Follow my journey from Big 5 traditionally-published author to joining an author-owned cooperative publishing group, with travails and triumphs along the way.
NOTE: This series started on Dec. 31. I’m honored to have my seriocomic novel of midlife reinvention PAUSE, published by Book View Cafe, selected by The International Pulpwood Queens Book Club as a December 2022 title. http://www.thepulpwoodqueens.com During my featured week in late December, I was asked to post every day about my novels and writing life, so am reproducing them in this series. All of my novels I discuss are available at http://www.bookviewcafe.com
It’s Day 6 of my featured week on the Pulpwood Queen Presents her Picks. I’m grateful to have my novel PAUSE featured. Today I’ll talk about my writing journey from being a traditionally published novelist to being indie/hybrid published to joining coop publishing group Book View Cafe.
As I might have mentioned earlier, I wrote my first novel, science fiction originally called “Homeworld Stranger,” while I was finishing my bachelor’s degree in English/Creative Writing. (I had switched from studying sciences and dropping out to work as a nuclear reactor operator, before returning to university.)
I sent off the manuscript to a few publishers, knowing nothing about the world of publishing, and when I got a couple of rejections, decided to just box up the manuscript (written on a typewriter in the age of dinosaurs) and store with all my other stuff while I headed off for Caribbean adventures teaching Scuba.
When I returned, my partner persuaded me to try again, and I ended up mistakenly sending it back to Berkley/Ace, who had rejected it the first time, saying there was “too much emotion for science fiction.” This time a new editor took it on, as the field in the early 1980s was opening up more to women authors. They renamed it WILD CARD RUN, which I didn’t like, but I had no choice, and actually it was a decent title reflecting the female lead’s functioning as a wild card in the plot. They also said I had to cut a fifth of the word count, which actually strengthened the story. The novel earned a review in “Publishers Weekly,” sort of a big deal for a paperback mass market genre novel at the time, and I got contracts for two more in the series. Ironically, the PW review ended with, “Stamey puts feeling into this tale of the prodigal daughter.”
The head editor took me to lunch during a writing conference, and said that the publisher would like to position me as their first female “hard science fiction” writer, citing my science background. By that time, I was losing interest in writing that genre, and had drafted the start of what became THE ARIADNE CONNECTION, which utilized real-world myths and some science in an admittedly hard-to-categorize novel (publishers like easily marketable categories). I turned down the offer, which many of my fellow writers groaned over. I still think it was the right decision, as I didn’t want to get locked into producing at least one, probably more, novel a year until I lost my passion. That’s the world of traditional mainstream publishing these days, for genre writers especially, and these days even indie genre writers usually need to crank out multiple titles a year in order to maintain marketability. That road is not for me!
About this same time, Ace/Berkley was absorbed in one of the mergers that reduced the number of big New York publishers and still threatens the industry with diminishing choices. Ace forgot to put my third novel into distribution, right when I had sent out marketing materials and had received more positive advance reviews.
Bookstores were calling me to say they couldn’t get the novel, and my agent at the time was apparently on too many drugs to do anything to help me. In short, my sales record plummeted (no books available = no sales), Ace declined to give me a contract for THE ARIADNE CONNECTION, even though my editor said it was my best writing to date, and no other publisher would take me on. Career over.
But I kept writing, in the spaces during my adventures around the globe. By the new century, the new concept of Print On Demand became available and offered new opportunities for writers to go Indie and publish themselves. Two mentors approached me and offered funding if I would start a small press to publish Pacific Northwest novelists who defied categories, and wanted my Caribbean suspense novel ISLANDS to be the first title. I got a scholarship to attend Independent Book Publishers Association “Publishing University” in conjunction with the annual American Book Publishers conference, and learned the basics of setting up a small press. Like the Fool in the Tarot deck (much of my life seems to have gone that way), I set out and started Tarragon Books. We published ISLANDS and a quirky novel about a geologist who falls in love with a fictional character, SEDIMENTAL JOURNEY by Richard Widerkehr. (I came up with that title, and the author reluctantly agreed but came around later.) We both got good reviews, but it was tough getting bookstores to stock the books, even though I had a distributor. The effort to keep the press going was too time-consuming once I had to start teaching after my divorce, so I let it go, but I’m still proud of what we accomplished.
A few years later, a friend invited me to apply to join a revolutionary new cooperative press started by Ursula K. Leguin, Vonda McIntyre, and other successful genre novelists. Many of them were feeling the increasing squeeze from their publishers to pump out more books, or they were being dropped, or royalties were too thin. The coop, Book View Café, publishes quality ebooks, and every member must contribute their expertise for tasks such as editing, designing covers, formatting ebooks, blogging, maintaining the online bookstore, handling bookkeeping, marketing, and more. We are now at 30+ pro author members, with more waiting to join. All big decisions are made by vote of the members.
As is famously said of getting authors organized, it’s like herding cats, but somehow it works. It’s a big, opinionated, boisterous family, and I’ve finally found my home. Members share new ideas and tips about marketing, etc., brainstorm back-of-book descriptions, and critique cover designs. There is also a lot of caring and leeway for members to take a break from volunteering due to “Life,” such as my own recent medical leave. (Though I have managed to maintain my weekly blogging!)
Check us out at www.bookviewcafe.com
A lot of members are publishing new editions of formerly-published novels that have gone out of print, after they have regained rights. I have reissued new editions of my first two science fiction novels, WILD CARD RUN and WIN, LOSE, DRAW, with new cover art giving them a “retro science fiction galactic adventure” twist. The third in the series, DOUBLE BLIND, has its new cover and will be out soon.
I have also released a new, updated edition of ISLANDS with Book View Café, as well as original publication of THE ARIADNE CONNECTION and PAUSE.
Book View Café so far does not publish print editions, only ebook editions, though we assist with the design and formatting of print editions to accompany the ebooks. Our authors can use print-on-demand services like Ingram or Amazon, and we include those sales links on our website. I use Ingram print-on-demand because bookstores for good reasons will not order from Amazon.
I have made great new friends with my fellow authors at Book View Café, and feel grateful for the community and support. We are proud of publishing high quality novels! And I forgot to mention that our authors keep 90% of profits from their novels (instead of the usual 5 to 15% from mainstream publishers)!
I’ll be happy to answer questions about publishing: sara@sarastamey.com
Thanks for following along with me!
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You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Café is Pause, a First Place winner of the Chanticleer Somerset Award and an International Pulpwood Queens Book Club selection. “A must-read novel about friendship, love, and killer hot flashes.” (Mindy Klasky). Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
