I guess I am fortunate in that I always have story ideas floating around in my head. I can listen to a conversation, see a headline or hear a news brief, and my mind starts to wander with the big question – What if…?
If you have been writing for awhile, you have no doubt heard the “What if…?” question in writing courses or in articles. The idea is to take a character or a section of plot and toss around several ‘what if’ ideas. As an example: what if a character meets her ex-fiancé while walking down the street with her current partner; what if the current partner had no idea there was an ex, gets mad and stalks away; what if as he’s crossing the street he gets hit by a car? Suddenly the ex is back in the character’s life, intent on ensuring she is okay, and evaluating their past relationship. You can see how doing this exercise can help you with plot design.
But, what if… you don’t have a story idea to begin with and would like to write, but don’t have any ideas of what to write about. The first thing you should do is make sure you read, and read lots! If you want to be a good writer and see what the publishing trends are in the genre(s) you write in, then you should read what is available for your genre.
Spend some time in bookstores reading the jacket flaps and back covers of books. Over the holidays I was at the airport and had some time to spare, so I ended up in a bookstore. It was great, because I don’t normally give myself extra time to spend at a bookstore. I leisurely poured over many different types of genres to see what was being currently published. From fiction to romance, to self help and young adult, I found my head filling with ideas of things I could write about. Not only that, I started feeling excited about writing again.
Ideas can also come from the environment and news issues that are going on. I listen to newscasts and read headlines and my mind starts wandering with a story. A recent news story was about women aborting babies when they find out the gender. My mind immediately thought up the science fiction idea of – what if in the future there are not enough women in the world, because of gender-based birthing in the past. How would that affect an aging colony that has no fertile women left to carry on the race? What if… Do you get the idea?
Patricia L. Atchison, author
www.patriciaatchison.ca
Tags: Story ideas
Writing the Right words
Recently, while at a book signing event, I talked with a person who was interested in writing for children and had a manuscript written, but wasn’t sure what age group her content would be targeted for. I didn’t know how to respond; as this is something that should be researched even before the ideas reach paper.
I see so many authors who have an idea and are so excited they just start writing the best and biggest manuscript possible without even doing any homework. While this enthusiasm is commendable, it can create problems afterward when trying to publish the manuscript, unless one goes through a tremendous amount of editing and revisions, which the publisher most likely won’t have the time for.
In my book, How To Write for Children, An Easy Three Step Guide To Writing Children’s Books, I discuss the steps necessary to begin a writing project. An author should first determine which age group they are writing for given the story idea and age- appropriateness. This can be done by visiting bookstores and researching the types of books available to certain age groups. The other option is to visit a local library and take out different types of books for kids from board books, to chapter books for teens. Study the word choices, paragraph lengths, plot, story, chapter lengths, and word counts.
Doing the research will help a writer determine the age group for the idea they have in mind. There are word limits for age groups. No toddler would sit long enough through a thousand page book. Their limit is up to three hundred words. Also, publishers put limits on middle grade fiction word counts too.
Researching further, you can determine if your word choice and content is suitable to a certain age group. It’s pretty tough to sell horror to a young audience. Middle grades love action and adventure.
Even though we live in an age where the internet provides a wide-eyed look at the world and recess language could make a sailor blush, publishers are still taking a conservative role with moral issues in the works they are publishing. Better to research and see exactly what is available to children and teens before sinking hours and hours of writing time into a project and realizing there is no market for it.
Patricia L. Atchison, Author
If you are considering delving into the world of self publishing, there are a few things you should look at before determining a price for your book and printing it on the cover. E-books garner different pricing than do printed books. The pricing structure is usually lower than a printed book, as costs to produce the e-book are minimal.
Before you determine your printed book price, you need to go to a bookstore and look at books in your genre, their sizes and length of pages. This is especially important for children’s picture books and hardcover versus soft cover. The end consumer won’t care that it cost you x numbers of dollars to produce, and because it is only a small run, you have to over price it just to make a wee profit. No, the consumer wants to pay a price comparable to what other books are going for, and they want perceived value for the item they are purchasing.
When you have a final price from at least three printers, then you can determine what to price your book at so that it can be comparable to what is already on the shelves. You need to find the price point at which you can incorporate the printing costs, book distribution costs, and marketing and promotions costs. And finally, the profit you would like to keep as a wage for being an author.
The following steps are a starting point in determining the price of your book.
1. Select three printers:
Note: these companies may either be strictly book printers with no other services (editing, graphics or marketing), or you may choose a book publisher who helps you with a complete package (editing, graphics, ISBN, printing, marketing and distribution).
If you go with a printer that is just printing the books, then you will also have to factor in the editing, layout and file preparation costs and add these onto the quote you got from the printer to determine a final production cost.
No matter which type of printer you choose select THREE different companies and request a quote.
You must also request a quote from three different editors and/or layout/graphics design companies if required.
2. Request a quote:
Request a quote for 100, 250, 500, from a small Print On Demand (POD) company. These companies usually do black and white printing with a color cover. Little to no illustrations (if so they are black and white).
OR
If you are going full colour process with illustrations throughout, you will have to select a larger printer who offers those services, so request a quote for 1000, 1500 and 2000.
If you have colour illustrations, you will have to also request a quote from a scanning company for the scanning of the illustrations (unless you do it yourself depending on the size of canvas).
ASK:
~ Where the price breaks occur at certain quantities.
~ If there are any additional charges such as special binding (smith-sewn versus perfect bound).
~ Where the price breaks occur for certain types/differences of paper.
~ For the pricing of a dust jacket versus no dust jacket.
~ What the shipping costs will be to your destination and figure out if there is a way to save on these (i.e., pick up at the warehouse).
~ For reprint pricing (printers will offer discounts if you use them again, as all the files are already prepared, so no need to start the process over again.
3. Where Are You Going To Selling Your Book?:
Once you have a quote in hand, then you have to look at where you will be selling the books, as you will have to factor in the commissions that the distributor will take, and what book stores will take.
Bookstores, will allow authors to do signings at their stores, even if the proprietor is not interested in shelving the book. However, once the daily sales are tallied, the bookstore will take their percentage just for allowing you to be there.
Bookstores can take anywhere from 30% (Independent bookstores) to 45% (National chains) to 55% (Amazon). If you find a distributor, they can take about 20%, so figuring out the math, that doesn’t leave much of a buffer between paying for the cost of the book and pocketing some change for profit. This doesn’t even include any marketing and promotions costs that could come out of the profits of the book.
4. Final Tally:
When pricing a printed book, be sure to look at all costs of getting the product to the printed stage. Keep a spreadsheet of all the productions step costs from editing to layout and design to scanning and printing (and if a package deal, the extra for marketing and distribution – and to even purchase your books from them so you can sell them yourself).
Tally the total cost, take the commissions off of the sales areas where you intend to sell the book, but don’t limit yourself – i.e., don’t say that you will never sell them in a bookstore and so it won’t matter, because some of your best promotion can be found at book store signings and readings.
Once the commissions are off this will give you a bottom line of the profits you can expect to make. Are you at a break even point? Can you make a little profit? You may decide that you won’t ever be distributing the book through a company, but doing all the work yourself. So you will be able to eliminate the 20% of the distribution cost, but it is a good idea to factor it in.
There is a lot to think about with pricing a book. Once you have the costs for production you can take a hard-line look at whether the project is even viable on a massive scale, or if all you want to do is share with a few family and friends, then you won’t be so concerned about the bottom line.
Tags: pricing books, self publishing
I am editing a young adult novel for teens, and upon first writing, I never censored myself. I wrote what dialogue came to my characters, and I like the story. One of my characters is an eighteen-year-old person, who has lived and survived on the streets for several years. My second character is an abused teenager, under the age of eighteen. She has had a tough life, and the scars show. Both characters have a reason to swear the odd time (not often though) in the story when confronted with some tough issues during different scenes, but should this author allow them to swear? With characters this age, the audience would most likely be fourteen to fifteen-year-olds and up. Should this age group be reading minor profanity? Most likely they are hearing it anyway in real life, unless totally sheltered.
If I am true to myself as an author, the bad language begs to be written. Although I haven’t written any cuss words that are really taboo (especially in the young adult genre), such as the F bomb, does WTF count as a swear word in books nowadays? Many young people seem to use it frequently on social media sites and while texting.
While I’m editing, I feel the need to take out the cussing, but what words do I replace them with that are representative of the totally rough social situation these two characters find themselves in. Will the reader know, without being told that in ‘real life’ (given my scene) they would most likely hear some swear words anyway, just not in this story? How do I portray a real life event with no swear words, where one would expect a swear word, and such a word would make the best impact? By removing the cussing, I don’t want the situation to become so rosy that the scene and dialogue don’t seem real anymore.
The dilemma of leaving or removing swears, especially in the young adult genre, boils down to the moral obligation of the writer, editor and ultimately the publisher. Personally, I enjoy reading books with little to no profanity. So why do I feel the need to write it. Perhaps it is easier to throw out a swear word than trying to find a better written description of what the character is feeling, or how they are reacting, that old ‘show don’t tell’ rule. I guess I’ll look for another way, a better way to write the scene, which tells the reader that the character is ‘really pissed-off, doesn’t give a crap about what is happening and wishes like heck that the world wasn’t so screwed up’.
I welcome comments about using profanity in books in general, and especially books for older teens.
by Patricia L. Atchison, Children’s Book Author (patriciaatchison.ca)
Editing, Essential to Writing
While you may not do hundreds of revisions when you finish a piece of writing, it is important that you do several revisions and ‘edit the editing’ over again. While looking for the regular problems, there are other things a writer (and editor) may reflect on too.
I just finished reading, Pray For Silence (Minotaur Books, 2010), a novel by Linda Castillo. It was an excellent murder mystery, ‘who-dun-it’ book that kept me engaged from start to finish. The first one I have ever read in the murder mystery genre, so I found it interesting. I was also paying particular attention to plotting, and characterization as the genre was new to me and I wanted to see if the writing complexities had to be different from another type of genre.
The plot kept me guessing which was great. I wasn’t sure where the writer was going with the scenes, and they had the up and down movement of interest levels that kept me turning the page. The characterization was good, but I became stumped when the main character was introduced. In the first chapter, we meet an officer and discover how he comes upon the murder scene, written via third person. This officer becomes a very minor character as the book proceeds, and this is the first and last chapter that is ever written in the third person point of view (different from books I have normally read).
In the second chapter, the point of view switches to first person, and we are in the mind of the main character, the Chief of Police. Even when her name, Katie, is mentioned, I still never clue in that she is female. I just thought it was an odd last name for a man.
Automatically I had formed the stereotypical opinion that this person must be a man (and a big one to boot). It took into the third chapter and some backward page flipping to discern that the main character was indeed a woman. I was thrown off a bit and I never really did form a clear picture of the main character in my mind throughout the book.
I figure this point is a great thing to look out for when editing a piece. Can we assume that the reader may form a connection to characters based simply on stereotypical viewpoints? If so, perhaps we should base our editing on that implication and be absolutely sure to allow the reader to form a clear picture of the character in their minds before the book proceeds too far.
The other thing I picked up on as I was reading, although minor, kept striking me as odd. Every character at one point or another would look at the main character and reply to some dialogue – ‘with a sage look’, which taken from the dictionary means a wise look. It seems to be a favorite term of the author’s and I was just curious why the editor didn’t pick up on it in the final edits. I can see using the term more than once for a particular character, as that may be a trademark ‘look’ that they have. But, when it became interspersed between many characters, I had a hard time with the term and thought that a different word choice would be appropriate.
I am interested in reading the other books that Linda Castillo has written, although I will still be on the lookout for her writing style to see if the editing has changed at all. I don’t think I am a murder mystery genre fan, but this author did engage me enough that I am intrigued to read more of her work, editing aside.
(A sidenote: When I talked to my daughter (who lent me the books) about my findings, she commented, “Can’t you just enjoy the book without looking at the writing!” I guess not.)
Tags: editing
How To Write For Children, An Easy Three Step Guide To Writing Children
While I have been doing signing and readings with my children’s books (Little Blue Penguin & McKenzie’s Frosty Surprise), I am asked on several occasions, “I have an idea for a children’s story. What do I do now? How do I get started writing it?”
These questions prompted me to write the guide, How To Write For Children, An Easy Three Step Guide To Writing Children’s Books. Although this book references ideas specific to the children’s genre, the steps presented will suit any author who is beginning a writing project and just doesn’t know what to do next.
Step One of the guide helps authors with the basics of beginning a writing project. With the writers’ interest in mind, it is time to do the research to determine what publishers are looking for in today’s markets, and if you know your market genre well enough to write about it. Do you know the age range of your target audience and the types of genres and themes that would be of interest to them?
Once you’ve determined a subject, then it is time to look at some writing tools that will make your job as an author easier. These include creating a story summary, story synopsis and writing an outline. These tools help you determine the point of view you may wish to write from, and getting to know your characters a little better. Finalizing a setting and how to do topic research is something you need to do at this stage also.
Step Two leads you through the writing process and offers ideas and tips on creating a rough draft, getting started after a break, overcoming writer’s block and tips about writing for children.
Once your writing is finished, then it is onto Step Three, where the very important step of revisions and editing is covered in detail to help you end up with a final draft that can be used to market to publishers. This guide then offers information about publishing your writing, how to find a publisher, and then briefly discusses self publishing and marketing ideas.
As an added bonus, you will find samples of the writer’s tools: story summary, story synopsis, outline, character cards and submission formats. It is important to ensure that your submission package to a publisher is presented as professionally as possible.
I am excited to have anyone who has an idea for a book, be it a children’s book or otherwise have a look at, How To Write For Children, An Easy Three Step Guide To Writing Children’s Books, available on Smashwords.
Tags: how to write books, How To Write For children, how to writing guide, story synopsis summary outlines
Writers are a tough bunch. Not afraid of a challenge, the 3-Day Novel Contest is something they can proudly say they’ve accomplished after the 72 hour time limit comes to a close. What does it take to write a novel in three days? Much confidence and tenacity, a love of writing, some craziness, and a note on the door saying, “Do NOT Disturb”.
The contest takes place each year on Canada’s Labour Day weekend, the first weekend in September. This year it runs from September 3 to 5, 2011. With an entry fee, anyone can take part and write wherever they wish. Writers are on an honour system to begin their novels no earlier than 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, September 3, and must stop writing by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, September 5. All editing must also be finished within this timeframe. The work can then be compiled and submitted by Friday, September 9, 2011 – but no tweaks allowed! Previous novels run about 20 – 30,000 words, so if a 100,000 word novel is entered, the judges pretty well know it is an impossibility that is was completed over one weekend.
The contest originates in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, but anyone can enter worldwide. It was started in 1977 by a small group of authors who challenged themselves to write a novel over the Labour Day weekend. At that time, no one finished, and they didn’t want to share their work. Since then, the contest grew each year and has inspired thousands of novels. Twenty-five submissions have been published by the contest administrators. Hundreds enter the contest each year, but with only one winner offered a chance at publication of their novel, a $500 second prize and a $100 third prize, the weekend is more about challenging ones self, and the ability to say, “I did it.” However, with a finished product in hand, with some redevelopment and editing, many authors have been picked up by publishing houses. Arsenal Pulp Press distributes the winning novels published by the 3-Day novel contest under its imprint, 3-Day books.
This author is going to give it a try this year. I’ve always wanted to do it, but raising a family, not to mention it’s the most popular “last-weekend-to get-away”, that I have never had a chance. The opportunity to pursue this dream is fast becoming a reality and I wonder if I am ready. My writing in the past has involved hours and hours of research, outlining, plotting and character analysis before I even write one sentence. In reading the comments on the forum of this contest, it seems to be a general agreement that the best work has come by just letting the mind go, without much advance outlining or plotting.
I’ve done some research on my plot’s topic – just so that my novel doesn’t come out really bad. I have the beginning plotted, and the ending in my mind. The middle hasn’t come together yet, so I am hoping like crazy that when I do sit down to write, that I can just let go and let happen. I promise to trust in my subconscious muse and see what she has to say.
Wish me luck!
Patricia L. Atchison
www.patriciaatchison.ca
woodlilypublishers.com
Tags: 3-Day Novel Contest
The answer is, yes you can. The next question is can and should anyone do it, including grandparents, parents, aunts or uncles, siblings, or heritage and general interest groups. The answer is, it depends.
If you were closest to the event and can retell it in good detail, then you may be able to write about it. If you are aware of, through family story telling, something that would make a great story, then you will have to research and gather information such as dates, places, etc., about what happened and who was involved.
Anyone can take an event from their personal lives, whether current or historical and turn it into a non fiction or fictional story for children, teens and adults. You have to look at different aspects of the story telling though.
Are you going to write the story as a non fiction true account of an event, including using real names, dates, and actual places? If so, you will need the approval and permission of everyone who is involved as a character in the story. You will need to be thorough and your writing has to be as factual as possible.
If you intend to re-iterate the event in a fictional story format, then you will have to look at how close to the actual events that you want retell and write about. Even if you do change the names of the people involved to fictional characters, if anyone you are writing about can tell and knows it is them you are writing about, you could still be in trouble without some approval and permission granted ahead of publication.
Now, you can take a family story or event and totally turn it into a fictional idea for a story based on the event or a piece of the event. A good example of this is, The Strongest Man This Side of Cremona, written and illustrated by Georgia Graham, Red Deer College Press ISBN 0-88995-182-9. This is a children’s picture book story based on the true story of a tornado that swept across the small farming community surrounding Cremona, Alberta, wrecking the garden and fences of one of the homesteads.
Graham changed the names of the community families, and created a storybook character called Matthew, who believed his Dad was the strongest man this side of Cremona, until he saw how strong the tornado was and the havoc it left behind. Anyone who’s lived in Cremona since the time of that tornado knows the story of that day and who the family involved was. Did Graham seek permission or approval of the story? I heard (but am not sure) that she was related to the farmer involved and he enjoyed the book and the artwork.
This story made for a wonderful fictional account of an event that really happened and is a great example of how someone can take a piece of family history and write about it. Just be sure you don’t write and publish something that is recognizable by someone who feels the story is best kept within the family.
By Patricia L. Atchison, June 2011
http://www.patriciaatchison.ca
Writer's Guidelines
If you are new to the publishing industry and an author looking to get published, then studying Writers’ Market Guides is a good place to start. There are many guides depending on the genre you are interested, and they are published each year with new and updated listings. Here is a sampling:
- Christian Writers Market Guide 2010
- 2010 Writers Market
- 2010 Children’s Writers & Illustrators Market
- 2010 Novel & Short Story Writers Market
- Agents, Editors and You: The Insider’s Guide to Getting Your Book Published (Writers Market Library)
- The Market Guide for Young Writers: Where and How to Sell What You Write
- 2010 Writers Market Deluxe (Writers Market Online)
- Book Markets for Childrens Writers 2010
These books can be costly when purchased at a bookstore when they are just released. Your local library can offer a viable solution. You may be able to get away with a used copy published a year or two ago, but you will have to do further homework to ensure that the contact and submission guidelines haven’t changed. At least it will give you an idea of the publishers that are around and what their expectations are. Other sections of the books can be helpful in preparing your manuscript.
Looking at market guides is doing your homework. They are a valuable resource. Some show you examples and how-to’s on writing query letters, proposals, synopsis’s, and manuscript presentation, picture book submissions, and publishing terms.
However, the real gem is in the market listings. Here you will find: publisher name, mailing address, phone numbers, E-mail and website information. They list what an author could receive in payments for royalties and as an advance. Publication timelines, response times and whether they accept simultaneous submission are given. Submission guidelines for nonfiction, fiction, any special needs requested by the publisher and editor’s comments and tips are shared and printed.
Some guides will present listings for freelance jobs, grants, groups/organizations of interest, research, resources, search engines, services for writers, online listings and resources, book publishers, periodical and E-zine publishers, market analysis, greeting card/gift/specialty markets, help for writers, contests, indexes and glossaries. A real bonus is also a CD included at the back of the book so that you can use the listing while online.
So, if you have a manuscript in hand and are unsure of where to go to market it, turn to an online or printed writer’s market guide, a one-stop-resource for writers.
Tags: book marketing, Writer's Markets, Writer's submission guidelines
My company, Wood Lily Publishers, received a call the other day from a person interested in getting published. Their loaded question, “How do I get published?”, caught me off guard for a moment. My mind raced frantically trying to sum up in a short answer all the information I had learned over the last fifteen years about the publishing industry. Where to start? What to suggest? What to say? The short answer is – find a publisher and submit your manuscript. This is not what the person was asking – the more refined question was, “How do I find a publisher?”.
A new writer might wish to seek out a writer’s group to present their work and have it critiqued. Writer’s groups offer information sharing and topics of how to get published, which most often dominate the round table discussions at group meetings.
A library is an excellent resource, as they have lots of books on how to get published, market listings, and contest information. Make friends with a local school librarian, and they can share the publisher’s catalogues which they order from. These display the titles the publisher produces, and contact information.
Visit local bookstores to find out what writing conferences are coming up in your area. Attending writing conferences and joining the writing and publishing associations that put them on is an excellent resource. Many writing associations have web sites which have link pages to publishers.
Local Authors are great to talk with if they are doing a signing at a bookstore or event. They enjoy talking with other writers and will share information and are truly appreciative in your interest (especially if you purchase their book).
The Internet is a vast resource. It’s tough though if a person doesn’t know what to search for. If a writer is seeking a local publisher, they may not know the name of the company. Some key phrases might be: “submission guidelines“, “(your country) Book Publishers”, “Publishers in (your local area)”. Your local government web site might also offer information on getting published, especially if you look up “Getting an ISBN number”, “Books Published (in your country/area)”, “Copy writing your book”.
Finally, search the Internet for online publishing and writers groups, forums, blogs, and social networking sites. There is a vast amount of information published in all of these areas.
As a side note, it is getting really tough these days on the Internet to distinguish the difference between a traditional publisher (a publishing company will offer a contract/royalties to purchase and market your book) and print-on-demand (POD) publishers (A company who will take your work and produce it in limited runs. You pay the complete cost of production – you self publish and market the book).
If a company suggests you send in your manuscript and they will supply a quote, then you haven’t found a traditional publisher. Traditional Publisher sites have Submission Guideline pages, found normally under their “About” or “For Authors” pages.
Patricia L. Atchison,
Publisher, Wood Lily Publishers
Tags: Getting Published, Manuscript Submission, submitting manuscripts to publishers