Anything, Anytime, Anywhere

This week's topic asks us what our best and worst places to write are. For me, I don't have a best or a worst. I can write anywhere.

I enjoy writing on the couch on our backporch while my son runs free in the back yard.

I love writing late hours at night hunched over my keyboard while everyone sleeps.

It's great to write in the living room with a great movie on the tele.

I love writing while I relax in a hot bubble bath.

It's fun to write in a crowded coffee shop or in a park where I can people watch at the same time.

Loud, quiet, crowded, empty, outside, inside, computer or pen and paper - doesn't matter to me. I might pick a particular place depending on my mood or the scene I'm trying to write, but that's on a rare occasion when I'm really struggling with something. Otherwise, I just sit down and let the words flow from my fingers!

This post is a little short for me. I'm normally so long winded it seems, but I am itching to finish this scene in my current WIP Cleanse Fire. Then it's off to the crit partners, then ready for submissions!

What about you guys? Any places you like to write more than others? How about reading? I love reading curled up with a blanket on the couch, but I enjoy reading outside too.

Knowing is Half the Battle

This weeks topic is a great one for writers, I think. Do I write what I know or what I feel? Like JD, my answer is a YES on both counts.

There is a famous quote that says "To write well, write what you know." That is very true but only half of the equation. Knowledge is important to make your characters, plot, setting, etc believable in a story.

But you ask "Anastasia, as a fantasy writer, what do you need to know? You can just make everything up right?" WRONG! Writing fantasy requires just as much research, if not more in my opinion. And sometimes it might seem like the research I do has nothing to do with my story, but it does. I do a lot of research on government styles, cultures, traditions, etc. - all of them. Why? So that when I do go to "make everything up" I can present a believable world to the readers. Sometimes I even base my fantasy worlds on traditions and themes in our own. So I need to know about them before I can bend or break the rules for my new world.

But that's only half of the equation!

If you don't FEEl what you're writing - connected to it, love it, enjoy it - you're readers won't either. So while I know a lot about the Medieval Ages (technology, traditions, etc) if I didn't ENJOY or LOVE the time period, it would show in my stories. Or when writing my sci-fi, I think one has to LOVE space or technology and adventure to pull off a great sci-fi story. (Then again, that might be me.)

Regardless of the specifics of whatever genre you write, you have to love it. Feel it. I enjoy reading mysteries and crime novels but I don't think I could ever write one. I love to read them sure, but I don't love the minute details of the trade enough to write what I feel. The story would lack in my opinion. Sure, someday that might change, but right now, I'll stick with what I know I love - fantasy and sci-fi adventures.

So do you write what you know or what you feel? I say both are needed to create the best stories. Don't stress about the small details too much as you're writing people! That's what editors are for! Focus on your love for adventure and the seeming useless knowledge bouncing around in your head. My favorite quote is "I'm not dumb, I just know completely useless information" Well guess what? As a writer, none of that information is useless! Put it into a story! I promise if you put knowledge and feelings together, it makes for a great story - and you can always edit your grammar later!

The Magic World of Being a Writer

This weeks topic, about the seeming lonliness of the writing industry I think is left over from the days without internet. Like JD said in her post yesterday, I have SO many people I talk to on a daily basis from twitter, crit groups, blogs, writing sites, etc it's not even funny. I'm hardly alone by any stretch of the imagination.

So why do people still see writing as a lonely occupation? I think it comes from the idea - or illusion - of a writer, hunched over the type writer or paper furiously putting that story onto the page. Locked inside their office ignoring the world around them. Getting caught up in the story and the characters and forgetting there are real people around them too.

While that vision is still true to a certain point (I do lock myself in my office and I'm sure my husband sees me as all hunched over the keyboard typing away, lost in my own world) but is that really lonely or just a sign of pure dedication?

Then of course there are the non-writer's out there that don't GET it. They still see the writer locked away for days on end - alone - in their offices and lost in the world of make believe. They don't see the other side where we network, meet people, attend conferences, and actually come out of la-la land to talk with real live people. The side where we worry about trends and marketing and promotion. Because that takes away the magic of writing to them. It's a magical, awe inspiring vision of the writer plugging away at the typewriter/computer/paper, because as a non-writer they can't imagine doing it themselves. The energy it must take, the dedication, the imagination. Magic.

But in truth, no, writing is not a lonely occupation. I am always 'surrounded' by other people through blogs, writing sites, workshops, twitter, facebook - the list goes on.

Sure, there are times where I turn all that stuff off (surprising I know), I do lock my husband and son out of the office and I do nothing but write or edit on my own in some semblance of peace. I drift away to the lands of my stories and I'm no longer in my office. (And with all my character there I'm hardly alone either!)

I have never met an actual writer that seriously feels lonely in this industry! Even as a writer though, I still have the vision of the dedicated writer all hold up away from the real world - of course always alone. I never have the vision of the author surrounded by people cheering, offering advice, or just talking about every day silly things. It doesn't fit the image in my head of a writer is.

So is writing a lonely occupation? The magical mysterious side to the non-writer folks - perhaps. But to the actual writers, it's anything but. (Heck, even in la-la land we have plenty of characters to keep up company too!)

The Future of Books and a Contest

When I realized that our subject this week was the future of books and e-books in the next five years, it gave me pause. It wasn't as if I was completely clueless with regard to the task at hand; I have had the good fortune of having my debut novel published as an e-book. The issue for me was not the meat and potatoes of the dish, but rather the art of preparing the meal. I wrote the novel, but my wonderful publisher Gaynor was the one who handled all of the details.

The e-book: By this time, most people are aware of just exactly what this is. "What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet" (My thanks to Mr. Shakespeare). It's just a book. It won't bite you! Although, a good one will leave a mark. One can download an e-book to their computer, iPhone, e-reader, etc. Most of us not only have personal computers, Laptops and gadgets galore, but have multiples of each! 

The e-future: Imagine if you will that you have just finished reading a very good book. Are you ready to put it down? What if there was more content? Books often carry advertisements for past works by the author or for a forthcoming title, other times the book might include a sample of what's coming. What if the e-book was something called an enhanced e-book? Not only could it carry the usual, but so much more. Picture if you will the ordinary Facebook wall. Most of us have a Facebook account or at least have seen one. Can you see the video links and photos there? Instead of snippets of what the individual has been up to or what their friends have posted on their wall, I want you to envision the pages of a book. Are you reading The Lord of the Rings? Off to the right there is a series of photos. Are you reading Stephen King? Between paragraph one and two is a photo of Bangor, Maine. Better yet, how about a short video walk-thru of the town. Pat Conroy? Now you do not have to imagine what his south looks like, you could simply click the link. 

I know what you are going to say. It's the same argument against music video. Now that I have seen the stupid video, it has robbed my imaginative mind of being able to simply take the lyrics and create my own visual in my head. Okay, forget the photos and links. What if the start of the enhanced e-book contained a brief author's note, where a film began upon your choosing and the author herself thanked you, her faithful reader, for purchasing her work and gave the simplest of introductions. What if the end of the e-book contained an interview session where the author explained the muse for his story or offered other tidbits. Wouldn't that be something? Who knows exactly what the future might bring, but folks, it is coming. 

The Real topic: That was what I was hoping to write about this week. Unfortunately, thanks to all of the comments that I have seen recently from readers claiming that you can take their books from them when you pry them from their cold, dead fingers - we have to talk about something else. Has everybody seen Moonstruck? I hadn't until recently. I love romantic comedies, but must have had some sort of bias against this one for some crazy reason. In any event, I finally saw it, and liked it. So, with regard to the bias that many continue to cling to in terms of being unwilling to embrace e-books: I say, (borrowing Cher's famous line) "Snap out of it!" 

[caption id="attachment_3123" align="alignleft" width="160" caption="Cher and Nicholas Cage in Moonstruck"][/caption]

Forgive me, I'm not writing of those who have said that they cannot yet afford a Kindle or one of the other e-readers out there. It was easy for me. My wife has money! Just kidding. I'm speaking to those who get all nostalgic for paper, curling up in bed with their favorite book or simply their love of  bookstores. This is not the first time that this kind of thing has happened. We have gone through this before.  

This past spring the Blockbuster in my small town of 12,000 or so souls closed. It's a Real Estate now. When I was a teenager we went through periods where we had between two and five video rental stores. Then everyone decided that they should abandon the mom and pop places for the big sexy chain, thus forcing the mom and pops out of business. Now that we can order movies through cable, our computers, our Wii's, etc., we don't necessarily need Blockbuster anymore. And so it goes...  

Quick, somebody hand me a cassette. A what? Yeah, that's what I thought. I might still have a few cassettes lying around the house, probably stored in the garage. If so, they won't work now. Not that I have anything to play them on anymore! Not only that, I've long-since replaced those with CD. While we're on the subject, all of those CD's have been digitally transferred to my pc. They are available for me to listen to when I'm on my pc (like now - I'm listening to Asia), or my iPod (I'm pushing 7000 songs there) or my iPhone. My dad still has an old reel to reel. I haven't seen it in a while, but I'm certain that it is there since my parents don't believe in tossing anything out! Soon, we might not even need to store music. Our devices will simply access "the cloud" where our account is recognized and our purchased/stored music content simply streamed to our device. I don't know a lot about it just yet, but guess what: it's coming, too!  

Back to my wife. When the Kindle showed up magically at our doorstep a few months ago, she gave me that frown. "What did you do?" the frown asked. Yet, guess who uses it more than I do? And so will you. Trust me.  

The Contest: If you are still speaking to me after all of that, we have a contest for you. Wicked Writers is giving away a copy of my e-book, Dance on Fire. Ha! What else could it have been? The contest will run for two weeks. To be eligible, please leave a comment, along with your e-mail address in case you are declared the winner. We also would love it if you signed up for the e-mail delivery option, but will not make it mandatory. I would like to leave you with a note about my book. It is a horror/Christian crossover about vampires. It is a PG-13 story, so don't let the horror label scare you away. It is Christian, but contains some blood and guts and does not get too preachy. There's a bit of romance, too! See, it has everything. How could one possibly lose? Okay, don't answer that.

Finding time to write? …Time? …What time?

Apparently (and this is the philosopher in me) there are two distinct viewpoints on time – at least according to Wikipedia. (Oops, did I mention that particular research tool?)

You might belong to the camp that believes time is part of the fundamental make up of our universe. In this camp sit those of you who believe that time is a measure that allows for events to occur in sequence. The “schedule” says I have a blog post to write on “Finding Time to Write”! This post, for example, comes in sequence after those of my fellow writers. But there are only so many days between one post and another – a finite measure in which I have to allocate a proportion of my activities during those days to write said post!

[caption id="attachment_2544" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="The problem with time..."][/caption]

Oh! And I have so many other activities to complete within these days… how could I possibly “find” time to write a blog post – let alone continue with writing my second novel!

Some chance!

Like Greg, after a period of enforced “light work”, I now find myself back in the corporate world and faced with more activities than I can possibly sequence comfortably within the schedule before me.

[caption id="attachment_2543" align="alignright" width="114" caption="Time is no friend to art..."][/caption]

If time is real and measureable, time cannot be elastic and perhaps we should not feel so bad if we cannot “find” time to “fit” in the writing. There are so many other things that also need to be done… we cannot control time. I am excused. I cannot find the time!

Oh, but there is the weekend, you might observe! Should I not find time in this schedule at an early stage, during the weekend, when I might have fewer activities on the go?

What… and risk writing something that, by the time it comes to publish, I find has already been covered by my fellow writers? (What a challenge it is to find something to follow the great posts of C.J., Greg and Supriya!)

The opposing view is held by those in the “time is not real” camp… Could time possibly be neither an event nor a thing? If it was, time would not, itself, be measurable. (And neither could it be travelled… but I am not a Science Fiction writer, so enough of the time-travel thingy!)

[caption id="attachment_2545" align="alignleft" width="98" caption="What (is) time?"][/caption]

If time is not real, it cannot be measured and, as such, surely it would be impossible to find! So, no time, no problem… I am excused!

Now, to me, this is a much more exciting way to think about things! If time is not real, then perhaps the activities we are dealing with – such as writing – are not real… Now there’s a thought (and have I lost my mind? you ask).

Consider that the act of putting pen on paper – is that writing? What about pressing keys on a key board? Is that writing? Is scratching a mark on a slate with a piece of chalk writing? If all these activities are writing, could not even the act of thinking a word be writing? I’d say so!

But thinking is not real! It is as real as time. And, for the sake of this post, it allows me to go blindly through my week, saying “…Look! I am “writing”…  In fact, I do so much “thinking-writing” during the working week that I can’t afford to buy enough paper to write it all out on (even if I could find the time).

And, as I sit here with an hour to go before my self-imposed deadline for writing this post, I finally crystallise only some of the “thought-writing” I have been “doing” all week, by tapping for an hour on the key board.

And I can tell you, it works for me.  I write so much in my head during the week that when it comes to having the opportunity to type or put pen to paper, then the words flow easily! And what does it matter if I have forgotten most of what I have written in the past week, anyway! I can easily write thousands more words next week!

Happy writing… :)

Rejection? A question of culture...

It was reinforced to me, today, as I spent a pleasurable few hours lecturing about change and the management of change to a very important student of the educational institute I am now a member of, that we can never take anything for granted. Cultural differences separate us all. Even in the confines of a single village, there are differences. And don’t get me talking about the two nations – the UK and the US - separated by a common language! (And I say this with affection!)

[caption id="attachment_2369" align="alignright" width="70" caption="This has nothing to do with rejection - but it is a good book!"][/caption]

There is a quote from a philosopher, MacIntyre, that I frequently use in talking about culture: ‘I am brother, cousin and grandson, member of this household, that village, this tribe… These… characteristics… [define] partially at least and sometimes wholly my obligations and my duties.’

So, where am I going with a discussion on culture in relation to a post on Rejection? Stay with me, friends – I will make this short. It is, after all, (as I sit here typing this post) late here in good old London, England. And I have been out networking and drinking wine!

Back to the subject at hand.

Together with the reinforcement of my belief in the richness of value in cultural difference, I received an email of a post from a fellow UK writer and writing consultant. (I will not name her here). And a timely post it was – on the subject of rejection.

The post attempted, in all good faith, to interpret various rejection letters in answer to a question: “what do letters actually mean?” A couple of examples might help here:

Q: What does "We regret we're unable to take on any new writers," mean?

A: Exactly that. Have they read your pitch? Probably not.

Q: What does "Your synopsis and opening chapter have promise, but we already have a similar author on our list," mean?

A: You are right to feel encouraged. They can see the potential in your work.

[caption id="attachment_2374" align="alignright" width="124" caption="Neither has this. But I liked it the last time, too!"][/caption]

You get the picture.

But what can we actually say? Is it right to try and interpret such rejection letters? To try and read something into the words that have been written? To suggest there might (or might not) be some ray of hope trapped inside?

I would argue that there really is no point in trying to decipher a rejection letter. We cannot, as an individual (because of all the variety of differences that make up our individual cultural profiles) really know what someone is trying to say in the space of a few lines of bland English typed on some fairly nondescript parchment.

Is this bad news?

NO! A great big resounding NO!

The rejection letter in your hand has been written by one individual in this world of individuals. There are one heck of a lot of other individuals out there who would like to read what you have to say. So do not take a rejection letter to heart. Keep trying; submit more. Or, if you are impatient like me, you can always publish yourself these days – but then that is a subject for another week.

Happy writing, and don’t worry about rejections. JK Rowling – one of our more famous UK authors - was rejected many times!

And in the words of Donald Sutherland, in Kelly’s Heroes, “Quit the negative waves, Moriarty” :)

Part 2 – Interview with Gaynor Stenson, Publisher

Welcome back to part 2 of my interview with Gaynor Stenson of Vamplit Publishing. Today she's providing advice for writers seeking publication and talking about changes in the publishing industry. Don't forget, we're also giving away two of Vamplit Publishing's eBooks (your choice) next Wednesday. Leave a comment to enter the drawing in today and/or yesterday's post. A comment on both days doubles your chances to win. Only one eBook per winner though. I will randomly draw two winners and announce them in my post next Wednesday. Advice for Writers Why should an author consider a small publisher rather than self-publish? A couple of authors have asked me what I can do for them and my answer has always been that I believe in them as a writer and will be as committed to your novel as you are. Self-pub always seems like a lonely place to me, beside which it’s big bucks you’re giving to savvy business people. If you are going down the self-pub route, I would advise you to do some sums on how many novels you need to sell to recoup your outlay. Look carefully at the fee and be aware that if you give your credit card details and haven’t read the small print, you could find yourself paying for extras. Don’t expect anything but basic proofreading for the set fee, as most editors charge much more because their pace is usually between four and ten pages per hour. I find that I edit between three and fifteen pages an hour.

Part 1 with Gaynor Stenson Website & Submitions www.vamplitpublishing.com Purchase Books www.ebookundead.com & Smashwords Writers' Communities vamplitpublishing.ning.com & vamplit.com Networking @vamplit

What services do you provide your authors as compared to a publishing giant or self-publishing agency?

For new authors, we offer a lot more than a big publisher would. Obviously I can’t offer what the publishing giants offer to their superstars, but I do offer one-on-one collaboration with an editor and we produce all the artwork for covers and any promotional material, we will even set you up a blog. Large publishers seldom offer so much to new authors and expect manuscripts to be presented in a highly polished format, with editing and proofreading already done. Some of our authors have proved to be networking goddesses’ and they have been keen to pass the love around, which is nice.

What are some of the warning signs you're being taken advantage of in the publishing industry?

There are so many. Firstly, if you are paying up front, whatever the company says on its website, you are self-publishing. If you are asked for your credit card details in case of extras or if you go onto the website and there are thousands of books of low quality, your alarm bells should start to ring. Even if you are accepted by a large publisher, ask about claw back. This is where you only get your royalties after all the costs of production are met and is quite common.

What would you suggest to any author looking to publish?

Don’t get your mum or friend to read your novel and think that it is edited, unless said person is an editor, of course. Practice writing a query letter or email. I’m completely turned off if a query is full of grammatical or spelling mistakes. Think of your synopsis as a shop window, one that will get the editor to browse. Writing compelling prose isn’t enough, you need the whole package. I could write pages on this, but most importantly, think carefully before spending your hard earned cash. On her website, Anne Rice puts it quite succinctly: if you have to pay, it’s not publishing, it’s vanity publishing. However, there is a new breed of author for whom self-publishing is a viable option. If you have a disposable income and the savvy to pull it off, then give self-pub a try. If as an author you decide that you don’t want to go through the archaic and often cruel rigmarole of submission, think before you sign up with the big self-publishers. Ask yourself how much of what the self-publishing company is offering you can do yourself and if the answer is some or most of it, spend the money you save on marketing your novel and a holiday.

Since you have started a publishing company, what are some of the things you have realized writers are uninformed or don't understand about publishers and the process of publishing?

Tricky question, writers don’t on the whole seem to realise this is a business. Last year I wrote twenty rejection emails in one day. My point being, that my business is new and I will give a writer a lot of leeway in their style (that can be fixed), but not their content. Don’t just blanket send your manuscript to every publisher you can find in The Writers’ Handbook, do some research. As a writer you should love to fact find, and that should not stop when you’re looking for a publisher. Send the right manuscript to the right editor and make sure your query and synopsis are outstanding.

One of the other things I think some writers don’t understand is that, new or old, big or small, all publishers expect the author to get out and publicise their own novel. What small publishers don’t have is a dedicated sales team to push your novels into stores, so if you find an outlet for your novel then tell your publisher. You need to find a way to build a relationship with readers and the internet has helped writers get out there and work their novel. All writers need a web presence for their novel.

What other advice would you give to writers who are serious about being published?

Don’t give up, but don’t ruin your life waiting to be a superstar. Being an author is a great thing, but enjoying the process of writing is the work of a lifetime. Seeing your novel in print or ebook format is important, but it is the writing which makes you special.

On The Future of Publishing

What are your opinions on the evolution of publishing, especially in regards to ePublishing. Where do you see the industry in the next 5 to 10 years?

It’s times like this I wish I had a crystal ball, but that would take all the fun out of life. I personally think ePublishing is going to be enormous, as reading has become very sexy again and, although the market share is still small, the year on year growth, even through the recession, has been amazing. Kindle ebook sales went through the ceiling this Christmas and the instant fix that ebooks give the reader is addictive, so I believe we will see an exponential growth in the industry over the next 5 years, as the price of readers decrease. The market has always been mostly women, but with the advent of a gadget, who knows, the whole reading demographic could change in the next ten years. I remember reading, about ten years ago, that the horror/fantasy market was dead, but look what’s happened. I think, when things settle down, e-publishing will find its place. Once this generation of readers hit middle age and e-readers are sold on their ability to enlarge text, we will find a whole new market, with a disposable income and the spare time to read. I know I prefer to read from a screen where I can adjust the text size; up to now readers of a certain age have had to settle for large print editions and availability may be limited and the cost prohibitive. Libraries will be able to stock every book ever written and, instead of making the twice-yearly trip to goodwill or charity shops to clear space on our shelves, we will be able to store all of our books on a nice clean e-reader.

How do you feel about some the recent competitive moves between Amazon and Apple in regards to selling ebooks? How will this effect your company? How do you see it effecting authors?

For us it’s all good, we like the idea of competition. We are working with an apps developer and all our titles will be available on Apple – Dance on Fire by James Garcia Jr is already available from the Apple bookstore. This is possible because the apps developer takes a small cut for every ebooks sold and Apple only take a very reasonable 30%. We also use Smashwords for our conversion and our ebooks are now available in Kindle format without us having to pay Amazon the 65% of purchase price they expect. I have nothing against Amazon and if I’m looking for a book, I usually look there first, but I see blogs with affiliate links to Amazon and I keep wanting to recommend Smashword’s affiliate programme which gives authors and publishers the chance to set their own rates. So a blogger who has links to books they’ve recommended can earn up to 80% of the ebook price. As a small, British publisher I think competition between the large stores is a good thing. I hope ebook stores, such as Smashword, who charge the publisher or author a very reasonable 13% of list price to sell your novel, get a larger slice of the sales pie chart. Converting readers to buying from diverse sellers can only be helped by larger companies fighting it out. If you are considering self-pub, we are working on an ebook for authors on how to publish their novels free of fees. It will take the author from typing The End right through to setting up a website and marketing their books again for free.

I’d like to finish on a positive note, which is sometimes hard as the odds are against you, but the fairytale ending is out there for any writer to find. The changing face of publishing is opening up new opportunities and you can only take advantage of them if you’ve a positive attitude and a belief in yourself as a writer.

Part 1 – Interview with Gaynor Stenson, Publisher

Considering this week's topic on our publishing progress, I thought it only fitting our guest be a publisher. So, today and tomorrow we will be talking to Gaynor Stenson of Vamplit Publishing. Here in part one, I asked her questions about her company. In part two, she'll provide valuable information for writers seeking publication, as well as provide her opinions on the future of publishing. I met Gaynor early last year on one of the popular online writer's communities. In the beginning, I only knew her as a talented dark poet. As I got to know her online, I was intrigued when I found out she was venturing into the publishing industry. It was fun hearing about her progress throughout the year and being around for the launch of her business. I also enjoyed getting to know some of her authors and reading a few of the books she's published. I have to say, she has a keen eye for talented writers, one of which, Nicole Hadaway, author of Release, you'll meet next week as a guest blogger. We are also giving away two of Vamplit Publishing's eBooks (your choice) next Wednesday. Leave a comment to enter the drawing in today and/or tomorrow's post. A comment on both days doubles your chances to win. Only one eBook per winner though. I will randomly draw two winner and announce them in my post next Wednesday.

Website & Submitions www.vamplitpublishing.com Purchase Books www.ebookundead.com & Smashwords Writers' Communities vamplitpublishing.ning.com & vamplit.com Networking @vamplit

And now, without further ado...

You are a new publisher, Gaynor, releasing books for less than a year so far, how hard was it for you to start your company?

To start was actually easy. I placed my name and website address on a number of writers’ sites and ran a competition, it was that simple. I began to receive submissions almost immediately. That is really an oversimplification, as I spent the two years before researching and working on a business plan and have been proofreading and editing for years, but starting isn’t that difficult. Our vision for Vamplit Publishing is for quality, rather than quantity which we thought was more important in the beginning. I did start out with a couple of other editors prepared to come on board, but unfortunately they didn’t understand the genre and thought that copy editing was sufficient for our market. I have a passion for vampires and the fantasy genre and this is what drives our company.

How do you feel your publishing company stands up against the competition?

I think we stand up okay, on balance we are so very new that it is hard to make a comparison. We are interested in publishing more literary novels, Nicole Hadaway coined the phrase Literary Paranormal, and I like to think that will make us standout from the competition in the long run.

What is the best thing so far about having your own publishing company?

The writers are the best thing about having a publishing company; reading a manuscript and getting a tingle. Reading and editing it is a big responsibility and one we take very seriously. It doesn’t matter how many novels we have waiting to be edited, the manuscript we are working on at the time is the only thing that matters. I’m editing a novel at the moment and its turning out to be a longer project than anticipated, but at the end of the day we won’t drop our standards just because of time constraints.

What genre(s) do you publish and what made you decide to publish them?

Ours is a broad church as far as genre, we started out listing Gothic, horror, fantasy, vampire, sci-fi and crime. Now, thanks to Nicole who coined the phrase on Marrisa Farrar’s blog, we are going with Literary Paranormal. Really this answers another of your questions as well, because if I like a novel it doesn’t matter too much it doesn’t fit into a box. The best bit about being a publisher is that I can be flexible. Dear Diary, The Daily Thoughts of a Serial Killer by Raven Usher will be published later this year and I can’t say it fits into any particular category. If you imagine Hannibal Lecter and Bridget Jones having a love child, I think you get a fair picture of this novel. I absolutely loved this manuscript and when I read it, it gave me shivers.

Why I publish in this genre has nothing to do with the current boom. I discovered my love of the vampire as a literary icon at University ten years ago, when it was fairly unfashionable to be obsessed with vampire fiction and I can’t seem to let it go. I find it fascinating that we can chart changes in society from Bram Stoker’s Victorian morality to the heady days of 1970’s pre AIDS sexual freedoms and Anne Rice’s beautiful young male vampires. The title of my dissertation was The Vampire as Polymorphic Metaphor: A study of nineteenth-century and twentieth-century vampire fiction. Catchy isn’t it?

What would you say are your greatest challenges and frustrations as a small and new publishing company?

Challenges: working to very tight deadlines and the fact that what I do has a fluidity to it that can catch me unawares. When things change I have to make sure I change with them. Frustrations: well not the writers, they are the high point. I think the fact that I know where we are going and want to be there already may be the hardest thing. The next five years are going to be long and hard, and the vision I have for Vamplit Publishing makes me impatient.

How many books have you published so far and how many more books will you publish in 2010? How many are new authors and how many repeat authors?

Last year we published eight novels and this year we have eight scheduled for the first half of the year. I’d closed our submissions before Christmas when my reading pile went over 50 manuscripts. The only limit we have is on editing and we refuse to drop our standards on that point. Two people work on every single manuscript. I have the final say on which novels we publish and I do all the substantive editing. When I’ve finished and the author has worked through all the edits, another pair of eyes proofreads before publishing. We have decided on quality not quantity. Realistically I think this year we will probably publish ten to fifteen new authors, four sequels and two or three second novels from authors we have or are publishing. I’m personally looking forward to publishing Return by Nicole Hadaway and Timothy C. Hobbs is working on a really great project, but I can’t really say anything about that yet as its still in the planning stage. Jevron Mc Crory is working on a second vampire novel for us and as his style is very gritty and British, I have every expectation it will be as powerful as Swan Song. I’ve read the prologue to the new novel and without giving away too much it is very different to his first vampire novel, much darker, but with more humour.

What has been the proudest moment of your writing or publishing career so far?

When we finished editing The Pumpkin Seed and Tim sent through the dedication and thanked me and my partner for all our hard work. I loved The Pumpkin Seed from my first read through and the fact that Tim had put it away and almost forgotten he’d written it gave me a personal sense achievement. Andy Boylan on Tailsen Meets the Vampire reviewed it and loved it, he saw in the novel exactly what I did, Tim’s writing is amazing.

Tell us about some of your successes and the successes of your authors.

We are starting to get some really great reviews from independent reviewers. Our success has been to actually start this business and we are working hard to make it a smoother process. Finding a print model, that we believe will work, has been the highlight, so far, of 2010. We are at the moment preparing our first manuscript for paperback publication and Release by Nicole Hadaway and Dance on Fire will be available this summer from, ironically, ebookundead.com. Although I am totally committed to ebook publishing, I know many authors want to see their novel in print and also for readers who haven’t made the leap of faith into ebooks yet. To fit with our green ethos, we will be using print on demand. I read an article in which they said that one of the materials used in road making is unsold, shredded paperbacks. The world’s mad really.

Nicole Hadaway, author of Release, had her blog highlighted on Anne Rice’s Facebook page, on February 27, 1010,  and we both got a buzz out of that as we are both fans of Ms.Rice. Sales continue to grow, but as we only started selling in September of last year, we know and so do our authors that we have a long way to go before we all buy villas in Italy or the South of France.

What is the future vision of your publishing company as in where do you see your company in the next 5 to 10 years?

The six million dollar question! I have a dream and it’s probably the same as all publishers. I want to make Vamplit Publishing known for our quality of content. I have a vision where our sales ensure our writers get a fair deal and that we never change how we deal with those writers. I don’t see us growing so large that I can’t be reached by email and I hope that we keep the standards high and aren’t seduced by the darker side of publishing. I want to be able to believe in the novels we publish.

Do you have any advice for anyone thinking of setting up their own publishing company?

Only do it if you like twenty hour working days. Before Christmas last year we worked all night through from the 23rd to the 24th because we knew the writer had Christmas week off from his day job and we wanted to give him as much time with the edits as we could. I think like writers, publishers need to love what they do and if you think this is a way to make a quick buck, forget it.

Thanks to Gaynor for taking the time for today's interview questions. Don't forget to drop by tomorrow for the continuation of the interview and to comment to win a free eBook.

Social Networking or Stalking

This week I’m inspired by Brian Hodge's post, Scaling the Rat Hole over at the Storytellers Unplugged blog. Go read it if you like, but please come back.

Like Brian, I kept a record of what I wrote, even competed against myself to write more words than the previous day. I changed my motto to, “Networking? Who has time for that?” I was way too busy writing.

Side note. This partially explains why I dropped off the face of the earth for nearly two years. Prior to finally deciding to hit the fiction writing full and hard, I ran a local in-person networking group, specifically to help nonprofits, and became a business and social networking guru of sorts. I was one of the first Facebook users, but I used it to post events, considering my preference has always been networking face to face. Not an easy thing to do when your audience is all across the world though.

When I decided to venture into writing a Twitter novel and entered the Textnovel contest last year, I had to make time for social networking, again. And so, the little "distraction" (as Brian so appropriately calls them) began interfering with my writing, again. My daily totals went down drastically. I realized yesterday, while waiting for my car at the dealership with no WiFi, that Mr. Hodge provides the best solution...unplug the router.

In my opinion, social networking is out of control. For example, imagine my dismay when I opened my Gmail yesterday morning and found Buzz, yet another distraction to discuss with the world what you're up to. Don't tell anyone I posted a few messages. I had to try it out.

How different is social networking from stalking, really? Think about how Facebook works. You spy on people, I mean read through personal status, for just the right victims, I mean friend. Then you make your move, the attack, I mean commenting or following their lead. There are also the members you don't know, who request your friendship. If you let them in, nine times out of ten, they take the next step and send you countless requests to join groups and fan clubs, along with messages to attend their events. Yes, I'm guilty of it too. Oops, forgot the harassment via instant message. We've all had to deal with it, yet we keep going back for more. It's like cold calling for the 21st century, with an actual audience.

My #1 stalking method has been Twitter. Why? It's quick. Well kinda. And, you can reach more people, theoretically, through search terms and replies. In addition, I love the Ning social networks, where it's easier to communicate with members, but not much different than the groups over at Yahoo, MSN & Google. Yawn! I also blog on and off, but you have to use all the other social networking tools to get people to read your blog.

Argh! There's no getting away from it if you're trying to promote yourself. It's part of the job. So if you wanna network with me, I suggest you check out the links in the right column of my blog. Adding the links here could take the rest of my morning.