Practical Matters
Today's blog, by request, is on purely practical matters. Websites . . . and also pen names.
I'll do pen names first. I have three. One is my real name. One is for YA so kids don't go and buy THIS. One is for darker fiction. I am adding a fourth for my top-secret project. TOTALLY different genre.
On the one hand, having pen names for different genres makes sense. On the other . . . it gets burdensome after a while maintaining all that--email addresses, websites, even just keeping it all straight. However, taking a pen name when starting out altogether has some pros and cons.
The cons first . . . come on . . . MOST writers want to see their name on a cover. Not some fake name. They want everyone who ever knew them to walk into a bookstore, see their name on the front table, and go "Holy sh*t, she always said she was going to write a book!" In fact, I have had numerous friends from high school track me down because of that. (Hi, Dee!) So if it's NOT your real name, face it, the experience just isn't the same. Your parents don't get quite the same bragging rights. Everyone doesn't know.
The pros? Well, read the above paragraph. That's the pro. There is something to be said for bad reviews, jealous writers, back-stabbing PTA moms, and sneering colleagues who may wonder why you write about sex, say, if you write erotica, not being able to put YOU with a NAME.
Another pro? Suffice to say, more than one fan has "found" me. I have gotten gifts in the mail (extravagent and strange gifts--unasked for--including one delivered from Fed Ex, on a Saturday, so big it needed a handtruck, packed on dry ice--now there's a story). There ARE odd people out there. In my case, two overzealous male fans tracked me down--one living all the way in Portugual. Yes, you read that right. Pen names give you a measure of privacy. This may not seem like a big deal now, but if you become huge (and think about it . . . I am not a household name and I've been through this), who knows, it might. On the other hand, if you become huge, once again, do you want everyone who ever knew you to know? Only you can answer that. I can tell you it bugs my parents sometimes that some books don't have my real name. Then my dear father has to go to the trouble of telling his friends who I really am.
Can you choose any old pen name? Well, I chose names that had a little meaning to me. In hindsight, I wish they had more of a familial connection, and my new one will have a direct relation to me. However, I have to "run four names up the flagpole," so to speak for my new editor. So it's not ALWAYS a matter of simply saying, "This is my pen name." If you don't pick anything too weird, you should be OK. However, sometimes simpler names are, frankly, taken. Or are too similar to someone else writing in your genre. So sometimes it's literally not possible to buy up all the websites for all the pen names you might be thinking about.
Which leads me to websites.
In the last three months, as things have been going on behind the scenes sales wise, the first thing new editors did was plug in my website. The FIRST thing. Twice I was on the phone with editors while they did so. I have editors who read my blog. A web presence is important.
That said, my website is done at home by Significant Other. In between raising four kids and all the rest of it. It doesn't have a thousand fancy features. It's servicable, not totally ugly, it does the job, and it's fine for me. I have seen new writers spend a lot of money on amazing websites--for books that didn't sell. So you really have to consider that. Buy your name, maybe a pen name or two, park it, and if you feel inclined, add a page or two while waiting to sell. However, I have to be honest in that, I think an editor, if they were thinking of buying you as brand-new author would ASSUME you would buy a website, and NOT having one PRIOR to selling isn't the kiss of death. Better to have NOTHING than something unprofessional. Better still to have a nice page or two, maybe something about yourself and the book, contact information, and leave it at that. Editors I know are insanely swamped. They are not hunting down the website of every new writer they MIGHT buy. That's like people who, crazily, come close to a deal and then tell the editor they have fifteen unsold projects. No one is thinking you are a one-book wonder and every contract has an OPTION clause, so touting all these books only makes an editor wonder, "Why hasn't anyone bought you before?" Every editor knows you will get a website and promote your books.
And that said, I recently came across an author's advice for websites for newbies. The list of things this woman was saying you should have on your site was terrifyingly huge. The basics is enough for now. Worry about writing the best book you can.
And THAT said, I have to tell you . . . I think e-books are great. They are a wave of publishing that will come into their own eventually. But I know for me, if I go to a writer's site and see 50 e-books of dubious quality and hideous covers, I wonder. Just HOW polished is this book that Editor A is getting? Why not concentrate of doing one break-out book rather than 50 novellas? I think if you are going to do e-books, be picky about the company/publisher, picky about the cover art, and promote the hell out of a couple of them that showcase your BEST work, but don't think that all 50 of those are just brilliant gems that publishers in NYC should have bought. It looks frenzied, and that isn't ME talking, that's an editor I had lunch with who was very derisive about some trrends she was seeing and an author she thought about buying whose site was overloaded with e-books (I am not talking 5--I am talking really, really big numbers here, lest I get angry emails about my position on this). Be PICKY and showcase your VERY BEST if you are going to have a web presence. Just as I blog about writing, but do NOT post my grocery list. (For the record, yesterday I bought apples, granola bars, Diet Coke for oldest daughter, frozen veggies, bread, and a lot of yogurt. Oh, and non-dairy creamer for church, where I make the coffee and bring coffeecake or donuts for 75 people every Sunday.)
See. You didn't need to read that.
Thoughts on practical matters?
I'll do pen names first. I have three. One is my real name. One is for YA so kids don't go and buy THIS. One is for darker fiction. I am adding a fourth for my top-secret project. TOTALLY different genre.
On the one hand, having pen names for different genres makes sense. On the other . . . it gets burdensome after a while maintaining all that--email addresses, websites, even just keeping it all straight. However, taking a pen name when starting out altogether has some pros and cons.
The cons first . . . come on . . . MOST writers want to see their name on a cover. Not some fake name. They want everyone who ever knew them to walk into a bookstore, see their name on the front table, and go "Holy sh*t, she always said she was going to write a book!" In fact, I have had numerous friends from high school track me down because of that. (Hi, Dee!) So if it's NOT your real name, face it, the experience just isn't the same. Your parents don't get quite the same bragging rights. Everyone doesn't know.
The pros? Well, read the above paragraph. That's the pro. There is something to be said for bad reviews, jealous writers, back-stabbing PTA moms, and sneering colleagues who may wonder why you write about sex, say, if you write erotica, not being able to put YOU with a NAME.
Another pro? Suffice to say, more than one fan has "found" me. I have gotten gifts in the mail (extravagent and strange gifts--unasked for--including one delivered from Fed Ex, on a Saturday, so big it needed a handtruck, packed on dry ice--now there's a story). There ARE odd people out there. In my case, two overzealous male fans tracked me down--one living all the way in Portugual. Yes, you read that right. Pen names give you a measure of privacy. This may not seem like a big deal now, but if you become huge (and think about it . . . I am not a household name and I've been through this), who knows, it might. On the other hand, if you become huge, once again, do you want everyone who ever knew you to know? Only you can answer that. I can tell you it bugs my parents sometimes that some books don't have my real name. Then my dear father has to go to the trouble of telling his friends who I really am.
Can you choose any old pen name? Well, I chose names that had a little meaning to me. In hindsight, I wish they had more of a familial connection, and my new one will have a direct relation to me. However, I have to "run four names up the flagpole," so to speak for my new editor. So it's not ALWAYS a matter of simply saying, "This is my pen name." If you don't pick anything too weird, you should be OK. However, sometimes simpler names are, frankly, taken. Or are too similar to someone else writing in your genre. So sometimes it's literally not possible to buy up all the websites for all the pen names you might be thinking about.
Which leads me to websites.
In the last three months, as things have been going on behind the scenes sales wise, the first thing new editors did was plug in my website. The FIRST thing. Twice I was on the phone with editors while they did so. I have editors who read my blog. A web presence is important.
That said, my website is done at home by Significant Other. In between raising four kids and all the rest of it. It doesn't have a thousand fancy features. It's servicable, not totally ugly, it does the job, and it's fine for me. I have seen new writers spend a lot of money on amazing websites--for books that didn't sell. So you really have to consider that. Buy your name, maybe a pen name or two, park it, and if you feel inclined, add a page or two while waiting to sell. However, I have to be honest in that, I think an editor, if they were thinking of buying you as brand-new author would ASSUME you would buy a website, and NOT having one PRIOR to selling isn't the kiss of death. Better to have NOTHING than something unprofessional. Better still to have a nice page or two, maybe something about yourself and the book, contact information, and leave it at that. Editors I know are insanely swamped. They are not hunting down the website of every new writer they MIGHT buy. That's like people who, crazily, come close to a deal and then tell the editor they have fifteen unsold projects. No one is thinking you are a one-book wonder and every contract has an OPTION clause, so touting all these books only makes an editor wonder, "Why hasn't anyone bought you before?" Every editor knows you will get a website and promote your books.
And that said, I recently came across an author's advice for websites for newbies. The list of things this woman was saying you should have on your site was terrifyingly huge. The basics is enough for now. Worry about writing the best book you can.
And THAT said, I have to tell you . . . I think e-books are great. They are a wave of publishing that will come into their own eventually. But I know for me, if I go to a writer's site and see 50 e-books of dubious quality and hideous covers, I wonder. Just HOW polished is this book that Editor A is getting? Why not concentrate of doing one break-out book rather than 50 novellas? I think if you are going to do e-books, be picky about the company/publisher, picky about the cover art, and promote the hell out of a couple of them that showcase your BEST work, but don't think that all 50 of those are just brilliant gems that publishers in NYC should have bought. It looks frenzied, and that isn't ME talking, that's an editor I had lunch with who was very derisive about some trrends she was seeing and an author she thought about buying whose site was overloaded with e-books (I am not talking 5--I am talking really, really big numbers here, lest I get angry emails about my position on this). Be PICKY and showcase your VERY BEST if you are going to have a web presence. Just as I blog about writing, but do NOT post my grocery list. (For the record, yesterday I bought apples, granola bars, Diet Coke for oldest daughter, frozen veggies, bread, and a lot of yogurt. Oh, and non-dairy creamer for church, where I make the coffee and bring coffeecake or donuts for 75 people every Sunday.)
See. You didn't need to read that.
Thoughts on practical matters?
posted by Erica Orloff at 6:48 AM
18 comments
