Lessons From an Anomaly

by +J. Lea Lopez 

One author's success doesn't diminish the possibility of our own. Because there's not a finite pool of sparkling, shiny success that slowly empties with each new book published. We all know that, right? But there are still book deals that make even the most level-headed of us go Umm... what? I'm still slogging away in the [midlist/query trenches/self-pub maze] while they're showered with stardom for THAT? For some it was Fifty Shades. For others it might be the latest reality star's memoir. For many, recently, it's the six-figure deal for a One Direction fanfic picked up from Wattpad.

I don't particularly care if someone wants to read fanfic about a boy band. If that's their thing, more power to them. I'm not disparaging that. Usually I ignore such out-of-nowhere rise to fame stories, because it's sort of like that one person who wins a multi-million-dollar lottery jackpot: the odds of it happening to you or me are astronomical, but it does happen to some people. This time, however, I got to thinking. Even if Anna Todd's 1D fanfic book deal is that one in a million jackpot that none of us are likely to experience for ourselves, maybe there were still things we could learn and apply to our own journey. Turns out, there are.

Pace and productivity

According to the article linked above Todd's fiction was posted in 300 daily installments and garnered several hundred million views. Not hundreds. Not thousands. Hundreds of millions. I think there's something to be learned from the pacing and serialization aspect of her success. It's sort of like blogging, where one of the biggest pieces of advice people have to give is to have a consistent schedule, and generally the more often, the better. If you're on Wattpad browsing stories and someone else is on there posting a story (or part of one) every day for almost a year, chances are good you'll stumble across something they've written even if you aren't searching for them specifically. Fans of the story will want to read more of the series or even more from that author regardless of the story world. If they're pushing out something new very quickly, there's less chance of fans getting bored, wandering away, and forgetting to come back to look again.

What does that mean for you or me? Self-publishers may have a bit of an advantage here because they have more control over their publishing schedule, but those publishing traditionally can pay attention to their pacing as well. It might mean waiting until you have the first two books ready to go and another nearing completion before self-publishing the first one so you're able to set a quick pace with your releases. If you aren't writing a series, that doesn't mean you can't try the same technique with unrelated books.  High productivity helps to create visibility and increase discovery. Setting a quicker pace ensures that people who enjoy your writing never have to wait too long for something new.

Where the fans are

Todd could have posted her writing on her own blog, or on another writing web site that didn't have a specific fanfiction category. But she didn't. Wattpad has a category dedicated to fanfic, and people go there to read it, if the number of views on many of the top rated stories are any indication. It sounds simplistic, but being where your audience hangs out is important. That's why it's important for aspiring authors on social media to understand that tweeting or blogging only about writing techniques, while great, means the audience you attract is going to consist almost exclusively of other writers. Yes, writers are readers, too, but there's also a huge potential audience of non-writers out there.

I'm not saying we should all post our writing for free on web sites that have a lot of readers interested in our genre. But if you love to knit so much that the main character in your cozy mystery is a sweater-knitting sleuth, I really hope you're hanging out in knitting circles or online forums, or that you're tweeting your favorite knitting patterns in addition to writing advice. Does your book feature a talented tenor who must decide between his dream opera role and the love of his life? Then talk about opera and singing! Seek out places online or in real life to engage with other singers and other fans of opera. Most importantly, though, engage with people this way as a fellow fangirl first and an author second.

Passion

Fanfiction is, by nature, written by fans of something. They have a passion for the subject already. In reading her interview responses, it's easy to see how much Todd loves One Direction and how that passion bleeds over into the stories she's written. It may seem simplistic, but never lose sight of the joy and passion you have for your stories. If you aren't in love with the plot and characters you're writing, it's going to be difficult to get anyone else excited about reading it. Unbridled passion is contagious, so go ahead and let that cat out of the bag.

How do you usually respond to the latest big thing? What other lessons can we learn from these literary lottery winners?

J. Lea López is an author who strives to make you laugh at, fall in love with, cry over, and lust after the characters she writes. She welcomes online stalkers as long as they're witty and/or adulatory. Kidding. Maybe. Check for yourself: Twitter, Facebook, Blog.

The Power of the Indie

by Mindy McGinnis

Previous to landing a book deal for NOT A DROP TO DRINK, I'd been writing and failing for ten craptastic years. I had the conviction of knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my life and the research skills to know that the odds were against me. But that's kind of where I tossed my fist in the air and dared the world to deny my talent.

And it totally did. For a long time.

Which is all my own fault. Sure, I read those numbers and thumbed my nose at them (fine - power to the bold) but that's where I let my Screw-You-Reality attitude get a little out of control. And the research stopped. Any kind of footwork stopped. I was going to be the writer of old - the one that banged out a manuscript in solitary, mailed off their tome to NYC and became ridiculously famous overnight, all while huddling under a bubble of anonymity and never doing the real work.

• Like agent research
• Like market research
• Like building a brand
• Like going to conferences
• Like talking to librarians, who (btw) pretty much know everything
• Like going to author signings to see how pros did it
• Like visiting bookstores to mine the brains of another kind of pro

Even recently I had wondered to myself if hitting the sidewalks and prowling bookstores was a strategic move. Aren't they going to buy my book anyway if they think it looks good? How does killing time with an Indie owner who will have - at most - three copies of my book on their shelves at a time really benefit me in the long run?

But I'm a no-stone-unturned kind of girl. I know the power of libraries, so I decided to look into the power of the bookstore. And - hot damn.

I'm lucky enough to have two indies somewhat nearby (in country speak - within a half-hour drive), so I dropped in to introduce myself and say hi. I walk into bookstore number one and introduce myself to the owner, immediately spotting the cover of a fellow Lucky13 on her racks. I mention her title, and...

Oh, it seems that the author's roommate from college lives here in town. Yeah, she pops in all the time. Maybe we could do some kind of joint signing once my book comes out? And, are those bookmarks I see you have there? Oh yes, please give me a pile - I have tons of teens filter through here when school lets out, plus this Friday is the first weekend of good weather so the foot traffic will be through the roof... can I have more than that? I'll be able to unload them pretty quickly. What's your book title again? Hmm... yes I think I remember seeing that in the fall ARC boxes I just got from HarperCollins (emphasis mine)... I'll be sure to dig it out after you leave and put it on top of the TBR pile.

OK. That went well. Even though my head is spinning a little I think I'll walk a couple blocks to the next bookstore and see if I can leave the rest of these book-

WOW! That's gorgeous cover, these will go fast. Do you have more? You know, we have a teen writer's group that meets monthly, would you like to come speak to them sometime about your process?  We don't have a date set up for May yet, but next time you're in town why don't you stop by with some more bookmarks and we'll hammer something out. The kids would love to meet you, I'm sure. What's your pub date again? Would you like to do a signing? We can work around your schedule and we'll handle all the local publicity...

Hmm.... Now there's two people pushing my book for me to the prime market with high traffic and all I had to do was walk in the door. Mindy needs to buy more bookmarks.

_______________________________________________________
Mindy McGinnis is a YA author and librarian. Her debut, NOT A DROP TO DRINK, is a post-apocalyptic survival tale set in a world where freshwater is almost non-existent, available from Katherine Tegen / Harper Collins September 24, 2013. She blogs at Writer, Writer Pants on Fire and contributes to the group blogs Book Pregnant, Friday the Thirteeners, From the Write Angle, The Class of 2k13, The Lucky 13s & The League of Extraordinary Writers. You can also find her on Twitter, Tumblr & Facebook.

Attention to Retail

by Stephen L. Duncan

I recently stopped by a Twitter chat with DGLM agent Michael Bourret to pilfer some of that publishing mojo he was slinging and while I was there, ended up sharing in some mutual hate with agent Lauren Abramo for our detest of Manchester United.

Really? You like the Reds? How original. How trendy.

What many of the tweeps (who’d eagerly stopped by for more serious reasons) wanted to know from Michael was, what was next? Basically, what’s going to be the next Hunger Games? His response in tone had a little more in common with my conversation with Lauren—understandable from someone in his position. Imagine getting five hundred dystopian pitches on a Tuesday afternoon when all you really want is a dirty tell-all on Dan Cathy.

I’m kidding. (Sort of.)

Obviously I don’t speak for Michael, but I imagine his point in advising his tweeps to not worry about what's next is that by writing to trends, an author misses an opportunity to tell a story that’s original and, more importantly, inspired. There’s no heart in stories written because it's the new hot thing. There's no drive. No passion; their author merely another American in a Manchester United shirt. A literary tourist.

While I share in his distaste of trends, at the same time I think it’s important to be aware of what is selling in the marketplace, and sometimes more importantly, what isn’t—if only to temper your expectations of the fight your manuscript will face to get to a bookstore. Maybe you’re contemplating a cyborg mermaid romance in space, but it just so happens that there are several cyborg mermaid romantic space books out there on the shelves. If that idea is competing in your head with a quiet historical story about a boy in the War of 1812, which story do you think the market would better support a year or two from now when the book gets released?

Hint: There isn’t a right answer.

The weird thing about the market is that there’s room for anything, and there’s room for nothing. You play the odds and hope that your brilliant mastery of language and pace of plot carries your idea to the next level and gets published, regardless of what the market will bear. It is likely, though, that if your manuscript involves a subject matter that is currently saturating the market, it will have a difficult time getting attention from agents, editors, and ultimately, readers. Do we need another love triangle-bad boy–good guy–pushover girl romance? No. Would one sell to a house right now? Possibly, if it was told really, really well.

Now, look. I’m not suggesting that you let the market dictate what you write. I mean, I kinda, sorta just did, but that’s not really what I meant. The reality is, the gravity of inspiration rarely lets us writers choose which story grabs hold of our imagination. Instead, we tend to free-fall toward ideas, subjects, and plots, unable to pull out of the dive until we’ve either finished writing the book or our inspiration breaks apart and crashes into the ground.

So, let the market be persuasive if you like, but never binding. Learn what you can from it, but don't let the market overrule an idea choice that carries with it your passion of the moment. Because lacking passion is why following trends will only yield a hollow endeavor.

And for the love of Alan Shearer, take off that Manchester United shirt.

Stephen L. Duncan writes young adult fiction, including his debut, the first book in The Revelation Saga, due in 2014 from Medallion Press. You can find him blogging on INKROCK.com and on Twitter.

There Are No Writers Without Readers

by J. Lea Lopez

I've been my introvert self lately, and have been doing a lot of thinking. And listening. And observing. I think it's good to reflect once in a while, so today I want to offer you some cautionary words and a bit of perspective.

The ever-changing publishing industry has been, to say the least, interesting for writers to navigate. There are new opportunities, new technologies, new venues for storytelling. Writers are learning to format their own eBooks, slogging through terms and conditions for various eBook commerce sites, designing covers, becoming their own sales and marketing teams. They might be paying others to do these things for them, or maybe they're deciphering legalese before they sign a contract with a small publisher sans agent. They might be sweating blood as they beat their queries, synopses, and sample chapters into submission to get their foot in traditional publishing's door. There are more viable publishing options now than ever before.

It's a great time to be a writer, no doubt.

Now when was the last time you thought—and I mean really thought—about the readers?

Of course we all think about them, on some level, if we're talking about getting published. And we're all readers ourselves. But I believe that as writers, our perception of the reader side of things (in a business sense) can't help but be colored by our own aspirations to be read by others, and to make money doing so.

If you look around the writing community, you might see some signs of writers doing everything in their power to make sure they get the best possible deal. The prettiest cover. The most positive reviews. The most Twitter followers and Facebook likes, which they hope will lead to ... more sales. Bigger royalties.

I'm not saying we're all a greedy bunch of writers, and I know not everyone is guilty of the how do I get mine, and how do I get it as quickly as possible? mentality. But you can't deny it exists. If it didn't, we wouldn't have an endless supply of how NOT to make an ass of yourself on social media posts floating around out there. If there weren't people in a rush to make their money, or even just see their name on a book cover, there would be fewer vanity presses ripping people off. There would be fewer poorly-edited and poorly-formatted books. We'd see fewer books published before they're truly ready.

Even traditional publishing seems to have lost sight of the reader. Barnes & Noble, among others, have refused to stock or sell books from Amazon's imprints. They claim to have the best interests of the reading public in mind, but I think we all (even those who may not think very highly of Amazon) know a big part of the problem is their bottom line. Money. Otherwise why stop selling books their customers want to buy? If the big guys are forgetting the reader, and some of us on this side are forgetting about the reader ... Point is, we can't forget about the reader if we want to survive as writers.

Next time you're faced with a business decision about your writing, try to re-frame it. In addition to looking at how does this benefit me? also consider how does this benefit the reader?

Got an offer from an indie publisher? Look at the contract terms, the royalty split, the marketing help available, and more. Do your research. But don't forget to look at it from the other side. What will the experience be like for the reader? Will your book be professionally edited and designed? Where, and in what formats, will it be sold?

Looking to go the traditional route? Hoping to snag one of the Big Six? Again, do your homework. Research the agents and agencies, editors and publishing houses. Look at the contract offered and see how it fits with your goals and dreams, and again, think of the reader. Will your book be fairly and competitively priced? What is your agent's and publisher's attitude toward the changes in the industry, and how will that affect the reader?

Going it alone and diving into the self-publishing pool? Once again, take the time to do your homework. Decide whether doing it all yourself or paying for certain services makes sense for you, and then look at which will provide the best experience for the reader. Thorough editing and professional-quality formatting. Access to the formats they want to buy. Doesn't the reader deserve that?

In the end, if you ask all the questions necessary to ensure your reader has a pleasant reading experience (all the way from telling a great story down to packaging it nicely and making it conveniently available for them to buy) then you will have also made business decisions that will work in your favor.

Don't rush to jump on any bandwagon. We mostly give this advice in terms of not writing to trends because they're trendy, but it's also true in the sense of not rushing to stake a claim in the latest business horizon. Don't be in a rush to see your name on the cover. Don't be in a rush to get paid. Do be concerned with giving the reader the best possible experience, because if you do, your bottom line will reap the rewards.

J. Lea Lopez is a writer with a penchant for jello and a loathing for writing bios. Find her on Twitter or her blog, Jello World. She has had some short stories published, most recently in the Spring Fevers anthology, available as a free download.

Letting Go to Help Our Book-Babies Grow

by Sophie Perinot

Our books are our babies. They’ve kept us up nights, and acted badly in front of company (like those agents we queried too early), but we love them to death and we are very, very possessive of them. And, like most parents, we have high hopes for them. We dream that someday they will leave our laptop, pass through the wheels of publishing, and grace a shelf (wooden, virtual or both) somewhere.

Sometimes the “possessive” author part of us and the part that wants what’s best for our books are in direct conflict. What do I mean? Have you heard of the “helicopter parent?” I would argue the “helicopter author” also exists—she’s in all of us (guys, you can read “he’s” if it makes you feel better) and if we don’t keep her under control our book will suffer.

Repeat after me—“I am a wordsmith, I write, I write really well. But it takes a lot more than writing to make a book a success—it takes a village (it’s okay, you can steal that phrase from Hillary Clinton, everyone else has). Once I have a publisher I will let the professionals who work there do their jobs.”

That’s precisely what I told myself when I signed the contract for my debut novel (The Sister Queens). Despite being type-A, I was going to make a conscious effort not to micromanage every step on the publication trail, and not to freak out when I discovered that I didn’t have the political capital to do so anyway. So far, I am pretty proud of myself, and I am going to share the secrets to my tongue-biting success.

1) I keep my eye on the BIG picture—book sales. I want to sell books. My publisher wants to sell books. We both want to sell books to people who are not ME (and not my friends and family for that matter). So what I like—in terms of a cover, or a title or blog-ad copy, etc.—runs a distant second to what a majority of book-buying, cash-carrying potential readers will like.

And the truth is, I am not in a position to predict what will catch the eye of the average book buyer. I am not trained to do that (nor have I conducted studies or otherwise made it my business to keep my fingers on the pulse of such things). Which leads to my next point.

2) I remind myself as often as necessary, that years of experience and professional training DO count for something. Publishing is a competitive industry. The folks my publisher hired didn’t just walk off the street and say “this looks better than working at McDonalds.” They are professionals. The marketing and art department folks are trained to know what gets a book picked up off a “new releases” table. They have been designing covers and brainstorming titles for years. With this in mind, I decided, even as I was offering my own cover ideas (as my editor asked me to) I would stop well short of trying to “direct the brush” of the cover artists, and I would accept that they might know best.

Similarly, my editor has been polishing manuscripts since well before I thought of writing them. So, when I received editorial suggestions from my editor, instead of growling “my baby is perfect as I wrote it,” I consciously adopted a listening frame of mind, and seriously considered every suggestion. My editor gave me the gift of “outside eyes” and not just any old eyes, veteran eyes.

Was ceding some control over a novel I’ve lived with and loved easy—not all the time. Did I take every suggestion my editor made—no (ultimately it’s my name on the cover). But neither did I assume I knew best (or if I did assume that for some, giddy, amount of time—I made sure not to email my editor until the feeling passed).

Bottom line: I wanted a deal with a major publisher precisely so that I could tap into the resources and experience of “the best.” Disregarding the type of accumulated expertise a publisher has to offer is just stupid and stubborn. It is like going to the hospital and insisting on doing your own appendectomy.

My novel has now moved on to the production department. Just recently I saw sample pages. Am I happy with the results of my “campaign of collaboration?” Yes. My novel is still my baby, but she has my editor’s eyes. She looks spiffy in the cover designer’s custom creation. She’s all grown up and ready to hit the shelves in March 2012. In case your wondering, I’ll be the woman in Barnes & Noble snapping pictures of her on display like she’s a kindergartner getting on the school bus for the first time. “Say Cheese.”

Why YA? Why Now?

by Mindy McGinnis

For a while now it's seemed that YA is the market to be in.  Writers whose usual stomping grounds are certainly not in that arena have been throwing their hat in the ring—Joyce Carol Oates, James Patterson and now John Grisham.  Even Rick Riordan, of Percy Jackson and the Olympians fame was not originally a YA/MG author.

The market shift can easily be spotted in the changing genre coverage of agents, as well.  At least twice a week I get emails in my inbox from QueryTracker, alerting me to an agent who has expanded their area of interest.  More often than not, they're adding YA to the mix.

It's easy to name the catalysts—J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer—but they wouldn't be household names if people weren't reading the books.  There are plenty of excellent writers with original plots out there—across genres and readership-age—who haven't initiated worldwide culture shifts.

So what gives?  Why did your local Barnes & Noble knock down a wall to expand the teen section?

Recently, I had my college buddies over for yet another Twizzler and Dove chocolate fest.  Books came up, and everyone turned to me for recommendations, since I spend 40 a week surrounded by them.  I tossed off three or four titles, pens started scribbling and I said, "Sorry guys, I just realized everything I'm telling you is YA.  It's pretty much what I'm reading right now."

To my surprise, this group of above-average intelligence, thirty-something women all said, "Oh—us too, it's totally cool."  Since I had a captive audience I picked their brains—why?  Why are adults reading YA?  I have to admit, it's kinda been killing me.  And their answer echoed what I had come up with on my own:

Because we didn't have any.

Readers in my age frame had to leap across a massive gap in our early to late teens.  We went from R.L. Stine to Stephen King, Sweet Valley High to Danielle Steele, Nancy Drew to Kinsey Milhone.  With few exceptions (God bless you Lois Duncan, Judy Blume & Christopher Pike) there wasn't a market for edgy, intelligent YA—definitely not in the numbers we're seeing now.  As a teen, I had to search out titles that interested me in my age range.  As an adult, I'm saturated with YA books in the TBR pile, and the bedstand is hating life.

Teens are reading in massive numbers.  I speak from firsthand experience when I say there has been a major shift in the way pleasure reading is viewed in the high school where I work.  The quarterback is carrying around the same book as the mousey girl with glasses, and he's not trying to hide it underneath a copy of Men's Fitness, either.

Adults are reading those same books.  There's a reason why Sweet Valley was trending on Twitter days after the release of Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later.  It's 'cause women like me were happily throwing down our college degrees and rolling around in some trash-awesome.  Am I vicariously attempting to recapture my youth?

Or am I trying to fill a fifteen-year-old gap?