publishing

How We Might Turn Unoriginality To Our Advantage

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Nearly two years ago I noted that every other book cover I saw looked like Twilight and wondered about an originality/unoriginality arms race.

Reporting from the front lines in pop culture, I’d like to report that now a lot of book covers look like “50 Shades of Gray,” so I think unoriginality is winning.

When you think about it, there is doubtlessly a lot of 50-Shades derived books out there.  50 Shades is hot and hip right now, so there’s going to be attempts to jump into the market.  Sure all the covers look alike, but some of this is probably selling anyway.  Even though I am thrilled to see fanfic become fic , the story itself disturbs me.

Kind of makes me wonder how many stories wouldn’t be noticed, got made just for this, or were revived to take advantage of the new 50 Shades related craze.

So this got me thinking for all my writing and media friends.

We know that there’s plenty of problems with media originality.  It gets talked about a lot here at Fan To Pro.  Well, ranted about, as we do since many of us are authors.

We know that media goes in cycles, ones that are often big, obvious, and kind of blatant.  Twilight created one, 50 Shades another, but we know this goes back to the days of Star Wars and all it’s obvious ripoffs.

So instead of giving up on your great idea, or avoiding trends, why not embrace it and see what works you have work with current trends?

Any good author or artist has all sorts of ideas, potential projects, half-finished works, and more.  You could try and time their release or development of one of your works to jump on the existing trends.

Yes, there’s the danger of looking derivative, or unoriginal, or getting ignored.  But if you’re going to go with some of the big publishers, you’re facing enough challenges as it is.  Being seen as unoriginal by some, getting a smaller part of a larger market share, etc. aren’t the worst risks you can face.

So, if we’re gonna be in this cycle of unoriginality for awhile, maybe we media procures can take advantage of it.

Worse things could happen.  If nothing else maybe the book covers will all look the same differently . . .

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

You Know, Sometime I Want To Say “Enough”

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I love e-publishing and self-publishing.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Lulu, and Nook, and I own a Kindle.  I’m glad I can sell books via e-Junkie.  I’m even glad to take a look at Ganxy, the new e-pub/promote service (look for a review).

But know what?  It’s now getting just a little insane.  OK insaner.  I had a lot of tolerance for all these options, but I think that we’ve reached the point where, unless you dedicate a lot of time figuring out what the best way to publish your book is, you’re taking shots in the dark (or spending all your time formatting, not writing).

Every time I look at my next book or my plans for minibooks, I find some new service, some new question, some new issue to address.  Sure I can experiment with all of them – in fact that’s part of what I do for here – but it’s getting a little frustrating by now.

I’d like to find a clear way to get distrubition, a clear way to format, some way to manage to get this all done without having to use 3 or 4 services, or how that service-to-service opportunities don’t mangle your book.  I’d like some sanity.

But as our own Serdar told me when we discussed this, that was called “A bookstore.”

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Target Douses The Kindle

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Yes, Target is phasing out the Kindle in it’s stores.  Amusingly, the Nook isn’t getting the same treatment.  They site “conflict of interest.”

There is plenty of conflict of interest – Amazon is competing with big stores like Target, Wal-Mart, etc.  This is also a gutsy move as this stuff is popular, so I figure Target has very good reasons.

My takes?

  • I think Target is going to side more with Nook for now.  B&N isn’t a competitor and can be an ally.
  • Remember B&N is also allied with Microsoft.  Keep in mind what this can mean.
  • Note nothing from Wal-Mart.  I still think they might make a low-price play/deal for some media or tablet device – but something like this could mean they seek an ally (and a way to take on Amazon)?
  • This is key as it’s someone striking right back at Amazon.  Others may feel emboldened to follow.
  • I would strongly consider the chance there’s other initiatives we don’t know about.

– Steven Savage