The Fabulist Flash

Issue 158

by Gregory A. Kompes

In This Issue:

1. This Week
2. The Match Game: Finding the Right Editor
3. Be a Well Paid Writer, Starting Today
4. David Stoddard takes the 18Q
5. About The Fabulist Flash

1. This Week

I've been a bit under the weather this week. It's been nice actually. I have permission to whine, eat comfort foods, and sleep...A LOT! While this might just be a change of season cold, it might also have manifested because of other factors. I've finished my latest round of edits and rewrites on the novel and have sent it out to an agent I'd like to represent me. In addition, we'll be closing on the new house at the end of the month and that means it'll be time to pack and move. A large undertaking with lots of details, to say the least. Based on my calendar, this is the perfect time to "suffer" a little illness.

I've talked to many authors over the years and find it interesting that my current circumstance, finishing a big project followed by a little illness, is common. Maybe it's time for a new Writer Wellness Kit with instructions like: Upon completion of your (novel, book, project) take a week off to recover. What would be inside the kit? A stack of DVDs you haven't watched. A few books you've put off reading. A comfy quilt and soft pillow. Maybe a few dog walk gift certificates. What would be in your Writer Wellness Kit?

Visit the new Fabulist Flash Blog and tell everyone what would be in your Writer Wellness Kit.

Hope you're writing up a storm!

Gregory

Upcoming Events

October 20, 2007: Internet Tech: Building Your ACE Internet Self-Promotion Platform with Gregory A. Kompes -- learn how build, brand, and expand your writing career using Internet Technology during this three hour seminar sponsored by NSA-Las Vegas.

October 29, 2007: Writerpreneur(tm) Course: Internet ACE: Building Your Online Self-Platform Platform with Gregory A. Kompes -- learn how build, brand, and expand your writing career using Internet Technology during this 10 week, interactive, online course. Registration Open.

November 10, 2007: Writerpreneur Workshop: Say It, Don't Slay It with Linda O'Connor. Las Vegas, NV.

If you'll be in Las Vegas on a Wednesday night, socialize with the local writers at the Writer's Pen & Grill(TM). Open to all writers!

2. The Match Game: Finding the Right Editor

PlThe Match Game: Finding the Right Editor
by Barbara McNichol

Setting out to find the right editor for your manuscript puts you on the road to feeling confident you've got a good match. You want to feel comfortable that your editor understands what you've set out to accomplish so you can "polish" it together.

To help in your search for find the right editor, get ready for a checklist of questions that a potential editor could ask you.

Checklist of Questions

Your answers to these questions give a professional editor a better understanding of your project and help you both make a match in heaven. How would you answer these?

Who is in your book's target audience (demographics, position, industry, region, etc.)?

What genre or market niche does your book fall in? What section would I find it in a bookstore?

What is your expected editorial timeline (e.g., when did you promise to give it to an agent or designer, or have it ready for a conference, etc.) allowing time for your review, peer reviews, and a professional editor's review?

How much of your book is written? Have you finished all the content you want including front and back matter (e.g., foreword, testimonials, acknowledgments, dedication, footnotes, resource list, glossary, appendix, etc.)? If your answer is not 100%, what is missing? When would you be ready to send your complete content?

Without including back and front matter, what is the current length of your book before editing? (number of pages and/or number of words in an MS Word document)

What is the anticipated total length including front matter?

If you want to have a foreword, have you asked someone to write it and provided a deadline for delivering it?

Would you like the editor to also do the proofreading after the design/layout phase is complete? This would be in addition to the project fee, and will be included in the proposal.

How much are you expecting to spend on having your book professionally edited (excluding proofreading after the design)?

Have you published other books? If so, tell me about them.

How did you learn about me and who can I thank for a referral?

What else do I need to know about your expectations so I can do a really good job for you?

An editor who asks these types of questions shows eagerness to understand your project and get on the same page with you. It sets up a discussion that gives you a sense of how the editor would work with you.

The Most Critical Question of All

Bar none, here's the most important question: "Is the manuscript 100% complete?"

If your content is 100% complete when you hand it over to the editor, you'll get a solid project price and usually a clear timeline. That doesn't mean you and your editor won't be dealing with changes (there will always be additional questions to answer and so on. But in an ideal world, your editor deals with your manuscript in two complete passes) the first one that includes corrections, suggestions, and questions for expansion and clarification; the second one to review the changes and polish the wording to a brilliant shine.

The All-Important Sample Edit

How do you start to find the right editor for your manuscript? The obvious: Ask your writer and designer friends, check acknowledgments in books you like and contact the editor listed, even look on the Internet for editors in your genre and in your area. But whoever you select in the initial stage, request a "try-before-you-buy" sample edit—especially if more than one editor is in the running for your business. Oh, and this sample needs to be a sample edit of your work, not of someone else's. You want to determine how the editor would handle your manuscript.

Writers and editors aren't in a dating relationship, but you are looking for a good match here. If an editor works magic on your writing but you don't agree with the approach or the kinds of changes made, it's good to recognize that up front. Discuss it so you both can adjust. Some writers, mostly new writers, fall in love with every word and find it painful to see any change in their prose. That's why discussions help a lot.

Here's a rule of thumb: If you, the writer, can clearly see an improvement from the editor's work, if you recognize that the words flow better and there's more clarity and "pop" in the writing, then that's a green light. If you don't agree with the changes or find yourself arguing with them, that's an amber light. Time to talk. Editing can and should be a collaborative process.

Put Your Best Foot Forward

But (always the but), remember your intent. You want to put your best foot forward and not give an agent or publisher reason to turn down your manuscript for sloppy, unpolished writing. As Chris Roerden, author of the book, Don't Murder Your Mystery, says, "An automatic way to murder your chances of getting your manuscript published is to come across as an amateur writer." The words "amateur" and "accepted" rarely find themselves in the same sentence.

Yes, locating the right editor requires effort to make sure you're comfortable with the editor's approach and sample edit. I suggest you view your editor as the advocate of both you and the reader, the pro who makes it easier for the reader to connect with you and your message.

Barbara McNichol provides a free questionnaire "How to Get the Results You Want" based on the ideas in this area. Request it by sending her an email at editor@barbaramcnichol.com

About the Author
================================================================= Barbara writes and edits articles, website copy, book proposals, and manuscripts for authors and entrepreneurs. Contact Barbara at 887-696-4899 (toll free). To learn more, sign up for her ezine The Door Opener at www.barbaramcnichol.com and receive a free ebook, Word Trippers.

3. Be a Well Paid Writer, Starting Today

Be a Well Paid Writer, Starting Today
by Avril Harper

Imagine writing a few words, several times a day, and waiting for checks for $10, $50, two hundred dollars or more to pop through your letterbox some time soon. That's what life is like for writers of short manuscripts, commonly called ‘fillers', who can make this a full time writing career or a wonderfully profitable hobby.

Fillers are short written pieces, sometimes just a few words, ranging from readers' letters, to verses, jokes and cartoons, recipes and household hints, overheard conversations and odd things children say, press errors, and much more.

Demand for fillers is growing fast as people spend less time reading longer features, preferring instead shorter, fact-packed pieces that can be read during coffee breaks and in whatever little spare time most people have.

Becoming a published writer, and being paid, is as easy as reaching for pen and paper, a few envelopes and stamps, and studying magazines for current published fillers. To be a published writer really fast look for prolific users like Reader's Digest, Woman's Own, Writers' News, most hobby and special interest publications and virtually every woman's magazine.

Read other people's published and paid for contributions - not all attract payment - and model your work on those editors have already chosen. Notice how some editors favour comments on past published features in the magazine, while others choose pictures of children and pets, and others recipes, poetry, jokes and so on.

Look further at magazines that most closely match your interests and writing preferences and look for editors' notes on how and what to write for payment which you'll usually find on the contents page or in special readers' letters and filler pages.

Make a list of possible subjects to write about and begin collecting ideas for letters, jokes, hints, as required by your target magazines.

Start by listing all main points you might include in your letter or filler. List these in order of importance, from ‘1' for most important down to however many points there are. This is usually the order they will take in your finished piece, but not always, and some editors favour keeping the most important, sometimes second most important piece to close the feature. As always, study your target magazine first.

Write your piece, in simple style, not trying to impress and without using long and complicated words. Make sure each word deserves its place in your manuscript. Go through with a highlighter pen marking essential points and looking for any which might be deleted.

Make your lead as strong as possible. Try including something to shock readers or search for an odd and little known fact about your subject. Anything to attract and retain reader interest. This is what will compel the editor, and ultimately his readers, to finish reading your work.

Letters can be handwritten, other fillers should be typed on A4 paper, double spacing, with wide margins.

Add your name and address at the beginning of the manuscript and number all pages.

Add an introduction letter to fillers stating subject, word count and your own name or chosen pen name.

Submit your letter or fillers and wait. Don't hassle editors, you'll only antagonise them and possibly turn them against you forever. Once your first manuscript has gone, start work on the next, and the next.

Main Points for Filler Writers

* Sentences and paragraphs should be short and punchy. Longer sentences and paragraphs are offputting to readers. And, of course, editors, too.

* Begin by writing about subjects that interest you in magazines you read yourself.

* Try to be different. Even if the subject is common, look for an unusual feature or aspect to focus on. Make it one readers can relate to and make sure nothing similar has featured recently.

* Watch out for special sections in some publications, where editors invite features on a common theme, sometimes a grouse, frequently complaints, often asking readers to recount their most embarrassing moments, and so on.

* Keep your eyes and ears open for anything remotely interesting to use in your letters and fillers. Listen to what other people say, particularly children. Watch out for odd signs and business names, and have your camera ready to record them.

* Never copy other people's work in your target magazines. This is breach of copyright, but there is no copyright on ideas, so what you see in one magazine can be borrowed to form the basis of a filler you write for another publication.

* Study at least a dozen or so publications of the type you would like to write for. Rank these in order of preference, according to filler types, payment, subject matter. Start writing and submitting material for those highest on your list.

* Think pictures. Think illustrations. Instead of sending just words to your target publication, include a photograph, maybe a cartoon or line drawing. This will increase your chance of being published. As always, careful study of your target magazine will establish editorial preferences.

* Always have a notepad and pen at hand, and preferably a pocket camera and mini recorder. It's amazing where inspiration and ideas strike and how often there is nothing handy to record the incident. My best ideas come when I'm in the bath, ironing, gardening, or walking the dog! Those notepads pinned to every wall and popped into my handbag have repaid their cost many times over!

* Be professional in everything you write, however brief. This will bring your name to the fore when editors view your work. Being professional also opens the door to longer assignments, like articles and columns and maybe even regular commissions.

* Never assume that what suits one market will also suit another. It won't. Each market must be studied as a separate entity.

* Do not submit the same piece, or something very similar, to two markets at the same time. Editors hate this, especially where that other market is one of their major competitors. More importantly, you will lose all credibility as a writer.

* Send your manuscript to the appropriate person or department. This will usually be indicated in the publication itself, usually on the readers' letters page or in appropriate sections reserved for fillers. Otherwise, address your work to the editor whose name usually features in the early pages of your target magazine. Alternatively, look in Writers' and Artists' Yearbook or Writer's Market for the information you require.

* On the question of when to retrieve your work and submit it to another publication, most writers agree that three months is the very minimum you should wait before assuming your work has been unsuccessful. Some writers wait longer, up to a year for high-paying markets like Reader's Digest.

* Keep your work in circulation. Keep accurate records of everything you write, including where it is currently on offer and where it might be submitted next. Incidentally, resubmission doesn't apply purely to unsuccessful pieces; published pieces can also be revised and resubmitted to new markets, but not too soon after publication and preferably not to major competitors of your main markets.

* Above all, enjoy yourself, this isn't hard work after all!

About the Author
================================================================= Avril Harper is the author of How to Be a Five Minute Writer and spends a great deal of her own full-time writing day creating short pieces for regular, high ticket rewards. See more at www.1st-in-creative-writing.com

4. David Stoddard takes the 18Q

David Stoddard, the Unmotivated Motivational Writer, takes the 18Q.

1. Did you choose the writing profession or did it choose you?
As much as I try to fight it, writing seems to have chosen me. I often wonder just what in the world I am doing being able to write fairly okie dokie despite really not liking all of those English classes back in the day. Since then, and to no real understanding of my own, I have managed to make (or better yet, writing took me by the hand and sat me at the keyboard and made me make) writing a part of any job I had. So I have pretty much taken it's advice and gone with the flow.

2. What is your background? (education, work, etc.)
I've done a bit of everything. I've been a soccer referee, pin chaser in a bowling alley, grounds crew member, grass cutter, audio visual specialist, AV supervisor, educational computing assistant, IT professional, pharmacy delivery guy, coffee shop worker, layout assistant (sounds sexy, doesn't it), and single-day magician for a child's birthday party.

3. When did you 'know' you were a writer?
Who me? You talkin' to me? I still don't feel I am a writer in respect to doing it day in and day out like those who live the title of writer. I guess there is still this part of me which refuses to claim the title because of that. Then again, my deeper feelings about it are that anyone who has the courage to put their tail in a seat and write, is by all other terms, a writer. Of course, I am a Gemini, so that might explain the dual thoughts.

4. How would you describe your style of writing?
I see it as more conversational. Not really storytelling and not really in the journalistic vein of the inverted pyramid. I just want to talk to folks in a way most can relate to. And, if I can put in a touch of humor, that's all the better.

5. What is your writing process?
Just like low calorie pizza, there is no such thing for me. I do it when it feels right to do it. I know I need to get into the habit of writing more if I feel like it or not. So that is my ongoing New Year's resolution I keep working with month after month.

6. What was your path to publication?
It started with that journalism class in high school. After that, I wrote for the college school paper, and later got a job at the North County Journal. Since those early days, I have sent off letters to the editor, column type essays and related items to different places. I found that starting my own online news letter several years back helped me reach a larger audience and made publication easier in the long run.

7. What is your favorite self-marketing idea?
Writing articles for online publications has been something that has worked best for me. I am far from an expert and need to be doing it more often. The online world is growing and becoming more accepted as a place for real information and entertainment. It's only a matter of time for it to truly be respected.

8. What are the biggest surprises you've encountered as a writer?
People actually like what I write. Maybe that has something to do with my being a self-conscious, indecisive, introverted Gemini. The bigger surprise has been articles or pieces I had written which I liked, others didn't and vice versa. Things I didn't care for all that well, people loved. Go figure.

9. How do you inspire yourself? What are your sources of creativity?
I believe Weird Al Yankovic (of parody song fame) is my personal patron saint. While I don't do parody or write strictly humor pieces, his songs have given me the inspiration to keep going. I also have a collection of 5 jazz CDs as well as a few other instrumental CDs which I play from time to time when my mind is racing with too many ideas at a given moment.

10. What is your proudest writer moment?
Nothing beats seeing your article in a newspaper or magazine for the first time. Something about the word BY with your name beside it takes your breath away. But if I had to pick a single event, it's when that first positive reader comment comes to your inbox. It proves that what you are doing matters and that at least someone is getting it.

11. What's the best advice you were given about writing?
There is a duty.

12. What is your most embarrassing writer moment?
Not remembering where I read/heard that advice from.

13. What business challenges have you faced as a writer?
Understanding that this writing thing is actually a business can be tough to the creative type. It's more than just writing when you feel like it. You do have to force yourself at times to chain yourself to the chair and do it. Rejections hurt. Not hearing anything at all hurts worse. But that acceptance is the greatest of motivators.

14. What is your writer life philosophy?
Write thinking you are Hemmingway, edit like you're work was done by Porky Pig, submit as soon as both of you are happy.

15. When you're not writing what do you do for fun?
I walk around the lake near the house at times. I also love miniature golf. It's a lot shorter of a walk than the long distance version. Plus, to reduce frustration, there are always the batting cages.

16. Who do you like to read?
Dave Barry is the first name which comes to mind every time this question is asked. Is that because I know of no others off the top of my head? Probably. I do need to read and remember more than I do.

17. What's your advice for new writers?
YES! You. Sitting there reading this in your bunny slippers, torn shirt, cowboy hat with that can of grape soda, you can write. You are the one we have been waiting for. You are the one who will be speaking to the world through your written words of wisdom and feeling. Just, when you do, please put some pants on before you go out into the world looking like that.

18. What are you currently working on?
Being funnier when I write. Letting go and being free with my writing. I don't like writing to be so stiff or constrained. Yet, it should be on a point or a random series of thoughts at a given moment. As for actual projects, I keep thinking about this semi-autobiographical story which would probably explain the entire meaning of life in less than 3,000 words.

Take the 18Q Today!
=================================================================
Selected a Writer's Digest "101 Best Website" for 2007, the 18Q is a collection of writers sharing their experiences.

More than 100 authors have taken the 18Q. Take your turn Today!

5. About The Fabulist Flash

ISSN: 1554-0804

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