The Writer's Perspective by Maria Schneider

Hi Writers,
Just wanted to say a final farewell since I'm leaving WD a little earlier than expected. Thank you so much for your comments, your well wishes and good thoughts and especially for reading this blog. I believe they'll be ending future postings to The Writer's Perspective but I'm starting a new blog at editorunleashed.com next week so please stop by and say hi.

I've so enjoyed my time here with you.
Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views

Thursday, October 02, 2008 4:24:57 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [13]

Friday, September 26, 2008

So long ... farewell...
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I wanted to let you all know that I'm leaving my position as editor of Writer's Digest effective October 10. I'll be checking in and trying to chat more before I leave.

The reason I'm leaving is that they've appointed a new editorial director (Jane Friedman, editorial director of Writer's Digest Books) and we have very different visions for the direction of the magazine, so it seemed like a good time for me to check out.

I don't have a plan B yet, but I'll be sure to let you all know if I do figure it out.

Hey, if nothing else there's always writing, right? ;)

I've always said, I was a writer when I took this gig and I'll be a writer when I leave. It's turned out to be more than just a decent gig, though, it's been an amazing ride. Thanks to all of you for sharing the ride with me.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Friday, September 26, 2008 2:06:19 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [35]

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Digital Publishing
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
There have been several recent articles on the independent publishing front that I wanted to draw your attention toward.

First is from Publishers Weekly Editor Sara Nelson who argues that POD technology is more cost-effective in the long run than traditional offset publishing: "The Summer of POD."

Here's a short excerpt:
"I understand that there are issues that still bother traditional publishers, like what to do about a POD book always being more expensive to produce than a “regular” offset one. To that I say, consider this: as the bestselling PublicAffairs/McClellan example proves, it's probably better for a publisher to take the reduced profit on an immediately available POD title rather than risk that the public losing interest in the two weeks it could take stores to restock traditional versions. Besides, when you factor in the cost of returns, you almost always will win by printing on demand."

Second, is this press release from the Perseus Books Group, announcing a new digital initiative to offer a full range of digital services--EBooks, POD, Short Print Run and marketing and distribution services. This new service is aimed at small, independent and self-publishers. If you fall into that category, I think this new service would be well worth exploring.

I'd love to hear about your experiences with self-publishing and where that trend is heading. Please leave a comment here or on our WD forum.

Keep Writing,
Maria

Digital Publishing | publishing news and views

Tuesday, September 16, 2008 6:57:34 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [4]

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Stephenie Meyer and the first draft
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I've been editing a feature for an upcoming issue of Writer's Digest. It's entitled "Roughing up your First Draft." There's a quote from Ernest Hemingway in the lead:

"The First Draft of Anything is Shit"

In light of this quote, I've been thinking about Stephenie Meyer, author of the mega-selling Twilight series.

I'm not much for vampire stories myself, but I know a lot about Meyer and the Twilight series, due to being an industry observer, not to mention the mother of a teenage girl (Olivia who you may know as a frequent commenter on this blog). ;)

Meyer—who in just a few years has achieved rock star status among teenage girls—has been writing what is probably the bestselling YA series since Harry Potter. She's selling lots and lots of books, not to mention movie options.

So you may have heard that this week, Meyer announced on her blog that she won't be releasing her most recent book because the first draft was somehow leaked out to the Internet. Of course, you can guess what happened from there, it's everywhere. Meyer is so distressed over the situation that she's now refusing to release the book.

Wow, it's difficult for any writer to imagine what they might do in that same situation. How about you, what would you do if your first draft was released on the Internet without your permission? Let's hear it, drop me a comment or you can discuss on our forum.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | the writing life

Thursday, September 11, 2008 4:43:12 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [21]

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Speaking of crazy slush piles...
Posted by Maria

Hi Writers,
Thanks to all who spoke their piece on my previous post. Great discussion, feel free to continue the dialogue.

The issue Charlotte Cook brought up though, about facing an overwhelming slush pile, is something that's a widespread problem in the publishing industry.

And I found an article on BookSeller.com "The Slush Pile Goes Online" that has a lot of great info about this move to get the public to vet the slush, so to speak. I've been thinking about this since around the Writer's Digest office we've been chatting about HarperCollins soon-to-launch Authonomy project, in which writers are invited to post lengthy excerpts from their novel for peer review and ostensibly recommendation for publication by HarperCollins. I'll post more on this when Authonomy actually launches.

But in the mean time, here's a brief excerpt from the Bookseller.com piece:

HarperCollins ahead

With its eye closely trained on digital opportunities, HarperCollins is now developing its own peer-review website for unpublished writers. Rahim Hirji, HC corporate strategy manager, says: "We realise there are talented would-be authors out there, and also recognise the onset of digital. We tried to think about those two things together to look at how we could utilise the internet in finding new talent."

Would-be authors will be asked to submit all, or at least 10,000 words, of their work so that it can be reviewed by other writers or those looking for talent. "We are using the democratic nature of the internet, where people like to give opinions and review and rate work," Hirji says. "There are two sides of the project: the cream of the crop rising in the sense of the best reviews, but also we will put the reviewers into their own leagues."

The site, authonomy.com, is provisionally scheduled to go live in February 2008. Hirji adds: "It’s difficult for publishers to go through every manuscript that comes in, so we look to agents. We wanted to create a site where talent is showcased. It’s not just a marketing exercise; we are looking to source talent in new ways."

So what's your take on the movement to bring the slush pile to the people? Good trend or not? Let's hear it.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views

Thursday, August 21, 2008 8:38:10 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [13]

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Writers are Readers
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Publishers Weekly published an essay last week "Two-Way-Street" by Charlotte Cook.

Cook, an independent publisher of her own book line, Komenar Publishing, was the subject of a short profile in Writer's Digest last year. She writes that she was deluged with queries, phone calls and submissions after that article came out. It seems like attention would be a good thing for a small publishing house.

But here's the rub: Cook writes that even with all of the attention Komenar received for that article in WD, they've seen little impact in the way of sales.

I suppose the implication here is that writers aren't supporting the industry that they're asking to support them. This makes me sad on a number of levels, but especially because I don't believe it's an accurate assumption to draw from one publisher's experience.

I think, if anything, writers are the heaviest readers and the heartiest supporters of the book industry.

So, in the spirit of solidarity with your fellow writers, I'd love to hear your comments on what you're doing to support the struggling book industry.

"A writer is a reader moved to emulation."
-Saul Bellow

Keep Writing,
Maria

Inspiration | publishing news and views | the writing life

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 3:42:18 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [22]

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Writer's Digest TV: M.J. Rose
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
It's another visual aid bonus day here on the Writer's Perspective!

Here's a short video interview with bestselling author and Writer's Digest marketing columnist M.J. Rose, who knows more about marketing books than anyone I've ever met. She's a true industry dynamo and visionary. Check her out here.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | the writing life | WritersDigest.tv

Thursday, August 14, 2008 3:22:31 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [3]

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Free Books for Funny People
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I wanted to let you all know that TOW Books, a humor book imprint here at F+W Media is offering free digital downloads of their books, including that of my favorite humorist, Jason Roeder who writes the Roeder Report for Writer's Digest.

If you're not familiar with Jason, here's one of his recent columns:

The Roeder Report: Just Trying to Be Nice

by Jason Roeder

“Your story puts my navel-
gazing claptrap into reassuring perspective.”

“I’ve never considered literacy a mixed blessing until now.”

“Did you outsource this story to the dumbest squirrel you could find?”

A few years ago, I shared a short story with my writing group. It was a speculative work that dared to ask, “What if the circus took over the world?” The comments above were the three most encouraging I received from my cohorts. Of the two remaining members of my group, one handed me back my heavily wept-upon manuscript without a word, while the other simply dropped out of society.

But it wasn’t the criticism that bothered me; it was the brutality of it, the absolute absence of tact or empathy. It didn’t have to be like that. If my group had followed the suggestions below, I might not have lost confidence in my story. Instead, it just gathers dust at the bottom of a drawer—in the issue of The New Yorker that published it with no changes whatsoever.

1. SAY SOMETHING POSITIVE.
You can usually come up with at least one morsel of genuine praise: “I love your use of sensory details,” “This story hardly triggered my gag reflex at all” or “Outstanding work. You should definitely consider submitting it to a journal with no stated plagiarism policy.” A small dose of encouragement demonstrates that you’ve been evenhanded, and when you get around to making more critical comments—or feeding the pages of the manuscript into the fireplace, shrieking, “Back! Back to the hell from which you came!”—you already will have put them into a more balanced context.

2. PLEAD IGNORANCE.
Sometimes it helps to qualify a critical remark by emphasizing your unfitness in making it. For example, when you’re handed an atrocious J.R.R. Tolkien knock-off, you can say, “I’m not sure why you devoted the entire 23 pages to having the elf king carefully review the prospectus for his new Vanguard mutual fund, but I don’t read much fantasy.” Or, when presented with an awful horror story: “While I personally might not find 5,000 words about bubble baths particularly frightening, I’m probably missing something that regular horror readers would pick up right away.”

3. GIVE THE WRITER A KITTEN.
Sometimes, there’s no rhetorical maneuver to bail you out. Sometimes you read something that makes you wish you could take the English language in your arms and reassure it that the bad man with the 900-word sentences isn’t going to hurt it anymore. If there’s no way to soft-pedal your comments, you might as well do something nice to compensate. If no kitten is available, consider giving the writer—along with the feedback you’ll never be forgiven for—a day of beauty at a spa or some gourmet preserves. And then run like hell.

You can get free digital downloads of many books in the TOW Books line here.
Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | the writing life

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 3:43:48 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [3]

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

More on simultaneous submissions to agents
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Since there were so many comments and questions about the Brad Thor post on simultaneous submissions to agents, I asked my favorite agent expert, Chuck Sambuchino, of the Guide to Literary Agents to give us his take on the issue. Here's Chuck:

First of all, I have to disagree with Brad's comment that agents hate simultaneous submissions. They are the norm, and most agents accept that they are not the only one receiving a specific query. So all of these comments here with people saying "I agree with Brad" are right!

Indeed, don't put your eggs in one basket. It's silly. But just as bad as putting your eggs in one basket is querying TOO MANY agents - such as 100. You're showing you haven't done any research. You should have about 5 "ideal" agents and maybe 25 total "possibilities" after doing some research and reading. Send queries out in waves. Query your top five. If none say yes, try the next five, and so on. The more vigorous research you do, the fewer possible agents you will have on your list, but the payoff is that you will be able to impress those agents you DO query by showing WHY you picked them out of the bunch. That goes a long way.

Next, know that "multiple submissions" and "simultaneous submissions" arenot the same thing. The former is when you send several works (or queries) to the same agent at the same time. Perhaps a script manager wanted to seeall the screenplays you had in your arsenal, for example. The latter is what we're talking about here - querying multiple agents at once.

All that said, yes - do know that some agents request an "exclusive" look at your work, but these are rarer than you may think. It's up to you as to whether you want to agree. You're getting a close read of your work, but your hands are tied, so to speak. Requesting an exclusive is much more common when an agent requests a full manuscript than just when we're talkingabout queries. So you should be OK sending out plenty of queries, but then you'll run into exclusive requests when they want to see a partial or the full work.

Good luck.

Chuck Sambuchino
Editor, Guide to Literary Agents
guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | the writing life

Tuesday, August 05, 2008 4:09:19 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [3]

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Brad Thor on simultaneous submissions
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I'm in the middle of transcribing a lengthy Q&A with Brad Thor (The Last Patriot) for the December issue of Writer's Digest and I thought what he had to say about literary agents was quite interesting for going against the grain of traditional publishing wisdom (this is unedited, direct from a transcript):

I know agents hate hearing this, but the single agent submission process is so un-businesslike, and this stuff about well you should only pitch one agent at a time and wait to hear back—that’s BS. I really don’t believe in that. I tell people, put together the strongest best package you can. Why should you wait months to hear back from an agent only to be told no, and then you have to wait a few more months. It’s ridiculous. I had agents lose my submissions, take forever to get to it and I thought, you know what, this is ridiculous. I’m not doing this just because this is the rules that they’ve set up for themselves. I thought, they’re not going to know if I’m submitting to multiple places. And what happens with agents when they’re submitting you’re book? They try to start a bidding war! They’re not going to wait onesie, twosie, at every publishing house to see what they think. Authors should do multiple submissions to agents. I mean, that’s the way the business world works and whether or not the industry likes it or not, they can’t stop you from submitting to multiple agents and you know what? If an agent misses out on you because they took too long with your query letter, tough luck for them. It will be a smart, savvy agent who recognizes your talent, who snaps you up. And I really believe that.

So, what do you think about multiple submissions to agents?

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | the writing life

Thursday, July 31, 2008 10:02:10 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [12]

Monday, June 30, 2008

The L-Word
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
To follow up on my previous post, I wanted to comment further on the term "literary" as in a "literary novel."

First, I want to say that I love smart, character-driven literary novels. They are what I gravitate to for my own leisure reading.

So please don't get too angry with me when I share that labeling your book "literary" will, in the minds of many agents, brand your book as being dark, depressing, boring, overly intellectual, mid-list, unsalable, (insert your own adjective for not-money-making here), etc.

When our annual competitions winners (see below) called their novel manuscripts "literary" you could almost see the agents' eyes roll up to the ceiling. As Peter Rubie put it: "When you call your novel "literary" you put yourself on a really difficult level—up against Annie Proulx, Philip Roth and the like."

But what did get the agents revved-up were terms mentioned in my post below, for example "crossover novel" (catchword meaning: a character-driven novel that might actually sell to a mass audience), or book club novel (catchword meaning: somewhat intellectual, culturally relevant, might actually sell to a mass audience if it catches on with the book club set). Much of this is industry jargon, but it's certainly worth knowing if you're trying to pitch a novel.

Feel free to share your thoughts on this but please don't shoot the messenger, I've got a busy schedule this month.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | the writing life

Monday, June 30, 2008 6:21:37 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [5]

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Random stuff overheard from New York literary agents
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Sorry for the lame headline. I’m putting the October issue of Writer’s Digest to bed and my clever headline writing capacity is shot.

But I wanted to share some of the notes I kept during my recent trip to New York to accompany our annual competitions winners to meet agents (see posts below).

Many thanks to the agents who guided us including:
• Annelise Robey
• Mollie Glick
• Peter Rubie
• Stephany Evans
• Jennie Dunham
• Michelle Brower
• Donald Maass

So here, in no particular order of importance is random stuff overheard from New York agents:

• The term “book club novel” is hot; consider using in lieu of “literary” fiction; “crossover appeal” is another good catchphrase.

• Make sure your synopsis is concise; stick to the main plotline and characters.

• Know what the core conflict/ turning point of your story is.

• Practice your “elevator pitch.” Be able to verbally sum up your novel in less than two minutes.

• It takes a long time and a lot of effort to find the right agent because you want to find an agent who shares your vision for your writing career. This is one of the most important relationships of your life.

• Many newer/ younger agents are coming into the field with strong editing background and expect to do a lot of editing.

• Never mass e-mail agents; take the time to get to know the other authors they represent and if you’re a good fit.

• Get some publishing credits however you can before you pitch a novel, this sends a signal to everyone that you are a publishable writer.

For everything else you always wanted to know about literary agents but were afraid to ask, go seek the keeper of literary agent wisdom Chuck Sambuchino, editor of Guide to Literary Agents.

Keep Writing,
Maria

Let me know if you have any questions, comments or clarifications and I will attempt to once again decipher my own handwriting.

publishing news and views | the writing life | writing technique

Thursday, June 26, 2008 9:51:38 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [8]

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Alegra Clarke on her New York trip to meet agents
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I asked our annual competition winner, Alegra Clarke (see posts below) for some decompression notes from her New York trip to meet agents and she sent me this lovely little essay. She's promised to send me updates on her progress in selling her novel and I'll post future updates here.

Here's Alegra:
My husband and I arrived back onto New Zealand soil yesterday morning. After 30 hours of travel, lost luggage, four plane flights that were delayed so that we almost didn't make it home to New Zealand, I now find myself sitting at my desk feeling as though I left some part of myself on the other side of the planet. This morning I took down the calendar that has been up in the kitchen, marking down the days from when I first recieved the 'Congratulations!' from Brian Klems to the date for the NYC trip. So much has happened in this last year, and as I took down the old calendar and put up the new one, really all I could do was smile. For a person usually overflowing with commentary, I have found myself unusually challenged in trying to sum up this experience.

What has struck me most about this nearly year's worth of effort and dreaming, alternating moods of self-doubt, gratitude and inspiration, is that while it was a life altering experience to finally recieve that 'break', to feel as though my dream had come striding up to me, tapped me on the shoulder and shook my hand, telling me to 'Go for it! Write!', it is what I have gained in the experience of the generosity of others in supporting this dream that has made the process so full of magic. Starting with a close group of friends, including my dear friend Kemari who was cheering me on as I submitted Salamander Prayer to the competition last year, I began to understand the intimate process of writing, not only in the usual idea of a writer pouring herself onto the page, but that a piece of writing, whatever form, gets into print through a process of relationships. It is not just the writer who is invested in the work, it is a collective effort of people who fall in love and face similiar risks as the writer does. It gave me humility and courage to understand this - the risk of heartbreak is not a solitary one and the writing itself really does take on a life of its own.

This time has reminded me again and again of the saying that providence moves when commitment is present. In the last year I have found myself in experiences I could have never imagined for myself, and they all arose out of the generosity of other people, the apex of this being the moment I found myself sitting in Joel Gotler's office, having him share his wealth of experience and insight with me. I walked away from that meeting so full of gratitude that I repeatedly said to my family and friends (and when I say 'repeatedly' I mean for at least six weeks after the meeting), 'Look from here on out, I can only do my best, I have been so blessed already.'

The meeting with the agents in NYC brought this theme to completion for me - not only did I receive invaluable insights into the realities of the publishing business, but I was also honored with being able to meet these six talented, passionate, fascinating people, who were willing to sit down and share with us, not just as agents but as people who are passionate about what they do. I was impressed by the way that they each listened, communicated with honesty, and responded with enthusiasm. It was a thrill to watch them speak about books that had done well, stories they had risked believing in, writers that they were deeply committed to, the time they put into making sure a book has the greatest chance of being met with success in the world - listening to each agent's opinion and experience, I realized that an agent is not a gatekeeper, but a companion willing to invest, risk and believe in what we as writers have created. The NYC trip has inspired me to continue to do my best to write authentically, to listen to the advice of those further along on the path and to take strength in knowing that the path ahead is not a solitary one. No matter what the final outcome, I am in fine company every step along the way.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 3:06:23 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [8]

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Our New York trip to meet Literary Agents
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I'm near the end of my trip to New York City. As mentioned in my previous post, I'm accompanying our 2006 and 2007 Writer's Digest annual competitions winners Mary Feuer and Alegra Clarke to meet literary agents.

I've met so many great agents on this trip and learned so much. But I've decided to let Mary and Alegra give you the full rundown in their own words. They're going to be contributing to this blog later in the week when they've had a chance to decompress, so stay tuned. In the meantime, here are some pictures of our adventures in agent land.

Keep Writing,
Maria

pictured below:
1. Alegra pitching Michelle Brower
2. Mary, Alegra and Jennie Dunham
3. Mary, Donald Maass and Alegra
4. Mary, Alegra and me at our hotel
5. Annelise Robey, Mary and Alegra lunching

publishing news and views | Writer's Digest news

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 2:39:17 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [3]

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

I'm in New York!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I’m reporting live from New York City, where I’m accompanying our annual competitions winners Alegra Clarke and Mary Feuer.

So Alegra and Mary and me are making the rounds to meet literary agents. This is part of their prize for winning our annual competition for the past two years. I was so happy to meet these two great ladies, really I couldn’t imagine this happening to two nicer, more deserving, talented writers.

Even though she won the contest in 2006, Mary has been tied up as a screenwriter on location in Hawaii for the TV series “Dante’s Cove.” Mary’s working on a novel length work stemming from the great “House on Fire” she won our competition with two years ago.

Alegra, who won our competition in the memoir category for her “Salamander Prayer” has completed a novel since she found out she won our competition less than a year ago, and she’s already working with a L.A. based screenplay agent Joel Gotler on the screen rights.

We have two days of meetings with literary agents lined up. Yesterday we met with Annelise Robey of the Jane Rotrosen Agency and Mollie Glick of the Jean V. Naggar Agency.

Both Annelise and Mollie were so enthusiastic and positive about the prospect of finding new talent, the meetings were really delightful; I got quite a charge from it.

A lot came out of these meetings and I learned quite a lot about the current state of the market. I don’t have time for a full report but here’s a bit of what each had to say.

Annelise Robey says literary fiction is selling, especially if it’s accessible, not overly intellectual and has crossover appeal.

Mollie Glick had each writer give her “elevator pitch.” She told Mary if you have a choice between writing the book as a series of linked short stories and a novel, definitely go with the novel as short story collections, even linked short stories, are incredibly difficult to sell.

We have four more meetings lined up today so I have to run, but I’ll report back tomorrow, with visual aids!

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news | writing technique

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 3:06:17 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [7]

Monday, May 05, 2008

PRINT WINS!
Posted by maria

Congratulations to our sister publication [at F+W Publications] Print magazine, for once again winning an Ellie Award—its 4th—for general excellence in its category at the National Magazine Awards!

Here's a link to all of the ASME award winners; as always, an impressive, inspiring lineup.

Pictured here: a close-up photo of the Ellie Award, and the Print magazine team.

publishing news and views

Monday, May 05, 2008 6:12:50 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [3]

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Hey, Graphomaniacs!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I know I said Friday was going to be the official rant day here on The Writer’s Perspective, but you never can predict when a good rant is going to come on.

I read an essay in the New York Times Sunday Book Review: "You’re an Author? Me Too!" that really gets to the heart of what we do here at Writer’s Digest. The piece was written by NYT Book Review editor Rachel Donadio.

Here’s an excerpt:
In 2007, a whopping 400,000 books were published or distributed in the United States, up from 300,000 in 2006, according to the industry tracker Bowker, which attributed the sharp rise to the number of print-on-demand books and reprints of out-of-print titles. University writing programs are thriving, while writers’ conferences abound, offering aspiring authors a chance to network and “workshop” their work. The blog tracker Technorati estimates that 175,000 new blogs are created worldwide each day (with a lucky few bloggers getting book deals). And the same N.E.A. study found that 7 percent of adults polled, or 15 million people, did creative writing, mostly “for personal fulfillment.”

In short, everyone has a story — and everyone wants to tell it. Fewer people may be reading, but everywhere you turn, Americans are sounding their barbaric yawps over the roofs of the world, as good old Walt Whitman, himself a self-published author, once put it.

“As publishing has become less expensive, the urge to write my own self has become the opportunity to publish my own self,” said Gabriel Zaid, a Mexican critic and the author of “So Many Books: Reading and Publishing in an Age of Abundance,” a meditation on literary life in an over-booked world. Today, he added, “Everyone now can afford to preach in the desert.”

The gist of the piece I agree with. With all of the outlets now available to writers: POD, blogs, etc. it’s easier than ever for writers to get published, since the gatekeepers are taken out of the equation. And it’s true that the number of published books is increasing substantially (mostly due to POD), while the reading public, or at least the book-buying readers, is on a downward decline. I can’t disagree with any of this.

What bugs me, though is the between-the-lines implication that perhaps writers shouldn’t be getting their writing out there any way they see fit.

Think about this in comparison to the other arts.

For example, have you ever heard anyone say something like this: “There are just too many street musicians. They really shouldn’t be playing music in public if they’re not with a record label.”

Or this: “Who is buying all of the art at those neighborhood art festivals? Why do these artists even bother—nobody is going to enjoy or buy their paintings!”

Why is writing held to a different standard than the other arts? How does a writer know if he’s good or not without getting his work out there any way he can?

Power to the people!
That’s my rant. Please feel free to add yours here, too.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | the writing life

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 7:43:05 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [13]

Monday, April 14, 2008

Before You POD
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
With all of the chatter surrounding Amazon’s recent announcement that they’ll now only sell POD (print-on-demand) books printed by their subsidiary BookSurge, I wanted to offer some important questions to ask yourself before you enter into any POD arrangement.

Writer’s Digest has occasionally been criticized for accepting POD advertising. I’ve already stated my stance about that here. You can go to My Manifesto, if you’re interested in my point-of-view on advertising.

To be perfectly honest, when trying to publish a book, it’s almost always the best first course of action to attempt to land an agent and get on with a commercial publishing house so you don’t have to underwrite the expense of publishing the book yourself.

But there are instances when good books don’t fit into the right business model or the right trends to garner attention from commercial houses.

Whatever your opinion on PODs, it’s a legitimate industry made up of publishing companies that run the gamut from the good to the bad to the truly ugly.

With that in mind, here are three essential questions to ask yourself before you go POD:

1. What’s your Goal?
So you’ve written a book. You probably think it’s a great book given that you’ve put a lot of time and energy into it.

But if you’re going to publish your book and attempt to sell it, it’s essential to put some distance between you and your book and start thinking of it as a product. Who’s your target market? If it’s just your family and friends, realize that and proceed consciously knowing and accepting that you’re probably not going to sell 500 books.

Have you brought it to trusted readers who will offer you honest, objective opinions? This should be your first step before any attempts to get your book published, POD or commercially.

2. Are you a good self-marketer?
If you already have an established platform—a newspaper or magazine column, a popular blog, etc., or if you have some expertise and make frequent appearances on TV and radio—POD might actually be a viable alternative for you. If you’re a businessperson or motivational speaker with regular speaking engagements, that’s actually a great way to sell books.

Of course, “sell” is the operative word. If you’re shy about selling, think twice before going POD because the selling impetus rests entirely on your shoulders. If the idea of cold calling a local bookstore gives you cold sweats, think twice.

3. Have you done the research?
Enter into a POD agreement with the due diligence you’d give any contractual agreement. I’d strongly consider running any POD contract through a lawyer (one with experience in publishing law or, at the very minimum, intellectual property law), since the language and terms vary widely. Make sure you know the bottom line number you’ll be paying and the specific terms of what you’re getting.

Have you seen first-hand examples from the POD company you’re considering? Make sure you’ve seen at least several examples of their work. Is the binding firm? Are the pages intact? Is the cover art attractive? Check references of other authors who’ve used the POD’s services.

A few more things to consider:
There are some professional associations that overshadow the POD industry. These are the current affiliations you should know about in order to make an informed decision if you do decide to go POD:
• BookSurge is a subsidiary of Amazon
• Barnes & Noble is a shareholder in iUniverse
• Most POD books are actually printed by Lightning Source, which is owned by Ingram (the industry’s primary book distributor and wholesaler). Infinity is one notable exception.

If you’re interested in learning more about PODs—and self-publishing in general—here are two good primers:

The Evolution of Self-publishing by our online managing editor Brian A. Klems

Print on Demand article at Writer Beware (sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America)

I hope this post wasn’t too basic. But I really wanted to put some solid, factual information and suggestions out there for any writer who’s considering POD as an alternative because it can be very confusing. I don’t want any writer to get blindsided.

Please consider this is an open forum. Feel free to post any thoughts, questions or experiences with POD companies here.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views

Monday, April 14, 2008 9:14:38 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [16]

Friday, April 11, 2008

Open Letter from Amazon
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Since there seems to be some problem accessing the link posted below, here's the letter Amazon posted re: their stance on carrying POD books:

[posted March 31, 2008]
Open letter to interested parties:

We wanted to make sure those who are interested have an opportunity to understand what we're changing with print on demand and why we're doing so.

One question that we've seen is a simple one. Is Amazon requiring that print-on-demand books be printed inside Amazon's own fulfillment centers, and if so why?

Yes. Modern POD printing machines can print and bind a book in less than two hours. If the POD printing machines reside inside our own fulfillment centers, we can more quickly ship the POD book to customers -- including in those cases where the POD book needs to be married together with another item. If a customer orders a POD item together with an item that we're holding in inventory -- a common case -- we can quickly print and bind the POD item, pick the inventoried item, and ship the two together in one box, and we can do so quickly. If the POD item were to be printed at a third party, we'd have to wait for it to be transhipped to our fulfillment center before it could be married together with the inventoried item.

Speed of shipping is a key customer experience focus for us and it has been for many years. Amazon Prime is an example of a successful and growing program that is driving up our speed of shipment with customers. POD items printed inside our own fulfillment centers can make our Amazon Prime cutoff times. POD items printed outside cannot.

Simply put, we can provide a better, more timely customer experience if the POD titles are printed inside our own fulfillment centers. In addition, printing these titles in our own fulfillment centers saves transportation costs and transportation fuel.

Another question we've seen: Do I need to switch completely to having my POD titles printed at Amazon?

No, there is no request for exclusivity. Any publisher can use Amazon's POD service just for those units that ship from Amazon and continue to use a different POD service provider for distribution through other channels.

Alternatively, you can use a different POD service provider for all your units. In that case, we ask that you pre-produce a small number of copies of each title (typically five copies), and send those to us in advance (Amazon Advantage Program-successfully used by thousands of big and small publishers). We will inventory those copies. That small cache of inventory allows us to provide the same rapid fulfillment capability to our customers that we would have if we were printing the titles ourselves on POD printing machines located inside our fulfillment centers. Unlike POD, this alternative is not completely "inventoryless." However, as a practical matter, five copies is a small enough quantity that it is economically close to an inventoryless model.

Might Amazon reconsider this new policy?

Only if we can find an even better way to serve our customers faster. Over the years we've made many improvements to our service level for consumers. Some of these changes have caused consternation at times, but we have always stuck with the change when we believe it's good for customers. An early example: many years ago we started offering customer reviews on our website. This was a pioneering thing to do at the time. The fact that we allowed *negative* customer reviews confounded many publishers -- some were downright angry. One publisher wrote to us asking if we understood our business: "You make money when you sell things! Take down these negative reviews!" Our point of view was that our job was to help customers make purchase decisions. It made sense to us to stick with the customer-centric position of embracing customer reviews, even negative ones.

Another example: a few years ago, we made the decision to offer used books, and to make those used copies available directly alongside the new editions. This caused significant consternation, but we stood by the decision because we were convinced it was right for customers. Sometimes a used book will do and it can sometimes be had at a significant cost savings relative to a new book. We stuck with the customer-friendly decision.

Our decision with POD is the same. Once a book is in digital format, it can be quickly printed on modern POD printing equipment. It isn't logical or efficient to print a POD book in a third place, and then physically ship the book to our fulfillment centers. It makes more sense to produce the books on site, saving transportation costs and transportation fuel, and significantly speeding the shipment to our customers and Amazon Prime members.

We hope this helps those who are interested understand what we're working to do and why. We believe our customer-focused approach helps the entire industry in the long term by selling more books.

Sincerely,

The Amazon.com Books Team

More on this topic next week...
Keep Writing
Maria

publishing news and views

Friday, April 11, 2008 7:09:36 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [5]

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Amazon's Response
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I'm trying to get you more information about the Amazon/POD situation (see my previous post).

Today, I put in a request for an interview with an Amazon exec. and received this note back from their PR department:

Hi Maria,

We received your request to interview an Amazon executive. Please refer to our open letter here— http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-printondemand—as it should answer your questions on the topic. If there's anything else you need, please let me know.

Regards,
Drew

Drew Herdener
Senior Public Relations Manager
Amazon.com

So you can check out that link for the official Amazon response.

I'd like to open up this blog as a forum for all interested parties: POD houses, Amazon and, of course, writers to discuss the issue. I'm neutral on the matter and I'd like to extend an offer to serve as a moderator so that all concerned parties can voice their concerns.

Please post any thoughts, questions and concerns here.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views

Thursday, April 10, 2008 4:56:31 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [10]

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

The POD Wars
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
The publishing community is in a virtual tizzy over Amazon's recent announcement that they will require all POD (print on demand) books to be published by Amazon's subsidiary POD company BookSurge.

Publishers Weekly has been keeping up with the story. Here's the first of a series of articles: Amazon to Force POD Publishers to use BookSurge.

I have no doubt that many of our readers will be affected by this new situation. And because many POD companies, including BookSurge, are among our advertisers, I'm withholding my own opinion on this issue.

But I'm curious to know what you think. Will you be affected by Amazon's recent move? What do you think about this latest publishing controversy?

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views

Tuesday, April 08, 2008 2:54:06 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [7]

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

(Fore)going Postal
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Please excuse me for abruptly ending My Archival Wanderings without proper closure, but I have a wonderful excuse: Our managing editor (and contributor to this blog) Kara Gebhardt Uhl had a baby this weekend. Congratulations Kara!

I'll keep posting My Archival Wanderings occasionally, when the spirit moves me.

But just to let you know, I'm now serving as de facto managing editor in addition to my regular gig as the Editor of Writer's Digest. And well, I'm busy. Really, really busy. The managing editor is the key person on staff responsible for all of the editorial trains coming in on time, so to speak.

One of the responsibilities I've had to take over for now is overseeing our general submissions including a two-foot high stack of good-old U.S. mail queries and submissions. Well, to make a long story short, I've had to confront how truly inefficient this system is.

Now because Writer's Digest has been taking mail queries since the days of the pony express, this wasn't an easy decision to make, but I've decided to change our editorial guidelines to state that we're now exclusively accepting e-mail queries. You can read our updated submissions guidelines here.

Here's the list of pros and cons I made to come to this decision:
Pros:
• E-mail queries are faster and more efficient to process
• E-mail queries save writers money (stamps and stationery)
• E-mail queries are better for the environment
• E-mail queries won't make me the victim of a tragic envelope-licking accident

Cons:
• Hmmm...can't think of anything to write here

OK, good decision or bad? Feel free to yell at me in ALL CAPS!!! I can take it--just don't mail it.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Wednesday, April 02, 2008 9:00:37 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [10]

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Laurell K. Hamilton on her fantasy series
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
There seems to be some blogosphere chatter surrounding a quote from the Laurell K. Hamilton interview in our April issue. So I'm posting that particular Q&A here. The full interview will be available on our website next week.

Do you work on only one series at a time?
Yes, especially when the Merry series was new. I'd written five Anita books in a row so Anita's voice was very strong. Merry's voice was hard to stay in and the Anita voice kept intruding. So I had to be very careful at the beginning. When I was working on Merry I had to not be thinking about Anita and vice versa.
A Lick of Frost is number six. Sometime around book four, the world begins to solidify and it's not as much work to do the voice of the characters. Book four seems to be the magic number for me. And somewhere between books six and eight, it just gets to work.
One of the things I did before I started Merry was research mystery series, because at that time there were no fantasy series that had gone past five books. A lot of writers seem to get bored with their own series between books five and eight. One of the reasons I didn't do a straight mystery series is because I thought I'd get bored. That's why I have fantastic elements; I thought it would keep me interested, and it has.

Stay tuned for more.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | Writer's Digest news | writing technique

Wednesday, February 20, 2008 6:55:10 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Comments [0]

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Still linear in a networked world
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Prodigious print buyers are winning by a landslide in my poll below “Do you buy less print (magazines, newspapers and books) than you did five years ago?"

To continue along that same vein of thought, I read an intriguing article this week on the Publishing 2.0 blog: The Evolution From Linear Thought To Networked Thought by Scott Karp.

Karp says that although he reads prolifically, he rarely reads "books" any more (as in print books). He posits in this article that perhaps the way we read is inherently changing from “linear” (as you do with a book) to “networked” (as you do with a blog).

Here’s an excerpt, but please network and read the whole piece. (Then network back here, of course):
So do I do all my reading online because it’s more convenient? Well, it is, but it’s not as if I don’t have opportunities to read books. (And I do read a lot of Disney Princess books to my daughter.)

But the convenience argument seems to float on the surface of a deeper issue — there’s something about the print vs. online dialectic that always seemed superficial to me. Books, newspapers, and other print media are carefully laid out. Online content like blogs are shoot from the hip. Books are linear and foster concentration and focus, while the web, with all its hyperlinks, is kinetic, scattered, all over the place.

Fascinating stuff. I guess I’m old school because I still like to read books. But I like to read blogs, too, so what can I say...

I’m a prolific reader of both linear and networked writing. I'm networked all day, but at home, I still want to cozy up with a good old-fashioned linear book. Judging from the results of my poll, you all aren’t quite willing to give up linear thought, either.

Basically though, if I had to choose, I'd have to say I'm still linear in a networked world.

How about you?

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views | the writing life

Thursday, February 14, 2008 7:34:50 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Comments [1]

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Does Generosity Pay Off?
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,

To follow up on my previous post on changing reading habits, the poll right now:
Do you buy less print (books, magazines, newspapers) than five years ago?
37 people so far have voted “yes” (they are buying less) vs. 51 people who voted “no.” I'm keeping the poll open so scroll down and cast your vote.

Reassuring numbers for writers, although the fact that writers are the primary readers of this blog skews those numbers. Interesting to note comments here and on the forum, many mentioned that while they do buy fewer newspapers, they buy just as many if not more magazines and books than they did five years ago. So that’s encouraging.

On that note, HarperCollins is rolling the dice with a new program that will offer the full contents of many of their books online free of charge.

HarperCollins Will Post Free Books on the Web

Here’s an excerpt from The New York Times article:

In an attempt to increase book sales, HarperCollins Publishers will begin offering free electronic editions of some of its books on its Web site, including a novel by Paulo Coelho and a cookbook by the Food Network star Robert Irvine.

The idea is to give readers the opportunity to sample the books online in the same way that prospective buyers can flip through books in a bookstore.

“It’s like taking the shrink wrap off a book,” said Jane Friedman, chief executive of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide. “The best way to sell books is to have the consumer be able to read some of that content.”

A gamble to be sure, one the whole publishing industry will no doubt be watching closely. Hopefully what Paulo Coelho had to say is true: “I believe that generosity pays off.”

I love that. And I hope he’s right.
What’s your take?

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views

Tuesday, February 12, 2008 3:02:49 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Comments [10]

Friday, February 08, 2008

Have your reading habits changed?
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Thanks to everyone who chimed in on my previous post about the gray areas of publishing your creative writing online.

One thing that seems to come up over and over again is this:
Will people pay for print versions of what they can get online for free?
I think this is a really important topic for writers to think about, since the whole world seems to be going online.

I can tell you that corporate types are encouraging editor types to get as much "content" (I hate that word) as possible online. The current thinking: putting content online is like free advertising and people will pay for print versions of what they're able to get for free online.

I don't necessarily believe this and was wondering about other writers' opinions on this important topic. I've seen how quickly and dramatically my own reading habits have changed over the past five years. I was previously a daily subscriber to my city newspaper, now I bypass the city paper entirely and read the The New York Times online daily. I've failed to renew many magazine subscriptions when I know I can read the full contents online for free. So I have my doubts about this theory, but maybe I'm wrong.

What about you? Do you buy less print (magazines, newspapers, books) than you did five years ago? Here's a yes or no poll, so cast your vote and don't forget to drop a comment. I'll follow up with the results next Tuesday.

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views

Friday, February 08, 2008 8:00:16 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Comments [13]

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

The Liar's Diary by Patry Francis
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I love it when the literary community comes together to help one of their own.

In April 07 we featured a write up on a debut author named Patry Francis, a waitress and mother of four who had just written her first novel The Liar's Diary. She wrote the book in serial form for a group of writer friends who encouraged her to keep writing more.

Today, Patry is facing multiple surgeries and battling cancer. So her friends got together to help out with the PR for her paperback release and initiated a publicity effort for the release of The Liar's Diary, which will be featured on hundreds of literary blogs today.

So, I'd like to dedicate this post to Patry Francis and The Liar's Diary.

The Liar's Diary has gotten some fabulous reviews including this from Tess Gerrittsen:

"A twisting ride full of dangerous curves and jaw-dropping surprises. This is one of my favorite reads of the year!"

If you like suspense, don't miss this great read.

For more information about The Liar's Diary, check out Patry's website and blog.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | the writing life

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 3:11:13 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Comments [4]

Saturday, December 22, 2007

PROJECT 20/20: BUILD MY BLOGROLL WEEK 19 ADD!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Well, you didn’t think I’d forget about my Project 20/20: Build My Blogroll, just because it’s the holidays, did you?

This is the 19th Friday in as many weeks in my project to add 20 writer’s blogs to my blogroll and now we’re counting down to the home stretch. I started a two-week vacation today, and I’m taking a bit of break from the blog next week. But no worries, I’ll definitely be back to post my final blogroll add.

I’m glad to see there’s still blogs getting added to the nominations (see many of the nominations in the Project 20/20 thread in the left nav). All told, I’ve received about 100 nominations and have thoroughly enjoyed exploring all of the great writer’s blogs.

But alas, I have to chose just one a week. Anyway, as I’ve stated numerous times, I want to have a well-rounded blogroll. I want my writer’s blogroll to be the definitive writer’s blogroll. I decided it was high time to add a good go-to blog for the times when we’re not really in the mood to write; when we just want to explore the work of other writers. With that I’d like to announce my week 19 add:

Bluestalking Reader: Weblog of Lisa Guidarini - Book Critic, Library Grad Student, Avid Photographer and Editor-at-Large of her own life.

Here’s a post Lisa did on a recent blogument she found herself in.

Shazam!

It's been one of those weeks. Early in the week I engaged in a fairly public argument over on the NBCC blog with a disgruntled self-published writer with some very strong opinions on the subjects of publishing and bookselling. After a couple rounds I realized if you put that episode in perspective it's truly the proverbial tempest in a teapot. Like there aren't a few hundred thousand disgruntled writers out there looking for a scapegoat. Phooey.

Hardly worth the time and aggravation, though the opinions expressed are definitely ones held near and dear to me. I guess I should really thank the woman for helping me sort those out. It was some very cheap therapy. Considering the fact I saw how it impacted her, I think I also got off fairly easily. One more example of me blowing off steam and coming out of it okay.

Phew.

You're a sassy one Lisa! Not to mention witty, charming, and skilled in serving up good topical information for writers—what more could you ask for in a blogger. (That was a rhetorical statement—don’t try to engage me in a blogument.)

Lisa, I appoint you the official book critic of my blogroll. Every good blogroll needs a resident critic.

Have a great holiday everyone!

Keep Writing,
Maria
P.S. check out my cute staff, below. : )

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Saturday, December 22, 2007 12:19:10 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Comments [2]

Friday, December 14, 2007

PROJECT 20/20: BUILD MY BLOGROLL WEEK 18 ADD!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
It's been energizing reading all of your writing goals for 2008 as they're rolling in. Keep them coming, I'm going to announce the 10 winners and post their goals here next Tuesday.

In the meantime, it's Friday, and that means it's again time to add another writer's blog to my blogroll. I'm up to 18 now—only 2 more weeks, 2 more blogs to go! You can find all the details and blogs nominated on the Project 20/20 thread in the left navigation here.

And with that, I'd like to announce my week 18 blogroll add:

Release Your Writing
by Helen Gallagher

On "Release Your Writing" (which is also the title of her book; smart move), Helen offers lots of great newsy items as well as practical advice for the working writer, including some really solid information for writers who are interested in self-publishing.

I adore the title of this recent post she did: "Pajama Marketing" and not just because I wish I were in my PJs right now.

Did you know you can buy a mailing list of U.S. independent book stores from a reliable source (NewPages.com). The cost for over 1,400 book store names and addresses is $75, but they also list the addresses on their site, where you can snag them for free. You could copy and paste the addresses for the shops in your area into a word processing document, do a mail-merge to print labels or letters, and let your work fly! New Pages also has lists of public and academic libraries at the above link.

What would you send to stores? That's up to you: The book synopsis, colorful postcard, media sheet, telling them how to order from your publisher, and stating the handsome 35 or 40 percent discount you'll offer. Include customer comments from your Amazon page and other testimonials from readers. No need to include sales figures - they have easy access to that information.

Welcome Helen. Stop by often and you're welcome to visit in your pajamas. Gotta love the Internet!

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views | the writing life

Friday, December 14, 2007 8:59:43 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Comments [3]

Friday, December 07, 2007

PROJECT 20/20: BUILD MY BLOGROLL WEEK 17 ADD!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
It’s Friday and that means it's time to announce my 17th add in my Project 20/20: Build My Blogroll contest (you can find details and many of the nominated writing blogs on the left navigation).

This week’s add is an ambitious young blogger/writer, who focuses on the teen writing scene at:
Innovative Teen: a word for the wri-teen
by Gabrielle Linnell

Gabrielle posts weekly magazine-style features including interviews with Teen writers—she’s scored some impressive interviews. And she also posts on craft and inspiration for Teen Writers.

Here’s a post Gabrielle did recently on facing burnout:
Burnout is different from inspiration-loss. Look, if you wait to write until you're inspired, you'll be waiting a long time. You won't write, actually. The discipline of writing is writing anyway, always, whenever, however. Burnout is when you are really empty, not just tired. But fear not! Burnout is neither forever, nor untreatable. The best cures, I've found, are below.  
-Take a short break
-Throw yourself into your book or short-term project.
-Listen to lots of music. 
-Take long nature walks.
-Read an article you really disagree with 
-Eat really good food.
-Watch a lot of cheesy, feel-good movies
-Or watch one gripping drama 
And the best way:
Read a really, really, really badly written book.

Gabrielle, I use that last one—reading a really, really really badly written book works wonders for me for some reason (although I will not divulge those books). I think this is counter-intuitive yet practical advice for writers you have here.

Here’s a big Writer’s Perspective welcome to my favorite new up-and-coming blogger and writer—Gabrielle Linnell.

Only 3 more weeks/ 3 more blogs to go so keep the nominations coming!

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views | the writing life

Friday, December 07, 2007 9:20:38 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Comments [2]

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Is Copyright Now Necessary?
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Wow, I hate to be a buzz-kill over the holidays, but I read an alarming report in Publishers Weekly and thought it was important to share with you: Court Voids Settlement in Tasini v New York Times

Here's an excerpt:
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has thown out a settlement between freelance writers and publishers reached after a 2001 Supreme Court ruling that publishers had violated the copyright of freelance writers by using their works in electronic databases without their permission. The 2001 Supreme Court decision was reached in Tasini v. The New York Times, a case involving Jonathan Tasini, then president of the National Writers Union, and five other plaintiffs. The appellate court ruling voids a settlement that created a pool of $18 million that was to be paid out to freelance writers in an associated class-action suit.

In the 2 to 1 decision, the appellate court ruled that only writers who had registered their works with the copyright office were eligible to file claims for damage. Since the overwhelming majority of freelance writers did not register their works, the appellate court reasoned that the courts did not have jurisdiction over the dispute and were wrong to approve the class action suit as well as the subsequent settlement. However, in a dissenting opinion, Chief Judge John M. Walker, argued that registering for a copyright was more of a “claim-processing rule,” rather than a “jurisdictional prerequisite.”

If so inclined, you can read background on the case here: Tasini vs. New York Times.

Also, it currently costs $45 (ouch!) to copyright a manuscript. To learn more about copyright, here’s the U.S. Copyright Office website

Until now, Writer's Digest hasn’t recommended writers getting their own copyright, since it was deemed both costly and unnecessary. Unfortunately, we may soon have to change that stance.

Here’s my question for you: In light of this new threat to writers' rights, is it now necessary for writers to get each and every manuscript copyrighted?

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views | Writer's Digest news

Tuesday, December 04, 2007 7:05:49 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Comments [11]

Thursday, November 29, 2007

The Best of WD Interviews CD
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,

I've never made a secret of the fact that the WD Interviews are my favorite feature in Writer's Digest. It's a rare privilege to get first-hand advice on the craft and business of writing from some of the finest writers of our times.

We've done some amazing interviews over the years, if I must say so myself. When I went back through our archives recently, I compiled a list, and it was like a who's who of the bestseller lists, including:

•Jane Smiley •Jennifer Weiner •Alice Hoffman •Ted Kooser •Po Bronson •Gay Talese •Jay McInerney •Anna Quindlen •Sebastian Junger •Alexander McCall Smith •John Searles •Augusten Burroughs •Mark Winegardner •Fannie Flagg •James Rollins •Melissa Bank •Michael Connelly •Bill Bryson •Jack Kerley •Caroline Alexander •Margaret Atwood •Marian Keyes •Dave Eggers •Jeffrey Eugenides •Michael Chabon •John Updike •Tom Clancy •Joyce Carol Oates •Janet Evanovich •Ann Brashares

The friendly, fearless editors here at Writer's Digest are pleased to offer our newest venture into the digital divide: The Best of WD Interviews CD

A few of my favorite quotes from past WD interviews:

John Updike: "We're past the age of heroes and hero kings. If we can't make up stories about ordinary people, who can we make them up about?"

Jeffrey Eugenides: "Stay in touch with the first impulses that made you start writing—the pleasure of it and the interest of the story, and not so much the professional side of things. Remain close to that—when you began writing and were intoxicated with it. If you do, the rest will come."

Joyce Carol Oates: "I suggest to my students that they write under a pseudonym for a week. That allows young men to write as women, and women as men. It allows them a lot of freedom they don't have ordinarily."

This is an online-exclusive offer. The Best of WD Interviews is just $14.95 and it's the perfect holiday gift for your favorite writer—even if it's you!

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news | writing technique

Thursday, November 29, 2007 6:58:10 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Comments [1]

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Pay me for my content?!!!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
If you're trying to write for a living, I don't need to tell you what a volatile industry writers are facing right now, with the Internet rising quickly as the dominant media force.

I'll leave it up to Chad Gervich to fill you in on the nitty-gritty of the screenwriter's strike—which has vast implications for all writers' rights—on his Script Notes blog.

But on a separate but related note concerning writers' rights, please read this Op-Ed from The New York Times Pay Me for My Content, by Jaron Lanier.

Lanier, one of the early Silicon Valley Internet pioneers, wrote the following:

Like so many in Silicon Valley in the 1990s, I thought the Web would increase business opportunities for writers and artists. Instead they have decreased. Most of the big names in the industry — Google, Facebook, MySpace and increasingly even Apple and Microsoft — are now in the business of assembling content from unpaid Internet users to sell advertising to other Internet users.

This is a brief, but really provocative (and potentially depressing) essay. Read it in full if you have the chance. The gist of the piece is that writers and artists really get (pardon the expression) screwed (he says it more politely than that) with the current model of the Web 2.0, because people now have the expectation that content (read: your writing) should be free.

Free content is a lovely ideal, as Lanier asserts, but who's then paying writers for their work? Is it too late to re-make the system and ask people to charge for what they're now, in many cases, getting for free?

Please leave your thoughts, concerns and crazy visionary ideas here.

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 3:43:14 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Comments [5]

Friday, November 23, 2007

PROJECT 20/20: BUILD MY BLOGROLL WEEK #15 ADD!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
This is week 15 in my Project 20/20 Build My Blogroll project
Please follow the link for details about the project where you'll find many of the writer's blogs nominated in the comments section of that original post.

There's still no shortage of great writer's blogs to add to my blogroll, as you'll see with this week's add: Kelly Spitzer

There's a lot to admire about Kelly's blog, including helpful book reviews and journal recommendations. But one of my favorite features is her Writer Profile Project in which Kelly profiles writers and also editors of small literary magazines and journals.

I love literary journals, but admittedly have a difficult time keeping up with them all. Kelly's blog is going to be my new go-to source for information on what's new and happening on the journal front.

Kelly's also an editor herself. She's the submissions editor of Smokelong Quarterly an online journal featuring flash fiction “about a smoke long.” I'm embarrassed to admit I hadn't heard of Smokelong, but I'm definitely going to become a regular peruser there. The art is striking and they're publishing some recognizable names, including our new fiction columnist himself, Mr. Steve Almond.

So Kelly, welcome to my blogroll, and thanks for doing such great work on behalf of the indie press.

Keep Writing,
Maria

Friday, November 23, 2007 10:40:57 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Comments [1]

Friday, November 16, 2007

PROJECT 20/20: BUILD MY BLOGROLL WEEK 14 ADD!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Well, it's week 14 in my undeniably ambitious, slightly insane quest to add one writer's blog to my blogroll each Friday for 20 weeks. A time consuming project, yes, but definitely worth it.

I've been regularly perusing many of the blogs nominated for my blogroll. As I've mentioned before, it's been quite inspiring to watch new-ish blogs grow and develop over a period of time. You can find the majority of nominations by following the link in the left navigation here (Project 20/20 Build my blogroll link). And feel free to keep nominating blogs.

My week 14 add is another blog that I've been watching for awhile now, I do like to see that they're being consistent over a period of time, which as any blogger will tell you, is challenging.

Becoming a Writer Seriously: Tools and Trade Secrets for Aspiring Writers
By Tom Colvin

Tom is seriously doing a fabulous job of being both an aggregator of news and resources for writers, as well as writing his own reviews of tools of the trade.

Here's one helpful post: A comprehensive review of word processors. Tom has done lots of good posts on marketing and self-publishing. One other thing I find particularly interesting, in Tom's bio he mentions that he plans on turning his blog posts into a book. I'm curious to hear more about, so Tom please get on here and explain more about this project of yours—I think it's something a lot of writer/bloggers consider.

Congratulations Tom, my newest add. A warm welcome to my online stomping grounds.

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Friday, November 16, 2007 8:12:06 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Comments [4]

Friday, November 09, 2007

PROJECT 20/20: BUILD MY BLOGROLL WEEK #13 ADD!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,

It's oh-so-lucky week #13 in my unstoppable quest to add one writer's blog to my blogroll each week for 20 weeks.

And without further adieu, I'd like to announce this week's add:

The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Succes
by Linda Formichelli

If you're trying to break into freelancing, make this blog your go-to source for advice, resources, and just plain chutzpah that's necessary to establish a freelance writing career. I'd pay attention to anything Linda had to say—she's a real pro.

Check out the Renegade Writer’s FAQ advice archives, for lots of sassy, saucy advice for the working writer.

Here's one post I found especially useful in that renegade writer way:

The sneaky way to e-mail a magazine editor:
If you want to e-mail an editor, but don’t have her address, don’t fret — I’ve compiled the e-mail formats of some of the bigger publishing companies. Of course, there are always variations, such as when an editor has a hyphenated last name…but this list will still help in many cases.

The Renegade Writer’s blog even shares some real query letters that won assignments here. I think this is quite useful to help illustrate what editors are really looking for in a query.

Congratulations Linda, you renegade you. My blogroll is charmed by your rebel spirit.

I'm still taking nominations—7 spots to fill!

Keep Writing,
Maria
P.S. A correction: All apologies for neglecting to mention Diana Burrell in my original post. Diana and Linda co-blog on the Renegade Writer site.

blogs and online writing | language issues | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Friday, November 09, 2007 7:44:09 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Comments [6]

Thursday, November 08, 2007

OFF THE PAGE: Laurell K. Hamilton
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I adore having this blog. For one thing it gives me infinite space for all of the things I'd like to fit in the magazine. But of course, there are space constraints we magazine editors are up against.

With that I'd like to bring you an outtake of an interview I conducted with horror/fantasy writer Laurell K. Hamilton, author of the Anita Blake vampire series and the Merry Gentry fantasy series. Our WD Interviews often involve 2 or more hour long phone conversations. When transcribed this translates into more than 10,000 words and a 6-page feature typically clocks in at about 3,000.

So here's what won't make it into print. For the complete interview with Laurell K. Hamilton, you can pick up our April 2008 Genre Fiction issue, available on newsstands next February (I know, it's crazy how far ahead we magazine folk work).

Here's what Laurell K. Hamilton has to say about blogging:

You have a great blog. Why do you blog, and how do you fit it into your routine?
The blog is something I do first thing in the morning before I’ve done any writing, or last thing at the end of the day after I’ve done my writing. If I make a commitment to do something I try to do it well. I can’t just say well, there’s not time for writing today, the blog included. But I was a little confused about the blog when it first started. It feels private like a diary. It’s a very interesting form of writing. I went back to read essay writers. E.B. White is one of my favorite writers, he was an early influence on me. He’d done a series of essays for The New Yorker, I got that collection. I look at the blog as a collection of essays.

So you hadn’t done any essay writing previously?
Oh, I hate writing essays! They’re one of the hardest things for me to write because I have trouble writing short. Writers usually have one kind or another that they’re good at. Some people are absolutely amazing essay writers and a short piece is where they shine. Other people are good at short stories and novels. Novels are where I’m comfortable; I like huge works. So the blog was very difficult at first. But I’ve gotten better at it and more comfortable with it. I think having to do the blog on a regular basis, has helped me have more economy with language, which I think is always a good lesson for a writer to re-learn—especially a writer who has been successful, because they don’t edit you as you become successful. So it’s up to the writer to re-learn that economy of form.

What was the purpose of starting your blog: To keep in touch with your fans? Or was it more of a personal thing for you?
The helping the writing was an unexpected side-effect. It truthfully helped with writing the comic version of Guilty Pleasures and my husband Jonathan and I had a comic script. That actually helped me with the economy of language because you only have so many pages, but it was additionally to give something to the fans. Something that they could look at in between books. And also it was to help promote and keep the name out there. I cannot put a book out a month. So the blog is a way to let people know what I’m doing, to keep interest up, and also to give them something in between book releases so they can get a glimpse into it. Some fans said I write more detail about how I write the books than other people do.

I’d agree with that. There’s a lot about your process in your blog.
That’s how I learned, by reading other writers talk about how they write. It’s not a competition. There’s never enough good books out there. So if it can help people learn how to do it then great. But the writing process is individual. The fans seem very interested, though, even if they don’t want to write. They’re interested in how people write—it just fascinates people. To me it’s my job. But because I understand that since that’s the question I get asked most, I try to put in the blog what I’m writing, my schedule, etc. and I also try to explain how I come up with unique ideas. And that is the hardest thing actually: uniqueness. There are two things I don’t think can be taught, and those are the things you need most if you’re going to have a career. You need to find your unique voice and you need a unique vision.

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | Off the Page: author interview series | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Thursday, November 08, 2007 3:53:09 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Comments [2]

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

feelin' blue in a red state...
Posted by maria

...or seeing red in a blue state

Hi Writers,
On this election day, it seemed appropriate timing to make a statement about the so-called political leanings of Writer's Digest. Well, I hereby declare Writer's Digest independent and neutral territory—the Switzerland of the publishing world, if you will.

We've been getting a lot of flack recently about our "On the Edge" column, in particular, and I wanted to clarify a few things.

In the December issue we featured Alternative Fare, an article on Gay and Lesbian writing markets. We're doing, I think, a great job of providing analytical reports on publishing niche markets. In the past year we've covered markets for street lit, erotica and spiritual writing among others. These are potentially heated topics and—depending on what the topic is—we get called right wing wackos, left wing hippies, crazy liberal freaks and on, and on.

These are writing markets, pure and simple. We're not endorsing any lifestyle or religion or political party. We're not taking a stand on any particular issue. There are certainly plenty of places on the Web and on the newsstand to find political commentary. But there aren't many sources for fair, objective reporting on writing markets, and that's what we strive to bring you.

We're reporting on industry trends—sometimes these trends fall within the realm of heated political topics. You have my word that we're going out of our way to maintain fair, unbiased reporting.

If you think we cross the line into the realm of political commentary, I'd like to hear it, please leave a comment here.

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Tuesday, November 06, 2007 2:52:25 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Comments [5]

Friday, November 02, 2007

PROJECT 20/20 BUILD MY BLOGROLL: WEEK 12 ADD!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
It's Week #12 in my Project 20/20 Build my Blogroll contest (see left for more details). If you haven't been following along, I'm spotlighting one writer's blog and adding it to my blogroll each week for 20 weeks.

One of the most amazing things about this project is due to the long scope of it, I've been able to watch many of the nominated blogs blossom. Many were relatively new-ish when this all started 12 weeks ago. And if there's one thing good blogging requires, it's continuity—you have to continually feed the blog monster, so to speak, if you want to keep a lively site that people will actually visit.

With that I'd like to announce my Week #12 add:
LEFT BRAIN WRITE: Musings on Writing and the Mind...
authored by one of my favorite WD forumistas Dr. Linda Simoni-Wastila

Linda is a psychology professor by day, writer by night. And she brings both of her passions together in this blog. Who better to help us figure out the connection between our crazy writer brains and creativity?

Here's an excerpt from Linda's most recent post "Creativity, it's all in your head."

Editing and revising sometimes feel like glorified secretarial work: typo annihilation, grammar correction, formatting perfection. It’s easy to let the mechanics of writing override the rest of the process, to get so stuck on the getting the words exactly right that you miss the message. At least, this is the way I feel of late, revising Brighter Than Bright for the 8th time (yes, the 8th full revision; my friend Jimmy’s discovered enough ‘ouches’ to cause anemia). Editing gets old. Real quick.

I missed writing new stuff. Waking in the morning, cup o’joe steaming by my side, the full moon blaring through the window, the rest of the world asleep, greeted only by a fresh white piece of paper daring me to write… anything my mind desired. It gives me shivers just thinking about it…brrrrrr… The revision process removes me from my characters and their sticky, complicated, crazy lives. It has to, because this stage requires the entrance of distanced critic, not the emotional writer. In other words, the polishing stage requires the left hemisphere of the brain, the home of language and linear thinking and logic and laterality, to assert control of the creative process.

Left-brain thinking, though necessary, is not sufficient. My right brain, where images and patterns and spatial relations reside, is where the ideas flow from, where the brilliant bon mots and the realization that your protag sports a ying-yang tattoo under the right shoulder blade originate. It’s the imagistic, intuitive, FUN side of creativity.

As I mentioned in the intro, Linda's site was one of the blogs that was really brand new when I kicked of Project 20/20 12-weeks ago. I didn't feel that I could recommend such a new blog then, because, as I said, consistency is such an important trait in a blogger. Well, Linda's shown her stuff.

Congratulations Linda, on being the latest addition to my blogroll. And I promise I won't even ask you for discounted psychiatric services.

Keep your nominations coming. There are still 8 spots left!

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Friday, November 02, 2007 8:32:22 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Comments [6]

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Welcome Screenwriters!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
WD is going Hollywood. That's right, today we're kicking off a fabulous new blog Script Notes to keep you in the know about writing for the stage and screen.

Please welcome writer Chad Gervich. Chad is a television producer, published author, and award-winning playwright who spent five years as a development executive and producer with the Littlefield Company, former NBC president Warren Littlefield's production company with Paramount Television (now with ABC).

Chad created and produced the Style network’s hit comedy/reality series, Foody Call, and recently executive produced Celebrity Drive-By, a talk show pilot for E! Entertainment. Last fall, Chad developed Dirty Laundry, an internet soap for FOX TV Studios, and wrote and produced on Wig Out, an online sitcom for Warner Brothers.

Most recently, Chad’s book Television: A-Z was sold to Random House/Crown for an August, 2008 release.

Chad has also worked in development at NBC Studios, Sony Pictures, CBS Production, and Twentieth Century Fox. He’s been worked on countless series and pilots, including "Malcolm in the Middle" (FOX), "Love, Inc." (UPN), "Keen Eddie" (FOX/Bravo), "Do Over" (WB), "Time Tunnel" (FOX), and "Star Search" (CBS).

And, yes, this is an especially timely topic, in a rather ironic way, since there's a looming screenwriters strike. Here's an article from today's Los Angeles Times for the latest on the seemingly inevitable strike: Studios, writers quit talks at deadline; strike looms.

I can't wait to see what Chad has to tell us about the strike, and all other script-related news and views.

Welcome Chad, we're so glad you're here!

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Thursday, November 01, 2007 1:03:37 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Comments [0]

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Adult vs. YA Lit
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Do you ever wonder what genre you're writing in? Should you?

If so, you definitely need to read this essay from this week's Publishers Weekly:
Identity Crisis? Not really: Let the marketing people decide whether I'm writing adult or YA novels, written by Meg Rosoff.

You may have encountered this familiar writerly dilemma:

According to my (new) publisher, I used to be a Young Adult writer. This statement has caused one of my bookseller fans so much outrage, she e-mailed me at home, saying, “I am all set to be enraged at 'Formerly a YA author’ on your bio. Like YA was just a phase you grew out of? And now, finally, you’re writing Respectable Literary Fiction?” It’s a problem. The truth is, most writers simply write, and by virtue of the subject matter they choose (divorce, sexual deviance, the Peloponnesian wars), are deemed to be adult writers. The presence of puppies and pigs in a story line usually indicates a children’s book, except when it doesn’t (Marley and Me, Animal Farm). And according to the marketing departments of most American publishers, there are children’s books and adult books, and never the twain shall meet.

Rosoff goes on to say that her writing hasn't changed even though the way her work is being marketed has. She's still writing about coming-of-age themes just as she did several years ago when her debut novel How I Live Now was sold as YA fiction.

Have you ever confronted this problem of having to figure out which genre your writing fits in? Is this essentially the writers responsibility to know or should writers just leave it up to the marketing departments, as Rosoff suggests? Please drop me a line here.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | the writing life

Tuesday, October 30, 2007 6:40:56 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Comments [5]

Saturday, October 27, 2007

PROJECT 20/20: BUILD MY BLOGROLL WEEK 11 ADD!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Wow, we're on week 11 of my Project 20/20 Build my Blogroll Project (see all the details in the left navigation). I've been adding a writer's blog to my blogroll every Friday for 11 weeks now. More than 75 writer's blogs have been nominated so far. I encourage you to check them out in the comments section of the Project 20/20 link.

This week's add is all about the subject writer's hate talking about but really need to know.
And that subject is—you guessed it—MONEY!

I've been acquainted with this writer for a while now. She provides such a valuable service to writers by tracking down grants and making the listings readily available.

Please check out this great resource/ blog by C. Hope Clark:
Funds For Writers

This blog will give you a great boost toward getting funds to enable you to write.

Thanks for all you do on behalf of writers, Hope.

Keep the nominations coming, there are still 9 spots to fill!

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | language issues | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Saturday, October 27, 2007 1:21:15 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [4]

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Dzanc Books Rocks!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Two posts in one day—I know I spoil you—but you're worth it. Also we're between deadlines for the print magazine and I get bored easily.

I like to pass along good publishing news whenever I run across it. Please read this wonderful article from Wired on a small, renegade publishing house that's moving and shaking things up on its own terms:

From Old to New Media: Blog Begets Publishing House

A small press, growing? How could it be?
    Against market trends, Dzanc Books is a small publisher poised to succeed, hiring staff and expanding quickly. And that may be because it sprouted from a blog rather than a traditional printing press, and it is certainly web-savvy.
    Since its launch in 2006, Dzanc Books has acquired other presses, signed numerous authors, launched an education program and started an award -- the Dzanc Prize -- to encourage writers to undertake community literacy projects.
    Dzanc is growing at a time when there are few independent publishers left, and the remaining ones were hit hard by the recent bankruptcy of Advanced Marketing Services, a major distributor.
"We do not intend to fall into the potholes that sent the hubcaps of our predecessors flying," says co-founder Steve Gillis. "We are not caught in the old template of how publishing has been done."

Dzanc Books ~ I salute you!

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views | the writing life

Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:17:01 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [0]

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

On the screenwriters strike
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
These are scary, scary times for writers. You'll realize this quickly if you've been following the news on the looming screenwriters strike. The Writers Guild is at a standstill in negotiations with the Hollywood production studios. The primary issue of contention—compensating writers for "New Media" (read: Internet) rights.

Here are two must-read recent articles on the topic, with brief excerpts:

From the Los Angeles Times:
Writers Guild votes overwhelmingly to authorize strike
Writers have rallied behind a theme that might best be summed up by the Who's hit song "Won't Get Fooled Again." Writers maintain they were shortchanged years ago when they agreed to a discounted pay formula for home video sales, only to see that business take off. And they're determined not to make the same mistake again as the digital revolution upends the entertainment industry.

"The guild made a bad deal 20 years ago and they've been angry ever since and they don't want to do it again," said Jonathan Handel, an entertainment industry attorney with TroyGould in Los Angeles and a former associate counsel for the Writers Guild. "That's why we're seeing a line drawn in the sand."

For their part, the studios maintain that DVD sales are needed to offset rising marketing and production costs, and they contend that it's too early to lock into pay formulas for shows distributed online because technologies are rapidly changing and they're still grappling with uncertain business models.

Also, please read this article in Variety: WGA strike talks log digital divide: Sides still far apart on new media revenues.
Accounting for digital revenues has emerged as a major sticking point during the three months of contract negotiations between companies and the Writers Guild of America. The guild has seized on Hollywood's bullishness over digital deals to hammer home its dual points: Digital media revenues will be a major driver of revenue growth at the media congloms, and writers deserve a slice.

Why this should matter to you if you're not a screenwriter? Well, if you're writing for publication and haven't had to grapple with so-called "New Media" rights yet, you will be soon. I think the outcome of this strike really sets the stage for protecting writers' rights for years ahead.

OK, please allow me to pontificate for just 30 seconds. You shouldn't have to be poor in order to practice your craft. There are many, many big companies becoming very, very wealthy from the work of writers, and yes, they can afford to compensate writers fairly (psst: don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise).

Please read the articles linked here and share your thoughts. And best wishes to our screenwriting friends.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | the writing life

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 4:00:19 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [2]

Friday, October 19, 2007

PROJECT 20/20 BUILD MY BLOGROLL: WEEK 10 ADD!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
It's the 10th week in My Project 20/20 Build my Blogroll Project. You can read all about the project and nominate a writing blog in "Project 20/20" in the left navigation.

This week's add is all about the power of friends.

I've been noticing a trend lately, in the form of multiple writers gathering together to form a blog collective. This makes a lot of sense when you realize the time and commitment it takes to put out a quality blog on a continuous and relenteless basis. And when you consider the exponentially increased audience a group of writers can reach, well, a group blog really starts to make a lot of sense.

One of the first writing collective blogs I came across is this fine blog that was nominated at the beginning of my project. Congrats to our friendly writing neighbors to the north:
The Canadian Writers' Collective
hosted by the following writers:

Melissa Bell
Anne Chudobiak
Tricia Dower
Steven Gajadhar
Tamara J. Lee
Antonios Maltezos
Andrew Tibbetts

I'm guessing with 7 regular writers and specical guests, it's easy to keep the blog fires burning. Not to mention the fun factor of blogging as a group experience.

This blog is a bit of everything you'd want in a writing blog, really. Yesterday they posted a Halloween Haiku contest. There are posts from one writer's "Journal of a Wannabe Novelist" to advice on which writing books to invest in.

I'd love for any or all of the members of the Canadian Writers' Collective to stop in and tell us what it's like to be part of a group blog. I'd like to get into one of those myself!

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | language issues | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Friday, October 19, 2007 8:58:53 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [3]

Thursday, October 18, 2007

The 15th Annual WD Self-Published Book Awards Winner
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
A big congratulations to Norma Lehmeier Hartie, winner of our 15th annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards. She took home the prize (including $3,000 in cash) for her book Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify & Energize Your Life, Your Home & Your Planet, which was entered in the Inspirational category.

You can read an interview with Hartie on the Ecolibris blog, where she discusses the process of self-publishing her book, and how to be a "green" author. A fascinating read.

Here's what one of our judges wrote about the book:

"This is a beautiful looking, very well organized and thoughtfully written book. The author obviously has thoroughly done the necessary study/homework as she writes with an authentic voice, one of experience. The cover is especially lovely, evenly designed and inviting to the potential reader to open the book and go further. In reading we can only be inspired to beautify our lives, make the necessary changes that would make us happier, healthier, more at peace—on a personal, group, community or global level. I found myself drawn in to clean out my cluttered basement and give things away, as well as to get out my pendulum again for special use, and to be more conscientious about my cleaning products or home purchases. The benefits for clearing out, cleaning, and adjusting energy are explained succinctly and reasonably, and these tips are therefore encouraging and convincing. A lovely book to keep and refer to often. So many answers therein – if lots of people would accept this wonderful holistic approach."

Our interview with Hartie, along with the list of top winners in each category, will run in the April 2008 issue of Writer's Digest.

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news | writing contest announcements

Thursday, October 18, 2007 3:01:39 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [1]

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Meet 90-year old debut author Millard Kaufman
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Bless McSweeney's for publishing 90-year old debut novelist, Millard Kaufman, whose novel Bowl of Cherries has been compared (in Publishers Weekly) to the work of Vonnegut, Heller and Camus.

I wanted to line up a forum guest appearance/ live chat with Kaufman, but I'm told technology isn't his friend. I'm trying to get a phone interview, but in the mean time, please enjoy this video of Millard Kaufman discussing his work, courtesy of McSweeney's and You Tube.

Keep Writing,
Maria

Off the Page: author interview series | publishing news and views | the writing life

Tuesday, October 16, 2007 1:50:33 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [0]

Friday, October 12, 2007

PROJECT 20/20 BUILD MY BLOGROLL: WEEK 9 ADD!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
You may or may not know, I've spent the past nine weeks lurking around the blogosphere perusing writers' blogs, for my Project 20/20, in which I'm spotlighting a writer's blog each week for 20 weeks.

Now, at week #9 I'm almost at the halfway mark and still getting lots of great nominations for my burgeoning blogroll. You can check out many of the nominations—and nominate a blog—on the Project 20/20 Build My Blogroll link on the left navigation.

As I've mentioned several times here on The Writer's Perspective I have eclectic tastes, I read widely and try to not pigeonhole myself into a genre. And I'm really proud of the diverse range of writers assembled so far on my blogroll. So I was looking over the blogroll today and realized, wow, I don't have a poet yet.

Of course, every good blogroll needs its own Poet Laureate. With that, here's my Week #9 add, who I hereby decree the official Poet Laureate of The Writer's Perspective blogroll:

Sage Said So by Sage Cohen

I was charmed by the asthetics of Sage's blog and website, which I think makes such a positive statement about her and her work. It's clean, elegant and makes good use of white space. The simple line drawings add personality and match the graphics on her new book of poetry, Like the Heart, the World. Sage just started her book tour and shares the experience on her blog, which is a wonderful way for writers to promote their work without seeming overly self-promotional.

I loved this recent post: "From Stopper to Striker" in which Sage compares the evolution of her writing career to lessons learned on the soccer field.

Sage, congratulations on being my newest blogroll add, and on your new role as the official Poet Laureate of The Writer's Perspective blogroll.

Have a lovely weekend. And, of course...
Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | language issues | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Friday, October 12, 2007 6:15:47 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [3]

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Can you make money with a blog?
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I've been saying for a while now that there will soon be a time when many writers will be writing blogs as a full-time job. Since I've encountered a lot of skepticism about this, every time I find an article in the mainstream media to support this viewpoint, I'm going to post it here.

This is from the Los Angeles Times "Newspapers, Bloggers, Now on the Same Page."

This year, the Washington Post added a sponsored blog roll to its website, a directory of links to blogs that specialize in travel, technology, health and more. If the Post sells an ad on the blog roll's main page, the bloggers split the money with the newspaper. So far, about 100 bloggers have signed up.

To Caroline Little, the chief executive of Washingtonpost Newsweek Interactive, the ad network is good business. Most ad buyers don't want to take the time to buy space on dozens of different blogs, she said, and the staff-driven side of the website often doesn't have enough stories about technology, business or health for advertisers looking to place ads near that content. With the blog roll, the Post can grab ad revenue that might have gone elsewhere.

Have you found a creative way to make money blogging? If so, please share here with your fellow writers.

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views

Thursday, October 11, 2007 4:40:40 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [6]

Saturday, October 06, 2007

More Links for Wacky Word Geeks
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Mark Peters of wordlustitude (see posts below) asked me to post the following comment. Here it is:

Thanks for the link, Maria!

I'd gladly cop to the title of loony lexicologist. I consider the main purpose of the site to be humor--though it's definitely adult humor that's not for everyone, and I collect rare words from any source whatsoever. Sorry Michael! But I've been tickled that professional linguists and lexicographers have taken an interest in the site too. I got a great link this week from Ben Zimmer's blog at Oxford University Press, where he explains what kind of words I collect better than I do:

http://blog.oup.com/2007/10/hapaxify/

I first became interested in ephemeral (or nonce) words from this great book about the unique language of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: http://www.amazon.com/Slayer-Slang-Buffy-Vampire-Lexicon/dp/0195160339

That's a book that Buffy-lovers or word-lovers should enjoy.

And, without going too far off topic or too garishly into self-promotion, I can't resist getting in a plug for my language column as well: http://babble.com/content/articles/columns/jabberwocky/potty-mouth/index.aspx

-Mark Peters

blogs and online writing | language issues | publishing news and views | the writing life

Saturday, October 06, 2007 8:22:38 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [1]

a caveat
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Since I've gotten some negative feedback on this week's blogroll add (below), I'd like to point out that there is some risque subject matter in the blog spotlighted this week. I didn't find it any more offensive than your typical PG-13 rated movie, honestly, but if you're easily offended, it's probably best not to go there.

The blog is definitely not politically-correct, but I personally found it clever and entertaining. Off-color humor or not, it made me laugh. I think it's interesting that the blog cites and catalogs the silly, strange new words discovered on the world wide web. At any rate, it's definitely not for everyone, and I apologize to any who were offended by my recommendation.

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | language issues | publishing news and views | the writing life

Saturday, October 06, 2007 1:59:32 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [0]

Thursday, October 04, 2007

on Stephen King, Steve Almond, MFAs and the slush pile
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I highly recommend you check out Stephen King's NYT essay on the state of the American short story. The essay was about King's wading through the slush pile to find stories for The Best American Short Stories 2007, which he edited.

Here's a brief excerpt from King's essay:
Last year, I read scores of stories that felt ... not quite dead on the page, I won’t go that far, but airless, somehow, and self-referring. These stories felt show-offy rather than entertaining, self-important rather than interesting, guarded and self-conscious rather than gloriously open, and worst of all, written for editors and teachers rather than for readers. The chief reason for all this, I think, is that bottom shelf. It’s tough for writers to write (and editors to edit) when faced with a shrinking audience. Once, in the days of the old Saturday Evening Post, short fiction was a stadium act; now it can barely fill a coffeehouse and often performs in the company of nothing more than an acoustic guitar and a mouth organ. If the stories felt airless, why not? When circulation falters, the air in the room gets stale.

Make sure you check out the comments (which are possibly even more interesting than King's essay itself) here. There's all sorts of pontificating on whether or not the short story is dead or just gasping for air in a culture that no longer seems to appreciate its value.

There are plenty of comments on writing programs since King all but disses them in his essay, which got me thinking about a reading I recently attended, featuring MFA alum Steve Almond.

Almond had a question about how he learned to write. And he answered that the most valuable thing he got from his MFA was getting the chance to work on the campus literary magazine. He said going through the slush pile and reading what writers consistently do wrong is what really taught him to write.

Anyway, just a little something to think about.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | the writing life

Thursday, October 04, 2007 6:20:17 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [4]

Friday, September 28, 2007

PROJECT 20/20 BUILD MY BLOGROLL: WEEK 7 ADD!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Another Friday, another opportunity to add yet another writer's blog in my project to spotlight and add one to my blogroll each week for 20 weeks. So many great blogs, so little time...

This week, I'm adding lucky #7 to my circle of blog buddies. And without further adieu, it is:

Writer Mama: How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids
by Christina Katz

You've probably heard publishing types using the eponymous and somewhat terrifying word "platform." As in, "We're looking for writers with an established platform..."

Well, Christina could write a book on that. She's been brilliant at establishing a grass-roots community for parent/writers through her blog. And great blogs sometimes lead to great books. Christina's book Writer Mama came out this year.

To promote her book via her blog, she's been hosting a Back-to-School book giveaway—a book a day for 31 days. There are still 3 more days left if you'd like to enter.

Also check out Christina's "Creative Manifesto," which I love, and not just because I love to use the word "manifesto" whenever possible (but it's true, I do.).

Here's #4 of the "Creative Manifesto":
"When good things happen, slow down and savor the moment. It takes effort to make good things happen, so you must have earned it!"

Ah, so true. Christina please get on here and tell us a little more about how you've use your blog to build your platform and get a book deal.

Finally, I have a writer mama confession to make. Once, when I was attempting to conduct a phone interview at home, I locked myself in the car with my cellphone to escape my three fighting children.

Oh, the guilt! Nice to know there are other struggling writer/parents out there. Keep up the good work Christina!

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Friday, September 28, 2007 7:10:55 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [14]

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

So you want to be a journalist...
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Today, let's chat about the wonderful world of journalism. I'd like to aim this especially at the young ones in journalism, communications and English programs or who recently graduated and are hoping to land a juicy journalism job.

First, allow me to indulge my mentoring side. Are you sure I can't talk you out of it? How about a less competitive field, like acting, for example?

No, of course I can't talk you out of it, even with talk of scary low pay, paucity of jobs, and terrifying corporate overlords. Wanting to be a journalist is just something you have to do, so of course you're not going to listen to reason.

I was having a conversation (read: rant) the other day with my editors and our editorial director here at Writer's Digest about some corporate thing that was ticking me off.

"Why did we not listen to our parents when they told us not to be journalists," I said pitifully.

"Because you're hard-headed," my editorial director said. "And that's what makes you a good journalist in the first place."

Well said. So, since I know I'm not going to talk you out of being a journalist, just as my parents couldn't talk me out of it, at least try to find yourself a good mentor.

I stumbled upon the most helpful website yesterday ed2010.com. Ed is a collective of young magazine editors (and wannabe magazine editors) who have created this website to help young journalists get jobs, mentors, and support, both emotional and financial. They give away two $1,000 scholarships a year to two unpaid interns trying to make ends meet during their internship. (Fall deadline is September 30).

One of my favorite things on their site, though is their 60-minute mentor program, in which they attempt to match you (the just-starting-out journalist, job seeker) up with a working magazine editor for a 60-minute conversation.

What a wonderful opportunity for young journalists to get some up-close and personal advice. And here's my advice to you: take advantage of any opportunity that comes your way and if you're lucky enough to find a good mentor, that's gold, don't take it for granted.

I'd love to hear from any of you who have had experiences with mentors. Please drop me a line.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | the writing life

Tuesday, September 25, 2007 2:56:43 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [1]

Friday, September 21, 2007

PROJECT 20/20: BUILD MY BLOGROLL WEEK 6 ADD!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
It's FRIDAY! the most exciting day of the week in writing blogdom. It's the day of the week I add another writer's blog to my ever-expanding blogroll in my Project 20/20: Build my Blogroll contest. I'm adding one blog a week, each Friday, for 20 weeks.

And today I'm announcing sweet number six, which belongs to a writer who is also a Writer's Digest frequent forumista. In fact, we've been having the most interesting conversation about writing blogs on the forum. Another frequent forumista, Ultimate Cheapskate, seems to think that writing a blog, a.k.a. giving away your work, is pointless. We had a really fascinating, slightly controversial subject about it, of course we had to point out to Cheapskate the error of his ways. Please check it out and add to the discussion you writer/bloggers.

With that I'd like to introduce my next blogroll add: A Writer's Edge
by Georganna Hancock.

Georganna has been blogging since 2004. Three years seems like an eternity in blogdom, doesn't it?

I liken blog years to dog years: 1 year blogging = 7 regular years.
21 years blogging! Amazing!

Georganna is perhaps even more obsessive/compulsive than I am in keeping up on publishing industry trends and news, and she shares freely, along with her own writing tips for success.

Please join me in welcoming Georganna to my lovely blog circledom.

Please note: I've added my original post about Project 20/20, which includes many of the blogs that have been nominated (in the comments section), in the left navigation here.

Keep nominating your favorite writing blogs--there are still 14 weeks to go!

Keep Writing,
Maria

Friday, September 21, 2007 7:37:49 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [6]

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

History and the Future
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
In the October issue of Writer's Digest, we featured an essay called "Literary Legends." Phil Sexton, who recently wrote the book Legends of Literature, wrote this essay for us based on his experience of combing through the Writer's Digest magazine archives—87 years worth.

Some of the treasures Sexton discovered on his journey: articles by A.A. Milne, H.G. Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Isaac Asimov and Stephen King. An announcement of the arrival of "hot, new writer" F. Scott Fitzgerald. An interview with Ernest Hemingway that hadn't seen the light of day in 40 years. And on and on and on.

I loved reading this piece. Yes, I'm a literary geek so I get into this sort of ephemera.

But the weight of editing a magazine with this much of a legacy behind it can be daunting. A magazine is, necessarily, in continuous evolution. It has to be contemporary in order to appeal to the next generation of readers. And balancing the legacy with the need to move forward is always a challenge.

It's kind of like living in a historic house. If you own an old house, you soon realize the house doesn't truly belong to you; it belongs to the families who lived there before, the families you'll pass it along to, and to the community.

Taking care of a magazine during a tenure as editor is similar. You have to honor it, care for it, and modernize it enough to move gracefully into the future.

So community, tell me: How would you like to see Writer's Digest move into the future? Let me know. I'm the caretaker and I'm paying attention.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Tuesday, September 18, 2007 3:26:00 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [6]

Friday, September 14, 2007

PROJECT 20/20 BUILD MY BLOGROLL: WEEK 5 ADD!
Posted by Maria

Hi Writers,

It's week 5 in my ambitious Project 20/20. My goal is to spotlight one writer's blog each Friday for 20 weeks and add it to my ever-growing roster of online writing buddies.

It's always a pleasure to find out one of our freelancer writers for Writer's Digest keeps a blog. In case you're wondering whether or not editors actually read that stuff, I admit, yes I do check in on blogs when we're looking at giving an assignment to a writer who's new to us.

One of my favorite new freelancers to work with is Jenny Rough, and she writes the blog I'm adding to my blogroll this week: Roughly Speaking

If you're a Writer's Digest reader, you may recognize Jenny as the author of one of our October cover features entitled Off the Dole: How to stop depending on other's to support your freelance writing career.

Jenny has a great voice and writes in a down-to-earth style about the nitty gritty of establishing a freelance writing career. Here's a recent blog post she titled "Weekend."

Full time freelance writing often means that one day runs into another into another into another. Instead of “work days” and “weekends” I simply have days. At least, that’s my approach. I realize some writers compartmentalize (on x days I must write x many pages in x many hours), but I tend to go with the flow (well, to the extent that I can while working within the bounds of my assignment deadlines). This often means I might be grocery shopping on Monday morning, but then working late Friday night (or Saturday or Sunday).

As a former freelancer myself, Jenny, I can relate—there is no such thing as "weekend" to the freelancer.

Another thing that really impresses me about Jenny is the consistency of her blogging. Jenny, please tell us how do you keep up the pace? Do you ever get blog burnout? And do you have a yoga move for that?

Roughly Speaking will now, forever and ever, be enshrined on my blogroll hall of fame.

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | language issues | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Friday, September 14, 2007 6:42:17 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [4]

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

No Thanks...
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,

Every writer who's ever received a rejection (isn't this redundant?) will get a shot of adrenaline from reading this essay in The New York Times, No Thanks Mr. Nabokov by David Oshinsky. It's about the process of going through the Knopf file archives and some of the rejection that were discovered. You will be shocked and amazed at some of the writers Knopf rejected over the years.

Here's a passage from the essay:

For almost a century, Knopf has been the gold standard in the book trade, publishing the works of 17 Nobel Prize-winning authors as well as 47 Pulitzer Prize-winning volumes of fiction, nonfiction, biography and history. Recently, however, scholars trolling through the Knopf archive have been struck by the number of reader’s reports that badly missed the mark, especially where new talent was concerned. The rejection files, which run from the 1940s through the 1970s, include dismissive verdicts on the likes of Jorge Luis Borges (“utterly untranslatable”), Isaac Bashevis Singer (“It’s Poland and the rich Jews again”), Anaïs Nin (“There is no commercial advantage in acquiring her, and, in my opinion, no artistic”), Sylvia Plath (“There certainly isn’t enough genuine talent for us to take notice”) and Jack Kerouac (“His frenetic and scrambling prose perfectly express the feverish travels of the Beat Generation. But is that enough? I don’t think so”). In a two-year stretch beginning in 1955, Knopf turned down manuscripts by Jean-Paul Sartre, Mordecai Richler, and the historians A. J. P. Taylor and Barbara Tuchman, not to mention Vladimir Nabokov's “Lolita” (too racy) and James Baldwin’s “Giovanni’s Room” (“hopelessly bad”).

Here's my question for you. I'm almost afraid to ask but here it is: What's the worst rejection you've ever received for your writing?

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | the writing life

Tuesday, September 11, 2007 2:08:23 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [8]

Monday, September 10, 2007

My Manifesto
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
A writer friend of mine pointed out a particularly harsh remark about Writer's Digest on Scott Oden's blog that I'd like to respond to here.

Here's a passage from his post:
I started writing and submitting in 1984. Back then, you had to do some serious legwork to discover not only where to send stories, but what editors were on the lookout for. There was no Internet, at least, not for mass public consumption, so market research involved hoofing it to the library—which had an impressive array of periodicals—and jotting down info from the masthead, or browsing their old and battered copy of Writer’s Market. This was back when Writer’s Digest was actually a useful resource and not a mouthpiece for the vanity press industry, as it is today.

Since these remarks show little knowledge of Writer's Digest or the magazine industry, I'd like to point out a few relevant facts and let you judge for yourself.

• Writer's Digest magazine has been in existence since 1920, and "vanity press" advertising has been included since its inception.
• All of the writing magazines (our competitors) also include "vanity press" advertising.
• A typical magazine has an editorial/advertising ratio of 60/40.
• The editorial/advertising ratio of Writer's Digest is 80/20. (80% editorial content/20% ads).
• All magazines rely on advertising to help cover the enormous costs of production and shipping.
• Without advertising revenue, subscription and newsstand prices would be prohibitively expensive for readers. The price would have to double (at least) in order for the magazine to continue to exist.
• Without advertising, it would be impossible to continue providing such a wealth of free online content.

Finally, as the editor of Writer's Digest, it's difficult for me not to take Oden's remark personally because it calls into question the integrity of our editorial staff, as journalists and editors. I can speak for my entire staff when I say that we are no one's mouthpiece. Everything in the 80% of the magazine that's editorial content is chosen by our editorial staff. And we do not do advertorials.

Nobody tells me what to say, what to think, what to write or what to include in Writer's Digest—not our publisher, not our advertising rep and certainly not our advertisers. The only people I listen to when it comes to our editorial content are my editors and our readers.

I've read just about every piece of Reader Mail that's come to Writer's Digest in the four years I've been on the masthead and I communicate with our readers on a daily basis, on our forum and through this blog.

I spend most of my time thinking about the magazine—how to continually make it better and how to serve our readers better. I would confidently and proudly put Writer's Digest today up against the Writer's Digest of any era, even the one Scott Oden waxes poetic about. I think it's a disservice to other writers that Oden disclaims the very resource that he admits helped bring his success in the first place.

If you have any questions or concerns about any of this, please don't hesitate to leave a comment here, or you can find me on our forum in the WD Editors section.

Keep Writing,
Maria Schneider
Editor
Writer's Digest

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Monday, September 10, 2007 3:08:53 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [8]

Friday, September 07, 2007

PROJECT 20/20 BUILD MY BLOGROLL: WEEK 4 ADD!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
It's the fourth week in my ongoing quest to add one writer's blog to my blogroll each week for 20 weeks.

If you've been following my Project 20/20, one thing you've probably noticed is that I have eclectic tastes. After last week's choice of J.A. Konrath's blog A Newbie's Guide to Publishing, there was some discussion on our forum about whether a writer's blog should offer entry into their personal/writing life.

I think there is a place for it. If you're able to craft scenes from your life into writing for your blog that's relevant to others, I say go for it.

The number one problem I see though, is that many writers, when writing for their blog, seem to forget the number one prerogative for all writers: respect your reader.

They're including lots of mundane, undigested, stream-of-conscious type stuff that doesn't make a lot of sense or have relevance to anyone outside of their circle of acquaintances. I'd strongly recommend that if you're keeping a blog as a highly personal journal or diary—keep a password on it so it's out of the public domain. You don't want to offer the world a poor reflection of your writing.

There are some writers, however, who are doing a spectacular job of incorporating their personal/writing life into their blogs.

Here's a good example of a writer who's doing it well. The Week 4 add to my blogroll:
Shanghai Adventures of a Trailing Spouse by Kristin Bair O'Keeffe

This link takes you to the home page of Kristin's website, which is stunning. This is one great looking website/blog. But lest you writers think I'm choosing style over substance, check out her blog. Her posts are well-crafted and offer great insight into her adventurous writing life as she writes her first novel.

There's much here to offer inspiration to other writers. I especially love this post she did recently, Writing: On Process. The Novel as Pie Crust.

Kristin, please tell us: Did you design this site on your own? Do you take these beautiful photographs? And has keeping the blog helped motivate you to keep pushing forward on your novel?

Shanghai Adventures of a Trailing Spouse is now, forever and always, emblazoned on my blogroll hall of fame.

There's still 16 weeks/16 blogs to go, so keep the nominations coming!

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | language issues | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Friday, September 07, 2007 3:08:28 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [3]

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

AN ARSONIST'S GUIDE + VISUAL AIDS!
Posted by Brian

Hi Writers,
As I wrote a few posts ago (see "the memoirizer" post below), I just had the opportunity to interview writer and fellow Cincinnatian Brock Clarke about his new novel An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England.

This novel is such a delightful skewering of the literary world, I think it's a book you writers would enjoy and quite possibly relate to.

Here's one of my favorite excerpts from An Arsonist's Guide:

I took my leave of the women (mostly) and the cafe and began wandering through the bookstore proper, making my way to the memoir section. I didn't take too long. The memoir section, it turned out, was the biggest section by far in the whole bookstore and was, in its own way, like the Soviet Union of literature, having mostly gobbled up the smaller, obsolete states of fiction and poetry. On the way there, I passed through the fiction section. I felt sorry for it immediately: it was so small, so neglected and poorly shelved, and I nearly bought a novel out of pity, but the only thing that caught my eye was something titled The Ordinary White Boy. I plucked it off the shelf. After all, I'd been an ordinary white boy once, before the killing and burning, and maybe I could be one again someday, and maybe this book could help me do it, even if it was a novel and not useful, generically speaking. On the back it said that the author was a newspaper reporter from upstate New York. I opened the novel, which began, "I was working as a newspaper reporter in upstate New York," and then I closed the book and put it back on the fiction shelf, which maybe wasn't all that different from the memoir shelf after all, and I decided never again to feel sorry for the fiction section, the way you stopped feeling sorry for Lithuania once it rolled over so easily and started speaking Russian so soon after being annexed.

Interesting meta-fiction aside: The Ordinary White Boy is Brock's first novel. You have to respect a writer who makes fun of his first novel in his second novel.

Anyway, in the spirit of being a good bloggess, I'm attempting to bring you more relevant visual aids, which are not easy to come by when you're writing about writers, let me tell you.

Brock did a photo shoot for us yesterday and here's a picture of Brock and me, taken right after I talked him into my convoluted scheme of shooting him on the front porch of a fenced in burned-out-shell of a house with a "No Trespassing" sign prominently displayed.

Just for your own safety, you might want to make a mental note of this in case I ever interview you. Thanks for being such a good sport Brock (and thanks to Lisa Wurster for the lovely photos).

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Wednesday, September 05, 2007 4:12:41 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [5]

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Announcing a new series: OFF THE PAGE
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Anyone who still doubts the rising significance of blogs—especially in the publishing world—needs to check out this article from the Sunday New York Times.

The Author Will Take Q.s Now

It's a lowdown on the new age of book tours via blogdom. Here's an excerpt:

Bloggers have written about books since, well, the beginning of blogging. But a blog book tour usually requires an author or publicist to take the initiative, reaching out to bloggers as if they were booksellers and asking them to be the host for a writer’s online visit. Sometimes bloggers invite authors on their own. In an age of budget-conscious publishers and readers who are as likely to discover books from a Google search as from browsing at a bookstore, the blog book tour makes sense.

Anyway, this article got me thinking that I'd really enjoy opening this blog up to author interviews, and I think you writers would enjoy that, too.

There's never quite enough space in the print version of Writer's Digest to include all of the interviews I'd like to include. So I'm starting a new series here on The Writer's Perspective:

Off The Page: The unbound WD Interview

I'll be kicking this series off next week, so stay tuned. Authors, publicists, agents, if you'd like to pitch me an interview, please send press releases to writersdigest@fwpubs.com with "Off the Page" in the subject line.

And writers, please drop me a comment and let me know who you'd like to see on "Off the Page."

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Tuesday, September 04, 2007 2:37:44 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [3]

Friday, August 31, 2007

PROJECT 20/20 BUILD MY BLOGROLL: WEEK 3 ADD!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
It's the third week in my Project 20/20. My goal: to add one writer's blog to my blogroll each Friday for 20 weeks.

I have a personal favorite to add to the blogroll this week, because it's a blog I really think you will all enjoy and take something away from:
A Newbie's Guide to Publishing by J.A. Konrath, author of the Lt. Jack Daniels thriller series.

I find a lot of what's on Joe's blog helpful to writers, especially in terms of learning how to market your work. Joe's written several great marketing articles for Writer's Digest and it's really been my pleasure to work with him for the past few years. He's so gracious in terms of sharing what he's learned about the publishing world with other writers, and he does so in a way that's always refreshing, down-to-earth and positive.

Of course, he's figured this whole blogging thing out, too. Joe really knows how to cut to the chase and give you something meaningful to think about at the same time. Here's an especially pertinent post:

Blogging is not temporary

Blogging, like newspaper and radio, is often mistaken for a disposable form of information. Yet I get lots of hits from Google on old blog posts, and many of them continue to accrue comments.

Pay attention to what you're posting today, you bloggers of blogland. Because it will still be around tomorrow. If your posts are without purpose, you're not doing yourself a service.

Let me repeat that: Blogging Isn't Temporary. What you do now may one day be surfed by someone who isn't even born yet, and that path will lead back to you. Do you want that path to result in interest or apathy?

Think about why you blog, and what purpose it's serving. Look at your last fifty entries. Will they be of any interest to someone in 2017? If not, why do you think they are of any interest to anyone now?

That's why I don't do memes. That's why I don't blog about personal stuff. That's why I don't push my own books constantly—no one ever seeks out ads. And that's why, except on rare occassions, I don't blog about events, peers, friends, family, or what I watched on TV last night.

Your blog is a tool. But too many people are using hammers to scratch their asses rather than drive nails. If you blog as a form of entertainment, that's no problem—have fun. If you blog to increase your name recognition, you may be doing more harm than good.

A Newbies Guide to Publishing is the 3rd writer's blog to be forever carved into the trunk of my blog tree. I raise a shot of Jack to you, Joe Konrath, on behalf of writers everywhere!

Keep the nominations coming. There are still 17 blogs to add!

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | language issues | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Friday, August 31, 2007 8:14:24 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [1]

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Just for Kicks
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I just finished interviewing Brock Clarke about his great, funny new novel (cleverly disguised as a memoir) The Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England.

You'll have to wait a few months for the interview. But do check out the website for his book, which features a memoirizer: type in your (real or made up. Probably made up) information and the memoirizer will write your bookjacket blurb. Quite the creative publicity department, you must admit.

To get your own memoirizer blurb go to:
http://arsonistsguide.com/memoirizer.html

Here's the blurb the memoirizer wrote for me: (hee)

Who I Was  Who I Am  and  Who I Want to Be   A Memoir
by Maria Schneider

In Who I Was, Who I Am, and Who I Want to Be, Maria Schneider tells the almost too- remarkable-to-be-true story of her rise from villain to hero, including her struggle to overcome her sexual voraciousness, her troubled relationship with her partner and children, and her addiction to drugs, all of which lead her to a life of crime and to rehab, where she found redemption and the strength and wisdom to write this cautionary memoir about the power and resiliency of the human condition.

Feel free to post your memoirizer blurbs here, too.
Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | publishing news and views | the writing life

Thursday, August 30, 2007 8:59:48 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [2]

Friday, August 24, 2007

PROJECT 20/20: WEEK 2 ADD!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I had another fabulous Friday scanning through the many great writing blogs that have been nominated for my project.

Brief but potentially interesting sidenote: Many, many writers have cats, and post multiple photos of cats on their blogs. Kind of made me want to get my own feline to be part of the club. Peer pressure, you know.

Anyway, back to my blogroll project. For various reasons having nothing to do with this project I was feeling a little blue today and really needed a good laugh. Well, I'm so glad I found this blog because it gave me exactly what I needed:
Screw You!: Daily (or thereabouts) diatribes of a frenzied freelancer by Kathy Kehrli.

Irreverently innovative, hilariously hostile and frankly funny, this is your go-to blog to blow off a little steam with your writing buddy Kathy, as she sounds off on the dastardly deeds of her clientele. She also has a straight-up, buttoned down website The Flawless Word and blog for her freelance business with very solid information. Check out both. You may find yourself wondering: Is this really the same person? I do wonder what happens if one her clients inadvertantly stumbles upon her Screw You! blog. Kathy, please get on here and tell us: How do you keep from getting caught, and/or what do you do when you get caught?

Also, I realize this is an unfair advantage, but I gave Kathy bonus points for being from Scranton, PA, the fictional setting of my favorite TV show The Office.

Screw You! is now, forever and always inscribed on my blogroll. Could yours be next? Find out next Friday. Keep nominating your favorite writing blogs right here in my comments.

Keep Writing,
Maria
P.S. As you may have noticed, I tend to over-use alliteration when I'm down. All apologies for that.

blogs and online writing | language issues | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Friday, August 24, 2007 7:16:37 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [4]

Friday, August 17, 2007

PROJECT 20/20: AND MY FIRST ADD
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Wow, thanks for all of the nominations for my Project 20/20: Build my Blogroll. I had a wonderful day sifting through the 50 or so blogs nominated. If you get a chance, go check out some or all of the blogs mentioned in my comments section below, there's some great stuff there.

But alas, I had to choose just one for today. And it is:
The Urban Muse: Adventures in Reading, Writing and Living the Creative Life by Susan Johnston

Copywriter by day, freelancer by night, Susan is a young writer who's chronicling her professional writing life, as well as offering resources for her fellow writers. She has some great interviews with industry insiders as well as lots of helpful tips. One of my favorites posts is: Five Ways to Promote Your Blog. Susan's tone is personal yet still polished and professional. The design is clean and readable. There's so much helpful information on her blog, really, I think I'm going to have to get her to do some writing for Writer's Digest. Susan, please do stop by and tell us how you find the time to put this all together.

Susan's URL is now inscribed on my blogroll, which is going to be filled by the end of this year. 20 blogs in 20 weeks. Be my BFF* (blog friend forever). Keep the nominations coming.

Keep Writing,
Your Bloggess (aka "The Pit Boss")
Maria
P.S. you should try to get a job where someone pays you to look at blogs all day, it's really quite entertaining.

* apologies for the lame yet ironic use of IM-speak.

blogs and online writing | language issues | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Friday, August 17, 2007 7:54:59 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [12]

Friday, August 10, 2007

PROJECT 20/20: HELP ME BUILD MY BLOGROLL
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I'm kicking off a new project here on my blog: Project 20/20. No, this is not an attempt to solicit funds for my Lasik© surgery (although, if you like, send c/o Writer's Digest, 4700 E. Galbraith Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45236).

This purpose of this project is to build my blogroll. I've been thinking, you know, blogging is all about sharing and connecting and being part of larger and larger circles now, isn't it?

Now, look at my blogroll. I know, except for the (entirely awesome) WD Blogs, it's skimpy. Not being a very good bloggess now am I? (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure I just made up the word "bloggess").

So here's the deal: There are 20 Fridays left in 2007. Starting next Friday, I'm going to highlight one writer's blog each week then add it to my guaranteed-to-be-fabulous blogroll.

I'm looking for blogs that:
• are dedicated to the topic of writing and/or publishing
• are updated frequently
• are owned and maintained by private individuals

So if you want me to check out your blog, drop a comment here.

Keep Writing,
Maria
p.s. there's still a raging debate on the f*** word going on in the forum.
Thanks to all who expounded so eloquently on the f*** word, especially Jay, who wrote a Master's thesis on the topic in my comments section. This is for you Jay: u*********.

blogs and online writing | language issues | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Friday, August 10, 2007 6:04:41 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [88]

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

On the f*** word
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I have a not-so-shocking confession to make: I curse. In fact, around deadlines, I curse a lot. Most of my verbal spewing is directed at my computer screen. But still, it's not something I'm proud of, and it's certainly not something I want to flaunt.

This confession comes in light of several recent bouts with the f*** word. Every magazine/newspaper/book editor has to grapple with the question: should this word be allowed in their publication?

I've had to make this call several times in the last few months. In our October issue, there's an interview with novelist Chuck Palahniuk along with a brief excerpt from his new book, and the f*** word is part of the excerpt from Chapter 1. We decided to handle it with asterisks.

And last week, a source for a piece we're running on the gay and lesbian fiction market had an issue with our "censoring" the f*** word.

On our forum, we've set up filters to automatically asterisk the word.

We're a writing magazine, so the last thing we want to do is censor the work of writers. I do understand why the word might have its place in fiction—especially in dialogue since it's become so ubiquitous in our language, it would seem almost wrong for certain types of characters not to be using it.

But especially in nonfiction, don't writers need to be the ones to keep the level of discourse high? Hasn't the f*** word become so common that it's almost trite? And is it really censorship if an editor chooses not to print this particular word? As you can tell, this is really bugging me right now, so please let me know your thoughts.

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | language issues | publishing news and views

Tuesday, August 07, 2007 3:17:00 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [33]

Friday, June 22, 2007

Sweet Dreams New York
Posted by maria

As all writers and editors know, in the publishing world, New York sets the trends and standards for the rest of us.

With this in mind, I was perusing The New Yorker this week, when I came across this article in The Talk of the Town "Lights Out"

The newest trend in publishing—remember you heard it here first (well, OK second) is—naps.

Here's an excerpt from the piece:

Peter Workman, the founder and chief executive of Workman Publishing, is known among his employees as a stickler for traditional business hours: his editors are expected to be at their desks every morning at nine, an hour at which many in the industry are still spilling crumbs upon Michiko Kakutani. In January though, the house published “Take a Nap! Change Your Life,” a how-to and why-you-should, by Sara Mednick, which argues that napping increases productivity improves health, and encourages weight loss, among other benefits. After it came out, Workman was persuaded that his own minions ought to be encouraged to fall asleep on the job

“If it does work, why not us?” Workman said the other day in his office, whose bookshelves are filled with copies of “The Silver Palate Cookbook” and “1,000 Places to See Before You Die” and other books that his team had produced while not napping. Tie loosened and wire-rimmed glasses askew, Workman looked as if he had just woken up from a nap himself, but a can of Diet Coke and a jar of chocolate candies on his conference table testified to a dependence upon more traditional means of stimulation. (He has brought a pillow to the office but has yet to use it.)

First of all, can I just say that, wow New York, you have to be at work by 9 a.m.?! I can see why you must be tired (which I type from my office while sipping my third cup of coffee at 7:15 a.m.).

Having been in the position of needing to reach New York publishing types in the summer, I'm aware that New Yorkers in publishing work "summer hours" which pretty much means, no work so you can frolic in the Hampton and whatnot.

I'm just going to put an offer out on the table, so between your naps and your summer hours, the engine of publishing keeps moving through this long, hot summer: Farm your editing work out to Midwestern editors, who are not known to nap or observe summer hours. Just think about it: Smart, corn-fed Midwesterners who can fulfill all of your writing and editing needs. You can think of us as your own between-the-coasts Kelly Services. And you won't even be accused of outsourcing—we're American, too!

And by the way, we'd be happy to take on The New Yorker for the summer, also. Would you mind if we called it, just for the summer, The Cincinnatian? We're even willing to throw in a couple of pillows to seal the deal. Think about it. We're here for you.

Keep Writing,
Maria
p.s. You may, perhaps, enjoy Europe for your summer break. I understand they like to nap there, too.

publishing news and views

Friday, June 22, 2007 2:36:03 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [4]

Friday, June 15, 2007

BUY A BOOK FOR MCSWEENEY'S
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
You may remember a few posts back I wrote about a Dave Eggers interview we're running. Well, here it is, hot off the presses and coincidentally soon to be available in the August issue of Writer's Digest. I wanted to go ahead and post this article featuring Eggers writing about Sudanese refugee Valentino Achak Deng.

McSweeney's—Eggers publishing house—is undergoing some tough times financially. Their distributor, PGW went bankrupt and left McSweeney's in a cash crisis.

You can read all about it on McSweeney's.net. They're holding a big sale with hugely discounted books, journals and magazines, including hard-to-find volumes of the literary journal McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, back issues of a great literary magazine, The Believer and beautiful literary works aplenty. Go to their online store for the goods.

I own several issues of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern including the coveted Comics issue, and I adore them all. Each one is so unique and imaginative in design, I'm going to take this opportunity to get all I can get my hands on. I also enjoy Your Disgusting Head, which is great to leave out on your coffee table to liven up a dull cocktail party.

I would go as far to say that these books and journals are collector's items. Own them and your friends will think you're cooler; your grandchildren will one day thank you for your incredible foresight.

Remember, there are only 193 days left until Christmas. Be impressed that I counted.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views

Friday, June 15, 2007 8:18:52 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [3]

Thursday, June 07, 2007

We made the NYT!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
The New York Times posted an article about our conference/ pitch slam, if you want to know how a pitch slam goes. This reporter was actually in the room Kevin and I moderated, "Tough Sell for Writers at NY Literary Speed-Dating."

Here's an excerpt:
Several dozen agents and editors were taking pitches at Wednesday's "pitch-slam" at the end of a one-day seminar that also included workshops on writing the perfect book proposal.

"Don't feel like you're a failure if you don't come out of here with a contract," Lauren Mosko, editor of writers' guide "Novel & Short Story Writer's Market," told her workshop.

Brief note to The New York Times: I know you're busy covering world affairs and such, but it would have been lovely if you would have mentioned in this piece that you were at the BEA/ Writer's Digest Books Writer's Conference.

You know that whole Who, What, When, Where, Why thing you learned in J-School? The Where part is kind of important.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | Writer's Digest news

Thursday, June 07, 2007 2:08:08 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [3]

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Post-Conference
Posted by maria

Chuck Sambuchino, Me, Kevin and John Warner cutting loose
after the Writer's Digest conference

publishing news and views | Writer's Digest news

Tuesday, June 05, 2007 7:34:39 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [6]

Monday, June 04, 2007

BEA WRAP-UP
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Well, I'm back home in Cincy where the lights are a little less bright than NY, but at least they let you sleep occasionally.

This was my third trip to BEA and I have to say, the crowds seemed more enormous than ever this year. This bodes well for the publishing industry, I suppose. But it was difficult to grab the galleys I wanted including Tom Perrotta's new book, The Abstinence Teacher and Alice Sebold's new novel, The Almost Moon. Oh well, made for a lighter suitcase on the trip home.

I ran into lots of agents at the show this year including the always delightful Katharine Sands, agent and author of the book Making a Perfect Pitch.

I also got to meet bestselling author Luanne Rice, who showed up at the TOW book signing to support her lovely assistant Sarah Walker. Sarah was signing the galleys for her upcoming Really You've Done Enough, a book of satirical advice for parents of "grown-up" children. Also signing was Jason Roeder, author of Oh, the Humanity, a book of humorous advice for the socially inept.

As I mentioned previously, whiskey shots were served at the signing and yes, many shots were imbibed along with the literary offerings. I did not, as promised, drink enough whiskey to encourage me to start showing my Strunk & White tattoo. But I did indulge in one small, baby shot to show my support of Sarah and Jason's literary efforts. At any rate, both of these books are hilarious and they'll be available in the fall, so stay tuned. I'll let you know when they're for sale.

After the show, Sarah, Jason, Kevin Alexander, John Warner (TOW Books bigshot and editor of McSweeney's Internet Tendency) and I all walked down to the nearby Chelsea district, mostly because I wanted to go to Sebastian Junger's restaurant, the Half King Bar.

Here's the scene from our table: Two writers tossing about clever bon mots about male models, one is nodding and smiling ironically, one completely ignoring the conversation in favor of the televised baseball game, and the last has eyes glued on the door, waiting, hopelessly for Sebastian Junger to walk in.

I'll let you guess which one I was.

Until next time...

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | Writer's Digest news

Monday, June 04, 2007 7:00:04 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [1]

Saturday, June 02, 2007

Hi WritersDay One Of The Show I Spent Some Time Hanging Out At The FW Booth FW Is Writers Digests
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Day one of the show. I spent some time hanging out at the F+W booth (F+W is Writer's Digest's parent company.), chatting with the authors before their signings. Another shout out to Christina Katz, author of Writers Mama, Scott Francis author of Monster Spotter's Guide to North America (HOW Books) a must-read for all monster fans and Phil Sexton, author of the fall release Writer's Digest Book, Literary Legends. I'm especially psyched about the Literary Legends book since it's a walk through the archives of Writer's Digest magazine (close to my heart, of course).

And I nabbed a nifty, black Writer's Digest/ Literary Legends canvas tote bag, which took a bit of finagaling on my part since they went going fast. For those of you who haven't been, BEA is free-giveaway land and many publishing houses were giving out free totes (ours being the coolest.)

I sat in on a great panel with the editors of new imprints: Jonathan Karp, editor of the nonfiction imprint Twelve; Pamela Dorman, editor of the new Harper Collins imprint for women over 35, Voice; Karen Murgalo, editor of Springboard Press which focuses on narrative nonfiction for baby boomers; and Julie Grau, co-editor of Random House imprint Spiegel & Grau, focusing on edgy, literary fiction; and conservative punditrix Mary Matalin was there too talking about her imprint, although she's not functioning in a true editorial capacity.

First of all--wow, how cool would it be to have your own literary imprint, and how do I get one? According to the panel, you do this by having a track record of proving you have a "nose" for what's going to sell in the marketplace. I've heard about having a "nose" for perfume, and wine but apparently a select few are especially gifted for sniffing out good books, as well.

Second, how and why does a new imprint come into existence? Because editors see an opportunity to publish books in a market that's being under-served. New imprints mean new opportunities for writers, because editors without a backlist need to actively seek out the new. Anyway, this session was a refreshing breath of optimism that publishing is always evolving, and these editors were passionate about seeking out great, new writers, which makes me happy.

One more serendipitious moment for me at the show was running into a fabu photographer, Sally Wiener Grotta, who's doing a series of author photos called the Wordsmith Project to raise money for the Writers Emergency Assistance Fund. Sally's asking for nominations of writers to photograph for the project, you can find more info at www.WordsmithsProject.com. That very day, I was complaining about not being able to find good photos of writers for the magazine, and here I meet Sally. You never know who or what you're going to find at Book Expo America--that's the fun part.

Keep Writing,
M
(p.s. New York is like a sauna right now, and no offense, New York, but you're very cheap with the A/C)

publishing news and views | Writer's Digest news

Saturday, June 02, 2007 4:01:25 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [2]

Friday, June 01, 2007

On the Scene from BEA
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
All apologies for my lack of promised, non-stop communication this week. The only admittedly lame excuse I can offer you is that I'm too cheap to pay 9.95 for Internet access in my room. But I got over it, charged the fee to the company credit card so here I am.

The BEA/ WD Books Writer's Conference went by in a fabulous whirlwind. I finally got to meet our columnist Jodi Picoult in person, as she was the keynote speaker. She's so down-to-earth, funny and extroverted and delivered a wonderful, anecdote filled talk about her writing life. She spoke about her writing process, and I have to say, she's a writer who really knows how to break down the difficult process of writing a novel into manageable parts. Her ability to demystify and distill her writing process is remarkable.

By the way, we're trying a new project this year. We videotaped Jodi's speech and several other speakers as well as audio recording many of the other speakers. And in a few weeks (exact date TBA), the sessions will be available on our website at writersdigest.com/bea so check back there for the details. I'll also announce it here, on the forum and in our e-newsletter.

I also met many of the other WD Books writers including Christina Katz, author of Writer Mama--hi Christina!

I gave a speech on breaking into magazines early in the morning, and had a great crowd. They had lots of questions, which I always appreciate when I give a talk so it's not just me going on... and then you write the query letter, and then you e-mail it... blah, blah, blah. I always prefer to have more of a conversation, so when the audience got on my wave length and started asking questions, it went well.

But the highlight of the day by all accounts was the Agent Pitch Slam. We had a huge number of agents participate this year--more than 60 in fact, thanks to editor extraordinaire and major playa Chuck Sambuchino, editor of the WD Guide to Literary Agents 2007 (out this fall). I got to meet many of the agents as I was in charge of passing out their badges. I know many writers are intimidated by agents, but really, you couldn't ask for a more friendly, helpful group of people. And they all seemed into the pitch slam concept, although the three minute time limit presents a fun challenge to the writers and the agents. Since there were so many agents this year, the lines were quite short and many writers were pitching to five or ten agents.

I was in charge of a pitch slam room. The agents in my room were Michael Murphy, Peter Miller, Meg Leder, Sheree Bykofsky and Jackie Meyer. It went really smooth after the first ten minutes or so while we scrambled to figure out the right way to configure the room and get the lines moving in the right direction. Kevin Alexander was in there helping me keep things running, being the timer, talking to people about their pitches, trying to calm down the nerves. He was a champ, really, but I'm sure he'll tell you all about how great he was on his own blog. And don't believe it when he tells you that I slacked off toward the end and started chatting with John Warner, WD author and editor of the new WD Books humor imprint TOW Books. I can't help it, much like Jessica Rabbit, I'm a sucker for a funny guy.

Well, today is the first official day of BEA so I'm off to the show. I'm keeping notes, and picking up as many galleys as I can. The giveaways at the show are always unbelievable. For a compulsive reader, it's the equivalent of getting the keys to the candy shop.

Keep Writing,
M
(I've decided, like Macy's, to change my ticker symbol to simply "M")

publishing news and views | Writer's Digest news

Friday, June 01, 2007 2:27:12 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [1]

Friday, May 25, 2007

I'll Take Manhattan
Posted by maria

Well, maybe a little sliver of it, anyway...

Hi Writers,
I’m getting ready to head off to the annual BEA/Writer’s Digest Books Writer’s Conference. It's next Wednesday, May 30 in New York. By the way, if you’d like to go (and, come on, why wouldn’t you?) you can register at the door. If any of my loyal readers here are at the conference, please say hi. See, that’s me in the left hand corner of this blog page (btw that nimbus doesn't always follow me around.)

Our lovely columnist Jodi Picoult is the keynote speaker. And I’ll be speaking at the conference on breaking into magazines. Then in the afternoon, I get to be a bell ringer/ bouncer for the Agent Pitch slam, where Kevin Alexander will be helping out, too. If you’ve never been to a pitch slam, let me tell you, they’re thrilling. We have more than 60 agents fielding 3-minute pitches—it’s sheer, exquisite, hyperventilating, invigorating chaos.

Then I’m covering Book Expo America—one of the book industry’s premiere events. I’ll be working the floor, meeting authors, editors and other industry bigshots to provide you with on-the-scene reportage until Saturday evening, when I’ll have one too many whiskey shots at the reception for TOW Books (F+Ws new humor imprint), start showing off my Strunk & White tattoo, and get escorted to the door.

I know—you can’t wait. Neither can I. It's going to be great.
I LOVE NY!

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views | Writer's Digest news

Friday, May 25, 2007 2:04:13 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [1]

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Survival of the Fittest (Book Proposal)
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
You knew it had to happen. The “American Idol” concept has filtered down to the book world. Internet company MediaPredict.com is partnering with the Simon & Schuster imprint Touchstone to launch a contest wherein the public gets to vote (with $5,000 in virtual cash) on book proposals most likely to succeed.

Read about the contest in full, here:
“Touchstone Imprint of Simon & Schuster Teams with New Website Media Predict for Its Project Publish Literary Contest

And here:
“Welcome to Project Publish.”

And you may want to read The New York Times article on the contest.

Here’s a brief excerpt from the NYT piece:
“Being able to predict the performance of something is key,” said Brent Stinski, founder of Media Predict. A prediction market, he said, “is a very powerful tool.”

In the case of Media Predict, traders are not voting on the book they like best, but rather are placing bets on which they think will do well. According to Mark Gompertz, publisher of Touchstone Books, Media Predict could do for book publishing what focus groups do for soap and soda and what screening audiences do for movies.

“Since Gutenberg first printed the Bible, critics have always said publishers don’t know what they’re doing. Just throwing stuff against the wall and seeing what sticks is a crazy way to do business,” Mr. Gompertz said.

Well, the rights issues seem a little tricky here (authors allow MediaPredict to act as temporary literary agent if not already represented). But there’s no entry fee. And, of course, you can’t really argue against free.

This seems to me, though, the latest manifestation of what I wrote about in my last blog entry, which our WD forumites weren’t wild about, to say the least. Testing consumers to try and predict which books might actually sell doesn’t seem to be something writers want to believe is important or even useful.

Anyway, I’d love to know your thoughts on this contest, so drop me a line. Remember, I have $5,000 in virtual cash and I'm not afraid to use it.

Until next time…

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views

Tuesday, May 22, 2007 3:34:11 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [3]

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

PLAYING THE ODDS
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Anyone who’s trying to sell a book or planning to do so in the near future needs to read this feature from The New York Times Sunday business section “The Greatest Mystery: Making a Best Seller.” It’s a wonderful analysis on the state of the industry.

The question at hand: What makes a book a best seller? The answer: No one seems to know. Publishing is apparently the only multi-billion dollar industry for which market research is non-existent. That being the case, agents and editors have little more than their love for a book to push it through their marketing departments, which have final say on whether or not a book ultimately gets published.

Consider these two bestsellers: Curtis Sittenfeld author of Prep and Charles Frazier, author of Cold Mountain. Both had surprise, runaway hits with their first novels and both were offered generous advances for their second novels, which fizzled. The hard, cold truth: most books never make their publishers money. Publishers rely on profits from their few bestselling titles to shore up the majority of the books (estimated here at 70 percent) that come out in the red.

The analogy of gambling is used throughout this piece:

Most in the industry seem to see consumer taste as a mystery that is inevitable and even appealing, akin to the uncontrollable highs and lows of falling in love or gambling. Publishing employees tend to be liberal arts graduates who enter the field with a starting salary around $30,000. Compensation is not tied to sales performance. “The people who go into it don’t do it for the money, which might explain why it’s such a bad business,” Mr. Strachan said.

And Sittenfeld remarks: "People think publishing is a business, but it’s a casino.”

If publishing is nothing more than an educated crapshoot built on gut instincts, is this good for writers? Or would we benefit from more solid market research on what consumers want to read?

What do you think: Keep the mystery—or not?

Until next time…

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 2:52:43 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [2]

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

And The Beat Goes On
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
With the competitiveness and general sense of ennui the literary world often inspires, it’s hard not to get down with the whole scene sometimes. And you may then start asking yourself: Why am I doing this? Why have I thrown my hat in with this dysfunctional lot? Why did I not pursue my alternate goal of becoming an accountant/ street mime/ dog whisperer?

I think we all go through that. And I was feeling just that way when, this Sunday, I came across this lovely story about teen writers in my city newspaper The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Teens writing for a change.”

Check it out. Teenagers, who could be out getting something pierced, chatting with their future ex on MySpace or any manner of other things, choosing instead to spend an evening sharing their writing. Apparently, the influence of street poetry brought via the hip hop culture has gotten kids interested in creating their own poetry.

This put a smile on my face. I’ve never been to a poetry open-mic night, but I’m going to make a point of going to the Greenwich Tavern now to check one out.

Is there something positive and writerly going on in your corner of the world? Do tell. Your fellow writers could use the boost. Please post it here or on the WD forum.

Until next time…

Keep Writing,
Maria
P.S. I leave you with my favorite cartoon strip, "Agnes"
in which Agnes has the excellent idea of creating a Beat Poet Action Figure.
What beat poet would make a good action figure? Ginsberg? Kerouac perhaps?

publishing news and views | the writing life

Tuesday, May 08, 2007 4:15:40 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [6]

Friday, April 27, 2007

The Meanness Racket
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I try to be a nice person, to use my inside voice, to not get caught up in another person’s meanness. But every once in a while I read something that brings out the lioness in me and makes me want to grab a person with my teeth and drag him to a place he can’t get Internet access.
    The latest piece that has me furious ran this week in The New Republic, “The Niceness Racket” written by a nasty little man named Lee Siegel (I don’t know if he’s actually little; I use the term metaphorically).
    In case you can’t read the piece, here’s an excerpt from his long essay/rant/critique about Dave Eggers and his latest book, the story of an African refugee, What is the What.

“In Eggers's hands, the survivor's voice does not survive.
    Where is the dignity in that? How strange for one man to think that he could write the story of another man, a real living man who is perfectly capable of telling his story himself—and then call it an autobiography. It is just one more instance of the accelerating mash-up of truth and falsehood in the culture, which mirrors and—who knows?—maybe even enables the manipulation of truth in politics.
    And Eggers's book is also another unsettling thing. I never thought I would reach for this vocabulary, but What Is the What's innocent expropriation of another man's identity is a post-colonial arrogance—the most socially acceptable instance of Orientalism you are likely to encounter. Perhaps this is the next stage of American memoir. Perhaps, having run out of marketable stories to tell about ourselves, we will now travel the world in search of desperate people willing to rent out their lives, the way indigent people in some desolate places give up their children. Perhaps we have picked our psyches clean, and now we need other people's stories the way we need other people's oil.”

    I’m aware there’s a long, well-established history of literary criticism and that critics are necessary in the way bacteria is necessary for an otherwise healthy organism. But shouldn’t a critique focus on the literary work in question and not devolve into a character assassination of its author?
    It so happens that I’m in the midst editing a feature for the August issue of Writer’s Digest, on Eggers and Deng’s collaboration for What is the What.
    Siegel implies that Eggers is a cultural parasite, who, lacking an interesting story of his own, leeched onto African refugee Valentino Achak Deng. This is far from the case. Eggers was contacted four years ago by Mary Williams (Jane Fonda’s daughter and founder of the Lost Boys Foundation), to write Deng’s story.

Here an excerpt from our interview, written by Mary Curran-Hackett:

    “Williams formed the foundation to make sure the Lost Boys—by then, young Sudanese men—found jobs, apartments, and mentors who could support and guide them in their new American lives. Having read about Eggers—who lost both of his parents as a teenager—Williams sought Eggers out as a mentor who could help Deng write about the life he and his friends had endured in Sudan.
    “Deng recalls first meeting Eggers and explaining his desire to write a book. “I remember that when Dave came to Atlanta, I said to him, ‘I know I have limited English words. If there is any way you can understand my feelings and how I’m telling the story it’s fine. The best way you can tell the story is all I want.’
    Eggers agreed to help. At first the plan was for Deng to record his story orally, prompted by Eggers’ questions, and then Eggers would work the interview into a nonfiction narrative. But after hundreds of hours of taped conversations, Eggers was coming up empty on how to write it. “I have to say, it was just an unhappy time for about a year and half, while trying to figure out how to tell this well and how to tell it correctly.”

Eggers spent several years with Deng recording hundreds of hours of interviews, sending each chapter to Deng for feedback as he was writing:

And what’s Deng’s take on all this? Here’s a direct quote from him:

“There wasn’t a single moment I found anything I didn’t like. I asked Dave, ‘How are you able to feel it?’ ”

I realize this is the second time I’ve had to pick on The New Republic, but I can’t help it—they really do ask for it. So here’s my questions to you: Does The New Republic hate writers? And shouldn’t a critique focus on the work—not the author?

Until next time…

Keep Writing,
Maria
P.S. See, I didn’t even mention Stephen Glass. That would have been a low blow.

publishing news and views

Friday, April 27, 2007 9:25:57 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [3]

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Novel Matters
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Today, Granta magazine's once-a-decade Best of Young American Novelists issue hits newsstands.

The LA Times featured an article on the Granta list this Sunday “In these new American stories, the world speaks,” by Scott Timberg.

There’s a lot for writers to mull over in this piece, about the emerging ethnic diversity of our young novelists, and whether novel writing is becoming a luxury for the privileged classes who can afford creative writing programs, etc.

But what really got my attention were the remarks from Lorin Stein, an editor at Farrar Straus & Giroux:

“The readership has fractured, and reads less, and spends more time e-mailing. And it makes less sense to talk about novelists now — the really creative writing is being done in other genres such as the personal essay, reportage and criticism.”

“The novel has become like landscape painting,” he said. “It’s the ‘top’ genre, but not, in real life, the main one.”

Wow, I hope this isn’t true. But looking at this list of young novelists, I can’t say they’re exactly household names.

As a lifelong reader of novels, this strikes me in a personal way. From the age of seven I’ve had my nose in a book. Beverly Cleary gave me a safe world to escape to during my parent's divorce. JD Salinger and Carson McCullers made me feel less alone through my angsty teen years and Kurt Vonnegut helped me form a worldview. Novels were essential to my upbringing and influenced me far more than newspapers, magazines, movies, MTV and Oprah combined.

Is it possible that, as Stein implies, novels are no longer culturally relevant? That they’re the “landscape paintings” of the literary world and nonfiction has taken their place? Can we get everything we need as human beings—culturally, emotionally, spiritually—from nonfiction? And what novels mattered to you?

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views

Tuesday, April 24, 2007 6:11:20 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [6]

Monday, April 16, 2007

David Sedaris and the Truth Police
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I’ve been keeping up on an ongoing story originating from an article that ran in The New Republic a few weeks ago: “This American Lie” by Alex Heard.

Heard took it upon himself to do a painstaking fact-checking of much of the David Sedaris oeuvre and found that—surprise!—some of what Sedaris writes in his “nonfiction” is exaggerated.

Is there anyone out there who’s read Sedaris and believes the ridiculous, silly vignettes he writes are 100% fact? Where is this all leading? Are humorists, essayists and other storytellers going to have to start printing a disclaimer like this in the front of their books:

Warning: The events and characters contained in this work are based on kernels of truth that have been colored with literary devices such as hyperbole, metaphor and irony in an effort to create an engaging narrative.

I like David Sedaris’ writing and I’m not just trying to defend him here (mostly because he made me mad once by trying to charge us for an interview and I can be very petty that way.) I just think this is a dangerously slippery slope for writers—especially humorists and satirists—with all the self-appointed literary truth cops out there. Am I supposed to start calling Ramsey to fact-check every time Kevin Alexander mentions him in This Writer’s Life?

Can’t a funny story just be a funny story? Does it have to be 100% certifiably true if it's been branded with the "nonfiction" label?

Still mad but I'll get over it soon. And David, if you're out there, I'm willing to give you a second chance.

Keep Writing,
Maria

publishing news and views

Monday, April 16, 2007 9:41:03 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [7]

Friday, April 13, 2007

A Memorial to Kurt Vonnegut
Posted by maria

Dear Writers,
I wanted to share with you this fascinating interview with Kurt Vonnegut "Vonnegut on Fiction." It originally appeared in a Writer's Digest specialty publication in 2002.

"I certainly didn't expect to succeed to the extent I have. I mean, it's not phenomenal, but I certainly didn't expect to amount to much."
-Kurt Vonnegut

You know how I love quotes and I found this gem in the interview. What a remarkable man. Did he not even realize he changed the way we all think about literature?

He will be greatly missed.

Until next time...

Keep Writing,
Maria

P.S. If you have a favorite Vonnegut quote or book or character, please share here in his honor.

publishing news and views

Friday, April 13, 2007 8:37:10 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [4]

Thursday, April 12, 2007

In Honor of Kurt Vonnegut
Posted by maria

I offer you this wonderful quote from him:

"Don't worry about getting into the profession, write anyway to make your soul grow. That's what the practice of any art is, it isn't to make a living— it's to make your soul grow."
-Kurt Vonnegut

(I found this in the WD archives. I'll post the full text interview tomorrow.)
Until next time...
Keep Writing,
-Maria

publishing news and views

Thursday, April 12, 2007 8:23:19 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [0]

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Help Me Christen My Blog
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,

As this is my first ever blog posting, it seemed appropriate to set it off in the right spirit with a christening of sorts, so here goes:

The world is always ready to receive talent with open arms.

This fortune cookie wisdom has been taped to my computer monitor for the past four years I’ve been an editor here at Writer’s Digest. It was left behind by the editor before me, and it helps motivate me when I’m getting ready to write.

It’s rather ironic that I’m just now entering blogdom, since I wrote an article on blogging when it was the hot new thing, way back in the dark ages of 2001 The Art of the Blog. It was difficult to even find bloggers to interview back then, let alone someone who could speak quotably on the subject.

So here I am, editrix of Writer’s Digest, blogging for the first time. You’d think I’d have my hands full trying to keep Brian Klems, Kevin Alexander and all of the WD forumites (who call me “the pit boss”) in line.

But the thing is, I’m a lifelong obsessive-compulsive reader, and I like to share what I read. In fact, on a neurotic note, I think I may have hyperlexia: “A condition in which the main characteristics are an above average ability to read accompanied with a below average ability to understand spoken language. The symptoms are closely related to those of autism.”

And possibly even hypergraphia: “An overwhelming urge to write. It is not itself a disorder, but can be associated with temporal lobe changes in epilepsy and mania.”

(Thank God for the Internet, how else would we research our obscure psychological disorders?)

Anyway, disorder or not, I do a ridiculous amount of reading. Lucky for me, I finally landed a job where they pay me to read. But it occurred to me that you writers may not have fallen into a gig where someone pays you to do what you’d probably do for free (shhh… don’t tell my bosses).

So here’s the deal, let me do the scanning for you. I’m going to keep an eye on the publishing industry and other writerly news and report back to you by providing links you might be interested in, along with commentary. Agree or disagree, I’d love to hear from you either way. The WD forumites will tell you that I enjoy verbal sparring as long everyone’s having a good time--so let’s mix it up.

And to kick things off, I’m asking anyone dropping in to help christen my blog properly by posting the quotes you have taped to your writing desk or computer. Until next time...

Keep Writing,
-Maria

blogs and online writing | language issues | publishing news and views | the writing life | Writer's Digest news

Tuesday, April 03, 2007 5:31:08 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [31]

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