Write Good or Die (7 page)

By the time
The Book of Spies
is in
your hands, hundreds of people have worked on it in various
capacities. And that's why the nine months will evaporate for the
publisher. For you and me, it can seem an eternity.

Gayle Lynds—http://www.gaylelynds.com

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28. GET IT IN WRITING

By Elizabeth Massie

http://www.elizabethmassie.com

We’re writers. We work with words. Words are
our tools, along with our imaginations, out knowledge of the craft,
our reference books, and our pens, papers, and computers. You’d
think that because words are so important to us, we’d be sure that
not only did we work with words but also that words worked for
us.

You think by now, after 25 years in the
writing biz, I’d know better.

When I consider contributing a story to an
anthology, one of the first questions I have, besides what is the
word length limit, when would it be due, and what other guidelines
might be in place, is “What does this pay?” That’s not being
mercenary, it’s dealing with business.

Now, I understand that some brand-new writers
aren’t as concerned about what a publisher pays as much as they
hope their work will be deemed publishable.

That’s understandable. My
first two years “breaking into the biz” had me sell stories for
contributors’ copies or 1/4 cents a word at times. I was just
thrilled to see my name, and my words, in print. Now this isn’t to
say I didn’t want more money for my efforts, but I didn’t avoid a
magazine (some were, almost literally, “rags”) because the pay
sucked. However, I always knew what I was getting into when I
submitted. It was there in writing, in the guidelines. Nowadays, I
not only want to know what the pay is going to be, I
have
to know what the pay
is going to be. I need to know how much is coming in when. I need
to know that the bills will be paid, I can put gas in the car, eat,
and go to conventions.

Now, a public library isn’t a publisher. A
public library is our friend, full of books we can’t afford to buy
or have no room for in our homes, a place where we can go to
research, can relax with a magazine, and pick up some good reads.
I’m all for supporting the library.

Last spring, I got asked to be the keynote
speaker at our public library’s annual “Friends of the Library”
dinner. Cool, sounds like fun. A chance to chat to people who love
books, to do a little promotion myself. To talk about the craft of
writing. And, the guy told me on the phone when he invited me,
“There is a $100 honorarium.” Not a windfall but a nice offer, and
I’m always calculating how each bit of income will be used for the
aforementioned bills, gas, etc. (Cue little toy cash register:
cha-ching!)

So I prepare my talk. I focus on my
historical fiction. I bring props from different time periods to
add some nice visuals. The talk runs about 45 minutes. I even do a
sample activity with the group to show how ideas are generated.
Everyone has a good time and say so after the talk. Then the
president of the Friends of the Library gives me a card and a
medium-sized, nicely wrapped box.

I go home and open the box. Inside is a
lovely hand-carved wooden bowl from the local Artisan Shop. Nice,
an extra goodie! Then I open the card. Inside is a note saying
“Thanks for being our speaker!” and signed by all the FOL members.
Hey…wait a minute. Where’s my check?

Maybe they plan on mailing it, I think. I
wait a week. No check. I send a polite e-mail to the FOL president
noting that the bowl was lovely, thank you for the gift, but the
check wasn’t in the card. Was it going to be mailed at the end of
the month, perhaps?

I get an e-mail back almost immediately, that
tells me, “The bowl was the gift we selected for you. It is worth
approximately $100. We do hope you enjoy it.”

WHAT???

I calm myself, get a Pepsi,
pace around thinking this through, and then compose another polite
e-mail: “
The bowl is lovely. However, it
would have been good to know ahead of time that it would be a gift
instead of the cash. As a full-time freelance writer, I keep track
each month as to what events I have scheduled and what income will
be generated from each. Not that I'm trying to sound mercenary, but
it just wasn't clear from your invitation that there would be no
actual income from this.”

A few days later I get an e-mail back with an
apology that things were “vague” and that if I wanted to, I could
return the bowl and they would give me $100. As weird and
uncomfortable as it is, I wrap the bowl back up, take it to the
library, and a week later I receive the check in the mail. If I was
J.K. Rowling, I could have let it slide. But I’m not and I
didn’t.

This is a long story to make
the point: Get it in writing. When you write a story, a novel, an
article, or a proposal and prepare to send it out, know the pay
scale and basic terms if they decide to accept your work. Don’t
send a story to a publisher, hoping they pay well, only to get a
contract that says you’ll earn two contributor’s copies for your
troubles. Know as much as possible
before
the contract stage so you don’t
find yourself in an awkward situation. Ask; if these folks are
professionals, they’ll be happy to let you know. Get it in writing,
either via e-mail or snail mail. If you chat on the phone, ask for
a follow-up letter. Mysteries make good stories but don’t make good
business.

A young, unpublished writer recently told me
he’d submitted material to a publisher who has an online site. The
site has guidelines of all the wonderful, creative things they want
to see and want to publish. However, there is no mention of pay. I
asked this young man if they told him their pay rates by e-mail or
letter. He said no. He said he guessed that if they accepted his
work, they’d tell him at that point what they would pay. A newbie
mistake but a mistake nonetheless. Going in blindly is bad
business. Even if you stand to make only $2 for your work, you
should know that. You should have enough respect for yourself as a
craftsperson to expect to be treated professionally. Even if a
publisher/editor/FOL president tells you something, get it backed
up in writing. Words on the air have a funny way of morphing; words
on paper remain unchanged. Well, unless it gets erased or somebody
burns it up, but you know what I mean.

If you aren’t diligent, you may end up trying
to buy a tank of gas with a lovely carved wooden bowl.

Elizabeth
Massie—http://www.elizabethmassie.com

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29. TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GETTING A BOOK
REVIEWED

By David J. Montgomery

http://www.davidjmontgomery.com

1. Thou must send the book to the reviewer.
This is the most important point, and it's something you'll hear me
say repeatedly. There simply is no way around it. If I don't get
the book, I can't review it. And, unfortunately, that happens more
often than you'd think.

2. Thou must make sure the book arrives in
time. Usually this means 6-8 weeks prior to publication date. If I
don't get the book until it's available in stores, there's very
little chance that I'll be able to review it.

3. Thou must tell the reviewer when the book
will be published. Sometimes it seems like it would be easier to
get the formula for Coke than to find out when a book is actually
going to be available. It's very time consuming to scramble around,
trying to nail down the publication date of a book. So please,
spare me the trouble and just tell me. That way, I know how to time
my review.

4. Thou must learn who the reviewers are. In
any genre or area of publishing, there are certain reviewers who
write most frequently about your kind of book. Learn who those
people are and get them the book. Have I made it clear yet how
crucial it is to get your book in the right hands? There are no
reviews without achieving this. None.

5. Thou must put your name in the mind of the
reviewer. If a book arrives on my desk and I've never heard the
author's name before and never heard of the book, all I have to go
by is a press release and the jacket copy. It's very hard to make
an impression from such a cold start.

6. Thou must make the book stand out from the
crowd. I can't tell you how to do this—that's why I'm not a
publicist. But if the book arrives as just one of a pack of dozens,
the chances of it getting noticed are rather slim. There are just
too many books and too little review space.

7. Thou must print and distribute your own
ARCs if the publisher doesn't do it for you. This is especially
true of PBOs (paperback originals). Some critics won't review PBOs,
but some will. I do. But if I don't get the book until it's already
in the store, it's probably too late.

8. Thou must not alienate, infuriate or
otherwise piss off the reviewers. I know, it's not fair. They can
write whatever they want about your book and you aren't allowed to
respond. It sucks -- but who ever said that life is fair? A review
is just one person's opinion, even if it is printed in the New York
Times. It's not worth getting in a pissing match over. Authors
never win pissing matches with critics.

9. Thou must be persistent. The harsh reality
is that the chances of any given book being reviewed are slim. I
get a minimum of 100 books every month, and the number is usually
closer to 200. Out of those, I review 6 or 7. That's why you have
to plan for the long term. Maybe this book won't be reviewed, but
if you're able to build word-of-mouth, you've got a better chance
with the next one.

10. Thou must write a book that's worthy of
being reviewed. This is the hardest commandment of all to follow.
Most books are very similar to other books. They tell the same old
stories in the same old ways. Critics want to write about
interesting books. They want to review books that are new or
different, books that excite them, that move them. They want to
write about books that cry out to be read. If you write a book like
that, your chances of being reviewed increase substantially.

David J.
Montgomery—http://www.davidjmontgomery.com

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30. FREE EMAIL NEWSLETTER MARKETING FOR
AUTHORS

By Douglas Clegg

http://www.douglasclegg.com

You're an author with a book coming out—and
you need to communicate with readers on a regular basis. My top
recommendation to any author is to have a free email newsletter to
send to readers who subscribe to it at your website or blog. Here
are some tips and bits of advice about the basics of this to help
you launch your newsletter online. And remember: "free" is king
online. Offer a free email newsletter to everyone who comes by your
website—and increase the awareness and sales of you book and your
name.

1. Set up a newsletter in one form or
another. You can find various newsletter services online—see what
other authors use and if you know them, ask them how they like the
delivery service. My advice is: if you have a very limited budget,
use a free service and then later on, take your group to a paid
service. If you're a programming whiz, you can set up your own on
your computer. For a more professional look, a paid service is the
way to go.

2. Put a sign-up form on your website.
Include a "Please subscribe to my free newsletter..." note and then
add any additional text you want to put in there. Let people know
they get a free incentive to subscribe such as a chapter excerpt,
an original story, or a reprint of a story. Think of what one of
your readers might want from a writer online. Downloads like
desktop wallpapers, avatars, and screensavers work well for this,
too.

3. Decide how often you want to put out the
newsletter. I used to think it was better to send it more
frequently, but I've come to the conclusion that the fewer
newsletters I sent out each year, the better. That is, unless you
have things to offer your subscribers all the time or want to
inform them about events they'll benefit from a bit more often. I
used to send the newsletter out weekly, but I found that the more
frequently I sent the newsletter, the less it was opened by the
subscribers (although for awhile there, I did have a "get a free
bookstore gift certificate" trivia quiz each week that got nearly
everyone to click open that email!) Now I only send out an email
newsletter when I have specific news, offers, or upcoming events.
When a serial novel is in the works for my subscribers, the
newsletter posts more frequently.

4. Do not sign people up to your
newsletter—ever. Even if they ask. Instead, show them where to sign
up on your website so they can do it themselves.

5. Make your newsletter as appealing as you
can to anyone who hears about it. It is your communication channel
to the people most likely to want to hear from you regularly about
your writing—these readers are important to you. My experience is
that they're a good group of readers, too. As you hear from them
over the years, you'll learn a lot as they tell you about their
lives and the books they're reading. You'll gain valuable insight
into how readers approach your fiction.

6. Each reader is important. I don't care if
you have 10 subscribers or 100,000. No matter how large or small
your subscriber base is, it'll keep growing over time so long as
you treat the subscribers well and don't abuse their inboxes.

7. Keep your list clean. What this means is
you should check for bounces, disabled accounts, old email
addresses that are effectively "dead," because someone changed
their email service—and check your list of subscribers regularly.
It's usually fairly painless to do this and might take you a few
minutes a week if you keep up with it.

8. Do not abuse the subscribers. Use your
newsletter to give information that benefits your readers. This
would include updates about your writing, anything you're doing of
interest at your website, and more. Remember to benefit the
readers. Do not send bulk invites to anyone. Instead, let people
know you have a newsletter sign-up at your website. Share this on
message boards as you would any information. If you use a social
networking site, let the friends in your network know about the
newsletter, as well. No tricks, no abuse, no sharing your list with
anyone.