Month: April 2010

The Art of Critiquing

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It’s come to my attention that there are a lot of us who don’t have a clue how to honestly critique. We can tell you we like your story (or hate it), but we leave out the most important part — the why.

Critiquing isn’t just about misspellings and bad punctuation. It’s about understandability, what makes a story something you just can’t put down. Or, as Kelly Hart put it in her post Critiquing, “[I]t is about trying to help the story creator reach the full potential for that story.” She goes on to remind us that each story is the writer’s “baby” and “[f]or this reason you should try to be as diplomatic as possible, nobody likes to be told bad things about their baby.” (And I can say that’s true from both the mother’s and writer’s POV)

One way to bone up on the hows of critiquing is to just do it. Receiving critiques and critiquing others’ works makes a writer a better writer because  it “improves your own editing eye,” according to blogger Penny in her post 
The Art of Critiquing, Pt. 1. I have to agree with that. As I’ve read and edited others’ works, I’ve noticed problems in my own writing.

Of course, getting critiques (honest ones, especially) can be difficult. I’ve mentioned Critters as a place to find other authors willing to give good criticism, but I recently read about another called Absolute Write. After reading the Newbie section I think it sounds like a great place, so long as you can handle a little heat. Apparently there have been some, as the moderator put it, knock-down-drag-out arguments on things as silly as the appropriate use of serial commas.

Of course, my suggestion before putting your work out there for criticism, is to edit it at least once yourself. Track down as many of those niggly little misspellings and punctuation errors as you can. And don’t forget about grammar. While in some cases grammar rules can be bent, it’s best not to break them without at least knowing them. For that I would recommend a fantastic little book called Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing.

Regardless of where you find your critics (or where they find you ;) ) try to keep in mind what you need to improve your writing, then reach out to your fellow traveler to give the same in return on The Road to Writing.

This is a reprint from Virginia Ripple‘s The Road To Writing blog.

Catching Up With My Publishing Progress

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It’s been a while since I’ve documented my publishing journey, so this post is to catch up. I’ve put the 3rd mystery, Border Wars, up on Smashwords. The title refers to two time frames: just before & during the Civil War along the Kansas and Missouri border and during modern times between India and Pakistan. Cliff has done a magnificent ebook cover shown below:

Border Wars Cover The book features the murder of an officer from India by a Pakistani bayonet while attending the US Army’s Command and General Staff College (CGSC) at Ft. Leavenworth. The Pakistani officer is arrested for the murder and Enos is hired to prove his innocence. The 4th mystery, Dog Days of Summer, will be going up as soon as Cliff has a chance to work on its cover.

In the meantime, I had 50 copies of Quad Delta printed by my local POD digital printer source while I worked through Lightning Source’s rather complex registration and application process. BTW, remember to get a sales tax certificate to sell direct to customers if you live in a sales tax state. If that number isn’t provided to Lightning Source, they will have to charge you sales tax. I ordered a proof of one book, which arrived yesterday for $30 including shipping. In addition, I ordered a minimum order of 38 (the number that will fit into one of their packing boxes) just to get the ball rolling. My local printer uses while paper and does not coat the cover with plastic. Lightning Source does coat. In addition, I asked for a cream colored paper stock, which is easier on the eyes. In polling customers with a comparison of the two book versions, all much preferred the Lightning Source version.

In all, it was more expensive to go through Lightning Source initially because of a $75 setup fee and the $30 proof; however, once those charges are paid, their per book price is cheaper than my local source, even with shipping charges. Their books are also better looking. The biggest advantage of them, however, is getting your books into Ingram’s distribution system and into their monthly catalog.

Marketing

That’s it on the production side. Now let me address marketing. This Saturday from 11am to 1pm, I will be conducting a book chat and signing at my bookstore, The Book Barn. I’ve sent out an announcement email to 1,500+ of our active customers. I’ve started handselling at our store and sales have been steady. After this weekend, I will be placing my mystery in gift shops and museums around the area. Like my history of Leavenworth book, these mysteries will have long legs because of the large number of visitors and families moving in and out of our military community. I will also be seeking to gain distribution through Big River Distribution of St. Louis, who distribute books regionally.

As I gain a toe hold in our region with signings in Kansas City and other communities, I will then branch out nationally with emails, bookmarks, and postcards to independent bookstores throughout America. I will also expand to the military officer market with display and classified ads in the Army Times. Unlike many works of fiction, mine will have validity for much longer than the average novels, so I have the freedom of time.

If my mysteries begin selling steadily, I will then be encouraged to take on other authors who are willing to write to my specific standards that will create a recognizable model of entertaining books written for readers who don’t have enough time to read as much as they would like. I will consider a number of genres.

This is a cross-posting from Bob Spear‘s Book Trends blog.

I-Pad Lust

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I’m not an Apple customer, but I confess I have I-Pad lust.

Having shlepped a laptop around for years to use in libraries, research venues, or speaking engagements, more often than not I felt burdened by equipment rather than assisted by a handy tool. I have a far different sense about I-Pad.

I see I-Pad as a useful tool for researching in libraries, or anyplace else for that matter, though I wish it had a camera for copying books pages or documents. I’m confident a future I-Pad will provide one. For now, this is a tool you still can take deep into the library stacks, or into the court house basement.

I also see the speedy I-Pad as useful when giving lectures. My specialty is history extracted from genealogy. I try never to respond to a genealogy question, or historical event or date, without access to my database for an accurate reply. It’s tough keeping track of countless dates, events, and 5,000 characters and cousins, even if you are brilliant. Having my database online, the I-Pad becomes a fast & handy, immediate response tool.

For writing books and articles, I’ve learned the electronic format differs from the print format greatly. e-Books fundamentally have changed the way I write, because of the way an e-book appears on the screen, and because of the way an e-book is read. Writing to the I-Pad increases a writer’s clarity & communication.

I’ve always been a voracious newspaper reader and magazine subscriber. But I don’t like reading a computer screen in a dedicated seat. I firmly believe I-Pad is the newspaper’s salvation, as well as that of the magazine publisher, simply because the tool re-incarnates the use of a newspaper or magazine. Read it at lunch, or on the throne. Flip the pages. Set it aside. Pick it up again. It’s as easy as a newspaper or magazine. Just don’t line your birdcage with one.

What author, historian, or genealogist doesn’t have a library of old and new images, news clippings, reference articles, book citations, or document copies? Face to face with a book buyer, show-and-tell always has been a problem. I-Pad solves that. All your research is right at hand. Carry volumes of clippings, photos, research anywhere you go. Pull them out anywhere, anytime. Pass them around. Try doing that with a laptop. Then offer your book for purchase. Right now the book buyer can take home that same information in your book.

I believe this Apple tool is one to latch on to. Simply because of it’s capability and probability to change computing, researching, writing, reading, and the computer’s use, as we know it. Already Apple has discarded the physical keyboard for the virtual one. I’m sure one day very soon Apple will sell the ultimate mouse trap. And I can’t wait to play Exterminator!

Practically speaking, for the writer of history I-Pad is a tool sent from the lives of the past, making it easy to stay in touch. Come on Charlemagne, send me an I-Pad now.

There Is No Truth

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I now know why I don’t enjoy reading a lot of fiction unless it’s mindnumbingly brilliant and utterly unconventional: third-person narration. It’s the same reason that most people enjoy reading fiction, but it just doesn’t sit well with me. Who is this narrator? How do they know everything going on? Why is the reader automatically permitted to know everything about everyone? That’s why most people like the third-person narrative stories–because it’s the only time in their life that they are allowed to know everything, and knowledge is power.

Maybe that’s what people say when it’s an escape. I don’t find reading fiction a big escape, rather, I watch movies for escape. With film it is implicit that the viewer doesn’t *necessarily* see everything. While the voyeuristic camera angles (featured and so loved by Hitchcock and his fans) give the viewer a peek into knowing all–and holding power over all–we have to know fundamentally that the zombie may be standing right behind you, even though you are furtively looking into your neighbor’s window.

Perspective is one of the fulcrums of any artwork: film, literature, visual arts, performing arts. Enabling the spectator to see through the artist’s eyes is a transparent act, in my opinion. Many fiction writers do everything they can to mask that act, though, and for me, it is asking the reader to suspend disbelief. We all know that in writing that isn’t seamlessly brilliant, an imperfect author will make the cardinal mistake of narrating the intentions of the character, without writing the character well enough in action to realize those intentions: "He felt strongly about his commitment to her, and so he wanted to do everything he could to show her how much he loved her." Right, that’s lame, we know. But even when this type of passage is expressed through action and/or dialogue, I still don’t buy it.

Writing "in voice" is what many call it, and it presents its own challenges because the writer must strictly adhere to each character’s voice, if writing in multiple perspectives throughout a story. Hopefully I achieved that in Getting the Old Gang Back Together. Right now I’m working on a deconstruction of Harold and the Purple Crayon where the protagonist writes the live story and narrates the book at the same time. These are not exactly what I would call experimental pieces since this approach has no doubt been used before; so maybe it’s just a different camp in the writing community. One experiment I may try–and I may be able to achieve this in Harold–is to give a voice to the third-person narrator while establishing a precedent for the narrator to be telling the story.

What is my problem, you’re asking? I don’t know, and I’m not even sure there is a problem. My response as a writer is to create works in which the pivotal characters narrate from their respective perspectives. For some readers, I recognize that this is also a suspension of disbelief. They are now being asked to reconcile why these characters are telling the story, and to whom.

To me, it’s a more realistic portrayal of events though because we know that there is no truth in the world. Right? There is no truth. Perception of the truth is as close as we can get to truth. As a writer, I want to bring my readers on that journey, so that they, too, realize, that even in fiction there is no truth and that each character–even the heroic protagonist–brings bias. So maybe once the reader is subjected to that bias, they can face their own bias. Just maybe.

Thanks for reading.
~ jenn

This is a cross-posting from Jenn Topper‘s Don’t Publish Me! blog.

Talking Apple Book Apps With Author Seth Harwood

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I met Seth Harwood last year at the Writer’s Digest The Business of Getting Published conference, and I was immediately impressed with his energy and enthusiasm. He’s always got several irons in the fire, he’s built a large and loyal fan base, and as it turns out, he can write, too.

He’s a graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, a novelist, a podcaster, a teacher of writing and literature at Stanford University, and he also co-teaches the Author’s Boot Camp intensive podcasting workshop at Stanford with his fellow novelist and podcaster, Scott Sigler. Whether you want to talk mainstream, trade publishing, publishing through an independent press, publishing to the Kindle, podcasting serial fiction, podcasting a talk show, ramping up an author platform that rocks, or releasing books as iPhone Apps, Seth’s been there, done that, and can tell you all about it.

In a podcast interview, I talk to Seth about releasing books as Apple/iPhone Apps.
 
Click here to launch the file in your computer’s default audio/media player, or right-click the same link and ‘Save As’ to download the interview.