PaperBox Books

Hi, all short story writers.

One of the cool things about e-publishing is the ability to publish ‘non-standard’ length work. When you are putting books on physical bookshelves, you need to meet a size range. The short story has no place alone on the shelf. There are plenty of collections there, meaning your reader has to buy a bunch of stories they don’t necessarily want in order to read yours.

In the e-publishing world there’s no physical shelf. If you put out a 45,000 word novella, it’s about pricing and attraction. If you put out a 1,500 word short story or a 10,000 word kind of long story, you just need to figure out what the right price is. Then you need to find your fans and let them know it’s for sale.

This is one of the reasons Sue and I brought PaperBox Books into existence. We saw the possibilities and decided we were up for the challenge.

We’re working on a branded line of short stories these days. Before we go all out looking for authors we need to think of a brand and a pricing strategy. But if you have a short story or two sitting in a folder, think about submitting it to PaperBox Books when we send out the call.

Follow us on Twitter @paperboxbooks and watch for the call for submissions.

Perry

2 Comments | In: What's New with PBB | tags: How to Submit, publishing, Short Stories, Twitter. | #

Hi, there are any number of conversations going on around the blogsphere and the tweet world, and I’m sure off line in that old fashioned medium of voice conversations about this subject. Sue and I have had these conversations off line, too. It comes down to why would an author choose to work with an indie publisher rather than self publish, especially e-books.

We think it comes down to quality and reputation. I have bought some e-books recently, not so much because I wanted entertainment but to research. I’m not going to name names but here are some observations.

First, I bought books from Amazon.com and Smashwords, to ensure I had something from both ends of the spectrum.

What did I see?

1. Stories that hadn’t started by the time I hit delete on my iTouch. So many of the books I read gave a ton of back story.
2. Stories that had inconsistent point of view, or a point of view that allowed the author to tell the story, not show it.
3. Stories with lots of ‘stage direction’ – character stops the car, turns off the ignition, opens the door, crosses the lawn, climbs the stairs, takes out the key, unlocks the door, opens the door, and walks in. (I’m not exaggerating)
4. Stories with stilted dialogue. The big trigger is to look at the grammar in your dialogue, not even English teachers speak in correct and complete sentences all the time.

When it comes to uploading your book to Smashwords or to Amazon, you can pretty much do it with a click of the mouse. If you only revised with your own opinions, you won’t have seen what needs to be done. If only your mother, or sister, or friend, have read it, you won’t have professional advice on making the book readable and compelling.

An indie publisher will work with you to make the final changes to your manuscript to make it a marketable book. The readers for indie publishers aren’t reading for enjoyment – although that’s a nice bonus – they are reading to see if you have grabbed your reader enough to make they want to read to the end, they are looking for structural issues, and the last thing they will look for is grammar and punctuation.

If you think you need to work with someone who will give you advice on story revising and polishing, check out our submission guidelines at PaperBox Books

Happy writing.

Perry

1 Comment | In: Industry, Opinions, Submissions | tags: audience, editing, publishing, Writing Tips, Your reader. | #

If you have followed us on Twitter, you’ll know the big news. Our first books are up and available to buy on Smashwords.

Here are the links if you haven’t heard.

The Problem with Jake

Off Track

The Trouble with Jake

Dual Version of  the Jake and Kathryn

Now we wait for the process to flow through to the Kindle store, the Sony ebook store and Fictionwise and all the other great e-book retailers out there.  The great news is we did a fabulous formatting job so we qualified for the premium catalogue – important for our authors to know we are able to produce high quality ebooks.

I thought the waiting over Christmas would drive me nuts – waiting to get the components together, waiting to make sure the formatting was clean. I didn’t think ahead to how it feels stalking Amazon.com and the Sony store to see when our titles pop up.

Well, I can live with the anticipation.

Time to get going on other people’s books and helping other authors find their audience.

Have a great new years celebration – drink all you want – leave the car keys at home.

No Comments | In: What's New with PBB | tags: books for sale, Process, publishing. | #

I found this interesting post in my google reader this morning. Why publishers do stupid things with ebooks.

The information in the link Why ebook delays won’t save trade publishing is a good explanation of why traditional publishers think they have to resort to DRM and delayed releases. In short,they think of their customer as the book store and other distributors.

At PaperBox Books we know our customer is the reader, the person who will enjoy the story.

Happy reading!

Perry

No Comments | In: Industry | tags: DRM, publishing. | #

I know it’s not December yet, but we’re all running to the finish line. We’re hitting heights of word count that we never thought we could.  So what are we planning for the future of our books?

I know some of us are going to happily shred the work – figuratively or literally. And, some are planning to revise and publish it.

The publishing route isn’t easy. You have to put the manuscript away for long enough to get some distance. You need to look at it with fresh eyes and make some ruthless cuts or build it up until it’s the story you had in your head, not the story that fell on the page.

When you’ve crafted the story, you start on the long journey to publishing. Deciding to find an agent or not. Sending out your submission to multiple publishers. Reading ‘good’ rejections for hints on how to break through to the published side of the world.

When you get the acceptance, the game isn’t over. Now you need to market market market.

In the six months to a year it will take to get your novel ready for publishing, the e-reader world will have grown and the paper publishing industry will have changed.

Remember PaperBox Books when you send your submissions in.

Happy writing,

8 days til the madness ends.

No Comments | In: Submissions | tags: NaNoWriMo, publishing, writers. | #

Short post today to let you know we’re open for submissions and not completely locked down with our own word counts.

Perry here. Taking a few minutes out of NaNo 2009 (word count 19,168 as of 2:30 pm) to update you on what’s happening at PaperBox Books.

It’s challenging right now to coordinate our time. We are both doing NaNoWriMo and have our responsibilities to our region (take that New Zealand). We had a fabulous write in at the main library in Vancouver on Thursday (30 writers all focused on their craft – it was magic).

Despite that, we’re meeting with authors and giving out  cards to people who might be interested. And reviewing the submissions that come in, we are determined to keep to our commitment of short turnaround.

Hmmm, wonder if I can count these words in my manuscript. No, darn the pretechnical society of my story.

Happy NaNo everyone.

Bonus tip for NaNo participants – to keep your word count up, there’s nothing like a word war.

No Comments | In: What's New with PBB, Writing Tips | tags: NaNoWriMo, publishing, writers. | #

Hi, it’s time for me to come out from behind the curtains. I’m Perry Wilson and PA Wilson and Alice Griffiths. It’s pretty crowded in here.

Sue and I started PaperBox Books in response to the dwindling opportunities for new authors. We had heard too many friends report that they heard back from editors and agents that their book was great but there was no market for it right now.

What I’ve found, to my great surprise, is that I love the process of reviewing other people’s work. I read through a new author’s submission with anticipation. Where will the story take me? What will I learn about the writing art.  How will I give the feedback to the writer?

I’m excited about the possibilities in the electronic publishing world. The rules are all different, there’s a market out there for your book when it doesn’t have to fit on a precious few inches of book store shelves.

Come join us in the journey to break all the publishing rules and sell a lot of books.

Your books!

2 Comments | In: What's New with PBB | tags: publishing. | #

If you attended the Surrey International Writers’ Conference last weekend or are participating in this year’s NaNoWriMo you might have heard whisperings about PaperBox Books Publishing.

We’re an e-publishing company who focuses on writers.

Yes, you heard that right.

Our philosophy is that there are many writers have excellent novels ready to be published but have been refused by publishers because their stories don’t quite suit the target market. At the SIWC conference we were told that many publishers are pulling back on the number of new authors they sign because of the economic downturn. They’d rather use established writers who are less risky because of their track record.

“So what if… ” I said to Donald Maass, of Donald Maass Literary Agency during a panel discussion, “what if we published these first time authors electronically, so when they came to you they had a solid sales record. Would they have a better shot at getting published?”

His response, “I think you’re on to something.” The other publishers on the panel nodded in agreement.

We’re looking to publish our first titles near the end of November, with plans to release more each month. Our goal is to publish every publishable author who submits material to us. By publishable I mean readable stories with solid plot, sub-plot and character development with correct spelling and grammar. We will not refuse to publish because of genre or marketability. We will however automatically refuse to publish hate literature and flat out porn.

Each author brings with them an audience be-it friends, family, co-workers, Facebook friends or Twitter followers. By networking together we can help each other out and sell our books without having to do all the marketing on our own.

Please visit the ‘How to Submit’ section of our website at
http://paperboxbooks.com/howtosubmit.html

No Comments | In: What's New with PBB | tags: How to Submit, publishing, SIWC, writers. | #