Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Publishing Is Booming

This change, which favors the newer writer, the midlist writer, and the bookstore itself, is why you will hear so many long-time bestselling writers complain about the decline in book sales. It’s also why you’ll hear traditional book editors, who don’t see the long-range sales figures, make that same claim. They base all of their decisions on initial print orders, not on actual sales.

via kriswrites.com

A couple of my self-publishing students are worrying about the state of publishing.

There's nothing to worry about. Publishing in general and self-publishing in particular are booming. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Read Kris's excellent article on the state of play in publishing.

(Then realize the state of publishing, while interesting, shouldn't concern you at all. Focus on writing your books. :-))

Hot News For George RR Martin Fans

Martin himself has described the book as "the concordance … a compendium of the history and legends of the world of Westeros. A coffee table book, lots of gorgeous art from such talents as Ted Nasmith, Justin Sweet, and others", and said last summer that he was "making good progress on this one of late, lots of great historical stuff that I think my readers will enjoy.

via www.guardian.co.uk

Ooooh... the excitement... :-)

Secrets of Magazine Writing (Series)

In summary writers’ databases, while easy to use, have these strikes against them:

1. Too many writers going for listings, which means that your amazing ideas will get lost in the shuffle;

2. The listings may be out of date which means you waste time;

3. They’re incomplete. New online magazines are constantly being created, whether just as a publication, or as a custom publication. When you rely solely on databases, you’ll miss these, because you won’t be looking for them.

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com

We've been running a series on writing for magazines on our freelance writing blog.

The three-article series gives you a complete process to follow. You'll find secrets which will help you to find hot-selling ideas, and high-paying markets. Better yet, most writers aren't aware of these markets for your writing, and the markets are growing all the time.

Ebooks: Publishers Experiment, You Can Too

Alison Uncles, editorial director of ebooks at the Toronto Star, acknowledged that the newspaper decided to start publishing ebooks partly because it was “completely desperate and panicked” by the paper’s loss of print advertising and was looking for new revenue opportunities.

via paidcontent.org

As you may know, I help writers to write and sell ebooks.

Publishing anything makes you a publisher. My goal is to help writers to create publication programs, rather than focusing too much on a single title. Just as the publishers do in the above article, you can experiment.

What Books Do You Read Over and Over?

Of course I remembered that Tolstoy cagily begins the book with a comic turn on infidelity—the dark theme of the entire harrowing opus, which, of course, ends with its titular character’s body torn to pieces under the wheels of a train—but I just wanted to check the precise three or four sentences he used to introduce us to Stiva Oblonsky, the happy adulterer himself, who is so incapable of anything but sunny thoughts that he fails to realize just how bad his wife will feel should she find out that he’s been sleeping with their children’s pretty young governess.

via www.newyorker.com

My comfort reads are Trollope's Palliser novels, and anything by P.G. Wodehouse.

What do you find yourself rereading?

Some of the Truest Words About Writing Ever Written

The secret of becoming a writer is that you have to write. You have to write a lot. You also have to finish what you write, even though no one wants it yet. If you don’t learn to finish your work, no one will ever want to see it. The biggest mistake new writers make is carrying around copies of unfinished work to inflict on their friends.

I am sure it has been done with less, but you should be prepared to write and throw away a million words of finished material. By finished, I mean completed, done, ready to submit, and written as well as you know how at the time you wrote it. You may be ashamed of it later, but that’s another story.

via anewdomain.net

Yes.

Marcus Aurelius Helps You to Write

What is there in this that is unbearable and beyond endurance?

Sometimes I thought surviving on peanut butter and ramen noodles might be it. Other times I thought about how Marcus Aurelius's concerns and mine differed, but I was inspired by the idea that the spirit of them, separated by so many centuries, was similar. His words helped me get to the desk, and stay there, during all the years it took me to write my first good story.

via www.theatlantic.com

The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius was also a philosopher.

He died almost two thousand years ago, but his words are as true today as they were then. Read his Meditations.

Fiction: It's All About YOU

Why can’t you have it?

What the hell is wrong with you?

That’s what the hell is wrong with your protagonist.

And don’t mistake this to mean it’s something outside of you. Of course you’re strapped for cash, tied to a job, inevitably tethered to the need to make a living. But your need to survive lives inside you. And that’s an excellent need to impose upon a protagonist.

via victoriamixon.com

You can write whatever you like, but you're really just writing about yourself, and what you understand.

Know thyself, and you'll know your characters.

Hint: this is far from easy. Start by looking at what you HATE in others. That's a big clue: are you projecting?

From Reddit to Hollywood

The creation of a Hollywood movie started with a question on Reddit: Could a modern U.S. Marine infantry battalion destroy the entire Roman Empire during the reign of Augustus?

via mashable.com

Fascinating question, and story.

I love Roman history, and have the hardcover of Stephen Dando-Collins' Legions of Rome: The definitive history of every Roman legion. I browse through it frequently. It tends to put our own piddling modern-day challenges into perspective.

(Whoo! I see Legions is out in the Kindle version; I may get that. It's easier to read than dragging the big heavy book off my shelves.)

Freelance Writing: Make Money Writing for Magazines

Writing for Publications: a Simple Process

Here’s the very simple process:

1. Get the spark of an idea;

2. Research and find sources;

3. Slant the idea, and structure/ organize your material;

4. Write up the idea into a story for a specific publication.

We’ll have more to say about that process this week.

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com

This week, on our freelance writing blog our theme is writing for magazines. The world of magazines is changing, and your writing needs to change too.

"Magazines" nowadays means print, online and online-only publications, as well as custom publications. It's a new world of opportunity for writers.

Stephen King Means Well, But...

But I think his defiant gesture of support for booksellers is well-intentioned but missing the point. It is not what readers want. All the evidence in recent years points to the fact that readers want their books when they want them and in a form of their choosing.

via www.guardian.co.uk

Heaven alone knows why Stephen King is releasing his latest book in print only.

By all means support bookstores, Mr. King. Have signings in stores. Show your support by speaking out for bookstores.

Why penalize readers who don't want the print version?

"Inspiration Is For Amateurs"

He echoes Chuck Close (“Inspiration is for amateurs — the rest of us just show up and get to work.”), Tchaikovsky (“a self-respecting artist must not fold his hands on the pretext that he is not in the mood.”) E. B. White (“A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.”), and Isabel Allende (“Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too.”)

via www.brainpickings.org

Show up. Write.

Professional Writing Secret: Upsell

Think: Make a Suggestion

You’ve talked, asked questions, and you’ve listened.

Now it’s your turn. Make a suggestion — something you can do, which would help the client.

The writer colleague I mentioned above got three additional gigs in one week, just by chatting: a commission to write a short speech, another to create a presentation, and an on-going gig to create a monthly newsletter.

He just listened, and made suggestions.

via www.fabfreelancewriting.com

Few professional writers upsell, and yet it's the easiest way to increase your writing income.

How to Turn Your Blog Into a Book

Eliminate content that doesn’t serve the narrative

Even if your mission is to weave your blog posts into a book, that doesn’t mean you need to use every single post — no one’s keeping score! Your job is to make the book as compelling and readable as possible, and that might mean letting go of a few posts, even ones you love. I deleted a couple of posts that just didn’t fit in, like an attempted humor piece that, in retrospect, wasn’t all that funny.

via www.pbs.org

Got a blog? That's content, and content takes time and energy to create. Once it's created, consider doing MORE with it. Creating a book from your blog makes perfect sense.

By the way, if you want to become a master of content, you need SYWON (Sell Your Writing Online Now) 2.0.

Annoying Book Titles

1.) The (Fill in the Blank)’s Wife/Daughter 

Why are you pushing that feminist soapbox toward me? Why are you lifting it up and forcing me to stand on top of it? I don’t need to yell about how annoying it is for the central female character to be defined in the title of the story by the primary male figure in her life! I would much rather rant about how I hate how derivative and overused this type of title is! Get me my “I hate all things derivative” soapbox!

via bookriot.com

Kit Steinkellner's written a great post about book titles she's over.

Here's my pet peeve: "The Billionaire's.... (whatever)". These books are usually romances.