Amazon Removes TAGS from their Book Marketplace

Hrm.

“What’s a tag?” you ask? Well, you must not be a self-published author. This is a listing of TAGS for some random Amazon novel:

Amazon tags, now extinct?

These tags assisted book visibility to potential readers. An amazon customer could, say, search across all books tagged as “apocalyptic fiction” and find just what they’re looking for – a “genre roadmap” if you will.

And now they’re gone. Maybe. Sorta. For some of us. Potentially.

When I queried Amazon they sent a muddled response hinting that tags could be “Restored” at some later point and they are “testing customer purchasing features”.

Whatever. I’m just here to relay the news in case you’ve been asleep the past 2 weeks. Several others have noticed the now invisible tags and have blogged on the topic as well.

My advice? Don’t load your book descriptions with your now invisible tags just yet. Let’s see what our Amazonian overlords decide to do and then act accordingly.

You wanted easy? Doing it ourselves is never that…

 

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To Pseudo or not to Pseudo?

Ya know, it’s kinda funny, SUDO means a whole different thing in my everyday life. But I’m not talking about switching users on a UNIX system – I’m talking about switching names when you write fiction. Writers sometimes decide to use a pen name, or pseudonym, to publish their fiction under a name other than the one their mommy gave them when they arrived into this world covered in fetal slime.

When is it a good idea? Should you do it? What does it mean?

I’m gonna start off by saying: don’t do it. Not strong enough? Okay. Don’t fucking do it. My detailed reasons appear below, but it all comes down to one central point: stand up for yourself. This includes believing in yourself, embracing honesty, taking responsibility for what you write and so much more. We writers aren’t tortured souls, recluse oracles nor should we strive to be celebrities. We are storytellers. Part of pre-history and history. We’re adding to the fabric of the human experience, just the same as everyone else in their own way.

So fucking do this as yourself. Do it as John Burgess Wilson, not Anthony Burgess. Do it as Alisa Zinov’yevna Rosenbaum, not Ayn Rand. Do it as Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry and Victoria Holmes – not some conglomerate called Erin Hunter. (yes, there is a Wikipedia site dedicated to linking the real names of writers to their pen names)

Maybe there are solid reasons to use a pen name. I’m not saying there aren’t. Screw it – let’s dive in already!

The Shield

Here, the writer needs to protect themself (or feels they need to protect themself) from some harm which could befall them if they attached their real name to the work. A solid argument can be made for this in the nonfiction world. Perhaps. Fine. Protect yourself if the conditions merit camouflage.

But for fiction? In today’s world where freedom is enjoyed by a majority of the nations?

What do you have to fear? Are you really writing something that will rattle the feathers of the topmost levels of some xenophobic or criminal group? Why obscure your name if there is no realistic fear for retribution? And who would gun you down over your fiction? Do you fear your family?

Will you get fired from your job? Hmm… Okay. Let’s say you write furry porn (crap, my search hits just got a little wider for this blog). And your employer finds out about it. And fires you. I guess you have a few questions to ask yourself: Why did you write furry porn? Are you really passionate about writing porn? Do you believe in what you wrote? Do you think your employer was “right” to fire you?

Personally, I say write all the furry porn you want. And if your “day job” has a problem with it, tell them they can keep their job. If your work hasn’t been impacted by your writing, what business is it of theirs?

So… if you cannot afford to lose your job, and you really really want to write all that furry porn — maybe you should consider a pen name as an option. Now, I used an extreme example here, but who’s to say your science fiction doesn’t cause your employer to wonder if you belong on their payroll? Maybe they harbor rigid views about how each of their employees should behave, and writing about the planet Zoxorn isn’t on that list. It doesn’t need to be pornographic for someone, somewhere to decide they take issue with what you’ve written. It’s a human decision based on ignorance and a sense that their idea of “proper” society is a one-size-fits-all ideal.

Fuck those people. I still say: write what you want, and standby what you write. Come at me! I don’t need a shield.

Now, if you’re writing to harm someone else, and want to use a pen name as a shield, then you and I might have a problem (and you might want a shield). Jesus’ first rule is: “don’t be a dick”. Direct quote! And while I’m never in danger of being accused of following Jesus (or Yeshua, if you prefer his given Hebrew name… which I respected in Eden), I do try to follow that simple rule. If you’re writing nonfiction, harming others all comes down to cause and effect – so maybe you have your reasons. But in fiction? Are you trying to affect social change? Prove a point? Sure, you can draw parallels to people (living or dead), but be very very careful how you go about it. Avoid libel. Don’t stand on  a soapbox. And for Gods sake – keep it entertaining! We’re storytellers, and stories are only valuable if they entertain. Otherwise, leave it to the News. And don’t use a pseudonym – stand by your assertions & fiction if you truly believe them (you should).

The Facelift

Maybe your name is “Ivanna Dikinme,” or something equally fun/boring. Maybe you think a female author will have a better chance of selling chicklit books than your given name of Harvey McGuyver – so you perform a sex change for the novel. Whatever the case – you decide your name just isn’t good enough.

Um… why? If you’re ashamed of your name, you can legally change it with town hall.

Otherwise, my earlier advice still holds: stand by what you do. Don’t try to prop it up with some additional fiction (like a name/sex change). Let the work (and your integrity) stand on their own. It’s the same argument with adverbs: don’t give crutches to your verbs. If your work needs some artificial help, then maybe you should reconsider your choice to publish.

I mentioned that 3 authors were merged into one body in my short pseudonym list above. Now, I don’t know what the deal was there – perhaps they decided to do that on their own, or maybe the publisher demanded it. Maybe they were ghostwriters? I dunno. Whatever the case, what’s the point? Why do this sort of thing? Do publishers feel the average buyer wouldn’t buy a book with 3 authors on the cover? Is that all it is – a business decision?

Well, in my opinion – it’s a crappy decision. Everything else in the world is so fake & concocted (see: “Reality Television”), must storytelling also have an air of misdirection/lies around it as well?

/stuffydouchebagvoice

“But Matt, authors have used pseudonyms since there have been books.”

/enddouchebaggery

Yeah. Fuck most of those guys/gals too. It’s all part of the whole “I don’t have to take responsibility for my own actions” mentality which I absolutely won’t be teaching my kids. Whatever their reasons, I still don’t think a pseudonym for sake of a facelift is the best choice. Embrace your name, embrace who you are ’cause there’s only one of you… and your name is ___________.

The Switch

Imagine for a moment, your dream is to write novels. You bang out your first book (or several), and the reviews come in: rubbish, trash, not fit for public consumption. Maybe the feedback isn’t even from strangers. But you forged on anyways.

And come to find out: you’re better at drywalling than stringing prose into meaningful chapters. Shit, maybe you are “okay”, but you think you damaged your name in some way with your previous work. Whatever the case – there’s some awful reviews of your little babies out there in the world.

And you want to forget all that and try again. Under a different name. Start over from square 1. Reincarnation!

Hold on there, Skippy. What went wrong the first time? Was it because you can’t write or was it all just “bad luck”? (followup: ask yourself how anything can be 100% attested to “bad luck”) How do you think you can change things for the better this time around? Is your material enough to carry you past your previous spot? You got some new mad skillz? New publicist? New strategy? New brain? New computer? New shoes?

Whatever the case, think long and hard about your decision to get back in the game and also under what name you do it. Even bad press is good press, so consider carefully your name change.

As a footnote to this, I also had a colleague of mine ask me if she should write with a pseudonym because she had several books published in one genre, and she didn’t want potential readers to question whether or not she was “fit” for this other genre.

I’ve heard stuff like this before. Where does it come from? Agents? Publishers? The Internets?

My advice: stop worrying so much about markets, sellability and whatever other distractions you may have. As a storyteller, your first and only responsibility is to tell the damn story! Fuck the rest of that noise.

To Sum it All Up

You may very well have some valid reasons to use a pen name for writing your fiction. But, if you think you do, I suggest you ask some critical questions and decide why you’re doing it.

If it’s all a matter of privacy in the end, then I suggest you reconsider your decision to publish. Part of storytelling (I believe) should be engaging in dialog with your readers – and it’s hard to do that with any integrity if your name is really Clarence McGraw, not Sally Storm.

Embrace integrity.

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Anti-Trust Settlement

In case you missed it, three of the largest publishing houses settled a $69 million anti-trust lawsuit which was raised by the State Attorneys General office. The lawsuit claims there was a conspiracy to fix & raise ebook prices.

But the settling publishers (Hachette, Harper Collins, and Simon & Schuster) claim they did nothing wrong. That sort of statement is always there in a settlement. It’s the final claim of innocence before the defendant(s) pays a lump of money over this act whereby they “did nothing wrong.”

Sigh.

Of course they did nothing wrong. The States Attorney just had nothing better to do that day. The courts had a lapse in judgment which allowed such a frivolous case to be filed. The publishers engaged in no activity which raised suspicion.

Yeah, and I’m a Chinese jet pilot (couldn’t find a YouTube clip, sorry!).

Early in my never-launched law career, I learned to never debate a legal case where I didn’t have all the facts. Classic example is the McDonald’s hot coffee spilled in lap case. We’ve all heard of it. Woman in McDonald’s drive-thru spills a coffee in her own lap while driving away and sues McDonalds. Crazy, right? What right did she have to sue? It was her own fault.

Well… not so much if you know the facts of the case. The lid was 1 size too small for the cup. The coffee machine wasn’t turned down to the “daytime” heat levels after store opening (it was still at “mega hot” for store “warmup”). And so on… So, when you get all the facts, you start to see where the blame can be placed on both parties.

And so too, this case about ebook price fixing. Can anyone honestly stand in front of me and tell me why an ebook was priced at or higher than a paperback? Really? Where is your argument? Ebooks require no manufacturing, warehousing, distribution or infrastructure beyond a few KB on a server somewhere. And formatting my ebooks is FAR easier than the print counterparts (or, they are equally “fun” if you really want to argue the point. Both have their quirks).

So, why were/are ebooks from this big publishing houses priced so high?

Here comes the other side: we paid those prices as consumers. (well, I didn’t… fuck that shit. I ain’t paying $10 or more for an ebook… are you insane? Unless that ebook gives me a handy and cooks me eggs: no freakin’ way.)

But many, many consumers did pay those prices. And the prices stayed high. If you believe in Capitalism, then a free market would have seen prices lower over time for all the reasons I mentioned above: it’s FAR cheaper to produce ebooks than print books. Supply is limitless. Demand should be reasonably equal to print books (but with no supply factor, demand shouldn’t be an issue).

But the prices didn’t lower.

Now, we can throw accusations around all day, but I can only assume the Attorneys General didn’t just file this case on a hunch or random bullshit. There must be some evidence that prices were maintained at a high level by these publishers thru some sort of clandestine agreement (or “backroom, winky” agreement).

I’ve heard stories of publishers cheating their writers and all kinds of other crap. And my own experiences in the publishing world turned me quite sour to the whole enterprise. So, this really doesn’t surprise me. Even without knowing all the facts, I do believe these publishers did indeed band together to set prices on a market they all but control.

How do we fight such an evil empire? Blow up their Death Star?

Nah… go out there and support quality indy writers Start Here.

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Publishers Cheating their Writers?

No, I’m not going to investigate this beyond “some random shit I remember and this post from yesterday.”

What can I say? I’m not a frakin blogger – it’s not my job to keep you informed. I can say this: only click that link if you are VERY interested in the publishing world and have some extra time on your hands (it’s looong).

I can also summarize (kinda) what’s in that long blog post, because I think it’s interesting. Here goes:

Like most everything else about “big publishing”, those companies (for the most part) use an archaic and mysterious accounting/royalty system. In most cases, the author never really knows how many books they sell. Instead, there is some wacky formula that results in a check. The publishers use techniques such as “basket accounting” and other measures to (purposefully?) obfuscate numbers and (really?) rip off their writers.

Can I use such a harsh term as “rip off?” I dunno… read the whole article above. This is from 2007 (NY Times). This is from 2010, author sues for failure to pay royalties. This is from 2012, among the claims: undercutting royalties. What I find interesting about the countless articles I found while “researching” this blog post, is the common theme: publishers (and sometimes agents) are ripping-of the writers. True, sometimes they take care of their bestselling writers, but “the rest” are often left to the courts and lawyers.

And, of course, this, the DOJ lawsuit against the “big six” publishers for price-fixing. While it doesn’t directly point to royalty “funk”, it does suggest there is damning proof that the publishing industry colluded to fix prices. If they’re capable of breaking the law in that fashion, what else are they capable of? I know that’s wild conjecture, but if you read the long article I posted at the top — is it just conjecture?

A prominent blogger/writer had been tracking her royalty statements and believed there to be discrepancies or flat-out lies from the publisher & agency. She blogged about it (the post I linked above) and her website was attacked. Staged? Who knows. Coincidence? Maybe. It’s hard to put anything past a struggling industry that would gouge their customer-base to save themselves. Fuckers. I know for a fact some nice people work for those publishing companies, but the douchebag execs (or whoever) in charge are asshats. I hope their actions bring them down, and I wish our laws were stricter regarding jailing individuals within a corporation for their illegal activities.

Okay. Maybe it’s naive of me to think a huge corp would “care” about their customer base. I’m sure every large company makes decisions to benefit themselves, at the expense of others. In this case, the “others” happens to be “the reading public” and my fellow writers. And that just wrinkles my panties. Why? Because these people are my clients & peers as well. They are my partners in storytelling and it hurts me to think they are being ripped-off by some engorged, out-of-touch ”old boys” network.

Fuck “big” publishing.

I know I’ve never come out and said those exact words before, but enough prancing around my views. Yes, there are honest, awesome people in publishing. I’m not angry at those people. For those agents/publishers with integrity, I say this: keep doing what you’re doing. You guys/gals rock!

To the rest of the publishing industry: see above, fuck you.

To my fellow self-pubbers: we have a unique advantage and you should embrace the business-side of things. Now, I know many writers don’t want to deal with numbers and such. But I think you should. Just like a small-business owner, you must wear many hats in the beginning, and this will include financials. True, when a small business grows, perhaps someone can be hired to handle finances. But those first few years of doing it yourself will give you amazing insight into the “whole picture.” As a self-published author, we have the advantage of full visibility into our sales (by the minute on the Kindle platform). We can run our own metrics and nothing is hidden. It’s not too hard, embrace it, enjoy the freedom & clarity you have.

Unfortunately, many people still honestly believe a book coming from a big publisher is better on face than a self-published book. I do read other blog posts (usually by traditionally published authors) on this topic quite often. And they make some nice points. One such author claimed the quality is better with trad-published books and then went on to state his latest novel published by a big house had at least 30 typos in it. Check out the negative reviews for the top Kindle fantasy book (Game of Thrones): the reviewers claim there is a typo “on every page.”

And don’t try to argue that trad-published authors tell a better story than a self-pub just because some agent/publisher put their stamp on the book. You are beyond reason if you believe that, and may other people’s Gods have mercy on your worthless soul.

Unfortunately, some other self-pubbers don’t put the “right” amount of time & effort into polishing their work/image in the ways they should as a writer (grammar, style, content, responses to criticism, etc). And this has led to a damaging rep for self-published works. So, I’ll keep shouting from the rooftops on this topic to my comrades in arms: FIX YOUR SHIT AND ONLY RELEASE FINISHED PRODUCTS!

Damn… if you made it to the end of this expletive-laced post, kudos! You have more stamina than most.

updates on Alexandria soon!

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Legal Censorship of Books – where do you stand?

In case you haven’t heard, online payment servicing giant PayPal recently sent ultimatums to many ebooksellers. I’ll summarize with my words, not theirs: ”Remove all books containing rape, incest, underage sex and bestiality from your store. We will not service your payments if you do not comply. Resistance is futile.”

If you feel like some light reading on the topic: Go here.

Heavier reading: Go here.

Indie distributors like Bookstrand and Smashwords have been scrambling to comply and this has led to some fireworks in (mostly) the indie ebook world. Some people (bloggers, authors, internet blowhards) are criticizing sites like Smashwords for moving so fast to comply with PayPal’s demands. I think that’s misguided, and here’s why.

While the word “censorship” is being flung around over this matter (umm… don’t look at my blog title), I think the reasons behind the PayPal mandate are money-related rather than morality-based. I’m just not convinced the decision came from some moral crusade within PayPal. You see, it looks like a business decision to me. Credit card returns/challenges are vastly higher in the porn/erotica and gambling industry, and that costs the industry money. Since PayPal is a middleman for the credit card companies, they shoulder much of that risk to allow smaller web companies to use their service instead of working directly with the credit card industry (at much higher buy-in and service charges).

Since PayPal only allowed 30 days for compliance, distributors had a choice to make: go out of business or comply and see what could be done on the back-end (though stay away from that cow’s back-end — no bestiality, mister!). It’s not as easy as flipping a switch for someone like a Smashwords. Truth is: it takes longer to change to another provider and PayPal offers a unique service.

I believe it’s wholly unreasonable for anyone to expect a small, online ebook retailer to raise arms in rebellion against the credit card industry. Do you know what would happen? I do. They would lose. Tragically. And that would be a decisive blow against writers, publishers and readers everywhere. I fully support efforts by Smashwords and others to remove the non-compliant material while they continue to engage PayPal to get some definition around the mandate. Nobody needs to be a martyr in this and perhaps an agreeable solution can be met down the road.

Matt, you’re a pig-fucker. Wait. Sorry CC Industry: I’m just a “plain” fucker. (I’d likely never fuck a pig… though everything from that glorious animal is so tasty… if there ever were an animal… *slap* Right, bestiality.)

So what do I say to the writers who had their content unceremoniously removed? Or to the other writers (like me) out there wondering if big business will someday attack our stories of murder, ghosts, wizards, unicorns, corrupt politicians, secret agents, angels and demons? Well, to the erotica writers, the unfortunate truth is many cultures view your work as “borderline” or “offensive” in some cases. Just like I’d have a more difficult time opening a 1-room casino in my hometown than if I wanted to open a store selling spatulas — you too will have a harder road ahead of you if you want to make money off your bestiality, incest or rape fiction. Until the views of the cultures you service change, this is just a truth.

To a lesser extent, some of the fiction removed as a result of this enforcement of PayPal’s policy was freely distributed anyway. There’s always sites like Wattpad which don’t sell the fiction — so, no “control” from the CC industry. I know it’s not a perfect solution for some erotica writers, but it may allow the free, creative expression you are looking for.

Free expression. Putting my “douchebag” hat on again, let’s remember that nobody is being told they cannot write and distribute what they want. But if they want to distribute it through certain channels, in partnership with a private corporation, then that private corporation has every right to act within the laws which mutually govern them, us and the distributor. While there’s nothing “illegal” about rape, incest and bestiality fiction – that’s a moot point. We’re not discussing criminal or constitutional law. The censorship isn’t at that level.

So, in the final analysis, where does Matt stand? I do understand the business case on PayPal’s side. They have rights too – rights to keep their own business viable. The reality exists that money is lost when credit card users challenge a charge or makes a return – and these two activities happen more for porn/erotica and casino-related activities (hence why you can’t “charge” a scratch ticket - same deal there, folks). Yes, I’m saddened by this because it means less books available. But I’m not going to expect a small business to go to war over this. We also can’t expect an industry (credit card, CC) to make bad business decisions just because some of us feel strongly about a certain topic. Their vision of this morality may be different than ours, and at the end of the day – it’s their business.

I will end by saying there is hope. From my rudimentary understanding, PayPal has been refining the language. For example, they clarified bestiality as involving “naturally occurring” animals. Yes, your stories about a human woman falling in love with a were-octupus are totally still viable. They also clarified some of the requirements around incest.  Some of the links above contain links to petitions and such – feel free to check them out if you are so inclined. However, I’m not sure your time won’t be wasted. The CC industry has successfully limited how consumers and partners can use their service in the past, and I don’t see this changing anytime soon. If you want to benefit from the services they offer, you gotta play by their rules. If you don’t like those rules, you can crusade to change them or look for other outlets to provide the services you require.

(as a closing note, I’m curious to see all the new traffic to this site with all the instances of bestiality, rape and incest in this post. gotta love the internets!)

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Starting that Audiobook

So, you think you want to begin work on that audiobook of yours? Your novel is “out there” and you want to expand your audience into the land of listeners. While you may know how to put pen to paper (or finger to key/screen), you may not necessarily know jack about voice acting, producing an audio work of art or anything else related. As I go through the process, I’ll share and hopefully we can all learn together!

So, I met (in person) the voice actress for Eden last night for the first time. We’d been in contact over email/phone for about a year leading up to this so we weren’t complete strangers. I swear, every time I talk with her I learn something new! The “audio world” is a big, bad place for little girls in red cloaks (like me). So, here’s some “getting started” tips for a fellow audiobook newbie:

• Work with a trained voice actor/actress. Sure, Uncle Bob can read your book – he’s got a nice, dulcet voice. Right? Wrong. Many fiction audiobooks (like print books) live and die by the quality of the reader/pro reviews. And many of those reviews will judge the quality of the narration. Awful narration will kill a classic and fantastic narration can lift almost any work. There’s a ton more you have still to do beyond Uncle Bob’s recording, so start-off on the right foot for this massive undertaking: work with a pro.
• Know what you want. There are as many ways to narrate a book as there are ohmygoditssogoodmyheadasplode fans of tween vampire stories. For fiction, I don’t feel a “flat” narration does you any justice. Why would you want your dramatic scenes read the same as the description of a fork? (hopefully you don’t do too much fork-description in your books) While a “flat” reading may be suitable for a non-fiction book, I prefer the expressive form. I want to feel as the characters do, and a great voice actor can get your audience to some special places alongside your words.  On that same point, you might not want a campy “radio show” reading either. Again, this is where a pro will know the difference between proper expression and eye-rolling lameness. A powerful, expressive reading is where I believe most fiction is at. Aim for that and your listener(s) will be engaged and swept into the performance of your professional actor.
• Get some help. Use the resources on the Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX) to link-up with a “real” production studio. Talk to friends in the biz. Read some blogs. As a self-publishing man/woman, you’ll likely be the producer. This means you’ll need someone to master the audio (no, it doesn’t come in a single, perfect track from your voice actor). As the producer, you’ll also have to give direction to your voice actor. Listen to early samples and make sure the characters are developing the way you want them to. If there’s something wrong (like he’s taking a deep breath between each sentence), nip it in the bud! Basically, you need to manage this project like you would any other. Stay on top of things, stay communicative and stay involved! If you are expecting to hand someone your manuscript and receive a perfect mp3 6 months later — your expectations might need some adjusting.

So, here begins my journey down the path of audiobook self-publishing. I’m sure I’ll make some mistakes on the way, but you can bet yer panties my team will produce a quality work of art. As I stumble along, I’ll share my thoughts and experiences. Now that we can self-publish to Audible.com, the barriers are gone. It truly is an exciting time to be a writer!

Oh, and one more thing for 2012 or 2013: audiobook launch party in L.A. – go big or go home, kiddies!! 

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Matt Grab Bag – Choc FULL!

No, please don’t grab my bag.

Lots of great stuff in here! Globetrotters, interviews, pricing updates, contact from a publisher, Babylon update and more! Strap-in and open wide. Hot lunch coming up:

Choose or Die!

What? You’re not reading the current choose-you-own-adventure story about the cop and the Globetrotters? Shame on you! I wrote a “kill scene” so get to reading! Start with the link I provided and be sure to choose this at chapter 3: “B. Tell the ‘Trotters to meet you at the address of the guy who hired Paul so you can sweat some answers out of him?”  

Podcast Interview

As you may or may not know, I’m part of a most excellent group of indy writers known as The Literary Underground. We share info and help each other with all things publishing & writing. It’s just a great bunch of folk.

Well, we also have a podcast! If you wish to hear my sultry voice (not really), check it out! We cover everything from my books to self-pubbing to cancer to the age old question: ping pong or tennis? (and: wife or writing? — yikes!)

Babylon

My wife and editor are so far up my ass on this project, I can feel them coming up in my throat. I’ve flinged all kinds of excuses as to why it’s taking me so long, but the time for bitching is over. The story is finally in a state where I can move on from the “middle.” Like I mentioned previously, I’m aiming to have draft #1 done by the end of the summer (really, it’ll be draft #4 for the first half, as I’ve been stopping/starting quite a bit ala Eden). My head is down and I’m focused. It will happen. My goal is to move VERY fast once the 1st draft is done and maybe have another early fall release. It’s aggressive, but perhaps doable. Maybe late fall.

Maybe I’m just lying.

If y’all are good little boys & girls (and whatever else), perhaps I’ll post some teaser content once draft 1 (4-ish) is done. Perhaps…

Funny thing happened – I got a little lost (in a bad way) in the story and had to rework it a few times before it was “right.” I know I preach about writing without an outline and I still believe in that approach. But this time it certainly caused me to backtrack a few times as things just weren’t clicking. Bah, it’s on course now and that’s all that matters. I guess it’s worth mentioning that no approach is ironclad. As a writer, you will find what works best for you preparation-wise. I still believe outlines don’t work for me.

Little known fact: I was contacted by a mid-size publishing house about Eden

Gosh, this was 3 or 4 months ago now. I was quite excited, to say the least. This was a real house with some excellent books under their banner. The owner seemed genuine and I quickly sent Eden over to them at their request. They told me I’d hear something in a month at the most.

I waited 1.5 months.

Sent a quick email – “Hey, I was just following-up on Eden. Did you guys have a chance to review it yet?” (or something equally benign/short like that)

No response.

Waited another month.

Sent another quick email: “Well, thanks for the opportunity.”

Still haven’t gotten a response to either email. This is exactly what I’m talking about when it comes to professionalism (or lack thereof).  If they didn’t like Eden, then a quick rejection letter is all that is required. If they read more about me and thought I was too much of a loose-cannon, again – tell me that! You contacted me, and I don’t even warrant a follow-up? I know they are still in business. I checked my junk mail. Nothing.

If I did this to my potential clients I would be fired from my job. It’s bad business and douchiness to the extreme. That *some* publishing companies/agents feel they can treat writers like garbage under their boots boils my blood more than Massachusetts drivers. If you listen to the podcast interview, we somewhat mention my outspoken stance on traditional publishing. Did my hollering hurt me here? No clue, but I’m not going to lie about what I have experienced first-hand in “their world.” I see something wrong, I call it out. If that gets me blacklisted, so be it. At least I’m the one being honest & professional. Someone has to.

Physical Edition Price Drop!

Both the hardcover and paperback editions of Eden/Antaran Legacy have had their prices reduced (Amazon might take a while to reflect the new price)! I really haven’t looked at them in a while, and I’d like to get more paperback sales. Maybe this’ll bump them into another tier. I’d love to do $9.99, but it bounces me out of the “expanded distribution” channels that Amazon has. In the end, I think it better the books are more visible for now.

Well, you can always get the paperbacks for $10 at my book signings… of which I need to have another one. Soon. Maybe a combined Babylon, Antaran Legacy bonanza later this year. I dunno. My peeps should just schedule one and tell me to arrive.    (yes, I am that  lazy sometimes)

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Borders Closing – for real this time

Everyone’s writing about this. But I can almost guarantee nobody else’s article will be full of monkey-math, unbased hypotheses and midgets!

 Okay, I’m lying about the midgets… or am I? Guess yer just gonna have to read to the end.

So, what happened? According to the news stories I’ve read, Borders declared bankruptcy earlier this year. They closed a bunch of stores but kept some open in hopes an investor would come along to save them. All the while, they didn’t pay all their contracts for their inventory sold (they couldn’t) and this caused some publishers to stop sending them shit. That was the final spiral that spelled their doom.

At the 13th hour, nobody came to save them. They were forced to announce total liquidation and the loss of ~10,000 jobs and ~400 storefronts (I just saw a tweet about Books-A-Million maybe buying up a few dozen stores, so maybe it won’t be complete destruction).

Why the total failure by such a longstanding idol of book-buying and browsing?

Well, I can’t say for certain, but my gut tells me they held on to the brick-and-mortar life-raft for far too long. Also, others have researched and written about it far better than I could. Like it or hate it, the market has changed with the evolution of mobile devices, social media, the interwebs and publishing industry revolution. I blogged about Borders’ bankruptcy earlier this year and many of those feelings still ring true in my heart. If you want to read about my feelings on the social change aspect of this whole mess, that post is better.

The loss of in-person browsing will certainly have an impact upon all book sales, not just paperback. I’ve read posts and responses from people who would enter a Borders to find a book, and then go buy it online. Without a physical location to camp, these people may purchase less books. Of course, that act of browsing at the store and buying online speaks to the retail reality around us – there are better deals online. Heck, when you don’t need to maintain hundreds of physical locations along with rent, utilities, insurance, maintenance, sales force, theft, etc etc — of course you can offer something a brick-and-mortar cannot.

Following the liquidation announcement, the Alliance for Main Street Fairness (AMSF) fired a shot into the media slipstream:

“Special treatment for Amazon.com is decimating job providers like Borders and countless small businesses across the country. It is simply not fair that one business is able to operate with a government-sanctioned advantage that allows it to undercut its competitors forcing lost jobs and business closures. Lawmakers need to level the playing field and end the special deal that gives Amazon a competitive advantage over Main Street,” said Danny Diaz, spokesperson for the Alliance for Main Street Fairness (AMSF).

They claim the ability of Amazon to sidestep sales tax gives them an unfair advantage in the book-selling game. I wasn’t so sure, so I conducted a Matt-Monkey-Math survey yesterday! I asked my peeps what would most make them NOT purchase a book that catches their eye. Here’s the results:

Iffy on the “blurb”: 6

High Price: 5

The format they prefer is not available: 4

The quality is “suspect”: 1

Yeah, I know 16 responses isn’t actually a viable sample size, but I’m not exactly being paid for my research skillz. So backdafuckup.

Maybe AMSF has the kernel of an argument here (many of my responders cited “price” as a deciding factor). I’d go as far as supporting them in the sales-tax thing if I knew more about it. I have no freakin’ clue how it works (Amazon must pay some sort of tax, right?), but I would argue the addition of sales tax to Amazon sales wouldn’t change my purchasing methods. Amazon can still set a better price because of all the things mentioned before – they have leveraged technology and business acumen (“people who bought this also bought this” is killer) to achieve superior results. *Shrug* They beat Borders (maybe), good for them. Isn’t that what our free market is about? (minus the sales tax thing – even it out if it’s not fair, makes no diff to me) I just don’t believe the sales tax issue is majorly responsible for Amazon’s success and Borders fall, that’s all.

One interesting fact from my lame survey was nobody picked this option: “Publisher you don’t know.” I’ve actually heard some opponents to self-publishing froth about readers “trusting” publishers and caring about that NYC print on the title page.

Yeah… riiiiight. I’m still not buying that argument, try again fuckers.

We’re moving into a book-buying age where some books can succeed based upon social support and peer review. Imagine that! Your book can sell on its own merits, rather than wallow in obscurity because it didn’t fit some publishing house’s plans for the year. I don’t know about other self-published authors, but this fact excites me. I’m nobody and I’ve sold (with the help of my underpaid, awesome team) just under 2,000 copies of my books to complete strangers in less than a year. So far, I’ve yet to get a negative review – yeah, I count the “sacrilegious” Eden review as a positive. While those numbers are quite laughable to successful writers, I’m proud of them. The online age has allowed me to reach readers who enjoy my fiction. Sharing my work with even just 1 other person is all I ever wanted in my storyteller’s heart. 2,000 (and growing) is just a bonus.

I am quite transparent in all my research & self-pubbing numbers. If you have a question, please contact me. I love helping others and sharing useful data!

All the “data” aside, I still feel the online marketplace has much more to offer (including price) than a traditional bookstore, and that’s why Amazon rules the school. When you are about to make a purchase, isn’t more information better than less info? Online, you can see what other readers have said about the book, author info/links and (in Amazon’s case) similar purchases which may be in-line (or not) with your likes/dislikes. Heck, who wants to waste their money these days? While I think it’s noble to support “Main Street USA,” I like to have all the info I can before spending my entertainment dollars. Amazon just delivers on that front better than a bookshelf at a physical store can.

I dunno. At its most basic parts (less bookstores), I don’t like it. But, I’m also not one to fear social change. I actually despise those chain emails that talk about how the next generation is fucked/different/deprived, and our days of youth were full of nostalgic perfection. Times change. The world changes. Bookstore closings are just another symptom of this social flow.

You can express your gratitude and support for the Borders employees on Twitter: #ThankUBorders

Okay, okay… I promised a midget:

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