Business
My (gulp) Internet radio debut is today, Thursday, May 19. They’re going to ask about the ideas in my novel, a speculative political thriller titled We the Enemy. It happens on The New American Dream Radio Show. The show starts at 7:45 pm Eastern time and the guest interview comes about a half hour into the show. Look for the listen live link.
Okay, so I’m a little nervous about this. Not a lot, but this is an unknown for me. What will the questions be? Can I adlib successfully without “uh-ing” all over the place? Because of the controversial nature of some of the ideas that I know I’ll be asked about, will I be subject to attack on the web sometime later?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m also excited by the opportunity and glad to do it. The interview has come about because one of the producers of the show, Chuck Gregory, read my novel and responded to its underlying ideas. He not only wrote a reader review on Amazon, he asked me about appearing on his show to talk about the ideas.
(Side note: interestingly to me, most of the reader reviews focus on the dual nature of the book in a positive way. One reader said, “We The Enemy is an unusual novel, both an action-packed thriller and a rational dissection of our legal system.” Don’t you love it when readers get it?)
This means you, too
Anyway, the broader scope of my little foray into the world of Internet radio is how we authors are now exposed and accessible in ways that were unknown just a few years ago. The Internet is, of course, the culprit/benefactor.
Read MoreTherese here. Please welcome today’s guest, Robin Antalek, author of The Summer We Fell Apart, which was published last year by Harper Collins, called a “well-crafted and cunning debut novel” by Publishers Weekly, and named a Target Breakout Book. The Summer We Fell Apart is the story of four siblings, over the course of fifteen years, who’ve suffered from a neglectful upbringing, and the importance of their connectivity to one another. A story that author Diana Spechler says is “as haunting as it is gripping.”
Robin’s short fiction has appeared in Five Chapters, 52 Stories, Literary Mama, Sun Dog, among others. She is also a regular contributor at The Nervous Breakdown.
I’m so pleased she’s with us today to talk about lessons learned on the road to publishing her debut novel. Enjoy!
Things I Learned from my Debut Novel
When The Summer We Fell Apart was acquired by Harper Collins, I was shopping in a warehouse store for the anniversary party I was hosting for my in-laws. Propped in my cart was the file folder I had carried across the country all summer crammed with lists and numbers, the caterers’ menu, the party rental place, the cake lady, the flowers, and a list of the miscellaneous items for purchase. My cell rang and it was my agent on the other end with the news. I started to laugh like crazy in the paper goods aisle, until tears came to my eyes. Here was the moment I had been waiting for, and I was surrounded by super-size packages of toilet paper and paper towels. This should have been a warning: I was so not prepared for what was about to happen.
I read early: by three I was sounding out words, four I was reading books, five I was comprehending a few years ahead of my peers. Writing was a natural extension. For years I supplemented my income by writing press releases, radio scripts, and local news pieces. Fiction was for fun as I placed in contests, published in literary journals, and attracted the attention of an agent. Fiction was fun until The Summer We Fell Apart was published, Target picked it up as a Breakout Book and suddenly a lot more people were paying attention.
And I freaked out.
Read MoreTherese here. Today’s guest is Judy Dunn, whose blog —CatsEyeWriter–was recently named along with Writer Unboxed as one of the top ten blogs for writers by Write to Done. Judy is also a copyeditor, blog doctor, and connoisseur of languages and strange songs. I’m thrilled she’s with us today to discuss something I’ve heard debated more and more frequently: How much is enough already when it comes to blogs and social media? Enjoy.
Do You Really Need an Author Blog if you’re on Facebook or Twitter?
I’m a blogging and coach and content marketing specialist. Some of the people I work with are authors. The other group is comprised of small business owners. I would say that aspiring authors are really small biz people, too, but I get pushed back on that a lot.
For a good reason.
You became a writer because you are in love with, well, writing. Some writers don’t have a business bone in their body. They either ignore marketing because they are focused on their craft. Or they grudgingly hire a publicist or someone else to do it for them.
I get that. I really do. After all, you belong to the world of ideas. And if you don’t do the hard work, that is, put in the seat time, your book will never be born.
Enter the new marketing: social media
In some respects, social media tools have made promoting an author’s work easier. We don’t have to leave the house as often: go to libraries and coffee shops and community clubs, give talks. We can pop into Facebook or Twitter for a few minutes every day and our marketing takes care of itself. Right?
Well, yes, but it comes with risks.
Other social media platforms are just that. Other people’s platforms. If you make Facebook or Twitter your main author platform, you are giving up some control of your marketing message.
And that is not always a good thing.
5 reasons you shouldn’t make Facebook or Twitter your author platform
Read MoreIt seems publishing houses no longer have the capacity to provide the kind of promotional efforts on a writer’s behalf that they would have done only a few years ago. Market pressures have combined to put far more of the responsibility on us, the writers.
Like it or not, we have to blow our own trumpets these days, and I don’t enjoy that. I’ve been a little luckier than some, with solid efforts from in-house publicists when each new book comes out. But I’d be stupid if I didn’t also work on increasing my public profile. Website, check. Facebook fan page, check. Blogging on Writer Unboxed, check. Online forums, check. Add to that appearances at literary festivals and genre conventions, presenting workshops and occasional signings. I still do a lot less than some other people who’ve posted here about their self-promotional activities. That’s because I know I’m not a fast worker, and when it comes to the crunch, writing the novel always comes first. Also, I need eight hours sleep a night.
A lot of advice has appeared on Writer Unboxed and elsewhere recently about the huge amount of time and energy you, the aspiring writer, need to put into getting your name and brand out there. Good advice. But becoming a public figure is not all beer and skittles. It comes with a darker flip side.
Here are some of the things I do (and a couple I don’t do) to stay in touch with existing readers and garner new ones. With each point comes some cautionary advice.
Read MoreKath here. Please welcome Caroline Tolley to Writer Unboxed today. Caroline is a freelance editor who has been freelancing for ten years on all genres of popular fiction; including YA, fiction for men, mystery, cop books, literary fiction and, romance. Her publishing career began after college when she went to work for the direct mail-order Book Clubs; The Literary Guild, The Rhapsody Book Club, and The Book of the Month Club.
She moved on to Pocket Books, a division of Simon and Schuster, one of the largest publishers of commercial fiction in New York, where she worked for 12+ years, moving up the ranks to the last position she held as their Executive Editor. A number of her authors made appearances on the New York Times, PW and USA TODAY bestseller lists. We’re so lucky to have Caroline share her insights into the changing editorial landscape.
Caroline can be reached at thebookeditor4u@optonline.net.
Enjoy!
Do editors edit? Has the ever-changing world of publishing reached the physical page of a manuscript? That seems to be a hot topic these days, though in my nearly 20 years of being involved with the world of popular fiction for women, I may have heard this once or twice before. But the chatter seems to be louder these days. Why? And where do I fit in?
I am a freelance content editor specializing in women’s fiction. I have been working directly with authors for nearly 10 years. Prior to this endeavor, I spent almost 15 years on the front lines of commercial fiction publishing in New York as an Executive Editor at Pocket Books. I edited New York Times bestsellers, as well as books from first-timers. I edited while at the office; I edited at home; I edited on trips. I was always on the phone with authors discussing revisions, rewrites, ideas. I rolled up my sleeves and I edited any and all manuscripts that were my responsibility the same way; with a blue pen on paper and a stack of sticky notes nearby. I have since gotten rid of the sticky notes, but I still edit on paper. Given the popularity of editing electronically (the Track Changes method), I gather that this is one aspect of the process that may be on its way out, but I am going to be hanging on to my pen until the bitter end!
The rumblings about editing that have reached me out here in my small seaside village boil down to one thing; time. Editors and agents have less time nowadays to devote to the actual editorial process and the manuscript itself. And because of this, manuscripts need to arrive in pristine form because in many cases, they won’t be thoroughly edited. Editors are looking for complete works rather than partials and they are more critical in their assessments. They want it ready to go. For many, the time is just not there to devote to a brand new writer and their book. This is a sea change from years back. Authors that have been in the business a long time will probably tell you they spend less time than in the past talking with their editor about the quality of the writing. If messing with the book is going to take up time but won’t in the end, contribute […]
Read MoreTherese here. Today’s guest is editorial consultant Tracy Marchini–a former literary agent’s assistant at Curtis Brown, Ltd., book reviewer for BookPage, and freelance copywriter for Scholastic. I was intrigued to learn that Tracy had published her first ebook, PUB SPEAK: A WRITER’S DICTIONARY OF PUBLISHING TERMS–a book she says defines more than 400 publishing terms. From the press release:
PUB SPEAK explains commonly used terms from all sides of the industry. Terms defined include those used in contracts and royalty statements, crafting fiction and non-fiction, ebooks and audiobooks, social networking, retailers and distributors, industry and author organizations and awards, and general publishing terms. Designed for both aspiring and established authors, PUB SPEAK can be read through for a deeper understanding of the industry, or used as one would a traditional dictionary.
Sounds like a valuable resource to me. I’m happy that Tracy’s with us today to discuss some of the things she learned while e-publishing her book. Enjoy!
Five Things I’ve Learned By E-publishing
Even though I’ve worked in the publishing industry and continue to work as an editorial consultant, I have certainly learned some important lessons in publishing my first ebook, Pub Speak: A Writer’s Dictionary of Publishing Terms. I hope these five lessons can help you as you think about your path as an indie or traditional author!
1.) You cannot do the cover yourself, unless you happen to be a graphic designer.
There was a brief moment where I thought to myself, “Well, I’m artistic, perhaps I can do my own cover.” Despite the fact that I’ve advised plenty of people to invest in professional cover art, I still spent some time in front of my computer with MS Paint, a sketchbook and a scanner. Luckily, this bout of insanity was short lived, and I accepted that I had to follow my own advice.
I spoke with a book designer and also requested Mark’s List from Smashwords, which is a free list of ebook formatters and cover designers. In truth, I didn’t like any of the cover art on the Smashwords list as much as I liked the cover art I knew Michelle Davidson Argyle had done for her own books. I emailed her and, luckily for me, she agreed to do it!
2.) Free books don’t bend the laws of physics.
Read MoreIt’s your launch day. Well, the book’s launch day. The day you’ve been waiting for, hoping for, working toward, for so long. You are a published author, and anyone who wants to buy your book can buy it. You don’t have to say to friends and family “soon, soon,” and you don’t have to answer the question “But why does it take so long?” for the umpteen-trillionth time.
It’s out. The book’s out. Soon has become today, at last.
And today the book isn’t yours anymore.
Actually, that process — the unbelonging of the book — has been going on for a while. And not because of your agent’s involvement or your editor’s or the copyeditor’s or the cover designer’s. The unbelonging of the book takes place at the hands of another type of people entirely.
Your readers.
(Moment to pause and rejoice, here: YOU HAVE READERS. How cool is that? Never lose sight of that.)
It began months ago, when the first Advance Review Copies went out.
Read MoreYou can tell publishing professionals by the questions they ask. Describe your novel to an agent or editor and their first question usually is, “Who’s your publisher?” It’s like asking, “Where are you from?” It doesn’t really matter, it’s just a quick way to tag and feel at ease with someone.
Publishing pros also tend to discuss novels in shorthand. If you were eavesdrop in the Rights Centre at next week’s London Book Fair, the comment you’d probably most often hear as novels are pitched is, “It’s beautifully written,” followed by, “of course.”
Beautifully written. What a nice thing to hear, even more so when it’s your novel that’s being praised.
For me, beautifully written has come to be not just a nice extra (when you get it) but a critical component of high-impact fiction. Commercial storytellers may scoff. Um, have you looked at the best seller list? Yes I have. There’s plenty of plain prose to be found there. But look closer.
Novels that have run for a year or more on the lists are rarely just slick genre fare. They are what the industry calls literary/commercial. (How’s that for precision?) It means fiction that both sells powerfully and is beautifully written.
Um, did you notice the words “for a year or more”? Think about that. Did your last thriller stay on the Times list for six weeks? Does your women’s fiction regularly pop onto the USA Today list? Congrats. But we’re talking a year or more. Maybe there is something to that phrase beautifully written.
Read MoreTherese here. Please welcome novelist Rae Meadows to Writer Unboxed. Rae’s third novel, Mothers and Daughters, releases TODAY by Henry Holt and Co. What’s the book about?
Samantha is lost in the joys of new motherhood—the softness of her eight-month-old daughter’s skin, the lovely weight of her child in her arms—but in trading her artistic dreams to care for her child, Sam worries she’s lost something of herself. And she is still mourning another loss: her mother, Iris, died just one year ago.
When a box of Iris’s belongings arrives on Sam’s doorstep, she discovers links to pieces of her family history but is puzzled by much of the information the box contains. She learns that her grandmother Violet left New York City as an eleven-year-old girl, traveling by herself to the Midwest in search of a better life. But what was Violet’s real reason for leaving? And how could she have made that trip alone at such a tender age?
In confronting secrets from her family’s past, Sam comes to terms with deep secrets from her own. Moving back and forth in time between the stories of Sam, Violet, and Iris, Mothers and Daughters is the spellbinding tale of three remarkable women connected across a century by the complex wonder of motherhood.
Sounds like my kind of book. I’m thrilled Rae’s with us today to give us some A-Z wisdom. Enjoy!
An A-Z Guide
In the summer of 1999, I was living in New York City on break from my MFA program, and I had just begun writing a novel. My sister was dating her now-husband Darin Srauss (Half a Life, More Than it Hurts You). On the wall of his apartment was a huge grid of different colored note cards, a methodical diagram of his second novel. I was overwhelmed. It was clear my free-form approach was all wrong. And if I needed to be that organized about where a novel was going, maybe I wasn’t cut out to write one.
Of course I know now that there is no right way to write a novel, but at the time, Darin had already written a successful book so I felt like he knew what he was doing and I didn’t. It took me a while before I could accept that I had to figure out my own process.
Suffice it to say, what works for me might not work for you, and what works for one book might not work for the next. But here, from A to Z, are some things that I like to remember about novel writing.
Read MoreThis past year has seen significant and well-publicized developments for self-published authors. It’s probably not necessary to point out what the high-profile success stories are, but in case you need a reminder:
Guess what? Not a single one of these authors used (or will use) a fee-based self-publishing service. They’re also not depending on print sales or distribution. They are earning significant dollars from low-priced e-books that move in high quantities. You can read more about the mass-market e-book phenomenon from Mike Shatzkin. And if you think these 3 authors are the exception to the rule, then read this post from JA Konrath.
A lot of ink—real ink and electronic ink—has been spilled on whether publishing will die, or books will die, or agents will die, etc.
But what about the impact on fee-based self-publishing services? I’m thinking specifically of the ones that focus on print-on-demand books.
Let’s discuss the history of these services first.
Read MoreTherese here. Today’s guest is national bestselling author Meg Waite Clayton, whose latest novel, The Four Ms. Bradwells, will be published by Ballatine Books March 22nd. It’s the story of four law-school friends who are made to relive a dark time in their past after grueling Senate hearings for one of their own unearths some of their secrets. It’s already getting great buzz:
“Fans of Elizabeth Noble, Ann Hood, Elin Hilderbrand, and other luminaries of female friendship fiction will find much to captivate them.”–Library Journal
“Clayton’s latest novel concerns four highly successful women exploring their friendship, along with the secrets they have shared and kept from each other for years…This one meets all the requirements of Book Club Lit.”—Kirkus Reviews
We’re thrilled she’s with us today to discuss something every unpublished writer wants to learn more about: finding the perfect agent. Enjoy.
Finding the Right Agent For YOUR Book
Finding a good agent can be like finding any good relationship – complicated! But just as every aspiring author is hoping to meet the perfect agent, every agent is hoping to discover the next great American author.
Seriously, Every Reputable Agent out there is hoping to find the next Great American Novelist. You don’t need connections (with rare exceptions). You just need to write a really good book and present it well (definitely two different things). But agents are also dealing with unbelievable volumes of submissions, and hoping to get out to dinner with their spouses or to their kids’ soccer games. So you need to catch an agent’s interest and keep it at every turn – in a way that is PROFESSIONAL, not hokey or wacky or will-this-guy-stalk-me-ish.
The Goal: Send as little as possible to lure an agent into asking for more. The minute you move from the to-be-gotten-through pile to the I-asked-to-see-this-so-maybe-its-good pile, the presumption changes. They’ve ASKED to see your work.
What you need to query an agent:
Read MoreSo I’m seeing tons of coverage of the digital phenomenon. There’s been a lot written about Amanda Hocking, obviously, and the new Kindle millionaires, many of whom have never been traditionally published. This is exciting for many reasons, but I want to address a few key points in the digi vs traditional publishing debate.
1. Craft is important.
No matter who you decide to write for, the quality of your work matters. It’s a bad idea to toss a book or story up on Amazon because it’s easy, convenient, and you figure even if it’s bad, it’s still worth $.99. The price may draw some readers in, but you won’t build a broad reader base this way. One sale, and then they’re gone. You’re looking to build a brand and create return traffic in terms of readership. It’s best to decide where your wheelhouse lies (paranormal, YA, SF, fantasy, urban fantasy, humor, women’s fiction, literary) and then do a number of stories or books in that same vein. That way, when you’re ready to branch out, you’ve built up trust from your readers that you can handle your commitments. Regardless of your venue, I recommend against writing five “book ones” for various series because that makes readers worry that you won’t follow through, and that makes them wary.
2. Writing is always hard work.
Read MoreTherese here, elbowing in for a quick sec to say woohoo, our first week of donations in the Writers for The Red Cross auction has earned $450! Don’t miss this week’s packages, including “The Kitchen Daughter” Book Club in a Box donated by Jael McHenry; a signed copy of Donald Maass’s not-yet-released book The Breakout Novelist; a 100-page critique of your work-in-progress by author Ann Aguirre; and signed copies of Anna Elliott’s Avalon series. Bidding begins today. Back to your regularly scheduled blog post…
Balancing my writing career with all my other responsibilities is a constant challenge, and I always joked that what I really needed was an intern. Now, my “office” is a corner of the living room of a typical Manhattan one-bedroom apartment, meaning that even my desk isn’t a full-size desk, so onsite help was out of the question. (The writing life has its elements of romance, but it is also jam-packed with unromantic logistics.)
But we all have more than we can do ourselves, or at least it feels that way, right? If you are writing with the goal of publication, no matter where you are in the process, you’re looking at two important and sometimes conflicting types of work: the craft and the business. In struggling to find time for both, you may find you’re not satisfied with the progress you’re making on either.
I was lucky; I actually got the intern I’d been joking about needing. An opportunity came up (via the magic of Twitter) to post a listing for Winter Term interns at Oberlin College, and after interviewing several applicants, I selected one to work for me this past January. He was incredibly helpful. At the time I was several months away from the launch of The Kitchen Daughter and needed help tracking down information on everything from festival deadlines to book bloggers’ timeline requirements to the Facebook and Twitter accounts of my favorite indie bookstores. He even helped out on the historical research for my next book, currently underway.
But what if you can’t get an intern? Simple. Be your own.
Here are three easy ways:
Read MoreTherese here. Today’s guest is an international bestselling author of eleven novels, the oh-so-savvy M.J. Rose. M.J. founded Authorbuzz, the first marketing company for authors, and co-founded both Booktrib and Peroozal. She was also one of the founding board members of International Thriller Writers. When a scheduled guest fell through, I asked M.J. if she’d like to swing by and share some of her business wisdom with us. So happy she agreed. Enjoy!
Great Expectations
I think the single most difficult and yet liberating moment I had in publishing was when I found out that ultimately my success depended not on me or the reader, not on my talent or the responsiveness of the audience but by the vagaries of the publishing industry.
That truth was provided to me by a friend, who happens to be a very good agent, one day over lunch, when he simply said, no matter what you do for your book, you can’t make yourself a bestseller.
And he was right. Only a publishing house can get behind a book to the extent that must exist for a book to take off and become a bestseller. And it takes the whole house – from your editor all the way up to the publisher – to anoint your book and say – this is it – this is the one of the two or five or ten books this year that we are going to give “it” to – it being “the push” onto the list.
And when “it” happens – you know it. “It” authors don’t wonder if enough is being done for their books, don’t wait for phone calls that never come telling them what the print run is or if they are getting two weeks of co-op or not.
There are over 8000 novels published by traditional publishers a year. So what are the 7500 of us who aren’t already bestsellers or who are not going to be anointed this year to do?
That’s where the issue really is, isn’t it?
Read More
