My Author Values Nailed to the Door.

This month, there has been some serious turbulence in the old indie author community surrounding the thorny issue of boxsets. Now, I know this is pretty much a weekly occurrence in one way or another, but this time, the storm is pretty big and it's feeding off a lot of hurt.

In almost all cases, calling folks out on the way they choose to travel their individual author path isn't a good thing - it can be a path paved with assumptions, false information and misunderstandings.

There are always two sides to a story (often more) and there are multiple truths of a situation. I am sad to see my community so divided and potentially destructive over the box-set matter. The world is tough enough for everybody in the authoring world at the minute.

Like with all the other dramas in the community, I'm keeping my mouth (almost) shut on this one and approaching it with a more positive reframe; This post is me nailing my personal (as in me and me alone) author values to the door.  BTW - I have disabled comments on this post because this is not about igniting some kind of crazy bonfire of opinions.

Over the last year, I have become increasingly aware of all kinds of ways that authors are choosing to lead their creative life and run their marketing.  Some of them have left me feeling sad and hollow over the state of our creative industry, others have been inspired and clever. It's tough times and it would be highly naive to believe that the book world was somehow spiritually protected from some of the 'evils of capitalism' (assume Orwellian scary voice for that phrase but at the same time, know that capitalism can be a  beautiful source of ethical invention and resourcefulness)

Like Midas, I have been offered all kinds of ways to increase my visibility, my reach, my sales rankings, garner titles, pay for reviews, create (buy) a 'success' story.

Seriously, dear reader, for an investment of under $15k by this time next year, I could have a USAT bestseller title (maybe even a NYT bestseller title) have a newsletters of 10s of thousands of 'engaged' readers, 50, 100, 150 x 5 star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads; I could be bumped up in forums, reading groups, book clubs, access to exclusive signings, I could have my book reviewed by some of the biggest book tubers and reviewers - you name it, anything that makes me 'look' like a success, I can buy - ANY author can buy; tempting isn't it?

And the problem is, when you know all this is on offer to be purchased, how do we, the community know what is real or ethical anymore?

There are a lot of grey, shady areas, a lot of different truths being lived, and that's okay, we all have the right to make our own choices, create our own reality, but I wanted to share with you my personal author manifesto so you know where this author stands.

• I believe in working hard; crafting, nurturing, building. I do not believe in quick fixes; I've been cursed with an over-achiever mentality. 


• I believe being an author is a professional career, and like any career, it takes years of dedication and conscientious application to truly attain knowledge, experience and aptitude. 


• I believe books and stories are sacred things, not to be played with just for the sake of market, and I also believe that authors should write whatever intrigues, interests and excites them, meaning if they want to butterfly genres, good for them.  


• I believe quality will always trump clever marketing in the long run. I believe quality demonstrates respect for your reader and the word; it ensures you can always be proud of the legacy you will leave behind. 


• I believe that uniting with other authors who share your values, who share your passion, integrity and love of the book community, will produce great opportunities and exciting works of creativity. Sharing is caring. Sharing is power. 


• I have never purchased a review, and I never will. When I 'gift' paperbacks & ebooks etc, it is always with the understanding that it will be an honest review. 


• I have never purchased perceived favour, or scale, in the form of purchased Twitter followers, Facebook Likes or newsletter subscribers. They have all been built up organically through an approach of engagement, follow back, and involvement in the book community. 


• I believe a small, engaged community of fans is gold dust. I genuinely appreciate every single person who picks up my books because there is something that has appealed to them. 


• I will never use money in a way that will dishonestly manipulate rankings on Amazon or USAT lists - I am aware there is a shady 'almost accepted' approach by all facets of the publishing world to buy back, or gift, copies of their book to influence rankings. 


• I will never buy click farm services to help the launch of one of my books. (I can barely get around to organising the pre-order function on Amazon)


• I love working with other authors, and I think it is smart to buddy up and cross promote, share each other's successes. I believe with a whole heart that somebody else's success never detracts or damages the potential for my own. I genuinely air-punch the air when I see one of my buddies reach a goal. 


• Box sets and anthologies are a really great way to introduce readers to other authors in the community who share the same approach and love of story telling - they are a great way to broaden readership and gain visibility. They are also great fun to work on. (I'm going to be in two this year with authors I have known a long time, and whom I respect; okay, they're actually my buddies and we love working together so it's a total excuse to play.)


• Personally, after looking into  and flirting with the idea of buying in to a $$$ box-set to pool marketing budgets, it's not for me - although I am sure there are many advantages and it can and is being done, with great integrity and ethics. 


• I believe it is the moral duty of the elders in the author book community to lift as they climb, to mentor, nurture and encourage newbies. 


• I am uneasy with the understanding that I could invest $2-3k of money next month and by the end of the year have a USAT or NYT bestselling author title pretty much guaranteed. I know where to go and how to do it (and there are several organisers, companies, services that provide this 'help')  Hell, I've even checked it out out of curiosity and had some pretty tearful conversations with the hubby about it - but I JUST can't do it. When I get my USAT bestselling author status it will be because I have done it all by myself with the help of my dedicated readers, for a novel I really believe in. 


• I believe everybody has the right to conduct their life and their business in whatever manner they decide, but if someone else calls out the ethics of it, it is despicable to turn around and accuse the community of bullying and jealousy - that's passive aggression on a big scale and I'm seeing too much of it of late. 


• I will always have time to help, support and encourage new authors - seriously, reach out; I've got 9 books under my belt and run a small press house, as well as being a professional editor, so feel free to ask. 

And there we have it folks. This is how this author has spent the last ten years doing her thing, and how she sees the next ten years, and hopefully lots of ten year blocks to come.

Wonderlust and Creativity.

Nyhaven at Sunset. It's iconic
coloured houses.

Over the half-term holidays, we took some time out of our crazy schedules to visit one of our favourite places, Copenhagen.

I never thought it would be one of my favourite places on the planet, but that just goes to show you the dangers of presumption. 

Copenhagen has the most amazing skies - there's a quality to the light that seems almost otherworldly; it's both flat and deep - it's full of shades that bring out the light, and this sense is exacerbated by the amount of almost still, clear water ways that surround Copenhagen. 

Everywhere you look in Copenhagen, there is a sense of the aesthetic - and just like the skies, it's an aesthetic full of contradictions. Design is pared back to lines and form in Danish aesthetic, and yet, much of the settings of this austere, reductive design are highly decorative and demonstrate the love that the Danish have for wild nature. 

The Tivoli Hotel. Amazing skies. 

It is this combination of reductionism and luxuriant cosiness that appeals to my spirit so much - it's both spiritually cleansing and comforting. 

From what I have observed, this philosophy extends to many elements of Danish life and identity. There is a clear desire to design a better way of living; a healthier, more comforting way - a move towards a simpler way of living in order that interesting and futuristic things can be achieved. 

Nature heavily influences
design

There's a sense that Copenhagen is a futuristic city, maybe even has leanings towards a literary topic / dystopic state; the uniformity of clothing, the civil order, the sense of quiet law, it's own quirky looking currency - (which seems to have no logical scale of cost and value when it comes to products A fruit smoothie costing nearly £10 / $13 and a Danish design candle-stick costing £8 / $11) but far from being a depressing or worryingly oppressive place, there's a sense that somehow, the Danes have just got it  - whatever it is, right. 

There's an understanding of balance - a huge amount of people cycle, and bicycles litter every available space (mostly left unlocked). The food markets, and independent craft shops, and artistic presence is everywhere. Christiania, a section of the city that is one of the worlds few 'Free States' - where an alternative community and way of living has established itself; one outside of the status quo and the constructs of mediocre Western Society. 

The Water and light create magic

And among the grey, the order, the calm, the ernest nature of citizenship, there is this incredible leaning to whimsy, encapsulated by both the amount of street placed interactive artworks, and the Tivoli Gardens, one of the world's oldest amusement parks in the world, dating to 1890, which is smack bang at the heart of their city. The Tivoli Gardens is a truly magical place - a place that transports everybody into a delightful, childlike imagination - and it's achingly pretty; with fairy lights and flora everywhere, and a steampunk aesthetic established before 'Steampunk' was even a thing. 

The waterways of Copenhagen

We love Copenhagen and can't wait to get back. As a family, it feels more like a playground than a city; from the cheesy, dusty, outdated, but completely loveable tourist attraction museums (Ripley's Believe it Or Not, The World Records, The Hans Christian Anderson experience, The Mysterium - a ghost house) to the food markets, the amazing zoo, the aquarium, the canals, the shops, the cafes, the art, the Tivoli Gardens, the whole city is easy.

I would love to spend an extended stay in Copenhagen - I know that if I were to live there for a year, many, many acts of creative expression would take place. It's a city that sings to my heart.

Eating out has become
a thing in Copenhagen
and warm blankets are
provided. 

Tivoli Gardens making
steampunk epic before
steampunk existed. 

The magic of Tivoli Gardens. 

The Opera House

How Do You Get People To Take You Seriously?

Today, I was asked this question by a fellow creative; not an author but someone who is clearly fighting the same demons that I see being fought in the author community all the time.

You take yourself seriously -
you step out
into the world and you 'be'
who you want to be in the future.
This is me signing in Paris this
 summer.  This didn't
happen by accident. I made
it happen.

We didn't have long; it was a snatched conversation and I literally had a child hanging off my back at the time.

But I hope in that short 3 minute conversation, I instilled these important messages.  So what did I say in response to his question?

• Firstly, before you can ask others to take you and your art seriously, you have to take yourself and your art seriously - you invest in your art; you seek out those who are where you want to be and you observe, study, reach out, learn from them and then emulate them, discovering your own unique 'you' along the way. 

• You have to stop apologising for not being good enough - as a creative, you are constantly evolving, improving (You'll never be 'good enough' but you are as good as you need to be at this point) 




• You invest in your community. You give to the creative tribe, and you give - and then you give some more - and do you know what? It comes back. You build friendships, relationships, mutual respect - I refer to it as 'TRIBE' but you may just as well call it your 'ARMY'. 

You build an army of fellow creatives and you look after your
comrades, you nurture the friendships, and you learn from each other.
You support one another and you trust one another

and most importantly, 

You define yourself as artist and you live
your life as artist. 

• You stop waiting for others to define you as serious (sic, successful, talented, worthy, valid) YOU DEFINE YOURSELF as ARTIST. As CREATIVE. You are entirely free to be who you want to be. As my mentor, Janet Wallace  (Founder of Social Deviants) would say, "Be the future you in the present." Stop waiting for the fabled land and make it here, right now. 

I say these things like they're easy, as if they are a magic potion - and trust me, I know they're not. Unshackling the doubt demons, the fear of ridicule, the little voice that whispers 'you're delusional', 'You're a pipe-dreamer' is hard - and for some it's harder than others. 

We live in a world that prioritises money and celebrity and tries to measure everything within those terms - but the creative life isn't like that, and when you try to fit your art into such measurable quantities, that's when the tension and the doubt, and the fear smacks you in the face. 

There's a sense that unless you're doing everything on some crazy epic scale; you're topping the charts, you're making millions, you're winning awards, you're featured in magazines, on the television, that your name is part of pop-culture rhetoric, then you're a failure - that you're not serious... but that's.... well, it's rubbish! 

Nobody has the right to EVER tell you that your art isn't worthy, isn't valid, isn't 'proper'. Believe in yourself and believe in your art - and hold your head up high and wear your armour well - and if you've been wise enough to follow my advice - you're army will be standing right behind you. 

Have a wonderful Week. Go and make beautiful things, moments, and friendships. 

Kate x

Greet

A poem for the bleak days.

Greet

When you are too tired for tears
Too empty for laughter
Too hurt for the receiving of love
Too full of thoughts for peace,

Stop.

Stop and greet yourself
like an old friend
long since seen.
Smile in recognition
of a person rediscovered
of a future promise
of happiness and adventure
of a hundred million
things you love about
that soul but had
forgotten.
And in that moment
of reconnection,

Forgive.

Forgive the past,
which stole you from yourself.

Katie M John (Jan 2016)