Publish, Self-Publish or Perish

by C. Hofsetz

 
 

 In academia there’s a saying: publish or perish. If you don’t publish often enough, you won’t be successful, you won’t achieve recognition or tenure and before you know you are writing a paper about booty calls.

Professors are measured by where they publish, how often and the number of citations, and not just the quality of the work. That creates a publishing industry that feeds on the despair of people trying to stay relevant and, as a result, quantity trumps quality. Sounds familiar?

I’ve been a software engineer and out of academia for a decade, and although I did have fun teaching and doing research, I’m glad I don’t have that pressure to publish anymore.

But then I wrote a book. Goddamn it!

Writing the first draft of a novel isn’t easy, but it’s only the first step of many. Publishing is a big funnel ahead of you with dead ends everywhere. Finishing a novel is a herculean task, but Hercules had twelve labors, and you just completed the first one.

You’ll publish my book or else!

My Strategy

But I’m a special snowflake and not at all like the other wannabe writers out there. Also, I have a plan! And since I’m generous, I’m sharing it with you:

• Keep editing book.
• Query agents.
• Go to 1 until you give up.
• Self-publish it.

Awesome, right? I’ll wait for you to pick your jaw up from the floor before continuing. You can thank me later. I accept all major credit cards and money orders.

Well, guess what? Everyone else has the exact same idea. The publishing funnel is the same one regardless where you start, although there are few shortcuts (e.g. you’re a celebrity, rich or you steal a couple of boats and airplanes*).

The actual timeline is a little more complicated than that:

After you finish and iterate your first drafts, you start sending queries (A) until you hit the jackpot, find an agent and become the next J.K. Rowling (B)–all published writers are rich, right? Most of us, though, don’t get anything close to an offer and we eventually panic and start submitting directly to publishers (C – I’m still not there, but close). Finally, we eventually give up and self-publish (F) or we let our novel, our dreams and our self-esteem die in a puff of nothingness (G).

Note: if you do want to be the next J. K. Rowling, there’s a how-to guide for that. Really, what are you waiting for?

Is My Book Ready?

In case you just finished your first draft the answer is a resounding ‘no.’ Ernest Hemingway allegedly said that the first draft of anything is shit.

Based on my tiny experience in writing, it’s my belief that a collection of pages becomes a book only after several revisions. The first draft is only the scaffold. This is true even for blogs, but we don’t have much time to iterate on those. Sorry about that!

I see discarded drafts everywhere!

 
For instance, the big twist at the end of Sixth Sense wasn’t part of the first script. In fact, the movie was supposed to be about a kid who saw the victims of a serial killer. M. Night Shyamalan rewrote the script from scratch ten times, and only in the fifth revision he wrote the big twist (I’m trying not to spoil it here).

But what if you already did several rewrites, and you’ve been working on your book for more than a year? Is your novel finally ready?

Well, the answer here is simple: have you published it already? If not, you’re not ready.

*Based on Shit Rough Drafts Does “The Great Gatsby”

You’re going to be editing it until the printers are spitting out your novel, and probably even after that.

Traditional Publishing

It’s hard to get in traditional publishing, and even having thousands of followers on twitter or other social media platform (not my case yet), it doesn’t mean you’ll get an agent. Your book has to be as good as it can be, and you have to be lucky. According to querytracker.nethttps://querytracker.net/ less than 10% of the queries result in requests, and requests are not offers of representation.

Source: querytracker.net. Data as of 1/22/2017

But wait, there’s more! Or, actually, less. Yes, it’s a numbers game, but the numbers are not that large. The genre of my current unagented novel is Science Fiction. Using querytracker.net as a source, we find 1517 agents (as of 1/22/2017). 1193 of those are in the United States, 907 are open to queries and only 146 (about 10%) are accepting Science Fiction submissions:

Worse, some places have more than one agent looking for Science Fiction, and in most cases if one already rejected yours, you won’t be able to submit it to another one in the same agency: some share the same input query, others explicitly tell you that one ‘no’ means ‘no’ for everyone there (some say to submit to the other agents anyway, arguing that the other agent won’t even remember it, and the worst that can happen is some strangers are mad at you. I wouldn’t do it, though. My skin is not that thick.)

No wonder so many books fall through the cracks.

Self-Publishing

I’m not going to talk about the several skills you need to self-publish. It’s another set of herculean tasks that’ll take you away from writing, and it’s well documented on the internet. The question here is *if* you should self-publish.

Recently, I had a chat at AbsoluteWrite.com that started as an innocuous question about publishing my first chapters online, but soon it became a soul-searching thread if I should be a blogger, self-publish my novel or query agents. I’ve been at this for about a year now, and some people took almost a decade to get an agent. I met someone at a PNWA writing conference that was trying to publish for 30 years.

 

Clearly there are marketable books that are shunned by agents, either because of the sheer number of submissions–so they can focus on the best ones out there–or because the book is considered bad by traditional standards. Take The Martian, for example. It uses both 1st and 3rd person, past and present tense and it’s riddled with expletives. It was rejected by agents several times, and he decided to publish it first as a web serial, and later as a free e-book on his website.

Also, consider B.V. Larson. He has more than 63 self-published books, many of which are considered brain candy. Some even say that Steel World is a wannabe Starship Troopers. But readers love his books, and most of his work is also available in audio format.

I’m not saying that my (or your) novel is a diamond in the rough, or that it in any way compares to best sellers. The point is that even books which would eventually be successful are often rejected.

And it’s not the agents’ fault; in their places, we would do the same thing. Many of them go through more than a hundred queries per day, and a well-written query does not necessarily mean the novel is any good–and vice-versa.

Moreover, self-publishing (also called indie publishing) is skyrocketing in the last years, while traditional publishing is losing ground. The chart below illustrates how Amazon Published and Indie Published is taking over. The stigma of self-publishing (sometimes called vanity press in a derogatory way) is slowly vanishing.

Source: AuthorEarnings.com

The downside of self-publishing is that readers never know if a book is decent, or if it was even edited, and this can scare people off from reading them. Some say it’s a mass of mediocrity. So if you take this path do your homework, edit your book and make your story be the best that it can be. Don’t take shortcuts.

The Secret to Publishing

Everyone wants to know the secret to publishing, preferable through an agent.

Do you want to know what is it? Well, me too. I have no idea. As of this blog post, my book is unagented, and I’m at least a year away from self-publishing if it comes to that. Thanks for reading this and please don’t go away!

People say that if you write a good book it’ll be published, and maybe that’s true. But we’ve read so many bad books that are published, and our novels are hopefully somewhere in between To Kill A Mockingbird and the worst-ranked books on Amazon. How did they do it?

As I said, I don’t have the answers. I wish! What I can say, though, is to be patient. Sure, you can self-publish and even have misleading reviews on your back cover. That’s easier to achieve.

No, you should not have misleading reviews on your back cover!

But as anything in life, you need the following to succeed:

1. Hard work
2. Perseverance
3. A bit of luck

Damn. That’s cheesy and cliché. But it is what it is. The truth is most of us will never be famous authors, but if at least a handful of people read and like our work, it’s already awesome.

Anyway, I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.  Please kill me if I say anything like you miss 100% of the queries you don’t send.

Barf!

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Thanks for my lovely daughter for the stick figures!

*Yes, I’m aware that he technically didn’t write the books. But he’s planning to write his own version of events!

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C. Hofsetz accidentally wrote a book before he even learned how to write. The novel is awesome (according to him), but the book itself was awful. Now he’s slowly fixing it as he learns the tools of the craft. Check out his blog here. Originally from Brazil, where he was a professor of Computer Science, he has been a software engineer for Microsoft Office since 2007, and tracking changes of his first work-in-progress novel in Microsoft Word since the end of 2015.

Bibliorati is LIVE!

www.Bibliorati.com is LIVE!

For Readers and Those Who Write For Them - A site aimed at bringing readers closer to what they love - books - and the writers who create them. Featuring two feature articles/reviews/interviews a day plus writing and publishing news, Bibliorati is the site where writers and readers will connect!

Today's Feature Articles - An explanation of Bibliorati by Tommy Hancock and a cool article by Paul Bishop on The Black James Bond- and no, not talking about Idris Elba! Plus news on new releases and more!

Share this with everyone You know and let us know if You'd like to be a contributor (weekly commitment required) and check out the About & Staff page if You want to submit news to the site!

Welcome home, all You Bibliorati....

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NOMINATIONS FOR PULP FACTORY AWARDS NOW OPEN UNTIL 2/21; AWARDS TO BE GIVEN OUT AT WINDY CITY PULP & PAPER CONVENTION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Lombard, Illinois – January 29, 2017

Every year in April, fans gather at the Westin Hotel near Yorktown Mall to celebrate the best in classic and New Pulp literature. As part of those celebrations, nominations for the Pulp Factory Awards are open.  

The nomination process remains the same as last year:

-Members of the Pulp Factory E-mail list have until midnight CST Tuesday, February 21 to submit their initial nominations for the Pulp Factory Awards. Any book published in print in 2016 can be considered for nomination (Digital-only books are excluded). Reprints are not eligible for individual awards such as Best Short Story, but may be included in collections if those collections feature new stories published in 2016.

-ONLY PULP FACTORY MEMBERS CAN PARTICIPATE IN THIS PHASE OF THE AWARDS PROCESS.

-Nominations should be e-mailed directly to PulpAwards@gmail.com, with choices in the following categories:
· BEST PULP NOVEL
· BEST PULP COVER
· BEST PULP SHORT STORY
· BEST PULP INTERIOR ILLUSTRATIONS
· BEST PULP ANTHOLOGY

-The Best Pulp Anthology category covers any anthology or collection featuring multiple stories by a single author (a collection) or stories by a variety of authors (a normal anthology). The book must have been printed for the first time in 2016 and must have contained at least one new story. In the case of a new story plus reprints, the book is eligible for Best Pulp Anthology but only the new story is eligible for the Best Pulp Short Story category.

-Members may submit multiple entries for each category. All submissions must be received by midnight CST on February 21. Members are encouraged to discuss their choices and suggestions on the Pulp Factory list, but only those e-mailed directly toPulpAwards@gmail.com will count toward nominations. The committee reserves the right to determine all nominees based on the outcome of the nomination process, as we anticipate this will vary from year to year based on number of nominations, participants, eligible works, etc.

-After February 21, the committee will tally and craft a final ballot for voting (deadline to be scheduled), and that ballot will be submitted for fans (general public) to vote electronically for the awards.

Awards will be distributed during the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention which runs from April 21 –23, 2017.

Questions and nominations should be directed to PulpAwards@gmail.com.

On behalf of the committee, we thank you for your interest, and we look forward to your nominations!

Pearl S. Buck Writing Center Short Story Contest

Pearl S. Buck   ~ 1st American Woman to win BOTH the Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes for Literature

“In a mood of faith and hope my work goes on.
A ream of fresh paper lies on my desk waiting for the next book.
I am a writer and I take up my pen to write.” –  Pearl S. Buck
Submissions will be accepted in three/3 age categories:

• Grades 3-6 – word count not to exceed 1000 words
• Grades 7-12 – word count not to exceed 1000 words
• Adult – word count not to exceed 2,500 words.
• A submission form must accompany all manuscripts
• Submissions must be received by April 15, 2017
• One winner in each age category will receive a $100 prize
• Winners will be announced at Pearl S. Buck’s 125th Memorial Birthday, June 26, 2017
  

Contest winners will be asked to re-submit their stories for publication on Pearl Buck Writing Center’s Blog site or in the PSB Literary Journal
 Contest submissions must be emailed to clouden@pearlsbuck.org by April 15, 2017.
Judges: Local authors and Pearl Buck Volunteers

General rules:

• All submissions must be sent by email only to clouden@pearlsbuck.org
• Story must be original and not previously published.
• Submission must be typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 pt font.
• Author’s Name, address, email address, phone # must be on the upper left corner of the first page.
• Word count printed on the upper right corner.
• A submission form must accompany all manuscripts
• All other pages must have author’s name on the upper left corner above the page number.

Contest sponsored by Pearl S. Buck Volunteer Association and the Pearl S. Buck Writing Center             
Pearl S. Buck International, 520 Dublin Rd. Perkasie, PA 18944 
www.pearlsbuck.org

See the original posting here: https://psbwritingcenter.org/2017/01/18/2017-short-story-writing-contest/

Charlie Brown and Snoopy Droppin' Some Knowledge for Writers Dealing with Rejections...

Consider this my office wall, and this the comic strip I cut out and tacked up in the cubicle.

[Link[ Why Publishers Reject Your Manuscript After Reading Just Two Pages

by Jerry Jenkins

Editors can tell within a page or two how much editing would be required to make a manuscript publishable; if it would take a lot of work in every sentence, the labor cost alone would disqualify it.

An editor can tell immediately whether a writer understands what it means to grab a reader by the throat and not let go.

• Have too many characters been introduced too quickly?
• Does the writer understand point of view?
• Is the setting and tone interesting?
• Do we have a sense of where the story is headed, or is there too much throat clearing? (See below for an explanation.)
• Is the story subtle and evocative, or is it on-the-nose?

Yes, a professional editor can determine all this with a quick read of the first two to three pages.

If you find yourself saying, “But they didn’t even get to the good stuff,” then you need to put the good stuff earlier in your manuscript.

So today, I want to zero in on tight writing and self-editing.

Read the full article: http://www.jerryjenkins.com/self-editing/?inf_contact_key=955c59775a792f7f2eb34ff3863a7d44d32aec0f9da787908200db892819a21c

Pro Se Releases a Double Does of Single Shots!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW PRO SE SINGLE SHOT SIGNATURE SERIES SWINGS INTO THE OCCULT! ‘JOHNNY RICH’ DEBUTS FOR 99 CENTS!

Author Frank Schildiner, known for writing wild tales across several genres, takes a swing at the supernatural 1960s in his own Pro Se Single Shot Signature Series-JOHNNY RICH!

The first tale in this new short story series, SATANIC SPIES AND OTHER MUSICALS, Johnny Rich, noble, occult expert and spy and his beautiful partner, scientist and martial artist only known as May, find their services requested by a major player in British intelligence. Their mission-find the daughter of an earl who has been entranced by a musician cult leader with a very murky background. So murky than May and Johnny Rich may drowned in it!

Featuring a groovy cover by Larry Nadolsky, logo design by Jeffrey Hayes, and formatting by Marzia Marina, JOHNNY RICH: SATANIC SPIES AND OTHER MUSICALS is available now for only 99 cents at Amazon and for most digital formats via Smashwords at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/699686.

HORROR STALKS LUTHER CROSS IN LATEST STORY! ‘HAUNTED ROAD’ DEBUTS FOR 99 CENTS!

Author Percival Constantine returns with another tale of Luther Cross—the only man clever enough to con Hell itself. In the fourth installment of Constantine's Pro Se Single Shot Signature Series, Cross has to cross the line between urban legend and horror in HAUNTED ROAD.

Cuba Road is like many other backroads across the country. Dark, lonely, and heavy with tales of ghosts and weird happenings. A healthy seventeen year old girl dying suddenly of heart failure late one night on that strip of pavement might just get added to the list of odd occurrences. Except for rumors of her being struck by a ghostly car…and the fact that Luther Cross needs a paying job. What Cross encounters, however, may be more than he’s prepared for as he walks the Haunted Road.

HAUNTED ROAD, the fourth digital single short story in Constantine's Luther Cross Pro Se Single Shot Signature Series.

Featuring a evocative cover and logo design by Jeffrey Hayes and formatting by Marzia Marina, LUTHER CROSS: HAUNTED ROAD is available now for only 99 cents at Amazon and for most digital formats via Smashwords at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/700123.

For more information on these titles, interviews with the authors, or digital copies to review the books, contact Pro Se Productions’ Director of Corporate Operations, Kristi King-Morgan at directorofcorporateoperations@prose-press.com.

To learn more about Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com. Like Pro Se on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ProSeProductions.

Nugget #89 -- The Shape of Rocks

I don't think so much it's the "amount" of detail as it is the 

"choice" of details you reveal. Those stories that forward 

the plot and build on character tend to work better than 

those that merely drone on about the shape of the rocks. 

mountain path 2 by matty17art on DeviantArt

 

Content Is Crap, Not King, and We Prove It with Every Click

==================================================

 

Yeah... Riiiiiight.

by Sean Taylor

You hear it all the time: Content is king. But I'm just going to call that out right now as a bunch of BS. In a world where "7 Ways to Get One Million Hits" and "You'll Never Believe What She Does Next" go viral while great content from lots of gifted creators sits in hidden pockets of the Internet ignored, content is nothing at worst, added-value at best.

No. The truth is this -- Content doesn't matter.

Here's another truth: Clickbait is king. It's also queen, prince, princess, and all dukes and duchesses down the line.

And here's another truth for you: Time-wasting is the king's right-hand man.

I'm betting I'm not the only blogger/writer/artist/content creator to feel this way. So feel free to file this post in the "I'm not alone" file when we're done. But for now, let's hear what the ol' schlub has to say.

The Schlub Speaketh

As a blogger who puts lots of time, energy, and love into what I think is a pretty solid blog about genre writing, filled with peer-filled interviews and roundtables, articles about genre topics, submissions opportunities, tutorials, and lots more, I get excited when I look at my stats and see the counts go up.

I own the Internet, schlub.

But...

I know I'm like the schlub with 15 subscribers to his YouTube channel about something substantial while next door the channel about cats winking at each other and the teenager going on an uninformed tirade about politics are breaking the Internet with their 2,000,000+ views.

I value every individual number I see when posts start to get just a few more readers than that previous. And I treasure each share on Facebook, arrow up on Reddit, and RT on Twitter. Because each one of those was someone who liked what I had to share, who found value in it, who felt it added something to his or her day and thought it might just do the same to someone else's day.

It's a different mindset, I think. Coming from a publishing background, I want to give people something meaningful. If not, why publish anything? Ever? To bore readers? To make them dumber?

I'll admit it. Sometimes I've thought about changing over to clickbait headlines for the articles on the blog to see if they make a difference, but I always stop myself because I fear they will, and then the point of what I'm trying to do sort of falls off to the side.

Taylor Swift's Apple Hat

Do I think headlines like these would attract more views?

• 7 Methods to Become a Best-Selling Author
• 2 Publishers Who Desperately Want Your Stories
• Danger: E-Publishers Will Rob You Blind
• You Wouldn't Believe What They're Publishing Now!

Sure they would. But they wouldn't be honest. Seven methods for me might not work for you, and just what the heck does "best-selling" even mean anymore in a world of manipulable data from Amazon sub-sub-sub-charts? And yes, some sinister e-self-pubbers are still out there, but the POD marketplace has also helped to level the playing field for mid- to low-run presses. And, of course, you can never really believe the kind of crap some publishers are putting out there.

You'll never believe what they click next!

However, we see the success of this crap all the time.

• 7 Foolproof Ways to Start a Business
• 10 Looks Beyonce Totally Flaked On
• These 16 Puppies Will Make you Laugh Till You Pee
• What He Says Next Will Amaze You!

We all complain about them. All of us who claim to want real content avoid them like cliches and sentences that end with prepositions (or like weak verbs supported by adverbs) -- or so we claim. Somebody is looking at them. Lots and lots of somebodies. Pages of comments run behind these "articles" like the tales of dragons.

Then I look at my little blog and see very few comments. Only a few shares from the actual blog. And that's even when the number of views is going up. Click. Take a peak. Maybe even read it all. Then disappear without so much as a word.

Meanwhile, Taylor Swift's cowboy-hat-shaped bikini has the whole 'net commenting. (The sad part is that some readers are actually going to stop now to search for a picture of Tay-Tay in a cowboy-hat-shaped bikini rather than finish reading this post. But the joke's on them. It doesn't exist. At least I don't think so.)

The Blind Talking to the Mute

You thought I was kidding
about that, didn't you?

It's not apples to apples. I know that. It still makes a serious blogger want to give up some days and just re-post pictures of cats eating oranges and memes about which Harry Potter character my mother-in-law's neighbor's puppy is.

I hope it's that the audience I've chosen to pursue is so busy writing their magnum opuses they barely have time to read an article, much less comment on one. I hope it's that every other writing blog, Facebook group, or Reddit community out there is competing for the same small slice of target audience that I am, and they're already overwhelmed by the sheer volume of writing-related sites.

Even so, it would be nice to have a comment every now and then. Until then, we are the blind talking to the mute, not really knowing if the listener is out there or not.

All this leads me to this little nugget I'm just now trying to wrap my head around. If all this is true, if readers are doing me a favor (instead of me doing them a favor by providing unique, meaningful content) by granting the benevolence to increase my hit count, then what's the point?  If just clicking onto my blog is them being good friends and doing me a solid, so to speak, so they can hurry back to reading spoilers for Batman or watching two pandas splash water at each other, then why do I even keep such a resource online?

I think -- and I'm still struggling with this one, so give me time -- I think I know why. Because I do it for me ultimately. I do it because I want to give something of myself to other writers. Because I think that's something worth doing.

It's just that how does one learn that he's doing something worth doing if the the audience he's doing it for rarely responds with more than a visit? Or is that his answer -- that what he's doing doesn't really matter and the lack of response is the proof?

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps

It's a conversation I have regularly with many of my writer friends. The meme is all over the web -- Make a writer happy by leaving a review.

Just "liking" this doesn't count.

The meme itself gets lots and lots of likes, but do the "likers" actually take the effort to go leave a few words about the book?

Rarely, because there are more important things to see, like the photoshopped image of Baywatch stars on the bridge of the Enterprise.

It's why so many groups grow stagnant, so much discussion fades away, why other writers whose perceptions and thoughts I value give up sharing them after 5 or 6 posts. It's not that they don't have anything to say. It's that it's not worth it when the return on the time invested is so close to nil. It's like yelling into a storm at best, or, at worst, speaking into a room full of peers who are all ignoring you. "I tried, Sean," they tell me, "But nobody really seemed to care."

Perhaps it's all a moot point. Perhaps it doesn't really matter as long as I can continue to sell books and short stories and comic books. Or perhaps it's some invasive spirit that creeps into all writers and makes them want to share about the craft but not read what others share about the craft.

I don't know.

All I do know is that if content is still actually king, then somewhere, some-when the definition of content was abducted and replaced with a pauper who, in this case, doesn't even look the part.

=========================================

Here's a picture of Taylor Swift in a cowboy hat.
I feel bad for teasing you. What can I say?

TERROR ERUPTS FROM THE PEN OF BOBBY NASH-‘CRIMSON MOON’ NOW AVAILABLE FOR 99 CENTS!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For years, award winning author Bobby Nash has defined action and adventure with his own unique style of storytelling. Now Nash brings both his talent and imagination to his own digital short story creator’s imprint as a part of Pro Se Productions’ Pro Se Single Shot Signature line- From the Pen of Bobby Nash!

Bobby’s second short story in the series, CRIMSON MOON, takes readers where they have never been before. On the night of the Crimson Moon, the holiest of holidays for things that go bump in the night, something has broken the truce. On this night when all hostilities are suspended, Vanek David, a disgraced Lupin warrior from one of the oldest werewolf families has decided to break with tradition and take the fight to his enemies while their guard is down. The only thing standing in there way is a young vampire named Charity. All she wants to do on this festive night is party, but it appears that fate has other plans for them all. The Crimson Trilogy begins here. CRIMSON MOON From the Pen of Bobby Nash!

Featuring an exciting cover and logo design by Jeffrey Hayes and formatting by Marzia Marina, FROM THE PEN OF BOBBY NASH: CRIMSON MOON is available now for only 99 cents at Amazon and for most digital formats via Smashwords.

For more information on this title, interviews with the author, or digital copies to review this book, contact Pro Se Productions’ Director of Corporate Operations, Kristi King-Morgan at directorofcorporateoperations@prose-press.com.

To learn more about Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com. Like Pro Se on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ProSeProductions.

WHEN LEGENDS MEET: PULP OBSCURA TEAM UP!

Pro Se Productions has become known for reviving rare and often forgotten Pulp characters in its PULP OBSCURA imprint since 2012.  Great stories of characters ranging from Armless O’Neil to Senorita Scorpion to Richard Knight have been and continue to be told.  But what about when two of these lost heroes cross paths? What adventure may erupt? What action may ensue?  That is what WHEN LEGENDS MEET: PULP OBSCURA TEAM UP will answer as Pro Se Productions opens a call for submissions for an anthology.

Stories for WHEN LEGENDS MEET must involve a team up between characters that will be listed below.  The team up must consist of only two characters from the list.  The team up must also coincide as best as possible with the character’s established continuity, including what stories are available to the author from the character’s original run as well as new material created by Pro Se Productions.  It can be assumed that these characters live in a shared universe and actions affect all involved.  Continuity editing will be closely watched and considered in the submissions process.

 Characters available for this collection include-

RICHARD KNIGHT
DIAMONDSTONE THE MAGICIAN
SENORITA SCORPION
THE MAN IN PURPLE
THE WHIRLWIND
THE GRIFFON
THE EAGLE
THE GREEN GHOST
JIM ANTHONY, SUPER-DETECTIVE
THUNDER JIM WADE
ARMLESS ONEIL
MAJOR LACY AND AMUSEMENT, INC.
SEMI DUAL

Stories for WHEN LEGENDS MEET: PULP OBSCURA TEAM UP must be 10,000 words in length. A proposal of 100-500 words must be submitted to submissions@prose-press.com. Authors not previously published by Pro Se Productions must submit a writing sample of at least two pages with their proposals. Authors whose proposals are accepted must submit the first four pages of their accepted stories as quickly as possible for review by Pro Se staff. Final deadline for completed stories is 90 days following acceptance of proposals.

WHEN LEGENDS MEET: PULP OBSCURA TEAM UP is a part of the Pro Se Anthology Project, THE PRO SE OPEN, and is scheduled to be published in the 2016-2018 calendar years, depending on submissions and other factors.

HOW YOU CAN SUBMIT TO A PRO SE OPEN PROJECT IS AS FOLLOWS-

1. An upcoming Collection or Imprint with openings is listed in the Pro Se Open.

2. Submissions are accepted following a 2-3 paragraph proposal for the story and at least a two page writing sample if you are a new writer submitting to Pro Se, unless the specific call states otherwise.

3. Submissions will be reviewed and those writers whose proposals are accepted will be given a deadline to complete the story, this deadline being typically 60-90 days.

4. Submissions to the book will be closed when all open slots in the listed work are filled.

5. Editors assigned to these projects will follow up, monitor, and make sure work is being done. Steps will be taken to move the anthology along as planned if work is not being done in a timely manner. 

The Pro Se Open will be updated periodically as to adding new collections and removing ones that have been filled. Some of the collections have story bibles to go with them and are listed so. Email submissions@prose-press.com to request bibles when appropriate.

[Link] Top Ten Trends in Publishing Every Author Needs to Know in 2017

by Chloe

What does 2017 have in store for authors? If you haven’t had a chance to read forecasts and predictions for the coming year, fear not. We have read all of the top articles written by industry professionals and top indie authors so you don’t have to. We also reached out to some of our industry friends to see what their thoughts are. Below we have compiled a list of the top 10 trends in publishing that will impact indie authors the most, with specific takeaways on how you can best navigate them.

1. The Majority of Fiction Sales will Come from eBooks

Data Guy notes in his DBW White Paper that 70% of adult fiction sales were digital last year. It is likely that ebook readership will continue to grow in 2017. More eBook readers means more eBook sales. This means that if you’re writing fiction, promoting your eBooks is a good place to focus in the coming year.

What this means for you: If you are a first-time fiction author, publishing your work as an ebook is an affordable and easy way to enter the market. If you are a published or self-published fiction author, continue to focus your time, resources and budget on driving ebook sales.

Read the full article.

Know-It-Alls Telling Stories: Writers on Omniscient Narrators

For this week's writers roundtable, let's look at the Omniscient Narrator. For years, it was the standard, but now it's fallen out of vogue for Third Person Limited. But why? And should we writerly types be ready to re-embrace this ol' standard?

Do you still write in omniscient POV? If not, when was the last time you did? Why do you keep using it or why did you stop?

Rebekah McAuliffe: While with omniscent POV you can get inside the minds of all of your characters, it can be difficult to keep up with because, again, there are so many characters. At least for me, I feel like first person is where it is much easier to "show, don't tell."

Robert Kennedy: I can't think of an instance where I've used omniscient narration. In my own writing I tend to tell the story in the First Person. I generally do the Voice that way. That often leads to "I didn't know that this was happening until later…" interjections to the readers. (The only time the Voice has appeared in the third person is in "Voice to a New Generation" that appeared in the first anthology of The Pulptress.)

Jeff Deischer: I always use omniscient. I want to jump around and make each character personal for the reader.

Ron Fortier: Never used it. Always preferred 3rd person…even the few times I wrote 1st person, I purposely avoided the omniscient factor.

Lance Stahlberg: I'm not sure if I've ever written in true third person omniscient. At least, in my mind, I'm always seeing the story through a particular set of eyes, even if that set of eyes changes.

When a friend read my GI JOE Kindle Worlds story, they commented that they normally hated third person omniscient, but I made it work. I think it's because it was actually third person limited, just with multiple third persons.

When you have an ensemble cast, it's hard to stay focused entirely on one character. Most of the breaks would be obvious (separated by ***) but in some scenes, I might have to shift from one set of paragraphs to the next because a hard break would be too jarring to the flow of the action. I'd never bounce back and forth too much, though. If I was focused on a particular character, and wanted to get the thoughts of another, I'd go with visual cues and expressions, not their actual internal dialogue.

Break Mwango: I write in whatever POV I feel suits the style of the story I'm writing, and which suits the characters too. Like, do I want to be able to expose ALL the characters' thoughts and emotions? Or do I want to limit it to just one character in order to possibly deceive the reader into thinking one thing when it's the other thing?

C.E. Martin: For me, I like to tell the story the same as if I'm doing a screenplay. I follow one person around, but don't limit the description for the reader to just what the character I'm following is aware of. Then, at a chapter break or a time break, I like to switch to another perspective, creating a mini cliffhanger with the first part. I think it works well for building suspense and mystery--just like it did in the film Pulp Fiction.

Robert Krog: This is, again, one of those questions I rarely ponder but intuitively answer regularly.  When I first read it, I had to stop and ask myself what point of view I use anyway.  It’s usually third person, sometimes first, and only once second.  I wrote in second, because I was asked to do so.  I normally gravitate to third but occasionally fall into first without really thinking about it.  Which third person do I use though?  It’s a question I don’t usually ask myself.  Looking over my work, it appears that I write in third limited with rare occasions of omniscient.  Most of my work is short fiction from novelette to short story and follow the actions of just one character.  There is sometimes head hopping (a sort of level in between omniscient and limited).  There is often insight into what the characters think and feel on top of what they say and do.  Sometimes, however, there is no precise insight into any one character’s head or heart.  The reader is witness to a scene and the narrator, if he is there, reveals nothing beyond what is witnessed.  The narrator comes across as a very ignorant tour guide, knowing locations, names, and basic relationships.  After that information, the reader and he are in the same boat, witnessing an event as it happens.  

I’m working on a novel that is written in periodic episodes of third omniscient, but in which the all-seeing narrator is primarily interested in relating the story of one, particular character, and the story comes across often as third limited.  The reader, after all, doesn’t have the time and the patience that an omniscient narrator has.  The narrator could go on forever, revealing all, but frankly the reader would never bear it.  The narrator stays chiefly in the head of the main character, but does visit the experiences of others as the story demands.  Who could read a book that delivered all the available information in a story at once?  Who could read a book that revealed every character’s, individual experience separately?

I keep to a fairly tight and near perspective, the then and there, only straying from that from time to time, leaving foreshadowing out or keeping it very subtle.  The omniscient narrator may know a great deal about the world through which he guides the reader, it’s history and geography, but he does not know its future. The ending seems to be mystery to him as well as to the reader.  He can’t give it away.  Anyway, he isn’t telling his story, but someone else’s.  He stays as true as he is able to the story he has taken upon himself to tell.

I think I write this way in order to keep the suspense in the story and to enable to the reader to identify with the characters as much as possible to walk in their shoes.  At times, when I think the story on which I’m working requires greater objectivity, I pull back and write from higher up, so that the reader will be able to witness the events from outside rather than as one inside, holding the main character’s hand or riding around in his head.  I use the methods that seem appropriate to the story.  I don’t consider either one more modern or more old-fashioned or outmoded.

Ellie Raine: I’ve tried writing in omniscient, but every time, I unintentionally slipped into 3rd limited. What can I say? I like not knowing anything outside of what the character sees.

Bev Allen: Interesting and I imagine extraordinarily hard to write if you are going to maintain the reader's interest and not burden them with detail.

Lee Houston Jr.: I'm not sure I have ever intentionally written in the omniscient pov. There have been times proofreading when I've discovered that I either foreshadowed too much or revealed too much too soon in the narrative, but those instances were quickly rewritten long before the final manuscript was submitted for publication.

Bobby Nash: Sure. I guess. Is it sad that I don't really think about it before I start writing? I use the narration to set the scene, tell us what is going on, what people look like, how they are dressed. I do try to stick to the POV of one character at a time per chapter or per section of the chapter. I have been known to head hop a few times here and there though. Whatever works best to tell the story or whatever the publisher/editor will allow.

What do you feel are the strengths of the omniscient POV? What are it's weaknesses?


Ron Fortier: It has no strengths. It’s weakness is the temptation to foreshadow an event, which is a cheap trick to play on the writer. Example: "Sam left Irene’s little realizing he would never see her again." Stephen King is notorious for this playing God. I hate it.

Bobby Nash: Strengths -- you can get into the heads of multiple characters and see everything from a big picture standpoint.

Weaknesses -- sometimes I have to rephrase things a certain way that would work better if one of the characters was the narrator.

Lee Houston Jr.: If done right, the Omniscient Narrator can serve as an extra character, so to speak, to tell the story from a viewpoint that none of the other characters in your tale/novel have. Done incorrectly, this "extra character" overshadows the main cast so the reader wonders who the book is actually about.

Bev Allen: I see the possibility of creating a rich texture to the descriptive narrative, and the possibility of including subtle layers of visual experience, but do I, as a reader, really need or want that?

Robert Krog: I suppose the strengths and weaknesses of the differing third person points of view depend on the way in which they are implemented and on other factors as well.  One doesn’t want to reveal the end of a mystery at the beginning, generally, and one doesn’t want the reader to think that the narrator knows but isn’t telling, just because he likes to keep the reader in suspense.  Mind you, many readers do like to be kept in suspense, so there is that to consider.  In fact, the main problems with omniscient may be nothing more than reader expectation and writer execution.  Terry Pratchett wrote primarily in omniscient and is a beloved author still read by many, so I’m not ever sure why some today suggest that the omniscient point of view is out of date.  Readers loved the voice of the narrator and didn’t mind that he knew everything and only revealed what he wanted to in the order that he liked.  They liked the manner and order of his revelations and delighted in them.  Is Pratchett’s work already that out of date?  Perhaps what is passing for conventional wisdom on the subject is what is sadly out of touch.

Another more recent best seller using omniscient is the novel Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.  Again, I suggest that omniscient not really all that out of vogue anyway.  I think the question with the strength and weaknesses of the omniscient point of view is whether or not the narrator of the story is in and of herself an engaging storyteller telling an engaging story.  This is the question with every other point of view as well.  Are the characters and the story ones that the readers will find engaging?  If the narrator is dull, the story however exciting it should be, will come across as dull as well.  This is why so many people do not read History.  It is not that History is boring, it is that it is told by Historians, and they are, as a lot, not very good storytellers.  Individual Historians do shine through, from time to time.  Thomas Costain comes to mind.  On the other hand, a really good story teller may get away for some time by finding some amusing way of presenting what is essentially a dull event.

Given all that, readers who enjoy the plot most will probably like omniscient better than limited, but no always, whereas readers who enjoy characters more than plot will generally like limited better, since it usually is a more intimate way of telling a story.  These are only strengths and weaknesses depending on reader expectations, and they are not hard and fast rules.  A good, omniscient narrator, who feels for the character whose story is being told will supply the necessary intimacy, I think.  The reader will sympathize with the narrator and therefore with the character in question.

Lance Stahlberg: I am sure there are times when you would want to get in everyone's head at once. This makes me think about a common trope in older comics when you have two characters in the same panel looking at the same thing with opposing thought bubbles over their heads. But this isn't done so much anymore for a reason. It breaks the cardinal rule "show, don't tell".

In the story I'm working on now, I get to cheat because the main character is a telepath. Though not knowing exactly what everyone in a scene is thinking is more interesting to read and a fun challenge to write.

Ellie Raine: The strengths are definitely knowing what everyone and everything is doing/seeing/thinking/feeling. But that in itself feels like a weakness to me; there’s no focus.

Jeff Deischer: I don't think it has a weakness, per se. It's a matter of taste. Some stories -- mysteries particularly -- work very well told first person.

Rebekah McAuliffe: I don't think I've ever written in omniscent POV. First person is just easier for me.

Robert Kennedy: Often the viewpoint is generated by the publisher/producer of the end product. Take the TV show Adam-12, for instance. A number of writers, who have more recently been TV producers, apparently did not like Jack Webb's command that they could show "Only What the Cops See!"

When writing in the third person I tend to mostly stick to the protagonist's POV. Or, to the hero and his team's viewpoint. Sometimes, usually near the end of a story, I jump around like crazy when the "Plan is Coming Together."

As a reader (not as a writer this time) do you enjoy reading the omniscient POV? Why or why not?

Rebekah McAuliffe: As long as it is a good story, and is written well, I don't really care whether it is in omniscent or first person or whatever.

Lee Houston Jr.: No. While you need set ups, introductions, etc. that require a narrator; I want to read what happens next, not be told by "someone" not even involved in the tale what happens.

Bobby Nash: I don't mind as long as I'm enjoying the story

Jeff Deischer: I still like reading it, yeah. That was about all there was when I was growing up (I mean readily given to teens). I don't know when I read my first first-person story but it was probably in my twenties. First person is hard to write well for most people.

Ellie Raine: When I read, I like to feel like I’m experiencing the story, not hearing about it. I feel like omniscient POV (at least for me) solidifies that line between fiction and reality to the point where I don’t believe anything that’s happening in omniscient. But that’s me.

Robert Krog: I enjoy a story that is well told, whatever the point of view.  That inevitably includes the omniscient one.  Having read the works of Terry Pratchett and Susanna Clarke, I can point you to current examples I enjoyed.  I suggest you give them a read and see what you think.

Lance Stahlberg: The reader wants someone or something to follow. If the perspective bounced around too much, it could get confusing quickly. A big part of this could be thanks to movies and TV. People are more visual than ever. We've become conditioned to "see" a story play out from a certain perspective.

Robert Kennedy: If somebody writes well in the Omniscient Narrator style, I have no problem with that.

(For publishers only) Does your company solicit or seek stories in the omniscient pov? Why or why not?

Ron Fortier: Nope, save for rare occasions that demand first person such as our Sherlock Holmes or Quatermain tales, we only want third person. A writer should bring his readers along with him or her in the story’s journey and allow for genuine, organic surprises to them both.

Debra Dixon: I don't actively solicit any particular POV. However, deep limited third (multiple deep limited, too) or first person generally deliver the most immediate, emotional reads. Including the feel of the action in a plot dependent upon battles, fights and fisticuffs.

Tommy Hancock: I don't discriminate.

Joe Gentile: We do not ask for specific POVs, however, that being said, sometimes when working with licenses, they will prefer a POV type.

...And It Was Working (Ray Bradbury, from Dandelion Wine)

I Want To Be a Time Machine

by Sean Taylor

I'm currently listing to the audio book of Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine on my drive to and from work. I must admit it took me longer to get engrossed in it than a Bradbury usually does. I kept waiting for something, well, outside of the normal to happen. Aliens show up to kidnap the Green Machine. A circus with a sinister showman gives Doug and Tom the stink-eye. Charlie turns on his parents and feeds them to the lions on a virtual reality veldt.

But, in spite of the lack of typical Bradbury action, I stuck with it. And danged it if didn't pull me in despite my preconceptions as to what a Bradbury story should be.

Now, why do I bring this up? Because I'm thinking about the power of story. You read that correctly. Story. Not Stories. The collective singular whole.

All of the stuff that is classic Bradbury is there... the struggle between nostalgia and the future, people's love/hate relationships with technology, the true fiction of the imagination. But above all in Dandelion Wine is Bradbury's eye for history and the knowledge that whatever the present is, it too will soon become that lists of facts we know as history.

So, what I see mostly in this book (and this is the point of why I'm writing) is the dichotomy between history as a bunch of memorized or recorded facts and history as a living, breathing story.

Ray Bradbury knew about the power of story.

That's why Colonel Freeleigh wasn't just an old man boring kids with old memories. He was a time machine into the past. And the boys were smart enough to realize that. That's why when he died, Doug exclaimed that not only had one man died, but that the whole Civil War had died, Honest Abe had died, at least to him and his playmates.

But, you may interject, facts are true, and stories are merely the storyteller's interpretations of the events. Well, one might argue (and many do as I learned as a History minor in college) that even the facts are the interpretations of those who managed to wrest control from others in order to write the text books and the news and reports of the time.

I, on the other hand, argue quite a different point.

Facts are dead. Facts are little lumps of truth that decay and rot and do nothing on their own but start off dead and continue to get deader everyday. Stories are the miracle that brings facts to life. Stories are the exotic elixir that restore vim and vigor to the bones and rotted muscle of facts and makes them dance and shoot and jump onto trains and fly airplanes and drop bombs and date your grandmother when she was younger and prettier than even you are now. Ultimately, stories are the life facts need in order to matter.

Facts need stories.

But for stories you have to look deeper than just the facts (ma'am).

Looking for stories is what led me to ask my MeMe about my mom as a kid, to ask her about what attracted her to my Papa when they started dating, to ask about when the brothers build the house she lived in, to ask about the drug store I saw in old family photos.

Stories are why I started to research the U.S.S. Zeilin, the ship my Granddaddy Thigpen served on in WWII in the South Pacific. Stories are why I love the old guitar my Granddaddy Taylor gave me when he died. It's full of stories that only he and I shared in his back office, playing and tuning that ol' six string.

Stories are, and I really don't think I can overstate this -- stories are the very things that make facts stick around. Stories are history. They only become mere facts after the stories are forgotten. They only become stale and rote memory when the stories are no longer told. Then they remain as the dates and epitaphs on the graves where the stories lie buried.

History is our combined story. But it's also your story. It's also my story.

History is why I tell the same stories over and over again when my family drives through Swainsboro where I grew up. I tell about how the old high school is gone now, but there, right there, was the hallway where my friends and I shoved a dead frog into a girl's locker. And that place -- follow my fingers, see where I'm pointing -- that's where the classroom was where Todd Jeter made our one neck-less teacher (a birth defect, I believe) snap around his shoulders and everything down to his waist by slamming his book on the desk. (The poor man couldn't just turn his head, not without a neck.) When we drive a mile further, I mention the library where one of my earliest girlfriends Christie and I used to kiss in one of the aisles, and my brother and our friends would play Bloody Mary in the men's bathroom with the lights out. I drive through the other side of town and mention the day I thought my mom was going to beat the crap out of me because I wandered for a full day with friends after a bomb threat got school dismissed for the day and didn't call her until the evening to let her know I was okay and where I was.

Some would be inclined to dismiss it all as nostalgia. But it's not. It's history.

Sure, I don't have a story from Pearl Harbor, but someone does. I don't have a story from the Civil Rights marches, but somewhere in my circle of friends I know there must be one who does (or has a parent who does). But history happened all around me too, and not just with frogs and Bloody Mary and neck-less teachers. Where was I, and what was I doing when the space shuttle blew up, and what did I learn from it? Where was I when John Lennon was shot? What about on 9-11 when the towers fell? I was alive, damn it, and I have a story. I'm a part of that history.

I'm a part of history, period. My story is my history. It's important. It's a collection of  the facts that make me who I am. It's the binding that holds the stories that make those facts mean something real. It's me. And it's important that I pass "me" down through time just like it's important that you pass "you" down through time. You see, I want to be a time machine too, just like Colonel Freeleigh.

I only need someone to listen.

Practicing Writing -- Check Out This Resource!

Here's a resource you really should check out:

Erika Dreifus -- Practicing Writing

Erika Dreifus is the author of Quiet Americans, a short-story collection that is largely inspired by the histories and experiences of her paternal grandparents, German Jews who escaped Nazi persecution and immigrated to the United States in the late 1930s. Erika earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from Harvard University, where she taught history, literature, and writing for several years. Currently, she lives in New York City, where she works as Media Editor for Fig Tree Books.

Belle Books Introduces Stone Cold Bastards by Jake Bible

"Keep dwelling in the past and you won't see the present."
-- Jake Bible, Parkway To Hell

Stone Cold Bastards, by our newest author, Jake Bible, is now available for pre-order!
Only a rag-tag team of gargoyles stands between humanity and extinction.

Hell has released its ravening horde of demons, leaving most of humanity a puke-spewing, head-spinning mess of possession.

Humanity's last hope? A team of misfit gargoyles - including a cigar chomping, hard-ass grotesque - come alive and ready for battle during the End of Days. They guard the last cathedral-turned-sanctuary atop a bald knoll in the North Carolina mountains.

Gargoyle protection grudgingly extends to any human who can make it inside the sanctuary, but the power of the stonecutter blood magic, which protects the sanctuary, may not be enough when a rogue grotesque and his badly-wounded ward arrive.

All the hounds of hell are on their heels. The last sanctuary is about to fall.

About Jake Bible

Born Jacob David Bible pre-Microsoft in Bellevue, WA, Jake was whisked away to the Beaver State when he was three and raised fundamentalist pagan. Fed a steady diet of Doritos, Fritos Bean Dip and Chinese herbal tonics, Jake had so many vivid hallucinations that he was writing and binding his own books by fifth grade. True story.

He grew up fascinated with the speculative and the macabre. He spent many summers on his grandparent's lake reading a leather bound, Franklin Library Edition of The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe. No, it wasn't a haunted book. And, no, it wasn't a haunted lake. Yes, his grandparents were actually re-animated corpses that had been accidentally murdered and then raised from the dead when a cocktail party got just a little out of hand. And they drank gin and tonics. True story.

Bram Stoker Award nominated-novelist, short story writer, independent screenwriter, podcaster, and inventor of the Drabble Novel, Jake has entertained thousands with his horror and sci/fi tales. He reaches audiences of all ages with his uncanny ability to write a wide range of characters and genres. Jake is the author of the bestselling Z-Burbia series set in Asheville, NC, the bestselling Salvage Merc One, the Apex Trilogy (DEAD MECH, The Americans, Metal and Ash) and the Mega series for Severed Press, as well as the YA zombie novel, Little Dead Man, the Teen horror novel, Intentional Haunting, the middle grade scifi/horror ScareScapes series, and the Reign of Four series, which he calls "medieval space fiction", for Permuted Press. As of 2017, he also publishes with Bell Bridge Books and will be releasing three books, starting with Stone Cold Bastards.

Jake currently lives in the Asheville, NC area with his wife, two kids, and two dogs. And although he writes about zombies and cannibals, Jake does not eat of the flesh himself (that means he's a vegetarian, son. I say, I say, stop bein' so dense, ya hear?). But, he will eat the non-homicidal animal foodstuffs because pizza is it's own food group and soy cheese just ain't gonna cut it.

True story.

For more information: https://jakebible.com/