Thursday, April 10, 2014

You Are What You Say

I follow a few blogs, and obviously there are some people who follow me. I only have time to read a few because, work, writing, gardening, cleaning up cat barfs (kittens, please can we stop now), and did I say working? So my blog consumption is limited to a few spots that I can squeeze into my day. And when you follow someone for a period of time, you get a feel for who they are as a person. It's a process that can't be stopped. Most blogs have a theme or the point, but even in blogs where the point is front and center, the most successful blogs, the ones I return to again and again, are the ones where I like the "point" and the person writing the blog.

Cooking blogs are great for this (the Smitten Kitchen blog is amazing and if you aren't following Deb, you should go there right now). Also, I find Joe Scalzi's blog a wealth of information about the publishing industry, even though I'm not a big sci-fi fan and I don't own a single one of his books. Part of the success of both blogs is that we like them as people. At least I do. It's what keeps me clicking again and again. There are a zillion cooking blogs out there so why follow Deb? Because I like her. It doesn't hurt that her recipes are also dynamite.

A blog becomes personal, even if we don't want it to. If you write on a consistent basis, you can't help but "reveal" yourself. I find myself culling out blogs over time because I'm just not sure about the person writing it anymore. I dropped a blog from my feed at one point because the blogger (who is extremely successful at pretty much everything she touches) defended her husband smacking her around. If you're at all into blog culture, you will know who I'm talking about. I found that attitude unacceptable, and I dropped the feed from my list. I doubt it mattered one iota to her because I'm one of a zillion followers, but I couldn't support her blog anymore because the message she was sending out (in addition to a whole bunch of otherwise very worthwhile messages) was that sometimes you deserve to be beaten up. Does not work for me. Delete.

You read someone every day or twice a week or every now and then, and they begin to inhabit a piece of you. You don't know them, but if you met them for coffee, you would have a wealth of things to discuss because they have shared with you a bunch of their personal stuff. I've used the metaphor of "baggage" a lot in writing about writing. How when the writer shares her/his baggage and the reader discovers that he/she has the same baggage or is interested in helping the writing carry that baggage through the "end," and voila, you have a successful novel. Well, it's the same with blogs. A blogger shares a certain amount of stuff and it's often personal, and then you can't help but make a personal judgment on who they are. Because it's become a two-way personal street.

This morning I read the blog of someone I've been following for a number of years. And I have issues with her post. Naturally, being the bossy pants that I am, I was tempted to write a personal email and say, hey, you're veering into the land of the vapid and this is why. But I didn't. No, I came over here to write a piece about how this has all become so personal. As bloggers our luggage is open for the viewing whether we like it or not. Over time certain compartments are unzipped, whether we like it or not. Oh my, look at all those socks with holes in them. Wow, that leopard print bra is sexy. Not much of a compliment to the white Hanes briefs next to them. Perhaps TMI?

I don't know if this inevitable personalization is good or bad. I just know that if you read a piece here in this blog that you find offensive or irritating and you just don't want to follow me anymore, I understand.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Home from Left Coast Crime

As always, I had a wonderful time at Left Coast Crime (LCC). It's an extremely well-run conference, hometown in a way because most crime fiction writers who live on the west coast try to make it. This is both a plus and a minus because you see all the people you haven't seen in a while, but you also tend to see the same people. But I hadn't been to a mystery con in a long time and it was nice to reconnect with folks.

On a general level, what did I glean from LCC?

1.  Independent bookstores are making a small comeback.

2.  Editors are acknowledging the death of the mid-list, although crime fiction, because so much of the genre is predicated on the series concept, seems to be weathering that demise as well as can be expected. Basically, it's only semi-dead or semi-alive.

3.  The advent of computers means that every book sold is counted, which means that every book that isn't sold is also counted. This means that it's harder and harder to justify keeping an author whose numbers are that great but has potential. Book reps are now regional as opposed to local, which means the most common denominator tends to  hold sway, which certainly is an excellent reason why I find most books so generic these days. And so disappointing.

4.  Thrillers are selling well. International thrillers are selling very well. Hail the rise of the Scandinavian mystery author!

5.  Publishers are still buying but put your absolutely best foot forward. Your voice needs to be unique and you need to know how to write. You won't get a second chance.

On a personal level, what did I glean from LCC?

Basically that my foray into self-publishing was a non-starter. I was on a panel with a bunch of self-published authors who were making it work for them and that is precisely why it works for them. They work like DOGS at it. Connect, connect, connect is their motto. It's certainly a part-time job, and easily could be a full-time job. Unfortunately, I have a full-time job that demands a tremendous amount of brain cells, plus whatever free time I have I want to use it to write. The fantasy of just putting a book out there and hoping that people other than your friends buy a copy is just that: pure fantasy. I did get a lot of ideas on how to market Pen and Prejudice if I had the time. Given that I've had so little buy-in from the mystery community on this book, I would have to start marketing it to a whole new group of readers: romance readers and Jane Austen fanatics. There is a market for this book. I just don't have the time to chase it. Sometimes you just have to be honest with yourself. I do not have the time for this.

Is self-publishing a last resort option? Sure. It was fun and I learned a lot about the process of putting together a professional looking book, but there my expertise ends. If it's a choice between devoting my precious free time to sales as opposed to writing, I'll choose writing any day. And since my output seems to be a book every five years, well, that pretty much says it all.