Cup of Story

Greg Bear's multimedia art

Greg Bear, Neal Stephenson and others are creating a serial novel. There's video, art, all sorts of neat stuff.

 

Just write it.

Chuck Wedig has something to say about writing: And that life is too short not to take risks and long to live with an output of weak-kneed, limp-noodled, utterly derivative, safe-as-houses storytelling. Amen to that, amen.

Only thing I disagree with is his nod to it being a big secret. It's not a secret. Writers should always write the story they want to tell, not the one they think will sell. With digital publishing being easy for independent writers to sell their work, it's even less important to think about "market".

Obviously have an audience in mind--you have to think about who will be reading this book because a story aimed at an 8-10 year-old-boy is not going to be the same as the one aimed at adult women. That's just common sense (and you should already know this).

Publishers have other concerns you, as an indie writer, may not have to worry about. You just write. You can even write lots of different kinds of things, if you want. I'd advise slapping on a pen name for something totally different, though, just to keep your brands tidy (and for organizational purposes). Readers who love your cozy mysteries might not be the same ones who like your urban techno fantasies, so make it easy for your audience to find the books they like.

In the end, just do it. Just write what you like.

Why do I need an editor?

In this land of self-publishing successes and DiY bootstrapping, why would you ever hire someone like me? I'm a professional developmental editor. I help writers see the forest for the trees all the while keeping  a thumb on details and plot arcs.

Not every writer needs to hire a professional editor. If you have reached a certain skill level and have a pocketful of professional writer-friends who aren't afraid to point out the flabby bits in your latest work (meaning that they're looking to help you, not to hurt or to say nyah-nyah), then you probably don't need a pro.

But even writers who have had published works have a few things to say on this. Michele Scott is a mystery writer with several books to her name. She blogged about just this thing:

About six months ago, I made the decision to upload two thrillers that I had written over five years ago onto Kindle, Daddy’s Home and Mommy, May I? I had a couple of friends read through them for mistakes (general typos, grammar, and content). Now first off, I know better than that. Family and friends are not the people you want proofing your work. BAD idea. Why? Well, it isn’t because they aren’t smart. It’s because they love you, and they aren’t looking at your work with an eagle eye. They are reading it and loving it because it’s yours. In this case mine. I also went that route because cash was tight and hiring an editor and proof reader is not cheap. However, in retrospect I would have been better saving up some extra cash and investing in my career.

They sold fantastically well, something Michele had not anticipated. Good reviews topped the list. And then the bad ones started to take over.

“This book was full of errors, not just typos but grammatical and careless mistakes. Did it get proof-read at all? The subject sounded interesting, but the really dreadful standard of writing made the book, for me, impossible to read. I abandoned it half way through. I assume this was self published, but this sort of badly put together rubbish gives self publishing a bad name and does no favours to the many excellent self published books. If you can’t write then please don’t.”

Michele goes on to say: 

I got pissed off at myself and realized I needed to do the work that I had not done before. I needed to pay an editor, get a copy editor, and do the extra work.

I know writers live and breathe their work--no writer wants to put out a shoddy novel. And yes, you can self-edit your work, but it's taking off the creative hat and putting on the non-creative hat (which you might spin around to be the business hat. Hey, no one said writing wasn't fashion forward). Stepping away from the creative side of things is not going to be easy for everyone. Sure, you can catch typos and really obvious flat dialog or overwrought descriptions.

But can you see why your scene isn't going anywhere? Do you know how to move your characters along without losing tension or how to bump up that energy in the ho-hum scene? How about setting up your ending--ever write yourself into a corner and felt you had to scrap the whole chapter? What if your entire book's middle feels like Groundhog Day (same thing, different setting)?

If you struggle with answering those kinds of questions after the book has been done--you've stared at the chapter and can't think of a way to fix it (maybe you've rewritten the same darn thing over and over again) but you know just enough to know it's not working... 

You might want to hire a professional editor.

You can always hire an editor to do a light edit, proof read, or copy edit if you're satisfied with the overall story. No one said you had to hire someone like me who gets in under the hood and starts reassembling the chasis (Now there's your problem!). You might need someone just to help you refine your work. Or someone just to catch those details you always gloss over (the brain, it's tricksy)--it's not your fault; for months, you made a minor character blonde, but then changed it once you reached your ending. She's not so important she stands out, but your brain sees "blonde" and says, "that's right" even when you made the executive decision to alter it. An editor will catch it without being hampered by a brain that says, "Oops, sorry, the memo got stuck under the margharita pitcher. Heheh."

This doesn't mean you're handing over your work to someone else to alter. A good editor will guide, offer advice for changes, and then lets you decide which way to do it (clearly, I'm not talking about a proof reader or copy editor who is definitely there to make sure your homonyms are in the right places). It's your style, your voice, your creation. If the editor is always changing your lines and then putting it into print, how will you ever grow as a writer? You don't--you become a slacker because your editor is doing the alterations. You just keep writing at the same level and handing it off to the editor to polish. Don't do this.

Really, the only way to know if you need an editor is to either hire one and see if it helps you or don't and self-publish a digital copy or go the traditional route (agent search, print publisher search) without one. But I think you probably already know.

 

Alternative marketing for your book

There are some pretty savvy and smart people doing some interesting things on their blogs/sites. You should check them out and consider how you might apply what they're doing to your own site or creative endeavors.

 

"Tobias Buckell is a Caribbean-born speculative fiction writer who grew up in Grenada, the British Virgin Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. He has published stories in various magazines and anthologies. He is a Clarion graduate, Writers of The Future winner, and Campbell Award for Best New SF Writer Finalist."

Buckell writes some neat stuff. He's also got some interesting and informative stuff to say about writing, self-publishing, and traditional publishing on his blog. You can download a sample of Crystal Rain (among others) right from his site.

Long ago the old-fathers came to Nanagada through a “worms hole” in the sky, looking for a new world to call their own. But that was many generations ago, and what was once known has long been lost. Steamboats and gas-filled blimps now traverse the planet, where people once looked up to see great silver cities in the sky.

Like his world, John deBrun has forgotten more than he remembers. Twenty-seven years ago, he washed up onto the shore with no memory of his past. These mysteries take on new urgency when the fearsome Azteca storm over the mountains, in search of fresh blood and hearts to feed their cruel inhuman gods.

Nanagada’s only hope lies in a mythical artifact said to be hidden in the frozen north. And only John deBrun knows the device’s secrets, even if he can’t remember why or how!

A free sample of your book is a great way to hook new readers! He provides RTF and .pdf format, so you don't even need a unique device.

 

Holly Black's The Curse Workers series is teencentric and simply awesome. 

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

I'm linking to the site becasue of the video about the book. Does it make you want to read the book? Viviane Hebel made jewelry and accessories based on the books, which you can find on this site. So consider these different types of marketing for your book.

 

 

 

Eric Nylund has written a bunch of science fiction including a super popular prequel based on the super popular HALO video game (which is a pretty darn good game). He's also written a bunch of other sf novels, too, and a fantasy novel. All while holding down a full-time day job. The Resisters is his latest.

Twelve-year-old Ethan Blackwood has always known exactly what he wanted—to win the state soccer championship, get into the best high school, and become an astronaut. Then he meets Madison and Felix, who tell him something . . . insane. They claim that 50 years ago, aliens took over the Earth, and everyone past puberty is under their mind control. Ethan doesn’t believe it. But then he sees for himself the aliens’ monster bug robots and the incredible way that Madison and Felix have learned to fight them. So Ethan Blackwood has a choice: he can go back to his normal, suburban, protected lie of a life—or he can become a Resister. This is science fiction on the lines of Scott Westerfield and Cory Doctorow for middle graders.

He had a book giveaway contest. He gave away a copy of all his books to the winner who blogged about the release of his latest novel. Now that's using the "He told two friends, and he told two friends" method. When it comes to marketing, getting your fans to spread the word can't hurt.

There are all kinds of different ways to get the word out about your book, but it seems obvious that having a web presence of some kind is pretty darn easy. So tuck this away in your noodle for when the time comes and keep your eyes open for other attention-grabbing ideas on your favorite authors' blogs.