A Basic Guide to Tumblr

by Riley Redgate

These days, social media is the fastest way to engage with readers, if that's your sort of thing. Some people, of course, choose to create a veneer of mystery instead, not Tweeting, not Facebooking, nada. But the great thing about social media is that it's so simple! You can do it all while sitting at home, not wearing any pants! I don't know why you're not wearing pants. Better not to ask.

Pants aside: when it comes to various social media platforms, people don't seem to think Tumblr is as simple as Twitter or Facebook. Every time I mention Tumblr to people who don't Tumbl, they react with alarm, bafflement, or a mixture of the two. This makes sense to a degree, since Tumblr culture is, erm, sort of weird. But never fear! I know the place a little too well, since over the last few years, my blog has stumbled its way into 10,000+ followers, and I also spend about 10,000% of my free time on the site. I've made this cheat sheet to explain a few things about Tumblr if you're looking to get started.

But first: why should you, gentle author, care about starting a Tumblr? Well, if you write Young Adult, Middle Grade, or New Adult, here's why: in a recent article, TechTimes says that more than 70 percent of Tumblr's users are age 16 to 34. Moreover, "Tumblr, now the fastest growing social site, has seen an increase in its active users by up to 120 percent within the last six months." Tl;dr -- it's where your target audience is hanging out.

Without further ado, here are the five things you need to know about Tumblr Culture:

5) Keep Up

One thing that can seem intimidating about Tumblr is the pace, which is breakneck. The Dashboard -- home to posts from all the blogs you follow -- is active 24/7 and constantly updating, so things get easily lost in the mix. Tumblr even has a specific function to encourage constant activity: the Queue. You can set your queue to post automatically for you, up to 24 times a day. Compared to hosts like Blogspot, that can seem like an extreme number, but on Tumblr, a steady stream of activity is good.

"Wait!" you might say. "What about the quantity of stuff I will need to generate, if I want to post that often? Am I supposed to sell my soul? Quit my job to make Tumblr posts all day?" No, friend. Although I'm sure Tumblr staff would love for you to do that, you don't have to, because ...

4) To Blog is to Reblog

On most other social media outlets, people focus primarily on their own content -- displaying it, advertising it, etc. But the climate on Tumblr is one of sharing. The site prides itself on being full of not only creators, but creative communities. For instance, you might find fanartists who draw pieces based on a fanfiction writer's work, or people who write 3,000-word essays about a TV character's psychology just to share with others and discuss.

Tumblr is hugely about interplay, which is why -- even on many popular blogs -- you'll find that the percentage of original content is relatively low. Each blog feels something like a miniature aggregate site, a collection of art, writing, opinions, etc. that the blogrunner enjoys. Like a little internet gallery! (For those unfamiliar, reblogging works quite simply: by clicking the "reblog" button, you rehost an original post from somebody else's blog to yours, and thereby share it with all of your followers.)

All this is to say that you don't have to stress about making your own stuff 24/7. The general mood of Tumblr is to stay active by reblogging others' work to support them, and you'll find your kin through common interests. This is best if you ...

3) Learn the Tag System

Some people migrate from Twitter to Tumblr and assume that tags function in essentially the same manner, but this is not the case. On Tumblr, people use tags in several primary ways. Firstly, you can organize your blog through tags. On many blogs, you'll find tag-based Navigation pages -- here's a screenshot of what mine looks like:

... so, whenever I make a post with a horrible pun, I tag it with "GET THEE TO A PUNNERY!" Then, on my Navigation page, when you click the "Get Thee to a Punnery!" link, it can take you to a page that displays every post I've ever made (or reblogged!) that has a horrible pun in it.

The second primary use of tags is to add commentary. On Tumblr--unless you have something vital to contribute to a conversation--it's seen as weird to reblog and add a comment to the post, because the original poster will see it as a response. This might feel counterintuitive, because on most other sites, commenting is seen as the best way to connect. But on Tumblr, people often get concerned that too much text messes with the ~aesthetic~ of the post.

If you do have an opinion but don't want to address it to the author of the original post, what many people do is reblog the post and write it in the tags, like this:

Tags are also gathering spaces. This function is more like the way Twitter uses tags. If you go to the Doctor Who tag, for instance -- http://tumblr.com/tagged/doctor-who -- you can see every post that Who fans have tagged with "doctor who". For smaller fanbases, the tag becomes like a little home base.

Phew! Okay. Tagging is a lot. Moving on ...

2) Do Not Engage with Call-Out Culture.

I waffled on whether to include this. For people just looking to make an author Tumblr and connect with their readers, one would hope it wouldn't be an issue, but you never know.

Tumblr users tend to be impulsive, passionate, opinionated -- and overwhelmingly socially liberal. It's a haven for LGBTQ+ people and intersectional feminist discourse; it has huge communities for the marginalized. And in people's desire to make Tumblr a safe space for social discussion, they often turn to "Call-Out Culture." This is where people present problematic behavior (racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.) and eviscerate it publicly. And for those who are actually famous, public opinion can turn on a dime and give the site a feeling of mob mentality. (See: that recent John Green debacle.)

Mostly, call-out culture is nothing to be afraid of, assuming you're not actually sexist/racist/etc. But it's the internet. Misunderstandings abound. A few months back, one of my joke posts got popular, but -- alas! -- it had a snarkier tone than I usually employ, and a comment arose claiming that I was jeering at young, female writers. (Which would be weird of me, as a young, female writer.) I tried to clarify, but people were already coming to my askbox yelling cursewords at me. So I didn't engage. After making a separate post to clarify the situation, I deleted the original post and turned off my askbox, and things simmered down.

There are far worse things than the overly enthusiastic social justice community. Like, say, the pro-anorexia side of Tumblr, or the shoplifter community. Also, a few years ago, I was mobbed by Men's Rights Activist users, who gave 18-year-old me appalling threats of sexual violence. Same solution: turn off the askbox; don't engage. This too shall pass.

Moving on now to the most important thing:

1) The Golden SocMed Rule: It's Not Really About You

I think this holds true for any social media platform: engaging with an audience should be about the audience first and foremost. A Twitter that consists mostly of a bot posting promos every five seconds is about the most self-defeating thing in the world. People are inherently self-serving, and if what you're posting isn't funny, useful, or in some way pleasing, there's no reason they'll want to connect with you.

Of course, the more famous you are, the less the Golden Rule applies. If you have a giant, rabid fanbase, you can probably talk about yourself all day and night and people will still love you. But for people trying to build buzz through social media, incessant self-promotion doesn't make sense.

Anyway, if you're already famous, all of the above is totally irrelevant. You could probably post just the word "butts" on Tumblr once a day and get a hilariously huge following.

I hope this is helpful! Questions about Tumblr, or about any of the above? Leave them in the comments. Until then, signing off.

Riley Redgate, enthusiast of all things YA, is a senior at Kenyon College represented by Caryn Wiseman. Her debut novel, Seven Ways We Lie, will be released by Abrams/Amulet in Spring 2016. Her site (hosted by Tumblr, no less) is here, and she Tweets here.

The Stages of Grief--Um I Mean Marketing (*nervous laugh*)

It is t-minus 6 months and counting.  Another book launch for me.  There will be celebration of course.  Releasing a book into the wild is always an achievement, and an act of faith.  It must be celebrated as such.  It is also a signal to release the demon: the marketing monster.

Most of us who write do not say to ourselves, “Hey I want to be an author so I can market the hell out of my creations.  You know if I could JUST do the marketing, I’d be in heaven.”  No, what most of us say about the promotional aspects of this gig would be patently inappropriate for a blog post.  Yet marketing swiftly becomes our primary focus, our obsession, and the monster hiding under our bed—from six-months out to six-months post-release.  That’s a year of our lives mes amis.

See--this is the book.
And clearly I am a publicity whore

This morning as I sat down at my desk I found myself thinking not (with delicious anticipation) of finishing a draft of my wip (I am within striking distance), but of what I could do or say about my soon-to-release-novel that wouldn’t sound like “buy my book” and wouldn’t make me feel like I was naked on a street corner during rush hour.

And then, out of nowhere Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s stages of grief (which I allegedly learned in a psychology class somewhere in my distant past, but which actually lodged themselves in my brain—as so many things do—only as a result of a piece of popular culture, Bob Fosse’s “All That Jazz”) popped into my mind.  In case they are not fresh in your mind, here they are, the big five: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

They are supposed to describe how we’d feel if we lost someone dear to us but frankly I think they do a credible job of explaining the phases of book promotion.  Hear me out.

Denial—Good books sell themselves right? I am with a big five publisher, they will take care of all the publicity and marketing for me.  That’s their job.  Writing is mine.  It’s too early to be thinking about pre-sales/sales/reviews.  If I start this early I will burn out.  Jeez, I am burned out already and I haven’t started.

Anger—F**k this s**t!  I feel like a whore, and not even an expensive one.  I hate having to remind people that books that start their lives with strong pre-orders are printed and distributed in larger quantities, stay on shelves longer, and are displayed more prominently.  The thought of sending notes to people on my xmas-card list reminding them I have a book releasing gives me hives.  I am NOT doing this, do you hear me! Not. Doing. This.

Bargaining—Fine, I will send the post cards.  But surely I don’t need to start thinking about marketing my book until a week or two before release.  After that I swear, I SWEAR I will be all about that novel, but for the next few months I want to be about what I am writing now. Pretty please?

Depression—I am doomed.  This book is doomed.  I can’t even get my own siblings to pre-order.  They just said, “nice postcard.”  Probably, screaming, “did you order the damn book” was not the best response on my part.  I am going to be seated at the kids table for Christmas.  I am not going to be invited to Christmas.  I do not know why I am finishing my wip, because if sales are not good on the new release I will never have another published work.  I wonder if I can be a dog walker?  Too bad my own dog does not even like me.

Acceptance—Marketing, for better or worse, is a large part of what I as an author have to do in modern publishing. This is true whether I am with a major publisher, a small publishers, or I choose to indie publish.  The day of the “recluse who just writes” are past—unless and until I hit super-star status, and then I will buy a castle and let the books sell themselves. So, I will square my shoulders and divide my writing day.  Six months out it will be 75% wip and 25% laying the groundwork for launch. By the time my launch is a month out, that will be flipped.  For the last week before and the first six weeks after launch my wip will be my “treat,” and working on it will replace my other leisure activities.  I will sign books, blog, be present on social media.  I will carry a stash of postcards in my glove compartment and another in my purse.  I will support the efforts of my publicist and my marketing team at every turn and I will come up with ideas and actions to supplement what they do.  I will thank them—often.  I will thank my friends, and remind them that having bought the book they are not obligated to read it.  I will not ask them what they think of it.  I will be merciful.

Oh, and I will NOT forget all this.  I will not make myself go through these damn phases again . . . until I do ;p

Sophie Perinot’s next novel, Médicis Daughter--set at the intrigue-riven, 16th century French Valois court--will be out in December of 2015.  But you can ABSOLUTELY pre-order it now.  DO IT! She does not care if, once it arrives, you use it as toilet paper on your next camping trip.  To find out about Sophie's previous literary endeavors, visit her website, or her FB page.  You can also  follow her on Twitter as @Lit_gal

How To Read To Your Kids

by R.S. Mellette

A recent critic of Billy Bobble Makes A Magic Wand stated that her son kept having to ask questions about what was in the book. She said this like it was a bad thing, which got me to thinking about my childhood.

I have a distinct memory from first or second grade of me flipping the blades of my little toy helicopter in front of the TV. I watched as the direction of blades seemed to go forward, stop, then go backward. I asked my Dad about it. That must have been around five or six in the evening. By eleven o'clock, he had explained stroboscopic effect, the speed of light and sound, Einstein's theory of relativity, and a myriad of other subjects that might bore me today, but which I found fascinating then.

Another time, I asked what the stars are, and where they go during the day. He explained that the stars are just like the sun, only bigger, and some of them might have died out millions of years in the past. That led to another long series of questions and answers, ending with our living room blacked out, a solar system of a globe, a tennis ball, a basketball and a flashlight for the sun.

Later, when I was an adult, a friend of mine complained that her son asked too many questions. "He asked me why the sky is blue, and where the stars go during the day. I don't know any of this stuff, so I just tell him not to worry about it."

That broke my heart.

Each question a kid asks is a spark that can start a fire of learning. Not the kind of learning that is force-fed in schools, but the kind that comes from feeding a hunger for knowledge. Everyone likes to talk about "teachable moments," but there is none better than when a kid asks "why?" or "where?" or "how?".

How to read to your kids? When they ask a question, stop reading. Answer their question. That will lead to more questions. Answer them. You might not get back to the book until the next day. That's fine. It's a book, it'll wait. That's what books do.

In this day and age, there is no excuse for not answering a kid's questions. Sure, Wikipedia might not be the best source for a master's thesis, but it'll get you started.

As for the mom on Amazon with Billy Bobble; it's possible she answered every one of her son's questions, and he just got bored and walked away. That's fine. Not everyone is going to like my book.

But I do take pride in the fact that… I made him ask.

R.S. Mellette's new book is Billy Bobble Makes A Magic Wand. He is an experienced screenwriter, actor, director, and novelist. You can find him at the Dances With Films festival blog, and on Twitter, or read him in the anthologies Spring Fevers, The Fall: Tales of the Apocalypse, and Summer's Edge.

Take The Guilt Out Of Writing

by Mindy McGinnis

A writer's worst enemy is procrastination.

The second thug in our lives is procrastination's close cousin - responsibility.

Too often our writing time is carved out of the day, the niche of a few minutes where there isn't food to make, laundry to do, floors to sweep, lawns to mow, weeds to pull. The terrible truth about the to-do list I just ripped off is this: it never ends. The food will be eaten, the laundry will get dirty again as will the floor. Grass grows, and weeds (unfortunately) grow even faster.

Very rarely do we treat writing as a responsibility on its own. Even when I'm under contract or on deadline, writing still very much feels like something I do for myself. Because writing is a solitary undertaking, it's easy to identify it more as me time than as something that requires a true work ethic in order to be properly executed.

Squaring these two facts is no easy feat. Sitting down to write can often feel like a guilty pleasure if there are dirty dishes in the sink, or socks on the floor. While the to-do list is daunting, it cannot go ignored - unless you don't mind starving, stinking, living in filth, and being covered in ticks from your yard. And if all of those things sound just fine to you, I'm guessing that finding some alone time isn't all that much of a challenge anyway.

I recently went on a writing retreat, which is something I've always pooh-poohed in the past. I used to think that if I took a writing retreat, I would laze about, act like I'm in a coffee commercial while I sit on the deck of a cabin, then take long walks in the woods while pretending that I'm in some sort of medication commercial. None of these things would bulk up the word count, so I always thought a writing retreat was a euphemism for I'm going to get drunk in the woods and play Tetris on the laptop but keep a serious look on my face while doing it so that everyone thinks I'm writing.

Surprisingly, I wrote quite a bit while hanging out in a cabin, and starred in exactly zero imaginary commercials. I realized on the second day that the reason why was because I wasn't worried about laundry, floors, lawns, food, or any other myriad of responsibilities present in day-to-day life. I could sit down and write without guilt.

I realize that leaving home for three days might not be in the cards for everyone, realistically. But the lesson remains - next time something is stopping you from sitting down to write, ask yourself if it's actually the chore that is the obstacle, or the guilt?

Because if it's the guilt, don't worry - the chore will be there tomorrow.

Your inspiration might not.

**********************
Mindy McGinnis is a YA author who has worked in a high school library for thirteen years. Her debut, NOT A DROP TO DRINK, a post-apocalyptic survival story set in a world with very little freshwater, has been optioned for film by Stephenie Meyer's Fickle Fish Films. The companion novel, IN A HANDFUL OF DUST was released in 2014. Look for her Gothic historical thriller, A MADNESS SO DISCREET October 6 of 2015 from Katherine Tegen Books. 

Writers, Don't Be Vain

by J. Lea López

One of the questions and concerns I see most often over at Agent Query Connect is that of vanity publishing. An author is excited that they found PayMe Publisher online, and this is finally their chance at publication! So they ask the AQC community for any personal advice or recommendations regarding this publisher. Usually it takes only a quick look at the publisher's website for another member or moderator to realize that PayMe Publisher is a vanity press. If you've been reading my posts for any length of time, you know that I'm not usually one to make always or never statements, but here's where I make an exception. When it comes to vanity publishers, don't do it.

Money flows to the author

This is a basic tenet of publishing. In traditional publishing, the publishing house may or may not pay an advance, but they pay the author royalties on book sales. They do not charge the author upfront fees for editing or marketing or anything like that. They are invested in the success of your book, and they take a cut of your royalties to pay for those services and hopefully make a profit upon publication.

Vanity publishing operates in the exact opposite way. The fictional PayMe Publisher mentioned above will have publishing packages that include a lot of official, fancy, and impressive sounding things that might sound, to a writer, like everything you could ever ask for from a publisher. Those packages also come with a hefty price tag, and they're couched in the typical sales language where you can upgrade to an elite or gold level package for even more stuff! You end up paying the publisher to publish your book. There is no submission process usually. They will take any book given to them and publish it. Once you pay for your package up front and your book is published, PayMe Publisher will continue to take a percentage of your royalties, and that percentage is often the same as if you'd been traditionally published. So you're getting the same percentage of sales as with a traditional publisher, but you've also paid a nice chunk of change to the vanity publisher up front. So what exactly have you gotten for that money? Nothing that you couldn't have gotten for free with a traditional publisher.

This doesn't even begin to touch on the sometimes terrible contracts you have to sign with vanity publishers, or the predatory practices of some vanity publishers like Author Solutions. I highly recommend David Gaughran's blog for a ton more info on Author Solutions and why you should steer clear.

Self-publishing "services"

With the rise of self-publishing, there has also been a rise in companies offering self-publishing service packages to assist authors who want to go that route. Unfortunately, many of these are simply vanity presses in disguise. You still pay a big chunk of money for the same types of services (book formatting and cover design, mostly, but they'll break that out into all the small individual parts so it sounds like you're getting more for your money), and your ISBN will still be branded with that publisher's name, you may not get editing services for what you're paying (such as with Writers Digest's Abbott Press), and many of them will still take a portion of your royalties for the length of your contract.

I've heard some people try to equate self-publishing with vanity publishing simply because the author is paying out of pocket for the necessary services. I'd like to give those people a swift kick where it hurts, because it's not the same thing. If you want to self-publish, you are going to pay out of pocket for editing, proofreading, cover art, and so on. But when you truly self-publish, you are your own publisher, and you are not obligated to those service providers once the transaction is complete. A publisher pays their cover designers and editorial staff and others up front, too, without waiting for royalties on the book. The lines may be a bit blurry since you and the publisher are the same person when you self-publish, but that is the same function you are performing when you pay for services. Once those services are complete, you, as the self-publisher, receive all profits from the sale of your books (minus and percentages withheld from distributors or retailers).

So let's recap.

Traditional publishing = Publisher covers all upfront production costs, then takes a percentage of royalties for the length of your contract to cover those costs and make a profit. You may get an advance, and then you earn a percentage of royalties after the amount of that advance. You pay nothing out of pocket.

Self-publishing = You act as your own publisher. You pay one-time fees to contractors for your editing, cover art, and other production costs. You retain all monies paid to you by retailers. You pay contractors once for the same services a traditional publisher pays their employees to perform. After that, you pay nothing out of pocket.

Vanity publishing (and many self-pub service companies) = You pay them for production costs, like book formatting and design. You may or may not receive editing as part of your package, so you pay for editing. Once they have done everything they said they would do for their fee, you continue to pay them a percentage of royalties for the life of your contract.

Vanity publishers are counting on you to be uneducated about the way publishing works, or impatient to wait for traditional publicaiton, or too scared/unwilling/busy to learn how to shop for quality contractors to do the work needed to help you self-publish. Then they present their pretty packages and say, "Here, we'll do it all for you.. for a price." But for the most part, that price is not worth it.

I know that as authors, seeing your name right there on your book, which is for sale at all major retailers is an intoxicating thought. But don't rush. Don't be vain. Don't fall prey to vanity publishing.

J. Lea López is an author who strives to make you laugh at, fall in love with, cry over, and lust after the characters she writes. She also provides freelance copyediting focused on romance and erotica as The Mistress With the Red Pen. She welcomes online stalkers as long as they're witty and/or adulatory. Kidding. Maybe. Check for yourself: Twitter, Facebook, Blog.

The Realities of the Second Book

by R.C. Lewis

I feel like I'm at a weird place in my life right now. Post-debut, pre-release of second book. Is this how parents feel when they have one child and are pregnant with the next? Like, I should know sort of what to expect now, but the experience is somehow different.

And it is different. Not only from book to book, but from author to author.

Setting aside fears of falling victim to Sophomore Slump (because if we don't talk about that, it can't be real, right?), there are a lot of things that can make getting your second published book out the door different from the first.

For some authors, right off the bat it's a matter of getting that second contract because their debut is a one-book deal. Usually the debut publisher gets first look at your next manuscript, but do they accept it? If yes, proceed to the next paragraph about two-book deals. If no, then you're back in submission-land all over again, which is its own kind of wondrous terror.

Say your first publishing contract is for a two (or even three!) book deal. Hooray for a little bit of security! I'm going to assume we're not talking about sequels/series here, because they're a different experience—one I don't yet have any expertise on. But here are some reasons you may find you upgrade your Professional Writer hat a few levels in the process of creating Book Number Two.

Organics-B-Gone
You're already contracted with a publisher, they have their idea of the brand they're going to present you as, and you probably want to keep them happy. This may mean they want your second book to be in a particular vein, probably in some manner similar to your debut. And this can be great! ... Except instead of bolt-from-the-blue inspiration like you had for that first book, you may have to go digging for an idea that fits this mold. That can make it a less organic process than you may be used to. (This happened to me for my next book. Fortunately, by the time I finished the first draft, I was in love with the characters and story! But it took some time to get there.)

Popping the Question ... Over and Over
Often if the second book is unspecified in the original contract, you go through a phase of pitching ideas to your editor until you find something they'd like to see you write. Sometimes this is informal, maybe a handful of one-line pitches and your editor says, "That one sounds cool," or "They all sound great to me—is there one you're particularly excited to write?"

Other times, you may go through writing more formal proposals. This can involve a full (sometimes lengthy!) synopsis and some sample pages/chapters to establish the voice. Sounds like less work than writing a whole manuscript, and it generally is by most measures, but I also know some authors who've been through the mental-wringer trying to write proposals.

And if that proposal is turned down? It's back to work, grinding out a proposal for another idea.

The Revolving Door of Publishing
The longer you're under contract at a particular publisher, the more likely this is to happen to you. Your acquiring editor may not even be the one who's your editor by the time your debut comes out (that happened to me), and then the editor who launched your debut may not be the one who sees your second book through to the end (that also happened to me ... in fact, I was between editors when my debut released).

This is no big deal (says she who chased off two editors before ever her book hit shelves), but the transitions can be a little jarring. Your acquiring editor loved your writing! You know it, because of all the "I love this!" during the "We want to pay you money and publish it" phase. What if New-Editor doesn't love your work? They didn't pick you—they just got assigned.

Really, it's okay. New-Editor may not love your work the same way, but they'll love it in their own way. Their editing style may be different, but we all want to be in this business a nice long time, right? That'll probably involve working with lots of different editors along the way no matter what, so flexibility is key in the skill set.

(If New-Editor really does hate every word you write, though ... That may be time to call Agent-Awesome and get them to intervene.)

And remember that all of the above are likely things that will happen to us at some point in our careers. If not on our second book, then one down the line. If we get there, it means we stayed on track, and that's a good thing!

R.C. Lewis is the math-teaching, ASL-signing author of Stitching Snow and her *second book* Spinning Starlight (Oct. 6, 2015), both from Hyperion. You can find more information at her website, or find her random musings on Twitter.

Learning to Rewrite

by Jemi Fraser

For me learning to rewrite a draft was NOT an easy road.

Stage #1 - Complete Ignorance

• in my first rewrite, I had no idea what I was doing. I went through the draft, fixed all the typos, tweaked some sentences, and was daring enough to eliminate a couple of paragraphs here and there
• then I met some amazing folks over at Agent Query Connect and learned that a rewrite should be a slightly more intense process

Stage #2 - Gaining Confidence

• the next step in my journey was realizing that everything I'd written in my first drafts didn't have to be included in the final draft. I could take out entire scenes. I could move entire scenes. Change pov.
• these realizations actually shocked me, and took me a while to wrap my head around 
• at this point, I carefully saved each new 'draft' with a date indicating the changes

Stage #3 - Gaining Crit Buddies

• this changed my world and burst my naive little bubble. And I will be forever grateful.
• I learned that a rewrite involved more than the tweaking I'd been doing.
• reaching deep down into the story was pretty tough. I was faced with some big realizations. Probably the biggest one was that external conflict isn't enough. There needed to be internal conflict too. For both my MCs (I write romance).
• this involved re-reading and re-writing scene by scene, making changes, keeping track of changes, making notes, deleting favourite scenes & lines, adding conflict (lots and lots of adding conflict)
• I no longer saved drafts, only the main one, with a folder (I'd discovered Scrivener at this point) with the very few scenes I though I might want to reuse or rescue somehow

Stage #4 - A Real Rewrite

• I tried my Stage 3 version of rewriting for several of my novels, and found it very discouraging. Several stories I know have tons of potential were languishing. I also discovered Stage 3 is HARD. Very hard. For me, a million times more difficult than writing a first draft.
• brainwave!
• I decided to dump all my chapters and scenes into a new Scrivener folder titled Draft 1
• because I love (LOVE!!) writing first drafts, I decided to treat Draft 2 like a Draft 1
• I rewrote the draft from scratch. At first I found it tough to not peek at the first draft, but it definitely got easier. The changes I needed to make were core changes and because of that, the story changed dramatically, while keeping the same basic plot elements, and I already knew those plot elements, so I didn't peek.

Stage #5 - Unknown

• as I'm evolving as a writer, I know my style will change too
• I've got 5 or 6 stories begging for rewrites (I was stuck fast in Stages 2 & 3 for far too long) and at this point I'm nearly salivating wanting to do a Stage 4 rewrite for each of them
• I wonder if I'll have discovered Stage 5 by the time I get to them all?

Learning to write well (and to rewrite well) is a personal journey. My journey will probably look nothing like yours, but I hope by sharing mine, you might find some ideas to help you move along to the next step. Or suggestions as to what Stage 5 might look like for me!

Do you rewrite? Do your rewrites look anything like mine?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs  and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

How to Make Your Novel Sellable - Step 1

by +Denise Drespling





Last week, I gave you the 7 steps to edit your novel and make it a sellable quality.

This is a subject that is so near and dear to my heart that I'm not through discussing it yet. And it's one that is vitally, critically, MAJORLY important. Mainly because editing is too often rushed through or skipped over entirely.

Not editing is, to me, like going through the difficult (and dangerous) work of jackhammering the rock from the mine, but not bothering to have it cut into a diamond and polished. What do you have? A hump of ugly rock that no one wants to look at. But chip away the rough parts, sparkle it up, and suddenly, you've got something highly valuable that's worth admiring. Get out your chisel, it's time to polish your gem!

Here is a review of the 7 steps:

1. Initial Read Through
2. Seek and Destroy Problem Words
3. In-depth Word Analysis
4. Read it Out
5. Get Some Feedback
6. Let it Rest
7. Repeat!

And now for a deeper look!

Step #1: Initial Read Through
Once I feel the novel is complete, the first thing I do (after my little happy dance) is an initial read through of the whole thing. I don’t edit much while writing because it messes me up and distracts me. Even if you do edit while writing (or write longhand, then type it up), this should still be step one, it’ll probably just be a cleaner step one.

What I’m mainly looking for is plot issues. Big things like unanswered questions, timeline consistencies, holes, and dull parts. I try to do the reading quickly, as much at a time as I can so that I can get as clear a picture of the work as a whole as possible. I don’t pay too much attention to the words themselves at this point, though I’ll fix a typo or clean up an awkward sentence if I think it needs it. This is where I’ll also add description or scenes that seem to be missing.

It’s important that this is step one because if you don’t fix the big stuff first, it’ll be harder later. You may have to do this step twice (or more). If you’re not sure about how the plot is holding together or you added or removed a lot, keep doing this step until you know it’s working.

Before I begin, I make a style guide (which is probably better done at the start of the novel writing, but I never remember to do it). The style guide helps me keep spellings and usages consistent. Things like character names, names of places, or unusual spellings. I also have a section for little details like “Owen has off Wednesdays and Sundays.” That way when I get to a Wednesday in my story, I can make sure Owen’s home and not skipping off to work.

I also make a list of things that are “out there.” By this, I mean dangling questions or bits of information that create a loose end, even a tiny one. It’s the “plant” part of plant vs. payoff. I make notes of the questions or information, then delete them once I get to the part where it’s covered.

What tends to happen while writing is that you have a scene, and a character does something or says something that creates a little, “hmm, why’d that happen?” in the reader’s mind. But if it’s not a major part of the plot, you might forget. For example, I had my character, Nora, ask Reece if he snored. This was an important question, but not critical to the plot. At the time, he answered her, but when he asked why she’d asked, she changed the subject. Reece won’t let that go. It’s going to nag at him because it’s a strange question, or was, in the context of their conversation. Problem was, I forgot all about it by the next time they had a conversation. I caught it because I wrote down “Nora asks Reece if he snores” on my style guide and realized, after they’d had many conversations, that this should have come up again, but didn’t. So I added it.

These are the loose ends that can be frustrating for your reader if they go unanswered. I’m sure you’ve read a book like that. This just happened to me recently reading The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer. I liked the book a lot, but toward the end, she mentions something that will happen soon (don't worry--no spoilers). By the end of the book, the thing has happened, but she doesn’t share the outcome. Now, I’m left wondering, well, what happened there? She brought it up, she created the question in my mind, and she didn’t answer it. It’s one thing if you’re Joyce Carol Oates going for a “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” ending. Or even Rainbow Rowell doing an Eleanor & Park ending, where there is some ambiguity left for the reader to decide what happens. This wasn’t that. This was a minor detail that could have been skipped over all together. But she choose to bring it up. Then she forgot about it. Not cool. Don’t do this.

Part of the reason to read it fast and all at once is to help you see the character's voice. You don't want dialogue or actions that don't fit. Maybe your character started out a little differently, then changed as you wrote. You may have to fix up the beginning a bit to keep it consistent (but also remember your character should grow and change throughout the story). Keep an eye out for pov and tense shifts, too. These become more obvious when you read a lot at one time.

This step is a good place to do major changes. Play with character flaws or strengths, do timeline adjustments, add scenes or delete, etc. Hopefully you have a picture of the flow of the thing and which parts need to be sped up or slowed down, expanded or streamlined.

Make sure you've done this step thoroughly enough to know that the plot, timeline, etc. is starting to work before you move on to step 2: Seek and Destroy Problem Words.


Denise Drespling is the author of short story, “Reflections,” in the Tales of Mystery, Suspense & Terror anthology (October 2014) and “10 Items or Less,” in 10: Carlow’s MFA Anniversary Anthology (April 2014). You can also find her work in these anthologies: The Dragon's Rocketship Presents: The Scribe's Journal and Winter Wishes.

Hang out with Denise at her blog, The Land of What Ifs, her BookTube channel on YouTube, or on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, or Instagram.

Dontcha Know and Other Vernacular Issues for Writers

by Cat Woods

Minnesota Speaker 1 according to the world: So, yeah, dad and me, we went down ta da park de udder day fer a bite ta eat. It was a fer piece, dontcha know.

Minnesota Speaker 2's illogical response that the rest of the world believes happens in every conversation: Ooofdah, dat is a fer piece.

Now, I get that I'm not "from Minnesota" in the traditional sense. I was made in Japan, born in Seattle and attended seven different schools on the west coast before settling into the great Midwest in the fourth grade. I've been a minority. I was in Washington when Mount Saint Helens blew and didn't realize that seeing the ocean was a big deal because I swam in it every weekend.

And maybe my varied childhood makes it hard for me to swallow the Fargo-esque vernacular that everyone else in the world believes is how all Minne-sooooo-tans speak. Or maybe it's so unpalatable due to the overuse of this vernacular in every portrayal of the Midwest. Either way, I despise this hacked-up version of our language as much as Southerners probably hate seeing "howdy" in every fictitious conversation involving them.

• Truth #1: Every living, breathing person in Minnesota does not say "ooofdah". After residing here for nearly 30 years, I still don't have a feckin' clue what that word means. It only serves to conjure up visions of stodgy, old grandmas in their housecoats and hair rollers leaning to the side of a stained and lumpy couch and letting one rip before uttering the word that is equally grotesque.
• Truth #2: Yes, Minnesota speakers are lazy language users. We "ta" and "fer" all day long. As a speech coach it drives me absolutely batty, and we actually practice correct enunciation during warm ups before competition. "To. To. For. For." I think this should be recited along with the Pledge of Allegiance in elementary schools each morning--and I'm only half joking. 
• Truth #3: Vernacular is a cool way to show character, place or time in writing. But, it can also kill a piece.

Grammar Girl has two fabulous articles on her blog discussing the hows and whens of writing slang and writing dialect, both of which make up the everyday language of certain populations at any given time. Her recommendation is to use such things sparingly and mostly in dialogue.

For instance, "Groovy" quickly places someone (beach bums or druggies?) in the 1970s--although I've only ever heard one Minnesota, college-educated man use this word, and that was in the late 2000s. Use of this word in a current novel could be used to effectively date the story, or to show an intriguing aspect of someone's character--aka the attorney from above.

A delightfully, unexpected example of how to use vernacular showed up in my inbox this morning from Chick Lit Goddess, Isabella Louise Anderson. Her blog post delivers an excerpt from a novel, Dear Carolina, that highlights two very different character voices. From this short plug for a beautiful sounding story, we catch a glimpse of how writers can effectively show social status, education and experience through simple language usage.

But what should writers do about words or phrases or even geographic differences that are nearly impossible to use without confusing a handful of readers or overburdening the majority of our audience with boring explanations?

Conversation 1

• I once used the word sneakers to describe my MC's shoes. A critique partner from a few states away asked, "What's a sneaker?"
• "Tennies."
• "A tennis shoe."
• "But your MC isn't playing tennis. They are called athletic shoes."
• * yeah right. Jimmy slipped on his ATHLETIC SHOES, tied them and headed outside to play. not*

Conversation 2

• "Come over tonight for some taverns."
• "So, we're going to the bar for dinner after meeting at your house?"
• "I think she means sloppy joes."
• "Aren't they called BBQs?"
• "Nah, they're just shredded beef sandwiches, dontcha know."
• "I'll bring the pop."
• "I like Coke."
• "I don't do drugs, but I'd love a soda."
• *i'm ready for coke after this conversation*

Conversation 3

• He climbed in his pickup and headed down the street.
• Collaborator 1: Only farmers drive trucks. A teenager would never drive a truck. Especially to school.
• Collaborator 2: This story takes place in the Midwest. Everyone drives trucks here. Even business professionals drive trucks.
• Collaborator 1: Not here. This would confuse readers. It has to be a car. Either that or you have to tell readers that in other parts of the US, kids who aren't farmers actually drive trucks.
• Even though he wasn't a farmer, he'd always loved driving trucks, as did many of his friends in the Midwest even though kids on the west coast would call him a freak for doing so because nobody in California ever drove trucks unless they were farmers. You see, sometimes things are different in different parts of the country and that's okay even if it feels unusual to some people. Now...where was I? Oh yeah, He climbed into his pickup, cracked a soda and swore never to collaborate on another project again.

Conversation 4

• Your MC cannot be in Carter Elementary. Elementary = kindergarten-4th grade.
• No, it's always k-6.
• Well, ours is k-5, with junior high grades 6-9.
• We don't have junior high. Middle school is 5-8 and high school is 9-12.
• *le sigh*

Based on life experiences and the language in which people use from infancy on, getting simple ideas across can be cumbersome and frustrating for writers. But it shouldn't be. Maybe it's naïve of me to think that readers carry a certain responsibility in using context clues to infer the definition of words they are unfamiliar with. After all, it is a skill we teach kids in school (the elementary, middle, junior and high versions) to help build their vocabularies. In my opinion, writers cannot carry the full burden of describing in detail every little language nuance that might possibly trip up readers from different areas or generations. Yes, we need to write clearly and succinctly. However, we do not need to act as a dictionary.

 

To recap: Writing in heavy dialect risks annoying readers. Novels riddled with "all y'all", "oofdah" and "hey" get old fast. A smattering of well-placed words like "groovy" can lend character to certain characters. As a side note, though, it is very easy to use vernacular, dialect and slang to stereotype characters or date a piece, and this is bad. Very bad. All this said, it is impossible to use completely common words that will alleviate any confusion for every reader because the world is a big place and language is as vast and as varied as the individuals who use it. 

 

So, dear writers, at what point do you strap on your sneakers and run with your word choice? How do you know when your novel's vernacular is too much? When is it not enough? How much description do you use to define potential troublesome words or phrases? How does this vary by age group or genre?

 

Curious minds want to know.

 

Cat Woods has never used the phrase "dontcha know" and ridicules with impunity those who do. She also wonders why the rest of the world quotes the movie Fargo (North Dakota) when making fun of Minnesota dialect. Some day she might write this into a novel, but for now, she's content with blogging at Words from the Woods and supporting the middle grade anthology she was contributing editor for. Tales from the Bully Box is part of a bully prevention campaign that is near and dear to her heart and has its own website at The Bully Box.

The Free Advantage

By Matt Sinclair

Our latest free days are done, but I’m still sifting through the data of the experience. Last week, my company Elephant’s Bookshelf Press ran some ads to promote Billy Bobble Makes a Magic Wand by fellow FTWAer R.S. Mellette. Friday was National Physics Day, so we decided to try to become a particle on that wave and ride it ohm. My painful puns aside, I was pleased with the results.

Billy Bobble is in KDP Select, which means the electronic version of the book is currently distributed exclusively through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. For every ninety days of exclusivity on what is clearly the biggest online bookselling space, we have up to five days during which we can “sell” the book for free. While we could just use those days and see what happens, it makes a lot of sense to promote the fact that it’s available for free. After all, the point is to get the book in front of as many people as possible.

I won’t specify which vehicle we used the first time we tried this for Billy Bobble, as the results were less than lackluster. Let’s just say, we had much higher expectations than the double-digit returns we got, especially when the advertising vehicle said its emails were sent to more than a hundred thousand addresses.

So, with Physics Day on the horizon, I decided to conduct an experiment. We’d run three consecutive free days. On the first, I chose to run an ad through a popular site geared toward voracious readers. The second day, we advertised through an even more popular site that had worked well for us in the past (when Battery Brothers became the most widely downloaded free YA book on Amazon for a day… ah, memories…)

Without giving away too much information, I’ll say this: if BookBub is as effective as it is popular and exclusive, then those authors whose books are accepted for it (which we weren’t) must be very pleased. While the results for Billy Bobble were not quite as strong as those for Battery Brothers, we easily topped a thousand downloads for the three days. I think I was running a slight risk in highlighting the physics aspect of the novel, but it’s true to the work. Although some folks seem to be frightened by what might sound intimidating, we keep receiving very positive reviews along the lines of “not just for kids,” and “a fun family read.”

I’m asked sometimes why we would give the book away for free; why not simply discount. There are several reasons. For one, it’s a good way to get the book in front of a lot of ebook readers – particularly those who are savvy (or cheap) enough to subscribe to the popular “free download” newsletters. That said, I’m well aware that many of those downloaded books will never be read. I can’t tell you how many free titles are currently languishing on my Kindle while I spend my time reading books for work and for EBP. But one of the most valuable reasons is that we’re more likely to get reviews after a free day.

I always hope to get at least one review for every ten downloads. On Amazon, the number of reviews helps get the book into their email promotions, which don’t cost EBP anything. Plus, if those readers enjoyed Billy Bobble Makes a Magic Wand, then we hope they’ll be excited for Billy Bobble and the Witch Hunt, which I’m editing now. Ultimately, it’s all about providing readers an enjoyable experience and getting them to come back for more.

How have you promoted your free days? Care to share?

Matt Sinclair, a New York City-based journalist and fiction writer, is also president and chief elephant officer of Elephant's Bookshelf Press, which recently published Billy Bobble Makes a Magic Wand by R.S. Mellette and Tales from the Bully Box, a collection of anti-bullying stories edited by Cat Woods. EBP is currently looking for horror stories for an anthology that will be published in the fall. Matt also blogs at the Elephant's Bookshelf and is on Twitter @elephantguy68.

Everyone’s a Critic, but Few People Make Good Critique Partners

by Sophie Perinot

You can’t pick your relatives but you CAN pick your critique partners.  And a wise choice will make you a better writer.

The tools in each writer’s kit vary—sometimes wildly (if you don’t believe me, put a pantster and a plotter in the same room).  But whether you write long hand or go straight to your keyboard, whether you do a quick-and-dirty first draft or agonize over every word, there is one tool essential to turning out a novel worth reading and that’s a good critique partner.

Given that critique partners are so essential to authorial success, it is perhaps not surprising that newbie writers snap up the first living breathing body available to them.  That is a mistake, a big mistake.

The selection of a critique partner should NOT be driven by desperation or sheer gratitude.  I mean imagine if people got married that way—if they were just glad to be asked by someone, anyone?  Shudder.  Yet I've seen people acquire critique partners in that manner, and then try to “make it work” when a divorce would be a mercy.

So how do you interview someone for what is basically an unpaid and sometimes thankless job without seeming rude? And how do you and make a reasoned selection?

Let’s start with the most basic qualification: the person under consideration needs to be a writer.  Save your grandma/best friend for the role of beta reader.  Yes, I am sure she reads hundreds of books a year and will offer an honest, unvarnished opinion of your wip (actually I am not sure, but that’s beside the point).  BUT she is not a writer.  Would you hire the bag-boy at your grocery store for legal advice?  When it comes to critiquing your writing you want someone who can write and write well, which leads me to point two . . .

When you meet a fellow writer (at a conference, in a virtual community, through a “critique partner’s wanted” posting) and you start thinking “maybe this one is the one,” be smart—start by offering help before requesting it.  Offer to critique something for the candidate: his first three chapters, her query letter.  Get a sense of whether he/she is not just a writer but a GOOD writer.  Personally, I looked for critique partners who write better than I do.  No matter how nice your critique-partner prospect is, if you don’t respect their work you need to finish critiquing the portion of manuscript you've been given, smile nicely, say how much you've enjoyed it and then walk away.

Assuming your possible partner survives this first hurdle, you will want to refrain from doing a little victory dance until you find out if this person—let’s call him tall-dark-and-talented—can edit.  Or more specifically, can edit in a way that is useful to you in shaping your manuscript.  A surprisingly large number of awesome writers cannot critique the work of others.  Why?  Three problems are common:

• Some people are just too nice.  They might be willing to circle a comma fault, but they aren't willing to go much further.  They desperately want to tell you your book is great (primarily because they desperately want someone to tell them their book is great).  This is useless to you.  If you want to hear your book is great you can go back to grandma.  I am willing to concede for a moment that your first draft IS great, but you want to make it better, right?  That’s why you are seeking a critique partner. So you need someone who is willing to say the tough stuff: your protagonist lacks dimension, your back-story isn't working, the manuscript could start two chapters later without losing anything.  In other words, someone who can see big-picture developmental issues, not just catch misspellings.

• Some writers can only see your work through the lens of their own style.  I call these the “my way or the highway” crew. Such a partner is more than willing to mark-up your manuscript, and every edit they suggest will make your writing more like theirs.  But you don’t want to be them, you want to be a better authentic YOU.  A good critique partner gets your style and holds you to it.  They will identify an awkward sentence without rewriting it in their signature style.  So when you get your first chapter back from tall-dark-and make sure his comments are not just an attempt to turn you into his clone.

• Sometimes there is a basic incompatibility of vision.  This is the would-be-partner whose comments just don’t resonate.  Every partner, even the best, is going to make suggestions that have you thinking “huh?”  These are changes you will ultimately leave on the table—after all it is your book and you can be selective.  But if a majority of tall-dark-and’s comments simply don’t add up for you, than however many his other attractive features, there is no chemistry and he is not your match.

When you find someone who can both write and edit you celebrate!  And you also commit.  I mean if you like it then you better put a ring on it—metaphorically. Be ready to become your new critique partner’s ally, giving your time (sacrificing the occasional a weekend when she has a deadline) and best efforts to review her work.  Like most things in life, you will get out of the critiquing relationship what you put into it.  It is not a coincidence that so many critique partners climb the ladder of writing success together.  They are boosting each other up the whole way.

Sophie P’s has two critique partners of her very own--one of whom has played that role for eight years (yes, the woman is a saint).  Sophie's next novel, Médicis Daughter--set at the intrigue-riven, 16^th century French Valois court--will be out in December of 2015.  But you can ABSOLUTELY pre-order it now.  To find out about Sophie's previous literary endeavors, visit her website, or her FB page.  You can also  follow her on Twitter as @Lit_gal 

Stay In The Moment

I had a long eventful weekend so this will be short and, hopefully, sweet.

I spent Saturday and Sunday managing the Society ofChildren's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) booth at the Los Angeles TimesFestival of Books. It went very well, and I'll blog more about that after I recover from the exhaustion.

On Sunday, I had to slip away from the festival to attend a memorial for a friend from my theatre days. It was a beautiful service that got me thinking and feeling. My friend was not only a successful actor, but also a fantastic person. He had two great kids who he and his wife raised to perfection. He took life as it came, with a pragmatic approach to solving life's problems.

Why do I bring this up here? As a reminder.

We artist of all disciplines sometimes get lost in our work. We can lose sight of what is important. In trying to hold up a mirror to life, we sometimes forget that we must also live. Our books, our paintings, our performances become important to others, but our lives are what are important to us.

Or, they should be.

Live well. Stay in the moment. 

Crowd Funding & Self-Publishing: Tips From A Newbie

by Mindy McGinnis

I've never jumped into the self-publishing waters before, mostly because I feel like standing out in the crowd would be the biggest challenge. As a traditionally published author with HarperCollins I still feel that way, quite often. Even with everything my publisher does for me (and they do a lot) I'm a long way from being a household name. Pile on top of their efforts what I do myself in terms of promotion - Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Blogging - yet in many ways I'm still just another voice in a very crowded room.

That's always been my reasoning behind not following the self-pub path... until recently.

A few months ago two good friends of mine, Demitria Lunetta and Kate Karyus Quinn - both fellow YA Harper authors - approached me about participating in an idea they had for a self-pub anthology that would feature short stories from thirteen authors (us and ten others yet-to-be-determined). I figured that this would be a good opportunity for me to learn about the process, and also ride along as we all learned how to run a Kickstarter.

After a couple of lengthy email chains we came up with a title AMONG THE SHADOWS: 13 STORIES OF DARKNESS & LIGHT.

I signed on, and between the three of us we quickly amassed our thirteen authors. You can see by our back cover that we've been lucky. Some big names in YA are contributing to this project, and yes that definitely had a huge impact on our success so far. But I can still speak to the process of self-pubbing and crowd funding as a wide-eyed, carefully-stepping, newbie who wants to be sure there aren't any landmines in the field she's about to cross.

One of the first things we did was pool non-monetary resources. What could we do ourselves? What friends or family members had skills we could utilize?

When it comes to publishing of any sort, cover is always key. With our theme of darkness and light, we knew we could get a great visual out of that. After some stock photography purchases and a lot of favors called in from Demitria's talented brother, we ended up with a pretty kickass cover.

We were thrilled. With just the funding for the stock photography involved and the design talent of Demitria's brother we had a great cover. Be aware this wasn't an overnight job. We went through a few different concepts and quite a bit of tweaking once we'd settled on one.

Tip: If you're calling in favors from friends or family, make sure you're comfortable giving your opinion, and they're happy to rework. A bad cover will sink you. Be ready to give feedback if you don't like what they produce, and be up front with them about what you want from the beginning.

So we had the outside of a book! Great! But the inside of a book has to be designed as well, something a lot of people don't think about. Again, we were lucky to have an author on board who has formatted interiors in both physical and e-formats, and she graciously volunteered her talents. (Thank you RC Lewis, you are a good, kind, talented person).

Tip: When asking for in-depth work of this type from a friend or contributor, make sure that you have deadlines in place that you can give them far in advance. Formatting is time-consuming. Don't drop it in their lap and ask for it by the weekend.

What else can get costly in self-publishing? Editing.

Editing is a different animal from writing. Not all writers can self-edit and many editors will tell you they can't write worth a lick. A very different skill set is involved, but hiring a freelance editor can get expensive. The three of us asked ourselves if we honestly thought we could do it, and decided that yes, we could. With each of us having gone through the process of being professionally edited for our published books (six between us all), we decided to take what we've learned from that experience.

Tip: If you're going to edit yourself, or edit for a friend, you must both be comfortable giving and taking criticism. Compliments are wonderful, but they don't improve the story.

Finally, the big concern that has always held me back from self-publishing: visibility.

Even with a great line up of authors with built-in fan bases, our anthology would need advertising dollars in order to get exposure. There are a lot of great ways to get your book in front of readers. Advertising on Goodreads gets clicks, and many people have had success with Bookbub, an e-book email blast with tons of subscribers. But advertising comes at a price - and not a cheap one.

Crowdfunding can be a fantastic way to gain support and dollars for your project, but there are a lot of pitfalls along the way. We put together a list of feasible incentives that we knew we could deliver on time, and set our goal at a reasonable amount.

Tip: Be aware that running a Kickstarter is a project in and of itself. Make sure you have the time to invest in putting together a good pitch, design a nice page, and be able to post updates on your progress.

Tip: Be inventive with your incentives, but don't promise anything you can't deliver. Post clear dates on when the incentives will be made available.

Tip: Be honest with yourself about how much money you actually need. Setting a high goal can be off-setting to possible contributors. Remember you can always go over your set goal, but coming in under means (in some crowdfunding platforms) you don't receive any of the pledge money.

I'm very happy to share that our Kickstarter for AMONG THE SHADOWS was fully funded within 48 hours. Yes, it's definitely true that having known authors on the list gave us a boost, but we also followed the steps above and used common sense to help us out. Even with a great lineup of authors, a bad cover or a high donation ask would have been a turn off.

So far my first experience in self-pubbing has been great... but, what about the final question? Sales.

I'll let you know when AMONG THE SHADOWS comes out September 14th!
____________________________________________________________

Mindy McGinnis is a YA author who has worked in a high school library for thirteen years. Her debut, NOT A DROP TO DRINK, a post-apocalyptic survival story set in a world with very little freshwater, has been optioned for film by Stephenie Meyer's Fickle Fish Films. The companion novel, IN A HANDFUL OF DUST was released in 2014. Look for her Gothic historical thriller, A MADNESS SO DISCREET in October of 2015 from Katherine Tegen Books. 

Meaningful Connections: The Semicolon

by J. Lea López

I think semicolons get a bad rap. I've been asked on more than one occasion about the proper use of semicolons. I've also heard other people respond to such questions with snarky replies like, "I just don't use them at all. Solves that problem!" If you're someone who struggles with semicolons, hopefully today I can clear up some of your confusion. The following example sentences are taken from my current work in progress.

Semicolons and Lists

I'll get this one out of the way because it's the usage I am least often asked about, and it's probably not one that will come up as often in fiction as the main usage we'll be discussing. When you're listing something in a sentence and the individual list items contain commas, you can use semicolons to separate the items in the list so that you don't end up with a sentence that looks like William Shatner dropped all his extra commas in it. For example, if I'm naming places I've lived, I might tell someone, "I've lived in Towson, York, Pittsburgh, and Manchester." No need for a semicolon anywhere in there. But if I want to include the states along with the cities, that automatically adds four commas between each city and state. In that case, I'll separate each list item with a semicolon, and it'll look like this:

I've lived in Towson, Maryland; York, Pennsylvania; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Manchester, New Hampshire.

If I just list them as Towson, Maryland, York, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh... etc. it becomes unclear whether I'm saying that I've lived in Towson, and I've lived in Maryland, and I've lived in York, and I've lived in Pennsylvania, and so on.

Independent Clauses, Comma Splices, and Conjunctions

The most basic explanation you've probably heard is that you use a semicolon to join two independent clauses. An independent clause can stand on its own as a complete sentence.

Independent clause: Tears well up behind my eyelids.
Independent clause: I squeeze them tighter so I won't cry.
Correct semicolon use: Tears well up behind my eyelids; I squeeze them tighter so I won't cry.

It sounds easy enough, but I know that many people still falter when it comes to using semicolons. Have you had a critique partner or editor call you out on comma splices? Those occur when you use a comma alone to join two independent clauses, and they are incorrect. You don't want to end up with comma splices any more than you want to incorrectly use a semicolon.

Comma splice error: Tears well up behind my eyelids, I squeeze them tighter so I won't cry.

Another way to join two independent clauses is with a comma and a conjunction. However, you don't use conjunctions when you join clauses with a semicolon. (You can use a semicolon and conjunction with lists as shown above.)

Comma and conjunction (correct): Tears well up behind my eyelids, and I squeeze them tighter so I won't cry.
Semicolon and conjunction (incorrect): Tears well up behind my eyelids; and I squeeze them tighter so I won't cry.

A semicolon can replace a period between sentences, and it can also replace the comma and conjunction between independent clauses. It can replace those, but should it? This is where I think a lot of people falter in their use of semicolons.

Meaningful Connections

A semicolon isn't something you just go tossing into your manuscript between sentences for the sake of variation. There's more to it than that. A semicolon joins two clauses that are closely related; your intended meaning is a vital part of this punctuation choice. This is where the thrill and joy of writing, of crafting worlds and lives and stories practically from thin air, should push aside any disdain you may have for the banality of grammar rules. Personally, I think grammar is pretty rad, but I know most of the people asking me about how to use semicolons don't necessarily share my enthusiasm. It's not a matter of The "rules" say I "can't" use a comma here, because "rules" or whatever. (And I totally hear you using those scare quotes in your mind when you complain about grammar like it's some old curmudgeon yelling at you to get off his lawn. Don't deny it.) A semicolon is an option that allows you, the author, to better convey the meaning of and relationship between the words you've so carefully chosen. The relationship between clauses feels very different when separated with different punctuation. Let's take a look at another example.

Separate sentences: I can still smell him in our bed. I didn’t mind it for the first few days, but tonight it’s unbearable.

Comma and conjunction: I can still smell him in our bed, and I didn’t mind it for the first few days, but tonight it’s unbearable.


Semicolon: I can still smell him in our bed; I didn’t mind it for the first few days, but tonight it’s unbearable.

Using two separate sentences in this example would be perfectly acceptable. Each thought stands on  its own grammatically, and there's nothing wrong there. Joining them with a comma and conjunction results in a long, awkward sentence. It doesn't really work because it tries to force a closer relationship between the two sentences than there actually is. There isn't a strong enough correlation to warrant joining the sentences that way. (Compare that to the example in the previous section, where there was a strong enough relationship that using a comma and conjunction would've been a decent choice.)

But the semicolon! Be still, my grammar-loving heart! Because the two sentences are closely linked, a semicolon is a great way to express that connection. As the author, it's your prerogative to choose the punctuation based on what you want your words to convey. For me, in this instance, using a period and creating two separate sentences felt a bit too detached. This comes from a female narrator whose fiance has very recently died. There is emotion and meaning in that small space between sentences, and using a semicolon to bring them together subtly highlights that relationship.

Have I helped you clear up any questions you had about semicolon usage? If not, feel free to ask a question in the comments.

J. Lea López is an author who strives to make you laugh at, fall in love with, cry over, and lust after the characters she writes. She welcomes online stalkers as long as they're witty and/or adulatory. Kidding. Maybe. Check for yourself: Twitter, Facebook, Blog. She will also take her red pen to your words if you ask nicely enough.