[BIB/ReadersRoom] The Fear

So I’ve been signed to a three book deal. Now how does it feel?

This is a common question that I’ve gotten and the honest answer is that I’m excited and terrified. Of course there’s the requisite celebration, after all, it’s a three book deal. To date, I’ve written five novels. After years of struggling to sell one novel, I’ve finally sold one plus two I haven’t written yet. Fifth times a charm.

And it’s terrifying. This is it. This is the dream I’ve been working toward. What I’ve sacrificed for. What I’ve thought about and through for so long. I’ve often said that it takes ten years to become an overnight success and that getting published is 90% persistence. During that time you are preparing yourself for the eventual opportunity. Honing your craft. Disciplining yourself. Broadening your contacts. Developing your professionalism. Learning to meet deadlines. All the while, you remain open to opportunities that come along. And when that opportunity comes along, it can be frightening.

This is a variation of the fear of success that many of us suffer from. Generally speaking, every stage of your writing career is filled with fear. Fear of the blank page and beginning to write. Fear of finishing, after all, writers finish things. Fear of editing and being critiqued (our stories are our children and we don’t want anyone to hurt our precious). Fear of submitting (eventually we have to send our children, hopefully prepared or at least fully edited, out into the world).

Now I have deadlines, that feeling of writing under the gun. Of feeling rushed (yet, ironically, realizing at the same time knowing I’m doing and writing exactly the same way I’ve been writing, except more focused and disciplined). I have 18 months to write 300K words. That’s a lot of words. That’s also no way to think of the project, but the part of you that nurtures that nervous ball in the pit of your belly rolls that fact around in your head. Part of you begins to second guess and doubt yourself.

Because you don’t want to fail. The fear creeps back in, reminding you that this is your big chance, that this is what you’ve dreamed of. To not blow it. Nor do you want to let down the writing, the craft, itself. Nor your readers, neither the ones you’ve accumulated up to this point or the new ones you hope to gain with each new project . There there are your publisher and other folks who’ve believed in you or gambled on you with the opportunity (understanding that when all is said and done, this a business).

And I know for me, I don’t want to disappoint my wife. She’s sacrificed and believed in me and I want to show her that it was worth it even though I know she doesn’t care how “big” I get as long as I’m using my gifts and talents.

And yes, I want to succeed. I’m not imagining that I’ll be the next King of Rowling (no more than we all dream of that kind of success). But even the idea of success fills me with the kind of dread that has me reaching for the covers to crawl under and hide for a while.

So you stare down the mocking blank page.

And you remember to take it one word, one paragraph, one scene at a time. If nothing else mindful of the sacrifices, the hard work; knowing that you want this and that you’ve got this. Letting the looming deadline (and in my case, the voice of a lady at my church who read the first novel and is demanding that I finish the second so that she can read the next part) help you conquer your fear.

Never let them see you sweat. And you start to write.*



*Right after you’re done procrastinating by blogging.

Living With a Writer

There she is, front and center. Do you see the glee on my wife’s face? Matched only by the devilish glint in Christie White’s eyes. You bear witness to the “what the hell was Wrath James White (and apparently Monica O’Rourke) thinking putting our wives together as the tag team of evil” on the panel the Seven Deadly Sins of Living With a Writer: the Highs and Lows of Life With A Writer at KillerCon. I am still torn about whether this was the worst idea ever or the most insightful panel I’ve witnessed in a while.

It sprang originally from a panel at Mo*Con IV where we were discussing what it was like as writers to be married to spouses who were fellow writers. Apparently the non-writing spouses wanted a voice in the matter. An interesting phrase was used by Karen Lansdale. She referred to what she called “the curtain,” the all-too-visible expression on our faces we get when it’s obvious that we’re in our heads writing.

This became evident to me on two occasions within the past week or so. My youngest son, Malcolm, employs a screech (it’s the most awful sound you’ll ever hear) when it’s time for me to help him with his homework. He says it’s to get my attention because he knows I’m writing. In other words, he’s learned already that he has to pierce the curtain. Even my boss recently commented that he recognizes the look of when my mind is no longer on the job, but rather working out plot points and character arcs.

We ask a lot of our spouses, wanting them to support us in different ways. To read our work, maybe even edit it, or let us run ideas by them. To us, that’s including you in the creative process, that part of our lives. Sometimes it’s a matter of taking care of the banalities (realities) of life, from having a career, providing little things like financial support and insurance benefits. Sometimes it’s a matter of giving us room to write by taking the kids out of the house so we can have peace and quiet to concentrate.

We can say “we’re working” all we want. Yes, hanging out on a message board and on blogs is work because it’s a matter of networking and interacting with fans Hanging out at a room party is work. Reading is work. Playing Scrabble on FaceBook counts as work (ok, a bit of a stretch, but I do play with my agent). As Leslie Banks pointed out, we’re like entrepreneurs in the middle of a business launch in terms of how much time, energy, and finances we pour into our career. Many times this is our second job (or even third for some of us).

Then there are the little things—which are bigger than we’d like to recognize things—that also take a toll. What we call “at least being there” as quality spouse or family time, they see as either just the back of our heads or just our eyes above the cover of our laptops as we write. We also ask them (sometimes just expect them) to give up a slice of their privacy as they find out that parts of their life has been shared within a bit of fiction. Be it arguments or personal situations. Many of us have had that … “corrective memo” … delivered to us that what was put in a story wasn’t meant for public consumption. (Does this sound familiar: “but honey, no one will know that you said this or this happened to you.” * “But I’ll know.” This scene may or may not be followed by a night on the couch.)

And they have to put up with our moods, the emotional frisson of creation, or what my wife may call my silent cry for the need for medication. (The “existential terror” sounds too grandiose for what she simply refers to as my “mood”.) The process is like giving my personal demons shape and substance, the accompanying mix of anger and depression that comes as I leap from inside one character’s head to another. Even friends find me especially hard to read if I’m not present in the moment but rather half in a character’s head wondering how’d s/he’d respond in that situation.

And I appreciate how great my wife has been about understanding all of this and put up with me. At the same time, I’ve promised to try to do better at being present with her and the family, learning to be in the moment and raising the curtain. It's funny how any of us can be at home yet functionally absent, focused on whatever side project or work we're doing.

Plus, there’s no winning an argument when I have to say at any point "seriously, honey. I was googling 'autoerotic asphyxiation' for research for my novel!"

[BIB/ReadersRoom] Our Bi-Directional Assumption of Trust

When a publisher of any repute buys a book from you, it’s a bi-directional assumption of trust. The author trusts that the publisher will do their best to edit, publish, and market your title. The publisher trusts that the author will do their very best to see that their book is a success by taking it on themselves to do a respectable amount of self-promotion.

We tend to forget that when we get published, we writers join with our presumptive publishers in a peculiar relationship, this “bi-directional assumption of trust”. There are certain things I want the publisher to do for me, the things I might not necessarily be capable of doing for myself (or which they can do better) as we partner in the promotional efforts for our project. Because, indeed, my book becomes “our” book, as their advance indicates an investment in me/it.

Small press or large press, when you are considering who to go with as a publisher (especially if you are weighing the traditional route vs. self-publishing) there are several things you want to consider. Better said, there are certain things you want the publisher to do for you.

Here are some of the things I expect from my Publisher (even small press ones):

-distribution (my book into as many venues as possible)
-getting my book into libraries
-getting my book into book clubs (especially not forgetting urban book clubs)
-trade advertising (Weird Tales, Cemetery Dance, Shroud, Publisher’s Weekly, etc)
-press releases (Gila Queen, FearZone, Weird Fiction News, Hellnotes, HorrorWeb, etc.)
-advertising on book specialty web sites (CushCity is a site recently brought to my attention)
-full support on the publisher’s web site (you think would be a given, yet …)
-sending out review copies
-in house street team efforts (for instance, message board announcements)
-tip in sheets, bookmarks, postcards, and other promotional materials.

Basically, I want to see that I’m being taken seriously as a product. On my end, I tend to bring my marketing plans to the table so that the publisher knows what to expect from me. Even when I publish with the small press, I put in the work:

-I will make convention appearances, schmooze and do signings
-I specifically target black bookstores with my marketing efforts
-I give full platform support (my blog, FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter)
-I personally send out review copies (again, with a focus on black reviewers and places my publisher my have missed/not thought about)
-I do podcasts and interviews.

Ultimately, it’s about protecting your brand. And yes, cries of the struggling artist aside, you are a brand. One that deserves to be treated specially and promoted seriously, by you and your publisher.

[BIB/ReadersRoom] - Blogging about Blogging*

Today’s writing related question: Bloggers: how do you blog? Toss out a post whenever inspiration strikes, build up a reserve? Or have a set time of day? If so, when?

This is almost a twist on the question “how do you find the time to write?” (okay, it’s not really, I just really like that blog post). Actually, this question gave me all the excuse I needed to answer a different question: just how many words to I blog in a year. I finally got around to doing that math:

2005 – 168,000
2006 – 238,000
2007 – 189,000
2008 – 143,000

In short, I write about two novels worth of words a year in blogs (and now I also see why I fondly remember 2006 as my best blogging year. I went nuts with reviews and thinking A LOT about stuff, mostly my faith. Also that year my family faced A LOT of tragedy so I was

working through a lot of that. I find that a good chunk of the blogs I write today end up linking to blogs I wrote that year. I can also note that my production went down considerably in 2008 as I had more work to do in terms of stories requested by editors).

My blog started off as a weird competition between me and my assistant, Lauren David. It has since evolved (… uh, no, there was no scene involving an “I win! I win” dance) because blogging gave me a way to build an audience for my writing when I didn’t have much published at the time. And it has given me many other writing opportunities to do other writing. So, does blogging take away from my real writing time? No, I consider blogging PART of my real writing time.

I understand that the time I spend blogging is time that I could be working on a novel or a short story or an article. Last year I began being more methodical about my blog that would allow for regular updates, spontaneous blogs, and getting more story/paid writing done (since as of last year, I had a lot more editors asking me for stories).

I try to have a reserve of blogs set up in advance. Since there are times when I have more time to blog (usually between story/novel projects: I have found that it’s hard for me to blog regularly while “creating” new words/universe but I have no problems blogging while editing or revising a story). Unless it's time sensitive, I spread them out over a period of weeks (if I've truly worked ahead). Right now, I have 2 – 3 week's worth of blogs done as I gear up to write a story I promised an editor (more on that later if she likes the end result).

If inspiration (or need) arises, I go with it. But I've found that having a surplus helps because there are times when I have spent a lot of time thinking on one topic, say for example race relations, and end up writing a series of blogs on that topic. Then I spend a lot of time thinking about something else, for example, faith, and produce a lot of blogs on that topic. I’m well aware that I have a cross-pollinated audience who might not be interested in a protracted series on one topic, so by working on them in advance, I can sort them better (so that it's not all blocks of reviews, or theology, or race stuff, or writing).

I also set things to post between 6 and 8 a.m. that way they are there first thing in the morning ... when people arrive at work and are goofing off by cruising the internet (and also why you want you "big" blogs coming out on Mondays). However, I regularly violate another blog rule: the best blog length is about 300 words (500 at the outside). With pictures.

So yes, my blogging is part me being conscious of marketing myself.** However, as much of a bump as my blog traffic gets with regular posting or a particular blog getting a lot of links/exposure, it’s nothing like the marketing that comes with, you know, actual stories being released.



*“That's like jerking off by thinking about masturbating.” –Richard Danksy
** “And wasted if you don't have enough to market.” –Richard Danksy, in the name of tough love, because blogging shouldn’t become a replacement for the other writing I should be doing.


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[BIB/ReadersRoom] Online Billboards?

You remember when we were told that everyone had to have a website? Then participation on message boards was a must. Then we all had to have a blog. Now life is all about the social networking sites. I’m having a hard time believing that all of this stuff is worth putting my effort into. I have precious few hours to write as is, yet I find that when I sit down, I have to do a lot of what amounts to maintaining my online presence. It varies from checking in on a few message boards (my own included) to e-mail to the various social networking places … and eats up hours of my life. Is it all worth it?

JA Konraths blogged about fixing your online billboards and casting your net because to him, the answer is yes. Online billboards, as he defines them, are places “on the Internet where you have a little bit of property people pass through.” Your online presence may not directly translate into book sales, but it is a way for new potential readers to find you and for you to interact with them. So in short, your online presence, whatever they might amount to, is designed to attract new readers.

So I made a list of my online presence:

My website – which I’m preparing to re-vamp a bit

My Blog – where I touch on a lot of my favorite themes: race, spirituality, pop culture, and writing

Twitter – for the record, a lot of gibberish runs through my mind

My Message Board – my main interaction with folks

MySpace – I mirror my blog over there

FaceBook – this can be a sink hole of time, but other than my message board, I hang out here the most

The remainder of my billboards I need to do more with:

Goodreads

LinkedIN

SmallerIndiana

RedRoom

So, I have a few, some I’m more active on than others. I can think of quite a few writers who have made names for themselves with absolutely no web presence and I know I’d rather be spending my time writing (cause, wow, have I mentioned how FaceBook and MySpace can be time sinks if you let them be?) Whether this effort translates into sales is debatable. At the very least, you’re out there talking to new potential readers. Don’t get me wrong: FaceBook alone has destroyed any hopes of a serious professional image on my part. (Yay Broaddus Christmas party pics!) However, the more signs you have pointed to your books, the better. And a little bit of effort goes a long way.

At the very least, if you're already on one of these sites, come friend me.


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[BIB/ReadersRoom] On Agent Hunting

It's query season. Yeah, as part of the care and feeding of my writing career, I'm beginning another round of an agent hunt. These rounds always coincide with the completion of a new novel manuscript length project. I’ve finished my third novel now. The first two haven’t sold, but I can see my progress as a writer from novel to novel (to the point where I recently went back to re-work my first one as it was filled with “first time writer” stuff).

One of the benefits of having a network of friends is that you can not only draw on their experience, but also their inside knowledge about agents. Okay, sometimes they’ll try and hook you up with their agents. I do have some other things that I am looking for in an agent, you know, the whole competency at their job thing. Thus, I have come up with a few criteria for my future possible agent.

1. Don't do crack. I keep thinking of the "Randy Moss lesson":

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. ‑‑ An agent for Randy Moss was charged with possession of crack cocaine after police were called to a hotel to investigate a disturbance, authorities said…

If there's one thing I've learned from watching athletes and agents, it's that my name will be the one in the papers when my agent has issues. You'd think I'd aim a little higher in the "things to look for" department, but I thought this was worth putting near the top. In my experience, limited though it may be to episodes of The Corner, drug use doesn't indicate the best money management abilities. Additionally, a crackhead probably wouldn't make for the best ambassador for me.

2. Don't be a part of my social circle. I'm all about community, however, business is business. My agent will not my childhood buddy, will not a distant relative, and will not some friend of my mom's. For example, I have a best friend (yes, I'm part 12 year old girl). He won't be my agent. On the other hand, he has already put his hat in the ring for being a part of my posse.

3. Do not have a psychotic break. Especially online. The occasional breakdown I can live with. We all have them. Try not to have them too publicly and we're good. You’d think one wouldn’t have to say that, but you’d also think that you wouldn’t have to remind folks that the internet is forever. While I’m on this topic, blogs should be professional. Yours AND your prospective agents. I don’t want to know about my agents pets, arguments with neighbors, shouting matches with writers (wait, strike that, yeah I do. I’m a gossip whore), or anything related to their sex life. I’m sure prospective agents think similarly when they check out your blog after they get your query letter. And allow me to assure you that your blog, your MySpace, whatever presence you have online are all checked out soon after that query is opened.

4. Why don’t you NOT have publishing ventures on the side. I don’t want my agent dabbling in being a publisher or even a writer, truth be told. The words conflict of interest tend to pop up.

The way I see it, an agent is someone else to fight certain battles for me. They tend to the business side of the craft and I don’t have to exhaust myself trying to learn a second job in the field of publishing. While it’s important to educate yourself as much as possible about the business and develop a strong set of contacts, I’m not presumptuous enough to think I can do an agents job as well as an agent. It’s a different skill set.

Plus, in general, I’m a nice, easy-going guy. Prone to let folks walk on me. So I need someone else to be the professional a-hole and look out for my/their interests. I suppose I ought to, you know, be eventually useful in this post. And by way of token effort, I’ll direct you to some interesting reading:

Lucy A. Snyder wrote a great blog on how she got her agent. One of the things she touches on is the importance of an agent as she compares and contrasts her book deal via an agent vs. her husband’s who went the majority of the time sans agent.

Also recommended reading, John Scalzi’s blog on why you need an agent: foreign markets edition. What he knows about foreign markets “could fill a thimble”, but he has an agent who is fascinated by those markets. Which means basically free money for him.


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BIB - Networking

When I talk to some newbie writers about networking, they seem to hear it as butt-kissing or something they shouldn’t have to do in order to get published. They want no part of the politics of writing/publishing. Typically I hear this from the self-published crowd who tend to show little interest in the business aspect of writing. (Ironic since if you are going to go the self-publishing route, you should know the business side of things even better). So this isn’t for them.

One of the reasons we go to conventions is to network. It’s why we spend so much time on message boards, blogs, and social networking sites. While publishing largely boils down to what you write, the business side of things is eased by who you know. Friends make things easier. I know that as my career has slowly blossomed (I figure I’m in year eight on my road to overnight success), friends are there to encourage me, be first readers of my stories, edit me, and blurb me as needed.

This is not a call to be an unrepentant climber. Name-badging people and ignoring them if they “can’t be of use to you” isn’t going to win you any friends (and people know when they have been snubbed). This mercenary way of going through life will be quickly recognized. It's about the relationship first. I know when someone is using me to raid my connections, hanging around with me just because of who I hang out with, or talking with me in order to talk to who I'm talking to. I know it's a part of the game, but if you're going to so transparently use me, at least buy me dinner first. Networking isn't about using or ass-kissing people, it's simply about building relationships, for their own sake.

Malcolm Gladwell, in his book The Tipping Point: How Little Things can make a Big Difference, described these people as connectors, people who "link us up with the world ... people with a special gift for bringing the world together." Connectors are people in a community who know large numbers of people and who are in the habit of making introductions. A connector is essentially the social equivalent of a computer network hub. Connectors usually know people across an array of social, cultural, professional, and economic circles, and make a habit of introducing people who work or live in different circles.

Some people are natural networkers. Some people have to work at it.

Writers in general aren’t the most socially comfortable people. The bulk of what we do is done in solitude and the business side of art, networking, glad-handing, and nurturing/being with fans doesn’t necessarily come easily. So I offer a few simple tips to proper networking:

-Be genuine. Be true to yourself and your personality. Don’t try to mimic someone else. For example, I can’t do other people’s material. They’re likely funny in ways that I’m not and vice versa. Personality-wise, I can only be me. I’ll never be a Fran Friel, a Kelli Dunlap, a Chesya Burke, a Brian Keene or any of the other budding rock stars of the horror community. Their acts are their own. But that’s the secret: be your own act.

-Be naturally interested in people, for their own sake, without an agenda. You don’t make friends by first asking what they can do for you. You don’t make friends based on who they are or where they are in their careers. If for no other reason that you don’t know what twists fate may have in store for them or you, don’t burn bridges before they’ve formed.

-Be friendly. You are with your peers, people who get what you do and how you do it. You get to cut loose (within reason), and solidify working relationships with fellow writers, editors, agents, and fans. As JA Konrath said, "When we writers go anywhere, we become ambassadors for our writing."

Sometimes it is difficult getting spouse to see networking as something other than goofing off (I don’t understand my own wife’s confusion on the issue). Regardless, networking is an important part of any industry. Honestly, it’s part of the fun for me since basically I get to build a network of connections through conversation. And I love running my mouth.

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[BIB] – Black Marketing

(crosss-posted on Blogging in Black/Readers Room)

A while back, I did a series of blogs/interviews with some of my black horror writing colleagues. As it turns out, I ended up doing a collaboration with one of them. Wrath James White and I wrote the novella Orgy of Souls. To our editor’s delight, we quickly earned out our advance, but we’re not satisfied with that.

You see, the bulk of the marketing of the novella was done through the channels one would expect a horror novella to be marketed. The book is available at the Apex book store, Amazon, and Horror Mall. There have been the usual posts on horror message boards and advertising in horror magazines. (And when you have a publisher putting in the effort to market your work, you’re thankful because that’s less you ultimately have to do). The novella is now up at Fictionwise, the e-book is on sale for $4.24 for the next two weeks. (Fictionwise provides in a number of formats including Kindle, PDF, and eReader.)

So then I asked, what are we doing to market to the black community? While I was expecting “you’re the black writers. You’re supposed to tell me.” his response was “I’m gonna put someone on that. Any help would be appreciated.”

One of the contentions I’ve repeated made to horror publishers was that the black market was going ignored. No one can complain about a lack of readers when there are whole populations of readers going specifically ignored (a topic specifically discussed by my colleagues). So I’m putting together my list of black reviewers and black book clubs (RawSistaz and APOO I’m looking at you). I’m ramping up my presence on several black message boards (Black Science Fiction Society and the AAMBC). I’m making my list of black book stores in my area (X-Pression Bookstore & Gallery and Elevations Book & Coffee Shop) to arrange signings. I’m checking out the Carl Brandon Society. So as I’m thinking through the next phase of my marketing campaign, I’m turning to the Blogging in Black experts. What else would you recommend?


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[BIB] – Professional Correspondence: The Right to Hide One’s Ignorance

Cross-posted to Blogging in Black

I’ve refrained from commenting on this firestorm in a teapot 1) because I needed something to write about for this month’s blog for Blogging in Black and 2) because I know that EVERYONE follows the day to day online drama of genre writing.

Or maybe not, so let’s play catch up.

The overarching issue, in general, is whether we have the right to post personal/professional correspondence. On point, the issue is if you get a rejection letter from an editor and it contains racial epithets, should you post it on your blog?

Needless to say, some of the genre writers of color had a few words to say about this. Though the original site of the posted letter is undergoing some retroactive sanitation, the internet is forever and K. Tempest Bradford handled her business, not only preserving some of the note’s salient points but pretty much covering most of what I would have said on the topic.

Tobias Buckell dissected the various stages of racist thought (and then documented said offending editor’s further digging himself into a hole). Some people may consider these two writers part of the virtual lynch mob or participants in “political correctness run amuck” (a phrase usually doled out by a troll hiding behind a name like TooChickenSh*tToPostUnderMyRealNameButAren’tIBraveBehindMyKeyboard). To me they’re just frontline soldiers up against what we have to face entirely too often: a mentality that needs to be recognized for what it is, highlighted when it occurs, and rooted out.

Professionalism is a two way street. I, as a writer, should try and maintain professional practices as part of me submitting stories and corresponding to editors, agents, publishers, etc. I fully expect professional treatment in return from those self-same folks. I know plenty of editors who post missives received from disgruntled submitters, some delete the offenders names, some do not (preferring to leave the bloody stump of their head on a virtual spike on teh Interwebz as an example of what not to do).

The larger issue may be whether any correspondence should be posted on the Internet. Online etiquette says no, at least not without the person’s permission. “Piss me off etiquette” says you might reap what you sow. To be honest, I fully recognize that this is a digital age, so ALL of my correspondence is written with the idea that it is one button click from being forwarded to the entire online world. I imagine most editors should know this, too.


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There are worse fates than being unpublished

It frustrates me to see people I know, people who can write, publish so poorly. This isn’t another rant directed at those folks still butthurt over my last rant about self-publishing. There are legitimate times one might consider self-publishing (one of which I’ll mention later).

I've checked out several writer's websites, some friends, some "big talking" folks on message boards or MySpace (you know the ones: "the greatest horror writer of all time", taking the genre to new heights-types). Your hundreds of stories and poems given away aren’t impressing anyone and aren’t generating the kind of audience momentum you think it might. The promise of exposure is a lie. If a site can’t afford to pay you, the content provider that drives the site, they probably don’t have the money to seriously drum up eyes to the site. (And I question how much the “for the love” sites/markets actually “love” the artists, considering they can usually find the money to pay their host fees, or printers, but not the writers).

The process of being rejected and persevering provides its own lessons. Don’t let your hundreds of credits delude you into believing you’re something that you aren’t. In the rush to be “a writer”, with the accompanying desire for your work to see the light of day as soon as possible, you may have placed it in poor hands. Essentially, you have gone through the pains of childbirth only to give your child to abusive parents. But because you have works available, your ego become puffed up.

In fact, such credits can be detrimental. If you’re building a resume, you pretty much want to put your relevant credits on it. When editors see only a string of crap markets, they can’t help but think you must only write at a crap level. They probably aren’t going to assume that you didn’t know any better than to submit to the worse markets because you bought into the idea of working your way up. Or that you simply lacked faith in your own ability, thus ended up only submitting to bottom rung markets. No, they’re going to guess your relative ability by the types of markets you’ve been in.

Poor publishing includes having your friends publish you or a micropress publish you. It doesn’t matter if a friend publishes you, your wife, or an unproven editor/publisher … it’s all pretty much the same. You get lost in the noise of small press publishing. At this point, if you are determined to go this route, you might as well self-publish. It’s like the thinking begins on the right track: I don’t want to publish myself. I want an editor to validate my writing by accepting it. And then things get derailed and you go with “whoever” accepts you. At least then you get to keep all the proceeds minus your costs.

(My other beef with SOME self-published folks came out recently. On a panel discussion, it was quite evident that the self-published writer involved short circuited his own learning about the business/industry of writing and thus was doling out bad advice.)

Maybe what you’ve written isn’t ready.

And once you work is ready, if you want to build an audience, write well and get published where people will read it.

I have no delusions about where I am in the greater schemes of the writing professional ranks. I’m a complete nobody. Why listen to me? The only thing I’ve tried to do is study how people who I do consider successful have handled their careers and model myself after them (and learn from their mistakes as best I can).

Look, people have the right to sell or give away their stories as they please. No one is infringing on that right. Keep banging your head into a wall, it’s no concern to me. But if you come to me asking what’s the best way for you to climb the ladder of publishing success, I’d say publish well, don’t just publish. Be seen in the right company. Your resume is a reflection of you. I don’t write that many stories and can’t afford to just give them away any old place. You don’t have to be in such a rush to be published that you settle for anywhere. There are worse things in the world than being unpublished. And, frankly, I’d rather be unpublished than published poorly.

I'm an active member of the Horror Writer Association. Still a nobody, it only means that I've made at least three professional sales. Bob Weinberg gives this bit of advice to HWA members:

1) If you ask for advice in writing, look carefully at who is giving you advice -- i.e. if you are an affiliate member, don't take advice from affiliate members.

If the sink in your kitchen breaks, you hire a plumber to fix it. You don't ask your neighbor how to fix it. If you do, you'll most likely have water all over your floor. Sure, maybe once in years it will turn out that the neighbor knows something about plumbing, but not often. The same is true for writing. If you are not selling stuff, don't ask for advice how to sell stories from someone who has not sold anything either. Sure, they might be able to write pages and pages of advice how to improve your writing, but if they can't sell their own work, don't count on them selling yours. Too often, the people giving the most advice are those who are least qualified to do so.

2. If you want to write a story for an anthology that pays $25 per story, or only pays in royalties, that's okay. But realize that you are wasting your time because such books will not make your reputation, will not add to your reputation, and will definitely not help your career in any way. If you are an affiliate, you definitely should not be spending any of your time writing for such markets.

simply put, your time is valuable. As a writer, you need to concentrate on writing fiction for the markets that pay well. If you spend most of your time writing for the markets that pay next to nothing (or nothing) you are wasting valuable time you should be writing (or rewriting) stories for the better paying markets.

3. your reputation as a writer depends entirely on what you write. It does not depend on who else is in an anthology.

4. if you are writing and writing and not selling anything, the market is not wrong, the editors are not all wrong. You need to change what you are writing. Good writing sells. Bad writing does not. Simple but true.

There are worse fates that being unpublished. I'd rather have no stories out there than bad ones or good ones buried where no one will see them. Simple but true.


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Who Cares What They Think

Do you know what a highlight is for me as a blogger, as a writer period? When something I write generates thought or good conversation. After my last Blogging in Black column, I received the following comment:

Hi Maurice, Dealing specifically with the comment "(and many of us live with the insecurity of fearing that we’ll one day be exposed as the frauds we secretly believe we are)". I haven't ever had this problem. Sometimes I think that I should; that the lack of this insecurity is proof of a) inflated sense of self and/or b) willful blindness to reality. But, one of the reasons I didn't study English literature in uni after having done it for A-levels/college and have no desire to do an MFA, is that I have a serious problem with the quality pronouncements of the 'They' of the literary world.

Continued on Blogging on Black.


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Fear of Success

It’s that time of year when the Broaddus compound goes through our winter/spring tradition of watching American Idol. Last year I compared the auditions week to the writing business, first from a writer’s perspective and then from an editor’s. This year I’ve decided that the current status of my career is the equivalent of A.I.’s “Hollywood Week.” My stories are good enough to make it to the next round, the judges keep me around until the last round of cuts, and maybe, just maybe, I may make it to the final 24.

Fellow author, Chesya Burke, and my wife are convinced that I suffer from what could be described as an acute case of “fear of success”-itis. The symptoms can take a variety of forms and I thought it my duty to alert my fellow writers of the various ways this condition can sneak up on them.

Malaise. One can feel a general “out of sorts” in terms of their career. Maybe things have plateaued for you, it has been a while since you have received an acceptance (or the flip side, the mountain of rejection slips keep growing). Regardless, you have no oomph about yourself. You may squander opportunities (not do follow up e-mails after you spent a convention garnering contacts) or you don’t nurse your existing contacts as hard as you could.

Tortured artist (aka a writer’s dark night of the soul). You stare at manuscript after manuscript and you come to the startling realization that everything you’ve written reads like the work of a drunken third grader. The best treatment for this condition, mind you, is having a supportive spouse or friend who can cheerlead for you during these dark times.

Panic. It’s funny how we can react to out-of-the-blue good news. Like say a publisher has run across your work and asks you to submit a story to their next anthology. Or an editor contacts you because they’ve decided that you’re a hot up-and-coming writer who they’d like to start working with. How do you react to such good e-mails? ANGST! Panic and a subsequent reversion to Tortured Artist.

Fear of success isn’t just something newbie writers suffer. It can affect writers in other stages of their career also. You could be a huge deal in the small press world and then get the phone call from one of the big boys in the publishing industry wanting you to switch over. Suddenly your life threatens to become that transition from being a senior in high school (and BMOC) to lowly freshman in college. Instead of being a big fish in a small pond, you are now a small fish in a big pond. Sure, you have more opportunities and the possibility of more money and readers, but there is a trade off in immediate recognition and power you are able to wield. The prospect can be scary and a matter of what you want to do with your career (and where you saw yourself ultimately being).

Maybe this could best be described as a fear of publication failure. We don’t want people to read our stories and discover that we’ve in fact laid a literary turd (and many of us live with the insecurity of fearing that we’ll one day be exposed as the frauds we secretly believe we are). Nor do we wish to make a potential career misstep. The larger the stage, the larger the possible failing (and the more evidence you leave behind of that failing).

But it’s like that in life.

Writing is one of the few careers where you actually are betting on yourself. How much talent do I have? How many people can I reach? It’s one reason why some people choose to self-publish. It can be a long, hard road, but if it’s what we want, nothing can deter us from that dream. You may fail a few auditions along the way, may get cut early from a slush pile, or you might not make the final table of contents page for an anthology, but if you keep honing your craft, you will make that top 24.

And then anything can happen.

Why I Haven’t Self-Published

Whenever a writer talks about writing at any length, eventually the topic of whether or not to self-publish comes up. It doesn’t matter how gingerly how one talks about the subject, once it rears its head, it can become fairly divisive. Accusations of being elitist, a shill for the establishment/Old Boys Network; of belittling those who challenge the way things have been done, the comments come quick and furious as people justify their career choices. And that’s what it boils down to – a career decision each writer must make for themselves.


[Continued on Blogging in Black]

Make with the clicky clicky, but excuse me while I head to my bomb shelter to duck the incoming slings.

Edited to add:


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Writing Goals 2008

(a.k.a. the list formerly known as New Year’s Resolutions)

So I’ve been on a bit of a blog sabbatical (I haven’t even been reading blogs, much less writing any) as I have been wrapping up a draft of a new dark fantasy novel. (Okay, sure, I’ve been busy with the holidays, what with Christmas and New Year’s activities). Still, it’s a good time to reflect not only on the previous year’s accomplishments, but set new goals to strive for. (I prefer to set goals rather than make resolutions. Resolutions are cheap promises that I’m prone to breaking at my earliest convenience. Goals are something to work toward.)

Last year’s goals of writing two short stories, a novella, and a novel were handily met. I doubled my short story goal with the stories, two of which have already been sold: “I, Theodora”, “A Young Man and His Games” (Doorways Magazine), “Snapping Points” (MagusZine), “Temple of Regrets”. I finished the novella “Orgy of Souls” with Wrath James White, which we are now shopping around. I finished my novel tentatively titled “The Hope of Breton Court” and am soon to be wrapping up the novel “Black Son Rising” with my collaborator, Steven L. Shrewsbury.

For 2008, I want to challenge myself a little more to continue to capitalize on any career momentum I may be experiencing. I’m not the most disciplined of writers, so without realistic goals, I’d probably sit around and do nothing but blog and play being a writer on the Internet. So I plan to write half a dozen short stories, revise my first novel as well as my most recent one, and then write a new novel. Not included in the writing output are the reviews, columns, and blogs that I write. Nor am I counting the stories I take off the shelf, dust off, and attempt to breathe new life into.

I also want to read more. I only read 14 books last year, not including the amount of material I read for research. My recent track record had been: 2004 (34), 2005 (13), 2006 (7). Of course, it’s the Bram Stoker award season, so I have plenty of books to get caught up on with a few I’m planning to review.

For 2008, I probably ought to get a new message board theme. My sister also serves as one of my board mods, and more specifically, is in charge of board design. So this serves as notice to all prospective editors who may drop by to lurk: every now and then, some repressed memory of childhood/sibling rivalry rears up in her head and she takes it out on my board. The discussions tend to go like this:

Me: You are aware that I have a carefully crafted professional image to maintain.
My Sister: You made me eat catfood when I was 7.

I have no memory of such events, but that’s the only thing I have to explain why my board has continued to morph from that Strawberry Shortcake/Hello Kitty look to my current Saturday morning cartoon theme.

Happy Writing in 2008!


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My 2007 Blog Year in Review

Since it’s that time of year where we reflect on where we’ve been. (Plus, I’m gearing up for a jaunt out to Seattle for the Hollywood Jesus Annual Gathering where I’ll be one of the speakers. They want me to do a presentation about my blog On Magical Negroes.) So I thought I’d end the year with a look back at some of my favorite blog posts ... written by me. You know, in case you missed any of them (in no particular order despite the fact that my favorites top the list):

Horror Premises: White People are You Kidding Me? – yeah, I knew once I hit post that this was going to be my favorite blog of the year. If only from the amount of giggling Chesya and I did while “researching” it.

A Writer's Dark Night of the Soul – one of my blogs for "Blogging in Black." My angst-ridden plea to when the muse goes silent and/or it goes too long between validations (i.e. that golden ticket known as the acceptance letter). Though my interview with Alethea Kontis was another fave.

Prayer of Emergence – because sometimes I need to be reminded of a few things.

On lighter notes, there’s nothing like medical procedures and my family being, well, us. So we have The Catheter Incident, Restaurant Debacles, and Broaddus Family Tradition Continues.

Take Your Ass Home – nuff said. None of us are so important we can’t go home.

Betrayed by Faith? Growing Through Disillusionment. You’d almost think there was a theme to some of my musings this year. Actually, both were "blog homework assignments" (it's a thing that happens on my message board: different folks get tagged with topics to blog about).

Black Self-Image

Who are you having these conversations with? Part I and Part II.

American Idol – in my rationalization for watching the show, I was reminded of how this is analogous to the business of writing, both as a writer and as an editor.

Speaking of other threads of thought through the year, there was the “Community Series”: Participatory Community. Earn the Right to Speak. Earn the Right to Complain. Community Crutch.

A few Friday Night Date Place blogs can be mentioned. The Right to be Picky. For the Love of Money. A Thief Always Gets Caught. By the way, you forfeit the right to feeling “blogged at” if you’re calling me up and end up using the phrase “you ought to blog about this” in the conversation.

Of the columns I write for Intake/Indy.com, Pipe Down IPS gets an honorable mention only because it generated so much mail for me. Sheesh, considering that I write about race and religion fairly often, I can’t believe cheering at a graduation proves to be the most divisive issue I’ve written.

And a few of my Hollywood Jesus reviews were personal favorites: 300, Pan's Labyrinth, Doctor Who/Torchwood, Transformers, The Riches, and Sunshine.


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An Interview with Alethea Kontis

The lovely Alethea Kontis is a woman who wears many hats: writer, producer, editor, as well as being a book buyer for the Ingram Book Company. Besides needing an excuse to post my favorite pictures of me and her, I wanted to ask her a few questions about being a book buyer as well as what this means to the careers of writers.

Continued on Blogging in Black.
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Intellectual Property

I’m eventually going to die.

Nothing exactly startling or revelatory, however, it is a reality we all must face. Actually, I’ve come to find out that it’s a fairly common fear among writers that once they sign a book deal or are about to see their first work in print, they become convinced that they won’t live to see their work in print.

Once we got all of the financial matters taken care of, that left what to do with my un/published work and started me thinking about what would happen to my work once I’m gone.

Continued on Blogging in Black.


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Throwing A Convention

(aka “Mo*Con II: what the hell was I thinking?”)

My thinking behind the decision to have a writer’s convention of my own was something along the lines of “if the mountain won't come to Muhammad, Muhammad must go to the mountain.” Which would make more sense if I didn’t go to more conventions this year than last. Last year, I invited a friend of mine, horror writer Brian Keene, to come to my church and speak on the topic of how his faith (or lack thereof) has impacted his writing. It was one of those ideas which looked good on paper: have a friend who struggles with his spirituality come and speak on the topic of his struggles because it’s something everyone can relate to (of course, there’s the whole horror writers in church thing, which was its own dilemma). However, it was a success and I was asked to do it again this year, only bigger. Officially it’s called “Continuing Conversations” (it gained the sobriquet Mo*Con because one Chesya Burke kept calling it that and the name stuck).

Now that you’re caught up, I thought I’d look at why go to a convention and more importantly, how to pull one off (though, considering that mine starts tomorrow, it may be premature to write about pulling one off).

Continued on Blogging in Black.

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Diversity in Horror

So with the upcoming release of Whispers in the Night: Dark Dreams III, again the issue of what purpose does an anthology like this serve comes up. Granted, I wrote once about what the genre could learn from Dark Dreams, and that was before I was in the series. Now the issue comes up again as discussions in the genre blogosphere has turned to the topic of diversity within speculative fiction. Tobias Buckell, Angry Black Woman (aka K Tempest Bradford), Jay Lake, and Nick Mamatas have all weighed in already, and each of their blog entries is worth checking out - so what’s there left to add?

For a start, it sounds like black folks may be better off in horror than we are in SF/F. I have to actually use two hands to count the number of black professionals working in horror (although, it still reminds me of the Chris Rock routine about “if you know exactly how many black people you’ve had over to your house, you’re racist like a …”).

I’d like to believe that submissions are blind and that only the story matters. The race of an author is almost impossible to discern from a story, so let’s talk about the diversity of the slush piles. I was intrigued by Nick Mamatas’ gender-dropping experiment. It’s harder to do with race, especially in horror. Of course there’s going to be an inherent bias to the stories. Markets want to see characters like them, that they can relate to and most of the core horror market is white males.* This might speak to my naivete of the genre, but the bulk of horror tales strikes me as blue collar white folks going through life when suddenly “horror” breaks in on them (or, to use ABW’s translation, “Blandy McWhitey White in Blandy McNeighborhood in America or Blandy McMedieval Europe or Blandy McDefaulty Man in any setting anywhere.”)

My gut tells me that editors want more diversity, that they too are tired of the same characters and settings. But don’t talk to be about how Dark Dreams is exclusionist because the phrase “by Black writers” is on it and that all of society’s ills would be cured if it wasn’t there, because “by white writers only” isn’t on any other anthology I’ve bought in the last year and that hasn’t changed the reality inside the covers.

I realize that over-priced limited editions and small press runs are de rigeur for the seemingly slimming genre markets, but rather than raking your core audiences over the financial coals, maybe there are audiences out there that go untapped. The fact of the matter is Dark Dreams seeks to grow the horror market pie by servicing an under-appreciated (if not outright ignored) potential market. It's a guarantee that Kensington markets the books in different venues than, say, a Cemetery Dance would. Looking toward the future, as the writers in the Dark Dreams series build our audiences, there will be more writers of color, going to Ralan’s, checking out markets, putting more stories in those slush piles.

Yes, Dark Dreams is a celebration, and people should have high hopes in that maybe by growing the market, all writers can be served. That’s my hope, but I suppose we could simply get bogged down in cries of “reverse racism” and the like. One day these sort of things won’t be an issue, but we aren’t there yet.



*Don’t give me “but Brian Keene …” I hate to break it to you, but we got Brian Keene in this year’s racial draft. It cost us a second round pick next year.

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The Art of Selling Out

Today I recommend going and reading all of my fellow horror writer’s, Wrath James White, blog, Selling Watermelon: Ode to Marquis Styles. Don’t get me wrong, Marquis Styles has not seen print yet, but Marquis is submitting urban romance projects. Marquis may also gain a sister, to be named later, who will be writing paranormal romances.

Why?

(... Continued on Blogging in Black - The Art of Selling Out)


Also, my latest Intake column, No time to reflect


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A Writer’s Dark Night of the Soul

(AKA What to do when your Muse abandons you)

The writer’s life is an up and down struggle, especially for the aspiring writer who is on the verge of breaking through to having their career choice validated (read: publishing success). Unfortunately, writers have their own brand of a “dark night of the soul”. See if any of this sounds familiar:

I almost had a good day today.

I’d just like to get through a week without a rejection notice. I know, I know: a consequence of putting yourself out there, much less having a lot of stories out there, is the possibility of being rejected. However, it’s been a long streak of rejections and I’m looking at any writing that I have yet to complete and I wonder if it’s even worth it.

Some rejections sting more than others. Let’s be honest, not that I necessarily have favorite children, but there are some stories that I’m more heavily invested in, some markets I really wanted to crack, some editors I really wanted to impress. And there are some personal rejections TOO on point, dissecting why my story didn’t work.

It’s tough learning and staying focused on the fact that rejections are opportunities to learn, to figure out why a story isn’t working, how to improve. That maybe I am sending my children out into a hostile world apparently prematurely.

This isn’t one of those fishing for compliment sort of posts (though, Lord knows, I’m not above writing one of those). I wonder if I have what it takes to be truly great. To be great requires a certain amount of monomania. The kind of focus where their vocation becomes their mistress. It takes up the choice time and the choice energy. You end up doing things for your job you’d never do for your spouse: get up early, work 14 hours, stay up late. Too bad that usually doesn’t make for very good human beings. Great artists, maybe. Great athletes, certainly. Great scientists, probably.

So this all might just boil down to me not being dedicated enough. I don’t put in the time attending to the process: revision, reading, studying. Maybe I’m destined to be only good, but boring. The craft requires time.

There it is.

I realize that I talk a lot about craft and the art of writing, when the truth of the matter maybe that I’m a hack. In the same way religious folks talk about “the Pharisees” little realizing that they are actually one of them, maybe I’m simply being revealed as the fraud that I am, a dilettante of prose. I’m trying to think of the last story that I wrote that moved me, had any feeling behind it. Came from within my emotional core. Touched some truth from within me.

*sigh*

Maybe I just need a little validation. Every so often, a win to encourage me to keep going on. I’m sure this is the lure of vanity presses. Maybe I need a good vice to help vent my artistic frustration, like a romance with alcohol or a dalliance with a harder drug. Something to take the edge off, to make the self-doubt to ease a little.

Because I just want to quit.

That’s the crux of it, isn’t it? Crippling self-doubt makes me put down the pen, too self-conscious to write, too exposed to put myself back out there, too exposed as the fraud I secretly think I am. It makes me want to put writing down. To lay in bed under the covers and cry myself to sleep, tortured by my frustrated hopes and dreams and untold stories. Maybe I ought to find a new hobby, something safer, like collecting salt and pepper shakers. Or China patterns.

But I can’t.

Writing is what I do and who I am. How else would explain wanting to do something that makes you both miserable and so fulfilled at the same time? It has to be love. That’s who I am: the often neurotic and insecure. A writer. I can only imagine how tough it must be on the significant others of writers. Having to contend with this mistress of ours, our Muse; cuckolded by this thing they can’t hope to compete against. Yet having to deal with the frustrations, the anger, the discouragement, the occasional self-loathing that comes in its wake.

I wish I had some deep lesson to impart to help get through this. This is part of the business, the cycle of creation, the ugly part that few people talk about. I’m guessing what many go through and struggle with. Writers finish things, professional writers send their work out into the world, face rejection and criticism. So writers have to develop thick skins. Yes, we’re going to have doubts, but like with any crisis of faith, you have to put that aside and keep going because writing is less about talent and more about perseverance.

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In the end, like any crisis of faith, perseverance is the key. To keep writing, even when all you feel like you are writing is crap. It's like a car stuck in mud spinning it's wheels: sometimes you have to spin for a minute until you get some traction. That's all we're waiting on. a little bit of traction, something to catch and get us going again. Me? This is me purging this from my system so that I can find that “fearlessness” to commit something to paper AND send it out. You? Your moment of doubt had been indulged. Now get over yourselves and get back to writing.

And don’t let the troll critics get you down.

To Pen Name or Not to Pen Name

My friend, Simon Wood, recently wrote over on Murderati about him “splitting” his writing career by starting to write under a pen name. That got me thinking about whether or not I or any author should choose pen names and when they should do that...

Continued on Blogging in Black: "To Pen Name or Not to Pen Name."


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I’m Not Really A Writer...

... I just play one on the Internet. At least that's the feeling I had up until this year. So this has been the year of Maurice, my coming out party of sorts. At long last, stories of mine have finally started coming out, giving tangible evidence of me being a “real” writer (as opposed to someone who writes a lot about being a writer and only has an Internet/convention presence). So I am doing a year in review before making any resolutions.

“In the Shadows of Meido” came out through IDW Publishing Comics. I was profiled in a local paper, INtake Weekly, and then asked to blog for them on a regular basis. My story “Family Business” came out in Weird Tales followed by “Black Frontiers” in the anthology, Voices from the Other Side: Dark Dreams II.

I got sucked into becoming the comic books review editor at Hollywood Jesus, thus having yet another excuse to have to keep buying comics. My oddest writing assignment of the year came with me writing for the American Tract Society. Blogging for INtake led to a regular column with them. However, since I can’t blog often enough, or in enough places, I also began blogging for Blogging in Black.

I ended the year with my story, “Since We Can Die But Once,” coming out in the DeathGrip: Exit Laughing anthology. Then seven of my reviews were picked up for the Hollywood Jesus Reviews 2005-2006. I was interviewed for two podcasts: one for Snark Infested Waters about my horror writing and the other for The Studio Upstairs about my work for Hollywood Jesus.

Not to mention, I’ve written the equivalent of two novels for this blog during 2006.

2006 was a good year. I have already had critical essay accepted for Cutting Edge (“The Passion of the Christ”) as well as a short story accepted for the Eldritch Steel: Swords and Mythos Sorcery anthology (“The Iron Hut”) due out in 2007. I’m officially up to the level of a nobody in the writing community.


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Spam-A-Lot

I've had a huge increase in spam in the last month. So much so that it has caused my mailbox to sometimes register as full (to those who have had bounce back e-mails to me). I was forced to ask can spam be seasonal? I mean, it's December, I must REALLY want a larger penis now. And Russian women REALLY want to talk to me badly?

Speaking of spam, in case you missed it, last week’s Intake column is up. With a focus on The Dwelling Place. This week’s column relates to a play I recently went to see, “I have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady from Rwanda.”

Over on Blogging in Black, I have a new post up called “Be Professional”.

Also, I was interviewed by The Studio Upstairs podcast about the reviews I do for Hollywood Jesus. You can find the podcast here.



Oh, and the new Hollywood Jesus Reviews 2005-2006 is now available. My reviews of ATL, Final Destination 3, Glory Road, Slither, Superman Returns, Take the Lead, X-Men: The Last Stand made the cut. It’s a best of from the past year, that is, an additional resource.





*suddenly possessed by the spirit of someone unaware of how publishing works*

Wait. Quit pointing out that these reviews are available online free. Allow me to have my publishing career. Let me enjoy my sales. What do you mean stories available online are considered published? Quit providing links to them and e-pirating my reviews.

*sigh*


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Writer’s Blogs

Every time a bell rings, another person starts a blog ... and apparently that bell is ringing a lot. As writers, I wouldn’t say that it’s mandatory for you to have a blog, but I would highly recommend it. I’m going to confess something: I’m subscribed to around 100 or so LiveJournals, Xangas, MySpaces, and blogs. Many just to keep up with friends and colleagues, some for industry (both writing or religious) news, some just to read other writers. Writing is a solitary pursuit and the blogosphere has allowed a sense of community by being our water cooler.

Continued in today's Blogging in Black.


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Blogging In Black - Racism in Publishing II

Yeah, I’m also now blogging for Blogging In Black (you might have noticed the button for it on the side of my blog). Blogging in Black is a collective of literary professionals sharing their views on the writing life, publishing, and anything else on their minds. Think of if as Murderati with black writers. I’ll be writing over there once a month, usually on the 27th of the month. Anyway, this month’s column is a follow up to my blog, Racism in Publishing. Now there’s a court case involved and I think there is an issue that is of interests to all writers about what we’d be willing to do in the name of getting published.

Racism in Publishing II


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