I Dream Books: Rotten Tomatoes For Books

Emily Temple over at Flavorwire writes:

Pretty much everyone we know relies on Rotten Tomatoes when deciding which movie to see, but what to do when you’re on the hunt for your next novel? Sure, you could just read whatever your best friend is reading, or pick up whatever’s on the front page of the New York Times Book Review, but for those who want a broader perspective, we suggest I Dream Books, a Rotten Tomatoes-like review aggregator that just launched this morning. Just like Rotten Tomatoes, I Dream Books collects reviews from both “professional publications and individual critics” and assigns a numerical value to those reviews, eventually coming up with a score somewhere between “Must Read” and “Don’t Read” (indicated by happy or sad little clouds), in hopes of offering readers an easy way to see what a wide range of critics are saying.

Great idea! I'm going to check out idreambooks.com for book recommendations, but so far I've had a lot of success with Amazon.

For instance, I just finished reading A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison (good book!) and the "Frequently Bought Together" list on that page contains other books I like: Kiss The Dead by Laurell K. Hamilton and Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris. Kiss The Dead is on my 'to read' list and I've already read--and enjoyed!--Deadlocked.

Also, and I've found this invaluable, Amazon tells me what other customers who bought a particular book also bought. Granted, I've read and enjoyed about 80% of the books in the list for A Perfect Blood, but it's showing a few by Patricia Briggs I'm sure I'd like.

That said, I'm looking forward to using idreambooks.com for recommendations in addition to Amazon because there's no such thing as too much of a good thing. Right? ;)

Other reading:
- 10 Female Science Fiction Writers Who Changed Our Lives
- His Wish Granted: WIlliam Faulkner's, "The Sound And The Fury", Color Coded
- Google Drive: Who Owns Your Stories?

Why Writers Need Editors

Before we talk about why writers need editors, let's talk about what kind of editors there are.

Every time I read an article that touches on the different specializations in the field of editing I'm amazed by the variety. Contrast this with writers. Are there different sorts of writers? For instance, slow writers, fast writers, reluctant writers, pantsers, plotters, and so on? I suppose the question is silly, but don't you think it's curious that there are at least four different kinds of editors (line, developmental/content, assignment, copy, managing, etc.) but we don't have different kinds of writers? In any case, back to editors and editing.

Alan Rinzler, a developmental editor, writes about the difference between developmental editors and copy editors. These are the two kinds of editors I'll be talking about:

Developmental editors offer specific suggestions about the core intentions and goals of the book, the underlying premise, the story, character development, use of dialogue and sensory description, the polish, narrative voice, pacing, style, language – the craft and literary art of the book.

What developmental editors don’t do is correct spelling and grammar. That’s the job of a copy-editor, who works much later in the publishing process.

An author can recruit a developmental editor even before starting a book, to brainstorm ideas and make a clear plan. After that, they may call upon the editor at any stage from early drafts to final. (What should you expect from a developmental editor?)

Alan has a great post that goes more in-depth into the different phases of writing and why, and exactly when, you get the most out of hiring an editor: When do you need an editor? He sums up his point this way:

A good editor brings to the relationship both literary skills and human sensitivity. An editor watches your back and anticipates when there’s trouble ahead. But the author is the boss, in the driver’s seat. It’s not the editor’s book, so my job is always to enter the creative world of the author and help fulfill this vision.

Let's get back to our question: Why does a writer need an editor? Here we're talking about a developmental editor. It goes without saying that every writer needs a copy editor, someone who will go over your manuscript and check it for grammatical errors, typos, and so on.

A developmental editor can help a writer by giving them an edge. They do this in two ways:

1. An editor can be a constructive collaborator
Objectivity. This is something every writer lacks about her own work. Yes, we know our characters better than anyone, we know the plot, we know the possibilities behind the plot, and so on. We're gods when it comes to our fictional worlds, but what we don't know is how another person is going to respond to our words.

I remember once I wrote a violent scene in which my protagonist got the prize and beat the villain. I thought I had used what I think of as 'fun' violence--the sort of violence you see at the beginning of a James Bond movie, bad-guy-gets-put-in-his-place violence not life-is-harsh violence that makes you want to go home and hug your kids. Fortunately I did send this story out to readers before I published it because, although to me it was fun violence, it didn't come across that way to my readers. I lacked objectivity because I was too close to the material.

Being a constructive collaborator is about far more than being objective, it's also about having someone on hand who can take an impartial look at your work and give you professional non-destructive feedback.  Here's what Alan has to say:

Developmental editors offer specific suggestions about the core intentions and goals of the book, the underlying premise, the story, character development, use of dialogue and sensory description, the polish, narrative voice, pacing, style, language – the craft and literary art of the book.

What developmental editors don’t do is correct spelling and grammar. That’s the job of a copy-editor, who works much later in the publishing process.

An author can recruit a developmental editor even before starting a book, to brainstorm ideas and make a clear plan. After that, they may call upon the editor at any stage from early drafts to final. (What should you expect from a developmental editor?)

2. A good editor has her finger on the pulse of the industry
An editor who is well thought of and in high demand is going to edit a large number of manuscripts. I can't speak about all editors, but I've noticed that many editors will specialize. For instance, some will edit anything except romance, some prefer editing speculative fiction, and so on.

A busy editor who specializes in, say, speculative fiction will be able to give speculative fiction authors a leg up not only by being a constructive collaborator but by giving them the benefit of their vast knowledge of the genre. Additionally, they have current knowledge. The books that are being published today, at least those from traditional publishing houses, have been in the works for a couple of years. A good editor can keep you on top of trends and help make your book more competitive in a very competitive marketplace.

Finding an editor
That said, a good editor can be hard to find. I wrote a post about this a while ago (How To Find The Right Freelance Editor For You) but it's always good advice to ask your friends for references and then Google the name of anyone you're seriously thinking of hiring, check them out at Editors And Predators and get them to edit a sample of your work. At minimum.

If you choose to work with a developmental editor I hope you find someone who is a great fit for you. Remember, the important thing is to keep writing. I hope you're having a wonderful Sunday! Cheers.

Related reading:
- 5 Points To Ponder Before You Self Publish
- How To Find The Right Freelance Editor For You
- How Many Books A Year Should I Write?

I was tempted to put this picture up as the profile image. I decided against it, but couldn't resist sharing it with you.

Which one do you think has an editor?

Photo credit for profile picture: Fanpop
Photo credit for cute puppies: jpixphoto.com, see link here or click on the picture.

Neil Gaiman: Sandman Prequel To Be Released 2013

Great news! Neil Gaiman is continuing the Sandman Series, this time with a prequel. Here it is in his own words:



Related articles: - The Secret To Making A Living As A Writer: Work For Free - Marigny: The Making Of My First Audiobook

Scrivener: A Writer's Best Friend

Yesterday a writer friend of mine, C.G. Cameron, sent me a link to a wonderful post Charlie Stross wrote in which he discussed his experiences with Scrivener. For those of you scratching your head muttering, "What the heck is a Scrivener?! I hope it's not contagious!" I'll let the program's creators introduce it:

Scrivener is a powerful content-generation tool for writers that allows you to concentrate on composing and structuring long and difficult documents. While it gives you complete control of the formatting, its focus is on helping you get to the end of that awkward first draft.

Got that? After I first read the above quotation I felt like asking, "Yes, but what does it do?" Enter Charlie Stross' blog post. He writes:

Some of you probably know about Scrivener, the writer's tool from Literature and Latte. [It] ... has more features than you can wave a bundle of sticks at, mostly oriented around managing, tagging, editing, and reorganizing collections of information including rich text files. I've used it before on several novels, notably ones where the plot got so gnarly and tangled up that I badly needed a tool for refactoring plot strands, but the novel I've finished, "Neptune's Brood", is the first one that was written from start to finish in Scrivener, because I have a long-standing prejudice against entrusting all my data to a proprietary application, however good it might be. That Scrivener was good enough to drag me reluctantly in is probably newsworthy in and of itself.

That's quite a recommendation!

Mr. Stross goes on to discuss the pros and cons of Scrivener and to relate his experiences with the program in more detail. For anyone interested in what Scrivener is and whether it might be the right tool for them, I can't recommend his article highly enough. Here's a link to it: Writing a novel in Scrivener: lessons learned.

The program is modestly priced at $40.00 USD and can be downloaded from the web.

I've had Scrivener for a a while. I open the program occasionally and tinker with it, this month I even went so far as to use it to hold all my character information for a short story I'm working on. I think I need to bite the bullet and just start using it.

Other articles:
- Twylah: Turn Your Tweets Into A Blog
- Changes in Amazon's Algorithm: An Update
- 5 Book Review Blogs

Writers & Blogging: Should You Host Your Own Blog?

Jane Friedman has published a terrific blog post today about whether writers should host their own blog or go through a free service like Blogger.com or a free-to-start service like Wordpress.com. Jane comes down firmly on the "thou shalt self-host," side of things and makes excellent points. For instance, free services can be much more limiting (in design, in your ability to monetize, etc.) than one you have complete control over.

In another equally great article, blogger Roz Morris explores the other side of the issue (Blogging – should authors go self-hosted or not? Part 1: two bloggers who don’t). Roz points out that if something goes wrong with your self-hosted blog you're responsible for fixing it or for paying someone else to. (Of course it helps if you have techie friends willing to lend you a hand!)

For instance, websites can and do get hacked. Kristine Kathryn Rusch experienced this firsthand in May. She ended up paying a specialist to fix the problem and help her restore the website. Kris hasn't blogged about how much it cost her but I don't imagine it was cheap. Kris has been making a living through her writing for decades and her website is, I imagine, an integral part of her business so it makes good business sense for her to spend money on it. Someone just starting out and trying to do everything on a shoestring budget might not want to take on this kind of responsibility, this kind of risk.

Split strategy: blog on a free host, website writer-hosted
Some writers--J.A. Konrath for instance--employ a mixed strategy. They host their blog on a free site like Blogger.com and then set up a website in a hosting account they pay for and control. I suspect that, like me, Joe started blogging on Blogger.com and then realized he needed a website but didn't want to move his blog.

Perhaps not, though. There are reasons for keeping ones blog with a service such as Blogger.com even if you host your own website:

- Although you should back up your blog regularly, just in case, you don't have to sweat the technical issues like combating hackers, fixing broken software and upgrading software. You have professional website admins taking care of all this for you behind the scenes. For free.

- Spikes in traffic. What would happen if your blog got featured on Reddit? My guess is it would go down. Blogger.com, on the other hand, will likely keep your blog up and running even under the most extreme conditions. You might be thinking that it's not at all likely your blog will be featured on Reddit. That may be the case, but even more modest spikes in traffic can bring down a site and I like to be prepared.

Although my little blog definitely gets far less traffic than Joe Konrath's (his landing page has a Google page rank of 6!) I've had a few spikes in traffic and I enjoy not having to worry about whether my blog can handle it.

Whatever you decide to do, getting out there and blogging is better than not blogging so my advice is: don't over-think it. Do what feels right for you. 

Related article:
-How To Build A Platform: Why Every Writer Needs A Website


Photo credit: Hubspot blog

Jody Hedlund: Talent Is Overrated

Ever wondered whether you had what it took to be a writer? Ever feared you weren't talented enough? Jody Hedlund's article is a breath of fresh air sweeping away the poisonous cobwebs of doubt. She writes:

Talent is over-rated. Sure it may help to have a little bit of inborn gifting to help you get going on something. Talent may help you progress a little faster and easier.

But . . . talent isn’t necessary to succeed. ...

1. Stay determined. Decide you want to do it. Then make up your mind to stay the course.

2. Don’t get discouraged (at least not for long). Don’t listen to the naysayers who don’t think you have what it takes (especially if that naysayer is yourself!). And if you are discouraged, let it push you to try all the harder.

3. Don’t give up too soon. Stick with it even when you know you’re not all that good yet. Remember that most don’t start out as super stars, that they have to work hard for years before honing their skills.

4. Surround yourself with friends who share and understand the passion. They enrich the experience.

5. Don’t compare yourself to others. While I may have compared my son to others, he didn’t. He always focused on what he needed to do and never worried about how he measured up to others.

6. Work your tail off. Go at it until you sweat and feel pain.

7. Practice daily (or at least regularly). Come up with a routine. Have a checklist (my son did).

8. Continually push yourself to improve. Once you’ve mastered something, then learn something new.

9. Keep the vision of what you can become. Always see the product of what you will accomplish if you work hard enough.

10. Most of all enjoy it. Find pleasure in the process itself, even when it’s hard.

Visit Jody over at Jody Hedlund Author and Speaker and read the rest of her article, 10 Traits That Are More Important Than Talent.

I agree with each and every one of Jody's points, especially #7. It reminds of Kris Rusch's post, Writers and Business. Kris writes:

Talent is, as the cliché says, its own reward.

And its own curse.

I have watched hundreds—and I do mean hundreds—of talented writers fall by the wayside as their less-talented (by the judgment of a teacher, editor, critic) fellows succeed. Why are the less-talented succeeding where the talented fail?

The convention wisdom is that the less-talented appeal to the masses, as if the masses are a bad thing. But what’s really happening here is this: The so-called less talented feel that they must work harder to get where their talented peers are naturally. So the so-called less-talented end up with a work ethic where the talented have none.

But what about the people who are clearly better at writing than others in the class? Aren’t those people talented?

No. Sometimes what’s considered talent by a professor is simply that a writer writes to that professor’s taste. More often, however, the “talented” writer has had more practice than others and is more skilled by the time they get to the class.

The rest of Kris' article is equally great, a must read if you've ever felt droopy and depressed, wondering if you have enough talent to make it as a writer.

As Stephen King once wrote: Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.

Amen.

Related links:
- Terry Gilliam: Talent is less important than patience
- Kris Rusch: The Value Of Imperfection
- The Key To Being Talented: Work Hard!

Photo credit: ♥JanltoilE♥

Tweepi: Helps You Manage Your Twitter Account

I'm always on the look out for programs that allow me to spend less time managing my Twitter feed and more time enjoying it, so when I stumbled across Tweepi I had to check it out.

One thing I especially like is I can try Tweepi for free and, even using the free account, Tweepi helps me do everything I want. On top of that Tweepi has many tools for guessing who I'd like to follow. I always check these people out myself first, but having Tweepi make suggestions can be a real time-saver.

That said, I found the interface a wee bit clunky. A week or so ago I started using the Google Chrome app on the iPad to manage my Twitter feed and I have to say it has been very nice. One thing I especially like is being able to see, at a glance, a user's bio and their last three tweets. Convenient.

That's what I found lacking with Tweepi. You can get access to certain stats--number of tweets, number of followers, last tweet and Klout score, but nothing that helps you determine whether a particular user is interested in the same things you are.

Premium subscription
If you take out a premium subscription you can do things like unfollow users you followed more than a certain number of days ago but haven't followed you back. You can also unfollow users who have been inactive for over a certain number of days, and so on.

Unfollowing and the 20% limit
For anyone who doesn't know, sometimes a user has to unfollow folks who aren't following her if she wants to continue adding new people. Once a tweeter follows 2,000 people the number of people they follow can be no more than 20% of the amount of folks who are following them.

Clear as mud?

For instance, let's say 2,000 people are following me. That means I can follow no more than 2,400 people. In order for me to follow another person I have to either get another follower or unfollow someone who hasn't followed me back.

Twitter Tips
I don't use any software for following people. If I'm thinking of following someone I read that person's bio, look at their their tweets and, if I have time, visit their website. Everyone I follow is important to me and I want to get to know them.

Some folks use software to automatically follow people but I feel that's defeating the purpose of being on Twitter. It's a social network, a place for folks to meet people, to chat with them and form connections.

That's my 2 cents!

Cheers. And remember, don't let Twitter keep you from writing!

Writers: Register Your United States Copyright

Companies can charge up to $150 to register your copyright on your behalf but you can do it yourself for only $35 and it'll only take half an hour. That's a savings of $115. Now multiply that by all the books you're going to need to register one day.

Why register your copyright? While it's true your work is copyrighted from the time it is created, unless you register your copyright you can't bring a lawsuit against theives for infringement. A related point is that if your book is uploaded to a website and offered for free without your permission the site will often remove it if you send them proof of copyright. In my opinion it's $35 well spent.

For an excellent guide through the entire process go here: A Step-By-Step Guide to U.S. Copyright Registration for Self-Publishers.

Thanks to PG over at The Passive Voice blog for posting a link to this how-to article.

The Breeders: A Self Publishing Success Story

Matthew J. Beier, author of The Breeders, writes: 

In deciding to take the big leap, I knew two things for certain: I was putting future chances of being traditionally published on the line, and I would not be able to undo any career-related damage it might cause.

. . . .

Before 2011, I was a fledgling writer in chains. My success as a novelist depended on whichever benevolent literary agent buried in New York’s bowels might find my work amazing and sellable. By the time I started sending queries for my “gay agenda” satire The Breeders (and actually having success getting manuscript requests), I was well broken in to the traditional publishing system, complete with thick skin and a healthy dose of self-doubt.

Read the rest of Matthew's article here: Of Decisions and Dream Chasing.

Matthew's story reminded me that when success comes it's often through prolonged, exhausting, effort. His is a great story and an inspiration although in an I-hope-it's-not-that-hard-for-me sort of way.

Thanks to Passive Guy for mentioning Matthew on the Passive Voice Blog.


Other articles:
- Twylah: Turn Your Tweets Into A Blog
- Fifty Shades of Grey - Oh My!
- Pixar: 22 Ways To Tell A Great Story

Writing Prompt: Desperate Phone Call

I thought I'd try something different and post a writing prompt.

It's the middle of the night and your phone rings. Grumpy, you answer it. The voice on the line is breathy as though whoever it is has been running. "You're in danger. Take it and leave town. Now."

You hear the gurgle of a semi-automatic machine gun and a muffled scream. It sounds as though the phone has clattered to the ground.  

Sleep forgotten you sit up in bed. "Hello? Hello!" No response.

After a moment you hear slow, deep, breathing. "We know who you are" This voice is menacing and gravelly. "We only want the package. Go to the police and you're dead."

What do you say? What do you do?

Good writing!

"Writing Prompt: Desperate Phone Call" copyright© 2012 by Karen Woodward.