The Great Indie Author Twitter Challenge

I’ve seen some blogs and articles posted over the last few months that have referred to eBooks by Indie Authors as complete crap. Indie Author stigma is alive and well in the blogosphere and within the pages of The Huffington Compost. One blogger classified 98% of the eBooks written by Indie Authors as crap (her word, not mine). Can any of these opinions be true? Or are these negative purveyors just out for a “late-night-troll”?

In response to these naysayers, I’ve decided to offer myself a small challenge. Perhaps you may care to indulge in this experiment yourself.

Step1: Go into Twitter and start scrolling. Stop at the first eBook promo Tweet that has an Amazon link. Usually the Tweet is from the Indie-Author him/herself.

Step2: Follow the link and use the “Look Inside” feature.

Step 3: Jot down what you thought of preview.

Step 4: Go back to Twitter and keep scrolling until you find another eBook promo.

** I took a glance at 25 eBooks using the “Look Inside” feature. **

The Results of the Twitter Challenge

In the final analysis, I did not find 98% crap, nor would I say that Indie Authored eBooks are an insult to the written word. Yes, I saw some stylistic problems. I have learned much about editing in the past few years, and can zero things down to three basic errors or should I say non-refinements. They are 1) Echoing Headwords 2) Weak opening line and/or paragraph 3) Overusing forms of “to be.” However, some readers probably wouldn’t spot those problems. They purchased a bargain book and were entertained.

For those of us who have published a few items and have spent hundreds of hours in critique circles; we know crap when we see it. Perhaps I’m being too harsh and wonder if I should give some people the benefit of the doubt. May be their definition of “crap” differs from mine.

Here are a few examples of my criteria for assessing the quality of an eBook with an excrement expression.

The writing is unreadable and unintelligible. If I see an endless stream of poor grammar, spelling errors, punctuation errors, p.o.v. shifting, or incomplete sentences, then I’ll agree it is crap. I can name a few more sins, but I think you get the picture.

Different “Yardsticks”?

There is no difference between 1 inch and 2.54 centimeters. The difference is the markings on the ruler. It is my belief that the insulters and naysayers are driven by one of two possibilities. Either they are paid trolls acting upon the behest of publishers*, or they are “setting the bar too high.”

*I am by no means a conspiracy theorist. However, I am all too aware of the dirty campaigns waged by different factions of certain industries. For example, the war between Edison’s DC vs. Tesla’s AC in the court of public opinion comes to mind.

The Relay Race Analogy

When I say “setting the bar too high,” I am not talking about giving everyone an award or a trophy for participating or a drastic lowering of standards. Rather, imagine a relay race between two teams of runners. Except, one team got food poisoning just 5 minutes before the race, and only one member of the sick team didn’t fall ill. Instead of quitting, the lone runner ran the whole race that was meant for five different athletes. And, he didn’t make it easy for the other team. He gave them a proverbial “run for their money.”

Even though he lost the race, is there any among you who wouldn’t give that runner a standing ovation?

Well, that’s the difference between an eBook from an Indie Author and Traditionally published book. Too often, an Indie Author is simply one person doing the work of many hands. Therefore, when I say “setting the bar too high,” I mean passing judgment while not appreciating the lopsided nature of the comparison.

Indie Authors should not attempt to produce an end product as good as a traditionally published book. We should strive to be better.

Every Time You Reply – “Little Frankie” Doesn’t Cry

Indie Author Stigma (Part II)

Indie Authors have to be better

I’ve seen typos in some editions of traditional books. It is a rare phenomenon, but it does happen. How does a reader react to such an occurrence? They will probably react the same way that I usually do. I’ll blame the proof-reader, the editor, or the printer. The author is never blamed.

However, if it’s an ebook from a  self-published indie-author, guess who the reader will blame? That’s right, the responsibility for everything squarely rests on the shoulders of the author.

Photo by Nic McPhee and used under the Creative Commons license

Just because a document can be easily uploaded, that does not mean it should or must be done. I can throw my cat out of the second floor window pretty easily. Does that mean that I should? Certainly not. There are no circumstances that would allow or justify such an action. Yet this seems to be the mentality among many indie authors. Judging from the quality  of the indie books that I’ve seen, I believe that I have made a correct assessment.

Many ebooks have been uploaded simply because it can be done. Therefore it serves as a sort of vain purpose. I wonder if they realize the damage they’re doing to the rest of us.

It has been my privilege and honor to blog, chat, learn, and teach with some other indies who work and strive in order to produce a quality product. Some I’ve met on-line like Diane Tibert, Therin Knight, Robert Hill, Wayne DePriest, Ben Garrido, Nonnie Jules, and Bruce Borders.

I also work closely in critique circles with other authors through the San Antonio Writer’s Guild, like Marilyn Hudson Tucker, April Grunspan, Charles Tate, Suzanne Daniels, Florence Wall, and Stewart Smith.  I can’t wait to read their material. They are all great authors and deserve respect.

Is it fair that after all of the intense work, that we should all be lumped into the same category with a bunch of amateurs who are merely masquerading as authors? What should be the strategy for High Quality Indie Authors to separate themselves from the rest?

Cover Reveal for Gematria² – Breaking Convention

Announcing the cover reveal for my latest short story, Gematria²!

The writing approach in this short can be summed up as breaking the conventional mold of formula writing. But that doesn’t mean that I’ve created a new style for other authors to emulate, because I’m doing the emulating.

I’ve always been enamored with the styles and conventions of South American authors, namely Julio Cortázar and Jorge Luís Borges. If you read anything from these short story masters you will immediately notice differences from the North American writers you may be used to. For one thing, these authors don’t describe or sometimes even name characters. They play with time, space, human consciousness, synchronicity, metaphysics, philosophy, and magical realism, to name a few themes.

The best way that I can describe the style is non-formulaic literature. With Gematria², I tried that approach as best as I could.  When I presented it to a critique group, some scoffed, although they couldn’t exactly say what was bothering them. Others embraced it as pure literature and eagerly volunteered to beta read future drafts.

Gematria² will be released on Smashwords as a FREE download on February 15^th, 2014 on all e-reader formats. If you prefer getting your e-books from Amazon or Barnes & Noble, it will be listed there as well about one to two weeks later.  As a bonus, the release also contains extended excerpts from my other short stories.  Hope you enjoy!

Free Previews: A Double-Edged Sword?

If you’ve browsed for a novel or a short story at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords, then you’re probably familiar with the free preview feature. On Amazon you can view the first 10% of an e-book, and on Smashwords it varies by author preference.

Now many think that this is a positive feature for your work. After all, you’ve been through several revisions of the piece and you want prospective readers to see that you’re not contributing to the dreaded Indie Author Stigma. You want to show that your writing is clear and properly edited, with no amateur errors.

I suppose that’s a good thing, but here’s the problem. I’ve heard that most audiences today judge whether or not they like a film within the first five minutes, and I suspect that readers are no different. So what happens when the best parts of your work are in the middle or at the end?

I’m selling short stories right now, as a way to build up some readership before my novel is ready for the public. My own quirky story-telling manner never jumps at you in the first page or two. Instead, my style does quite the opposite. I like to lull a reader into a sense of security before everything begins to run amok. Therefore, the first page or two may not hook a potential reader and reel them in. But my beta readers tell me that the lulling makes for a real punch at the end, so I’m reluctant to change this style.

Now, we all know about the need for a first chapter to be powerful. However, I’m talking about a short story, which can be chapter length or less. So the online retailers only show the first few pages, which I generally use to establish characters and setting. Therefore that percentage-based preview often cuts off before the story really gets going.  And I really wonder if that is affecting my readership.

So I have two questions for the blogosphere:

Readers:  

Authors: