Writers in the Storm

Kathryn Craft

Turning Whine Into Gold

You chose to pursue a career as a novelist because of your passion for the written story. But what is your long-range goal? Mine was specific—as a writer interested in legacy, I wanted to leave behind a “body of work,” which to me meant eight novels. Maybe your interest in creative range, and you want to be published in three genres. Or maybe financial gain is most important and you hope to support your family.

“Human desire is a sticky thing,” says Jon Kabat-Zinn in Wherever You Go, There You Are. Desire is sticky enough to pull you toward your goal, but can also be sticky enough to blind you to unexpected opportunity along the way.

I wonder how many of us have written off opportunities as obstacles? I could imagine someone who tried to make it in TV and is now writing novels, saying, Oh great, I’m trying to write a novel and now someone offers me a job hosting an arts show on a local cable channel. I’ll never finish my novel! 

Who’s to say this is the best year to seek publication? We live in politically (and therefore economically) unsettled times and publishers are twitchy. What if getting published three years from now might get you to your goal quicker—and in the meantime, you could put those years to good use fleshing out new novels while building a valuable platform? Let me tell you how many publishers would like to see “cable TV host” in your query letter. Even delivering mail could introduce you to countless potential readers.

I love the old joke about the man praying that God will save him from the floodwaters threatening his home. A neighbor knocks on his door and says, “We must leave now. There’s room in my car—come on!” But the man says no. He too heard the warning, and is certain God will save him. When the floodwaters cover his stoop, the man retreats to the second floor. A stranger in a boat comes past his window and says, “Get into my boat and we’ll paddle to safety.” The man says, “No thank you. God will save me.” Then, from a hovering helicopter, a rescue worker shouts, “Grab hold of the ladder and climb up.” The man shouts back, “No thank you, God will save me.”

The man drowns. When he gets to heaven, he rails against God. “I was praying to you the whole time. Why didn’t you save me?” God answers, “What do you mean? I sent a warning, a car, a boat, a helicopter…what more did you want?”

Tunnel vision may appear to offer the shortest route between two points, but it may not be the quickest or the most satisfying. While focused on your all-consuming author goal, could you be missing the warning, the car, the boat, and the helicopter?

A softer focus on your goal could help you see these opportunities for what they are.

Aspiring novelists are told all manner of things that tighten their white-knuckle grip on our goal. Perseverance is key. Write every day. The only failure is quitting. Getting agented is a numbers game. Type “x” number of words a day. It takes a million words to make a novelist. These old saws can help us reach a destination that seems too far away. But think about it: should the same advice apply to all authors, when no two careers are ever the same? Who’s to say that an unforeseen opportunity might not increase your visibility, stoke your creativity, and lead to connections on which you can capitalize?

The quandary interests me, but I’ll be the first to admit I don’t have the answers. While I’m happy to play God in my novels, I am overjoyed I wasn’t cast as the master of the universe. I would have bungled the job by giving myself an easy path rather than challenging myself to explore the deep, lasting rewards of prevailing over rockier terrain, which ultimately gave me so much to write about.

I have seen writers hold onto their goal until it has shredded them apart. I’m just saying, this might not be the best use of your time on earth.

Think carefully before declaring something an obstacle or an opportunity. Saying “yes” might just take you one step further on the path of your unpredictable, creative life.

Maybe those opportunities could open more doors for your writing career.

Maybe they could make you happy.

As a fun exercise in career imagination, pick one of the following “obstacles” and show how it might lead to novel success. In addition, please share stories of success that arrived in an unexpected—or perhaps even unwanted—package!

• Your talented daughter wants you to move to Nashville to support her singing dream.
• Your mother, in hospice, asks your help in writing her life story.
• Your boss wants you to move to Thailand for a year.

About Kathryn

Kathryn Craft  is the award-winning author of two novels from Sourcebooks, The Art of Falling and The Far End of Happy, and a developmental editor at Writing-Partner.com, specializing in storytelling structure and writing craft. Her chapter “A Drop of Imitation: Learn from the Masters” was included in the writing guide Author in Progress, from Writers Digest Books. Janice Gable Bashman’s interview with her, “How Structure Supports Meaning,” originally published in the 2017 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market, has been reprinted in The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing, both from Writer’s Digest Books.

College then work. It’s a right-of-passage most of us go through in one form or another. Some multiple times. And I realized recently that I was on wave two.

College Years = Aspiring Author

This is when everything is shiny and possible and fun. You take classes, hang out in coffee shops, meet new people. You put in long hours studying, sometimes longer hours partying. Each new class brings on a new level of excitement and the possibilities are endless.

I started college as an art history major. The first year, I changed majors twice. I changed two more times before finally settling on English Lit. I dabbled in set design and lighting, political science, experimental psych, drafting, and graphic design.

Looking back, the aspiring author years were very much like college. 

When I dipped my toe into the writing pond, it was with chick lit in mind. It was at the height of that genre bubble and a lot of what I was reading at the time. I wrote three picture books. I have a middle grade novel in progress. And I’ve written a couple of women’s fiction stories.

Over the years, I’ve taken every workshop I could fit into my schedule and afford. I joined writer’s groups (the equivalent of sororities/fraternities I suppose). I don’t frequent coffee shops much but I have a very solid relationship with the espresso machine in my kitchen.

I took on all sorts of extra-curricular activities, which in this case, included volunteering with various writer’s groups, joining blogs, and setting up on every social media platform that was listed as a must for writers.

Gap Year/Graduate School = Debut Author

I didn’t take a typical gap year. I worked for a year but only because I decided at the last minute that, on second thought, I had absolutely no interest in law school and then had to wait while my applications for journalism school went through.

But then came graduate school. Oh my god was that fun. I was finally where I belonged. I loaded up my class hours and took on as many internships as I could fit into my schedule.

Being a debut author felt wildly like being a grad student again. Working on revisions with my editor had shades (mostly red) of working on my thesis with my advisor. “Internships” became more writer’s groups, this time focused on connecting with readers and signing up for author events. Confession: I was far less nervous defending my thesis than the first time I had to talk about my book.

Working World = Published Author

I was lucky with my first job. With most of my jobs actually. I loved going to the office, enjoyed the work I was doing, had fun with my colleagues. I put in ridiculous amounts of hours and it was worth it.

But as I got busier with work, I also realized that not everything I’d been doing fit into my new life. I didn’t have as much free time or, more appropriately, flexible time. Priorities had to be established and choices made.

Now that my first book is out in the world and my second book is about to go into production, I’m realizing just how many parallels there are with that earlier stage in my life. There are limited hours and unlimited demands.  

Like the adjustment period after I joined the working world, I’ve had to evaluate a lot of what I’m spending my time on lately. And the sad truth is that once again, choices have to be made.

And with that, I’m stepping aside from my regular involvement with Writers in the Storm. I’ve learned so much from all of you – contributors and commenters – over the years and I’ve loved being part of this community. I’ll still be around, reading, commenting, and contributing. But for now, I’m packing up my pens and coffee mugs.

I'll see you in the comments and on social media!

About Orly

Orly Konig is an escapee from the corporate world, where she spent roughly sixteen (cough) years working in the space industry. Now she spends her days chatting up imaginary friends, drinking entirely too much coffee, and negotiating writing space around two over-fed cats. She is a co-founder and past president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, and a member of the Tall Poppy Writers. She is rep’d by Marlene Stringer, Stringer Literary Agency LLC.

Orly’s debut, The Distance Home (Forge), released on May 2, 2017.

You can find her on on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads, or on her website, www.orlykonig.com.

In light of June Westerfield’s recent post about creating your own book cover (if you missed it, you can read it here), you’re thinking I’m going to say you shouldn't narrate your own audiobook, right? Wrong! My answer is:

 

Yeah, that's helpful, right?

I think the easiest way to explain is to tell you how I did it, the pros and cons, and let you decide for yourself. But first: 

Do you have the rights?

If this is a New York published book, odds are, the answer is no. Publishers don't often give up the chance to make a buck. I'm not sure about Small Presses - check your contract to be sure. Self-pubbed? Green light!

I released my first self published title in January of 2016, Days Made of Glass. I loved the control of self-publishing. Then I read how audiobook sales are on the rise, and thought that I'd love to have Days in an audiobook format. 

I read through ACX (Amazon's audiobook publishing arm-very informative), and through pages and pages of Google results, and discovered . . . it's expensive. 

Hiring professional(s):

First, you need a narrator/producer. They usually receive compensation one of two ways:

Outright payment - They charge around $200 an hour (SAG members start at $225/hr). You can do the math. I got the following chart from EA Book Publishing:

Schedule of Costs (this is for narration and production)

Words     Narration Hours     Production Hours     Final Cost

10,000   1                             5                                   $   950

20,000   2                             10                                 $1,900

30,000   3                             15                                 $2,850

40,000   4                             20                                 $3,800

50,000   5                             25                                 $4,750

60,000   6                             30                                 $5,700

70,000   7                             35                                 $6,650

80,000   8                             40                                 $7,600

90,000   9                             45                                 $8,550

Be sure when you're negotiating with a narrator, that you verify if the cost is for narration only or full production. A producer cleans up the file, checks for errors, misspoken lines, and puts it in the correct format. You'll need that.

Or Royalty share - They get 50% and may ask for a non-refundable upfront cost

Another option is to buy professional equipment, park yourself in a closet at home and record. That was cheaper, but still, the software and the equipment can run into the to thousands.

If you know me at all, you know I'm as cheap as a prison-release suit.

It's okay, I own it.

Going it on your own:

I dearly love reading out loud. I volunteer time, reading at a senior center, so I wondered if I could do this myself. Hey, I created my own website, and my own self-published book. Okay, so the book cover thing didn't work out so well, but....

Then I heard my local Recording Library needed volunteers to read books, daily local newspapers and textbooks for the blind. Volunteer doing what I love? I'm all over it. When I saw their offices, and the little soundproofed recording booths, I stashed an idea in the back of my mind, dug in, and got over my hatred of my own recorded voice (I hear this is a universal thing - because we hear our voices from the 'inside' and can't judge the quality). It took several months, but I became proficient at it - cutting my teeth on oil reports and school board elections. When they came back and told me I was a natural, and was one of their better-sounding volunteers, I popped the question: Would they mind if I recorded my own book for their library (and take a copy for myself, of course). They said, yes. I was off in a cloud of turkey-turds! 

I began recording, correcting when I screwed up, making sure the quality was as good as I could get it. The in-house producer cleaned up the file (taking out background noise, blank air time, etc., and put each chapter in a separate mp3 format for me.

In the meantime, I studied the options for publication, and decided on ACX, Amazon's audiobook publishing arm. You can go exclusive with them, and get a higher royalty percentage, but I decided to keep my options open and go wide. I learned everything I could from their helpful website about how to go about it.

I wanted a different cover for the audiobook than the paperback and Kindle version - I liked the result so much I did a poll on Facebook about maybe changing covers on the book, but since people were split 50/50, I decided to keep both: (keep in mind, an audiobook cover has to be perfectly square)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The audiobook of Days Made of Glass went live a month ago!

So, back to the question, SHOULD you create your own audiobook? I'd recommend it if:

• You have the rights
• You have the voice
• You have the patience - this is meticulous work
• You have a thirst for learning new things, and aren't intimidated by technology
• It helps if you're cheap. ;)

I DO NOT expect to make a ton of money on this. After all, there are less listeners than there are readers. But I loved the process, and will do it for my future self-published titles. To me, it's one more way to be proud of my work.

What do you think? Would you attempt this? Would you hire it out, or DIY?

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About Laura

Laura Drake is a city girl who never grew out of her tomboy ways, or a serious cowboy crush. She writes both Women's Fiction and Romance.

She sold her Sweet on a Cowboy series, romances set in the world of professional bull riding, to Grand Central.  The Sweet Spot won the 2014 Romance Writers of America^®   RITA^® award in the Best First Book category.

Laura began a video blog for writers, answering their burning questions. You can watch all the episodes HERE. If you have a question you'd like her to address in a future episode, leave her a comment!