Writing and Publishing News from

I listened to Mark Levine, author of The Fine Print of Self-Publishing, in a teleseminar yesterday. The teleseminar was presented FREE for SPAWN members—just another benefit of joining SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network). I’m sure that our members who listened in learned a great deal about the publishing industry—at least from Mark’s perspective and based on his research and experiences. Quite informative. Members of SPAWN can listen to the recording of the teleseminar at our website. We may also sell CDs of the teleseminars we present. Check back at our website for information about this. And, while you’re there, sign up for our FREE enewsletter.
http://www.spawn.org

As most of you know, the publishing industry is changing and it is innovative authors, cutting-edge publishers and creative book promoters who are facilitating so much of the change. It is also the small independent publisher of one or two books and the pay-to-publish author who are responsible for the changes. The excellent books being published and the awful, unedited, meaningless books are causing the changes in the industry. It’s the aggressive book promoter and the timid author who doesn’t know how to promote who are creating the statistics and blazing the trail to wherever the industry is headed.

One thing that Mark said yesterday really struck me and it is SO true. He said that authors must spend money on an editor. He said the same thing I often say, “The local college professor is not a book editor. You need a book editor to edit your book.” And he suggested what I know, as well—your project needs to go to the editor at least twice. Once the editor edits your book, you will be doing some rewrites here and there, you’ll be making changes—probably more than you realize. So it is absolutely crucial that you send that manuscript back to the editor for a final edit. He said that if you don’t have the money to hire a good book editor and to follow through with the editing work you need, you might as well not publish at all. If you do, you could be affecting the publishing industry in a negative way.

What are you doing this week to make a positive difference within the publishing industry? Are you making good choices with regard to your book? Are you striving to produce an excellent product or do you just want to get your book published without concern for the quality? Remember, you are affecting the publishing industry no matter your decision.

Contact me for a free editorial evaluation of your manuscript. PLFry620@yahoo.com. Learn more about me and my services here: http://www.matilijapress.com/consulting.html

Those of you living in California know that we’ve been dealing with a lot of rain this week. Even if you don’t live in the West, you are aware of the nonstop rain, flood and mudslide warnings, thunder storms and even a few tornadoes (one hit a mile away from where my mother lives in the next town).

So what do you do in Southern California when it rains and you can’t get out in the garden or take a long walk? If you’re a writer, you write! And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing this week. I’ve also gone into production with THREE books.

I have completed The Successful Author’s Handbook, an ebook. I’m waiting for my webmaster to return from vacation and get it set up at my website so I can start telling you all how to obtain a copy.

I have completed the writing, editing, proofing, editing, proofing, editing, proofing… for the newly revised Catscapades, True Cat Tales. Currently, my photographer and my design person are working their magic. This will be a perfectbound book. I can’t tell you how much fun I’ve been having with this project.

And I’ve decided to rewrite and update one of my most popular books, Over 75 Good Ideas for Promoting Your Book. Gosh, that has been a good selling book. Amazon buys it by the dozens. I’ve had publishers order it from me to hand out to their authors! And many, many authors purchase this little 72-page book in order to get a sense and some direction about book promotion. It’s time to reprint it, so I have decided to update it, as well. Much has changed since I produced this little evergreen book.

What are you working on this month? Have you kicked your writing work up a notch in the new year? Have you set new writing/publishing goals? How are you doing with that? Do you need help? Here are my suggestions for getting help to stay on track with your writing work.

• Set a schedule and put it in writing.

• Challenge yourself to write a page a day or a chapter a week.

• Join a writers’ group and/or engage a writing buddy so you are accountable to someone outside of yourself.

• Enroll in a class or online course in order to get the structure, direction and feedback you need.

• Read the type of writing you’re doing for inspiration.

• If you plan to publish your writing, study appropriate books and articles in order to prepare yourself for the tasks ahead.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to arm yourself with knowledge long before you are ready to publish and this is valid advice whether you plan to land a traditional publisher, find an agent to represent you, self-publish (establish your own publishing company) or go with a pay-to-publish service. Knowledge is definitely your most valuable asset going in and the earlier in the process that you begin to understand the publishing industry and how to navigate it, the better your chances for success.

I know that some of you are writing the books of your dreams and you’ve also been following my advice about educating yourself about the publishing industry. You will be so glad you did. Those of you who have not yet bought into this concept, please reconsider. Talk to any industry professional and any published (first time or many time) author. They will all tell you that your best chance for publishing success lies with your level of knowledge about publishing. Too many authors learn this AFTER making numerous mistakes.

I wrote my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book for every new and struggling author. Please take advantage of the wisdom (gathered over 35 years) and the benefits of in-depth research in this 340-page book. The book, by the way, has had dozens of 5-star reviews—many by industry professionals.

Order your copy today—you could have it in your hands by Monday or Tuesday. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

I’m almost finished proofing my latest book—an ebook which I’ve decided to name, The Successful Author’s Handbook. It’s a compilation of 50 of my best articles for authors—some older ones and some brand new ones—but all evergreen articles. I’ll tell you more about the ebook when it is available.

For now, I’m doing what I keep harping at you to do—edit, edit, edit and proof, proof, proof. I’ve edited this book from many angles numerous times and still I have tabs attached to 44 pages so far indicating mistakes or things I want to change. Most of the tabs point out spacing problems that occurred during the transition from Word to PDF. And I did find two actual spelling mistakes in a new chapter. I wrote “though” instead of “through” and I neglected to ad an “s” on a word that should be plural. Otherwise, I’m making changes and adding things—so it’s a combination of editing and proofing that I’m doing.

Do you have Google Alert set on your name or the title of your book? This morning I found my name associated with a workbook put out by SPAN (Small Publishers Association of North America). They have created a nifty workbook for marketing and they list my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book along with 8 other recommended books. Yeah! Check out this FREE pdf workbook. You might find it quite useful. http://www.spanpro.info/workbook-web.pdf

We’ve had a lively discussion over the weekend through SPAWNDiscuss with regard to the term used for those companies that charge you to produce your book. You know, they used to be called “POD Companies” and then they became known as “self-publishing” services. I recently came up with a more realistic title, “pay-to-publish” services. A group of professionals liked this title and ran with it. We ended up putting together a document designed to help new authors understand the differences and pros and cons of each publishing option. I’ve given you the link before—but here it is again. Let me know if you visit this page and whether you find this helpful or not. http://www.simonteakettle.com/options.htm

I started the conversation at SPAWNDiscuss yesterday by asking members how we could get word out in order to try to get the “self-publishing” term changed to “pay-to-publish.” The general consensus was that it isn’t publishing professionals who created the “self-publishing” term at all. It was the companies, themselves. They want to lure hopeful authors in by making them believe that the author has some control over what happens to his project. They want the author to think he is actually self-publishing his own book. So not true!

I’d like to hear from authors who have gone with a pay-to-publish company or who are contemplating that choice. PLFry620@yahoo.com.

Well, it’s always fun spending time with you every morning, but I have a manuscript to proof. If we can get the cover designed within the next few days, this ebook could go live (at my website) next week.

In the meantime, visit my website and see my array of books, check out the articles I’ve posted, study my giant list of resources for authors and writers. Read about me and my journey as a writer/author. And make yourself a decision that’s going to move your career or your project forward in 2010. For example, subscribe to SPAWNews. It’s FREE. http://www.spawn.org. Join SPAWN! It’s $65/year. If you do nothing else this year, and if you are either planning to write a book, you are writing a book or you are a published author who is promoting a book, do yourself a HUGE favor and purchase my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book.
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html.

Don’t stop there—actually READ the book from cover to cover. You’ll be awfully glad you did.

Are you headed down the pay-to-publish path—or in your language, the self-publishing path? In other words, do you plan to pay one of the 100 or so POD publishing companies to produce your book? It seems like a simple way to become a published author, doesn’t it? You just plunk down some money, hand over your precious manuscript and they do the rest. Their contract indicates that they will edit, design, get the bar code, issue an ISBN and print the book. For additional fees, they’ll also promote it.

You’ve probably done quite a bit of research by now. You’ve read a lot of pros and cons about these companies. You may have read Mark Levine’s book, The Fine Print of Self-Publishing and understand that not all of these outfits are rated the same. You feel that you’ve chosen the right company.

But are you aware of your responsibility in all of this? Has anyone told you that you had better put yourself in charge of quality control and make sure that you hand over a manuscript that is professionally/flawlessly edited (most people say their editing services amount to a quick proofing), that you had better present the company with a pristine layout package (they often will print it exactly like you give it to them) and that you are responsible for promoting your book?

Someone said just the other day that when you become an author, you’d better consider that you’ve gone into business. Even if you go with a pay-to-publish company or you land a traditional royalty publisher, you are responsible for promoting your book. And book promotion should be approached with a strong business sense. The author must develop his/her own marketing campaign.

I still meet authors every day who either didn’t know or didn’t believe that they needed a business head in order to enter into the competitive publishing field. Those who refuse to adopt that business sense, will fail to meet most of their publishing/marketing goals.

I’m not saying that you need to get a degree in business in order to publish your book of poetry. But you’d better take the time to learn something about the publishing industry, your options and your responsibility as a published author BEFORE diving in.

Step one: read The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book.
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Step two: Join SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network)
http://www.spawn.org

Step Three: Get your manuscript professionally edited. Consider my services:
http://www.matilijapress.com/consulting.html

Anytime—you can contact me with your questions: PLFry620@yahoo.com

I interviewed a publisher and an agent for the February issue of the SPAWN Market Update. Don’t you love to know what publishers and agents are thinking—what they want—what sort of author they want to work with—how they want you to approach them, etc.?

Well, if you hope to publish your book, you’d better be interested in how agents and publishers think, how they make their decisions, what sort of projects they are seeking and why.

Several of the agents I researched, before making contact with a few, indicated in their listings which writers’ conferences they attend. I questioned a few agents about this practice of attending writers’ conferences.

Of course, those of you who frequent this blog site know that I recommend conferences to authors in search of an agent or publisher. And agents are telling me how important these conferences are to them. They actually do sometimes find that gem of a project at writers’ conferences. It really is worth going with your excellent project, but only if you are fully prepared.

One thing an agent told me was how important it is for attendees who have scheduled a meeting with an agent to know how to talk briefly about their project in some sort of meaningful way. She said that she doesn’t want a blow-by-blow description of the story, just the essence of it.

Last week I read Goldilocks and The Three Bears to a 3-year-old. It occurs to me that one should take into account this story before approaching an agent. You don’t want to inundate her with too much information and material. You don’t want to give too little. You must offer just the right amount. Go on and on with your story or the premise of your nonfiction book and you will miss the opportunity to listen. If you oversell your book, you very well may lose your opportunity. If you state simply, “It’s a nonfiction book about dogs,” or “It’s a mystery,” well, that’s not nearly enough information, is it? Is the dog book a how-to, self-help, informational, reference, book of true stories or what? Is the mystery true, paranormal, graphic, chic lit, young adult or ?

While preparing your spiel for the agent, practice capturing the very essence of your book.

I often give you homework assignments. If you are working on a book, here’s what I want you to do this week: Come up with a succinct sentence (or two) that describes your book. Share the sentence with me and let’s discuss it. This isn’t exactly what you would be presenting to an agent, but it is a starting place. This exercise is for you—to help you to put your book in a nutshell. You can work from there to capture the essence of it to share with an agent.

For more about how to meet, approach and work with an agent or publisher, how to determine which publishing option is best for you and your project, how to establish a platform that will help you to sell more books and so much more, read The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

My online Book Proposal course starts tomorrow. Contact me: PLFry620@yahoo.com for more information.

It’s the last day of another year. Personally, I’ve experienced 69 of these milestones. Younger people might ask, “Do they get easier? More difficult?” Not really. They are what they are and what you make them.

Isn’t that true of any day of the year? Your birthday is simply another day. But if you approach it with expectations (you expect a certain someone to buy you a certain something, for example) and those expectations aren’t met, your day goes down the toilet. But that’s your perception—no one else’s. It’s how you choose to view things.

As authors, we sometimes cling to certain expectations. We pour so much energy, time, emotion/heart into our projects and we expect to be somehow reimbursed to a similar degree. Why shouldn’t we be? We paid our dues—we did the work—we suffered appropriately. We should be duly compensated. We should land that contract with a major publisher. We should get a review in the Library Journal.

When circumstances don’t dictate what we expect, then what happens? We experience disappointment—a serious negative that brings us down and sometimes causes us to crash. I’ve known way too many authors who could not take the pain of disappointment and who quit before really giving their projects a chance.

So my message to you today is to curb those damaging expectations. The last day of 2009 may not have any special significance to you—no publishing contracts coming forth, for example. A day isn’t going to make a difference. Your wishes will not change things. But you may be able to make the changes or the results that you desire.

If you want this to be a wonderful day full of laughter, friends and good will, start it by changing your attitude. Put a smile on your face, contact your friends and tell them what they mean to you, take the time to enjoy the antics of your household pet, linger over your mocha this morning—relish it—and speak kindly of and to everyone in your life today.

If you want to change your “luck” with regard to your book project, take control. Be proactive on your behalf.

• Educate yourself and keep learning.
• Embrace instead of shun the information you need.
• Keep an open mind.
• Set realistic goals.
• Be persistent and consistent.
• Seek the right kind of assistance.

It’s fun and rather exhilarating to dream of amazing success—to have wonderful expectations. But also maintain a sense of realism with regard to your desires. And if you do the work and make the sacrifices, you will experience a measure of success today and in the future.

Let me help you to attain that success. As you know, I’ve been writing for publication for nearly 37 years. I had a successful career as a freelance article writer for most of that time. And I am the author of 29 books (number 30 AND 31 are in the works). Based on my work with SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) for the last nearly almost 14 years and with my clients, students, and the authors I meet at the various conferences where I speak, I wrote my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. Professionals are recommending it. Some are comparing it above our most familiar books on publishing. Authors at all levels call this book their bible on all aspects of authorship and publishing.

Order your copy today at http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

And be sure to sign up for my online courses—The Book Proposal Course starting January 5 and my Book Promotion Course starting January 12. http://www.matilijapress.com/courses.htm If you see another course you’d rather take, let me know—I teach my online courses on demand—at your convenience.

As authors, we typically pour a lot of emotion into our book projects. Sure you hear/read me say that authors must take the emotion out of the publishing equation and go into publishing as a savvy author rather than an emotionally desperate one. But I also believe that emotion has its place in a publishing project. I mean, how are we going to keep it at bay?

If we aren’t excited about our projects in the beginning, where’s the motivation to continue with them?

Researching and writing a book is often a long and arduous undertaking. If we didn’t feel some measure of pleasure in doing so, we wouldn’t keep at it.

There’s a definite thrill in finishing a book—having worked through all of the obstacles and challenges to the end of the project.

We experience a sense of satisfaction—maybe even delight—when we finally make some wise and informed choices with regard to our publishing options.

Few of us can contain our joy when we hold our finished books in our hands for the first time.

Our first few sales make us feel validated and, quite frankly, a bit exhilarated.

When we get good reviews, we’re certainly grateful and feel emotionally rewarded.

And the delight just goes on and on throughout the life of the book. Each review and sale creates some excitement in us. Every book order placed gives us a boost. And this is okay. Humans are made to experience emotions and creating, following through and succeeding with a publishing project can certainly spark a variety of them. Enjoy the feel good feelings as you progress with your book project. But, when it comes to making those all important publishing decisions, set the feelings aside and use your research skills and your business savvy.

Start your research with my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Question of the Day
Yup, this is new. If I get enough responses to this question, I will write a blog using your comments. Comment in the “comments” area or email me at PLFry620@yahoo.com. Put in the Subject Line: “Question of the Day.”

Q: Have you found it difficult to separate your emotions from your business savvy when entering the world of publishing on behalf of your book project? What were the results? I’d love to hear your story.

I met two more authors this week who are unhappy with their pay-to-publish companies and their books aren’t even out, yet! Both of them have my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. And both of them told me that they read my warnings about some of the pay-to-publish companies after they’d signed contracts.

This is not to say that I bad mouth certain pay-to-publish companies or even all of them. But I do issue a strong warning for new authors advising, encouraging, admonishing them to go into a contract with a pay-to-publish company ONLY after they have done the following:

• Study the publishing industry.
• Know all of their options and the possible ramifications of their choices.
• Understand their responsibilities as a published author.
• Have a publishing or literary attorney look over any contracts presented.

As writers, we move into the unknown area of publishing, the first time around, much too quickly and eagerly. We don’t stop to make the shift—the transition—from writer to businesswo/man. We enter into publishing with the heart and expectations of a writer rather than the business sense of a savvy, informed author. We make decisions based on emotions and intuition rather than education and knowledge. And we get ourselves all tangled up in some of the most awful, disappointing, costly, situations.

Do you have a book manuscript almost ready for publication? Then you’ve come to the right place at the right time. Here’s what you need to do next.

Study the publishing industry
Read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book (by Patricia Fry). Order it through Amazon.com or here, http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html. It’s also in many libraries.

Read books by Dan Poynter, Brian Jud, Marilyn/Tom Ross and other long-time professionals. If you are considering a pay-to-publish company DEFINITELY study Mark Levine’s book The Fine Print of Self-Publishing. Levine rates, ranks and exposes 45 of these companies.

Join organizations such as SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) http://www.spawn.org, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) and Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN).

Attend writers’ conferences and listen to webinars and teleseminars presented by experts and professionals in the field of publishing. (SPAWN offers free teleseminars for members.)

If you decide to go with a pay-to-publish company or you’re presented a contract through a traditional royalty publisher, have an attorney look over the contract before signing it.

Another way to protect yourself from nightmare situations in publishing is to hire an editor for your book (you’re going to need one, anyway) who knows his/her way around the publishing industry and can educate and guide you.

FYI, I do this sort of work and I have stopped numerous clients from making disastrous and costly mistakes.

Any questions? Contact me at PLFry620@yahoo.com

I started this blog just four years ago. I’ve published nearly 650 posts since then on all variety of topics related to publishing, authorship and freelance writing. When I go back and look at entries posted in November and December of 2005, I notice the similarities to what I write today and I am aware of the changes that have taken place over the years in publishing.

The main changes seem to revolve around the opportunities in this field. Because of the opportunities, more people are getting involved as authors, as publishers and as printers, editors, publicists, agents, workshop leaders/teachers, book shepherds…

Go in search of an editor or a publicist, publisher, POD printing company or agent and you will find listing after listing after listing of them. Seek out a pay-to-publish company and dozens and dozens of them will appear before your eyes.

And what about books? Everyone who has ever produced a book or even thought about it is writing a book for authors.

Not only that—there are many people establishing companies based on eclectic skills and creative concepts through which they are offering services of all kinds for authors. You’ve probably come across some of them in your search for help with your publishing project.

Is this good for the hopeful and struggling author or not? Of course the answer to this is as confusing as is the array of services being offered to authors. The answer is a definite “yes and no.” Sure there are some amazing professionals out there with the skills to guide you toward publishing success. And there are some definite Johnny and Jill-come-latelys who do not have the knowledge and understanding of the industry to successfully advise or assist any hopeful author. There are three categories of people in this slot.

1: The non-expert/non-professional who are simply misguided into thinking that, just because they published a book they know the ropes.

2: The eager beaver who has expertise ONLY in finance, marketing or editing a magazine, for example and who see an opportunity to build a business within the publishing field.

3: The out and out scam artist who only pretends to have something of value to offer authors.

Of course, the author loses in each of these situations.

What can you do to protect yourself from being scammed (or misled) by someone in any of these categories?

• Study the publishing industry so you understand what it entails, what your options are, the possible consequences of your choices and your responsibilities as a published author.

• Before signing with or hiring any individual or company, do some serious research. How long have they been in business? Who are their clients/customers? Just exactly what do they offer?—get samples. Ask for references and follow up with them.

• Check warning sites for any negatives about this individual or company. Also do a Google search to discover what others are saying about them.

• If there is a contract involved, make sure you understand it completely. Hire an intellectual properties or publishing attorney to look it over if you have any questions.

Most of all, take your time as you navigate through the process of studying the publishing industry, writing a book proposal, hiring and working with an editor, locating and approaching an agent/publisher and/or choosing a publishing option.

Start the new year being proactive and intelligent on behalf of your book project. Read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Contact me if you have any questions or need direction with regard to your next step within the publishing industry. PLFry620@yahoo.com