beginning to fragment and make the experience more cumbersome for the consumer.:

As Seth says:“We’re heading to a world where there are just a handful of influential bookstores (Amazon, Apple, Nook…) and one by one, the principles of open access are disappearing. Apple, apparently, won’t carry an ebook that contains a link to buy a hardcover book from Amazon.”

As I see it, its time to sit down, unplug and read a good book.

From the folks at Goodreads.com

The year has just begun, but we're already looking forward to World Book Night 2012. On April 23, 2012 join thousands of volunteers for a million-book giveaway. Inaugurated last year in the United Kingdom and now expanding to the United States, this nonprofit event is looking for enthusiastic readers who want to encourage their communities to read more. World Book Night needs 50,000 volunteers to help distribute 1 million books nationwide, especially in underserved communities that may not have easy access to books.

To become a book "giver," sign up by February 1, 2012. Select one of the 30 available titles—a range of fiction, nonfiction, and books for teens—and you'll receive 20 special-edition paperbacks to hand out to readers near you. The books are available free of charge thanks to support from the publishing industry. This year's lineup includes The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, and many more!

Full details here at World Book Night

Sweetest Book Mobile ever

Possibly the sweetest book mobile in the world!

source: “Biblioburro,” Luis Soriano Bohorquez, La Gloria, Colombia.

(click to enlarge)

Reinforcing the message about the need for a quality book cover.

Those of you who have seen my workshops and presentations on publishing know I always show this slide:

It is important to not only choose a good title for your book, but to make sure your cover has clarity at thumbnail size.

An online colleague, Stephanie Chandler of Authority Publishing, went much further in explaining how a homemade cover can kill your book.  Click here to read her full article: http://authoritypublishing.com/book-publishing/how-a-homemade-cover-design-can-kill-your-self-published-book/

Ten recommended books for writers... Eleven if you count mine...

Thanks to the researchers at Online College Courses for these suggestions, extracted from their post: 
"50 Books That Will Make You a Better Writer."

Notable Writers (41 thru 50 on their list)

41. On Writing by Stephen King: The wildly popular horror master writes his autobiography with heavy emphasis on how literature and his struggles with substance abuse came to shape his career and personhood — for good and for ill.
    
42. Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury: Ray Bradbury’s excellent essay series hemorrhages joy over the writerly arts, and he sincerely hoped they would come to inspire later generations to pick up their pens and express themselves.
    
43. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou: Although I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings involves former Poet Laureate Maya Angelou’s memoirs rather than a reflection of her illustrious literary career, it does serve as an intimate, first-person glimpse at one way a writer’s soul might form.
    
44. The Believer Book of Writers Talking to Writers edited by Vendela Vida: Everything readers want to know about this book can be found right there in the title. The Believer Book of Writers Talking to Writers comes packed with candid literary discussions by the illustrious likes of Haruki Murakami, Marjane Satrapi, Zadie Smith, Jonathan Lethem, Tom Stoppard, Paul Auster, Dave Eggers and plenty more.
    
45. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway: Writers in search of a little inspiration might want to follow some (but certainly not all) of Hemingway’s actions. Surrounding himself with a new environment, new experiences and some of the most creative people in the world at the time (Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald and a whole host of others) opened himself to ideas that came to impact his legendary oeuvre.
    
46. The Writing Life by Annie Dillard: Anyone dismissing writing as an easy art would do well to pick up The Tinker at Pilgrim Creek author’s memoir. Here, she openly discusses the agony and the ecstasy of literary inspiration and perspiration.
    
47. Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster: Despite being published in 1972, this series of Cambridge University lectures by celebrated English author E.M. Forster drops some incredibly timeless, even fresh, advice bombs.
    
48. The Art of the Novel by Milan Kundera: The Art of the Novel serves as both a work of literary criticism and analysis and a self-reflective career memoir.
    
49. On Becoming a Novelist by John Gardner: Writing and other creative pursuits offer up solace for anxieties big and small, an overwhelming, evocative and bittersweet sensation John Gardner relates with deep thought and emotion.
    
50. The King’s English by Kingsley Amis: Fans of rollicking semantics debates will enjoy this fun read by a British author who finds himself enchanted by American English.

_________________________________________________

Oh yes, and my book, which did not make this distinguished list:

Guest post: Penny Colman on organizing her new non-fiction release

Penny Colman is author of the new book released today, May 20, 2011, published by Henry Holt and Co.

 

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: A Friendship That Changed the World

AMAZON LINK

I asked Penny to share her thoughts with Release Your Writing blog readers on how she managed to structure this complex story. Penny's response...


I’ve had the feeling before upon signing a book contract, but with this book—Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: A Friendship That Changed the World—it was particularly intense.  What feeling, you ask?  Panic in concert with the words echoing in my brain:  “And what have I gotten myself into this time!?” 

Sure, I had tackled big topics before, including a history of burial, the true story of Thanksgiving, a collective biography of eight historic women with widely varying amounts of source material, and the story of Rosie the Riveter. But this book was to be a joint biography that spanned more than ninety years through the lens of a legendary friendship between two very different women that lasted fifty-one years and was at the center of a momentous social movement that is typically trivialized.

In May 1851 when they met, Elizabeth was thirty-five years old and Susan was thirty-one years old.  

Of course, I could have started the book at that point, but I was curious about the differences and similarities in how they grew up.  That curiosity certainly ratcheted up my writerly anxieties about how to structure the telling of these separate stories. I spent weeks working through this decision. 

1. I taped long sheets of paper on a wall and made parallel timelines from their births to their first meeting.  
2. I used Post-it Notes so that I could easily add or remove items, as I tried to discern a structure.  
3. Then, one day, I saw it--four time periods that encompassed significant events in both their lives: 1815-1832; 1833-1839; 1840-1847; 1848-1850.  Eureka! 

With that insight I was able to organize their early years into eight alternating chapters that focused on one and then the other. Here are the title and subtitle of the first two chapters in Part I: 

“Ah, You Should Have Been a Boy!”

 ELIZABETH CADY: 1815-1832
"An Affectionate Family” SUSAN B. ANTHONY: 1820-1832

Part II covers the years from their meeting through the Civil War. The story of what Elizabeth called the “dark hour of woman’s struggle” appears in Part III. Their final years, in which they go from ridicule to reverence, ostracism to embrace, are examined in Part IV. 

With my structure in place, I set off to write a book that brought Elizabeth and Susan to life for me, and, of course, I hope for everyone who reads Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: A Friendship That Changed the World.

 

Catholic Writers Conference Online

For the third year in a row, I'm a conference participant at the unique Catholic Writers Conference Online. The event runs from March 21 through 27, 2011. 


The current conference schedule is here, and as a reminder, this conference is open to all, is free, and you participate by online chat, in forums, or via phone.

Take note of the pitch sessions - your chance to pitch live to at least six agents and editors on the schedule.

My topic is "Power Blogging for Writers" on 3/21 at 7 p.m. Central time, but take advantage of the richness of presenters, topics and variety at this free event all week long.

For Memoir Writers: a recommendation

For my publishing clients who are working on memoirs, I always recommend they take a look at the memoirs by Patricia Hampl.Her memoirs include The Florist's Daughter, Blue Arabesque, and If I Could Tell You Stories

At Hampl's site, I now see she has a new book, and if you're working on a memoir, analyzing what works, you might want to take a look at the book: Tell Me True: Memoir, History, and Writing a Life (Co-edited with Elaine Tyler May)

"Balancing precariously between history and literature, memoir writers have finally found their place on the bookshelf. But increased notoriety brings intense scrutiny: memoirists are expected to create a narrative worthy of fiction while also staying true to the facts. Historians, too, handle tricky issues of writing from "real life," when imagination must fill gaps in the historical record.

Patricia Hampl and Elaine Tyler May have gathered fourteen original essays from award-winning memoirists and historians. Whether the record emerges from archival sources or from personal memory, these writers show how to make the leap to telling a good story, while also telling us true.

Contributors: Andre Aciman, Matt Becker, June Cross, Carlos Eire, Helen Epstein, Samuel G Freedman, Patricia Hampl, Fenton Johnson, Alice Kaplan, Annette Kobak, Michael MacDonald, Elaine Tyler May, Cheri Register, D. J. Waldie."

More here: http://patriciahampl.com/test/tellme.html


Helen Gallagher

Susan Orlean on publishing today

Susan Orlean, one of my favorite authors, has a "Free Range" blog at The New Yorker. It includes a great post about finishing a book that she worked on for six years. She details the process of publishing a book and how it has changed. Read the full delightful post at her blog.

She cleverly describes the old way:
1. Think of a book topic.
2. Find a publisher who likes the idea.
3. Write the book.... and so on.

And the new way, which begins with:

1. Think of a book topic.
2. See if the domain name for your title is available. If not, consider changing the topic.
3. Does the book title/topic morph easily into a Twitter hashtag? If not, consider changing the topic.
4. Set up the Facebook page for the book and a fan page for yourself as Joe Blow, Author; send out an e-mail blast to your entire contact list asking people to “like” your fan and book pages.

You get the idea.... go read the rest at
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/susanorlean/2011/01/publish-or-perish.html#ixzz1BhA7w3T2

Sound familiar?  It's the PLATFORM discussion I've been having with you for a year now. Only Susan Orlean is much funnier than I am. Enjoy,

Helen Gallagher

A question on sending your manuscript to a POD firm

A client posed this question today, and I thought I'd let my email response do double-duty by posting it here:

Yes, it is safe to send them the manuscript before you have a contract. Until the POD firm approves it, they can't offer you a contract. They need to be sure, first of all, that it is not racist or hate literature. And, they have to be sure the document format and layout is something they can work with.

As the publisher, they have a legal obligation to produce quality, so they have to see it before you sign the contract. Nobody in the publishing book business wants to claim ownership of our work. I always say its like a shoe salesman - chances are they don't want to steal your shoes while you're walking around the shop in theirs.

BookSurge either shrinks or expands

Amazon, owner of the BookSurge print-on-demand company, is merging Book Surge with CreateSpace, its Lulu-like publishing option.

Amazon doesn't make many visible mistakes but this seems like a big one. BookSurge has, to the public, a very good reputation as a high-end POD firm. CreateSpace is, well... a lot like Lulu. I think they could get the same resulting cost savings, synergy, unified brand, if they went with the Book Surge name, but we'll see how well they do.

For now, will BookSurge shrink into the lower-level product or expand into more products, more avenues, more market share. POD is a thriving, dynamic business, so stay tuned.

Two weeks flew by....

Oh my gosh, I didn't mean to be a post-less blogger for the past two weeks, but I've been traveling a little, speaking to writers about publishing and marketing their work, and seeing the fabulous Julie & Julia movie. I also moved. Just two blocks away but hundreds and hundreds of books came along with me. Laid end-to-end they surely would have traversed the move like dominoes if I stacked them in the street and nudged them a bit.

The result is lovely: A lifetime of books to pack and unpack, shelve and re-shelve, read and re-read!

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers.

Charles W. Eliot (1834 - 1926), The Happy Life, 1896