The Confabulator Cafe

Tag: editors

  • Close Enough for Rock & Roll

    Eastman & Laird
    One little self-published comic book was the beginning of a startling cultural phenomenon.

    I have self-published music, comics and my writing. I am not wealthy as a result of it, but I am better for having made the attempts. These attempts were made with the best of intentions but with little heed for what was actually wrong with each of them. We had no producer for the music and I had no editor for the comics or writing. I thought I knew what was wrong at the time with all of it, and I was right.  But there was more.

    Everyone’s heard the stories of the writer who pens a wildly successful book, the band who’s basement-recorded album hits the top of the charts, the writer and artist whose parody concept spawned a revolution in comics. Amanda Hocking. Collective Soul. Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.

    These are the exceptions to the rule. These are the inspirations for people like me. (Well not Amanda Hocking in my case, sorry.) These are the cases that cause us to keep at it. If they can do it, so can I.

    I’ve been in a professional recording studio and in ones in the homes of other musicians, always looking to make the best product I could. One band was really successful at it though we didn’t do an actual release of the record. We got two songs played on local radio (one seemed to have a regular rotation for a month or so) and had some very, very good shows. Didn’t make a dime off the record, but hey we had the shows and the beer and nice following locally. I’ve documented my comics ‘career’ elsewhere and don’t need to rehash it other than to say that I got some positive reviews and made some great friends. My writing has also been self-published on my blog and via the wonderful folks over at The Penny Dreadful website.

    Each of these situations, projects – whatever you want to call them – creative efforts, would have greatly benefitted from a producer or editor to tell us what we weren’t able to discern for ourselves: they weren’t good enough.

    Everything that’s independently produced (art, music, writing, whatever) needs to have a professionally-trained, uninvolved set of eyes to give it a lookover. The Beatles had George Martin, early science fiction writers had John W. Campbell, comics have Karen Berger and Axel Alonso. Editors are important, make no mistake. (more…)

  • Letting Lunatics Loose

    “Writers are the lunatic fringe of publishing.” – Judith Rossner

    In this digital world, self-publishing has become a very real alternative to the traditional publishing route.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that for some people, self publishing in a digital format may be more profitable than traditional publishing.

    For example, it is entirely possible that your share of the royalties on a book you publish yourself on Kindle may be greater than for a print book that you get published through a publishing house or agent.  That being said, I don’t think I would go that route if I had other options, unless I already had the sort of fan base that can provide a writer with a living.

    The benefit of self-publishing is total control.  No one else is telling you what your art is supposed to mean, or how you should go about writing.  No one is droning on about how your characters aren’t likable or your scenes don’t work, or they simply don’t get it.

    The downside is much the same.  No one is telling you that your writing is crap and you really need to work on it before publication, no matter how married you are to that metaphor in Chapter 6.

    My belief is that if you are going the self-publishing route, you had better have a support group that includes very talented, very experienced editors.  Otherwise, hire a professional to take a look at it and tell you what is missing, where you have gone wrong, and what changes you might consider.

    You can’t do it all yourself.  You are too close.  There are too many things going on in your brain that aren’t on the paper.  What makes total sense to you may seem foreign to anyone less psychic than Sylvester Stallone’s mom.

    I’ve read a couple of self-published books, and the results are mixed.  Personally, I’m not willing to put my name on something that I don’t know for sure is ready.  In fact, I would rather have other people tell me it is ready.  When it comes to my work and other people reading it, I don’t like taking chances.

    It is my name, and my reputation that is on the line when someone sits down to read something written by Jack Campbell, Jr.  However, I really like the feeling that someone else believes in what I’ve written as much as I do.

    There may come a day when I go the self-published route, but not without the helpful advice of several talented friends.