I met George Cotronis one or two years ago on Facebook. I don't remember the context of the discussion, but he was getting showered in shit for calling out Chuck Wendig on a convo and was making a pretty good point. We started talking and became friends right away. George is one of the most interesting people on social media. He's running Kraken Press, creates cover art for many other publishers, writes columns for LitReactor as well as his own fiction.
George is a sharp guy with a great critical eye and a no bullshit attitude and his mere presence makes the online writing community more interesting. I thought I'd introduce him to you, today because I'm an idiot and I can't keep good things and interesting people to myself. I just don't have that in me. So without further ado, here is the conversation I had with George about writing criticism, internet assholes and the perils of creating cool art.
Ben: So George, there's a lot of writers on the internet. A lot. I mean, we both write fiction ourselves for God's sake. That's how many of us there is. One thing that makes you different is that you're running your own press. Now, when internet writers deal with small presses, they imagine an office ran out of a loft, hiring a bunch of hipsters to copy edit. It's obviously a big fucking cliché. What is it, really? Take us to the process that goes from the slush pile to publication day.
George: Do they? I can't name one small press that's being run out of a loft. That kind of money doesn't exist in small press these days, if it ever did.
I guess that depends on your definition of ''small press'' too. Wikipedia says a small press is a publisher with annual sales below $50 million. I'll tell you when to stop laughing. I'd wager the vast majority of small publishers are being run out of someone's house. Maybe a garage or attic if they're really fancy.
Anyway, back to my favorite subject: me. Kraken Press is run out of my one bedroom apartment in the cold-as-fuck Northern Sweden city I live in. I do have a nice office set up so I'm not working out of a closet or anything, but it's definitely a small operation. Probably as small as it gets.
The only other person involved with Kraken is Gordon White, who is an excellent slush reader and sometimes co-editor. I turned to him to help me choose the last few stories that made it into the AMERICAN NIGHTMARE anthology. He also reads the slush for AGHAST: A JOURNAL OF THE DARKLY FANTASTIC and all our novel submissions.
So what happens first is, I read a couple of pages of every manuscript we get, along with the synopsis. If it looks promising, I let Gordon read a chunk of it and he tells me if it's any good. He has a great eye. If it grabs his interest, I ask for the full manuscript. If I like it, we publish it.
Then nothing happens for a few months, while I deal with all the previous stuff that I had in the pipeline. I'm one person, so everything falls on me.
And after that, we get the book out to an editor, I work on the cover, run it by the author (usually with good results) and we announce the title. At this point there's a big ass delay as I lay out the book (or no delay as I send it off to Lori Michelle to lay out) and then we're done.
The promoting of the new book is probably the worst part. Like chewing glass.
Ben: Is Lori a part of the crew, too or are you hiring her freelance? The fascinating thing about small presses, I find, is that they are driven by art people and not primarily business people. It's why it's been constantly churning out great stuff and why it's always been such a struggle. The game is fundamentally rigged against small presses because they create art before moving product and most times they have no idea who is going to purchase it. Call me cynical if you will, but I see book promotion as some kind of eliminator, like a boxing ring. If you don't want to be there and don't want to claim your place, another publisher is going to take what should be rightfully yours. It's why I like what you're doing with Kraken Press, because you build anticipation for your titles and take care of each of them individually, giving them the attention they deserve. The game is changing because Amazon's feudal system is driving other high profile publishers to the brink of bankruptcy and new players are constantly emerging, it's still a dog fight though.
What's your philosophy on book promotion for small presses? Also, tell us some stories about asshole book promoters. You have an eerie knack for finding the absolute worst people on the internet and these people tend to be self-published authors or amateur book promoters. No need to for names, we just want fucked up stories.
George: Nah, Lori's firmly in the PMMP camp, but yeah, she has worked on some books for Kraken Press and I wanted to give credit where credit is due. Me and Max Booth (of PMMP) have had the same chat almost every other week.
''Why are we doing this?''
''I don't know.''
''Should we stop?''
''Probably.''
''I don't really want to, though.''
''Yeah me neither.''
''Why are we doing this?''
''I don't know.''
''Should we stop?''
''Probably.''
''I don't really want to, though.''
''Yeah me neither.''
Until the next time we're up at the break of dawn dealing with publishing stuff or frustrated about everything.
But yeah, we're small potatoes but treating it seriously, going for quality over quantity. I'm not sure if it's viable, but someone has to publish a good book for every HUNGER GAMES (not saying it's not good, but it's definitely no MOBY DICK. I guess neither are the books we publish, but one of these authors might go on to write one.
Book promotion? Book promotion is a fool's game. The market right now is so competitive that it's almost impossible to get coverage. The big publishers know the deal, so even the worst, least known book blogger gets free copies of the latest hot releases, so you're fighting to get reviews of your quirky horror novel from bloggers who are already holding the latest YA novel with a movie tie-in. It's hard. Social media doesn't really work, as probably already knows by now.
But yeah, we make do. Some reviewers take a chance on our books, some people check our Twitter feed and a book grabs their interest. We build a little following that trusts us.
If you wanna get down to brass tacks, book promotion basically amounts to blasting social media with some previews (blurbs from other authors, the cover, maybe an excerpt), doing the same on day of release, reaching out to a vast amount of reviewers (of which maybe 5% will reply and 1% will review) and copious amounts of praying.
I don't know if I have any stories about book promoters per se. Most of the weirdos I encounter are people that added me on social media and then flew under the radar until their crazy or racism makes itself known. One guy was really upset with me because of a status update I had written after spending like twelve hours reading submissions for AGHAST and rejecting close to 200 stories. I guess he figured I was making fun of the ones that got rejected or something. He described me as a ''nasty character.''
That's what slush reading is though. You read a couple of lines, a paragraph or two and you get an idea of what awaits you. If you see a bunch of spelling errors in those first lines, that's it you're done. It's not polished, the author didn't care to proofread, the chances of it being good are minuscule. Meanwhile there's another 700 stories waiting by people who actually gave a fuck. And before you say ''well, sometimes mistakes slip through,'' let me stop you. Yeah they do. I make them too. But I don't expect to get published when I send a submission to Nightmare Magazine and say ''I'd like to submit my story to Clarkesworld Magazine.'' You take your licks, you keep going.
I don't have beef with any book bloggers. I've made fun of some in the past, for being ultra specific about their preferences (''I like vampire books but only if they protagonist is a black male who like tacos'') and then get upset when you make a mistake somewhere in their 2000 words diatribe about what kind of books they like.
Ben: Well, speaking as a book blogger and a web marketer in the day job, I can assure you there's another side to that medal also. Too many small publishers see ARCs and review copies as a lost sale, which is stupid and counterproductive. I got 134,000 unique visitors this year (count maybe a 20% Google crawlers visiting about once a month, making sure my pages are referenced.), I go out of my way being nice to a publisher, telling them I take interest in their book and then, they send me a freakin' .pdf. If I ask for a .mobi they stop answering or they get angry. Neither of these reactions is going to translate into book sales. If you don't want your featured on a website well on its way finish the year with 150,000 unique visitors, be my guest. It's short sighted, you should aim for the reader you know, you should aim for the reader you know to get you readers you don't know.
Anyway.
I'm planning a blog post on that.
Also, I don't want to hurt your feelings or anything, but you are kind of a nasty character and it's the greatest thing about you. Keyword being ''character'' here. You have a great critical eye and you think for yourself, which are two things that will get you hated on social media by people who want to succeed and don't have the skills or the humility to do so. Seeing Max Booth and you raising hell on social media and beating the wackos out of the bushes has been a source of endless entertainment for me. Whether you like it or not, what you're doing is important and small press publishing is going to be a worse place if you people stop doing it. Who's the guy behind the social media terror? What makes you thick as a publisher/author/reader? Would you say you're hard to impress? I know I'm not, so when I say a movie/book is bad, it usually is because I'm right!
George: Oh I can imagine. The other thing about that, which we've talked about before, is book bloggers who expect to get personalized emails about every book they receive. Which is 100% valid, because you're going through all the trouble of reading and reviewing a book, all without getting paid. About the only payoff you can expect outside your readers appreciating your work, is the publisher appreciating your work and developing a personal relationship with you.
That kind of a thing takes two though. There's no way to fake or force it. So I guess what I'm saying is, if I ever send you a form letter and ask you to review a Kraken Press book, just write me back, you don't have to review it, I'm down to talk about books and beer. I'd love to.
I don't think I'm a nasty character. I think I'm pretty nice to everybody who actually knows me and to whom I'm not a user name on social media who likes to yell at things. I play an angry guy on the Internet because the Internet is dumb. I'm not out to get a reaction, but in the endless void that social media is, the only valid use I find for it is to be honest with your opinions and call out things that are wrong. I don't understand people who say ''let's be positive.'' Let's not. The writing community needs criticism to survive and grow. Not every book is great, not every author is amazing, not every publisher puts out good work. If everything is good, then nothing is good. I know it's a small industry/community, but there is nothing to be gained by patting each other in the back all day and pretending we're all great at everything we do.
Don't get me wrong, I rarely talk shit about authors I know, because like I said above, I don't have it in me to be that mean. Sometimes I'll talk about someone's book that I didn't like and they'll appear on my Facebook status and yell at me and it's always hilarious. Look dude, I didn't like your book, I'm sorry. We're professionals, you don't have to block me on Facebook because I stated ''I kinda didn't like this one.'' I'm sorry your book is a dumb Buzzfeed list or that other one that's 200 pages of rape. Maybe your audience is out there, but it's not me. We can still be friends.
When it comes to publishers that are being shady, most of that is just me and Max talking about it and then I'll take my best zinger and post it as a status update. Then Max will show up, make a better joke and sooner or later the guilty party will come and yell at us (never to defend themselves, but exclusively to call us mean names). God forbid we give a shit about the industry we work in. Then inevitably some hanger-ons will show up months later and claim that they're doing things right now, forgetting we were the sole reason they ever changed.
Literally, with Horrified Press, I've had idiots come up to me and tell me about how they (HP) now provide their authors with digital copies of the books they're published in and a royalty. Which they never did before me and Max called them out on their practices a couple of years ago. So now I'm getting yelled at for being a liar by some dude who can barely walk on two legs at his evolutionary stage, for ''lying'' about the practices they changed because of me.
I am hard to impress. At a certain point, I'll judge everyone at the highest level. I can't read a book and say ''well, it's their first novel, maybe their next one will be better, it's pretty good for a twenty-five year-old.'' There is no value in that. Maybe their mom can think like that, but I can't. I read a lot and there are some great books getting published every day. I see no reason to be mealymouthed about the ones I don't like. On the other hand, if I really like a book, I'll shout that from the rooftops as well. I really liked RESOLUTION, a pretty smart indie horror flick that came out a couple of years ago. I must have forced at least twenty of my friends to watch it. The directors behind it are blowing up now (I'm not implying any kind of connection. Talent rises to the top).
I mean, is THE AVENGERS a good movie? I think it's a piece of shit. In the context of cinema, it's a piece of shit. Maybe you had fun watching it with your buddies on the big screen and eating popcorn, with the sound system fucking your eardrums right out of your skull, but it will never be a good movie no matter how hard you try to argue it because you're an idiot manchild. Am I saying that everyone who likes superhero movies is an idiot? No. But if you're trying to argue that they're good movies (outside of the context of ''I spent 2 hours watching this and remember nothing except fight scenes, so I guess I had a fun time"), then yeah, you're probably a monumental idiot with no appreciation for film.
Ben: I agree there is no value in avoiding the issues of a book or a movie. I've struggled a lot with how to formulate criticism because I've taken a motherload of horseshit for some reviews over the years, which lead to really intense personal attacks. You know the kind.
"This book sucks for X and X reasons."
"YOU suck, I've read your stories and they are terrible?"
"Really? How so?''
''You should stop writing. Rid the world of the filth that is you. Stop writing. Stop writing.''
It sounds stupid, but it gnaws at your confidence after a while.
If I don't fall in love head over heels with a book, the next best thing I can do is point out the flaws so that my readers can know what to expect and the authors can work on their stuff. I'm a good audience most times though. What I don't like is for a narrative to insult my intelligence as a reader/viewer. Then I go berserk. I usually don't like didactic stuff that tells me I'm an idiot for not sharing the beliefs of the author no matter how righteous it is. If an entire novel tries to tell me that child molesting is evil and that child abuse survivors are courageous, well fuck that author for thinking I might need convincing of that.
I like your approach to social media, man. You're very confrontational, but you're not fighting windmills, you go to work on issues you can solve as you've given an example above. There's a lot of fucking dreamers who think that bitching on their newsfeed is going to change society, but you're not one of them. You're a passionate guy and that earned my respect quite quick.
You still didn't answer my question, man. What makes you tick, artistically speaking? What are the standards that define the hardest person to convince that I know?
George: Hey, sometimes I think about the director or the crew of a movie I trashed trolling Google for reviews and reading mine and being upset. They put work in, they got a movie made and distributed and here I am shitting on it. But if I'm playing the reviewer, then this is my job. I review and I entertain. If that means making fun of your movie, then so be it.
What makes me tick?
Man, I don't know. I write and create because it's the only thing that's not meaningless. Not trying to be dramatic or anything, but it's one of the few things I find fulfilling. Publishing is another; bringing quality books I believe in, to readers, is the next best thing. I look for original books. Which isn't saying anything, because that's what everyone would say as the head of an imprint. So I guess I'm like everyone else?
I published Richard Thomas's collection STARING INTO THE ABYSS because he had some real gut-punchers in there, interspersed with some dope genre stories. I published GINA FRENCH IS NOT A WASTE OF ROOFIES because it was raw and gritty as fuck. I liked the protagonist. I published THE MIND IS A RAZORBLADE because it's weird as hell and I just loved it to death. Thing was kind of a post-pulp horror novel that was actually intelligent. The things we have coming out this year, is a New Adult Post-Apocalyptic novel that I chose to publish because I think the subgenre needs something to hold back the tide of garbage that its currently seeing. The other one is just this insane Lovecraftian novel about women in Innsmouth. The idea is so obvious I don't know why someone didn't already write it.
I just like cool shit. You can tell on the page when what you're reading is real and when it's something that not even the author gave a fuck about.