my world is round

ursula leguin strikes back

A hilarious slap in the face from the legendary Ursula LeGuin on one magazine's pompous position that genre fiction is crap.

Ursula LeGuin rips into Slate Magazine

the paper e-book

Did anyone attend the first O'Reilly TOC (Tools of Change) for Publishing conference last month? Lots of great stuff about where the publishing industry is headed with regard to changes in technology. Print on demand, publishing online, gadgets, marketing -- they really ran the gamut on what is now available, and more importantly, what needs to be considered going forward.

One thing that caught my eye while reading through the TOC conference blogs (I was attending a local conference that weekend) was the paper e-book. This technology combines the printed page with the online convenience of related links. Reading something of interest and want to know more about a particular item? Need a dictionary reference for an obscure word? Just tap with your finger!

Manolis Kelaidis, a designer at the Royal College of Art in London, has found a way to make printed pages digitally interactive. His "blueBook" prototype is a paper book with circuits embedded in each page and with text printed with conductive ink. When you touch a "linked" word on the page and your finger completes a circuit, sending a signal to a processor in the back cover which communicates by Bluetooth with a nearby computer, bringing up information on the screen. (image from booktwo.org)

Cool stuff for fiction works - imagine having this technology while reading the Da Vinci Code. More importantly, this feature would exponentially expand the scope of non-fiction books. And consider the educational ramifications. You could read Catcher in the Rye during high school English and conduct all your research directly from the book.

Fascinating.

Laura Albert found guilty of fraud

The jury has sided with the film production company in the Laura Albert, a/k/a JT LeRoy, case.

Antidote, which paid $110,000 for the rights to Leroy's 2000 book Sarah, was suing Albert for fraud, saying that they bought the rights to the book, in part, because of JT Leroy's unique life and background. The jury also awarded $6,500 in punitive damages.

So guys, pimp your platform -- but don't make it up.

real-life tragedy resembles fiction

So I like to write crime fiction, specifically with a technology edge. The latest twist in the WWE Benoit murder-suicide has spawned facts straight from an electronic detective novel.

Investigators are looking into who altered pro wrestler Chris Benoit's Wikipedia entry to mention his wife's death hours before authorities discovered the bodies of the couple and their 7-year-old son.

Benoit's Wikipedia entry was altered early Monday to say that the wrestler had missed a match two days earlier because of his wife's death.

A Wikipedia official, Cary Bass, said Thursday that the entry was made by someone using an Internet protocol address registered in Stamford, Connecticut, where World Wrestling Entertainment is based.

Weird stuff.

Update: Now the user claims to have made a terrible, poorly-timed joke. Do we believe him? And who would make this kind of "joke" in the first place...

plumping your platform

At the WLT conference two weeks ago, there was a lot of talk about using your platform to market your book. Your platform is your personal knowledge or experience that will help market your book, sometimes even intangible or seemingly irrelevant facts that make for a good author backstory. We heard one story of an author who was a short-order cook in the northeast. His novel was not based on his chosen career, but the publishing house was disappointed when he quit his job to pursue writing as this took away their publicity angle.

With more and more of the marketing responsibilities falling on the authors' shoulders, pushing your platform has become even more important. What can you bring to the table? And where are authors stretching the truth? Sort of like padding your resume to get a job.

James Frey was publicly outed for his mispresentations, exaggerations and nontruths in the book, A Million Little Pieces. He walked a fine line between his background for the book and the content itself. Did he lie to the public? If it was marketed as a novel, no. Novel=fiction. But it was marketed as a memoir, so yes.

The jury is out on Laura Albert. Writing under the male nom de plume, JT LeRoy, Ms. Albert wrote a novel based on "childhood experiences of being pimped out by his/her mother at southern truckstops." She then had others wear disguises and appear as Mr. LeRoy in public, instigated written communication throughout the entertainment community as Mr. LeRoy and even spoke via phone with a psychologist as Mr. LeRoy. When her identity as a woman was revealed, her movie deal fell apart amid the public scandal. The studio is now suing her for fraud. She is one up on Frey as her book was marketed as a novel. And again, novel=fiction. But the artist's deception in trying to get her book published crossed the line.

Let's see how a panel of her peers votes.

WLT Conference Session: Writing the Query Letter

My final session at the conference (seeing as I went straight to the bar after my agent pitch on Saturday) was Sunday morning on writing the "perfect" query letter. And as we quickly found out, there is no such thing.

This session was led by Dan Conaway (aka the infamous Mad Max Perkins) at Writers House.

He started off by saying two very important things. First, agents are completely subjective in what they want to read. This is based on personal taste, current affairs, what they had for breakfast, etc. So you can have a great book but if they aren't interested, they are going to say no. And second, agents view their query letter piles as a necessary evil of their jobs. There is always a big groan and a big sigh before they site down to tackle the pile. That means you have to catch them quick or into the trash you go.

Letters with grammatical errors, the wrong agent name, too much information and stupid phrases like "fictional novel" are easy marks for culling the herd. Those are the easy ones. Just no.

Dan is very big on brevity. You should be able to sell him in four to six lines. Yes, lines. (Non-fiction is a whole nuther beast.) Compel him with the story and ask if you can send more. That's it.

He doesn't want a whole plot summary. Nor does he want your platform or background unless it is essential to the story. (Again, most typical of non-fiction. I climbed Mt. Everest therefore I can write a story about a hike on Mt. Everest). He doesn't want genre (can figure that out for himself), nor word counts (irrelevant), nor market research (he knows it better than you).

Many attendees were baffled by the lack of info he wanted. All the books say to include this other stuff. Dan wants it simple. Sort of like the 10-minute pitch. Interest me.

A few more tips:
1. Mention awards/contests the book has won.
2. Throw a reference line if you have one. ("Agent X told me contact you.")
3. Include the first few pages as a writing sample.
4. Ignore generic requests for exclusivity. Although if an agent specifically requests it, you must decide whether to grant them the right and contact any other agents to whom you have submitted.

And finally, he gave a clear shout out to Miss Snark as the ultimate online resource for dealing with agents, particularly with respect to writing query letters. We expect no less from Mad Max.

WLT Conference: Editor Pitch

As part of these conferences, attending authors can sign up for a ten-minute slot with one of the attending agents or editors. The object of these is to pitch your book and have the agent/editor request to see more. Ten minutes isn't a long time, but if you can't get them interested in 10, chances are you won't be able to talk them into it in 30. Think of it like speed dating.

I met with Toni Plummer, an assistant editor at Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press. Not knowing what to expect, I was pretty nervous going in, rehearsing my one-sentence blurb about the book over and over again so it would come out smoothly. I was escorted into a conference room with three small tables set up. Two had potential authors at them, working their spiel. The other had Toni. She was very gracious, a real professional, made me feel comfortable right away. We talked for our ten and she wanted to see my work! Woo-hoo!

I feel that contract coming on... :)

Always a bridesmaid...

Well, Forty-Two Blue did not win in the Thriller / Action-Adventure category. Although I can still put my "one of five finalists" label on my query letter!

WLT Conference Session: Novel Development Systems for Fiction

My second session yesterday was tagged "Writer's Toolbox" as it focused on writing techniques as opposed to the main theme of this conference, getting your book published and promoted.

The session was run by Linda Rohrbough, a highly energetic teacher and published author. Her focus is on producing well-structured, saleable work. With a focus on writing based on rules and structure when you are starting out or just stuck. If your work is good, you can break all the rules you want.

Linda’s Principles:
1.    Even a poor plan, properly executed, will work. It’s all in the execution.
2.    If you’re a good writer, you can do anything you want. If you’re not, you better follow the rules.
3.    Nothing can change when you’re comfortable.

Genre is a big deal. You need to write inside a genre. It is how the agents, publishers and booksellers classify and sell your book. Different genres also have different plot plans and different word counts.

Terms
•    Plot – what happens; the action
•    Subplot – the second set of events connected to the plot
•    Protagonist – the guy we are rooting for; we want him to win
•    Antagonist – the bad guy; many books have several bad guys. You can even have a “good” bad guy, a “sort of” bad guy, and a “bad” bad guy.
•    Character arc – the character that changes and the path he follows
•    Backstory – the background of the protagonist
•    Logline – one sentence summary of the plot
•    Synopsis – summary of the plot; have a 2-paragraph one and a 1-page one
•    Scene – an event
•    Sequel – how he feels about an event; his inner thoughts/dialog; what he decides to do next
•    Reversals – your character failed; your character needs to fail over and over again; a lot; a character makes an attempt to change his situation and fails; makes it interesting
•    Theme – the moral of the story; what the character that changes learns

Linda is a big fan of mind mapping brainstorm ideas before writing, building plot grids with identified turning points, and building character grids that explain the goal, motivation and conflict for each character. This is what runs a story. Every character must have these three things. Character interviews that ask what kind of ice cream they like are worthless. Ask yourself, what does this character have hidden in their glovebox that they don't want you to see? What drives them? These will determine their choices.

She also spoke on tags -- two kinds. Dialog tags (he said, she said) -- unnecessary if you do the right body business. If we are watching the character, we already know who is speaking. The other kind was a character tag -- a characteristic unique to this person that lets us immediately identify who it is -- a mole on their cheek, a lisp when they talk, a habit of pulling on their hair when they think.

Linda just poured information out over our hour and a half. No way can I document it all. She also had handouts. Great info!

She will be teaching a week-long class at Sul Ross in July. At $200 for the whole week, it's a real bargain.

WLT Conference Session: Promoting and Marketing Fiction

The first session I attended yesterday as part of the Agents and Editors conference was on Promoting your fiction book. It was by Cyndi Hughes and consisted of the following panel:

Kat Candler – filmmaker, screenwriter
Joe O’Connell – columnist, author, writing instructor
Molly Barton – publisher
BJ Robbins – literary agent
Rusty Shelton - literary publicist

Lots of good information in this one. The highlights IMO were:

Trying to sell to an agent or publisher:
1. Have a platform. A platform is basically the "ammo" behind why your book will sell. Do you have expertise in this area? Can we book you on talk shows to discuss the book and thereby increase sales?
2. Have a niche. Similar to platform but more specific. If I can pitch you to a specific market, it increases our chances of getting the book talked about and sold.
3. Your platform isn't just personal experience but can expand to life situations, interesting angles, support from other well-known writers, other publications. Think. Get creative.

After you get published:
1. Even if you get signed by a major publishing house, you still have to do a ton of work to promote your book. You cannot sell a manuscript and then sit back and wait on the royalty checks.
2. Depending on where your book is listed by the publisher, your promotion budget will vary. The house may pay to fly you around for your book tour. Or they may give you a $5000 budget and tell you arrange transportation and lodging. This is where you can get creative. For example, suggest a book signing in a city where you have family you can stay with.
3. Be a leader in the promotion strategy for your book. Even if the house has a budget, take charge of the plans and suggest ways to promote your book. If you have ideas, bring them up. The house knows a lot and has a lot of experience, but everyone is open to new ideas.
4. Don't wait for the book to come out to begin promotion. You should be building your name in the public while you are in the production process. Blogging, submitting articles, talking to the media. All of these things so that when the book comes out, everyone is ready for it.

And one quick note on self-publication. This is very difficult in adult fiction. The biggest problem: distribution. Publishing houses build lists of their publications to circulate to book reviewers and book sellers. This is the primary source for these entities when it comes to reviewing fiction. If you aren't on the list, you have to make yourself known through other means before the New York Times or Barnes and Noble will consider your work.