Whew! This holiday letter almost did not happen. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but this year's letter fund went bankrupt. It has been a truly horrible experience. I applied for a loan from our local bank, but it was denied. Actually, it wasn't denied. My paperwork just got caught up in this series of mergers and takeovers. My bank was acquired by WaMu. WaMu was acquired by Chase. By the time my application was forwarded to my new bank, which I fondly refer to as Chase-High-Fees, they hardly had time to reject my application and bill me for the processing fee. Poor guys!
So, I decided to do the truly American thing. I asked the Government if I could have a 'Bridge Loan.' This sort of thing seems to be in vogue nowadays. Unfortunately, my request was misrouted to Illinois. The Governor's office called and left a message. It said, "Bleep that Bleep," and hung up. I assume this is Chicago-speak for "no." Anyway, they did let us know that bidding for Senator Obama's US Senate seat was about to close and that if I wanted to get in on the action to get back to them soon. Decisions... decisions.
Finally, my application for a holiday letter bailout was properly routed to my Congressman. His office was very polite. The Congressman's aide told me I could have the money, but only if I was willing to "restructure my holiday letter finances" and submit the missive to someone who would serve as our "Message Mogul." I guess this is similar to a Car Czar. Turns out the "Message Mogul" wanted me to take a major reduction of my already pitifully small allowance, so I nixed this idea.
Meanwhile, my wife blames me for the bankruptcy of our letter fund. You see, I ordered this statue of Governor Sarah Palin from the Alaskan Mint. (Bet you didn't even know Alaska had a mint, did you? You Betcha!) As it turns out, what the sent me wasn't really a statue. It was more of a doll. It is life-size, though – and inflatable. Now, for some reason, my wife won't even speak to me. Actually, she did speak to me once. She said, "Bleep … Bleep … Bleep ." Sigh. Life can be so unfair. I don't know what my wife's problem is. I truly do admire Sarah for her political skills and savvy. Right!
As you have no doubt concluded by now, I am presently living in the parking spot in the garage that was once reserved for my pick-up. I spend my days composing holiday letters and letters of apology to my wife -- all this under the watchful eyes of Ms Palin. Wife-mate won't let me keep my 'statue' in the house. (If you thought the feud between Mr. Obama and Hillary was bad, you ain't seen nuthin'.) Life can be so unfair.
Anyway, I think my only hope for saving my annual holiday letter is to solicit donations from friends, family and Blog readers to restore the holiday letter fund. I promise the money will only be spent for future holiday letters... except for this one tiny, tiny purchase. I do need to purchase a patch kit. It seems poor Sarah has sprung a small leak and looks somewhat deflated. So sad!
There you have it. I promise that most of the donated money will go to future holiday letters. So please get to donating and you too can help keep these holiday cards, letters and blog postings coming. Have a safe and happy holiday!
Bob
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Maybe You Should Just Scrap It!
No, I'm not suggesting what you think. The alternate title of this post could well be, "In Praise of the Three-Ring Binder." A three-ring binder with divider tabs is my favorite writing tool, outside of the handy-dandy computer, of course.
For my fiction books, I have sections for plot, themes, place (local color), background research, a section for characters, etc. I keep my character profiles in the character section. As you begin writing, you will find that your characters will further develop. Having all your profiles in an easy-to-access place makes it easy to add notes.
For our non-fiction books, my wife and I will use up to a dozen binders. Many of the binders contain our research materials, but we have other binders as well for: Marketing, Publicity, prior outlines and drafts.
If you are prone to writer's block, just flipping through your three-ring binder can disassemble the block, or point you along a path that perhaps you had overlooked or not previously thought of before. If I have been away from the novel for more than a week, the first thing I do is pull out the binder, re-read all of the character profiles, plot outline, "place" notes, and so on.
I also keep a scrap book to collect and organize random thoughts that I think might one day be useful. Sometimes I will find a photo of a person that is so unusual, or so striking that I clip it and post it to my scrap book. If I have an idea for a future novel, but do not have time to work on it, I will post it in my binder.
When I meet people in my travels, I often ask them what they do. My follow-up question is, "What is the most surprising or unexpected thing about your job?" For example, there is a friendly gentleman who performs maintenance for the apartment building I live in. He is very heavily tattooed.
I told him that I was a writer and asked him if I could ask questions about his tattoos, many of which are Korean language characters. He told me that the tattoos cause people to judge him and for others to be uncomfortable around him. Asians, he said, are prone to grabbing his arms and twisting them about so they can read the symbols and determine if he is a "good" guy or a "bad" guy. He said that when this happens, it is very disconcerting to him.
I asked if he had it to do all over again would he get the tattoos. He pondered for a moment and answered in the affirmative. He said that each of the tattoos symbolized a major turning point or important event in his life and that he would not go back and change anything – even though he realized that certain jobs would forever be "off limits" to him because of the tattoos.
People will generally open up to you if you are respectful – and not too pushy. I've had instances whereby people have declined to answer questions and then days or weeks come back and provide an answer.
So, what is so revealing about the responses provided my friend with the tattoos? A couple of things stand out. Rightly or wrongly, his tattoos now define him to others. They also set him apart and limit his movement within society. In other words, there were long-term consequences for his decision to apply tattoos to much of his body.
In a prior blog, I wrote about characters (and their actions) driving the story. When your characters take an action, there should always be a corresponding reaction. Think of it as the physics of story telling. For every action there is a reaction. This is not exactly Mr. Newton's law of motion, but it is close -- and your story must always remain in motion.
Your goal is to develop character actions that are reflective of the opening break shot in a game of pool. One action sets off other actions which in turn… Well, you get the idea.
Homework Assignment: Let's say your main character decides, after a night of heavy drinking, to get a string of tattoos in a language he or she does not fully understand. What chain of events could this action cause and how would these actions drive your story?
Happy Writing!
Bob
For my fiction books, I have sections for plot, themes, place (local color), background research, a section for characters, etc. I keep my character profiles in the character section. As you begin writing, you will find that your characters will further develop. Having all your profiles in an easy-to-access place makes it easy to add notes.
For our non-fiction books, my wife and I will use up to a dozen binders. Many of the binders contain our research materials, but we have other binders as well for: Marketing, Publicity, prior outlines and drafts.
If you are prone to writer's block, just flipping through your three-ring binder can disassemble the block, or point you along a path that perhaps you had overlooked or not previously thought of before. If I have been away from the novel for more than a week, the first thing I do is pull out the binder, re-read all of the character profiles, plot outline, "place" notes, and so on.
I also keep a scrap book to collect and organize random thoughts that I think might one day be useful. Sometimes I will find a photo of a person that is so unusual, or so striking that I clip it and post it to my scrap book. If I have an idea for a future novel, but do not have time to work on it, I will post it in my binder.
When I meet people in my travels, I often ask them what they do. My follow-up question is, "What is the most surprising or unexpected thing about your job?" For example, there is a friendly gentleman who performs maintenance for the apartment building I live in. He is very heavily tattooed.
I told him that I was a writer and asked him if I could ask questions about his tattoos, many of which are Korean language characters. He told me that the tattoos cause people to judge him and for others to be uncomfortable around him. Asians, he said, are prone to grabbing his arms and twisting them about so they can read the symbols and determine if he is a "good" guy or a "bad" guy. He said that when this happens, it is very disconcerting to him.
I asked if he had it to do all over again would he get the tattoos. He pondered for a moment and answered in the affirmative. He said that each of the tattoos symbolized a major turning point or important event in his life and that he would not go back and change anything – even though he realized that certain jobs would forever be "off limits" to him because of the tattoos.
People will generally open up to you if you are respectful – and not too pushy. I've had instances whereby people have declined to answer questions and then days or weeks come back and provide an answer.
So, what is so revealing about the responses provided my friend with the tattoos? A couple of things stand out. Rightly or wrongly, his tattoos now define him to others. They also set him apart and limit his movement within society. In other words, there were long-term consequences for his decision to apply tattoos to much of his body.
In a prior blog, I wrote about characters (and their actions) driving the story. When your characters take an action, there should always be a corresponding reaction. Think of it as the physics of story telling. For every action there is a reaction. This is not exactly Mr. Newton's law of motion, but it is close -- and your story must always remain in motion.
Your goal is to develop character actions that are reflective of the opening break shot in a game of pool. One action sets off other actions which in turn… Well, you get the idea.
Homework Assignment: Let's say your main character decides, after a night of heavy drinking, to get a string of tattoos in a language he or she does not fully understand. What chain of events could this action cause and how would these actions drive your story?
Happy Writing!
Bob
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Is Self Publishing For You?
OK, so you've got this manuscript hidden away on a shelf somewhere. Should you self-publish?
I have self-published three books and have a fourth on the way. Technology has radically changed the face of the publishing industry. Self-publishing has never been easier and it is more affordable than ever to publish your own work. And there are good / honest self-publishing houses out there such as ours, Dog Ear Publishing. All this is the good news.
The bad news is that self-published works still bear a heavy stigma. Many people consider the POD (Print On Demand) industry to be the same as Vanity Press. They are not the same, but honestly speaking, there is still a lot of "crap" out there that is self-published. Many newspapers and magazines will not even review a self-published book. We sent press releases to over 100 newspapers for our 1st wine book. Only three smaller and regional papers expressed an interest.
So, is self-publishing for you? If you are willing and able to edit your own book, or pay to have someone do it for you, then self-publishing may be for you. The biggest question you need to answer is whether you are willing to do your own marketing and order fulfillment. Marketing is hard – especially for fiction books. Order fulfillment means maintaining constant access to your books, shipping materials and your computer.
What many authors fail to realize is that publishing is a business – a tough, competitive business in an industry that increasingly faces competition from the internet and other less expensive mediums. Did you know that Borders Books may not survive the current economic crisis?
I was in a Borders book store recently and the store manager was perched on a ladder, scanning the top shelf and reading off book ISBNs to another clerk. The clerk would punch the ISBN into the register and tell him how many of the books had been sold. I watched as he raked the books off the shelf into a waiting trash can down below. Your "art" is, I'm sorry to say, someone else's product and if that product doesn't sell, well… you get the idea.
Here are some painful stats. There are 12,000 bookstores in the US. 3 out of 10 books will sell well. 4 books will break even. 3 will not make any money. Only 10% of major publishing house books will earn enough to recoup the author's advance. In today's economy some publishing houses are not even taking on new books. It is tough out there.
If, however, your goal is to have your book read, this is a much harder question. Many self-published authors find, after having gone through the process, is that what they really want is not so much to be published as to be READ. So, if you are not willing to invest a considerable amount of time marketing and publicizing your book, then think twice about self publishing.
Questions to ask yourself:
How much money / time you are willing to invest in the effort? (For a 200 to 250 page book, plan on spending $700 to $1200 with your publisher just to get the book into print.)
What are your strengths, weaknesses and limitations? (If you hate rejection, then marketing your own book is probably not going to work out too well for you. Best to figure this out ahead of time.)
Are you capable of editing your own book? (Can you spel and punktuate? That is the cwestion.)
What are your true objectives? (If you want to give copies of your favorite recipes to your grandkids, or record your family history, have a niche book that you intend to self-market, or merely want to see your name in print, by all means look into self-publishing. If, however, your plan is to be the next Tom Clancy or Dean Koontz, you better have a well developed marketing plan.)
More to follow on the ins and outs of self-publishing.
Happy Writing!
Bob
I have self-published three books and have a fourth on the way. Technology has radically changed the face of the publishing industry. Self-publishing has never been easier and it is more affordable than ever to publish your own work. And there are good / honest self-publishing houses out there such as ours, Dog Ear Publishing. All this is the good news.
The bad news is that self-published works still bear a heavy stigma. Many people consider the POD (Print On Demand) industry to be the same as Vanity Press. They are not the same, but honestly speaking, there is still a lot of "crap" out there that is self-published. Many newspapers and magazines will not even review a self-published book. We sent press releases to over 100 newspapers for our 1st wine book. Only three smaller and regional papers expressed an interest.
So, is self-publishing for you? If you are willing and able to edit your own book, or pay to have someone do it for you, then self-publishing may be for you. The biggest question you need to answer is whether you are willing to do your own marketing and order fulfillment. Marketing is hard – especially for fiction books. Order fulfillment means maintaining constant access to your books, shipping materials and your computer.
What many authors fail to realize is that publishing is a business – a tough, competitive business in an industry that increasingly faces competition from the internet and other less expensive mediums. Did you know that Borders Books may not survive the current economic crisis?
I was in a Borders book store recently and the store manager was perched on a ladder, scanning the top shelf and reading off book ISBNs to another clerk. The clerk would punch the ISBN into the register and tell him how many of the books had been sold. I watched as he raked the books off the shelf into a waiting trash can down below. Your "art" is, I'm sorry to say, someone else's product and if that product doesn't sell, well… you get the idea.
Here are some painful stats. There are 12,000 bookstores in the US. 3 out of 10 books will sell well. 4 books will break even. 3 will not make any money. Only 10% of major publishing house books will earn enough to recoup the author's advance. In today's economy some publishing houses are not even taking on new books. It is tough out there.
If, however, your goal is to have your book read, this is a much harder question. Many self-published authors find, after having gone through the process, is that what they really want is not so much to be published as to be READ. So, if you are not willing to invest a considerable amount of time marketing and publicizing your book, then think twice about self publishing.
Questions to ask yourself:
How much money / time you are willing to invest in the effort? (For a 200 to 250 page book, plan on spending $700 to $1200 with your publisher just to get the book into print.)
What are your strengths, weaknesses and limitations? (If you hate rejection, then marketing your own book is probably not going to work out too well for you. Best to figure this out ahead of time.)
Are you capable of editing your own book? (Can you spel and punktuate? That is the cwestion.)
What are your true objectives? (If you want to give copies of your favorite recipes to your grandkids, or record your family history, have a niche book that you intend to self-market, or merely want to see your name in print, by all means look into self-publishing. If, however, your plan is to be the next Tom Clancy or Dean Koontz, you better have a well developed marketing plan.)
More to follow on the ins and outs of self-publishing.
Happy Writing!
Bob
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