This week’s interview is with Kerry Tolan, who’s been in epublishing since 2000! And he’s willing to share those 10 years of experience with us.

Kerry Tolan’s latest release is Rogue Dancer:

The last time Mikial’s civilization turned on a savior, they were destroyed. Now Mikial is faced with repeating a disastrous history or defying it. Her people thought the humans had left for good. She believed otherwise. They were both wrong.

Not everyone is eager to embrace a leader with mixed blood who promises to reunite her divided race. To some, Mikial is a mistake that needs correcting. To others, she is the answer to a growing threat from beyond her world. Mikial must find a way to prove her legitimacy, even if it means resurrecting an ancient horror in lands laid to waste by a civil war she is desperate not to repeat. What she finds in the ruins of Min Saja will not be the salvation she expects.

Rogue Dancer continues the story of Mikial Haran, bringing with it all the traditions and strife of an alien people facing the challenges of first contact.

To start with, can you tell me a little about your first published book?

I’d be happy to give you the background behind “Blade Dancer” [to which Rogue Dancer is the sequel] as it typifies the e-book author’s struggle.

“Blade Dancer” took four years to be soundly ignored by New York back in the late nineties when, unbeknown to me, the publisher mid-list was collapsing.  I found a starter e-book publisher called “IPub” forming – it promised to circumvent the New York maze and was the brainchild of the Time Warner/AOL group.  Authors would vote on most likely candidates and moderators (editors) would choose the highest rated in each genre.  “Blade Dancer” (at that time it was “Qurl”) was chosen and went through the editorial process with Paul Whitcover who ran the SF group.  Two months before release, with the final galley in my hands, Time Warner killed IPub and tossed everyone to the winds, myself included.

Two years later I emerged from under a rock and submitted to Champagne Books on an impulse, having been with a writing group made up of IPub refugees. One of the members had signed a Romance with this Canadian publisher and now Champagne was openly soliciting for Science Fiction and Fantasy.  I was their first pure SF author, and the re-titled “Blade Dancer” went on to become a finalist in its category at the 2009 Eppie awards.

Blade Dancer is a combination coming-of-age story for a young alien lady, as well as my commentary on how poorly the Western world tends to treat cultures we consider inferior to our own.  This was long before Avatar was a twinkle in Cameron’s eye, of course.  Mikial Haran is a rare female member of a male-dominated species serving a race made up of four biologically specialized species.  She loves dancing over fighting, but her first battle ends up running into adversaries supplied with human weapons.  The death of a protector drives her to find who is behind the advanced guns, and in doing so Mikial ends up running afoul of her society’s strict isolationism.  She ends up discovering both herself, her destiny, and a history her people should not have turned their backs on.  Blade Dancer is the imprint and repercussions of our interfering with a culture we don’t even bother to understand.  It is also a struggle anyone can identify with despite the main character being alien – the angst-driven efforts of a girl emerging into the adult world.

I come from the Orson Scott Card school of characterization, by the way.  Mikial comes with friends and family, and she isn’t the only one who has to endure the wrenching changes.

What was it like, being part of an epress that went under? Were there any warning signs?

For us involved back then with IPub, the warning signs were there if you wanted to read them.  The largest was a growing political spat between the traditional publishing arm of Time Warner and the new folks from AOL who launched IPub.  One did not respect the other, and this was part of a culture that never melded when AOL was bought by Time Warner.  Other warning signs included wild promises on part of the AOL management regarding profitability that simply was not possible at the time.  Poorly written contracts added to the general uh-oh factor.

The actual day of judgment came as an email from senior editor Paul Whitcover who walked in that morning to find a pink slip waiting for everyone in the Ipub division.  It was over that fast.

Next came the scramble as folks tried to leverage contacts to find agents.  A few made it, such as E. E. Knight with his Vampire Earth series.  Most of us weren’t so lucky.  One particularly upset authoress went out and created her own publishing company – which eventually became Champagne Books.  (No, I didn’t know her at the time, but I knew Eric and critiqued his work).  The writer’s group I am with was founded by IPub alumni.

Based on what I have seen in the chat archives over at EPIC, publishers can fold abruptly but other small press publishers often jump in to pick up the orphaned authors.

As you say, the market’s pretty different today. Are there any differences between Champagne and IPub that reflect this?

IPub was still geared as a traditional publisher despite its (then) revolutionary way of bringing authors into the fold through e-books.  They had the cost of maintaining editors, staff, and the building necessary to house them.  IPub also had to meet corporate expectations for profit.  E-books could not fulfill those expectations and inevitably was behind the IPub demise as much as poor management and in-fighting.  Of course with all of these resources, including a marketing department, more weight can be brought to bear on both promoting and distributing their e-books.

Champagne follows the model of a “virtual” business.  There are no offices save for in someone’s home, staff can be scattered across the globe, and personal risk is minimal when compared to large houses.  Such businesses can thrive on lower margins and survive on e-book sales alone.  Of course, with a smaller staff who often hold down day jobs, the muscle for both promoting and distribution is somewhat lacking.  The small press also must fight the uphill battle of being locked out of most bookstores and trade magazines who are associated only with the New York publishers.

The big difference between these models (traditional vs e-pub) is that the traditional publishers can not make the kind of profit needed to sustain them once e-books come into the picture.  New York makes its margins off of hard covers, and releasing the e-book version of best sellers is seen as a threat to the bottom line.  Unfortunately for them, there is no “cure”.  Raise the e-book price to hard cover levels and you get pirated.  “Window” the e-book by delaying it and you will get your hard cover digitized and pirated anyway.  The small press rarely has this problem, and can easily sail below the $9.99 limit the traditional houses balk at.

What drew you to epublishing in the first place? What made you decide to go back to it after your experience with IPub?

Simple.  It was either that or never see my work published.  The NY mid list had crumbled and writers were not getting looked at.

Who would you recommend epublishing to? Are there any situations in which you’d suggest a writer avoid it?

E-publishing is an option to anyone who
(a) has a professionally publishable manuscript – reputable e-pubs have as high a rejection rate as their NY peers.
(b) can not get an agent or does not want to wait a considerable time to find one.  Agents want books with mass market appeal, and you may not be writing to the current fad.
(c) has a marketable book with an interested audience.

E-publishing is not an option for anyone who
(a) wants to see their book in bookstores.
(b) is not interested in promoting their work.
(c) wants a big advance (rarely are any advances given).

This is simple sounding, but there is a lot more behind it.  You need to comb through the e-publishers with care to insure that you don’t mistakenly end up with either a vanity press or author mill.  The publisher should be listed on Fictionwise unless you want to take chances on a start-up.  The publisher should be doing well with the genre you are writing for.  Check Preditors & Editors website and the Writer’s Water Cooler forums to further investigate your choice before you submit to them.

Follow the guidelines the publisher provides to the letter.  Often, this is the first way they screen out writers who exhibit traits of not being a team player.

Look at e-publishing (as it currently exists) as the Minor Leagues.  Play well, and you can build up a track record that might help you get into the Majors.  Keep in mind that the New York industry is still coming to grips with the digital age and conditions continue to change.  E-publishing remains a very viable alternative to being part of that big bucket of good writers trying to pour into a small thimble of NY publishers.

A word on self-publishing.  Unless you really know your market, and are prepared to promote yourself to the extreme, you will not be very successful and self-published authors will not usually have themselves or their books recognized as published.  Genre fiction is especially difficult for self-pubbers.

In terms of promotion, what has Champagne offered you, and what have you done yourself? What have you found most effective?

Promotion by Champagne has been great, relative to what you would expect from a small e-publisher.  They have a full-time promotion person who constantly is searching out new ways for authors to get themselves out on the web.  Like most small publishers, Champagne has a list of reviewers to which it sends books.  No guarantee you will get reviewed, and no guarantee that the review will be favorable.  Champagne Books also maintains a presence on both MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook from where it will announce new releases or favorable reviews.  My publisher also has their own reader forums, and conducts monthly chats both with other popular sites as well as its own.  Finally, Champagne Books strives to get novels out on as many profitable media sites as it can – and has recently added audio books to the fold.  When a new novel is published, a press release is also sent to several services.

For me, the pattern is about the same as my publisher.  I am present on the social sites such as Facebook and MySpace, and I actively participate in a number of forums.  I have my own website and domain – www.kmtolan.com.  Today I added to my personal blog “Alien Space”, and have recently participated on the author blog “Writer’s Vineyard”.  Yes, this takes my time, but I often have the time while at work to do the “promo circle” as I call it.

The most effective promotion for me is a split between SF conferences and announcements (not spam) on social sites and blogs.  I can also reap some reward from writer’ sites that are open to readers – they see my critiques and contributions and decide to check me out.  I track all visits to my website pages so I can further analyze if a particular promotional effort pays off or is a dud.

The most effective promotion outside of my own efforts is a favorable review.  All I have to do for that is write well (grin).

I think that about wraps it up for questions I wanted to ask. Is there anything you’d like to add?

Whew…I’m good!

Blade Dancer and its sequel, Rogue Dancer, are available to buy from Kerry’s website. The paperbacks are also available from Champagne Books directly, and the ebooks from omnilit.