Patricia J. Parsons

Who will buy your book?

Posted on 17 Jun 201417 Jun 2014 by Patricia J. Parsons

Someday I hope to write a book where the royalties will pay for the copies I give away. — Clarence Darrow

Oh how I empathize with Clarence Darrow. I cannot tell you how many books I’ve given away over the years, and these days of the hideous deluge of ‘free’ eBooks as promotional tools makes the problem even worse. I often wonder how many of other writers’ relatives and friends actually buy their books.

My family, for example, largely feels that they are entitled to receive free copies of my books. Well, with the most recent one, I decided that this wasn’t going to happen anymore. Even my 91-year old mother didn’t get a copy (to be fair, I really didn’t really want her to read it – to much *sex*). The only family member who actually received a hard copy (and that was after he downloaded and paid for an e-book) was my 25-year old son who was one of my final editors. His keen eye and firm grasp of the English language made him an ideal beta reader for which I paid him. The least I could do was to give him a copy of the book when he was home from London last weekend.

Then there are all those other copies we give away. And this refers equally to my books (and your books) published by traditional publishers and the self-published ones. These are the review copies.

There is little doubt that review copies are important, however, it can get out of hand. In addition it seems to me these days that we need to be vigilant that a so-called reviewer does not feel obligated to be a bit less critical of a book that he or she has received gratis. (Although some bloggers seem to think that a free book might end up as a more critical review. Not sure why.)

When I wrote the piece When is a book review not a book review? I was thinking about these kinds of issues. So, we need to consider carefully how many books we give away for free in the hope of acquiring a positive review.

And then there are those free book giveaways that started this rant. There is little doubt that giving books away can help you to accrue new readers: sometimes, readers who would otherwise pass over your books might try them and like them, then return to buy future offerings. So that seems like a good investment in marketing. We need to be very mindful, however, that if as writers we don’t value our work, we can hardly expect others to value it either. In fact, many readers are just as likely to troll the online bookstores seeking only free books, never returning to your work when the book is not free. There is no actual hard data on either of these situations although you’ll find plenty of anecdotal stories extolling the virtues of giving away your work.

It would be my greatest wish that writers value their work. I often wonder if writers who don’t value their work know in their hearts that it isn’t really that good. There is a difference, however, between the writing a book specifically for yourself and to give away to others, and one you hope to sell. This is the kind of book you may write simply hoping that a few others might benefit from it in one way or another.

It is quite a different matter to work hard on a piece of writing that you hope readers, unknown to you at this point, will buy, read and appreciate. This is the kind of work that we have to stop giving away so freely.

So, fellow writers, keep a very careful count of how many copies of your work you give away and the return on that investment. I’d love to know how it has worked for you. Perhaps we can build a database of information. There are marketing reasons to give your work away, but that needs to be balanced by a sense of value. Tread carefully.

It might be worth remembering what Jules Renard once wrote:

“Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money.”

Now I think I’ll surf over to Amazon and set up a free book giveaway and see what happens!!

For a few different perspectives on this issue, here are some ideas from other sources:

Why Successful Authors Are Giving Their Books Away for Free http://www.huffingtonpost.com/simone-collins/why-successful-authors-ar_b_4115300.html

Why publishers should give away eBooks http://www.roughtype.com/?p=1573

Are you a writer or a ‘content creator’?

Posted on 4 Jun 2014 by Patricia J. Parsons

Content creation is the latest buzz-phrase of the social-media-obsessed marketing and public relations people among us. I’m going to suggest that large numbers of people who identify themselves as writers are not; rather they are content creators. Although there is nothing fundamentally wrong with being a content creator, it is disingenuous to suggest you are a writer, if you’re not. Let’s begin with some definitions for argument’s sake.

Wikipedia (arguably a good source for this definition since it is the mother of all content creation outputs) defines the concept as “the contribution of information to any media and most especially to digital media for an end-user/audience in specific contexts…”[1] [I added the emphasis.]

A more succinct definition is offered by the Pew Research Internet Project which simply suggests that content creation is “…the material people add to the online world.”[2] Further, they suggest that content creators make web sites, blog, post photos, contribute to online discussions, post materials to web sites etc.

What then is a writer? A writer writes. But, you might reasonably argue, a content creator also writes. Although that may be true, that does not make that person a ‘writer.’

Let’s look at an analogous situation: You are sipping a drink at a cocktail party and find yourself in conversation with someone whom you have just met. What do you talk about? Often, in these social circumstances, we ask, “What do you do?” This person says, “I’m a doctor.” What is the immediate image formed in your mind? That this person teaches Kantian ethics in a philosophy department of the local university? I doubt it. And that’s because in our North American society, the connotative definition of a “doctor” is that the person is a “medical doctor.” Although the philosophy professor might well hold a doctoral degree, it is unlikely he or she would say’ “I’m a doctor.” It would be misleading given our shared understanding of the connotative definition of the term. But what if that person says, “I’m a writer”?

Same scenario, different occupations. You are sipping a drink at a cocktail party and begin a conversation with a new acquaintance by asking, “What do you do?” That person says, “I’m a writer.” What image is conjured in your mind? Do you see a picture of this person toiling away in a cubicle coming up with pithy blog posts for a dog food company? Doubtful. Most of us would have a picture of someone who either writes for magazines or pens books of one sort or another. The person in the cubicle would more accurately be described as a “content creator.” So why is this important anyway?

In my view, writers do more than create content for a purpose – which is really what it’s all about in the PR and marketing circles (since I’ve been teaching PR and corporate communication strategy for a quarter of a century, I think I have the right to have an opinion on this). Content is written (or otherwise created as in the case of photos and infographics) for a specific audience for a specific purpose. That is different from a writer who has an idea, is passionate about it and moves ahead with writing the article, short-story or book – fiction or non-fiction. And if you are a content creator, please don’t pretend you are in the same situation – or have the same commitment to craft – as the struggling writers of the world.

So, I offer you the five tell-tale signs that you might actually be a content creator – and NOT really a writer.

You spend more time blogging, tweeting (or reading tweets), posting to Facebook, contributing to conversations on writers’ groups on LinkedIn etc. than you do on your private writing.
Every time you post on one of those aforementioned sites, you have a goal in mind: get more ‘likes,’ new followers, new friend, clicks through to the material you’d like them to buy/read.
You spend a lot of time thinking about how to find an idea that will ‘sell.’
You spend more time writing online reviews of other people’s books than you do on your writing in the hopes that they’ll someday review yours.
You don’t own a single reference book on writing process (grammar, style, punctuation, syntax, word choice, editing etc.)

Please don’t tell me you’re a writer – or pretend to be one in a writers’ group – if you’re really a content creator. That’s all.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_creation

[2] http://www.pewinternet.org/2004/02/29/content-creation-online-2/

Writing craft

Eight common delusions of unknown writers

Posted on 22 May 2014 by Patricia J. Parsons

There are lots of little lies we all tell ourselves regardless of our art, craft or career. Sometimes we even share these little lies with others. Over the past quarter of a century in the trenches of writing books, teaching writing and publishing, I’ve told myself any number of little lies – lies such as “the editor is wrong,” or “I could design a better cover than this one,” or “this first draft is pretty good.” Sometimes all I need is a swift mental slap up the side of the head by someone whose literary opinion I trust to know that these truly are lies. These days I notice that the more people who think of themselves as writers, the more the list of those little lies grows.

I belong to a number of very interesting online writers’ and authors’ groups, mainly on LinkedIn and a few on Facebook. I had the misfortune the other day to read an excerpt posted by a young woman (at least she looks to be a young woman from her photo) of her new self-published book. To say that it was abysmal would be an understatement. Where do I begin? Should I describe her sentence structure mistakes, her appalling lack of any grasp of writing transitions, her continual use of dangling participles to the point that I had no idea what many of her sentences were trying to say – or should I jump directly to the preposterous situation in which the heroine finds herself? A modicum of research would have led this young writer to a more realistic and therefore more compelling story. And this is the point at which I sigh and worry about the lack of quality control in self-published writing. As I’ve said before…

…the problem that faces writers and would- be writers in the 21st century is that it is actually possible to publish every bit of genius and garbage that we produce. And it needs to be said that we all produce some garbage, but only a few produce works of genius. Most of us inhabit that place somewhere between those two extremes in our usual writing…

Maybe we’re not really lying to ourselves: perhaps many unknown wannabe writers are actually living in a dream world where certain delusions govern their behavior. So, based on 25 years of experience and anecdotal observation, I offer you my eight common delusions of unknown writers:

Talent is over rated. Anyone can be a successful writer. The sad truth is that although talent is not enough, it is necessary for success. And this is true of any field. However, along with that talent, you need to work hard, develop your craft and practice before you’re ready for prime time.
No one cares about grammar. I beg to differ. Everyone cares about grammar; it’s just that some of them don’t know about it. First there are the grammar police readers who will think you a complete idiot if you demonstrate a lack of command of the language. The second group is those who note that you are making grammatical errors and will tell everyone who might otherwise read your book to stay away. Then there are those who wouldn’t know a grammatical error if it came up and bit them, but they do know when they don’t understand the meaning of something. It seems to me that you want to be able to convey a particular message or story and to do that accurately, we all need a shared understanding of the use of our language. Period. Get out the grammar book.
I write better than most people. Can you hear me laughing? This is so untrue as to be hilarious. I have spent almost a quarter of a century teaching and marking university students’ writing – and these are students whose writing will form a very large part of their careers. I’ve seen many good writers who need just a bit of sharpening; but more often I’ve seen honor students who don’t know that their writing is a problem. As American writing guru William Zinsser says, “Most people have no idea how badly they write.” And if you don’t know who he is, stop reading and go immediately to Amazon and order his book On Writing Well. Then read it.
Thousands of Twitter followers guarantee success. Now I’m grinding my teeth. If would-be writers spent as much time practicing their writing and having it edited by someone who knows what he or she is doing rather than amassing thousands of Twitter followers, success would be more likely. Most of our followers are not potential readers; rather they are other writers who are using Twitter for exactly the same reason you are.
I don’t need an editor. Au contraire. Everyone needs an editor. My arguments over the years with editors notwithstanding, I am singularly unable to completely free my own work of errors, typographical and otherwise. I have never met a writer who didn’t need an editor.
If my friends think my idea is great, so will everyone else. I just have one question for you: how did you get friends with such deep knowledge (backed up by data) about how your target readers will think at any given time? The rest of us would love to know. Your friends are your friends for a reason and if you hope that your book will garner more readers than your circle of friends, you’ll have to open your mind beyond that circle.
I don’t need to plan my writing, I just need to write. Well, you do need to write, but this kind of unplanned writing is called “writing practice” or “journaling” and it isn’t for public consumption. If, however, you plan to publish, you need to think about the writing, as well as ‘do’ the writing. The amount of planning you need, however, is very variable. It depends on genre, process and your own writing style. For example, if you write non-fiction, it needs considerable research and a complete outline (fleshed out into a complete proposal if you’re planning a traditional publishing route) before you even write word. Even fiction can benefit – and especially genres like historical fiction that follow a time-line and need extensively researched background. Plotting for mysteries and thrillers also helps the writing process. That said, once the writing begins, it need not stick to the outline!
I don’t have time to read. If you don’t have time to read, then you don’t have time to write, and you shouldn’t. Writers are readers. They read in their own writing genre. They cross-read. They read to do research. They read to flesh out or even come up with ideas. They read to improve their own writing. They read to get to know the competition. They read to get to know what their target readers like. They read to see what sells. They read because they love language and books are important to them.

There you have them. My eight delusions. Now I’m going to go back to my incomplete manuscript and convince myself that indeed, I do need and editor. And soon.