Do you believe that getting published is only about finding a good idea, pitching it to the right market and writing the article? While this will certainly help, there are other factors that come into play before a manuscript is accepted for publication. Understanding these allows you to reap rich dividends.
Writing for a variety of publications can bring you different kinds of visibility. After Hurricane Katrina destroyed 80 percent of New Orleans, my partner Brenda and I ended up adopting one of the many abandoned cats roaming the streets. This particular mackerel tabby had been following National Guard troops around for weeks, evidently eating whatever M.R.E.s they’d give him.
After bragging about our cool summer weather, we had a real humdinger of a weekend! It was around 90 degrees…on the day we attended the Folk Festival. Oh, it was beastly! However, the hot weather only hung around for two days. It’s supposed to be 49 tonight. What a swing, huh?!
After running last week’s article, Who REALLY Controls That ISBN You Bought? Probably Not You!, I received the following email from Andy Weissberg at R.R. Bowker…
This Week:
The big day finally arrived when the book I’ve been writing is finished. It’s been re-read and edited a half dozen times. Now it’s time to submit.
In (my book), I have quoted lyrics from different songs, specifically from “Wake Me Up When September Ends” by Green Day. Do I have to get permission from Green Day to put this in there?
I knew I’d be a writer after Mom made a huge fuss about a short story I wrote when I was ten. By 13, classmates wrote in my junior high yearbook: “U will B a grate riter.” I’d penned stories, poems, a novel and won a couple of writing contests by 16.
At 19, I quit.
August is always our slowest month of the year. I guess everybody is on vacation or lounging around the pool. Slow author sign-ups mean more time for me to enjoy spending time sitting outside by the river, playing in my garden with Max, watching Mason dig in the dirt with his bulldozer, and listening to the teenagers’ chatter.
Last week, I received an email from a guy claiming to be the head of Bowker, the ISBN agency. Whoa! Why was the “head” of Bowker contacting me? The email implied we were doing something wrong…
