blog.rightreading.com

Comment from anonymous
Time: July 29, 2006, 9:37 am

Great tutorial. Thanks!

Comment from Kanani
Time: July 30, 2006, 1:28 am

“But beware: publishing has a way of turning idealists into cynics remarkably quickly, and this is sad to watch”

Agreed.

Great tutorial.

Comment from Kanani
Time: July 30, 2006, 1:31 am

“Most people slag off in the middle of the project.”

I know someone who called it “mid-plot droop.”

I had that.

When I went for the 2nd draft, I had to come up with a clear middle. From my experience, working on the 2nd draft has been far more difficult than the first, where I was randomly cranking out scenes (not in order) as they excited me, and filling in later on. (It was sort of like watching a CalTrans Crew).

Anyway, thanks again for your tips. I agree with all of them!

Comment from xensen
Time: July 30, 2006, 8:46 am

Thanks, Kanani. That’s good to hear from an experienced writer, as I can see from your blog you are.

Comment from Kanani
Time: July 30, 2006, 12:25 pm

I like #2: Examine your values. Motivation. What we are trying to do. All too often, everyone stops at the first question: “Why do you write?” without going into that other stuff that feeds into the answer.

The result? Melodrama is the first stone thrown.”Because it’s my mission/all I can do/it’s my calling/I’ve tried everything else.” All true, but what compells us is more complicated, personal, and even embarassing and sometimes even borderline moral.

So perhaps it’s not a question that deserves a direct answer, but something we just need to think about as we do the work and come honest with what we want: to change the world, to reach people (clichés) to the more specific: a limo to pick us up each morning to go to our day jobs, someone do to my housecleaning, a laundress, a cook, someone to answer my phone, love, recognition, respect, someone to give me massages, Dean Koontz’s house and staff.

But how we get all that is reliant on our process: One word at a time, delete, rewrite, blow off, do laundry, come back and write again.

Comment from Jean Goldstrom
Time: August 14, 2006, 9:21 pm

Your “How to…” was helpful, informative, clear and thought-provoking. Thanks!

– Jean Goldstrom

Comment from Michael
Time: December 20, 2006, 2:50 am

Useful stuff.

Comment from Rod Clark
Time: January 21, 2007, 11:38 am

I think a lot of it applies to short fiction as well. The page lists all the vital stuff you have to do–and you’re absolutely right, a lot of aspiring novelists won’t be happy with it. Why not? For a variety of reasons:

It emphasizes reading, reserach, and rewriting. (Yuck!) Most of us would rather publish a book rather than write one, would rather write than read, and would rather not revise at all. The champagne party at which our new glossy hard cover is toasted (and in which the nucleus of our fan club is formed) will be the fun part, and the rest of it is kind of boring. So what are the short cuts to glory? And why won’t those in the know tell us what they are? After all, dammit, why should I have to improve my manuscript–there is much worse crap than mine already out there on the shelves!

Part of the challenge here is how deeply the would-be author is invested conciously or unconciously in the dream machine (big publishing checks, international kudos, crowds of adoring and voluptuous fans etc.). No writer is quite human if they don’t have a teeny tiny touch of this infection, which is a virulent splinter of the disease that destroyed Willy Loman. Unfortunately this disease is particular deadly in America, due to the cult of personality that propels even those who succeed toward self obsession, substance abuse and destruction, ie: many famous authors, rock & movie stars.

The lesson for writers here is, I think, that unless a delight in the PROCESS of pulling the words in, and pushing them out, and refining our skills is the MAJOR part of our motivation and our primary source of satisfaction–we are doomed to disappointment– since THE GOAL of publishing success does not even guarentee happiness for those that achieve it.

On some level I think we all know this, and on another we hope that it’s not true. We hope that there are magical short cuts out there, and people who can tell us what they are.

I believe that good work has a natural buoyancy, and that with patience and reasonable persistence it will find a publisher. It’s possible of course that your brilliant masterpiece is way ahead (or behind!) it’s time. Then, again, it just might be that the product is not good enough, and that it needs more work. Yes it’s true that crap gets published– but do any of us really want to see anything but our best work in print?

All of this said– it is certainly true that good work can be presented badly. You need good query letters, accessible (and accepable formats), etc. The point is none of this will do any good if the work is not ready.

The vast majority of the work we receive in the mail at ROSEBUD is not ready for publication in any format. Maybe 80% has fairly obvious grammatical or compositional problems. (I am not speaking of minor typos.) I know it takes courage for a writer to send ANYTHING out in the mail, and I have great respect that courage. Sometimes though–it takes courage for an editor to wade through what you have written–and that deserves respect too. So be patient and competent in your efforts to be published, but put 95% of your energy into the quality of the work if you seek serious rewards.

Rod Clark
ROSEBUD MAGAZINE

Comment from anonymous
Time: March 27, 2007, 6:51 pm

I am 11 yrs old and i decided to publish a book. I found your site vrey helpful because all of the other sites that i went to wanted to sell me books on how to publish, but you didn’t.

Comment from CarrieNealLand
Time: April 6, 2007, 6:04 am

This was my first read after searching Google for info on “how to get a book published.” It was very useful! Thanks.

One question- any thoughts on posting “chapters” of a (hopeful) book-in-progress on a website, kind of like authors whose excerpts are previously published in magazines for example? Good for practice, good to include if submitting with a query,etc? Bad idea? I have been penning a site since last year and was just curious. Thanks!

Comment from xensen
Time: April 7, 2007, 9:37 am

Carrie

The advisability of posting chapters to a website is an interesting question. I’m inclined to think it’s a good idea.

First the arguments against: 1. Some people would worry about aspects of their work getting stolen. 2. Some publishers could feel the audience for the work might have gotten the notion that it should be free and therefore be less inclined to pay for it.

And the arguments for: 1. It provides an opportunity to get feedback from readers about what works and what doesn’t and about omissions and inconsistencies. 2. It may be a way of building an audience. If a demonstrable audience exists, that can be a selling point. There have been a few examples recently of serial blogs that turned into good-selling books.

All in all, I doubt that posting the chapter will do any harm, and it could be helpful. Recently I sold a piece on the possible influence of East Asian printing on the European renaissance to a journal, and I asked if they would object to my posting the piece on the web. They had no objection, and this had led to greater exposure for the work. (I do think there is a chance in this case that others could use my research without attributioin, but that’s a chance I will take.)

Comment from donnie
Time: April 11, 2007, 7:38 pm

I wanted to thank you for putting your 10 steps to getting a book published up on the web site. I have been writing short stories and posting to forums (Free) for years but, as a busy professional, I had never started writing “The Book”. I decided a month or so ago to start my book and it is flowing well and the reviews from those I have let read it are good. At this point I have been overwhelmed by “advice” on how to get it published but your site gave me a direct path to follow.

Thank You for sharing your knowledge

Comment from Alex
Time: April 25, 2007, 2:29 am

Thank You

Comment from Buchi Onwugbonu
Time: June 12, 2007, 10:26 pm

Excellent overview of the process. Like the 11 yr old pointed out, most other sites will want to sell you a book, which in most cases will expand only slightly on the points you mention above.

For this free advice, if I ever, or when I get published, I’ll send you a copy, free of charge.

Comment from Debbie Sudderth
Time: June 16, 2007, 10:07 am

Thank you for the time to put this out for novices like me. I will try your advise. I will let you know if I get published and send you a copy of the books to come.

Comment from xensen
Time: June 22, 2007, 6:47 am

Thank you for your comments. After many years of being completely noncommercial, I have finally added a few discreet (I hope) ads, like the ones below. I hope these will not be too objectionable, as I want to avoid crass commercialism (like this). It would be great, though, if I could recover some of my costs. Many thanks to loyal readers.

Comment from Burton Kelly
Time: June 26, 2007, 9:22 pm

This i my first visit to this website, i thought it was vary helpful. Since i plan on writing my first book, i have been searching for a website that did not have a membership or a fee in ordor to view its containt on how to write a book. Which is another reason why i like this website. You should include that section on book contract because, there are people that have maid it to that level but do not know how to procede with it. Also you could include a section on how the writing definitions are used and where they are typicaly show.

Comment from Erin
Time: June 29, 2007, 10:09 pm

Thank you so much for the help. I am 12 years old, and have started writing so many different books. I finally decided to get serious about it. (I even bought myself a laptop to write my books on with the money i had been saving for a couple of years.) All of the other websites i went to wanted me to buy books or something like that. i really appreciate it. I am about half way through my book, and have been a reader since I was about two years old. Thank you, again.

Comment from Kitty
Time: July 15, 2007, 8:01 am

Thanks for the excellent advice on starting out.

I started a little cooking blog a few months back that has garnered some unexpected attention, leading everyone I know to say “write a book!”. Unfortunately, none of the people in my life have any clue how to get that done.

I am curious if you could direct me on the research route to go for cookbooks and such?

Thanks,
Kitty

Comment from xensen
Time: July 15, 2007, 11:00 am

Kitty, I don’t know much about the cookbook market so I can’t offer much specific help. I think the place to start would be to get familiar with its segmentation: there are recipe books for use in the kitchen, lyrical works celebrating food, personal memoirs, and so forth. Figure out where your book fits and then pursue publishers in that segment.

Comment from Mike
Time: August 26, 2007, 8:08 pm

Thank you very much for the informative website and for offering this information without penalty of membership! I was seriously injured about a year ago and during my recovery, I started to think about writing and maybe getting published. My story has received good reviews thus far, so I am excited to embark on this process and see how far I can take it.

I would like to ask you the favor of advice, if you have any on my situation. I am writing a non-fiction book about a topic that is written mostly written about by professionals who are in the field (eg. doctors.) I found that there were very few books written from the perspective of someone who had first-hand experience. The research that I’ve done has shown that people would like to hear from an experienced person as it will give them a more down-to-earth and closer-to-home perspective. What do you think about this approach and have you had any experience with a situation like this?

Thank you again, and if/when I get published I will certainly send you a copy in return for your helpful advice on this website!

Thank you,
Mike

Comment from Renee
Time: August 27, 2007, 5:33 am

This is the most helpful thing I’ve read about writing. I’ve quoted it in my writing journal as well as answered some of the questions. (Yes, why AM I writing?) I know I’ll come back to it.

Thank you so much!

Comment from Rose
Time: October 13, 2007, 3:13 pm

Thank you, I learned more from you than from the ten previous sites I researched. Very informative, you have inspired me to move forward in seeking publication. I will use your advice on all counts. Bless you!

Comment from C.M. Mayo (Madam Mayo blog)
Time: December 11, 2007, 10:13 am

Excellent advice. I just added a link to this from one of my resources for writers pages,
http://www.cmmayo.com/interviews-faq-writing-business.html

I think what you said about intentions is key. What we truly want for ourselves as writers is not always so easy to discern.

Comment from xensen
Time: December 11, 2007, 10:38 am

Thanks, C.M. That is high praise.

Comment from Christina
Time: January 11, 2008, 12:34 pm

Your tutorial was great!!! I really appreciate t he honesty and insight. Keep up the great work!!!!!

Comment from Janet
Time: January 18, 2008, 7:07 pm

I am in “the Middle” and I am in that slump. Reading through your steps have been an encouragement to me. This is my first book and my greatest difficulty is myself. Your words give me encouragement to persevere, as I know that writing this book, whether published or not is what I must do. Then I can continue with my life’s journey, which this book is all about. I speak for a living, so I must write the visuals that an audience receives by watching . . . I am now rambling, so thanks once again for the honest words.

Comment from Erica
Time: January 21, 2008, 9:13 am

I am just starting to write a book and wont to get it published
any ideas anyone about who do i send it to