In the World

Last week I had a great sit-down with my friend @courtneyengle.

Among other things, we talked about what it takes to be an author–a published author–in today’s climate of digital printing and immediate release.

Anybody can be “published” today. You just have to look at the proliferation of self-publishing companies like Lulu and Create Space to see this is true. And there is nothing wring with self-publishing your work. In fact, for many writers, self-publishing is an excellent choice. Despite the negative connotation that “self-publishing” (or “vanity publishing”) tends to carry, what can show an author’s commitment to what they’ve written more than being willing to put their own money behind their work?

With this, many writers wonder why they need a publisher to begin with. Some writer’s don’t. But some do. How do you know if you do?

The short answer? It depends. (I know, not very helpful!)

First, what category are you writing in? Fiction? Nonfiction? Religion? Biography? History? Or some other category? (Here is a pretty extensive list of the categories that bookstores use to classify books.) Once you know what category your book falls into, you’re off to a decent start.

Second, think about promotion. Yes, we all think of this as “the publisher’s job,” but more often publishers aren’t simply asking authors to be involved in promotion, they are requiring it. Why? Because today readers want to be connected to the writers of the books they crave. And who better than to engage the reader where they are at than the author?

This isn’t just for authors of the latest tell-all about the politician-of-the-moment or the latest self-help craze, either. It’s something that every author has to consider.

As a writer, if you’re not willing to go pound the pavement, create a Facebook page, or promote your own book, why should a publisher (who is likely risking significant dollars on putting your book in stores) be willing to do what you are not?

If you’re writing fiction, attend readings. Post chapters on the internet on any of the myriad writing forums. Hone your craft. Take criticism seriously. Seek out professional editors. And if you’re looking for a publisher? Try to match your manuscript to a publisher that works with the kind of book you have written. Don’t pursue Harlequin to publish your science fiction action adventure. TOR will likely be less than ecstatic about your historical romance novel.

In the case of nonfiction, most publishers will be looking for someone who already has some kind of authority in their field, or the ability/willingness/possibility of becoming that.

Approaching a “big” publishing house can be scary. Many publishers won’t even talk directly to authors, hence the concept of the “literary agent”. Think of a literary agent as a real estate agent, but for your book. In the same way that most people don’t want to deal with the vagaries of selling a house, many publishers would rather deal with an agent who knows the ins and outs of publishing than with an author whom they have to teach about publishing.

Now, there are some publishers who will take what’s called an “unsolicited manuscript,” which is just a polite term for “something we didn’t ask for.” How do you know if the publisher you have your heart set on will talk to you or requires you to have an agent? Look them up and find out. Go the publisher’s web site, send them an e-mail, or even call them. In general, EVERYONE in a publishing company knows what their company’s policy is on manuscript submissions. Everyone.

Okay, so I really didn’t get into “What kind of author are you?” in this post. I guess that means there will be a Part 2.

Well, I’m home from O’Reilly’s Tools of Change for Publishing conference in NYC.

There was a lot to absorb. Heard a lot of things I already knew, learned a few new things, but most importantly? I met a lot of great people.

There’s a lot of hoopla surrounding  ebooks, and the publishing industry is rightfully concerned. But digital books only make up 3% of the total book market. And there are plenty of other ways to market and sell books than just social media. Did we really an entire conference where most people only talked about these two things?

On the other hand, many of the traditional forms of book marketing are losing their effectiveness, and the ebook explosion is coming, and it’s a matter of maybe 10 years before ebooks will comprise 40% or more of all books sales.

Lots of excellent people had hugely relevant things to say, though. Among them were Chris Brogan (of course), Dominique Raccah, and Nilofer Merchant.

Overall it was a great trip, and the conference was well worth it. I hope next year there is more than “digital” and “social media”, though.

You know, I’ve been around Christians much my entire life. I know so many Bible verses, and so many interpretations of those verses, that I can take just about any side in a theological argument, whether I subscribe to a particular belief or not.

Until recently, though, I haven’t really cared much about why these different interpretations arose, how they spread, or the social shifts behind why one dogma became more “accepted” than another. For the first time I’m actually getting interested in the history of the early church.

And the source of my interest? Anne Rice. Yep, THAT Anne Rice. I recently finished reading Pandora, and through the latter portion of the book there is a fascinating running commentary on the growth of Christianity in the Roman empire. Rice’s histories are usually meticulously researched, so it really piques my interest when she talks about Paul, or Jesus, or the disciples, even in a fictional sense.

Anybody have any good, readable histories to recommend?

I posted on twitter/FB today that I had some really strange dreams last night. A few people asked me about them, so I’ve relented and will post it here. I apologize in advance for the blank spots. Dreams are like that: They don’t have to make sense.

//start dream//

I’m sitting in a train station, on a bench on the platform.

A train passes through the station, and stops suddenly. Over the loudspeaker, it is announced that there was an accident, and that Dora the Explorer is trapped under the engine guard.

For some reason, this really upsets me, and I determine that I have to go save Dora.

I run to the end of the platform, and in moments find myself lost in the middle of an endless swamp crisscrossed by sections of rotting wooden platforms. I begin jumping from crumbling dock to dock, trying to make my way to the front of the train, which is nowhere in sight.

After a while, I am overcome with emotion and collapsed, crying and screaming. For some reason, Dora being trapped under the train still has me greatly upset.

Eventually, I see some birds circling overhead. I stand up, and the birds fly back towards the platform, which has reappeared. In the distance, I can see that the train has started moving again.

Suddenly, I find myself running through a store. I pass several clothing racks, and stop at a shelf full of large plastic spaceship models.

And then I woke up.

//end dream//

So, did I make anyone’s brain explode?

I am a big science fan. Our universe is full of things that we cannot even begin to understand.

I’m reading a book right now called 13 Things That Don’t Make Sense by Michael Brooks. It’s a very interesting little work on some of the persistent mysteries in the various fields of science.

One of the most interesting issues (to me at least) is a controversy that I hadn’t even heard of until now, called the Pioneer Anomaly. Google Pioneer Anomaly for an in-depth look. In a nutshell, though, the Pioneer Anomaly appears to disprove more than 400 years of accepted Newtonian science concerning gravity. It gets its name from NASA’s Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft, whose trajectories through space don’t line up with what the accepted science says. In other words, the math that says how gravity will influence their flight is wrong.

The answer could be something simple, like “some NASA scientist forgot to carry a one”, or something complex like “everything we know about physics is wrong”.

In any case, it’s fascinating to read about. A real science detective story. Exciting!

Oh, and there’s new pics from everyone’s favorite orbital observatory! The Hubble lives!

So my blog is here now, rather than where it was before. Pardon the mess. I’ll have the graphics and themes sorted out soon.

Until then, READ THIS!

This is my new house. At least it will be in about 24 years, after I finish paying the bank back for it.

It will be most appropriate for hosting Rock Band Night.

And no, I’m not going to post the GPS coordinates or the Google Earth link. It is my Undisclosed Location. Although it is very nearly line-of-sight to Destiny Image, and I may need to build and try out a wifi cantenna.

I’m looking forward to moving in.

Admittedly, it’s not terribly raptor secure, but it could be made such with the addition of a few steel panic doors.

It seems odd to be writing a half-book review. I feel like I should at least read an entire book before judging it–and especially before sharing that judgment with anyone else.

But in this case, I can’t help it.

Last week, shortly after I returned from a very enjoyable week in Duck, Outer Banks, North Carolina (where I wouldn’t mind spending a another week, two weeks, or forever) Tyler stopped by my office with a book called Content by Cory Doctorow. He said that I should read it; that it was pretty good.

While enjoying a beautiful afternoon, I decided to sit down and start reading it. And I found out that Tyler is a horrible, rotten liar. I read half the book in a single sitting. Content isn’t just pretty good. It is excellent.

It’s also terrifying–at least to someone like me who makes a living managing intellectual property and placing it into purchasable packages.

You see, Content is about the future–or a couple possible futures–of the content management industry. This includes music, movies, books, and the roles that studios, recording companies, and publishers may (or may not) play in the very, VERY near future.

Imagine, if you will, living as a blacksmith around 1910. You walk out of your forge in downtown Manhattan one morning, and among the hustle and bustle of horses and carriages and wagons you see something a new: A carriage that isn’t being pulled by a horse or a person. You stare for a moment, curious about just how this strange contraption works, and then you turn and return to your small foundry and continue to shape and bang out horseshoes, carriage wheels, and even pots and pans.

How many of the thousands of blacksmiths (remember, if it was made of metal it came from a blacksmith) making their living in New York City do you think saw the end of their entire industry coming the first time they saw an assembly-line manufactured Model-T automobile? How about the second time? The third? Maybe it took a decade? Two decades? Today there are fewer than a dozen operating blacksmith forges in New York City.

The media industry has been in danger of a similar supplanting. As blacksmiths were once the gatekeepers of the transportation and metalworking industries, so have publishers and the like been the gatekeepers of media availability and consumption. And like those blacksmiths in 1910, there’s precious little the established industry can do except find a way to stay relevant.

You see, it’s not so much a matter of the fact that the media consumption model is changing. Rather, the fact is that it has already changed, and companies like Destiny Image (or Thomas Nelson or Random House or “insert company name here”) have a very limited window in which to figure out how to stay relevant.

In Content, Doctorow asks a lot of hard questions, and makes some very valid observations, and even offers a few answers. Refreshingly, he doesn’t claim to have all the answers, and alternately even offers a few solutions, but admits that industry, when not embroiled in attempting to control content through legislation or ridiculous content controls, is absolutely brilliant at inventing amazing new ways to make money from what they produce.

For a free (yes, free) copy of Content, click here. And enjoy the read; it’s well worth the time investment.