Guest Post: Cheryl Shireman on Breaking Indie Author News! A Win-Win For All Concerned

Hello lovely readers.
Though these last couple of months I made the plunge and decided to test the indie author waters by releasing some of my work as ebooks, I haven't really talked about it all, what it means to be indie, the pros and cons.
It used to be that self publishing was the kiss of death, it meant that your work was crap. It simply wasn't good enough but you wanted to publish it anyway. Nowadays, that's not necessarily the case and there are a lot of talented authors choosing the independence and control of self publishing their own work to a willing and vast readership. Some are selling well, and the big publishing houses are taking notice. Self publishers, indie authors are being snapped up by publishing houses left, right and centre.

I have a special guest with me today, another indie author Chery Shireman who has much to say on the topic.
Read up and be informed. Here's Cheryl:

It was announced a couple of days ago. The headlines varied, but they were all a variation of the same theme – One more “Indie” writer signed a publishing contract. John Locke’s deal with Simon and Schuster made headlines and the writing and publishing community was all abuzz with excitement. Locke, who detailed his recent success in his aptly named ebook, How I Sold a Million Books in Five Months, not only signed a lucrative deal with S&S, he managed to do the seemingly impossible – he held on to his ebook rights.

Simon & Schuster’s Vice President of client publisher services, Stephen Black, said in a statement: “Not only does John Locke write terrific novels, he clearly knows his audience and has a deep understanding of how to reach them. We are very excited that we can now help to expand John’s readership to include those millions of readers who still savor the joys of sitting down for a few hours of entertainment with a traditional paperback book. It is a win-win for all concerned.”

Did you catch that? A “win-win” for all concerned. And, indeed, it is. Which is certainly a change in attitude from the beginning of this year when I first made my foray into self (or Indie) publishing. At the time, lines were drawn and sides were clearly marked. Name-calling flourished. Indies were a bunch of no-talent hacks who didn’t know how to take a rejection (many rejections) and move on with their life. On the other hand, the entire publishing industry was full of ignorant, short-sighted, crooked, money-grabbing lowlifes who reveled in crushing a writer’s sprit. And worse yet, they didn’t know how to do their jobs. The publishing industry was going down the tubes while readers hurried to buy Kindles and fill those Kindles up with eBooks. And, increasingly, the readers were buying the eBooks from those no-talent hack Indie writers. At an alarming rate!

As I dipped my toe into the angry pool, the water was chilly, to say the least.

Unaware or unconcerned about the Indie/Traditional distinction, the readers kept happily buying books. Amazon’s bestselling list for Kindle began filling with Indie writers. Writing forums, publishing forums, and various blogs were full of rants from both sides. Hatefulness and vitriol flourished. And just as a particularly vocal group of Indies started passing out pitchforks and torches to storm the Manhattan publishing houses, a funny thing happened. Those “ignorant” publishers started offering publishing contracts to the “no-talent” Indies. Amanda Hocking signed a two million dollar deal with Simon and Schuster. Amazon became an even bigger player in the publishing industry and signed Joe Konrath and Barry Eisler to their hot mystery/thriller imprint, Thomas & Mercer.

The ranters and haters ranted and hated – claiming that Hocking, Konrath, and Eilser were sell-outs, traitors, and puppy beaters. The water began to boil.

Not long after, the UK writing duo of Mark Edwards and Louise Voss (writing under Saffina Desforges) signed a six figure four-book deal with Harper Collins. A bit of a rumble was made, but not much. The story was beginning to become a familiar one. Edwards and Voss could not get their books published. After many rejections and much discouragement, they decided to self-publish their books, Killing Cupid and Catch Your Death. Within months those books held the number one and number two bestselling spots for Kindle in the UK and were selling thousands of copies per day.

Close on their heels, J. Carson Black (who is approaching 250,000 in sales) signed three-book contract with Thomas Mercer for her bestselling mystery thriller The Shop. Weeks later, Scott Nicholson signed a two-book deal with Thomas & Mercer for his book Liquid Fear and its sequel Chronic Fear. And then Michael Wallace signed a five-book deal including his The Righteous series. Wallace, perhaps, summed it up best of all on David Gaughran’s popular blog: In January of 2011, I gave up. After twenty years of fighting for a traditional publishing contract and suffering near miss after near miss, I abandoned the fight and started putting my books online for sale as self-published e-books. In spite of dogged persistence and the efforts of multiple literary agents to sell my novels, I had never overcome the final hurdle. Self-publishing was an act of desperation.

And, right before my eyes, the sun started shining and that chilly water started to warm. Instead of ranting (oh, I guess a few still muttered in the corners), Indies started offering congratulations to their fellow writers and some were even brave enough to utter, I hope I’m next. Virtual champagne corks were flying and the pitchforks and torches were abandoned for party hats and confetti.

Now Locke signs with Simon and Schuster. Just another Indie signing a publishing contract? Not quite. Simon and Schuster will distribute Locke’s print books, but Locke will retain the rights to his ebooks. This is an enormous coup for Locke and a ground-breaking move for Simon & Schuster.

The ability for an author to create and distribute a book directly into the hands of a reader through distributions outlets such as Amazon is nothing short of revolutionary. And like every revolution, there are liable to be a few casualties. There are those who will resist, those who will deny it, and those who will try to harm the rebels. But there are others, wise enough to see a revolution as “evolution,” that are forging ahead and pushing the boundaries, and this is a win/win for all concerned.

Writers no longer need to get permission to publish their books. For little or no money, they can write and distribute both ebooks and paperbacks and compete directly with “traditionally” published writers. The talented and hard-working will rise to the surface, sell a lot of books, and have even more clout if and when an agent or publisher comes to call. No more rejection slips.

Publishers can now sign writers who have a proven sales record instead of hoping that the next submission is worthy of a publishing contract. There is no longer any need for an underpaid English major to cull through the slush pile. Amazon is the new slush pile. And the slush falls to the bottom of the bestseller lists while the cream of the crop rises to the top, ready to be scooped up by a savvy publisher.

Agents have access to those same bestseller lists. While many writers might think they don’t need an agent, when it comes time to start talking about foreign rights or about a possible movie deal, they might want to think again. It is one thing to self-publish your book as an ebook, it is quite another to negotiate a contract for film rights.

Editors have more opportunity than ever before. Those who wish to freelance will have more work than they can possibly keep up with. The plethora of Indie books means a plethora of books that need editing. It is a rare writer who can edit their own books. And, quite frankly, a writer’s time is better spent writing.

Supporting players such as website designers, ebook formatters, and cover designers are also needed to support this sudden influx of writers into the publishing world.

Readers might be the ones who will benefit most of all. New writers, new genres, and new ways to experience books are all ahead. I have said it repeatedly – there has never been a better time to be a writer. But, it is also true that it has never been a better time to be a reader. Books have never been easier to access and the relatively low cost of most ebooks has made having a huge library an attainable fantasy – even if they are all stored on your Kindle instead of a custom mahogany library.

Now, the once chilly water I dipped my toe into is considerably warmer. And, look! Another new writer is on the diving board. Come on in, friend, the water is fine.

Cheryl Shireman is the author of Life is But a Dream, Broken Resolution, and You Don’t Need a Prince: A Message to My Daughter

Amazon links:

Life is But a Dream  http://www.amazon.com/Life-But-Dream-ebook/dp/B004JU21YU/ref=pd_sim_kinc_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2

Broken Resolutions  http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Resolutions-ebook/dp/B004V9FPB0/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1314228871&sr=1-2

You Don’t Need a Prince  http://www.amazon.com/You-Dont-Need-Prince-ebook/dp/B004S2KLTG/ref=pd_sim_kinc_5?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2

Interesting stuff, huh guys? 

Ciao for now,

Sairz

Lisa Dempster's Guide to Being a Publishing Success PART TWO

This is Lisa

With the opening of the 2011 Emerging Writers Festival imminent, this year's Director still had time to discuss her Top 7 Tips to becoming a success in the Publishing Biz.

On Tuesday in Lisa Dempster's Guide to Being a Publishing Success PART ONE I shared Lisa's Tips #1-4

#1 Forget about a career path

#2 Embrace DIY: Independent Publishing

#3 No opportunity is too small

#3a Show up to things

#4 Put your writing out there

Let's continue!

#5 Anyone can be successful

Why does Lisa know this? Because SHE is successful. And if SHE can be successful…(her words!)

The most visible example I can see this by the number of indie authors finding success with ebooks. 

Lisa considers herself “deeply average” but she says YES a lot and puts herself in positions in which she can be successful. For example, if you want to be published in McSweeney’s but you don’t submit to them they can't publish you.

#6 You will fail and make enormous mistakes: But that’s okay.

This is what stops people from trying.

When you put yourself and your work out there, there is a really big chance of failure. The potential for success is enormous but so is the potential for failure.

Lisa knows people who lost $50k when starting an independent press, went broke but started a new press later and became successful. These people failed huge but learnt from it.

And nothing lasts forever! People move on, they forget, and it never looks as bad to the outside world as it feels to you.

By trying something and making mistakes, you have gained experience and know ways NOT to do something next time you try it.

And finally,

#7 Do what you care about

Pursue your passions because at the end of the day, nothing else matters. You will naturally be much more successful doing something you love than if you were doing something you are not passionate about.

Find a niche. Eg Lisa is a vegan food writer. If she had been an omnivore, her career would not have progressed as fast, as there is so much competition. But she has a niche, she is the only person doing vegan food writing so she gets a lot of writing gigs because of it. 

Find your passion, people, and do that!

If you're in Melbourne, it's well worth checking out the Emerging Writers Festival between May 26 and June 5 2011 as there will be a lot of great speakers, panels and workshops on a variety of topics, including Trends in Publishing, Faking it vs Making it, Going Global, Beyond Academia and Stand up. My personal faves are the Getting into Genre panels, YA Fiction, Romance, Crime and Speculative Fiction. You might even find me there! If not, take notes, 'kay?

Lisa Dempster is a jack of all trades in the publishing industry. She is a vegan food writer, has worked on a contract basis for publishing companies, bought out a small press and created her very own, Vignette Press, and is currently the Director of a two week festival for writers here in Melbourne, The Emerging Writers Festival (which starts this week) as well as being a Bachelor of Writing & Publishing Lecturer at NMIT, Fairfield. Phew!

http://www.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/

Lisa Dempster's Guide To Being a Publishing Success PART ONE

Lisa Dempster

With the opening of the 2011 Emerging Writers Festival imminent, this year's Director still had time to discuss her Top 7 Tips to becoming a success in the Publishing Biz.


Tips 1-4 are below.


#1 Forget about a career path


In creative industries, your career path will not necessarily be linear, heading up the promotion totem pole. Creative industries most often promote based on your skill level. The best writer may have been writing for a year, but if they are the best, they will be the one to get the book deal. The cover designer that produces evocative covers that fit the book are the ones that will be commissioned again.
Lisa hasn't had a linear carer path by any means. She is a freelance vegan food writer, started her own small press, is currently Director of the Emerging Writers Festival and is a Publishing Lecturer at NMIT Fairfield.


#2 Embrace DIY - Independent Publishing


Lisa claims that she has learnt way more by teaching herself to be a publisher than she would have by working ten years in a big publishing house. At big publishing houses, you work in a department, either editorial, marketing, sales etc, and though you learn that role well, you won't learn other areas of the industry. By starting her own small press, Vignette, Lisa had to learn every facet of publishing, be it proof reading, pitching titles to booksellers, invoicing or taxes. 
Lisa has produced two "Mooks" (Magazine/Books) The Sex Mook and the Death Mook through Vignette Press.

(Vignette Press will soon open submissions to the Geek Mook, check out deets here)

Whether you want to start a music festival, make a film, self publish a book – go out and do it. You will learn SO much by giving it a go.

#3 No opportunity is too small

You never know where the people you meet and things you do will lead you in the future.

Five years ago no one would have thought that Lisa would be heading a writers festival

Related to #3, Lisa also suggests you: 

#3a Show up to things

This is a big one, people. One I'm not fantastic at yet, but it's not because I underestimate how important it is. Lisa says you should go to book launches, programs and submit things to journals and competitions. You might meet a like-minded stranger at a festival and make a best friend or even a business partner out of them. You might submit some work to a journal and it is rejected by the committee, but when the committee member who loved your story moves on to another position, they will very well remember you and your talent. 

Personally, I attended two SCBWI Conferences in 2009 and made some of the best writing friends I could have there.

#4 Put your writing out there

Lisa says keep writing. That's so important. But don’t keep it to yourself – put it out there.

Lisa is a big advocate of blogging and says that if you’re interesting or a good writer, people will read you.

Blogging helped her to learn to write succinctly, in her own voice and regularly.

But there are other things you can do other than blogging. If you’re a poet, go to spoken word events. A political commentator or comedian? Twitter is a great place to test out your skills.

That's it for today! What are your thoughts?


On Thursday, find PART TWO, with Lisa's Tips #5-7.


#5 Anyone can be successful


#6 You will fail and make enormous mistakes. And that's okay.


#7 Do what you care about.


Lisa Dempster is a jack of all trades in the publishing industry. She is a vegan food writer, has worked on a contract basis for publishing companies, bought out a small press and created her very own, Vignette Press, and is currently the Director of a two week festival for writers here in Melbourne, The Emerging Writers Festival (which starts this week) as well as being a Bachelor of Writing & Publishing Lecturer at NMIT, Fairfield. Phew!

The Don’t Even Go There Do’s and Don’ts of Book Indexing

You know those lists of terminology and page numbers at the back of books (mostly nonfiction) which can be a Godsend when you know you saw something about Shared Psychosis or Unicorn Spit somewhere in that thousand page book but you have no clue where it was?

And man, for late night, last minute studying (Holla at me students!) indexes are a life saver!

But there are good indexes and bad indexes.

Here is a list of index problems guaranteed to drive readers bonkers.

Poor Use of Terminology 1: Say in a Recipe book there was this Apricot Tart you saw and want to make. So you look up Apricot. Not there. How about Tart? Not there. Um…Pie? Nope, not there either. Eventually you find it under Esmerelda’s Tasty Tart. Because that’s the part of the recipe you remember off the top of your head, right? Might as well look at the contents page for that one.

Poor Use of Terminology 2: Speaking of contents pages – indexes are not simply the contents page in alphabetical order. When looking through that car manual for how to change the tyre on your Kia, you might look up C for Change a tyre, T for Tyre, J for Jack, K for Kia…but then after scrutinizing every entry and just about giving up…you discover it under H. For How to change a tyre.

Inconsistent Use of Terminology: Eg. Employees and Staff both listed in the index. If both terms are used in the book, yet they mean the same thing, the indexer really should “For Employees, see Staff” and place all mentions of either terms in the one section as this means that readers looking up employees and readers looking up staff will be directed to the same information. How frustrating if you miss out on important information just because what you needed was under another word for the same thing?

Circular References: Finance: For Finance, see Funds. Funds: For Funds, see Finance. For the Wall, see Throwing this book

Long Strings of Page Numbers: Indexing every mention of the word in the book is not only annoying but unhelpful. Readers only want to be directed to meaningful references to the word. For instance when looking up crabs, the reader might find the section of the book on the evolution of crabs helpful. Similarly, the bit on the different types of crabs and where they can be found in the world could work. They will probably not find the throwaway comment that the author saw a crab on a beach once that helpful. Don’t index that.

When done well, like editing, you just don’t notice indexing, but there’s a lot of skill and creativity involved and I believe credit needs to go where credit is due. Thank you phantom GOOD Indexer for helping me find that page on Unicorn Spit. 

Tot siens,

Sairz

Publishing Christmas Shindigs that White People Like

I went to a Publishing Christmas Party on Monday night and it was oh-so chic.

I didn't know it before going but there was a theme for the night, of Mad Men, the TV show which I just happen to have gotten a little obsessed with at the moment (I'm up to season three!) and there were oodles of suits and beautiful sixties styles to be seen. There were also people in jeans, like me. But I was wearing a floral top so it was okay.

I had a chat with and spied across the room fantabulous people such as Steph Bowe, Lili Wilkinson, Gabrielle Wang, Corinne King and Cath Crowley and there were lots of other publishing folk there who I don't necessarily know by sight.

It was lots of fun and the Swing Dance performance by some dancers from Swing Patrol (which just happens to be the school I go to. You know. When I go) was an awesome touch. And then whoever wanted to had a quick lesson in the super-hot Bella Bar which consisted of lots of jiggling around on the spot and sometimes dancing as a girl and sometimes dancing as a guy but just keeping on with the dancing.

Those who know me know that I have a soft spot for swing and this feels like the perfect opportunity to show you all one of my favourite routines from the 2009 Lindy at the Light charity performances in Leeds, UK that I was a part of, though I wasn't in this performance. But I totes thought they were awesome. I got to see this (and a bunch of other routines including the one I was in) once an hour for five hours.

It was winter. And SNOWING in England. This year I have heat and plethora of bugs to contend with.

Anyhoo - enjoy!

Getting Published: With an Agent vs Without an Agent PART 1

Hello gentle readers!

I have finished my internship with Black Dogs Book (sad face) but that is not the last they have seen of me yet. As bdb publicist extraordinaire Jess had a terrible accident last week and can't work at the moment (rest assured, to my knowledge she will recover shortly!) I have been asked to temporarily take over Publicity and keep it running smoothly until she is all mended and can come back to work, which for her sake (not mine) I hope is soon.

Oooh the power. I have lots of ideas, but maybe not enough time to implement them. We'll find out.

Anyway! Today we are talking about getting published, and the two routes you could take.

In today's entry and in the "With an Agent" corner, we have Robin Mellom, fellow Herman Agency client who just this year signed a two-book deal with Disney-Hyperion for DITCHED--in which a girl finds herself lying in a ditch the morning after her prom with no memory of the last twelve hours which includes a disappearing prom date and a punk Tinkerbell tattoo. It's set to be published in March 2012! It's being hailed as "The Hangover for teens" which to me means it will be hilarious.

Robin Mellom

So let's get cracking!

What made you decide to get an agent?

I spent years trying to get through the slushpile. Which, at the time, was through the actual U.S. mail system (i.e. it took forever!!) But after experiencing that whole “close but no cigar” thing, I realized an agent would guide me editorially and be my best bet for finding that right editor.

How difficult was that process?

Lots of form rejections but a couple of agents were willing to work on revisions without a contract. But Jill showed the most excitement. To me, nothing is more important than “excitement.”

How awesome was "the call" and can you tell me about it?

She was so cute…she emailed me with her thoughts on the manuscript as she was reading it throughout the night. “On p. 66. Loving it!!” Then page 132, etc. I was on pins and needles all night, but was so exhausted I fell asleep waiting. My husband came in around midnight to tell me the news that she had just sent an email that said “Offer of Representation!” I slept very well that night.

How did you find contracts and negotiations, with an agent?

Not a problem…her contract was pretty much industry standard, so no negotiations needed.

Do you feel you made the right choice for you, agent vs no agent?

Absolutely. She has pushed me in ways I never would have pushed myself. I think of it like having a personal trainer at a state-of-the-art gym versus using some hand weights in my living room. The personal trainer will whip my butt into shape, but there is a TV in my living room so…flabby butt.

Anything of particular interest happen/things you think were unique to your situation that you'd like to talk about?

I do think it’s important to share that the manuscript that landed me an agent was not the one that ultimately sold. In fact, the one that sold was the third book I wrote since working with her. And she was the one who convinced me I should try writing humor for teens. It simply had not occurred to me. But she was convinced I could do it—thank goodness I listened!

Was Ditched your first novel?

I’ve written other middle grade books, so DITCHED is the sixth book I’ve written.

How many times did you edit Ditched?

Maybe three or four.

Do you have a critique group/partner/go it alone?

In the past I’ve had a critique group, but for this one I worked on it alone. Usually Jill gives me editorial suggestions, but for this one she didn’t have any changes and we went out with it right away. (Sort of unusual for me, as she normally has LOTS of suggestions.)

How many rejections did you get before Disney bought Ditched?

About three or four rejections I think. Then we had interest from three houses.

Are you a pantser or an outliner?

I am both, actually. First I come up with a premise and a problem. Then I just start writing so I can see if I can get the voice and if I have insane amounts of excitement about the project. (Because you have to be insanely excited to devote that much time and energy to a book, right? Or just be insane.) Then when I get to about chapter three, I stop and seriously outline. I don’t detail chapter by chapter, but I outline events that occur from one turning point to the next—I use a screenplay outline and put it on big butcher paper on the wall. Color-coded and everything! (I used to be a teacher.)

How much editing is involved with your Disney editor?

I just finished the first BIG revision, which took me about three months. Then we may have one more smaller revision that I will have about a month or less to work on. Then we move on to line edits and finally copy edits.

If you're working on something new, can you tell us a little about it?

Right now it is “Un-named YA Title.” Fascinating, yes? Ha! I sent in a sample and synopsis and just have to wait for it to get approved before we announce the book. Soon, I hope! But it is another fun, rompy, romance adventure.

Thanks for having me, Sarah! Can’t wait to hear about news of your books selling!!!

Any questions I missed? Anything you wish I had asked? Let me know in the comments!

Tomorrow, in the "Without An Agent" corner we have Shirley Marr, fellow Australian writer who had her first novel Fury published through Black Dog Books. I have a bit of a girl-crush on this lady, but there is a reason you, budding authors, will want to hate her. Find out why tomorrow.

More tales from the slush pile

After that depressing post about the blahness of the slush pile, and how the editors don't really NEED to find your masterpiece in it but they'd really like to if only it was easier to wade through the muck to find it....well after THAT post I want you to eavesdrop with me for a moment.

On the other side of the room, with my back to the editors, I am work work working away on something else. I can't remember. It was either a post for the blackdogbytes blog or line editing a nearly finished book or reading another and trying to come up with poetic and haunting titles for it...it was one of those. While I had my back turned, the two editors were bracing themselves to attack the slush filled email together.

They started with my "Under Consideration" folder.

A couple of things happened. If you say in your cover letter that you are published, they are going to Google you. They might even check Nielsen to see how many copies you have sold (so don't lie!). If they think your work sounds remotely interesting, they're also going to Google you. If they think your work means surely you must be a crackpot, then that will make for the funnest Google ever.

There were giggles behind me. And then I realised it was because, like me, they liked a story. It was cute, they could see it had something, a spark. One particular story had a cast of international characters and that is something ELSE Black Dog are trying to do, represent a real Australia, which are not all white people.

So they liked it and set it aside. Then there was another one (one I loved) with totally attitude filled illustrations that they printed out to make sure to show the publisher.

And there was another from the physical slush that they liked too.

So there's all this stuff HAPPENING. Books are ACTUALLY under consideration, not just sitting in an inbox waiting to be read.

But you'll never know about all this stuff that's happening. They might discuss your book, talk about how they could market it, where it would fit in the marketplace, which types of shops would carry it.

And you might be at home getting annoyed at how fricking long it takes for them to finally reject you.

In the end, these books might not get published by bdb, lord knows the stats aren't looking good, but you never know.

Stuff is happening. The editors are talking. And it might be about you.

Infiltrating a Publishing House...mwahahaHAHA!

I have done it, readers. I'm IN.

I wrote on their blog yesterday, and then I updated their Facebook. I have their passwords. I have the POWER. I could have written ANYTHING! I could have written that the office smells like blue cheese! Or that the Publisher has power naps...in a coffin!

But I didn't. I am sheer professionalism. I also didn't, because the above are not true. Just so you know.

I have also infiltrated their MANUSCRIPTS, everybody. I have read that shiny new American YA with the fancy new cover and written a report with my opinion of it.

I have read the manuscript of an Australian YA they are considering purchasing and written a report with my opinions and RECOMMENDATIONS about what could be edited, and whether or not they should buy it. The commissioning editor (as in the editor commissioning this specific project) has not even read the entire thing yet.

I have nearly finished reading a draft of the first in a series of Junior Fiction books that they are publishing next year and have been line editing and making comments and writing questions in the margins, just as I do with my critique partners.

I will finish it on the train (much more productive than crawling in peak hour traffic on the freeway) and read the second one today - both of which I will write reports on. With OPINIONS. And RECOMMENDATIONS.

As one editor and the two publishers are off in Sydney at a Publishing conference, another editor sits behind me finding images and tinkering with the design of a non-fiction book, and filling up excess pages at the end of a book (for some reason - she doesn't even understand why - it was cheaper to make it with more pages than less) with awesomeness, I will be growing bolder, still.

Not only are my opinions (perhaps) going to sway how already under consideration and commissioned books will turn out, but today...today I will attack THE SLUSH PILE*.

MwahahahAHAHA indeed**.

Sairz

*If you are IN the slush pile at Black Dog Books, don't worry, nothing I read will be deleted before being seen by an editor, but I do have 2 fancy inboxes, 'Sarah - Consider' and 'Sarah - Reject' (I don't think those are the actual names, but that's what they mean).

**I am not a coffee drinker in my daily life but with all of this reading, I have had to indulge in a foamy cup or two and I don't think it's doing any favours to the stability of my mind.

Inside an Editorial Meeting at Black Dog Books

Black Dog Books

Today is Day One of my internship with Black Dog Books, who are a fabulous Melbourne based childrens and YA publisher and I'm learning loads.

My first task was to read an international manuscript that there has been lots of buzz about all over the interwebz, and write a reader report because Black Dog are considering purchasing the Australian rights.

It hasn't even come out in America yet so I'm definitely on the INSIDE now, people. Are you massively jealous of me? I know you are. And think about it, the publishers and editors here get to read fantabulous new books before they come out, for a LIVING.

A Black Dog Book

Anyway - the editorial meeting.

There was discussion of the pros and cons of publishing the third book in a series. And there is a lot to be considered. There are added costs with a third book because the first and second would need to be reprinted. But if those didn't sell amazingly? The staff here love their writers and spend countless hours helping them craft their work. They're invested. But sometimes that personal investment isn't enough. There are so many other elements involved, like what size to make the book, and the sizing effects how many copies booksellers think they will be able to sell. So if BDB plan to produce something in C format and booksellers don't think they can sell it, but they could sell it at B+ (which would make the book cheaper for consumers), it will all effect sales and whether you can find books in stores. It has nothing to do with the content, or the author, it's just how much room it takes up on a shelf that can affect whether you can find it or not.

They decided to buy the rights to this international title with masses and masses of buzz, but are going to create their own front cover for it which is exciting, and I'm sure this book will do fabulously for them.

Another Black Dog Book

They discussed their line up for next year, and had some gaps in their list to fill so rearranged a couple of books, for instance they pushed one back two months because then it could be their lead title for that month, when it may have been lost or competing with another title on their list where it was. They moved a couple forward and negotiated the costings and what the move would do to their expected sales. For instance June is not a good month, sales wise, as booksellers are doing stock take and returning books. July is not amazing, but it's better because booksellers are needing to refill their shelves!

There were illustrations handed around for two picture books - one was a picture book that they had asked for some illustrations to be re-drawn to better reflect the story, and others were design ideas for updating some old stories with new illustrations.

Concept art for the protagonist in what looked to be a new chapter book series was looked at and everyone (there were five staff members plus me) could have some input and weigh in on the decisions.

They needed to pick a cover designer for a book coming out next year, and we had a look at some different designers, and also concept art for what the feel of the cover and the book should be like.

A brand-spanking NEW Black Dog Book

Although here at Black Dog each employee has their own job and responsibilities, it is most definitely a collaborative, team effort to produce the best books they possibly can.

I'm looking forward to Day Two!

Sairz

Secret Publishing Business!

I went to the children's and YA division of awesome Australian publishing company Allen & Unwin with some classmates yesterday (A&U are the ones that scored the Australian rights to Harry Potter way back, so they've done pretty well for themselves) and I learnt lots of secret publishing business!

Firstly, I was shocked to find Allen & Unwin was NOT a huge building, but is in a terrace house like this:

This is NOT Allen & Unwin, but very similar, and for all you non-Melbournians, the yellow one is ONE house, and the white one is another house...they're little. And quite close to each other.

The Sydney office of Allen & Unwin is bigger, employing 100+ people, but the Melbourne office which is just childrens and YA has a mere sixteen employees, and they work on - I'm hoping I'm remembering this correctly - 40 or so books a month. Um..WHOA.

[EDITED TO ADD - Turns out, no I wasn't remembering this correctly - it's 5 books a month. But still WHOA, for 16 people!]

Gotta love the work to do it, don't you think? Still think it's for you? I guess you're wondering how one gets a job, then, huh? Well the lovely Publishing Assistant Julia Imogen who talked to us said something I totally wasn't expecting.

Eight years ago when she was employed there, she answered a small ad in the local newspaper looking for an administrative assistant. There was no mention of publishing or editing or books, it was all quite tricksy. But that's actually quite smart on the employers part. Think about it. The minute you put editorial, publishing, books etc into a job ad you have everyone with an English major applying. Can you imagine that stack of applications? That's a bit daunting, hmm? So don't discard those admin ads. They might just be the job you're looking for.

Another way you can get hired is by doing an internship there. They have had several interns who have been there at the right time and brought back in as temps or even like Penni Russon, freelance editors. Though taking on an intern is NOT like getting free help, Julia says. It's quite a commitment. There's training to do and depending on the intern, different levels of supervision required.

At Allen & Unwin they have a pretty intense database system in which everything that has been done for and about a book or author is recorded and can be accessed by all the different departments. For instance, a blurb will be needed by sales for a pitch to booksellers, publicity will need it for promotional items and designers need it for the back copy of the book. And they need the most recent version, too! The synopsis/blurb submitted with the original manuscript may be very different to what it should be for the final, edited book.

The room we had our meeting in had two walls of books (which we all had a bit of a drool at) and some books had more copies on the shelf than others. Why was this? The number of books on the shelf represented the number of print runs they had had, so you could immediately tell which books had been selling well and which ones hadn't.

There are gazillions of different roles and jobs within publishing and in this era of e-books, some employees have had jobs CREATED for them, because they were so good at that side of their work. Books have personalised websites now, facebook fan pages, someone is in charge of the company's twitter account, iphone apps and even more I don't even know about.

So there you have it. Secret Allen & Unwin business. Don't let them know I told!

Feeling like Big Kev

I feel like Big Kev today. Do you wanna know why?

Cos I'm excited!

For some reason the picture of Big Kev isn't uploading but you Aussie's out there will know what I'm talking about. But unlike Kev, I'm not excited by cleaning products. Why AM I excited, you ask?

I started my next book today. Yeah. You read correctly. The battle is over, one character is sitting on her arse in the dirt giving the other, victorious character a steely death glare as she raises her fists to the sky in celebration. And she's being written about as of today.
It's going to be slow, because I've been itching to get writng and haven't done as much planning as I need to, and really I don't know anything about guitars yet - but I will - but yeah. The point is that I am no longer a crazy lady being bullied by two figments of her imagination.
It's all okay now.

I am however having major career dilemmas. As I am not a fantabulously popular, thousand upon thousand book selling author as yet, I need a day job. And I'm just not SURE that teaching is it for me.

I love books and reckon I'd be happier somewhere in that industry.
So I need to have a good proper think about whether or not I stick out my current Uni course or scrap the lot and start again.

I'm not in LOVE with teaching, but there are more jobs in it than there are in publishing. And if I did get into publishing, even though I love books and writing and writers, would I become all disgruntled and unsatisfied in my job because I'd be helping other writers get published and not myself?

Frankly I just want to be happy in my life and career. I guess the only way to really ensure that is to keep writing and BECOME that fantabulous best selling author I'd like to be, where I'm comfortable enough financially from writing that I don't need the day job.

One day it's going to happen. But in the mean time...

But anyway. I started my new book today, so I'm excited.