Cover Stories

Unless you're Stephen King, Dan Brown or JK Rowling where simple name recognition sells your books, the cover is your most important marketing tool. The cover holds the power to make that all-important first impression, to attract and induce a prospective buyer to take a closer look. How much control an author has over her cover depends on whether she is traditionally or independently published. I've been both (aka a hybrid author) and here's what I've learned.

1. If you're traditionally pubished, as I was for my first novel, the publisher has total control over the cover design. 
In many instances, the first time the author sees the cover is when it appears in stores. I first saw my cover online and was taken aback. There was nothing to indicate that the story was contemporary romance--just a woman sitting in what appeared to be some kind of concourse. Since important scenes in the story take place in airports, I assumed this was the publisher's rationalization for the cover...

It wasn't until many months later that I discovered the cover had been created for someone else's book. When the author withdrew her novel the cover was repurposed--and slapped on to my book. To say that I was startled by this revelation is putting it mildly. The first version of the cover had already been sent out to stores before the book was withdrawn...and it's still out there in places like FictionDB. Bizarre, huh...

2. When you publish independently, the cover hurdle is all yours. 
I published my second novel independently so I had total responsibility for the cover. I spent long hours searching stock image sites and finally found two images that I liked for the cover concept I had in mind. I did a (very) rough sketch and hired a highly-recommended cover artist (Kim Killion of Hot Damn Designs) to execute it. I thought the final product was beautiful, and perfect, and exactly what I had in mind. (Kim also has hundreds of stock images and pre-made book covers. I found all the images for my historical romance series on her site.)

3. If you have some basic design skills, you can make your own covers.
I generally don't recommend going this route, but I've done this for most of my short stories and novellas. I buy a stock image that won't need a lot of tweaking and upload it to one of the cover creator tools on publishing platforms such as Amazon's KDP or Pronoun (now defunct) where all I need to do is find an acceptable font and layout for the title, subtitle and author's name. I also did this for authors that I published in the past to keep costs down. Here's one I created for a short story for a client:

4. Cover artists work with stock images. If you're looking for someone to produce new and original art for your cover, you're opening the doors of hell.
I no longer publish other writers, but I do provide editing services and I collaborate on covers. A client wanted an original illustration for his new book, so he hired a graphic artist off of Fiverr who had done a cover for him before--from a stock image, of course. He explained to the artist that he was not going to work with a stock image this time but wanted an original illustration/drawing. The artist said he could do it.

The first red flag went up when Fiverr dude asked to be paid up front. I have NEVER had an artist ask for money before I approved a draft, and I've worked with several to date. The sequence goes like this: I approve a cover draft>>I pay artist>>artist sends me hi-res final images. The second red flag was when he asked to be paid outside of the Fiverr system so that he could avoid paying the commission on the sale. My client agreed to pay half up front and, predictably, disaster ensued.

The sketches were horrendous, and it became obvious that the artist could not draw. I know 8-year-olds who would have done a better job. My client gave the artist many chances to present something we could actually use, but the sketches just kept getting worse. Even the title fonts were atrocious, despite the fact that we sent the artist samples of the sort of font we wanted. Eventually my client had to fire the artist, who, of course, did not refund his money.

Then, without discussing it with me, the client hired someone who had never made a cover before. NEVER do that. NEVER. Did you get that? Not. Ever. This guy took us on an unbelievable, month-long ride before finally producing something we could use. He got things wrong that I did not think it was possible for anyone to get wrong. He disregarded instructions, sending PNG files instead of JPEG files for the e-book. He got the sizes wrong. He got the DPI (resolution) wrong. He got the RPG color profile wrong on the JPEG, using a CMYK format that is used for print, not digital images. He got the specs for the PDF cover for print wrong about 5 times. He sent the spine for the print book separately from the front and back. He neglected to leave margins around the back blurb on the print cover, or a space between the header and the body of text. All of this despite being given clear instructions, links to further explanations, and examples of previous projects. And just like the first 'artist', he could not create acceptable art from scratch despite his protestations, so my client had to finally give in and provide him with stock images.

When we finally got images we thought we could use, CreateSpace rejected the PDF for the print version, and Draft2Digital rejected the JPEG cover. I've published 50-plus titles, my own books and on behalf of clients, and I'd never had D2D reject a cover before. I hit Google to figure out what D2D meant by RPG and CMYK color profiles, then it was back to the drawing board.

So what's the takeaway from my experiences?
1. Be prepared to have zero input on your covers if you're traditionally published.
2. Understand that you have total control over your covers as an indie author/publisher.
3. You can design your own covers if you have basic design skills and can work with the cover creator software that's provided free by some platforms
4. Self-made covers tend to look self-made, however, so it's always best to hire an experienced cover artist.
5. If you use services like Fiverr, play by the rules. Do not pay for artwork until you approve the work, and do not make payments or deals outside of the system provided. The system is your protection.
6. Do not ask someone who has never designed covers for e-books and print to make your covers. Capiche?

Do you have interesting cover stories of your own? Please share them in the comments.

Traditional Publishing: School of Hard Knocks?

Author Stephanie Bond, who has sold 2 million books and one of whose titles has been adapted for a Hallmark movie, credits her success as an indie author to the hard knocks education she got in traditional publishing. As I read her interview on Indie Reader I found myself nodding at the parallels with my own publishing experience.

While I haven't sold 2 million books, I too started out in traditional publishing (Dorchester Publishing, Montlake Romance) and I can verify the prevalence of those hard knocks. Here are a few, from my experience alone:

1. Publisher goes out of business, chaotically, over a period of years. Your titles with them, including option books (and scheduled-to-be released books, as some of my co-authors learned) are tied up, sometimes for years. My indie venture never goes out of business unless I want it to, my books are never tied up, and they never go out of print.

2. Bond, in the interview mentioned, also stated that "digital publishing in general is simply a better fit for my hybrid books that are part mystery, part relationship; traditional publishers never knew how to categorize my books or where they should be shelved in brick and mortar stores." When my option book finally emerged from the ashes of Dorchester, I had this same problem with my own part romance, part mystery, noir-ish title. The agent said she loved the story but couldn't settle on a genre, so she decided not to send it out to publishers. That book became my first indie title.

3. Authors generally have zero control of their intellectual properties once they sign that traditional publishing contract: not over covers, editing, pricing, release schedule, making changes, and myriad other things. As an indie I can alter anything at will, and the changes go live in hours or a day at most.

4. I was told to stick to one genre and build up a readership there before branching into side alleys. But I don't write that way: I write what I'm moved to write when I'm moved. I've written romance, historical, literary, memoir, and am currently dabbling in mystery. I write and publish short stories and novellas, standalone and in series, as well as novels. I'm all over the map. Indie publishing allows me to write and publish the way I want to rather than some way that's prescribed for me. I don't wear prescriptions well.

5. Making money through trad pubbing is extremely difficult once that advance has been paid. I made more money through my indie books last year than in all the years since I was first pubbed in 2008 -- all of them combined.

6. If you happen to earn out your advance and royalties start trickling in, you have to wait 6 months or longer to see that money, depending on your publisher's payment schedule. If you're agented, like I am for the traditionally published book, you have to wait longer yet for those pennies -- minus the agent's commission -- with all sorts of attendant issues that I won't get into. I get paid in 2 months for my indie titles. 2 months. With one aggregator that I use to get my books on Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo etc., those royalties are in my bank account two days after the payment goes through. If I opt to use a service like Payoneer, the payment goes into my account immediately. IMHO, that's hard to beat.

The traditional publishing experience isn't all negative. Amazon's Montlake Romance acquired my first title, Cafe au Lait, in 2013, 5 years after its first publication, propelling it to the UK Kindle Top 100 list several times during dedicated promotions over subsequent years and generating significant royalties (finally). I doubt I could have done that on my own; an indie author simply does not have the promotional clout of Amazon's mega-machine. Conversely, indie publishing is not a walk in the park: it is a hell of a lot of work, and if often takes time for returns to start coming in: it was three years before I began to see regular royalties, and another year before I saw significant royalties. 

I don't regret my hard knocks in the school of traditional publishing: they smashed my rose-colored perspective on publishing forever, and equipped me with something that money can't buy: invaluable experience. To the hybrid authors out there: How would you compare your traditional vs. your indie publishing experience? I'm aware that everyone's mileage differs.

Liane Spicer

2017 - My Publishing Year in Review

It's still a shock to me, but 2017 has been my best publishing year to date. No, I'm not making the big bucks, but I'm making enough to make writing and publishing worth the countless hours of time and effort I've put in since 1997 when I completed the first draft of my first novel.

That first novel did not see the light until 2008; that was no fault of the book but of the author who shelved it for years before dusting it off in 2005, revising, acquiring agent representation in 2006 and a publisher in 2007. Returns on that book, on which I made a paltry 4% of retail per my contract, were minimal.

In 2013 or thereabouts I decided to go rogue and started publishing novels, novellas and shorts, in several genres and using different pen names, on the KDP indie platform. Sales were slow and inconsistent, and as the years passed I became more and more disillusioned with Amazon's policies. At the end of 2015 I took all my titles out of Amazon's Select program and went wide in January 2016, selling on B&N, iBooks, Kobo, Smashwords, Google Play and others.

Going wide was the BEST decision I ever made. From the very first month, January 2016, my royalties began to climb and by March I began receiving cheques like clockwork. It was just coffee money, but it was the first time I was getting paid every single month for my writing. One year later, in January 2017, two of my titles suddenly took off on iBooks and my monthly royalties increased by roughly 1000%. Those monthly payments cover a few of my bills, including groceries. I am still in shock.

I'm an optimist, disgustingly so according to one of my friends, and as 2018 draws near I have solid grounds for that cheerful outlook. I'm hoping to increase my royalties by putting more titles in the stores--or, at the very least, maintain my current momentum. Publishing is a very unpredictable business, but barring major debacles, 2018 is beckoning with a smile.

What has publishing been like for you in 2017?

SEVEN STEPS I TOOK TO GO FROM SELF-­PUBLISHED TO A BOOK DEAL

Greetings! I was looking through some interesting articles and blog posts that I'd written years ago. I thought I'd share this one, which my fellow author Brandon Massey asked me to write for his blog. This was written 10 years ago, in 2007, just after Dr. Feelgood was released by Kensington Books. I listed the 7 steps that I took to go from being a self-published author, to being offered a book deal by a major publisher in 2001.

I thought I'd share it today. Some, if not all of the 7 suggestions are still relevant today. Social media is much more of a factor now, and self-publishing is way easier and more prevalent now. New authors, see - there is so much work to be done in order to get signed by a major, before and after you've penned your book. Enjoy!

SEVEN STEPS I TOOK TO GO FROM SELF-­PUBLISHED TO A BOOK  DEAL

By Marissa Monteilh

Author, May December Souls, The Chocolate Ship, Hot Boyz, Make Me Hot and Dr. Feelgood

First, it is important to note that while many authors secure agency representation, and/or sell their manuscripts without self­-publishing first, self­-publishing proved to be an important avenue that led to my two book deal with HarperCollins in April of 2001, and opened the door to my full-­time career as an  author.

You should determine whether or not self-­publishing is an option you’d like to explore. Being that I had shopped my manuscript for nearly six months and only received offers from small publishing companies who first wanted upfront fees (a big no-­no), and after attending Michael Baisden’s book signing where he suggested that I self-­publish first, it was pretty much a no-brainer for me. Michael suggested that I purchase a copy of The Self Publishing Manual by Daniel Poynter. Not only did I run out the next day and pick up the book, I followed every suggested step book like clockwork. 

Once you decide to take this step, do not make any excuses that will block your blessings. The steps outlined include a time frame that is extremely easy to follow, and the entire process took me eight months. Before I knew it I had my first shipment of 3000 books delivered to my home office. Holding that bound book in your hand will surely make all of your hard work well worth it. Stay disciplined and follow through!

1) PROMOTE, PROMOTE, PROMOTE: 

Joining the PMA – Publishers Marketing Association, and other organizations, allowed me the opportunity to participate in various wholesaler programs for self-published authors like Baker & Taylor and Ingram. Wholesalers are invaluable because most bookstores purchase from wholesalers as opposed to going to each author directly. And, being a member of a particular organization can entitle you to receive big discounts from printing companies, etc. 

Invest in marketing materials like bookmarks and flyers. Make sure prospective readers have something in hand to remind them that your book is out there.

Thank goodness for the Internet!! Search the Internet for book club contact information and send each contact person an email, offer to send review copies, etc. Book clubs are an invaluable tool toward spreading the word.

Search the Internet for bookstore listings. Call the owners, visit the stores, request book signing dates, etc. Bookstores are very accommodating and they are usually willing to distribute your marketing materials as well. Also, list your title on Amazon.com and other online listings.

If you can afford to, plan a book tour, if possible, so that you promote your title in person. If money is an issue, sign locally in your area. Research book fairs and other events. Focus on spreading the word. And always bring a sign-­in sheet for readers to jot down their email addresses. Very important!

Come up with marketing angles such as giveaways, hair salon contests, free gifts with proof of purchase. Contact various companies whose products match well with your book title and with the target age of your readers and ask them to donate their goods or services. Also, offer a free book to readers who will in turn write a review on www.amazon.com 

Contact radio stations and newspapers and request that they do a feature  story on you and your book. Most people like to hear about the author's journey or how that book relates to the world or the life of the author. Find an angle that ties in and promote it. And always research how to write a good press release. You can email the release or fax it. Last but not least; GET A WEBSITE. I recommend www.pageturner.net, an awesome company that creates websites for most AA authors.

2) TRACK SALES AND PREPARE A DISTRIBUTION SUMMARY:  

One reason to self-­publish is to prove that your title will sell and that the subject matter is in demand. I prepared a Marketing and Distribution Summary, which the agents found very helpful. My agent used the information in his cover letters to publishers. It should include your target market, genre, sales history, list price, distribution strategy, reviews, media outlets, and other avenues of promotion.

3) RESEARCH AND CONTACT AGENTS WHO HANDLE AUTHORS IN YOUR GENRE: 

Once I felt the title was circulating fairly well, I decided to submit the self­-published version to agents. I compiled a list of agents based upon various agents I’d noticed mentioned in the acknowledgment sections of authors in  a similar genre. I scoured the Internet for agency listings. I flipped through the Literary Marketplace by R.R. Bowker for specific agents who were accepting submissions. NEVER PAY AN AGENCY FEE and check out agents to make sure they're reputable.

Once I narrowed down my list to eight agents, I contacted each agency via  telephone to see if they were accepting submissions and if so, what the guidelines were. I also inquired as to which agencies were accepting email queries.

I decided I would submit via email on the first round. I included the cover image and a brief query letter, maybe three paragraphs. The first paragraph indicated that I was seeking representation on my newly  released, self-published title, (include word count) and mentioned a  precise one-liner as to the plot. The second paragraph was a brief synopsis about conflict, about the ending and lessons learned, and the third paragraph covered the fact that I was hard at work on my next novel. I briefly covered the success rate of my first release. The closing sentence was simply, “Please let me know if you would like me to forward the perfect bound novel, May December Souls. Thanks for your time and consideration.” 

4) CREATE A COMPLETE AND PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATION  PACKAGE: 

Once four of the agents contacted me and expressed interest in my complete submission, I prepared a presentation folder, which included a cover letter, news release, more detailed synopsis, marketing summary, marketing brochures ­ bookmarks, reviews and reader comments. Obviously, I included the bound book and a stamped, self-addressed envelope for their convenience. The Self Publishing Manual also covers information on preparing these items.

5) LET GO AND LET GOD:  

Make sure you give an agent sufficient time before you call to follow up. I’d say four to six weeks. And sometimes, like in my case, they may even call within the first week. If not, repeat Steps Three and Four again. Be persistent.

6) ONCE AN AGENT EXPRESSES INTEREST, CONDUCT FURTHER RESEARCH ON THE AGENT: 

I contacted another author who was also represented by the particular agent I felt expressed the most intense sincerity and confidence in their ability to sell my title. My agent asked me to give him one month and within one month, we were involved in auction. Make sure the agent is a member of the Association of Author’s Representatives or other  professional organizations.

7) DO NOT BE AFRAID TO REQUEST CHANGES TO THE AGENCY  AGREEMENT:  

There is a book called How to Be Your Own Literary Agent by Richard Curtis. Educate yourself on all aspects of the agreement, ask other authors for advice, or hire an attorney to review the contract before you sign. Most agency contracts are fairly brief. It is the publishing contact that is quite lengthy.

Some publishing companies are accepting submissions directly, i.e., HarperCollins, particularly for African American authors. Skip the agency submission if you choose to go this route, however, if you’re starting out, an experienced agent can prove extremely valuable. And don't be unrealistic about the deal amount offered to you. Most times we hear of dollar amounts for book deals and the amounts are TOTALLY exaggerated. Walk before you run, and then take time to crawl, too. Understand that getting to the point of quitting your job takes time. 

Once you decide to sign (yeah!) I suggest you let your agent handle the business of submitting your title. It is very important that the two of you build a rapport based upon mutual respect and a fiery passion for your title. There has to be a level of trust. Inform him/her as to which houses you would like to approach, however, follow their lead and be patient. Know that the final decision as to which publisher you sign with ­ is yours.

Write on!

Marissa Monteilh 

www.marissamonteilh.com

divapublishing@aol.com

A Question: Do you think it's relevant now for an author, new or otherwise, to obtain a literary agent?

In preparation for this Novel Spaces blog post, I reached out to my Facebook friends and asked them to suggest a topic/question they wanted me to cover. The first reply I got was from Diane Sewell Dorse, asking: Do you think it's relevant now for an author, new or otherwise, to obtain a literary agent?

I chose Diane's question because I had never really thought about whether it was still relevant, needed, or beneficial nowadays. But considering the indie movement in literature, self-publishing being more popular then ever, seeming to squash traditional publishing, one has to wonder. So, I decided to take on the topic. After all, it's all about books, our readers, and if we decide to not self-pub, it's about that publishing contract.

While it's true that a lot of authors; 1) have no choice other than to self-pub because they cannot find an agent or publisher, 2) prefer to go the self-published route to keep track of their own sales and income, and not pay percentages to agents and publishers, 3) are established authors who have built up enough of a readership where they believe they don't need an agent or publisher, 4) there are still authors who do prefer to have an agent, and the backing of a mainstream publisher for purposes of production and distribution, to give them more time to write, and hopefully provide more income, upfront or otherwise, through advances/sales. And when it comes time for a new deal, their agent can act on their behalf to get them the best deal. I just found out as well that some agents manage a writer's sub-pubbed efforts. Interesting. 

I reached out to my agent, Leticia Gomez, CEO and Founder of Savvy Literary Services. 

Leticia was kind enough to offer the following information:

* Major traditional publishers will not consider a project unless it's submitted by a literary agent. So if an author wants to become a career writer who is published by traditional publishers, having a well-trained and hardworking agent is a must have.

* An agent can help you polish up your manuscript or book proposal before starting the submission process.

* Having an agent will give an author more credibility among his or her peer writers, editors, and film and television executives

* An agent can be instrumental in negotiating better terms and catching any red flag items on publishing contracts than going at it alone.

* An agent can help you brainstorm new book ideas and give sound career advice.

* An agent will be your watchdog, making sure advance and royalty statements come in on time and the terms of your publishing contract are carried out and adhered to. In other words an agent will handle all the unpleasant business matters so the author can focus on his or her creativity. 

Now for me, having an agent was beneficial when I started out. I had written my first novel, May December Souls, from 1997 - 1998, and was all set to obtain an agent and have my book published, like so many other authors who were getting deals back then, particularly African American writers, thanks to the popularity of the iconic N.Y. Times best-selling author, Terry McMillan.

In 1999, I shopped my books to agents, and received rejection letter after rejection letter. And then I met Michael Baisden at a book-signing. He suggested that I self publish, telling me about a book called The Self-Publishing Manual, by Dan Poynter, suggesting that I follow it to the letter. I did, and by 2000, I had three-thousand books delivered to my home, as I released May December Souls under my own company, 4D Publishing. The books were selling out, but bringing in the money was not so easy (that's another post). Before ordering another print run, I decided to again submit to agents, but this time, instead of sending a manuscript, I had a bound copy to send with successful sales. Within two weeks, I heard from three agents, and Richard Curtis was one of them. He promised that I would have a book deal within a month. Three days after I signed with him, there was an auction underway for my book, and I signed a deal with HarperCollins. He helped me work through the contract and went back and forth for me. And so it began. I had a six-figure deal, and May December Souls was re-released immediately. I was on to writing my next book, The Chocolate Ship.

I've had a few agents since then, even one whom I work with if I have ideas that fit into what he and I still discuss, and he reaches out to send the checks, so he's my friend, lol!

A few of years ago, Leticia Gomez brokered a deal for me within months of signing with her. She is warm spirited, talented, professional, and very well connected within the industry. She has the relationships with the powers that be, that agents need to have. Particularly, relationships with editors/publishers, who, as Leticia indicated above, if they're top major publishers, for the most part will not accept unsolicited manuscripts. You still need an agent to introduce your submission on your behalf, just like we did years ago. Your agent will be a good person to bounce your ideas off of, be honest with you, help you to refine the story if necessary, and just overall be your connection to possible literary deals, and maybe even TV, film, etc. 

I think the percentage agent's charge is worth it, as they need to work hard for you, and have your back. Leticia has been pleasant, positive, available, and open, and for that, I am forever grateful.

So, yes, I think that having a relationship with an agent or someone who can be the communicator in submitting and/or negotiating, renegotiating, etc. is still relevant. 

Thanks, Diane Sewell Dorsey, for your question! Thanks, Leticia!

You can reach Leticia Gomez by going to her website, Savvy Literary. Make sure to check out her submission requirements. She's my girl, so treat her right! Also, check out a list of agents to see which might be best for you depending upon your genre, etc. You can try The Guide to Literary Agents 2017, available electronically or print. 

Write on!

The Process of Book Printing Gives Literary Life

Your book baby is now bound and ready for your readers - heavenly!! Ebooks are cool and all, but print books are simply hot off the press, hot! 

I know I'm preaching to the author-choir here, but anyone who has ever published a print version of a book knows the thrill of it, and the vast particulars involved. It's important to get a number of quotes from different printers, and consider many factors when deciding which company to use. I've ordered from out-of-state printers, and local as well, and through the years, after hits and misses, I've been more than satisfied in using one reliable publisher who lives up to his commitments, and who is focused on quality while offering reasonable prices. Stick with what works.

Before you get the quotes, have a typesetter create a PDF file of your interior (they'll want to know the size of your book), and a cover designer create a PDF of your cover layout. Your cover designer will need the size of the book as well, along with the exact number of typeset pages so that he/she can set the spine width.

When obtaining quotes, you must determine:

• The size of your book - for example, will it be 5.25 x 8 (a very common size for novels), 5.5 x 8.5 (also popular), 6 x 9 (was popular years ago for paperback, and is coming back - a lot of hard back novels are 6 x 9). My Oct. 2016 paperback book will be 6 x 9

• Matte or glossy cover

• Perfect bound (which is a spine process using adhesive binding - there's also coil, saddle-stitch, etc., but most paperback novels are perfect bound - hard cover can be case bound) 

• You must know the exact number of typeset pages (always an even number)

• C1S relates to the cover (glossy on one side) or C2S (glossy on both sides)

• 10 pt. refers to the stock of paper used for the cover (or 11 pt., 14 pt., the higher the point, the thicker the paper)

• Know the interior paper you want (white or creme - I ask for creme 60 lb. natural paper - some use 100 lb.) - text stock weight is described in pounds because the higher the weight, the thicker the paper - most non-fiction is white, most fiction is creme)

• Tell them if you have only black and white text or if there are color photos/graphs

• Provide your mailing zip code so that you can get a shipping estimate upfront, and there won't be shipping cost surprises later

• Always ask for a proof copy before approving the final order.

Most companies have a quote form you can fill out. Also, consider ordering galley/uncorrected proof copies so you can get advance reviews (they are not cheap).

For detailed information on printing, pick up The Self-Publishing Manual by the late, great Dan Poynter, who was my publishing guru when I self-published my first book in 2000. Most authors have read his works, and there is much respect for him as he usually made himself available via telephone. Here is a Smashwords interview he did a while back. They also mention his unfortunate passing in 2015 - Smashwords - Dan Poynter

By the way, request a tour of a local printing company to see how things work, and also, sign up for the free publishing webinars offered through BookLogix, a printing company in Atlanta. Booklogix Web Events - webinars on Book Publishing, Book Marketing, Book Selling, etc. (I have never hired BookLogix for printing so I can't vouch for them).

The process of book production is indeed involved, and it takes time and patience, but it can be fun. So get those books written and if you decide to, printed. Once you open the boxes that arrive with your printed babies, there's nothing like the feeling of holding a book in your creative hands . . . books that you gave literary life to!! Well, almost nothing, lol!

Happy Writing, and Happy Publishing!

Kindle Unlimited - A good thing for authors, or a not so good thing?

Recently, a fellow author who I spoke to hipped me to some new-school ways of publishing, while I shared my old-school ways. They took the time to break down their sources of revenue from their self-published titles, and I was amazed at what they told me. It turns out the 90% of what they make (and they say they make five figures per month) is revenue from their titles that are offered through Kindle Unlimited. "Wow." I said! I took note.

For readers, Kindle Unlimited is advertised as an ebook subscription-based service, costing them $9.99 per month. It allows them access to hundreds of thousands of Kindle ebooks and audiobooks, and the reader can keep up to 10 books at a time with no due date. If they want to add an 11th title, they must remove one of the 10 that they have.

From an author standpoint, I wondered just how beneficial this service really could be. And so, I enrolled some of my titles on the KDP Select program last month. Soon, I should have a fairly good idea as to whether or not this is the way to go. I'll find out in dollar amounts by mid-July, but I'll still need to track it for another month. I might renew KDP Select by the end of the three month period that is required, or I might not. Remains to be seen.

What really impacts authors as of July 1, 2015, is that Amazon has changed the way it pays authors for books in the KU and Kindle Lending program. It will pay author royalties based upon actual pages read, as opposed to paying an author each time a reader makes it through 10% of the book, as it was previously. Traditional books are paid royalties for each book sold, but KU now pays for number of pages read.

I received an email from Amazon on July 1st, that breaks down how a KDP author can check what is called a KENP or Kindle Edition Normalized Page count for each title, and in mid-July they will post the results of the fund for June, which is expected to be over $11M shared by all KU authors. They informed us that readers read nearly $1.9B KENPs in June. To me, this all sounds a little bit too measured and too iffy. I went to my KDP platform, and I can see my KENP average for each book, but how that translates into dollars and "sense" as to how much each author will receive (payout) based upon the fund, we shall see.

I have found that those authors who have been in the program either hate it or love it, but now with this new way of paying authors based upon normalized pages, I'm hoping it will lean towards the loving category.

The main thing is that I don't want readers worrying about how many pages they need to read so that we get paid. I like to keep things simple. I suppose that soon enough, I will find out if simple is the best word to describe this.

The other concern about KDP Select is that you have to sign over exclusive rights to Amazon, so your ebook cannot be sold anywhere else. I won't comment on that right now.

Ahh, the book biz!

If you've had any experience with KU, please share your thoughts. I will keep you updated on how things go on my end. Write on!!

HAPPY 4th of JULY

and

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY NOVELNAUTS!! 

What is an author anymore anyway?

As times change, and publishing itself continually mutates, there is a not-so-great-debate which flares up now and then about what constitutes a professional Author these days.The title itself is under scrutiny as more writers self publish and Indie presses crop up more and more.

Some point out that calling everyone who publishes something an author,  devalues the title of author. Well, maybe a new title needs to be created. Maybe "author" or even "professional author" doesn't mean what it used to. Maybe we are clinging to something that existed for a while, but is no longer relevant or valid. Take the title of Doctor. That is a title with weight, accompanied by years of schooling and given out by universities.

What are the qualifications for author?

Do you have to go to school for it? 

No.

Do you have to have a degree?

 No.

Is there a National Board of Real Authors overseeing the use of the title Author to make sure that there aren't fake authors operating?

 No.

Maybe "Author" is a social/media construct created in a now gone era when authors meant more and earned more. The working author, someone who can spend eight hours a day at the keyboard is something of a luxury now. They still exist, but many more also have day jobs, full-time or part-time. So their full income is not earned through writing alone. 

On the flip-side of that is the writer. Which is anyone who writes. And particularly someone who has not earned the title author with a $3000 advance (or the equivalent in sales of their indie/self-published book). The label writer seems a thin line from author and in a way it's become a bit shaming.  

And what do I call myself? Technically I'm "just"a writer. It's been some eight years since anything I wrote earned an advance and even back then it was from a comics publisher, not a Big 5 publisher. So my professional organization of choice, the SFWA wouldn't recognize my status. And now,  with my indie published book Carmine Rojas which is nowhere near earning the income required by the SFWA, I am still technically a lowly writer and not an author.  

The feeling is that if I call myself an author I'm an impostor, unworthy of the title. But how true is that anymore? Is income the objective leveler it once was? Are Indie authors qualified to call themselves authors? Is it time the entire title of author either dies out, or is replaced by something else?

Guest author Joyce Ann Brown: Flushing out Publishing Process Frustrations

Joyce Ann Brown

Joyce Ann Brown is a landlady, story teller, retired school Library Media Specialist, former classroom teacher, former Realtor, and a freelance writer. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Oklahoma Writers’ Federation, and a Kansas City Writers' Group. The first two books of her “Psycho Cat and the Landlady” cozy mystery series are, CATastrophic Connections, ready for pre-sale, and FURtive Investigation. Visit her website at http://joyceannbrown.com and her blog at http://retirementchoicescozymystery.wordpress.com . She will give away a copy of her first book to a random three people who comment on this post.

For the past several weeks, whenever I had a few minutes to reflect, I tried to come up with an analogy for the experience of self-publishing my book. The process of searching for an agent or a publisher is like applying to a good university or for a job with an outstanding employer. You go to class and work hard to produce your best work, send out applications and individually formatted resumes, and wait for ages to hear, receive rejections, get some interviews, and wait for more ages to hear anything. The process of self-publishing is similar up to a point, but...

More analogies ran through my mind, until one day I visited the restroom at a movie theatre. It hit me. Self-publishing is like using an automatic toilet. Now, don't get me wrong. The end product of both can be very successful—achievement and fulfillment. One doesn't often see people leaving restroom stalls looking depressed and anxious.

Consider the similarities in the two procedures:

1. You learn about nutrition, drink plenty of liquids, and pay for organic fruits, vegetables, and low-fat proteins for years. (Study creative writing, spend years writing a book, and pay for professional editing.)
2. Inside the stall, you pull out a paper seat cover, tear it open, and set it on the toilet seat. (Open self-publishing Websites, read the formatting rules, and download templates.) 
3. You stand up in triumph, having avoided tearing the paper cover to shreds, unbutton, and unzip. (Sit up straight at the computer and, with confidence, enter the manuscript into the template.)
4. The automatic toilet flushes before you can turn and sit on it, and the paper cover is flushed down. (After a week of unexpected formatting technicalities of uploading your masterpiece, you learn that the free cover choices are unremarkable and that you need to hire a cover artist.)
5. You grab another paper cover and tear out the middle with care. (Look for and hire a superb graphic artist to design a magnificent cover.)
6. You cross your thighs and squeeze when your bladder becomes demanding. (Wait with an impending sense of urgency for the cover artist to do her thing, because you've announced to your following that your book will be out very soon, and it is beginning to not be very soon at all.)
7. You lean over to hold the cover to the toilet seat while the automatic flush repeats. (Consider all the proposals for the book cover and start learning about the formatting rules on another self-publishing site while waiting for the cover.)
8. You jerk back up and wipe your face with your sleeve in disgust after the toilet flush splashes droplets into your eyes while you were holding the paper down. (Reformat parts of the text and send the file back to the graphic artist for additional work after the publishing service again finds some formatting problems.)
9. You look down to discover the second paper cover is gone. The toilet flushed it while you were wiping your eyes. Phooey! (Submit the reformatted files and receive the paperback proof only to see washed-out colors on the book cover and a centering problem on the copyright page and realize you must return to the formatting process.)
10. You stand to the side of the motion detector, take your pants down, pull the cover out, jerk it open, throw it on the seat, turn, and sit before the cover can be flushed. When the sensor delays the flush for a full minute after you stand up, you raise an eyebrow at the mechanism. As you pull up your pants and grab your purse from the door holder, you feel cocky about having conquered the problems. (Complete the corrections, resubmit the final files, and look back at the process with a sense of accomplishment mollified by the understanding that the pain of learning to format is only the beginning of the work involved in sharing your story with readers.)

True, the final part of my analogy doesn't quite fit. I don't have the same giddy feeling of achievement after tricking that ornery automatic toilet as I do having brought my book to life. There might be a better analogy for my experience. I just haven't thought of it yet.

Author Jenny Milchman spoke at my local Sisters in Crime meeting this month. Queries for her first book, Cover of Snow, gained her an agent, but it took thirteen years, during which she wrote eight more books, for her book to be published. She then did a seven month book tour across the U.S. to publicize and sell the book before she wrote Ruin Falls and had it published and subsequently started another tour. She is now a successful psychological mystery writer. I wonder what she would say…. My pen-to-press saga was like…

Juliet Kincaid received rejections for her cute fairytale-based novelettes until she self-published and started selling. Her Cinderella, P.I. stories have made the top ten on Amazon for short fiction. It's probable she would relate a different self-publishing comparison.

Sally Jadlow's first book was published by a small publishing house, but since then she has become an indie publisher of several Christian books and historical fiction novels. To what would she compare her experience?

Deb Julienne wrote for twenty years and now has her first book published (Sex, Lies, and Beauty Aids) and several more coming. I'm sure she could think of an analogy for her twenty year voyage.

Do you have an analogy for your own publishing story? Please comment.

Indie Authors - Happy Independence Day

Independence! I recently did an interview with two bestselling authors regarding the choice to go traditional or independent, or both. By both I mean being a hybrid author. That was the main topic of discussion. I was reminded how fortunate authors are nowadays, whether we choose to go traditional because we have that opportunity, or choose not to go that route after being offered, or we decide that self-pub is best - what a blessing it is to have choices.

Being an indie does give writers more freedom to take risks. It allows for more artistic freedom, and an opportunity to make all of the decisions about the title, cover, release date, price, edits, story direction, format, etc. It also means that an author will generally earn more per book, depending upon split percentages and bottom line expenses. While trade authors usually have the benefit of better distribution, many indie authors have found ways to publish online and are selling sometimes hundred of books per day. Being an indie, we know our sales, profits, promotional discount choices, etc., and we don't have to earn out an advance. But a lot of top traditional authors who are making lists are selling a lot of books because they have built their readership base, and they're doing very well with their contract percentages, and escalators.

We must do the math, look at the big picture, and decide which titles we want to go ahead and publish directly ourselves, or shop the ones we'd like to do with majors, or small press.

But gone are the days of authors giving up on stories altogether because we haven't been picked up. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, and many other online retailers exist, and ebooks are as popular as ever. And also, print books can be profitable when offered on a print-on-demand basis, and when printed in bulk.

We have so many choices, and much more power. The biggest stumbling block sometimes is getting books into the brick and mortar stores, but even that can be accomplished if the right avenues are taken.

But the bottom line is getting the word out, whether the book has a major logo on the spine, or an indie logo. Promotion is key - social media, websites, blogtalk, book blasts, contests, discounts, tours, blogging, online chats, local TV news, drive-time radio, magazine ads, reviews, talk shows, book clubs, blog tours, etc., as well as some authors who have billboards and expensive subway ads, we're all in the same boat, indie or major, when it comes to generating the all important word of mouth.

And so on this day, the 4th of July, the day when we celebrate our nation's independence, I also celebrate indie authors. Cheers, do your thing, and don't ever let anyone tell you that you won't see your book published. Yes you can!!!

Happy Independence Day!

Write on!

Indefinite Timelines

Four years into my journey through independent publishing, I’ve learned some valuable lessons.  Among them: 1) selling books is really hard; 2) a diversified platform consisting of webpages, blogs, twitter, blogging, Facebook, and more blogging might help some; 3) it’s always a good idea to use sunscreen; and 4) seriously, selling books is really hard.

Having worked with small and smaller publishers, and having published my own books, I’m a huge fan of independent publishing.  But I won’t lie - if one of the biggies waves a sack of euros in my face, I’ll sell out fast.  Until that happens, however, I’m going to extol the virtues of going it alone.  

Here’s why: I’m the boss.  I can publish when I want to publish.  No more waiting - I can design covers or pay someone to do that.  I can do my own layouts on InDesign, and I can upload my projects to LightingSource or CreateSpace myself.  And as long as I’m willing to ignore my children, I can do this pretty quickly.

But the biggest advantage to going it alone is that it allows for an infinite timeline.  My books are never going to go out of print, and I’m never going to stop talking about them.  I published my first mystery novel Grave Passage five years ago.  And I’m still pushing it and still getting reviews.

Furthermore, I control the promos.  The promos generate reviews and the reviews generate sales.  Without question, the single most effective marketing strategy I have come across is the Kindle KDP select promotional option that allows you to give away your book free for five days every few months.  I’ve had a lot of success with this, so I’m going to give it another try today.

One year ago this month I published my archaeological mystery - The Mummies of Blogspace9.  It’s one of my favorite things that I’ve done.  So I’m giving away free copies today.  So if you haven’t picked up a copy yet, please consider downloading copies for the whole family.  Don’t delay; supplies are limited!  Click this BUTTON.  Go ahead, click it.  You can click on any letter.  Just click.  You can even click on this word.

“None of us knew what was at stake. And that’s the thing about archaeology - you never know what you’ll find when you start digging into an ancient pyramid. Maybe some burials, mummies even. But surely not a five hundred year-old secret worth killing for. 

Had I known at the onset that seven weeks later most of my friends would be dead, I would have left Peru in a heartbeat. But of course I didn’t know that. 

I didn’t know that a demonically-possessed Spanish Grand Inquisitor would haunt the crap out of us, or that a pair of undead conquistador knights would help us find the secret to putting down walking mummies. 

And surely, I wouldn’t have just sat around had I known that something was watching from inside that pyramid, some malevolent force that could animate the dead. 

But it’s all true, as you’ll come to realize.

My name is Leon Samples.  I am twenty-eight years old, and I am damned.” 

The Mummies of Blogspace9 is a taut, high-stakes thriller about a team of archaeologists who inadvertently dig up more than they bargained for. Demons of antiquity are not easily amused, nor are those who’ve sold their souls to protect them. 

It's Not Your Job

Source Unknown

I do my best to support my fellow Caribbean authors, so when I came across a new book by an author from the region I looked for it on Amazon and took a "Look Inside". I did this because although I am a self-published author and wholly support self-publishing, I am painfully aware of the wide variety in quality that is out there.

So I looked inside and the first sentence of the first chapter went something like this:

"They soon discovered how similar their life experiences were when their eyes collided ..."

Now, if you are a writer and you don't know the main thing that's wrong with that sentence (because there is more than one issue), it's quite okay. It's not your job to know. It's your job to send your manuscript to someone who knows that eyes shouldn't collide unless it's a science fiction novel or your protagonists have just undergone a very unusual and unimaginably painful surgical procedure.

It's not enough for your subjects and verbs to agree. Hire a good editor to find the fine points, the run-on sentences, the subtle errors, the inconsistencies and it will pay off in the end. Even if you're trained in editing, hire someone because you are probably too close to your work to edit it objectively.
 

Beware Vanity in Independent's clothing

In July of 2011 I launched Kvaad Press. Kvaad started off offering editing and e-publishing with the promise of print on demand in the near future. I knew going in I'd want to pay things forward, having benefited from the generosity of more established writers throughout my career, so I let it be known Kvaad Press was eager to work with new and aspiring writers. After a half-dozen queries from aspiring authors who expected to have their 400-page masterpieces edited for $100 or less, I pulled down my "editing" shingle. I still edit, but only through professional or academic networking. I've occasionally done piecework for a book packager, frequently edit players' resources for various role-playing games, and am taking time away from editing my second doctoral dissertation to write this column.

Though I'd backed out of freelance editing pending development of a better marketing strategy, I continued to look into becoming a publisher. I read up on the rapidly evolving industry, attended webinars, even acquired a SCORE mentor who helped me develop a business plan worthy of wooing hypothetical investors. At the end of six months of intense exploration and education I determined that I didn't want to be a publisher. Or, to be more accurate, that I possessed none of the character traits and few of the work habits that enable successful publishers to be, well, successful. I could fake them, of course, but I'd be miserable doing so. And when I got tired enough to abandon the act, my business would spiral into the ground. Maybe take my house with it.

So I started looking into existing independent publishers—men and women who were doing it right. To be honest, in addition to looking for a potential partner in publishing my original fiction I was kinda hoping I'd unearth a few editing gigs in the process. It was while looking for editorial work that I discovered the cockroach in the soufflé.

Four and a half years ago I crossed columns with a fellow Novelnaut who was singing the praises of indy publishing. At that time I was a traditionalist who tended to conflate indy press with vanity press and saw nothing good about either. She set me straight—or rather got me interested enough to investigate on my own and discover how different the two forms of publishing are. Now, years later, as I started my investigation I was impressed with how indy had expanded—gone mainstream, as it were. It looked as though even the major houses, the big traditional publishers, were embracing the movement with special imprints devoted to helping the indy writer/publisher get on her feet. I shared my observations with a long-time writing and editing buddy of mine in Indiana who, having lost his position as an English instructor a few years ago, was now editing for a book packager. My cheery naiveté compelled him to let me in on the Awful Truth: He does not work for a book packager. He's an editor with Author Solutions. (For those who are wondering: This revelation did not end our friendship; didn't even come close. I understand doing what you must to feed your family.)

For those who may not have heard, Author Solutions Incorporated, ASI, is a highly predatory vanity press—that is to say a publisher whose income is dependent on fees charged writers, not sales of books. ASI's business is convincing new and inexperienced writers it can provide services beyond their reach; services that are in fact readily available if one knows where to look. The only benefit ASI offers is their own substantial markup. Anyone who's been in the business knows to avoid ASI—and a lot of initially unsuspecting writers who've been burned turn from ASI to one of the many new publishing avenues that had so pleasantly surprised me.
Except.
Way too many of those new roads to publication are the same treacherous street.
Author Solutions also does business as Author Hive, Author House, Author Learning Center, BookTango, FuseFrame, iUniverse, Palibrio (in Spanish), PitchFest, Trafford Publishing, and Xlibris. The link between those DBAs masquerading as stand-alone companies and ASI is pretty easy to see if you look. They all live at the same street address in Bloomington, Indiana, for one thing.
But ASI's other operations are more difficult to detect.
Take Writer's Digest, for example. Whatever you think of the quality of their advice, WD has always been about helping writers, right? Unless you decide to take advantage of their indy-support publishing service: anything submitted to their Abbott Press goes straight to Bloomington. Americana bedrock Reader's Digest offers LifeRich Publishing to hopeful new writers—another pipeline to ASI. Feel-good inspirational publisher Hay House feeds ASI through their Balboa Press. Guideposts does the same through Inspiring Voices. And Thomas Nelson, the nation's largest Christian publisher, calls their ASI chute WestBow Press.
The major houses play, too.
It may not be surprising that Penguin's Book Country press for new writers is actually ASI—Penguin owns ASI, after all. But Simon & Schuster's new-writer-friendly Archer Publishing and Harlequin's Harlequin Horizons imprint are both ASI as well.
Perhaps most disturbing to me was the discovery that companies that do support—or have in the past supported--indy writers have partnered with ASI. Bowker Identifier Services's editing and layout packages and a whole slew of editorial and promotional services offered by Lulu are really ASI.

So what's wrong with a vanity press? Sure, ASI charges authors for services they can get elsewhere, but they offer the convenience of packaging them together, they're entitled to make a little money doing that, right?
The Kirkus Review carries a lot of weight with libraries and bookstores. Anyone can buy a review in Kirkus for $425. The review will be honest—there's no way to buy praise the ms doesn't deserve—so Kirkus doesn't publish the review until you release it. The review will then appear on their website and be included in their e-mail newsletter at no charge. Some reviews are selected by the editors of their print magazine; there's no charge for that, either. However, if you want the review in the print magazine you can pay for its inclusion. You can also buy Kirkus ads and have your title and review distributed to the booksellers in their database. Want your book reviewed by Kirkus Reviews, maybe featured on their website and mentioned in their newsletter? Kirkus offers promotional packages for $1,500. So figure $425 + $1,500 = $1,925; pretty solid exposure from a respected source for less than $2,000. Of course you can get exactly the same service through any of ASI's services for (and this is from the Lulu site) $3,199. In other words, the convenience of not having to deal directly with Kirkus will set you back $1,200.

Am I saying don't trust any of the small publishers who say they want to work with new independent writers? Of course not. Even though—contrary to the victory cries of hundreds of indy publishers—the big traditional houses aren't going anywhere, these little, independent presses have a lot to offer both readers and writers. If you're not going to publish yourself, seek them out.
But don't sign a thing until you've done your homework and know who you're really dealing with.