My First Metarant
I love Order of the Stick. Some strips are stronger than others, just like with anything else, but I was especially fond of this one. Silly ninjas...
So normally my mental wheels are slow and creaky in the mornings, but when I glanced at LJ early today, I found an entry from namelessarchon which woke me right up. With namelessarchon's permission, I'm going to talk about it here. And before I do, I want to make the rules clear. I disagree with what namelessarchon wrote about me. That does not mean he's wrong, or that I want people to bash him for what he wrote. Keep it civilized, or go away.
Let's start with this quote, referring to my post on my tie-in prejudices.
This week was yet another Jim ‘dislikes’ column. Now given, Jim prefaces these columns with some self deprecation, but the essence of each is still truth, like the latest which said he has issues with Tie-in novelists not being ‘real’ writers. Although he explains that such a view is bad and he needs to change, he still feels it and is open enough to state it. Still, it reminds me of his issues with e-published authors not being ‘real’ writers, or his feelings concerning the evils of self promotion, which he does without relent because I guess it is ok if you are a ‘real’ writer and not a lesser version who isn’t signed by a company listed on SFFWA entry forms.
Right off the bat, this brings up something I've noticed myself, and haven't been entirely happy about. Namely, I seem to be writing more rants these days. I even have a rants tag now. On the one hand, there are issues I care about, and I have every right to write yet another one as the mood strikes. But I've been questioning what I want this blog to be, and whether it's a good thing that it's evolving to include more rants. The fact that those rants are some of the most commented-upon of my posts is food for thought, but they also bring a certain amount of negativity, and I generally prefer to keep things happy.
That said, it's my blog, and I'll figure out what direction I want to take it in. I doubt I'll be doing away with the rants altogether, if only because I need to vent somewhere when things piss me off.
It's the next part that bothers me, where I'm described as having issues with e-published (and later on, self-published) authors not being 'real' writers, or that self-promotion is evil unless you're a 'real' and SFWA-approved author like me.
I'm going to start by looking at my own publishing history, starting with Goldfish Dreams, a mainstream novel I wrote which was first published by a small POD press, and now exists only on Fictionwise as an e-book. I also wanted to link to a review of Tales from the Whole Universe, a self-published e-anthology I did with my writing group years back. (Unfortunately, that link only takes you to the preview page. The actual one-star review seems to have disappeared, which is a shame.) Coming in November, I'm publishing "Red's Tale" in the Cats Curious Faery Taile Project, a small press which definitely doesn't meet SFWA qualifications. My last goblin short story came out in Andromeda Spaceways, another small and non-SFWA-qualifying market.
Does flashing these credentials prove I'm not biased against small/self/e-published authors? Not at all. But I figure it's a good starting point. Likewise, I don't feel that I'm anti-promotion. I hope not, since I just ordered 5000 bookmarks for The Stepsister Scheme, not to mention those goblin tattoos I'm still giving away...
That said, I've certainly posted rants about self- promotional tactics. Just as I've complained about interactions with self-published writers at times.
To give an example of what I do and don't believe: when you e-mail me, unsolicited, a 4 MB copy of your unpublished novel, and then follow up with e-mails urging me to pass it along to my friend, then I believe you're being a dick. That does not mean I believe self-promotion is bad. But this kind of self-promotion? Not cool. Now, my opinion about what constitutes acceptible self-promotion is just that -- my opinion. Yours will likely vary. Some people might feel that me using my book cover as my MySpace user pic is tacky. Maybe so, but I still do it.
Self-published books? To be honest, I do feel that a book which has made it through some sort of filtering process (slush, agents, etc.) and subjected to rigorous editing by a professional editor is in most cases going to be superior to a book published through Lulu. I also believe the proliferation of self-publishing and vanity presses means there's a lot more self-published work out there, and much of it was not ready for publication, any more than my first, second, or third novels were ... even though I believed otherwise when I wrote them. Does that mean I believe I'm a real author while self-published folks aren't? Of course not. I'm not even sure what a "real" author is.
There are a lot of reasons people choose to self-publish. I agree with some of the reasons and disagree with others. (The idea that self-publishing is the paradigm of the future and is the best way to break out as an author would be an example from the "Disagree" column.) Do I look down on self-published authors for making this choice? Nope.
I do look down on those self-published authors who tell me I'm a commercial hack and a sell-out, and that my writing is worthless tripe whereas theirs is brilliant and revolutionary, which is why those idiots in New York were scared to publish them. If you're pushing that line, I'll probably glance at your writing, and then I will mock you and look down at you, yes.
It's possible that some of my posts have been less clear than I intended. I know in some cases people have taken my rants personally. And I doubt namelessarchon is the only one to assume this is what I believe. If I've written clumsily enough to contribute to that misunderstanding, then I apologize. On the other hand, there's no such thing as writing that's clear enough for every single reader to take it precisely the same way.
Hopefully this is clear enough, 'cause I don't plan on spending much more time on it. If you've got questions, ask 'em now or hold your peace. And in the future, if you truly feel that I'm bashing either on you personally or on some broad class of writers, please let me know either in the comments or by e-mail. Thanks!
Reading
Dead to Me, by Anton Strout
Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy
Writing
Red Hood's Revenge
So normally my mental wheels are slow and creaky in the mornings, but when I glanced at LJ early today, I found an entry from namelessarchon which woke me right up. With namelessarchon's permission, I'm going to talk about it here. And before I do, I want to make the rules clear. I disagree with what namelessarchon wrote about me. That does not mean he's wrong, or that I want people to bash him for what he wrote. Keep it civilized, or go away.
Let's start with this quote, referring to my post on my tie-in prejudices.
This week was yet another Jim ‘dislikes’ column. Now given, Jim prefaces these columns with some self deprecation, but the essence of each is still truth, like the latest which said he has issues with Tie-in novelists not being ‘real’ writers. Although he explains that such a view is bad and he needs to change, he still feels it and is open enough to state it. Still, it reminds me of his issues with e-published authors not being ‘real’ writers, or his feelings concerning the evils of self promotion, which he does without relent because I guess it is ok if you are a ‘real’ writer and not a lesser version who isn’t signed by a company listed on SFFWA entry forms.
Right off the bat, this brings up something I've noticed myself, and haven't been entirely happy about. Namely, I seem to be writing more rants these days. I even have a rants tag now. On the one hand, there are issues I care about, and I have every right to write yet another one as the mood strikes. But I've been questioning what I want this blog to be, and whether it's a good thing that it's evolving to include more rants. The fact that those rants are some of the most commented-upon of my posts is food for thought, but they also bring a certain amount of negativity, and I generally prefer to keep things happy.
That said, it's my blog, and I'll figure out what direction I want to take it in. I doubt I'll be doing away with the rants altogether, if only because I need to vent somewhere when things piss me off.
It's the next part that bothers me, where I'm described as having issues with e-published (and later on, self-published) authors not being 'real' writers, or that self-promotion is evil unless you're a 'real' and SFWA-approved author like me.
I'm going to start by looking at my own publishing history, starting with Goldfish Dreams, a mainstream novel I wrote which was first published by a small POD press, and now exists only on Fictionwise as an e-book. I also wanted to link to a review of Tales from the Whole Universe, a self-published e-anthology I did with my writing group years back. (Unfortunately, that link only takes you to the preview page. The actual one-star review seems to have disappeared, which is a shame.) Coming in November, I'm publishing "Red's Tale" in the Cats Curious Faery Taile Project, a small press which definitely doesn't meet SFWA qualifications. My last goblin short story came out in Andromeda Spaceways, another small and non-SFWA-qualifying market.
Does flashing these credentials prove I'm not biased against small/self/e-published authors? Not at all. But I figure it's a good starting point. Likewise, I don't feel that I'm anti-promotion. I hope not, since I just ordered 5000 bookmarks for The Stepsister Scheme, not to mention those goblin tattoos I'm still giving away...
That said, I've certainly posted rants about self- promotional tactics. Just as I've complained about interactions with self-published writers at times.
To give an example of what I do and don't believe: when you e-mail me, unsolicited, a 4 MB copy of your unpublished novel, and then follow up with e-mails urging me to pass it along to my friend, then I believe you're being a dick. That does not mean I believe self-promotion is bad. But this kind of self-promotion? Not cool. Now, my opinion about what constitutes acceptible self-promotion is just that -- my opinion. Yours will likely vary. Some people might feel that me using my book cover as my MySpace user pic is tacky. Maybe so, but I still do it.
Self-published books? To be honest, I do feel that a book which has made it through some sort of filtering process (slush, agents, etc.) and subjected to rigorous editing by a professional editor is in most cases going to be superior to a book published through Lulu. I also believe the proliferation of self-publishing and vanity presses means there's a lot more self-published work out there, and much of it was not ready for publication, any more than my first, second, or third novels were ... even though I believed otherwise when I wrote them. Does that mean I believe I'm a real author while self-published folks aren't? Of course not. I'm not even sure what a "real" author is.
There are a lot of reasons people choose to self-publish. I agree with some of the reasons and disagree with others. (The idea that self-publishing is the paradigm of the future and is the best way to break out as an author would be an example from the "Disagree" column.) Do I look down on self-published authors for making this choice? Nope.
I do look down on those self-published authors who tell me I'm a commercial hack and a sell-out, and that my writing is worthless tripe whereas theirs is brilliant and revolutionary, which is why those idiots in New York were scared to publish them. If you're pushing that line, I'll probably glance at your writing, and then I will mock you and look down at you, yes.
It's possible that some of my posts have been less clear than I intended. I know in some cases people have taken my rants personally. And I doubt namelessarchon is the only one to assume this is what I believe. If I've written clumsily enough to contribute to that misunderstanding, then I apologize. On the other hand, there's no such thing as writing that's clear enough for every single reader to take it precisely the same way.
Hopefully this is clear enough, 'cause I don't plan on spending much more time on it. If you've got questions, ask 'em now or hold your peace. And in the future, if you truly feel that I'm bashing either on you personally or on some broad class of writers, please let me know either in the comments or by e-mail. Thanks!
Reading
Dead to Me, by Anton Strout
Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy
Writing
Red Hood's Revenge