“I was not encouraged to follow the career of a writer because my parents thought that I was going to starve to death. They thought nobody can make a living from being a writer in Brazil. They were not wrong.”
— Paulo Coelho
Tag: books
Imagination & Precision
“A writer should have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist.”
— Vladimir Nabokov
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Support Your Habit
You’re a writing addict. Wear the proof.
[Reserve your T-shirt or hoodie today]
Support EditingAddict.com, and wear your profession with pride! And then, share with all the other authors you know. What a perfect Christmas gift!
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What Your Editor Needs From You
[by Billi Joy Carson, Senior Editor/ Editing Addict]
Editor Tip: What Your Editor Needs From You
Respect
Your editor is going to spend weeks pouring over your manuscript. She (or he) is going to eat, sleep, and breathe YOUR book. She (or he) will be correcting spelling, grammar, margins, indents, spacing (line and character), punctuation, formatting sections (for consistency), comparing character logic and plot flow… Your editor is going to be BUSY. Don’t treat them like your time is more important than theirs—or like you are their only client.
A Timeline—So They Can Schedule YOUR Book
Your editor is not a magician. She (or he) has other clients, and those clients all have deadlines too. When you know you are getting close to finishing your manuscript (not the day before you plan on handing it over to your editor), notify your editor. They need to estimate the time needed on your book, and let you know when they can do it, and then add it to their schedule.
Communication, Because Deadlines EXIST
1) Again, stop treating your editor like they can do magic. They can’t. If you missed giving your manuscript to your editor on time, several things should happen:
If at all possible (I mean, come hell or high water), stay within the deadline of when you said you would give your editor your manuscript.
As SOON as you know you are going to be late, notify your editor. Their time is valuable, and they need to schedule in another project. Remember, they blocked out time for YOU.
If you are late with your project, and you didn’t give your editor notice, you should be paying a late fee. You reserved their time, and you did not cancel it. Respect them enough to pay for the slot you scheduled.
2) Tell your editor about your deadlines.
Ideally, you should have given your editor the manuscript with time to spare, but if you need a rush on the edit, then you need to communicate this. Also, all rush edits need to have a rush-fee. You are asking your editor to SUDDENLY include your manuscript in their schedule. This means something else has to be shuffled (or possibly dropped) for you.
Complete Files
When you send your manuscript to your editor, it should be in one file (not broken out in sections, chapters, or parts). If you change anything after your editor has started to work on your manuscript:
Most editors will require a change-fee, because they have to transpose all their notes, edits, and changes to the new document. Some editors refuse to work with any changed manuscripts, so it is best to ask in advance.
Most editors work with .doc and .docx files only. Ask your editor what he or she prefers, and then—send them what they ask for.
If you send your editor files she (or he) has to convert (e.g. .wp7 when they asked for .docx), you are taking two risks:
Possible lost information:
If your editor has to convert the files:
It means she (or he) doesn’t have the program your files are saved in. Therefore, once conversion is complete, your editor will not know if anything is missing from your manuscript.
There is also the possibility that your editor can’t convert the file, and the file will have to be returned to you. This delays your editor, and shrinks her (or his) timeline of work—because the deadlines are still the same.
Abusing your editor:
You want a loyal editor who roots for, cheers for, and fights for you. Not one who resents you every time you send them your manuscript in the wrong format. See the first item listed on this page.
A Way to Reach You
More than likely, your editor won’t need to speak to you during the editing process. Radio silence does not mean anything is wrong, it means they are steadily working on your manuscript.
If your editor comes across something that needs to be addressed immediately, before they get too far into the book, they need to be able to reach you. Email is a good way to communicate, because they can copy/paste the questionable areas for you to read, and give them feedback (e.g. your editor may discover that your main character’s name changed in spelling, but you intended a plot-twist, and need your character’s name to change; you want them to check with you before correcting all the names throughout the book).
Both communication and respect assure success; they also enable teamwork to grow and thrive between you and your editor—who is on YOUR TEAM, and desires to be there. She (or he) hopes you succeed, and is excited to be along for the journey. Your editor is dedicated to helping you grow, and cares that you keep learning how to be an amazing author.
Help your editor to help you. Teamwork brings success!
[by Billi Joy Carson, Senior Editor / Editing Addict]
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Participant: The Writer
“The writer must be a participant in the scene… like a film director who writes his own scripts, does his own camera work, and somehow manages to film himself in action, as the protagonist or at least the main character.”
— Hunter S. Thompson
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Audience-Shmaudience—Write What YOU Love
[by Billi Joy Carson, Senior Editor/ Editing Addict]
Editor Tip: Write What YOU Love
It’s true that writers need to write to an audience. But the process is not a game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey. As a writer, you do NOT need to find the audience you think is best worthy, and then force yourself to write for them.
Write what you love, and find the audience that loves to read what you write.
When C. S. Lewis was asked about his books, The Chronicles of Narnia, and whether he wrote specifically so children would read them, he answered:
“I am almost inclined to set it up as a canon that a children’s story which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children’s story. The good ones last. A waltz which you can like only when you are waltzing is a bad waltz.”
Lewis wrote what he loved; he didn’t morph his writing so it would be read and liked by his audience. He found the audience that would cherish his writing. Children love his books; adults do too. Why? Because C. S. Lewis poured passion through the pages of his books—a love that is obvious, and not forced, a contagion of enthusiasm that inspires generations, young and old, to pick up his books and read again.
Know your audience, don’t choose your audience; your audience has chosen you. Write what you know, write what you love, and write what the world will want to read again and again.
[by Billi Joy Carson, Senior Editor / Editing Addict]
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Lose Yourself
“The odd thing about being a writer is you do tend to lose yourself in your books. Sometimes it seems like real life is flickering by and you’re hardly a part of it. You remember the events in your books better than you remember the events that actually took place when you were writing them.”
— George R. R. Martin
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Frost on Style
“Style is that which indicates how the writer takes himself and what he is saying. It is the mind skating circles around itself as it moves forward.”
— Robert Frost
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How to Sell Your Books
[found on lloydlofthouse.org; by Lloyd Lofthouse]
“How I sold almost 2,000 books in twenty hours…
If you are a serious author—indie or traditional—then you’re in business and should have an internet platform. The simplest platform might just be a blog, or it could be more complex with a combination of a website, blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, and an Amazon author page, etc.
Once an author has an internet platform, there’s one more step to seriously consider—to advertise. Although I have been a guest on thirty-one, traditional radio talk shows, advertised in a regional magazine, held several author events in brick and mortar bookstores, earned awards from literary contests and been on several book blog tours, the only two marketing methods that resulted in immediate, measurable sales was through blogging on iLookChina and buying e-mail blasts from BookBub and/or Ereader News Today.”
To read the rest of Lloyd Lofthouse‘s article, and to add his blog to your toolbox, and bookmark the link, click HERE.
[found on http://lloydlofthouse.org/2014/06/19/how-i-sold-almost-2000-books-in-twenty-hours/]
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Strategy for Writer’s Block
[found on entrepreneur.com; by Catherine Clifford]
“In many cases, the more important the writing task, the more the would-be writer freezes up. The result can be something of a Mobius strip of anxiety turned into fear turned into more anxiety, and what you’re left with is a blank page.
To help you work through writer’s block, consider the strategies below…
Don’t wait for perfect words. If every sentence has to be a flawless work of art, then you will sit in fear. The sweat might pour, but the words won’t come. Just start writing words on the page. Know that once you have started, you can go back and revise what you have. But until you start, you will never know where you are trying to go. If you are writing on a tight deadline, it is even more critical that you let go of the notion of immediate perfection. One writer friend of mine offered the analogy that writing is like cleaning a messy room: the only way a large mess gets cleaned up is to start tidying one small corner at a time.”
To see the rest of the writing strategies from Catherine Clifford, and to bookmark her articles for your toolbox, click HERE.
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