“The world is too much with us now . . .”  T.S. Elliot.  And so it is with me.  I am posting a day early this week so that I may leave soon on a short sojourn.  In my publication update posted last week my path contains Promethean boulders.  It has been six months since I terminated my publishing contract with the California micro-publisher and the reality of publishing this year remains uncertain.

I have been disappointed that outside my small group of local friends, those offering to help are motivated by the almighty dollar.  Recently one editor proposed both content editing and proofreading.   When I responded that my manuscript had the skills of a retired Journalism Professor for content editing she countered with “many authors have two editors review their work.”  I asked twice for a proposal for only proofreading and the editor didn’t respond.  Her fee for content editing was $54/hr. and for proofreading $42/hr.  Whose interest did she have in mind when requiring an all or nothing deal?

While the path to publication is again temporarily blocked while I search for a proofreader, I need a reprieve.  I am giving myself a week to experience another culture and will return to post about that experience next week. 

I’m at the stage of self-publication to need copyediting/proofreading services.  I asked one of my writing teachers for a recommendation for a local person and received one.  I dashed off an e-mail to learn if the person was currently available to take on another client.  The response I received corrected me; she was a line editor, not a copy editor or proofreader.  I thought the response was a bit high minded but the description of the services made sense. Her fee was $45/hr which was within the range I had researched on line for this type of service.  She asked for the first chapter of my novel and I sent a file on July 6th.

The first chapter is six pages, about 1830 words.  How long can it take to read those few pages and make a proposal?  It took three follow-up e-mails to receive a response on July 21st.  She estimated she would charge $200 for the first six pages.  At that rate line editing my novel would cost over $9000!  After reading just six pages she concluded:  I’m at the beginning stages of the novel and stated:  “My strong suggestion is to take a class in constructing the short story –this will strengthen your understanding of how to avoid cultural stereotypes and produce a complex protagonist who is a real individual; how to stick to a strictly internal POV; how to introduce back-story convincingly; and above all, how to expose conflict gradually, instead of all at once.”

Guess what?  The editor teaches short story writing.  Also, the editor has only published short stories, never a full length novel.  The critique is harsh and not transparent in being self-serving to attempt to get me to take one or more of her short story classes.

I understand that short story writing is a difficult and unique form in the writing profession.  I’m not writing a short story, it’s a novel.  A short story is a song while a novel is a symphony.  Her comments also convinced me she hasn’t kept up with current teaching on novel writing such as Donald Maass’s, WRITING THE BREAKHOUT NOVEL, where he implores authors to have conflict dripping on every page.

While her response was both subtle and tactful it still had the affect of slicing and dicing my novel to shreds.  Where is her support for a first time novelist?  She broke the cardinal rule of critique, praise the good and make suggestions for improvement.

I admit at first reading her comments were devastating and sent me into deep depression.  With this blog I’m exorcising her from my psyche and moving on.  I’ll find an editor I can work with.  

Several weeks ago my wife and I took a mini-vacation to the La Crosse area for a weekend bicycle riding.  We like to stay at a farm bed & breakfast about 35 miles north of La Crosse.  The Mississippi is the western border of Trempealeau County and inland is the drift fewer regions filled with coulees and corkscrew county roads.  We biked for about an hour until we gave in to the relentless rain.  After eating lunch in the car we decided to visit a winey our bed and breakfast hosts had suggested. 

There is one handwritten sign on County Road C – “Winery” with an arrow.  We drove on Joe Coulee road for about five miles until another handwritten sign bid us to turn left.  We drove around the bottom of a hill, looked to our right, and there sat the winery at the top of the hill.  The tasting was free and we were told to ask for John.  John turned out to be pouring the samples and explaining the nuances of each wine.  We bought two glasses to enjoy on the porch and a bottle to take home.

John joined us on the porch with a glass of wine and we enjoyed a wonderful hour and a half conversation.  John explained that owning the winery was a lifestyle choice; he was a retired consulting engineer, who wanted a more relaxed environment.  From the winery porch the hills rolled to the south in layers of flush green woods and pockets of water vapor trapped in the coulees, it was bucolic.  John told us about twenty years ago he decided to make his life mission to live graciously.  He then decided to make his business goal for the winery to produce a wine that would enhance the level of gracious living.

John’s lifestyle and life choices served as his definition of gracious living and it struck a chord for me, one of those “ah-ha” moments in life.  After thinking about it for a short time I worried that maybe gracious living was self-indulgent.  I googled the term gracious living and found these definitions:  kindness and warm courtesy; tact and propriety; courteous and indulgent; beauty and graceful; elegance and good taste; benevolent; merciful and compassionate and civil.

Sometimes there are coincidences that are not explainable and meeting John Gill was one for me.  There is a lesson for me our conversation.  I too, want to live graciously.     

At least once a week I check this blog just in case someone leaves a comment.  This week I glanced at the first sentence and was horrified to read the wrong word “below” instead of “belong”.  As we all know from experience, spell check doesn’t catch this type of anomaly.  It’s sad really.  With today’s programming geniuses you would think someone could develop a program that would also check context and suggest corrections to these types of mistakes.

Making that type of mistake embarrassing, my only solace is that nearly every writer has had that happen.  With a mistake in the lead sentence I thought I should re-read the entire post.  Guess what?  Another error, I wrote “authors experience” instead of “authors’ experience” and this error was in the second sentence!  This was a classic proofreading error.

To say the least, I am humbled by my own fallibility.  I apologize to readers for not being more careful.  I’ll strive to do better in the future.  

 I below to a lot (read +15) author/publishing chat groups on linkedin.  In the spring I posed a question on independent authors experience with create space, lulu or other sites.  I was pleased to receive responses for three weeks and a number of very detailed responses.  Due to my less than scientific survey and my own review I’ve decided to use the create space services available through Amazon.

I am now in the market for copywriting services. With my previous success I decided to query 10 of my linkedin chat groups with the question – what are you paying either per work or per page for copy editing services?  This time the responses varied.  I received four offers, with a fee quote for each.  The best response provided a website, www.the-efa.org for the Editorial Freelances Association.  I wasn’t aware such an organization existed.  All writers who need factual information on the type and professional fees charged for a variety of editorial services should visit this site.

I plan on using this site to determine if the fees proposed are current, fair and represent professional work.  For me, having an editor belong to this organization will be critical.  Once again, experience has proven that there are a myriad of ways for independent authors to network, share information, and be supportive in our “Brave New World of Publishing” (sorry Aldous).  

We are fortunate in Madison to have several independent bookstores and bookstores for used books.  One of the best is A Room of One’s Own on the corner of Gorham and State Street, lodged snugly between the State Capitol and the UW-Madison campus.

The bookstore has a long and strong record of supporting independent authors, local authors and Wisconsin authors.   At their website: www.roomofonesown.com on the left margin they list the author book readings they sponsor every month.  Generally, they host 4-6 authors.

Authors are often depicted as solitary souls and my experience for attending readings and writer’s conferences for more than 15 years it that this is a myth.  Authors like to meet readers, respond to questions and have their work heard by reading it out loud themselves.  Publishers would like us to believe the primary purpose of author book readings is to sell books.  I don’t believe it is, although, hopefully for the author it does result in at least modest book sales.  The purpose for the author is to connect with readers.  How dismal it is to spend years producing a book and then not have any contact with your readers.  It is certainly a form of purgatory if not hell itself.

Last week I attended a reading by Ben Miller of his first published work, RIVER BEND CHRONICLE.  He greeted my wife and me with a warm handshake and an introduction to his wife and several other family members.  Sadly for Ben, the crowd included only Lynette, me and the Miller family members.  Not daunted in the least Ben gave a spirited reading from a scene in his book about growing up in urban (yes, urban) Iowa; Davenport, Iowa to be specific.  He also took questions and the entire event was about an hour.

From his reading I learned Ben is an excellent writer and his prose are dense and thought provoking.  Of course I had to buy the book and have him sign it.  Ben was thrilled to have me buy his book – not because it was a sale that would blossom his income – because he met a reader – his reader.  My wife was amazed at how Ben bubbled over me and was sincerely appreciative of our attendance.  I won’t forget Ben Miller and I’ve dived head first into his book.

Please, go to an author reading whenever you get a chance.  Lonely authors need the human connection as much as anyone – maybe more.

Please take the time to comment and share your author reading experiences on my blog. 

Reading a good literary work does the heart and soul good.  With our recent celebration of Blooms Day on June 16th (a coincidence with Father’s Day this year) I thought it fitting to dive into a recently published literary novel and found John Banville’s ANCIENT LIGHT, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2012.  The story is told by first person narrator, Alexander Cleave.  Alex toggles back and forth between the story of his affair with his best friend’s mother at age 15 and his transition to movie acting and the loss of his daughter in later years.

Banville language is nothing short of elegant and single sentences can be a paragraph long.  Yet, there is a rhythm and cadence to the writing that makes it a very easy read.  In some ways it’s also an “anti-novel” by modern standards because there is no plot, nothing the protagonist must have to live, and no conflict in the Donald Maass – WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL model.

Alex simply tells his story of his life from vantage of old age reflecting on what happened and not always sure if it actually happened or it’s make believe.  For a sample of the language Banville commands, here is a description Alex has of his co-star in the movie:

“She is impossibly thin, as they all have to be these days – “Oh, but I don’t eat,” she told me, with a tinkly laugh, when we broke for lunch, and I gallantly offered to fetch her a sandwich – especially on the inner sides of her upper arms I notice, which are positively concave, with sinews unpleasantly on display under the pallid skin that makes me think, I am sorry to say, of a plucked chicken.”

We know exactly what his co-star looks like through his eyes and also have his perspective woven into the description.

So, for your summer read – try a literary novel, it will do you a world of good and be a good reprise from the host of formulaic novels available anywhere.   

What is your favorite literary novel?

I write a monthly column for an Ezine, Extra Innings,http://www.dcs.wisc.edu/lsa/writing/extrainnings called Preyers, Predators and Pretenders.  On my voyage to self-publication I knew that I needed help with editing, web design, copy editing, book printing and marketing.  As with many first time self-publishers my knowledge of resources available to help me is very limited.  I signed on with a company that specializes in helping self-publishers by acting like an agent to secure competent help.

The first suggestion of the new company was that my book needed content/development/story editing.  Wanting the highest quality product possible, I agreed.  The copy acquired a quote for about $2300 to edit my 84,400 word novel.  Fine, I thought, what do I get for $2300?  I never did find out.  The person submitting the amount never took the time to make a written proposal. 

I gave the company a ten point list of items I wanted to see in any written proposal.  I received a written proposal for $5000 but the editor refused to thoroughly read my novel before beginning editing work.  Her response was “I don’t have time to read every book before I edit it.  I would have to charge a reading fee for that.  This guy doesn’t know very much about the publishing business.  Tell him to get an education in the modern publishing business.”  And that person thought I would spend $5000 with them with that attitude?

A friend who did a quick content edit for me challenged the need for another content editor.  I wrote two additional chapters to fill in some gaps and he agreed to read them and give me an assessment.  Next, I decided to have my website reviewed because in the past month my hits dropped.  The tech person made a detailed proposal and wanted $3200 – for consultation only, I would have to do all the work.  Do I look like I carry gold coins in my pocket?

The potential cost just for editing and website are $8200, then there’s copy editing, book printing and marketing.  Assuming my gross royalties will be $4.00 per book I would need to sell 2050 books just to cover the cost of editing and website.  Really?

There are predators in the self-publishing world ready to play to a writer’s ego to be read.  Self-publishers beware! 

On one of the linkedin author chat groups I participate in some brave soul finally asked – has anyone had experience getting book sales from their facebook page?  Guess what the answers were?  That’s right – not one person could document a single book sale as a result of having a facebook author page.

I have done numerous google searches for data on book sales and facebook.  I have not been able to find any data.  Then there is the question of buying advertising on facebook to sell books.  A number of my linkedin colleagues experimented with facebook advertising.  It’s not cheap.  Again, there was no hard data to link facebook advertising with book sales and even if there were, the cost effectiveness is murky at best.

I don’t intend to be crass and demand or have an expectation that an author facebook page generate fabulous sales.  It would be beneficial to be able to demonstrate that there is some correlation between facebook and book sales.  As an author I need to allocate my time.  Is a presence on facebook a good use of my time?  I wonder?

There is one question no one has asked.  Are those that participate in the various forms of social media readers?  If your limit is 144 characters my guess it’s unlikely you could handle more than 144 pages.  Some may argue that social media people purchase e-books.  Again, where is the data?  An e-book is only a change in format – you still need to be a reader.  While I don’t have any objective data, my guess is that if you spend a great deal of time (more than 1 hour a day) on social media, you’re not a reader.

I already have a webpage, linkedin and twitter and I’m thinking about having an author facebook page, at least on Amazon.  My solution is simply to devote the minimum amount of time to each.  If I don’t spend time working on my novel anyone finding me in the social media world won’t have a book from me to read. 

The right division of time for me is, 90% novel writing and 10% everything else – until someone can SHOW ME THE BEEF!

If you have any objective data on the relationship between book sales and social media – PLEASE – respond to this post – for now I’ve used up my 10%. 

                 

Back in March I learned what happens to a person when your blood sugar soars to four times the normal level.  You can’t get enough water, which results in – well – you can guess.  That means you don’t get very much sleep because you’re up 15 times a night, so you are also always tired.  After doing the weekly grocery shopping I needed a two hour nap in the afternoon.  You are always hungry, especially for sweets.   The miracle is that you lose weight – fast.  I lost 8 pounds in two weeks – a new lifetime record for me.

I had been “pre-diabetic” for six years and able to manage life with good diet and exercise.  Then, overnight everything changed.  The doctors and nurses can’t tell me why it happened – it does so your energy is best spent learning about your new lifestyle.

I didn’t need to change diet very much and because the high glucose wracked my body I was ordered to stop exercising until after my blood sugar was under control.  When I was allowed to begin exercising again it was at a snail’s pace, five minutes of walking a day, three days a week.  The plan I was given increased the exercise over an eight week period.

With spring/summer about to break in Wisconsin at my house it means gardening and yard work.  I’ve decided to turn the clock back and mow with a manual lawnmower.  Fiskar’s makes a high tech manual mower that sharpens the blades as it mows and the grass forward rather than back so the grass gets mulched at the same time.

 I’ve divided my lawn into three mini-lawns and it takes about 30 minutes to mow each.  I get work on legs and arms by manually mowing and even work up a sweat.  So, I call this my Fiskar’s Therapy.