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The power of words describing a character world.
It's not a joke, it's not religious, it's not political. Writers: pay attention to the world of your character. Please enjoy this one-minute clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Hzgzim5m7oU&vq=medium I came across these agent Twitter accounts today. I find following book publishing, writers, agents, literary magazines - in fact, anything to do with book publishing and selected writing professionals - helpful to keep up-to-date with what is going on in the publishing world.
Here is the list of agents on Twitter: Best Literary Agents on Twitter Looking for an agent? To help aspiring writers, literary agents, and publishing professionals connect online, we are building a new directory of best literary agents on Twitter. If you are looking for more people to follow, check out our Best Book Editors on Twitter list, our Best Book Publicity and Marketing Twitter Feeds directory, our Best eBook News on Twitter list, our Best Library People on Twitter directory, and our Women in Publishing Twitter List. This list is not comprehensive, yet. Add your favorite agent (or yourself) to our growing directory. Laurie Abkemeier: Literary Agent (former Editor), Looking for the Next Big Thing, home of the AGENT OBVIOUS TIP OF THE DAY Jason Allen Ashlock: Founder of Movable Type Literary Group Holly Bemiss: Literary Agent. Working to rescue cool writers from obscurity, one book at a time Carole Blake: Literary agent with a fabulous list of wonderful clients, author of FROM PITCH TO PUBLICATION on how to get published Brettne Bloom: Literary Agent. Mom. Chelsea Girl Michael Bourret: Literary Agent, bran muffin enthusiast and nerdy cat person Brandi Bowles: Literary Agent at Foundry Literary + Media Chris Bucci: A literary agent with Anne McDermid & Associates Lucy Carson: I’m a literary agent living in NYC, eating as many fried foods as youth allows, and generally ready with an opinion at all times, on everything. Farley Chase: Literary agent, Waxman Literary Agency Danielle Chiotti: Literary agent @ Upstart Crow Literary, book lover, food lover! Ginger Clark: I am a literary agent. I work at Curtis Brown. I respond only to queries I’m interested in. This twitter account will be boring. Jill Corcoran: Agent with Herman Agency representing MG and YA authors. Erin Cox: Gun For Hire John M Cusick: Author of the young adult novel GIRL PARTS. Literary agent with Scott Treimel NY. Managing fiction editor at Armchair/Shotgun. Mostly harmless. Greg Daniel: Literary agent, sumo wrestler. Stacia Decker: Literary agent specializing in crime/mystery fiction. Brian DeFiore: Literary agent, publishing geek, former editor/publisher, pretty good dad of two teenage girls. Lucienne Diver: Agent, author, blogger. Lisa Ekus: Providing PR and Media services to authors, chefs and restaurateurs since 1982. We also specialize in media training and book agenting Matthew Elblonk: Literary Agent Stephany Evans: Lit agent on the run. Love good food, good wine, good books, and good roads. Jessica Faust: literary agent, blogger, business owner, book lover and dog worshiper Natalie M. Fischer: Literary Agent with the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency, making my way through adventures in agent land. Melissa Flashman: Literary Agent at Trident Media Group Dawn Frederick: Literary Agent/Owner Red Sofa Literary-represents nonfiction and YA Miss Daisy Frost: London lit agent and general mischief maker around town. Louise Fury: Literary Agent, Marketing advocate and general lover of books. Rachelle Gardner: Literary agent, firefighter’s wife, mom of two awesome girls, Starbucks freak. Kate Garrick: I like books and i like food; i only like one of those things professionally. Jonny Geller: literary agent & md of Curtis brown books. Publishing is not a closed book. It just looks like it sometimes. Karen Gerwin: Literary agent at DeFiore and Company Barry Goldblatt: Barry Goldblatt Literary. Samantha Haywood: Literary agent with Transatlantic Literary Agency (@TransLitAgency) in Toronto. Lives with daughter and husband, Pieter Swinkels, in Amsterdam. Kathryn Helmers: Creative Trust agent. Sam Hiyate: President and Literary Agent at The Rights Factory Inc Kristina Holmes: Non-fiction book agent, author advocate, obsessed with nut butters. Often found curled up with a book in one hand and a spoonful of peanut butter in the other. Mandy Hubbard: Agent with D4EO Literary and author for Razorbill/Penguin, Harlequin, and Flux. For a book list visit my website. Weronika Janczuk: Lit agent with D4EO Literary + writer (YA/lit/hist fiction). Lover of witty books, ’80s ♫, tea Elizabeth Jote: Slushpile Warrior. Bibliophile. Horder of paper. Literary Agent. Chameleon. Random howler from inside the publishing beast. Deidre Knight: Literary Agent and multi-published author of romance/women’s fiction who loves to travel to far away places, mentally and geographically. Mary Kole: Kidlit enthusiast and associate agent at Andrea Brown Literary Agency! Jennifer Laughran: “Literary agent at andrea brown lit, children’s bookseller, reader, raconteur, eccentric multi-millionaire and patron of the arts… and some of those are lies” Sarah LaPolla: Associate Literary Agent at Curtis Brown, Ltd., pop culture junkie, writing enthusiast, all around book nerd. Kate Lee: Literary Agent Betsy Lerner: Agent and Author of The Forest for the Trees. Kim Lionetti: Literary Agent representing women’s fiction, romance, mystery, true crime, pop culture and pop science. Noah Lukeman: President of Lukeman Literary Management, a New York literary agency representing a broad range of high profile fiction and non-fiction. Kevan Lyon: Literary Agent, historical fiction fanatic, dog lover, beach walker… Alexandra Machinist: Literary agent. Cultural explorer. Voracious reader. New Yorker. Observer. Sometime Nancy Drew. Sometime Carmen Sandiego. Lover of sandwiches. Lauren E. MacLeod: A literary agent @strothmanagency with an emphasis in YA and MG fiction and nonfiction. Opinions are my own Jean Martha: Lit Agent. Potty Mouth. Per @DonLinn you should follow me for NYC cab ride and bus commentary, general fun-and-games, wine-soaked lunches and baked goods Taylor Martindale: Literary Agent with the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency Anthony Mattero: NYC Rookie, Lit Agent, Philly Sports Apologist Kate McKean: Literary Agent, www.morhaimliterary.com Laurie McLean: literary agent and novelist Sara Megibow: Associate Literary Agent at Nelson Literary Agency. Publishing and parenting – that’s most of it. Some reading and skiing thrown in for sanity. Dupree Miller: Literary Agents Creativity is Our Resource, Negotiation is Our Talent, Relationships are Our Passion Brianne Mulligan: Once an editor, always an editor… But now I’m an agent. Dana Newman: Tech/contracts/intellectual property lawyer, literary agent, mom, book lover, runner Laura Nolan: literary agent, digital opportunist, foodie Ayesha Pande: Literary agent, citizen of the world, lover of the written word, proprietor of boutique agency and book nerd Jason Pinter: Bestselling thriller writer, upcoming ZEKE BARTHOLOMEW series for young readers, agent at the Waxman Literary Agency, HuffPo Books columnist, publishing wonk. Barbara Poelle: literary agent, theater wife, professional Polish vodka sampler, it could get a little weird. Janet Reid: travail-agent for The Fabulosity and the reef-dwellers Chris Richman: Kid’s book agent, music snob, Philadelphia sports fanatic. Holly Root: Literary agent, theater wife, cat person, iphone addict. Elana Roth: Brooklynite, children’s book agent, Squarespace support-team member, semi-pro Jew, bourbon drinker. I work for lots of people. None of these tweets are theirs. Tamar Rydzinski: Literary agent, mom, Washington Heights resident, scared of dogs Meredith Smith: Literary agent, Episcopalian, flag football player, reluctant Tweeter. Rebecca Sherman: Literary Agent at Writers House. Midwesterner transplanted to NYC. Musical theater loving, pop culture addict vegetarian. Michael Stearns: Literary agent. A bit obsessive compulsive about words and writing, books and pop culture. Laura Strachan: literary agent representing literary fiction and narrative nonfiction. Loves books, art, theatre — compelling stories, well told. Kari Stuart: I’m a literary agent in NYC. When I’m not reading fabulous new, unpublished books, you can find me testing new recipes or running in the park with my dogs. Suzie Townsend: book lover, former HS teacher, literary agent, sci-fi/fantasy nerd, and owner of an unused $6000 wedding dress. love my life. Rachel Vogel: A literary agent based in NYC. Joanna Volpe: NYC lit agent and lover of pizza. Carly Watters: An associate literary agent’s bookish twitter feed. Reads and reps commercial and literary fiction, non-fiction. Loves travel, art, photography and cupcakes. Scott Waxman: Founder, Waxman Literary Agency Jennifer Weltz: Literary Agent at Naggar Literary Agency Ted Weinstein: Weinstein represents a broad range of non-fiction for adult readers Michelle Wolfson: I’m a literary agent. Check out my site and if you think we’re a fit, let me know. Otherwise just support my authors and buy their books! Imagine the power you writers have. You can shuffle the scenes you have created like a deck of cards. In fact, you HAVE to shuffle your scenes. Why?
We tend to be linear human beings. If we write a memoir, we begin at what we think is the beginning of our lives. Or we start explaining who is who in a family. Then, in my long experience teaching and editing memoirs and fiction, writers often go into details about the family. Often endless details. How much better it is to weave those family details into the body of your novel or memoir. Around the 6th chapter, or so, more or less, of the manuscript the story starts to take off. We are in media res - in the middle of the action. It is in the middle of the action that our story should begin. So take your scenes, lay them out on the floor, on a long table and shuffle them around. See what happens. Will you have to rewrite some transitions and some scenes? Sure. But it will be so exciting to do it...because your work will be electric and you will feel the excitement rise within you as you see your wonderful words sparkle. So shuffle those scenes, have some fun and your work will be even more terrific than it already is. Last night we finished the fifth of our five sessions of Memoir 1 at the Writers' Barn in Shelburne, VT. Seven writers unpacking their memories, finding scenes, characters, delight, sorrow, joy, laughing out loud moments in their lives that they want to share with others.
Our classes are experiential, we write/I teach and we are amazed how scenes emerge from the exercises we do. Scenes hidden in our unconscious, filed away under "do not disturb" or "don't go there." As time goes on we learn the craft of writing, what works and more wonderful writing emerges. It is in those tender, sometimes difficult moments, when our true voice is heard. Sure, we want to tell others about our achievements, but it is in those tiny moments we write about that our readers resonate with our writing. They are, what I call, universal moments. Universal moments when everyone around the globe can identify with a writer's feeling expressed in a scene: the car door closing as a 12 year old child is left at a boarding school, a day in a garden then everything changes, someone uprooted from their homeland, the shock of winning something you thought was unreachable (no matter how small), war changing everything, a house holding its family close over 40 years, children of survivors who endured unimaginable terror and so much more. As humans united through our stories, we need to hear these stories. We need to be there in scene with the writer on that boat, in that building, in that family. It is the writer's original voice we yearn to hear. Those stories not only unite us as part of this global experience, it gives us hope we can go on, while validating our own experience as part of our cultural story. Writer's Barn is a terrific place to learn the craft of writing. A small renovated barn with heat/a/c, great quiet and good light not to mention a new, small kitchen with treats, it is a great place to relax into your own writing.
I taught "Creative Writing for Grown Ups" there for seven sessions and loved not only the writers but the space. Lin Stone, of Wind Ridge Publishing does everything she can to make the space pleasant and the writers feel at home. It is amazing what a place that is devoted to bringing out the best in writers can accomplish. Writers relax, information flows and learning the craft of writing is easy - not to mention the great stories that come out of the writing. I hope I see you there soon. Sue Freewriting may, sometimes, seem like a waste of time. It is NEVER a waste of time. You have a writing prompt, you write for 5-10 minutes and wonder if it is any good. Of course it is. Your freewrite may contain the germ of a short story or the theme of a book. It may provide a character of two, or a conflict, a place, a memory.
Memoirs are really scenes from our lives as best we can remember them. Never through away a freewrite, keep them in a binder, in a drawer, in a box and then use them when you feel stuck. Woody Allen keeps what he calls his "scribbles" in a drawer. When he needs a setting or a situation he pulls out these sheets of paper and starts to write. You do the same thing. It never fails, you will always win using this method. epublishing: where, when, how, who?
Ok you have heard so much about epublishing. Now what? Here are some tips. FIRST RULE: IT HAS TO LOOK PROFESSIONAL o Price your ebook cheaply – don’t deal with anyone that won’t let you set your own price. Make sure the cover art looks professional. WHERE TO PUBLISH: KINDLE DIRECT PUBLISHING o Amazon. Upload your book to Kindle directly (no fees) o 70% royalty fee to writer but some rules apply complete list of terms o https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/signin o $.99-$9.99 pricing – most books sell at $2.99 or less o Create your own cover using: Mobipocket eBook Creator or Calibre. Mobipocket Creator allows you to create an e-book with a table of contents and convert it into Amazon's proprietary e-book format, AZW (MOBI, the file output by the program, is the same as AZW). You can start with a Word file, which then gets converted to HTML, then MOBI. (Check out the Mobipocket eBook Creator guide at the company's Web site). APPLE o Offers the same royalty to writers that Amazon offers (70%). o Must use an aggregator such as Smashwords or Lulu to get into iBook store. SMASHWORDS · Free style guide for formatting your Word document and images. http://www.smashwords.com/ · Upload the document and image into their “meatgrinder” tool and you can create an ebook in just about any format that you want. · They don’t charge you for creating ebook but do take a small cut of the author’s royalties. At a price point of $2.99, on Apple’s iBookstore, Smashwords takes 10% of the retail price (iBookstore earns $1.794 or 60% of the retail price) so Smashwords winds up taking $.299. · You can acquire your own ISBN for a price although most ebook publishers provide it for free or roll it into their total price. LULU · You can publish a print book or just publishing ebook. Lulu distributes to Apple iBookstore and Lulu.com. Lulu would charge from $99.99 to $299 for this conversion. · It is one of the main aggregators for Apple’s iBookstore. · The author receives 56% of the retail price for a book sold at Apple (versus 60% at Smashwords). Charges a $1.49/book production fee for every book sold to Apple in addition to the 20% sale price if Lulu sets up the book for you. · However authors are free to use any of the free conversion programs available to them. If you go to lulu they list these on their website. http://www.lulu.com/publish/ebooks/ FAST PENCIL · A number of self-publishing packages. http://www.fastpencil.com/ · $149 for its basic epublishing packing, and you still have to import your own cover image and get no design help. You do get wide distribution. (Nook – B&N, iBookstore, Kindle store, Sony Readers, Ingram’s Digital network. · Royalty is similar to Lulu’s which is not quite as good as Smashwords – or about 56% of retail rate. PUBLISH GREEN http://www.publishgreen.com/ · A number of packages from $299 - $899. · Kindle compatible file. · 90% royalty. o Create Space, iUniverse, Xlibris, Authorhouse. · Allow you to do print-on-demand self publishing ebook conversion service and distribution but avoid any company that doesn’t let you set your own price. SCRIBD · http://www.scribd.com/ · Fast/easy way to get ebook on Internet. Create an account, then a PDF of your book with cover image embedded on the first page of the PDF and upload it to Scribd. Its online software converts your document into · a file that can be viewed on a pc, iPad or other portable devices. BARNES & NOBLE PUB-IT · http://pubit.barnesandnoble.com/pubit_app/bn?t=pi_reg_home · Similar to Amazon B&N set the Publit royalty rate for authors at 65% of the sale price for titles priced $2.99 and higher. Rate falls to 40% if you go lower than $2.99 or higher than $9.99 with B&N setting $.99 as lowest price and $199.99 has highest. This is close to Amazon’s 70% royalty but not quite as high. · RESOURCES: J.A. Konrath (mystery writer)has a primer on ebooks "How to Make Money on eBooks" · For some time I have been working in corporate communications. What the heck is that you might ask. I make sure each and every marketing piece (website, brochures etc.) say what the client means them to say. Most often I see the wrong emphasis placed in these marketing materials. Is the client wanting to emphasize service? Follow-up? Easy answers to questions? After speaking extensively with the client, I go through each piece word by word to see where the emphasis is placed. Then I rewrite the pieces so they say exactly what the client wants/needs to say. It makes a huge difference in their business by attracting and informing clients at the same time.
When I teach I use my well-researched format unleashing creativity and building confidence in a writer. Through this process writing prompts are given and I always say "wait for the images because they always come."
As you relax, using my biofeedback method, and the rest of the process I offer, you can access your unconscious, creative mind. Wow. Images spring to life. Then the words follow as we write as fast as we can initially to see where that image leads us. Eventually characters, scenes, details make themselves known. And it works every time. To access your creative mind: take one of my classes. If you can't, then try this: relax, be comfortable, close your eyes, whatever words or images come to mind, write them down fast. Then write for four minutes as fast as you can, no punctuation, or worry about spelling. Just write. Soon characters, scenes will appear. You'll see. It is this process that allows each writer to access the rich, creative material in his or her own mind. And it works every time. Moving is a daunting affair not for the faint-hearted, but like all things we haven't done in a long time, who knew it would be both challenging and expensive. Yet here we are in our new surroundings both excited by its great beauty offered in generous amounts every day. And it is a literary state full of great people writing marvelous things.
It is disorienting to live in another state - but slowly it becomes your new reality and it is exciting to find new places to go to for even ordinary things. Where is the hardware store? Oh, it is a few blocks away. Really? Aha now I can find one place. Groceries? Over there? A better one a few blocks which way? Ok. Now I know. Gosh what did I do with the mailbox key? How could it possibly be we have so much stuff we have to store it in two lockers plus a mountain of boxes in our condo. Embarrassing, really it is. Not to mention even in a 1200 sq. ft. condo with 2BA and 2 BR there is not enough storage for all the stuff.Here are a few tips to help:
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