Whether you’re a freelance writer, poet, novelist, author, whatever label you give to your writing, if you are going to seek payment and/or publication, at some point you will likely consider the possibility of a pen name, a pseudonym.

There are many reasons why you might want to consider a pen name, especially if you write online, and I’m going to touch on them briefly before I get into how to choose the name.

Why Use a Pen Name for Your Writing: Safety & Anonymity

Okay, if you become a best selling author, people are going to know your real name. There’s really no way around it. Until you are a famous best-selling author, especially if you’re an online writer, you might want to keep your real name private. This is particularly true if you write controversial, expose’ items, or politics–there are weird people in the world, you know?

Why Use a Pane Name for Your Writing: Branding & Discoverability

When I first started writing for a living, my legal last name was (drum roll please): Jackson. Yes, my legal name at that time (not now) was Michelle Jackson. When you type Michelle Jackson into Google, it says, “Did you mean Michael Jackson?” Nope. Can you imagine me trying to brand that name and get anything into a search engines with Michael Jackson hanging over my head? Man, think about when he died. My stuff would get buried based on name.

Now, over 7 years later, I am Michelle Devon. Believe it or not, I am not LEGALLY Michelle Devon. When I tell people that writing is who I am, I literally mean it. I BECAME my pen name. If you have a common name, a name that resembles someone famous or infamous, you might want to see what your search engine competition is for your name, and maybe select a name that is less common for your pen name writing branding.

Why Use a Pen Name for Your Writing: Your Name is Boring

If your name is Jane Smith (no offense to the Jane Smiths of the world), BORING! Selling books and writing is selling information or entertainment. A clever, but realistic name, a name that sounds ‘pop’ but real… that can really help draw folks to read your stuff.

Now, let’s look at how to pick a pen name. Looking at the reasons why you should use a pen name, you can help discover what pen name works for you.

How I Chose My Pen Name

I hated my real name, have ever since I was a kid. I used to get phone calls asking if Janet was my sister and asking me what I did with my glove – at least, until I got an unlisted number. When I started editing, the publisher I worked with put the editor’s name on the LOC page, and they wanted to know what name I wanted to use. I didn’t want to use my real name. I figured whatever name I used, I would need to stick with it.

Pen Names Should be Realistic Sounding

I realize that something along the lines of Savage Beastery is funny, might signify what you write, but no one is going to take you seriously, and if they don’t take you seriously, they won’t take your writing seriously either. Cassandra Love for a romance author instantly makes my chuckle and say, “That’s not her real name.”

I personally think an author should use a real sounding name for a pen name, something with zing and pop, but real sounding.

Pen Names Shouldn’t Be Spelled Strangely

It’s hard to brand yourself as a writer, but I promise you it will be harder if you pick a strange spelling for your name. People aren’t going to remember the spelling. They will remember how it’s pronounced and it will probably be searched for phonetically on the internet. Semantically, search engines won’t recognize it to offer alternatives either. If your real name is spelled funny, you might want to consider using your name, but spelling it correctly. Eventually, if you’re a great writer and a best seller, the search engines will notice you as a person of note and will adjust, but when you’re first starting off, that will be hard.

Pen Names That Tell Gender

When I write science fiction, thrillers, or other writing that is dominated by males in the genre, I’ve used the pen name Michy Anderson and M.L. Devon. I do this, because either of those names are not readily recognized as female. This won’t turn anyone off immediately – hopefully they’ll pick up the book, and my writing will capture them, before the name turns them off because I’m a (gasp) giiiiiiirl.

You can decide to use initials, such as J.K Rowling, V.C. Andrews, etc. There are a lot of female writers who have used initials, and I think it’s for that reason. Male authors writing romance–you’re so rare, I’m not sure it will hurt you any!

Anyway, I guess the point is, before you get too much out there, before you start submitting too much, you need to settle on your pen name, try out a few, see if you can live with it. Stick your hand out and introduce yourself as your pen name. Does the pseudonym feel right to you? Can you become your pen name as a real person, not just a persona? When you go out in public for all your book signings and readings, you’ll be known by this name: does it fit you?

Is a Pen Name Required?

Nope. If you like your name, it’s easily discoverable, and you’re not concerned about privacy, then by all means, use your real name! Lots and lots and lots (in fact, probably the majority) of writers use their real names!

Oh, and btw… Devon is my son’s middle name!

Love and stuff,
Michy

PS: If you use a pen name or your real name, please feel free to write up a blog post about writing names, and give us a link to it here on the blog, or tell us in the comments how/why you selected the name you use for your writing. It might help other writers decide!

PPS: A little quiz – Real or Pen Name?

• Stephen King
• Lisa Jackson
• Isaac Asimov
• Mercedes Lackey
• David Weber

I think you might be surprised!

Popularity: 38%

So, today is my first official day to post on the new blog as my official new blog. It’s a bit different around here. I’m not fully unpacked yet, so there are some ‘boxes’ laying around, and you might get some invalid links, since I had to import everything in. I’m still not indexed in search engines, and I’m going to keep the other blogs up indefinitely until I see how this one does.

Please, if you notice anything strange on the blog, let me know. At the very bottom of the main page, you’ll find a box to send me an email. If it works like it should, it will tell me what page you were on, etc, but please let me know if something isn’t working right.

The blog isn’t the only new thing either. We’re working on the Twin Trinity Media site, Accentuate Anthologies site, Michy’s Book Reviews site, Recipes & Recovery site, My Author Website, and more. In paticularly, I’d love for you to stop by my author site in the near future to read excerpts of my writing. Right now, they aren’t up yet.

While I haven’t been writing all that much recently, being in another city from home right now and being busy with all the anthology stuff and the websites, the main reason for me doing these websites is so I can start focusing on my own fiction writing career. For a time, I’m going to quit freelancing, or at the very least, scale back considerably, and put all my energy and focus into the fiction writing.

Fiction writing is where my heart is, where my passion flows. I have these characters and this entire universe floating around inside my head, living their lives, and tapping me mentally to write about them. They are persistent and demanding and petulant and irritating as hell, and I love them. They are as real to me inside my head as any of you guys, and that’s not to slight you guys. I talk about them like they are real people, telling my family and friends what the people inside my head did that day, etc. While they have been quietly living their lives (and sometimes not so quietly), I’ve been sitting here doing everything but writing their stories.

It’s time.

I have one completed, ready to send to a publisher manuscript and one completed but needs some editing manuscript and two rough drafts that are mostly completed but badly in need of editing. That’s enough. One is enough, but that’s more than enough.

It’s time.

Don’t worry. I’m still going to be around. I’ll still post on other sites, freelance stuff, write about freelancing, post jobs, etc, but my focus will be on fiction. I figure I’ll start hitting it hard and heavy after the first of the year.

Don’t forget, I do still have the Suite101 challenge in September, and I have to compare and contrast the three major players in the content sites too.

Anyhoo, that’s this morning’s ramble. Hope you like the new home here. Please leave your housewarming gift at the door on the way out, and help yourself to a drink. Couches are comfy and you can find them in the corner over there —–>

Ya’ll have a fantastic day!

Love and stuff,
Michy

Popularity: 33%

Now that I have my own purty little bloggy, it’s time for me to start writing on it more frequently!

What would you guys like to read?

Love and stuff,

Michy

Popularity: 22%

I was sitting here reading a forum post on AC about how people are running out of things to write. I always laugh about that, because everything I see becomes an article of some sort. My problem is not being able to have the time to write every article I think of.

For example, tonight, we were talking about dinner, and there were steaks in the freezer. My son was putting them in the microwave to defrost them, and he was asking me how to defrost steaks. I explained that if you don’t defrost meat properly, you can build up bacteria and cause problems and and and… wait a minute, How to Properly and Safely Defrost Meat. There’s an article.

Then we were talking about side dishes and decided to make corn on the cob. My friend asked me, “How do you make your corn on the cob?” Some people boil it, some people steam it, some people… huh, there’s another article: How to Cook Corn on the Cob, in which I list all the various ways to cook corn, and talk about which ones are best.

While watching an episode of Army Wives, a dog was rushed to the vet because he ate a bag of chocolate and the show said chocolate was bad for dogs. I’d always heard this too, but never knew why it was bad for dogs, or even how much was too much and when to take the dog to the vet. That prompted a call to the vet, and the call then resulted in an article: Is Chocolate Really Bad for Dogs? in which I discuss if it is bad for dogs, why, how much, and what to do, etc.

We went swimming and had to encourage my dog to jump in the pool the first time. Took us several times of swimming to teach him how to swim and be safe in the pool. that prompted: How to Teach a Dog to Swim, and it’s performing quite nicely this summer on page views.

I guess the point is, everything becomes an article in my mind. I was talking to Jennifer Walker the other day and she needed a program that would extract things from a PDF. I sent her a link to a product with a full 14-day trial, and then told her, “Now, you can use it and then write an article reviewing the product!”

Then, I told her, after she writes the article, she can then do a blog post about how everything you do can become an article! I hope she does, because her ideas and concepts would be different than mine or yours… it’s always great to read what other writers do, because you never know what you can take with you.

Did you have to give your cat a bath? How to Safely Give a Cat a Bath

Did you grab a camera and take a picture of a bird on your back fence? How to Capture Bird Pictures with your Digital Camera

Did you make a nice blend of aromatherapy oils that helps calm you? Essential Oils for Rest and Relaxation

Did you go to a fancy restaurant with really good creme brulee? Restaurant Review: Mediterraneo Market and Cafe

I’ve reviewed and written about every attraction we visited while on vacation in the Galveston / Houston area, and written and reviewed every restaurant. Hey, that makes things tax deductible if you itemize as a freelance writer too.

EVERYTHING is an article… what are you cooking for dinner tonight, ’cause you know you’re tired. Easy 5-min Meal Ideas for a Family of Four. Have you found a unique way to get your kids to do their homework before they play? How to Get Kids to Do Homework

You get the idea? With AC, in particular, wanting personal experiences, you can write quick, easy articles from your own personal experience with almost zero research and you can write them quickly, since it’s things you already ‘know’. If you are doing it, someone else like you will benefit from it. If you are interested in it, someone else like you will be interested too.

Turn your mind on to every possibility, How to Clean the Dryer to Prevent Fire. How to Drain a Waterbed. How to Unstop a Toilet. How to Unstick Food From a Dirty Pan.

How tos are always awesome!

Anyway, just rambling, sharing some brainstorming ideas for how to generate article ideas. In the comments below, share with me some things you’ve done today, and I’ll generate an article idea out of just about anything!

Love and stuff,
Michy
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Popularity: 6%

I wanted to come back a few months down the road from my challenges about the content sites I’ve been doing and update you guys on the status of the accounts that were part of the AC and Helium challenges. I’ll get to Suite101 at the end.

Let’s start with an update on what’s been going on with Helium since the challenge with them ended. First, you can read the conclusion of the challenge by clicking here.

Next, let’s look at what’s happened on the account since then.

Helium.com Challenge Update

Since the Helium Challenge, I have been earning an average of about .70 cents per day on revenue share with Helium. With a couple of upfront articles at the current star rate (four stars), I have made payout twice since the challenge. Essentially, I’ve built it up to where I’m making a decent residual income of about 30 bucks per month on Helium, with only writing 1-3 new articles per month.

That’s not too shabby.

What’s interesting to me isn’t so much what’s going on at Helium, but rather what’s happening at Helium in comparison to what’s going on at AC with the same challenge pieces. I’ll get to that in a minute.

Let’s look at AC next.

Associated Content Challenge Update

Since ending the AC challenge, I did happen to get an influx of page views to cash out an almost $10 performance bonus the month after I revealed who I was on AC for the challenge. However, after that, the performance bonus dropped dramatically, to less than $5 per month.

This is very disappointing.

What this means is, if I continue keeping up my rating stars on Helium, which only take about 10 minutes per week to do, in a few more months, Helium will have surpassed AC for total dollars earned on articles for the challenge, even though AC’s upfront payments were really higher than what Helium offers.

Is this because of AC’s indexing issues? Now that those indexing issues appear fixed, will this flip flop? Evidence doesn’t seem to indicate it will.

So now, I’m going to do some math.

Compare Helium & AC, Months Later

Earned on AC: $199.67

Earned on Helium: $243.70

Now, I can’t say this is totally fair, because Helium has a few extra articles that were on the account prior to the challenge that were earning. So to be fair, I will deduct the amount of my usual earnings from Helium prior to the challenge, times the number of months since the challenge, and we come out to:

Earned on Helium: $215.70.

So… let’s compare and contrast the hourly wages here. For a comparable number of articles, Helium has actually paid more total than AC has. Because I spent a little more time on Helium and had to have more articles than the AC challenge, AC is still ahead in the challenge, but if AC’s numbers stay the same, Helium WILL surpass AC within the next few months.

The Differences between Associated Content and Helium – Revenue

Well, I haven’t done anything but log into the old account on AC in order to keep earning on the content there. With Helium, I have to rate, and there have been a couple of days where my rating stars were zero, so I didn’t get any revenue share that day.

I can totally agree with Helium requiring participation to be active, but I really have an issue with the stars being required to earn revenue share. I wrote those articles, and I feel as long as they are up on the Helium site and are earning revenue FOR Helium, *I* should share in that revenue, since I’m the one who wrote the work. Without me, Helium wouldn’t have made that money on that article. Without Helium, I wouldn’t have the place to earn the money. It should be symbiotic, and I just don’t think rating should be required to earn – period.

However, I can get on board with a rating requirement, IF it wasn’t based on % compared to other raters. A strict 10 articles is all you need to rate a week, but you get bonuses if you rate more – or something like that – reward those who do more than the minimum, but don’t penalize those who don’t. That’s the ONLY way I can see the Helium site being fair. Until Helium changes that, I will continue to say I think the rating to get paid is unfair.

The only requirement AC has to get paid for page views is to simply log on once every 90 days.

Associated Content Vs. Helium.com Challenge Update Conclusion:

My conclusion is this… if I had continued writing for AC, like I did for Helium, then perhaps the results would have been slightly different, BUT it appears that right now, after the challenge is over, Helium is indeed comparable to AC for income as long as you stay active.

AC Advantage: Upfront pay, paid nearly daily.

Helium Advantage: No wait time for publication, no reviews, no queues.

AC Disadvantage: Review queue, wait times, site glitches, frustration.

Helium Disadvantage: Peer voting determines ranking, which indirectly determines revenue.

Here’s the thing though. If you write well enough to get past the review queue on AC, or if you submit display only and don’t get it knocked off for poor quality, AC has potential for you. Helium lets anyone publish without any review, but if you don’t get your article ranked in the top 5, you’re not going to make good money on Helium. Therefore, good writers on both sites will make more money and perform better than those who write half-assed or just throw things up.

At Helium, the cream does rise to the top. Unfortunately, we have to rate articles that really stink to find the gems that do rise to the top. The more articles you have in the top 5, the more money you’re going to make, so that the better writers are indeed making more money – OR writers who search out odd titles that have few posts (fewer than 5) are making okay money. It’s in the hands of the raters.

Helium Vs. Associated Content – Content Control

Your experience on AC is more in your control. You choose what to write about, what to title it, how to keyword it, etc, and if you do all those things correctly, you can earn an upfront payment and residuals.

Your experience on Helium is not mostly in your control. They choose the titles or approve the ones you choose, you can choose the keywords, but the site members choose which ones get ranked, how they get ranked, and that ranking determines how much money you will earn. You will only get upfront if a title you want to write to has fewer than five articles and you have writing stars, and you won’t know for sure if you are being paid for it if others write to the title at the same time you do.

If you want more autonomy and control over your content, AC is the way to go. If you want more guidance and direction, then Helium is the way to go.

But with this new evidence a few months after the challenges, it’s clear the two sites on revenue share for a comparable writer on both sites… well, they are about even in dollars earned. The slight advantage goes to AC, because theoretically, the longer you are with them, the better you write, the better your performance, the higher your upfront payments will be. With Helium, upfronts are fixed by writing stars and capped.

Suite101 Challenge Details

I finally got back in touch with the employee who was on maternity leave at Suite101 – congrats on your new baby boy! I have been reactivated at Suite101 and I’m taking the time to learn the changes on the site (and there have been plenty) since I last wrote for them well over a year ago.

I’m very excited to announce that I will be starting the Suite101 challenge on September 1, running it for a full month, and will be reporting here on my blog the same as I have with AC and Helium. I will be comparing and contrasting Suite101 with AC and Helium too.

I’ve 11 articles up on Suite101 that earn the minimum payout every month of $10. Theoretically, that means if I had 100 articles on Suite101, I’d earn 100 bucks residual ever month. If I had 300 articles, I’d earn 300 bucks every month. Well, I have nearly 400 articles on AC, and I do not earn $400 per month in performance bonus – so I’m optimistic and excited to see if I actually can get to 10 bucks per 10 articles per month on Suite101 as it appears I might.

Stick with me in September and we’ll see!

Any questions?

Love and stuff,
Michy
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Popularity: 8%

I was extremely disappointed with the responses and also the lack of responses about my most recent blog post about Apple’s new commercial that basically endorses copyright infringement.

Several have told me it isn’t a big deal. Others have said it’s a big deal, but not as big of a deal as I’m making out of it. Still others are trying to convince me that it’s not illegal to copy and paste an article.

Let me set the record straight.

Copyright infringement and plagiarism are two different things – both are illegal, and both fall under the copyright regulations and laws.

Very simply put, (though we know there’s much more to it than this), each can be defined as:

Copyright infringement is when something in media (written, pictorial, audio, video) is copied without permission, regardless of the use.

Plagiarism is when something in media (written, pictorial, audio, video) is copied without permission and without or without proper attribution to the creator, regardless of the use.

Except for a few very specific fair use clauses that allow for some small snippets of things to be used for very specific purposes without permission, and excluding public domain items or copyright expired items, IT IS NOT OKAY TO COPY ANYTHING IN PART OR IN ITS ENTIRETY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER.

It is NOT okay to copy an article and email it to yourself. This is copyright infringement.

Think about it, okay? If you are paid by page views or ad revenue or impressions, or if you write for a company who makes its money off page views, ad revenue or impressions, and someone finds an article that has information they want to remember or use, and the user emails it to themselves to refer back to it, then they won’t be coming back to the website again to read the article to get that information, cheating the writer and/or the publisher out of impressions, page views or revenue for the return hits.

It is okay to share a small snippet of a few lines, along with a link to the article directly and attribution to the author and publisher. It is NOT okay to email the entire article to yourself or someone else – PERIOD.

This is against the law.

By the same token, it’s against the law, unless they otherwise state so, to copy a television program on your DVD burner or VHS tape, without permission. Do people do it all the time? Yes. Does that make it legal? No. It falls under that gray area of, “We can’t enforce it, because we can’t catch you doing it,” but that doesn’t make it any less illegal to do it.

When a big company like Apple designs a product and then turns around and advertises that product by telling people to break the law with it, something must be done.

We, as writers, have tried to stop plagiarism and copyright infringement on blogs and websites all over the place, where we could see it happening, where articles were blatantly stolen and put up for the world to see. We try to educate ignorant bloggers who simply don’t know any better.

Now, Apple comes along with the iPhone and tells everyone it’s okay.

IT’S NOT OKAY!

I’m going to repeat this one more time to make sure it is very clear: IT IS AGAINST THE LAW TO COPY AN ARTICLE, PHOTOGRAPH, VIDEO, AUDIO, OR OTHER MEDIA WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER, REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU INTEND TO DO WITH THE ARTICLE.

Apple MUST change this commercial. Please, read my other blog post, watch the commercial, and pick up your talent and write to Apple about it!

Copying an article or copying a map, as the commercial says, is copyright infringement, period. Here’s the video for you again. Please watch it!

Then read the original blog post by clicking here.

The downfall of copyright law can begin by letting this one little thing slide… already, the internet pushes against the boundaries of copyright law daily. Please, please don’t stand idly by and let a large company like this endorse the downfall of a writer’s ONLY protection to earn money on their name and talent!

Apple Public Relations: (408) 974-2042
Apple
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014

http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

Please, please, please send this to every writer you know and forward it, link to it, share it… we all have to stand up and defend copyright law, and not let little things like this slip. Today, it’s articles that are encouraged to be copied and pasted, and tomorrow, it’s Google scanning digital copies of books (oh, wait, that’s happened), and illegal file sharing of whole books and movies and song and albums (oh, wait, that’s happened)… do you see how it just keeps going downhill and we turn a blind eye and deaf ear?

Please, make Apple change this commercial! There are plenty of applications for copy and paste that Apple can share with its users of the iPhone. I’m simply asking that Apple not encourage it for use for something illegal.

Love and stuff,
Michy
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Popularity: 9%

I was watching a commercial for the iPhone, in which it is talking about ‘copy and paste’ functionality. In the commercial, it said something along the lines of, “You can copy and paste an article and send it via email.”

In the example, it shows the entire article, picture included, being added to an email to send. You can see the full commercial below:

Is Apple not aware that by copying and pasting an entire article and sending it via email that they are endorsing and encouraging people to commit plagiarism and/or violate copyright laws and commit copyright infringement?

Apple iPhone is encouraging people to break the law, as though they don’t even know what the law is themselves. They NEED to consult their legal department, or else, we need to tell them clearly–do not endorse plagiarism and copyright infringement!

Those of us who write articles on the web, particularly those who are paid via revenue share and/or page views/performance, this would affect our bottom line.

I dunno… perhaps someone, like maybe a writer or two or twelve hundred, should write to iPhone and tell them to change this commercial?

Apple Public Relations: (408) 974-2042
Apple
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014

Let Apple know about what you think about them encouraging people to violate the law in their commercial by copying and pasting entire articles and emailing them, along with pictures, which are also copyrighted as well.

We are writers – let them know this is wrong!

Love and stuff,
Michy

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Popularity: 4%

Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about the publishing industry, most of it by the seat of my pants, on the fly, do or die type of learning. The majority of my experience with publishing was as an editor, not as an author, but I have had two books published with a small publisher, one book published with a mid-sized publisher, and was included in an anthology of short stories with three stories in one book with a small publisher. As an editor, I’ve worked with a handful of small and mid-sized publishers over the years.

Ironically, all of the small publishers have had one thing in common: they don’t pay royalties.

Oh, I don’t mean that they don’t SAY they will pay royalties; they do. They say it, and they even go so far as to give me a royalty contract and everything. In fact, I might get one quarter or perhaps two quarters worth of payments, and then nothing. That’s when the emails begin, the questions are asked, they offer a payment or an excuse why I haven’t received a payment, tell me to remind them in the future (why should I have to remind someone to pay me my due?) and then it starts all over again with no payments.

In fact, I don’t even get the royalty reports that are due me, even if I’m not due for a payment.

The thing that gets me is, this isn’t one small publisher I’m talking about. It’s not two small publishers. It’s not three small publishers. It’s EVERY one of them, and a couple of the mid-sized ones too.

Of course, this is as the editor of the books, but it’s also as the author of the three I have published. In fact, only two of the small publishers actually went through and sent me my editor’s copies of the completed books. Only two of all the ones I worked with.

One small publisher tried to convince me that after three quarters of sales on a book I edited that my royalties amounted to not quite $8 bucks.

Yes, folks, I have such low editing rates that I regularly edit entire novels for plot, structure, grammar, flow, consistency, style and much more, for only $8 per year. What a steal!

While I love having my name as the editor of record on some of these books, there are some that the small publishers NEVER should have accepted, and they refused to work with the author to make the books what I consider publish-quality books.

As an editor, my name and reputation is attached to the final product just as much as the author’s is, and I want quality work and books. Same can be said for my writing. If a small publisher publishes crap books, then publishes mine, folks/readers won’t be able to tell the crap from the good stuff.

We all want to be published if we are writing novels. There’s really not much reason to write a novel if you don’t intend to do something with it.

The way I look at it is this: if my work can’t make it in the market with a big publisher, then I need to keep writing, learning, tweaking and submitting until it can.

Anything less than a real, honest, note-worthy, accomplished large publisher is selling myself and my writing short.

The one and only exception I have to this rule is anthologies that pay a flat-rate or a flat-rate upfront with royalties. For some reason, a lot of small pubs do okay with those, and I think I know the reason. Every author included in an anthology works together to sell copies of the books. If every author has family and friends who all buy the book out of pride, you have built in sales.

But there are other reasons going with a small press/ small publisher is not a wise idea other than the fact my experience is that they don’t pay. Let’s look at some of them:

• Small publishers are usually POD.

POD is print / publish on demand, and these types of books are not quite the same as the industry-standard paperback books you get from larger publishers who use offset printing (though some big publisher do use POD-type printing now too, they still are different types of books). POD is great, but it also delays the deliverability of the book by a few days, and in a competitive marketplace, that can hurt.

• Small publishers can’t set good book prices.

Because small publishers are POD, and because they rarely if ever order books in large bulk quantities, it’s nearly impossible for a small publisher to sell a book at a price the average consumer/reader wants to pay for a paperback and definitely not for a hardback. When I can buy James Patterson’s latest 600-page novel for $5.99 in mass paperback, would I really want to pay $14.99 to over $20 bucks for a 300-page POD book from an unknown author? Not likely. Therefore, sales are limited to family and friends who just want to support their author.

• Because of pricing and other issues, no shelf placement with bookstores.

Because small publishers can’t offer the deep discounts for distribution that other larger publishers can, and even if they do, the retail sales price is so high, the discount is still too much for book buyers in the industry to consider, and because the quality of small publisher’s books are suspect and un-uniform, it’s nearly impossible without a publicist pounding the pavement taking copies of books to bookstore buyers and shoving it in their faces on a consignment type of deal for small publishers to get any books on bookstore shelves.

The closest they usually come to it is getting books shelved in bookstores in the area local to the author, and that’s usually on a consignment deal and not through distribution. Without shelf placement with bookstores, particularly without automatic approval for shelf placement, it is impossible for authors to receive enough volume in sales to make for any type of a significant return on their writing time.

• Formatting, editing, covers, book style.

Small publishers just don’t have the professional and industry trained, tried and true editors, proofreaders, formatters, etc. This leads to unprofessional stock photos for covers, poor quality graphics, poor proofreading and editing (what good editor is going to work for 8 bucks per year other than stupid ones like me?)

There are so many other reason why a writer who has a modicum of talent and a desire to learn and grow should NOT choose to go with a small publisher.

But the big one that I’m going to share with you next is absolutely crucial and something I think EVERY author should know before choosing to go with a small publisher.

I don’t know the percentages, but it is by far and overwhelming majority of books published with small publishers never sell over 1000 copies. In fact, the numbers that float around are usually between 500-600 books, on average. Yes, there are rare ones that break that mold, but I promise the author did a lot or promoting or put a lot of time and money into their book.

I want you all to understand that with most small publishers, if you earn even $500 bucks from your book, you are above the curve.

How long did it take you to write your novel? How much of your time, sweat, tears, energy, sleepless nights and talent did you put into it?

Is it worth more than $500?

I know, you’re saying, “But I really want to be published! Now!”

Okay, if you’re not willing to stick it out and find a big publisher, my advice to you is: self publish.

I don’t mean to go with a place like Lulu, but to truly learn the business, get your own publishing company or imprint, and buy your own ISBNs, hire your own editing services, and truly self publish.

At least that way YOU get to keep the profit from the difference between the cost of the printing of the book and the retail sales price that you set for the book. You’re going to have to do the selling anyway – may as well be selling to make YOU money instead of the small publisher, who often does little to no marketing or selling for you.

And that’s my take on small and mid-sized publishers.

Is it tainted? You bet it is, but when I’ve worked for multiple small publishers and EVERY ONE OF THEM has stopped paying me at some point along the way, it’s pretty much a valid industry-standard experience of most small presses. I’m sure that most of them meant well in the beginning, and I’m certain not one of them ever intended to screw anyone out of their time and money, but that’s just how it ended up happening with every one of them I worked with – and trust me, it’s not just me.

I’ll never see a penny of that money… it was a hard lesson to learn, but I learned it, and now, I work only with authors directly, for publishing consulting and submission make-ready, and I will not work directly with another small publisher again.

Love and stuff,
Michy

PS: There is ONE small publisher that I don’t work with, but a friend of mine does, that while they don’t pay a huge amount, at least are upfront and pay an upfront flat-rate payment for editing. Id’ rather a small publisher do that and be honest like they are than to offer to pay something and never follow through, or start and then stop.

PPS: I say this all knowing that I too own a small publishing company, but my company is ONLY for the purpose of doing the special themed projects and anthologies, and we pay an upfront payment to the author. Royalties are just a bonus we provide in addition to the upfront payment. We pay our editors flat-rates and royalties as well.
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Helium Up

Well, the changes on Helium continue to improve. While they still aren’t paying me nearly what I’d like to be making (after all, who does, really?), it’s still a really viable place for certain types of content and they are paying more and more every day. My writing stars are at four stars, with only 150 some-odd article, so I have the bonus quality star for writing.

I’m making between a buck to two bucks per day with them, so I’m reaching payout on Helium about once per month – on very rare occasions, I miss the payout but at least it gets me a larger lump sum the next time. I do wish Helium would show us what our ‘pending’ payments are, when we submit upfront content, based on our current star ratings, kind of like they did when they were offering upfront as a special.

I think I heard rumor that this was in the works.

I’d also like to see Helium go to more frequent payments. Once per month just doesn’t cut it for me. I find I tend to focus more energy on places that pay faster. If Helium started paying weekly, I have a feeling more people would write for them. I know when I first started writing for AC and was broke and broke can be, sometimes getting a 5 dollar payment from AC made the difference between eating or not eating that night. I think some Helium writers might do more with Helium if they paid more frequently, for similar reasons. For me, it’s motivation to get that payment.

Associated Content Down

As for AC, I’m not pleased as I could be. After a year of getting decent upfront offers, and my average on my content rising every single time there’s an update, even when I have new content, yesterday, I received the lowest offer I had received in a year. Then today, they topped themselves off, and offered me one even 20 cents lower than that.

It took 7 business days to give me that low, low offer too – in fact, it took 7 business days for the last three articles, and I have some in the queue right now pending. The slow review time is the single most destructive thing to writing morale and I think it prevents people from writing for AC more frequently.

The ‘assignments’ suck. Not one of them pays right now. I haven’t gotten a partner call in over a month, and it was only one at that time, and it was about a month before that. There aren’t even any text assignments in my queue but one, which is a special assignment for community guides.

So, low payment, slow review times, no assignments…. things just could be much better on AC right now for me. I really don’t understand why my offers are going down though. It’s unlikely AC would give me a straight answer on that – but I’m wondering if my CM changed.

Suite101 is Silent

I don’t know if there was a management change or something weird happened at Suite101, but after several discussions with an email from Suite101 about doing a Suite101 Challenge like I did my Helium.com Challenge and Associated Content Challenge. Last I heard, one employee was on maternity leave, and the other contact didn’t answer my emails, and now, emails are bouncing.

I’m guessing I’m likely not going to get permission to do a Suite101 Challenge. That’s a real shame, because I actually thought they would beat the others hands down.

If anyone from Suite101 reads this and has the ability to give me permission to do the challenge, I’ll jump on the chance. Just email me! You can find my account on Suite101 here.

Other Content Sites

• Bukisa

I’ve done some playing around with Bukisa. If you get a good article and good placement, you can actually make some decent money with Bukisa. There are a few things that I worry about with them though. The biggest is that they are not hosted in the United States, or owned by anyone in the US. In fact, it appears they are owned by an individual.

The site frequently experiences downtime where I can’t log in or do anything on the site – if I can’t see the site, others can’t view it either, and that means no money. Also, I’ve caught some plagiarized stuff there (though there is a flag for plagiarism system now). Mostly, without any upfront payment, I’d hate to put a lot of time into the site only to have it go defunct in a few months or a year. It’s still new.

• Examiner

I did apply for an Examiner position and was contacted by someone named Claire who accepted my application and I was set to be a National Examiner. I’m thankful and grateful to Examiner for accepting my application and for giving me National status instead of a local position.

Unfortunately, due to personal reasons, like health, travel/vacation/etc, and my own work on my websites and the Unsent Letters and the Anthologies/Contests, I had to turn the position down right now. I did tell Claire I would be interested in re-applying in the future, and I likely will at some point.

I’ve heard good things about Examiner, both from the inside and the outside. Many of you might also know that Sam, from AC, has moved over to Examiner now too. We all, of course, wish him the very best there. My only problem with Examiner at this point is the fact it limits what you can write on. I don’t like being stuck only writing on one topic, and I don’t have time to take on more than one topic, but it still leaves me stuck or limited in what I can and cannot write. I’d love to do a column of sorts, but I’d like to write on what I want to write about, not a pre-defined topic.

• Triond

I’ve tried to find something about them that I liked, but I’m having a hard time doing that. The site navigation is clunky, they experience frequent downtime, the articles you write aren’t posted on the main site so you have to hunt them down to see them, and that makes marketing them difficult.

I’m just not happy with their overall setup. Maybe someone who writes for Triond regularly can help me out here – are they any good, at all? Do they pay enough to bother?

Other sites? What other sites do you guys use to make money with writing?

Love and stuff,
Michy

UPDATE: Was just contacted by Suite101 asking if I was still wanting to do a challenge with them, and I am! I’ll update you folks on that as soon as I email them back and we hash out the specifics! Thanks Suite101 for the super fast response!
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Earlier, I was looking at some of my old fiction writing, back when I first started writing fiction professionally. I used to put small pieces up on blogs, and people loved my writing. My friends and family said I was fantastic.

They lied.

What’s so sad is, I thought, truly though, I was fantastic. When another writer would critique me, I would look down my nose at them and their critique, saying they just didn’t ‘get’ me, they didn’t ‘understand’ my writing, and I was ‘unique’ and ‘different’.

I re-read some of the early stuff I wrote and realized I was unique and different, painfully so.

Yet, my ego was fully in check, protecting me.

Well, so I thought. I read this stuff now, especially now that I’m an editor for a profession, along with being a writer, and I wonder how I EVER thought my writing was good.

It sucked.

The first thing I noticed was my liberal use of ‘dots’. I can’t quite call them ellipses, because I would use about 10 of them. But, oh, no! I used them for dramatic pause! Or what about when I would use all capital letters, because I wanted to emphasize a point?

(shaking head) Rookie mistakes.

Funny thing is, when I see those things in a manuscript now, they really stand out to me, since those were the mistakes I made. That’s probably not entirely fair to new writers when their writing comes across my desk, eh?

I do not take critique well.

Oh, wait. Emphasis.

I DO NOT TAKE CRITIQUE WELL!

Got that?

I don’t.

I pout. I sometimes cry. I get sorta angry and I sometimes call editors names, like, oh, I dunno, stupid, quack, illiterate boob.

Oh, wait, no, I don’t do that (if my editors are reading this, know I meant the other editors I have, not you!)

Then eventually, I wrestle my ego to the ground, punch it in the face a few times and tell it to sit still and shut up.

Then I’ll rewrite and edit.

The funny thing is, even all beaten and bruised, I actually do still listen to my ego enough that I refuse to edit things the way someone else suggests. I will often rewrite completely if ‘my’ way is not good enough.

Usually, though I’d be hard-pressed to admit this in the moment, my writing turns out better, stronger, MORE me.

Over the years, I’ve continued to learn and grow with my writing, but I’m still not any better at taking criticism.

I figure a few years from now, I’ll look back on my writing today and wonder why I ever thought it was any good.

I suppose the point of this post is: if you want to grow as a writer, you HAVE to learn to accept and utilize critiques and feedback from other writers whose writing you respect, readers who are the ones who will read your writing, and editors who are the ones who ultimately buy and/or approve your writing.

Ego… ego really takes a beating, but writing thrives because of it.

Love and stuff,
Michy
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