Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 119

The Biz in "Show Biz"

How much scrutiny do you or an attorney give a contract, and have you ever realized after you signed that you left something on the table?

by Paul D. Marks

My topic here will be a little broader. My focus will be writing for “show biz” as well as prose fiction.

When most people embark on this adventure of writing they have stars in their eyes. Maybe they think about the immortality that being an author will bring them. Maybe about financial reward. What they often don’t think about is that the word...

"It's a beautiful conservatory" by Catriona

How much scrutiny do you or an attorney give a contract, and have you ever realized after you signed that you left something on the table?

The other night - Burns Night as it happened - I did an online fundraiser for the Anaheim Public Library foundation. And now I know what a Zoom quilt of Orange County residents' faces look like when they get 18thC Scots poetry coming at them. (Politely  bewildered.)

Anyway, one of the questions from the chat bar was "What does your agent do?". After I had witte...

You don't know what you don't know... by Cathy Ace

How much scrutiny do you or an attorney give a contract, and have you ever realized after you signed that you left something on the table?

First contract signed, July 2011 (snail is a memento!)Ah…contracts. Every author’s favorite topic, yes? Probably not. It’s what we dream of as an unpublished author – the day The Contract arrives in the mail and you know you’re on the road to being a multi-millionaire best-seller.
Okay, moving on…

Like most authors, I’ll never forget the day my first contract...

Devil in the Details

How much scrutiny do you or an attorney give a contract, and have you ever realized after you signed that you left something on the table?

From Frank

I used to be a cop. Some of you may know that. And some of you may also be aware of this little known fact - cops are a suspicious lot. No, really, it's true.

So, all sarcasm aside, it baffles me how absolutely trusting and dum-de-dum I've been about contracts for most of my writing career.

Sure, I've perused them. I made sure I wasn't giving away anci...

Reading the fine print

 Q: How much scrutiny do you or an attorney give a contract, and have you ever realized after you signed that you left something on the table?

 

-from Susan

 

This question pinches a bit. Because I’ve been published by different entities, I’ve had a handful of different contracts to review. I’ve gone from the excited newcomer (“Yes! Yes! Yes to everything and thankyouthankyou!”) to “What do you mean they keep foreign rights?”

 

In every case, my agent had her company’s lawyer “take a look” at the cont...

Correcting the Errors...

 By Abir

Who wins when you and your copy editor or proofreader disagree about a word, a spelling, a term of slang, etc? Do you sometimes choose to lose a battle in order to win a larger war?

Friday again eh? Welcome to the end of the week.

This week's question is an interesting one: Who wins the war over edits between me and the copy-editor? 

Like Brenda, who answered this question earlier this week, my answer is simple: It's not a war,  it's a collaboration. When I started out writing, I took the v...

I Hereby Resolve II from James W. Ziskin

Who wins when you and your copy editor or proofreader disagree about a word, a spelling, a term of slang, etc? Do you sometimes choose to lose a battle in order to win a larger war?

This is a question that calls for a short answer, at least from me. While we writers would love to have the last word, we also would hate to go it alone. I am so grateful for the input from the editor who has curated my seven Ellie Stones mysteries: Dan Mayer. He has razor-sharp instincts when it comes to selecting bo...

That time Tom dropped by

This week’s guest is author Tom Pitts, answering the question: Who wins when you and your copy editor or proofreader disagree about a word, a spelling, a term of slang, etc? Do you sometimes choose to lose a battle in order to win a larger war?

Tom’s a friend who grew up in Canada and now lives in San Francisco. He’s the author of the novels Coldwater, 101, American Static, and Hustle, as well as the novellas Knuckleball and Piggyback, and numerous short stories. If you haven’t read his stuff, yo...

Editorial Squabbles

Editorial Disagreements Terry here, answering our weekly discussion question: Who wins when you and your copy editor or proofreader disagree about a word, a spelling, a term of slang, etc? Do you sometimes choose to lose a battle in order to win a larger war? 
I once had an author friend who cried when her editor revised her entire manuscript to reflect a different voice. It was a show of hubris that I’ve never heard repeated. But I have heard of changing carefully crafted prose to fit “correct” ...

To Hyphenate or Not to Hyphenate ...

Who wins when you and your copy editor or proofreader disagree about a word, a spelling, a term of slang, etc? Do you sometimes choose to lose a battle in order to win a larger war?

Brenda Chapman starting off another week at 7 Criminal Minds.

Whether for good or ill, I'm not a fighter when it comes to editorial battles. This doesn't mean that I don't voice my opinion and quote from the grammar book when I have a point to make. However, I'll bow to a good argument and always accept my publisher's ...