Amber Quill Press - Trace Edward Zaber

Today Trace Edward Zaber, award-winning author and cover artist, is joining us on the blog to talk about his company Amber Quill Press, LLC and publishing in general. Trace is one of the owners, Editorial Director and Creative Director for AQP which bills itself as "The Gold Standard In Publishing."

Trace is a Chicago-area writer, specializing in Civil War fiction. In 2000 his debut novel, Sins of the Father, won Word Weaving's first-ever "Award For Literary Excellence," and was nominated for an EPPIE Award in the Best Historical Fiction category. Trace's stories Blood Brothers and The Collections Of Bethlehem have garnered several awards and appeared in a historical anthology Twilight Antiquity. Another of his stories, Esprit De Corps, appeared as part of the award-winning Tales of the Spirit of Hope, Love, and Redemption charitable anthology.

His cover art won the Spectrum Award for "Best Overall Cover Art 2001," and the 2004 Quasar Award for "Best In Category—Suspense/Thriller" and twice in 2005 for both "Best In Category—Horror" and "Best In Category—Mainstream" and, again, twice in 2007! In March 2007, he walked away with his second Quasar trophy for "Best Overall Cover Art." He consistently places in the Top 10 in various author/reader polls for both "Best Cover Artist" and for specific book covers.

And if that wasn't enough, Trace is also the owner of By Thunder, which includes several authoring services—Thundergraph: Web Design; ThunderProse: Professional Editing Services; and ThunderArt, the division of By Thunder that creates award-winning cover art for both e-books and paperbacks. Additionally, Trace moderates several writers' critique groups, was a featured author at Barnes & Noble's Writers' Harvest 1997, and was the owner/editor of the award-winning Of Ages Past Magazine.

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Hi Trace, thank you for agreeing to this interview and welcome to the blog. You have a very impressive resume and I'm honored to interview you. I would like to ask a few general questions about your company first then if I may, talk about publishing in general and how recent changes in the industry have affected AQP.


AMBER QUILL PRESS, THE COMPANY

The company, Amber Quill Press, LLC, which includes Amber Heat (an imprint for Erotic Romance) and Amber Allure (an imprint for GLBT fiction) is an aggregate of best-selling and award-winning authors plus an experienced team of editors, marketers, and cover artists with a combined experience of more than 100 years in the publishing industry. This depth of knowledge gives Amber Quill Press, LLC the ability to recognize and select only the finest manuscripts and present them in both electronic and trade paperback to its readership worldwide.

AQP was launched in October 2002, and currently the company has released more than 1,000 titles in just about every genre and cross-genre, including romances, sweeping historicals, fantasies, thrillers, and erotica, both straight and gay.

AQP is an "invitation only" publisher and has never opened submissions to the "outside" public (apart from a contest held for several years for Amber Heat and Amber Allure). Occasionally, however, AQP bolsters its roster by inviting select authors to join its roster.


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Since your company has three distinct imprints - Amber Quill, Amber Heat, and Amber Allure - I would like to talk in general terms about your operations before I ask specific questions. Your financial and corporate information is private so I don't have any of that information, however, would you like to tell the readers what are the areas that the company focuses on to ensure growth year over year and maximize the return on its investment?

Thanks for having me here, Wave. What AQP has always tried to do is listen to the requests of our customers. For instance, just after we opened in 2002, we had numerous customers beg for erotica or erotic romance stories, so in January 2003 we started the Amber Heat imprint. Then a similar type of request started pouring in around the beginning of 2007, with customers asking us to consider releasing Gay fiction, both erotic and otherwise, which is the reason we added the Allure imprint.

Although we continue to offer titles in all three imprints to not alienate one set of customers in favor of another, we simply shift our focus, our time and energy, on whichever imprint is currently in demand at any given moment. This is the main reason we've conducted an ongoing survey with our customers, so we can track their changing requests and refocus our attention if need be. And as long as we continue listening to our customers and try to supply the material the majority requests, then, hopefully, the sales numbers will continue to grow accordingly. Moreover, AQP has never been a company to "rush" anything. We've grown steadily throughout the years, never once running "in the red," and we've never moved forward with any major project, or even increased our staff size, until we were certain the company would stay firmly in the black. This is why I believe many publishers have failed through the years...they attempted to grow too fast, didn't look far enough into the future or anticipate potential financial setbacks or the necessary cash outlays to stay in business, and in the end, the authors suffered for their foolhardiness.

If you keep financial information separate for your 3 imprints would it be possible to give us a general idea which is the best performer in terms of sales?

Currently, the breakdown of sales for the company goes something like this...Amber Quill (non-erotica) sales make up less than 5% of our business today. Amber Heat ("straight" erotica or erotic romance), which used to comprise more than half of the business several years ago, has now dropped to only about 20%, and for the most part, that number continues to decline. Amber Allure (Gay Fiction and Erotica) now comprises approximately 75-80% of our business.

The surprising factor in all of this is that several years ago, almost en masse, our customers (mainly heterosexual women) decided, as if overnight, to shun "straight" erotica/erotic romance in favor of Gay Fiction & Erotica (more specifically, M/M Gay fiction as opposed to F/F fiction). The change happened so suddenly, not gaining momentum over a year or two, but over the course of only several months. Even stories featuring ménage relationships (be they M/F/M or M/M/F with bisexual content) lost popularity in the past six months...extremely fast. Of course, demographically, after we began the Allure imprint, our customer base expanded to include the gay community, yet heterosexual females remain our chief customer base. But regardless of the numbers, we will continue to produce books in all imprints, while focusing extra attention to different areas, depending on what the majority of our customers request as well as what our authors want to submit to me.

What types of books do you publish other than what is in the introductory paragraph about the company? Are you planning to expand further into other types of stories? For example, some of your competitors have recently launched Young Adult lines. Are you planning to venture into this area in the short term? Another theme that seems to be in vogue is Inspirational books - is this something you're looking at for the future?

From our experience, neither of the genres you mentioned are in demand. Indeed, we've had Young Adult fiction in our catalogue since the beginning, but the e-book market simply never warranted us to expand that genre, and it still doesn't. There's very little customer demand. Additionally, the way we run AQP is generally very "foreign" to the way other companies run their businesses. We typically do not dictate to our authors what genres we want them to write, but allow them complete freedom in writing "from the heart" and sending us whatever new material they wish, and we happily publish it, regardless of the genre. In other words, if any of our authors sent me a Young Adult or Inspirational story, I would have no qualms about finding a place for it within our release schedule. And since I don't own a crystal ball (as I'm sure most publishers do not), future planning regarding what genres will be hot is always a huge gamble. I prefer allowing our authors to write within the genres in which they are most comfortable since I'm certain to receive some terrific material...whether it will sell or not is secondary.

All of your novel length e-books are offered in print, which is a departure from a number of your competitors who provide very few of their books in print. With the current state of the economy and the flat numbers in publishing generally, will you continue this practice given that the profit margins in print books are less than e-books (at least that's what I'm told)?

We will definitely continue, no question about it! From day one, we've put all of our novel-length titles into paperback and released them simultaneously along with their e-book counterparts (albeit with a 1-2 week delay based on the schedule of our printer). I don't foresee this ever changing. We have never believed in what I call the "quota nonsense," where an author must prove his/her sales potential and sell so many copies of an e-book before a print version is considered. Frankly, in our experience, the "success" of one format has absolutely nothing to do with the sales potential of the other format. Indeed, some of our titles that have sold almost zero in electronic format have gone on to sell hundreds and hundreds of paperbacks (if we had waited for those authors to meet an "e-book sales quota," we would still be waiting and have lost out on all those paperback sales). And on the flip side of the coin, some of our most popular e-books have gone on to sell very few copies in paperback. Again, just because a book may sell a certain number of units in electronic format doesn't accurately reflect how many copies the same book will sell in paperback. So no, we have absolutely no plans of cutting back on paperback production.

In fact, at AQP, not only do we release all of our novel-length titles in paperback, but we also encourage our authors--when it comes to their short stories or novellas--to plan ahead for paperback collections. Once an author has enough stories where the combined word count is high enough, they are free to send me a request for a paperback collection, and I'll happily work it into the release schedule. These days, we release approximately 4-6 new paperback collections each month in addition to the usual novel-length paperbacks.

Are there any plans in future to open up your established base of writers and offer general submission calls or are you of the view that "if it ain't broke don't fix it"? :)

As you know, we've never been open to outside submissions, and truthfully, I can't see that ever changing. Again, we run the company almost completely "foreign" to what is considered the "norm" in the publishing industry, and the "invitation only" method has worked well for us. We’ve recently contracted some additional “invited authors” into the fold, and I’ve also been in contact with many more that will likely come on board in the near future. With this “invitation” manner, I can concentrate on working with the authors in our roster instead of spending the majority of my time reading and evaluating outside submissions.

Recently you increased your output of Amber Allure books from 1/week to 2/week - double your previous production, in addition to your AmberPax collections, which are offered at various times during the year. I realize that it may be a little too soon to tell but are there any preliminary numbers to indicate how the readers are responding to these increased numbers of AA books?

From all indications, the Allure customers seem to appreciate it, and regarding sales, I have happily reported to our authors (almost every month for the past year) that each new month has shown considerable growth for the company compared to the previous year. And since we've had the occasional 3/week releases, I will hopefully be able to do that in the future more often. From what many of our authors have told me, they have tons of manuscripts in progress and many additional story ideas in the planning stages, so it's just a matter of seeing what stories they submit and when, then I can schedule them accordingly.

As I mentioned, recently we've contracted even more "new" (meaning, new to us) authors, and many of them seem quite prolific as well, so I can easily envision an increase in the Allure output in the near future...fingers crossed, of course! And there are also a few new AmberPax Collections being planned, so some weeks in the future will see 5 new releases. I'm sure you'll be pleased with that news :)

One of the concerns that readers have complained pretty consistently about is the lack of quality control in e-books. From personal experience I would rate your books much higher than average in this area, however there is always room for improvement. What, if any, measures is your company taking to improve performance even more in this area?

I've seen it happen way too often in the industry...customers ask for more and more new releases each week, company owners give into the pressure to make more money, and before an eager and well-meaning editorial staff can truly brace itself, it's being forced to rush out manuscript after manuscript after manuscript in a breakneck-speed assembly line just to keep pace and not drown. Or sometimes books are released without any editing whatsoever in order for the company to make even more profit, which I find alarming. It's very easy to fall into that trap, which is one of the reasons many companies fail or have consistently low-quality material on offer and tarnished reputations (although they may not care about the latter, which is another issue).

So as I mentioned earlier, at AQP, we would rather remain small as a company (especially in certain areas) and not expand too quickly, thereby loosing a grip on the editing/production process. Even though we've been in business for many years now, our editing staff remains small. I prefer it this way for a number of reasons. First, since we've had almost the same editorial staff through the years, I've come to trust each member to always do their best work at any given time. Second, since I know our editors well, including their individual paces, as well as the work pace of most AQP authors, I don't intentionally overload the schedule so, except for a very rare occasion, nothing is rushed through the all-important editorial process. And third, when authors maintain the same editors from manuscript to manuscript, they also get to know each other well, their strengths and their weaknesses.

This doesn't happen if an author gets shuffled around from one new editor to another for each manuscript, which can often lead to chaos and conflicting editorial direction, and, in a lot of instances, poor editing quality. So with keeping our editing staff to the trusted few, I know they will be able to forge excellent author/editor teams and build a "comfortable rhythm" in the way they work together. We also have a single Managing Editor for the entire Allure imprint, which means every edited manuscript must pass the muster with her before I receive the final file. In this way, we have a consistent "eye" with every story we release, regardless of author, and if she sees something odd that has slipped through the cracks, she can address the issue with the author/editor team before the book reaches the formatting stage.

And of course, each author is given a chance to inspect the manuscript a final time when they go through their galley. Of course there will always be a few of those nasty little "whoopses" that somehow make it past the author, the editor, the copy editor, and the Managing Editor, etc. From a reader’s standpoint, I know how aggravating book errors are...I have many dents in my walls showing where I've hurled thick books from some very well-known NY authors through the years. So unfortunately, mistakes will happen, but hopefully they will be kept to the absolute minimum in AQP books and not be so thoroughly outrageous as to freak out the reader.

The following question was posed recently in a blog post by Kassa, one of the guest reviewers. In her post she raised a number of concerns about M/M romances including - "Why is it ok to have poor fiction, loose plots, under developed characters and a total lack of cohesive story all within 90-150 pages – as long as it has several hot, explicit sex scenes? It’s almost as if readers have come to accept an appallingly low level of product from e-books and don’t mind. The poor editing is glossed over, the lack of actual plot is ignored, and the actual world building is slid to the side, all as long as there is hot sex and lots of it. Oh, and the obligatory happy ending of course. It’s almost as if authors can put any random writing on a page, add in a few sex scenes and it’s ok. I realize this is a gross generalization but if you look at the good percentage of m/m romance e-fiction, more are fluff pieces with sex than fully developed, well thought out and intricately crafted books of romantic fiction." This comment obviously relates to M/M romances in general and is not directed specifically at your books, but I would like to hear your response to Kassa's question.

My answer to Kassa is this: "It's not okay! DEFINITELY NOT!" I've also seen my share of "fluff pieces" through the years, and I shake my head in amazement, not so much wondering why customers continue to buy from publishers who issue these products, but wondering instead why those publishers continue to produce those products. I'm not entirely sure of the answer to the latter, but in my opinion, it comes down to a single word: greed. Plain and simple. Greed. When customers are offered a poor-quality product, and they not only accept it, but applaud the publisher by continuing to purchase even more inferior product and allow that publisher to flourish (at least for a while), then the only reason the "producers" continue to issue more of it is because they can! Yes, they definitely can, and they get paid to do so! But how can anyone argue with that process, correct? If you put out low-quality work and customers don't seem to mind, then why waste time or money improving it, right? Why indeed.

Which brings me to another word: pride. I often wonder where "pride" figures into the equation, but have finally decided that it just doesn't matter to some people or some companies when they are in it, not for the art of writing, but for the money. Unfortunately, because too many customers have allowed this practice to continue, some companies (and, shamefully, some authors who either don't know better or don't care) have shunned pride. Many authors cherish their craft and want to perfect it, while others just like boasting to their friends and family that they're published and couldn't give a damn about anything else other than the paycheck that is sure to follow. Many companies possess pride, while others have no concept of the word. It's the same in any industry, I suppose. Yet these days, I can thankfully say that the majority of e-publishers do have pride--tremendous pride, in fact--in the product they produce. And most authors I've met through the years are hungry to improve their skills and will do whatever it takes to submit solid material. It's too sad that the e-publishing industry got saddled with a shameful reputation by "fly-by-night" companies that still continue to pop up, thinking they are the best thing to hit the industry, then flood the market with inferior product, while reputable companies are fighting daily to counteract the negativity cast upon the industry as a whole.

At AQP, we're proud of our product, and proud of our authors (or I wouldn't have invited them to join us) and I would much rather see a book submitted with absolutely zero sexual content than to turn it into just another fluff piece. The story always comes first, and I pray all of our authors remember that. Our staff certainly does. If we have ever produced a story that seems to fall into that "fluff piece/sex for the sake of sex and screw the story" category, I can assure you it was a fluke since we certainly do our best in never allowing that to happen. Of course we want our authors to sell, and authors quickly come to realize that stories with the highest "heat level" typically sell better, but if a story doesn't warrant the unnecessary sexual content, why force it? I'd rather have our authors take pride in their work, write stories within their comfort zone, and if the final manuscript ends up with a lower "heat level," so be it.

This is probably a sore point for many publishers but readers have been complaining consistently about DRM (Digital Rights Management). The readers' view is that they want to buy a book and then download the format they choose and if they want to read their books in a different format they should be able to go to their bookshelf and download it. Fictionwise provides this facility and at least a couple of your competitors that I know of does as well. Would you like to comment on your company's policy in this area?

First off, our books do not use DRM. Second, when customers purchase a book from our website, the file they purchased is automatically added to their "bookshelf" feature. Since we offer many formats (PDF, HTML, LIT, RB, PRC/Mobi and even some KML versions), it would be a programming nightmare for all those different files to get uploaded into each bookshelf for every sale, and the customers' bookshelves would quickly become quite lengthy, as you could imagine. But we also know that customers sometimes read on different types of devices, therefore if they really want "Book A" in another format than what they've purchased, our Customer Service department has always been able to accommodate them.


PUBLISHING GENERAL

What would you say are some of the major challenges facing small publishers today, print AND e-publishers, outside of the economy, which has certain built-in downsides?

This is a difficult question, as each company, while facing "industry-wide" challenges, also has unique challenges based upon its individual circumstances. But generally, I think one of the most important things a new company needs to consider (and remember at all times) is that coming out of the gate, they will not get rich overnight. Indeed, they will find it difficult to stay afloat for the first several years. I believe too many companies (who have since folded) learned this lesson the hard way and lost their proverbial shirts when the bills started exceeding their book sales. Just because this is an e-business doesn't mean the company shouldn't allow for hefty operating costs. Whether the overall economy is strong or weak, this rule still applies to every business.

Additionally, a publisher--in its initial enthusiasm to open its doors--may have a tendency to contract any and every manuscript that appears in its mailbox. A big mistake. First impressions always count, and if a company has low-quality releases from the start, they have few opportunities to gain a loyal readership. Also, a new company must hold a tight rein on its publicity and marketing, and not engage in antics that will tarnish its fragile reputation. I've seen it happen way too often that when a new company emerges, it makes a variety of "image mistakes." Some have issued grand pronouncements and outrageous or insulting statements regarding the industry as a whole, which gains them few fans. Some recruit all of their friends and family members to blast the web with (virtually) Spam, usually with considerable misspellings and punctuation errors included. I recall one company that even went so far as to have "ballot-stuffed" to win a poll for "Best Publisher" even before they released a single title or paid out a single royalty.

Another pitfall is to have too many "emotional spokespeople" running rampant across the Internet making (I'm sorry to say) unprofessional remarks and creating a negative stir. Again, this all goes back to the "first impressions" lesson, and many new companies who engage in unprofessional "net-iquette" are shooting themselves in the foot. This is a large world, certainly, but when it comes to the e-publishing community, it's actually a very small world, and people have long memories. Therefore, a company that has healthy investment capital at its disposal, runs its operations with a "cool head," takes its time establishing itself by producing quality products, and issues professional promotional material and press releases, will likely catch on with the readers and achieve success. Keeping all of those things in mind is the major challenge.

Younger adults live online—Twittering, blogging, posting videos on YouTube and downloading from iTunes— and about 80% of them, according to a national US survey last fall) have cellphones. In Asia, young people are not only reading books on their cell phones, they're writing books that way, too. That adds up to a sizable potential market for mobile phone and Web-based e-books. Recently Google announced that it would provide e-content for mobile phones and would release 1.5 million public domain titles with Sony as its partner on this venture, to coincide with the launch of Sony's new e-reader. Amazon indicated it would adapt books already in the Kindle format. Do you see this trend providing a new or expanded market for your books?

Any new device or method of reading is usually a good thing. Certainly the expanding market is a nightmare for the Production Department of any e-publishing company (yet another new file format for them to master and more hours they'll need to provide content to new websites and vendors). Yet, any way in which readers can discover the spectacular e-book world, the better. At AQP, our Production Department Manager is always itching to learn the latest formats, but time is usually the "killer" when it comes to expanding. It's one thing to reformat 10-20 titles in another file type, but it's quite another challenge to face thousands of back titles that will need a transformation. Plus, some file types might not take off, so it's a gamble.

With the number of small publishers going out of business, (both e-publishers and print) or being taken over by larger publishers, how can a writer protect herself when her books can no longer be purchased by the readers and she's out a portion of her income that she might have depended on to pay the mortgage/utilities or buy food?

Sadly, these problems can become a quagmire of legal woes, and in many cases, there's truly nothing a writer can do except hire a lawyer and hope for the best. Fortunately, an author can do some preliminary work prior to getting published that will hopefully make those bad situations few and far between or eliminate them altogether.

First, a writer needs to do heavy research on the companies with whom he/she would like to publish. In this day and age with Google just a click away, and endless websites and blogs devoted to the industry, there's no excuse for an author to not know inside details about any particular e-publisher. Authors must always remember, this is a business and legal documents are at stake. They need to ask questions, and lots of them, instead of just crossing their fingers and signing on the dotted line. Fellow authors are usually very willing to lend advice, and it's certainly acceptable for an author to ask other writers how various e-publishers work or treat their authors. And, like in any medical situation, it is always wise to get multiple opinions.

When companies go out of business amid financial scandal, etc., I typically shake my head in wonder when I see comments such as, "Gee, how could this happen? They swore all those rumors about them were false..." Well, where there's smoke, there's usually fire, so if fellow authors are urging you to avoid Publisher X, then avoid Publisher X. It's as simple as that. And these days, with some publishers (including AQP) no longer considering "re-published" manuscripts, preliminary research is vital since you may not be able to find new homes for those previously published manuscripts should something happen. There are too many potential legal pitfalls involved for companies to take a chance on re-publishing manuscripts--especially when some "iffy" legal documents were signed with "shady" publishers--so a writer needs to play it safe and not just sign away their rights with the first publisher who offers them a contract (unless that publisher has truly proven itself and stood the test of time without scandal).

Writers, unless given the okay by a contract attorney, should also be well advised to be cautious about a brand new company, especially a publisher that has yet to pay out its first scheduled royalties. In these cases, research is tricky, and if the company does not at least offer information on company owners and chief operating officers so that a writer can do research and check references, then it’s usually best to steer clear.

What's the best advice that you can offer a writer on being successful in the business?

First, success means different things to different people. Financial success? In this business, it's extremely rare that an author will make millions of dollars. Only Stephen King can become Stephen King, so put aside those dreams about having thousands upon thousands of screaming and eager fans standing in line at each book signing. And also forget those fantasies of receiving advances in the hundreds of thousands for each new manuscript. The reality is, this will likely not happen, so an author must enter into the business with their eyes wide open. But with that reality in mind, an author can make a comfortable living, or at least have a steady income to help pay the bills, if they work hard and remain persistent. Persistence is key. If an author loves the art of storytelling, they must learn their craft and perfect each manuscript to the best of their ability before submitting their work.

There can and will be numerous rejections along the way, but if an author remains persistent and continues to improve his/her writing skills, they will ultimately find some success. And to any author who is "worth their salt," the meaning of success is being able to write stories from their heart, regardless of the income involved. If an author has the drive to keep pushing forward, if they possess the burning need to keep writing no matter how many setbacks they face in the business end of publishing, then they will be successful. If an author is in the business only for the money, however, then my advice is "do not quit your day job."

What is the absolutely worse thing that a writer can do to screw up his or her chances of being published?

Several things are crucial to remember. First, never submit any manuscript that hasn't been perfected to the best of your ability. Certainly, one or two misspellings or punctuation or grammar errors happen to everyone, but manuscripts in which each paragraph has numerous problems will quickly find the rejection pile. Learn how to spell and correctly punctuate, learn proper grammar, write with a strong "active" voice as opposed to the weak "passive" voice, etc. Personally, if I see any spelling/punctuation errors, bad grammar, or a high level of passive sentence structure in the opening paragraphs of any manuscript, I will stop reading immediately and move on, regardless of how "wonderful" the actual story itself may be. When we ran a yearly contest at AQP for our Heat and Allure imprints, I rejected at least 90% of all submissions based on the opening paragraphs. I don't have the time or the patience to read a work that hasn't been spell-checked, for example, and neither will most publishers or agents. Now, some publishers will ignore these errors and perhaps even offer a contract, paying no heed to the task an editor will ultimately face, but if they do, then do you really want your work published at that house? A publisher is not in the business to teach an author how to write. So once again, an author must learn their craft and scan each manuscript multiple times to catch errors before sending their work to a reputable publisher or agent.

Second, authors expect to be treated with respect by publishers, so by the same token, publishers also expect the same treatment. If an author continually argues with their editors or the staff at any publishing house, they will likely not be welcome to remain there for long. When an author comes into a new publishing house, they should take a deep breath and learn how the company operates before making demands, and they should not "assume" one publisher works the same way as any other publisher and start telling the publisher how to run their business. A "bad attitude" or a "prima donna complex" will not be tolerated for long. Authors must remember again that the industry is relatively small, meaning that many people cross paths. Authors discuss publishers with other authors, so they need to also remember that people in the business end of the industry (company owners, editors, artists, etc.) also talk amongst themselves from time to time, and they share information. Some individuals can freelance for multiple publishers, so word about "difficult authors" gets around, and fast.

Finally, authors also need to remember that everything they say and do (especially on the Internet) can come back to haunt them. As I stated earlier, Internet etiquette is extremely important for not just companies, but authors as well. If an author comes off "poorly" on their website or on industry blogs or message forums, publishers will eventually become aware of it. This also applies not only to attitude, but also to spelling and grammar. Very important. If an author posts numerous comments on various writing sites and they don't pay attention to their "craft," this is often taken as a sign to potential publishers that the individual isn't professional and doesn't take the art of writing seriously. Due to the nature of AQP's business model, much of my own time is spent surfing the web and researching potential authors to invite. If I run across a website that contains spelling and punctuation errors, if the excerpts I read are riddled with problems, I run for the hills. Therefore, to an author, how they present themselves is vital. Again, it goes back to that "first impressions" maxim.

One of the areas that writers are having difficulty is in marketing their books. Since this is not a skill many authors possess, what assistance does your company offer to your authors in this area? Do you consider it to be totally their responsibility to market their books to their target markets?

Even NY authors are faced with this situation. If NY companies, releasing only a dozen or so titles per year, can't do 100% of the marketing for each book and must rely on authors to do much of it, then it's also impossible for an e-publisher, releasing hundreds of titles per year, to do it all. Today's author must be prepared to promote his/her own work, and if they don't, their sales could suffer. At AQP, we do as much as we can to help...we arrange for dozens of book review sites to regularly receive new material, our marketing department coordinates magazine ads for various publications and websites, or arranges customer contests and sets up regular "author chats" on industry sites and blogs, etc.

We also maintain a presence on MySpace, Twitter, and other networking sites. We have a company blog and a weekly newsletter, and our marketing people visit countless reader groups each week to promote new releases. But since most companies like AQP release and promote numerous titles every week, it's more prudent to promote the company as a whole instead of campaigning for a single title. A company needs to spend its time and advertising dollars wisely, promoting as many titles as possible in one fell swoop, which doesn't allow for "individual attention" when it comes to any single title. There is only so much any one company or marketing department can do, so the rest falls upon the author's shoulders.

One thing an author can do is to take a seminar on marketing, and there are many of them, both on and off the 'Net. But with new methods of communication and marketing possibilities opening up right and left, it's impossible to keep up and learn everything, and it's more than a full-time job for any author. It's also, unfortunately, a necessary evil, and an author needs to face it no matter if they sign with an e-publisher or a NY house.

E-published authors, however, have one major advantage over NY authors...e-books have a longer shelf life. NY authors face the daunting task of selling a high number of units within weeks of a book's release or their title will likely get yanked from the store shelves. E-authors have no such worry, since their books are available much longer and they, therefore, do not have to rush to sell enough copies or face shelf removal. They have a longer period in which to market their titles, and as such, have a more leisurely time to build a following. They don't have to do everything at once, which is why marketing seems so overwhelming. At the bare minimum, every author should have a website that offers periodic updates, which then allows an author to gain a "Google" presence. From that point, any additional marketing is up to them, and they can take one thing at a time instead of attempting to do it all at once.

Series books. A few weeks ago there was a mini poll on series books on the blog and while 50% of readers love them, 30% feel that authors don't know when to pull the plug on a series, and they leave them beyond their "best by" date; also 14% want to know in advance if a book is going to be part of a series before their initial outlay of cash. In your role as Editorial and Creative Director of AQP do you advise your authors to pull the plug on a series if you feel it's gone beyond its expected life? Is there a specific number of books that your company feels is the optimum number for a series or do you pretty well play it by ear and sales?

No, we don't specify an optimum number, but generally I trust our authors to understand their characters better than I do. I think most writers sense when it's time to quit, whether or not their characters still have a story to tell, yet I do comprehend that some authors may also feel pressure from readers to continue a series. What they need to do is seriously ponder whether it's many fans asking for another story, or only one or two very avid and very vocal (ie. persuasive) fans. This can confuse an author.

I recently spoke with a writer, a lady who is ultra savvy regarding the industry. She admitted that she was thinking of returning to a series in a genre that has very little current sales potential, and the reason was because several fans at a recent convention encouraged her to write another book in that series. I made it clear to her that if she decided to work on the project, she should do so, but only if she wanted to do it, if she truly felt her characters had more to tell, and not out of some deep-seated need to please the readers who mentioned it. She knows she'll have a tough road ahead with the book regarding sales, but ultimately the decision will be her own, and if she decides to push forward, I'll happily support her. Again, if an author has it in his/her heart to write a specific story, regardless of its sales potential, then they should do it. But if an author listens to his/her characters, they should be able to determine whether another story is actually warranted.

Thank you very much, Trace, for your time. I know how busy you are so I went easy on you in terms of the questions .:)

In closing I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Trace Edward Zaber who took considerable time out of his work schedule to answer these questions. When publishers respond to the readers it creates a wonderful stream of two-way communication which fosters better relationships and ensures that readers' concerns are heard. Thanks, Trace -- you have been most gracious and I hope you felt that the time spent was worth it.

It definitely was worth it, and thanks for having me on your blog.

Trace's Contact Information

tezaber@amberquill.com