Publicists First, Successful Writer Second

Rebecca Skloot dreamed about going on tour. She envisioned herself, her boyfriend, the dogs and her best friends traveling cross country in a great big tour bus to promote her first book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. But her publisher Crown had other ideas: "We really don't do books tours anymore." Her agent agreed. "They're just not the best investment of publicity funds." Instead, they offered banner ads, buzz campaigns, bookstore placement, blogs, Twitter, FaceBook, and radio tours.

Ms. Skloot agreed, at least in the beginning.

Later that night, at home, she changed her mind. And with the help of her brain-damanged father Floyd Skloot (also an author, who has written about the neurologic damage he suffered from a virus in the 1980s) they went public (Ms Skloot has many friends on Twitter and FB) and The Immortal Book Tour was launched. Within days an expense -paid trip was booked at a medical school in Ohio ... and a nearby bookstore later that evening.

Ms. Skloot: "Now, I'm not suggesting that posting a request for help on Facebook will miraculously result in a successful book tour. Far from it. A plan like this requires an established social network, something writers should start developing years before publishing a book...."

To learn more about the author and the book tour  http://www.rebeccaskloot.com/

How To Connect With Readers -
Topic for discussion: Writers do you have a presence on Twitter ... Facebook? Do you have an active blog and or website? Do you know what to post and how often...

Please share your thoughts with us....

(This post is based on an author interview. PW November 2009)

The Help - New York Times Article

Since it came out in February 2009, "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett has been embraced by book clubs and bloggers who can't stop recommending it to their friends.  Below is the link for November 2009 New York Times article written by Motoko Rich ....


A Southern Mirrored Window

“The Help,” a novel about the relationships between African-American maids and their white employers in 1960s Mississippi, has the classic elements of a crowd pleaser: it features several feisty women enmeshed in a page-turning plot, clear villains and a bit of a history lesson.
The book, a debut novel by Kathryn Stockett, also comes with a back story that is a publishing dream come true: at first rejected by nearly 50 agents, the manuscript was scooped up by an imprint of Penguin and pushed aggressively to booksellers, who fell in love with it...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/books/03help.html


Note: I purchased my copy of "The Help" last week and glanced at the numbered print run (my copy is part of the 44th print run). Curious, I did a quick Internet search ... this book is a first novel that was rejected over and over. Lesson for aspiring writers, write a good book and keep it out there. Dreams do come true.

While I haven't finished the book I am hooked. Have you read this one?

Working With An Editor

Whether you write articles or books, screenplays or news reports, if you are lucky, you will one day work with an editor. If you never work with editors, it means that nobody is buying your work. Failure to sell is a bad thing. Working with an editor is a good thing. No matter how frustrated you feel about the editor’s attitude toward your masterpiece, if the editor is talking, you are wise to listen, because the editor is the gateway through which your work transitions from your heart to the eyes of the public.
If you want the chance to work with an editor, you must get out of the slush pile and onto the desk. This means that your book manuscript or your proposal for a book or an article must at a minimum comply with the editor’s submission guidelines. Always read the submission guidelines before you submit. After you complete your first draft, read those guidelines again, and tweak anything that must change in order to comply. Refer to the guidelines as often as necessary to assure that every document in your submission package complies with the submission guidelines for the publisher. It is easy to feel annoyed that publishers are not all alike, but varieties of publishers and editors provide broad opportunities for many different kinds of writers.
The easiest way to irritate an editor who does select your work is to refuse every suggestion for revision or (dare I whisper it?) improvement. Any honest writer knows that we all have room for improvement. An editor may see opportunity for improvement in any number of directions, and the wise writer will thank her lucky stars if she gets a chance to make those improvements. When an editor sees promise in both the writer and the concept of a piece, there is hope that editor and writer can work together to produce a book or an article that will attract readers and delightfully surprise them with something even better than they expected.
A good way to prepare for working with an editor is to participate in a critique with other writers. There are several online sites where you can do this in forums. You might explore http://christianwriters.com/ and http://www.writing.com/ . There are also many online groups for writers where there is informal or formal opportunity to help each other by means of constructive critique. Of course, the time-honored method of joining a face-to-face group that regularly engages in critique is hard to beat. In such venues, you will mature as a writer and develop specific techniques for dealing with pesky problems such as spelling and grammar as well as more subtle areas like syntax and diction. You may even get insight into content problems such as point of view, logical argument, or plot development. You will learn to value the professional growth that emerges when two (or more) creative minds tackle a problem.
Of course, the big payoff is the letter that says, “We want to buy your work,” or something like that. In the elation of receiving an acceptance letter, it is easy to miss details. However, a second reading may reveal that the editor wants some changes. Perhaps, instead of the 1000-word article you proposed, full of tips and tricks for job search in a depressed economy, the editor would like for you to reduce the count below 800 words. It is tempting to rail against the poor taste and ignorance of someone who fails to show proper respect for your compliance with the word count published in the guidelines. However, if you insist on your standards, you will need to make your case to someone else. No matter what the guidelines say, this publisher at this time needs 800 words. (Do remember the difference between guidelines and requirements.) The first time an editor made such a request of me, I was irritated. However, after I found 200 words I could do without, I discovered that the piece had a tighter, more coherent feel. I was more pleased with my work, and my bank account was happy, too.
In general, magazines prefer a query that contains a proposal to a completed article. The same is true for non-fiction books. You may propose one article or a series, or you may propose a book series. If your proposal is intriguing and your style is captivating, you may actually hear from the acquisitions editor. When you open the letter, you shout “Yes!” and do the happy dance. Then you read the letter again.
If any author has ever had a manuscript or a proposal accepted without any revisions, I have not had the pleasure of hearing about it. Writers want to receive acceptance letters, but most of them discover in the letter that some changes are required. How dare they! Your proposal is a solid concept. Your manuscript is crafted like a Rembrandt painting. What change could possibly improve it?
Perhaps you have proposed a series of articles and the editor wants you to compress your wonderful series into a single comprehensive piece. Maybe you proposed book on camping vacations, but the editor needs one focused tightly on camping in the Northwest. Alternatively, the editor loves your coverage of camping, but reader surveys indicate a growing interest in hiking venues. When your editor asks for change, be prepared to respond with a “can do” attitude. I once wrote an article about navigating a sailboat in the fog in which I focused on our personal development and growing self-confidence. The editor who expressed interest in the article asked if I could concentrate on the sailing skills and safety strategies required due to our lack of radar. This change in focus was a better fit for the magazine. Imagine that you have written a masterful article about negotiating, built around your experience helping your fifteen-year-old daughter live within a budget. Your editor may recognize a real bonanza in your tips and tricks for creating a fashion statement from items in discount stores and thrift shops, and that may be the article you actually sell. If you demonstrate that you are writing to serve the needs of the publisher and its readership rather than your own ego, you can build a relationship that may serve you well in your writing career.
Never forget that the editor is just as committed to your success as you are. Both of you have a lot to lose if your book or your article bombs. Your interaction with the editor of a magazine may be brief and intermittent, but very important nonetheless. If you sell a book project, then you will work with an editor for several months. In the books I read, authors often compliment their editors for their help in making the book better and making the author look good. They probably did not feel that way in the middle of the project.
One afternoon I boarded an airplane. When I found my seat, I noticed that my neighbor had a thick pile of papers on her lap and a cell phone to her ear. As she talked, she rummaged through the papers and scribbled notes. I could hear everything she was saying, of course. I heard some anxiety in her voice as she held up one page and said, “Take out the argument? Last week you told me I needed an argument to build the scene!” She was silent. “Then how will I get her to slam the door? She needs to slam the door to clinch the drama.” More silence. “I like the sound of a door slamming. I don’t want to invent some other device.” Papers rustled as she rummaged through them. “Well, thank goodness. I’m glad you liked that.” Suddenly she looked agitated. She moved her finger across the page as if she needed help reading. Suddenly she stabbed at a word. “I can’t believe I missed that! I know I checked the spelling, but there it is. Aaaggghhh!” She drew a large, black circle on the page. More silence. “Yes, but if I spend too much time describing that cave, the reader will forget why we are there. I thought it was more important to get him through the bottleneck.” A pause. “Hmm. Cold, wet, dark. Thank you for your confidence, but I can’t imagine how to increase the imagery while keeping the verbiage lean.” Eventually the conversation ended. I brazenly introduced myself and learned what I had suspected. This writer was working on her novel with her editor, streaking toward a deadline to run the galley proofs.
If you pay attention to this interchange (or at least the half I could hear), you will see that the dialogue shows two creative minds at work. The writer and the editor both want this book to succeed, and they have somewhat different ideas about what it will take. The writer who feels that this work is a finely polished jewel may not want to chip at it anywhere. The editor, with years of experience identifying books that sell, wants to chip anywhere and everywhere that will make that jewel shine more brightly. Every time I read a book that completely engulfs me, I know that it is the result of exactly this kind of creative friction, a dialectic from which emerges something better than either person could have done alone.
If you know that you were created to be a writer, know also that some people were created to be editors. Readers are deeply indebted to both. Your books and articles will connect with readers and build your relationship with readers only if you learn how to work successfully with editors.
© 2009 Katherine Harms

Dealing With Rejection

by Katherine Harms (c) 2009

Every runner knows that in a race, there is only one winner. There is a lot of competition. Runners who train very hard and do their best in the race will, nonetheless, lose, because only one can win. Many runners compete for years and win only a few races. They persist in preparing and running. They don’t give up.
Every writer faces the same kind of challenge. Years of experience teach editors to be extremely selective when reading the manuscripts that cross their desks. They know that the risk of a failure is less with established writers whose customers are already waiting eagerly for more books. A good editor will give an unknown writer only a few pages to stand out from the rest of the crowd. Like runners in a footrace, many more writers lose than win in any editor’s slush pile.
Rejection is quite painful. I had an unrealistic introduction to the world of publishing, because my first submission, a magazine article, was purchased two days after I submitted it. I thought I was going to set records. I was wrong. I immediately sent out more articles, and I immediately started learning about rejection. I have submitted book manuscripts, and I have submitted magazine articles. I have been rejected over and over. I have even been ignored. When I submit my article or book manuscript, I feel a lot like the mother of Moses who set her baby adrift in the Nile in a basket. I know there are crocodiles out there.
There are several kinds of rejection. I have received some rejections that include kind comments about my writing. I treasure those, and I go back to them when I get the ones that suggest a two-year-old could write better than I do. Most editors simply respond, “Unfortunately, it does not fit with our publishing goals.” Some never respond at all.
I try to remember that editors have good days and bad days. My manuscript is part of a pile that never stops growing. They dare not buy a poor manuscript, and they dare not miss a good one. I wouldn’t change jobs with an acquisitions editor for any amount of money. I can handle rejection of my manuscript with more grace than I could ever handle the consequences of buying a manuscript that bombed in the bookstore.
I am learning to make peace with rejection, just as a runner who loses a race makes peace with the loss. Whether it is an article or a book manuscript, I am finally learning that there is a difference between the creative experience of writing and the business of getting published. I love the creative part. I tolerate the business part. I thank God for the gift of writing. Writing is the way I think, the way I learn, and the way I grow in understanding. When I begin writing on any subject, the process is like a deep conversation. As I write and rewrite in the attempt to speak clearly, I discover that I must do more research, or I need to learn a new word, or maybe I just need a new viewpoint on the subject. When I have finished a piece, I am a different person than when I started. This is a reward that nobody can take away from me. Editors can refuse to print my work, but they can never steal the personal growth and the excitement about life that is the result of my writing. At first, I thought that a writer with no readers was a failure. Now I understand that my calling is to write. That is my work, and that is my blessing.
The business side is a burden I bear. Rejection is part of that burden. The publishers who reject my work may or may not tell me anything about their reasons, but underlying every rejection is a determination that for some reason, my work will not contribute to their bottom line. There are a lot of reasons that might put my work in the rejected pile.
My article may have arrived the week after the annual issue on my subject. My timing is bad. If they publish a calendar of topics, I should use that information and time my submissions accordingly.
My article may have been among two dozen on the same subject. The “winning” article may have offered a fresh perspective, or the writer may have organized the material in a more reader-friendly form. Maybe after reading the first dozen, the editor concluded there was nothing to be gained by reading more.
My article may not have been my best work. If I added a paragraph at the last minute and hurriedly hit “send,” I may have missed a spelling or grammar error that convinces the editor I should not be taken seriously.
Or maybe my article simply did not grab and hold the editor’s attention.
The first time I was told that my submission did not meet the editor’s “goals” I was pretty sure that she needed new goals. After all, this piece was phenomenal. I had edited out clichés and checked my spelling. I rewrote it twice to eliminate unnecessary adverbs. I checked my facts. My logic was coherent. My grammar was correct, and my diction was precise. In my professional judgment it was a good article on a timely subject.
My dear writer friend Signe says that when she receives a rejection, she picks up her manuscript and says, “I appear to have mailed this manuscript to the wrong address. Now where exactly is the editor who loves this piece?” She finds another market, and she submits the piece again. I decided that this strategy was better than eating spaghetti until I fell into a stupor.
I have sold some articles. I am still looking for the address of the editor who loves my wonderful first novel. Rejection is just business. I refuse to take refusal personally.

AND TIMES WHEN COMFORT IS NEEDED
Cup of Comfort is looking for submissions about grieving hearts and about fathers and sons. Deadlines are February 1 and April 15, respectively.

Chicken Soup

STORIES FOR 'TOUGH TIMES'
The Chicken Soup folks have a call out for true stories that tell it like it is, sometimes with humor. Deadline is February 28.

http://www.chickensoup.com/

All Over But The Selling

Publishers and literary agents are becoming increasingly selective about the books they are willing to look at. As fewer books are purchased it is even more important to submit your best work. Yet revising, editing and polishing can be daunting. There is so much to look at.

For hints, tips, techniques and services available please stop by:

Reflections on Editing is my new blog

http://patriciapunt-writing-coach.blogspot.com/

Marketing Advice

Hi! Let me introduce myself quickly. I’m Chrissy Siggee and I have two adult children and three grandchildren and live with my husband of twenty-eight years, in Brisbane Australia.
After serving many years in children and youth ministries, I dedicated myself to Pastoral Care and Counseling to shut-ins, hospitalized and those with special needs. I only rediscovered my childhood desire to write shortly after moving to Sydney in 2006. I began with writing my first novel. I then spent many months housebound in unbearable pain. Partly paralyzed on one side until my surgery in late October 2007, I discovered this would be a major turning point in my life.
I finally found enough courage to have my manuscript edited, then asked a friend if she would design a book cover for me. A website was launched and after I returned from a five week holiday to America, “Out of the Shadow’s – Jenna’s Secret” was published and in my hands. This was early September 2008.
Marketing has become a full time job. Sales came in immediately and steadily from America, New Zealand and Australia. I approached a local bookstore who accepted six copies on consignment. This was the motivation I needed to get started. I began sending long informative emails to major book stores in Australia. Within days I felt like I was on a locomotive that wouldn’t slow down.
An email asking an old friend to assist at a book signing, led me to two speaking engagements within the next two months. Two large church magazines, covering most of Australia, offered to do half page book reviews in their next issues. (December/January) I received a reply and acceptance email to place my novel on the National Independent Book Stores Data Base System, which was available to every independent book store in Australia.
About the same time I was hit by a huge disappointment from one of the largest book store chains in the nation, explaining to me that their stores were franchised owned and I would have to approach each of their 177 stores individually. My heart dropped. I researched, Googled and made telephone calls until I found what I needed. The email I received was not 100% correct in their reply. I was determined I would succeed and replied to the email announcing they were right about the franchise but each franchised purchased from their head office data base system, just as the independent bookstores operated. I also told them that I was disappointed in the lack of communication they must have within their company and with their franchise owners. The following week I received an official apology from the head office general manager. I was correct in my assumptions and my book and details was immediately placed on their data base, and an official launch of my book sent to every franchise owner in Australia.
Next, I used all my accumulated information and finally emailed Koorong’s head office. Koorong is THE biggest Christian bookstore in Australia. I received a telephone call the very next day discussing details and setting up an account as a private distributor; something that is not often done within their company. I had proved my dependability, advertising and marketing skills.
Marketing has slowed down now and I’m beginning to receive the rewards of my early efforts with a second reprint order organized for the New Year. With a second book due to be published in February 2009, I feel ready for the marketing Glimpses Of His Glory with a sense of excitement.
One thing I’ve learned through my marketing experiences is not allow one disappointment to discourage my effort and determination to achieve. It’s also a lot of hard work but very rewarding.
You can contact me by email chrissy@chrissysiggee.com or through my book website http://www.chrissysiggee.com/

Local Author Makes Her Third Sale To Chicken Soup

I first met Joyce Seabolt during an early Saturday morning class. I've since forgotten which writing class it was, I have however, never forgotten Joyce. I can still see her sitting there, listening intently, taking notes. She came to class fully prepared. I've also never forgotten her words. "I want to be a writer." I believed her, we all did. Over these last five plus years I've watched her make sale after sale. She's organized, determined, and giving. She cares about her work, her audience, and other writers. She's a great friend, and a cheerleader for all of us who struggle to get our ideas and thoughts onto paper.

You recently made another sale to the Chicken Soup series?
Yes. Chicken Soup just accepted my third story. Chicken Soup for Catholic Living will be out this month.
My story tells about how I reluctantly agreed to work at the Church Homeless Shelter for the midnight to 7 AM shift. I went in with preconceived notions of who I would find there...drunks, drug addicts and derelicts. What I found was people...people just like my family, my friends, and me. Spending one night in a homeless shelter taught me a valuable lesson. The only thing that makes the homeless different from me is a home!

I've been to one of your book signings. How important is it for a writer to help market their work?
Marketing is crucial to the success of a book. Writers are expected to participate in generating a "buzz" the first three months after the book comes out. A buzz is simply people talking about your book. Writers do this by posting reviews on Amazon, doing book signings, and going out to meet the public. I've met with religious groups, ladies groups, Toastmasters groups, Book Club groups and nursing groups. Since I am a nurse and one books was for the nurses, I went to a different health care facility ever day during Nurse's Week.

How would you describe the moment you found out that your first manuscript was going to be published? How did you celebrate?
I was ecstatic! I called my family and my writer friends. My best writer friend and I did the "Happy Dance" together even though she lives in New York. We knew when we met at a Writer's Conference that we would be published someday. (I did the "Happy Dance" with her when she was published a short time later.)

I know you work full-time. How do you find time to write and market your writing? Can you describe a typical day?
I work evening shift, so I set time from 10 AM to NOON each day to write. During that time I write or do something directly connected to writing. I may schedule book signings or do research for my next project. Since I am planning to get into the "SLICKS" (magazines) I'm doing a lot of e-mail query letters to women's magazines.

Can you tell us what your are currently working on?
Around the holidays I avoid deadlines...too much stress. I'm researching my latest article idea about how to determine if you have winter blues or Seasonal Affective Disorder. I'm also working on my book signing schedule.

What writing advice do you have for the beginning writer?
Don't get discouraged by rejections, they are part of a writer's life. If you absolutely can't handle rejection, don't submit your writing for publication! Keep writing family, friends, and the fun of writing. You don't have to be published to be a writer. A writer's life is interesting and rewarding even if you never publish a thing. But for me, getting published was soooo worth the rejections!

Finally, have you always wanted to be a writer?
No, I always wanted to be a nurse and I've been one for forty-five years. When planning for something to do in retirement, I read an article that said to look back into your past for things you really enjoyed and rekindle that spark of interest. I remembered that I loved English, especially writing (and editing) my poetry assignments. I decided to go back to college and learn how to do it right. Apparently, I learned to write right.

Joyce has been published in Reader's Digest, Guidepost, and numerous nursing magazines. Her work has also been published in three Chicken Soup for the Soul Books and two Gettin' Old Ain't for Wimps Books. She is looking forward to retirement when she can devote all her time to writing.

Reminder - Get answers to your writing questions...

Professional freelancer Peggy Frezon is willing to share her experiences and answer any questions you might have about writing, marketing, and publishing. Her book credits inclue numerous Chicken Soup editions, Matters for Mothers, Miracles Everyday, A Christmas Wonderland, and others. Her magazine credits include: Guidepost, Positive Thinking, Sweet 16, Pockets, Teaching Tolerance and many more. An award winning writer Peggy can be found here:

http://peggyfrezon.googlepages.com/home

Please email your questions to: patriciapunt@comcast.net

"I quit my job and launched my freelance career..."

Joy Perrino Choquette is a full-time freelance writer whose work has appeared in E/The Environmental Magazine, Listen Magazine, and Liberty Magazine. She has upcoming articles in Vermont Magazine and Grit Magazine. She also writes regularly for a number of regional publications. Joy is particuarly interested in writing about environmental, social and animal welfare issues and hopes to someday publish a book on one of these topics. In the meantime, Joy is working on a fictional young adult novel.

Many people grow up knowing just what it is they want to be when they get older: Be a doctor. Fly commercial airplanes. Work as an executive accountant. Be a stage actress.
I never knew what I wanted to do. When I was very young I wanted to be a wife and mother, or maybe a baker. When I got older I decided I wanted to be either a veterinarian or a photo/journalist for National Geographic magazine. I struggled enough in my freshman college year of biology to realize that a veterinary degree was going to be awfully hard to come by. I had also taken a year to work at a vet’s office after high school and realized that I would have to deal with people a lot more than their pets in a veterinary practice.
So, I ended up getting my degree in psychology. My intent was to continue my education and become a marriage counselor. Instead, I finished my bachelor’s while working full-time in human services. I stayed in that field for seven years. Seven loooooong years. I changed jobs so many times within the field that it was getting to be a joke among family and friends. People would ask me "So, where are you working now?" as soon as they saw me. I think I had something like 10 jobs within those seven years. I hated working in an office. I quickly burned out listening to so many horrible, sad, stories. I felt like I was constantly applying band-aids to gaping, gushing, wounds. There were the elderly people who were so lonely they never wanted me to leave. The mothers who were drug addicts and had lost their children to the foster care system. The men who were out of work and depressed. It was a very hard career and it was not a good fit for me. But each time I changed jobs, I thought "This will be it! This job will be the one. I will work here and tough it out no matter what." Six months later, I would be zipping around the employment websites, looking for a way out.
Finally, after losing my last job, I took a temporary position as a receptionist in a small, family owned company. I knew before accepting the temporary-to-permanent position that it was not going to be permanent for me. But I needed a place to rest, to gather my strength, and to figure out what I was going to do with my life. I was interested in graphic design and researched that for several months. However, there were parts of the work that seemed tedious to me, and other parts that seemed frightening (like finding and retaining all those clients on my own). There was also the investment in graphic design software and a new computer which would not be inexpensive.
I kept researching and kept my eyes and ears open. "Write." That’s what I kept hearing but I pushed it away. To be honest, I had heard that idea before but never pursued it. My oldest sister is "the writer" in our family. And in a family with four girls, you learn early to stay out of other sister’s territory. Still, the idea kept popping up. "Write." Write what? How could I write for a career? I didn’t have any experience or background. I had no idea what I was doing. But still the voice kept chiming in, "Just write." Finally, I said a prayer (okay, it was about 345 anguished prayers) and starting writing. First, I just wrote down my thoughts, like I had for all the years growing up when I kept a journal. Then, sort of by accident, I found a part-time job writing human interest stories for a local paper. Later, I found more writing work through a monthly business journal, then a local art publication and a national magazine.
Six month later, after socking away extra money and writing before and after my work day at the office, I quit my job and launched my freelance career. It’s been 11 months now, and even on the very worst days, I have not regretted my decision. Each time I feel tempted to give up and throw in the towel, ("I’ll never make enough money doing this!") something happens to keep me going. Sometimes it’s a check I forgot was coming, or a kind word from an editor. Other times it’s my writing friends telling me not to give up.
And finally, finally, I can say without a doubt, that I have found the career that I was called to. The work that I am meant to be doing. It’s taken me a lot of years, but it’s been worth the wait.

I Don't Always Get To Write What I Want, But...

Kate Wicker is a wife, at-home mom and writer. When she's not working on several "almost finished novels and short stories, she dabbles in the personal essay market, Christian parenting and health writing. Some of her credits include Atlanta Parent, Faith & Family, Inside Catholic, Pregnancy magazine, and Woman's Day.

When I graduated with a journalism degree in 2000, I thought literary writing was the only thing worth doing. I wanted my writing to enlighten, to touch people deeply and maybe even to change the world one word at a time. I was also in my early twenties, so of course I knew absolutely everything. Now several years later I know otherwise. Today I'm a successful freelancer, but how I became one was not as idyllic as I had supposed. Everything I write isn't artsy, nor am I up for a Pulitzer Prize, but my words are being published and I'm getting paid to do what I love (yippee!), and all you other dreamy idealists can too, but you may have to readjust the way you look at your writing.

Here are some lessons that have helped a pensive scribe like myself along the way:
Be sneaky if you want to enlighten. In most writing markets, you can choose to edify your readers in which case a lot of them will stop reading, or you can choose to talk to them on their own level, snag their interest and marble in a surprise here and there to intrigue them and make a handful of them think further. It's sort of "stealth edification." I learned this lesson the hard way. I landed my first job as a writer in the marketing department of an academic medical center. I hated writing generic health articles like "how to lower your cholesterol," so I desperately tried to write more substantive and creative pieces...that is until my boss told me I needed to stick to the basic facts and write at a middle school level. At first I was appalled, but then I realized she was right. The audience I was writing for wanted to sink their teeth into quick, healthy bites of information. They weren't looking to leisurely sit down and read Faulkerian sentences or Proust prose.

Learn to let go. I used to hate to cut anything from my writing. I was so attached to my words that slashing them was like severing a limb. However, I learned that it was easier for me to edit my work than for it to either not sell or for an editor to change it so much that it didn't even seem like it was mine any longer. It may hurt a little at first, but take a deep breath and let go of any words and sentences that aren't absolutely necessary, especially if you have a strict word count to meet (750 words means 750 words). If you're fond of a particular image ("the trees reached up to the sky like gnarled hands"), then jot it down in a notebook and save it for another piece. Sometimes a sentence or idea may not work for a particular publication (or audience), but it may be perfect for something else.

Never lose sight of why you're writing. Do you have a good idea? Is there a point of view you want to promote? Do you want to convince someone to think as you do? Do you want to comfort someone, inspire them, reassure them, horrify them, urge them into action or maybe make them laugh? Whatever it is that you (and the editors - you can never lose sight of their needs) want to accomplish, use the language that will get the job done. That's all that matters. Anything else is like contemplating your navel.

Finally, don't take yourself too seriously. Sometimes I get in these ridiculously contemplative moods. I might fill a page with a wordy description of one, stinkin' leaf or I might ponder Communism, vegetarianism, antidisestablishmentarianism or some other 'ism. When I'm writing about it, it all seems to make sense. Yet, sometimes I have to take a step back and say, "Whoa, wait a minute. What is this? Will others really enjoy reading this?" If the answer is no, then it's time to move on. If the answer is yes or even maybe, then I can try to sell it. If it sells, hooray! Bring out the champagne. If it doesn't, que sera, sera. There's always another market, another editor looking for the right query, another day, another leaf and another 'ism.
At the end of the day, if I'm not enjoying what I do and am sweating over every single word or rejection, then it's not worth it. There are too many writers out there who end up sequestered in a little cave with a row of empty gin-and-tonics with an "almost finished" novel and queries that never made it to the outbox. Even if I can't always write exactly what or how I want, I don't intend to join that society anytime soon. Neither should you.

She blogs at http://www.katewicker.com/.--

This article was orginally published at WritersWeekly.com. Thanks Kate!

How Not To Market Your Book

It seems there is a new trend in marketing books. Several agents have reported that writers are including bids for sympathy along with their synopsis.

"I want to donate part of the proceeds from this book to charity." (translation: See how charitable I am. Can the publishing house donate the money from their proceeds?) If the author truly were intending to donate their advance and royalties wouldn’t they simply do so after the book sells and the money starts rolling in?


Or. "I started writing this novel before my mother (dad, brother, aunt, neighbor) died and she/he loved it. Will you buy it? I will be dedicating my book to him/her." (translation: Obviously my deceased relative knows more about publishing and audiences than either of us. So we owe it to them and their memory. I’m just saying.) Even if this is a true statement, publishing, is business. And as writers we should conduct ourselves as professionals.

And. "For years, I’ve been told I’m could be the next Clancy, Roberts, Rowlings and that I should write a book. I have. Here it is. I will be retiring at the end of next month. The money will come in handy." (translation: the money will come in handy, now.) Authors became mega sellers because they have fresh ideas, a unique style, great story lines, and a following. "Writing like" Clancy, Roberts, Rowlings indicates your are a "poor imitation."

Unfortunately, unless you are a mega seller, you’ll have a bit more writing to do once that novel is finished. First books are sold with a proposal package which includes a synopsis, outline, chapter samples and a cover letter.