More Publishers

Look to Erotica

by Charlotte Williams

Erotica is continuing to steam-up acquisition meetings, with 19th July a potential sweet spot as both Simon & Schuster and Orion ready new releases.  Simon & Schuster is publishing Rebecca Chance's Naughty Bits, a collection of the romance author's scenes from earlier novels which were "too hot to print", with scene-setting introductions, an exclusive short story, and the first chapter of her next title, as a 99p e-book.

Fiction editorial director Maxine Hitchcock said: "With this rise in interest in erotica, we thought this was a fantastic opportunity. Sometimes in the context of a traditional book, less is more, but we never wanted to bin any of the scenes." She said the idea of publishing deleted scenes could have potential outside the genre, perhaps in publishing richer description of SFF worlds.

Meanwhile, Orion deputy publisher Jon Wood and editor Jemima Forrester paid a six-figure sum for UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, in the Eighty Days erotica trilogy from agent Sarah Such. The titles are written by Vina Jackson, a pseudonym of two writers, one well-known, working together for the first time, with the story focusing on the "sexually charged relationship between two strangers".

The first title, Eighty Days Yellow, will be published on 19th July in mass market paperback and e-book, followed by Eighty Days Blue and Eighty Days Red later this year.

TheBookseller.com

Twenty Million Shades

Goes Overseas, Too!

by Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg

The "Fifty Shades" erotic trilogy is expected to hit the 20 million-sales mark in the U.S. this week, making it one of the fastest-selling book series in recent memory.  The fictional tale of the romantic and sexual exploits of a 21-year-old English-literature student, the books have attracted a wide female audience on their way to becoming this year's pop-culture phenomenon.

"It's entered the cultural conversation, which has made the trilogy much bigger than books often are," said Anne Messitte, publisher of Vintage Books, an imprint of Bertelsmann AG's Random House Inc., which released the titles in the U.S.

As of July 2, the trilogy, starting with "Fifty Shades of Grey," had sold 19.4 million copies in both print and e-book form since its U.S. publication in March. The trilogy ranked first, second and third on The Wall Street Journal's best-seller list published on Saturday.

WSJ

Erica Kennedy, Hip-Hop

Satirist, Dead at 42

Former music writer turned novelist, Erica Kennedy, who came to wide attention in 2004 with the publication of her first novel, Bling, a satirical roman à clef about the world of hip-hop, was found dead over the June 16 weekend at her home in Miami Beach, according to the AP.  She was 42.  There was no cause of death given.

Published by Miramax Books, Bling tells the story of a young, innocent mixed-race woman trying to break into the music business. A gifted singer, she is remade in flashy style by a rapacious record mogul.  Kennedy was reported to have received an advance of half a million dollars for the novel.

“Everybody kept talking about how scandalous that book was,” Kennedy told The New York Times in 2004.  “I really didn’t see the big deal. I knew I could write a story about a P. Diddy party and show these people what scandal is really all about.”

Reviewing Bling in The Times Book Review, Sia Michel took it to task for bagginess (it ran to 509 pages) but called it “gleefully trashy.”  The book captured the attention of the news media, partly for its portrayal of a world of flowing Cristal, powder-blue Bentley limousines, and platinum teeth and partly for the fevered guessing game it engendered: Was its hip-hop mogul based on Russell Simmons, a founder of Def Jam Recordings and a friend of Kennedy?  Was its foul-tempered supermodel a thinly veiled Naomi Campbell?

Although only one person knows for sure, Kennedy remained silent.  The author's second novel, Feminista, was published by St. Martin’s Press in 2009.  A reworking of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, it failed to attract the attention of Kennedy's first book. 

Kennedy is generally acknowledged to have taken white suburban chick lit and given it a distinct black wrapper, a feat that did not go unnoticed within the black community.  At the end of 2010, she was named to the Ebony Power 100, a list of influential African-Americans.

Kennedy was born Erica Kennedy Johnson on March 24, 1970.  Raised in Bayside, Queens, her father, a pharmaceutical company executive, died when she was 17; her mother was an interior designer.

As a teenager, Erica dated a record producer and through him met Simmons, who gave her an introduction to the inner circles of hip-hop.  In 1998, Kennedy returned the favor by acting as a bridesmaid at Simmons’ wedding to Kimora Lee.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from Sarah Lawrence College in 1992, Kennedy worked as a publicist for the Tommy Hilfiger fashion house while contributing articles on music to Vibe, InStyle, and other magazines.

Kennedy’s survivors include her mother, Mary Mobley Johnson, and a brother, Kirk Johnson.

As film critic Roger Ebert tweeted after learning the news of Kennedy's passing, "The world is a lesser place."

Author Turns First

To Kickstarter

It's no surprise that Seth Godin's Kickstarter effort announced recently to jump-start his new book, The Icarus Deception, successfully drew his "tribe" of most loyal followers: in just over 24 hours the project has garnered pledges of nearly $200,000, with many rewards offers fully claimed. One interesting potential takeaway for other authors and publishers is that these early supporters are not driven by the lowest-priced offerings.

His recommended "no-brainer" package was fully subscribed with 800 backers at $111 each (and 3 of the 4 higher-priced packages are also filled). That's about the same number of backers who have now elected for the least expensive $4 digital preview only--with the former generating almost $89,000 and the latter accounting for only about $3,300 in sales. It would take over 22,000 cheap previews to equal the revenue from those higher-priced pledges.

Netting More Writing Jobs

Without Getting Caught

Everyone who has ever written for money gets stung sooner or later.  It has happened to 80-book author and full-time freelance writer D. J. Herda on several occasions.  Fortunately, he has learned what to watch out for over the years.  Some of his advice:

Book Publishers.  Steer clear of startup publishing companies that offer no advance but a "new way of doing business" or an "improved publishing model more respectful of new writers."  These are euphemisms for  "You work your tail off, and we'll collect the rewards."  Even small indie publishers pay modest advances plus royalties.  If they're legit, they'll act legit.

Magazine Publishers.  Some smaller rags try to get good freelance material in exchange for author's copies (usually 3 - 5 copies of the issue containing the author's writing).  Don't fall for it.  If your work is good enough to get published, it's good enough to get published for pay.  Why make money for some editor who has no respect for what you do for a living?

Ghosting/Editing.  Stay away from Craigslist ads promising, "This is easy work for someone who knows what he's doing."  That's mumbo-jumbo for "No writer is worth paying any more than absolutely necessary."  If writing was so easy, the advertiser would do it himself.

Similarly, turn and run--don't walk!--from jobs promising pay in the form of future royalties or pay-per-click in which, the more your material is read, the more your material will earn.  The bottom line here is that few of these sites ever generate any income for their writers, who end up writing for nothing.

Also, avoid writing for sites that don't pay or pay minimally but do promise to provide you with valuable credentials.  Just how prestigious do you think a by-line on MommyWorksFromHome dot com will seem to an editor at The New York Times or Simon and Schuster?

Likewise, avoid responding to ads that are filled with typos or that seek multiple writers.  They're usually synonymous with word farms, which is a nice euphemism for "pays peanuts."

Finally, never provide specific writing examples as a sample of what you can do.  If someone asks you to write three articles critiquing three current Hollywood releases, you can bet your bottom dollar you won't get the job, and your "samples" will appear somewhere on the Internet without your permission--or your byline.

By taking just a few simple precautions, you'll find you're a lot happier, a lot wiser, and a lot wealthier writer.

Rielle Book Tour

Shelved for Poor Sales

Let's all cry in our beer, shall we?  Rielle Hunter has gone AWOL after less-than-hoped-for sales of her memoir, What Really Happened.  She has scheduled no additional tour dates to promote her tell-all tome about her relationship with married former Democratic senator and presidential candidate, John Edwards. 

After a serious media blitz, which included interviews with ABC’s Chris Cuomo and appearances on The View and Piers Morgan Tonight, Hunter, who was confirmed to be the mother of Edwards’ daughter, Quinn, after months of denials by the disgraced former senator, has sold a scant 6,000 copies of her story, according to Bookscan. 

The book, which pundits say should have been titled Who Really Cares, sold enough copies to crack the New York Times best-seller list but not enough to make the big-name New York publishing houses sorry they passed it by, according to Publishers Weekly. 

A representative for Hunter insisted that “Rielle’s book tour has not been canceled.  She completed her scheduled media appearances, and there are still requests that she’s considering.”  But the rep also added that no other tour appearances are currently being entertained. 

Hunter reportedly got a small advance from boutique publisher BenBella Books because larger publishers feared women would shy away from buying it. 

Nine Signs Self-Publishing Is

Out of Control

To paraphrase the immortal words of Truman Capote, there’s a difference between writing and typing. And, to put it gently, we can say with a good amount of confidence that most self-published books were typed, not written. Because communicating with letters assembled into words is a skill most learn by the age of 5, and because written communication has become so ubiquitous in American life, everyone now thinks he’s a writer. Until recently, the publishing industry had been our sea wall, protecting us from a tidal wave of boring life stories and dreadful novels. But now, the ease of self-publishing threatens to drown us all in mediocrity. Here are nine signs the situation is out of control.

1. The estimated 700,000 self-publishing authors around the world
   In a world of 6.8 billion people, 700,000 trying to make it big by self-publishing may not seem very significant. But compare it to the number of books traditionally published in America each year: 80,000. Of those, one author says, "most of them [are] not needed, not wanted, not in any way remotely necessary." Assuming the U.S. makes up just one-tenth of the market (almost certainly a low estimate), AND assuming each author has the decency to self-publish only one title, that means self-publishers stand to nearly double the number of books published in the world every year.

2. The 20,000 titles Lulu adds each month
   Lulu is a self-publishing company that has been in business since 2002 and is generally regarded as the leader in the field. One need look no further for proof that self-publishing is getting out of hand than the Lulu web site that reveals the company publishes 20,000 titles for unpublished authors every single month. The site shows no signs of slowing, as 12,000 new "creators" sign up every week, and the number of titles is growing about 10% each month. But as the founder of the company says, the average run is "less than two."

3. The many seriously considering whether self-publishing is a bubble on the verge of popping
   Basically, an economic bubble is created when a good is bought and sold at a much higher price than it is really worth. For example, the dot-com bubble burst when traders realized Internet companies had no way to justify the hundreds of millions of dollars at which their worth was being valued.Pundits are now looking hard at the massive popularity of self-publishing and asking: How long until self-publishers realize tens of thousands of them have grossly overvalued their products and the market crashes?

More

Digging for Gold:

Researching Book Awards

Your book is out!  It's in bookstores and on retail websites.  But how do you attract readers?  How do you make sure your book receives the accolades it deserves?  That's what author Naomi C. Rose once wondered about.  Then she did some research and came up with some answers.

"Submit your book for honors and awards," she said.

Good advice.  Awards, after all, create buzz around your book.  And buzz can only help sales.

But won't your publisher take care of submitting your new release to various award competitions?  Maybe, and maybe not.  While many larger publishers submit their A-List books to various competitions, few smaller publishers have the staff or the funds to do so.  And even with large publishers, they rarely pull titles from their mid-list to submit.  That's where the author comes in.

Of course, before you can submit your book for an award, you have to find the various award foundations.  The best way to get up-to-date information is by running a search on Google.  You'll want to run your search several months before your book's release date so you have plenty of time to make any deadlines associated with the submission date.

Start your search out with a general phrase such as "book awards," "history book awards," or "children's book awards."  Then refine your search by adding the name of your home state after the search term.  Try again searching with your country of citizenship.  You can also search by region of the country in which you reside--the northwestern United States, for example, or southeastern Canada.

You can run a search for book awards offered via subject matter or genre.  "Social justice book awards," for instance, or "feminism," "green energy," or "literary fiction."

And don't forget about searching under your race and religion.  In these politically correct times, it's easy to forget that Jewish Heritage and Irish-Catholic awards exist to promote a better understanding of these groups of people.

Remember, too, that awards exist for self-published and POD books, as well as for books published by indie presses.  Search using key words such as "independent book awards," "POD book awards," etc.

Once you've gathered a list of potential awards, send it to your publisher. If your publisher doesn't submit your book for an award, check the rules to see if you're eligible to do so yourself.

S&S Books

To Feature QR Codes

This fall, in an effort to boost newsletter subscriptions, Simon & Schuster will feature QR codes on the back of every new book jacket.  Scanning the code will lead consumers to an author page on S&S’s website where they are encouraged to sign up for email alerts, watch video interviews, and find out more about the author’s other works.

Tech website Mashable Business quotes Ellie Hirschhorn, executive vice president and chief digital officer at S&S.  "The QR code is a way to use the distribution of our physical books as a means to build our [subscriber] database. This direct-to-consumer relationship then enables us to market future books and authors more cost-effectively.

"For now, the codes will only be featured on hardcover and trade paperback books, and will be accompanied by a URL; so those without smart phones or QR code scanners can access the author’s page on the S&S website.  The codes will be added to other formats later, based on their performance."

Despite the recent announcement of the idea, it has already been met with skepticism by some industry publications (including Paid Content, Mashable Business, and The Digital Reader), which say the QR code trend hasn’t fully caught on in North America, and that URLs are still the better option, as they can be accessed by all browsers.