The Effectiveness of Social Networking for Writers

Lawrence C Connolly is starting a series about social networking and how it works for the modern writer. I wanted to comment, but it is something that I have been thinking about the last month since I started my new schedule for everything I do online and off. So I thought it would be better to do it here, because I have more questions than responses.

Before the coma and the transplant, I averaged 471 hits a month. I was able to have long conversations on Twitter, racking up my Tweet count that is now somewhere around 15,000. Now, I knew 2010 was going to crash for me. I had to recover and had a lot of complications that I had to work on and still working on, so I had no time or energy to blog, tweet, or facebook. But since January of this year, as a started to get back into it all again, I haven’t had nearly the same experience as I did when I was at my peak pre-transplant.

Now, I also haven’t had a sale to promote. In fact, the one I had hoped would come out while I was recovering was dropped not that long ago. Along with no social networking came no writing for the same reasons. This year I’ve been trying to get back into the groove I was in, and it’s hard. But even on Twitter, no matter how much I add of my own things and interact with others, it is rare to that same level of socializing as I did before. Blog posts aren’t getting the same traffic from Facebook or Twitter.

As a proud introvert, I feel like I shouldn’t have to just be out there and say random crap to keep followers and readers. I do understand that you need to regularly give the readers something. But I wonder if it is as beneficial to do all this networking for fans or if we doing to network with other writers in hopes fans will follow?

Case in point: A few months ago, I purged a lot of writers that I just kinda knew or only knew of. I did that because I was following enough writers that actual friends’ and family’s posts would never be visible on my newsfeed. Before I did that, I when through all of them to see who I would want to keep. I basically want to get rid of promotion heavy people. As I did that, I also looked at the mutual following list and they inevitably all high and all writers.

Now I’m a small fish in a small pond in the horror genre, and in the beginning I did it to just keep up on what was going on. But to be honest, I learned no more than I would have just checking publisher websites and book selling sites. I may have gotten some traffic from them, but it wasn’t consistent or that substantial. So what are we networking for? Fans and readers? Practice for when we have a successful title? Some other reasons?

Case in point: Zoe E. Whitten is probably one of the best uses of social networking I know. She’s out there promoting, she’s tweeting and posting. She is churning out stories for her readers. Yet, she is having a hard time turning traffic into sales. She’s had some great successes for her, but even by doing exactly the same thing to promote her other books and stories, they don’t do nearly as well. If networking is key to promotion to make sales, then why is she having such a hard time converting the traffic she’s get?

Is networking different for established writers and those of us new to the game or concentrating on new publishing formats? Should new writers invest the time in networking instead using it all to build a catalogue for people to read? What is more true: people will follow who they read or people will read who they follow?

Designer Jeans or Apps: The Venture Into Solving E-book Prices

E-books, e-books, e-books…why is there all this drama over e-books? Well, I know why there is, I just wonder if there should be the amount of it that is always present. Two articles I read recently (here and here) basically were about the outrage of the ebook adopters at Big Publishing on two very key areas: price and presence. Now I could talk about the latter all day. In fact I have a few times on here about my thoughts on e-books, and I may again once I jump in that water. But I want to focus on price because I think it is the unspoken variable that everyone is trying to solve for X and not always getting the right answer.

Pre-kindle days, your book would come out in either hardcover, with a $20ish-$30ish price tag; trade paperback, with a $12-$20 price tag; or mass market paperback, with a solid $7.99 price tag (maybe shave or add a dollar for the very short of the very long book).

*Note: I’m not getting into children’s-YA prices because they are not what I know and cost less.

If you were lucky to get a hardcover release (and yes, it is hard to get a hardcover release unless you are an established, successful writer, or a celebrity that a publisher can bank in fans splurging for an expensive book), then over time you will get a mass-market and/or trade edition. They do this because they just know not every one would be able to get the hardcover edition. It also allows time to fix any typos that slip in (and yes, publishers are not infallible and typos happen) so the obviously wider audience that will read the less expensive version has the best possible experience when reading. It was a great system. No one really had complaints except wondering why some did or didn’t get hardcover releases. It was a system publishing itself around.

Enter Kindle and e-books. Obviously, there is no longer a new for multiple versions of e-books. So how do we figure the price?

Big Publishing, being built around the 2-3 edition model of the books has higher prices that are in a sense a “digital copy” discount price. They are treating them the same way as if they were Amazon, bought a butt-load of books for a discount, so they could then put their own discount price and still make money.

Self, indie, and small publishing are going for the “App Store” pricing to get more of the impulse buying crowds. It gets a lot of there books out there, but you won’t have the same total profit unless it is incredibly popular, which is something no writer or publisher will know definitely until it’s out there.

Now, I’m sure the pragmatists, like myself, had the knee-jerk reaction of “split the difference.” But there has to be a reason to the pricing, which I think is the real problem. Right now we are caught in a “Jean Zone” where Big publishing is the designer jeans and everyone else is the Wal-mart brands: they are the exact same jeans, you are just paying for a name.

So how do we get the name out of the equation? First we have to remember what we are selling. We are not selling an app and we are not selling a hard cover book. But was are selling a book. In the age of iTunes, we no longer have to by full albums. From that model came apps, where single usages were cheaper than the more complex, multi-use apps. See where I’m going?

Books are a single experience. So a lot of ebook adopters, I think, see them the same as the latest single or new Angry Birds spin off. But they long, dynamic experiences. So if many game apps can go as high as $5.99 and most mmp books are at $7.99, $5.99 – $6.99 does not see like that bad a compromise. I’m sure the $2.99 people are going to hate me for saying it, but that low a price really is just a little much, especially for brand new books. I could see something like all books pre-1985 (completely arbitrary point in the past) getting around $2.99 – $3.99, but to just go there seems like you don’t care enough about your work, your art, to be decently compensated for everything you give up for your audience.

As Craig Ferguson says, “I look forward to your letters.”

The Hamburger Paradigm

by Rob from Cincinnati

So, the other day was a really funny day if you were a writer.

“Why?” you ask. (Sorry if I just put words in your mouth, it was for dramatic purposes)

Real simple. A fledgling writer put her self-published e-book up at some point and asked various review bloggers to get a copy and review it. I’m sure the writer’s out there know where I’m going, but for everyone else, this review was the result. What was so funny was the way the writer of the ebook devolved into a petulant 12 years-old in the comments and failed to do anything with a modicum of professionalism in response to both the review and the comments. So, yes, we writer’s do, like everyone else, enjoy the spectacle of a person’s self-destruction.

Now, as of said incident, whether caused by it or not, people have begun again to harp on the self-publishing movement and all things connected to it yet again. One instance cause a fellow writer, C. S. Daley, to write this blog post. While I can’t say for sure who he is talking about, I have a few guesses, and even if they are all wrong, they are still people that have said something similar recently. I began to wonder why we seem to be always having the same discussion, which is really just a shouting match at one another with fingers in our ears.

And then I thought of it: Hamburgers.

*Special Note* The only animals that may be harmed for the rest of this prolonged metaphor are of an ephemeral existence. Nothing actual living has been harmed, except possibly the egos of some at the very end.

“Everyone can make a hamburger, right? Sure they can,” I say as my eyes shift back and forth looking for some fake belief in what I just said.

Writing is like making hamburgers:

Characters = Type of meat

Beginning, middle, and end = make a patty, heat in a skillet, and add to bun

Subplots and Style = condiments and topping

Now you have this hamburger, how are you feed it to people? There are lots of ways depending on how you make you make. From food trucks to Micheline Star restaurants. So, of course most people are going to try the best restaurants they can. For a lot of us, some of the best burgers have been from those establishments. A few people get into those restaurants. But what about the rest of the hamburgers? The cooks have choices, but each have their own limited audience. Or, they can take the gamble and open their own restaurant. Some do well, a few more even better, but not every restaurant is meant to last.

Now here is where perception changes everything. For the upstart restaurant, they are doing just what the want: making hamburgers, feeding them to people and having people come back for more. Does not stop their dreams of one day having one of their hamburgers being spotlighted in the ranks of the Micheline burgers. But they use the restaurant as place to work on that. But the up scale guys see the indie restaurants as lesser, sometime no better than a McDonalds or Burger King. They don’t have a world class chef perfecting their burger to its highest degree. They don’t have the benefit of a restaurant name people know. They don’t think they could have the same quality of ingredients or the skill to create a worthy competitor to theirs. So why have would people want those burgers when the up scale burgers are of such great quality?

And this just makes it seem like the consumer doesn’t know what they like. No matter where you get it, how it’s made, and with what ingredients, they are all hamburgers. No kind of hamburger is going to make another either better or worse. The individual hamburgers will do that.

So just make your hamburgers, forget everyone else’s, and let the diners decide where they want to go. It what is going to happen anyways no matter how much we talk about it, or just shout the same stereotypes at each other.

I’m going to go make a hotdog now.

Guest Blog Post: “A Foot On Each Path” by Barry Napier

A Foot on Each Path

By Barry Napier © 2011 All Rights Reserved

Now that I have sent my self-publishing debut out into the digital ether in the form of my novel The Masks of Our Fathers, I find myself facing an easy question. Surprisingly, this question was perhaps the easiest part of the self-publishing decision. I knew it was one that would have to eventually be asked, but I didn’t concern myself with it in the excitement of joining the growing self-publishing party.

That question is: “What now?”

From what I have seen on various blogs, articles, and on the Kindle Boards, there seem to be numerous writers that have decided to stick with self-publishing via e-readers for the length of their career. I have even seen a handful of examples where a writer has been approached by an agent due to their self-publishing success and the writer turns the offer down. I can safely say that it wouldn’t be such an easy decision for me.

Which is why my decision on the matter of What Next is really a non-answer. Honestly, I’m just going to forge ahead with a business-as-usual attitude. The way, I see it, self-publishing adds a third option to a plan that originally had only two options. No longer are writers limited to shooting for the stars and ulti-book contracts, using the smaller presses as backup options. Now there is the third increasingly popular option of self publishing.

Here you get into the argument that goes something like this: Well if agents and big houses aren’t interested and you can’t get any bites in the small press arena, that likely means your book is no good.

That’s probably true in most cases. But I have a feeling that a lot of writers that are accustomed to smaller presses aren’t using self-publishing as a last resort simply because they couldn’t get published elsewhere. My own writing is a case in point.

Ever since I finished writing The Bleeding Room back in 2008 (to be published by Graveside Tales in August), I made the plan to always have at least two active projects in the works. One of these projects would be slightly commercial and would be written with agents and larger presses in mind; the other project would be aimed at small presses. This was great not only for creativity, but also in upping the number of chances at publication.

When I got down and dirty into the manuscript of The Masks of Our Fathers, I knew that it was going to be a small press book. The pacing and the atmosphere was just too gritty and dark for what I had seen selling well from big houses. It was during the querying process for Masks… that I really began to take the digital self publishing seriously. I submitted Masks to four small presses. One turned it down with very encouraging remarks. I never heard from the others because In December 2010, I pulled my manuscript from the slush piles and went back to work with editing and polishing it up, thinking it would be a great title to test the self publishing waters.

In the meantime, I started working on a much longer novel that I am writing with the intention of starting at the very top of the food chain…the elusive agents and larger houses. Some may call this naïve and overly hopeful, but I see it as a way to cover all of my bases. And honestly, if there are no takers there, I will likely trim it down a bit and send it to small presses. In the background I have a few other ideas kicking around, involving a novel that looks to land in the 80,000 word range that I will almost certainly send straight to the self publishing front. This is not because I think it is an inferior story to my other work, but because it is covering yet another base.

I do think eventually—maybe in as little as 2 years—you will see more and more writers turn away from traditional publishing. The facts are sad: the contracts of small presses simply can’t compete with the earnings potential of self publishing.

But I have always been a small press advocate; I will continue to buy books from them (the actual thing with pages and all) and I will continue submitting to them. But all at the same time, I’ll continue to test the digital waters as well while also resorting back to The Dream of lading that huge contract.

As an aspiring writer that would one day like to make a living from the craft (and hey, the sooner the better), I think it is important that we keep our minds open to industry shifts while also exploring every path along the way.

*     *     *     *     *

Barry Napier has had more than 30 stories and poems published in print and online. He’s had a short fiction collection, a poetry collection, and a chapbook published by small presses. In August, his novel, The Bleeding Room, will be released by Graveside Tales. His novel The Masks of Our Fathers is currently available for Kindle and can also be found on Smashwords. He keeps his online home at www.barrynapierwriting.wordpress.com, where you can find more about his writing.

Borders is Run by Time Lords

Last month I went to go see a friend that owns a used bookstore. We talked about the whole range of literature issues: book selling, book publishing, what we’ve read, so on and so forth. I was most interested in how his store was doing after he told me that one of the local Borders was closing (and has since closed). He said that his online business was never better, but foot traffic could have been better.

The closing of the local Borders made me pay attention to everything that was happening with book sellers on the whole, big chain to indie. If you look at the Publishers Weekly Twitter feed, you can find a number of posts about that subject. From the ongoing drama of Borders current death spasm (like the Doctor they seem to just regenerate), updates of well established indie stores closing, and commentaries from all in the business about why things are happening the way they are and why they have their habits with books.

As a writer, it does put a sense of unease in my gut. I mean, I know that if I get anything published, there will be some way to get to an audience. But, this is sort of the meta discussion of all the little ones we have going on as well: book vs. ebook, few big presses and many small presses vs. numerous small to medium presses, self publishing. In the end, it comes down to how do we get the stories out to audiences. In the end, that is where success lies.

I’m caught in the middle of it all as both a writer and a reader. As a writer, I go to the bookstore and look for friends’ books and give them a yippee when I find it. I go to try and watch the trends of how not only publishers, but stores are selling books. Recently, I have found both really lacking. I’ve gone to look for friends’ book and they aren’t even there. I’ve got to look for new books I just want to pick up, and they weren’t there. All I see are all the most popular, or what publishers want to be popular because they spent way too much money on the writer’s advance.

As a reader, I’m trying to stay up to date on favorite authors and find new books either indirectly or from friend’s recommendation. Before Christmas, I went to the bookstore I used to work at and went to the Sci-fi/Fantasy section and was flabbergasted. There were only a handful of choices, mostly all the most popular series or series with the most recent addition. Most of them were all face out, a rarity at any other time since it takes up significant space on the shelf. As soon as I saw that, I just left, because there was just no point being there.

So, the only reliable place to get books are online. Amazon excels here and I’m betting for the most part is where people go (at least for physical books). Both Borders and B&N have very lackluster service when it comes to there online stores, and is a place my friend pointed out being one source of there troubles. If you ask me, it just has different problems. I’ve had just as many problem’s looking for a book online as in a store. They are just as poorly organized. All that makes them better is price, for the most part. It is, though, a saving grace for indie stores. If they have a good online presence, online sales can make up for loss of foot traffic, like my friend’s shop.

What is the answer to this all? Ebooks won’t solve it. All they do is take out the physical aspect of the book. One reason they are no more the future of publishing as any other method or form. I think this is getting lost in this whole argument. Shoppers want their experience in this order: easy, affordable, variety, availability. Who ever gets that formula right will live on no matter what kinds of books they carry.

The problem is that not many, online or brink ‘n’ mortar stores do that. But it is a reason I will always go to my friend’s used store first when I look for a book, then Amazon, then any other store. I think when all stores figure out this formula, that is when we will see the dominance of a specific format and publishing structure. That is when we will start to see the true future of publishing.