[authorme] PUBLISHING EMERGING WRITERS, NOVEMBER 2007
- From: "Bruce Cook, AuthorMe.com" <cookcomm@xxxxxxx>
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- Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2007 08:01:07 -0700 (PDT)
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In this issue...
LIGHTING KEY SCENES IN FICTION - Cook.
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HAVE YOU EVER BOUGHT A SELF-PUBLISHED BOOK? - Fry
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SO YOU WROTE A BOOK - Cook
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LIGHTING KEY SCENES IN FICTION
By Bruce Cook
In photography, lighting has an important role. Better lighting produces
highlights and shows depth and contrast, creating a successful mood or scene.
With lighting, you can effectively model the scene.
In fiction, we can refer to highlights and depth, but we have another form of
lighting ? foreshadowing. Here we use pictures from antecedent scenes to
illuminate the most important scene (or scenes).
Using the lighting analogy, turn the lights off when you read a key scene you
have written such as the resolution of a dramatic encounter. (?Lights off?
means everything in the scene is a mild surprise to he reader.)
For example, you have written about a couple suffering domestic violence, and
all scenes take place inside a suburban apartment in Chicago. Then, at the end,
the woman successfully escapes from the man while he makes a drug deal downtown?
?Gina grasped the child into her sari and stepped to the iron stairs to the
locomotive at the back of the commuter train. In this direction, the locomotive
would be pushing the train from the back, and the engineer would be the front
car using remote controls to operate the throttle and brakes. There would be no
one in the locomotive.
?Trembling, she caught Anwar?s glance as he concluded his deal on the street.
Quickly she entered the hatch, latched it, and entered the dark, pulsing diesel
room, finding her way down the catwalk to the control area on the far side.
There she could see out the back window of the train, watching Anwar as the
train pulled away, watching him take careful aim and shoot, and proudly
standing fast as she observed his bullet failing to conquer the reinforced
windshield. Now Gina was free!?
With the lights out, this scene would be completely unpredictable. We would
never see a train during the scenes where we showed how they lived in the
apartment. We would have no idea why she wore a sari, and what it was. We would
have no idea about drug deals or guns or Anwar?s shooting skills.
However, with the lights on, we would see light and shadow and feel depth in
this scene, and therefore we would thrill and live the scene instead of being
mere observers.
To turn the lights on, the author would bring the train into the apartment
scene, perhaps using reflected light on the walls or the sounds from nearby
tracks. We would see Gina press the child into her sari, and know what the sari
was all about. She would refer to his gunsmanship, or even be threatened in the
apartment. She might reflect on her youth when she was permitted to roam
through engine rooms in her father?s shipyard in Calcutta.
A skilled writer can turn the lights on in any story. Just insure that each
important element in the key scene is familiar to the reader, usually because
it has been seen earlier. This will remove all impediments to imagination. It
will allow the reader to dive deeper into the meaning or excitement of the
scene, and the scene will be triply effective
================
HAVE YOU EVER BOUGHT A SELF-PUBLISHED BOOK?
By Patricia Fry
Seriously, this question was posed to a friend of mine who contemplated
hiring a self-publishing company for his first book. The author who asked him
this was trying to make the point that no one buys self-published books. While
this author has had a few books produced?all of them by traditional royalty
publishers.
But wow, what a question: ?Have you ever bought a self-published book?? I
can?t imagine very many people responding in the negative. Of course, we?ve all
bought self-published books.
First, let?s identify a self-published book. It?s a book that was produced
independent of a traditional royalty publisher. It?s a book published by an
individual who becomes an independent publisher or through one of the many
fee-based POD ?self-publishing? companies. If you?ve ever bought a book at a
book or harvest festival, a flea market or holiday boutique, for example, it
was probably self-published. If you?ve purchased books in the back of the room
after a conference, speech or other presentation, chances are, it was
self-published. Do you buy books online? It may have been self-published.
When you bought the book, did you check to see who published it? Probably
not. Did you care whether or not it was self-published? If you?re fascinated by
astrology and you found a neat little pocket guide to astrology, you?re
probably going to buy it no matter who published it. If you discover a quaint
little book of poems about children, you may purchase it for your niece who?s
expecting her first child whether it was produced by Simon and Schuster or the
Mom and Pop Publishing Company of Kansas. If someone recommends a fantastic
novel, you?re going to order it no matter where it came from.
I probably buy more self-published books than traditionally published books.
And I do so consciously. I like to support my fellow independent publishers and
those who teamed with fee-based POD ?self-publishing? companies to produce the
book of their dreams.
I wonder if the author who asked that controversial question knows that Mark
Twain self-published his work. And is he aware that James Redfield (Celestine
Prophecy) and Richard Paul Evans (The Christmas Box), Beatrix Potter, Zane
Grey, Edgar Allen Poe and Patricia Fry are/were all self-published authors?
Most of us have had publishers pick up some of our works after we demonstrated
their worth in the marketplace.
It?s too bad that the self-publishing stigma lives on in the minds of some
people. How can we change that? Here?s how:
Produce the very best books that you can. This means, study the publishing
industry so you know what it will bear and how you can participate in raising
the bar.
Write a book proposal so that you ultimately produce a quality book that is
wanted/needed by a large segment of the population.
Commit to promoting your book so it receives the recognition it deserves.
Support independent publishers who are producing quality products. Join with
others to convince booksellers and major reviewers that they should consider
books by merit rather than company name.
If you are new to the world of publishing or if you are struggling and have
questions, you?re an excellent candidate for studying Patricia Fry?s
self-published book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book
(revised, second printing) and the brand new, Author?s Workbook.
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html
http://www.matilijapress.com/workbook.html. Patricia also offers
Courses-on-Demand in 3 writing/publishing-related subjects:
http://www.matilijapress.com/courses.htm.
================
SO YOU WROTE A BOOK
By Bruce Cook
Things have changed for the wrote-a-book people.
True, many readers are still unaware of the change, so a skillful
wrote-a-book person can still impress people with underlined titles on a
resume, book samples left carelessly on coffee tables, and the like. But things
are no longer the same.
Now, for better or worse, anyone who can create a Word file can publish a
book, online, for free. (Of course, to have a copy they must spend upwards of
$10 (plus shipping).)
In today?s parlance and yesterday?s reality, this is HUGE! It appears to
unsuspecting readers that a publishing house has discovered us, purchased our
writings, and invested ?boku bucks? to print, distribute, and promote our new
book.
But in today?s reality, this is just a beginning. Actually, all we have done
is discover a web site, uploaded a file or two, and purchased a largely
automated product, just like going to the corner print shop.
What is missing in this equation? Any marketing analyst can tell you. What is
missing is marketing ? a supply chain to put the book in stores, and a
promotional campaign to let potential buyers know it?s available.
Ergo, the appeal of a website, or promotional page on Amazon or another
book-promoting website. That, it seems, would solve the problem, but it does
not. In fact, self-published books are dismal failures by anyone?s business
plan.
Thank God that serious writers just want readers. In that case, realizing
that the book may sell 8 copies for author and family, plus maybe 20 if the
author does local promotions, it actually makes sense to publish the book
online in addition to the book version. That way it?s possible to gain hundreds
of readers who actually read the work.
In my book, I recommend posting online for readers, publishing for friends,
and the test marketing stage is over. Now is a god time to assess the product
in comparison to competing products, and it if it?s worth the risk, investing
in its promotion. Study resources like those named on this page and chart your
results. Was it worth the investment? If so, invest more.
If not, enjoy the readership and write another book for tomorrow.
================
Get Your Publishing Project Off the Ground or Out of the Gutter
Finally, someone has developed a WORKBOOK to help you chart your course
through the writing, publishing and marketing process. Read Patricia Fry's
newly revised book "The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book"
(366-pages) and then use her "Author's Workbook" to evaluate the potential for
your project and guide you in achieving your publishing goals. Guaranteed to
increase your potential for publishing success.
www.matilijapress.com/workbook.html.
Patricia Fry is a freelance writer and the author of 27 books, including, ?The
Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book,? revised 2nd edition, 2007 and
the accompanying ?Author?s Workbook.? www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html.
Contact Patricia at plfry620@xxxxxxxxx Visit Patricia Fry?s informative blog
often: www.matilijapress.com/publishingblog.
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Publishing New Writers, November, 2007 (No. 811)
Publisher: Cook Comm - Bruce L. Cook, P.O. Box 451,
Dundee, IL 60118 USA.
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