Publishing Deal - Forget the Clichés

I promised to come back and tell you the rest of the end-story from Write to be Published. For the first part, go here. For today, you'll need tissues.

Again, this is reproduced with kind permission of Snowbooks.

PUBLISHING DEAL – FORGET THE CLICHÉS
So, what is it like, that moment when you realise you are really going to be published? It’s different for everyone, but let me tell you how it was for me. You think I was starry-eyed with excitement? Skipping around drinking sparkly stuff?

Sadly, no. The news came in stages, during several phone-calls over a few days, mostly as I stood in the car-park of Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, while my mother-in-law, Alison, was dying. Apart from my husband, Alison was the person who supported me most vigorously. She had railed against every rejection, bemoaned the blindness of publishers, and constantly praised my resilience. She was genuinely and enormously interested and she wanted to see a novel with my name on the cover almost as much as I did. If she’d lived, my publishers would never have needed a publicity department; the sales reps would have had a ready-made, unpaid sales force in Scotland; every acquaintance of hers – and there were very many – would have been persuaded to buy copies.

Alison died about a day after we finally heard that Mondays are Red was sold. Although she was unconscious all that time, I like to think she heard, too. A day or so before, my father-in-law and I were talking at her bedside; she had shown no signs of awareness for a while, and I said something to him along the lines of, “You know, I think this book is really going to be published.” And she said, with her eyes still shut but with a definite smile, “About time, too.” It is the last thing I remember her saying.

So, despite ending my years of grim failure, news of publication for me was not marked by happiness. I was standing in a hospital car-park, with my new agent talking about possible film deals and definite publication dates and that it had been taken as a “highlight title”, and how everyone had huge hopes for it, and I had to go in from the August sunshine and sit in a neurosurgical ward, watching Alison lose her life.

That is why the dedication in that first novel reads, “In memory of Alison, whose belief in me was everlasting.”

I hope you all have an Alison to keep you going. She’d never read any of my attempted novels, because I didn’t show them to anyone, but she believed in me anyway, because I believed in myself. In her opinion, anyone who kept trying as hard as I did deserved to succeed. She was wrong, of course: trying hard and long is not enough. We have to be good enough as writers and write the right book. But she couldn’t judge me on whether I was good enough, only on whether I worked hard enough. For her continued belief in that I am so grateful. I wish she’d been around to see the end of the story.

There’s something else she’d have done if she were alive now: remind me to acknowledge what I have done. We need to do that. You will all have had successes and improvements, made new contacts and potential readers, had feedback that has inspired or re-directed you, written something better than the last piece, formed new ideas, grown as writers and people. So, before you return to your writing, do remind yourself how far you have come, how much better you would like to be and that your improvement and success are in your hands more than anyone else’s.

I wish you all the success you deserve.

Reproduced from Write to be Published, by kind permission of Snowbooks Ltd.

Mondays are Red is available as a brand-new ebook, for around £2.25, with new material. Please, please buy it. Readers, I need you.

My own journey - not a pretty story. Part 1

Many people who read Write to be Published comment on the story at the end, when I tell the details of my difficult journey to publication. People often say I'm "brave" to have told it. I don't think so. I have nothing to hide. People see me now - strong, healthy, confident, full of ridiculous energy - and find it hard to believe that I was none of those things in my younger adulthood.

For those of you who haven't heard the story, I tell it now. It's neither pretty nor short. Get coffee. It also explains the whole answer to the question: Why do you spend so much time helping writers who are trying to be published?

Reproduced from Write to be Published with kind permission of Snowbooks.

HOW WAS IT FOR ME?
This book is a case of “Do as I say and not as I used to do.” I failed, as you know, for many years. Twenty-one years of failure to have a novel published. Towards the end of that time, I did have some small things published, home learning books mostly – they did very well in terms of sales, and many are still in print, but it was not what I wanted. I wanted, desperately, to be published as a novelist. Failure made me ill and consumed me with jealousy. It’s not a pretty story. It’s also a personal story, because every story of a writer struggling and failing is personal. Everything is wrapped up in it: health, family, psyche, location, support, income, and more. So, here’s my story.

Aged twenty, wondering what on earth a Cambridge degree in Classics and Philosophy was for, I decided that I wanted to be A Novelist. I knew I couldn’t earn a living immediately – hollow laugh – so I needed a job. I went to London, where streets are paved with wondrousness, and got a job cooking for an advertising agency, and dinner parties for Belgravia ladies who wanted strawberries only in December and smoked salmon if it was twice as expensive as the stuff their neighbours had.

And I wrote. I started a novel and also wrote stories aimed at women’s magazines, none of which got published, because they were completely wrong for their market. I had something published in Reader’s Digest and was paid £150 for about 50 words, an enormous payment in the early 1980s. My photo was on page one. Fame and fortune, I thought. I was almost right about fame: on a bus, I saw a man reading it, looking back and forth between the picture and me. I grinned. He asked me to sign it. My first signing!

Meanwhile, I was writing The Novel, on a cheap type-writer, while working as an English teacher. Somehow, in holidays and evenings, the novel grew and was finished. I sent it off. And received it back. Often. Each time I “improved” it. Trouble is, sometimes they said it was too long, and sometimes too short, so I was confused. One praised the original plot and another criticised its traditional nature. There was no internet and little advice available. I knew no one in the business, no one who was published, no one who was even trying.

Every time it came back, I fell apart. To most people, I seemed fine. But inside I was devastated that I couldn’t find the key to publication. I didn’t know what I was doing wrong. I felt useless.

After three years as an English teacher, I decided to give myself a year of writing full-time, really going for it, because being a teacher was incredibly exhausting and time-consuming and I couldn’t write enough. I also wasn’t well. I had glandular fever, toxoplasmosis and a couple of knee operations. So, supported by my lovely husband, I gave in my notice for the end of that third year. A month before term ended, I discovered I was pregnant. So, I didn’t get my year of full-time writing: I got a lovely daughter. But I was still sending off that bloody novel, still getting it thrown back. I’d revised it endlessly and didn’t know what to do. So I did the right thing and started another one.

We moved to Edinburgh and soon had our second daughter. I was still writing. But my health wasn’t good and I now believe that this was down to the gnawing pain of failure. I wanted publication so much and I was trying so hard. I felt I was good enough, so why wasn’t it happening? It wasn’t enough to be a mother, wife, cook and damn good house-person; I wanted more and I wanted it so much that it was making me ill. Postnatal depression was diagnosed, followed by an under-active thyroid, followed by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or M.E. The thyroid was true, and I still take thyroxine, but the rest wasn’t: it was Bruised Soul Syndrome. I was damaged where it matters. I was happy as a mother and wife, but I had a chasm where “myself” should be. The odd thing was that to everyone else I was Mrs Efficiency, Mrs High-Achiever, Mrs Get-Christmas-Sorted-in-October. Failure was inside.

Then, a dull government organisation offered me work, writing documents. I sailed out of that interview feeling fantastic. Energy flowed through me. I still remember that. God, those documents were boring but they gave me my life back. But I still wasn’t really someone who could call herself a writer, not in public.

The school where I’d taught had lots of kids with dyslexia, and I’d become fascinated. So I did a diploma in teaching pupils with Specific Learning Difficulties. That sparked an interest in the brain – a huge strand of my writing and speaking now – and a chance to be an expert in dyslexia and then literacy in general. I won’t bore you here with the literacy work I was doing, as it’s only relevant to the extent that it led to my first book contracts. To cut the story short, I self-published (badly) some home-learning books, sold the first print run of a thousand, and sent a set to the educational wing of Egmont. By chance, they were about to commission a major home-learning series, called I Can Learn. They asked me to write the whole series, for a glorious fee and my first experience of a nightmare deadline: twelve books in three weeks. Although it was fee-based rather than royalty-based, there have been reprint payments and internet spin-offs so I have been treated well. Also, when I do talks to teenagers now, many of them recognise those books from their childhood.

Anyway, now I could call myself an author. I was published. I was earning. I was valued. My books were in shops. I was reasonably well.

But I wasn’t A Novelist. My second novel was still coming back. I’d had near-misses: a fabulous letter from Collins; a story being short-listed for the Ian St James Awards; several times when the novel got as far as acquisitions meetings. But nearly being published is still failing. I started a third novel. I was full of hope. Sent the first part to an agent, got a lovely reply asking for the rest. (More rules broken: don’t send a novel out before it’s finished, but you know that now.) Went back to it, but didn’t finish it because by chance I read a new children’s novel. I’d been writing for adults and had never thought of writing for kids. Why would I? I wanted to break boundaries with language, not be held back by simplicity. Oh, how wrong that analysis was!

The book I read was Skellig, by David Almond, a beautiful writer with an extraordinary voice. He expresses deep ideas in language which is only simple because it is perfect, not because it’s trying to avoid complexity. He is unselfconscious and his words are crystalline and generous where mine were convoluted and self-indulgent. This was what I wanted to do. I’d been so tangled in prose that I’d forgotten about story. And now I could do both. From reading that one book, I learnt everything that I’d been missing in my failed quest for publication: that writing is about the reader more than the writer.

So I began to write Mondays Are Red. When I’d written about a third of it I became impatient and broke that rule again: I sent it to an agent and two publishers before it was finished. The agent and one publisher wanted to see the rest. I explained to the agent that I hadn’t finished but would do so now, and to the publisher that I had interest from an agent and would be in touch soon. I then wrote furiously and sent it off to the agent. The agent said that she loved it but that she was now ill and had decided she couldn’t take anyone on. (Pause for a scream.) I told the publisher this and sent them the rest of the book. Meanwhile, the second publisher, Hodder, rejected it. (Hold that thought.)

The first editor was very excited but wanted changes. She also suggested that I got an agent. I contacted two agents that day, one by letter because she had no email address and one by email. I included in my covering letters some glowing quotes from the editor. The agent I’d contacted by post phoned the next day and said she wanted to take me on. Just like that. When I opened my emails, I found a reply from the agent I’d emailed, apologising for not contacting me immediately. She was interested. Help! I contacted the first agent, explained and said I needed to know if she definitely wanted to sign me. Yes, she said. So, remarkably, I turned an agent down.

My new agent and I worked on Mondays are Red, and got it to the state we wanted it; but the editor who’d been interested wanted one change too many and my agent advised that we go elsewhere. She didn’t believe further changes were necessary.

Which publisher took Mondays are Red? Hodder, who had rejected it when I’d sent it on my own. Useful things, agents.

Mondays are Red was published in 2002 and I have been very lucky ever since, though it has not always been easy and I’ve had my knockbacks. Authors tend to hide those bad times and you should realise that beneath every apparently successful author’s confident exterior are bruises and scars. But do I wish I hadn’t had the years of failure, of not knowing whether I’d ever be published? No. They stop me taking anything for granted or thinking too highly of myself. They are crucial to who I am now; they are also why I understand what gets published and why some perfectly wonderful writing does not.

Now, I am wholly well. I put that down to having repaired my bruised soul. In the dark days, a clever medical person told me we need heartsong in our lives and that the key to health was finding my heartsong. When he said that, I knew what he meant and where I needed to find it. That’s why I spend time blogging for talented, hard-working, non-delusional writers and why I’m writing this book: because if you have that same need for heartsong, I understand.

Next week, I'll tell you the story of how I learnt about my first publishing deal and why my first novel is dedicated to "Alison". You'll need tissues.

If you'd like to buy the brand new ebook version of that novel, Mondays are Red, please do! It's published on Monday and you can be very sure I'll bring you details then. THANK YOU!

Edited to add: LOOK! A fab video trailer. *dances*

Use bookshops this Christmas

Bookshops are far more important than some people seem to think. Writers and readers need real bookshops and the passionate, expert booksellers who work in them. Amazon are expert sellers and, indeed, quite passionate about selling, but they are not passionate, expert booksellers. I don't object to the fact that they sell lots of books, of course - I simply object to how little they care what they sell as long as they sell lots of it. Beans or books, they don't mind. Mind you, there's also my amusing story of Sainsbury's and the Great Bacon vs Books Contest, which elicited and interesting and, at first, positive-sounding contact from the head of "entertainment" and a cordial email conversation between me and the head of book-buying.  (I will report on the result of this conversation soon, but unless I get a reply to the requested suggestion I put together months ago, it may be a short and unhappy report. Come on, Sainsbury's - you can do it!)

Anyway, this post is not about Amazon or Sainsbury's but about bookshops, and passionate and expert booksellers. I've met them in Waterstone's, Blackwells, Foyle's and loads of independents. My pledge this Christmas is to buy books for as many people as possible and to buy them from bookshops. Physical ones. Proper ones. Not supermarkets. In Edinburgh, we have lots of choice and they are all excellent: Waterstone's (several branches), Blackwells and The Edinburgh Bookshop.

AND LOOK - you can nominate your favourite in the Telegraph Small Shops Awards.

And LOOK again! A SPECIAL CUNNING CHRISTMAS OFFER from EDINBURGH and OXFORD
If you're a writer or you know a writer who lives within travelling distance of Edinburgh or Oxford, here's something for you. Perhaps you could suggest that the loved one in your life buys it for you? Do pass this info on, please!

BLACKWELLs OXFORD WRITE TO BE PUBLISHED - Books + 2-hour event on Thurs January 19th, 7-9pm, with refreshments - £25

Blackwells approached me with the fab suggestion of a Christmas present package for writers. The package consists of a copy of Write to be Published, the ebook* of Write a Great Synopsis - An Expert Guide, and a ticket for an in depth two-hour evening event with me, in which I'll cover all sorts of aspects of hooking a publisher, and you'll be able to ask questions.
*This will be emailed directly from me on publication.

Interested? Either call in at the store in Oxford or phone them on 01865 792792. This is only newly launched so you could be the first!

THE EDINBURGH BOOKSHOP - Books + 1.5 hour event on Saturday January 28th, 2-3.30pm - £15

And the Edinburgh Bookshop is offering a similar package. The package consists of a prettily gift-wrapped copy of Write to be Published, the ebook* of Write a Great Synopsis, and a ticket for a 1.5 hour afternoon event with me, covering as much as I can and giving time for questions.
*This will be emailed directly from me on publication.
Interested? Call in at the shop on Bruntsfield Place at Holy Corner or phone 0131 447 1917

Both events are on my Facebook page - do sign up there so that you hear about other events and news. It's a good place to send me a message, too.

Support bookshops; support authors. Hooray!

Would you like to plug your favourite bookshops? Add them to the comments.

PUBLICATION DAY: THE BIG CRABBIT INTERVIEW

Publication Day for Write to be Published is here! Where will I be? In a glitzy hotel being champagned? Being showered with flowers or gorged with goodies or snapped by paps? No. Well, not as far as I know. I'll be on a train to London in preparation for my FREE Foyles event tomorrow. I will have this bag with me, thanks to Lynn Price, who generously sent me one as a present to celebrate publication.

But fear not, as I have a very special interview for you. I can't reveal the name of the mysterious interviewer because otherwise everyone will want to be interviewed by her/him, but suffice it to say that I am deeply honoured. So, grab a coffee and a chocolate brownie and settle down for the Big Publication Day Crabbit Interview.

Mysterious Interviewer: So, Nicola, if this book is based on the blog, presumably all you had to do was to copy and paste the best posts. Easy, yah?

NM:

MI: Well, relatively easy?

NM:

MI: Well, at least easier than if you'd been starting from scratch?

NM:

MI: OK, so it was a difficult book to write. I think we've established that. Perhaps you could tell us about the differences between blog and book?

NM: Well, you can find things in the book, for a start. This blog is now huge and unwieldy, with maybe a million words on it, buried in posts that are in a non-logical order, with some material repeated. But in the book everything is ordered nicely and logically, with clear headings in the amazingly detailed contents list so you can find exactly what you want. You could also read it in the bath. And throw it at the wall if you don't like the truth in it. If you were to read my blog in the bath or throw it at the wall you'd do serious damage to your computer.

MI: So, you're going to stop blogging now, then?

NM:

MI: Seriously? You mean it's all over?

NM: Don't be silly! Do you think I could bear to stop haranguing everyone here? Where would the fun in my life be?

MI: Once people have bought the book, though, why will they need to come back to the blog?

NM:

MI: You're going to give them chocolate? That seems like a good plan.

NM: No, sorry, I was just taking a break. In fact:

MI: They are chained to the blog?

NM: Oh yes, indeedily. By invisible and unbreakable chains, which they have willingly wound around themselves because they know that being harangued is absolutely the best way to become a stronger writer. They actually do enjoy being harangued. Trust me. And besides, even though the book aims to be all-encompassing, there may still be some small elements of haranguing that I've forgotten to put in. What if they were to miss those? Their whole literary future could be in jeopardy. So, I must continue haranguing them here, because the consequences of an insufficiency of haranguing are too awful to contemplate.

MI: Yes, I think I can see that.

NM (cannot now be stopped and has mad look in eyes): So, they must come back here for more haranguing and rest assured that I will be here for them always, ready with my pointy haranguing boots and my crabbititude and my well known Withering Frown of Extreme Exasperation. Also, if they don't come here, I shall harangue them on their doorsteps and in Sainsbury's and at their places of so-called work and even from the highest mountains and deepest valleys shall I harangue them until, verily, the hills and all the citadels shall ring out with the trumpets and clarions of haranguing.

MI: Are you OK?

NM: Yes, I am very fine, thank you.

MI: Supposing anyone wished (or dared) to come and witness some actual live haranguing, such as you might offer in an event open to the unsuspecting public, where can they avail themselves of such an opportunity?

NM: Ah, yes. Since you ask, here is a little time-table:

• 2 June: Foyles bookshop, London, 6.30-7.30pm, FREE but ticketed. TOMORROW - HURRY, tortoises....
• 9 June: Edinburgh - private haranguing session, fully booked.
• 16 June: Blackwell's bookshop, Edinburgh, 6.30-7.30pm, FREE but ticketed. With WINE.
• 30 June: London Writers' Café panel.
• 25 August: Waterstone's bookshop, Edinburgh George St, 6.30-7.30 - booking not open yet; timing may change.
• ?? August: secret location in Edinburgh - I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you, which would defeat the object of my telling you. Details later. (About the event, not killing methods.)
• 15 October, Waterstone's Cambridge - details later.
• Elsewhere - UK tour currently in planning for autumn, once we've found a bus with a big enough fridge.

MI: Jolly good. But if all these events are free, does that mean you aren't being paid? (Please don't do that head-desk screaming thing again.)

NM: No, I'm not being paid, but this is absolutely fine, for one or two reasons. 

MI: Tell us. Tell us both of them.

NM: First, because I feel I have failed aspiring writers: I have sweated blood for them for some years now and I regret to say that agents are telling me that my very clear advice to submit work while sober still isn't getting through. Second, I have this vague hope that if I do free events for them, they might buy the frigging book. Because if they don't, I'm stuffed, tbh.

MI: You love your blog-readers, don't you?

NM: Absolutely adore them. No idea where I'd be without them.

MI: One more question. The cover of WTBP. That red stuff. We've all been wondering: blood or ink?

NM: Blood. Mine.

MI: Thank you, Nicola, for answering these piercing questions. May I suggest that you have a glass of wine or something?

NM: Thank you. I don't mind if I do. Seriously though, I'm very proud of this book and well I might be, since it was a complete and utter bugger to write. Luckily though, as you can see, I preserved my sanity and came nowhere near any kind of breakdown. I have witnesses for this.

*    *    *

Write to be Published is published today and if you'd like to buy it, thank you! See this post here for a discussion about the various methods, or click the Buy page at the top of the blog. Or just head down to your nearest  bookshop and smile at them, saying how you think every aspiring writer would love to buy Write to be Published. I don't recommend haranguing them, though - that works well for writers but less well for booksellers.

Some big thank yous: fabulous publicity person and ace-brain, Corinne Gotch; equally fabulous assistant and wonder-brain, Becky Hearne; everyone who buys a book; and ALL of you, my lovely blog readers, without whom this blog would not have succeeded, and this book would not have been born.

One more thing. Lest I paint a falsely negative picture of my mood, I am in fact very, very proud of my new baby. It's had a wonderful reception from loads of you, including lovely Amazon reviews already, plus some trade response that's been fab, and I am very happy. Srsly.

WHAT NOT TO SAY IN A COVERING LETTER - COMP

Carrot: there's a competition at the end of this post! As part of the countdown to the launch of Write to be Published - three weeks to go -  I have two more crabbit bags up for grabs. (Oh, and I am thrilled and excited to say that the books ARE now in the warehouse and if I wasn't away tomorrow my copies would be arriving then! Yay!)

But first, the "learning", as management-speaky types say.

Here are some things you should NOT say in a covering letter. I have seen them all in various forms:

• My book is for readers of 9 to 99.
• You and me are going to be rich. ( Or "You and me are" anything.)
• I have printed my book on a HP Photosmart XB100.
• I enclose for your delectation...
• I have chosen to send you chapters 3, 8 and 73, because I think they are the best ones.
• I have chosen to send you chapters 3, 8 and 73 because I haven't printed the others out.
• I have chosen Comic Sans because it's nice and clear.
• I enclose my fiction novel.
• Dear Sir. (Or Dear Madam.)
• Hi!
• Most readers couldn't give a toss about books nowadays but I promise they'll love this.
• It's like Love in the Time of Cholera, but way more interesting.
• It doesn't really fit any genre.
• My kids almost died laughing when they read it.
• It's not like the other books out there.
• I have already published it as an ebook so I've proved there's a market. Now I'm looking for print publication.
• I don't think it needs much editing.
• I know it needs a lot of editing. 
• It's been my life's dream to write a book but I never had time.
• Several people have said I have real talent. 
• I was highly commended in an online competition and one of the judges said I have a very unusual voice.
• It's written in a very simple style because readers of this age are not very clever.

There are plenty of other things people get wrong in covering letters but these are the most common and most glaring. All my sensible advice for covering letters is in Write to be Published, as well as in previous posts on this blog, but can also be summed up as:

• Be sensible and professional.
• Be calm and sane.
• Be clear and concise.
• Write a decent book. (Though it may also be indecent. But be careful if it's for children...)

OK, so, here's the competition. It's an easy one this time.

I have admitted several times on this blog that I once wrote a covering letter in rhyme. However, there was something else tacky and stupid that I did in that same covering letter. What was it? (If you don't know, guess. If no one gets it right, the most creative wrong guess will win!) If there are several correct entries, I will put names in a hat. Deadline: 1st June, midday UK time.

Answer in the comments below - even if someone has already given what you think is the right answer. And please do spread this competition around - anyone can enter! Yes, overseas bods, too. I love y'all.

And do please also enter the BIG WTBP Comp - details here. Entries are so far few but fab. And I know that several of you are working on it.

If you want to order your signed copy from me in advance - AND GET IT EARLY! - click the Buy the Book page at the top of this blog. If you order from me you will automatically be entered into the monthly draw to win another crabbit bag. And I will be happy, which should make you happy and the world a therefore happier place.

Now, comment away. And you can answer up to three times, as long as your answer is different...

COUNTDOWN TO PUB DAY: THE BIG WTBP COMP

With one month exactly till publication of Write to be Published, I'm delighted/daunted to kick off the countdown with a The Big WTBP Competition, which will run throughout May and June.

"And the prize, the prize?" I hear you ask, in your usual demanding way. Well, you are all writers so I presume you have at least the beginning of the draft of something. Well, would you like a confidential crabbit critique of it. That's the main prize: a critique of your first chapter, or up to 5000 words. Feedback from the Crabbit Old Bat herself! You might not want that for yourself - you wimp! - but you might have a friend you could win it for. And there are fab luxury hessian crabbit bags to be won, too, plus, of course, the honour of winning a writing competition and the pleasure of creativity.

MORE: you can also now read an extract from the book and see a list of the contents. Click here for the official WTBP Taster - it contains the competition and ordering details, as well as the contents list and short extracts from the beginning and end. That's all you get for now. Do pass the link around and get all your writing friends involved: the opportunity for expert feedback is not to be missed.

Edited to add: You may enter up to three times, as long as each entry is at least slightly different. For example, a different take on or approach to the same piece, or the same story with a different ending. 

IMPORTANT CHANGE: following the comment from Alexis, I have decided to allow entries from under 18s, but only if a responsible adult (parent or guardian) will promise to give permission for me to provide the critique in the event of the young person winning, and will vouch for the genuine ability of the writer to receive constructive criticism...

SOME EVENTS

Bookshops small and large are embracing this book fabulously - phew! Please see links at top of right-hand sidebar.

Meanwhile, let the countdown begin and may your pencils be sharpened for The Big WTBP Competition! And do order your copy of the book - click here for options. Buying a signed copy from me gives you yet another chance to win one of my dwindling pile of crabbit bags... Thank you so much to the people who've already ordered.

Finally, a huge, huge thank you to you for all your support. You have been wonderful. I was going to say I don't deserve you but actually I damn well do!

YOUR NOMINATIONS, PLEASE

I'm in the process of composing my list of resources to go at the end of Write To Be Published. Obviously, I have a list I made all on my ownsome, but what would you like? Now is your chance to nominate your favourite blogs and websites.

Just add them to a comment, including a tiny something to describe them. Please include the whole URL, even if you can't make a live link.

I will then organise them - at my discretion - into a list for this blog and also a shorter list for the book. I want generous blogs with quality information. Do include blogs by unpublished writers but I will probably not include them in the book, as my focus for that is on expert advice, more than simple experience of trying to get published.

And to the acerbic commenter who, when I asked something like this before, accused me of using you to write the book: erm, it's the BOOK OF THE BLOG! *shakes head in bemusement / amusement*

IN WHICH YOU HELP ME - PART 2

The other day, I asked for your recommendations to add to a list of useful resources. And now, there is something else.

(EDITED TO ADD THIS NOTE - the response to the first request below - asking for critical volunteer readers - has been overwhelming and I now have far more people to choose from than I can easily cope with. Thank you! Each will receive a personal reply in the next week or so, either asking for your help or else apologising for not accepting it. The comments that you've made already are hugely helpful and appreciated, and the behind the scenes support has been very reassuring. No more volunteers needed now - sorry.

I would still value any comments you want to make in answer to the questions I ask further down.)

I am (was...)  looking for a very small number of readers to comment on the first draft of Write To Be Published, and I thought there was no better bunch of people to ask than you lot.

The readers I need must be:

1. Honest - this is no place for flattery. I know it often is, but not this time.
2. Trusted - not just because I need you to be honest but because I will have to trust you to keep the contents of the first draft confidential. It is a first draft and much will change, so it's essential that it does not go anywhere except your own computer.
3. Available during August - I expect to have the first draft by the end of July, and would need your response by the end of August. 
4. Because of points 1 and 2 above, I need you to have commented before on this blog a few times and not to be anonymous. I need to know where to find you!(Not, I think, because I will want to kill you but in case I want to discuss a point with you.)
5. The target audience - normal purchasers of this sort of book. (You don't actually have to buy it.)
6. Willing to be unpaid but profusely thanked.

I will NOT want to you to write any kind of detailed, formal report. You just have to say what you think, in your own words, as briefly or fully as you wish. I will give you some pointers / questions, so that you know what I'm looking for. You are not copy-editing and you will not be held responsible if I go along with your views and then reviewers slate me.

Please note that I only need a very few people so don't be upset if I don't pick you: I will be looking for a varied range so it may be that I don't pick you because you are too similar to someone else - don't be offended. *feels stressed already*

What to do if you are interested: email me - on n@nicolamorgan.co.uk  -  and say a) who you are, b) what stage you are at on the route to publication and c) whether you've read any other books about writing / being published and, if so, a sentence re what you liked or didn't like. (I won't quote you...) I will probably also use a more or less first-come-first-served process, so, again, don't be offended. I want to sort this out quite quickly.

I would love to have lots and lots of views but it will confuse me, small brain that I have.

(STILL RELEVANT) ANYONE ELSE: I have some questions for anyone about Write To Be Published. Please use the comments section below/

• Do you think I should avoid using quotes from my own books to illustrate points that I make?
• Is there anything you hope I will / won't do / include? Anything that would annoy you?
• I will be toning down mentions of chocolate, wine and shoes - do you agree?
• Anything else you want to say.

That's it! Thank you, folks. I have had great fun writing WTBP and I do consider you to have been a major part of the blog and therefore the book, but, to clarify, you are getting NO MONEY. (Nor am I unless it sells...)

SHORT STORIES - HELP, PLEASE

In a rare turning of the tables - and arguably a dereliction of duty - I am asking you for help. Or at least the short story writers among you.

As you know, I'm writing a book based on this blog. I've just got to the section about short story-writing. Now, I don't need you to tell me how to write short stories, but about the market for short stories, both in the UK printed market and on-line (world-wide), and how you have managed to achieve some success in this form.

I do have my own answers to most of the questions below, but my knowledge of aspects of this market is a little out-of-date, especially in terms of women's magazines and also internet opportunities. So, I'd like to pick your brains.

Please note:

• I am only looking for people who write for what we might call the "commercial" or "light reading" market, rather than the more "literary" end. (Sorry about these terms.) I already have several experts to talk about the literary market. So, if you write for coffee-break magazines, and focus on light fiction, I want to hear from you.
• I also do NOT need to know any more about flash fiction - I have masses of stuff on that.
• I need you to be quite serious about short story writing, whether it's your main type of writing or a side-line to something else. You'll see that some questions relate to paid writing and others to free online forums - both are relevant.
• If I quote from you, I will acknowledge you. If I need to cut your words, I will contact you to agree the wording. 
• It will not be possible for me to use all of your contributions and some of you will probably duplicate each other. I will try my very best to give credit to everyone who has helped.
• Please DO pass this post on to anyone you know who writes short stories seriously.
• Please only answer the question(s) that really apply to you. It would be much more helpful if you just made one or two points than try to answer everything.
• Please indicate briefly in your comment what level of success you've had / in what type of magazines / how important this income / outlet is to you.

OK. Here are some questions I'm considering. Please take your pick.

RE having short stories published for publication's sake - ie without payment and probably on-line:-

• If you do this, how often and what benefits do you see to it? Can you identify good results?
• Can you name some good forums for on-line publication - preferably ones that aren't about to disappear into the ether?
• Tips / risks?

Re writing for profit / payment:- 

• Do you manage to place stories for paid publication reasonably successfully? Is your success rate erratic or have you developed a good system / found your niche?
• What are the markets outside women's magazines?
• Is the market for short stories in magazines healthy? Growing or decreasing?
• How important is it in terms of income, or is it mainly for your writing CV and satisfaction?
• How systematic were / are you in identifying the right magazines? Tips about this?

Anthologies:-

• Do you have any short stories in published anthologies (printed or on-line)? How did this come about? Were you paid?

Other:-

• Anything else worth saying about the outlets / markets for short story writing?
• Do you ever give up copyright or have you ever been asked to? Do you feel you know your rights adequately?
• Have you used your proven success in short writing to gain a publishing deal for a full-length work?

Thanks, all!!