Angela Answers August 2014: Writing, Books, and Other Terrible Things

Last month I celebrated my five year Twitter anniversary. Seriously. Five years ago I had all the time in the world to respond to every DM, email, Facebook message, and Goodreads comment. Of course, back then no one cared. These days I tremble at the thought of my Twitter inbox, I haven't checked my Facebook messages on my author page in months, and I had, as of this morning, 13,958 unread emails.

Many of my direct messages are requests to like various Facebook pages and buy books--I delete those. I do not auto DM and I do not like receiving them--the exception is a nice thank you--no strings attached. I still don't do it, but I won't publicly shame you for it either. The non offending messages tend to come in the form of questions. Lots and lots of questions. I'd love to be able to answer ever single one of them, but I'd probably have to give up writing, and like...showering. Smelly authors are not happy people, so here today I wrote a blog of Answers to some of the most asked, and most random questions. I made the questions jumbo sized, so non-writers can easily find the questions that pertain to them and can skip the rest.

Share with your friends. Click here to ask your own question. Put Angela Answers in the subject. Otherwise it will go in the toxic waste pile with the other things I'm avoiding.

Facebook Q: Will you finish writing my book for me? I've tried, but I just can't get the ending.

Answer: While I feel humbled you would trust your book baby to me, alas, I have time for zero extra projects. Sadly, in addition to serious scheduling conflicts I can't read any non-published manuscripts from people who are not with my publisher Green Envy Press. Not because I am a snob, but because we live in a crazy world and I don't want to have to defend myself or an author who publishes with me, from someone claiming we stole book ideas from them.

There are very few exceptions to this rule, and those are only made for people I have worked with in the past. Please don't ask for an exception, those people already know who they are...I think.

Twitter Q: How do I publish a novel?

Answer: I love Twitter, and I have worked really hard at making myself approachable there. I want to have relationships on social media, and I don't just use it as an info dump. But because of that, I tend to have many people new to the business ask me very basic, see nonspecific, questions as they don't know where else to turn. I always feel really bad when I don't have time to help these people. I'll be honest, it used to annoy me. I used to huff and think, you can use Twitter why can't you use Google? But now I understand there is simply too much information to get a handle without some guidance from someone you trust. Since you are trusting me I tend to get a very warm feeling in my insides.

Deciding what publishing path is right for you is a big step. For some people the path seems to choose you. For other people the decision is not so easy. Since the person didn't specify, I don't know if they were asking for traditional or indie (self publishing). So I am going to give a very basic, quick-step guide to both.

Steps to Traditional Publishing:
Write a fantastic book>>>put it down/or have other people read it>>edit, edit, edit>>>put it down/have other people read it>>edit, edit, edit>>>research appropriate agents/ publishers>>>read their rules and requirements>>write a fantastic query letter and send with any other requirements >>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>> WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>>WAIT>>> Repeat OR GET LUCKY

Now, I could help you with your query letter, telling you which agents I think are awesome (hint they are ALL on Twitter) but let's be honest:

Steps to Indie or Self Publish:
So yeah, once upon a time I was really good at query letters and stuff like that. I once wrote a synopsis that a popular agent said was the best one they had ever read--seriously--a synopsis! I am almost embarrassed at the stuff I spent time getting good at five years ago.

I want to preface this by telling you, I do not hate and wish ill legacy publishers and the people who publish with them. I think traditional publishers and indies are perfect for each other, and I think people are starting to figure that out too. At least judging by the indie authors that are being snatched up recently.

That being said, I feel more qualified to give advice on indie publishing, because I run a publishing co-op; and that is where my success comes from. SO here you go!

Write a fantastic book>>>put it down/or have other people read it>>edit, edit, edit>>>put it down/have other people read it>>edit, edit, edit>>>acquire cover, editing, formatting, and for the LOVE OF GOD don't do this all yourself unless you know someone who is going to be really honest with you.>>Arrange marketing>>>HIT THE PUBLISH BUTTON>>market>>>WRITE ANOTHER BOOK.

Social media should probably go in there somewhere, and marketing? There is more to that than would fit in this blog post or ten others. I am actually going to publish a book marketing series for authors, the first of which, Twitter for Authors and Other Introverts, comes out later this year.

Twitter Q: When does your next book come out?

Answer: Funny question. I have had a lot of issues publishing books this year, moving cross country and mad phobias have kept me from moving forward on the next book I had planned to release. OCD has made it so I have had a hard time just skipping to the next book after that. (They are all written.) HOWEVER, I decided to move forward with the release of 23 1/2 Hours to Live, my first released NA Romance--and it is coming out later this month. More on that soon!

Goodreads Q: How many books have you sold?

Answer: What's weird is, I don't even know. I didn't start keeping good track until this year. It's in the thousands.

Twitter Q: How can I get as many Twitter followers as you?

Answer: Create good content, engage, and come up with creative ways to find new people you can relate too.

Facebook Q: How do I write books?

Answer: If you ask the roughly 5% of people who leave me absolutely scathing reviews, they would tell you I have no freaking idea and you shouldn't ask me. ;) My official answer is, one word at a time. I have been told many of my books read like poetry. For me, every syllable has a feeling attached to it, like music. Every word should be important even if it's just to cut, or burn, or strike. Every word should be the right word to make people feel, to spark something in a person one way or another way.

But if you are wanting to walk me through how to plot or come up with characters, you may as well ask me how do I bleed. I just do. Stories come to my mind completed, as they are, flaws and all.

OK I have 2 prizes I HAVE GOT to mail out this weekend, (I'm sorry) so I am going to have an awesome and short giveaway. For what? Well it's kind of a surprise! I am going to take a Flat Rate Box and shove it full of everything I need to survive the weekend. Minus food...maybe. I am willing to send it to anywhere in the US and it's territories, bases, etc.



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Smashed and Confused: an open letter to Smashwords CEO Mark Coker in regard to the Hachette vs. Amazon feud

I have been struggling for a while to put my thoughts on the Amazon/Hachette dispute into an article. I still believe that indie publishing and traditional publishing are on the same side, and deadlines kept me from getting my thoughts down. Lucky for me, my bestie and Green Envy Press partner Larry Kollar wrote a fantastic bit covering everything I would have said, and offering some fantastic perspective!

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If you’re an author, you’ve certainly heard about the big showdown between Amazon and Hachette, one of the Big 5 publishers. Or rather, you’ve heard the breathless reports from traditional media outlets about how the Amazon colossus is attempting to strong-arm helpless publishers into accepting its terms. Mark Coker, CEO of Smashwords (a combination eBook store and distributor to other stores) weighed in with a blog post titled Amazon Hachette Dispute Foreshadows What’s Next for Indie Authors, The title provides a strong hint at Coker’s views on the matter. What follows are my own views, in the form of an open letter to Mark Coker.

Dear Mr. Coker,

Your recent blog post does not only a disservice to those authors that you claim to champion, but your own company as well. Rarely has the phrase “cutting off your nose to spite your face” been more relevant. Frankly, I’m surprised—almost shocked—that you would so blatantly side with large publishers in this dispute, especially when you admit that the same publishers shun Smashwords due to your (correct) stance on DRM. Let’s be honest here: major publishers would be happy to see Smashwords dead, right after Amazon. 

If you are getting your information about the dispute only from the likes of the Wall Street Journal and Publisher’s Weekly, you’re getting a very one-sided view that is slanted to favor Hachette. That shouldn’t be a surprise; PW is the traditional industry's mouthpiece, while the WSJ is owned by the same conglomerate that owns HarperCollins (and Fox News, but we won’t go there today). Amazon, which owns no major media outlet to tell its side of the story, has mostly taken the more typical corporate approach: keep mum until reaching an agreement. One offer Amazon has made, that has somehow escaped the notice of the world at large, is to fund 50% of an author pool “to mitigate the impact of this dispute on author royalties” if Hachette funds the other half. So to say Amazon is unconcerned with how this is affecting Hachette’s authors is blatantly untrue. To my knowledge, Hachette hasn’t exactly jumped on this offer, which I think tells us who is more concerned about authors in this dispute.

The root of the dispute is this: Hachette is attempting to reinstate the Agency Model, and Amazon does not want it. Hachette, and other major publishers, were found guilty of collusion when they forced it on Amazon a few years ago. The problem with the Agency Model is that it turns the whole system of retailing on its head. Any store, including brick-and-mortar bookstores, pays a fixed price for each unit of inventory—be it groceries, CDs, monitors, books, or rolls of carpet—and sells them at some markup (usually). Amazon has never been shy about their corporate strategy: focus on market share, and profits will follow. So Hachette might set a retail price of $14.95 on a new release; Amazon pays maybe $7.50 and sells it at whatever price they decide best fits their needs at the moment. Larger retailers can demand (and often get) discounts—that’s how Barnes and Noble killed locally-owned bookstores; they used favorable wholesale prices to undercut the indies. Would publishers demand of Walmart, or B&N’s brick-and-mortar stores, the right to set prices? If not, why is it okay to demand the same of Amazon?

Now, let’s talk about Smashwords, and why some authors might stick with Amazon. (Hint: it isn’t because they’re all starry-eyed about the Kindle ecosystem.)

I’m a member of a publishing co-op, Green Envy Press. We pool our various talents to help each other produce eBooks with at least as much polish, inside and out, as major publishers. We have varying thoughts about diversification—of our authors, I’m the one most dedicated to the proposition. Nine of my ten books, including the just-released Into the Icebound, are available at Smashwords and the stores they distribute to. I have what I think are good reasons to spread my books far and wide, although my sales figures might disagree. When I look at my income, I see $600-$900 coming in from Amazon every quarter (paid monthly by the way), and maybe $20-$30 from Smashwords. Since I use Smashwords to aggregate the rest of the world (except B&N, because I like their Nook Press tools so much), it’s safe to say that 97% of my sales come from Amazon. On a good day, I’ll sell as many books at Amazon as I have in over two years at Smashwords proper (38 books). I know that other authors have different spreads, maybe a few lopsided the other way, but I can only speak for myself. 

How much effort goes into gaining that 3% of sales, then? In my opinion: far too much. If you hadn’t started taking EPUBs, I'd have given up on you and started going direct. I write in Scrivener, and format in Sigil, so my workflow doesn’t involve a Word file. The income I get from Smashwords is not worth the time to produce a Word file just for the Meatgrinder. I’ve uncovered two problems in the EPUB autovetter (y’all were using a ratty version of Epubcheck at first, and it checks the manifest instead of the spine for the title page). Fortunately, you have excellent and responsive support staff who want to make this stuff work. But why not take it a step further? There are excellent open-source tools that can automatically convert a good EPUB to all the formats you support—like Meatgrinder, only better because those of us who don’t work from a Word file could play.

So. Why is it that, despite the far wider reach that Smashwords affords, do I typically get 30 times the sales (or more) from Amazon? It’s not for lack of trying on my part—in the beginning, I tried to give all bookstores equal time, and my non-Amazon sales have actually picked up since I gave up and just focused on Amazon links. Could it be that Amazon mentions (and sometimes headlines) my books in their massive email blasts once a month or so?

Another possibility is that online publicity sites/newsletters work from the assumption that you're in KDP Select and can schedule free days whenever you need them. Maybe Smashwords should create its own promo services, or at least encourage the established services to be more Smashwords-friendly. I would love to see more revenue coming from Smashwords.

Amazon is winning the eBook wars for a number of reasons right now, not the least of which is that it's making a lot of authors a lot of money without much up-front hassle. Between the most basic of promotions that nobody else seems to do, and the Amazon-centric review and promotion ecosystem, a cycle of dependency is spinning up. Smashwords needs to counter that, somehow, before authors have no choice but to follow the money. But backing traditional publishers in a fight against Amazon isn’t going to do that.

Larry Kollar

Author of White Pickups and Accidental Sorcerers

The Day Angela Kulig Became Properly Disillusioned

I am not one to hate on people involved in traditional publishing. You know; agents, editors, writers, publishers--there are several reasons for that. 1.) We must always try to be professional 2.) I do interact with them many times in a professional environment. 3.) One day I hope to have a book for sale 75% off at the Walmart.

Oh these lofty, unobtainable goals.

That being said, this weekend I found myself PISSED OFF!

One of my favorite agents, the agent that up until this point I always thought would one day by MY agent. Said some really--what I consider--unprofessional things about self published writers. I have never self published any of my books--so, why should I take offense to this as I'm a real "indie" writer--whatever that is? I mean other than I have more self pub'd friends than I can shake an iPhone at; but the hypocrisy of it is outlandish.

It wasn't just the usual--I don't believe in self publishing blah blah. Oh no, it was a Self Published books are ranked lower than the gum I just scraped off the bottom of my shoe and far more irksome. What is even worse is this wasn't even in a work related context--she was complaining about stumbling upon them while shoping for books.

It is troubling that, as writers, we must always be professional. I see agents rag about people who didn't follow their guidelines, or offended them in some other way--by doing what is usually something very slight, every single day online. They talk about these people in rash, demeaning words--and I used to understand.

Only the double standard has become too much. If we say anything remotely negative about them we find ourselves painted as the jilted lover, and threatened with blacklisting. We are always in the wrong. Always. They are not held to the same standards.

I understand the need for agents. If everyone could do as good of a job as an agent--often times a whole agency, a team of editors, and an entire publishing company then they wouldn't have a fucking job. One day, I will look for one again. Only not this one. It doesn't matter that she has requested every single manuscript I ever queried. It doesn't matter that she requested revisions--and even rerevisions on two of my books.

All that matters is, I think she is a bit of a bitch and I don't think I'd like to work with her anyway.