by Amanda
I just got off the phone from Sarah who is not a happy camper this morning. She logged onto her computer to upload today’s post and found out she couldn’t. Whether her computer has a virus or there’s another problem, she isn’t sure yet. Dan is busy trying to figure it out. But the bottom line is she can’t post and doesn’t know when she’ll have her computer back.
So, for the moment at least, we’re declaring an open thread today. Here’s your chance to ask any questions you have or suggest topics. The floor is now yours!
Mad Genius Club 
20 responses to “Ack and Argh!”
What’s the meaning of life?
Oh wise and noble feathered one, we thought you could tell us. We’ve been waiting anxiously for you to grace us with your knowledge.
Sorry, passing out that information isn’t my department.
42
That was in the 80’s. Inflation has it up around 78 at the moment.
(Free enovel from http://www.scottjrobinson.com)
Life (cf. biota) is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes (i. e., living organisms) from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased (death), or else because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate.
😛
You are a sick, twisted and horrible person.
I adore that.
Oops, attribution: Wikipedia
😀
‘nother question:
Y’all have spent about a year on the issues of the publishing industry almost exclusively. There have been week or so long breaks here and there, but not many…when are you going to spend a prolonged amount of time talking about writing, reading, what influences y’all as you write and stuff that’s a bit less of a downer?
Mike, I can’t speak for the rest of the group, but those are the posts that seem to get the most traffic as well as the most links on other sites. I was brought into the blog mainly to talk about what’s going on in the industry and to link to other posts on the topic. Rowena and Chris do, imo, great jobs discussing exactly what you’ve asked about. Kate’s toolbox posts have been very good about discussing the nuts and bolts. As for Sarah and Dave, I don’t want to speak for them but I know this is a topic they feel passionately about. Sorry you think we’ve been a bit of a downer but, with the industry changing as rapidly as it is and with authors being the ones getting the short stick all too often, it’s hard not to be. Especially since most of us aren’t know for sugar coating anything except the candy we make in our kitchens 😉
I’m not saying those posts aren’t valuable. But what do they actually say about the body of work of the various MGC members? Good god I’ve had people say to me “Wait, Dave Freer is _funny_?” more than one in fact. I’m not saying abandon the industry change info, but more writing, reading, mechanics stuff won’t kill anyone.
Mike, I hear what you are saying.
A lot of the “industry” posts seem so generic as to be worthless except that they let off steam. I am not talking about Sarah’s posts on going agentless or responses to particular news or events that need commenting on. These have context and meaning. But those rants? Well let’s say they have got to the point of irritating me so much that they are the posts I remember(even though I wished I didn’t)
To be fair there are a lot less of them than my brain tells me(just did a trawl through the archive) but that just tells me that a lot of good content is not being remembered while I fume at what I see as pointless re-hashing of the same theme.
Mike, I do get what you’re saying. But each of us decides on our own what we want to blog about. We’ve gone through the phase of trying to blog on the same general topic each week, etc. We have decided to use Saturdays to spotlight our work — although that isn’t what we always do. But we have to look at the hit numbers and comment numbers as well.
That said, the authors are free to blog about whatever they want. The only caveat is that we try to keep it focused on some aspect of the publishing industry. I wish when we wrote about our work, we got the hits and comments we get when we talk about what is going on in the industry and how we are trying to respond to it. For me — and possibly for the others. I don’t know and won’t presume to talk for them — getting the hits and comments is important because it means people are reading what I’ve posted and are starting to learn my name. That is promotion. It also means, in my mind at least, that when I do talk about a new title coming out, they have a better chance of going to look at it on Amazon, etc., because they know who I am.
Er… Dave’s posts are funny, even the doom and gloom ones!
When one is attacked by a novel, should one just go with it, or try to steer it into more marketable territory. Or is that an unknown value?
OK, we all know Romances outsell everything else, but if it just can’t fit that category, where to go? I’m wondering this specifically because I really don’t know a lot about YA other than apparently most of it is either about abuse, sparkly vampires or really girly.
Is there any hope for Cyberpunk with fourteen year old protagonists?
The answer to that depends on the definition of “marketable”. Marketability is an opinion — an opinion based on at least some evidence, but an opinion nonetheless.
One of the byproducts of the present publishing system is a restricted set of values for “marketable”. There’s a certain structure, or so the gatekeepers tell us, that must be followed or people won’t buy the book. How do they know? — that structure is all they’ve allowed through for years, and people do buy the books. They’ve never tried anything else, so nobody knows whether anything else will sell or not.
You know what that structure is as well as anyone. You can decide whether or not to conform to some particular subset of it. But I will define “artist”: somebody who knows the rules well enough to break them knowledgeably.
Write the story in the way the story demands to be written. The wonderful thing about self-publishing is that you can go around the gatekeepers if you wish. If it isn’t “marketable” according to the Rules of Publishing, maybe the Rules are just guidelines after all. Try it and see.
Regards,
Ric
Pam,
Try it. Right now the whole concept of “marketability” is being rewritten. I should write this tomorrow… I should have written this today… I’m just now back online — well, as of about an hour ago.
What we used to mean by “marketable” was what sold to agents and editors really. That was based on what agents and editors thought was marketable. This was often based on surveys. But it was sometimes based on what I’d have to call “duck voices from the baseboard” or if you prefer “alien voices from alpha Centauri” or if you prefer what I’d call “jumping from zero to conclusions, long distance exibition shot.” These last cover stuff like “cozies aren’t real mystery so no one wants to read them.” (Except they did, and this led to craft mysteries, because THOSE the publishers would accept.) “No one wants to read space opera, everyone wants big concept science fiction” (this one was so bad — SO tight in the buying end — that it’s now sparking, at last “futuristic romance” becuase, yeah, the demand is still there.)
And sometimes it was what I call “but all the cool kids have it and I WANT it. Meaning insane buying sprees apropos nothing I could see. Or rather “we paid a lot to promote this book. It sold well. We must get a billion more of these.” This led to … Oh, chic lit mysteries, for instance.
It was well known, for decades, that they went on crazy fad hunting. These were “marketable” while it lasted. I.e. while the publishers were convinced it was the “next big thing” and therefore would push it. For some reason the correlation of push=sales was never made.
Anyway. Now… indie. If that’s the way you’re going, “marketable means something COMPLETELY different. My guess is that for a while at least, in terms of genre and subgenre, there will be “enough” market for just about anything. So many of us have been starved for variety, you see.
So, write it and enjoy it. you can always go indie. Just make sure it’s WELL written. In that sense, you should steer your idea through the novel. In the sense of “make it something it’s not? Foggedaboutit.
The worst thing about this thing is that I can see _so_ many “product placement” opportunities I have a hideous feeling I could sell it as movie concept. Barbie Dolls, GI Joe Action Figures, Byerly Model horses, and electronic parts as well as whole computers. 24 Hour Fitness Centers. Fast food restaurants . . .
It’s scary to have this demanding to be written.
I used to say – write what inspires you. But after decades of not getting manuscripts published, I hate to say it, but I think you need to start from what publishers perceive as marketable niches. The bastards have finally got to me.
Chris, I think that’s when you have to ask yourself who you want to publish your work. The legacy publishers tend to look for books that fit the current trend, forgetting it may be two years from the time they first see the manuscript until they get it into print. Smaller publishers seem more concerned with if the story is one they like. Sure, there are those that follow certain trends, but you can usually figure that out by looking at what they’ve been publishing. Micro-publishers are much more likely to publish something that has a great plot and compelling characters. Then there’s the option of going indie. It all comes down to deciding what route you want to go.