Myths about the Writing Life (ConCarolinas 2014 Writing Panel Notes)

Myths About the Writing Life

Tamsin L. Silver, Misty Massey, Claudette Marco, Jim Bernheimer, A.J. Hartley, Roy Mauritsen, James R. Tuck

Moderator: Faith Hunter

Myths of the writer’s life (read aloud)

1. My solid gold hummer doesn’t spit money

2. Royalty checks are big

3. People always want to write your books

4. No revisions

5. No day job

6. You need a big publisher

7. Once you write in one genre you can only write in that genre

8. All you need is an agent

9. A book deal equals fame

10. You need to write chapters in linear sequence

11. A great-selling novel equals an automatic movie deal

12. Just about getting your first book out, and it’s all gravy after book 1

13. Publicity and marketing people at your publishers ensure your book gets read

14. Book sales are counted in hundreds of thousands

Myth: Publicity and marketing people at your publisher ensure your book gets read.

AJ: People assume that if you’re with a major publisher that marketing budgets are divided equally between authors. The person with the higher advance gets the higher budget. Unless you’re one of a very small percentage within that house, there is virtually no publicity or support.

TS: Her publisher told her promotion was her job, and didn’t help after a year, so she pulled her book.

RM: Went for a smaller press because he wanted more control.

MM: Not only did the PR people not do anything, they weren’t clear on what she should do.

FH: PR is the lowest position in publishing. New authors are often taken care of by inexperienced PR staff. Best to get a PR firm to help you learn. Online ads and referrals are best. If you don’t know how to do your own PR then you lose out.

JB: (mostly self published) Marketing time will eat into your writing time if you’re not careful. Be prepared to part with money to get noticed.

CM: (self published) Successful at conventions. Blog tours didn’t help much. Being at conventions, especially speaking on panels, helped her make connections.

AJ: Twitter blew up when Richard Armitage read his Hamlet book. Made it hard to keep up, have a dayjob, and write.

Myth: You need a big publisher to sell your work.

TS: Self-published, at book 5, and someone who works at Vampire Freaks.com loved her books and asked her to write a new online vampire show, so began work on Skye of the Damned, learned how to produce a show, and as  a result the cross promotion led to more book sales. Don’t be afraid of what you don’t know. If you don’t know it, you can learn it.

FH: The learning curve never stops.

MM: Releasing a book of short stories on her own featuring Mad Kestrel because there has been a long gap in releasing books 1 and 2.

CM: All the marketing is on you if you are self-published. Used CreateSpace as publishing venue so that she could put more money into editing, cover art, etc.

JB: You don’t even need the brick and mortar stores, either. Self-publishing – Create Space, Lightning Source. Create Space is more print on demand. Lightning Source will send you the bill for returned books put in brick and mortar stores.

RM: Brick and mortar stores are fighting, competing with other books. Prefers to take books to convention regardless of small press or large. Works in graphic design and now designs covers for other writers. Likes having more control with a smaller press.

FH: Brick and mortar stores are going away is what we’re hearing. But?

AJ: There’s a myth going around that b and m stores are going away. It’s hard to make a real living without a big pub and books in physical stores. Doesn’t have the skills or time for publicity and marketing his books, so he wants the big press to promote him. It comes down to what you want to achieve. Grocery money? Being out there, sharing stories? Self pub. Consistently 50K a year or more, very difficult to do that as a self-published author. Traditional publishing is not dying. Some of those who self pub should not be putting their work out. The initial myth that you need a traditional pub to get your book out is not true. The new myth that we can also load up to Amazon and make a fortune is also untrue.

FH: The myth that you can quit your dayjob is also untrue. She just quit her dayjob, decades in. Hit bestseller list, hired a PR firm, and the firm let her down, didn’t get much attention from publisher until they noticed her books stayed on the extended list. Hired her own PR firm.

AJ: The NYT list is calculated based on numbers of copies shipped from warehouses to stores, while the USA Today list is based on number of sales. Also, Booklist and many others have their own lists.

FH: Making the bestseller list did not translate to more PR when she hit the bestseller list the first time, but then eventually did.

Audience Question: What’s more important, print and e-book sales or hardcover?

FH: Mass markets don’t make much per book. Print and e-book sales

JB: Has been self-publishing, and the most he’s ever made in one year is 22K. Nice supplemental money is great, but don’t quit your dayjob.

FH: But until you hit a bestseller list, you’ll be lucky to make even 20K in traditional publishing. The first book selling for a million to a pub is very rare.

JT: There’s no money in publishing. This isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. Don’t do this for the money, do it for yourself.

AJ: Those who make the most money are hybrids, selling out of print backlist via self-publishing, and also selling traditional work.

FH: Publishers aren’t letting go of the print rights like they used to. An agent helps to keep it. If you go for a traditional press, have an agent.

JT: If you don’t have an agent, demand things out of your contract. Have a lawyer look after it. A contract lawyer can help too.

Myth: Once you get that first book published, you’re set.

FH: This is more for the traditionally-published folk, but how hard is it if you haven’t been traditionally published to keep publishing?

CM: It is difficult, and conventions take money, but does get the satisfaction of putting book out there and interest in writing to work. Tried to find an agent, and some were interested, but eventually it didn’t work out. Liked finding her own editor, connecting that with story, finding own cover artist, etc. Not much money, but she has the satisfaction of living out her dream.

FH: Even for traditionally published it can take a lot. Hotel rooms at a con, meals, flights, etc, are not typically comped.

MM: Eight years after Mad Kestrel, finally got invited to a con that comped a hotel room.

RM: Being able to share a story, create something, that’s the satisfying aspect for him.

FH: We all do this because we love to do this.

TS: I can’t not write. As an artist, this is extremely fulfilling. Remembers that she is not writing for anyone but herself.  It’s always better to write for you, not for the people around her

FH: It sucks having to write something just to pay the bills.

AJ: there is a downside to quitting your dayjob. You become a slave to the market. There’s a freedom to knowing that the sales of your next novel don’t determine whether you get to keep your house.

MM: Most people do not have the discipline to treat it as a job in your own home. Most people are writing in their home and when you’re in your home the brain is telling you to do all the things, the chores, the laundry, and Facebook, etc. You have to be super disciplined to not have a day job and write in your home.

Me: Three times I’ve taken a week off just to focus on writing, and three times the week has been filled.

FH: There are no benefits for those who quit their dayjobs.

Myth: You’ll be able to write at conventions.

JT: I’m too busy drinking with friends.

TS: I go out to eat and drink with friends.

JB: Maybe a bit but cons are an opportunity pit.

AJ: Used to bring his laptop. *snort*

RM: Cons are an opportunity to not write, to make connections.

TS: It’s important to talk about writing, so you have so much more energy when you get back to that

FH: The networking that happens at cons happens at the bar. You can do this even as a recovering alcoholic.

Audience Question: How do you write at home without social media?

FH: Rewards herself: she can only check FB after she finishes every page, if she wants.

JT: No internet in his office. Researches things later. “Research” turns into time spent on FB.

CM: Sets goals, takes breaks.

TS: Easy to sit and write.

Audience Question: Advice on finding cover artist if you’ve self-publised a book?

RM: You can find a lot of great artists through Deviant Art.

JT: If you buy a sketch from a cover artist, you can’t use it for a book cover. There’s a big contract involved first.

CM: Freelance.com.

The Business of Writing: Publishing, Money, & More (JoCo Cruise 2015 Notes)

One of the many awesome things about the cruise I was on last month was the sheer number of creative people in attendance: musicians, artists, and of course, writers. And I particularly enjoyed this class given by science fiction author John Scalzi, who provided a crash course in the business side of the craft based on what he teaches at Viable Paradise, well-researched and complete with consultation from financial advisors. What follows is what I think is a lot of very useful information, as well as some painful truths about money. But like I tell my physiotherapist when he jabs needles in my injured leg to stimulate the nerves and facilitate healing: I get it, it's the necessary kind of pain.

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The Business of Writing: Publishing, Money, & More

John Scalzi

The Publishing Landscape Today

Types of Publishing
- Traditional
- Self
- Subscription Models

Publishing Formats and Typical Earnings
- The rise of electronic models, e-readers, and electronic books
- E-books are a significant part of the landscape. in 2005 they were 1-2% of the market; now authors often sell more in e-books than in hardcover. Frequently, they now make up 30-70% of a writer’s business.
- Hardcovers: There is flat amount paid per unit sold; writers usually get 10% of that cost
- The fixed cost is based on cover price set by the publisher.
- With e-books: the author gets a percentage of the net. 30% goes to Amazon, 70% goes to publisher, then the author gets 25% of the rest.
- The chunk of money authors receive gets progressively smaller the lower the price goes. Meaning the writers sometimes get less from e-books. This is a substantial change in the landscape for writers and authors.

Current Trends
- Traditional publishers have been challenged by the electronic marketplace, but that appears to have settled.
- Borders filing for bankruptcy meant that a national chain was gone, and e-book sales became even more important.
- The good news: things have stabilized somewhat
- Independent booksellers have rebounded (because Borders is gone, and because independent bookstores have gotten smart and have diversified – featuring tabletop games, coffee shops, events and book clubs, etc.). This makes for a more diversified market, which is positive.
- Brick & Mortar sales have stabilized, while independent bookstores are on the upswing.

All About Amazon
- Amazon is a major player in the publishing game, regardless of whether you’re traditionally or self-published.
- Their feud with Hachette involved an argument over a percentage that Amazon would receive for sales, plus an advertising percentage. This subsequently pitted indie vesus traditional writers, which became an unnecessary conflict.
- Contracts always come up for re-negotiation.
- Get used to it, it will happen a lot; be aware that Amazon has a lot of sway and will use it to their advantage.

A Look at E-Publishing
- E-publishing: A great place to be, but sales have flattened out a bit for the e-readers. Their market has settled because everyone now has e-readers.
- Once people thought electronic would take over print, but it appears that print will continue to be around for a long time.
- Pay attention to the new trend: Audiobooks! This has also become a thing. Now people really like audiobooks. This is a growing field, and a fantastic opportunity. As a writer, this will be part of your landscape. In particular, Audible.com.
- This also affects writing: how will it be read aloud? For him, this has led to him cutting down his dialogue tags as a result.
- This will make things more difficult for new authors because Amazon/Audible will be able to dictate the terms.

Publishing Options and What They Mean
- Self-Publishing: Very easy to do, has never been an easier time.
- Downside: it is trivially easy for anyone to do so, so the market is flooded and it is difficult for things to stick out.
- Every year, there has always been that one guy to stand out and be successful. DO NOT RELY ON THEM AS THE FACE OF SELF-PUBLISHING.
- It’s a very competitive market. Many self-published works sell less than 500 copies.
- Amazon is the 500-pound gorilla of indie publishing. Meaning they have an exceptional amount of control over the market. You sign their Terms & Conditions; with a traditional publisher you sign a contract that you’ve negotiated.
- This applies to all of the e-retailers (iBooks from Apple, google play, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Wattpad, etc.). Know what you’re getting into; read the fine print. If you’re okay with the terms being one-sided, rather than negotiated, then go for it.
- Another option: Kickstarter/Indiegogo – Something that works that you can do, particularly if you have an existing audience (Twitter/Tumblr/Livejournal, etc.) – but this is work.
- He sticks with traditional publishers because good at writing and good at talking – he’s not good at copy editing, regular editing, page design, cover design – so for him, it’s worth it to be with a traditional publisher. These are valuable partners and worth it. And if you do the Kickstarter route you then also have to fulfill the stretch goals.  If you’re not willing to do that, then don’t. Screw up a Kickstarter, and it’ll follow you to the end of your days.
- New wrinkle in the process: Subscription Models: Pay a flat fee per month (e.g. $10) and get access to many books. For writers and publishers, it is more ambiguous. How do the writers get paid? There’s a schism between indie and traditional writers. For traditionally-published work: if the reader has read 10% of the book, you get credit for the sale. For self-publishing: Amazon creates a monthly pool of money; everyone who’s an indie author, whose sales get triggered, gets credited as a proportion of that pool. And only the amount Amazon decides to put in. Which is bad news for indie authors because it turns it into a zero sum game. That may be a downward pressure that Traditional authors might also have to fight with. This is potential bad news for bookstores. For writers, the market can collapse, with fewer bigger publishers.
- Is this a scary time to be a writer? No, it’s an exciting time to be a writer. But it’s always been an exciting time.
- 30 years ago, science fiction and fantasy books were sold on racks at the grocery store; now that’s mostly romance, action-adventure thrillers, and very little sff. But back then, bookstore chains were on the rise.
- Every era has this experience, with market models going up or down, and different authors thriving on different models. There will always be people who thrive, people who fight for the scraps. We’ve always been in a crisis in publishing.


How to Be Financially Successful as a Writer

The Truth About Income
- Here’s the tough-love: Be responsible with your money.
- It’s always been a challenging time to be a writer. Prepare to be broke if that’s your only job.
- Many authors make less than $2-3K per year for their writing. Advances are typically not very high. The average starting advance is $6500; sometimes, up to $12K for science fiction, $15K for fantasy.
- And remember, this is spread out, divided into chunks. Upon acceptance, upon delivery of accepted revisions, and upon release.
- If you go the indie route: there’s no money up front; the money you receive is based on sales and payout from the retailer.
- Writers have always starved. Aren’t we lucky?
- Prepare to be broke. Don’t quit your day job. Especially if it gives you benefits and a stable base of income. It’s about the security.
- Even full-time writers can only write for a few hours a day. He spends time answering e-mail.

Keep Your Day Job
- 90% of writers do other things, too.
- Nearly every writer you meet has some other job. Do that.
- When to give up the day job? Never if you can avoid it. Even Wallace Stephens kept his.
- If you are going to quit your day job: If you are making 30% more with writing than you do on your day job from your writing, it could be worth it. But remember, you’re now on the hook for taxes, insurance, benefits, and you have to file quarterly, and other things you. So the amount of money you make will drop. So 30% more will work out to only 80% of what you had before.
- It helps to have a supportive partner. It particularly helps to have a partner who has a good job, stable income, and is good with money. But make sure you reciprocate in the quid pro quo of relationships if that is the case.

Financial Management Advice
- Save as much as you can. Specifically:
- Immediately take half of your income and put it away, for dealing with taxes and life. Your day-to-day like rent and bills comes out of the *other* half.
-  This seems excessive, but in his experience, life appears to have a 10% fuck- you surcharge. Broken bones, broken down cars, other problems.
- It’s ok to have credit cards. But use them like cash, pay them off at the end of the month.
- Debt creeps and crawls, especially credit card debt. It’s the highest interest rate. Your cc company wants the stable income of you carrying that debt. Uses Amex as a charge card that must be paid off. Have credit cards but use them wisely, use them as cash.
- If you have debt, consider paying down the debt rather than saving.
- Clear out as much as you possibly can, as quickly as possible.
- Related to this: pay cash for what you want to buy or not buy. Also, saving up for the thing you want makes you think about the thing you want and whether or not you want it. Save a little every month and think about what you really want. Is the new computer really worth it? Besides, as you save up, prices drop down.
- The idea: do not spend what you do not have. Do not get used to spending more than you have. And when you buy something, buy the best you can and run it into the ground. Don’t just buy the new shiny. You’ll save money that way, even if it means paying more for something up front.
- Try not to live in a super expensive location if you can avoid it. Writers can work anywhere. He has a huge house, but it’s not expensive, because of where he lives. There are advantages to living in big cities, but if you can, live somewhere cheaper and it’ll make a big difference in your quality of life.
- All of this is about the fact that writing is a business. Treat it like a business. No one will look out for your interests more than you. If you don’t look out for yourself, you’re screwed. Even amicable relationships will push to make it as good to them as they can. But creative people don’t want to think about business, they want to think about art; that’s fine if you want to starve. Treat it seriously. Or else have a reliable spouse.


Questions from the Audience:

How can I find an editor for my work?
- Look for the references, see what they’ve edited.
- With traditional publishing, it will be taken care of.
- Indie: it’s work, and will come at a cost, but a good editor can be very helpful.

Which format makes more money for writers?
- Doesn’t matter; it evens out.
- First week of release: NYT bestseller list. But in terms of the money, it typically doesn’t matter.
- It’s okay to try a writer on sale, but if you want to support the writer, buy their books, and for a reasonable price.
- Writers may need to argue for when the prices go down, their royalties go up.

What kind of incentives and punishments do traditional publishers use to keep writers on the schedules?
- If you get a reputation for being unreliable, you won’t get published.
- Contracts help. Authors receive one part of their payment at signing, one part at delivery/acceptance, and one part at publishing. Finish the book, get paid.

What is the best way to find a trustworthy agent, and do they need to live close?
- Not important for them to live in the same area
- Perform due diligence when researching agents.
- When submitting, follow agent guidelines to the letter.

Is it better to get an agent first, or go for a publisher?
- Whichever works, but agents understand the money side. It helps to hire people who know how to do the job.

Writers' conventions: are they worth it?
- If that’s the thing you want to do, then yes; if not, stay home.
- Often there are writing panels at very inexpensive SFF conventions.
- He goes because he likes seeing and spending time with other writers.

Agents and Editors (Concarolinas 2013 Writing Panel Notes)

Hey everyone! I've been working on a few projects lately, but I am really excited to say that today's post means a lot to me, because that's exactly where my writing goals have been focused at the moment. Ahh, the terrifying thrill of sending out queries! The part I'm looking forward to this time is the lesson I had to learn the hard way: Just because one agent rejects you, doesn't mean you have to give up, go back, and fix everything. Not that I minded terribly, because in the case of the novel I'm querying, I realized that a lot of work *did* need to be done. But seriously, one rejection does not a failed manuscript make. That's a lesson that this time, I'm going to apply.

 

This panel had a slightly different focus from last year's Agents and How to Find One panel. It was also useful to have (mostly) different presenters talking about the same subject, and to get a current refresher on things. 

Agents and Editors
Carrie Ryan, Gray Rineheart, David B. Coe, A.J. Hartley
Moderator: Edmund Schubert

Agents

With the way the landscape has shifted, some are questioning why we still need agents, what’s the future? Why do you feel an agent should still be considered? What should you be looking for in an agent?

DBC: If your goal is to be traditionally published, a publisher won’t look at you as an author unless you’re represented. The fact that you have an agent gives a certain cache to the quality of your work. Also, agents can look at contracts, subsidiary rights, foreign rights, etc. One trend in traditional publishing these days that agents can help with is basket accounting: if you sell a series, the books can be accounted book by book so you see royalties book by book, or not until the entire series has earned out (basket). Separate accounting used to be the norm, but now basket accounting is. Agents are also getting into electronic publishing because they recognize their own obsolescence is looming.

AJ: Simply for management of multiple income streams, especially if you have lots of books from different publishers. Helpful to have all that stuff funneled through an agency. Agents often see themselves as author-career management. Has self-published his backlist through his agency. It helps to keep all the things together.

CR: If you go for traditional publishing, you need an agent. A lot of authors are artists and not business people. We (writers) are not the best business people, so it’s important to hire someone who can be that person. Lots of houses won’t accept unagented submissions. She has lots of author friends who didn’t have agents when they signed, who gave up rights they shouldn’t have, contracts they regret signing. Agents go beyond the power of negotiation. No agent is better than a bad agent, but the negotiating aspects of the contract, the little things they catch that have big impact are huge. Agents know this stuff and go to bat for us so we don’t have to deal with it.

DBC: Most important about an agent: when he (DBC) has a business-based dispute with his editor, his agent handles it. This keeps the author-editor relationship good. Also, it’s an artistic relationship about the content, to make the books the best they can be.


No agent is better than a bad agent: What should you be on the lookout when deciding who to sign with, and what should you be careful about?

CR: Had a friend with a question about a new agent. The new agent has no sales or anything on her site that says how that agent is better than the author. So CR suggested to her friend questions to ask the agent: What are some of your favourite books from the last year? How do you feel about certain rights? If the agent can’t answer those questions, then why are you going to pay them money if they’re in the same boats?

AJ: Some agents are not professional – copyists – not professionally-dependent on selling your stuff. Research and find what they have sold, who they work with, who they represent, which editors they routinely lunch with. A New York agent isn’t necessarily the best or only option these days, but personal communication and connection with editors still matters. It’s where stuff gets done.

DBC: His agent left her agency in New York to go to Atlanta, but that agent is conscious and goes to New York every few months still. Also, authors often switch editors, but you can stay with an agent for your entire career.

CR: It is common to switch agents. What you need at the beginning of your career isn’t necessarily the same as what you need as your career progresses.

DBC: If you switch agents every few years, you might get a reputation.

AJ: You can switch agents if you’re very successful. If you’ve a represent for being difficult to work with, you won’t be re-signed.

CR: Agents who are starting out can be  hungry, looking for submissions – so research, who was their mentor? Where did they learn to be an agent? Check Publisher’s Marketplace – $20/month, provides info agents and their deals. See if the agents are selling, and who are they selling to? Just one publisher or many? Do they represent your genre? YA and MG?

ES: Define boilerplate.

CR: Boilerplate: the starting contract that every pub house starts with that favours the publisher. Agents negotiate it down.

ES: Some represent only some genres, but not all.

AJ: Has one agent for everything, but a separate film agent.

GR: Baen still looks at unagented submissions. Has seen a lot he can compare from authors submitting on their own compared to what’s come from good agents to what comes from not-so-good agents. There is a marked qualitative difference in what comes to them. Not just that he’s met the agent and knows it will be good quality, just that he recognizes the difference. E.g. a bad agency that would send multiple query letters. He has checked Writer Beware against some agents. This is a business, and some agents don’t deserve the title because they’re not representing their clients.

AJ: Any agent who wants money from you is a dead giveaway that they’re not good.

DBC: Same if they refer you to a book doctor.

CR: Money flows to the author. Also, agents often work as editor. They went through several versions and rewrites before sending her manuscript to an editor, and that made a remarkable difference.

ES: A lot of current agents are former editors. They know the industry. (To GR): You have the most current experience for searching for an agent. How should people go about doing that?

GR: Agencies have guidelines just like publishing houses have guidelines. Some want a certain number of chapters or pages, some want an outline, some want a synopsis. READ THE GUIDELINES and conform to the guidelines. Usually an agent will look at a cover letter, synopsis, and a few chapters, and then decide if they want to see more. They’ll ask for an exclusive if they want to see more. Partials can be sent out to multiple, but the moment someone wants to see more, they get an exclusive for as much as a month or three (definitely not more than six), and then you say, “someone else is looking at it” to further requests. BAEN is interested in reducing backlog and reducing slush pile. Hasn’t yet been successful.

CR: Posted on how to research agents at Magical Words.

AJ: Has heard that agents are lazy and will use every available opportunity to reject your manuscript because that makes their life easier. Your job is to make it as hard for them as possible to say no. Even if they say send a query, ALWAYS send a sample. You need to get your work in front of their eyes. If they glance at it, there’s a better chance of them wanting to see more.

GR: They don’t reject if guidelines aren’t followed to the letter. They’re looking for a great story.

AJ: Yes, but agents are looking for any excuse to reject the book.

ES: It’s a factor of volume. After six months of rejection, he realized that agents weren’t rejecting the novel, they were rejecting the query letter. Re-sent queries even to agents he’d subbed to before (assumed they wouldn’t remember him six months or a year later, you can go back), and got a great response rate.


Audience Question: is exclusivity longer than six months a red flag?

CR: Don’t give them exclusivity longer than a month. To spend six months waiting on one agent is a long time in your career.

ES: Check Writer’s Market – no financial info, but will show who represents what. $15/mo.

GR: These are great places to start, but once you have the agent, search their website, that info should be more current than whatever is listed on the directory site.

ES: And if they don’t have a website, that’s a red flag, too.

DBC: Search for agents who represent the same kind of stuff you write. And acknowledgements of books, because authors thank their agents.


Audience Question: Is it helpful when agent hunting, to conveniently have someone else interested in the work?

CR: Can help, but it’s more important about the strength of your work. Be specific.

AJ: And sometimes the agent has difficult selling the work.

CR: And if they have difficulty selling it, they should try to work with you. That’s something to ask – what do they do if that book doesn’t sell? Will they work with next one?


Audience Question: When you supply an outline, how do you know that outline won’t be stolen?

DBC: They’re not. Sorry, nothing is interesting enough for that.

AJ: You can’t copyright an idea.

DBC: And if you give the same idea to five authors, you’ll get five different novels.


Audience Question: Are there any genres you don’t need represent for?

ES: If you’re self-publishing online or only writing short stories. Who are you looking to publish with? How are they selling your work? If an agent thinks they can make money from your work, they’ll sign with you.

CR: Harlequin is an example of a publisher who’ll publish you without agent.

AJ: And you can technically go to an agent after the publisher accepts you.

GR: BUT not all publishers are like that. BAEN will drop you if you go and get an agent. They’re negotiating with whoever initiated the relationship. To do so is taken as a bait-and-switch.

ES: But BAEN is the only pub that seems to do that.

CR: There’s an exception to every rule.


Editors

ES: So, about editors.

AJ: In all his experience, his best experience has been with acquisition/developmental editors. Gets edit memos from them. Editors definitely still edit.

CR: The copy editor goes through and finds tiny errors, keeps details consistent. Grammatical, syntax, inconsistencies, anachronisms, etc.

DBC: His copy editor comes back with copy edits and a style sheet. Terms, names, places, anything unique to book, so that typesetters can make sure that all the words are as they should be. Stylesheets are like a world bible. Invaluable.

ES: “Line editor” and “copy editor” are pretty much interchangeable.

ES: As short fiction editor: works in acquisitions, not much developmental editing, but also does copy editing.

GR: Every house is different with which editors do what and who consults with whom. BAEN books – the editor in chief makes the final decision about acquisition.

The Next Step (ConCarolinas 2012 Writing Panel Notes)

 

Here's a look at what we should be doing once we've finished writing a novel.

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The Next Step

Authors: John G. Harness, Misty Massey, Terry W. Ervin II, Edmund Schubert, Gray Rinehart 

Moderator: David B. Coe

So you’ve finished your book … what now?
- This is assuming that you’ve already sent it to beta-readers and edited it.
- Having a good beta group geared towards publishing really really helps.

As the author, what should we be doing?
- TE: Get the novel best you can, research markets, check guidelines to see if it’ll be a good fit; write other stuff while waiting on response. You can always read the guidelines of the publisher but also read what they’re publishing. Know what you’re going for. Check the bookshelves in the library and the bookstores.
- MM: Start the 2nd book right away because if you sit and wait and stare at your e-mail, you’re just wasting time. These books don’t write themselves. Keep moving, keep writing. Novels. Short stories. Work on *something*. Momentum is hard to regain once you let it die.

- JH: Took the self-publishing route after trial and error. When he finished his first novel, he tried the “submit to agents” route, then realized he had no idea how to craft a query letter or who to submit to. Spent a year submitting poetry and lit fiction to small presses. Learned the process. Didn’t make much money. Self-published first, and then started learning by fire the self-publishing route. Went through self-publishing process on a much smaller scale, then realized he couldn’t categorize his first novel. So he hired an editor, formatted and reformatted the book for print and e-publishing. Was not an immediate success. Now he has a publisher for his books.

For the editors in the panel, did their experience change anything?

- GR: No, because he started as an author. Started making all the mistakes generally made on the writer’s side. Didn’t have experience to draw some. Didn’t have beta-readers; that was a big mistake. Did Orson Scott Card’s boot camp. Started writing short stories when he was really young. Gave up for a little while, and came back to it later. DON’T give it up, or you’ll have to re-learn. Wrote a few more short stories then went to the novel.
- ES: Also was a writer first; also did Orson Scott Card’s boot camp. Realized he had so much to do. His beta group was great but everyone was interested but not experienced. He wrote novels before transitioning to short stories. Turned to short stories to learn his craft. Then went back to the novel feeling more competent.

Should we be writing shorrt fiction first?
- JH: Wrote a lot of articles for the poker industry. Didn’t write short fiction until he started self-pubbing novels and needed something to fill in the holes between self-pubbing his novels. Quick turnaround time. Quit his day job.
- MM: Writing a short story is easy. Started writing short stories. Also, instant gratification from short stories. Novels take a bit longer. FH encouraged her to write novel-length.
- TE: Short stories are great, but writing fantasy/sci-fi shorts is a challenge because you also have world-building, too.
- ES: It is possible to write a novel full of short stories – a cluster of standalone short stories that has an overarching arc or links, but would take more time and effort to write this than to write a novel.
- DBC: Still, this isn’t something he’d recommend to beginners.

About queries:

- ES: Query-writing is a science. Getting a rejection doesn’t mean that your book sucks, it means that your query letter sucks.

About agents:

- Most authors agreed that it was important to find an agent first, but only one had an agent at the time of this panel.

- Publishing is a hurry-up-and-wait game.

- One author went though a small publisher.

- One author: Had an agent who sold the author's first book. Signed with that agent because the agent had the connections in New York. You need someone enthusiastic who’ll believe in your work. But then as time went on, the author realized the agent wasn’t doing much to help, and didn’t even look at the second book before passing it onto the publisher. The author currently looking for a new agent.

About editors:

- DBC: Editors can be friends. The average writer will go through several editor relationships. An agent author relationship is a marriage. Ending it is like a divorce. The relationship is complex; there should be rapport. There should be support. They should be there for you.

How long does it take to publish a book?
- JH: finishes a novel-length Jan 1, hired a good freelance editor. Sent it off. Gets it back from editors and proofreaders by the end of February. Meanwhile has consulted with cover artists. By March 1 is ready to sell/upload. Meanwhile sold the contracts to re-release older works to small pub last August, and the books should be ready to go this August.
- DBC: Handed in Thieftaker on time Feb 1, 2010, will be published July 3rd, 2012. And it didn’t need that much rewriting. Tor is notoriously slow. Editor is glacially slow in the context of Tor editors.
- GR: The process of creating cover art, releasing arcs for review, is 6 months to a year. Publishing schedule is 18 months to 2 yrs. Lots of BAEN authors are very prolific. As far as what you can expect, if you submit a novel today, you’ll get a response in nine months. Don’t expect exclusivity. Appreciates being notified if the novel has been picked up elsewhere. If he likes the start of the book and sets it aside, it’ll take much more time for him to look at. Then if he really likes it he’ll submit it to his boss (chief editor), and then that will take more time.
- ES: Remember, there are a lot of little steps in the process. You want the publisher sending out review copies. The reviewers want the books 3-4 times prior to being published, too, and you want it reviewed, because good reviews drive sales.
- DBC: Got blurbs by sending out manuscript to authors, which adds a few more months (but this is also very important)
- TE: Smaller press means smaller pub schedule. Depends on blurbs, reviews, etc.
- JH: There are many of self-published authors who sell tons of copies.

Social media before submitting?
- DBC: Social media is a great way to market a book that is already most of the way through the publishing process. But it takes up more time that you should spend revising a novel, and you should focus your energy on writing.

Respecting the Day Job (March Madness Check-In, Day 12)

"For now its just playing, but one day i'll find that artery"

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the day job, and what it means to me. When I was a kid, once I'd determined that I wanted to be a writer, my dreams centered around me one day being published, rich, and famous. Reality didn't factor into my ambition when I was twelve, and seventeen years later*, I'm still working on that dream—of being published, at least. Rich and famous? I may be an optimist, but I'm also a realist.

And these days, that's something I've come to terms with. Last week's Magical Words post by David B. Coe about the realities of publishing (and even Carrie Ryan's follow-up about YA publishing in particular) wasn't entirely news to me. But still a part of me had been clinging to the idea that my day job was just that, a day job, one that no matter how much I loved it I would eventually leave to pursue my writing.

That's not to say it won't ever happen. Anything is possible, right? Just that lately, I've come to realize that I'm happy with what I've got. The job I do is rewarding in itself. No one minds that I use my lunch break as writing time. And by working a little bit extra every day, I get one day off every two weeks (hint: it's Mondays).

Sometimes I feel confined by days when I don't get as much writing time as I could if I didn't have the day job, but even on those days, lately I've made it work. Writing in the car while DH drives us to and from work (yay carpooling). Squeezing in half an hour before sword class. Making sure I use the lunch break for actual writing. Fitting writing and reading in where I can, because that's what I need to do.

I thought about taking today and the Monday two weeks from now off, specifically for March Madness, but that's not what this is about. The point is (Dear Universe), this is reality. And I love my job enough to know that even after getting published, I could still handle it. Probably would have to handle it. The "Day Job" may be an epithet for some, but I can't let it be that for me. And youthful fantasies aside, I'm okay with that.

March Madness folks: How are things going today? Do you have a challenge to your writing schedule that you've come to embrace and respect? What do you do to squeeze in writing time? Progress-wise, I'm coming along. Since last week, I've edited 9 chapters. Still more to go, but there's a write-in tonight and I'm hoping to get some work done. How about you?

I'll be at work today *points to title of post* but I'll be sure to respond this evening. And don't forget to check in at Denise Jaden's blog tomorrow!



* * * * You do the math. Guess which big one I'll be celebrating this June?

The Art of War for Writers (SiWC 2010 Notes)

I didn't get a chance to post more notes before now, but I did have a darn good reason: I finished my rewrites to SIGN OF THE STAR! It is now in the hands of one last (but incredibly awesome) beta reader and then I'm going to start sending it out. And I'm feeling confident about it.

But if I had to choose just one more set of notes to share, it would have to be what I took away from James Scott Bell's class based on his book of the same title: The Art of War for Writers.


* * *

The Art of War for Writers
James Scott Bell

Sun Tsu: Chinese general abt. 2500 yrs ago
As writers, we often overthink things

Elevating everyone where they are to the next step

1. Know the battlefield.
What is the publishing business about?
- Money.
- Not a cynical view because the people in publishing care about writing and good writers, but ultimately it’s a business.
- To get published, you must offer value to the publisher.
- Think of yourself as a person who produces books.
- They’re interested in someone who can produce multiple books.
How to add value to the reader?
- Make them feel satisfied for buying the book.
- Inverse ratio between what’s in the market and what personally pleases
The fact that we are here increases the chances of getting published.

Pyramid (reverse):
People who think they want to write
People who have written a book
People who keep writing, keep trying
People who get published
Wheel of Fortune at the top

2. Career Novelist:
- Desire – really have to want it enough
- Discipline – self employed as a writer
- Knowledge of the craft
- Don’t just start writing, also know that you have to learn craft,
- So how to books help.
- You can learn how to be a writer. And you should.
- You should make it something that you do every day.
- You need to be honest, face your weaknesses
- A willingness to learn
- A buisness attitude – what people are looking for, how to present yourself
- Rhino skin – thick skin – criticism of your work is not criticism of you
- Take the long view: this is a lifelong thing
- Talent (least important) – there are highly talented people who never make it because they don’t keep trying (high expectations of self, fear, etc), but there are people who from hard work and dilligence do make it even though they’re not necessarily very talented
- Write to a quota
- Killzoneauthors.blogspot.com
- It’s okay if it’s crap/drivel, you can edit it later
- Accept the quota for yourself
- Accept that real life intrudes – better to take one day off and set a weekly quota (take a break)
- Use an excel spreadsheet to keep track
- Only count new words when revising
- Finish the first draft as fast as possible
- Revise the previous day’s work then continue to write.
- Create new words every day
- Day by day dilligence
- “nobody knows anything” – William Goldman – Don’t stress about it or worry about adding value when you add the freshness of your voice
- No one knows anything about e-publishing and the future of that
- Job is to add value to the reader. If the book sucks, the reader will be disappointed
- If you really think you need to e-publish, you need a professionally edited manuscript, someone who really knows how to craft a novel
- Developmental edit (does the story work) plus copy edit
- Readers do reader reviews online
- Need a good cover
- Need a marketing plan
- Anewbiesgudietopublishing.com – Joe Conrad

3. Systematic and never ending improvement model of business.
- Self study: Where can you improve? What are your weaknesses as a writer?
- Even if you only get one thing out of it, a writing book
- Think of all the novels with a great ___ (character, etc) and find out why you like it
- Make a copy of things you like and keep them in a writing notebook
- Keep outside commentary, read it
- Robert Heinlein: 1 you must write, 2 you must finish what you write.
- Don’t get it right, just get it written.
- Tactics to elevate your fiction:
- It’s crucial to bond your readers with the lead character.
- A great novel/plot is how a character deals with death (physical, professional, psychologically)
- E.g. romance writers have to create a psychological death
- The stakes are that high: death being that high enough
- Death to the lead character him/herself
- Can be a ghost from the past
- Make mistakes for your lead character
- Positive lead or hero – someone who represents community values
- Negative lead e.g. Scrooge or Scarlett O’hara – don’t represent the community (Power is important e.g. Hannibal)
- Antihero: has own code, doesn’t want to be concerned with the community but get drawn in, fights impulse from the start
- The community is sometimes us, the readers, not always the
- Grit, wit, and it
- Grit: Stakes aren’t always death: character needs to experience courage, trying to survive –Scarlett has
- Wit – If character can be self-deprecating
- Take a line of dialogue and freshen it up
- It – e.g. Clara Beau during the roaring twenties – Someone that people are drawn to, not because they’re trying hard, but because they are comfortable in their own skin –
- Pet the dog or save the cat – when the character takes care of someone weaker than themselves at the price of their own greater danger (esp. When they’re trying to save themselves)

4. Scene writing
- How can you increase the readability of your fiction – scenes need to be very readable
- Hook, intensity, and prompt
- Hook: Look at openings: Various ways to open a scene, depending on the pace
- Begin at a later point in the scene, with action (description can fit in)
- Intensity: Every scene should have a degree of intensity, or the reader is being let down
- Comes primarily from fear (worry to abject terror)
- Every scene should have a fear factor
- Prompt: What you can do to get the reader to keep reading
- Don’t write a lot of scenes to completion/logical end
- Try to find a good place to start (a line of dialogue may be intriguing)
- A question answered – try to keep it unanswered

5. Opening chapter, opening scenes
- Editors and agents read the first sentence rather than the proposal first because they want to know if you can write
- Avoid opening with the weather and place
- Avoid dreams
- Avoid opening with happy people in happy land
- “A great story is like life with doll parts taken out” Hitchcock
- Opening disturbance: something to disturb the character, something is out of the ordinary, amiss
- Anything that is interrupted
- Aim for a scene that is active – includes dialogue
- Don’t open with a character alone, merely thinking about the strong emotion s/he’s feeling – readers don’t care about them yet
- Show the main character in conflict (dialogue as a possibility is good)
- A good prologue is a full scene with high intensity that has a reason for being there
- Could call it Chapter 1
- Could open it with no heading (just don’t call it prologue)
- Don’t have backstory in the beginning: you can, but you need to marble it in with the action of the story: why the character is in this situation
- Reaers don’t need to know everything about the character

6. Dialogue
- Dialogue is the fastest way to improve a manuscript – gives the editor/agent confidence that you know what you’re doing
- A compression and extension of action
- Every character in every scene should have an agenda
- Dialogue is a weapon – an intense scene, becomes a weapon to fight (e.g. Now Voyager)
- Dialogue is one way you can let it flow
- Try writing the dialogue first, as improv
- Use it as a way to write the scene and figure out what a scene is about

7. Three great scenes and no weak ones.
- What is your weakest scene – least intensity, seems to drag – cut it
- If absolutely must keep, make it better
- Need a great scene to be memorable for the readers

8. To outline or not to outline – Yes, outline.
- But allow the story to breathe on its own. Change the outline.
- Have a log line: one line to summarize the script.
- Write back cover copy.
- Create an opening scene with disturbance
- Come up with twenty possible scenes after that.
- Then you will have a great understanding of what the story’s about.

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Yes, this was an incredible class. Check back tomorrow for one last SiWC 2010 post. I'll be at the hotel, settling in and taking some pre-conference Master Classes!

The Future of the Printed Word (ConCarolinas Writing Panel Notes)

Hi everyone, this was a busy week so I didn't get a chance to type up my notes like I was hoping. But here's the next panel I attended at ConCarolinas: The Future of the Printed Word.

As I've said before, this is just what I hastily scribbled down, so any errors here are likely mine and I apologize in advance. Feel free to ask if something I've noted here makes absolutely no sense at all.

* * *

The Future of the Printed Word

Authors: Nathan P. Butler, Stuart Jaffe, Faith Hunter, David B. Coe, Nicole Kurtz

Moderator: Rob Shelsky

Question: What do you think the future of the printed word will be?

Nathan:
- A complete conversion to e-books is not going to happen anytime soon.
- There are court cases preventing that (e.g. a braille challenge)
- Not all students have access to the necessary technology
- However, pleasure reading is more likely to shift more toward e-books.

Stuart:
- Paperbacks might disappear completely.
- Hardcover might come back.
- All of this is still several years off
- The Kindle is made by folks who intuitively know books

Rob:
- Paperbacks won’t disappear completely.
- Coffee-table books and picture books will be hard bound.
- E-book readers aren’t always useful
- Uses smashwords.com for e-books

Faith:
- Mass Market will survive, but it will be more print-on-demand
- There will be a change between how bookstores buy from publishers – will see companies that don’t return books (big names) – publishers not accepting or bookstores not returning? (I forget the exact context)
- Paperbacks are expensive because 40% are stripped of their covers and sent back.
- The midlist will switch to e-books.
- The book publishers have the bargaining power.

David:
- No one, not even publishers, knows what is going to happen.
- The e-publishing industry will be good for short fiction.
- Can sell a short story for 99 cents; will be a viable market.

Nicole:
- Short fiction publisher
- Thinks short stories are easiest to read on an e-reader
- But they still need EDITING and COVER ART.
- Word of mouth will be important: people get burned.
- Offer free samples!

Self-Publishing Discussion:
- The editorial processes are one of the weaknesses of self-publishing.
- Self-published work is missing the developmental editor.
- David: No author can effectively edit themselves.
- Nathan: “Self-publishing is the Star Wars prequels. You need to have someone to say no.”
- Stuart: Build your name, and people will associate your work with either crap or quality. Self-publishing is *work*.

On Editors:
- Be prepared to meet the editor halfway!
- We *need* proper editing.
- David: “You learn from your editor not only how to make your first book better. You learn how to write.”

Final Thoughts:
- David: “We’re looking at a chessboard mid-game.” (i.e. we don’t quite know how it’s going to turn out yet, but everyone is thinking strategy.
- E-books are instant gratification.
- E- book readers can be either digital immigrants or digital natives – some have learned technology, some have grown up with it.
- E-books allow midlist writers to keep selling.
- Writers need to be businesspeople.
- Publishers are likely going to start banding together with services to fight piracy (illegal downloads).
- When the dust settles, a typical writer’s career will look very different from what it does now.