Self-Publishing, Re-Writes, & an update
Interesting: “Barry Eisler, a NY Times best-selling author of various thriller novels, has just turned down a $500,000 book contract in order to self-publish his latest work. In a conversation with self-publishing aficionado Joe Konrath, Eisler talks about why this makes sense and how the publishing industry is responding in all the wrong ways to the rise of ebooks. He also explains the math by which it makes a lot more sense to retain 70% of your earnings on ebooks priced cheaply, rather than 14.9% on expensive books put out by publishers.”
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Switching gears, here is another good blog post that my friend Maggie sent me about re-writing/revising/writing what you see:
“But now I began the long process of comprehending that what is so vivid in your head doesn’t automatically zap into the reader’s head. That phrases like Her eyes flashed with scorn did not, in fact, shoot into the reader’s mind the image of my heroine’s wary tilt to her head, the tightly crossed arms, her bitten thumbnail, her threadbare summer gown and the wisps of hair straggling onto her forehead, the smooth black glinting blue in the morning sun. I saw that. The reader just got a common phrase signaling sexual tension. If she was reading just for a story of sexual tension that would eventually resolve with a happy meeting of minds (and lips), then it didn’t matter if she didn’t see the complete picture. But if I wanted her to see the picture-if I wanted her to remember my heroine as distinct from all the other heroines whose eyes flash scorn-then I had to disassemble the movie, and rebuild it on the page as text, image by image, noun by noun, verb by verb.”
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As for me, writing is coming slowly. I’d like to be able to blame things like “Work keeps me busy” or “I’m packing and getting ready for a big move to another state” (both of which are true), but the truth is I need to make time for my writing. I guess I get frustrated if I only have 30-45 minutes in the evening to work on my book, and feel like if I don’t have HOURS to dedicate at one go, what’s the point? That’s foolish of me, I know, so I’m making a goal right now to work on my book (that pesky 3rd & hopefully final draft) a little bit every day, even if it’s just for 30 minutes.
