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Print-On-Demand Does Not Equal Instant Bookstore

I do think the Espresso book machine, the end of the return system, and embracing e-books and interactive derivatives could solve a lot of the bottom-line issues in publishing. I personally can't think of a single other industry that knowingly pulps nearly half of their product!

But Moriah Jovan's post on the perfect bookstore makes it sound as if all of publishing's problems are instantly solved with print-on-demand. There is a lot to consider though in the adoption of POD technology.



My perfect bookstore would have a couple of Espresso machines and access to a large catalog, too. But having one hardcover copy of a bestseller isn't very practical, and ordering one copy even every week is going to eat up a ton of bookstore profit in shipping. Publishers also have relationships with book buyers that are based on retailers buying bulk quantities at special discounts. If publishers were suddenly shipping books one at a time, you can bet the discount to retailers would be drastically dropped, which means that the discount passed on to the consumer would be lowered, too. Publishers are also not going to release the rights to print a new book on demand if they're also trying to sell thirty dollar hardcovers, so only having one hardcover in stock and printing the rest as you go isn't actually a viable option. (You may say, “well then charge them both $30!” but what consumer is going to pay the same price for a book printed in front of them in paperback as they do for a hardcover with a dust jacket?)

It's also been my experience that print-on-demand titles are still priced higher than a typical trade paperback through online retailers. How to price a print-on-demand book is still a difficult question, and how does an author really benefit by print-on-demand edition is still in question, too. If the publisher retains print-on-demand rights, how many books does an author have to sell in order to make it worthwhile for the author? Depending on the contract language, authors may find that they can't terminate their current contract and sell physical rights to another publisher because they are still technically selling one book a year via print-on-demand.

Also, there can be a difference in the quality of a print-on-demand book and a regular trade paperback. Children's picture books would probably be cost prohibitive to print on an Espresso, since colored toner is more expensive. The quality could also suffer if, for example, the magenta was running low and suddenly everything has sort of a greenish tint to it.

Lastly, an Espresso costs around $80,000. Independent bookstores might not have the money to plunk down on an Espresso machine, and that could mean that the small corner bookshop is going to have to fight that much harder to stay in business when the chain stores are putting Espressos in their stores.

All that said, I'm certainly not anti-POD, and was thrilled to see the machine in action during the 2009 Tools of Change conference. But there's a lot more to it than a simple click and print.

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This is also cross-posted on Litdrift

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Last night, I finished Jay Asher’s 13 Reasons Why. (I know, I know, I am the last person on the planet to read this book. Also: spoiler alert below!)

This morning, I thought about how the teen bullies in high school, become the bullies in college, become the bullies in the office. How someone like Bryce, for example, will continue to abuse women until they’re in prison. And I wondered how many girls were like Hannah, who felt the snowball rolling and didn’t think there was any other way to stop the slide.

I’ll admit, when I started the book, I was a little taken aback by the anger in Hannah’s voice. She was hard to empathize with, and at the end of the first few tapes I thought, “okay, high school sucks. But suicide worthy?” But I think when Asher gave Clay that moment of clarity – that he wasn’t getting to know Hannah better; he was learning about Hannah at her end -- it was also a moment of clarity for the reader. As I read further, I found myself hoping that perhaps Hannah had sent the tapes and then ran away. A twist ending, where she wasn’t dead, and Clay could save her. I knew that was ridiculous, it was clear the book wasn’t set up that way. But still, I hoped.

And this morning, I felt sad for the loss of Hannah – a character who was already dead from the moment I opened the book. And angry at her classmates, most of them flawed individuals (like all of us), but some worse than others. But I also felt relieved for Skye, and the real-life teenagers like her that are walking the hallways. Perhaps Asher’s message of reaching out/stopping the snowball will reach them.

Questions:

1.) In general, what did you think of the book, my bloggery readers?

2.) On Amazon, a few commenters feel that Hannah's reasons were trivial. Do you agree?

3.) Some commenters also feel that this book shouldn't be read by anybody under 17 (!). Do you think books about suicidal teens encourage teens to commit suicide?

2 New Ways to Get Feedback On Your Work

Today I write to you with 2 new ways to receive feedback on your work!

Way the First:

My brilliant colleague Sarah LaPolla is offering freelance critiques. She enjoys older YA, literary and commercial fiction, narrative nonfiction and sci-fi/fantasy. Find out more about how to get a critique on Sarah's blog.

Way the Second:

After several years of critiquing for conferences, I am also hanging my shingle as a freelancer!

You'll receive an editorial letter with thoughts on the quality of your writing, narrative arc, character development, world building and overall marketability, along with a recommendation on your next steps. A line-by-line edit can be done for an additional fee. My specialties are picture books, early chapter books, middle grade and young adult fiction and non-fiction. Email me at myverbocity @ gmail . com for a quote on your query letter, partial or full manuscript. (Or email to say "hello" if I've critiqued your work in the past, and give me an update on your progress!)

Please note: Manuscripts will not be considered submissions to Curtis Brown.

Are Zombies Bringing Austen Back to Her Roots?

A peek at this week's Lit Drift post:

Are Zombies Bringing Austen Back to Her Roots?

"Laura Miller’s piece in Salon last week touched upon our continued interest in reinventing Jane Austen into what most pleases ourselves. Given the ridiculous success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and multiple vampire books*, there’s been much talk about whether Jane Austen herself would be rolling in her grave, or perhaps amused to see her stories with “ultra violent zombie mayhem.”

I can’t help but wonder though, if we’ve unconsciously brought Jane Austen full-circle. Though Austen never wrote about zombies, her juvenilia is full of scandal -- carriage chases, divorce, murder and other mayhem, without always punishing the offending character. (Though this may not sound very scandalous to us, but in Victorian England this was extremely shocking, and to protect her reputation, Austen’s juvenilia was not published by the family until over 100 years later.)

But much like the spirit behind Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Austen’s humor is tongue-in-cheek, and at 14 she’s already noticed the inordinate number of women who faint in the novels of her time."

Read the rest here.

Sequels are Tricky, Tricky, Tricky

Sequels are stressful.

Timing

If you write it too soon, you could spend over a year writing the sequel to an unpublishable first book. The chances of selling a sequel to a book that has already been rejected 100 times are not that great. And if you're not careful, you could be writing the following sentences in your next query: "FORTRESS OF AWESOMENESS: THE CRAFTING COMPLETE is the twenty-third book in a twenty-three book series. All books are available."

This would be bad news bears.

On the other hand, what many people don't realize is that once your first book is sold, you are still going to need to devote a large chunk of time to editing that book while you're trying to write the sequel. Before the first book is in copyediting, you're probably going to want to ramp up your marketing efforts. And when the first book is published, you're going to want to be even more available to schools and libraries.

What was that bundle of papers I was working on? Oh RIGHT! The next book.

The Desire to Info Dump

You have to craft a sequel so that readers that have read the first book don't lose interest because of constant info dumping, but readers who are jumping in from book two (the horror!) have all the relevant information they need from book one.

Carefully look over your manuscript. Do you find large sections where you are telling the reader more than you're showing? Is everything you're telling the reader relevant to the scene at hand? Are large chunks of exposition deflating the tension in your scenes?

On the flip side though, don't assume that even the readers that read book one have remembered everything. It could be a couple months to a couple years in between book one and book two.

The Sophomore Slump

Now that book buyers and advance reviews are raving about your first book, the pressure is on to create a super-fantastic follow-up. (If Kirkus had folded, your biggest stressor might have been eliminated. Huzzah - no such luck!) Now you must sit at the computer, rocking back and forth and mumbling "No Kirkus No Kirkus WHAM... 'This book is excellent, as a paperweight.'"



No whammy. No whammy. STOP!

Where Did Everybody Go?

Most series have one book that, for some reason or another, never sells as well as the other books. In a series of four, you might see the sales on book two plummet, but then pick back up for books three and four.

As an author, you may be tempted to contact each and every person who ever bought book one and bribe them to buy book two.



One poorly sold book isn't necessarily a death sentence though, and many publishers will continue to support the series. (Unscientific fun fact: The average series length is around four books.)

Anyway, bribing your audience is also time-consuming and expensive.

Anybody here working on a sequel? What are your thoughts?

To Err is Human, To Craft Devine

These past few weeks have been spent in a HURRICANE-FORCE-BLUR-OF-CRAFTINESS-AND-BOOKS, and I'm quite happy about it!

First, I decided to make my own dress for the Curtis Brown Christmas party and for New Years, opting for a retro taffeta party dress. I had this pattern:



and made this dress:

front



back

A Few Things People Will Not Tell You Until After You've Bought Five Yards of Taffeta With Only Three Weeks Until Your Christmas Party:

1.) Taffeta has to be hand-basted before you can put it in the machine. As in, you Sew. All. The. Seams. By. Hand. First.

2.) Even with the zipper foot on your machine, and the hand-basting, and the fact that you've already done it three times -- it still might take you four times to get the zipper in the way you'd like. As in, not attached to anything it shouldn't be, or with enough material around it that it looks like you gathered it on purpose, which you definitely did not.

3.) Taffeta stains as soon as you look at it.

Anyway, I'm still pretty pleased with it, and it was a hit at both parties. (The belt in the picture isn't what I actually wore with it, but was just a placeholder.)

The next project (also part of Totally Crafty Christmas) was a messenger bag for my sister, using directions I found on mmmcrafts. I'm sure you're well aware of how much my sister and I love the Elephant and Piggie books, so I recreated a scene from Are You Ready To Play Outside? for the front flap.

Here's the full bag:



The bag open so you can see the lining:



And a close-up of the flap:



I made the bag in royal blue corduroy with a pale pink lining, and, because I am a rebel, free-hand embroidered the facial expressions of the characters, the lettering in the speech bubble, etc. (Plus, pre-marking anything that fine on felt is nearly impossible.)

Speaking of rebels, the next project I made was a floor length, red flannel nightgown, complete with long poofy sleeves and a ruffle. I will not be sharing pictures, because that will doom me to catlady-dom almost instantaneously. But, I put it on and immediately laughed, and then my sister told me I looked like Mrs. Claus. (Seriously though, it's ridiculously comfortable/awesome.)

Moving on!

I visited an old friend from high school who just had her first child, so I made this Christmas bib as a gift:



I used the yoke piece from my pajama pattern, altered the shape, cut two (front in the tan material, the back in extra red flannel), decorated the front and sewed it all together, adding red straps.

And lastly, I made a friend double-sided placemats and linen napkins using directions from The Long Thread:



I don't have pictures of the napkins, though one should note that 1/2 yard only gave me three adult-sized napkins, prompting a gift of four placemats and two napkins, and the promise of two napkins in the future.

Holy crow, and we didn't even get to the books!