Ready to Publish

I made the decision to independently publish my book. The process should begin within a month, and it only takes a few weeks to have a book in hand.

I just finished another round of minor edits based on feedback I received from a published author and an acquisitions editor. Feedback from professionals is so important in this industry, and I want to focus on that a bit.

It’s important to understand that friends and family cannot provide the proper input needed to publish a book. Even if you have a friend that’s an English teacher at the local high school, that’s not good enough. It doesn’t even matter if you get feedback from an English professor at a major University. Book publishing is an entirely different animal than that found in academia.

But even professional reviews have to be taken with a grain of salt. Case in point, the feedback from the author was very different than the feedback from the editor – and neither was necessarily right or wrong.

The author was much more detailed in her feedback, and wasn’t happy with the way I portrayed a main character. The editor made a few minor suggestions, but basically said the story was well written and good to go. Which advice should I follow? Both!

I carefully examined the feedback from the author and made some of the changes she suggested. Other suggestions I decided did not apply to me. I’m now ready to go to press, and the chips will fall where they may. No book will ever be perfect. The best story will always have flaws in someone’s eyes. For better or worse there has to come a point when a book is declared complete.

And that is where things stand with my story. I’ve selected a publishing company and received a quote from them for the work I want done. Stay tuned as I detail this process. There’s a lot more involved than you might think.

Baggage

No one likes to carry around baggage. And baggage in your writing makes you appear less professional.

Let’s consider some examples. See if you can find the baggage in each:

1) There’s the house that Jack built.

Such a simple sentence. What could possibly be wrong with it? There’s one extra word that isn’t necessary – the word “that.” The sentence should read like this: “There’s the house Jack built.” In real life we might use the word “that.” In a book, it’s baggage.

2) Sam hung his head and sadly left the room.

Most of the time adverbs are no-no’s in professional writing. The sentence would be better like this: “Sam hung his head and shuffled from the room.” That said, Jerry B. Jenkins would probably have a fit over the phrase “hung his head” because of its literal meaning.

3) Jennifer took the gift out of the bag.

The words “out of” can be reduced to “from” for better word economy. “Jennifer took the gift from the bag.” Additionally, the word “took” could be changed to “removed” for slightly more interesting reading.

4) “Tell me, Alex, why are you so mad?”

Think about real life speech. How often do you say someone’s name in conversation? Other than initially trying to get their attention, this rarely happens. Get rid of the name-calling: “Tell me why you’re so mad.”

5) “I’m going to the store,” said Julianne.

Editors frown on the use of attribution which, in this case, is the word “said.” Most of the time, you’re writing should make it clear who’s speaking without use of attribution. This topic deserves more attention that I may address in a later post. Suffice it to say it’s good enough just to write “I’m going to the store.”

6) Sarah tossed a bright red ball to her niece.

This one is not so cut and dried. The question is whether or not the word “bright” or the word “red” is important to the story. Yes, sometimes we want to paint colors in the readers mind, but it’s easy to go overboard. Unless there’s some reason to describe the ball in detail, this sentence would be better: “Sarah tossed a ball to her niece.” Sound boring? Not every sentence needs frills. Save your adjectives for the important stuff.

In my next post, I’ll switch gears back to my publishing journey, which is about to pick up steam.

Good to Great

From the last post we started with the following book opening, which is pretty good writing:

The red Grand Am rocketed along the narrow country road, bouncing from side to side. An arm or leg stuck out of every window, moving in time to the THUMP, THUMP, THUMP of the thousand-dollar stereo. The speedometer eased past eighty-five.

Though not a sports car, the Pontiac was nowhere near its limit. The driver, however, needed to make a decision. A looming ninety degree curve dared him to keep up the breakneck pace.

But “good” is not good enough in the publishing industry. It needs to be great. Let’s see if we can achieve “great” with some subtle tweaks…

A looming ninety degree bend dared Trevor McIntire to keep up his breakneck pace. His fire-red Honda eased past eighty-five, blurring cattle and farmland on either side. The car jinked left, then right as human appendages jutting from all four windows rocked to the WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP of the thousand-dollar stereo, a collegiate party on wheels.

I’ve moved back to a single paragraph for this opening. Let’s examine the other changes I made.

The “rule” in book publication is that the sole job of the first sentence of any book is to make the reader want to go on to the second sentence. The job of the second sentence is to make the reader want to move on to the third sentence, etc. There are also some ancillary rules associated with the first sentence of a book. You are supposed to introduce the main character, preferably by name, and you are supposed to show some action. These “rules” can be broken, but the author must be wary in doing so. In summary, however, the job of the first sentence is to hook the reader.

A looming ninety degree bend dared Trevor McIntire to keep up his breakneck pace.

In the sentence above I introduced the main character by name, I’ve indicated action, and – hopefully – I’ve placed a question in the reader’s mind by saying that the character must make a decision regarding the ongoing action. If I’ve done my job well – and only the reader can judge this – then curiousity will have been generated about what decision must be made regarding the looming curve being approached at a breakneck pace. (Feedback please!)

The second sentence introduces more of the setting: Trevor is in a car travelling at a high rate of speed. The car is described as “fire-red” to add a little spice and plant the idea in the reader’s mind that this is a “hot” situation. Cattle and farmland indicates we’re out in the country (more setting), and “blurring” adds to the sense of speed. While not a “hook” sentence in itself, hopefully just enough information is added that the reader is still curious enough to move on to the third sentence.

The word “jink” is used purposefully, along with movement left and right to indicate a couple of things: First, the word “jink” refers specifically to the word used by fighter pilots to describe the quick and random motions they make to avoid enemy fire, and second, to show that the car is not on a steady course, but rather is subject to random – or perhaps, uncontrolled – motion. The arms and legs sticking out help add to the sense of chaos and the word “collegiate” sets the age of the characters. Finally, I changed the word “THUMP” from the original paragraph to “WHUMP” because that more accurately describes the actual sound one might hear from a pounding radio.

Notice that none of the information significantly changes between the two writing examples – it’s HOW the information is worded that has changed. And that is precisely what sets a good writer apart.

Next we’ll look at baggage. And I’ll explain in my next post what I mean by that.

From Good to Better

Recapping from the last post, here’s a paragraph that would probably get a quick rejection from an agent…

A bright red 2005 Honda Civic sped down the one straightaway on a long, winding mountain road, going thirty miles per hour over the posted speed limit. Inside the Honda, four college students jammed out to the sound of Jay-Z screaming his latest single from the hopped-up stereo. All four young adults had their arms and legs poking out the open windows, shaking them up and down to the music. Coming up soon, however, was a ninety degree turn. The driver, Trevor McIntire, would have to make a decision – slow down and risk his friend’s derision, or plunge ahead and take his chances with the curve. With only seconds left before he had to take action, he pondered the consequences of his decision as wind blew his hair all over his face.

And here’s the paragraph rewritten such that it placed in the top ten of the Jerry Jenkins contest. I’ve split it into two paragraphs. The car is a Grand Am instead of a Honda, but that isn’t relevant to our discussion…

The red Grand Am rocketed along the narrow country road, bouncing from side to side. An arm or leg stuck out of every window, moving in time to the THUMP, THUMP, THUMP of the thousand-dollar stereo. The speedometer eased past eighty-five.

Though not a sports car, the Pontiac was nowhere near its limit. The driver, however, needed to make a decision. A looming ninety degree curve dared him to keep up the breakneck pace.

Now, keep in mind that the above paragraphs weren’t good enough for publication, but they were much better than what came before. Why? There’s less information and less description, so that should be worse, right? Well, less is more, and a more concise paragraph is usually better in the publishing world.

One of the things that it’s important for a writer to learn is to leave gaps for the reader to fill in. If everything is described perfectly and in great detail, the writing becomes boring, and the reader actually becomes less engaged. The trick is to provide just enough detail to activate the reader’s imagination so that they fill in the missing information subconsciously. This causes the reader to engage more with the story.

Let’s consider some specifics that made the second version better:

1) Since it has no bearing on the story, the car can simply be “red” instead of “bright red”. Let the reader choose a shade they like.
2) The year of the car has no bearing on the story, either, so leave that detail out.
3) I changed the word “sped” to “rocketed”. This better sets the tone of the story, and descriptive verbs are better than everyday verbs.
4) It doesn’t matter that the driver is on the only straightaway on the road, so the adjective “one” is removed. I’m not going to list every example of removing extraneous words. If you compare the paragraphs, you’ll see similar omissions.
5) You could argue that it would have been better to leave in the part about “Jay-Z screaming his latest single”. That’s not bad or necessarily extraneous writing. It does, however, date the story, which is not always a good thing.
6) The change from “shaking them up and down” to “moving in time” is an example of economy of words. The revised version reads a little smoother as well.
7) Instead of just shaking to the music, the kids are now moving to the THUMP, THUMP, THUMP. This brings to mind the actual sound the reader will likely have heard before. Triggering the aural memory makes the story more realistic.
8) Using both economy of words and leaving out details that the reader can fill in, the revised wording says that the “speedometer eased past eighty-five”. The reader will know without explanation that this is way over the speed limit – regardless of what the exact speed limit is.
9) Instead of “seconds left before he had to take action” and “pondered the consequences…” we have a curve that dares the driver to keep up his speed. This personifies the curve, adds a more active verb, and eliminates ponderous description.

We could pick this apart in more detail, but the above points pretty much cover the types of changes that turn “good” writing into “better” writing. We still have work to do, but that will take place in the next post.

When Good Writing Isn’t Good Enough

As promised in the last post, I’m going to show actual writing examples that range from good to – hopefully – magnificent. Let’s start with the paragraph below…

The car sped down the road. The college students inside the car hung their arms and legs out the open windows and shook them up and down to the music coming out of the radio. A ninety degree turn was coming up soon, so the driver was going to have to make a decision.

The above paragraph is good – at least from a strictly mechanical perspective. The spelling and grammar are correct, and the ideas are clearly stated. The paragraph could be the opening for a book, short story, or school assignment. If used in a high school paper – and if the rest of the work was no worse – then it’s quite possible it might earn the writer an A.

If the same paragraph was used in a college paper, it should earn a passing grade, if not a B. Depending on the professor – and the rest of the paper – it might earn an A, but I doubt it. The wording is dull, and expectations are higher in college. If the paragraph had been used in a proposal to an agent or publisher, it would garner an immediate rejection – if the reader got past the first sentence at all.

How do we fix it? Ah, well, as any good college student knows, and as the beginning writer believes, we need to embellish it! Here’s something that might garner an A in college:

A bright red 2005 Honda Civic sped down the one straightaway on a long, winding mountain road, going thirty miles per hour over the posted speed limit. Inside the Honda, four college students jammed out to the sound of Jay-Z screaming his latest single from the hopped-up stereo. All four young adults had their arms and legs poking out the open windows, shaking them up and down to the music. Coming up soon, however, was a ninety degree turn. The driver, Trevor McIntire, would have to make a decision – slow down and risk his friend’s derision, or plunge ahead and take his chances with the curve. With only seconds left before he had to take action, he pondered the consequences of his decision as wind blew his hair all over his face.

What a difference some descriptive words make, right? Ummm…right – sort of. It’s more entertaining to read the second attempt. A college professor would be pleased. The spelling, grammar, and ideas haven’t changed, and they’re still good. It’s the perfect paragraph, right?

Not if you expect to get published.

An agent or editor might read the entire paragraph. There’s no guarantee they would read any further. Why? Because even though that might be a “great” paragraph at the college level, it stinks for a pro.

There are several problems to correct, but this post grows long, so I’ll be showing a much better paragraph next time – one that placed in the top ten of the Jerry Jenkins contest.

Analogy for Great Writing

In the last post I raised the question of why I received so many rejections. My guess? Me. More specifically, I think my writing simply wasn’t good enough. How can that be? After all, I placed in the top 10 of the Jerry Jenkins contest. Believe me when I say I was confused.

However, after time passed, and after studying more about writing, and after re-examining my work, I was no longer surprised at the rejections. I can best explain this with something I found on the Steve Laube Agency web site, which I’ll paraphrase: Pretty good writing will be rejected – it takes being magnificant to get published.

Now, I’m sure every beginning author – including myself – starts out thinking their work is magnificant. Unfortunately, we tend to be blind to our deficiencies, and a couple of things contribute to this: 1) Our writing very well may be well above average, and 2) We get feedback from family and friends that tell us how good our stories are.

I’m not a sports fan, but the best analogy I can think of has to do with professional ball games. Let’s use football as an example. Think about the high school’s best football players. They’re good at what they do, and their friends and family think they’re great. And, at the high school level, they really are great. But how many of them make it onto college football teams, and of those that do, how many of them are considered great at the college level? And then, of those “great” college players, how many of them make it to the NFL? Not many. And, in fact, it’s not uncommon for well-known college players to become average pro players.

Similarly, someone who’s writing appears “great” to the average person may just be writing at a superior high school level. And even those who have studied the craft a bit and make some improvements, and maybe even place in the top 10 of some well-known contest are just at the college level. It takes further study and practice to reach the true pro level of writing. Furthermore, family and friends probably won’t even notice the difference in the pro level of writing and the “great” high school level – they don’t have the experience or the “eye” to understand the difference in quality. Agents, editors, and publishers have an eye for such things, and they will reject anything at the high school level, and most manuscripts at the college level. You have to be near perfect to snag a publishing contract – and even then there are other factors that may garnish a rejection.

That’s why I believe I never got published when I first set out to make it in this industry – I was good, but not at the pro level.

I’ll start diving into what I’ve done to improve my writing in the next post. We’ll talk about how to move from being an A+ high school writer to a pro writer.

Frustration of Rejection

In my last post, I asked the question: Why was my work rejected by every publisher – even those that showed interest?

The short answer is “I don’t know”. I’ll get to a slightly longer answer, but first let me explain the “I don’t know.”

Unfortunately, in the publishing world, editors will not take the time to tell you why your work was rejected. There are two main reasons for this: The first is that editors are so overloaded that they don’t have time to give feedback, and the other reason is that it so easily turns into an argument when the author doesn’t agree with the editor’s assessment.

I fully understand the reasons for this lack of feedback, but that sure does make it frustrating for the first-time author. There is absolutely no way of knowing what you need to improve on to snag the contract. Believe me – I felt this frustration. I’m a very capable person. Tell me the problem and I can fix it. But without feedback, I’m left guessing.

If you have the luxury of having an agent, then you may get some feedback from that source. But there’s a good chance if you’re getting rejections, then those are coming from agents, which leaves you totally in the dark. Although I had an agent, he didn’t really give me any feedback that would put me on the right track.

While my first book was making its rounds, I wrote five other books. The story was the same with them – I drew some interest here and there, actually went back and forth several times with an editor, but eventually all my books were rejected by every publisher where they were submitted.

I eventually gave up. I mean, totally gave up writing. For several years I pursued other things, not the least of which was raising three adopted children.

Now that I’ve come back to my writing, I have better insight. I’ll share my “guesses” as to why I was rejected in my next post.

We’re also going to dive into some things you can do to improve your writing and your chances of getting an agent and publishing contract.

Round and Round

I thought publication of my first book, which I titled The Wizard of Winterville, was on the road to publication. I had a well-known agent, and Jerry B. Jenkins had selected my book as a top-ten effort out of over 300 other entries. What could go wrong? In short, everything.

My story was targeted at the adult Christian audience, so I was a candidate only for Christian publishing houses. My proposal went to every single Christian publishing house that handled my genre of material. Every last one of them rejected it.

There were two or three publishers that showed interest before finally rejecting my book. I went back and forth with one editor, making significant requested changes each time until that editor left for another publisher and the new editor decided he didn’t like the project. At another publisher my story was in the final editorial approval meeting where the editor was ready to move forward but a couple of interns said they didn’t think my characters used real-world language, and Boom – my project was rejected on just those remarks.

I’ve given just the tip of the iceberg for a journey that took months to complete, most of it filled with disappointment after frantic work and anticipation. Even for a “good” writer, this is a tough industry.

So why was my work rejected by all those publishers? That’s a topic for my next post.

Pursuing Gold

I didn’t start writing with money in mind – I just had a story to tell. But when I began to investigate publication I found out about the Jerry B. Jenkins First Novel Contest. First prize was $50,000 and a book contract. Second and third place got special consideration and a shot at publishing. You can bet that lit a fire under me to finish my project.

As I targeted the contest, I learned many of the things I’ll be talking about in this blog. But to fast forward a bit, I finished my novel by the deadline, prepared a proposal to go with it, and sent it in. Several weeks later I received notification that I had been selected as a top-ten finalist, and that I should prepare a short video about myself in case I made the top-three cut.

You can imagine how excited I was to find that my very first novel had proved to be such a success. However, I found within a very short time that I was not in the top three. You can’t imagine the disappointment I felt unless you’ve been there. But then up we go again because my top-ten position allowed me to sign on with one of the leading agents in the country. And so began a series of ups and downs over the next several years as I sought publication.

At the same time I pursued publishing of my first novel, I wrote five more novels, began a third, and came up with a couple of dozen ideas for books that I’ve yet to begin.

But back to that first novel – that one continued to be an interesting story as it made the rounds of the publishing houses. I’ll talk about that journey in a bit more detail in my next post.

Welcome!

I’m glad you found my blog. This is my first posting, where I set the tone for what this blog will contain. This is a blog about writing, and about the journey to publish. The focus is on fiction novel writing, but there will be content and advice here that is helpful to all writers.

How about a little history to get us started? I began this journey back in 2003. At the time I was a full-time computer programmer, and I had never written anything unless school or work required it of me. But one day I got the idea for a story, and without having any idea what I was doing I set down to record what was playing in my head.

Little did I know what was in store for me. There are rules for writing. There are more rules for writing well. And then there are lots more rules for getting published. I was ignorant of all these rules, so I just wrote what came to mind, and the interesting thing is that the more I wrote, the more I found in my head that needed to be written.

Only after having made significant headway into completing my story did I began to see what it would take to get published. That’s when I ran into the rules, and that’s when I begin rewriting and reformatting my work. If you’re a beginning writer, a big part of the information on my website will be to help you learn the rules up front so you won’t experience quite the heartache that I did.

Blog posts are supposed to be kept short. So, I’ll end my first entry here. Tune in for my next post to see what happened when I learned about a $50,000 first-novel contest, and how my story came to the attention of a famous author.