The Fabulist Flash

Issue 74

Mexican Crafts

In This Issue:

1. This Week
2. Selling Your Greeting Card Verses Q&A
3. It Was Good Enough For Shakespeare!
4. People Like to Read about People
5. About The Fabulist Flash

1. This Week

One of the main reasons I love to travel is the experience and stimulus of visiting different places. Mexico is filled with sights, sounds, tastes and smells that were new to me.

It was a conscious choice not to take a computer on the Mexico trip. I wanted a week off from all the usual experiences: no email, no work, and no planned commitments. Within a short time, I found I missed my virtually constant, electronic companion and turned to old-fashioned pen and paper. The people I met and the places I visited will be turning up in my writing for some time to come.

You can check out a few of my views of Mexico on the recent additions to my Art Cards and Gifts.

In the "It's a Small World" category, I ran into a theater director I worked with, gulp, 20 years ago. I've always found it interesting that people in my life turn up again in the strangest places, connecting my past and present in wonderful moments.

There are three informational articles this week. Suzan L. Wiener provides a Q&A on Selling Your Greeting Card Verses; Steven Barnes explains that selling our writing Was Good Enough For Shakespeare, while Marg McAlister provides ideas on Using Anecdotes - Remember, People Like to Read about People.

Until next week,

Gregory
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Gregory A. Kompes (www.kompes.com) is a writer, photographer, professional speaker and author of the bestseller 50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places to Live and The Endorsement Quest.

2. Selling Your Greeting Card Verses Q&A

Selling Your Greeting Card Verses Q&A
Suzan L. Wiener

Do you wonder how some authors manage to sell their greeting card verses, while others miss the mark completely, or only get an acceptance on a rare occasion? I have sold a number of greetings, and I'll share some of my secrets so your path to publication will be a smoother one. These questions were the ones I asked when I first started writing greeting card verses and fortunately, found seasoned writers who would answer those questions for me.

Q. Where do you find companies to sell your greetings to?

A. I look in the Writer’s Market or online at www.google.comI type in paying greeting card markets, then click their search button. You will find a slew of them. You can also type online www.thestarlitecafe.com, click to the link, then scroll down to the bottom of it, and click on “The Publisher’s Pen.” There you will find a lot of publishers of greeting card companies also.

Q. How do I know what type of greetings to send to each company?

A. Always send for the company’s guidelines. Follow them to the letter. If you don’t, your ideas may be disqualified just because of that reason.

Q. If I only write rhyming verses, should I try to write unrhymed verses or one-liners?

A. Definitely. Why limit yourself to what you are writing? Who knows, you may have a flair for unrhymed verse. If you don’t give it a try, you will never know. You could be losing out on sales. I find it is much for fun to write different types of greetings, rather than limiting myself to one form.

Q. When should I give up on a company if I keep getting rejections?

A. Only you can decide that. My feeling is, if submissions have been rejected for a year, it’s time to rethink what you are sending the company .Something, obviously, isn’t meshing. Either you can send out your verses to another company, or rework them, and try again. I always find it is best to send my ideas to another company, wait a few months, and then you can send other ideas to the first company.

An editor can move onto another greeting card outfit, and their new editor can love your work. This has happened to me.

Q. What if I’m not an artist? Can I still get my verses published alone?

A. Yes, in fact, publishers prefer you send it without artwork, unless you are a professional artist. Then, it is alright. They have in-house artists to do the illustrations. You can, of course, suggest a visual for it, directly on the card you are sending. They even appreciate stick figures, if you cannot draw, just to give them an idea what you are trying to convey.

Q. What rights do greeting card companies ask for?

A. Each company is different. Some will ask for all rights, others will ask for first time rights, etc. Also some will send you a contract and others just an acceptance letter. All rights isn’t the best way to go, but if you want to write for that particular company, you will have to relinquish them, unfortunately. That means you cannot resell your card ideas at all. When that is their policy, they don’t normally negotiate different terms.

Q. Do greeting card companies send you samples of your cards?

A. Usually they do. It’s a great feeling to see the greeting that you wrote on the card itself. For instance, I know first hand Kate Harper Designs sends six copies of the cards, plus a list of where you can purchase extra cards in your area. It is quite a thrill to see these cards with your verses on them. My accepted verse from Kate Harper Designs even had my name on the front of the verse.

Q. Is there any way to guarantee that a card idea you wrote will sell?

A. The answer, in a nutshell, is no. But, if you keep practicing your verse writing, gear them to what they prefer, make them a me-to-you message, which greeting card enthusiasts refer to as "sendable," you will have a much higher rate of sales.

Q. How much can I get paid for writing greeting cards?

A. Greeting card payments vary from company to company. For instance, Andrews McMeel Publishing pays $200 per acceptance. Oatmeal Studios pays $75, Blue Mountain Arts pays $300 for longer paying unrhymed verses, Peaceable Kingdom Press pays $50, etc. These rates can change and it's best to check each publisher‘s writer‘s guidelines. The ones listed are just a few that take freelancer's greeting verses.

If you follow the above answers, you should get a better acceptance rate. I know I have.

About the Author
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Suzan L. Wiener has had numerous articles on writing published in publications such as Canadian Writer's Journal, MetroSeven (Australia), Verses, The Writer's Ezine, etc. She has also had numerous poems, stories, and shorter pieces published in major publications. Her unrhymed, love poetry e-book is up at Lionsong Publication http://lspbookstore.netfirms.com/fiction/poetry.htm and Reading Destiny http://www.readingdestiny.internetbasedfamily.com

3. It Was Good Enough For Shakespeare!

It Was Good Enough For Shakespeare!
by Steven Barnes

One of the core conflicts for creative artists of all kinds is the tug-of-war between art and commerce. Frankly, an artist needs to make money, and it is preferable to make it from his craft.

A writer who must work a full-time job to support himself will struggle to find the time to work, and often eventually gives it up altogether. On the other hand, being able to write on any project at all can polish valuable skills, and teach one the rules of the publishing industry.

On the other hand, I’ve met writers who were clearly working on projects, or toiling away at a career, that was burning out their souls. I remember meeting one such writer. His business card read “freelance hack and literary mechanic.” Sadly, but not entirely unexpectedly, he was dead of alcoholism within a year.

How to avoid such burnout? Well, in my own career, in addition writing the books I cared about the most, I’ve written Batman comic books, a Star Trek novel, and a Star Wars tie-in. In my television career, in addition to writing for “Outer Limits” and “The Twilight Zone,” I also wrote four episodes of “Baywatch”(!)

And never for a moment did I feel that I was selling myself out. Let’s get something straight: Shakespeare wrote for money. One can keep a careful eye on the bank account, and still reach the heights of craft. But again, how?

In my own case, the answer is fairly simple. Envision the thought process like this: I draw two circles. In the first, is everything I would like to write (and there are always dozens of projects in the mental hopper!). In the second is everything someone else is willing to pay me for. Where the two circles overlap, I write. In other words, are there projects I’d love to write, but can’t get paid for? You bet, and I generally don’t write them unless they are quite short. And there are projects that producers or publishers might want me to do, but don’t touch my heart at all. Having learned through experience that there are limits to my creative flexibility, I turn those down.

But from time to time, an opportunity arises that is in the no-man’s-land between the circles. There is money, but the project isn’t exactly something you have ever considered writing. What then?

Then, you ask yourself if the project is something that you could be proud of. If you would read it, or respect someone who did. For instance, when my agent called and said that the producers of “Baywatch” wanted to talk to me, I had the office send over six hours of video on the show. I sat on the living room couch and watched them with my daughter, who was about six at the time. After a few episodes, I asked her what she thought. She liked it. I asked why. She said: “Because it’s about nice people working hard to make the beach safe for us.” I thought about it, and then replied, “you know? There are worse things than that in this world, by a long shot.” And decided to try writing for it.

Every show, every project has its limitations. You must use certain characters, must get them into certain kinds of situations, and must avoid certain topics. That can be restrictive, but you can also decide to take it as a challenge. After all, you could give Fred Astaire a stage of any kind, and props of any kind, and he would find a way to create dance. Should you be committed to a lesser level of skill and vision? No.

You must find ways to amuse yourself while writing, to stretch your skills by trying something you’ve never done before, by empathizing with a younger audience if necessary—never ever writing “down” to your audience. That is the death of art. But if you can be truly flexible, you’ll find that more doors are open to you, more opportunities arise, that brass ring comes around more often. A writer ready to leap at any opportunity to show his skill, and who finds it easy to fall in love with about a project will often out-perform a brittle “genius” who must have everything exactly his way in order to write.

And if that approach is good enough for the Bard, it’s good enough for me.

About the Author
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NY Times bestselling writer Steven Barnes has lectured on creativity from UCLA to the Smithsonian Institute, and published over three million words along the way. For his daily writing tips go to: http://www.lifewriting.biz, or http://www.lifewrite.com

4. People Like to Read about People

Using Anecdotes - Remember, People Like to Read about People
by Marg McAlister

Okay, I admit it: I'm a keen people-watcher. (Most writers are: we know people love to read about people - not things; not statistics; but people!)

We collect anecdotes and snippets of other lives. If you do the same, you'll find your readers avidly waiting for your next article.

I love to sit in a sidewalk cafe or at a table in a shopping-mall restaurant, and watch the crowd go by. I'm fascinated by snatches of conversation at the next table or between people who meander past. (I do draw the line at edging my chair closer so I can hear better!) I like watching mini-dramas being played out between warring couples... or friends who are meeting after a long period apart.

When I watch the evening news, what grabs me is how things affect the people in the stories. Who will ever forget the expressions on the faces of the people in the streets of New York on September 11, 2001? We shared their emotions as they watched fireballs engulf buildings, saw desperate people leap from the eightieth floor, or waited for news of loved ones working in the Twin Towers.

But stories don't have to be dramatic. They just have to strike a chord.

I've found my eyes filling at a story of how an old couple have been cheated out of their life savings and are forced to sell the family home.

I've laughed at tongue-in-cheek stories about incompetent bank robbers who write 'Fill this bag with money!' on the back of an envelope that they shove across the counter with a sack... overlooking the fact that the envelope has their name and home address on the other side.

I've rejoiced when a lost child is found and have been saddened by the sight of refugees trudging into the distance in search of safety.

No matter what your message is, show how it affects people and you'll have a much better chance of the reader staying with you. It's no accident that weight watching magazines feature two or more weight-loss success stories in every issue. It's no accident that the most successful car sales ads feature people having fun (or being envied, or being adventurous). We are all interested in other people.

1. Use Anecdotes

I've ghost-written a lot of books for business professionals. The topics range from negotiating techniques to presentation skills to real estate sales. In every book I've written, I've encouraged the person commissioning the book to tell me lots of stories.

* Do they know someone who has lost a sale because they left out one vital part of the sales process?

* Can they tell me about someone who has alienated customers - and why?

* How has a sales person helped someone to find the perfect house for his family?

* How was a real estate sale lost because of what a sales rep did or didn't do?

* Who got a great deal by using one simple but powerful technique while negotiating a price?

Whenever you write an article or a book, search for powerful anecdotes. People are willing to be convinced by the experiences of others. Subconsciously you'll have them thinking: Look at the terrific benefits from using this technique!

2. Bring People to Life

To write "powerful" anecdotes you have to be able to make readers believe in the people in your stories. That means you develop those people just as carefully as if you were writing fiction.

Help us to 'see' these people. That doesn't mean you should stop and describe the colour of their hair and eyes and what they're wearing! The key is the emotions associated with the story you're telling. If it's about an irate customer, make sure we can see that customer's body language; hear the frustration and anger in his voice. If you put us in the mind of the salesperson, let us know what he's thinking as he faces this customer, and how he either (a) handles the situation well or (b) loses a sale and a customer for life.

This applies no matter what you're writing about. By showing the emotions and worries of the people in your anecdotes, you're appealing to the emotions of the reader. Show the reader how to avoid pain or achieve pleasure - and you've got a sale!

3. Bring The Setting To Life

Don't have 'talking heads' in your anecdotes. People don't exist in a vacuum. They have meetings in offices, they run through the rain, they sip coffee in restaurants. They jump in and out of cars, talk while they're driving, and chat over a few drinks. They play golf or tennis; they go abseiling and scuba diving.

Help us to see the setting when you tell us an anecdote. Don't just tell us what it looks like - use the five senses. Help us to smell the coffee; feel the pelting rain; hear the audience roar with laughter at a speaker's wit. All of these things make your story 'real' - and help your readers to believe in your story people and in your message.

You'll sell more books, you'll attract more people to your website, and you'll win a growing band of followers...

...just by letting people read about people!

About the Author
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Marg McAlister has published magazine articles, short stories, books for children, ezines, promotional material, sales letters and web content. She has written 5 distance education courses on writing, and her online help for writers is popular all over the world. Sign up for her regular writers' tipsheet at http://www.writing4success.com/

5. About The Fabulist Flash

ISSN: 1554-0804

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Make plans now to attend the 2006 Las Vegas Writer's Conference March 30-April 2, 2006, in Las Vegas, Nevada.