Action Adventure Fiction

I’ve been thinking of self-publishing my novel Oasis once I get the edits done. One of the questions I have to ask myself is “If I self publish Oasis, am I ruining my chances of getting published by a ‘real’ publisher?” I suspect that a lot of writers have wondered similar things about their fiction babies.

I suppose the first question that needs to be asked is:

What are the dangers in self publishing?

1. Public Embarrassment - Let’s face it. The mean kids might laugh at you (that is, if any of them read your work,) and write nasty comments and reviews about your literary baby. All over the internet. This used to be a problem for me. I was terrified of bad reviews. Eventually, I got over it and started posting Oasis online. This is a danger no matter how you showcase your works, though.
2. “Death of writing carrier” - From what I understand, this is no longer a real issue. Apparently at one time real publishers would never ever touch an author once they’ve self published.
3. Loss of “First Printing Rights” ability to sell to a “real” publisher - OK, so if you self publish first I guess you do lose those. But let’s face it, you’re not going to get that big of an advance for your first book, anyway.
4. Hidden Costs - Besides charging hefty up-front fees, a lot of self publishing houses nickle and dime the heck out of you. If you learn some simple new technical skills, you can avoid most of these, though. I’ll cover those sometime in the future.
5. Obscurity - For me, this is the most ‘real’ danger. It is hard for a self-published author to get noticed by anybody.

So, is it even possible to go from ’self’ to ‘real’ publishing?

The simple answer is yes. I can find several examples of books that were first self published first (or only). The wikipedia lists a bunch, including The Joy Of Cooking, Chicken Soup for the Soul, In Search of Excellence, and Eragon. Other self published authors include Mark Twain, Edgar Allen Poe, and Rudyard Kipling.

In a more current real life example, Tony Monchinski, who I interviewed a while ago, started by self publishing his book Eden. It soon got picked up by Permuted Press.

Can a novel take off from a small publisher? Sure. Speaking again of Permuted Press, they recently had a book called John Dies At The End get relicensed by a filmmaker (and I’m guessing larger publishing house.)

Why would a publisher pick up an already-self-published novel?

The only reason a publisher publishes a book is this: They think it can make them a buck.

If you can prove your novel has selling potential, I think they might just be interested. Just remember, the only proof you can ever have that a book has selling potential is actual sales. Like sales in the thousands. That’s a lot of books.

Christopher Paolini did it with Eragon. He wrote the book, his parents “self-published” it, and then they set things up for his to speak at high schools (he was still right around high school age), they sold a bunch of copies, and then BAM! The next thing you know they’ve made one of those epic movies.

But his overnight success was still a whole lot of work.

How likely is it that I’ll be picked up by a traditional publisher once I’ve self-published?

My guess here is: not likely. Of course, it wasn’t likely before you self published, either. If you sell a bunch by yourself, though, it becomes much more likely.

Does this even matter?

Why do you want to publish anyway?

Is your work a memoir of a grandparent that you want to give to your family for Christmas? Yes, you should self publish.

Do you just want to hold a physical copy of your heartbreaking work of staggering genius in your hand? Of course - self publish.

For me, I want to write. I want to make my writings available in printed form to anyone that wants a copy. I don’t want to spend a lot of time going to conferences to schmooze agents, keeping track of rejections and submissions, or any of that. I just want to keep writing my little blog and my little fictions. If through my efforts I build up somewhat of a following (which would admittedly be cool) then someday yes, I’ll decide my probabilities are good a publisher will want me, and I’ll expend the effort to really pimp myself to them.

To answer my own question from the title: No it doesn’t make it impossible to get a real publisher, but for me, it doesn’t even matter (yet.)

So what am I forgetting?

What else have I not considered?

What are your thoughts about self-publishing?

Additional Info

dangers of self publishing.
Another Hidden Danger of Self Publishing
Wikipedia Article on Self Publishing
Print On Demand, One Year Later
Self Publishing Is A Bad Idea

I am actually making progress with the editing of Oasis. I’m now over half way through, and I want to get that thing done. Progress has just been slow, that’s all.

I’ve been having difficulty carving out time to do the edits, as I picked up a couple of web-development side jobs. I’m done with one of those, and I’m cruising along with the second one. I still love writing more, but programming puts extra cash in my pocket now…

Anyway, one way or another Oasis will be available to purchase by Christmas.

Also, I’m toying with the idea of making a run at NaNoWriMo in November.

I recently came across an article called 5 Reasons why you don’t need to write a book. The article seems to be written for folks who want to write non-fiction, but I think it still raises some interesting questions.

Most who write non-fiction are trying to make money, gain authority, or kick-start a speaking carrier. The article sends a wake up call: A book does not guarantee any of those things.

If you write fiction “for the money,” you will always be dissapointed unless, of course, you’re Michael Crichton.

It’s a worthwhile exercize to sit down and reall consider why you write. If you don’t have a good reason, you might as well give up now. You’ll never finish that novel, anyway.

Personally, I don’t write just so I can make money. I write because I have to. I’ve got stories in me that are messing up my insides, clawing to get out. Writing them down makes me happy. As an added bonus, writing is like therapy for me. Whenever I feel down, I get to just kick Corbin (or whatever character I’m writing about) around for a while.

That’s not to say I don’t want to ever make money by writing - it would be great to write full time an not worry about money. I’m just not counting on it.

So anyway, why do you guys write?

P.S. Thanks to all of you who have given encouragement and feedback to me as I’ve posted my little fictions here. I’m talking to you darc family, Bart, Cory, Emmerson, Rob, Glenn, Tahjir, and everybody else I’ve forgotten. You guys are like yet another added bonus.

[Author's note: When I'm done editing Oasis, you'll get the rest of this. Maybe sooner depending on where I go with my writing journal.]

Part 1

Rick Emerald tightened his death grip on the coffee mug handle. He hated it when dolls like that came in to hire him. They always worked him over worse than any thug.

And she wasn’t just a doll, either. She was a full barbecue with all the sauces. She wasn’t young anymore, but she was still far from old. Her landscape was still firm, her lips were pouty, and her manner, well, she was a kitten on the prowl. She wore a string of marbles around her thin neck and had on a dark blue dress that was just the right amount of too tight in just the right places.

There was a time a couple of years back when Rick would take any case attached to a woman like that. He had always been a sucker for weepy glims and curvy gams. He was a patsy for a pretty face, and he knew it.

That’s why he had gotten out of Hollywood. Too many times blond bombshells had cheated, betrayed, winked, kissed, and slapped their way out of a detective bill. That’s why he had packed up moved out here to Edison City.

Now his office had been open two whole days and it looked like his very first client would be one of those same bombshells. Of course, the one in front of him was better aged than most of the picture show chicks that darkened his doorstep back in Cali. Somehow that didn’t make her any less delectable, though.

Rick couldn’t take the case. He knew it. It would just mean trouble by the shovel full.

“So, will you help me find my husband’s will?”

Rick frowned. “No.”

She sauntered closer, leaned way over, and rested her hands on his Read the rest of this entry »

Happy anniversary Aurora! I love you with the passion of a thousand monkeys! If my love was a grain of sand when we got hitched, it is now a universe of beaches! You’re wonderful! You’re the tops! You are bright and clever and fun to be around! I dig your show! I am hip to your jive!

5 whole years!

And they said it wouldn’t last.

I love you! Happy anniversary to us!

It has come to my attention that I have too many projects going on. I just had to scale back.

The biggest thing you may notice is that I won’t be posting new fiction on Fridays until I’m done with the line edits of Oasis. It’s been too long. I really need to get that sucker finished and published. The exception will be this Friday, as I post part one of a story that I intend to finish once I’m done with the edits. I already stopped posting to one or two of my other blogs.

The edits won’t take very long if I just focus for a minute.

Just so you know, here’s what to expect from me.

1. Part one of story this Friday.
2. Posts about editing and my progress in Oasis.
3. Oasis in softcover.
4. Finish short story from #1.
5. Oasis sequel time, baby. I’m tentatively calling this one “The Journey of St. Laurent.”

I am freaking excited to get started on the the sequel to Oasis. I’ve got some great stuff planned. We’ll get to meet Corbin’s estranged father. We’ll find out just what the heck aliens have to do with anything, and whether they’re really aliens at all. We’ll meet a bombastic conspiracy radio show host. And of course, we’ll witness the breakdown of society as we know it. It’ll be fun!

I am down to two three side projects that I’m still going to pursue.

1. A commercial project to help folks use a POD publisher to self publish their work, whether it be fiction or non-fiction. You’ll definitely hear more about this one soon.
2. Another project’s still in the planning stage, but it should excite all the zombie-loving lunatics out there. I’ve been working with an artist buddy of mine, and we’re putting together a Zombie-Smashing web comic! We’ll release it one page at a time (a la megatokyo or apple geeks). It will not be based off of the Oasis series of events. It’s a totally new setup. If we can get this thing to fly, it’ll be a kick.
3. I’ve got a great political thriller story brewing. I would like to write it as an hour to an hour and a half audio theater, and produce it, and bring about an audio theater renaissance in America. But then I’d also like to write it as a novel. Maybe I’ll do both. I just can’t decide which to do first. Or whether to do it before the Oasis sequel or after…

I really need to find a way to make a living doing this kind of stuff…

So I mentioned a little while ago that I got an honorable mention again this year in a radio scriptwriting competition. I was also going to try to record it with some of my friends. As it appears I am never going to be able to do that, I’m posting the script for the world to read.

It’s a little Twilight-Zoney piece called Mama Vera’s Diner.

Mama Vera’s Diner (pdf)

I’m still interested in making a recording, though. Any of you out there interested in recording a part?

Mama Vera’s Diner by Bryce Beattie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

A Storyhack reader mentioned a new (at least new to me) POD self-publishing company called the Worldwide Association of Writers. (wwaow.com)

I just tooked a look at wwaow.com (pronounced wow! {click the link, you won’t be sorry}) and here are my thoughts.

Pricing

Their pricing structure seems really high per copy. I backed out the numbers with my elite algebra skills and it looks like they charge $5.31 base price plus 3.85 cents a page. Lulu.com is less than $5 base price and 2 cents a page. Playing with their (wwaow’s) calculator, for me as an author to make $1 per book sold of a 400-page paperback book, the retail price would be 21.76. That seems really, really high. However, hardcover is only $2.00 more, where on Lulu it’s like $14  more to be hardbound.

Of course, you can always go with createspace. $1.50 + $0.02 per page is the printing cost.

I’m just not willing to pay $23 for a paperback novel, and I wouldn’t expect many folks to by mine at that price, either.

Distribution

You don’t get any form of real distribution with wwaow, you just get listed on their online store.

Other options out there can allow you to be listed in busier internet stores. For example, Lulu recently made one of their global distribution services free, so your book can get listed at Amazon, border’s, barnes and noble, etc. Lulu does have some bizarre (forced to be high) pricing when you go with their now free distribution package.

Of course createspace gets you automatically listed on Amazon.

File Prep

Wwaow takes .doc files and pdf files, with the pages set to your choice of book size (6×9″ or whatever). I couldn’t see any rules on margins or gutters. Also, Wwaow doesn’t charge extra for images in your manuscript.

Setting up the Book

The wizard to upload files and set upyour covers was straightforward and simple. They’ve got a cover wizard if you don’t want do design your own graphics.

You have to order 5 Copies

When you set up your book, you have to order 5 copies to get things rolling.

Royalties

When you set up your book, you don’t choose the price directly, you set the royalty percentage you want and they mandate the price. Wwaow pays directly to your Paypal account (useful). However, you have to use the email adress you use to set up your wwaow account to recieve the payments…

Conclusion

Wwaow is fairly easy to use, but their pricing is way high, although they at least seem competitive for hardcovers. As of now, I won’t be using it if I ever self publish Oasis. (or any other works…)

Giving Feedback

I’ve been asked to critique many people’s work over the years. This is one of the hardest things to for me to do. I don’t ever want to hurt people’s feelings, but at the same time, I’d like to be helpful.

Here are a couple of resources that can help you know what to do when it’s time to critique someone else’s work. (Or your own…)

• http://cvwriter.wordpress.com/2008/08/21/kicking-critiquaphobia-to-the-curb/
• http://www.crayne.com/howcrit.html
• http://www.sfwa.org/writing/hc_critique.htm

As you can see, there are many common ideas in those three articles

Getting Feedback (criticism)

And not just on writing. Learning to accept and weigh criticism from others is a skill that will save you a lot of grief, and generally improve your life.

• http://writersdigest.com/article/surviving-the-spite
• http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/7-effective-ways-to-deal-with-criticism.html
• http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/how-to-take-criticism-like-donald-trump.html

[Author's note: OK, here's chapter 3 and all that was written of chapter 4 of the novel a friend of mine and I started 10 or so years ago (links to the first few parts are on my other works page). This is where we stopped. Once again, all grammar errors, typos, and bizarre phrases were left intact for posterity. Next Friday we'll start back with recent stuff. In other coincidences, he was living in Wasilla, Alaska at the time we did this. I wonder if he or his family knows VP nominee Sarah Palin.]

Chapter 3

Again he looked over the reports from the crime scene. The information from Johnson’s chip was nothing but garbled nonsense. Darrien spun away from the console, and stormed to the window, slamming his fist on the glass in disgust.

Below him the city was quiet, one or two cars drifted in Read the rest of this entry »