Blog up at Speculative Faith.

I was asked to be a guest blogger at Speculative Faith, a blog associated with a book tour that wouldn't tour Forever Richard after Never Ceese toured with overwhelming success. The reason; my publisher wasn't sanctioned by the gatekeepers. I don't see this as an acceptance into what is now known as the Christian Fiction arena. That's reserved for evangelical publishers and authors. It was a nice opportunity for me to post my experiences with this closed and targeted market though. Check it out if you're so inclined. ;)

2012 Book Tour event in Chicago.

SUE DENT SIGNING WITH HER BOOK COVER MODEL FOR ELECTRIC ANGEL RON FITZGERALD

Click on the banner above for specific details. For non-specific details read on. I will be sharing a table at the Portage Theater with Ron Fitzgerald who will be hosting
the official Ron Fitzgerald I Wanna Hear You Scream Contest. I'll have all of my titles through Black Bed Sheet Books with me including Never Ceese and Forever Richard along with a few other hmm . . . shocking merchandising surprises. But that's all I'm saying about that.

Do keep in mind that these conventions and venues are one of the last opportunities for Independent authors to host book tours since large chain bookstores were only ever set up to help large published authors and no longer even humor small press authors who make their titles non-returnable according to an out-dated return policy that "kills" small publishers if they unwittingly sign onto it. So for sure all you Chicago fans come out and support me. Of course I'll have copies of Electric Angel ( why wouldn't I? LOL) and my gracious cover model Ron Fitzgerald will be there to sign them as well. You can even purchase some of his other fantastic photos while your there too. Or perhaps a couple of his DVD's. Hope to see you there. Don't forget to click on the banner above to find out more about the weekend! Also I'll have a tip jar set up to help pay for gas. LOL As usual, I'll be "driving" up from Mississippi. Aw, just buy my books. That should help get me back.

Love y'all!

See y'all there.

Name Your Market!!!

The song has been sung. The time is upon us. Now we must stand together as one to preserve the integrity of freedom of speech and freedom of religion on which this country was founded. For too long the "conservative evangelical Baptist" (sorry, but they started it) have been allowed to reign supreme in publishing, have stripped the broad meaning from the label "Christian" and have used and abused every author who dare call themselves that.

I dare say there's no greater grievance against an author than to take a broad label and apply it to a very targeted and discriminating lot. Aye they lassoed it, tied it up and held it hostage for far too long. But now it's time. Since their inception in 1950, they've relentlessly claimed to be the ONLY voice in Christian fiction but published nothing beyond restrictively written and "safe" fiction for "Christian" bookstores, formerly known as Baptist Bookstores. Any author who dare approach them with general market fiction is spit upon, beat up and cast out as heathen.

I say no more.

Change the name. Be proud of your market and call it what it is. Your intimidating ways do not scare us. They sadden us. It's deeply disturbing. Now all you scallywags who've read this, jump over to my interview at http://thechristianmanifesto.com/archives/3602#comments and speak your mind. This interview was done three years ago. As grand as it was then, it was moved shortly after going public without the pictures that went with it. It of course eventually went into archive and was moved a second time. Not intentionally I might add but just because that's the way most interviews are handled if your a "general market" small published author whose work happened to appeal to many of this markets readers.

Upon asking where the link went this second time, I was accused of throwing a temper-tantrum and called unprofessional because I dared to infer the site wasn't being run very professionally.

So be it.

The interview is up once again. Take it and run. I don't care what comments you make but for the love of God, if you're sick of the bully, intimidating ways of the "Christian" publishers, now including publishers who don't actually pay a fee to belong to the Christian Booksellers Association, then say so. I'm sure that like me, many of you have been kicked off many sites where these authors reign supreme, (if you were ever allowed in,) have been told you aren't a "Christian," which of course is true if you strip off the broader meaning of the label Christian, and have been drug across the coals and cast out as though you were yesterdays garbage. As I said in the beginning, the song as been sung. Now is your chance. In conclusion, all I'm asking for is a name change. Targeted markets are great but not when they strip the meaning from a broad label to abuse it accordingly.

Name your market!

If the story is to be believed, David carried five stones with him to defeat Goliath. It only took one.

A video I made dedicated to "large" publishers. ;)

Actually, I just wanted to use some photos I had done at my last photo shoot with Jim Sorfleet of SnS-photo.com and this was a neat way to do it. ;)

I dare you to read this review!

ELECTRIC ANGEL

“I got Whiplash and Paper cuts from reading ELECTRIC ANGEL...Could…Not put it down!

Char Hardin

Oh. You need the link don't you:

Mavens of Horror

You do have to be a big boy or girl to read it on the site though. Meaning that yes, you'll have to click that you understand you might see adult content. If you're under 18 and want to read this review just make sure your legal guardian checks it out first. Then make sure that legal guardian orders a few copies from Black Bed Sheet Books for you to read (because the content of Electric Angel is actually fine for any age reader.) Hey, I'm a mom too! You kiddies best follow the rules!!! Now go eat your veggies! ;D

Honest Amazon strikes again!

Wow! I wondered why a notable "Best Selling" author in that circle of publishing that targets a specific denomination took down the resounding review of Never Ceese they left on Amazon. It had been up for nearly two years.

Not only do I wonder that, I also wonder HOW they did it.

I thought it was because perhaps they were done doing reviews but I just learned that this isn't the case at all. They just posted a new one.

How then? I can't even get Amazon to remove a 1 star review of a book that isn't even published anymore and no longer exists!!!!!

So how does this author get to remove a resounding review?

Hey Amazon!!!! What gives? Playing favorites again? Of course they are. This novelist scribes for one of those "bigger publishers" just in that targeted "Christian" market. That's how they earned the title "best-selling" novelists.

Oh well. So goes life.

Congrats Amazon! I'd shake your hand only I don't want to get it all slimy and stuff!!!

Oh and this author also put my name in the back of one of their books in a list of acknowledgements: those who helped support their writing. I was neither asked if my name could be put there nor do I support their writing as at the time they wrote for a large Christian publisher, Thomas Nelson, who openly discriminates against writers who don't write for their targeted audience of Christians.

Now, thanks to my name being there, my books show up with theirs wherever they're listed on-line!!!! ARGHHHHH!

"Industry Standard" Return Policy Blues.

Have you ever wondered why large chain bookstores have sooooo many books by large published authors and not so many from any other publisher?

There's a very simple answer.

In the beginning there was no such thing as a small publisher. It took a LOT of money to produce a book and to produce just one didn't make sense. Therefore, (yes, in the beginning) large publishers printed out TONS of books and counted on bookstores to help them stock the excess inventory. The "industry standard" return policy put in place during the depression, first by Simon & Schuster and then the other publishers to keep bookstores from going under, had bookstores purchasing those books and then not charging to have them sent back. In fact, large publishers didn't care if they ever saw the book again.

Jump into the present now. It's no longer necessary to print TONS of books at a time to save on printing cost. The "Industry Standard" Return Policy for SURE doesn't work anymore, not even for the "big dog" publishers who created it. It does still work to get ALL of their authors on the New York Times best sellers list though as this is determined by book sales to "bookstores." But not even large publishers can afford to print that many books at a time and survive which is why large chain bookstores are going under (I suppose I should add, "in my opinion.")

Since printing on demand is now feasible and certainly the way to go, it would certainly make sense to "invent" a new "Industry Standard" Return Policy and put it in place. Until that happens large bookstores will only ever be havens for books put out by large publishers--until they go under the same way Borders did (again, in my opinion.)

Barnes & Nobles is one large chain bookstore I know of that no longer purchases ANY books from any publisher that doesn't sign on to that antiquated "Industry Standard" return policy. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the very publishers that created that "return" policy during the depression to save bookstores seem quite content to throw the same bookstores under the train now.

I think now is the time for Independent bookstores to rise to the occasion. There needs to be a return policy between publisher and bookstores that works better than "on consignment." Perhaps just changing the "Industry Standard" Return Policy up a bit would be best. The biggest problem I can see with the return policy as it stands is that it's anybody's guess where the "returned from the bookstore" books go. Small publishers rarely if ever see their returned books again. My guess is that since bookstores aren't required to send books back to the publisher they shuffle them of to wholesalers who dabble in "returned from the bookstore" books otherwise where would Books-A-Million be getting all of their stock since they only purchase from wholesalers who sell such books.

A "Kindle" Author interview that disses Amazon's Kindles?

So I queried David Wisehart about doing a "Kindle Author" interview with authors who sell their e-books through their publisher and not through Amazon and he said, "sure!" So here it is! Thanks agazillion David Wisehart. You are da man!

So here's a link to:

A most unlikely Kindle Author Interview

The truth will set you free and hopefully it will allow small published authors and self-published authors actually make the money that is rightfully theirs. At least those of us who are attempting to make a living with our God given talent as opposed to giving it away for free.

A "leetle" about Sue Dent.

EXACTLY how I feel . . .!

Exactly how I feel. . . about B&N and OTHER large bookstores, including large "Christian" bookstores such as Lifeway and Mardel's who discriminate but don't make that clear. And yes most definitely Amazon as well!

Haper Collin goes POD!!!!!!

Oh this is far tooooo good not to share. Here's the link to the story called:

HarperCollins Publishers Making 5000 Titles Available Print on Demand

Here's my comment if you could care less about what the articles says but want to see my comment. Of course! Who wouldn't?

"Even as digital book sales grow, bookstores continue to be an important place for customers to shop for physical books. The goal of this initiative is to give the local bookseller the capability to provide customers with a greater selection of HarperCollins titles in a physical environment," said Brian Murray, President and Chief Executive Officer of HarperCollins Publishers.

Large bookstores are only an important place for large publishers as no small publisher can operate under the "industry" standard return policy that "sinks" all small publishers should they sign on to it, (which they have to for large bookstores to carry their books) and now it's barely working for large publishers.

How HILARIOUS that Harper Collins (and I'm sure the others will follow suit if they've not done so already,)is considering that "great evil" POD publishing! Hysterical.

Here's an idea. Since large publishers are responsible for that insane "industry" standard return policy, why don't they ALL work with "their" bookstores to fix it so All publishers large and small can compete!

Too funny. That return policy was created to save bookstores during the depression, put in place by Simon & Schuster and then by the other few large publishers of the day. Now those SAME publishers are throwing "their" bookstores under the train! I guess they're beyond saving.

My thoughts: bookstores should stop pandering to large publishers and create an "industry" standard return policy that works for the "industry" today--before it's too late--if it's not too late already. I guess large publishers today lack the "perseverance" and moral fortitude they had back in the day. Borders is already gone because of this problem. Who will be next?

Here's a comment that I posted on my Facebook page which in no way is to infer that I like Facebook it's just that it's free and I don't mind that they make money selling information that I want out there to begin with:

Is it not the most hysterical thing you've ever read!!! Harper Collins are the ones that gave CBA affiliated Zondervan their OWN imprint so they could discriminate in large bookstores as well as within large "Christian" bookstores, making the publisher, once owned by Family Christian but then disowned for their "evil" ways (because after all Harper Collins are the ones who distribute the "Satanic" bible) suffer for their wicked ways. Zondervan's response to the complaints from their one time owners, "It was a hostile takeover. We had not choice." LOLROFL Oh yeah. Like they couldn't "just say no." *Sue hums then sings* Money, money, money, money--Monnnn aaaaa!

Goodreads ain't good enough.

Someone asked me today if I was on Goodreads and since I'm a published author with some modicum of success (not of the financial kind of course) I almost laughed. Of course I'm on Goodreads whether I like it or not. See I joined up to have SOME say over MY published works.

"So, Sue, what sort of gripes do you have against Goodreads?" Well, since you asked I'll tell you. I will state right away that if I weren't an author I probably wouldn't know enough about the publishing industry to have a gripe. But since I am, here's my biggest one. Goodreads states that their main goal is to help support authors. Without knowing any more about how the publishing industry works than most do, that sounds like a noble cause. However, the cause is too broad. You can't help all authors if you don't differentiate between large published authors and Indie and self-pubbed ones. If discussions about large published authors are allowed to happen or books by these publishers listed (and don't even mention large publishers SPONSER the damn site) then these are the only authors who will be helped. All Indie and self-pubbed authors are like dogs at a cat show.

Indie and self-pubbed authors can't get into the same venues (meaning large brick and mortar bookstores) that large publishers can and neither have access to the monies large publishing houses have access to in order to pimp their authors as voraciously. Therefore no site can claim to help promote "authors" and actually be successful at doing that.

So I suppose I'll have to set up my own book site, perhaps call it "BetterReads" and only promote Indie and self-pubbed authors. That way when a large publisher releases their latest and greatest from some obscure author who happened to be in the right place at the right time, and that book shoots immediately to the NYT #1 best-sellers list, because large bookstores did the obligatory buying of millions of copies to put it there, the Indie and self-pubbed authors on my site won't have to be subjected to the circus that follows. How deflating to have to sit on a site and watch all the chatter about a book that only got attention because thousands of them sold to large bookstores who subsequently sell just enough of said book to readers to satisfy the status quo, if they're lucky.

Sort of stinks, doesn't it!

GoodReads?

Only there because I can't keep my books from being listed. I do accept friend request but trust me, it's not worth your time to add me. Friend me on FB or follow my blog at SueDent.net which subsequently posts to Goodreads. ;)

WTF2!

That's right. I typed it and I'll type it again.



WTF2!!!!



More to come soon!!!

Get them directly from the author!

About this time, if one were with a large publisher, large chain bookstores would be receiving the customary onslaught of books that would push said title to the top of the New York Times Best sellers list without ONE person buying the book (just from what bookstores buy because you can't accurately track sales through a register.) I know, right?



The display above is hardly representative of the number of books large publishers will DUMP into ALL their large bookstores just to get those numbers. Not long after that the books they sent (and in most cases never even taken out of the box)are sold to wholesalers who dabble in "returned from the bookstore" books, wholesalers that sell to stores like Books-A-Million.



This is a sad scenario that plays out every day in the publishing world. Regular Joe authors are adored and held on a pedestal due to their ability to write so fantastically that they made it to the New York Times Best Sellers List. Small publishers don't have that set-up with bookstores so there's no way they can even compete on this level of . . . well . . . I like to call it deceit. Needless to say, you won't find this authors books flooding into large bookstore chains because large bookstores don't operate like this with small publishers. In fact, they never see their returned-from-the-bookstore books to even benefit from selling them to wholesalers.



What you see above is MY STOCK of Electric Angel, all fifty that I've ordered so far. As much as I could afford. Three are gone out for review and what you see are ready to sell. You buy it from clicking the book cover on your left and it will be sent out straight away. I'm going to take a picture every few days to show you how many have gone out. I won't restock until most of these are gone because . . . well . . . I can't afford to. The price is retail $12.98 but that includes shipping. Also it is only for those in the US.



Yes you can order Electric Angel anywhere books are sold. But this way you get one signed if you like that and you get the assurance that it will arrive quickly. That's my warehouse right there at the top of the screen. LOL

Actually my books ARE returnable!!!

Actually my books ARE returnable!!! Just not "industry" standard returnable. In other words you may talk with my publisher and they'll be glad to work out a return policy that suits both parties.



I know, right?



You buy any of my books and you can return them if they don't sell. Talk to my publisher about details. I'm sure they can work something out. Perhaps they'll pay the shipping to your store and back should you want to return them. Or maybe they'll require you to keep them for a set period of time before you return them. Of course the books will have to be in a resellable condition and you'll have to pay for them up front. And you'll definitely have to pay for unreasonable damage should there be any. Feel free to discuss that further with my publisher. ;)



Yeah, something like that.



I'll wager a bet that there will be very few if any calls to my publisher regarding this. That's okay but if someone doesn't change the "industry" standard on returns, the big dog publishers are going to take us all down. That stupid policy no longer helps them either but it at least keeps their competition from getting ahead of them--for now. Wake up and smell the coffee folks. Please.

Ford Crews and now Lincoln Chrisler!

In college I knew a guy named Ford Crews. Today I'm going to introduce you to a fine, horrifically talented author who goes by the name of Lincoln Crisler (close enough to Chrysler for me. ;)

This is my blog and this is his Lincoln's tour. He did a little write up for this tour and I'm going to post it a bit at a time . . . just because I can . . . and it will have you coming back for more.

So read on:

Thank You, and I Hate You Forever

Today, for Sue's fans and readers (and hopefully a few of my own!), I offer up one of my darkest secrets. One so dark and so secret I myself didn’t know it myself until recently, though it’s been with me over half my life. When it hit me, I’m pretty sure I got a taste of what Paul did on the road to Damascus.

I owe everything I am today, to include all my creative successes and joys, to a man whose grave I’d cheerfully piss on every day for the rest of my life.

When I was eight or nine my mother started dating this guy, Russ. He was a friend of the guy she’d been dating before, and before him there was nothing and before that was my dad, who’d gotten loaded at a party hosted by one of my friends’ parents, checked into rehab and never came back (except for the occasional weekend, which looking back, I kinda sorta miss). My mom really knew how to pick ‘em: my old man liked the occasional impromptu boxing match with the old lady after a few beers and her first boyfriend after he left was a pothead, an unemployed waste and, apparently, allergic to soap. Russ liked to smoke up, but at least he washed his ass. And he worked, at least some of the time.

Shortly after they started dating, my mother could no longer afford the rent on the half-house she and my father had been renting and they moved in with some friends of Russ’. I lived with my aunt and her girlfriend for a few months, to give me some sort of stability. I really miss those days, too, incidentally, and maintain that even though my father died after not seeing me for ten years (and only missed me by an hour, too), he’s smiling down through the clouds (or up through the flames, perhaps) every time I visit his side of the family again, since being reunited at his funeral after more than a decade apart. Long story short, a few months later my mother and Russ got an apartment, and then they got me. And that’s where the adventure begins.

Cleaning house on FB once more.

I know, right? And to think Social Media has become such a tool that it's important to qualify actions you take on your account. It's true though. I've many FaceBook friends and fans and sometimes I invite authors because we're all in this together.

A recent housecleaning had me getting rid of all those authors that wrote for targeted Christian publishers who, though claiming to write fiction that appeals to all Christian readers (something no one can actually do,) only write fiction for a very strict denominational segment excluding and rejecting ALL authors who submit MS's believing these publishers are something they truly aren't.

The next batch will be those authors who sell Kindle's on Amazon. I sell Kindle versions of my book (actually a DRM free PDF that the customer can convert to Kindle for free from any of the sites designed for this) but I don't sell a specific version for Amazon to steal from me. They take liberties with e-books that a distributor shouldn't be allowed to take. I've no time for that.

Actually it doesn't hurt to have author friends who publish their ebooks with Amazon as a Kindle but it hurts my heart to see Amazon promoted as the site to sell e-books. I suppose I'll keep a few of these authors has friends because they were friends first but the others have to go.

Sorry but the publishing industry has to change and while I can't change it all by my lonesome, I can choose not to see the postings of others who can't see the forest from the trees.

Oh Let's do dicuss Random House shall we!

Alternante-Title: How many times do we have to watch large publishers go down this road?

New article out and hot of the press. What are large publishers doing now besides running around blindly as they hit wall after wall after wall. Well here ya go! A nice article on Random House's goings on.

Again just a link to support my discussion about parts of it. ;)

Random House, one of the largest book publishers in the world, has finally joined its peers in coming on board to Apple's digital e-book platform, the last of the major publishers to do so.

Oh boy! Small publishers of the world rejoice as one. The large publishers who could care less about your existence and step on you at every turn have now ALL decided on a way to hopefully keep you locked out of the market.

Random House books do appear on the Kindle and Nook stores . . .

No! Really? Of course they showed up on Kinde and Nook stores. The Nook is Barnes & Nobles ereader format. Barnes & Noble is a chain bookstore set up to distribute books published by large publishers. DUH! And Amazon . . . well, they're just Amazon and for Random House another safe haven because the books are DRM encrypted (which really means very little if you know anything about anything.)

Apple has tweaked its guidelines and enforcement for apps like Kindle and Nook, which means it may soon not be possible to buy e-books on an iPad from any place other than the official iBooks outlet. . .

What? What? What?

Oh YEAH!!!! Another distributor attempting to corner the market by making something digital impossible to buy from anyone but them. *Sue chanting* "Go Apple, it's your birthday . . . go Apple . . .!"

I'm so glad all the large publishers know what they're doing. Aren't y'all? All I can say about this particular news is that, well, the APPLE doesn't fall far from the tree! HA!

Did you really think large publishers weren't going to band together to try and form some sort of alliance. They did it during the depression to survive with Simon and Schuster going out on that proverbial limb to extend that insane return policy to keep their bookstores from going under. All the other publishers of the day had to follow suit or go under.

Just keep this in mind. When it says large publishers have all joined together to do something, it doesn't mean they all agree. It simply means they don't trust each other. They're all in heated competition and each one is so influential that if something works for one of them the others are sure to fail if they don't go along with it.

This should all be very interesting to watch. *Sue sits back with her bucket of popcorn.* Very interesting indeed.

Listen to the "big dogs" bark on ebooks!

Yes, I believe ebooks are another wonderful way to get your books to your customers. It isn't the end-all to everything but technology has certainly made it a fun venture. It's also done a FINE and glorious job of leveling the publishing playing field.

Perhaps the MOST entertaining part of this technology for me has been watching the "big dog" publishers react. With profit margins flying out the window, they're hard-pressed to justify charging as much as they do for ebook versions of their print book. How do they explain where the money goes when EVERYONE knows there is NO real cost involved in creating an ebook.

On to the heart of this blog. Someone posted this story on FB today. I read it. It tickled me to know end. I'm not going to explain the article. I'll simply post the link if you wish to enjoy it as much as I did. Here's the link.

I will say it's an article about HarperCollins so that the comment I post next will make sense. Here's the comment made by Harper Collins.

He also said that the book publishing world has been fortunate in agreeing early an international standard around the ePub e-book format, . . .

Wow! Really? The "book publishing world" is "agreeing" on things such as an international standard for ebooks? Did Amazon not get the memo? Did anyone outside of HarperCollins get the memo? Sure they did. Do you want to guess who comprises "the book publishing world" mentioned here? It ain't us small publishers I can tell you that. And according to them EPUB is an international standard?

Well slap me twice and hand me to my momma!

*Sue pats HarperCollins on the back.* Okay, y'all just hold onto that thought. Who are we to dispute what you and the "book publishing world" agree on. Y'all got all the money!

So yeah, if you want an ebook of Never Ceese show up 3-20-2011 at my virtual book signing to get your DRM free PDF signed and personalized and convertible to your ebook format of choice EVEN the apparent INTERNATIONAL STANDARD. Y'all gonna sit back and let the "big dogs" determine what the international standard is? Go ahead on then.

Why are e-books returnable?

Music and software isn't returnable unless there's a download problem so why do the few e-book distributors out there offer e-books as being returnable for other reasons beyond that? The return policy for print books was put in place originally by Simon & Shuester during the depression to keep small bookstores of the day (now your large bookstores) from going under. All of the other publishers joined in so they wouldn't lose sells but nothing changed after the depression as it's hard to take something back once given.

Offering e-books as returnable for up to 7-days after purchase is ridiculous. Especially when you consider how little an e-book costs to begin with. Unless of course the e-book is provided by a larger publishing house who is still trying to operate under the mentality that folks will pay the same amount for an e-book as a print book even though it costs FAAAAAARRRR less to produce it. *I would like to laugh at this mentality but fears readers will let large publishers get away with this.*

Furthermore, why do authors not question this? It isn't like you have to put up with it. If a site doesn't let YOU the publisher decide whether you want to make the book returnable than something is very wrong. Why not just sell the e-book yourself? I actually know the reason for that. It seems there's no way for an individual to encrypt their e-books so they can't be stolen by law-abiding citizens who seem to not be able to obey the law.

So I guess we're at their mercy until an encrypting program comes along that an individual publisher can afford and utilize. Anybody know of one?