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In college I took several writing classes from an instructor, who on the first day of every term, told his class: "If you are here because you need this to fulfill an elective, or you think it will be an easy 'A', then I suggest you drop the class now, while there is still time. I have only seen one 'A' paper--and I wrote it!" Many did leave some snickered and stayed. I liked him. I learned a lot and worked so hard on my short story, it was over a third of the grade. I got it back and was surprised by the A- that I received. I asked him why the minus. All of the comments were outstanding. He told me, "Any writer, no matter who he is or how many works he has had published, always has room for improvement. Keep writing and never give up!" At the end of that term he also wrote a glowing letter for a scholarship recommendation for me. He hardly ever did that either. I felt such a sense of accomplishment after finishing his class. Then more recently, I tweeted Diana Gabaldon, (the author of the outstanding Outlander series), and asked her if she had any advice for a "newbie". I didn't expect a response, but to my surprise, I got one. She said: "Yes, keep writing!" So since two people who I respect very highly, gave me the same advice, it looks like that is it: Keep Writing!!
Hello, nice to meet you all. I'm a new member, not-so-new writer and I have a few questions on getting published. I would greatly appreciate the help of other writers. I write novellas and while I have finished several, I now have the confidence to put them out for the world to read. My main question is: How much is enough to pay for cover art? I know what I'm looking for in a book design and am a member of DeviantART, but I want to go into searching for an artist with some idea of what they expect to be paid. I plan to make my first novella free of charge on Smashwords, but I want to have everything in place before doing so.
Thanks for the help!
Thanks for the help!
Of course prices vary. I've seen people charging $500 for a cover, but my cover artist, Steven Novak, (http://novakillustration.com/) charges a lot less than that, and he's great.
Mod
Yes, the price can vary quite a bit. The pre-made book cover tend to be under a $100 and custom ones can be up to several hundred, depending on how much work goes into designing the cover. You might want to check out the Book Covers thread: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/7...
Several websites are posted there and you could browse and get an idea of what they charge.
I was concerned when I read this on Amazon's Meet Our Author's Forum and thought writers should be aware of this. I wasn't sure if there was a thread about plagiarism but please read on.Carl Ashmore says:
Hi guys,
I thought I'd make you aware of a recent situation I've found myself in.
In July 2010, I gained a gold star for my children's book The Time Hunters (Book 1 of the acclaimed series for children of all ages) on the Harper Collins website 'Authonomy', and a highly positive review from a Harper Collins editor. Here is a passage from that review:
'I really enjoyed reading THE TIME HUNTERS. You start off the action with a bang, drawing the reader in right away. Your writing is strong, and in places has a classic feel.... It has terrific potential.'
In October 2010, I decided to independently publish `The Time Hunters' and made it available as print and eBook. Pretty quickly, the book gained a number of very positive reviews and began to sell well, generating a solid and loyal fan base. Since then, the book has gained 128 five star reviews across Amazon.co.uk and .com. I have also published two sequels, The Time Hunters and the Box of Eternity (Book 2 in the acclaimed series for children of all ages ...) and The Time Hunters and the Spear of Fate (Book 3 in the acclaimed series for children of all ages) . I have also sold the foreign rights to a Brazillian major publisher, Bertrand Brasil, and `The Time Hunters' is due to be published in that territory at some point in 2013.
To sum up the plot, `The Time Hunters' is about a young girl, Becky, and her brother, Joe, who, along with their time-travelling uncle and Will Scarlet, embark on a series of fast-paced adventures in a treasure hunt for powerful ancient relics.
Anyway, this month saw the publication of a new children's series by Harper Collins. It's called (I'm sure you can see where this is going) 'Time Hunters' . And the plot - well, it's about a boy and girl who embark on a series of fast-paced adventures in a treasure hunt through time for powerful ancient relics. Now, in many ways, that is where the similarities appear to end, but they don't. In Book 5 of their Time Hunters they encounter `Blackbeard' (I meet him in `The Time Hunters and the Box of Eternity' (2011)). In Book 4 of their series, they visit Ancient Greece, I do it in `The Time Hunters' (2010). In Book 6 of their series they visit Ancient Egypt and battle mummies, I do that in `The Time Hunters and the Spear of Fate' (2013).
I know full well you cannot copyright a title or idea, but this seems more than that. My series has been exceedingly visible across the Internet since 2010, so why on earth would anyone publish a new series under the same name, particularly when the general premise, some storylines and target audience are identical?
Like many writers, when preparing a new book, I spend countless hours considering titles, trying to find the most suitable one to reflect the tone, storyline, target audience and genre of the book. Upon crafting a list of candidates, I'll google what already exists. This is where I'm incensed by the actions of Harper Collins. `The Time Hunters' (yeah, I know they dropped the `The') is extremely visible whichever search engine you use. I also understand that some titles are common and will have multiple books attached to them. As an experiment, I googled the term `Killing Time' and found there were over twenty books from different authors with that title on Amazon alone. However, `The Time Hunters' is a much less generic title. Plus, it is indelibly linked with an established and popular series that already exists ... my series.
Furthermore, my frustrations are compounded by the fact the new `Time Hunters' is published by Harper Collins - the very same company who said my book had `terrific potential.'
I have contacted the author and she (Chris Baker is a pseudonym) has pointed out she was working for a book packaging company, Hothouse Fiction, and that the name, concept, copyright etc. all belong to Harper Collins and Hothouse. She said she was merely a `hired pen', that this kind of thing `no doubt happens a lot' and I must find it `frustrating'. Well, in truth, there are other `f' words I could use to more accurately describe my feelings about this.
And, in this case, I'm not sure this situation does happen as often as she suggests. As I said earlier, this is not merely the duplication of a title, or the similarity of the concept, this is a combination of the two that damages a brand (I hate that term) I have worked on since 2005. Clearly, if I approached another major publisher and pitched them a children's time travel series about a boy and a girl that travel through time on a treasure hunt, then surely their response would be `Well, hang on, Carl, a series like yours already exists and is published by Harper Collins.'
Let me just say I bear no ill feelings toward the author of the new TH series, whatsoever. She seems very personable and is just a writer trying to eke an income in a difficult publishing world. And I wholeheartedly believe her when she says she hasn't seen my work. However, someone would have seen it, they HAD to have seen it - someone at Hothouse or at Harper Collins - and they still pressed ahead with their `Time Hunters' series.
I'm just the little guy and they're a major corporation. I write from my kitchen in a terraced house in Crewe, my four-year old daughter doing everything she can to stop me writing a word, whilst the people that have created this situation probably swan around Soho quaffing goblets of Viognier. The two stories are probably different enough for them to argue there has been no plagiarism, but I can't deny this situation smarts, somewhat - no, as a matter of fact, it stinks...
Furthermore, as using the same title and concept of an existing series is clearly not an issue, then the next time I write a children's series I'll make sure it's about young wizards and call it `Harry Potter'. No better still, I'll call it `Ziggy Waggabobble and the Mosphorous Flagdulaters', a story about heroin-addicted frogs that pepper their conversations with swear words. Let's see if the Viognier quaffers want to nick that, too ...
Anyway, I just thought I'd let you know.
Cheers,
Carl
I was shocked and disgusted and hope he takes legal advice plus uses a software programme to collate any evidence of plagiarism such as grammarly.com
Hope this doesn't happen to any one else.
Mod
Carl Ashm..."
Disgusting of Harper Collins, but not surprising. Several of the big publishing companies are getting reputations for using sleazy tactics.
A.F. wrote: "carol wrote: "I was concerned when I read this on Amazon's Meet Our Author's Forum and thought writers should be aware of this. I wasn't sure if there was a thread about plagiarism but please read..."It is disgusting and important self publishers/indies are aware and protect themselves and their work. I know of several writers who were told their work was good but heard nothing after. Makes one wonder.
Mod
I tried Authonomy when it first started, but I wasn't impressed and I left.
Mod
I removed anything from the site before I left, and it was only an excerpt from an already self-published book.
Dear all for plagiarism of titles-in Germany and Austria we have an organising way through publishing companies that makes sure a title is available and therefore unique. Does something alike not exist in English speaking countries? Or is this only an issue of self-publishing and the obscure worlds of amazon etc???
Mod
It's not just the title. Titles can't be copyrighted or plagiarized in North America. It's the fact they stole the concept for his books that makes it plagiarism and then combine that with the fact they used the same title, it's bad.
Mod
Hello, I'm new to this group so my apologies if this question has been addressed more than once. I'm 'attempting' to write a novel, and it has been quite overwhelming to say the least. I've outlined a plot, and I know my characters pretty well. My question is... do all authors use the MRU method when writing their first story, or is this only a suggested writing tip? I have no idea, but wish to implement any tools that'll help me produce a good story.
Some people say don't think, just write-- this method usually leads to me scrapping any piece I've written because it lacks proper elements that are need to make the story interesting. (concept of time is distorted when writing, so I need some advice on how to stay on track with the plot outline). Any writing tips or suggestions would be great.
Thank you!
Mod
I'm 'attempting' to write a novel, and it has been quite overwhelming to say the least. I've outli..."
The best advice I can give you is: if it works for you, use it. If you feel comfortable using the MRU method,then that's what you should use.
I personally find outlines and story notes invaluable when writing, because I tend toward a patchwork style of writing. I'd also advise against scrapping your writing. Yes, it may not work, but the problems of today may be solved tomorrow with some editing. First drafts quite often have problems, or even suck. Keep pushing forward and then take a step back and review. See what's not working and fix it. Rewrite and then review, again and again if necessary. Writing a novel is a process. Sometimes a slow and painful one.
Nyree wrote: "Hello, I'm new to this group so my apologies if this question has been addressed more than once. I'm 'attempting' to write a novel, and it has been quite overwhelming to say the least. I've outli..."
Nyree. Every writers has a system that works best for them. You need to find your system. Even writing a 500 word article can be a task if you let it. Enjoy the process and the words will come together. They rarely come together just right the first time or even the second.
Angelfox wrote: "Please? What is MRU? Thx."I was curious too, so I Googled it. This was a great article explaining it. http://howtowriteshop.loridevoti.com/...
The article states that MRU, or Motivation Response Units, are scenes where something happens, the character is motivated to do something, and response or reaction to it. The author goes on to explain in more detail. It was an interesting article and will help a lot in understanding how MRU's work.
Tried to post a story on my home page but the formatting is askew. There are no paragraph indentations. I don't know what I did wrong. I could just add indentations, paragraph by paragraph, but I would rather know how to just get it right the first time.
Mod
Did you cut and paste the story? Formatting doesn't always translate from computer to a website.
Yeah, totally cut and pasted it. Try something else, thanks.
More e-book self-published help needed! When I uploaded my kindle book, I uploaded the wrong version with quite a few typos while wrestling with compatibility. When it was brought to my attention, I fixed the typos and uploaded a new version. That version looks right on my Amazon preview and kindle app-the one fault being that to make it e-pub worthy, the italics got lost in translation so the characters thoughts just look the same as the dialogue and narration.I've seen the link come up to download the 'updated' version when I log in to my amazon, so I know it's there and heaps of people have read it without complaining of typos.
I made this change about 10 days into first selling it, but a girl who bought it just two weeks ago, 3 weeks after the changes were applied, has downloaded the original , flawed version from Amazon, and one or two others may have. At least 30 were sold. How could this be, though, if the preview is right?
Also, Goodreads is listing two editions for this. Could that be part of my problem? Has this happened to anyone else?.
Mod
I'm assuming the book you're referring to is the one on your profile, The Marked Ones, and I checked out the two editions on Goodreads. One is the ebook (epub) edition and the other is the Kindle, and that is normal, so it shouldn't be part of the problem. I'd contact Amazon and see if the new version actually was uploaded properly. There may have been a problem on their end.
I have written and published my first book, Ohlen's Arrow, and am currently writing the sequel, Ohlen's Bane. As I write the sequel, I am struggling with figuring out how much tie-in to the first book I need to include or leave out in the second. Should the second book be able to stand alone without requiring the reader to have consumed the first? If not, how do I get the reader up to speed? Do I use an introduction where I give a brief synopsis of the first story? Or do I integrate clues into the body of the second book?
Mod
You could use a quick prologue, to recap the previous book, if you want to get right into continuing the story.
I would let the story decide. If the second story requires the first, try to fill them in as needed, otherwise, there's no need.
Steven wrote: "I have written and published my first book, Ohlen's Arrow, and am currently writing the sequel, Ohlen's Bane. As I write the sequel, I am struggling with figuring out how much tie-in to the first b..."Each book should stand on it's own. However those who read the first book should have a little more knowledge about the background of the characters.
A.F. wrote: "Steven wrote: "I have written and published my first book, Ohlen's Arrow, and am currently writing the sequel, Ohlen's Bane. As I write the sequel, I am struggling with figuring out how much tie-in..."I've read that a recent trend amongst agents and publishers is to avoid introductions and/or prologues, but as a reader, I've never had a problem with them -- they seem to be very useful, in fact, to quickly set the stage. In fact, they are often the first thing I read when glancing through books on the store shelves.
Hi, everyone. I will be publishing my first book of poetry shortly through Kindle and CreateSpace. I've already published three novels through them, but was wondering how different the process is for a book of poems. I know they have templates for novels, which I used and found very helpful. Do they also have templates for poetry? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Steve wrote: "I have written and published my first book, Ohlen's Arrow, and am currently writing the sequel, Ohlen's Bane. As I write the sequel, I am struggling with figuring out how much tie-in to the first b..."The current trend, especially among mainline publishers, is to eliminate introductions and prologues during the conceptual editing phase.
You may wish to address your concerns by inserting the occasional reference to the past within dialogue; just so long as it blends seamlessly into the subject matter of the conversation.
Another approach would be to have sequences take place in past locations utilized in the first book and reference landmarks and signs of previous activities that occurred in such a way that the narration still flows smoothly with no disconcerting breaks.
My publisher e-mailed this AP wire to me.New study: Both e-books and print are popular.
Thursday, Jan. 16
New York (AP) - A new survey from the Pew Research Center reports more adults than ever own an e-reading device, but print books are doing just fine.
Based on interviews conducted earlier this month, the study released Thursday shows 50% of respondents saying they have a tablet or stand-alone device such as Amazon.com's Kindle. That's up from 43% in September.
The survey says nearly 3 out of 10 adults read an e-book over the past year, compared to 23% who had done so when asked in 2012. Only around 4% read e-books exclusively.
Sales for e-books are growing, but have leveled off over the past couple of years. They're believed to comprise 25% to 30% of the general trade market with commercial fiction especially popular for e-books.
Associated Press
I read that as well. Ebooks have a lot of advantages, but I think there are enough people who grew up reading pbooks that they will continue to have a substantial market for awhile.
Hey All,I recently modified my book's cover and want to have the new image show up on Goodreads but haven't been able to figure out how.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Mod
I recently modified my book's cover and want to have the new image show up on Goodreads but haven't been able to figure out how.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!"
Are you a Goodreads author and able to edit your book details? If so you can replace the cover there. If not, contact a Goodreads librarian: https://www.goodreads.com/help/show/3...
or become a Goodreads Author: https://www.goodreads.com/author/program
Thanks for the reply, A.F. I am a Goodreads author but the program won't let me change the cover. I'll try the librarian link. :)
Looking for Self Publishing Company recommendations. Any thoughts?
Mod
What exactly are looking are looking to have done? Editing, formatting or a whole package?
A.F. wrote: "S wrote: "Looking for Self Publishing Company recommendations. Any thoughts?"What exactly are looking are looking to have done? Editing, formatting or a whole package?"
Whole Package I think. I've been looking at going through First Edition Design.
Mod
A.F. wrote: "Also, this site has great information and services: http://www.selfpublishing.com/about/"Thank you! :)
I am writing a fantasy novel about a young group of adventurers that seek to rescue their kidnapped mentor. My problem is, I need synonyms for 'adventurers' ... what other names could they call themselves? The greeting "Hi, I'm Sarlack, and I'm an adventurer. Well met!" doesn't sound right. What are some synonyms commonly used in fantasy writing that would work better?
Mod
There's explorer, voyager, fortune hunter, wanderer, swashbuckler, traveler, wayfarer, rover, rambler, nomad, knight-errant, truth-seeker.
Mod
You could try a pre-release marketing blitz, with things like a cover reveal, Twitter campaign, ending with a launch party on Facebook.
Help! This is a question for authors who use Calibre to convert their books to EPUB docs for uploading, mainly to Amazon. In an attempt to change the front matter of my books I recently started updating my ebook files on Amazon, and I uploaded the changes for two books. Both books checked fine on my Kindle, the Kindle previewer, and the online previewer. However, the Look Inside feature on Amazon shows random paragraphs changed to italic.
I checked my original doc with HTML and the coding was clean, but the Calibre EPUB docs showed code for italics that matched what I had seen on the Look Inside feature.
I've been using Calibre for several months with no problems. My remaining book, which I haven't yet updated still looks fine on the Look Inside feature; therefore, it was working correctly when I last updated. Is anyone else having this problem? If so, have you found a way to fix it?
I checked my original doc with HTML and the coding was clean, but the Calibre EPUB docs showed code for italics that matched what I had seen on the Look Inside feature.
I've been using Calibre for several months with no problems. My remaining book, which I haven't yet updated still looks fine on the Look Inside feature; therefore, it was working correctly when I last updated. Is anyone else having this problem? If so, have you found a way to fix it?
Mod
I use Sigil, an epub editor (which you can download on CNET for free), to fix pesky problems with Calibre. You can load the epub file in Sigil and edit it like document, or with the code.
A.F. wrote: "I use Sigil, an epub editor (which you can download on CNET for free), to fix pesky problems with Calibre. You can load the epub file in Sigil and edit it like document, or with the code...."
Thanks. I liked Calibre until the problems started, but if I can't make it work I'll try Sigil.
EDIT: Someone suggested I upload the HTML doc directly and bypass Calibre. I did and it worked. Problem with Amazon is cured. However, I wanted to branch out to Createspace next month, and they accept only Word doc or EPUBs. Will have to solve the problem then.
Thanks. I liked Calibre until the problems started, but if I can't make it work I'll try Sigil.
EDIT: Someone suggested I upload the HTML doc directly and bypass Calibre. I did and it worked. Problem with Amazon is cured. However, I wanted to branch out to Createspace next month, and they accept only Word doc or EPUBs. Will have to solve the problem then.
Wow, I'm having a VERY hard time with Sigil; not user-friendly at all. It converts to EPUB, but the Kindle Previewer won't have anything to do with it. Spits it right out. And I now remember why I don't like loading HTML directly to Amazon; it doesn't seem to generate a goto menu--at least, not on the Kindle Previewer or Kindle for PC. I think my best bet is to go back to Calibre and upload an earlier version.
Mod
Sorry to hear that. Might be a compatibility thing between Kindle and Sigil.
That's why I upload Word docs to Kindle. No HTML or epub messes to worry about.
Writers and Readers
Books mentioned in this topic
Twin-Bred (other topics)Fantasy Encyclopedia (other topics)
Fabulous Beasts (other topics)
The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference: An Indispensable Compendium of Myth and Magic (other topics)
You should consider posting this as a separate thread, here in the Writers Folder; it would make an excellent discussion.
And to answer your question, the best piece of advice I received was from a high school English teacher. He told me to write like my story would be read by an alien from another planet. In other words, never assume the reader knows what you are writing about. It helped me really think about how to craft descriptive passages and to think about what to put in and what to leave out.