Author Archives: fictorians

Mignon Fogarty: “OK,” “Okay,” and How to Deal with Other Troublesome Style Choices

Craft & Skills Guest Posts Rewriting The Writing Life 2 Comments

A guest post by Mignon Fogarty

 

Since becoming Grammar Girl six years ago, I’ve gradually come to the realization that English is a troublesome language. We do have some hard-and-fast rules: “A lot” is always two words, and we use semicolons a certain way. But a surprising number of words and punctuation marks swirl around us like rowdy schoolchildren shouting “Except when…!” and “Style choice!” When even language mavens disagree, what’s a writer to do?

We’ll figure it out by looking at an example.

Recently, Robert M. posted this question on the Facebook page for alumni of the Superstars Writing Seminar:

“Attention all you grammar aficionados: Do you have any objections to using “OK’ instead of “Okay’? Opinions please.”

“OK” or “Okay” Are Both All Right

“OK” is one of the words I wrote about in 101 Troublesome Words You’ll Master in No Time, and Robert was on the mark when he asked for opinions because English has two acceptable spellings for “OK.” Which one you prefer is a matter of opinion, and of course, in response to his request for opinions he got some strong ones, including a comment about slang and losing battles. Oh, the demise of our language!

Fiction Writers: Use “Okay”

However, if you’re a professional fiction writer, you should be relying on the Chicago Manual of Style, not your friends’ opinions. Chicago requires “okay.” End of story.

News Writers: Use “OK”

On the other hand, the conclusion is entirely different if you write press releases or articles for you local newspaper. The Associated Press Stylebook requires “OK.” End of story.

Know Your Style Guide

I’m routinely shocked by the number of e-mail questions I get from people who claim to be writers but obviously don’t own a style guide (or can’t be bothered to open it). “I remember that my fourth grade teacher said…” and “I prefer…” don’t cut it in the professional world. Traditional publishers have designated a style guide, and you should use it. Chicago is the standard for fiction. “Okay” is the only spelling that is acceptable. The Associated Press Stylebook is the standard for news writing. “OK” is the only spelling that is acceptable. The solution for a struggling writer? Know which style guide your industry uses and buy it.

When You Get to Decide

The time for opinions is when you’re writing for yourself or someone who hasn’t designated a style-when you’re writing blog posts, e-mail messages, and so on. When choosing for myself, I like to look at a word’s history, its etymology. That’s why I prefer “OK.”

The best evidence available points to a newspaper reporter coining the term in 1839. It was an abbreviation for a jokey spelling of “all correct”: “oll korrect.” Apparently, for a few years, it was trendy to coin these kinds of misspelled abbreviations, but “OK” was the only one that survived because it was used in slogans for Martin Van Buren’s presidential campaign.

I confess that I’m so enamoured with the “OK” etymology that I insist on “OK” instead of “okay” in my books, even though my publisher follows Chicago style. I’m probably being foolish picking a fight over this one little word, but we all have our foibles. Since my books are about language, I feel like my publisher should give me some leeway on the language, and they seem to agree-or at least they don’t think it’s worth the energy to resist. But the advice I give to any other writer, especially writers who are just starting out, is to follow your industry’s style. It’s the safest, wisest choice.

Guest Bio: Mignon Fogarty is better known as Grammar Girl and is the author of eight books on language, including her new book, 101 TROUBLESOME WORDS YOU’LL MASTER IN NO TIME.

Gini Koch: Why I Like Traditional Publishing

Colette Black Guest Posts Publishing The Writing Life 3 Comments

Q&A with Gini Koch

Q: Tell us a little about yourself and your career as an author.

A: I’m a wife, mother, have dogs and cats (the Canine Death Squad and the Killer Kitties), ride horses, and up until a couple of years ago, I worked full time for Corporate America. I wrote for six years before I ever considered trying for publication, and it took four more years to get good enough to BE published. I landed a great agent in December 2007, got a 2-book deal with DAW Books in May 2008, and have been happily writing like mad ever since. I’m published in 6 pen names, so far, in short, mid-length, and novel-length fiction. I write the Alien/Katherine “Kitty” Katt series for DAW Books/Penguin, the Alexander Outland series for Night Shade Books, and a variety of shorter fiction series and stand alones for Musa Publishing.

 

Q: You have contracts with one of the majors in publishing (DAW Books/Penguin), a smaller house (Night Shade Books), and with an e-only publisher (Musa Publishing). What are the differences?

A: Because I have great editors at all three houses, I’d have to say that speed is probably the biggest difference between them. Ebooks, by their nature, can go up faster than anything else, and smaller presses have less layers to go through, so they tend to move more quickly than Big 6.  There are other differences (advances tend to be larger from the Big 6, for example), but I think speed to publication is the difference I notice the most.

 

Q: What’s it like to work with a NY publishing company?

A: Very cool. There are a lot of advantages to being with the Big 6, including worldwide distribution. There’s a lot of hurry up and wait involved, but you adjust to it. The pros tend to outweigh the cons. Plus I’m with DAW, which is just a fabulous imprint, run by amazing people who love books and authors, so it’s pretty much livin’ the dream when you’re with DAW, and then you add in all the cool Penguin folks and worldwide reach and, I’m not gonna lie, it’s pretty darned great.

 

Q: What are the reasons you think this is still the best way to publish?

A: In this day and age, coming out in favor of “traditional” publishing feels kind of risky. But you really can’t beat getting an experienced, professional editor, a big name cover artist, and a full sales force selling your book into bookstores all over the world. Traditional publishing means you have gatekeepers. Are they always right? Of course not. Are they right a lot? Absolutely. And the checks and balances of traditional publishing mean that you’ll have a professional product when you’re done, and that really does matter, especially when you’re starting out.

BTW, I consider my epublisher to be a traditional publisher, just as I do with my Big 6 and small press publisher. They do the same things — provide editing, cover art, promotion, support.

 

Q: Why did you choose to send some of your books under different pen names through smaller publishers?

A: LOL. You make an error in assumption. The publishers choose what they want to publish, not the agents or authors. I write under a variety of pen names. My shorter works are not appropriate to go via Big 6, since they’re not in the business of publishing short stories, novelettes, or novellas all that often. Musa, by way of being an epublisher, was a much more appropriate place to send my shorter stories, regardless of the name I wrote them under. And, Night Shade loved Alexander Outland: Space Pirate, which made them the right publisher for that book. So far, none of my publishers have asked me to change which pen name something’s written under, and I hope that continues.

I’m a firm believer in starting at the top and working down. I’m also a firm believer in getting the best out of my time. While I still submit to anthologies and such because I like them and like being in them, for the majority of my shorter works, going with an epublisher I trusted was, for me, the better use of my time than doing the submit and wait process with the paying short fiction markets. I get editing, covers, etc., and I don’t have to spend all my time submitting and keeping track of said submissions. I promote all the time, so adding on promotion for additional titles is a natural extension.

And for novels, going with the publisher that loves your book is the right move, at least 9 times out of 10. DAW loved Touched by an Alien when they read it, Night Shade loved Alexander Outland: Space Pirate when they read it, Musa loved my various titles when they read them. And because my books are with publishers and editors who love them, they get the benefit of that love.

 

Q: What difference does having your books with one of the Big 6 make in terms of exposure, gaining new readers, getting onto panels at conventions, and so forth?

A: It’s huge. HUGE. I have worldwide distribution because of Penguin. Note: availability and distribution are not the same thing. Anyone on the “net has worldwide availability, but getting people to know you’re there is like trying to make them choose your one grain of sand over all the others.

Distribution, on the other hand, means my books are in bookstores all over the world, giving me a worldwide fan base. And that’s how you gain readers — they’re able to find and buy your books.

As for getting onto panels, my first panel as a published author was at San Diego Comic-Con in 2008. That would have never happened if I hadn’t been with DAW/Penguin. So being with the Big 6 is a tremendous advantage.

 

Q: Do you consider an agent necessary these days?

A: Absolutely, possibly more important today than ever before. The top agents in the world cannot make a publisher take a book they don’t want. However, a good agent gets your book read by the right editors, and normally much faster than you’ll ever manage yourself.

Plus, your agent deals with contracts, runs interference between you and your editors, is the person making the calls about money, deadlines, disagreements, and so forth. I think having that buffer is important for authors — I want someone I can trust looking carefully at contracts and spotting what isn’t beneficial to my career. I can and do read my own contracts, but I prefer to spend most of my time focused on writing and promoting.

 

Q: Why do you think the advantages in having an agent, editors, and book cover artists are worth the smaller percentage of profit you gain working through NY compared to smaller publishers or self-publishing? Or do you?

A: Oh, I absolutely see the advantages outweighing getting a smaller percentage of profit, especially for those beginning their careers.

Daniel Dos Santos is the cover artist for my Alien/Katherine “Kitty” Katt series. Dan’s one of the top artists working in science fiction and fantasy. There is no way in the world I could have afforded to hire him if I’d gone it alone. And I know that his covers are responsible for a goodly number of my book sales.

A small percentage of a big number is far better than a big percentage of a tiny number. Never forget that. You have to weigh your financial options carefully, and always err on the side of being too conservative, because expecting to take the world by storm gives the cosmos far too much leeway to have a good laugh at your expense.

 

Q: What’s it like to see your name on a bestseller list the first time?

A: It was very exciting. I don’t have big enough print runs to make the New York Times bestseller list (yet!) but I’ve made the Barnes & Noble bestseller list more than once. And it was a thrill each and every time.

 

Q: What are your views on self-publishing?

A: I think it’s brilliant for experienced authors with an established fan base. If you have books that are out of print, heck yeah, get those puppies up there for sale. Your publisher doesn’t want to continue your series? Absolutely, go for it. You have a new series that you want to publish that’s getting the “we don’t really know how to market this” type of rejections? Again, go for it.

The key words in this are “experienced”, “established”, and “fan base”. Because experienced authors will put up a professional product (as in, something that’s been professionally edited, is spelled correctly, is punctuated correctly, actually has a coherent narrative, and so on).

Three years ago when I said I was an author absolutely no one asked me who I was published with. Now? Now I’m asked who my publisher is nine times out of ten, and this is by readers, not those in the industry. Once they know I’m with an established publisher, then they get interested in my books again.

Why is this happening? Because there’s a lot of utter garbage being self-published, and readers are getting wary. There’s only so many times you can get an individual to buy a bad book before they assume any and all self-pubbed books are terrible — and it’s a low number per person.

For every indie author who puts out a fabulous product, there are thousands who type “the end” to their first draft, ever, and toss it up there to be sold. These books that are in no way ready to be published, let alone read by someone outside of the author’s immediate circle, do terrible damage to everyone involved with publishing.

If you’re going to self publish, do yourself and everyone else a favor and ensure — via means other than yourself and your immediate friends and family — that your book is of the highest quality possible. That means doing more than one draft, editing, ensuring it’s spelled and punctuated properly, ensuring you’re using the right words (their, they’re, and there are NOT the same and all mean different things, for example), putting forth some effort to have a good cover. It means ensuring that your book is well written, has a coherent narrative, has a start, a good and not saggy middle, and a satisfying conclusion. You know, all the things that the publishing industry, especially the Big 6 and small presses, look for and demand.

Sadly, the very people who need to heed this particular warning will read it and assume that it’s not directed towards them. But it is. New and newer authors are rarely as ready as they think they are.

 

Q: What about those who just go for it and self-publish anyway?

A: I wish them all the luck in the world. No matter how you publish, it’s going to be a lot of work. It’s going to be more work for someone who doesn’t have an established name and fan base. Is it doable? Sure. The more work you put into an excellent product (your book), the better your returns will be.

I’m going to be self publishing a title myself — the official announcement is coming shortly. It’s an exciting addition to what I’m already doing. Self pubbing does not mean that I’m leaving DAW/Penguin (I’m not) or any of my other publishers. It means that I’m at a point in my career where I feel that I can experiment with this aspect of the publishing industry and see how it works for me. And I can do that with a level of confidence because I’ve been inside the traditional publishing process for several years now, and I know much more and can apply it to my self published title in the same ways I apply that knowledge and experience to my titles with Big 6, small press, and epub.

 

Bio

Gini Koch lives in Hell’s Orientation Area (aka Phoenix, AZ), works her butt off (sadly, not literally) by day, and writes by night with the rest of the beautiful people. She writes the fast, fresh and funny Alien/Katherine “Kitty” Katt series for DAW Books and the Martian Alliance Chronicles series for Musa Publishing, and, as G.J. Koch, the rollicking Alexander Outland space adventure series for Night Shade Books. She also writes under a variety of pen names (including Anita Ensal, Jemma Chase, A.E. Stanton, and J.C. Koch), listens to rock music 24/7, and is a proud comics geek-girl willing to discuss at any time why Wolverine is the best superhero ever (even if Deadpool does get all the best lines). She speaks frequently on what it takes to become a successful author and other aspects of writing and the publishing business. She can be reached through her website at www.ginikoch.com.

 

S. James Nelson: Abandon All (unreasonable) Hope

Colette Black Guest Posts Publishing The Writing Life 5 Comments

Guest post by S. James Nelson

My intention with this blog is to give you a healthy dose of despair and a stronger injection of hope.

I’m honestly surprised that this blog has turned into what it has. I’ve written and discarded a dozen drafts until settling on this topic–the topic I most hated to hear writers talk about when I started up writing again. In my heart I simply believed it wasn’t true. At least not for me. For the rest of you schmucks, sure. But not for me.

Turns out I was wrong.

I started my self-publishing experiment last August when I published The Demigod Proving. In November I followed up with Keep Mama Dead.

I haven’t sold a million copies.

Yet. I haven’t sold a million copies yet.

I’ve purposefully kept my marketing efforts to a minimum, although I have dabbled in what I would term marketing. That has netted me only about 2k sales and 12k give-aways. I’m more qualified to talk about what doesn’t work in self-publishing than what does.

But there is one thing I have learned, that I’m qualified to talk about, and that might be useful to you: you should give up your unreasonable hope, and maintain your reasonable hope.

I learned this over time, as I came to the conclusion that I am not an exception to the rule. There’s a very high chance (probably better than 99.9999%) that you aren’t, either.

I now suspect that the promise of quick and easy riches was what lured me back into writing. My day job wasn’t meeting my income desires, and so I thought, “I think I’ve got some skill with writing. Maybe I can hit it big. In fact, I bet I can.”

I haven’t told anyone that until now (so, naturally I put it on the Internet for all the world to read)–after all, they would scoff and spout some rot about those stories being the exception to the rule. They would try to distract me from my objective. I believed that I could be one of writers who had crazy huge success without much work.

Alas, it didn’t happen. At the same time, my day-job miraculously exceeded my income desires. The fire in my belly–the desire and urgency for quick and easy success–disappeared, leaving me wondering: why am I getting up early every morning to write? Why am I expending all manner of resources on this effort? It would be so much easier to use those resources for something more productive.

And yet, here I am, still writing. Still planning on putting out more books.  And, in fact, trying to find ways to be more successful. I’m certain I’ll have to work harder. Perhaps I need to step up my marketing efforts. Maybe I need to hone my writing. There’s a chance I need to understand my audience better. It might be that the package of my book (style, cover, title, editing) needs more work.

How strange to find myself thinking like that when it’s safe to say I will never be the exception to that stupid rule. I’ve worked way too hard to ever legitimately be called an overnight success.  For mercy’s sake, I’ve sacrificed for my art!

This has led me to a conclusion: I’m no longer in it for the quick and easy money. Which leads me to another realization: though success isn’t the primary goal, I still want to sell a lot of books. Which begets another conclusion: if a large number of book sales is something I’m going to continue to pursue, I’m going to have to manage my expectations about how easily that success might come. At the same time, I must maintain hope that I’ll succeed. Without hope, I have no reason to try. I may as well write and hide my work under a bushel.

Yet I have hope, and therefore I must continue to act. I must try different things, believing that if I change this or that-maybe this time I’ll have success.

So, the message?

Despair at ever being an overnight success, yet hope that your hard work will pay off.

Let your hope lead you to continue to develop your writing. If you self-publish, let your hope lead you to develop your marketing. If you fail at first and give up, it means you were in it for the money. There’s nothing wrong with that. But if you fail at first and find yourself willing to keep going, you must maintain hope that with persistent work, constant learning, and different approaches to the same problem, you’ll succeed.

You may not, though, and that’s why the money can never be the only reason you’re in this business.

S. James Nelson recently won first place in David Farland’s Nightingalewriting contest. If you enjoy action-oriented, deep-thinking fantasy, take a look at his book, The Demigod Proving. If you like strong characters, real-world fantasy, and hiking in national parks, take a look at his book Keep Mama Dead

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Jordan Ellinger: Coming Up in the Trenches

Guest Posts Publishing The Writing Life 9 Comments

Guest Post by Jordan Ellinger

Quick! Name some of your favorite science fiction writers. Some of you might have named Asimov or Theodore Sturgeon, while others might have said Orson Scott Card or Kristine Kathryn Rusch. The more literary-minded amongst you probably listed Elizabeth Hand or Jeff Vandermeer. Guess what? They’ve all written tie-ins.

There is a perception among writers that tie-in books–that is to say books that are based in a universe created by someone other than the writer–are of low quality and reside in a kind of literary ghetto, and in some ways that’s even true. Tie-ins are generally hastily written and of poor quality. The plots are often clichéd or trite and the characterization hobbled by the need to not conflict with “canon” and to leave the universe in a state suitable for the next writer to tackle. But these books can often add depth to a beloved universe like Vonda McIntyre’s Stark Trek novels, or continue the story of favorite characters like Dave Wolverton’s the Courtship of Princess Leia, or even fill in plot holes such as Isaac Asimov famously did in Fantastic Voyage.

Like many of today’s fantasy writers, I spent my teen years playing Dungeons and Dragons and so it was with some pleasure that I discovered a set of Dragonlance books on the shelves of my local bookstore. Tie-in books had existed previous to the Dragonlance novels by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman, but in the late 80s they were being pushed in a big way, and began to occupy whole shelves at the local bookstore. Being a fan of both dragons and lances, I devoured Weiss and Hickman’s novels and moved onto the Forgotten Realms series also set in a world that obeyed D&D canon.

It didn’t matter to me that many of these novels were hastily written and clichéd. I was young enough that a plot line revolving around an elf, a dwarf, a wizard, and a warrior meeting in a tavern seemed fresh and new, simply because I hadn’t read enough to know how many authors start their novels that way. At one point, I had more Forgotten Realm novels on my shelves than original novels, and I would incorporate some of the plot lines I read into the D&D campaigns that I ran with a few friends.

In 2009 an event occurred that marked the beginning of my career as a professional writer: I won 1st place in Writers of the Future with a story about a woman with the powers of a Phoenix and a lifespan only a day long. After my win, I immediately started writing novels, hoping to capitalize on my newfound notoriety. Unfortunately, everything I wrote seemed to peter out after 50,000 words (just over half the length of a modern fantasy novel). A year after winning the contest, I had nothing to show for myself other than a few failed manuscripts.

Around that time, Larry Segriff put out a call for his Story Portals site, which would launch with a series about Katya, an assassin who killed with a mixture of extreme competence, sexually aggressive tactics, and magic. This was my first experience with work for hire. He owned the characters and universe and, once I signed his contract, he’d own whatever stories and ideas I created for him as well. Despite that stipulation, I was intrigued. Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weiss had done quite well from Dragonlance, and I told myself this could be an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new franchise. I expressed an interest in the project and sent Larry a writing sample, which he quite liked. I was hired.

With a story for Larry under my belt, I decided to tackle other franchises, and when I went down to the local mega-bookstore I found that Warhammer had the most shelf space. I sent them a note telling them I’d won this award, and did they have any stories that needed writing? Laurie Goulding, their acquisitions editor wrote me back to say that he was interested and that I could send him a pitch. When I asked what I should write about, he gave me four potential ideas. I ran out, spent a ton of money buying the rulebooks and then did my best to bone up on the areas he suggested. Instead of sending him a single pitch I sent him four (two of which were accepted and will be in issues of Hammer & Bolter this summer).

Laurie seemed to like my work, and he was one of the best editors I’d worked with (and still is) so I dove full-tilt into the world of Warhammer. The Black Library sends its authors free books whenever they ask to encourage them to become familiar with canon, and I must have read twenty novels in those first few months. Some were bad, but to my surprise and delight, some were amazing. In the latter books, the prose held up to that of any in the genre, and though the focus was necessarily on bloody action scenes, they were dynamic, with well-realized characters. These would be the kinds of books I’d write. Sure, they’d be Warhammer books, but they’d be the best damned Warhammer books out there.

Things have really skyrocketed for me recently. Since writing that first short story for Story Portals, it seems that my career has come full circle. When I was a kid, I had a ton of Tracy Hickman books on my shelves and I now have a novel coming out in a series he anchored. My name will be on the spine of a novel only a few books away from his on the shelves.

Writing tie-ins has given me the confidence to write my own stuff, and I’ve been able to bring the lessons I’ve learned writing them to my own original work. Best of all, the work pays better than pro-rate and is paid in advance. I’ve heard it said that the average number of novels a new writer has to pen before selling one is six. I sold my first novel before I’d even written it.

In terms of ways for a new writer to practice their craft, it’s hard to beat the tie-in market.

 
Guest Writer Bio:
Jordan Ellinger is a Writers of the Future winner and Clarion West graduate. His story “Kineater” recently made an appearance in Warhammer:The Gotrek & Felix Anthology and has work upcoming in Hammer&Bolter as well as World’s Collider, a new anthology from Nightscape Press. In his spare time, he helms Every Day Publishing, publisher of Every Day Fiction, Every Day Poets, Flash Fiction Chronicles, and Raygun Revival. To read more, visit his website www.jordanellinger.com or follow him on twitter @jordanellinger.