Money is a confusing subject for writers ...

Money is a confusing subject for writers. As I covered in my last post, the average earnings on a single title aren't the stuff luxury dreams are built on. Most of my writing income comes from book related things rather than the books themselves. I am not complaining. I love writing books. And talking about books. And writing. And I did my research - I figured out pretty quickly that I was unlikely to make my fortune this way. I knew what I was in for and I went and did it anyway. But that doesn't mean I agree with how writing is valued. And it is somewhat awkward when the normal sector of the community who head off to their 9 to 5 jobs for at least minimum wage, and then usually plus some, try to understand why you do what you do, knowing what you know, about the likely going rate. As Sara Baume explains here ( " gradually, society has made me feel foolish for devoting myself so fervently to a career so unlikely to earn me any money. " ),  often they don't get it (thank you to Maureen Crisp for this very juicy link).

And here in New Zealand, with a seriously modest population that can never drive large print runs, a tyranny of distance that strangles the most thoughtful marketing and promotional campaigns, and as publishers have tightened their belts, or upped sticks and retreated to the shores of our larger neighbour Australia, margins have become tighter than most.

Despite all this we do still have writers here who earn enough from their book sales alone to buy their own coffees. But they are a small percentage of the writing community. I read recently of an overseas study which calculated that the majority of writers (including both independently and traditionally published) had an average annual income of $500 from their books. That is a sobering result.

We work hard at what we do, whether it's writing and polishing our manuscripts, or preparing and delivering talks, workshops or readings. We often go the extra mile - dressing up for appearances, making handouts and bookmarks, giving prizes from our own resources in competitions of our own devising, or judging those devised by others. We mentor, teach and share. And underneath it all we are slowly taught that there is little money in this industry. Slowly our sense of the value of what we do is muddied or eroded. What should a manuscript be worth? Is it $6000 all up? I feel a little ill when I see million dollar advances for celebrity titles, or some hot, young debuting writer. Is their writing really 167 times (or more depending on the currency - don't talk to me about £1,000,000 advances) better than my writing? Maybe. Maybe not. How can I tell? I know publishing is a business, and advances and royalties represent what income a company anticipates making and/or actual sales. Is this the only measure of a book's value? Should we be paid by the word? Well probably not because writers take many different routes to get to the same length manuscript, whether going through twenty drafts and labouring over each individual word, or knocking out 50,000 words a month, nanowrimo style, whether we are supported by an agent or editor or doing all the writing, rewriting and editing ourselves. Should we be paid by the length of time taken, or the sweat generated while we worked? It's all a bit confusing. What ARE we worth? Are we further away from understanding what a reasonable value is, than ever before? And that's just for our writing. What are we worth for all the other writing related tasks that we do.

And if folk question our sanity for choosing a career that doesn't pay, do they then extend this to thinking that this IS what we are worth?

We have debated the difficulties of being asked to do gigs for nothing. Many organisations, schools and other institutions understand the importance of paying writers a fee for events they participate in. But there is a worrying trend for unpaid gigs. Doing jobs for free creates an unhealthy and unrealistic expectation that undermines the ability of other authors to charge. Why pay someone when you can find someone else who will do it for free? Yet we put a lot of thought and effort into our presentations. It seems fair to be remunerated. And what if writers are financially supported by family or some other form of patronage. Should they do all their gigs for free? Or not at all? Is their value different again?  For me one of the biggest arguments against doing something for free is that often the people inviting you to speak aren't working for free. They justifiably expect fair recompense for the work they perform, and it would seem only reasonable for us to expect the same. If they are voluntary workers than I am happy to be voluntary too, but that isn't always the case. I appreciate that so many organisations are strapped for cash, but they must also appreciate that that is also true of so many of the authors they are inviting to work for free. I believe part of the difficulty is that we have no real clear understanding of what we are worth, whether for our writing, or for other writing related tasks. How can we negotiate payment when we are so unsure ourselves. The waters have just been getting muddier and muddier. We are being taught to expect less. And that we can't rely on income from our writing. And the wider community seems to have a different understanding of how we work, and what and how we are paid and it seems impossible to bridge this divide of understanding. It would be a travesty if in the future the only people who could afford to write were those with independent means. Money is a confusing subject for writers.

Without a parachute...

The life of a book is equivalent to a piece of string. How long is the piece of string, you might ask? Well as long as the life of a book.

Yes....exactly.

My first picture book is now out of print. All my other print books are still out there I believe, but I am under no illusion that OOP can strike at any time. When a new book is launched it feels like it is everywhere and then the following month new books are launched and they are everywhere and your book not so much, and the honeymoon can feel, well, over. I am not complaining. I did get the chocolate on the pillow, the romantic pics on the beach, and the late wake up call. So it is rather nice to have reviews still wandering in for a book launched back in March. Thanks to Bookwitch for a nice review of A Winter's Day in 1939 here in the UK. And if you check that book's page on Fishpond NZ there is a great review there too. And I liked this one on Goodreads - short and sweet but quite complimentary really. Each one feels like another lovely surprise chocolate on my pillow.

And in breaking news, it seems a picture book of mine published a few years back may be translated and sold in another country. More news on that when/if it all comes together. Very exciting. I know of other folks whose books have been picked up overseas 5 years after publication. I never give up hope. A short story of mine waited 7 years from acceptance to print. Time becomes Einstein fluid in the publishing world, or perhaps publishing all happens inside the Tardis and who knows what time it is in the world outside. My one regret is that the eternal youth of the space traveller doesn't seem to be applying to me. Anyways... I digress. The answer to how long is the life of a book is patience. My patience has slowly become a well-oiled, efficient little machine: overworked but better at its job than it used to be. It hums along these days, now that I've switched it to the long game setting.

Fellow blogger Maureen Crisp linked to this wonderful piece by Libba Bray; wonderful and somewhat distressing. Ms Bray talks about 'writing despair' - the despair of failing to bend a story to your will and make it work. For all the times we feel this despair and work through it to end up with a story that we are happy with, we know there are no guarantees this will happen next time. We live in fear. We break through and then admonish ourselves for ever thinking we couldn't do it. And then we start all over again. In my writing, like Ms Bray, I am untethered by outlines and structure and Scrivener and rolodexes full of character eye colour, and background, and inside leg measurement. I wing it. Without a parachute. Sometimes this works better than other times. The biggest stumbling block for me is always fear - will I stuff up this great idea. It looks so pretty/smart/elegant in my head but turns in to a hoiked-up fur ball on the page. People who think series or sequels are such a great idea because you already have that world and those characters built be warned - you can no longer bend that world or those wills anew to your own purposes. You made rules last time and now they must be obeyed. And there are expectations. Expectations! If you ever wanted success, know that expectations come with it. And, apparently, fear. The key of course is patience. And I can only hope, for Ms Bray's sake and mine, that the length of the life of the book will be positively influenced by the length of its gestation.

Playing tag...

I was tagged here by fab fellow NZ author Phillip W. Simpson and I'm playing

What's the working Title of your WIP?
Barquing Mad: A Mystery
I really like this title but worry that people will think its about a dog and its not. I probably will have to change it but I think the words 'A Mystery' imply you can't take the first few words at face value

Where did your idea come from for your book?
I started this book so long ago I don't remember. I do remember submitting the first few thousand words to the NZSA for this brilliant open critique session they held at Old Government House in Auckland in 2004 and Graeme Lay and Tania Roxborogh critiqued it and were very positive and encouraging and said nice things to me. I think the biggest criticism was the stupid character names I had (they didn't use the word stupid - they were really very nice) and the names are now all different. The bully was called Mimsy Squat-Cottles (I blame famous NZ actor Michael Hurst who once said this name and got it stuck in my brain) and Prunella. I still like Mimsy Squat-Cottles but she is now Vanessa Blunt which is a little easier to read and a tad more modern and Prunella became Sally.

And this is what I ended up with:

What really happened to Sally's Dad lost at sea 7 years before? What were they really up to on that mysterious polar expedition? And why has her Mum suddenly chucked in her job? Why won't her teacher and the school principal and the school bully leave her alone? Sally needs her wits, her courage, her best friend, her best friends chauffer and even her brother's help to overcome the dangers and discover the truth.

What genre does your book fall under?
Children's mystery

What actors would you pick to play your characters in a movie rendition?
They probably haven't been born yet :) although Dakota Fanning would have been perfect for the 12 year old heroine Sally Barque when she was younger. I'd be played by Martin Freeman.

What is a one sentence synopsis of your book?
Sometimes parents get lost and it's up to their children to find them.

How long did it take you to write a first draft of your manuscript?
I think this one has been on the slow burner for about ten years. I finished it early last year but it wasn't quite right. Nearly done with the final draft and believe it actually makes sense now.

What other books would you compare this story to within the genre?
It's a cross between Famous Five and Stormbreaker

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Sheer tenacity. It was just one of those stories that I kept coming back to. I could see, inside the hot mess, a fun story that I wanted to tell, desperately trying to get free (probably from the shackles of all those commas).

What else about the book might pique the readers interest?
I really think its just the most unexpected little tale. Its got some girl power going on.

In the spirit of this game I am tagging five more fabulous NZ authors to have a play

Tania Roxborogh

Tania Hutley

Maureen Crisp

Sue Copsey

Fifi Colston

The new religion...

I have wittered on at length in the past about book reviews. Specifically, poor reviews and how to survive them if you are the author of the book reviewed. But I discovered (unfortunately) another downside to poor, or shall we say, 1 star reviews. As I wandered Goodreads lonely as a cloud looking up some info for my research I came across a long book discussion on a popular book which I rather liked. The discussion ripped the book and its author to shreds. They approached it as a lesson in how not to write, with exposition on poor character development, telling not showing, etc... and folks, I felt nervous that I had liked the book. Was there something wrong with me? I mean, this level of vitriol surely must have some substance behind it. Was I too clueless to pick up on all these inherent failures? Did that make me a poor reader? Or worse, a poor writer, because I wasn't aware of these faults. I mean, I'd actually enjoyed reading this particular book. Looking at some of the issues raised, I disagree with some of the points made and the evidence for them. I don't see the examples given as particularly good ones of the crime the writer is accused of. With things like show not tell I am a firm believer of having elements of both. Showing all the time can become exhausting to read. I also think one person's poor character is another person's recognizable friend/self. The disturbing thing to me was my reaction. I felt bad I liked the book that had earned such a scathing review. I examined my own skills because of that review. I am still frequently amazed that people get so very angry about books and their content. Maybe it's like where people get highly agitated trying to defend or debunk a religion. And we feel defensive or kindred to that person in response. But I worried about my reaction. I don't want to be too afraid to pick up a book for fear of other people judging me badly on my choice.

And lovely writery friend and fellow blogger Maureen Crisp sent me a most interesting link with a terrific research project examining the number of male main protagonists (compared with female) and male vs. female authors of YA books (after the recent outcry over the perceived dominance of female authors in YA literature). The number of times I've been told we need more stories written specifically for boys, at which I've just nodded, is more than I care to mention. But hang on. The sex of the protagonist, or the genre of story have never stopped me reading something I thought looked interesting. Holy moly folks, I spent years reading war comics followed by years of romance novels. I've enjoyed male writers and male protagonists (Tolkien, Lewis, Dahl, Horowitz, Gaiman, Forster, Hemingway, Dickens, Conrad, Theroux, Hardy, Faulkes), a mix (Gaiman, Rowling, Le Guin, Susan Cooper, Holly Black, Hinton) and female writers of female protags (Alcott, Austen, Bronte, Wilder, LM Montgomery etc...). All I wanted was a good book. I've never been put off by the gender of the main character. After all I'm not allergic to the opposite sex. In fact I'm rather interested in them. Are boys not remotely curious about females? It hasn't stopped them reading the Hunger Games.  Let's not encourage boys to steer clear of reading books where the main protagonist is female. Because otherwise we run the risk of perpetuating a myth we're creating. Lets just help them find good books that they enjoy.

Your mind is a temple too...

An old unpublished junior mystery manuscript (oujmm) I wrote a while back has been whispering sweet nothings in my ear and I confess I have been cheating on my university studies with it. Just a few little trysts on my laptop, sneaking around behind research project's back for an hour or two in the evenings. Oh, the guilt. I know I will pay for this. But oujmm looks better than I remember him. He's kept in shape. He wants to change. I can't resist him. Please don't tell on us...

Over the past eighteen months or so I have discovered an interesting fact about publishing, hitherto unknown to me by virtue of the fact that up until that point I had effectively only had one publisher (that's not entirely true as I had multiple publishers for different short stories over the years but they kind of have a separate set of rules to begin with so I expected differences). Anyways, what I discovered is that one publisher is not the same as another publisher. Its not just that the people involved are different, with different tastes and interests. Its also that different publishers can operate in completely different ways. Their contracts are not the same, their advances and requirements and expectations of you are not the same, their sales, marketing and publicity are not the same. Their submissions processes are not the same and how they interact with you is not the same. Justine Larbalestier says it very well here. Sometimes the only common factor across the different publishers you might get to work with is you. This doesn't make them better or worse, it just means you shouldn't expect the same experience.

I also liked this link this morning. I have talked about feeding your creative mind before. Its extremely important to put new stuff in when you are busily taking so much stuff out as you write. Running on empty isn't pretty. But Maggie Stiefvater has taken a different approach. Its not just the experiences your mind requires. Be careful about the food and drink you consume. Its not just the reactions to some substances you personally have that can dull your mind. Its not just your body that's a temple.

And this too at Stroppy Author's Blog - nothing like a call to sanity, eh? She's right - we can't go back so there's no point in whining about how things used to be. They weren't always wonderful anyway. Be smart and embrace the future. It might be better, it might be worse, but either way, with or without you, it'll be happening.

And if you haven't been over to Maureen Crisp's blog recently, you should. She's had some excellent and most useful links in recent weeks.

Whip it good ...

I have been head down, posterior up recently slaving over a hot rewrite and must give thanks to Maureen Crisp (yet again) for alerting me to this fab blog post by Kristine Katherine Rusch on the approach that writing is a profession. I haven't spent as much time wittering around the intramawebb as I would like and I have been missing some good advice and fascinating insights. I am still working on the ms, in a seemingly never ending loop of rewritery. But this post resonates for me particularly at the moment. I am a lazy individual, but I have been racking up the hours on this book. And the bottom line is, if you are serious about being a writer you have to do the work. Good workers work hard at their jobs. I have had moments when I have told myself it is too hard and I can't do it, but then I have to slap myself and tell myself to buck up my ideas and work a little harder. If you don't whip that talent into shape and drive it with a cattle prod you are less likely to survive long term.

What interested me most about Ms Rusch's post though was the belief writers are indoctrinated with (and yes, I am guilty of perpetuating this) that we are unlikely to make a living as a writer. We believe we are unlikely to succeed. Whether we succeed/make money or not, telling ourselves we won't is not a smart attitude. There are other beliefs about my writing and the writing business as a whole that I have and I continue to hold these to be true. Most centre on what it is I want to write and what it is I think I can write. But I need to remind myself this isn't a hobby, its my job and if I'm smart about it maybe I can do better at it and reap some more benefits.

A little link love...

Because I am easily distracted from my key task and I care about you all so much here are some juicy links to keep you going. Thanks to Dylan Horrocks and Maureen Crisp for alerting me to this wonderful piece by the brilliant Ursula Le Guin (I am a lifetime fan of her Wizard of Earthsea books) on the lit versus genre fiction debate. As Ms Le Guin so wisely says, no genre is inherently, categorically superior or inferior.


And this post by author Emma Darwin neatly explains why breaking the writing rules (even when other successful writers seem to get away with it) is still a bad idea.


Okay back to the grindstone...

be the writer you want to become...

I know I have posted on branding before but I wanted to talk about it again today from a slightly different angle. Recently I went through the very interesting exercise of determining and defining what the 'Melinda Szymanik' brand meant, with two of the very fine publishers who have published my stories, Pear Jam Books and Duck Creek Press. As I have wittered in the past, I write a variety of lengths of story for a variety of ages. To say I am a picture book writer, whilst true, ignores the fact that I also write short stories and novels for younger and older children and teens. Focus on one thing and you miss the others. I have written funny stories, sad stories and dark stories. Many of my stories are reality based but there is often something a little otherworldly about them, but then they are not what I would call fantasy. They don't make pigeon holes that I easily fit into. So if you like to read you might want to know if you would like my books. When we discussed what I write we came up with this

"Melinda Szymanik is the award-winning NZ author of smart, layered fiction for all ages,
focusing on the family, the challenging and the unexpected – all with a little dash of magic."

Today as we discussed branding again amongst a group of writers, one writer's work was described as like Jacqueline Wilsons. Therefore, if you like Ms Wilson's books you are likely to enjoy this writers as well. Fair call. I am unlikely to get this kind of comparison. Partly because I write across ages etc.... There are writers I revere. I would love to write like them, but I don't. I would love to be compared to them (in a good way) but I won't. So I have my brand statement and I think that covers it pretty well. It is strange being a brand. I am not just Melinda Szymanik, of a particular age and abode, daughter, sister, wife and mother. I am not just a product of my environment, experiences and education and a fan of certain books movies, programmes and pastimes. There are people who think of me differently when they see the name. Probably a few going, oh God please, no! but maybe some who say 'I like her work' and hopefully, wishfully, wistfully, some who might even say I really want to read her next one. It must be weird to be very famous where your brand seems to take on a life of its own and is off, busily manifesting something new in the corner, while you holiday on Mystique. I find it strange enough that my name might conjure up a particular view or opinion of me because of all the things I have written. But it does. It might be harder to realise your brand if you are still in the early stages of your writing career. It is harder to detect patterns when your 'body' of work is still growing, even if patterns are already there just waiting to emerge. But it might pay you to think about what elements are crucial to how you want people to perceive you in future. Even if you are still producing sufficient writing to demonstrate 'what' you write, keep in mind that people do form views and opinions at every stage so 'be' the writer you want to become. As Neil Gaiman said at that commencement speech 'make good art'. Your art is how people will remember you. And whether the critics love or hate it, and the judges of awards embrace you or ignore you, as long as it is the art you want to make then people will see you as you want to be seen. You have to live with that so make sure you can.

I recently stopped by at this blog post by Talli Rowland (via Maureen Crisp) about how our dreams of success shift with our understanding of the world we want to succeed in. For many of us we begin with the dream of being published. Some dream of awards and riches. Other of movie deals and fame. Our dreams are sometimes realised in ways we didn't anticipate. The authors world in particular is like the view seen in a rearview mirror - not quite the size and shape of the actual object. I dream of finding fans amongst the world's readers, and having my books translated into other languages. I have sometimes dreamt of travelling to other countries because of my writing. Maybe in my wildest dreams I would wish that one day a new writer says their books are kind of like the books of Melinda Szymanik. Of course, then I think my head really would fall off.

Shiny new things...

I drove over to publishers Duck Creek Press this morning to pick up some more copies of my picture book The House That Went to Sea. I'm appearing at the Bloom Festival in Matakana this Saturday morning (storytelling at 10.30 and 11.45 and workshopping little stories from 11 to 11.30) and I wanted some books for prizes. Was most excited to be handed, hot off the press, this

Woot! My new picture book title with Duck Creek Press - Made with Love - Releasing in April!! And then was handed this

not only because there is a fiesty adventurous gingerbread woman featuring in the story but there is another sweet and unexpected connection. All will be revealed soon.

My good writery friend Maureen Crisp (who can be found blogging here) has just released an exciting new contemporary novel Craic in a range of digital formats for 8 to 12 year olds. Go check out this fab looking book here. Or better yet, buy a copy :)