But for some of us, it’s useful to understand the nuts and bolts of how things work, so I thought it might be useful to share a short primer on the publishing business. For some this subject may be review, but for others this may be completely new information. My hope is that it will help you make informed decisions about your own path to publishing, so you can build an author life that works for you.

Traditional vs. Indie Publishing

First things first: when folks talk about publishing, the conversation often breaks down into a debate between independent (indie) and traditional publishing. The truth is, there are certain factors that these two paths have in common. In both traditional and indie publishing, someone has to cover the upfront costs of producing the book. These costs include (but are not limited to) editing, cover design, book layout, marketing, and so forth. The main difference in these two models comes down to who covers those costs. In traditional publishing, all those costs are covered by the publisher, not the author. This is why the author usually makes a much smaller percentage from each copy of their book sold.

In indie publishing, on the other hand, the author gets a much larger percentage, but they also have to cover all of these upfront costs. On one hand, this means they have much more control over the final product, because as publisher, everything is under their purview. On the other hand, it does mean that indie publishing is an investment and author-publishers often have to spend some amount of money before seeing a nickel in royalties.

Think of it this way: indie publishing essentially means you have to take off your “author hat” and put on your “publisher hat” because now you are in charge of a publishing imprint of one author. That author just happens to be you. This means that an indie author has to juggle two separate roles. As publisher, they have to coordinate the production of the book, and as author, they have to manage the artistic side of creating a great story. For some authors, this approach is exciting and they love the idea of being completely in control of their book’s production. Other authors don’t want to juggle, so they prefer to go the traditional route and partner with a publisher.

When authors ask me for advice about whether they should pursue traditional or indie publishing, I always say the same thing. Indie publishing should not be treated as a second-best option. If you choose to indie publish, choose it proactively and with agency. Don’t default to it simply because you tried the traditional route and it didn’t work out. Indie publishing is a big commitment, and it deserves to be treated as a first-place option, not as the runner-up.

I will add that there’s also a third option called hybrid publishing, which falls in the gray area between traditional and indie publishing. Every hybrid publisher is different, so it’s hard to give an exact overview of how this works. In some cases, they provide certain services—like editing or cover design—a la carte. In other cases, the hybrid publisher splits the costs with the author in some way. The main things to consider with all three publishing models are twofold: (1) What percent of the profit does the author get? (2) Who retains what rights to the work? No matter which publishing path you choose, you need to be very clear about the answer to both of these questions.

Let’s Do Some Trad Pub Math

I think the best way to understand how different publishing models work is to put some numbers to it. First, let’s talk about traditional publishing. Some of the time (not always) the author receives an advance as part of their book deal. Let me make one thing very clear: the advance is not “free money,” it is simply the author being paid in advance for royalties they have not yet earned.

This means that in order for the author to start getting royalty checks for their book, they have to sell enough copies to pay back the advance they have already received. This is called “earning out” and only around 20-30% of books reach that milestone. This means that anywhere between 70-80% of books do not earn out their advance. In other words, the books did not sell enough copies for the author to pay back the advance they already received, meaning that the author gets no additional royalties on top of that advance.

The reason so many books don’t earn out is because a lot of traditional publishing operates in a manner akin to venture capital. For example, if a publisher acquires 10 books, they’re banking on maybe one of those books going through the roof and selling a bazillion copies. Another two might earn out, but maybe not by much. The rest of the books don’t earn out at all, but the book that sold the bazillion copies makes enough profit to cover the costs of producing those seven other books.

Because the publisher is not looking to make a huge profit on every single book, it does mean that some books—quieter or more niche books—still have a chance of getting published, even though their anticipated sales might not be super-high. Not earning out, however, does hurt the author’s chances of getting another book deal down the road. If an author’s last book didn’t earn out, it makes it that much harder for them to get their next book published because publishers may be concerned with their sales record.

Let’s get back to talking about advances (Note: these numbers are purely hypothetical.) Suppose you get a $1,000 advance, your book is priced at $10 per print copy, and your percentage is 10% of the list price. This means that for every print copy sold, you get $1, so you have to sell 1,000 books in order to earn out your advance. When you get to book 1,001, then and only then do you start seeing additional royalty checks.

Now, the numbers can get tricky pretty quick, because they depend on a lot of different factors. For example, if your royalties are based on net profit versus list price, your royalty comes from the profit the publisher makes after the costs have been factored in, rather than being a percentage of your book’s cover price. You might also have a variable royalty schedule, where your percentage grows once you hit certain sales numbers. (Like, you might make 10% for the first 1,000 copies, 12.5% for copies 1,001-3,000, 15% after that, etc.)

Keep in mind also that ebook sales have a different royalty rate—and a different price point—than print books. So, depending on the type of book, print books might be your primary source of sales, or it might be ebooks. Certain genres or categories tend to do better in one format over the other, so understand your market and get a good sense for where the bulk of your book earnings will come from.

What I always recommend writers do if they have a traditional book deal is to calculate their “magic number,” i.e. how many books they need to sell in order to earn out. Sit down, do the mathy-math, and figure out exactly how many books that is. When I got the DIY MFA book deal, I calculated my magic number and it gave me a manageable goal to aim for, so that within a year I had earned out my advance.

Indie Publishing Math Looks a Little Different

For indie publishing, the numbers work a little differently, but there’s still that same factor of the upfront costs. The main difference here is that the author covers those costs, because the author is also the publisher. In addition, unless you run a kickstarter or other crowdfunding campaign, you won’t get an advance, so the only money you make is after your book is already on the market. This means that the publication costs are an upfront investment and you’ll need to sell a certain number of books after the fact just to break even.

Here, again, you need to do the mathy-math. First, you have to calculate all your costs for producing the book. This includes all the editing costs (often for multiple rounds with more than one editor), as well as cover design and interior book layout. Depending on the type of book, you may be able to do some of the interior layout yourself using a tool like Atticus or Vellum, but in other cases—like if you have a lot of diagrams or illustrations—your book may require a more detailed layout and you may need to hire a designer to do it.

According to several sources, the average cost to indie publish a high-quality book is anywhere between $2,000-$4,000, but that amount can vary wildly depending on many factors. For example, some genres have higher costs. Nonfiction books require indexing which adds a whole other step to the publishing process and also increases the costs. Sci-Fi/Fantasy books are generally longer than novels in other genres, so the cost of printing will be higher as will the cost of editing. Historical Fiction novels require a lot of fact checking, and picture books have illustrations. All these costs can add up quickly.

Still, for the sake of an example, let’s suppose your book falls on the high end of that average range and all the publishing costs add up to somewhere in the neighborhood of $4,000. (Again, these numbers are hypothetical.) Your next step would be to figure out your “magic number,” which is the number of books you need to sell in order to break even and cover all of your production costs.

To calculate that number, first you need to figure out how much profit you will earn per copy of your book. Let’s say that number is $2. Then you just need to divide your total costs by the profit-per-book to get the total number of books you need to sell. In this case that would be 2,000 copies. Poof! You have your “magic number.”

Why the Numbers Are Important

The numbers make a huge difference when it comes to thinking about building a writing life and developing a sustainable career as a writer. Not only do you need to know your “magic number” so you can break even or earn out your advance, but you also need to consider what you need to earn in order to make a livable wage as a writer. For many writers, book writing by itself will not be sufficient to sustain a career. This is why so many writers write as a side hustle and have “day jobs” that pay the bills (or at the very least, jobs that provide health insurance).

The hard truth that most of us don’t want to admit is that it’s very difficult to make a living just by publishing books. Publishing one book is probably not going to be enough to sustain us. For most of us, we have to do something else that will supplement our writing.

In some cases, this means getting a regular 9-5 job, where you can clock in and clock out and spend the rest of your time writing. I know many people who write on their commutes. They have 30 or 45 minutes on a train each morning and evening, and instead of zoning out or listening to podcasts, they spend that time working on their books. Some writers teach writing as a way to supplement their incomes. For me, teaching has always been my primary work and writing has been something I do on the side, but for some writers it’s the other way around, and teaching is the thing they do to sustain their writing careers.

The truth is, unless you’re one of the lucky few, it’s very difficult to make a career as a writer doing nothing but writing.

Even if you’re one of the lucky ones and you get a big, splashy book deal, that still doesn’t add up quite as much when you consider how publishing works. Suppose for example, that you got an awesome $100,000 traditional book deal. Yay! Let’s do a happy dance!

Then let’s get down to reality and look at how the money gets parceled out. For starters, you’re not getting that $100,000 right up front. Most book contracts stipulate that the advance is delivered in parts, usually tied to specific deadlines. You might get one-third upon signing, another third when you’ve delivered your edits, and the last portion when your book finally gets published. It could be upwards of two years between when you first sign your contract and when your book is finally out in the world. This means that this advance could be spread out over three calendar years, amounting essentially to an income of $33,333 per year, a far cry from that original six figure number.

The math gets even stickier if it’s a multiple book contract. Imagine you got $100,000 for a two-book deal. This means you’re really only getting $50,000 per book, and that number will get divided up over multiple installments, as described above. This means you might be getting only around $15,000 per year while that publication journey plays out. Now, I don’t know about you, but while that’s a perfectly fine income bump, it’s not enough to sustain someone all by itself.

“But, but, but, Gabriela, what about all those indie authors who make tons of money every month and don’t do anything but write books? Can’t I be like them?” First off, let me be very clear, these authors are not just writing books. As indie authors, they are doing publishing-related activities, like getting their books edited and formatted, and they are also doing tons of marketing and promotion to build their network of readers. Many of these indie authors are also self-instructed experts at Facebook and Amazon ads and they spend as much of their time (or more!) building their brand as they do writing.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the authors who do well are also incredibly prolific, with many indie authors writing upwards of eight or nine books per year. These authors often have multiple series, each with several books already published, and it’s the cumulative sales of all these books (plus their new releases) that make them able to sustain a full-time writing career.

I share all this today not to be all doom and gloom, but because I think it’s important for writers to understand the realities of the business we’re operating in. For many writers, the key to career success is diversifying their revenue streams. This means having multiple irons in the fire and finding creative ways to bring in additional income. I know for me with DIY MFA, diversification has been an important part of our business strategy and it’s the reason why I’ve been able to do the work that I do.

So, to recap, you’ll first want to start by choosing the publishing path that most resonates with you. Next, don’t be afraid of the mathy-math. Get nerdy with those numbers and figure out exactly how many copies you need to sell either to earn out your advance or to cover your upfront costs. Finally, diversify your income streams so you’re not wholly dependent on only one thing. Basically, don’t put all your eggs in one publishing basket, but juggle a few different revenue streams.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

The post Writer Fuel: How Publishing Works – A Primer appeared first on DIY MFA.

Comparable titles (also known as comps) can be extremely helpful when writing and pitching your book to a literary agent or editor. 

They are also a huge way to ensure your book is marketed in the right place on Amazon or in the bookstore—and better yet, they’re good practice to learn how to read with a purpose. 

Finding bad comps for your books is worse than no comps. 

To avoid this, I’d like to share five must-knows to picking your comps, as well as a better idea about what makes a comp and how to use it in a pitch.  

Why Comparable Titles Are Important (But Not Mandatory) 

When I worked as an editorial intern at P.S. Literary Agency, finding comps was an important task. Comps could help the agent I reported to decide if a book was worth representing. It could also strengthen a pitch for a client’s new book to an editor.

Comparable titles, or books/stories that have certain similarities to another story, can be extremely useful when convincing an editor or agent that a story is worth investing in. It hints at certain story preferences and tastes, and identifies with what has worked in the market before. 

Plus, it attracts an ideal readership! 

In the first months of my role, finding comps was a challenging task. 

While businesses like Amazon make the research easier (Amazon, in fact, first gained success because of their brilliant move to recommend additional books a customer would like after purchasing a title), there are certain details I needed to keep in mind in order to find a good comp. 

I mentioned above that finding bad comps is worse than no comps. And the agent I worked for told me multiple times that comps weren’t mandatory in a query letter, although when good ones came along, they helped. 

You see, there’s a trick to finding good comps—if you know what good means.

I’d like to clarify this with five must-knows covered in this post.  

Must-Knows When Picking Your Book’s Comparable Titles

There’s a lot of great places to look for comps for your manuscript. 

Libraries are the underdogs of all story archives, and I’m always a huge advocate for local bookstores, especially since booksellers really know their titles, and will have loads of recommendations when you describe what you’re looking for in a book.

Keep in mind, comparable titles aren’t exactly like the book you’re writing (if it was, then why are you writing a book that’s already been done?), but they are similar (and different). 

For instance, you might be looking to make a connection with your story that an agent mentions they like on their #MSWL (manuscript wish list). 

Take for example a story that could be described as smart fiction that involves a startup business in today’s society. A good comp for this might be Doree Shafrir’s Startup: A Novel. 

Or maybe you’re looking for a book that takes a hard look at Islamophobia in American for young adults. Samira Ahmed’s Love, Hate, and Other Filters would be a fantastic fit. 

How about nonfiction? Perhaps you want a comparable title that explores female entrepreneurs and the gender gap in business. I’d highly recommend Sophia Amoruso’s #Girlboss, which I suggested as a comp for Susanne Althoff’s amazing book Launching While Female.  

All of these examples are good picks for the scenarios paired with them, but pulling these titless out at libraries, bookstores, Amazon, or Goodreads might seem overwhelming. At first. 

To ensure you find a good title for your story’s comps, turn to one of the four story providers above, and then use these five must-knows to make sure they’ll work. 

Note: While I linked to Amazon above, because Amazon is easiest for research, I deeply encourage you to consider buying local, if it’s in your means. I don’t always buy local, but if I can I do because bookstores and booksellers are awesome, and seriously worth talking to about stories.

I also thought you might enjoy this resource, which I’m passing along from Oprah’s magazine (I first saw it on Jodi Picoult’s social media), as it can help you locate and support black-owned bookstores: FIND THAT RESOURCE HERE. 

Recently Published

Agents and editors need comps that have been recently published, or published within the last three (maybe five) years. 

Why? 

Because they need to know that your book will sell in today’s market, and if there’s a good comp that has done this, they will probably have more success when using it in their pitch to an editor or publisher. 

However, there is an exception here. If you have two comps and one is older, or a TV show or movie, and the other is more recently published, it will work. 

Just make sure at least one of the comps you pitch has been published in that last one to five year mark. 

Published by the Big Five

This one is important, and what tripped me up most in my earlier months as an editorial intern. 

The Big Five are considered the largest five publishers in the publishing industry, and the agent I worked most closely with emphasized the importance of pitching comps published by the Big Five when pitching a debut author’s book. 

To check if your comp is from a Big Five publisher—and not a small publisher or indie publisher (or self published)—Jane Friedman created this phenomenal infographic. 

Another good place to cross your t’s is from almossawi.com. It’s amazing. Bookmark this page in your browser. Or print it out and pin it to your wall: Big Five Infographic. 

Performed Well in Sales

A good comp isn’t good unless it’s performed well in sales. Remember, comps are used to prove to an editor or publisher (or agent) that your book has what it takes to attract and please readers. Sales are evidence of this.

Of course, you’re probably not going to find a spreadsheet of a title’s finances online.

But you can discover if a book has done well by turning to best-seller lists, awards, options, and news about the book’s performance. 

Not Ubiquitous 

Another important must-know that you might not think about! 

This is also the number one reason why nobody should use a book like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (or any Harry Potters) as a comp. 

Just don’t do it. 

Of course everyone wants to be as successful as J.K. Rowling’s series, but Harry Potter has really become something more than a book. It’s a brand. 

And when books are ubiquitous, they don’t work well to pitch as a comp because there’s really no guarantee that any new title will reach that level of success.

Although we can hope! 

(Some other example not to use, although great masterworks for you to read and analyze: Eat, Pray, Love, Gone Girl, The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia—I’m sure there are others, but these for sure, in addition to the fact that they’re not recently published (see must-know number one).)

Clear Aspect on Back Cover That is Similar to Your Story 

Last on the list is the number one detail you should include in your query letter when pitching to an agent. 

What do I mean by a clear aspect on the back cover that is similar to your book? This is the similarity that makes your book the same but different to your comp. 

I mentioned a few of these examples with the books aforementioned: Startup, Love, Hate, and Other FIlters, and #Girlboss. 

Where (and How) to Use Your Comparable Titles

Once you do find a good comparable title for your story, it’s important to understand where and how to use them. 

If your heart is set on the traditional publishing route, the perfect place to pitch one or two of your comps is in the first paragraph of your query letter. 

Here, look for what the literary agent your querying is interested in representing (research their manuscript wish list or interviews), and then identify the aspect (must-know number five) that they mention.  

Not only will your comps work as a fantastic way to personally connect with the agent you hope will represent you and your work, but it shows you understand the market, your story, and how to research. 

All major pluses in future clients! 

If you’re not hoping to traditionally publish, comparable titles are still great ways to find your ideal readers and write your back cover. 

We all have select tastes when it comes to stories, and knowing how to find comps will help you find your groups. 

Why Good Comps Will Help You Read With a Purpose

As a fellow word nerd, you know that DIY MFA is all about reading with a purpose. And for good reason! 

If you can’t read with a purpose, you won’t become a better writer. Writers have to read in order to strengthen their craft, voice, understanding of story structure, and style. 

Writers also need to understand why a story works—or as I like to define this, advances the plot and develops characters with meaning. In addition to providing exceptional, unique settings, prose, and messages.

When you find a comparable title that works for your book, you should read it. Then, using your writing craft knowledge, start to decipher what makes your story the same but different. 

Hopefully you’ll pick up a few tricks to make your writing better along the way—without repeating the exact same ideas of other authors, of course. 

If you want to become a better writer, learn how to read like one. 

Do this by finding comparable titles that work. 

Thank You to DIY MFA, and a Bittersweet Farewell (for Now!)

For the past three and a half years I’ve had the great privilege to write as a columnist for DIY MFA. 

I first met and was inspired by Gabriela Pereira in 2015 at a Writer’s Digest Conference in New York City, connecting after a seminar she gave on characters. 

Enlightened, I started to follow her career, and later came across an opportunity to pitch a column for the reading portion of DIY MFA’s pillars, which became my Let’s Talk Books series.

Because of DIY MFA, I have grown as a writer, reader, educator, and advocator for stories in immeasurable ways. 

I have cherished my time with you fellow word nerds and the DIY MFA team, and am sad to write this farewell post (for now!), but am excited to focus on my burgeoning editing and storytelling career and growing family. 

As an editor and writer myself, I cannot encourage you enough to support the DIY MFA team. They are fun. They are smart. And they are supportive. (Not to mention nerdy!) 

I hope that you have benefited from this final, farewell post—and hopefully all the posts I contributed over the years.

I wish you well, and happy, purposeful reading. 

Abigail K. Perry is a Certified Story Grid Editor with professional teaching, literary agency, and film production experience. In addition to writing masterwork guides that help people learn how to write, read, and edit like a writer, she works as a freelance developmental editor/book coach and diagnostic editor. Abigail also teaches Genre-Focused writing workshops for the genres she specializes in, which include Women’s Fiction, YA Fantasy, Upmarket Fiction, Historical Fiction, and Scripts. Visit Abigail’s website if you’re a writer looking for an editor who will help you grow as storyteller, and who has experience in differentiated instruction, traditional publishing, and film.

The post Must-Knows When Picking Comparable Titles appeared first on DIY MFA.

Lee is the Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author of eight contemporary romances for Harlequin Love Inspired as well as twenty independently-published novels and novellas. She also recently contracted with Harlequin HQN to write three mainstream romance novels, the Safe Haven series, of which the first and second of these books, Low Country Hero and Low Country Dreams, are out now.  

When Lee is not writing, she’s probably cheering on her daughter at a gymnastics meet, teaching writers in Seton Hill University’s MFA program, and probably not cleaning her house.

So listen in as Lee and I chat about her amazing Safe Haven romance series and how to use your creative writing side to make marketing fun and successful.

In this episode Lee and I discuss:

• Balancing the predictability of romance with keeping your readers in suspense.
• Popular fiction vs. literary fiction in MFA programs.
• Brainstorming techniques to help keep your story moving forward.
• What types of marketing you’ll have to do in indie vs. traditional publishing.
• How to build up your writing community, even if you’re an introvert.

Plus, Lee’s #1 tip for writers.

About Lee Tobin McClain

Lee Tobin McClain read Gone With The Wind in the third grade and has been an incurable romantic ever since. The Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author of eight contemporary romances for Harlequin Love Inspired and twenty independently-published novels and novellas, she recently contracted with Harlequin HQN to write three mainstream romance novels, the Safe Haven series, coming in 2019. The first and second of these books, Low Country Hero and Low Country Dreams, are now available.  

When Lee is not writing, she’s probably cheering on her daughter at a gymnastics meet, mediating battles between her goofy goldendoodle puppy and her rescue cat, or teaching aspiring writers in Seton Hill University’s MFA program. She is probably not cleaning her house.

To connect with Lee check out her website at www.leetobinmcclain.com.

Safe Haven

Book 1: Low Country Hero

Welcome to Safe Haven, where love—and a second chance—is just around the corner…

Sunny, carefree days splashing in the ocean—it’s the life Anna George has always wanted for her five-year-old twins. And now that they’ve made it to Safe Haven, South Carolina, she won’t let anyone stand in her way. Not the abusive ex she’s just escaped and not the rugged contractor who caught her setting up house in the shuttered beachfront cabins he’s refurbishing. When he offers Anna and her daughters a place to stay in exchange for her help with renovations, she’s tempted. His gentle way with her girls makes her want to trust him, but she’s been wrong before…

A family is the last thing contractor and former military man Sean O’Dwyer wants right now. But when he discovers Anna and her girls, he recognizes kindred spirits. They’re survivors who’ve seen the worst of people, just like he has, and he’ll do anything he can to help them. As he and Anna spend their days bringing the cottages back to life and their nights sharing kisses in the warm bayou breezes, Sean must choose between the life he always wanted and the family he can’t live without.

Book 2: Low Country Dreams

Return to Safe Haven, where a new beginning with your first love is only a heartbeat away…

Yasmin Tanner has devoted her life to making other people’s dreams come true. But between running Safe Haven’s women’s center and caring for her brother, the long days—and lonely nights—are catching up with her…until Officer Liam O’Dwyer knocks on her door. She had good reasons for breaking Liam’s heart all those years ago, but that hasn’t made sharing their small town any easier. She’s missed him—that’s painfully clear to her now. But that’s not the only secret she’s keeping from him…

Ever since Yasmin left, Liam has kept his head down and his chin up. But when a woman from Yasmin’s women’s center goes missing, leaving her teenage son alone, it hits home for Liam. He’ll do whatever it takes to reunite this family…even work closely with the one woman he can’t forget. Yet as late summer days turn into cozy autumn nights rekindling the past, Liam suspects Yasmin is hiding something. And where her loyalties fall could mean the difference between lost love and a second chance at forever.

If you decide to check out the books in the Safe Haven series—Low Country Hero and Low Country Dreams—we hope you’ll do so via these Amazon affiliate links, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 255

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio or Google Play and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 255: Creative Writing and Marketing Combined — Interview with Lee Tobin McClain appeared first on DIY MFA.

]]> https://diymfa.com/podcast/episode-255-lee-tobin-mcclain/feed/ 0 https://diymfa.com/community/streamline-editing-experience/ https://diymfa.com/community/streamline-editing-experience/#comments Mon, 19 Dec 2016 16:06:27 +0000 https://diymfa.com/?p=28840 I imagine every editor has, at one point or another, dropped their head into their hands and ululated, “Why didn’t I tell my author this one tiny thing before it became a massive catastrophe?!” So, in an effort to prevent further histrionics, here are some things you, the author, can do to streamline the editing... Read more »

The post How to Streamline Your Editing Experience appeared first on DIY MFA.

]]> I imagine every editor has, at one point or another, dropped their head into their hands and ululated, “Why didn’t I tell my author this one tiny thing before it became a massive catastrophe?!” So, in an effort to prevent further histrionics, here are some things you, the author, can do to streamline the editing process for you and your editorial team once you’ve signed your book contract.

Update Your Software (and get familiar with it)

After you sign the contract, ask your editor what programs they’ll be using and then purchase a license or update your software. As far as I know, most publishing companies use Microsoft Word for the manuscript stages and various Adobe products for the production phases. Trying to constantly convert between Pages and Word is a headache and printing out the PDF and physically mailing it is expensive, slow, and inconvenient. It will save everyone time and (so, so much) stress if you simply get the home office version of the software your editor is using.

And then, play around with it a bit. Learn how to turn on Track Changes and how to accept or reject them. Figure out how to mark up PDFs. This might require some Googling or watching YouTube tutorials, but I assure you it will save you at least one headache down the line. Plus, it’s always good to score “Easy to Work With” points with your publishers!

Dont’ Embed Images

Fun fact, but most photos have various levels of copyright/ownership attached to them and aren’t free for use. As a general rule, don’t send the editor images unless you have permission to use them, or are requesting assistance in obtaining permissions. This can cause all sorts of legal issues if an image is accidentally published without the proper permissions.

Also, if you do want to use images (for instance, wildlife photos you took yourself), don’t embed them into the manuscript. First of all, this makes the file huge and unwieldy, but also, it will almost assuredly mean the photo isn’t of the correct resolution. Ideally, send a separate folder of high-resolution images that are correctly labeled, and mark in the manuscript where each image ought to belong.

No lyrics!

As a general rule, don’t include any copyrighted song lyrics the story can’t stand without. Song lyrics all require permission to use, and this is often a royal pain to obtain and can cost a lot of money—to the extent that it might even be impossible for smaller presses. It’s oftentimes decided that the best course of action is just to omit the lyric entirely—so as I say, make sure the story can still make sense without it!

Don’t Touch the Manuscript!

This is very, very important: once you’ve submitted the manuscript for editing, you (the author) are no longer in possession of the master document. So don’t touch the manuscript on your computer! Or if you absolutely have to, lock the document so that every little thing you do is automatically highlighted in Track Changes. That way, there aren’t two versions floating around with tiny, easy-to-miss differences. Then, when the editor sends you their marked-up manuscript, you can simply transfer your edits from your document to the master.

Make Requests Early

If there’s anything specific you want for your book, be sure to ask about it early. For instance, if you want ragged edges or a specific type of paper, you should mention that, preferably, sometime before the book is already at the printer. Ask for a production schedule from your editor and find out when various pieces need to be finalized. As with most things, use your common sense on this one. Of course, doing the opposite and making a request too far in advance means it’s more likely to be forgotten, but don’t be afraid to follow up on it.

Just remember: your editor wants to make you happy just as much as she wants to put your gorgeous book out into the world!

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Constance Renfrow is a New York-based writer and lead editor for Three Rooms Press. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in such places as Cabildo Quarterly, Denim Skin, and Petrichor Machine, and she hosts a monthly open mic series at New York’s Merchant’s House Museum. Recently, she compiled the anthology of millennial fiction, Songs of My Selfie, available from Three Rooms Press, and writes about the book publishing industry for DIY MFA. She is pursuing her MFA in fiction from Pacific University. Visit her at constancerenfrow.com or follow her on Twitter @MissConstance21.

 

 

 

The post How to Streamline Your Editing Experience appeared first on DIY MFA.

]]> https://diymfa.com/community/streamline-editing-experience/feed/ 1 https://diymfa.com/podcast/episode-112-interview-jerry-jenkins/ https://diymfa.com/podcast/episode-112-interview-jerry-jenkins/#respond Wed, 14 Sep 2016 12:41:20 +0000 https://diymfa.com/?p=27030 Hey there Word Nerds! Welcome back for another episode of DIY MFA Radio. Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Jerry Jenkins, author of 189 books with sales of more than 70 million copies. He’s had 21 New York Times bestsellers, including the Left Behind series and he now shares his writing knowledge on his... Read more »

The post Episode 112: Get Published (Part 1) The Traditional Route – Interview with Jerry Jenkins appeared first on DIY MFA.

]]> Hey there Word Nerds! Welcome back for another episode of DIY MFA Radio. Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Jerry Jenkins, author of 189 books with sales of more than 70 million copies. He’s had 21 New York Times bestsellers, including the Left Behind series and he now shares his writing knowledge on his blog.

Earlier this year, he launched his brand new Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild, a writing program that helps serious writers finish their book and get traditionally published. The Guild is already over 1500 members strong, and it is opening its doors to new members on September 19 for the final time this year.

In this episode Jerry and I discuss:

• What inspired him to start writing
• Learning the business of publishing before you dive in
• Myths that come up about the process of writing and publishing
• The importance of editing for good writing and learning from the critique that others receive

Plus, Jerry’s #1 tip for writers.

About the Author

Jerry Jenkins is the author of several novels, including both series and stand-alone. While most people know him as the author of the Left Behind series, Left Behind was actually his 125th book. His insatiable pursuit of great stories has also motivated him to write biographies of icons such as Hank Aaron, Orel Hershiser, Walter Payton, Meadowlark Lemon, Nolan Ryan, Mike Singletary, B.J. Thomas, and many other men and women. For the full list of his published books, click here.

To learn more about Jerry or to check out some of his resources for writers, visit his website, or follow him on Twitter or Facebook. His writer’s guild–which we discussed on the show–will be opening for registration soon. If you want to learn more about it, we hope you’ll do so by clicking this affiliate link where (if you choose to sign up) DIY MFA gets a commission at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Jerry is also offering a FREE writing workshop on “The 7 Habits That Will Help You Finish Your Book This Year” next Monday, September 19 at 1pm or 8pm ET. In it you’ll learn some of his top writing techniques and routines to help obliterate writer’s block so you can get that book done. This webinar will also give you a sense of Jerry’s teaching style so you can decide whether joining his guild is right for you.

I am honored to be an affiliate for Jerry’s Writer’s Guild and so delighted that I can share this opportunity with you. As with every writing program, the guild may not be a perfect fit for every writer. But if you resonate with Jerry’s teaching style and you find his approach to the writing process makes sense to you, then take a close look at this guild and what it offers. This is an opportunity to learn from a major bestselling author, and for right type of writer it could be a game-changing experience.

Link to Episode 112

(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 112: Get Published (Part 1) The Traditional Route – Interview with Jerry Jenkins appeared first on DIY MFA.

]]> https://diymfa.com/podcast/episode-112-interview-jerry-jenkins/feed/ 0 https://diymfa.com/community/find-the-right-home-for-your-work/ https://diymfa.com/community/find-the-right-home-for-your-work/#comments Mon, 05 Mar 2012 13:15:10 +0000 https://diymfa.com/?p=896 Publishing is a subjective business.  It’s easy to forget this.  Writers often get so caught up in fear or rejection that they avoid submitting work altogether.  This is understandable, of course.  It’s much less frightening to tinker with one’s work until it’s perfectthan it is to send the work out into the world.  It’s a... Read more »

The post How to Find the Right Home for Your Work appeared first on DIY MFA.

]]> Publishing is a subjective business.  It’s easy to forget this.  Writers often get so caught up in fear or rejection that they avoid submitting work altogether.  This is understandable, of course.  It’s much less frightening to tinker with one’s work until it’s perfectthan it is to send the work out into the world.  It’s a big, scary world after all, a world filled with editors and agents lurking in the shadows, waiting eagerly to tear apart our work the minute we send it out.

Or not.

Everyday, editors at literary magazines and agents in literary agencies face piles upon piles of submissions.  The dreaded slush pile. Having worked both as an intern in a literary agency and as a staff member for a literary magazine, I assure you that the slush pile can terrify editors and agents just as much as it scares the pants off of writers.  People reading slush have to make fast decisions about the work they read or they’d never get through it all.  And these decisions are inevitably subjective.

Ultimately, the key to writers’ sanity is to embrace this subjectivity.

I’d like you do a little exercise.  Pull out a piece of paper and write the word “rejection” on it.  Take out a second piece and write “acceptance.”  Now I’d like you to ceremoniously destroy these pieces of paper.  Tear them up.  Crumple up the pieces.  Stomp on them.  Set them on fire.  Whatever you choose to do, make it dramatic.

Why did I ask you to do that?  Because submitting your work–be it a query to an agent or a short story to a literary magazine–is not about acceptance or rejection.

It’s about finding the right home for your work.

When you get a YES or NO response about your writing, you’re getting feedback and this feedback helps you narrow down your search.  It’s like that picture book Are You My Mother? where the little bird goes from place to place asking animals that same question until he finally finds his mother.  We’re that little bird.  And we’re asking agent after agent (or literary magazine after literary magazine) “Is your agency or publication the right home for my work?”  Each agent or editor who says NO brings us one step closer to finding that one YES.

These words–acceptance and rejection–are an illusion.  They imply that if your work gets chosen, you’re getting that magic seal of approval whereas if you hear “thanks, but no thanks” your work is no good.  At least, that’s what it feels like.  The truth is that most of the time it has nothing to do with value-judgements like “good” or “bad.”  Some work happens to be the right fit for an agent or editor and some just isn’t.  What one agent or editor sees as not for them, could be the piece that another agent or editor has been waiting for.

And here’s the beauty of all of this: all you need is one.  Your work is not a Vanderbilt, it doesn’t need multiple vacation homes.  All you need is one.  One agent.  One editor.  One champion for your work.

Even if you send a zillion queries or submissions, this doesn’t mean the chances of your work getting chosen is one zillion to one.  Think about it, if your work lands in the hands of that one person who’s the best fit then the odds of getting a YES are 100%.  The trick is finding that one person and that’s where perseverance comes in.

Every piece I’ve submitted has eventually found its home.  With one story, I found the right fit on the first try and the whole process from submission to YES happened literally overnight.  Other pieces, took years and dozens of NO’s before I could find that YES.  But I’ve noticed one trend, whether the YES takes a few hours or a few years.  When the YES finally happens, the person saying it doesn’t just say it in an unceremonious form-letter.  They tell you that they’ve “been waiting for a piece just like this.”

And when you hear that, you know you’ve found home.

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]]> https://diymfa.com/community/find-the-right-home-for-your-work/feed/ 4