The “Relative Obscurity” of POD Books

This morning I received a query from an author who wanted me to consider his novel for review, only the book falls outside the purview of my submission guidelines, seeing it was published a year ago. I am not entirely inflexible when it comes to the guidelines, especially given the points this author raised concerning POD books and the “relative obscurity” many of them experience. His comments follow below:

I realize this submission violates one of your guidelines in that it has been out longer than six months. So, if this won't work for you I understand. I wanted to at least send you the material and give you the choice. Given the relative obscurity of most POD books, my thought was that even material out longer than 6 months still is, in most readers minds, probably viewed as newly released. Also it seems to me that, while POD books do tend to float about in relative obscurity, one of the advantages is that one can keep the book out there without time frame pressures--the strategy being that, at least by staying available the chance of catching on, however astronomical the odds, is still a possibility.

My original intent was to bring awareness to deserving upcoming and previously released titles—not unlike what is the norm on the other side of this industry—but ideally, the purpose of the POD Critic blog is to highlight the works of aspiring as well as established authors who have been published via POD methods. The points raised above struck a chord with me, because I would like nothing more than to see quality works of fiction get their due—fiction on this side of the book industry, of course. The truth is that a few books deserving of praise (and appraisal) have release dates that precede my seemingly restricted guidelines. Those books, despite their age, deserve as much exposure as possible, and I, in some small way, would like to facilitate that.

Additionally, I would also like authors and publishers to raise the bar within the POD industry and deliver quality products to their readers. That won’t happen unless a few of us throw our hats in the ring and attempt to rein in this beast. I hope that by dispensing thorough and honest criticism and evaluation of POD books, those who produce them will be either forced or inspired to make a greater collective effort to clean up their act. My feeling is, if you want people to take you seriously, give them a good reason to.

The guidelines have been updated.

The Chronicles of Soone: Heir to the King - A Review

Author: James Somers
Publisher: Breakneck Books
ISBN: 978-0-9786-5512-9
Pages: 272

While James Somers informs me that the current version of his book contains several grammatical errors and editorial oversights, I will reserve judgment on them for this review, as a corrected version of the book will be released sometime in the future.
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The first installment of The Chronicles of Soone trilogy opens just after a fierce battle has been fought in a mountain valley between two warrior clans, the Barudii—the planet’s royal guardians, who are ostensibly betrayed by their previous prince no less—and the vicious Vorn, who are bent on the total domination of the planet Castai itself. The Barudii, having been slaughtered almost to the last man, are forced into hiding, as is another surviving clan, the Aolene, who eventually hole up in a former Barudii mountain stronghold. What ensues is a global occupation by the Vorn the likes of which Hitler only dreamed of.

Eventually, a young Barudii warrior stages a stealthy rebellion that is initiated at the Vorn’s cloning complex, where they have been growing an army of brute clones known as the Horva—think Uruk-hai rather than Clone troopers—but what the Barudii warrior discovers, however, is that the Horva aren’t being produced anymore. The young Barudii’s presence is soon detected by Horva guards and a brief battle takes place within the cloning complex, but our hero is aided by another Barudii, a warrior named Orin Vale. Together, the two prevail and head off to another location to get some answers.

They enlist the aid of Orin Vale’s friend, the Vorn’s chief science engineer, Dr. Ranul K’ore—following another exciting attack in the good doctor’s private quarters at the hands of android guards. Naturally, they are soon off again, this time to the aforementioned mountain stronghold of the Barudii, where they are pursued by a recent creation of Dr. K’ore, a fierce sentinel android that is in fact a clone of Orin Vale himself—think Clone trooper rather than Orc.

The trio learn that the Aolene clan have since taken up residence in the Barudii’s former mountain fortress, and following a series of conversations, we learn the next crucial stage in the sweeping Vorn agenda: the establishment of actual Vorn colonies on planet Castai, via a fleet that is soon to traverse a transdimensional rift just beyond the planet’s outer atmosphere—part of their aim is to replenish Vorn supplies on Castai and facilitate the continued production of clone warriors. Another attack comes on the heels of the revealing dialogue, this time via the Orin Vale clone—the deft sentinel android tasked by a governor of the Vorn to seek and destroy our protagonist—and the cavernous lair becomes yet another stage for an intense battle sequence that takes the story to a higher level of intensity.

All of the preceding actually takes place within the first 30 or so pages of the book, and I recount it only to give the reader a sense of the story’s plot development, as the tale unfolds in a steady upward climb, much like the lines on a successful company’s earnings growth chart. This is not entirely a compliment, however, as it acts as a partial criticism. While the book is an okay read, a better book would have resulted from a more balanced ebb and flow of events, which would have formed a stronger overall narrative structure. The book, in its current form, contains more flow than ebb, as it is nearly devoid of what some would call “slow,” but carefully crafted scenes that would have allowed for some needed character development. This is just one of the many reasons why the book lacks literary heft.

The action sequences, however, are as thrilling as anything you’ve seen in a good sci-fi film, much less read in a book of the same genre, and it is no doubt ramped up as the story progresses. We go from a daring attack on the Vorn capital by rebel Aolene forces, to a gripping space battle on the other side of the transdimensional rift that leaves a Vorn fleet decimated—the work of a powerful and mysterious sphere. Revelations also abound as concerns the Horva and “the strangely familiar planet” orbiting in the other dimension beyond the rift itself. We later learn that the Vorn and the Horva are actually the least of everyone’s worries, as greater enemies have long been waiting in the wings. This is where the book decides to employ a few critical plot points that result in steering the tale in, what I believe are, questionable directions.

Mr. Somers’s plotting abilities, I must say, are a couple or three paces ahead of his writing abilities, as there is no real eloquence or poetic flow to his prose, unlike what you might find in the works of seasoned writers who have tackled similar material in the past. But given that this is his first published novel, this is understandable I suppose. Heir to the King, therefore, comes to us in a raw style, and the book is flawed in various areas, particularly where dramatic scenes crop up—these read like melodrama:

“Who was that person? Who did this? Tell me so that I can avenge you!” said Tiet frantically.

There are a few instances of awkward, even ambiguous sentences—this is often caused by poor phrasing/word-choice. Consider the following from page 102:

As they came out of the end of the tunnel and crossed the semicircular smooth crater left in the tunnel floor by the dispersion blast, they could see the rail systems above ground system of magnetic rings that were spaced out along the remainder of the distance to the cloning lab compound.

You would need a good set of lungs to recite that one in a single breath. Then there is the matter of Somers’s repetitive terminology, as things either hum “to life,” blink “to life,” beep “to life,” blaze “to life,” pulse “to life,” or plain old come “to life.” Add to that the recycled phrases he uses to emphasize volume: “body after body,” “blow after blow,” “robot after robot,” “wave after wave,” “combatant after combatant,” and so on. And let us not forget how often someone brings a weapon “to bear” on someone else.

Now, despite the race issues, there is no deep modern allegory hidden beneath this tale, like you will find in something from, say, Frank Herbert, though Somers does apparently borrow a few minor elements from Herbert’s Dune—the book being set thousands of years in the future; the theme of a global occupation by a foreign power, among other things. Heir to the Throne also draws on several other legendary sagas within the sci-fi realm, though Somers presents them in a manner that seems stripped of a certain lyrical veneer—which is a bit of a detriment, really, as the material begs for a more playful, expressive prose style. Additionally, we are seldom given adequate descriptions of characters’ appearances, be it physical features or manner of dress. This goes for descriptions of settings as well:

The council buildings were as luxurious as any Tiet had seen among the Vorn cities. This one in Baeth Periege was perhaps the most beautiful of them all. He passed through the main hall on his way to the meeting chamber.

That is all we are afforded in the way of a description of the “council buildings.” The character alone knows exactly what these “luxurious” buildings look like, as he “had seen” them “among the Vorn cities.”

That said, Somers’s writing, though sparse, is still descriptive enough in many areas to present vivid scenes that move his story along, need I say at a decent clip, allowing the reader to be thrust into a literary world of rare thrills, intense action, and romance to boot—though the romance I’m referring to comes on a touch too soon, sans a steady buildup, and is therefore unconvincing. The technology-speak, on the other hand, is quite clever.

Stars Wars ostensibly bears the greatest influence over Somers’s storytelling. In fact, in the very first scene depicted in the book—which acts as a teaser—the protagonist, a warrior named Tiet Soone, uses what appears to be Jedi-like powers to stop an enemy from delivering a coup de grâce. When Tiet pulls off extraordinary physical feats—what Somers refers to several times as either “Barudii” or “psycho kinesis”—one cannot help but think of a Jedi’s reliance on, and use of, the Force. Then there is Tiet’s weapon of choice, a “kemstick,” which ejects a dispersion rod that is enveloped by a molecular field that causes it to glow a bright yellow, much like a Jedi’s lightsaber.

Before one gets to the business of calling this a direct rip-off, however, one should be reminded that Stars Wars itself borrows from various sources: Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress for one, a film whose influence George Lucas acknowledges; and the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers adventure serials, among others. Somers, much like Lucas, not only honors the sources he draws from, but he also delivers a saga that is highly entertaining and replete with fresh and original ideas—such as concerns the book’s spiritual underpinnings. This saga is all his own, and, for the most part, it makes for an enjoyable read—or, as the two and a half golden eggs above would indicate, a near worthy one.

While I closed my eyes to the many grammatical errors strewn throughout the book, I have to say that the writing itself needs to be improved in order for the book to qualify as a worthy read. A solid plot alone hardly meets the requirements.

What Exactly is a Small POD Press?

This post is written in response to a reader’s comments regarding my previous post of February 18, 2007, titled, Editorial House Style. There she comments as follows:

Keep in mind that when authors pay you to get their work in print, they have final say. If they'd rather spell "e-mail" with a hyphen, contrary to your house style, that's that. If they insist -- despite your best efforts at gentle persuasion -- on restoring the quadruple exclamation points the copyeditor removed, you have to hold your nose and do their bidding. They're the customer.

Alas it's difficult to enforce a house style when the inmates run the asylum.

When I refer to “small POD presses,” I am not speaking of Lulu.com, iUniverse, and BookSurge, etc. I view those as subsidiary “printers,” as they are all signed with a large printer based in LaVerne, TN. Those “printers,” therefore, as our reader correctly stated, are paid by authors “to get their work[s] in print,” in which case the author, being the “customer,” would be able to do anything they see fit with regard to editorial choices.

The small POD presses I’m referring to, however, are just that, small POD presses, or publishers, who have adopted “traditional” publishing practices, in that they pay their authors a royalty of some sort, and, in some cases, small advances, as opposed to the author paying them to “get their work in print.”

That said, folks who sign up with, say, Lulu.com and subsequently purchase an ISBN to have their book distributed internationally, are not viewed as the publisher of record for that particular book. Lulu.com is. Why is this? Well let’s take a look at the following. According to Bowkerlink.com:

*ISBN Prefix: The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a unique 10-digit number that identifies books and book-like products published internationally. Each ISBN has four parts that are separated by hyphens (e.g., 0-448-09306-5). The ISBN prefix is the part of the ISBN up to the second hyphen (e.g., 0-448). The first part is the country or language area identifier. The second part is the publisher prefix identifier. [Emphasis added]

A publisher prefix is contained in the ISBN itself, and any company that purchases a block of ISBNs from Bowker will be viewed as the publisher of whatever books they assign ISBNs to. Small POD presses, therefore, purchase their own blocks of ISBNs for their publications and are listed as the publisher of record in various databases.

Let’s look at the following product details, taken from Amazon.com. The first contains info on a book I’m currently reviewing. You’ll note that the publisher of record is a small POD press, while the second is Lulu.com.

Whoever published the second book, regardless of what company name they assigned to their publication, that person had to have their book listed as a Lulu.com release, because Lulu owns the ISBN. [Update: See this post for an update on this information.] Breakneck Books, however, is its own entity, and is identified by its publisher prefix. They, in turn, are a small POD press. Instead of being paid to publish the work of authors, Breakneck pays authors who are under contract to them. Lulu.com, iUniverse, and BookSurge, etc., are out of the equation when I make reference to small POD presses. Bear in mind that POD methods are not limited to them.

Editorial House Style

I have noticed that many small POD presses, both new and old, have varying editorial procedures, with some presses applying a higher editorial standard than others. However, not one press, among the ones I’ve come across thus far, have applied what would be considered a house style. Quite frankly, if small POD presses ever intend to play with the big boys, one thing they have to create is a definitive editorial house style and apply it to all their publications. Doing this would not only lift the standard of a particular press’s editorial practice, but it would certainly lend a degree of professionalism to that press.

To establish a house style for your press, all that is required is the creation of a manual of style—or style guide—that lays down a collection of editorial conventions that will be widely observed by any and all editors employed by your company, be it in a fulltime or freelance capacity. The overall goal here is to create consistency. A style guide can easily be culled from an existing editorial style manual, or manuals, such as The Associated Press Stylebook or The Chicago Manual of Style—many established publishers use a mix of both.

Too often I have come across minor, as well as major, inconsistencies (and inaccuracies) in grammar, punctuation, hyphenation, usage, you name it. In fact, a usage note from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition has this to say about the pronoun “each other”:

It is often maintained that each other should be used to denote a reciprocal relation between two entities, with one another reserved for more than two: thus The twins dislike each other but The triplets dislike one another.

Now whether one chooses to embrace this rule or not, the point I’m stressing mainly hinges on the fact that consistency should be maintained. I have even seen inconsistencies and inaccuracies where possessive nouns are concerned. Adding an apostrophe and an s to a single noun in order to create its possessive form (or an apostrophe to a plural noun ending in s) may seem simple enough to some, but many books are sent to press with inconsistencies showing in possessive forms.

So you feel that nouns that end in an s, such as Charles, should not have an additional s following the apostrophe, so be it; just be consistent in your use of the chosen form—I myself feel an additional s is more appropriate, and William Strunk, Jr., according to his rule in Elements of Style, concurs.

I could easily run through a list of other associated issues that could form a long agendum, but time and space do not permit me. One of my many wishes is to see the heads of a few small POD presses take up the reins and apply themselves a little more than they have already, especially as concerns editorial procedure. I hope my addressing the issue will cause some to take notice, and that, at the very least.

What I'm Currently Reading

I'm a quarter way into a sci-fi book that I received from James Somers, The Chronicles of Soone: Heir to the King, the review for which will be posted soon. I’ll be diving into Gregory Connors’s Fractured Veil right after, and that promises to be a long read. If any other submissions are sent my way between now and the time I get around to reviewing Veil, I ask that you please show a little patience, as I put a good deal of time and effort into reading submitted material and writing exhaustive reviews for same.

The Gambling Mockery - A Review

Author: Johann Everitt
Publisher: Athse Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-8973-8407-7
Pages: 78

After sinking my teeth into the first story offered in this book, a story called Chuck Berry, I have to say that I did not feel compelled to read any farther into the 78-page opus, as the story sorely disappoints. The book is called The Gambling Mockery, and promises to take “you into the minds of some of the most fascinating and charismatic risk-takers,” according to the author. Chuck Berry—essentially a tale about a man, a car, and a horse, with a slight twist at the end—fails to take us into anyone’s mind, instead it gets bogged down in too many details (these are stories inspired by real events, mind you) and it is further hampered by poor execution.

There are too many italicized words for one, as well as grammatical issues, spelling errors, misuse of punctuation marks, dialogue in need of doctoring, and the list goes on. I cared little about the outcome of the story and even less for the lead character (if he could even be considered the lead, as several characters pop up all at once, none of them afforded a great deal of opportunity to develop). If there are better offerings in this book, it would have been wise to lead with one of those. Dropping the weakest stories from the book altogether would have been wise also.

Maybe there is something to be learned from this: that perhaps it’s not necessary for all true stories to be fictionalized, or if they are, more care should be taken in their telling. That said, I hope that the author of this book continues to develop his craft and hone his skills. What would help tremendously is a good solid block of reading. If you want to write well, read as much as you can. Devour any and everything that inspires you. Learn from the greats, and in addition to that, if you’re game, join an online writers’ workshop, such as Francis Coppola’s Zoetrope, where other aspiring writers will help you sharpen your skills. But, whatever you do, don’t give up.

A writer, after all, is supposed to write.

“Quality” Control

Seeing I’ve received what looks like a promising book of short stories, a review of that book will appear on this blog soon.
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On a side note, it is difficult to emphasize how hard it is to acquire quality material these days, especially of the POD variety. While it is reasonable to say that the major book publishers leave the majority of writers out there with no choice but to seek small press publishing or to self-publish, quality is hard to come by.

What with the costs of cover designs, interior layouts, copyediting, proofreading, and publicity, among other associated expenses, publishing one book can put a serious dent in a writer or publisher’s working book budget. No wonder many aspiring writers choose to do all of the above themselves, eschewing a lot of overhead that would put them into a considerable hole at the very outset of their literary endeavors.

“Quality,” however, should not be sacrificed because of this. One should, at the very least, know how to design proper covers, or be knowledgeable about laying out book interiors before an attempt is even made in either respect. Editing is entirely another matter, however. The simple rule is, “Never edit thine own work,” but this is not a rule that is readily embraced by most writers of POD material. There are writers who, despite the rule, can and do edit their own work very well, but whether one chooses to put their hand to everything that their book entails, I stress that quality should not be sacrificed.