Writers’ market guides—which one should you buy? January 2, 2010

Writer’s Market, one of the standard submission guides writers use, seems to have taken its 2010 edition down a rocky path. Amazon reviewers are not impressed.

“This edition missed the boat completely.”

“This edition is substandard.”

“This 2010 Writer’s Market is the last edition of this book that I’ll be buying.”

“Somebody needed to proof the manuscript before publication.”

Other online book sellers seem to copy the reviews from Amazon, so I am limited in my resources; nevertheless, my thought is that the researchers and editors for Writer’s Market may have taken to resting on their laurels rather than upgrading (or even maintaining) the quality and content of the 2009 guide.

Needless to say, I won’t be buying this year’s Writer’s Market. My choice would be Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, and Literary Agents 2010.

Amazon reviewers, so far, have given it four and a half out of five stars, and to top that,

“the twentieth edition has been has been completely revised. The updated layout includes new symbols and callouts designed to give readers the information they need most in a quick and accessible format.”

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

Timeless Christmas Classics December 20, 2009

What are the best Christmas books of all time? There are lists to be found everywhere, but the best lists are filled with the books that have proven themselves to be classics.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas Dr. Seuss

“The Grinch, whose heart is two sizes too small, hates Who-ville’s holiday celebrations, and plans to steal all the presents to prevent Christmas from coming. To his amazement, Christmas comes anyway, and the Grinch discovers the true meaning of the holiday.” —Product description
                                                                                                                                  
A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens

The three spirits of Christmas past, Christmas present, and Christmas future haunt mean old Ebenezer Scrooge one night, with the intention of turning him into a nice guy.

                                                                                                                                  
The Night before Christmas Clement Clarke Moore

“Twas the night before Christmas,
and all through the house
not a creature was stirring
except for a mouse . . .”
                                                                                                                                  
The Nutcracker E.T.A. Hoffman

“This vivid tale of intrigue, wicked curses and rodents hot on revenge satisfyingly reveals why the Mouse King and the Nutcracker were such bitter enemies.” —Amazon
                                                                                                                                  
The Little Drummer Boy Katherine K. Davis.

“A magical figurine—a regal drummer whose companionship and soulful percussion offer comfort to a lonely child—is accidentally cast out with the trash. The drummer boy braves a string of harrowing encounters with wildlife, a steep fall from a bell tower, and the blustery winter weather the only way he knows how—by dutifully playing his drum.” —Booklist
                                                                                                                                  
The Polar Express Chris Van Allsburg

“The tale of a young boy lying awake on Christmas Eve only to have Santa Claus sweep by and take him on a trip, with other children, to the North Pole.” —Amazon
                                                                                                                                  
The Gift of the Magi O. Henry

“In a shabby New York flat, Della sobs as she counts the few coins she has saved to buy a Christmas present for her husband, Jim. A gift worthy of her devotion will require a great sacrifice. Jim, meanwhile, has made a sacrifice for Della that is no less difficult. As they exchange gifts on Christmas Eve, the discovery of what each has done fills them with despair, until they realize that the true gifts of Christmas can be found more readily in their humble apartment than in any fine store.” —Product description
                                                                                                                                  
The Very First Christmas Paul L. Maier

“Maier . . . sets the story in the American West, where a curious 8-year-old boy named Christopher wants a ‘real’ bedtime story. His mother then tells him the miraculous story of the Nativity.” —Amazon
                                                                                                                                  

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

The quest to make money through writing December 1, 2009

I recently wrote to a friend who makes approx. $140,000 a year from writing, and she is not a novelist (not that novelists make that much; try $15-$30k instead). She has managed to build up her writing and editing business to the point where she now has a list of repeat clients, and she has fine-tuned her weekly process for getting new work. I asked her what her advice to me might be were I to recreate her footsteps in my town, and here is what she advised:

Scour craigslist for listings for writing/editing and also under the Art/Media/Design. Often there are freelance opportunities there that might fill the need.

Next contact local newspapers and magazines. Call and ask to speak to the managing editor. Don’t email as it is easy to ignore an email, less easy to ignore a call. At least if they say no, you can still ask to send a resume and now you have a contact person.

Also, contact local advertising agencies. Sometimes they are on the lookout for people who can write good marketing material. Even if that is not your forte, you can learn.

Look for employment elsewhere until you can get a foot in the door. Small local papers are often the way to go, because once you have a couple of articles published in a weekly or monthly paper, you have the beginnings of a portfolio and the ability to link from your site to the articles.

Day One of my quest for paid work began with verve.
Day Two could be stated as beginning with swerve, but I’ll save you the details for another day.

What I have done so far
I scoured Craigslist.

I found Demand Media. I liked what I saw, but was it true that they managed to pay their writers every week, and was it true that they didn’t expect free content for pennies? I did what I always do when I’m not sure—I typed a search into Google for Demand Media and added the word “review.” Here’s what I found. I decided to bite the proverbial bullet and apply as a writer.

$5-$15 an article might be pittance, but it’s still money, and if I don’t make some, I’ll have to look for a 9-5 job standing at a checkout desk for $7 an hour. I’d rather starve, slowly, in a basket of snakes.

Demand Media wanted a resume, so I dutifully did another search on how to write one that would be different from all the others that came their way, but one that wouldn’t be so artsy-fartsy that they’d throw it away. I found this site. I’ve written stellar resumes for clients that have gotten them fabulous jobs, but I wanted to be creative, not stuffy, with this one, and so I looked to outside inspiration. (On a side note, never feel as if you have to be a total original with the things you do—everything, including writing, is a mishmash of the things that have influenced people over time.) (On another side note, if you want to write resumes, I highly recommend this fabulous book, Resume Magic—it was my personal trainer.)

I wrote, or should I say created, my resume and applied.

The worst thing I could do now would be to do nothing until I hear back from Demand Media. The point of this quest is not to make a few dollars; it is to earn an income.

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

The 2009/2010 top blogs on writing November 30, 2009

Michael Stelzner posts a yearly list of the top ten blogs for freelance writers. This year’s list is compiled from hundreds of votes, and here’s where you can find it.

Michael is the author of the very popular “Writing White Papers” blog. He has a book out—Writing White Papers—which tells writers how to write white papers or grow in their skill level. He’s also one of the big dogs when it comes to writing for major clients like Microsoft and Motorola, and he currently has 20,00 subscribers to his blog, so don’t limit yourself to following the top ten list; follow his blog, too.

More about Michael and how he can help you write and market your white paper writing skills.

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

You can buy Joy in a Box November 24, 2009

I am delighted to announce that
My collection of flash fiction, Joy in a Box, is now available in print. This is the perfect book to give as a gift to someone who likes to read stories that are short and sweet, because each story only takes two to three minutes to read. Put it in the downstairs restroom, beside the coffeemaker, or on the coffee table.

The sun pulled the daylight down with it, the silky nuances of dusk wrapping themselves around the strange couple, and Penny’s thoughts hovered in their folds. (Note Attached)

Genres
I’ve added as many genres as possible in the book in order to appeal to all tastes, and the stories are even clean enough for teenagers to read. Many of the stories have won placement positions in writing challenges, and others have caused readers to think, ponder, believe, imagine, reflect, feel, consider, suppose, assume, sense . . . (thesaurus, anyone?).

On went the motor of the walking machine; flip flap went the fat on the insides of Dorothy’s thighs. Dust flew abundantly in all directions. (Absolutely Fabulous!)

Reviews
“Her poignant crystal clarity of truth and honest point of view gather together in the smallest set of words for each short story. The antagonist—generally a normal aspect of any written story—isn’t entirely concrete, malleable, even visible. We’re not talking about a villain dressed in black here, or a mean old lady out to skin 101 dalmations for their fur to make coats. The conflict is something inside rather than outside. The plot is more based on thought than on action. The story moves more on the concept of memories than on events, sort of like . . . Haiku.” ~ Pierre Dominique Roustan, author of The Cain Letters

“It takes a special talent to write a complete story in a few words. Sally Hanan has that talent, and most of her stories have an interesting twist ending.” ~ Lena Nelson Dooley, award-winning author of Wild West Christmas, Christmas Love at Lake Tahoe, and Love Finds You in Golden, New Mexico

“A well-written and thought-provoking book of inspiring stories. Each story was so different. This book is about more than JOY; it stands for HOPE!” ~ Fran Lewis, author of My Name is Bertha, Bertha Speaks Out, and Bertha Fights Back

Where to buy this work of genius
You can buy Joy in a Box for $11.99, with shippping by UPS, here. I haven’t got it available on other online stores yet, as I need to come up with $99 to cover the ISBN and channel distribution costs. Yes, that’s what it costs.

She smiled—one of those fizzy drink kind of smiles that pops tiny bubbles of air to the lips over seconds of time. Then she went back to reading. (In The Orange-Sherbet Light)

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

Publish your e-book with Smashwords November 16, 2009

Smashwords is a great idea Mark Coker thought up. Why not set up a site on which writers can upload their e-books for free and then sell them to the public? Mark’s beta site went public on May 6, 2008. Since then, the company has added support services, tagging, coupon generators, publishers’ pages, a marketing guide, writing contests, affiliate marketing, and distribution agreements with Barnes & Noble and Sony.

“Over one billion of the world’s roughly 6.5 billion inhabitants subsist on less than $1 a day. Paper books are simply too expensive for most of the world.” ~ Mark Coker, Smashwords

Here are some of the pros and cons of publishing an e-book with Smashwords:

PROS
—The moment your book is ready and formatted (according to the Smashwords formatting guide), you can upload your Word file and let the world read it.
—Smashwords converts the Word file into many optional reading formats to make your book compatible with most of the book-reading devices available these days. Formats available: HTML, JavaScript, Kindle, Epub, PDF, RTF, LRF, Palm doc, plain text download, plain text Web view,
—You retain all rights to your book.
—You get to decide how much of the book you want readers to preview.
—Smashwords continues to negotiate with various online retail outlets to ensure the best possible distribution potential for your book.
—Smashwords only takes a 15% fee and you get to keep the rest (and you can change the price as often as you want to).
—Writers from all over the world can publish their books with Smashwords.

“By moving books into the digital realm, we can start to change the economics of book publishing, while at the same time making great independent books available to people of all economic backgrounds from around the world.” ~ Mark Coker, Smashwords
                                                                 

CONS
—You tend to post it too quickly, before you are positive there are no formatting mistakes or before you give it the final read through.
—Most writers practically give their books away so it’s still hard to make a decent profit.
—You cannot post other people’s reviews of your book, only the reviewers can. It’s already a blessing to have someone read and review your book, so it feels even greedier to ask them to then go to the site to post the review again.
                                                                 

I began the process of uploading my flash fiction collection, Joy in a Box, a few months back, thinking it would lessen the pain of not having the printed version for a while. It’s great to have a place where readers can preview the first three stories, and, because of Smashwords’ free coupon generator, it has been extremely useful to be able to link reviewers to it.
                                                                                                                                  

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

The Search for God and Guinness November 12, 2009

Stephen Mansfield, the renowned biographer of presidents and dead men, has written a book that might cause the deeply religious to twitch an eyebrow or two. It’s called The Search for God and Guinness: A Biography of the Beer that Changed the World, and it is a testament to the lives and philanthropy of the Guinness family over the last 246 years.

Faith seemed to play the largest part in the generous actions and career choices of the family, and it was heartwarming to see how one family could give such worth to so many. Even more fascinating is the fact that this has continued for so long.

Stephen got a lot of flack last year for writing a book called The Faith of Barack Obama. This book shouldn’t generate nearly as much shock and denial. It runs like a familiar history book with an easy, swing-door style into the hearts of various members of the Guinness family over the generations. Stephen is a writer who can take history and turn it into interesting stories. I’d give this book a four out of five, only because of the tendency for repetition in places.

The most valuable lesson in this book is the questions the reader can ask him/herself at the end.
What can I create that will change culture for the better?
What legacy of giving will I leave behind?
What value have I given to all I have encountered and had the opportunity to lead?
How can I be enough of an example to my children that the good will continue to touch the generations beyond theirs?

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

Find a concept for your novel October 21, 2009

Concept
For my last novel and the one my mind is currently cooking up, I got the basic idea from quotes. Last time around, I found the following quote:

“We know the truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart.” ~ Blaise Pascal

I had spent some time around a friend who had once been a sniper, and he talked a lot about the secrecy and mental stress of the job. I then formed my novel around those two things. It’s called We Know the Truth and is currently with an agent. Here’s hoping!

Find the right quote
This time around (because of gearing up for NaNoWriMo), I went looking for the right quote again. My story begins with a girl who gets pregnant at seventeen and her mother is not impressed, to say the least. I specifically went in search of baby quotes and found a perfect quote that I can use part of as my title.

My basic concept is that the girl runs off to America with the aid of a rich man, but there are strings attached. Eventually she hears of her mother’s cancer and returns home to heal the relationship. This idea is still sorely lacking, though, because there is nothing to carry the story. I need a plot, a theme; novels based on daughters reuniting with their mothers don’t really sell in droves.

What if . . .
What if she falls for the older rich man? What if she still pines for her boyfriend? What if that boyfriend is a player? What if the child dies? What if she gives her up for adoption only to change her mind when the child is two because the father wants to marry her? What if the child is kidnapped? All these questions depend on which genre I want to write in, but no matter which one I choose, the reader must want to keep turning the pages to find out information.

What genre?
I could do some paranormal thing—she could discover a gift of mind reading and cause a lot of damage. Perhaps she gets into astral projection and visits her ex to torment him about impregnating her. I could make it a love story and a hunk of burning love shows up and she is in love in three days (although I hate the absurdness of that)l; I could take the suspense angle and have the child kidnapped, I could write Christian fiction and save them all in the process of love/suspense/paranormal activity.

What’s the goal?
So what if the child dies and the MC really loves kids and really wanted this baby once she was settled? What if the rich guy wants kids with her but she does not want them brought up by him? What if her biggest goal is to have kids and he is the chief antagonist to her having them? What if no publisher in the world will touch a novel with the chief goal of the protagonist being to have babies?

This, my friends, is the way a writer’s mind works. If you have any helpful suggestions that will turn me into a multi-millionaire, um, an inspiring writer, please let me know. In the meantime, see what you can come up with based on quotes you find.

All the best with your own search for a concept and plot-driven theme.

brainyquote.com
quotegarden.com
quotationspage.com
quoteland.com
thinkexist.com

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

Testimonials and endorsements—new laws for bloggers October 7, 2009

The Federal Trade Commission has recently passed an adoption of revised guidelines for bloggers and other forms of media advertisements. These new additions will become effective on December 1, 2009.

Why the new rules?
The FTC is worried that we, the American people, cannot figure out who is paid for a review or endorsement v. who is doing it out of the kindness of his/her heart. The review talks about celebrities being paid to promote products they never even use, and there is worry we might be duped into believing that the celebrity actually cares about the item he/she endorses. In the same way, there are many bloggers who receive free products to review, and if Johnny Moolah gets a free Xbox 360, we need to know about that before we read his stunning review (in which he may smarm up to the givers of such toys).
                                                                 

What does this mean for bloggers?
If you are paid to endorse a product, you must reveal that fact.
If you get a free book/product to review, you must disclose that.
If you simply review something you bought with your own money and want to tell the world how horrible/fantastic it was, you can do whatever you want.

“Endorsers also may be liable for statements made in the course of their
endorsements.”
(This is only if you make claims about the product that are untrue, e.g. you will lose forty lbs. in two weeks with no exercise if you drink Disappear sodas.)

Is it all on me to disclose what I earn/get for free out of my review?
“The manufacturer should advise him (Johnny Moolah) at the time it provides the gaming system (or car or book etc.) that this connection should be disclosed, and it should have procedures in place to try to monitor his postings for compliance.”

The summary?
Basically you have to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, even if you think your readers can’t handle the truth. You cannot claim that reading my collection of flash fiction made your hair grow, or that reading it in the restroom gave you rabies—stuff like that.

“Endorsements must reflect the honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experience of the endorser.”
                                                                 
                                                                 
Isn’t this all a bit silly?
Well . . . yes, in my opinion. As school is mandatory, and every child is taught some kind of basic education, I can’t see how necessary this really is. With the clichéd “dumbing down of America,” perhaps we now need a whole load of newer laws to cover our newer levels of stupidity. And now, I will shut my mouth. (And no, I was not paid to do that, although all monetary offers to do so will be gratefully received.)

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

How to find and list comparative fiction/non-fiction October 4, 2009

A good book proposal includes a comparative fiction/non-fiction search. This is the part of the proposal where you list a number of books that sound as if they might cover the same story line or theme of your book. Here’s how to find those books:

Scour the bookstore shelves
Go to the section where your future book will stand. (Mine would go in the inspirational romantic suspense section. Fortunately, there are only about twelve feet of that genre in our local store.) One by one, look at the book jacket blurbs of all the books there. If a book contains any of the main keywords your book is about, and it seems to cover the same things your book does, jot down the name of the book.

Once back on your computer, go to a large online bookstore like Amazon and do a search for each of the books on your list. Look at the blurbs again, and cut and paste (into a new Word doc) all of the outlines that are closest to yours, along with the name, author, publishing house and pub. date.

Search the main online bookstores
Amazon and Barnes and Noble are probably the most well known. If your book is about how to parent in love, search for groups of keywords like “love, parents, parenting, kids,” etc. Again, find the books that seem to be most like yours and add the descriptions to your Word doc.

Now you are ready to make your list. Narrow it down to just one Word page of similar books and write them like this (without the pictures).

COMPARATIVE CATEGORY FICTION (Romantic suspense, Christian)

• Dee Henderson, The Witness, Tyndale (2006). Amanda Griffin witnesses a multiple murder; Deputy Chief of Police Luke Granger befriends her. He fails to convince Amanda to come out of hiding, however. Three years later, Luke finds his interest in Amanda becoming more personal.

And The Guardian, (The O’Malley Series #2), Tyndale House Publishers, (2005). A judge has been gunned down, and someone wants to kill the only woman who saw the murder. Marcus’s heart gets a workout, too, as he finds himself charmed by the lovely speechwriter who witnessed the crime.

• Irene Hannon, An Eye for An Eye, (Heroes of Quantico #2), Revell; (September 1, 2009) FBI Hostage Rescue Team member has a chance encounter with an old flame, Emily Lawson. But their reunion is cut short by a sniper. Now Mark must find the shooter before he tries to strike again. Can Mark put the pieces together, keep Emily safe, and rekindle a long-dead relationship at the same time?

Although the closest in story line, We Know the Truth finds the male MC tormented between his choice to run from his wife’s discovery v. protect her life. This is the one relationship his heart will not let him cut the ties to.
————————————————————————————————————————————————-
As you can see, I have added a comment under the second one to show how my novel is different. This is what the goal of your list is for—to show that you have come up with a new story line or new plot idea that is unlike anything else currently on the market.

When I did my own study, I was able to talk my husband into coming with me to the bookstore. It saved an aching arm and he found more comparative books than I did. I hope you can find some kind-hearted companion for your own search.

Good luck!

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM