[Read more…] about Publishing – Perhaps WHY Many Not Gettin In?
Publishing — Rights and Wrongs
There has been a lot of discussion among writers, lately, about Amazon.com’s library lending and publishing imprints, not to mention the usual publishing ills–and even some DRM discussion. Now, I’ve worked for a large corporation or two (if you also count the military), and one thing I’ve found is that though some “entity” might do something that might piss off the rank and file (and evil/criminal activity notwithstanding), there are a lot of well-meaning people in those organizations–actual human beings–who exist at every level. It’s so easy to vilify a “corporate giant,” an entire entity, but the one thing I’ve thought about through all these discussions I’ve heard and read is that (to my mind) if something really is the best and the greatest–shouldn’t it survive? Bear itself out? Because if it wasn’t, won’t it fail? Just as “the cream always rises,” isn’t it also true that “the chaff always sinks?”
Sure, if you feel strongly about something, you should take action…be part of those who cause that chaff to sink…and I guess all the ongoing discussion is in determining just that. But what I take issue with is that everyone continues to throw poison-tipped spears at Amazon.
Look: I don’t see a whole lotta change coming out of anywhere else.
You?
At least these well-meaning guys and gals at Amazon.com are trying to make an effort at things. Last I heard, they even pour lots of profits back into the company, rather than taking it all to their local yacht or bling establishments. They seem to be doing two very important things here: 1) giving writers new outlets, and 2) giving readers new outlets. Whether or not they have it “just right,” or “perfect,” isn’t so much the case…it’s evolving. The newest hip term: WiP (work in progress). Unless I’m missing something, if readers want to pay money to rent things, let em. We already have libraries. Contracts and legal definitions are being re-examined, put to their (as a friend on mine years ago used to say) “logical conclusions.” And, sure, and of course, these things can make Amazon a shitload a dough–but who cares?
Do you really care if Amazon makes more money?
This whole dang world revolves around making money or gaining power, and there’s always gonna be someone more wealthy and powerful than you. It’s just the way it is. But hopefully, along the way, some of that wealth and power can be put to good use, right? There’s nothing wrong with that, is there? Yes, intentions are everything, but we can’t control everyone’s intentions. We can only control our own, and–maybe–help others to see their way to a little bit of good intention along their journeys through life. But we can’t control their intentions. Hopefully their legal teams make it known to the Rich and Powerful that if you “want this” you have to “give that” to make it publically viable.
So, maybe Amazon didn’t do exactly the right thing by grabbing publishers’ works like they did, or maybe it was due to legal [mis]interpretations that got lost in the shuffle, I don’t know. But what I do know is that if something is truly wrong, it will either be corrected or stomped. If anything about what they did was right…it will succeed. But either way, they (the people at Amazon) are trying. And if you know anything about succeeding in life, in success, you know one takes many stumbles along the paths to greatness. People make mistakes, well-meaning and otherwise, in trying to make something better.
Once again, I point this out: I don’t see anyone else trying to change…trying to make things better.
By The Light Of The Moon…
By the light of the moon
From the dirt where they lay
They crawl up through earth
To lurk and to prey
They’ve lived and they’ve died
Loved and they’ve lost
But all through this night
Your lives they will toss
.
Dogs they do bark
Cats they do prowl
Seasons turn chill
And the winds always howl
.
The myths grow more sick
As clocks do tock tick
For the hour draws near
Of the dark, dread, and fear
.
Clawed up through dark soil
Within earth they cannot stay
Their legions do roil
Their skin away flays
.
Leaves rustle, they scatter
Trees all play dead
Rotting bodies that shamble
Are all canted of head
.
Twitching fright and dead leer
Slack jaws that just fall
Is that shuffling, you hear?
Painful groaning, oh dear!
.
Prickly skin sent a-crawl
With grand sights of appall
It’s your soul they ill seek
For much more than a peek
.
Heinous hungry they are
And with them you’ll soon be
Scent of the grave, taste of death
Damp decay you’ll soon cheek
.
You run and you hide
Scream and you plead
But in truth be it known
Your death is their need!
.
As civility slumbers
And the retched do creep
Eternal rest will ne’er be
As the dead they do reap
.
From dirt deathly fearsome
From dirt yet we run
But tis dirt that we are
Tis dirt we become
.
By the light of the moon
From the dirt where we lay
We crawl up through earth
To lurk…and to prey….
Joe Konrath and Jeffrey J. Mariotte on The New Publishing World
Here’s a great post by Joe Konrath and Jeffrey J. Mariotte. Things are changing, and here is some stunning proof there is some good in all this publishing upset (and all for $2.99!). As the post indicates, it’s not about writers screwing The Big 6, agents, or anyone else–it’s about writers making a living. I love agents and print and even the Big 6, but a publishing outlet is a publishing outlet, and unless and until things change in the current model, the exodus will continue.
On Writing…and Promotion
An “inciting incident” recently happened to me. I was involved in a discussion about blogs and self-promotion. It seemed to me that some view blogs purely as self-promotion. And self-promotion = evil.
It (like many things) got me thinkin.
I’m a writer. There are many of us out there. So, when I say “I” or “me” I’m not saying I’m anyone special, I’m just making the discussion more personal. I’m pretty sure what I’m about to discuss is true for many writers out there, so don’t take offense that “I’m so special” and you’re not. Other thing is I can’t speak for anyone else out there, so I’m speaking for myself; how I feel, how I am. As contradictory as this may sound, it’s all I can do, right (pardon the pun)?
I write.
I love writing.
I truly feel all writing helps all writing (as I’ve put in my signature block). I love the long and short forms. In one, you get to the point quicker, in the other, ya got all day. Blogging is but another form of writing. It’s immediate, punchy, timely. Instantly global (and how cool is that?). Both a good and bad point, it doesn’t have to go through an additional editor. It’s simply another writing “mechanic” (I’d use “platform,” but in the writing world that has a different connotation).
It’s fun.
I write because I feel the innate need to communicate. I don’t need to explain this, it just is.
Painters paint.
Actors act.
Readers read.
Writers write.
I love the written expression. Have always reveled and been excited about seeing a blank page…and that I was about to give it life. Make it come to life with words. I love the form (sentences, paragraphs, white space) words take on paper or a screen. The images they conjure. I enjoy wordplay. Love reading. To write helps clarify my own thoughts, my life. To write helps others experiencing similar issues, but who are unable to quantify, categorize, or internalize said issues, and therefore to understand their issues through me. To write imparts knowledge. To write is to question. To write entertains. To write is to mess around with the imagination. To write…is to express one’s soul. Writing is many things to many people, especially those with far more intense issues than my little world. Writing to these individuals is…
Salvation.
Sanity.
Release.
But, for me, it’s what I do, and I do a lot of it. Every day. I truly enjoy it.
Promotion.
Such an ugly word to many.
Now, I don’t know who coined the phrase (which I personally find funny and actually kinda like), but I find it does more harm than good: “shameless self-promotion.”
In this “inciting incident” mentioned earlier, “shameless self-promotion” and “blog” were associated with each other in a less-than-honorable manner. Now, I don’t know if people really can distinguish between self-promotion and honest communication (or they just don’t trust anyone), or if they just use the aforementioned phrase to look down on those who do blog–I can’t speak for them, as I said–but I can say that I get annoyed when I hear “shameless self-promotion” constantly levied at blogs and bloggers.
Where’s the evil?
If, as also pointed out earlier, writers write, and blogging is merely another avenue for writerly output, where’s the harm? Where’s the finger-pointing ethical issue with a writer writing a blog and sharing that information with the world? Because, if writers write, and readers read, writing is meant to be read. You just can’t get around this.
Self-promotion. Shameless self-promotion.
I have news for those who equate blogging with “shameless self-promotion”: You are shameless self-promotion.
Everything you do promotes YOU.
When you open your mouth, type an e-mail, or smile or not smile at another human being, you are promoting yourself.
When you comment or give attitude to another, you promote yourself.
When you talk behind another’s back, you promote yourself.
When you help out a stranger, you promote yourself.
How you promote yourself, promotes yourself.
You really wanna talk so-called “shameless self-promotion”?
When you push your book or short story, you totally promote yourself.
That’s shameless self-promotion. And it should be shameless.
Promote: “to help or encourage to exist or flourish; further”; “to encourage the sales, acceptance, etc., of (a product), esp. through advertising or other publicity.” Courtesy of The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition, Unabridged.
Shameless: “lacking any sense of shame: immodest; audacious,” and “shame” defined as “the painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable, improper, ridiculous.” Also courtesy of The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition, Unabridged.
So…why should someone feel shame when talking about their “honest communication”? Talking about something near and dear to their souls? For the most part, promotion in and of itself is not a bad thing. Sure, it makes a difference in the venue and with how one expresses it, but to blog–in and of itself, in its arena-of-pertinence, to write as a writer–where’s the issue? Again, I can’t speak for or to everyone else out there in Internetland, but to writers, I think I can come pretty darned close.
Writers write.
Readers read.
How you present yourself every moment of your life promotes who you are.
If you’re a writer, write.
Fear and Loathing in Bookland
Wow.
So much negativity and fear about Amazon Publishing.
So much focusing on what’s so “wrong” with it, what could happen–and in a bad way.
I’m not perfect, not a saint, nor do I mean to minimize others’ opinions, but why can’t all us writers focus on writing the best possible work, and finding the best possible outlet. Does it really matter if it’s one outlet over another? Will one idea topple all of civilization? Is the sky really falling?
Change happens. Change has been pined for within the world of publishing.
Well, here it is, folks. Welcome to it. Those who kept putting it off just got slapped in the face with it.
Focus on what’s good about this new development—cause it ain’t going away.
And in the meantime…just frigging write.