The Emperor is Naked: Marketing and Reverse Psychology

A good writer friend is frustrated with lagging sales on his books and so he confided in me a new strategy to get people to buy more books by using Hans Christian Andersen's tale of The Emperor's New Clothes. You might know the story by its moral: The emperor has no clothes.

The idea is simple and, I have to admit, diabolically clever. By planting reviews and essays about by the books, purportedly by unknown reviewers, the education and intelligence of the reader is questioned. To whit, if you find difficulty in grasping the concept of the book because of a lack of education or exposure to literature outside the common appeal of writers like Stephenie Meyer and the authors of the Dick and Jane series (See Dick run. Run, Dick, run. See Jane fall down. Spot is a dog. Dick and Jane like Spot.) then this novel would not appeal to you. With the use of layered descriptions, inner monologue, and subtle concepts, an understanding of the English language at the college level is necessary.

I told him that, while his idea was brilliant, it was also rude and demeaning to the average reader. Basically, he is challenging the reader to step outside his/her comfort level and consider his novels too intelligent for them.

"Yes," he said. "That is the point. It's like the emperor walking naked through the street and people being afraid to admit they are stupid and can't see his wonderful new clothes."

"It's a fraud."

"It's also reverse psychology."

I had to stop and think about that for a moment. What if he was right? What if some recognizable reviewer or celebrity were willing to go along with his plan and challenge readers to read outside their comfort zone, stretch themselves to see what was always there to read? In his case, the emperor is wearing rich robes. Maybe too rich for the average person reading at a 3rd or 4th grade level, as many modern scholars (and reading statistics in MS Word) claim. Has my friend challenged people to be better or forced them to lie rather than admit that their reading compression is well below where it should be?

I am reminded of every time I was told not to do something and promptly found a way to get past the limits set on me and do what I wanted to do anyway. What was put out of my reach was a challenge to find a way to reach it. Isn't that the essence of human experience, always reaching for the ripest and hopefully tastiest apple at the top of the tree or looking in every possible hiding place until where the Xmas presents were hidden was found?

Don't touch becomes a spur that goads us to touch. How many of us can resist the bench on which a wet paint sign hangs? I certainly cannot. I want to know the truth. Is the bench wet? I've come away with paint on my finger enough times to doubt the truth of a wet paint sign, but this is different. His marketing idea cuts through a little wet paint on the finger and goes right to the heart of who and what people think of themselves. He's basically calling them stupid and daring them to prove him wrong. Is he helping people to reach beyond themselves, step out of the comfort zone, and stretch to reach a book on the highest shelf that has been forbidden?

Think about it. Isn't that what clever book cover art and expensive packaging and advertising do? Put something out of reach just so we can reach out and touch it? Isn't book marketing -- advertising in any form -- placing a wet paint sign and daring us to touch?

How many people really believe that true love can be had for the price of a bottle of perfume, an assortment of makeup, clothing that hugs the body and flows gracefully (and exposes all the lumps, bulges, and hanging flab)? And yet we buy it, buy so much of it that companies spend millions of dollars on advertising that challenges our intelligence and goads us into action, the action of buying their products. Companies give away products, not out of charity or benevolence, but the same way a drug pusher lets perspective customers sample the merchandise, to get us hooked.

Considering what is already out there -- food that makes us fat and unhealthy, drinks that destroy the lining of our stomachs and calcify our livers, cars that begs to be driven beyond the speed limit, and so much else that is harmful -- why not use the same marketing tools to get people to buy books, books that are subtle and intelligent and beyond the capability of the average reader? If it sparks sales and turns his modest reputation into a world wide sensation, what is the harm? What is lost but our ignorance? What is gained but an expanded vocabulary and a better understanding of people and the world around us? It would be the difference between hearing about Schopenhauer and Aristotle and really reading and understanding philosophy, or at least a small part of philosophy. It would elevate us rather than dumb us down even further. What is the harm?

I guess it comes down to the mule and the carrot on a stick. The carrot remains out of reach no matter how far the mule travels unless the person who tied the carrot to the string on the stick out of the mule's reach relents and lets the mule have the carrot. With such a reward at the end of the mule's labors, he would be willing to keep following the carrot on a stick as long as the end result is the same. He gets the carrot.

The problem is that people are not mules, however much they may resemble mules in their behavior. The average person would find a way to get the carrot and not have to keep moving forward, thus proving a law of physics. A body in motion tends to stay in motion and a body at rest tends to stay at rest.

In other words, most people, while pretending intelligence, prefer to remain ignorant. It's easier.

I doubt my friend's plan will work, but I will keep watching and see how it goes, and if his reviewers decide it's better to pretend to be smart enough to understand a subtle book or will remain ignorant and keep writing, "I didn't get it," while giving him 1- and 2-star reviews and making sure his sales continue to lag.

NOTE:  Picture courtesy of Monica Rodgers

Now Presenting . . . Who?

It never gets easier this whole networking, socializing to sell books thing. I wonder how authors did it a hundred years ago, two hundred years ago? Oh, right, people bouught books, read the books, talked about the books and more people bought the books. Of course, there weren't millions of people writing millions of books then. Only a few ever got through to the gatekeepers. The few who could afford it and paid to have their own books published had some success, depending on how good the books were. That's the real trick. Not socializing or networking but writing really good books.

I read George R. R. Martin's Live Journal blog and I was struck by the surprise that he is having such success now, especially since his ice and Fire series has been out since 1996, except for the new one coming out next week. A Dance With Dragons took about eight years to write and finish. George admits he's a slow writer and doesn't do deadlines very well.

George garnered a lot of fans, as he should since his Ice & Fire series is amazing. The writing is accessible and not overdone or heavy with description, although there is sufficient description to put you right in the action at the right time and place. Each character is unique and flawed in some way, but eminently memorable, from the Imp (Tyrion Lannister) to Eddard Stark, Jon Snow and Danaerys Targaryen and Khal Drogo. The books have been translated into several different languages and Vietnamese may be next. What George has created in Winterfell and the world where it is set crosses all boundaries and touches something inside us that believes in magic and demons and in the strength of men and women to combat anything that comes down the Kingsroad.

A recent article cited sales in one day that exceeded all of 2010 before HBO picked up the series and shoved the series to the top of all the best seller lists here and abroad. I wouldn't mind selling 40,000 books, but I'm new at the game and don't have George's track record in movies, television and books. I'm working my way up, but I do wonder what it would take to get people talking about my book the way they talk, dissect, and love George's books. Probably stop writing about relationships and the evil that men and women do in the real world and take the same elements and place them in a world of my own creation like Middle Earth and Westeros. I love fantasy and dragons and everything that goes with them, but find it difficult to write fantasy. I work best in the real world where the harms we do each other are next door and the next town over. I'd do well to create a world, set the rules and let my imagination run wild -- right after I finish the current trip into Victorian England where Jekyll, Hyde and Jack the Ripper put Whitechapel and serial murder on the map.

There is a world -- this world a few hundred years hence -- that lies under the curse of man's technology and Mother Nature's ire where vampires rule, not the vampires currently known and written about, but vampires of a different breed at war with each other and king of a world locked beneath dark skies where the sun doesn't shine and glaciers creep ever closer to the equator. It is a world where domed cities protect the ragged remnants of humanity cloned to near extinction, a shadow of itself, and ruled over by vampires who breed the humans for food and to run the machines their ancestors built.

The mother lode of humanity's best and brightest live underground safe from the ravages of nature, nurtured by vampires who archive their memories and protect what the shadow humans in the domed cities can no longer remember after generations of cloning. The underground humans and vampires protect technology, books and memories of what went before, what caused and perpetuates the season of Ragnarok that reigns on the surface, and these two worlds are about to clash over the precious seeds of life as it once was left behind that will soon be resurrected as the world rebounds and begins to bloom again. Memory will guide the way.

If I'm very lucky, then the novels I write, in the real world and in a world of fantasy, will start the buzz and word of mouth will sell 40,000 or more books. It's my dream, and one that isn't out of reach -- so far. In the meantime, I need to work more on socializing and networking because I'm not sure I could handle any more book signings where no one shows up or a dozen people stop by on their way up the aisle to join the hundreds waiting to see the author of Clifford the big red dog's adventures. George can tell you how that one goes. There's nothing like holding a book signing where everyone forgets to come.

Now, about that socializing. Do I really have to? Can't someone just start talking, someone with a big mouth and a bigger audience full of big mouths? I can only hope.

 

Waiting for The Word

It's always a surprise to get up in the morning and see a big change in the sales reports. After putting Among Women on sale this week, I expected a little bump in sales, but a big bump was just a dream. Good thing I like to dream -- a lot -- although it would be better if I had read Joe Konrath's blog before I put the book on sale because I could have included a short synopsis and a bibliography as part of the author bio in the ebook version. I have rectified that oversight and the new version should be up and running today or tomorrow, depending on how quickly Amazon does their part. I heard it helps with sales.

The hardest part of writing isn't the writing, yet that is sometimes difficult because I procrastinate at times, it's waiting. Waiting for people I know who've mentioned they bought the book. I'd have been better off not knowing they had it and were planning to read it, or were actually reading it, because then I wouldn't wonder how long it takes to read a 250-page book and when I can expect to hear (or read) their review. It's better knowing that hundreds of people are buying the book and just aren't reviewing them. I don't have their phone numbers and don't know how to get to their houses so I can pin them down and ask what they thought. Better to live in ignorance and hope they're not like me and seldom write Amazon, B&N, or whatever bookstore they frequent reviews.

I did get a big surprise a few weeks ago with a totally unsolicited review from someone I've never met who read Among Women and really loved it. They said so. In print. Well, virtual print. Online. At Amazon. And gave it five stars. It was like a late birthday present or early Christmas gift. I enjoyed reading such good things and blushed a little at the kudos. I blush easily when someone compliments me, even if it's a compliment on my book.

But then there are friends and relatives who tell me they're reading my book and haven't said anything good, bad or indifferent about what they thought. I vacillate between wanting to ask and demanding to know what they thought. I'd send Guido and Vito out to have a conversation with them, but want to have someone who will send me a birthday card and remember me at holidays, so I don't. Instead, I suffer in silence -- well, silence in the sense that they don't know I'm fussing about it here in the silence of my room. If they don't know I'm fussing, am I fussing? Okay, so it's not as good as, if a tree falls in the forest and there's no one there to hear about it, does it make a sound? Or what is the sound of one hand clapping? Depends what the one hand is clapping against. A meaty thigh works really well and so does a hard surface like a desk or someone's attitude.

I'm not a patient person when it comes to wanting answers. I am patient otherwise since I haven't cornered anyone and demanded answers. I would love to ask, but don't want to damage the person or scare them into not buying my next book, the one I'm currently finishing up as soon as I finish this post.

Life would be so much easier if I could find a way to get people to add clickable links to the opinion center of their brain, preferably when they have gotten up on the right side of the bed and aren't having a rousing fight with their spouse, lover, mother, father, children, boss, or whoever is on their hit list this week. But then we'd be in a world where people were more like machines and less like softly fleshed readers who might be cajoled or interested in putting an author out of their misery with enough time and attention, before going off to read the next book, to type a hasty "good job" in response.

Well, as long as the readers keep buying and reading, it will have to be enough.

That is all. Disperse.

Have you joined the bloghop?

indie author blog hop
Previous | Home | Join | Random | Next

The Jig is Up

There is a conspiracy going on in publishing and has to do with the reluctance, nay, the determination not to embrace digital technology.

Publishers price ebooks nearly as high as hard cover books. The thinking would appear to be publishers are determined to get more money for the writer. That is not the case. I figured out what is really going on when I looked at Kindle versions of authors I was interested in reading. The cost of the ebook was $14.99, an outrageous cost in my estimation, and the hard cover was $18.99. There is no way I am going to shell out $14.99 for ones and zeros sent at the speed of light (or whatever approaches light on wireless) when I can get the hard cover for four dollars more. I can even buy the hard cover for less than $10 if I buy new or used from secondary sellers.

I hit the button to purchase a brand new hard cover copy delivered free for $7.49. That's when it hit me what was happening. It's the publishing version of the protection game.

Consumers, especially in the current economic climate, do not want to waste money. They want value for their dollars and $14.99 is not value for what is in essence a copied digital file. It's cheaper to get the printed version of the book, even if delivery takes longer. That's the whole point. By pricing ebooks at or near the hard copy version of a book, consumers will opt for the print version instead of the ebook, unless they have lots of money and don't care how much an ebook costs. It's the siren call of doing business the old way.

Forget about the claims of rampant book piracy and how ebooks endanger author royalties and the publishing industry. It's all about forcing someone to take what you want them to have rather than giving the consumer what he wants and prefers.

Ebooks will not be the death of the printed book. They are an alternative to print, not replacement for print. It's like buying the paperback copy of a novel and liking it so much you're willing to buy the hard cover so it will last longer. Paperbacks did not ruin hard cover sales and ebooks will not ruin paperback or hard cover sales. That's a myth, a myth propagated by publishers to maintain control of consumers. It's wrong thinking and completely self serving.

In the old days of gangsters and neighborhood crime, a shop owner was approached by gang members, or their representatives, and offered insurance. When the shop owner refused, a demonstration of the insurance's value was staged. Windows were broken. Locks were smashed. Goods were stolen. When the representatives returned in a day or so, shaking their heads and commiserating with the shop owner, they offered the insurance once again. Recalitrant shop owners held out -- as long as their stock and ability to replace the property held out, or until they were killed -- while less well heeled shop owners gave in and bought the insurance -- from the people who would have robbed and destroyed their property without it. Publishing is now in the same business.

Instead of embracing ebooks and offering them at prices in line with the product, publishers offer insurance to consumers by pricing ebooks out of range of their actual value and worth. Publishers don't trust consumers to be intelligent enough or willing enough to buy hard cover or paperback books when ebooks are available, thus alienating and angering a segment of the population that prefer ebooks to print, just as there is a larger segment of the population that prefers print to ebooks. For those bottom line thinking MBAs, that's just bad business.

Good businessmen know that by offering several formats across a wide range of formats will net the most return in sales. Bad businessmen (read: publishers) try to force consumers into the slaughtering chute by hook, crook and the old protection game. It will not work. Consumers will catch on and avoid buying your books, turning instead to secondhand bookstores, piracy and remainder stores where they can get what they want. Profits will fall and you will be out of business when authors jump ship for self-publishing or an indie publisher that will offer better terms, larger royalties and the same (lack of) services. Take heed. The writing is on the wall and the news is all bad.

Short-sighted publishers will soon be a vanishing breed, and good riddance to them all. Piracy will continue when prices remain high, especially in a difficult economy like this. More authors, like Barry Eysler, Joe Konrath, and others, will continue to jump ship for indie publishing, or for the new kid on the block, Amazon, or they will dive into self-publishing with a vengeance. Those publishers who will survive the coming storm will buy a clue and get smart. They will price ebooks at competitive rates while continuing to sell hard cover and paperback at the usual prices. Smart publishers will give value for the product and revise author contracts and royalty percentages. The rest will end up where Al Capone ended up: broke, insane and eventually dead. When some archaeologist or tabloid journalist decides to enter the sealed room where they once purportedly kept their hauls, it will, as Al Capone's vault, be empty and silent.

Read the writing on the wall or find someone who speaks the language. The old methods do not work. Move with the times or be buried. The jig is up.

Kindle book of the week

It takes time to get a good marketing roll going, and this is the next step. Don't be fooled. It also takes money to get a marketing roll going. In the end, though, it is up to the author and the book to keep the readers' interest. Here's hoping the interest continues for Among Women. It's not your average novel, but something more akin to Scheherazade's tales in the 1001 Arabian nights tales, except with women inmates in a New Orleans jail. Get it while it's hot.

That is all. Disperse.

No Rhyme or Reason

Everyone offers advice on how to get published and how to market and network and it's beginning to get a little confusing. Use Twitter and Facebook to talk about your book. Don't talk about your book so much on Twitter and Facebook. Be interesting, but not too interesting. Don't let everyone see how bad the days get sometimes. Sparkle, Neely, sparkle. It's just like the five rules for writing. According to Somerset Maugham, no one knows what they are, but they'll try to tell you the only way to do it is their way. More one size fits all and never fits anyone. The three bears all over without the baby bear. It's too big. It's too small. It's never just right. What works for one author may not work for another and seldom works for everyone even though they sell millions of books telling you just that: it works for everyone because it worked for me.

When I was studying art -- the painting and drawing kind and not the art history kind -- my teachers taught me to do it the way they had been taught. I followed their instructions and got good results, but I was never quite happy until I could do it my way. Instead of roughing out the face and placement of ears, eyes, nose and mouth and sketching in the hair, I began with the eyes and worked out from there. For me, everything started with the eyes. I guess that's why people always said the eyes seemed alive. In a way, and especially for me, they were.

I am more than willing to try it someone else's way, just like I've tried nearly every diet I've ever come across, but eventually I fall back into old habits and do it my way.

Write large and add all the details and then pare it down. Instead, I write tight and expand on that once I've finished the book.

Edit once or twice and leave it in a drawer for a week, then go back, read it, made small adjustments and send it out. How about I edit it as many times as I like, forget about it for a couple of years while I work on something else, and then come back, decide I did it right and then send it out, all the while tinkering away at it even up to publication? That works for me. Some stories are easy and come out fully formed and some take time to hone and for me to get into the right frame of mind to hear the voices and get them down. That's what's happening with Whitechapel. I couldn't hear the voices for a while, couldn't get the sound of their voices and their syntax, and so I put it away -- for years. I won't say how many years, but my mother keeps saying she wants to see it in print before she dies. She'll outlive me, but I doubted the book would be finished in my lifetime.

And then it happened. I opened up the file, took a look at the outline, put my fingers on the keyboard and suddenly I knew just where I was going. I heard Delilah's voice again, the way she speaks, the way she engages the world, that special sense of derring-do and vulnerability she keeps hidden from everyone, especially Henry. I have it now and I should be able to keep going. I know where I'm going at least.

In the meantime, I've written two other books, seen both published and am being buffeted by the networking and marketing gurus pulling me this way and that. I don't know if book trailers work, but there was a sale, so why not? I don't know if I should talk about my weird reading habits, like reading three or four books at a time and keeping them separate and distinct. I never mix one with the other. How could I? I'm reading a book about Van Gogh and his last doctor, who wasn't really his doctor because he couldn't practice medicine in his home town; he has an office in Paris and comes home to Auvers three days a week to be with his family and paint. I'm also reading a murder mystery set during the time of Henry II of England and it's really fascinating. I love historical novels that carry me away and put me in the time period without effort. I'm also re-reading Salem's Lot just because I had a hankering for Stephen King and that particular story. Maybe it's a way for my creative brain to tell my scientific brain that it soon will be time for me to get into post apocalyptic vampire fiction, which is what I planned anyway. I usually have to slide in sideways.

There is no rhyme or reason, at least not looking from the outside, to the way I work, but it works. I can juggle three or four (or in my case, twenty) stories at the same time and not lose touch with any of them -- if I hear the voices. No, I'm not schizophrenic; I'm a writer. It goes with the territories. If the characters aren't real to me, they certainly won't be real to the reader. I'm sure about that side of the business, just not the marketing and networking side. I'm more interesting -- and more exasperating -- in person (at times). Just ask my friends. And I leap from subject to subject without the least hesitation. It's my way.

I follow Scott Eagan, partly because I submitted Among Women to him, and this morning his advice was that he looks at the whole writer. He said he liked my story and the writing was good, but it wasn't right for him at this time. I wonder if he found my writings on dismembering corpses or the slashing prose I used when I was battling a cyberstalker? I didn't mention names -- or grave sites -- so it wasn't obvious, but maybe my bounding from subject to subject gave him the idea that I was quixotic or undependable. Could be.

My art teachers told me it was wrong to start with the eyes when painting or drawing a portrait, but I still did it. It worked for me. Don't try this at home. It might not work for you. No one wears my size any more.

The Eyes on Amanda Hocking

Everyone is talking about Amanda Hocking and her $2 million deal with St. Martin's Press. The news has even reached Europe and the United Kingdom, and everyone has advice for her.

In a recent post by Alan Rinzler in his blog The Book Deal authors and agents offer their advice and opinions on what Amanda Hocking can expect and whether or not she's right. My grandmother always used to say that advice is free and you get nothing for free. It all comes down to second guessing Ms. Hocking's choice.

As I've said in previous posts, Ms. Hocking has done what's best for her. Whether or not that turns out to be right will be determined over the next five years while she tries to earn out her advance. Either way, win or lose, she will gain what most writers only dream of -- entry to the publishing world at the top of the heap instead of having to work her way up from the bottom through the midlist and eventually, if ever, to the star ranks where marketing and publicity roll out the red carpet. With two million dollars at stake, there is no way St. Martin's Press will drop the ball on this one. They have too much invested.

Some of the most interesting comments came from an author who got the star treatment and an agent.

Garth Stein, author of The Art of Racing in the Rain, from Harper Collins, cites being on the road nearly nonstop to publicize and market his book, much of the money coming from his own pocket. It resulted in 1.5 million book sales, but it was undoubtedly a hard slog, but he warns, "But don’t think it gets easier because you have a big publishing house behind you now! I’m constantly struggling with the balance between marketing, family, and writing my next book." If Ms. Hocking wants more time to write, with $2 million on the line, she may find it in short supply. It may be a good thing she isn't married and has no children. That will lessen the choices a bit.

Sandy Raihofer of the David Black Literary Agency weighs in from the agent's, or at least her, perspective. "Hocking says she welcomes the editorial process a traditional house can offer. YES! That’s validation of the process that’s been in place for decades — if not generations — for honing a manuscript. Not to mention the amount of editorial work we agents do in order to sell a work, and sometimes on the back end as well." I wonder if Ms. Raihofer is cheerleading for agents because she believes they do a lot of the work in packaging and "honing a manuscript" or because she wants to believe it. Most of the authors jumping ship for self-publishing are doing so because they are dissatisfied with the "services" rendered by publishing and agents, and not just because of the money, although that is definitely a factor.

I've worked with several agents over the years on previous projects and I can say I got very little input or honing from only one agent.

Ms. Hocking is today's news and she is a hot topic for several blogs and tweet-fests. I'm sure she is a little tired of the limelight and just wants to get back to writing. While her meteoric rise to fame and fortune has fueled considerable debate, her success has also inspired writers in both camps to jump into publishing -- indie and traditional -- secure in the knowledge that if Amanda Hocking can do it, so can they.

When the furor dies down, I wonder whether or not Ms. Hocking will end up in obscurity or if she will find herself in calmer waters writing and touring and making the most of everything she has earned and been offered. No doubt there another rising star is about to crest the horizon and Ms. Hocking will be last month's flavor. Whatever happens, Ms. Hocking seems like an intelligent and savvy young lady with a glowing future ahead of her and I wish her well.

As for me, I have covers to choose and a proof to check and another critique to work on. It's Monday and just another day in the week for me. I'm still slogging my way up the publishing hill.

Another Step on the Self-Publishing Road

A lot goes into publishing a book, and self-publishing, if it's going to be done right, and that means knowing the extent of strengths and weaknesses. My strengths include a good sense of artistic design and writing books. My weaknesses are more on the publicity, marketing and writing synopses side. I'm also good at pitches and queries, having won more than my fair share of book contracts for myself and others.

I have another strength, and that's knowing when to do it myself and when to delegate. That is why I hired a couple of top notch artists to do the cover art for my books. I also took the advice of a good friend and let her do the synopsis that will appear on the back cover of Among Women when it comes out in print. I also took another good friend's advice and let her take a crack at the synopsis; I'm using hers as the description on Amazon.

Self-publishing has a bad reputation, mostly gained from people who are rejected by publishing houses and decided they know best and publish their books anyway. In a way, I fit that category because I couldn't interest an agent or a publisher in my book. They were enthusiastic about the project, but not enthusiastic enough. They also couldn't get a handle on how to market the book, which is something I will have to deal with. Among Women is not easily shelved or pigeonholed. I'm looking to word of mouth to get the ball rolling and I'll take it from there. Advertising will help, and that's something else I'm not good at, but I am good at talking about my projects, so I'll work the publicity from that angle. Unfortunately, marketing is all about starting a buzz and, as long as I stay away from bees, wasps and hornets (I'm allergic), I should be all right. I'll wear veils and masks and gloves to protect the more sensitive parts of my skin -- and hide my identity. So to speak.

I'm also good at controlling things. My sister Tracy calls me a control freak, "In a good way," she says. Self-publishing gives writers a lot of control. I'm good with control, and I know how to decide what to delegate and what to do myself, like editing.

A good book needs a really good editor, and I have one with a taste for blood -- the red pencil kind. She doesn't spare my feelings or sugar coat anything; she just tells it like it is and we compromise, as long as it has nothing to do with grammar. Spelling, I've got that cold, and I have a few medals to prove it.

Self-publishing has a bad name because of all the bad books published that shouldn't be published, but that is changing almost as fast as the publishing business. Computers have made self-publishing so much easier and very user friendly. There are still glitches, but it's a learning process and we're all learning. We learn from our mistakes and from what has gone before. And we learn from big publishing, which seems to have lost its way.

Traditional publishing had one big advantage over self-publishing, or vanity publishing, as it used to be called. Vanity publishers are still out there, but that's a different topic for another day. Traditional publishing offered savvy editors, proofreaders, copy editors, line editors, marketing, distribution and a sales force. A lot of that has been marginalized for the sake of the bottom line. The first cuts seem to have been in editing: copy and line editing, proofing and concept editors. A writer, no matter how much of a genius s/he is, can only get better with a great editor. Most of the books I see from big publishing houses these days are full of wrong words, grammar mistakes, typo, writer's tics, and all kinds of continuity and concept errors. I cringe whenever I hit one of those brick walls. I wanted better for my book, so I hired an editor.

I learned a long time ago that I cannot do it all. I have limitations (we're back to strengths and weaknesses) and a second, or even third, pair of eyes will only make my book better. I have the best. I'm willing to share her, but not give her up. Mary Ann is the best editor I've worked with in a long time, and if it ain't broke, you don't fix it. I don't even mind (too much) her slash and burn technique where it's warranted. I need that sometimes. Keeps me on track.

In order to get my book into e-book and print, I used my brains and got help. I got two young and talented artists for the cover art and a great editor. I'm the general (control freak) and I marshalled my troops where they would do the most good. The book that came from all our efforts -- I could not have done it without them -- is a better book and good enough to publish. How do I know? Because a publisher told me he would've published the book if I'd sent it to him. I'm considering talking to him since he might be willing to help me get wider distribution for my book in Europe. Every little bit helps, and I'm not afraid to color outside the lines.

Sometimes it isn't what you know, but who you know, and that is very true of self-publishing. I chose my self-publishing company because I had the option to do most of the work myself (control freak) and yet could employ the talents and strengths of others to balance my weaknesses. I'm very happy giving up some control as long as I have the final say. One of my artists keeps telling me that I don't have to settle for less than what I want, for less than perfect. I don't -- at least as far as I know.

One good thing about self-publishing and the user friendly systems available is that I can make changes (when I find mistakes) and not have to wait for another print run of 50,000 books to do it. I can make the changes and see them within a day or two. Now that is power.

I also gave up some power where synopses are concerned. I do not do them well. It is one of my big weaknesses. When a good friend suggested mine was crap (she said it needed work), I asked her to write it. What she sent me is what I used on the back cover. I know good when I see it. Another good friend suggested my synopsis was missing something, so I asked her to write something for me, and that one is the description on Amazon. A good control freak knows when to step out of the way and let the professionals handle things. I would rather eat worms than write synopses, but that's just because I'm awful at it. For me, it's like calling someone and getting the answering machine or voice mail. I never know what to say and whatever I do say, unless it's business and I have a specific reason for calling, makes me sound like a dithering idiot. I usually just hang up or say as little as possible. It's the old saying about people thinking you're an idiot until you open your mouth and remove all doubt. That's me. The idiot on the recording.

As long as writers are willing to give up some power, or at least find people with strengths to match their weaknesses, self-publishing will become less about vanity and more about quality books, and that is what's important. Being a control freak helps, as long as no micromanaging is involved. The proof is in the pudding -- or, in this case, in the book. The proof, I mean. It's in the mail now and I'll be able to look it over on Friday. In the meantime, I'll try to focus on work. It should be easier since my book was reviewed in record time, in about 12 hours, as opposed to the 48 hours I was expecting, but then I made sure my book was as good as it could be before I hit the publish button.

Marketing and Publicity: Don't Make Me Do This!

While finalizing the details of my on-air interview on Wednesday, March 30, with Jennifer Walker on BlogTalk Radio, Jennifer told me she doesn't do e-books. She doesn't have an eReader and she doesn't like to read books on her computer because that is her time away from the computer. I get what she's saying, especially after staring at a screen for sixteen or more hours a day. She's not that plugged in and it doesn't look like she wants to be. I get it. I find it strange, but I get it. After all, not everyone who interviews an author actually reads the book. They are there to provide a forum for the author, not get into a debate about the pros and cons of the book. Aren't they?

That's the thing about publicity and marketing, what I think I know is not necessarily what's true or even what works. Take the example of commenting on blogs. One publicity guru says you should add a link to whatever project or blog is most important to you and needs the boost and another one says that is just plain bad manners. What!? Which is it, a good idea or bad manners? I err on the side of caution and do both, use a link to the current book on some blogs and blatantly leave it off on others, and we are back to the one-size does not fit all discussion. The only time one size has ever fit me the way I like, it was polyeste and it didn't look all that great. I refuse to wear muumuus and robes all the time no matter how comfortable they are.

Marketing and publicity are not my strong suits, but I know they are part of the wild and wonderful world of writing books. I like writing books. I even occasionally don't mind editing -- for the fifth time. I find that I do enjoy working with artists on book covers and print covers. Michael Reighn and Aubrey Boneau make it fun -- even when I nit pick and suggest changes or ask questions about why something has to be a certain way. Most of the time I leave them to do their job, make what I hope are helpful suggestions (hey, I do have an artistic background -- I used to paint and draw portraits and I know the basics of color and design since I haven't worn plaids and prints together in ages), and get back stunning art work and covers. That's fun, but I hate marketing and publicity. So much time for a return that isn't always obvious. I do it, but I don't have to like it. but I do it. Let's put it this way, I am a whole lot less averse to liver and onions, buttermilk and Brussels sprouts. I happen to like them all. Marketing and publicity are for arcane departments where they talk about polls, numbers and full color spreads. I prefer my arcane knowledge in tarot cards and scrying mirrors.

Give me something simple to do, like create characters out of whole cloth, research viruses and archaeology, build civilizations and write articles. That I can do. Just let me write while I live in NeverNever Land where good books sell themselves and I'm a millionaire living in a luxurious cabin high in the Colorado Rockies, but don't make me do publicity. I'd rather have a root canal, not that I need a root canal, but you get the point.

Marketing must be done and I must publicize my books, no matter how much it hurts, and I will grin and bear it. I don't have to like it. However, I do enjoy doing interviews, even when the interviewer is someone who doesn't do e-books and the e-book she isn't going to do is my latest book. The interview is set and the print book won't be ready for a few more weeks, so we'll have to talk about writing and Among Women in the abstract. Who knows? Someone might be listening and be so curious they'll want to check out the book. Stranger things have happened.

A Deal Too Good to Miss

In the spirit of good will and to help promote my latest novel, I have decided to take some sage advice and offer a free download of Past Imperfect with every sale of Among Women.

Leave a comment with proof of purchase of Among Women from Smashwords, Amazon in the U.S. or United Kingdom, Barnes & Noble, or other e-book retailer or email me with the information and I will send you a free copy of Past Imperfect for download. Two books for the price of one, and an introduction to two very different stories.

The offer ends May 1, 2011.

That is all. Disperse. Buy. Download.