Not long ago, I was teaching an evening course at a local adult education center. About halfway through the session, one student posed a question. "This may be off-topic," she began. And she wasn't altogether incorrect about that. But it was a good question. It was one I'd heard before, and thought about from time to time myself, and it remained with me long after our class had ended. …
It goes like this: I open the door, look both ways and sprint for the mailbox in my footie pajamas (much to the delight of my neighbors). I reach up eagerly and open the cubicle, and pull out a handful of circulars and bills. It's happened to all of us. You need to pay the light bill, upgrade your PC, and take your child to the orthodontist. You eagerly track the mailman's progress and search your mailbox diligently. The promised check didn't come and it doesn't come the next day or the day after that either. You contact the editor rather humbly and ask him to check and be sure the money was mailed to the correct address. He either doesn't answer your communications, or he makes a really flimsy excuse and mumbles those famous words, "It's in the mail." …
Last spring, I gave up an eight year teaching career to pursue a career in writing for children. I knew that working as a teacher left no energy for writing. However, my writing career wasn't paying a stable income. I didn't have books that were paying advances or royalties, and I needed to be involved with children in order to capture their voices on the page. How did I solve the problem of generating a stable income, maintaining contact with children, and having the energy to write stories? I became a writing tutor. …
Nature has been calling to writers for centuries, first as a compelling mystery with spiritual overtones, and later as the subject of scientific investigation and study. But nature writing as we know it today - that is a body of literature that incorporates both factual data and an author's personal responses to and reflections on the natural world - is a relatively recent phenomenon. The reason is simple. Until human beings made the conscious choice to set themselves apart, to create whole communities in which they sought to control everything about their environment, from the kinds and numbers of plants and animals to the temperature of the air, there was no sense of separation; no need to be reminded that we are not masters of our world, but just one of the many interconnected and interdependent filaments in an immensely complex web of life. …
Breaking into sitcom writing is a daunting task. As Mort Scharfman, the Director of Development at Epigram Studios and former staff writer for shows such as All in the Family and Too Close for Comfort put it, "The only key to the Hollywood door is three things: submit, submit, submit." However, submitting isn't as easy as it sounds. Before you can submit a spec script to an agent, you must get permission from the agency. Agents almost never read unsolicited submissions. …
With keen interest I read a letter written to Angela Hoy from a fledgling newsletter editor unable to pay column writers. Angela nicely but firmly advised the editor to think twice about that no-pay policy. She warned the novice that the seasoned and veteran writers would flame viciously and ruin the editor's reputation. Not so. Writers write for free all the time and no one seems to care. Writers even write for other writers without the respect of a paycheck. What I've learned as a writer who likes to write articles about writing, is that writers are some of the worse paymasters in the world. And for some reason that depresses me. …
In response to last week's article by Angela Hoy, 10 Things You Should NOT Say in Your Book Proposal, famous author and book marketing expert MJ Rose shares advice on what you SHOULD include. …
If there…
An experienced writer knows how to ask the right questions. Not just "Is your new movie a comedy, Mr. Hanks?" But questions like: "Do you pay on acceptance or when the article is published?" or "How long to you estimate interviewing the participants will take?" and "Is this contract for one-time only publication rights?" …
Like many other writers trying to make it in the world, most of us have had an unfortunate experience in the publishing industry. With the incredible number of publishers out there who are ready and willing to make your dreams come true (or take advantage of you), what can you do to help prevent your next contract from becoming a nightmare? …
The title of the novel and movie Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, refers to the temperature at which book paper burns. Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore’s new movie, is a criticism of George W. Bush and his handling of events on and after September 11, 2001. The former is about a society that seeks out and burns all books, forcing its people to memorize and become one book or another. The latter, equally political in its own way though maybe more pointedly so, shares a portion of the title, and is to all but the most obtuse observer, a rather transparent attempt to play, for commercial gain, on the recognition generated by the former.…
Few things impress an editor or publisher more about an article than the prospect of having a quote or interview with a renowned expert within the body of the piece. And if that renowned expert happens to be an A-list celebrity, well my friends, you may have just given your editor a big smile, because nothing catches a reader…
Local clients are a home-based writer's dream. They are easy to stay in touch with, and are likely to share your name with other local companies - resulting in a network of accessible clients. Here are five easy ways to tap into the market just outside your door. …
There are approximately 120,000 libraries of various types in the United States. These libraries employ nearly 140,000 librarians. Libraries and librarians play a significant and influential role in our society. More significantly, authors need to know that libraries spend billions each year purchasing books. Why shouldn't your book be one of these? …
Three years ago, in London, I was feeling stuck. I had just finished a guidebook, and increasingly wanted to write about travel, but how could I write about travel if I couldn’t afford to travel? I wasn’t making enough money (from writing and temping) to keep my house, travel on research trips, return to base and write stories; I needed all my income just to survive. I became despondent; I stopped going out and started living the life of a frugal recluse. Over six months, I managed to save a few grand, and that gave me enough money to extricate myself from London. But where would I go? A friend was planning a trip to India, so I decided to join her. We got a flight ticket, London to India to Thailand to Australia. I bought a laptop; with the money left-over I calculated I could spend six months in Asia, and then, when I got to Australia, wouldn’t I be able to find some kind of menial employment? …
We all care about selling our books. We want to sell more. And more. So I…
What I am writing at this moment is protected by copyright. As soon as my individual expression is fixed in a tangible medium, I can do any of the following things with it: reproduce it in copies, make derivative works of it, distribute the work in copies, perform the work, display the work, or broadcast the work. This "bundle of rights" extends to the holder of the copyright securing nearly complete control over the work. Notice that I referred to the holder of the copyright and not the author of the work, who may be one in the same, but not necessarily. Another of the rights enjoyed by an author of any type of work is the right to transfer it to another. …
Do you ever wonder who writes and publishes those small newsletters you see around town? They…
The first "moving pictures" began to entertain audiences around the world almost 120 years ago. These silent films generally had ex-vaudevillians, called scenarists, come up with humorous situations for actors to perform in front of the camera. All of that changed when, in 1927, singer Al Jolson proclaimed the immortal words in the first full-length talking picture, The Jazz Singer: "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You ain't heard nothin' yet." This was actually an ad-lib by Jolson, promoting his 1919 hit song You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet. At that moment, directors and film studios realized that if they expected actors to speak, they'd better hire professional writers to put words in their mouths. Suddenly actors needed something to say, and Hollywood recruited some of the nation's best journalists and writers, including the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Faulkner, who earned as much as $1500 a week, at a time when the average salary in this country was forty dollars a month and you could get a steak dinner for 10 cents. …
When the Pirates won the World Series in 1972, every kid within a 60-mile radius was probably a fan. But Spalding was so devoted that he put together a 250-page book about the Pirates from 1971-1975. The book was a compilation of write-ups of each game, including player information and game highlights. He contacted some of the local sportscasters, including "Wild" Bill Curry of KDKA, noted for his southern drawl and loud suits. Spalding asked him and others about publishing. "It was kind of a real adventure, calling around and discovering the sports publishing business," he says. …
In October 2000, I decided to leave my rewarding and successful forty-two year teaching career at the end of the school year. Like most, I looked forward to traveling, seeing more of my grandkids, and sleeping in late. However, those opportunities were not paramount in my decision-making process. My primary reason for wanting to leave the classroom at age 62 was a desire to go out while I was still on top of my game. I wanted to be remembered as effective, energetic, inspiring, and fun. I did not want to end my career as a crotchety old biddy that fell asleep at her desk during sharing time and waddled to her car at 4:00 in order to "rest up" for another day. It had been a glorious ride, but it was time to dismount and move on. …
While not all e-publishing experiences are bad, mine was one of unpaid royalties, broken promises of POD's, unanswered messages, royalty percentage changes on bargain sales, failures in promotion, and a finale that included the company going out of business without any formal notice to writers. (I only found out my book was no longer available when I checked my account.) …
Writers and authors seem to fall in an all or nothing category financially. Either we're limping along between checks, or we're basking in a new contract and royalty advance. Even those with advances often backslide when the money's gone and the book is still at the printer. But rich or poor, famous or obscure, writers live a roller coaster existence in their choice to pen words for a living. And catastrophe affects us all. …
It is a huge problem, though the philosophical underpinnings of why are all over the map. Educators lament it. Schools toss people out for it. Yet it continues. Jayson Blair was fired by The New York Times for it. Stephen Ambrose admitted to it. Janet Dailey was called on it by Nora Roberts. Alex Haley paid Harold Courlander a six-figure sum for having purloined Mr. Courlander…
Most people believe that getting on Oprah will make them richer than Joe Millionaire. For your career to careen toward the stars, you must prepare to make the most of your appearance. Here are 10 do's and don'ts to help you reach the dream of being on Oprah. As a media coach and marketing expert, I have helped many people be great guests on Oprah. Follow this advice to increase your chances of getting on the show. …
In 2001 I reluctantly retired from an incredibly rewarding and satisfying 42-year teaching career. I had loved everything (well, almost everything) about teaching, but I was 62 years old and I wanted to leave the profession while I was still effective and enjoying my community…
I can vividly remember the green envelopes I used to receive once a week from each of my three newspaper employers. With paychecks enclosed, the tightly sealed business-size envelopes were usually distributed late in the afternoon. Sometimes, the checks were dispatched into employee mailboxes. On other occasions, the checks were dispensed in a silly ritual conducted by an administrative secretary or a middle management-type. The check distributors always seemed arrogant. They'd hand me my check and then stand there waiting for a "thank you." They acted like they were doing me a favor …
It is only within the last forty years that any such right was conferred to American citizens. Beginning in 1966, the Freedom of Information Act was passed by Congress. States began to feel the pressure and passed their own versions. As is the propensity for such things, the release of information, not a natural thing for a government to do despite the best advice of its founders, is strictly regulated. What that means is that there are classifications of types of information not available for release under nearly any circumstance. For the rest, as any good legal draftsperson knows, when you want controversy, you can build that in. …
All writers want top market prices for their work. But top markets often ask for publishing credits, and how can you get publishing credits without making a sale? Rather than give away your writing to hungry publications that are too new or too poor to pay, sell your work to small or local markets. Commercial sales help to fill your vita with the much-desired publishing credits and provide you with experience in marketing your work and negotiating rights—for profit. …
Want to write a sitcom spec script that'll catch the eye of a producer or agent who will hopefully catapult your career? Stuck? One way to jump start your creativity is to investigate the different themes used in most sitcoms so you can come up with the most effective and enticing story to tell. Don't reinvent the wheel...just improve upon it! …
National Novel Writing Month began five years ago as a way to use the power of deadlines to get writers to complete novels. Participants often are people who say they would like to write a novel "one day," but without this pressure they would never actually do it. …
Master this muscular prose and you'll become a better writer who can say more with less. You'll open new markets for the short, newsworthy articles that populate publications of all sizes and subjects. …
In reality, most writers build an audience by word of mouth. One way to spread the word about your book is through local and regional radio, even if you write fiction. All it takes is the right hook. …
