Arvin, the Author at Work

I was fortunate enough to catch this gem of video this weekend on a rare day off- click here and fast forward to 1.09.25 for Lisa Dierbeck followed by Dale Peck with a wealth of in-your-face observations on publishing and authorship.  One of the things I took from this is the wake up call I’ve been trying to ive myself about publishing and that is the industry we’ve romanticized NO LONGER EXISTS.  So what next?  I suppose it’s like Peck says, that while writers are creating worlds we also should be building them (i.e. web/blog/indy pub).  There is so much here that I couldn’t even begin to catalog the brilliant things they talked about- so sit back, watch and engage.

The last day of the AWP was fun and sort of laid back.  There was much to still learn though and we got off to an early start.

1st Panel- To Publish or Self Publish?  The Changing Landscape of Publication.

This panel presented the nuts and bolts of what Seth Harwood and Shawna Yang Ryan had to say.  In retrospect, compared to all the other panels, this one was quite streamlined and elegant.  The power point was a nice change from the usual scene of panelists sitting in front of a giant blank wall and the information was very focused, well presented and unlike most panels- stayed on topic. 

Christopher Meeks presented his own story of self/indie publishing.  While trying to get his short fiction published he discovered (a fact heard at almost every panel), that short fiction didn’t sell.  Instead he took the path of using lightning source and began the task of sending his now published book to reviewers and other people who could recommend his work to others.  This plan worked in ways probably he couldn’t have thought and eventually his garnered much acclaim for his work.  Part of his success was tied to his online presence and his membership on the author website redroom.com.  

Which brings us to Ivory Madison.  Ivory Madison was on the panel to talk about her work on Huntress and creating and running redroom.com.  What I took from Ivory was that this is probably the best time to get on-board with indie/self-publishing.  

Henry Baum, author of the American Book of the Dead was frank and an ardent supporter of indie-publishing in lieu of his experiences with agents and publishing houses.  His own website selfpublishingreview.com and partner site Backword Booksboth are great places to start if you are curious about the quality of the books being released in the self publishing world as opposed to the drivel that is associated with antiquated ‘vanity’ publishing.  

Lastly, Daniel Will-Harris; book designer, watch designer, consultant and creative genius gave another awesome power point presenting the pros and cons of what he is now calling indie publishing as opposed to self publishing.  According to him (and I have to agree) self publishing has the stigma of being the last effort for people who have been rejected by everyone else.  However, this is no longer the case as even published, well-known authors are turning to indie publishing.  Classically some of the most renowned writers like James Joyce were independently published.  Daniel also showed us what a good book cover looked like vs. a bad book cover.  

I don’t know what else to say about the wealth of information that this panel provided.  This was the lowest attended event I had been to and if anything lights the fire under my chair to get moving on any plans to indie publish something since the masses have yet to catch on. 

2nd Panel-The Before and After of Marketing Your Manuscript.

This was our last panel and thankfully it was a good one.  Before entering each person received a little booklet with the same title as the panel.  M. Scott Douglass of Main Street Rag Publishing said that he was going to skip the introductions because he had printed them (beautifully I might add) in our booklet.  With cigar in hand and gray beard, M reminded me of an old school publisher.  Brash and forward, M had my attention from the start.  While the other panelists were good, M was the main attraction.  When discussing e-books he said, “Oh, I’ll be printing books long after they’re done printing books, I have the machines, they can’t stop me!”  M. Scott in fact reads, edits and - then by his own hands- prints the books he sells.  Other valuable information from this panel as if it weren’t alluded to already were-

Make a website, you are no one without it in the 21st century.  

Know your market.

When you read your work in public, read well, read loud, and engage your audience.

Having the basics covered in the booklet, the panel was free to openly discuss any topic with the audience.  This was a great way to end our AWP experience.  Maybe I’ll be in DC for the next one.  We’ll see.  

The rest of the AWP I spent wandering the book fair and bouncing in and out of panels about writing race, South Asian authors and craft.  At this point we were pretty over the whole deal and couldn’t wait to get back to CB.  But not before having a drink with my new friends Henry, Christopher and Daniel.

Day two of the AWP began with the bookfair section of the conference.  Bruce had gone the day before and said that the journal and publishing booths were literally cat-calling people for submissions of poetry and fiction.  Of course they were not doing that the moment I decided to walk the bookfair.  It was nice though because everyone I talked to was very friendly and outgoing.  This was extremely informative and healthy for my own booklust as every other table was giving away literary journals and submission guidelines.  At the end of my wandering it was just nice to talk to people on the inside the industry about their opinions and what their specific goals as publishers and editors were.

1st Panel- The Future of Book Publishing:  How Authors Should Navagate the New Market.

While the title of this panel sounds intriguing it actually shook me as a writer and a bookseller.  One panelist even (jokingly) said ‘don’t ask me, I don’t know what I’m talking about.’  These editors/publishers/agents actually sounded discouraging for writers and booksellers when it came to talking about book-scan, amazon and the ipad.  The future was pretty dim according to these ‘insiders.’  

Dennis Loy Johnson was the only one on this panel that told it like it is without the sugar.  With some appreciated agression, Dennis pointed at his audience and said ‘You writers, you have to know your market!’  Dennis went on to talk about how much of his own money he puts into publishing a book.  In effect it sounded like he was saying that he was gambaling whenever he published a book.  Which really what any publisher is doing.  Since coming back, I have enjoyed Melville Publishing’s website and Dennis’ blog, you will too.  Again, the work lies now in the writer’s hands to promote and sell themselves and their work, not to mention being creative and unique in how they do it.

This panel was even a little dismissive of some questions but overall I enjoyed the candor and energy they had as opposed to other panels.

2nd Panel- The Southern Review 75th Anniversary Reading.

This was it.  A nice kick-back reading from some poets and writers including the awesome Steve Almond.  After the reading I bought Steve’s book of extra-short stories and essays he only sells at readings called This Won’t Take a Minute Honey.  In our brief minute I spoke to Steve whose advice to my writing woes was, ‘You’re young, don’t give up.’  Thanks Steve, you are the man.

3rd Panel- Plot as Ritual, Not Representation.

This was overly academic, disjointed and slightly schizophrenic.  While John Dufrense was awesome- the rest of this panel was putting me to sleep.  John’s animated description of plot was hectic and fun and had most of the audience interested in what he was saying.  The rest might as well have been back at their universities.  

Sorry this has taken a while to prepare but the three days of the conference and returning to Crested Butte to clean out the cafe during our ‘off-season’ week has left me with little time until now to dig through the leaflets, business cards and literary journals gathered in those three head-twisting days.

1st Panel- Shameless Book Promotion: Squad 365 Rides Again!

This thing was packed, and that set the tone for a lot of the AWP’s more popular and informative sessions.  Also, this was the starter to much of what was reiterated by many panelists that writers in the 21st century will have to employ radical and inventive ways of promoting themselves and their work.  The one piece of info that shocked me was some writers are resorting to doing readings in peoples homes!  The host and the writer gather as many people that can fit and boom- a reading.  Check out what they have to say here at their blog.

2nd Panel- What’s Your Platform?  What Agents & Editors Are Looking For in Writers.

This was boring and insulting.  I hate to say that but it was.  Especially having freshly paid over 200 dollars for this experience the panel lacked any excitement or life and failed to present anything other than using blogging and facebook as options for writers.  Even the idea of a platform quickly soured me on the industry.  Lets use Hemingway and The Old Man and the Sea as an example.  In the 21st century, if you had a genre altering, earth moving, nobel prize winning story such as The Old Man and The Sea you would need a blog and a facebook page to create your platform based on… fishing?!?!?  So you gather some number of faithful and dedicated readers and you get your book about fishing published and your fans buy it so and so forth.  I don’t like this model or idea, however this is sadly how even well published authors have to keep themselves read.  What this leads to though is that the industry is in shambles, the traditional routes of becoming published are antiquated and increasingly unreliable in reaching an audience.  Over three days, these ideas become more flushed out in my mind…

Side-note: this panel essentially is saying that online followers and a blog is important to building a following to present yourself as an active writer in the world so when you approach an agent or editor- those readers/followers are another bullet in your gun when pitching.  The presenters I will give credit for being ‘on the ground’ so to speak.  They are using the tools of media to accomplish their goals as writers, something which is contradicted in another panel I will talk about later.

3rd Panel- Publishing Alternatives

This was not on the list of panels and were it not for the recommendation of the previous panel I would have missed out on the best, most informative session during the three days of the AWP.  Shawna Yang Ryan and Seth Harwood as well as two others I regret not remembering their names presented an awesome panel on the alternate routes to the traditional equasion of publishing.  The traditional model being you find an agent or editor and have your work published with press and promotion provided by the publishing house.  Those days are long gone my friends.  Shawna Yang Ryan, author and teacher talked about her transition from a small publisher to a big one and her good agent vs. her bad agent.  Seth Harwood was by far the most engaging panelist-  Seth did everything he was supposed to do.  He got his MFA, published over 3/4’s of his short stories and… nothing.  How it usually works in the post MFA world is you graduate, publish in journals and then get approached by an agent.  That never happened for Seth.  Instead of giving up and relegating himself to a life of waiting tables he got creative.  

Seth wrote a story against his literary predisposition involving what he liked- guns, gangsters and women.  What he did next blew my mind-  Seth recorded his ENTIRE manuscript (bad accents and all) and uploaded it to podiobooks.com to be downloaded for FREE.  Eventually his story became heavily downloaded and he built a following (he created [sigh] a platform).  When Seth self published in both ebook and paper he decided to release the book on Palm Sunday, (Jack Palms is the main character of the book) and outsold many bestselling traditionally published authors.  Seth is a model for what authors of the future are going to have to do to be successful.  Not neccessarily doing what he exactly did but being creative and coming up with innovative, new ways to promote and reach an audience.  Visit his site here.  

Side-note:  Seth eventually became published by a large publishing house but when he tried to work with them on promotion, the flat out refused to help him.  

4th Panel- Goodbye Blue Monday: Remembering the Life and Work of Kurt Vonnegut.

If you read this blog then you know- I dig Vonnegut.  It was a nice end to the day to listen to friends and teachers talk about how awesome it was to know and teach Vonnegut.  Dan Wakefield specifically was interesting to listen to reflecting on their friendship and how Vonnegut would engage people- especially people that banned his books.  Dan talked about how Vonnegut would actually visit school districts that banned his books and respond frequently to teachers and students about his work.