Writing, Publishing and Productivity: Links

I thought I'd try something different today and share links to articles I found interesting or helpful.

How Amazon Grew My Audience By More Than 24,000 Readers in Three Days
How to successfully market your books on Amazon.

What if your slogan is true?
Seth Godin on the importance of having a true story.

7 Writing & Productivity Articles Worth Reading
The best way to be productive is to stop reading this and write! But reading this article comes in a close second. :)

Book Spine Poetry: Your Turn
Poetry is writing! And this looks fun.

The Science of Sleep: Dreaming, Depression, and How REM Sleep Regulates Negative Emotions
This article has nothing to do with writing, it's about what may be one of the primary functions of dreaming: the regulation of emotion.

I hope it's sunny where you are and that a tall cold glass of lemonade is in your near future. That and writing. Cheers!

Other articles you might enjoy:
- Jane Friedman: How To Build An Awesome Twitter Bio
- Seth Godin on Creativity, Childhood and Heroes

Photo credit: Light Cue 23

Spice Up Your Writing: The Passive Voice & Eliminating Passive Verbs

Elizabeth S. Craig writes about passive verbs:

What people sometimes confuse as passive voice is really the use of static verbs instead of dynamic (or active) verbs.  But frequently editors will ask you to reword sentences with static verbs because you could write a stronger sentence with dynamic verbs. Journalist Constance Hale wrote an interesting article for the New York Times in April about static and dynamic verbs and some subcategories of each (I loved her list of wimpy verbs.)

Although hunting down “to be” words isn’t necessarily going to help you create active voice sentence structure, if you have a lot of linking verbs in your story, you might want to make sure you’re showing, not telling.  So even though Anna was mad isn’t passive, it might make for stronger writing for you to say Anna slammed John’s plate on the table in front of him, making green peas fly off.  Frequently, when writers talk about finding linking verbs in their manuscript, they’re really advising us to avoid using weak verbs.

Read the rest of Elizabeth's article here: Passive Voice with Elizabeth S Craig.

If you're looking for a good article on the passive voice and how to avoid wimpy sentences I highly recommend Elizabeth's article. 

Another great article on how to avoid passive sentences is the one Elizabeth recommended: Make-or-Break Verbs by Constance Hale. Here's a sampling:

Fundamentally, verbs fall into two classes: static (to be, to seem, to become) and dynamic (to whistle, to waffle, to wonder). (These two classes are sometimes called “passive” and “active,” and the former are also known as “linking” or “copulative” verbs.) Static verbs stand back, politely allowing nouns and adjectives to take center stage. Dynamic verbs thunder in from the wings, announcing an event, producing a spark, adding drama to an assembled group.

. . . .

Power Verbs Dynamic verbs are the classic action words. They turn the subject of a sentence into a doer in some sort of drama. But there are dynamic verbs — and then there are dynamos. Verbs like has, does, goes, gets and puts are all dynamic, but they don’t let us envision the action. The dynamos, by contrast, give us an instant picture of a specific movement. Why have a character go when he could gambol, shamble, lumber, lurch, sway, swagger or sashay? Picking pointed verbs also allows us to forgo adverbs. Many of these modifiers merely prop up a limp verb anyway. Strike speaks softly and insert whispers. Erase eats hungrily in favor of devours. And whatever you do, avoid adverbs that mindlessly repeat the sense of the verb, as in circle around, merge together or mentally recall.

This reminds me of the advice Stephen King repeated gave in his book On Writing to use strong verbs and, as much as possible, avoid the use of adverbs and even adjectives.

Good writing!

Other articles you might like:
- Stephen King: 15 tips on how to become a better writer
- What To Write About: Fiction That Sells  
- Henry Miller's 11 Writing Commandments

Photo credit: photo by Vincepal on Flickr

Jane Friedman: How To Build An Awesome Twitter Bio

It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of Twitter in building my author platform. My Twitter Bio is my public face on Twitter, it's the first thing folks see and also what they use when deciding if I'm the sort the tweeter they want to follow.

Every writer owes it to themselves to make their Twitter bio the absolute best it can be. Enter Jane Friedman and her blog post

Jane breaks the Twitter bio into four components:

1. Photo
2. Name and handle
3. 160 character bio
4. Link

Jane Friedman goes into much more detail, here is the Coles Notes version:

1. Photo
- Clear and closely cropped image of your face
- High contrast

2. Name and handle
Name: Use your real name or a pen name. This is part of your platform so you want people to be able to find you easily.
Handle: You probably won't be able to come close to your real name, don't worry about it. Just pick something easy to remember and type.
Tip: Jane suggests not putting "author" as part of either your name or your handle.

3. 160 character bio
Bad:
- Inspirational quotes or aphorisms
- Excess marketing
- A description that is so general it could fit anyone.
Good:

- Tell people what you do. If you're a writer, tell them that.
- Let people know what you'll be tweeting about.
- Add some personality. People like humor.

Jane writes:

As far as that third item [add some personality], it’s popular for people to mention their hometowns or states, the universities they graduated from, or other things we share in meet-and-greet environments. That little bit of personality is more often than not what starts a conversation on Twitter. For me, it’s bourbon and usually my city of residence. (I do highly advocate listing your location—again, it’s likely to spark more connections.)

 Jane's bio is excellent. Here it is:

I share links on writing, publishing & tech. Web editor for @vqr + former publisher of @writersdigest. Bourbon lover & Hoosier native.

Charlottesville, VA, USA · http://janefriedman.com  

4. Link

Leave a link to your digital home. For most folks this will be a website or perhaps a blog. If you don't have a digital home and you're a writer hoping to sell your work, what are you waiting for? Get one! (This article may help: How To Build A Platform: Why Every Writer Needs A Website.)

To read the rest of Jane Friedman's article click here: Build a Better Author Bio for Twitter.

Jane's article inspired me to revamp my Twitter bio. If you'd like to see it, click here. While you're there say hi, I love hearing from readers. :-)

Other articles you might be interested in:
- 19 Ways To Grow Your Twitter Following
- Twylah: Turn Your Tweets Into A Blog
- Aherk! Makes Writing App 'Write Or Die' Look Tame

Extraterritoriality & DRM: An Insidious New Gottya Clause

I generally read Kris Rusch's business post as soon as it comes out on Wednesday or Thursday, but I've been busy and didn't get to it until this morning and read it while my brain was still trying to wake up.

It was hilarious! My responses, that is, not Kris' post. I kept batting my eyes and shaking my head thinking, no I can't possibly have read that, that's absurd. But, no, I hadn't read it wrong.

Apparently Hachette has added, or will be adding ...

... language that would require authors to “ensure that any of his or her licensees of rights in territories not licensed under this agreement” will use DRM. 

That's from an article by Cory Doctorow, Doubling Down on DRM: Hachette U.K. dabbles in extraterritoriality . Kris quoted him and I've taken these quotations form his article over at Publishers Weekly. Here's Cory's analysis:

It’s hard to say what’s more shocking to me: the temerity of Hachette to attempt to dictate terms to its rivals on the use of anti-customer technology, or the evidence-free insistence that DRM has some nexus with improving the commercial fortunes of writers and their publishers. Let’s just say that Hachette has balls the size of Mars if it thinks it can dictate what other publishers do with titles in territories where it has no rights.  

Kirs Rusch agrees. She writes:

Yeah. Cory’s exactly right about this. And he’s right about the balls the size of Mars. ...

Still, I e-mailed the link to a friend of mine who happens to be an intellectual property attorney who deals with the publishing industry a lot. The attorney’s response? Not shock, not surprise, but this (and I’m paraphrasing here):

Given what I see in  my dealings with the general counsels at various traditional publishing houses, I have to say that everyone in traditional publishing has gone insane.

Needless to say this clause—if indeed it exists—will be a new deal breaker. ... Do not sign anything that requires you to tell other publishers who publish your work in a different territory what to do. For that matter, do not sign anything that requires you to publish all your other work  (not covered under this contract) with DRM attached. If I had signed a contract like that, for example, I would not be able to publish this blog on my website. I would need to have some sort of DRM on this blog to remain in compliance with this contract.

So…if a publisher demands this of you, do not sign that contract. Negotiate it away. If you can’t, walk away. (A Tale Of Two Royalty Statements)

Cory Doctorow tells the story of an author, left unnamed, who published work with Hachette and also with Tor Books. The problem? Tor Books doesn't use DRM. The author had just received a politely worded letter from Hachette explaining his dilemma to him and inquiring about his proposed course of action. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place!

So put this on your list of deal-breakers: If a publishing company wants to control how your other work is published, work that has nothing to do with them, don't sign it!

I'd normally end my post at this point feeling releived that as an indie author I don't have to worry about gottya clauses and the wiles of the Big Six.

Um, wrong. As Kris points out:

This clause [the DRM clause] has a major impact on indie writers who publish their own work in their native language, then sell foreign rights to Hachette. If you sign the DRM clause as Cory outlines it, you must make sure your indie title is available only as DRM. Do you indie writers now understand why you must pay attention to these contract discussions?

Indie writers often handle sales to the English speaking world (or the world of their native tongue) themselves but hand over foreign rights to a publisher who can then have the book translated.

But if a writer signs one of Hachette's contracts with the DRM clause in it then the indie author would have to use DRM to protect even the English language titles they sell through, for instance, Amazon. Yikies!

Personally I don't like DRM and don't use it because it frustrates readers--I know, because it frustrates the heck out of me! Why would I want to aggravate readers who paid for my book by making it harder for them to read? That doesn't make sense to me. I know some folks believe DRM helps prevent an ebook from being pirated, but I doubt that. For more on the topic of DRM and whether it works, read the rest of Cory's article, Doubling Down on DRM, especially the comments.

Wishing you the best of luck in all your contract negotiations! Cheers.

Other articles you might be interested in:
- Why Indie Authors Are Good For Publishing
- Hugh Howey, Bestselling Author Of Wool, On The Key To Writing Success

Photo credit: listentomyvoice

Duotrope: Keep Track Of Your Submissions

From author Michael Haynes:

[T]hree benefits of using Duotrope:

1. Market research and submission tracking. ... You can use Duotrope to research markets ... You can also track your submissions on the site; this allows you to easily avoid submitting two stories at the same time to a market which doesn't allow for this ... I do suggest that people have some kind of backup of this submission tracking data external to Duotrope, just in case something should happen ....
2. Keeping track of upcoming deadlines. Duotrope has a Theme and Deadline Calendar feature which can help you keep track not just of themed deadlines like those I write about every Thursday but also when submission windows are closing for other publications.
3. Spotting signs that a market might be having difficulty. Admittedly, this one involves making some educated guesses. But there's a lot of information around the response time statistics of markets which can be viewed on Duotrope. Often, before I submit to an unfamiliar market, I will look at the "Response Times" section of the market's Duotrope page and also click on the link on that market's page titled "View report of recent responses from this market." Between those two sets of data, I can see if it looks like the market has been doing a poor job of responding to recent submissions and that does sometimes influence my decision of which markets to prioritize.

Looks like a great service, and it's free! Read more about Duotrope over at Michael's blog: Three Benefits Of Using Duotrope.

Other articles you might like:
- Why Indie Authors Are Good For Publishing
- StarShipSofa: A Great Way To Promote Your Novel

Photo credit: tiltti

Why Indie Authors Are Good For Publishing

A number of bloggers have linked to David Vinjamuri's article (Publishing Is Broken, We're Drowning In Indie Books - And That's A Good Thing) but it's so good I'm doing it too. To be honest, I wasn't going to read David's essay at first because it's LONG, but after Dean Wesley Smith recommended it I did and, yes, it was well worth the time investment. Here's an excerpt:

To understand the future of publishing we must examine three trends that have helped to rip it apart: eBooks, social media and low-cost self-publishing. But before that, we first need to understand the two big strategic decisions that traditional publishers made which left the door open for Indie books.

The two big strategic decisions traditional publishers bobbled were hardcover book pricing (too high) and publishers turning authors into marketers. If authors can write and market their own books they only need publishers for printing and distribution. This left a gaping hole which Amazon gladly filled.

By the end of the 2000’s, the elements existed for a revolution. A few gatekeepers tended an inefficient pricing model that consumers and authors both hated. A whole set of mid-list authors were increasingly not making enough money to write fulltime. And beyond that, a generation of new writers was growing up on social media. These writers are tempermentally less able to accept the gatekeeper model of publishing.

This led to the explosion of indie authors and ebooks that we've seen over the past couple of years.

A truely excellent and far-ranging article, you can read it here: Publishing Is Broken, We're Drowning In Indie Books - And That's A Good Thing.

Other articles you might like:
- Seth Godin on Creativity, Childhood and Heroes
- Amanda Hocking's Unusual Writing Schedule

Sue Grafton: I Did A Bad Bad Thing

Yesterday Sue Grafton backpedaled on her claim that self-publishers were "too lazy to do the hard work". Ms. Grafton writes:

The responses to that quote ranged from irate to savage to the downright nasty.  Indie writers felt I was discounting their efforts and that I was tarring too many with the same brush.  It wasn’t my intention to tar anyone, if the truth be known.  Several writers took the time to educate me on the state of e-publishing and the nature of self-publishing as it now stands.  I am uninitiated when it comes to this new format.  I had no idea how wide-spread it was, nor did I see it as developing as a response to the current state of traditional publishing, which is sales driven and therefore limited in its scope.  I understand that e-publishing has stepped into the gap, allowing a greater number of authors to enter the marketplace.  This, I applaud.  I don’t mean to sound defensive here…though of course I do.

I don’t understand the mechanics of e-publishing and I still don’t understand how you can earn money thereby but I realize now that many indie writers are doing well financially and netting themselves greater visibility than I had any reason to believe. 

Read the rest over at The Pulse of the City: More from Sue Grafton on Publishing & Indie Writers.

Hugh Howey wasn't impressed. Here's his response to Sue's clarification of her thoughts on indie publishing:

Here is my favorite part of her disingenuous backpedaling:

When I’m asked for advice I warn many writers about the charlatans lurking out there.  I warn about the risk of being taken in by those who promise more than they actually deliver and do so at a writers expense. 

Sue? If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were talking about traditional publishers. Promise more than they deliver? Self-publishing makes no promises. You work your butt off with nothing but your own hopes and dreams. Every success startles. The empty promises I’ve seen made have come from major publishers, who have graciously offered to take my hard work and pay me less money and less frequently while they profit handily. Who are the charlatans? Look around, Sue. They’ve been milking you for years.

You can read Hugh's entire response here: An Explanation from Sue Grafton

Personally I think there's something to the adage: By their fruits you will know them. Are indie authors making money? Is indie publishing advancing writers' careers allowing them another option for advancement? The answer: Heck ya! But one thing indie publishing is not is easy.

Related reading:
- Hugh Howey, Bestselling Author Of Wool, On The Key To Writing Success
- Seth Godin: When To Go With A Traditional Publisher
- Amanda Hocking's Unusual Writing Schedule (Amanda Hocking writes between 6 and 12 hours a day! Anyone who calls that lazy has a different definition than I do.)

Hugh Howey, Bestselling Author Of Wool, On The Key To Writing Success

Hugh Howey, the bestselling author of Wool, writes this reply to Sue Graften's allegation that self-publishers are "too lazy to do the hard work". I'm not going to put in a link to Graften's article, Hugh Howey did, so you can get to her article through his if you really want to read it.

Hugh writes:

There is no better way to break into traditional publishing than self publishing. Period. End of story. Hell, write fan fiction. Another piece of Twilight fan-fic just got a seven-figure advance on the heels of the success of 50 Shades of Grey. Does this mean it’s the new norm? No. But it does mean that publishers no longer care how you sell books. They don’t care if you self-publish. They don’t even care if you write porn based on YA vampire novels. They just want to give readers whatever the hell they want! And readers don’t want query letters. They don’t want books in slush piles. They want good stories, decently edited, available right now, and as cheap as you please.

Read the rest of Hugh Howey's article here: My Favorite Four Sue Grafton Novels.

And he would know. His runaway bestseller, Wool, has been picked up by Random House in the UK and Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator) will be directing an upcoming blockbuster movie made by 20th Century Fox. You can read all about it here: Hugh Howey Writes About The Phenomenal Success Of Wool.

Thanks to The Passive Voice Blog for the link to Hugh Howey's article, provocatively titled Sue Grafton Thinks I'm Lazy.

Other articles you might like:
- Rasana Atreya's Self-Publishing Journey
- Contracts: Deadly Agent Clauses
- The Bourne Legacy: The Story Is Fiction, The Rest Is Real

StarShipSofa: A Great Way To Promote Your Novel

StarShipSofa.com

You've written your novel and now face the daunting task of letting the world know about it. Where to start? While everyone knows about Smashwords and Amazon Select (and if you don't, there are articles about that here and here) I'd bet that not a lot of writers have heard of StarShipSofa.com.

StarShipSofa will play an audio recording of your first chapter, free of charge, all you have to do is send it to them. Here are the specs:

If you have a science fiction or fantasy or horror novel out or due out very soon –  if you can send me ten mins of narrated audio or the first chapter (whichever comes first) – we’ll play it on StarShipSofa! Similar to Scalzi’s Big Idea but in audio format.

It’s my intention to add one of these to each and every StarShipSofa show, which I’m calling First Chapters. The Sofa is released each and every week. It’s your chance for a little exposure.
So… here’s what I’m after. It can be any kind of science fiction or fantasy. It has to be an mp3, mono, 128kbps and 10mins long. I also need attached to the beginning of the narration, a couple of mins of you plugging your book – informing the Sofa listeners what will happen in the book, when the book is out, how much it is and where to buy it.

A word of warning about audio quality! Make it the best recording you can. A clean audio file is what we are after. If your mp3 file has excessive amounts of hiss or word stumbles, explosives (words beginning with P or B) paper rustling – it won’t get played.
Send all audio files to Tony C. Smith starshipsofa@gmail dot com. (StarShipSofa: First Chapters Wanted!)

Ghost Hand by Ripley Patton

Thanks go out to Ripley Patton for bringing StarShipSofa to my attention. You'll recall her guest post, The Self-Validated Writer that she made here just a few days ago. I'm excited to say she has fully funded her Kickstarter project; a big thank you to any and all who contributed to that effort.

I just finished listening to Ripley narrate the first chapter of Ghost Hand (is that a cool cover or what!) on StarShipSofa and I have no hesitation in saying, if the rest of her book is anything like that, it is a must-read. Here's a direct link to the broadcast, Ripley's narration begins around 01:10:00: StarShipSofa No 251 Gene Wolfe.

For more information on Ghost Hand and when it will be released, go here: Ghost Hand Is Funded!

Other articles you might enjoy:
- Self Publishing: 3 Steps To Success
- Marketing Strategies For Writers
- Jen Talty: Amazon's CreateSpace Vs LIghtning Source

Seth Godin on Creativity, Childhood and Heroes

Seth Godin

I know I just posted an article on Seth Godin and I don't usually do two articles in a row on someone, but his interview over at The Great Discontent was just too good not to mention! Here's a sampling of what Seth had to say:

On Seth's journey to becoming an entrepreneur:

In the years that followed [getting married, moving to New York and starting a company], I just failed and failed and failed and failed. I got 900 rejection letters in the mail from book publishers. I would go window shopping at restaurants and go home and eat macaroni and cheese. It was a very long slog, right on the edge of bankruptcy for almost eight years. I did a whole bunch of books as a book packager; I did almanacs; I did books on personal finance; I did the Professor Barndt’s On-the-Spot Spot and Stain Removal Guide; I did a book which I’m embarrassed about called Email Addresses of the Rich and Famous (laughing).

Creativity and childhood:

I think “creativity” is better described as failing repeatedly until you get something right.
.  .  .  .
In terms of creativity, the really formative thing that happened to me is that I started teaching style canoeing in Canada at a very old co-ed summer camp in a national park , which I still do every year—I’ve been doing it for 42 years. What I discovered is that if you’re in a situation where people don’t have to engage with you—because at this camp they could do anything they wanted—you have to figure out a way to attract them. The number one way I found to attract people was to help them connect with their dreams. And so, when I was 17, I started a cycle of creative ways to put on enough of a show in front of people that they would choose to engage in that to achieve their dreams. I’ve basically been doing the same thing ever since, except that there are no canoes in New York City. 

Heros vs. mentors

I think that heroes are more important than mentors. A hero is somebody who you can emulate; somebody who raises the bar for you. Heroism scales, so one person can be a hero for a lot of people. Mentoring is over-rated in that there’s this myth that they will pick you, cover for you when you make mistakes, encourage you, and be at your side until you become your true, best self. There are very few of those relationships in the world. 

On taking big risks:

When I finally had my book packaging company working after seven or eight years of struggling, I had ten employees and we were finally making a profit. Two-thirds of our revenue came from one company and they were jerks. They were making our lives miserable and what we were becoming was the kind of company that was good at working with difficult clients. I didn’t want to become that kind of company, so I fired our biggest client—the one who accounted for more than half our revenue. I said, “Here. Here’s the project we spent four years building. You can have it. Keep it.” It could have wiped us out, but instead, the group was so energized that they made up all the revenue in the next six months. 

On social responsibility:

I have all the toys and stuff and detritus that I need. Getting more stuff is not what I’m trying to do. I wonder, “Who can I impact today and how can I do it in a way that in four years from now, they’ll be glad I did?”

Seth's one piece of advice: pick yourself

There’s a picture that I just saw online two days ago. Monday I have this seminar I’m running for free for college students and I’m going to show them this picture before we start. It’s a picture of someone graduating from college. You can’t tell, but you can guess that they’re probably $150,000 in debt. Written on the top of their mortarboard with masking tape it says, “Hire me.” The thing about the picture that’s pathetic, beyond the notion that you need to spam the audience at graduation with a note saying you’re looking for a job, is that you went $150,000 in debt and spent four years of your life so someone else could pick you. That’s ridiculous. It really makes me sad to see that. The opportunity of a lifetime is to pick yourself. Quit waiting to get picked; quit waiting for someone to give you permission; quit waiting for someone to say you are officially qualified and pick yourself. It doesn’t mean you have to be an entrepreneur or a freelancer, but it does mean you stand up and say, “I have something to say. I know how to do something. I’m doing it. If you want me to do it with you, raise your hand.”

Seth's typical day:

Ha! There isn’t one. That’s on purpose. If you have a typical day, I think that that’s something you should work on. 

Books:

You know, I don’t know how to pick one book. I tend to read mostly non-fiction leavened with trashy fiction and science fiction. Back when Neil Stephenson was good, Snow Crash and The Diamond Age were two of the best books ever. I probably read four or five nonfiction books a week—everything from The Peter Principle, which I started reading 35 years ago when I was just a kid, to books that have shown up lately that make me sit up straight. Kevin Kelly is three for three; his new book, What Technology Wants, is an absolute must-read and will change the way you see the world. 

On the kind of legacy he hopes to leave:

I think the goal I have in my work is not to be remembered, but for the people who use the work I did to be remembered instead.

These are just excerpts, I'd encourage everyone to read Seth Godin's entire interview: Seth Godin. Thanks to SwissMiss.com for passing on the link.

Other articles you might enjoy:
- Amanda Hocking's Unusual Writing Schedule
- Indie Writers: 10 Things Not To Do
- 10 Tips For Decluttering Your Life and Increasing Creativity