Jonathan Maberry On The Convergence of Indie and Traditional Publishing

JONATHAN MABERRY is a New York Times best-selling and multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning horror and thriller author, comic book writer, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator and writing teacher/lecturer. His books have been sold to more than a dozen countries.

Besides writing fiction in multiple genres, he's also written many non-fiction books as well. He's always ready to explore new methods of reaching readers. In the interview that follows, Jonathan sits down with David Weir to discuss the secrets to his success.

David Weir: You've had an unusually diverse background as a writer of both fiction and non-fiction. What are, for you, the key differences between writing non-fiction and writing fiction?

JM: I’d like to say that in fiction you get to lie and in nonfiction you always have to tell the truth, but that’s not true. I’ve read too many memoirs by celebrities, CEOs and politicians. No, for me the key difference between fiction and nonfiction is freedom. I wrote a slew of nonfiction books and over twelve-hundred feature articles on subjects ranging from martial arts to bartending to jazz drumming. Although articles can be smooth, and easy, with a conversational style and even a bit of allegory or a motif sewn in, at the end of the day you are arranging facts in a way that will inform and entertain.

With fiction, you create worlds. You can twist truths, create realities out of whole-cloth, and slant a viewpoint six ways from Sunday. Before, when researching a topic for a feature article I would build my article to support my premise, but some part of me was always wondering ‘what if?’ For example, I did an article on genetics years ago, back when the Human Genome project was just getting started. The piece was a basic explanation of that project, with some informed opinions by experts on how the resulting information might be used. Like finding the gene for hemophilia and eliminating it from our DNA. Cool stuff. But another part of my mind was wondering how the military might use that information. Or a corrupt pharmaceutical company. Or a terrorist organization. How could well-intentioned science be used for profit, destruction or to further an extreme ideology?

In fiction I can explore that. My first two thrillers, PATIENT ZERO (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2009) and THE DRAGON FACTORY (2010) were explorations of those ‘what ifs’. In PATIENT ZERO, I had a pharmaceutical magnate who was creating terrible pathogens and having terrorists release them so he could profit from the resulting boon as nations scramble to develop, stockpile and distribute viable treatments. In THE DRAGON FACTORY, transgenic science is variously used to clone Neanderthals as a slave race and to create communicable versions of genetic diseases such as Tay-Sachs and sickle-cell anemia as weapons of ethnic cleansing.

Do I think things like this might happen? Sure, there are very rich, very corrupt nutjobs out there and a great many scientific advancements for the betterment of mankind are funded by private multinational corporations and the defense departments of various countries. If I wrote that in the form of magazine articles, there’s a good chance that I’d either be labeled a fruitcake, or not sell them, or sell them to small markets that cater to alarmist readerships. Write them as novels and they’re cautionary tales lauded for making bold statements.

It’s a crazy ol’ world. As a novelist, I essentially lie for a living, which allows me to tell odd little bits of the truth.

DW: How did your training as a journalist affect your transition to a fiction writer?

JM: I count myself fortunate in that I studied journalism rather than creative writing. Journalists learn good writing habits. Journalists don’t mythologize the process of writing. They research, they write, they revise, they submit, and they move on to the next thing. One of the first things I learned in journalism class is that writer’s block is largely a myth. It’s the end result of have no practical writing process.

When it comes to writing, I am a very disciplined person. Sure, there is a major artistic component and often art cannot easily be contained, categorized or structured. Fine. But the finished product –be it a short story, a novel, a memoir or a poem—certainly can be. You can write with lyrical beauty, passion, insight, and still hit a deadline.

DW: How important have editors been in your work with traditional publishers?

JM: The participation of a professional editor definitely matters. It influences the quality of the finished product. I know for a fact that my novels have become better books –both in terms of literary quality and marketability—because of notes received from editors. For example, my editor at St. Martin’s Press, Michael Homler, always gives good notes. He doesn’t tell me what to write, but he advises me on what he believes the story needs in order to reach its full potential. In my first novel for him, PATIENT ZERO (2009), I had a villain who spent a lot of time in his own head. So much so that his thoughts tended to be a kind of expository info dump. Homler suggested I give the villain a ‘Watson’, a person to confide in and talk to. Now, that was the extent of his advice on that point; Homler didn’t try to take over and write the story his way. He observed an element that could make the story better and then left it for me to handle. I created a sarcastic valet/bodyguard named Toys, and rewrote the scenes with the villain (Gault) so that they discussed things rather than have Gault mull them over. As a result, those scenes came alive. Toys became central to the story, which inspired a rewrite of some chapters to give him more to do. He also became a major fan favorite, and the fan reaction inspired me to bring Toys back for two other books in the series.

That’s the kind of end-result you can get with a good editor.

That said, not all editors at the big houses are good. Some give minimal notes, some give none. This has a couple of different possible outcomes. The writer can choose to let the story stand (or fall) as written. That choice is seldom the right one. The writer can workshop the book in a writers group, which is nice but often hit or miss in terms of real value to the finished product. Or the writer can hire a freelance developmental editor, of which there are many, and a lot of them were once employed by the big houses but lost their jobs during the economic crunch. This is often a good choice. And, no matter what choice the author takes, he should also do everything he can to improve his own writing craft.

DW: When it comes to independent and self-publishing, what are the main lessons you've learned to achieving success?

JM: One of the key things to understand is that publishing is constantly evolving, and that’s never been more evident than during the recent e-pub boom. The old paradigms are cracked and they’re leaking good writers and good money.

My first flings with self-publishing was via workshop packets. I taught self-defense to a variety of special needs groups (women, children, the physically challenged, etc.). I would prepare informational and study materials for each program and self-publish them as pamphlets, booklets, workbooks, training manuals and textbooks, depending on need. Depending on the size and scope of the program, sometimes this was done at Staples, sometimes I took it to a small press, and sometimes I did it myself via a good quality local printer. Because the materials were well organized, nicely printed and handsomely bound, they were taken more seriously by the participants. Presentation matters.

Also, the quality of these materials appealed to various organizations and groups. Sometimes they would result in an offer to teach classes/workshops; and sometimes a request to purchase copies of the materials. In either case, I made sure that I had the materials professionally edited and laid-out, and printed by a pro shop. I wound up selling rather a lot of those materials. This was before the rise of digital printing.

In 2004 I was hired to run a not-for-profit writers center in Doylestown, Pennsylvania –the Writers Room of Bucks County. Aside from classes (where our emphasis was strongly toward the professional mainstream markets), we created a small press. Some of our participants had projects that would not have a mainstream appeal but they still wanted their work edited, laid-out, printed and bound with care and quality. I contracted freelancers to handle each of those steps, and we created a variety of books that anyone can be proud of. We used software for layout and took the work to good quality printers. Some of our own staff even published works through our press.

That kind of micro/indie press could very easily have turned out shoddy or second-rate work –and a lot of people would be so happy to see their names in print that they wouldn’t care. We, however, did care. The freelancers we hired were top of the line. The covers could stand muster with anything coming out of New York. The interior, from endpaper to endpaper was fine. Why? Because we wanted to reinforce a sense of value, to say that: just because it’s self-published doesn’t mean that it has to be flawed.

I know for a fact that our little press was a significant influence on other small indie presses throughout Pennsylvania.

Quality matters. It shows respect for the material, for the writer, for the reader, and for the spirit of publishing. If there is quality at every step, it doesn’t matter whether that book is published by the big six or by you.

DW: How did you discover Smashwords, and how do you foresee it assisting your publishing strategy both today and in the future?


JM: I first heard about Smashwords in late 2008 through Don Lafferty, a fellow member of the Liars Club and a nationally-known social media consultant. It was in a transcript of a social media online discussion conducted by Chris Brogan in which Mark Coker participated. I thing they had about 120 titles on Smashwords at the time. At the time I didn’t think much of it because I had only recently (in 2005) become fully invested in mainstream publishing through two multi-book deals with Kensington (three novels to Pinnacle, five nonfics to their Citadel imprint), and had just landed a three book deal with St. Martin’s Griffin. Also, I was just starting to write short fiction and those pieces were in response to invitations for specific anthologies.

It wasn’t until more than a year later, when I kept hearing about Smashwords and how fast it was growing that I decided to take a closer look. I was very impressed, and I made the decision then that as soon as the rights to my first few short stories returned to me, I’d republish them via Smashwords. Which I did.

So far I haven’t used Smashwords for my novels because they’re all still in print with major houses, and they’re all doing very well there. However I’ve been looking at my old out-of-print nonfiction books and I’m very likely going to put them up on Smashwords. I like the control that Smashwords offers, and I like the sales percentages. And these are books that have already had their heyday, so a major house might not want them because they couldn’t move enough units of them. That doesn’t matter on Smashwords. Though…I suspect those books will, in fact, do pretty well there. The trend is going that way.

DW: Many commercially successful authors such as yourself are wading into the indie ebook publishing waters. How do you see this trend progressing in the next couple years?

JM: In 2009, when the economic tsunami really hit publishing, a lot of author colleagues lost their deals. Books were starting to go out of print left, right and center. Superb authors were stranded. But then rumor started spreading of some of these authors moving over to the world of self-publishing. Prior to the economic crash and the accompanying rise of quality digital publishing, this would have been unheard of, or it would have been viewed as career suicide. But then we started hearing about guys like J. A. Konrath, Scott Nicholson, Barry Eisler and others –top quality authors with significant mainstream track records—who were self-pubbing on the Net.

So, on one hand you have many doors closing in mainstream publishing because the economy went into the toilet; and on the other hand you see top writers making serious money by going totally independent. The writing was on the digital wall for everyone to see. And this wasn’t just an answer to the prayers of some guys who were sinking when they lost their deals…no, this was an example of entrepreneurial courage and determination in a winning model. This was the beginning of a new era in publishing.

We don’t know exactly what publishing will look like ten years from now, five years from now, or even next year. One thing we can absolutely bet on, though, is that e-publishing in all of is forms will be a major part of it. That’s not going to go away.

DW: Will we reach an equilibrium point where most big authors are straddling both worlds, or do you see this as the start of a slow bleed where authors shift more of their publishing to the indie realm?

JM: Smashwords accomplished something that a lot of people thought was impossible: it legitimized self-publishing in a way that not only made it easier to do, but it made top quality self-publishing easier. And, equally as important, it created a model for publishing that makes a pretty powerful statement: no work ever needs to go out of print. This is HUGE for authors with complex and/or long careers, because eventually some of our older works go out of print, or the rights contractually return to us. That leaves us with works that are no longer earning profits or royalties. That’s dead weight, and until Smashwords, every writer I knew had some of that dead weight. Now Smashwords has allowed us to breathe new life into those works. It puts them back onto the market in a way that makes it easy for anyone to purchase. They’re much easier to publicize (a Twitter post with a URL will do it), and it uses smooth e-commerce payment methods like Paypal. So, instead of sitting idle, these older works can reach the readers.

Now, here’s a couple of interesting side-effects with that –and these are the reasons so many name authors are choosing this method of self-pubbing. First, by keeping all of your older works on the market, you have more products to feed an established readership. You don’t lose readers between new projects because there’s something to lure then back to your brand.

News about repubbed out-of-print works is also buzzworthy, so it gives you good content for social media.

It’s also a wonderful place to put those projects that wouldn’t otherwise have a home. A lot of authors have books or stories they couldn’t see because the current market wasn’t right for them. Trends change and bean-counters heavily influence what the big houses buy. So you might have a book that wouldn’t have big market appeal, but which you still feel is well written. With Smashwords, you can put that piece up, buzz it all over the place, and establish a unique readership for that piece. Since the mainstream market didn’t want it at the moment, then it’s not a competing product with your conventionally pubbed works. And, it works as brand reinforcement which will often drive readers TO your conventionally pubbed works.

And the other reason Smashwords works so well is that it was created as a class act. It looks as professional as it is, so it gives that pro look to self-pubbed works. That opens the door for writers to be read who might otherwise never be on the public radar. It reinvigorates stalled careers. And it supports the careers of top pros.

It’s all up-side. 



DW: Do you work with editors in your indie writings or do you self-edit?

JM: Even though I know my craft well enough to be a successful full-time author, I know that my writing has some weak spots. I dangle participles, split infinitives and I’m still not certain I reliably know the difference between further and farther. So, yeah, if I’m putting something up via any kind of self-publishing, I’m going to want an editor to take a look at it. I typically look for freelancers who have worked in traditional publishing and have taken a work all the way from purchase to print. I’m not really looking for a talented amateur. I’ll pay professional rates to get professional quality. It’s always worth it.


DW: You've said "writing is an art, publishing is a business." What are the main implications in that for self-published authors?

JM: There is a tremendous amount of propaganda about what it means to be a writer. If we come at it from a creative writing direction, there’s even more propaganda. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard writers tell me that creative people simply aren’t any good at business. People say it like that’s a given, and I believed it myself for a while. At the same time, there is the snobbish viewpoint that commercial success is only possible at the expense of artistic quality. That’s nonsense. Look at authors like James Lee Burke, Cormac McCarthy, Toni Morrison, Elmore Leonard –they’re masters of their craft and their books are brilliant, insightful, superbly structured, and highly successful. There’s not a whiff of artistic compromise and yet they’re bestsellers.

Some years ago I got burned pretty badly in a publishing venture. A friend started a small press and asked me to write a couple of nonfiction books to help launch it. Everything was done with handshakes. He was a businessman, I was a writer. We did the books, he published them. As it turned out, he didn’t know enough about publishing to make his new venture work, and I knew even less. I was a magazine guy and knew virtually nothing about book publishing. As a result the books tanked, our friendship floundered and nobody made any money.

I began to realize that a lot of the mistakes could have been avoided if I knew how the business worked. I had to break through the propaganda wall and believe that I, as a writer, could understand the workings of the business. I read everything, took business classes, talked to writers of every stripe, talked to booksellers, read interviews with agents and editors. In short I taught myself how it all worked.

The core of the discovery was the realization that publishing is an industry that exists to sell units of products. It is not an art-appreciation society. Sure, individual members of the publishing world may love books –some may even have been drawn to publishing out of a love of books—but the industry itself is all about sales. Writers too often try to enchant agents and editors with the magic of their work, and that’s selling to the wrong audience. The content –the magic, the insights, the beauty, the craft, the absolute love of words—is part of a dialogue between author and reader. The dialogue between author and publisher is based on how likely it is that this book will sell a large number of copies to an established demographic who has a measurable interest in similar books. In that regard it’s no different than selling cars, bottles of ketchup or sneakers.

Based on what was for me a revelation of epic proportion, I rewrote my query letter so that it resembled a business letter instead of an appeal to the artistic sensibilities of New York’s top agents. The result? My manuscript got read, I got representation, and I got sold.

The artist effect is that because I have achieved commercial success, I have more time to hone my craft and write books that allow me to bring my insight, my artistry, my skills and my excitement to a large number of readers. By working within the structure of the industry I’ve established the dialogue with the readers.

DW: You speak at many conferences and are active in various organizations -- how do these help to build and extend your brand as a writer?

JM: When I was a young teenager I was fortunate enough to meet and get to know the late Ray Bradbury. He gave me a lot of very good advice on craft and the business of publishing, but one of the things that stuck out in my mind was this –he said, “Writers should always help other writers ---because you can bet every penny in your pocket that no one else will do it.”

Writers should always help other writers. That’s become my manifesto. Particularly because I’ve come to the opinion that there are two separate camps within all of publishing –and I’m including everyone from the folks in your adult ed writing class to the captains of the publishing industry. One camp is fear-based. They seem to believe that if they help another writer, then that other guy is going to get the opening/job/spot/opportunity that should have been theirs. Better to not help and look out for number one. That seems to be a very close-minded and dreary approach.

The other camp –the one to which I happily belong—believes that if writers help other writers, then more good works will get published, more people will want to read these works, and all of publishing will thrive. Indie, mainstream and solo press.

During the economic slump, that first camp has come to view the future of publishing as a glass half-empty and full of bacteria; which my camp views it as a glass half-filled and the waiter’s coming with a fresh pitcher.

When I am invited in as a keynote speaker, guest of honor or panelist at a writers event, that’s my message. I’ll shout it to anyone…and I’ve found that it’s the kind of message people really are waiting to hear.

DW: Among the many genres you've explored -- young adult fiction, action thrillers, horror, comic books, vampire books, and more -- do you have a favorite, and if so, why?

JM: I’m fickle. My favorite genre is whatever I’m working on today. For example, last week I finished issue #1 of an Avengers miniseries I’m writing for Marvel Comics, so I was Mr. Comic Book and that was my world. Today I’m back to writing FIRE & ASH, the fourth in my post-apocalyptic zombie series for teens, and that’s my favorite genre. After that’s delivered on August 1, I have to write a Steampunk Western short story –so that’s where my heart will be. I’m fickle, but I’m passionate.

DW: Do you have a separate approach to each genre as a writer, or is every project essentially the same, from a methodological point-of-view?

JM: My approach to writing is the same no matter which genre I’m writing in. I always start with concept notes, a rough outline, and then a lot of research. I’m a research junkie, and I like packing a lot of interesting little details into my fiction. I also tend to read heavily in whatever genre I’m about to write (but never while I’m writing in it). So, right now I’m writing about zombies but I’m reading Steampunk and westerns because that’s what’s next.

DW: Is there an advantage to being so versatile as opposed to staying in one "vertical" as a writer?

JM: In this economy it can be career suicide to be a one-trick pony. Unless you hit homeruns with every book, you stand the risk of having a genre go cold, or your own sales flag, or a publisher not support you enough to generate sustainable sales. When I was a magazine feature writer I was all over the place, writing the pieces that fascinated me –martial arts, business, music, sports, psychology, pop culture, you name it. I wanted to have that same freedom as a fiction writer, and when I was shopping for an agent I made it clear from the jump that I was not going to be locked into a single genre.

As a result, part of my brand is that I’ll try damn near anything –as long as I think I can bring my A-game and also have some fun. When that’s the vibe you’re putting out, people do respond. I’ve been asked to contribute short stories to all sorts of magazines and anthologies, ranging from military science fiction, to folklore-inspired mysteries, to comedy, to psychological thrillers to classic ghost stories. Editors know that I’m game for anything. Right now I’ve got stories due for an Oz anthology, a Steampunk western antho, a Cthulhu Mythos antho, an antho of Auguste Dupin stories (the detective from Poe’s stories), and an urban fantasy antho.

In fiction, the willingness to write in more than one genre has actually given my agent the opportunity to make multiple book deals with different houses. For example, I’m writing YA novels for Simon & Schuster, adult science thrillers for St. Martin’s Griffin, editing a horror anthology for IDW, and writing comics for Marvel. Since these are in different genres, the release of so many books doesn’t cut into my sales in any one area, and often cultivates strong crossover sales.

Plus, hell, shifting around a lot is a wonderful way to prevent even the possibility of career boredom. Even I don’t know what I’ll be doing next.

DW: The world of traditional publishing is changing so rapidly -- what are the major trends from your perspective, and how will they affect indie authors?

JM: The biggest trend in modern publishing is that the author has a voice. One that’s being listened to by everyone. This matters, however, only if the author uses his voice.

I used to believe that the writer worked for the editor/publisher and was happy with anything –work, money, etc.—that came his way. I used to believe that you didn’t dare rock the boat because mainstream publishing would chuck you overboard if you did, and that the waters of indie or self-publishing were full of piranha.

I don’t believe that anymore. My perspective shift gained a lot of traction during the rise of social media. That’s when I realized that the writer is the brand (not any given work by that writer), and that brand management is being largely left to the writer.

It’s a bit of a logic puzzle, though. Since publishers channel little or no money into most of their authors, the burden is on the authors to buzz themselves and their works; however, as social media became more effective and widespread, authors had access to marketing methods that got their name out there to a wide and diverse audience for little to no money; as a result, publishers felt that they could put even less money into promotion since writers were doing more and more of the heavy lifting; which meant that the writers had to do more to stay on the public radar; which allowed the publishers to withdraw even more marketing support. And so on.

Depending on how you look at that, it’s either a self-tightening knot or a golden opportunity. For anyone who doesn’t embrace social media and the new opportunities offered through indie press and self-publishing, this is a career death spiral. To those of us who see it as a series of wide-open doors, it’s career gold. The trend is to embrace the fun of social media, working it like a video game, shifting and changing with it, paying attention to the analytics, making adjustments on the fly, staying savvy…and having lots of fun. Writers who do that are going to rise to the top of the game.

DW: How do you recommend indie authors best use social media, blogs, and so forth to promote their work and their brand?

JM: The best first step is to decide what the tone of the brand is. Negativity does not sell, but a lot of writers seem to using it as a way of getting heard. Sure, you’re heard…and then ignored. Let’s take ‘Twilight’ as an example. Folks love to take swings at Twilight. They tear apart the writing, they make endless jokes about the whole ‘sparkly’ thing. Some of those jokes are even insightful and funny, but when I see those comments in posts by people who I KNOW are pitching novels to the modern horror market, or trying to promote their own self-pubbed works, I cringe.

I mean, take a step back and look at it from a business perspective –this is the brand frequency being transmitted by someone who wants to get into the business or get deeper. How is that person going to gain useful traction with agents, editors, booksellers, reviewers, or readers (particular of the genre) by throwing stones at a product line that has—between books, comics, toys, movies, licensing, etc—brought billions into the industry? Where is the logic in that? How is that even good business sense? It comes off as whining jealousy, and believe me when I say that these are not pathways to publishing success. The lack of common sense is appalling. Do these posters think that publishers, marketing suits, editors, agents and their legions of staff pay NO ATTENTION AT ALL to what’s being posted and by whom? Seriously?

It’s not that I’m saying you have to use social media branding to insist that you’re on Team Edward, but there are times when it’s better to say nothing on a subject then to post snarky attacks. If you want to vent, do it over beers at the next Stoker banquet. We’ll all listen. But don’t put it online.

So, what do you put out there? Think about a party. If there’s someone who is bitching and moaning and someone else who’s getting folks to laugh and loosen up, which way do you drift? If a kid in a playground is constantly bitching about the quality of the toys, and another kid has turned a cardboard box into a sideshow funhouse, who’s getting more attention? Who’s going to be remembered in a positive way?

And, even if you are a naturally cranky, snarky, sour-tempered pain in the ass, for god’s sake share that with your therapist or priest. When you go online to promote yourself and therefore your products, try not to actually scare people off your lawn.

DW: I've noticed that all of your work is available in audio versions, can you tell us how you accomplish that?

JM: The audio versions of my novels were all arranged by the publisher. At the moment all of my novels are still in print by traditional publishers (Simon & Schuster, Tor, St. Martin’s Griffin, and Pinnacle). However the short stories were sold for audio differently. The first collection of audio shorts was JOE LEDGER: THE MISSING FILES, and I asked my agent to approach the audio publisher the Joe Ledger novels to see if they’d be willing to do the shorter works. She negotiated a deal and the stories were made available as a full collection and as individual downloads. The sweetener in the deal was that I would write one original story that would be an audio-exclusive for three years. I was fine with that.

More recently I asked my agent to try and sell some of my other short stories. I suggested two collections: HUNGRY TALES (zombie stories) and TALES FROM THE FIRE ZONE (a mix of mystery and thriller and weird stories). Again I offered to write one original exclusive story for each collection. The deal was closed the other day and the collections will be out in the fall.

Yesterday I asked my agent to approach the same audio publisher (Blackstone Audio) to do an audio version of an anthology that had been self-published by my group The Liars Club. We’d done the print/e-book version of the book partly as a fundraiser for literacy programs, and it did nicely. I thought it would work well in audio, and these days audiobooks are on the upswing, since downloading makes them less expensive to produce and more affordable to purchase. We’ll see how that deal works out. The sweetener here is that I would replace my story in the antho (which is actually a reprint), with a new story, and there would be new, original tales by the two newest members of the Liars Club –Chuck Wendig and Stephen Susco. The book has a wonderful introduction by Sandra Brown.

DW: The rights to some your books have been purchased by various Hollywood entities; what has that been like for you as the content creator?

JM: Everyone should have at least one Hollywood experience as a way of learning some crucial life lessons, namely: Don’t get your hopes up; don’t hold your breath; don’t expect the quick fix; and also don’t give up.

My first brush with Hollywood was with Disney. I co-created a horror entertainment news shows called ON THE SLAB. You will not have heard of it. Disney bought it, paid us to write the show bible, a sample script and the whole shebang. Their check cleared…and then there was a change in management resulting in the project being shelved until (apparently) the end of time.

Then my novel, PATIENT ZERO was optioned by producer Michael DeLuca on behalf of SONY. They took it to ABC, who hired Emmy-winning screenwriter Javier Grillo-Marxuach to write the pilot. He wrote a brilliant pilot. It got all the way down to a split decision with the network president –between DEPARTMENT ZERO (the name they chose for the show) and the remake of CHARLIE’S ANGELS. They went with the Angels, which lasted three episodes before being cancelled. The option expired and we’re shopping it elsewhere.

More recently I sold the option on one of my series of books, but details of that are under wraps pending a formal announcement. And I’m in discussions with some studio heads to possible write an original script.

I have friends who are successful screenwriters—like Stephen Susco (The Grudge, Possession), Eric Red (Hitcher, Near Dark), and Tony Peckham (Invictus, Sherlock Holmes). However I also have a lot of writer friends whose work was optioned, or even been in development. Few of those books ever made it to the screen.

I am not, however, either cynical or bitter. I knew this about Hollywood going in, so I’m looking at this like a video game, too.

DW: So what's in the pipeline going forward, and are there any new genres you're considering exploring?

JM: I’m about to pitch a YA novel that has no monsters, no science fiction, nothing that blows up, and no flesh-eating ghouls. That will be a real lane-change. But I’m also prepping pitches for a mainstream police procedural, a folklore-inspired epic fantasy, and also a video game. I’ll go in any direction where a good story pulls me.

DW: Finally, to all of those less-experienced authors out there, what words of encouragement can you offer to help them keep going?

JM: It’s so critical that all writers understand that publishing is a business –indie, mainstream or self-pub—and that the more they understand about that business, and the more businesslike they act, the more successful they’ll be.

Second, learn the craft. Learn it well and never stop learning it. Never assume that you can’t improve your craft. You always can, and it’s always worth it.

And, have fun. If it’s not fun, you’re doing it wrong. Success shouldn’t be the yardstick.

DW: Thank you, Jonathan!




Visit Jonathan Maberry's Smashwords author page at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JonathanMaberry where you'll find six short stories.


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Smashwords Publishes 5 Billion Words

Smashwords today released its 5 billionth word.

From your fingertips to reader's eyes.

The number is difficult to grasp.  These words form 138,071 books.

If you typed at 25 words a minute without pause, it would take 200 million minutes to write 5 billion words.  3.3 million hours.  If you typed 8 hours a day, it would take 416,600 days, or 1,141 years.  Imagine the lifetimes of creative output now captured, packaged, immortalized and available for discovery at the click of a button or mouse.

Imagine a world without gatekeepers, where you the writer decide when you graduate to become a published author. Imagine a world where readers are the curators.  Now imagine that day has arrived, because it's here already.

I try to imagine the cacophony of clicking keyboards as our 46,931 authors around the globe clicked away, their minds occupying wonderous far-flung places both real and imaginary, birthing their glorious words and shaping them into these sentences, chapters and books.  I imagine, and honor, the immense personal sacrifice required to write these books.

Your books are are touching people.  In the last four weeks at the Apple iBookstore and Barnes & Noble alone, Smashwords books were downloaded over 6 million times.   The day may yet come when Smashwords authors reach more readers than the authors of all the Big 6 publishers combined.

Our books are selling, too.  Smashwords retailers will sell $18 to $20 million worth of your ebooks this year.  The majority of those sales dollars will flow into our authors' and publishers' pockets.

As I write this, five of the Apple's iBookstore's top 20 bestsellers are from Smashwords authors R.L. Mathewson (read our interview with R.L. Mathewson here), S.C. Stephens (we'll publish an interview with S.C. very soon at the Smashwords blog) and Jamie McGuire (Jamie just sold rights to a traditional publisher).  That's one in four.  12 months ago, those five slots were occupied by the books from traditional publishers. 12 months from now, how many more slots will be occupied by an indie author?  That's up to you.

Indie authors such as you are now producing books that are as good or better than what's released by New York publishers.  The practice of self-publishing is becoming smarter and more professional each year.  Indies are bypassing the slush pile to publish directly to readers.  Indies are enjoying greater creative freedom, faster time to market, and higher royalty rates.

You, my dear Smashwords author, are the future of book publishing.  The trend is obvious to anyone who cares to take note. 

Thank you for allowing us to accompany you on this exciting journey as we remake book publishing for the benefit of authors, publishers and readers.

Author R. L. Mathewson On the Secrets to Her Success

Update July 30, 2012:  R.L. Mathewson landed on the August 5 New York Times Bestseller List, which came out July 30.  Please join us in congratulating R.L. on her amazing success!



R.L. Mathewson is the author of eight novels in the paranormal romance and contemporary romance genres. She lives in New England with her two children. Her books feature down-to-earth characters dealing with vampires, werewolves and demons, and are characterized by a distinctive sense of humor. Over the past year, sales have grown impressively.  In the last few weeks, her books have broken out at Apple, and in the last week, two of her titles have held steady among Apple's store-wide top-ten bestseller list. In our interview, she discusses some of the secrets behind her success.

David Weir: When did you start writing and did you ever try selling your books through the traditional publishing industry?

R.L. Mathewson: I started to write in 2008 after my love for reading was rekindled during a rough time in my life. I was pretty much bedridden for a year with a ruptured disc in my back that was pressing directly on a nerve. It was a very painful experience, one I hope to never experience again. I used books to distract myself from the pain and boredom. I could only lay in a bed or sit prompted up during the day to watch my two young children at the time, so I had a lot of time on my hands. I probably read a book a day. Some of the books were really good, but others were just horrible. The worst thing was a poorly written book with a great concept. It was aggravating more than anything. I started to think about how I would change the story and one thing led to another until one day I grabbed my ice pack and made my way over to my desk and started writing.

I looked into publishing traditionally at first. I did some research and made a few contacts, but what I found wasn't very encouraging. By the time I had two books finished I pretty much gave up hope of publishing because the hassle to go the traditional route just didn't seem worth it.

DW: How did you discover Smashwords, and how has it assisted your publishing and distribution strategy?

RLM: I discovered Smashwords by accident. At the time I was trying to get my ebooks sold through Borders.com. I couldn't find a way to self-publish through the site, so I contacted customer service and was directed to Smashwords. Publishing through Smashwords has made the process of publishing really quite easy. I still self-publish through Amazon.com and B&N through my own accounts for the older books, but for iBooks, Kobo, etc. I find it easier to go through Smashwords. It saves me a great deal of time and if I have a problem, I found that Smashwords customer service is really helpful. That's a huge plus for someone who publishes on her own. With the new improvements that they've made, I've decided to distribute all future books solely through Smashwords for distribution to Amazon.com and B&N to further simplify the process.


DW: Did anyone encourage you to write along the way; or alternatively discourage you from trying?

RLM: My mother encouraged me to do it as something I enjoyed as a hobby, but I think she was nervous about me relying on writing to support two young children. To be honest, I was too, but at the time I didn't have much choice in the matter. When I started writing it was an escape from the pain as well from a horrible marriage. With back problems, two children and zero help, I was in a bad situation. I basically put all my hopes and prayers into my writing, pretty much pushing myself to the point of exhaustion every day, hoping that it would work out for us. I would have to say that my children, Kayley and Shane are all the encouragement that I needed to keep going, but the encouragement that I received from readers helped out a great deal as well.

DW: When and where did you publish your first two ebooks? And how soon after that did you make your first sale?

RLM: I published my first two books, Tall, Dark & Lonely: A Pyte/Sentinel Novel and A Humble Heart: A Hollywood Hearts Novel in December of 2010 at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. It was a nerve wracking experience and I wasn't even sure that I did it right. For the first couple of days I kept checking my accounts to see if I sold a book, but after a few days of no sales I sort of gave up and stopped checking. I didn't have an advertisement, no followers and basically no one really knew about the books. I realized that I had to figure out a few things in order to make a sale so I focused my attention back to writing while trying to figure out how to do just that. A few months later on a whim I checked my accounts and I saw that I made my first sale on Christmas Eve at Amazon.com. By that point I'd sold a grand total of maybe five books, but I didn't care. I was so excited. I remember getting my children out of bed, because I just had to share the news with the two most important people in my life. They were so excited. We danced around singing "We sold books, baby!" for probably a good hour or two before I managed to get them calmed down enough to go back to bed. It was a really great night for us.

DW: Do you remember when your first fan contacted you, and how that felt?

RLM: The first email that came from a reader was definitely a surprise. It was a really nice surprise and made my day. Apparently, she had to hunt down my email, because my website at the time, the one I created and may have messed up, hid the email link, which apparently wasn't working anyway, lol. So, she searched the web for a few days and when she found it, she explained that she enjoyed my book, which surprised her because she hadn't expected much based on the plain cover. At the time I designed my own book covers, which consisted of a solid color, the title and my name. That was it. It was really horrible. Even I can't help but cringe when I think back to the early covers.

DW: How did you use social media to gain more exposure for your first two books, and what was your first real breakthrough?

RLM: My first breakthrough without question came from Rhonda Valverde, owner of Vampireromancebooks.com. I found the website by accident one night when I was searching for places to post an excerpt about my book. I found the website and took a chance, not knowing whether or not my post was going to be deleted or if anyone would even read it. Within the first day I received a lot of positive feedback. Within a few weeks Rhonda left a reply asking if I'd be interested in a review. I was nervous, but I figured that it couldn't hurt. Up until that point no one had read the book so I was desperate for someone's opinion. A couple agonizing weeks later she sent me an email telling me that she enjoyed the book. She posted a positive review and Tall, Dark & Lonely started to sell.

I use social media, but I use it to get to know my readers. They're wonderful people and I really enjoy our daily interactions at Facebook and Twitter. We set it up as a casual online place to meet up, chat about books or nothing at all. I also use it to post updates about my books or share any news that comes my way, but it's mostly used just to relax.

DW: How have you changed the way you price your books and what have you learned in the process?

RLM: When I first published my books, I was more concerned about being taken seriously. I didn't think a low price would accomplish that. So, I priced my books as high as the traditional published authors at the time, $6.99. I eventually brought it down to $2.99, because I felt the high price was just too much. This past Christmas I dropped the price to $0.99 as a Christmas gift to my readers. I didn't like the idea of people spending a small fortune to read my books. I also gave one of them away for a while, Playing for Keeps: A Neighbor from Hell novel. When the time came to raise the prices back, I just couldn't do it. I'd received too many emails from readers thanking me for keeping my prices low, sharing stories of tough times and how thankful they were that my prices were low enough for them so that they could read my work. After that I decided that as long as I could manage the costs that came along with publishing, that I would keep them at $0.99. I enjoy writing and I would rather someone have the opportunity to enjoy my stories than to get rich.

DW: How did you connect with your two editors and how have they helped you improve your writing?

RLM: I have two wonderful editors, Lieve Van den Heuvel and Maura O'Beirne-Stanko. I met Lieve through Vampireromancebooks.com after she read one of my books and left a post for me at the forum. For a while we simply left each other posts, chatted once or twice on a message board until she decided that she was going to get me addicted to Belgium chocolate, lol. After that we somehow moved onto the topics of my books and she'd help me out by pointing out editing mistakes.

Maura came into the picture after she sent me emails, telling me how much she enjoyed the stories, but the editing was horrible. We exchanged emails for a little while and soon I was asking for her opinion as well. The last book, Tall, Dark & Heartless, was our first editing collaboration. The three of us worked for three weeks making that book perfect. It took several tries, but I think we did a decent job with it. We're constantly going back to the earlier books and trying to fix those as well.

They've helped me more than I can say. They're both wonderful, kind women and I am very fortunate to have them on my side.

DW: In the past few months, sales of your books have really taken off, and within the last few weeks, your sales exploded at Apple's iBookstore – what changed?

RLM: In the past eight months I've made a lot of changes. The books have gone through an additional editing. The price dropped as well, making them more affordable. Word of mouth has gone a long way to help, but I think it was the change in covers. The last ones were plain, two shaded covers that looked more like pamphlets than anything. Some people liked them because it created mystery while others admitted that the covers were really confusing. After some thought and advice from Maura, Lieve and Christi, from BookRhythm.com, I decided that perhaps we should look into new covers.

After four months of modest but respectable sales, a cover image update,
combined with great reader reviews, sparked an explosive climb
to the top of Apple's store-wide bestseller list.

The only problem was the prices. Since buying custom designed covers would have been expensive and forced me to raise the prices of the books, I decided to see what I could do on my own. I bought a few photos, played around with some photo editing software and eventually came up with some covers that I liked.


DW: You’ve labeled the genres of your first eight books paranormal romance and contemporary romance – what are the key elements that help these books succeed?

RLM: From what I've heard from readers, my characters are flawed, down to earth and likeable. Basically, they're human. I take my time building my characters from scratch and give the reader a reason to root for them. I also take my time to build the romance and to show them falling in love. I don't take short cuts in my story line or character buildup. I also try to keep my story lines unpredictable and interesting. I might play around with an overdone plot, but I refuse to follow the rules.

DW: Are you considering trying writing in any other genres in the future?

RLM: Yes, I am currently writing a historical Neighbor From Hell. I didn't plan to, but I was too curious to see how the Bradford men would drive a woman crazy in the nineteenth century.

DW: Romance is a huge category at Smashwords, accounting for 30% of our sales. Why do you think romance ebooks are so much more popular than their print counterparts?

RLM: Ninety-nine percent of my sales are ebooks, but that's because I don't push the paperbacks and the ebooks are not only more convenient but also cheaper. I believe the reason is very simple, it's convenient. When I want to relax with a good romance book I don't want to have to go online, order a paperback and wait a week for it to be delivered. The same could be said for a ride to the mall. Thanks to devices such as iPads, Nooks, and Kindles, I can avoid traffic, lines at the mall, and kids screaming and running around. I can do a quick search, find a story that calls to me and buy it and within seconds I'm relaxing with a new book.

DW: For your fellow romance authors, what do you think are the essential secrets to writing a great romance that resonates with readers?

RLM: One of the most important things that I've found that can make or break a romance novel is whether or not the connection between the characters is believable. To me, there's nothing worse than reading a book only to have the author just flat out tell the reader that the characters are in love with absolutely no evidence to back it up. Readers want to watch the characters fall in love and have a reason to hope for the best. When the author doesn't put the work in to give the romance credibility, it takes away from the story.

Another issue is using plots or formulas to write a romance book. Personally, I love a good plot, even if it's been done to death, but that doesn't mean that I want to read the same exact plot. I want to see new twists, be surprised and enjoy the new take on an old favorite so much that I can't put the book down. There are several romance novel formulas out there [that] unfortunately for anyone who's read a decent amount of romance novels, ruins the story because it makes the entire plot too predictable. Don't plan the first kiss.  Tease the reader.  You're trying to build up the suspense because if it's not done right, it can actually annoy the reader.

What I like to do is to let my characters develop while the romance blossoms. I work hard to make the my stories unpredictable and have fun while doing it. That's the most important thing, have fun. Write a romance that you're going to enjoy so your readers will enjoy it as well.

DW: What will be your next book and when can we expect to see it?

RLM: The next book is Checkmate, the third installment of the Neighbor from Hell series. I am hoping to have that out by fall. I also have another book that is close to being done, a stand alone, for now, paranormal romance. That one will probably be published shortly after Checkmate.

DW: Please tell us about the special charitable campaign you plan for its launch and how you came up with that idea?

RLM: I came up with the idea from my readers and from all the people that have helped myself and my two children get a second chance at life over the past few months. I wanted to give something back and when I started to receive emails asking for the third Neighbor from Hell book I decided that maybe that was the way to go. So, I decided that once the book was finished that I was going to delay publishing it. For twenty days I will barter the book for a good deed.

For twenty days, I'm giving readers a chance to do a good deed, giving blood, donating food, clothes, helping someone in need. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as they help someone out. There will be a special printable sign that needs to be in a picture of the act. Once I receive the picture, one per person, I will send them a link to the book for download. I'm hoping to give away a lot of copies of this book.

DW: What advice do you have for other indie authors who have not yet gotten up the nerve to try self-publishing?

RLM: It can be a lot of hard work, but it's worth it. If you enjoy writing and want to share your work, take a chance. Research, edit and just have fun. It can be stressful, but it should also be an enjoyable process.

DW: Thank you, R.L.!


Smashwords distributes R.L. Mathewson to the following ebook retailers:
Apple iBookstore
Barnes & Noble
Diesel eBook Store
Kobo
Smashwords
Sony

Smashwords Adds Page Foundry as New Mobile Distribution Partner for Android Devices

Smashwords today announced a distribution agreement with Page Foundry, a developer of mobile ebook store apps for Android tablets and smart phones.

Below I've inserted images of how the app looks, using a test example of Phoenix, a YA fantasy novel by Smashwords author Jennifer Mason-Black, published by  Musa Publishing.

This new relationship will lead to distribution at the following four places:

Listings page

Book page

1.  ASUS:  Asus, a leading manufacturer of netbooks, notebooks and tablets, currently has about 8 million devices here in the US pre-loaded with the Page Foundry ebook store app, all part of their @Vibe media store.  Page Foundry is one of two pre-loaded ebook store apps on the Asus devices. 

2.  WIRELESS OPERATOR:  Page Foundry is powering the ebook store app for a leading pre-paid wireless services operator with 2.5 million smart phone customers (Smashwords authors/publishers will be informed of the wireless operator's identity in the author/publisher email alert going out today).  Starting this summer, all of this mobile operator's subscriber phones will ship pre-loaded with the Page Foundry app (previously, subscribers had to manually download the app from the operator's app store).

3.  VERSENT and INKTERA:  These are two sister e-reader apps, available for download to Android 

devices from Google Play (formerly known as the Android Market).  Versent and Inktera also sell books through their websites at http://www.versentbooks.com and http://www.inktera.com  Page Foundry set up these two sites as experimental showcases of their platform, though they've also started attracting some customers so they plan to continue operating the sites as indepedent ebook retailers.

Reader option settings

Page Foundry plans to add additional mobile operators and device-makers in the months ahead.

Like any new distribution channel, I expect the Page Foundry partnership to start small and then grow over time as their business grows.

As with all new Smashwords distribution partners, all Premium Catalog books will automatically go to Page Foundry unless you opt out, or unless the title is unpublished.  Visit your Dashboard's Channel Manager to adjust distribution settings.

 Learn more about Page Foundry at http://www.pagefoundry.com

New Ebook Cover Image Requirements Coming to Satisfy Higher Resolution E-Reading Devices

Updated June 20 with additional examples.
Updated July 15 - B&N also now recommends larger images.

Heads up.  Effective on or about July 15, Smashwords will begin requiring higher pixel counts on ebook cover images.

Why the change?  Starting in August, Apple will require that all new ebook cover images be at least 1,400 pixels wide.  Their previous minimum was 600 pixels.

Why is Apple requiring higher pixel counts?  Most likely, it's because they want to provide ebook customers a more pleasing visual experience for their current and future higher-resolution iPads, iPhones and MacBooks.  Since we think the Apple's guidelines are reasonable (they help readers with next-generation screens enjoy your covers in all their glory), we'll adopt Apple's requirements as our new minimum standards for cover images.

Amazon recommends images that are 2,500 pixels tall, with the height 1.6 times greater than the width. In early July, Barnes & Noble notified me that they too are increasing their recommended (recommended, not a requirement) to a minimum height of between 1,200 to 2,000 pixels. This means that the new Apple/Smashwords requirements will help you create an image that's also more pleasing to current and future Amazon and B&N customers.  Three birds with one stone.


Let's dig into the math (eek!  math!):  Smashwords has always required vertical-rectangle-shaped images, where the height is greater (taller) than the width.  Most good-looking covers have heights that are around 1.3 to 1.65 times greater than the width.

Provided your cover is at least 1,400 pixels wide, you have flexibility here whether you prefer slightly wider covers or slightly taller covers.

Start with your width.  Although the new requirement is a minimum width of 1,400 pixels, I'd recommend a width of 1,500 to 1,800 pixels to be safe.  This will help you get closer to Amazon's recommended height, and will also provide you some measure of future-proofing for a couple years out when we might see pixel requirements increase even further.

Let's say you choose a width of 1,600 pixels.  If you want a 1.33 ratio, multiply 1,600 by 1.33 and you get a height of 2,128 pixels.  If you think that looks too short and squat, try 1.5.  Multiply 1,600 by 1.5 and you get a height of 2,400 pixels.  If you want 1.6, or 1.65, multiply by that.  Don't obsess too much over the ratio, though.  Focus on creating a cover that works best for your book.

Below I created some sample images to give you an idea of how the different ratios look from a width and height perspective.  These are thumbnails, so click the image if you want to see it larger.  When you enlarge the image, you won't get the full size (a limitation of how I uploaded them here), but the relative proportions are what you're looking at anyway.

The first image has a 1.33 ratio (height is 1.33 times greater than width).

The second image has a 1.5 ratio.

The third image has a 1.6 ratio.

Note how the lower ratio gives you a wider image, and the higher ratio gives you a more narrow image.

Apple's new requirement applies to new ebooks, and new cover updates.  If your book is already in the Apple iBookstore with a smaller cover image, you're grandfathered in, UNLESS you try to update your cover image in the future, in which case they'll reject it.  

Since Apple will begin enforcing the new requirements in August, we'll help our authors and publishers get ahead of the change by making the 1,400 pixel minimum a Premium Catalog requirement starting on or around July 15.  

The Smashwords FAQ and Smashwords Style Guide are now updated to reflect the new recommendations and requirements.  

Like Apple, we'll apply the standard to new titles and cover image updates.   If we previously shipped your smaller cover to retailers, we won't require the new cover image size unless you update your cover image or republish a previously unpublished book. The minimum dimensions do not apply to the images or cover image inside your .epub file.

How NOT to create a new cover image

Don't use a photo or image editing program to enlarge your current image.  That will cause pixelation (blur).

How to create your cover image

You'll find some tips in the Smashwords FAQ, though unless you're a professional graphic artist, my best recommendation is to hire a professional.  Send an email to list@smashwords.com to obtain my list of low cost cover designers and ebook formatters (they're all freelancers, we don't receive a commission or referral fee). Their rates range from about $40 to $100, a range I consider very reasonable.  Review their online portfolios so you can determine if their style and capabilities match what  you're looking for.  If they don't match what you want, post a note at the Smashwords Facebook page to ask your fellow authors for references.  There are many great cover designers out there (too many to fit on my list), and most are very affordable.  

Your cover image is the first impression you'll make on a prospective reader.  If you're planning to revise your cover image, use this as an opportunity to produce a cover that looks as good or better than what the big NY publishers are producing.  See my free ebook, The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success, for comments on why a professional ebook cover image is so critical to a book's success.

Once you have your new cover image, click to your Smashwords Dashboard, then click "settings," and then upload your new cover image.  Smashwords will then distribute the update and the new .epub to all our retailers.

Please share this post with your fellow authors and publishers so everyone has ample advance notice.

Smashwords Delivers Faster Shipments to Apple and Kobo

Until recently, Smashwords "shipped" new book releases, new book updates and metadata updates to Smashwords retailers (Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, Diesel, Baker & Taylor, etc) on a once-weekly basis.  As promised in December, in the last couple weeks we've begun increasing shipment frequency for the retailers that can support it.

About one week ago, we began doing once-per-day shipments of new Premium Catalog titles and metadata updates to Kobo.  This means you can make a price change at Smashwords today, and it'll be reflected at Kobo likely within a day or two.

Today, we pushed the envelope even further by commencing near-real-time shipments to the Apple iBookstore.  This means you can change a price from your Smashwords Dashboard and the new price, in multiple currencies, will reflect across Apple's 32 iBookstores, often within an hour of your change.

Price updates will appear the fastest, especially at Apple.  New book deliveries or other book updates are subject to processing times at each individual retailer.  The holy grail - which won't be achievable anytime soon - is true real-time or near-real-time updates across all retailers from your Smashwords Dashboard.  It's the direction we'll always drive toward.  We know Smashwords authors and publishers appreciate the power, convenience and time-savings possible when they can centrally manage all aspects of their ebooks from the Smashwords Dashboard.  Faster deliveries mean faster time-to-market, and greater control over metadata and promotions.

These faster shipments are made possible by a development initiative here at Smashwords that has been underway for many months.  It's also made possible by the great work of our retail partners who share our same commitment of putting the power of publishing in your hands.  In the months ahead, we hope to increase shipment frequency at other retailers once they give us the green light.  Our new shipment systems are technically capable of shipping real-time.

In the old world of publishing it took a book 12-18 months (or longer) to reach market.  In this new world, authors, publishers and literary agents we serve want faster time-to-market, and more control.

On a related topic, we're increasing staffing in our vetting team to enable faster Premium Catalog approvals (we're backlogged now).  Ian, the latest member of our vetting team, starts Wednesday.

My thanks to the 44,000 authors, publishers and literary agents around the world who use Smashwords to publish and distribute over 125,000 titles.  With your support, today's exciting development is just the latest of many new developments to come at Smashwords in the months and years ahead.

If you haven't yet partnered with Smashwords, visit our How to Publish and Distribute with Smashwords page to learn how to reach more global readers.

Alison Baverstock on Best Practices for Self-Publishing

This week, we are thrilled to be interviewing a good friend of Smashwords, Alison Baverstock, based in the U.K., about her book The Naked Author: A Guide to Self-Publishing, with Bloomsbury. As a former publisher herself, Alison brings key insights into the how independent authors can replicate the critical elements traditionally supplied by publishers in order to create successful ebooks.



[David Weir] Welcome! You've just published The Naked Author, a new book about self-publishing, what can you tell us about it?

[Alison Baverstock] There have been very useful books about self-publishing, but they have tended to concentrate on the how of the process rather than the why. I do talk about the practicalities of what to do and in what order, but first I spend a large chunk of time talking about why you might want to self-publish, what you can expect from the process, what it will take out of you, how you may feel when you share your writing and others respond – and above all, how to think about the associated writing. To me that’s crucial. Writing a book is a huge endeavour, and to spend all your time thinking about the packaging rather than the content is like producing a box of chocolates without considering what will go inside.

[DW] What are some of the major findings of your research into the world of self-publishing?

[AB] Although I used to be a publisher, and have written extensively about the publishing industry, these days I am primarily an academic – I am Course Leader for MA Publishing at Kingston University. The new book therefore began as a research project – with the objectives of finding out more about the scale of self-publishing; how the stages worked in comparison with traditional publishing; how the process was impacting on the role of the author and the availability/perceived value of reading material. So far, so relatively straightforward – although I have to say a view reached me that this was a not a particularly worthy use of my time.

As I explored, I discovered the variety of ways and circumstances in which self-publishing solutions are now being used – it’s a process, not a single product. Whereas the traditional industry has assumed that authors choose self-publishing when they have given up hope of a traditional arrangement, I discovered that there are many reasons for getting involved other than financial. The preservation of material and the self-validation that the process can bring are both significant – self-publishing is playing an increasingly important part in what as a society we both value and preserve, and usually feels good for the writer.

[DW] How did you go about this research and which groups did you work with?

[AB] I tried to talk to all stakeholders in the process: authors (would-be; self-publishing for the first time; serially self-published; those who have been traditionally published and then self-published – and those who have made a journey in the opposite direction); publishers; agents; self-publishing houses; self-publishing service providers (freelance editors, illustrators, cover designers etc); retailers; content purchasers and readers. I talked to members of the Society of Authors and to subscribers of the magazine Writer’s Forum, for whom I write a monthly column – as well as contacts made through other research projects. Phew!

[DW] How has teaching informed your research?

[AB] Teaching a subject is always the best way of ensuring you really understand, plus it gives you access to a broad and ongoing market research group of lively minds who will both challenge and extend your thinking (and make you aware of trends of which you previously knew nothing).

Right now there is a rather lazy school of journalism that regularly announces: ‘Publishing is dead.’ I think rather that Publishing is alive and kicking – it’s spreading out rather than dying, and is now being valued and used by many more people. What is more, the need for publishing services by those who decide to self-publish will create employment opportunities for our students in future, whether as part of self-publishing (full/part) service companies or the freelance market.

[DW] Is the growing trend of independent authors self-publishing restricted mainly to the U.S. and Europe, or is it a global phenomenon?

[AB] It’s a worldwide phenomenon, as I show in the book. Availability is almost boundary-less, although local cultural, economic and demographic factors will impact on how readily it is taken up.

[DW] What do you think are the best practices, i.e., the keys to successfully self-publishing ebooks?

[AB] This is interesting. Whereas the actual conversion of manuscript into ebook can take a matter of minutes, and so obviously the network and the supplier of services needs to be chosen with care, to me the thing that matters is the quality of the content you are making available – it needs to be worth the reader’s time. Ebooks offer the writer a linear process for making work available as readers can sample, buy and recommend within a very short space of time – and all in the same space. But this sheer speed means you need to take care that the work you decide to share is at its peak form, and is ready to represent the writer you want to be. Writing can go viral for the wrong reasons. A few top tips:

1. Think carefully about the content that you want to preserve and why. The project must have value for someone, or you will lose heart.
2. It’s not a short cut. If you want readers to invest their time in your work, you must make your material as good as it can be – and so all the same processes of manuscript preparation (editing in particular) will be needed. It’s possible to manage these yourself, but being objective about your own work is really hard.
3. Nor is it a race. Take time to consider why you are doing this, what you want out of the process, and the resources you have available (time as well as money). List (publish) too soon and you may live to regret it – negative feedback hurts.
4. Consider carefully who will manage the process for you. You could work with one of the one-stop self-publishing firms that now exist or you could use a range of suppliers, each handling a different stage (structural advice on editing; copy-editing; proof-reading – and it’s important to understand the differences between these three distinct and essential stages of content preparation; design for the ‘front cover’ image that will sit next to your title on the website where your work is available; marketing support). A frequent outcome of self-publishing is an appreciation of just how labour-intensive effective publishing is.
5. A self-published book does not have to sell to be worthwhile, but if that is your aim, promotion will be needed. Marketing is an open-ended activity, which can consume as much attention as the writing. Do you want to be a writer – or a publisher instead?

[DW] What are some of the non-monetary rewards of self-publishing your research has identified?

[AB] This is really significant. Traditional publishers have assumed that only material that matches their exacting standards of text management could offer any measure of satisfaction, whereas many self-publishing authors are motivated by other things – like finally recording a story they have had in their head for years, or securing a family memoir from an aged relative that will be sorely missed if it remains uncaptured.

There is research to be done on the correlation of writing quality, format for sharing and associated satisfaction, but in general professional publishers should be wary of assuming that everyone can recognise the evidence of what they have added to the process. Indeed to me this is one of the real problems for the industry, that the effective application of publishing skills is only evident when absent. Most of the time, we don’t notice how well managed the text has been – it simply flows into us.

[DW] You've stated that "writing is good for us." Please explain how and why?

[AB] Effective management of content, through the reworking of material until you are really satisfied that it is as good as it can be, brings reflection, analysis, an appreciation of the value of order – and often a terrific sense of catharsis. Well managed writing is also good for the reader, and there have been some interesting studies lately that have shown the regular reader to be happier in all sorts of ways – as well as a more empathetic colleague in the workplace.

To me if there is one danger in the huge explosion of self-publishing, it is that as a society we stop reading. I don’t think you can be an effective writer without also being a committed reader; a relationship where both parties are always on send, can mean neither is really listening. Do self-publishers have a responsibility to ensure that what they present to the world does not turn people off reading?

There are also issues to do with boundaries and censorship that need discussing. Professional publishers have always played a role in providing/preventing access to material of dubious public interest, and have often ended up taking the rap for highly controversial content. So we need to think about who manages such curation now – or does it not matter?

[DW] As one who has been a traditional publisher yourself, what are the impacts you see on traditional publishing through the growth in self-published ebooks?

[AB] I think the availability of ebooks (whether traditionally or self-published) is having a profound impact on the market for publishers’ products. Today there are other ways of reading than the simple printed codex, and once people have got used to reading on a handheld ereader, they may stick with it. More reading may result! Plus of course ereading has benefits for readers that were excluded by traditional formats (those with poor eye sight who can now increase the type size to suit their needs) or those who saw carrying books as either uncool (some teenagers) or too heavy (frequent travelers in particular).

There are also subtler effects on the industry due to the changing balance of power within publishing – the decision making process is definitely shifting. Traditionally, authors were dependent on their publishers for communication with their readers – fans would write an appreciative letter to their publisher, who would pass it on. Today that relationship is largely unmediated as authors have websites, use social media to communicate their writing (often sampling it with loyal readers before making it wholly available), and make personal appearances – either in cyberspace through blogs or YouTube, or live at literary festivals. And as publishers delegated more and more of the marketing of their titles to authors (because the explosion of media made it very hard to predict how to reach their customers, and the authors were often more in touch), so in the process authors became firstly more confident, and then more demanding. This enhanced awareness of their importance to the whole process is not going to go away.

Finally, self-publishing an ebook has become a really good form of market research. It’s now relatively common for an author to prove the existence of a market for their work by producing an ebook – and then having identified the size of the readership, and how to reach it, returning to the traditional industry with a strong case for investment. Or not – and continuing to manage the process themselves.

[DW] You mentioned to me that indie ebook authors have an opportunity to better appreciate all the things that publishers have offered authors in the past. Can you elaborate?

[AB] I think involvement in self-publishing makes authors realise what traditional publishers did for them. Effective publishing is a lot harder than it looks.

[DW] You decided to publish "The Naked Author" through a traditional publisher, Bloomsbury. Why not self-publish it instead?

[AB] One of the real issues for writers is how to boundary your writing time, and I mean being conscious of the time you spend on writing-related activities, as well as all those displacement temptations. As there was a professional publisher willing to edit my work, commission a stylish cover, take the financial risk and then bring it to market, [I decided] it’s a better use of my time to work with them rather than learning how to manage the whole process myself. I meanwhile can move onto my next book (I am writing about how to manage fame, basically through the eyes of the 1970s heart-throb Marty Kristian, member of The New Seekers, and his greatest fan – who happens to be my cousin).

[DW] You invited Mark Coker, the founder of Smashwords, to contribute the foreword to your book.  Can you tell us why you invited him to provide this?

[AB] This has been a rather odd project in that it crossed so many boundaries: a traditional publisher producing a book on self-publishing; a university academic exploring a subject that had been considered beyond respectable notice for so long; all against the background of fast-developing change.

I was observing however that as an awareness of self-publishing was spreading, so entrenchments were hardening. So while it is true that professional publishers did sometimes miss writing that turned out to have a much wider appeal than they had envisaged, that does not mean that the industry as a whole should be dismissed - nor that everything that is made available through self-publishing is worth sharing. In my view a technical ability to share content brings with it a responsibility to make the content as fine as it can be, and the faster that dissemination is possible, the more care needs to be taken.

It was my friends at Anthemion who suggested I look at the Smashwords site and in the way Mark wrote about the process I recognised my own values and ethos and so got in touch - initially to ask him to introduce a conference on self-publishing that I was running at Kingston University (which he did at 2 a.m. his time via Skype) and later to discuss current developments. Asking him to write the foreword was a natural extension of the initial empathy and later friendship that evolved.

[DW] How did your publisher feel to have a sometimes-critic of traditional publishing supply the foreword to their traditionally published book, and what was their impression of his message?

[AB] Well as always with content to be formally presented in published form, the material went back and forwards a few times until we were all happy with what was going to appear in the document of record. But good publishers are fully aware of the challenges ahead, and are seeing this as an opportunity and not a threat. I salute their imagination in seeing Mark's involvement as the former rather than the latter. We are united in our belief that while all writing is worth doing, it's not all ready for sharing and the long term goal of all stakeholders has to be to offer material that is worth the investment of the reader's time.

[DW] Thank you!

[AB] Why thank you, this has been most interesting. And I am delighted to have been asked to participate.


The Naked Author is available in both print and ebook at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Novelist Phyllis Campbell Illuminates the New World of E-Publishing for all Authors

This week we're profiling a new Smashwords author, mystery writer Phyllis Campbell. From the moment we met her, we were inspired by her courage, commitment and confidence.  Like many Smashwords authors, she has been publishing through traditional channels for many years.  

Unlike most writers, Phyllis has been blind since birth.  

When we learned she was blind, we offered her special hand-holding to help her navigate the Smashwords publishing process.  She politely declined.  She could do it herself without special treatment, thank you.

She has been writing and publishing since the age of eleven. As she describes below, blind writers face unique challenges not faced by sighted writers, yet technology old and new helps bring their important talent and voices to light.  What a gift to all of us. 


David Weir: You started writing at a young age. Why do you think this happened in your case?

Phyllis Campbell: My earliest memories are of my parents and sisters reading to me. My sister, Inez, who is also blind, and I often acted out stories based on characters we read about. I think it was only a step from there to creating my own characters and plots.

[DW] At what age did you start school and what role did your love of writing play in your education? 

[PC] I was six in December and started school at the residential school for the blind in January.  I drove my parents mad, I'm sure, begging to go. My sister was there, and I wanted to learn to read and write Braille. Certainly my love of reading and composition helped me tremendously all through my formal education. 

[DW] When did you begin publishing and selling your work, and where did you publish?

[PC] I started selling my work in the 60's. My first sale was to the weekly magazine published by the Salvation Army, and the second to a delightful inspirational magazine, Sunshine Magazine. Following these first two sales my work appeared in various inspirational magazines such as The Standard, The Lookout, The Lutheran, Christian Herald Lutheran Woman, and in the romance publications of McFadden's Woman's group. I also did both fiction and nonfiction for Dialogue, a publication for the blind. My two books appeared in soft cover and hard cover in the US, and one of them was published in China and the UK. I have done a true crime book under contract with the family of the victim. I currently write two bi-monthly columns, Handicrafts, and Hobbies And Such for Our Special, a Braille magazine published by National Braille Press.

[DW] You mentioned that one editor encouraged you to write your autobiography. Can you tell us about that?

[PC] Barbara Brett of Brett Books, asked me to write a book about my life and my animals, including my guide dog, Lear. I was hesitant, but she urged me to do a rough outline, and a couple chapters, and to my surprise the book began to take shape. It was difficult to write since all of the animals except one, and many of the people, walked with me only along the road of memory, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't pleased with the results. Certainly the book didn't make me rich, but I was thrilled when it was published in China and in the United Kingdom as well as the US. I like to think of people far away in places I'll never go, reading about the simple things that made up my life, from the time I was four until the time we bought our first house, and adopted our little Lady Gray cat. No matter where my writing takes me, I feel that I would have never gotten there without Barbara's encouragement.

[DW] When and why did you decide to start publishing digital books and work outside of the traditional publishing industry? 

[PC] The decision was made slowly, I think. It can't be denied that the face of publishing is changing for a number of reasons, not the least of them being the current economic climate. Certainly digital books are less expensive to produce, thus less expensive to purchase. The author's fate is determined by the readers, not an editorial staff or agent. I feel that a digital book will sink or swim on its own, rather than to flounder out there [and grow stale as publishers decide how or if to release the book]. For me personally, I am pleased that the digital market makes it easier for other blind people to buy my book. Although some digital formats aren't accessible, many are. Definitely digital books are opening doors for the blind.

[DW] For those readers who have not yet seen your book at Smashwords, “Who Will Hear
Them Cry,” please tell us a bit about it.

[PC] For a while now what I call minority sleuths have dotted the writing landscape - African American, Native Americans, hearing impaired, paraplegics - but so far I haven't run across a major one who is blind.  Meet Kate Talbot, who is blinded by the psychopath who kills her husband and unborn child. She makes a good adjustment physically, but is filled with guilt because the killer warned her not to testify against his son. She fears reaching out to others for fear she will cause them hurt. This shell starts to crack when she becomes the owner of a large orange tom cat, and breaks when her partner persuades her to investigate a series of fatal accidents at a private school for disabled children.

If readers have preconceived ideas about the blind obtained from popular movies or TV, I'd advise them to cast them to the winds. All too often these are written by those who have no first-hand knowledge of what it's like to be blind. Kate is neither “super blind woman,” nor a sweet wise little lady, offering comfort and inspiration to those around her. She's outspoken, kind in spite of herself, funny, and yes brave.  In short she's human. She solves the mystery, using her wits, and her senses, even imagining what a scene looks like to the eye of her mind. I haven't asked her to do anything that a reasonably fit, adjusted blind woman of her age couldn't do. A friend took a slippery walk along a narrow ledge, minus the cat, to prove it could be done, although she didn't know at the time it would appear in Who Will Hear Them Cry, years later.

[DW] What are the main challenges that visually-impaired authors face? For example, how do you come up with descriptions of things you cannot see?

[PC] Of course we face all the same challenges faced by the sighted author, but up until I decided to go digital the main challenge for me was marketing, choosing the right publisher. It can be a bit hard studying a given publishing house's listing to determine if my work is appropriate. Because I've always been blind, description can be tricky, but since this book is told in first-person by a blind protagonist it's simply a matter of "thinking" myself into the scene. Before the coming of the Internet, research was a huge problem, at least for me, but here again the playing field has been leveled.

[DW] How do you go about writing your books, i.e., what is your process?

[PC] At first comes the idea. I play with that idea, moving scenes and characters around in my mind until I get the feel of the plot. Often I use music to help me in this preliminary phase. I like to plot the beginning, and the end I want to achieve. Then I go to the computer that has a synthetic voice reading the screen through my sound card, and begin to do the dreaded outline, filling in the middle. Of course by the time I reach the end the plot has changed, and may change several times before the book is actually finished. I like to put the second or third drafts of the work into Braille so that I can find errors, and what I call faulty rhythm of the writing. To say that this isn't a lot of work, and that it doesn't take longer than it does for a sighted author wouldn't be true. It is time and energy consuming, but for me it's worth it. I'm a firm believer in, and user of Braille, and although technology plays a big part in my working life, I can't stress the value of Braille too much.

[DW] When you create a blind character, such as Kate in “Who Will Hear Them Cry,” how do your own experiences inform her behavior and feelings?

[PC] I think if they're honest, all writers call on their own experiences in creating their characters. I've taught and counseled with blind adults as well as children, and this experience has been invaluable to me in writing this book. I've listened to parents' guilt and fear, I've listened to the adult's cry of, "If only, I'd acted differently, maybe this wouldn't have happened." I know the joy of accomplishment, and the despair of failure. The trick, of course, is giving these emotions to my characters in a believable way, a way that will make the reader say, "I can understand that!"

[DW] What are some of larger messages about being blind you would like to get out to the sighted world?

[PC] The most important message is to realize that this person is a person, who is blind. We have the same hopes, dreams, joys, sorrows, successes and failures as everybody else. Of course many of our challenges are of a different kind. Understand that we may have to approach a problem from a different angle. Don't hesitate to ask questions. Most of us welcome a chance to educate the public, especially someone who may be losing their sight or have a friend or relative who is facing the problem. This education process is one of the reasons I write using blind characters. As I said before, my characters are drawn from real life, and I feel are a fun introduction to the world of the four senses. I welcome questions, and like nothing better than to be able to say, "but of course you can still do that!" It is a long hard journey into that world for those who have just lost their sight, but trust me, it's worth it.

[DW] How have you found the process, technologically, publishing and distributing your digital writing?

[PC] I found the process easier than I thought. I did pay someone to do the book cover and the specialized formatting, and strongly advise any person using a screen reader to do the same. This is a small cost, and although my book has only been out around two weeks I've already made the amount I put out, and don't forget it's deductible as a business expense. It took me much longer to upload my title than it would a person with sight, because I had to listen carefully to my screen reader, but I had a tremendous feeling of satisfaction when I heard the words telling me that it had been done successfully. So far it has been a rewarding experience, and hats off to Smashwords for having such an accessible site!

[DW] Do you have any specific advice to would-be authors who have not yet given it a try?

[PC] To those who may be sitting there on the garden wall, I say jump, and this goes for all writers blind and sighted. If nothing else it's a heck of a lot of fun, and offers many rewards. Just remember to give your manuscript the best you can. Take digital publishing seriously, remembering that you are an ambassador in a way. If you have rushed through, thinking that standards are less than in the print market, think again, and start to re-write again, and again. People will judge not only you, but digital publishing by such things as the believability and accuracy of your plot, believable dialogue, and of course the technical things such as grammar.

[DW] What about future work – do you have another book under way at the present?

[PC] I want to turn Kate into a series character, and feel that with hard work, and loyal readers, she can perhaps find a place in the roster of women sleuths, giving the reader a new dimension as they enter her world.

[DW] Thank you, Phyllis!




Who Will Hear Them Cry is now available for purchase at The Diesel eBook Store and
Smashwords, and will soon be available via Smashwords at the Apple iBookstore, Kobo and Sony.