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October 30th, 2009
09:15 am
A super nice writer lady thought I was worth interviewing. It's about as intereting as you might expect...kinda windy. And really heavy on showing what kind of typist I am. But still, if you wanta peek -- http://tbhope.blogspot.com/2009/10/interview-with-jan-fields.html
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October 18th, 2009
11:30 am - Covers! I Gots Covers!
I got my new covers from ABDO. I don't know that I've ever tried to put pictures in a post so who knows if I can manage it. I'll give it a shot. Oh, I'm supposed to add this blurb: "Available January 2010 through Magic Wagon, a division of the ABDO Group (www.abdopublishing.com) or your educational wholesaler."
Okay, giving the covers a shot (in order of which I like best to least.)
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October 1st, 2009
04:26 pm
Recently I followed a link from Nathan Branford's blog to read an anti-Banned Books Week essay. I didn't agree with the essay, though I have seen (on rare instance) times when the actual challenge to a book inflated by rhetoric that made it bigger than the challenge really was. That doesn't mean I'm in favor of book removal but sometimes the anti-book removal people can get nearly as worked up as the folks labelling perfectly lovely teen books as pornography.
At any rate, I moved on and was reading the comments. I saw a man who insisted that since his taxes contributes to the library's function, he should have some say. I agree. When you consider the finite amount that I pay in taxes. And then divide it amongst all the community services it funds...I would find that I actually pay very little out of pocket for the library itself. Then if I took that amount and I went to the library and I piled up all the books that are vitally important to me, that I feel are essential to a strong library. The books I most want available in my community, I would find that the monetary value of the pile far exceeds the money I spend to ensure that pile is there.
But, I did contribute toward that pile of very important books. So my role, my say, my right as paid for by my taxes is to defend my pile of books. I paid to have them there and no one can touch my pile. I will invest in protecting them.
Other folks will have a different pile to defend. I accept that I didn't buy the right to pick from their pile and get rid of them. I only paid for the right to the books in MY pile. In fact, my pile is actually worth more than I paid...there's no money paid by me left over to pay for my right to try to get rid of someone else's pile of very important vital books.
Now, suppose you contribute to the library and you go make your pile while someone is figuring out how much money you actually contributed. And you discover there are only three books vitally important to you in that library -- and you paid for more than three books! Then absolutely, I think you ought to have the right to petition and ask for more of those vital books to be added.
Now, odds are...if your pile is really short and kind of skimpy. The books you're going to want to add will be things like The Bermudez Triangle, Bobby's Two Uncles, and The Geography Club...but I still think you have a right to ask for more library buying power addressed to your needs. Even if the folks hunched over their great big piles don't so much like yours.
And I think they have no right to try to get rid of your pile...even if it does have gay guinea pigs in it.
Anyway, I couldn't post in the comments of the essay about Banned Books Week...and I had to get that off my brain. There's so very little room there.
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September 21st, 2009
08:09 am
This morning, I was reading Editorial Anonymous's blog and she posted a link to a Village Voice blog -- http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/09/i_will_not_read.php?page=1 -- so I read it. Don't follow the link if you're touchy about the f-bomb.
The writer of the blog is a script writer with some impressive credentials. He gets asked to read scripts and treatments and whatnot (no surprise) and when he gives honest answers, he gets talked about like a dog (no surprise). He's buried in "friend scripts" so he tries not to take any more (no surprise) but when he won't take one, he gets talked about like a dog (no surprise). He's frustrated. I don't blame him.
What is most interesting about the blog post is not the post -- I TOTALLY get the post. I'm not even a big wheel in the industry and I have plenty of my own stories of people who sought out my help and then ranted at me because I didn't say what they wanted to hear. Or people who solicited help from me at totally inappropriate times. So I'm not surprised that a real Oscar-winning screen writer would experience stuff like that -- not surprised at all.
What I found interesting was the comment trail. Some people totally GOT the post and responded to it in a "feel your pain" way, but many many people responded really rudely. Sure, the blog post is harsh. The guy swears. He's frustrated. Plus, putting hours into helping someone for free and having them talk about you like a dog not only frustrates you -- it hurts your feelings and it makes you feel like an idiot for agreeing to help in the first place. So I get his emotion -- what I don't get is the responders' emotional heat.
Are we such an entitled society that we're angry at people who just want to get paid for our work or at least APPRECIATED if we give our work away for free? If someone won't give us a free cookie -- are we such children that we throw a temper tantrum? And if someone agrees to give us a free cookie and it turns out to be a snikerdoodle instead of chocolate chip, are we such babies that we kick the giver in the leg? Do we really think that's okay? Really?
The comment trail made me sad. And it probably made me a little less inclined to offer free advice, which I still do quite a bit. Sure, I've had people rant about the advice I gave because I wasn't supportive enough. Sure, I've had people talk about me like a dog behind my back because they didn't like the advice I gave. But I hadn't quite come to believe that the nasty response was going to be common...I was still sorta thinking I should just be more gentle but still honest next time.
Now I'm thinking the problem isn't mine. I'll be giving that some more thought.
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September 7th, 2009
11:26 am
When I was in college, many of my instructors gushed over my writing. Now that I look at things I wrote then -- most really weren't very good. I suspect I was gushed over because my papers *looked* good in comparison. Many of the other folks I knew HATED writing papers. Hated it. And they wrote well-hated prose -- stiff, wordy, painful. I loved to write so my work had a certain clumsy vitality and sometimes over-the-top affection for wordplay that probably looked super good in comparison with the tall stack of painful papers each teacher had to read.
That doesn't mean I was good. Actually I was not. I had potential and I had enthusiasm but *good* isn't something that just plops on your head like seagull-based hair products. Good is something that takes work. Luckily, I didn't really know that so I just pegged away at getting better (since I have lived in competition with me all my life -- in any activity, I'm either striving to get better or walking away. I never really settle down.) If I had known how HARD professional writing would be, I probably would have walked away. Really. There were other, easier things I could have done that definitely pay better.
And yet, a couple years ago I did a work for hire fantasy novel. It's not very good. It could have been with the vicious thumping of my crit group, but my deadlines were short and pretty much all of my writing weaknesses are now captured on the pages of the book. But still...I can see that clumsy vitality, love for words, and peculiar imagination that is mine alone. But more than that -- I've gotten fan mail. Girls the age of my daughter have read the book and liked it -- a lot. Now, considering my love for Nancy Drew as a kid, I know kids are not the most discerning critics of art -- but something in me is warmed by having kids I don't know caught up in my peculiar imagination. So maybe...maybe I wouldn't have given up on writing even if I'd known that (1) it was a lot of work and that (2) thirty years later, I still would not have "arrived" at being truly "good."
I'd like to think I would have stuck with it. But sometimes...really, ignorance is a good thing.
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September 6th, 2009
04:08 pm
When I was a kid, we had this set of books (Colliers Junior Classics, I think) that had short excerpts from lots and lots of books bound into progressively more challenging volumes. I read every single word of this set -- then I went looking for the original story. That's how I ended up reading Ivanhoe, Great Expectation, Gulliver's Travels, Robin Hood, and plenty of others by the time I was twelve. Many of them were way over my head and challenging reading but excerpts made me desperate to know the rest of the book.
Somewhere along the way, we got rid of the series. I wish we hadn't. I would have liked to have them for my Wild Child. There were so many books I read that kids today aren't really likely to read. My girlie loves books but something like Little Women or Secret Garden would probably end up on the "no thanks" pile of books.
The set of books was a sneaky way to get me addicted to classics. It's where I met Sherlock Holmes -- and what began a search for every single Sherlock Holmes story so I could read it. Many of the books I read after meeting them in the book set would never have caught my attention if I hadn't read a "story" from the book first. It was "The Sesemann House is Haunted" that made me start Heidi. This is the series that made me read Miss Hickory and more.
Just thinking about them takes me back to some magic moments from my childhood -- the first taste of good books, challenging books that were worth the effort to conquer. Books that felt like *my* discovery.
Right now I'm working on some adaptations/abridgements of classic novels. Hopefully kids who read the abridgements might someday hunt up the original and commit to the tougher reading journey. Some of them are well worth it.
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August 14th, 2009
08:26 am - Stories in my head...
Not all of my stories make it to the first line of print. Recently, I watched a short video clip on YouTube and it inspired a story in my head. I spent all day (on and off) listening to the story as it unfolded. I heard the dialogue and watched the scenes. When my hands were in soapy water with a pile of dishes, I was in the story exchanging witty banter with someone not quite safe. While I walked to the mail box, I strode through the landscape of the story, noting sensory detail along the way.
I'll never write the story. It's not really very good in a "story" way but it made me happy. Really supremely happy all day. It was the kind of happy you get from reading a book you particularly connect with. And when the story finished ...I was done with it. I didn't want to revisit it and pick at it. I knew how it ended. I knew where the characters went, or where they might go anyway -- and that's the most you can ask of story.
I do this now and again, spend a day with a story that will never be written. Sometimes I wonder if this is a particular waste of creative energy. I'm not harnessing it to make money for the family (and I do need to make money for the family), because I'm "writing" the story only for me. But it does remind me again of the incredible gift of imagination. I can live a thousand stories because of this gift. I can run fast, or fly, or flirt, or any of a million things a middle aged tubby lady with bad knees is unlikely to do. I can exist in a different place. What's more amazing than that?
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August 13th, 2009
09:18 am - Why I like Joe Flanigan.
Joe Flanigan was a writer, for magazines no less. This (of course) I approve of. He took up acting with no real intention of making it a career. He's finally an example of a writer with skills (he did, after all, write for Town & Country and Interview) who took up acting.
Of course, unlike celebs who take up writing -- he didn't get instant goodies but I still like that a writer became an actor, more or less whimsically.
I also just like Joe Flanigan. He seems able to laugh at himself which is something I approve of for everyone. The most unpleasant people I've ever met were the ones who were terrified to laugh at themselves for fear that others would laugh at them too. You gotta laugh at yourself or life will drive you crazy.
Mr. Flanigan is also really nice to look at -- hey, I'm getting old but I'm not dead yet. I saw him recently on WAREHOUSE 13 (a show I particularly approve of for both it's X-Files/Friday the Thirteenth, The Series roots and the Wild, Wild West level of Steampunk. I'm wild about Steampunk -- just so you know, Arthur Slade's Hunchback Assignments ROCKS -- but I digress.)
I'd seen this actor a long long time ago on Murphy Brown when he was twelve (okay, not really, but he really looked young.) His acting skills were young too. He didn't stink, but he was basically pleasant eye-candy. That was his role and that's what he did with it.
I've seen a couple episodes of STARGATE ATLANTIS...I liked the show but never seemed to have time to see it. (When you're not the holder of the sacred remote, you don't always get to make the choices.) When I did...and when I saw the WAREHOUSE 13 episode, The Elements -- I was struck by how much Joe Flanigan's acting has matured.
I think that's what ultimately we don't get to see in Celebs turned writers. Here's a writer turned celeb who entered the industry pretty green and worked at the level he was able. He studied, grew, and evolved in his work. And now he's well worth watching. He wasn't tossed into the world of acting like he was the second coming of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. He worked.
We take that away from celebs turned writers. They don't get to grow and study and work. They get tossed into publishing with enough fanfare to suggest they're the second coming of Maurice Sendak but ...they aren't. And however I feel about that for the industry, for the kids who end up with the books, and for how it devalues our work -- I also feel sad for the celeb/writer. There's something amazing about growth, getting better, looking over a career and seeing where you've come to. And they don't get that. Maybe they don't care...I recognize that many probably don't. But I'm proud of how far I've come and how far I plan to go. Sure, the money from "instant arrival" would be nice (okay, really really nice) but I'm in this gig for more than that. And I'm glad to get more than that. I actually am.
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July 19th, 2009
06:53 pm - Anniversary Yum
We went out for dinner to celebrate my honey's one year anniversary of being home from the hospital. He wanted to go to the new Bobby Flay restaurant at the Mohegan Sun casino here. My honey admires Bobby Flay tremendously -- the man grills.
At any rate, we were pleasantly surprised to see our early eating choice was well rewarded. We walked RIGHT up to the counter, ordered, found seats and waited for the food. The seating is fun, rows and rows of swivel seats on long rows of tables so you might sit by perfect strangers and that's okay. It's kind of like the old "lunch counter" feel but really updated.
The decor was simple but attractive. It didn't grab you but neither did it gross you out. It was cool.
I got the Bobby Blue Burger. It was drippy messy but tasty. I liked it. I would have killed for a knife to cut it in half with so I could have wrestled it easier but this is a strictly no tableware place. I skipped getting a side because I figured it would be too much food. I did get a chocolate shake which was lovely -- darkly chocolate with lots of nice real whipped cream. It wasn't very big but that was okay with me since I wasn't really interested in getting sick.
My honey got the Philadelphia burger which was serious as a heart-attack about having HOT peppers. But he said it was pretty good -- just a smidge too hot for him. He did some cool down with my milk shake now and then. He was also looking really really really forward to the onion rings. He expected them to be great (he's a huge fan of onion rings). But they were rubbery and had definitely spent a little too much time with a heat lamp or something similar. Not hot. Not crisp. Not really so good.
My wild girl got a cheese burger and it was pretty dry but she liked it fine. She got fries which were a little like the onion rings -- didn't seem exceptionally newly made. And her vanilla milk shake was lovely -- very vanilla.
So...on the Jan-0-meter. My burger scored pretty high, and my honey's more of a high medium for making his lips go numb. Our wild girl's scored low -- way dry. The onion rings just weren't good. The fries were okay, average. The milk shakes were really nice, a little small but a good size to come with a meal. It's pricey for the quality. We may not go back. But the milk shake was good enough to think about well into the future so we might sneak in for a shake again some time.
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July 15th, 2009
08:13 am - The Twilight of the Killer Loves
I watched the entire run of Harper's Island, the murder mystery/slasher series that was designed to tell a single complete story in 13-episodes. I did it because I love murder mysteries and because I was interested in the idea of a full 13-week series that wrapped up completely at the end of the season. I wanted to see what this did to the writing. You definitely know you're going to be DONE in 13 weeks. You don't have to leave any open doors. You don't have to decide what to tie up and what to leave loose.
Now, it wasn't the best television I've ever seen. There was some very nice acting from the mostly young cast. But some of the writing was stupid -- mostly any time they had to deal with police. In the real world, the police actually show up when a huge number of folks evacuate an island because of a serial killer. On Harper's Island, the only folks who show up are the two who were expected anyway and then when they're shot...no one on the mainland seems to care that they didn't come home with their prisoner.
But beyond the interesting experiment in writing, I found the fans fascinating and they reminded me a little of Twilight. Here's why. You've got this character who is sweet and thoughtful and brave and good natured and kind hearted and everyone loves him. The more you watch him, the more you love him. Then he turns out to be a vampire...I mean, um, a serial killer. And the fans don't want to let go. They don't want to say...ewww...ick...blood sucking controlling nutso vampire...I mean incestuous, spree-killing nutcase.
I watched a fan chat between some of the cast and fans. One of the fans asked one of the actors if she didn't think it would be nice if her character had kissed the incestuous, spree-killing nutcase as he was dying so he could die happy. DIE HAPPY??? Hello, incestuous, spree-killing nutcase. Who cares if he dies happy!!
But like the characters themselves when they discovered he was the killer, it was hard to give him up. It was hard to accept that this guy is bad...being with him is bad...he LIKES doing bad things. He's always going to be bad. You aren't going to get a really happy ending because you can't.
Seeing someone ask if maybe the girl who has seen all her friends and family murdered wanted to see the killer (or one of the killers anyway) die happy really reminded me of the folks who adore Edward. There are clear similarities:
Henry was a stone-cold killer but was going to fight his urges to keep the girl at the end. He tells her no more killing -- but he is what he is. You know that. Edward is a vampire, a stone-cold killer by definition, but he's fighting his urges...urges that keep him alive. You've got two serial killers here -- I wouldn't want my daughter in obsessive love with either one.
The difference in Harper's Island and Twilight is that when the female lead in Harper's Island learns the guy is a serial killer -- SHE STOPS LIKING HIM. In Twilight, she thinks she'll just become a serial killer, um, I mean vampire, too -- so she can fit in with him since after all, we know how well serial killers, um...vampire...have always done with the whole "controlling their urges" thing.
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July 10th, 2009
08:29 am
Today is my mother's birthday. She would have been seventy-nine. I miss her.
Lately I've been thinking about her a lot. She loved ghost stories. She loved ghost things on tv. Just loved them. These days there are a lot of ghost shows on TV. I know because my daughter loves them. She loves Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures and the Othersiders. They could have shared that, and I'm sorry my daughter can't call her grandmother and talk about the latest ghost show.
My mom smoked for a lot of years and it killed her.
Recently the same thing happened to Laura Halse Anderson's mom.
I hate cigarettes. I may hate them even more than drugs and alcohol, though drugs and alcohol killed my brother. These are things that enslave people and drag them slowly to their death. The fact that they don't kill every person who falls in love with them doesn't make them okay.
I wish Mom had gotten to meet my husband, she would have liked his sweetness and his laugh. She would have loved him for loving me. I wish Mom had gotten to meet her granddaughter -- she would have seen me in her and she would have seen herself too. I wish I could have sent Mom my first book -- she would have read it. She would have carried it around in her big mom purse and made people look at it. She was like that.
If anyone who happens to read this today is still in love with my mom's killer...please, think a moment about stopping. Someone is probably wishing it for you.
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June 29th, 2009
09:23 am
I finally got the rough draft of my Robinson Crusoe adaptation done. Now I have to revise and get lots more pop and lots less words. Again, some of the stuff in the book is really funny, though so very flatly told (some of which was intentional) that the funny is lost. I want to bring it back. Which is not to say RC is a comedy (except in the classic "has a happy ending" way) but it does have funny things.
And some things that are hysterical even though they aren't meant to be. Near the end of the book Robinson Crusoe is a member of a party travelling over some moutains in Europe (and you thought it all took place on an island). They are attacked by hundreds and hundreds of wolves...coming in waves like troops on the battlefield. Okay, that made me laugh. No wonder the poor wolves are starving, their packs number in the hundreds.
And then Friday decides to torture a bear (right, not funny though apparently the group found it comic) but at the end he tells Robinson that's how they kill bears on the small Carribean island where he was from. Right...bears roaming the island jungles of the Carribean.
Anyway, my first draft is about 4000 words over so I need to get to work.
After adapting both Moby Dick and Robinson Crusoe, I find that (at one time) white folks had an unhealthy preoccupation with cannibals.
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June 22nd, 2009
09:36 am - Bag Lady as a Fashion Statement
My husband was looking at his extensive collection of grey shorts (I bought him a bunch of them when he was at the rehab hospital. They were on sale and met the requirements for rehab clothes: loose with pockets and a color that went with all his t-shirts I sent). He mentioned that the folks at "What Not To Wear" would have rude things to say about them.
I told him they would never notice his clothes. They'd be too busy asking me who the heck dressed me. Honestly, my clothes tend to be just a smidge less than ...stylish.
Once this winter I was wearing black leggings with blue sweats over them...I had the combination on because...um...okay, most of the crotch had worn out of the sweats but they were really warm and the right length. With my stubby little legs it's not that easy to get sweats the right length. With this combination I was wearing a really really faded long sleeved t-shirt thing with an odd purple-ish paisley pattern. And on top of that, a man's sweatshirt I had slashed down the front to make into a cardigan. My slashing was a little ragged. So was my hair...I'm prone to cutting it myself. My socks came from my husband's drawer (have you noticed how much warmer men's socks are?) and my shoes are just the tinsiest bit out at the sides, but they're sooooooo comfortable.
Many of my pairs of pants -- sweats and grey jerney knits -- were hand-me downs from my husband. He has VERY long legs and arms and so clothes tend to creep up on him after a few washings. Then I get them. They don't shrink that much so...well...they keep my feet nice and warm.
When I was younger, my fashion sense tended to be called "waifish" now that I'm middle aged, I just look like a bag lady. People overlook the value of a good bag-lady outfit. It's warm. Everything is uniformly faded and tired so it all matches in an odd way. It's very cosy. And if you spill on it or rip it -- it's all good.
But it does mean my husband sometimes stops me at the door and reminds me to change before we go somewhere. Since I'm the lady who once dashed to the library in my jammies, clearly it helps to have a keeper that way.
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June 15th, 2009
11:27 am - Platform
I've been hearing a lot about platform lately from children's writers (most of them fairly early in their careers). And I've been considering "platform" for the standard, garden variety children's writer.
Platform for a writer means the value of your name in marketing. This means do you personally have a fan base who will buy a book just because it has your name on it. James Patterson had platform (which is why someone published the blindingly bad Christmas picture book he wrote). Jan Fields does not have platform. The folks who recognize my name are not the same people who are likely to buy children's books JUST because my name is on it.
And I still firmly believe children's writers don't have to have platform to get their first book published. On top of that, I've seen not one jot of evidence to suggest that platform is necessary or even important to selling your first book.
Does this mean I think publishers don't like authors to be proactive about selling the book. Do I think this means I think your publisher would rather you DIDN'T do school visits, author talks, writing conferences, blogs, a website, etc. NO, I certainly do not believe this. I think all of those are great things to do when your book comes out. Heck, I think turning your car into a bat to sell BATS ON THE BEACH was a brilliant thing for Brian Lies to do and I think he's the cat's meow. His marketing efforts combined with a FANTASTIC picture book worked together to put him on the New York Times Bestseller lists and that does offer him some platform (though really, the bats might have more platform with actual kids.) Did he do any of this before he got published? Uh, no.
These are "after the sale" things and over time you can get some "platform" out of them. That's because platform is really all about you. Is there something about your name that sells books? If there is...sure, you're going to be that much hotter a commodity, but for a children's writer, the way to get your "name" to sell books is to write a lot of excellent books, sell them one at a time to good publishers, and then do the standard things to support each book until one day you wake up and people know your name.
People chasing platform before the sale are probably just investing time that is better used elsewhere. Children's book buyers are probably not going to know your name until you sell some books (unless you're building platform by winning American Idol or starring in the next Twilight movie).
Within a very limited sphere, I have name recognition...but that doesn't matter a scrap to children's book editors. For me to sell a book, I still have to write a good book that an editor will believe in. Same as everyone else. And from that step forward, I will be building a useful platform, not by chasing platform, but by doing what writers need to do -- write the best books they can.
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June 2nd, 2009
10:17 am
Yesterday my daughter and I were brainstorming about a new book I might be doing work-for-hire. She loves to talk about the book writing process with me and tell me what she thinks I ought to do. One of the things this book will need is a poem that accidentally turns into a spell (because of where it's recited) that wreaks catastrophe...the power of the word, indeed.
My daughter was thrilled. She immediately went to work on the poem. She was reciting all evening long. She was considering different poetic forms and which would work best in the book. It was fun to watch (if a bit overwhelming after the first hour.) She promised to work on it some more at school today.
She did let me know that if she comes up with the perfect poem, she wants byline billing in the book. I think I can talk her down to a mention on the acknowledgements and a new webkinz.
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May 31st, 2009
10:45 am - Self-Publishing cha-cha-cha
Now, that I ranted about self-publishing and POD, I wanted to note that I'm not opposed to self-publishing. But the folks posting the kinds of remarks I quoted are self-publishing out of ignorance and that is the worst possible choice to make because self-publishing is HARD. It's way harder than commercial publishing because you've got wicked odds that the only people going to see your book are your friends and family (assuming they like you that much 'cause if you're going with a POD, your product is going to be EXPENSIVE).
But, these kinds of remarks show folks who self-published for smart reasons:
My nonfiction picture book has a clear market through museum gift shops and zoo gift shops and I could reach all those markets directly. Plus, I could sell them in school visits -- and it doesn't hurt when you're booking to have published a half-dozen science-based nonfiction picture books. So why let a commercial publisher have a cut? I did the research and I knew how to self-publish wisely.
I'd published several novels with commercial presses but they felt one of my novels was for a niche market. Now, I knew I could reach that niche market directly, but I also felt it had broader appeal. And I knew it could be part of my school visits. So I researched self-publishing so I could know how to become my own publisher and do it well.
I do school visits as a storyteller and sometimes I tell stories I made up. Having a book to sell with my visits boosts my income. So I had a story collection printed that I could hand-sell at these visits.
I was writing religious picture books that clearly taught a lesson. The big Christian publishers are virtually impossible to break into and you really do have to have an agent -- and there aren't many with that specialty. So I went with a really tiny micro press doing POD, even though I knew my books would not end up in bookstores and all sales would be hand-sold. It's not the ideal, but I feel good about the hundred or so of each copy that I'm likely to sell.
I wanted to get Granny's book in print while she was still alive. She's not going to be taking any writing classes or "building her craft." But the grandkids will have a copy of her story and Granny will get to hold one in her hands. That's really enough for us.
Self-publishing and even POD through one of the "self-publishing services" can work. I know that it can. It just isn't likely to work for 99% of the people doing it. And when it doesn't work, too often folks fall back on the old "it's all publishing's fault" grumble.
Another reason self-publishing/POD publishing and working through one of the eensy weensy POD micro presses makes me sad is that too often folks start there and stop there. Their career never goes any further because the pressure to do ALL the selling as hand-selling is a huge hungry time monster that gobbles up the time needed to do what folks needed in the first place -- working on their craft and learning the industry. So they get stuck. They do book after book that sells a couple hundred copies (if they're good at hand-selling). And they invest a lot of time in convincing themselves that they are actually getting the exact same experience they would have at a larger commercial publisher.
Anyway, that's the rest of my rant.
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May 30th, 2009
10:30 am - Why I Never Liked Brady Bunch
I get embarrassed for people. Sometimes when someone does something or says something really stupid and the person doesn't seem to realize how they look or sound, I get really embarrassed for them. I used to get embarrassed for the kids on the Brady Bunch and for the folks in Mayberry. Those were just pretend people but they triggered that feeling of "Oh, no they're going to be so humiliated when they find out!"
Now I sometimes get that way for writers on the Internet -- especially writers who are self-published or are considering self-publishing. I read a lot of blogs and boards and newsletters because I figure part of being the Institute webeditor/guru is knowing what's going on. So I read. And sometimes I get really embarrassed for people. Really.
When I see things like...
"I self-published because publishers aren't interested in new authors..."
"I went with a POD because all the publishers had met their quota of new authors..."
"Publishers weren't interested in my book because I'm not a celebrity..."
"I couldn't afford an agent so I couldn't get published..."
"I couldn't sell my book because it was too clean..."
"I couldn't sell my book because it wasn't Harry Potter..."
Argh. Okay, sure, if a person was a celebrity with decent platform, that person could probably get a crap children's book published. We have seen evidence of that, so that one has some validity. But here's the real story for all of these:
"I self-published because publishers aren't interested in new authors with books that aren't ready for publication."
"I went with a POD because all the publishers had met their quota of new authors with books that won't sell...which is a quota of none."
"I couldn't afford an agent so I couldn't get published because I don't know a thing about publishing and didn't want to take the most minimal time to learn."
"I couldn't sell my book because it was too clean though there are plenty of clean books, but not many of them that aren't written at a competitive level."
"I couldn't sell my book because it wasn't Harry Potter and wasn't...well...good."
Folks are in such a freaking hurry. They write the book. Then rush full tilt to sell it. And then when it doesn't sell by the end of the week, they turn to self-publishing or POD. And the problem 99% of the time was that it really wasn't competitive in today's market. Maybe the person wasn't really up to the level of craft he/she needed to reach (the days of an editor nurturing a shiny bit of talent until it was embedded in good craft are pretty much past). Maybe the person was writing for adults and didn't realize it. Maybe the person confused "things happening" with "plot." Maybe the person let his/her imagination run away with him/her and just assumed the reader would go along for the ride even if the ride was confused and plotless.
But you know what...most of the time the problem was the book. Not every time but darn near every time. But really, most of the folks who actually ARE ready and are just not hitting the right editor yet are probably not turning to vanity presses. Because most of the folks who actually ARE ready have probably educated themselves to the reality of this business. If you've spent the time perfecting your craft and learning about the specific world of children's writing, you've almost certainly learned enough to avoid saying stuff like I see on some of these boards.
Well, I could rant on but the husband is thinking all the clacking of my keyboard means I want to do the grocery list now. Sigh. Oh, and I keep editing for my typos...clearly ranting and spelling requires some level of multitasking I cannot manage.
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May 5th, 2009
10:08 am - I made something
I've been wanting to have a really silly contest ever since the Institute of Children's Literature opened their new discussion board. But I wanted to give a prize and I wanted to be able to mail it to the winner without spending the gross national product of Madagascar. So I decided I would make a weee little dolly who loves to write and she could be someone's mascot.
So I did this weekend. She's the prize in a rejection letter in verse contest on the Writer's Retreat http://institutechildrenslit.net/index.php
Yeah, the graphic is kind of crappy because I scanned her instead of taking a real photo. But I can get scans into my computer in less time and she's so small (two and a half inches) and flat-ish. Her face is embroidered and she has auburn curls, a tiny lace collar and wee purple beads for buttons on her dress. I thought she didn't come out too bad, even if the graphic stinks.
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April 26th, 2009
10:01 am - A Year Ago...
Today my husband's nephew has been married for one year. This means one year ago today I danced for the first time with my husband. We'd probably not danced before because I'm really not very large-group social. I liked dancing with him. After nearly ten years of marriage it was nice to do something romantic and sweet for the first time.
The next day he got sick.
Yesterday, he moved a toe on his left foot really clearly for the first time since the sickness damaged so many nerves. This means the nerves are still coming back. Yay! He went outside barefoot yesterday and said he could feel the roughness of the patio concrete on the souls of his feet...another big deal.
Every once in a while we run across something he can't remember at all, not even a little from before he got sick. The virus in his brain didn't erase many files but when it did...they were just gone. No access. Zap. So far, none of them have been big moments but still, it's sad to lose a memory.
But he works outside a bit. He gives me heck about my desk. He's well.
I'm glad.
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April 17th, 2009
09:03 am
My husband and I were watching television the other night and saw a silly cereal commercial with Bear Gryllis of Man vs. Wild. This cause us to come up with other silly commercials for this guy.
We decided on a whole campaign for something (haven't decided on the product yet) where they drop Bear in the middle of a city, but he acts like he's out in the wild. They could drop him on top of a tall building and he could do his pose from up there looking down and saying how his first job is to get down there and find water...so he climbs down the building.
And for finding food...we were torn. My husband thinks he should go after pigeons. I want to see him make snares next to fire hydrants because small mammals often pass there and they can be tasty eating.
I believe that could be profoundly funny. Especially with's Bear's tendency to get nakid at any and all provocation. Can you imagine a hot day in NYC and Bear's peeing in his canteen in the middle of the street?
Anyway, it made us giggle.
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