bacon and books - Bacon and Books

Novelist and Humorist - Meet Judith Podell

1/28/2023

When I started Bacon Press Books, I needed to re-issue a real book to make sure I knew how to do it.

Judith Podell, wonderful writer, friend and neighbor generously agreed to let me use her book – Blues for Beginners: Stories and Obsessions - for my first trial.

The title story –“Blues for Beginners” – had worked its way into national consciousness as a story so smart and familiar it seemed to have written itself.

Nice for Judith that the story was so popular, not so great that she didn’t receive credit every time it appeared. Blues for Beginners was included in the humor anthologies Mirth of a Nation, and May Contain Nuts. Susie Essman recorded it for the CD..

Judith gave readings. Won coveted places at all the prestigious writing retreats. Got an MFA. Made friends around the world and then her small publisher went out of business. Her work was only available to the lucky few.

So, yes, she was willing to let me learn the independent publishing ropes with her book. She even did the cover art.

I made a few mistakes. Did a few things right. Still, we were both pleased with the results.
I wanted to hear Judith’s thoughts 10 years later.

I knew Blues for Beginners: Stories and Obsessions deserved to stay in print, so when my original publisher, a well respected small press, went out of business,

I recognized that it would be up to me. I’d always envisioned myself as one of those cult favorite type writers, like Eve Babitz and Lucia Berlin, but didn’t want to wait to be rediscovered.

Actuarilally speaking, time was running out. I’ve been thinking about the marketing and publicity angle and conclude that burden is always on the writer. Short story collections like mine do not receive the same kind of in-house support as self-help books written by celebrities and never did.

I had the resources for a low-key l DIY campaign of readings in bookstores and writers conferences, namely a blog http://www.memphisearlene.com, 900d Facebook friends and lots of spare time.

Historian and Novelist - Meet Rebecca Darley (aka Rose Marzin)

1/24/2023

Better Than This is a story about finding the strength to break free from old habits, to dream with purpose and to believe in happiness. Life, and love, doesn't have to be perfect but sometimes everything depends on knowing that it can be better than this...

Rebecca Darley is a full time historian, currently working at the University of Leeds. Her academic specialism is the world of the Western Indian Ocean in the first millennium CE. In 2022, she also began publishing fiction under the pen name Rose Marzin. As an indie (self-published) author, Rose Marzin writes contemporary and historical romance, with a focus on the emotional complexities of human relationships.

Why did you decide to self-publish? Did you have any doubts?

I publish through traditional presses as part of my job. Academic publishing isn’t designed to pay, so in that sense it is different from being a commercial author with a traditional press, but it does mean that I know quite a bit about how the editorial process works, pitching ideas etc. And it can be fun - I’m not against traditional publishing! But, because it is what I do for work, it feels like…work. And it is slow. It can take months or years to get even a 10,000 word article through the publication process.

When I decided to publish my first novel I knew I wanted an experience that felt different from my day job, I wanted more control over the process, and I had done my research with respect to remuneration. It isn’t easy to make money publishing fiction whichever route you take, but the numbers seemed to stack up better for indie publishing for what I’m looking for (a steady, scalable income and lots of control about when and how I work).

I’m naturally quite an indecisive person, so I spent quite a while looking into all of the options and asking advice. Once I’d made my choice, though, and was happy with my reasons, I got stuck in. When I choose a path, having the doubts before I start out means I don’t have to carry them with me!

What did you like best?

I absolutely love the writing process. My favourite stages are probably writing first chapters (often from the beginning and the end, then I work out what happens in the middle) and the editing process. I go over my drafts over and over, until I’m happy with every word, and I lose myself completely in the story.

To my surprise, though, I also ended up loving the cover design process. My brain is definitely a word brain, so it always intimidated me and I had a bit of a false start with one designer, but then I found Jacqueline Abromeit at goodcoverdesigns.co.uk. I saw her portfolio and just knew she was the designer I wanted to work with, and when I saw her first draft of the cover of Better Than This it was incredible. My book suddenly seemed real, and Jacqueline brought out colours and shapes and textures that made me see different things in my own text.

What was the hardest part?

Coming up with a title! The manuscript had a working title throughout the writing process, but I always knew it wasn’t quite right. When it was done, I spent about a week throwing titles out to my partner. Mostly he winced and I knew it wasn’t quite right. He would suggest something and it wouldn’t feel right. It got quite frustrating. Then it appeared and I knew that Better Than This was the one I’d been looking for. (And he agreed!)

The other very hard part of indie publishing, as I’m sure every indie author out there agrees, is marketing. I’ve never really done any marketing and I didn’t have any form of social media except LinkedIn until a few weeks before my book was released. Now I’m working with a professional marketing specialist and I still don’t feel like I’ve got it figured out, but it’s a skill, like any other, and I’m willing to give it time and effort. As my parents always taught me, that’s all we can ever do.

Would you do it again?

Absolutely. In fact, I will be indie publishing my second novel this Easter. The process has been complicated in places and I feel like I’m learning new things at every stage, but I’m looking forward to going through it the second time around and doing it better. It is also exciting building up some momentum. Control is one of the key things that drew me to indie publishing and I really enjoy the direct relationship between putting in work and seeing changes, whether that is in marketing, editing or creating new stories.

What advice do you have for authors just starting?

Start with your story. I did a lot of research while I was writing but whatever decision you make about how to publish, it all has to start with a story that is as good as you can make it and that you really believe in. All publishing involves putting a piece of yourself into the world. It is always scary. Indie publishing means that you don’t have a lot of the support and encouragement or the sense of a safety net that traditional publishing gives you. If you make a terrible decision about your cover or editing, nobody will necessarily be there with years of experience in the industry to tell you. That makes it even more imperative to trust in your own work and to know that you have made it the very best that you can.

I also found The Creative Penn podcast by indie author Joanna Penn truly inspirational. The podcast has been going for over ten years so there are hours and hours of content, including interviews with authors, editors, designers, marketers, etc. as well as reflections on different kinds of publishing, genres and reader groups and building a fan community. There is so much information out there, and there are so many people offering advice. The Creative Penn has become my final checkpoint for everything. I read widely, but in the final analysis, if Joanna Penn says something is a good idea, then I trust that she knows what she is doing and has tried it out herself.

Back to Where I Once Belonged

12/3/2022

15 books later - I'm ready to teach

Did you ever start out meaning to do one thing, but then life becomes its own kind of rabbit hole, and you do something else?

If you’re lucky, sooner or later, you end up back where you started.
And you get to try again.

About 12 years ago, when I heard about independent publishing – I thought it was amazing. The idea that you didn’t have to get approval and didn’t need permission to get your book published and into the hands of readers. You could do it yourself, your own way, on your own timetable.

I learned as much as I could about how to do it and where to get help on the technical parts I couldn’t do myself.

I had two plans. One was to take already published books and make them available in paperback and eBook.

The other – the one I rehearsed over and over in my mind – was to teach people how to publish their books. Most of the writers I knew didn’t have the time or the interest to learn how to do it on their own. So I would do a class. Maybe at The Writer’s Center or Adult Ed or . . .

Old habits die hard. I’m definitely part of what I consider the Beauty Queen/Teacher’s Pet generation. Even though I loved the idea of publishing my own books, I never thought of giving my own class. I wanted permission, approval, and validation.

It’s taken me 12 years to realize I can just give a class on how to become an author-publisher.

It’s not about being an entrepreneur. I still have trouble spelling that.
It’s not about getting on the best-seller list.
It’s about staying true to your vision of your book without spending a fortune.

What I wish for every writer is to get – a wonderful agent who answers in a week, a fabulous book deal that leads to fame and fortune, and maybe a five-part TV series and a slot in a celebrity book club.

But if that doesn’t happen. Then I wish you the pleasure of seeing your book in print just as you imagined it.

More about the class as soon as I have dates.
In the meantime, I’ve put together an easy-to-follow guide on the basics of Self-Publishing for Authors. It’s free.

You will end up on my email list but I promise I won’t inundate you with emails and offers. I’ll be lucky if I figure out what to write about every couple of months.

Right now you have room and time to play around with your writing - enjoy it!

7/31/2020

In the imagined idyllic former days, writers would write – feverishly, secretly, devotedly – thinking of nothing but their work. Only when they finished after months or even years would they consider sending it out to an agent or publisher. Until that time they threw crumpled pages at the wall, drank too much, neglected their health, their friends and their families. But it was worth it because in this idyllic world they would send out manuscripts and receive letters back that they’re manuscripts had been accepted! Days later a box of their books would appear.

It only happened in the movies.

Right now – meaning this very moment in the middle of a pandemic when no one knows how any industry will come out at the end of it – there’s no need for that fevered pitch. You still need to give your work your full attention. You may still neglect health, family and friends – but honestly, there’s no rush.

Which is a good thing. You have the freedom to take your time.

You can wallow in your character’s misery a little longer; realize that good guy has some sinister layer you were in too much of hurry before to see. You have time to add descriptions that engage the reader’s senses. You have time to make the dialogue sparkle and eliminate all the small talk stuff people say to each other which becomes even more tedious when it’s down on the page.

You have time to see if your book makes sense. And most important, if it’s interesting.

With these long days that run into each other and endless weeks that never quite add up to what we used to call a month – you have time to sit down with your characters, with a cup of tea or a glass of wine and really get to know what makes them tick. Not just the side of themselves they showed you on that first draft, but what’s really driving them.

You have time to try different plot twists and change out the ending as many times as you need until it feels right.

In other words, in the middle of everything that’s going sideways, you have the time to enjoy writing.

I’m not saying it’s easy when there are so many worries and distractions and so many kids at home for what seems like forever. And spouses who want company. And somehow twice as much laundry to be done which makes no sense since no one is going anywhere. And trips to the market that feel a little risky.

But if you keep that drive to write, lose the sense of urgency, you might give yourself permission to enjoy the process. Room to roam a bit in your book. Stop thinking the book must be finished in time for – well does it really matter at the moment if it’s out in time for what may or not be the holiday rush?

People want to read even if they can’t seem to concentrate. There’s something about the promise of a new book that can brighten an otherwise dreary weekend.

So what I’m saying is – don’t stop. Don’t give up. Just don’t be in such a hurry that you take all the pleasure out of writing. It’s one of the few luxuries we have right now.

Photo by Edu Lauton on Unsplash

Yes. Writing is hard but maybe we ought to keep that between us?

7/17/2020

Note: I wrote this before the pandemic and the whole world turned upside down. I was going to leave it but today on Facebook someone had one of those quotes about writing being hard work, so maybe it is still relevant.

True story: I had a friend, a wonderful person and an excellent writer who published a book and was lucky enough to get several interviews. On the radio. He was so thrilled to be published, so happy to be interviewed that all he could talk about was how much harder it was to write a book than he’d thought it would be.

I understood the impulse. It was harder than he’d thought and he imagined his readers were just like him - they, too, probably had no idea it was so hard.

But he learned too late - talking about how hard it was to write did not sell one single book. Listeners were probably on their way to work. Many most likely had difficult jobs. I could picture them muttering as they faced another endless commute - You want to know hard work, buddy? Just take my job for one day.

And to be honest, I’ve never heard a brain surgeon or a rocket scientist comment that their work was hard but it wasn’t like writing a novel, for godssakes.

Prospective readers want to know: what the story is about; will it keep them entertained, turning pages, staying up half the night? Are the characters quirky or sexy or evil? They want to be fascinated and there is nothing fascinating about the fact that you had to work hard.

This came to mind recently when I was reading an introduction to a book. A good, powerful work-in-progress written with the kind of honesty that takes courage. It was a very difficult book to write. It’s not easy to reveal yourself to strangers. And in his effort to be honest all around, he wrote that he’d had no idea writing the book would be such hard work.

I’m sure it was. I know he struggled for weeks and months trying to get it all down on paper. But his intended audience – emergency room doctors – knew about hard work.

Still, I hesitated to tell him the lesson from my friend - skip over the part about how hard you worked and tell the readers why they’ll like the book. Would advising him to make a few cuts feel like I was minimizing his experience?

In the end, I did tell him and he took it well. But I’m still not sure if it was the right thing to do.

What would you have done?

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

Changing a Book Cover? Here's What I Almost Forgot

7/10/2020

I could look at book covers for hours – yes, this was even before we were stuck inside. I’m interested in how styles have changed. Not so much from one year to the next, but maybe over a decade. Tastes are different; readers are more sophisticated. Sometimes the distinctions between genres starts to blur - what used to be a typical romance cover now looks very much like historical fiction. Or is it the other way around?

One of the most satisfying parts of running a very small press comes when the cover designer creates a cover the author is pleased with. And the cover designer I usually work with, Al Pranke, has a knack for getting what an author is looking for even when they don’t know and I had something else in mind.

So how did I end up with a cover on one of our books that just wasn’t right?

I have no idea.

Al produced his take on what I said I wanted for The Call House. A book about a high-class brothel that doesn’t have any sex. (I know. If you read the book you’d understand.) So I didn’t want to oversell the sexy part. Set in Washington, but it’s not political, and yet I wanted that Capitol dome somewhere in the background. You can probably tell I just wasn’t sure what I wanted and on top of that – the book is funny. So the cover needed a bit of whimsy and it had to indicate the setting was the 1940s.

Asking too much? Probably, but Al came up with a design that made sense - he’s got a great imagination and fine illustration skills. He produced a cover we both liked. I wasn’t in love, but maybe I wasn’t ready to be in love.

Here’s what happened.

Readers enjoyed the book. Lots of great reviews and a whole stack of stars. But. It wasn’t selling.

There are a few possibilities when that happens – but first among them is the cover just doesn’t appeal to people.

So I dithered and debated for months. Should I change the cover? Could I afford it? Was it worth the trouble and just how much trouble was involved?

What held me in back?

I operate Bacon Press Books on a shoestring. Less than a shoe string. No margin, no reserves. In other words, money is tight. Was there any chance the money spent on a new cover would actually produce new sales? (Forget the hype from authors who say they changed the cover or the keywords or the book description and sales skyrocketed. I don’t believe it.)

So I waited. Always in the back of my mind was the plan to re-do the cover when I had the extra money.

I held off until I couldn’t.

Al, had just created a cover for the latest book, Waiting for Next Week, that I love. And there is something different about loving the cover that makes you (or maybe it’s just me) feel really good about having your book out there. I wanted to feel that way about The Call House.

And as long as we’re being honest – what’s one more charge on a credit card I’m paying off slowly anyway?

Keep in mind this was all before the virus hit. When life was ‘normal.’

On top of that, I’d recently read somewhere that flying appendages don’t do well on book covers. As someone who’s always teaching writers not to use detached body parts–his eyes slid past me; I saw the top of his head bobbing down the stairs – you get the idea; I immediately understood why a flying appendage wasn’t a good idea.

So I saved up as much as I could and decided to take the leap.

I asked Al for a new cover for The Call House. We still had the same constraint – I didn’t want it to be too seductive despite the subject matter. But I wanted classy, clean, modern yet evoking 1940s. And we could lose the Capitol.

He did it. He created a cover I could fall in love with. It makes all the difference in the world. It’s like the book has been wearing all the wrong clothes and now it’s dressed the way it should be.

The best part about independent publishing is that you can change things immediately. And I did. Although Amazon is a little slow to catch on in matching the paperback and eBook.

I was all set until I opened the book.

This is the part I almost forgot

I couldn’t change the cover without changing all the title pages and chapter headings and section headings – the fonts that had worked before, no longer were right. Fortunately, the body text was compatible.

Even more fortunately, the terrific people at eBook launch who had done the original interior were able to make the changes at a reasonable price, even when it meant they’d have to purchase a new font to match the new cover. They were very responsive and did everything quickly.

That hard to explain thrill when something goes right and looks good

How many times have we seen the scene in the movies when the author works like crazy, sends off the manuscript, gets the book accepted by a publisher, and holds the book in their hands?

Now, thanks to social media, we can see the thrill of an independent author opening their first box of books. It doesn’t matter who publishes the book – it’s still a kick.

So I’m happy to send The Call House out in the world wearing its classy new cover. I’ll write again and let you know if it makes a difference in terms of sales.

But in the meantime, if you keep looking at your book and you keep thinking something just might be a little off, you might try a new cover.

Just remember to redo the interior as well.

And okay, pick up a copy of The Call House - it's a good summer read.

Actually, Re-Issuing My First Novel is a Kick

3/24/2020

It could have gone either way. I could have picked up my first novel after years of letting it sit on the shelf, read it,and been deeply embarrassed. Then I would have felt foolish even considering asking readers to take a look. But instead, I was pleasantly surprised. Much of it was unfamiliar but not unpleasant.

And then I got to choose my own cover. I picked one my designer, Al Pranke, had created for another book – fortunately, that author wasn’t as crazy about it as I was.

But the biggest surprise was unearthing old reviews. At the time, I suffered over one or two. Now I have no idea why – they're better than I remembered. And this time I could include them in the front pages of the book and on the sales pages. Unabashed vanity, I know. But sometimes you need something to remind you of what you’ve accomplished.

I’ve picked out the interior design by Lorie DeWorken, put together the back cover. All choices I didn’t have before.

As a result, I’m less nervous about sending the book out there. After all, what have I got to lose? The book wasn’t selling before anyway.

I’ve seen authors use a re-issue as a new launch, a new way to get readings and reader reviews. I’ve never been keen on public speaking, so I was going to shy away from lining up readings, even before that became impossible. Editorial reviews are less likely - it’s not a new book. But there are at least a dozen ways to offer my book to readers, especially if I’m willing to discount and spend a little money on promotions and ads.

And I'm offering all Bacon Press Books at $0.99 for as long as we're all stuck inside.

Why Now? (I wrote this before the quarantining - otherwise my answer might be more specific)

I went into this as a kind of experiment. A fact-finding mission. If I’m encouraging other writers to re-issue their back lists, I needed to know what it felt like.

About a year ago, I self-published a new novel. To be honest, it didn’t feel nearly as good. I’m not sure why. All I know is that I was reluctant to do all the marketing I’d encouraged other writers to do. I felt funny pushing it. The reader reviews were great and still, I put off doing more to get exposure. It surprised me. And the sheer number of self-published books hitting the market overwhelmed and discouraged me.

More than that, it made me question whether it was fair to publish original fiction or nonfiction when I couldn’t honestly tell other writers I enjoyed the process.

That’s why I’ve become even more determined to shift the focus of Bacon Press Books to re-issues only.. And why I decided to re-issue Waiting for Next Week.

The good news is – so far I've enjoyed all of it. I have no idea if that translates into sales. But the process has been more fun than I expected.

Give It a Try

It’s easy enough to do it yourself or there are other presses besides this one who can help.
You might want to dust off your back list and give it a try.

Pick up a copy
You can pick up a copy of the eBook of Waiting for Next Week for 99 cents.

An Update

I started this piece long before the virus became our main preoccupation. I know so many people are too distracted to read or write while others will take any distraction they can find. I've already virtually-toured three of the national parks; watched the Northern Lights; and learned how to make roll-up French toast.

So I offer both the suggestion of hauling out your back list and/or reading this book in case you're ready to look for something to do.

Stay healthy
M.

All Bacon Press Books eBooks on Sale for 99 Cents

3/21/2020

I keep thinking of that line from the movie Airport when Lloyd Bridges says – “Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.”

That’s what it feels like to launch a re-issue of my novel in the middle of a health and economic crisis unlike anything we’ve ever encountered. Anxiety is high. People are already too distracted to be able to appreciate distractions.

But maybe forgive me for going ahead with this? Like everyone else who’s self-employed or has a small business, I’m just bumbling through..

I’ll contribute to other causes where I can and at the same time I’m lowering the price on all Bacon Press Books eBooks to 99 cents. I’d give them all away, but that wouldn’t be fair to the authors.

So if you’re looking for some good reading, please consider:

Short Story Collections
You Won’t Remember This: Stories by Kate Blackwell
Blues for Beginners: Stories and Obsessions by Judith Podell
The Man Who Built Boxes and other stories by Frank Tavaris

Short Novels
Man from the Sky by Danny Wynn
The Call House: A Washington Novel by CP Stiles
Waiting for Next Week by Michele Orwin

Novels
Sigga of Reykjavik by Solveig Eggerz
Getaway by Maureen Brady
Identity Thief by JP Bloch
Landfall by Joseph Jablonski
Sunset at Rosalie by Ann McLaughlin
The Clear Blue Line by Al Sprague

Nonfiction
Letting Go: An Anthology of Attempts edited by M.E. Hughes
The Lost Town: Bringing Back Trochenbrod by Avrom Ben-David Val

Career/Business Books
In Search of the Fun-Forever Job by Ellis Chase
Networking: Career Strategies that Work by Ellis Chase

Writing takes a series of small steps of courage

2/18/2020

At first, the hardest part is just sitting down to write.
But that isn't as hard as letting someone else read your work
Which is easy compared to deciding it's time to send out your manuscript
Which turns out be a piece of cake compared to sending it back out after you've gotten one rejection
Which is nothing compared to trying again after the 10th rejection or the 50th

Standing on the edge of that formidable chasm with no good choices - giving up or going on?
Do you dare to publish yourself or endure a dozen more small deaths of the spirit until someone else acknowledges your merit?

It isn't easy that first time you say I'm good enough,
My work is good enough even if I'm the only one who knows it right now.

Until you take the leap
and the sail catches you and the wind carries you
and your realize you're in good hands after all -
your own.

Photo by Nicolas Tissot on Unsplash

Wearing several hats - changes at Bacon Press Books

2/13/2020

Multi-tasking

It makes me think of a juggler trying to keep three balls in the air or four plates spinning. It’s hectic and harrowing. And yet. Sometimes the best way to get one thing done is to do two. (Or am I getting that confused with the advice about how to improve a short story by writing the next one?)

Bacon Press Books is making some changes and they’re all good.

Here’s what’s different

Bacon Press Books is now concentrating only on helping authors re-issue as paperbacks and eBooks, titles that have already been published in hard cover. When the author has regained the rights.

While we’re really proud of the original fiction and nonfiction titles we’ve published and grateful to their authors for taking a chance on us, we want to stick with our original mission.

So with that in mind, we’ve revamped our website so authors can see clearly what it would cost to re-issue a book with us. Check it out.

At the same time, we’re offering another service that’s totally separate from the press.

Book coaching
Fiction, nonfiction, novel, memoir, beginners, pros – I’m happy to help. No matter where you are in your journey, I’ll join you.

Fortunately, there’s no crossover – no promise to publish because clearly you can’t be working on a new book and re-issue it at the same time.

You can read about the service here and if you know anyone who’s looking for help, please pass it on.

No Newsletter

I know. I should have been collecting email addresses and writing a newsletter – but to be honest, the newsletters I receive tend to be a bit disappointing. They’re personal and interesting and I do take the time to read them, but it’s kind of like podcasts, and blogs, and all of these content-heavy new formats for communication. Sooner or later, people run out of material. In my case, I know it would be sooner.

So I’ll update this way from time to time and keep you posted on how these new changes are working.