Anything is Possible
By Jerry D. Simmons | May 21st, 2010 | 1 Comment » (Click to add yours!)
There is no easy road to becoming a successful author. Successful is defined as the ability of one to make a living writing. Anything beyond that takes talent, a lot of luck, timing and following the proper steps to publishing success. Paying tens of thousands of dollars to have an aggressive promoter provide you with a special “success package” that includes seminars, workshops, personal coaching and messages from bestselling authors will only drain your pocketbook and not get you closer to publishing success.
There are no secrets and never any shortcuts! Having spent more than two decades in the New York publishing world I can honestly say that many great writers with terrific books never achieved publishing success even though their publisher spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and let out all the stops to try. It’s neither easy nor quick to become a successful author and sitting down in front of a large crowd of people who all paid a lot of money to listen to how anyone can become a bestselling author is totally bogus.
Anything is possible, if a writer will practice their craft by writing lots and lots of material. Hire a professional editor to help them become a better writer. Focus on becoming the best writer you can be. Don’t fall for get rich quick schemes and never let your dream die. Publishing is a highly competitive business and there are over one million new titles published each year. If you do the right things including reading and researching competitive titles and authors, you have as good a chance as any to be the one who becomes the next big bestselling author.
Tags: Book Marketing, Book Publishing, Book Sales, Editing, Hybrid Publishing Model, Self-Published Author, Self-Publishing, writing
Editorial Critique
By Jerry D. Simmons | May 20th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Once you have finished writing, the manuscript is not quite complete. Before you make decisions on the next step, it is very important to get an editorial critique. There are a variety of ways to publish and the best course is following your heart and make every attempt at achieving your goal. Don’t let friends or fellow writers discourage you from your dream. However, you should submit your writing to an objective professional who can give you honest feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of your manuscript.
Searching for an agent with a weak manuscript will be wasted time and energy. The manuscript is not complete until you have a professional editor read for feedback and critique your writing. Once the critique is complete you can self-edit to the best of your ability before attempting that next step in the publishing process. If your choice is to publish on your own, then spending money on production and marketing with a less than stellar manuscript will result in bad word of mouth which can be disastrous for sales.
Every publisher worries about content and whether they have packaged and priced the product correctly followed by a focused marketing campaign. But all is for naught if the writing is poor, the story doesn’t flow, dialogue is shoddy and the characters are not fully developed. Publishing companies cannot sell a poorly written book anymore than they can sell great literary writing; it has to be a good story or message written in a manner that is pleasing to the consumer. Who better to help make that decision that an objective professional editor. Consider a critique; it’s the next logical step after you have finished your writing.
Tags: Book Publishing, Book Sales, Editing, writing
Write Your Own Story
By Jerry D. Simmons | April 9th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Many times I attend writer’s conferences and am asked about the market for a specific genre or sub-genre, as though current sales would be reason enough to invest time in writing for that category. This is the wrong approach, writers must write their own story in their own words. The background, experience and life history of each writer is what brings that uniqueness to their work and separates them from all other writers.
Writers should not try and emulate another writer’s style, chapter length, or characterization. Writers need to write their own story and not worry about the market, sales potential or whether their characters fit the times. These are questions for your editor and every writer, regardless of their success level must utilize the skills of an editor.
Rarely can any writer copy the exact style of a bestselling author and their attempt is highlighted by their inadequate storyline which often times makes the work not publishable. Writers should be inspired by the craft and encouraged by their ability to tell a story or share a message. Publishing is not about great writing, it’s about good storytelling.
Tags: Book Sales, Booksellers, eBook, Editing, writing
Writing and Editing
By Jerry D. Simmons | April 2nd, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Have you ever wondered why we write? I’ve never considered myself a writer, but I do get enjoyment out of putting words on paper. I’ve written one book with plans for updating and revising, and am penning a new one. The work is daunting and I struggle with words. Thankfully I have a friend who helps with my editing.
I’ve spent my entire working life in publishing and it wasn’t until I started writing that I realized the importance of a good editor. I’m fortunate in that I have worked with many great editors in New York. But I never quite realized how important they were to the success of publishing in general. I hate to say that they were often taken for granted.
Without editors and their objective yet caring and professional set of eyes, I’m afraid many words and sentences just wouldn’t be as clear as they become after the work of a great editor. I’m partial to editors, because their skills and ability clear up my own words. If you have a good editor, then thank them, if you don’t, then find one. Writing and editing go hand-in-hand. For those who believe editors change the meaning of your writing, then all I can say is, you aren’t working with the right editor.
Tags: Book Publishing, eBook, Editing, Hybrid Publishing Model, Self-Published Author, Self-Publishing, writing
Editing For Success! by Lynnette Baum
By Jerry D. Simmons | March 30th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
Whether you are content editing or line editing, editing is the key to a polished manuscript. Content editing means reading for flow, evaluating the placement of ideas or events and ensuring that point of view is consistent, throughout. Action, stories and events should follow a logical order, where stories flow easily and plot points appear on cue. Line editing is reading for grammatical accuracy. This means that your basic grammar is correct, that repetitive or redundant phrases are eliminated, and that adjectives/modifiers are used appropriately and only when necessary.
Most of us love specific words, and use them over and over in our prose. Sharpening our awareness of such a habit is the first step to refining editorial skills. As part of polishing your manuscript through content editing, identify over used words or phrases and eliminate them. For example, one popular writer (with several fine books to his credit) repeated the same word, again and again, throughout his novels. The word was “smirk.” Every other page, some character smirked. The hero smirked. The villain smirked. The sidekick smirked. He must have used at least 500 smirks in a single book. Obviously, the author was unaware of this redundancy. Unfortunately, these “smirks” made it past his editor and onto the shelf.
Line editing is wonderful for removing pointless thats, ands, buts or other meaningless words. When done correctly, it’s like pressing your manuscript through a sieve. Everything extraneous or redundant is sifted away. What remains is a literary gem, a story faceted with creative phrases and memorable metaphors.
Need I say, dump your clichés? A cliché is a phrase that’s been so overused it has no meaning. The online dictionary defines it as “a trite, stereotyped expression; a sentence or phrase…that has lost originality, ingenuity and impact by long overuse…” Phrases like “mad as a hatter” or “monkey brained” are clichés. Our bodies are only as healthy as their individual cells. Similarly, our manuscripts are only as interesting as our individual words and phrases.
Finally, stellar writing requires a stellar vocabulary. Nothing makes a manuscript stand out like brilliant verbiage. This doesn’t mean each sentence should be packed with four and five syllable words. Sometimes we get the biggest emotional punch from short, sharp words that pop. Mastering writing requires an intimate knowledge of language. Pursue your love of words by studying them. Don’t be afraid to use a thesaurus. Find one you like and make it your counselor.
Editing is the last step for a good writer. Clarity, fluency and polish depend on editing skills. As an editor, your best education is to read, read, read. The more you read, the more you hone an intuitive sense for structure and flow. Years ago, I bought a book about Robert Frost, my favorite poet. In this book, they showed a first draft of his poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay. I was shocked. It was mediocre writing. But, after editing, it became one of his most powerful poems. Remember, quality editing makes good writing great!
Lynnette Baum – President/SCWA
TheRightWriter Creative Communications
17595 Harvard, Suite C-144
Irvine, CA 92614
www.the-right-writer.com
949.654.3891 – 949.725.7849
Tags: Editing, writing
Writing to the Market
By Jerry D. Simmons | March 17th, 2010 | 2 Comments » (Click to add yours!)
This is a big mistake. Write the story that you want to write, not what you suspect the market wants. Whether it’s a novel or non-fiction, your background, experience and insight are what make your story unique. No other writer anywhere on the planet can duplicate your own writing!
Book sales are cyclical. If you look at the past 30 years you’d see the highs and lows of category sales. What publishers try to do is catch the rise to the top and avoid the dip to the lows. As an author, there is no way you can try to match or write to that cycle.
Forget about market timing. It won’t work. Write the story you were destined to write and focus on making it entertaining, enlightening and informative. Consumers will always buy good books so make yours as good as possible.
Tags: Book Marketing, Book Sales, eBook, writing
Self-Editing
By Jerry D. Simmons | March 1st, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
I’ve been fortunate to have toured with lots of authors and I was always fascinated with how they wrote. How they created stories, characters and pulled together the information for their books. The one constant that came from these discussions was the fact that self-editing is a very slippery slope.
Authors have told me time and again that going back to correct the little things in your writing is a never ending process. The manuscript will never be as good as you want. That is why you need an editor, someone who can help you with the process of laying the manuscript out in a logical sequence and help with character or story development.
If you’ve never worked with a true professional, then you need one. Editors help writers establish their voice and improve their writing, self-editing is a long road that never ends.
Tags: writing
Be Your Own Best Editor in 5 Easy Steps by Diane O’Connell
By Jerry D. Simmons | February 15th, 2010 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
If you’re like many writers, getting that first draft down can give you a rush of excitement. The words flow freely, the ideas come at lightning speed, the book seems to be coming together just as you had in your head. But then you read it back and — oh, boy, does it need fixing! The thought of cleaning up the “mess” you created is about as appealing as cleaning out a garage stuffed with a quarter century of accumulated stuff — and just as overwhelming.
Many first-time authors begin the revising process by going through their manuscript line by line and painstakingly “editing”: correcting syntax, adding some things, taking out other things, cleaning up punctuation and spelling. Often, this process can seem like torture. And there’s a good reason why.
Revising and editing is a multi-stepped task. You may clean everything up and make it look pretty, but your manuscript may still not work because you haven’t addressed the underlying issues that need to be fixed. To be your own best editor, you need a plan. Here it is:
1. Read your entire draft. Grab a cup of coffee or tea, and have a pad of paper at your side. As you read, make some general notes and impressions on the pad — what things are working for you, what things don’t, places that seem overwritten, others that need beefing up. Avoid the temptation to correct anything on the draft; that will only slow you down. What you’re looking for is the big picture.
2. Identify the problems. Take a look at your comments and see if a pattern emerges. Do you have problems with structure, character development, awkward writing, point of view, length, plot, subplot, etc.? In all probability, there will be multiple issues that need to be addressed. Make a list of these.
3. Brainstorm new ideas. Take each element that needs fixing and at the top of a piece of paper, write it out (e.g., “Shelly’s motivations for leaving her husband are weak”). You can also do this on a chapter-by-chapter basis. Next, draw a line under the problem. Then brainstorm all the possible solutions to the problem. Write more than you think you’ll need. Write some crazy ones, too. Don’t censure yourself. When you’re done, review what you’ve come up with and circle the solution you think will work best. You might even end up circling two and trying both to see which one actually works better. Determine how you’re going to tackle these revisions: One at a time? Or more organically? There’s no right answer – just whatever makes the most sense to you.
4. Rewrite — don’t tinker. If more than one-third of your manuscript (or of a section) needs to be revised, put it aside and start fresh. Yes, I know that sounds like a lot of work, but believe me, this is the most effective way to revise a manuscript that needs more than just simple polishing. The problem with trying to fix what’s already on the page is that your brain becomes wedded to what’s already there. It’s difficult to come up with a fresh way of thinking when you’re faced with what already is. Somehow, the very fact that words are put on a page in black and white lends a certain legitimacy to them. Plus, you know how hard you worked to get a particular passage right, which makes it really hard to let go of. (This is why the “director’s cut” of films is never as good as the released version; because directors can’t separate the work they put into a scene from whether it serves the story. That’s why we have film editors.)
5. Make it sing. Now that you’ve fixed the big-picture problems, it’s time to go back over the revised manuscript and polish your prose. Look for redundancies, too much reliance on adjectives and adverbs, clichés, weak nouns and verbs, dialogue that goes on too long, paragraphs that need to be broken up, poor word choice, problems with syntax, punctuation, and spelling.
Putting in the time to revise your manuscript the right way will pay off — with a better, leaner, more marketable story or nonfiction book. As any successful writer will tell you: Writing is re-writing.
Diane O’Connell Literary Services
Specializing in Working with First-Time Authors
Fiction and Non-Fiction
Find out about her very affordable Express Coaching service: http://www.docls.com
Or call (718) 268-9282
“I can state categorically that my first novel would never been published without Diane.”
— Cody McFadyen, international bestselling author of Shadow Man, The Face of Death, and The Darker Side (Bantam).
Tags: Book Publishing, Hybrid Publishing Model, Self-Published Author, Self-Publishing, writing
Publishing Without Editorial is a Bad Idea
By Jerry D. Simmons | February 4th, 2010 | 1 Comment » (Click to add yours!)
Writers should publish their manuscript according to their own individual goals. Some want to set the bar as high as Oprah, a major motion picture, or the New York Times bestseller list. All fine as long as that goal is grounded in reality. Meaning, authors must understand the market for their books. They need to recognize that books are published according to a set pattern, a formula, that encompasses many parts. The biggest problem with most Independently published books is that they leave out many of these parts and the result is a book that does not fit the market. The biggest omission is failure to work with a professional freelance editor, before publication. It doesn’t matter how much money you spend on marketing or top quality production, if your book is not edited, your marketing will not be effective.
Tags: Book Publishing, Hybrid Publishing Model, Self-Published Author, Self-Publishing, writing
When Your Writing Is Attacked — How to Cope With Soul-Crushing Rejection by Diane O’Connell
By Jerry D. Simmons | December 15th, 2009 | No Comments » (Click to add yours!)
At the beginning of my online writing seminars, the students each introduce themselves. On more than one occasion, a student will reveal that he or she is coming to the class after having experienced a devastating rejection. By that I mean, not the standard rejection you get when you send your work out to get published, but the more personal kind that rips apart your writing with no constructive feedback, the kind of rejection that feels as though you are being personally attacked, and leaves you wondering if you were crazy to ever think you could write.
One of my students had entered her manuscript in a contest. As she said, “two of the judges had really helpful critiques, but the 3rd really ripped me to shreds. I’ve been having a hard time writing and revising since, wondering if I even have any talent, if I’m just wasting my time, etc, etc.” My heart goes out this writer. I know exactly how she feels, because I’ve been there.
In my case, the nasty rejection came from a teacher I had revered. I was utterly and completely devastated. I stopped writing. I became completely blocked. The worst part of it all was that I allowed another person to take away from me something that gave me joy. It was only after reading Julia Cameron’s wonderful book, The Artist’s Way, that I healed myself and began writing again.
Here are some ways you can cope with this kind of soul-crushing rejection:
Step away from the emotion. The natural response to getting a nasty rejection is to want to jump out a window, burn the manuscript, cry into a pillow. It’s okay to feel that way, and crying can be cathartic. But before you do anything more drastic, allow your emotions to calm down.
Keep it in perspective. If you look at the quote from the writer above, you’ll see that she got helpful critiques from two judges, but it was the nasty critique that had the greatest impact on her. Don’t shut out the positive or helpful responses or put too much credence in the negative ones.
Ask yourself what else might be going on. Sometimes people are jealous and attack you. Others are looking to make a mark and go about it in the wrong way. Some may have suffered devastating criticism in the past and are really getting back at the person who hurt them. Still others are looking to stroke their own egos by bringing someone else down. And some just want to be Simon Cowell.
Read between the invective to see if the critique has any validity. Easier said than done, I know. But sometimes people get really ticked off over a particular thing and allow their feelings to run away with them. For instance, let’s say your spelling and grammar are not up to par. Well, it could be that your characters are well drawn, your story compelling, your dialog sparkling, but the reader goes ballistic over writing mechanics. So, maybe that’s something you need to work on.
Get back on the horse. Don’t stop writing – not even for a day. Write because you love to write, because you have to write, because writing brings you joy. Don’t ever allow anyone to take that away from you.
Diane O’Connell Literary Services
Specializing in Working with First-Time Authors
Fiction and Non-Fiction
Find out about her very affordable Express Coaching service: http://www.docls.com
Or call (718) 268-9282
“I can state categorically that my first novel would never have been published without Diane.” — Cody McFadyen, international bestselling author of Shadow Man, The Face of Death, The Darker Side, and Abandoned (Bantam).
Tags: Book Publishing, writing
