Networking: Respect, Redirect, & Recommend

Is networking valuable? Absolutely. Is it easy? Not for everyone. Is it necessary even in the world of self-publishing? You betcha. Hell, I'd wager it's more necessary in self-publishing.

It's necessary that you establish relationships beyond the bubble of authors, agents, and house editors. You need the dev editors, the copy editors, and the proofreaders. You need the artists, the designers, and the formatters. You need contacts at the distributors for when gremlins strike. You need the reviewers who deign to support self-published authors. You need narrators, ad designers, video developers, and tax folks.

You need to know who's good, who's reliable, who's flexible, and who's affordable. 

That's everything you need. What do you give? Introductions. Guidance. Respect. Credit for jobs well done. Gratitude--never underestimate the value of a Thank You.

Always, always, always provide professional responses. 

Personal restraint and decorum are the underlying differences between fostering relationships in a professional network versus expanding a group of friends. With friends, you can let your hair down. You say what you think, what you feel, all with minimal (if any) censorship. Not true about professional networks. No snarky asides about people in your community. No sniveling or sniping just because you weren't included in an anthology call. No bad-mouthing the work then trying to soften your rebuke with, "but he's a nice guy." And for gods' sakes, no laying your burdens at everyone else's feet and expecting them to resolve your issues.

It is very easy to say very nice things about people with whom we enjoy working. It's not as easy to discourage people from dealing with incompetent buffoons while remaining on the high road. There is an art to it: the art of Respect, Redirect, & Recommend. If you don't like the work an artist did for you, you don't disparage their talent. You respect the individual by noting something good they did then redirect the conversation and recommend an artist with whom do you like working. If you don't believe the quality of edits provided by a particular dev editor was up to par, you respect the person by pointing out a strength, then redirect and recommend to a dev editor whose work you value. If you're asked about a known predator, the respect shifts to the people who have done the vetting and verification that allow you to redirect the inquiry to a valid source and recommend an alternative service provider. If you don't know an answer or a contact, it's okay to say so. It's no shade on you.

There's a difference between providing recommendations/cautions and spreading gossip. A classic example, "Well, I heard that Pimpy's Promos totally screwed up the order and ruined Ethel's signing." Professional caution or gossip? Depends on whether or not you have personally verified the story with all parties involved. Do you know if there was any effort on Pimpy's part to rectify the situation? Do know if Pimpy provided exactly what Ethel requested, but Ethel's the one who made the mistake? You might share the unverified gossip with your friend, but you shouldn't say it to a professional contact.

Always be aware that the community of freelancers is well connected--for better and for worse. As James said yesterday, don't be THAT GUY.

You might not be courting gatekeepers, but you are building your own pre and post-production publishing team along with building your reputation as an author among peers and providers. Be the client with whom you'd like to work. Remember to give and take when networking. Remember that the contacts you make while networking are not your confidants or your cronies. They are your professional peers.

Networking is all about Respect with a healthy dose of Redirect & Recommend.

Don't Be THAT GUY

Once again I find myself in the unenviable position of following Jeffe in a post.

it's unenviable because, frankly, she's really quite right in most cases and she's good at making her point So now I have to find a way to say the same thing differently enough that I sound even a little wise.

Fair enough. Networking is GIGANTIC. It's one of the greatest skills you can learn. And Jeffe is right. It's about having friends and acquaintances and makings are that people think of you favorably.

Want to know what it's not about? It's not about being an ass. It's not about being THAT GUY at conventions. Which guy? The one that whines about how well everyone else is doing. The one who, at panels, as a member of the audience, waits until the questions start to make a fifteen minute long declarative statement that is A) Not relevant to the discussion, b) not a question and/or C) designed solely to inflate said speaker's ego in an attempt to make the panelists look unprofessional. THAT GUY.

It's not about getting drunk and grabby. I once had two separate editors point out to me that the thing I did better than several of the writers at a convention I was attending, was NOT get drunk, NOT get grabby and NOT try to pitch my novels while doing the same.

Networking is not talking smack about other writers, or trying to make them look small in an effort to look better.

I have one writer/editor who, at every convention or social event where we cross paths, likes to tell me publicly about numerous health issues, who likes to DOMINATE conversations that often have nothing at all to do with said individual's wheelhouse of experience, and who on several occasions has suggested that I should recommend their editorial services, despite the fact that I have never employed those very skills.

It's not just me. Several others have made comments.  Here's a hint: A polite "How are you?" is not meant as an invitation to let the world hear your woes in a professional setting. You aren't doing yourself any favors in those situations.

Put another way, networking isn't about what you can get out of a situation. Networking is getting to know your peers and, yes, it's about friendship.

I have many friends in the field. I do not expect anything from them. They do not expect anything from me. Sometimes I've collaborated with them. Sometimes I've let someone know about a "closed" anthology, or had an editor on an anthology ask for suggestions as to who might fit within the parameters of same. Sometimes the favor has been returned.

Sometimes I've made introductions between writers and editors and sometimes others have done the same for me.

The introductions allow something amazing: a chance to not be left in a slush pile. A chance to show an unknown editor what you an do, especially if the editor is friends with or trusts the opinion of the friend who introduces us.

It's about being friendly, professional and courteous. You'd be amazed how being a decent person can come back to you.

You'd be amazed how long it takes people to get past the reputation being THAT GUY can get you, too.

This is NOT how networking is supposed to go.

Is Networking a Meaningless Term?

Every time I hear the term "networking" I get a particular image in my mind.

I see a guy - yes, always a guy - in a cheap suit, standing in a hotel bar and handing out cards. He manages this complex multi-handed tango of holding a half-full lowball glass with clinking ice cubes, shaking hands and palming those cards. "Call me," he says with a bleached-tooth smile. "Let's do lunch. Have your people call my people."

I have no idea where I got this image. Probably it's some conglomeration of scenes from movies and TV shows of the seventies. That cheap suit has a distinctly seventies flair, so that's quite possible.

At any rate, knowing this about me, it should come as no surprise to any of you that I never had a good feeling about "networking." I so did not want to be that guy in the cheap suit with the melting ice cubes and the car-salesman smile.

More... I couldn't be.

I'm no good at being anyone but who I am.

Thus, the short and surface answer to this week's topic, "The Net Worth of Networking," is that it's a big fat zero to me. No - less than that! Negative values there.

HOWEVER,

(and this is a big "however," fully justifying the all caps),

I was totally wrong in this image, wherever it came from.

I finally, through a number of experiences I could probably fill a book with, figured out that I had the concept of networking all backwards. Once I figured out what it's really about, I discovered that networking is a skill beyond price. It's brought value to my life - both professional and personal - that is so high I could never place anything as crass as a dollar value to it.

What is networking really about?

Making friends.

That's it. No business cards needed, no fake smiles and multi-armed handshakes. It's about connecting with other people who are interested in the same things that you are. It's being friendly with people in your profession - being generous with offering them help and being willing to ask for help when we need it.

Here's a little story for you.

When I was at a conference recently, I talked on the phone with a writer friend who hadn't been able to attend. We'll call her Writer Wanda. Wanda had heard from another writer friend that an agent at her agency was interested in representing Writer Wanda. Now, Wanda was uncertain about this step. She'd had some bad experiences with traditional publishing, wasn't sure she wanted an agent in general or this one in particular, etc. We talked pros and cons, then inspiration hit and I checked to see if the agent in question, Agent Annie, let's say, was at the conference. She was, so I offered to stalk Annie and find out what she's like.

Lemme tell you - it was super fun to stalk an agent for someone else!

Plus, I'd signed with an agent a few years before, and had pretty much retired those skills, so I also enjoyed polishing them up again.

Now, like "networking," "agent stalking" can be misinterpreted. This is about making contact, not being creepy.

See the parallels here?

So, I started by asking around. In the hotel bar. Hey - many fictions are rooted in reality. I'd looked up Agent Annie's Twitter bio - and followed her in case she posted that she was hanging out - but it's not always easy to find a real life person from a profile photo. It was lunchtime in the bar, so I wandered about, looking for a likely face. Along the way, I saw many friends I've made over the years. I stopped here and there to chat, asking if anyone knew this agent b+6y sight. None of my friends did, but one was eating with an industry gal who knew her. She described Agent Annie for me and verified she wasn't in sight.

I kept looking in this way throughout the day, but finally caught up with Agent Annie at the Harlequin party that night. (I asked the guardian intern dragons at the door if she was on the invite list and they told me yes, and that she'd already arrived.) At the party, I spotted her thanks to that description, and introduced myself. She said, "Oh, you followed me on Twitter today." I told her my mission, and she suggested we sit to eat cupcakes, have a glass of champagne, and chat.

When I reported back to Writer Wanda, she told me, "Networking is totally your superpower."

And I don't even own a cheap suit.

Longer? Shorter? How Many Words Does The Story Need?

I normally write either 40K, 80K or 120K. The determining factor seems to be how much mythology and mysticism I'm including. A story from me set in ancient Egypt will run longer by its very nature, as will a science fiction adventure set on a planet with room to include mysterious powers, deities and happenings. If I'm 'just' giving you a tight disaster adventure, like Star Cruise: Marooned, the story will probably move pretty fast.

That being said I do occasionally like to write something shorter as a palate cleanser, especially if it's for an anthology. The first one I ever tackled was capped at 5000 words and they were serious about that, to the point I felt almost like I do when I'm trying to make a long tweet fit the 140 characters. I had such a great story to tell and not enough words. The people doing the anthology were zealous about editing. I think I had five different people edit me and it got to the point where each was telling me to pull or put back something one of the others had requested me to delete or add. Never again, said I! 5000 words isn't enough for me or my muse. No more short stories.

But then I had a chance to be in an anthology with some folks I was really excited to join so of course I dove into the challenge. That one that was supposed to be 10K and came in at 13K (different folks, different anthology). I could work with that. We did have a rough limit there because even though it was an indie book, it was print only. And no longer available - sorry!

Then there was Healer of the Nile,  which came in at 23,478 words. I forget what the goal was there -

15K maybe? It was first published in the Here Be Magic box set.

And Star Cruise: Rescue for the Romancing the Stars anthology, due in at 5K, came out to be 8800K.

And I just did one for a sekrit project we're not announcing yet (darn because this is the perfect opportunity) but which was supposed to be 10K and I hit 22,272 words. Yes, give me an inch and I take 10K words LOL. That's the nice thing about indie ebooks - they can be as long or as short as you need them to be. That story really could have been a full blown Star Cruise novel as it turned out. Lots of plot I had to omit...

I probably should mention in my own defense that in the cases where I went over, the other authors in the book were aware and most of them exceeded the target word count as well.

I've been thinking about putting together a book of my science fiction romance short stories as I get the various rights back, and maybe writing a few more to fill it out. We'll see!

I'd love to be invited to write a short story set in Andre Norton's Witch World but I'm afraid that boat has sailed. Or Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling world...or our Jeffe Kennedy's Twelve Kingdoms. For any of them I'd make myself hit the word count, I promise.

When we here at SFF7 do flash fiction, I just have to tell myself I'm only giving a snippet of the bigger story, not trying to tell all of it.

And clearly I'd suck at doing those "SF stories in 6 words" memes that pop up from time to time on twitter!

My Amazon Author Page, should any of this discussion have piqued your interest....

The Long and Short of Striving for Simple

It should come as a surprise to no one that my brain is a messy, disorganized place. I do my damnedest to tidy up. It just does not take. File cabinets explode. Accoutrements pile up in a heap. Yes, this photo really did happen and not just in my brain. All the alphabetized things in my best intentions get flung all over in a mental tornado of "Ooo! Look at all the cool stuff!" Complication and intricacy intrigue me. I suffer from the conviction that everything is related and intertwined. This makes me an everything plus the kitchen sink writer.

This is the long way of saying Ye Gods, please don't make me write short.

There's a reason I have only two short stories and one novella to my name. While I have 5 novels - 4 of which belong in series that are 5 or more books long. Long arcs come more naturally to me. I die a little inside each time flash fiction comes around on our topic calendar. Which isn't to say it's not worth doing - it is. Because while I strongly favor long form (novels), I think there's value in getting kicked out of my synaptic rut. Challenge the status quo and step outside the comfort zone. You know. All those pretty sunrise photo inspirational quote memes you scroll past on Facebook. Fact remains, writing short does not come at all naturally and I dread it every. Single. Time.

There is no plot so simple that I cannot complicate it past all reason. My favorite word while plotting is 'AND'.  It is for that reason that it's worth forcing myself into short form from time to time. You bet it pinches. But the practice of reining in my woeful tendency to run off at the computer keyboard and pruning ideas waaaaaaaay back is a good (if ouchie) reminder that sometimes it really is best to keep it simple, stupid. Even if I have to force it.

Perils of the Writer: The Length that Fits Your Story

So, I'm primarily a novelist.  That's the length of stories I write on the whole, that's the length that feels right in what I conceive a story to be.  I'm not a big fan of writing short stories, in that I rarely have a short story idea, and I do have so many long-form ideas, so I feel like trying to conceive short stories for the sake of "short story" in and of itself is wasting my time.

Note: I'm not saying short stories are a waste of time.  I'm saying me trying to force myself into a short story box out of the idea it's something I "should" do is a waste of time.  Everyone's mileage varies.  I have plenty of friends who are short story masters, and novels make them want to tear their hair out.

That said, having just come off the ArmadilloCon workshop, I feel like the teaching-writing environment, from the large workshops to smaller ones to critique groups-- tends to be shorter-work focused.  This makes sense-- a teacher will have an easier time reading and critiquing something that's 5000 words as opposed to 100,000 words.

The challenge then is this: there are very few resources out there, especially for the genre writer, to learn how to novel.  At best, people are taught how to short story, and then told, "You know, do that, but longer" and thrown out into the woods. I know in the workshop this year, most of the students described "novel writing" as an intended goal, but most of them came in with a short story (as opposed to chapter one of a novel, which was allowed but somewhat discouraged).  If we ("we" as a genre-writing community as a whole) are going to engage in teaching writing, we need to create more resources for the novel-writing student. 

I have some ideas of how to do this, but they need time to ferment.  That, and I have plenty of other work to do right now as well.

The Long and Short of StoryTelling

First, a breakdown of what I have written and if published, by who:

SHORT STORIES:
Two went into publications of the Mansfield OSU Campus, one of which won me the 2006 OSU Florence B. Allen Creative Writing Award.

My first professionally published short was a Seph prequel featuring Nana, was first published in a witch-themed anthology (available HERE ) and was then available via KDP. (It will be again in a day or so; they made me rename it because the Marlboro part of the Marlboros & Magic title isn't allowed though the original publication had no issue, and despite the fact that I found a few other titles using the name which were still available. ??? It has been re-uploaded and re-covered as Smokes & Magic. I'll publicize when it is confirmed as available.)








My second, Comeuppance, was published in Blackguards: Blacklist. (available HERE )



Another short story is going in an anthology my writing group is soon releasing. A half dozen others wait patiently in my 'submit these when they fit' file. I have notes for about a dozen more I want to write...eventually.




NOVELS:

Persephone Alcmedi series #1

Currently, I have six novels published by Simon & Schuster's imprint Pocket Books ( available HERE ), plus one coming in May 2017 from Ragnarok Publications, and another (Seph #7) late this year or early next. I also have four others written and yet unpublished, plus notes for about a ten more to write, plus 2 more Seph novels.









NOVELLAS:
While I have not written any novellas, I have plans for 6-10 tie-ins (see KAK's post yesterday; she mentions such tie-ins) with the Seph universe because I can't see wrapping up all my threads in the novels because the novels need to be about the novel, not wrapping up loose ends...but there are those of you out there who ask about those threads and I cannot leave you hanging. Plus, I'm kicking around a few prequel things because, yanno. They are good stories. Perhaps I shall release a Seph anthology...

When it comes to stories...I love novels. Short stories don't often make it off the TBR pile. Alas, this is an admitted failure of mine and I should not allow this to happen anymore, but then I should read more in general.

What I noticed in writing this post is that I have files/notes for projects that I intend for a certain length. This made me ask myself, HOW DO I KNOW? That's a good question considering that three of the novels I have started out as shorter works. One was intended as a novella and stuff just kept happening to expand the story. Two were short stories (One of which is the novel I have coming out next May) and I needed to know more about the characters.

For me, the answer is, if I'm honest, I DON'T KNOW. But the placement of the file/notes seems to be based on a mix of 1.) what I anticipate it will take to portray the standard three acts, and 2.) my intention/commitment to the piece. Yet once the process commences, all bets are off and I become the messenger (read as: slave) to the story/character.

Long vs Short Stories: Size Totally Matters

I'm all about the length and the width, baby. The longer the better. Oh, and when they're nice and thick too?

Books, folks, I'm talking about books.

I write novels. Not shorts, not novellas, not that gray area of a short novel/long novella. I'm lucky if I can keep 'em to a mere 100,000 words. LARCOUT rings in at 145,000 words. My CP challenged me to write an Urban Fantasy with a mere 70k. I failed. I kept it light at 85k, but added another 7k after the first round of professional edits. It's in the throes of second-round edits now that'll probably tack on another 3k minimum.

Hey, I tried.

Thing is, as a writer and a reader, I like to spend quality time in a world. More than a drive-by or a quick cuppa. I want to escape and exult in the refuge of imagination. In spending my creative capital, if you will, short stories don't provide the necessary ROI.

Sadly, in the world of self-publishing where I own all the costs, the longer the novel the more expensive it is to produce. Plus, longer novels take longer to write, so there's risk of falling off the reader's radar if you don't release a book a "timely" manner. What is "timely" is up for debate, but it's definitely more than once a year. Think more along the lines of quarterly.

Yes, I fail miserably at the "ideal release schedule" too. 

Stop snickering.

Novellas are commonly used as a marketing tactic among series indie-writers. Releasing two to four novellas a year, the authors buy themselves time in-between novel drops. The theory is the novellas maintain a spot in the reader's awareness, provide a sales boost, and can be discounted for promotions without hurting the net revenue of the series. That puts the minimum production of a barely successful indie author at four novels a year, plus two novellas, and at least one anthology contribution.

My head explodes at the notion.  

Now, when we here at the SFF Seven take our turns at writing flash fiction for you all, that's the only time I write short. And, people, I'mma tell ya, it's HARD. I have to keep repeating, "Focus on the moment. This only about the moment."  My creative brain is all, "Yeah, but, the world we could build around this..."  "FOCUS ON THE MOMENT, DAMN IT."

~clears throat~

Words, I has them in abundance. Sometimes, they're even the right words.