The Writer's Perspective by Maria Schneider

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

4/29/2008 2:43:05 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [12]

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Speaking of Fonts
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
As I mentioned in the previous posts, I'm switching fonts for my blog posts—a minor face lift you might say.

Fonts seem like a trite thing for writers to concern themselves with. But in the visually oriented magazine world, I've observed first-hand that how you present your work really can make a difference in terms of your reader's experience with your writing.

I discovered early in my writing/editing career a cool trick. Whenever I was working closely with an editor (as a writer or a lower-level editor), I'd make a point of learning that editor's preferred editing font. Usually it was a sans serif font, Arial or Verdana, 12 point, double-spaced. I worked under some tough editors who were quick with the red pen and I soon learned to give them exactly—or as close as I could get—what they wanted. And part of my method was delivering the manuscript to them in their preferred editing font.

This probably seems like a trivial matter in the big world of writing and publshing, but it really can help. I think it all comes down to respecting your reader.

Keep Writing,
Maria

the writing life

4/24/2008 11:32:30 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [9]

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Reaching Your Audience
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
A lot of writing books come across my desk and I try to give most of them at least a quick read before stacking them on my bookshelves.

So I thought, instead of just hoarding these books, I'd share a tiny bit here. I'm not going to be doing book reviews, just pulling out some interesting excerpts that I think hold some writerly wisdom.

Here's an excerpt from Standing at Water's Edge: Moving Past Fear, Blocks and Pitfalls to Discover the Power of Creative Immersion by Anne Paris, PhD, on finding a rapport with your audience.

How do you fantasize about your audience? Are they hostile and critical? Appreciative and giving? Are they willing to follow you in your expression?

Make a reality check about the nature of your assumptions. Are these assumptions based on your past experience with an audience? Or are they based on your previous experience in personal relationships?

For effective communication of your artistic message, your audience must be considered. View the audience as a potential new relationship. Your goal is to engage the audience in a two-way experience. Listen to them and reach out to them to invite them into your artistic space. Attempt to share your immersive experience with them rather than presenting it to them. This may involve considerable feelings of vulnerability, especially if you have negative assumptions about the audience’s willingness to engage with you. Finding trust with an audience and becoming skillful at eliciting a relationship with them is perhaps one of your biggest challenges.

Keep Writing,
Maria
p.s. I'm considering a font change. What do you think about this one? Verdana: Ya! or No way!

the writing life | writing books

4/23/2008 2:24:55 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [7]

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

National Editor's Day
Posted by Brian

Hi Writers,

Is there such a thing as National Editor's Day?

Well, there should be. Maybe I'll send that one in to Chase's Calendar of Events, where I was most recently the primary contact for National Word Nerd Day—January 8 (this is the sort of thing that happens when editors get bored).

If you love—or hate—an editor, please read this amusing, satiric piece by Michael Kinsley, courtesy of Time Magazine:

Writers vs. Editors: A Battle for the Ages

Here's an excerpt:
Like the detectives and the prosecutors on "Law & Order," two very different groups of people are responsible for the words that fill the world's magazines and newspapers. There are the writers, who produce the prose, and the editors, who do their best to wreck it.

Writers are sensitive souls--generally intelligent and hardworking but easily bruised. Treat them right, though, and you will be rewarded. Writers shape words into luminous sentences and the sentences into exquisitely crafted paragraphs. They weave the paragraphs together into a near perfect article, essay or review. Then their writing--their baby--is ripped untimely from their computers (well, maybe only a couple of weeks overdue) and turned over to editors. These are idiots, most of them, and brutes, with tin ears, the aesthetic sensitivity of insects, deeply held erroneous beliefs about your topic and a maddening conviction that any article, no matter how eloquent or profound or already cut to the bone, can be improved by losing an additional 100 words.

Of course, all it takes is a few hours surfing the Internet to make you appreciate the value of a well-edited book, magazine or newspaper.

Please feel free to leave all of your fawning remarks about editors here. You can use all of the exclamation marks you want—I know it's hard to contain your praise. When you're finished commenting, let me know what day you'd like me to submit to Chase for National Editor's Day—and no, Leap Year is not an option.

Keep Writing,
Maria

the writing life

4/22/2008 10:10:49 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [6]

Friday, April 18, 2008

Friday Rant Day: Googleganger Woes
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I'm officially declaring Friday Rant Day here on "The Writer's Perspective." Got a rant? Come here on Fridays to share a tizzy fit with me.

To start things off, I came across an article about Googlegangers recently. Names that Match Forge a Bond on the Internet and it brought up some of my own unresolved Googleganger issues.

Here's an excerpt:
Now that the telephone book has been all but replaced by the minutiae-rich Web, searching out, even stalking, the people who share one’s name has become a common pastime. Bloggers muse about their multiple digital selves, known as Google twins or Googlegängers (a term that was the American Dialect Society’s “most creative” word last year).

The thing about writers is, they need to be found. Preferably easily found, when it comes to their work, and in case someone would like to hire them, their contact info. Well, if you think it’s easier then to find people now via the Internet, you must be blessed with some obscure name. I’ve never really understood the need for pseudonyms, but maybe there is something to be said for employing a nom de plume, after all.

I offer myself up as an example of the problem with googlegangers.

Googleganger #1: The Maria Schneider who tangled with Marlon Brando in the 1960s soft-porn art house flick Last Tango in Paris. So in all propriety, I must pre-warn you that if you google my name, nudie pics of some other not-me Maria Schneider will come up first. You can see why this might present a small problem for me.

Googleganger #2: The Maria Schneider I’m most jealous of is the talented jazz musician Maria Schneider. She also owns the domain mariaschneider.com, which, I think, fully entitles me to hate her. (Petty, I know. I told you it was rant day.)

Googleganger #3: Most disturbing on my googleganger front is Maria Schneider cartoonist and writer for The Onion. I’ve come across several instances of mistaken identity in which she and I have apparently morphed into one and the same person. Here's one instance on Zoominfo (that photo isn't me.) Not only do I not work for The Onion, or draw cartoons, I don’t even draw very well, and this strange morping leaves me feeling somehow lacking.

Feel free to add your own sad tales and rants about your doppelgangers. And if you have a good pseudonym for me, don’t hold back, I’d appreciate any ideas. I’m sure Maria Schneider, cartoonist and writer for The Onion, would appreciate it, too.

Keep Writing,
Maria Schneider (but clearly not the only one)
p.s. don't you just love umlauts?

the writing life

4/18/2008 12:52:30 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [14]

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

4/14/2008 4:14:38 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [15]

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

4/11/2008 2:09:36 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [4]

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

4/10/2008 11:56:31 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [9]

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

4/8/2008 9:54:06 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [6]

Friday, April 04, 2008

In honor of National Poetry Month
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
It's National Poetry Month, so I thought I'd offer up an excerpt courtesy of our wonderful new Poetry columnist Dorianne Laux. This is from the June 08 issue of Writer's Digest (on newwstands 4/15), from a column on word choice:

There’s something in the name Romeo—those three sweet, open syllables—that our English-speaking ears have come to love. No one-syllable Fred, no matter how beautiful of mind, body and spirit, will do. Even if we substituted another three-syllable name more fitting to the times, Christopher, for instance, we hear right away what it lacks. Partly it’s the erotic quality of the Italian language and its lilting syllabics and luscious Latinate endings. Benvolio and Mercutio, Romeo’s friends, also have poly-syllabic names that end in that lovely, open “o.” But only Romeo possesses the particular combination of the warm romantic “R,” mellifluous “m” and rolling “o’s,” so sensual to say and hear.

To get your full April poetry fix, check out our write-a-poem-a-day challenge on Poetic Asides.

Keep Writing,
Maria

language issues | the writing life | writing technique

4/4/2008 10:17:56 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [3]

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

4/2/2008 4:00:37 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [9]

Thursday, March 27, 2008

My Archival Wanderings: W. Somerset Maugham
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Today, I’m sharing--from our world-renowned archives (see my previous posts)--an excerpt from a piece W. Somerset Maugham (Of Human Bondage author) wrote entitled “Write About What You Know” from the December 1943 issue of Writer's Digest.

The fact is that when you write about things you don’t know, you fall into ludicrous errors. Of course, a writer cannot have a firsthand knowledge of everything, but his only safety is to find out everything he can about the subject he proposes to treat. Sometimes he thinks himself to fake things; but to do that with plausibility needs skill and experience, and it isn’t really worth doing, for it is seldom completely convincing; and if the writer cannot convince his readers successfully, then he is done.

Now, the only way I have ever discovered he can do that is to tell the truth, as he sees it, about what he knows; and the point of this statement lies in the words as he sees it. There are no new subjects… but if a writer has personality, he will see the old subjects in a personal way, and that will give them interest. He may try his best to be objective, but his temperament, his attitude toward life, are his own and color his view of things.

So, with all due respect, what do you think? Do you, like W. Somerset Maugham, believe writers should stick to writing what they know?

Keep Writing,
Maria

Writer's Digest news

3/27/2008 5:40:52 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [6]

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