The Fabulist Flash

Issue 97

Fabulist Flash Mousepad

In This Issue:

1. This Week
2. The Art of Bookbinding
3. Whitelisting
4. Robert E. Vardeman takes the 18Q
5. About The Fabulist Flash

1. This Week

Understanding the world of publishing will help you get published. A greater understanding of our industry will also help you define your writing goals.

I've been talking to a lot of writers lately. Some I've been helping through critique of their manuscripts both in the writers' group I belong to and also personally. I've been brainstorming ideas with others. We've been exploring publication options from traditional to modern. There are mountains of publicity options, unlimited places to submit writing of all types, and a seemingly endless number of questions.

One discovery through these conversations is that the answers come when we realize it's all about figuring out what we want to accomplish as writers. While I look at the many options I've come to realize that our personal goals determine the best direction to follow.

Just a few of the individual goals I've been seeing include writers who write for money, writers who love to tell stories and want people to read them, writers with visions of finding an editor like Mr. Perkins, and those writers who want to put their lives on paper for their own families. There are as many "types" of writers as there are writers. The more realistic we are about our goals, the more likely that we'll succeed in accomplishing them.

Another discovery: the reason there are so many questions, the explanation for seeing the same material discussed endlessly on writing forums and written about over and over in the writing magazines, newsletters, and publications, is that we all discover our goals at different times and goals are changeable. While many of our questions seem general, the answers we're looking for are different because our individual goals are different.

If you haven't found the answers you're looking for, keep looking. And, if you never find the answer you seek, but succeed with your goal, your answer will make a great article for one of the writer publications. After all, someone else is probably seeking the same answer to your question.

To help us better understand the art of publishing, James Monahan looks at The Art of Bookbinding. Assure you get the emails you want give a little how-to information on "whitelisting" your email addresses. And, this week Robert E. Vardeman (a.k.a. Karl Lasiter) takes the 18Q.

Until next week,

Gregory
=================================================================

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

2. The Art of Bookbinding

Bound Together: The Art of Bookbinding
by James Monahan

Imagine having to read a book that has 1000 pages. That, in itself, is a daunting task.

Now, imagine having to read it with all its pages falling off! Close to impossible!

Bookbinding is the art of assembling a book from separate sheets of paper. If a book does not go through bookbinding, it cannot be properly called a book.

Historical

The art of bookbinding goes back to the times of the ancient Romans. These Romans created simple books called codices (codex in the singular term). Each codex would be bound by sewing sheets of vellum together. This was a significant advancement from the times when rolled-up papyrus or vellum scrolls were used.

The Romans quickly found out that codices were easier to handle and write on, not to mention easier to read.

Later on, books were bound using hard covers that would sandwich the pages to be bound. However, stitching was still the method used to fasten the pages together. They were created by stitching folded sheets at the seam. During this period, there were no standards on creating books; so pretty every book that was bound was a unique creation that would vary from other books in size and style.

With the advent of modern printing presses, bookbinding began to evolve into a standardized industry somewhat. However, pages still varied considerably.

Nowadays, bookbinding is a highly standardized art. Today's technology allows for binding processes to be performed with similar quality.

Modern commercial binding

There are five major categories of bookbinding nowadays: the hardcover, the paperback, the cardboard article, and the sewn book, and the comb-bound book perfect bound.

Hardcovers or hardbound books have rigid covers that are stitched at the spine. Looking from the top of the spine, the book can be seen to consist of a number of signatures bound together. When the book is opened in the middle of a signature, the binding threads are all visible.

A paperback book consists of a number of signatures or individual leaves between covers of much heavier paper, glued together at the spine with a strong flexible glue. This is also known as perfect binding.

A cardboard article looks like a hardbound book at first sight, but in reality it is closer to the paperback in construction. Cardboard articles can be called paperbacks with harder covers. They are not as durable as hardbound books and usually fall apart after little use. A sewn book is constructed in the same way as a hardbound book, except that it lacks the hard covers. The binding is as durable as a hardbound book.

A comb-bound book is made of individual sheets. These sheets each have a line of slits punched near the bound edge. A curled plastic "comb" is then inserted into the slits to hold the sheets together. Comb binding allows a book to be disassembled and reassembled by hand without damage.

Magazines are considered less permanent than books. Therefore, the binding methods for such are usually of lesser quality. Most magazines are bound together by staples that hold together its page spreads. Since magazines have fewer pages, stapling is sufficient to bind its pages together.

Even with the advent of e-books and electronic means for publishing written materials, books still remain the reading material of choice for the majority of the population. It remains to be seen how today's ever changing technology will change the ancient art and modern wonder of bookbinding.

About the Author
=================================================================
James Monahan is the owner and Senior Editor of Article Source: www.ArticlesBase.com

3. Whitelisting

Assure you get the emails you want

Often, messages you want to receive don't arrive in your inbox due to spam filters. In order to assure you get the messages you want you will need to "whitelist" an email address.

Whitelisting - or adding the email publication's email address to your Address Book - is the best way to ensure its delivery to your inbox. The process is simple and takes only a few seconds to complete.

AOL 8.0

1. Open the email.
2. Click "add address" icon.
3. Verify the sender's contact information.
4. Save it.

AOL WebMail

1. Open the email.
2. Click on the sender's name or email address.
3. Click "add to address book" in the window that appears.
4. Enter any additional information.
5. Click "save."

Hotmail

1. Open the email
2. Click "save address" in the toolbar.
3. Verify the sender's contact details.
4. Click "ok."

Yahoo!

1. Open the email.
2. Click the "add to address book" to the right next to sender's name.
3. Verify the sender's contact details.
4. Click "Add to Address Book."

Gmail

1. Open the email.
2. Click "more options" in the email header.
3. Click "add sender to contacts list."

Earthlink

1. Open the email.
2. Click "add to address book" in the email header.
3. Use the "address book editor" to verify the sender's contact details and click "save."

Outlook 2003

1. Open the email.
2. Right-click the sender's email address.
3. Click "add to contacts" on the short-cut menu.
4. Click "save and close."

Outlook Express (6+)

1. Open the email.
2. Left-click the sender icon or right-click the sender's name.
3. Click "add to contacts."
4. Click "save and close."

Entourage

1. Open the email.
2. Right-click the sender's email address.
3. Select "add to address book" in the short-cut menu.
4. Verify the sender's contact details.
5. Click "save."

Mac Mail

1. Open the email.
2. Ctrl-click the sender's email address and select "open in address book."
3. Verify the sender's contact details.

4. Robert E. Vardeman takes the 18Q

Robert E. Vardeman (a.k.a. Karl Lasiter) takes the 18Q.

1. Did you choose the writing profession or did it choose you?

I had never wanted to be a writer. From the time Sputnik went up, I had wanted to be a nuclear physicist. Through school this worked fine (see #2) until I had been accepted at UC Berkeley to work on my PhD in ceramic engineering. A few months between quitting my job at Sandia and going out to Berkeley ensued. During this time I visited a friend (Geo. Proctor) who worked as a reporter for the Dallas Morning News. He had sold a few short stories and a novel. Geo talked me into collaborating on a short story, it sold, I went home and began working on a fantasy novel. It sold. As did the next sf book and...I never went to Berkeley.

2. What is your background? (education, work, etc.)

I hold a BS degree in physics and an MS in materials engineering from the University of New Mexico. I worked in the Solid State Physics Department at Sandia National Laboratories specializing in materials characterization and X-ray crystallography.

3. When did you 'know' you were a writer?

The first time I saw a book on the stands with my name on the cover, I knew there was nothing else to do in life but repeat that thrill.

4. How would you describe your style of writing?

I prefer action/adventure plot driven stories to character driven ones.

5. What is your writing process?

I vary what I do all the time. If I had the ability to set my schedule, I would start work around one or two in the afternoon and work till one or two in the morning. I'm a night person and getting up early leaves me tired all day long. Unfortunately, I have to get up to see my son off to school and they insist on starting high school at 8:30. I force myself to sit down and get to work as soon as I can after he is off to school. It usually takes an hour to go through e-mail and other business things. For whatever reason, before I start actually writing, a few games of computer solitaire seem to wipe out extraneous thoughts and let the ideas come bubbling up. I try to write about a thousand words before taking a break, then get back to work for another 1k segment and eventually try to write at least 5000 words a day. Other times I aim for a completed chapter or up to a certain point in my synopsis.

6. What was your path to publication?

I started writing in the mid-60s for amateur sf publications (fanzines--sort of a precursor to today's on-line blogs). My first professional publication was in a Spanish magazine (Nueva Dimension) reprinting a short article I did describing the US Post Office and their science fictional ways of dealing with mail. The first story I did with Geo Proctor never saw print nor did my first fantasy novel sale. I worked for a book packager, Book Creations, on a spy series while doing my own stories. Sandcats of Rhyl was my first sf novel published under my name.

7. What is your favorite self-marketing idea?

I enjoy going to conventions and writers' conferences and meeting people. It might not sell as many copies as ads in magazines and trade journals, but it is more fun and I can actually find what others like to read, what they don't, and get more feedback to hone ideas and methods on future work. In second place would be book signings, although these are always a gamble. Stores tend not to advertise or sometimes even order the books intended for autographing. There is also the table separating me from those who want their books signed, which distances many people (more often than not, a store manager says someone who stood around watching but was too shy to get the book signed. will buy an autographed copy later. While it is a sale, it provides no feedback on that reader's tastes.

8. What are the biggest surprises you've encountered as a writer?

I am always amazed when people ask, "Where do you get your ideas?" Ideas are everywhere and I am always knee deep in them. Writing them into a story that sings, dances, laughs and cries is the hard part. Writing is a job like any other, but so far I have been quite pleased at how I still/always enjoy it. One of my early misconceptions about writing was that I could write a few books, have a small but steady royalty stream off them, then write at a slower pace. Most books last only 17 on the stands and publishers think of them as yard goods, to be replaced as quickly as possible with the next title.

9. How do you inspire yourself? What are your sources of creativity?

The excitement of writing has never abated. If it's not there on a project, then I'm doing the wrong project. As to sources of creativity, I read widely in science and the astounding array of discoveries *has* to spur ideas. And, like most writers, when I read fiction, I find myself rewriting or even thinking, "That's not right--it should be..." and this launches new stories that are all mine.

10. What is your proudest writer moment?

I always get a charge out of seeing my books on sale. Each new book is yet another link in a long chain of pride in my output.

11. What's the best advice you were given about writing?

Heinlein's five rules of writing sums it all perfectly.

1. Write (talking about it isn't going to get anything written)
2. Finish what you write (letting it languish after that dynamite first page isn't good)
3. Don't rewrite (this doesn't mean don't rewrite for clarity, to polish, because an editor wants something changed so it's salable--it means don't endlessly redo the same story. It will never be perfect. Get over it. Make it as good as you can at that moment and don't meddle with what's already written.)
4. Send it out (it'll never sell if you don't screw up the courage to send it to someone who can buy it.)
5. Keep it on the market (not everything will sell the first time. Or the second. Or the... Don't assume a reject from one editor equals rejects from all editors. Keep sending it out, always starting at the best paying market and working down until you've exhausted all the markets. Then go back and see if any of the places you've already sent it have a new editor and try it again.)

There should be a 6th rule. When you send out a story, go to work on the next one immediately. Sitting and waiting at the mailbox for either acceptance or rejection is a sorry way to go through life. There are always more, newer, better stories to write. Get onto them. Immediately.

12. What is your most embarrassing writer moment?

I was at a book signing that was, to put it charitably, not well attended. I was sitting and staring out into space. When I shifted in my chair a woman who had been looking at books in a nearby display jumped a foot. She thought I was a mannikin in front of the display of my books. And no, she didn't buy one of mine, either.

13. What business challenges have you faced as a writer?

Cash flow is a perennial problem. Sometimes the dump truck unloads a lot of money, but that truck won't be necessarily back for a long, long time. The money has to be slavishly apportioned rather than all spent before the next pay day, which is always at some indeterminate date in the future. It might be tomorrow or it might be a year away. A corollary to this is a more psychological challenge. People do best with positive reinforcement, and money is certainly that. But the pay always comes many months after from signing the contract and completing the ms. There is no easy way of believing the money is the reward if it comes a year after the contract is signed and six months after The End is typed on the ms.

14. What is your writer life philosophy?

Writing is like walking a tight rope. It doesn't pay to look down or start worrying about how the balancing is actually done. Just do it and keep going forward.

15. When you're not writing what do you do for fun?

I used to grow bonsai trees but found that I could make a rock garden die. After that, I began geocaching and have continued for many years (if you don't know what geocaching is, check out www.geocaching.com for more info). It is a wonderful blend of high tech with treasure hunting and simply getting away from the keyboard (but still living out a fantasy--most items in a geocache are, charitably, junk. But there is always the thrill of finding the cache, reading others' comments and maybe, just maybe, finding something so outrageously wonderful that it will become a prized possession.)

16. Who do you like to read?

Finding a writer whose work I don't mentally rewrite as I'm reading is a real treat. Older writers like Thorne Smith always appeal. I have yet to figure out what Angela Carter wrote about, but reading her prose was like running my fingers over silk and velvet. A true stylistic genius. For pleasure, mysteries give the best bang for my buck. Donald Westlake (especially the books he has written as "Richard Stark") are great. Lawrence Block always pleases. In sf, the Heinlein juveniles are reread every few years. Of "newer" writers, Kevin Anderson always delivers an entertaining book. For my western work, I read a great deal of nonfiction, historical books. Leon Metz has done some impressive work on gunfighters. On the fantasy front, I am probably about the only one in the world who didn't care much for the Lord of the Rings books. Fritz Leiber was the master of sword & sorcery stories. Most current fantasy seems padded and overwritten to me--Leiber could describe a complex situation perfectly with only a few deft sentences.

17. What's your advice for new writers?

Stupid persistence will serve you better than a single flash of genius. Write. Keep writing. Don't stop writing. Make the next story better, then write yet another using what you've learned on the prior work. Persevere.

18. What are you currently working on?

I just finished another series western for Berkley. I have several other projects in the works. A collaboration (the first in about ten years) with a friend on a mystery is beginning to take shape, and we'll get down to serious work on it in another few months, his schedule determining when. A book on writing is slowly taking form. Organizing it has been a real challenge. I just sent out a proposal for a fantasy to my agent and a completed sf novel is making the rounds. And the reading and research for a "Karl Lassiter" western proposal following the Chinese laying railroad track from San Antonio to El Paso is finished. It'll be time to begin writing soon. I have been doing quite a few short stories (Karl Lassiter just sold his first, "After Black Jack Dropped" to the Lost Trails anthology) and a hard-boiled detective story, "Digitally Yours," won honorable mention (and a few dollars) in a contest. However much fun short stories are, though, they don't pay the rent. Ideas for a new sf novel are bubbling about and...and...and...

=================================================================

Are you a published writer? Take the 18Q today!

To read all the 18Q responses or take the 18Q visit EighteenQuestions.com

5. About The Fabulist Flash

ISSN: 1554-0804

The Fabulist Flash is dedicated to helping writers find resources and inspiration.

When you forward The Fabulist Flash to your friends please do so in its entirety.

If someone forwarded you this copy and you'd like to begin receiving The Fabulist Flash in your own inbox go to www.FabulistFlash.com to join the mailing list.

We're open to ideas and suggestions for future issues. Let us know if there's something you'd like to see or learn about, what you've enjoyed and would like to see more of, or just want us to know you think The Fabulist Flash is fabulous. Send your comments and ideas to editor@fabulistflash.com.

-------------------------------

Submissions: Published Guest Columnists receive $25 for their 500-600 word article. Visit The Fabulist Flash Writer Guidelines for more information.

-------------------------------


The Fabulist Flash thinks your privacy is important. We NEVER lend, sell, or distribute our email subscriber list to anyone.

Contact The Fabulist Flash:

Online
www.FabulistFlash.com

Email
Editor@FabulistFlash.com

Snail Mail
Gregory A. Kompes, editor
The Fabulist Flash
PO Box 570368
Las Vegas, NV 89157