Category Archives: writing/blogging/publishing related

writing, blogging, publishing

Adventures in Independent Publishing

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I hope you didn’t find your way here via a search and are expecting something useful.

There are so many blogs and people I should link you to, but if I had to prepare all that, I wouldn’t have time to do the important things like take out the dog and change the cat’s litter box.

It’s probably a generational thing, but term self-publishing still sounds like the old vanity presses to me so I’m opting for calling whatever it is I think I’m doing, “independent publishing.”

The truth is the big houses are dying not having prepared for the digital age or followed what was happening in other industries affected by it. In a few years it’ll all be “independent and self” publishing and people will start referring to what is now “traditional” publishing with some retronym like “corporate publishing.”

In any case, I guess I joined the digital publishing age back in February when I put an excerpt of my novel Loisaida up on Authonomy. I’ve just taken another step and put my novella, The Death Trip on Smashwords (http://www.smashwords.com). It’s free and you can download through this link: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/6095. Take a look!

I’ll clean up this blog later and add some links, and in the coming weeks I’ll keep you posted on my experiences with kindle, starting my own micro-imprint, and the world of POD.

Feel free to leave a relevant comment.

A Post about Not Posting or Self-help or Saving Your own Life:

Authonomy Related, true story, writing/blogging/publishing related,

In the past few weeks (months), I haven’t posted. Much happened. Many stories exist, but I didn’t write them down. There are the usual excuses: depression, addiction (to authonomy), laziness, the need to retain paid employment, other obligations, life-maintenance, etc.
It’s amazing how much money we all spend on self-help — whether it’s books, classes, therapy, retreats or whatever, when generally we already know what will make us feel better.
Here are 10 things that I could accomplish today. If I do even 3 of them, it will be more than I’ve done lately and will make me feel that at least I’ve done something:
1. write a blog.
2. get the oil changed,
3. buy my mother something for mother’s day even though she’s not easy to shop for and the thought of it fills me with all sorts of ambivalence and many “feelings.” (When I asked what should I get her, one family member who will remain anonymous suggested: “A heart?”
4. clean just one small section of the apartment (start anywhere.)
5. unpack my bags from the trip I took last month.
6. unpack my bag from the overnight trip last weekend.
7. go through the large plastic bin in which the mail has been collecting.
8. change the cat litter.
9. make definite plans with a friend.
10. write something in addition to the blog.

Okay, so I managed to get one of these things done. Now the choice is mine. Rest on my uh laurels or get up off my butt. So hard to choose. Maybe I’ll have another cup of coffee.

The Old Post with a New Name (continued)

Authonomy Related, true story, writing/blogging/publishing related

Update: I had to change the name of this post. The name had the word a d d i c t i o n in it and this seemed to attract so much spam for so long that I’m now afraid to ever write the word again. Let that be a warning to all!

Just a quick update on my internet addiction and second life as a writer on Authonomy.

I’ve got to get at least an abstract and synopsis of a proposal done by Monday morning, 8 am. I should have the draft done as it’s got to go out on Friday and others need to comment. By the way, this is for an afterschool program grant that would benefit hundreds of inner city children for years to come. This is real and important work.

Where am I on this?

Don’t even ask.

After realizing that this thing is bigger than I am, and not being much of a believer in a higher power (besides I really don’t want to quit, and even if I could find an appropriate meeting, I have too much work to do), I have asked my technical adviser and life partner to block me from the site.

I am now in his power, and it feels strangely liberating.

If I’m a good girl and get my chores done, maybe he’ll let me go on tonight.

thoughts on entering yet another writing contest…

writing/blogging/publishing related, ,

I’ve entered the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. After my experience with the 3-Day, one might question the wisdom.

The 3 Day broke my heart in part because I wrote a novel (or more accurately novella) The Death Trip, specifically for the contest. If I hadn’t had the 3-Day deadline, I don’t know that I ever would have started or finished it. The time limit forced me to tell the story and not get lost in subplots or introspection. If I’m the mother of the work, than 3-Day is the father or at least the sperm donor. I’m proud of that baby, especially the way he grew and developed following his premature birth, so entering was worth it, despite the emotional repercussions of daddy’s abandonment.

I don’t expect to win the ABNA or even come close, and the work I’ve submitted, Loisaida had a long history before I even heard of the award.

The ABNA is sponsored by Create Space – Amazon’s self-publishing arm. The winner gets published by Penguin with a $25,000 advance. The expected 10,000 entries are first judged solely on the pitch. Most people will be eliminated before their manuscripts are seen by anyone. Loisaida is dark and not easy to categorize. My intended audience is not everyone. While I hope the quality of the pitch will carry me, it wouldn’t surprise me if I don’t make it past the first round.

The 3 Day was started by writers and is about the process. The ABNA was started by Create Space and is about publishing. 9,999 people will not win, and if a good percentage of them decide to self-publish through Create Space, than Amazon is the biggest winner. The ABNA has an American Idol-style aspect. The public gets to download excerpts from the top 500, rate and review them. Once the judges pick the top 3, the readers vote for the winner. Penguin gets a book that has already been vetted by industry insiders, gotten publicity and built a fan base.

So knowing that this is all a capitalist plot, why enter? Because:

Everything is a crapshoot and at least this one has no entry fee.

If I make it to the top 500, that means that my pitch was deemed “worthy” by Amazon editors AND my excerpt made the grade with Amazon Vine reviewers. My manuscript will be reviewed and rated by editors from Publisher’s Weekly which is an enormous free service which will provide useful feedback for further revisions.

In the extremely unlikely event that I reach the top 100, (kinahora, pfft, pfft), the manuscript will be under review by Penguin editors and have a shot even if I don’t win. (Meantime, the excerpt will be out there for agents and readers to see.)

So the trick is knowing what I know, not to wind up gliding on my hopes and crashing if/when I don’t make it to the top 2,000 or 500 or 100.

When I was younger, I both wanted to write and wanted to be recognized for having written. The recognition didn’t come and I stopped writing. Now that I have some wisdom and can hear time’s winged chariot hurrying near,, I want and need to write more than ever. If the writing life means taking on just enough paid work to get by, I’ll make the sacrifice. Whether I choose to write is one of the areas of my life where I have the power. What I can’t control is other people – agents and editors who may not like my work or may not think it’s marketable.

By nature, I’m pragmatic and like comfort — a true Taurus, not that I believe in that crap. It would be icing on the cake to have recognition and actually make money doing what I love (not that I don’t love what I do now). So for me, the test of my wisdom is to send out the work and enter the damn contests and learn what I can, and not let my ego crash every time I lose or every time I get a form rejection or a scrawled “not for us” on a returned cover. The test is not wasting time.