Negative Wanker About NaNo

OMG what a wanker!

So a friend of mine runs this writing site and online support group for writers

www.writeononline.com

and she posted today about the NaNoWriMo and this git wrote this!

What, in God’s name, is the purpose for undertaking such a meaningless activity? To write 50k words in haste cannot yield anything but a muddled, misguided first draft. If the only goal is to “complete the race” the only reward will be that such foolishness is finally over.

If you’re a writer, write. If you want to be a writer, write. Just don’t waste thirty days on a useless sprint when you hone your style and produce a few great pages.

What a jerk...here is what I say to that. First of all, why is it a waste? What exactly about exercising your skills and doing what you love is a waste?

Everyone writes differently, so why say something like that? Clearly this guy couldn't do it, so he has to be mean and nasty.

My first NaNo effort was a lot more than a muddled first draft and was published by a traditional publisher soon after.

So what I say to this eegit is F off would ya! Let others do what they want and have fun. If everything you write is Pulitzer ready, than good for you, stop raining on our parade.

NaNo starts Nov 1st~~ Who is with me?

NaNoWriMo is COMING UP!

Hey everyone!

Please stop by and check out my profile at the NaNoWriMo page.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/158809

If you don't know what NaNoWriMo is, you must swing by and check it out.

One month, 30 days to write a novel.

I have done it three times and completed it twice.

My second novel, Love You, Love Your Work, Let's Do Lunch! is a NaNoWriMo book!

I hope you will join me, it's fast, it's furious, it's fabulous and it's fun!!

In the meantime, please stop by my alter's page and read a ghost story every day until Halloween!

www.25daysofhalloween.blogspot.com

Cheers to all!!

xoxo Mi

I have two blogs that are meant to be like a book-Justine Ford and The Industry, (but got side tracked with other projects, so both are on hold for now), so I found this article very interesting and I hope you do as well. Have a great day!

XoXo Mi

Book Blogging: All It Takes Is a Native Guide

http://www.shewrites.com/profiles/blogs/book-blogging-all-it-takes-is

• Posted by How She Does It on October 7, 2010 at 6:40am

There are some book bloggers out there who have made it their business - literally - to bring authors and bloggers together. Florinda Pendley Vasquez (of The 3 R's Blog) introduces She Writers to a few of them.

I met She Writes' co-founder Kamy Wicoff when we both spoke on the "Evolving Publishing Ecosystem" panel at BlogHer'10 this past summer. After we were both stumped by a question from author Gretchen Rubin during our session - "There are SO many book blogs - which ones should I start with?" (there are no quick-and-easy answers to that one!) - we talked about the idea that one way of addressing it could be to develop a greater book-blogger presence in the She Writes community. After all, as most of us know already, one thing that the publishing ecosystem is evolving into is a place where the connections between readers and authors are more direct.

We kicked this initiative off during Book Blogger Appreciation Week (BBAW) last month, but it was never meant to stop there - bringing dedicated book bloggers to the She Writes community is intended to be an ongoing thing. Today, I'm focusing on some people within the book-blogging community who are drawing on their experience to function as facilitators between authors and bloggers. Their goal is steering writers toward their most receptive potential readers, while building a business based on doing what they love.

One of the first blogger-developed business ventures in this realm was TLC Book Tours. Founded in 2008 by California book bloggers Trish Collins (Hey Lady! Watcha Readin’?), the "T", and Lisa Munley (Books on the Brain), the "L," TLC has access to a large pool of blogs. They draw from that pool to create carefully-scheduled virtual book tours across a small group of selected host blogs. Lisa and Trish get to know the interests of the bloggers they work with, and as book bloggers themselves, are considerate of their time. They strive for a good match between the book and the blogger; to that end, their tours will sometimes include blogs that don't specialize in books but do have a content focus relevant to a particular book's subject matter. TLC encourages author involvement with tour hosts via guest posts and interviews.

Newly-established Booklicity is taking a different approach to the matchmaking process. Chicago-based book blogger Jen Karsbaek (Devourer of Books) channeled some of her frustration over book-pitch misfires - books that don't fit a blog, pitches that ignore a blog's review policy, requested review dates without enough lead time - into a targeted book-publicity service. Booklicity maintains an extensive book-blog database, and applies knowledge of the blogs within it to find those best suited to review a particular book; its packages offer authors a set number of blog reviews, but don't organize them as a formal tour. (Jen recently shared some tips about what not to do when working with book bloggers in a guest post at The Debutante Ball.)

Getting books into the hands of targeted reader/reviewers may be only part of a bigger strategy for some blogger/author ventures; their activities may also include developing authors' blogs and websites, fostering a presence on Twitter and Facebook, and social-media coaching. While these companies may have similar missions and menus of services, their end-products will be tailored to the client, and their approaches reflect the sensibilities of their founders.

Winsome Media Communications is a bi-coastal partnership between Amy Riley (My Friend Amy, founder of Book Blogger Appreciation Week) and Nicole Bonia (Linus’s Blanket). Their recent services to clients have included organizing virtual book tours, hosting Facebook parties, and website design. Nicole and Amy also host The Underground Literary Society, a podcast organized around selected themes and featuring interviews and discussion with authors.

Social MediU is operated by Mid-Atlantic bloggers Rebecca Joines Schinsky (The Book Lady's Blog, the Bookrageous podcast) and Michelle Franz (Galleysmith). In addition to social-media consulting and related services, Rebecca - a former bookstore events manager - has a special interest in blogger/bookstore affiliations; she partners with Richmond, Virginia's Fountain Bookstore, and worked with Fountain and the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) in developing the "Get In Bed With a Book Blogger" campaign.

If you're an author looking to connect with book bloggers, having a book blogger guide you through the process seems like a great way to get started!

Disclosures and Disclaimers: I have met several of these bloggers in person and consider all of them friends. I was not asked to write about their companies and received no monetary compensation for doing so. Rather, I initiated this project, requested, and received permission to write about each of them. However, I am open to working with any and all of these ventures as a blogger; my blog is an occasional tour host for TLC and Winsome, and is listed in Booklicity's database.

Rainy Days Are Great Writing Days

I love dark and rainy days like the one we are having in Los Angeles right now. They make me want to curl up and write.

I am working on getting a new agent for my two newest novels and am brainstorming with a fellow author about doing a novel together! We are very excited about it. I will let you know.

Also my alter, Stephanie, has started a new blog just for Halloween

and there will be a new short ghost story up every day from now until Nov 1st, so please stop by and check them out!

http://25daysofhalloween.blogspot.com/

Thanks everyone and happy writing!!

xoxo Mi

Literary Agents Open the Door to Self-Published Writers

Again, I am just grabbing an great article I found an posted it. I think this is great! I found this in Forbes of all places that I never read, maybe it's cuz I saw Wall Street and got inspired to think about money more, in any case. This is great.

I have been both self published and traditionally, but yes am looking for a new agent and find that it is harder because of the smaller publishing houses I have recently been with, but on the other hand. Recording artists always do independent CDs and writers do indie films, so I am not sure why the publishing world has been so hard on the self published writer, because everyone knows how hard it is to hit those big houses and get great agents.

I hope you'll enjoy this article and find it interesting, helpful and informative.

Have a great week!

xoxo Mi

Literary Agents Open the Door to Self-Published Writers

Posted by Alan Rinzler

The top dog at one of the most successful literary agencies in New York says he’s in hot pursuit of self-published books to represent to mainstream publishers.

“Absolutely, yes!” That was Jim Levine’s unequivocal answer when I asked him recently if he was accepting self-published submissions.

Levine is a founding partner at Levine Greenberg Literary Agency, among the top five overall most active agencies in the business, according to Publishers Marketplace. And he’s on the crest of a wave of agents beginning to represent authors who’ve self-published and are seeking mainstream commercial publication.

A notable shift in attitude

Levine’s attitude is a notable shift, since in the past, most agents shunned self-published books as tainted goods and a tough sell. Levine says that’s changing.

“Usually when we take on a self-published book we sell it,” he said. “We sold Jason Kaplan’s Things That Suck to Andrews McMeel Publishing, Jeff Rivera’s Forever my Lady to Grand Central, Dane Sanders’ Fast Track Photographer to Random House, and Ivan Sanchez’s Next Step to Simon & Schuster. And that’s just off the top of my head.

So we’re happy to take a look at self-published books. Of the more than 10,000 proposals we get every year, a few hundred are self-published and that number is growing. Sales track is key. If the author has sold 5,000 copies in the previous year, it interests publishers. And if an author has sold that many, she or he probably has some sort of platform.”

The times they are a’ changing

Literary agents have been the missing link for self-published writers trying to break through into mainstream publishing. When I recently interviewed Keith Ogorek, VP for Marketing at the self-publishing conglomerate Author Solutions, he said agents with old-school attitudes were the biggest obstacles for his authors pursuing commercial publishers.

But new attitudes are taking hold, especially among younger up-and-coming literary agents. Check out these three agents and their positions on representing self-published authors:

Nathan Bransford, the popular publishing blogger and agent for Curtis Brown in San Francisco:

“I definitely am on the lookout for self-published books, and have clients who started out self-publishing. I wouldn’t say that I have strict criteria for which self-published projects I take on. It’s all case-by-case.”

Bransford reports selling a previously self-published book on humane dog training, which will be published next year by New World Library.

Terra Chalberg at the Susan Golomb Agency:

“I would absolutely handle more of them, on a project-by-project basis. The self-publishing aspect, for me, only factors in as a sales tool in one extreme or the other – that is, if it hasn’t sold many copies and is “like new” or, if it’s sold so many copies it’s worth the investment (as happened with the self-published book The Shack, which sold a million copies and reached #1 on the NY Times bestseller list, before selling another five million copies since Hachette picked it up for mainstream publication.)

So, it doesn’t matter one way or the other to me or to the editors I’ve encountered. I wouldn’t ever turn a compelling project away because it had been self-published. It holds no stigma for me.”

Rachelle Gardner, an agent with WordServe Literary and also the author of Rants and Ramblings, a smart and well-written blog about writing and the book business:

“I haven’t taken any on yet, simply because I haven’t received any that impressed me enough. But I’d definitely consider it. My criteria are exactly the same as with any other project coming across my desk: Do I think I can sell it? Do I believe in it? Do I think I’d be a good fit with this author? Does the author have an appropriate platform to be able to market this book?

Then of course: how many self-pubbed copies has the author sold, and can they prove it?

Caution and skepticism persist

Not all agents are on board. Veteran agent Sandy Dijkstra (representing Amy Tan, Susan Faludi, Maxine Hong Kingston) for example, says she’s received very few self-published submissions but would handle one if she thought it had potential. So far, she hasn’t.

Another stellar agent, Jane Dystal (representing Barack Obama’s first book, Joy Bauer and Bobby Flay, among others) also has no self-published authors that she’s either represented or sold, as far as she can remember.

Joelle DelBourgo, a literary agent and former top executive at Random House, is divided on the subject, with one very successful experience and others not so much.

“A couple of years ago, an author approached me about her book, which she had self-published,” DelBourgo told me. “She wrote a wonderful letter, provided a dazzling promo kit and included a copy of a beautifully designed little book which she had sold to her clients, 4,000 copies or so, without any bookstore distribution.”

“I was intrigued, read the book right away and took her on. I sold the book for six figures practically overnight. But that’s the exception, not the rule. More recently, we took on an author who self-published a great marketing book and sold 6,000 copies, but publishers were still not impressed enough to take it seriously.”

So despite her initial success, DelBourgo is cautious and skeptical about most self-published books, expressing views held widely among mainstream agents. “My experience is that most self-published books have been poorly edited and produced. Authors don’t always understand that self-publishing means that YOU, the author, are the publisher, and need to do everything for your book that a “real” publisher would do, like editing, copyediting, design, production, marketing, distribution, etc.”

Alice Martell, of the Martell Agency in New York, says “Up until five years ago, I had a knee-jerk negative reaction to self publishing. It’s become quite attractive these days, however, as a way for an author to test-market a book’s commercial appeal. It’s funny, though. Most people don’t assume they’d be great lawyers, engineers or doctors, but easily imagine themselves as magnificent writers. So this is one field in which some kind of review process is absolutely essential.”

My view: Self-published authors need agents

As an editor at a big commercial publishing house, almost all my acquisitions come in through agents. So I’ve always believed that the best way for a self-published author to convert to commercial publication is with the help of an agent. A good agent who believes in your book can make all the difference in the world.

What about you?

Are you a self-published author seeking representation with an agent? How’s that going? Or are you an agent with war stories to share?

Ten Ways To Improve Your Writing~

When I was logging into one of my other blogs this morning, I came across this blog and loved it so much I thought I would share with you!

http://broadsideblog.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/ten-ways-to-seriously-improve-your-writing/

Ten Ways To (Seriously) Improve Your Writing

In Media, Money, behavior, business, culture, entertainment, work on September 28, 2010 at 2:18 pm

Margaret Atwood: "Put your bum in the chair!" Image via Wikipedia

It’s commonly said, (among writers who do it for their living), that blood to a surgeon is like rejection to a writer — a necessary part of every day’s work.

Whether a surgeon likes blood is irrelevant. Do professional writers — and ambitious amateurs — enjoy rejection?Irrelevant.

It’s not a game for delicate souls, whether you are paid for your work or hope to, or do not.

I’ve earned my living selling my writing since my sophomore year of college; here are ten issues professionals/ambitious writers take seriously:

1) Study writing. No, you don’t have to sign up to be an English major or get an MFA or try to get into the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. But if you truly want to improve your work, you’ll put your bum in the chair (as Margaret Atwood told me when I asked her how to write) and put your work before the skilled, experienced eyes of a teacher. That might be a workshop, a writers’ group led by a professional, an on-line class. Great writing, like everything that’s excellent, demands discipline and some training.

2) Study with more than one teacher. Every writing teacher has his or her quirks and habits, and the worst students learn to mimic them in order to curry favor. Bad idea.

3) Know what you want to say. Simply emoting about your mean Dad or drunk Mom may feel terrific and be cathartic for you, but without adding clarity, insight and polish, it’s rarely sufficiently satisfying to your readers. What larger, ongoing, universal truth(s) do you also plan to elucidate?

4) It’s all about the reader. Not you. Not impressing your BFF or writing pals whose enthusiasm and support are lovely, but ultimately totally distracting. They are to a writer’s growth as a Mom’s cheering your soccer game are to a coach’s whistle, drills and experienced observations.

5) Who is your reader? Who do you want to read your material? Everyone. Bah! Think again. Car manuals and cellphone instructions and IKEA literature are written to appeal to “everyone.” Who’s your best reader? Do you crave the undivided attention of suburban moms? Ex-addicts? Current addicts? Fellow lovers of hummingbirds/hiking/sushi/petanque? Decide who you most want to grab by the lapelsand write for them. Because not everyone is going to love your work. If they do, be very nervous. It’s not necessarily a good sign.

6) Read your work out loud. Yup. Your dog/cat/budgie won’t mind a bit. Artists look at their paintings in a mirror to catch it from a different angle. Reading your words out loud immediately alerts you to their cadence, rhythm, alliteration. Do they sound good? Do you want to hear more?

7) Let it cool down. Baked goods removed from the oven and consumed too soon — before cooling into the finished product — shred, crumble and waste the energy you spent creating them. Good writing should wait a while before it’s consumed by anyone other than yourself. Great writing can wait even longer. Write something and put it aside for 20 minutes, two days, two months. It will always read better after distance and reflection because you’ll see its flaws and have the dispassion with which to fix them.

Criticism is key to success. You’ve got to put your work out there — for review, criticism, thoughtful replies. Your work must be read by serious and ambitious writers/teachers/agents/editors. Some of them will have the skill to offer helpful insights, (some of which may surprise you or make you uncomfortable), and the generosity to do so.

9) You are not your writing. Until or unless you can separate yourself from the most intimate and private thoughts you share publicly, you’re toast — because you’ll overly personalize even thoughtful-but-challenging comments on your work as an attack on you. Wrong! As one pro writer friend told me, when I had to revise 10 chapters (there are only 12!) of my new memoir: “You’re a mechanic. Fix the engine.”

10) Rejection is essential. For many reasons. It means you’re actually putting your work and ideas out into the intellectual marketplace. Picture a bustling farmers’ market. Is everyone selling the same amount as quickly? Probably not. They know, and hope for, the best — a percentage of their goods to sell. If they go home with an empty truck, score! But they are wise not to expect it because they, like many others, took the risk of working hard to grow it, truck it and put it out for sale. No farmer expects buyers to coo over the beauty of their rutabagas. They have nutured their products with much hard work — but are able to remember that they are selling a product.

I have sold two non-fiction books to two commercial publishers. (And written another four or five full-length book proposals, circulated to many editors, that did not sell.) I’ve been through six agents, three of whom were very good, one of which — the final one — is truly excellent.

She’s very tough! We’ve even had shouting matches on the phone, as two hard-headed perfectionists hammer it out. Better to have so demanding an expert than some chatty, happy milquetoast who can’t sell my stuff.

Every day, these editors and the agents who put our work before them, are inundated with competitors. Both of my books were rejected by 25 others before they were bought. My agents kept on plugging because, as good agents do, they believed in the projects and in me.

What if I’d just given up, in floods of weeping and teeth-gnashing despair, after the 11th or 14th — or second — rejection?

Nora Roberts Quote

Thought this was a great quote for the day!

"The most important thing is you can't write what you wouldn't read for pleasure. It's a mistake to analyze the market thinking you can write whatever is hot. You can't say you're going to write romance when you don't even like it. You need to write what you would read if you expect anybody else to read it."
~ Nora Roberts