Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?: How to Beat Amazon

By: Hanna Kjeldbjerg

(Beaver's Pond Press Staff)

In today’s economic recession, what was once a fairytale forest filled with fluffy birds a‘warbling press releases, woodland critters reading children’s books, and random bursts of celebratory music numbers, has suddenly turned ominous. For many, the world of publishing that once seemed enchanted has grown menacing, and Amazon—the big, bad wolf if there ever was one—is lurking in the shadows to swallow us whole. Since 2002, the United States has lost roughly 500 independent bookstores — nearly one out of five. About 650 bookstores vanished when Borders went out of business last year (“The Bookstores Last Stand”, The New York Times).

           

So now the question is, Little Red Riding Hood— fight or flight?

**Option 1: Carry on as if nothing is happening.

You’ve still got your picnic basket full of scrumptious books, and Grandma’s still a ravenous reader. Sure, skipping through the forest isn’t necessarily the most efficient way to reach your readership anymore, but why fix it if it’s not broken?

Outcome: You get eaten. Maybe not now, maybe not for years, but you will.

**Option 2: Pull a Larry Kirshbaum, shimmy into a wolf costume, and join the dark side.

Okay, so maybe Amazon gains its success by gobbling up mom & pop stores, fledgling businesses barely out of the nest, and the bookstores brave enough to venture out into the woods as independents, but underneath it all, they’re just a little wolf puppy trying to frolic in piles of money. Piles and piles of money. That can’t be so bad, right?

Outcome: The big, bad wolf always gets his comeuppance. If you missed that lesson in Fairytale University, it’s true. Keep an eye out for the woodsman. People might like to watch Bad Girls Club, but they don’t root for them. As Amazon gets gluttonous, the calories of all the small businesses they scarf up will hit ‘em in the hips one day—and it won’t be pretty. 

**Option 3: Appeal to the woodsman.

When the woods become lawless, sometimes you need an enforcer with an axe. Amazon doesn’t even have to collect sales tax until 2014, and that’s just in Indiana—what’s up with that!? Push for change.

Outcome: The satisfaction of victory is yours! Hey, you might still get eaten, but at least you can hit Amazon where it hurts—the fat folds of their wallet.

**Option 4: Lock up your picnic basket like Barnes & Noble (who now refuses to sell books by Amazon Publishing in their store), and enjoy your revenge.

TAKE THAT, wolf! If you’re going to make us shake in our riding hood, you’ll have to deal with the repercussions of not having any of our delectable treats—so there.

Outcome: Now the wolf is big, bad, and hungry. Good thing he can still eat you.

**Option 5: Build one super-cape, and join together with your fellow publishers. Unite under a giant red hood.

HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan, Penguin Group Inc., Simon & Schuster Inc embraced an “agency model” agreement with Apple, and joined together and decided not to sell books to any other online venue (like Amazon) at prices lower than those offered to Apple. They then proceeded to take off into the woods, holding hands and hysterically laughing, thinking they finally had the old wolf beat.

Outcome: A big, bad lawsuit for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act—ouch. You’ll have to be sneakier than that, or hire a good lawyer.

**Option 6: Get creative.

Alright, so the big, bad wolf was the first to the party, and has taken over the forest—for now. So trade in your hood for boxing gloves, Little Red, because training begins today. Hop up on that treadmill so you can sprint faster and run longer, knowing that wolves aren’t made for marathons. Trade in your picnic basket for an ice cream truck and speed through the woods playing “Pop Goes the Weasel” so readers pool their change and come running. Indie authors, take a shortcut to get to Grandma’s house and bypass the wolf altogether—who says we need a middle-man like Amazon to sell books? Let the pressure from Amazon help you crystallize; push yourself to become more innovative, more creative, more dynamic.

Outcome: Fairies return to the forest, woodland creatures start singing in harmony, and Grandma restocks her bookshelves. All is well.

What do you think Little Red Riding Hood should do?  

Confessions of a Book-Sniffer

By Hanna Kjeldbjerg

(Beaver's Pond Press Staff)

Hello, my name is Hanna, and I am a book-sniffer. It has always been this way—while other kids ate paste, I was inhaling binding glue. While other children clung to stuffed animals, my parents say I demanded to sleep alongside books in my crib. I’ve been popping book spines for as long as I can remember, cracking open new and old books alike.

Maybe I just got my nose stuck in a book one too many times, but the fact is, I’m incurable, maybe even contagious.

And eBooks can’t satisfy my fix.

I’m the first to admit I’m an eReader Neo-Luddite, and I dread the day when a generation will grow up without experiencing the smell of wood pulp and ink wafting from fanned pages, without knowledge of the sensory dimensions of the reading experience.

Did you know that bibliophiles can now use the distinct smell of old books to determine how to approach preserving a text? Matija Strlic, a chemist at University College London, uncovered this unusual tool in material degradomics by identifying the unique volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released into the air from the paper as it degrades. These compounds can reveal the book’s level of acidity, lignin, and rosin, and create the “musty” smell we associate with old books. There is something romantic about using a sensory element to determine a book’s age, like thumbing the rings on a tree.

The smell of books is something that solidifies their presence as things, something that roots even the wildest fiction to our physical world. The thing is, although I have reluctantly abandoned my label of Kindles as “evil”, and I’m sure I would happily read electronic books if I received a Nook as a gift, I will miss the small things like the smell of a physical book. The weight in my hand, transferring width from right hand to left as I progress, the ruffle of the pages as I flip them—they are reasons my home will always house bookshelves.

Because as valiant an effort as Smell of Books made by producing aerosol cans with designer aromas such as “Classic Musty Smell”, “New Book Smell”, and “Crunchy Bacon Scent” (okay, it may or may not be a hoax…) eReaders will never be enough.

I am a book-sniffer, and I don’t plan to kick the habit anytime soon.

What do you enjoy most about the sensory experience of physical books?

Why You Should Become a Mentor

By: Hanna Kjeldbjerg
(Beaver's Pond Press Staff)

Mentoring authors has been the guiding principle of Beaver’s Pond Press since its beginning in 1998. Since our start, we have challenged over five hundred authors to believe in their capability, vision, and potential in a friendly, nurturing environment. The Oxford English Dictionary describes a mentor as “an experienced and trusted counselor or friend", and we believe this is what sets us apart. Many of us are fortunate to recall individuals who were very important in our life to date and influenced us to do something better or different. At Beaver's Pond Press, we make it a priority to put friendship back into the author-publisher dynamic, forgoing the authority of a boss for the personal investment of a friend.

We want our authors to become bestsellers, not because we profit from their sales like royalty presses, but because we gain personal satisfaction from knowing we helped amplify their voice. When we see an author that shines especially hard, we want to help them achieve greatness because—as passionate readers and writers ourselves—we know how it feels to have a story to tell, and are committed to releasing the brightest lights from bound notebooks and tightly sealed word documents. With each author's success we gain valuable experience as publishers, and it is through this process of symbiotic growth that authors come to feel like family. By placing our focus on people instead of the bottom line, we hope to make the publishing process enjoyable and help our authors achieve the greatness we know is within reach.

 So, our challenge to you in this New Year is to become a mentor yourself. Reach out to a budding author, a friend with dreams of being published, or a student interested in writing. Find someone who reminds you of yourself before you became a published author, and plant seeds of hope in them by supporting their dreams. You might not be able to offer them much besides your experience and encouragement, but in an intimidating field such as publishing where everything seems insurmountable, support can make all the difference.

 In today’s literary climate where personalized author platforms are more important than ever, authors are encouraged to become active on social media sites, reaching out to hundreds of strangers in the hopes of developing a fan base. Investing in one individual can prove to be just as effective as utilizing social media sites, and infinitely more rewarding. If you truly care and work to empower a hopeful writer, you will most likely uncover a fan—and friend— for life, who will promote your work with honesty based on genuine affection. And who knows? If one day, they produce the next bestseller, it might feel just as fulfilling as if you had written it yourself—friendship is funny like that.

 Oftentimes, the best successes are those you help others find. There is an unparalleled joy in giving, and each of us has the potential to change a life. It’s a symbiotic relationship, as well—you can inspire and simultaneously be inspired, infuse your writing with a fresh perspective while helping your mentee gain direction. Reach out—you won’t regret it.

This Black Friday, Don't Just Sell Your Book-- Give Goodwill

By: Hanna Kjeldbjerg

(Beaver's Pond Press Staff) 

Although there is a general consensus on the no-Christmas-until-after-Thanksgiving rule, eager stores have already begun setting up holiday displays, and even I have to catch myself from prematurely humming Christmas tunes. However, Black Friday is right around the corner ready to heave us into the holiday craze with a hearty wallop of consumerism. There is nothing like a hefty discount to induce holiday shopping, and no better time to market your book.

Browse the paper for local stores or self-owned businesses advertising Black Friday sales, and contact them requesting the opportunity to set up a table in their store. You don’t have to slash your prices to draw customers because they will already be lining up for the store’s sales. Be the face of humanity in the midst of consumerist chaos; offer a moment of peace and amiable interaction for the shoppers who have been waiting in lines since 3:00 AM and rushing from bargain to bargain. Anyone who has experienced the madness of Black Friday knows that a smile from a stranger can mean a lot when you’ve been manhandled and elbowed on the quest for deals all morning.

Be the anti-Grinch. Make sure you’re stocked up on bookmarks (or even take the time to make your own by hand) and sign the back with an inspirational message. Pass your good wishes onto strangers as gifts without pushing your book on them too hard. If you can offer a moment of pure goodwill on a day that is drenched in self-interest and sales, they will remember you and find you later on your website. Let potential customers approach you instead of appealing to them as they rush out the door. Have a sign-up sheet out, and encourage people to write down their email address for more information. At the end of the day, send an email congratulating them on making it through the day, and provide a link to your website.

Design a humorous sign that pokes fun at the stress of Black Friday: “Tired of getting jostled? Slow down for an autographed copy of ____”; “Even a Black Friday warrior deserves a break. Slow down for an autographed copy of ____ with complementary encouragement.” Consider offering coffee or tea or putting out a basket of Hershey’s kisses. Make sure you offer some to the cashiers and store clerks—they deserve it more than anyone!

            

Do you have any ideas for how to market your book this holiday season? 

Literature's New Frontier

By: Hanna Kjeldbjerg

(Beaver's Pond Press Staff) 

Technology in the publishing world has hit like a monsoon, and we are caught in its winds, suddenly suspended thirty feet in the air and left wondering how to maneuver. In the past, we were bound to a single plane, location asphyxiating opportunity, audience limited to physical reach. Now we can leave behind our dimensional existence, distill ourselves into jpegs and html and multi-media, transient non-objects that endure both in spite of and owing to their capacity for nimble adaptation. The question is, as authors and publishers, can we keep up?

Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral’s Chopsticks is one of the best examples of the innovative spirit showing itself in today’s cutting-edge book sphere. In this book, Glory, a piano prodigy, has disappeared, and Chopsticks details the events leading up to her disappearance to let the reader uncover why. Glory had thrown herself into her music ever since the death of her mother, due in part to the firm insistence of her overbearing father. When the artistic Frank moved next door, an unexpected relationship blooms between the two teenagers, dropping the bottom out of Glory’s fine-tuned world. The closer they become, and the more Glory’s father tries to stand in the way, Glory finds herself unable to play anything but the song Chopsticks, the F and G notes moving closer together, then farther apart, representing her relationship with Frank.

                 But the gold is not embedded in the story, but in the way it is communicated.

This 8’ x 9.5’ book relies almost completely on images weighted with meaning to conduct the narrative, alternating between poignant photographs, newspaper clippings, instant messages, letters, frozen shots of television screens, and objects displayed on the page. Taking advantage of the two-page spread, images splay across the wide expanse, the pages opening to unfasten a specific world that can be held in hands, rested on a lap, and relayed completely in a way that traditional books cannot. Oftentimes a single object, or an artistic photograph accentuating the light and shadows of a scene, generate plot as effectively as an entire block of text could, and in a way that obliges the reader to actively interact. The reader must notice the subtle nuances, the hints hidden in the corners of photographs, and pay attention to the elements that repeat, revealing robust symbols intentionally tucked away in the pages. Chopsticks demands an attentiveness where many traditional texts have become subject to skimming.

            

And then there’s the media. Frank and Glory’s IM conversations include links to Youtube videos the reader must copy into a web browser to fully engage with the narrative. They exchange mixed CDs with playlists for the reader to track down and play as soundtracks to the story. On an e-reader, these links are just a click away, but the experience of stepping back from Glory’s world to type in the web addresses was revitalizing—it showed me how deeply I had become entangled in the narrative.

            

And then there’s the accessibility. Because of the book’s size and use of images to capture charged moments, I was able to share the entire reading experience—cover to cover—with my friend simultaneously reading by my side. I have never before had the opportunity to interact to this extent not only with the book itself, but in dialogue with a companion, each of us pointing out symbols the other might have missed, and speculating on their intention. When we finished, with the playlists played out and the cover closed, we agreed it was a ground-breaking, earth-shattering book—and that I would have to write a blog on the way it demolished convention and shook the foundation that the traditional book format has ruled over for too long.

         

In the words of the smart and sassy ladies of Minneapolis’ Paper Darts literary magazine, “the publishing industry is not dying, it is evolving. And we’re going to evolve with it (natural selection, baby).” While so many have been bemoaning the looming death of print culture, those wise enough to look outside the box can see that it is not collapsing. We have simply reached the threshold of the new frontier. As a culture, we are beginning to expect to a multidimensional experience, which demands interaction beyond imagination.

            

Authors, bloggers, publishers, and readers: Think of yourself as a pioneer. You will need to have a solid plan of action (we don’t want anyone to end up like the Donner party), but you might need to climb some mountains before finding that sweet spot. As members of the literary community, although we must refuse to let the traditional book wither from existence, we can no longer be satisfied with a single format when a new dawn is breaking on the horizon. Embrace the evolution of the mediums we use, and break through to the other side. Think beyond the book.

Hiding Inside Covers: How to Set Your Writing Free

By Hanna Kjeldbjerg (Beaver's Pond Press Staff)

Although the skill of silent reading has become a cultural expectation, it was not always so. Paul Saenger, author of Space Between Words: The Origins of Silent Reading, cites the seventh century AD as a turning point; before then, texts were composed in continuous script, and the lack of word separation forced ancient readers to read slowly and out loud in order to comprehend meaning.

            Ancient reading was public, and largely performative, while today reading is considered a personal experience. Interruptions are usually not appreciated by those engrossed in a text because reading has become a private interaction. Outside of children’s books, reading out loud has fallen to the wayside, despite the serious benefits it can provide. The lightning-fast pace of today’s world extends to reading, and while we can read more rapidly in silence than out loud, this practice oftentimes leads to skimming a text compared to absorbing it fully.

            Writing has experienced a similar privatization. We enclose our words between covers, concealed within journals and kept safe from the judgment of outside observers until they are polished raw. We write in haste, scribbling ideas down knowing that the opportunity to edit prolongs the expectation of perfection. But what potential do we waste hiding inside covers, skimming over some of our most poignant thoughts and well-crafted sentences because it is a rough-draft?  We do not have to wait for publication to write publicly, and freeing your words from a bound journal is the first step.

            Try arranging prose on a post-it note. Let your words hang suspended on the walls of your home, able to interact with everyone and be critiqued by anyone. Hang your sentences up like artwork, and examine how this change of setting makes you feel, how it makes the words dance. Does it affect the way you write, the tempo of creation? Do you find yourself striving for personal achievement, sentences you can be proud of, to gain the approval of an audience? Words left out in the open feel permanent and intentional—somehow offering more than they do in a journal— and are constantly poised for the flight to inquiring eyes.

            Experiment with boldness and explore exhibitionist tendencies. Let the words that pop into your head immediately fly into the public realm, and compare these to the ones you purposefully shape knowing they will be displayed on colorful squares around your home. Use this as a tool to determine your authorial voice: how do your sentences speak as they stare from their perch on the wall? Leave tricky arrangements hanging for a week, and see what alterations you’re dying to make after spending time with them. Moving your writing from desk to wall will allow you to consider the visual aesthetic of your sentences, just like reading out loud reveals problems in syntax, tone, and emphasis. Examine whether your words pack a succinct punch or lose urgency by the conclusion. Insist upon excellence; every sentence should shine like it will stand alone, even if it will be one of many on a page.

            Writing and reading have developed as an internalization of conscience when this is only part of their existence. Just like with reading, “writing out loud” will allow writers to savor their writing in a way that cannot be experienced on a page within a journal. And who knows—maybe once your words have been released, they will soar.

Back-to-School Shopping For Your Book: Should You Re-Release?

By Hanna Kjeldbjerg (Beaver's Pond Press Staff)

It’s that time of year again, when stores shake out the so-last-season clothes and prepare a back-to-school wardrobe fit to lure teenage hands clutching their mother’s credit card. A new school year offers a second chance, the opportunity to reinvent yourself, and along with the tired new-leaf proclamations that truly, this year you won’t skip class, shedding last year’s skin for a new style can have a revitalizing effect. Even though none of your classmates might have noticed that you traded in your Sketchers for boat shoes, the fact is that you do, and consequentially your swag is fresher than ever. When you look your best, you are able to present yourself with the necessary confidence to draw people in. Why not try this approach for that book that’s been sitting on the shelf for the last few years?

First, take a good hard look at your book and check for gray hairs. Does your character listen to audio cassettes, make phone calls from land lines, or have to rewind the VHS before returning it to Blockbuster? Unless your book is intentionally a period piece, it’s time for an update. Although most readers remember the days before Facebook converted everyone into Internet junkies, tweaking certain outdated references to match the world readers live in compared to one of the not-so-distant past allows the reader to more fully interact with the plot. Although refreshing your book to keep it as current as possible can provide a new spark of life, make sure that this is done subtly; there is nothing more annoying than a book that seems to name drop technology, explicitly pointing out that Linda responds with a “ROFL” via text.

Once your book has undergone the necessary facelift, search for someone to write an introduction for the revised edition. Whether it’s a fellow author or a loved one, a well-written endorsement and summary of the book’s merits has the power to entice readers to purchase the book and continue onto the story. The introduction has the ability to launch readers into the book from the vantage point of an established supporter; starting with an enthusiastic reaction will subconsciously guide readers into beginning with a positive outlook instead of a blank slate.

Although browsing through bookstores for the most intriguing cover is steadily becoming a thing of the past, judging a book by its cover is not. The cover of the book Wench by Dolen Perkins- Valdez originally depicts a woman sitting on the grass and reading a book while the new cover utilizes the more abstract design of a bird flying from an opened cage. Updating the cover to have a more ambiguous design alters how a reader perceives the book before reading the first page; an actual figure creates preconceived notions about the book while a more open-ended cover leaves room for the potential reader to anticipate the book in the way that most appeals to them. Especially with the rise of E-books, obtaining a new cover design for your novel can be as simple as hiring a designer and uploading the art. The original book design should remain static for 18-24 months because consistency and familiarity are key in a consumer-driven market. However, after that point re-releasing the book with a new cover can allow you to better target your audience and give your book new life.

As any Madonna fan knows, sometimes you have to get some work done in order to keep your book looking (and feeling) young! What would you change in your book?