Spring on My Mind

Spring has sprung
The grass has riz
I wonder where the flowers is?
-Variant of an old poem, origin unknown though frequently attributed to Ogden Nash

Spring has sprung, at least it has here in North Carolina. The daffodils have come and mostly gone. Tulips, azaleas, dogwoods, quince, cherries and other fruit trees are in their glorious seasonal finery. Temperatures are moderate, but wildly changeable, a sure sign of spring.

Spring reminds me of fresh starts and new things. Trees leafing out, dry brown winter grass turning green again, plants surging up from the ground showing new life. Longer days and warmer temperatures mean more time outside and upcoming vacations. I’m eager to get out in the garden and start planting so I can see all those promising shoots appearing.

And in life, too, turning seasons bring new things happening. Over the past few years that’s meant a few new grandchildren, deaths of parents, people around me changing jobs, moving, retiring, and a host of other smaller changes.

Career changes have been happening to me as well.  I’ve slowly cut down on the number of website design and development projects I’ve been taking on, to make more time for writing. I’ve got so many things I want to write.  Ideas are clamoring for brain space and several partially completed projects are urging me to get back to work on them.

And as the seasons change, so has the publishing industry.  When my first book was published, in 1990, I wrote the book, sent it to my editor, revised per her instructions, then a year or more later, the book came out and that was that. I might do a few readings or signings but it was generally agreed a writer couldn’t do much more than that. Following a few adventures with other publishers, I sold to my first epublisher in 2000 and worked with several of those. It was a whole new world. Being on the internet meant lots of networking and promo. Then came social media and self-publishing.

The publishing industry today looks nothing like what it was in 1990. Amazon bought out my first publisher, Avalon Books, and several of the small press publishers I’ve worked were bought out or went out of business. One of my more recent publishers, Five Star/Cengage, has just axed its mystery line, leaving my Market Center Mysteries orphaned with the first book published a few years ago and the second book still in the editing phase.

I’m not completely new to self-publishing.  I’ve been retrieving rights to my older books and republishing them myself for the last several years.  But this feels much different. It’s a book that’s never been published before.  I’m having to get it edited, then copy-edited, have covers made, think about creating blurbs and publicity, and… Yikes!

I hope to have Wired for Murder, the second book in my Market Center Mysteries series that began with A Gift for Murder, ready to release on July 1st, but it depends on how quickly the editing and cover design get done.

Stay tuned.  I’ll post more about the process and my entry into this brave new world this spring.

The Value of Hope...

I can remember the moment as if it were yesterday…

It was a brisk spring morning. The air seemed to crackle with the chill but the birds were singing…spring was on the way. And I was ‘stalking’ the mail carrier. Yelp, had a string of rejections from my favorite publisher and very much feared I would soon receive another.

I was tired of waiting and exhausted by the lack of encouragement missing in form rejections. I expected practice to make perfect. That’s what I’d been taught. What I passed on. What I still believed. I had been studying and practicing the craft of writing for three years…surely I had made progress. So I tried to focus on the joyous songs of the birds as I approached the highway.

And the long awaited envelope was in the mailbox. Finally! I dreaded what I might find inside, but unable to wait, I stood at the end of the driveway and ripped the envelope open. Another R…

I couldn’t allow my disappointment to show, the neighbors might see. Even at a distance they could see if I stomped my foot or hear if I yelled in frustration. But they couldn’t see the tears that filled my eyes as I forced my feet back along the drive. Nor could they hear the silent pray I sent winging heaven ward. “I’ve tried. Really tried. Dear God, please send me a sign to show I’m not wasting my time in vain.”

I stumbled on a gravel and opened my eyes to watch were I was going…and then I saw it. In the sunlight it sparkled bright as an icicle. Yet even with the crisp mornings, I knew it wasn’t ice. But it was silver and sparkling like a gem. How I missed the pen when I started down the drive, I’ll never know. I would guess it was because I was staring at the mailbox, my goal, and not paying attention to the steps I needed to take to get there.

Isn’t that true with many of the things we do in life? We forget the process…the baby steps.  I picked up that silver pen, read the publisher’s name printed on the side, and started trembling. My dream publisher…and not one in my life could have dropped that pen. It was a sign. It had to be. At least two vehicles had driven up and down that drive and not crushed the pen. How could I cave in after a few short years of trying to sell to this publisher?

I never expect to be one of the ‘big girls’ but I want to write stories.  I still have that shinny pen. I pulled it out today. It’s a new year, with renewed hopes and who knows; perhaps drafting my outline in ink from that pen will bring me luck.  Or perhaps the real lesson is that we should never give up hope.

Happy January to you all and here’s wishing you a very successful year!

 

 

A World Full of Sharks

by Janis Susan May/Janis Patterson

An acquaintance of a friend just published her very first book. Now normally that would be a cause for rejoicing. Instead I wish it had never happened – at least, not like this.

I’m not going to give any details, mainly because I don’t want to embarrass her any more than she already is, and because I don’t want to get sued or targeted by the so-called publisher. Somehow it seems that the less savory a publisher is, the more litigious they are.

The story is one that is all too common today. A newbie writer finished her first book and sought a publisher. Any seasoned writer will tell you it’s hard to get picked up by a reputable publisher. Lots of them – usually the traditional ones – won’t even look at a writer without an agent. Nowadays even the better epubs only take a tiny percentage of the submissions they receive.

Unfortunately too many times newbie writers will grab at anything that calls itself a ‘publishing company.’ They are so bedazzled by the perceived glamour of becoming a ‘published author’ they don’t do their due diligence. They are just so glad to be offered a contract that it seems they don’t question anything the publishing company… and everything should always be questioned, even with the most venerable of traditional publishers. There always seems to be a lot of these predatory and/or incompetent outfits out there, just lying in wait, trolling for newbies with stars in their eyes.

Of course, part of the blame falls on the newbie author. There are ways of checking out publishers – websites, fora, other authors, etc. Also, since this was a romance, the romance writers community is incredibly generous with their knowledge and would willingly have given this newbie advice. There are so many more pitfalls now than there were when I first began writing, but there are also so many more resources. I never met nor was even in the same room with another romance writer until after I had sold two books (to a major house, I might add); this was at the first organizational meeting of what would eventually become Romance Writers of America.

You were lucky, I can hear people saying. You’re a professional. How would she know to check such things? Who can be expected to do such dull old business-type stuff when her dream of publication is about to come true?

That’s when my ears turn red and my blood pressure begins to rise. Who is expected to do dull old business stuff? Who? Everyone! Writing is a business. Writing is a very hard business, and the writing of the book is the easiest part.

In these days of shrinking to non-existent advances and diminishing marketing support from even the most sterling of publishers, the author is expected to do more and more of the work – for which she still receives the smallest part of the pie. Some legitimate publishers even suggest that a writer pay on their own to have a book professionally edited before submitting. Some publishers won’t look at anything that doesn’t come through an agent, effectively using the agent as a first reader. Some publishers expect the writer to format their manuscript to their specifications before they will even look at it, let alone make an offer. Some publishers – like this charming specimen who signed the newbie – expect the writer to do everything. This one told the writer that she was responsible for handling – and paying for – all her own publicity. He dropped this bomb the week before her book was to be released. No guidelines, no suggestions, no support – just ‘it’s your responsibility.’

Small wonder that the world of self-publishing is burgeoning. Self-publishing is an incredible amount of work (I can attest to that!) but I feel if you’re going to be doing most of the work yourself, you might as well reap the rewards of it and get the lion’s share of the income. But that’s just me. Publishing is a business, and self-publishing is even more so. The allure of being taken on by a publisher is so much more seductive, especially to starry-eyed newbies. After all, you’ll have parties and signings and interviews and tv spots and… Yeah. In your dreams.

And in their dreams is where most of these gullible newbies begin. They’re published! A publisher has actually agreed to take their book! The publisher has a website, one that extolls how great they are, so they must be legit, right? I can understand the lure, the glamor, the pure b*llsh*t put out by these predatory publishers dazzling a newbie who has been so entranced by the glowing dream of being a Published Author that the cold hard reality of what publishing really is cannot penetrate.

So what is to be done about this? There are no uniform standards of what make a legitimate and desirable publisher, enforceable or not. Unfortunately, anyone can put up a website and call themselves a publisher. Lately even some of the ancient and venerable publishing houses have been coming up with some pretty hinkey clauses in their contracts. Just because they are ancient and venerable doesn’t mean they can’t be as rapacious and manipulative as the brand-new-website rip-off artist.

One thing that every writer must always remember is that money flows to the writer. Anyone asks you for money – or an investment – or subsidies – RUN! Ask for the names of other writers with the company – and contact them. Check the watchdog sites like Preditors&Editors and Writer Beware. Ask other writers. Ours is a small and close-knit community; very little happens here that someone doesn’t know about. Seek and investigate and learn before you sign anything.

In other words, don’t feed the sharks.

UPDATE : Since my last column my publishing binge has been going according to plan. THE FAIR AMAZON, a traditional Regency romance, was released on 15 July and is doing well.

More exciting – at least to me – is THE JERUSALEM CONNECTION, a new contemporary romantic adventure suspense, released on 30 July. This is a special book to me, mainly because years ago I worked in Jerusalem on a film for over three months, and some of the adventures the heroine of this book has actually happened to me in real life. (And no, I’m not saying which!)