Guest Post: Seeking Fellow Travelers Along a Dotted Line

Our guest today is Matthew Bennardo, First Reader at Lackington's. (We had Lackington's Editor Ranylt Richildis as our very first guest.)

Matthew talks to us about career, big and small zines, and the wonderful things both readers and writers can find when they remember that the field of sff is at least as wide as the stories that appear within it.

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Seeking Fellow Travelers Along a Dotted Line

By Matthew Bennardo

 

When I was starting out as a writer, I used to think a lot about the trajectory of my career. After all, much of what I knew about publishing short fiction came from Isaac Asimov's autobiographies. In them, he talks about moving up the ranks of the science-fiction magazines of the 1930s and 1940s, getting more recognition and better pay, until he was consistently appearing on the cover of Astounding Magazine, which he (and just about everyone else) considered the top of the SFF field.

As a teenager, I imagined a similar trajectory for myself, ending in Hugo and Nebula Awards and collections of short fiction as beloved as I, Robot. From a sample size of two (Ray Bradbury also seemed like a good role model), it looked like the natural way for things to proceed. Needless to say, this hasn't exactly happened.

Frankly, I'm not sure that the career path that Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury took is still open to anybody. The short fiction market is very different today than it was in the 1930s and 1940s. But even in their own time, there were hundreds or thousands of other writers actively working who didn't get the kind of improbable career trajectory that those two had. For those other writers (and for me, it turned out), the trajectory hasn't been so much a constantly rising line, but rather a series of dots and dashes, chaotically scattered all over the graph, and sometimes with large gaps in between.

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This was the context in which I realized a few years ago that I seriously needed to rethink my early hierarchical view of SFF short fiction. It wasn't productive for me as a writer to be obsessing over where the publications I was submitting to "ranked" in the scheme of things. And yet, this kind of thinking is baked into a lot of SFF short fiction discourse. We even have names for the different ranks of publications: "pro", "semi-pro", and "token".

These distinctions are based purely on the pay that writers receive, and yet they have somehow solidified into what are essentially major and minor leagues for SFF short fiction. Ask writers how they choose where to submit their stories, and they will often say they "start at the top" and work their way down.

This is natural enough, and I often act this way myself. We all need money, after all, and pay rates at pro zines can be ten times as high as those at semi-pro zines. In addition, publishing in the pro zines will often get you reviews and sometimes fan mail. If you're hoping to see your work discussed, there really are a few big zines to target.

But lately, I've been thinking about those smaller zines and feeling more and more affinity with them. If my career trajectory as a writer is a dotted line, and if the biggest existential question facing me is how to make sure that I keep writing in the face of indifference and few tangible rewards… then perhaps I have something in common with the publishers and editors of semi-pro and token zines who are almost always unpaid and unheralded, but tenaciously hanging on all the same.

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I did the math long ago and realized that writing short fiction is never going to pay my bills. Even in my best and most productive years, my earnings never topped a few thousand dollars. The calculus may be a bit different for folks in countries with a lower cost of living, but in the United States in the twenty-first century, writing and publishing short fiction on spec is strictly a hobby.

I write because short fiction appears to be how my brain processes ideas. And I submit my writing for publication because I love connecting with editors who have a similar sensibility as I do. Responses from readers are often sparse or nonexistent, but it's always a joy to hear from an editor who gets what I'm trying to say.

And I'm starting to think that editors and publishers might also like connecting with me. I like to think it makes their days a bit brighter to receive a submission that fits with the kind of work they'd like to publish. Or even one which is not quite right, but causes them to think and muse, and ask themselves, "Is this the kind of story that we publish here?"

This is where the semi-pro and token zines really shine. Because they pay less, there are so many more of them, and they don't necessarily need to focus on stories that can attract a big paying audience. The weirder and more esoteric my stories get, the more I find that the editors who really dig them are those who operate outside the pro-paying zines. The mere fact that this alternate publishing world exists makes me feel empowered to follow those odder paths in my writing. Without a big ecosystem of little zines, operating largely outside of any concern for commercial viability, the stories that get published would not be nearly as varied.

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Having accepted that writing is a hobby for me, I have become an unapologetic proponent of semi-pro and token zines. When I read and tweet about stories now, I make sure I'm not just reading the ones from the SFWA qualifying market list. Likewise, I try to direct my money and output to those markets as well. Over half the subscriptions and recurring donations I make go to lower-paying zines, and one-third of the new stories I submitted over the past year went to a semi-pro zine first.

I've always had a fondness for little zines, but my feelings have only intensified over the past few years working as First Reader at Lackington's. I've learned that it can be just as lonely to run a little zine as it can be to be a writer with a dotted line for a career trajectory. At Lackington's, we cheer every time we get another $5 donation on Patreon. (Seriously!) And we notice every single review, award recommendation, and tweet that concerns one of the stories we publish.

I've come to realize that the publishers and editors of these little zines want the same things I do as a writer. They want to belong to part of a community, and to know that they have at least a few fellow travelers who like to read the same kinds of stories that they do. So these days I try to take my role as a member of that potential community seriously, and make sure that they know I appreciate what they are doing in whatever way I can.

After all, these editors and publishers need as much encouragement as I do, and I really want them to keep going. I want their semi-pro and token-paying zines to continue to be part of the field for years to come, and I want them to become respected, if only through their tenacity and experience. I want them to keep searching for the stories that tickle their individual fancies, to keep encouraging the writers who only seem to get rejections from pro zines, and to keep pushing the field to grow bigger and weirder and more unruly.

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M. Bennardo's recent short stories appear in Three-Lobed Burning Eye, The Future Fire, Syntax and Salt, Mirror Dance, and Mithila Review. He is also first reader at Lackington's. The next issue of Lackington's (theme: Cocktails) will be publishing in June. The next submission window (theme: Archives) will be in July.

 

Guest Post: "New Myths" and the People Who Always Told Them, Vida Cruz

We are very excited about today's guest post. Vida Cruz will talk a little bit about myths, but not the ones your already know. Because, while myths often seem like cousins across cultures, some of them seem like distant cousins, people we don't see all that often, people we might not even be aware exist. These are the "new myths," although they are not new, of course. They simply have been told by people who are not Westerners, not the ones who dominated history and wrote it. And yet, they are alluring. What should be considered when using these "new myths" in our fiction?

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"New Myths" and the People Who Always Told Them

By Vida Cruz

I was once part of a panel about science fiction and mythology, and naturally, we ended up talking more about mythology—that happens a lot when you’re trying to dissect it and adapt it for science fiction. It turns out that even though mythology is as old as humankind, few of us know much about it at all. Case in point: my fellow panelists were all white men, and most of the myths they talked about were Greek and Norse. I, the lone woman and the lone Asian, was left to talk about the myths and the perspectives of the eastern hemisphere.

 

Later, an audience member of Irish descent asked what I felt was the jackpot question: why aren’t Celtic myths as well-known as Greek and Norse myths?

 

Why aren’t any other myths as well-known as Greek and Norse myths, for that matter?

 

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Mythology says a lot of interesting things about a particular culture at a particular time and place. Not only do you get to learn about fascinating material cultures—architecture, pottery, food preparation, and so much more—but you get to learn about a culture’s values and how they play out across experiences like war, sex, and death. All great points for worldbuilding, all great takeaways for science fiction and fantasy writers.

 

The thing about mythology is that, the same things that make them exciting—war, sex, death—can be the same things that make the mythology vanish. An invading culture or expanding religion may destroy records or alter them to carry foreign values and turn away from traditional ones. A colonizer may marry and impregnate a native storyteller, who will have no time for anything other than her child. A younger generation's desire to live and work in cities spells the death of old traditions—such as the recitations of myths—as there are fewer and fewer people to pass them on to.

 

Why aren’t any other myths as well-known as Greek and Norse myths? Consider that as history is written by the victors, so, too, do the victors propagate the planet’s most popular myths. It’s an uncomfortable truth, but much of the western world has a history of invasion, colonization, and empire; and for the longest time, the culture they upheld as ideal was that of the ancient Greeks. And today, Norse myths are gaining some traction thanks to the Marvel movies—which are produced by Hollywood, which dominates much of the entertainment of the English-speaking world. A lot of them, also, have been sanitized for an English-speaking western audience with Christian values. 

 

(Language is another barrier, but talking about the importance of translating myths for an English-speaking audience will take a whole other article.)

 

Even though many other myths have been lost to time, there are many that still remain, accessible through the right keywords in a search engine and books, if your interest runs that deep. The culture that eschews them, however, will not change; it’s up to you to find them and get to know them.

 

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But should you, as a writer who is likely an outsider to the myth’s culture of origin, breathe new life into them?

 

It’s a complicated question, one that has no easy, satisfying answer. First of all, make sure that the origin culture is not a closed culture. These hold their myths sacred and borrowing them lightly may be considered taboo.

 

Second of all, find out more about that culture. Read around it—read more myths than just the one you plan to adapt or retell, and perhaps read some nonfiction about the culture as well. Talk to peo

ple from that culture, get their insights and perspectives. You wouldn’t want to take a value they consider sacred and demonstrate it as barbaric and regressive, for example. Remember that you’re a guest in someone’s house; don’t track mud on the floor, eat their lunch, and rearrange their furniture, too.

 

It may seem like treating a story with respect takes a lot of work—and it is. But anything worth your respect—a person, an experience, a relationship, a passion like writing—takes a lot of work.

 

Storytellers are some of the most imaginative people in the world. It shouldn’t be a stretch of the imagination for storytellers to seek out and learn other stories that have always been there, too.

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Vida Cruz's fiction can be found on Strange Horizons, PodCastle, Expanded Horizons, and various anthologies. Her work has also been longlisted for the British Science Fiction Award. A 2018 Tiptree Fellow and 2014 Clarion graduate, she self-published her first short story collection of illustrated myths Beyond the Line of Trees in 2019. Currently, she is working on a novel and online science fiction and fantasy writing classes for writers of all stripes (survey here). She lives in Manila with her family and 10 dogs.

Guest Post: On Marketing, Harley Wylde

Our guest today is Harley Wylde. She will shed some light on how authors can go about marketing their book successfully, so give her a warm welcome!

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On Marketing

By Harley Wylde

There is one word that tends to make authors cringe and run the other way – marketing! Okay, there are several others -- like synopsis -- but marketing seems to be the biggest mystery for a lot of people. I think a large part of the issue is that marketing involves much the same as the book market itself: What works today may not work tomorrow. Same for marketing different genres.

Before I get started, let me introduce myself. The name I’m most known for these days is Harley Wylde, even though I write under other pen names for other genres as well. I’ve been published for twelve years with various small presses, and have a small handful of self-published titles. Across my pen names, I’ve had over 125 novellas and novels published during that time. I never intended to publish the first book I wrote, but my husband pointed out if I’d taken the time to write an 80,000 word novel, then I should at least submit it to a few places and see what happens. That started me on a journey that has been beyond incredible and has taught me so much.

So, let’s get going and take this in bite-sized chunks.

First of all, I often hear “well so-and-so did X and got amazing results,” which is awesome for that author, but know that just because Author A swears by their method of marketing, doesn’t mean it will work exactly the same for you. Will it work? Quite possibly. However, there are so many things that go into marketing a book, particularly when it comes to ads, that there’s really not a one-size fits all (or even a one-size fits most). I will say that one marketing trend that seems to get the most positive feedback is advertising on Facebook, but it can be full of pitfalls and will take some time for you to figure out the right formula for YOUR book. I’ll get into that more in a bit.

I think that’s where so many authors toss up their hands and give up. They try something, don’t see the results they wanted, so they’ve deemed it a failure. Or worse, they’ve deemed themselves or their book a failure. It’s not that the marketing they attempt isn’t working, it’s that they haven’t taken the time to find the right formula for their work. Think of it this way. When you first started writing your very first book, did it release exactly as is? I honestly hope not. It needed content and line edits, and possibly a massive amount of revisions. Marketing is like writing in some ways. As I mentioned, I write under more than one pen name. What works for one, doesn’t necessarily work for the other. There are so many differences not just from author to author, but between books and series as well. You wouldn’t use the same audience to market a contemporary romance as you would a sci-fi thriller, right? Even crossing romance genres you’re going to see some differences.

The first key step in successful marketing is: know your audience. And I don’t mean your family or best buds who bought a copy of your book (or begged for a freebie) when it released. I mean the people who saw your blurb or cover, and thought “this sounds great, I’ll give it a try.”

If you’ve done Facebook ads before, or BookBub ads, Google Analytic ads, etc. then I hope you took the time to look at the data and not just the number of clicks or how much you spent. You need to dig deeper. Did you have more men than women click? Did you check to see which age groups reacted more with your ads? Even better… did you use more than one audience when setting up ads for your latest release? You have to go deeper than just glancing at the surface of your marketing if you’re going to figure out what works and what doesn’t. Now, saying that, not all places that accept ads will give you the same set of data. For instance, Facebook will show you the age brackets of those who viewed and clicked your ads. Maybe other places you’ve advertised don’t offer that. But they do offer something.

I’m betting when you wrote your first book, you never thought you’d be anything more than just a writer. I think most people go into writing with stars in their eyes. Some may find instant success, either by hard work and lots of prep work before their book was even finished, or by sheer luck. But being a writer today is far different from being published thirty years ago, fifty years ago, or even further back. Publishers used to take on the brunt of the marketing and legwork for you. Now, most will help some with spreading the word about your book, but it’s mostly up to you. In fact, a lot of places will ask you to submit a marketing plan along with your manuscript. They want to know that you’ll be actively trying to sell your book. It’s a reasonable request. They are, after all, putting hundreds if not thousands of dollars into releasing your title. The least you can do is help get your book into the hands of readers.

Being an author today means you’re not just a writer, but you have to wear multiple hats for editing and marketing as well. There’s a learning curve, unless you have a background in those areas, but it’s worth it! If you’re just writing to write, then maybe you don’t care about finding or broadening your audience. But if you want to pay the bills by doing something you love, then you’re going to have to do more than just write the book.

I honestly can’t fit every bit of marketing knowledge I’ve gleaned over my twelve years as a published author into one post. So I’m going to give you a few ideas to try. Marketing is trial and error. You can’t attempt something a handful of times, then just decide it doesn’t work and hop to something else, then another thing, and another. Facebook ads, for instance, didn’t do a single thing for finding me new readers at first. But I kept trying. Yes, it took months and I slowly built up my advertising funds so I could keep playing with it. And when I say months, I mean that every month for at least half a year, I kept trying as a way to promote my new series under Harley Wylde until I started to notice a difference. Then I built from there.

If money is an issue, start with a $5-10 ad that runs for 4 days. It takes about 3-4 days before Facebook’s algorithms kick in for ads (or that has been true previously – Facebook has a tendency to make “adjustments” so often that you’ll see changes in the advertising panel all the time). If you kill your ad before three to four days, then you didn’t find the sweet spot yet. Also, don’t do a boosted post if you’re hoping for clicks. It’s not even remotely the same thing as placing a Facebook ad. Boosted posts are great if you just want your brand in front of new eyes. But if you’re trying to actively sell a new title, then it’s not so great.

For those on a shoestring budget, there are a few free things you can try. One is keep your audience engaged. If you’re an introvert, you probably just cringed. Yes, you have to speak to people, or at least respond to comments on your posts. Getting a book in front of readers requires a more personal touch than, say, running a shoe store. When you write a book, you invite strangers into your mind, heart, and soul. You’ve shared a piece of yourself with them, and now they want to know more. Not just about the characters, but about you.

Work on growing your following on social media, not just with fellow authors (even though we’re readers too), but find people who read your genre. Post short teasers, even if it’s just a few lines. Was there an image that inspired some part of your book? Share it (with permission if it’s copyrighted). If you’re working on a series and you’re on book two, three, eight… find a way to reference back to a previous release in the series and drop the link at the end of your post. Maybe readers missed that title or just recently found you. Share inspirational quotes, funny stories, or give them a peek into your life. There are also a LOT of Facebook groups where you can share your new release or a book sale. Try to make the posts a little different for each group, and make sure you interact with those groups/pages and don’t just do drive-by “buy my book” posts.

Are you at least a little outgoing? Maybe you’re up for an author takeover event. Throw a party in your own group and invite other authors to join, or request a takeover in another group (if that’s something they offer). You can set up games for the readers, small contests, and other fun stuff. It’s a great way to engage with people who may or may not have heard of you before. Readers who already pick up your books will love getting that time with you, and you may intrigue someone who hadn’t heard of you before then. It’s a good way to grow your audience.

Newsletters! I personally have a love/hate relationship with newsletters. On the end of receiving them, I get so much email that sometimes I have to mass delete stuff because I just can’t keep up. Mostly, it’s businesses who send 3-5 newsletters a week. Sometimes even more than one per day. Who has time for that? Not me. But sending out a newsletter once or twice a month, to let your readers see what’s coming soon, share a cover reveal or a preorder, is a great way to keep in touch with them. I know a lot of authors just throw in their “buy my book” stuff and call it a day, but I like to include extras if I can. Either showcase a free or discounted book of yours or another author’s, maybe share something funny with your subscribers that happened that week, or offer them a special giveaway. Give them a reason to want to open mail from you! Because they probably receive a few hundred, or thousand, newsletters a month. What makes yours special?

If you have a bit of money to play with, try doing some release giveaways. It doesn’t have to be huge. Offer a $10 gift card, or if you’ve purchased swag, giveaway a few swag packs. And yes you can giveaway bigger prizes or gift cards if you can afford it. Or maybe giveaway multiple prizes. Be sure that the terms for entering are clearly marked somewhere the readers can easily find it. And yes, readers do love getting swag. From bookmarks to pens, stickers, wristbands, buttons, magnets, keychains… the sky is the limit on what you can offer. Places like GotPrint, VistaPrint, CafePress, and even the Walmart Promo Shop will often offer discounts.

Are you a craft-minded person? Maybe you can make your own swag! I’ve seen a lot of bottle cap magnets or pendants with book covers on them or author branding. Maybe you know how to make jewelry and can offer a prize every few months that would be a unique piece no one else would ever own. Do you draw or paint? Maybe you can draw a picture or paint a small canvas to giveaway. Try to think outside the box. What can you offer that’s different?

And one last idea before I wrap this up (because I’m already close to writing a short story): Do you know other authors in your genre? Maybe authors who wouldn’t mind banding together for a special event? If you found 4-6 authors and you each put in $5 toward a gift card, or one of you coordinated a multi-author swag or signed book giveaway, then you could work together to cross-promote each other. Some entry ideas, especially if you’re using something like Rafflecopter: Ask readers to follow you on Twitter, Instagram, or other social media sites. Ask them to visit your blog and leave a comment. Get them to interact in some way. Maybe give them a poll to answer as an entry option. Are you going to start a new series? Now’s the perfect time to get some feedback. But if you’re working with other authors, make sure each author has an entry option that will benefit them in some way to keep things fair.

Book marketing comes down to 2 major points. Know your audience, and grow your audience. Once you know the demographic of who is one-clicking your books, then it becomes a little easier to find more of those people. As distasteful as it may seem, you have to think of your writing as a business. Is it fun? Yes! Do you write because it personally gives you something? Of course. Just remember that if you want to write full-time and pay the bills with your writing, then it’s not a hobby or something you do just because. It then becomes a business that requires you to keep moving forward, pushing yourself, and finding new readers. You can be passionate about what you do, but still wear your “I’m a business person” hat when the occasion calls for it. The old marketing advice of “the best way to sell a book is to write the next” is only partially true these days. Yes, you do need to write the next book, and the next, but if all you do is write and you don’t find ways to get those books to new readers, then you’re pretty much writing for your own enjoyment. There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as that’s your goal.

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Harley Wylde is an International Bestselling Author of MC Romances.

When Harley‘s writing, her motto is the hotter the better — off the charts sex, commanding men, and the women who can’t deny them. If you want men who talk dirty, are sexy as hell, and take what they want, then you’ve come to the right place. She doesn’t shy away from the dangers and nastiness in the world, bringing those realities to the pages of her books, but always gives her characters a happily-ever-after and makes sure the bad guys get what they deserve.

Find Harley at: Her Website | BookBub | Facebook | Twitter | Newsletter

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Harley's Venom is now available in audio!

Get it here:

Audible

Amazon

iTunes

Narrated by Ada Sinclair
Duration: 3 hours 21 minutes