I’m delaying the publication of this because 1) I don’t want it to be a rant and 2) I don’t want it to be used as fuel against the person in question because they know by now that they stuck their foot in their mouth.

So what to writers owe readers? Their best work. (And if that’s not enough readers, ie sales, will tell you.) Civil treatment if the writer has a public online presence, or if the writer and reader meet face to face. That’s it.

What do readers owe writers? Honest transactions–if you like the author, you buy the book new, used, print or digital. Or you borrow it from someone who has purchased it legally, like a friend, relative or the library. Don’t distribute the writer’s work illegally, or claim it as your own. If you meet the author online or in person, be civil.

Across the board: No threats, no uncalled for insults (particularly of their children or loved ones who have no responsibility for the author’s work), no unprovoked personal attacks. (Why did I put “unprovoked” up there? Because some author behavior–when made public by the author–does deserve criticism–which is not the same thing as personal attacks. An author sharing a lot of information about their sex life, for example, does indicate to the public that the author’s sex life is something that’s okay to discuss.)

Do authors have the right to demand special needs be met for contests? Absolutely. If you want to enter that contest you have to do so as the prize giver instructs. That’s true everywhere. Do authors have the right to “reward” people who buy their books certain ways, or put up good reviews for them, sure. I mean, there’s a point where it gets dishonest and manipulative, but they have the right to do it.

Do authors have the right to dictate how and when and where readers can buy their books? Well yes and no. They do have the right to decide where to submit their work (small press distribution is different from mass market distribution). And to inform fans that if they want their sales to count toward getting the author on the Best seller’s lists it needs to be bought a certain way. Keyword INFORM.

This quote, however, I find terribly disturbing.

One more time people: now..cough..FRAKKING LISTEN. I’ve said it 1000 times in the past 2 wks, ONLINE sales DON’T COUNT. Don’t help me at all”

“As it’s not supposed to be released until March 2nd, you probably have plenty of time to cancel the order and buy it in a bookstore. Seriously, people, Amazon is the *death* of new release rankings. It’s where they go to be brutally butchered.”

“I want a picture of the receipt sent to me with the date of that week and I’ll have to figure out a way that you and only you get this. Because if you guys share and screw me out of my numbers/ranking/48 cents, it doesn’t help my career in the slightest. Online doesn’t count. It has to be a real bookstore with real people in it…not in the Matrix. NYT doesn’t count online sales.”

As a reader this kind of thing is insulting. Nowhere does it say “for this contest” or “to help me get on the best seller list”. This, I think, is at the least the mistake the author made.

The bold sentence (bolding mine) is particularly disturbing to me. I spend hundreds, into the thousands of dollars a year on books. And I go even further and spend thousands of hours a year reading, reviewing, publishing my reviews on many online reader sites, talking to people about books, recommending books I like, talking about the books I’m excited for. I even have releases marked on my calendar so I can help the authors I love in a timely fashion. I started BookLove to start a discussion with the world about books, why I love them, why I hate them, and why others should too. I do this because I love stories, I love books, and I love the people who work hard to bring them to me.

If all I get from an author is a constant slew of “buy this book” or worse, this sort of selfishness (and some even go so far as to insult their readers) it makes me feel like I’ve wasted my money, my time and my attention completely on a pit of ego.

I recognize that’s it’s very easy to take things wrong online, but that’s why we need to be careful how we say things. A lot of things could have been done to change these words from how I took them, into what they were probably meant to be, an author’s frustrated attempts to explain to fans how to help her make the bestsellers list. But fans have no responsibility to help you make the bestseller list. If they chose to jump through these hoops, they should be applauded, and the people who don’t jump should NOT be punished, or insulted or berated because they didn’t know, or couldn’t (or even just chose not to) play by these rules.

If you want to disqualify them from the contest, fine. But there is nothing about a contest in the quote above, so of course readers are going to get upset at being treated like that author’s lapdogs or piggy banks or whatever.

ALL sales count. All of them. Every sale is one more person who bought your work. It’s one more tick toward your advance or royalty, it’s one more READER who has opened themselves to your story. And every single sale should be valued and celebrated, even if it doesn’t qualify for a contest, or get you on the lists.

Inspired by this Storyteller’s Unplugged article and a ton of other author sites. And a picture.

1. Where do you get your ideas?

Everywhere. Like here:

And here.

Ideas are everywhere. Think of yourself as surrounded by a giant wiffle ball. The inspiration is just the ideas that fall through the holes to you. The more you’re out there reading, searching out art, listening to music, the more you’ll catch.

2. I have a great idea for a book. Can I tell you, will you write it so we can share the profits?

No. Ideas are the easy part. The hard part is the hours, days, weeks, months and even years it takes of work sitting with words in our head like this massive pile of puzzle pieces–most of the pieces won’t even fit right–and trying to make a lovely picture out of it. Writing, even when inspired and flowing, isn’t easy.

Plus if it’s YOUR idea you should also make it YOUR story. It’ll mean more that way.

3. Could you write me into your next book?

Why? I mean I never take a person directly from life and put them into my books. I might take aspects of them–an outfit of theirs, their job, their name, a look they give me–but the simple truth is that most people aren’t characters. Besides, people die in my books. A lot of people die, in a lot of different ways. I write speculative fiction, and dark spec fic at that. I don’t even stick to the rules of physics, or reality (love the paranormals), or legal rules, so why would I stick to the “rules” of personality required to get a real person’s personality right and try not to offend them as well? It’s just too much when the ego (in the psychological sense, not the term used as an insult) of  a person is involved as well.

4. You know what would have been awesome? If [character from last book] had done [this thing] instead of [that thing] and…

No, and you know what, that book is already published in a final, fixed form. Keywords: Final. and Fixed.

5. Will you read my novel?

If it is not contracted or already published then, no. I’m sorry, I have a rather full schedule and just don’t have time anymore.

6. Will you refer me to your agent/editor/writer friend I idolize?

Probably not. I don’t have an agent at this time, but even if I did the same rules would apply for them as from editors, writers and question #5. I can’t recommend you to a publishing professional unless I’ve read your work first, and again, I just have too many obligations at this time.

7. Can I borrow some money? Because all writers are rich….

Ahahahahahahahaha! Hahahahahahahaha! *wheeze, inhale*Hahahahahahahahahahaha! *tears* Oh, you’re a funny person.

8. I want to be a writer, what do I need to do?

Write. Now write a good story. Now write a story good enough to be published. How do you know if it’s that good? Read. A lot. See what’s being published in more than one genre and take those books apart to see what makes them successful. Does your novel have that? If not, keep trying. If you think so not it’s time to research writing as a business. There are great places for that (like the SFWA website, Miss Snark’s archives, and the Absolute Write Water Cooler). So once you have a story and the business info, make a plan. Follow it. Be flexible enough to evaluate whether your plan is working and tweek it when needed.

Meanwhile get a “real job” or marry rich so you can have the freedom to follow your dream instead of being crushed by the daily grind of life, bills and everything.

Yeah, I’m a little late, but here it is.

Submissions: 68

Rejects: 64

Sales: 2 (plus 3 holds and 1 rewrite request)

Words Written: Fiction-127,553  Reviews-39,338

Stories Written: 1 novel, 2 novellas, 3 short stories

Observations: 2009 was a rough year. My yearly submission goal is usually 100 subs a year. That encountered a massive problem in 2009 because most of my short stories were horror and most horror markets were either not appropriate for me and my goals, or not open. This led to me focusing my writing on novels and SF/F rather than horror. I also did a lot of rewriting and editing and reevaluating of older works which led to no real visible “work”, but bringing some of my short stories up to par and sending the ones I was tired of into the trunk.

Also, I made reasonable money this year. Not like “Who needs a real job” money, but a “Hey, I could go to a con on this!” money.

There lots of other stuff that means little to people other than me, like my personal vs form rejects ratio and the partial and full requests I got from agents. Personal pride, but boring unless it’s you getting them.

Also in 2009 I surprised a few writers by being good, made a few top reads lists, interviewed some of my own favorite writers, became a zombie editor, and might just have gotten a real chance at the Stoker. Certainly can’t complain.

Dear writers, editors and cover artists,

Please keep in mind that I respect the work you do (maybe I don’t always like the finished project, but I do respect that you work and do your best and that my tastes aren’t the same as everyone else’s). but I have to ask, as I do every time this year, but this time directly, could you please not send me a shit-ton of requests that I go vote for your work on a poll in which you nominated yourself?

I don’t mind seeing requests or alerts on blogs or Twitter feeds, but no emails, no private messages please. The thing is I don’t vote for books I haven’t read, for work I haven’t seen. Not even for my friends.

Not long ago I was asked to contribute to DarkScribe’s Quill Awards (as one of their reviewers I was involved in the recommendations that became the nominations) and I struggled to fill my ballot (despite reading 110 books last year) because I could not recommend books I hadn’t read, and honestly I didn’t read a lot of horror last year. And some of what I did read wasn’t award quality.

I understand (no, really I REALLY understand) the joy of having your work up for an award. I understand wanting to win. But having a bunch of people vote for your work because you are the loudest, most obnoxious promoter of said poll or work, is not really winning. It’s successfully stuffing the ballot box.

So with all due respect I will not vote for your work on the P&E poll. Especially if I haven’t read it. I will ignore any messages you post about it. I will delete any emails you send me about it, and if you annoy me too much I will block you or unfriend/unfollow you until the poll is over.

Thanks,

Michele

How You Do It over at One Hot Mess.

I hate it when a writer tries to make readers sympathize with a character by having all the secondary characters be mean or cruel to them. First, it reminds me of a certain time in my life and the only good memory there was that I survived whole. It is not and should not be a fucking game to punish one person for not being part of the crowd. Scape goating is horribly uncomfortable and I feel that a large part of the audience will put the book down to escape when the book is supposed to be an escape.

Second it violates the basic rules of fine story telling. See story telling is a delicate art. A great story teller can define a character not just by describing them, but by framing them. A great story teller can tell you who the character is by describing their menus, or their bedroom, or simply by describing how the secondary characters react to them. You can say so much without ever saying “Blah Blah was a vet, an a yoga fanatic who inspired the people around them.” This is why telling is such a great sin in story telling. You shouldn’t have to tell, the reader should absorb these things as the tale goes on. If you do need to make a frank revelation it still shouldn’t be telling, it should be confirming a fear or suspicion the reader has.

So if Character A is a complete and total asshole when narrating to the reader, but everyone around him seems to genuinely love, trust and respect him then the author is clearly telling the reader that despite how bad this thoughts, this character’s actions and interactions are still worthy of being a hero. Think Hannibal here, who readers were told was evil and dangerous, and even shown were dangerous. But while the people around him fear him, the reader, through Clarice Starling develops a trust in him. In the end she can trust him, and from my understanding, so can the average person since his killings are really a statement to people he considers less than human. (Mind you I only have my own experiences watching Silence of the Lambs and its sequel to compare this to.)

Therefore, if Character B, the lead, is sweet and generous and understanding, but everyone around them treats them horribly, and seems defensive and guarded and restrained against them, then you, the author are communicating to the reader that the narrator is unreliable, and in a bad way. You are telling the reader that this character’s actions do not match up with or deserve love, loyalty or respect.

You are not telling me that the character is dumped on or even abused (because abuse is more complicated than that) or I should feel sorry for them because they are stressed out and misunderstood. You’re telling me that I cannot believe the image the character has presented to me, as a reader.

So when the story goes on, and everyone just keeps picking on the lead for no reason, the story telling device clashes with the story you are saying and it shatters my suspension of disbelief.

Right now I’m reading a story that features the God-tells-me-to-kill-the-evil-doers serial killer as the good guy. The story telling is strong enough to create a conflict in my experience between knowing that the character is imbalanced and a killer, but seeing that he is playing the role of the hero, albeit an unconventional one. But that conflict is also part of the story. And the story telling, so far, is full bodied and consistent, even when it’s supposed to keep you a little on guard and confused as to which side the character is going to end on.

So if you write a story and your secondary character do nothing but pick one the lead, be aware that you are not making the reader feel sorry for your poor abused lead. You’re making them think that there is a reason you aren’t giving them for the ill treatment, and an author withholding information for the purpose of popping it on people later is not writing a mystery, they’re just tricking and manipulating the reader in frustrating and annoying ways.

We’ve all heard it, especially lately. “If you aren’t making any sales, then write a better story.” Allow me to confuse you for a moment; They’re totally right, and they’re also completely wrong.

The goal should always be to write better. To grow and experiment and play with language genre and form. You should always try to live new lives, have new experiences, through your fiction, or reveal something new about yourself. (Like how much you freakin’ rock!)

But it’s not always a matter of writing better, sometimes it all comes down to stupid, uncontrollable luck.

You will NEVER go wrong by improving your grammar, spelling, punctuation and language use. You will NEVER go wrong reading as widely as you can, and especially reading the genre you write in to see what is currently being published.

But chances are very high you’ll work and grown–and reach a point where you’re regularly getting personal, kind rejections and requests for more, invites to submit and sometimes even a lot of interest from editors…who still ultimately pass.

Writing better isn’t the end all of advice for breaking through this stage. Persistence is.

Because only part of being successful in publishing is writing well. The rest is all timing. It’s being ready when opportunities arise. It’s networking and being tuned in to calls for submissions. It’s having the pitch when the editor asks “what are you working on right now” and having the pages when the agent says “That sounds interesting, do you have pages I can read?”

Rejections don’t always mean “Your writing isn’t good enough”. It also means “We wanted classic giant bugs, not new interpretations of bug” or “We want post apocalyptic zombies, not magical zombies”. Or “This issue is shaping up to be about mental illness and we need something that matches that” or “We have too much fantasy, do you have a SF story?” or “We already have a time traveling lesbian in space story”.

I don’t know that there is “writing better” in these cases, unless it comes down to a “We have three zombie cow stories and only need one, which one is the best?” situation. Sometimes it’s just a matter of timing, or else big name authors wouldn’t still get rejections (and they do. They also sometimes deserve to get rejects.)

So if you feel you can’t get an better, you can’t put anything else into your fiction (you’re wrong, but it might take some time for you to find that next step, so you’re allowed to feel this way) without slicing a vein and just offering that up–then just hold on to persistence. Because timing does count and that editor interest means something. It means you’re on your way. The rest of the world might just need to catch up to you.

And take heart, because very few stories expire once written, so even if it takes years to sell, or seems to go through everywhere and only get nos, that doesn’t make it complete trash.

There’s a discussion going on lately about market pay rates (and a silly side discussion about the conspiracy of How Pro Writers are Keeping New Writers Out of the Marketplace, which we will discuss later) and what pay level is “worthy” and “unworthy”. Lots of people have said many smart things, and many thought provoking things, and a few people who I know to be smart and savvy have put things in a way that at best is intolerant of BS (which, btw one fifth of a cent per word is.)

The first thing I think we need to do is define “Worthy” and “unworthy”. See, “worthy” means worthy something to you. And “unworthy” means not worth something to you. Already we see just how damn subjective this publishing thing is because building a career starts with defining what you want. Are you a hobbyist and you just want to be published? Fine, but don’t tell those who are trying to be pros that they’re elistist jerks keeping you down because they have standards and you’re happy with seeing your name in print. Don’t expect them to submit to the lower level zines like you do, and likewise pros keep in mind that no everyone wants to be well published and well paid and build a career.

What I want is a career where I feel relatively sure that I can sell each quality piece I write, eventually. Pretty much one where I’ve proven myself a reliable source of quality and professionalism, where readers want to read my work and publishers are happy to work with me.

So when I submit I have this very much in mind. I submit to the publications that will help me in this process. So it needs to:

1) Make me money.

or

2) Advance my career in some way.

Number 2 encompasses:

A) Getting my story read by an editor who might remember me and invite me to participate in projects later.

B) Have my story included in a critically acclaimed or potentially (or actually) award winning magazine, anthology, etc.

C) Help me build a larger reader base.

My last sale was to Expanded Horizons, which pays $30. Not pro, or even semi pro depending on what length you sell to them. But it is publishing award winning stories. It is centering on an audience I’d like to reach, and this publication is me getting paid and my readers still getting to read the story for free. I get a token payment and I get another free story to promote myself with. Yeah pro payment would rock, but I’m not complaining now.

So clearly my (short story) submissions are focused on largely recognized magazines with an established reader base first. Then magazines with critical acclaim and award nominations or wins, then on money/qualifying for SFWA/HWA, then on what else they might offer. I have (I think) 5 Asimovs rejections. Yeah, that’s 5 rejects, but that’s 5 times my story was read by Shelia Williams (no really it is, the rejects are all personal from her).

If a story has not held up to my top tiers I go to the next goal. And if I gets down to “what else it can offer” that’s when I think about getting paid to have a freebie read, getting to be published with someone I admire, or work with an editor I want to work with, or getting to be part of a neat project concept. And if the market has none of this to offer me, then why should I submit and let someone make money (from magazine or book sales, or website ads) off my hard work when I could just publish it myself on my blog where I know it will get read?

Publishing is a business (I know, you’ve heard that before), but a business relationship is based on two or more arties giving each other something they need or desire. Walmart gives you cut rate Christmas toys. You give them money. It’s important to remember that YOU matter in this submissions game, just as much as the market does. And likewise, if all you are doing is submitting and not supporting you are draining the genre of the gems within.

Tomorrow: The Myth of “Just Write Better”