The Write Way.

Google the phrase “more unique” and you will likely encounter some 74,000,000 incorrect, from my point-of-view, uses of the word unique. Unique is an absolute term. It describes something that has no equal, no peer. Like, “The Earth is unique among the planets we know.”

I always felt completely secure in that point of view. I knew, absolutely, that a description of being unique can’t be compared among nouns. Sort of like pregnant can’t be relative. You are or you ain’t.

Oh yes, I stood my ground, until I checked an online dictionary and found this!

1. existing as the only one or as the sole example; single; solitary in type or characteristics: a unique copy of an ancient manuscript. (Ok, works for me.)
2. having no like or equal; unparalleled; incomparable: Bach was unique in his handling of counterpoint. (Yep. Good.)
3. limited to a single outcome or result; without alternative possibilities: Certain types of problems have unique solutions. (I’m nodding righteously. Damned straight.)
4. not typical; unusual: She has a very unique smile. (Say whuuuut?!?!?!)

Even J.D. Salinger and Merriam Webster stand against me – “We were fairly unique, the sixty of us, in that there wasn’t one good mixer in the bunch “— J. D. Salinger.

I concede, though I will forever maintain one can’t be slightly pregnant. Never again will I whine about those dolts who don’t realize you can’t be a little unique. You can. And I am.

Read more: Grammar police: Comparative adjectives Grammar Day from grammar police Grammar police – future conditional

Is it better for a writer to shop her book around to traditional publishing houses or to dive in and self-publish or use a publish on demand or POD company? Should a writer create a book proposal or hire someone to create that proposal and then find a publishing agent and trust the agent o shop the book successfully? Will a traditional house publish you?

the answers aren’t simple and money changes hands, lots of money no matter which way a writer or author decides to go. One set of constant rules has to do with making your book the best it can be. Write your book. Read your book. Have your book professionally edited. Proof your book. Read it again. when it’s professional and perfect consider the following:

Agents are expensive. Is it worth giving them a cut of my book?

If you pay an agent, it means you made money. You pay an agent a percentage of your earnings on the book. The chances of you selling a book to a major house on your own are slim, but if you have a well-developed platform, it can be done. I’d advise looking at smaller houses who specialize in your topic if you can’t bring yourself to share revenues with an agent.

Non-fiction is easier to sell than fiction, by far. You will average royalties of $1-$2 per copy sold through a traditional publisher. You will do a lot of marketing yourself, with help and mentoring from the publisher. You will learn a lot for dealing with your next book.

Should I self publish? Isn’t is cheaper?

Self publishing has come a long way. But be sure you will want to drive around to speaking gigs, signings, appearances and so forth on your dime, with a trunk full of books to sell at the back of the room. There is no getting away from marketing. Self-pub books DO get reviews these days, if they are outstanding, professionally crafted books.

There are 190 million books published in the U.S. each year. Books that sell are often professionally edited, well-written, and marketed effectively. Do a market study to determine what books are out there LIKE yours. Decide how they are like yours and why yours fills a gap. If there are none like yours, it maybe because there is no market for them or maybe no one has put the idea together the way you have. You must know the market place.

Self publishing will cost you money. Publishing a book costs. No way around it, anyone tells you different, they’re math is wrong. Before you sign anything or spend anything, do your homework and be sure you know exactly what the contract requires of you. Consider ebook publishing as well, but again, know what you are getting into.

How do I know what’s the right thing to do?

Trust experts. Don’t throw yourself to the wolves and go running off in unexplored directions unless you have unlimited funds and more time than I do. Talk to other authors and writers about what experts they trust. Read social media sites and see what the experts are saying. Find out who edited, agented, or published a book similar to yours and research that person or entity.

If you need an expert, I’m an experienced editor, author manager, author consultant, and ghost. I work on a flat fee. My name never appears on your work. When I do an evaluation and recommendation, I evaluate for the strength of your project – for the gold in it. I don’t grind it to shreds and tell you what’s wrong with it. We will look at what’s right with it, together. Then we’ll explore the options open to you and how to make the most success of your book project.

More:

Best writing coach and author manager I know

What is an author platform anyway?

If you want to cut some leg work off your writing research, convert as many interviews as you can to telephone interviews. Beginning writers try to hoof it all over their city to hook up with experts, but that isn’t necessary. You can learn to be effective by phone and get all the skinny you need for your articles. Eight surprisingly simple tools will get you on your way.

1. A portable (read: small ) tape recorder if your budget is stressed. These cost less than $25 and can be bought with a telephone connector. Tell your subject you’re taping the conversation so that you’re sure to report their points accurately.
2. Digital recorder if you want to spend the money. It never runs out of tape – most record for a couple of hours, anyway. No hissing.
3. Headphones – invest in a quality pair of telephone compatible headphones. You’ll save all kinds of body aches that come from leaning your head over to pin the phone onto your shoulder. Try several brands – I like Plantronics - until you find one that sounds good on both ends of the conversation. Call your friends to test it out. Return it to the store if you have any sound-quality issues and try another. You don’t have to spend hundreds here – about $20 to $25 bucks gets pretty good quality.
4. Computer or netbook. This is what I work with. I use my laptop and have taught myself to type very quickly, almost as fast as normal people speak. I seldom miss anything – typing while listening to my sources. If I do miss, I just ask them to go back and repeat what they were saying.
5. Pencil and paper – some writers swear by this ageless method. Use a hands free or headset and just take notes.
6. Hands free phone, otherwise known as speaker phone (most people don’t like to have a conversation with one of these, they echo like the Grand Canyon) but there are writers who pull it off.
7. Call Corder software with a free trial version. Very robust and full featured. One button recording right to your hard drive. Worth a try.
8. A phone service that doesn’t charge you for long distance calls. Lots of busy experts will “forget” to return phone calls. If you phone them, you have a better chance of success. Choices include Skype or all inclusive long distance like an AT&T land line for about $40 a month or cellular service with free long distance, from about $29.

Learn to type while people speak – you can create shorthand of your own to reduce the number of characters you have to type. Some established writers hire a transcriptionist, but for me, going over a long transcript that I didn’t set up would be difficult, since I wouldn’t remember where in the conversation key facts came out.

(this is part three of a three part series on freelance copyrights)

An email I received offering to save the soul of my work for cold cash was from one of hundreds of slightly off-center entrepreneurs trying to make a bunch of bucks from anything they can put into html code. Copyrighting your work is not hard to do.

Those nice guys on the ‘Net just wanted to help by filling out some copyright forms for me at a pretty high cost. If it’s worth it to you to save the few minutes it takes to register your copyrights, by all means, hire someone – in fact, I’d be pleased to take your cash.

Otherwise, read on to find out how easy it is to routinely register your writing.

Copyright tips

You might want to register your copyright on certain work:

• Registration establishes a public record of your authorship and the copyright claim.
• In the U.S. you can’t file an infringement suit until your copyright is registered.
• Register within five years of publication and that registration is acceptable in court as proof of your claim and of the facts stated in your certificate.
• You can register even after someone has stolen your work. Do it within three months after publication of the work or before an infringement and you may be able to collect additional damages and attorney fees in court.
• Registration allows the owner of the copyright to record the registration with the U. S. Customs Service for protection against the importation of infringing copies. For additional information, request Publication No. 563 “How to Protect Your Intellectual Property Right,” from: U.S. Customs Service, P.O. Box 7404, Washington, D.C. 20044. This information is from the U.S. Customs Service Website at and the Copyright Office.

Final copyrighting tips

This basic information was borrowed from the Copyright Office. Because it is the creation of a U.S. Government entity, it cannot be protected by copyright and I am free to use it in part or in whole.

Register Your Copyright on Tangible Works

To register a work by U.S. Mail, send the following three elements in the same envelope or package to:

Library of Congress

Copyright Office

101 Independence Avenue, S.E.

Washington, D.C. 20559-6000

1. A properly completed application form.
2. A nonrefundable filing fee of $30 for each application.
3. A nonreturnable deposit (copy) of the work being registered.

The deposit requirements vary in particular situations:

• If the work was first published in the United States on or after January 1, 1978, two complete copies or phonorecords of the best edition.
• If the work was first published in the United States before January 1, 1978, two complete copies or phonorecords of the work as first published.
• If the work was first published outside the United States, one complete copy or phonorecord of the work as first published.

If sending multiple works, all applications, deposits, and fees should be sent in the same package. If possible, applications should be attached to the appropriate deposit. Whenever possible, number each package (e. g., 1 of 3, 2 of 4) to facilitate processing.

What happens if the three elements are not received together?

Applications and fees received without appropriate copies, phonorecords, or identifying material will not be processed and ordinarily will be returned. Unpublished deposits without applications or fees ordinarily will be returned. In most cases, published deposits received without applications and fees can be immediately transferred to the collections of the Library of Congress. This practice is in accordance with section 408 of the law, which provides that the published deposit required for the collections of the Library of Congress may be used for registration only if the deposit is “accompanied by the prescribed application and fee….”

After the deposit is received and transferred to another service unit of the Library for its collections or other disposition, it is no longer available to the Copyright Office. If you wish to register the work, you must deposit additional copies or phonorecords with your application and fee.

eCO online system – electronic copyright registration

File a copyright registration for your work through the Copyright Office online system. Advantages include:

• Lower filing fee of $35 for a basic claim (for online filings only)
• Fastest processing time
• Online status tracking
• Secure payment by credit or debit card, electronic check, or Copyright Office deposit account
• The ability to upload certain categories of deposits directly into eCO as electronic files

Registration with downloaded fill-In form CO

The next best option for registering basic claims is the new fill-in Form CO. Using 2-D barcode scanning technology, the Office can process these forms much faster and more efficiently than paper forms completed manually. Simply complete Form CO on your personal computer, print it out, and mail it along with a check or money order and your deposit. The fee for a basic registration on Form CO is $45.

Read Copyrights, part one

Read about copyrights, part 2

Writer, Linda Formichelli

Want to sell your writing to high-profile magazines? It isn’t a walk in the press room to break in to magazines, but you can do it if you put your back into it. You need a successful mentor and you can buy one online. Linda Formichelli morphed herself into a high-demand freelance content provider and she shares her secrets for a price. Is she worth it?

Formichelli markets an e-course, Getting Published in Magazines. The price tag for the eight-week course, one lesson per week, depends on how much support you want. Interestingly, she combines coaching with the classes. Prefer to wing it? Say you’re a pro, with a clip file and an idea of how the magazine business works. You’re established in another market segment and want to test the magazine scene — choose the basic course at $120.

What’s in the “box”

Week 1. Generating Ideas (assignment: come up with three salable ideas) Week 2. Finding Markets (assignment: choose one of your three ideas to run with for the rest of the course, and find five magazines to send your idea to) Week 3. Finding Editors (assignment: find out which editor to pitch at each magazine, plus their contact info) Week 4. Doing Interviews Part I (assignment: set up as many expert interviews as you need – generally 1 to 3) Week 5. Doing Interviews Part II (assignment: do the interviews) Week 6. Writing the Title and Lede (assignment: guess what? ;-> Write the title and lede of your query letter) Week 7. Writing the Body and Closing (assignment: write the body and “why I am so great” paragraph of your query) Week 8. Sending Your Query (assignment: get that thing out the door!)

How it works

The Getting Published in Magazines course is well organized and progressive. Follow the steps, build one assignment upon another. You should end up with a polished query letter, a good sampling of marketable ideas, at least the bones of an article and a list of markets to pitch. Not bad, especially when the experience can be replicated, part of the definition of success.

What’s good about Getting Published in Magazines

• You can’t just read chapter headings, steal the exercises and get the meat of this course. Formichelli imparts insider knowledge, spilling secrets, bit by bit.
• Solid ideas for finding markets. Unlike other providers, Formacelli names names, telling the who and where.
• I learned things I didn’t know. Do you know what a TK Ways piece is? Sorry, I can’t leak course secrets.
• Worth its weight in gold – a set of query letters that she, her husband and her writing partner used to make hefty sales. She’ll give it to you somewhere around lesson three.
• Tips on how to present yourself as a pro, when and how to ignore haggard submission advice. As co-author of The Renegade Writer, a book based on breaking rules, she gives authentic advice.
• Two week, money back guarantee.

Getting Published in Magazines – what isn’t the greatest

• You’d have to stretch to make the course take eight weeks, but the lessons are sent once a week, thereby, slowing up more precocious students.
• No interaction with other students, though that can be helpful. I’ve taken courses both ways and prefer the interactive.
• Picky points, but the site needs a bit of an update – page headers don’t always match the page topic and some of the content still refers to typed and mailed pitches or submissions, which almost never happen anymore. I told you they were picky points.

Premium course

Beginners or those looking for immerse in the class can do the premium version at double the price. That buys you direct email mentoring or coaching from Formichelli. From casual knowledge of her style, I’d bet she provides abundant mentoring  – she’s generous with her time and eager to help writers find their profitable niche.

Will you learn to sell your writing?

I first met Linda Formichelli as a member of the online community, The Well. She was just breaking into freelancing. Unlike many forum frequenters, she didn’t spend time yacking or whining about writers’ block. She sought people to interview or she drummed up story ideas. She’s as qualified as anyone to teach this type of course and it’s likely that following her advice will lead to magazine work.

Formichelli says her students have landed assignments in pubs like Writer’s Digest, Woman’s Day, Pizza Today, Michigan Out-Of-Doors, and Graduating Engineer. Taking her course made me get out of my safe rut and submit to a couple of new markets. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and confirmed that I don’t know it all.

Read more about selling your writing

Review, Staff Blogging course

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