These tips are synopsized from the Bookbaby Blog which has many good articles for all writers.
Write with Authority
Here you will find resources, rules, tips and techniques for writing, editing, and publishing your best work
Monday, March 14, 2022
Ten "C"crets to a Rewarding Writing Career as an Author
Monday, December 20, 2021
What Writers Need to Know About Publishing and Imprints
As writers and poets, after writing a poem, a piece, blog article, or book, our goal is to publish. Today there are three main paths to do that: traditional, hybrid, or self-publishing. These are besides submitting short pieces or poems to literary magazines or blogs and usually means seeking to publish novella length or longer manuscripts. Going from manuscript to published is a journey more complex today because of the many options. The term “imprint” is synonymous with publisher. You or a company you form could also be the publisher.
Traditional
Traditional
book publishing is when a publisher offers the author a contract and, in turn,
prints, publishes, and sells your book through booksellers and other retailers.
The publisher buys the right to publish your book and pays you royalties from
sales, typically 8-10 percent.
If you want
to publish a book traditionally, most writers need to find an agent. To find
one, you must identify the right category for your writing. If you are or want
to be a non-fiction writer, you will need to submit a book proposal with three
sample chapters and a synopsis of each chapter. If you are writing fiction, you
must have a completed manuscript.
Once these
steps are accomplished, you’re ready to write a query letter to send to
potential agents whose job it is to ‘sell’ your book to a publisher. There are
no guarantees that an agent will take you on. Their domestic fee is usually 15%
of your book royalties.
The five
biggest publishers in 2021 are Simon and Schuster with 16 imprints,
Penquin/Random House with 23 imprints, Hachette Book Group with 16 imprints,
Harper Collins with 5 imprints, and Macmillan, a German company, with 7 imprints.
These imprints are sub-companies that publish under unique names.
Hybrid Publishers
A hybrid press or hybrid publisher is a publishing house that operates with a
different revenue model than traditional publishing while keeping the rest of
the practices of publishing the same. The revenue of hybrid publishers
comes from both book sales and fees charged for the execution of their
publishing services, such as editing, design (the cover also), layout, proofing,
production and printing, and marketing. Some of these hybrid publishers
offer package deals at different tier levels and costs, usually starting at
$500 and going as high as $10,000. Also, the length of the manuscript adds to
the cost the longer it is.
Others
do it all for 50% of royalties like TCK Publishing with no author fees. Each
hybrid, including some vanity presses, have different terms, so you must do
your due diligence and compare. A list of 42 others can be found at https://www.tckpublishing.com/list-of-hybrid-publishers/
Self-publishing
This is the publication of media by its author without
the involvement of an established publisher. The term usually refers to written
media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy
using POD (print on demand) technology, which prints each book as ordered. In
self-publishing, the author bears all the costs and risks but earns a higher
share of the profit per sale, which could be as high as 70% (Amazon KDP) after printing
costs are subtracted.
Steps on how to self-publish a book, all
done by the author:
- Write the
book
- Self-edit
the book
- Professionally edit and format the book (hire an editor)
- Get
illustrations (if you’re writing a children’s book)
- Get a book
cover design (you do it or hire)
- pre-Market the
book
- Publish (print/ebook/audio)
- Market and promote including Book Launch
- Keep up with
book maintenance
- Work with a
self-publishing company, order copies
Some
self-publishers or aggregators you should check out are: Amazon/KDP,
Digital2Digital, IngramSpark, Bookbaby, Lulu, Blurb, StreetLib, Barnes & Noble
Press, PublishDrive, and Diggypod. Some only produce ebooks, like Rakuten Kobo
or Smashwords, many produce print copies and ebooks both. They have different
terms and prices, and in many cases offer services like hybrid publishers do.
Also, they have varying royalty rates and distribution channels. There are over
1,000 to choose from, so again, perform due diligence.
These companies have platforms where you can upload your manuscript and cover, preview it online, hit approve, and your print book or ebook is available within 24-72 hours either for next to nothing in cost or for agreed-upon fees. If choosing to self-publish, it’s best to produce both print and digital ebook versions. Audio is trickier, and recommended.
About publishers and imprints
Firstly,
don’t get copyright and publisher mixed up. You as the author are the copyright
holder, whether you register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office or not. The
publisher is the publisher, with certain rights that you as the copyright
holder have ceded to them, such as permission to use your work, a percentage of
your royalties on book sales, or where your book will be distributed. Any
services the publisher performs are in a contract, especially with traditional
publishers. With hybrid and self-publishing, the terms are usually what’s
contained in your selected platform as you use their services. Usually, this
means you abide by their stated requirements and formats to publish your book
and there isn’t a separate contract.
For
example, on Amazon KDP I can utilize their Cover Creator software to make a
front, back, and spine for my book, or I can upload one I might have created
myself or hired a designer to do for me. I like Amazon KDP since they can
produce a printed softcover, printed hardcover, and ebook version of my book.
Secondly, whoever assigns the ISBN number to your book is important. Every book and sometimes ebooks, needs its own ISBN. This number is available in the U.S. from Bowker for a fee of $125 for one or $295 for 10. My Company owns a block of ISBN’s and sells them at $60 apiece with the designation, like KDP, “independently published.” The publisher's name assigned to the ISBN is the imprint, or publisher. With many self-publishers like Amazon KDP, you can use their ISBN at no cost. However, as the registrant of the ISBN, they are the imprint unless specifically registered in your name as the author, i.e. independently published. Amazon also uses their own numbers called ASINs.
For example, below is how Amazon KDP treats ISBNs:
ISBN options |
Cost |
Publishing |
Imprint |
Publisher
field in the Book’s detail page |
Requirements |
KDP
Free ISBN |
Free |
Only with KDP |
Automatically registered as
“Independently published” in Bowker |
It will show imprint name
“Independently published”. |
We’ll register your free ISBN,
so no further requirements are needed from your end. |
Your
own ISBN |
You cover the cost of the ISBN |
You can publish outside of KDP |
Register your own imprint with
Bowker or local ISBN agency |
It will show the imprint name
you enter to publish your book. |
When entering your book’s details ensure the
information you are providing matches with the information you’ve registered
in Bowker. You won’t be able to publish your book if there are any mismatches
between this information. |
Regarding
the “Publishing” field: This is key. Many authors set up their own businesses
just so they can be the publisher or imprint. In the chart above,
although Amazon is the largest retailer for books (67% of ebooks), if you use
their ISBN you are limited to them. If you have your own imprint or use ABLiA
Media LLC, my company, you can publish on KDP and anywhere else you want.
It’s
most advantageous, therefore, to have the ISBN under your control.
In
a future post, I’ll describe how to set up your own “Publishing” company or
imprint. It’s not that difficult nor expensive.
Saturday, December 18, 2021
What are First Serial Rights?
The first goal of any writer or poet is to write, ideally something original in their voice that captures their readers. You can only capture readers’ minds or hearts if you publish and they can read your words. Luckily, thousands of literary outlets and journals exist to do just that and are eager for good content. When you first submit an original piece or poem and are selected, paid or not, they will require First Serial Rights.
Here’s
a typical Term and Condition:
“We
are entitled to first serial and reprint rights. That is, we are allowed to be
the first publisher of your
work before the rights revert to you, and we are then allowed to republish your
work if it is chosen for an
award or an anthology. These publication rights extend to all formats (digital
and print) and locations, and
once your poem is accepted for an anthology, you agree it can be featured in
our digital and print issues,
which are sold to [publication name or org name] readers.”
By submitting, you are telling them they are the first to use your piece.
Second, you are giving them the right to republish that piece. Sometimes it
might say “First North American Serial Rights (FNASR)” meaning only pertaining
to North America, but increasingly and with online publications and the
internet, “world” is more common. In the example above “all formats and
locations” means the world.
All
writers or poets submitting their work to literary outlets or publications,
whether print or digital/online, will have to agree to language similar to this
in order to be published if selected. If you don’t agree, withdraw your
submission, since it is unlikely the wording will change. This right of the
publisher, “first serial and reprint rights” is always implied. It’s your job
as the submitter to make sure there are limits when the publisher can issue
your work, and for how long he holds the rights to do so. Generally, two years
should be the limit. All rights revert to you (as in the example above), at
some point, which should be clear.
During
this time and afterward, it is not only courteous but accepted practice that if
you submit the same piece to another publication; you state where and when it
was first printed. This usually is done on the piece itself. Reprints of your work that previously
appeared in another publication are “second serial rights.” These rights are
nonexclusive, meaning you can submit or sell the piece to many publications at
the same time.
In
other words, your piece or poem is not “exclusive” to the publication that
first printed it. If they ask for that, consider what that means to you and if
you agree. Many publications accept reprints, so think of that too.
Other rights to consider are “simultaneous
rights” that give you the ability to sell work to publications that don’t have
overlapping circulations, and “all rights,” which means you sell all the rights
to your work to the buyer, and you never get another nickel for the piece, no
matter how many times they publish it.
One thing. You always own the copyright in the
piece, and as the author that always remains with you.
Monday, December 6, 2021
Guest Blog
How to Incorporate Feedback Without Destroying Your Story
By Chandra Shekhar, December 6, 2021
Feedback tells
us what we are doing right and what we could be doing better. The advice and
suggestions we receive from beta readers, fellow authors, and other sources can
help us transform our flawed-but-promising story into a publishable piece or
even a glittering masterpiece.
Ideally, the process will be almost
painless.
The reality, however, is quite different, as
any author who has ever attended a critique session can attest. You go into the
session expecting to receive little criticism and lots of praise, but often it
turns out to be the other way around. You find yourself assailed from all sides
by brilliant suggestions that have one simple flaw — they will require you to
completely gut your story and rewrite it from scratch.
It is a chastening
experience. Even the thickest-skinned writers can’t help but feel disheartened
at moments like these and fantasize about skinning their colleagues with a
blunt knife.
What’s the solution? How does a writer
handle adverse—but well-intentioned—criticism?
I don’t have an answer for this in the
general case, but I have discovered one trick that’s helpful in certain
situations when a reader points out what appears to be a serious or even fatal flaw
in your text. This trick not only makes it almost painless to fix the flaw, it
actually deepens the plot and strengthens the story.
The trick I’ve found is to fix by
incorporating. Let me explain with a couple of examples how that works.
Example 1: Let’s say you’ve written a play in which the following dialogue appears:
John: We should leave soon.
Jane: Leave where?
John: Where? To the reception at
the Chamber of Commerce, or course.
Jane: Oh.
John: So will you go and get
ready? It’s getting late.
Jane: Let’s just stay home.
John (staring at Jane): Are you
kidding? Don’t you know how important it is for my job that I show my face at
this event?
Jane: Screw your job.
Someone in your
critique group tells you that the dialogue doesn’t ring true, because Jane is
not the type who will swear at her husband. The criticism is valid, you feel,
and wonder whether you should change the dialogue slightly:
Jane: Stop worrying about your job.
This addresses the criticism, but at the expense of losing some punch in the dialogue. Here is a better way to rewrite the dialogue:
John (staring at Jane): Are you
kidding? Don’t you know how important it is for my job that I show my face at
this event?
Jane: Screw your job.
John (open-mouthed): What’s the
matter with you? I’ve never heard you swear before. At least, not at me.
Jane (beginning to tear up):
Sorry, John. I’m not myself today. Ever since I got that letter from Cecilia.
John: …
See what I did
there? I incorporated the criticism into the dialogue, and by doing so,
I not only fixed the flaw but also deepened the interaction
between John and Jane.
This is a simplistic example chosen for the
purpose of illustration, but the point it makes is broadly valid. Whenever you
encounter criticism that rings true but would be painful to address, try to
incorporate it into the text itself. This will make your text critique-proof,
at least as regards that particular flaw. The process will be relatively
painless. And it will add depth to your narrative.
Example 2: This
is a paragraph from my first draft of a short story about a serial killer:
In the story, the above scene takes place in a US city in August. One reader wondered why Fiona would wear an overcoat in mid-summer. For some reason, I had overlooked this very obvious flaw. Unfortunately, the plot requires the event to happen in August and Fiona to have her overcoat on. How to reconcile these two conflicting requirements?
My first
impulse was to relocate this story to the southern hemisphere, where it would
be winter in August. Then I realized many other elements in the story would
make no sense if I did that.
Then I came up with this simple fix:
With the remaining officers out on emergency patrol, Fiona and Prince were left to man the precinct office. The weather that summer had been unseasonably cold, and as the sun set and the evening shadows crept over town, the office grew chilly. Prince moved his desk closer to the heating vent while Fiona kept her overcoat on. Both kept glancing at the loudly ticking wall clock, anxiously waiting for midnight.
Adding that
single sentence not only addresses the (valid) criticism but also brings in an eerie
element that contributes to the feeling of dread that pervades the story.
Mission accomplished!
Chandra
Shekhar came to the US from India in 1987 to study Artificial
Intelligence. After a decade of work on self-driving vehicles, facial
recognition, and video surveillance, he switched to the less lucrative but more benign
field of journalism. After studying science communication at the University of
California, he worked for several years as a freelance writer for the Los
Angeles Times, Cell, Princeton University, and other outlets. He
taught for a year at the writing program at Stanford University, which inspired
him to write his first novel, Mock My Words, and launched his career in
fiction writing.
He is
currently working on Thirst for Power, a novel about the intertwined
lives of an idealistic young man, a scheming politician, a romantic professor
of English, and an enigmatic social worker, set against a background of
political, social, and climate change.
Chandra is also a prolific writer of short stories, flash fiction, and humorous verse. An illustrated collection of his shorter works titled Unintended Consequences, Illogical Extremes, and Other Ironies of Life is in progress.
Here are links to his novels:
Mock My Words and Unlight, both on Kindle