Jul 15 2015

The Publishing Bitch-Slap: Porn Novels Have Ruined the Literary Marketplace

X-rated

Consider this scenario:

5 young men wake up one morning and decide they want to form a band and record a record. They have never played a musical instrument or written any songs before, but since they have listened to music their entire lives they are pretty sure they can learn how to do it all.

They spend 4 weeks learning the basic chords and functions of their instruments and can play those chords well, but they have no idea how to string those chords together into music. They know nothing about harmony or melody, nothing about the recording business, nothing about laying down tracks or how to mix the different instruments into a single track.

Despite this, they buy some recording software and record an album, without the benefit of a professional recording studio or the behind-the-scenes professionals that help create a quality album, opting instead to do everything themselves or hire “friends” who know a little bit about the process. Two months later, the album is complete and they start selling it on every available outlet that will allow them to sell it as an indie title. How do you think the record would sound, as opposed to those albums recorded by musicians who have not only spent years mastering their art, but who had an entire team of professionals who knew how to create, mix, and produce a quality product?

Let’s take this a step further. Imagine now that this band starts sending this record out to every small radio station and blog it can find. Under normal circumstances, it would never get a single spin. It would end up in the trash bin because it did not come close to meeting industry standards.

But now imagine that this record and the band gather a fan base. Small at first, but word of mouth spreads. Soon it’s all anyone is talking about.  It’s all over social media. So many people are tweeting about it that more and more people rush out to buy the album just to see what everyone is talking about. It’s not that it is particularly good, but with so many people talking, the curiosity alone sustains it. Soon the band and their album are being covered by magazines and blogs, it’s went from small town basement radio stations to national radio stations. It’s hitting the charts, outranking bands that have been playing music for years.

THIS is what it feels like to be a veteran author in today’s market. I can think of no other way to describe it, when someone who just woke up one morning and decided they wanted to be a writer and two months later upload a poorly edited, literary train wreck to Amazon and then demand the same respect and success as those artists who have spent YEARS of their lives honing their craft, learning the business, and sitting at the feet of their mentors taking notes. They have allowed their work, a piece of their soul, to be ripped apart because, even though it hurts, they KNOW that only by listening to those with more experience than they, can they truly become a better writer.

After 3 DECADES spent writing, I still do not consider myself to be anywhere near the same league as the greats of my generation (Rice, Crichton, Cook), yet I see authors who have literally pushed our 6 novellas in as many months with questionable writing ability act as if they are some great smut Tolstoy. So when you wonder why authors who have spent years learning how to create solid plot lines and rich, well-rounded characters , those who agonize over each word put to paper, those who edit and rewrite mercilessly, those who painstakingly go over each and every word of the manuscript for plot holes, get all bent out of shape over the likes of FSOG, it is because we feel like we have been virtually bitch-slapped by the entire industry.

It’s like being a doctor, spending all that time in school learning the trade, and suddenly that knowledge no longer applies because anyone who took health class in elementary school can now be a doctor … or a lawyer … or a teacher. You get the idea. Just because the usual gates that normally would keep out those without the technical know-how came crashing down doesn’t mean everyone who had a notion to do something should go out and do it now that they can. Just because you sing in the shower doesn’t mean you should start booking concerts and performing in front of people.

In other words, just because anyone CAN be a writer now, doesn’t mean everyone IS a good writer. It takes lots of practice to get good at anything. So exactly why do people think the very first thing they slapped into a word document is worthy of publication?

Veteran authors’ disdain for FSOG and the inevitable pile of porn it has encouraged has nothing to do with envy of success, but everything to do with the level of professionalism we expect not only from ourselves, but from our fellow writers. We feel since we care so much about our readers and providing a well-written tale, everyone else should as well. So while the likes of FSOG may have been wildly successful, it bears repeating E. L. James’s lack of technical mastery is a fact that should have barred the manuscript from ever reaching an editor’s desk.

Jul 2 2015

Amazon… A virtual marketplace, or Big Brother?

Yes, it is disgusting. By Amazon’s definition, I am best friends with Anne Rice, J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, Laurel K. Hamilton, and Charlaine Harris. But what do you want to bet that these same rules do not apply to the reviews that are being posted for trade authors? What do you want to bet that this same thought and review process does NOT apply to ANYTHING other than independently published books? I’m not going to bet anything, because I’m pretty sure that even though I follow Anne Rice across all social media outlets and have even had a few discussions with her through said media, I can post reviews of her books until hell freezes over because she is NOT an indie author.

It is times like this that I wish Amazon had never jumped on board the indie train. I made a lot more money and had a lot larger fan base BEFORE they made it so easy for someone to push publish, for fake reviews to be posted by street teams, and for dishonest authors to send their minions to wreck havoc on other authors’ works.

imysantiago's avatarimy santiago

A couple of weeks ago I read the third installment of a series I really loved. I will refrain from sharing the name of the novel and its author.

Like any reader, as soon as I finished reading, I wrote my review. When I tried posting it on Amazon (I did buy the eBook, just like any normal and decent human being would), I received a rather concerning email.

I will not share the screenshot of the email as it does contain the title of the book and name of the author. In its place I have copied the body of the email below.

Dear Amazon Customer,

Thanks for submitting a customer review on Amazon. Your review could not be posted to the website in its current form. While we appreciate your time and comments, reviews must adhere to the following guidelines:
http://www.amazon.com/review-guidelines

Here I was, thinking I had included an…

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Jun 16 2015

FREE Book? Yes, Please! – The Red Fang: Paranormal Action Adventure

We are celebrating the impending release of my paranormal action/adventure novel The Red Fang and are now requesting reviews from reviewers, readers, bloggers, and fans.

Blurb:

Hopeless, pointless. Those were the words on the lips of everyone still left standing in our small, supernatural community.

The vampire Stealth had barely escaped with his immortal life after the SHiELD of Humanity attacked his home, a home which now lay in ruins on the outskirts of Shadow Cove.

The lycan clans were being picked off one by one, the few remaining remnants scattered to the winds. Entire species and families were being eradicated—a full blown extermination, for no reason other than we were different and feared by the humans. Our lives were being cut short, but we would not stand idly by and watch as our families were destroyed.

We would unite, fight to the bitter end, all declaring as one: We are no different from the humans, and we have the right to exist—to live. Battle lines have been drawn, but the war has just begun.

If you love paranormal fantasy packed with action and romance, then The Red Fang – Book One in the Before the Sun Rises Series – is for you.

If interested in receiving a FREE advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review, please click here to submit your request.

Apr 10 2015

Artistic Struggles: Today, Tomorrow, Always

oak tree with sunlight

It is a struggle. Each and every day, each word put to the page, each post to social media, each Tweet poised to entice a reader into giving me just the smallest of chances, it is all a struggle.

There are some days, like today, when I have so much self-doubt and self-loathing with my writing career it is all I can do to not throw in the towel. Each time I check my dismal Amazon ranking and see the lack of responses to my FB status, see I have lost a few more Twitter followers, makes me question why I even bother to continue on this road. It gets harder and harder with each passing day, with each book written, with each new idea, to want to stay with this journey. Being a writer, an author, is not easy, and it does not grow easier with time. In fact, it does not become easier with more success, but it certainly becomes more depressing with the lack of success.

I’ve had more than my fair share of doubting moments in the past year, much less my lifetime. I’ve had days when I was tired and weary and just plain sick of trying to drudge out my own niche in the writing world. I was tired of pouring years of my life into a project I truly believed in, only to see it shoved to the side by so many. Writing was quickly becoming something I no longer enjoyed, but instead had become a daily reminder of just how unsuccessful I really am, not only in my writing career, but also in my working Evil Day Job, and my life in general. I could handle not being successful in one or two of those avenues, but not all three, not all at once, and certainly not for so long a period of time. It was becoming suffocating, to the point where I couldn’t stand to look at my computer when I came in from work, could no longer force myself to write, or do any type of graphic art work or even post to my social media accounts. I languished in this suspended state, unsure of myself, my talents, petrified by my lack of tangible success.

Today, it all came crashing down around me again. As I was scrolling through my Twitter feed, I was bombarded with more fan artwork from one of favorite bands. One of the reasons I follow Chris is because I love seeing him retweet messages from the fans and their awesome artwork. In all honesty, I would have to say Black Veil Brides has some of the most talented fans in the world. Today, as I sat admiring some of this work, the artistic side of my life suddenly gave way, the delicate glass house I had built around myself in an effort to protect my fragile ego exploding with enough force to send those glass shards slicing and dicing their way straight into my heart.

I have never claimed to be a good writer. In fact, I will be the first person to tell you I suck, that I butcher the English language. I don’t write because I think I’m good, I write because it’s more like a force of nature, an irresistible power which drives me to keep writing even when the odds are stacked against me. As much as I hate it, writing is the closest thing to a natural God-given talent that I possess. Today, while scrolling through Chris’ Twitter feed, the realization hit me hard, even that one talent, the one thing I had been so very proud of, I wasn’t even really good at. I like to play around with photography and do graphic art work and create book covers for both myself and for others, but I’m not any better at doing that than I am singing or playing a musical instrument. I may “like” to do these things, but I’m certainly not good at it.

So where does that leave me? What does this mean? Who am I if I’m not an artist? I’m naturally a very creative person, I like to always be creating things, whether it be beading bracelets or working on book teasers or attempting to get more work done on yet another book, I feel compelled to create something, anything, and when I’m not creating I have to immerse myself in something creative like music or a good book or a museum. It’s what fuels the other part of my soul, the part forced to be put to the side for twelve hours a day as I sit in a small, windowless cubicle putting together sales reports and fixing other peoples’ fuck ups at work. It’s what I consider the “real” me, the part I have to keep hidden from the world at large while I go about the everyday necessities of working my Evil Day Job and taking care of the house and doing all the mundane things which must be completed each and every day.

But if I’m not good at doing any of these things, if it’s no longer satisfying and I feel I’m not getting anywhere professionally with my writing career or anything else in my life, exactly where does that leave me? Does this mean I’m as big of a failure as I think I am? Has my entire life been a lie??? If I’m not Nicola, the writer and artist, then that just leaves plain, old Brandey, someone I have not liked for a very, very long time.

Then, out of the blue, like a sign from above, just like it always does, the message came to me when I least expected it, but when I needed it the most.

I was scrolling through my morning email stream at work and came across a post in one of the many publishing groups I am a member of on LinkedIn. I don’t remember who wrote it or even what the point of the post was supposed to be about. What I DO remember is the message was meant for me, a message I really needed this morning.

Writers, truly any artist, must be strong, and we must be steadfast in our pursuits of success. It is no easy journey, it does not happen overnight, and we must be ready, willing, and able to take on all the setbacks which will inevitably be thrust upon us. We are like the mighty oak tree standing tall against all odds, weathering the storm regardless of how hard the rain pelts us or how shrilly the wind howls. Our ideas are like the acorns dotting our branches, each one with the potential to grow into another mighty oak tree if given the right encouragement.

For you see, much like it takes time and nurturing for the tiny little acorn to sprout, mature, and grow into the tall oak tree, it takes time to create and nurture those ideas into a completed work. Each word put to paper, each rewrite, each round of edits brings us one step closer to completing our project until finally, one day, all our hard work comes to fruition and we hold in our hand the realization of all those long hours of agony as we toiled away, struggling to grow our ideas into something we could be proud of.

Success in any part of life is not a sprint, but a marathon we spend half our lives preparing for and the other half just trying to get our foot in the door. Being an artist of any kind is no different. There is no such thing as an overnight success. Those artists who seem to come out of nowhere and are on the top of the world spent years as nobodies honing their respective crafts, begging people to just give them a chance, countless hours spent laboring over every small detail until they finally had a finished product they could be proud of, and then they did it all over again, time after time, year after year, one foot in front of the other, until the day came someone not only took notice of them, but helped spread the word, and soon that “nobody” became a household name. It didn’t happen overnight, but then again, the industry rarely tells anything about all those years spent slaving away just trying to get our names out there.

Success isn’t something measurable by how much money you make or how many people know your name or even by how many projects you have completed. Success is something only you, the artist, can accurately measure within yourself. We spend so much time waiting for “the day” when we can finally say “I made it! This is what I’ve been working towards!” we forget to enjoy the small successes we accomplish each and every day. We so often forget to slow down and just enjoy the ride. We stress and worry no one will like our final product or we aren’t “good enough” yet to even try to put ourselves and our work out there. We forget to enjoy the learning process.

It doesn’t matter where you are in your life cycle, whether you are the tiny little acorn sprout struggling to break free of your shell or the mighty oak tree trying to nurture all your budding little acorns into other mighty oak trees. The point is we ALL have the potential to be so much more tomorrow than we are today. THAT is the real measure of success, to enjoy the ride, never take it for granted, and always, always strive to make today count, to look forward to tomorrow, to never stop believing in ourselves or in our ability to one day grow into an even mightier oak tree than we are today. Because even when we are gone, our legacy will remain, and even if that legacy is nothing but a tiny little acorn hidden away beneath the fertile soil, it has the potential to become the mightiest oak tree of them all, spreading our legacy far and wide to nurture those who will never forget we existed, that we were once where they are at, and we kept going, we prevailed against all odds, and we helped inspire another little acorn to reach for the stars.

Mar 15 2015

2014 – My Year in Review

As much as I like being a writer, it’s super hard work. To add insult to injury, I tend to measure my own successes by what I see others accomplish, and this is neither a healthy attitude nor a way to get anything accomplished. In my personal experience, measuring your own successes, or lack thereof, by what others have accomplished is a sure-fire way to get discouraged. Nothing will make you want to give up quicker than thinking you have to do the same thing and accomplish the same things that everyone else is doing. The reason for this is simple: you are not everyone else, you are you, and you have to do and measure your own successes by what works best for you. It took me a really long time to realize that, so today I am celebrating my successes and what I am looking forward to getting accomplished in 2015.

I have always heard that you should write down what your idea of “success” is. My list changes often, and I have different lists of “successes” for myself, from the small ones that I want to accomplish in the short-term, to the long term goals like hitting the NYT bestselling list. Some of my goals are not achievable and I understand that, but I am not going to give up just because they seem out of reach. So before I start on my list of things I have accomplished in my writing career, I need to back up to also include what I have accomplished in my personal life as well.

In 2009 I had only a few short stories and one anthology published. My youngest child, Dade, was barely three years old, my middle child was just starting school, and I was once again looking for a full-time job that would help pay all those bills that were steadily piling up. That’s when I decided that I wanted to go back to college to finish up the nursing degree that I had not completed the first time around back in the mid-nineties. After two semesters of absolute misery in nursing school, I changed majors and ultimately graduated in May of 2011 with my business management degree. During those four semesters I finished up The Red Fang and also wrote Vindictus, The Dark Lord, both of which were published in early 2011.

In June of 2011 I landed a job working for a multi-million dollar technology firm as a sales representative, a job that I absolutely loathed. For fourteen months I didn’t write, couldn’t concentrate on anything but the misery that was my Evil Day Job. In August of 2012, however, I requested a transfer to a different position within the same department and was thankfully able to change jobs. It was rough going for a while, but everything eventually smoothed out, and while it’s not the career I really want, I actually am not nearly as miserable as I was – except when I’m in the mood to write and I’m stuck answering emails.

In July 0f 2012, after spending  seven years saving up every spare penny we could and watching the real estate market like maniacs, my husband and I finally found a nice little fixer-upper home in our price range and in the same school districts that we currently resided. We sat on pins and needles until we finally closed the deal on the house in late September. For the next eighteen months, my entire family’s lives were put on hold as we single-handedly ripped that old house apart and painstakingly put it back together again. Finally, right before Christmas of 2013, we were able to get our family moved out of the old house that Hurricane Katrina had ruined and into the new one. I spent the first four months of 2014 just trying to get everything unpacked and everyone settled into a new routine.

By May of 2014 I had not done any real writing in nearly three years. I was determined to start on the BEFORE THE SUN RISES SERIES again, so I took to my computer and began penning book 2 in the series, Immortal Sins, which was published in late November of 2014. I decided to release book 3, Clan of the Claw, in episode form, and so the first three chapters were published in December of 2014. I then switched gears and wrote a novella under a different pseudonym which was published in late January of 2015.

In the meantime, I had been knocking around an idea in the back of my mind for another series. The urge to write this novel was overwhelming, so I decided that I wanted to get Put it in Red: Hell’s Ballad written before going back to the BEFORE THE SUN RISES SERIES.

So this brings me to what I hope to accomplish this year. I have already had one novella published, something that was completely unplanned. I have two books slated to be published this year, Hell’s Ballad is slated for a late June/July release, and Clan of the Claw will hopefully follow suit with a late November/early December release date. That will be a total of 3 books this year, not bad for someone who also works a 40 hour a week job on top of three kids and a husband.

But what does the future hold for me? Exactly what am I looking to accomplish long-term? My goals are not unlike all other writers. I would love to ultimately be picked up by a large publisher that offers enough in advancements that would allow me to write full time. Past that, I would like to hit the NYT bestseller list at least once. Short term, I would like to find a nice, small press that would be willing to publish some of the books I already have out and help market those jokers so I can spend more time writing.

For now, however, I would settle for getting these two books finished, edited, and released. Oh, and seeing Black Veil Brides in concert would be a really nice bonus too 😉 And one day, if all goes according to my master plan, I will finally get to meet my mentor, Bret Michaels…..or at least toss my latest book at his head. You know, cause I like to keep things interesting.