Jacqueline Howett and Me

This week I followed Jacqueline Howett’s exchange with the book blog Big Al’s Books And Pals (Click here to read the exchange). Ms Howett sent her debut novel The Greek Seaman for review. When the review was posted she felt it was unfair. As a result she sent several ugly replies to the reviewer. Her notes were littered with spelling and grammatical errors that further discredited her argument.

Much of the criticism of Ms Howett’s novel seems to pertain to poor editing. The review noted that the story was “compelling and interesting” although it has “numerous proofing, typo, and grammar issues.” This is a common flaw with many Indie books. Recently Amanda Hocking, the current queen of Indie writers, made the decision to sign a four-book deal with St. Martin’s partially because she felt her books would be better edited by a traditional publisher. As she wrote on her blog “I have hired editors. Many, many editors…I’m clearly doing a really shitty job of picking editors…I don’t understand how there can still be errors.”

Recently I printed 25 POD review copies of my debut novel. Months before I had my novel professionally edited. I have worked with many editors as both a publisher and non-fiction writer and I felt confident that my book would be clean of grammatical errors. The problem is that as a writer it is surprisingly difficult to see these sorts of problems. I gave several copies of my book to knowledgeable friends and the rest I sent to reviewers. I waited patiently for a reply and then a friend pointed out that the book had many proofing errors. I then gave a copy of the book to another friend who is also an accomplished writer. She told me she loved the story but the book needed a complete rewrite. I was stunned but when she showed me some of the problems I had to agree. I decided to postpone the release date and work on a rewrite. Although I wish I could get back the twenty copies I sent to various magazines and newspapers I know I dodged a bullet. I was a week away from ordering thousands of copies of my book and I was saved much embarrassment.

Writers need to remember that it is the quality of the book that is of paramount importance. Books usually require several rewrites and edits to reach their potential. We need to work with the best editors we can find and be open to the prospect that our books may need additional work. Hopefully Ms Howett learned a valuable lesson this week.

The Re-birth of Book Publishing?

I have worked as a writer and book publisher for more than twenty years and I am about to release my first novel. Because of all the new publishing opportunities I have decided to release my novel in every format possible. I will print it traditionally for my regular sales channels. I will also release it as a Print on Demand book for markets that are too expensive to ship to. I will release it as an eBook for the Kindle, iPad and other eBook readers. We are also recording it as an audiobook for radio, podcast, MP3 download and as a CD product. I have an agreement with a film director and I am crossing my fingers that a small film will be made. Basically I’m throwing it into every sales channel and format and crossing my fingers. I don’t think any publisher has the luxury of thinking of a book as any single thing anymore. After all does anyone really know where the book industry will be in five years much less eighteen months?

Many book publishers fear the example of the encyclopedia business. Twenty years ago North American annual sales of encyclopedias were in excess of $650 million (dominated by door to door sales of the Encyclopedia Britannica.) When I was a kid, parents were compelled to buy ten feet of these books if they hoped their kids would even finish high school. Then computers started being sold with encyclopedias pre-installed, most notably Encarta (owned by Microsoft and a digital edition of Funk & Wagnall’s Encyclopedia) and within short order the encyclopedia business had contracted to $10 million. Then Wikipedia went online as a non-profit with an operating budget of less than $1.5 million. Sure, there is a difference between the Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia but for good or bad the business evaporated.

People often say that books are going to follow the trajectory of the music business. Stores were abandoned for iTunes, piracy is rampant, and the price of a CD’s worth of music has dropped by half. Many musicians now record music themselves and market it online using social media and iTunes. They also treat the revenue from their recordings as incidental to the money they make through concerts and selling merchandise.

Most literary writers take three to five years to write a book. This includes several rewrites, and a year of editing and marketing by a publishing team. eBooks simplify some of these processes, most notably the post-production design, lay-out, and marketing. However, the more major efforts of pre-production such as rewriting and editing remain. Recently I have seen Indie writers post first or second drafts of their books on their blogs. The rationale is that readers will post comments and help direct the development of the book. Perhaps I’m not open minded enough, but this practice makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I come from the school of thought that all first drafts are embarrassing and require much attention and editing to become readable. I believe that professional editing is an important part of the creative writing process and is essential for all books to achieve their potential.

I follow Amanda Hockings and other Indie writers on their blogs and Twitterfeeds. I understand how they are able to attract the attention of book bloggers and build a huge community of loyal readers. Their success flies in the face of traditional publishers who have never understood how to build a community of readers or market directly to readers. For the Indie writer the seventy percent royalty is well deserved. Publishing a book traditionally or independently is a huge risk and nothing is going to change that. Amanda Hockings and her fellow Indie writers have my respect and I appreciate their courage and intelligence in their pursuit of a professional writing career.

I am comforted by the knowledge that because of iTunes and iPods people listen to much more music today than they did twenty years ago. We have access to a wider variety of types of music and a wider means of listening to it. We can subscribe to satellite radio, listen to web radio, pirate music, buy music etc. Unlike musicians, writers can’t treat their works as loss leaders as we don’t have concerts to promote. Few people would ever consider paying to attend a reading. Clearly books will have to evolve to preserve a prominent place in our culture. At their core, books are just ideas and these ideas can be expressed in a variety of forms. The flexibility of writing is one of its greatest assets and I do not feel doom and gloom. However, I think we have to all get busy producing books in many different formats and let the consumer choose how they want to explore our ideas. 

Money

Firstly, I should say that I have never been overly impressed with “money.” I have never coveted an expensive car or a mansion. I live in a nice house and I have a decent car – it’s just neither are particularly expensive. When I travel I stay in good hotels but I never stay in fancy hotels. I have always flown coach and have never even been offered an upgrade. I have made a good income and have managed to save and invest reasonably well because I’m not particularly materialistic. 

In 1986 I started writing professionally. I landed a weekly gig on CBC Radio as a writer/broadcaster and wrote feature articles for various small magazines. Because I earned very little money I had to work part-time at another job. I had a $2,0000 limit on my only credit card and lived a simple yet rewarding life. Every year I traveled for at least a few months and maintained this lifestyle for many years.

Eventually I established a small, regional publishing business and built a nice house on a lake outside town. I published regional books for more than twenty years and saw the industry experience massive change. When I started I could justify 10,000 copy print runs that would evaporate from my warehouse in a single season. We worked with distributors and retailers that were healthy and robust and paid their invoices early and always without reminders.

Click forward to 2011. More than half the stores we once had accounts with no longer sell books or are out of business. Our US distributor is bankrupt owing our company tens of thousands of dollars and Borders went bankrupt yesterday also leaving substantial unpaid invoices. At least a third of our present retail accounts no longer pay their bills on time and we fear they will be out of business in the next couple of years.

To adapt to these realities we “refined our supply chain” and found spectacular ways to reduce overhead. We incorporated a digital invoicing and inventory system and emptied our warehouse of overstocked books. Today we produce few new titles and only print small quantities. We also release eBooks and are planning on using Print on Demand for our backlist. Overall we are profitable and have relatively little debt. But don’t get me wrong our company is contracted and we have retreated into a fiscally responsible bunker. 

Recently I attended Digital Book World in NYC. It was a bipolar conference with all publishers feeling squeezed by the present realities of the industry while trying to seem optimistic about eBooks and all the uncertainty of the new publishing platforms and economic models. Repeatedly I heard publishers respond to free eBooks by saying “free is not a business model.” Writers like Seth Godin and Amanda Hocking cause publishers a cold sweat. But in this climate can you blame writers for bypassing publishers? 

Whatever the new economy brings I am happy that I don’t have Champagne tastes. It would likely only lead to disappointment. I am pleased that we scaled back our operations years ago because I also wouldn’t want to have a big warehouse in this economy. I look at the Big 6 publishing houses and I wonder how they will scale back their companies and adapt to the new realities. The big dinosaurs seem to die first. 

Writing Through Divorce

I had been with my wife for more than twenty years when our marriage came to an end. It wasn’t a spectacular flame-out just a sort of sad fizzle that sometimes happens. And even though our split was somewhat amicable it left me adrift and confused and I struggled with trying to cope with the enormity of my grief.

I now lived in a strange new house with new furniture. I sat in my dining room asking myself “What now?”  I was disoriented and scared but open to starting something new. Years earlier I had began writing a novel that I hadn’t finished. I found the outline on my hard drive and thought about the possibility of entering this other world. I had never written fiction and for the first time in my life I didn’t feel intimidated by the prospect of it.

To be clear I didn’t write directly about my marriage. I wouldn’t have been able to write a memoir about the nittty gritty of it without throwing stones or trying to make a case or sound bitter, which in all honesty, I was. My book was about a young woman who was trapped on an island in the middle of a great river. She must let the river freeze so she can escape to the mainland. I placed my protagonist in an almost impossible position and let her fight for survival. I made her strong and creative -- two qualities I always admired in my wife. It was a story that was intended to explore the themes of hope and possibility and it animated me during this dark time. 

I woke every morning eager to turn on my computer and explore the motivations of my protagonist. Writing gave me a reason to climb out of bed at a time when getting out of bed was a major feat. In retrospect it also allowed me to explore my emotions creatively and in a way productively. Writing gave me a daily meditation on my emotions and I eagerly awaited each session in a way I have never felt on any other writing project. Passages and insights continually surprised me and I learned more about myself than I ever imagined possible. I quietly spent my mornings exploring emotions and in a way, my pain. I didn’t understand how important this was for me at the time and just busied myself crafting my story as best as I could.

Frequently I was surprised by how easy writing had become. The words seemed to pour through of my fingers effortlessly until one day I reached the end of my story. I stared at my computer in disbelief. Did I really write an entire novel? I felt a panic grow in my belly. I no longer had my manuscript and the routine of waking early with a sense of purpose. My house started to feel very foreign once again.

I put my manuscript away and for about a week I stumbled around in a twilight. For many weeks I had poured myself into my book and once again I had to let go of something I loved.  But I didn’t feel like the same person I was before I started to write. The novel had helped me empathize with the young girl trapped on the island. As a result I began to resolve some of my own feelings. In many ways my protagonist was modeled after the woman I had fallen in love with and I gained an insight into everything we had lost.

When I read the manuscript I discovered a workable story. I showed it to a few friends and received a positive reaction. I then sent it to a compassionate editor who encouraged me to make changes and avoid the pitfalls of my hubris. Deep down I knew I wouldn’t have been able to write this book if I hadn’t been going through a divorce. Before this crisis I simply didn’t understand the scale of emotion or complexity of feelings I had. The way you could feel love and loss in so many surprising ways. My divorce gave me a novel and for that I am thankful. It allowed me the opportunity to breathe and reflect and not dwell on my problems. For me it was the perfect tonic during a very challenging time and I am grateful. In May 2011 “An Island Between Two Shores” will be released. 

Get your flu shot!

The morning I left New York City was epic because the night before a ferocious Noreaster had rolled through. After spending a couple hours with my friend Susan talking about books and Warhol I went to Central Park. Everything was closed and the park was a playground with kids running around in nineteen inches of new snow. Nannies with their charges on a snow day were sliding down hills and handsome cabs were buried.

    When I got back to my hotel I got my bags out of storage and dug out my ticket for the airport shuttle so I could pick up my rental car. A few minutes later the shuttle arrived and the driver looked harried. I asked him if it was going to be difficult getting to Laguardia but he didn’t say anything. I sat at the back of the bus and was surprised by his erratic driving. Cars were buried everywhere and the streets were clogged. At one street in Manhattan a stranded truck blocked the entire street. The driver drove onto the sidewalk for a block – pedestrians just gave us a wide berth and I wondered if his company does random drug screening. We took a circuitous route to the airport and it didn’t look right but I got out anyways. It turned out he had taken me to the wrong airport! 

    The airport was a mess with stranded passengers and it took one train and two buses just to get to the rental cars. Unfortunately my rental car agreement wasn’t transferable to this location. When I phoned the Sheraton Hotel to discuss my situation they said that I should speak to the shuttle company. I called the shuttle company and the dispatcher offered to take me to Laguardia for $214! To make a long story short I took another bus back into the city and took another bus back out to Laguardia. This effort took a few frustrating hours and as I was starting to cough and feel sick I wasn’t in the mood for any of it. I knew this random mistake was going to cost me.

    I started my drive to Rochester at 6 PM by cutting through the city and then driving most of the night - my second sleepless night in a row.  It was sleeting and very slippery and I was grateful that I requested a front wheel drive car. Cars and buses littered the streets and I tried not to think about getting stuck. By this point my throat was on fire and I was congested and when I breathed I made a whistling sound. I had read that caffeine is a vasodilator and can help asthmatics free up their lungs. I bought a slurpy for my throat, Motrin for my head ache and a Red Bull for my lungs. I had never drank a Red Bull before and I was amazed that it gave me almost immediate relief. I stopped for naps a few times and in retrospect the entire endeavor was classically boneheaded. 

I reached Rochester at 8AM and had a nap, coffee and another Red Bull before my meeting. I met with Matt and toured a couple of Adaptacare cottages and the grounds of one of campuses of Hillside Homes. Seeing them in use helped me visualize how they would be used back home. I also had a wonderful meeting with the architect of the Adaptacare cottage. I wished I could have gone out for a meal with Matt but I was feeling far too rough. 

    When I got back on the road I was feeling rotten. After about twenty miles I found a hotel and flopped into bed. Almost immediately I started having chills, and then I ran an enormous fever. When I coughed my ribs felt like they were cracked. I don’t think I have ever felt worse – around midnight I became delirious and started to worry that I was in trouble. The rest of the night was a groggy blur but I woke at 8AM and I no longer felt feverish. My eyes were bloodshot and I had a long shower because my back felt like it had been beaten with a hammer. I couldn’t stop thinking about the homeless guy I had met a couple of days ago. I wondered if he also had the flu. I don’t think I could have survived this thing sitting in a doorway all night. I dressed and got ready to go. I laid down again for a couple of minutes and woke two hours later. 

    Getting back in the car I still felt weak and sick. I drove for about an hour and had a nap for an hour. I kept this pace until I reached Hartford and found a hotel. When I awoke the next morning I felt much better. For the past couple of days I have been suffering in a bubble. I haven’t been even able to listen to the radio and I wasn’t looking at the area I have been traveling through. I turned on the TV and watched Anthony Bourdain travel on bus, boat and train from Mombai to Calcutta. Seeing him eat his way through Bendi Bazar was the perfect tonic for this tentative morning. I haven’t eaten in two days and I’m hoping a walla will bring me a meal, I guess I’m feeling better.

The Noreaster

I just had the weirdest night. I had difficulty falling asleep again so I decided to go out for cheese cake at midnight – why not? There is a bakery near my hotel and I never get the chance to do this sort of thing back home.

New York was being blasted by a Noreaster and the snow fell like a heavy curtain. Soon the streets were buried under a foot of glop. I watched the Noreaster and read Anthony Bourdain for a couple of hours and then I went for a long walk. I ended up in the middle of the night in the Garment District. There is this statue of a Jewish man sewing and I thought about the loss of that industry. It was the perfect industry for Jewish immigrants and it allowed many families to establish themselves in the city. The garment industry was also instrumental in establishing labor laws and unions. 

At about four AM I helped push a cab out of a drift with another man. It was a lot of work and by the time it got out we were both wet from falling in the snow. He seemed like a nice guy so I asked if I could buy him a coffee. He was homeless and a veteran from the Iraq War and said he was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He said almost a third of all the veterans have PTSD. We talked for about an hour and then I walked back uptown.

By six I found a classic old diner – this place hadn’t changed in fifty years. It seemed to be owned by a Greek man who stood proudly at the till. The waitresses were all elderly and wore matching uniforms and also appeared to be Greek. The menu was typical diner fare so I had Challah French toast and slowly made my way back to the hotel.

Most of the side streets are impassable and the city buses aren’t running. Today I’m picking up my rental car and starting the trek to Rochester (for meetings). Under good driving conditions it would take about seven hours. However, today it will likely be a slog. I’m going to wait till early afternoon before venturing onto the highway – I don’t need the drama. It’s going to be a long day.

The Ice Storm

Leaving Lloyd and Stephen’s is never easy. We have been close friends for many years and I cherish spending time with them. They have a gorgeous house full of art and love and I always feel grateful to spend time there. 

    The night before there was a Freezing Rain Advisory. The TV news said that “if you value your life you’ll avoid traveling during this storm.” I considered changing my flight and extending my trip by a couple of days to miss traveling through the storm. But the fact that I am eager to see my kids I decided to stick to my itinerary. Besides how bad could it be? I come from the Yukon after all and have experienced all kinds of winter storms. Boy, was I wrong.

    I woke at 4 AM and got dressed. The first clue of the extent of the freezing rain was when I stepped outside with my bags and slipped on the glare ice. Next, the car was entombed in a thick layer of ice. I warmed the car and scraped the windows and tentatively backed onto the highway. I slowly made my way south through Long Island towards New York City on deserted streets. The street lights reflected on the ice on the road and I had to keep my wipers on fast to keep up with the sleet. I have taken the drive to Laguardia many times and it always takes less than three hours. This morning it would take almost four and a half. But. better safe than sorry and since I had allowed lots of time I didn’t feel stressed and got to Laguardia without incident.

    I got rid of the rental car and took the shuttle to the terminal. Laguardia was eerily empty and I learned that almost every flight was cancelled except for mine. I found a seat facing a TV playing weather forecasts from CNN. Chicago, St Louis and other cities were being hammered by this storm and the broadcasters seemed pleased to describe the drama of this huge event. It felt good to be in the terminal and preparing to go home. It’s been an interesting trip with lots of surprises and I’m ready to sleep in my own bed. 

Digital Book World 2011

This week I’m at Digital Book World 2011 in New York City. This conference is about eBooks and the digital delivery of books. The key take away is publishing is experiencing a dramatic change and you better climb aboard or you’ll get left bThis week I’m at Digital Book World 2011 in New York City. This conference is about eBooks and the digital delivery of books. The key take away is publishing is experiencing a dramatic change and you better climb aboard or you’ll get left behind. During the keynote the moderator called it a “tsunami.”

This morning I attended a wonderful presentation about managing writing on the internet. However, in the afternoon I attended a workshop that was as dry as toast. Fortunately I got a few alerts from Luxulous that it was my turn to place some words. I’m a shockingly bad Scrabble player and I think people like playing against me because they get such enormous scores. Right now I’m getting cleaned in a two person game and lagging behind in a three person game. Is it possible to improve at Scrabble or do you just always suck? I can’t seem to get my score any higher than “disgraceful.