This writers' group is paying off already, because looking at how to improve other people's stories is actually quite helpful when you are trying to improve your own.
Case in point: I've read two parts of novels that both face a similar issue--an exposition dump. You know, a spot in the story where the action grinds to a halt so that the narrator can tell you about a character's history, or about their appearance, or about some other background-attribute type thing that the writer thinks the the reader needs to know. And the reader does need to know it...eventually.
That "eventually" is key, because I think in both cases things would work better if the information was withheld for a little bit. In one story, there's a spot where the character dramatically reveals some of his history to another character, while in the other story a character walks into a room and greatly excites another with her appearance. But in both cases it's not so dramatic or exciting for the reader, because we already learned all that about them back at the exposition dump. So, in both cases my advice has been to yank the dump, restoring the flow of action (I know, my metaphors are getting mixed here--just be happy I'm not resorting to digestive ones), and then surprise the reader with the character's history/appearance at a dramatic moment later on.
And THAT made me think about the first few chapters of Trust. I've already split up some of the exposition, but I realized that I can actually do this to dramatic effect. Instead of just saying, Yea, yea, this guy did this really bad thing, I can tease the reader--This guy did something, it was really bad, HERE'S WHAT IT WAS!
In the land of the blind...
So, I've been on hiatus, but I think the hiatus is going to end soon, mainly because I'm getting kind of bored. (And yesterday the hiatus consisted entirely of barfing, thanks to something I caught cleaning my niece's barf out of my car. Childcare is always a joy.) I actually interrupted a home-improvement project back in January when I started all this, so I'm going to make myself actually finish it (or, you know, most of it) instead of interrupting it again.
In the meantime, I've been proofreading the better part of a novel for someone in the writers' group--his response to my being nit-picky with the chapters I read for group was to be delighted and want more. So you can chalk that up to his masochism, or you can chalk it up to what I personally consider one of the harder parts of being an indie author--the lack of contact with editors, copy editors, and the like. I mean, when you write for a publication as a staffer, you literally sit in the same room as your editor, so you always have that guidance and support (at least you do if your editor is any good). Even as a freelancer you get a lot of guidance and feedback, but nowadays in book publishing it seems that all editors get to do is to say "yea" or "nay," and in many cases they don't even get to do that--the marketing department does.
The irony is, I don't consider myself a good proofreader/copy editor. At my first job in publishing, I was actually skipped over the copy editing job: Typically the promotion trajectory was editorial assistant -> copy editor -> assistant editor (unless you were such a superior copy editor that you'd stay in that department), but I just went editorial assistant -> assistant editor. I'm sure some of my co-workers thought that was meant as a big compliment, but I regarded it as recognition that 1. I can't spell 2. I was never taught any grammar in school and had to learn it on the job (that job, in fact), and 3. I used regional colloquialisms like "made hash" without any notion that they were not standard English.
Many years later, when I was in journalism school, I was proofing a student publication, and one of the journalism professors said, "OK, we've got our ringer." So at that point, I was clearly better proofreader, but I was also being compared to other journalism students and not to professional copy editors. The personality attributes that make someone a good journalist (think: Foxes. Hyperactive foxes) are pretty much the opposite of the personality attributes that make someone a good copy editor (HEDGEHOGS). And copy editing is just taken much more seriously in the publishing world--a newspaper will throw a reporter onto the copy editing desk when they get too old to run around like a hyperactive fox, regardless of the person's suitability for the job.
Now, of course, I'm dealing with writers in a writers' group that is not based in NYC, and the members of that group pretty much all make a living in non-writing fields, so now I guess my copy editing skills are quite exceptional. And when I mentioned that I laid out Trang by myself, one of the group organizers immediately asked if they could pay me to lead a seminar on layouts. I laughed, and she said, "No, I'm serious." I said I'd do it, but they don't have to pay me. I mean, for God's sake, I never was remotely an art person! But I suppose in a way that's an advantage: A real designer would tell you to buy Quark XPress already--it takes an amateur to do a book layout in frickin' Word.
Dropped the price
I dropped the price on the e-book to 99 cents just now--I was only going to do it for the week, but some of the blogs I've read made me decide to make it a permanent thing. I'm a "new" writer (that always cracks me up, because hello, I've been writing professionally since 1992. But I am new to readers of fiction), and Trang is the first book in a series, so I'm going to have to encourage people to take a chance.
I liked it!
So, I went to my first meeting with a writing group today--I was feeling pretty good about it because the works we were supposed to read and critique were good. And I think it was a good group. Maybe a little biased toward the uncritical "I loved it!" but since I, too, thought the submissions were high quality, I can't really claim that was way off the mark.
Of course, I came to group with the professional's attitude, which can be summed up as: Of course it's good! I don't need to tell you it's good! If it wasn't good you wouldn't work here! Let's focus on what's wrong! I my need to adjust that, because I wound up tossing in the compliments at the end, and people were visibly relieved to hear that I liked what I read. Also, apparently I need to mark up the writing with an eye to giving it back the person, which means that 1. I need to write legible notes, 2. I need to write less random notes, 3. I need to stop using black ink, and 4. I need to not print things out on the backs of bills or other personal financial papers. Maybe I'll use a post-it for the general notes.
Also, I am reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Drop whatever you are doing and go read that book--holy Moses, it is good. (ETA: OK, the ending's a little weak. But overall a VERY strong book.)
Maybe I'm taking this hiatus a little too seriously
I received the proofs of the hard copies with the new covers today, and I was like, Wow, that really does look much better than the old cover, how nice. And then I stuck them on my bookshelf and skipped merrily off to do other things. It wasn't until about 10 minutes ago that I realized, I need to approve these proofs if books with the new cover are going to be sold. Oh, right, they weren't just sent for me to admire....
Random idea
So, here's a thought, if you are stumped for story ideas: A series of horror tales geared to the middle aged. Instead of sexy vampires or whatever, these would deal with things that truly strike fear into the hearts of ordinary folks.
Possible titles include:
"The Mysterious Noise Coming from the Toilet: A Story of Suspense and Terror"
"Refrigerator Dripping"
"The New Stain; or, A Call to a Roofer"
The platforms that...matform?
In the comments to Henkel's post on Konrath's blog, someone took him to task rather sternly for not having "a platform." By which they did not mean a structure made of wood that people could stand on, but rather an Internet presence that was not strictly about marketing his books. Yes, said the person, you are on Twitter, but your posts are all just "Buy my crap!" and that's not enough for people! You've got to open up and reveal yourself!
I don't know about that--isn't it enough for Henkel to, you know, write stories? I mean, I obviously think Konrath is doing a real public service with his blog, but he's on a mission--he started the blog because he felt that authors needed help figuring how to make money, and he's clearly been putting in a lot of effort into that thing for many years. Not every author has that kind of fire for something that is basically a sideline to their real work--and some who do are like Barry Eisler, who has a passion for politics and therefore has a blog that he is fairly certain alienates a good portion of his potential readership.
I'm also quite leery of the whole "you've got to reveal yourself" thing. I agree that that can be compelling, but honestly, do I want readers to like my writing or to like me? Being in my line of work, quite a number of my friends have been published, and of course I support them in that, but far more often I know nothing about a given writer when I read their work, and that's fine with me. I'll judge them on their writing, thank you very much.
The more crucial issue that I think often gets ignored in these debates is the one of stalkers: Writers of any renown get them, and I've had my share already just by virtue of being female, reasonably attractive, and generally civil. So, you know, I'm not going to open up here about things that aren't related to writing, or post where I live (along with pictures of my house, like I've seen some young female bloggers do--what are they thinking?), or anything like that.
All of which is basically of a long way of saying, I'm still on hiatus. Spring is a busy time....
Why "fucking romance"?
Thinking about that previous post, you're probably wondering why I dislike romance novels. There's basically two considerations here: The first is that, as a writer, I know I don't have one in me, so there goes that road to publication.
But as a reader, I have to confess that I tend not to like romance novels, or the romance aspects of novels. (It should be noted that many novels classified as romance for sales purposes are actually murder mysteries or historical novels that happen to have a lot of sex in them--keep it between two people, and it's romance. Expand the field, and it's erotica.) There are exceptions: When Mr. Rochester confessed his love to Jane Eyre, I cried. Because it was so romantic. (Yes, yes, he wasn't very nice to his first wife, but God struck him blind for that. Whaddya want, blood?) I liked Pamela quite a lot until Pamela got married and rich and smug and boring. I even bought into the longing of the romance in Little Green Men, despite being reasonably certain that the long-ee was going to kill the long-er.
But mostly, I don't like romance novels. Part of it is the fantasy aspect. While I think the criticism of Twilight is overblown, the book is certainly not the only one to package unhealthy behavior as romantic. I recently read The Hunger Games, which is a great book, but there's this teenage boy with an abusive mom who latches on to a five-year-old girl (after his father indicated to him that she was desirable) and fixates on her. All the time he's "in love" with her--which is over a decade--he never actually speaks to her until circumstances force him to do so. I don't know about you (and I don't know how this is treated in the next two books), but I don't read that and think, "How romantic!" I read that and think, "That kid's going to become a serial killer!" Then there's the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy, which won its author a Nobel prize and is considered a groundbreaking historical romance: It ends when the woman finally succeeds in berating her husband/love object to death. How romantic! (Seriously, that trilogy was described as "absolutely delightful" to me by the person who recommended it, a person who not coincidentally was going through a violent divorce.)
I also am more likely to dislike romance novels written in the modern era. Look at the basic plotline of romance: Boy and girl fall in love, there are obstacles to that love, the obstacles are surmounted. In days of yore, those obstacles were most often based on class--Jane Eyre is a lowly orphan, Pamela is just a servant. In order to overcome these class barriers, those gals need to have a LOT of spunk--they have to be natural aristocrats, otherwise (especially to the audience for which they were written) they're just gold-diggers.
But nowadays, the class thing doesn't work. I was telling my sister about Pamela, and I had to explain that Mr. B. was actually a decent guy, because even though he kidnaps and terrorizes Pamela, he doesn't rape her, which in that time was what upper-class men did as a matter of course in that kind of situation. Not shockingly, she was not impressed with his character--but in the 18th century, she would have been. Morality has simply changed too much--at best, we look at the upper-class character who won't marry the maid and wonder why he's such a snob.
So instead, even with historical romances like the Lavransdatter trilogy, the barriers have to be internal, and more often than not, they are neuroses. Bella can't believe that someone as perfect as Edward would love someone like her. Kristin Lavransdatter hates her husband and wants him dead because she can't accept his (totally obvious and readily advertised) flaws. These neuroses can get really contrived, with someone running off at some key point because they have some extremely convenient irrational hang-up. I just lose patience with it--I can't root for the woman, and I can't even hope she gets what she wants, because I can't believe a new boyfriend is going to solve anything for someone who is so damaged. That's not the way life works, and I, who have no problem suspending disbelief when it comes to aliens and vampires and demons, cannot suspend my disbelief for that.
Better does not equal paradise
Konrath recently had this guest post on his blog by an author named Guido Henkel who has self-published a series of old-timey horror novels that aren't selling. He made a bunch of changes...and they still aren't selling. So he's been forced to conclude that the market for this kind of book just isn't there, and he needs to write more-contemporary horror if he wants his books to sell.
And I think that's something important for would-be writers to keep in mind: When it comes to selling books, genre still matters. Probably the two best-selling come-from-nowhere self-published authors these days are Amanda Hocking and H.P. Mallory. Guess what they write? ROMANCE. Romance, of course! Romance, oh, romance, that most commercial of genres! (Fucking romance, if you're me.)
But I still think Henkel is in a better position than he would be had the Jason Dark books simply been rejected and never been published, or had been published by a small press and then not sold. He can move on to another type of book without anyone telling him they won't publish him because his last book sold so poorly. He acknowledges that writing the series made him a better writer, and he's being published in Fangoria now, so his career is definitely moving forward. I think eventually he will hit on something that resonates with readers--and once he develops a fan base, he'll have ten additional books to sell people.
Done!
OK, the new cover(s) has been uploaded to CreateSpace. Oddly enough, I can't upload it here--look over there or just take my word that it's basically the same cover, except that the portal is larger, hopefully looming somewhat menacingly.
So I'll have to order proofs again and go through that whole rigmarole, which is fine, and then I'll have to convince Google Books and Amazon's Search Inside the Book feature to use the new cover, which will probably be kind of a pain. But THEN I'll really, REALLY be done!
It's always something!
I'm redoing the covers for the hard copies, and since I was changing the cover anyway, I decided to tighten up the jacket copy a little. Since I put the jacket copy in the e-book descriptions as well, I looked them over to make sure they were consistent.
Well, guess what's full of typos? Not the jacket copy--that I checked and re-checked. But when I decided to put it into the e-book descriptions, I just typed down what was on the jacket, because it's hard to pull text from a picture file. And I didn't check it. And it's all screwed up.
Ai-yi-yi. Of course that's what got sent out to reviewers. Of course.
Wrapping things up
I don't know why this is, but I seem to work best doing one thing at a time--if my focus is fractured, I have a hard time actually accomplishing anything. So while I've gotten some editing done on Trust, I haven't been nearly as productive as I know I could be, and I think a big part of it is that I keep having to do stuff for Trang.
But at this point? I may tweak the new cover a little, but I like it enough that I told that artist (who did get back to me) that I wouldn't be using his images after all--I'm going to use the new cover on the paperbacks. That's not because I think my work is prettier than his (it's not), but I think the portal is a distinctive visual that can be used on other covers in the series as well as in advertisements. I also think the description and the formatting issues have been largely put to rest.
So basically, once I finish everything with the cover and drop the price, Trang will be REALLY done. I've got some more decent marketing ideas, but the thing is, at this point, I think the best thing I could do for Trang is to finish Trust. There is tremendous reluctance to read the first book of a series when the other books haven't been written, because a lot of authors crump out after the first one and don't ever finish the series (there are review bloggers who refuse to read books from unfinished series for this very reason). And if I have more than one book, I can do things like hook readers in with freebies or get the books into a less-populated category.
I tend to get wrapped up in the DO MORE NOW MORE MORE NOW NOW!!! mentality, but looking at things objectively, I think if I spend money advertising Trang now without a second book out, that's going to be money that could be more effectively spent after Trust is released. One of Joe Konrath's mantras is, "self-publishing is forever"--it's not like traditional publishing, where you have to sell sell sell in the first six weeks or you're screwed. I can let Trang sit, and it's not going to hurt anything.
So I think what I need to do now is 1. put Trang to bed, and 2. take a break! I've been dedicating an awful lot of my waking hours and head space to this, to the detriment of some other things I also enjoy, and I'm beginning to resent spending so much time in front of the computer. I think a short vacay is in order, and then I'll (hopefully) be all over Trust.
Why you DIY (or at least DO YOUR HOMEWORK)
OK, I know I bitch and moan, and I just figured out how to edit an ePUB file (did you know they're really zipped files? Wonders never cease) in order to add cover art to the Nook version, only to have B&N reject the final product as being The Wrong Sort of ePUB file. (Snobs.) So, it's not like this process is without its little frustrations.
But then I read this WSJ article about how this one digital publisher is going to resurrect backlist books via electronic and print-on-demand publishing, and it makes this all worthwhile. For one thing, the authors are getting a 50% royalty on the e-books, which, yes, is twice the industry standard, but it's also less than 70% you can get by doing it yourself.
Thing number two is that the books are really expensive. The e-book of Midnight Guardians is fricking $14.99, but don't worry! That's still waaaay less than the POD paperback, which is $23.08.
Holy freaking Moses! I'll just point out that the book is 210 pages long, which is not long, and $23 for a 210-page paperback is just ridiculous. This is, in fact, the big criticism that used to be leveled against POD publishing--the resulting book is so expensive that you price yourself out of any market. Nowadays there's no need for the book to be that expensive--Trang is 370 pages, $14.99, and I do make a decent royalty off that (on Amazon, anyway).
And it's not like there aren't plenty of other published authors who have self-published their backlists profitably and are eager to tell you how.
Oh, and the digital publisher releasing those costly books? Made a million dollars (on 420 titles, so we're not talking Amanda Hocking levels of sales success here) between May and December--but still hasn't turned a profit.
I realize that it is normal to pay for convenience. Don't want to thrash around like I have, trying to create cover art? Pay someone to do it for you! Want someone else to deal with the formatting headaches? Hire someone! Pay someone to do your social media and videos, if you feel that's key to sales. I could totally see ponying up for all that if you really don't want to stretch. But I don't ever see giving up all control over pricing and 50% of your revenues (AFTER the publisher recoups their costs) when you're not getting any advantage from a distribution standpoint. Midnight Guardians isn't in Wal-Mart or Target--it's on Amazon, just like everybody else.
ETA: In other words, to quote Konrath, "[I]f you’re going to be one of these two animals, don’t be the frog. Better to be the monkey."
Climbing up that learning curve
OK, you know how when I was trying to figure out how to put a table of contents in an e-book, and it turned out that it was easy to do--as long as you downloaded the right software and got comfortable editing HTML?
Well, tonight I decided to tackle including the front cover art. And, gee, yes it is easy, assuming you download Mobipocket Creator and get comfortable creating a MOBI file. Of course, that only takes care of the Kindle. Smashwords claims that if you just add an image to that Word file they insist on, you'll be set--I guess we'll see once they finish processing it, but if that's true, they get ease-of-use points for both the embedded cover art and the table of contents. [ETA: It's true! Point to Smashwords!] Nobody seems to know how to do it for the Nook.
Seriously, if anyone is ever wondering why not all e-books have all the bells and whistles, it's because IT'S A PAIN IN THE ASS. Actually uploading your book file is relatively easy (deceptively easy in Amazon's case, because it turns out that the Word-to-Kindle conversion is far from perfect), but the rest of it? Let's just say that, while I am comfortable using software, I never had any ambitions to actually go mucking around in its guts. And yet, here I am. I guess this is growth.
P.S. Oh, and allow me to roll my eyes, because the cover won't show up in Amazon's preview tool. Again, it works with Mobipocket, so I can only hope it works with a Kindle.
This might be the cover
I know I keep changing my mind about the cover, but I think this one might be it. It certainly works well as a thumbnail. At 5 1/2 by 8 inches, the portal is blurry--but I think that actually works with the book, especially since Saturn and Titan are pixelated. It's a bit like someone was trying to take a picture of this thing, but it can't quite be captured by a camera.....
Hm
I haven't heard back yet from that artist (I swear, he'll get back to me in, like October 2012 and will be really snippy that I didn't wait), and I've been having thoughts about doing the cover myself again, since I don't have to draw people. Basically I had the idea of modifying the current placeholder art so that the portal is more dominant and mysterious, and then carrying that over to the other titles so that the portals are always there, lurking. (Yes, in the story the portals are completely invisible, but I figure if you can't take artistic license with your own work, when can you?)
I dunno, I like that artist's work, but there's a real question about how long you wait for someone. If it was just the e-books, I could redo the covers every day from now until doomsday, and it wouldn't make any difference. But for the paperbacks, there's a cost--you have to order new proofs, and there's an extra fee for changing the cover for a book that out on Expanded Distribution.
I also downloaded a couple of title fonts, only to come here and realize that the current lettering works really well in a thumbnail. So maybe I should leave that be.
Oh, and if you're feeling like I need to get a grip about that review, I was just looking at blogs (didn't find anything mind-blowing this time), and this one woman actually solicited so-so reviews about her book! She literally wrote, If you read Book A or Book B, and they just weren't your cup of tea, could you please go over to Amazon and leave a review about how they left you cold! Apparently the feeling is that if all your reviews are fantastic, it's just your buddies helping you out. And obviously getting that review made me rethink how I positioned the book (and alerted me to some formatting issues), so I should be thankful for it. I still don't see asking people to please come trash my book, however--I'm not made of stone.
Arghghgh....
Yeah, I'm editing--actually, I think I'm edited out for the day. You know, considering that not much happens in Trang (I know, I should let that go), you would think that I wouldn't have such a buttload of exposition to try to cram into Trust. Striking the right balance is a bitch--I feel like the story's constantly being interrupted to deliver background on this person or that event.
I'm trimming and consolidating what I can, but I'm concerned because I'm obviously very close to the material, and my beta readers (who haven't gotten Trust yet) have also read Trang, so all of our judgment is somewhat suspect. I'm going to drop in on a writing group in the area later this month--if I think they'll be helpful, I'll give them the first two chapters and see if they have the slightest notion what's going on.
Redirecting...redirecting...redirecting
In addition to rethinking my approach to Trang's cover art, I realized that I should change the book description as well. When I first revised the book description, I not only made it longer (including the jacket copy, an author bio, and a word count for the e-versions), I made it wacky--I was trying to push those comedy! and! adventure! buttons.
This was the wacky version:
Trang is an exciting science fiction tale of aliens, prophecies and inexplicable "scientific" phenomena! Follow the adventures of Philippe Trang, the first human diplomat to travel to an alien station! Watch him try valiantly to keep everyone from killing each other (not to mention him), with mixed success! A delightful blend of comedy, action and really, really bad language, Trang is sure to appeal to to fans of Lois McMasters Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga and Charles Stross’ Laundry Files novels--at least those fans who can tolerate really, really bad language.
This is the current version:
Diplomat Philippe Trang has problems--lots of problems. Haunted by a recent mission on Earth that went very wrong, Trang is the first human diplomat assigned to a mysterious alien station. He quickly realizes that not everyone on Earth would like to see his mission succeed—and the several alien species on the station have some odd and nefarious agendas of their own. As he tries desperately to keep everyone from killing each other (not to mention him), strange forces threaten to destroy his very mind.... This intensely character-driven novel features a blend of drama, tragedy, comedy, and action reminiscent of the works of Joss Whedon or Charles Stross’ Laundry Files novels--plus some really, really bad language.
So, I'm hoping that helps the book find the right audience--people who find character-driven science-fiction stories interesting. I mention Whedon not just because I prostrate myself at his feet, but because he gets the "not much happens" complaint too (that is an issue many people seem to have with the original Firefly pilot). That baffles me, but there it is.
Certain genres are almost always character-driven--romance, for example. We all know what's going to happen in a romance, the interesting bit is how it affects the characters as it unfolds. But sci-fi these days is plot driven--that's why you have "rules" like kill someone in the first 10 pages.
Honestly, this is what dismays me about contemporary mainstream publishing in general and science fiction in particular--the narrowing effect it is having on literature. Ray Bradbury, who was justly celebrated in his day for being an incredible writer, did not produce plot-driven science fiction. His science fiction was literary--it was just so beautifully written that it really didn't matter what it was about. And there was room in the market for someone like that. Now there isn't. Think about that: If Ray Bradbury sent The Martian Chronicles to an agent nowadays as an unknown writer, he probably would get the same "Loved it! Can't touch it!" response I got.
How sad is that?
Hopefully now self-publishing will re-expand the possibilities. As an author, I still face the challenge of finding readers who will accept character-driven science fiction. But I'll say that I'm more hopeful of doing that than I am of finding a commercial publishing house that will!
Feast or famine
I started poking around self-publishing blogs again tonight, and apparently the Internet read my earlier post and got embarrassed, because I've hit three good ones.
They are:
Write to Publish, which is written by a woman whose husband is a novelist. He self-publishes, they run a small press, and they have experience with big publishing houses as well, so she's got a very good sense of the industry, how it works, and how it's changing. (But if you read her post on Barnes & Noble's on-line operations and go, "Oh my stars!!!" please read the comments--new business lines always lose money initially.)
Publetariat is an aggregate blog that takes posts from a lot of other blogs. It's nice because a lot of blogs by people selling services to self-publishing writers are 10% good info and 90% "Buy my crap!" and it looks like Publetariat does a pretty good job of screening out that less-useful 90%.
Adventures in ePublishing is written by a newbie self-published sci-fi writer who LOVES data. He loves to collect it, he loves to analyze it, and he loves to share it so much he has a running tally of his expenses as a sidebar on his blog. (Yes, I do realize that I may have to marry him. Assuming that's legal, because it's possible that we were separated at birth.)
And I'm going to add a blog that I've known about for a while: The Shatzkin Files. Shatzkin is a consultant, so it should not shock you that his blog is geared to the people who might actually hire him, i.e. high-ranking publishing executives. As a result, the blog can be too insider-y, which is why I haven't recommended him before now, but he does have some very interesting things to say. (Barnes & Noble should totally hire him.)
Rah-rah Amanda Hocking!
So, Amanda Hocking proved prophetic and landed her own $2 million advance with a major publishing house.
The funny bit? Everyone is asking her, "Why?" Her publishing house is hoping this proves traditional publishing is not dead. I think those two things demonstrate the tenuous position traditional publishing finds itself in nowadays.
Of course, with a $2 million advance in pocket, Amanda Hocking is not Joe Blow Random Author. She is a star. Between the money and the PR, you can bet your ass her publishing house will bust their ass for her. And if they don't, or things somehow don't work out? Uh, gee, I think she'll be fine--she can go back to making $1 million a year self-publishing, or at this point, she could invest her $3 million, retire, and live off the income (as long as she doesn't invest it in Barnes & Noble).
So, Amanda Hocking is doing great, which is wonderful--she seems like a very pleasant and grounded young lady, and I confess to being tickled pink by her success. Self-publishing now has its own Tinkerbell, assuming you don't think making $1 million a year writing books is amazing enough (which certain people clearly don't).
But I'll say it again: This isn't what's important about contemporary self-publishing. I am more excited about it's potential effect on the mass of writers--not the occasional best-seller, but the many more people who chug away in relative obscurity. Those people can pay their bills on time now. That's really exciting.