Fiction Scribe

As I’ve said in the past, quoting a quote that is somewhere in the chaos of my desk, you have to make time for things because you’ll never ‘find’ time. Well, I’ve made time for more blog reading, and I have come across some interesting posts.

I’ve also decided to add an ‘E-Publishing’ category, as there is no doubt readers here will consider e-publishing as a possible publication route just as much as they consider traditional publishing or self-publishing.

On to the good reads!

*InkyGirl has a fantastic category on her blog called Rejections, which features famous authors and how many times they were rejected before getting published. This is a sure category to help build the confidence of aspiring writers.

*Paperback Writer touches on the subjects of writer superstitions and rituals (a subject I’ll probably post on later), and things she avoids putting in her stories. Are there any things you avoid writing about in your stories?

*Nice Mommy~Evil Editor has put out an informal call for submissions, so if you have a holiday-themed story, head over to this post for further details.

*Dear Author has a poll regarding e-publishing and the results may surprise you. How many readers have bought an e-published book?

*EcataRomance asks if ebook publishing is a bad career choice…

*Have I mentioned Query Shark before? If you’re looking to submit a query any time soon, I highly suggest you go through the Query Shark archives - run by an actual agent - and give your query a professional polish before sending it in.

By Maya Richard

Suppose you’ve written the next great American novel, and it’s just sitting on your desk at home. Even if you’ve gotten rave reviews from friends and colleagues, there is still a long process that one must follow in order to get the book published. The writing world, like most other industries, is all about connections; finding the right literary agent can make or break the distribution of your book.

For every author who makes it through the clutter and publishes a best seller, there are hundreds more who never see their work in print. The good news is that independent authors have more avenues for distribution than ever before, and working with a well qualified agent can help one obtain distribution in the digital realm and beyond.

Even if you believe that your manuscript is in final form, chances are that it’s not ready to go directly to market. A professional agent to can help you edit the book and re-structure the novel into a form that will help it find an audience among top publishers. Ideally, you should have friends read through the work before approaching an agent, so that you can make revisions and get it in the best possible shape before submitting it for consideration. Getting the attention of a top agent will require you to have a quality product. as well as a successful track record of publishing fiction; submit short stories to literary magazines and journals, so that you can become a published author in advance of pursuing publication for a larger novel.

Literary agents are, above all, service professionals who are looking to close deals. Look for an agent who has a solid track record, as indicated in the trade newsletter Publisher’s
Marketplace. Do background research on agents who seem to be a good fit for your particular genre, and write a custom, hand written introductory letter, along with a copy of your manuscript. Make sure to provide a synopsis of the work, so that you can grab the attention of the agent, who, most likely, comes across dozens of proposals ever single day. Often times, agents will want to send back a copy with edits, so enclose a pre-paid return envelope, along with your complete contact information. While it’s okay to follow-up after sending a manuscript, don’t necessarily expect a response from every agent you contact, and expect to work hard to find the right connections.

Networking will, above all, be the best route to developing lasting connections with literary agents. Make every effort to reach out to fellow authors for introductions to agents, as well as attending industry events in your area. You can find information from resources such as the Association of American Publishers as well as publications such as Book Wire. By following the advice from published authors and following the publishing industry closely, you can begin to cultivate a career and craft your manuscript to maximize your chances of success.

Maya Richard is a freelance writer who enjoys writing both fiction and non fiction. Currently she is writing about high speed internet .

Christmas has come a couple days early for me. Woohoo! I received four books in the mail today! I am one happy little scribe.

In other news, I’ve been doing a lot of reading on the various blogs I follow and people have been saying interesting things…

Rena at Depressive Talk muses about that long held belief that you have to be mentally ill in some way (most often depressed, addicted or both) to be creative.

Pari on Murderati is like me when it comes to almost obsessive drive to create an awesome first line. This post outlines her attempt to create a sexy beginning that also is genuine to the character.

I’ve been reading on the EREC (Erotic Romance E-Publisher Comparison) to get a better idea of what’s happening in that part of the publishing world. It’s quite interesting.

The Rejecter has a holiday reminder for anyone who wants to give their agent a gift for the holidays.

The Rejector also posted a response to a particularly long email he received. I was very amused. Then again, I didn’t have to answer it. “Usually I get emails with very specific questions. Sometimes I get these.”

The Book Deal is a fan of self-publishing and talks about “The unvarnished truth about self-publishing”.

ReadingWritingLiving has been dealing with all the right inspiration in all the wrong places.

ReadingWritingLiving also has an excellent system for finally clearing out your email inbox.

Men With Pens gives you advice with how to deal with cranks, flamers and trolls. The advice is especially good to writers who seek out online forums and groups for critique.

If someone gets me this for Christmas, I will love you forever and ever. I will also consider naming my first child after you.

Happy holidays.

Christmas is next week. I just got the memo. Oy. You’d think I would have paid more attention with the massive amounts of giveaways happening.

I’ve been learning lately that I should keep my mouth shut. People will believe what they want to believe in no matter what evidence there is to the contrary. If you’re looking for any sort of decent debate with someone on the internet, you’ll be sorely disappointed. Meh.

On to what I’ve been reading!

Editorial Anonymous has a post about connections in the industry and your chances of getting your manuscript read.

Janey Reid, Literary Agent talks about something I didn’t even know happened: Surrogate Queries. All I can ask is, “Why?” I would never have someone do that for me and if s/he did it without my permission, I would be very angry.

Redlines and Deadlines posts about the Black Wednesday of the publishing industry. Be it cutting jobs, freezing pay rises or other measures, there are quite a few publishing companies who are feeling the squeeze of the economy.

CopyBlogger lists Twenty-Seven Commonly Misused Words.

The Golden Pencil uses The Power of 15 to jump start her muse…

Write Anything has a large selection of things to read in their December 2008 Creative Carnival.

Write Anything also has a writing meme that I just might have to participate in…

The Query Shark shows you how to not format an email query using an example query.

That’s all I have for today. I hope you enjoy reading those posts as much as I did. If there are any posts you think I should check out, be sure to leave the link in the comments section.

This has become more of a regular thing than I thought it would. There is just way too much going on with all the blogs I read to dedicate a single post to all of them. This is proving to be an excellent solution.

Paperback Writer has found a free holiday read. Click on the link to find out the details of how you can get the free ebook The Rat Catcher by Kate Rothwell.

She also knows all the cool places to go to custom create things for your books - even trading cards! (Just ten more ways I’ll be able to procrastinate instead of writing my novel. Must focus!)

Literary Agent Janet Reid has listed eight ways you’ve managed to shoot yourself in the foot when you query her. Take a look because if you’re doing the wrong thing with queries to her, you’re likely doing the wrong thing with all your queries…

Author Sandi Kahn Shelton talks about her recently released book Kissing Games of the World and the feeling of sadness when you have to see off your published novel as it goes into the real world…

InkyGirl has discovered that your spam email folder doesn’t have to reside permanently in the realm of ‘just an annoyance’. In fact, your spam email folder is a great source of inspiration…

Stone Soup is giving away a copy of M.J. Rose’s The Memorist. All you have to do for a chance to win is leave a comment.

If you have any sites/blogs/articles/posts you think I should be aware of, please let me know.

A warm Texas howdy to one and all. I’m Richard E. Roach and the title of my book is SCATTERED LEAVES. You may order it, if you care to, at Amazon.com. It’s a knock ‘em down and drag ‘em out crime story. Ben McCord, more or less self-trained geologist and mud-logger, comes home after experiencing a blow-out to find his wife raped and murdered. After that things go down hill.

As to how to get published is concerned…the easiest way is to pay the publisher. Some folks like this method and even make a little money. In my case I felt if my work was good enough, I’d eventually find an agent and they would find me a company that would want to print my book. Finding an agent has changed considerably in the last thirty-four years—it’s much harder now—and even when you find one, they may not sell your manuscript. I’ve had two agents and they sold exactly nothing for me. However, I haven’t given up on them.

To get published your must have infinite patience and be willing to face the hundreds, maybe thousands of rejections that you will surely get. Keep plugging away at it and someday someone will like what you’ve written.

If you can find a qualified person to edit your material and I don’t mean a hired-gun; I have reference to an acquaintance or friend, a person who truly likes your writing and admires your work, he/she can furnish the fuel to fire up your engine and keep you going in weak moments when you feel low enough to slide under a snake’s belly. This kind of human being is difficult to round-up, but you will meet them…IF you keep writing.

If you’re writing to get rich, I would encourage you to give it up and get a real job. Most of the people I see writing now-a-days are doctors, lawyers, and Indian chiefs. People like this certainly don’t need any help from a grammar school graduate like me. My words are written to lighten the load of the poor soul who’s writing because he has something to say. Always remember Hank Williams said he got his inspiration for his songs from comic books because they represented life as he saw it.

Good luck and God bless you. May you road be smooth, and your path downhill with the wind at your back. Oh, yes…you’ll need a warm coat. Winter is on the way!

I’m back. Scary, isn’t it?

Before I do anything else, I would like to thank the generous authors who donated their time and writing to keep this site alive while I was gone. I appreciate it.

As you have probably guessed, today is not my first day back. However, I had the Scribes Carnival to put up so I didn’t want either post - the carnival or the “I’m back” post - to trump each other, so I left my hello for today.

I am safe and sound back from Conflux (and the holiday after that). I was (and am) so inspired by the beautiful landscapes I’ve seen that I have made what is probably only the first of many calendars. Southeastern Australia is a beautiful place to live.

I have a lot of conference notes, quotes and other such fun stuff to share with you, but I’m still getting organized (and am procrastinating a bit). So while I get my behind in gear, I’ll share with you a few interesting tidbits I’ve come across.

What I’m Reading:

*Blogging on a Holiday - This is actually something I have been thinking about because a company I work for will be shutting down over Thanksgiving… and I no longer observe Thanksgiving. I’m also planning on taking off Melbourne Cup Day, Australia Day, etc, but do I need to let people know that…? James makes some good points with this one.

*Kiva - Not actually something to do with writing, but an interesting site where you can sponsor up and coming entrepreneurs. It’s something you could do for Blog Action Day.

*Six Things I Never Want to See in a Query by Literary Agent Janet Reid - Pretty self-explanatory.

*Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Conquering Stress Addiction at Write From Home - At the moment I am trying to get my life straightened out to a point where I will be less stressed and more happy. It’s interesting to read other people’s views on being a stress addict.

That’s it for today. Have a good one.

Literary Agent Janet Reid recently posted about Why You Got Summarily Rejected Today.

It never fails to amaze me how many people don’t seem to understand that there are guidelines for a reason. Guidelines for your submissions make lives easier for agents around the world, so why would you not follow them?

As I said in Pet Peeve #21 - Questioning Guidelines:

“I can understand if you want to clarify something like a technical term or the like with someone who knows, but my teeth truly grind when I see someone ask something like this:

“The guidelines say to submit three consecutive chapters, but can I submit chapters three, nine, and eleven?�

Yes, I’ve seen it.

First, it’s not “can Iâ€? it’s “may Iâ€?. Secondly? Open a Word document, type in “consecutiveâ€?, and press shift and F7. (I’m assuming if you have a question like this about the guidelines, you don’t have an actual hard copy of a dictionary or thesaurus.) In none of the alternatives does it even hint that “three consecutiveâ€? is anything other than three in a row or three chapters - one after another.”

And yet people still go on and on, wondering if they can do something other than exactly what the agent/publishing company has asked for. That doesn’t make any sense as far as I am concerned.

But if you don’t want to take it from me, then listen to an agent: “There’s a reason that query letters have a certain form to them. There’s a reason I ask for a hook before I ask to read the pages. I’m not doing that to make you crazy. I’m doing it so that when you send me an email, I don’t go crazy, and auto-reject you.”

The Writer Beware Blog has entered into 2008 with what I feel is a great piece of advice – especially for new writers:

“Don’t look for agents on the Internet.”

Writers, agents, and publishers have been working together for a long time before the internet came into being, and you can survive doing a little extra legwork to make sure your time, work, and money are as safe as they can be.

Like anything on the internet, it’s more than easy to simply take everything for truth. And like in the offline world, that’s exactly the right way to get someone to take advantage of you.

Yes, the internet is a fantastic resource, but what harm does it do you to check out your local library for The Writer’s Market or talk to someone you trust about things?

Before you do anything, you should at least have an idea of who you want to talk to, what you’re after, and at the very least learn some publishing industry terms. Don’t learn for the sake of dropping words; learn for your own sake. You are trying to get into an industry, here.

Many of the agents, publishing houses, etc listed in The Writer’s Market and other books like it list their websites. If nothing else, you’re narrowing down your scope easily instead of treading through Google pages and wondering what’s reputable.

Not only does this post give great advice, it also list many links you might find useful.

In the spirit of the post, though, keep in mind that I haven’t had the time to check out all the links, so use your own discretion.