Tips for Selling Your Essay - Magazine Pub series #9

Tips for Selling Essays to Magazines  ----   Should I submit a pitch or a draft?

The question of sending a full draft or a pitch varies from magazine to magazine. Follow your selected magazine’s guidelines and requirements for submittal, if possible.

Here are points of reference:
•    Literary journals customarily require full drafts for submittal.
•    If you don’t have clips of published essays, a good rule of thumb is to submit essays on spec, meaning in full draft form.
•    When your essay is difficult to convey in a pitch, send a full draft.
•    On a tight schedule? Get your pitch out there and buy yourself some time to draft it.
•    Some editors prefer to receive a pitch. Search the magazine’s website or place a call for the info.
•    If your essay topic is relative to breaking news, your best choice may be to pitch your idea.
•    When you’ve worked with an editor previously, a pitch may be all that’s needed to assign the essay.
•    Should your essay require in depth research and include interviews, pitching the idea may be best.

To grab your reader, compose the essay as you would a story with one theme, a beginning, middle, and end. Include dialogue, setting, and engaging description. 

You may choose to write a personal essay sharing a part of your life with others. Personal Essays connect and communicate to the reader they are not alone. As I worked through an essay about being emotionally sidelined during childhood I knew I was not alone and wanted encourage others with similar experiences. Writing a personal essay in first-person narrative is customary. 

Personal essays are just that: personal. You are telling true-life experiences that may also lead to discussing a subject about which you are passionate. These essays are public—it’s important to consider the subjects you would rather keep private for your journal alone.

** Last time we talked about getting a handle on our Copyrights. I’ve added a couple links you may find useful.
http://library.findlaw.com/1999/Jan/1/241476.html
http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm
http://www.bitlaw.com/copyright/index.html 

Deborah Lyn Stanley is an author of Creative Non-Fiction. She writes articles, essays and stories. She is passionate about caring for the mentally impaired through creative arts. Visit her web-blog: Deborah Lyn Stanley : MyWriter's Life .

Write clear & concise, personable yet professional.
Know your reader.
Use quotes & antidotes.

Where Is Your Tipping Point?

By W. Terry Whalin

How do you find your tipping point in book publishing? Or to ask it a slightly different way: what elements have to come together for  book to become a bestseller? One of the critical elements in my view is great writing and storytelling. Good writing helps people spread the word or buzz about the book (word of mouth).  Yet some wonderfully written books don’t get to the bestseller list.

Several years ago, I was interviewing Jerry B. Jenkins for a story related to one of the Left Behind books. Jerry realizes the unusual way his series of books has caught public attention—with over 60 million copies in print and a huge appetite for the concept which continues today with about 10,000 units of the first book continuing to be sold. Jerry wrote the first book in 1995.

Jerry recommended that I read a book from Malcolm Gladwell called The Tipping Point, How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Little, Brown Company, 2000). A tipping point according to Gladwell is that magical moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips and spreads like wildfire. What causes it?  

The Law of the Few is one of the critical elements where three groups intersect and come together. These three factors are: connectors, mavens, and salesmen. A connector is someone who knows lots of people and Gladwell gives a simple test. He takes about 250 surnames from the Manhattan phone book. You are to scan the names and see if you know someone with that last name. As he says on page 41, “All told, I have given the test to about 400 people. Of those, there were two dozen or so scores under 20, eight over 90, and four more over 100…Sprinkled among every walk of life, in other words, are a handful of people with a truly extraordinary knack of making friends and acquaintances. They are Connectors.”

A Maven is one who accumulates knowledge. “A Maven is a person who has information on lots of different products or prices or places. This person likes to initiate discussions with consumers and respond to requests.” (p. 62) So you see two of the elements—mavens and connectors.

“In a social epidemic, Mavens are data banks. They provide the message. Connectors are social glue: they spread it. But there is also a select group of people—Salesmen—with the skills to persuade us when we are unconvinced of what we are hearing, and they are as critical to the tipping of word-of-mouth epidemics as the other two groups.” (p. 70).

Do I have it figured out? Not at all. I believe Gladwell is on to something significant for these factors to come together to tip the balance and make a book move from one level to the bestseller category. I hope it provides you with a bit of my insight. I still have a great deal to learn about this particular question.

How do books finally make a tipping point to become a bestseller? Let me know in the comments below. 

Tweetable:

How can you find the tipping point for your book? Get some ideas here. (Click to Tweet)

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W. Terry Whalin is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. His work contact information is on the bottom of the second page (follow this link).  One of his books for writers is Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams, Insider Secrets to Skyrocket Your Success. One of Terry's most popular free ebooks is Straight Talk From the Editor, 18 Keys to a Rejection-Proof Submission. He lives in Colorado and has over 205,000 twitter followers. 

Using Anthologies to Study the Market

One piece of writing advice I hear a lot, and which I agree with, is that you must read.  But not everyone agrees on the particulars.

Some say you should read like a reader and others say you should read like an editor or a scientist, dissecting what you read to see what works.

Some say read, read, read your genre and then stop reading while you write, so you don't accidentally let whatever you're reading influence your own work too much.

Others say read, read, read all the time, in your genre and others.

I write short stories in a variety of genres, novels (fantasy and sci fi), travel essays, travel guides, and various other types of work.  But I have to admit that my reading habits are a bit more narrow.  I tend to mostly read novels instead of short stories.  I read travel guides to places I plan to travel, but don't read as much other travel writing as I should.  Part of this, of course, is due to limited time.

So, to make my reading of short work more efficient, I use the anthology approach.

Benefits of Reading Yearly Anthologies

Long-standing, well-respected anthologies are great because they collect some of the (subjectively) best fiction of the year from various magazines.  You don't waste time with mediocre stories.  You get a feel for what's current and what editors are throwing their support behind.  Go ahead and dissect these stories and learn from them.

Another valuable aspect of an anthology is that you see which magazine first published which story.  This is very useful for your own work.  You know the old advice about submitting to magazines:  read a few issues first to see if your work fits.  This is excellent advice.  Unfortunately, we don't always have time to read a few issues of every magazine.  Luckily, anthologies give you a shortcut.  Pick out the stories you like or that could be good matches to yours, then see which magazines they were published in.  Start submitting to those magazines. 

Some Good Anthologies:

The O. Henry Prize Stories, edited by Laura Furman.

The Pushcart Prize; Best of the Small Presses, edited by Bill Henderson.

The Best American Short Stories, edited by Heidi Pitlor and various yearly editors.  Obviously the yearly editor puts a slant on things, so some years may be more "best" than others.

The Best American series has other genre-specific anthologies, such as The Best American Essays, The Best American Travel Writing, The Best American Mystery Short Stories, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, etc. Look for your target genre to see if they have one that matches.

The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, edited by Rich Horton.  Also in the series, The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, edited by Paula Guran.

The Best Horror of the Year, edited by Ellen Datlow.


Many of these can be found at your local library as well as at online and brick-and-mortar bookstores.

You can read (and listen to) Melinda Brasher's most recent short story sale at Pseudopod.  It's a tale of a man who doesn't believe in superstition...until he has to.  You can also find her fiction in Ember, Timeless Tales, Intergalactic Medicine Show, and others. If you're dreaming about traveling to Alaska this summer, check out her guide book, Cruising Alaska on a Budget; a Cruise and Port Guide. Visit her online at http://www.melindabrasher.com

How to Name Your Antogonist

Contributed by Dave Chesson

Is there anything more memorable than a decidedly sinister antagonist?

I’m not talking about ‘realistic’ villains who operate in something of a moral grey area.

Instead, I mean the true villains that leave a strong impression even after the book is finished.

The Voldemorts. The Count Draculas. The Patrick Batemans.

Crafting a character that speaks so strongly of pure evil is a whole different article. Perhaps even a full course. Instead, today, we’ll focus on finding a suitably fiendish name.

Make It Genre Appropriate

Just as there are tropes to adhere to in different genres, there are also expectations regarding names.

It would seem strange if a character in a historical drama set in Elizabethan England had a name like Stacy. Or if a hero in a steampunk story was called Denzel Bladez.

Similarly, the name for your story’s villain should be suitable for the genre you are writing in. So what are some of the ways to apply this idea?

●    Read voraciously within the genre you are writing in to get an idea of naming conventions. You should read within the genre anyway, but pay particular attention to villain’s names. Are there any stylistic themes that emerge? What about conventions of format? For example, all the villains within a historical genre may have a formal title, such as Mr. or Sir, whereas in crime they may go by an alias such as The Raven or The Steel Claw.

●    Get feedback from real readers on what is and isn’t working within a particular genre. Read through reviews on sites like Amazon and Goodreads. Which villains receive praise? Which receive mockery? Learn from these opinions.

●    Feel free to run polls testing several villains names. You can easily create a poll in a Facebook group of relevant readers to see which of several potential names they prefer.

Just as you would with any other element of your story, make sure your villain’s name works for that style of story specifically.

Consider Symbolism

A symbolic name might not be the right choice for every story, but it can work well for certain types.

A symbolic villain name is of course any name that carries a hidden or subtle meaning. These have been used by writers throughout history to add a layer of literary meaning to their villains which wouldn’t exist if the name was merely conventional.

So how can you add a touch of symbolism when naming your villain?

●    Consider examples of other symbolic villains throughout the history of stories. For example, Cruella de Vil isn’t exactly subtle, but it sounds like ‘cruel devil’, does it not?

●    Consider using a name with a different meaning in a foreign language which might not be obvious to all readers but will reward those who take the time to look into it.

●    Consider naming your villain after a famous historical figure. For example, within the TV show ‘Lost’, many of the characters had surnames relating to famous historical figures.

Symbolism should be used subtly. If you can avoid being overly obvious, you can add a layer of reward for your readers who take the time to dig deeper.

Life Is The Best Source Material

Sometimes, drawing upon your own life experience is the best way to come up with a suitably scary name for your villain.

Think back throughout your personal first and second-hand experience. Which names stand out to you as scary?

●    Often, a name on its own won’t be scary. But perhaps you had a sinister teacher whose name and physical traits paired to create a truly horrific combination.

●    Think about evil people you’ve read about in the news. Which of their names seemed appropriately evil for their deeds, and why?

●    Often, the seeming normality of someone’s name adds a sinister edge to their acts. Bret Easton Ellis gave the outwardly respectable Wall Street banker in American Psycho the plain name of Patrick Bateman to devastating effect.

Drawing upon your own life experience gives you not only potential names to consider, but also emotional truth to draw upon when writing your antagonists.
Naming Your Antagonist Final Thoughts
Thanks for checking out my guide on naming your antagonist.

I’d like to open up the discussion.

Which are your favorite villainous monikers throughout literature? What do you think makes them particularly effective?

How did you name your last villain?

I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Dave Chesson is a self-published author and book marketing obsessive who runs Kindlepreneur. His free time is spent with his family in Franklin, TN and nerding out over the latest sci-fi.

MORE ON WRITING


The WEB: Your Writing at Risk

Writing Perfection - Is There Such a Thing?

Begin Stories with Your Character

Create Vivid Sensory Details to Bring Your Fiction to Life

When I taught children's writing for the Institute of Children’s Literature, one of the most challenging assignments for my students was when they were asked to describe something using a variety of sensory details.

You might find this kind of thing challenging, too.

But don’t worry.

You’ll get better at it.

It just takes practice.

And the more you practice thinking of people, places, and things in terms of sensory details, the better you'll get at creating the details that really make your reader feel as if he/she is living your story with the characters rather than just reading about what they are going through.

With that in mind, here are a few exercises to help you practice creating vivid sensory details:

1. Write a description of a place from your town or neighborhood that you know well.

It could be the grocery store, the library, a local park or museum, or even your own home.

Include an appeal to each of the 5 senses in your description: touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound.

2. Use a variety of sensory details to describe a place on a snowy day. Avoid clichés. And, again, appeal to each of the 5 senses.

3. Describe how the beach smells, looks, sounds, tastes, and sounds. Again, avoid clichés. Use fresh sensory images and details.

4. Weave a variety of sensory details into some dialogue between two or more characters.

Include details about where they are, what they are wearing, how they look.

You might even create a scene where they are talking as they are eating or listening to a concert.

5. Describe an activity – skiing, cooking, hiking, fishing, sewing, etc. with sensory details that show (instead of merely tell) about this activity. Include an appeal to as many of the 5 senses as you can.

6. Make a list of sensory details that are similes (avoid clichés).

7. Make a list of sensory details that are metaphors (avoid clichés).

8. Use a variety of sensory details to describe a camel to someone (perhaps a child) who has never seen or heard of a camel.

9. Create a new world using a variety of sensory details that make this new world seem real to your reader.

10. Describe something using only sensory details and ask someone you know to see if they can tell you what it is that you’ve described.

It takes a little thought to come up with just the right sensory details that bring a scene to life. But you can do it.

Try it!

Suzanne Lieurance lives and writes by the sea on Florida's beautiful Treasure Coast. She also coaches writers.

For more tips and resources for writers visit www.writebythesea.com and get your free subscription to The Morning Nudge to receive a short email for writers every weekday morning.

Surviving January

Happy New Year!

The holidays are finally over, daily routines are back to what counts as "normal" in your home, and, even though vacation was nice, it's time to get back to work.

The problem: It seems like no one else feels that way. That query you sent out before Thanksgiving: Crickets. The prospect who promised to work with you the beginning of the year: Nada. That job you applied for that is due to be filled in January: Shouldn't they be interviewing by now?

Don't worry, this "priority timeline mismatch" - when you are ready to move forward on something that is not in the same stage for the other person - happens all the time. It just has more of an impact this time of year, since we are itching to get back into the swing of things. Freelancers, who've had more downtime than they'd like the last few weeks, feel it even more.

In a follow-up to last month's post on Surviving December, here are 10 things you can do to stay happy, productive, and less stressed in January, while you are waiting for others to catch up.

1. Write out your goals for the year. You may have done this already, but if not, write out three professional and three personal goals for the year. Then, when you are looking for something to pass the time, pick an action item you can do that will bring you closer to achieving one of those goals.

2. Organize your workspace. When was the last time you cleaned your deck? Purged your files? Archived old clients and projects? No time like the beginning of teh year to give yourself a fresh start.

3. Read through your "to read" file. Whether it's in a physical file or on a computer, everyone has a pile of articles set aside to read later when they have time. You have time now, so take advantage of it.

4. Write a book. National Novel Writing Month may be in November, but no one says it's the only month of the year for that type of challenge. You have the time, why not go for it? And it's much easier on the psyche than waiting around for someone to reply to a pitch or other request.

5. Reconnect. Send an email or a message to someone - or someones - with whom you've lost touch. Have a phone call, meet for coffee, go to events. Occupy yourself by expanding your network. You never know where your next connection may lead. 

6. Research publications. Is one of your goals to start writing for a new publication this year? Do some research and come up with a list of places to target in the new year.

7. Write some pitches. You've done you research (see above), so you might as well.

These last three were on the December list, although framed a different way. 

8. Eat healthy. This means cook more and snack less. Cooking is one of the best ways to combine creativity and meditation. And the reward is yummy food you made yourself.

9. Workout at least twice a week.  Don't let your resolution to workout fall by the wayside in week two of the year, as so many people do. Find a form of exercise that you enjoy, and as a result can commit to, and schedule time to do it on a regular basis.

10. Read a book. Cross off the goal of reading a book in 2019 early. You may even get on a roll and start reading a book a month or a week. Continuing education - whether it's non-fiction for self-improvement or fiction for "research" - is always a good thing.

It's okay to have downtime. Just be sure to enjoy you, since you'll be super-busy again before you know it!

How will you survive January? Please share your recommendations in the comments.

* * *

Debra Eckerling is a writer, editor and project catalyst, as well as founder of The D*E*B Method: Goal Setting Simplified and Write On Online, a live and online writers’ support group. Like the Write On Online Facebook Page and join the Facebook Group.  She is author of Write On Blogging: 51 Tips to Create, Write & Promote Your Blog and Purple Pencil Adventures: Writing Prompts for Kids of All Ages, and host of the #GoalChat Twitter Chat. Debra is an editor at Social Media Examiner and a speaker/moderator on the subjects of writing, networking, goal-setting, and social media.

Publishing Experts Partner for Best of Publishing Advice

Because of ethical conflicts, I rarely review books. Occasionally I make an exception when a book that can help the publishing industry in some way comes along. This is one of those times. As you will see, authors interested in publishing have needed new jump-start kind of  input for some time, the kind of input that comes from experience!  So, may I present The Nonfiction Book Publishing Plan that I believe will be useful no matter what kind of a book a writer is thinking about writing. Besides, it's perfect for New Year's giving!

CHJ

TITLE: The Nonfiction Book Publishing Plan
SUBTITLE: The Professional Guide to Profitable Self-Publishing

AUTHORS: Stephanie Chandler and Karl W. Palachuk

PUBLISHER: Authority Publishing

ASIN: B07H39LPSX

ISBN:  978-1-949642-00-1

PRINT LINK: https://amzn.to/2Jq5Sic 

GENRE: Nonfiction

CATEGORY: Publishing

Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, 

author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers

My first serious introduction to self-publishing was at a SPAN conference in Atlanta (Small Publishers of North America); it was there I was introduced to a very fat volume on self-publishing by Marilyn Ross that included the idea that real publishing includes marketing. That was nearly 20 years ago, and I have been recommending that book ever since because nothing else has been as all-encompassing and based so thoroughly on personal experience (and personal experience is generally much better than research). 

Now, so many years later, Stephanie Chandler and Karl W. Palachuk have written The Nonfiction Book Publishing Plan. Stephanie founded the Nonfiction Authors Association and is this decade’s expert. Today there are many go-to experts, but no one can exceed her experience. Paluchuk is an ideal partner for such an all-encompassing project! 

This Book Publishing Plan (it will work just as well for creative works as nonfiction!) says it all. I always suggest that authors read more than one book on any publishing topic, but this is the perfect place to start for anyone considering publishing of any kind. In the first chapter it takes the reader through some of the trials experienced by anyone approaching the publishing industry with the old model in mind. I have a few horror stories of my own, but Chandler and Palachuk quickly move into how nonfiction authors in particular will benefit from self-publishing and takes them well beyond—starting with titles and subtitles, bylines and moves on to giving an author enough information to get a great start on a marketing plan.

I believe in reading books to get the expertise needed for publishing—even traditional publishing. Don’t be fooled that readers can get what they need piecemeal from the Web (it is hard to ascertain credibility with so much conflicting advice!) or even to choose what to read from extensive tables of contents (which would be better titled “Contents” to avoid redundancy). This is the place to start. These authors complement one another. It is full of memorable experiences and anecdotes you won’t forget as well as specific advice. At the beginning of this review, I said it is the place for new authors to start, but seasoned authors in any genre (seriously!) will find inaccuracies they have come to believe gently corrected and comfort knowing that many of their instincts have been right all along. 

Hint: Notice how Palachuk and Chandler weave their biographies—read that experience—into the first chapter and how well that works in a book covering a difficult and far-ranging genre like a how-to for the publishing industry! 

MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Carolyn Howard-Johnson brings her experience as a publicist, journalist, marketer, and retailer to the advice she gives in her HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers and the many classes she

taught for nearly a decade as instructor for UCLA Extension’s world-renown Writers’ Program. The books in her HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers have won multiple awards. That series includes both the first and second editions of The Frugal Book Promoterand The Frugal Editorwon awards from USA Book News, Readers’ Views Literary Award, the marketing award from Next Generation Indie Books and others including the coveted Irwin award. How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethicallyi s her newest how-to book and her newest poetry book is Imperfect Echoes.

Howard-Johnson is the recipient of the California Legislature’s Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment Award, and her community’s Character and Ethics award for her work promoting tolerance with her writing. She was also named to Pasadena Weekly’s list of “Fourteen San Gabriel Valley women who make life happen” and was given her community’s Diamond Award for Achievement in the Arts. 

                  

The author loves to travel. She has visited nearly ninety countries and has studied writing at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom; Herzen University in St. Petersburg, Russia; and Charles University, Prague, as well as USC, her alma mater. She admits to carrying a pen and journal wherever she goes. Her website iswww.howtodoitfrugally.com. 

The WEB: Your Writing at Risk

How The Web Can Kill Your Writing Career

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning The Frugal Editor

I recently read a grammar and editing column in my local newspaper, the Glendale News-Press. In  June Casagrande’s “A Word Please,” she groused about the problems so many writers having with hyphens. She noted the sad (or not so sad) influence of the Web on our grammar, punctuation, and style choices and there are enough of them to give the average author who pulled down As in English a big headache!

June mentioned the disappearing hyphen as one of the things we authors must contend with. but that is just the beginning. The Net also encourages us to push all kinds of words together. Let’s call that the "domain name influence" or, perhaps the domainnameinfluence or maybe #hashtaginfluence. Do we write “book” or “bookcover?” “Bookfair” or “book fair?” “Backmatter” or “back matter?” “Hard copy” or “hardcopy?”

You’ll never know because generally the trusted Chicago Style Guide doesn’t weigh in on these trends and dictionaries haven’t caught up with the quickly changing domainnameinfluence or the #hashtaginfluence either. And the spell checker in Word? Well, it doesn’t put a red squiggle under either “Hard copy” or “hardcopy.” That leaves the writer—whether she’s writing fiction or a resume in a style-choice pickle.

In The Frugal Editor, I suggest the zero-tolerance approach to keep authors out of hot water with agents and publishers (and therefore make it more likely they'll get published).

Still, I admit I love to stick words together. It isn’t really a new thing. I mean, word-bonding is a time-honored tradition in English. The word therefore is an example. We’ve been using words like that for eons. Word-gluing goes back to the English language’s Germanic roots. German is a creative language. The Deutsch do things like push the words for finger and hat together to make the word for thimble (fingerhut).

Poets have pushed words together for ages, too. So, except when I am trying to get something like a pitch or a query or a book proposal past a gatekeeper, I make combined-word style choices for myself and let the so-called rules be damned.

We authors can have it our way—we just need to be careful where we choose to exercise our independence!

Back to the zero-tolerance thing. If you want to impress a literary agent or prospective boss, please don't put hyphens in words they are convinced are correct only one way. If you think your contact believes it's nonfiction, not non-fiction, there is no point flaunting your style choice.

You won’t get a red squiggle with either version from your Word spell checker (or spellchecker), but that doesn’t mean your run-of-the-mill agent or future employer won’t be more judgmental.

I could go on and on about the way the web has mislead us. It practically coaxes us to overuse ampersands and most don’t have the faintest idea we’re being misled. We see question marks and exclamation points and caps and titles overused.

What if we emulate those affectations because they start to become so familiar we think they’re being used correctly?

Agents and publishers will hate it, that’s what. And that can be disastrous for our careers.

Then there is improperly punctuated dialogue. We see it on the web and even in books. There are many other grammar idiosyncrasies that your English teacher never told you but that are sure to annoy the feature editor at The New York Times or the powerful agent you want to impress.

The list is endless. Lucky that writers have June Casagrande's grammar books like Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies (Penguin), and my multi award-winning book, The Frugal Editor,  to help them through the grammar and syntax swamps, isn’t it.

Note: June's column may be read in the Glendale News-Press's website and she is the author of two of Carolyn’s favorite grammar books, Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies, and The Best Punctuation Book. Period.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND A COUPLE READING TIPS

Carolyn Howard-Johnson brings her experience as a publicist, journalist, marketer, and retailer to the advice she gives in her HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers and the many classes she taught for nearly a decade as instructor for UCLA Extension’s world-renown Writers’ Program. All her books for writers are multi award winners including the first edition of The Frugal Book Promoter, and the second. Her The Frugal Editor, now in its second edition, won awards from USA Book News, Readers’ Views Literary Award, the marketing award from Next Generation Indie Books and others including the coveted Irwin award. Her most recent book in series is , How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically: The ins and outs of using free reviews to build and sustain a writing career

Howard-Johnson is the recipient of the California Legislature’s Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment Award, and her community’s Character and Ethics award for her work promoting tolerance with her writing. She was also named to Pasadena Weekly’s list of “Fourteen San Gabriel Valley women who make life happen” and was given her community’s Diamond Award for Achievement in the Arts.

Writing and Perfection - Is There Such a Thing?

As with life, some people think everything has to be perfect before they start their writing journey.

It may be they don’t think they’ve mastered the craft of writing to perfection.

Or, maybe the writer has started her story, but can’t seem to achieve the perfection she’s looking for.  She believes what she’s written isn’t worthy of submissions. So, she keeps pecking away at it, hoping one day it will be perfect.

Well, if you fall under either of these scenarios, you’ll be waiting a very long time. In fact, your time of action may never come.

Meriam-Webster defines perfection as “the state or condition of being perfect” and “something that cannot be improved.”

So, perfection is something that you can’t possibly make better.

Kind of makes you think, doesn’t it?

What on earth can’t be improved upon? What is actually perfect?

Keeping this in mind, here’s what a few famous authors/artists and others have to say about the illusive perfection:

“Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it.”
~ Salvador Dalí

“If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.”
~ Margaret Atwood

"If you look for perfection, you'll never be content."
~ Leo Tolstoy

"The artist who aims at perfection in everything achieves it in nothing."
~ Eugene Delacroix

"Strive for continuous improvement, instead of perfection."
~ Kim Collins

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence." ~ Vince Lombardi

“Striving to be the best person we can be and striving to do the very best we can in all our endeavors is the closest to perfection we can ever get.”
~ Karen Cioffi

“I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business.”
~ Michael J. Fox

My favorite is what Michael J. Fox says: “Perfection is God’s business!”

GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK!

So, if you have these perfection tendencies, try to overcome them. Don’t let an unrealistic viewpoint stop you from achieving writing success.

But, what if you just don’t’ trust your own judgement or can’t overcome that perfection tendency?

One of the best ways to get some guidance on whether your story is at the point of submissions is to become a part of a critique group in your genre.

Having other writers go over your story can pick up lots of trouble spots and help you improve your manuscript. And, they’ll have a much more objective view of the story.

After you get all you can from a critique group, you might want to hire a professional editor.

While every author can continue revising a story, there comes a time when you have to let go.

If your critique group and editor believes it’s good to go, take their advice.

Don’t let the illusion of attaining perfection in your writing stop you from submitting your manuscript or achieving a writing career.

Karen Cioffi is an award-winning children’s author and children’s ghostwriter as well as the founder and editor-in-chief of Writers on the Move. She is also an author/writer online platform instructor with WOW! Women on Writing.

You can check out Karen’s e-classes through WOW! at:
http://www.articlewritingdoctor.com/content-marketing-tools/ 



MORE ON WRITING

Tips on Adding Flashbacks to Your Story

Three Ways to Stand Out to Editors

Writing - Are You an Outliner?

16 Reasons Why You Should Publish a Book

HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

New Year Wishes

Wishing Everyone a Healthy, Safe, and Prosperous NEW YEAR!

As a thank you for being a loyal reader of our blog and to start the New Year off right, here are two gifts:

HAPPINESS

HOW TO BUILD YOUR AUTHORITY STATUS

Hope you get some benefit out of these ebooks!

Begin Stories with your Character: A Workshop with Lois Ruby

Who will your character be?

Are your stories plot-driven, or do you begin with a character? Lois Ruby’s stories don’t take off until she has gotten to know her main character. At a recent Albuquerque Chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, SCBWI, meeting, Lois shared her technique.

And what terrific characters Lois creates! One look at her books, and you will read a “heart-pounding romance about a contemporary girl, Lori, who falls crazy-in-love with Nathaniel, a soldier in the Battle of Gettysburg.” The only hitch is that she’s very much alive, and he’s a ghost. (Rebel Spirits, Scholastic/Point, 2013); an Austrian brother and sister who survive World War II in Shanghai, China (Shanghai Shadows, Holiday House, 2006; a Bank Street Book of the Year, 2007, and a Kansas Notable Book, 2007; a homeless girl who can communicate with a police horse in New York, and many more vivid characters. (Visit www.loisruby.com to learn more about Lois and her books).

How does Lois create such intriguing characters?

Begin with What’s Going on Inside
Lois likes to know her character’s description, but before she gets to that, she pins down:

• When they lived—where they fit into the context of history.
• What is their backstory—doesn’t show up in story, but we need to know it.
• What is their emotional status. For example:
• Saying one thing and doing something else.
• Laughing when not appropriate.
• Quick to anger—how character expresses anger.
• Tension when internal thoughts contrast with verbal response.

• How the name fits the character. For example:
• Molds the personality
• Ethnicity
• Geographical area they came from
• Nicknames
• Station in life

What’s on the Outside Comes Next
Lois arrived with armfuls of portraits (photos) of people she finds intriguing, cut out of magazines and kept in clear plastic sleeves. Each portrait raises questions. Each answer opens a window to develop and round out the character.

•  Girl or boy
•  Where does h/she live?
•  Contemporary or historical?
•  What is the family like?
•  What does her voice sound like?
•  What is the conflict in his life?
•  Adventurer or not?
•  Any annoying habits?
•  Who is his greatest hero?
•   Powerful or powerless?
•  What are the moral limits? Skin Deep, Scholastic, 1994, currently out-of-print, is about a boy who is drawn to a hateful white supremacist group. His personality changed, and his girlfriend Laurel sees this and wonders if he can ever return to the boy she loved. Lois said she interviewed three skinheads to answer this question and was horrified, but she needed to know.

Our Turn
Lois ended the workshop by displaying random words on the projector screen:
High school yearbook
Dr. Dowd
Chocolates
Camera
Laundry
$60
ID bracelet
Umbrella
Baseball uniform
Barn animals
Application

Participants were given a short time period to create a character-driven story using as many words as possible. It was fun to hear the different takes. My story evolved around a young man in his 30s flying to see his dad in the hospital after he had a heart attack, working on his job application, taking his dad’s ID bracelet to him (will he remember it?), etc.

Raised in California, Lois has called Texas and Kansas home, and now, lucky for us, she lives in Albuquerque. Her portrait-study technique has certainly yielded a solid collection of intriguing and diverse characters in her books.

A parting word about Lois’s only nonfiction book (so far), Strike! Mother Jones and the Colorado Coal Fields War, Filter Press, 2012. Mary Harris (Mother) Jones, was so concerned about the poor working conditions of a wide range of people from the 1870s through the 1920s—including, street car operators in New York and San Francisco, female bottle washers in Wisconsin, copper miners in Arizona, and the deplorable conditions of children working fourteen-hour days in the textile mills of Pennsylvania—that she called meetings and made speeches, urging workers to go on strike and fight for their rights. Authorities and industry leaders labeled her a troublesome agitator, and the story goes on. (Book is available on Amazon prime at a very reasonable price). Even in nonfiction, Lois has done it again: delighted readers with her knack for creating fascinating characters, and in the case of her nonfiction book, uncovering the story of this incredible woman.
Clipart courtesy of: http://worldartsme.com

Linda Wilson, a former elementary teacher and ICL graduate, has published over 150 articles for adults and children, and several short stories for children. Her first book, Secret in the Stars: An Abi Wunder Mystery, a mystery/ghost story for children 7-11 years old, is hot off the press and will be available soon. Currently, she is hard at work on The Ghost of Janey Brown, Book Two in the series. Follow Linda at www.lindawilsonauthor.com.

Write for Magazine Publication - series #8

Writing for Magazine Publication is a great way to monetize your writing and test the interest level of your topic. This series has offered tips for magazine publishing. (Topic archive below)

Essays are all about the writer; articles are all about the reader. An essay is an opinion piece. An article is non-fiction text.

Today, we’ll talk about Letter of Agreements and Copyright.

Letter of Agreement:

An informal outline of all the terms you agree to is a Letter of Agreement (LOA). It is in the format of a letter with signature lines at the bottom. The agreement covers the following and acts to clarity the agreement:

1.      Annotates the services provided, and those not provided

a.       High level editing with “track changes” using Word

2.     The due date for the publishers receipt of your article or essay

a.       Delivery as a Word.doc with “track changes” active

3.     The delivery terms detailing the manner in which the publisher wants to receive and edit your piece:

a.       Format, electronic delivery or otherwise

b.      Style choices determined by AP Style Guide and client’s house style

c.       Editing shall preserve the author’s tone and style

4.      Payment rate per word or flat fee

5.      Payment terms (check/PayPal etc.)

This link may be helpful:

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/sample-contract-a-letter-of-agreement-1360549

Copyright:

A Copyright is the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell or distribute a piece of writing.

The best thing I can offer you are links to the technical aspects of the Copyright Law of the United States.  

Helpful Links for Copyrights:

https://www.copyright.gov/title17/

https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/index.html

https://www.copyright.gov/title37/

This series offers tips and ideas for magazine publishing: a list of genres or categories and where we find ideas (posted 5.25.18), research tips (posted 6.25.18), standard templates for essay and article pieces (7.25.18), query letters (informal known to editor 8.25.18) and (formal query tips 9.25.18), guidelines for submission (posted 10.25.18), and contracts (posted 11.25.2018), and LOA & copyright tips (posted 12.25.2018).

Deborah Lyn Stanley is an author of Creative Non-Fiction. She writes articles, essays and stories. She is passionate about caring for the mentally impaired through creative arts. Visit her web-blog: Deborah Lyn Stanley : MyWriter's Life .

Write your best, in your voice, your way!

Season's Greetings 2019

Wishing everyone a wonderful and safe Holiday Season!

Create A Plan for the New Year

By W. Terry Whalin

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. It’s an old saying and cliché yet rooted in truth. What plans do you have for the New Year? Now is the time to be working on a plan. Do you have a book? What is your plan to market your book?

When many writers get this question, they pile on the excuses and look around for someone else. They have fallen into the trap of someone who has written a book. They firmly believe, “If I build it (write it), they will come (buy it).” These writers firmly believe the marketing for their book is the responsibility of someone else—some publisher or some bookseller or some marketing person. Countless times I’ve listened to writers in my role as an acquisitions editor when they tell me about their disappointment in the results of their book sales.

Remember, when you point your finger at someone or something, four of your fingers are pointing toward you. As the author, you have the primary responsibility to continually market your book. No one else can do what you can do.

Let me give you a bit of my background so you see why I’m writing about this issue. I’ve published more than 60 nonfiction books and for five years I was a book acquisitions editor. When I became a book editor, I began to understand the economics of book publishing. It’s important for every author to understand these dynamics—whether they write fiction or nonfiction.

Here’s the financial information that I didn’t understand until I worked inside a publishing company: for every book (fiction or nonfiction), a publisher is going to spend $30,000 to $40,000 (real dollars) to take your manuscript and turn it into a finished book. These numbers are with a modest advance to the author (say $5,000) and zero marketing dollars. These costs are production, cover design, editorial work, etc. on your book. Publishers receive thousands of submissions from would-be authors. When I was a part-time Fiction Acquisitions Editor at Howard Books, I was looking for six to eight full-length novels a year—and I’ve received over 250 submissions from individuals and literary agents. I’ve rejected some quality fiction because of the volume and limited spots. Imagine these numbers multiplied on other editor’s desks.

Let’s pretend for a minute that you are the editor and have to wade through these volumes of material to find the books for your list. You have two manuscripts. Both manuscripts are excellent, fascinating stories. One manuscript has a marketing plan and the other doesn’t. As the editor, you will be held accountable for your choices (within the publishing house). It’s a business to sell books. Which manuscript will you choose to champion to the other editors, the publishing executives (sales, marketing, etc.)? Editors risk for their authors. Your challenge is to prove to be worthy (actually more than worthy) of this risk.

Everything that I’m going to write is based on the assumption you’ve learned your writing craft and produced an excellent manuscript that is appropriate for a particular publisher. A big part of you may resist even creating a marketing plan. Isn’t that why you go to a publisher instead of publishing it yourself?

No, you go to a publisher to use their marketing efforts in combination with your efforts to sell more books (and to have your books in the bookstore). Publishers love authors who “get it” and understand they need to roll up their sleeves and take a bit of their energy to market the books to their own network. Also publishers always want to do more for their books especially when they release. Yet they have 20 books to shepherd through this process—and you have a single book. Who is going to be more passionate about the book? It’s you as the author—well show a little of that passion in your marketing plans for your book.

Check out PyroMarketing by Greg Stielstra (Harper Business). This book will help you see how you can stir people to purchase your book and why mass marketing techniques are ineffective. To get a taste of this book, read this free introduction (I use with Greg’s permission).

Finally can you bring your publisher a deal from the beginning that will sell at least 5,000 books? It’s not a crazy question since 70% of special sales are something that the author begins. For some creative ideas, check out Jerry Jenkins’ site. This is not the Left Behind author but another Jerry Jenkins. Put your own spin on these ideas with your book. Also you can learn more about this special sales idea through a free teleseminar which I hosted at: http://bit.ly/massbks.

Publishers are looking for true partners in the book-selling process. A marketing plan shows that you are actively going to enter into the process of selling books. Yes, publishers are looking for excellent storytellers but they need authors who care about selling books.

Now is the time to be working on your plans for the new year. What plans are you making? Let me know in the comments.

Tweetable:

Create a plan to market your book for the new year. Get ideas here. (ClickToTweet)
--
W. Terry Whalin has written more than 60 books for traditional publishers and his magazine work has appeared in more than 50 publications. He is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing and always looking for great books to publish. Terry is a book proposal expert and the author of Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Sucess. He has over 200,000 followers on Twitter.

Literary Magazines with Themes: The First Line

Image courtesy of The First Line Magazine

The First Line is a literary magazine where each issue contains stories that all start with the same first line.  

Next year will be their 20^th year in print, so they're doing something a little different.  To celebrate all past issues, they're welcoming stories based on previous years' first lines.  For the spring 2019 issue (stories due Feb 1), you can choose from twenty different first lines.

If you're interested in a little inspiration or a fun challenge, take a look:  The First Line

Sample First Lines for Spring:

The rules are clearly spelled out in the brochure.
"Well, there's ten minutes of my life I'll never get back."
My father and I left on a Thursday.
I remember the radio was playing the best song.
Whitney Heather Yates knew she was in trouble from the moment she learned how to spell her name.
It sounded like she said, "Every day when I get home, I find a naked body in the bed."
The party was only the beginning of what would happen tonight.
"Step this way as our tour of Earth continues."
"How did you end up with a nickname like that?"
The first thing I saw when I woke was Chris' face.
"The incident on the island is the stuff of legend, but let me tell you the real story."
Jimmy Hanson was a sallow man who enjoyed little in life save for his _________. [Fill in the blank.]

Guidelines Highlights:

-Stories must be between 300 and 5000 words and unpublished.  Poetry is also welcome. 

-Multiple submissions are fine, so if you find several of these prompts interesting, go to town!

-Pay is between $25-50.

-Submit electronically before February 1 for the spring issue.  Other submission dates and first lines are available on their website.

You can read (and listen to) Melinda Brasher's most recent short story sale at Pseudopod.  It's a tale of a man who doesn't believe in superstition...until he has to.  You can also find her fiction in Ember, Timeless Tales, Intergalactic Medicine Show, and others. If you're dreaming about traveling to Alaska next summer, check out her guide book, Cruising Alaska on a Budget; a Cruise and Port Guide. Visit her online at http://www.melindabrasher.com

Try These Christmas Writing Prompts for a Little Creative Writing Practice

The holidays are a fun time to get in a little creative writing practice when you have a few spare moments.

Here are 10 new Christmas writing prompts to help you get started.

Choose one prompt to begin a new short story or combine several prompts to come up with an interesting tale.

1. It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2. Donna and her husband had saved all year so they could pay cash for all their Christmas presents. But then the furnace conked out on December 1st, just as Donna was getting ready to start her Christmas shopping.

3. Janice hadn't heard from her brother in over seven years. But now he was coming home for Christmas.

4. Most people looked forward to Christmas every year, but not Harold.

5. "Christmas is going to be different for us this year," Mary announced to her family at breakfast one morning in early December.

6. "I can't believe you got fired two weeks before Christmas," Terri said to her husband. "What are we going to do?"

7. It had been a difficult year for the residents of the tiny town of West Falls, but now everyone was looking forward to the holidays and a much better new year.

8. "Let's go to the mall," said Mom. "Santa will be there today and you can tell him what you'd like for Christmas."

9. It was just your typical office Christmas party until...

10. Sandra knew just what to get her husband, Matt, for Christmas this year.

Happy writing and happy holidays!

For more writing prompts each week, visit www.writebythesea.com.

And get your free subscription to The Morning Nudge at www.morningnudge.com for a short email every weekday morning with writing tips and resources.

Suzanne Lieurance is the author of over 35 published books and a writing coach.