Practicing What We Preach

Sometimes we worry that we sound like know-it-alls here at Author Enablers headquarters. Today we want to share with you that we have the same struggles all writers do. We struggle to get our writing projects going and keep at them; we struggle with bringing things to completion; we have bouts of insecurity, self-doubt, despair, and weariness; it is hard to manage our time and keep all areas of our lives in order.

Writing well isn’t easy. It is a craft and a discipline. It is hard work, and the reward is not guaranteed. There is no magic way around any of that. And so, we return to the most basic advice, the kind of advice your mom gave you long ago:

• Take care of yourself. Writers dying alone of alcoholism, despair, and/or suicide is so 20th-century. Better to live long and prosper.

• Write a little every day, no matter what.

• Believe in yourself—you are loved, and that will be always true whether you get published or not.

• Brush your teeth before bedtime.

• Call your mother. Tell her you brushed your teeth.

We’d love to hear thoughts about how you keep your spirits up and your writing going.

The Miami Book Fair International

Your trusty Author Enablers were at the Miami Book Fair International this past weekend. Sam did a presentation for his book How to Play the Harmonica: and Other Life Lessons, sitting alongside Tom Wilson, the famous “Ziggy” cartoonist, who was there for his book Zigzagging. Kathi was there basically to schmooze and embarrass Luis Urrea any way she could. That’s the wonderful thing about book fairs—you meet interesting people and you get an overall sense of what’s new in the book industry.

One thing that that caught our eye was the growing prominence of self-published authors. Actually, self-published authors have attended book festivals ever since we can remember, but they’ve always seemed like lonely sorts. You’d see them gamely pitching their books from the smaller and less prominent display booths; then leaning glumly, chins in hands, on their display tables as the day wore on. Not in Miami . . . at least not this year! The area designated for self-published authors was bustling; there was an autograph line at nearly every table, and lively high-decibel conversation between these authors and their readers. While this is not the new wave that is revolutionizing publishing, it is certainly a growing segment of the market. As always, we urge you to do your homework before considering this route: a self-published author actually needs to know more about the business than does an author who is published traditionally. But for those with writing talent and marketing savvy, self-publishing isn’t going away any time soon.

In fact, the only lonely booth inhabitant we saw was the guy selling newspaper subscriptions . . . and we don’t like to think about what that means for the fourth estate.

Help Us Invent a New Word

Sharon West of Wichita, KS writes: “I have been trying to find a word that describes the act of reading every book by a certain author.  For example, if I have read every one of Jodi Picoult’s books, is there a word to use for that?”

 

We racked our brains and couldn’t think of this word…we don’t know if it’s supposed to be a verb, a noun, an adjective, or all three. So we’re throwing this question out to you, our BookPage readers. Let’s invent a new word that describes “the act of reading every book by a certain author.” Best entry gets a copy of “Stranger than Fiction,” a CD featuring 40 singing authors, many of whom have read all of Jodi Picault’s books.

 

Authors Juggle Different Duties (in the Miami Herald and beyond)

In a recent Miami Herald article by Cindy Krischer Goodman, several authors were quoted on the subject of juggling day jobs with writing—and also marketing—their books. Your trusty Author Enabler Sam Barry was one of the authors (what are the odds?):

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1327065.html

We now know how Sam, Lisa Black, Alan Greer, Gaby Triana, and Abraham Verghese make time to write and market their own books in the midst of busy working lives. How do you do it? Please feel free to share your time management strategies and clever promotional ideas here.

The Importance of Tradeshows

Note: This blog is written by only one of the Author Enablers, Sam. We are both on the road: Kathi is somewhere in the wilds of Northern California with West Coast Live, the live radio featuring authors and musicians that she produces; while I am in Montreal for the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion on behalf of my company, HarperOne (represent!). I am planning on enjoying this northern jewel of a city, if time allows.

However, I am here for a book convention, and conventions are inherently insane. Everyone blathers at everyone else all day long and then we meet at night for some more social blathering. That said, conventions such as this one are an important part of how we sell books. There are many specialized conventions where the publishers, authors and potential authors, and the core audience for a certain kind of book all meet. Attending a convention that is appropriate for your book or potential book can be a great way to meet insiders and learn about other, similar books, your competition, and the market in general.

For the next five days I will be spending all my time talking to some of the world’s top religion scholars. These are people who know more about the world’s religions than is really healthy. They have symposiums with names like “The Legacy of Wilfred Cantwell Smith,” “Pagan Studies Reception,” and “Animals and Religion Consultation.” Many of these professors are the authors of books and papers, but they haven’t yet mastered the art of the snappy title. Here are a couple of offerings: The Odd Couple: Mère Catherine de Saint-Augustine, Jean de Brébeuf, and the Gendering of Expiatory Suffering in Early Modern Québec, and Image-bearing Cyborgs? Hybridity and Hope in the Landscapes of Transhumanism.

One group describes their session this way: “How does scripture give itself? What would it mean to treat scripture as a phenomenon? Is anything lost by thinking of scripture as an historical or literary object? This panel will explore the possibility of a phenomenological approach to scripture. Anyone interested is encouraged to attend.” You bet I will. On the other hand, some are too snappy: the Art/s of Interpretation Group is having a meeting called, simply, “Anteriority.” Huh? Maybe I will show up and argue for exteriority. They even have a Wildcard Session here. The theme? Priestly and Lay Dimensions of Zoroastrianism. Yo—what happens at AAR stays at AAR.

Is the End Near for Independent Bookstores?

Is the end near for your local independent bookseller? We sure hope not. These stores are the means by which we hear of many of the new voices in literature, and they are under siege. Why? The big guys are pricing them out of business.

Recently the board of the American Booksellers Association (an association of independent booksellers) wrote to the US Department of Justice about the deep-discounting of high profile books, which the ABA said “constitutes illegal predatory pricing that is damaging to the book industry and harmful to consumers. . . . We believe that Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, and Target are using these predatory pricing practices to attempt to win control of the market for hardcover bestsellers.” The letter also says that “we believe the loss-leader pricing of digital content also bears scrutiny,” referring to Amazon’s practice of selling ebooks at a loss and suggesting this practice marked the beginning of the price war.

A certain amount of every book we buy goes to paying the publisher’s costs; another portion provides payment to the author (note: many authors’ contracts stipulate that royalties will not be paid on books discounted below a certain price point) and to the publishing company. A small independent bookstore also may have to pay a little more for each book because inventory is purchased in smaller quantities from book distributors, whereas chains and big-box stores buy directly from the publisher. And of course in a normal business environment part of the cost is supposed to go to the retailer, big or small, as profit.

In this price war that model has been thrown out the window. Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, and Target are selling books at a loss. While this may seem good for you, the reader, in the long run there is a problem. The mom and pop independent stores cannot compete with these giants and will be forced out of business. Let’s not let this happen, folks. Indie stores are much more than retailers. Many host all sorts of writer-friendly book groups, workshops, and author appearances, and have become valuable community resources. If we don’t support our local bookstores a time will come when the only way we will be able to get our favorite books signed by our favorite authors will be in a crowded aisle between the auto parts and the cole slaw samples . . . and no cole slaw we’ve ever had is that good. We’d love to hear your thoughts and stories about your local independent bookstore. Feel free to share recipes, too.

Trick or Treat Halloween Costume Party Contest

Halloween is here and you probably haven’t figured out what you want to be. We’re all tired of the Elvira and vixen-pirate-wench costumes for women, and men, enough already with the Captain Jack Sparrow bit. We need something new, so why not tap into the imaginations of our favorite literary minds—or for that matter, come as one of our favorite literary minds? How about coming up with a Captain Ahab costume, or if you prefer, a Herman Melville costume?

Have fun! The most imaginative responses, as judged by the Author Enablers and Johnny Depp, will get a prize: best woman’s costume idea gets a copy of And My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You by Kathi Kamen Goldmark and the most imaginative man’s costume rates How to Play the Harmonica: and Other Life Lessons. If you’d like to be considered for the contest please include your email address along with your post. Photos are welcome.

In the meantime, here’s a ridiculous picture of your Author Enablers, Kathi and Sam, dressed for Halloween as the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts, characters in Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Guess which one is which! Also present are Lou DeMattei, Amy Tan’s husband, and Laura, Sam’s daughter..

If You Could Only Have One Book, What Would It Be?

Every year in our Author Enablers column in BookPage we offer a holiday gift roundup of books suggested by our fellow authors and colleagues. There’s usually a theme—craft of writing, children’s books, etc. You can see some of the past columns in BookPage’s amazing online archives; just look for our column in the December issues for the last few years.

This year for our holiday roundup we thought we’d ask the classic question: If you were stuck on a desert island and had to choose one book to keep you company, what would it be?

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this question here, and we invite you to check out our column in the December issue of BookPage to see the answers of some of our favorite booksellers. You can find it at your local library or independent bookstore, or you can check it out online at www.bookpage.com.

Check out BookTour.com

There’s no one, surefire way to successfully publicize a book, and for many authors the traditional forms of book publicity might not be the most effective. Publishers and authors are always seeking out new ways of getting the word out. The trick, of course, is figuring out which of the many publicity options will work for you and your book.

New online developments in book publicity help readers and writers to connect. A good example is BookTour.com, offering a setting where “any author can create a page showcasing biography, books, and upcoming engagements. Listing new events is as easy as answering a few questions. Publishers, booksellers, events managers, and even well-informed readers can add tour dates by simply filling in a few blanks.”

Readers can also search the BookTour.com database for authors appearing in their area, and they can track their favorite authors on tour. Additionally, “Readers can invite faraway authors to their town, or get in touch with authors already scheduled to appear locally to address additional groups.”

BookTour.com is one option that is revolutionizing book publicity by making it more accessible to everyone. Keep your eyes peeled and let us know of other, similar developments.

Author Enablers’ Writing Challenge #2: Banned Books

On October 1 we proudly joined a group of fellow authors on the steps of the San Francisco Public Library to participate in an event for Banned Books Week. The idea is to read or sing work that has been censored, thereby raising awareness about the importance of the First Amendment and (while we’re at it) libraries in general. We decided to honor some classic singer-songwriters: Woody Guthrie (under constant assault by censors, even after his death, causing a ruckus in his Oklahoma home town); Pete Seeger (who just turned 90, and spent many years on the HUAC blacklist); and Mary Travers of Peter, Paul, and Mary, whose hair Kathi always wanted, and who just died.

To do this we sang Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” with a new, original verse that goes like this:

The First Amendment is a good amendment

From the censors we must defend it

If we don’t mend it they will suspend it

This land was made for you and me

Now we’d like to invite our readers to join in by writing their own original verses celebrating freedom of speech and/or libraries.