In Episode 2 of this column, I wrote about how I completed the manuscript of my first novel in the early days of the pandemic and despite the death of my son.

From the end of Episode 2: Emotionally drained, I printed my finished manuscript and held it in my hands. The weight of 374 pages was heavier than I had imagined. I knew it wasn’t just paper and ink, but the bewildering contradiction of anguish and joy. Of smiles and tears. Of pride and guilt. I didn’t yet realize that the hardest part of finishing this book was still to come.

A Finished Manuscript. Now what?

After punching holes in my finished manuscript and putting it into a binder, I took a break from writing altogether.

For two weeks, I slept in, worked, read, watched tv, and spent time with my family. I felt proud of my accomplishment, but I wasn’t able to fully celebrate it because of everything that had happened.

It was also because I’d written enough academic papers to know that, especially since this time, with an entire novel, the real work was just beginning.

I had already signed up for Rachael Herron’s 90 Days to Revision course; I figured since she was a major reason I finally wrote my novel, she’d guide me through revising it too.

In the class, Rachael taught us her revision method. The longest step was reading through our manuscripts.

It seemed to take forever.

As I read through my finished manuscript, I began seeing problem after problem. The confidence with which I had completed writing it evaporated as I worried there were so many structural changes needed that it would need a complete rewrite. 

I shared my distress with Rachael.

“I assure you,” she said, “you did not break your book.”

Classmates reminded me to give myself a break, that I was a newly bereaved mother, and to not put so much pressure on myself.

Still, I was shaken. How could I not have seen all these issues while writing? Since I rarely lack confidence in myself, I wondered if perhaps I was blinded by overconfidence.

With Rachael’s support, I kept going. I moved parts of chapters to other sections of the book, rewrote entire scenes, and completely changed the ending. 

Once the structural issues were fixed, I did several revision “passes” (as Rachael calls them) to focus on specific things like dialogue, verb tense, descriptions, etc., one at a time.

I finished the entire revision in about 50 days, which was just over half the time we had in the 90 day class. I pressured myself to finish quickly because I wanted to shift my focus from the book to building my author platform.

Putting Myself Out There

With what couldn’t have been more perfect timing if I’d planned it myself, I came across the DIY MFA website and saw that the Pixels to Platform course was about to close registration.

Pixels to Platform is the only course for writers (that I’m aware of, anyway) that teaches you exactly how to build an author platform, from concept and design to execution of both the technical aspects and content creation. 

In only 8 weeks, and under Gabriela Pereira and her team’s excellent tutelage, I went from not knowing anything about how to make a website, what an email list is, or how to create and repurpose content across multiple mediums, to designing and creating my author website and brand, setting up my author social media accounts, starting and building an email list of readers, and creating content such as blog posts, a newsletter opt-in freebie (incentive), email newsletters, and pitching guest posts to other blogs.

Once I finished the Pixels to Platform course, it was time to start thinking about my finished manuscript again and how to turn it into a book. 

The Fork in the Road: Self-Publish or Go Traditional?

While I had always imagined getting a publishing deal and ultimately seeing my book on the shelf at Barnes & Noble, I knew it wasn’t 1985 anymore. I would have to give some serious thought to how to best get my book into the marketplace.

The frustrating thing was no matter who I asked (Rachael, Gabriela, other writers) or where I searched for answers (writer websites, podcasts, and articles), everyone told me the same thing: “it’s really up to you.”

If I were to self-publish, there would be a steep learning curve. However, this really wasn’t a deterrent; after all, I learned how to do a lot of new things in a short amount of time in Pixels to Platform, and I was sure I could learn how to publish my own book.

Then again, in the Pixels to Platform course, I had help. I had Gabriela and her team’s expert lessons and the support of an entire community of writers! 

Still, I could probably teach myself what I would need to learn to self-publish. I just didn’t know how quickly I would be able to do it as a high school teacher on the cusp of a new academic year.

Aside from a lack of knowledge and time constraints, I knew that self-publishing requires more of a financial investment. Even though many traditionally published authors still spend money on marketing their book and paying an editor (if they don’t yet have a publishing contract), many self-published authors also pay professionals to design their cover, copy edit their manuscript, and perhaps even to format it correctly. 

Plus, if I were to self-publish, I would have to learn the ins and outs of Amazon Kindle or other online booksellers such as Bookbub, Kobo, etc.

Conversely, if I were to opt for traditional publishing, I would need to spend time researching literary agents, writing and polishing a query letter, and wait anxiously for 2-3 months for their replies. Then, if I were lucky enough to have an agent request a full manuscript, I would wait several more weeks to hear whether or not they would take me on as a client.

And, if they offered to represent me, it would take several more weeks or months until I had a publishing contract. After that, there would be an 18-24 month publishing process, including several more revisions. On top of all the waiting, I would have very little creative control and at the end of it, I’d be expected to sell enough copies (dependent on my own limited marketing skills, of course) or lose future publishing opportunities.

My head was spinning! 

Finally, after making a list of pros and cons, I wasn’t any closer to an answer. Unlike with a multiple choice question, there wasn’t a best option here.

The scary thing was, they were right: it really was up to me.

Ultimately, I decided to go the traditional publishing route. Being traditionally published is how I’d always imagined my life as an author. 

Plus, I had no interest in rewriting the script to fit whatever actual year was on the calendar.

So, I drafted a query letter. I thought I was finally on my way!

Then absolutely nothing went like I’d imagined it.

Stay tuned for Episode 4: Premature Querying: The Sounds of Silence (And Rejection).

Anita Ramirez is a writer and teacher who transforms dispassionate teens into lovers of books — one reader at a time. When she’s not teaching Hispanic/Latinx literature and composition to her high school students or linguistics at the college level, she’s revising her first novel, a YA contemporary featuring bilingual characters. She loves the poetry of Pablo Neruda, teen movies from the 1980s and café con leche. You can check out her website, or follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The post Life of a Writer—Episode 3: A Finished Manuscript, Now What? appeared first on DIY MFA.

To be clear from the outset: small press publishing is a division of traditional publishing, but it’s not what people typically imagine. While Big 5 publishers put out thousands of titles and rake in billions of dollars each year, small presses publish way fewer books and make $50 million or less per year. They also tend to focus on a certain literary category (for example, poetry or memoir) and may even specialize in regional authors, depending on where they’re based.

Needless to say, there’s a vast range of small presses out there. But if you do choose one, you can expect certain things to be different from working with a major publisher—and indeed, for some of those to be a drastic improvement.

Find that elusive home for your unique story

First and foremost, you’ll likely enjoy working with a small press if your book has quirky subject matter, employs an experimental style, or otherwise represents a “niche interest”. Where a major publisher might be reluctant to spend resources on it—and where self-publishing may not appeal because you have no idea how to market such a book yourself—a small press can provide just the right balance of enthusiasm and knowledgeable assistance. (Lilly Dancyger recently published a great case study over on Electric Lit about this, for those who are interested.) 

The tricky part, of course, is finding a suitable press for your book. Because small presses love to specialize, you’ll have to do some research to find a press with the right catalogue and qualifications. I’d recommend looking carefully at each press’s in-house team, their mission statement, and the books they’ve released in the last year to figure this out. Remember that no legitimate press will ask you for money upfront. No matter how small, they’re still a publisher, and that entails providing services in exchange for later royalties, not out-of-pocket payment.

The good news is that if you want to start researching small presses, you can find plenty of reputable ones in this directory of independent publishers. Even if your perfect match isn’t among them, looking into these publishers and their catalogues will give you a sense of what a legitimate small press should look like.

Work with an experienced team without losing creative control

One of the biggest frustrations authors report with Big 5 publishers is how little creative control they retain. Without a doubt, this is the way of mainstream traditional publishing: the author gets an advance for their troubles, but they have almost no say in the editing, design, and marketing of their book. And while many authors are understandably relieved to be free of the responsibility, others very much want to stay involved.

If the latter sounds like you, definitely consider publishing with a small press. The grassroots nature of most small presses means that authors are encouraged to help prepare their book for publication—contributing substantially to edits, cover design concepts, etc.—and that it’s an excellent learning experience for new authors, as Marilee Haynes discusses here.

Crucially, though, you’re not left to manage all your own production services (as you’d need to when self-publishing), because your publisher will already have an in-house team. In effect, you get the best of both worlds: experienced, talented people to help make your book a success, without wresting away your creative control.

Some authors might be fine with having minimal control in exchange for a bigger advance, which is entirely fair! But keep in mind that while Big 5 publishers pay out in the short term, their long-term plans do not guarantee sales. If you suspect your book will be a tricky “mainstream” sell, go with a small press that cares deeply about your niche and will listen to your ideas—rather than a major publisher that will shut you out and potentially market your book all wrong.

No upfront costs and decent royalty shares

Going back to the financial side of things, it’s true that most small presses can’t offer high advances, and some small presses don’t offer advances at all. An established small press might give you a couple thousand dollars… but that’s very much the exception, not the rule.

Still, the overall financial benefits of going through a small press can outweigh this tiny or nonexistent advance. As mentioned above, one significant advantage of small press publishing is that you don’t have to hire an editor or cover designer yourself, which means no upfront costs (and again, if a publisher does ask you for money ahead of royalties, they’re not to be trusted). Also, while small press royalties aren’t as much as those you’d get from self-publishing, they’re a lot better than royalty shares with a major publisher—usually just 5-10%, compared to up to 50% royalties with a small press (and versus 70% with self-publishing, for context).

That’s not even to mention that royalties only come through after you’ve “earned out” your advance, which can take ages with a Big 5 publisher, if it happens at all. So while I won’t deny that small press advances are low, I’d also point out that massive advances aren’t such a good thing if your sales are disappointing, and that higher royalty shares often make for a more positive, sustainable publishing experience in the long run.

Curious to learn more about royalties in publishing? Check out this post on how much authors make—and for thoughtful ruminations on author costs and royalties from someone who’s been through it firsthand, be sure to read Lauren Sharkey’s piece on the price of publishing.

It’s easy to pivot to another publishing path

Despite some drawbacks of traditional publishing and self-publishing, both are still very viable publishing routes! Working with a small press isn’t for everyone, and if you ultimately find yourself drawn to one of these instead, do feel free to change course.

Luckily, if you start with small press publishing, it’s easy to switch to a different path after your first book. Having collaborated with a relatively small in-house team, you’ll then be prepared to either trust your next book to a larger one (that of a Big 5 publisher) or to go in the other direction and hire your next team directly (if you self-publish).

Essentially, small press publishing lets you sample both sides of the publishing world. If you like the balance, by all means, stick with it. But if you’re seeking better royalties, or if you’d prefer to work with a literary agent to get acquired by a major publisher, you can always look into other options—now with a bit of experience under your belt.

Savannah Cordova is a writer and content creator at Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors with the best editors, designers, and marketers in the business. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction and low fantasy, as well as writing the occasional short story. She’s here to pull back the curtain on publishing so that every author can have the greatest possible chance at success.

The post Small Press Publishing Might Solve All Your Problems appeared first on DIY MFA.

Consider me a colleague happy to share her hard-learned wisdom with you. If I were starting over again in indie publishing, I’d do a number of things differently. In future posts, I’ll share with you some of the decisions I regret and why, in hopes you can learn from my mistakes. 

The first thing I’d do differently if I could start again? Not publish until I had at least three novels in a series.

Conventional wisdom IS wisdom

When I first considered indie publishing, I heard this advice: Don’t publish until you have three novels ready to release. Given the work it takes to write just one novel, I thought, This is ridiculous. I can’t imagine waiting so long. Traditional publishing doesn’t operate this way. Is self-publishing really that different? Won’t having a book on the market allow more readers to find me?

Patience pays

Solid reasons exist behind the argument to wait to publish. Primary among them: the market is absolutely flooded with books. There are currently over six million e-books on Amazon alone. Writers also compete with tons of exciting content on television, in film, in video games, and (in ordinary, non-pandemic times) sports and other leisure pursuits. What that means for the single-title-publishing author is that your book, regardless of how good it might be, will drown in a sea of content. 

If you have one book in the market, readers may love it and leave a positive review, but then they need a new toy. If you can’t offer them another book, they’ll move on to someone else’s. And if, like me, you take a year or eighteen months to produce another work, that’s a ton of time for a reader to forget about you. Maybe you were lucky enough to capture some of those initial readers on your mailing list. If so, terrific! But the truth is that only a fraction of your readers will actually sign on to your mailing list. How many authors do you read regularly? Are you on all their mailing lists? Nope, thought not. 

We live in a binge culture. How do you consume TV? If you’re like me, you’d rather wait until the final episode of Homeland is released so you can watch the entire season in three days. Readers behave no differently. Having a series of three or more books gives an engaged reader somewhere to go, and improves your long-term viability in the market. Conventional wisdom in the indie world goes something like this: if readers read you once and your book is good, they’ll like you. If they read you twice, they’ll remember you. If they read you three times, they’ll stay with you, eager for your metaphorical Season Two. 

If you can get a reader to read three of your books, it probably won’t be a hard sell to get and keep them on your mailing list. Then a periodic update–whether once a week, or once or twice a month–will keep you on their radar screens and anticipating your next release. Outside of this model, you start from ground zero every single time you launch a book, and launches are difficult and draining. Don’t make more work for yourself.

Algorithms and visibility

The more readers progress through your series, whether via direct purchase or by Kindle Unlimited borrows, the more the algorithms begin to work in your favor. David Gaughran’s forgotten more than I’ll ever know about the mechanics of algorithms and how to make them work in your favor to increase your visibility, so I’ll leave it to him to share the finer points with you, but this multi-title release strategy is essential to gaining traction in digital marketplaces. 

Development time

Another advantage to completing a short series before releasing the first book is that it gives you time to work with your characters and produce a cohesive product. By the third book, you have insights into your characters that you didn’t have the first time through. I know that if I could go back and rewrite my first book, there’s so much I’d be able to put in that I just didn’t know the first time. 

A fruitful practice might be to draft three books (say, 30 or 40K words each), one after another. As you write the second one, you get important distance from the first story while at the same time broadening your knowledge of your characters, practicing your craft, and honing your voice. By the time you’ve drafted the third book, you’ve figured out how to write a book, where your process challenges are, and how to work through them. In other words, you can now recognize patterns in your own work. 

As you begin to revise and flesh out the first story, you can bring that wisdom to your first book. At the same time, that perspective will aid you in leaving Easter eggs and weaving interesting threads and subplots throughout the series. Map out a series on paper all you want, but when you’re writing, things don’t always go to plan. Crazy things happen. Whole characters show up out of nowhere. Pausing before you hit the “publish” button allows you to refine the entire package into a polished cohesive unit, and for that, your readers will thank you.

Writing a book is a long and difficult process, and exercising patience at the end of that process demands real discipline from the writer. But trust me: I’ve been there, and the discipline is worth it. Your reward will come in increased visibility, a more devoted readership, and improved long-term success–things every writer wants. 

Helen J. Darling writes and publishes contemporary women’s fiction at her imprint, Bricolage Books. She published her first novel, I’ll Know Me When I Find Me, in January 2018. Her latest novel, Terms and Conditions, was published in November 2019. You can connect with her at itshelendarling.com, on Instagram, Twitter and on Facebook. 

The post Don’t Do What I Did: Mistakes in Indie Publishing appeared first on DIY MFA.

Robin Lovett: Welcome to DIY MFA! Let’s start with why, of all the genres, you chose to write romance.

Kimberly Bell: There were a lot of reasons I started writing a romance novel in the beginning. From a business standpoint, romance is 80% of the fiction book market, both globally and in North America, and the average romance reader spends over $100 in books each month. That’s a huge demand, which theoretically increased the odds of my book selling.

Then, there’s the fact that I love the genre. I started reading historical romances when I was ten. It’s the reason I have a kickass vocabulary, a whole slew of random historical facts trapped in my brain, and a not-entirely-secret desire to marry Prince Harry someday.

The biggest reason, though, was the community. As readers and fellow writers go, it is hands down the kindest, most nurturing group of people you will ever find in business. Maybe it’s because romance is a heavily female industry, on all sides of book creation and consumption—or maybe it’s just uniquely awesome—but having your competitors root for you is priceless in this solitary profession.

Lovett: Once you decided to write romance, what process did you use to write your first book? How long did it take and how did you motivate yourself to finish?

Bell: My first book took me a year. I had never written long form or fiction before, so I was learning both of those things while learning my story. It was a 100% pants’d affair. I joined a few online writing communities to get feedback, and just kept trying to put down words whenever I could. I didn’t set myself a deadline until the book was more than half done. By then, I had learned a ton and my 30^th birthday was coming up. My brain latched on to the idea of finishing the book before I turned 30, and I did.

Lovett: An age milestone! What an excellent motivator! After you finished and edited your first book, what made you decide to pursue traditional publishing? What were your steps to getting a book contract?

Bell: This answer is going to run so long! I never considered self-publishing for my first books, because I didn’t know anything about the publishing industry and I wanted to learn from people who’d been doing it for a while. I queried the first five agents on my wish list (tip: Don’t start with your favorites. If your query needs improvement, you’ll have burned the top of your list before you figure it out). Every time I got a rejection, I sent to a new agent to keep my outstanding queries at five. I definitely recommend that strategy, because it takes what can be a demoralizing moment and slathers it in new hopefulness.

When I’d gotten nine rejections (which is not many but I have zero patience) with no requests for fulls or partials, I decided to rework my query. The first send of the new query (off a request from a #pitmad tweet) landed me my agent.

From there, we worked together on a submission strategy—and I do mean strategy. Publishing moves very slow, until it doesn’t. If you and your agent can work together to have legitimate reasons to update an editor (like final-ing in a contest) that aren’t just an impatient nudge, it can help save your sanity. To give you an idea of my timeline, which means nothing because everyone’s is different, I went on submission in late September.  Historical was considered a hard sell/declining subgenre at the time, and we were targeting Big 5 houses and the largest romance only publishers. In late April, we got our first offer on the book and a second a week later.

Lovett: I suppose I should add, we both have the same agent and that’s how we met. Shout out to Rachel Brooks at the L. Perkins Agency! Especially since I found her through #PitMad too. Shortly after announcing your three book contract with Penguin, you announced an additional two book contract with Entangled. Do you account this to pure luck, or was there an extra special ingredient in your writing you attribute to your fast success?

Bell: I don’t know that I’d call it luck, so much as the incredible team at Entangled. They’d read my first book and, after bumping into my agent at a conference, got into a discussion about having me pitch some new ideas. I was super nervous about running two contracts at once (completely justified, as it turns out) but even with the full advantage of hindsight, I wouldn’t go back and change it. Entangled has been such an amazing home for my books.

I will say there is a lot more than just deadline pressure to take into account, especially when you’ve only ever written one book and you’re suddenly on the hook for five. I chose to knowingly prioritize my career trajectory over my sanity, but it’s super important to know exactly what you value before you go on submission. Opportunities can come out of the woodwork. If you’re not clear on your goals, you might end up making a decision that you regret because you didn’t have enough time to truly think it out. Despite the crazy long wait to hear anything at all, once you get an offer the deadline for your response is usually super quick.

Lovett: Given your experiences and what you’ve learned, do you have any words of encouragement or caution for us?

Bell: There’s a phrase I heard a lot around writing groups when I was writing my first book. “If you don’t absolutely love writing, you should do something else.” I think that’s complete crap. The reality of publishing is—it’s hard. It’s a lot of hard work and hard decisions. The harshness of publishing—especially once you’ve “made it” and gotten a book deal—can chew up and spit out creative personalities. The better phrase to approach your publishing journey from is “Expect the worst, hope for the best.”

There are things to love about this journey. Things that will make you dance giddy around your living room for hours. But never forget that it’s work. A lot of days are going to suck and make you want to quit and do something easier. If you can keep your head up through those days, there is a pants-optional life waiting for you.

Lovett: Thank you so much for your candid answers! Before we go, anything you’d like to share with us about your new book coming out next week?

Bell: Umm…that you guys should read it? The book coming out on April 18th, A Ballroom Temptation, is my third book to publish and the fourth book I wrote (my print books take a lot longer to hit the market). It’s honestly my favorite so far, because it combines a lot of the things I’ve been learning along the way about stakes and emotion, which were not my strong suit when I started. It’s also the culmination of my plan to write relationships that aren’t quite the usual template, but feel super real to me.

Kimberly Bell can be found on Twitter @bellromance or on her website www.bellromance.com. She is the co-founder of #RWchat, a weekly Twitter chat for romance writers.

Robin Lovett writes contemporary romance, and her next series of dark romances will release summer 2017, beginning with STRANGER. She loves to chat on Twitter @LovettRomance and every Sunday evening you can find her chatting with other romance writers at #RWChat. She is represented by Rachel Brooks of the L. Perkins Agency.

The post Writing Romance For Two Publishers: An Interview with Kimberly Bell appeared first on DIY MFA.

Thanks for joining me today for DIY MFA Radio. I’m so excited to share this episode because I’m interviewing literary agent Janet Reid, AKA the Query Shark.

*Cue music from Jaws in 3… 2… 1…*

Janet is a literary agent at FinePrint Literary Management in NYC, where she represents mostly crime novels and thrillers, with some narrative non-fiction in history and biography as well.

Her list of clients reads as a veritable who’s-who of bestselling authors, but if that wasn’t enough Janet also dedicates a lot of her time helping new writers learn about publishing by speaking at conferences and sharing valuable insights via not one but two blogs.

When she’s not doing busy being an agent, she blogs at JetReidLiterary.blogspot.com, where she answers questions from writers, talks about what she loves about her job and the city, and (occasionally) rants about things that drive her crazy in publishing.

Janet also runs the Query Shark blog, where she posts and critiques query letters submitted to “the shark” (with permission from the writers, of course). Writers have the opportunity to revise their queries based on her comments, and you can see the step-by-step revisions that took a query letter from “meh” to a resounding “YES.” Want to know what an agent really thinks about a query letter? The Query Shark blog will give you that inside look. IMHO, this site is hands-down the most valuable query resource available to writers online.

Most importantly, Janet is a kind, sensible human being who helped make the publishing world a slightly less scary place for me, when I was a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed newbie writer. It is truly an honor to have Janet Reid, AKA Mme. Shark, on DIY MFA Radio today.

In this episode Janet and I discuss:

• What inspired the Query Shark blog.
• What a query letter is and why you need one.
• Query pitfalls and pointers so you can make yours shine.
• What happens after your query gets accepted.
• When persistence pays off and when it doesn’t.

Plus, Janet’s #1 tip for writers.

Resources:

To learn about Janet, follow her on Facebook and Twitter, or visit her literary agency blog or her website. You can also find her query-related pearls of wisdom on her Query Shark blog. For more information about FinePrint Literary Management visit their website.

Link to Episode 70

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, leave a review, and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available. Also, if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please share!

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome.

The post Episode 72: How to Write a Killer Query – Interview with Janet Reid appeared first on DIY MFA.

I got through the live pitch session successfully, leaving with five manuscript requests. Though none of the submissions panned out, the critique I received from those excellent agents put me on the road to revising my entire novel. Just when I’d begun to query the revised version, I read about Twitter pitching on this very website (Robin Lovett’s article on #PitMad). When I read the article, I decided to go for it. It was only two days away, so I spent every spare minute drafting and scheduling 24 tweets to fill the maximum requirement. And it paid off, big-time. I got eight requests from agents and one from an editor. I didn’t expect such a bounty of “favorites,” but that wasn’t even what excited me most about the day. I realized, as I watched my tweets appear on the screen and helped re-tweet other writers’ pitches, that I was completely wrong to dread pitching. Pitching is exhilarating. Pitching is fulfilling.

Pitching is AWESOME.

Here’s why:

1) Preparing for the pitch gives you perspective on your project.

If you’ve never pitched before, or if you haven’t pitched in that format (talking and tweeting require very different strategies) you’ll be forced to dive deep into the soul of your story and answer the question: What is this really about? This exercise can be a lot harder than it seems at first. It’s easy to come up with something existential that doesn’t really tell an agent what they’ll be looking at. On this one, I suggest looking for advice on creating a pitch before you attempt it on your own. For my first live pitch, the workshop held before the pitch session at that conference was invaluable; I left with a completely revised pitch and much clearer message. (It was the Writer’s Digest Conference Pitch Slam; the pre-slam workshop was taught by Chuck Sambuccino. I highly recommended both.)

A note on creating your pitch: If you’re finding it impossible to distill your story down to a 90-second verbal pitch, or those 140 characters? That’s a good indication that your book might not be cohesive enough to pitch just yet.

2) Agents Are Showing Up to Talk to You

Most of the time, when you send a query, you have no idea whether you’ll get a response. You don’t even know for sure if the agent is accepting new authors, or if the information on the web is accurate. But when you pitch, you can feel confident that every agent out there is looking for something new, or they wouldn’t be there at all.

3) You Finally Get to Share Your Great Idea!

You’ve had this great idea burning a hole in your heart for– well, years, probably. This idea has belonged only to you, and you’ve worked for hundreds of hours trying to reproduce it in a way that can be communicated with the world. Pitching an agent is the first step to sharing that idea and all the dreams that go with it. It’s like releasing a balloon: heady, buoyant and free, with just a tinge of fear about where it will end up.

4) You Can Get Multiple Invitations to Submit in a Single Hour Or Day

That would be impossible by traditional means; you’d have to send out dozens of queries that all came home to roost at the same time. The worst thing about querying is the waiting. Often, you don’t even know whether it’s been read unless you ask again. But with live or Twitter pitching, you get an immediate response. Even if your pitch isn’t accepted, it feels good to know that you’ve crossed someone off the list and can move on.

5) You Can Network With Other Writers

This was a benefit I didn’t consider at all, and by far the most “awesome” of this list. At my first in-person pitch session, we were all so nervous that it felt natural to try our pitches on each other. I made some great friends just standing in line waiting to go in. And in some ways, Twitter pitching was even better. I got to read and re-tweet some brilliant ideas, and connect with the writers behind them. I gained at least 50 followers in the aftermath of the Twitter pitch alone, and made connections I’d never have been able to seek on the same scale otherwise.

Whether live or via social media, pitching sessions are events that all writers should seek out and try for themselves. You’ll receive the awesome benefits of connecting with writers and agents, sharing your ideas and refining your work. And who knows? Maybe it’ll even lead to the most awesome thing of all: getting your book out into the world.

Leanne Sowul writes historical/literary fiction and teaches music from her home in the Hudson Valley, NY. Although she generally hates talking to strangers and using social media, she’s grateful that being a writer has forced her to get better at both. Her blog Words From The Sowul is a haven for writers, readers and lovers of words. Connect with Leanne at her website, via email at leannesowul(at)gmail(dot)com, or on Twitter @sowulwords.

The post #5onFri: 5 Awesome Things About Pitching Your Book appeared first on DIY MFA.

“I want to be a writer when I grow up, and I’ve been told that I’m even good at it. I love writing, I really do, I just… I feel like I’m never going to get past writing essays, fanfiction, and short stories for local contests. Do you have any advice?”

Emily, thanks for asking this very important question. This is a big topic that a lot of writers struggle with, but don’t fret! I have a few suggestions that will help you stay on track and maybe even turn your writing into something more.

There are four simple steps that never fail when you are looking to up your writing game.

1. Write something short and focused.
2. Revise it until it’s awesome.
3. Submit it.
4. Repeat.

Now granted, this may seem oversimplified. But these four steps are your best bet to getting that first crucial publication credit.

If you’re focusing on fiction, write a story that’s awesome and then look for the perfect home for it. Smaller literary magazines in your particular niche or genre are a good place to start. Once you find the right home for your writing, you’ll start building your writing credentials. The more by-lines and publication credits you can gather, the better your writing resume will look when you submit to larger, more prominent publications. That, in turn, will increase your odds of getting published in more those bigger publications.

If you’re focusing on non-fiction work, the same basic principles apply. Start with smaller, niche publications in your area of expertise. The more by-lines you can get, the more you’ll build your reputation as an authority in your chosen subject. I recommend that you start with on-line publications where there’s more space for new voices. And don’t forget, when you’re ready you can pitch to big name publications’ on-line departments as well, to get your foot in the door.

You can also gather by-lines by guest posting on blogs. Again, same idea. Find a blog that already focuses on a topic you want to write about, or with an audience that you would really like to reach, and pitch your idea to them.

Usually, when you’re submitting guest posts or non-fiction articles, you’ll pitch concepts instead of writing on spec. That saves you from having to do all of the work beforehand, only to get rejected. When I pitch a concept to an editor, I like to give them three ideas. This shows that I have LOTS of ideas instead of just one pet project while not overwhelming the editor with too many options. Plus, it gives the editor you’re pitching to a choice and some control in what they publish should they want to work with you.

And while we’re on the subject of editors, here are a couple of tips for building a good relationship with your editor:

• Build your writing resume. This shows that your work has been vetted by other reputable sources. An editor appreciates knowing what experience you have.
• Take edits gracefully. Don’t be that diva writer who won’t allow a single change to your work. On the one hand you want to make sure your work reflects your voice and the spirit of the piece you submitted, but usually when an editor suggests a change, it’s because they’re trying to help you put your best foot forward.

Finally I want to mention the touchy subject of being paid for your writing. Some writers believe–and with good reason–that you should always get paid for your writing, and that you should never write for free. I can understand their reasoning, but I think that sometimes you can get benefits other than payment that are just as valuable to your writing career. Sometimes exposure to an audience or the extra by-line can be worth writing for free. Make sure that you don’t limit your opportunities either by taking on too much free work for not enough comparable value, or by refusing to write without getting paid.

One caveat: Remember that money should always flow to the author, not away from the author. Never accept a job where you have to pay someone to publish you.

Link to Episode 44

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, leave a review, and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available. Also, if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please share!

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome.

The post Episode 44: Take Your Writing to the Next Level appeared first on DIY MFA.

But first, let me start with a crazy fact. According to a University of Scranton study, only 8% of people actually achieve their New Year’s goals. For many people the new year begins with all the best intentions for making a change or doing something they’ve never done before, but within a week or two of having made them, most resolutions are broken or abandoned.

I’ve been there, too. What I’ve found is that, when I have made resolutions that actually stick, they have a few things in common. In today’s episode, I want to share with you what a good resolution is made of along with five tips to help you make writing resolutions that stick.

What makes a resolution work

• Choose a resolution that matters. There has to be something important at stake. Figure out what you’re passionate about and what you really want to accomplish. When a resolution is tied to a high-stakes goal, you’re more likely to see it through.
• Choose one small thing to change at a time. Ease yourself into the new habit you’re trying to create. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. You’ll be more likely to follow through if you feel like you can actually be successful. This concept is called building mastery and it’s super-important for keeping up your motivation.
• Don’t expect yourself to stick with the same resolution all year. Remember that you will change as a result of the resolutions you’re making. Be ready to add challenges if your resolution starts feeling too easy , or to scale back if you feel like you’re in over your head.

5 tips to make writing resolutions that stick

1. Celebrate and take stock of where you’ve been. Be proud of what you have already accomplished. Use your past successes to help plan your future ones.
2. Honor your present reality. It’s so important to recognize what your life requires right now and what you can handle. Don’t make a commitment to something that’s going to make you crazy before you can finish it. Know your limits and your needs and make sure you account for those things when you’re setting your goals.
3. Look ahead to your big dream. Write that big dream down and save it somewhere so you can refer to it when you need a dose of perspective or motivation to keep at it.
4. Make S.M.A.R.T. goals. This means setting goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-sensitive. See below for more details.
5. Evaluate and adjust your goals accordingly. Don’t get stuck in a pattern that’s not working. Figure out what does work and make changes that will keep you on track to achieving your dreams.

Setting SMART Goals:

• S: be SPECIFIC – What is it that you expect your resolution to help you accomplish? Are you going to write a novella? a book of short stories? a memoir?
• M: have MEASURABLE goals – How will you know you are accomplishing what you’ve set out to do? Are you writing a certain number of words per day? or for a certain amount of time?
• A: make ATTAINABLE goals – Make sure you can actually succeed. Break your goals down into manageable parts so you can check them off the list and see your progress.
• R: be RELEVANT – Whatever your resolutions are, make sure they are leading you toward your big dream (see number 3).
• T : set a TRIP-WIRE – Give yourself a deadline, a specific point at which you stop and take stock.

What’s your writing resolution for 2015?

Sharing our goals makes it all the more likely that we’ll actually reach them because we’ll have the support and encouragement of our fellow writers. So tweet your writing resolution using the #DIYMFA hash tag by clicking this link. Or, if your resolution doesn’t fit in a tweet, tell us in a comment below. Share your resolutions with your friends and family, too, and ask them to help keep you on track.

Link to Episode 23

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, leave a review, and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available. Also, if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please share!

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome.

The post Episode 23: Make Writing Resolutions That Stick appeared first on DIY MFA.

Dan and I talked about how the book has evolved, what it means for something to be a book, and what all these changes mean for authors. In particular, we discuss different publishing options for writers, and how to get your book in front of your audience. I’m so excited to share our conversation with you.

Check out the interview below.

About Daniel Milnor

Daniel Milnor once worked as both a fragrance model and a hot tub installer, but is better known as a reformed-journalist, photographer and writer who is now, once again, performing these duties in his role as “Photographer at Large,” for Blurb Inc., the world’s premiere indie publishing platform. With Blurb, he does photo essays and special projects, in addition to much of the educational outreach and many lectures and workshops about how to use the platform. He splits his time between Los Angeles and Santa Fe. Learn more about Dan and his photography at his website: www.shifter.media.

About Blurb, Inc.

Blurb is a premier indie publishing platform. They offer both print-on-demand and offset printing services. With Blurb, you can create, publish, sell, and distribute photo books, trade books, and magazines in print and digital formats. I discovered Blurb earlier this year when I attended a weekend workshop they offered in New York. In addition to publishing services, Blurb also recently joined forces with Jotta, a visual arts studio, to create an exhibition called Unbinding the Book. This show pushes the boundaries of what it means for something to be a book and explores different ways that a book might be created or experienced.

In this interview…

You’ll hear me and Dan talk about:

• Great tools for publishing and getting your books to your target audience,
• Influences for the creative process and why real life experience is so important to your work,
• The resurgence of serial publishing,
• and more…

Plus, Daniel’s #1 piece of advice for writers.

Link to Episode 20

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, leave a review, and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available. Also, if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please share!

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome.

The post Episode 20: Beyond the Book – Interview with Daniel Milnor of Blurb appeared first on DIY MFA.

Congrats! You’ve put on your silvery boxing pants, got your boxing gloves on, stuck that plastic guard between your teeth. Finishing something is no small accomplishment. (Pumping “Eye of the Tiger” at full blast during the reading of this blog post is optional.)

Now it’s time to get those gloves broken in and learn how to hit that knockout strike.

Getting something published is a long game. A lot of twiddling your thumbs, picking your nose, and constantly checking your Twitter stream. Looking for instantaneous success?

Hah. Haha. Heh.

When I first began to submit to literary magazines, I made a ton of mistakes that cost me valuable time and frustration. Let me here elucidate some of them so that you don’t follow in my bumbling footsteps.

1. Not Doing Your Research

You finished your story! Everyone must read it RIGHT NOW! Doesn’t matter if the magazine guidelines say they’ve seen enough Frankenstein/succubus romance to last a lifetime, because you know that yours will change their minds!

Coming from experience, magazine guidelines exist for a reason. When I read for Bartleby Snopes, we had to continually revise our guidelines of things we didn’t want to see because authors kept sending in stories that didn’t resonate with us.

In short: If the magazine classifies itself as “literary fiction,” hard sci-fi is going to be a hard sell.

Do the editors—and yourself—a favor and don’t submit to magazines that just aren’t picking up what you’re throwing down. You feel me?

Make sure you’re a good fit before you submit (Feel free to put that phrase to whatever catchy Arianna Grande tune is on the radio today). A great way to research magazines in your market is Duotrope or the Submission Grinder. I originally listed Duotrope on DIY MFA’s Resource List because you could search magazines for word count, genre, payments, average response times, and more. While it’s gone to a yearly payment (a cost I gladly pay, as I’ve found an incredible amount of magazines and have been published because of Duotrope), Submission Grinder is a good no-cost alternative.

2. Wanting to See Your Name in Lights

While poking around the literary magazines, one might notice that only about 10% of them (75% of percentages are made up on the spot) are in print; it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single writer must be in want of her name in print. Errr…I mean, one might be inclined to snub one’s nose at the online magazines. It’s not a real magazine, is it?

When I first started out, I wanted to see my name in print. It’s the thing we authors salivate over. But most print journals are highly selective—understandably so, since as we all know print is slowly slouching toward the way of the dodo (or however that phrase goes) and people don’t buy as many print magazines.

However, lots of people have access to internet—and these people love to read things for free.

Two of my favorite stories were accepted by two wonderful online magazines—one put my full story online for free and they both promoted the hell out of my work. That’s the kind of notoriety that you can not only tell your friends about (and earn rabid readers along the way) but that looks good in cover letters when you submit to magazines in the future.

Speaking of that (only natural) authorly desire for fame and fortune…

3. Going for the Big Money

I have a friend who has yet to publish anything, and yet he told me that he hoped to get his first short story sold to Tin House because he’d like to pay back some student loans.

Sure, I took my turn at the Tin House submissions. And maybe someday you’ll work your way up to that point, but professional payment is not easy to come by—and practically impossible on your first short story.

Let me say this once: If you are in this writing gig just for the money, get out now.

It’s totally possible to build a sustainable, lucrative career on writing. But when you’re first starting out, nobody’s going to be lining up to tuck money in your pantyline.

Editors of free/low-cost magazines agonize just as long and hard over which stories to include as those that offer high payment. It’s not like they’re cheap because the fiction is low-quality—it’s because these magazines want to get into the hands of more people and find you more readers.

Submitting to magazines that offer little to no payment might seem like you’re selling yourself short—literally—but once you get published? You’ll get that little boost of confidence and build a foundation for breaking into markets with higher author pay.

4. Submitting Only to Non-Simultaneous Markets

Most of the big, prestigious, pro-paying markets have this little note in their submission guidelines: No simultaneous submissions.

All that means is that they don’t want you submitting your story for consideration to other magazines while they’re reading it. They usually have the best of intentions for doing this—from keeping themselves from drowning in a stack of submissions to upping the quality of submissions, and even to allow themselves more time to carefully review stories.

But the problem comes when you see their average response time—3 months. I even know of one magazine which gives a minimum of 6 months.

As a beginning author, it’s likely that you’re going to receive more rejections than acceptances. That means that if you send your story just to one magazine, you could be twiddling your thumbs for 3-6 months before you get your rejection.

This is probably my biggest mistake when I first started submitting. Don’t do what I did. Submit lots of stories to lots of places. You still might wait 6 months, but at least you can submit the story to more magazines while you’re waiting. This will up your chances of getting accepted and ensure that you don’t throw things at the wall and scream colorful curses loud enough for the editors to hear.

I mean, wait, what? I never did that. Nope, never.

5. Letting Rejections Deter You

After over 50 rejections before my first sale, I was sorely tempted to give up. The self-doubt inevitably crept in: What if I’m wasting my time? What if I’m not cut out for this writing thing?

Maybe some of you reading this actually aren’t cut out for this writing thing. But if you can’t help yourself, if you absolutely must write—despite the nay-sayers—then you absolutely are meant to be a writer, no matter how many rejections you get.

Whenever one of my friends gets a rejection, I congratulate them. Why? It means they took a risk. It means they’re moving forward. It means they’re building a tough skin and getting better as an author.

Keep on keepin’ on. Do you have any idea how many times Rocky Balboa got knocked out? I don’t. It’s probably a lot

Persistence is key. The more rejections you get, the closer you are to an acceptance, and to getting your first published story. Now, are you going to roll over or are you going to stand up and throw the winning punch?

Got a question? Tweet me @beccaquibbles with the hashtag #askbecca, email me at becca [at] DIYMFA [dot] com, or just leave a comment below! You could see your question answered right here at Ask Becca! 

…………………..

Rebecca Ann Jordan is a speculative fiction author and artist. She recently won Reader’s Choice Best of 2013 for her short story “Promised Land” at Fiction Vortex and has published poetry and fiction in Flapperhouse, Swamp Biscuits & Tea, Yemassee Journal and more. Becca is pursuing a master’s degree in Creative Writing from California Institute of the Arts. See more from her at rebeccaannjordan.com.

The post Ask Becca: 5 Worst Mistakes When Submitting to Literary Magazines appeared first on DIY MFA.