What Goes Around Comes Around

When I self-published Taxed to Death nearly twenty years ago, few people were self-publishing. My choice prompted cautionary tales by traditionally published authors, yet for many reasons, it was something I needed to do. While the venture was expensive, I learned a lot about producing a book and the challenges of distribution, being reviewed, marketing and promotion, and collecting money from bookstores. Despite but the stigma of self-publishing, the experience was terrific.

Thirteen years later, I was finally ready to bring out the sequel, Fatal Encryption. This time, self-publishing had gained acceptance in many areas, although newspaper reviews were still out of reach. In one area, self-publishing had taken a step back as the Chapters bookstore chain would no longer stock books by self-published authors. It hadn’t been a problem with Taxed to Death, but clearly times had changed. More authors were self-publishing and Chapters didn’t want to deal with all these single titles by micro-publishers. In fact, they drastically reduced the number distributors they would work with. A handful of stores did allow brief consignment sales, particularly if you did a meet ‘n greet there.

About this time, I jumped on the social media bandwagon and met a great group of self-publishers (now known as indie authors). They were friendly, supportive, and told me about other places like Goodreads. By 2010 and 2011, self-publishing was really exploding. It seemed that nearly everyone was putting out their own book and thumbing their noses at traditional publishers (which was around the time I signed with a traditional publisher), while celebrating the phenomenal success of people like Amanda Hocking. The stigma of self-publishing was dying big time.

But then another backlash started, particularly on Amazon forums. Readers were tired of indie authors promoting their books on threads designed for other purposes. Verbal wars, one-star reviews, and general author bashing began. Blogs and magazine articles criticized indie authors’ lack of talent and professionalism—and let’s face it—with some authors it was true. Readers were warned to beware of any book that sold for $.99 as it was likely self-published and probably lousy.

Well, here we are in 2014 and I just finished reading a blog by the highly successful and insightful Hugh Howey who notes that self-publishers are not only gaining stature, but will likely be copied by traditional publishers. It seems that a growing numbers of readers fully support indie books. In fact, they look for indie titles. As indies take a growing percentage book sales, Howey predicts that traditional publishers will implement steps to make their books appear to come from self-published authors. What, you say? Really?

He says that we’ll see lower prices (this has already started forsome publishers) perma-free, faster turn-around, more print-on-demand, and traditional authors who are doing all the things that self-publishers have been doing for ages. Interesting, huh?

Coloring My New Year

I’ve never really celebrated New Year’s because it doesn’t mean much to me. It’s a relatively arbitrary date. The calendar numbers change, but that’s all. It’s not a universal new beginning. The Chinese New Year this year is on January 31, the Jewish New Year is on September 24, the Persian New Year is March 20, the Korean New Year is January 31, the Tibetan New Year begins on January 31 , and various communities in the Hindu religion have different dates — January 14, March 31, April 14, April 15.

 

January 1 is not even the beginning of a new season or of a solar cycle such as a solstice or an equinox. Nor is there any personal demarcation — no black line separates the old from the new. The world is no different today from yesterday, nor are we. We carry the old year with us because you have the same problems, sadnesses, hopes, fears.

There is a newness to January 1, though, and that is the newness of a new calendar.

Like school kids with stiff new clothes and a satchel full of crayons, unread books, and blank paper, we are ready to set out on an adventure, trembling with both trepidation and excitement. Our new calendars have 365 blank squares. How will we use those squares? With notations of appointments and special days, of course. Perhaps with reminders of bills to pay and chores to do. But many of those days will be blank. What we will do with those blank days? Will we search for happiness or a new love? Will we recommit to an old love or strive to attain a better level of health? Will we experience new things, meet new people, visit new places, sample new foods?

I do feel that particular newness today, that hope. I’ve had marvelous adventures the past past year — going to Seattle to see Shen Yun, riding in a limousine, hiking with the Sierra Club, making new friends, attending parties and performances. I’ve walked hundreds of miles in the desert, posted 500 bloggeries, learned dozens of delightful new words (my favorite is eupathy), shared many meals, laughed untold times, and exchanged thousands of smiles. It hasn’t all been wonderful, of course, but somehow I found the strength and courage to deal with the trying times. I cried when I needed to, threw my griefs into the blogosphere, talked about (or rather, talked around) a heartbreaking family situation. And I survived. Even thrived.

And now I have 365 blank days on my new calendar. I plan on getting out my box of crayons and coloring those days brightly.

I hope your days will be filled with wonder, new adventures, and much joy.

Happy New Year.

***

Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.”

Words of inspiration from author Cheryl Kaye Tardif via The Happiness Recipe

Listen to Cheryl's latest interview at The Happiness Recipe:

Then check out the recipe she talks about--Strawberry Dumplings--at http://www.happinessrecipe.net/happiness-recipe-whats-great-encouragement/

Taking Stock of 2013

Like many writers, I inevitably look back on the year to review the highs and lows of my writing life. I’m happy to say that there were plenty of highs this year. I hand sold nearly 200 books at craft fairs alone, published my third Casey Holland mystery, Beneath the Bleak New Moon, and signed a contract for the fourth, which will be out next September. I wrote over 100 blogs, and nearly 50 book reviews. I also built my own website, for the first time, and now completely control the changes and updates.

So, what does all of this mean? It tells me that my career’s moving in the right direction, one step at a time. I still have a long way to go to achieve my goals, and I don’t sell anywhere near the number of e-books that some writers do, but I plan to focus on that this year.

Meanwhile, Digital BookWorld has compiled a list of the bestselling e-books for 2013. It’s interesting to note that they start their article by saying that prices rose and plummeted from week to week with e-books. I’ve seen this as well, which is why it’s so hard to determine an e-book price. Some days, I think my books are priced too high at $7.99 (my publisher's decision, not mine), other days it seems about right compared to others. The article says that a couple of the bestsellers were $.99 novels in the romance and young adult fiction category, yet the average price of other bestsellers was $7.74.

Out of the 21 titles listed in the article, eight of them came from Penguin and three were self-published. Not surprisingly, plenty of big-name authors made the bestsellers list, including Dan Brown, Nicholas Sparks, David Baldacci, Stephen King, and Stephanie Meyer. In fact, a quick glance at the list shows that many of the top selling authors were also top selling authors in print before the e-book revolution exploded. Collectively, indie authors are publishing hundreds of thousands of books, but it seems clear that name recognition, branding, and a solid fan base are still invaluable tools to reaching bestseller status. I’d be foolish not to work on building these aspects as well.

Why the Fascination With Creative Peaks?

A recent article in Pacific Standard stated that researchers have long been fascinated with determining when a highly accomplished creative person reaches his or her peak. The article briefly mentioned the creativity of scientists, painters, and composers, referring to two studies. One 2011 study noted that the majority of modern-day physicists make their most innovative discoveries around age 48. Another study found that plenty of artists from the 19^th and 20^th centuries painted their most significant works when they had lived nearly 62% of their lives, which happened to be as they approached age 42.

But, here’s the thing: there are always exceptions. What happens if you’re a person like Harper Lee who wrote only one novel (I don’t know how old she was when she did), yet its significance is quite obvious. Once more, when it comes to art and books, who has the final word on which piece was the most important?

Experts tell me that one should write at least a million words before publishing a book because it takes years to learn the craft and find one’s voice. Readers complain that someone’s series isn’t as good as it used to be and that the writer should have packed it in six books earlier. Maybe all these points are valid, but maybe there are plenty of artists, composers, scientists, and writers who are steadily getting better at their professions decade after decade. I’m sure many won’t peak until much later in life, or sadly run out of time before they produce their best work.

Artists will work at their craft until they no longer wish to, or no longer can. At the end of the day, whether they peaked early, or as predicted, or much later in life doesn’t really matter to me. And what does one do with the information anyway? Will aspiring artists feel pressured to get to work before they're ready?

While it’s interesting to read articles like this, it’s probably not a good idea to take it to heart, especially if you’re just starting your creative life after long years at a day job. However, if you want to read the studies, you can find links in the article at http://www.psmag.com/blogs/news-blog/great-artists-hit-peak-creativity-70528

Are Indie Promotion Strategies Failing?

Anyone who follows Kindleboards knows that this enormous site has become a virtual watering hole for all types of writers, particularly self-published authors. Over the past year, I’ve noticed growing discontent with sales numbers compared to the previous couple of years. It seems that giveaways and low prices aren’t helping sales as much as they used to.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the binge publishing syndrome that’s backfired on some indie authors. It’s the philosophy that publishing three or four a year will improve your odds of getting noticed and therefore improve your sales. I also reported a couple of writers’ personal experiences where this has not been the case. One of the primary reasons is that readers are understandably skeptical about the quality of books that are written and published in three months. But this isn't only reason for lagging sales.

In her blog, author Toby Neal says that traditional publishers have jumped on the deep discount bandwagon with the works of big-name authors, and that readers are right there with them. In fact, Neal clearly admits that she too purchases deeply discounted books and who can blame her for wanting to read Michael Connelly, Patricia Cornwall, and Louise Penny for less than $3 or less? The downside, Neal notes, is that her sales have been cut in half since September, despite increased promotion efforts and great reviews. And this is what I’m reading on Kindleboards as well.

There might be other reasons for lagging sales. If you’re an indie author who’s looked for promotion venues, or an avid e-book reader, you’ve likely heard of BookBub. They claim to have two million subscribers who get the scoop on all sorts of time-limited free or discounted e-books. I’ve never used the site, but I’ve just signed up as a reader. Authors have complained about BookBub's strict criteria for listing books. Compounding the problem is that BookBub charges authors a lot of money (now apparently up to $500) to participate. Authors are finding BookBub less profitable and definitely less affordable.

But here’s another thought. I also read an interesting blog, more than one actually, addressing the relevance of doing the same type of marketing and promoting year after year; a similar trap that traditional publishers have been experiencing for ages. Indie authors see what others are doing successfully and the next thing you know tens of thousands have jumped on that bandwagon, making the strategy less successful. Giveaways and 99 cent books are two examples.

Promotion and marketing strategies need to change frequently. Authors need to think outside the box and come up with their own ideas, and not rely on others for their entire marketing program. Neal also offers good suggestions for improving sales on her blog. One thing is clear. Bookselling is more competitive than ever, and each of us will have to find new, creative ways to stay in the game.

You can find Neal’s article at http://tobyneal.net/2013/12/04/indies-getting-clobbered-big-name-e-book-discounts/