Tag Archives: writing

Setting Your Writing Price Doesn't Always Represent Your Writing's Worth

Free Writing,

Some writers have it tough trying break out of the persona of the starving artist. Another issue many writers face is dealing with the fact that other writers in different niches or focus areas might raise an eyebrow when the subject of money comes up. If you ever want to see virtual sparks fly, be a lurker in a writer’s online forum or group when people start debating money. Some writers judge other colleagues very harshly when the subject of how much to charge for written work comes up.

How much money can you earn by writing?

There are copywriters that can can command over $5,000 for a 1,000 word online sales letter that they can write in a few days. Some how-to e-books can earn a writer thousands in sales each month. There are magazine writers that can spend months toiling over a story that will net them $1,000.00. There are web writers that work 50 hours a week writing website content articles that earns them $500.00.

They’re all writers and they all deserve respect for their dedication to their jobs. For some it’s a craft or a labour of love and for others it provides a different need that might be slightly less of an emotional connection.

Of course there is an argument that writers should keep their rates high so that the industry doesn’t suffer as a whole and there are others who claim that the $3.00 articles they write puts food on the table for their family. Who’s right? They’re probably both right because writing is such a personal thing and it can fill not only a monetary need but an emotional need as well. When we hold something so dear to our hearts,  we can feel very passionate and opinionated about it.

Some writers pour their heart and soul into their pages for their own eyes only and are never ever published but still feel their arm hairs rise when they read their own work and so they  get immense pleasure from writing. Others write fiction novels or write for magazines, television or movies or brochures or text books. Others write poetry for their true love.

Some writers can crank out words that means nothing to them but are symbiotic in that those words help pay their mortgage, put braces on their kids’ teeth and can help their clients earn a fortune.

Determining Your Own Self Worth

Setting a price for a piece of writing doesn’t represent your worth as a writer in terms of dollars and cents so regardless of what you are told others earn in contrast to you, love what you do and feel good about calling yourself a writer.  Most of all, embrace  evolvution as a writer and a human being. Enjoy what you do and be proud of what goes out whether it was ghostwritten or has your name on it.

Most of all, don’t make apologies for the money you earn or the lack of money you’ve made so far because what you are doing is you’re choosing to make a career of (or dabble in) something that you love as an ongoing journey that only you can take.

The Ghostwriter's Booksigning

Non-fiction, , , , ,

I went to a book signing for a book I wrote the other night–only another person, a kind doctor, signed the books.  The cover of the book features his smiling face and this same image graces the posters that were propped all around the store.

But it would be impossible for you to find even the merest mention of my name anywhere near the book.  Why? Because I ghostwrote it.

Allow me to define ghostwriting for those of you who may still be confused about it (in my travels I find many who are).  A ghostwriter (moi) writes a book for someone else and that other person’s name appears on the book.  If I’m very lucky, the “author” might thank me in the acknowledgments.  On some occasions, ghostwriters get a “with” byline.  As in “Stupid Worthless Memoir by Famous Vacuous Star with Ghostwriter.”

But most of us ghostwriters get nada but a paycheck.  Which is why we do it, of course, because ghostwriting can be among the most lucrative of writing assignments.  You are writing a whole book, after all, not just an article or series of articles for a website.  You are expected to know how to take bunches of information, perhaps some interviews, and vague thoughts and organize them into a readable, informative book.

A great number of business and self-help books are ghostwritten.  Ditto with celebrity biographies and so-called novels.  (You really think Nicole Richie has ever read a novel, let alone written one?)  Rumor has it that some popular mystery series are actually ghostwritten and many readers believe that some of the most prolific romance writers employ ghostwriters to help them churn out the novels.

I can’t verify those rumors, though I suspect they may be true.   I also suspect that many novelists have learned their craft churning out books under the name of a best-selling author.  But I think I prefer to stick to non-fiction.

To my way of thinking, non-fiction ghostwriting projects suit me just fine.  I enjoy learning about different subjects and getting into the mind of the person who I’m writing as.

Last week was the first time I’d ever actually experienced a booksigning where the “author” of the book was signing what I wrote.

I had a blast, met a lot of nice people and reconnected with the folks who hired me.  The thing is, I don’t feel the emotional connection to the book that I would with, say, my novel.  And while I’m proud of the finished product, I’m not so invested in it that I can’t let it go.

We’ll be starting the next book in the series soon and I’m looking forward to attending future book signings.  I wish I could give the book some publicity and send you to the website, but alas, then it wouldn’t be ghostwritten anymore, would it?  (And let me tell you, the whole ghostwriting thing wreaks havoc on the old resume, since I can’t really blatantly list all the books I’ve written.)

Fun as this book signing was, I look forward to the day when I’ll be signing my own novel at a book signing!

Writing While You Sleep: Harnessing Your Subconscious

Free Writing, , ,

Nearly every writer I know (myself included) prefers the aftermath of writing–having written–to the actual act of writing itself. And every writer I know would pay dearly to find a way to make the tyranny of facing the blank screen more bearable. Well, there is a way, and it’s as simple as falling asleep.

Yes, falling asleep. When someone is trying to make a decision, we tell them to “sleep on it” for a reason–because the subconscious works on ideas and orders them for you while you are asleep. But not only can you help your brain to do this while slumbering, you can harness your subconscious during waking hours, too.

“Each of us possesses a brilliantly creative subconscious mind,” says screenwriter Cynthia Whitcomb. “Most of the time we don’t give it credit for its creativity.”

The trick is to feed your subconscious mind the direction it craves. I learned this when I was faced with writing two big projects at once. My natural inclination was to wring my hands and moan and groan about my inability to write two things at the same time. While deeply absorbed in one project, nagging voices about the other one would pop up. You should be working on the memoir, the voice would say. How are you going to get it done on time when you are focusing on the novel?

Out of desperation, I learned a way to subvert the negative voice. My subconscious is working on it, I would reply. While I initially started saying this only to shut up the cacophony of voices, to my surprise, my subconscious really did follow my direction, and when I switched to working on my novel, all sorts of ideas were at the ready.

So I decided it would be to my benefit to learn how to coddle my “second brain.” The most important thing is to get in the habit of telling your subconscious what you need. Be specific. For example, how can I show Carrie’s unhappiness with Bart in chapter eight? Every time you think about your project, repeat the problem: I’m working on Carrie’s unhappiness. Now you’ve imprinted your subconscious with your writing need. How to encourage it to provide an answer? There are several ways:

  1. Sleep on it. Write down your problem and review it before you climb into bed. Or, read a few pages of your manuscript and tell your subconscious, Tomorrow I want to finish this scene.
  2. Take power naps. Follow the above procedure during the day, and give yourself ten or fifteen minutes to close your eyes and doze. Often I lean my head back against my chair for a snooze and have to keep sitting up to write as the ideas flow.
  3. Exercise. Review your problem before taking a walk or starting your daily yoga session. Sometimes just getting up from your computer and changing location is enough to jog the brain.
  4. Engage in repetitive activity. Sew, knit, weed, plant flowers, dust, vacuum. Something about the repetition allows ideas to come up in the spaces between.
  5. Drive. Nothing like a mini-road trip to free the brain.
  6. Concentrate on something else. How many times have you sat down to pay bills only to have the best idea for your screenplay yet? (Which means, of course, you get to delay paying the bills for a while while you run to your computer.)

With all of these activities it is vital for you to carry pen and paper with you. No, you won’t remember the idea you had while rounding the curve on the tenth lap of the track. You’ll forget the brilliant snippet of dialogue you invented while gardening if you don’t write it down. Carrying pen and paper is a signal you’re ready. When you start stoking the subconscious it will respond, and if you are not ready and receptive, believe me, it will shut back down. Like a muscle, the more you use your subconscious, the stronger it gets.

Finally, returning to the topic of sleep, let us not forget about dreams, which are a powerful source of story ideas, symbolism and imagery. The best way to remember dreams echoes the technique for stoking your subconscious–get in the habit of writing them down as soon as you awake. Since you are carrying paper and pen with you everywhere, this won’t be a problem, right?

Respect and revere your “second brain” with these simple steps and you’ll be amazed at how hard it will work for you. Before you know it, you’ll even be writing in your sleep.

Writing about where you live

Free Writing,

One of the coolest things about living in Coastal North Carolina is all the neat towns. Many authors will suggest that you write about what you know. I, on the other hand, will tell you to write about what you have learned. It is easy to take for granted the places we live. There are so many local events that pass by unnoticed.

When I decided to take the docent training at The Beaufort Historic Association it was with a book in mind. I love Beaufort. It is close enough to where I live that I can travel there frequently, yet far enough to make me research. What I learned in the training was the backdrop of the town, its history and so many little details about the historic district that I wished I lived close enough to not only train as a docent, but also volunteer. I knew the moment I walked out the door the last day that this special site was indeed the place to set my series.

When choosing a local setting the reader may anticipate some fiction about the location but not a whole lot. If you decide to write a story that takes place in a real location and in the present, then you need to make sure that people who have been there can recognize it. Choose things that will not change, or things that are not likely to change for a very long time.

I have had several local readers tell me that they were picking apart my details and were very pleased. They could tell I put in the work to describe the location. This is important because if you write a book about a place where local people visit, live, and treasure, you better make sure to get the details right. They will either support your book or tear you to shreds and the latter is a very bad thing. Now if you change the name of a restaurant or store, that is one thing, but the core historical facts, those better be right.

The Art of Ethan is the first book in The Beaufort Series. It is published by Tease Publishing LLC and is part of a three book series. The story is meant to be read as if you are picking up the book and the action is happening today. It is about Grace, a school teacher who has not come to terms with her mother’s death. She is stuck in a rut but she can’t see it. Everyone around her does, and they are all worried. She loses her position as the cheerleading coach at the high school, she has a serious case of writers block, and her cousin Megan is getting married and wants her to be sewn into the dress! If that wasn’t enough, Megan decides to come to NC to visit with her fiancé and his brother Ethan.

Ethan is an artist who inherited his grandfather’s gallery in New York. He is a guest lecturer and one of NY’s hottest bachelors. There’s just one thing, he is fed up with lying, scheming, high maintenance diva’s, and has sworn off women. Then he meets Grace, and for the first time in a long time he actually has to work for a woman’s attention. The more she refuses him, the more he wants from her.

Add to the mix a stalker, an ex-boyfriend, an ex-girlfriend, and a fire, a wedding, and a couple pregnancy tests and you will see why Grace didn’t stand a chance.

Some of my favorite scenes in this book are the ones set in Beaufort. There is something magical about the house, the beach, and the town. Which is why the next two books in the series brings more people to live there!

Thank you for reading, and hopefully you will be inspired to check out your local historic association and re-discover some really great things about where you live!

"The act of writing – the reader" by Paulo Coelho

Free Writing, , , , , , , ,

“There are two types of writers: those who make you think and those who make you dream” says Brian Aldiss, who made me dream for such a long time with his science-fiction books. Thinking about his sentence and my work, I decided to write some columns on the subject. In principle I believe that every human being on this planet has at least one good story to tell his neighbor. What follows are my reflections on some important items in the process of creating a text.The reader

Above all else, the writer has to be a good reader. The kind that sticks to academic texts and does not read what others write (and here I’m not just talking about books but also blogs, newspaper columns and so on) will never know his own qualities and defects.

So, before starting anything, look for people who are interested in sharing their experience through words. I’m not saying: “look for other writers”. What I say is: find people with different skills, because writing is no different from any other activity that is done with enthusiasm.

Your allies will not necessarily be those that everyone looks on with admiration and says: “there’s nobody better”. It’s very much the opposite: it’s people who are not afraid of making mistakes, and yet they do make mistakes. That is why their work is not always recognized. But that’s the type of people who change the world, and after many a mistake they manage to get something right that will make all the difference in their community.

These are people who cannot sit around waiting for things to happen before they decide on the best way to narrate them: they decide as they act, even knowing that this can be very risky.

Living close to these people is important for writers, because they need to understand that before putting anything down on paper, they should be free enough to change direction as their imagination wanders. When a sentence comes to an end, the writer should tell himself: “while I was writing I traveled a long road. Now I can finish this paragraph in the full awareness that I have risked enough and given the best of myself.”

The best allies are those who don’t think like the others. That’s why, while you are looking for your companions (not always visible, because meetings between the reader and the writer are rare), trust your intuition and don’t pay any attention to others’ remarks. People always judge others using the model of their own limitations – and at times the opinion of the community is full of prejudices and fears.

Join those who have never said: “it’s finished, I have to stop here”. Because just as winter is followed by spring, nothing comes to an end: after reaching your objective, you have to start again, always using all that you have learnt on the way.

Join those who sing, tell stories, enjoy life and have happiness in their eyes. Because happiness is contagious and always manages to keep people from being paralyzed by depression, loneliness and troubles.

And tell your story, even if it’s only for your family to read.

The pen

All the energy of thinking is eventually shown in the nib of a pen. Of course, here we can substitute nib by ballpoint, computer keyboard, or pencil, but the nib of a pen is more romantic, don’t you think?

To get back to the theme: words eventually condense an idea. Paper is just a support for this idea. But the pen will always remain with you, and you must know how to use it.

Periods of inactivity are necessary – a pen that is always writing ends up losing the awareness of what it is doing. So let it rest whenever possible, and concern yourself with living and meeting your friends. When you return to the business of writing, you will find a happy pen with all its strength intact.

Pens have no conscience: they are an extension of the writer’s hand and desire. They serve to destroy reputations, make us dream, send news, trace pretty words of love. So always be clear about your intentions.

The hand is where all the muscles of the body, all the intentions of the person writing, all the effort to share what he feels, are concentrated. It is not just a part of his arm but an extension of his thought. Hold your pen with the same respect that a violinist has for his instrument.

The word

The word is the final intention of someone who wishes to share something with his neighbor.

William Blake said: all that we write is the fruit of memory or the unknown. If I can make a suggestion, respect the unknown and look there for your source of inspiration. The stories and facts remain the same, but when you open a door in your unconscious and let yourself be led by inspiration you will see that the way to describe what you have lived or dreamt is always far richer when your unconscious is guiding the pen.

Every word leaves a memory in your heart – and it the sum of these memories that form sentences, paragraphs, books.

Words are as flexible as the tip of your pen, and they understand the signs on the road. Sentences do not hesitate in changing course when they make a discovery, when they spot a better opportunity.

Words have the same quality as water: they go around rocks and adapt to the river bed, sometimes turning into a lake until the depression has filled up and they can continue their journey.

Because when words are written with feelings and the soul, they do not forget that their destination is the ocean of a text, and that sooner or later they have to arrive there.

(Ends next number)

http://www.paulocoelhoblog.com/warrioroflight/

http://www.warriorofthelight.com/engl/index.html

BookSurge – Who Owns "PACIFIC AVENUE" all the way to "BOARDWALK"?

Free Writing, , , ,

By Sandra Jones Cropsey
More years ago than I care
to consider, I wrote to Celestine Sibley, a long-time columnist for
The Atlanta Journal & Constitution, “There must be an easier
way to persecute one’s self in life than by writing.” I even went
so far as to suggest the need for the formation of “Writer’s Anonymous”
for those of us afflicted with this often most frustrating of addictions.
Ms. Sibley posted my comments in her column, which only further inflamed
my addiction I might add.

Writers are definitely a special
breed. Writers, like artists, can take a person to another place at
very little cost and won’t lose your luggage in the process.
And writers, like artists, struggle. Many of them struggle with whatever
ghosts or demons drive them to write. Some fall so in love with words
that they never recover. Each day as they sit down at their computer,
typewriter, or paper and pencil, writers struggle with words—searching
for just that right one. And again, like artists, writers struggle financially.
Oh, but do they struggle financially! Through the years, I have come
to know a lot of writers, and only a couple in that group can claim
to support themselves solely by freelance writing. Most have a day job
that takes more of their life and energy than they desire, but they somehow
still manage to get a collection of choice words on paper and eventually
publish—more often, these days, with a small or print-on-demand (POD)
publisher.

Now it would appear that Amazon
wants to add to that struggle by forcing small independent and POD publishers
to use the printing services of their affiliate, BookSurge. The additional
financial burden would no doubt increase the cost of printing to such
a degree that many writers like me will not be able to afford the cost
of publishing.

Much has been written about
this issue; much will continue to be written. None of it is pretty.
It has been reported that when approached by representatives of Amazon/BookSurge,
many of the owners of independent presses were told to sign with BookSurge
or see the “Buy” button on their listings with Amazon disappear.
We pray this is wrong, as nobody likes to be bullied, and nobody really
likes a bully either, but we do business with bullies everyday. A large
majority of corporate America enjoys success because of being a bully.
But we don’t always have to do business with bullies.
Across the pond, Edward Smith,
manager of YouWriteOn.com, “the UK’s most popular Arts Council funded
site for budding writers” is calling for a boycott of Amazon. “YouWriteOn.com
in response is inviting all POD authors everywhere to list their books
on our site with a free ‘book-buy’ link to any bookseller other than
Amazon. Effectively we are calling for a proactive boycott of Amazon
and are encouraging all writers and readers and other writers’ sites
to join in this by doing the same in their writers communities, which
drive the POD industry, and to also email their discontent to Amazon.”
The Author’s Guild is reported
to be checking into the legality of this situation as it suggests “monopoly”
and a violation of anti-trust laws. “We suspect this maneuver by Amazon
is far more about profit margin than it is about customer service or
fossil fuels. The potential big losers (other than Ingram) if Amazon
does impose greater discounts on the industry, are authors—since many
are paid for on-demand sales based on the publisher’s gross revenues—and
publishers. . . We’re reviewing the antitrust and other legal implications
of Amazon’s bold move. If you have any information on this matter that
you think could be helpful to us, please call us at (212) 563-5904 and
ask for the legal services department, or send an e-mail to staff@authorsguild.org.”

WritersWeekly.com has a special
page on their web site to address this situation http://www.writersweekly.com/amazon.php, and
Angela and Richard Hoy
are doing a great job of keeping us all informed. Two petitions
have been established to collect signatures:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/protectPOD/?e and http://www.amazontroopsurge.com/2008/04/write-government-about-amazons-illegal.html.

Russell Wild, President of
the American Society of Journalists and Authors, stated in a press release,
“We applauded when Jeff Bezos and Amazon gave small publishers
and even writers who self-published a way to get their books before
the public. . . With these grabby, strong-arm tactics, Amazon negates
all that—and the years of goodwill it has built up with writers, who
ultimately will bear the brunt of any price increases in the printing
of independently published books.”

Being a bully is wrong,
whether on the playground or in the marketplace.
If you cannot win fairly, you do not deserve to win. Thus would
just the right words be “Writers Anonymous” or “Anonymous Writers?”
Sandra Jones Cropsey is
the author

of
Tinker’s Christmas and Who’s There?

www.tinkerschristmas.com

www.outskirtspress.com/whosthere