It Should be the What, Not the How

I read a wonderful--and true to life--piece in The New York Times the other day, called "Stupid Writer Tricks." The author, novelist Ben Dolnick, laments his time spent investigating the writing techniques of famous writers (as in how they wrote, like, where they sat when they wrote, or whether they used a No. 2 pencil or a typewriter, etc. rather than their actual writing).

As he puts it in the article:

I had, for a long time, a profound vulnerability to hearing about these sorts of routines. Of course I knew that writing was terrifically hard work, and that there was no secret code, as in a video game, that would unlock Tolstoy-mode, enabling me to crank out canon-worthy novellas before lunch. But I persisted in believing that I might one day come upon some technique, some set of tricks, that would vault me irreversibly onto the professional plane. I didn’t have a working printer, but I agreed wholeheartedly with Joan Didion that I needed to be sleeping in the same room as my manuscript, so as never to lose touch with it. It would be years before I’d written so much as a single chapter of a novel, but I knew that when I finished a book, I would, like Anthony Trollope, begin my next one on the very same day.

I confess to seeing a lot of truth, and a lot of myself, in this piece.

The "imaginary author interviews I occasionally conduct with myself while brushing my teeth" that Dolnick mentions bear more than a passing resemblance to my own inner fantasy life (though usually I'm on Letterman or Craig Ferguson, not in the pages of The Paris Review). And I would be lying if I said I haven't been occasionally browsing the prices of stand-up desks since learning that's how Hemingway preferred to work. (I've also taken to drinking mojitos on the same principle).

So I resolved to take Mr. Dolnick's advice: he points out that

the important thing is not the techniques, but the spirit in which you take them up. If you reach out, as I spent all those years doing, like a drowning man for a scrap of wood, then you’ll most likely flail until you and your technique sink together in an unhappy mass. If, though, you can reach out from a position of calm, as a swimmer reaches out for a kickboard before turning to begin his next lap, then you might find yourself feeling what all the tricks and tips are finally pointing toward: freedom.

Naturally, what was the first thing I did after vowing to be more free of concerns about writing, about not worrying so much about how I write and just write more, and not spending so much time investigating how others have done the same work in the past?

I read this article by Austin Grossman about how working on video games taught him how to write.

Naturally.

- S.

PS: I really wish Dolnick hadn't pointed out that all those Paris Review interviews are available online...

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The Fast-Track to Making a Million Dollars From Writing Books

Okay, so I stole the title of this post from this article in Forbes--sounds like a Forbes title when you think about it, doesn't it?

There's been a lot of buzz about Jennifer L. Armentrout lately and the success she's had with her self-published best-seller Wait for You. The Forbes article lays out the details and strategy of how Armentrout and her agent built her career and then positioned her for best-seller success with her self-published e-book (or is it "indie published" now? It's like the trekkie/trekker debate...). Their very successful strategy has resulted in HarperCollins acquiring the project for a "high six-figure" advance.

All of this is well and good and the article is an interesting and informative read. But what I really want to highlight from it was the Five Tips on How to Make a Million Dollars Writing that are included at the end of the article.

I love reading these success stories: let's face it, I hope to replicate them someday soon. But it always seems to me that these stories are in more than one way just stories about lightning striking, and we all know what they say about lightning striking in the same place twice.

When e-book self-pub/indie-pub first became a thing it seemed like the only barrier to success was having a product. Any product. There was so little competition initially that whatever was on offer was going to get some notice, no matter how bad the cover design was. But with the flood of e-books available now it's harder and harder to get noticed. So people have to be creative about how they promote and market their books. The days when all you needed was a blog, or a Facebook account, or a Twitter handle to promote your book are well and truly over. Those things are fine, and maybe even necessary these days, but when EVERYONE has them you can't authentically claim you're standing out, can you? You're really just part of the background noise of how-things-are (he says while writing on his blog...)

Like any system, as e-book indie publishing gets more and more complex there are fewer and fewer new and unanticipated ways to do things: the playing field keeps getting leveled (especially in this online realm) by everyone knowing and doing the same things that helped propel someone else before them (Amanda Hocking, say, or John Locke) to fame and fortune (though I personally would settle just for the fortune).

That's why I especially like the Five Tips on How to Make a Million Dollars Writing that are included at the end of the article. They are solid advice but they also take into account much of how publishing has changed and continues to change in the e-book era, check them out in the article or below with my comments:

Five Tips on How to Make a Million Dollars Writing From Armentrout’s Story

1. Write what you want to write. In Armentrout’s case, she wrote the new adult contemporary novel that she wanted to write even though she knew it would be hard to sell.
["Write what you want to write" is the first piece of advice that every writer has ever given me--there's no mistaking the passion that goes into something you want to write rather than trying to chase a trend. Write something you care about, Tim Powers told me, and then find and agent and an editor who you can make care about it, too. - S]

2. Build a platform. If you want to have commercial success as an author, it almost goes without saying these days that you need to build a dedicated following using social media and other Web tools.
[This, I think, is the trickiest one of these tips--as in the trick is how to do this. Like I said, everyone has an author blog, a Facebook page, a Twitter, etc. Generating a fanbase and community is where the real marketing and networking creativity has to happen, I think, and where you need to do something unique to make that lightning strike. I have my own idea--or, rather, my wife who is much smarter than me came up with my idea for me--and I hope to roll that out for you sometime this year. - S]

3. Write a lot. One thing that helped Armentrout build her platform was writing many, many books. She has more than a dozen out already with more on the way — and that’s just two years after her first book came out.
["Be prolific," was Kevin J. Anderson's advice to us at Writers of the Future and it's more true than ever in the e-book age. If people like one thing you wrote they are likely to click and buy everything else you've written if its all right there on Amazon anyway... Prolificness (is that a word?) is what I, and most writers, continue to struggle with. - S]

4. Consider all your options. Armentrout first tried the traditional route. When that didn’t work, she tried other things. When publishers wouldn’t buy her latest book, she self-published. Authors have more options than ever today and they shouldn’t be ignoring any of them.
[Not closing off options is, I think, key in the new publishing world. I want a 'traditional' publishing contract with one of the big New York houses--who doesn't? But if they don't bite then I plan to explore small press options--I already have a couple of publishers in mind who I think would like my stuff--and if that's a wash, too, then there's always indie pub. Or maybe I'll jump right to indie pub if New York doesn't want it. Or skip New York and go small press right away. Who knows? There are just so many more options for writers these days, and any (or all!) of them can bring you success. I remember even just four or five years ago how panelists at Ad Astra or World Fantasy poo-pooed the notion of digital self-publishing. This year at World Fantasy there was a whole programming track on digital self/indie pub and the rooms were PACKED. How quickly things change these days! - S]

5. Learn the tricks of the industry. The price drop that Armentrout executed for her book was not easy to do. By knowing what’s happening in the publishing industry and how publishers are finding success, Armentrout was able to leverage that to propel her own sales.
[This seems to have been a key to her success, and it was carefully coordinated with help from her agent. This is something that sometimes only professionals know how to do. I'm hopeful my nearly 10-years working in publishing will help me to have a leg-up on this aspect when it comes time to publish my book, but I'm not above hiring some outside help if I can to help me succeed! - S]

- S.

2012 Nebula Awards Nominees

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has announced the nominees for the 2012 Nebula Awards. The Nebula Awards have been one of the most prestigious science fiction awards since they were first awarded in 1966, with the nominees and winners being voted on by the author's peers--kind of like the sci-fi equivalent of the Screen Actors Guild Awards. In other words, it means your fellow writers think you're awesome. 

I'm THRILLED for my friend Aliette de Bodard for her TWO Nebula nominations this year. I'm also thrilled for friends Leah Bobet and Alethea Kontis for their nominations for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book, awarded alongside the Nebulas. Awesome writers, all. 

Ah, and I knew them when...

Here's a complete list of the nominees. Awards will be presented at SFWA’s 48th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend, to be held May 16-19, 2013 at the San Jose Hilton in San Jose CA. At the same event, Gene Wolfe will be the honored with the 2012 Damon Knight Grand Master Award for his lifetime contributions and achievements in the field.

Novel 
Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed (DAW; Gollancz ’13)
Ironskin, Tina Connolly (Tor)
The Killing Moon, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
The Drowning Girl, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
Glamour in Glass, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

Novella 
On a Red Station, Drifting, Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, Nancy Kress (Tachyon)
“The Stars Do Not Lie”, Jay Lake (Asimov’s 10-11/12)
“All the Flavors”, Ken Liu (GigaNotoSaurus 2/1/12)
“Katabasis”, Robert Reed (F&SF 11-12/12)
“Barry’s Tale”, Lawrence M. Schoen (Buffalito Buffet)

Novelette 
"The Pyre of New Day", Catherine Asaro (The Mammoth Books of SF Wars)
“Close Encounters”, Andy Duncan (The Pottawatomie Giant & Other Stories)
“The Waves”, Ken Liu (Asimov’s 12/12)
“The Finite Canvas”, Brit Mandelo (Tor.com 12/5/12)
“Swift, Brutal Retaliation”, Meghan McCarron (Tor.com 1/4/12)
“Portrait of Lisane da Patagnia”, Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com 8/22/12)
“Fade to White”, Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 8/12)

Short Story 
“Robot”, Helena Bell (Clarkesworld 9/12)
“Immersion”, Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 6/12)
“Fragmentation, or Ten Thousand Goodbyes”, Tom Crosshill (Clarkesworld 4/12)
“Nanny’s Day”, Leah Cypess (Asimov’s 3/12)
“Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream”, Maria Dahvana Headley (Lightspeed 7/12)
“The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species”, Ken Liu (Lightspeed 8/12)
“Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain”, Cat Rambo (Near + Far)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
The Avengers 
Beasts of the Southern Wild 
The Cabin in the Woods 
The Hunger Games 
John Carter 
Looper

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book 
Iron Hearted Violet, Kelly Barnhill (Little, Brown)
Black Heart, Holly Black (S&S/McElderry; Gollancz)
Above, Leah Bobet (Levine)
The Diviners, Libba Bray (Little, Brown; Atom)
Vessel, Sarah Beth Durst (S&S/McElderry)
Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (Random House; Doubleday UK)
Enchanted, Alethea Kontis (Harcourt)
Every Day, David Levithan (Alice A. Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Summer of the Mariposas, Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Tu Books)
Railsea, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
 Fair Coin, E.C. Myers (Pyr)
Above World, Jenn Reese (Candlewick)

Rebirth of the Short Form?

I've long wondered whether novellas or novelettes would see a resurgence with the advent of everyday e-book readers: after all, an author could write a story that is 20,000 or 40,000 words long and potentially sell it for the same amount as a 'traditional' 100,000 word novel (the length of your average paperback...back when they still had paperbacks--remember them?) So that author could, theoretically, write three to five times as many stories in the same time it would take to write a single novel and, perhaps, triple or quintuple his or her income from writing. It's an idea that has merit.

What I didn't expect (but probably should have) was the renewed interest in the short story itself, and in collections of them, particularly from individual authors.

So, an interesting article in The New York Times late last week about the growing sales trend for short stories and short story collections. Find it here.

One of my writerly New Years resolutions for 2013 was to get my published short stories up for sale online (individually and in collection form) and this certainly has renewed my enthusiasm to do so! Keep watching this space for more details!

- S.

2013 Campbell Award Pre-Reading Anthology

For those of you who will be considering works for the Hugos comes a great idea for getting to know those eligible for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer: the 2013 Campbellian Pre-Reading Anthology!

The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer is an award given annually to the best new writer whose first professional work of science fiction or fantasy was published within the two previous calendar years. It is named for the famed John W. Campbell, Jr., editor for 34 years of the leading "Golden Age" science fiction magazine, Astounding Science Fiction (later renamed Analog). The award is presented annually at WorldCon alongside the Hugos--though it is not itself a Hugo.

 In the words of the STUPEFYING STORIES blog (where you can download the 2013 Campbellian Pre-Reading Anthology for FREE):

Now, for the first time in the award's 40-year history, the 2013 Campbellian Pre-Reading Anthology provides a much-needed and long-overdue guide to the newly emerging talents eligible for this year's award. Containing 80 complete short stories by 43 different authors, as well as additional information about another 58 potential candidates, the 2013 Campbellian Pre-Reading Anthology is your guide to the newest science fiction and fantasy writers who are helping to define the future of the genre. 

Ingenious! I wish this had been an option back when I was an eligible new author! Of course, ebooks were still a distant dream at that point... As the blog says, this ebook is only available for a limited time (presumably until the nomination deadline of March 10, 2013) so get it before its gone!

- S.