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Start Here: How to Get Your Book Published.
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"How do I get my book published?" is a common question, but not a simple one. There are various paths to publication, with multiple steps along the way. Fortunately, there is a large amount of information available online. Here are five resources to help. ![]() Set aside some time to read this extremely comprehensive answer from Jane Friedman: Start Here: How to Get Your Book Published. ![]() If you're interested in finding a literary agent, read this article from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association: How to Find a (Real) Literary Agent by A.C. Crispin. (The information applies to all genres, not just science fiction.) ![]() What are the main difference between traditional and self-publishing? Writer's Digest breaks it down in How to Publish a Book: An Overview of Traditional & Self-Publishing. (The self-publishing section touts their own services, but their are certainly other options.) ![]() For some general advice, here are 11 Tips on Getting Your Book Published by Melody Moezzi. ![]() To learn more about the business of children's books, visit Harold Underdown's site, including this list of links: Publishing Children's Books. If there is a specific writing topic you're interested in, let me know in the comments. Feel free to share your own useful links.
![]() Last week, Maria Andreu and I did a joint author visit at Overbrook High School on "Books from the Headlines: Contemporary Issues in Teen Fiction." (Maria wrote The Secret Side of Empty, which I highly recommend.) We met with lots of students who had questions about the writing process. The book club group, in particular, had come technical questions about point of view, so I thought I'd pull together some resources. Point of ViewHere are some blog posts about POV that I recommend: Veronica Sicoe's My Ultimate POV Guide with Graphics and Examples Jody Hedlund's 7 Point of View Basics Every Writer Should Know and A Few Tips for More Complicated POV Jodie Renner's POV 103: Engage Your Readers With Deep POV CS Lakin's Staying in Character: The Convergence of POV and Voice ContestsThree contests that I mentioned in earlier blog posts are still accepting entries: Skipping Stones Youth Honor Awards: Deadline is June 25th. Mark Twain-Inspired Humor Contest: Deadline is July 10th. Teen Ink Community Service Essay Contest: Deadline is ongoing throughout the year. Looking for more Teen Tuesday blog posts?For easy access to all of the Teen Tuesday blog posts, visit my Resources for Teen Writers Pinterest board, or select the "Teen Tuesday" category on the left of my blog.
![]() I like to feature themed posts of "five" each Friday. This week is a special Monday Five, with a guest post from Jennifer Hubbard, a YA novelist with a new nonfiction book about writing. Here's more information from Jennifer about the book. Five Topics Covered in Loner in the Garret: A Writer’s Companion by Jennifer R. HubbardSometimes the most difficult part of writing is not coming up with a plot or the perfect turn of phrase. It’s getting motivated to sit down and start, or having the confidence to go forward, or finding the courage to move past the sting of rejection. Loner in the Garret: A Writer’s Companion provides inspiration and encouragement for that mental and emotional journey. Covering topics as varied as procrastination, the inner critic, fear, distractions, envy, rejection, joy, and playfulness, it charts the ups and downs of the writing life with honesty, gentle suggestions, and a dash of humor. Here are five topics covered in Loner: ![]() Procrastination Since so many of us spend so much time procrastinating, I had to ask myself: Could it possibly serve a real and necessary purpose? Maybe procrastination isn’t always a bad thing. So I explored that idea. ![]() Rejection You know I had to go there. Almost every writer experiences it. ![]() Envy The dirty little secret--maybe not so secret anymore, as writers have become more honest about this. It’s not that we wish less success for others. It’s just that sometimes we’d like a piece of the pie. How can we keep from being destructive--to ourselves or others? ![]() The Inner Critic What is that little voice in the head that slashes a red pen through our words--or maybe even keeps us from writing them in the first place? How can talk back to that little voice? ![]() Joy Writing is not all trouble and sweat. Sometimes it’s downright fun! When I have bonked my head against a dead-end wall too many times, I remind myself to ask: Where’s the joy? Go there. For more information and buy links, click here. ![]() Jennifer R. Hubbard writes young-adult novels (The Secret Year, Try Not to Breathe, and Until It Hurts to Stop). She spends most of her time writing, reading, or hiking, with a little dark chocolate thrown in. Here's a roundup of interesting links and blog posts I came across this week. Olivia Rivers has an excellent blog post, "Learning From Other Writers," at Teens Can Write, Too. Her ideas about learning from the novels you read can benefit writers of all ages. The Teen Arts Festival is a free 2-day event held at Summit High School (125 Kent Place Boulevard in Summit, NJ) on April 17 and April 18. Students in grades 6-12 from the participating schools in Berkeley Heights, Mountainside, New Providence, and Summit, NJ are eligible to enter. March 13th is the deadline for Creative Writing and Videos. March 27 is the deadline for Visual and Performing Arts. Check the website for more information and entry guidelines. (Thanks to Kathy Temean for bringing this to my attention.) ![]() For nonfiction writers, Lisa Rowan has compiled nuggets of wisdom from the #AdviceForYoungJournalists hashtag in her recent article, Writing Advice: What You Can Learn From #AdviceForYoungJournalists. ![]() To help plan your writing, try this Pacemaker program. It allows you to enter goal-related information like start and end days, your approach (steady, more intense at beginning or end, etc.) and customized workloads on specific dates. It can be used for a variety of writing projects. Happy Writing!
During 2014, I profiled several websites for teen writers and journals that publish teen writing. To start off 2015, here are some updates: ![]() Teens Can Write, Too has recently partnered with the teen writing conference, Ch1Con, and they've added several teenage guest writers. More information is available at the TCWT website. Thanks to John Hansen for the update. You can read my original interview with John at Teen Tuesday: Avoid Condescending Advice. ![]() Ann Teplick let me know that Pongo "is in a new stage of growth with many wonderful things happening." You can visit the Pongo website for more information. You can also check my previous post at Teen Tuesday: The Time is Now for Pongo Teen Poetry. ![]() One Teen Story news: Patrick Ryan, Editor-in-Chief says, "Our contest judge this year was Tara Altebrando -- author of The Battle of Darcy Lane and The Best Night of Your (Pathetic) Life -- and our winner is 16-year-old Lily Dodd, who's written an awesome confessional story called 'Eulogy for Pretzel' (which we'll be publishing in May). We'll also be publishing more teen authors in the near future, so stay tuned!" Patrick provides writing advice at Teen Tuesday: Write Like a Rabbit, Revise Like a Turtle. ![]() YARN (Young Adult Review Network) news: 2015 brings a new Spring edition and their first ever Summer edition. YARN is also celebrating its 5th anniversary this year. To read an interview with Kerri Majors, YARN's Editor, visit Teen Tuesday: Get Published in YARN Literary Journal. Next Tuesday: Upcoming contest for teen writers.
A brief tip to keep in mind as you write: it's important that you create obstacles for your characters to overcome. Don't make important problems too easy to solve. Nabokov's quote (above) gets at the heart of this concept. Besides making the story more interesting, creating obstacles also helps the reader to root for your characters.
What obstacles are your characters currently facing? How can you make the fictional situation worse? Disclaimer: "throw rocks" is not meant literally. No kittens were harmed in the writing of this blog post. ![]() My blog is one year old today! This is my 125th blog post. To celebrate, I'm sharing five of my favorite posts from the past year. ![]() My very first blog post, which was a round-up of articles about twitter. Trick or Tweet: Six Articles to Help Writers Overcome the Fear of Twitter. ![]() After attending the NY SCBWI winter conference last year, I highlighted some of the writing resources that were mentioned. Friday Five: Five Resources from the NY SCBWI Conference ![]() One of my blogging goals is to provide information to teen writers. I've interviewed a number of editors who publish teens, including Anna Neher, Associate Editor of Cicada. Teen Tuesday: Interview with Anna Neher of Cicada Magazine ![]() In honor of National Dog Day, I had to post some photos of Rocky and Luna: Friday Five: Cute Dog Photos ![]() I took part in the A to Z Blogging Challenge in April, blogging about the theme of "writing inspiration" for each letter of the alphabet. X is always a tough one for AtoZers. Here's mine: X is for Xenocryst: #AtoZChallenge (Writing Inspiration) I hope you'll follow my blog for another year of writing-related posts. Happy Halloween!
Here are three interesting posts for writers this week:
And here are two upcoming events I wanted to share:
Sadly, I need to change to my comments settings to "approval" first, due to an increase in spam. I hope you still take time to comment. Have a happy weekend!
Writers spend a lot of time focusing on the main character (MC), particularly if the story is written in first person. But what about the secondary characters? The best friend? The older sister? ![]() Sometimes when a scene with multiple characters isn't working, it can be helpful to think about the action from another character's point of view. If the MC is arguing with her best friend at lunch, you may have a good handle on the MC's emotions and the events that led up to the argument. But what about the BFF? She can't be manipulated to say what you need for the plot to move forward. She should be a believable character with her own set of emotions and actions. What if she was telling the story? What happened during her morning that might be contributing to the argument? What is she feeling about the MC? You wouldn't necessarily add all of this background (and probably shouldn't, in most cases), but working on the supporting characters can help a scene-gone-wrong. Emergency Preparedness![]() Before I provide my usual writing resources, I wanted to mention that during National Preparedness Month, it's a good idea to plan for pet care in an emergency. There's some useful information at the ASPCA website. It's not too late to enter to win an Emergency Preparedness Kit. Visit my earlier blog post for details. Writing ResourcesI have apparently hit the limit on storing my favorite places online, so I'm including some useful writing links here for safe-keeping. ![]() Bookjobs.com provides lots of information about the publishing industry in general, including commonly used terms, intern opportunities, and publisher profiles. Children's Writer: If you can write a story for five and six year olds, enter their current "Kindergarten story" contest. Entries due November 7. (Click on the Writing Contest link on the left side of the main site.)
If you are just getting started in children's writing, the SCBWI provides some helpful information. Author Dan Gutman offers tips for young writers. Keep up with Kid Lit News through the Children's Book Council. You can also find submission guidelines on their site for publishers who are CBC members. This Book Marketing and Book Promotion website contains a giant list of links to publisher sites. I would highly recommend checking the editors before submitting because of frequent changes in the industry, but this list might introduce you to some publishing houses you were unaware of. Relating to staffing changes, Harold Underdown provides editorial news for children's book publishers at Who's Moving Where. Happy Writing! |
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