November 30, 2015

How do you ship your books?

Image by Issuu from a packaging dielines book

I thought I had it all figured out until a book I shipped was returned to me in such a sorry state that I started wondering if any of you guys who bought my books ever got them bent or misshapen or disfigured or warbled and wet and my face got red with horror. That's not good customer service. I use these Sealed Air Padded Mailers because they're recyclable and cheap and not ugly looking, but the thin orange paper was torn and the shoddy brown paper-filler was spilled into a kind of homemade crude tape job to hold it all together. The book was bumped on the corners and dusted all over with that brown muck and it made me cringe. "Jesus Christ," I thought, "I need to figure this one out."

As it happens, I'm running out of these mailers, have about 15 of them left, and so I got to researching alternative packaging options and neither of them are a perfect fit for me. Here are the ones I have considered:

November 26, 2015

How to persevere when you think your writing is shit

by Ksenia Anske

"Hi Ksenia! I'm currently writing my second novel. The first one was so easy; such a continuous rush of excitement and inspiration and creativity. But this one... is very different. It's the first time I've lost all faith in my writing and thought that it all is pure shit, and wondered how I'll ever be able to turn this into something readable. I feel like just giving up. How do you do it? Are you ever faced with these moments of despair and futility in your writing? You are so goddam inspiring—you've made a career out of writing books all by yourself, in a language that isn't even your native tongue! That amazes me. I'm hoping you might be able to pass on some wisdom to me. Thank you!"

Hi Spencer! Thank you for asking this difficult question. We like to boast about the rush of writing but we don't like as much to talk about the other side of it, do we? We like to hide, to pretend, to blame writers' block, or whatever. Most of the time we do it quietly, we the non-social creatures who don't like to air out our personal problems in public which is why we like to write fiction in the first place, right? And the truth is, most of the time after we decide that what we write is so bad there is no point in continuing, we quit. And that's a shame. So many books could've been written. So many books never get finished because of this fucking internal police.

October 15, 2015

How I find new books to read and choose what to read next

by Ksenia Anske

Lucia asked: "How do you find new books to read? How do you choose what to read next? And how do you select the books worthy-of-your-time?"

I have developed quite a method, Lucia, for finding new books and choosing them and reading them in the order that suits me. There are several parts to it, and they keep fluctuating and mutating according to what I learn as I read every day and begin to understand what books are worth my time and what books aren't. I'm fooling myself, of course, and fooling you, by telling you all this. The best books I read have come out of nowhere and I frankly don't remember how I stumbled on them and they defy all my methods. Nonetheless, since we're playing this game of knowing, let me list for you my sources and the decisions I go through before picking up and reading a new book.

October 12, 2015

Don't focus on money, focus on writing

by Ksenia Anske

"Hi Ksenia! I am enjoying reading through your website. I need to reorganize mine. I am a relatively new author. I put Parenting . . . A Work in Progress on Amazon, KDP, Smashwords, Ingram Spark, and use a local printer. The next book, The Adventures of Charlie Chameleon is with the formatter and is awaiting illustrations. I am considering doing what you have done for the Charlie eBooks. I believe you have hit upon an excellent method and would like to try it. Do you use both Mobi and ePub files? Do you send something to explain to folks how to upload the file to their devices? Are you finding that most people send funds close to what you may have gained otherwise? Many thanks, Ellen."

Thank you, Ellen! I'm thrilled you enjoy my blog. You got me thinking here, with your questions. What follows will be part cautionary tale part answers to your questions, something I wish someone told me three years ago when I started writing, something that would've helped me sleep and not worry to death. So, here is the thing.

DON'T FOCUS ON MONEY, FOCUS ON WRITING.

September 26, 2015

Finding an editor

by Ksenia Anske

"My name is Piotr. I'm one of your "friends" on Ello. I really like your posts, especially your "pathologically immature" label in your bio... I feel that describes me perfectly. I am also a writer, but behind you in the amount of stuff I've written. Currently, I work for a website creating content. It's silly and forgotten as soon as you read it, but it allows me creativity, lets me be funny (a must), and gives me a paycheck. Anyway, long story short, I'm writing a novel. It's a funny, alternate-history-à-la-fantasy-scifi. That might not make sense now, but if you read it, it would. My question to you (since you are the only writer I can even pretend I know) is, how do I go about getting someone to edit my manuscript once it's finished? Someone who actually knows what they're doing?"

Thank you, Piotr! I tell people I'm permanently 5 years old. Perhaps it's not a pathology, perhaps it's bliss, but I can tell you I'm having a ball. As to your question, I have had experience working with only two editors so far, which isn't much, and I have no clue (well, very little) as to how the relationship between an editor and a writer works in the traditional publishing world, so I'll tell you what I've learned by self-publishing my books and how I went selecting an editor and working together.