On Draft2Digital and Going Wide
In Today's Journal
* Quote of the Day
* The Point of Yesterday's Post
* Dean Wesley Smith
* On Draft2Digital and Going Wide
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
"WITD is not a method. It is a letting go of the methods. 'Pantsing' is writing sloppily; writing an exploratory draft; not writing a good novel or short story from the beginning to the end. In WITD you don't let yourself write crappy things. You write the story as it happens." Balázs Jámbor
The Point of Yesterday's Post
In a perfect world, all viewpoints should be welcome, and at TNDJ, all view points are welcome.
But I won't actively promote the myths here, and I won't allow anyone else to promote them here. There are plenty of other online venues (literally, almost any other online venue) where you can spout that stuff.
If you believe outlining, revising, seeking 'critical input,' and revising ad nauseam is the "right" way to write, that's fine with me. How you choose to write doesn't affect me or my process in the slightest, so what do I care?
At worst, I'll testify regarding the freedom afforded by WITD, then smile and see you on your way, hoping the sense of it will catch up with you in your own good time, as I've seen it do several times over the years.
Now, about plodders...
I mean the term derogatorily. However, unlike "pantsers," at least the term is actually descriptive of the way plodders construct fiction block by precious block. (I can't bring myself to say they "create" fiction since the create-ive subconscious plays no role.)
Plodders are writers who take months or years to turn out a novel and often weeks or months to turn out even a short story. NOT because they have a day job and don't have time available, but because in their fear they prefer to outline, revise, seek 'critical input,' and rewrite ad nauseam.
How do I know they're fearful? Because when they even think about trying WITD for themselves—even knowing they can always go back to plodding—sweat beads break out on their forehead.
I'm reminded of the writer who, never having seen Heinlein's Rules, refused to even read them because "They can't possibly apply to me. I don't write science fiction." You can't help someone who is entrenched in their own lack of knowledge and is unwilling to help themselves.
And again, I don't care. I can't do anything for them.
But the fact remains, almost every plodder out there uses the term "pantser" to describe those of us who write into the dark. And I am aware that some of them are not being intentionally derogatory.
But many of them are being derogatory. And intentionally, smugly, and haughtily belittling. I won't name names, but few of them post regularly over at the Kill Zone blog. They are the first to say "whatever works for you is fine," but go there, offer a dissenting opinion, and see what happens. At best, they'll explain that "Oh, I can't WITD because I want to turn out quality work."
So by actually practicing less and spending more time on outlining, revising, seeking critical input, and rewriting than on writing they're somehow advancing their craft? Um, no.
Dean Wesley Smith
is not a plodder. He is a fearless and excellent fiction writer. If you read only the opening of his very first novel—written into the dark and published through a traditional publisher back in the '80s—you'll be hooked.
And now Dean's writing a new nonfiction book in serials IN HIS BLOG. I strongly recommend reading that series of posts: Advanced Magic Bakery: Copyright, Trademark, and Branding in the Modern World.
When he's finished posting the series, he will publish the book and (I understand) will also make a new Advanced Class available on Teachable.
I've linked to the first two installments in Of Interest below.
On Draft2Digital and Going Wide
I've talked a lot on TNDJ about publishing to D2D (an aggregator) as well as Amazon. In publishing, this is commonly referred to as "going wide."
Certainly going exclusive with Amazon in 3-month chunks offers some marketing benefits, and if that's what you want to do, good for you.
I personally have never seen the sense of denying my fiction and nonfiction to readers who do not buy from Amazon.
Also, please note that you can publish your work to many of the 'umbrella stores' in the first list below individually. For convenience, I personally upload to D2D and let them handle my distribution to everyone except Amazon.
So I thought I'd list D2D's partners, places that you can opt into to sell your publications when you publish through D2D. You can also opt-in to have D2D distribute to Amazon, but I choose to publish to Amazon separately.
Many of the following are 'umbrella' stores, meaning they also have subsidiary stores:
Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, Tolino, Vivlio, Smashwords, Gardners, and Fable
D2D also offers distribution to subscription services.
Subscription services allow members to pay a monthly or annual fee and read ebooks included in the service for no additional fee.
Publishers are paid based on how much their books get read. The following are subscription services:
Everand, and Kobo Plus (You must distribute to Kobo to distribute to Kobo Plus. Territorial Rights you set may affect distribution. Below are the 'territories,' grouped in threes only so the list won't stretch so far down the page.)
As a subscription service, Kobo Plus royalties vary by subscriber volume. Kobo Plus allows subscribers from
Australia, Belgium, Canada, and France
Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Portugal
United Kingdom, United States, Denmark, and Finland
Norway, Sweden, Ireland, and Hong Kong Taiwan, South Africa, Switzerland, and Spain
India, Malaysia, Singapore, and Argentina
Mexico, Columbia, Peru, and Chile
Finally, D2D also offers distribution to library services.
Library services provide a catalog of available ebooks to library staff. Each library chooses which of those books to make available to their patrons:
OverDrive, Odilo, cloudLibrary, Baker & Taylor, Hoopla (beta testing), BorrowBox, and Palace Marketplace
I hope this helps.
I prepare a short promo doc for each major publication (novel or collection), then copy/paste from that when I upload files to D2D or Amazon or my personal discount store on Payhip. I also use it when I create a new book page over on StoneThread Publishing.
If you'd like to see one of my promo docs as an example, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. I'm happy to share.
Setting up a D2D account is free, easy, and quick.
I find the D2D interface (for ebooks) is more intuitive than the Amazon KDP interface, and D2D is almost constantly adding new umbrella stores, subscription services, and library services.
They also have a POD paper publisher. I don't know how it compares to Amazon KDP's POD publisher, but I'm betting it's probably more intuitive too.
Note: With your D2D account, you also get (free) The Indie Advantage newsletter with "tools & tips to maximize your publishing potential."
So it's worth setting up an account even if you don't publish with D2D, though I can't imagine why anybody wouldn't.
Of Interest
Advanced Magic Bakery… Introduction
Advanced Magic Bakery… Chapter One
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 1200
Writing of Blackwell Ops 44: Sam Granger | Following the Ghost Trail
Day 1…… 3613 words. To date…… 3613
Day 2…… 2893 words. To date…… 6506
Day 3…… 1824 words. To date…… 8330
Day 4…… 3025 words. To date…… 11355
Day 5…… 3697 words. To date…… 15052
Day 6…… 3428 words. To date…… 18480
Fiction for May………………………... 45484
Fiction for 2025………………………. 423897
Nonfiction for May………………........ 11910
Nonfiction for 2025…………………… 113000
2025 consumable words…………….. 530387
Average Fiction WPD (May)……...... 3499
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 10
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 26
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………..... 114
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 296
Short story collections……………………. 29
Whatever you believe, unreasoning fear and the myths that outlining, revising, and rewriting will make your work better are lies. They will always slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.
Writing fiction should never be something that stresses you out. It should be fun. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Because of WITD and because I endeavor to follow those Rules I am a prolific professional fiction writer. You can be too.
If you are able, please support TNDJ with a paid subscription. Thank you!
If you’re new to TNDJ, you might want to check out these links:
Oh, and here’s My Bio. It’s always a good idea to vet the expertise of people who are giving you advice.
Questions are always welcome at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. But please limit yourself to the topics of writing and publishing.
Glad to see you linked to Dean's Magic Bakery Posts :)
And thanks for the info about D2D. I need to sign up so I can start actually publishing my stuff. I'm following some of Heinlein's rules quite well (writing and finishing and not rewriting) but not doing so great about putting it on the market...
D2D's POD is Ingram Spark, and with it going to Ingram Spark, bookshop.org picks up your books as well. Several other indie bookstores draw from Ingram Spark's warehouse.