Last week's
Week in Review was also the Sunday when Mother's
Day sweeps the land.
I think Carolynnwith2Ns had the perfect summation:
You don’t have to give birth to be a mother, don’t have to
adopt, don’t even have to be female. If you step outside of yourself and love,
guide and believe in the self-worth of someone else, you are a mother. If your
kids have four legs, fins or wings you are a mother. And if your children are
gone, you are still a mom, always a mom, a special mom, the kind who wears
longing and loss as a badge until the day you are reunited.
I loved the visual here from Jennifer R. Donohue:
I've now performed the magic trick where my 3 dimensional
Doberman is currently a Flat Dog on the Couch.
Donnaeve offered the perfect motivational phrase. I intend
to steal it:
Jed - get your pants off your head and and write the damn
book. I'd read it.
It turns out we're running some sort of medical ward here
with Mrs. Colin's sojourn in the horsepistol, and various bouts of flu being
suffered by significant others.
Time for everyone to Get Well! Summer is coming!
For those of you who aren't familiar with a lovely
publishing tradition "Summer Fridays" begin the Friday after Labor
Day. Memorial Day!! (oops, thanks for the correction in the comments column!)
This year that's Friday May
29th. Summer Friday means most
places close at 12:30pm. Here at
the Reef it's often honored in the breach than in the observance, but we do
try.
It's a holdover
from when New York was close to unbearable in the summer, and people fled for
country homes, and beach house shares on the weekend.
And sometimes people used to just move to the country for
the entire summer. I've got
letters on stationery from old time publishing hands that listed their New York
address on the left and their "summer address" in Maine on the
right. Of course, it would be very
easy to do that now, what with the electronic leashes we all have, but back
then? It was like work just stopped for a while.
Many of you, myself included, wondered what would prompt someone
to blackball a publisher.
Donnaeve wondered:
maybe this means the contract was dropped, not renewed, or
something. But NOW I'm on my own hamster wheel trying to figure this out. HA!
If an author offered that as the reason for not doing
business with a publisher, we'd have no one to submit work to. All those things happen
with good and reputable publishers, all the time. This is a BUSINESS and if a line of books isn't performing,
the contract doesn't get renewed.
It's NOT personal. It's certainly not a reason to stop doing business
with a publisher.
Amanda Capper wondered:
I suppose if I knew an author friend who was treated badly
by a publisher, I might be leery of dealing with them
The problem here is that one person's experience with a
"publisher" isn't going to be the same experience anyone else has.
For starters, it's often the editor, publicist, marketing/sales people that one
has experience with. And much of
that experience is dependent on the book. I can tell you that some
authors have great experiences at BigAssPublisher and other authors do not.
AJ Blythe made a good point here:
The problem I see is that someone made the decision that has
caused the OP to feel how they do. And that someone is just as likely to
suddenly appear at the desk of a different publisher. Would that mean another
publisher to be struck off? And what if they're already contracted to that
publisher?
I remember being asked to send pages to an editor at one of the Big 5. Went to
do so, only to find they'd moved to a non-commissioning role at another
industry organisation. Fast forward a couple of years and there she was taking
pitches for another of the Big 5.
Pharosian mentioned something that does stick in my craw,
the altogether reprehensible involvement of otherwise reputable publishers with
the printing mill Author Solutions:
Funny that you mention Penguin, Colin, as I was wondering
whether the OP's concerns of an ethical nature about a certain publisher might
be related to the Author Solutions fiasco.
Penguin Random House is the corporate parent of Author Solutions, which
purports to offer publishing services to authors. AS is now facing two
class-action lawsuits, and is accused of failure to pay royalties, predatory
sales calls, and breach of contract, among a laundry list of other charges.
David Gaughran has been following this situation and has
an
in-depth analysis on his blog.
AS has signed 180,000 authors as clients (per its own website), and yet,
according to Gaughran, they have exactly ONE employee assigned to calculate
royalties for all those authors! But they have 732 sales reps (most of whom are
based in the Philippines).
One has to wonder why one of the Big 5 publishers would have a subsidiary
devoted to selling self-publishing services. It probably has to do with the
amount of money involved, as the average client spends about $5000.
Of course it's money. LOTS of money. That's the ONLY reason
anyone would do this kind of thing.
I've said this before, I'll say it again now: this kind of
business is a morally bankrupt way to earn money, and publishers should be
ashamed of themselves for being involved with this kind of place.
Laina wondered:
Hmm. Ellora's Cave, maybe?
for those of you not familiar with this, Ellora's Cave is a
publisher with financial woes. This isn't news since many small publishers have
financial travails. The problem is
how they handled them, and then, when a blogger reported about how they handled
them, turned around and sued the blogger.
This is EXACTLY the kind of thing that would make me not
want to do business with a publisher. It's not the money woes, it's the IDIOCY
of suing someone for reporting on what's essentially public knowledge. That kind of idiocy is something to
avoid when at all possible.
As it turns out, the person who posed the question wrote to
me later to say:
"I was amused and slightly horrified by the
speculation. My concern is indeed about a publisher owning a 'service provider'
such as Author Solutions. Being vague was an attempt at discretion."
Clearly I need to get out more cause I missed seeing these,
and honestly, I count this a very serious loss, brianrschwarz:
Except for that one publisher who posted all those
billboards with me in my underwear and the sound bubble that said "Go to
college. Don't be a Brian. Carkoon
University is now accepting MFA applications."
You'll notice brian does not mention locating of said
underwear, or whether socks are involved.
Dena made a very good point:
Where are you obtaining this information? If it wasn't at a
local chapter meeting, private email or text message, or on the telephone, I'd
definitely consider the source. It's one thing to post on Query Tracker “this
agent took 6 months to reject my query.” It's quite another, at least in my
opinion, to talk about your former agent indiscriminately and/or in a public
forum over the internet. It doesn't strike me as professional, and I'm sure
agents talk amongst themselves, just like lawyers do. I would venture a guess
that those writers would find it difficult to secure future representation. And
I assume you don't want to be in those same shoes.
Dena is 100% correct that agents see or hear about these
posts/discussions etc and talk about them. There is no such thing as a private
discussion board.
There are some conversations I have with editors that are
never reduced to email or paper. Some that I won't even have on the
telephone. It's no so much that
they are top-secret as I just don't want the information repeated.
And
Dena's link was one of the most hilarious things I've
ever seen.
Ardenwolfe also had a good point about sources of
information:
This question reminded me of a certain lawyer/literary agent
who got a lot of negative attention some time ago.
I'll be honest: I marked him as a 'do not query' . . . ever . . . after I read
some of the comments and listings.
Honestly? It depends on your source. If it's random gossip? Take it for what
it's worth.
But if you read it on sites like Writer Beware? Consider it more carefully.
Sour grapes are one thing. But you know what they say about smoke? Research,
research, research your potential agent or publisher first. That way, you don't
have to bring on an extinguisher later.
RobCeres said:
Before I sign with an agent I will ask her for references,
which, I hope, she will be delighted to provide. When I call those references I
hope they will tell me what a wonderful job she did for their book. And once
I've signed a publishing contract, I hope I will tell her that she can use me
as a reference, and I hope I am a good enough client that she does
When prospective clients talk to me, I do urge them to get
in touch with clients, ANY of the clients, they get to choose. If one is unhappy with me that
day/week, oops, my loss. I'm
always leery of agents who say "ask these three" because I wonder
what four, five and six would say.
And of course, you're not going to CALL, you're going to
email. I'm sure you knew that, right?
Amanda Capper asked
How does one join the Imperial Stormtroopers Ladies Aid
Society? Does one have to be invited, or is it open to the critters? Because,
due to my mother's rigid how-to-behave-as-a-proper-young-lady upbringing (bless
her heart), I should be a shoo in.
And Theresa said:
I, too, would like to sign up for the Imperial Storm
Troopers Ladies Aid Society. I adore the alternate reality vibe from this blog.
It's membership by summons I think.
Susan Bonifant asked:
I feel slow saying this, but I am not getting how a 250 word
"brief synopsis" is different from the query.
A query will have more style to it than a synopsis.
A synopsis will include the ending of the book.
The entire query is 250 words or so. That means about 200 to
entice to reader to go on to the pages below.
The synopsis is NOT intended to be enticing. The purpose is
to be expository: here's the plot skeleton of the book.
I'm stealing this from Colin Smith as my new description of
synopsis (nee the spawn of Satan)
Beelzebub's underpants.
Angie Brooksby-Arcangioli asked:
I have a question. I see that Harry Potter lives with his
wretched cousins. Not lived.
Does the synopsis tense need to be parallel with the m/s tense?
Synopses (plural of The Dreaded Synopsis) can be whatever
tense works best. Often it's the present tense.
paz y puente got the example sentence whittled down even
further:
Thank you for the Harry Potter example. It was very helpful.
Hm...looking at it again, I think this could have gone one step further. It
seems it can be just 6 words! "Harry lives with his wretched
cousins." After all, does his last name really matter? His first name
conveys that he's a male and "boy," as you said, that he is not an
adult! SIX words! ;)
and of course, most of the comments were hilariously
off-topic, this time running with the underpants footnote at the bottom of the
blog post.
I had to agree with what Christina Seine said:
What jolly comments today! All I have to say is that I hope
Janet uses the word "underpants" in her next flash fiction contest.
;D
Carolynnwith2Ns had a question:
Out of this question another looms in my mind. Is it ever
wise to even mention you had your manuscript professionally edited. If it's a
plus, doesn't that leave us woodland creatures with less nuts, at a distinct
disadvantage?
Do not include whether the ms has been professionally edited.
I don't care. I only care about results. I HOPE that if you did use an
independent editor, you learned a lot, and will be able to employ that
knowledge on the next book yourself.
That said, I do know a lot more authors are using
independent editors even when they have editors and contracts at publishing
houses (ie they are not self-pubbing)
Lisa Bodenheim asked:
My question is: If this writer has their crisis moment
printed in a magazine, does that influence an agent's decision of whether or
not to take on this manuscript? Won't the writer need to let the agent know
about copyrights for that piece of the writing?
And Dena Pawling echoed:
But then I'd be concerned an agent wouldn't want to rep it
because there might be some rights issues with a portion already having been
published.
Having a piece from the book published first is a plus.
You'd list it in the query as a publication credit like this.
A portion of this book has appeared in GotGrants Literary
Review (April:2015)
Copyright is NOT an issue. The writer retains copyright for
the piece excerpted in the
magazine, and can license it to the publisher without worry. The warranties and indemnities clause
of the book publication deal requires that the book not be previously
published, but that means the entire book, not an excerpt.
Jennifer R. Donohue had this to say about my comment on a
women's fiction writer getting "the go-ahead" from a writer for
Rolling Stone:
But sometimes there's that dark night of the soul where
rejections are everywhere and nothing is good enough where you normally look,
and that bit of any source faint praise is a lifeline.
Beth wrote (and several more of you also agreed with her)
that having a deadline helped get the work finished:
I personally
find it easier to work for something when I have an actual deadline. Right now,
I'm writing with the goal of eventually being published. I don't have a true
deadline. Sure, I can make a self-imposed deadline, but since there are no real
stakes, who cares?
I loved what Elissa M said:
One of the questions artists are asked all the time is,
"How long did it take you to paint that?" The correct answer is,
"All my life."
I really loved this from Carolynnwith2NNs
Speaking of first novels, we were, weren't we, anyway...
I wrote my first exactly ten years ago. September actually. I know that because
it was the most stressful period of my life, new job, kid off to college for
the first time, father dying, mother desperate, blah, blah, blah. I had my MC,
drop everything, jump in her car and head west. I won't go into all the gory
details but it wasn't until I started a second novel, I realized the first book
had been my savior. I wrote what I wanted to do...leave all the BS and
heartbreak behind. The book will never be published but at that time, that book
not only changed my life, it saved my life.
I will always consider it my greatest writing accomplishment.
Karen McCoy asked:
And Beth's comment brought me to a question about deadlines.
Probably very cart before the horse, but I'm wondering about tight deadlines
from editors.
I've heard a few stories of authors having anywhere from three days to two
weeks to turn around an entire novel--authors that also have full-time day
jobs. And I got a small taste of this when I wrote an article for School
Library Journal, and the turnaround was so quick that I ended up pulling an
all-nighter.
Like most woodland creatures, I'm not afraid of hard work...but I also want to
ensure that I'm putting out my best work.
So is it typical for agents to stand behind authors when they ask for
extensions? Or is this scenario not as sticky as I think it is?
I think what you're talking about here is turning around
copy-edits. Under no circumstances can I image a publisher requiring an entire
novel in three days or two weeks!
Copy edits ARE on a tight schedule because it's the
production pipeline, not editorial schedule. As long as you're only on the editorial
schedule, you've got some flexibility. I've had to move books from Spring to
Summer; colleagues have had to move books from one year to the next. This happens with both fiction and
non-fiction.
Once you're in the production pipeline though, it's assumed
the book is ready to be published and there isn't a lot of room for flexibility absent the most dire of
circumstances. There are a lot of
reasons for this including getting time at the printer, the publication of the
catalog, the production/distribution of the review copies etc.
Copy edits are part of production. The author gets the manuscript back from the copy editor and
generally has ten days to two weeks to review the suggested changes. Stet or agree, that's about it. There's
some room for minor changes if needed (like changing the word panties to
underpants--something that the copy editor would not have suggested but the
author feels conveys the right tone)
If you mean the publication schedule, that's covered in the
contract BUT it's flexible for the most part. The key is a good relationship
with the editor and LOTS of advance notice. It's a whole lot easier to
negotiate an extension in January
for a book due in July, than it is in June.
Angie Brooksby-Arcangioli gave voice one of the great writer
angsts:
Often I consider how long it takes a writer to produce a
polished manuscript. Then query, revise upon further request.
By the time the work is published, thanks to the team, years go by.
Then the book is read in a matter of hours, or days at best. It's crazy. Years
of work for a few hours of entertainment.
Then books sit on a shelf, collect dust, are inherited and in some places
banned and burned.
To fret or not to fret, this is the question.
bjmuntain's reply was lovely:
Ah, but Angie. That's just for one reader. Multiply that
time by a thousand readers. Ten thousand. A hundred thousand... All those years
of work go into entertaining people for years.
Not to mention, there's a very good chance that, while the book may sit on a
shelf for years, it's also sitting in the reader's mind. There's that character
that just won't go away. There's a couple lines that seem to fit daily
occasions. And then, the book is re-read. The connections become clearer. The
book becomes more entrenched in the reader's life.
A book is so much more than a few hours of entertainment.
And that exchange is just one of the many MANY reasons I
think the comments section is the very best part of this blog.
Several of you seemed to think I was disparaging self-publishing.
In a way, I probably am, simply because I see a significant increase in queries
these days that start out with "I self-published this and now I want a
traditional publisher, cause I hate to market/publicize/etc."
The people I see who've self published are by and large very
unhappy with their experience. I'm sure there are people who are happy
self-pubbing (W.R. Gingell seems to be one of them who is) but my query queue
is populated with people who aren't.
I think querying is the logical first step if you have a
novel you want people to read.
What happens AFTER you query is then up to you.
Colin Smith is angling for a furlough from Carkoon. He might
just get it since he's a Gary Corby fan:
I, too, agree with Janet. Both because she's correct, and
because summer's about to start here on Carkoon (yukk) and I'm hoping she'll
give me leave to visit Amy in Paradise. :)
And on a completely different yet very important note, Gary Corby's latest Athenian
Mystery, DEATH EX MACHINA, comes out on Tuesday. Of course, I have my copy on
pre-order. :D
brianrschwarz has the new blog subtitle this week with:
Now I'm a writer. I create and destroy worlds.
Have a great week.
