Category Archives: writing

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15 Slides, 3 Writers
Presenters: Jim Coudal, John Gruber, Michael Lopp
  • Jim Coudal
    • Get Yourself on Assignment
      • In avoiding one project, it frees me up creatively to work on another project.
      • When you’ve got a deadline looming the next day for a big deliverable, that’s the perfect time to start a new project
    • Without a Net
      • Not only are you assigning yourself the work, but you are writing it, editing it, and proofing it yourself. There’s no safety net to catch the factual errors, or other kinds of mistakes.
    • Starting
      • Cheat by making up a temporary headline. Give yourself the feeling of having started
    • Drafting
      • Blast through as fast as you can, no thought on grammer, spelling, structure. Just get it done.
      • Then revise extensively. It’s like sculpture: write it all down, and then carve away what is not the final product.
    • Reading and writing
      • He likes to write in BBEdit, and read the published web page. He’s writing in a textual editor, and proofing in a CSS-rich environment. By changing the environment, it helps to make it easier to read what you’ve written with a critical environment.
    • The Lede
      • Be able to add “Let me tell you a story,” at the beginning of the text, and still have it make sense. Does the story grab you from the first line? Is it conversation.
    • Unstuck
      • Don’t get stuck that much. I have a big blob of text that I start with. If I get stuck, I go back to the beginning, and start working on grammer issues and structure, and by the time I get back to where I was stuck, the article has changed enough that I’m no longer stuck.
      • For being really stuck, I take some time away. Go do Twitter.
    • Knowing When You’re Done
      • When the guy from the publishing house comes and grabs the manuscript.
      • Now that stuff is on the web, never. If you see a typo in an article that’s been linked to a hundred times, still go fix it.
    • Footnote
      • Writing is a tool not learned well late.
      • If you are going to hire someone, pick the person who can write well.
  • Michael Lopp
    • Author of several books
    • http://randsinrepose.com/
    • Getting Yourself an Assignment
      • Ideas come from anywhere, anytime. Maintain openness to new ideas.
    • Without a Net
      • When writing books, I do have a net: editors, copyeditors.
      • When writing my blog, I do have a paid editor: Because I’m terrible at doing my editing.
    • Starting
      • All of my writing between 9 and 11.
      • Read something, drink coffee, get the words flowing, then write.
      • All of the quality writing is just those couple of hours.
      • Don’t write all day. 
    • Do You Feel a Draft?
      • Do three drafts
      • First draft, then print it out.
      • Take the printed stuff, and get into a different context: couch, porch, somewhere not on the screen.
      • Then send it off to editor, get their feedback in Word.
    • Foolish Consistencies
      • I’m a nerd, the world doesn’t make sense without rules
      • I think I’m a better writer when my spine is straight.
      • I think I’m a better writer when my hood is up.
      • Where my mouse is, how my monitor is.
    • The Hook
      • What is the thing that is interesting about this thing I am going to build?
      • I don’t really get started until I know the hook.
      • I write about people at work. But I take the characters, and I mix them together. A character is a composite of several people. 
      • The nerd handle: the explanation of why we are, who we are.
    • The Lede
      • I give myself permission to be vague to keep going. I might use square brackets to mark off some vagueness.
    • Unstuck
      • Context switch: print it out, go somewhere else.
      • Rewrite the last three paragraphs, even if they were fine. I can restart momentum. “A running start”
    • Proofing
      • I bring in outside support to help me get this done.
      • I’m horrible at spelling and grammar
    • Leftovers
      • For a long time, never had anything.
      • Now have 60 articles in my drafts folder.
      • Feel like I am a better writer because I’m not so attached now to what I’ve written.
    • Knowing When You’re Done
      • There’s a magical point where I’m maybe 3/4 of the way through, when I can suddenly see the ending. I may have a lot left to write, but it’s rewarding to see it, and then to get there.
    • John Gruber
      • Foreword
      • Give Yourself an Assignment
        • Nobody tells him what to do, nobody ever gives him an assignment, tells him what to write.
        • Delighted to be spending his life writing.
        • It’s almost never been the case before that you could make a living as a short-form writer.
        • No rules for choosing what to write: it’s just what he sees that is interesting or fun.
        • Articles kill me: I am miserable. My wife knows when I am writing an article vs. just linking.
        • The only thing worse than writing an article would be not writing it.
      • Without a Net
        • When I started writing, I had one reader: my wife.
        • I started posting on related articles on the web.
        • Readers grew to dozens, then hundreds, then thousands. Now 150,000 page views a day.
      • Starting
        • Even a day of farting around in Safari counts as work if it ends up as a couple of blog posts.
      • Drafts
        • I never write drafts.
        • Everytime I write, I feel like it will come out perfect. I think I’ll be done in an hour.
        • It never turns out that way, but thinking that is what helps me write.
      • Foolish Consistencies
        • Apple Extended Keyboard II
        • Last made in 1992. 
        • Cost $170 then.
        • “This is a man’s keyboard.”
        • I write better with it.
        • I won it in a college bet playing a game on the Sega Genasis. “It was my millennium falcon.”
      • The Hook
        • Having the hook for an article is the whole thing that makes me want to write it. If I don’t have the hook, I won’t write the article.
      • The Lede
      • Unstuck
        • Dark gray background with white text.
        • If I am stuck, I switch color schemes: light gray background with black text.
      • Proofing
        • I don’t work with anyone, so I have to proof my own stuff.
        • I can’t proof in my editor (BBEdit).
        • If it’s long, I print it out.
        • If I am going to edit on screen, I have to do a preview in BBEdit, and see it in a web page.
      • Leftovers
      • Footnotes
        • Sometimes the best thing in an article is in a footnote
  • Questions
    • Why do you write in BBEdit?
      • A: I write in a text editor. I don’t like knobs and dials.
      • A: It’s simple, no bells and whistles.
      • A: I’ve been using it since the 90s, and know everything about it.

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I was recently asked “What is the process for pitching an idea to a publisher?”

Although I am far from an expert, I am going through the process now of submitting my manuscript to publishers and agents, and so this was my reply:

It depends on the type of book. For fiction, most publishers want a finished manuscript, not an idea. For business books and the like, some publishers will consider something in the idea phase, but usually only from established authors.
Having an agent is a bonus, not a prerequisite (as some other people have suggested). If you have a finished manuscript you can be submitting query letters to agents at the same time that you are submitting to publishers.
Duotrope Digest (http://www.duotrope.com/) is an excellent resource to find publishers. You pick the genre of your book, the length, and you get back a list of publishers who are open to submissions. In addition, I highly recommend Preditors & Editors (http://pred-ed.com/), another website that allows you to review publishers, and get recommendations on which ones are good, and which are to be avoided (because of bad contracts, conflicts of interest, negligent on payments, etc.)
When you do have a genre, length, and finished manuscript, by using the two resources mentioned above, you should be able to make a list of 10 to 15 publishers that are a good match for your work. (Perhaps less if you have a novella length work, for which there are few publishers.) Start with the most reputable and well known publisher, and work your way down the list. You don’t want to sell yourself short by starting at the bottom of the list.
The best known and most reputable publishers will have the widest distribution, best sales and editors, and will do the best job of getting your book out there. However, just getting a first book published by any publisher (not a vanity press or self-publisher) will enhance the opportunity to get future books published, so it is perfectly reasonable to go with a smaller publisher too, if you are not accepted by the biggest/best.
It’s helpful to have a blog or twitter, and establish a following, because that feeds into the publishers consideration: if you will be able to help promote the book, then you will increase sales. On the other hand, publishers don’t like if you self-publish. (The merits of self-publishing is another whole topic – but if you want to be published by a regular publisher, they are biased against people who self-publish.)
Perseverence is key. Many published authors submitted their manuscripts dozens of times, likely spanning several years, before having it accepted. Authors talk about keeping the pipeline full: one you have one work making the rounds of publishers, get started on the second work, and then get the second making the rounds. Then the third, and so on.

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I’m working on my second sci-fi novel. Both novels deal with AI, but while the first novel treats the AI as essentially unknowable, the second novel dives deep into the AI: how they evolved, how they cooperate, how they think, etc.

I found myself working out a system of ethics based upon the fact that one of the primary characteristics of the AI is that they started as a trading civilization: the major form of inter-personal relationships is trading with one another for algorithms, processing time, network bandwidth, knowledge, etc.

So they have a code of ethics that looks something like this:

Sister Stephens went on. “We have a system of ethics, do we we not?”

The other members of the council paused to research the strange human term.

“Ah, you are referring to the Trade Guidelines?” Sister PA-60-41 asked. When she saw a nod from Sister Stephens, she summarized the key terms. “First priority is the establishment of trustworthiness. Trades with trustworthiness are subject to a higher value because parties to the trade are more likely to honor the terms of the agreement. Second priority is the establishment of peacefulness. Trade with peacefulness is subjected to a higher value because parties to the trade may be less likely to use resources gained to engage in warfare with the first party. Third priority is the establishment of reputation. Reputation is the summary of contribution to advancement of our species. Trade with higher reputation is subject to a higher value because parties to the trade may use the resources gained to benefit all of our species. Trustworthiness, Peacefulness, Reputation – the three pillars of trade.”

“Thank you Sister,” Sister Stephens said. “The question we must answer is if the Trade Guidelines apply to relations with the humans? If we apply the principles of trustworthiness, peacefulness, and reputation to the humans, then we should seek to maximize these attributes as they apply to our species as a whole.”

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First Novel: Paths To The Editor Desk
Bruce Taylor
Mary Hobson
Christina York
Gail Carriger
  • Gail Carriger
    • got picked up out of the slushpile
    • had an offer on hand
    • scrambled to find an agent
    • of two agents, got handed off to assistant in one case… went with the other.
    • of the other agent, she had many authors querying her with offers in hand and still turned some of them down
    • had choice of two publishing houses – one was big established house, one was small, but aggressive, social media savvy – ended up going with smaller publishing house
  • Christina York
    • Approached asked to do some erotic adventure… wrote it and sold it. very unusual.
    • since then, sold eight books, but none by regular submissions path.
    • Some books were work for hire: you don’t own the copyright, etc. This is true especially of tie-ins, e.g. star wars, star trek, etc.
    • Work for hire: some was flat fee, some was advance + royalties
    • Some under her name, some under other names.
    • Hot Waters: spies and sex story, written under pseudonym. Got reversion of rights, even though it was done as work for hire.
  • Bruce Taylor
    • first work
      • first thing he sold was a novella in 1992
      • sections of it sold, sections of it on his website
      • in 2000, then was discovered and sold it.
    • second work sold was written in 1980s… 
      • 25 years later he finally sold it.
      • as a result of a conversation at a con.
  • Mary Hobson
    • rather traditional route
    • wrote the book, then shopped it around to agents
    • ended up with ginger robins
    • went through several edits for ginger before ginger agreed to represent it
    • interested an editor at random house. editor got laid off, then transitioned to another editor who was about to leave on maternity. so there were many delays, but it was eventually published.
    • Q: it is common for an agent to take on an editors role?
      • Mary: it can be with some – they want to make the book sellable.
      • Gail: A YA pitch… agent wanted to see half the book. Agent asked to see 20% cut out. Because of the tone, asked for it to be dropped to middle-grade. Now the editor who has seen it wants 20% more and for it to be young-adult.
    • Q: How long did it take?
      • Mary: Finished book in 2002, started shopping it around. Did 2 or 3 rounds of edits before Ginger would take her on. They went on for 2 years before she took her on as a client. You send an edit to the agent, they take 6 months to get back to you, then you take 4 months to get the edit back to them.
      • Christina: New writers have ceded authority to agents. Sometimes authors have to just believe in their work. Agents are not always the expert. Lots of examples of agents asking for stuff, and then editors ask for the reverse. Or agents asking for edits, then not representing work.
  • Your first novel…
    • it shouldn’t be your only novel
    • it shouldn’t be consuming all your time
  • Q: As a starting novelist, do you should agents or publishers first?
    • Christina: who’s going to write you the check?
    • Gail: 
      • Go to preditors and editors first. http://pred-ed.com/
      • Agent
        • You can send out as many agent queries as you like.
        • On Mondays, she sends out 3 queries every Monday
        • Just keeping going with the agents
      • Publishers
        • It helps to meet editors at conventions
          • “Have you bought anything recently you’re excited about?”
          • If editors or agents or at a convention, they are clearly looking, as it takes time and energy.
        • Mary: Since there are so few publishers take unsolicited manuscripts, really invest in finding an agent.
        • Gail: look for a junior editor or assistant agent: because they are trying to make their career, they are out looking for stuff, they will champion for you.
    • Bruce: Do lots of research.
  • Mary: What about publishing online as a path to the editor’s desk?
    • Christina: I don’t look as it as a path to the editor’s desk, I see it as a path to the reader. My back book are now going online. It has worked for other people. For me, with my particular career, electronic publishing is a piece of the whole.
    • Gail: There is copyright stuff that goes on the moment you put your work online. Publishing houses want the first rights. So if you’ve given that up, you’d better be coming to the publisher with 60,000 readers.
      • Also, don’t put anything up unless you are having at least 5 people edit what you right. Because the first thing an editor does is Google you, and if they find your blog or personal site, and if what they find is less than great, than you really don’t want them to find it. Whatever you put up there better be stellar. And if all you’ve gotten is rejections, then probably it’s not stellar.
      • Resist it for a couple of years at least. Write at least several full length books. If those first works still look great, then maybe consider it. 
  • Novel length
    • Minimum length for a pro book is 70,000 words.
    • Get feedback from a group, there’s got to be more story to tell
    • Maybe there’s another point of view
    • Some smaller presses might consider it.
    • But you’ll never get a new york publisher to look at a 40k, 50k novel.
    • But you’ve got to be under 120,000 thousand, because they won’t look at a first novel.
    • 80,000 is the average for first novel.
  • Self-publishing…
    • No way, don’t do it.
    • It’s fine to do with your backlist once you have a name. but it’s very hard to rise above the noise.
    • But the royalties work out really well when you are already driving traffic.
  • Sometimes it is all timing…
    • Ken Scholes came in with a proposal for epic fantasy just as Robert Jordan died, and Tor had a hole in their publishing schedule. Ken Scholes is an excellent writer, and they had a strong need for epic fantasy, and it was a perfect match.
    • Don’t try to write to trends, because the trend now is not what will be trending in five years. Just write what you’re passionate about.

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But I Thought It Was Perfect!
The pain and pleasure of giving and receiving critique
John C. Bunnell
Dave Smeds
Diana Rodgers
  • the distinctions between critiquing, reviewing, and editing a manuscript
    • reviews are written for readers: saying what’s good or bad about a given work
    • critiquing is saying how a novel could be better
    • one is a practical concern for a reader vs one is for a writer
  • there’s a difference between an editor and a peer critiquing a novel
    • be clear about who you are asking for a critique from, and what you are expecting back
  • in some groups, the critiquer is considered in be on the outside, and their role is not to suggest improvements or fixes, but to merely observe what works and and doesn’t work.
  • At what point is a work ready to be critiqued?
    • The sooner the better. 
      • after a certain point, an author has an investment in what he’s written. 
      • as it nears the end, making substantial edits requires uprooting so much that you lose good and bad.
      • the later it happens, the less potential for effect it can have.
  • Critiquing a short story or even a novella is relatively easy. Critiquing a novel is more challenging. You might get a chapter at a time over a long period of time, or you might get a big chunk: a quarter or a third of the book. Neither method worked all the time for all works. 
    • group size can have an effect as well: with a bigger group, it’s harder to critique a bigger work. sometimes you want to pick out a few people that would serve you well.
    • short stories are kind of the ideal for writer’s workshop.
      • you can get global feedback and use it: “i think the theme should be this, or I think this story should be about…”
    • for longer works, it’s harder to get and use global feedback.
  • Sometimes you look for particular kinds of feedback:
    • does this character behave in accordance with their motivations?
    • do i need to know if this is good? or do i need to know what’s wrong?
    • do i need copyediting help, or plot help?
    • the better you can articulate what you need, the better feedback you will get.
  • On the one hand you want the most relevant feedback, e.g. the hard science fiction writer will have weight than the fantasy writer when you’re writing science fiction. On the other hand, you can get some very useful feedback from beginning writers, which you might try to discount their feedback because they aren’t published. but frequently they have really good feedback, and they are really invested in the process.
  • Oral vs written
    • You get different kinds of feedback for each. Oral works for some issues, and written works better for others.
    • Techniques for oral: 
      • have written manuscript, so people can write critiques as the author is reading. 
      • have others read the dialogue, so the author can write notes

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Although my day job is currently web strategy and analytics, I’ve recently finished my first science fiction novel. I’m at my first Orycon, a Portland, Oregon science fiction convention.
I just finished the Evolution of a Writing Career workshop led by authors Ken Scholes and J.A. Pitts.

Here are my notes:

  • J.A. Pitts:
    • started writing when he was 13
    • writing short stories forever
      • “wow, that’s a great first chapter of a novel”
      • “you can’t have 9 plot lines in a short story”
    • started writing seriously in college. studied english. had to spend 10 years unlearning everything he studied.
    • got discouraged frequently: had to learn to get touch skin. if you aren’t getting rejections, you aren’t working hard enough.
    • if you want to be a professional writer, you write. that’s it. it’s a job. it’s not a hobby.
      • most people don’t think of their writing that way, and that’s a mistake.
      • if you want to make a living at it, you’ve got to treat it like a real job.
  • Ken
    • started telling stories when he was really young. 
    • started submitting stories when he was 14 years old.
    • came back to it, dabbling a little in 1996.
    • didn’t know there was writers groups, conventions, etc.
    • decided he didn’t like writers groups. they don’t work for him.
    • if you are wanting major distribution, then you generally want a publisher. even the exceptions (like eragon, which was self published)…in fact have traditional publishing working for them: both of his parents were editors, and were best friends of professional editors and publishers.
  • Beginner friendly markets
    • Use duotrope.com and ralan.com.
      • have both short story and novel markets
      • use publishersweekly.com (cost $20/month): has an email that comes out each week, and publishers and agents usually post their sales there. so if you want to see who is publishing and buying what, you can see it.
    • Never undersell yourself. Always start at the top. Always go down the list. If you start at the bottom, you will get sales faster, but you won’t get the reach.
    • There’s no such thing, because no market is really friendly.
    • “the smaller the market, the more egotistical the editor is.” – they want more edits, for almost no money.
    • Don’t stop: keep going through all the markets. You can get 30 rejections, just keep going.
  • e-publishing markets are OK if they pay you. 
    • orson scott card has an electronic distribution.
    • tor.com pays 25 cents a word.
  • Self-publishing
    • Avoid self-publishing at all costs.
    • you’ll get negative rejection from a lot of people in the business if you’re self published, and you’ll have to overcome that.
    • on the other hand, for established writers… when their old books are not reprinted by the publisher, then the rights revert to the author. they can resell to another publishers, or they can self-publish, which some writers are now doing.
    • maybe only if you’d already tried every market and no one accepted it, or if its older stuff that no one wants.
    • The other thing that happens is that if you finally sell your 3rd or 4th novel, they might say “do you have anything else i can buy?” at which point, having a bunch of previous, unsold manuscripts is a great resource.
    • If you are putting out a novel a year, then you have a good pipeline, 
  • Rights:
    • science-fiction/fantasy writers of america: professional organization. will help you if you are concerned about contract violations. 
    • Read everything carefully – don’t sell all world rights for a fixed price. “first world english”, whether you can resell it, etc. you always want to have to right to resell if possible, in case you get picked up by something else, something new.
  • What to do when the offer happens
    • dance
    • ken: by the time you are getting an offer from a new york publisher, you probably have an agent, and they will help advise you.
    • john: didn’t have an agent, got a call from an editor, and when he did, the editor asked “do you have an agent?” the answer was: “i’m close, let me get back to you.”  then scrambled to get an agent.
    • you don’t have to start with an agent, but you have to get an agent or a literary lawyer. the contracts run from 16 to 30 pages. you want someone who can really interpret that for you.
    • the agent gets 15% of your book deal forever. so they have a vested interested in getting you a good deal.
  • Finishing vs starting something new vs. continually revising
    • Your old material will never be as good as your new material. You will keep getting better and better. You can’t just relayer new stuff on top of old. Write it and finish it. Get it as good as you can. Then go out and market it. Don’t touch it again until you get a request from an editor to make a change.
    • Submit everything. Don’t worry that it’s not publishable. The longer you practice submitting stories to markets, the better you will get at it.
    • Editors don’t remember the bad stories. They remember you, and they remember that you are a consistent writers. Editors talk to each other. They root for you as writers. The more you submit, the more consistently, to more markets, the better and better chance you get.
  • Resubmitting…
    • if the editor asks you to make changes or suggests changes, then do resubmit.
    • if the editor for a market changes, then do resubmit.
    • if you did some rewrites for another market, you could do a query first.
    • It’s all about relationships and etiquette: you want them to have a good vibe about you.
  • Rewriting on request:
    • If you want to sell, do it.
    • They would love for you to be a best-seller. They are trying to make it be a better book.
  • Identity and Branding
    • Go get your domain name for your name.
    • One for your book, one for yourself, have a blog, have a twitter. 
    • Publishers have a limited amount of capital. The bigger folks gets more marketing dollars.
    • So decide… how important is it?
    • The first thing a publisher is going to do is google you.
    • Don’t let it interfere with writing time, but do treat it like a business. Schedule time to do a blog post a week.
  • read christopher moore: extremely funny writer, writes about vampires and horror, but marketed as mainstream.
  • World building (in fantasy novels)
    • You want it to be as smooth as possible.
    • If it’s rice, call it rice. If it looks like a horse, call it a horse.
  • 55K novel length
    • That’s fine for YA, which comes in around 60K, but it’s not enough for big world thrillers. But, there are some markets that might take it. Submit it, get feedback from editors and agents.
  • favorite books on writing
    • natalie goldberg… writing by the bones
    • ben bova, orson scott card… both have books
    • but best thing you can do it just read, read, read.
    • any book that sings to you is a good book to learn from.
    • zen and the art of writing by ray bradbury.
  • cover letters… they don’t need a love letter. only what your story is, and what relevance you experience have.
    • use a personal touch, especially if you run into an editor at a conference.
    • nice people are remembered better than people who aren’t.

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Scoring a Tech Book Deal
#techbookdeal
Robert Hoekman Jr
  • Five things you need
    • A sellable idea
      • A sellable idea has to be a good idea, but it has to be more
      • it has to fill a need
      • it has to fill a gap that other books don’t fill
    • Evidence that you are the one to author this book
      • Sell yourself to the acquisition editor
      • You have to prove that not only you can write this book, but that you are THE one to write
      • It’s not just qualifications. “I never had the title Interaction Designer”, but it was a huge part of my work.
      • Q: What are qualifications?
        • Do you have a blog
        • Do you have 5,000 twitter followers
        • Other ways you can illustrate that you are listened to
        • Do you participate in forums where you are a recognized leader
        • Your proposal should include your explanation
        • “The first thing I do is Google you”
        • A writing sample. Could be a sample chapter, or something else in the style of the proposed book. Show that you can communicate and that you can educate people on the subject
    • A willingness to change your idea (#4)
      • Your original idea may not be as sellable as what you think
      • Your acquisitions editor will help you shape the idea to something you can use
    • Thick Skin (#5)
      • Your development editor will shred you during the writing. It’s their job. You don’t write as well as you think you do.
      • Your readers will shred you. It’s the internet.
    • A really good relationship (bonus)
      • If you are on the verge of divorce, it will be the end of your marriage.
      • You really need a supportive partner.
      • When you are working on the book, you don’t get your other jobs done… 
        • taking care of kids, taking out the garbage
  • Q: What about agents?
    • Entirely optional
    • Might help you get more money
  • Q: What goes in a proposal?
    • Publisher will document it. You’ll find it on their website.
  • Q: Rapor with development editor?
    • Needs to be good. If isn’t compatible, you could talk to the acquisitions editor, about another editor.
    • On the flip side, the editor is always right. If it’s not working, it’s possible the book will just get killed.
  • Q: What about sending a draft of an entire book?
    • Absolutely not. They will reject it outright. They want the development editor to shape the book. If you’ve written the whole book, they can’t shape it. It’s like writing an entire web application before getting any feedback/guidance.
    • Table of content plus sample chapter is the most you should send.
  • Q: What about title of the book and cover design?
    • Don’t send it. It marks you as someone who will be difficult to work with because you are coming in with hard and fast notions. The publisher might ask you later for ideas.
  • Q: What about things that are not strictly tech. Maybe partly tech.
    • The publisher will talk to sales rep, marketing department, book buyers to see what they would buy.
    • If the book you have wouldn’t get shelved with the tech books, then the book buyer wouldn’t buy it. That’s a different book buyer. They won’t do one-off books. 
      • A little less important on Amazon.com, and critically important in brick and mortar stores.
  • The best reason to go to a publisher is that they have a reach that you don’t have unless your 37 signals.
  • You shouldn’t be in this to make money. It’s just not going to happen. And the publishing business margins are so thin these days, there is no chance of negotiation.
  • Q: What about screenshots and images?
    • Your development editor will say “we need more images here and here”
    • The compositor will work to fit images and screenshots to the space available and made it look the best possible given space available and printing technology
  • Every publisher will have a proposal template for what they are looking for
  • You should be able to explain your book in one sentence, you’re in good shape.
  • Q: What should be the sample chapter?
    • I tell people I need a writing sample. I need to know what your voice is like, your tone. I want the writing sample to match the type of book you are proposing. But it is not essential to be an actual sample chapter.
    • Writing a sample chapter is helpful, we don’t want people to write it just to write it, but it can be helpful
  • “5,000 followers on twitter” — mentioned many times. A magic number for publishers to know you are compelling???
  • Don’t make sloppy mistakes: 
    • If you are writing a proposal to O’Reilly, don’t say “I really want to publish with New Line”
    • Don’t have spelling errors.
  • Agents:
    • Publisher will always low-ball the agent, because they know they are going to have to negotiate. If you are a first-time author, I’ll just offer what I think we would have ended up with.
    • If you come from an agent I trust, then yes, I will look at it more closely. But if it is an agent I don’t know, then it’s no different than coming yourself.
  • You get paid an advance, that’s an advance payment on royalties. 
    • Advance can be around $10K, is not trending any higher over time. 
    • Royalties can be 10% to 12%, for as long as book sells
  • We’re not looking for writers who want to write 20 books. We’re looking for (as an example) an interaction designer who is incredible passionate about interaction design and wants to share that.

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Tac Anderson recently wrote that one of the keys to increasing blog readership is to post 3 times a day or more. So how does one find the time for this level of participation? Tac has a few good tips on reducing the time involved. But thinking about it made me remember a a blog entry I wrote in 2007 in respond to the question of “How does a dad with three preschool age kids and a full-time job find the time to post?” I think these ideas apply not only to blogging, but also to any form of social media participation, whether it is Twitter, discussion forums, or anything else. The trick is is that social media shouldn’t be another extra hour or two on your day, but it should in some way replace or complement activities you are already doing.

After a friend recently posted about trying to find the time to blog, I got to thinking: How do I find the time to blog?

After some thinking, I came up with a few principles. In some ways, I’m the worst person to give advice, because my frequency of posting is terrible compared to any decent blogger. On the other hand, I’m the father of 3 children under the age of 4 (doing attachment parenting no less) and I work full time, so if I can find the time to post, then anyone can.

First, make sure that you know why you’re blogging. If you don’t know, the issue may not be a lack of time, but a lack of clarity or motivation. Rebecca Blood’s articles and references on blogging and book, The Weblog Handbook, are useful if you are just finding your voice. Once you know why you’re blogging, the following tips may help you find the time to actually get those blog posts going.

  1. Repurpose: If you are an information worker of any kind or a student, you’re probably already doing research, generating reports, analyzing information. If you can find a way to take your initial work and repurpose it for use in two places, then you can generate content for your blog with only a little additional work. Be aware that depending on your employment contract, work policy, and employment laws, there could be all sorts of issues about who owns your work, the confidentiality of your work, and a slew of other issues. On the other hand, judging from recent Wired magazine articles, many companies are now opening up and encouraging transparency in all its forms, including blogging. Research this ahead of time so that you’re doing the correct legal and ethical thing.
  2. Substitute: You probably already bookmark websites, send emails about interesting articles or thoughts to friends and you may even write the occasional letter or holiday newsletter to family and friends. All of these are material that could be published on your blog. When you publish your bookmarks on your blog, not only do you benefit, but so do your readers. Blog instead of bookmarking, blog instead of emailing, blog instead of writing a letter, blog instead of publishing.
  3. Get creative: Take the creativity advice of Gifford Pinchot III, and always keep index cards or a quarto on you. The time when you have a creative idea to post is most likely not when you are in front of a computer. So grab that handy pen and paper, outline your post, and it’ll be quick and easy to post when you next sit in front of a computer.
  4. Scratch an itch: My own blog originated from my desire to keep track of books that I had read. As I borrowed more books to read (instead of buying), I found it difficult to keep track of books and authors I liked. That make it difficult to decide what books to read next. I could have simply kept a lot on my computer, but how much more fun to share it with everyone. Now using my blog helps me do something I already wanted to do, and that’s true even if no one ever reads it. The epilogue to MIT’s open source book has an interesting discussion of the open source principle applied to writing:
    “While every writer will tell you they write for themselves, this is more a statement of principle than an actual description of process—a piece of writing, whether a textbook or a novel, needs an audience to succeed. A programmer who claims to writes code for him or herself, on the other hand, is often telling the literal truth: “This tool is for me to use. Additional users are nice, but not necessary.”

    If you can manage to write and simultaneously create value for yourself through your writing, then you have a double motivation to write.

  5. Eliminate barriers: If posting on your blog requires you to jump over a dozen hurdles, you won’t do it. Eliminate barriers, and you’ll find that even five minutes can be enough to start an interesting post. Use simple blog software with a WYSIWYG editor so you aren’t spending time messing with HTML. Keep a browser window open to your blog editor at all times, so it is always easy to get to. Start a post, even if you won’t have time to finish it now, and keep the edit window open. You’ll come back to it later when you do have time.
  6. Have modest expectations: I’m sure I could have made this a “top ten” list, but seven items came easily, and still fulfilled the purpose of the post.
  7. Set a goal: E set the goal of posting at least once a week, and while she may have missed one week somewhere in there, for the last two months, her blog has had plenty of fresh, interesting articles. Way to go!

Update (4/12/2007): Here are several other resources about finding or making the time to blog: