Polishing the Manuscript -- attempt II

Last week I started talking about editing my manuscript and never got to finish what I had to say because Jonathan Woods stopped by. So, this week I'm heading back there. The process needs discussing, because there's a lot that can go wrong in the writing and rewriting of a manuscript, and fresh eyes can make the difference between a story that grips the reader and one that, well, doesn't.

By the time you get through the countless rewrites to the "final" version of your manuscript, chances are you've fixed the major gaffs like a character starting out with one name only to have another by the end, logic anomalies, and whatnot, and are left with stuff you don't notice. At this point your content editor will come in handy catching issues like information that should have made it onto the page, but never did.

You can't do it yourself--you're too close.

Your line editor is important, too. They'll catch the embarrassing stuff everyone whose concentration is elsewhere will miss. Misplaced commas can change the entire meaning of a sentence (remember "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves"?), not to mention one letter can change a word completely. I had one character referring to another not as a "good guy" but as a "good buy." Tell me you wouldn't have been rolling on the floor when you read that.

Would that have been Jonathan?

Thea! I wasn't expecting you--and it might have been.

Did Jonathan stop by here and complain to you about Juliet?

Yeah, he did.

I don't know what I'm going to do about him.

He and Juliet don't seem to get along at all.

They don't. And he's sending so many mixed signals to me I don't know what to make of him.

Can I ask you something personal? What got you two together to begin with? He doesn't seem like your type.

My friend Andrea introduced us, and he just pursued me. It was flattering. Besides, he's handsome, works out, likes to go to the theater and concerts. He always knows great places to go, and he really seems to care about me. You know; attentive, polite, relentless--oh, that sounds bad. But it's not like I've ever thought he was "the one." It's nice to have a social life. Why do you ask?

A couple of people asked me. No biggie.

Oh. Well, he really is a nice guy. Really. Just a little overbearing at times. But hey, aren't all men?

You don't have to defend him to me.

I'm not! I mean, I don't need to. It's just that Juliet and he don't get along. Honestly, I don't know what he's so worried about. She's so busy with her own social life she's hardly got time to concern herself with mine. Maybe I'd better go talk to him.

Wouldn't hurt. Then maybe I could continue on with what I started and don't seem to be able to finish because of all the interruptions--just saying. Pass that word around, would you please?

So, where was I…editors. You need them. Don't be tempted to shortcut this step, if you want readers to take you seriously.

Next week: Cover art.

Polishing the Manuscript

Is one ever done tweaking their manuscript? Probably not. But at some point one has to back away from the minutiae and let someone else have a run at it.

That was the first step to be addressed as I geared up for e-pubbing—except I let two someones have a run at it. I needed someone who hadn't seen the story before take a hard look at the content. Since I've taken classes from Mary Buckham, believe her to be genius, and know she has an editing service I contacted her. Luckily for me, she was able to fit my manuscript into her schedule.

When Mary was done with it, I passed it along to a woman I know who has spent many years as a copy editor, and—

What I want to know is if you were able to do something about Juliet.

Uh, hi, Jonathan. Folks, this is Jonathan Woods—Thea's boyfriend. I didn't know you were going to stop by.

I had some time in my schedule and need to talk to you.

I'm kind of busy right now explaining the self-publishing process to these nice people.

This is important. Juliet is creating potential problems for Thea. I need you to write her out of the story.

Sorry, no can do. She's important, and she's Thea's sister. Besides, the manuscript has already been to the editors. What's the problem, anyway?

I'm certain Juliet has been trying to get Thea to break up with me. Thea's been arguing, uncharacteristically, with my decisions lately.  I have plans, Susan, and Juliet is getting in the way.

I'm not so sure Juliet has that much influence—

She does. She fabricates stories, she's disrespectful, and she interferes. There's something going on, and as I stated, I have plans.

What plans?

I won't divulge them. Suffice it to say Thea will be delighted. I have a certain influence, shall we say?

You sound awfully sure of yourself.

Just make sure Juliet is out of the way.

Now, Jonath—dang. The guy pops in, issues orders and pops out. Characters do tend to do what they want, and generally I don't worry, but he seems a bit like he's on a mission and I can't help but think there's going to be trouble. Phooey. I'm going to need to find out what he's up to. We'll continue the self-pub thing next week. Wish me luck.

Step By Step, Inch By Inch--Putting the plan together

As promised, I'm back to chronicling my journey into self-publishing. The decision was in place in August—ahead of my self imposed drop-dead-date. Now what? Obviously, I was going to need to let people know when my book would be out, set up a list of tasks necessary to turn out the best product I could, and set the marketing and promotion machinery into motion.

I decided to approach the process like other (traditionally published) authors approach the release of their books—with an eye to what tasks would fall on my shoulders.

First task: Polish the manuscript…again.

I'd already worked with critique partners, an editor, taken classes to address the areas of my craft that needed work, received input from industry professionals, and rewritten countless times. I was well aware of my weakest points and I needed fresh eyes with proven expertise. I contacted two editors—one for content and the other for mechanics. Yes, I agreed to pay them. After all, this is a business.

Second task: Cover art.

Covers are important. They attract attention and they give clues as to the type of book one can expect to find beneath it. I have a background in art and I made numerous attempts to produce something I was happy with, but nothing was right. I had no vision, and the learning curve for the technical aspects of the job was more than I was willing to take on. After looking around I found fellow Sisters in Crime member Tracy Hayes. She is a graphic artist as well as a writer and her website for her Pastiche Studio showed off her range of talent. I contacted her about doing the cover art and she agreed to read my manuscript and see if she could come up with something appropriate. Yes, I'm paying her, too. After all, this is a business.

Third task: The launch date.

Because I had no idea how long this process would take, I decided to give myself 5 months from announcement to launch. This was totally me playing head games with myself. Too little time, and I'd drive myself and everyone around me crazy, too much time and I'd lose that feel of upcoming excitement. I also promised myself I could be flexible in case something went horribly wrong—or right! This is a business. I have to be adaptable.

Fourth task: The announcement.

I needed a vehicle to announce my forthcoming book. Single announcements on the social networking sites and groups I belong to were just that: single announcements. Too much me me me, and I'd become a pariah. I needed a blog where I could talk about all the things I wanted in regards to my book and people could come and visit when they wanted without feeling like I was shoving myself and my book down their throats. "Things I Learned From My Horse" was doing well, but I'd dedicated it to my horse-oriented audience to whom I'd made an implicit promise. On that blog they would read about the animals they love and how they insinuate themselves into our daily lives, not about my life as a writer. The only thing that made sense, then, was to create another blog. You're reading it now.

Announcing the publication of my book would be the start of the next step: Marketing and promotion. We all know that one announcement simply isn't going to do the job—it's simply the kick-off to a more complex game. After all, this is a business.

Fifth Task: Marketing and promotion.

This is where the learning curve would be steep. I've had some experience in real-world business marketing—enough to know I don't know enough. To give myself credit, however, I have been paying attention to other authors and the things they've been saying about their own processes of dealing with the marketing and promotion burden the publishing industry has pushed off onto them in these tough economic times.

My plan was to immerse myself in marketing and promotion strategies. Yes, I know my audience and had already created a blog, but that wasn't going to be enough. I gave myself permission to take a break from writing to do research. I would read everything I could, listen to what people had to say, ask questions, and seek out experts. In essence, I'd let it wash over me until things started to stick and a plan began to form. At some point I would need to get back to writing so without a marketing plan there was too much of a risk that I'd fritter away the 24 hours in each day, duplicating my own efforts and chasing down non-productive avenues. Essentially, I needed to learn how to be efficient. After all, this is a business.

How it plays out.

In the coming weeks, in between the fun of character interviews and guests, I'll be posting more information about how each of these steps is playing out in real life. After all, this is a business, not a mandate handed down from above. There's bound to be some mistakes, unexpected successes and a few ah-ha moments. Join me!

Interview with Juliet Campbell

Today I'm interviewing Juliet Campbell. Although she's not the main character, Juliet plays an important part in Death By A Dark Horse. I'm pleased she can join us to give us some insight into who she is and maybe a little more information about some of the other characters.

Susan Schreyer: Hi Juliet, and thanks for being here. You're Thea's younger sister—

Juliet Campbell: Hi! Yes, I'm six years younger than Thea, and five inches taller, when I'm not wearing heels, which I do most of the time—wear heels. I work at Copper Creek Equestrian Center in the office. I'm the office manager—I knew you were going to ask. Thea does all the accounting for us, and the payroll, so I don't have to, but I do everything else.

SS: Okay, thank—

JC: Oh, and Delores is the owner, which makes her my boss. That's Delores Salatini. She and her husband Frank—who died about five years ago—started the place a long time ago. Frank was a big-time jumper trainer, and Delores did a lot of competing, too, but now she just runs the place. She's really nice, even though she comes across kind of crabby sometimes, and she's good friends with Aunt Vi and Uncle Henry—

SS: Whoa! Hang on a sec, Juliet! Thanks for volunteering all the information, but can we stick to the interview format?

JC: Oh, sure. Sorry.

SS: Do you live in Snohomish, too?

JC: Yes, but not with Thea. I have my own apartment kind of north of where she lives. Living with her would make me nuts. She's not exactly Miss Spontaneity, in case you hadn't noticed. And we have way different taste. You should come see my apartment, the colors will blind you—but in a good way. I've done all the art work and decorating myself. It's not big enough to have parties, which is the only problem.

SS: You have an active social life?

JC: Yeah, absolutely. I go out with friends a lot. I'm over at Thea's quite a bit, too, as well as Aunt Vi and Uncle Henry's. Aunt Vi is a great cook—

SS: Anyone special in your life? A boyfriend?

JC: I've dated lots of guys.

SS: Anybody special right now?

JC: Kind of. I don't know, we'll see.

SS: Who?

JC: You wouldn't know him. Can you believe Thea's still going out with Jonathan? Wow. I mean, what a tool! You know, for as smart as Thea is, you'd think she'd ditch his ass for somebody who'd add a little excitement to her life. How much dull can one person stand?

SS: "Dull" is a bad thing?

JC: It is when there's other options. Shoot, the only thing she's passionate about is riding.

SS: I was under the impression she's happy with her life—except for some problems with Jonathan right now, and of course Valerie. Now there's a touchy subject.

JC: No joke. That girl is such a bi—um, brat. I really hate her.

SS: No confusion on your feelings about her I see. What'd she do that makes you dislike her so much?

JC: She's spoiled--thinks she's so much better than everyone else, and so hot. She's always after the guys. You ought to see her try to play Miguel, our assistant barn manager. It's pretty funny. He's like twice her age and isn't impressed. He's one of the only ones who can handle her vicious-as-hell horse. She thinks she has to flirt with Miguel to get him to do favors for her. It's his job, for crying out loud. He just does what she asks and Delores adds it to her bill. Funny! Poor Eric, though. He has to be polite to her 'cuz he's the barn manager—and well, he's really nice anyway—but she's after him all the time 'cuz he's so hot, and he's…she just makes me angry. Eric shouldn't have to put up with her. I may have to kick her butt.

SS: Eric can't take care of himself?

JC: He can take care of himself just fine, but I don't think he's capable of being rude and if you don't get in Valerie's face she just keeps pushing. I hate her.

SS: I see—

JC: So, listen, I gotta go. You should come try out my motorcycle sometime. It's a yellow Kawasaki Ninja, and it is beyond awesome. It flies!

SS: Oh, thanks, but I'll pass. Don't you---okay, bye! That was Juliet, Thea's younger sister, who seems to be very good at controlling the direction of an interview.

Interview with Thea Campbell

Today at Writing Horses I'm interviewing Thea Campbell, the twenty-nine year old protagonist in Death By A Dark Horse. Thea lives in Snohomish, Washington where she was born and raised. She is a self employed accountant and runs her business out of her home (her house is really cute, by the way. I drove by the other day!).

Susan Schreyer: Hi, Thea, thanks for being here! Shall we get started? I understand you quit your job with that big accounting firm in downtown Seattle and started an accounting business that you're running out of your home. Why did you quit your other job? I'd have thought the pay would have been hard to give up.

Thea Campbell: Thank you for asking me here, Susan! To answer your question, there's a lot more to life than making money, and that's all I was doing. I hardly saw my family and friends and it was difficult to keep to a riding schedule—all due to the long commute and long work hours. And let me point out that this wasn't a hasty decision. I don't make hasty decisions.

SS: So with all that extra time, what are you doing? Do you have a social life now?

TC: My business does take up time—it has to be a priority if I'm going to continue to pay the mortgage, but I've been able to ride more and yes, I do have a boyfriend—Jonathan Woods.

SS: So…?

TC: I'm not that serious about him. Not that he isn't husband material, but not for me…. Oh, okay, I can see you're not going to let this drop. I'll be honest with you, since I really doubt he'll read this. We were pretty serious for a while, but lately it seems he's not happy with me. Shoot, I can't even breathe properly some days. And critical? Holy cats. He bought me an "ensemble" the other day to wear to dinner with his parents next weekend. I have clothes, and a purse and jewelry—and certainly nice enough to wear out to dinner with his parents—but it's like he doesn't think I'm capable of choosing appropriate attire. He's making me nuts.

SS: Wow. Why don't you break up with him?

TC: I've tried, but he seems to have a knack for turning things around. I shouldn't be surprised—he's an attorney. He knows how to work an argument to his favor. That shouldn't stop me though. I'm going to have to do it—one of these days. I can't believe I let it go on, but…well, maybe I do really feel something for him….

SS: Uh huh. Maybe we should talk about something pleasant. You're getting more riding in, you said. Tell me about your horse.

TC: That's Blackie. He's a seven-year-old, dark bay Hanoverian gelding and he's wonderful! Riding him and being around him keeps me sane. I was there when he was born. My great uncle raised him. Uncle Henry used to ride competitively. In fact he rode for Great Britain in the Olympics back in the 60s, in dressage. He's retired from that and horse breeding, but he still teaches. In fact he coaches me and Blackie.

SS: Do you compete?

TC: No, I don't really want to and Uncle Henry doesn't mind that I don't, even though Blackie is so talented. Some of my friends would like to see Blackie and me in the show ring, though.

SS: So why don't you do it?

TC: I'm really not interested, and don't tell me I should sell Blackie to someone who would show off his potential, because that's not going to happen.

SS: I wasn't going to. That seems like kind of a sensitive subject.

TC: I just get really tired of defending my choice. Especially to people like Valerie Parsons—freaking bully. Just because she was long listed for the last Olympic team and has enough money to spend the winter training and competing in Florida doesn't mean I should sell Blackie to her.

SS: She offered to buy him?

TC: Repeatedly. I'm not good enough for him, she says. I'll ruin him—she badgers me with that constantly. I'm sick of her already and she hasn't even been back in town a month. I can't go out to Copper Creek Equestrian Center without running into her, and it sure doesn't help that Uncle Henry coaches her. I was working on flying changes yesterday and she marches into the arena and tells me to get off my horse so she could show me how it was done. Can you believe it?

SS: Did you let her ride Blackie?

TC: Are you kidding? I'd sooner run her over. No way is she touching my horse!

SS: Wow, um, I was kind of hoping to get into some other stuff in our interview, but we've kind of run out of time. How about we go have some lunch at Bernard's Restaurant and plan on finishing this another time?

TC: Oh, sure. That sounds good, I like Bernard's. I can tell you about my trip to Victoria with Jonathan.

SS: Works for me.

Next week I'll be interviewing Thea's sister Juliet!

Decisions, decisions, decisions - Part 2

Last week's post ended with the questions I'd posed to myself that would determine the route to travel toward publication, knowing full well whatever the answers were, I'd be giving up something.

The answers didn't come easily. My old goals had become wound up with everyone else's, and I'd adopted the old "acceptable" methods as my personal bench-mark without asking myself why.

The truth was, I didn't know what I wanted for myself. I was incapable of making a decision, and any decision seemed rash. Not a comforting place to be. I did the only thing I could, my goal became to watch, as carefully as possible, and find out as much as I could. Just so I wouldn't dither, I set a time limit of five months. On September first I would take what I'd learned and make a decision based on the information I would discover along the way.

In the meantime, Sister in Crime sent an investigating team to Amazon, Google, Apple, Smashwords and others. More changes surfaced in the industry, more people voiced their opinions, and J.A. Konrath started looking more and more sensible.

Needing something to do (inactivity makes me crazy), I continued to work on my third novel and proceeded with the steps I would need to take to connect with my audience once I was published--none of which committed me to any particular path. The steps would have to be done, regardless of what I chose, and could be abandoned easily if I decided to ditch the whole writer thing and become a lounge singer (kidding, here. I can't sing).

By the time the Sisters in Crime summit report was available in mid August, I'd formed some solid opinions. The report confirmed that I wasn't imagining the changing state of the traditional publishing industry or the importance of e-publishing. E-publishing was here to stay, and it was not just something that was "going on," it was (and continues to be) a revolution—simultaneously rallying enthusiastic support from some while scaring the living daylights out of others.

Something else became very clear: I wanted to be part of the revolution.

Despite the warnings from experienced authors that this was not a wise path for the yet-unpublished, I yearned to embrace it. I was told, as a fiction writer, I didn't know my audience, and probably only seasoned publishing professionals could figure it out.

Well, that statement had been proven wrong on so many occasions it was hardly worth the energy to argue the obvious (note: JK Rowling being told her book would never sell, Tony Hillerman being told he shouldn't write about Indians, etc. etc. leap to mind). Besides, I found out I have a very clear notion of my audience. I'd been reaching them—all over the world—through my blog, Things I Learned From My Horse.

The empowerment of career control lost none of it's appeal on me, either, despite being told I was going to have to work hard at self-promoting. Hey, I'd have to do that anyway, even as a lounge singer or an author for a traditional publishing company.

The decision made itself. I would self publish my work as e-books. I would become an Independent Author. Success or failure would rest in my hands. I could deal with that.

My goal, clear at last, was to get my books into the hands of readers and to make a living wage.

The path is equally clear. Make my books the very best they can be by seeking and obtaining the help I need from people I have confidence in. Market and promote my books to my audience in smart ways. Self-publish.

Essentially, there are three steps—with sub-steps that can be tweaked as necessary.

Will I achieve my goals? I know I'll achieve at least one: I will get my books into the hands of readers. That is the one item being an Independent Author can guarantee me over the traditional route that may never be opened to me. I'm thinking the fate of my other goals is more securely in my hands as well, but that remains to be seen. I know I'll work at it. That's a given.

Decisions, decisions, decisions - Part 1

What are the steps are to becoming an Independent author? Plenty of people have asked me that, and about the reasons behind my decision to self publish my mystery novel. They've been curious, too, why I chose to go the e-book route. If I have a good book, one people will want to read, why not suck it up and pursue the traditional route to becoming a published author?

The fact is, I DID begin on the traditional path. I wrote my book, lucked out connecting with a wonderful critique partner, then rewrote it, and took the first steps to acquiring an agent. I had no idea what I was doing, but hey, lots of people had trampled down that path and (I soon discovered) were willing to impart the knowledge they'd gained to people like me. I joined a writing group, Sisters in Crime, the Puget Sound Chapter, and then the Guppies Chapter. I immersed myself in learning my craft and the process of getting published.

This was a smart move. And if I had to do it over again, I'd do exactly the same thing. The knowledge and skills I've gained surpass any value I could ever put on them. The support and friendships I've made continue to be my rocks. Also, along the way I stirred the interest of agents and publishers, some of whom generously shared their wisdom.

The thing I didn't get was offers of representation. I did get offers of publication from some small publishers, but they usually came with a caveat I was uncomfortable with; change the point of view to third person, change the story to be a suspense novel instead of a cozy mystery—that sort of thing.

At about the same time there were rumblings of change in the industry. Friends who had agents weren't getting sales to publishers, other friends who were mid-list authors were dropped by their publishers, other friends who captured the attention of editors at publishing houses ended up being rejected because the marketing departments didn't know how to promote their work. Still others who were continuing to be published were finding they were suddenly dividing their time between promotion, marketing and writing—and having no clue how to do it or if they were being successful. Many of them worried constantly about their publisher not renewing their contracts.

As much as I wanted to get my book into the hands of readers, life after publishing didn't seem all that great. Was the thrill of holding a copy of one's book in one's own hands really worth it?

Then, with the economy forcing the issue of money (or lack of it) close to home I was forced to take a very practical look at what I was trying to do. Despite the rising price of books, it seemed to me authors' work was not being fairly compensated—particularly since most of them had to hold down another job or depend on the financial support of family members just to sell their books.

I started taking note of rebel J.A. Konrath. I was intrigued in the same way one is intrigued by watching someone pursuing and activity that might end in tragedy. However, he seemed to be doing pretty well. Surely he was an anomaly. But once my curiosity was stirred, I couldn't help looking around. Other authors were putting their own work out on their own.

They were self publishing. A major no-no. Instant disrespect. The mark of someone who didn't have a clue and didn't have the guts to go through the cleansing fires of the traditional route. And yet, a good number of these people had been published through traditional channels and were now publishing their out of print books, or early efforts that hadn't found a home, as e-books.

I watched, I read, I listened. Opinions weren't hard to come by. By spring 2010 you couldn't turn on your computer without reading something about it.

At the same time the publishing industry was groaning at a decibel level I usually associate with a wounded animal. It was impossible to ignore. Major changes were taking place. The routes I had at first chosen to take to get my work published were getting narrower and narrower. Those who were getting through seemed to be dropping into a hole, and I started hearing about how "lucky" we unpublished authors were to still have creative control over our work and joy in our lives. Now, I've never had any illusions of becoming a millionaire author. Mid-list was my target. It seemed comfortable. But now what had seemed a happy place appeared sinister. I wasn't so sure anymore that I wanted to go where my fate could be ripped so completely out of my hands.

It was time for some very serious soul and goal searching. No matter what route I chose, I was going to lose something. Now the questions became; what was it that I wanted, and what was I willing to give up to get it?

Next week: Part 2