C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

See all my books at AllThatChazz.com.

12/24/2010 • 7:01 AM 1

Writers: The mire of conflicting advice & unfair criticism

The hierarchical structure of the autobiograph...

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When I got into the business, there was a criticism meant to shut writers down.

“Too autobiographical” was the kiss of death.

That’s ironic for several reasons:

Biographies and autobiographies are moneymaking books. Sarah Palin‘s ghosts have already published more books than you and possibly more books than she’s read. Okay, that was a cheap shot, but somewhat funny and it has the added bonus of being an Irish fact—that is, something that is a lie, but should be true.

I digress.

Back to the issue of unfair criticisms and misguided advice:

The mind boggles at Augusten Burroughs work. How much childhood trauma can one man recycle into his fiction and non-fiction? He has enough monsters, addictions and insanity in his past that he’s set for several more books at least.

“Too autobiographical” is now a stale criticism when you consider the movement of the market toward tell-alls, whistleblowing and confessionals. There’s a lot of popular fiction that’s thinly veiled life story, too. In fact, if you’ve been a lion tamer-stripper-celebrity-prostitute, you’re a much easier sale than if you’re just another writer working away at your desk making stuff up.

Diablo Cody is a talented writer, but she had a lot more heat going into the fray because of her tattooed image and history as a stripper. I’m not saying she wouldn’t have sold the brilliant Juno script anyway, but really, how many celebrity screenwriters can you name besides her, McKee and William Goldman? If you came up with a few names, it’s probably because they are famous writer-directors, not just writers.

(And notice that irksome phrase “just writers.” I use it advisedly, as a synonym for “merely,” since that’s the stature writers generally have in film, television and publishing.)

“Too autobiographical” was once a stinging barb. It marked a talent that was undeveloped. It suggested teenage angst worthy of a diary, not of publishable quality.

The worm has turned. Now your tortured history as a brawler helps; Chuck Palahniuk brawled a bit and escorted sick people to support groups long before Fight Club. Your time in seedy bars lends authenticity to your writing and manuscript evaluators may well take you more seriously because of the stuff you don’t want your mom to know. A work can still be too autobiographical, but that criticism doesn’t carry the weight it once did.

Evaluators can be off the mark in what they think qualifies as authentic, anyway. One writer, for instance, was told that her dialogue didn’t ring true for how contemporary teenagers speak. She was advised to hang out with some kids to catch the flavor of the real thing. What the manuscript reader didn’t know was the writer was 17 at the time.

We’re a culture that worships celebrity, so “too autobiographical” isn’t a criticism that comes up as much (unless your life story is deadly dull.)

The true irony is that the same editors who would say “too autobiographical” would also routinely tell aspiring writers to “Write what you know.”

That’s bad, even egregious advice. Don’t write what you know. If you only write what you knew, there wouldn’t be much fantasy, science fiction…or much literature at all, come to think of it.

Instead, write what you care about.

Your research and the knowledge

flows from caring, anyway.

Augusten Burroughs Solves Your Writer’s Block Forever [Books] (gawker.com)
Augusten Burroughs, who does NOT need to suck in his stomach (mymobileadventures.com)
Author profile: Alicia Hendley’s Subtle Thing (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Writers Top Ten: Why blogging about publishing is important (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Lit Agent Tells the Cold Hard Truth (psychologytoday.com)
[process] The best writing advice I ever got (jlake.com)
Writer Links: Stephen King, evil editors and plugging plot holes (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
You Better Not Cry, By Augusten Burroughs (independent.co.uk)
Diablo Cody Finally Snaps, Joins Hollywood Bragosphere [Rants] (gawker.com)
Writers: What is your genre? What do you read? (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
You Must Write Without Fear (writinghood.com)
Mixing Fact and Fiction (litlove.wordpress.com)
Writers Tip #36: Find a Day Job (worddreams.wordpress.com)
Octo-Mom’s Next Venture – Autobiography (movers.net)

Filed under: authors, book reviews, Books, Editors, links, manuscript evaluation, Rant, scriptwriting, Useful writing links, writing tips, Augusten Burroughs, autobiography, book, Diablo Cody, manuscript evaluation, Publish, readers, Sarah Palin, William Goldman, writer, Writers Resources, writing, writing criticism

12/23/2010 • 8:01 AM 3

Author profile: Alicia Hendley’s Subtle Thing

Alicia Hendley’s book A Subtle Thing tells the story of Beth, a young woman who attempts to navigate through life while experiencing recurrent clinical depression. Throughout the novel, Beth copes with life’s difficulties. Beth’s trials may resonate with many readers, especially those related to education, career, parenthood, and relationships.

Alicia Hendley, author of A Subtle Thing

Alicia was born in Kitchener, Ontario in 1970. She completed a B.A. at Wilfrid Laurier University in psychology. Then she progressed to her Master’s degree and PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Windsor. Alicia’s a psychologist in the Counselling Centre at the University of Waterloo. She’s on maternity leave with her fourth child. She lives in Guelph with her husband (a journalist.)

CW: Alicia,when did you first know you wanted to be an author?

AH: That’s a good question, but a hard one for me to answer. I can’t remember a time in which writing and reading stories were not integral parts of my life. When I was growing up, my mother was a librarian and my father was a philosophy professor so books were fundamental to family life. When I was about ten, my parents gave me an old manual typewriter. From then on I spent much of my free time pounding out stories and poems. My writing continued and became a welcome stress reliever for me. I count on writing to ground me, no matter how busy or pressured the rest of my world. Now as a psychologist and mother of four, writing is something separate that just belongs to me. It’s vital for maintaining my sense of self.

CW: Tell us about A Subtle Thing. How did you get the idea for your book?

AH: Indirectly, the idea of writing a book about depression likely came from my job. I’m a clinical psychologist, so thinking about mental health is normal for me. I’ve always been interested in the more complex side of human experience. What probably drew me to psychology in the first place was my interest in more existential stuff: the importance of meaning, resilience, and authenticity in people’s lives.

CW: What’s your writing process?

AH: While I don’t have a formal writing process, per se, the way I start writing something new (whether a poem or a story) is often the same. Basically, I jot ideas down whenever they strike. Ideas seem come at me rather than me sitting down and consciously thinking about what I want to write. I wrote much of A Subtle Thing while on maternity leave with my third child so I had limited time to devote to it. Parts of the book were written on the back of receipts and paper bags, whatever I had handy at the time. I then used the small breaks I did have in the day to develop those ideas.

I perfected writing in spurts when trying to finish my dissertation in grad school. I was a single mother of two then, with very limited time to research or write. I was forced to learn how to immediately take advantage of free time when it became available, be it a half-hour nap period or early in the morning. Writer’s block is not a term known to single mothers, at least not to me)!

CW: How long did it take you to write the book and find an agent and publisher?

AH: I’d say that the book took about a year to write. The short stories upon which The book is based on short stories I wrote during lunch breaks in my office. I completed the rest of the book on my maternity leave.

CW: And your path to publication was…?

AH: After I completed the first version of A Subtle Thing, I sent it to a few small presses. I received positive feedback from one, but they rejected it. I then learned from my brother Nate (who is also an author) about a fairly new, independent publishing house (Five Rivers Chapmanry.) He encouraged me to send my manuscript to them. The feedback I received from Five Rivers was encouraging. They suggested I lengthen the book and resubmit it.

CW: What’s the most surprising thing you discovered writing this book?

AH: A Subtle Thing struck me as an odd little book, something I thought might be considered too dark, too out of the mainstream for most readers to embrace. Since it’s been published, however, I’ve learned that a lot of people do connect with it. For example, I know of a men’s book club that recently read my novel and gave it positive feedback. I like being surprised!

CW: What were the obstacles you faced getting the book out?

AH: I guess the biggest challenge now that it’s published is getting exposure for the book, getting the word out. As a previously unpublished, unknown author, this can be really tough. I had assumed all books were on a level playing field with regard to getting book reviews. That’s not necessarily true, which can be frustrating. To me, negative feedback is much better than indifference or silence.

CW: Publishing can be a hard road. Did you doubt yourself along the way?

AH: I’d say that the hardest part of the publishing process is maintaining your motivation level and belief in yourself in the face of rejection. As a psychologist, I’m used to pretty instant feedback in my work—I learn very quickly if what I’m doing with a client is helping or hindering them. What I most enjoy is hearing feedback from readers. After a lifetime of writing mainly just for me, this is exhilarating.

Sending out manuscripts to publishers is a different beast altogether. For about three years I sent out one manuscript (a memoir) to publishers. I received a number of standard rejection letters, but was able to get over the first “hump” a few times, with the manuscript being sent out to readers. I would then learn several months later that the manuscript had again been rejected. In hindsight, the memoir did need revision. I found the process equal parts discouraging, humbling, and frustrating.

CW: What advice would you give unpublished writers?

AH: My advice would be twofold: be tenacious but also be open to constructive criticism. When a professional writer or publisher has taken the time to actually give me feedback about my writing (rather than a standard rejection letter), I listen. At the same time, what one publisher might not like another could, so writers need to lick their wounds, rework what needs reworking, and then try, try again.

CW: Have changes in the book industry forced you to change how you published or marketed your work?

AH: I am still very naïve when it comes to the book industry so I haven’t changed anything I’ve done. That said, following the advice of my wise publisher, Lorina Stephens, I have done things that, as a fairly shy person, I would not have believed possible, such as blogging and tweeting.

CW: What can you tell us about your next book?

AH: I recently completed a book about childhood female bullying and the impact such aggression has years later. Tentatively called The Bystander, it’s not the story of a victim or a victimizer, but rather that of an observer who, through silence and distancing, may imply tacit approval. I attempt to raise various ethical questions for the reader, including questions related to goodness, accountability, responsibility, and tolerance of differences.

I’ve also just started writing a new story, which may become a book. The main character is an 11-year-old boy who was inadvertently the cause of his twin’s death. We’ll see where that goes.

CW: Thanks telling us about your work, Alicia!

A Subtle Thing is Alicia’s debut novel, published by Five Rivers Chapmanry Visit their website at http:www.5rivers.org. A Subtle Thing is available at Amazon and www.chapters.indigo.ca.

Find her on Twitter (@AliciaHendley) and visit Alicia’s blog at http://aliciahendley.blogspot.com.　

Filed under: Author profiles, author Q&A, authors, publishing, writing tips, A Subtle Thing, Alicia Hendley, author profile, Five Rivers Chapmanry, Lorina Stephens, publishing, writers

12/22/2010 • 8:01 AM 2

Writers: Why your worst ideas ever might be your best

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Three words: Andy Warhol. Soup.

Warhol made his name by making art out of the everyday. Campbell’s soup cans became transcendent when we saw them again through Warhol’s eyes. But don’t you think he encountered a lot of resistance along the way? Lots of people have.

When you look at creative endeavours, it can be very difficult to tell a good idea from a terrible one. In fact, some of the best ideas, appear to be the worst ideas ever at first glance.

Ghandi said, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Publishing. Film. Art. It can all be like that.

Books have been written about rejection (and a lot of them were probably rejected quite a bit before finally getting published.) They are pretty funny when you look back on them now. Keats was told he couldn’t use language. The first guy who looked at Everybody Comes to Rick’s wrote that he gave the writer ten pages to grab him and he didn’t. Everybody Comes to Rick’s became Casablanca. Neil Gaiman‘s The Graveyard Book is a more recent example. It’s a great book about a baby whose family is murdered. The baby wanders down to the local boneyard to be raised by the ghosties there.

Yeah, I know! And yet. And yet.

Feel bad about getting rejected? Remember this: “Norton, this idea of yours is so crazy, it might just work!”

Great ideas often come in disguise. From the outside, they look just terrible. when you finally succeed (or go indie and make it happen on your own sans gatekeepers) you can wipe your tears away with a ~~fifty.~~ (Okay, a five-spot. You’re a writer, after all.)

The Graveyard Book: Live! (tor.com)
Top 50 Comic Book Writers: #4-3 (goodcomics.comicbookresources.com)
Warhol film portraits on view in New York (reuters.com)
A Coffee Table Book and why reality is being replaced by small pieces of paper (journal.neilgaiman.com)

Filed under: publishing, Rant, Rejection, Writers, writing tips, Andy Warhol, Art, books, Casablanca, Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman, rejection, writers, Writers Resources

12/21/2010 • 3:07 PM 0

Old ideas about publishing, Twitter and your worldview

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Sometimes it feels like we’re fighting the tide.

The world as it was is the tide.

1. There’s the tide of institution, wherein the established people put down those who aren’t established because they aren’t established…or just because they’re different. I wear a black fedora and a long black coat with a red scarf. I look like a bad immortal from Highlander. Some people look at me funny. And what fearful mortals must they be.

2. There’s generational inertia, where old ideas get enshrined and people don’t want to change. I made the mistake of trying to have a conversation about theoretical physics with someone who thought the field of physics had stopped developing in 1964 (coincidentally the year of his graduation from university.)

3. There’s the know-it-alls who can give you lots of reasons why you’re wrong and shouldn’t attempt anything new. Just. Like. Them. Doing something creative and new and different takes are certain amount of unreasonableness. We’re nice. But we have crazy ideas that just might work. “Put away your market analysis and focus groups and look what I made!”

4. There are envious people who feel safe in their rut if you get down in that rut with them.

5. There are people who are afraid and don’t know the way out is to act brave, especially when you don’t feel brave.

6. There are people who have their opinions and those opinions were true a short time ago. Those outdated opinions were dead on, but things changed and now they are dead. I’m hearing people worry about the death of newspapers who haven’t ever given a single thought to the end of home milk delivery.

7. Some opinions were snarky and funny for a short time, like Twitter being all about what you had for lunch. This is usually from people who haven’t tried Twitter…yet. Are these people still going around saying, “You are the weakest link!” How about, “Where’s the beef?” Move on, please. And spring for dial-up, will you? You’re Internet connection is nearly unusable.

8. There are know-it-alls, but many more know-nothings. Don’t cast your pearls before swine.

9. Then there are people who have a vested interest in keeping things as they’ve been. (Publishers holding back on e-books to squeeze a little more out of trees and authors comes to mind. Outmoded contracts are bad. Trying to retrofit old contracts to new markets is criminal conspiracy.)

10. And sometimes we’re wrong to fight. Sometimes we’re on even ground and don’t know it.

Story time: When I graduated from the Banff Publishing Workshop, one of the faculty said, “Welcome to publishing. Come to create, not to destroy us.” It hit a rather defensive note. They had put us through the wringer, so maybe they had some reason to expect us to be a little pissed.

I stood up and said, “We aren’t coming to destroy…but we value our opinions just as much as you value your own and this is a subjective business. Nobody has to feel bad about that. No one knows what’s going to be a bestseller, so let’s not pretend we know. There is no secret to selecting the right book to publish. That’s the secret.”

And yet, we were expected to feel bad, even in areas we had experience if not expertise. I often felt too young to have an opinion, year after year. With every one of my birthdays, the establishment got a year older, too. Screw that. I’m old enough to see the pattern now. Or am I too old to have these opinions?

Below is a link to an interesting article about how Twitter is changing.

It starts a bit slow and the lead is buried, but once you get to the charts, you get the real chocolate flavour.

As Dennis Miller used to say—way back when he was good and relevant— “Of course, that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.”

How Twitter is Changing: A new study reveals Twitter’s new direction

The Power of Twitter in Information Discovery (cloudave.com)
English Courts Embrace Twitter, @judge Already Gone [Voices] (voices.allthingsd.com)
Conversations with Twitter’s Top Comedy Writers (splitsider.com)
There’s a Right Way and a Wrong Way to Ask for Newsletter Signups on Twitter (blogs.constantcontact.com)
The Essential Twitter Dictionary (socialtimes.com)

Filed under: publishing, Rant, Rejection, Unintentionally hilarious, Useful writing links, What about Chazz?, Writers, writing tips, authors, Dennis Miller, Highlander, Opinion, publishing, social media, Social network, Twitter, writers

12/17/2010 • 8:57 AM 5

Author Profile: Sue Kenney & My Camino

CW: Most authors I speak to know they want to be a writer in childhood. That wasn’t true in your case. Tell us about that.

SK: After being suddenly downsized from my corporate telecom career, I walked 780 kms on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, a medieval pilgrimage route in Spain on a search to figure out what was important in life. When I came home I started telling stories about my journey. It was during this time that people asked me to write a book. I kept saying I wasn’t a writer. Over time with the encouragement of many people, mostly strangers, I felt it was something I was called to do.

CW: It sounds like your audience found you first and demanded you write about your journey.

Sue Kenney

SK: People told me they wanted to read more about what I was thinking about and how my perceptions changed as I walked. The book is the true story of how I confronted my deepest fear. I start talking about the events that led to my decision to walk the Camino and why I went alone in the winter. Then, I tell stories about the people I met, the experiences I had, what I was thinking and how it impacted my perspective on life.

CW: How did you begin?

SK: I researched the Camino’s rich history extensively, the pilgrims (modern and pilgrims of old), miracles and the folklore. I took a course at Ryerson University in creative writing before I wrote my first book. My process was to sit down and write 1000 words a day for 2 months to complete a first draft manuscript of at least 50k words. I was disciplined about keeping to my goal and I met it.

CW: How long did it take you to find a publisher?

SK: I went to Toronto’s Word on the Street and found three publishers who were interested in my idea. I was asked for a writing sample by one of the publishers but I hadn’t written anything. Fortunately, I had a storytelling CD called Stone by Stone I recorded. I transcribed those stories. Then I picked the longest story and gave it a chapter number and title. I sent it as my writing sample along with a strong marketing plan. White Knight Books agreed to publish My Camino the following year. The whole process took about six months because I was insistent on having the book published quickly and I delivered what was requested by the publisher on time.

CW: What surprised you the most about the writing process?

SK: If I surrendered to writing the truth then I was guided in the process. When I tried to control the process, I had more struggles. Early on, I decided to surrender to the creative process and I was completely surprised that I never experienced writer’s block.

CW: What was your biggest challenge you experienced through this book?

SK: Editing the book was a big challenge and an inspiration. Initially, I wasn’t impressed with the way the publisher edited the book because I felt as though my voice was being changed. He agreed to let me look for another editor. I found Bruce Pirrie. He hadn’t edited a book before, but he was a professional screen/stage/television writer who worked on The Red Green Show. He had also directed several Second City comedy shows. I took a chance on him and it proved to be the right decision. Bruce would give me notes, I’d make the revisions and then he would read it to me out loud.

When I asked him why he wanted to do that he said, “How do you know what it will sound like?” The inspiring part of this story is that I believe as a result of reading the book out loud, it is more visual. This was important when we pitched a screenplay adaptation to Pierre Even, (C.R.A.Z.Y.) a producer in Montreal. The book is now in development as a feature film. Bruce and I co-wrote the screenplay. In five years I went from being an Account Executive in the telecom industry to writing two books, a stage play, a screenplay and recording a storytelling CD.

CW: What was the hardest part of the publishing process for you and what did you most enjoy?

SK: The hardest part was getting the bookstores to keep copies of the books on the shelves. The big box stores want to sell volumes of books and being a first-time author, I didn’t have a well known name.

The part I most enjoyed was doing the book signings and readings. Often authors loathe doing this but I love it. In the first year, I did 54 author events. I gave free stones to people walking by and this always stirred up interesting conversations. When people find out I walked 780 kilometers across the north of Spain alone in the winter they’re intrigued. It took me over two years to become a Canadian bestseller but I never gave up. I believe my life purpose is to tell stories to inspire people on their life journeys. At book events I get to live my life purpose. It doesn’t get better than that!

CW: Any advice would you give unpublished writers?

SK: If people ask you to write your story, do it. Set a goal and write every day until it’s done. NaNoWriMo is a great event to help develop discipline. Don’t worry about getting a publisher or how you are going to sell books. Just get the story down on paper.

CW: Have changes in the book industry altered how you market your work?

SK: It’s easier to market now. I can blog, Facebook, tweet and send out my newsletter with updates. When I wrote a second book about the Camino called Confessions of a Pilgrim, I decided to use a self-publishing house because it gave me everything I needed to get a book on the market quickly and efficiently.

CW: What’s your next project?

SK: I’m narrating an audiobook version of My Camino this month. This allows me to use my “voice” to share stories, something I’ve wanted to do since the book was published. In January, I’ll be offering a download version of the book on my website www.suekenney.ca initially for FREE co-incident with the launch of my new website. The CD audio book version will be launched on International Woman’s Day on March 8, 2011. I’ve penned the first draft of a novel about a woman who travels to India in search of pure love. I believe there is a correlation to walking and creativity so I walk every day.

CW: Thanks for doing this, Sue.For more on Sue Kenney, go here:

www.suekenney.ca

mycaminobook@gmail.com

Facebook: My Camino

Filed under: Author profiles, author Q&A, authors, Books, publishing, Writers, writing tips, Author, author interview, author platform, author profiles, Confessions of a Pilgrim, My Camino, publishing, Sue Kenney, writer

12/16/2010 • 8:07 AM 2

Writers: What really happens in book marketing meetings (Plus: What sells books)

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It’s interesting to see the profession of book sales rep disappear. I was a journalist first and that’s evaporated. Later I was a book rep and that’s on the way out, too. Book sales was somewhat romanticized. From the inside of the industry, book marketing isn’t romantic at all. Occasionally I hung out with authors and going to book fairs and sales meeting in nice places was fun. Yes, there were a few cocktail parties. Most of the year, however, you’re hauling so many samples around in your car, the shocks go. You spend a lot of time trying to get to the next appointment on time and worry about finding a good place to park.

I met some really nice booksellers. I also met many awful book retailers. The crux of that problem was that the young booksellers were doing it as a joe job and the older booksellers got into the job for idealistic reasons. No one tells aspiring bookstore owners that, not only are the big chains going to force them out of business, they won’t spend near as much time reading as they planned. Instead, they’ll spend an inordinate amount of time calculating the GST, paying the GST and trying to assist book buyers who aren’t informed book readers. (e.g. “I want to buy a book for my daughter I heard about on the CBC last month. You know. That one…? It’s by that guy? With the thing…? Surely you know that one!”)

So I dealt with the bored and disillusioned. Not exclusively! It’s just that those negative people are the sales experiences I remember best. That miserable bookseller in Owen Sound was an impatient sort who, when I dared to use the word comedy, corrected me and told me the book was “humour.” I’m surprised she was familiar with either facet of the concept. Then there was the condescending one north of Toronto who thought I was stupid since I was still enthusiastic. She beat that out of me quick. “Okay,” I said. “For the remainder of this meeting, I’ll power through the list and act just as pissed off as you appear to be. Happy? Am I smarter now?”

It wasn’t all bad. The owner of the now-defunct Frog Hollow Books in Halifax has a special place in my heart. She was a sweetie, had a great store and she bought a lot of merchandise from me gladly, even in the press of the Christmas rush. I wish that bookstore was still around.

What I find interesting in other people’s reports of marketing meetings is they say sales rep opinions are valued. I hear of book reps getting input into the list, commenting on the marketing challenges and the dubious appeal of certain covers and so forth. Book reps on some planet get to turn something down and require changes in order to make a book sell. I repped sixteen publishers of various sizes and I can tell you, my input didn’t carry any weight. It wasn’t asked for, either. I was their traveling salesman. If the book didn’t sell, they figured it was my fault.

At a sales conference, the editorial team is selling their enthusiasm for the list they built. In my experience, if we dared to mutter about a lousy cover, we did so among ourselves. Voicing any reservations would be met with derision. We weren’t graphic artists, so maybe the cover proved to be lousy and many booksellers would tell us so as we made our rounds. However, in the context of the sales conference,we were getting flown out to someplace nice for one reason. We were supposed to sit there, take notes, and listen. The graphic artist and the editor got to have opinions on anything creative. Our job was to sell their old ugly dogs with the same conviction as the cute puppies. If we didn’t believe the dogs with mange and pushed-in snouts would sell, obviously we were idiots or traitors to the cause.

It sure didn’t feel like the powerful position some portray. Lots of articles on the publishing process mention the input of the sales team on titles. Not so in my experience. I watched editors and their minions show covers, talk about the books and maybe pass out review copies. True, we’d worry over price points. We’d look at the page count and comment that the heft of the book was light for the expense. (“People buy books by weight,” was a common bit of wisdom. “Green covers don’t sell it’s a golf book,” was the other bit. That was true, I think.) However, the publisher and their editors had already committed their resources to the books by the time we came into the picture. By then, they would understandably be reluctant to make major changes in their plans for two reasons: expense and ego. We weren’t going to change a done deal.

In the hierarchy of the book industry, the editors and publicists put themselves above the salespeople, especially if anyone referred to books as “product.” (Only a few did that.) Sales reps weren’t creative. We just did the grotty part with the filthy lucre that allowed the creativity to continue.

Many editors idolized some authors. Privately though, many put the authors at the bottom of the hierarchy. Yes, writers are the engine of the industry who provide the art to sell and a reason for editor’s existence. Perhaps it’s envy or resentment. Maybe it’s because acquisition editors see themselves as gatekeepers so they feel they made the authors.

In a less complex analysis, everyone’s the star of his or her own movie and authors come and go like background extras.

And some, being arty and human, are a pain in the ass. For instance, I sold Matt Cohen‘s books. For some he was an icon as well as a somewhat famous Canadian author. However, there was a bookseller nearby who didn’t care for his books and refused to stock them. When the publisher took the author out for lunch, naturally they stopped in to see how his books were selling. I soon got a angry memo. “What’s going on?!”

What was going on was not every bookseller is obliged to carry every book and the publisher’s embarrassment wasn’t a factor in the decision. The bookstore owner simply didn’t like Matt Cohen’s books. The proximity of our house to the store didn’t convince the owner. I despised that bookstore owner (a notorious and cadaverous blowhard.) I agreed with his right to stock whatever he pleased, however. Personally, I found Cohen’s books neurotic, but not in a good way.

At first my territory was Toronto (and in the summer, Cottage Country, too.) Later on, I worked for a book distributor so I sold books wholesale across the country as well as in downtown Toronto, Ottawa and all points north and east. I can’t say I ever felt like more than a minion. It wasn’t that the editorial staff was particularly unkind. It was simply that we had no creative input. That’s why I wonder about these reports I’ve read about the publishing process. When in-house editors tell authors, “Marketing didn’t like this or that,” are they really hiding behind the closed doors of those marketing meetings? Is it just a ploy to bring down the author’s expectations from the sky-high hopes, dreams and promises that originated in the editorial department?

Blah, blah, blah. You’re an author. You want to know what sells books. I’ll tell you.

I sold hundreds of books at a time. Some I read, but there wasn’t enough time to read them all. Instead I recited the catalogue copy and gave my impressions for each book’s appeal. If there was any kind of marketing campaign, I’d talk about that. It’s a gift to a book’s potential (and the haggard sales rep reciting the same spiel for the 100th time) to be able to say, “We think this one has a shot at the Giller,” or, “We’re putting a lot of work into getting this one on that particular CBC show you like etc.,…”

What sells books is word of mouth for a book with good writing that tells a compelling story. It takes a lot of incompetence on the publishing team’s part to overcome that. The other thing that sells books is the human connection between the book sold and the person who wrote it. What helped me sell the most books was meeting the author. Booksellers are on the frontlines of retail, far from the cocktail party action. They want to hear a sales rep’s funny story about meeting That Author.

One of the better people on the planet? One the sweetest people you could ever meet? Amy Tan. I sold her books. I sold a ton of her books. Utterly charming and genuine. When I met with booksellers, I didn’t talk much about her book. I sold her to them instead. We push the people we like harder.

When you get invited to a sales conference (if you ever do) or go on a book signing (arrange your own if your publisher won’t), remember to treat the minions well. Be nice. Be fun and memorable. The sales reps will remember you. The booksellers will hand sell you book.

Extra tip:

That’s why it doesn’t matter so much if a lot of people don’t come to your bookstore signing.

The customers may come or not, but the bookstore staff are always there.

Make a good impression and they’ll hand sell your book.

And the next.

What really sells your books?

You do, through the force of your creativity, the shimmer of your personality and audience you cultivate.

Significance of Amazon giving authors Book Sales Data (ireaderreview.com)
More on P versus E books: bookstores, and printed books, aren’t dead. But … – by Peter Ginna (teleread.com)
Amazon’s power play: Nielson data as a gateway drug (teleread.com)
The Fundamentals of Operating a Successful Used Bookstore (bookshopblog.com)
Amazon Ruined Every Writer’s Month With Metrics (theawl.com)
FutureBook survey says 47% of respondents bought an ebook (teleread.com)
Bernard Starr: Self-Publishing Offers No Hassle and Big Potential Profits. Is It For You? (huffingtonpost.com)
Straight-Forward Information About Book-Selling (terrywhalin.blogspot.com)
A Self-Publishing Adventure Wraps Up (scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org)
‘Tis the Season: Great Book Sales (conniecrosby.blogspot.com)
Writing, Amazon.com, & Personal Branding Success in 2011 (personalbrandingblog.com)

Filed under: Books, Editors, getting it done, links, Publicity & Promotion, publishing, Rant, Useful writing links, writing tips, book marketing, book sales, book sales reps, Bookselling, inside sales meetings. inside book marketing, publishing, sell more books, selling books, what sells books

12/15/2010 • 3:00 PM 2

Book Information Centre Blues

Image via Wikipedia

Occasionally, you will run into someone who either expects you to know the unknowable or dismisses what you do know. When I worked at The Canadian Book Information Centre, it happened all the time.

Case #1: One fellow, so very arch and British one might think he was sent over from Central Casting, asked what Canada’s top cookbooks were.

You might be able to google such information now, but back then we were expected to somehow pull the numbers and titles from the ether. Or from our asses.

I told him I didn’t have those numbers.

“I would have thought that would be general industry knowledge,” he replied.

“No,” I said. “The publishers don’t supply us with those numbers. Only their accountants know the truth. You could go back through old Globe & Mail newspapers and find the top cookbooks by going through top ten lists, I suppose.”

“You can’t do that for me?”

“Uh, no. Head to your local library.” Where people are actually paid to help you find the data for your book proposal, I thought.

He hung up in a huff before I could explain that I worked for publishers as an editor and publicist. My title was Project Manager, not Phone Monkey for Anyone Who Owns a Telephone. (Did you know they’ll give just about anyone a phone? I know! Exactly!)

Case #2: Another aspiring author asked me about copyright. He was desperately worried some evil editor would steal his idea.

This is a common concern, but it’s a nearly invalid one since it happens so rarely. As it happens, I knew a lot about copyright. And so:

No, you can’t copyright an idea alone. If you could, the guy who got to Good versus Evil and Boy Gets Girl first would be rich, rich, rich.

No, you don’t have to send your manuscript to some office in Ottawa or Washington. You wrote it. Your name is on it. It’s yours worldwide (except for parts of Asia.)

No, putting the copyright symbol on a manuscript is considered unnecessary, amateurish and insulting to the editor or agent who receives it.

No, you don’t have to mail your manuscript to yourself. The idea is to get the post office’s official stamp on the sealed envelope containing your treasure (as if that couldn’t be faked.) You can if you want to, but the trick is having something worth stealing. Besides, to my knowledge, any plagiarism case that’s ever made it to court doesn’t hinge on whether you’ve got a stamp on a sealed envelope.

“Well, I assure you my manuscript is worth stealing and I will mail it to myself!” Click!

Me to fellow harried Project Manager: “If he had already made up his mind what he was going to do anyway, why call us?”

The misunderstanding of our role wasn’t the callers’ fault. We were named The Canadian Book Information Centre. However, we worked for publishers to promote their books to media.

We cut the wayward calls in half the following year by getting our listing out of the Yellow Pages.

Writing The Perfect Query Letter (write4kids.com)
Favourite Posts :Defining the Role of an Editor (writeanything.wordpress.com)
Submitting Your Work to Publishers (brighthub.com)
An Open Letter to Editors (and a P.S. to Agents) (write4kids.com)

Filed under: Books, Editors, getting it done, publishing, Rant, Rejection, Unintentionally hilarious, writing tips, authors, book proposal research, books, Canadian Book Information Centre, editor, Manuscript, publicist, wannabe authors, writers

12/14/2010 • 4:40 PM 2

Here’s a good one on editors, authors & the dance we do

This article is a long read but definitely worth the time. This gives quite an insight into the long process we must all endure (whether you’re self-published or traditionally published.) It’s especially useful to see how editors and authors relate. Check it out:

Five Writers Talk About Their Book Editors | The Awl

Racing off to help someone in need at the moment.

Alfred! My cape! My cowl!

See you back here tomorrow morning, same bat-time, same bat-channel.

The Awl Is Seeking A Managing Editor (theawl.com)
A Self-Publishing Adventure Wraps Up (scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org)
Favourite Posts :Defining the Role of an Editor (writeanything.wordpress.com)
Bernard Starr: Self-Publishing Offers No Hassle and Big Potential Profits. Is It For You? (huffingtonpost.com)
Yes, You Can Make a Living as a Fiction Author (webupon.com)

Filed under: authors, Editing, Editors, publishing, self-publishing, Writers, writing tips, authors, editors, writers

12/10/2010 • 2:33 PM 1

Writer Links: Stephen King, evil editors and plugging plot holes

Image via Wikipedia

You’ve already worked hard today, right? Take a break.

Here are some useful links for your Friday afternoon:

Stephen King’s Top 7 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer

Editors are evil, and other fairy stories‏

AOS: How to avoid inconsistencies and plot holes

The Must-Have Writing Routine‏

Video Interview: Stephen King (gointothestory.com)
Writers on Writing: On Writing by Stephen King (tor.com)
Three Tips on Writing From Stephen King and Anne Lamott (gauravonomics.com)
Chat with Stephen King During Full Dark No Stars UStream Event (dreadcentral.com)
Inspiration: Stephen King Style (l3montree.wordpress.com)
First Official Trailer for Stephen King’s Full Dark, No Stars; Website Launches (dreadcentral.com)
Full Dark, No Stars, By Stephen King (independent.co.uk)

Filed under: authors, Editing, Editors, Friday Publishing Advice Links, Useful writing links, Writers, writing tips, editing, editors, Full Dark No Stars, plot holes, plots, Stephen King, Writers Resources, writing, writing advice, writing routine

12/10/2010 • 11:35 AM 2

Author Profile: Nate Hendley

Nate Hendley is a Toronto-based author who was born in Connecticut in 1966. He is a full-time journalist and writer and has published

Nate Hendley

over a dozen books, primarily on true-crime topics. He lives with a demanding cat and has a website at www.natehendley.com. You can check out his latest works on the Five Rivers website at http://www.5rivers.org/index1.html.

His books: Motivate to Create: A Guide for Writers (Practical tips on how to start up or step up a freelance writing career) & Al Capone: Chicago’s King of Crime (An intimate portrait of America’s most famous gangster)

Previous works by Nate Hendley:

Edwin Alonzo Boyd: The Life and Crimes of Canada’s Master Bank Robber, The Black Donnelly’s: The Outrageous Tale of Canada’s Deadliest Feud, Dutch Schultz: The Beer Baron of the Bronx, John Lennon: Music, Myth and Madness, Crystal Meth, American Gangsters Then and Now: An Encyclopedia, Bonnie and Clyde: A Biography, Jean Chretien: The Scrapper Who Climbed His Way to the Top, William Lyon Mackenzie King: The Loner Who Kept Canada Together

CW: When did you first know you wanted to be an author?

NH: I was around 10 or so, living in England (where my dad took a year-long sabbatical in 1975-76). I recall I started writing—by hand—a long war story that I ended up calling “Tank Tracks in North Africa”. As might be surmised by the title, it was all about a bunch of guys in a tank fighting Rommel in the desert in World War Two. That’s the first long-form book I recall putting together. I think it ran to something like 50 pages.

CW: Tell us about your book. How did you get the idea?

NH: Two books actually. One of them is on Al Capone, the other is about motivation for writers. The Capone book was originally part of a series of gangster tomes I penned for Altitude Publishing, an Alberta-based company that ,alas, is no longer around. When Altitude went belly up, Five Rivers Chapmanry kindly bought some of my Altitude books for republishing.

The second book, Motivate to Create: A Guide for Writers, is a rather drastic revision of a book I initially self-published. Lorina Stephens, publisher at Five Rivers, liked the concept of my book but wasn’t totally excited by the contents. I ended up rewriting quite a bit of the book, making it more professional and taking out a lot of the personal anecdotes that filled my self-published tome. The newly revised book is considerably better than the original, which demonstrates the power of having a good editor crack down on your material.

The idea for Motivate to Create came from the fact that there is a dearth of info out there on motivation for non-fiction writers. Almost every writers’ motivation book is aimed at creative writing, which is fine, but not what I do. A lot of the existing books seemed very sappy, too—all this crap about “finding and unleashing your inner muse.” I was more concerned with concrete, practical advice that had already been field-tested by other, established writers.

CW: What research was involved in your book’s development?

NH: Researching Al Capone involved reading all the available literature on the man (which is quite considerable) and tracking down newspaper and magazine articles from the period in which he lived. I was pleased to be able to correct certain falsehoods about Capone that have been perpetuated throughout the years. He was never a national crime boss, for example. He controlled the Chicago underworld but certainly didn’t control organized crime across America.

For Motivate, I queried various writer friends and acquaintances and used some of their quotes throughout. The rest of the material was thought up by me.

CW: Do you have any formal training in writing?

NH: I went to journalism school after finishing university. I never actually completed J-school, having failed desk-top publishing three times in a row. Anyway, journalism school taught me the nuts and bolts of news and feature writing and was an invaluable experience.

CW: What is your writing process?

I don’t really have a writing process. One of the tips I offer in Motivate to Create is not to get too precious about your writing time (i.e. “I only write when the golden sun rises from the horizon and the muse dances upon my forehead”). When I have a writing project to do, I just sit down and do it.

CW: How long did it take you to write the book and find an agent and publisher?

NH: Capone took about a year to put together (research, writing, editing.) Motivate was spread over a longer period because I essentially rewrote the book when Five Rivers purchased it. Self-publishing is a pain in the butt so I am glad that a real publisher took the book over. I still have about 30 copies of the original book sitting around my apartment. Unless you’re really interested in marketing and promotion, I would not recommend self-publication.

CW: What’s the most surprising thing you discovered in writing this book?

NH: Can’t really think of any. I was pleasantly surprised at the number of freelance writers willing to respond to a general questionnaire I sent around for Motivate to Create.

CW: What was the biggest disappointment you experienced through this book?

NH: The biggest disappointment was that I didn’t get fabulously wealthy through self-publishing. I thought orders would come flowing like a river. More like a trickle from a tiny pond.

CW: What was the hardest part of the publishing process? What did you most enjoy?

NH: Research and editing are by far the hardest part of the publishing process. Writing is the most enjoyable. When you self-publish, doing all the promotion and marketing is the hardest part.

CW: What advice would you give unpublished writers?

As Creedence Clearwater Revival once expressed it so well, “keep on chooglin’.” In other words, just keep at it. Practise doesn’t necessarily make perfect but it does make you more professional.

CW: Have changes in the book industry forced you to change how you published or marketed your work?

NH: Yes. Thanks to websites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn I can do more to promote my wares online.

CW: What’s your next book project and what can you tell us about it?

NH: I’m revising a book about the drug methamphetamine for Five Rivers. It is a revamped version of a book I initially did for Altitude that came out in 2005. The new version has new interviews and updated statistics.

CW: Thanks for doing this, Nate! You can follow Nate on twitter at http://twitter.com/natehendley or email me at nhendley@sympatico.ca . The Five Rivers site is located at http://www.5rivers.org/. Best to check the Five Rivers site for any info on upcoming book signings.