Writing and Publishing News from

October 23, 2010

Permission to Quote

Filed under: Authorship,Publishing — Patricia @ 5:37 am

The question of permissions comes up fairly often among my clients. Some people like using famous quotes in their manuscripts. Others quote individuals they know or experts in their field. And, when it comes time to think about publishing their books, they begin to consider getting permission to use these quotes. Well, actually, if they’re my clients, I’ve nagged them a lot to get permission before publishing. And it’s not always an easy process. Plus, it can take time. Wait too long to do this and publication may be delayed.

One client managed to get permission to use song lyrics FREE as long as he only produced X-number of books and no more. I once got permission to use a list of character values for a book which someone had compiled for their organization. I believe I paid $100 for once-time use—one printing of the book. Mostly, the permissions I request are from individuals I have quoted—some of them professionals/authors and some regular citizens. There’s no fee involved. The professionals and authors like the exposure and the others enjoy being included in a published book.

But what about when you want to quote a well-known philosopher, long-dead author, sections of a famous speech, a sermon or a passage from the Bible, for example? What are the copyright laws? When does fair use come into the picture? Where do you go to get permission to quote a piece of literature? It can become quite overwhelming and confusing.

Steve Thomas spells out the basics of fair use, when you need written permission, how to get permission, how long it takes and so forth in a brief article posted here: http://www.associatedcontent.com Use his name or “permission to quote” in the search function.

The following are also links to information about getting permission to quote.

http://www.suite101.com/content/permission-to-quote-a7637

http://www.suite101.com/content/use-quotes-in-your-book-a9237

http://www.ehow.com/how_18035_permission-copyrighted-material.html

http://oreilly.com/oreilly/author/permission/

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-fairuse.html

I hope you found this helpful to your project. For additional information about all aspects of publishing and freelance writing, visit my websites:
http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

October 22, 2010

My Gemini Duality

Filed under: Writing — Patricia @ 4:41 am

Do things come to you in duplicate or does that happen to me because I am a Gemini? Yesterday, I wrote about revenge-writing (or writing to find peace or to free oneself from the clutches of an unhappy life or unpleasant situation). That afternoon, I received a note from another writer with a personal story to tell which her dearest friends are discouraging her from writing.

This is not unusual. I often receive similar editorial projects. In recent years it was two travel memoirs, two stories of childhood abuse, two young adult novels, two spiritual books and two business books. When I get a new client, usually another one shows up a day or two later—sometimes the same day.

Requests for book evaluations come in pairs (sometimes triplicate). Last year I worked with two clients living in Africa, two who were local and two sets of pairs with the same first names.

I get writing assignments in pairs or triples. And if I sit down to write an article, I usually write two. I even came out with two books at the same time one year—one on presenting a luau on the mainland and the other, a metaphysical adventure.

I always have at least two cats. When I was into horses, I had two of my own. I buy garden plants in duplicate (or multiples)—roses, kangaroo paws, lavender, lantana, dahlias and so forth. When I go shopping, I generally come home with more than one garment. I recently bought two pair of shoes, for example. When we decided to plant trees in the front yard, of course, I purchased two.

I consider some of my friends (who happen not to know one another) duplicate friends. Three of my closest friends have “twin” friends. These women pairs are so similar in personality, stance, interests, etc. that I sometimes call them by their “twin’s” names.

I’m not a staunch follower of the Zodiac, but the sign characteristics do intrigue me. Gemini is also known for communication. Some say that Gemini’s are natural writers. Obviously, that characteristic applies in my case. I tell people that I can’t not write.

I wonder if other writers frequently experience little hints as to their sign’s characteristics. Have you noticed aspects of your astrological sign showing up in your writing life? I’d like to hear about it.

In the meantime, you can learn more about my professional world at my websites (yes there are two of them). http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

October 21, 2010

Revenge-Writing

Filed under: Publishing — Patricia @ 4:46 am

I sometimes receive questions from non-authors who only want to write one book—usually their own story and often one that borders on slander. Of course, the individual feels that he or she is justified because they have been hurting for years. They want revenge or some sort of personal satisfaction. I generally suggest that they write the story because it may be healing, but only for themselves—not for the public. I warn this person that, while writing is healing and I recommend it, revenge-writing can be hurtful to others and self.

If they insist that they want to publish this book, I recommend that they speak with an attorney before considering publishing. And then I offer the following. Keep in mind that this is someone who has no idea what publishing is about. And most of them, if they choose to go ahead with their projects, neglect to follow my suggestions because they’re so focused on the content of their pending book and their intent with it that they can’t be bothered with the ever-so-crucial big picture. They are in this game only to experience self-satisfaction, they have no interest in or room for learning the all-important basics of the publishing business.

Nonetheless, this is what I advise non-authors who only have one revenge book in them and who are hell-bent on writing it because they believe it will give them a sense of peace:

“If you decide you do want to produce this book for the public, here’s what I suggest:

1: Begin now studying the publishing industry. A good place to start is with the first 60 pages of my book, ‘The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book.’ There are few books on the market that explain the publishing industry so the layman can understand it and prepare for it. This is one of them.

2: Study other books similar to the one you plan to write. This is very important. This will give you an idea about how to create a book that will actually sell.

3: Learn about your publishing options before you get too far into the planning/writing process. My book, ‘The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book,’ helps you to determine the publishing option that would be best for your book and to choose the best publisher for your project. This is another unique and useful aspect of this book.

4: Write a complete book proposal. A book proposal will tell you whether or not you have a book at all. It will help you determine if you have an audience for your book. Your friends and family are only a very minute percentage of the audience you need to address if you are to entice a publisher and/or sell enough copies to actually make some money. The ‘Right Way’ book also explains how to write a book proposal.

5: Create a detailed outline including the stories and anecdotes you want to feature in the book.

6: If you can see, through the above exercise, that you actually do have a story, use your outline to start writing the book.

I hope that you can see through my responses that book publishing is a serious business and you must approach it as such. Again, if this is not your cup of tea, I suggest that you write the book for yourself. Once you have completed it, you may decide to take the steps necessary to publish it—and it could be that, at that time, you would also need to revise it so that it is a more publishable book.

Good luck,
Patricia Fry”

For more about me and my books visit my websites:
http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

October 20, 2010

Reclaim Those Lost Seconds/Minutes/Hours

Filed under: Authorship — Patricia @ 5:38 am

They say that, in age, 60 is the new 40. But that isn’t because the world has slowed down for us. In fact, it seems to be speeding up. It used to be said that a potential customer spends 10 seconds looking at your book before deciding whether to pick it up or whether to buy it. Now, it is said that people spend more like 4 seconds before making these decisions.

Yikes!! You’ve lost 6 seconds someplace. Where are you spending it? Catching up with Friends on Facebook? Playing Farmville? Caught in gridlock? Arguing with your computer? Waiting in line?

What would you do if you could relocate those 6 lost or wasted seconds? If you could reclaim them, how would you spend them? Here are some suggestions:

• Go through the archives for this blog and study up on the topics you need most: article-writing, authorship, book proposals, book promotion and so forth.

• Sit down and actually read that book you bought months (or years) ago on how to establish your own publishing company or freelance writing business, book promotion ideas, etc.

• Order the book you’ve been putting off buying and finally organize that book proposal or start that book promotion program.

• Send a few sample chapters of your novel or nonfiction book manuscript to an editor for a free editorial evaluation. If you don’t have one in mind, consider Patricia Fry at http://www.patriciafry.com

• Review the article topics at http://www.matilijapress.com and study some of the articles. (I will have an announcement with regard to these pages at my website SOON.)

• Sign up for one of my 6 online courses. http://www.matilijapress.com/courses.htm

• Send Patricia Fry a writing or publishing question that has you stymied. PLFry620@yahoo.com.

• Study the list of resources at http://www.matilijapress.com

• Visit the SPAWN website and consider finally joining. That’s Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network. http://www.spawn.org

• If you’ve been procrastinating, sit down today and write that article, work on that book, write a marketing plan for your book or start the revision you have been putting off.

Choose one or more of these 10 activities and start taking back all of those seconds, minutes and hours you have wasted or dwindled away doing something other than what matters—what you love… And let me know how it goes.

October 19, 2010

Making a Good Book Even Better

Filed under: Authorship — Patricia @ 5:33 am

A trip to my storage unit yesterday has dictated how I will spend these next few weeks. I went there to pick up a box of my “Successful Book Proposal” book. Amazon has been ordering numbers of them, lately. And it is popular among authors visiting my website. I was surprised to discover that there was but one box of these books left. My supply of book proposal books has dwindled to a mere box of books and I hadn’t even noticed—until yesterday.

I guess that’s what happens when you are dealing with numbers of titles and many boxes of books. It’s easy to lose some of them in the confusion.

Are you keeping track of your inventory? Of course, if you use print on demand, you don’t even have to store boxes. Certainly, you must count copies so you can reorder before you run out. But, for the most part, I still keep boxes of books on hand rather than a mere dozen or so copies.

So what will I be doing during these next few weeks? I’ll be revising and updating my book: “How to Write a Successful Book Proposal.” I’ll be getting price quotes to reprint it. I want to check with Lightening Source to produce this book for amazon.com. I’ll contemplate a new look—although I happen to like the design of that book. I’ll update the bio and maybe rewrite the back cover copy. In other words, I’ll start fresh with a formerly produced book—keeping what is working and relevant and changing what needs changing. If I make massive changes, I can count this as a new book. But I rather doubt that the changes will be that extensive. I will consider customer comments with regard to this book, gather all of the new material and fresh perspectives I can find, go in search of important and useful new resources and make sure that all of the material is presented so that it is easy to follow and implement.

Isn’t that what revising is all about—making a good product even better?

If you have a copy of “How to Write a Successful Book Proposal in 8 Days or Less,” and you have suggestions that you feel would make this book more reader-friendly—easier to use—please let me know asap: PLFry620@yahoo.com.

In the meantime, visit my websites—they are both getting something new this week. I’ll be making a big announcement.
http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

October 18, 2010

The Author’s Letdown

Filed under: Authorship — Patricia @ 5:08 am

I’m experiencing an author’s letdown. I finished another book—well, booklet, Saturday. While this is a good thing—a nice accomplishment—as some of you have probably discovered, completing a book project can leave you feeling rather lost, directionless, without purpose. Sure it’s temporary, but uncomfortable, none-the-less.

How do you handle that lull that often occurs after you finish a large writing or even editing project? Do you take advantage of the time to relax and regroup? Or do you tend to sort of rattle around your office wondering what to do next? Do you mourn the loss of the intense and purposeful writing project that held your attention for so long?

Most of us, if we’ve been seriously writing for weeks or months, have mile-long to-do lists—things we’ve been putting off, setting aside or even shoving under the desk. Now is our chance to take care of those things. I can do that. But I still need a meaningful project that I can look forward to each day. How about you? What approach do you take after the book is finished?

In most cases, when the writing ends, the promotion begins. But what about that lull that occurs after you finish the writing and while the book is with your designer or the publisher, etc.? That’s actually where I am at the moment. My book is an ebook and I’m waiting for my very busy webmaster to put it on my website. I hope to make an announcement about that very soon.

For now, however, I’m already contemplating my next book project and I’m going to launch an article blast designed to help authors and to keep my name in front of my audience. That’s how I plan to redefine my purpose and feel as though I am accomplishing something.

How do you handle that sensitive period after you finish the writing? This blog site accepts comments. Please leave yours.

Also visit my websites:
Check out my array of books here—I will be making an announcement about some valuable additions to this site soon:
http://www.matilijapress.com

Learn more about my services here and sign up for your free copy of The Successful Author’s Handbook: http://www.patriciafry.com

October 17, 2010

Writers Need Creative Outlets, Too

Filed under: Writing — Patricia @ 5:18 am

I’m excited. Yesterday I received a cat-a-day calendar in the mail and discovered that it has a picture of our kitten, Lily as the March 15, 2011 cover girl. I had almost forgotten that I entered the Workman Cat Calendar contest this year. This is the second time that I’ve won. In fact this photo got an honorable mention and it is one of three photos shown on the box to advertise the calendar. Exciting.

In case you are looking for a calendar for yourself or as a gift for someone who likes cats, this is Workman’s 365 Cats page-a-day 2011 calendar. Lily is shown surrounded by alphabet blocks. Very cute. http://www.pageaday.com

I don’t think it is unusual for a writer to also enjoy photography and/or other forms of art. Most of the writers I know also engage in other creative endeavors. I’ve always done needlework and sewing. Gardening is another of my creative outlets when I need to or choose to take a break from the writing. I got involved in photography when I found out that many of the articles I wrote needed to be accompanied by photos. You can’t write about drying fresh flowers, making batik dolls and creating items out of horseshow ribbons without illustrating the article with photos. I even took the photos for my first book, “Hints for the Backyard Rider.”

When the grandkids came along, I upgraded my camera equipment and my photo habit accelerated. I was even asked a time or two to take promotional photos of friends and I also used photography in gift-giving. Now each of my grown grandchildren have my sunset and ocean photos (given as Christmas gifts) hanging on the walls of their homes/rooms.

When they were small, I used to put together photos depicting all of our fun family outings and activities in chunky little albums for each child for Christmas. For years, these albums were my grandchildren’s most treasured gifts.

Do you have creative outlets aside from your writing? Perhaps you engage in photography (for your job), you garden (out of necessity), you do a little dancing (when the mood strikes) and/or you occasionally dabble in poetry. I suggest that, if you are working long hours at your writing desk, you are constantly trying to meet deadlines, you are pushing to finish your novel or you are involved in writing a series of serious business books, you take creativity breaks.

Dig out your camera and go photograph the fall colors, plant a border or a basket of fall flowers, work on your latest (or long forgotten) watercolor project or start knitting a winter scarf. If you’re like me, you will have to justify your time spent on this project by entering it in a contest or giving it to someone you care about. That’s a characteristic of those of us who are rather middle-brained. We yearn to be creative, but we can’t do so just for the pure pleasure. There has to be more incentive than that.

I’d like to hear about your relationship with creativity involving writing as well as activities outside of the writing realm.

Visit my websites:
http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

Also visit my Catscapades blog and see more photos of Lily and other cats.
http://www.matilijapress.com/catscapades

October 16, 2010

Listen to Your Readers

Filed under: Book Promotion — Patricia @ 5:19 am

Do you need help promoting your book? Are you not sure what aspects of your book to talk up when conversing with a potential customer? While you may have written the book with a particular audience in mind and you believe that your book fills a specific niche, people might buy it for entirely different reasons than you imagined. Your readers may be getting something other than what you intended out of it.

Could it be that your young adult novel also appeals to senior readers? Are seasoned gardeners and nursery owners buying your beginner’s book on tips for nurturing a successful garden? Maybe your book of spiritual prompts is being noticed, not only by readers of your faith, but those who are seeking.

So how does one appropriately determine or define his audience and promote to that group? By listening to what they have to say.

Go to your book’s page on Amazon and study what your readers are saying. Pay attention to what your readers tell you in person or via email. Ask questions to further understand how your book is helping or otherwise affecting them. Incorporate those things you feel are valid in your promotional material.

Certainly, you are going to read and hear the positive things your fans say. But also listen to the criticism—and if you are promoting a book, you are bound to get some criticism.

I recently discovered some heavy criticism from an author with regard to one of my books at one of my Amazon pages. This woman was so dissatisfied after reading the first chapter, that she would like to get her money back. I attempted to contact her, so I could find out how much she paid and where to send the money, but she is one of those who is impossible to locate. I even went to her pay-to-publish company website and they have no record of her or her book. This company seemed much more interested in signing up new authors than in helping someone locate one of the authors who has already used their services and has a book for sale in their catalog.

Okay, I got a bit off subject there. But I did learn something about the sensitivities of a segment of my audience and now know that, for some authors reading this book for the first time, I need to do some handholding and encouraging to get them past the first chapter, which is full of truths that some of them simply can’t take.

The point is, you have many potential readers with a wide variety of views, idiosyncrasies, belief systems, former experiences, knowledge, needs, etc. And an author must attempt to be sensitive to this when promoting books. And when someone is generous enough to comment on our books, we should consider this a gift and use it to assist in our future promotional efforts.

http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

October 15, 2010

Speak at Conferences on Your Book Topic

Filed under: Book Promotion,Public Speaking — Patricia @ 5:32 am

You’ve probably attended conferences in your profession or area of expertise. Now that you have a book or are planning a book related to this topic, how would you like to be a speaker at some of these conferences?

As you may know, there are conferences held on many topics including travel, arts and crafts, writing, publishing, computer, agriculture, ecology, animals, photography, health, real estate, finance, business management, education, sports, spirituality and more.

So how do you land a speaking gig at the conferences of your choice?
• Attend a couple of them to find out what sort of programs they present.

• Study the programs at conference websites. What topics are covered?

• Hone your speaking skills by participating in a Toastmasters club and speaking locally.

• Create a handful of unique, yet potentially popular programs you could present.

• Research conferences in your field and select a few.

• Contact the organizers per the requirements at their websites. If there are no submission guidelines, simply introduce yourself and your potential programs through an email to the appropriate person, include a brief bio and invite them to ask for more information.

Locate conferences through http://www.allconferences.com and http://www.shawguides.com

You can also do an Internet search using appropriate key words: “family health” and “conference” or “money management” and “conference” or “conference directory” and “education,” for example.

While some conference organizers are still selecting speakers a month prior to the event, many of them have their programs set practically a year in advance. I’ve discovered that, if you want a speaking gig at a particular conference, you’d better be proactive. About six months ago, I contacted the director of a writers’ conference I wanted to participate in. She told me, “Contact us in October.” When I did, I was told that all of the speaking slots were filled and the event isn’t until spring. In this case, I should have checked in earlier than I was told to.

Here’s what I recommend: Research conferences that occurred one to four months earlier. Contact the organizers of those events. If they suggest you reconnect in six or seven months, make a note on your calendar to contact them in three. They may put you off for another three months, but that’s okay—they know you are interested. But there is a chance that they are already beginning to interview possible speakers for their program next year.

As I said, different conference organizers operate in different ways and on different time schedules. It is up to you to stay in touch.

Visit my websites to see where I’ll be speaking next. http://www.matilijapress.com Click on “appearances.”

Sign up for a FREE ebook: “The Successful Author’s Handbook” at: http://www.patriciafry.com

October 14, 2010

To Help With Book Promotion

Filed under: Book Promotion — Patricia @ 7:57 am

I am continually amazed and thrilled to see what comes of activities such as networking and conducting research. This week a SPAWN member shared something in the SPAWN discussion group that I haven’t heard of before—blog carnivals.

Evidently, these are sites where they list collections of blogs on various topics. You can go to the site, click on your topic of choice and view blog posts on these subjects. You can also submit posts from your blog to share with others who are interested in writing, book promotion, eldercare, health, income, pets, household DIY projects and much, much more. It’s sort of like a blog community. Here is a place to start your tour of blog carnivals: http://blogcarnival.com

Also, if you like to get out and talk to your audience, I suggest that you start checking out conferences in your book’s topic. The organizers for those being held throughout the country in late winter and early spring are firming up their programs now. Directors of those presented in summer and fall are beginning the search for speakers. Use http://www.allconferences.com and http://shawguides.com

In the meantime, if you belong to an authors group or organization, participate in the discussion groups and forums. Read the newsletters. Attend meetings. This is how you learn and grow.

http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

SPAWN is Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network. http://www.spawn.org

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