Yet Another Epublisher Goes Down the Drain - Stardust Press

But at least they're being professional about it, not slinking away into the ether.

I feel bad about their authors; their rights will be reverted, and the publisher is already setting up to make sure all royalties are paid.

All the details are on Moondancer Drake's LiveJournal post, here.

~Nancy Beck

Workin' on the Work in Progress

I should be finishing up the revision of Chapter 4 today, and, hopefully, I'll put it into high gear next week in between the online writers conference. I hope to get another two chapters done next week.

My interim goal is to join an online crit group. I did this before; last year, as a matter of fact. But I think it was too soon for me, as I psyched myself out. I now think I have a better handle on the "this is my baby" aspect of writing, and the "this is a business" aspect.

I also wrote a quick story the other day, which was supposed to be a flash fiction piece (less than 1,000 words), but I think there are well more than 1,000 words. :-) I like the concept, like the MC, so maybe I'll develop it just a tad more and send it out.

Who knows? Maybe some (paying) market somewhere will accept it. Don't know until you try. :-)

I'm also wondering about a story sitting on my laptop's hard drive. I originally thought about doing it as a short story, but now I wonder if I should expand it. It's about werewolves on Broadway in the 1930s; at least, that's the basic premise. I don't think I've developed it enough, so I may take another look-see, if not another writing stab, at it. Since paranormals are so hot right now (I know, I know - most books that are bought right now usually won't see the light of day for almost two years, so I really shouldn't follow trends), this might be the time to take a good, hard look at it. It's set during a time period I enjoy reading about, and maybe it'll be different and good enough for agents to look at.

Don't mind me; just doing a little dreaming.

~Nancy Beck

What I'm Currently Reading #2

I've been on a book buying spree lately (paperbacks only; hardbacks are too frickin' heavy to carry around), probably because my personal life is, well, not so nice. (Be careful what you wish for: If you have a boring life, BELIEVE ME, I'll take that over the nightmare hubby and I living through right now. Trust me.)

So books take me away from all that, at least for a little while.

I saw the cover of this one book in the fantasy section (duh) at the local bookstore. It looked cool, with a dirty blonde on the cover holding a huge sword, with the smirk that said, C'mon, I really want to kick someone's ass today, and it might as well be yours.

Yeah.

It's called Magic Lost, Trouble Found, by Lisa Shearin, and to my surprise and delight, she's repped by Kristin Nelson! :-) So far, I'm liking what I'm reading, because it has some cynical humor (some of it self deprecating), it doesn't take place in the world we know, and that woman on the cover is an elf - with a kick-ass attitude.

Yeah.

She's holding some sort of amulet (don't groan; this isn't the usual poor orphan finds something and comes upon powers she didn't know she had), and she's curious as to what the heck it is and why the Big Bad Dude (who sounds especially sinister) wants it.

Yeah.

Once I finish it, I aims to write a review, I aims to.

~Nancy Beck

Looks Like John Grisham Stepped in Some Doo-Doo

He decides to do a non-fiction book, and look what happens.

The District Attorney alleges that "Grisham and the other defendants engaged to commit libel, publicity placing a person in a false light and intentional infliction of emotion distress." This was started by one of the men in the case Grisham wrote about in the book, The Innocent Man. Both men were later exonerated and released from jail.

Maybe he should've just stuck with writing novels.

~Nancy Beck

A Writing Nudge

I have a book (that I think is out of print; I picked it up used) called Writing and Selling Your Novel, by Jack Bickham. Mr. Bickham subscribes to the Scene and Sequel method of writing, which he got from his teacher, Dwight Swain.

Anyway, I remembered a technique Mr. Bickham mentioned to get an idea if you're stuck with deciding how a certain character reacts in a certain scene.

I was stuck in the 4th Chapter, where my MC (Rita) is in the kitchen with her adoptive mother (Margaret). Basically, she wanted to get away from an argument between two other characters. She also hoped to gain more knowledge of her quest to find her birth mother (although Rita already had suspicions). Her mother is known to give melodramatic reactions to certain things, because she was in the movies in the 1930s-1940s.

What I'd originally wrote, and kept through subsequent revisions, I didn't like; in fact, I didn't like it when I first wrote it. It sounded contrived, but I couldn't come up with anything else, so I kept it as is.

What to do?

Hemispheres

No doubt you've heard or read that the brain is divided into left and right hemispheres. The left is the logical side; the right, the creative side. The left side gives us the words to write with, while the right gives us stuff like dialogue and characters' feelings. Both sides communicate with each other, but not perfectly. That's why we often have that "inner critic" at the wrong times. In other words, when we should be in creative mode, the logical mode comes in and says things like, "This sucks," or "Why are you having this character doing that?" or "That makes absolutely no sense."

A Trick to Help Out

Now that you've had your science lesson for today ;-), I'll tie it in. Mr. Bickham suggests a trick, or technique, that may help you get unstuck.

The idea is to make a list as quickly as you can, with no thought as to rationality or corniness or any of the left-hemisphere stuff. In other words, write so fast that your inner critic doesn't have a chance to say anything.

In my example, I had to think of a bunch of things Rita can think/do/say in reaction to Margaret's overreaction. Is it real or is it Memorex for Rita? I even thought of a violent reaction, with Rita slapping Margaret. It wasn't easy, but I managed to get down about six or seven different reactions. Mr. Bickham suggests 20, but that seemed excessive to me, at least in my case. I arrived at what I thought was keeping within Rita's character, as I thought any violence at this point in the story (despite my alluding to eruptions in her past) wouldn't make sense. Not yet, anyway, as she still has to get used to the fact she's gone back in time, and thus has to get used to her surroundings.

So write that list super fast, and see what your imagination can come up with. You never know; it could be a really good twist that'll send your story in an unusual but cool direction.

~Nancy Beck

Chronicle Books Redux

Wow - I've officially been noticed in writing circles! Do you know how it makes me feel that I'm one of the movers and shakers...

::shakes head, wonders where she is::

Oh, yeah, my daytime job.

Anyway, a bunch of other writers and me (see how nicely I slip myself into that delicious group known as writers? ;-)), received a polite comment from Joseph Ternes at Chronicle Books. In it, he cleared up a few things:

The information in the Newsweek article was incorrect. Chronicle Books will not receive a referral fee for recommending Blurb.com to aspiring authors or artists.

Just as from time to time our editors refer authors or artists to other trade houses, Blurb.com presents another option if they consider it an appropriate choice. This option will not be part of our response to every author submissions. There are many self-publishing options in the marketplace, though far fewer for illustrated book authors and artists. As an independent illustrated book publisher in San Francisco, Chronicle Books felt an affinity for the locally based Blurb.com and the quality of the product it is offering the public.

This is good to hear.

~Nancy

Communication Is the Key

Seems to me, communication is the key when dealing with your agent.

No, I'm not agented (yet), but I think I'll throw my opinion around on this one anyway. :-)

On one agent's blog, I noticed an anonymous comment from someone who, apparently, had an agent who'd been sitting on her ms. for three years. Three long, freakin' years.

What's up with that?

It's possible I misunderstood the post, but I don't think so. It sounded as if the poor writer was with a prestigious agency/agent, and it's possible that agent took on too many clients.

It happens.

The thing is, what was happening with her ms? Did her agent actually send out the puppy and get negatives all around? Did she communicate this to the writer? Did the writer ask? Did the agent ask for edits - as I assume she must have - or did the agent just leave things as is? (I would think even minor edits are necessary before sending a ms. on to editors.)

Whatever has happened, it's obvious the writer and the agent aren't communicating. It's possible the agent did ask for edits in that timeframe (3 years) and has sent it out with nobody wanting it. But it's also obvious this isn't getting through to the writer; obviously, or she wouldn't have asked about it.

Don't be afraid to ask your agent where she's sending your ms. It's part of the writer/agent relationship. You, as a writer, have the right to know where your agent is sending your ms.; after all, it's your baby, right? Whether the agent tells you straight out or you send a short email inquiry, it doesn't matter. Back scratching works both ways.

My advice to that poor dear was to politely let her agent know that she (the writer) didn't think it was working out, and to be released from her contract. Yeah, she'll have to do the whole query thing again (yuck!), and do the entire waiting game again (double yuck!), but I phrased it this way: In the 3 years your agent's been (ostensibly) sitting on your ms., another agent would've had you do some edits and sent it out to publishers, and, possibly, if the first one didn't sell, the agent would've asked for something else you're working on.

Don't be afraid to admit something is not working. Writing is hard work, as is agenting. Don't you want someone working as hard as you are?

Right. I thought so.

~Nancy Beck

What's Up With Chronicle Books?

This is just disgusting.

Read about this on the Absolute Write Bewares and Backgrounds forum and got my Irish (all right, Polish) up.

You can read Victoria Strauss' take on it here. The original article is here.

For those who don't feel like clicking on the links ;-), Chronicle Books, a commercial publisher, is teaming up with an outfit called Blurb (a self-publishing service). The bad thing for writers? Chronicle and Blurb have decided on what they call is a "mutual referral deal." Chronicle will funnel rejected writers to Blurb. If those writers purchase Blurb's services, Blurb pays Chronicle an undisclosed cut of the revenue.

Hunh? What's that you say? Conflict of interest? Yup. Even worse, this sounds like Kickback City to me. I mean, WTF is up with that?

Let's start with the conflict of interest part. When Chronicle is interested in a book, they'll offer a contract to said author; nothing wrong with that. Except Chronicle doesn't see any money until the book is on sale (after spending months on editing, marketing, etc.). What better thing to do than to reject an author, and push him or her over to something Chronicle has recommended? How can an author possibly trust a publisher like that? Victoria points out on the Writer Beware blog link above that the notorious Edit Ink pulled the same sort of crap.

Sorry, but this is just rotten. Writers get taken in by enough scam outfits like Publish America (that pretends to be a publisher) and places like Edit Ink (that pretended to be an editing outfit) without having to deal with more crap like this.

If Chronicle just came back to those they rejected and said, "You might want to try an editing service," without mentioning anybody, that I could accept (and I wouldn't expect Chronicle or any publisher to point me to anyone specific; that's what research is for).

As for the other? Well, Victoria said it quite succinctly on the Writer Beware blog:

Chronicle's referrals to Blurb will come with the weight and reputation of an established commercial publisher behind them. A reputable publisher won't tell you to do something that's not in your best interest, right? It's likely, therefore, that authors will take the recommendation seriously. This is bad enough for books that aren't publishable. But what about the books that don't fit Chronicle's list, but might be a good match for another reputable publisher? What if those books get sidelined into Blurb? Again, Chronicle will not be doing authors any favors.

Exactly. Chronicle should just stick to rejecting authors that don't fit their list. Period. If writers want to go the self publishing route...let them (the writers) do their own research and decide for themselves if they want to spend any dough.

Bad, very bad. Cross Chronicle Books off your list, unless they rescind this horrible idea.

~Nancy Beck

Muse Online Writer's Conference

Today has been an especially busy day for me at work, plus I had to endure a group-wide meeting.

Can't have everything.

Anyway, since I've never been to a writer's conference before (and since I can't afford to stay anywhere to go to one), I decided to sign up for an online one. The one I found is called the Muse Online Writer's Conference, and it's going from October 8 to October 14 (yup, a Sunday). I've signed up for a bunch of presentations/courses and online chats. I did do a little research on the people involved, trying to stay away from those who only have one book (fiction, that is) under their belts.

It's not that I want to diss one book (so far, anyway) authors; far from it. It's just that I don't think they can offer a lot in the way of publishing experience.

Meh. That sounds a bit elitest. Oh well. If they want to talk about something else where they've made money (for instance, one of the presenters has an ebook on doing reviews on just about anything, and has made money not only off that ebook, but in reviewing stuff; I would've liked to have listened to her take on the reviewing end of books and things, but she chose to give a presentation on how she got her book pubbed).

To each their own, I guess, and I truly applaud her for getting her book pubbed (definitely not an easy feat!), but I feel she had more to give on the non-fiction end of the equation.

But some of the presentations and chats sounded interesting, so I'll be giving it all a whirl. I've taken off the entire week, so we'll see how it goes (with plenty of time to continue with my revisions).

~Nancy Beck