Writing and Publishing News from

As a writer, I find myself penning many different types of items and using a variety of writing styles and techniques. In fact, lately, my days have been busy with an assortment of writing projects. For example, one client needed help writing the cover copy for her upcoming book and preparing a template, of sorts, for her POD publisher. I’ve been working with another client on her synopsis—attempting to teach her how to best represent the scope, focus and heart of her book through her synopsis. Right now, we’re working on her one-sentence description in order to set the stage for the direction of her synopsis.

A significant class reunion is coming up and I’ve been working with a former classmate on a poem for the reunion booklet. I’m also in charge of the welcome letter. (Have you ever noticed that it sometimes seems more difficult to write a brief letter than it is to pen an entire book?)

My article-writing course is in full-swing and I’ve been editing articles for one enthusiastic student and providing counsel with regard to aspects of the magazine business.

Session 3 of the Book Proposal course is coming up for the “Yes I Can” Writer’s Group I’m working with, and I’ve been writing agendas and copy for that class and checking assignment materials.

I’ve been rewriting and refining a speech for the West Coast Authors’ event this weekend in Ventura, CA. Of course, I’m also writing promo copy to entice local authors and hopeful authors to attend the event.

I just finished writing the August edition of the SPAWN Market Update for the member area of the SPAWN website. This is a compilation of trends, opportunities, events, resources and tips for freelance writers, poets, artists, authors, scriptwriters and those who are promoting books. I try to provide at least 8 single-spaced pages of information, ideas and resources. This month, I spent the better part of 3 days on the Update and ended up with 11 jam-packed pages. To learn more about SPAWN, visit us at http://www.spawn.org

I wrote promotional material for the Market Update to be published in SPAWNews. This is our FREE newsletter. Check out the archives at the SPAWN website and order your FREE subscription. I also wrote my monthly book promotion article for this newsy newsletter. Often, I will write a book review for a book related to writing and publishing for SPAWNews, but not this month.

I wrote out my basic good-for-me-nutritional eating plan for a friend because she was intrigued by the fact that I focus on what I can and want to eat rather than what I can’t eat. I try to eat 8-10 servings of fruit and vegetables every day, for example.

I wrote a thank you for my sister-in-law and brother’s hospitality while my mom and I visited them in Idaho last month. I wrote a letter to a friend (does anyone do that anymore?). I wrote tons of emails&#8212I love email communication. And I wrote checks and paid bills.

What have you written lately? Are you producing? Are you challenging yourself to accomplish your writing/publishing goals?

If you need help, you might find it in The Author’s Workbook. This workbook is designed to accompany The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. Order both books at a discounted price at http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Publishing isn’t a decision to be made randomly. In fact, the publishing industry and the world of bookselling is in the rather chaotic, unstable condition that they’re in because too many people have been jumping in without looking.

The publishing path is much different from the writing path. The path toward publishing will take you in totally new and foreign directions. There are different skills and awarenesses required. You’ll need a new mindset and perspective. And the tasks involved with publishing don’t even resemble those you’ve used in writing your book. But the biggest difference is the preparation you must engage in. If you want to experience success in the highly competitive field of publishing, you’ll need to spend time preparing before you get involved. Here’s what I suggest you do before you start the publishing process:

1: Study the publishing industry so that you understand how it all works, what is required of you, what your options are and the possible ramifications of your choices.

2: Write a book proposal in order to determine whether your book idea is a viable product, to find out what else is out there like yours, to discover the size and scope of your target audience and to learn how to reach them.

3: Begin establishing or adding to your platform (your following—your way of attracting readers).

4: Create a reasonable marketing plan.

5: Prepare yourself to manage the promotional responsibilities. This might mean join a Toastmasters Club to enhance your public speaking skills, develop a program based on your book and start testing it out, make connections you can utilize when your book is ready to promote, etc.

If you aren’t coming into publishing with appropriate skills and knowledge, one of the best business decisions you can make is to acquire them before entering into the realm of publishing.

I wrote an article a few years ago called Hurry Up and Fail. For additional perspective on this blog topic and additional suggestions, follow this link to my site and read this article. http://www.matilijapress.com/articles/publish_hurryfail.htm

Or contact me at plfry620@yahoo.com and ask me to email you the article.

While you’re at my site, be sure to check out some of the other articles posted there. You might find something that interests you.

I know that some of you are taking advantage of this holiday weekend to write your hearts out. Others are taking time away from their writing schedules. Whichever scenario describes you, I hope that you will continue to enjoy your holiday weekend and that your writing will lead you to the success you desire.

Do you know how to use an index? I can hear many of you chuckle at the thought of any adult who completed college or even high school not using an index. But I meet people all the time who don’t even know the difference between a table of contents and an index. You’ll notice that I clarified the differences in my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. I also describe and explain the foreword, epilogue, glossary, preface and so forth (pages 188-192 of the 2007 edition).

For those of you who have been out of school for a long time and who don’t typically use nonfiction books as research tools, the table of contents introduces the chapters in an organized manner in the front of the book. The index (or subject index) is a more detailed alphabetical list of key words related to the subject/theme of the book. The table of contents generally gives chapter titles and, sometimes, subheads. But the index breaks the book down into minute subjects. You might read the chapter in my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, called, “How to Approach and Work With an Agent or a Publisher,” or “The Self-Publishing Option,” but you want to know more about locating an intellectual properties attorney, soliciting library sales or how to write a query letter. This is when you go to the index at the back of the book. Here, you’ll find around 600 alphabetized entries and many hundreds of sub-entries on subjects from getting permissions to word count; from how to have a successful book signing to how to promote a novel; from newspaper directories to research techniques; from advances to book trailers.

I have authors contact me every week asking me questions that are clearly outlined in The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. Yes, many of these folks own this book. They spent $19.95 to purchase it in order to learn how to write the right book for the right audience, write a book proposal, choose the best publishing option for their project, understand their responsibility as an author, plan their marketing strategy, work with distributors and all else that goes with becoming a successful author. It’s all there, yet, they email me in desperation asking, “Do I need a book proposal for a novel?” “Should I send my manuscript to a publisher before the final edit?” “How do I determine the genre of my book?” “What’s the best way to locate an agent?”

Sure, you can’t remember everything that you’ve read in a 340-page book—especially one that goes into as much detail on important topics as The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. And that’s why I designed it to be a reference book that authors can use forevermore. The index, of course, is part of that plan; as is the Resource List on pages 302-315.

The next time you have a question on a topic related to publishing or authorship, reach across your desk and grab your copy of The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. Thumb through the index and see if you can locate the answer. If not, of course, contact me. I’ll be glad to help: PLFry620@yahoo.com. To order your copy of this 5-star book, go to http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html or http://www.amazon.com

Are you just about ready to hire an editor for your manuscript? This is something you’ll definitely want to do before you publish your book or before you start showing it around to publishers.

And as I’ve said before, choose an editor who is accustomed to working with book manuscripts. The retired professor who attends your church is probably a very smart guy, but, if he isn’t involved in the publishing industry and if he’s unaccustomed to working with book manuscripts, he might not be the sort of editor you need. Your coworker might be brilliant in her job as ad writer for the company, but does she understand book editing?

How do you go about finding an appropriate and qualified editor? Word of mouth is usually fairly valid. Search out websites, follow up on editors and consultants whose articles and/or blogs you’ve read. Look at books they’ve edited. Ask for references and follow up on them. And get an evaluation and estimate from potential editors. Most editors will look at your manuscript, evaluate a portion of it (offer some idea about the types of problems they see and will correct) and give you an estimate.

How much will it cost? Depending on the scope and size of your project and the amount of editing it needs, you will pay anywhere from $400 to as much as $6,000 for a good editor. My clients generally pay between $800 and $2,000. Again, however, it depends on the shape and size of the manuscript and the client’s needs.

Once you’ve made your choice, it’s time to start establishing a working relationship with your editor. It sometimes takes time for a workable relationship to emerge through the egos, hopes, dreams and getting acquainted/learning to understand one another process. The process sometimes resembles a sparring match of sorts&#8212only in a reaching out/probing sort of way. Sometimes the working relationship is a match and other times it isn’t. When you’re still in the getting acquainted phase, it’s okay to question and express concerns. Your editor understands that your book is very dear to your heart. You’ve put a lot of work into it. It may be your passion, in which case the manuscript represents a lot of heart and thought. It isn’t easy to let go of any part of it for any length of time. This is a difficult transition period for you. And working with a publisher is going to be difficult, too because most of them will make a lot of changes&#8212usually to the title and sometimes to the content, as well.

When you turn your manuscript over to an editor, this may be the first time you’ve let it go&#8212that you’ve dared to show it to anyone. It’s a scary moment&#8212what if the editor blasts it, tells you it is terrible, says that you can’t write worth a darn? Well, most likely this won’t happen. In fact, the worst that could happen is that the editor may recommend that you look for another editor who would be more familiar with this genre or your writing style.

He or she might suggest some creative writing courses. I’ve seen manuscripts that weren’t quite ready for editing and I typically suggest to these authors that they join a good writing critique group and let the members help them to put the finishing touches on their books. A hopeful author might need help showing the story&#8212allowing it to happen rather than forcing it to happen. They may require assistance with sentence structure.

Sure, an editor can assist with these things, but if the author lacks some basic skills, this can be quite an expensive and possibly useless process for the author. I think it’s best that an author learn the basics and begin to apply them before approaching an editor. A writers’ critique group can be very helpful to the author who is willing to work hard and learn.

At the editor’s discretion, she might offer to work with you one-on-one in order to help you get your manuscript in better shape before the editing begins. I will sometimes work with a client on sentence structure, dialog, smoother transitions or creating imagery, for example and then send him back to the drawing board before I start the editing work. I once suggested that an author tell her complicated, rather sordid story as fiction rather than a memoir. And I recommended to another author that he give his manuscript a stronger self-help element instead of making it simply informational. In these cases, the authors did extensive rewriting before bringing their work to me for editing.

In situations like these, not only does the client discover some techniques he can use forevermore, this is a great opportunity for us to learn to work together.

When you approach an editor with your manuscript, you are hiring someone with knowledge, skills and opinions. Be open to his or her suggestions. But remember that you have the final say. You don’t have to take the editor’s advice. I would strongly urge you to seriously consider it before dismissing it, however. The editing phase of your manuscript is an excellent time to practice detaching from your project. Maintain an emotional attachment to your project while trying to work with an editor, agent or publisher and you might just spoil your chances of success.

For information about self-editing, choosing and working with an editor and everything else you need to know about publishing, read The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway

As authors or freelance writers, we tend to focus on the agent, publisher or editor when we’re writing a book or an article. We fret, “Will he like this style, this format, the way I’ve handled the dialog?” We worry, “Will she appreciate my attempt at suspense? Is this well-organized? What will she think about the way I ended the story?”

Certainly, the agent’s, publisher’s and editor’s opinions matters—in fact, they matter a lot. But I believe that you can work your way into these gatekeepers’ good graces by thinking of your readers first.

I notice that my clients and students sometimes stress over such things as, vocabulary&#8212using words and expressions designed to impress a publisher, for example. Some of them are so concerned with explaining their premise or their story that they miss the important things, such as clarity, flow and readability. Authors and freelance writers are often so concerned with what they think the publisher or editor wants or needs from them that they actually misrepresent their projects in their query letters or book proposals. I find that if I can convince my students and clients to think about their readers when describing their project or even writing it, they have a much better manuscript, proposal or query letter to offer an agent, publisher or editor.

I’d like to propose an exercise today. Pick up the project you’re currently working on. It might be a query letter, the synopsis for your book proposal or an article or book manuscript. Look at it from the reader’s viewpoint. Pretend that you are a random reader and peruse it&#8212scrutinize it&#8212from this point of view. I’d love to receive your report after giving this experiment a try. Here’s what I want to know:

• How did it feel to look at your project from this angle?
• What did you get out of this experience? What did you learn about your project?
• Can you see how viewing your work from the reader’s perspective can greatly enhance your presentation to an agent or publisher?
• What changes will you be making to your project after this realization?
• How will the results of this experiment affect your way of writing from now on?

Contact me at PLFry620@yahoo.com. Or leave a comment here at my blog site.

For more exercises, tips, techniques and hard facts, be sure to order your copy of The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book and The Author’s Workbook. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html