Jennifer Becton's Blog, page 35

Try

Riding the Learning Curve: before you can learn, you have to try.

When Moral Hazard came back from my awesome story editor, it became clear that I love the word “try.” I used it approximately a zillion times. That manuscript problem has since been remedied, but I still adore the word and the idea behind it.

Here’s Webster’s definition of “try”:

to make an effort to do something : to attempt to accomplish or complete something

: to do or use (something) in order to see if it works or will be successful

: to do or use (something) in order to find out if you like it

“Try.” Merriam-Webster.com. Accessed December 12, 2013. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio....

For me, “try” encompasses the most important prerequisite of success. Before you can be successful at anything–whether that’s writing a novel, being a great parent, learning a new skill–you have to put in an effort, a real effort. Not just a half-assed attempt. Give it your whole ass. Put your whole ass into it!

It’s easy to think that if you don’t try, you can’t fail. And hey, that’s true. But if you don’t try, you can’t succeed either. And even if you really try and you don’t reach perfection right away, you haven’t failed. Maybe you tried NANOWRIMO and didn’t reach 50,000 words. So what?! You might have finished 25,000 words, and that’s 25,000 more words than you had before you tried. That’s a lot of words to build on. It’s also a great length for a novella.

Learning a new skill or taking on a major project requires more than one attempt to get right. You have to ride the learning curve. First, things are good, then they get worse, then they get better, and finally you get it right. But first you have to try!



Randomosity

Kohl’s has the greatest return policy. Yesterday, they allowed me to return a “shrink resistant” shirt that lost an inch in the sleeves after just two washes. Thank you, Kohl’s.
I painted my toenails today. I don’t know why. I never go barefoot in winter. But hey, my toes are now pretty.
If you have not tried a Lindt Excellence A Touch of Sea Salt Dark Chocolate Bar, then you are missing out. On that subject, it’s best to try every food item Jessica Grey suggests; she’s never steered me wrong. Also, buy her new short story collection: Views from the Depths

New Twitter Functions

I’ve always said that Twitter was one of my most important marketing tools, and I could have been doing better lately. Here are some tips on using some new Twitter functions:

The Number One Mistake Everybody Makes on Twitter from Gary Vaynerchuk

3 Editing Mistakes You May Be Making

One of the ways to distinguish self-published material from traditionally published books is by counting the typos and plot holes. No, trad pub books are not perfect. I’ve seen all kinds of fun errors in books from big name publishers, but one quick look around self-published tiles on Amazon will reveal countless reviews detailing typos, confusing sentence structure, and gaping plot wounds.

You only have one chance to make a first impression, so avoid these three mistakes, and you’ll have a better chance at winning over readers for life.

 Sharing your work too soon. You’ve just finished your first draft and are very excited. You want to let your friends and family read it. STOP! Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. The rough draft is for your eyes only. The manuscript is still new and will require rewrites, and if you begin seeking opinions too early in the process, your artistic vision will be altered. Readers may see the book going a direction you never intended, and you might be inclined to follow their advice and end up penning something you never wanted to write in the first place. In addition, you might be discouraged by your friends’ response because, let’s face it, early drafts suck. They’re supposed to suck. If readers are cutting you down and not jumping up and down, it’s not going to help motivate you.
Not hiring a professional copy editor. Copy editing is expensive. There. That’s out there. It’s a difficult, tedious job, and it takes a talented person to do it. Many first-time indie publishers balk at laying out the funds for this service, and it’s almost always to their detriment. Many people think they can copy edit themselves. But all writers reach a point where they cannot see their own mistakes. They are so familiar with the words on the page that they can no longer see errors at all. You need fresh eyes on the words.
Not getting an outside opinion. Many indies use “beta readers” to critique their manuscripts. In my understanding, beta readers are friends or acquaintances who have some knowledge of the book in advance and who give their advice on the plot etc. They may have helped brainstorm and offered suggestions early in the writing process. I believe it’s crucial that at least one early reader be more like a true story editor, someone completely outside your friend realm, someone who does not worry about hurting your feelings or who has not been involved in the writing process of the book at all. If you’ve discussed plot or character with the beta reader, you’ve already tainted their view of the book. They know what you’re trying to achieve, so they may project that onto the book whether or not it’s actually there. You need someone with no bias at all, with no preconceived notions of the book and limited input from you about what you were trying to achieve. Sure, tell them your audience and a general overview of the plot, but let the book speak for itself. Someone needs to come to your manuscript cold to make sure what you think you’ve written and what you’ve actually conveyed in words are the same thing.

What advice do you have for first-time publishers?

Tips and Tricks for Self-Pub Company Fails

First of all, Moral Hazard is back from the story editor, and the re-writes have begun. This is roughly the speed I’m going to attempt in order to get the book out ASAP. Plus any excuse to add a Big Bang Theory video….

Now on to the tips.

One of the most frustrating aspects of working as an indie author is dealing with iffy technology for uploading and managing books and accounts. Just this week, I’ve had to contact support for two issues in particular that really should have been explained on their websites or in their User’s Manuals. I mean, I can’t be the only person who has had these problems.

Kobo: If your epub won’t upload, you will receive the message that the file could not be uploaded. The only information on the page or User’s Manual says that the file must be below 100 MB and of a certain type. Well, those are not the only two reasons for upload failure. If your epub will not upload to Kobo and it’s smaller than 100 MB, then you most likely have an epub error. Go to an epub validtor, check it, correct the problem, and then try again.

Overdrive: I’ve been trying to log in to my account there for months. I was told to use the “forgot password” function to do this. However, each attempt yielded the following message: “The information entered is incorrect.” This is because Overdrive requires the use of Explorer. You can’t log in with another browser. (I finally got a message that says this after a month of incorrect info messages.) So if you’re having this problem, try Explorer.

Killer Stress, Yeah.

After a slightly stressful day in the publishing cave, I saw this video from ASAPScience on YouTube and thought it appropriate.

A Bit of Downtime

While Moral Hazard is at the story editor, I have a bit of downtime. But just a bit. There’s always something to do, like create the cover, write the back cover copy, and, oh, start another project.

After weeks of irregular barn visits, I have gotten to ride Darcy twice so far this week. It’s been glorious. There’s something wonderful about being totally focused on her. It helps clear my mind.

I just finished reading an ARC of Against His Will by my friend and Indie Jane-ite Nancy Kelley. The ebook is now available on Amazon and BN. Isn’t the cover gorgeous?

I also started watching the first season of Person of Interest. I really enjoy it so far, but what’s with all the gunshots to the legs of armed threats? I get that Reese’s not interested in killing all these people, but it’s getting a little difficult to believe that these wounds prevent all the bad guys from firing their own weapons back at him. It’s like Alias: everyone got knocked on the back of the head while walking down a dark hallway. Did none of these people learn to check behind them? Or the Walking Dead: close a door behind you, people! But I digress….

I hope you’re getting a little downtime too. What have you been up to?

Evil, Evil TV

Some basic assumptions:

TV is a waste of time.
TV does not foster thought and creates mind-numbed zombies. TV watching is passive.
TV fosters violent, anti-social behavior.

Okay, that’s out there. Everyone agrees with this, right? I mean, because who is going to argue that something so awful might be getting a bad rap?

That would be me.

Sure, TV can be a waste of time, it can be mindless, and it can encourage violence in individuals who have trouble differentiating fantasy from reality. I admit that all of these points can be true at times, but not always.

Let’s take these one at a time.

TV is a waste of time. Yes, it can be, but what is TV? It’s stories. And stories have always been the basis for transmitting history and culture. Cavemen sat around fires and told about the time Great Uncle Grog lost half his hair in a battle with a Wooly Mammoth, and that’s why men of our tribe wear our hair short now. There are lots of ways to transmit stories that are important in our culture–books, internet, TV. It’s all about stories.
TV can be mindless. No doubt. But it depends on how you watch it. I love to deconstruct characters I find interesting or try to figure out how actors make me like an anti-hero or how writers were able to surprise me with a plot twist. Most of the time, I’m not vegging; I’m learning. This is not to say there’s not a place for the escapism that TV offers; there is. But it’s not always an escape and it shouldn’t become a place to hide from the world. And as far as it’s being passive and brain-rotting, again, it depends on how you watch it. Do you discuss it with your family afterward or with your friends the next day at work? Probably. This passive, mind-rotting activity can be a story that binds and creates interesting opportunities for discussion.
Yes, people who already have trouble separating fantasy and reality may feel confused or validated by violence portrayed on TV (or in books or the internet or by their idiot buddy down the street). But most people have no trouble understanding what is real and what is fantasy, and they do not become robots acting out what they see on TV or read.

I’m not going to say that TV time should be unlimited or that everything on TV has value. I just get tired of being told that TV is bad, bad, evil, evil when I see it as another form of story-telling, something I dearly love.

Learning from Other Media: Lisbon, Why?

If you have not seen last night’s episode of The Mentalist, stop reading now. Spoilers ahead.

If there’s one plot device that drives me crazy, it’s the investigator who goes into the seedy biker bar alone at 2 AM to confront the dangerous suspect. Of course, we all know what happens. She gets into big trouble, and her life is likely threatened. Shocker.

I understand why writers do this. They need to isolate this character while simultaneously making her look braver than any normal human. Unfortunately, the former is accomplished, while often the latter is not. Instead of coming across brave, she looks like a great fool.

Let’s review what Lisbon did last night at the end of The Mentalist. After having a discussion with Jane about how she knew Red John could use their tracking devices against them as a trap, Lisbon gets a mysterious call specifically directed to her team. She is alone, of course, and sees that the distress call coincides with the location of one of the suspects she is tracking. Bravely, she goes forth, but not before calling in the local PD for backup.

Good girl. At least the writers had her try to get backup.

After all, she knows Red John is involved, AND she knows that there’s an equal chance that he is killing someone and/or that it’s a plot to get her.

But when the local PD isn’t going to show, what does she do? Does she call someone trusted in the CBI for backup? Call the sheriff’s department? Insist on PD backup? Does she at least call Jane and tell him what’s up? Nope. She hears a noise and goes in the house with her gun drawn. We’re supposed to see her as brave for going in to try to save the life (of somebody who may not exist based on a mysterious anonymous tip related to serial killer Red John whom she knows is devious, has an inside track into the CBI, and is set to kill again).

Unfortunately, it makes me some lose respect for her as a competent police officer.

There are ways to isolate characters without making them look like idiots, and there are ways to change up this device to make it unique. Neither happened last night, which made me a little sad. I’ve always enjoyed the writing on that show. (I mean, I love Jane, and he’s not exactly a likeable dude.)  Maybe the writers just didn’t have screen time available to deal with anything more than what we got, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Despite my disappointment, I’m eager to see what happens next.

Unfair Comparisons

I was reading a style blog, you know, because I need to keep up with the trends. I’m such a clotheshorse.

Or not.

Anyway, I found the following article by Anna Davies about ghostwriting YA novels. I know that not everything in the publishing world works the way people think it does. For example, when you sell your book to a publisher, you sell your book to a publisher. That means they can basically do whatever they want to it. Depending on your contract, it’s possible that they can turn your book into something totally different from what you wrote.

But I’ve never worked on a project as large scale as juggernaut YA fiction. I knew ghostwriters existed, but I didn’t know it worked like this:

A lot of the major young adult series you see on the shelves — and the ones that have been translated onto the screen — are created by a group of editors, who come up with an outline for the story. For the first few books I wrote, I called out sick from my day job (sorry, work!) so I could head to a conference room and hash out plotlines along with three editors and the “real” writer — who did exist, and who approved all the books once they were written. Click here to read the whole article.

These books that began as the product of one mind can become the products of a group of editors and writers in a way that goes far beyond the author/editor/publisher partnerships that I’ve experienced.

Not that there’s anything wrong with this. But it can put things in a more realistic perspective for indie authors. To whom are we comparing ourselves? We might be comparing our one-person enterprise to a team of people who focus group the plots of their series before publication. Or to a writer who doesn’t even exist as an individual.

The cool thing is that indie authors can attain the same feats as these big name authors and writing teams. But remember not to compare yourself too harshly to them as you look out at the aisle of merchandise, movies, and TV shows.

 

Editing Series on Indie Jane

I write a monthly post on Indie Jane, a website that caters to writers and readers of Austen-related works. Over the past few months, I compiled tips and advice for hiring and working with freelance editors, and I’ve been meaning to link them here.

So here they are:

1. Introduction: Let’s Talk about Editing

The most critical part of the pre-publication process is editing. In reviews, readers can leave all sorts of opinions about your characters, plot, and style, but those facets of a book are subjective, open to interpretation. But reviews can also contain objective, provable feedback about typos and spelling and grammar errors. Poor editing stands out, but writers can take simple steps to prevent embarrassing typos by hiring professional editors. Click to read more.

2. Author/Editor Relations: Don’t Treat Your Editor Like a Supercuts

Editing is hard work, and it requires a great deal of time, focus, and concentration. An editor does not approach an editing job as if it is a pleasure read. This is meticulous work. As such, a book that may take the average person 8 hours to read for pleasure will take far, far longer for the editor to edit. And by far, far longer, I mean weeks, or in the case of nonfiction manuscripts with footnotes, I mean months (really awful, horrible months…but I digress). Click to read more.

3. Rates and Services: What to Expect from Your Editor

When your work comes back from the editor, you should be able to recognize it. That means, the editor should not send you back a rewritten or completely reorganized version of your own work. Every suggestion should be made in such a way that the author can either approve or disapprove of it. The author is ultimately responsible for every change made to the manuscript. Editors can only make suggestions. Click to read more.

My next post will be directed specifically to those of you who want to become freelance editors. Stay tuned to Indie Jane!