I have no idea what this thing is. I tried using an online bird identifier, but I couldn’t find anything with that bulge on the top of it’s beak. The local lake has two of these year round, one larger than the other. Surely someone will identify it for me in the comments.
StarShipSofa has posted a podcast of my story from Federations, “The Culture Archivist.” Ray Sizemore did a great job on the narration, I thought.
This is my take on what if the Star Trek Federation were actually capitalist bastards. With a little AI lolcat humor mixed in here and there. Take a listen.
We’re writers, so we should write about everything, right? Not if we care about maintaining an audience, we shouldn’t. Despite our deep-seated belief that every thing that happens to us and every thought we have is interesting to others, some things writers like to blog about are just plain boring or, worse, portray them in a negative light. I’ve learned most of these because I’ve done them and driven off readers with them, so don’t think I’m setting these down as reminders for others. They apply to me doubly so. They include:
I firmly believe that writers should be interesting for something other than being a writer. It’s a rare individual who can be scintillating to the general public while talking about the sausage-making of writing.* If you’re a writer, surely you’re passionate about something other than writing. Blog about whatever that is.
Look at it this way–who is your target audience? The subject of writing is interesting to other writers and aspiring writers. They are not necessarily the readers you want, because there are not very many of them. If your goal is to collect a following greater than a few hundred people, then you need a subject of broader interest–even just the genre that you write in is more interesting than the act of writing itself.
Clearly I am not following the advice of the last point here. I write about writing for a good reason, and that’s because my freelance business caters to writers. Writers are my target audience for these posts, so I am comfortable with it. As I complete my business website, these kinds of advice posts will transition to that site, and my personal blog will become more, well, personal.
*Exempt from this advice are writers with staggering readerships, such as Neil Gaiman and John Scalzi.
ETA:
Nick Mamatas has this to say in the comments, and it’s a strong point:
So I took this advice much further than I should have. And I should point out that my advice was aimed squarely not at writers who blog as a kind of personal journal. I aim it at people who are looking to deliberately and methodically grow an audience. If you’re writing a personal journal style blog, but want to use your blog to grow an audience, I thnk you need to think about transitioning the kind of content you post.
This is the smallest bird I think I’ve ever semi-successfully photographed. Such beautiful coloration, I think.
These barn swallows have been taunting me every day on my walk. Today, I finally brought the camera along and they didn’t disappoint me. I think I need to try near dusk as well, to get the direction of light I need, but shooting them in pseudo-silhouette is fun too. This has kind of a lomo feel to it for me.
The structure and nature of short stories haven’t really changed in the digital age, as far as I can tell. They’re still told the same way mostly, same perspectives, in roughly the same amount of time ( around 3–7000 words). E-zines are for the most part straight forward adaptations of the print magazine format, to varying degrees. PDF magazines are identical to print magazines, except they’re read on a screen instead of on paper, or even printed off by some. E-zines like Strange Horizons make use of basic hypertext features, but the stories themselves do not take advantage of of any of those features except in rare occasions.
Flash fiction, or stories under 500 words, has seen a boom online, with electronic magazines such as Brain Harvest specializing in them exclusively. Personally, I don’t find such short stories very satisfying very often, despite my involvement with the Daily Cabal, (which you should check out if you do like flash fiction). I don’t think I’ve ever written a really successful flash fiction story. I would argue that flash fiction is even less popular than regular short fiction, which is pretty unpopular in the first place.
Rejection horror stories are like the campfire ghost stories told to other writers in hushed tones, perhaps over drinks at a hotel bar, but more likely over an email or instant message.
No, that’s not right. Unlike ghost stories, which seek to strike fear in the listeners, these horror stories are meant to make us feel better. The horror comes from what was rejected, how it was rejected, and who was rejected.
I think most writers, especially those just starting out, collect these stories to act as ward and charms against the fear of failure that so often plague us as the rejection letters mount, even those who have been writing for decades. Here are some of my favorites:
The whole is so dry and airless, so lacking in pace, that whatever drama and excitement the novel might have had is entirely dissipated by what does seem, a great deal of the time
The book being rejected? The Left Hand of Darkness, a book that subsequently found a publisher and then went on to win the Nebula and the Hugo. Read the full rejection letter on Le Guin’s website.
Daughter Jessica was three-years-old when Joanne sent off her first finished manuscript. “Into the envelope it went, off it went and back came a very prompt response, saying ‘No, thank you.’ And then I got another rejection letter. “The funny thing is they didn’t upset me because I had that back-against-the-wall mentality. By this time, I was on a teaching course. I knew I was going to have incredibly limited time to write and I just thought, ‘Well, even if what you end up with is a file full of rejection letters, you know you tried.’ “The first agent sent me a letter back saying, ‘My client list is full’ – literally! “No ‘Dear Madam’ and no ‘Yours sincerely’, and if I sound like I bear a grudge, I do because I’d sent my manuscript in this beautiful plastic folder and I was broke and I didn’t have £5 to spend on a plastic folder and she sent it back without the folder and she wrote, ‘No, thank you.’ And with a handwritten PS, ‘The folder you sent would not fit in the envelope.’ And I just felt, ‘Well, buy bigger envelopes, then.’ I was furious.
Even the best-selling series in recent memory was rejected numerous times by agents and editors. The truth is, something’s greatness is not readily apparent. You just have to keep looking until you find someone who believes in your work as much as you do. And if you don’t believe in your work utterly, why are you even bothering to submit it?
As part of the larger essay “Thus Our Words Unspoken” (1994), Malzberg relates the story (as told by Robert P. Mills) of how Daniel Keyes’s classic story (and one of the best SF stories of all time) “Flowers for Algernon” came to be published, and published in F&SF. It seems Keyes had submitted it to Horace Gold at Galaxy. Gold said he would publish it only if Keyes made one crucial change: that Charlie not end up an imbecile at the end of the story, but remain a genius. Keyes refused and trunked the story. Then, on a shared train ride with F&SF editor Mills, Mills asked Keyes for a story. Keyes thought immediately of “Flowers” and began to describe it to Mills. Mills found it interesting, asked to see the ms., and upon reading it wanted to publish it … with one change. Keyes, assuming the worst, begged Mills not to ask him to change the end of the story. Mills said no, that the change he wanted was to add a girlfriend for Charlie. Keyes, relieved, agreed to the change, and we all know the rest of the story.
Dave Truesdale recounts this story, which I think is a good parable about sticking to your vision. If you sacrifice your vision for the sake of being published, then what’s the point? Be persistent, but polite, but also willing to accept change suggestions from an editor that makes sense. Most of my stories have been made better by an editor. But I’ve also turned down rewrite requests that I didn’t feel were in-line with what I wanted to do. I lost money, but I felt better about myself. But good lord, could you imagine a Flowers that turned out the way Gold wanted? It would have been a travesty!
“I spent nine years trying to get published. During that time, I wrote thirteen novels. I eventually sold the sixth, Elantris, and got a contract from Tor for another trilogy after Elantris.”
Brandon Sanderson is the chosen one, literally, picked to finish the long-running and unfinished Wheel of Time series.The man wrote a baker’s dozen of novels before selling one! Can you really argue that sticking to it and being persistent doesn’t pay off in the face of that fact?
Stephen King’s Carrie was rejected for being “dystopian.” Rudyard #*(@ing Kipling was rejected and informed that he didn’t know how to use the English language! Dr. Suess? Too weird. H.G. Wells War of the Worlds? Too scary and dreadful.
If there’s a writer who has never once received a rejection, I haven’t met him or her. Everyone gets them. And they suck, I won’t deny it. I’m lax about submitting my work because they tend to ruin my day, but even still, I know I shouldn’t let them. They don’t mean much of anything beyond one editor’s (or maybe a couple), or an agent’s opinion. Have some faith in your work. Keep at it, trying to get better. One day, that rejection letter you’re expecting will turn out to be something entirely different.
Special thanks to John Joseph Adams for helping me find citations for some of these famous rejection stories.
Smashing Magazine, a great website dealing with all things web design, had a really great article the other day titled “10 Ways to Put Your Content in Front of More People.”
Not all of these ideas are applicable to everyone–some are quite specifically techy. Most creatives don’t really need an Adobe Air app on someone’s desktop, and they don’t need to create an API or widget (although widgets are often produced for authors by larger publishers. I don’t know that they get used by fans much, but they do get made).
However, the basics, like Facebook, Twitter, guest posts, and more are all very applicable methods. Using multimedia is still somewhat rare in the author circles I frequent, so it’s open for some real innovation. Book trailers are just a start. I’m working with one client on something that takes advantage of all these options. More on that when it’s done.
My approach for my author clients is that any readers of their online media presence are potential readers of their books. But I don’t have them treat their online presence as a giant advertising platform for those books. No, the key to getting more people to look at your content, above all else, is to write compelling content.
There are tricks to making your web content more compelling when it’s in a blog style format. The specifics of those techniques I save for my consulting clients. In general, pay attention to the kinds of posts that go viral, get retweeted and linked all over. And match those post styles, but within your own niche.
Of secondary importance, after the content, is establishing a good niche and thus an identity. If you maintain a niche, create a solid identity (and thus some authority), and write in a linkable and web-friendly format about compelling subjects, you’ll grow readers like crazy.
As many blogs out there as there are, people are always looking for something new that grabs them by the throat. Something that educates them, or titiliates. There are a lot of ways you can be compelling. Hell, we all struggle with that in the non-online types of writing we have to do. But it’s not enough to just blog about your day and your word count, or your latest photos. It’s fine if you don’t mind what your audience size is online, but if you’re interested in building a following, you have to take it further.
That’s what I’ve been trying to do with these posts, appearances on podcasts, and so on. And to be nice about all of it. I genuinely enjoy helping people with this stuff, and sharing what I’ve learned. So the extra readers are really just a bonus on top of the main motivation.
When I’m too busy to write a nice, well-thought out blog post ahead of time, then things are actually going pretty well.
Project Awesome launched a month and a day ago. Since then, I have had no more success in finding a job than before, but everything else has improved dramatically. Freelancing is going very well, with enough work to cover a couple of months, and I haven’t even marketed myself.
Rule #1 has been good. I have lost my temper a couple of times and shared it online, mostly dealing with computer failure. For the most part, I believe my attitude portrayed online has improved very much–you’ll have to let me know if you don’t think so too. I don’t always feel great, but I keep it to myself., which leads me to rule #2.
Rule #2 has probably had the most amazing impact on me out of everything. When I start to feel down, I remember this rule and push onward. In no time, I go from faking feeling good to actually feeling good. My writing has improved and my design skills have improved because I have decided to pretend I am great even if I don’t think I am.
Rule #3– I don’t think I’ve broken this rule. Nobody owes me anything, except my clients, and I take paypal :)
Rule #4– definitely. As I experiment with different topics for posts on this blog, I’ve failed at generating interest with some. But I take it as a learning experience, and it’s helping me tailor where I want to go next.
Rule #5 & 6– sharpening my talent is pretty much my driving goal in everything right now. I’m seeing fantastic results, I think.
I do like working. Even without a job, I find work. Things are fine.
All the rest, I think have been moderately successful as well.
To summarize, I feel much better, and I feel like I’m making real progress in my life goals thanks to Project Awesome. Opportunities keep coming, despite the dire situation of being laid off. Right now, I don’t miss the grind of an office job at all. My stress levels are lower than ever.
If it weren’t for the insurance issue (which I have yet to resolve), I could do this indefinitely.
I hope you’ve been enjoying the blog. I will get back on track with regularly scheduled high-quality posts tomorrow and over the weekend.
Twitter is all the rage these days. I resisted it for more than a year, not seeing what purpose it had. But then it achieved critical mass in my community and I was on-board. Now I can’t remember what life was like before it. Combine micro-blogging with texting and instant messaging and you kind of have an idea. When you’re hooked in, it’s like having one big slow group conversation, with side conversations everywhere. It’s like being at a party and not having to choose which people to talk to and which conversations to get involved with. You get involved with all of them.
Here are ten people that I think you should be following if you’re interested in the business of science fiction:
This list is most definitely not a comprehensive one and I’m probably leaving out people that I will hit myself over the head for later. If you’re interested in finding more, hit up my follow list over on Twitter.
Do you have suggestions for folks to follow? Please let us know in the comments, even if it is yourself. I’m always looking for more interesting people to add to my stream. Twitter is rapidly becoming the place to talk with people in the business, and there’s always room for more in the conversation.
My story “Groob’s Stupid Grubs,” a story of a goblin’s hopes for his idiot children, is available in Black Gate 15.
I recently finished the first draft of a YA novel called Takedown Notice set in the net-mage universe of my stories “Captain Blood’s B00ty” and “One Click Banishment.” What happens when the Magical Association of Atlantis finally gets the upper hand against the net mages in the spell program copyfight?
The subject of writing is interesting to other writers and aspiring writers. They are not necessarily the readers you want, because there are not very many of them.
Crazy talk. There are millions of aspiring writers, and thus an industry to service them—several monthly magazines, a plethora of how-to books, seminars and conferences, over 100 degree-granting programs in the subject, etc.
Aspiring writers also tend to read more widely (and deeply) than non-aspirants. Aspiring writers are certainly a large audience worth cultivating.