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Blood Money!

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I’m a fairly busy woman, doing the things that I like to do – writing, walking the dog, and in general trying to stay out of trouble.  The last one is pretty much a full-time job.  My publisher Dean is the one who stays up on all the stuff happening in the publishing world.  He weeds through all the news and gossip, and then he takes the time to fill me in on some of the more interesting tidbits.

One of the things he’s been following recently is the discussion that has popped up concerning the payment of royalties to authors.  This really began with the April 13, 2011 blog post The Business Rusch: Royalty Statememts by Kristine Kathryn Rusch on her website.  The bottom line is that she felt her royalty statements from her publisher were not correct.  How could she have sold few eBooks, according to her publisher, when her self-published books were selling at a good pace.  She detailed her questions and her ensuing investigation.  She pointed out that there is an apparent problem in the accounting methods of some traditional publishing houses.  What she also did was point out that not all of them had problems and that she didn’t suspect them of indulging in a criminal act.  They simply don’t have a handle on the eBook market and aren’t taking care of business.  And it’s a big business.  She had over 90 comments on that one post.

Ms. Rusch provided an update post April 20 that was equally fascinating.  I’ve been impressed by the balanced and informative nature of her posts.  Ms. Rusch has pointed out that there is a huge potential for a fire in the theater without screaming Fire, or sounding like an insane conspiracy theorist.  Is there a problem with the proper reporting of royalties by major publishers?  No doubt in my mind that some of them have problems based on the information provided.  Was it done to deny the authors their due?  Doubtful, although I’m sure a few of those companies are aware there are problems and aren’t rushing to fix them.  Does it need to change and accurate accounting methods be employed?  Absolutely!

So where do I come out in all of this?  Two things.  First, I know it would be a huge undertaking, but authors should be provided screen snapshots of their sales figures.  Amazon provides the account holder (publisher) a statement so why not share it with the author.  What are they hiding?  We all know how the money works so there should be no secrets?  Pain in the butt – you bet, but what is your company integrity worth?   Secondly, authors should be prepared to defend their rights.  I like Ms. Rusch’s suggestion that authors utilize their writing associations and applying pressure for the big changes.

Me – I’m lucky in my choice of publishers.  Dean is providing me screenshots of the statements.  He had told me he was doing it long before this particular item appeared.  Of course, I’m a little more pro-active in my approach than the ones suggested by Ms. Rusch – I own a baseball bat and I know where Dean lives…

Who’s my Publisher?

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Have you met Dean Newman from Liquid Reality Studios?  I don’t know how to explain Dean.  He’s an incredibly talented graphic designer and technological wizard, and he’s also a guy that gets me – don’t hold that against him!  He’s one of those rare people who understands what I’m talking about, even when I don’t.  Which according to Dean is most of the time.  Dean generally just lets me babble away over coffee, and then he does whatever he wants anyway.  Maybe it’s the caffeine, but I’m always happy with what he creates.  He’s been listening to me spout off about Protecting Parker for awhile now.  I made him re-read the emails from the executive editor to see if I’d misread anything – and for once, I hadn’t.  At some point it became obvious to both of us that he was going to be my publisher.   I quit playing around, begged Marcia to be my editor, and got serious about finishing the book.

When we were in final edits it was time to talk about the cover.  Dean and I have talked about book covers for years.  We read a lot of the same things and both of us complain bitterly about the stock characters and poor design that we’ve seen.  We were standing in Barnes and Noble one night laughing about two different authors one shelf away from each other having the same stock character cover.  Only the hair and dress color were different.  One morning Dean asked me what I had in mind for Parker, and I gave him the big duffus look that he’s come to expect from me before my second cup of coffee.  Okay, he pretty much expects that look all the time, but he’s gotten really good at not showing it.  Anyway, what I was able to tell him was that I wanted a desert motif, but no people.  Simple, simple, simple.  About an hour later he sent me the first draft of this cover.  My total input was asking him to rotate the dog tags.  The cover was done.  Yes, Dean – I know you had to do a bunch of other stuff for it to meet your standards, but from the minute I saw that cover – I was in love with it.  It was perfect!

Now, I would like to tell you that I had a clear vision of what I wanted, but it’s simply not true.  I rarely know what I want unless it has to do with dessert.  But Dean always seems to know what I want and produce it.  Yes, he’s that good.

Bounce over to his site at www.liquidrealitystudios.com and have a look. Hit the about page and you’ll see all the stuff Liquid Reality Studios can do.  Oh, and while you’re at it, check out his blog and read his take on eBooks and ePublishing.

What Muse!

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Let me just upset a whole bunch of my writing buddies up front and tell you that I don’t believe in the creative muse.  I used to, but the bitch wouldn’t work so I kicked her ass out.  If the voice in my head refuses to talk, then she can go hang out at someone else’s house.  There are plenty of so-called professional writers who are accomplishing nothing, and she can go hang out with their muses.  Hey, it’s a tough economy, and if I have to work, than everyone has to work – even the voices in my head.  There’s no freeloading, no time off, no taking a break to sit by the pond to contemplate the creative nature of writing.  There’s writing or not writing.  It’s a lot like any profession, some days you’re better at it than others.

By definition a muse is “a mythical woman, or a force personified as one, who is the inspiration for a creative artist.”  Well, there’s the problem – it’s mythological.  Just another one of the imaginary voices in my head, only this one thought she got to pick when she did or didn’t want to work.  I didn’t see her as a beautiful creature like Sharon Stone in the movie The Muse.  Instead, I saw my muse as a spoiled, arrogant, and temperamental bitch from hell that didn’t care how hard I was working.  She sat around watching me struggle, and then she acted like I was an imposition when I tried to hold a conversation with her.  She wasn’t light, bright, and happy to help.  She was whiney, cranky, bitchy, and messy.  You know, a lot like a teenager.

So one day we had to have “The Talk” and I treated my muse like I would have any teenager who was that obnoxious.  I had asked her if she was ready to get down to some serious work, and she rolled her eyes and told me she had too many “real” questions to ponder to be bothered with my pathetic little writing thing.  That was it.

I unleashed on her, “You have questions!  I have some simple answers for you, sweetie face.  Get off your butt and get a job.  With a job you get to earn a living and pay me room and board.  Anything else is grounds for your immediate departure.  Oh, yeah, there’s also that whole “my house, my rules” thing you need to comply with.  No deep sighs of disgust, no eye rolling when I tell you to get off your butt and help with the writing, and don’t make me take your computer privileges because I can and will fit that cute little I-Pad sideways up your butt.  You may think you know it all, but I’m the one woman you don’t get to boss around.  Why?  Because I brought you into this world and I can take you out!”

I’ve never really been a person that believes in all that happy horse-hooey of kinder and gentler.  I do not believe in spare the rod and spoil the child.  I’m a cold hard truth kind of person.  The world is not your oyster.  Not everyone likes you or thinks you’re pretty.  Not everyone makes the team, you don’t get dessert every night, and not everyone gets the freaking brass ring!  Deal with it!

What I do believe is that no matter what you take on, you should do it with respect for yourself and the work.  I also believe you need to have a work ethic if you’re ever going to be worth a moment of my time.  And, the bottom line is, if you’re going to call yourself a professional writer, if you say you have a “need” to write, than accept the responsibility of accomplishing that task and fulfilling that need.  That means you put the words on the paper.  If you’re going to fart around and complain that your muse isn’t talking to you, then perhaps you need to admit that it’s just too hard and you should find another line of work.  And, as I’ve already pointed out, some days work is easier than others.

Oh, and my muse.  Well, a lot like Tinkerbell.  I quit believing and she disappeared.  All the other voices in my head got the message and are working away.

Show a Little Respect

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In answer to what happened with a particular executive editor.

When I began to write, I approached it with the same energy and enthusiasm that I have always brought to anything I work at.  I educated myself as I went.  I sought the advice and expertise of those I respected, and I worked my ass off.  With a (reasonably) complete manuscript in hand, I wrote my first ever synopsis and blurb.  Encouraged by my family, I entered a blind editor pitch for a major publisher.  Even though I wasn’t a finalist, the executive editor sent me an email saying she was intrigued, and asked me to send the full manuscript and synopsis to her attention.  She offered no promises beyond “a bit of feedback.”  Her email indicated that if I sent it immediately, she had time to look at it.  I sent it the same day based solely on the promise of feedback.  Who wouldn’t like feedback from an executive editor of a major publisher?

Naively, I expected the editor to do what she said she’d do.  I waited patiently for my rejection – hey, I’m realistic, it was my first try and it needed some work.  But I was very excited at the prospect of some feedback.  Sixty days (almost to the hour) later, I received a form rejection.  No feedback and hardly timely in my opinion.  I was pretty sure that my book had been logged into the system and at sixty days the time for review expired and out came the form rejection.  Had I sent it unsolicited, I would have been fine with that.  But it was requested, she supposedly had time then, and a promise was made.

So, I emailed the editor and very politely told her how disappointed I was by her failure to follow through on the feedback.  Three weeks later (really – three weeks!) she responded and informed me that she doesn’t read manuscripts – that’s what her staff does, and they didn’t give her any feedback, so she didn’t have any for me.  Huh?  You requested it personally, told me you had time to read it, promised ‘a bit of feedback’, but now you inform me that you don’t do your own job?  Why was your name on the rejection notice?   And what the hell does timely mean in an editor’s world?

In talking to several of my print published friends, this is apparently not unusual.  Those same friends also cautioned me to not respond in my usual fashion (indignation with foul language involved – I have a tendency to sound a little like R. Lee Ermy when I’m unhappy – because I shouldn’t burn any bridges.  I was warned that word would quickly spread in the publishing world that I was “difficult” and no one would ever publish me.  Somehow that thought didn’t really bother me.  What did bother me was the piss-poor behavior of the executive editor of a major publisher.  Apparently, expecting this woman to follow through on her promise in a timely manner was simply unreasonable.

Well… gosh.  Maybe I shouldn’t have shown up to work for all those years I was in the military.  Maybe I shouldn’t have polished my boots, put on my hat, or honored my word.  Perhaps, I should have simply promised to help my troops solve their problems and not bothered to.  Or I could have promised to visit my troops on Christmas Eve when they were standing guard on the flight line at 0200, and instead just sent one of my junior NCOs to do it for me.  Maybe I should have agreed to do my job at Christmas, but not shown up until Valentine’s Day.  Then after my junior NCO wrote his report – I could have simply signed my damn name to it.

Because after all, it’s only my f***ing job, and why should I respect you or myself enough to do it?

*sigh* Now you see why I can only work with people that I respect.

Why am I going my own way?

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Let me just be clear about one small point.  Writing a novel was on my Bucket List. What was not on my list was publishing a novel.  I wrote for myself, my family, and my friends.  Those  same people kept encouraging me to find a publisher for my work.  Blame them!

The problem came with the “who and how” for publishing.  Who would be interested and how would I find them?  I submitted a blurb in a contest and wound up being asked to submit the full manuscript, but that resulted in something less than a satisfying experience for me.  It wasn’t about being rejected, but it was about a level of arrogance on an executive editor’s part that was uncalled for.  That’s a story of its own.  But take a look around and what you’ll find is that there are very few print publishers who accept unsolicited manuscripts and finding an agent is its own unique search.

What I’m not interested in, is being treated like a commodity.  The simple truth is that I prefer to be responsible for my own destiny.  Even in the military, I was frequently in one-deep positions.  I had a boss, but I worked alone for the most part.  My time was my own, and my responsibility was to accomplish my assigned duties.  Being an author is a lot like that.  I don’t need someone else to impose deadlines and restrictions – I’ll do it myself.

It’s also not about being able to work with someone.  I’m quite capable of getting along with others – most of the time.  And, for the record, I’m not afraid of criticism.  There are about ten people who beta-read for me, and trust me on this, they are not afraid to criticize me.  Sometimes I wish they were.  I listen to them (they’re smart people) but in the end, the person who decides what goes in is me.  That’s why I’m careful to only work with people who I respect.  The coolest thing about being on my own – I chose my own editor (poor Marcia is regretting that one), my cover designer, and the rest of my team.  Also for the record – I love my team.

There are two other reasons for me to do it this way.  They go hand-in-hand with each other.
Marketing and earnings.  I’m watching wonderful authors who have traditional publishers, and they are working their butts off to market their own books.  If I’m going to work that damn hard, then I want to keep a little more of the money.  Hold your mail – if you’re happy with your publisher, then I’m happy for you!  It’s not about you and your deal – this is about what makes me happy.

So as always, I’ll go my own way.  Being on my own, writing what I want to write, selling less, but making more on what I do sell, and working with a team of people that I respect and love.  For me, it simply doesn’t get any better than that.