NaNoWriMo: alas, No Mo’

NaNoWriMo wound up on November 30th, so I think I’ve finally recovered enough to pontificate. Some have said it’s pretty hard to teach me anything, but I did learn a few things about writing and life from the experience.

Writing a novel is a humbling experience.
As is probably evident from the length of some of these blog posts, I’m no slouch at spewing words. I’d thought about my novel, researched it for months, even translated tons of material from French reference books. I’d outlined it, summarized it, plotted crises and down time. None of it was enough—I was done with my first draft at 40,000 and really had to struggle to make it to 50,000. Sure, it’s a teen historical novel (also known as YA), and they can be shorter, but probably not that short. Halfway into my story, which is set in a girls’ school during the time of Louis XIV, I felt like all my characters did was eat meals and walk around the corridors. My respect for another author, who sets her story in a similarly closed environment, went up a thousand per cent. Hats off, J.K. Rowling.

Forget the research until you’ve written the first draft
I know this is heresy for historical fiction. Okay, maybe you can read a Time Life book or some background piece so you don’t make glaring mistakes. Even though I have a file drawer and several shelves worth of books on Louis XIV, everyday life in the period, carriages, maps, etc., I couldn’t remember any of it while writing at the speed required by NaNoWriMo. Far from combing through files, I didn’t even have time to look at the binder I put together of essential details. Know what? Didn’t matter. I just stuck in brackets and moved on with the story. Now I can see exactly what details I need to round out the story, rather than trying to cram in all the interesting facts just because I spent so much time accumulating them. Plus, I could have saved myself months of work.

I think historical novelists need to distinguish what is fun to know from what is essential to the story. Unless you have a publisher that is willing to print a brick, your attention is better focused on the plot and characters rather than your file cards.

Forget the outline
I had an extensive outline which was little help in gauging how much needed to be written to get my characters from plot point to plot point. Also, it encouraged me to feel that I had to begin at the beginning and work through to the end. Not much room for innovation there.

Maybe if I wasn’t working on the thirty day deadline, an outline would have worked better. But if I ever do NaNoWriMo again, I’m just going to have 30 sections that I can write 1,667 words on, probably also called “chapters”. The whole point of this speed writing exercise is that you finally get something down. It doesn’t have to be good, and believe me, mine isn’t. But you have something to work with. Either an outline or a 30-points list works for that, but the 30 points would have had me writing faster, and better spread out over the time period.

If something’s too hard, make it harder
For most of my life I’ve been the type who can only write during the day (preferably morning) with significant quiet. During NaNo, I wrote while in coffee shops with kids screaming next to me, wrote while the Nikipedia clacked along on her keyboard, wrote at 12:30 at night and woke up with my hands still on the keyboard. You can type in unexpected places like the bathroom, as long as you’re sitting down (eeuw, gross).

Also, making it harder really cures writer’s block and perfectionism. I wrote 6,000 words the Saturday before the deadline. There wasn’t any time to think or worry. As my friend Pat Bracewell (another historical novelist) advised me, “Bang it out, baby”—four sage words of advice.

On the other hand, you can’t keep up that kind of pressure
One of the reasons it works is because it’s time-limited. You can’t go forever without cleaning the bathroom, or ever reading a book, or eating Spam and lettuce for dinner. A month a year, yes, but it isn’t a lifestyle.

Even though I can dither for a long time about a single sentence, not thinking at all just isn’t fun. It’s a fine first draft method to crank, but a little slower and I’d have enjoyed the writing. Actually, 1,700 words would be doable, but what with Thanksgiving, house guests, etc. I missed several days. Which brings me to the next principle…

Front load it
I knew there would be days when I couldn’t write, but I didn’t realize how fast they’d pile up. Hey, it’s been a year or two or 30 since I’ve been in grad school. If I do NaNo again, I’m going to lock myself in my room for the first weekend at least. They tell you this, but until you’ve lived it, you won’t realize the number of ways things interfere.

Don’t be intimidated by what other people seem to be doing
One of the virtues is the buddy system, where you can see how much your friends are writing every day. One of my buddies wrote about half her novel the first weekend. She never wrote another word. She’s not a close friend, and I haven’t had the heart to ask her what happened. Other people made extraordinary leaps at times when I was grinding along. But out of the 8 people I watched, only 3 finished (one being the Nikipedia). So, don’t assume everyone else is having an easier time with anything than you are. And maybe don’t front load so much you never want to see the thing again.

You will be very proud of yourself if you accomplish something hard
The Nikipedia has been so excited she’s been carrying her printed copy everywhere. It’s hard to resist the urge to buttonhole total strangers in coffee shops and bookstores and tell them all about it. I was sure I could write a novel, but not sure I could produce a first draft of 50,000 words in a month. Now I know. I have the winners’ certificate right in front of me.

Nobody wants to hear about your great idea
I learned this at the final party when one woman talked me cross eyed. Even I didn’t want to hear the whole thing, which she seemed determined to punish me with, line by line. You need an elevator speech for any great idea, and those were quite interesting to hear. But the idea isn’t the product, the manuscript (or invention, or report, or new business) is, and unless that is produced in finished form, the draft is pretty useless to anyone but the creator.


Nothing is as famous as you think

NaNo has over 120,000 participants a year. Except for few friends and some other writers, no one I mentioned it to had ever heard of it. Think about that the next time you make a gaffe or mistake and think "everyone will know". Also, no matter how much publicity you generate, there will still be plenty of people to reach.


Now…on to revisions.

It’s a living

It ain’t easy making a living as any kind of artist. I wish I had a signed contract for every time I’ve heard a parent tell me, “Oh, my kid is so creative [fill in artist, actor, writer, dancer, whatever] but I’m telling him or her to major in [physics, accounting, chemistry, education—whatever the parent thinks is “practical”] because, of course, you can’t make a living at it.”

Well, the truth is, you can and this is dumb advice. Tons of people make a living every day at these professions, and there are plenty of out-of-work computer science majors. But, the employment path is fairly clear for computer science or chemistry: get the degree and get someone to hire you. The path for the arts is not: get the degree (or maybe not), get someone to hire you (or maybe not), sell your services, get a day gig (or maybe not)…but just because it’s not clear doesn’t make it un-doable. What does it require? Well, duh, it requires CREATIVITY.

If you want to eat and be any kind of artist, you need to think outside the box, not only with your art, but with your marketing, packaging, and bill paying. Maybe you will need to cobble together several jobs, sell several different versions of what you do, find a non-demanding dumb job (plenty of novelists have worked for the customs house, or the post office, or waiting tables) so you can still think and are raring to go when you get home.

But what these parents don’t tell their kids, what actually would be worthwhile advice, is that if you want to live by art, you'd better minor in business or plan to teach at some level. Acquiring the acumen to run a business, market, set up your website and social networking blitz—they’re all essential or no one is ever going to hear about your art.

Just like dating. It’s unlikely that anyone is ever going to arrive on a white horse. And if they do, it’s because you already have the door open and are looking out for the whinnying.

Two good books about making a living in one of the arts (writing):

NaNoWhat?

On November first I transformed my writing life. No, I didn’t get the advance I think I deserve, no super agent has had the good sense to sign me yet, and I didn’t land that million dollar corporate communications contract. I signed up for NaNoWriMo.

For anyone (like me) who’s been living under a rock for the last several years, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, where you take leave of your senses and actually volunteer yourself to produce 50,000 novel words in 30 days. Yes, I already know it’s impossible, but that didn’t stop me. After all, the Nikipedia joyously plunged in and I’m not going to be outdone on my home turf by a 15 year old. Well, okay, she outdoes me on nearly everything, but I’m not just going to lie down and die, right?

We went to a kickoff party November 1, where the average age was a whole lot closer to hers than mine, but it was awesome to be with a lot of writers talking about writing. Of course, they weren’t actually doing it, which is similar to a lot of people that get together and TALK writing. However, I had smugly banged out 2500 words that first day, and believe me that entitled me to a drink.

You already know how this story is going, right? It’s been dang near impossible to make the daily quota, 1,667 words if you are to have any hope of actually finishing up in the allotted time. I’m talking headaches, evening meetings, assignments where someone actually called ME, missives from the divorce lawyer, and other unpleasant, time wasting events. This morning, when the cat decided to run away, I was certainly tempted to shake my fist at heaven.

Now, note I did not say you had to produce 50,000 good words, and believe me, I have not. But what has astounded me is how much I have produced. I’ve been yammering about this novel for at least 5 years, spent months doing research, translating material from the French, making what I thought was a detailed outline, but written nary a word in that whole time. Well, okay, I wrote a first chapter which I labored over for several months for a contest. It’s horrendous, and I tossed it and started over for NaNoWriMo. Just goes to show the stuff you agonize about ain’t necessarily any better.

So, what have I discovered so far? I don’t have to be in a good mood, or inspired, or know where I’m going with the chapter, or even awake. What I have written has mostly happened at 6 am, or 9:45 pm with the Nikipedia sitting next to me on the couch and both of us clacking away. The stuff is awful, but there’s no way to go back or you can’t possibly finish the word count. I’m 2 days behind and hope to catch up this weekend, but I’ve written over 15,000 (hopefully revisable) words. This is the most I have ever written on one subject in my life.

I’m determined to win this, although my writing buddies (on the NaNo site) must be related to Road Runner as some of them have far EXCEEDED the needed daily count. I wonder if they would like my pets for a month? Next year (or next novel) I’m not going to bother with research, or outlining, until I write the first 50,000 words. I haven’t had time to go look up the details I recorded, name all the characters authentically, consult the timelines, nada. But I am going to have 30 distinct “talking points” so I’ll be able to figure out what the heck to write about. It ain’t easy getting my characters from chapter to chapter.

Now, if I could just add the 600 and some words from this post to my NaNoWriMo total...

Writing Mentor

I’m always on the lookout for mentors. I’ve had the privilege of a few good ones over the years: professors, an editor, a therapist or two. But as I get older, it’s increasingly difficult and depressing—I see from my alumni magazine many of my old professors are passing on, ones I wish I could have one more talk with. Perhaps I’ve arrived at an age in life where I shouldn’t need a mentor, but such is not the case.

Being a devotee of the printed word, my natural ecosystem involves books, and increasingly I find that they can serve well as mentors. I read a lot of books by writers on writing, but I find most of them are aimed at beginners and the never published. Like knitting books and jewelry craft books, the first third or half seems to be devoted to the same basic instructions, instructions I could have written myself long ago. No time anymore to wade through all that, especially given what books cost. So it was with great delight that I came across Word Work, by Bruce Holland Rogers. No idea where I heard of it.

Rogers considers so many facets of a writer’s concerns and issues that his book ought to be shaped like a dodecahedron. Each of the 35 chapters is short (3-4 pages) and many were apparently written as magazine columns. Don’t let the length fool you—these are nuggets that profitably can be read 3 or 4 times. I got it out of the library, but it’s a compelling buy—you just can’t absorb it all in one reading.

Rogers considers topics such as how to get started, how to fight for your identity, how and whether to form relationships with other writers, fighting negative feelings, and all the usual topics, but always with something fresh to say, or something which recasts the traditional wisdom, or something that draws from other fields in the service of the writer. Rogers must read a lot, and omnivorously, because he draws in wisdom from Kierkegaard to Maslow to S.I. Hayakawa, with a lot of stops in between. I found nearly every chapter worthwhile, so I’ll just pick out a few examples.

I’ve heard people prattling on about affirmations for years, but they always felt silly and self-deluding to me. Rogers explains how to write ones that won’t make you throw up, and why they work (hint: it ain’t magic). His discussion of time management showed me why I can stop feeling guilty about not writing much when the Nikipedia was younger—he says that you can only fulfill so many segments, and , “If your multiple callings require conflicting sacrifices, you probably won’t be able to balance them perfectly…” How many heroic roles can you take on? Parent, lover, friend, writer, and a full time job? Something’s got to go. I found this oddly comforting. In order to write, you will have to find ways to defend and protect your identity, and this book gives many techniques that show how. In fact, in most of the book musicians, artists, etc. could profitably substitute their own art every time Rogers says “writer” and probably find the techniques just as relevant. It’s all just very wise, fresh and, well, creative.

I tried to find more info on Rogers, but the web results were pretty thin. Apparently he’s living and working in Europe, having landed a Fulbright for 2010. I hope he comes back soon. I want to move in with him. Darn, he’s already married.

Buy Homer, not a Hummer

Recently I heard a school librarian and a reading specialist discuss what kids are reading. It’s enough to chill the bones of any author. I don’t mean only serious children’s authors who have to compete with the likes of Captain Underpants. Adult authors, too, have plenty to worry about. Looks to me like serious writers might need to worry that they’re about to follow newspapers down the sink hole.

According to these women, historical fiction is out. Kids just don’t get enough history in K-8 to have a context in which to place these stories. The organization, content and expectations are just pitiful. Here’s what one local school system does:
3rd Grade: Early Illinois history
4th Grade: Geography
5th Grade: More geography and U.S . History through the Civil War (if we’re lucky, commented the librarian)
6th Grade: Prehistory to Ancient Rome (okay, I’m on board here)
7th Grade: back to Geography
8th Grade: U.S. Government and U.S. History from Reconstruction to the Cold War
Why on earth kids need so much geography, and why it can’t be taught in the more meaningful context of history, is beyond me. At my house dear daughter never studied geography as a separate subject (oh, okay, she did some workbook pages on Fridays in 3rd & 4th grade) until 8th grade, when dd took AP Human Geography, easily passing with a 5. What’s missing from the above curriculum? How about all of European, Middle Eastern and Asian history, with only a smidgen of African history thrown in for political correctness?

By 8th grade, some kids have discovered historical fiction on their own, but the bulk of their early reading is focused (according to these speakers) on fantasy, relationships series (if girls) and horror (if boys). Also, the classic children’s books of the past have either been moved up to high school, being too long with too difficult vocabulary, or eliminated all together, being at odds with modern political correctness. In high school it’s better—our local high school requires 4 history or social studies courses, and a judicious choice can get some pretty good survey courses. Too bad it’s their first encounter.

I firmly believe in the “inoculation” theory of education, by which I mean, you give kids a shot of something several times over a period of years, and eventually that exposure strengthens their bodies’ response to the stimulus. The kid who read a picture book of the Odyssey in 1st grade and a retelling in 5th grade will be raring to go on the real thing by high school (not bored out of their gourds, as my daughter observed at a local high school class.)

Grappling with serious literature, classics, and lengthy works only becomes easy with exposure and training. The child who is exposed to the arts early on, in a meaningful context, by a teacher (or parent) who is knowledgeable and enthusiastic, will be a lifelong fan—at least an appreciative audience if not a creator.

All the stats show that newspapers have failed to reach a younger audience, who has never developed the habit of reading the morning paper (or the afternoon one, remember those?) But ultimately, we as parents and we as artists can’t leave it up to the schools. As an old poem says, children learn what they live. Children who see us anticipating concerts with enthusiasm, reading challenging books, and actually using our museum memberships for our own adult benefit will have a whole different cultural vocabulary from those whose evenings are spent watching reality tv. If only we valued season tickets to the opera as highly as we value ownership of a Hummer.

Self-publishing, traditional publishing or somewhere in between

No doubt about it, publishing a book is a pain no matter which way you go. If you go with a traditional publisher, you get a pittance of the sale price. (I don’t say profits, because I’m not so sure publishing houses are seeing much of that these days.) If you self-publish, your sales may be minuscule and your costs high. Still, the relative boom in the self-publishing industry of late says there are a lot of us out there that at least consider the possibility.

Last night Jim Kepler of Adams Press spoke at the Independent Writers of Chicago meeting (great organization—check it out if you’re in the Chicago area.) Jim’s an old friend, and his operation is the old-fashioned kind: honest, full-disclosure and service oriented. He had a few warnings and war stories about what kind of contracts the new self publishing industry can put out, and more than ever it’s clear you better read the fine print and know what you’re signing.

Can self publishing ever work, or is it the last refuge of authors who have been rejected by 75 editors, or think someone will actually be interested in their poems, autobiography or Vietnam War stories? Well, if you’ve made a serious effort at peddling your manuscript (not 2 or 3 lame letters, but a well researched campaign), and everyone’s rejected it, maybe you do need to take a second look or hire a rewrite person. But what it really comes down to is platform. Do you have a way to move a lot of product on your own? Unless your book is a blockbuster (but then, your agent would have already auctioned it) you’re going to get the plain vanilla marketing plan, and most of the marketing will really be done by you, or not at all. At that point, most of us will start thinking about the spread between our 10% royalty on a $19.95 book, the $5.00 in printing costs, and how we could better spend the remaining $12.95. If you’re a speaker who can sell your book in the back of the room, have a company that will use the book as a promo, or can find a way to peddle it yourself (how big is your car trunk?), you might break even or be better off publishing it yourself. Do the math—if you sell 500 copies, and make, say, $10 a copy for a $19.95 book, a publisher is going to need to sell more than 2500 copies for you to make the same amount in royalties. Many, many conventionally published books sell 5,000 or less. Not much for 6 months or a year’s worth of work.

But it’s going to cost you in other ways, mostly in huge amounts of time. I’m not talking about promo here, because you’re probably going to have to do that anyway. I’m talking about shipping, printing, design, editing, order processing, etc. You’ll either do it yourself or find services that you can contract to do it for you, but it’s work, and hours and hours away from actually writing. The whole self publishing industry has thrived on doing all that for you, but that’s going to cost you, too. So, self publishing really comes down to how bad you want to see your book in covers (they don’t call it “vanity press” for nothing) or how good you are at peddling your wares.

Don’t do it without reading up on it first. Dan Poynter is the granddaddy of self-publishing, and it’s worth memorizing his book before you take the plunge. He’s very pro self-publishing, but very honest about how much work it takes. My friend Jim’s operation puts out some good looking books, in case you don’t want to do it all yourself. Elizabeth Lyon’s and Michael Larson’s books are great on the real mechanics of pitching a book. For a dose of reality, check out Elaura Niles’ book. If you read that and still think you can publish a book, my best wishes to you. I’m still thinking it over, myself.

Not a book review

Reviewers hate to give a sincere effort a bad review. Sure, if the book is an obvious stinker—say, a children’s book by a so-called celebrity author—it’s easy to pull out the long knives. When the book obviously entailed a lot of effort and research, and (even worse!) the author appears to be a decent and dedicated person, it’s a lot harder.

Years ago I’d read and enjoyed the first book by she who will not be named. Recently, I even heard her speak, and she seems like a serious and thoughtful writer, my kinda girl. So I was prepared to like her book, and picked it up with great anticipation. It’s an absolute train wreck. Billed as an historical NOVEL, it is blissfully free of any semblance of plot. As one editor put it about bad historical fiction, you can almost see the index cards laid out on the dining room table. I don’t think there was a single fact about the book’s subject that wasn’t crammed in somewhere. Often, the facts were foisted upon the reader by the execrable and neophyte practice of having characters tell each other about facts that each of them had every reason to know already. I probably ground my dental work down by several millimeters while reading those sections.

On and on it goes, for 870 pages. Doesn’t anyone at her (major) publisher own a blue pencil? Is the delete key missing on their keyboard? I wasted night after night of bedtime reading, hoping against hope that somewhere in this phone book this author would eventually hit her stride and give me something to think about. Plus, her main character is such an impossible twit that by page 350 I was rooting for the bad guys to do her in, and ready to cheer when they finally did.

All serious authors by now are asking themselves how this stuff gets published. Disabuse yourself of the notion that you have to be good to get published. There’s a huge greenbacks factor here—the first book made a ton of money, and I’ll bet the presales on this one were enough (ahem) to cover the paper costs and gold foil on the cover. I can’t believe I did my small part by purchasing this brick.

Still, I’m not going to out her. She’s gone on to publish a bunch more books, so someone must like them, and she had many fans when I heard her speak. A lot of work went into this book, and I do applaud that. I’m also a chicken—if I run into her again, I don’t want to have to hide. But if it’s 870 pages long, a Literary Guild Selection, and published by St. Martin’s, don’t buy it!

Anywhere But Now: the Historical Novel Society Convention

Renaissance Venice, Heian Japan, or sailing with the Norsemen, conference goers at the June Historical Novel Society meeting were anywhere but in the rather anonymous suburban hotel. But bring the participants (briefly) back to our 21st century publishing scene and you’ll find out that historical fiction is a sort of uber-genre: it covers mysteries, romance, thriller, fantasy, chick lit and serious fiction. Think of the range from The French Lieutenant’s Woman to Fabio.

It was a well heeled crowd, albeit more Ferragamo than Manolo. Predominantly female, conference goers clearly know their way around the research stacks, and one seminar on researching when you can’t go there elicited oohs and aahs for the presentation by author Roberta Gellis on accessing resources for ancient maps. Apparently plenty of authors need to know how to turn right at the correct medieval mud hut and proceed along to the barley fields.

Writers using historical settings may not be afraid of dragons, but they live in terror of reenactors, who can be counted on to point out the anachronisms the author has overlooked. Balancing the needs of a plot versus what actually happened can be more difficult than getting out of your armor after a rainstorm.

These are not the kind of writers to be daunted by a little inconvenient travel or tough research, however. Some described learning Latin in order to translate medieval manuscripts, deciphering spidery script in caches of personal letters, and constructing and wearing clothing of excruciating complexity and discomfort. One evening’s entertainment offered the opportunity to costume yourself as your character. One participant demonstrated a spectacular use for your grandma’s old fur stole: think sumptuous sleeve trim on blue velvet. Clearly, however, some eras have had more fashion sense than others, and based on the clothes, I’m not moving to the early middle ages any time soon, unless the burlap is lined. No wonder skin diseases were common.

Writers are readers, too, and publishers know it. The goodie bags given out to participants included a bushel of books, along with the usual printed pens and bookmarks. One clever and pricey promo was a wax sealed bottle of lavender water, packaged in a lace handkerchief, promoting a book called The Tory Widow by Christine Blevins. I wonder what the guys did with it. There were so many books I hauled them out to my car, but I must admit I was sore tempted to sit right down and read them all, bagging the rest of the conference.

That would have been a mistake. The Conference was replete with editors and agents, and they were in a buying mood. Every participant I spoke with who had taken advantage of the 8 minute pitch meetings had been asked to forward a manuscript. And authors who are ready to wrestle with samurai sword play are not easily daunted by the realities of 21st century marketing.

There was plenty of advice on making sure that the novel you spent 6 years researching doesn’t become a six week wonder. Speaker after speaker talked about developing a platform, courting readers, and using the latest cyber techniques and social media as a cost effective way to reach book buyers interested in worlds where the height of technological innovation might be the spoked wheel. As editor Trish Todd of Touchstone/Simon & Schuster put it, “I wouldn’t send my worst enemy on a book tour right now”, but virtual blog tours, connecting authors with book clubs via Skype, and webinars and podcasts were all thoroughly vetted as means to maximize “reader touch” while minimizing author wear-and-tear. Even though authors might find it as pleasant as swallowing an emetic, author Michelle Moran advised coughing up at least 5% of your advance for your own marketing efforts.

If you still harbor any illusions that publishing is about art, not marketing, you’re as out of date as a wimple. Your editor is going to take a hard look at her spreadsheet before she takes a look at a second manuscript from you. Remember Mr. Micawber’s famous advice to David Copperfield, "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery." Turns out that applies equally well to advances. If you get a $15K advance and your book sells 20,000 copies, you’re a hero. But cage a $50,000 advance and sell the same 20,000 copies and your agent will be repurposing your next manuscript. Still, I’d rather have one partridge on a pewter platter than still in the pear tree—there’s no guarantee what the market might be like down the [dirt] road.

For now, however, everything’s coming up fleur de lys—apparently authors of historical fiction aren’t the only ones who like to time travel. So, based on what I heard, if you’re writing serious fiction, a mystery, a thriller or maybe even chick lit or teenage angst, I’d find a historical period to set it in. It’s a good horse to ride.

Used books use authors?

Blogs are all aflutter with countless schemes on how newspapers can find a way to “monetize” their content in an on-line world where we all expect to get our info for free. The Author’s Guild has fought the good fight in trying to secure electronic rights for authors, particularly those of us who signed contracts before there WERE electronic rights. I regularly see a 26 year old article of mine pop up on websites. Needless to say, I never gave away those rights. So, given these huge issues, maybe my concern seems a little trivial, but here goes.

What about used books? Hasn’t an author’s work always been sold and resold without any further compensation paid to the author or publisher? Once upon a time, this wasn’t much of a market. Used bookstores were mostly on college campuses or hidden away in quaint neighborhoods. You poked around and found interesting books you’d never heard of before. But attend any library book sale these days and you can hardly get within spittin’ distance of the shelves and crates. The place is swarming with desperate looking people with portable bar code readers who are checking market prices (used) for every book on the shelf, and dropping the books into crates without even looking at the titles.

Used book selling must be a decent business (if you have sharp enough elbows). Like every other business you can imagine, there’s even a book on how to do it: The Home-Based Bookstore, by Steve Weber. As a seriously addicted book-buyer, I adore used books. Don’t we all love getting something for a buck that used to be $24.95? As an author, not so much. So many writers make so little off their labor, I wish the author’s groups would give a little re-thinking to the whole area of copyright, resale, and author/publisher compensation.

Newspaper Implosion

The seeming collapse of newspapers reminds me of the children’s story about the grain of rice, where the heroine asks the mean king to pay her with double the rice she has each day, beginning with one grain of rice. Of course, by the end of thirty days, she has a massive amount. So, too, the newspapers, but in reverse; for years they’ve been in trouble.

Because I took a hiatus from writing during the time I was raising and homeschooling my daughter, I have the Rip Van Winkle experience of returning to the “world” with a frame of reference 15 years old. But even when I was freelancing features 15 years ago, I heard all the same comments, “We can’t hire freelancers—we’re struggling to keep our full time reporters employed” or “We have to cut back on editorial, the ads just aren’t there” or “We can’t figure out how to make money on the internet.” Sound familiar? It’s clear to me that newspapers had plenty of warning, and that a new business model was called for long ago.

I’m positive I don’t have all the answers, but I do have a few ideas.

Freelancers vs. full-time
Here’s one where newspapers, some magazines, and many corporations still haven’t seen the forest for the trees. Maybe publications should consider that what they really need is a tiny core staff and a phalanx of freelancers—just the model that newer and more successful media uses. What they’d get is fresh, diverse style, a plethora of ideas, and a bench of people with their ears to the ground. Freelancers get variety, working conditions that can be tailored to optimum personal performance, and the opportunity to pursue passions and develop expertise.

Business costs
It’s no news by now that the elephant in the room is benefits. Even lean and mean companies are sinking under the weight of health care costs. Serious full-time freelancers are also crushed by the costs of individual healthcare. A change in healthcare policy could make a tremendous difference for individuals, start ups, and any struggling business. But we all know that, don’t we?

Reaching the audience
In their desperate attempt to clutch at readers who have moved to the internet, newspapers have transformed themselves into Life Magazine—full of pictures, little content. In doing so, I believe they’ve lost their core audience: READERS! Myself, I’ve gone from reading two newspapers a day to reading two on Sunday and the Economist the rest of the week. The book The Long Tail ought to be required reading for any publisher. The masses have moved elsewhere for entertainment and information about their interests. Newspapers are going after the wrong market.

It will be interesting to see how marketers of consumer goods are going to reach a mass audience without newspapers. Not only is readership down, but it’s easy to tell from six feet away that so is advertising—newspapers and many magazines are about half as thick as they once were. Add to that the proliferation of cable stations and it begins to seem like we are living in a “long tail” world. We are already seeing the proliferation of ezines, targeted websites, and (ahem) blogs. But I’m going to miss the sense of common conversation, exposure to stuff I didn’t know would interest me, and the pleasure of sitting on the porch with a cup of coffee and the paper. The computer screen just isn’t the same.