If you’re like most new authors, you’ve faced numerous opportunities to stretch as you walk the publishing path, and it isn’t all fun and games. Some authors actually attempt to bypass important steps and responsibilities related to the publishing process. They say, “What do I need an editor for; I know how to write,” or “I don’t want to do any research, so I’ll just go with the cheapest publisher,” or “I’m not going to promote this book—that’s what bookstores are for.”

Authors with these points of view end up being one of the 76 percent of authors who fail each year.

Publishing, for an experienced businessman or woman or someone with a strong marketing background is daunting enough. For anyone without this advantage, it can be extremely intimidating and overwhelming. That’s why so many hopeful authors omit the most distasteful tasks from the process of publishing their books. And that’s also why they fail.

They avoid writing a book proposal. They decide not to spend money for an editor or a cover designer. They may stubbornly reject the idea of participating in book promotion. And several months down the road, when their book is dead in the water, they wonder why.

If you dream of seeing your novel in print, you’ve decided to publish your memoirs or you have a how-to or self-help book in the works, and you want a successful outcome, you need to take the process of publishing seriously. Publishing is a business, after all.

Authors who can shift from the craft of writing and become totally committed to the process of publishing will have the best chance of succeeding in this highly competitive business.

An excellent first step in successful publishing is to read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. I wrote it specifically for those who are new to publishing as well as published authors who are struggling. Do what others who have been reading my blog and following me on Twitter have done lately—order my book and find the publishing path that is right for you. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

• How does publishing work? What are the steps?
• How do you prepare a manuscript for publication?
• What are your publishing options?
• What are the pros and cons of each option?
• How does one locate the right publisher?
• What are your responsibilities as a published author?
• What are the costs of disregarding basic publishing procedures?
• How does an ordinary person successfully promote a book?

These are just some of the things you’ll begin to understand after reading The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. Contact me with your questions: PLFry620@yahoo.com

The idea of writing fillers used to intrigue me and, years ago, I sent some to magazines from time to time—I actually got paid for some of them. My friend and former SPAWN newsletter editor for many years, Wendy Dager, has gotten even more deeply involved with writing slogans and verses for greeting cards. Yesterday, I noticed her article on this subject in Angela Hoy’s Writer’s Weekly Newsletter. Check it out at http://writersweekly.com/this_weeks_article/005457-070

This morning, a gentleman from Arkansas contacted me. He said his wife has decided to become a freelance writer and he is conducting some research in order to help her get started. He found some articles that he thought would be useful to her as well as other writers. And he is creating a pamphlet for members of her writers’ group. As a result of his research, he stumbled across my article on how to make money writing fiction and emailed me asking to use it in his pamphlet. I agreed, as long as he uses my bio at the end of the piece.

Today, I have a woman coming over to show me her first attempt ever at writing. She wants to know if it is ready to publish. She claims, however, that she didn’t compose the material—it is all channeled. She also wants to know how to go about getting this published. She has few options since she has no money and lives on a very small income. As I do occasionally, I am donating my time in an attempt to help her get on the right track with her project.

I think that if I kept some sort of a record, I would discover that I donate many hours over time through email responses to questions from SPAWN members and others. I also do some free manuscript evaluations and I get involved in phone consultations sometimes that I decide not to charge for. I have 3 letters sitting on my desk from prisoners seeking information about publishing. The time I spend responding to them will, of course, be gratis.

But how I appreciate the author or freelance writer who truly understands the value in a professional’s expertise and is willing to pay for it.

One gentleman told me recently that I was an absolute God-send to him—that I taught him so much in one quick session of manuscript evaluation and he wondered how in the world I was able to do this sort of thing for FREE. What I guess he doesn’t understand is that when I give a freeby (offer my articles at my website, give advice, do a quick evaluation, teach a concept and even spend time writing this blog practically every day), I do so with the idea of possibly getting some business. Think of my “freeby” as a sample chocolate. And I am counting on you coming back to purchase a whole box of them to enjoy.

Do you offer something free to your potential clients or customers/readers? Tell me about it. How’s it working for you?

When is the last time you checked out my array of books? You’ll find a sampling at my Matilija Press Website. http://www.matilijapress.com

The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book
A Writer’s Guide to Magazine Articles
Over 75 Good Ideas for Promoting Your Book
The Successful Writer’s Handbook (This one is getting a lot of interest, lately.)
The Author’s Repair Kit
Catscapades, Tales of Ordinary and Extraordinary Cats
How to Write a Successful Book Proposal
Quest for Truth, A Journey of the Soul (Yes, Metaphysical/spiritual—woo woo stuff)

Of course, before you can speak to your audience, you must identify them. Do you know who you are writing for? Can you visualize your readers? Do you know who wants the information you are presenting?

Stop here for a moment. If you write nonfiction, you may know who you believe “should” read your book or article. You are probably directing your piece toward a specific audience; but are these actually the people who will most likely read it?

Writers are often sort of silent crusaders. We have something to say but, instead of speaking out over the TV and radio waves, we communicate our messages through the written word. Early in my writing career, I decided to crusade on behalf of children. I wanted to make a difference for children by teaching clueless parents some basic parenting skills. And I set out to do so through articles in trashy romance magazines. Why? I figured that many of these readers were probably not your average devoted, educated, aware parents.

Of course, this road led to nowhere. The editors of those magazines knew that the audience I had in mind would not be interested in these articles. Oh no! Most likely, the audience for my parenting articles read parenting and maybe Christian magazines. But most of them already have good parenting skills. Writing for them seemed to me like preaching to the choir. I wanted to make a bigger difference than that.

Are you trying to change the world through your writing? Would you like to convert sinners, encourage more reading, get people involved in environmental concerns, save the whales or stop wars, for example? Maybe you write expressly to promote yourself or your services. It’s okay to have such an agenda, but make sure that it doesn’t come through in your presentation.

Let’s take my desire to teach parenting skills to those who seemed to need help, as an example. If I truly wanted to help, I might have written stories for the romance magazines that included only subtle references to appropriate parenting techniques and the ultimate consequences for parents and children when these are not considered or implemented.

If you want to teach “green” practices to those who seem oblivious, first, determine what types of publications your audience reads or which websites they frequent. Use clever means in your writings to get their attention and, perhaps, challenge them to change some of their environment-damaging ways. Touch these people where they live. Find out what they care about—surfing every day of the year, for example? Hiking? Snowboarding? Make a point using something to which they can relate in order to hit home with your message. Find ways to teach those who are not seeking a lesson but, perhaps need one. Most of all, avoid trying to bulldoze your message through to folks who really don’t care. It is useless.

You’ll find this concept expressed and explained in my ebook, The Author’s Repair Kit. Herein, I discuss the “bulldozer book”—what it is, why it doesn’t work and how to avoid writing one.
Order your copy today at http://www.author_repairkit.html.

Lily Update
I’ve had a few emails asking about Lily, our kitten who had the horrendous accident 11 days ago. She is doing fabulously. Thank you all for caring. Read more about her accident and recovery at my Catscapades blog: http://www.matilijapress.com/catscapades

I meet authors who are so into their fiction stories or memoirs that they forget completely about their audience. They remain in their own little world of thoughts, memories and fancy word combinations that they pay little attention to their reason for writing this in the first place—to engage members of an audience. They disregard their readers while trying to satisfy their own egos. They are more focused on their way with words than the readability, continuity and flow of their work.

The nonfiction author sometimes confuses the reader by providing too much of the wrong kind of data. A reader on overload doesn’t benefit much from the material he is trying to sift through. Authors often make simple instructions terribly complicated. It takes a knack to write clear instructions.

Many nonfiction authors have trouble organizing the material for their books. Some are not good researchers, so they omit important aspects of the topic they are trying to cover. Others simply don’t know how to appropriately and sensibly present the information. They don’t have a clear intention for their book.

All of these problems make for books that are not reader-friendly.

What is the solution? Number one: Think about your reader and then strive to speak to him/her, engage him/her and entertain, teach, inform him or her.

What are you writing today? Go to your desktop now and read through it. Who is it written for? If it is fiction, is it an enjoyable story or does it drag and seem a little dull? Go back and read a book or short story that really kept your interest. What makes this story different from yours? What can you do to improve the entertainment value of your story?

If it is nonfiction, is it crystal clear, well-organized and informative? Is it easy to read and follow? Have you provided a mix of text, bulleted sections, Q & A, anecdotes and a study program, for example? What, exactly, will your reader get from this book or article? What is your intention? What do you envision the reader walking away with: A new skill, a greater understanding on some topic, a fresh perspective? Do you believe that you have succeeded in providing this opportunity? If not, I suggest going back to the drawing board.

Patricia Fry is the author of 28 nonfiction books and a memoir. Her book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book is designed for authors who are at any stage of writing, publishing or promoting their books. Read the profile for this useful book at http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Now I’ve judged several writing contests and I know a lot of writers who enter (and some who win) writing contests. But I have to say that, for the most part, I’m not impressed by the writing I have seen in most of the contests I’ve judged. Often, there are two entries that far outshine everything else. And there might be three manuscripts that vie for third place—the judges’ job, then, is to eliminate the worst of them.

While some judges focus mainly on the entertainment value and/or organization of the entries, others give points for continuity and flow. Still others take points away for misspelled and misused words. One judge I worked with recently, knocked off quite a few points for poor endings. Another one would not even read two of the manuscripts because she couldn’t get into the story in the first paragraph.

Why am I telling you this? Why would I want to burst your bubble when it comes to entering contests? Actually, I don’t want to discourage you from entering contests, if that’s what you enjoy doing. Writing contests are definitely plentiful. We publish dozens and dozens of contest announcements every year in SPAWNews http://www.spawn.org. And there are numerous directories of contests for writers, artists, poets, photographers, etc.

There are definite benefits to entering writing contests. Many writers become published only after they have spent many years practicing, studying and entering contests. Each win or honorable mention adds to their level of confidence. Some writers enter contests for the accolades—they want the recognition for their resumes. When you visit their websites or you study their bios, you might read, “Award Winning Writer,” or “Award Winning Author.”

This serves to give writers and authors added credibility. Heck, we can use all of the help we can get to stand out, right? You’ll notice on the home page of the SPAWN website that we brag about our Writer’s Digest designation as one of the top 101 websites for writers in 2006 and 2009. (It should also say 2003 and 2004 as we have had the designation for all four of these years. I’ll have to talk to our webmaster.)

Yes, recognition is good. But for you writers who enter contests in order to get some measure of validity for your work, I have a warning. You need to know that your manuscript may not be judged against others of any real quality. Your win might not be as prestigious as you would like to think. And it’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with feeling really great about winning a contest, enjoying the awards dinner, getting the pats on the back, etc. What I want to warn you about is getting too comfortable with your level of writing expertise.

Enter contests, sure. But still participate in a critique group. Continue to work with a mentor or an editor. Read works by excellent writers. And most of all continue to write.

There are some good books on writing. Especially, if you are interested in publishing what you write, be sure to read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Contact me for a free evaluation of your work. PLFry620@yahoo.com

He told me that he was aware of the new one-space rule, but wasn’t quite ready to buy into it. Even if he wanted to adhere to the rule, he wasn’t about to go back and make all of the changes to his manuscript. He asked if there was a quick and easy way to remove the extra spaces in one fell swoop.

I’ve wondered that, too. I told him my theory—that probably you can use the find and replace feature in Word to remove the extra space between sentences. I had never tested it out, but he decided to. He reported back that “it worked.”

I wanted to report this to you—my faithful blog visitors—but decided to test it out myself, first. So, this morning, I ran a test. Sure enough I discovered that, if you have a manuscript or a paragraph with two spaces between sentences (the old-fashioned way to type), and you want to remove one space, click on “Find and Replace.” Ask to Find “. ” and Replace with “. ” It works mighty slick.

When I attempted this fete with the question mark, however, I was not so lucky. While you may be able to automatically remove the extra space after a period, you will probably have to go in and remove the extra spaces after other punctuation (question marks and colons, for example) by hand.

Why is it now only one space between sentences when anyone over the age of 35 learned to type leaving two spaces at the end of any sentence? It’s because we’re in the age of technology. When we used typewriters, the letters we typed on a page each took up the same amount of space. So, in order to indicate the end of a sentence—to the reader and to the typesetter—we left two spaces at the end. Now, the letters we type on a page using a computer, each take up a different amount of space. Because of this, you can leave just one space between sentences and it is still obvious where the sentence ends.

There are still a lot of people who are unaware of this rule thus; you will see published books with rivers of white running through them. Take a look at some books in your library—those with “rivers” are pretty amateurish, don’t you think?

Professionalize your writing. Start by adhering to the one-space rule. Some people will tell me, “But I’ve been leaving two spaces for 40 years…20 years or whatever…” I say, “Talk to the hand,” because I’m not going to give you permission to be a slacker. Put on your big girl/boy pants, folks, and type the right way every time, all the time—on your manuscripts, in your emails, on your website and blog, when you leave messages at forums or participate in your discussion groups. Practice, practice, practice and soon it will become a habit. You can do it. You really should do it.

For more information about self-editing and some of the new rules created as a result of the technology age, read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/html

Those of you who have this book, I would love to hear what aspect of it resonated most with you. Which part of it has been most valuable to you so far? For most authors, this changes as their project develops. At first, they are excited about the self-editing section. Some really appreciate the chapters that help them to understand the whole publishing scene better. Others totally get into the huge book promotion section. And there are still some who follow the self-publishing chapters explicitly. PLFry620@yahoo.com.

Lily Update
For those of you who have been so caring and concerned about our little Lily kitten (see the June 22, 2009 entry), she is still recovering. She still sleeps a lot. She’s playing a little, but for only short periods of time. She still seems somewhat confused and her reflexes are slow. We can only hope that she heals completely and becomes the little flying dare devil she was before the accident. Of course, we will be buying her a suit of armor, parachute and helmet before we send her off on her own to play with the other household kitties.

Then came my birthday. I cancelled my birthday celebration because I didn’t want to infect my mother, aunt, sister, daughters or anyone else.

As some of you know, I love cats. This year, I started a new blog related to cats and came out with a book of true cat stories. http://www.matilijapress.com/catscapades.

I don’t think I have ever been without a cat or two or more. And recently, we invited a little barn kitten into our home, named her Lily and fell in love with her. She was born in a barn alongside 14 other kittens (to 3 mother cats).

Even though we inadvertently adopted her when she was only 6-week old, she was thriving—until the morning of my birthday. One of the older cats was evidently playing with Lily on the 3-foot carpeted cat tree when she knocked it over on top of the kitten. It was an awful scene. Despite the blood and obvious shock the kitten suffered, x-rays revealed no broken bones. The vet thought her jaw might be broken, thankfully, it was not.

After observing Lily for a few hours, the vet sent her home with us and we’ve been on kitten watch ever since. It is day 3 and she is still sleeping a LOT—hopefully because she is healing. She is eating (yeah) and drinking water.

Practically my whole focus has been on this precious, innocent kitten since Saturday as we do everything we can to keep her comfortable and to help her heal. That’s one reason why I have been remiss in keeping up my blog. But mostly, I have just been darn sad and haven’t felt like doing anything other than caring for the kitten.

It occurred to me this morning, though, as I contemplated my blog post for today, that everything in our lives has the potential to affect our writing. For example, I know writers who:

• Write in order to heal—they journal about their thoughts, problems, feelings. Some write their memoirs as a healing process.
• Write of their philosophies, experiences and adventures in order to teach and share.
• Write in order to change minds or, perhaps, the world.
• Write in order to learn more about who they are—in an attempt to find themselves.
• Write to relieve pain, guilt, fear, anxiety.
• Write to work through grief.

And sometimes it’s really hard or even impossible to sit down and write. When we’re really hurting or we’re focused on a problem in our lives, for example, our concentration is anywhere from zilch to really messed up.

I wonder, how do you handle your writing deadlines and obligations when there is “stuff” going on in your life? Have you ever used writing to work through a problem? Have you written about your troubles as a way to heal?

I’d like to write a blog on this topic. Perhaps your experiences will help others. So please join in with your stories.

Either use the Comments feature at this site or contact me at PLFry620@yahoo.com.

Some of my own clients question my recommendations. And that’s okay. I always tell them, “It’s your manuscript. You make the final decision.” Of course, I explain the reasons for my suggestions as I am a teaching editor. And I can only hope that they will do what is truly best for their book projects. I encourage them to lead with their heads, not their emotions.

I urge clients and other authors who resist an important editorial suggestion, to do some research. Read other books similar to yours to discover whether or not the suggestion makes sense. Just because a seasoned author uses a unique technique in his writing or the organization of the book, doesn’t mean that you can pull it off. I advise authors who want to try something clever, to study the masters and make sure that what they are attempting really works in their manuscripts.

Authors of fiction sometimes become jealously attached to what they consider their voice. I hear from authors, and work with some, who constantly complain that I (or their editor) am changing their voice. It is obvious that many of these people don’t know what their voice is. Most of them haven’t been consistent in presenting their voice and when the editor attempts to repair the damage, the author hollers, “You’ve changed my voice!”

I was once told, after a session of editing, that I didn’t understand a particular culture. Well, my editorial suggestions actually served to validate and strengthen the author’s attempt at representing the culture as she had wandered far off of the path. She had inadvertently inserted some dialog and phrases that were inappropriate to the ethnic group in that time period.

It’s easy to get out of character or to flub up on the integrity of your story. That’s one reason why you hire an editor. Her eyes are trained to notice these things. I also recommend, in some cases, that the author ask friends to read the story or the nonfiction book. While friends may not be able to help you with the intricacies of editorial work, they can:

• Give you their impression of your story or nonfiction book.
• Point out areas of confusion.
• Note where the story drags.
• Tell you where you’ve contradicted yourself.
• Find a mistake or two in spelling, etc.

Your job, then, is to embrace their comments and those editorial suggestions by your professional. Make the changes you agree with. And where you do not agree, step outside of yourself long enough to do some research on your own.

• Read similar books by other authors and honestly compare yours with these. Have you actually achieved your goal in your book? Or is your editor right, your writing isn’t advanced enough to attempt something too creative and unique?
• Get other opinions. Your editor could have a bias or isn’t qualified to edit a manuscript of this type. I always recommend hiring an editor who is knowledgeable about publishing and who is familiar with your genre/topic.

As you can see, there’s more to working with an editor than is obvious at first glance.

If you have a manuscript ready to go, contact me for a free editorial evaluation. I will look at 20 pages and report the types of errors and problems I see (if any). If you want me to evaluate whether I believe it is publishable or not, I charge $100 for 150-175 pages. My editing service is $50/hour. I can provide an estimate upon seeing your manuscript. PLFry620@yahoo.com

What was the advice that this man so readily discarded?

He asked me how to find a publisher for his memoir which would also feature recipes. I told him about Writer’s Market and how to use the Book Publishers Subject Index toward the back of this directory—information that he eagerly noted. I also suggested that he locate books in bookstores and at Amazon.com similar to his and see who published these books. I said that he might be able to interest one of those publishers in his project.

That’s when he slammed his notebook closed. He said, “There are no books like mine.”

Well guess what? I did a brief Amazon.com search later and discovered dozens of memoirs with recipes. I learned that Scribner published one of them—Random House produced another.

Many first-time authors have trouble using the title search method to locate an appropriate publisher. They also have a problem finding books to use in their market analysis section of their book proposal. Why? Because they believe that their book is unique—there are no other books like theirs.

If this is true, they may be pitching a book that no one wants. Maybe there’s a reason why there’s nothing out there like it. But in most cases, there are plenty of similar books. The author simply doesn’t understand the similar book concept. Let me explain:

Certainly there are no books exactly like yours. No one else tells the story of your childhood, your fight with cancer or your trip around the world. But there are other life stories, other survival stories and other travel memoirs.

You may not find any books focusing on the dental features of tarantulas and other large spiders. But there are a variety of books on spiders. These are the books you need to be looking at in your search for an appropriate publisher.

Maybe your book features whipped cream snacks. But you don’t have to look for another book exactly like this in order to locate a publisher for your book. A publisher of books on appetizers, desserts or using milk in recipes might also be interested in publishing your book on whipped cream snacks.

Perhaps you consider your novel a romantic horror gothic adventure featuring pre-teen mutants. It’s doubtful that you’ll find another book within this exact realm, but a publisher of horror or science fiction books might be fascinated by yours.

You see, if a publisher does well with an even remotely similar book, he may be interested in another good book along the same lines—on the same topic and within the same genre.

But finding a publisher isn’t the only reason for researching books like yours. Consider the following:

• Did you know that you can sometimes locate an agent through books similar to yours? Just look on the acknowledgements pages of these books. Sometimes authors will publicly thank his or her agent.

• Check the popularity of books on your topic or genre. You may discover that recipe books with a theme are outselling straight cookbooks or that no one is buying adult gothic horror. It is a wise author who makes decisions based on in-depth research rather than raw emotions. Check sales through Amazon.com and other online bookstores. Do an internet search to locate sales information for these books.

• Learn something about promoting books like yours by studying author websites. You can still learn volumes about books produced by independent and small publishers through author websites. How are they promoting their book? Who do they perceive as their audience? You might even initiate a dialog with authors of these books and learn some inside secrets about what aspect of the book/story is most popular. What you can learn from authors of books similar to yours might just guide you in attaining greater success with your project.

• Locate books similar to yours for the market analysis section of your book proposal. The publisher wants to know what makes your book different/better. And you’d better know this BEFORE you start actually writing the book or you’re liable to write the wrong book for the wrong audience.

The next time you are tempted to downplay the importance of comparing your book idea with other books that are out there, stop and think about it for a moment. Do you really want to deprive yourself of the valuable information you can glean?

Patricia Fry is the author of 29 books, including “The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book.” Check my array of books at http://www.matilijapress.com If you want to know more about writing a book proposal, consider taking my online, on-demand book proposal course. http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookproposal.htm

As a freelance writer, you are always in promotion mode. You face frequent deadlines. Either you work with editors or you serve clients; and their needs don’t always coincide with the time you have available.

As an author, you are either researching and writing every chance you get or you’re in book promotion mode. I’m sure that you feel as though someone is stealing hours out of your days, lately. It’s really hard to get it all done.

But my question today is, “Are You Getting Your Energy’s Worth?” Is the payoff in satisfaction and/or success appropriate to the energy you expend? Or are you, wasting or misusing your efforts? I think this is a question we should ask ourselves every once in a while; because if we are not using our time and energy wisely, we won’t get the results we desire.

And what do you desire:

• having your book completed and edited by December of 2009?
• an increase in the number of books sold this year?
• a contract from a major publisher?
• more new editorial clients in 2009?
• a greater volume of your magazine articles/stories published?
• a higher rate of pay for freelance work—more money per article or story?
• a higher overall income in 2009?

Whatever your goal, you know that it is up to you to meet it, right? But are you taking the right steps, making the right moves and using your energy wisely? How do you know whether you are or not? Your answers to these 4 questions might offer some insight.

1. Do you have realistic priorities with regard to the work necessary in meeting your goals? In other words, do you set aside an appropriate amount of time and expend the right level of energy in which to do the research, writing or promotion necessary to make some strides and move ahead?

2. Are you doing more of what has worked in the past while also trying some of the new things that have come to your attention?

3. Are you always on the lookout for new ideas, resources, recommendations and opportunities?

4. Do you take advantage of the opportunities that come before you?

One area where many authors and freelance writers fall down is that they subscribe to a newsletter and/or join a club or organization and then neglect to use the materials and opportunities afforded them through this channel.

• Determine which organizations have the most value in your particular quest and which benefits are most useful—set aside time to pursue these. It might be a member forum or discussion group, a monthly podcast or a book proposal or article-writing course, for example.

• Select the publications that contain the type of information and resources you need most and take time to study them each week/month.

• Collect tips and resources and make sure that you follow-up on those that could move your project or career forward.

The thing is, if you give the same amount of energy and time to your career or project as you always have, you can expect the same result. If you want a different result—more client work, more money coming in from article work, increased book sales, for example—you must expend a different amount of energy using different methods.

How many of you reading this blog regularly have already purchased my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book? I’d like to know how it has helped you along your publishing path. PLFry620@yahoo.com (Right Way Book) in the subject line. To those hopeful authors who haven’t read it yet, order yours today. You won’t regret it: http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html