I am always interested in finding out other people's points of view on the writer's journey. I'm on several writer's loops, a member of several writer's groups and read writer's blogs. The interesting thing is that no two writer's journeys are the same. Some gush about how great there editor is. Others talk about how bad their editor is. The same with agents. There are reported agents who help "doctor" manuscripts to take them to the bestseller lists, agents who walk writer's through their career goals and agents who supposedly call back and e-mail you more than once a year. I'm always amazed at how different other people's experiences are from mine. And, after twelve years in the business, I have come to understand that no one has the "best" experience. There is no right or wrong. All you can do is the best with what is presented to you and clearly the differences are as varied as finger prints.
I try to educate myself as best I can on contracts, agents, publishing houses, etc. Still two other writers, starting off the same as I, (same house, same print run) can end up in vastly different places. They might have an agent that plucks them from the masses and tells them-write this- and voila they are getting amazing print runs (numbers of books produced by the publisher). Or they may get a call from an editor who asks for such and such type of book-bam, they hit the best seller lists. Or they sell one book and are discouraged by the lack of notice and quit writing all together. (Some of these people are the best writers in the bunch.)
It's a crazy business filled with "helpful" people telling you what you're not doing right and how, if you follow their advice, you'll be rich and famous within the next six months. Or worse, bragging about how rich and famous they are because they are superior writers..of course... cough, cough.
All you can do is gather as much information as possible and make decisions that are best for you. Allow your own journey to develop how it will and try not to get run over when some one hollers there's a fire sale on paranormals and every one rushes to publish that.
Remember, writers sell stories for a living. Don't let their stories discourage you from living your own.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Olympic thoughts
I'm following the Olympics. Is it bad to root for other countries? I catch myself rooting for individuals. For example: Swimmers, yes, I root for Michael Phelps as I enjoy watching Tiger Woods. But I found in the race without MP, I rooted for the Korean boy who fell into the water four years ago and was disqualified. Only to return this time and take the first ever gold medal in swimming for Korea. The second place winner of that race won the first ever medal in swimming for his country. So I was very happy to see the American take third place...we win medals all the time. I suppose this is unpatriotic. I also suppose it is hard on the American who spent a lifetime preparing for his shot at gold an only got a bronze medal. Still, how can you not enjoy the other countries and their stories? How can you not root for them as well?
Something else... Ms. Torres...age 41 with a well trained body...don't look through my television set and tell me that anyone is capable of being middle aged and doing what you are doing. That puts too much pressure of those of us not living a lifetime of training. There is no way I could spend ten hours a day training and race the way you do. To begin with I'd have to learn how to do a swimmer's flip. I'd have to figure out how to perfect the strokes- things you've had thirty five years to perfect. My body isn't your body. My brain is not your brain. Ugh. Nothing worse than seeing another impossible ideal grinning on the television telling me that if I only worked hard enough I could achieve the same thing. It's a falsehood meant to sell gym memberships and diet products. Everyone of us is limited by our own personal choices, background, environment and physical limitations. The honest truth is not every dream can be reached. Don't get me wrong- I believe that if you have a dream or a talent you should pursue it. But everyone is different. There are thousands of other well toned, well trained swimmers out there who never made the Olympics... telling us we can all do it just shoves their faces in reality. Stop it. Better to say you are lucky-you work hard-but luck has a lot to do with it as well.
Those who say, "Dream big or go home" are missing the point. A dream no matter how small is there to play with...not to show off about. So, my motto is dream. Its that simple and yet that achievable for everyone...even non-Americans.
Something else... Ms. Torres...age 41 with a well trained body...don't look through my television set and tell me that anyone is capable of being middle aged and doing what you are doing. That puts too much pressure of those of us not living a lifetime of training. There is no way I could spend ten hours a day training and race the way you do. To begin with I'd have to learn how to do a swimmer's flip. I'd have to figure out how to perfect the strokes- things you've had thirty five years to perfect. My body isn't your body. My brain is not your brain. Ugh. Nothing worse than seeing another impossible ideal grinning on the television telling me that if I only worked hard enough I could achieve the same thing. It's a falsehood meant to sell gym memberships and diet products. Everyone of us is limited by our own personal choices, background, environment and physical limitations. The honest truth is not every dream can be reached. Don't get me wrong- I believe that if you have a dream or a talent you should pursue it. But everyone is different. There are thousands of other well toned, well trained swimmers out there who never made the Olympics... telling us we can all do it just shoves their faces in reality. Stop it. Better to say you are lucky-you work hard-but luck has a lot to do with it as well.
Those who say, "Dream big or go home" are missing the point. A dream no matter how small is there to play with...not to show off about. So, my motto is dream. Its that simple and yet that achievable for everyone...even non-Americans.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Romance Writer's Awards
This weekend was the annual Romance Writer's of America conference. This culminates with Saturday night's RITA awards. The awards are the Oscars of the romance world as thousands of books are narrowed down to a handful of finalists. All entries are judged by their peers-fellow romance writers. If you are looking for the best of the best-according to their fellow authors then go to the link below (copy and paste in your browser) and see who won.
http://www.rwanational.org/cs/contests_and_awards/2008_rita_and_gh_winners
Remember- these are not readers picks, but romance writers picks for the best in their category. Enjoy!
http://www.rwanational.org/cs/contests_and_awards/2008_rita_and_gh_winners
Remember- these are not readers picks, but romance writers picks for the best in their category. Enjoy!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Looking for Meaning
I read an article about creative people recently. A psychologist stated that creative people look for meaning in every moment of their lives. My reply to this statement is: doesn't everyone?
We look for answers in our tea leaves, in the moon glow, in prayer. We look for meaning in cards, and the pattern of moles on our arms. We look for meaning in God, in family, in friends. Love comes we ask, why? Love goes we cry, why? Someone is born. Is that a sign? Someone dies. Another sign? Does the fact that my potato chip looks like a dead president mean I'm going to come into money? When you find a penny do you pick it up and know that all day you'll have good luck?
The point of the article was to relax on the hunt for meaning. Sometimes a duck is just a duck. But sometimes it means you should duck because a foam pie is headed toward your face. The fun part comes when you have to decide whether there is meaning or not.
We look for answers in our tea leaves, in the moon glow, in prayer. We look for meaning in cards, and the pattern of moles on our arms. We look for meaning in God, in family, in friends. Love comes we ask, why? Love goes we cry, why? Someone is born. Is that a sign? Someone dies. Another sign? Does the fact that my potato chip looks like a dead president mean I'm going to come into money? When you find a penny do you pick it up and know that all day you'll have good luck?
The point of the article was to relax on the hunt for meaning. Sometimes a duck is just a duck. But sometimes it means you should duck because a foam pie is headed toward your face. The fun part comes when you have to decide whether there is meaning or not.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
A Changing World
Two very interesting articles crossed my inbox this week.
One was an alert from the Authors Guild letting us know that Simon and Schuster, Inc. was trying to change it's contract language regarding electronic rights. It wants to own the author's electronic rights-and pay them only 15 percent royalty. This is important for a couple of reasons: 1) electronic books do not carry the over head and production costs of printed books. Thus authors have demanded their fair share of the monies. Average royalties on electronic books should run 30 percent. 2) Electronic books do not ever go out of print. An author contracts with a publisher to publish their books until the book goes "out of print" - in other words the publisher has moved on and the book is no longer available. After this agreed upon period of time that a book is "out of print" an author can re-sell the book to a new publisher who will see the book gets into new readers hands. If a publisher keeps your electronic rights, you can never re-sell a book and income for the author is lost. For example- a collection of books written for Harlequin gets 6 weeks of shelf time each. If after say 5 years, an author regains the rights to these works because they are "out of print" and unavailable to the public. She/he can resell them as a group to a single title publisher and gain longer shelf time. This gives readers a chance to read older works they might have missed. And gives good stories new life. But -you say- with electronic books they will always be available to the public. My question to you is-will you as the reader go out of your way to discover lost titles? Isn't it more likely you are waiting in line at the store- and see a book from your favorite author-pick it up- and joyously discover three stories you've not read yet? Hmmm- in fact a recent study on book buyers habits revealed just that. Buyers are more likely to impulse buy. I know, I do.
Now to make things even more interesting-an article on Forbes.com also appeared in my inbox. This article talked about how Amazon - the biggest on-line bookstore in the world- is positioning itself to become the biggest publisher. They have recently acquired a print on-demand publisher. And could be poised to bypass publishers, agents and editors and simply deal straight with authors. The article suggests that Amazon could give the author 30 to 40 percent royalties and still make 70 percent of the profits. Hmmmm
With the idea of bypassing agents, editors and publishers and going straight to the public-an author's potential income can double. It makes a writer think twice before signing with New York. Especially with New York doing their best to take away your rights.
Will we see this brave new world soon? I'm not certain. Self-publishing-even with Amazon-is a huge risk. Right now, publishing with New York holds a certain cache. It means you have arrived. Sort of like owning a high end designer handbag. It only works as long as authors buy into the idea. As New York ask authors to do more of their own editing, marketing and publicity-then cut their income- cache might just lose its appeal. Authors may just turn their backs on an ancient system and start earning a living wage.
It's a brave new world. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.
One was an alert from the Authors Guild letting us know that Simon and Schuster, Inc. was trying to change it's contract language regarding electronic rights. It wants to own the author's electronic rights-and pay them only 15 percent royalty. This is important for a couple of reasons: 1) electronic books do not carry the over head and production costs of printed books. Thus authors have demanded their fair share of the monies. Average royalties on electronic books should run 30 percent. 2) Electronic books do not ever go out of print. An author contracts with a publisher to publish their books until the book goes "out of print" - in other words the publisher has moved on and the book is no longer available. After this agreed upon period of time that a book is "out of print" an author can re-sell the book to a new publisher who will see the book gets into new readers hands. If a publisher keeps your electronic rights, you can never re-sell a book and income for the author is lost. For example- a collection of books written for Harlequin gets 6 weeks of shelf time each. If after say 5 years, an author regains the rights to these works because they are "out of print" and unavailable to the public. She/he can resell them as a group to a single title publisher and gain longer shelf time. This gives readers a chance to read older works they might have missed. And gives good stories new life. But -you say- with electronic books they will always be available to the public. My question to you is-will you as the reader go out of your way to discover lost titles? Isn't it more likely you are waiting in line at the store- and see a book from your favorite author-pick it up- and joyously discover three stories you've not read yet? Hmmm- in fact a recent study on book buyers habits revealed just that. Buyers are more likely to impulse buy. I know, I do.
Now to make things even more interesting-an article on Forbes.com also appeared in my inbox. This article talked about how Amazon - the biggest on-line bookstore in the world- is positioning itself to become the biggest publisher. They have recently acquired a print on-demand publisher. And could be poised to bypass publishers, agents and editors and simply deal straight with authors. The article suggests that Amazon could give the author 30 to 40 percent royalties and still make 70 percent of the profits. Hmmmm
With the idea of bypassing agents, editors and publishers and going straight to the public-an author's potential income can double. It makes a writer think twice before signing with New York. Especially with New York doing their best to take away your rights.
Will we see this brave new world soon? I'm not certain. Self-publishing-even with Amazon-is a huge risk. Right now, publishing with New York holds a certain cache. It means you have arrived. Sort of like owning a high end designer handbag. It only works as long as authors buy into the idea. As New York ask authors to do more of their own editing, marketing and publicity-then cut their income- cache might just lose its appeal. Authors may just turn their backs on an ancient system and start earning a living wage.
It's a brave new world. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Procrastination-the secret to publishing
I have begun using procrastination as a sales tool. How does that work? I based my idea on Murphy's law. If you don't have it, they will want it. So far, it's worked.
Before I would write an entire 500 page manuscript, polish it, polish it, polish it, then send off partials and queries only to have the story end up in what I call my "dead baby" drawer-a morgue for all the completed works that weren't marketable at the time and will never see the light of day.
Then one day an editor wrote that she thought the manuscript I sent her was okay, but she really loved the title. Could I write a different book to fit the title? After a few minutes of thought I wrote a couple of different ideas down and sent them off to her-to see if any of those ideas better fit her idea of what the book should have been about. Lo and behold-two weeks later-she picked one.
Did I write it? No. I was in the middle of another book and I figured she wasn't serious-so I put it off.
Yes, you guessed it. After 5 months, she e-mailed asking to see a partial. Now, not wanting to appear to be a complete brainless loser, I promised I'd send it to her by the next business day-and ended up writing 20 pages a day over the weekend.
Will I then finish the manuscript in case she wants to see a full? You guessed it...I'll probably procrastinate. With any luck she'll buy the book.
Before I would write an entire 500 page manuscript, polish it, polish it, polish it, then send off partials and queries only to have the story end up in what I call my "dead baby" drawer-a morgue for all the completed works that weren't marketable at the time and will never see the light of day.
Then one day an editor wrote that she thought the manuscript I sent her was okay, but she really loved the title. Could I write a different book to fit the title? After a few minutes of thought I wrote a couple of different ideas down and sent them off to her-to see if any of those ideas better fit her idea of what the book should have been about. Lo and behold-two weeks later-she picked one.
Did I write it? No. I was in the middle of another book and I figured she wasn't serious-so I put it off.
Yes, you guessed it. After 5 months, she e-mailed asking to see a partial. Now, not wanting to appear to be a complete brainless loser, I promised I'd send it to her by the next business day-and ended up writing 20 pages a day over the weekend.
Will I then finish the manuscript in case she wants to see a full? You guessed it...I'll probably procrastinate. With any luck she'll buy the book.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
July Book Review
I'm the first to admit that I'm critical of books. Having been in the business for nearly 20 years, I've heard all the "rules" and dos and don'ts. The thing about the rules and such is that it can steal the life from a book. You can edit the magic right out of a story...and yet, I'm the first to throw a book at a wall if I see too many rules broken or if it appears as if the writer is so ignorant as to be careless with a story. Or an editor too lazy to do a proper job of copy edits. I can be vicious when I read- condescending and filled with such evil feelings as envy, resentment (as in why this book and not mine? Why this author and not me?) bitterness, pique, incense, exasperation, etc. (Yes, I can go on and on. It's all part of being human and being an artist.)
So, as a rule I don't critic the books I read. It's not fair to bring my own self pity into the equation. Unless I read something so extraordinary that I have to talk about it. A story that envelops me in it's magic and destroys the envy with the sheer joy a good story can create. "Garden Spells" by Sarah Addison Allen is just such a book. When it was recommended to me, I sighed. Here was an author who-if the hype is true- made the NYT Best Seller list with her very first book. (Up flares the envy, etc. My thoughts turn to why her? What's so special about this story? It would feel so good to toss it against the wall and think evil thoughts about who she could have possibly slept with to make the best seller list...)
Then I read it...
MAGIC. The story is pure unadulterated southern magic that filled my heart with joy, my eyes with tears and the sweet story magic pushed away all evil thoughts- filling my artist well with bliss.
What's so special about this story? Simply put it's charming. The author is clearly a story teller, drawing characters who are rich and full and a community that is imperfect and inexplicably real. Then she put a little magic in the brew-a touch of love and pulls the reader right into that other dimension, that special place where good stories live.
I recommend this author and this book. Buy it if you can. Get it from the library if you are cashed strapped. Bring a little magic into your world.
So, as a rule I don't critic the books I read. It's not fair to bring my own self pity into the equation. Unless I read something so extraordinary that I have to talk about it. A story that envelops me in it's magic and destroys the envy with the sheer joy a good story can create. "Garden Spells" by Sarah Addison Allen is just such a book. When it was recommended to me, I sighed. Here was an author who-if the hype is true- made the NYT Best Seller list with her very first book. (Up flares the envy, etc. My thoughts turn to why her? What's so special about this story? It would feel so good to toss it against the wall and think evil thoughts about who she could have possibly slept with to make the best seller list...)
Then I read it...
MAGIC. The story is pure unadulterated southern magic that filled my heart with joy, my eyes with tears and the sweet story magic pushed away all evil thoughts- filling my artist well with bliss.
What's so special about this story? Simply put it's charming. The author is clearly a story teller, drawing characters who are rich and full and a community that is imperfect and inexplicably real. Then she put a little magic in the brew-a touch of love and pulls the reader right into that other dimension, that special place where good stories live.
I recommend this author and this book. Buy it if you can. Get it from the library if you are cashed strapped. Bring a little magic into your world.
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