Twenty Questions

We didn’t get to all the questions in our list of twenty questions in our March 2023 meeting, so please email admin if there are more questions you really want to see covered in more depth. I’ve tried to include the conversation from the chat, as well as what went on aloud. Please let me know if I’ve missed anything important:

1) How do you find places to Send Your Writing?

• Authors Publish https://authorspublish.com/
• Poets and Writers https://www.pw.org/
  
• Oregon Humanities call for submissions: http://oregonhumanities.org/rll/magazine/call-for-submissions/
• Tualatin Valley Creates https://tvcreates.org/
• Writers’ Market (you might have to subscribe) https://writersmarket.com/
• Anthologies? Read one that you like, then look
  for them online and submit to the next edition
• Does anyone use any online submission tools (to
  find where to submit, keep track of submissions ect)?
  • Submissiongrinder https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/
    
  • Submittable https://www.submittable.com/solutions/publishing-and-journals/
    
  • Duotrope https://duotrope.com/promo.aspx
  • Querytracker https://querytracker.net/
    

2) How do You Find an Agent or Publisher

• Conferences?
  Willamette Writers (https://willamettewriters.org/)
  conference (spendy but great)
• Read
  the back of a similar book, write a proposal, submit…
• check
  out publishers online, e.g. using https://querytracker.net/
  
• Follow publishers
  online? Write reviews for them? Friend them on facebook? Exchange
  comments?
• How to
  check a publisher is legit?
  • https://www.facebook.com/prededitors/
    
  • https://writerbeware.blog/
  • https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/
    (but you have to pay to belong)

3) How do you Find an Editor?

• https://www.fiverr.com/
  
• https://indigoediting.com/
  
• Northwest Editors Guild at https://www.edsguild.org/  for Northwest editors
• Facebook, Goodreads… – meet people, see
  recommendations
• Might need more than one editor
• More editing after you get the contract – might
  give advice on avoiding copyright problems
• Join an organization and look on their website
  • Willamette Writers https://willamettewriters.org/
  • NIWA https://www.niwawriters.com/
    
  • Alliance of Independent Authors https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/
    

4) What if you haven’t got an Editor?

• https://www.grammarly.com/
  (free)
• https://prowritingaid.com/
  (“Grammarly on steroids”?)
• https://hemingwayapp.com/
• There’s a new Editor tool in Word on the Review
  tab, and you can use Excel to keep track of characters’ haircolor etc.
• Read aloud – Word can do that too!
• Read backwards… I don’t think Word can do that!
• Look for repeated words – we all have our favorites:
  so, but, and, …
• Join a critique group – writers helping writers!

5) How Long is a Book?

• Picture book                      1,000
  words – ish! These are all – ish
• Short story                         5,000
  words
• YA/Middle grade              50,000
  words
• Novella                               30,000
  words
• Novel                                  70,000
  words
• Historical novel                 90,000
  words
• Epic                                     100,000
  words

6) How do you write about Real People?

• Memoir – there are some legal guidelines
  • better to write about people who are dead,
  • but descendants might have concerns
• Family history – maybe let people read it before
  it’s published
• Fictionalize it (see below)
• General history
  • “Based on” means it should all be true, but
  • “Inspired by” means you can use your imagination
    to create new events
  • “Fictionalized” means none of it has to be
    entirely true

7) What about writing in collaboration with another author? Or being a Ghost-Writer?

• Ghostwriting?
  • Sometimes editing turns into something closer to
    ghost-writing
  • Jim worked with someone to help and/or
    ghost-write their story
  • https://storyterrace.com/ – you can pay a
    professional to help you write your memoir or
  • Team up with someone else in a group?
• Collaboration? It’s not easy matching writing
  routines and styles
  • Maybe you write alternating chapters in a novel,
    or alternating stanzas in a poem
  • Could try having one author write one
    character’s pov and another author write another’s.
• Could be a fun exercise for a contest sometime?

8) What about series?

• How often should new books come out? Look at
  dates on other people’s series
  • How long does it take to write a book? 13 years
    or more – how long is a piece of string?
  • How many do you have to have written to sell the
    series? Sell one but have more than one written
• Do the characters have to change and grow older?
  Look at other people’s series in your genre
• How do you keep track of details?
  • Scrivener https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview
    
  • Snowflake method https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/
  • Campfire https://www.campfirewriting.com/
  • Liquid storybinder https://www.blackobelisksoftware.com/ 
  • Word Anvil https://www.worldanvil.com/
    

9) What happens after you get an Offer?

• Timeline to publication? You might hear nothing
  for a year or more
  • What if it’s taking too long? Be patient,
    but make sure the publisher is still publishing.
• Editing process?
  • What if you hate their edits? Meeting
    face to face (zoom) and talking to your editor as a person helps you realize
    they just want to help. You might not have to accept all their edits
• Book covers? You can’t decide how the cover
  looks, but you can have input
• Advertising material?
  • https://www.vistaprint.com/,
    https://gotprint.com/ or make your own
    advertising stuff and print locally – see 11 below
• Getting paid? Hope for the best. Some pay on Paypal.
  Others (Amazon) want your banking information. Some will only pay you once you’ve
  earned over some set amount of royalties.

10) What about Copyrights, First Publication Rights, eBook Rights… and Lefts?

• If you write a blog or content for a website, that
  piece of writing is published.
  • Most publishers want “first publication rights”
    and would therefore reject it
  • Some are willing to accept “exclusive rights”
    (not available elsewhere) and might republish something if you remove it from
    your blog
• How do you protect yourself when you share your
  work? How many lawyers can you afford?
• Your copyright is yours as soon as you write, but
  • You might want to register it with the copyright
    office (costs money – not much, formfilling – of course, and copies) in case
    anything goes wrong, but
  • The copyright office won’t help you if it’s
    copied, and lawyers cost a fortune.
• You “give/sell” your first publication rights
  (maybe others) when someone publishes you.
  • A contract will state exactly which rights, and
    over what period of time. Read it carefully!
  • Writers’ Mill just wants permission to publish,
    even if it’s not the first publication of your piece. You have to be sure you
    have the rights to republish if it’s already been published elsewhere.

11) How do you Advertise Your Books?

• Give a talk: local library, historical society,
  bookstore – would depend on library’s programing, book’s audience, etc.
• Contact people you know:
  • high school alumni magazine
  • Neighbors – maybe advertise on https://nextdoor.com/ or write something for
    your neighborhood association newsletter
• Attend an event:
  • Beaverton city library’s local author’s fair,
  •  Oregon
    historical society Holiday Cheer https://www.ohs.org/events/holiday-cheer.cfm
    
• News release to local papers, but lots of papers
  don’t do book reviews anymore
• Social media – Facebook page, Instagram, TikTok
  (video)
  • Do a book talk or create a book video to put on https://www.youtube.com/
  • Join facebook groups, meet people who might like
    your book. Meet other authors – you help them and they help you (but don’t
    exchange book reviews – Amazon will notice and remove them!)
  • Find someone to do social media marketing on https://www.fiverr.com/
• Create a “signature” line for your emails,
  advertising your book.
• Make a website (Zita has given various
  presentations on how to do this and might be willing to do another one)
• Bookmarks, Flyers, etc. You can make your own
  with  Word, https://www.canva.com/, MS Publisher,
  InDesign. and save as a PDF, then take it to a printer: Kinko’s, Staples …Full
  color costs more.
  • or use online creation tools: https://www.vistaprint.com/
  • https://www.gotprint.com/
    
  • https://www.zazzle.com/
    
  • Cedar House Media Printing on Allen Blvd.
  • Minute Man Press, Beaverton.

12) How do you Sell Your Books?

• Amazon (takes a cut, sets a minimum sale price)
• Independent bookstores (but they don’t like
  Amazon)
  • Sell on consignment – you deliver the books.
    They sell them and give you a percentage of the sale price.
    • You might want to make sure you’re still making
      a profit!
  • List on Ingram to make available outside Amazon,
    but this cuts into your profits
  • Print with IngramSpark as well as with Amazon
    (but still hard to get into stores)
    • The whole “returns” thing is a disaster waiting
      to happen. Bookstores like to be able to return unsold books, whatever
      condition they are in, and you have to pay!
• Go to local bazaars, farmer’s markets, etc (Some
  authors have booths at local farmers markets, but they may have to “register”
  their business first)
• Give talks and hand-sell – you get a better
  profit that way, even if you reduce the price!

13) How /why would you decide to self-publish?

• Enjoy the challenge?
• Got bored with getting rejections?
• Want more control over style and cover?
• Want to control when the book is released (e.g.
  if it’s immediately relevant)?
• Just want to get it finished?

14) Is Self-Publishing Difficult?

• Look at the help section on our website https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/help-2/
  
• Be ready to learn – it does take time, and you
  will make mistakes
• Be patient – you’ll figure it out eventually

15) What Tools do you need to make a Zine?

With thanks to Robin for these answers:

Definition – a publication you make and distribute yourself – booklet, CD, comic… any topic, offers free expression outside of formal publication. A Zinester is someone who makes zines. For more info (and help) try:

• Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC) https://www.iprc.org 318 SE Main St. Suite
  155, Portland, OR 97214, (503) 827-0249, Hours: Mon.,Tues. & Sat. noon-6pm
  Wed. 6-9 p.m. Thurs. & Fri. noon-9 Sun. Closed Facebook: IPRCDPX
  • Annual event: Portland Zine Symposium www.portlandzinesymposium.org pdxzines@gmail.com Most recent event was
    in September 2022, at Portland State University. Previous ones were in August.
    Info updated within a few months of the coming symposium. In addition to the
    weekend event, related events are held. You can get on the mailing list for
    email updates. Facebook: PortlandZineSymposium

Things Sheila says you might need:

• Long stapler
• Printer, paper, and ink
• A way to get things on the right pages
• A program that lets you move text and images
  around on the page
  • Or access to a good photocopier

16) What Tools do you use to Format a book?

• Can do it just with Word (see our website)
• Vellum https://vellum.pub/
• Scrivener https://www.literatureandlatte.com/
  
• Kindlecreate https://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Create/
  
• InDesign https://www.adobe.com/products/indesign.html
  (expensive)

17) What Might I need to know about Book Design?

• Why left-facing pages matter (left-facing =
  odd-numbered. Chapters or sections often look best starting on left-facing
  pages, and it’s a good idea not to have a page number on the blank page facing
  them (if its blank of course).
• Why you don’t want single-word lines at the ends
  of paragraphs (Word helps with widows and orphans, but sometimes you need
  “manual line breaks” to make things look better)
• Why white-space matters (poor white space gives
  a poor reading experience – not so relevant for ebooks though)
• Where to put the copyright information (top of
  first right-facing page after title)
• You can download templates for the size of book
  you are creating. The template will have good page sizes, margins, gutters…
  even fonts and page numbers… (but it might not be right for a book with colored
  pages!)

18) How do you make or purchase a cover?

• https://www.fiverr.com/
• https://www.canva.com/
  
• Photoshop https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html
  
• Upload an image to Amazon kdp, but make sure
  it’s the right
  • Size
  • Shape
  • Resolution (300dpi or more): Downloading
    templates is a good idea

19) What Might I need to know about Cover Design?

• Fonts
• Spacing of text – for a good visual effect,
  you’ll want to control the space between lines)
• Colors – do you choose contrasting or matching
  colors for text compared to image
• Width of spine – is there room for any text?
  (Kdp can be picky, because the print process sometimes offsets the spine and
  they don’t want purchasers rejecting your book)
• Back-cover blurb – can be same as blurb on the
  Amazon page
• Reviews – these look good on the back cover, but
  then you’d need readers before you publish