Writers: a reminder of the basics, courtesy of J.K. Rowling

Thanks (again!) to Infinity Publishing for this great post.
"J.K. Rowling may be one of the bestselling authors of all time, but she's never forgotten where she came from. Her roots as a poor single mother struggling to publish an unusual book cause her to help out other beginning authors whenever she can. Rowling's been interviewed on writing hundreds of times, but she emphasizes the same basic lessons each time she's asked."


Here is an excerpt:

1. Planning is crucial.
   The worst way to create a great book is to dive into it without any plan at all.
   
2. Write in what time you have. 
   If you want to be an author, you have to make the time or steal it, one small bit at a time.
   
3. Rewriting is as essential as planning.
   Rowling wrote the first chapter of her first book 15 times before she was satisfied.
   
4.  Pay attention to pacing and plot. It's possible to ruin the pacing of a book or series by excitedly telling too much, too soon.
   
5.  Write your passion. Rowling has said that what you write becomes who you are, so it's important for you to love what you write.

I am especially grateful to see this quote from her:

Sometimes you have to get your writing done in spare moments here and there. 

J.K. Rowling

See the full article at Infinity Publishing

Consider a workbook companion for your nonfiction.

Something new from Infinity Publishing blog:

Turn Your Non-Fiction Book into a Workbook

By Arthur Gutch, Mon, May 16, 2016 @ 09:29 AM

While it's true that independent authors make more money on digital books than hard copy, traditional publishing can offer additional income through add-on books. If your non-fiction work is in the self-help category, or if it teaches how to do something, creating a companion workbook can give you another income stream. Older books can benefit from this treatment, as well. If your book's been out for six months or more, publishing a workbook that features your non-fiction book can uncover additional sources of readership you might never have found before.

Here is the full link to the article...

Author, author, it's tax time

Comment from a Release Your Writing reader today...

What? Pay taxes on my meager earnings as an author? Please say it isn't so.

It is true that author royalties are taxable, as well as the revenue you collect from books you sell on your own at events. On the plus side, of course, all your writing related expenses are deductible, so the tax burden may even out.

Infinity Publishing has a nice summary of all the deductions authors are entitled to take. Writing is considered a business expense, unless you don't produce revenue within five years. Then, you are downgraded to "hobby" status.

Read more at Infinity here.

A look at traditional book publishing via Scratch Magazine

The second issue of Jane Friedman's new e-magazine, Scratch is now available.

If you're not a subscriber, jump here to sign up.

In Issue Two, Jane has an article about traditional book publishing, explaining the facts many first-time authors forget.

Getting an agent to LOVE your book is one thing. Getting an editor to LOVE your book is another. But .... before you can get a big YES from a publisher, they run a P&L [profit and loss analysis].  Friedman shares a sample P&L. It is rare to see this detail shared, so Friedman's insider-information is worth examining.

• Before a publisher decides on a book project, they need to get a sense of the costs for editing, artwork, and marketing.
• Then they figure the manufacturing costs, overhead and infrastructure expenses.
• Then they set the retail price, deduct the manufacturing cost, the discount given to booksellers, and the cost of returns.

So you see they spend a great deal of time and money investing in an author's book. That is why they need to be certain the author has a platform that can sustain continued sales. They are in business to make a profit, and they use the P&L to can determine an accurate dollar amount of net earnings from the book's sales.

Do the work to expand your platform before you ask a publisher to invest in you.
I have fourteen posts on platform here.
and...
Get your Scratch subscription here.

Author marketing ideas to last all through 2014

This collection of 89 good marketing ideas comes from Caitlin Muir, a social media maven.

http://www.authormedia.com/89-book-marketing-ideas-that-will-change-your-life/

Instead of being overwhelmed by 89 more things you should be doing, consider tackling just one category per week or month.  The categories themselves will help keep you organized...

1. Increase your web presence

2. Build your fan base
 
3. Cultivate community
 
4. Make some extra money:  (Note her reference to MyBookTable, a WordPress plug-in you can use to sell books and make affiliate money from online book sales.)

Also, on a related topic, Amazon previously refused to keep Illinois authors in their Associates program, where you could earn money by leading people to amazon to buy your book. They have now reached an agreement with Illinois to allow authors back in the program. This would be in addition to what you might do using the MyBookTable plug-in from WordPress, which would allow you to also sell your books directly, not just through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. 

Good luck!
 

Writers: A reminder to honor your work

The Artist’s Creed
~Jan Phillips

I believe I am worth the time it takes to create
whatever I feel called to create.

I believe my work is worthy of its own space
which is worthy of the name sacred.

I believe that when I enter this space, I have the right
to work in silence, uninterrupted, for as long as I choose.

I believe that the moment I open myself to the gifts of the Muse,
I open myself to the Source of All Creation, and become
one with the Mother of Life Itself.

I believe that my work is joyful, useful, and constantly changing,
flowing through me like a river with no beginning and no end.

I believe that what it is I am called to do
will make itself known when I have made myself ready.

I believe that the time I spend creating my art
is as precious as the time I spend giving to others.

I believe that what truly matters in the making of art is not what the
final piece looks like or sounds like, not what it is worth or not worth,
but what newness gets added to the universe in the process
of the piece itself becoming.

I believe that I am not alone in my attempts to create,
and that once I begin the work, settle in to the strangeness,
the words will take shape, the form find life, and the spirit take flight.

I believe that as the Spirit gives to me, so does she deserve
from me: faith, mindfulness, and enduring commitment.

(a favorite of mine is her book "Marry Your Muse.")

Does technology bring us closer or further apart?

Poet Rita Dove, in The Writer's Chronicle, was asked how the audience for her current anthology differs from the audience for older poetry anthologies published in the 1970s. Her response likely resonates with many of us...

"It's tempting to think we're connecting on websites and so-called social networks, while we're actually turning into physical hermits in the guise of social butterflies, fluttering about in our quotidian cocoons of cyberspace."

One can only hope at least a few of us will be as articulate after we survive a few more years of social media and its related distractions.

Helen Gallagher

Honest advice to a young writer, from F. Scott Fitzgerald

Thanks to Brainpickings.com for this excerpt from a 1938 letter written by Fitzgerald to a family friend's child:

"Dear Frances:

I've read the story carefully and, Frances, I'm afraid the price for doing professional work is a good deal higher than you are prepared to pay at present. You've got to sell your heart, your strongest reactions, not the little minor things that only touch you lightly, the little experiences that you might tell at dinner. This is especially true when you begin to write, when you have not yet developed the tricks of interesting people on paper, when you have none of the technique which it takes time to learn. When, in short, you have only your emotions to sell.

This is the experience of all writers. It was necessary for Dickens to put into Oliver Twist the child's passionate resentment at being abused and starved that had haunted his whole childhood. Ernest Hemingway's first stories 'In Our Time' went right down to the bottom of all that he had ever felt and known. In 'This Side of Paradise' I wrote about a love affair that was still bleeding as fresh as the skin wound on a haemophile.

The amateur, seeing how the professional having learned all that he'll ever learn about writing can take a trivial thing such as the most superficial reactions of three uncharacterized girls and make it witty and charming – the amateur thinks he or she can do the same. But the amateur can only realize his ability to transfer his emotions to another person by some such desperate and radical expedient as tearing your first tragic love story out of your heart and putting it on pages for people to see.

That, anyhow, is the price of admission. Whether you are prepared to pay it or, whether it coincides or conflicts with your attitude on what is 'nice' is something for you to decide. But literature, even light literature, will accept nothing less from the neophyte. It is one of those professions that wants the 'works.' You wouldn't be interested in a soldier who was only a little brave."  ...