Hey Folks,
Wow. I have to admire Dean’s tenacity. He started a challenge to write 30 stories in 30 days while moving.
But also, his wife, friend and life partner is physically hundreds of miles away. Even with the availability of phone calls and emails, not having the energy of that physical presence around has to be a trauma.
Plus he’s giving up a beautiful home he’s lived in for a very long time. That’s a major trauma.
Plus his responsibilities at WMG Publishing, and the workshops, and the emails etc. etc. ad nauseam. And on top of all that, he added the challenge.
Today he’s four stories down. Yet still he writes, “which means I need to write 15 stories in the next eleven days. I honestly think I can do that.”
Well, of course he can. And I hope he does.
Topic: Let the Writer Beware
Recently, a writing friend sent me a link to an article that seems to indicate Scribd, a major subsciption service, is not paying authors. To read the original article, see the first item in “Of Interest” below.
It’s an interesting article. But we’re all in charge of our own career to one degree or the other.
In the end, my only advice would be to not distribute to Scribd (or do), and to do a search and remove any of your works that are already there (or don’t).
My friend wrote to Draft2Digital to ask them about Scribd. D2D wrote back, in part, that
“Scribd, like many eBook retailers, offers new subscribers a chance to read a book for free, as an enticement to subscribe to the service. The author does not receive a royalty for books read for free, unfortunately. But it may help to think of this as a bit of additional promotion, helping readers to discover your work, for the cost of one book.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean Scribd is paying writers (or paying them appropriately) for books that are not given away free. And I suspect that’s the point of the original article.
I often find my own works on sites I’ve never heard of before. The most recent was only yesterday, when I found one of my most popular nonfiction titles at http://www.handsandheart.info/telecharger/b004sbo8z0-punctuation-for-writers-english-edition. Complete with other-language translations, no less.
Today, I’m looking into them.
But when I’ve found my works at other “small” sites I wasn’t aware of, in every case eventually I learned they were subsidiaries of Amazon or Apple or Kobo or Barnes & Noble and that my sales were counted and royalties paid through those parent organizations.
Then the problem becomes accountability. How do I know the subsidiaries are reporting to the parent companies? How do I know the parent companies are reporting correct figures to me? How do I know someone somewhere isn’t fudging numbers?
The fact is, I don’t. Nor can I.
So finally, for the most part, I simply stopped worrying about it. I like to write, so that’s my main focus. I entertain myself with my stories. Then, since I’ve already written the thing, well, I suppose I might as well publish it so other people can read it if they want.
That’s how I actually look at it. That’s why I teach writing, but not marketing or any of that. The most important thing I can tell you about “discoverability” is to write more works and get them out there. The more titles you have out, the easier it is for readers to find your work.
So back to the topic at hand.
I made the conscious decision to simply accept that some of my works would be sold or given away without my knowledge. You know, just like my paperbacks might be passed from one hand to another.
I’ve done the same thing myself. I recently bought a lot of 18 paperback Jack Reacher novels on ebay from the guy who’d bought them from the bookstore. Think Lee Child got a cut of the $35 I paid the guy on ebay? Of course not.
But none of that means I’ll continue to distribute to a major player (like Scribd) who is obviously not playing by the rules. I won’t. But I’m loath to advise anyone else as to what they specifically should or should not do.
As my Psychology teacher once said, “Don’t should on people.” I think that’s great advice.
***
In the first two sessions this morning, I finshed the first short story in the The Storytellers with just over 2000 words. Now for a break and then back to start the second story.
This is making me rethink structure, too. I’m used to my chapters being around 1000 words. If each short story in this book is a chapter, then each chapter will be 3000 to 5000 words.
Each one is further broken into sections — like mini-chapters — but that’s still something to think about. What matters is the reader’s experience as he reads through this thing.
The individual short stories will stand alone, of course, but I also want the reader to be tempted to turn the page at the end of a chapter (story) and begin reading the next page just as in a normal novel.
***
I probably could have cleared 5000+ words today of fiction, but I found a good stopping place, so I did. A pretty good day.
Oh, and from now on, I’m only gonna light up (bold) the story/ies I worked on that day.
Back soon.
Of Interest
See “SCRIBD.COM – Is Copyright Infringement Their Business Model…” at http://writersweekly.com/this-weeks-article/scribd-com-is-copyright-infringement-their-business-model-and-are-you-a-victim-too-by-wilfried-f-voss. Note that WritersWeekly.com is a function of BookLocker, one of the subsidy publishers I regularly warn writers against. Still, that’s no reflection on the author of the article or the validity of the topic.
See “Digging the Hole Deeper” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/digging-the-hole-deeper/.
Coincidentally, see “Business Musings: Limitations” at https://kriswrites.com/2018/04/18/business-musings-limitations/.
Fiction Words: 4475
Nonfiction Words: 970 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 5445
Writing of The Storytellers
Brought forward………………………………………………………………… 1304
Day 2…… 2966 words. Total words to date…… 4270
Day 3…… 4475 words. Total words to date…… 8745
Writing of Versailles (novel, tentative title)
Day 1…… 3081 words. Total words to date…… 3081
Day 2…… 2217 words. Total words to date…… 5298
Day 3…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXX
Writing of Pulp 9 (novel, tentative title)
Day 1…… 1926 words. Total words to date…… 1926
Day 2…… 2884 words. Total words to date…… 4810
Day 3…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXX
Total fiction words for the month……… 31505
Total fiction words for the year………… 145046
Total nonfiction words for the month… 10550
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 44310
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 231136
Calendar Year 2018 Novels to Date………………………… 3
Calenday Year 2018 Novellas to Date…………………… 1
Calendar Year 2018 Short Stories to Date……… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 30
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 5
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………………… 182