tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20796627.post3338643196852945852..comments2024-03-17T02:12:53.713-05:00Comments on POD People: Thoughts on The Craft -- c.anne.gardnerveingloryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03709708573358649383noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20796627.post-49004779453125875802010-02-11T13:15:44.884-06:002010-02-11T13:15:44.884-06:00That's why I think Trad authors should negotia...That's why I think Trad authors should negotiate the digital editions seperate from their main print contracts and use licensing versus exclusive rights on the e-content. The Random House issue with digital edition rights only shows that publishers can't be that stupid, and authors should be able to leverage where they can. <br /><br />If a publisher is able to tie up the digital rights to an author's work in perpetuity after the book has technically gone out of print, that would be so bad for the author. You know publishers are looking closely at the language here, specifically the reversion of rights once a title is deemed not profitable for print runs anymore.<br /><br />I have no pride. I am a slave to my addiction: that being the word.Cheryl Anne Gardnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12564041914501542048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20796627.post-82274562747429907782010-02-11T13:00:14.585-06:002010-02-11T13:00:14.585-06:00Totally agree that indie writers define their own ...Totally agree that indie writers define their own success and happiness. :D My goal is to NOT get a traditional contract. I get sick and tired of hearing in reference to self-publishing: "Well (insert originally self-published author) only succeeded because XYZ publisher picked them up."<br /><br />I guess I have a little too much personal pride to ever want a major conglomerate to take credit for all MY hard work. Now granted if I succeeded well enough as an indie, I would be willing to sell subsidiary rights like special book club editions or foreign language editions, cause I'm not able to monetize those rights otherwise on my own.<br /><br />But as for full rights? I highly HIGHLY doubt that will ever happen. I realize everybody's got a price, but mine is so obscenely high that if I ever got successful enough on my own to command such a price, I'd already be in a position to expand my distribution and success on my own.Zoe Wintershttp://www.zoewinters.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20796627.post-73418076958278347522010-02-11T12:20:29.630-06:002010-02-11T12:20:29.630-06:00I guess in all that wordiness I was trying to say ...I guess in all that wordiness I was trying to say that Indie writers define success and happiness on their own. They don't let anyone else define it for them.Cheryl Anne Gardnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12564041914501542048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20796627.post-65565614816018112922010-02-11T12:18:42.208-06:002010-02-11T12:18:42.208-06:00Jeremy Robinson wrote mainstream as an indie, but ...Jeremy Robinson wrote mainstream as an indie, but his goal was to eventually get noticed, and he did everything he had to do to make that happen, and it did happen and so he went Trad as soon as he was offered a deal. Nothing wrong with that either. <br /><br />I didn't say we should shut anyone out. I just said mainstream was not my thang, and I also said that there are Indies who write mainstream fiction and do it well, like Mr. Robinson. <br /><br />By being different, I meant exactly what you affirmed: writing it the way you want to. What you want, when you want, and how you want, unconstrained from industry standards. Thinking outside of the current popular publishing box whether that be subject matter or production model. <br /><br />And in my article, I chose to point out that success should not automatically be associated with monetary gain. That was the whole point. Success is about so much more than that, and it varies from writer to writer. Now, those like you who want to be a career writer and make a living at it also have levels of success, but it doesn't mean the same thing. <br /><br />There is Independent Publishing and then there is Indie Art. Both mean functioning independently from the mainstream, but one is about a business model and the other is about artistic anarchy. Some Indie writers are both and some are not. Neither is mutually exclusive, so success to each will mean something completely different. I was more coming at this from an artist's mindset, as I always do, cause that's my POV. I try to stick with the art, cause I have no use for the business end of it. I leave that to Henry Baum and Mick Rooney. <br /><br />So Indies who write mainstream fiction should not be harrassed for not cutting the edge, and Indies who don't sell a lot of books or check their stats everyday should not be labelled less successful. <br /><br />And I don't meet a lot of mainstream genre Indies. And most I have met along the way have jumped on the Trad contract as soon as they got the opportunity, so it sort of defeats the Anarchist spirit. :-)<br /><br />And I am sooooo hoping ebooks bring back the short forms. I know a lot of short fic authors, and it would be nice if we didn't feel like the bastard step-children because we don't write novels. <br /><br />Oh and there is cutting edge outside of the box stuff in Trad publishing as well, it's just a harder sell, but Ellis and Palahniuk managed to sell quite a bit of artistic anarchy to mainstream readers, and that's saying something, because the days of Bukowski, Burroughs, and Miller are long over.Cheryl Anne Gardnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12564041914501542048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20796627.post-30256299589147470612010-02-11T11:27:00.072-06:002010-02-11T11:27:00.072-06:00I'd been thinking that the other day about a s...I'd been thinking that the other day about a short fiction revival. I've thought about what lengths I might want to publish things in and where I might draw my price lines. Like short story: a buck? novella $2.99, novel $3.99? Not sure yet. But it's something I've definitely been thinking about.<br /><br />I think what I write, being paranormal romance, is somewhat in the mainstream, but thank you for the lovely review you gave me here.<br /><br />While I do think that being indie means I can write it how *I* want to write it, and there are a couple of expectations I break, like I don't write the florid or overly graphic sex most have come to expect in romance novels, I also think it means just freedom in general no matter what you write.<br /><br />I'm writing what I want to write, not what I think is "marketable." What I write DOES happen to be "marketable." I could probably sell it to a publisher who publishes paranormal romance without them having to wonder how to market it or where it's going to fit on their list, but independently producing what I write is important to me.<br /><br />While I respect the idea of "something different" from indies, I think we shouldn't shut out indies who are writing things more mainstream, because they are every bit as much an indie.<br /><br />And yes, I love doing what I do... BUT... I am watching my bottom line and my sales stats, because I want financial success with it as well. And yes, I also DO have something to prove. I do love what I'm doing, but I'm also making a statement. And the statement is that "yes, self-publishing can be a viable business model, let me show you it" (insert LOLcat here).<br /><br />It's kind of funny, I might be a little rebellious even for an indie, LOL. Cause most indies are downplaying the money, and I'm counting and calculating. :P I always gotta be contrary that way.Zoe Wintershttp://www.zoewinters.orgnoreply@blogger.com