artists – Ted Clifton's Grain of Salt Commentary

Annual Decision Day?

It is my annual decision day when I consider the pros and cons of continuing with the book writing journey which I started some ten years ago. The decision is not based on facts, but here are some.

More books are being published and sold in US than ever before.

Zippia.com (source of all statistics and data in this post)

Seventy-six percent in 2020 were Hardback and Paperback. E-Books were 9%. Does that surprise you? It did me. What distorts that some is those precents are for revenue. So, 76% of the revenue is from hardback and paperback, not number of books. For one $25 hardback it takes 25 of the $.99 eBooks to equal the dollars. Still my impression was that hardbacks were declining –they are not!

Why is it then that almost everyone I know is reading less? Many of the people I talk to or listen to say they do not read at all. The easy answer is that all the people I know are illiterate dummies. Is that the answer? There was a time in my life when I had many conversations with friends about books. The latest and greatest or even the most disappointing book we had recently read. It was normal, now it would be strange. It never happens anymore. The people I know don’t even talk about my books because they have not read them. I’m willing to admit to having lousy friends but it sure seems like a trend to me—so more books are being sold but nobody talks about them?

Obviously, that can’t be true, so it’s back to my contacts not being readers but the rest of the world is reading and discussing. Maybe I need to get out more?

Indie book growth.

Maybe by 2021 the number of indie books is pushing 2 million. Let’s say each author averaged 2 books (this makes easy math) so there are 1 million indie authors. Note, I have no idea the average number of books written per author, but I would guess that the majority is one book, but there will be indie authors who have written 80—but 2 seemed like a good guess. This starts to explain all those book marketing sites and people hustling indie authors—there are truckloads of customers out there who have no idea what they’re doing. Sucker alert!

It is interesting, if I’m interpreting this chart correctly, the number of new indie books per year has leveled off and was a “small” 300 thousand in 2019. So, using the same 2 book average per author that would represent 150,000 indie authors, it’s possible that represents the “active” number of authors in the indie world with something like 850,000 who published something at one time but are no longer active. Fewer suckers, sorry sellers!

On the other hand, if that chart is saying there are 1.7M NEW indie books in 2019, everything I said above is not accurate. I just can’t imagine there are that many new releases in a year in the US—but it is not clear in the article that sources this info.

If you’re a writer what does this mean? Probably nothing! There is a huge market for books, but indies are capturing a small piece of the pie. Any one indie author can be doing okay, but most are just getting crumbs.

The path to success is writing good books and continuing to write. The other key to success is to have plenty of money so you can continue to spend on your dream even though the returns are poor. Then the big number one key kicks in: LUCK! Yep, old tried and true basis for much success, ~~stupid~~ luck.

I have spent considerable time and money producing 14 books to date. Have enjoyed some level of success but not notable monetary success. I consistently blame myself for not being a better marketing and promotion person. I write books, alone; how is there any logic in suddenly being someone who wants to interact with people and be a self-promoter.

I’ve read my books and I like them. Wow, what a shock, author likes his own books! Before I wrote I was a reader. Hundreds of books per year. I devoured books. I thought I was an expert on what was good and what was bad, what made me like an author, what did not. Of course, it’s hard to be objective with your own stuff, but I like my stuff. I will pause for the laugher to die down. The point I’m trying to make is that while my books are not going to be in the “best book ever written” category, they are good entertainment with interesting locations and characters. But still no real level of success.

This is my annual decision point on whether I want to continue this activity and toss more money into the fire pit or just quit.

If you’re a creative person you have been here, maybe many times.

Many years ago, I gave up thinking about making money with my art. From that point on if I did something creative in art it was for me, nobody else. I didn’t want to sell or make any money off the art. It’s my stuff and I like it. I continued to do art, but it was different. Less intense with huge periods of nothing.

Maybe the writing should fall into that category. There does seem to be a difference though, I can paint for myself but not sure I can write a book for myself. Often a piece of art is maybe a day or two, a book? My quickest book took several months, the longest time was almost two years and, of course, I have Durango Two Step buried in the basement for at least that long with no end in sight. Writing a book does not take a short amount of time; and the big kicker is the investment. For me, my average book costs me multiple thousands of dollars to produce. A quality book utilizing the talents of many people for covers, formatting interiors, editing and other elements requires substantial time and money.

I won’t give you the answer right now since I don’t know the answer. Usually, I will decide to quit and then decide not too several times. This annual process so far has resulted in me continuing the author journey with hopes of doing better, but this time, who knows.

My books in order are:

The Originals (I consider this book a training exercise. It is no longer available).
The Bootlegger’s Legacy
Dog Gone Lies
Sky High Stakes
Murder So Wrong
Murder So Strange
Santa Fe Mojo
Blue Flower Red Thorns
Murder So Final
Fiction No More
Four Corners War
How to Sell Your Business Without a Broker
How to Start and Run a Successful Small Business
Book Alert!

In progress:

Doctor Hightower (80% done.)
Durango Two Step (50% done.)
Vegas Dead End (10% done.)

Ted Clifton’s Blog and Newsletter–A Different Approach

This blog has existed for several years. I think there are something like 200 posts—most of which were done on an irregular schedule. Over the last year or so the posts have generally been every week—with exceptions.

During that same time, I have produced a monthly newsletter. The newsletter goes out as an email.

The blog has mostly been relatively short (average about 800 words) opinion pieces focusing on writing, books, marketing books and the overall process of producing independent books. Some of the posts have been off subject and amounted to my opinion on a variety of subjects (Rambling). The rambling opinion blogs have become more common over the last six months or so. I like to ramble.

The newsletter has incorporated some of the blog posts along with articles related directly to my books, such as stories about locations in the books, restaurants/bars featured in the books, regional food tied to New Mexico, favorite authors/artists tied to the southwest—all generally very book focused.

People who read the blog are not the same as people who have signed up for the newsletter, although there is a little overlap.

I’ve decided it is time to take on a little different approach. The blog and the newsletter will share content, and each will go out on a semi-monthly basis. Each will be distributed on/or about the 1^st and the 15^th of the month. The blog will feature one opinion piece while the newsletter will feature more. The more will be opinion pieces written by guest contributors.

Now I hope this will be the fun part—the contributors will be characters from my books along with some “real” people. If you have not read my books the names of the “real” people and the fictional people might blend. The first contributors will be Ray Pacheco and Tommy Jacks. Ray Pacheco has been featured in four books: The Bootlegger’s Legacy and the Pacheco & Chino series. Tommy Jacks is the protagonist in the Muckraker series. Believe it or not those characters have distinct voices in my head and it’s not just my opinion—yes, I am signing up for therapy.

These changes are coming about so that I can consolidate some of the time spent producing these publications. Plus, I wanted to get away from the totally book focused newsletter. It had started to feel very repetitious to me; and possibly boring.

You and others may hate this—if so let me know. But I think it could be fun and even (ugh!) informative. The fun part for me is writing in other peoples’ voices. I know this is just strange, but these characters have real meaning for me, and it will be a blast stating their unique opinions in areas that fit those characters. Well at least that is the plan.

As a blog reader you might want to consider signing up for the email distributed newsletter. The newsletter (and now this blog) will be under the heading Grain-of-Salt Commentary. Even if you have not read my books the point-of-view of these guest contributors could be interesting and amusing.

Preview of First Guest Commentary

Them Verses Us

By Ray Pacheco (ex-Sheriff Dona Ana County, New Mexico)

It’s been a while since I was active in law enforcement. That’s allowed me some time to think about the whole mess and what needs to be done.

When I started my career there was a real sense of community involvement. That ‘protect and serve’ BS was real to me. It was my community, and my desire was to help people. Somehow things have gotten kind of messed up. Even some of the cops who worked for me in New Mexico were different. Their attitude was not as a protector but as an aggressor. They were going to find the bad guys and make them pay. I found that very disturbing and it contributed to my retirement. I couldn’t deal with the macho bullshit and the obvious hatred of any other authority except law enforcement.

People in law enforcement specifically and the criminal justice system in general are a lot like everyone else, they tend to associate with people who think like they do. It may be a silly saying but “birds of a feather flock together” is reality. If you’re a plumber you hang around with plumbers; if you’re a lawyer you associate with other lawyers—it’s natural, it’s the way it is. Cops hang out with cops. This creates a small circle of thought. There is not a lot of negative feedback being tossed into that pool. I was the sheriff in a county where the largest town was maybe a hundred thousand, the smallest was maybe fifty people. In those size communities you get to know a lot of people, but mostly you get to know the bad guys and the civic leaders. In Dona Ana County, New Mexico, I knew the families that were going to cause problems and I knew the families that thought they ran everything and craved power. The top and the bottom folks were the people I dealt with. The other people, the majority, I had very little to do with, and this can distort your viewpoint.

more on the 15th

Sign up today for the Newsletter’s first new edition on the 15th

Dreams and Hopes

Selling art and selling books feels like the same world. You, as an artist or writer, are a small drop in the huge ocean. Thousands, or maybe millions, of artists and writers around the world are creating and selling their stuff; often very good stuff. Dominating the whole process are these large, nee huge, web sites who sell art and books—best and biggest example; Amazon. In the art world there are FineArtAmerica and ArtPal along with many more. They are very functional with huge data bases of art ready for the consumer to browse and chose great looking art and products for their personal use at relatively small prices. The artist gets a small (very small?) piece of that sale.

My ebooks are exclusive to Amazon for several good reasons; some economic and some convenience. The largest cost for marketing my Amazon books is paying Amazon to promote them in this sea of competing books. I don’t know the number of indie authors Amazon has as an exclusive, but it has to be hundreds of thousands. Their product ads are sold to this somewhat captive audience. It’s a brilliant business strategy. Now, of course, those authors chose to be in this situation so it is not Amazon’s fault that it works better for them than the authors; that’s just how it is. I’m not particularly happy with this system but don’t know how it should be changed. Of course the obvious solution is fewer authors—but if they started excluding certain authors –I might be gone. So, that’s not a good solution.

When I first started writing, maybe ten years ago or so; I was deeply absorbed by the writing experience. It was hard work (which I think surprises non-writers), but I enjoyed the whole troubling process. Even the editing and debates over cover design. Everything felt important and creative. Having those first books show up on Amazon and start generating sales and reviews was thrilling. I fretted over every negative review and redoubled my efforts to write a perfect book.

Now I spend more time marketing/promoting than I do writing. It doesn’t feel productive.

The art has many of the same characteristics as writing. Creating art is energizing. I can become absorbed in the process. Sometimes I will labor on artwork for hours and hours; or sometimes it is more inspiration than perspiration. I once did a sketch in a matter of minutes as a present for my brother’s birthday. We were headed out for the party and realized we had not purchased a gift. I did a quick charcoal sketch and thought it was one of the best pieces I had ever done. My brother loved it—of course, he was my brother.

Marketing art is worse than books. While the web sites have many tools, they are not the equivalent of Amazon and books. My art is purchased for decorating. Colors, designs, hues, blends, shapes all have some aspect in the decision process but in odd ways the art is all the same. A book is very distinct, good or bad—it is usually unique. Art starts to all blend together in shapes and colors. Does this match my sofa? How would this look in the hallway? Those are valid decisions but very subjective.

My art is bold, graphical and colorful. One critic, who actually liked my stuff, described it as “primitive.” He was describing a certain art style not suggesting I was ape like (or at least, I don’t think so). Books are personal but art is very, very personal. A good PI mystery can be enjoyable even if your preference is sci-fi. Art seems to fit into narrower and narrower categories. “I only like pictures of flowers or birds!”

One of the great things about all of the internet stuff and digital this and that is the availability of amazing art and great books at ridiculous prices. You could probably spend a lifetime reading nothing but free books (or maybe up your limit to $2.99) and never run out of options. And there is incredible art for very low prices that can be delivered right to your door—ready to hang. My art is available on towels, handbags, face masks, pillows, shower curtains(?), and on and on. Unique art on anything and everything.

***I know it’s my own design–but I bought this pillow and I really like it.***

All of this access is good; but I wonder if there is too much of something does it start to lose value. A thousand free e-books on Amazon today may lessen the value of those books, or even all books. The best-selling book last week was the tell-all gossip book about Trump by his niece. I’m sure someone thought that was an important book (maybe the niece, since it sold a million copies in one day at full price). That book had value because it was unique or sensational; but a free mystery book has little value—so why even bother downloading if its worthless, much less take the time to read it.

The plus side to all of this is a monstrous marketplace for all sorts of creative endeavors that has never existed before. As a consumer of art or books or most anything creative the supply has never been this vast, this accessible or this cheap.

For the artist and writer, the opportunities have never been this wide open. Pre-internet book publishing was controlled by a very few publishers who had more gate-keepers than editors. The snobbery of publishing was legendary; don’t know someone important, fuck-off. The art world was controlled by academics and a few odd-ball loonies. Not a member of this elite class; then you know –F-off. All of those barriers have collapsed. Today you have to compete with the hordes of other authors and artists, but you are competing. The doors are wide open.

It is still a very small number who reach their financial dreams being creative, but the number of people who can now legitimately dream of that kind of success is almost unlimited. Dreams and hope have great value. We are lucky we live in this time.

Free the Artists

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before (okay, several times) that my first ambition was to be an artist. I wanted to paint and live in Santa Fe. In most cases I envisioned myself as a very successful artist—in other words, wealthy; so the Santa Fe experience was not exactly starving artist territory. With more than I care to mention years under my belt, I can look back and realize what I really wanted was freedom. Being an artist was freedom of the mind, and being rich was freedom of all of the boring stuff people did to make a living. It was always just a fantasy life. A life seldom achieved by anyone.

Few artists are really free. They are most likely tormented by their failures, which are often on public display. All creative activities are subjective. One person might think your stuff is the best in the world, the next person says it’s trash. Intellectually that is easy to understand; but at some level it hurts to create and have anyone say it’s no good. Creating something, music, art, writing bares a private part of the artist.

During my on again off again activities as an artist, I’ve probably created a few hundred pieces of art; some good, some not so good. When I look at some of this art I did thirty, forty years ago it’s as if someone else did it. I have no memory of the art, or why I painted such a thing. Some of my earliest art was to decorate our house—sure couldn’t afford to buy anything. Here, I will sketch out something and we will tack it the wall, viola—a work of art? One of the strangest was when I decided an old abandoned (thrown away!) piece of barn door suddenly looked like art to me. I hung this very heavy object on our wall—it was okay until it wasn’t, things started to emerge. Decided the door was best left to the trash heap. Good art should not have things crawling on it.

Currently working on photographing all of my art. Hopefully, in the next few months will have most of the “good” stuff available to view (and purchase) in a new art gallery. This will include some digital pieces I did years ago, along with my acrylic paintings and watercolors. I have popped some of the digital work into this blog on occasion.

Once everything is up and running, I will let you know how to view the gallery. For now, there are some images available at www.tedclifton.com/artwork.htm

I have bitched and moaned about the lack of baseball for several months. Well, it looks like there will be baseball in a few weeks. I’ll have to find something else to bitch and moan about—but don’t worry already working on a list.

Have a free book promotion running Monday, July 13^th on Amazon for Santa Fe Mojo. This is the first book in the Vincent Malone series. Malone is one of my favorite characters. A flawed loner who messed up his life by succumbing to his weaknesses. He’s someone who is comfortable being good or bad; based on the circumstances. Should have been a huge success, but with his fatal flaws, he became someone who just gets by. While running away from everything, he rediscovers his worth in Santa Fe, reluctantly helping others.

Favorite Artists

In my monthly newsletter I have featured authors and artists whose work I enjoy. The list of these people would be all over the map; from famous to unknown. The only common element is that I like their stuff. Personal preference is a fascinating human characteristic. Why does one person think an artist is the greatest in the world, and someone else can describe the art as trash? This can often be people who, on most matters, agree; but when it comes to art or writing see the world through different lenses.

For no reason, other than not to dwell on covid-19 or politics, I was giving thought to my favorite painters. With only scant thought, I came up with a list of eight. What I immediately saw was a common theme of bold colors. The one exception was Monet; with his softer tones but engaging imagery. I like abstract, I like somewhat realistic, I like color, I like daring images with bold hues. Not sure what this pattern is or isn’t? The famous quote “I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like” is a way of saying that the best art is just personal preference. The fact that a list of the top fifty artists would have mostly the same names has to do with who compiles those lists and their native biases.

My list has famous names not because they are famous, but because I like their stuff. But, also, it’s because those are the artists I know. Many, many artists never become known outside a very small following (thanks, mom!). In that “who the hell is that list,” I’m sure there are artists who could replace Picasso as my favorite—but only if I know they exist.

Painters and indie-authors share this lost in the crowd problem.

My list of favorite artists (at this moment):

Pablo Picasso

Claude Monet

Henri Matisse

Jackson Pollock

Andy Warhol

Georgia O’Keeffe

Vincent Van Gogh

Diego Rivera

O’Keeffe and Van Gogh probably had the most influence over my attempts at art. O’Keeffe in particular, due to our shared fascination with the landscapes of New Mexico. While Van Gogh was a Dutch painter, many of his paintings had the same sense of space and color as O’Keeffe.

Art and fiction writing are two distinct areas of expression, but for me they have a lot in common. The stories in art are usually less obvious, but the stories exist just the same. Fictional murder mysteries are not art in the sense of a Diego Rivera painting but the attempt to tell a story in words has a lot in common with painting. Some stories are bold and jump out at you with a sudden explosion of emotion; while others build a story layer by layer until the picture becomes clear and meaningful.

Okay, my favorite, favorite artist of the unknown variety.

Ted Clifton

New book by one of my favorite authors. His “The Devil in the White City” is one of my all-time favorites. Have not read this new book but I would bet it is terrific.