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Weina Dai Randel at Writers In The Storm gives us another peek behind the curtain with what happens after you sign the contract. Hint – it involves lots of edits…
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What Happens After You Sign the Contract?
May 30th, 2016
By Weina Dai Randel
When I was pitching my novel to agents, I didn’t think of what would happen after you signed a contract with a publisher. To me, the process after the contract was like a grand party locked behind a door – I didn’t have an invitation, so I would not get to see what the fun of the party was. But after ten years of writing and eighty two rejection letters, to my uttermost joy, I received the invitation – I signed the contract with Sourcebooks, and my two novels about Empress Wu, The Moon in the Palace and The Empress of Bright Moon, were finally published in March and April this year. I would love to share my experience of the process with you.
After the signing, I received a heart-warming welcome letter from my editor, with whom I would work for the next two years. The letter was thrilling to read, and it contained all the important dates: such as the due date for the developmental edits, the due date for the copyedits, the date when it was likely I would receive the book cover design, the date when I would receive the back cover copy, and finally the date when I absolutely couldn’t make any changes to the manuscript, when it was closed for ARC.
I read the letter at least five times to get familiarized with the terms such as ARC, advance reader copy, and the back cover copy, the paragraphs printed at the back of a book – I didn’t know my editor would write that, not me. The letter, I believe, was very important for a new writer to understand the steps of the process.
The real work began when I received the edits, which contained a list of bigger-picture problems – the opening chapters of the book, for example. Yes, the most important chapters I spent years writing. My editor thought they were too long and asked to get into the main character’s journey faster. I considered the comments, clarified some questions, and dove into revision. I cut some scenes, adding more clues and descriptions to a few important characters, and revised them on Track Changes, as my editor had requested. Then I submitted the revision before the deadline. And I thought, now what?
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While we are fans of self-publishing here at publetariat, we know that any way an author can find success is a good thing. So in that spirit I give you Vanessa Carnevale‘s post on finding a literary agent.
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I have to admit Barnes & Noble just frustrates me. I want them to succeed, I want there to be competition and a lot of choices with books and eBooks. But if you told me that Barnes & Noble was deliberately trying to fail, I would believe you. First they make affiliate advertising a horrible painful experience, and their support of self-publishing books is non-existent. Daniel Berkowitz on Digital Book World agrees and makes his case why Barnes & Noble should carry indie books.
Expert publishing blog opinions are solely those of the blogger and not necessarily endorsed by DBW.
An open letter has been making the rounds the last couple days that pits the self-publishing community against one of the banners of big corporate publishing.
This isn’t just an angry letter because I got another form rejection. I’ve had many. I’ve also had many successes and my career doesn’t hinge on store placement. This is about change, and about asking for a chance to be equal.
I’ve been in this business a while now, I don’t know everything, but I do know some things. I know you have the capability of helping to lift up the talented writers who do ALL their own marketing, publishing and branding.
It’s time, Barnes and Noble. It’s time you step into the new era of publishing. It’s time you acknowledge there are good books out there that don’t just come out of big six [sic] publishers.
It’s time you recognize us.
What this all comes down to is respect. The self-publishing community is a passionate one, believing its authors have just as much of a right to publish a book as do authors who have traditional publishers. Moreover, many of them believe their mode of publishing is the right one.
At the end of the day, they just want to be treated as authors, not self-published authors.
As evidenced by the need for Herbert’s letter, there is still a significant stigma surrounding self-publishing and indie authors. Hell, I’ve been accused of perpetuating it myself.
What’s more, there are two types of self-published authors: those who write a manuscript, get the book proofread and professionally edited, have a cover professionally designed, create a marketing plan, etc; and those who don’t.
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This is part of a series on self-publishing by Catherine Dunn over at Digital Book World, so bookmark for future reference . One of the best things a self-publishing author can do is to make sure they have a quality product for consumers. What would be your biggest tip for self-publishers?
As a self-published author, it’s your responsibility to make sure your book is as high-quality as it can be, and an editor is an indispensable resource who can help make your book look professional instead of amateurish.
Getting off to a Good Start
Ask your peers—other writers—for their opinions. Join local writing groups. Meet writers online and ask them to have a look at one or two chapters for you. Don’t be shy about getting feedback from your fellow writers.
Every writer is focused on her own work, so make sure you give something back to the community by returning the favor for others.
Now is a good time to write a synopsis. This is a skill in itself, so practice is key. A synopsis is different from a blurb; it should be about one A4 page long, contain all the major plot points and describe what happens in your book. Don’t worry about spoilers! This is a great way to identify weaknesses or plot holes. Read it out loud. Does it ramble or sound boring? Do things seem to happen for no reason? Maybe you just need to tweak the synopsis, or maybe you need to go back to the book and make some changes.
When you feel happy with your book, that’s the right time to look for an editor. But wait! Do you know what you’re asking them to do, and does that match up with what you need?
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When April started this blog, it was because she was championing the self-publishing author and what she saw was the unfair treatment they received. While I believe things have gotten a little better, it seems that we still have a long way to go for indie authors to get the respect they deserve. Especially if you read Clare Christian’s piece over at The Bookseller.
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Self-publish and be sneered at?
There are many things I love about the book industry but there are also a few that I don’t. Publishing can be slow and old-fashioned at times, broadsheet review pages can be snooty and exclusive and literary awards can be unfair in their submission guidelines. You probably won’t be surprised to learn that my accusations are levelled mainly towards attitudes to self-publishing.
Self-publishing has a lot going for it – I am a self-publishing enthusiast. But its one big disadvantage is the book industry itself – readers excepted. I have yet to meet a single reader who cares a jot who published the book they are reading. They just want great books that are well published. However, the industry does care. The broadsheets seem to have a blanket ban on reviewing self-published books and many literary awards exclude books expressly on the basis of who paid for their publication.
But should a writer’s talent really be judged by who has paid for the publication of his or her book? We all know that publishers are becoming increasingly (and necessarily) risk-averse, so what happens to the authors who, not so very long ago, would have been picked up by a traditional publisher? What happens to those authors whose agents love their book but can’t place it because it doesn’t fit into this or that box, it’s cross-genre or because it’s not the next Gone Girl?
Rachel Abbott is a highly successful self-published author. She has written five best-selling psychological thrillers plus a novella, and last year was named the 14th bestselling author over the last five years on Amazon’s Kindle in the UK. By March of this year she had sold 2 million copies of her books and she has a good and supportive agent in Lizzy Kremer. Yet when her publicist began work to generate interest in Stranger Child, she was met with a blanket no from book review editors – because Rachel pays for her own work to be published.
Surely the many, many readers who buy and enjoy Rachel’s books can’t be wrong? If they have read and enjoyed them isn’t it just possible that some of the readers who browse the book reviews sections of their newspapers could possibly enjoy them too? Or perhaps they would Google Rachel, see that she has paid for the publication of the book and scratch the book from their ‘to read’ list in protest.
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Ever want to peek behind the publishing curtain? I do! I love learning what happens behind the scenes. Good for us that S. Jae-Jones (called JJ) at PubCrawl gives us the scoop on why traditional publishing takes so darn long. Another point in favor for Indie publishing?
Recently I announced that the publication date of Wintersong has been moved from Fall 2016 to Winter 2017, and I had a lot of questions asking why it would take so long for the book to come out when it was already finished and edited?
Ah, my friend. Sit back and listen, because we are going to be discussing this interesting phenomenon called publishing time.
In the PubCrawl Podcast, Kelly and I have discussed submissions and acquisitions, sales conference, and touched briefly on the concept of launch. Traditional publishing is generally scheduled about one year in advance, so if your book gets acquired in 2016, it may not be published until 2017 or even 2018.
Why is that? Well, most publishing houses operate on a schedule of “seasons”: periods of 3-4 months that comprise a catalog. For example, at my publisher, the seasons are as follows:
Winter (January through April)
Spring/Summer (May through August)
Fall (September through December)
Each season has a schedule of when things need to be submitted or finalized: launch, catalog, sales conference, etc. While acquisitions and editing may happen at any time during the year, the actual publishing part of publishing happens at set times. For example, for books to be published in Fall 2017, the schedule may look something like this:
November 2016: Launch (introducing your book to the sales and marketing force)
January 2017: Catalog (getting information about your book online for booksellers, librarians, et al to take notice)
March 2017: Sales Conference (when the people selling your book into their accounts start pitching to their buyers and getting a feel for how many copies of your book Barnes & Noble, Amazon, indies, etc. will be taking)
If your book is to be published September 2017, then why all that time between sales conference and publication date? This is so your marketing and publicity team have time to start building buzz about your book to the consumer: sending your book out for reviews at all the trade publications, big magazines, newspapers, etc. or buying ad space or social media or what-have-you. By the time your book comes out, hopefully enough people will have heard about your book to seek it out on release day.
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Roz Morris on her blog, Nail Your Novel, wrote a great post about how to choose an editor that is right for you. Check it out, and let us know what tips you have for finding quality people to work on your manuscript.
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Editing seminar snapshots: How much should you budget for editing your book? And how should you choose an editor?
March 6, 2016
Roz Morris
This very good question came up when I spoke at the Writers & Artists selfpublishing summit a few months ago. And my answer… deserves a post.
First, there seem to be two modes for charging: by the hour and by the wordcount or page. With the wordcount, writers can be quoted a fixed price, so everyone knows where they stand. With an hourly rate, it’s much more difficult for the writer to know how much they’ll be spending.
Second, editors set their own fees. Does a low price indicate good value? It might if the editor is starting out and doesn’t yet have a reputation. But might they also be lacking in experience? Indeed, might they be a complete amateur?
Conversely, if an editor’s charges are high, does that mean they’re good?
I think everyone can see it’s a buyer beware situation.
How do you tell? Here’s how to navigate the maze and spend your ££$$ wisely.
Establish that the editor is right for you.
For developmental edits, you need a specialist in your field. I would be useless to a fantasy author because I don’t read fantasy. But I can edit its close cousin, magic realism. I can’t edit genre romance of the Mills and Boon variety, but I can edit any number of stories that feature a romantic relationship. So find out what if their tastes are in tune with yours.
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With the recent discussions about the Oscars (#OscarsSoWhite), especially trending on social media, this article from RJ Crayton discussing race and publishing is relevant. Over at Indies United, she brings up some really good points in a well written, thoughtful manner. As always, let us know what you think in the comments. Do you feel there are issues with race in publishing?
A recent incident at my writers’ group sparked the idea for my post today. A writer submitted a piece where he offered no description of characters that exposed their race. However, the things he chose to write about the characters did make people wonder what race some of the characters were. The main character was a white man married to a black woman, and there were subtle hints — particularly around hair care — of the race of the wife, but nothing explicit. He’d done this on purpose, with the idea that he wanted the reader to imagine the characters to be however they wanted them to be. One of the ladies there, Pam, asked, “Why? Why would you want to be less specific about them? I’ve never heard a good reason for doing this?”
And I totally agreed with her. People motivated by the good intentions of not promoting stereotypes and being inclusive can, by failing to provide certain descriptions, end up with the exact opposite of inclusivity. I can only assume some of the impetus of this comes from Martin Luther King’s most famous oration, the “I Have a Dream” speech. People get in their head the notion that a “colorblind” society is literal, rather than figurative. The idea of judging people based on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin is exactly that. It is a notion based on the idea that we see their skin color — no matter what it may be — and we don’t make any assumptions based on that. We wait until they open their mouths and speak before we judge them to be fools or geniuses (or somewhere in between).
The idea of literally making characters colorless is problematic when your book is set in the real world. Despite King’s dreams, we do not live in a colorblind society. We live in a society where color is an issue in everyday interactions. Pretending it’s not in any sort of real-life settings (be they historical or contemporary), just isn’t very realistic. Now, if your book is set in some type of fantastical or futuristic world that doesn’t have the current world’s hang-ups, then fine.
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I like posting from Books & Such as they give the perspective from an agents point of view. Today Janet Kobobel Grant talks about how to come up with the infamous elevator speech about your book. In one of my paying jobs (as opposed to this blog which is a labor of love) I often have to summarize a book and it drives me bonkers when authors don’t have a one or two sentence synopsis of their story that I can use. Go check the article out and let me know what you think.
I hear from authors that writing a book proposal is, like, the worst part of looking for a slot on a traditional publisher’s author roster. (Coming in at a close second is writing a novel’s synopsis for submission to a publisher.) But, hey, guess what? I know something else authors struggle with: figuring out how to talk about their books.
Oh, sure, they can whip off the details of a specific scene they have in mind or explain to you what they hope the reader gains from the book. But don’t ask the author this seemingly straightforward question: Tell me what your book is about in one sentence.
I recently read an article, which you can check out here, in which a fellow novelist asked that very question of authors with new books. Here are their responses:
Daniel Dutton: It’s a little like “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” if Stephen were a woman living at a time when women weren’t allowed to be artists.
Kaitlyn Greenidge: My book is about language, family and the reverberations of the past.
Jon Methven: The immensity of the end—be it a career, or relationship, or faith, or mortgage, or life, or all of them—and then deciding to survive, no matter the obstacle. It’s a book about survival.
Karan Mahajan: Bombs.
Okay, our author friends could use a little help. When someone asks you that question, and they do all the time when they find out you’re an author, know what you want to say. Here are a few crucial elements to include:
Give the listener an instant reference point: WWII Germany; 17th-century Sweden; dypstopian America in 2116. Or if you’re writing nonfiction: food memoir; historical biography; environmental degradation; faith and doubt.
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Author Jody Hedlund speaks from experience; she has successful books through both traditional and self-publishing. Jody brings her unique perspective to the traditional vs self-publishing debate with an attitude of perhaps we can all just get along. What are your views on the two, and do you think they can co-exist?
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Can Traditional and Indie Publication Live as Friendly Neighbors?
By Jody Hedlund
This year in 2016, I have FOUR books slated for publication. Three of them are being published through three different publishers:
Undaunted Hope, a historical romance through Bethany House Publishers (Jan. 1)
A Daring Sacrifice, a young adult medieval romance through Harper Collins (Mar. 1)
Newton and Polly: A Novel of Amazing Grace, a historical through Random House (Oct. 1)
I’m super thrilled about all three of the books. While each of them targets a slightly different audience, my readers seem to be enjoying them regardless of the differences.
So far, I’ve had a very positive experience working with traditional publishers. I’ve learned a LOT about the ins and outs of how the whole process of publication works and varies between houses.
Since I’m in a super busy life stage (raising 5 kids), having a traditional publisher’s help with cover designing, editing, and marketing has really freed up my time to focus on writing. To be completely honest, I appreciate being able to hand something over to my publishers and know that the project is in good hands. It takes a great deal of stress off me.
Not only that, but working with a variety of traditional publishers has helped to get my books in front of different readers. Each of my publishers has different marketing strategies which has allowed my books a wider audience than if I’d attempted to publish them on my own. I’ve also appreciated the relative ease of getting into brick and mortar stores, libraries/library conferences, foreign print, large print editions, wide-scale blogger and reviewer programs, and many other venues.
However, as beneficial as traditional publication has been for my writing career, I’ve been itching to try my hand at indie publishing. I’ve heard so many positive things about it, that I wanted to experience it for myself.
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I know that no one likes rejection, but some people bounce back from it better than others. I don’t. I am one of those horrible people who wants everyone to like them, although I am trying to grow out of this. Sarah Callender has a great post on dealing with submission rejection. The post goes beyond the whole “X number of famous people got rejected so you should feel fine” fluff and gives some really good points. Head on over to Writer Unboxed and check it out. If you feel like it, leave a comment on your best tip for dealing with rejection, I promise not to judge.
In the late 1990s, I wrote a short story—my first ever—and submitted it to The New Yorker. It was a really amazing piece of fiction, one that reflected dozens of minutes of toil and revision. I do not remember the plot (which suggests there was none) except for one detail: the female character sits on a therapist’s couch, and, wrapped in a blanket like a burrito, floats into the air and–poof!–vanishes.
I am certain this 7,000-word work of art was roughly 7,000 words too long.
More than fifteen years later, I see how many things were wrong with that experience. First, the piece was a piece of garbage. I did not know how to write a story, and I had no one guiding me through the process. I should have sought advice from someone, if not another writer, than at least a friendly barista or the wine guy with the radio voice at the Safeway where I buy cheap Riesling.
Wrong thing #2: I had the gall to submit to The New Yorker. Sure, I had read The New Yorker, usually while waiting for my dental appointments, usually looking at the pretty cover or the cartoons because the stories were, well, a little uppity in my opinion. Perhaps I thought that the inclusion of my story would endear me to the other works of fiction. But certainly, even if my story had been an actual work of art, I was not familiar enough with the publication to know whether it would be a good fit.
These days I am a better writer with a better understanding of story structure, and yes, I carry around suitcases of humility. I have given up trying to like The New Yorker’s fiction and instead peruse People while waiting for my dental checkups. And when I submit an essay or a story, a grant proposal or retreat application, I do so in a much smarter way.
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You may have used Amazon’s previewer tool in the past, where you were able to embed a preview link on your website or blog post. If you had, you will have realized that the widget was starting to show it’s age, didn’t always work the way it was suppose to, or at all.
That has all changed.
Amazon has updated its Kindle Instant Preview tool and it is wonderful. See below for a sample.
There is so much to love. The look has been updated and the embed is mobile ready. Now, people can easily share your book! Add your Amazon affiliate ID during set up, and when they do share your preview, your affiliate link goes along with it. All while on your author site.
At the top of the embed you have the “Buy” button which opens a new window on Amazon to purchase the book. The “Share” button allows people to either email your preview, post on Facebook, or tweet on Twitter. They even have a short link that can be shared anywhere, which includes your affiliate link. The bottom section lets you know how much of the free sample is left and will allow you to adjust the font size. Very helpful for small screens! On computer or tablets, if you click on the “Preview” link, the sample is opened as the same size as the image. However, if you click on the text, it will toggle the bottom options and allow you to view the sample full screen.
The best part is that Amazon has made this so very easy to set up. First find your book on Amazon. On the right side of the screen, by the share buttons is the <embed> link. Click on that embed link and customize. You have a choice to create a link that will go to the opened preview pane on Amazon, or the ability to “Embed on your site (HTML)”. Here is where you add your Amazon affiliate tag, and make other customizations such as the size of the image.
Not every book may be available, but so far I haven’t found one that isn’t. If you are already selling the your book(s) directly yourself, this may not be an ideal option for you. But for many authors, the pain of having to deal with setting up a store to deal with purchases makes this a wonderful alternative. See Amazon for more details.
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Today’s post is a bunch of helpful publishing tidbits offered by Dave Bricker on The World’s Greatest Book. While a hodgepodge offering, each bit of wisdom offered is worth the read. What publishing advice would you give a new author?
The following publishing advice is based on my own experiences and those of my clients. I hope you find it valuable and encouraging, even if it changes your expectations.
I’ve written and published 6 books, and I’m working on my seventh. I’ve guided many remarkable people through the process of telling their remarkable stories, and served as editor, typesetter, cover designer, web developer, and marketer. I love writing, publishing, and book design, but the least pleasant part of my work involves delivering “straight talk” that has popped many a shiny bubble. My experiences in publishing have been overwhelmingly positive, but I routinely hear from writers who have made expensive mistakes. Others are frustrated and stuck in the writing process. The good news is that with a bit of research, the right resources, and a few reality checks, problems can be avoided. You probably can’t do it yourself, and you probably can’t do it for free, but you can publish an excellent book and find the process rewarding.
Here are few snippets of writing, book design, and publishing advice:
Of course it sucks; that’s why it’s called a “rough” draft. Keep writing.
Many great books are terrible products. Many terrible books are great products. Write for the marketplace or write because you have something to say, but know where your book lies on the spectrum between art and business. Adjust your expectations accordingly.
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