Author Eric Trant - After Your Manuscript is Accepted

Today I’m welcoming friend and fellow author, Eric Trant.

His latest book, Wink, is a powerful and moving tale. Eric sent me a copy to read, and while it’s not my usual genre, the story has been riveting and my heart goes out to the main character, a boy named Marty.

Take it away, Eric!

So your book, or your short story, or your poem was accepted. Now what?

First off, I will assume you read L. Diane's Book How to Publish and Promote Your Book NOW! She tells you everything you need to know about promotion, and spends a great deal of time discussing self-publishing.

I also will assume you know how to query. If not, check out The QQQE by Matthew MacNish. I bet you already have that link, because you are a smart and astute writer, aren't you.

I will further assume you know how to seek out agents and publishers. If not, try Agent Query, and don't forget to research the publishers of your favorite authors. For instance, I found WiDo Publishing through my friend Summer Ross. So don't forget to network, and be nice to your fellow bloggers and writers.

What I want to discuss is that gray area between acceptance and publication. We skip that process in most of our writerly discussions, and yet this is the birth of your story! Your first draft is foreplay before you reach the real action. Revisions are the act of creation, those months of pounding away at your computer, sweating, grunting, suffering through fits of agony and ecstasy, those months of saying to people, "I'm trying to write a story." When that part's over, when the seed is planted -- and that's the fun part, isn't it, all those months of trying -- now comes the gestation period where you query and wait, query and wait.

Then that letter comes and your water breaks and in walks your editor to help you bring your baby into this world! But these labor pains don't last a few hours. Nope, Dear Writer, these pains last weeks and months.

Dear Editor will first say to you: "Give me a few days to read your story."

She will read it and send back her suggestions. These will consist of modifying chapter lengths, enhancing scenes, adding snappier segues, cutting or adding the book to a specified length, along with making some high-level formatting changes. No big deal.

"That was easy!" Those are your first thoughts, but this is only the initial contraction, my friend. You modify as requested, slap your hands together and do that same thing you did after the first draft, after the first and second and fifteenth revisions, after that acceptance letter and now after your editor is finished with your book. You lean back in your writer's chair, drink a beer or a glass of wine or a shot of Jack, and you tell your friends and family you're finished with your book.

Then comes the second wave of contractions. These arrive in the form of an email from Dear Editor. You open the draft to see a bloody mess of red-lettered edits, comments, and on every page and every paragraph there is something to be edited! These hurt, but you suffer through them, and at the end you do that thing again, have your drink, and you tell your friends and family that you're finished with your book.

Then comes the third wave of contractions. You suffer. You edit. After two more rounds of this Dear Editor finally says to you, "Okay, that looks good!"

You have your drink, and you tell your friends and family you're finished with your book, finally, that it is ready to be published! You cut the cord and prepare to reap the benefits of being a published author.

Then you get a note from someone claiming to be in layout. A Layout Editor? Surely they don't require edits. Do they?

Yes, they do. Amid the afterbirth of your novel with the book wailing in the background your Layout Editor asks you to modify your chapter headings. She asks that you refrain from using so much profanity. She requests that you rename a couple of characters, tone down a scene so it can be marketed as Young Adult, please rewrite your forward and afterward, and by the way, can you write the cover description? And we need a few more titles to choose from, because A Day in the Life of Someone More Interesting is too long. Can you send me an author picture? I need two, actually, and how does this cover art look?

You thought you were finished, and you're still sore and throbbing from the pain inflicted by Dear Editor, but you soldier through it, and when you receive those author copies in the mail, ten of them tightly bound and God Almighty are they beautiful! When you receive them you say to your friends and family, "There! I'm finished!"

You say that because, apparently, you did not read L. Diane Wolfe's book on promotion.

- Eric

Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels Out of the Great Black Nothing and Wink from WiDo Publishing, out now! Check Wink out on Amazon.

See more of Eric's work at his site, or order directly from Amazon or wherever books are sold.

Best/Worst Movie Remake Blogfest

Hosted by Ninja Captain, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Stephen Tremp, Father Dragon, and Livia.

Best Remake - The Ring

I remember seeing The Ring in theaters. Not only was it scary, it was unnerving. The imagery set a creepy tone and the music got under your skin. I love a good horror film, but that one really shook me. In fact, I was shaking so much when I went into the bathroom afterwards that I dropped by cell phone in the toilet. (Yes, I saved it. The cheap thing still worked!)

Two years later we watched the original Japanese film, Ringu. Not only did it have this other weird mumbo-jumbo going on, but the woman wasn’t half as strong as Naomi Watts’ character in The Ring. For once, Hollywood did a much better job.

Worst Remake - Red Dragon

This isn’t an awful movie - it just didn’t need to be made. I’ve read the book and Manhunter did a far better job capturing the essence. It was so stylish and creepy - and it featured William Petersen. After seeing Manhunter, Red Dragon fell so short. Plus it was only made to capitalize on the success of Silence of the Lambs.

Best Song Remake - Cars, originally by Gary Numan, remade by Fear Factory. The remake and video even feature Gary Numan:

Promotion & the Awkward Girl by Hart Johnson

I'm delighted to present to you fellow born Oregonian and friend, Hart Johnson!

Promotion and the Awkward Girl

First, I want to shout out a HUGE Thank You to Diane for having me today as part of my Begonia Bribe Book Tour!

All of you who are regulars around here know Diane is FULL of fabulous promotion advice. And I ALWAYS know it is smart advice. But see... I'm awkward... and a lot of it sounds... you know... like I'd have to GET OUT THERE... TALK to people... TERRIFYING STUFF!

And I'm not at ALL going to suggest we don't push ourselves out of our comfort zones. Introverts just don't have as much of a chance of getting read unless you do something to balance those quiet tendencies.

So what's a girl to do?

FIRST: Persistence is your friend. I am a cancer (astrologically speaking) and heard the analogy that we are the sea—we reshape continents once wave at a time. So if the HUGE PUBLIC SPLASH is too much to think about, PLAN FOR a long slow burn... build your network over time with baby steps... make your relationships one on one and build them, just being your own quiet self.

I know... those of you who know me are thinking sarcastically... yeah... some shrinking violet, that one... but that leads to my SECOND POINT: Pretend you're a wild naked chick! Okay, maybe not literally. That one might be taken. But online we can try on personalities that we aren't brave enough to wear in real life.

Though I confess you might be in for some blushing when a reader says 'You're the Watery Tart!' at a book event.

Seriously though—we are writers, and if we can write the characters, we can be the characters—who do YOU want to be. Just do it!

THIRD: and this is where I contradict myself... Just a minute ago I said be who you want, and HERE, I am saying BE YOURSELF. But what I mean is let your personality shine through, your humor or your joy or your snark—whatever it is that gives you your voice and your passion. Like what you like with a vengeance.

Me and some peeps

Now is the HOW TO MIX IT UP thing: Be a GOOD friend and follower. Share a lot of what your buddies are doing. For we wilting wallflowers it is easier to share about our friends' successes than our own. Use your media: Facebook, Blog, Twitter—wherever you go, shout about your buddies.

See, THEN, when it's YOUR TURN your buddies shout about YOU and you don't HAVE TO!!!

I know there's no real substitute for really getting out there, but this feels, to me, like a manageable compromise as I learn the other stuff in baby steps.

The Begonia Bribe Blurb: Roanoke, Virginia, is home to some of the country’s most exquisite gardens, and it’s Camellia Harris’s job to promote them. But when a pint-sized beauty contest comes to town, someone decides to deliver a final judgment …

A beauty pageant for little girls—the Little Miss Begonia Pageant—has decided to hold their event in a Roanoke park. Camellia is called in to help deal with the botanical details, the cute contestants, and their catty mothers. She soon realizes that the drama onstage is nothing compared to the judges row. There’s jealousy, betrayal, and a love triangle involving local newsman—and known lothario—Telly Stevens. And a mysterious saboteur is trying to stop the pageant from happening at all.

But the drama turns deadly when Stevens is found dead, poisoned by some sort of plant. With a full flowerbed of potential suspects, Cam needs to dig through the evidence to uproot a killer with a deadly green thumb.

Hart (aka, Alyse Carlson) writes books from her bathtub and can be found at Confessions of a Watery Tart, on Facebook (author page, profile), Twitter, or Goodreads.
Book links: Amazon, Barnes and Noble
 

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Available Now!

Jewel of Shaylar
By Laura Eno

Archaeologist David Alexander investigates the cave where his father disappeared and hurtles into another world, one filled with magic and bizarre creatures. The mad ravings in his father's journals of icemen and dragons may not be fantasies after all.
Convinced his father may still be alive, David begins a treacherous journey to find him and discover a way home. Along the way, he encounters a few unlikely friends. A Dreean warrior, a beautiful thief and a satyr join him as he searches.
David's arrival into this new world sets off an explosive chain reaction of events. Faced with powerful adversaries and few clues, he may not get the chance to rescue his father before disaster strikes, condemning both of them to death. Or worse.

Purchase Jewel of Shaylar at Kindle US, Kindle UK, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, and in paperback on Amazon US.

Find Laura here - Blog, Facebook, and Twitter

E-Book Formatting Tips

I format E-books for authors - my services are listed HERE.

Today I want to give you some tips on formatting that will not only help you do it yourself but help the person who is formatting your E-book.

When writing your manuscript, never use the TAB key to set indents. These all have to be removed during formatting, and the only way to do it is one by one. Always use the Paragraph feature to set your indents.

The Paragraph feature is your friend! You can set alignment, indents, and line spacing all in one place.

Smashwords is the pickiest of the formats. They require left justification, Times New Roman (preferably size 12 font), and no more than three spaces between lines. (Which means that is your best hope of signifying a page break.) So removing all of the tabs, uneven line spaces, and wonky formatting is a must. This includes extra spaces, both before a new paragraph and after.

And don’t panic. EVERY author has a extra space or two at the end of paragraphs. It’s just a habit to hit the space bar. (When formatting, I can tell when the author is on a roll, because those tend to vanish.)

Finally, when formatting for Amazon or Barnes and Noble, use the Section Breaks - Next Page to signify a page break. Other breaks are often not recognized. You also want to save the manuscript as a Web Page, Filtered htm or html file if you want those page breaks to appear clean.

Hope that helps! If you are still overwhelmed with formatting, drop me line. I love to format books!