20 Tweets from Stardom: Authors Redefine Success

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“Is this the way love’s supposed to be?”

by CJ Verburg

20 Feet From Stardom is an inspiring, heart-wrenching film about those unsung heroines known as backup or background singers.  It takes us behind the scenes with a dozen or so of the brilliant and fiercely dedicated African-American women who propelled 20th-century soul and rock-&-roll bands to success.

Watching it left me pondering that famous line of Andy Warhol’s:  “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”  One of the film’s most sobering stretches is a parade of album covers celebrating the launch of one great backup singer after another into her long-awaited solo career.  Most of them sank without a ripple.

Warhol’s observation has popped into my head lately like the mystical answer from a Magic 8-Ball as I’ve read the newest data about traditional publishing vs. self-publishing, author expectations vs. author satisfaction.  It’s a remark so often quoted and misquoted that it’s become a cliche–verbal Muzak we don’t really hear anymore.  Back in 1968, when it first spread through the so-called counterculture, it struck shivers into me and many other aspiring artists, like an eerily prescient fortune cookie.

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“How does it feel to be on your own? A complete unknown? Like a rolling stone?”

Already the news media were transforming the nature of fame.  (Media was still plural then; so was data.)  We had thought of fame as a magic doorway or bridge: Once you reached it, you were IN.  Work really hard, be true to your heart and your craft, and you’ll arrive.  Then you can sit back and relax, as the airlines say, and live happily ever after.

A number of people who boarded the gravy train early still believe this.  20 Feet From Stardom is a powerful reminder that for most striving artists, whose talent and hard work aren’t boosted by a well-timed lucky break, it’s not that simple.

Over the next 45 years, as lifelong careers and even regular paying jobs thinned out, and more and more people turned to arts, sports, and entrepreneurship, success changed. Instead of a threshold you can cross into the Emerald City, it became a benchmark–a one-night motel along the Yellow Brick Road.  Congratulations, you’ve arrived!  Now, move on down the road.The Emerald City

Three recent reports from Digital Book World and Writer’s Digest emphasize what a challenge this redefinition poses for writers (and publishers) of books.

In the fall of 2013, a DBW article by lead writer and Queens College sociologist Dana Beth Weinberg announced an ironic finding.  Whether an author is self-published, traditionally published, or both (“hybrid”), s/he is dissatisfied with the results.  Regarding “everything from the royalty rates hybrid authors receive when they traditionally publish (7.9% are very satisfied) to the number of copies sold by self-publishing authors (4.6% are very satisfied), authors are generally unhappy.”  Those whose books are traditionally published tend to believe they’d have done better if they had self-published; while self-published authors think their books would have done better if traditionally published.  The grass is greener on the other side of the fence?  More like: Hey!  I ran a great race, led the pack across the finish line . . . Where’s my trophy?

In December, Weinberg reported that income remains a big source of dissatisfaction.  The much-touted Cinderella stories of authors such as Lisa Genova, E.L. James, and Gillian Flynn remain fairy tales for the vast majority of book writers.  “Few authors are getting rich off of their writing or even earning enough from their writing to quit their day jobs.”

few authors are getting rich off of their writing or even earning enough from their writing to quit their day jobs. – See more at: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/self-publishing-debate-part3/#sthash.B2xkoHSk.dpuf

This past week, Weinberg unveiled findings from the 2014 Digital Book World and Writer’s Digest Survey regarding authors’ expectations: “Authors, especially not-yet-published authors, believe that publishers will provide us with market expertise and distributional reach that we don’t have on our own and that we have greater chances of reaching fans and stardom if we go the traditional route.”  As the previous survey data show, however, fans and stardom remain elusive no matter how a book is published.

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Jo, Judith, & Lisa gave Sting, Michael Jackson, & the Rolling Stones (among others) the sound that made them famous.

At the same time, all over the online network I’m hearing from writers who’ve had a modest hit or two and hope for another one soon, as well as writers who, while not famous, are earning enough from their books to keep the wolf from the door.  Most of these are either self-help/how-to authors or series authors of genre fiction: mystery, romance, thrillers.

A leitmotif in 20 Feet from Stardom is that talent and commitment aren’t enough to make a star; it also takes a powerful ego, ambition, and tenacity, bolstered by good luck.  For writers, the democratization of self-publishing is luck that cuts both ways.  While it has granted many an aspirant’s wish to see her or his words between covers (literal or digital), it’s also swamped the market: In 2012 alone, more than 390,000 new books were published.  In the 21st century, how many writers will show the combination of genius, ferocity, and timing to blast out of the shadows into the spotlight?

How do you define success for yourself?  Will you be frustrated and disappointed as long as there are other writers who earn more fame and money than you do?  Is it satisfying enough to see your words in print, and to know that people you’ve never met are paying to read them?

The backup singers in 20 Feet From Stardom all talk about the thrill of making great music and the synergy of collaboration, even if they’d rather be the star up front.  For 21st-century writers, the most probable and practical approach to success may be to enjoy surfing each wave of recognition when it rolls in, large or small, and then enjoy the hard work of paddling out of sight with the rest of the crowd until the next wave rises.

Authors, especially not-yet-published authors, believe that publishers will provide us with market expertise and distributional reach that we don’t have on our own and that we have greater chances of reaching fans and stardom if we go the traditional route. – See more at: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2014/author-survey-results-expectations-of-traditional-publishing-and-self-publishing/?et_mid=657899&rid=240980085#sthash.sRnF9GOi.dpuf
The 2014 Digital Book World and Writer’s Digest Survey – See more at: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2014/author-survey-results-expectations-of-traditional-publishing-and-self-publishing/?et_mid=657899&rid=240980085#sthash.sRnF9GOi.dpuf
The 2014 Digital Book World and Writer’s Digest Survey – See more at: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2014/author-survey-results-expectations-of-traditional-publishing-and-self-publishing/?et_mid=657899&rid=240980085#sthash.sRnF9GOi.dpuf
The 2014 Digital Book World and Writer’s Digest Survey – See more at: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2014/author-survey-results-expectations-of-traditional-publishing-and-self-publishing/?et_mid=657899&rid=240980085#sthash.sRnF9GOi.dpuf

Barbary Corsairs in the Regency?!?

by Charisse Howard (first posted on charissehoward.com)

redcoats1If you saw my previous post “The Regency Abroad,” you’ll recall my rereading Jane Austen and wondering: Who are these “officers” who keep popping up, turning young ladies’ heads, and then marching off again?

When His Royal Highness Prince George took the sove-reins from his ailing father and launched the Regency, his country was at war. (Britain was often at war. It’s an island. Like Manhattan, it depends heavily on imports.) Ever since the French Revolution had paved the way for Napoleon to become Emperor, things were prickly across the Channel.

USmapRegencyNor had Britain forgiven Spain for the Armada, as well as continuing to meddle in the New World. The Americans had booted the Brits out of their former colonies. When Napoleon sold France’s vast Louisiana Territory to the newly United States in 1803, that left only Spain on the south end of the East Coast, hanging onto Florida. On the north end, Canada remained British.

Thus the War of 1812. The U.S. had a vision of stretching from sea to sea, but at this point, that meant from the Gulf of Mexico (we want Spain out of Florida!) to Hudson Bay (we want Britain out of Canada!).

LBB-2014-AReThe British thought it would be nicer if they kept Canada and also got back into Florida. They made friends with the Spanish. They tried to make friends with the Louisiana Bayou buccaneers. That’s the back story for my “Regency Rakes & Rebels” romance Lady Barbara & the Buccaneer.

But America was a minor distraction. Why had Napoleon sold Louisiana? To fund his invasion of Britain. (See “The Regency Abroad.”)

Napoleon was a steamroller on land, but in the English Channel (La Manche, from his side) and on the Mediterranean Sea, he was no match for the Royal Navy. Still, it took years to prove that.

corsair-figsCroptIt also took some help from the Barbary Corsairs.

The Afghan-American writer Tamim Ansary has written a terrific book, Destiny Disrupted, which describes in detail how the mainly Christian world and the mainly Muslim world cohabited. Switching for a moment to the Muslims’ point of view: Europe was a little peninsula, Britain a tiny faraway island. The center of the world–culture, commerce, civilization–was the Maghreb and the Levant. That’s roughly the area which today’s Westerners call North Africa and the Middle East.

Dotted along the northern rim of the Maghreb were major ports such as Tunis, Algiers, and Tripoli. Collectively, this was the Barbary Coast, so called for the Berbers who lived there. The ruler of each port collected fees from other local shippers, from Europeans, and also from the corsairs–the Mediterranean version of buccaneers.

Barbarossa_Hayreddin_PashaThe corsairs’ heyday ended two centuries before the Regency era. Its central figure, Hayreddin Barbarossa, started as a pirate and wound up a pasha, thanks to his naval victories for the Ottoman Empire.

During the Napoleonic Wars, France’s blockade of Britain opened up a new market for corsairs. Naval battles were the gentlemanly way for the Brits to win control of the northern Mediterranean. But why overlook the usefulness of freelancers? The need to capture enemy ships and their cargo created a new generation of corsairs.

And that is the back story for my new “Regency Rakes & Rebels” romance, working title Lady Caroline & the Corsair, due out the first of February!

Welcoming the New Year with a New Look (& New Books)

Noisemakers  favors - DofNext month Boom-Books will celebrate our Third Anniversary.  So we’re overdue for a visual overhaul!  That’s kept our new year busy, and as you can see, it’s going gorgeously.  Next week we’ll launch our new blog schedule.  Meanwhile, mystery author CJ Verburg and romance author Charisse Howard are hard at work on exciting new projects for 2014.  Stay tuned!