#pubtips

[inventingrealityediting]

#pubtips #indieauthors #indiebook #indiepub #selfpublishing

[inventingreality]

Indie authors can deduct vehicle expenses #pubtips #indieauthors #indiebook #indiepub #selfpublishing #authorsky https://inventingrealityediting.com/2023/04/29/indie-authors-can-deduct-vehicle-expenses

#pubtips #indieauthors #indiebook #indiepub #selfpublishing #authorsky

[morganhazelwood]

Who left out the slide with the word count expectations? Me! #amwriting #writingTips #books #authortube #booktok #booktube #writersofinstagram #editing #wordcount #publishing #pubTips #writersoftwitter #authorsofinstagram #tradpub https://www.instagram.com/p/CqBA1ySLRKW/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#amwriting #writingtips #books #authortube #booktok #booktube #writersofinstagram #editing #wordcount #publishing #pubtips #writersoftwitter #authorsofinstagram #tradpub

[heroes-fading]

any plans on sharing your original writing on ao3 👀

I don't think ao3 is the place for it so I am...figuring that part out! Gotta finish it first! I'd loosely describe it as Lady Bird meets I'm Glad My Mom Died (ha haaa is that delusional).

If anyone wants to read the final product though and give feedback I'd definitely welcome it, I'll post something when it's done for anyone who wants a copy and I've combed through it a million times (UNLIKE what I do when I post to AO3...when I finish and do the messiest of proofreads and then hit post....). It'll be a hot minute because even I'm not insane enough to write a novel in two weeks (my 9-5 would not be thrilled).

i am in a weird new space with this and it's a little exciting but also nervewracking. I do not know what I am doing. I am making it up as I go along.

#has anyone ever published a book before im kidding but im not #i think its been a little bit of a fantasy for me for a long time and i am entertaining it #is that cringe? i am embracing cringe #ALAS #ask #i am told publishing is a dark and scary place but ive been reading the pubtips subreddit enough to be delusional about it #i have only ever written fanfiction #l o l

[nguyendellearls]

This is something I’m super proud to say so here goes.

This eBook isn't just a personal accomplishment; it's a testament to my dedication to customer service over a decade of diverse roles—from gas stations to airlines, hospitals to bakeries. While cherishing positive experiences, it's crucial to acknowledge the often-overlooked efforts behind the scenes. These efforts are the backbone of every successful customer interaction.

The decision to write this eBook stemmed from a deep-seated belief in mutual respect. Service workers deserve recognition, not just as cogs in a machine, but as individuals with skills and feelings. "PUT SOME RESPECT ON MY NAME" is a call to acknowledge their humanity and dignity, providing practical tools to navigate challenging situations.

This guide aims to empower service workers and foster a culture of mutual respect and understanding. Let's shift the narrative to recognize the vital role service workers play. Together, let's PUT SOME RESPECT ON service workers' names and celebrate their contributions.

#book publishing #writers on tumblr #queer writers #writerscommunity #author #amwriting #publishing #pubtip #wip #books #book lo #writing advice

[lianabrooks]

KJ Charles breaks down publishing legalese (circa 2023) for everyone so you know how to read a contract and what to do before your sign.

If you're thinking about publishing anything, go READ.

Quoted from the blog of KJ Charles

"This post ought to be filed under “Ministry of the Bleeding Obvious”. I hope most of you reading it will mutter “duh” and move on.  Everyone else, kindly have it tattooed on an unobtrusive body part.

The author’s biggest mistake is not, as you may think, having your heroine gaze into a mirror itemising her lush hair, full lips and high, firm breasts while feeling insecure about her ability to attract men. That’s #2. I’m talking about contracts.

Let’s start with some true stories.

Friend: [tells me about a complex set up she’s doing with a fellow creator involving transferring large sums of other people’s money] Me: You’ve got that down in a contract, right? Friend: Oh, I wouldn’t want to ask for a contract, that would suggest I didn’t trust her.

At a conference contracts panel

Me: Hands up who isn’t clear what “Grant of Rights” means in a publishing contract. [most hands go up] Me: Keep your hand up if you’ve signed a publishing contract. [most hands stay up. Embarrassed laughter.]

And in general:

Author: I don’t understand what all this legalese means but Publisher has always treated me well in the past, so I’m signing. Author: I can’t believe I’m really gonna be published! I got the contract today and you better believe I signed it right away and sent it back before they could change their minds LOL!!! Author: My brother deals with loads of contracts for the local council. He looked over it and he reckons it’s fine.

If that lot didn’t make your eyes bleed, you need to know more.

Contracts are scary, dull, and full of incomprehensible jargon. Nobody likes reading them, nobody likes negotiating them. But if you are an author looking to sign with a publisher, you have to read, and understand, and negotiate. It is culpably foolish not to.

The publisher’s job, and thus the job of everyone who works for them, is to make money for the publisher. Not for the author–that’s just a side effect which keeps the business lubricated. I have worked in publishing my whole life, over two decades, half a dozen companies. I have been a commissioning editor and a managing editor; I have negotiated, issued, and amended contracts, and dealt with rights exploitation and reversion. I was a publisher long before I was an author. And I know what I am talking about when I say that the publisher does not approach the contract thinking, “What are the most favourable terms we can possibly give?”

Writers are at a disadvantage here because, generally, we want to be published. We want to believe in the goodwill of the publisher with whom we’re dealing; we’re afraid of rocking the boat by being stroppy and asking too much. We probably can’t afford lawyers at all, and almost certainly don’t have access to an experienced publishing contract lawyer; many of us are unagented. Our eyes glaze as we read, and we’re not really sure what a lot of it means, but, you know, they publish lots of people, don’t they? The editor is lovely; authors say nice things about the publisher on Facebook. Surely it’ll be fine?

No. It is never okay to sign something you don’t understand. Your trust in the publisher’s goodwill will not get your rights or money back when things go wrong. Your unwillingness to read boring legalese isn’t an excuse, it’s an Achilles heel that covers your entire leg..."

KEEP READING

#KJ Charles #Publishing #Contracts #get it in writing #pubtip #author #authors #writeblr #am writing #get paid for your work

[dianaurban]

Hi Diana, I just wanted to say that I LOVED All Your Twisted Secrets!! Also, what advice would you give to aspiring young authors? Thanks so much!

Thank you so much for the kind words!

Read a lot

Write knowing you can always revise it later

Make friends with other aspiring authors to go through the process together (find them on Twitter, AbsoluteWrite, Reddit… anywhere these days, really)

Mentally prep for a long journey. It’s a tough path.

Good luck!

#writing #writetip #writingcommunity #pubtip #author

[amaroauberom]

#instagood #bookpublishing #writers #authors #pubtip #amwriting #wip #publishing #booklover #bookgram #vscobooks #books #writing #instareads #booknerdigans #bookporn #vscobook #bookstagram #igreads #bookaddict #bookish #bookblogger #bookblog #readwithus #reading #booknerd #bookworm #bookphotography #bibliophile

[aritany]

hi! i saw your posts about being not being thrilled with your previous agent -- it seems to me like you were saying you didn't feel like they really understood/appreciated queer stories, and also felt like they were relying on the author-as-influencer phenomenon for marketing. these are both hurdles i anticipate with querying/publishing; do you have any advice? red flags to look out for, questions to ask?

yeah! we outgrew each other professionally and creatively since the time i signed with her. i came out publicly and gave myself the freedom to start telling primarily queer stories, and that just wasn't where her passion and expertise lay (and that's fine!), so parting was was less of a dramatic breakup and more of a natural end to this chapter.

i think the author-as-influencer phenomenon is becoming more and more common as publishing accelerates the way it has been the past few years, and since i haven't started querying again yet, i haven't had the opportunity to speak with other agents about it. i just couldn't get behind the almost frantic time to hustle energy - i really don't need more things to panic about.

in terms of advice: see if you can speak to other authors about their experiences with agents. all people change, and all agents will shift perspectives as they gain experience, but writers are usually more than happy to share their stories. i've heard rumour of a blacklist going around, but i haven't seen it myself, so i can't speak to its credibility.

here are a few examples of questions you can ask when you get to the stage of querying where you've got an offer and are having an interview:

why do you think this story is important?

why do you think queer stories are important in general?

do you believe that social media presence is essential in traditional publishing? is the onus for marketing on the author?

would you ever encourage an author to push past their comfort zone for the sake of selling books? if so, why?

further reading that might interest you:

Red Flag Warnings: How to Spot a Shady Literary Agent

r/PubTips: agent vetting

writer beware: literary agents

#asks #literary agents #querying

[arqueete]

i recently discovered the subreddit /r/pubtips and a big thing they do over there is people share the 250ish word synopsis of their writing project that they would send in a query to agents/publishers and other users give them critiques on it (generally with the benefit of the doubt that your novel really is good and interesting, but that you may or may not be doing a good job of conveying that in your synopsis.) i've seen it suggested there that it could be helpful to try writing this synopsis before writing you novel idea, or early in the editing process, because it has a way of revealing overarching problems.

so i decided to try and do this for the romance novel i'm writing and... they're not wrong. after struggling through many drafts of this synopsis i tried ignoring what's actually in my draft right now and just writing a synopsis that sounded good by itself, inventing plot elements that felt punchy in that small word count, and it made me realize the middle of my actual story has been a slog to write because it is just not that interesting. now i have all these ideas of how to up the stakes when i get back to editing. if you have a writing project going on i highly recommend trying this as an exercise.

#writing

[whatmakesagod]

What I learned writing 500k in sixteen months

Writing daily is a lot easier to do if you are kind to yourself and do not set impossible goals. Some people can do NaNoWriMo every month because their lifestyles permit it. Others can't because of work, responsibilities, health, etc. Set a reasonable goal to start and adjust according to your lifestyle and that's the bare minimum to hit. If it's 50 words, it's 50 words. If it's a 1000, it's a 1000. It's subject to change based on your circumstances.

Accept that you are going to have to edit. I see a lot of people who cannot stand editing; some of them even hope that if their outline is perfect, then they won't have to do a developmental edit and can just make a clean first draft and it's good to go. I'm sorry to say, but if you want to be traditionally published, you're going to have to get in there and be willing to kill your darlings. If you are going to self-pub, it's still probably a good idea to be willing to kill your darlings.

This is pretty linked to number 2: the more you write, the more you nurture a gut instinct. You start to be able to see that something isn't working. Listen to your gut. Do not ignore it. If it's telling you 'this is wrong,' either keep going and accept that you might have a huge rewrite ahead of you or go back and figure out what's wrong and either edit it or save it for later.

I love commas and medium length sentences too much. That's one of my biggest hurdles. I have to actively think about sentence length, sentence structures, and sentence starters. The more you do it, the more naturally it will come to you, but, I'll be real, it's really freaking annoying when you used to be able to write 45 words a minute and now you're chugging along at 15 words a minute because you're too busy going 'this is the third long sentence with a semi-colon in a row!!! NOOOO!'

Learn to walk away. This is a very hard lesson for writers to learn, but it's incredibly important. Sometimes you are not ready for this project right now or it's not ready for you. Maybe it needs more time to marinate, maybe you're not actually interested in it and it was just a shiny idea to avoid working on the real WIP that haunts you and is staring at you as you desperately try to do anything besides write it, or maybe it's just not an idea you can write exactly how you want to write it. It's good and crucial to figure out when a project is going to teach you something and push through anyways, but it's also good to learn when that project isn't viable.

Reading is so important, but not just reading to read. I really recommend getting involved in writing communities and offering to be a beta reader or CP (critique partner) and honing your critiquing skills. Reddit has a BetaReaders, DestructiveReaders, and PubTips subs, there's also Critique Circle and Ladies Who Critique. I've heard stories of people finding betas and CPs here on Tumblr and on Twitter.

Write a variety of things. This is not going to work for every single person, but it's going to work for a lot of people. If you hit a wall and you find that you are repeating yourself, set the project aside and work on something else. Fanfic, a short story, move from romance to a horror, instead of that epic fantasy, write a contemporary novel about a lamp salesman with an absurdist bent. Many authors do this. Crop rotation is one of the ways to keep your creative well full and will let you look at the main work with a more objective eye as well as help you keep bringing new ideas to the table. If the MC keeps getting trapped and keeps getting out of it by being clever, there's a good possibility it might feel repetitive and your reader isn't going to be engaged anymore.

Find people who will be honest with you when a work isn't cutting it. As artists, it's so hard to share our work and our friends and family don't want to hurt our feelings, so you might have to go outside of them for good feedback (if they read in your genre and age category and have similar interests, they might be good for feedback). The truth is, we might now what our weaknesses are, but it's hard for us to know if we're successful in combating them without fresh eyes. We all know a lot about our stories whereas someone who isn't us doesn't. That might feel obvious, but there's a lot of authors who try to publish and nobody has ever seen their work so they don't know why they aren't getting requests for fulls. Open yourself up to the experience of being critiqued.

Recognize when you are avoiding writing. Maybe I'm the only person that is struggling with this, but it hit me only a few days ago exactly what things I do when I am avoiding writing. I play 2048 or Othello online. I'm a creature of habit so maybe it's more specific than it is for others, but by seeing that and recognizing it, I now let myself play one round and if I'm still not writing, I go do something else. If the weather is good, I go for a walk. If it's not, I might exercise inside or turn on some Two Steps from Hell and play a few rounds of a game that lets me zone out. I might even turn to YouTube or Netflix and find either a documentary, a testimonial, or a piece of media from a cultural that isn't mine. I do what I can to either put me in the writing headspace or I do research for my writing. Not every hour of the day has to be productive, but my set-aside writing time needs to be productive to my writing. If another project wants to be started, I will give in and write it so at least something has been written.

I don't just write a story to know what a story is, I also write a story to know what it isn't. This results in me rewriting my chapter one five times until I get to chapter two. This does not work for everyone and can be an active hinderance to perfectionists or people who get stuck in revision loops, but it works for me. I might start a story in space and realize it's not working and then set it in Canada 1949 and then realize that isn't working and put it in a secondary world with elves and then cut the elves. To someone who isn't me, it might look like madness, but I learn my characters' backstories, internal wounds, the way they think, about their families, their backgrounds, etc. very quickly and they solidify in a way that makes it easier for me to channel their voice. And it can change as I move pieces about, of course, and I have to be open to that, but if I know that MC has PTSD because of XYZ before I'm too far in, then I can start working with it ASAP. As such, some writers' advice is just not for me and that's OK.

#writing #writing life #my posts #writblr #writing advice #writers of tumblr

[ghostwise]

Found an interesting Reddit thread in r/PubTips, full of writing advice from a lit magazine editor and writer. I'm reading over it in my spare time today, it's here if anyone wants to take a gander. :)

Highlights so far:

"I’ve heard lots of different analogies and metaphors for what novels are and what short stories are, but my favorite is always the house. A novel is a whole house (both inside and out), including the backyard and garden. A novella is just the house, porches and all. A novelette is only the interior. A short story is a room or level of the house. And a flash is one item in the house. So, while they all exist in the same realm of story, novels and short stories are structurally different."

#writing resources

[inventingreality]

How to Upload Your Ebook: Quick, Easy to Understand, Practical Tips #indieauthor #indieauthors #pubtips #indieauthors #indiebook #indiepub #selfpublishing #authorsky #bookbuzz #AuthorUproar #BookBoost https://www.amazon.com/dp/1948872250

#indieauthor #indieauthors #pubtips #indiebook #indiepub #selfpublishing #authorsky #bookbuzz #AuthorUproar #BookBoost

[morganhazelwood]

When writing book it's hard to get the word count just right. Especially on the first time. Is your novel too short? Is it too long? These tips should help get you started on fixing your issue, whichever it is. Obviously, these word count goals are for traditional publishing, if you are self-publishing they don't necessarily apply, but it's good to know what the genre expectations are. #amwriting #writingTips #books #authortube #booktok #booktube #writersofinstagram #editing #wordcount #publishing #pubTips #writersoftwitter #authorsofinstagram #tradpub https://www.instagram.com/p/CqA-wPzrf2W/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#amwriting #writingtips #books #authortube #booktok #booktube #writersofinstagram #editing #wordcount #publishing #pubtips #writersoftwitter #authorsofinstagram #tradpub

[judylmohr]

Is it a blurb or a synopsis? (Publishing term explained)

Terms like blurb and synopsis have different meanings depending on context. #writingcommunity #querytip #pubtip

There are some publishing industry terms that are designed to confuse us. It’s like the people who created the terms did it deliberately, determined to make all of us scratch our heads and question the sanity of those around us. Today’s term is doubly confusing, because it has different meanings depending on the context. Blurb and synopsis. Two words that can have the same meaning, but have…

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#editing #publishing #terminology #writing

[lianabrooks]

Liana Brooks Contact Card

Look, if you've stumbled onto my Tumblr after coming from any of my other social media channels, that was your first bad decision. I don't do publishing stuff and book stuff over here. This is where I indulge in fandoms like any other geek. This is not a work space, this is where I come to consume other media.

If you're already following my Tumblr because you like the endless reblogs of Kdrama GIFS and very sporadic other things, and you're wondering how this mad woman supports herself, the answer is I write and edit books for a living. Please go ahead and laugh, I know it's hilarious because I did actually get a royalty statement for $0.59 USD from an old publisher the other day. Anyways, long story short, I do have a life off Tumblr. If you want to dive into the madness, that's on you.

In light of life, the universe, and everything being what they are... here is where you can find me away from here. I may or may not be more active on them.

Website: lianabrooks.com Insta: instagram.com/bylianabrooks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/LianaBrooks Patreon: patreon.com/LianaBrooks Newsletter: lianabrooks.com/new-release-ne… Books: books2read.com/ap/nED5kR/Lian… Mastodon: mastodon.online/@LianaBrooks Counter Social: LianaBrooks

#Liana Brooks #Publishing #Am Writing #SciFi #SF #SFR #Romance #UF #superhero romance #PubTip #NaNoWriMo #social media #Mastodon #Twitter #Counter Social #Books to Read #Books #Reading #I love books #read more books