Congratulations to VDGriesdoorn, I’ll let Robin know that you won and I’ll get them to send the signed copy of The Crown Conspiracy by Michael J Sullivan out to you as soon as possible.

Thanks to everyone who commented. I’ll be doing a follow up interview with Robin in two weeks time.

Robin Sullivan, the founder of Ridan Publishing, was nice enough to do this interview with me. Ridan is a small press, although considering their success this title doesn’t really do them a lot of justice. Ridan represent Michael J Sullivan (Robin’s husband, who on top of selling thousands of e-books has just signed a six figure deal with Orbit), Nathan Lowell (who does the excellent Golden Age Of The Solar Clipper series), Leslie Ann Moore and Marshall S Thomas among other high selling, top flight genre writers.

Robin has been a programmer, a business leader, the founder of an advertising company and she started Ridan from the ground up.  When I heard her on Mur Lafferty’s podcast I Should Be Writing I knew I wanted to talk to her about publishing and about Ridan’s success.

Ridan’s success isn’t down to just one factor, and from what I’ve seen they’re at the forefront of a new movement in publishing that’s going to become the next big thing.

By the time you read this they might already be there.*

One last thing; Robin has been nice enough to let me give away a signed copy of Michael J Sullivan’s book The Crown Conspiracy. If you’d like to go in the draw to win a copy just leave a comment after the interview.1

Andrew: Can you tell me why you started up Ridan Publishing?

Robin: In many ways it was serendipity.  My husband’s first book, The Crown Conspiracy, had been published through AMI (Aspirations Media Inc, a small publisher in Minnesota), and they had scheduled the second book, Avempartha, for an April 2009 release. When we hadn’t received proof copies in March we became concerned, and AMI confessed they didn’t have enough money to get the books on the press. We had book club appearances and bookstore signings setup in April that we didn’t want to miss, so the only option was to retrieve the rights and put it out ourselves…thus Ridan was born.

To maintain our desired release schedule (one every six-months), we had to continue to put the books out by Ridan. I had learned a lot about publishing and thought that most had been going about it in a way that made no business sense. I developed an unusual model and started looking for quality titles by authors who had self-published books but weren’t selling well. I thought that with my marketing expertise I could change that. I’m glad to see that I was right as I’m passionate about the notion of authors making a living wage off of their writing. Ridan’s June bestseller is Marshall Thomas and he’ll sell close to 20,000 books just this month (across six titles) and Nathan Lowell is right there with him and will do about 10,000 books over his three titles.

I’m glad to hear you’re keen on writers making a living wage, I think every writer in the world is with you on that one!

You say you went looking for self published authors with quality books, yet who weren’t selling well. That certainly isn’t the norm for publishers, small or large. What were you looking for in the authors you signed?

First and foremost is the genre. A lot of why I’m successful is being able to target market. So I concentrate on books in fantasy, science fiction, and horror. I’m about to open a mystery and thriller line as I think that is another area I can market well. Next I look at the reviews on Amazon and GoodReads, both good and bad. In most cases there will be comments about the story being great but perhaps points taken off for editing. That’s easily correctable. Issues about pacing or characters may mean a bit more work but that’s not a deal breaker. Essentially I look at these reviews like a market group giving me valuable feedback into what may need to be addressed at the editing stage.

If I had my choice, I’d prefer authors with more than one book – especially if they are in a series. It’s so much easier to build a following this way and each new release sparks interest in the books that came before it. A bonus is if the author is already doing some marketing, even if they aren’t hitting on all cylinders. This is usually the thing that accounts for the low sales and again I’m confident that I can bring value to them here. If someone is already selling gangbusters my chances of making a significant impact is lessened. In those cases, the author is probably better off staying self-published.

At this point I have a “candidate” and I usually talk to the author and explain my unusual business model, if they are still interested, then I read the book. To do so prior to this stage could be a waste of my time, and I have precious little of that. I’m very picky when it comes to what I’m willing to put the Ridan brand on. In some cases I have to do major developmental editing, other times the books are in really good shape from the get go and will only require minor line editing. Books that need more work have to be really strong, but I’m not afraid to tear them down to the studs and rebuild them from the ground up—assuming of course that the author agrees with my assessment of the required changes.

You mention an unusual business model, of which getting the self-published authors is the first step, what else can you tell me about Ridan’s business model and how it differs from what we’ve come to expect from the mainstream publishers?

I previously mentioned AMI, my husband’s first publisher. They were a small press that was selling books in the traditional model. They printed up a few thousand books, put them in a warehouse, then used a distributor’s sales force to get them into bookstores.  This doesn’t make sense to me because it meant they were essentially acting like venture capitalists. Each book produced requires an outlay of several thousand dollars. This almost guarantees that some books will fail miserably, and a company would need at least one or two breakout books to succeed. If they didn’t get those breakouts they could be in serious trouble.

For Ridan, I use emerging technology, namely ebooks and print on demand. I perform the editing and ebook formatting. My husband does the cover designs and print book layout. This means that our investment in each book is practically nothing from an out-of-pocket standpoint. All we risk is our own sweat equity. With this model, it allows me to write a contract that is unprecedented in the publishing industry. First, I pay authors 70% and keep 30%. (Traditional publishing contracts give 6-8% on paperback, 10% on hard covers, and 25% of net on ebooks). Secondly, I allow my authors the ability to leave anytime they want to. (Traditional publishing contracts are written for the length of the copyright, which runs 70 years after the author’s death.) My feeling is that if an excellent opportunity with a bigger press comes along, or I’m not producing high sales, then the author should have the right to leave Ridan.

When setting up our POD titles, we make our books non-returnable and offer a very small reseller discount (20%). This almost guarantees that our books won’t be on bookstore shelves. (Bookstores typically require discounts of 40%-55% and return between 50%-80% of the books they order, again a business model with huge risk.) With our model, the only sales from a bookstore will be from someone special ordering.  So, if seeing your book at your local Barnes and Nobel is important to you as an author, then Ridan is not for you—and I make this clear before reviewing their books.

It is because of my low investment, low risk business model that turns publishing on its head. With Ridan a title is profitable essentially immediately and all books are profitable. I don’t need one or two breakout novels, each title makes both myself and the author profit.

Wow, that seems almost opposite to where normal publishing contracts are going at the moment. If you can tell me does your business model incorporate an advance for authors or does the high percentage of the profits you pay make up for that?

No, we don’t offer an advance, and this can be a turn-off for some, so again another reason why Ridan may not be “right for a given author.” But think about it. If I offered an advance, I’m right back into the same position that, in my opinion, gets the big publishers in trouble. What I mean is that a large “up front” investment of cash makes it so that some books will fail. The trick in marketing is to maximize ROI (Return on Investment). The best way to have a large ROI is to have a low I (investment). Also, giving an advance would mean I’d have to give up my, “author can walk anytime” stance. To protect my investment I’d have to put in a restriction that they have to stay until after the advance is earned  back. But, let’s say the book isn’t selling…it could be because I’m not doing my job well, which is a legitimate reason for wanting to leave, but now my contract prevents that.

Ridan is about partnership, and partnerships work best when the two parties are on even footings. Giving an advance sets up a hierarchy…the one who pays the piper gets to call the tune and so forth. It’s natural that when you have risk you want to control more. That’s why the current publishing contracts are looking to “lock up” an author for not just the work under contract but limit future activities as well. Lack of freedom is a terrible thing, in my opinion. In my business model, both parties have invested the same thing…time and energy… I like that kind of balance.

You mentioned when we were chatting earlier that you think now is the best time ever to be an author. Some people seem to think that the apocalypse is nigh for writers everywhere. Can you tell why now is a good time to be writing?

In the old, old days (about a year ago ) the only potential for a writer to make a living wage was to get picked up by a big-six publisher and sell above the level of the midlist. This was a very small target to hit and an author’s chances to do so were very slim. Outside the big-six, no one except a few outliers were making any serious money through self-publishing, and those published through a small press would be lucky to make $2,000 or $5,000 over the life of a book.

In October/November of 2010 there was a significant increase in ebook sales. I saw this in my top selling authors. Michael had been selling about 1,000 books a month and jumped to over 10,000 starting in November. Nathan Lowell went from 1,150 books sold in September to 6,200 books in January and he could hit 10,000 in June if his sales continue as they are. What is even more important, however, is that this surge wasn’t isolated to just Ridan authors.

The Writer’s Café on the Kindle board forum has a history of authors sharing their sales data. At that time there were not just one or two writers reporting extraordinary sales but dozens. In fact Oct/Nov was the first time that Konrath, Locke, and Hocking really saw their sales take off. Seeing so many authors reporting more than a thousand (and sometimes 5,000 or even 20,000) books sold made it clear to me that the skyrocketing increases were being seen “across the board.”

In the even older days, (pre-Amazon, and online branches for Borders and Barnes and Noble) big-six publishers held a virtual monopoly on book distribution and there were only a limited number of “slots available.” Now, ecommerce and ebooks has leveled the playing field. I watch the Amazon bestsellers lists and there is a blossoming ebook midlist forming with hundreds of authors who, unlike their traditional published counterparts, are making five and six figure incomes. The number of “wage earning slots” has grown exponentially due to the success of small presses and self published authors agility and ability to make changes in the industry work for them.

But it’s not just those going solo or through small presses that are benefiting. Traditional big-six publishers will be forced to create more “author friendly” contracts in order to retain writers or attract new ones.  When there is no competition, an author has no choice but to sign a bad contract. They have no leverage. Some people don’t think big publishers will ever change, but I’m already seeing a shift. I look at the new Amazon imprint, Thomas and Mercer, who has signed Joe Konrath, Blake Crouch, and Barry Eisler. All of these authors know what a terrible contract looks like and are capable of making enough money on their own such that they don’t “have” to sign.  The mere fact that all of them have put pen to paper tells me the T&M contract is very author friendly.

So bottom line, all three paths: self-publishing, small press, and big-six are now providing viable options for making a living wage. The power is shifting from the publishers to the authors. Barriers of entry have eroded. There are more “slots available” than any time in history. The apocalypse is not nigh it truly is the best time ever to be a writer.

If you were an author starting out today, what would you do? How would you pursue your career?

That’s an easy one… I’d self-publish. But that’s not to say that I think everyone should. It’s simply the right choice for me. There was a time in my life where I was very comfortable with a “day job with a steady income”. My father wanted me to switch to consulting engineering as it made so much more money, but at the time I was the sole breadwinner and the fear of being between jobs with no salary made that totally unappealing. Since that time I’ve run a multi-million dollar software company, started my own advertising firm, and now I run a small press. So I’m a dyed-in-the-wool entrepreneur, and more than just a little bit of a control freak.  I wouldn’t have the patience for the big-six and I would feel I could do better than any other small press.

If I were to make a recommendation to someone it would be to list all the various attributes of publishing: time to market, income, being in a bookstore, control, ability to look at your work objectively, ability to market, ability to learn new things, confidence, work ethic, and on and on. And see where you align with them.  For me my answers would be: faster the better, I want a big cut, don’t care, full, confident, confident, confident, high, strong.  These answers point straight at self-publishing. If the answers were: unimportant, unimportant, Important, unimportant, not really, none, limited, limited, good…then it would point to big-six.  Each author should make their own list and weight their desires and abilities against that list.

So you believe that for most writers who are prepared to do the work (I know that’s a huge assumption) the income will be better from self publishing than from legacy publishing? (I’m leaving indie publishers out of the mix for the moment because I think this is an interesting line to follow).

Yes, without question.  I’m a number cruncher (background in Engineering & Marketing) and no matter how I do the calculations self-publishing always comes out ahead because the author gets so much more of the income and they beat legacy in time to market.  Here’s some data to consider:

• Once finished self-published books can get to market in 3 -  6 months, legacy will take 12 – 18
• Royalties on hard covers 10%, trade paperback 7.5%, mass market paperback 8%
• Typical first time author print runs: Hardcover 2,000, Trade 5,000, Mass Market 25,000
• Royalties on self published ebooks 70% for books priced $2.99 – $9.99, 35% for all others
• Royalties on legacy published ebooks 25% of net (14.9% for author, 52.5% for publisher)
• POD will yield $3.50 for books sold through stores  and $6.00 for direct but very low volume
• Typical self ebook price $0.99, $2.99, or $4.99
• Typical legacy ebook price $6.99, $9.99, or $12.99
• Typical legacy print book prices $6.99 (mass market), $12.95 (trade), $25.00 (hard cover)
• Legacy requires 15% cut to agent (unless through small press)

If I take a conservative ebook sales profile based on a $2.99 price which would be as follows:

• First month’s sales 200 ramping to 1,000 at 6 months
• Maxing at 1,500 at 1 year
• Falling to 500 at end of 2 years
• Falling to 200 at end of 3 years
  • Maintaining 200 after that

Working from the assumption the self-published author takes 6 months to get the book to market and the legacy 18 months we see the following ebook sales:

Assuming the following about ebook pricing:

• Self: $0.99 will sell 5x more books that $2.99 = $57,575 ($4,200 ongoing)
• Self:$2.99 will sell at table rates above = $68,761 ($5,016 ongoing)
• Self: $4.99 will sell at 30% less than $2.99 = $80,375 ($5,863 ongoing)
• Legacy: $6.99 will sell at 40% less than $2.99 = $22,326 – 15% = $18,977 ($1,756.80 ongoing)
• Legacy: $9.99 will sell at 50% less than $2.99 = $26,688 – 15% = $22,684 ($2,100 ongoing)
• Legacy: $12.99 will sell at 60% less than $2.99 = $27,694 – 15% = $23,540 ($2,179 ongoing)
• Legacy Hardcover = $5,000  –  15% = $4,250
• Legacy Trade Paperback = $4856  –  15% = $4,127
  • Mass Market Paperback = $15,980 – 15% = $13,583

So depending on price for ebook and binding select for print you wind up with:

• Self-publishing:  $57,575 – $80,375(no print)
  • Legacy Publishing: $23,227 – $27,790 (hard), $23,104 – $27,667 (trade),  $32,560 – $37,123 (mm)

If you don’t like the assumptions I made you can plug in your own numbers. Keep in mind that I was VERY conservative. Others who have done $0.99/$2.99 tests have seen as much as 30 times more sales and I think 32,000 ebooks in six years is ridiculously low. That number is actually more of what I would expect in 1 year or 6 months for a good seller, but I thought people would balk at higher figures so I low-balled them. Keep in mind that if the ebook sales are greater, the disparity gets worse because the author is essentially making 14.9% instead of 70%. You can also see that the “real money” is in ebook – not print.

Is it too much to ask if you now look at the numbers if the same writer decided to go with Ridan or another small publisher?

For Ridan this is very simple. We price at $4.99 and we normally have a release schedule similar to self-publishing (except at the present time we have a few delayed projects because they were unscheduled and are trapped behind already in process work).  As I mentioned already, we share 70% with author. Because of our increased marketing efforts I anticipate we’ll sell 50%-75% more than an author will sell on their own.

As for other presses, it’s nearly impossible to estimate for them, as they each have their own policies. Some will be aligned with big-press and some aligned with self-published techniques. You need to find out the following for each then you can calculate earning potential:

• Time to market (how long after signing you can expect to be for sale)
• Ebook royalty share (I suspect common numbers will be 25%, 35% or some even 50%. I doubt you’ll find others at 70% but I may be wrong).
• Selling price of ebooks (again some are using “self-publishing pricing” others aligned with big six). You can simply look at other titles they have for sale to determine this.
  • What Amazon ranking are their books at compared to Ridan’s or a big-six – this will help you determine the % increase (or decrease) to attribute to them based on their marketing ability.

One thing I didn’t take into consideration on the previous question, which in fairness I should have,  was cost incurred by author, that’s because Ridan does it all ourselves and so we have $0 outlay. Some will also go the “all on my own” approach, although I suspect most will have to hire out one or more of the following:

• Editing: $350 – $750
• Cover Design: $150 – $400
• Ebook formatting: $150-$200
• Print book formatting: $350-$500
  • ISBN/Proofs/Setup Fees:  $85

So your costs will depend on what services you do yourself and what you outsource. But in general most people can get an ebook for $500 – $1000 without editing assistance. (Print is not necessary. I’d start with ebook first, then bring on print once you have some profits).  Most self-published authors will use the $0.99 or the 2.99 price point; I see very few doing $4.99 so I would suspect the following:

• Self:  $56,575 – $67,761($1,000 in cost accounted for and standard self-publishing pricing)
  • Ridan $4.99 and assuming a 50% increase in sales: $84,394 (all costs incurred by Ridan)

Going with a small press obviously has several advantages because you don’t have to do any of the production and can concentrate on writing. Of course, if the one you pick is not very good at their job, and they lock you in, then it could be a huge mistake. I would say investigate what others they represent are making to help in your decision making.

I would like to thank Robin for taking the time to do this interview with me, we’re going to do a follow up in a few weeks because I had so many questions I wanted to ask her. In the mean time Robin has an excellent blog at www.write2publish.blogspot.com that I can highly recommend.

As I said at the start Robin has been kind enough to let me give away a signed copy of Michael J Sullivan’s Crown Conspiracy to one of my readers. So let me know what questions you’d like me to ask Robin in the next interview in the comments and I’ll pick a commenter at random to get the book.

* You might be reading this only minutes after I posted it. I stand by my comment.

On the other side of the street, wearing nothing but a street sign and a filthy towel, are the other doom sayers, speaking about the difficulty of finding success in the oncoming flood of self published shit that’s bearing down on us like an enormous, misspelled wave.

Occasionally a weasel runs by, promising you grand sccess if you’d just give them five thousand dollars and roving SEO specialists scream at you from atop steam powered buggys.

Far in the distance, Stephen King can be seen making money.

Somewhere in this post apocalyptic vision of the publishing industry is the right decision for your career, and for mine.

I can’t pretend that I know what the right thing to do is, I’m not qualified. However I can tell you what I’m going to do, and why I came to that decision and then let you make up your own mind.

Beware anyone who tells you they have all the answers, especially if they’re only wearing a towel.

Self publishing isn’t going to go away, as time goes by (and e-readers become more popular) self publishing will be an increasing presence, and one that can’t be ignored by someone who wants to make a living as a writer. If the publishing houses or agents can’t see a way to sell your book selling it yourself no longer has the stigma it once did, and if you’re savvy about it there is real money to be made.

Of course if you’re stupid about it be prepared to go broke.

However, self publishing is by no means the only way. Even considering e-readers and e-books, those authors with marketing dollars, a platform and a publishing pedigree behind them will be in the best position to make a living.

Considering this what I’m going to do is this: I’m still going on my third novel, the first two being practice runs, and I still plan to sell that to an agent or a publishing house.

However, I’m also currently working on a short story collection that I will be putting up on Kindle this June the 30^th. The stories are done, I’m just re editing and finding the right professional people to do the art, layout and formatting. This is my way of dipping my toes into the waters of self publishing. I’ll keep you posted as to how this process is going and the things I’ve learned along the way.

But this is my decision as to what I want to do, how do you decide?

I consider the following blogs to be required reading. See what they say, compare their opinions and then make up your own mind. Each and every one of you will be in a different position in regards to you career, and so each of you will take the things said on these sites differently.

Remember: read, absorb then make your own decision.

The Newbie’s Guide To Publishing: This is J A Konrath’s blog and guide to publishing. I don’t always agree with Konrath, or his way of speaking to or about authors…but the man has often been proven right in the things he’s saying and I’d be a fool to ignore him just because I don’t always agree with him. Check out what he has to say, and see if it meshes with your worldview.

Nathan Bransford, Author Nathan Bransford, author of Jacob Wonderbar and The Space Kapow and former agent extraordinaire has one of the best blogs online. Pages and pages of downright prescient advice on publishing, self publishing and writing. Nathan has takent he middle road on the publishing apocalypse, stressing (like I do) that everyone’s mileage will vary no matter what they do.

Terrible Minds: Chuck Wendig is not safe for work. I’d be lying if I said he was safe for home. Chuck Wendig, is not, in fact, safe at all. However for all the pants free rampages and strange beard flavored rants, Chuck is a very smart guy dishing out excellent advice every weekday. Chuck has recently released a self published book of short stories called Irregular Creatures and his novel Double Dead is soon to be published.

Whatever John Scalzi: author, father, president of the SFWA and human/blog hybrid. John talks about self publishing, publishing, books and just about everything else you can think of. John’s blog is the perfect example of how to run a blog and build a platform. I suggest reading through the archives and seeing what you can garner from his approach to his online presence.

What blogs do you consider to be required reading when it comes to publishing? Let me know in the comments and I’ll pick a commenter at random and buy them a copy of Irregular Creatures by Chuck Wendig.   

There are (at least) three reasons to help other writers as much as you can:

1. Karma When you’ve put a book out, you’d appreciate all the support you can get, right? Whether you believe in metaphysical karma or not, there does seem to be a correlation between how helpful someone is online and how much help they eventually get.

It’s not a one to one arrangement. The people you promote are under zero obligation to help you back. But you should still do what you can to pimp other’s work; expecting help when you’re not willing to give it is just plain rude.

2. Good For One, Good For All Fiction is a bit of an odd industry in that authors rarely compete with each other for sales. Of course there is some competition in the economic sense, but it tends to be between retailers rather than authors.

Because of this, if you can promote a book and get someone reading, that can only be good for you too. The more people are reading and enjoying genre fiction the more potential customers there are out there for everyone.

On a more macro level, the more sales there are overall in the industry the healthier publishing will be when you you’re ready to unveil your book to the world. I know, publishing is going through some turmoil at the moment, but it is far from dying and the more we can all do to support the industry and each other, the better.

3. Make Friends, Influence People You should never try and help someone purely for networking purposes. It’s like making friends with someone only for what they can give you.

Not only is it just plain wrong, anyone who’s been in the game for a while will be able to smell the insincerity on you like cheap perfume.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to network; we all do it to some degree, but there is a big difference between actually getting to know people online and just using them for whatever you can get.

One way to do this right is to keep an eye out for people who are already helping you out by linking to your blog or re-tweeting you on Twitter. If someone does something nice for you online, and you can help them in some way, do so. You’re not obligated of course, especially if promoting them will damage you in some way (if you write Middle Grade children’s fiction, promoting erotica on your site is not a good plan).

What other reasons are there to help other writers (other than the nice warm feeling you get in your tummy) that you can think of? Let me know in the comments.

In the interests of practicing what I preach, sometime in the next 24 hours I’ll select a commenter at random and buy them an e-copy of their choice of either Matt Wallace’s story Killing Jars* or Chuck Wendig’s Irregular Creatures**. If you can’t wait and want to buy your own copies, just click on the links.

* They don’t call him Matt “F’ing” Wallace for nothing, if you’re easily offended then this probably isn’t the story for you. Also if you’re claustrophobic you might find this one unsettling.

** Chuck doesn’t have a nickname (at least not one I can print here) but Irregular Creatures does feature violence, sex, swearing and a toothy demonic vagina.

*******UPDATED WITH WINNER********

Congratulations Joel Bancroft-Connors, because today has been an excellent day, I’m going to send you both Irregular Creatures and Killing Jars. Expect an email from me later today.

Thanks to everyone who entered.

The winners are… Sarah, Nasim and Tony Noland! Congratulations and thank you. I’ll email you later today to get your prefereance of e-book.

Thanks again to everyone who commented. If I was fantastically wealthy you’d all be going home with prizes. ***

I can take rejection. No matter how mean, how blunt, how impersonal the rejection, I’m game.  

 I’ve been told I’m weird in rejection letters. I’ve been told I will never amount to a hill of beans by English teachers, writing tutors and complete strangers.

 And it does hurt, believe me it does hurt, but I’ve gotten used to it. I’ve trained myself to Not Care TM because that’s what you’re supposed to do right?

Harden up?

 Right?

 Well yes, you do have to be hard. If you want to be a writer you’re going to have to go through the pain of rejection over, and over and over…but there might be a danger in making yourself to inured to rejection. I have become inured to it, I barely bat an eyelid now when I get a no, but I’ve come up against a new problem…

 I can’t handle praise, at least not graciously.

 I’ve been fortunate of late that some of the stories I’ve been putting out there have been getting really nice comments back. And I have no idea how to take it. What am I supposed to say here?

 Just saying “thanks!” doesn’t seem like enough, but gushing over the praise seems pretentious. This isn’t an advice blog, this is me asking what you do when someone’s being nice to you?

 Let me know in the comments. If I deem your comment the most useful I’ll buy you an e-copy of your choice between Chuck Wendig’s Irregular Creatures, Stacia Kane’s Be A Sex Writing Strumpet or Peevish Penman Press’s The Handbook Of The Writer Secret Society.

In one of my early stories one of the characters was a one legged prostitute named Reverend Moon (it’s still in the short story section of the site if you want to read it). I’ve levered in other strange tics, everything from an obsession with numbers to a predilection for Greek literature.

It’s taken me until my current project to realise I might have been overdoing it a little.

Bizarre quirks can work, but it’s like salt. A little improves a dish, a lot makes you gag. I’ve tired to infuse my current protagonist with some more ordinary quirks. He loves cheeseburgers, especially cold ones from Big Gary’s Chip Shop (named after a burger bar I used to go to long ago). He stashes grab bags around town, because he’s in a dangerous line of work and some times needs to get out of dodge quickly.

The first quirk, cheeseburgers, doesn’t need an in story explanation. Lots of  people like cheeseburgers. That the main character likes them cold is a little odd, but not odd enough to warrant any kind of explanation.

The second quirk, the grab bags full of clothes and the odd fake ID, needs a little more in the way of set up. Without knowing that my main character frequently finds himself in peril, readers could easily come to the conclusion that he’s paranoid. Which he is, but with good reason.

The lesson here, and I wish I’d learned it before now, is that big quirks and ticks need to have a context within the story, or it looks like you’ve put them in just for the sake of having them. Smaller, more human and every day things can be sprinkled in just for interests sake.

In other news I drew Riznphnx’s name out of the hat to win January’s prize for helping out Tee Morris and Sonic Boom. I’m keeping the competition going for another two months, so if you’ve already donated, you’re already in the next two draws. If you’ve donated, just tell me and I’ll add your name to the list.

If you haven’t donated, the ChipIn widget is just to the right of this post. It’s very easy to help out in the initial rush of a tragedy. It’s harder to keep helping as time passes. I haven’t always been good at it myself, but Tee has done so much for our community I’d like to see some more donations rolling in. As with last month, if you donate and tell me you go in the draw to win one of Tee’s books from Book Depository

I’ll pick a winner at random (possible with the aid of some dice) and they will recieve a PDF copy of Story Structure – Demystified.

If you’d like to read the review of Story Structure – Demystified, it’s right here.

I’ll pick the winner this weekend.

UPDATE: Congratulations to Beth Barany, your copy of Story Structure – Dymystified will wing its way to your inbox in the next few minutes. Thanks to everyone who entered, this is definitely not the last competition I’ll run.