Writers in the Storm

Kennedy Ryan

I have always considered myself a pretty confident person. My parents instilled several things in me early on:

• Impossible is just the beginning.
• Consider it negotiable.
• You can partner with people for success, but never allow them to hold your success hostage, or expect them to make you successful.

And this next one was bedrock. Don’t allow other people’s opinions to change the way you feel about yourself.

That lesson especially served me well growing up. Peer pressure for me – almost non-existent. I didn’t look to my peers to define, approve or affirm me. That made me a little bit of a sore thumb in high school, but again – not really caring. It made me bold and in many ways, insulated my sense of self.

So you can see how I didn’t anticipate reviews, good or bad, to really affect me that much when my debut novel released this summer. Leading up to the release, I talked to several writers who spoke of near-depression upon reading bad reviews.

Really?

I could sympathize, but I didn’t actually relate.

I would soon.

When I read my first truly negative review, it shook me. Not the review itself, but how much it mattered to me. I coached myself through it. Reminded myself that everyone won’t like every book. Had a few close friends talk me off the ledge. But something still shifted inside of me. Some place in my confidence no one had really touched before.

That first week, I noticed my mood rise and fall with the stars my book received. My husband couldn’t believe it. He reminded me of who I was. Of how I had always processed the opinions of others, but there was no denying that those reviews affected me. So much so that I soon found the good reviews hard to believe. Why would anyone give me 5 stars? Did they feel sorry for me? Maybe they weren’t “discriminating” readers. The truly discriminating readers would hate my book.

I’ll never forget a friend called me saying she hadn’t been able to put my book down. She had actually canceled an appointment and turned off her phone to finish it uninterrupted. After five minutes of me trying to convince her that she hadn’t really enjoyed my book, but had read it through the friend filter, she finally said something that landed with me.

“When did you start thinking the bad has to be true, and the good must be a lie?”

When did I? At what point had I lost that strong sense of self? Started doubting my talent? Started doubting myself?

Her question recalibrated something; reminded me of the lessons my parents had instilled so early on. As much as I love this book, I am not this book. It is an extension of me; of my way with words and the craft I am continually honing. But it is not me. A negative review is not an attack on my character or a denigration of me as a person. It is one reader who didn’t like what I wrote. And that is fine.

I have deliberately created space between myself and this thing that I made because I have no control over people’s opinions about it. What can I control? Myself. The kind of person I am. What do I want that to be? Kind. Generous. Gracious. Loyal. Thoughtful.

I am not measured in stars.

I am a loving, faithful wife. I am a warrior mother who would do anything for my child. I am a philanthropist who extends myself on the behalf of others. I am a good friend. Until a blogger or a reviewer or a reader attacks that, it’s not personal.

I just released book two, LOVING YOU ALWAYS, and I cling to that epiphany. I fully anticipate having to remind myself of these truths when there are fewer stars than I’d like to see at the end of a review, but it’s okay.

And it’s not personal.

About Kennedy

Kennedy Ryan writes contemporary romance and women's fiction. She always give her characters their happily ever after, but loves to make them work for it! It's a long road to love, so sit back and enjoy the ride.  In an alternative universe and under her government issue name, Tina Dula, she is a wife to the love of her life, mom to a special, beautiful son, and a friend to those living with autism through her foundation Myles-A-Part, serving Georgia families.

Her writings on Autism have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul, and she has been featured on the Montel Williams Show, NPR, Headline News and others. Ryan is donating a portion of her proceeds to her own foundation and to her charitable partner, Talk About Curing Autism (TACA).

Her interview series MOMMIES DO THE MOST AMAZING THINGS is featured each month in Brooke Burke's online magazine Modern Mom.

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Out now: Book 1: WHEN YOU ARE MINE

Amanda Luedeke

Ever wondered what agents think about hybrid authors? Ever been too afraid to ask, thinking the very idea of hybrid publishing an insult to the traditional side of the business? Well, fear no longer, because most agents I know fully support the hybrid author model. And it’s because of one reason…

Agents are happy when their authors are happy, and authors are happy when they’re making money. Being a hybrid author allows writers the opportunity to actually EARN DOLLARS doing this writing thing. So therefore agents, for the most part, are pro-hybrid authors.

Don’t get me wrong. Authors who try self-publishing aren’t guaranteed success or a boost in their finances. It can be a costly thing to get going and maintain, and if the sales aren’t there, it can leave the author frustrated. But when it works—and it does work for many authors—we agents get a kick out of seeing our authors succeed in such a difficult industry.

Before we go further, let’s define “hybrid author.” This is an author who simultaneously publishes with a traditional house and pursues self-publication through Amazon or CreateSpace or Smashwords or the like. It’s an author who is both on the indie side, and the traditional side.

So aside from the possibility that an author just won’t be able to get their indie books off the ground, what are some other downsides when it comes to how hybrid publishing may affect the author-agent relationship?

In other words, what are some things that agents don’t like about the hybrid model?

1. When our authors decide to completely abandon traditional publishing.

Look, I totally understand that monetarily, an author may be making more on the self-pub side. BUT I cannot express how very valuable it is to have the occasional book with a publisher, in stores, in libraries, and so on.

Being on the traditional side is like having a giant billboard. An author’s name gets in-store visibility, plus it benefits from being able to more easily enter contests, gain industry reviews, and earn that type of notoriety. Plus, by having a publisher’s marketing team work on your book, they’re essentially helping to promote your entire brand, as folks will type your name into Amazon and find your traditional books alongside your self-pub books. This feeds your career and therefore your self-pub sales. So pulling the plug on such a great cyclical model means risking a dip in sales and buzz.

2. When authors expect us to provide the same service on their self-pub projects that we do on their trad-pub stuff.

Typically, we don’t make a dime on the self-pub side. Furthermore, the projects that are taken directly to self-pub are projects that we then won’t be able to sell to a publisher. While we understand the give and take of such a model, what we don’t like is when our authors treat us as though we were the agent on those self-pub projects. In these instances, I find authors will rely on me to provide the same level of service to their self-pub careers that I provide to their trad-pub careers.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to answer some questions and give general direction, but I can’t be editing manuscripts, offering feedback, and brainstorming strategies on projects that will never make me money. It just isn’t smart business on my end, and I need my hybrid authors to understand that.

3. When authors compare the trad process with the self-pub process as though they should be identical.

They aren’t identical! And they never will be! And because of that, authors right now are able to run a hybrid operation that is the best of both worlds. But once you have an author who feels as though one side is grossly better than the other and who starts to compare the two and complain about this or that not being fair or right, you’re on a bad path.

In these instances I’ve found that no amount of pep talk or facts or advice will pull the author out of this mindset. They’re on a collision course that will drastically change their career to be solely a self-pub model. There’s nothing wrong with that if it’s the right choice. But for many, they really benefit from having some traditional contacts and support. So comparing both markets as though they should be the same can be dangerous.

4. When authors ignore advice.

While I try to stay out of my authors’ self-pub operations, there are times when they ask me for my thoughts on their projects or plans.

I’m quite familiar with self-publishing (I’ve done it myself and have helped numerous authors upload dozens and dozens of books), so I have a respectable opinion on the matter…which is probably why I don’t appreciate it when my authors achieve a bit of self-pub success and then think that I don’t know what I’m talking about when I flag a book cover as being “unclear” or a title as being “unsearchable” or a pricing strategy as being too expensive.

Believe me, I wouldn’t be providing my opinion on something that provides me no direct monetary gain unless I really thought that my input was helpful and important.

5. When authors join an “anti-traditional publishing community.”

There are lots of communities and blogs online that seem to solely exist to tear down traditional publishing while simultaneously puffing up the indie market. Everyone is privy to their own opinion, but I am definitely bothered when I have an author join these ranks even though he/she is in the midst of a traditional book deal! It lacks tact and is a slap in the face to the editors and professionals working on the book at the traditional house.

So there you have it! I’m a huge fan of hybrid publishing (check out the series I did on it) but there are definitely pitfalls to avoid if you want to explore your options while keeping your agent diligently working hard on your behalf.

So, what do you think? Which direction do you want to take your career? How did you choose?

About Amanda

Amanda Luedeke is an agent with MacGregor Literary.

A former marketing professional, her book The Extroverted Writer is a practical tool for understanding Facebook, Twitter, blogging and more. Download it now for $2.99 or check out the print version.

Kathryn Craft

Turning Whine Into Gold

As writers, we are used to making choices on behalf of our characters. As characters in our own life stories, though, we also make choices. We set a goal, pursue it until we come to a fork in the road, and then deal with the changes and challenges this new direction brings to our lives.

Hands down, the goal that inspires the most rabid pursuit among writers is to see their work through to publication. Note “rabid.” Since rabies is an infectious disease that creates unquenchable thirst and madness, and the treatment is painful, it behooves us to look at our choices in a healthy way.

First, let’s be clear: despite the rancor often found on the front between the indie vs traditional camps, this is publishing, not war. No one is holding a gun to your head. You have entered this publication story’s plot of your own accord and can leave at any time.

You always have a choice.

In fact, the number of publishing choices for authors nowadays is unprecedented, a fact that in itself is anxiety producing! People bank on the fact that each choice will lead to “King”-sized income and best-sellerdom. It could—I’m not trying to take that dream away from anyone. Heck, I have that dream too! But let’s look at the cold, hard math:

(Assuming: same # of readers consuming same # of books)

divided by

(unprecedented # of authors getting published in an unprecedented # of ways)

= fewer readers per author.

No amount of wishful thinking can change that math.

Oh, but we want to blame someone for it, don’t we? This is where disease sets in.

But there’s an antidote for the soul-rot caused by blame. I covered the first steps to take beyond emotional reaction last month, so we could deal with our anger before spewing it all over social media. But when met with an unexpected plot twist we aren’t just going to sit in the road adapting while any old truck comes down the pike to hit us, are we? Heck no—this is our career we’re talking about.

When change provides new information, we must choose again.

How quickly we disempower ourselves by saying we “had” to go in a certain direction! If you are one who is “defaulting” to self-publishing, what you are doing is deciding to put yourself out of the misery of waiting, and choosing to take on the misery of an outcome that was less than your goal. Think of the word “de-fault”: it sounds like there’s blame hiding in there, doesn’t it?

After owning a few small businesses, I know that disempowerment is not the foundation you want to build on. You are the brand, and people want to believe in you. Being an author requires an entrepreneurial spirit, self-published or not, and to think otherwise is to live in another century.

Incontrovertible truth: You will never be able to drive forward while looking back!

There is no reason to park your creativity at the door when it comes to your publishing choices. After all, even a fork in the road has many tines, right? A choice isn’t always either/or. The language of “choice” will empower you. Here’s an example, using the self-pub default example:

I can’t get an agent/I’m too old to wait for an agent. I’ll have to self-publish.

• You could choose to stand firm and continue to submit the same, always-improving project to agents in other geographic areas.

• You could choose to start a new project and resubmit to see if agents deem it more marketable (once an offer comes through, multiple completed projects are a huge bonus—and in the time it takes to write the new novel, a new spate of hungry young agents will have arrived on-scene).

• You could choose to up your game by learning more about writing and storytelling and publishing. Knowledge breeds confidence!

• You could choose to submit to one of the many small and micro publishers that you can access without an agent.

• You could choose to begin an education in the many aspects of book production and marketing and see if the self-publishing option beckons to you. If it doesn’t, you will be that much more knowledgeable about publishing when the offer comes. If it does, you have an exciting new career option!

“Exciting new career option” sounds a lot better than “default,” right? I know people who have taken each of these paths and called it a win—because after considering many options, they owned and fully embraced the choice they made.

It is my opinion that fiction writing makes authors more empathetic people. We deal daily in human failings, deep motivations, emotional scars, and irrevocable change. Why not extend some of that empathy to ourselves? Make the choice, today, to let the protagonist in the story of your life own his or her own path. After all, you chose it.

To what aspects of your life do you feel enslaved? Do you “have” to work a day job, or care for an elderly parent? How could choice language help you honor the part of yourself that holds to this agreement?

 About Kathryn:

Kathryn Craft is the author of two novels from Sourcebooks: The Art of Falling, and The Far End of Happy, due May 2015.

Her work as a developmental editor at Writing-Partner.com, specializing in storytelling structure and writing craft, follows a nineteen-year career as a dance critic. Long a leader in the southeastern Pennsylvania writing scene, she now serves as book club liaison for the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. She hosts lakeside writing retreats for women in northern New York State, leads workshops, and speaks often about writing.

Kathryn lives with her husband in Bucks County, PA. Although a member of The Liars Club, she swears that everything in this bio is true.

Website: http://www.kathryncraft.com/