May day! May day!

By Gayle Carline

We're barely into May, and it's already a busy month for me. First of all, it's the month of my wedding anniversary. C'mon, let's say it all together now: "Awww."

This year is our 20th, which is traditionally celebrated with china, according to the people who keep those kinds of lists. I don't need any china, however, and we can't afford to visit China, so we're going to do the next best thing.

We're going to Carmel.

Back when we were mere pups, Dale and I went to Carmel every year for our anniversary. This was because I forgot our anniversary one year. Sue me, we were moving into our new house and my mind was a bit of a jumble. I knew we were married May 16th, I just thought it was the May that comes after June.

See? Jumble.

Anyway, we spent a few years getting pre-occupied with life, so we thought we'd try to get back to the beautiful Central Coast. We scamper off next week to enjoy several days of sightseeing, wine tasting, and relaxing. But in the meantime…

I finally got all my ducks in a row and FREEZER BURN is now re-released, in paperback and e-book. Re-releasing it was actually the easy part. My wonderful designer did a kick-ass cover, as usual, I edited it again (story is the same, I just corrected a couple of things), and I know how to format for Createspace and Kindle.

I'm using the Kindle Select Program again. I feel horrible twinges of guilt that my Nook buddies can't get a copy, but I truly did less than 10% of my sales last year on all the non-Kindle e-readers combined. Plus the fact that Barnes & Noble tended to be the last ones to pay me kind of led me to Amazon's mighty door.

But I digress…

The hard part was re-doing the advertising. After all, FREEZER BURN has a new cover.

I had to re-do my website…

And the book trailer…

Then there was the banner that I put up on my booth at my local fairs. I do a fairly nice business at my city (Placentia) events, since my mysteries are set in the city and my humor books are collected from columns I write every Thursday for the local newspaper.

 

And I have a lot of bookmarks with the old cover - I probably won't replace them until I get low on supplies.

I'm truly thrilled with the new edition of my book, however, and tomorrow, I get to join a book club and talk about HIT OR MISSUS.

Life may be busy, but it sure is good!

OH OH OH, P.S. I forgot to mention, in honor of my 20th anniversary (to a great guy, btw) ALL my e-books will be available for free on May 16th. Mark your calendars. You heard it here first. You can find them all on my Amazon page.

Biography of My Dear, Dead Friend 31-01

Guest blog by Jon Jefferson, the writer half of bestselling crime-fiction duo Jefferson Bass

Forensic fans are cut from a different cloth from ordinary folks—specifically, I suspect, from the rubberized fabric of body bags. When ordinary folks find out I write a series called the Body Farm Novels, they look squeamish and quickly change the subject. Forensic fans, on the other hand (and you know who you are, people!) tend to get a gleam in their eyes and say, “Cool. Can I take a tour?!” Unfortunately, the answer is “no,” except to people who have compelling scientific or law-enforcement reasons to go; not enough staff and too many liability concerns.

Eleven years ago, I was lucky enough to go; in fact, I spent two months there at the Body Farm — the University of Tennessee’s Anthropology Research Facility — with a television crew in tow. I was writing and producing two one-hour documentaries for National Geographic. The plan for the first one, which we titled “Biography of a Corpse,” was to follow a research subject, a donated body, through the entire decomposition process. Once we’d gotten permission — not just from the university, but from the partner of a recently deceased man — we started shooting.

In his old life, our star had had a name; in his new life as a research subject, he took on a new identity, known only by a number: he became “31-01”: the 31st body donated to the Anthropology Department in the year 2001. He was one of four bodies being studied, over the course of a year, by a graduate student who was researching how the presence of clothing changes the decomposition rate of bodies, an important question, since most of the facility’s decomp studies had been conducted with nude bodies.

We began filming 31-01 the moment he came out of the cooler at the morgue at UT Medical Center. The body bag was laid on the ground, unzipped, and carefully tugged from beneath him. He was a white-haired man in his seventies, but he had the body of an athlete, a pentathlete, to be precise. One of the photos his partner gave me showed him hurling a javelin, his arm and shoulder looking as chiseled as a statue’s. Lying on the ground beneath the oaks and maples at the Body Farm, he appeared almost to be napping. But that peaceful appearance would change, and change fast. Within seconds, a blowfly alighted on 31-01’s face. It would be followed, in the minutes, days, and weeks to come, by many thousands more, as nature’s recycling crew began reclaiming him.

The process wasn’t going to be pretty, so why had 31-01’s partner agreed to let us film it, and broadcast it worldwide? “He loved science, he loved the human body, and he loved teaching people about the body,” she told me in an interview. He’d actually made other postmortem plans for himself —he’d arranged to donate his body to a medical school — but the school wasn’t able to take his body, so he’d come to the Body Farm as a way to honor the spirit of his last wishes. And the donation came just in the nick of time for our National Geographic documentary. “I think he would have really liked this,” she added with a sweet, poignant smile.

Besides making frequent visits to 31-01 with the video crew — daily at first, when the changes to his body were most rapid — I also rigged a 35-millimeter camera to take stills of him at regular intervals. By the time he was down to nearly bare bones, I had hundreds of photos. We pieced them together to make a film, eight weeks of decay, compressed into a 30-second movie. There’s no dialogue, and 31-01 doesn’t stir from the spot where he was laid, but there’s plenty of movement: his abdomen swells from bloat in his first week, then collapses, his belly going slack and hollow; insects come and go in waves; his facial features dissolve, and the skull beneath the skin emerges. In my favorite frame of the film, a leaf hangs in darkness above 31-01 for a thirtieth of a second, its fall halted in midair by the camera’s flash: a freeze-frame snapshot of mortality, both corporeal and arboreal.

In the years since 31-01 shuffled off his mortal coil before my eyes — my wondering, watchful, grateful eyes —I’ve seen that 30-second film dozens of times, maybe even hundreds of times. Just now, in fact, I took a minute to watch it again. It always ends the same for 31-01, just as it will end for us all, sooner or later.

But I remember another ending, too: the ending I put on the documentary that chronicled his decay. It was a montage of other photos, taken when he was alive, intact, and vigorous. In these, he seems to be an action verb: he is hurling his javelin; posing in his swimsuit by a canoe, his arms akimbo, muscles flexed; perching atop of his woodpile, his face propped on his hands, a big grin on his face.

Today the bones of 31-01 are tucked beneath Neyland Stadium at the University of Tennessee, where the Anthropology Department is housed. He dwells in a city of the dead, kept company by nearly 1400 other specimens in the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection. But in my mind, he’s very much alive, and I’m proud to consider him, in some strange and blessed and life-changing way, a friend for life.

Jefferson Bass is the pen name of Jon Jefferson, writer, and Dr. Bill Bass, renowned forensic anthropologist. Dr. Bass, founder of the University of Tennessee's "Body Farm," is an author on more than 200 scientific publications. Jon Jefferson is a veteran journalist and documentary filmmaker; his two National Geographic documentaries on the Body Farm were seen around the world. Jefferson and Bass have collaborated on two nonfiction books and six crime novels; their seventh novel, The Inquisitor's Key, was published yesterday. Read an excerpt.

For more on Jefferson Bass, find them on Facebook, read their blog, and follow along on Twitter. For current book-tour & blog-tour schedules, click here.

Things that make you go hmmm...

By Tom Adair;
Author of The Scent of Fear

Criminalists are a strange bunch. We see the world differently than most others. Early in your career you make an effort to look for clues but after a while subtle things just seem to set off your radar. Such was the case the other day when I met an old colleague for lunch. He's a really good CSI as well as a Vietnam War veteran. We met at his favorite burger shop Smashburger (if you're not from Colorado you're missing out!) to get caught up on the grand kids, life, and "shop talk". While we were eating a guy dressed in fatigues walked in with a woman. There are a number of military bases in the area (as well as recruitment centers) so seeing a soldier is not uncommon. But there was something about this guy that grabbed my attention. Not having served in the military I have only a passing knowledge of uniform protocol. I casually began paying attention and noticed several things that seemed odd to me. First, his hair was longer than mine but still less than shoulder length. Some SPEC OPS soldiers are allowed longer hair and beards but it was more the length and style which seemed wrong. The camouflage pattern didn't seem right either. The elements were larger and showed no signs of sun fading. He was a "buck" Sergeant according to his arm patch but a tab below the patch labeled him as a sniper. Now I'm no expert but sniper's don't typically announce their abilities like that. A sniper is a target to the enemy so announcing your skill is kind of like putting a target on your head.

At some point I looked at my buddy and asked him to take a look. Without hesitation he said with a smirk "the guy in the 'sniper' uniform?" Turns out he had seen the guy too and done much of the same assessment. Obviously, we never approached the guy and said "what gives?" but both of us were convinced the guy was a fraud. Beyond the uniform the guy just didn't have that "look" in his eyes. You can see it in the eyes of many police and military. They are always aware of their surroundings, even if just giving a subtle glance around. Combat veterans have a very "hardened" look about them which I have a hard time describing but an easy time spotting. Not a mean look, or a paranoid darting of the eyes, just a look of extreme confidence mixed with a pinch of caution. We were both staring at this guy and he never once looked our way. It was like his radar was completely shut off.

I was reminded of this experience when I recently read yet another story of stolen valor where a man claimed to be a US Navy SEAL sniper. Apparently, this is a common tactic to meet women. Capt. Larry Bailey (former SEAL) famously stated "there were about 500 active duty SEALs during the Vietnam War and I've met all 20,000 of them". I don't know how these guys think they can fool the real SEALS. Seeing as how heroes like Brandon Webb trained many (if not most) of the SEAL snipers today it's a wonder how these con-men think they can get away with their lies.

SEAL segue aside, the point of this post is that CSIs and others are trained to notice small details which seem out of order. Even if we don't have an expert knowledge of a subject (like me and military uniforms) something still catches our eye. This is an important attribute to consider when you are writing a police procedural. Any of us can make mistakes and overlook something small but the more inconsistencies we see the more likely our inner alarm will sound. My friend and I silently took in the same details about the same guy without ever alerting the other.  We found nothing "suspicious" about the other patrons.

These "alarms" are often called "red flags" and are shaped by our life experiences and interests (hobbies, past occupations, etc). The training CSIs receive simply helps refine our ability to filter the information. Ultimately, it means that we're tougher to fool. So if your bad guy is staging the crime scene or simply offering a fake alibi you should consider how your character will evaluate that information. There is a saying among interrogators..."little lie, big lie" which simply means if suspects are willing to lie about small inconsequential things then maybe they are lying about bigger issues too. When auditing your scenes or developing your characters pay close attention to their interests and life experiences. How will these experiences shape the filtering of information in their environment? Are they lying about something they have great knowledge or experience with? Are they making up a story based on a false perception (like the plot to a movie or book in their home). Fooling a good detective or CSI will be difficult so you'll need to think about how to construct the lie or ruse in such a way that is plausible. Someone once said the best lies contain 80% truth. That may be accurate but a good detective or CSI will sniff out the other 20%.

Creating a Scene Outline for Your Novel

by Jodie Renner, editor, author, speaker   

First, what’s a scene?

         Although most novels are divided up into chapters, the scene is the fundamental unit of fiction. Each scene is a mini-story, with a main character and a beginning, middle, and end of its own. Every scene needs tension or conflict, and at the end of each scene, at least one of the main characters must have gone through some sort of change. Otherwise, the scene isn’t pulling its weight and needs to be revised or cut. As Jessica Morrell says, each scene is a microcosm of the  plot, and every scene needs a mission (goal), an obstacle, and an outcome (usually a disaster). For more on scenes, see Jodie’s article “Every Scene Needs Conflict and a Change.”

A modern novel normally has several dozen scenes. Each scene can range in length from a few paragraphs to a dozen pages or more. A chapter can contain one scene or several. Occasionally, a scene may even run into the next chapter.


Using the Scene Outline:

The outline below will help you organize and your scenes and decide if any of them need to be moved, revised, amped up, or cut.

This is a great tool for both plotters and pantsers. Plotters/outliners can use it to outline your scenes early on in the process, and those of you who prefer to just let the words flow and write “by the seat of your pants” can use it later, to make sure the timeline makes sense and that the scene has conflict/tension and a change. 

Keep each scene description to a minimum. Don’t get carried away with too many details, or the task could become arduous. The most important thing is the POV (point of view) character’s goal for that scene, and what’s preventing him/her from reaching that goal, plus any new conflicts / problems / questions that arise.

And you can use a different font color or highlight color for each main character, for a quick reference on who was the POV character for each scene. Also, you can print it up and cut them out to rearrange the scenes, or use a writing software for that.

If in doubt as to who should be the viewpoint character for that scene, most often it’s your protagonist. Can also, less often, be your antagonist or another main character. Almost never a minor character. If you can’t decide who should be the POV character for a particular scene, go with the character who has the most invested emotionally or the most to lose.

SCENE OUTLINE FORM:

Scene 1: Chapter:1    Place:         

Date/Month/Season:                                 Year (approx.):

POV character for this scene:
                                 
Other main characters here:

POV character’s goal here:

Motivation for their goal (why do they want that?):

Main problem / conflict – Who/What is preventing MC from reaching his/her goal:

Outcome – Usually a setback / new problem:

(And/or new info, revelation, new question, resolution of problem [rarely]):



Scene 2: Chapter:            Place:                           

Date/Month/Season:                                     Year (approx.):

POV character:                                   

Other main characters:

POV character’s goal:

Motivation for their goal:

Main problem/conflict/question:

Outcome (most often a setback):


Scene 3: Chapter:            Place:                              

Date/Month/Season:                                      Year (approx.):

POV character:                      

Other main characters:

POV character’s goal:

Motivation:

Main problem/conflict/question:

Outcome (most often a setback):


Scene 4:

Etc. Continue for as many scenes as you have.

Fiction writers - Do you have any tips to add to this scene outline?

Copyright © Jodie Renner, April 2012

Jodie Renner is a freelance fiction editor and the award-winning author of threecraft-of-writing guides in her series An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction: Captivate Your Readers, Fire up Your Fiction, and Writing a Killer Thriller, as well as two clickable time-saving e-resources, Quick Clicks: Spelling List and Quick Clicks: Word Usage. She has also organized two anthologies for charity, incl. Childhood Regained – Stories of Hope for Asian Child Workers. You can find Jodie at www.JodieRenner.com, www.JodieRennerEditing.com, her blog, http://jodierennerediting.blogspot.com/, and on Facebook and Twitter. 

Staying Focused in a Fun Chatty World

by L.J. Sellers, author of provocative mysteries & thrillers

Last night I almost joined a Yahoo group called Crime Scene Writers. It was recommended by someone on another group I belong to (Dorothy L) where we discuss crime fiction. I get the discussions in digest format, and they come in batches of three or four each day. Reading through these is fun, but hugely time consuming, and I keep telling myself I need to withdraw from the group and spend my time in more productive ways

Until recently, I also belonged to 4MA (For Mystery Addicts), another crime fiction group, as well as a group called Murder Must Advertise. I left the former because they’re very strict about any kind of self-promotion (including linking to blogs), and I rarely have time to read the group books. I quit the later because many of the new members wanted to discuss the basic fundamentals of publishing and promoting, which I've known for a while. I decided my time there was not well spent.

So last night when I came a split second away from clicking the join/submit button on yet another group discussion, I suddenly pulled back. Even though I believe the group would be beneficial and fun, I’m still months behind on my production schedule for this year. Meaning, the book that was supposed to be done by now, simply is not.

Managing a publishing business with ten books is a lot of work, even without writing the next novel. And now that our household is totally dependent on my Amazon sales, keeping my books visible and selling well is my number one objective.

Back when I had one or two books, writing the next story was the best thing I could do to expand my readership and help sell the first two books. It’s just not that simple for me anymore—or for most other self-published authors with a deep catalog.

The point is: I have to be very careful about how I spend my time. I get requests every day to read/blurb someone’s book, or to participate in a Q&A, or do an interview for a book about marketing. I’ve mostly given up reading for people, but I try to do all the interview requests. And I respond to every reader who writes to me.

But the discussion groups, as fun as they are, may have to go. I should be doing more blogging and writing more articles for national news organizations. I should be reading more crime fiction just for fun. And I definitely should be writing more every day.

I’m not alone in these decisions and the guilt that often comes with them. All authors face the dilemma of trying to do everything and realizing they can’t.

Writers: What are your priorities? What have you learned to say no to? What have you had to give up?

Readers: What are the most important social avenues you like your authors to participate in? What are you willing to let go of?

Do You Get What You Pay For?

By C.J. West
Suspense. Creativity. Action

Hitch had a great post this week about new authors and their quest to turn their manuscript into a published book. Being a publisher encompasses a whole lot more than writing and her post “Writing The Book Was Step Zero” was apt. There is editing, cover art, then marketing, which is an occupation unto itself.

When all that is done, a book that might have spent an eternity in a hundred different slush piles comes to market. The new writer sees a world of opportunity and braces for an onslaught of attention and what he hears most often is crickets. He feels isolated. Locked out of the market.

I’m reminded of a story from a few years ago. I’d been self-publishing for about 5 years. I had a book optioned for film and was excited about my prospects. I’d had enough bookstore doors slammed in my face to know that the industry wasn’t receptive to self-publishers, but I ventured off to Bouchercon eager to meet other readers and writers.

I met a well-respected reviewer and we chatted several times about panels. This person was impressed by a large e-book panel I moderated. When the show was over, I was included in a roundup of the event. But when I read my name, I was “self-published author C.J. West”.

Self-published. Like a warning label. Or a contagious disease.

None of the other authors mentioned was linked to a publisher. Just me. A friend suggested the publicity was a good thing. It felt like discrimination and I still think I would have been happier if my name had been omitted.

Fortunately all those gatekeepers who held new writers back have become much less important. Self-published authors can easily get books into the hands of readers.

But that means the slush pile has moved to Amazon.com.

It’s now up to readers to discern if a book is worth reading. Readers see a book description, a cover, and list a price. If a self-publisher is a good marketer, it becomes really hard to tell their book from one that’s traditionally published.

Until you open it.

In the last few months I’ve been hearing frustrated comments from readers about ninety-nine cent books. I know from personal experience that many of these books are really disappointing. Some readers who have been disappointed enough times steer clear of deeply-discounted novels altogether.

I think this is a sign that Kindle is hitting the mainstream reader. The early adopters were excited about the technology and embraced pioneer writers that brought them inexpensive stories. Many Kindlers still go out of their way to read self-published books and offer “kid-glove” reviews.

The mainstream reader expects a well-edited story that hangs together until the end. This isn’t true for a lot of self-published books and unless you know the author or carefully read the reviews, sometimes you are in for a huge disappointment. Please note the distinction between a book that you don’t enjoy and one that is full of grammatical errors, sloppy writing, and plot inconsistencies.

At the same time I’m seeing writers experiment with price increases to move away from the self-published crowd. For now, the $2.99 price dominates for new writers, but I wonder if readers will begin to think these books are worth avoiding.

Will we see a time when a majority of readers treat inexpensive books like they deserve a warning label?

Are you willing to pay an extra $7.00 for a book you know was professionally published?

When Two Authors are Better than One

By Andrew E. Kaufman
Author of Psychological Thrillers

My decision to team up professionally with Michele Scott (A.K. Alexander) seemed like it was destined to happen from the word go, one of those odd life circumstances where things snap easily into place, and as soon as they do, you can’t remember them being any other way.

She’d actually been kicking my tail on the bestsellers list for weeks. Her title, Daddy’s Home, was in the number one spot for psychological thrillers, and mine, The Lion, the Lamb, the Hunted, was right behind her at number two. I kept thinking, “Who is this girl? I’m selling a hell of a lot of books, but damn, she must be selling a hell of a lot more.”

Several weeks later, I was just about to head out on vacation when I had a thought: her book was doing great, and my book was doing great. What if we teamed up together and did some joint promotion—sort of an author cross-pollination effort? We were both targeting a similar audience, and I figured maybe we could parlay it into a big one. With things changing as rapidly as they do in this business, you have to think on your feet if you want to sell books, so why not? The worst thing she could do was tell me to get lost.

Luckily, she didn’t. In fact, her response was more than favorable. To my surprise, she said she’d been watching me closely for weeks as well and had been thinking about the same thing, that working with another author could be a great opportunity. Then she mentioned that she’d also been thinking of co-authoring a novel with someone, and would I be interested? Was I interested? The wheels in my head were already turning. This could be huge!

In talking, I happened to notice that the setting for Daddy’s Home was in my hometown of San Diego, and during one of our conversations, I mentioned it.

“I live here too,” she replied, “Which part of town are you in?”

I told her.

She said, “Get out! So do I!”

Now, you have to understand something: San Diego is a huge city, which, at last count, had a population of more than 1.3 million. My little town, on the other hand, is the size of a postage stamp, so small in fact, and so far out in the sticks, that half the people in the city have never even heard of it. So what are the odds that two authors standing back-to-back on the same bestsellers list would be living here? And what are the odds that I would unknowingly contact her to team up?

Next to none, I know.

At first, I thought she was pulling my leg, so I asked where in town she lived. She told me exactly.

Then I said, “You know what? I think we’re neighbors.”

And we are—literally a few blocks away from each other.

Meant to happen. See what I mean?

The professional relationship quickly flourished and we got busy working on our collaborative effort, a psychological thriller called The Killing Rain. How’s it going? If I told you better than we ever could have ever expected, would you believe me? Right away, the ideas began flying back and forth between us, and now, so are the pages. I almost feel guilty because it seems too easy. We’re so excited about this project that we’ve  decided to give it top priority, putting it out before our individual efforts.

The release date is set for this November, and neither of us can wait. We have big plans for this novel and are looking forward to sharing it with the world.

One last note: I have to add that working with another author is a creative process unlike any I've ever experienced. When we get together and start working, it's like there's a fire in the room that can't be put out.  It's both exciting and remarkably rewarding. We are a team, we're learning a lot from each other, and we're looking forward to a long writing career together.

Writing the Book was Step ZERO!

By:  Kimberly Hitchens is the founder and owner of Booknook.biz, an ebook production company that has produced books for over 750 authors and imprints.

(I was recently part of a discussion on MMA--Murder Must Advertise--the terrific Yahoo Group run by best-selling author and promotion guru, Jeffrey Marks.  If you read my MMA post on April 22nd about self-publishing, you can skip this; if not, plunge ahead at your own risk.)

In the third week of April, the ubiquitous (and frankly, tiresome) debate started up on MMA as to the merits of "self-publishing," which often seems to get muddled with the idea of digital publishing, even though the two are very distinct; while there is a large intersection of the sets, they're not the same thing.  The usual arguments sprang up--those all "for" Indy publishing, and deriding publishers in general; and those legacy-pubbed, who like their publishers (and advances!) and want to stay that way.  I honestly felt fairly irritated at the kerfluffle, and posted the following, about the realities of "publishing," self- or otherwise:

++++++++++++++++++++

If I may weigh in on this, from the vantage point of someone who is neither author nor publisher nor IndyAuthor, but works with all of the forementioned...

In my experience, the single biggest obstacle that authors have on the road to self-publishing is themselves, period. I have exceedingly few authors who come through my metaphysical doors prepared to be publishers. Most authors get to the point where they type "The End," and think they're done, and many feel that, quite bluntly, they shouldn't have to do anything further. At most, they think that they should have to suffer through editing their work--but most never think about what is truly involved in publishing, which isn't the same thing as printing. Moreover, I've yet to meet the client that was legacy-published (advance- and royalties paid author, not subsidy author) that ever felt that their publisher had done enough for them. (This was not a criticism of the original poster on MMA, who had genuine problems with her publisher; this was simply a recitation of the sentiment expressed, by and large, by over 1,000 author-clients, a very large percentage of whom have been legacy-pubbed.) I speculate that this sensation, by the author, generally (not always) comes from a true lack of appreciation for what publishing actually takes, or how much work is involved.

At Booknook.biz, in fact, we've been working on a set of documents or tutorials with a lame working title of "So, You Want to Be a Publisher," which in very broad strokes outlines all the nine bajillion things that a publisher does that an author doesn't. It's a long list.

I am daily asked by clients for recommendations for "publicists" and other fantastical creatures to do the work of publicity for their books. I am daily asked by authors to "get their ISBN's" for them, to "pick the cover designer," to "upload their books for them," and while we're at it, can I find them an editor (who works for less than minimum wage), find a $25 cover designer, find royalty-free fonts to replace the expensive fonts they used in their ms (because finding, licensing and downloading fonts is "too hard"), and can they hire someone to send emails to bloggers to get reviews for their books? I am asked not less than 5 times a day how much an author should price his/her books at; and can I get them a list of the 50 best book bloggers for their genre, or tell them how to get a review at MBR for their ebook, while I'm at it?

THIS--all of this--is what a publisher does. Researching everything: from traditional publishing to subsidy publishing to indy publishing; buying ISBN's; assigning an imprint name; researching cover design styles, finding a cover designer, negotiating the fees for the cover, finding and licensing art for the cover, finding and licensing fonts for the cover (if the cover designer isn't doing that) and for the interior; Registering the copyright, determining HOW you will distribute your book (Aggregator or yourself, or only in eBook form?), researching the niche/genre and the pricing therefore; learning how to navigate, use and leverage Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Library Thing; writing press releases, finding review blogs for your genre, deciding whether NetGalley is worth the price, determining whether KDP select is for you, scheduling book tours, virtual and physical--and, oh yes, doing all the accounting, bookkeeping and tax documents yourself.

THIS is what a publisher does, Indy, small imprint or Random House. Far too many authors, in my experience, think of themselves as "artists," and not as BUSINESSPEOPLE. As Hobbyists, not commercial enterprises. Here's the bottom line: publishing is a *business.* If you are not prepared to be business-like about it, and run your book(s) like a small business, you are probably better off using a subsidy press and not doing much--and don't expect much (because, after all, the vast majority of "subsidy" or "partner" publishers are really just grossly over-compensated printers, and you could do the same thing at Createspace for far less money, and get better distribution). If you are prepared to put in the blood, sweat and tears--and reap the rewards--then Indy publishing is for YOU.

Now, none of this will make a bad book good--but not doing any of it will certainly help tank a good book. And the part that most miss is that, promotionally-speaking, this is the same work that legacy-pubbed midlisters have to do EVERY DAY, so the differences in the workload are really quite small.

I know--believe me--that many authors are very shy people, and CRINGE at the idea of all of this--but this is what it takes. Just ask Tim Hallinan, or LJ Sellers; or ask Jeffrey Marks, our own personal promotional hero, (t)here on MMA. Self-publishing is indeed, in our lifetimes (as it was in Ben Franklin's, and Aristotle's, for that matter) a brave new frontier--but one has to remove the artist's beret and put on that Entrepreneur's hat. If you can do that--then it's a fantastic opportunity to do well.

My last comment is this: any publisher that refuses to open his books to you needs a kick in the keister, although, having said that, I have a client that emails his aggregator FIVE TIMES A DAY asking for his sales figures, and the aggregator, rightfully, (in my opinion), fired him as a client. Assuming that we're talking reasonably-spaced requests, I'd ask an attorney or CPA friend to send them a letter and demand to see the books. (n.b.: this last sentence applies in specificity to the original poster--OP--on MMA, and isn't really relevant here, but it was part of the original post.)

Just my $.02, for what it's worth.

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Next time:  Who is Bowker, and why is there an ISBN Monopoly in the US--or, for that matter, in virtually every country in the world?  To ISBN, or not to ISBN--That is the Question!