Tag: diversity

news from the self publishing world, self publishing news, Uncategorized

Self-Publishing News: 10.29.2019

hello October word abstrtact in wood type

And now for the news!

Some highlights from this month in the world of self-publishing!

This fascinating article from Matia Madrona Query of Publishers Weekly tackles the story of author Melissa Marr, an author already well-known for her traditionally published work but who has recently made the decision to “go indie,” by which we mean that she has moved into self-publishing for her most recent projects, including short stories, a collection, and re-releases of at least two books from her backlist that have gone out of print. “‘Let’s be honest: I’m lousy at boxes,'” Query quotes Marr as saying. “‘I write picture books, middle grade, YA, adult, short fiction, and manga. Why not try this?'” Why not indeed? And Marr seems to be finding her feet; writes Query, “in taking control of the publishing process, she has relished the additional freedom to package and juxtapose her work in new and novel ways—a particular benefit for an author whose literary fantasy realms are often layered and intermingling.” Marr’s, Query goes on to point out, experience some benefits as well, including a quick turnaround from manuscript to print copies on the shelf. Marr’s experience has given her some useful insights into the value of visibility, an attractive cover, and a responsive self-publishing platform as well—all of which are worth reading!

Publishers Weekly showed up for self-publishing in a big way this week, with multiple articles touching on different possibilities enabled by self-publishing. This article from contributors Raquel Delemos and Tiffany Richardson tackle the thorny issue of boosting diversity within indie and self-publishing (and frankly, publishing at large) through the writing collective Big Black Chapters, of which there are now more than 3,000 members. Write Delemos and Richardson, “we believe that having safe spaces for writers of color to address the issues they face is critical for the creative process. Alongside writing prompts and story excerpts, our group discussions involve topics relating to race and navigating mainstream creative writing spaces. We discuss the complexities of self-publishing alongside issues within our own community such as colorism and ethnic bias.” Fascinating, right? We’re always excited to see authors from underrepresented and marginalized communities take advantage of the democratization of publishing as offered and expanded by self-publishing platforms; we wish Big Black Chapters the best in all their future endeavors.

Margaret Atwood, mega-blockbuster-success of an author with a new book out (you miiiight have heard of it, given it became a Nobel prize-winner within weeks of its publication this Fall) is known for tackling tough subjects, and she broke into writing when there were very few women’s names on book spines. But there’s a side to her story that not many readers know about. Writes Dianca London Potts of Glamour, Atwood got her start when she self-published a collection of poetry: “‘We went around to bookstores, and they actually took them for 50 cents. It’s just what you did,’ she explains. ‘It taught me that you could make things, and there are still these entry points that involve a certain amount of self-publication.'” While most of Atwood’s story has been subsumed within the larger white noise of the traditional publishing industry, she still pays homage to her roots. And her characters, whether in book form or on screen, are at least in some small way able to give voice to powerful concepts of feminism and personal agency because of those bookstores that shelled out 50c back in the 1960s. How’s that for a testimonial?

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As a self-publishing author, you may find it helpful to stay up-to-date on the trends and news related to the self-publishing industry.This will help you make informed decisions before, during and after the self-publishing process, which will lead to a greater self-publishing experience. To help you stay current on self-publishing topics, simply visit our blog each month to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.

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Kelly Speaks, news from the self publishing world, self publishing news, Uncategorized, we need diverse books

Self-Publishing News: 9.26.2016

And now for the news!

This week in the world of self-publishing:

“In its annual summary of ISBNs registered for self-published works, Bowker reported that nearly 730,000 were issued in 2015, up from 153,000 in 2010,” writes Brian O’Leary in this September 23rd report for Publishers Weekly. “The numbers cover ISBNs issued for both print and digital formats,” he writes–but why should self-publishing authors care?  O’Leary has the answer:

The ISBN is a useful way to monitor sales across the supply chain, but works published on a single platform can forgo the identifier and rely on platforms such as Amazon to report performance. Because the creators of many self-published works do not apply for ISBNs, the number of new works published each year is believed to be greater than Bowker is able to report.

The result is that self-publishing authors are selling books which aren’t being effectively tracked by a third-party organization which reports on print, digital, and traditional vs. indie market shares.  Amazon, as we’ve mentioned elsewhere, doesn’t tend to release its sales figures to the public–and if it does, usually it’s only for a special occasional.  All of this is well and good if nobody minds that Amazon and other companies involved in self-publishing continue to withhold important information from the public, and if the public in turn doesn’t mind if it allows Amazon–a company with a vested interest in only its own shareholders, not the quality or diversity or ethicality of the product and marketing–to retain its unchallenged position at the apex of the indie revolution. O’Leary may not come out and say these things, but there’s the subtext when he concludes that “It’s not just a debate about traditional versus independent publishing, although that discussion will go on for some time. Understanding the market gives authors and publishers the data needed to inform where and how they spend their time and resources.”  For the rest of O’Leary’s excellent report, follow the link.

Monica Rhor pulls no punches in this September 24th article for USA Today; she’s ready to let the publishing world have it, and she delivers the full force of an argument that has been percolating among the near-holy trifecta of authors, publishers, and readers for some years now: Children need to see themselves in the books they read, and they aren’t getting that chance if they happen to be anything other than white and middle-class. And parents like Rhor’s interviewee, Victoria Cepeda, want to purchase books that “reflect her 4-year-old son’s cultural roots as well as his potential aspirations. [Cepeda] seeks stories that promote education and achievement, with characters who mirror his Latino heritage. Pretty simple stipulations. Amazingly difficult to find.”

This shouldn’t be the case, Rhor argues. But what’s holding us back? “Of the 3,400 books received by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education in 2015,” writes Rhor, “only 58 were written by Hispanic authors and 82 were about Latino characters. Most large-trade publishers in the U.S. send copies of their new books to the CCBC, an organization that tracks the race of authors and characters in children’s books.” This is despite the fact that fully one-quarter of US school-aged children are latino/a in heritage–and they all are being read to as a part of their school curricula. They are being told, in essence, that their culture and background doesn’t matter. That they are expected to identify with exclusively white characters, while white students are being taught that they aren’t expected to relate to anyone from a non-white background. If history has taught us anything, it’s that this kind of disparity does not teach empathy or create a safe environment for a growing nation’s minorities.

But there’s hope, and Rhor runs down a short list of opportunities now opening to latino/a authors, publishers, and readers (parents and children alike). To track these opportunities, read the rest of Rhor’s article here.

“Fear of failure and concerns over what the process would entail always put a stop to the idea; until now that is,” writes Chris Myers, co-founder and CEO of BodeTree, “a financial management solution for organizations that serve small business,” and frequent contributor to MSNBC. His “until now” reference is, as you might have guessed, to do with the rise of self publishing.  As Myers documents in this September 23rd piece for Forbes, self-publishing may actually be one of the few cases where a process is easier than advertised. (And it’s a fact that many experts caution authors as often as encourage them, for fear that they might lead them to think the process too easy.) And there you have the first thing Myers learned–“Publishing is easy”–as well as the preamble to his second point–“Marketing is hard”–which sounds about right, given the plethora of websites and blogs and books out there (including ours) which have something to say on the subject.  And Myers’ final point?  “It’s important to keep your expectations in check,” he writes, because “It’s a difficult and often thankless journey, but ultimately we do it for ourselves rather than fame or money.”  And if you haven’t already bought into the truth of these statements, check out Myers’ full article at the link, and make up your mind after reading how he came to these three realizations.

spa-news

As a self-publishing author, you may find it helpful to stay up-to-date on the trends and news related to the self-publishing industry. This will help you make informed decisions before, during and after the self-publishing process, which will lead to a greater self-publishing experience. To help you stay current on self-publishing topics, simply visit our blog every Monday to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.

Kelly

ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com.
Advocacy in Self-Publishing, Kelly Speaks, Publishing Trends, Self-Publishing

Diversity & Self-Publishing (ep. 4)

Three Wednesdays ago, I launched an ongoing series of blog posts centered on some of the questions we ask, or should ask, regarding diversity in self-publishing.  Two weeks ago, I explored the first two questions in detail (“What’s the track record of diversity in publishing?” and “What about within self-publishing, specifically?”), while last week I sought to address two more (“Are there differences, and why or why not?” and “Why does diverse representation in literature and the industry matter?”).

Since there’s a nice symmetry to the use of pairs, and because I’m feeling a bit rebellious against such staid notions as symmetry, I’m going to look at the following three questions today:

  1. What could healthy diversity actually look like?
  2. Who benefits from diverse representation, and who benefits from a lack thereof? (and)
  3. Can we make it happen?

And so it begins.  What could healthy diversity look like?  In its broadest sense, diversity should mean that all people who want to see themselves represented in literature and in publishing should be equally supported in developing their voices, seizing opportunities for upward mobility and vocality, and striving to achieve their dreams.  At the very minimum, it means that those groups which have historically been marginalized, whether minorities or not, should face the same barriers to representation as everyone else––and no more.  And diverse representation in publishing and self-publishing also means that those in the privileged oft-heard sector must cultivate an attitude of respect, support, and inquiry without descending to patronization, pity, condescension, judgment, or other, subtler or more violent forms of negativity.

Diversity looks like a community in which individuals are respected for but not defined by their race, gender, legal or medical status, sexual orientation, religion, or other aspects of personal identity.  And frankly, diversity in publishing and even self-publishing, in the long utopian term, looks a little less white, a little less male, a little less ableist, and a little less like mainstreamed convention.  Diversity, done right, doesn’t look like any one thing.  It looks like a farmer’s market, perhaps, or barely controlled happy chaos.  It looks like a community that cares about and for its members, representing the interests of all authors, readers, marketing and publishing specialists, not to mention all the craftspeople, librarians, academics, students, and other groups that might receive trickle-down benefits––because, who benefits from diverse representation?  Everyone.

No, really.  Everyone benefits from diverse representation, even those who might profit from a lack thereof.  Sound confusing?  Consider two baskets, one which holds a single huckleberry, and one which holds a whole supermarket bin of huckleberries.  Hundreds of huckleberries.  Thousands of huckleberries.  Uncountable millions of huckleberries, and the families and friends of those huckleberries, and the communities from which those huckleberries come from, and the communities in which those huckleberries end up, and the introverted huckleberries who maybe call home once a month.  A man may prefer the basket which holds one single huckleberry, but first he must convince himself and everyone else in the grocery store who might want a huckleberry that all those other huckleberries don’t exist, or that they exist but aren’t likely to be as good, or advance as far up the huckleberry pecking order because of some inherent flaw of character, or the simple blind fury of fate.  This is how a man might prefer and profit off of the single-berry basket scenario.  But if he happens to open his heart and mind to the reality of the other berries out there, his taste will expand, and his world too … and all the other shoppers get what they want, and all the huckleberries end up making their glorious splash.

Have I worn you out on huckleberries yet?

Really, the most difficult question to answer of all is this: can we make it happen?  Well, of course we can.  All of us, together.  Readers, writers, and (self-)publishing specialists alike.  Marginalized and non-marginalized, mainstream and countercultural.  Together.  We’ve seen some progress, as I already mentioned in my first blog post of this series.  This progress has convinced me that it is not only a moral imperative to carry on, but plain good sense.  We’ve got the means, we’ve got the will, and we’ll find the way.  Through concerted and strategic and repeated action, we can enable people of diverse origins and identities to succeed.  And we will.

These thoughts barely scratch the surface of these questions, much less the conversation as a whole.   As I continue pondering how to go about touching on the other questions I posed three weeks ago, please drop me a line in the comments section below with your own thoughts or suggestions!  And of course, check back next week as we delve into still more of the self-publishing world!

KellyABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com.
Advocacy in Self-Publishing, Alternative Marketing Methods, Blogging Tips for Authors, Book Marketing, Book Promotion, Book Promotion Strategy, Book Reviews, Book Signings, Facebook, Kelly Speaks, Marketing Your Self-Published Book, Publishing Trends, Self-Publishing, Social Media Marketing, Viral Marketing, Writing

Diversity & Self-Publishing (ep. 3)

Week before last, I began to examine the ongoing conversation centering on diversity in self-publishing that has sprung up over the last couple of years, and only risen in importance and visibility since then.  Last week, I addressed two questions:

  1. What’s the track record of diversity in publishing? (and)
  2. What about within self-publishing, specifically?

This week, I want to address two more questions.  The first, as you’ll see, follows on immediately from number two, above:

Are there differences between the track records of traditional publishing and self-publishing in regards to diversity, and why or why not?

As MediaShift’s correspondent Miral Sattar notes in her excellent article for PBS, diversity has always had a little bit more of a foothold in the world of self-publishing than it has elsewhere.  In large part, this can be traced back to the blue-collar, anti-establishmentarian streak that gave rise to the self-publishing industry in the first place.  Wanting to place profits in the hand of an individual author as opposed to a company or a collective?  When it comes to books, that’s a radical idea.  Wanting control over the entire authorial, publishing, and marketing process?  That, too, falls outside the established framework provided by traditional publishing.  All of this independent thinking and hungering after self-realization has led to an environment that fosters rebels and self-starters and free-thinkers and otherwise marginalized peoples.  That includes, of course, people of diverse origins, pursuits, and identities.

In her article, Sattar mentions a whole host of self-published authors, including CJ Lyons, Orna Ross, Lara Nance, HM Ward, Kailin Gow, Margarita Matos, Abdul Qayum Safi, Lozetta Hayden, Manuela Pentagelo, Tejas Desai, and Aleysha Proctor.  And these are just a very few of a very great many self-published authors currently putting their books out there.  There are others: Mary Sisney, Liz Castro, Nadeem Aslam, Johnny Townsend, Qasim Rashid, and so, so many more.  The fact is, if you want to publish something that the mainstream publishing industry isn’t prepared to market, and which isn’t angling to be a blockbuster seller, then the generous spirit of the self-publishing world is always waiting.  We live in a day and age, thankfully, when the self-published book is no longer synonymous with “I’m selling this out of the trunk of my car” (although that may still be the case), and with a whole host of resources out there, from internet forums to hybrid publishing firms, the self-publishing author can count on sending a high-quality–if radically counter-cultural–product out there into the world.

Why does diverse representation in literature and the industry matter?  Why should we authors and readers and (self-)publishers care?

This fourth question is, in some ways, a much harder one to answer.  As with many things in life, it might seem easy to fall back on a rote answer (you either do or you don’t), or to fall into the trap of trying to heavy-handedly preach readers into one perspective or another (because I said so!).  The fact of the matter is, caring about something as radically life-changing as diversity and representation is more than just a private act, but it’s also something you can’t just tell people to do.

When someone leans in over the dinner table and asks me why they should care about diversity–as has happened fairly often this last year–I fall back on a whole retinue of explanations: the statistics about social stratification and advancement or regression, the ethical and moral ground upon which we build healthy and just societies, and the anecdotes of people I know who have found themselves on the wrong side of the line when it comes to representation.  And of all of these arguments, the most effective one is, appropriately enough, one that requires a little imagination.

Imagine you are a child, any child who doesn’t look like a descendant of a hundred Caucasian family trees, who maybe doesn’t tip the scale quite to quite the same number as any of a thousand Disney Channel stars, who maybe comes from a faith background or an ethnic background that isn’t mainstream Christianity or undecided, who maybe has physical or emotional disabilities, who maybe identifies as something other than cisgendered or “straight” or is questioning their identity, who maybe comes from a dysfunctional family or society.  Imagine you have any one of these attributes, or a whole heady cocktail of them, and ask yourself this question: Have you seen yourself in a popular book lately?  How about on TV or in a movie–as the main character?  Have you seen yourself anywhere but in the bathroom mirror and have you seen yourself compassionately rendered there?

I remember the first time I found myself in a book, the first time I encountered a character who looked and felt and acted and believed like me.  It was absolutely, entirely, 100% life-changing.

Why should we care about diversity in publishing and self-publishing?  Because we want our children to grow up knowing that they don’t have to live in the shadows.  That they are lovable and loved.  That they don’t need to bleach their skin or get rid of their accent or faith or private struggles in order to be a whole human being.

Explaining to a child who has never seen a familiar face or life story told on television or in books or in music why they’ve never seen that story is absolutely heartbreaking, not to mention difficult.  One hopes that we don’t have to end that conversation with “…and it looks like it’s going to stay that way for a while.”  One hopes we can end that conversation with: “But see?  We’ve made progress, and here is a whole host of stories to get you started.”  Others have put together powerful arguments why diversity in publishing (of any kind) is important, too, so I think there’s a lot of hope we’ll see change within our lifetimes.

These thoughts barely scratch the surface of these questions, much less the conversation as a whole.   As I continue pondering how to go about touching on the other questions I posed two weeks ago, please drop me a line in the comments section below with your own thoughts or suggestions!  And of course, check back next week as we explore still more of this complicated tangle!

KellyABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com.
Advocacy in Self-Publishing, Alternative Marketing Methods, Blogging Tips for Authors, Book Marketing, Book Promotion, Book Promotion Strategy, Book Reviews, Book Signings, Facebook, Kelly Speaks, Marketing Your Self-Published Book, Publishing Trends, Self-Publishing, Social Media Marketing, Viral Marketing, Writing

Diversity & Self-Publishing (ep. 2)

Last week, I launched a series of questions addressing the nature and role of diversity in publishing, specifically within the self-publishing industry.  Before I return to those questions, a quick proviso: there’s been a lot of mud-slinging on both (or all?) sides of this debate, which can be both wild and wonderful (and occasionally, deeply problematic for all of us involved in getting words out of our heads and dispersed into the world).  But we’re not here to sling mud at anyone.  We’re here to ask questions and, hopefully, to listen.

Some of the mud-slinging can be interesting to read, or in some cases, listen to: just last month, NPR and Intelligence Squared U.S. hosted a debate over Amazon’s incredibly complex role in the whole mess of traditional versus self-publishing paradigms.  As I sat listening to the podcast this last week, I found myself both shocked and perfectly unsurprised at the ferocity of the debate––shocked, because we’re not used to our literary spokespeople literally shouting each other down on the debate floor, and unsurprised because, well, we’re talking about books and reading and literacy and therefore something both deeply, intensely personal, and also universal.  The debates over diversity in publishing are proving equally impassioned, and rightfully so.  Which brings me to last week’s first question:

What’s the track record of diversity in publishing?

It’s not a good one, particularly if we’re talking about publishing in the Western tradition, what with it being so interwoven the various other Institutions (with a capital “I”) that shape and influence society.  Which is not to say I advocate treating publishing artificially as if it has been cut away from every other element of life––not at all.  I do advocate paying close attention to how the social, political, and cultural institutions interact.  Hashtags like #WeNeedDiverseBooks have evolved beyond mere declarations of personal unhappiness to creating safe spaces for ongoing discussion about these complexities, and the data being mined is revealing.

Take the University of Wisconsin’s article on “Children’s Books by and about People of Color Published in the United States,” which shows that of the 2,500 children’s (trade) books published in the United States in 1985, only 18 were written by African Americans.  When you consider the demographics of the United States, wherein African Americans represent 13.1% of the population, that number should have been a lot higher.  Closer to 325 books.  Progress has been made, along all sorts of vectors, but of the 5,000 trade children’s books published in 2014, the CCBC reports that only 84 were written by African Americans and 180 were written about African Americans.  The percentages of other minority groups––ethnic, religious, gender, and others––show similar levels of underrepresentation.  Right now, a debate is raging over the representation of mental and physical well-being, and the current ways in which the publishing institution reinforces ableism and neuro-normativity.  Young Adult (or “YA”) literature has proven to be a particularly rich medium for addressing these growing concerns.

What about within self-publishing, specifically?

I’m so glad you asked!  Self-publishing (and all of its hybrid forms) has proven to be another haven for the marginalized author and all sorts of minorities––both in terms of authors and readers.  Because one point of the publishing triangle has been erased––or at least drastically altered––there has always been more room for the nonconformist, the outcast, and the malcontent within the welcoming arms of the self-publishing industry than there has been elsewhere.  Without fear of expulsion, ostracization, or censorship, the self-published author can write what needs to be written, and publish what needs to be heard!  The welcoming legacy of self-publishing is one I’ve examined before––in fact, many of the Late Great authors I’ve written about over the last few weeks either found themselves unwelcome within, or otherwise distanced from, traditional publishing.

I don’t have any numbers for you about diversity in self-publishing.  It’s practically impossible to collate the data, given the diverse forms and outlets and types of self-publication out there.  Many self-published works aren’t catalogued the way traditionally published books are, and so the data set just isn’t there.  But as Daniel José Older writes so beautifully in his BuzzFeed article (“Diversity is Not Enough: Race, Power, Publishing”), “it’s not just a question of characters of color, [and] it’s not a numbers game. It’s about voice, about narrative flow. […]  We see diverse futures, laden with the tangled past of oppression and we re-envision models of empowerment and survival. But only a few of us make it through. There is a filter and the filter is white culture.”  Suffice it to say, it seems as though the self-publishing industry has provided a platform for diverse voices to be heard, and diverse readers to be reached.  There are ways to change the institution from the inside, but in the meantime, authors can count on finding at least a modicum of representation within the self-publishing industry.

These thoughts barely scratch the surface of these questions, much less the conversation as a whole.   As I ponder how to go about touching on the other questions posed in last week’s blog post, please drop me a line in the comments section below with your own thoughts or suggestions!  And of course, check back next week as we explore still more of this complicated tangle!

KellyABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com.