AiIP: Let's Talk

Grab a seat. We need to talk. It's about something I usually avoid talking about, for a variety of reasons. But it's something that should be addressed, so we're going to talk about it.

First, though, story time. This is a third hand story, so take it with appropriate grains of salt and/or the spice of your choice.

Back before 3024AD came out, I was talking to a co-worker at that time, telling him about my goals. He related the story of a relative who wrote a book, and was offered a book deal with a solid five-figure advance- on the condition that the protagonist was male- not female, as she had written. She refused, and her book remains unpublished.

For a lot of people, for a five-figure advance, they would change their main character to a cucumber. Hell, if you've sent off fifty or sixty queries, you might do it for a whole lot less than that.

There is a lot to be said about the cons of self-publishing- I've covered a ton here, and on ye olde Deanfortythree(e) blog- editing issues, cover art, overall stories- but there are some definite pros, and this is one of them.

Hear Cap's immortal line "I'm always picking up after myself!"

Because- for whatever reason- there is a fantastic lack of diversity in publishing. The optimist in me (he's in there, I promise) wants to think this is unintentional, just coincidence, but... come on. People will talk about how we should read more diverse authors (correctly), but walk into a bookstore and grab one hundred random books. How many are written by non-straight-white-men? Twenty? Maybe forty if you grabbed a bunch from the romance section? The problem lies higher up than the reader, or the bookstore. It lies with publishers who select what gets published, what gets marketed and how much. The ones who decide that, no, that protagonist just won't sell.

But if you're publishing your own work (or working with a smaller press), you don't answer to those people. You answer to yourself, and to your readers. You can write what-who-ever the hell you want.

Because, here's the thing: I'm a straight(ish) white dude. I'm kind of (totally) in the majority here. But I can't change that, and I'm not going to stop writing, either, so what can I do? The same thing anyone can- write something. Write something diverse, something other than the same thing that's been written for a looooong ass time.

I'm probably not perfect at this, but I doubt there's a perfect formula at all. Stories and books will lose a lot if all you worry about if the literary equivalent of affirmative action. But stories will gain much more if authors take a few moments and make their characters more diverse. It will make for richer backgrounds, deeper characters and better books.

And no one will tell you to change it.

-DESR

Dean is the author of the 3024AD series of science fiction stories. You can read his other ramblings and musings on a variety of topics (mostly writing) on his blog. When not holed up in his office
tweeting obnoxiously writing, he can be found watching or playing sports, or in his natural habitat of a bookstore.

BLOGTABLE: Impending Doom!

Welcome to this month's Blogtable! I'm Dean E.S. Richard, and I will be your host this month. For those of you who may not know me, I write (primarily) science fiction, including the 3024AD Short Stories and the short story 'Far', which you can read for free this week over at QuarterReads. I also love to drink and cook, and even venture outside to snowboard or kayak. Primarily, I am obnoxious on Twitter. But enough about me. Time to meet your respondents:

Respondent the First: SEAN E. WILLIAMS is the NEW YORK TIMES best selling writer of FAIREST: THE RETURN OF THE MAHARAJA for Vertigo, THE VAMPIRE DIARIES and SENSATION COMICS for DC Comics, ARTFUL DAGGERS for Monkeybrain Comics and IDW Publishing, and more. He co-founded the comics publishing company Comicker LLC, which launched with its Comicker Digital label in 2015. You can find him at seanewilliams.com, or on Twitter at @sean_e_williams. Comicker Digital can be found at ComickerDigital.com, or on Twitter at @ComickerLLC.

Respondent the Second: E. Catherine Tobler's fiction has appeared in Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, and SciFiction.  She was a Sturgeon Award nominee in 2013, and is currently senior editor at Shimmer Magazine. Her first novel, Rings of Anubis, is now available. For more visit www.ecatherine.com. Buy her book here.

Respondent the Third: Scott Whitmore Scott is an avid reader, and his most excellent review blog can be found here. He is just past what some may consider the midpoint of life (51 53), but likes to think he is still open-minded and (at least) partially aware of what’s going on in the world of pop culture. He has also written two three novels, his most recent being Green Zulu Five One. (ed: Update your blog bio, Scott)

In Which Dean Ponders the IMPENDING DOOM of publishing!

Prompt: Nearly any commentary on publishing these days reads like a 1950's science fiction movie poster. AMAZON! INDIE PRESS! INTERNET OUTRAGE! LACK OF DIVERSITY! Lost in that mess, it seems, is the fact that people actually read a lot. It's fairly safe to assume people will keep doing so. But in what fashion? Is there a way all the present options can coexist?

Those questions come with myriad options, so let's attempt to narrow them down for the purposes of this post:

1. With the massive variety of reading options out there (ebook stores, WattPad and the like, etc), is there a way to ensure the average reader will get a quality product, or does the medium benefit from a near-total lack of gatekeepers?

2. How, in said mess of options, can authors effectively reach and build an audience for their works?

To our respondents!

Sean: The lack of gatekeepers is a huge benefit in a lot of ways, as it allows for series that might not exist otherwise to reach the marketplace. For example, there's a large call for more diversity in YA fiction (well, in every storytelling medium), but publishers are slow to change their ways, partly because they don't know how well they'll sell, but also because they don't know how to market diverse titles.  I've seen this firsthand as a creator.  Luckily, the tide is starting to turn, like with a majority of the top-selling titles in Marvel's Buy-One-Get-One sale at comiXology being female-led series.  Things are getting better, and having an open marketplace showed that that was possible, and that it was needed.

As far as the quality question goes, readers know what they can expect quality-wise from larger publishers, such as DC or IDW.  It's something we're going for at Comicker as well.  But regardless of if it's self-published or published by the Big 2, user reviews are what people look to nowadays - either in comments, ratings, or via social media. If something's bad, people will let other people know.  It's the whole Yelp phenomenon - people will post a review if they don't like something, but they won't necessarily if they DO like it.  That's why I personally aim to only make recommendations via social media - there's so much negativity out there, I'd rather lift up the quality books than try to cut down books I don't enjoy as much.

One of the reasons I co-founded Comicker, and one of the reasons we launched with our Comicker Digital label, is because digital offers the biggest audience, and one that's growing. There are huge swaths of this country (and the world, in fact) that don't have a good comic shop or book store within driving distance, but tablets are becoming commonplace.  There's no shortage of readers out there, and from what I can see, there's no shortage of quality creators either.  There's room for everyone.

E. Catherine: "Quality product" can be defined in many ways, of course--what one reader finds to be quality, another may not. I would point anyone toward recent Hugo Award controversies as evidence of recent battles over quality, what does and does not "deserve" to have a place at the table. What one editor does not care for will find a home with another; the same is true of readers. What one person loves, another will loathe.

If gate-keepers are defined as editors and publishers, I don't think those are going to vanish any time soon, even among those who choose to self-publish. Certainly there are authors who won't bother, wanting to get their work into the market as soon as possible, but fortunately we live in an age of being able to read a sample before we purchase (oh gosh, we can do that in bookstores, too!), so readers can still determine if a work meets their own definition of quality before purchase.

If I knew the answer to the second question, about authors building and reaching an audience, I would surely be rich by now. I think audience attention is divided now more than ever--there's so much of everything. Video games and TV shows and movies and comics and tabletop games and apps and music. When everything and everyone is striving to be on top of the pile and have their voice be the loudest, it's overwhelming. I think authors have to trust that they will find their audience even if it takes a while. Love what you do, because that will come through in how you promote and speak of it to others.

Scott: I don’t think it is possible to *guarantee* readers get a quality product. First off, everyone has their own opinion on what constitutes quality. I dislike typos, but honestly if I’m paying $1-3 for an Indie author eBook I’m a lot more tolerant than I would be of a traditionally published eBook costing $10-15. As long as the story is good, I’ll give the benefit of the doubt to the Indie writer because I know what it’s like facing the choice of hiring an editor or paying your mortgage. (PS: I find typos in Trad Pub books all the time, too.)

The wide-open nature of the field these days certainly favors Indie writers. Anyone with a computer and a little knowledge can publish a book (eBook or paperback) and sell it on the web. Anyone lacking the computer and/or knowledge can hire someone with those things to publish a book for them. I’ve helped a couple people do it for free. Personally, I like that it has become easy for people to express themselves creatively.

Now, for readers this is a Good News/Not So Good News situation. There are many, many more books to choose from, some exploring topics previously ignored by Trad Pub (which usually focuses on playing it safe over being inventive) and this is Good. But having so many options can be overwhelming, paralyzing readers who just want to easily find a good book, and that is Not Good. Generally Indie books are much less expensive and that is Good. Stories that are poorly written or technical deficient, and there will be some (many?), are Not Good.

Now may be a good spot to discuss reviews. Ideally, reviews should help readers and writers equally, steering consumers to works they are likely to enjoy while letting substandard authors know they need to work harder. Unfortunately, we all know there is a lot of “gaming the system.” Recently, I’ve seen a surge in the number of websites offering glowing reviews for a fee, and I have been contacted a couple times by writers suggesting a “5-star swap” in which I praise their book and they praise mine. There are even books on how to set up “review circles” and create false personas for writing multiple reviews of the same book. Looking past these ethical lapses, even honest reviews from readers can be misleading and/or useless. My favorite is a one-star review of a novella featuring space ships on the cover: “Too much sci-fi.” One may wonder why the reviewer bought the book in the first place but the bottom line is the review tells me nothing about whether the book is worth my money. 

As to the second point, if I knew, I’d be driving a much sexier car than my 2007 Dodge (Ed: Yeah, right).

Ok, seriously, I think it starts with the writing. The cliché is “the cream rises to the top.” Your story must be compelling, inventive, exciting, mind-blowing, engaging, cool — pick an adjective. What comes next is a bit of a “chicken or the egg” deal. When the story is good enough, you’re going to get readers who will want to tell someone they know about it, and maybe write a positive, useful review, too. But to create that lovely word of mouth you’ve first got to get the story in front as many mouths (and eyes) as possible. Social media blitzes, free giveaways, contests, and targeted adverts are all options. But remember how egalitarian the whole deal is these days? Yeah, everyone else is doing the same things. How to stand out in such a crowded field? I just don’t know (see above re: my Dodge).

AiIP: Raising the Hachette

At first blush, the Amazon/Hachette flap has little bearing on the world of indie publishing. After all, they're one of the BIG FIVE that the independent author seeks to be, well, independent of. And surely, as that Guardian article points out, it's not as if Hachette is without resources, whereas your run-of-the-mill indie author is pretty much a one person show.

So where's the connection? It ties back to my whole anti-Amazon thing lately. I don't actually believe that Amazon is evil in and of themselves- I believe they are trying to make money, and are going to do what makes them (or what they believe will) the most money. While bookselling is a pretty noble profession, there's a reason they're not just given away- we're all trying to make a living here. Where it crosses the line for Amazon, as it does for anyone, is when it ends up being greedy and all-consuming.

Kindle is not the only E-reader out there

That this is going to happen is a reality of business. But, again, the author-publisher is trying to make a living as well, and Amazon has catered to that in a way that can ensnare all of us in a net. Amazon- along with (at least very nearly) every other ebookseller out there- offers the author publisher a 70% cut of a sale. You don't have to be an accountant or industry expert to know this is pretty damn good. There's not even a lot of fine print a bait-and-switch; it is what it says it is. So what's the problem?

It comes in the form of what is happening with Hachette- if Amazon controls the market, it holds all the cards, and why on earth will they give away money when they don't have to? To the point at hand, if everyone registered on KDP received an email stating that in 30 days, that cut would change from 70% to 50% or 30%, what recourse would the indie community have to protect themselves? As one would expect, it is stated in the Terms & Conditions (yes, I read them) that they may be changed at any time, and as regards royalties and grants:

2 Agreement Amendment. The Program will change over time and the terms of this Agreement will need to change over time as well. We reserve the right to change the terms of this Agreement at any time in our sole discretion. We will give you notice of the changes by posting new terms in place of the old at http://kdp.amazon.com/ and http://kdp.amazon.co.jp/ with a revision date indicated at the top or by sending an email to the email address then registered for your Program account. Here are the rules for when changes will be effective and binding on you:

2.1 Changes to Agreement Terms Other than Those in Sections 5.4.1 (Royalties) and 5.5 (Grant of Rights). Changes to terms of this Agreement other than those contained in Section 5.4.1 (Royalties) and 5.5 (Grant of Rights) will be effective on the date we post them, unless we otherwise provide at the time we post the changes. You are responsible for checking for updates and your continued use of the Program after we post changes will constitute your acceptance of the changes. If you do not agree to the changes, you must withdraw your Digital Books from further distribution through the Program and terminate your use of the Program.

2.2 Changes to the Terms of Sections 5.4.1 (Royalties) and 5.5 (Grant of Rights). Changes to terms of this Agreement contained in Sections 5.4.1 (Royalties) and 5.5 (Grant of Rights) will be effective and binding on you on the date 30 days from posting or on the date you accept the changes, whichever first occurs. You accept the changes by either (a) clicking agree or accept where you're given the option to do so or (b) by using the Program to make additional Digital Books available through the Program. Changes to the terms of Sections 5.4.1 and 5.5 will only apply prospectively with respect to Digital Books sold after the date thirty days from our posting of the changes, unless you accept the changes as provided above. If you do not accept the changes, you must withdraw your Digital Books from further distribution through the Program and terminate your use of the Program prior to the date thirty days from our posting of the changes. Note that we may make acceptance of changes a condition to continued use of the Program.

This is, in a nutshell, why I would like to see both consumers and authors diversify when it comes to bookselling, and see indie bookstores find a way to have happier marriage of the two (and for a lot of self-published authors to, you know, suck less). If people are buying books other places, and authors are going get a bigger cut other places if the bottom drops, Amazon will not have the leverage to drop royalties. As the caption to the image in that Guardian article referenced earlier states, selling Hachette titles is one of the things that has made Amazon the bookseller it is. Indie authors are another- but unlike with Hachette, Amazon has all the cards.

-DESR

Dean is the author of 3024AD and other stories, engineer, and geek about many things. He lives and writes in the Pacific Northwest. You can listen to him ramble on Twitter and muse on his blog.

ROUNDTABLE: New Short Fiction Markets

We're proud to present our very first roundtable! Today's theme is New Short Fiction Markets in SF/F, and we've gathered some deserving folks to chat about their ventures and the short fiction space in general. Our participants:

R. Leigh Hennig of Bastion Science Fiction Magazine.

Leigh tells us he's a recent transplant from Rura Penthe, er, Rochester, NY to Seattle. He works as a network engineer by day, and when he’s not working on Bastion in the night, he’s writing his own short stories as well. He’s also an avid soccer fanatic (center back for his Tuesday night team — a defensive rock, and about as fast as one as well) and is probably more dedicated to Arsenal than the Pope is to Jesus. Bastion specializes in science fiction.

 Iulian Ionescu of Fantasy Scroll Magazine.

Iulian was born and raised in Bucharest, Romania, where he earned a Bachelor’s in Finance before moving to the U.S. during 2001. He is a writer of fantasy and science fiction and to date has published a little over a dozen short stories in various markets (and is currently working on two fantasy novels and a sci/fi series). In addition to holding down a day job and working as Editor of Fantasy Scroll Magazine, Iulian runs a writing blog and a personal blog. Fantasy Scroll features fantasy, science fiction, horror, and paranormal fiction.

Ana Grilo and Thea James of Book Smugglers Publishing.

Ana and Thea are among the best bloggers writing about SF/F, and as an outgrowth of this experience, have just announced a new short fiction venture--Book Smugglers Publishing. Like many foolhardy ideas, they inform us, The Book Smugglers was born of a time of great adversity. Faced with threats from their significant others concerning the overwhelming volume of books purchased on a daily basis, Ana and Thea resorted to "smuggling" books home in huge handbags to avoid scrutiny. In 2008, the devious duo founded The Book Smugglers--a review blog dedicated to speculative and genre fiction for all ages, and an outlet for Ana and Thea's bottomless obsession with books and assorted SF/F popgeekery. In 2014, after successfully editing Speculative Fiction 2013, they decided to continue to find and publish the best and brightest voices in SF/F. Book Smugglers Publishing will feature stories from across SF/F, with a special focus on YA and Middle Grade-level fiction.

***

What made you decide to start publishing short fiction? Tell us the story behind your magazines.

R. Leigh Hennig (Bastion Science Fiction Magazine) - I’ve always been big into short stories, both as a reader and writer. I’d been in the community a while. As a reader, I wanted more. As a writer, I know how frustrating it is trying to get your work published. I wanted to do things differently. I wanted to do something that mattered to people. There’s a wealth of great stories being written, but it’s hard for a writer to get noticed. I decided that I wanted to be part of that process, of finding and publishing these fantastic works. The magazine was only natural.

Iulian Ionescu (Fantasy Scroll Magazine) - I grew up reading a lot of short stories, mostly anthologies and less-known magazines. At some point I switched to long fiction and I think that for the most part of my life I kind of forgot about short stories. That is, until I got back into writing after a hiatus of many years. I had started with not one, but two novels, and as I pushed through I found it rather hard. That's when I decided to take a step back and rediscovered short stories. I joined a critique group and I started to write them. I felt rusty and I needed practice and short stories gave me just that: the ability to write a lot of different things, fast, and get feedback so I could learn from my mistakes. I think that most writers go through this process where short-fiction becomes a stepping-stone for longer works. At that time I understood the value of short fiction for writers, and I also re-learned how to love reading short fiction. Starting a magazine was just a normal step from there.

Thea James (Book Smugglers Publishing): Book Smugglers Publishing isn't a magazine, per se - we're actually aiming to publish standalone short stories online, in ebook format, and limited (collectible) print editions with possible e- and p- book anthologies in the future. Both Ana and I have been reviewing mostly long fiction for years, but recently have been exploring and really enjoying the diversity and flexibility offered in the short fiction format. And, as we recently have finished editing a series of short nonfiction articles and essays for Speculative Fiction 2013, we felt like this was a very natural next step for us and for The Book Smugglers.

How do you see your outlets fitting into the overall market for short science fiction and fantasy?

Iulian (FSM) – If you really start looking into it, you'll realize very fast that there aren't a lot of markets out there. A quick search on Duotrope reveals less than 300 markets that take speculative short stories. Then, if you start breaking them down by their specific guidelines, the list gets shorter and shorter. In addition to that, a lot of markets are extremely busy and they take sometimes many months to reply. So new authors are faced with the reality of a few, slow-responding markets. From that perspective, any new market adds to the mix and provides a new, hopefully fresh, place for writers to submit their work.

I am a writer myself and I've had my share of interactions with markets of all kinds and all levels. When I started my magazine, I thought of it as a new place for new authors. Of course I will publish known names, but I really wanted to be in the business of discovering new talent. I also strive to reply as fast as I can, especially to rejections - time is precious and I don't want to waste the authors'.

Publishing known authors is a multi-faceted idea: on one side, I want to pay a tribute to those writers whose works I've enjoyed year after year, and who ultimately drove me to being a story teller. On the other side, the well known authors create a certain cachet for the new authors, who now share pages with some major writers. Last, but not least, and this is sad but true - it takes time for a magazine to create a good readership that would allow it to survive as a business. By publishing well known authors, the magazine can get on its feet a bit faster, create more buzz, and attract more readers and writers.

Ana Grilo (BSP): One of the things we find most exciting about the overall market for short fiction is the field's diversity. It is possible to find all kinds of SFF short stories, from authors with all sorts of different backgrounds. We want to be a part of this growing field of speculative fiction, and we want to be able to find and provide a space for diverse short stories.

Like Iulian, we are aiming to publish a mix of new and well-established authors. More specifically, we are keen on expanding the existing market to include more Young Adult and Middle Grade short stories. So much excellent science fiction and fantasy is being written in these categories, and we’d love to help short stories in these categories get discovered and read by the larger speculative fiction audience!

Leigh (BSFM) - I agree with Iulian in that there really aren’t as many science fiction markets out there as you might think, and the ones that do exist usually are extremely difficult to get published in and can take several months before you hear anything. Maybe ours will end up the same way some time far in the future, since part of the reason these larger and more well established markets take so long is because of the volume of submissions they receive. I hope not, though. I’d like to stay true to how we’ve started: meaningful responses to submissions in a reasonable amount of time. For now though, I’m satisfied with the role that we fulfill. 7-9 stories per issue really is a lot, and it gives us the opportunity to expose more authors. I also think that given what we charge, it’s a really good value.

As Ana said, we’re always excited to publish new authors. Having experienced authors is nice and may help with readership, but to me finding those authors who have never been published before is more exciting than publishing someone who’s a regular in the larger markets. The discovery process is a really cool one to be involved in.

What are the major issues or problems you perceive in the marketplace for short SF/F? How do new markets, like yours, help address these issues?

Thea (BPS) - We love how the short story market has traditionally been a vehicle that allows authors to experiment with creative storytelling and challenge the SF/F status quo. That said, we've noticed two gaps in the market that we hope Book Smugglers Publishing could help address:

The first problem that we've noticed isn't necessarily with the short story marketplace, but the long fiction market - where we perceive there to be a lack of people finding, reading, and talking about great SF/F that extends beyond the realm of "white heroic western civilization-based dude saves the world." The second gap we've noticed directly pertains to the short story market in that we believe a strong majority of standalone SF/F short stories tend to be written for an adult audience - there's little we could find for middle grade or young adult readers outside of specific anthologies or interstitial novellas for longer YA series'.

With Book Smugglers Publishing, we have the goal of publishing diverse SFF stories for readers of all ages - middle grade, young adult, and adult.

Leigh (BFSM) - Thea brought up a good point, about short fiction allowing authors the ability to experiment and do things they might not otherwise have the chance to do. I think a problem with science fiction right now is that there’s an established set of rules and formats that exist and if a story doesn’t comply with those rules, then they might be met with resistance. Don’t get me wrong: stories still have to be good, but I think science fiction could use some younger eyes, ones that aren’t as entrenched in how things were typical done. You have to be willing to give new ideas and authors a chance. Bastion does that. We publish things that others might pass over. That’s not to say that we’re “experimental”, but we’re not bound by tradition. At the same time though, we draw heavily upon the groundwork that was laid by markets and authors during the “golden age” of science fiction. It’s a tricky balance to maintain.

Iulian (FSM) - I think both Thea and Leigh touched upon the existing standards that tend to narrow the writers' possibilities. With established markets with stable readership those standards are going to feel less flexible and more stiff. That's normal. A magazine cannot shift too far away from their roots, or it risks loosing readers. But new markets such as ours, have the advantage of starting with clean slate, and somewhat from scratch. Yes, we do abide to certain SF/F standards, but I believe we have the luxury of being a little bit more open to new things. I won't call it experimental either, but different, if you will. I also agree with Thea that overtime the SF/F market forgot about young readers and is very much focused on adults. Whereas my magazine doesn't specifically target middle-grade, we are striving to publish stories that apply to younger readers as well. By doing that we open up to a wider readership and give writers a new sub-market to target.

What do you look for in a story?

Thea (BPS) – We look for skillfully established, believable world-building. We look for resonant and genuine characters. We look for creative storytelling techniques, subversive themes that challenge established norms, and diverse perspectives regarding gender, sexual orientation, race, religion and cultural background. We look for a story that combines all of these elements into a single, cohesive, irresistible package.

Leigh (BFSM) - We look for pretty much exactly what Thea just said they look for. Particularly the bits about genuine characters (and with that, genuine, realistic dialog) and creativity, along with diversity. A big thing for us is whether or not a story is compelling. It has to be emotionally engaging. Don’t make me feel like it’s a chore to read, or that it’s boring. We look for the kinds of stories that you read and as you go along you almost skip words, falling over yourself trying to see what happens next. We want to read stories that do more than describe visuals. This is probably the worst — where a story gets so caught up in describing how cool they think something looks, with holographic interfaces and such. We also look for stories about life. So often we get stories dealing with death. It’s an easy emotion to play at, so it becomes old hat, but when we engaging stories about life, upbeat stories, those are terrific.

Iulian (FSM) - For me a good story is a three-legged structure: plot, character, emotion. If any of those three is missing, the story will fall short for me. When I say plot, I mean an engaging story where something happens. I am not looking for slice of life stories, or overly philosophical dissertations. Something must happen and it has to be interesting. For characters, I am looking for well-rounded, three-dimensional people who either want something, or change somehow. A character arc gives an extra dimension to a story and ties in really well with the last leg - emotion. A story must create an emotional spark in the reader, otherwise it won't work for me. If a writer manages to do these well, the story will most likely be accepted. Of course, since my magazine publishes speculative fiction, every story needs to have a speculative element and it must feel as an integral part of it, not tacked-on just for the sake of it.

Along these lines, how important is “branding” or cultivating an “identity?” Should markets simply look for the best fiction available or those that conform to a coherent “vision” or reflect a certain aesthetic?

Iulian (FSM) – When it comes to the branding, I think the concept is very important for a magazine. And it goes both ways: a bad brand will not attract good writers and vice versa. Take the examples of magazines like Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, or Asimov's. In different ways they all have established themselves in the marketplace as "high quality." Markets that fail to do that slowly wither and die. The same rule of offer and demand as in any economic phenomena applies to the fiction markets as well. If a market pays well, accepts good stories, has a professional look and feel, and interacts with its readers using the most modern technology, that market will be embraced by both writers and readers.

As for the "best fiction" aspect, I think it's a fine line. I've received stories that were great, but their speculative element was rather invisible, or the story was better suited for a children's market than an adult's market. In that case, I reject the manuscript and I direct the writer to some alternatives.

So, on one hand I always look for great fiction, but on the other hand I do filter it to match my vision for the magazine. Remember that this vision is what the readers use to categorize it in their minds. After a while they will expect the same over and over again. You can get by with sprinkling things from the left field every now and then, but if you start to steer too far away from your original vision, you might loose readers. Unless you have a very clear marketing plan in mind to replace those readers, such a move could be detrimental, if not fatal, to a magazine.

Ana (BSP) - One defining quality of our blog is its eclectic nature: as readers and reviewers, Thea and I will review practically anything in terms of categories, topics and genres. I guess you can call that our “identity” and we hope our publishing endeavor will reflect this eclecticism. We want to offer a bit of everything, from audiences ranging from Middle Grade to Adult, in any subgenre that falls under the speculative fiction umbrella. We are of course looking for the “best fiction available”—aren’t we all? But instead of publishing the same types of stories over and over again, we hope to offer something new and fresh with each round of short stories that we publish. To facilitate that freshness, we're coming up with different themes for each round of short stories we accept in a given "season." This first round is focused on subversive fairy tales, for example. That’s our vision: diversity, eclecticism, and variety.

Leigh (BFSM) - We’re very aware of how aesthetics plays a role in a market’s image. Bastion has a very specific image we’re going for, and I think it’s important that remain consistent on our site, and for our covers. As for the stories themselves however, we like to be a little more diverse. We’re trying to make sure that each issue has something for everyone, so while some may expect us to publish hard SF, my hope is that folks will be pleasantly surprised by the wider range of our stories. You still need quality, as Iulian says, but (within reason) maybe that means something a little different for everyone, so we’re trying to appeal to a wider audience. We don’t cast as nearly a wide net as Book Smugglers Publishing does — “science fiction” is in our magazine’s name, after all — but there’s going to be more here than what some might expect. Some might not be expecting this. In fact I heard from one person that our May issue wasn’t what they expected, and I think they already had a vision in their mind for what they wanted. While I’m confident that we’ve delivered really great science fiction (and others do agree), perhaps they were expecting coffee and instead had tea, if you understand my meaning.

Where do you see yourselves in, say, five years? What do you hope to accomplish and what do you perceive to be the major challenges ahead?

Leigh (BFSM) – Five years is a long way off. It’s hard to predict what may happen in that long of a window. I will say that I have no intention of easing off the throttle, however. I set out to make Bastion a professional market with professional recognition, a place where authors can be proud to have been published. I won’t be stopping until I’ve achieved that. The biggest challenge we face right now is simply recognition. We’re new, so almost no one knows about us. It takes time to develop a readership. We’ll get there though. Count on it.

Iulian (FSM) - When I started I set my goal to become a market that pays professional rates within 3 years. In our first year, 2014, I started with a quarterly publication, paying semi-pro rates. Next year I hope to raise the number of issues to 6 and perhaps increase the rates a little bit. By the third year, my goal is to have a monthly publication that pays professional rates. The challenge is being able to take the content and turn it into a business. There are many things to consider: getting a solid readership, being competitive in prices, providing high quality materials, convincing sponsors to feature ads on your site, and so on. I have adopted a model where I put everything online for free for a while. After some time the older content will only be available for a price, where new content will continue to be available for free. I am sure my model will suffer many changes over the years, as I am trying to do the best for the readers, the writers, and also for the business.

Thea (BPS): Ultimately, we want Book Smugglers Publishing to encompass not just short SF/F stories, but long form novels and commentary, too! In five years, we hope to have established ourselves as a publishing entity, putting forward interesting and diverse works of speculative fiction, written for audiences of all ages, in varying lengths, and format types. Like Bastion and Fantasy Scroll, we're new, so getting recognition and building cache as a publisher will take time - but we're confident that we can find the right SF/F stories and put those stories in front of hungry, eager audiences.

Is Amazon Engaging in Predatory Behavior?

In light of both its legal victories and underwhelming earnings reports, it should come as no surprise that retail giant Amazon would seek to increase revenue and profit in its core bookselling business. One element of that has been to negotiate a better deal from publishers. Yet it has, just as predictably, faced resistance from major publishers—most of which have their own financial problems. Recently, an impasse in negotiations between Amazon and Hachette has apparently led the former to sanction the latter.

This has created a firestorm. The great bulk of commentary has blamed Amazon for employing “bully” tactics. Writers in particular have been up in arms, alleging that Amazon’s tactics target them unfairly. But how predatory is Amazon being? I’ll break down its individual practices and assess each one as either “fair practice” or “predatory,” and score appropriately.

Moreover, in the spirit of our “math-based” analysis, I’ll add scores for how fair or how predatory each practice is, according to the following scale:

1.00: Completely Fair
0.75 – 0.99: Highly Fair
0.50 – 0.74: Fair
0.25 – 0.49: Predatory
0.01 – 0.24: Highly Predatory
0.00: Completely Predatory


The Individual Practices

1. Eliminating discounts on Hachette titles

Assessment: Fair/predatory: 0.75

Reason: Amazon is not obliged to discount anything. It does so to spur sales, but at the expense of profit per unit sold. If it doesn’t discount new releases, well, that just puts its prices on par with those you might find at the local bookshop. While Hachette books may lose sales relative to those from other publishers, all Amazon is doing here is selling them at the price recommended by Hachette.

Suggesting customers look at books sold at a lower price instead (from rival publishers) is a bit below the belt, but it’s not all that different from a bricks-and-mortar store having a special display shelf for discounted books. A bit different, but not completely different.

2. Making customers wait 1-4 weeks before shipping Hachette books

Assessment: Fair/predatory: 0.33

Reason: Amazon has claimed to at least one author that this is Hachette’s fault, but I don’t believe that for a second. After all, Hachette is more dependent on Amazon than Amazon is on Hachette. It’s far more likely that Amazon is just not making the same effort to get Hachette books into customers’ hands as they would with, say, Macmillan.

In one sense, this is just as fair as eliminating discounts—after all, Amazon doesn’t have to get you books quickly; you just expect them to, because they usually do. On the other hand, this practice is hurting authors, as well as customers in areas that aren’t well serviced by bricks-and-mortar shops.

3. Click-baiting customers seeking Hachette titles only to present them with #s 1 and 2

Assessment: Fair/predatory: 0.00

Reason: Say you want to buy Michael Sullivan’s Theft of Swords. Google it and guess who turns up as search result #1? That may be innocuous in and of itself, but at one point, if you clicked, you'd come to an Amazon page that promptly asked if you'd prefer to buy something discounted. And published by someone other than Hachette. The banners appear to have been taken down now, which is a good thing. But who knows for how long...

To be fair, Amazon does have its defenders on this front, most notably author and self-publishing evangelist Hugh Howey, who argues that Amazon is behaving no differently from other companies embroiled in contractual negotations, citing a Barnes & Noble directing to cease stocking Simon & Schuster products (Howey’s publisher).

But as David Strietwell writes in the New York Times:

There is, however, a big difference between those earlier incidents and what is happening now. Independent bookstores broke with tradition in 2012 and decided not to sell books published by Amazon. That was their choice. And if customers chose as a result not to shop there, that was their choice. It’s a free country.

But Amazon is not saying it is dropping all Hachette books. Instead, it’s as if Barnes & Noble had run ads for Mr. Howey’s “Wool” last spring and then, when an eager customer came in to buy it, said there were no copies available but how about a copy of Philip K. Dick’s “The Penultimate Truth” — another dystopia about a community living underground — instead?

That sounds like bait and switch, something the Federal Trade Commission frowns on as deceptive.

Final Tally

Fair/Predatory Quotient: 0.36.
Conclusion: Predatory.

There’s no doubt in my mind—Amazon appears to be engaging in predatory behavior. And it’s not the first time or the only area in which they act that way. As our indie publishing columnist Dean pointed out last year, Amazon can be as difficult to deal with for independent authors as those published by conglomerates Amazon has disputes with.

Besides, there’s no doubt it hurts authors more than anyone. When I asked popular fantasy author Michael Sullivan (published by Hachette imprint Orbit Books) how he felt about the whole situation, he had this to say:

Of course I wish it wasn't going on, it's not good for anyone—Amazon, Hachette, the readers, or myself. The hard facts are Amazon bullies the publishers, and the publishers bully the author...it's all about who has the power, and the end result is the author always gets the short end of the stick. While there is a lot of speculation about what is at stake, I'm afraid that ebook royalty share is probably one of the things on the table. If this is true, I'm looking at a pay cut if Amazon negotiates a better margin (ebook royalties are based on net paid to the publishers, whereas print royalties are based on list price). I wish the ecosystem were structured to reward the content creator, but that's just not going to happen. The big boys will always take the lion's share, and the authors will always get the leftover crumbs. We (authors) are just caught in the middle and powerless in such situations. The only thing we can control is how our future books will be released. For books already signed, we just have to sit and wait to figure out what our new cut will be...I fear it will be lower.

In a sense, this incident is an almost inevitable result of the U.S. Department of Justice siding with the category-killing behemoth over the financially vulnerable cartel that is Big Publishing (something I warned about way back when). I mean, why not force your supplies to tow the line if you have the means at your disposal?

Anti-trust legislation is supposed to disincentivize that kind of thing, and once the DOJ took sides all those disincentives went out the proverbial window. This incident is just an unfriendly reminder of what Amazon’s unchecked growth in market share means for the publishing industry. But you can’t really blame Amazon for wanting to keep growing, and to do so with the fewest encumbrances possible. That’s what profit-seeking entities do.

That just serves to remind why it’s so important that competitors—independent booksellers, Powell's, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones and ebook venders like iBooks, Kobo, Weightless and Smashwords, among others—remain financially viable. A monopolized market is an unhealthy market for everyone other than the monopolizing entity, where terms can be set exclusively by it and everyone either goes along or suffers. And if the DOJ is really committed to ensuring healthy competition, it might just want to take a closer look at what's happening right now, which does kinda sorta look at an anti-trust problem. 

So as much as I love Amazon Prime—and I do—I’m pretty disgusted by their role in this affair, and like most others who want publishing to remain financially viable, call on Amazon to disavow predatory tactics and seek leverage in less destructive ways.


UPDATE (5/23/14): From the NYT:

[Amazon] began refusing orders late Thursday for coming Hachette books, including J.K. Rowling’s new novel. The paperback edition of Brad Stone’s “The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon” — a book Amazon disliked so much it denounced it — is suddenly listed as “unavailable.”

In some cases, even the pages promoting the books have disappeared. Anne Rivers Siddons’s new novel, “The Girls of August,” coming in July, no longer has a page for the physical book or even the Kindle edition. Only the audio edition is still being sold (for more than $60). Otherwise it is as if it did not exist.

AiIP: Takin' Care of Business

Small commercial first: I am doing a reading in Snoqualmie, WA Saturday, May 17th at 5pm, at the Black Dog. If you're in Western Washington, you should come!

Ben Franklin knew how to take care of his business

A big part of the appeal of being an author-publisher, I think, is that you get to do it all yourself. You get to pick the cover art, you get to pick which editor you use, you get to choose how much it costs, you get to choose where it gets sold, and on and on and on.

Only, suddenly your job description reads more publisher than author. This really hit home over the last month-plus, with the Kickstarter campaign and prepping the second edition. I knew my time and energy would be elsewhere, but still it was basically a month with very minimal, you know, writing.

Conventional wisdom says write every day and writer's write, and that's as it should be. But the modern author calls for more, and frequently it's a delicate balancing act. Sometimes, it's all writing, all the time. Series One was that way- nearly a solid year of writing and editing. 2013 was about publishing. So for (the rest of) 2014, I think more balance is in order.

I had initially kind of meant for this to be a "here's a great way to do it" post, but honestly, it varies tremendously from person to person, so it really wouldn't be helpful. Heck, it even varies within each person depending on where they're at and what needs doing. And you might not even care. I don't write, Dean, you say, I just want a good book to read. Hopefully that is provided for you. There is a lot that goes into bringing it to you.

For more about that, I asked Zachary Bonelli, who is an author and the founder of Fuzzy Hedgehog Press, to share his indie publishing experience:

Building a Small Press For Fun and Profit

Fuzzy Hedgehogs FTW

How many times have you seen a book review site that says something to the effect of, “we’ll review books by small presses, but not self-published works”?

Well, there’s some good news about small presses. If you have at least one other person you can team up with, it’s fairly easy to quality for its definition.

You need to make less than $50 million a year. Likely not a problem. And you need to publish ten or fewer title per year. Also likely not a problem.

The kicker is that you can’t just publish your own work. You have to pay to acquire publication rights to one or more authors’ works and publish them. Here’s where your good writer friends come in. If you trust these individuals enough to go into business with them, then you’ve got all the necessary ingredients for a small press that functions internally more like a collaborative writer’s group with book industry connections.

As with any route to publication, there are pros and cons. As a self-publisher turned small press owner, here’s what I’ve discovered.

Small Press vs. Independent Author: Pros

·         Small presses get access to book distributors, Barnes and Noble and independent bookstores

·         Small presses get access to book reviewers who only deal with small presses

·         Small presses get the opportunity to one day help aspiring authors achieve their dreams, too, should your press grow big enough.

Small Press vs. Independent Author: Cons

·         Starting and building any business (including a small press) is a vast time and money sinkhole.

·         Your writing time will be at least partially compromised.

Small Press vs. Agent/Traditional Publisher Contract: Pros

·         Similar to being indie, being the operator of the small press give you complete creative control over:

o   Cover Art

o   Content

o   Editorial Review

o   Marketing Decisions

Small Press vs. Agent/Traditional Publisher Contact: Cons

·         Under the traditional route, you will retain many hours of your life for creative endeavors that you otherwise would have had to spend on ebook creation, print layout and marketing

·         You will also get access to your publisher’s marketing network, though the extent of this gain is highly publisher-dependent

Money

·         Agent/Traditional Deal

o   Money will come in modest lump sums. Your hourly wage won’t be great, but you’ll be in the black.

·         Independent Author

o   Money comes in as a trickle from online vendors. You probably get to buy yourself a coffee or maybe a pay a bill on your writing.

o   Occasional big expenses (cover art, interior layout, etc.) will eat into your personal budget if you let them, but other funding sources (like Kickstarter) exist.

·         Small Press

o   A business must be presented professionally. Expect to have to shell out for cover art, software, printing, etc. You will spend most of what you make reinvesting in your business. You will also likely end up investing a lot of your own money in your business, too.

If the small press option is appealing for you, I recommend you walk through the steps below to make sure you’re ready.

1. Do you have just one book in you, or many?

My mind is kind of a sprawling multiverse of possibilities. I literally don’t have time to write all my book ideas down. Small presses don’t run on one book. They run on many. If you’ve got that one book your passionate about, and you don’t have other ideas simmering on your mind’s backburner, just waiting to be written, a small press is probably not a great idea.

2. Do you have a business license?

In the United States, this should be a fairly simple endeavor. Any individual can start a sole-proprietorship, and while you’re making less than a couple thousand dollars a year, this should have a negligible impact on how you do your taxes.

I can’t speak to the business license practices for every state, but if the other forty-nine are anything like Washington, this should fairly easy to register and establish (total investment: 2-3 hours).

Your small business retail license will also come in handy if you want to sell your books at conventions.

3. How well do you know/trust your friends? How reliable are they?

Going into business together is a big deal. Especially once contracts get involved. These should not be people you’ve talked to at writing group a few times, but people you know really, really well.

Speaking of contracts, be ready to create those. Be comfortable seeking legal advise on correct wording and situations to protect yourself against. Learn about what constitutes healthy and unhealthy contract practices.

3. Are you ready to present yourself to bookstores and book distributors as a business?

This is true of self-publishing, but it is even more true when you start a small press. Be prepared to begin the slow and demanding work of building up a network of individuals in the book business—owners of small bookstores, the Community Relations Managers at Barnes and Noble stores, and individuals who interface with small presses at book distributors.

You will need to have face to face conversations with these people. You will need to be comfortable walking into their offices and presenting yourself as a business. Are you ready to do that?

4. Who will print your books? What format do they want for print files? How much money will you make per book?

The per-unit profit on a book is going to be very low, though it gets higher the bigger the run. Of course, a bigger run means a bigger monetary investment on your part. Figure out how much you will have to invest in advance.

Most printers should want PDF files to print books from. Adobe InDesign is the industry-standard software for creating a book layout. Do you or one of your colleagues know this software? Can anyone learn to use it with high proficiency?

5. How will you generate eBooks? What is your digital marketing strategy?

Do you have software that can generate eBooks for you, like Scrivener? If you or someone working with you is a programmer, you could go the route of building your own eBooks from scratch with a tool like Sigil. All eBooks you generate, regardless of method, should pass ePubCheck (to ensure that it works on all devices). Some vendors, like Smashwords, enforce compliance with ePubCheck.

6. What are your business values and ethics?

I would encourage you to think about this beyond the all-too-common answer of most businesses in American society, which is: “To rake in the moola. Duh.”

For example, my company, Fuzzy Hedgehog Press, refuses to participate in Amazon’s KDP Select program, because one of our business values is that a healthy and vibrant marketplace contains numerous entities with a diverse selection of goods for sale. Since the KDP Select program, in my opinion, seeks to undermine a diverse marketplace by restricting the distribution of content to multiple web platforms (KDP Select enabled books must be exclusive to Amazon), the program seems to me to violate one of Fuzzy Hedgehog Press’s core business values, hence we do not participate.

He’s another business value: “Fuzzy Hedgehog Press wants customers to be able to access our books from as many venues and in as many different formats as possible.” All of our eBooks are available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iTunes, Google Play and Smashwords. You can buy ePubs and PDFs of our books directly from us. You can find our print books on IndieBound and numerous online vendors.

Knowing your business values helps you better communicate to customers what they’re getting and how they can expect to be treated by you, and when you’re running a small business, building customer trust is crucial.

Conclusion

Starting a small press represents a huge time and money investment compared to other publishing options, but more potential rewards. Not only do you own all the creative control (like independent publishing), but you gain access to book distributors and bookstores (like traditional publishing). The kicker is you have to do all the work and build all the relationships yourself. If that sounds more fun than scary, then I encourage you to explore the option further. If the kind of small press you would want to publish your books does not exist, you might just be able to build it yourself.

Zachary Bonelli is owner and operator of Fuzzy Hedgehog Press. He’s also a writer with two published books, Voyage Embarkation and Insomnium. His third book, Alterra, is due out this summer.

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-DESR

Dean is the author of the 3024AD series of science fiction stories. You can read his other ramblings and musings on a variety of topics (mostly writing) on his blog.
  He is also an aficionado of good drinks (extra dry martini; onions, not olives), good food and fine dress. When not holed up in his office tweeting obnoxiously writing, he can be found watching or playing sports, or in his natural habitat of a bookstore.
  He also has an unhealthy obsession with old movies and goes through phases where he plays video games before kind of forgetting they exist.
  Dean lives in the Pacific Northwest and likes the rain, thank you very much.