E is Making the World Smaller–and More Informed by Christine Duncan

I first heard about the story from my youngest. I didn’t see it on the T.V. news or hear about it on the radio. It wasn’t on the Facebook sites that I go to. But he saw it and told me about it a week or so ago. And I’m finally see it get the mainstream media’s attention.
What am I talking about? The Wall street protesters.
I didn’t see the story about California farming out the fabrication of the steel to China for the San Francisco/Oakland bridge (and having the brass to defend the action) on the T.V. either. But I saw it on the internet.
It used to be that what got published was decided on by a very few people. Reporters might know about Roosevelt’s physical problems or about the extra marital hijinks of those in office but it was never published. Thanks to the internet, we hear and read about things that never would have seen the light of day before. We in the “free” world herald that when it comes to the Twitter following of protests in the middle East. We don’t always see the application at home.
Michelle’s post this week was on how the publication of the books she likes can depend on publishers making money other ways. Publishing is still a business. And yet, change is happening. And books with smaller audiences are making their way into electronic publishing. And in an age when the TV news seems devoted to celebrity bad boys, news still is being disseminated. Thank God for the Internet.

How Do You Keep Up by Christine Duncan

The writing profession is a fairly complicated one right now. The recession is affecting it, changes in technology are affecting it and changes in how we spend our discretionary time (and dollars) are affecting it.
So how are you keeping up? I logged online this weekend to find a story about Borders refinancing, and another about a contest for unpubbed or self-pubbed books but for the most part, I feel as though, I’m just not keeping current on the stuff that impacts…well, my stuff.
So how about you? How are you keeping up with changes like e-books, the recession’s impact on book buying and changes in the publishing industry in general? Do you have a handle on this you can help us all with?

Is Reading Dead? by Christine Duncan

The subject line I just used is a popular one for many writing blogs. Every time I turn around, people are citing the death of the publishing industry, or paper based books, or e-books or just reading in general. When asked for proof, they will tell you stuff like Dorchester publishing is not going to do paper books anymore. (I heard this rumor but no one is pointing me to a newspaper article or a company memo, so don’t go off over that one.) Or Barnes and Noble has put itself up for sale All I can say to that is Wonderful! Maybe they’ll get bought out by folks who are more writer-friendly.
The doom and gloom prediction that really irritates me is someone telling me that nobody reads anymore.
The thing is books in some form, and reading has been around for literally thousands of years. The forms have changed. We don’t use papyrus anymore. The Guttenberg press is gone. Most layouts (I won’t say all because I’ve worked at some really cheap and antiquated publishers and I’m sure they weren’t alone.) are digital now.
The more things change, yada yada.
We writers still don’t get paid much. Other people make more money than we do off of our work. But writing, whether it comes out in paper or e, whether it’s read on your I-phone or you download it to hear as you run, is still a very viable form of communication. And it is still the best job you can do in your PJ’s.

Would You Like a Share in A Publishing Company by Christine Duncan

As writers, we often moan and whine about how tough it is to get published. And let’s face it, it is. But how about putting some money where your mouth is, folks?

Canadian Crimewriter, John McFetridge is starting a publisher’s co-op. For a mere twenty bucks, YOU, yes YOU, get a say in a publishing company. The idea is that the co-op will publish (some) members’ books. What books will be published will be voted on by an editorial board who will be elected, I presume, by the members. So it may or may not up your chances for publication. But it definitely gives you a little bit of say in an industry where writers don’t get much.

Let me make it clear–I don’t know Mr. McFetridge and I have no percentage in this one way or the other. I may be just one of many who are considering the idea of laying my money down. I have had dealings with several publishers over the years and I have been incredibly fortunate to count all of them as wonderful ethical folks that I would be glad to work with again. But thoughts as to how the whole process could be improved have certainly crossed my mind, as they must any writer’s.

The idea behind this co-op is that there will be editing, there will be built-in promotion (Since many of the members will be writers, blog tours should be fairly easy.) And there will be good books.

But the whole idea is pretty much in the beginning stages. So what do you think?

Picking a Publisher by Christine Duncan

The unveiling of Apple’s Ipad has started yet another wave of people hailing a revolution in reading. Apple is proclaiming that it will revolutionize how folks read. Yawn
The Kindle, the Sony e-reader and a host of other gadgets have been there before Apple and the revolution is more like a slow turning of a tide. I have both of my books available in e-format and it is important to me, something I’ve tried to explain on this blog long before now. I read e-books and I listen to books on my MP3. But authors need to consider much more than format when they decide about a publishing company.
If you are an author out there looking for a publisher right now, I can not emphasize enough that one of the most important things to look for has to do with distribution. You want your books available in the most places you can get it. And you want your publisher to take returns. These two factors alone will decide if your book is available not only for your relatives to buy, but also for the casual browser at your friendly neighborhood bookstore to take a chance on.
Yes, you need to consider what rights you are selling. Try to retain as many rights as you can for yourself. Just because a publisher does e-books as well as paper books doesn’t mean you want to have your e-book come out with that publisher. It may be that while their trade paper books are widely available, they do not offer the same kind of distribution on their e-books. So find an e-pub who does. Ditto with the audio rights. Some publishers may very well do audio books in their basement–that doesn’t mean you want your audio book out with them.
No book will be available everywhere (Okay, maybe Stephen King’s but for the rest of us….) Bookstores, if they are run well, know their customers. And they will buy books according to what sells in their stores. So all stores will not stock all books. Makes sense, right?
Bookstores are businesses. Writers are business people too. We need to remember that and not just take any deal that is offered to us.

Long time no see

It’s been a few months since I’ve posted and it’s great to be back.  Karen Fainges very kindly agreed to step in for me while I underwent a few surgeries.    Thank you Karen for doing a wonderful job. For everyone following her posts, please don’t despair – I’m sure she will make guest appearances.

So, with the surgeries behind me it’s time to get back to business. 

In the last week or so I’ve sent out some queries on Child’s Play – the nanny guide book.  I immediately received the generic “truth be told” rejection from Andrea Somberg at Harvey Klinger (funny!).  The next day, I received a proposal request from Amberly Finarelli at Andrea Hurst (thank you Amberly).  

While Amberly ended up passing on the project, she did give me some valuable feedback.  She said, It sounds like a good premise, but I’m afraid that, with the existing literature in this genre out there already, I don’t see how this stands out enough from them–particularly in this belt-tightened publishing economy.  And she’s right.  From the very beginning I was toying with a somewhat risky idea in relation to the tone of the book.  I decided to be cautious and go with a fairly conventional approach.  I don’t think that’s going to be enough in this market.  Amberly’s feedback has given me the shot in the arm I need to go back to the manuscript and give it a make-over…this time I’m throwing caution to the wind.  Absolutely nothing to lose.

I ask you all, do you have a project that hasn’t been picked up (who doesn’t, right??).   Maybe your work needs a make-over.  How could you rev it up?  What could you do to make it stand out?  I challenge you to go back and take a risk.

Be True….

Multi-pubbed author, Anne Whitfield is visiting Rule of Three today to give us a couple of writing tips.
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Do your characters speak to you?
They should dictate what happens and how it happens. Have you ever written yourself into a corner and couldn’t understand why the story isn’t moving forward?

Often this could be you taking the character where it doesn’t want to go. Read back a few chapters and analyse where the change happened.
If you force a character to behave in a way that is not true to them, the reader will notice it and wonder why. Don’t give the reader pause for thought in a negative way at any time.

Your goal as a writer is to sweep the reader into your character’s world – their world, not yours.

To add to this subject — be true to your period, especially if writing historical fiction.

Historical writers must know their era well. A reader can tell when the author has done her research or when the author has fudged along the lines. You don’t have to bog down your novel with details – you aren’t writing a textbook! Information dumps aren’t interesting. Instead, you need to sprinkle all the little facts you know about those times throughout the story. Sometimes, all it can take is an extra word.

You also have to be true to your genre. Don’t write a romance and query it as a mainstream, or the other way around, etc. Know what genre you write and which publishers release those kinds of books.
It might sound common sense, but you’d be surprised how many people get this wrong.

The large publishers know what is selling and what will sell. They have to fit your book into their marketing production demands. So make it clear what you write, what readership it is aimed for and who will buy it.

Small publishers are a little more flexible, so if your book is cross-genre, you can sometimes have a better chance in being published by small companies who are willing to take a risk.

As I’ve said many times before, write the book of your heart, but then use your head when it comes to selling it.

How to measure success

. I also have been working out a lot lately. I’ve been going to the gym. Now, when I started this, knowing myself, I knew I would get lose momentum half way through the second week, and think the whole thing was useless, and getting no-where, and give up.

So I made myself a little chart before I started, with my starting weight and measurements, and wrote a new one each week. And when, as I knew I would, I started to think the daily gym hours were a waste of time, I looked at my little chart, at the inches and pounds I’d already lost, and knew I was being successful.

I can’t do that with writing. When a story is rejected, the letter merely says no. It doesn’t say ‘that was 10% better than last time’ or ’20% more effort, and you’ll be successful’. Some stories I wrote years ago I still love, and a story that I wrote last week I am deeply unsatisfied with. There is no way to measure progress, no little chart to show me how much I’ve achieved, and how far I have to go. And with the lack of success, and no way to judge how successful I am, nor what I have to do to be successful, I get disheartened. As Evita says, it’s very difficult to lose momentum when it is you that you are following.

So what do I do to keep going? When I receive a ‘no’, how do I convince myself that I was that little bit closer? When I have no statistics to measure my success and failures, how do I know I’m getting better?

Trying to get published is like trying to climb Mount Everest in the dark, with no oxygen, in a raging gale. You know it’ll be worth it in the end, but every step is a struggle, you can’t see where you’re going, and sometimes it seems easier just to stop, and give up. But occasionally the clouds clear, and you see a glimpse of the path ahead, and maybe that’s enough to keep me trying.

Introducing Christine

These kinds of introductions are the literary equivalent of that name tag you wear to a work seminar or your kid’s PTA meeting. You know what I mean, that tiny white square where you have to write your name, your interests or questions, plus your child’s name and grade all in one tiny white space in felt tip pen. And then after you’ve made a mess of the thing in thick, black, permanent marker, they want you to wear it. Because it helps people get to know you. It’s impossible, right?

That’s what this post is. You won’t know me any better after this than you did before but I’m giving it a shot in not-so-thick, black ink. I’m Christine Duncan. I live in Colorado where I write the Kaye Berreano mystery series. The second book in the series, Safe House, just came out in e-format. It’s available at Fictionwise, Mobipocket and other fine places. The first book, Safe Beginnings is available in print at Barnes and Noble.

I’m married, my three children are grown. Okay, the third one is still working on it, but you get the drift. My time is supposed to be my own now. (Who started that myth?) And I want to talk with folks about writing, publishing, promoting (WHY did no-one tell me what a bear that would be!) and just women stuff. My slant on all this is bound to be different than Michelle’s (a young beauty from the U.K.) and Narelle’s (a gorgeous Aussie) so you might hear some disagreement here. Nothing too serious—we’re Rule of Three. Three countries, three women and three different ways of doing things.