5 Pros & Cons of Self-Publishing

I am one of the self-publishers in the bordello; some call us "author-preneurs" or "indie-authors." Some have other less than awesome names for us, but thhhpppp on them. There are advantages and drawbacks to this path, just as there are with Traditional Publishing. Since I don't have firsthand experience with NYC, I'll defer to my housemates and stick to what I know.

Here are my Top 5 Pros and Cons of Self-Publishing:

Pros:

• Control: For better or worse, you have the final say in 90% of what, when, and how your book is unleashed on the world. It's awesome. It's frustrating and frightening. It's an enormous time-suck. If you're not comfortable with managing processes and owning accountability, this ain't the path for you.
• That missing 10% goes to technology, distributors, and collaborators.
• Content: Whether you write super-niche stories or last month's trendy genre, nobody is going to tell you "you can't." How well your book is received by the public is something you can influence but not control. Accept that. 
• Pay for an editor, please, for the love of any Divine Being, pay for an experienced editor. A dev editor is good, a proof editor is a bonus. A copy editor is a must. 
• Deadlines: They are yours to set, to meet, to watch fly past, or to constantly adjust. Because self-publishing does require you to collaborate with other people at various points, you can't be completely blasé about schedules and dates. But if you're a slooow writer like me, you can create a release plan that accommodates your sloth-like creative process. If you're one of those super-fast writers who can churn out quality books quarterly or faster, then there is nothing to stop you from doing so.
• Ownership: Of your name, your world, your characters, your rights, your time, your everything. Want to release an audio version of your book? Do it. Want to branch into graphic novels? Go for it. Want to finish out the series even though sales have declined? The fans will thank you. Prequel? Novella? Why not? No asking permission. No worrying about conflicts of interest or interest in general. You're limited only by time and resources.
• Do-Overs: That cover you loved last year fall flat with buyers? Redo it. Those super-modern references now out of date? Change 'em. Find all the typos after you hit "publish"? Fix 'em, reupload. 

Cons:

• Financial Investment: Like any start-up, don't expect to be in the black in your first year. How quickly you can build a large backlist directly affects how long it will take you to earn a profit. Maintaining a profit depends on how often you release new books. 
• Predators, Plagiarists, and Pirates: Yes, it's a Trad Publishing problem too. They have legal departments and parent companies with teeth. You have a bookmark file of the DMCA & Take Down Notices to deal with Pirates. You pray for enough readers who care to tell you if chunks of your work are showing up in someone else's book, blog, anthology, or toilet paper roll. You're hooked into at least a half-dozen self-pubbing communities to stay abreast of the latest predatory practices, people, and tech. 
• Brick & Mortar Placements: Don't expect to see your book on an actual tangible shelf anywhere, especially not a national chain or airport kiosk. You might be able to swing it with local indie shops. Part of it is stigma (there is a lot of shitty self-pubbed work out there, not gonna pretend otherwise; OTOH, there's a lot of awesome work out there too). Part of it is the Unsolds and Returns bookstore business model. Part of it is bookstores' slow adoption of the Expresso Print-In-Shop-On-Demand technology. Yes, there are ways to get your book in a store. Is the ROI worth it? YMMV.
• Conventions: Not every book convention welcomes self-pubbers. Even if we provide our own paperbacks and/or manage the sales of said books. Initially, convention organizers simply didn't know how to incorporate self-published (and at the time typically e-book-only) authors, promotions, and sales into their traditional Con model. Self-publishing has been around long enough now that the know-how is there; however, the desire isn't. It is 100% marginalization.
• Translations/International: So.Many.Boobytraps. Beyond the expected distribution challenges and finding quality translators, there's a quagmire of legal differences. It's not impossible, and there are authors who have success in non-English markets. But this is a time you really, really want to hire a boutique firm who deals with everything for you.  If you can connect with a US agent who specializes in foreign rights sales, that is a sweet spot for many self-pubbers.

So, is self-publishing something you want to try? Check back every day this week to see what other self-publishers, hybrid-published, traditionally published,and micro-press published authors have to say.  You may find a mix of options is the best path for you.

I Love Book Reviewers, But I Will Not Be One

I love reviewers. I truly appreciate the time and effort they take to write the review, to educate, inform, and instigate conversations. Like Jeffe, I really love book reviewers who write the insightful "why I loved/hated this book" reviews. As a reader, book summaries or cliff notes of the novel just annoy me. Oh, and spoilers? Grrrrr.

But.

I will not leave reviews for books. I will review shoes, paints, clothing, rugs, service providers, dog foods, shampoos, kitchen gadgets, etc. I will not review books. I will not publicly comment on the works of other artists in my field. Regardless of genre. I have made one exception. I will not make another. This makes my Goodreads page very dull, 'cause it's all about me, me, me. SorryNotSorry.

In my experience, there are three general categories of authors who do review books:

The Hat-Tip: There are plenty of authors who actively review the good, the bad, the ugly. There are authors who will only review a book they feel deserves five stars and heaps of praise. There are authors who will only review books 30+ years old or books far outside their genre. These authors ask for nothing in return for the review; they do it for the love of reading and being active in the readers' communities.

The Tainted: There are authors who will review in exchange for a review. This is a great temptation, especially when trying to trigger the magical algorithms to increase the visibility of a book. This is very common in the authorverse; so much so, that it's an unspoken expectation among certain circles. I withdrew from those circles...then reached for the bleach and a wire brush.

The Terrible: There are authors who use reviews as a portal to refer potential readers over to their books. There are authors who eviscerate anyone they perceive to be competition. There are authors who engage in reviewer wars--for books they have written and for books written by others.

I will not leave reviews for books. It's a respect thing in which I endeavor to treat my peers equally; regardless of their ability to entertain with a story. At the end of the year, when we Word-Whores list our Top Reads, that's closest I'll get to a review.  Even then I have to be careful, because...opinions, I have them. Often in caustic abundance. For all that it is easy to elevate with praise, it is equally easy to condemn by omission.

I'll stick to writing the books. I leave the reviews to the readers, gods bless 'em.

Pictures That Inspire a [Hundred] Thousand Words

I could probably crash Blogger with the collection of images that inspire moments, scenes, characters, settings, etc. of my books. Visual aids are second only to songs for stimulating the grey cells. I comb Twitter for artists whose work I admire, may of whom provide special treats if you support them on Patreon.  If I wasn't concerned about ruining the readers' interpretation of people/places/monsters in my stories, I'd have a Pinterest board for every book I've ever started--including the ones that never progressed past Chapter Five.

Here are a few images frothing the ol' brain-juice for NIVURN, the sequel to LARCOUT, still in progress.

The Monsters of Brent Hollowell:

The Creatures of Mike Corriero:

Writers' Contests: Should You Pay to Play?

Should you pay to enter a contest? Depends on what you want from the contest and whether that's worth the cost. Below are three types of contests in which I have participated--for better or worse.

Starting out as a writer, I had a hella hard time finding critique partners that read in my specific sub-genre. So I entered special-interest groups' contests that--for a modest entrance fee--would have three judges critique the first 50 pages. Winners of the contest would get their submissions in front of an agent or acquiring editor specific to the genre. The contests that provided critiques from published authors were more valuable to me than those who sent it to unpublished peers; though, both were helpful. While winning would have been nice, what I wanted from the contest was the feedback. And for $25-$50, 3 reviews completed in a finite period was totally worth it.

Eventually, due to litigious individuals, those contests stopped providing actual marked-up docs and/or development summary sheets. They had to revert to useless numbers on a sliding scale. Those contests became utterly worthless to me.

At the other end of the spectrum, is a writer's craft magazine with wide national and international distribution. Their contest offers a nice cash prize, a feature article in the mag--both digital and print versions, your book sent to big-name review houses, and inclusion into a sales catalog distributed to mainstream and indie booksellers. They also pay your way to their annual conference and give you access to a handful of their in-house experts on marketing, branding, sales, etc. Cost to enter is ~$100. Not a bad price for the grand prize package mentioned above. However, the pool of participants is vast and the contest is not genre-specific. Hell, it's not even restricted to fiction. Odds of winning that grand prize? On par with winning the Powerball. Once you submit, you never hear from them unless you win. No feedback. Nothing. What do I really want from that contest? The cash would be nice, not gonna lie. The amped up opportunities for discovery--those are really appealing, but if you read how they phrase the winnings, they're not guaranteeing you a review from the big houses. They're not giving you a full-page slot in the catalog either, you'll be lucky if you get a 1/16th slot. And as wonderful as their in-house experts probably are, what I want are new readers not advice on building a platform. So, while there are three levels of "winning" this contest, if what I'm really after are new readers, I'm better off spending my $100 on targeted facebook ads.

Now, the third point on my triangle of contests is run by a best-selling author in my genre. It's open only to self-published fantasy works that are either stand-alones or first-in-series. It's free to enter, all I have to send is a digital copy of my book. I'm not giving up rights, I'm not paying an entrance fee. I'm not going to find my work pirated by participating. The grand prize is 10 reviews by respected bloggers in the genre. It's a minimum of six months before knowing if I've passed the semi-finals. Probably a year before the winner is known. Might be sooner. Might not be. Everyone involved is a volunteer. Worst case for me? Dead silence.  Good case? I don't win, but I still garner a review from a person entrenched in the community--aka, my book gets exposed to my ideal audience. Not even facebook can target their ads that precisely.

So, are contests that demand an entry fee "unethical"? Are their awards somehow less valuable or respectable? It's not the fee that defines that. It's you--the author--who assigns value to 3rd party accolades. It's the organization behind the contests that paint or taint the issue of ethics.

Just make sure you retain the rights to your work. Don't pay someone to take your rights from you.

Barkeep! One CP, Shaken Not Stirred.

CPs for when you can't see through the peas? Trees? Whees?

Yes. Yes, I have a Critique Partner (CP). No, I don't do Critique Groups. Naturally, my CP is awesome not just because she puts up with my Casts of Thousands or my Italics Police. We exchange completed work(s), not chapter-by-chapter WiPs. We've been each other's CPs for long enough that we know what's a voice/style choice and what's an opportunity for improvement. We've right-sized our Big Girl Panties. Neither of us gets overly offended by suggestions received or the suggestions ignored. Now, that's not to say an "aw, fuck you," isn't muttered now and again, nor that a bottle of wine is no longer necessary when reading the first round of comments. We're honest, but not cruel.

Yes, I also pay editors -- developmental, copy, and proof.  Yes, everybody has a different function. Yes, plenty of people in self-publishing forgo a dev editor in place of a really good CP. Is it a good decision? That's unique to the book and the people involved. YMMV.

Yes, I've previously blogged about the glories and the wonders of getting yourself a good CP:

Here   and   Here

I fully accept that my mad genius often comes across as fool's madness before my CP gets ahold of the story. On the other side of the CP coin, being able to critique someone else's work helps me be a better writer.

Win. Win.

Crit Partners vs. Beta Readers

This week's topic in the Bordello is critique partners (CPs) - why we do or don't have them.

It's surprising to me that, while many aspiring and newbie authors use CPs, it seems like many authors gradually grow away from them over time. Particularly if they are working with editors. Also, more and more these days I hear writers refer to "beta readers" more than CPs, which I think indicates a few trends.

First off, let's define some terms, as they are in the Jeffe-verse. Your mileage may vary, but this is how I see it.

CP

A CP is someone who reads your work with a critical eye and provides feedback that might range from light edits to recommendations for exhaustive revisions. Usually this person is another author, who may or may not write in the same genre that you do. This relationship is usually reciprocal, where you act as a CP for their work, too. In fact, it's usually better that way, because having one person provide all the crit can cause problems for both. On the one hand, it's not fair to the person providing all the work and getting no benefit, on the other, a person who provides crit without subjecting themselves to crit in return can become callous and even mean.

Beta Reader

At the risk of being all GET OFF MY LAWN, when I first turned my dewy newbie author eyes on the shiny goal of becoming a career writer, I never heard the term "beta reader." Later I began to hear it used by established authors, who used it to mean a group of select (usually devoted readers of a series) people who would read the finished book with the expectation that feedback would be mild or high level. Then I heard more self-publishing authors adopt the term - and they seemed to use it in place of CP. To me (and I could be wrong), this reflects a trend of thought among self-publishing authors that critique kills voice and originality. A beta reader relationship can be reciprocal, but is more often one-sided.

Editor

I'm going to say that an editor is a paid, professional position - whether paid by a publishing company or a self-publishing author. (I have both. In fact, my editor from one of my traditional publishing houses works freelance also, and I hire her to edit my self-pubbed work, too.) An editor of this type typically provides developmental edits, which can range from mild tweaks to exhaustive revisions. A second stage, line-editing, handles less substantive issues - grammar, wording, continuity, etc. Note that copy-editing and proofreading are different! Those should not address content, but focus on formatting, grammar, typos, etc. This relationship is almost always entirely one-sided.

Okay! All of that said... do I have CPs?

Yes, indeedy, I do!

From the very dewy-eyed beginning, I have valued my CPs, and nothing has changed that. One of them is sister Word Whore Marcella Burnard. We've been CPs for ... wow, Marcella - six years? And sister Word Whore KAK has been a CP off and on. Several of the Word Whore alums have been CPs, too - though sadly are also CP alums at this point. People move on, yanno? These days I have two steadfast CPs who see almost everything I write. I also have several other author friends who I can send stuff to, depending on what the story is (since I write in multiple genres). My author assistant, Carien, acts as a beta reader at times - particularly on questions of series continuity.

My CPs are the ones who make sure I don't turn in complete shite to my editors. They read for me and we can talk out plot arcs and world building points. Some of my CPs skip reading and we just brainstorm plots with each other.

But all of this is by way of saying that I value crit highly - whether from CPs or editors. I think my editors can do better work if I've run things through my CPs first, because they can then focus on the higher level stuff and not have to fix basic structural/world/story issues.

As for the idea that critique can ruin voice or creativity... No, I don't believe it. Sure, an author has to winnow through the feedback she receives. It's key to learn what's an individual preference and what's going to matter to a lot of readers. But the one thing I'm sure of - almost no CP or editor ever sets out to kill a book and force it to conform to some standard. If you do encounter a toxic person like that - run, don't walk in the other direction. And know that it's the person, not the institution.

Good CPs are gold. They keep me humble, willing to examine my own work in depth, and on the course of ever-improving.

Thanks ever so much, ladies!

Of Thieves and Poverty: Favorite Fairy Tales

My favorite fairy tale? It's a tie between Ali Baba & The Little Matchgirl.

The first for the real hero of the story being a GIRL and a slave girl at that! She's smart, observant, and brave. Oh, yeah, she ain't afraid to boil some thieves affixin' to kill her master and his family. And the sword dance? Come on, she's like a Persian Janette Bond two centuries before Mr. Shaken Not Stirred was even a glimmer in Ian Flemming's mind. Hell, Britain was still dealing with Jacobites when Morgiana was repeatedly saving Ali Baba. She wasn't a princess in need of saving. She wasn't a socialite (her master) or a speshul snowflake (Ali Baba) who made a series of bad choices. Girl had her shit together well enough to take care of two families against 40 thieves.  You.Go.Girl.

The second story because it broke my heart and still does. For every fairy tale and fable where the orphan/whelp/ragamuffin was saved by benevolence, fate, magic, family, etc, ...it didn't happen for the Little Match Girl. The cruelty of family, the indifference of community, the inescapability of circumstance...GAH! All.The.Feels.  Mom used to tell me it was a reminder to never be so big for my britches that I couldn't see those in need of help.

3 Keys to Successful Long-Term Planning

The first casualty of war?  The plan.

I still make 'em. I make lots of plans. I, on frequent occasion, even write them down. For I am...

List Girl, Planner Extraordinaire! 

~cue superhero theme song~

I do short-term, I do long-term, I do them by halves and by wholes. For plans are pathways to achieving one's goals.  

I am...not going to tell you a story. I am going to tell you 3 tips to setting long-term plans, 3 times to revise those plans, and 3 times to scrap the damn things. 

3 Keys to Successful Long-Term Planning

1) Set Goals within Your Sphere of Control

Yeah, yeah, it sounds glib, but too often people choose goals rife with dependencies on others. Guess what? You can't control other people.  Ex. "Hitting the NYT Best-Seller List" is a common long-term author goal. It's a shitty goal. Why? Because you're depending on 3rd parties to achieve that goal; the most obvious being consumers. There are the sneaky things too like other releases during that week, the often changing parameters of the NYT list, and reporting systems that don't report all books sold.

How do you revise that goal? Most people would think "go smaller, go micro, go with the task you can control that's just shy of hitting The List." That's goal-setting to benefit others (like your boss). I'm talking about setting long-term goals for your life. You go bigger, think deeper. What is it that hitting The List gives you? Once you figure that out, you adapt your plan to achieve it through means and methods within your control.

2) Be Realistic about Resources & Responsibilities

Whether it's money, family, flexibility, or knowledge, don't lie to yourself. Take those things into consideration when making the plan. Be brutal with yourself if you must, but be objective. At certain points along the route, you're going to assume additional burdens; similarly, you're going to shuck burdens along the way as well. If the words "I can't" crop-up as a road block, then think bigger and think differently. Innovate other ways of achieving the milestone. 

Any long-term goal should be a challenge to achieve. It's how we grow as individuals.  You will need to gain new skills, more knowledge, more experience. Allow yourself a learning curve. Give yourself permission to be a student. Assume there will be failures along the way. Celebrate them, learn from them, move on. You will never be omnipotent, but you can be successful.

3) Don't Be Tethered to Time

This probably flies in the face of every bit of goals and planning instruction you've ever encountered. Remember, we're talking about the long-term here. Short-term goals and plans, they're all time-based. Long-term isn't. So many people start their long-term goals with "By the time I'm XX age..." Age is a factor only in what others will let you do. If age is a constraint, go back to the first point in this list. Death is pretty much the only mitigating factor of time in long-term planning. 

3 Times to Revise the Plan:

1) If you've set the right goal, the plan can always be revised. It's a living pathway. As you learn more, revisions to the plan are expected.

2) When achieving another goal takes higher priority. 

3) When an influencer enters or exits your sphere--this could be technology, a person, war, etc.

3 Times to Scrap the Plan: 

1) When you no longer want to achieve the associated goal.

2) When you're dead.

3) Did I mention dead?

Remember, folks, spontaneity is fine as long as it's planned. 

Flash Fiction: The Lost Hour

Jeffe's off hobnobin' and ballyhooin' at the Tuscon Festival of Books this weekend, so I'm back to muck with her hats and shoes. No, wait. Not shoes. She has tiny feet. Damnitall.  Well, I guess I ought to get to it and tell you, beloved readers, the story of...

What Happens to the Lost Hour of DST

As told to the children who asked...

Time is not a matter of years or months or days. Hours and minutes are just units of measure. It is the seconds that count. The tick, the tock. And do you know why we call it Tick and Tock?

Those are the names of Father Time's dragons.

You see, Father Time has a great big workshop. Our little blue earth sits on a high shelf with all the other planets in our solar system ringing the sparkling orange sun. Tick and Tock are enamored with the vibrant colors of our planets. The rhythmic thumping of their tails cause the worlds to turn ever so slightly, rolling us around the great big sun. It's all a very grand game to them, making the planets move without ever touching them.

But, there are moments when Tick and Tock are mischievous--as all dragons are wont to be.

They know they can look but not touch the pretty, pretty planets. However, on rare occasion, when Father Time is engrossed in his work, Tick will clamber up on Tock's back and stretch his very long neck to get a closer look at our world. There is a scent--of spring and rain, of flowers and grass, and--

Achoo!

Our little world tumbles forward. Tick scrambles off Tock as Father Time looks up from his work. His thick white brows furrow. He glances at his dragons. They look up at him, eyes wide, tails thumping. Father Time chuckles and scruffs their heads, then goes back to work.

That, ladies and gentlemen is how we lose an hour.

Dragon sneeze.

Social Media Sin #2

As Jeffe so brilliantly pointed out on Sunday, social media is about interaction not broadcasting. This means we share a bit about ourselves and we react to information others share with us. In an ideal world a nice game of give and take.

Until...

Debbie Downer: Chronic Over-Sharer and Martyr for Misery 

Debbie's not having a bad day. She's having a horrible life and turning to social media for public sympathy. Her feeds are a 70/30 split of baiting misfortunes and actual interactions. She doesn't want therapy, advice, or help. She really doesn't want commiseration for fear of being out-miserabled. (Is too a word!) She craves the attention. Woe be to anyone venturing good news into their shared public space. Debbie is on her way to suck the joy out of everyone's day.

Debbie is so morose her mere presence causes rational people to flee, to unsubscribe, to block, to unfriend, and to delete with all haste.

Saints forfend should Debbie cross paths with Ranting Raylene who lives to agitate, instigate, and over-react.

Writers' Nightmares: Running Out of Creative Juice

When the horror strikes, when my creativity feels humdrum, unoriginal, or pitiful, I step away from tech. No, no, I'm nowhere near as healthy as James and his bucolic strolls. I've a thing for snorting fumes. I like to...

Paint Stuff.

Walls mostly. I'm not talented by any stretch. I'm no great artist like some of my fellow bordello mates. I tried to paint dragons on my fireplace once. Looked like a giant had sneezed on it instead. ~ew~ I can freehand some scroll work and know to wipe a stencil after each application. There's a mandala I'm toying with in a sketchbook that I think I want to paint on an exterior wall of my house...or polka dots. I'd love to pull off a dragon reading a book, but see the aforementioned last disaster with dragons.

I aspire to be a Rehab Rhonda. I have scads of those upcycled sites bookmarked. Sadly, I don't have a carpenter's workshop in my garage. I want to. I fantasize about miter saws, routers of the non-wifi sort, cordless nailers, and jigs that may or may not involve kilts. Oh, and small-order lumber delivery services. I tried to fit a 2x4 in my Bug once, the drive home was like a Benny Hill skit.

What I like about painting is the tangible end result. Visual. Visible. Hard to miss. Short-term effort. Long-term enjoyability. All the things that writing a novel isn't.

Okay, okay, you're right. Paperbacks are tangible. 

Painting is both my mental break and my well of creative renewal. By the time I'm done with the paint project, I'm eager to return to the WiP.

Title Life Line - Throw Me One

Titles. Was this topic my suggestion? Was it? Cause I'm hopeless. I've been reading all week, hoping and praying for a silver bullet that would make me less bad at titles. Listen. Titling a thing gives me hives. More so even, than having to write the synopsis of the thing. 90% of the time, I file my story files under a character's name. All of my working folders are named things like 'Ari', 'Sinclair', or 'Heli'.

Even when I *do* name a story, at long, painful last, editors want to change it. No problem, I say, and I provide a brainstormed list of 20 other possible titles. But you know what happens? Every single time, so far? They go with my original title. And if you think that doesn't give me a complex about my titles, you're as crazy as I am.

Like KAK and just about everyone else, I want my title to convey both genre and some hint of what the story might be about. That isn't to say it's always achieved. Just that it's a goal. Usually, I have to write a complete story before a title that isn't a character's name offers itself up for consideration. Those of you who know my work already know that the working title 'Ari' became the book Enemy Within (which was also the title of a movie that came out several years before my book did, speaking of avoiding duplicate titles. This happened again with Enemy Mine - which was NOT my title - my editor suggested it. When I said 'Enemy Mine, you mean like the Dennis Quaid/Danny Glover SF movie?' She had no idea what I was talking about because that movie had been made right about the time she'd been born. Yeah. Ouch.)

I'll tell you what. I will lay bare my current titling dilemma. I have a manuscript in edits right now. The working title is The Incubus and the Asexual. *I* love this title. No one else seems to. I'm completely open to a retitle, but everything any of my crit partners and I have attempted to brainstorm has just not fit. So the book will go through developmental edits and we'll see whether it offers up anything that does as good a job of telling you the story, the genre and the tone as The Incubus and the Asexual. Unless, you know, you have suggestions. Bring 'em on. When you're as hopeless at titling books as I am, it's a relief when someone starts tossing titles like a life line.

5 Tips for Titles

Have Book. Have Title?

I don't have an issue coming up with titles. Not for the book. Not for the series. Not for the books in the series. Taglines are difficult. Back-copy is the bane of my existence. Titles? Easy peasy. They come to me early in the process. Whether they're any good is debatable. I don't have a Sales or Marketing team telling me what I can or cannot name my books. Then again, they're not there to advise me on the latest consumer purchasing behavior either, so I have to glean that third-hand through my own research.

Here are 5 Ways to Test Your Title:

1) Does It Convey The Story:
I'm pretty sure LARCOUT wouldn't have been allowed by a publisher. Not because it's vulgar, overused, or too long; rather because--for the first book in a series--it tells the reader unfamiliar with the World nothing about the story. That's what you're trying to do with the title; capture the essence of your 150,000-word novel in under six words (including articles).

Now, if you read the back-copy, or open the cover to see the map, the name LARCOUT makes complete sense. It's the name of the nation in which the story takes place; however, I'm asking the reader to take that extra step. In so doing, I inserted a barrier to purchase. A big no-no in Sales. Oops.

The series title: Fire Born, Blood Blessed gives a strong indicator of the genre. Probably isn't a contemporary romance. Much more likely to be Fantasy.

2) Is It Unique: 
Guys, guys, guys, please check to see how many books, movies, etc, are already in the wild using the title you think you want to use. Google. IMDB. Amazon. Do the search. Do another one for anticipated releases. The last thing you want to do is passively forfeit a sale.

No, you cannot copyright a title. No, your title is not protected by the copyright covering your book. You could attempt a trademark, but that is obscenely costly to acquire and defend (and if you don't defend your trademark it becomes common use and is no longer capable of being protected...in a nutshell).

No, your use of "A" instead of "The" doesn't make your title significantly different from the competition.

I went the route of using a made up word...then doing a Web search for said word to make sure it was as made up as I thought it was. Turns out it's a surname and there was an inactive Twitter account with that name; otherwise, I was good.

Now, don't get too cray-cray with "unique" and use a word that no one can spell much less remember. If you do that, you're relying on your name to sell the book. If you're GRRM, that could work for you. If you're Nora Roberts, you don't even need a title; you could just label your books "A," "B," and "C."

3) What Are The Genre Trends: 
While you're doing that Web search for novelty, make note of trends for the last two years and for the upcoming year. Always popular is the naming convention of THE ADJECTIVE NOUN.

Since LARCOUT came out last year and features a female protagonist, some publisher somewhere would have suggested THE GIRL WHO... in an attempt to leverage the craze spanning multiple genres.  THE GIRL WHO RAZED THE NATION, maybe.

This year, within my genre of Fantasy, the popular trend is NOUN of NOUN. THE NATION OF SAND AND STONE, perhaps?

Example: Chek out Best Fantasy Books HQ's: ULTIMATE 2016 FANTASY BOOK READING CALENDAR

4) Does It Fit: 
Literally, on the cover of your book, does it fit while still being legible in a thumbnail view?

5) Is It Memorable:
This one is the most subjective. This is the criteria that leads to spoofing popular titles or pop-culture events. It's also the dark path to Ditto-Titles. Admittedly, LARCOUT is memorable to me, but I doubt it is to anyone else. So, this is my opportunity for improvement. Not one that will happen in this series, but perhaps in another.

So, there you go, Five Tips for Titling Your Book.

Top 5 Vices That Help This Writer

Which of my many vices actually helps me be a better writer? I'll limit the list to my Top 5.

1) Booze: Like Jeffe, I've a warm place in my heart for imbibing...within reason. I'm far from twenty and puking has never been fun. A bit of liquor loosens up my brain when I'm stumped. Sometimes that something, that twist, that unexpected reaction is just beyond my grasp. A nice glass of cream sherry, a bit of port, and I've got twists in spades.

2) Caffeine: There's a reason I don't own a Keurig. I drink a carafe of coffee in the mornings then switch to tea in the afternoons. Words.On.Page.

3) Pop Culture: Like James, I'm a big fan of TV (just about anything with a plot and series arc) and CDs (yes, I still buy my music on CDs). I'll also throw in political implosions, news of the weird, product innovations, and scientific breakthroughs. It's all food for the imagination.

4) Sleep: Might seem like an Uh-Duh, but I'm not one of those people who can function without a lot of good rest. A bitter bitch I am I am without sufficient sleep. When I'm bitter, that shows up in my writing. My writing also becomes incomprehensible, which means any positive word-count that day will be erased once my grey cells are functioning properly.

5) Utter Solitude: I'm too easily distracted and too driven to control my environment to cope with people. I can't move seamlessly in and out of my imaginary world. I'm in deep or I'm out. There is no coffee-shop composition for me. Solitary confinement is my utopia.

Yep, I realize this list of vices makes me seem like an entitled hostile lush. Hey, they're vices, my friends!  

Favorite Writing Apps Round-Up

Jeffe's over at the Costal Magic Convention this weekend, so I'm sneaking into her room at the bordello to talk about:

Favorite Writing Apps Round-Up: research apps, timers, trackers, composition software, etc.

1) MS Word: For manuscripts and outlines, I use Word. Probably isn't a surprise since .doc/.docx are the most commonly accepted formats for mss deliveries and exchanges. There are other options out there for composition software, and my fellow bordello mates can speak more knowledgeably about them than I. For those interested, Microsoft has switched to a software-subscription model for Office 365 + Cloud Storage. $100/yr.  If you upgrade to Windows 10, they're offering Office for a discount.

2) MS Excel: For tracking All The Things. Submissions, sales, word count, project plans, P&Ls, etc. You've likely guessed by now that I'm an avid, old-school PC user.

3) Dropbox*: For Cloud Storage, I use Dropbox. Set up takes a nonce, and after that no effort to maintain. Every writer will tell you to BACK UP YOUR FILES OFTEN. I have a flash drive and Dropbox. Dropbox has free and paid versions.
*Dropbox uses a Referral Reward program, so if you sign up using the link above, I get more free storage. FYI. 

4) Grammarly--Web & Office: For those days when you're sure every word you've written is spelled wrong. With an extension for most browsers (in addition to beefing up MS Word's spell & grammar checks), Grammarly's free version minimizes IHAZRIGHTER problems. I use the free version; the paid version is more of a student/academic's application.

5) Canva.com: For Promo Images. Okay, it's not technically a writing app, but it is an awesomely simple graphics/design app. I've used it to create this year's Word-Whores header, Pull-Quote Images, social media graphics, newsletter art, etc. It's not intended to replace Photoshop or GIMP. Cost varies from free to $1 per image or template.  I used Canva to make the promo image in this post for LARCOUT.

I don't use timers, blockers, or anything particularly whizbang. I'm looking forward to the tech secrets of my fellow Word-Whores!

~lingers in Jeffe's room~

~tries on all her hats~

Release Day: The Alchemy of Chaos -- A Novel of Maradaine

Happy Release Day to our Thursday Blogger, Marshall Ryan Maresca!  His follow-up to fantasy THE THORN OF DENTONHILL is out today! Spend some time in the magical world of Maradaine. Whether it's your first or third visit, hold on tightly. Things are about to get...chaotic.

THE ALCHEMY OF CHAOS

Veranix Calbert is The Thorn—the street vigilante-turned-legend—and a danger to Willem Fenmere, the drug kingpin of Dentonhill. Veranix is determined to stop Fenmere and the effitte drug trade, especially when he discovers that Fenmere is planning on using the Red Rabbits gang in his neighborhood. But Veranix is also a magic student at the University of Maradaine, and it's exam week. With his academic career riding on his performance, there's no time to go after Fenmere or the Red Rabbits. But when a series of pranks on campus grow deadly, it's clear that someone has a vendetta against the university, and Veranix may be the only one who can stop them...

BUY IT NOW

Amazon   |   B&N   |   BAM!   |    IndieBound

3 Had Babits of a Writer

What sort of bad habits do I have...in relation to writing? ~slaps knee~ Oh my gods, so many.  Clearly, I'm not as disciplined as Jeffe or as productive as James. I could wax lyrical about the first step is admitting I have a problem...problems.

99 problems...

Don't worry, I'm too exhausted from shoveling Snowmageddon2016 break 'em all down for you.  I'll stick to my Top 3.  What can I say, I like lists.

1. Distractions
Yep. I'm one of those who spends too much precious time and focus farting around on the Internet. Mostly researching things I'll never buy or do. ~Hides the remodeling bookmarks~  Surfing artists' online portfolios is an addiction that can cost me entire days of productivity. Then there are the random weekends lost to Hiddleston videos and interviews. SPN outtakes and Con-panels? I'm a goner.

2. Weeds
Not the smokable sort. As in the "too much attention to the micro details of a scene" kind. Why, oh why do I care how many steps it takes to cross the room? I'm not going to tell the reader that, but I have to know. I have to know so I can supply the character(s) with enough action to fill the space. It's crippling to start a scene and think about how much I don't know and how much I need to know in order for the scene to even begin much less flow. It's completely nutters, the way I approach a chapter. It's why it takes me so damn long to write.

3. Perfection
The relentless and useless pursuit of perfection. Massaging sentences. Triple-checking full sensory deployment in every scene. Arguments with myself over whether the action is in character for the character. Are the secondary characters different enough? Do I have too many? Maybe I should combine these two and rewrite... I'm not arrogant enough to assume I'll achieve perfection like the pre-godly-wrath Sisyphus. I'm definitely in-the-throes-of-punishment Sisyphus.

Don't be like me. Have some willpower. Give yourself permission to only hit the high points. Don't be the boulder destroying your chances for success.

Dear Younger Me: 5 Bits of Social Advice for the Budding Author

I'm sorely tempted to say, "Ditto!" to James & Jeffe's posts and leave it at that. However, I'd be a total slacker. So in addition to their sage advice, here are a few things about the social side of writing I probably should have known when embarking in the writing game.

1. Find Your Tribes -- Plural
IRL & Online. Locally, Nationally, Internationally. Yes, you want to surround yourself with readers and writers, but grow beyond the closed-loop reader/writer circles. Connect beyond your genre. Connect beyond your skill set. Cut ties with the crazies fast. Nurture the ties that give as much as they take.

2. Sometimes the Authorverse is Just Like High School
Good, bad, and often as evil as it is uplifting, you're still being judged on how you look, who you hang out with, and whether you're the smartest kid in class. The cliques abound. You Do You.

3. Pitch Sessions at the Cons -- Skip 'Em
Go to the local and national conferences, skip the speed-dating pitch sessions. You're better off heading to the bar with a game of Jenga or a deck of cards. The point of the Con is to seed relationships, not to offer yourself (or your story) up for approval. If someone asks you what your story is about, have something ready to tell them, but it should be as natural a response as, "These shoes? Got 'em on eBay."

4. Critique Partners -- Invest the Effort in Finding the Right Ones
This is the hardest part of your writing career. It's not the rejections. It's not the shitty reviews. It's not the beloved book that doesn't sell. It's finding the right CPs. You need the ones who will read the story--word for word, line by line. Skip the skimmers. Find a partner who cares more about helping you deliver a quality story than hurting your feelings. Find the ones who can articulate why something isn't working as well as why something is. Find the ones who enjoy your genre. Find the ones who respect your voice, who won't try to rewrite your story in their image.  Remember, it's a partnership, not a duel. When you give your critiques, highlight the positives. Be mindful of how sharp your editing pen is.

5. "You are not a goddamn beggar at the banquet of publishing." -- Janet Reid, Literary Agent
This. This and always this. You will remind yourself of this so many times during the fits and shits of  your career.

Recalcitrant WiPs Never Die

When do I know that a WiP isn't working? 
1) When it's hard to write.
2) When I'm bored while writing it
3) When I'd rather paint a ceiling than write a scene (seriously, I loathe painting ceilings)

When do I give up on the WiP? 
1) Never.
2) I may give it a long, long break, but I never give up on it.
3) I let it rest when I've devoted two weeks and am still tooling with the same chapter(s).

How do I know if it's fixable? 
1) Dudes, I'm a writer. Everything is fixable.
2) A broken story is like a headstart in Mad Libs. Keep the core, shuck the rest, try again.
3) Still broken after the Nth attempt? Walk away. Work on something else. Get lost in something else. Come back with a mind full of wild and crazy notions. Try yet again.

How can I have such a blasé attitude about recalcatrant WiPs?
1) I'm not under contract. I have no legal obligation to deliver something to someone for them to render judgement. Score one point in the Pro Author-Publisher column.
2) I don't ~cough~(anymore)~cough~ publicly annouce release dates for books I haven't yet written.
3) I sure as shit don't start a pre-order before having the book DONE.

Yeah But...
1) What about setting reader expectations for the next book?
2) What about losing audience because you take too long or don't deliver on an arbitrary schedule?
3) What about [insert stress sitch here]?

Quality over Quantity, my friends. Rule for Life. Rule for Writing.  

Also? Don't enter the game by setting or agreeing to false expectations. Even if you're trad-pub or hybrid, don't promise stuff you can't consistently deliver. Rumplestiltskin isn't going to help you out of that jam.

I never truly bury a WiP. It may be in a box under my bed while I work on other things. However, I have faith in my imagination. It may falter (it often does), but it doesn't quit. I don't quit on a story, on my aspirations, or on my career.

KAK's 2016 Goals

Things I'd really like to accomplish during 2016 are:

1) Achieve Balance -- This is a lifestyle goal that affects my writing, both in quality and quantity. As a control freak, it is very easy for me to obsess to the point of counter-productivity, even harm. Balance is my go-to word, my mantra reminding me to back out of the weeds and end the vicious cycle. Balance in all things. Mind & Body. Active & Repose. Creative & Analytical. Social & Solitary. Spirituality Without & Within. I've reached that stage in life where it's not about More being More or Less being More, it's about achieving Balance and living joyfully within its fluid state.

2) Write Four Novels -- Three released during the year, one in the throes of professional edits by EOY. As an author-publisher, I can control 90% of the timing of the releases. The catches, however, are goals 3 & 4.

3) Establish More Realistic Estimates for Writing an Editor-Ready Novel -- I'm a slow writer who has yet to establish a baseline of time needed to write a 125k novel.  I've written one in as little as 45 days and another in as long as 7 years. Thanks to the advice of my fellow bordello-mates offered in posts here on the blog, I've a better plan of attack.

4) Be in the Black for the P&L of Publishing -- This one I can only somewhat control. Much of it depends on the sales of published book(s). It's one thing to write two, six, or twelve books a year; it is something else entirely to finance the all the bits that come between writing and release day. Owning the costs, of course, is the downside of being an author-publisher.

5) Complete a Reasonable Number of Honey-Dos -- I've a long list of Want To Do, Like To Do, and Need To Do things that take time away from writing, yet are necessary if I want to avoid turning feral. This ties back to the goal of Balance. I won't bore you with details of caulking, decluttering, etc., at least until the end of the year.

Cheers to Health & Happiness in this new year!