Whether it’s a phone call, email or letter, eventually negative feedback from interview sources comes to every published writer. It may feel satisfying to whip off a caustic reply reeking of sarcasm, but this type of response won’t improve the source’s attitude about you or your publisher. Here’s how you should respond to negative feedback to pacify irate sources, defend your work and present yourself and the publisher in the best light.
As a loyal subscriber, I’ve used your expertise in so many different capacities over the years, and for that I’m extremely grateful. To that point, I’m in need again. I have a client who would like me to ghostwrite a non-fiction book and I have no idea what to charge. My research indicates that fees range from $5,000 to $100,000 (depending on factors such as research, page count, expertise, etc.) but I wondered if there were any fee structures that you could point me to and/or if you had any advice/direction from your own experience. Any help in this regard would be greatly appreciated.
You’ve heard of “perfect storms”–that unique combination of events that leads to unexpected outcomes. In the 80’s, I had my own perfect storm. That was the era when Total Quality Management (TQM) was sweeping the country–some would say sweeping the world itself. The founder of the movement was Dr. W. Edwards Deming. When he first proposed the concept of continuous improvement, American firms ho-hummed it. So, he took it to Japan. The Japanese were willing to listen–they had nothing to lose. They needed something to restore their war-ravaged economy. TQM, a process-oriented approach, transformed Japanese products from the shoddy to the superior. Not surprisingly, Dr. Deming is revered there. Once the high-quality of Japanese products became legendary, American firms re-discovered Dr. Deming and began applying his techniques to American manufacturing.
TQM made me realize I had to start offering training programs that touched upon the elements of the movement. Up until then, I had mostly been providing seminars on communications-related topics. But I knew that, to stay in business, I had to broaden my knowledge and broaden the the types of courses I could offer clients…
After we moved to Florida in July, we discovered alligators living in the canal in our backyard, which was pretty cool and not totally unexpected. We’ve seen alligators off and on since then – infrequently enough that we all still come running when somebody yells, “Gator!” We give them a wide berth, however, because it’s illegal to “molest” the gators and we don’t want them to get too comfortable with humans…
Imagine you just finished your new book. You came up with the perfect title years ago, when you first started thinking about writing it. You’ve paid a cover designer to design the perfect cover and you’ve paid your POD publisher to design the interior. You spent weeks or months on the publishing process and you bought a domain name that matches the title of your book. Your website is finally live and your book up for sale! Then, just as your starting the marketing phase, you’re completely blindsided by a nasty letter from a law firm. They’re demanding you immediately cease and desist using THEIR trademarked phrase…
Letters will return next week.
Thanks to the Internet, anyone can claim to be a writing teacher and post a website full of pages, promises and long-winded verbiage on how much they can help writers. But what is so often lacking is a little thing called “credibility,” as in experience and education.
I saw an ad in a local magazine asking for writers and article ideas. To my surprise and delight, when I inquired, I immediately got three writing assignments. The editor said that they’d pay me $75 for each, but, after I wrote them (the articles) she was disappointed. She said they weren’t long enough, and wanted to bring the price down to $45 each. I actually thought that was fair so I said it was okay.
Well, I spent two to three weeks getting the articles ready, even neglecting other things I was working on. I sent the articles in and was asked for my address so they could mail my check. This morning, however, I received an e-mail from the editor informing me that the publisher said that it wasn’t in their budget to pay me–not later–simply not at all. I wrote back immediately saying that that was unacceptable (I felt as though I’d been scammed) and that I wanted her to have the publisher get back with me IMMEDIATELY. The bad part is that I threatened to take it to small claims court. I guess I shouldn’t have done that. I just was soooooo angry! I truly feel that the entire deal was a scam from the beginning…
Max (age 9) and Mason (age 5), who are homeschooled, started their new school year on Monday and we are having SO much fun! While they learn traditional subjects, we try to make their lessons more fun by ensuring they revolve around a central theme each week – something they are very interested in. This week, it’s sharks! Ever since we moved to Florida, they’ve been wanting to go shark fishing and they’ve been watching endless shark nature videos on YouTube and Netflix. Richard even rented Jaws and Jaws 2 for Max and I watched those with him last week, which was a hoot. At one point, Max asked, “Why did guys wear such short shorts back then…”
For the past six weeks, we’ve spent every spare moment judging the hundreds of entries submitted for the Summer, 2011 24-Hour Short Story Contest. In case you’re not familiar with our quarterly contest, this is how it works. On the date of the contest, at start-time, we send out the topic for that specific contest to all registered entrants. We also post it online. Entrants then have 24 hours to write and submit their stories. The stories “must deal with the topic in some way to qualify” and they must not exceed the pre-assigned word count.
After reading the entries for each contest, we can see how difficult it is to come up with a unique plot when working with an assigned topic. But, inevitably, a few writers do manage to successfully break away from the pack.
So, today, join two newlyweds embraced on the beach, and learn what he’s been keeping from her…
