Marianne always says to use “The Sandwich Method” when complaining; say something nice, offer your complaint, close with something nice. Here goes.
Nice #1
I got The Marsco Dissident on the shelves of two bookstores in Sacramento when I visited last August. It is fitting that the novel is for sale there, because I am from Sacramento and the novel begins in Sac City, aka, Sacramento, in 2092. Much of the major action on Earth takes place here. And during this past trip home, I sold two copies to bookstores for resale. A friend bought a copy from me as well.
The novel mentions the Capitol building, the campus of Sacramento State, the old Aerojet General which made rockets for NASA back in the ‘50s to ‘70s. One day I ate lunch at Frank Fats, a place that makes an alluded-to appearance in Book I. I may be on the KSSU radio in the Fall; that’s not SMSU’s KSSU, but Sac State’s KSSU, a student-run FM station. (Both Southwest and Sac State had the initials SSU at one time, before Southwest added Minnesota to its name to become SMSU.) As you can see, a fruitful trip to Sacramento.
Complaint—which ties into part of Nice #1
Over the July 4th weekend, Marianne and I attended CONvergence in the Cities. This is a sci-fi / fantasy weekend celebrating all such genres. It is mostly a cosplay weekend with many participants dressing as superheroes, their favorite hobbit or elf, space creatures or champions, you name it. Even game and cartoon characters from these genre made an appearance. I had my picture taken with the Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride.
We listened to one panel that I thought may help me with self-publishing. It consisted of two young women literary agents and an editor from Baen. They gave their information about publishing. Two main points they stressed were, one, that if you didn’t get an agent and if you went with self-publishing, especially through Amazon, you were doomed. And two, that Amazon was out to crush small mom-and-pop bookstores and actually, you too, the independent author. Next to Amazon, ISIS looks like Medieval monks praying for our welfare. Only agents were your friends, they said, our saviors. For example, they said if you published via Kindle, you had to sell your book only to Kindle e-readers, nothing else, no other electronic device—never ever, not worth mentioning, this can’t be possible, you are toast, sucker.
I was fuming, but said nothing. I knew for a fact that a Nook reader has The Marsco Dissident, and that an iPhone, an iPad, a HP laptop also have copies. Fortunately, another member of the audience informed these agents that she downloads Amazon books to her iPad all the time.
They also said that bookstores could not order Amazon self-publish books for their shelves. This is because Amazon is killing them. I knew then that that wasn’t true. I know The Marsco Dissident is on the shelf of our bookstore, and it’s a Barnes and Nobles Campus store. That store had no trouble ordering two sets of ten copies each, thank you very much. And some other bookstore somewhere in the USA ordered 3 copies. I know from my royalty records although I don’t know where.
Eventually, the two agents began to tout their own product, a self-publishing method exactly like CreateSpace through which only they can launch your work. Where? Onto Amazon, I guess. Where else? Why publish a book that’s not available on Amazon? They’ll do an a la carte service to help with your format, cover design, interior design, and the like. Just like CreateSpace is helping me. But only after the agents get their cut.
I have paid CreateSpace handsomely, but I haven’t paid a cent to an agent. And it used to be that agents didn’t get paid until a novel was sold; agents would get their fee from royalties, just like the writer. And it used to be that the publisher would absorb the publishing costs. Now agents are getting fees upfront, like CreateSpace. And I’m sure, like CreateSpace, they’ll help anyone publish dross. Pay your fee, launch your book. Nothing exists to strain the cream off the top except the market place. Agents were once the keepers at the gate. Now, those gates are wide open. Anyone may rush in. And many are. And since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, these agents were certainly imitating CreateSpace. And cashing in on the fools who rush by.
I took my steps with self-publishing only after I was damn sure I had a quality product.
I was angry at this babbling panel. It is appalling enough to give wrong information, but to do so with such authority to people who may not have the background and personal knowledge that I have is upsetting.
I didn’t want to blast them any more than I have, but they deserved it. (And I hope they see this blogpost.)
Nice #2
In August, I went to two Sacramento bookstores. Both paid me for a single copy of The Marsco Dissident (which I signed). The book is now in their system. Bookstore #1, Time Tested Books, looked it up through their distributor, Ingraham, and in a few keystrokes found it. They can order it that quickly if they want, which is what the owner suggested if one copy sells. I got an in-store credit for this copy. (I later gave that to my niece who lives in Sacramento.) If they order any further copies via Ingraham’s, I’ll get royalties via CreateSpace. Bookstore #2, Beers, the same—found it on their distributor’s site—only the clerk wrote me a check right there for my copy to resell. A third Sacramento bookstore, The Avid Reader, may have me there to read if we can arrange that this upcoming Spring. Same with Time Tested Books. I also found out a friend ordered a copy via Avid Books and they ordered her a copy via Ingraham. Be in my friend’s hands in a week.
All this smacks in the face of all that those agents said. Oh, the difference between “they can’t” and “they won’t” is huge. (Trust me on this; I’m an English professor.) The agents said they can’t; in reality, some stores simply won’t. It’s more than a difference in semantics.
The Marsco Dissident, and soon, Marsco Triumphant, is available worldwide. Wherever anyone has access to the Internet and Amazon.com. 24/7. In two formats: POD and electronic. With the right app, you can download it to any electronic reader: Kindle, Nook, iPad, iPhone, or another such electronic device. Or order a print copy; it comes in about a week. And my work can never be remaindered.
Wrapping up with some fun news:
I sent the Sacramento Public Library two copies of The Marsco Dissident. They have a Sacramento Room dedicated to works about Sacramento and one librarian felt they may want a copy for that room to add to their collection. Thick volumes about Sacramento and the Gold Rush alongside a dystopican sci-fi opening in Sac City, 2092, all makes sense to me. Having a few copies of my works sitting in the Sacramento Public Library is a boyhood dream come true.
I gave a copy to the library at Christian Brothers High School, CBS, where under various names and in at least two locations, all my brothers, two nephews, and I graduated. I actually graduated from it when it was called Bishop Armstrong back in 1968. The name of the game is exposure. Sac City College has a copy, a longtime Sacramento friend and librarian at SCC ordered that one. Redwood City Library got a copy. The librarian who accepted the copy from me took it right away to their cataloguer, whom, he assured me, is a big sci-fi fan. Sci-fi fan in Silicon, makes sense. And I handed a copy to the San Francisco Library system, too, the Stonestown branch near SF State. My cousin lives right down the street.
(A note to any librarians reading this. If you want a copy and your library truly cannot afford one, message me and I’ll see what I can do. No promises, but I’ll work on it.)
Book II update. I have opened all the windows at CreateSpace to format Marsco Triumphant. Before I left Marshall for California in mid-August, I finished all my work on the text based on the fine edits by my copy editor. I sent it back to her for one more set of eyes on the text. Once I roll up my sleeves on Book II, it should be only weeks until launch. I hope before mid- to late-September.
I spent an August weekend with friends at a Camp Pendola reunion. When I lived in California and worked as a high school English teacher, I experienced 5 glorious summers at Pendola. A novel resides in that experience somewhere. A far cry from sci-fi, but a good story. It begins with “Filthy” Foggarty, a dastardly mountain man known to frighten campers, about to spring out from the bushes at the opening campfire to wail, “I put a spell on you! I put a spell on you, baby!” The good fun begins from there.
Nice #1
I got The Marsco Dissident on the shelves of two bookstores in Sacramento when I visited last August. It is fitting that the novel is for sale there, because I am from Sacramento and the novel begins in Sac City, aka, Sacramento, in 2092. Much of the major action on Earth takes place here. And during this past trip home, I sold two copies to bookstores for resale. A friend bought a copy from me as well.
The novel mentions the Capitol building, the campus of Sacramento State, the old Aerojet General which made rockets for NASA back in the ‘50s to ‘70s. One day I ate lunch at Frank Fats, a place that makes an alluded-to appearance in Book I. I may be on the KSSU radio in the Fall; that’s not SMSU’s KSSU, but Sac State’s KSSU, a student-run FM station. (Both Southwest and Sac State had the initials SSU at one time, before Southwest added Minnesota to its name to become SMSU.) As you can see, a fruitful trip to Sacramento.
Complaint—which ties into part of Nice #1
Over the July 4th weekend, Marianne and I attended CONvergence in the Cities. This is a sci-fi / fantasy weekend celebrating all such genres. It is mostly a cosplay weekend with many participants dressing as superheroes, their favorite hobbit or elf, space creatures or champions, you name it. Even game and cartoon characters from these genre made an appearance. I had my picture taken with the Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride.
We listened to one panel that I thought may help me with self-publishing. It consisted of two young women literary agents and an editor from Baen. They gave their information about publishing. Two main points they stressed were, one, that if you didn’t get an agent and if you went with self-publishing, especially through Amazon, you were doomed. And two, that Amazon was out to crush small mom-and-pop bookstores and actually, you too, the independent author. Next to Amazon, ISIS looks like Medieval monks praying for our welfare. Only agents were your friends, they said, our saviors. For example, they said if you published via Kindle, you had to sell your book only to Kindle e-readers, nothing else, no other electronic device—never ever, not worth mentioning, this can’t be possible, you are toast, sucker.
I was fuming, but said nothing. I knew for a fact that a Nook reader has The Marsco Dissident, and that an iPhone, an iPad, a HP laptop also have copies. Fortunately, another member of the audience informed these agents that she downloads Amazon books to her iPad all the time.
They also said that bookstores could not order Amazon self-publish books for their shelves. This is because Amazon is killing them. I knew then that that wasn’t true. I know The Marsco Dissident is on the shelf of our bookstore, and it’s a Barnes and Nobles Campus store. That store had no trouble ordering two sets of ten copies each, thank you very much. And some other bookstore somewhere in the USA ordered 3 copies. I know from my royalty records although I don’t know where.
Eventually, the two agents began to tout their own product, a self-publishing method exactly like CreateSpace through which only they can launch your work. Where? Onto Amazon, I guess. Where else? Why publish a book that’s not available on Amazon? They’ll do an a la carte service to help with your format, cover design, interior design, and the like. Just like CreateSpace is helping me. But only after the agents get their cut.
I have paid CreateSpace handsomely, but I haven’t paid a cent to an agent. And it used to be that agents didn’t get paid until a novel was sold; agents would get their fee from royalties, just like the writer. And it used to be that the publisher would absorb the publishing costs. Now agents are getting fees upfront, like CreateSpace. And I’m sure, like CreateSpace, they’ll help anyone publish dross. Pay your fee, launch your book. Nothing exists to strain the cream off the top except the market place. Agents were once the keepers at the gate. Now, those gates are wide open. Anyone may rush in. And many are. And since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, these agents were certainly imitating CreateSpace. And cashing in on the fools who rush by.
I took my steps with self-publishing only after I was damn sure I had a quality product.
I was angry at this babbling panel. It is appalling enough to give wrong information, but to do so with such authority to people who may not have the background and personal knowledge that I have is upsetting.
I didn’t want to blast them any more than I have, but they deserved it. (And I hope they see this blogpost.)
Nice #2
In August, I went to two Sacramento bookstores. Both paid me for a single copy of The Marsco Dissident (which I signed). The book is now in their system. Bookstore #1, Time Tested Books, looked it up through their distributor, Ingraham, and in a few keystrokes found it. They can order it that quickly if they want, which is what the owner suggested if one copy sells. I got an in-store credit for this copy. (I later gave that to my niece who lives in Sacramento.) If they order any further copies via Ingraham’s, I’ll get royalties via CreateSpace. Bookstore #2, Beers, the same—found it on their distributor’s site—only the clerk wrote me a check right there for my copy to resell. A third Sacramento bookstore, The Avid Reader, may have me there to read if we can arrange that this upcoming Spring. Same with Time Tested Books. I also found out a friend ordered a copy via Avid Books and they ordered her a copy via Ingraham. Be in my friend’s hands in a week.
All this smacks in the face of all that those agents said. Oh, the difference between “they can’t” and “they won’t” is huge. (Trust me on this; I’m an English professor.) The agents said they can’t; in reality, some stores simply won’t. It’s more than a difference in semantics.
The Marsco Dissident, and soon, Marsco Triumphant, is available worldwide. Wherever anyone has access to the Internet and Amazon.com. 24/7. In two formats: POD and electronic. With the right app, you can download it to any electronic reader: Kindle, Nook, iPad, iPhone, or another such electronic device. Or order a print copy; it comes in about a week. And my work can never be remaindered.
Wrapping up with some fun news:
I sent the Sacramento Public Library two copies of The Marsco Dissident. They have a Sacramento Room dedicated to works about Sacramento and one librarian felt they may want a copy for that room to add to their collection. Thick volumes about Sacramento and the Gold Rush alongside a dystopican sci-fi opening in Sac City, 2092, all makes sense to me. Having a few copies of my works sitting in the Sacramento Public Library is a boyhood dream come true.
I gave a copy to the library at Christian Brothers High School, CBS, where under various names and in at least two locations, all my brothers, two nephews, and I graduated. I actually graduated from it when it was called Bishop Armstrong back in 1968. The name of the game is exposure. Sac City College has a copy, a longtime Sacramento friend and librarian at SCC ordered that one. Redwood City Library got a copy. The librarian who accepted the copy from me took it right away to their cataloguer, whom, he assured me, is a big sci-fi fan. Sci-fi fan in Silicon, makes sense. And I handed a copy to the San Francisco Library system, too, the Stonestown branch near SF State. My cousin lives right down the street.
(A note to any librarians reading this. If you want a copy and your library truly cannot afford one, message me and I’ll see what I can do. No promises, but I’ll work on it.)
Book II update. I have opened all the windows at CreateSpace to format Marsco Triumphant. Before I left Marshall for California in mid-August, I finished all my work on the text based on the fine edits by my copy editor. I sent it back to her for one more set of eyes on the text. Once I roll up my sleeves on Book II, it should be only weeks until launch. I hope before mid- to late-September.
I spent an August weekend with friends at a Camp Pendola reunion. When I lived in California and worked as a high school English teacher, I experienced 5 glorious summers at Pendola. A novel resides in that experience somewhere. A far cry from sci-fi, but a good story. It begins with “Filthy” Foggarty, a dastardly mountain man known to frighten campers, about to spring out from the bushes at the opening campfire to wail, “I put a spell on you! I put a spell on you, baby!” The good fun begins from there.
Giving a reading in the Spring of 2015, Morris, Minnesota.
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