Sunday, April 3: The A.D.D. Detective
BONFIRE of the VANITIES
by Leigh Lundin
Two weeks ago, the world of self-publishing witnessed an authorial meltdown. I won’t mention the writer’s name (though readily apparent in the links) who received more than enough torment. Beyond feeling a modicum of sympathy for her, I don’t believe this article is worth writing if we can’t add value– preferably something positive– to the blogosphere.
The Vanities
From the mire of dubious aggrandizement, the self-publishing industry has built a remarkable marketing machine. The vanity presses, often noted for victimizing their clients, managed to turn their clients into an army of promotion for the ’cause’. Using terms like ‘democratization’, ‘indy authors’, ‘establishment’, and ‘gatekeepers’, they leveraged their disadvantage into a huge marketing trump card– for the publishers, not necessarily their authors.
Thanks to this marketing groundswell, many self-pubbers argue the ‘dying’ ‘traditional’ publishing industry is engaged in a conspiracy to keep top-flight books out of the public’s hands. They point to a series of ‘gatekeepers’ as proof: editors, agents, and ‘traditional’ brick-and-mortar bookstores who conspire to keep good novels out of the marketplace.
All the good and bad reasons for self-publishing remain as do its inherent problems. Vanity presses haven’t gone away and they haven’t resolved most of their issues. Along with technology, they simply improved their marketing. In many ways, the self-publishing industry sets up writers to fail.
Statistics suggest about 2% of mainstream fiction is trash and about 2% of self-published fictional work isn’t trash. Some argue the ratio is 5 versus 5% to an extreme of 20 v 20%. While exact numbers can’t be pinned down, the quality of mainstream releases radically overshadows that of vanity presses.
As I mentioned before, there are several good reasons for self-publishing non-fiction but very few for fiction. Many indies don’t realize self-publishing is usually a losing proposition. One of the most common figures is that the median sales of self-published novel is six copies. With more and more ePublishers entering the market, that number may increase, but for authors other than JA Konrath and Blake Crouch, the figure is likely to remain low, very low. Pessimism is advised: One writer, determined to beat the odds, spent $20,000 in promotion and received sales of $10,000.
University Pressure
In recent years, I haven’t heard much from degree and diploma mills prevalent in the 1980s. By chance, I happened to receive a couple of spam mails, which might signal a rise in such ‘institutions’. The ad for one struck me as familiar. It referred to ‘gatekeepers’ of ‘traditional’ universities and decried the expense of attending ‘traditional old-fashioned classes.’ It promoted the advantages of obtaining a degree open to everyone, not just a ‘select few’.
Thanks to DipScam investigations and tightening of regulations, we’ll probably never again see degree fraud on a large scale. While obtaining a diploma for a fistful of dollars is legally frowned upon, we all know of ‘PubScam’ publishers and agencies that pander to people desirous of publishing their book at any price. Sadly, not all customers are cognizant of the Faustian pact they enter in to.
Vanity Fare
One of the obstacles self-pubbers have to deal with is reviews. Most reviewers didn’t and still don’t trouble themselves with ‘indy authors’. As a RWA writer said, "Who wants a diet of crap?"
Sly entrepreneurs noted this and began a cottage industry of offering only positive reviews– offering them for sale. For $30 or $50, $75 or $200, a self-pubber could ship his (or her) opus for review, safely knowing their novel would receive a glowing appraisal. While positive reviews are still offered for sale, a number of factors reduced their effectiveness.
Their decline may have begun when mainstream authors exposed and ridiculed the practice, but the real problem was an underlying resentment from readers who bought trash based upon falsely positive reviews. While such ‘reviewers’ processed up to two or three dozen novels a day, it became obvious books weren’t read. With each exchange of shekels, vanity became ever more entrenched in vanity publishing.
Vanity Unfair
To offset these problems, truly independent reviewers like Red Adept sprang up. One such reviewer is BooksAndPals blog spot run by BigAl.
He appears to be a genial, even-handed man. I don’t agree with everything on his site– he uses some of the same marketing terms as vanity presses, verbiage such as ‘indie’ and ‘traditional publishing’. He further defines ‘indie’ as anyone who isn’t published by the ‘Big Six’ publishers, which might come as a surprise to most of us here. He makes at least one jaw-dropping pronouncement in the last sentence of this paragraph:
"Grammar and typographical errors still happen in traditionally published books – very few books achieve perfection in this area. … Most [self-published books] reach the same standard as a traditionally published work, but many fall short."
Really? Okay, that’s opinion and quibbling aside, BigAl donates a useful service without charge and he comes off as polite, fair, and level-headed. But, you can’t please everybody and BigAl became famous last week for reasons he didn’t want or anticipate.
Like Red Adept, he’d become a gatekeeper.
The Review
The episode began with BigAl’s two-star review of an adventure romance, The Greek Seaman. He wrote in part:
"If you read The Greek Seaman from the start until you click next page for the last time I think you’ll find the story compelling and interesting. … However, odds of making that final click are slim. One reason is the spelling and grammar errors, which come so quickly that, especially in the first several chapters, it’s difficult to get into the book without being jarred back to reality as you attempt unraveling what the author meant. … Chances are one of the [good] sections originally pulled you so deeply into Katy’s world. Then you’ll run into one that doesn’t work and get derailed again. Reading shouldn’t be that hard."
We can understand how the author might be disappointed, but it’s also clear the reviewer went out of his way to be fair. Certainly he exhibited more patience than many of us.
Unfortunately, the author didn’t see it that way. She launched desperately and defensively into entreaty and attack upon BigAl. He didn’t deserve it and I suggest that in the final result of her blind upset, the poor author didn’t either.
But for the Grace of God
The first time I received a rejection, I wondered what the editor was thinking. Surely my work of genius was at least the equal of published stories, wasn’t it? Wasn’t it really?
I’ve noticed many authors– especially indy authors– possess a huge blind spot regarding the quality of their work. I’m not referring to proof-reading, but to the value and readability of a story. Many of us– myself included– who have a tale in us can’t tell when one of our stories is really, really good or really, really bad. That’s why editors are important. So important that writer and educator Elizabeth King says readers can’t live without them.
I learned to finish a story and set it aside to ‘age’. I might think the writing is brilliant, but weeks or months later, I return to the story and gasp in horror at the ghastly string of words on the page. I want to blame evil elves for transforming my once beautiful prose into barbaric runes of debased language, but I sit down and once more edit my own writing. And again and again– shampoo, rinse, repeat. As if on a mathematical asymptote, several of these sessions gradually transform a story into something resembling readability.
T-Ball
Many indy writers consider their novels works of genius without realizing the painful lessons most of us have learned. For some reason– perhaps because we all use language in our everyday lives– many people believe they can dash off a story ‘if they really wanted to.’ Many people dream of becoming a famous sports figure or a rock star, but most realize those crafts take a little talent. That reasoning doesn’t seem to apply to writing. In the T-ball analogy,
Everyone gets a chance at bat, gets a hit, and takes home a trophy.
But don’t expect anyone other than your mom to applaud.
At my first MWA conference, two different authors spoke of a ten-year learning curve. At least one of my CB colleagues doesn’t ascribe to it, but I’ve come to believe in the common wisdom of, well, its common wisdom. Obvious exceptions aside, this not-hard-and-fast rule goes something like this: "It takes the average writer ten years to become readable, and, " some add, "a little longer to become publishable."
Self-pubbers don’t believe this adage and it shows.
The Unfortunate Author
Back to our hapless indy author, I envision her curled in an emotional fetal position as she tries to absorb the pain, not just of a two-star review but of her desperate public meltdown playing out across the globe. Early on, most commenters, Emma Petersen for one, were kind and urged her to listen to what was being said and to stop commenting herself. Shortly, a few snide commenters began to sneer and gloat, which surely added to her suffering. Naturally, she lashed out. Some unkind soul even came up with a mug ‘commemorating’ the situation. Only a rumor that literary agents and publishers might be actively perusing the blog gave some pause.
If I could advise her beyond offering a therapeutic hug, I’d tell her not to fold her tent and slip away into the night. Instead, I’d urge her to close the tent flap and invest time in learning to write. Turn the debacle into a positive experience and come back in three years or ten years– whatever it takes– and deliver a newly written story.
Of course the lady might use a pseudonym, but she could turn a harsh lesson into a marketing boon, that of a hard-worn indy writer who made good. Deep in our hearts, most of us root for the underdog. If she sets aside her embarrassment and creates a novel even a bit above average, most of us would like to see her succeed.
It Doesn’t Have To Be This Hard
A few weeks ago, a creative friend approached me. She’d long been a singer and songwriter, but her voice was giving out as were her funds in this economy. Creativity will out and Claire turned her attention from writing songs to writing fiction. She asked me if I would serve as proofreader and editor for her MG/YA novella.
I was reluctant because deep editing can be a quick way to ruin a friendship. After considering circumstances, I agreed and set to work.
It’s been relatively painless– for me, at least, and Claire gets the credit. Perhaps because she was coming out of another artistic field, she didn’t exhibit the ego issues so many of us have. She was patient with my idiosyncrasies and caught my own typos such as when I keyed ‘shone’ instead of ‘shown’.
As Southerners say, bless her heart. Not once did she respond defensively to suggestions. She did as professional writers should do and embraced suggestions that fit her vision of the story and set aside advice that didn’t. I hadn’t looked at writing this way before, but she set her story above self. That’s an amazing feat, especially for a first-time writer.
Rôle Model
These days, self-pubbers point to JA Konrath as a writer who’s making a splash in the world of self-publishing. As much as I like Konrath’s books, I argue he’s not the author indy writers should be emulating. Joe isn’t self-publishing; he’s simply establishing his own publishing house with himself as primary client. He can easily afford a staff of editors, proofers, artists, cover designers, page layout experts, web producers, printers, secretarial assistants, accountants, and marketing agents. Whether his budget is $20,000 or ten times that, he can afford it because (a) he’s already well-established, (b) he fully intends to turn a profit, and (c) he understands how to use social media.
I suggest a foot soldier in the trenches like Claire would make a better model. She knows how hard it is to be published, especially when stories fall outside the mainstream. It was her niece, Elizabeth King, who wrote the article on gatekeepers mentioned above.
Although Claire recognizes she’ll probably turn to Book Baby to self-publish her first story, she hasn’t given up the idea of landing an agent. Either way, she wants what’s best for her story. I doubt indy writers will flock to this article, but Claire could serve as a model: a writer determined to see her book published, but a writer also set on doing it as right as she possibly can.
Note: Regarding the MG/YA above, I knew what YA was but didn’t have a clue about MG.
• MG :: middle grade; i.e, middle school
• YA :: young adult; roughly 15-19
Hey Leigh,
I wandered in here via a link on Facebook. I read your post, and while it sheds some light on comments you made on BooksNPals, I’ll admit to still being a little confused about some of your logic – and the facts that it’s based on.
As an indie author, I don’t particularly like your article, I’ll admit. Not because of negativity towards indie authors – dear Lord, if I got upset about that I’d have to avoid the internet.
But I was perplexed by sweeping generalisations (“Self-pubbers don’t believe this adage and it shows”) and statistics I remember hearing back in the pre-popular-ebook-publishing era. The average self-published ebook these days sells 6 copies? Really? I’ve seen authors sell more than that with a single post on the amazon kindle forum.
I wonder if you’ve researched the current situation – including the best guesstimates of ‘average sales’ made by indie authors – and the lie of the land?
You’ll note that I use the term ‘indie’ with abandon. I like it. I don’t mind ‘self-published’ or the stigma attached to it – but I find that in this technological era, self-publishing is closer to indie music than the old ‘pay first, sell 6 copies, use the rest for toilet paper’ self-publishing model. I don’t mind that you don’t like it, but I seem to remember seeing you actively berate someone for using it. This strikes me as rather overboard.
So anyway, terminology aside – as an indie author for almost 2 years, so far I’ve spent around $400 and received over $3000 in sales on various sites (all of it this year). Stellar? Heck no. Is it first-class literature? Heck no. Is it trash, though? Heck no (but YMMV).
You are right – people need to think hard about what they want out of writing fiction and the harsh realities involved. I guess I just don’t agree with you, though, about which realities those are. They need to know, for example, that doing and/or organising every little detail of publishing and marketing just one ebook is a pain in the rear. Add another five ebooks and you’re faced with perpetual buttache. Even wild success doesn’t necessarily make self-publishing easier or less stressful.
A side-note, for your friend Claire – BookBaby looks like a good deal, on the surface. They certainly don’t seem like a complete rip-off. However, that ‘100% of royalties’ does eclipse an interesting point – if I left Smashwords and signed with BookBaby, not only would I be paying money upfront (and possibly lose distribution of my popular freebie promotional offering), I’d also be receiving a lower percentage of retailer sales for the majority of retailers (iBookstore is the exception). Even after Smashwords takes a cut, I get 60% of the sale price from B&N – my highest-selling retailer. They also distribute to Kobo, which may not seem impressive to American audiences but is fast becoming the #2 retailer in other English-speaking countries. A good deal on the surface isn’t always so good a few inches down.
Interesting article.
As a previously published but now self-published e-book author, I was delighted to see that my sales figures of 1000 books sold a month and rising rapidly is way above the norm of self-published authors (according to you).
A lot of self published author sell ten times and more than I do and I think the quality of self-published books is a lot better than stated in this article, simply because many previously published authors with good track records are now self-publishing. There is a window of opportunity right now for the enterprising ‘indie’ author, as the bigger publishing houses charge a lot more for their e-published books than Kindle- and other e-reading device owners- are prepared to pay. It’s wrong to dismiss self-published authors as rubbish just because they have published themselves. The facility to download a sample is a good tool for establishing whether a book is well written or not.
As indie films and indie music have enriched the arts world, the self-publishing boom has brought a huge variety of writing to the reading public. Why should publishers and agents decide what book lovers should read, or what the latest ‘trend’ is?
Good column!
Now if books were no longer “product” for so many traditional publishers!
As I was mentioned in this article, I felt compelled to respond to some of the points.
One, I don’t think I, Al, or any of the other blogging reviewers consider ourselves to be “gatekeepers.” We are simply people who enjoy giving our honest opinions on books and helping readers to find good Indie books.
Two, I think your opinions on Indie publishing are a bit out-dated. With the popularity of the Kindle, Nook, and other eReaders, sales of Indie books are growing by leaps and bounds.
Three, I don’t know of any Indie authors who have stated that there was any kind of “conspiracy” among publishers. However, I do think the amount of books they can publish per year is limited by various factors. Therefore, many great books just don’t make it the shelves via that track.
I do wholeheartedly agree that Indie authors need professional editing. That is exactly why I began offering Editing Services. I got tired of reading and writing reviews that said things like, “This book would have been great if it weren’t for the grammatical errors.”
I can assure you that my editing clients are not publishing “garbage.” They are also selling far more than your average six copies.
Thanks, Janice, Lynn, Susanne, and Naomi.
Naomi pinpointed a word I used incorrectly which I corrected in the text. (Editor! Editor! ) First, I referred to the average number of sales rather than the median number of sales, which has a distinctly different meaning. Median is correct. In other words, a plurality of self-published fiction authors sell about six books.
Lynn may well be right: Even now that figure may be out of date. I haven’t seen solid figures in 20 months or so and a lot has happened in that time. Reports say that women are the overwhelming buyers of eBooks and within women’s literature, erotica is the hottest (pardon the pun) seller. That subgenre label alone seems to guarantee sales, no matter the review.
Naomi, I don’t believe I berated anyone, rather I mentioned that ‘indy’/’indie’ is part of the vernacular of the self-publishing industry. You’ll note that I used the term myself. I don’t consider it pejorative.
My problem isn’t with authors. It began with a friend who was victimized by the industry not once, but twice, and is trying not to be victimized yet a third. She was promised editing, which clearly didn’t happen. She was promised a minimum level of promotion, which didn’t happen. In desperation, she paid a lawyer who sent letters, but also told her contracts prevent her from pulling her books and doing anything else with them. She’s trapped.
She’s found that one publisher isn’t accepted by one bookseller or another, which wasn’t made clear up front. In yet another issue, her hard drive crashed and she lost manuscripts. BookSurge claimed they couldn’t help her, reconstitute them, whatever they needed to do to provide her with a digital copy. It seems astonishing they digitally print her books, but can’t restore a digital copy into her hands. Throughout, the self-publishing industry promoted itself as her savior from the conspiracy of traditional publishers and bookstores to keep her from selling her books.
Susanne has earned her stripes and it sounds like Naomi is as well and I congratulate you both. Susanne is previously published and I don’t consider previously published authors as ‘indy’. Indeed, CB self-published an anthology one Christmas and James is experimenting with ePublishing short stories. As I suggested in a previous article, if I had a novel go out of print, I’d rush to self-publish it.
No one should object to niche markets, unless we’re talking about white supremacist presses or some such, but even then I defend their right to publish. Certainly niche markets prove successful in graphic novels and music. Claire is shooting for a niche market herself. The self-publishing industry suggests this is a problem, but I’ve never heard or read of anyone objecting to it.
Tim Powell, a professional television actor, expresses bemusement when people say “Oh, yeah, how do I get into acting?” He replies that four years of drama school, voice training, apprenticing on stage and camera, on-going courses, and a wee bit of talent might help. He complains that the public seems to think no special talent or investment in learning is required. I think the same is often true of writing.
That’s not to suggest indy authors don’t have talent, including our unfortunate writer discussed in the article. Maybe everyone with a story in them has talent. My concern is that many dismiss learning, practice, and discipline, encouraged by an industry that hints mastering the craft is unnecessary. As Stephen Kelner writes, “The ranks of the self-published are remarkably contemptuous of professionals who have spent their lives learning to read, edit, and sell books.”
Why else would paid positive reviews have a market? From what BigAl wrote and what I read of the author’s novel, my opinion is the brouhaha could have been avoided if she hadn’t swallowed the bait of how easy self-publishing is.
Maybe that’s the key: The self-publishing industry makes it easy to get really, really good writing out there. But it also makes it easy to get really, really bad writing out there, too. Good gatekeepers– agents and editors– help prevent the latter from happening. That’s why I’m grateful to my editors for not letting my work out until it’s ready. They don’t prevent me from publishing; indeed they assist me.
That means I’m not against indy authors, but I’m for quality control, a key element missing from the self-publishing industry. Good quality writing like yours will work in either environment, but rarely will bad writing slip through several levels of professional editors.
schadenfreude has to be one of the guiltiest of pleasures and watching someone we don’t know react publicly to a bad review is an example thereof.
You mention Asimov. I remember him once writing about responding in print to a bad review and then concluding he had been double sucker punched – that the purpose of the bad review had been to coax him into a public fight with the reviewer, thereby increasing said reviewer’s profile.
Giants shouldn’t fight with gnats. Who was it who said “Never argue with someone who buys ink by the barrel?”
Good piece.
“Like Red Adept, he’d become a gatekeeper.”
Reviewers are not gatekeepers. They read and criticize works AFTER publication. They do not determine whether the book goes on sale in the first place, and a review represents only one opinion.
The 6 book average you quote is outdated. As an independent author I’ve sold well over 10,000 books (across three titles), and I continue to sell 800-1000 a month. My new title, TAKEDOWN, is receiving praise from people I’ve never met. My family hasn’t read the book yet — husband, kids, siblings, parents — none have a copy, but I’m counting on at least six more sales there.
Go figure.
Anna Murray
Thanks, Anna, and congratulations!
Commenters, don’t overlook that if you provide your web site, we link your name to it, as in Susanne’s and Lynn’s examples above.
Leigh, while e-publishing from a previously published backlist would not qualify you as an indie, my subsequent e-publications do, as they were never traditionally published, so that does make me a kind of-or hybrid-indie, of which there are many.
Leigh,
Bless your li’l heart.
A good article, Leigh. I recently read an article on self-publishing in the AARP magazine encouraging old folks to write their memoirs for their family and history, and refers readers to an informational site on self-publishing.
As a reader, I don’t react to reviews on such sites as Amazon. I read several reviews on the site once and all were positive. I didn’t come across one negative review. I wouldn’t refrain from reading a self-published book but I would be really pissed if, after buying it, I found it was not very good. I am at a disadvantage in reading about and obtaining self-published books because it seems most are published for e-readers, and I don’t use the e-reader my kids bought me because I simply don’t like them.
One last thought: all writers, no matter how accomplished, can use a good editor.
By using the sample feature on Kindle store, I can sample every book before purchase. Bad writing doesn’t get purchased, and that goes for indy as well as legacy published books.
Best selling self-published works are generally very good. Hocking, et al wouldn’t be selling so well if they weren’t well-written. Stick to the top selling indies on Amazon, and you’ll be getting a read which has been edited and vetted.
Good point, Anna.
Hey, alisa! I tried so hard to be big-hearted!
Susanne, according to BigAl’s definition regarding the Big Six, most of us on CB are hybrids.
For those who don’t know Louis and Rob, they’re dedicated reviewers as is CB’s Steve Steinbock, who appears each month in Ellery Queen. As mentioned in the article, I’m impressed when reviewers donate their time when they lift the covers to give readers a peek inside.
BTW, we had two days of intense storms here in Florida– 70+mph winds, rain, hail, and several outages. With the internet down and power flickering, I borrowed a friend’s iPad and managed to get a couple of messages in and out, even as the signal wavered between 0 to 2 bars. Handy little machine.
Funny, I have just ventured into crime, with a crime novel entitled ‘Virtual Strangers‘, about murder that starts on the Internet- co written with a fellow Scandinavian writer, who has also written the scripts for the TV series ‘Wallander’. This is a break from my earlier romantic novels and I would never have been able to publish it, were it not for e-book publications. Publishers normally want you to stay in one genre only but self-publication gives you enormous artistic freedom.
Susanne, we see quite a bit of crossover from romance to mystery and once in a while in the other direction. Quite a number of us on CB have interest and I think a little experience in the SF world.
I haven’t experienced it, but I’m aware of agents who encourage ‘break-out’ novels, meaning to ‘break out’ from one genre into another. One example I’ve featured is Southwest mystery writer Susan Slater who released what she describes as a ‘henlit’ (mature chicklit) novel, 0 to 60.
Susanne, I provided links to Virtual Strangers above.
Leigh, my apologies. I obviously managed to misassociate names and comments. I wish I could say that doesn’t happen often… *embarrassment* but I usually don’t make my lapses public! 😉
A large part of my reasoning for going indie was simply the books I was writing. They’re not books which would easily find publishers, in my opinion. My DEAD(ish) series is written in multi-POV first-person present-tense narration and contains swearing galore. My YA, Maisy May, combines religion, sex and homosexuality with a smidge of bad language (try querying agents with that one!). And as for the latest, Bad [actual F-word used] … need I say more? 😀 It seemed far easier to find their market on my own.
The main piece of advice I’d give people looking to follow this path (apart from ‘it’s harder than it looks to do right’) is: Do your research. Look at the top-selling indies, read their blogs, see what companies they used and use.
Naomi—I think I missed your fare on the indie list!!!!! (Sorry John, I couldn’t help my exclamation pointssssssssssssss) I’ll have to go back and review.
Well, Leigh with the big heart, you’ve opened a fantastic discussion. Bless your big heart…….
(grin) Thanks, alisa!
Thank you for your kind words, Leigh.
I would like to point out that “middle-grade” varies in definition depending where you look. I’ve seen the grade level go as low as 2nd grade and as high as 8th with “young-adult” beginning after that.
That seems too broad.
I tend to write for an aproximate 5th grade level and up. Unfortunately, statistics show this particular age group for e books as only 2% of the overall e book readership. Hopefully that statistic will change in the future as parents buy their younger readers Kindles, etc.
You’re welcome, Claire. I hope your cold gets better.
I also hope your book does well. Certainly I’ve witnessed the labor pains!
Please tell your niece thanks for her article.
John, now I’m aware I use many more exclamation marks in writing comments that I do in literature.