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It is so easy to fall into the regrets trap...if only I had started earlier...if only I had taken that class...if only I had not blown off that editor....if only I had listened to X...Whatever you are writing and whatever stage you are at, don't stop because of nagging regrets.

Remember: No one else knows, or even really cares, what all happened before The Book became The Book. Only you know. If it started as one kind of book and morphed into another, your reader doesn't know. If it has taken you ten years and you're half way there, your future reader doesn't know. And as you get closer to the book's completion, you, too, will forget all the side-winding, bizarre oops-moments.

Your reader's experience begins when they pick up the book and start to read the first page.

So start again today, and take the reader on the journey you want to take them on. Never mind the woulda, coulda, shoulda.

You are here, now. Lead the way.

Laurie

http://www.authorbiz.com/

Feedback From Hell

No, I'm not referring to rejection letters from editors and agents, though that can be feedback from hell. Have you given your manuscript to your writing group for feedback? Or the writing class for fellow student's critique? To your group of friends who have long heard about this book you're writing?


That would be the feedback I'm talking about. Not because it's necessarily bad or wrong feedback, but because it is very often too much feedback, and not at the right time for you to hear it. When you get too much feedback too early in your process, your brain scrambles to make sense of conflicting feedback and tries to address it all. You lose the book you set out to write. This is so common that it deserves a blog of its own.


Once you have written many drafts of your book, perhaps had some qualified editor feedback, and are secure in what your book is about, who it is for, how it needs to work, then you can get feedback that will help refine or clarify things for the reader. At this stage, you can decipher helpful suggestions or comments from sheer opinion or "what I would have done" tips. You won't be sent off on the wrong track because your own gut will tell you which suggestions make sense; which ones tap a nerve about something that bothered you too.


If, however, you are on the first or second draft, still pondering structure, focus, characters, plot, and such, then the feedback is more often confusing, derailing, frustrating, and damaging. Many an author has come to me with his or her book in a jumbled mess from all the rewrites and critiques. There is only one thing to do: (1) mediate on and remember what the core idea was that set you off to write this book in the first place (your actual inspiration), and (2) start again, not reading or using anything that has already been written. Write it now, informed only by what has stayed in your head.


You can avoid this nightmare by waiting to submit your work until you are far enough along, secure in the basics of what you're writing. Yes, be open to outside feedback. Yes, listen to critiques you are not inclined to want to hear. But remember that the most important aspect of feedback is that it points out a problem for your reader. How you address the problem is entirely up to you. Sort through it all, and then listen to your gut.


OR, if forced to provide work for critique, sacrifice a new piece for that purpose; not your work that is not ready.


Laurie

www.authorbiz.com/
Photo credit: (c)2009 L Harper

In the Eye of the Storm

This blog has been silent, but not because the publishing world is quiet--that's for sure. In fact, I have seen good energy and activity with publishers large and small the last six months, and reports from the fall Frankfurt Book Fair expressed relief for the rebound from last year's depressed mood. Publishing is still tricky for everyone and no one is throwing money around, but with a careful match of author, book, and publisher, and some measure of patience and luck, a reasonable deal can still be put together like the "good ol' days."

Publishers are putting out e-books and digitalizing the backlists as fast as they can, making a significant investment, as they should. Authors are smartly evaluating whether the "e-book revolution" is an opportunity for them to brand themselves and self-publish or if they benefit from having a traditional publisher. And of course the broad answer, as always, is "There are advantages to either -- it just depends." If your book needs to be in a brick-and-mortar bookstore to find its broadest readership, and you have the marketing muscle to back that up, then a traditional publisher would be essential. If you can find your readership online and market accordingly, then the economics might dictate self-branding and self-publishing online, where you keep more of the earnings. Either way you have to do the marketing--it's your book and only you can win over an audience to become your loyal reading fans.

If you're sitting in the eye of the storm, wondering what to do with your book and confused about which way is the right way for you to go, here's your to-do list:

1. Keep writing the book. Only stop writing it if you lose interest in it yourself.

2. Do some speaking on the book's topic if it is nonfiction--get some test-runs under your belt. Get appropriate networking at least up and running, to build on later.

3. Finish the book.

4. Edit the book.

5. If nonfiction, write a proposal for your book (see archives of this blog for pointers on proposals). If it is fiction, write your synopsis and "pitch" query for agent and publishers.

You can always choose to self-publish, but write your book and do all the work to be ready for agents and traditional publishers. If in the end this either does not work out or you decide the offers are not good enough, then the work was not in vain because you are miles ahead on being prepared to successfully self-publish. If you go the traditional route with an agent and/or publisher, having the manuscript completed, edited, and ready to go will give you more leverage with the deal and speed up the publication date. You win either way.

Being in the eye of the storm gives you the opportunity to gather information, consider your options, make a plan, batten down the hatches and prepare. Then give it your best shot. Onward!

Laurie

http://www.authorbiz.com/

Photo credit: (c)2007 L Harper