publishing

The Master's Artist: To Publish or Perfect

July 20, 2010 By heather Leave a Comment

I’m up today at The Master’s Artist considering the question of whether we should publish or perfect our work.

On the one hand, why would I want to put anything out there that is
less than my best? I have one opportunity to impress, and I don’t want
to waste it. One must dress for success. Plus, we all know this is the
answer the agents want to see. Case closed.

On the other hand, my work will never match the ideal I have in my head. The novel is
perfect. Until I translate it onto page. If I wait until perfection,
I’ll never publish. (Perhaps some of you have better luck with
attaining the unflawed and unblemished.)

On the other hand,
settling for mediocre art leaves a bad taste in my mouth (although that
could be last night’s garlic sauce). Art and excellence go together
like beans and rice. If choosing publishing over perfection means
settling (such a dirty word), I’ll have none of that, thank you very
much.

Read the rest here.

Filed Under: art, artists, publishing, writers, writing

CBA Catechism

April 30, 2009 By heather Leave a Comment

Why did CBA form?

To sell books in the Christian bookstores.

Now, however, in addition to Christian bookstores, books by Christian authors sell in Barnes & Noble (albeit in the inspirational section), Amazon (which has no sections), and the occasional book in Sam’s and WalMart aisles (more common with nonfiction than fiction). In light of this, what is the raison d’etre of CBA? To give Christian authors a voice? (Does that mean they wouldn’t have a voice without CBA? Because of quality? Or because of theology?) To be gatekeepers of theology (both in fiction and nonfiction)? (If this is so, I have some serious problems with some of the theology being published–Joel Osteen, cough, cough.)

Filed Under: books, publishing, writing

On Ebooks

March 4, 2009 By heather 7 Comments

A tension exists between how things have been done for hundreds of years and how things could be done. Tradition v. change. My husband, being the entrepreneur, encourages me to think outside the publishing box. This is not a reaction to rejection–he’s been saying this since the first moment I uttered the words, "I want to be a writer." It’s a reaction to the constant changing ways.

Let’s be honest, nothing much has changed about the publishing industry for hundreds of years. Until e-Readers. E-Readers give ebooks the opportunity to flourish and Al Gore the opportunity to claim another invention.

Agent Nathan Bransford blogged about the publishing industry (no surprise there: He’s an agent and tends to do that)–specifically his optimism about the industry because of ebooks. I’ll give you a minute to read the article. (Meanwhile, I’m grabbing a refill on coffee. Anyone want anything while I’m up?)

Image via Wikipedia

Background music: Chopin’s Revolution Etude.

In the post on ebooks, Nathan says, "Readers will be the ones who decide what becomes popular. There will be no intermediary." Ebooks will be self-published, he argues, without the stigma because whereas now bookstores won’t carry a self-published novel (for the most part), any ebook could be found anywhere ebooks are sold.

Ah, democracy.

Isn’t that how things are done now on the Internet? A million blogs, and readers determine which ones are worth the read. Online magazines, such as Blog Nosh, fit perfectly in this system.

The publishing industry and how things have been done does not. (Three cheers for catching up!)

Here’s my question, though: what do we consider affirmation in this new system? If anyone (and their proverbial dog–and sometimes the dog has more interesting things to say) can publish, who do we consider the professional authors? The standards? Maybe the question isn’t much different from today. I’m just trying to get a jump-start on insecurities.

So what do you guys think?

Update: Barnes and Noble bought Fictionwise, an ebook seller, to build their ebookstore. Question: will any ebooks continue to sell through B&N ebookstore, or will it be limited (again) to what publishers sell to Barnes and Noble?

Update 2: Chip MacGregor is also blogging about ebooks today. Must be something in the water.

Filed Under: books, ebooks, publishing, writing

On Indie Publishing

December 8, 2008 By heather 16 Comments

Since the beginning of my pursuit of publication, my husband’s wanted me to consider self-publishing. He’s an entrepeneur, you see. A businessman. He wants to find out how to make things work, how to get them in front of people in a way that best serves people.

I want to go through the process, I argued. I want to make sure it had other eyes on it to make it better.

We can pay people to do that, he said.

But I want to do things the official way. I want to go through the rituals that prepare you, the ceremonies that declare you ready (or unready), fit (or unfit) for publication.

Isn’t that the job of the consumers? he said.

I’m still not ready to consider this option, but my question is thus: If indie is the thing to do with film and music, why not with writing? Why doesn’t self-publishing have the same bohemian, respected reputation of independent film and music?

Most recognize that publishing is an ancient business. It hasn’t changed much in hundreds of years. Oh, it adds a facebook here or a twitter there, but at it’s core, it’s the same.

Mike Duran has postulated that self-publishing isn’t as respected partly because anyone can do it. It doesn’t cost as much to publish a novel as it does to produce an album or film. But I’m wondering if it’s actually the opposite. Consumers don’t spend as much on books as they do albums and movies. Or, to put it another way, fewer consumers exist for books than for films and albums, which means there’s less to go around. And a smaller market to discern the good from the bad.

Independent productions work with film and music, I suspect, because of capitalism (ironically enough). The consumers decide which is good and which isn’t. Why can’t self-publishing work in the same way? Is it a stigma thing? Or something else?

Ancilliary or corollary or perhaps embedded in this question: how much do you go with instinct, and how much do you bend to those who know better? (When is changing something for marketing purposes v. changing it to make the book better? Or, when should you pursue self-publishing because though your book is good, the powers that be don’t have a place for it? Or when do you know you should rewrite and fix? Let me make it perfectly clear that I in no way think my book is good and that it’s just misunderstood by the man.)

Example: I have a short story I love perhaps more than any other short I’ve written. Some have said, don’t change a thing! Others have said, huh? Or get rid of the beginning. Or don’t change the beginning but fix the end. It’s gotten all sorts of feedback, none of it matching. So when I went to submit a short story to a journal for the first time in a while, I held back on it. I submitted a story I didn’t love as much but that got more consistent feedback.

How do you know when to listen to others and when to just go?

Filed Under: publishing, self-publishing, writing

The Edge of the Matter

October 13, 2008 By heather 13 Comments

I’ve put off posting these thoughts because I’m bound (and determined?) to offend someone.

I’ve parodied it, hinted at it, and flat out mentioned it. It’s time to whip this bad boy out.

Edgy Christian fiction.

This has become a catch phrase in the writing world of Christians, and to be honest, I don’t know what to do with it. It’s lost its meaning. (Let me note that I also don’t know what to do with the term "Christian fiction" since Christian is a noun referring to a group of people, not an adjective.)

It came from a good movement to challenge the rules of CBA (the Christian publishers and buyers) who tended to define the boundaries of Christian writing with things like no alcohol or scenes with sex or taboo subjects. The publishers and buyers of CBA books wanted something safe, in other words, something where they wouldn’t have to read curse words like they do in other books, or bodice-ripping scenes. I understand this.

On the other hand, some things put in the taboo categories came from a misinterpretation and misappropriation of Philippians 4:8. These categories would put books such as Judges and Song of Songs out of the boundaries. Stories like the ones of Dinah, Tamar, and Absolam would most likely be nixed. And it made it difficult for some authors to write honestly about Truth. Sometimes evil became trivialized (which leads to sentimentality).

"Safe for the whole family" forgets that Jesus isn’t safe, that the Bible isn’t safe. It forgets that our goal isn’t to make nice people and nice cultures but to expose shameful behaviors in order to redeem and transform people. Niceness may be a good side-effect, but it’s not our goal.

That being said, I think we may have gotten a little skewed in our pursuit of edgy Christian fiction. By putting a term on it and by pursuing fiction that is edgy, we’ve shifted our focus from writing good stories to writing specific things in our stories.

In other words, we’ve created rules in the opposite direction.

It becomes reactionary rather than creative. While I believe art should take risks, I don’t think I could say that the reason we create art is in order to take specific risks.

Here’s what I think: let’s drop the terms and write good stories or create good art. Let’s stop trying to be trendy and hip and edgy or let’s stop trying to be safe and allow our vision of art (and specifically of fiction in this case) come from the creativity of God, a creativity which creates, sacrifices, and resurrects. May it flow from the beauty of Christ on the cross for our ugliness and resurrected to conquer death. May it envision the recreation of God.

Maybe I’m just an old-fashioned idealist.

Filed Under: edgy Christian fiction, publishing, writing

ABA or CBA or ABCDEFG?

August 10, 2007 By heather Leave a Comment

There’s ABA, or American Booksellers Association (also a musical term describing ternary form, American Basketball Association, or Baseball perhaps, and American Bar Association, but although I am a musician, I’m not speaking of the first, and I’m neither a basketball player, baseball player, or lawyer, so that rules out the rest), and there’s CBA, or Christian Booksellers Association. It’s about publishing, fyi. The question is, which one do I got with?
I’ve vacillated between the two, and it has to do with philosophy, both of them good and desirable.
Let me preface by saying I don’t like the term "Christian fiction." How do you determine which fiction is Christian and which isn’t? Then there’s the corollary, is it Christian enough? Then you get into wars of all sorts of things from cursing and drinking to the theology of angelology and trinity (which is dealt with less often than the former). And then there’s the question of a non-Christian writing a work that reflects Christ more than he or she meant, and so is that Christian? I don’t like these questions, and someday I’ll talk more about that, but for now, know that that is not my ish here.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled program:
On the one hand, there’s the philosophy of Christians being in the world. Salt and light. Christians being present in the ABA world. Talented, beautiful, and Christian. This is the philosophy I typically strive to live. Does it matter if I’m a Christian playing Mozart or a non-Christian playing Mozart? No, not really, as long as I’m playing it beautifully. I think Christians should be in normal life, not in a bubble. Business women CEO’ing a dot com company or lawyers prosecuting and defending or musicians playing Mozart and writing original songs or writers coming up with stories that can be read by anyone who knows the language. This would be the world of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Flannery O’Connor.
On the other hand, Tevye, there’s the philosophy of Christians, who believe in the Creator God and His Imago Dei in every human, standing up to be patrons of the arts, including writing. Showing the world that we care about beauty, that we see the horrors and the death and the evil and all the wrenching of lives and relationships and all the effects of the Fall, that we believe in reconciliation and redemption and hope. Showing the world that we don’t want to just fight them. We want to lead them. As a group. As the Church, the Body of Christ. This would be the world of J.S. Bach and Handel.
See what I mean? Both are beautiful stances, in my opinion. So the question remains: which one for me?
I think at this point in time in my life, I’ll pursue CBA. There are problems, as there would be if I chose ABA. There are things that frustrate me. Heck, that’s life. But I’m passionate about writing. I’m passionate about Christ. I’m passionate about what can be. There are those who are passionate about writing, passionate about Christ, and passionate about what can be in the ABA world. Perhaps that will be me someday, another day.
Who knows.

Filed Under: publishing, purpose, writing

Publishing Articles

December 8, 2006 By heather Leave a Comment

Thought some of you might appreciate these articles about publishing. This one is from Forbes and is a collection of articles. I have not read them all.
This is a review of the Forbes articles.
Also, Michelle at Just a Minute has found some great online coupons and this online audible book site that has a couple of freebies. If you’re still shopping (and if you’re anything like me, you have barely begun to shop!), these might come in handy.

Filed Under: publishing, writing