Writing and Publishing News from

I often hear from authors who are putting together children’s picture books. They generally want my professional opinion about their manuscripts, and I can generally offer them plenty of feedback. Unfortunately, it isn’t necessarily the type of feedback they are seeking.

The fact is, I don’t have any expertise when it comes to writing children’s picture books. But I do have something to say to the authors. Here goes:

1: Read lots and lots of similar books. Study the style, the message and the way it is presented. What tense and person do they use in professionally produced children’s picture books? What type of words do they use? How do they get their message across? Become intimately familiar with the mechanics of these books.

I looked at a children’s picture book manuscript a few months ago that used a mixture of present and past tense. I haven’t done the study myself, so I don’t know if this is typical, but it didn’t seem to work well in this instance. I cautioned the author to reconsider this presentation style. One thing I told her to do was to study other books similar to hers to see how they handle this situation.

2: Get involved with a children’s book writers’ organization such as the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators http://www.scbwi.org. Spend time at the Children’s Writers Marketplace at http://www.write4kids.com.

3: Be cognizant of word length. Currently, editors are encouraging authors of early children’s picture books (for children ages 3 – 5) to keep them to 500 – 800 words. Picture books for children ages 4 – 8 can run up to 1000 – 1,500 words in some cases.

4: Experts stress the importance of having a strong main character. And they say that with planning and creativity, you can tell an interesting story through exciting characters even within 500 to 800 words.

5: Create a rewarding or satisfying ending for your children’s picture book. Professionals say, “You owe it to your readers.”

6: Promote your book to the right audience. One hopeful children’s picture book author told me that her book is for parents of children who have this particular problem (which is discussed in the book). I said, “But look at the story and the style of your book—it is definitely written for children. You can’t promote it as a book for parents.”

Sure, parents and grandparents are the ones who will purchase it, but if it is a picture book, your audience comprises young children. So be careful how you pitch your book to publishers and to the public. Make sure you are clear about the purpose, intent, focus and target audience.

Writing for children is not as easy as it may seem at first glance. According to the experts, it’s not just a matter of telling a story around some nice photographs or illustrations. Your book must have meaning and purpose, an interesting plot, strong characters and a teaching element, written in a language and style appropriate for the age group.

As I said, I am not an expert when it comes to children’s books, but I do work with authors of both fiction and nonfiction manuscripts as an editor and publishing consultant. Learn more about my services at http://www.matilijapress.com/consulting.html. Be sure to read the testimonials. Yes, I have some mighty grateful clients.

Note: I always recommend that authors work with editors who know something about the publishing industry. Just last week, I saw a manuscript that had been professionally edited, yet it wasn’t ready to be published or to be presented to a publisher. The editor (an English teacher) knew grammar, but she didn’t have a clue about preparing a manuscript for publication. The manuscript still had two spaces between sentences, for heaven sakes! To learn more about this editorial rule and others, read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Lily
Beautiful Lily kitten is doing GREAT! She is such a delight. It is wonderful to see her completely recovered from her seriously serious accident. (Read more about this at my Catscapades blog: http://www.matilijapress.com/catscapades)

People in the know are telling me that it is a miracle that she survived. We are pretty sure that, at one point, she was on her way out. But she chose to stay and boy are we protective parents. If I don’t see her little sweet face for a period of more than 20 minutes, I go looking for her. Can any of you relate? Excuse me now, I must go check on Lily.

Have you ever thought of selling fillers, such as jokes, brief instructions, little sayings, etc? What about writing greeting card messages or slogans for bumper stickers, refrigerator magnets or buttons?

The idea of writing fillers used to intrigue me and, years ago, I sent some to magazines from time to time—I actually got paid for some of them. My friend and former SPAWN newsletter editor for many years, Wendy Dager, has gotten even more deeply involved with writing slogans and verses for greeting cards. Yesterday, I noticed her article on this subject in Angela Hoy’s Writer’s Weekly Newsletter. Check it out at http://writersweekly.com/this_weeks_article/005457-070

This morning, a gentleman from Arkansas contacted me. He said his wife has decided to become a freelance writer and he is conducting some research in order to help her get started. He found some articles that he thought would be useful to her as well as other writers. And he is creating a pamphlet for members of her writers’ group. As a result of his research, he stumbled across my article on how to make money writing fiction and emailed me asking to use it in his pamphlet. I agreed, as long as he uses my bio at the end of the piece.

Today, I have a woman coming over to show me her first attempt ever at writing. She wants to know if it is ready to publish. She claims, however, that she didn’t compose the material—it is all channeled. She also wants to know how to go about getting this published. She has few options since she has no money and lives on a very small income. As I do occasionally, I am donating my time in an attempt to help her get on the right track with her project.

I think that if I kept some sort of a record, I would discover that I donate many hours over time through email responses to questions from SPAWN members and others. I also do some free manuscript evaluations and I get involved in phone consultations sometimes that I decide not to charge for. I have 3 letters sitting on my desk from prisoners seeking information about publishing. The time I spend responding to them will, of course, be gratis.

But how I appreciate the author or freelance writer who truly understands the value in a professional’s expertise and is willing to pay for it.

One gentleman told me recently that I was an absolute God-send to him—that I taught him so much in one quick session of manuscript evaluation and he wondered how in the world I was able to do this sort of thing for FREE. What I guess he doesn’t understand is that when I give a freeby (offer my articles at my website, give advice, do a quick evaluation, teach a concept and even spend time writing this blog practically every day), I do so with the idea of possibly getting some business. Think of my “freeby” as a sample chocolate. And I am counting on you coming back to purchase a whole box of them to enjoy.

Do you offer something free to your potential clients or customers/readers? Tell me about it. How’s it working for you?

When is the last time you checked out my array of books? You’ll find a sampling at my Matilija Press Website. http://www.matilijapress.com

The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book
A Writer’s Guide to Magazine Articles
Over 75 Good Ideas for Promoting Your Book
The Successful Writer’s Handbook (This one is getting a lot of interest, lately.)
The Author’s Repair Kit
Catscapades, Tales of Ordinary and Extraordinary Cats
How to Write a Successful Book Proposal
Quest for Truth, A Journey of the Soul (Yes, Metaphysical/spiritual—woo woo stuff)

Did you change anything about the way you approach your writing after reading yesterday’s blog post? Do you now realize that you were writing more for you than for your audience? Did you discover some ego in your writings that was actually keeping it from being reader-friendly? Knowing this and owning it is a good first step to making necessary corrections and adjustments in your approach to your writing. And, in so doing, you will move ever closer to engaging your readers. Isn’t this your goal, after all—to connect, to make a difference, to share, to educate and/or to entertain?

Of course, before you can speak to your audience, you must identify them. Do you know who you are writing for? Can you visualize your readers? Do you know who wants the information you are presenting?

Stop here for a moment. If you write nonfiction, you may know who you believe “should” read your book or article. You are probably directing your piece toward a specific audience; but are these actually the people who will most likely read it?

Writers are often sort of silent crusaders. We have something to say but, instead of speaking out over the TV and radio waves, we communicate our messages through the written word. Early in my writing career, I decided to crusade on behalf of children. I wanted to make a difference for children by teaching clueless parents some basic parenting skills. And I set out to do so through articles in trashy romance magazines. Why? I figured that many of these readers were probably not your average devoted, educated, aware parents.

Of course, this road led to nowhere. The editors of those magazines knew that the audience I had in mind would not be interested in these articles. Oh no! Most likely, the audience for my parenting articles read parenting and maybe Christian magazines. But most of them already have good parenting skills. Writing for them seemed to me like preaching to the choir. I wanted to make a bigger difference than that.

Are you trying to change the world through your writing? Would you like to convert sinners, encourage more reading, get people involved in environmental concerns, save the whales or stop wars, for example? Maybe you write expressly to promote yourself or your services. It’s okay to have such an agenda, but make sure that it doesn’t come through in your presentation.

Let’s take my desire to teach parenting skills to those who seemed to need help, as an example. If I truly wanted to help, I might have written stories for the romance magazines that included only subtle references to appropriate parenting techniques and the ultimate consequences for parents and children when these are not considered or implemented.

If you want to teach “green” practices to those who seem oblivious, first, determine what types of publications your audience reads or which websites they frequent. Use clever means in your writings to get their attention and, perhaps, challenge them to change some of their environment-damaging ways. Touch these people where they live. Find out what they care about—surfing every day of the year, for example? Hiking? Snowboarding? Make a point using something to which they can relate in order to hit home with your message. Find ways to teach those who are not seeking a lesson but, perhaps need one. Most of all, avoid trying to bulldoze your message through to folks who really don’t care. It is useless.

You’ll find this concept expressed and explained in my ebook, The Author’s Repair Kit. Herein, I discuss the “bulldozer book”—what it is, why it doesn’t work and how to avoid writing one.
Order your copy today at http://www.author_repairkit.html.

Lily Update
I’ve had a few emails asking about Lily, our kitten who had the horrendous accident 11 days ago. She is doing fabulously. Thank you all for caring. Read more about her accident and recovery at my Catscapades blog: http://www.matilijapress.com/catscapades

When you write a story, how-to or self-help piece or something instructional, who do you write it for? Of course, you’re going to say that it’s for your audience. Right answer! But is it really? You may address your audience using “you” a lot in your nonfiction works. You might believe that you are providing instruction or information for your audience. But are you really? How do you know if your writing attempt will truly engage, touch, teach and/or otherwise resonate with your audience?

I meet authors who are so into their fiction stories or memoirs that they forget completely about their audience. They remain in their own little world of thoughts, memories and fancy word combinations that they pay little attention to their reason for writing this in the first place—to engage members of an audience. They disregard their readers while trying to satisfy their own egos. They are more focused on their way with words than the readability, continuity and flow of their work.

The nonfiction author sometimes confuses the reader by providing too much of the wrong kind of data. A reader on overload doesn’t benefit much from the material he is trying to sift through. Authors often make simple instructions terribly complicated. It takes a knack to write clear instructions.

Many nonfiction authors have trouble organizing the material for their books. Some are not good researchers, so they omit important aspects of the topic they are trying to cover. Others simply don’t know how to appropriately and sensibly present the information. They don’t have a clear intention for their book.

All of these problems make for books that are not reader-friendly.

What is the solution? Number one: Think about your reader and then strive to speak to him/her, engage him/her and entertain, teach, inform him or her.

What are you writing today? Go to your desktop now and read through it. Who is it written for? If it is fiction, is it an enjoyable story or does it drag and seem a little dull? Go back and read a book or short story that really kept your interest. What makes this story different from yours? What can you do to improve the entertainment value of your story?

If it is nonfiction, is it crystal clear, well-organized and informative? Is it easy to read and follow? Have you provided a mix of text, bulleted sections, Q & A, anecdotes and a study program, for example? What, exactly, will your reader get from this book or article? What is your intention? What do you envision the reader walking away with: A new skill, a greater understanding on some topic, a fresh perspective? Do you believe that you have succeeded in providing this opportunity? If not, I suggest going back to the drawing board.

Patricia Fry is the author of 28 nonfiction books and a memoir. Her book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book is designed for authors who are at any stage of writing, publishing or promoting their books. Read the profile for this useful book at http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

I’ve been absent for a few days. I hope my useful, informative, insightful blog posts were missed. I haven’t felt much like working for several days. First, I had some sort of summer cold and was feeling more like crashing on the couch than blogging, editing or anything else pertaining to work. Ever feel like that?

Then came my birthday. I cancelled my birthday celebration because I didn’t want to infect my mother, aunt, sister, daughters or anyone else.

As some of you know, I love cats. This year, I started a new blog related to cats and came out with a book of true cat stories. http://www.matilijapress.com/catscapades.

I don’t think I have ever been without a cat or two or more. And recently, we invited a little barn kitten into our home, named her Lily and fell in love with her. She was born in a barn alongside 14 other kittens (to 3 mother cats).

Even though we inadvertently adopted her when she was only 6-week old, she was thriving—until the morning of my birthday. One of the older cats was evidently playing with Lily on the 3-foot carpeted cat tree when she knocked it over on top of the kitten. It was an awful scene. Despite the blood and obvious shock the kitten suffered, x-rays revealed no broken bones. The vet thought her jaw might be broken, thankfully, it was not.

After observing Lily for a few hours, the vet sent her home with us and we’ve been on kitten watch ever since. It is day 3 and she is still sleeping a LOT—hopefully because she is healing. She is eating (yeah) and drinking water.

Practically my whole focus has been on this precious, innocent kitten since Saturday as we do everything we can to keep her comfortable and to help her heal. That’s one reason why I have been remiss in keeping up my blog. But mostly, I have just been darn sad and haven’t felt like doing anything other than caring for the kitten.

It occurred to me this morning, though, as I contemplated my blog post for today, that everything in our lives has the potential to affect our writing. For example, I know writers who:

• Write in order to heal—they journal about their thoughts, problems, feelings. Some write their memoirs as a healing process.
• Write of their philosophies, experiences and adventures in order to teach and share.
• Write in order to change minds or, perhaps, the world.
• Write in order to learn more about who they are—in an attempt to find themselves.
• Write to relieve pain, guilt, fear, anxiety.
• Write to work through grief.

And sometimes it’s really hard or even impossible to sit down and write. When we’re really hurting or we’re focused on a problem in our lives, for example, our concentration is anywhere from zilch to really messed up.

I wonder, how do you handle your writing deadlines and obligations when there is “stuff” going on in your life? Have you ever used writing to work through a problem? Have you written about your troubles as a way to heal?

I’d like to write a blog on this topic. Perhaps your experiences will help others. So please join in with your stories.

Either use the Comments feature at this site or contact me at PLFry620@yahoo.com.

If you are a freelance writer or an author with one or more books to promote and you’re darn serious about succeeding, you lead a busy life.

As a freelance writer, you are always in promotion mode. You face frequent deadlines. Either you work with editors or you serve clients; and their needs don’t always coincide with the time you have available.

As an author, you are either researching and writing every chance you get or you’re in book promotion mode. I’m sure that you feel as though someone is stealing hours out of your days, lately. It’s really hard to get it all done.

But my question today is, “Are You Getting Your Energy’s Worth?” Is the payoff in satisfaction and/or success appropriate to the energy you expend? Or are you, wasting or misusing your efforts? I think this is a question we should ask ourselves every once in a while; because if we are not using our time and energy wisely, we won’t get the results we desire.

And what do you desire:

• having your book completed and edited by December of 2009?
• an increase in the number of books sold this year?
• a contract from a major publisher?
• more new editorial clients in 2009?
• a greater volume of your magazine articles/stories published?
• a higher rate of pay for freelance work—more money per article or story?
• a higher overall income in 2009?

Whatever your goal, you know that it is up to you to meet it, right? But are you taking the right steps, making the right moves and using your energy wisely? How do you know whether you are or not? Your answers to these 4 questions might offer some insight.

1. Do you have realistic priorities with regard to the work necessary in meeting your goals? In other words, do you set aside an appropriate amount of time and expend the right level of energy in which to do the research, writing or promotion necessary to make some strides and move ahead?

2. Are you doing more of what has worked in the past while also trying some of the new things that have come to your attention?

3. Are you always on the lookout for new ideas, resources, recommendations and opportunities?

4. Do you take advantage of the opportunities that come before you?

One area where many authors and freelance writers fall down is that they subscribe to a newsletter and/or join a club or organization and then neglect to use the materials and opportunities afforded them through this channel.

• Determine which organizations have the most value in your particular quest and which benefits are most useful—set aside time to pursue these. It might be a member forum or discussion group, a monthly podcast or a book proposal or article-writing course, for example.

• Select the publications that contain the type of information and resources you need most and take time to study them each week/month.

• Collect tips and resources and make sure that you follow-up on those that could move your project or career forward.

The thing is, if you give the same amount of energy and time to your career or project as you always have, you can expect the same result. If you want a different result—more client work, more money coming in from article work, increased book sales, for example—you must expend a different amount of energy using different methods.

How many of you reading this blog regularly have already purchased my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book? I’d like to know how it has helped you along your publishing path. PLFry620@yahoo.com (Right Way Book) in the subject line. To those hopeful authors who haven’t read it yet, order yours today. You won’t regret it: http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html