Career Advice from a Successful Author

Today I had the privilege to learn from a New York Times bestselling author, Michael A. Stackpole.  His seminar "Digital Publishing and the Independent Author" at Gen Con Indy 2012 was very well-attended.  Some of the take-aways from the seminar:

• If you're trying to succeed as a writer, your guiding principle should be "Profitable is Good."  Actions you take should ideally contribute to your overall profit.  If you spend $7 a month to host a web site, and that web site generates $10 in sales, it's profitable.
• Just as important as generating a profit is being sensible about what you do.  You shouldn't risk your retirement money or rent money, for example, to fund the printing of a book.  For instance, you might use Amazon's CreateSpace program to print copies on demand, or sell it as an e-Book.
• Success in the world of digital publishing is a moving target.  Techniques that work today may not work tomorrow, or in two years.
• When in doubt about what to do, generate new content.  Everything you write serves as a promotional piece for everything you've already written.  Readers who buy one book you've written and enjoyed it will be more inclined to buy others.
• Every book or short story you publish should contain a 1-2 page list of all the other items you've written (or at least as many as fit on 1-2 pages).  This should appear near the front of your book, so that someone downloading a sample of your book will see this information in the sample.
• Digital sales count for 20-30% of a typical book's sales today.
• Digital self-publishing is a boon to authors.  Traditional publishers paid about 8-10% of a book's cover price to the author, about 6-9 months after the sale was made.  Digital publishing through organizations like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo pay about 70% of the cover price in 60 days after the sale.
• You shouldn't adopt the narrow view that you're "writing a story".  Think of it as "developing an intellectual property".  Think about other ways you could distribute the content (audio books, podcasts, related short stories, etc.).  For your particular content, these could be more profitable venues for you.
• When you choose or create cover artwork, remember that your cover should look good at sizes ranging from postage stamps (as seen in a typical online book listing) all the way to iPad Retina Displays.
• Be sure to hire a good editor and proofreader to look over your work before publishing it.
• In your e-Books, be sure to include a revision number, build number, or other value,  This way, when a reader reports that they've found typos or errors in your work, you can identify the correct draft to look at.

In addition to the industry and self-publishing information, Stackpole also shared important information about building an online presence:

• Remember that different potential readers for your work may not all use a given social media tool.  For example, those who are avid Facebook users may not follow Twitter.  Get your message out to a variety of outlets to reach the most people.
• It's important to think about your online image.  You want to come across as positive, confident, successful, hard-working, persevering, and friendly to your readers.  If you're struggling with characterization, for instance, don't share that.  Do not show yourself "warts and all" to your readers.  This is a recipe for disaster.
• When critics arise, you should generally not respond to them.  There are too many ways it can go badly for you.  For example, you might write a scathing retort to a mean-spirited comment on your blog, only to find that the commenter was a young child.  Suddenly, you've become the author who "beat up" little Janie online.  Not a reputation you want to foster.
• Everything you post online doesn't have to be a story or book.  What is important, though, is that it be entertaining or informative to a reader.  A blog post about how you spent the day trying to overcome writer's block is probably not entertaining.  Telling a story about how your grandmother used to cheer you up when you got stuck by baking you cookies may be entertaining.
• Think of your blogging, tweeting, etc., as building an audience.  You want your audience to see you as a good person who works hard, overcomes problems, and treats others well.  Share some of who you are with them but not everything.  It's like developing yourself as a brand.

When it comes to digital publishing, one of Mike's strongest pieces of advice was that there is no reason whatsoever not to digitally self-publish your work… even if you're trying to sell it to a publisher.  If you succeed in selling it, you can always take the book off the market.  If you don't succeed in selling it, you may at least be earning something from it

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Why Self-Publish?

A heated debate is raging in the community of professional authors on whether self-publishing is a good idea.  On one side are authors who have always worked through traditional publishers to offer their works.  On the other side are authors who are earning a living by self-publishing (and may or may not also be working with traditional publishers).   

Those on the traditional agent/publisher side of the debate feel that self-publishing diminishes the overall quality of books in the marketplace.  Their fear is that unskilled amateur authors will flood the market with badly-written books that will discourage readers from buying any books.  These authors feel that the traditional agent/publisher system acts as a gatekeeper that stops bad books from getting to market.  There is some merit to this viewpoint, in that anyone can digitally publish a book regardless of its quality.  It is also quite reasonable to believe that if a traditional publisher turns a book down it is unlikely that book will ever be a bestseller. 

Authors who engage in self-publishing have found that it increases their income.  Their backlist titles, which may not sell enough to warrant a small print run, can be offered digitally or through print-on-demand services.  The authors can offer books that appeal only to a niche group of readers, a group small enough not to interest a publisher but large enough to yield a profit for the author.  Self-publishers also have more creative freedom, telling the stories they want to tell - without agents, editors, or publishers demanding changes the author disagrees with.  Perhaps best of all, self-publishers collect a much greater royalty from the sale of their books (and usually collect it much sooner than with traditional publishers). On the other hand, in order to ensure a quality product, self-publishers must be sure to invest in a reliable editor to review the work and commission an artist to provide a professional cover for it.  These services would normally be provided by a publisher.

Chris Anderson published an article in Wired magazine in 2004 that (while not talking about self-publishing in particular) explains why authors should offer their works digitally themselves, even when a traditional publisher isn't interested in them.  I would encourage any creative artist to read that article and the book on the subject (The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More).  In a nutshell, Anderson says that a "hit" and a "miss" are on equal economic footing today.  A book that might sell only a few hundred copies appears (electronically) alongside a million-copy bestseller.  He presents a number of real-world examples where books, movies, and music that wasn't selling through the traditional publishing world is generating regular income for the creators in the digital marketplace.

One of Anderson's examples is the story of Joe Simpson's book Touching the Void.  Simpson's book received good reviews but generated only modest sales.  A decade later, John Krakauer's Into Thin Air, a similarly-themed book, became a sensation.  Touching the Void began selling again, and soon overtook Into Thin Air.  Anderson asks, "What happened?  In short, Amazon.com recommendations.  The online bookseller's software noted patterns in buying behavior and suggested that readers who liked Into Thin Air would also like Touching the Void.  People took the suggestion, agreed wholeheartedly, write rhapsodic reviews.  More sales, more algorithm-fueled recommendations, and the positive feedback loop kicked in.  Particularly notable is that when Krakauer's book hit the shelves, Simpson's was nearly out of print."

Amazon doesn't distinguish between product categories in its recommendations (nor do other retailers, generally speaking).  An eBook could be recommended alongside a hardcover or paperback (or a blender, for that matter).  If an author's backlist, out-of-print titles are available on Amazon, they'll still sell long after a traditional publisher has decided they're not worth printing anymore.  Someone buying an author's new book will see recommendations about backlist titles.  Someone buying a book by one author will receive recommendations about similar books from other authors.  All of this results in more sales for all the authors, which is a good thing.

Will self-publishing allow anyone to put a book on the market regardless of its quality?  Yes.  But will that result in financial harm for those authors who put out quality books?  Of course not.  Good books, whether self-published or traditionally published, will get positive reviews on sites like Amazon.  Lousy books will likewise get skewered in the reviews.  People will steer clear of the bad books, and spend their money on the good ones.  Mediocre authors will be forced to step up their game or get out of the market. 

Ultimately, it's all about getting your work in front of the people who will appreciate it.  If traditional publishers want your book, there's nothing wrong with publishing through them.  But if they aren't interested or decide not to reprint it, can there be any harm in publishing a digital version yourself?  I don't think so.

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Putting my Writing Knowledge into Practice

Knowledge without practice makes but half an artist.
(old proverb)

Writing is something I've always enjoyed. In high school and college, I wrote some poems and short stories that I was proud of. When I started working, most of that writing stopped. I spent most of my work days from 1987 to 1996 writing technical and marketing documents, so going home to write more didn't sound like fun. I bought a few books on writing during those years, but wrote very little. By the time I changed jobs in 1996, I had gotten out of the habit of writing for myself. Occasionally, an idea came to mind but I never did anything with it.

Last summer, at the Origins Game Convention in Columbus, I was feeling the urge to "create" something. I decided to sit in on a writing seminar by Michael A. Stackpole entitled "The Rules of Writing". It was a great seminar and gave me the writing bug again. A month later, at Gen Con 2009, I attended more writing seminars. I got so wrapped up in the idea of writing, I almost forgot about gaming.

In November, I took a much bigger step. I took part in the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) contest online. I didn't start until about a week into the month, but still managed to crank out my 50,000 words of fiction by the end of the month. It was the closest I'd ever come to actually finishing a novel!

Since then, I dusted off those writing books I bought 20 years ago and started reading them. I attended a few seminars at the game conventions this year. I bought a few of the documents offered by the authors teaching the seminars, and read those, too. I've learned a great deal from material written by several published authors, including Michael Stackpole, James N. Frey, Josip Novakovich, Orson Scott Card, and others. I suspect that if I were to go back and rewrite my 2009 NaNoWriMo book, it would be considerably better today.

One thing all the authors have suggested is that reading other novels is key to learning to write your own novels, so I've read a few of those in the last few months as well. I've recently read Aaron Allston's "Doc Sidhe", Michael Stackpole's "Talion: Revenant" and "I, Jedi", Chelsea Handler's "Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang", and some others. I've found my iPod Touch very useful for this (since it fits in my pocket and goes everywhere with me, I can read any time I find myself not doing something else).

I started looking at software designed to help novelists out, things like Dramatica Pro, PlotCraft, StoryCraft, PageFour, Scrivener, yWriter, and NewNovelist. I also started gathering my favorite writing advice into a Microsoft OneNote notebook.

You'll notice by this point that there is one thing I really haven't done since last November... Write!

This weekend, I decided to really start fleshing out one of the story ideas I've had for a while now. I don't want to spill the whole thing (because I want you to read it when I finish it), but it's about an IT guy who stumbles on to some very nasty malware (malicious computer software) that turns out to be only the tip of a much larger iceberg. I used an old version of StoryCraft I found on eBay to help me start putting the story together, just to get a feel for that particular product. It's been helpful in organizing my thoughts so far, but I've got a long way to go.

(Note: All Amazon.com links in this article include my Amazon affiliate code, which earns me a percentage of your purchases there - without changing the price you pay. If that idea upsets you, delete the part of the url that includes "mikesalsbusbl-20" and you should be good to go.)

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Notes from Stackpole's "Writing in the Post-Paper Era"

At Gen Con 2010, I attended one of author Michael A. Stackpole's seminars entitled "Writing Success in the Post-Paper Era". The seminar description mentions that Stackpole was "the first author to offer fiction on the iPhone/iPod Touch through Apple's App Store" and that he would give attendees "an up to date look at the digital revolution and explain how you can profit and develop your career". He definitely delivered on that. Below are my notes:

• For every hardcopy book sold, two are printed.


• The economics of publishing are such that if 25% of the copies of a book sold are digital, publishers will drop the paper version.


• If you intend to make a living writing, you need a professional web site, a Facebook presence, and a Twitter feed. All of these will help get your name out there and draw people to your work.


• If you do a blog, everything you write, tweet, or post on Facebook should be entertaining. It should also be positive, and professional. All of these things become part of your image, and you want to present the image of an entertaining professional with a pleasant personality. If you come across as a moody jerk, a loser, or a person who sulks over all their rejection slips, that's not going to help your reputation.


• You should be able to generate 500 words on pretty much any topic and make it entertaining. If you can't, you probably shouldn't be looking at writing as a career.


• A good, professional WordPress design will cost you $150-200. You should consider that an investment in your future, and not go with one of the free, cookie-cutter themes on the web. (Like the one I'm using here, I guess...)


• Buy domain names for yourself, your main character names, and book titles. That will make it easier for people to find your site and your work.


• Mr. Stackpole uses Zen Cart on his site to handle payments and shopping cart duty.


• Paypal can provide a good payment option for customers. Make sure you get a merchant account with them, though.


• Put writing samples on your web site. This will help readers who are new to you decide whether or not to buy your work.


• Non-technical documents/books priced at over $10 will pretty much not sell as e-books.


• Pricing recommendations based on his experience: $2 for up to 10,000 words. $3 for 10-40,000 words. $5 for 50,000+ words.


• He recommends a metric over "word count divided by 10,000" to represent "hours of reading enjoyment" for your work. Price based on that metric and describe your content in that terminology. The term "pages" doesn't really apply in a digitial setting. Even describing in "word count" doesn't work. What you're really selling is the hours of enjoyment someone will get from your work.


• Consumers tend to be more concerned about the time cost of entertainment than the money cost.


• We'll start seeing more digital serial stories in the future, similar to TV episodes, that are sold for casual reading sessions and priced as above.


• The three main formats you should consider publishing your works in: PDF (optional), ePub (works for all devices except Kindle), and Kindle format. Those three formats should cover just about any e-reader your customer might have.


• Stackpole recommends "Legend Maker" software on the Mac for creating the eBooks.


• At some point there is probably going to be a "big collapse" of traditional publishing. Until then you have no reason not to submit your work to traditional publishers.


• Physical books will drive readers to your web site. That's good. You get money from your web site faster. Publishers tend to pay 6-9 months after the sale of the book. Payment tends to be around $1.35 from the sale of a $10 paperback. Sell a $2 short story through your web site, and you'll pocket around $1.67... so digital publishing is a better deal for the author. More money, sooner.


• As far as editing and proofing services, for a short story, it's sufficient to have another writer look it over. For a novel, hire a freelance editor.


• A good strategy for offering samples on your site: Put up installments of a serial story free. Take them down after a week or two. Put up the next installment. Near the end, offer a digitial omnibus collection of the entire series, including the as-yet-unpublished installments. People will buy them to get the parts they're missing and read the parts not available yet.


• In the digital age, there are no "established authors" anymore. You are as established as your web store.

Mr. Stackpole offers a "Digital Career Guide" for $30 through his web store that offers more detail, recommendations, and information. I purchased a copy at Gen Con but haven't read it yet. I hope to publish a review when I do.

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