Secondhand Shoes

Hey gang! Absolutely thrilled to share yet another awesome author with you today. My pal (and many of yours as well) Shelly Arkon has published her debut novel, Secondhand Shoes. *WOLF WHISTLES & CLAPS*

I'm going to tell you how you can get your hands on a free eCopy of Secondhand today and tomorrow. Plus, there's a fun giveaway to enter!

But first, here's a little about the author and book:

Meet the Runaway Bride

The shoes didn’t fit. It was an omen. Eighteen year old psychic-medium-germ-a-phobe Lila should have listened to her ghostly Gram’s advice the morning of her wedding, “Take off that dress and those shoes. And run.” 

En route to the honeymoon, she decides to listen after too many disagreements with her groom. It doesn’t pay to go along to make everyone happy.

Still in her wedding dress and shoes, she escapes out a diner’s bathroom window into the Florida woods despite her fear of snakes and germs with her dead Gram’s direction. So she begins a journey of finding her inner strength, putting her on a deadly run from her psychotic groom and his deranged friends.

Will she ever get past her fear of germs and snakes? Will she survive her honeymoon?

Meet Shelly

When she was nine, Shelly Arkon's mother advised her not to write a novel because no one would publish it...but she wrote it anyway.

Shelly Arkon has never stopped writing since she wrote that first novel as a child. In spite of more family drama than most of us could handle—as the mother of five daughters, drama is unavoidable--she's been writing most of her life. She says most of these stories, written in longhand in spiral notebooks, have been about vampires.

She now lives in New Port Richey with her husband and two dogs. She’s also a member of Florida Writer’s Association and Writer’s of Mass Distraction.

Currently, she’s working on a book series. It’s’about two grandmothers, one a New Age hippie, and the other, a Southern Baptist, their grandbaby, their grown children who are pill heads, their extended dysfunctional family, and a dangerous drug dealer.

GET SECONDHAND SHOE FREE TODAY & TOMORROW (2/20-21) FREE FOR KINDLE!

Spread the News and Cheer on the Run-Away-Bride Give-Away

Shelly is giving away two $15.00 Amazon cards and two autographed paperback copies of Secondhand Shoes. All she asks is for you to leave the best advice you can give someone on their wedding day and promise to spread the news. On March 1^st, I’ll announce the winners on my Secondhand Shoes blog, http://secondhandshoesnovel.blogspot.com/

Indie Life - Control Vs Freedom

Hey gang! Time for another Indie Life post...

What is Indie Life?

How: Sign up on the Linky at the bottom of this page

When: Post on the second Wednesday of the month

What: Write anything indie related: something that will inspire or help a fellow indie; something that celebrates a release or a milestone; something that talks about the ups and downs, joys and heartaches of Being Indie.

Grab: The banner below to include in your posts!

Control Vs Freedom

Ask any child who has been allowed to sit at the BIG KIDS table for the first time, any teen who has driven solo for the first time, or any eighteen year old who has just spent her first month at college away from home: Being independent kicks all ass.

Understanding the degree varies by culture, it's safe to say most humans crave autonomy. We yearn to define our own boundaries. We pine to show our worth. We hustle to mark our unique spots in the world like an overactive male puppy in a fire-hydrant factory. 

I'll submit to you today that I think creative artist are the worst ME seekers of the lot. And justifiably so. After all, self-expression is our business, and doing-things-our-own-way is the only real product we have offer.

"Why buy my painting of trees when there are thousands of other tree paintings out there? Because my painting was done by me, and only I can see the trees this way. Now you can, too--every morning above your sofa for the small sum of $500 US ... cash."

But, I believe this is also why artists struggle so much with security issues, finances, and the like. We're conflicted, and here's why:

Writing is not a business, so you can (and probably should) throw all of the restraints out the window and do it all your way. Writing allows--encourages, in fact--us to think independently.

Writing feeds our habit. It feels good, even when it might be a little unhealthy.

Being an author, however, is a business. A business with boundaries, a business with rules. Yes, you can break rules and still be successful, but you usually have to be damn good at following them first. 

Being an author can be like going to rehab for our habit. It hurts like hell, but sometimes it's the best thing for us.

So what happens when you stick a group of highly independently-minded folks in a constrained environment with the provision of, "you can do anything you want, but you can't leave this area"? 

Imagine sticking a couple-dozen two year olds in an empty room and giving them the same orders. You'd return a few hours later to find: Poop. Blood. Tears. Little people trying to gnaw through walls to escape ... we're talking straight up Lord of the Flies level chaos.

"Where's Timmy?"

"We sent him through the air ducts to find freedom and haven't seen him since."

"Why Timmy?"

"Because I'm holding the LEGO, and the LEGO holder must be obeyed."

If that all sounds a bit too much like your writing routine/journey (poop, tears, blood, teeth gnashing, etc.), or your online writing group (Lord of the Flies), for comfort, trust me, you're not alone.

In the end, if you want to be a SUCCESSFUL published author, you might have to cash in some of that independence. You'll be asked to write in a way that is pleasing to a broad range of readers, agents, and editors. You'll probably need to understand terms like 'markets', 'genre', and 'metadata'. Heck, you might even have to change the names of your characters.

(I know, you LOVE Zartan and Estes, but readers think they're stupid names...) 

And here's the trick for Indies: All of the 'business' stuff applies more to you than it does other authors.

Ain't that a kick in the Dungarees?! You became an Indie to have fewer constraints and boundaries, not more, and now EJ is telling you that isn't going to happen. *harumph harumph harumph*

Being an Indie DOES mean more control, but sometimes that comes with less freedom than you might think. 

You get to choose your own editor! But you have to pick one who isn't illiterate that you can also afford. You get to decide which book cover you want! But you have to be willing to follow the rules of good design and marketing--yes, even if you liked the one with the cats more.

Why not just do what you want? After all, there's no one wagging a finger at you saying, "Fix this or it won't be published." 

You follow the business rules, because if the product sucks you're going to get ALL of the blame. That's why.

Your cover stinks: that's your bad, not the publishers. There are typos: that's your bad, not the editors. (Even they miss things, and your the last one to push the 'publish' button = your bad.) No one knows your book exists: that's your bad, not the marketing department at Random House. 

I guess all of this is to say: Don't become an Indie because of any pre-conceived ideas of total freedom. Total control, perhaps, but not freedom. Not if you want to be good at it.

It's still publishing, and publishing is still a business.

~EJW~

A Rocking Interview with Author Lyndsey Dee

Hey gang! If you haven't jumped into the Bury the Hatchet blogfest, and entered for a chance to win the Nook or other prizes I'm giving away, there's still lots of time (runs through October 19--see the stickied post above for details). 

I'm forgoing the 'Good News of the Week' feature this week, because I've got nothing BUT good news to share. Beginning with the first of two author interviews/recent book releases. 

Lyndsey Dee is the author of Flour City Blues. Here's what the book's about:

'Soon-to-be high school senior, Josh LaSalle is forced to move from Pittsburgh to the Rochester, New York suburbs as a tactic his parents have chosen as the only way to salvage their troubled marriage. Distraught with the change, Josh unexpectedly finds two friends who actually have the same idea of starting a band and begin to take over the city with their own brand of rock 'n' roll. While everyone is worried about college applications and making final memories, Josh experiences the gain of local success in the music scene, house parties, neglectful parents and trying to find out if the French foreign exchange student really likes him, likes him.'

Tell me that doesn't sound like a great rock and roll story?! And you all know how much I adore music... 

Lyndsey is truly a dynamic creative talent, and I think you'll find her as fascinating as I did. She's a true entrepreneur, and provides a great lesson for chasing down your dreams. At the very least, you'll leave here hungry, and with a tune in your head. :-)

(Details on where to purchase Flour City are at the bottom of the interview.)

EJ (ME) - So, I've done some snooping, and you are a lady of many hats: You write, you graphic design, you're a professional maker of yummy things. Tell us about your interests, and other business ventures, and how those things factored into you writing Flour City Blues.

Lyndsey Dee (LD) - Haha, I do have quite a few interests! I love baking and writing so I finally turned them into something. I’ve worked on bringing both to fruition for the past five years and finally broke loose this year. I just opened the doors to my tiny little bakery in Rochester called Cakes a Go-Go and finally released Flour City Blues. I released the book under my own publishing name, despite any stigmas that self-published books may have. I just grew tired of dealing with agents. I queried both larger and smaller houses and they told me to try querying the opposite. I took things into my own matters from there. I study the trends in both young adult and new adult literature, follow forums or Twitter chats and I do all of my own promoting. I am the publisher who doesn’t have the middlemen cutting into the royalty pie. I honestly don’t mind the grunt work. I spent the time working on the book, and I make sure it is getting the coverage it deserves. I take the same marketing approach to my bakery, using social media, daily customer service and writing press releases.

I am also excited to reveal that my younger brother and I have started Stingray Press and Media. He started The Anderson Stingrays a few years back and developed the music connections that we are using to pave the way with our venture. We are taking the aspects from the punk DIY ethic and creating a company to press and market books from the YA/NA genres and distribute music. We will eventually be launching our website and we’re already working on our first release for the winter—which we are super excited about. Any book-related stuff will probably not go into effect until early 2013. We want to give those bands or writers the chance to get their material out there. We’ll also offer coaching and other services for novice book-promoters who want to get noticed in the world. This is also where the graphic design will be coming in. I do design book covers, flyers, band logos and artwork.

Anyway, for the book, it was all about the music. I am the only one in the family who is not musical performance-challenged. But, don’t try to beat me at “name that tune,” because I’d definitely win. I am the visually-sound and creative one, the writer and artist. The book is an open love letter to the music I grew to love so much as a teenager. I fell in love with punk and rockabilly, and grew up with Elvis, the British Invasion and swing, thanks to my parents and grandparents. My musical exposure is well-rounded, much like my main character, Josh.

ME - You clearly have an entrepreneurial spirit, has that helped you tackle the book business? If so, how?

LD - Sure. Both ventures actually mirror each other in the sense that you constantly have to market yourself to be seen. The only difference is that opening a bakery costs more money! Ha! It may seem weird, but everything that I have to do for the book is my downtime, my therapy or my post-bakery workday wind-down. I catch up on Twitter, post a blog entry and compose a few emails. This takes me from early evening to late at night. I am constantly in promotion mode, always on alert and consider anyone a possible customer or reader.

ME - Flour City is all about the rock, the roll, and the tunes--what are your musical influences, and how have they impacted your writing? Also, the trailer gives a similar vibe as some of my favorite music-themed movies (Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, etc.). Any film influences? 

LD - Like I mentioned above, I fell in love with punk music when I was in high school. The fast guitars, the nihilistic views and the simple fashion. I was not too keen on piercings and Mohawks, although I did have my share of different hair colors, I was a Chuck- Taylor-and-leather-jacket-Ramones kind of girl. My parents also turned me on to their influences. My dad was a drummer in a few bands, and continues to really enjoy Grand Funk Railroad, the Doobie Brothers, Elvis and Motown artists. My mom liked the early Beatles, it was the one band her father actually enjoyed and bonded over. The British Invasion and garage rock were high on her list of favorites. Growing up, I spent tons of time with my paternal grandparents, and they each surrounded me around Johnny Cash, Glenn Miller, Louis Prima, Elvis (Grandma was OBSESSED! She saw him twice!) and Middle Eastern music. I think the wide exposure of music has shaped my writing in a sense that it helps create a story and a setting.

It is funny you mention Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, because it is one movie I was thinking about when I was writing. (ME - See! Great film, btw.) I have a communications/film background and plan my book like a movie in my head. The scenes in the book were just based on anecdotes I heard from friends or stupid things I have done.

I have a few outlines of future books lying around and I definitely draw the film inspiration from Federico Fellini or Francis Ford Coppola. I am going to go back in time to mid-century post-war society with a couple ideas I have.

ME - Check the trailer gang! (This is a punk rock jam, so adjust your speakers accordingly--which in my case means crank it to 11!)

ME - Being adept at so many artistically expressive things (baking, design, drawing, etc.), I think most people will want to know: Why a book? What did you need words to convey that you couldn't say with the other mediums?

LD - I feel conventional with the other interests. If I make a cake, I love when the customer tells me they have their trust in me to create a gorgeous conversation piece at their wedding or birthday party, but there are limits. Despite the free creativity, I am making something for someone else, not me. Then there’s the possibility of something happening during the baking process (God, forbid!). Owning a business is great, but there are those constraints that still don’t give you the full control. For example, I rent my space, rather than own. Since I rent, I have to adhere to the conditions of the landlord, the town, the county. Writing is something I can have complete control of and not hold myself back. Writing about teens is something you really should not try to do with a filtered mind. It is such a crucial age period filled with friendships and relationships that may have an expiration date, aka graduation. (ME - YES!)

ME - Okay, the good part: Tell us about Flour City Blues and how we can snag a copy of our very own. 

LD - Well, Flour City Blues is about Josh LaSalle, a 17 year-old who, along with his sister is uprooted from their home in Pittsburgh to a Rochester, NY suburb after his parents realize their tortured marriage could be salvaged if they move back to their hometown. While the parents are busy reliving their teen years, Josh meets Jeff Kilbourne and they recruit Frank DelVecchio to play drums in their band. They join ranks with the local punk and rock scenes in Rochester and join in on the booze and parties. Josh also falls for the French foreign exchange student, (ME - Ooh La La!) but after living through the hard times with his parents, he’s afraid to express his feelings. There’s a real theme of carpe diem throughout the book, you just have to see if Josh “seizes the day.”

FLOUR CITY BLUES ON AMAZON

FLOUR CITY BLUES ON LULU

WHERE YOU CAN FIND LYNDSEY ON THE WEB

Her site: www.lyndseydee.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/lyndseydeewrites

Twitter: @lyndseyisgr8

Amazon KDP Select: Good, Bad or Ugly? Pt. 2

Welcome back! Hope everyone had a restful weekend, and also hope some of you are getting to enjoy the holiday away from work.


We left off Friday with an opening discussion of the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing Select program as part of my new (and ongoing) N00B VIEW take on publishing whathaveyous.


YOU CAN CHECK IT OUT HERE.


It was more of a 'leading up to' account of how we got to this point, so if you're not familiar with what's been going down in electronic publishing (particularly as it pertains to Amazon shenanigans) it might be worth a read. I included a number of links within the article just in case you want to skip the shower and plunge into the deep, murky water head first.


Also, there were a number of tremendous comments I'd encourage you to read even if you don't have time to get to the entire article. Lots of smart folks chiming in!  Looking forward to more discussion as we wrap this up.


N00B VIEW: AMAZON'S KINDLE DIRECT PUBLISHING SELECT PART II

"You think these'll give you cancer? Just wait 'til I explain this publishing stuff..."

To understand KDPS we first need to wrap our noggins around the Amazon Kindle Owner's Lending Library (KOLL). Announced in September of last year, KOLL was to be a program for books akin to what the Netflix streaming service is to movies. 

Pretty ingenious from a reader's standpoint, right? Who wouldn't like a steady supply of electronic reads for one monthly or annual price, after all? Especially those of us who read multiple books in a month. Score one for the Amazon! Er, maybe... 

Amazon eventually launched the program late last year. Basically, if you enrolled in the Amazon Prime program ($79 US per year) and owned a Kindle device (NOTE: Doesn't work with Kindle applications on iPad, etc. from what I've read.), you could 'borrow' one book a month so long as the book was enrolled in the KOLL program. The KOLL program was to run in conjunction with other Prime benefits (like video streaming and free shipping for many Amazon products). 

So it wasn't the open barn door to reading Nirvana many had imagined, but definitely a step in an interesting new direction for book lovers.

For folks in the publishing business, however, it was tantamount to landing on a big, dark and scary moon. A foreign world was opening up, a world in which Amazon was making the rules. Independent authors were quickly welcomed into this unusual new landscape as well, so long as they followed those rules.

What the heck is Kindle Direct Publishing Select (KDPS), and why do we care?

The easiest way to conceptualize the KDPS program is to think of it as 'the independent author's' side of Amazon's Kindle Owner's Lending Library. The afore mentioned rules, as it were, for enrolling your work in the  KOLL.


Here's the dirty: Independent authors (trad authors are bound by their agreements with publishers; i.e. don't do anything without asking your agent, publishers and the Good Lord first) can opt to enroll either new or existing eBooks published via the Kindle Direct Publishing program in the KDPS program. You don't have to. You can simply upload your Kindle versions or leave them be if they're already up. Once they are enrolled (and published), your books (s) can then be borrowed by KOLL users. Easy as gettin' wet in a thunder storm. 

(I know those of you familiar with KDPS are screaming, WHAT ABOUT THE FLIPPING GINORMOUS CATCH, EJ?! Wait for it...)

After reading the above, (assuming you're an author-type) you have to be a little curious as to what the author gets out of this book lending stuff. I know I was! Here it is: 

1) Publicity: You get the relatively undivided attention of oodles of Amazon Prime members. Well at least the ones that own a Kindle... Well, at least the ones that own Kindles and read on them. (Hint - the new Kindle Fire is more of a tablet than an eReader, which translates to lots of people using them to do stuff other than read.) Furthermore, the program is in its infancy so there aren't THAT many books available. Yet.

2) Money! That's right, this ain't your grandparents' library with all the smelly sofas, burnt coffee and AA meetings. Folks pay for Amazon Prime, and the Big A was at least foresighted enough to know that authors would want their slice of cheese for playing along. Amazon has allotted a designated amount of funds to pay as royalties to all independent authors who have books enrolled in the program. Straight from the mouth of the giant commerce horse:

"Earn your share of at least $6 million throughout 2012 when readers borrow your books from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library."

The following is excerpted from an e-mail sent by Amazon to KDP authors:

(…)Your share of the monthly fund is based on your enrolled titles’ share of the total number of borrows across all participating KDP titles in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.


For example, if total borrows of all participating KDP titles are 100,000 in December and your book was borrowed 1,500 times, you will earn $7,500 in additional royalties from KDP Select in December.


Enrolled titles will remain available for sale to any customer in the Kindle Store and you will continue to earn your regular royalties on those sales. (…)


As near as I can tell the amount of funds available to KDPS enrollees is going to fluctuate based upon the number of books being downloaded, Prime Memberships, and Agnes knows what else. (If you are enlightened to the exact formula, please enlighten the rest of us.) 


The monthly 'allotment' of money to be divvied up in December was $500,000 US, and they've raised the kitty to $700,000 for January. 

3) Open and Constant Data Feedback: Amazon promises to allow you to see all the numbers on how often your book is downloaded, etc. at any time. Additionally, your 'borrowed' books will count toward your overall sales rank. And we all know how important it is from a marketing standpoint for your books to be ranked high in genre sales lists. (We all know that, right?)


Some authors think it isn't fair to allow borrowed books to count towards sales rank as it can perhaps create some skewed data. They also believe that it's Amazon's way of allowing/encouraging Indies to price their work for free so long as they do it the Amazon way. Note: Amazon doesn't allow you to price (strictly speaking) your regular Kindle Direct works for free--a common practice by authors on other eBook retail sites to generate buzz.

4) Other Stuff: Amazon is also promising some kind of snazzy Promotions Manager tool that will allow you to control the pub for your free books. Not sure how it works, but I do know there has been some clammer from Indies for additional advertising perks from Amazon for a while. We'll have to wait and see if this helps.

The BIG FREAKING CATCH-22 

Sounds okay, doesn't it? So why are there so many authors with their drawers all knotted up? Directly from Amazon:

"When you choose KDP Select for a book, you're committing to make the digital format of that book available exclusively through KDP. During the period of exclusivity, you cannot distribute your book digitally anywhere else, including on your website, blogs, etc. However, you can continue to distribute your book in physical format, or in any format other than digital. See the KDP Select Terms and Conditions for more information."

What is the "period of exclusivity" you ask? 90 days. For 90 days you cannot offer your book in electronic form on iBooks, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, your blog, your news letter, your dogs fun electronic banner collar you bought at Sharper Image (well, maybe that)--you name it. 

Amazon is basically telling you where, when and how you can use your work, which is something they've avoided like the plague up to this point. That kind of strong-arming was supposed to be how the big paper publishers worked, not the autonomous communal collective of the Wild Wild eWest. So 2008, Amazon! Hadn't we left that kind of neanderthal thinking behind? Maybe not...

Not sure it goes all the way to Neo-McCarthyism, but at best it's a glaringly obvious grab for power in the electronic reading arena, and many folks think it is out and out corporate bullying. 

So is it good, bad or ugly? 

As alluded to in part I of this discussion, I believe the modern independent (indie) author owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to Amazon. No matter what grievances have arisen since, this much is certain: Without the introduction of the Amazon Kindle to the general populous and the subsequent allowance of Kindle Direct Publishing (basically, the program that allows authors of any renown to upload their work for purchase on the Amazon site at no upfront cost), being an Indie would still mean vanity presses, eye-of-a-needle small print runs and local (if you're lucky) exposure. 

The popularity of Amazon as a book vendor and their strong longterm reputation as an Online merchant and innovator is why we can even have this discussion with a straight face. They and, to a lesser degree, folks like Smashwords have placed a tremendous amount authority back in the hands of the creators. For that, I think all authors, both traditional and independent, should be at least somewhat appreciative. 

Moreover, authors are already reporting some serious financial bumps from taking part in the KDPS. (Click for details and jealous convulsions.) Whether it be from their cut of the lending funds, or from the sales bump the rest of their 'pay' works are getting because of the exposure, there seems to already be some juice in the program. And we're barely a month in! So at the very least, Amazon seems willing to share at least some of the wealth with the authors filling out that robust Kindle library with content.


On the other side of things, I certainly think authors have a right to make their displeasure known to Amazon. The KDPS program DOES seem like a step toward Amazon taking control away from authors. Granted, at this point it's completely optional, but that's how most non-optional things start. No, I don't fault anyone for not getting involved with KDPS based upon principle so long as they can afford it. (The real question, perhaps, in all of this is just how long can they afford to hold out? The program seems to be off to a good start with readers, and that's ultimately who Amazon is going to cater to.)

If it were me, I'd probably not enroll my one and only book in the program. However, if I were an author with a large catalogue, I'd probably give it a shot on a few titles here and there. Or, if my one and only book had been out for a time, I'd consider enrolling it on a temporary basis to generate some new interest perhaps. 90 days isn't forever. (I certainly welcome any other thoughts and points I might have missed in the comments.)


In the end, I have to point to a recent blog post from celebrated independent author, J.A. Konrath. There's been a ton of pub lately about how he earned out $100,000 in three weeks just from his Amazon offerings. The post I'm referencing (and linked to above) he debunks some myths about how he accomplished it, and also reiterates two valuable points: 1) Only hard, hard work is going to make you successful--at anything. 2) You have to understand how the system works and keep practicing to find what works best for you. 

Ultimately, that's what this N00B VIEW series is going to be about: learning new ways to be successful, and trying to understand how it all works.  Hope you've enjoyed the first installment! Now go get to work...


~EJW~

Amazon KDP Select: Good, Bad or Ugly?

N00B VIEW: Amazon's Kindle Direct Select Publishing 
PART I

Just trying to wrap my head around all of the twists and turns in publishing of late usually leaves me with a swollen and aching brain. Things are moving that fast!

I know, I know. Just saying things are moving quickly in the publishing world makes me sound crazier than that ONE guy, from that ONE giant Southern state, who thought he could be President. (Silly Hillbilly, politics are for quasi-sane people.) Alas, it is unfortunately true, friends. Major changes to how words become books and writers become authors are happening daily. 

Why? Pretty simple really. In a night of careless frivolity even the Bieber could admit to, reading and technology hooked up and made a crazy touch-enabled, instant download, content devouring, everyone-is-doing-it lovechild. That child quickly grew into a monster known as electronic reading and, knowing only a monster could properly care for another monster, Amazon adopted it. 

Here we are millions of downloads later, and we're nowhere near seeing the end of all of it. Don't mind telling you, as a publishing newbie that's scary as hell. So, in an effort to help other newbies (a newbie brain-trust we shall be!), I'm starting another new 'feature' on my blog called the N00B VIEW. 

Each N00B VIEW will take a look at different aspects of what's going down in publishing, mostly as it pertains to the new guys and gals. I hope to make it plain-speak, or as plain-speak as I'm capable of making it, and angle-free. I've got no ax to grind. Or, as Coolio might say, "If you got beef, eat a pork chop."

Maybe we can figure it out together? Maybe we'll all go blind from eyestrain and the robots will read to us out of the goodness of their tiny tin hearts? In my bleak book, a win either way.

This is part one of two articles examining Amazon's new book lending program (think Netflix for books) and what it means for authors. The second article will run right here on Monday, mostly because I thought we needed to have a little history lesson on the and the post just got too dang long.

Let's get started!

AMAZON - BULLY OR PUSHY BEST FRIEND?

Oh, what sad times are these when passing ruffians can say Ni at will to little old authors. There is a pestilence upon this land, nothing is sacred.

Amazon has been called many things by many authors. Savior. Greedy, sharp-toothed, dirty greedy bastards. You name it. Honestly? I think they've earned every slur AND every complement. 

In one respect, Amazon almost single handedly took the publishing game out of the exclusive, corporate, freaking huge hands of New York publishing by pushing the Kindle and ePublishing. In the same move they put the game in the many grimy hands of the little people (see readers and writers--US). Yay Amazon!

Even before things got all techno-wild, Amazon was delivering paper books to your door at PRICES SO LOW THEY MUST BE CRAZY!! Consumers and fans of capitalism rejoiced!

On the other side of things big box stores, bean counters at Simon and Schuster and local bookstores moaned.  You see, here is the paradoxical female dog of it all: You can rarely accommodate everyone in business endeavors. If consumers are happy, businesses are probably losing money. If businesses are happy, consumers are left feeling fleeced. Not always, but usually. 

Before the Kindle ever caught fire, Amazon held a few too many cards for the tastes of many people in the publishing industry. Already a global giant in the paper book retail game, Amazon began acting as publisher as well with the eBook craze. Then, last year, they really peed on the campfire when they announced they were getting into paper book publishing as well. The tug of war between Amazon and traditional publishers began in ernest.

You can understand the dilemma faced by the trad pub folks: Your largest retail vendor is also trying to run you out of business. (Amazon denies that last bit, by the way.) They need their books to be sold on Amazon, but they also don't want Amazon (now a competitor in their business) to dictate terms.

Meanwhile, traditional publishing ex-pats and DIY authors flocked to Amazon to take advantage of the opportunity. Never before had an author been able to get her work in front of millions of consumers without signing 'Hurt So Good' contracts and/or mortgaging their creative properties. The filters were off, so to speak, and lots of previously struggling (or non-existant) authors started making money. Good money, and in some cases GREAT money.

However, a few nervous nellies (AKA - skeptical authors and agents) were cautioning about Amazon being the cow with the golden teat. (Okay, I just made that up, but it sounded like a cool name for a cautionary tale.) Once Amazon held all the cards, they said, they'd get all heavy handed and cut the purse strings. It would no longer be an open market, and you'd publish on their terms or not at all. Just like the old way of doing things, but maybe at an even higher cost, with even fewer people who really 'love' books in charge of things. 

Hogwash? Many thought so, until Amazon announced the Amazon Kindle Owner's Lending Library at the end of last year. The Kindle Direct Publishing Select (KDPS) agreement for independent authors soon followed. For the first time, Amazon began using words like 'exclusivity' and other nasty terms that make the ears of the artistically free bleed. 

So is it a good deal for authors or not?

HOPE YOU'LLL JOIN ME BACK HERE ON MONDAY FOR PART II AND AN IN DEPTH LOOK AT THE KDPS PROGRAM!

~EJW~

*UPDATE* I inadvertently left the word "SELECT" out of the title of this post and the references I made to the Kindle Direct Publishing Select program. Please note that Kindle Direct Publishing differs from Kindle Direct Publishing Select and that (for the purposes of this discussion) my intention was to discuss KDPS. I apologize for any confusion, and really (REALLY) appreciate the folks who pointed out my omission. 

Author Spotlight: Damyanti Biswas

E.J. (ME) – The important stuff first.  Tell us about your book/collection, A to Z Stories of Life and Death. 

Damyanti (D) -- The book is a collection of twenty-six stories, based on the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. They seek to question our moral compass: How do you judge a teacher toying with the sexuality of her teenaged student? A boy who decides to murder his mother? What thoughts rage inside a pedophile serial killer before he shoots himself? The stories challenge the concepts of beauty, truth, and morality, by revealing the face of the other side.

I began writing some of the pieces in the collection in April during the A to Z challenge organized by Arlee Bird. (Note - If you don't know about the A-Z, you should check out Arlee's blog, HERE. Seriously one of the most challenging and rewarding blogfests  going.)  During this challenge, participants had to post on their blogs for 26 days in April, every day excluding the 4 Sundays. Some of the readers liked my pieces of fiction enough to ask me to put them together in a book, so the idea took root there.  

ME – The stories seem to be highly philosophical and emotional in nature, asking readers to take a reflective look at their own humanity and how life plays out around them.  That’s an extremely complex task for short stories to accomplish. How did you make it work?  

D – I write about what interests me--people, and what makes them tick. I question the reasons why someone did what they did, and I analyze everything way more than is healthy. My head is full of ‘weird’ people, of what ifs, and whys and wherefores. This is what came out in the collection. Some people have found it too hard-hitting, or the topics too uncomfortable: matricide and pedophilia are not exactly soothing reads, despite a completely literary style and clean language.

I did not write on those themes in order to sensationalize, however, just went where the writing prompts took me. I don't have a ‘moral’ approach to fiction--won’t judge, just hold up things as they are and let the readers come to their own conclusions. Just because something is ugly or inhuman is no reason why it should not be examined. Rather the opposite.

In most of the stories I examine what we usually turn our faces from: death, murder, child abuse, loss of a child, ageing, poverty—but I’ve tried to ask the whys and also sought a glimmer of compassion, understanding, forgiveness, hope, even love.

ME – Taking a step back, can you tell us a little about your writing journey?

D – I started writing 3 years ago. I had some non-fiction experience at the time, but none whatsoever in fiction. I’ve always been a voracious reader, and the idea of writing appealed to me. But it also terrified me, and I let decades pass by before I gave myself the permission to write.

I’ve been traditionally published in quite a few anthologies in Malaysia and Singapore, and Peeping Toe was my first published short story, two years ago. I got accepted for yet another anthology this week, a collection of short stories from Asia and Africa. I’m yet to finish a novel, but that should change soon.

ME – Tell us about your writing process in general. 

D – I write everyday. Whether it is a page or a few pages, I feel quite upset if I don’t write something, a story, a free-write, a bit in my journal, a letter (I correspond via snail-mail with other authors). 

I usually go with images, and take down stories as they occur in my head. I’ve been a pantser so far, and it has worked for short stories.I use exercises from books like Fast Fiction: Creating Fiction in Five Minutes by Roberta Allen. I take a prompt, a word, a picture, a sentence, anything at all, and start writing, pretty much without thinking.

Another book that influenced me, and from where I borrowed the word dream-storming, is From Where you Dream by Robert Olen Butler. After reading through this book (several times), I got into the habit of entering a sort of trance, of letting the character take over, of entering a setting and becoming part of it. My stories (even the longer short stories) never start from an idea, but instead from an image which tugs at me and compels me to write.

ME - Many of my followers also participated in the A-Z daily blog challenge as well as many, many other blogfests. As such, we know how much time and effort can go into blogging. The idea of turning that work into a published story will, I’m sure, be intriguing to many of the readers. What led you to the idea, and how did you go about making it happen?

D – My short stories started at Daily (w)rite, where apart from some journalling and rambling about writing, I began to put up some of the 5-minute or ten minute exercises I'd written. I got a few good responses from my readers, and kept at it, mostly because I enjoyed it.

Then came A to Z Challenge. Being naive, I thought of writing one flash piece each day. On some days, the pieces came easy, on others I barely made the midnight deadline. Near the end of the challenge, some of the readers asked me to compile the 26 pieces of flash fiction into an e-book, and the idea of A to Z stories of Life and Death was born. I threw out and re-wrote a few of the original pieces, spit and polished them as best as I could. Not many stories in the collection are longer than 200 words, and the entire book adds up to barely 12000 words. My hope is that I’ve made each one of them count.

ME - I saw from your author profile that you’ve been traditionally published and that A to Z is your first work to be published independently. What was the motivation for that shift, and it is it something you plan to continue to explore in the future?

D – I would not call it a shift, because I’m still submitting stories for traditional publication, (E.J. - EXCELLENT point! It doesn't have to be all or the other, folks.) and hope to publish my current work (a WIP collection of longer short stories, and a novel) traditionally. 

As I keep repeating to myself: the most important thing is to keep writing, improve my craft, and keep submitting for publication. A writer writes, and then hopes for publication: each rejection is a spur to write more and write better. After all, an established writer is no different from an unpublished one (at least in one aspect): both aspire to write better and reach a bigger audience every day. (E.J. - This might be the most important paragraph ever printed on this blog!)

That said, I think I’ll epub some work as well, mostly because it is fun, and a good way to interact with writer-friends and readers. This e-book was an experiment of sorts: I wanted to learn what this new business of e-books was all about, because as writers I think we should not ignore the flux in the industry. I continue to learn more about ebooks, marketing, and publishing each day, and I don’t think that is a bad thing.

ME – Random question time: What’s the last good book you read? 

D – “The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore”…I think it is one of the most moving, philosophical and thought-provoking books ever to be written with an animal narrator.

ME -  We’ll finish up with the most important stuff. Give us three reasons why A to Z Stories should be our next download, and tell us where we can get them.

D – As a writer, I can give a million reasons, of course. All writers are painfully, desperately in love with their babies. But as a reader I think there exist only two reasons to download a book: the sample, and the reviews. Check those out, and if you like them, buy the book at Kindle Smashwords Nook or Diesel.

Thank you, EJ, for taking the time to host me, and for the well-considered questions. I've done my best to answer them, and I hope I've done them justice. Thanks also to the readers who have heard me through with my long rambling! I'm around to chat with you all, and answer any questions. 

ME - You've been a beautiful interview, D! I think I can safely speak for everyone who reads this and say it has been a true pleasure getting to know you and your writing. You're an inspiration for sure. Best of luck to you on your future endeavors.

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Writer Bio: Damyanti lives more in her head than in this world, adores her husband, and loves her pet fish and plants. She is an established writer for magazines and journals. Her short fiction has been published in the Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, Muse India and in print anthologies by Marshall Cavendish, Monsoon Books, and MPH publications. Her book, A to Z Stories of Life and Death, is available for downloadeverywhere ebooks are sold.

Twitter: damyantig

Website: http://amloki.com

Blog: http://damyantiwrites.wordpress.com