Tag: stigma

YA Needs Threesomes. Wait, what?

John Guillen26 Comments

I’ve just been reading about how authors and agents of YA are frequently including and asking for threesomes in their titles. I mean, I don’t write YA. I’m as near to certain as I can be that I never will. But, really?

My thing is that there’s this huge stigma associated with erotica, right? But then you put the same kind of thing in YA and it’s openly accepted. What, because kids are supposedly learning about their own sexuality during their teen years? I don’t understand. An article I just read had perspectives from authors and agents alike, and the responses were all quite similar. If the threesome works within the story, then include it.

I have no idea how detailed particular authors are in these scenes, but many aren’t leaving much to the imagination. Just the samples given were pretty in depth. Now I have no issue with sex in YA, or even with teens reading about sex in YA. But I think it’s a little hypocritical for so many to constantly bash erotica and then have those same people talking about adding threesomes into YA stories.

What do you think about this little trend? If it’s even reached that level.

 

The Stigma of Self Publishing

John Guillen7 Comments

Photo Credit: Indies Unlimited

Are you a self published author? Or maybe an aspiring writer considering self publishing once you polish that manuscript of yours? There are a few things that you should know before taking the step to self publish your book.

Lesser

This is probably the most difficult assumption about self publishing to overcome. No matter if the person you’re talking to says it or not, a great number of people still believe that self published authors write worse than traditionally published authors. To the unknowing person, this is inherent in self publishing. You’ll likely then receive countless questions about the editing and cover art and physical makeup of the book that traditionally published authors will not. Have you ever been to a book signing or event for a popular author and had someone ask about the editing of the book? I haven’t and I’ve been to several.

The look

You’re probably wondering what the heck ‘the look’ is. It’s simple. It’s the look you get upon first revealing to someone that you’re self published. It essentially tells me the thoughts of the other person. It says, “Oh. So then you’re not good enough to go the regular route.” By no means are people trying to discourage or put you down, ‘the look’ is almost involuntary. I know plenty of great people who displayed it when I first told them that my book was self published. When you start telling someone about your newly released book, what it is the first question they ask? Who published it? I’ve probably been asked that question more than any other. It’s even asked by non-readers.

Selling

This isn’t necessarily a part of the stigma associated with self publishing, but it’s still worth mentioning. When you self publish, assuming that you didn’t make your own imprint doing so, it is quite difficult to find sales channels. If you use CreateSpace or Kindle Direct Publishing then your book becomes one of millions available from Amazon. Which is great, but let me repeat that it becomes one of millions of books available from the online giant. Just being on Amazon is not enough. But also Barnes and Noble will not carry the book in its stores if the book is self published. Their shelves are reserved for the major publishing companies that have done business with the company for decades.

Readers

There are plenty of readers out there who don’t care whether a book is self published or not because it’s all about the quality to them. BUT, there are plenty of readers out there who will never ever ever ever ever purchase a self published book. This kind of goes with my first point about people believing that self published authors’ writing is lesser than that of traditionally published authors. This means that your free book on Amazon may be overlooked by a hardcore reader simply because it’s free. This means that your $0.99 book will be overlooked just the same. The point is that it may be difficult to find readers for your book, no matter how well written it is.

Don’t let these discourage you! If self publishing feels like a good fit for you, then I say go for it.