Tag: independent books

Your Plateauing Book: How to Keep the Love Alive After the Hoopla’s Gone

On By Lorraine Devon WilkeIn Latest Thoughts2 Comments

“The party’s over…”

Anyone who’s ever worked long and hard on a project that demanded creative vigilance, relentless effort, and savvy timing, who’s reveled in a successful launch, a great rollout, the subsequent afterglow, and then the slow… slow… slow… lessening of… interest… energy… attention… response… excitement… etc…. knows this moment:

The plateau. The dreaded plateau.

It’s that inevitable turn when things quiet down. The ebb to the flow, descent from the summit, deflation of the high. The moment you realize the thrill is gone.

Not yours, certainly. Not even the people’s, whoever your people might be. But the zeitgeist’s. The zeitgeist’s thrill, which is temporary, ephemeral, and looks something like this: You’re six months in, your primary people have all read the book; the publicity campaign is over and you can’t afford another round. Whoever was going to leave a review probably has. The ones who said they would and didn’t probably won’t. “Influencers” on Instagram aren’t making great memes of your book anymore. Bookstores still responding to your inquiries mention, “we’re keeping the focus on new releases,” and no one is chasing after you for interviews.

It’s the plateau, baby, the one that happens after the hoopla’s gone.

It’s not that your creation is any less applause-worthy, any less “a remarkable achievement.” It’s not that readers don’t like it anymore or have stopped thinking you’re “an astonishing writer.” It’s not that you won’t sell more books or inspire additional reviews. There will likely be occasion for another podcast, you can surely wrangle a “post-launch” bookstore event, and a $1.99 ebook sale pushed by BookBub would definitely perk your Amazon rankings.

But like most romances six months in, the chemicals have cooled. Your book is no longer a “shiny new thing.” Other, newer, books are getting the heat, and you know you can’t keep chattering about yours on social media or “overshare exhaustion” will set in.

So what do you do?

The first thing many (most) purveyors of book wisdom will suggest is that you start another book… which doesn’t answer the specific question of what to do with the one you already have, the one you just finished and just put out into the world. Telling someone to assuage their postpartum blues by leaping back into the procreation cycle ignores natural attachment to the one “just birthed.”

And though I’m all for “continued creativity,” and conventional thought does say the best way to succeed in publishing is to write lots and lots and LOTS of books—I’m of the heretical belief that the only time to write another book is when you’re absolutely compelled to do so. When a story literally begs you to sit down and breathe its life onto the page. But you can argue that amongst yourselves. As for your plateau?

I’m not so arrogant as to think I have all, even any, of the answers; I do not. In fact, I’m currently wandering around my own plateau after the April 2019 release of my third novel, The Alchemy of Noise. In fact, it’s the driving need to prevent my own literary depression that’s pushed me to figure out how best to endure the slowdown. And since I’ve come up with a few solutions that are and have been helpful to me, I thought I’d pass them along in the event they are to you as well:

1. Start writing your next book. I know, contradictory. But despite my disclaimer of above, I have to put this at #1 because if you are so moved, it is, frankly, a good step. There really is a wonderfully distracting, creatively exhilarating, pleasingly accomplished element to getting back to work on a new book and letting the baby sit alone for a minute.

2. Activate post-launch book promotions/advertising via sites like Women Writers, Women’s Books, BookBub, IndiesUnlimited, Author Marketing Experts, and BookLife. These are great sites, amongst many others, with abundant information, so explore and take advantage of every opportunity they offer, particularly those designed for “beyond the launch period.”

3. Subscribe to selective newsletters that alert writers to promotional and marketing opportunities, jobs, and contest suggestions. Some excellent ones are Erica Verrillo’s Publishing … and Other Forms of Insanity, Jane Friedman’s content-rich site and newsletter, Adam Cohen’s Winning Writers, and Hope Clark’s Funds For Writers. In fact, not only avail yourselves of their copious suggestions, but submit content if it pertains, ask questions where appropriate, and when you do, always mention your book. Look for every chance to engage and bring authentic attention to you and your work.

4. Enter contests. There are millions, it seems, and it does take work to sort out which are viable, valuable, and worth your time, money, and book copies, but they are excellent plateau-breakers. So do the research, compare notes, then enter your book into as many as make sense or you can afford. Additionally, crank out some sparkling short stories and enter contests for those. Write first-person memoir pieces and do the same. While your beloved book is learning to walk on its own, you can stir up interest in you as an author by winning, getting honorably mentioned, or becoming a finalist in any number of chosen contests. Plus, those wins will give you something new to talk about, which is exactly what you’re going for.

5. Book clubs. Reach out to everyone you know who belongs to one. Go to MeetUp.com and explore their many book club groups; put up a request on Facebook, Twitter, all your social media for “interested book clubbers.” Suggest your book, gift free copies to club leaders; offer to conduct a giveaway; commit to an “author’s appearance,” whether in person or via Skype (or whatever online format you use). People need content for book clubs always and forever, and they’re not stuck on “recent releases.”

6. Wrangle up some friend/family interviews. This one might sound silly, but it’s actually fun and very effective: carefully select knowledgeable, book-savvy friends or family members, invite them to present you with a list of questions they have—about you as a writer, your process, your book; why you wrote it, what you hope to accomplish, etc.—then follow-up as you would any interview request. Once it’s done, and with your interviewer’s permission, post it on your website, your blog, your Facebook page, etc. It’s amazing how questions from an industry layperson can offer refreshing insight outside the norm of marketing folks. Your readers will definitely find it interesting and possibly quite charming.

7. Write articles about books and publishing… like I’m doing here! Then send them out to top book sites, get them published and/or publish them on your own site/blog. Always find a way to mention your book (as I did! 😊), but be sure to offer honest, authentic, and useful information. If you do, odds are good that people will start asking you to provide additional content and that’s a boon—your online bio will always mention and link your book. But mostly you’ll be contributing positively to your community and that builds goodwill. Goodwill is good.

8. Host book parties. Think Tupperware. Scented candles. Arbonne. There’s never a bad time to organize gatherings devoted to commerce and wine, just as there’s no cut-off as to when you can throw a soiree to promote and sell your book. Ask a friend to host or host yourself. Maybe involve other authors to make the event even more festive. Send out invitations or choose a place big enough to accommodate the wider net of Facebook friends. Provide snacks and drinks, plan a short reading and Q&A segment, a drawing for a book or two. Have your books and a Square (card reader) at the ready. Be candid about requesting their reviews after reading, outright about asking them to help spread the word. Hand out bookmarks. Give them book cookies. Do it up. They’ll remember and I guarantee it’ll be a good memory.

9. Get involved in book fairs and festivals. Almost every city has a book event or two during the year. Two of the best in the Los Angeles area are the LA Times Festival of Books, and, in nearby Long Beach, the The Literary Women’s Festival of Authors. But there are countless others around the country, and, depending on your budget and ability to travel, you can stay close or get out there. The main idea is to get your book in a booth and in front of interested new readers. Tables can be expensive so get together with other writers in your area (there will likely be plenty of “plateauing authors” just as excited as you to be involved!). Split the cost of the booth/table, the advertising, whatever ancillary costs come up. Have lots of books on hand and be up on all necessary sales/tax info that applies. Be ready to maximize the opportunity to enthusiastically put your book in front of the thousands of readers who attend these events. Golden.

10. Perform! I have a friend who started her own YouTube channel filled with videos of her interviewing other artists and writers she finds interesting, and, of course, she always concludes with clear verbal and visual information about her own book. A couple of other friends are now starting podcasts, intending to interview artists of every ilk and, of course, promote their books. Whatever suits your sensibilities, get out there and make some noise. I actually saw a woman on the Venice Boardwalk who played guitar and sang, had a tip jar out front, and a table in back stacked with her books. She was ready for anything, which I thought that was pretty darned innovative!   

There are, no doubt, lots more ideas (feel free to add them in comments) but this is a good head start. The bonus is, once you have new things to talk about—awards, events, published articles, etc.—you’ve got brand new spanking information to share, which always presents new opportunity to talk about your wonderful book.

But, mainly, remember that your baby has a long life expectancy, and hoopla is not required to keep it alive. A plateau can offer space to breathe, reassess, re-strategize. Take that moment when it comes; refresh your mind, hustle up some new ideas, then start climbing again.

It’s the journey… it’s always the journey.

Photos in order:
Nicole Honeywill / Sincerely Media on Unsplash
MILKOVÍ on Unsplash
Other photos via LDW

Visit www.lorrainedevonwilke.com for details and links to LDW’s books, music, photography, and articles.

Sharing An Editor’s Perspective On the Quality Debate: Meet Jamie Chavez

On By Lorraine Devon WilkeIn Uncategorized2 Comments
Jamie Chavez
Jamie Chavez’s Blog Banner

As one who is hellbent on making sure my points, my theses, are all thoroughly clear and understood, I find that when evidence suggests I’ve not succeeded, I occasionally go overboard with “clarifications,” addendums, updated material, etc., in a quest to correct the problem. What I discover is, more often than not, there really is no problem, just the dissent of those who do not share my opinion (sometimes with horribly bad manners!). So when a tweeting follower sent me an article that supported a controversial theme I covered recently, I paid attention.

When I published Dear Self-Published Author: Do NOT Write Four Books a Year, a strongly worded (I’ll admit 🙂 ) opinion piece about the “quality vs. quantity” debate that inspired prodigious pushback from angry writers, I considered that I’d taken, perhaps, too broad a brushstroke about who ought to publish in volume (those who vigilantly take the time and care to put out excellent work regardless of how often) vs. those who shouldn’t (anyone who doesn’t). But no amount of clarification would mollify the angry mobs who found my theory heinous, so I left it where I could and got on with my life.

photo_jamie
Jamie Chavez

Then this article was sent my way, That’s Not Writing–It’s Typing, and I felt the writer, developmental editor/writer, Jamie Chavez, not only echoed some version of my thesis, but very possibly did a better job of articulating the issues. Have a read:

A good friend of mine proofs for a small firm that publishes category romances. Her social media commentary about it is hilarious (and most of it unprintable in a family blog like this one, though recently I learned the word throbbing, among others, is currently out of fashion in the romance novel biz).

It’s a time-honored, legitimate publishing endeavor, the writing of romances—and whether they are PG or sexy or hard-core, there’s a huge fan base of smart, savvy romance readers out there. Don’t believe me? Check out the Smart Bitches Trashy Books website, which has been doing a booming review business for ten years now.

If you’re a writer, then, this is a huge market you might want to tap, n’est-ce pas?

Oui. As Entertainment Weekly notes, “Romance novels were once the book world’s dirty little secret. No more. Thanks in part to e-readers and Fifty Shades of Grey, they’re now the hottest fiction genre going.” Even Jane Friedman, to whose blog I subscribe, wrote a piece about a highly successful self-published author, Bella Andre, and what other writers could learn from her path to success.

Who is this Bella Andre? I wondered. EW says,

In 2010 Bella Andre was dropped by Random House after her firefighter romance series failed to generate sales. She’d spent the previous seven years shuffling between publishers, and now it seemed that her career was over. … Some friends and romance readers encouraged the writer to self-publish. So in July 2010 she uploaded the fittingly titled Love Me—a sequel that her then publisher, Simon & Schuster, had never wanted to put out. She sent personal notes to every fan who’d ever contacted her during her career, urging them to seek out the new book on Amazon. “I probably made $8,000 that month, which was bigger than the advance of $5,000 I’d been offered by Plume, and I retained all the rights,” she says. Five months later she self-published another sequel, and within weeks she became the first self-published author to hit the top 25 on Barnes & Noble’s Nook best-seller list, selling 1,000 books a day.

I didn’t know that when I read Friedman’s piece, though. So I looked up this woman’s best-selling books. They must be good, I thought. And I bought one, in spite of the dreadful cover. (That should have been my first clue.)

Continue reading full article….

Excellent piece. Excellent points. Thank you, Jamie, for your wise, experienced, and useful contribution to the debate.  

LDW w glasses

Visit www.lorrainedevonwilke.com for details and links to LDW’s books, music, photography, and articles.

Step Away From The (Misguided) Advice and Do NOT Write Four Books A Year

On By Lorraine Devon WilkeIn Uncategorized

Book

No matter what experts tell you, no matter what trends, conventional wisdom, social media chatter, or your friends in the Facebook writers group insist upon, do NOT write four books a year. I mean it. Don’t.

Unless they’re four gorgeously written, painstakingly molded, amazingly rendered, and undeniably memorable books. If you can pull off four of those a year, more power to ya. But most can’t. I’d go so far as to say no one can, the qualifier being good books.

Beyond the fact that the marketplace is glutted with an overwhelming number of books already (many of dubious quality), writing good books simply takes time, lots of it. There’s no getting around that time. It involves learned skills, unhurried  imagination, fastidious drafting, diligent editing, even the time to step away, then step back, to go over it all again. And, unless you’re a hack (and we know there are plenty of those out there), isn’t the whole point of this exercise to write good books? 

Our most highly esteemed, widely applauded, prodigiously awarded, read, and revered authors know this to be true. Donna Tartt, last year’ s Pulitzer Prize winner for The Goldfinch, took eleven years to deliver that masterpiece. This year’s winner, Anthony Doerr, had only written four books in his entire career before he penned All The Light We Cannot See, wisely taking years to craft his stunning tale. The cultishly-beloved Harper Lee had only To Kill A Mockingbird in her catalogue before this year’s controversial release of Go Set A Watchman (which some are convinced was not of her doing). Even others amongst our best, who do put out work on a more regular basis, do so with focus appropriately attuned to the quality of the book, not the depth of their catalogue or the flash-speed with which they crank out product. 

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But, you say, I’m not interested in writing Pulitzer Prize winners, I don’t need to be on The New York Times bestseller list; I just wanna see my name up at Amazon and sell a few books to family and friends, and, hey, if I go viral, all the better! They say write to the market, so I gotta write to the market. I mean, look at E.L. James…she’s hardly Chaucer and look what’s happened to her!! 

Point taken. Which actually brings us to the point: what is your point?

What’s your point as a creative, an artist; an author? A purveyor of the written word? Why are you here, what is your purpose, your goal as a writer? What do you hope to achieve? Is it fame and fortune at any cost, quality be damned? Or is it about finely crafted work? It’s important to know, to decide, because those principles will guide and mandate every decision you make from there on out.  

I bring all this up because I experienced a snap the other day, one triggered by an article from Self-Published Author by Bowker called, “Discovery: Another Buzzword We’re Wrestling to Understand.” In it, the writer lists many of the familiar instructions toward procuring success as an indie writer — social media, book reviews, networking, etc. — but her very first suggestion to self-published authors looking to get “discovered” was this:

 Publish. A Lot: For those of you who have spent 10 years writing your last book I have news for you. You have ten days to write your next one. Okay, I’m sort of kidding with the ten days but, candidly, the most successful authors are pushing out tons of content: meaning books, not blog posts. In most categories, readers are hungry for new reads, new books, and willing to discover new authors. You’ll have a better time getting found if you continually push new books out there. How many should you do? At a recent writers conference some authors said they publish four books a year. Yes, that’s right, four.  [Emphasis mine]

Wow.

So her first piece of advice to self-publishing authors wasn’t to put more focus on fine-tuning one’s craft, it wasn’t about taking time to mull and ponder what stories, what narratives, most inspire you to put “pen to paper”; it wasn’t even a suggestion to be relentless about working with professional content/copy editors and cover designers to create the best possible version of your work. No, it was the insanely insane advice to pump out at least four books a year. 

And people wonder why there are stigmas attached to self-publishing.

First of all, in looking at her point of reference, it depends on what you define as a “successful author.” I have a distinct feeling this may be where the disparities lie. Perhaps my own definition is a different one. 

When I self-published my first book, After The Sucker Punch, in April of 2014, I had, by then, put years into it, doing all those many things I itemized above. Because I not only wanted to publish a novel, I wanted that novel to be a work of art, a book of depth and merit, one that would not only tell a compelling story but would meet standards of publishing that authors of the highest regard are held to. I wanted it to be a book that would favorably compare with anything put out by a traditional publisher. My choice to self-publish was a result of not having engaged a publisher by the time my book was done and I was ready to market it. It was not based on the notion of joining the “second tier club” where one is unbound from the stricter, more demanding standards of traditional publishing. 

“Second tier club”? Yes. As insulting as that sounds, particularly in relation to self-publishing, there is no question that there are two tiers operating in the culture of the book industry. Take a moment to think about it, if you find that off-putting and you will see the evidence:

Based on what advice is given to self-published writers, some of which I shared above; based on the”free/bargain” pricing paradigms of most book sellers hawking those writers; based on the corner (quality)-cutting measures required to pump out endless product to meet the purportedly endless demand of those sites and their bargain-hunting readers, “second tier club” is no misnomer.

Where the best of traditional publishers set their sites not only on commercial viability but award-quality work, nurturing authors with enduring skills and profound stories to tell, in a climate that is selective (perhaps too selective) and based on the notion that that level of quality and commercial appeal is a rare and valued commodity, self-published authors are advised to, “Crank out loads of books; if you have to write little teeny short ones to get your catalogue pumped up, do that! Don’t worry about covers; your readers don’t give a hoot about artwork. It’s all about genre, easy reads, and low, low prices! And speaking of low prices, don’t even think about selling your books for more than a dollar or two, because readers who do bother with self-published books are too accustomed to bargain-basement prices to spend any more than that. This is the 99¢ Bargain Circus Book Store, where we push quantity over quality every day of the week!! CRANK OUT THAT PRODUCT!!”

I’ll bet good money Donna Tartt, Anthony Doerr, and other quality writers aren’t getting that same message from their publishers. First tier, baby.  

Look, if your point and purpose as a writer is largely related to the numbers—of books sold, of Amazon ranking, of reviews garnered, of Twitter followers and Facebook “likes”—then, certainly; follow the advice of the article quoted about. I know many self-published writers who are, and though I have no idea how well that’s working for them, it’s certainly the prevailing trend. 

But if your point and purpose as a writer is to take someone’s breath away, capture a riveting story, translate an idea—whether fantasy, love story, science fiction, human interaction, tragedy, thriller, family saga, memoir, non-fiction—in way that raises hairs or gets someone shouting “YES!”; if you’re compelled to tell that story so beautifully, so irreverently, with such power and prose as to make a reader stop to read a line over just to have the opportunity to roll those words around one more time, then don’t listen to that advice.

Instead, do the opposite: take your time, work your craft; look for the best possible ways to tell your story and allow yourself time to change your mind, sometimes often, until you know it’s right. Allow your editors time to help you mold your narrative into peak condition. Give your formatters and copy editors time to comb through your manuscript, again and again, to make sure everything is perfect. Work carefully with your cover artist to create the most gorgeous, most professional book cover you can. TAKE YOUR TIME.  

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Then take lots more to research marketing options; ask questions, weigh contradicting information, and come up with the best possible strategy for your book. Do what you choose with professionalism and without the misguided and frantic push to the “top of the list,” a pervasive attitude so rife with desperation and panic. You’re not in a race, with anyone. You are a professional author working your book your way. Be an artist, don’t be a carnival barker. Be a wordsmith, not a bean-counter. Be patient, not hysterical. Transact commerce wisely, but don’t lose your creative soul in the process. 

I know I’m bucking the trend here, and certainly there are quality issues and dubious motivations floating around both tiers. It’s also certain that, if you follow my lead, you will not be able to write four books a year, at least not four full-length books. You will write, perhaps, one. But if you do it right, taking time and taking care, you will have written one excellent book. One you’ll be proud of years from now. One your friends and family will keep on their book shelves. One readers across the globe will talk about on social media. One that tells the world, I am a writer and this book is my legacy. Then you’ll go write another of those…and so on.

The rest of it—sales, rankings, reviews, viralness, likes, tweets, awards, kudos, peer admiration… all that? If you do it right, if/when any of those things come, they will be warranted and well-deserved. You can celebrate them authentically, because you did not sell your creative soul to get them. You actually made the far, far better deal.

UPDATE: An addendum to this piece can be found at OK, So How About This Instead: Write As Many Books As YOU Choose…

Book photo by Gaelle Marcel
Fountain pen & book by Aaron Burden
Book stacks by Simson Petrol
Man writing by Evan Clark

LDW w glasses

Visit www.lorrainedevonwilke.com for details and links to LDW’s books, music, photography, and articles.

Musicians Have Taylor Swift To Champion Fairness; Who Do Writers Have?

On By Lorraine Devon WilkeIn Uncategorized2 Comments
Taylor Swift, Fairness Warrior @ FB Timeline
Taylor Swift, Fairness Warrior; image @ FB Timeline

Even if you don’t pay attention to whatever elements of Taylor Swift’s life make the media on a given day, one would be hard-pressed to have missed the weekend’s brouhaha with Swift vs. Apple Music. Say what you will about the girl—her fluffy songs, her digitally-enhanced vocals, or her madcap rise to fame—she knows how to use a bully pulpit.

In a nutshell: after Apple Music announced their new streaming service on June 8th to much excitement and fanfare, it quickly became clear that the three-month trial period offered as enticement to joining artists came with some decidedly unappreciated fine print. It seems any music sold during those three months would NOT earn royalties for the artists, writers, and producers who signed up and whose music was being sold. Which meant those free three months, marketed as a “join-up gift,” were really a gift to Apple, allowing them to rake in whatever revenues were earned from those “trial” artists bereft of any payout to the artists themselves. Cold. Calculating. Greedy. And Ms. Swift would have none of it.

She not only withdrew her own latest (and wildly successful) album, 1989, from the steaming service, she took to her Tumblr page on June 21st with an open-letter to Apple. I’m going to put the whole thing here because I think her points (the most salient of which I’ve highlighted) are so important:

I write this to explain why I’ll be holding back my album, 1989, from the new streaming service, Apple Music. I feel this deserves an explanation because Apple has been and will continue to be one of my best partners in selling music and creating ways for me to connect with my fans. I respect the company and the truly ingenious minds that have created a legacy based on innovation and pushing the right boundaries.

I’m sure you are aware that Apple Music will be offering a free 3 month trial to anyone who signs up for the service. I’m not sure you know that Apple Music will not be paying writers, producers, or artists for those three months. I find it to be shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company.

This is not about me. Thankfully I am on my fifth album and can support myself, my band, crew, and entire management team by playing live shows. This is about the new artist or band that has just released their first single and will not be paid for its success. This is about the young songwriter who just got his or her first cut and thought that the royalties from that would get them out of debt. This is about the producer who works tirelessly to innovate and create, just like the innovators and creators at Apple are pioneering in their field…but will not get paid for a quarter of a year’s worth of plays on his or her songs.

These are not the complaints of a spoiled, petulant child. These are the echoed sentiments of every artist, writer and producer in my social circles who are afraid to speak up publicly because we admire and respect Apple so much. We simply do not respect this particular call.

I realize that Apple is working towards a goal of paid streaming. I think that is beautiful progress. We know how astronomically successful Apple has been and we know that this incredible company has the money to pay artists, writers and producers for the 3 month trial period… even if it is free for the fans trying it out.

Three months is a long time to go unpaid, and it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing. I say this with love, reverence, and admiration for everything else Apple has done. I hope that soon I can join them in the progression towards a streaming model that seems fair to those who create this music. I think this could be the platform that gets it right.

But I say to Apple with all due respect, it’s not too late to change this policy and change the minds of those in the music industry who will be deeply and gravely affected by this. We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation.

Taylor

THANK YOU

All I could say was, “Brava, Ms. Swift!” Especially after it was announced, just hours after Swift’s note, that Apple Music not only heard her, they were, indeed, changing their policy. From The Huffington Post:

On Sunday evening, Apple responded to Taylor Swift’s rallying cry to fairly compensate artists. “We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists,” Apple’s Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue tweeted. Cue announced the tech giant will in fact pay artists for streaming services during the free trial period of Apple Music.

The power of protest. The power of standing up to behemoths of the industry to make clear that policies rooted in unfairness and lack of respect for the talent, hard work, and expended resources of artists, will not, and should not, stand. Kudos to Apple for getting the point and making the needed changes. Win/win all around. 

But what about writers? What about the novelists, non-fiction writers; essayists and article writers; in fact, any writer who’s creating work being posted, sold, or used by anyone else (i.e., book sale sites, news sites, resource sites, company websites, etc.)? This group of artists does not, at least not that I’m aware of, have a champion akin to Taylor Swift putting their own work on the line to protest for fairer industry practices. Instead, I see piece after piece cajoling writers to give their work away for free as “enmaeavatar_biggerticement” to new readers. I see content wranglers justifying non-payment in lieu of “online real estate,” calling it the “Huff Post formula” (forgetting that Huff Post actually has a level of exposure few other places do, and really, who need more “online real estate”??). I see sites like Amazon parsing subscription formulas to pay royalties based on how many pages of a book are actually read, as opposed to the purchase of the book itself (tell me, when were we ever allowed to pay for just the amount of a meal we ate at a restaurant??). All of these tactics, and others, are designed to benefit the purveyors of that content and the readers of that content, with little consideration for the creators of that content. Which is wrong. And pretty much the exact argument Swift was making to Apple. 

In fact, she made a similar point last year regarding Spotify, another music streaming service, reiterating her view of the “value of art” in an interview at Yahoo Music:

“I’m not willing to contribute my life’s work to an experiment that I don’t feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists, and creators of this music. And I just don’t agree with perpetuating the perception that music has no value and should be free.

I felt like I was saying to my fans, ‘If you create music someday, if you create a painting someday, someone can just walk into a museum, take it off the wall, rip off a corner off it, and it’s theirs now and they don’t have to pay for it.’  I didn’t like the perception that it was putting forth. And so I decided to change the way I was doing things.

Yes! Exactly! What’s with the perception that art has little or no value? That artists are somehow obligated to give their work away simply because it’s on the Internet and there’s that strange, persistent, unsupported “cultural think” that if it’s on the Internet it should be free? NO, IT SHOULDN’T! The Internet is like a store. A store where people put up the stuff they’re selling. It’s not a free box on the side of the road; it’s a place for commerce. As Taylor says, we don’t ask for free iPhones, so why free art? 

read your novel

But, sadly, we in the book/writing business don’t have a champion like Swift. The 2014 kerfuffle between Amazon and Hatchette was just a snit-fest between the Big 5 and big Amazon; it had nothing to do with fair compensation for indie writers. And, let’s face it, the proliferation of sites screaming “FREE & BARGAIN BOOKS!!” has exploded, creating a demographic of readers that simply expect books to either be free or so effing cheap the profit margin wouldn’t afford the author a latte while writing the next book they’ll be browbeaten to “donate” to the undiscerning public.

I can hear Taylor screaming in her jasmine-scented soundproofed vocal booth.

That's not how it works

Clearly, I’m no Taylor Swift. There are no legions of fans hanging on my every word; no one cares with whom I’m holding hands. I’m not tall, skinny, and loaded with a Brinks vault of awards. I have no power over any industry (though there was a time my catering captain skills were in demand!), and the only thing of mine Apple respects is a decent purchase history of phones and computers. But still… I’ve been around a long time, I’ve got artistic bona fides, and some have said (though I can’t remember who), I’ve got a good head on my shoulders. So if I had a bully pulpit, this is what I’d say:

Perpetuating the perception that independent books have little value and should be free or sold for ridiculously low prices is deleterious to the true merit, status, and negotiating power of independent authors. This is not about greed or the overvaluation of unknown writers; this is about the artistry and hard work that goes into creating good books. Excellent books. Books that, if agents and publishers were wrangling them in the traditional publishing world, would be bestsellers. Instead, those authors are struggling to find footing in a slippery marketplace that can’t seem to discern between mediocre and masterful, and values/devalues it as “all the same.” 

Which is folly. If an amateur wants to crank out an unpolished tome to put on Amazon for family/friend consumption, giving that book away for free or one or two bucks, so be it. But if a skilled, professional, highly qualified author puts years in, hires experts to produce, and publishes a masterful book (and I know many of those excellent authors and their excellent books), those books deserve to be sold at prices comparable to any other excellent book being traditionally published. Anything else creates a two-tiered system that designates one group as worthy, the other as not. Which is inherently unfair and vastly misguided, as what publishing category a book belongs to does not necessarily indicate its excellence.

This is about us indie writers and our industry taking a stand to determine that the perceived value of our art is commensurate with any other valued art, and, subsequently, demanding commensurate and fair payment for that art. Let “free” be a choice, not a mandate.

Okay, I’m done. I’m gonna go now and “Shake It Off”! 

Related articles you might find interesting:
I’m Not Interested In FREE Books 
Free Books: Marketing Genius or Devaluation of Writers?
Free Book Promotions: How Good ARE They For Writers?

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Visit www.lorrainedevonwilke.com for details and links to LDW’s books, music, photography, and articles.

A Trailer Sets the Stage… For the Book That Tells the Story

On By Lorraine Devon WilkeIn Uncategorized

trailer image

There are a great many ways in which projects, businesses, organizations, movies, songs, and books are introduced to the world, marketed into the cultural zeitgeist. Media – in all its forms – is the medium: newspaper and magazine advertising, online press releases, repetitive social media alerts; blogs, interviews and radio spots. If the person involved is high-profile enough, or has a good enough publicity team, they appear on talk shows, do segments on news programs, or find a reason to participate in a cause… or a cooking show. 🙂

But in the specific world of movies and television, there are trailers. Those snappy, quick-cutting, eye-catching, can’t-turn-away mini-films intended to set the stage, pull you in, ensnare your interest to the point that you must watch to find out WHAT HAPPENS.

Personally, I love trailers. I love getting to the theater early enough to catch each and every one that unfurls before the main attraction, making note of those I’ll catch and those I’ll be sure to miss. Trailers – the good ones, anyway – are significant and effective as marketing tools because they show just enough visual, share just enough narrative, and cut it all together with just the right rhythm and pace to whet the appetite of the viewer, enough to make a future commitment to WATCH.

Or, in the case of book trailers, to READ.

The notion of authors and publishers using trailers to promote and market their books is a relatively new phenomenon. There’s no doubt that as e-books and the online purchasing of paperbacks, even hardcovers, came under the growing purview of online book retailers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the like, the focus of book-lovers turned commensurately to online interaction. From there it was not difficult to steer their interests towards accompanying book trailers as a way to further entice their reading choices.

Brilliant! So fresh and cutting edge, trailers would surely be seen as innovation for books marketers…right?

In fact, back in 2012 The Guardian published a piece titled, From page to screen: the rise of the video book trailer, that seemed to view the trend as a bit niche:

“These are terrific diversions, but their status next to the book is a little ambiguous.”

But the trend persisted and before long, more and more authors saw trailers as tools to help pull their books out of the pack, translate synopses without a document; thrill enough to grab attention (the goal, after all!). And as time passed, what was niche became notable, if not de rigueur:

Lindsay Mead, “YA author (soon-to-be), YouTuber and Full-Time Daydreamer,” runs a blog that focuses heavily on book trailers, with an accompanying YouTube page sharing those of authors she admires. Goodreads, the uber- (and now Amazon-owned) author/reader site, features a video option on authors’ profile pages. And writers swear by their trailers; author Brian Solis, for example, posted in A Visual History of Book Trailers:

“…the tradition of book trailers not only continues, it’s become standard practice as part of the book marketing checklist. From concept to script to treatment to music, I see trailers and book marketing in general as a creative challenge to engage readers beyond text.”

I agree with him, though I do think the accessibility to trailers could use some expansion. At this point, unless an author or publicity person directs you to the YouTube or Goodreads page of that author, or is vigilant about linking the trailer to every piece of promo sent out, their ubiquity as advertising tools is not necessarily matched by their actual access. Even Amazon, which allows authors to post book videos on their author pages, hasn’t yet created the algorithm to view those videos full screen… or even larger than the teeny box they appear in off to the right (I’ve talked to them and will see what can be done about getting that changed, dammit!). Frankly, I think trailers should be right there on the authors’ individual sales pages, just like the “look inside this book” feature. Hopefully, we’ll get there.

For now, I’m delighting in the fact that the medium exists… and that I’ve got one. A good one. One artfully created, produced, and edited by my phenomenally talented brother, actor/director/writer, Tom Amandes (in addition to the gorgeous book cover created by one of my other phenomenally talented siblings, designer Grace Amandes). Tom has a remarkable resume as an actor, and in recent years directed a number of high-profile television shows as well. I am truly fortunate to be the recipient of the prodigious skill and expertise he brought to this wonderful, artistic, mini-film for After The Sucker Punch. Already I’m hearing from new readers about it!

And so, with no further ado, the book trailer for After The Sucker Punch. Enjoy it… then enjoy the book!

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Visit www.lorrainedevonwilke.com for details and links to LDW’s books, music, photography, and articles.