Category Archives: Authors

Congratulations! You’ve written a book… now what?

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Category : Authors Dayna Says Writers

Wow, you’ve written a book! That is really amazing since so few people have the persistence to sit down and write their stories out. Even fewer take the time to craft their stories into books. Congratulations.

So now what do you do? Right?

I’m not going to lay out the process for finding an agent or publisher, since that is explained in detail by many people. Writer’s Digest has been around for longer than I have been writing and they have lots of advice.

Publishing business models have really changed over the last decade. The e-Books and self-published books market is going up dramatically. Authors (and readers) no longer need publishers to get access to each other. There are some pros and cons about your choices moving forward because there are more publishing options.  Authors need to make more informed choices based on individual goals.

There are many publishing choices:

  • Traditional: using an agent, get into a big press
  • Submitting to small and university presses
  • Hybrid presses (They do what they are good at and you pitch in and do what you are good at – it’s a collaboration)
  • Fully self-published (both print books  and/or only eBook, blogs, articles, etc.)

Pros for the Traditional Model

  • Professionals create your cover, format your book, edit it
  • Professionals market it (they have established relationships and a strong reader base)
  • There is status when you are published by a major press

We all know the negatives, so no need to go into them here. However, it is important to note that you will still need to do much of the marketing yourself, will likely have to sign over rights, and won’t make any money on your first book until your second book is about to go to press.

Pros for the SMALL PRESS Model

  • You may get a small advance
  • You usually get some input in book cover design
  • They have people to help with marketing – but you will be expected to do the bulk of it
  • There is status when you are published by an established press

BUT

  • Do lots of research before choosing so you find a good fit
    • There are lots of organizations out there happy to put their hand in your pocket to pull out money for very little value. Be careful.
  • It takes a long time to hear back from them and they seldom give advances
  • You probably won’t make a profit
  • You need to be very careful of the contract points

Pros for Self-Publishing

  • You’re in control
    • (BUT THAT MEANS YOU ARE TOTALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE QUALITY)
  • You retain all your rights, which is very important, especially if you want to produce derivative works
    • You can do multiple versions of the same book for different markets
    • You are unlikely to be put in a box (once successful, only write that kind of book; but will still feel the pressures from you readers)
  • You get all of the money (minus costs and/or discounts)
  • You have total control over formatting and book cover
    • It is relatively easy and inexpensive if you have the skill sets
    • Or you can develop relationships and barter skills with other artists (e.g., you write marketing copy for their websites and blurbs and PR and they design your book cover…)
  • Their is a whole wonderful world of possibility for cost effective marketing on the web
  • If your book does well, it may be picked up by a big publishing house (once the risk is gone)
  • There is real satisfaction at every successful step of the “product” rollout

Negatives for Self-Publishing

  • They really center around 2 things: time and quality
  • You are 100% totally responsible for how the book turns out and all of the marketing, which really cuts into writing time and involves many different skill sets.
  • It’s difficult to edit your own work and expensive to pay for a great editor who gets your vision
  • Which is the very reason there is a stigma to self-publishing – too many of these books are poorly edited, badly formatted, and have deplorable covers
  • Marketing and promotion of your book is entirely up to you. This is a different skill set and can really bite into writing time
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Cudos for Guido Henkel

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Category : Authors Dayna Says Recommendations

You may not know about an eBook formatting genius named Guido Henkel. He has always been very generous about his knowledge and we here at Koho Pono have benefited from it. He is still formatting eBooks and as his experience in the field has grown, he has decided it was time to once again share his knowledge with the world. Therefore, he has just published “Zen of Ebook Formatting,” a book that takes readers deep into the mysteries of professional grade eBook formatting.

Guido’s book is currently available on Amazon and will shortly appear also on all other major eBook stores. For more information, including a look at the Table of Contents, you can also stop by his blog.  We recommend you do that anyway as it is loaded with information.

If you are a DIY (do it yourself) author and want to get your eBook out into the world, this man knows his stuff.  We recommend his book. We also recommend his services if you want someone do format your book for you. His prices are reasonable. He is quick and does a good job. We’ve used his services and were pleased.

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Jody’s Book is Launched

Category : Author Events Authors Bookstores Dayna Says Featured Titles

As a fairly new publishing company… well, we just had our first ever book launch at Broadway Books here in Portland, Oregon. OMGosh! We had a blast.

First of all, one of the bookstore owners, Roberta, gave a stellar introduction. She had us laughing before Jody ever got up there. It’s amazing what a good introduction will do to set the tone of an event. Roberta also set up the displays and they looked very nice. We all felt honored by her care and professionalism. This is the glory of independent bookstores – homey, individual attention, great and easy to browse selections, and feeling important throughout the book browsing/buying experience. This is what independent bookstores excel at.

Anyway, author-Jody took the stage and then the whole audience went on a glorious ride. Whew, I have been bucked off a horse before, but I wasn’t prepared for this. My horse has taken off running for the horizon with me still on its back and we jumped logs and bounced around trails, but I’ve never had a ride quite like Jody took me on. I guffawed, I cried, I chortled and giggled and crowed and snickered and whooped (while taking a sip of bubbly water, which I sprayed on my very tolerant partner, Scott). Jody is always entertaining, but when reading her own words, my gosh, it is really something to hear.

We ate cake.  Did I tell you the cake had a cowgirl roping the cover of the book? That’s right, Roberta used the bakery across the street from her bookstore to make the cake (Mango poppy seed, in case you are wondering) and they somehow printed the book cover in frosting. Wow. There was wine and bubbly water to drink, which we needed after all that laughing.

The audience milled around the store after Jody’s reading. They picked up books and read back covers and exclaimed over favorites. Books were sold. Jody signed them. Everyone was talking and exciting. I handed out cake while Scott poured the drinks and Roberta helped customers. We chatted about books and publishing and boy-o-boy did we talk about Jody Seay.

As far as first book launches go, I’ve got to say, this was one for the records. Thank you, Roberta, for everything. Thanks, Jody, for your big heart, honest writing, and funny-funny wit. Thanks everyone who came out to participate in the exciting evening – you made it a night to remember.

P.S. If you haven’t picked up a copy, you can still buy Jody’s book, Dead in a Ditch, at Broadway Books. The address is below.
Broadway Books
Open 7 days a week!
1714 NE Broadway
Portland, OR 97232
503-284-1726
www.broadwaybooks.net
www.broadwaybooks.blogspot.com

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Innovation for Writers Who Don’t Fit the Machine (Part 2)

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Category : Authors Dayna Says Fiction Storytellers Writers

At the heart of this series is this statement: We believe that innovation for writers can help storytellers find/refine their voices and connect to their audiences AND produce a reasonable ROI for all concerned.

In Part 1 of this series, I said that we at Koho Pono are currently working with an author that doesn’t write cookie-cutter saleable stories for today’s marketplace – she doesn’t fit in today’s big publishing machine. Regardless, we here at Koho Pono want to help produce Jaki Harvell’s stories and present them to her right-sized audience because we believe that her tales are important to the human community.

In Part 2 (and final part of this series), I more deeply explore other aspects of ‘fitting in’.

From the author’s point of view (POV) the bottom line is: artists have a drive to express what is inside them. Authors have a passionate urge to give birth to an internal tale, release that creation to live its own life, and connect their creation to its proper audience. When all of this happens, a current flow through the audiences and artists and through the work; it’s a wave of connection. Every thing fits.

Although many people have one story to tell, once that one story is told, the compulsion is gone and they go on with the rest of their life. This is valuable and worthwhile. However, what sets a writer apart is

  • a writer thinks in terms of making an impact through telling stories
  • once a writer get a taste of connecting their work to a hungry audience, they want to go through the process again and again
    • After writers get this first taste of ‘connection’, they start thinking about how they can afford to do this full time
    • This ‘taste of connection’ may happen at an early age or late in life
    • This is the point a smart writer begins to address the business aspects of their passion and craft
  • a writer’s passion helps them through the creation process
  • a writer wants to constantly improve their skills and develop their craft

So it all starts with an urge, recognition that this story must be imparted. It is the author’s responsibility to carefully examine and monitor their urge because: (1). In the highest aspect, passion can create work of timeless import and catalytic effect, and (2). In the lowest aspect, the same passionate drive may result in work that is self-indulgent, unexamined, and poorly crafted, (3). In between these two extremes is a whole gradation of skill, talent, vigilance, and honesty.

People with one-story-to-tell often do not care at what end of the gradation they are working. Even if they care, sometimes they do not have the refinement to recognize where along the gradation they are working. A writer is willing to constantly improve their skill, refine their talents, apply more vigilance, and be brutally honest with themselves.

Jaki Harvell (the writer who inspired this series) needs to write about great, gritty, girl heroes. It’s her nut, her common thread, her constant devotion. She is not the type of writer who gets satisfaction by writing only to appease popular demand. Instead, she must create the stories that are burning inside her. She has something specific to say. Rainer Maria Rilke says it beautifully:

I believe in all that has never yet been spoken.
I want to free what waits within me
so that what no one has dared to wish for
may for once spring clear
without my contriving.
If this is arrogant, God, forgive me,
but this is what I need to say.
May what I do flow from me like a river,
no forcing and no holding back,
the way it is with children.
Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,
these deepening tides moving out, returning,
I will sing you as no one ever has,
streaming through widening channels
into the open sea.

Of course, we all hope that her works are runaway hits, but in the end, it is our job as publishers to make sure her stories reach their right audiences and produce a reasonable ROI for all concerned. It is her job and our job to improve our skills, refine our talents, apply more vigilance, and be brutally honest with ourselves.

In our experience, some in the publishing industry have gotten so caught up in being the gatekeepers of quality, they focus their attention on defending the current processes and their guiding principles have more to do with volume than quality. Today’s publishing professionals seem to have created an oppositional relationship with other aspects of the industry including: distribution, printers, employees, new authors, customers, booksellers, etc. Optimizing profit from every interaction has become more important than building partnerships/relationships. Short term benefit is more important than long term satisfaction.

Noted American author/professor/philosopher, Sam Keen, says

“There is no easy formula for determining right and wrong livelihood, but it is essential to keep the question alive. To return the sense of dignity and honor to manhood, we have to stop pretending that we can make a living at something that is trivial or destructive and still have sense of legitimate self-worth. A society in which vocation and job are separated for most people gradually creates an economy that is often devoid of spirit, one that frequently fills our pocketbooks at the cost of emptying our souls.“

This quote addresses why we at Koho Pono are dedicated to telling important stories, helping authors find their voice and their audiences, and find innovative ways to make our processes economical.

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Innovation for Writers Who Don’t Fit the Machine (Part 1)

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Category : Authors Dayna Says Fiction Storytellers Writers

I am currently working with an author that ‘doesn’t fit’ into a big publisher’s pigeonhole. Jaki doesn’t write what is ‘cookie-cutter saleable’ in today’s marketplace. And yet her stories are to-the-bone correct. They are well written and tight. They speak directly to the scared young hero within us all. Her stories are like old fairy tales. You know the kind of story I’m talking about: the hide-in-the-crook-of-Mama’s-arms-scary, an archetypal tale to resonate our deepest aspects, the Brothers Grimm kind of story.

However, the publishing industry’s cookie-cutter machine is not producing these types of stories.  “It’s not what is currently popular,” Jaki has heard; and “The numbers are just not there”; “it’s not what the marketplace is looking for, I’m sorry.” Apparently, the parental masses are not buying this sort of fiction to read to their children. The story is too dark and scary.

As for us here at Koho Pono, we think the world needs more coming of age stories for girls. Little girls need to hear stories about how ‘the buck-stops-with-me’. Too many of our youngsters are only taught to attract-what-they-need and that doesn’t give them a full toolbox full of life skills. Being a girl is rough. It takes a lot of gumption to grow from innocent babe all the way to wise old crone. G.K. Chesterton tells us why these kind of scary tales are important,

“Fairy tales do not tell children dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”

We at Koho Pono agree with G.K. Chesterton. He-ay-hee-ee! We believe there are little girls out there who need to hear Jaki’s stories. And there are wrinkled old granddames, abuelas, and babitsa dragas who need to tell this kind of story to their ‘chillens. There are spicy aunts and tanten who need to explain why it is important to grow and widen and exclaim out loud. And there are mothers who need to tell these stories to themselves. It’s not only a female thing. In the hearts of some boys sits a hunger for a heroic girl companion to go on adventures with.

We think this kind of story is worthy and timeless. And we think there are people out there who agree with us, which is why we’re publishing it.

Also, are innovating a delivery system to match up the correct audience to this story. It doesn’t have to be volume sales; just the right amount of sales.

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Contractual Points for Artist-Author-Publisher Wins

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Category : Authors Business Dayna Says Illustrators Writers

This post explains some common contractual points for Artist-Author-Publisher (from out POV). If there is ever anything in a contract that you do not understand, ask a lawyer who specializes in that particular industry. Do not ever sign something because someone tells you that a contract is “a boilerplate” that it’s normal, everyone signs it, etc.

On the other hand, be very aware of how much are you willing to give up? Are any there any points in dispute that are deal-breakers for you? Know your bottom-line. You do not want to lose a deal or a great illustrator because you got subborn about something that is tangental to your main goals. Realistic expectations will help you continue to create win-win situations for everyone.

Here are some basic contractual points to consider.

Information about the Project

Who is involved: Who is the Buyer (Author and/or Publisher) and who is the Artist? What is the name of the project? What is the name of the Manuscript (working title)?

Include a brief description of the illustration project such as: how many total illustrations, approximant sizes and shapes (square, rectangle, etc.), and intended usage (cover, full-page, two-page, etc.).

Information about Milestones and/or Deliveries

What is the final completion date and on what is that date based? This lays out the risks.

Should the work be delivered in stages or all at once? Will there be feedback and/or adjustments/ revisions/ corrections?

Who owns the original work? If the artist retains ownership, then how long can the buyer keep the art before it must be returned?

Information about Payment

How will the artist be paid (money, barter, credit, free copies, royalties, etc.)? How will the payments be split up (% up front, % upon completion, etc.)? Will the artist be reimbursed for supplies?

What are the royalties based upon?

Information about Rights

Who owns the rights? What rights can be transferred? Give illustrative examples. This is important.

Remember about electronic rights, other editions, other languages, derivative works, and merchandising. Also remember about public displays and performance rights, internet references, and marketing/promotion.

Are the rights exclusive or non-exclusive? What happens if the project is discontinued? Is there a kill fee? To whom do the rights revert?

Information about Releases

Are there any? Why and what? Who indemnifies whom?

Anyone out there with other ideas? Let me know what you think. Comments are welcome.

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Synergies & Contradictions with “Vendors”

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Category : Authors Business Dayna Says Ideality Illustrators Innovation Writers

Small companies need to create synergies and resolve contradictions. As publisher, we at Koho Pono wear many hats including vendor-to-authors and project manager. In both of these roles we are trying to develop a satisfying process for everyone. Our goal is for authors to be fulfilled by the publishing experience and for the correct audiences to receive tales that resonate powerfully with them and are delivered in a satisfying manner. So why did I throw a spanner in the works when new author, Jaki Harvell, tried to hire an artist to illustrate her book? After all, she chose well; the illustrations were synergistic with her story.

The trouble was, Jaki was negotiating with the artist without considering how their final deal would affect the book publishing process. She was negotiating as if she was commissioning a work of art for her home rather than building an agreement for art to be used as part of a product that was going to have a life of its own. This distinction is important for all concerned.

If the author had signed the initial contract with the artist, it would have been extremely difficult for Koho Pono to publish the book. Thank goodness we saw the contract before signatures were inked. We all got together (over a superb home cooked meal, I might add) and hammered out revisions that satisfied everyone: author, artist, and publisher. So now, the book will be amazing AND everyone’s rights and responsibilities are accounted for.

Koho Pono wants to put out quality products AND we want to deal with honorable, talented people who we admire AND we want the process to be fulfilling for all concerned AND we want every goal to be designed for win-win-win-win = wins for the author-artist-publisher-audience. (And we also love great negotiation-food)

In summary: it is important for the publisher be mindful of every contributor’s needs on our way to the final product – to keep the ‘customers’ happy. And within that process, we’re hoping to educate authors and artists about the importance of at least thinking a bit about some of the steps required to get their work out to an appreciative audience so they don’t accidentally agree to something that makes it impossible to present their work or that creates a win-lose scenario.

Coming soon will be a series of blogs dealing with some of the contractual points that an artist-author-publisher might want to take into consideration if the goal is win-win-win for all. Look for the titles, Contractual Points for Artist-Author-Publisher Wins.

Also, look for Calming Rice n Mango Salad, which is one of the home-cooked salads we devoured during our negotiation luncheon.

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Industry Consolidation

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Category : Authors Booksellers Bookstores Dayna Says Innovation Psychological Inertia Storytellers Writers

Clearly there are benefits to industry consolidation.

Consolidation allows for more stable and expanded distribution, controlled excess capacity, and increased prices. It allows companies to integrate their schedules and unify operations, cut costs, and stock shelves with their titles. New customers are drawn to mega stores and networks of offerings. Profitability grows; customer traffic rises; revenue per cost point improves. The barriers to entry are higher. There is the possibility of newer, friendlier rules/regulations/ treaties. And it is easier to deal with labor disputes.

Anytime a large company’s financial situations improve, they tend to get more aggressive about consolidations and resitrictive partnerships throughout the development, production, sales, distribution channels, and end-of-life cycle.

However, industry consolidation is a double-edged sword. We are headed towards author consolidation and acquisitions based almost entirely on large book-buying demographics. What we all see, but don’t say is that we are becoming an industry of bean-counting-driven policies rather than customer-driven/author-driven processes and policies.

Consolidations create industry momentum, which causes psychological inertia, which leads to greed/entitlement/a sense of lack/perversity – and this leads to decline. I’m seeing the early stages of bookstore and publishing decline embedded into today’s industry consolidation.

Little businesses are failing. Slipping away are the sleepy little corner store (the one filled with new book smell and quiet browsing and children being introduced to new worlds). These independent stores are sacrificed to the maws of volume turnover.

Also slipping away are the joys of discovering a hot new talent, of being a good steward to that writer, to helping produce a quality story and delivering a product that meets real audience need. These joys are being sacrificed for money, power, and control. Heck, there is nothing wrong with money, power, and control. I want some. But I don’t want it at the expense of what is best about this industry. What is best about this industry is relationships and recognizing talent and doing important work and satisfying deep human needs.

And the truth is, it doesn’t have to be a trade-off. This is what innovators know. It does not have to be a trade-off! We can have it all money/power/control and satisfaction/fulfillment/engagement.

As the big companies consolidate the creation and distribution of best-sellers and maximize their processes to squeeze every advantage from the system, there is a new publishing trend towards “right-sizing”

Right-sizing-publishers are finding ways to develop processes to support large numbers of authors – many of them will only write one book in their life. I’ve spoken with a lot of writers who say they have felt underappreciated (and even ignored) for a long time. One of the biggest changes in our industry is that authors are taking back control of their work and of the process of getting that work out to their readers. This, of course, is turning our industry on its ear and making way for right-sizing-publishers to define new author engagement strategies.

Right-sizing publishers are less interested in being industry gatekeepers and more interested in finding the correct audience for each story: right sized, right priced, right community, right delivery methods. Another way of say it is mass customizing creation and delivery.

A person with only one great story in them is as important as a person with twenty great stories if the system is developed for them. A person with one important story can create that story at the right price and make sure it gets out into a receptive world so it is seen, heard, understood, and appreciated by the correct audience.

Right-sizing-publishers are not tied to ‘book’ creation and distribution in the same way the big players are tied to their processes. Therefore, we can service limited niches at lower cost and with less risk. We are alive again with discovering fresh talent and matching those talents to their specific hungry audience (and make a good living doing that). This has always been a joy to publishers and when we put our fear of scarcity away and take off the blinders of entitlement, then it will be joyful again.

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Author & Audience Trends (4)

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Category : Authors Booksellers Bookstores Buyers Dayna Says Storytellers Writers

Today it is extremely difficult for new authors to enter into the book-selling system (PART FOUR – and last of the series). This is because of an industry-wide, entrenched mindset that is: publishing professionals serve as “guardians of quality”. At every level of the publishing and bookselling industry, we are poised to filter out the unworthy on behalf of the book-buying audience.

Book buyers, too, have been trained to trust ‘the pros’ to weed out poorly conceived, badly edited, ratty-looking offerings. Supposedly, this reduced list will prove to be more profitable for all concerned … except for new, upcoming authors, of course, who are pounding on the gate to the castle.

There is some validity to the guardians-of-quality claim. I will state for the record, editing is one of the most important value-added activities we middle-people apply to the process. Authors with access to great editors usually produce improved stories, which is why authors have allowed themselves to be hobbled for so long.

Now don’t get me wrong. Improved quality is not reason enough to justify the constraints we put on new authors and it is not enough of a reason to deny audiences that which they wish to receive.

Although a well-edited story is a wonder to behold, we use this fact to justify all manner of abuse upon our authors and customers. It’s time to rethink our position. For example, rather than limiting the number of stories provided for consumption because it is too hard to improve their quality, we might find a better, faster, cheaper way to edit.

Maybe there are ‘distribution’ venues in which authors can participate that allow for real-time feedback so writers learn their craft. A good analogy is the stand-up comedian who first goes to open microphone, sees for herself which jokes fly, what delivery style suits her, etc. There are audiences available for every level of beginning comedian. Just so, there would be audiences for every level of new writer … if the system was interested in developing writers’ craft.

We have fashioned our industry processes to be streamlined and profitable to us rather than remembering our first priority: servicing our two most important resources.

What if there were millions of authors each with one story? What if there was a small but significant audience for each of these stories? What if there were hundreds of delivery systems rather than a few? What would our industry look like? Who would be the new winners? How would we succeed; what would our strategies be?

These are questions I’m asking myself because this is a type of publishing industry I’d like to grow.

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Author & Audience Trends (PART THREE)

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Category : Authors Booksellers Bookstores Buyers Dayna Says Psychological Inertia Storytellers Writers

PART THREE:

The first part of this author & audience series said, every person has at least one good story inside them and that story demands to be beheld. It hurts us and our society when important stories remain ‘unspoken’.

The second part of this author & audience series said, business systems and processes tend to support (and pressure) consistent authors to create best-selling products. Industry workers at all levels of the publishing system value the status quo and the main role of today’s publishing industry is to attract, collect and funnel a few consistent, acceptable authors into the system and to filter out others.

Because the industry is in flux, this old pattern of success is not as dependable as it once was. Therefore, we in publishing need to re-examine our mindset momentum and remember the important underlying principles of our industry: Â

The author has a need to connect to their audience + audiences have a need to engage with important stories

The problem is, we have gotten too far from this fact and have begun to believe we are more necessary than we actually are. For decades publishers convinced both authors and audiences that we middle-people are both the path to getting their needs met and the gatekeepers of what is worthy. But now the great medicine wheel has turned and authors have begun to revolt at being kept off the path of having their stories beheld. Also, audiences have begun to hunger for their generation’s stories and to have those stories offered in ways they love to receive them. Additionally, new technologies are enabling both authors and audiences to overthrow the established norms, beliefs, companies, deliveries, and processes.

The wheel keeps turning. If there are indeed “too many submissions” then we (innovative small publishers) encourage our big brethren companies & distributors to continue to vet submissions. In the meantime, those-with-stories-that-need-telling and those-that-desire-different-stories will devise methods to meet their needs without you. And we innovative small publishers will help enable that meeting.

If it is still true that today’s publishers and booksellers need to “focus on quantity sales”, then hungry niche markets will find ways to meet their needs directly from the source (authors) at good prices through mass customization.

Almost every industry magazine, website, and analyst opinion claim booksellers “can only survive if they purchase titles from the big distributors”.  However, customers are beginning to realize that this means stores deem their book-buying processes to be more important than customer’s needs. And this is why customers are looking elsewhere – they are buying elsewhere – and they are becoming more and more comfortable with a new buying process. Our complacency (plus a dependency on volume sales and bean-counter-type decisions) has made us vulnerable to changing conditions.

The bottom-line is this (and has, actually, always been this): Because authors & audiences are the basis of our industry, it is easy for authors & audiences to take back their power. They can easily cut out the middle people, which are us in the publishing and bookselling industry. We bookstores and publishers need to wake up and innovate a new paradigm (a better way of doing business in this environment) if we are to survive.

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