Guest Post by Nikki M. Pill

Joe sez: If you've missed the previous guest blogs, they've been fascinating and informative.

You can read Nick Spill talking about his path to publication here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-blog-by-nick-spill.html

You can read Constance Phillips and Jenna Rutland and Joe Konrath talking about their paths to publication here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-constance-phillips-and.html

You can read Ian Kezsbom talking about Fuzzbomb Publishing here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-ian-kezsbom.html

You can read Gary Ponzo talk about first lines here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-gary-ponzo.html

You can read Chris Everheart talking about technophobia here:

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-christ-everheart.html

You can read about Joe Flynn talking about his publishing history here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-joe-flynn.html

You can read Richard Stooker talking about bestsellers here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-richard-stooker.html

Now here's Nikki Pill...

In 2003, I did a reading at Twilight Tales in Chicago. A writer approached me and introduced himself as Joe. He said he liked my work and wanted to introduce me to his agent. It’s a vote of confidence I’ve never forgotten. The agent passed on my manuscript, but I picked up Joe’s book WHISKEY SOUR and loved it. I’ve been a big fan ever since, and he’s been a major influence on my decision to go indie. If you want to see how his advice panned out for me, check this out.

I did my psychology internship at hospice, so I’ve had the chance to see the devastating effect Alzheimer’s has on the entire family. (PSA: the single biggest determining lifestyle factor about dementia and Alzheimer’s is exercise, so please hop on the treadmill after you nail your word count for the day). I was thrilled to have the chance to fight the good fight against that disease while getting a chance to guest post on Joe’s blog. I don’t know that I have anything new to say about writing, but as a trained therapist, I can talk about practical ways to deal with your inner critic.

We all need out inner editor to do our best work. We all write sucky sentences, clunky metaphors, and boring dialogue. It’s useful to weed it out in later drafts. When enough stress comes into the picture, though, that editor can become an outright bully -- usually before you start! People with good intentions will tell you to “put it out of your mind,” “stop thinking about it,” “get over it,” or “think positive.” They may tell you that people who give you negative reviews “aren’t worth your time,” so “don’t let them rent space in your head.”

But how?

We live in a culture where self-help gurus make a lot of money telling you to think positive. To replace negative thoughts with positive ones. To Just Be Happy. If it were really that simple -- if you could really just replace one thought with another by using sheer willpower -- depression and anxiety wouldn’t be epidemics in our culture. The thing is, there is no such thing as unlearning. If you ever believe that you’re a bad writer, that neural pathway becomes part of your brain. Think it enough, and it will get as big and crowded as Route 90 in Chicago rush hour. You might learn a more useful skill, but you can’t unlearn the thought.  It’s like learning French and expecting to forget English.

Some people can easily practice skills we call “cognitive defusion” and “emotional regulation.” Most people who grew up with that knack can’t articulate it because it’s just part of their unconscious mental processes. These skills are a bitch to learn later in life, especially if you’re a ruminator and worrier like me!

I hit a nasty rough patch in 2006-2007. I experienced paralyzing fear when I faced the blank white page. Every idea I had was a wretched cliché. Every sentence was stilted and stupid. I could barely skim Joe’s or Elizabeth Bear’s blog posts on writing because I felt like such a fraud. I called myself a writer, but I wasn’t writing. I felt like I’d used up all my good ideas and I’d never turn out anything good again. I would never be as good as China Mieville or Jeanette Winterson. They NEVER had ideas this bad!

I incorrectly attributed this to writers’ block, to a creative failing on my part. You see, the mind is an evaluation and judgment machine. Those skills are great for predicting danger so a species can survive. No amount of positive thinking will replace a sabertooth tiger with a kitten, right? But today, when our mind is attempting to predict and prevent circumstances that cause us embarrassment or pain, we end up in a vicious mental feedback loop. We end up with a long list of situations to avoid, like Going to Parties, Asking People on Dates, or Self-Publishing a Book.

For several years, it wasn’t safe for me to say anything. The abusive person in my life would twist my statements around and throw them back in my face. If something was in writing, this person could pick the statements apart and attribute all kinds of horrible, manipulative motives to me. Of course a blank page was terrifying!

Part of how I dealt with it -- my starting point in cognitive defusion -- is here, with my yoga teacher telling me “it doesn’t have to be anything.” I stopped trying to suppress my inner critic. I agreed with him. “That’s okay. This page can be absolute shit. If Neil Gaiman and Elizabeth Bear talk about writing the Awful First Draft, then I don’t have to turn out a perfect first draft. Mine can be awful too.” That enabled me to detach from perfectionism, which was my mind’s attempt to protect me from embarrassment and hurt. Instead of suppressing the thoughts, I just allowed them to exist in a more workable way.

1. Letting go of Unhelpful Stories 

Sometimes critical thoughts come from a distance; sometimes, they clamp on like an awful H.R. Giger alien facehugger. It’s not about some miracle cure so you’ll never be afraid again. It’s about changing your relationship with those thoughts. For instance, I remember sitting in a booth at the Roger’s Park Leona’s, totally stunned that The Tease made it to #5 in free suspense. My boyfriend was grinning ear to ear, and I was sick to my stomach. It had just occurred to me that over 3,600 people had my book. That meant 3,600 people could dislike the book, write negative reviews, and judge me. What was I thinking, publishing a book? Who ever said I could write?

I recognized that my mind was just telling me the same old story, and said to myself, “Here’s the I’m a Bad Writer Story again.” My inner critic’s histrionics sputtered and quieted to a dull mutter, and I had a cheeseburger with my boyfriend while another couple hundred people downloaded the book.

The worst thing you can do is to try fighting the chatter. It never shuts off -- not even for the mental might of lifelong meditators. It’s impossible. Strategies like alcohol or TV can numb them for a while, but they’ll just come back.

There’s a difference between having a thought, holding a thought, and buying a thought. Meditation and yoga can help create mindfulness, but they’re not the only way. Simple, quick, easy mindfulness exercises can train your brain too. So when your critic starts telling you that you suck, hold the thoughts lightly, like a live bird. You are not your thoughts. They are just temporary private events. Notice the thought, thank your mind for telling you a story, and do what is meaningful to you.

2. Take Action

Another important strategy is committed action in service of your values. Many of us make this assumption that someday, we’ll be happy, and then our lives will start. Our life is happening right now, though. The further we get from our values, the less satisfied we are. If you value doing creative things, and your behavior doesn’t line up with that, you’ll experience dissatisfaction. You might even feel like a fraud, as I did. Life is more fulfilling when we act on our values. Feel the fear, recognize that not every thought or emotion is actionable, and take action. No matter what you do, someone is going to criticize you. Do you want your tombstone to honor you as a dedicated writer, loving family member, and loyal friend? Or as a person who successfully avoided criticism?

Some people might use a technique we call “flooding,” which is like getting over a fear of blood by volunteering in the ER for a night. You flood yourself with the experience to desensitize yourself. I prefer a less dramatic approach, especially for projects that take as long as writing. Todd Travis’s recent post is a good example of this. His post talks about the values of bravery, creativity, hard work, and pursuing dreams. He writes about placing a higher value on those than avoiding criticism and avoiding embarrassment. If you keep your values as your North Star, it’s a lot easier to live a rich, full life. 

3. Exposure

My personal favorite technique for big-time worriers like me is making time for it. Give yourself 15 minutes a day to worry as hard as you can. Seriously. Go for it. Freak out about how your book will flop and you’ll be remembered as the Biggest Loser Writer Ever. At the end of those 15 minutes, pick yourself up and get on with your day. Experiment with that -- 15 minutes a day for 2 weeks, even and especially on the days you feel like you don’t have something to worry about -- and see what happens.

If you’d like to read more about this approach, it’s called Acceptance Commitment Therapy. It’s the approach I use as a therapist, and it’s life-changing. I highly recommend the writers Russ Harris and Steven Hayes. I also loved Hilary Rettig’s 7 SECRETS OF THE PROLIFIC and Steven Pressfield’s THE WAR OF ART. They’re not based in ACT, but they’re great books for writers that align well with the philosophy.

And, of course, you can read THE TEASE, the novel I wrote when I changed my relationship with my inner critic. Anna is a therapist by day, burlesque dancer by night. When a serial killer stalks and murders members of her burlesque troupe, her personal and professional lives come crashing down around her.

As a special thank-you to Joe for encouraging me as a fledgling writer and devoting his resources to curing a devastating condition, I’m having a Joe’s Blog Special. THE TEASE is free today & tomorrow, July 22-23. I hope you enjoy it. 

Joe sez: One of the greatest journeys in life is overcoming insecurity and learning to truly not give a shit.

Of course, that's easier said than done. Remember that being brave doesn't mean being fearless. It means being able to act while afraid.

First comes action, then comes not giving a shit.

My way to combat fear is to do exactly that--to combat fear. To face it, head on. So I'll add Pavlov to Nikki's list of ways to fight fear. 

4. Classical Conditioning

If you want to get over being afraid of something, keep doing it until you're used to it.

We fear the worst case scenario. But once that happens, and we survive, we can become calloused to it.

When I was a wee lad of five years old, the nurse sneezed while giving me a booster shot, jabbing me in my tiny arm with a giant needle three times in a line, powpowpow like a sewing machine.

I was afraid of needles after that. Every check-up was filled with anxiety. The very thought of going to the doctor was enough to make my palms sweat.

I carried this fear with me until I was sixteen, and then I realized what a wonderful opportunity fear presented to me. How many chances do we have in life to truly overcome something? To triumph? To conquer? 

Beating fear was a way to grow as a person. To turn something that made me feel bad into something that gave me strength.

So I went and gave blood. That needle was a helluva lot bigger than a booster shot needle. Plus, my veins are hard to find. You bet your ass I was sweating like a guy on death row sitting in that chair, and when the nurse started digging around for my vein and muttering, "I can't find it" it took all I had to stay completely still.

After a minute of digging, she apologized, pulling out saying it wasn't working.

"Try my other arm," I told her.

More poking and prodding, but she found it. I gave my pint, and got over my fear of needles. Having survived the worst case scenario, I no longer needed to fear it.

Twilight Tales in Chicago was a reading group where anywhere from five to fifty people would gather on the top floor of the Red Lion, an old Irish pub on Lincoln Avenue, and read aloud from their work.

I've heard it said that more people fear public speaking than death. I've always been a pretty good public speaker, but the threat of bombing always weighed heavily in my head, and I'd never bombed before.

So during an open mike night, I read some J. Andrew Haknort poetry. (Haknort is an alter ego who writes stupid, offensive poems, such as: "My grandma wears a diaper, I really hate to wipe her.") 

People who know me well enough to get drunk or stoned with me wind up appreciating the stupidity that is Haknort. The poems can, in some cases, induce hysterical laughter.

Such was not the case when I read Haknort at Twilight Tales. Instead, I induced groans and booing and catcalls to get off the mike.

Maybe I should have. I'd never been in front of such a hostile crowd, before or since.

But I took the abuse. For my entire slot, fifteen full minutes. Watching as people walked out. Enduring the increasingly hateful comments. I kept going, and by the time I was finished I'd been baptized by fire. Since it could never be worse than that, I could handle any public speaking situation that life through at me.

I've bombed a few times since, but not as spectacularly. Now, when a joke or line doesn't work, I apologize for it, promise things will get better, and move on. Nietzsche was right.

But public speaking isn't the biggest fear writers have. The biggest fear is probably bad reviews. Having people hate your work (and even hate you by extension).

Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach, critique. Those who can't critique, somehow wind up working for Kirkus and Publisher's Weekly.

I remember the first few major reviews I had. They were so-so, neither raves nor pans, and I was able to cull some good quotes out for my book covers and website. This was before Amazon allowed customer reviews, so printed reviews in self-important rags like PW and Kirkus were very important to authors. I knew writers who would be depressed for weeks because of a bad review, and I sometimes had to numb the sting myself with liquor. 

Then Kirkus hit me with this quote:

"Konrath's prose ranges from careless to wretched."

When I read that for the first time, a dam broke in me, and I began to laugh like a hyena.

Seriously? What kind of self-important little asshat would write something like that? Did his mother not love him? Or maybe dropped him down an escalator as a baby? Was he bitter because he couldn't get laid without paying for it? Did he think trashing an author compensated for having a micropenis? Was he a frustrated writer who couldn't find an agent so he had to vent his spleen on those who could?

I realized anyone who needed to vent hate like that was seriously messed up in the head, and as such I couldn't take it seriously. So I stopped taking it seriously.

At the time I was in an anthology, and was asked to provide a quote for the back jacket copy. I did:

"Konrath's prose ranges from careless to wretched." - Kirkus

Since then, I haven't minded bad reviews. If anyone hates my work, so be it. It just isn't worth thinking about. Hell, it isn't even worth reading.

When I began blogging about self-publishing, I neatly segregated myself from the legacy world. A lot of people still part of that legacy world didn't like many of the things I said, or the way I said them. So I've been the target for a lot of hate over the years. Not just hate of my words, but hate of me, as if these pinheads actually know me.

It's ridiculous. And it doesn't effect me in the least.

If somebody wants to publicly eat a big plate of stupid with a healthy side of envy, let them. I don't care. What Peter says about Paul says more about Peter than Paul. And I truly thank all of my haters for the free publicity they've given me. That's part of the reason I make 20x as much money as they do.

We live in a scary, unfair, unkind world. One where complete strangers get off trashing you and your work. Bad reviews, rejections, boos, ridicule, envy, and hate are things every writer will have to deal with at some point. 

They won't kill you. Trust me. After a while, they become amusing.

Just make sure you have a good support network (friends, family, peers) if things get tough, and remember that were aren't curing cancer or making rockets to send people to Mars. We're entertainers. No book, or person, entertains everyone. 

And that's okay.

And if you do carry a grudge, remember that success is the best revenge. Ten years ago, no writer would EVER publicly denounce Kirkus or Publisher's Weekly, from fear of getting another bad review (or no review at all.) Now Kirkus and PW are so desperate they're charging writers for reviews. It's so pathetic it's hysterical, to see how those who once had power now pander and beg to delay the inevitable bankruptcy.

God, I'll really miss them.

So how do you folks overcome fear?

Guest Post by Richard Stooker

Joe sez: If you've missed the previous guest blogs, they've been fascinating and informative.

You can read Ann Voss Peterson talking about pacing here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/pacing-by-ann-voss-peterson.html

You can read Nick Spill talking about his path to publication here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-blog-by-nick-spill.html

You can read Constance Phillips and Jenna Rutland and Joe Konrath talking about their path to publication here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-constance-phillips-and.html

You can read Ian Kezsbom talking about Fuzzbomb Publishing here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-ian-kezsbom.html

You can read Gary Ponzo talk about first lines here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-gary-ponzo.html

You can read Chris Everheart talking about technophobia here:

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-christ-everheart.html

You can read about Joe Flynn talking about his publishing history here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-joe-flynn.html

Now here's Richard Stooker...

How high is the sky?

How big is the pie?

Most importantly, how can we writers get our share of the moolah?

Model success.

Fortunately for us, the good folks at FORBES MAGAZINE make that easier by listing the 15 writers who have made the most money in that particular year, plus estimates of their income.

You can see the latest lists at these links:

2010

2011

Hopefully, they will publish the list for 2012 this August, but who wants to wait? (Besides, at the rate writers are signing up to guest blog for Joe, if I wait that long, this post may not be published until 2015.)

Just for LOLs, before we get started, you might also want to look at the FORBES list for highest paid actors and actresses in 2011. Compare their incomes to those of the 2011 writers.

Notice something interesting? The highest paid actor of 2011, Tom Cruise, earned $75 million -- less than the highest paid writer, James Patterson. The highest paid actress, Kristen Steward, made a "mere" $34.5 million, just a shade over Janet Evanovich.

And you thought Hollywood stars made more money than writers.

(Now it's time to issue a disclaimer. FORBES is a magazine, not the IRS, so they have no access to anybody's tax returns. However, they can research, and therefore come up with respectable, ballpark estimates. I'm operating on the assumption their estimates are relatively, though not precisely, accurate. Besides, the tax returns of these authors no doubt reflect the influence of legal advice regarding corporations and trusts, so their gross income is a better measure of how their works compare in the marketplace than their net incomes, which reflects how many business expenses they hope they can get away with.)

Let's focus on the 2011 list of highest paid writers. I doubt anybody's surprised to see James Patterson at the top, or Stephen King in the number 2 spot.

One thing that should encourage all us fiction writers: 14 out of the 15 are primarily fiction writers. Bill O'Reilly is the only nonfiction writer who made this cut, and he has a tremendously large, major media platform.

So the marketplace of book buyers primarily prefers stories to facts. That too should encourage us.

Now, we're looking for career lessons here. I don't care that you don't like so-and-so's books. The point is, these 14 writers are highly successful. Most of them have been so for decades. What can we learn from them?

Something else to encourage us all: the variety of these authors. Thrillers of various kinds (including legal and horror), mysteries, young adult, fantasy, middle-school, and romance. Only adult science fiction gets the shaft. (Though some of these authors have dabbled in it, none are primarily known for it.)

Their average age: 57.7.

Age range: 39 to 70 years.

Average number of years in publishing (since first novel's publication -- I'm as well aware as anyone they wrote for years before first publication, but that can't be determined.) -- 26.

Range: 6 to 45.

Average number of books published by each (based on Wikipedia) -- 65.9.

Range: 6 to 290.

It's obvious some of these authors have made the list through having tremendously successful, breakthrough blockbuster bestsellers (standalones or series). Others because, although they often make the New York Times bestseller lists, they have published a lot of books, for many years.

The "blockbuster" authors:

Jeff Kinney

Suzanne Collins

J.K. Rowling

George R.R. Martin

Stephanie Meyer

The "prolific" authors:

James Patterson

Stephen King

Janet Evanovich

John Grisham

Nora Roberts

Danielle Steele

Dean Koontz

Ken Follett

Rick Riordan

I realize the line is not always clear. Certainly King and Grisham have had some tremendous bestsellers. But neither has had a blockbuster (as opposed to ordinary bestseller) in the last few years, and yet they remain on this list. George R.R. Martin has published a fair amount of novels over the decades, but it's his Ice and Fire fantasy series that makes him most of his money.

It's worth pointing out Dan Brown is not on the 2011 list, although he wrote the single bestselling blockbuster of all time. Of course he would have been on the list for the year The DaVinci Code came out, but he published only 3 previous books, and evidently his royalties are not high enough to put him in the top 15 list for 2011.

Therefore, it's safe to conclude, while writing tremendous blockbusters is nothing to sneeze at (and Dan Brown should never qualify for food stamps), longterm career success is more likely to come from having a large backlist of popular books than from publishing just a few blockbusters.

We already know the 2012 list is going to contain at least one new name: E.L. James. Who is she going to bump off? I don't know, but I'd bet Suzanne Collins (8 books including The Hunger Games trilogy) and Stephanie Meyer (6 books including the Twilight series) are at greater risk than Nora Roberts (290 titles), especially since their blockbuster series have already peaked.

I'd also guess E.L. James will not remain on the list for many years if she doesn't soon publish more popular novels.

So -- is there a common denominator?

To me, the answer's fairly obvious. All 14 of these authors are good at accomplishing the main task of fiction: arousing -- and satisfying -- powerful emotions. When they finish your story, you want the reader to feel choked up.

That should be Fiction 101, but not all writers learn the lesson as well as they have.

Granted, not all of them accomplish this in the same way or for the same audience, but all of them do it for a large slice of the market.

Sure, Patterson has a knack for gut-wrenching murders with a dramatic flair, nutso killers, and bizarre plot twists, but if that's all people wanted, Michael Slade would be the household name. His Mounties actually perform real police work. But Alex Cross has Nana Mama, cute kids, and a steady stream of girlfriends.

You may also argue about E.L. James. Yes, 50 Shades of Grey is full of sex, some of it BDSM, but it's basically a fairy tale romance. Clumsy young virgin attracts a hot billionaire by rebelling against his kinky desires. She takes some of the pain, but never signs his contract for submissives. Before long, he is sleeping with her and having vanilla sex -- and enjoying it because he loves her. It's a good girl taming the bad boy. Apparently, many women enjoy that.

That leads me to another observation: this list validates the proposition (not original with me) women constitute a majority of book buyers.

That they buy almost all romance novels (many by Steele and Roberts), is not news. Many women enjoy thrillers, too, and seem to influence which thriller writers make the most money.

From Carrie on, King has always written about girls and women as well as men and boys. Koontz is particularly careful to write about strong women. Follett enjoys creating young women who rebel against an unfair world. Martin made women and little girls strong players in a work of high fantasy.

Grisham isn't quite so female-oriented, but two of his early books, The Client and The Pelican Brief, had strong female protagonists. His other books often feature a David versus Goliath theme, always good for arousing sympathy.

James, Meyer, and Evanovich however have attracted a large female audience by writing about women who are anything but SuperWomen, but who succeed despite their klutziness. And Ana, Bella, and Stephanie all have strong attitudes.

The number of female book buyers may even account for the lack of adult science fiction writers on this list. (The Hunger Games is SF, of course, but is young adult, featuring a sixteen year old girl worthy of Robert Heinlein.)

All of us -- trad, indie, self, and mixed -- can learn from them.

And us self-published writers should be targeting them. Not in a mean way, but simply because the tide of history is running in our favor.

They're making megabucks from selling gazillions of books, and yet they get only a small percentage of the total book price. They share the gross with their publisher, timber and paper companies, printers, Manhattan landlords, bookstores, truckdrivers, and many others. Their agents get 15% of their incomes.

Their book prices -- certainly of new releases -- are much higher than ours, and they can't change that.

When the 2012 list is announced, be sure to check not only what authors are on the list, but compare the total annual income to that of 2011. Sales figures for one particular author will constantly fluctuate of course, but if their incomes are down across the board . . . that's further confirmation us self-published revolutionaries are winning with the book buying public.

To my knowledge, no self-published author has sold any one book in meganumbers, but now we're regularly hitting the bestseller lists, a self-published blockbuster is only a matter of time. Yes, getting 70% for a megamillion seller -- think of how much money in total the reading public spent buying The DaVinci Code (and how relatively little of it landed in Dan Brown's pocket, though he still wound up wonderfully rich) -- seems like a dream, and it will remain so for most of us.

My point is, the overall numbers are bigger than we realize, and will just keep getting bigger as the trad publishers and all their associated baggage are pushed out. Not to mention as ereaders become more popular and adopted over the planet.

Eventually, the FORBES reporters are going to face a problem. Their list won't be accurate without including self-publishers.

Will they consider the money we earn as “real” as the money garnered through traditional publishing?

I enjoy publishing contemporary dark fantasy thrillers under my own name, such as Virgin Blood.

And, as L.A. Zoe, I just published a time travel, interracial romance: The Time for Love: Now!

The first is also available in paper. Both are also available from B&N, Apple, and Kobo.

 Joe sez: In 2010 I wrote about the End of the Bestseller. 

My prediction is still ahead of its time, but I believe it's going to happen. In fact, it is happening.

In February 2010, we didn't have self-pubbed authors on the NYT and USA Today Bestseller lists. Now it is a regular occurrence. And for each spot an indie occupies, a legacy pubbed author is bumped down. We've watched ebooks sales continue to grow, bookstores go out of business, publishers go bankrupt and merge, major authors self-publish, and readers vote with their wallets what they want to read.

It has always been about visibility, and in the past paper distribution was the key to visibility. It's still a huge money maker, and paper books aren't going away anytime soon.

But bookstores are. 

I'd be surprised of Barnes and Noble survives until 2014. And once they go, the paper midlist will disappear. With no other option, all the authors who have refrained from self-publishing will do so. And all the readers who refrained from buying a Kindle will do so, because that will be the only way to get their fix.

The future is bright. But only if you keep writing. 

I've blogged before about how self-pubbing isn't zero sum. But as more and more ebooks get published, visibility is going to continue to be the key to success.

So write more. The more virtual shelf-space you have, the more new projects you can sell to your fans, the more you can get your name out there, the better off you'll be.

Remember: No one owes you a living. No one said this would be fun, fair, or easy. Ebooks aren't a bubble or a gold rush--they're a long term path to success.  

But only if you feed the beast.

Guest Post by Joe Flynn

Joe sez: If you've missed the previous guest blogs, they've been fascinating and informative.

You can read Richard Denoncourt talking about cover art here: 

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-richard-denoncourt.html

You can read Ann Voss Peterson talking about pacing here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/pacing-by-ann-voss-peterson.html

You can read Nick Spill talking about his path to publication here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-blog-by-nick-spill.html

You can read Constance Phillips and Jenna Rutland and Joe Konrath talking about their path to publication here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-constance-phillips-and.html

You can read Ian Kezsbom talking about Fuzzbomb Publishing here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-ian-kezsbom.html

You can read Gary Ponzo talk about first lines here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-gary-ponzo.html

You can read Chris Everheart talking about technophobia here:
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-christ-everheart.html

Now here's Joe Flynn...

Thanks, Joe, for the opportunity to honor the memory of a fellow writer’s father, help a good cause and introduce myself to your audience.

My story as a writer began on the CTA. I took a Monday morning L ride to Loyola University for my first day of college. I intended to become a lawyer. Somewhere between the Sheridan Road and Loyola stations, though, I got the idea for my first short story. Came to me out of the blue. Put the kibosh on a career in law.

Only twenty years later, I got my first novel (traditionally) published.

Of course, a few things happened in between. I completed my studies, graduated and searched for a job in my hometown that would let me write and earn a paycheck. I looked at writing for one of Chicago’s newspapers, but the people there told me the papers were looking for great reporters not great writers.

I turned my attention to the ad agencies in town. After a mere six months pounding the pavement, I landed my first job as a professional writer. Started at $13,000 a year. It was wonderful. I was writing and working with smart art directors. I got to wear jeans and polo shirts to work. On Friday afternoons, the agency provided free beer and wine, and people would roller skate through the halls.

The one big drawback to most ad agencies is the account executive, better known as the suit. Suits scare easily, and the thought of taking “risky” ideas to a client terrifies them. Safe ideas, ones that will kill a writer’s reputation as a creative thinker, are what they prefer.

Dealing with that reality over the years, made me think I’d better spend my free time working on my own ideas. I was living in L.A. by then, so I tried writing screenplays. I wrote a dozen of them and had one optioned by 20th Century Fox. That ratio put me in mind of Pauline Kael’s famous line: “Hollywood’s the only town where you can die of encouragement.”

Not wanting to die of anything, I switched to writing my first literary love, novels. As with many novelists, I started by drawing on what I knew best, my own life. I set my first novel in the part of Chicago where I grew up, just north of Wrigley Field. I wrote the story of a former cop looking for a missing boy in his own neighborhood. He’s forced to treat his neighbors as suspects, and they don’t like it. I called my novel The Concrete Inquisition.

I sent it to an agent in New York that I’d found through a contact in L.A. She submitted it to two publishers, got two rejections and quit on me. Persistence was not her middle name. I found another agent. She sold “Concrete” to Signet Books to be published as a paperback original. That was okay. I got paid $8,500, my novel would be sold in stores throughout the country and my editor said he saw big things in store for me. I was happy. But I dedicated my novel to all the people I love most, in case it was the only chance I got.

For a while, it looked like that would be the case. My editor got caught up in a shuffle at Signet and lost his job. My agent got seriously ill and wasn’t able to work for over a year. I felt I owed it to her to wait for her to recover.

In the meantime, I kept writing and completed my second novel, Digger. It’s the story of a Vietnam vet who fought in the tunnels of Cu Chi. His best friend disappeared in one of them. After he comes home to his small town, he and two other friends secretly recreate a portion of the wartime tunnels. The town is divided by a vicious labor strike, and then there’s a murder. When the town’s major employer, who’s trying to bust the union, learns of the tunnels’ existence, he responds by bringing in a former member of the Viet Cong to hunt down the vet.

After waiting as long as I could for my agent to get well, I had to find new representation. My new agent knocked the ball out of the park. He got me a two-book deal with Bantam. The first book, Digger, got a high five-figure advance; book two was pegged at a low six-figure advance. Even better, I got an additional audio-book deal, and Bantam gave me a reprint deal for the rights to “Concrete” that had reverted to me.

Things couldn’t have been better — until they all went downhill.

The problems started with the first phone call from my new editor at Bantam. She told me that I’d have to do a fair amount of rewriting on “Digger,” but if there was anything I really wanted to keep, I could. I wanted to keep the ending. My editor wanted me to change it. When I reminded the higher-ups at Bantam of what my editor had promised to me, the publisher sided with me and my editor bailed out on me.

The editor who took her place … well, we weren’t a match made in heaven. Bantam rejected the novel I submitted for my second book, and I had to come up with something new. While I was writing the replacement novel, the term of the contract for the reprint of “Concrete” expired.

I had made several phone calls to Bantam warning that the expiration date was coming up. What I didn’t know, because I wasn’t told, was that my agent had informed Bantam he’d get me to sign a free extension. Well, the expiration date came and went. I was asked to sign the free extension and I said no. That pretty much killed things with Bantam.

They published the second book of the contract — The Next President, a political thriller that anticipated the election of Barack Obama by eight years — but gave it a halfhearted publicity push at best.

Fast forward eight years, a period during which I kept writing. I went out looking for a publicist and found a publisher instead. It was a small startup house with big ambitions. The publisher had been given a copy of my novel The President’s Henchman, the story of James J. McGill, the first private eye to live in the White House. He’s married to the first female president, and solved the murder of her first husband. I was offered what, by my old standards, was a modest advance, but it was enough to pay for a trip to Paris to do the research for the second novel in the series.

The publisher told me that he was going to do all sorts of publicity for the book, and would buy front-table placement for it at Barnes & Noble. Only B&N refused to sell him space because his company was new and small and located in the sticks. That was where that relationship started to unravel, and I got the publishing rights to The President’s Henchman back just last month.

It was the last of my traditionally published books to return home.

What made that good news was that a few years earlier somebody told me about this blog called A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing. What an eye opener that was. I bought the ebook of the same name. Shortly after that, my wife and I started indie publishing all those novels I’d written over the years. We have twenty-one titles on KDP Select right now. With a collection of McGill short stories and the reissue of The President’s Henchman we’ll have twenty-three titles within the next four weeks. A novella and two more novels are scheduled to round out the year.

My novels span different genres, but they all fall under the umbrella of what I call smart entertainment. Character is stressed as much as plot. And a keen sense of humor runs through all my books.

I’m much happier working through the publishing company my wife and I started, Stray Dog Press, Inc., than I ever was in traditional publishing. I’m closer to my readers. I get direct feedback. I get paid monthly, and I publish on my schedule not someone else’s.

All that and I make a living, too. The challenge now is to make an even better living by reaching more readers and adjusting to changing conditions. That and, as always, to keep on writing.

If you’d like to read a free copy of The President’s Henchman, the first novel in my Jim McGill series, it’s free now through July 22, 2013 on Amazon. 

Thanks again, Joe.

Joe sez: I'd love to say that Joe's story is atypical. But it isn't.

Remember the line in Jurassic Park? "Life finds a way."

Well, if there is some possible way to eff up a writer's career, "Publishers find a way."

Not to mix quotes, but I can also appropriate Tolstory here. "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." 

Except substitute "families" with "authors."

I have quite literally lost count of all the ways my peers have been screwed by the publishing industry. Each has their own unique tale of woe and outrage. Each had a giant, uncaring machine kill their hopes with ennui or malice or accident or bad ideas or broken promises or (insert woe here.)

My happiness these days stems from control. I no longer have a group of self-important NY publishers responsible for making sure they keep the promises they made, without which my book will tank. This isn't to say that publishers are evil (though some are). Publishing has a lot of smart, good-intentioned folks in the industry.

And yet, time and again, we see stories like Joe's. A happy, successful author isn't the norm. It's the rare exception. Everyone else gets served a shit sandwich with extra corn, and told to finish every bite and smile while doing it or else You'll Never Work In This Town Again.

That's possibly why many mega-bestselling authors (I'm looking at you James Patterson and Scott Turow) defend legacy publishing and can't comprehend how any author would want to go indie. There are a few dozen authors (possibly a few hundred) who got the star treatment and drank the Kool Aid and look at the ebook revolution in disbelief. Marie Antoinette eating cake while Paris erupts in violent outrage.

Guess what? If my publishers had made me a big success, I'd probably be signing their praises too. 

Unfortunately, that's the big exception. The vast majority of authors wind up getting screwed. Hell, a boilerplate publishing contract is a license to screw.

Thankfully, authors now have a choice, and people like Joe Flynn can earn a living without the incredible hassle that comes with an industry deal. 

Some folks say that I'm angry and bitter. Some folks don't like my tone. Some folks erroneously attribute my self-pubbing success to the (non) push from my legacy publishers.

Some folks have Stockholm Syndrome. I knew about this three years ago, and I don't preach about it out of anger or bitterness. This blog exists so authors have access to data and opinion that might help inform their decisions. And based on emails and comments and people I've met, the message seems to be getting out there.

That said, anyone who automatically follows what anyone says on the Internets (me included) needs a reality check. There is no one size fits all. Every writer's goals, and path, are different. The secret to success is keeping an open mind, experimenting, learning for yourself, and never taking anyone's words as gospel.

This isn't an ideology. This is a business. Figure out how to make it work for you.

Guest Post by Chris Everheart

Joe sez: If you've missed the previous guest blogs, they've been fascinating and informative.

You can read Katherine Sears talking about Booktrope: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-katherine-sears.html

You can read Richard Denoncourt talking about cover art here: 

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-richard-denoncourt.html

You can read Ann Voss Peterson talking about pacing here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/pacing-by-ann-voss-peterson.html

You can read Nick Spill talking about his path to publication here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-blog-by-nick-spill.html

You can read Constance Phillips and Jenna Rutland and Joe Konrath talking about their path to publication here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-constance-phillips-and.html

You can read Ian Kezsbom talking about Fuzzbomb Publishing here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-ian-kezsbom.html

You can read Gary Ponzo talk about first lines here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-gary-ponzo.html

Also, it's worth noting that Tess Gerritsen's War on Alzheimer's has reached it's $25k goal, thanks in part to readers like you. Thanks, everyone.

Finally, I got my numbers from my Book Blast experiment. Book Blast helped me give away 5000 extra copies of Timecaster Supersymmetry (on top of the 1800 I gave away on my own). In my opinion, worth the $50. 

Now here's Chris Everheart...

Confessions of a Technophobic Author

First, thanks to Tess for a great cause and thanks to Joe – on a number of levels – for doing this promo. 

Also, Joe, I’m glad to have the chance to tell you THANK YOU! for continuing to carry the torch while I “quit” for a couple of years and returned to find a ton of encouragement from you and your “Newbie’s” contributors. I desperately needed the information and the support!

If readers are looking for an exciting, page-turning YA summer book for themselves of their teens, try “The League of Delphi: Book I of The Delphi Trilogy” on Kindle FREE today, July 18.

Now, on with the public admissions.

My name is Chris, and I’m a technophobe. I’m not exactly hiding in a log cabin, scratching this blog post on tree bark with a burnt twig. But when it comes to social media and self-promotion, I’m often shy, sometimes isolated, and frequently overwhelmed. This makes the task of promoting my books difficult.  

Don’t get me wrong, I can do the tasks of online social networking and the promotional work Joe and other writers talk about. I worked in marketing and merchandising. I get the concepts. I even know some of the lingo (do people still say “lingo”?). But I have to point out that by “I can do it,” I mean I’m CAPABLE of it. 

Often, though, I just (gasp!) don’t like it – to the point that I have a hard time actually doing it. Don’t worry – you can be satisfied that I hate myself for this shortcoming.

There are a bunch of good possible reasons for my disinclination:

For one thing, I’m a slow reader, always have been. That’s a handicap online. With so freakin’ many options for news, opinion, advice, and friendships, I just can’t keep up.

For another, I like to look people in the eyes when I communicate. This may be a survival skill leftover from a rocky childhood or simple petulance toward the modern world, but I’m a little uncomfortable having an electronic firewall between me and the person I’m talking to.

Also, I feel obligated to connect on every level with every one. This is not everyone’s fault, I know, but the snowstorm of socializing flying at me through the Web can be intimidating. I’ll shut down – literally. I’ve gone electronically catatonic before and sometimes even today I have to force myself to stay online and in touch with the real virtual world.

I love having friends and staying up to date through the miracle of the internet. I just don’t have the mental and emotional capacity for the latest style of massive-micro-mass-niche-communication. I live in fear that when the genetically engineered monkeys take over, the first thing they’ll to is put techno-lazies like me to work in the banana fields. And I won’t blame them, won’t even fight back.

By the way: It was one of those techno-dummy mistakes that allowed me to offer you guys a free e-book for only a day, when I wanted to offer it to you for a week!

One of the paralyzing features of the modern techno-social tsunami is the demand that a self-publishing, self-promoting author like me must be EVERYWHERE, must KNOW about everything, and must DO it all. The specter of EVRAWERKNODO scares me back into the bottle. No, not back to booze – those days are behind me. But I might crawl into the bottle I’ve always imagined sharing with a young Barabara Eden. Not such bad life, lounging on a huge ring of fluffy pillows … But I know that if I don’t get out of there and put myself out in the world where I can be seen and heard, I won’t sell books – and worse, I won’t connect with readers.

What I’m saying is … I admit that I have a problem and I need help. That’s the first step, right?

If there’s a self-help program for techno-dummies like me, let me know. Actually, never mind – I’ve seen the lists: “12 Simple Steps to Maximize Your Blahblahblah …” “6 Things Every Author Should Yadayadayada …” “The 21 Biggest Mistakes Self-published Authors Flrblrtrr …”

Come to think of it, I could write that last one myself. But would it help? Probably not. Here’s why: I’m a face-to-face guy. I like the HUMAN human experience. I need analogue, not digital, time with people. I like to see someone’s reactions to what I’m saying, shake clammy hands, get a courtesy slap-on-the-back for a lame joke, breathe the same air as my conversation partner and know that they ate too much garlic at dinner last night!

When I first met Joe Konrath at Bouchercon in Madison (what millennium was that?) he was in the middle of a suicide mission to visit 500 bookstores in one year. He was driving that funky little SUV wrapped in a giant ad for his Jack Daniels books. Why? TO MEET THE BOOKSELLERS – look ‘em in the eye, shake their hands, say how do you do!

I loved it! Loved him, too – who else would sit in the hotel lounge with me, driving off other patrons with shabbily rendered, top-of-our-lungs Beatles’ covers? Joe survived that year and even seemed to thrive because of it. I think his online success has been helped by that – if not in brick-and-mortar sales then maybe for “paying his dues” and hardening his own commitment to his career. At the time, I thought, “That’s so cool! I want to do that!” At the end of the weekend, we sang “I WILL” and parted company. Joe went back to work. I went back to whatever I thought of at the time as work.

Now here I am a few years later, one year into my own self-publishing curve, making important (and hopefully dues-paying) mistakes. I swear, you guys, I have tried mightily for the past year to sit at my computer and “socialize” until drops of blood formed on my forehead. I studied and read and prodded myself at mouse-point to march the virtual path. But I just can’t pull that off. My (average at best) social media footprint has shown that. I’m not wired for micro-processing. I’m more like that old-time megaphone the cheerleaders still use at the college football games.

Know what does show what I’m wired for? I did an event last November with our local library that we dubbed “Teen Lit Fest.” It was the official launch party for my YA thriller “The League of Delphi”. I asked teens what would get them in the door for a library event and we did what they said – food, free stuff, and extra credit! We designed posters. I drove around to every middle school and high school in the area and delivered a hundred of those posters to teachers and school librarians. I told everyone who’d listen to be there.

The results? 125 kids, plus a bunch of adults, showed up on a Saturday afternoon to buy books, hang around, goof off with me, and talk about books, publishing, movies, stories, and life. We had a blast and donated some money back to the library’s teen reading programs. I want to do more of THAT!

I know online marketing and social platform building and virtual communities and all that is great. In fact, I’m amazed that the Internet gets us closer to that Jetsons experience we all dreamed of. I even want to sell a lot of e-books because the reach and lifespan of them is amazing. But mayber what I should be doing more of is standing in front of real people. To me, nothing beats sharing air with my audience.

What will help keep both irons – digital and analogue – in the fire is that I finally ADMITTED that I’m no good at social media and recently hired someone to manage that stuff for me. And guess what – the guy has jumped in and started helming the virtual ship like he actually ENJOYS it! What a relief!

Now I can hit the road! I’m doing a two-week summer mini-tour – Minneapolis-St. Paul the last week of July, the Chicago area first week of August, and points between. If you’re in these areas and know libraries, book clubs, or bookstores that would like a visit from an up-and-coming YA thriller author, please let me know. I want to meet these people!  If you’re not in those areas, please grab a free download of “The League of Delphi” and/or tell everyone you know who loves YA thrillers about it. Reviews and attention are needed and deeply appreciated!

We’re dropping Book II of the trilogy in October and I’m feeling good. I’m on the road to recovery, freedom, and maybe a little exhaustion – huh, Joe?

[P.S. to Goodreads users: For “The League of Delphi”, I received an untrue – and what I feel is an unfair – “review” from a Goodreads user. I don’t argue with their evaluation of the book’s contents, only with their misleading assumptions about marketing (indy authors will see what I mean). If you download a free Kindle of “The League of Delphi: Book I of The Delphi Trilogy”, your HONEST review on Goodreads will help show others that I’m sincere and that the book deserves their attention. Thanks.] 

Joe sez: My public speaking days are behind me.

While I like meeting fans, and hanging out with peers, I did enough for a lifetime in the 8 years I toured. I did events and signed in bookstores in 42 states, and it kept me from my writing and kicked my ass. There is nothing more exhausting that driving 200 miles, visiting 20 bookstores, then doing a library event, in one day.

I apologize to the many who will never get to bask in my larger-than-life presence, but this cowboy has hung up his spurs.

That said, events are a great way to meet people. So are bookstore signings. So is Facebook and Twitter. Hell, I was one of the first authors who used MySpace for promo. 

No matter what your method of reaching fans, here is the one tip you need to remember:

Get email addresses.

I've been lax in newsletters this past 18 months, but nothing helps an author more than being able to send out a mass emailing to people who want to hear from you. 

Have a sign up sheet when you do events. Pass pout business cards. Have a website. Harvest emails from fans who contact you.

All you need is a few thousand people. That's a few a day for a few years. Easy peasy in a digital world.

That said, unless you speak at a huge conference to thousands of people (and I have before), there is no better bang for your time than maintaining an online presence.

If anyone can give Chris some pointers in the comments, I'd love to hear them too.