SCAR TISSUE

by Marcus Sakey

Short stories are hard work. Maybe not for Joe Konrath, but for the rest of us mortals, they're damn tricky. You need to cram a big vision into a small space, and from the beginning you need a very clear idea of what you're trying to accomplish.

Which makes it all the more frustrating that they also have a very limited shelf life. You write one, it sells, and you get to see it in a magazine or an anthology. Life is great. But then, all too soon, the next issue comes out. The anthology goes out of print.

The story vanishes.

Happily, thanks to the explosion of e-readers, that no longer has to be the case.

All of my novels are already available digitally, but I've just released a new e-book. Scar Tissue is a collection of seven of my previously published short stories, including "The Desert Here and the Desert Far Away," which was selected as one of the best shorts of 2009 by International Thriller Writers and nominated for a Macavity Award. Scar Tissue is available for all e-reader formats, or as a PDF you can read on-screen or even print out. If you haven't checked out my short stories, this is an easy way to catch up.

Want to see it? Kindle users, click here
For all other e-readers or a PDF, click here

The anthology is just $2.99, though if you prefer, you can buy the stories individually for a buck a pop (Kindle | Others). Either way, my hope isn't really that I'll sell a bajillion copies and be able to retire to a private island.

I just like these stories, and I don't want to watch them disappear.

In that spirit, as a gift to our loyal Outfiteers, I'm giving away one of the stories for free. All you have to do is click here, add it to your cart, and enter coupon code YB98Q.

Hope you enjoy!

To E or Not to E

by Libby Hellmann

That seems to be the question. The answers to who should e-publish, who should retain rights, and how much ebooks should cost has dominated the conversation in the publishing industry for over a year now. Moreover, the spin-off issues that have evolved threaten to shake up the way authors and publishers do business. Not surprisingly, in some quarters the conversation has turned shrill. Even misleading, as friend-of-the-Outfit and uber-Kindler Joe Konrath discovered.


What isn’t misleading, though, is the effect ebooks are having. In 10 years it’s estimated that over 30% of all books sold will be in digital formats. That’s a lot of books. For authors, it presents an unprecedented opportunity to take our work directly to readers without spending a lot of money or time. No middle men, no publishers, no limitations. If you have the rights to your backlist, going-e is a terrific way to give those titles new life. And if you (or your agent) can manage to keep those rights as you continue to publish, you'll find that royalties accrue instantly, with nothing held in reserve.

Not bad... But...

Unfortunately, I’m a proponent of the “other shoe theory of life.” So following is kind of a reality check, at least on ebooks. Don’t get me wrong. All of my novels and other work are on Kindle and some are on Smashwords (more about that in another post), and I will continue to make them available.

But it’s important to note that your mileage may vary. In several ways.

First, the money. You’ve no doubt heard the six-figure income Joe’s on tap to reap from publishing his books on Kindle. But Joe is an anomaly. My books sell, but nowhere near his level. Joe has “broken through” the e-universe, and deservedly so. There is no one who has worked harder to promote himself and his “platform” although he disagrees. (I hate the word "platform," btw.) Remember the 500 bookstore tour? The library promotion? His My Space page? He has thousands of followers. He has reach. He’s versatile, and he tells a great story. But what about the rest of us? I’m not so sure.

Second, and this is more a theory than fact, it seems to me that a significant chunk of Kindlers and ebookers are younger, hipper, i-Phone-ish readers whose attention spans are –um— just a tad imperfect. Is what I write going to be of interest to them? Will they stick with it? I don’t know. Notwithstanding Harry Potter and Twilight, the number of fiction readers keeps declining, so the challenge becomes one of appeal. The ebook authors who can stay relevant to hipper, more wired readers will have more success. Unfortunately, that won't be all of us.

But here’s my biggest concern. If you’ve been paying attention, you already know that B&N, and now Apple ,among others, have created divisions for self-publishing ebooks. The floodgates are about to open, and the ebook market is going to be a vast sea of self-published work.

Theoretically, we midlist authors who have been previously published should have an advantage. We have been vetted. We have been edited. Publishers stand behind us. But how are we going to get that message out? What kind of filters will be in place to differentiate our work from work that hasn’t been vetted? Will anyone pay any attention? I don’t know.

Those are my worries. But there's good news too.

Despite the fact that publishing is contracting and going digital, there are several emerging trends that are positive for midlist authors. One of them is described in this article about the collaboration between a midlist author and a small publisher. Whether you’re publishing in print or ebook or both, I thought this was a clever way for both author and publisher to survive in today’s market. There are other MOs out there, as described here that new authors are using to get their work out.

I hope we’ll see more of these innovations. It's clear the industry is changing, and that's good. It will force authors to become better businesspeople, give us more control over their careers, and hopefully make publishers more accountable.


OK. Enough from me. What do you think?

You Gotta Read This...

by Sean Chercover

I've posted here before about some of my favorite books on writing, and many folks commented to recommend their favorites as well.

Here's another book you should read. A book not just about writing, but also about getting published, promoting your work, issues faced by the publishing industry, the rise of e-books, and so on.

THE NEWBIE'S GUIDE TO PUBLISHING, by J.A. Konrath.

Joe Konrath has been blogging about his publishing journey since he was a newbie, and is one of the most generous writers in the business. He's gone out of his way to help publishing newbies who've come after him, and to help aspiring writers graduate to newbie status, themselves.

And now Joe has now collected the best of his blog essays into a book.

An e-book, actually. At over 1100 pages, it is not something you'll finish in an afternoon, but it is well worth your time. And at only $2.99 for Kindle, it is a steal. If you don't do Kindle, it is also available as a PDF download on Joe's website, for free. See what I mean about Joe being generous?

It also includes an excellent series of essays by bestselling thriller writer (and all-around great guy) Barry Eisler.

Now, I don't agree with all of Joe's opinions. Joe is somewhat of an iconoclast - I don't think even he agrees with all of his opinions - but he asks the hard questions, challenges the status quo, and we all come away richer for it.

A story: When I was writing TRIGGER CITY, I got stuck on a plot issue. Over many beers at The Red Lion, I explained to Joe how I'd written myself into a corner and would never find my way out. Then Joe started talking. And a rapid-fire burst of solutions poured out, one on top of another, competing for attention.

In five minutes, Joe came up with 2,193 different ways to fix my book. Some better than others, but all workable. What amazed me even more was that Joe's suggestions were not mere plot contrivances, but all stemmed from character issues faced by my protagonist.

The guy is a force of nature.

Go get THE NEWBIE'S GUIDE TO PUBLISHING. You won't be sorry.

Be Very Afraid

Our guest blogger today is author JA Konrath, who writes a mystery series about a Chicago cop named Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels. He's currently on a blog tour for the month of March to promote AFRAID, a horror novel he penned under the name Jack Kilborn, which will be released on the 31st. More at his great blog: A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing.

Now, here's Joe.


Let's talk about reviews.

I've had my share of good reviews, and a few bad reviews, and I know different people have different tastes so I take it all in stride.

But today's blog isn't about professional reviews. Because, frankly, newspapers and magazines are going under faster than we can count them.

Today I want to talk about a type of reviews that are gaining popularity. The ones people are actually listening to.

Reader reviews.

It's no secret that word-of-mouth is the strongest form of book promotion. When was the last time you bought a book because you saw an ad for it? Compare that to a friend who says, "Oh my god, you have to read this!"

Chances are, the friend is more persuasive than the ad.

Which brings us to this wonderful form of communicaiton known as the Internet.

For the first time, in the history of reviewing, anyone with a computer and a modem can share their opinions with the entire world. And people are doing just that, in record numbers, on dozens of different websites and thousands of different blogs, newsgroups, listservs, and message boards.

And I'll be 100% honest here: your words do count.

We've all been on Amazon.com, wondering if we should or shouldn't buy a certain book. What sways us one way or the other?

The reviews do. An average of three or more stars usually means I'll take a chance and buy the book. Less then two stars means I'll get my copy from the library, if at all.

In the past, high-profile critics told us what we should and shouldn't like. But now, majority rules, and the masses are a pretty good judge of if a book is good or not.

Which brings me to a question I'd like to ask: Do you post reviews?

I have a vested interest in reviews and being reviewed, because I'm a writer.

But I'm also a reader. A reader who enjoys sharing his opinion. A reader who thinks it's important to play cheerleader for my peers. A reader who recognizes how important a few sentences can be to someone considering buying a book.

So I've posted my fair share of Amazon.com reviews, and I've posted a few on some other sites as well.

Could I do more? Sure.

Now how about you?

If you believe reader reviews are helpful, if you love books as much as I do, if you want to help authors that you enjoy, why aren't you posting more reviews?

You really don't have any excuses. If you're a writer, it's a
no-brainer: you're helping to propagate the species, and what goes around comes around. If you're a reader, it's a no-brainer: your review will help a writer sell more books, and we all know what happens to writers who don't sell enough.

So where should you post reviews?
Amazon.com is an obvious choice. But very few people also post those same reviews on its sister sites, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.ca.

Other bookstore sites that allow for reviews are www.BN.com, Borders.com and BooksaMillion.com.
You could write a five sentence review, then post it on all of these sites in less than ten minutes.

You can also post your reviews, and meet like-minded fellow readers and writers, at Shelfari.com,LibraryThing.com, and Goodreads.com.

If you're a mystery fan, you can post reviews on Booksnbytes.com, or join the Listserv DorothyL.com, or visit the newsgroup news:rec.arts.mystery on Usenet.

Other places to post include ibookdb.net/reviews, BestSellersWorld.com,Horror-mall.com,Crimespace.ning.com, and Redroom.com.

And don't forget your social networking sites, www.MySpace.com,Facebook.com, and www.Twitter.com.

If you're really hardcore, and have an eye for detail, you can edit www.wikipedia.com and add your favorite authors, along with synopses of their best books.

Your opinion really does matter. And authors really do care.

In fact, I care so much, that I'm giving away free copies of my new horror novel, AFRAID, to people who post links to new reviews (reviews they've just posted today) about any book from any author on the Outfit blog.

Go to one of the sites I listed above, and write a review about a book by Sean Chercover, Barbara D'Amato, Michael Allen Dymmoch, Kevin Guilfoile, Libby Hellmann, Sara Paretsky, or Marcus Sakey.

You've read their stuff. Now post your thoughts online. If you've already reviewed them, you can cut and paste that review onto another webite.

Post your new links in the comments section. I'll randomly pick three people to get free books. And by "random" I mean that the more reviews you post, the better chance you have of winning.

Now go share your opinion with the world.