One Plague in the Small Pub Industry VS. So Many Cures

Mandy DeGeit's publishing horror story has begun to go viral.  Her blog detailing the unprofessional behavior of Undead Press editor Anthony Giangregorio has been liked, tweeted, and linked all over.  Other authors and industry professionals are writing their own pieces on Ms. DeGeit's experience, and it has even reached the point that heavyweights like Brian Keene and Neil Gaiman have chimed in.

You can read the original post here... http://mandydegeit.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/when-publishing-goes-wrong-starring-undead-press

Don't get me wrong - I agree that Mr. Giangregorio represents the absolute worst that the indie press has the offer.  However, I hardly feel he is a proper example for the whole.  The deplorable actions of one man should not define an entire group.

I was troubled by the post written by Kelli Owen found here... http://kellidunlap.com/?p=3345

It seems to indicate by the very virtue of possibly being POD (Print On Demand), that any legitamacy this individual or group has is instantly rendered invalid.  She does not specifically state that Small Press or Indie Press is inherently "bad," but that is the feeling you are left with.  I should also point out, this is not to say that Small Press all use POD as a means to create physical books.  That is definitely not the case, especially as ebooks begin to take up a vast majority sales share.  However, the derision I often see focused on POD books is quite similar to what I've noticed others in the industry recently give to those authors who have chosen Amazon's KDP modle for e-books.

The industry is changing rapidly.  It's different than it was six months ago, and it will be different six months from now.  In this evolving time, there will be those like Mr. Giangregorio who will seek to take advantage of young authors.  There will be young authors who blunder through their first few years, making mistakes and trying out the new technology.  There will be bitter veterans who cling to tradition out of fear of becoming irrelevant.  There will be new literary heroes and leaders for the 21st century, those opposite of Mr. Giangregorio who still represent the evolution of the industry.

And... we'll still have awesome, respectable Small and Indie Press outfits.  If you take anything away from this post, please let it be the knowledge that many wonderful, talented authors are producing amazing works for companies you may have never heard of.  If Anthony Giangregorio and his Undead Press represents a plague in the Small Press, all these creative individuals are obviously the cure.

http://www.permutedpress.com/

http://darkcontinents.com/

http://www.darkregions.com/

http://www.uninvitedbooks.com/

http://www.badmoonbooks.com/

http://cuttingblock.net/

http://www.abaddonbooks.com/

http://spectralpress.wordpress.com/

http://www.darkfuse.com/delirium-books

http://chizinepub.com/

http://www.creepinghemlock.com/

http://grindhousepress.com/

http://www.rawdogscreaming.com/

http://deaditepress.com/

http://www.subterraneanpress.com/

http://eraserheadpress.com/

http://www.nightshadebooks.com/

http://www.darkredpress.com/

Smashwords: a necessary bane to indie writers?

I don't think it's possible to calculate how many times I've screamed at the computer screen while working at the site Smashwords.  An independent e-publishing site that allows authors to sell their books in all available formats, the concept seems wonderful.  Unfortunately, it appears, someone has somewhere dropped the ball.

I have tons of e-books.  I have the Kindle App that runs .mobi files as well as the wonderful program called Calibre.  Calibre works with any e-book formats (mobi, epub, lit, pdf, etc) along with allowing you to alter the metadata, change cover art, switch formats, and manipulate the way you store your library.  So yes, I know I how e-books look in various formats and bring that eye to my own.  And trust me, not everyone has great looking products.  Strangely enough, I've found it has nothing to do with money - big house publishers are just as likely to screw it up as amateurs.

Amazon Kindle will let anyone upload anything to their severs.  I can see why some crotchety old traditionalists get riled up over this.  It wasn't until recently that Amazon thought to offer formatting tips, and I'll admit that my first two books had a number of errors when I uploaded them.  The thing is, unless you're a superstar, an "A-list Author," you shouldn't be charging a whole hell of a lot for an e-book and guess what - nobody really cares how the chapters headings are formated on their screen.  They bought your $1.99 e-book for cheap entertainment, and while I'll be the first to demand a certain amount of quality control (and pride in your work), there's no need to agonize over font choice display.

Like Smashwords seems to.

A handful of times now, I've almost walked away from the site.  However, I stick around primarily for two reasons.  #1 - Smashwords is truly international, unlike Amazon with their various ".dot" endings.  I've found that folks in other country ocassional can't get my work, especially those in Australia.  Why I have so many fans in Australia, I have no idea, but I want them to have access to my crap books.  #2 - I can put whatever I want on Smashwords for free.  Some magical spell allows you to do the same at Amazon, but I haven't discovered it yet.  I have a simple formula for a D-list Author such as myself - full e-books are $2.99, e-novella are $0.99, and short story are free. 

Out of the nine works I have on Smashwords, ony one has been accepted into their Premium Catalog.  I have no idea what I did differently with that one as opposed to all the others.  They like to remain somewhat vague on the reasons, but everyone who has worked with Smashwords will recognize the response of...

• This book requires modification prior to inclusion in Smashwords' premium catalog.
• This book has failed EpubCheck. 100% EpubCheck compliance is required by Apple. Click to our EpubCheck Help page to learn how to fix.

I've been an Apple guy for over a decade, but WOW, does this piss me off.  Does anyone even buy e-books from Apple?  Where?  The damn iTunes store?  Sorry, I got sick of updating it every three days.  And your "Help Page" is worthless.

People buy e-books because they don't take up any room, they're cheap (usually), and they can read them on their phones or when they're supposed to be working.  Sure, there should be guidelines for how these things are set up, but nobody is going to win awards for Digital Excellence.  Borders has shut down, Dorchester Press has gone under, the old world of publishing is slowly but surely dying.  Instead of trying to cram the old rules onto the the new world, let's make up some new ones. 

I mean, we see how well it's working out over in the music industry...

Halloween Lurking: a 1st time editor reflects

Last Tuesday, a little over a week ago, I uploaded a FREE Halloween e-anthology to various websites.  Past The Patch was an idea that sprang up over the summer during one of the many manic e-mail trading session between the guys at Dark Red Press.  Since I was the one promoting the idea (and I had always wanted to try my hand at editing an anthology), it became my project.  It was early August when I sent out the first round of submission queries, with an early October release slated.

I wanted around a dozen authors, mostly because that number seemed managable for my first time stepping into editor shoes.  Pretty much the same reason we decided to make the thing free.  I had an idea of what I wanted with this anthology, and I went outside the normal realms of modern horror and dark urban fantasy.  As I state in the brief introduction of Past The Patch, I've always been most impressed with the anthologies by the likes of John Joseph Adams, Al Sarrantonio and Harlan Ellison.  It seemed they were less concerned about genre and more so about theme.  I liked that.  So along with the usual suspects, I attempted to snag authors who were more accustomed to writing romance, fantasy, mystery or poetry.  I wanted stories about Halloween, a holiday and all that it encompassed in our collective culture, not just a collection of spooky gore-fests.

Authors wandered in, some wandered out.  A few new ones showed up late to the party with more beer, as it were.  Multiple times I found myself screaming at the computer for whatever reason.  The release deadline of October 11th had been set, and I was still agonizing over the cover art.  I think I may have annihilated a few galaxies in my stressed-out rage.

Finally all the tales were in and it was a matter of deciding upon the "track listing" and hammering out the formats.  Looking over my submissions, it was quickly apparent that I was going to end the anthology with "The Witch Of Mistletoe Lane" by Court Ellyn.  Almost a novella in length, it's so well written, so heart-breakingly beautiful and poignant, I knew it was the perfect note on which to end.  J.T. Warren's "Halloween Candy" seemed a great choice for the opener with it's unique take on an old holiday fear.  In between, all the tales were decided by their word count and subject matter.  I didn't, for instance, want to put two shorter tales next to each other, nor did I want to place two stories that had children as the protagonists back-to-back.  Cue more screaming at the computer.

And then suddenly... it was done.  The cover embedded, legal crap page, ISBN# acquired, contents, bios, everything.  It looked good!  I sent it to the guys at Dark Red Press for a look-over, got the thumbs up, and started uploading.  I promoted it for a few hours, then I think I passed out for a day.  Past The Patch was done, and damn, it did look good!

The main download site, with various links, is on the DRP site.  Who knows how many PDF's we've directly downloaded, but it's all here... http://www.darkredpress.com/read-now/past-the-patch-a-free-collection/

We've had 97 downloads off Smashwords as I write this.  That site is here... https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/95432

We've had 74 reads over at Scribd.  That site is here... http://www.scribd.com/doc/68259166/Past-the-Patch

Finally, it's also available as a PDF at Goodreads, along with the e-anthology's page and links to all the contributing authors.  Feel free to snag it or give us feedback here... http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12845734-past-the-patch

I'm proud of what was accomplished with Past The Patch, and I'm ever more proud of all of the authors who contributed to the anthology.  It's a fun collective of tales, and I'm thrilled these amazing authors gave me a chance to combine their works in this fashion.  Please, as October 31st lurks closer, I invite you to check out this FREE e-anthology and get ready for Halloween!

SCOTT NICHOLSON talks at Strong Scenes

Scott Nicholson, one of the best-known (and most beloved) indie horror authors gives some insight to writing and the industry over at the website Strong Scenes.  Check out his wise musings on a career in the digital age and some advice he has for writers trying to break into the game.

http://www.strongscenecontest.com/2011/06/guest-post-from-author-scott-nicholson.html?spref=fb