The Short Story

Christmas. It dominates everything from Thanksgiving to the New Year. One of the self-publishing facilitators made a Facebook post of an article explaining that it is okay to stop writing sometimes. In other words, telling people what they want to hear because most every writer or writer want-a be has slacker off in December.

The end of the month fast approaching, ‘Could I possibly make my goal?’ I despaired. I never imagined falling this far behind. My mind has been off my stories. Another story was growing however and it took me a while to realize that it was the answer. A short story near complete in my mind sat before me, ready for the taking. ‘There is hope.’ I rejoiced.

The story? If I said it was a tale of a dog and his master would you be surprised? “A Hunting We Will Go” is the title; a story of nearly five-thousand words written over the last three days. Still the short story complete, I hope its completion will not have to substitute for my word count goal. After some snotty sleeves and a few kleenex, I am still far from my goal at this point.

Tonight will be spent with Chuck Hammer and putting his experiences down on paper. If I don’t make it, I need to double the goal for January and repent before God and all that is good.

Renewing the experience of writing a short story has brought a determination for the new year; a resolution as they say. That is to write more short stories. Ten would publish together nicely.

Yes, more completed works await editing. Then what do I do about my word count goal when my days are filled with editing an assortment of stories? Clearly I have a lot to work out in this coming new year in regards to my writing ambitions.

Book sales have increased but the scale is of no real consequence. My wife informed me that I have a stalker; a true sign of success. A woman she works with enjoys reading my blogs and has asked for my books. She even offered to pay. My wife must be holding the money for me.

My mind has been drifting to Haiku from time to time. I have too many demands, just to get by in our daily life, to put forth the effort to do it all in regards to my writing ambitions. Personal, financial and concerns over our living condition all draw from my limited energy. The harsh reality is, money will solve a large portion of our problems. It will also allow me to collaborate with some professional editors and the like. Which in turn should lead to even more money.

But money is not the answer. I need to dig deeper. Where does a prosperous life begin? From where does poverty arise? From the spirit alone. If you are prosperous in the ways of the spirit your needs shall all be filled.

Availability is never the problem. The problem is always access. Right now my need must be to write and to live life. I must not need access because I got none.

The bottom line is I need to make money anyway I can.

And I need  Windows Live Writer to work with Blogger again.

Happy New Year

Am I Just Dreaming?

Or is it a nightmare?

This was to be the month. The month when I far exceeded my writing goals and transferred my completed works onto the computer for refining. But I find myself just today having reached my new word goal for November, a goal I thought once again I would fail to reach this month. By God’s grace and an inspired effort over a busy weekend I have prolonged my goal accomplishment streak by another month.

House and garden; Winter preparations were a distraction. I really like to work in the outdoors and to construct and repair things. Then the latest health craze struck. A craze that has been around for ten years, that I just now discovered; kombucha. I started reading a free preview of a book on kombucha recommended by Amazon for our interest shown in fermented foods. I mentioned it to my wife. We found some at the Winter Farmers market and liked it. My wife researched it and demanded I buy the fore mentioned book. We read how to make kombucha. We watched dozens of YouTube videos about it and its production. I looked for the best prices for all that we need to make our own. We found a small living SCOBY in a bottle of the drink which we had bought. That pushed us to prepare everything needed to grow our SCOBY and produce kombucha. Most likely, now that our SCOBY is all grown up, I will be preparing our first gallon jar for consumption today.

Then their were my attempts at woodworking. I spent a good deal of time in the basement. I have designs to make my own furniture, collecting ideas and methods from YouTube, building jigs and helpful devices.

All this capped by one of the biggest holidays and shopping weekends of the year.

“Wow Phillip.” you say,”You’ve been busy and still made your word count goal. Congratulations.”

Yet even with all that I accomplished this month I should easily have far exceeded my writing goals. The true hindrance to my writing success however was that the Green Bay Packers lost four games this month, devastating hearts and souls. Life in Wisconsin is slowly being distinguished. If the Packers do not defeat Detroit on Thursday….

I’m having flashbacks to the 70’s.

The latest gimmick on publishing I’ve seen advertised on Facebook, but will not link to here, is the concept of paying for the publishing of your book after you publish. And if your book doesn’t sell? I am sure some level of marketing would be included in such a package but that does not guarantee you’ll make nearly enough to cover your publishing (various types of editing, cover design and marketing) costs.

If I don’t get beyond first drafts I will soon have a pile of completed books screaming for editing.

What is an Author

Home repairs. This is the time of the year, something short of two months, in which 70% of my home repairs and renovations for the year are completed. I chalk it up to some primal drive to prepare for the coming Winter. My monthly writing goals continue to eek to completion as the months come to an end.

I hope to change this trend of just getting by. Despite all the required repairs and projects before me, I have found that if I can just start my day off writing a paragraph, or just a few lines of dialogue, that the pump has been primed. I will take a break here and there from my manual labors and, POW!, I have soon reached my goal for the day.

As I explore and observe the world of self-publishing I have come to perceive a new aspect of the business. An add post came up on my Facebook page. A company was offering to buy your stories, listing an offering price of $500 each. Their spiel being, ‘Hey, why take in loose change every few months? We’ll give you a (supposed) significant lump sum.’

How does one make it as an author? What is an author? I read one well recognized author’s testimony (I recall his pen name but wont name him in the slight chance I may be mistaken) that he has written under several names.

If I am a driven writer, wanting to convey from my deepest perceptions something creative and profound, why would I sell myself out for $500 a pop? Why would I not write under my own name? If I desired to protect my privacy I could write under a pen name, but why would I write under more than one? Because one wants the name linked with a genre, not with how one writes beyond their technical abilities.

Is anyone interested in producing literature anymore? Are readers simply consuming formulaic tales designed to trap one in a soap opera induced coma? Is one to just rush out one story after another for a paycheck, letting others reap the rewards of some chance success?

In this digital age, I fear ingenious hackers could steal stories in mass from throughout the Internet and and then cash in, at $500 a piece, off the hard work of others. Fears along these lines are why I write my initial drafts in notebooks. If one finds his work has been stolen would legal relief even be economically viable?

In my case legal relief would be simply because my writing is pretty much all I have at this point.

What passes for literature, I have observed, comes out of literary cliques centered upon various established institutions. They promote young writers, easier to keep within the fold. They are a self-propagating guild that, like most all guilds, exists to preserve their prestige, deserved or otherwise, over all else.

My favorite self-published science fiction author appears to have made it. Ryk Brown’s latest installment in his entertaining and sometimes insightful series comes across technically flawless. He has slowed down. I suspect his support staff has been upgraded in line with his success. In other words, he has achieved level of recognition and in turn has established a foundation that guarantees I finely polished result.

A reputable agent and editors, connections with established service providers, are not only necessary to produce a viable work, they may also be necessary to protect your intellectual property. The best protection is success.

Excuse me for having failed to post a mid-month installment from one of my stories. Winter is a time of high production in my writing pursuits. I will put out more previews in the following months. It is a one small way I look to protect my own work; to get it down on record in a timely fashion.

I have put aside all expectations of profit from my work and write in simple pursuit of my personal creative drive and where it will take me. It doesn’t mean I do not plan to market my work. With a chunk of stories to be completed in the next six months it will be the time to put my work out front and center.

Does Your Team Need a Face

Should I apologize that I will not be getting out my next two books as quickly as promised? The now Colonel Hammer, in the ever advancing first draft of “Loyalty’s Fertile Soil”, has come to the conclusion that he has been such a jerk so many times to so many people that apologies no longer serve any purpose. I didn’t get out a mid-month excerpt out either.

Projects such as home repair, gardening, this raised planting bed and other design ventures have kept me from my writing. Another activity that has kept me from my writing is too much reading. Yes, you read to write better but…

Too much reading is no longer a problem. I can thank the writer Evan Currie for that. I’m tired of reading self-published work that doesn’t make the grade. My tolerance is for the sub-standard is dwindling, which is a good thing. I thought I was a bit harsh giving him only three stars on my “Author Reviews” page, but now I wonder if I have been too generous. The third installment of his “Odyssey One” series was a disaster. The climatic event of the installment read like a first draft. What disappoints me most is the lack of any recognition by the author that he dropped the ball. On top of that, the mountain of disingenuous five star reviews for that slop disgusts me.

The author justifies the books ending in a cliff hanger (cliff hangers being something a certain species of reader seems to despise and can’t help letting everyone know it) with the claim that the fourth book was released at the same time. It was something his handlers wanted.

So… he has a team behind him.

Should the edit/design team behind your book have a face? The author can place blame on his support team, but it is only the author who loses face. This may be proper, but shouldn’t we know who these ‘others’ are so some one such as myself, a self-publishing author, wont make the mistake of hiring the same people he did?

If I were to contract out with the editors Create Space (Amazon) or Amazon KDP provide and my books began to sell I would be making a profit for not only myself but for Amazon. They therefore would have a financial interest in my continued success. They may direct me to their higher tier of editors and cover designers. Certainly if I put out a dud, and it could be attributed to an editor or editors they contracted me to it would be a source of concern for them. Their service, their name, their reputation is behind the product. They will work to protect their reputation.

One of my favorite authors, Ryk Brown, left Amazon as his exclusive sales outlet but then returned. In the process of trying to make his sales work on Google and other platforms, a process that wasn’t working out, he had a meeting with Amazon. They had an interest in keeping him with their program and it showed in their actions.

Many platforms are available on the Internet offering editing services. Some stand behind a name such as Kirkus, thus naturally holding a vested interest in the results.

Reedsy connects writers with independent contractors. They have a vested interest in protecting traffic volume; their draw power. It is a difficult road to travel, a two way street, as they need both good writers and good editors to feed off each other. They need to satisfy both ends to grow their name recognition. If successful they then have a reputation to protect. Reedsy has a rating system that tells you what percentage of offers for services from an editor or cover designer were accepted. I can see some holes in that rating system.

I imagine that many self-published writers coalesce a support team from a variety of service providers eventually developing into a set independent unit. Cost is most likely a large factor in choosing editors. They all have a mutual interest in success but the value of fresh eyes on a work is incalculable.

In this way, the need for fresh eyes on a work, architecture and writing are very much the same. Eyes not familiar with a project can see problems those immersed in the project cannot. I have not discovered anything new or ground breaking here. It is the professional standard. If a writer makes the grade, fights his way into recognition but can’t get the backing of traditional publishing houses, that writer should go to a full service company to protect the writers own brand. It costs more, but it is what it takes to climb the ladder.

This is my personal opinion based on my personal life experience. In my limited Internet searches Kirkus has stood out as a complete and professional service provider. Reedsy is where I will start when I have the resources to acquire the editing services my work will require for me to bring you the best product I possibly can. But there are many other services out there.

I do not receive any compensation from any writers or services I may mention on this blog.

The Klondike II

The world of self publishing truly is a modern day gold rush. I mentioned the documentary “The Klondike Gold Rush” in my last post. The more I think of the fates of all those fortune seekers I cannot help but see the comparisons in the self publishing rush; minus the loss of life.

In the Klondike, or in any gold rush, few find the mother load. Those that did hired hundreds to work their claims. Still others made their fortunes in commerce and providing other services to the masses that came in search of gold. They served food and hawked goods, sold women’s luxury items in great demand in the wilds of Canada and for great profit, or they simply sought labor under those with the edge on the needed services and markets. And then, as per my last post, there were even those who came to write; to sell the service of the story teller to the millions that never venture far from their homes in search of fame and fortune.

Few make any real money self publishing. The truly talented may be snatched up in the process by an established publisher. Some are lucky or shrewder than others and find a niche in a particular genre. Others offer services such as editing (various forms), publishing and marketing. There are now a slew of people writing books to supposedly teach you the secrets of making a fortune in self publishing. Or they want to convey the secrets of marketing, that one element that is keeping you from the riches you deserve, that all others are partaking of (fool).

There is even editing software that you can purchase, though I suggest you not rely on it for your finished product. Almost any angle that can be worked is being worked to make money off those pursuing elusive literary fame via that Internet gold of self publishing.

The harsh reality is you need to pay for editing if you are serious about providing an acceptable product (you still may make nothing). You might want to start with software, but before you finish you want real live eyes reviewing your work. I believe research to find reasonably priced editors can pay off. The same can be said for cover artists. Various platforms exist for those services. I am still studying the Reedsy platform.

Marketing on the other hand is a bit of a mystery to me. It may be best just to stick with services Amazon is able to provide. I do not believe sticking exclusively with Amazon, outside of finding editors, cover artists and mentors, is a bad thing. They allow you to offer promotions for your work without cost to you. You can purchase advertising if you don’t want to go with one of their full blown marketing packages.

Like in the fore mentioned documentary there are still people digging out a living in the gold fields of the Klondike. It is a load of hard work for their efforts to payoff. It’s the same with anything, including self publishing.