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Bowker reports that in 2008, there were more titles by self-published authors than by traditional publishers. It's obvious, one way or another, many authors are deciding to self-publish. And so, powered by Author Solutions, a leader in self-publishing, Harlequin now wants a piece of the self-publishing pie. Therefore, they've announced the launch of Harlequin Horizons (BTW - I'm reading today the name will change shortly due to certain resource eligibility conflicts, so stay tuned), a division of Harlequin that allows emerging authors to have their professionally published books available to readers, for a price.

With a greater number of publishers reporting losses and issuing layoffs, there are more author submission rejections than when I first started writing in 1999. I'd self-published in 2000, and by 2001 I was offered a deal with HarperCollins. Suddenly, self-published African American authors were being picked up by major houses left and right because of so many hard working AA self-pub authors who were able to sell more books on the streets than the publisher's own authors.

Today, in most genres, partly because of the recession and party because of the reality that a lot of authors just plain old ended up with very low numbers (for reasons ranging from lack of promotion to poor distribution and more), the very same authors who had book deals have found deals hard to come by. Either they're not being offered subsequent deals by their publishers, or they don't like the advances being offered. And so, they decided to submit elsewhere. Most find that the other major houses reject their work because of previous low sales, or the work itself is not accepted. They then seek out small, independent publishers who offer very small advances, if any. A lot of authors have given up on writing all together.

Non-traditional ways of publishing are the norm now. It's had to be that way just to stay published, or for new writers to get that first deal. Some independent publishing companies that are owned by self-published authors are doing so well, they wouldn't think of sharing the wealth with a major. And so, also thinking in a non-traditional way, Harlequin, and also Thomas Nelson, now offer imprints designed as another option for the self-published author to consider. The author pays a fee and gets sales, marketing, publication, and distribution services fulfilled by Author Solutions - published by Harlequin Solution.

Is this really a viable option for writers who wish to self-pub? Wouldn't it be a benefit? After all, the Harlequin press release states that if the book performs well, there's a possibility they might pick up the title themselves, so it's a good way to get noticed, right? But what about the author making money? Is this a way for the author to get paid for their work? Or is this simply an easy way for commercial publishers to make money? Some say this is nothing more than vanity publishing with a fancy bow on it? What do you say?

When I started knitting, it was to keep my hands out of the Doritos bag at night. Hint – nacho cheese dusted fingers and yarn don’t mix.

My knitting bag:



Now it has become a big part of my writing process, and I try to start a new knitting project when I begin a manuscript.

In the beginning, the luxurious skeins of yarn and my fresh idea are ripe with possibility. I can hardly wait to dig into them.

I write a few chapters. I knit some rows. Then fear creeps in.

“Why in the heck did you buy this expensive yarn? You’re just going to mess it up.”

“Why on earth did you sign a contract promising another book? You're just going to mess it up. ”

Next comes doubt.

“I can’t knit a sweater.”

“I can’t write three-hundred pages.”

Even though I’ve done both before.

Despite the fear and doubt, I keep plugging away.

One stitch.

One word.

One row.

One sentence at a time.

When the sweater is looking bad, I get a boost from a well-written scene. When the writing is going awful a perfectly knit sleeve reminds me I can do it.

So anybody else have an outside hobby that aids their writing?

Thanks so much to Stefanie for inviting me to blog with you today! Some of you know me, some of you don’t. So for fun—and to get the ball rolling—I have a question to pose: Which of these statements do you think is false?

My name is Elisabeth.

I’m an author.

I’m a runner.

I’m a mom.

I’m a sucker for a happily ever after.

I’m a laundry slacker.

Yesterday I committed a heinous murder and I liked it.

Find it yet? I bet not. Because they’re all true. My name is Elisabeth. I am an author for Dorchester. I do run at least three times a week and have completed two half marathons to date. I’m a mom of three. I love a good happily-ever-after. I suck at laundry. Oh, and yeah. Yesterday I killed a trucker. Mind you, I have nothing against truckers, but the guy had to go. There was blood, there were screams, there was even a little whining (I hate it when they whine), but the end result was and is always the same—I killed someone and I liked it.

I always wait until the last minute to write these columns. In part because I have a backlog of ideas ranging from the use of metaphor to branding to writing techniques to literary reviews. I've lived a long(ish) time, pay attention, have strong opinions, and ain't one bit shy -- which means I can usually pull 300 to 500 words out of thin air with little effort.

But sometimes I get caught up in the world around me, and become overwhelmed with things to write about. Then it becomes an editing, or self-control, issue and I'm not good at either of those. Up until this week I'd had a vague idea I'd write about writing groups, for example, but that plan got derailed by my recent discovery of China. Really. I was just following President Obama and there it was. Quite remarkable. Actually, in anticipation of Obama's visit to Asia I began looking into what the local bloggers and news sources were posting and discovered was the Chinese internet and the culture of Netizens.

How did I become fluent enough in Chinese to follow blogs? (I have readers who will tell you I'm only marginally fluent in English.) Through dedication, hard work, and sites like chinaSMACK and ChinaHush that translate hot news stories and blogs on the Chinese web into English for ex-pats and foreigners who might be interested.

As I began exploring, I was struck by how familiar most of the Chinese web is, something that may indicate certain universals. Follow a link to a Chinese-only page, for example, and almost immediately a little pop-up with an image of a pretty girl appears. Even in China local singles are waiting.

At first the similarities disguise the differences, but as I read certain fundamental differences in world view became apparent. A story about a young man graduating from the police academy and -- with his fellow cadets forming an honor guard -- proposing to his fiancée generated hundreds of comments from people outraged because a policeman in uniform had trivialized his duty with personal business. The police commissioner had to weigh in, confirming that the cadets had broken no laws.

I began corresponding with one of the founding translators at chinaSMACK and asked her about the Netizen response to President Obama's town hall meeting in Shanghai. She sent me links to a dozen sites. where every word and action of the President was analyzed debated (the fact that he carries his own umbrella is big). In following them and reading the blogs I came to see a pattern. In a nation where all public media and news sources are controlled, the people assume everything they see is staged and intended to misdirect; they parse every nuance.

What this brought home to me -- in addition to realizing these folks would solve any mystery I wrote by the end of the first chapter -- was how little I understand of cultures outside the western model. I love to create worlds and cultures. I do it all the time in science fiction. But how well can I depict a world that is real but outside my experience? To write a story of modern China, I would need to spend weeks among the Netizens, Not researching their physical world -- that can be done with any good search engine -- but learning how they think, how they see the world.

This is a challenge for any writer who ventures in her fiction beyond the places she's lived and the people she's known. Whether writing a historical or setting a story in a different land, she runs the risk of projecting her own values, her own expectations, her own culture onto her subject. To write authentically about a culture beyond her own, an author must move beyond research. She must immerse herself in her new world and write from the inside out.

I’ve been on Facebook for just about a year or so. Over this past year, as I’ve reconnected with old friends from high school, college and graduate school, I’ve often looked at where those people are and compared my own life’s journey to theirs’. It’s hard not to.

Recently, I was “friended” by a former classmate from graduate school who now has those three letters I always pictured following my own last name, Ph.D. I thought seeing that would induce those old “maybe I should go back to school” feelings, but to my surprise it didn’t. As I pondered this, I realized I haven’t experience those feelings in quite a while. For about two years, in fact, ever since I published my first book.

I wrote for a long time before selling my first book, and passed on many things I thought should have been on my life’s journey in order to pursue my dream. Publishing that first book validated the path I’d taken, and made all the sacrifices worth it. This is what I should be doing. When I’m writing, it’s the only time that, when I’m doing it, it doesn’t feel as if I should be doing something else.

If I had entered that Ph.D. program instead of taking those few months off to concentrate on my writing, I possibly never would have finished that first novel. Which eventually turned into a second, then a third, and then a fourth.

Even though it took five manuscripts to make that first sale, I will never regret the path I’ve chosen. And living with no regrets is a great feeling.

Is there an ulterior motive buried in your fiction? Is your plot a fun ruse to seduce readers to the dark side of chocolate? Are you making the case for a social cause like the elimination of injustice or world hunger? Or are you merely trying to convince people that good always defeats evil, love does indeed conquer all and mom’s advice really was the best?

In other words, do you have an author platform? Is your writing branded?

If you’re wondering what these things are, so did I at one time. A platform is more common among non-fiction writers; my colleague Stephanie Jones, for example, who writes about sexual abuse. Her book details a personal journey that has served as a springboard to speaking engagements with victims’ rights, support and advocacy groups, and freelance articles on spin off topics.

Branding gets a lot of attention among fiction authors because it helps define a reader’s experience of your work. More than a name or tagline, a brand is about expectations. In a grocery store, for instance, shoppers may attach higher hopes to flavor from a Sunkist orange than they do to the generic fruit in the next bin. Likewise, readers expect very different books from Toni Morrison and Stephen King.

As a horror author, are you known for your skin-crawling slasher scenes? Are you a romance writer known for gut-wrenching relationships? Are you a thriller writer known for page-turning plot-twists? Do you feed your readers a consistent diet that keeps them coming back to your table of titles?

It took me awhile to figure out who I wanted to be as an author. Paranormal romance tagged me long before I recognized the genre as what I wrote. Once I conquered that identity crisis, however, others followed. Fantasy/paranormal romance covers a big, broad range. I wasn’t sure how to stand out in that spectrum. I spent close to a year developing my tagline of “supernatural stories of passion and suspense” and creating the web site and materials to support it. I like the fit.

I also like the fact that beneath the marketing aspect of what I write (which is really what platforms and branding are all about), I have found that the stories of my heart revolve around second chances. More than anything, I love giving my characters another shot at something gone awry in their lives. When I can, I try to tie the struggle to a tangible current event. In HeavenSent.com, a couple’s second chance at finding each other happens amid the very real backdrop of sudden unemployment.

Though I don’t claim a platform, I find that the current event tie-ins help get the attention of people who may automatically bypass my genre as something they don’t like. The second chances and contemporary settings might win them over in ways psychic dreams and guardian angels don’t.

When I can, I do plant social seeds. In Where Souls Collide, I dealt with the downfall and transformation of a local newspaper. And I think we’re all aware of the plight of traditional media. In HeavenSent.com, I hope I paint an honest picture of what it’s like to lose a job and fear for your future. Again, how often do we hear about the country’s growing unemployment rolls?

There are many ways to sell yourself, make a point, brand your fiction, or elicit a smile (or scream for some of you). Does your writing do double duty? Or is it enough to simply entertain? I'd love to know your thoughts.

Stefanie
www.stefanieworth.com

When my first novel was published, I attended the annual Romance Writers of America (RWA) conference and found myself swept away by all of the events involving published authors. I went to a meet and greet where I met Suzanne Brockmann who was very generous with her time. She asked about my novel and was very attentive while I explained the intricate details of my story. I felt like a real author.

During the conference I made a connection with one of the booksellers from Chicago. We agreed on a date when I would be at her store and as she walked away, Darlene called over her shoulder, "I'm almost finished with your book. I'll have the review up tomorrow."

What review? Who told her she could review my book? And where would the review be shown?

I was shocked by the amount of people who had my writing career in their hands. When I look back on my first release, I realized that I didn't know jack. I didn't understand any of the process that went along with writing and being a published author.

Today, things would be different, I've learned a great deal over the last seven years. What kind of experience did you have with your first novel? How was the process easier or more difficult? E-mail me and let me know what you encountered.

I'd love to hear from you. Remember, don't be a stranger.

Karen

karenwowens@gmail.com