DIVERSIFICATION

Diversification is a big word in farming.  It's never a good idea to plant all corn or all beans. Not a good idea to raise nothing but cattle or sheep.

I tend to think I'm doing the same thing with writing. I'm what is now being called a hybrid writer.

 In the past year I published with a traditional house and a small press. Along with that, I published books myself.  Some people who don't understand the publishing industry don't get why I'm self-publishing, but in reality my self-published books are supporting me at the moment. That might (or might not) change over a period of years,  once I'm able to factor in traditional pub royalties. Many hybrid writers will tell you it's about cash flow. Traditional publishers might pay an advance two years before a book is released.  Royalties, if there are any, could take another couple of years. 

I like to think that my self-published books are generating readers for my traditionally published titles.  In the past year, several hundred thousand copies of my self-published books have been downloaded (for free). Along with that, I've sold thousands of copies, and I'm sure that most of those sales were due to the fact that I built a name (two names) for myself in traditional publishing.  When you combine those sales with the free books...it's a lot of eyeballs reading my stories. I would like to think that some of those readers will look for my traditionally published titles.  I really do think all of this can work together in a strange and symbiotic way.  I don't think writers necessarily  have to choose one over the other.


And speaking of free...


My short story, The Pale Boy, is always free at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. 

SIGH

Big nod to Open Culture for this link.

BRING BACK THE SLUSH PILE

Let's say you send your agent a manuscript he doesn't feel is bestseller material.  Maybe it's okay. Maybe it's better than okay, but it won't stir up any excitement in New York. Say agent agrees to submit it anyway. Agent works weeks or months. Gets anywhere from no offer to… let's say 5,000.00. If I did the math right, agent's 15% cut of 5K is 750.00.  For a helluva lot of work. And it's not so much the work, it's the TIME. It's the potential bestsellers he isn't reading while he's repping your book that hurt him so much.

I think there will always be hardworking new agents who are willing to work their butts off for low offers, but once they are established…   They have to make a living. They have to make a living.

Not so long ago an agent I worked with for about five minutes told me he didn't submit manuscripts he didn't feel had the potential of bringing in an offer of at least 250,000.00.  Anything less simply wasn't worth his time.  Brutal, but honest.

Over the years I've had a lot of manuscripts and proposals turned down by my own agent.  Years ago it was romances, then suspense, then memoir, then my cat trilogy. Why? The books weren't perceived to be bell ringers. 

 What is happening is that editors are no longer seeing books they might be interested in. This really, really worries me. Writers, even multi-published, agented writers, can't get their stories into the hands of editors.  In this new world of publishing, I predict that more and more agents will handle nothing but potential bestsellers, and the rest of the manuscripts will go unpublished or be self-published.  But what about good books that aren't bestsellers?  Is there a place for them?  I wonder what would happen if major publishers brought back the slush pile.

Of course I'm painting all of this with a very broad brush, and people might argue that this is the way it's always been, but I think agents have gotten a lot more selective in the past five years because they are having a hard time surviving in this new publishing world.  An agent who used to make a living with thirty clients might now require three hundred clients to stay afloat.  Those agents might not be chasing the bestseller, but I can't begin to imagine the workload.  And every time you turn around another agent is closing up shop.

I keep seeing this wide river. Agents and writers are on one side, editors on the other. And the agent is the only person who can paddle manuscripts across the river. And he has a tiny canoe with a hole in it. And you are begging him to take your manuscript to the editor standing on the opposite bank, but he waves and says he's sorry as he pushes off, a load of manuscripts toppling like boat people as he tells you he has no more room.  He's sorry. You're sorry. The editor is sorry. But only the best and brightest can be saved.

Bring back the slush pile. I love my agent, I need my agent for those potential bestsellers, but I don't think agents (through no choice of their own) should be controlling everything editors see. 

More reading:

Death of the Slush Pile

PHOTO ALBUM 2012: JUNE 4, 5

Gandy Dancer Trail, Wisconsin

 Gandy Dancer Trail

Turquoise Fender in a Wisconsin shop

EVOLUTION OF A COVER

Every good book needs a good cover. And an appropriate cover.  It took me about six weeks to find the right image for The Girl with the Cat Tattoo. I got up in the morning and began searching. And I was still searching late into the night. That's how important the right cover is.  When I came across the image for The Girl, I knew it was right. You go through a lot of images that might be okay, that might do, but when you stumble upon the perfect one... you know immediately.  


My daughter has done many of my covers, but she was unavailable for this one. I thought I might go it on my own, and I created some mockup covers. 

My mockups were okay, but still not quite right. I knew I needed a professional touch to tweak it.  I found fonts I wanted to use, and sent them to a cover designer.


Here is the final cover:

It's not hugely different, but it has more of a finished quality to it. I kind of prefer the clarity of my cover, but overall the second one is better. What do you think? One or two?

WOULD YOU LIKE SOME SUGAR WITH YOUR SUGAR?

OUT NOW!
EBOOK ONLY!
MY FIRST ROMANCE IN 13 YEARS!


BUY AT BARNES & NOBLE

BUY AT AMAZON

So sweet it will give you cavities...

Here it is. My first romance in thirteen years.  Over those years, romance fans have asked (begged) me to write another romance. I wasn't sure I had another one in me, and then I came up with a concept for a trilogy. My old agent read about 20 pages and passed on it.  Another agent agreed to look at the same pages and said it was the weirdest thing she'd ever read. Pass.  But I've always loved this idea, so I decided to publish it myself.  Maybe they were right. Maybe this book is awful. But maybe it's not. I don't know.  The books that have been the hardest to get past the gatekeepers ended up being my biggest successes, so you just don't know.  But do I still have what it takes to write romance? That's the question. Not sure I do, because I've never been a romantic person. And now that I'm a curmudgeon... 


Blurb:


A romance about a girl and her cat...

For cat lovers everywhere, this sweet, quirky, and delightful romance is about a young woman and her matchmaking cat.

A little bit of mystery, a whole lot of whimsy.

When a matchmaking cat takes it upon himself to find his young mistress a new mate, he accidentally stirs up memories better left forgotten.

Melody’s husband was murdered by what seemed a random act of violence. Two years later, the killer hasn’t been caught, and Melody is coping in unhealthy ways. During the day she’s a mild-mannered children’s librarian, but at night she’s a party girl, hanging out in bars, drinking with new friends, and often bringing home strange men. Although acquaintances have tried to keep in touch, Melody has cut herself off from most of the people in her old life. Max, her eccentric cat, doesn’t approve of her new friends, he’s tired of the parade of losers, and he’s finally taken it upon himself to find Melody a new man.

Setting:
 Saint Paul, Minnesota


This book is 30,000 words, which equates to about 150 print pages.


The inspiration for the trilogy has been gone a year. You can read about him here.

EMOTION

This is something we know, but sometimes those things we know become the things we forget because of the too familiar. Like a beautiful view you begin to take for granted. Or the pile of dirty dishes that have been there for a week. You just get used to it, and it becomes normal, and it doesn't register anymore. So sometimes when I'm writing I forget. I forget the very core of what this is about is emotion. Doesn’t matter what you're writing. Fiction. Nonfiction. Suspense. Crime fiction. Fantasy. Romance. We are all looking for that emotional ride. We want our breath to catch. We want our heart to pound.

The best music, the best visual art, the best movies, the best books are, at the very core, about taking the reader on an emotional journey.

 Carry on.  Just put this up as a reminder to myself. 

But…wait.  What about connection?  What about reader connection?  Isn't that at the core of all good writing? That recognition of yourself in a piece of someone's writing?

Yes, it is.  Which is why the shared experience between the writer and reader is so darn complex.