Eighteen words worth rediscovering link here.
Snoutfair? Love it!
Lunting! No longer seen in movies.
What’s your favorite from this list?
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Category Archives: Writing Tips
How Much Does Editing Cost?
Nowadays, authors know they have to hone their manuscripts as near to perfection as possible to enhance their chances of being picked up by a publisher…or if they’re self-publishing, to enhance their appeal to readers.
Writer’s Resource was founded on the idea that authors should help authors. Part of that is helping with the financial investment. Occasionally the market is surveyed to ensure that costs are at the lower to middle range for comperable levels of experience and services.
This year, the Freelance Editor’s Association found that standard costs across the market are $45-65/hour based on the experience of the editor. A 70,000-word manuscript could take 56 hours for developmental editing. The result is a fee between $2,520 and $18,200. Copy editing, a much lighter form of editing, averaged $25-50/hour for a fee range between $840 and $7,000.
That’s quite an investment.After twenty years in business, this shop maintains price structures that are on the lower and middle ends of the ranges quoted above. The higher level of editing used by the association is also divided into separate services called developmental assistance, consulting, rewriting and line editing.
Breaking things down ensures that each client is able to select only those items they truly feel will help…and the different options help them keep to a budget!
Standard copy editing ranges from $2.50 per page to $3.95 per page. Line editing ranges from $4.00 per page to $7.50 per page. Line editing includes everything offered under copy editing, of course.
Developmental work and rewriting fees are set based on each individual manuscript’s needs; generally, they are higher than the highest level of line editing.
Consulting is performed on an hourly basis.
Whether you’re aiming for a publisher’s attention, self-publishing or tackling both options at once, call or email for your editorial and developmental needs.
When to Revise Your Book
Just heard back from a client about his project’s status. We’ve been working on revisions and his agent is sending it out to publishers now.
If you’re questioning whether your work is ready to send out, consider a few things first.
Is the opening as compelling as it could be?
Does the story have a rising action with one event leading readers forward to the next?
Are your characters developed just enough–deeply for the protagonist and antagonist, and in a well-rounded manner for secondary characters?
Does the pace rise and fall throughout to provide readers with enough time to process emotional milestones while still driving them forward to the next chapter?
Does the ending fulfill the promises made in the opening pages?
Before you even begin the editing process, be sure your storytelling aspects are honed. You’ll be much further along than if you simply copy edit the words.
New Life in Newspapers
Before the collapse of printed newspapers, owners could expect a 30% profit margin from their businesses. Then came the e-revolution.
Times change, and even the revolution can generate good things. After flailing around a bit to try new things like e-publishing, newspapers have returned to print.
Shocking, I know. But it’s working. Now owners can expect about a 10% margin…still very, very good in terms of a business model. Many of the bigger papers that had gone out of print or to e-models are returning to print version.
This is great news for writers. Because hand-in-hand with the rebirth of newspapers is the idea that papers, above all other news forms, are reliable, consistent, and provide quality.
Check around your local area to see what opportunities might have sprung up out of the ashes. And good luck!
The Difference between Memoir and Autobiography
Here’s a question I get all the time: How do I know if I’ve written an autobiography or a memoir?
The answer is simple: An autobiography covers pretty much your entire life. A memoir covers a specific aspect of your life (like a lifelong battle with lukemia) or a specific time period (a marriage that fell apart and the triumph built out of the life post-divorce).
Most people nowadays are writing memoirs. A few who have led spectacular lives (yes, ordinary people can live spectacular lives) are writing autobiographies.
Be sure to categorize your work correctly when you approach agents and publishers. You’ll also want readers to know exactly what they’re getting if you self-publish. The answer is simple yet applying the knowledge is important for your pitch and your marketing efforts.
How to Enhance Suspense
Often I am asked how authors can generate more suspense in a novel. The answer is simple…although it seems counterintuitive.
The best way is to slow down. That is, slow the pace of events in the section where suspense is needed. Focus on the details of what the protagonist sees, hears, smells and touches. Describe the setting in ways that enhance the tension or ominous tone. Bring in details one by one, and give each detail room to breathe on the page.
Why does this work? Imagine a film. You don’t get to see the monster right off the bat. The protagonist walks down a dark alley and hears a bottle clanging across the sidewalk but can’t see through the darkness to what threat might wait ahead. Utilize the same darkness by drawing out details leading into the big confrontation, and you’ll enhance suspense in your writing.
Advice from Famous Writers
Check out this link to advice from famous writers.
When to Introduce Backstory
Backstory is a collection of details readers need to know about a character or a plotline in order to make sense of what’s happening. But backstory is also embedded behind the current timeline…it is part of a character’s history before the book opens or is a collection of events that occured that get the plot rolling. If you start by filling in readers with all this information, the opening section (roughly the first 80 to 100 pages) won’t capture interest.
When you’re writing the first draft, it’s fine to write all the backstory first. This is the way most people write because it puts things into a chronological order. It can make the writing process much easier. So don’t shy away from writing things in the order they happen.
The rewriting process for the second (and possibly other drafts) corrects this issue. Take all that backstory and pull it into a different file. Then find places in the plotline where chunks of this information can be dropped in. By interweaving the backstory with the current timeline, your novel will become more compelling. You’ll also find that the backstory takes on a deeper meaning when it is placed right beside the point at which readers need to know some historic fact.
How to Start Your Novel
The first five pages are the most important. Your first five pages should show readers the main character…and hopefully focus only on that individual, or focus on that individual and his or her relationship with one other primary character.
Your first five pages should hint at the conflict that will play out over the course of the manuscript.
There should be some compelling reason for readers to continue…and for agents and acquisitions editors at publishing houses to keep reading, too. This could be interest in the protagonist, a compelling conflict, or suspense.
Every category is different and your work will be unique from all others. By ensuring your first five pages have at least these three elements, you’re much more likely to capture attention…and keep people reading.
Latest Buzzword: New Adult
We’re hearing a lot lately about New Adult novels as a category that is getting hot.
New Adult works target late teen and early twenties readers. They therefore have characters in that age group. Often these are coming-of-age stories about people who are no longer kids but who aren’t quite adults.
The settings are often in college or right after college. These works used to be published under the young adult (YA) category but are becoming a niche of their own.
Currently bookstores are struggling to find a way to shelve and market these novels but New Adult titles are coming on strong. Readers want them. Do you have something that really is New Adult rather than adult or YA? Be sure to note that in your query and your book proposal to capture attention from agents and publishers.
How Long Should My Book Manuscript Be?
Word count: what an issue. You’ve spent months or years working on a book and now all the agent wants to know is, “How many words?”
There are important reasons why you should pay attention to word count.
First, each category and genre has an average length. This goes far beyond novels vs. novellas. It’s about how long is too long for a romance novel, how short is too short for a spy thriller, what’s the average for a young adult novel, how much leeway does a work of literary fiction have? The answers are specific to each category. Writer’s Resource can help you determine if your book is appropriately long.
Second, first-time authors (authors who have not been traditionally published) are held to different standards than other authors. Generally, a first-time author should never go above 100,000 words. Certain genres like some subcategories of thrillers, historic novels, and certain types of other fiction and nonfiction books can run 110,000 to 115,000…but anything above that is pushing the boundary too far.
Why? Because print costs rise exponentially above 100,000 words. Publishers will sink money into marketing you and your books with the hopes that it will build an audience. Your second or your third book will be much less restricted by length if your first one is successful. But until you have that proven fan base, publishers want to cut their risks.
Cut your risk of rejection by knowing what’s expected of your manuscript…first-time author or not!
When is a Book Manuscript Ready to Send to Agents or Publishers?
Chuck Sambuchino, who writes for Writer’s Digest, offers three primary reasons why manuscripts are rejected by agents:
First…the story they’re reading is in a genre or category outside of what they handle. Form rejection. The second reason they say no is because of poor writing skills: grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, etc. Form rejection. The third and most common reason that good writers get rejected is that their story just plain isn’t ready yet. In other words, it’s good—but simply being good doesn’t cut it. A piece of fiction has to be great to catch an agent’s eye.
Each of these issues has a solution.
First, research the agent before submitting. There are a host of resources out there, including the annual guides to agents and book publishers. Always go to the agent’s website to look up information about that agent. While you’re there, check out their fellow agents to see if someone else is actually a better fit. And be sure you know your manuscript’s category! Know not just the primary category but the subcategory. If it’s a true crossover (and not just a thriller with a love story embedded in the plot, for example), know which categories it targets. If you state the category in the query and it doesn’t match the sample pages, you’re going to be rejected.
The second issue is easy to fix. Work with an editor to clean up the manuscript or to do the deeper line editing some manuscripts require. Do not rely on your next door neighbor who is a college professor…professors live inside academia, and the world of academia is insular and separated from standard publishing by a thick brick wall. Do not ask your high school English teacher or a journalist to edit your memoir, business book or novel…they will utilize a more formal style that turns off agents, publishers and readers. Do work with a professional–a fellow novelist, memoir author or business book writer, a freelance editor, or someone you trust from your writer’s group.
The third challenge might require more work from you. Get feedback from authors in a writer’s group or a reader you trust. Ask for conceptual ideas. Don’t let someone get bogged down in editing your spelling errors. Ask for the good stuff: Is the plot exciting? Which milestones don’t track well? Does the suspense constantly rise? Are the characters developed well enough? Writer’s Resource offers written analyses at several price points that can help you with this step.
Writing Tip
Writer’s Digest recently had this up as a recommendation for rewriting that first draft:
Pare down or eliminate scenes that don’t further the story. Examine plot points, characters, description, dialogue and exposition, until you have precisely what you need to tell your story, and not a character or subplot more. Then apply this same philosophy to your work at the sentence level, killing your darlings and eliminating excessive adjectives and adverbs, along with verbose descriptions. Bring out the flavor of both your story and your style, but stop short of overseasoning.
Many projects I work on have to be trimmed in some way. A close line edit can, word by carefully selected word, trim away as much as 15% of a manuscript’s word count. Books that need higher level work with plot points, dialog and the like, can be reduced further.
The result: Faster pacing, higher suspense, greater emotional impact, condensed tone…and a much better read.
50 Shades Author Writes How-To Write Book
Enough said?
Just for Fun
Here’s a great visual from Writer’s Digest’s blog on bug-out bags for writers.
Writer's Resource/Sunspot Lit 