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Articles about craft.

Youthful Writing: Precocious, Or Premature?

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This post, from Robert Nagle, originally appeared on Teleread on 7/23/09.

Quick: when you [were] a teenager, how fantastically awesome was your writing?

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Imogene Russell Williams cautions young writers who wish to get started too early:

In your early teens, you’re not necessarily aware of how derivative your literary outpourings are, and the extent to which your reading shapes your writing; and you may not yet be sufficiently master of your own voice to take on high-falutin’ genres like fantasy and romance. (I speak from experience. At 13, I was passionately devoted to a high-fantasy epic featuring Dallien the dark prince, a charger called Bayard whom I’d pinched from Prince Caspian without realising it, and a large, coniferous forest – Mirkwood after the emigration of the spiders.)

(BTW, despite the boring name, the Guardian’s Book Blog  is easily one of the best group litblogs on the Internet).

Williams mentions several recent teen works and even a work written by a 9 year old. She cites Diary of Anne Frank as the model, although that case was clearly extraordinary . (See also: Zlata Filipovic’s  excellent Zlata’s Diary).

 

Now with printing/publishing costs becoming  more affordable, lots of young kids have self-published interesting things as part of school projects. We can mock, but I would have loved to have a published book  to keep in my scrapbook  of memories. Instead I spent my creative efforts writing  original Dungeon and Dragons adventure   modules. 

One obvious source of youthful creativity is blogging/journaling, but practically speaking, U.S. schools can’t sanction them or use them for class unless blogging sites are COPA-compliant. (I’ve been told that content filters on some school networks block blogging networks altogether). I suspect school districts subscribe to  walled-off COPA-compliant  student communities for students to share their writings.  That shouldn’t discourage young people from journaling in the wild, but they have to do it on their own time. Schools and teachers can prep students for potential problems of online writing and help them to  take reasonable precautions. But only the teen can take the important next step of actually  starting an online journal.  

It takes a few decades for a young person’s writing skills to develop. That’s not a reason for a student to put off writing.  Far from it.  Writing improves  with  practice. Even bad writing can record thoughts and feelings  of a time period.  (And if you don’t record them, these thoughts are gone forever).  Perhaps people’s verbal skills before 20 aren’t optimal, but they are more than adequate to present facts and daily events. Sometimes in fact, inner city youth may have lots to write about but little motivation.  (Projects like the Freedom Writers’ diary have tried to rectify this by encouraging students to write down their anxieties).

Read the rest of the post on Teleread.

Top Ten Tips For Editing Your Own Book

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This post, from Gary Smailes, originally appeared on the BubbleCow website on 7/29/09. In it, he runs down some of the most common missteps authors make in writing fiction, along with remedies for each. In that sense, it’s not a list of tips for editing, so much as a list of tips for writing well in the first place.

Editing your own book can be a stressful and for many writers, a frankly daunting task. At BubbleCow we help writers tackle the problem of editing their own work on a daily basis.

Here’s a collection of the top ten tips for editing your own book as suggested by our editors:

 

1. Be consistent

Writing a book is a long process that often spans over years. During this period it is easy for writers to lose track of some of the minor plot details. However, it is vital that a writer makes every effort to maintain consistency throughout the writing process. The problem is that readers will notice mistakes. If you tell your readers that a character has blue eyes in the opening chapter, and then six chapters later you say they are green, the reader will remember.

Our tip is to use character reference sheets. These are simply lists of the key aspects for all of your characters. On these sheets you should record all the key facts – age, description, eye colour etc. Also include any details that might be important such as relationships with other characters, home address and other details you develop. One additional tip is to get into the habit of updating your sheets as you build the characters.

2. Use simple grammar

Not all writers are grammar experts. In fact the reality is that many writers struggle with grammar. Our tip is to keep it simple. The correct use of the period (full stop) and comma will get you out of most tough spots. Learning the rules of the correct use of the apostrophe is also crucial, as is the grammar of speech. However, beyond this you are getting onto dangerous ground. If you are unsure of the correct usage of the semi-colon, then don’t use it (even if Microsoft word insists otherwise).

3. Formatting

Consistent formatting is an important, but often overlooked, part of editing. By this we are talking about titles, subtitles, indenting, text font etc. In fact you need to pay attention to anything that appears on the page. One way to get around inconsistencies is to use the ‘style’ function of your word processing package. Another way is to simply pay attention each time you start a new section, type in a header or change font. Being aware is half the battle.

4. Narrative arc

Your story needs to have a clear start, middle and end. We are all aware of this but it doesn’t always come across in writer’s work. Our tip is to read your work with the three phase structure in mind. Can you pin point the three sections of your book clearly?

Here’s a couple of sites that explain the narrative arc well: here and here.

5. Tense usage

When talking to our editors the issue of tense was highlighted as a common problem. The switching of tenses (past to present/present to past) is something that happens to all writers. It is for this reason that you must pay particular attention to this problem. This is one of those things that readers tend to spot. This blog postmight help.

 

Read the rest of the post, which includes tips #6-10, on BubbleCow.

Book Promotion Campaign Elements

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This article, from Rick Frishman, originally appeared on Beneath the Cover on 1/23/09.

Not every element that follows may work for every book or platform, but the ones listed below are good cornerstones.

Media List

Your media list includes the names of those who will receive a copy of the sale version of the book. It will include those who received review copies of your book plus national media outlets and local media in your area, the areas you plan to visit, and those where you have special contacts.

To find sources, go to the library and leaf through Cision’s publications, such as Cision’s MediaSource. Although you can pay for the same information on the Internet, at libraries, it’s free. However, the information may be dated because media people move frequently. Your best bet is to do your initial research at the library and collect a bunch of names and contact information. Then call or check websites to verify what you found and to get the most current information.

Also check the Harrison guides, Radio-TV Interview Report for national broadcast media information. Call media outlets and ask who you should send your material to. Try to get an actual person’s name, not simply an e-mail address to “info@.”

Internet Marketing

When people hear about you or your book, they go to the Internet to get more information. They Google you, read about you, and visit your Web site; they look for your book on Amazon.com. So, as an author, it’s essential to have a strong Internet presence.

  1. The first step in your Internet marketing plan is to put up a memorable website, a site that people love to visit and will tell others about. You website must be great-looking and reflective of the impression you want to convey. For example, you may want it to appear authoritative, lighthearted, elegant, colorful, hip, scholarly, or goofy. Or it could have a theme related to your book or your area of expertise. Your site must also be up-to-date and easy and intuitive to use, and all links must work.
     
  2. Register your site with all the major search engines under your name, your book’s name, and every conceivable variation of them. That way, when people misspell your name and don’t get your book’s title exactly right, they will still get to your site.
     
  3. Include in your website everything that’s in your media kit. Your site should allow visitors to read a sample chapter, order your book, enter into exchanges with you, and view your upcoming events and appearances. It should link to other complementary sites and to your strategic partners. Your site must have a press room with the latest articles on you and your book.
     
  4. In addition to your site, you can start your own blog, newsletter, or e-zine.

Numerous firms such as FSBAssociates.com (Fauzia Burke) and PromoteABookmedia.com can be hired to handle your Internet book-marketing campaigns. These firms can be invaluable because they know all the components that can be included in your campaign. They can create an Internet campaign that may include creating a website for the book, sending your book to relevant websites, and sending it to blogs. These firms have lists of Internet book reviewers; will syndicate your content on the Web; or will set up chats, downloads, newsgroups, and mailing lists.

Read the rest of the article on Beneath the Cover to learn about the Amazon blast, newspaper and radio releases, and media training.

How to Write Tight – Self-Editing Tips to Make Your Manuscript Ready for Publication

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This post, from Suzanne Lieurance, originally appeared on the Writers In The Sky e-zine on 7/24/09.

As writers, we hear it all the time. We need to "write tight," which just means we need to trim all the flab from our manuscripts and make every word count.

Here are some self-editing tips that will help you "write tight" and take your manuscripts from flabby to fit for publication in no time!

1. Avoid a lot of back story – information about the POV character’s history and background. Weave all this into the story instead of loading the manuscript down with too many sentences or paragraphs of straight narrative before the action begins.

2. Simplify your sentences wherever possible. Watch for redundant or unnecessary phrases. As writers, we need to "show, not tell" as often as possible. Yet, some writers tend to show and then tell the same information, which is redundant. Watch out for this in your manuscripts. Also, look for the redundant phrases below and others like them.

Stand up = stand
Sit down = sit
Turned back = turned
Turned around = turned
He thought to himself = He thought.
She shrugged her shoulders = she shrugged
She whispered softly = she whispered
He nodded his head = he nodded

3. Avoid adverbs for the most part. Use strong, descriptive verbs instead.

Flabby: She smiled slightly at the photographer.

Fit: She grinned at the photographer.

4. Avoid using the same word over and over in a paragraph. Go back and reread each sentence. Have you repeated the same word several times within a single sentence or paragraph? If so, substitute another word with the same meaning.

5. Don’t overuse names. Beginning writers tend to have the characters address each other by name too often. When you speak to a friend, you don’t constantly say his name. Don’t have your characters do this either. It doesn’t ring true, and it draws the reader OUT of the story.
 

Read the rest of the post, which includes tips #6-15, on Writers In The Sky.

We Are All Writers Now

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This article, from Anne Trubek, originally appeared on The Economist’s More Intelligent Life site on 6/26/09.

Blogs, Twitter, Facebook: these outlets are supposedly cheapening language and tarnishing our time. But the fact is we are all reading and writing much more than we used to, writes Anne Trubek …

The chattering classes have become silent, tapping their views on increasingly smaller devices. And tapping they are: the screeds are everywhere, decrying the decline of smart writing, intelligent thought and proper grammar. Critics bemoan blogging as the province of the amateurism. Journalists rue the loose ethics and shoddy fact-checking of citizen journalists. Many save their most profound scorn for the newest forms of social media. Facebook and Twitter are heaped with derision for being insipid, time-sucking, sad testaments to our literary degradation. This view is often summed up with a disdainful question: “Do we really care about what you ate for lunch?”

Forget that most of the pundits lambasting Facebook and Twitter are familiar with these devices because they use them regularly. Forget that no one is being manacled to computers and forced to read stupid prose (instead of, say, reading Proust in bed). What many professional writers are overlooking in these laments is that the rise of amateur writers means more people are writing and reading. We are commenting on blog posts, forwarding links and composing status updates. We are seeking out communities based on written words.

Go back 20, 30 years and you will find all of us doing more talking than writing. We rued literacy levels and worried over whether all this phone-yakking and television-watching spelled the end of writing.

Few make that claim today. I would hazard that, with more than 200m people on Facebook and even more with home internet access, we are all writing more than we would have ten years ago. Those who would never write letters (too slow and anachronistic) or postcards (too twee) now send missives with abandon, from long thoughtful memos to brief and clever quips about evening plans. And if we subscribe to the theory that the most effective way to improve one’s writing is by practicing—by writing more, and ideally for an audience—then our writing skills must be getting better.

Take the “25 Things About Me” meme that raged around Facebook a few months
ago. This time-waster, as many saw it, is precisely the kind of brainstorming exercise I used to assign to my freshman writing students decades ago. I asked undergraduates to do free-writing, as we called it, because most entered my classroom with little writing experience beyond formal, assigned essays. They only wrote when they were instructed to, and the results were often arch and unclear, with ideas kept at arms length. Students saw writing as alien and intimidating–a source of anxiety. Few had experience with writing as a form of self-expression. So when I stood in front of a classroom and told students to write quickly about themselves, without worrying about grammar or punctuation or evaluation—”just to loosen up,” I would say—I was asking them to do something new. Most found the experience refreshing, and their papers improved.

Today those freewriting exercises are redundant. After all, hundreds of thousands of people wrote “25 Things About Me” for fun. My students compose e-mails, texts, status updates and tweets "about seven hours a day," one sophomore told me. (She also says no one really talks to each other anymore). They enter my classroom more comfortable with writing–better writers, that is–and we can skip those first steps.

Read the rest of the article on More Intelligent Life.

Giving A Reading: Some Thoughts On Presenting Your Work

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This post, from Kimberly Davis, originally appeared on her Kim’s Craft Blog on 7/5/09. In it, Ms. Davis offers some sound advice for giving an effective live reading. While Ms. Davis is addressing live readings before an audience specifically, the guidance given here is equally useful when creating an audiobook or podcast.

If you are a writer, sooner or later you are going to be asked to get up and read your work before a live audience. If there is a more anxiety-producing moment in the life of an aspiring writer, then I don’t know what it is. Even for a more seasoned writer, having to get up and present your work can be a challenge.

Yesterday I participated in the reading up here at the Summer Writers Conference at Skidmore College. Previously, I had done two Faculty Readings this spring at the Cambridge Center, and yet I still found myself getting nervous and struggling a bit. Some of this was the material. The poems I was reading are at the difficult end of the scale, depending as they do on speed, tone and some athletic line-breaks. Also it was a different (and larger) audience than I was used to, and I hadn’t rehearsed beforehand. At the end of the reading, I found myself making a mental list of "what to do next time"–which I thought I would share.

Slow Down:  I was struck yesterday by how many of the writers read too quickly. There were a lot of writers on the program, and so everyone was laboring under some rather strict time limitations. This is not unusual. At most readings, you will be presenting alongside other writers, and you will be given some sort of time allotment. The trick is to pick something you KNOW will fit within the time you have so you don’t have to rush. There is nothing that ruins a reading like speeding through your carefully selected words.

Read Like You Mean It: By the time you get up to read your work, you are probably going to be sick of it. Whether you are reading poetry or prose, chances are good that by the time you present it to an audience, you’ll have revised it a thousand times, and a lot of the emotion will have gone out of it for you. You’ll now see all the changes you’ve made, the things you still don’t like about the piece, the places where you’re going to have trouble reading it. But that’s not what the audience wants to hear.

What you need to present to your audience is the original emotional energy that made you write the piece in the first place, six months or six years ago. Somehow you need to find your way back into the feelings behind the piece, so that you can communicate them to the audience. I don’t think this is an easy thing for a writer to do. Most of us are not natural performers by nature. If we were, we would have gone to acting school, right?

Still, at a reading we are in essence being asked to "act out" our poems and stories–and to lead the audience through them. The way I like to think of this is that–when we read a poem or story–it becomes a "lived experience," so that as you read, you need to be aware of this and leave enough time and space in your voice and tone for the audience to experience each emotional turn and shift that you take them through.  

Read the rest of the post on Kim’s Craft Blog.

The Children of The Dragon series of SF/vampire books

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ANTELLUS – Science Fantasy Adventure and Nonfiction Books
http://www.antellus.com
based in Sherman Oaks, California

FICTION books currently available in print and ebook formats:
We are offering a summer discount of 25% off on ebooks available through Smashwords. Please visit our website to find out how to order.

The Children of The Dragon series by author Theresa M. Moore is a chronicle of the Xosan, living vampires from the planet Antellus who were human but transformed by a dragon’s blood. They are stories of science fiction, fact and fantasy, myth and history, tragedy and triumph; linked together by the theme of the vampire as hero. These books are rated for YA to adult readers and contain blood violence and some adult content.

7 books are currently in print (by Antellus catalog number) http://www.antellus.com/book/ChildrenofTheDragon.html :
Destiny’s Forge 9310701 – 324 pgs list price $18.95/ ebook $4.99.
To Taste The Dragon’s Blood 9310702 – 216 pgs list price $15.95/ ebook $4.99
NAGRASANTI; An Illustrated Anthology 9310703 – 500 pgs list price $26.95 PRINT ONLY
Red Dragon 9310704 – 134 pgs list price $12.95/ ebook $4.99
The Queen’s Marksman 9310705 – 136 pgs list price $12.95/ ebook $4.99
The Black Witch 9310706 – 116 pgs list price $12.95/ ebook $4.99
VIRUS 9310707 – 100 pgs list price $11.95/ ebook $4.99

Also in print and ebook formats:
Saxon & Hampstead Investigations, Ltd. casebook 1: THE MYSTERY OF CRANEWOOD MANOR http://www.antellus.com/book/Fiction.html
(Antellus cat. no. 9310801) 6" x 9" paperback, 84 pgs, list price $9.95/ ebook $3.99.

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Antellus is an independent publisher of quality science fantasy adventure and nonfiction books on related subjects.

Pre-Editing (Or, My Thoughts On Hiring Freelance Developmental Editors Pre-Submission)

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This post, from Editorial Ass, originally appeared on Editorial Ass on 6/29/09.

I got this note the other day: 

Hi there,

I am a first time writer and I just finished my first novel. In your opinion, should I try and get an editor before I query an agent? I haven’t been able to find any advice on that and I read your blog all the time so I figured I would ask. If you have time to respond, please let me know whenever you can!

XXX

Dearest XXX, thank you for asking. I’ve been wanting to write about this for a long time. I’m afraid I have a TON of thoughts about it.

Let me start with an anecdote.

About six months ago, I got to meet an editor hero of mine, who is a big important head of an imprint at a big important company. We got to chatting, and she asked me about some of my favorite projects.

Being my humble modest self (ahem), I started bragging about all my most splendid projects (all of them, naturally). I took some special time on a book I was particularly proud of–one you’ve heard a bit about here–which I’d acquired after every other house in basically the entire world had passed. I’d seen potential there, and after working carefully with the author on editorial back-and-forth and thoughtful development, we published to mind-blowing awesome reviews. In my prideful, sinning mind, this was an ultimate victory, because I felt like I could see my own personal hand in the book’s success in a special way.

My esteemed interlocutor, however, did not *realize* I was bragging! Instead, she said something that shook me from buttons to boots: "Oh wow, you guys edit over there? That’s nice–I always used to enjoy editing. We don’t have time, so we can only really buy books that are pretty much ready for production."

I was, as I said, pretty shaken. My very smart, wise, and experienced new friend had opened my eyes to an industry trend I’d kinda been ignoring–houses are increasingly not insentivizing their editors to EDIT. Instead, they are supposed to focus on ACQUIRING. I love editing, and realizing that it may not be a crucial or celebrated skill for an acquisition editor to have made me wonder what the future holds for me.

Enough about me and my ego. How does this tie into YOUR life as a writer?
I am not saying the system doesn’t suck. I’m just trying to address this very specific question of whether or not you should hire a freelance editor.

Basically, you want your submission to be as clean as possible, at every stage.

"Clean" means both in terms of copy issues (grammar, punctuation, sentence structure) and in terms of content–your structure, composition, ideas, and for fiction plot, characters, and pacing should all be tight as a drum–it’s not enough to want to sell your manuscript anymore. You have to imagine that, in a worst case scenario, you might get published without another hand tinkering with anything you’ve written. (Hopefully this won’t be the case–but you should treat your manuscript as if it is.)

Don’t let yourself cut any corners at any stage. You should be as clean as possible before submitting to agents, because while some agents are fantastic editors, some of the best agents are very poor editors (different although frequently overlapping skill sets–but don’t count on an agent to edit your manuscript). You should also talk seriously to your agent about how clean the manuscript is before the agent submits to editors.

Some pros and cons (all mixed together) of hiring a freelance editor to work on cleaning up your project:

*The expense–they charge a ton. We’re looking at hundreds or even thousands of dollars, depending on the person and what kind of editing your book requires. And I know a lot of us aren’t exactly rolling in it. You have to figure out on your own the risk/reward scenario fiscally–it’s important to remember that working with an outside editor doesn’t mean that your project will sell.

Read the rest of the post on Editorial Ass.

10,000 Ideas And Resources For Writers

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This post, from Kathryn Vercillo, originally appeared on her Real Words From A Real Writer blog on 3/13/08. While the post was originally aimed at freelance writers, most of the resources on this fantastic list will be useful for any writer.  

Every once in a while I come across an article or blog post listing the "Top 100" of something for writers or bloggers. Every time that happens, I’m a little bit impressed. After all, it is common to see "Top 10" lists but it takes a lot more effort to compile a list that includes 100 things. However, it makes more sense to be thinking in terms of hundreds and not tens when it comes to freelance writing.

With thousands of new blogs launching every single day, there is a lot of material online for people to be reading. There’s certainly far more than ten authority sources on any particular topic. So, in an effort to be ambitious as well as to provide others with information about the best writing tips and sites out there, here is my Top 100 collection of “Top 100″ lists that others have put together. That means that you’ve got 10,000 tips/articles/ideas to read here. There are lists about books, lists about blog tools and lists about everything in between. That should keep you busy during your downtime!

  1. Writers Digest 101 Best Websites For Authors (updated to 2009 edition)
  2. The Top 100 Freelancer Blogs @ Bootstrapper
  3. 101 Ways to Monetize Your Website or Blog @ Vandelay
  4. Top 100 Blogs @ Make Money Online
  5. Top 100 Articles on Writing @ Writing Information
  6. 100 Tools Freelancers Can’t Live Without @ Bootstrapper
  7. 100 Writing Tips @ How to Write for the Web
  8. 100 Ways to Get More Traffic to Your Blog @ InternetBabel
  9. Make Money Online: 100+ Tools and Resources @ Mashable
  10. 101 Ways to Create A Powerful Web Presence @ Hello, My Name is Blog
  11. 100s of Resources for Finding Blog Content @ Lorelle on WordPress
  12. 101 Reasons Freelancers Do It Better @ HR World
  13. Top 100 Novels Of All Time @ Time Magazine
  14. 101 Ways to Monetize Your Blog without Irritating your Readers @ Inside CRM
  15. 114 Ways to Build Links @ SubHub
  16. 100 Niche Job Boards for Web Workers @ Bootstrapper
  17. Top 100 Essay Sites for Students
  18. 100 Ways to be Better Entrepreneur @ Entrepreneur.com
  19. Top 100 Social Bookmarking and Social Networking Blogs @ Virtual Hosting
  20. 100 Web Apps for Freelancers @ Codswallop
  21. 131 Legitimate Link Building Strategies @ SearchEngineWatch
  22. Over 100 Best Firefox Extensions @ LifeHack (many of which are great for improving writing productivity)
  23. 120+ RSS Resources @ Mashable
  24. Top 100,000 Search Keywords @ Aleksika (useful in SEO, when adding keywords to your posts) 
  25. 101 Great Posting Ideas To Make Your Blog Sizzle @ I Help You Blog

Tweet to share this article!

Read the rest of the post, with links for resources #26-100, on Real Words From A Real Writer. While we’ve verified the links provided in this excerpt (and updated them as necessary) , due to the age of the post we can’t guarantee that when you click through to view the full article, all the remaining links in the post will still be valid. 

17 Reasons Manuscripts Are Rejected

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This post, from Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen, originally appeared on her Quips and Tips For Successful Writers blog on 10/24/08. Even if you intend to self-publish, this list of traps to avoid will still have some applicable wisdom for your work-in-progress.

These 17 reasons book manuscripts are rejected are from a panel of editors, literary agents, and publishers at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference in British Columbia, Canada. I’ve also pulled out some great writing tips and quips about the book publishing business from this discussion…

But first, a quip from an agent about getting published:

“You don’t have to have an agent to get published,” says literary agent Janet Reid, of Fine Print Literary Management. That may be true, Agent Reid, but representation sure greases the literary wheels! I’m with Special Agent Jon Sternfeld of Irene Goodman, and he’s knocked on doors of houses that I can’t even see…

Julie Scheina (Little, Brown editor) and Haile Ephron (writer and book reviewer at the Boston Globe) joined Reid for a 90 minute session about sending queries, editing manuscripts, and publishing books. For more info on literary agents, click on the Guide to Literary Agents by the editors of Writer’s Digest (and read my 12 Steps to Finding a Literary Agent). And, read on for 17 reasons book manuscripts are rejected… 

 

17 Reasons Book Manuscripts are Rejected

1. “The writer uses the phrase ‘fiction novel’,” says agent Janet Reid. Misusing the English language is why she – and many editors, publishers, and agents – stop reading and reject manuscripts.

2. The manuscript doesn’t seem organic or authentic. “If you’re trying to follow a trend, you’ll lose your voice,” says Scheina. “If I feel like this is something I’ve already read, I’ll put it down.” Read How to Write Authentically From Anne Lamott.

3. The manuscript is too complicated. “If there are too many characters and I have to make a list to keep them straight, then I’ll put the book down,” says Ephron. Your manuscript will be rejected if it doesn’t flow or transition easily.

4. The book is boring. “If your opening paragraph is someone driving and sleeping, I’ll put it down,” says Reid. “Most writers need time to warm up – but I don’t want to read that. Make sure your story starts in the first sentence.” Read Grabbing Your Read by the Throat for tips on writing introductions!

5. The writer offers no reason to care about the character. “Why do I care?” asks Scheina. “Each character has to be unique and special, or I’ll want to close the book.” The first day of school, moving, or packing your boxes aren’t gripping leads. “Prologues are really boring most of the time,” says Scheina.

6. The writer slips into a sliding point of view. “You get one point of view character per scene,” says Ephron. “Every scene should be narrated by one character in that scene.” Don’t shift the point of view. Stay with one specific character’s perspective throughout the scene.

7. The writer includes too many stock characters. Beautiful blonde bombshells, evil billionaires, and hookers with a heart of gold are all stock characters – and agent Reid is tired of them! Limp descriptions are also boring. “I want complex, nuanced characters,” she says.

8. The writer offers didactic messages. “Don’t send me fiction books that give moral messages, because neither kids nor adults will [read] them,” says Scheina. “If you have a message, it shouldn’t be on the first page or in the first chapter.” She also says readers don’t want to be preached to; morals and messages should occur to the reader after they put the book down.

Read the rest of the post, containing reasons #9-17, on Quips and Tips For Successful Writers.

Ebooks and Text-To-Speech Technology: A Legal Perspective

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This article, from Charles A. Gaglia And Thomas R. DeSimone of The Legal Intelligencer, originally appeared on Law.com’s Legal Technology blog on 6/30/09.

Amazon’s recent foray into the electronic book business can be described in no other way than as a resounding success. In a short period of time, Amazon’s Kindle has done for the electronic book what Apple’s iPod did for electronic music: that is, make it easily accessible, downloadable and, most importantly, cool. However, Amazon’s attempts to find new ways to exploit this medium and enhance the reading experience have met with their fair share of controversy.

The Kindle 2 recently hit the market, and it included a new feature that had the publishing industry up in arms and threatening suit. Ths feature is commonly referred to as "text to speech," but according to representatives for the publishing industry and the Authors Guild, it may represent the beginning of the end for the burgeoning audio book market, in addition to constituting a blatant violation of existing copyright law. From a copyright point of view, does text-to-speech technology require a license? And should publishers be legitimately concerned about the demise of the audio book?

What exactly is an e-book? Quite simply, it is nothing more than an electronic version of a traditional paper copy of a book. An e-book is usually in some type of computer readable format (such as DOC, PDF, etc.) and can be read on any type of electronic device capable of displaying that particular file type. E-books have been around for quite some time but have had a limited appeal because of the fact that many people prefer the portability and ease of use of traditional printed media, as opposed to being tethered to a computer screen. Keenly aware of these shortcomings, several manufacturers attempted to develop dedicated hardware devices that would emulate the traditional book-reading experience while at the same time providing many advantages only possible with e-book technology, such as storage of hundreds or thousands of books on a single device and instant access to titles via downloading.

Sony was an early entrant into the field with its LIBRIe device, which never really found an audience. Sony tried again more recently with its PRS-500, which experienced moderate success, but has been largely overshadowed by the popularity of Amazon’s Kindle device. Unlike Sony’s PRS-500 reader, the Kindle does not need to be coupled to a computer in order to download titles. It uses Amazon’s wireless Whispernet (provided by Sprint) in order to download any available title from Amazon’s e-book library, wirelessly, on demand. However, the most controversial feature of the Kindle was introduced to the public when Amazon released the second-generation device, known as the Kindle 2. This device incorporated text-to-speech technology, which, at the press of a button, allows the Kindle to read the e-book.

Much like the e-book, text-to-speech technology is not something entirely new. In fact, the first computer-based text-to-speech system was completed in 1968. Text-to-speech software enables a computer to convert text characters into audible, intelligible words by virtue of the computer’s internal synthesizer. If one wants to get an idea of what typical text to speech carried out by a computer sounds like, it may be instructive to listen to any interview given by world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, who communicates with the aid of a computer because of severe paralysis brought on by the ravages of Lou Gehrig’s Disease. The technology continues to improve, and many who have heard the Kindle 2 in action have remarked on the quality and clarity of the Kindle 2’s electronic "voice." However, text-to-speech technology continues to be hampered by the software’s inability to convey emotion and to handle heteronyms, which are words that are spelled the same, but pronounced differently (e.g., "bow" as the front of a ship versus "bow," which is used to fire arrows). Considering these significant shortcomings, should the publishing industry be legitimately concerned that text to speech may replace audio books created by professional voice actors? The answer to this question is important, as it relates directly to whether text-to-speech technology is a permitted use of computer-stored text under U.S. copyright law.

As a result of protests made by the publishing industry and the Authors Guild that Amazon had not negotiated for the text-to-speech rights, Amazon elected to disable the feature at any publisher’s request, effectively forestalling any threatened litigation for the time being. In a press release announcing the compromise, Amazon steadfastly maintained its original stance that its text-to-speech feature was in fact a permitted use of computer text under their current license. In an opinion piece published in the Feb. 25 issue of The New York Times , Roy Blount Jr., president of the Author’s Guild, stressed the importance and value of protecting audio rights and the continued success of the audio book market. His argument was primarily economic in nature, stressing that authors be adequately compensated for their creative works and any derivative rights that may flow from them. But the letter is noticeably devoid of any legal support for the contention that text-to-speech technology is violative of U.S. copyright law. Blount concludes by noting that while parents need not fear any legal repercussions for reading bedtime stories aloud to their children, performing the same act with the Kindle’s text-to-speech function is another matter. He fails, however, to explain the distinction.

Under the 1976 Copyright Act, copyright protection may extend to any work of authorship. Among the works that are subject to protection are literary, musical, dramatic, choreographic, graphic, audiovisual and architectural works as well as sound recordings. In order to be eligible for copyright protection, the work must be "fixed in a tangible medium of expression." With respect to e-books, the underlying text itself is clearly subject to protection, in that the e-book text is fixed as an electronic file on the Kindle’s internal memory. (This assumes, of course, that the underlying e-book is still subject to copyright protection, and that the work has not passed into the public domain.)

However, the situation is not so simple when one considers that when a Kindle user activates the text-to-speech feature, there is no fixation of anything into a tangible medium. In fact, after the software completes the process of converting text into audible sound waves, and those waves have reverberated throughout the listener’s immediate vicinity, there is nothing tangible that remains. With respect to audio books, there is fixation, in that the sound waves of the author or professional reader’s voice are affixed to a compact disc, or more recently in the form of an electronic MPEG file affixed to the hard drive of a user’s iPod. But nothing similar exists with respect to text to speech.

Read the rest of the article on Law.com’s Legal Technology blog.

Interview With Soft Skull Press Editorial Director Denise Oswald

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Soft Skull Press. The Huffington Post calls it, "The literary version of a punk rock label."  Canada’s Quill & Quire describes it as "One of the most visible and respected alternative houses in the U.S…like Grove Press in the 1950’s and 1960’s." Among its recent releases you’ll find Osama Van Halen and Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys: Sex Workers and Prostitutes writing on Life, Love, Money, and Sex. Clearly, Soft Skull Press is not your grandfather’s trade publisher.

In this interview, Editorial Director Denise Oswald talks about Soft Skull’s philosophy and approach to publishing, the advantages of working with a small publisher, how Soft Skull succeeds with books the majors won’t touch with a ten foot pole, and more.  

Soft Skull is known for being a sort of "punk" publisher, in the sense that SS frequently publishes edgy and nontraditional material. Can you elaborate a bit on what Soft Skull looks for in its acquisitions?

I’d say we’re drawn to gritty, dissident voices. Risk takers that are in their own way willing to speak truth to power. The focus could be on just about anything, really—it’s all about the author’s take on it.

What specific advantages do you feel Soft Skull can offer its authors, in comparison to a big, mainstream publisher?

It’s really easy for all but the biggest books to drown on a large, mainstream publisher’s list. For a book to just get subsumed amid the sheer volume of other titles vying for the attention and energy of not just the retailers and media, but of the in-house sales, marketing, and publicity staffs. A small press offers a boutique publishing experience. Odds are everyone in house not just knows about the book but has read it and shares the editor’s enthusiasm for it. And odds are the editor who was so enthusiastic about the project from the get-go is going to have a larger hand in how that book gets marketed and sold. So it’s a very intimate relationship.
 
Does Soft Skull have a set number of titles it can release each year, or do you let the quantity of desirable material dictate your release schedule?

Well, I think every publisher, large and small, has a range specific to them that they’re trying to hit in terms of the number of titles published annually. There’s a minimum number you need in order to achieve pragmatic results, like keeping your lights on, and then there’s a maximum number beyond which I think everyone sees diminishing returns because all the key players are working at capacity. But that doesn’t mean if a small publisher falls in love with a project she might not be able to take it on because she’s already maxed out on the number of books that can be published that year. At worst it means waiting a season to put the book out but it never means passing simply because you don’t have a slot to fit it into. 
 
You took over as Editorial Director for Soft Skull following the departure of Richard Nash earlier this year. Do you have any specific goals, or changes in mind for the imprint?

I’d like to expand on the fiction publishing program. It’s a spectacular list that I’m eager to build on, particularly in terms of voices from abroad–in translation or otherwise. Beyond that I’ve always done a lot of music related projects so I think you can expect to see that part of the list growing, as well.

Soft Skull is known for championing the very books mainstream publishers avoid: books that are controversial, difficult to classify, difficult to boil down to a sound bite, and frequently for, from, or about underrepresented or fringe populations. Why do you think Soft Skull is able to succeed with these types of books when the majors cannot?

To invoke an oft-abused term, it’s all about authenticity. When you embrace those kinds of books with purpose and show that you’re discerning about what you take on and that you can publish those that you do take on well, people trust your opinion and pay attention when they otherwise might dismiss a project out of hand.  When it comes to mainstream publishers, they probably have few people on board who’d understand the relevance of some of the books Soft Skull is known for, let alone be willing to devote the time and effort to making them work. This isn’t to say that something controversial or difficult couldn’t make it through at a big house due to the passion of the editor, but it can also die on the vine if the other departments don’t get it or what the readership is for it. 

To what extent, if any, does Soft Skull plan to utilize ebook and Print on Demand technologies?

Well, both are valuable tools that can be used in either standardized or more discriminating ways. Most publishers I know of, including us, utilize POD technology to help keep their backlist going when limited demand might have otherwise forced good books out of print. This is one embodiment of the The Long Tail theory. But I think the most interesting use of POD is what’s going on at ELECTRIC LITERATURE. The editors there have created a new literary journal that plays to both internet and traditional paper readerships and in order to make it feasible the terrestrial edition is purely available as POD. I think it’s a very smart way for a literary endeavor to navigate the digital transition.

As for e-books, at this point they’ve become an established format that stands alongside traditional hardcover and paperback—and one that will likely come out the victor in years to come—but for now it’s a fellow traveler that can be  be utilized in more proactive ways. For instance it allows for the rapid publication of timely material.  So if you’re doing a book that’s tied to current events, instead of releasing an e-book simultaneously with the hardcover or paperback original, perhaps you get that e-book out first. Or perhaps you’re doing a book on the environment or technology and you need the medium to live up to the message. Then maybe going e-book first or e-book only is the way to go. It all depends on the particular context of the project at hand.

Author platform is becoming an increasingly important consideration for mainstream publishers when it comes to considering a debut book for acquisition; how important is author platform to Soft Skull press in its acquisitions of debut books? 

Platform gets such a bad rap, but everyone potentially has one so it’s a question of figuring out what yours is and how to utilize it or further develop it. It’s another way of cutting through the sheer volume of voices out there and making yourself stand out. It’s a kind of road map to your reader and in an era of seemingly endless choices for our personal amusement and enlightenment, that’s crucial. Think of it like building your resume. You need to gain experience and exposure to get better and better job opportunities. If you’re a would-be novelist that can mean working on short fiction and trying to get placement in journals and magazines. It’s very rare that you can publish a debut book by someone who hasn’t made their way to some extent through the newspaper/magazine/journal circuit. If I can use a sports metaphor, getting a book published is like marathoning. A wise coach once told me: the marathon isn’t the hard part, it’s sticking with the months of training that’s the hard part. The marathon is your reward.

In a recent Idealog column Mike Shatzkin said self-publishing is now an acknowledged strategy for authors looking to break in to publishing, but some industry people still strongly advise authors against self-publishing. What is your opinion of the burgeoning "indie author" movement? Can self-publishing be a smart move for authors whose books don’t fit the conventional, easily-classifiable mold?

I think if you look at the number of break-out books amid self published titles you’ll see the percentage is very small. I’m clearly biased, but my feeling is that it always benefits a writer to see if they can place their work with a good house and a good editor who gets it before going the self-publishing route. There’s a lot more to publishing that simply creating the book itself. And sometimes the fact that a book has existed in a prior edition can hinder its chances of getting exposure on a grander scale.

April L. Hamilton is the founder and Editor in Chief of Publetariat, and the founder of the Publetariat Vault, a new crowdsourcing tool for use in literary acquisitions.

Choosing A Freelance Editor: What You Need To Know

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This post, from Alan Rinzler, originally appeared on his The Book Deal blog on 7/2/09.

In the increasingly difficult competition to get published, writers know they must put their best foot forward by sending out only a professional, polished, and persuasive new proposal or manuscript to any prospective literary agent or publisher.

Many authors have come to understand the value of objective help before taking the plunge, and I don’t mean from family, friends, or the local writing group. Such support is valuable to have close at hand, but even with the best of intentions, it’s not as useful as professional feedback and guidance.

Full disclosure:  I’m an Executive Editor at Jossey-Bass/John Wiley & Sons and I also work privately as a developmental editor with selected authors.

But I’m not the only such practitioner, and not necessarily the best one for you. There are plenty of other developmental editors out there.

Ask for referrals from authors you know and from agents and editors you meet at writers conferences, expos, or book store signings. It takes hustle and discernment.

Some independent editors have websites that list their services and former clients. If authors are listed, you can try to get in touch with them through their agent or publisher. The authors may be happy to endorse their editors and may well want to lend a helping hand to a fellow writer.

I recommend you be very careful when evaluating and making a final choice. Here are some of the primary considerations I think are important when selecting an editor.

Evaluating a freelance editor

• Professional Status

Is this individual a developmental editor? A developmental editor works with a writer to improve the basic concept of the book, the way it’s focused and structured, the style and attitude of the narrative voice, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction.

In a non-fiction book they’ll help clarify and organize the ideas and information. In a novel, they’ll work on the plot, characterizations, dialogue, visual description, and literary style.

It’s important to distinguish developmental editors from copy editors, who take a manuscript that has already been developed and correct the spelling, grammar, punctuation, and in some cases fact-checking.

Ask about the editor’s educational background and experience. A developmental editor is likely to have a vitae that includes a degree and perhaps graduate studies in literature or a related subject.  It’s also very helpful to have in-depth experience as an editor working with a broad variety of authors in real-world commercial book publishing.

• Track Record

Has the editor worked on books that have been published successfully?  Your prospective editor should be able to provide an author list of published titles that you can examine.  Did the authors acknowledge the editor in their published works?

Ask the editor to provide references and endorsements, and be sure to follow up.

• Compatibility

Don’t be shy. Get in touch with a prospective editor directly. If you live nearby, make an effort to meet. If that’s not feasible, have a good phone conversation. It’s important to see how they respond and to hear their voice, to establish a relationship you can trust and enjoy.

You don’t have to love your editor but it helps to like one another and have an open, honest channel of continuing communication. A good fit is important.

Humor and compassion also go a long way in forging a productive relationship!

• Accessibility

If your candidate is slow to answer emails or never returns your phone calls, that’s a bad sign, a harbinger of future problems. Being busy is normal; being absent or invisible for long periods of time is not acceptable.

 

Remember: It’s your book

Once you’ve narrowed your search or made an actual choice, I always advise authors to establish the ground rules up front and take an ongoing proactive role in protecting their interests.

Good developmental editors subsume their own egos and enter the world of the writer’s consciousness. They’re not writing their own book but helping you create the book you want to write.

Read the rest of the post on The Book Deal blog.

36 – No, Make That 59 – Free eBooks For Authors

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This post, from Holly Lisle, originally appeared on her Juiced On Writing site on 9/17/08. In it, she shared links to 36 free ebooks of interest to authors. While the individual links can still be followed from that original post, Holly has since combined them all, and added some more, in a downloadable ebook of her own and offers it for free on her site.

 

This list has now been superceded by the publication of a free e-book containing 59 Free E-books for New Writers. You59ebooks are welcome to download this e-book. For more details and to download please see The Ultimate Guide to Free E-Books for New Writers.

 

Original Post (October 2008)

Looking around the web, I’ve lately found 36 free ebooks to download for writers. These do not include the seemingly hundreds of free ebooks and articles available on writing or producing eBooks to sell, as I’ve tried to concentrate on creative or other online writing guides. Links are current at this point in time. Let me know if there are any more.

In no particular order –

1. Mugging the Muse by Holly Lisle.
This 209 page eBook incorporates many of the articles and workshops from Holly Lisle’s main writing site, with additional material. It is now available as a free download both in PDF and Exe ebook versions. This is one of my favourites, I must add.

2. The Non-Celebrity’s Guide to Getting a Children’s Book Published
This free eBook is avilable from Write4Kids.com, along with a couple of others.

3. Unleashing the Idea Virus by Seth Godin
Okay, not strictly about writing, but Seth Godin’s publications are some of my all time favourites because they are applicable to any writer’s lifestyle, marketing and creativity. And most are given away quite freely, so take a look around his site. Unleashing the Idea Virus is about word-of-mouth marketing.

4. Assaulting a Writer’s Thinking by Lea Schizas
This eBook is available via Free-ebooks.net, once you’ve registered. In fact, there are 44 results under the Writing and Publishing category at Free-ebooks. However this one has a good rating and is on a general writing subject, whilst most others are more towards ezines and eBooks.

5. Book Writing for Fun and Profit by Brian Scott
From the Bookcatcher site, this 84 page eBook in PDF format contains some information, some advertisements, and some resource links.

6. Improve Your Writing Skills
This is a little Exe eBook downloadable from Mantex.co.uk. It includes some simple grammar discussions, plus chapters on writing strategies, writers block and resources. Although dated 2002, the eBook itself is a good representation of putting together an exe eBook with a good format, working links to pages, and small relevant advertising to the side.

7. Legendfire’s Writers Guide V2
The Legendfires online creative writing community has published version 2 of its writing guide in March 2008, which provides discussion around goals and starters for writing. This 54 page PDF guide is well worth downloading if you are into creative writing.

8. On Creative Writing by Linda A Lavid.
This ebook is found on the Legendfire website also, and comes in 48 pages PDF format.

9. and 10. Blogbash and Blogging for Profits
Both of these ebooks are free to download, on the specific subjects of blogging. Blogbash came about after an event on the Chitika blog and interviews 30 successful bloggers. Blogging for Profits is written by Yaro Starak who runs the successful Blog Mastermind ecourses. Both give some excellent principles for writing for the blog platform. Both are free.

11. Manage Your Writing by Kenneth W. Davis
This is a free download via the Scribd website, where you will find other writing themed books as photocopies / scans or uploaded PDFs or text files from some authors. This eBook concentrates on Business Writing.

The Oxford Essential Guide to English, a scanned edition is also currently available from Scribd, as are other dictionaries and references.

12. Creative Freelancing
A free ebook available from writingcareer.com.

13. Make Your Words Sell
This large and free ebook by SiteSell.com’s Ken Evoy with Joe Robson. At 250 pages, it’s an excellent reference for copywriters, or making your words work on the internet. While you’re there, check out the other free large ebooks in PDF format – Make Your Content Presell, and Make Your Knowledge Sell (the last being on information products or eBooks).

14. How to Write a Great Query Letter by Noah Lukeman
This ebook is relatively famous out there on the internet, and has been given back as a gift to the writing community by the author. On the same page you will now also find the free download eBook, How to Land a Literary Agent. The How to Write a Great Query Letter is available only via a free download at amazon.com however. Which means there is a difficulty from my own perspective as I’m a UK amazon customer, and the U.S. Amazon places restrictions based on geography on digital downloads.

15. Writing Success Secrets by Shaun Fawcett
A general eBook of 89 pages on everyday writing – letter writing or writing essays or papers.

16, 17 and 18. Tropes and Schemes, Begin Writing Fiction and Dangers for Fiction Writers
These three short eBooks (around 35 pages each) by Shruti Chandra Gupta are available as free downloads at the LiteraryZone blog. These are a compilation of the content on the website, where you can continue to read this content if you don’t want to download the eBooks.

Read the rest of the post on Juiced On Writing.

Phantom Editors and Writing 'Mistakes'

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This post, from Marsha Durham, originally appeared on her Writing Companion blog on 3/6/09.

Do you mark errors you find when you read books? If you do correct text, be sure that what you’ve done is . . . well, correct.

I occasionally correct errors in Wikipedia and books, such as dates and people’s names. Sometimes I correct typos, although I’m not really into joining the super-vigilant typo-police. I usually correct a typo only if it’s in a library book and may mislead other readers. For example, a Colleen McCullough novel had a scene set in a royal court. A whipping there was described as a ‘kindly act’ when the story’s context suggested that ‘kingly act’ was probably what was meant.

Recently I borrowed a library copy of a novel called The Writing Class, by US writer Jincy Willett. I enjoyed the book—it covers writing issues but is also a whodunit—but I was also interested to see that a previous reader had inserted three ‘corrections’.

What do you think about what the book’s Phantom Editor corrected?

Interestingly, Jincy responded, and I’ve now  incorporated her comments.

Akimbo: Correct–or not?

. . .[S]ince all they had to tell the police was that some unidentified joker had claimed that another unidentified man was dead, the police wouldn’t be inclined to race to the beach, blue lights and sirens akimbo.

The origins of akimbo were words meaning ’sharply bent’ and ‘crooked’, and anything akimbo should be able to be bent. It usually refers to human limbs: arms akimbo, legs akimbo.

Can blue lights be akimbo? Maybe, as a figurative description of flashes of blue light breaking over the scene. But a sound—the sirens—can’t be. So yes, I agree with Phantom Editor on this one.

JINCY: “Akimbo” was used in a deliberately off way. We’re in Amy’s p.o.v. throughout (that is, 3rd person, single p.o.v., with the exception of the Sniper material), and this is the sort of deliberate odd word choice that she would make (I hope); it was intended to be droll, because Amy is.

Between you and I: Correct or not?

Carla, a member of the writing class, tells Amy, her writing teacher: ‘Everybody understood that piece but me! Between you and I,’ she had whispered, ‘I was just winging it.’

Phantom Editor had a pencilled-in a correction about it: ‘between you and me’.

The correction makes the phrase grammatically correct. But for dialogue, editors should investigate further. Not every character uses grammatically correct speech. Maybe Carla is someone who always uses the phrase ‘between you and I’. Many people do. A good editor would check with the author and examine how characters talk throughout the book.

JINCY:  Carla uses the wrong pronoun case in dialogue, and again this was deliberate on my part, although I can’t remember why, except that I always notice when people do this.

Careen: Correct or not?

At first all she could make out was a small car entering the far end of the lot at an unsafe speed, at least for speech bumps, and sure enough it hit three of them, bottoming out each time . . . with an attendant rattle that sounded like a dislodged oil pan, and still it careened forward, coming straight for Amy.

Phantom Editor changed careened to careered. Which is right? This one is tricky: It depends on the culture the story is set in, the writer’s cultural background, and the editor’s decision to stick to old or changed rules of usage.

Read the rest of the post on the Writing Companion blog.