Sunday, April 13, 2014 spring "looking ahead" event

[Gail Anderson-Dargatz]

I just got my hands on a copy of a strictly e-book. It's a make-up-your-own-fantasy book by three South African women writers. It's really fun erotica, and the point is that as the reader, you make all the choices (wear the granny gonch or go command0 - stuff like that).

You've touched on another point I wanted to bring up Kimmy, that the gatekeepers are no longer in charge of subject matter and content. Back to that Guardian article:

"Gone is our confidence that publishers and agents know exactly what everyone wants to (or should) read, and can spot all the material worth our attention. Soft porn and fantasy have emerged as particularly under-represented in the industry's official output."
​

 

[Mary Novik]

This is an amazing forum, Gail! Imagine having so many posts by so many people that it's impossible to keep up with the discussion. Nirvana!

 

[June Hutton]

Jen Sookfong Lee has a great idea about authors jumping into mixed-media events. I can really see Jen doing that! At the North Shore Writers Festival yesterday, she was the moderator for our panel (me, Daniel Kalla, Roberta Rich, and Sandra Gulland) and she prowled up and down the aisles with her mike like a panther pouncing on audience members to get them to interact and ask questions!

I was there yesterday -- it was great! Jen knew how to improvise to get those mikes to the audience as well as to the reading authors. And Mary, what a great reading you gave.

 

[Ania Szado]

I think there is always the impression that self-published people don't work with editors but many do. I have seen some real dilly books but many of the self-pub places that offer a package offer packages including editors and cover designers. I hired my own editors just to submit my book to publishers because I wanted them to go in clean.

Some literary agents are now also offering services to help authors self-publish.

 

[Gail Anderson-Dargatz]

This is an amazing forum, Gail! Imagine having so many posts by so many people that it's impossible to keep up with the discussion. Nirvana!

Hah! Yes!

 

[June Hutton]

I must leave now, and will have to return later to read over all these terrific comments. Thanks, everyone!

 

[Deanna Kawatski]

I think there is always the impression that self-published people don't work with editors but many do. I have seen some real dilly books but many of the self-pub places that offer a package offer packages including editors and cover designers. I hired my own editors just to submit my book to publishers because I wanted them to go in clean.

Yes, that seems to be the way of things now. And at least hiring your own editor you could choose someone you felt was "on the same page". I personally would never go for one of the publishing packages because I think for the most part they offer far more than they ever deliver and they are way too costly, plus they steal some of your power in the process. There are invariably others with a different take on this...

 

[Gail Anderson-Dargatz]

Well, folks, we only have ten minutes left. Thanks so much everyone for joining us, and for your ideas. Wow! I'll be blogging much of this shortly. You're welcome to do the same, of course. Drop by any time! Love to see you ...

 

[Julie Paul]

I'm not sure I have all that much to contribute here, but as a writer with a second book coming out this fall with a small but strong publisher (B&G), I am very grateful that there are people other than me who are taking care of things. Even though I have had to compromise on a few things (ie, cover design), I greatly value their experience and hopefully, their marketing. They have recently gone deeper into the US market, so we'll see if that means more book sales. My first publisher was very small, and while I love the book, and its design, it didn't receive much national exposure due to limited resources. Now I'd like that book to come out as an e-book, but that publisher still has those rights and is not publishing anymore, so I'm not sure what to do about that. I may have to take it to the WUC.

 

[Deanna Kawatski]

Well, folks, we only have ten minutes left. Thanks so much everyone for joining us, and for your ideas. Wow! I'll be blogging much of this shortly. You're welcome to do the same, of course. Drop by any time! Love to see you ...

Thanks for inviting me Gail. It was great! I shall return to read over the posts. See you at the festival...

 

[Mary Novik]

Yes, that seems to be the way of things now. And at least hiring your own editor you could choose someone you felt was "on the same page".

And I do believe that many authors published by traditional publishers, who are getting a skimpy edit or just want another editor's POV, are hiring freelance editors as well. It is becoming very common.

 

[Kimmy Beach]

You've touched on another point I wanted to bring up Kimmy, that the gatekeepers are no longer in charge of subject matter and content. Back to that Guardian article:

"Gone is our confidence that publishers and agents know exactly what everyone wants to (or should) read, and can spot all the material worth our attention. Soft porn and fantasy have emerged as particularly under-represented in the industry's official output."
​

My latest book is just teetering on the edge of too erotic. It got published though, and my editor didn't treat it as erotica, but as literature. They can coexist. And while I wouldn't call A Girl Walks Into a Bar "literature" necessarily, I don't think the authors would either. It's a fun, sexy romp without any particularly literary merit, but that's not its point. It's also several skyscrapers above the Fifty Shades stuff.

To be completly honest here, I think we're all allowed to write whatever makes us happy. It made me happy to write about James Bond's occasional lack of success as a lover. I don't believe we have to write what we should write or write what's hot (which at the moment, seems to be erotica and vampires or some combination of the two). But that goes back centuries. Anyone who thinks Dracula isn't porn didn't read it right. I'm not sure I'm answering your implied question all that well, but if we do what the "Gatekeepers" tell us to (whether we publish independently or not), then I don't think we're being true to ourselves as writers. I write for myself first, always. If somebody reads it later, bonus.

 

[Julie Paul]

http://www.deborageary.com/

This is a link to a Victoria writer who's had HUGE success with self-publishing. Millions, I hear. I think genre is a big part of the self-publishing picture, but that's probably already been mentioned....

 

[Deanna Kawatski]

I'm not sure I have all that much to contribute here, but as a writer with a second book coming out this fall with a small but strong publisher (B&G), I am very grateful that there are people other than me who are taking care of things. Even though I have had to compromise on a few things (ie, cover design), I greatly value their experience and hopefully, their marketing. They have recently gone deeper into the US market, so we'll see if that means more book sales. My first publisher was very small, and while I love the book, and its design, it didn't receive much national exposure due to limited resources. Now I'd like that book to come out as an e-book, but that publisher still has those rights and is not publishing anymore, so I'm not sure what to do about that. I may have to take it to the WUC.

Julie, you will need to get the rights back. Usually if a publisher stops producing the book the rights revert back to you. Check your contract. And yes, TWUC would know what to do if you are a member.

 

[Gail Anderson-Dargatz]

I am very grateful that there are people other than me who are taking care of things. Even though I have had to compromise on a few things (ie, cover design), I greatly value their experience and hopefully, their marketing.

Yes! Looking into the self-publishing world has given me a new appreciation of just how skilled all these people working in the publishing industry really are. Again from that Guardian piece:

"There is now a wider understanding of what publishing is – and that it is more difficult than it looks. The industry has long suffered the irony that effective publishing is most evident when invisible; it is only when standards are less than felicitous that we realise how well what we read is managed most of the time."​

 

[Kimmy Beach]

Must run myself. Thank you very much for the invitation, Gail. And thanks to everyone for your thoughtful comments. Ciao for now!

 

[Georgie Binks]

My latest book is just teetering on the edge of too erotic. It got published though, and my editor didn't treat it as erotica, but as literature. They can coexist. And while I wouldn't call A Girl Walks Into a Bar "literature" necessarily, I don't think the authors would either. It's a fun, sexy romp without any particularly literary merit, but that's not its point. It's also several skyscrapers above the Fifty Shades stuff.

To be completly honest here, I think we're all allowed to write whatever makes us happy. It made me happy to write about James Bond's occasional lack of success as a lover. I don't believe we have to write what we should write or write what's hot (which at the moment, seems to be erotica and vampires or some combination of the two). But that goes back centuries. Anyone who thinks Dracula isn't porn didn't read it right. I'm not sure I'm answering your implied question all that well, but if we do what the "Gatekeepers" tell us to (whether we publish independently or not), then I don't think we're being true to ourselves as writers. I write for myself first, always. If somebody reads it later, bonus.

Kimmy you make me laugh! I've really enjoyed this. Doing the self-pub thing is a very solitary endeavour and it is great to speak with so many successful authors!

 

[Julie Paul]

Julie, you will need to get the rights back. Usually if a publisher stops producing the book the rights revert back to you. Check your contract. And yes, TWUC would know what to do if you are a member.

Thanks, Deanna. I am not a member but I think I will join!

 

[Georgie Binks]

Thank you, Gail, for including me. Off to pick up branches, thanks to December's ice storm, that have just appeared now that the snow has melted.

 

[Kimmy Beach]

Kimmy you make me laugh! I've really enjoyed this. Doing the self-pub thing is a very solitary endeavour and it is great to speak with so many successful authors!

I'm glad, Georgie! I'm in a really good mood today, though they're calling for snow. I don't know who "they" are, but I'm ignoring them.