Issue #17 October 2015
Launching Your Book
Last year I entered my novel, A Long Winter’s Night, in the 22nd
Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards. I was discouraged to not
even receive an honorable mention, however, I did receive many suggestions for
improvements and encouraging notes about my skills and future as a writer. So,
during the summer, I used those suggestions to edit and rewrite my novel. My
sisters/editors, God bless them, told me that those changes have made an
incredible difference in the entire story. With my confidence restored, I took an
online workshop about launching your book with Kimberley Grabas of Your
Writer Platform and Joel
Friedlander of The Book Designer. They later sent out a fabulous and
informative Book Launch Toolkit that
included several blank worksheets and an instruction booklet. What hit me in
the instructions is the importance of have an established writer’s platform
whether you self-publish or go through traditional publishers and agents.
Apparently, you can have a good book launch without a writer’s platform.
However, if you want to truly “make it” as an author, you HAVE to have that
platform in place.
I’ve decided to try to publish my trilogy via an agent, who
will have greater knowledge than me about the ins and outs of writing
contracts. So I took a step back and made a new TO-DO list, which started with writing
the synopsis and sending it out to agents. Cold sweat immediately popped out
all over my body and my mind went blank.
Synopsis Terrors
I think we can agree that we all love writing. It’s the one
thing that everyone reading this blog has in common. We either currently write
our hearts out, trying to publish our work, or we want to take all those pent
up emotions and scribble them across the screen. It’s the whole reason we’ve
gone to the trouble to set and monitor our goals, which I hope you’ve mastered.
Whether you’ve already completed that first novel using the marvelous tool of
self-discipline or you’re just beginning it, we all have to face the terror of writing
a synopsis for our book. Agents need them. Publishers want them. Writers
shutter at the thought of writing them. However, just as writing flash fiction
is excellent practice for compressing our writing, so condensing our book to a
one page synopsis is an excellent way to learn how to write the back blub for
your book. So take three deep, even breaths, then exhale, because here we go!
First of all, don’t try to jump into writing your synopsis
without first planning your route. That means research and read about HOW to
create a synopsis. There are literally thousands of suggestion out there, so you
need to be careful to select credible sources.
My search took me to two good sources: Jane
Friedman and Glen C.
Strathy. Jane Friedman impressed me because, not only has she been in the
publishing industry for 15 years, but she also has “expertise in digital media
and the future of authorship.” Plus she’s a guest speaker at book fairs and
conferences around the world. When I read Glen’s profile, I learned that he is
already an accomplished freelance business writer. He also has several awards
for independent publishing and on for being a book reviewer. So I chose Jane
and Glen’s as references for two reason: 1) for their experience and 2) for
their readability.
Now I had to take the second step: read and study what they
had to say about the synopsis. Jane’s article is specifically about “How to
Write a Synopsis” and it referenced Glen’s article named “How to Write a Book
Now.” The specific reference was about the eight basic plot element, which I
thought I knew. However, I was surprised by the new terminology in Glen’s
article (i.e. story goal instead of plot, consequences if the goal isn’t
reached and requirements to achieve the goal). Glen looks at a story from a
more practical standpoint or actual motivation for the characters. While Jane’s
article is clean and to the point with bulleted items for what to include and
what mistakes to delete.
The third step is obviously to practice writing the synopsis
according to their instructions. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get it right
the first time. My first attempt resulted in an overly detailed 26-page
synopsis. Unusable, of course. My second attempt was better. It turned out to
be four pages. Still too long. Now I need to go back to the articles, reread
and actually use Glen’s suggestion of using 5” by 8” cards to organize the
eight elements of fiction. I’ll let you know how that turns out. The main point
is the old “never give up, never surrender.” The only real reason to fail is if
you quit trying. Which reminds me of a story my mother-in-law told me. Ma is a
terrific artist who used to give private art lessons when her children were
young. Apparently, a young woman came to her wanting to learn how to do fashion
drawing for newspapers and magazines. After several lessons, Ma was saddened to
see that woman had no talent for drawing. She tried to gently dissuade the
young woman from a goal that seemed unattainable. However, the young woman was
determined. She practiced continuously, continued her lessons with Ma, and
studied the techniques of the current fashion illustrators. I shouldn’t have to
tell you the ending of this story, but I will. The young women became a fashion
illustrator for the Chicago Tribune.
Does this exemplify our adapted motto or what? So even during those inevitable
times of discouragement, remember to “never give up, never surrender.”
Writing Challenge #16: Dialogue Delight
Last quarter, I challenged you to enter the Bartleby Snopes
Contest, which was writing a story composed entirely of dialogue WITHOUT using “he
said/she said” tags we’re used to using. I hope some of you accepted that
challenge. Even though it sounded like a lot of fun, I was too tied up with
other writing to do it. Let’s hope we all do better with the next challenge.
Writing Challenge #17: Write From What You Know
We have a couple of options for this writing challenge. Notice in our
list below that October 15, 2015 is the deadline to submit a story for the RROFIHE TROPHY. You could take something from personal experience
and fictionalize it. We also have the topics for CHICKEN SOUP for the remainder of the year. The next deadline is
October 30, 2015. These are virtually flash fiction pieces, so give it a shot.
Remember to use the plot graph to keep yourself on track.
Still haven’t gotten my author website back, so we’re taking a
sabbatical from our writers’ group, Contributors’
Corner, until further notice. But don’t let that stop you from writing!
If you’re not receiving your copy of The Prodigal Writer, please contact me. Or if you’d like to start
receiving copies of our newsletter, you can contact me, too. Just click my name
below to send an email.
Until next quarter, live well, love fully and write with all your heart!
Venues for Writing
I still don’t have gotten this list on Google Docs yet. Please
accept my apology.
Contests
If you still aren’t receiving Hope
Clark’s Funds for Writers, here are
upcoming opportunities:
RROFIHE
TROPHY
Genre: Literary Fiction
Word Count: 3,500 to 5,000
Compensation: $500, trophy, announcement and
publication on anderbo.com
Deadline: October 15, 2015
Special Instructions: story previously unpublished and
author previously unpublished on Anderbol; email submissions only. Please read
their instructions.
Magazines
CHICKEN SOUP
Genre:
Real Stories that are Uplifting
Word
Count: 1,200 or less
Compensation:
$200
Deadlines:
October 30,
2015:
The Joy of Less
Alzheimer’s and
Dementias Family Caregiving
November 30,
2015:
Angels and
Miracles
Military
Families
The Spirit of
America
AE SCIFI
Genre:
Science Fiction
Word
Count: 500-3,000
Compensation: $0.07 per
word
Deadline:
Special Instructions: E-mail submissions only; Subject Line: “INT Sub: ‘Story Title’ (word count, words);
Cover Letter; Include your name, byline (if different); Brief Bio (50 words)
AE welcomes submissions from both established and emerging authors. We publish exclusively science fiction, though our interpretation of the genre can be quite inclusive. We are not soliciting poetry or screenplays at this time.
THE THREEPENNY REVIEW
Genre:
|
Critical Article
|
Stories or Memoirs
|
Table Talk
|
Poetry
|
Word Count:
|
1,200-2,500
|
4,000 or less
|
1,000
|
100 lines or less
|
Compensation:
|
$400
|
$400
|
$200
|
$200
|
Deadline:
|
Open Reading January through June
|
|||
NOTE:
|
No submissions are read or accepted between July and
December.
No simultaneous submissions. No previously published
submissions.
Submit ONLY one story or article or five poems.
Responds within two months.
|
|||
The
Threepenny Review is a quarterly, international magazine which buys first
serial rights in our print and digital editions, and the copyright then reverts
to the author immediately upon publication.