Thursday 29 December 2011

The "best" and the "worst"

Rik's Coffee Thoughts

Random thoughts, mostly about writing, publishing, sailing, God, cats, my life, my loves and whatever happens to run across my mind between the first espresso and the last cup of' before my shower.

Now - if I could only get Captain Hook to bring me my espresso without spilling it, we'd have a good thing going.




I am visiting with my 86 year old mother-in-law and as such, I get to read some of the literary masterpieces that I find laying around her house. This morning I picked one up as I was sitting on the throne - you know - that great literary tome, Readers Digest. It was November 2011 and on page 217, I read:

Topfive.com asked its readers to create hysterically rotten excerpts from mystery novels. They didn't disappoint.
  • "The sight of Hobson's crumpled body, a bloody dagger cruelly protuding from his temple, shot a ripple of horror through the tuxedoed throng attending the Bristol Butler's Convention. Who could possibly have done such a thing?"
  •  "It was no surpirse to find her nude body sprawled across the bed, her Halston suit, Prada chemise, and Manolos in a heap on the florr; she'd never be caught dead wearing last season's fashions."
OK - I mostly share this blog with the almost 600 members of the Indie Author Group. So, come on, add a comment with your "best" and or "worst"
Just Rik's morning coffee thoughts ...



Tuesday 27 December 2011

How Many Stars Do You Expect?

Rik's Coffee Thoughts

Random thoughts, mostly about writing, publishing, sailing, God, cats, my life, my loves and whatever happens to run across my mind between the first espresso and the last cup of' before my shower.

Now - if I could only get Captain Hook to bring me my espresso without spilling it, we'd have a good thing going.



Star system of ranking books - who knows what it means?

Based on 40 plus years as an educator, I have evaluated the works of countless students, from Graduate School all the way up to four grade (8 year olds). As published indie authors, we are not in primary school and the grading of our work is probably much more akin to that of Graduate School. So, how did I grade the work of my graduate students?
  1. I assumed that for a student to be in graduate school, they had to be good and so did their work.
  2. Good work at the Grad level would get you a three. You're a graduate student, good work is expected.
  3. Really good work would get you a four, and I would often read it more than once, think about it a bit, ponder it.
  4. To get a FIVE it had to be so good I would be thinking "Wow, I have to show this to Dr. Smith. This might just make a good presentation paper at that Big Conference in Sydney, Australia next year "
  5. FIVEs are not to be thrown around lightly. A paper with a single typo or grammatical error could never get a five. Ever! A five is perfect. Errors are not a display of perfection.
So - transfer those thoughts to your writing, to your published, professional work. You're a professional, offering a time of entertainment for a fee. It does not mater if the fee is 99 cents or $9.99 - if you are charging a fee, you are a professional.
And your readers are your "graders", they are "marking" your work. If you want a Five Star Review - if has to be perfect. Five out of Five is a perfect score! An ice skater at the Olympics does not get a perfect score if they stumble. To get a perfect score you cannot even stumble a tiny bit. 
If I review your book and it is a great read, but there are errors or poor grammar in places, it may be a "great read" but it won't (and shouldn't) get a five out of five!
Just Rik's morning coffee thoughts ...

Thursday 15 December 2011

Keeping Abreast of the Industry

Rik's Coffee Thoughts

Random thoughts, mostly about writing, publishing, sailing, God, cats, my life, my loves and whatever happens to run across my mind between the first espresso and the last cup of, before my shower.

Now - if I could only get Captain Hook to bring me my espresso without spilling it, we'd have a good thing going.




Keeping Abreast: You may want to at least look at these sources once a week, possibly subscribe to a blog and try to sort out what is happening.

A Newbie's Guide to Publishing - Joe Konrath's excellent blog


Publishers Lunch - The Publishing Industries' Daily Essential Read - from their blurb: "now shared with more than 40,000 publishing people every day. Each report gathers together stories from all over the web and print of interest to the professional trade book community, along with original reporting, plus a little perspective and the occasional wisecrack added in." This is an excellent resource for information about the publishing industry. Publishers Marketplace costs money but publishers Lunch is free. Linda has gotten it for years. Her agent, Danielle recommended it to her. 

Let's Get Digital - David Gaughran's Website - another super resource.

Smashwords Blog - the blog of


Just Rik's morning coffee thoughts ...




Traditional and Vanity publishing houses

Rik's Coffee Thoughts

Random thoughts, mostly about writing, publishing, sailing, God, cats, my life, my loves and whatever happens to run across my mind between the first espresso and the last cup of regular before my shower. Now - if I could only get Captain Hook to bring me my espresso without spilling it, we'd have a good thing going.

I have been posting my morning coffee thoughts for a while now on a specific FaceBook group, and a number of the readers said "You should do a blog!"  OK - here we go, Rik's Coffee Thoughts:

Some simple thoughts on Traditional and Vanity publishing houses from twenty years of experience with five different publishing houses.

Point one - all publishing houses publish to make money for themselves, all of them! Every one!

Point two - there are differences. Traditional publishing houses take you on because they see your future sales and their commission on those sales as a potential source of income. Sometimes (not always) you get an up front advance, sometimes you don't. If you do get an advance, your sale's royalties pay off the advance before you see new money! 
They pay all the up front costs. Edits, cover design, sales promotion, proof copies, advance reading copies, sending those copies to readers, postage, phone calls, support. Everything. You should never ever pay anything up front with a non-vanity press!

Vanity publishing houses take you on because you are willing to pay your own up front costs and possibly a publishing fee. If they are lucky they might see a return based upon your sales and their commission on those sales, but that is secondary. You pay in some way for edits, cover design, sales promotion, proof copies, advance reading copies, sending those copies to readers, postage, phone calls, support. Everything. If you go Vanity - get in writing, everything you have to pay for, everything!

Which is best for you?

Depends upon:
  • how deep your pockets are,
  • how desperate you are to get your work in print, 
  • how lucky you might be in getting someone's attention, and 
  • last, but by no means least - how good your book is.
Point Three - another option - publish it yourself.

Just Rik's morning coffee thoughts ...