The Crowdfunding Dilemma

Back to The Huffington Post for this tidbit. Authors now have their very own crowdfunding platform: pubslush (catchy, n'est pas?). And therein lies something of a problem.

Look at it this way. You are a penniless dreamer with a great idea for a blockbuster movie about hamsters from the fifth dimension invading earth via portals they beam into bowls of trifle. Oh, the humanity as an ordinary birthday party turns into a blood soaked rodentine massacre. Awesome concept, I think you'll agree.

However the only feasible way to generate the big bucks necessary to make it happen is through some sort of crowdfunding (or get the attention of a wealthy tycoon who has a deep seated mistrust of hamsters). This the theory of evolution applied to the world of culture.

Now imagine you are a penniless author with the same idea but the modest ambition of turning it into a gripping novel for e-readers. As you pen your pubslush entry demanding that people stump up the cash to allow you to pen your opus that little bit faster and maybe hire an editor and a cover artist and whatnot you realise that what you're essentially doing is kidnapping your own genius concept and holding it ransom to a world that has proven itself time and time again to be uncaring.

So now you face the dilemma. Do you go ahead with your pubslush campaign and risk your gnius being quashed by the jaded cynicism of the masses? Or do you just hang it all and squeeze in authorship round the day job? You know, like everyone else who's starting out has to.

I guess that the pubslush author has grand designs on a promotion package with their work. Essentially what donators will be giving money for is so that the author can not just write the damn thing but organise a signing tour and an advert in the margin of facebook and a billboard next to every Waterstones and whatnot.

I'm not down on the idea. I think it's kind of fun. But honestly when I put up my pubslush idea it will be for something that, without the funding, I probably would never get around to writing anyway. Otherwise people can just not donate and be sure that one day my idea will find its way into the general domain anyway.

Happy Sunday folks, I'm off to crack out Manuscript and boost the percentage of The Silent Majority that is edited from 2% to something a bit higher.

What I Did In The Summer Holidays

Almost unconsciously I have taken a short break from writing, which has proven to be tougher than I thought it would be. However the job that took over the writing time was no less in need of completion. It was actually becoming more urgent the more manuscripts I had to edit.

It has long been the accepted wisdom that authors should, wherever possible, refrain from editing their own work. In fact there is much truth in this. An author should refrain from doing anything with their work other than produce it wherever they can. This, however, is the age of the self-publisher. If you really have to - i.e. you are poor - you can learn the principles of e-publishing, milling out epubs, mobis etc., producing your own cover art and the principles of same disciplines. You have to market yourself as a self-publisher or pay for the privilege of a professional marketing campaign.

In most of the areas where writers are forced to be there is encouragement and the odd helping hand. No one wants to have to master marketing, typeset in pitstop or make their own cover, but people understand when needs must. In all areas except editing.

Editing is completely beyond the capability of the author, apparently.

Maybe this is true. It's certainly fiendishly difficult for someone familiar with the text to gain some removal from it. Is it impossible to do even a fairly decent job even in a pinch?

Nobody knows, and I certainly hope that it isn't because if it is I have pretty much wasted the last month of my time building something that is ultimately useless.

And here it is:

This is Manuscript. It's not a word-processor.

What it is is an editing application for finished novels. I have built it to my own specification to do the things that I need it to do, currently. I finished it about half an hour ago. So I haven't had much time to try it out. Nor will I for a couple more weeks because I have circa 20k words to polish off on Shadow Cities Chicago III.

Once that is complete I will attempt to edit the manuscripts using Manuscript and see how things go. I would describe the status of the project as being in pre-Alpha testing. Once I am comfortable that the wee beastie doesn't go boom too often I will roll it out to some alpha-testers if such are to be found and we shall see what happens from there.

Watch this space for updates. Now off to swim. Have a nice Sunday!

The Post's On Side

The Huffington Post that is. Today's self-publishing article from their blog is more encouragement and analysis for my views on the self-publishing scene. I'm becoming a Huff Post fanboy, for certain.

The other thing that caught my eye implies quite clearly that many people who wish to dabble in the waters of self-publishdom might not really have understood the point of the brave new Kinde-riffic era.

In other news I'm hoping to ressurrect my review column on here. I used to have to trawl about for free stuff or plough through PDFs on my PC to review self-pubbed stuff, relying on the generosity of authors to supply me. Now I have an e-Reader (not Kindle) and many commercially available books are cheap enough for me to buy review copies.

Watch this space. It's more lively already.

The Revolution Continues Quietly

This is a guy who says the right things. This is possibly the first article on self-publishing I have ever seen which I have totally agreed with. My favourite part is the part in which he states that, even were he not published, he would probably write anyway just to get the story out of his head. All those people who were happy to mothball their novels and turn away from the word processor forever, take note. IMO this is what being a writer is all about.

Phone blogging?

So just downloaded the blogger app for my android phone. Possibly not the platform for in depth posting but certainly a speedy method of jotting down a few words.

Have been trying to find the time to sit and write a post for a couple of days now. Too much to do sat at the pc. I note the self publishing revolution continues while I scramble to get some work finished.

I have about eighty per cent of the first Shadow Cities trilogy done. Have taken a pause to write an editing tool. Once all that's done the plan is to return to Levercastle and polish Starfall. I'd like to get something out this year. Really though who knows when I'll actually get anything finished.

At least I managed a post. Try not to leave it so long next time.

If You Say "Self-Publishing" Often Enough It Ceases To Have Any Meaning.

It's a brave new world. A world in which a budding author no longer need be beholden to the capricious whims of the big publishers, the tilt-a-whirl merry-go-round of agent and editor. It's a candy land of straight to public offerings where dreams are bought and sold on the e-reader chart of choice.

In fact I can't go anywhere without someone jotting down thoughts about the age of the self-published hack. We're fuddled with figures, battered by banter, prescribed to peruse puff pieces and generally told that this is the new hot topic.

Self-published authors are ruffling feathers, provoking debates, some are earning a living, others would be lucky to see a pittance.

The central issue is always the surprise of the whole world that the quality of some self-published fare is comparable to the more expensive big house offerings. This is always accompanied by the surprise of those "in" the arena of self-publishing at the low quality that some people are willing to lend their names to and the meagre rewards for most would-be writers in both markets.

One thing's for certain, nobody disputes that "quality" sells. Although how quality is to be defined is sometimes moot. One thing's for certain, the editor is certainly a subject for emotional outpouring. Publishing houses are celebrating that they have them, self-publishers lament they have to pay for one, and that they are quite the expense. Not only that, but when you give your precious baby to one of these insensitive clods they have the temerity to return said brain child saying they don't care for the colour of its eyes, or they think its ears stick out too much.

I haven't reviewed the work of a peer in a long time. The more things I see asking for feedback the more I feel myself biting my tongue because it's rare that I see anything past mediocre competence. I have to remind myself that I am possibly no better. Certainly the first few entries in my canon never trouble anyone with more than mediocre competence.

I think what writers have to accept is that it takes a long long time to become any good (10,000 hours, I heard) and too many writers are too akin to those people we laugh at in the X Factor auditions. Just with less laughter and far more painful and poignant heartbreak. Reading some poorly told half-grammatical, incoherent verbal slurry is both tedious and sad. That is why there will never be an X Factor for writers.

However, the spectrum of talent on display if there were would be about the same, in fact, is about the same, in this new market that has democratised the writer's right to make no money from the uncaring masses.

Viva La Revolucion...

The Age Of The Self Publisher

Honestly, it is. My news feeds tell me so. Here's a round up.

We start with the underwhelming news that Rich Burlew author of hilarious RPG based cartoon Order Of The Stick managed to raise a meelion dollarss via Kickstarter to re-publish some graphic novels. Not that this isn't good news and not that OOTS isn't great fun but if he was surprised by the support he got I think he's one of a very small number.

So, what about people who are not internet celebrities (or celebrities of any sort)? Well Kerry Wilkinson used to to count as an almost complete non-entity in most people's lives but he is scaling the dizzy heights with a series of crime novels. He was a journalist so one could argue that he had contacts, I suppose. He's just gone over to the dark side like so many self-published successes and signed a massive six book deal with sith lord Darth Liverous Macmillan Books.

Apparently having a square-jawed name helps if you're selling pulp fiction as John Locke has sold over a million self-published books and is very happy with life as a self-publisher. This is what we like to see. Also self-publisher Rachel Abbott has said a book deal with a major publishing house didn't "feel right".

To develop the theme of the last link (tldr: self-publishing is a phenomenon all of a sudden but our eyes bleed for a decent editor) some people are dismayed by the amount of textual slurry now available to peruse. While it's true that about 9% more self-published material is crap than Sturgeon's Law would dictate this is pretty much true of the internet. It's also true that one man's meat is another man's poison. I have, in the past, been known to fete the work of unedited pulp hacks milling out books via Lulu and prefer something with plenty of heart, originality, spark and gusto to most of the bland rubbish available in high street bookshops.

So, you'd think I was a happy bunny right now.

Mostly.

The one fly in the ointment is that we're swelling the coffers of notorious market place bullies Amazon in our rush to get an eye on the rough stuff. This triumphalist blog post from the Guardian simultaneously rallies the troops and sends them on a foolhardy charge Kindlewards in a manner that most deserves the inaugural "Patrick Stewart Facepalm Award" for well-meaning encouragement towards complete and utter disaster.

Customers may well love Amazon, I do, and as long as they're encouraging greedy multi-national distributors to cut their margins as thin as possible that's great. But when they start practicing Long-Tail-Fu on the little guy that's the time to say: "Hey, Amazon, I ain't gonna be your bitch" (with many thanks to Bill Bailey).

That's all for now. Thanks for reading.