Sue Campbell writes about design, books, writing, art, & life …

There are times when I want to delete my blog, erase my emails (that honestly are mostly junk), erase my facebook, pretend I’ve never heard of Twitter. Social networking seems like the furthest thing from sociability there could be. All of this is distracting me from reading, writing, and working on design that I really need to be doing. Yet, when I am not working on the blog and getting stuff ready to put up here or “interacting” on Facebook I feel like I am not keeping up. Why? It’s insane. I don’t need this kind of guilt.

We had a writers group here at my house tonight. It was fun. Good people, good writers, good critiquing, good fun. With humans—in the room! That’s what I want to be doing. Not worrying about blogging inane crap about books, writing, and book design. Crap that nobody reads. Yeah. Of course I still love books, and writing as a craft, and the publishing business, and of course design is my life. But online virtual marketing to my virtual fans—is virtually not very useful of my limited time.

Ask me tomorrow, when I’ve changed my mind, again.

iStockphoto

People often ask whether I follow trends in my book design. Well, yes and no. There are definitely trends. Definitely genre specific design “rules,” and definitely it goes in waves. I think that it’s just human nature to want to be one of the crowd. But is that the wisest choice in marketing? Apparently marketing people think that it is. I came across this post on Shelf Talkers on PW. Written and compiled by Elizabeth Bluemie, the article shows how “seasons” of trends ripple through the world of book cover design, just as they do for fashion. But is this a good thing? I won’t reproduce all the wonderful examples here (I don’t have the rights to do that.) But please do check em out. Here was my response to her post:

As a book designer of primarily non-fiction (not by choice) this is an enlightening post. What I see mostly is fear driven design. Lemmings. Nice design true but awfully imitative. Marketing says to designer, do us cover like “____” and the good designer, who wants to remain living inside and eating regularly does just that. Me too, a lot of the time. Nevertheless, hat’s off to some very, very pretty covers. It’s very hard to deduce whether these really reflect what’s on the inside of the book, but then in the world of make it look like that other bestseller, that’s not really relevant.

Two things really stand out about the groups as a whole, not one of them looks like a book a boy would want to be seen carrying (and it could just be the selection) but by and large they are all very feminine. It’s true that women make up the overwhelming majority of book buyers, but is that because we read the most or because we aren’t making products boys want? Chicken or egg. And important because male readers are getting older and they are not being replaced.

The other things is all of these covers are awfully “white and Hollywood beautiful.” Are there no pictures of people with other than anglo-European features? None that are not so beautiful that they could be on the cover of Vogue? Publishers seem to think that if you put a picture of someone who isn’t “white” on the cover that automatically makes it look “ethnic” and the white buying public will shy away. Nonsense. Have you ever not bought a book because the person on front wasn’t white?

For the record I’m white, but nobody would ever put me on the cover of any magazine. Again, I think what we see here is a selection skewed by the theme of this article, and that’s a great theme. There are trends that get followed—and that’s the problem.

I too am imitative in my design work, quite often in fact. But as designers we always want to do something new and different. Unfortunately “marketing” often says “Oh no! We can’t do that! It doesn’t look right for the “genre, target audience, author, book-buyer (wholesaler), my ex-wife” you name the reason. But almost never is it, “It doesn’t look right for the content.” Whatever else we do, designers have a responsibility to help the readers figure out what the book is about, and sell the book. I happen to think readers are a smart bunch who come in all sizes, ages, ethnicities, genders, and tastes—and not all of them want the McDonald’s of reads. They are individuals and so are the books they read—when they can get them. But oh. That’s a whole nuther rant.

Tags: bookcover, cover, critique, design

I made it through a week of anticipation and was rewarded with good comments from literary agent, Sara Megibow of the Nelson Agency in Denver, Colorado. She didn’t soft pedal it either. After a lively and direct presentation on the realities of the business of publishing, how to go about finding and landing an agent, and what agents want in a submission, we got down to the nitty-gritty.

My submission was up first for analysis. I think that our writers group as a whole, who had most all read it previously, got an ear full of what real criticism in the world of publishing is actually like. We tend to pull our punches a bit, and necessarily err on the side of being encouraging and complimentary. Which is good because writers are so full of self-doubt that we’d all run home with our tails between our legs, never to write again, otherwise. But you won’t get that kind of molly-coddling out there in the big bad world of agents.

That said, after the initial shock of her insightful and thorough comments wore off, I am mostly very encouraged. I think I have this verbatim, because I recorded her commentary. First off she said, “Fabulous piece of work. If this had come across in a query I absolutely would have asked to read the first 3o pages, and here’s why: Young Adult right now is exploding, (examples, etc.)… they are the driving force in publishing right now. … This book had particularly interesting setting, the 1960s. It’s not quite old enough to be historical, so it’s contemporary.” Then she listed some publishers that that are looking for comtemporary YA fiction. “I can think of places where they are looking for this type of story, and that’s already a nod in the right direction. In addition, I think you really nailed the boy looking for sex angle, and not in a prurient way. … It was authentic and engaging. This was a good example of the young adult voice.”

Well all of that is very encouraging. But then she went on to say that my scene in which the boy’s family discusses the move to Arizona, which is really the inciting incident, is too much telling and not enough showing. “I don’t want to hear how my world is dangerous for my hero, I want to see how it’s dangerous for my hero.” The old telling vs showing problem. She had the same problem with the History class scene. So, I get it. You can’t have any exposition, at least not in the first 30 pages! My challenge will be to be to convey the history and the political conditions of the cold war outside the experience of the main character from the point of view of the main character! Yikes. No small task, that.

So then she said, (I’m paraphrasing) that she would pass on the full because if that exposition were there she wouldn’t be able to sell it to a young adult editor who would say “no” because young adult readers don’t like this kind of exposition. The upshot of all of this is, that I now know why she would have passed. If this had been a query and a request for a partial, I think it unlikely that I would have gotten any explanation of why she would have rejected me at that point. I had been left wondering what I did wrong. So though I got rejected today, it’s all good because I can fix it. I think.

And now I boldly untuck my tail and go on with the writing.

Tags: literary agent, Nelson Agency, novel, Sara Megibow

No, that’s not an April Fool’s joke this time.

Something exciting is happening for me. My prologue and first chapter were chosen to be read and reviewed by an agent at the next meeting of my writers group!

I’m pretty excited about it, but not expecting much. What I mean is I’m not getting my hopes up. I am very much looking forward to the reaction and the feedback. On the one hand if she likes it, and gives me some direction to make it better, I will consider that to be a triumph. On the other hand if she hates it and says something discouraging, I’ll be in a quandary about whether to continue working on this particular book.

But, if she is simply in love with it, and wants the full right away. Well, then I am going to quietly (or not so quietly) panic. Because then it means I have to finish it and quick! It is nearly two thirds into the first draft, but not finished. Then of course it’s going to need a lot of rewriting and tweaking. I’d not have queried the agency myself until I had a finish manuscript in hand, but my wonderful Boulder Writers Group arranged a meeting with Sara Megibow from the Nelson Agency in Denver. My piece  and two others were chosen for her to read.

The Nelson Agency is one on the top of my target list for agents, as they handle Young Adult Fiction and other adult fiction. They agented  Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, that was one of my most favorite books this year. (And a bestseller!) So if I were lucky enough to be represented by them, I would be in good company indeed.

Tags: agent, fiction, Nelson Agency, review, writers group, young adult

Like writing? Like Flash Fiction? (Flash is anything under 1,000 words.) Like vampires? It’s all coming together at the VampireKissed website. Author Devin O’Branagan is holding a flash fiction contest. You must use the words “vampire kissed” in your story’s title, and use the vampire theme in the story. Writing a complete story in 1,000 words or less is tough! But a fun challenge. This contest has five preliminary rounds, and one final round. There is no entry fee, and you can enter as many stories as you like. Then vote for your favorites. The winners will be chosen by popular vote. You can also comment and discuss with others on the forum.

Head on over and see the story I just entered.

Tags: contest, Devin OBranagan, Flash fiction, Glory, Kiss, submissions, Vampire Kissed, vampires, writing

Okay Apple, now I am mad.I just previewed the Adobe product Flash Catalyst. I can understand now why they were so upset when you invited them to leave off developing for the iPhone and iPad. I and many thousands of other DESIGNERS (i.e. not DEVELOPERS) have been waiting patiently for a product which would allow us to build multimedia rich, and multi-device compatible content for your products and other mobile devices. That IS what ebooks are going to become, YES? We all agree on that, I think. And as they usually do, Adobe listened to its users. Finally. With Flash Catalyst released with the new CS5 bundle of design apps is just that easy interface I’ve been wanting.

Flash Catalyst User Interface

Interestingly, Apple threw a bone to Adobe at the WWDC this year and announced that PDFs will be allowed on a “second shelf” (located back there in the dark where the dirty books are kept, apparently). But, since Jobs already decreed that there will be no Flash on his iProducts, this leaves designers somewhat hamstrung. How then are we to take advantage of the wonderful capabilities that it would open up? Grr. Must it be SO difficult? Good designers are DESIGNERS first, and technologists mostly because it’s been forced upon us.

I’m very disappointed. I love Apple products and I’ve been a loyal Machead for 25 years. The reason is that Apple products are intuitive and easy for me to forget the machine and concentrate on the creation. Adobe has always been a big part of that. I don’t see any easy to use solutions for designing these multimedia rich ebook products you gleefully tout in your ads. Instead, publishers are forced to hire high-priced coders and the team of designers who otherwise could have handled the whole job. I do hope that some kind of compromise can be reached that helps the creative users (and I think that’s STILL the majority of your power users out here).

Tags: Adobe, Apple, creativity, design, ebooks, Flash, PDF, work

Alrighty so here’s my review. It didn’t take long to read this book. It’s a conversational, enjoyable read. As business books go I’d give it a B+. That said, it’s worth reading. The company follows through on it’s promise to WOW customers through great customer service. In fact when they told me I’d get an ARC to review, they sent two, one for the giveaway. Plus a personal message. Nice. WOW worthy? Maybe it would be had I been a paying customer.

Delivering Happiness

Today they sent me a hardcover version. Eeek. I feel guilty because I haven’t written up my promised review. On the other hand, I haven’t written my promised review, and they are sending me another free book. So I have a guilty conscience, and I’m looking around wondering, do they know I haven’t yet written my review? Hmm. That just feels a little bit, um, creepy.

It’s the WOW thing again. Am I WOWed? Well certainly the promotions have wowed me. But this isn’t something a publisher is likely to do for most other books. Let’s face it, the author of this book has some very deep pockets, and I have no doubt he’s paying for this.

But I’ll not let that color my review. Back to the book. Enjoyable and quick — like I said. The first part of the book is storytelling about just how the young Tony Hsieh found himself a gazillionaire at the ripe old age of twenty-six. The cynical old codger in me wants to point out that being born to very smart parents in Marin County at exactly the right time, and being a very smart kid, and going to very good schools had something to do with it. But he was also a kid who had business success on his mind from a very, very young age. And through some early business experiments he learned good lessons on the way up. Hsieh took risks many wouldn’t have, and he likens business to poker, saying that the lessons of poker also apply to many aspects of business. As in poker, Hsieh and his partners and investors almost lost it all, but stuck it out and did what had to be done to bring his current company, Zappos.com to the billion dollar success story it is today.

I had never heard of Zappos until the announcement that they were bought in a stock for stock deal by Amazon.com this year. Hsieh and his partners are still at the helm of the company, and still hope to maintain the unique company culture they’ve created. What’s all that got to do with the book? Everything. This book “Delivering Happiness” is the manifesto of the Zappos culture. The second half of the book tells us about how the company culture evolved and what it does for the company, it’s employees, business contacts, and bottom line. He discusses in detail the ten core values:

1. Deliver WOW through Service.
2. Embrace and Drive Change.
3. Create Fun and a Little Weirdness.
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-minded.
5. Pursue Growth and Learning.
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication.
7. Build a Positive Team and  Family Spirit.
8. Do More With Less.
9. Be Passionate and Determined.
10. Be Humble.

So, not exactly reinventing the wheel, right? That’s why he says that the core values are easy for employees to commit to, and to enact in their daily work habits. Because these are the kind of core values that they would use in their personal lives as well. I was impressed with the extensive training plans that Zappos has for it’s employees and how those are tied to concrete advancement in the company. In my own experience I know I have worked for companies that have promised training that never materialized, and they didn’t have measurable goals that employees could achieve and point to when review time rolled around.

But he takes the philosophy further, than the company values, the playfully weird culture, the stress on WOWing the customer. He wants to change the world! How? Crowdsourcing. Yep. You and me. Well it’s not a bad idea. Spreading happiness.

I have to laugh a little, he’s still a young man, he’s wildly successful. He’s used his positive attitude to surround himself with like-minded positive people. I suppose that optimists of this kind are all a little naive, or seem so. But who are we to rain on the parade of a winner?

The book doesn’t really break that much new ground as business books go. It’s up beat, and has some good advice told in a new way by a new generation. Is it worth reading. Yes. I enjoyed it, and it made me think about doing business in a better, more positive way.

Incidentally, the Delivering Happiness blog does a much better job of telling you what this books is about that I just did. And all this crowdsourcing must be working because on day one of the launch the book was at number one on Amazon, and by day three, they had run out of books! (Today they are back in stock and at a still phenomenal #10.)

And now two of you can enjoy it too—for free! I’m keeping the hardback copy, but I have two softcovers to give away. Just comment here, or use the contact page to send me your email. Be sure to mention Delivering Happiness. I will ship anywhere in the US for free. Anywhere outside the US for whatever the cheapest shipping cost is. First two requests gets them! See? It’s starting already. I’m delivering happiness too. (And my karma is restored. Phew!)

Tags: Amazon, book, book publishing, Delivering Happiness, marketing, Tony Hsieh, Zappos

So there’s book promotion, and there’s book promotion. Here’s what may be a, pardon the pun, novel approach to crowd-sourcing your book promotion. First, have deep pockets, because it involves sending out a lot of free books. Next, be patient for the ground swell of momentum to catch up to your book selling efforts. Come to think of it, that’s kind of how it works in general isn’t it? Tony Hsieh the “hip iconoclastic CEO of Zappos” writes about his meteoric rise to gazillionaire status and the very extraodinary corporate culture that has led to that success.

I agreed to blog a review of Delivering Happiness due to launch officially this week. That is, I, and untold numbers of other bloggers agreed. I clicked yes on a website (can’t remember now which one) and days later a package arrived at my door. Written on the outside was a note, “Happy Reading! = ).” (Complete with the smily face.) OK. That’s different.

Inside were two books and another note.

Happiness delivered?

With the books and the little note addressed to me was a page of suggestions encouraging me to write and post my review during the launch week. and to include links to the booksite, and to Amazon. Being the good little drone that I am, I did.

Now, I have to admit that I put off reading this book until today, launch day. Why? Because it’s a “business” book. I’ve read plenty of those. But, I am right now into chapter 4, and so far I am pleased to say that this is a fun, quick read. The style is casual, like sitting around the pool and sharing stories while sipping tall glasses of iced tea. My review is yet to come, but so far so good.

That second book? Yep, it’s up for grabs. So for the first person to comment on this here blog—who really wants the book, and will read it—you get the extra copy! I will ship it to you for free! (Aren’t I nice?) Also, after I read the other copy, depending on how attached I feel to it—that one will be up for grabs too—but you’ll have to come back to find out when.

Tags: blogging, book launch, books, contest, marketing, publishing, reading, review copies

For those two or three of you still following this here sometime blog: I have not died. I have been writing, reading, working on book design, gardening, and otherwise having a life. It’s all good, really. The blog sadly gets short shrift when living takes priority—come to think of it—turn off that computer and get out there!

Meanwhile, I came across this wonderful article by Tom Dupree on the history of publishing, and why blokes aren’t reading so much anymore. His premise is that since it’s now women taking the reigns, and pulling the freight, in the book biz that they just aren’t producing as many books that men seem to want to read. Add to that, the fact that both genders are reading less and partaking more of all the myriad of other entertainment choices available that books come way lower on the priority list when comes to claiming leisure time.

The article is a great look from an insider on what has happened over the last forty years, but leaves the forecasting of what will happen to others.

Tags: blogging, book publishing, publishing, reading

Author J.A. Konrath author of the police procedural series featuring Jacquiline “Jack” Daniels, a bad guy catchin’ cop, was featured in great interview on Galley Cat. He talks about how he’s making a nice living by selling his ebooks at very low prices on Amazon.com. He says that pricing the book at $1.99 is one of the secrets of his success. He’s sold 40,000 ebooks on Amazon alone in a year’s time. That doesn’t count print copies, and ebooks sold on other platforms. He has thirteen titles currently listed. It’s a very insightful article.

But Konrath had a following before he took his publishing career into his own hands. So people have commented that you, Mr./Ms. unknown writer could not possibly equal this kind of success. Not so, he claims, just write a good story, be professional, get a good cover made, and write a good description. He cites the example of Karen McQuestion in his own blog.

She has no book publishing credits (not for lack of trying) and only some magazine article credits to her name. McQuestion has six books on Amazon currently, and has sold 30,000 since July 09. Yes, she can write, I read some excerpts, and plan to go back and purchase a couple of ebooks.

All of this led me to think about publishing some short works on Amazon’s ebook program? Why not? It costs nothing. Yeah. Nothing. (Well, maybe an ISBN, do shorts need an ISBN? Maybe not. Note to self: Look that up.) I can’t seem to break in to lit journals. And truthfully chasing submissions is so much of a hassle.

Maybe I should just let the reading public decide if my writing is worth reading. What you pay for a short story? 99¢? 59¢? Hmm, 59¢ times 10,000 downloads is $5,900 times 70% royalty is $4,130. Versus maybe getting into a literary journal that MAYBE pays a few cents ONCE, or maybe doesn’t pay at all. See where I’m going with this?

By the way, Konrath’s blog, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing is required reading in my opinion.

Tags: Amazon, career, ebooks, inspiration, J.A. Konrath, marketing, publishing