Writing and Technology (or, check out my new pencil)

by Sam Thomas

Given that you are reading this on-line, you are likely aware of the changes wrought by technology on the publishing industry. E-books are killing the printed book, Amazon is killing B&N, B&N and Amazon are killing the indie book store, and my friend Robert K. Lewis is writing his next novel on an honest-to-God typewriter.

I’ve been thinking a good bit about technology of reading and writing of late, and how technology affects the way we do each one. I have to admit that the Kindle is a real boon to my research. I simply highlight passages as I go, and then print out the list when I’m done. QED. That said, as a recovering historian, my favorite technology is the Book Wheel.  It’s a wee bit out of date in the technological age and is unlikely to fit in most home offices, but it remains awesome.

But over the last few weeks as I’ve started writing the next book about Bridget Hodgson, my butt-kicking, crime-solving midwife, I took one giant step backwards, at least from a technological perspective.

I’ve written the first 15% of the book by hand in a leather-bound notebook from Target.

[By way of explanation: I just spent three weeks chaperoning a student trip to China. This meant lots of time on buses, trains, and planes, where computer power wasn’t always reliable. I also didn’t feel like dragging my laptop up the Great Wall.]

As I wrote, I wondered how the technology I used would affect the process of writing and the book itself. Was this something I wanted to continue after I returned to the United States?

The downside of writing a book by hand is pretty clear: it’s going to take longer. The writing isn’t any faster than typing, so I am simply adding a step. Rather than writing and typing simultaneously, I will have to write it by hand and then type it into the computer.

But I can’t help wondering of the change might be worth it. I find myself more focused: no computer = no email/Facebook, etc. If I wonder about the meaning of a word, rather than getting lost in the Oxford English Dictionary for ten minutes, I make a note to look it up later and keep writing.

Also, since I don’t save my work chapter by chapter, I have stopped thinking in chapter increments. (Does anyone have one big file for their entire novel?) The pace and plot are dictated not by structural demands of the novel – I try to keep my chapters relatively consisted in length – but by the story itself. I feel like the story has added momentum. (Granted I could be wrong, but that’s how it feels at the moment.)

In any event, I’m not sure what I’m going to do as I move forward, but let me open the floor to all of you:

• Have you ever – as an adult – written anything by hand?
•  How does technology affect the way you 
• What should I do? (I’m terrible at making decisions.)

Just how many readers do you need?

by Sam Thomas

For most first-time authors, finding good readers is a daunting and difficult task. In large part this is because – to be honest – most people are liars.

I don’t mean that they are bad people. Quite the opposite, in fact. The problem is that when a friend or family-member (and who else is going to read your unpublished novel for free?) confronts a dreadful book, how likely is she to tell you the truth? Not bloody likely.

I have no advice on this front, nor is it the topic of this post.

The problem of finding readers changes fundamentally once your baby hits the shelves, and you start working on a second book. Because you are now a published author, you can ask (and sometimes convince) relative strangers to read your work. But how many is enough?

I ask this because I recently picked up a well-regarded literary mystery, and – as is my habit – went straight to the acknowledgements. There, the author thanks by name over two dozen people who read early drafts of the book.

There are a few possibilities as to how this is possible. First, these thirty people read the book seriously, and author did a lot of rewriting over a long period of time. While this is possible for debut authors, it’s not really an option for writers who have a contract with a deadline. (Try telling your editor that you’d love to send her your manuscript, but you need a twenty more reads and rewrites.)

The other possibility is that he had the book out to a lot of people at once, and – to my mind – that seems equally insane. I know from my time in academia that different readers want different things, and there is no way that ten – or even five – readers can provide coherent feedback.

Now I will grant that an author is free to pick and choose what advice to take, and to some extent more might be better than less. So I will open it up to you:

How many readers do you have, and how did you arrive at this number? Is two dozen too many, or am I just limited in my thinking?

Get out! Get out!

by Sam Thomas

Most writers are pretty insecure about their craft. The insecurity is born of experience: we have seen our work rejected many more times than its been embraced, whether by agents or publishers. We are regularly tell ourselves (or are told by agents or editors) that our work is not good enough. We also tend to keep to ourselves – writing is self-expression for introverts. We did not start bands, take up stand-up comedy, or spend our evenings at poetry slams. We shut ourselves off from the world and wrote.

Fine and dandy, except that with the decline of marketing budgets and the virtual disappearance of literary taste-makers (except the one whose name starts with “O”), the whole J.D. Salinger approach to publicity is not going to fly. Want to get our books out there? It’s up to us. The problem, of course, is that we are insecure and introverted.

My goal here is to encourage new writers to get out there and meet people. Offer to present at local libraries, visit with book clubs, talk to whomever will listen!

If you do, you’ll discover some pretty awesome things. First, it’s a ton of fun. You are already passionate about your work, or else you wouldn’t have taken the trouble to write a book. That passion willcome through. And remember that (unless you’ve set up a kiosk on a street corner), the people who come to see you are already interested in your work, or else they’d be somewhere else. You don’t have to convince them of anything. If you are polite and honest, people will walk away happy.

The other thing to keep in mind is that while you may not think it’s a big deal getting published, and you recognize that it’s a real grind, but others are much more excited. And while it’s pretty clear to you that you’ve been very lucky (at least that’s the case for me), that doesn’t mean you don’t have a good story to tell. People like to hear about the writing and publishing process first hand. The process might grind you down, but talking with readers and prospective readers will build you up!

So get out there!

The Book Pregnant Store is now open!

If you’ve been living off the grid for the past few weeks, and have just popped back in for a moment, I have bad news. The holiday season is here, and you still need to pick out gifts for all your friends and loved ones.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that when it comes to one-stop shopping, we here at Book Pregnant have got you covered, because all our books are now available in one place. We have set up an Amazon store, where you can find every book by Book Pregnant authors, from David Abrams to Ellen Marie Wiseman. (Note: All of these books are available from other vendors, including IndieBound. Our ‘store’ is on Amazon because they were the only site that had this feature.)

You could just browse our electronic shelves for the perfect book, but because your list is long and varied, we’ve also broken the books into different categories. Notable Books includes Wylie Cash’s A Land More Kind than Home and Lydia Netzer’s Shine, Shine, Shine (both New York Timesnotable books) among others.

We’ve also got Historical Fiction, Romance, Mysteries and Thrillers, and Women's Fiction.

Happy holidays from everyone at Book Pregnant!

On being Nice

Sam Thomas

The biggest surprise I’ve had in the run up to the publication of my first book has not been the all-expense-paid world tour, the private jets, adoring crowds, or the personal assistant. (Let’s face it – those things get old after a few months. I’ve heard.) The surprise has been how important it is to be nice, and how eager people are to return the favor. So this post is a paean to book people everywhere, and an exhortation to authors everywhere to go out and meet them.

A few months back, long before my book was going to drop, I wandered into one of our local libraries and asked to talk to the librarian in charge of the History Book Club. Since The Midwife’s Tale is historical fiction, I wanted to introduce myself and offer to meet with the group if they decided to read my book. (Since I assumed that the library system would buy my book anyway, there were no sales to be had: I was just trying to be sociable.) Margaret and I had a great conversation, and then – out of the blue – she asked if I’d be interested in holding my launch at the library. It’s a beautiful space, in a great location so I eagerly agreed. Then Margaret really turned on the jets, putting together an awesome poster for the event, and promising to really beat the bushes for attendees. She also will bring in someone from the local independent book store to sell copies (at a library!), and do her best to get me on the local NPR affiliate’s arts and culture show. All this because: a) She’s awesome; and b) I took the time to stop by and say hello.

The other contact that has been great is Suzanne from our awesome local independent bookstore. I swung by the store soon after I arrived in town, and she proved to be no less awesome than Margaret. She said they’d love to have me come in and sign books, and I offered to put a link on my webpage so that people could order signed copies directly from them. (For what it’s worth, she loved the idea. You should do this, too.) As if this weren’t enough, she then put me in touch with other librarians in town, and put me on the short-list for a spring speaker series that they host in conjunction with another local library. (Fingers crossed on that one.) Why? The same answer as above: she’s awesome, and I took the time to say Hello.

So here’s the moral: Get your butt out there. I know a lot of writers are not extroverts, but it’s worth it to overcome your natural reluctance and go meet people. Even though you know you are kind of a geek, and that publication is as much a product of good luck as good writing, people will be happy to meet you and will love that you have a book coming out. Even if you don’t sell a single copy of your book, you will meet awesome people who love to read, and that is reason enough.

N.B. I wrote this, my fear was that the message I send will be, “Be nice so people will help you.” That’s not it at all.  My argument is that people are awesome, and you should be awesome back.