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We here at PubCrawl try our best to elucidate different aspects of the industry for you via our posts and podcast, but we are also available to answer questions (as best we can) if you email us or send us an ask through Tumblr. PubCrawl alumna Alex Bracken used to do a feature for us called Ask Alex where she would answer more industry-focused questions, and we’ve gotten a few about publishing programs.

From Bev:

Hi, I hope I’m directing this question to the right place—I’m a graduating senior English major and I’m potentially looking at two options in Professional Publishing programs for the summer, NYU SPI and the Columbia Publishing Course. Does anyone have any insight into what the differences are between the two? From what I can tell, Columbia seems more focused on book publishing: is this true, and can anyone testify to whether this helped you more as a writer? I know that Columbia doesn’t provide a professional certificate and that NYU does, but I’m not really sure what a professional certificate merits. Overall, I’d be extremely grateful for insight from anyone who employs students from these programs (or doesn’t) or anyone who’s attended or had experience with either. Thank you!

Hi Bev, I have not attended a professional publishing course, but I have known several people who have, including our very own Alex, who wrote about summer publishing programs here. In her post, she says that it appears that Columbia focuses more on book publishing while NYU focuses more on digital/magazine publishing.

As for whether or not this has helped anyone as a writer, I can confidently say probably not. Both of these professional programs are focused on the business of publishing, not the craft of writing. However, if you are looking for insight into how the industry works, they ‘re incredibly useful and enlightening. A few of my editor colleagues attended these programs before and after they began working in publishing, for various reasons, and they say the mileage they’ve gotten from them depends on the work they’ve put into it. Another one of my editor colleagues used to teach a seminar about editing at NYU.

As for who employs students from these programs, I do know that the Big 5 routinely recruits from these programs; one of my good friends went to CPC and she was hired based on her interview from their job fair. I would say both publishing programs are about equal in terms of post-course hiring; like any industry, the connections you make are just as important as what you learn about it. In addition to publishing courses, I would highly recommend internships. Each of the Big 5 and other midsize and small presses offer them, as well as literary agencies. I got my start in publishing via an internship at a literary agency; I did not attend a publishing course.

From Liv:

Hi Pub Crawl! I was recently accepted to Columbia’s Publishing Program at Exeter College and can’t wait to get started! It’s might hope to find a career in book marketing or publicity. However, I’m a little concerned and have a couple of questions I hope you’ll be able to answer… 1) I just graduated with a Bachelor’s of Business Administration, so I don’t exactly have an extensive education in literature studies. How essential is it to be familiar with the classics and/or things like common literary themes, narrative structures, critical theories, etc. when you work in publishing? 2) For the past couple of months, I’ve been trying to learn as much as I can about the industry (that’s how I found your amazing blog!), but I was wondering if you might have any recommendations for other sources? Thank you so much! Sorry that this is such a long message. Love you guys and your posts! Best, Liv

Hi Liv, many people who work in publishing did not major in literature in college. Some majored in communications, and others majored in the sciences. It is not essential to be familiar with the “canon” of literature to work in publishing; all you need is a genuine love and enthusiasm for books. I was an English major in undergrad and I can tell you that as an editor, I employed exactly zero percent of the knowledge I gained in class. Academic criticism has no place in publishing. And even some of literary terms you might have learned in school mean something different in the business, like genre. I would also argue that studying writing and not literature is far more useful in the industry, in terms of narrative structure and tropes. As an editor, some of this would be important, but to be honest, as an editor, I was more concerned with whether or not the book I was editing was a good story (if fiction) and/or written in a clear, engaging, and readable way (if nonfiction).

As for other sources on the industry, I would recommend you check out the archives of Kristin Nelson’s blog Pub Rants. She is a literary agent, so much of her advice is author-focused, but she also has incredibly useful information about contracts, royalties, and money. If you’re interested in an editorial perspective, I would recommend you check out Cheryl Klein‘s website, where she’s posted some of her speeches and talks, and will be coming out with a nonfiction book about editing and writing.

Hope this helps, y’all! If you have any more questions, let us know in the comments or via email and Tumblr!

1) Read the panelists’ books. The best panels in my opinion are the ones in which the moderator asks questions tailored to the author’s works. Obviously, this isn’t always possible, but at least be familiar with the book’s main ideas and stand out points. Don’t be afraid to ask your panelists’ publicists for books. It’s in the publishers’ interests for you to be informed about their author’s works. My secret weapon is to listen to the panelists’ audiobooks, when available. You can make your commute go by faster, and you can listen to them at 3x speed.

2) Send questions ahead of time. Some panelists can answer questions easily on the fly; others would rather visit the dentist than be unprepared. The more you can make your panelists comfortable, the easier time you will have facilitating a conversation.

3) Introduce your authors using the same tone and length. Often moderators will simply read an author’s bio for the introduction, but this invites problems. I recently participated in a panel where the moderator relied on our bios. My own is short and humorous, and doesn’t mention awards or distinctions, whereas the bio of the woman next to me mentioned every degree and award she had received. By contrast, I couldn’t help feeling like the village idiot. This might take a little work on your part to make your intros ‘match,’ but you’ll come across as more polished, and your authors will thank you.

(Note: I have encountered diva/divo panelists who want to be introduced a certain way. I tell them I will do my best, but make no promises. I firmly believe in treating every panelist with dignity and respect, and that means not putting one above the other).

I have spoken on panels where the moderator asks each author to introduce herself, which I find awkward and painful. Not everyone is comfortable talking about herself, and on the flip side, some authors can run at the mouth, viewing the intro as a way to self promote. You can avoid potential awkwardness by doing the honors.

4) Help your audience distinguish between panelists by presenting them as individuals. I have used labels such as, “a rising star,” “a thrilling new voice in contemporary fiction,” “a living legend,” “a NYT bestselling author.” Obviously, make sure your descriptions are complimentary.

5) Go with the flow. A recent panel I moderated featured two authors who were good friends and pros at public speaking. They had great chemistry, and meandered from topic to topic without much prompting from me. I had prepared questions in advance, but found myself needing to replace them with ones that were more natural to the conversation at hand. An additional challenge was to include the third panelist in the discussion as much as possible. This is where a good working knowledge of the authors and their books is essential, because sometimes you have to improvise, and the best way to improvise is to come prepared.

6) Resist letting authors read from their books. I personally find this a waste of time. The audience is there to learn something they can’t learn by merely picking up the book. Plus, not every author is good at, or comfortable with, reading out loud.

7) Remember, it’s not about you. As the moderator, your job is to guide conversations so that the panelists shine. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t bring yourself into the discussion by using examples from your own life to illustrate a particular question. And if you’re asking panelists individual questions, they love it when you’re able to sincerely mention how much something in their writing resonated with you.

8) The moderator sets the tone for the panel, so be personable and engaging. Think of yourself as the first sentence of a novel, the thing that pulls readers into the story. It’s the job of the moderator to engage the attention of every guest in the room.

9) Repeat questions asked by the audience. Just because you can hear a question doesn’t mean the entire room can hear it. Repeating the question also gives your panelists a little more time to think about their answers.

10) Try to have a little fun! Everyone appreciates humor, so if at all possible, weave some into your questions and your introductions—as long as your humor is respectful to the panelists.

Swati Avasthi does a brilliant job moderating a panel at the Multnomah Library that includes myself, Tess Sharpe and Isabel Quintero.

In the comments, let us know if you’ve seen a good moderator recently. Why was s/he good? What things could the moderator have improved upon?

This week JJ and Kelly conclude their series on genres in publishing with ROMANCES. Also, we reveal the depth of our Harry Potter nerdery and our deep fandom past. TRIGGER WARNING: We discuss rape and consent in Old School romances.

Show Notes

• Smart Bitches, Trashy Books (and their podcast!)
• Romance is the largest market of publishing in terms of sheer number of books being published, units being sold, as well as cash flow.
• We discussed the hallmarks of other genres, but romance really only has the one: your main couple must end up in a relationship by the end of the book (the so-called HEA, or Happily Ever After, or the HFN, or Happily For Now).
• Romance is a staple of publishing, and is a large part of what we now consider the literary “canon” but the modern romance novel as we knew it first came into existence in the 1970s. According to the Smart Bitches, the “first” modern romance novel is The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss.
• Romance novels are divided into Old School and New School romance: Old School are the books published pre-1990s.
• Old School romances may be partially responsible for the “trashy” reputation around romance novels because there were forceful, rapist male romantic leads, but for other reasons, not the least because the stories were centered around female leads and female pleasure.
• Old School romances were also about awakening the female lead, sexually, emotionally, etc. so some hangups about “virginity” (actual or metaphorical) linger.
• Romance publishing is divided into two segments: category and single-title.
• Category romances are specific lines from a publisher focusing on specific tropes and storylines. As a romance writer, it may be easier to break into publishing by starting to write for categories.
• Single-title romances are focused more on the author’s name than the tropes, e.g. Nora Roberts. The stories and tropes are created wholesale by the author and is more similar to other trade publishing genres.
• In terms of content, romances can literally contain anything. Anything! That’s the greatest thing about romance; it’s like Mad Libs: put in what you want and you’ll pretty much guaranteed to find a romance novel that fits that criteria. Romances span every genre: mystery, thriller, science-fiction, fantasy, contemporary, et al. What constitutes a ROMANCE as opposed to another genre is the centrality of the love story.
• Romances can have series, either where friends or different family members get their own romances in separate books, or else it’s one central couple throughout multiple books.

Books Discussed/What We’re Reading

• Beyond Heaving Bosoms by Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan (AKA The Smart Bitches)
• The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
• The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
• Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover by Sarah MacLean (The Rules of Scoundrels, not Fallen Angel series)
• The Bridgertons series by Julia Quinn
• The In Death series by J. D. Robb (AKA Nora Roberts)
• Cotillion and A Lady of Quality by Georgette Heyer
• The works of Courtney Milan
• The works of Sherry Thomas
• Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
• The works of Laura Kinsale (For My Lady’s Heart, Shadowheart, The Shadow and the Star)
• Pregnesia by Carla Cassidy
• The Raider by Jude Deveraux
• Get in Trouble by Kelly Link
• The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
• Save the Cat by Blake Snyder

What We’re Working On

• Kelly is continuing to work on her WIP, not by writing words, but by journaling and thinking and creating.
• The project JJ couldn’t talk about last week was a companion novel to Wintersong! Cue the panic.

Off Menu Recommendations

• The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Moulin Rouge!
• Quiz Up Harry Potter Trivia
• There’s No Such Thing as a Fish
• Also, follow @sweden and @ireland!
• The Swedish number

That’s all for this week! We will be on hiatus for the next two weeks as both JJ and Kelly will be on vacation (not together, alas!). When we return, we will be starting a new series, wherein we break down stories to see what makes them successful or not. As always, sound off in the comments if you have any questions and we’ll see you in two weeks!

© Disney, DuckTales

Crowdfunding isn’t a new idea, but we haven’t spent much time discussing it here at Pub Crawl– and I think it’s becoming increasingly relevant to writers today who have more options than ever to publish their work.

Platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have been around for more than seven years, and by far have become the best known way to finance projects and products by appealing directly to the consumers who want them. In comparison to the old standby of PayPal donations, and its many limitations and hassles, if enough people are interested in your Kickstarter project, you will raise enough money to hopefully deliver on your promises. But if you don’t have enough support, your proposed project usually goes away quietly.

Many authors have successfully used Kickstarter to self-publish books, using the funding to hire editors, proofreaders and artists; distribute them in print and electronic forms, and even market them. Considering one of the largest hurdles for self-published writers is spending the money to make their books as polished and professional as traditionally published books (or perhaps even more so), this is a fascinating and exciting way to get work out to readers, as well as promote books before they’re released.

Slightly newer to the scene is Patreon, which has quickly become “the world’s largest crowdfunding site for artists and creators” since it was established in 2013. In a nutshell, Patreon allows people to provide ongoing support to an individual–not necessarily for a particular project–through a monthly commitment of as little as $1. As implied by its name, it’s evoking the old patron model of enabling creative work, while offering supporters incentives like exclusive content, early access, and sometimes even a voice in what work gets produced.

(Another site that has recently appeared is called ko-fi, basically an online tip jar that lets fans buy you a cup of coffee with the click of a button, perhaps more as a sign of appreciation than a viable, continuous income stream.)

Essentially, what all these crowdfunding services offer is a way for fans to buy time for creators to make more of the thing they enjoy, and let them know their work is valued and in demand. As a writer with a job and a toddler, a sink full of dishes and piles of dirty laundry, I often must be picky about what projects I sign up for and prioritize the paying work — contracted books and stories — over the shiny ideas I want to play with, or the unpaid blogging I might want to do. So getting “paid” by patrons to write a fun short story that I may not be able to sell (or the novel I may not be able to sell, yikes)  has a certain appeal. My friend N.K. Jemisin recently launched a Patreon that will allow her to quit her day job, the dream of many a writer, so far attracting more than $3800 in less than a week as of this writing.

The simple fact is most writers can probably produce more if they only had more time, and 40+ hours a week is a lot of time.

If I ever did a Patreon or something similar, I suspect it would be to raise funds for a babysitter so I can write more and do more events.

— Ecto Cooler Myers (@ecmyers) May 20, 2016

Every $15 buys me an hour of writing, which is roughly 1,000 words. 7,000 words is a story. 80,000 words is a novel. Creative math.

— Ecto Cooler Myers (@ecmyers) May 20, 2016

As more writers I know create Patreons with a wide range of success, I’ve been thinking more about this phenomenon. (Interestingly, as far as I can tell, not many YA writers have embraced Patreon, but it seems to be gaining popularity in the science fiction and fantasy community, of which I am also a part.) The truth is, I personally have a difficult time separating the idea of crowdfunding from charity, even though intellectually I know that people are buying something they want or rewarding you for something only you can provide. Part of me also imagines this as creating yet another array of deadlines and expectations and obligation to your supporters, who are basically making an investment in you and your work. You have more time, but on some level you’re also more accountable, potentially to dozens if not hundreds of people. How much do you ultimately owe them for helping make it possible?

But I am also aware that one of my hangups is the fear that I won’t get much support, or that I’ll be “competing” with all the other Patreon creators out there for the same dollars. Who needs an additional metric for comparing their own success to that of others? And before you remind me that you shouldn’t compare yourself to others, and that writing and publishing isn’t really a competition, allow me to suggest that this isn’t an entirely irrational consideration. I think a solid fan base is essential to a successful Kickstarter and Patreon, so your newer writers, less published writers, and debut writers probably won’t benefit from them as much — or at all.

What do you think about crowdfunding creative efforts? Have you supported any Kickstarter or Patreon campaigns? What would get you to donate your money to support a writer beyond buying their published work?

• Swag—Fact #1: people like free stuff. Fact #2: it doesn’t really help to give people free stuff that they won’t use and that people won’t see. So even if your book is about, say, bird watching, are you really going to get sales of your book by handing out expensive swag like binoculars with your book’s title on it? (Hint: no.) The best swag is simple. Bookmarks, pins/buttons, postcards, tote bags, and posters. If you want to make a few more expensive items for giveaways closer to on-sale, that’s cool too, but make sure it’s something people will use. I have a dozen sticky note pads, lanyards, and bracelets (even suntan lotion and a manicure kit) that will never see the light outside my cubicle walls.

• Blogger Requests—Do not forward blogger requests piecemeal to your publicist. Yes, we’re known for being organized, but we’re also dealing with massive amounts of email. (Currently, I have more than 24,000 emails in my inbox. Not including the ones I’ve filed.) Keep an excel spreadsheet of requests (include name, blog name, address, email, and stats) and send them all at once about 5 months before on-sale. If someone requests an ARC after that, start a new list or refer them to your publicist (check with them first to be sure that’s okay). Also, please don’t put your publicist’s email address on your website. There should be a general email you can use for the publicity department or publisher.

• Events—I don’t recommend doing events before on-sale unless you have backlist you can promote. In that case, bring your fancy swag for the new book! But if you don’t have a book to sell, it’s really just not worth it. People have short memories, even if they take your bookmark with them to “pre-order when they get home.” Save your time, money, and energy for when you have a book you can sell.

If you want to do events locally, check with your publicist for help arranging them. It’s best if we know what you’re doing. For several reasons, but mostly because if we know about an event, we can be sure the store orders books and gets them on time. Local bookstore events can be a great way to support the book, but don’t expect that the bookstore will bring a crowd for you. They’ll do their part with promotion, but you should be inviting your friends and family.

Are you traveling anywhere within the US around your publication date? Let your publicist know and they may be able to arrange an event. Especially if you’re going somewhere where you know a lot of people who may come out to see you.

Regional trade shows are another great way to meet the booksellers at bookstores in your general region. There are eight indie bookseller fall trade shows: NAIBA, NEIBA, SIBA, MPIBA, Heartland Fall Forum (for MIBA and GLIBA), SCIBA, NCIBA, and PNBA. (Google those acronyms!) Ask your publicist if you could be pitched for a signing, especially if it’s within driving distance. Your publisher may be willing to cover travel costs if it’s further away, but don’t expect that they will.

• Announcements—Don’t announce anything without telling your publicist and marketing team. Sign a new deal? Going to a festival? Got a blurb? We can help with these announcements and determine the best time to make them. And, even just from a bandwidth perspective, it’s worth combining efforts.

• Balance—Yes, the squeaky wheel gets grease. It’s true. But it’s all about balance. You want to walk the fine line between being a squeaky wheel and being overly persistent. So don’t email your publicist every time you have an idea. Gather your thoughts and put them into one email, then give him/her at least a few days to get back to you. Sometimes we have to research something or get an answer from another department. Silence does not mean we aren’t thinking about you. Also, anything you can do on your own, especially research, do it!

• Freelance publicists—There are some amazing freelance publicists, but some are better than others, and some are better at working with your publisher than others. If you want to see what else a freelance can do to supplement your publisher’s plans, by all means, check into it. Some agents work with freelancers regularly and can suggest a few, some of your author friends might have recommendations (or warnings), and your publicist might even have some thoughts. I don’t always think it’s necessary, but it depends on what the publisher is doing. Definitely talk to your publicist, your agent, and your editor before hiring a freelancer.

Also, one last thing to know: I hate saying no. I hate it in my personal life, I hate in my professional life. I have trouble even saying no to my cat. Seriously, that’s why she’s so fat. So please respect the “No.” When I say we can’t cover your travel costs or pitch you for something, there is a reason. And I hated saying “No” just as much as you hated hearing it. Please don’t make me say it twice.

Congratulations on being published and good luck! I hope to see you at an event, conference, trade show, or festival one of these days!

LIZZY MASON is the Director of Publicity at Bloomsbury Children’s Books. She previously worked in publicity at Disney, Macmillan Children’s, and Simon & Schuster, and graduated from Manhattan College (which is in the Bronx) with a degree in Journalism and a minor in English. Lizzy dedicates whatever spare time she can to reading and writing YA fiction. She lives with her husband (and his comic collection) and their cat Moxie (who was named after a cat in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials) in Queens, NY. Follow her @LizzyMason21.

Recently I announced that the publication date of Wintersong has been moved from Fall 2016 to Winter 2017, and I had a lot of questions asking why it would take so long for the book to come out when it was already finished and edited?

Ah, my friend. Sit back and listen, because we are going to be discussing this interesting phenomenon called publishing time.

In the PubCrawl Podcast, Kelly and I have discussed submissions and acquisitions, sales conference, and touched briefly on the concept of launch. Traditional publishing is generally scheduled about one year in advance, so if your book gets acquired in 2016, it may not be published until 2017 or even 2018.

Why is that? Well, most publishing houses operate on a schedule of “seasons”: periods of 3-4 months that comprise a catalog. For example, at my publisher, the seasons are as follows:

1. Winter (January through April)
2. Spring/Summer (May through August)
3. Fall (September through December)

Each season has a schedule of when things need to be submitted or finalized: launch, catalog, sales conference, etc. While acquisitions and editing may happen at any time during the year, the actual publishing part of publishing happens at set times. For example, for books to be published in Fall 2017, the schedule may look something like this:

1. November 2016: Launch (introducing your book to the sales and marketing force)
2. January 2017: Catalog (getting information about your book online for booksellers, librarians, et al to take notice)
3. March 2017: Sales Conference (when the people selling your book into their accounts start pitching to their buyers and getting a feel for how many copies of your book Barnes & Noble, Amazon, indies, etc. will be taking)

If your book is to be published September 2017, then why all that time between sales conference and publication date? This is so your marketing and publicity team have time to start building buzz about your book to the consumer: sending your book out for reviews at all the trade publications, big magazines, newspapers, etc. or buying ad space or social media or what-have-you. By the time your book comes out, hopefully enough people will have heard about your book to seek it out on release day.

So what happens if you miss any one of these deadlines? Situations vary from book to book, but the house generally has one of two options: scramble to get everything together, or push the book back a season. You can miss deadlines for all sorts of reasons: you didn’t finalize the cover on time, the edited book is coming in too late for blurbs and may miss its galley date, etc. There are reasons to scramble: if the book is timely, if it’s a well-known author with an established series and the publisher wants to get the next installment out to fans as scheduled, and so on and so forth. But in many situations, the publisher will choose to push the book back.

The advantage of pushing a book back is that you have time to set everything up properly. The sales force has an enormous list to work on every season, and a last minute addition, or a book with all the pertinent info “TK” (to come), would cause the sales and marketing team a lot of stress.

You can, of course, crash a title. This means exactly what it sounds like: crashing a book as quickly as possible through editing and production so it makes the sales dates for a particular season. This is generally done for celebrity books, political books that may need to be out in time for election season, movie tie-ins, TV show tie-ins for the next season, what-have-you. But these are generally books where the sales force as already heard of the author or property, therefore less leg work needs to be done to set it up to their accounts.

What happened to Wintersong? In my announcement, I said that my book was recategorized from adult to teen, and those markets are handled by two different sales forces at my publisher. We couldn’t simply re-designate everything; we had to re-launch.

So there you have it! Publishing time. Let me know if you guys have any further questions, and I’ll try to answer as best I can.

Whenever I meet an author and I tell them what I do, they always ask me the same question: “When is it okay to reach out to my publicist?” And I always think, Oh my! These poor neglected authors! But when I’m at my desk in the office, reading email, and I get a question about a book that’s more than six months away, I often think Oh, no, I’m not ready for you yet.

It’s not that I’m not excited about those books that are further away, often times I’m dying for them to come out already so I can talk about them, but there’s a reason why we publicists have a reputation for being tough to nail down: we’re working on A LOT of books and we need to focus on them at specific times.

Please bear in mind as you read this, though, that every situation is different. Some books are lead titles, others are school & library focused, and others we have basic plans for. But no matter what plans your publisher has, it’s good to start thinking early about what YOU can do to supplement them. The onus is not just on your publisher to promote your book. You need to do your part.

Here’s a general timeline for how I start a campaign:

18 months to 2 years before on-sale: I hear about the book for the first time, either at acquisitions or pre-launch.

9 months to 18 months before on-sale: I hear about the book a half dozen more times at launch, marketing preview, sales conference, target meetings, etc. (Mind you, these meetings are often called different names at different houses.) This is when the mysterious “plans” for books start getting discussed.

9 months before on-sale: By now, a marketing and publicity plan for your book should exist. Ask your agent to ask your editor to share the marketing plan when it’s ready. (I know that sounds crazy and indirect, but it’s best if things are funneled through your editor at this point. And we’ll take it more seriously in-house if the request comes from your agent.) Once your agent explains what it all means, you can start thinking of how you can assist with or supplement what the publisher is doing.

This is also when I start seriously considering when I have to put these plans in place. Did I say I’d send an author to a trade show, conference, or festival? Now is when I have to start doing those pitches. If you’re accepted for one of these, you might hear from me asking if you’re available to do it.

6 months before on-sale: This is around the time that I recommend setting up a call with publicity and marketing if you’ve got questions or want to tell them what you’re going to be doing. At Bloomsbury, we work very closely with marketing, so sometimes it’s confusing to figure which of us does what (and, of course, it’s a little bit different at every house). So I find it helpful to have both departments on the call.

5 to 6 months before on-sale: Things are picking up steam. I’m sending ARCs or F&Gs out to reviewers, I’ve been meeting with media and pitching your book, I’m starting to plan tours and events. Lots of things are at the beginning stages.

3 months before on-sale: I’m confirming long lead media (magazines, generally), trying to nail down interviews, features and reviews. I might also still be confirming events. If I’m doing a blog tour, this is when I’m planning who I’ll be asking to be a part of it.

1 to 2 months before on-sale: By now, most events that are happening near the on-sale date should be confirmed. (Though you probably won’t see a complete tour schedule for a while. Just the basics.) Travel is getting booked. The blog tour is getting confirmed. The details are coming together. This is also when we get finished books and begin sending them to media.

At on-sale: This is, of course, the key moment. By now, I’ve been following up with media to confirm reviews and interviews and should know what’s coming. Sometimes reviews will run a few weeks before on-sale, sometimes a few weeks after. (Or occasionally months later, that happens too, but not if we can help it.) But we try to plan for as much to happen right at on-sale, from reviews, to social media posts, to bookstore events. Now is the time to make sure people are talking about the book.

Next month, Lizzy will share her thoughts on swag, bloggers, event planning, and freelance publicists. Got a question about publicists? Leave it in the comments.

LIZZY MASON is the Director of Publicity at Bloomsbury Children’s Books. She previously worked in publicity at Disney, Macmillan Children’s, and Simon & Schuster, and graduated from Manhattan College (which is in the Bronx) with a degree in Journalism and a minor in English. Lizzy dedicates whatever spare time she can to reading and writing YA fiction. She lives with her husband (and his comic collection) and their cat Moxie (who was named after a cat in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials) in Queens, NY. Follow her @LizzyMason21.

This week JJ and Kelly talk subrights, or the pocket change of the publishing world! Also, our call for query submissions to be critiqued on our future query critique podcast is still open, so please send them in! Plus, more horror podcast recommendations.

Show Notes

• A subsidiary right is the right to produce or publish a product in different formats based on the original material.
• Primary subrights include:
  • First and second serial
  • Translation
  • Audio
  • Film/TV
  • Dramatic
  • Merchandising/Commercial
  • Graphic Novels
• Secondary subrights include:
  • Library binding
  • Large print
  • Book club
  • Anthologies
• Reach for the sky rights!
  • Theme park
  • Video games
• Granting vs. retaining subrights
  • Retaining subrights:
    • If you retain a subright, you (or your agent) are responsible for the sale/licensing (“exploiting”) of the subright
    • The advantage is that you would receive money from the sale/licensing directly (minus your agent and co-agent’s commission).
  • Granting subrights:
    • If you grant a subright to the publisher, the publisher is responsible for exploiting those rights.
    • You and the publisher will split the proceeds from the sale/licensing (generally 50/50, but these splits can be negotiated)
    • The advantage of granting subrights is that money from the sale/licensing go against your advance, so you would earn out your advance faster and receive royalties on your book sooner

Real Life Example of Retaining Subrights

• During the process of negotiation, your agent sells North American rights only for an advance of $10,000.
• You make a foreign sale to a German publisher for $10,000.
• The foreign co-agent takes 10%, your agent takes 10%, leaving you with $8000 to paid to you directly.

Advantage: You get $18,000 in hand.

Real Life Example of Granting Subrights

• Let’s say during the process of negotiation, you granted more subrights to the publisher for more advance money, so you sold World rights for an advance of $15,000.
• The publisher makes a foreign sale to a German publisher for $10,000.
• Because the split is 50/50, your publisher makes $5000, and you make $5000. The publisher applies this money against your advance, so now you need to sell $10,000 worth of royalties in order to start seeing royalty checks.

Advantage: You get $15,000 in hand, but will earn out faster.

• PRO TIP: If you do grant subrights to the publisher, make sure there is language in your contract to ensure that these rights would revert back to you within a certain timeframe, should they go unexploited.
• PRO TIP: Make sure you also have language that only grants explicitly listed rights to the publisher, e.g. “Any right not explicitly granted herein is retained by the author.” Also, make sure you excise “whether now known or hereafter devised”.

What We’re Reading/Books Discussed

• Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
• The Glass Sentence by S. E. Grove
• The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff
• A Break with Charity by Ann Rinaldi
• The Burning Sky, The Perilous Sea, and The Immortal Heights by Sherry Thomas
• The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle
• Imaginary Girls, The Walls Around Us, and 17 & Gone by Nova Ren Suma
• Bone Gap by Laura Ruby
• The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig
• Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

What We’re Working On

• Kelly is still working on her YA, and is also co-writing a MG with her friend.
• JJ has seen cover concepts for Wintersong and is excited to share them with you in the future! She is still working on mental health, and is working on her Beauty and the Beast retelling VERY SLOWLY. She is also trying to write short fiction, to put more writing tools in her arsenal.

Off Menu Recommendations

• Kelly went to see the Newsies musical on tour (musical soundtrack and of course, the movie!)
• JJ went to see Deadpool this past weekend
• Cooked by Michael Pollan
• The West Wing
• The X-Files
• The Black Tapes podcast
• Tanis podcast

That’s all for this week! Next week we’ll be starting a WRITING MECHANICS series, where we troubleshoot how to write a novel. First up: STRUCTURE.

Contracts are not sexy.

I taught a course on publishing contracts at The Loft Literary Center recently–a long-held dream come true–and one of the first things I told my students is that contracts are not sexy.

It’s easy to glamorize the publishing industry and the life of a writer. It can seem like an endless swirl of cover reveals and starred reviews and book tours. Even the difficult parts can be romanticized: the struggle to put words on the page, to find an agent, to land a deal.

But it’s also important to remember that, for those who publish, writing is a career. I’m passionate about publishing contracts because I want to help empower writers to take control of their careers. And I believe the single most important thing a writer can do to take control of their career is read and understand their contract.

If you have a publishing contract have you ever read it? I mean really read it, not just skipped ahead to the section detailing your advance payments, or grinned like a maniac at the sight of your name on the signature line. I know a lot of authors haven’t. And I get it. Contracts are intimidating. They’re long, full of a lot of complicated language, and sometimes have entire clauses dedicated to things that will never happen (Force Majeure, anyone?).

I implore you to read yours.

If you have representation, your agent should be well-versed in contracts and will handle all the negotiations on your behalf. So in that case it isn’t particularly important for you to force yourself to read through your entire contract, right? Wrong.

Your agent isn’t a party to the contract; you are. You are required to meet all contractual obligations and you should know what they are and what happens if you don’t or can’t meet them. You should know how your current contract affects your future books. You should know how long the Publisher will own the rights to your work, and when and how you can get those rights back. You should know what warranties you’re making to the Publisher, and be sure they’re all true. Even if your agent negotiated the best possible deal for you, it’s still your responsibility to understand the terms.

Writers today have more resources at their fingers tips than ever before. If you have an agent, use that resource. After you’ve read your contract ask your agent to explain things that you don’t understand. If you don’t have an agent, ask your editor. Talk to other authors. Google. And do it before you sign.

I have heard so many horror stories from writers who did not properly read their contracts. Some signed on with scam Publishers and got their hearts broken and their books ruined. Some signed on with well-respected Publishers, and were unhappy to discover that their contract was more restrictive than they had assumed.

I know as a culture we’re conditioned to scroll to the bottom of User Terms and Conditions and click “agree” without so much as a backward glance; I’m guilty of it, too. But don’t be so cavalier with something as precious as your intellectual property. Don’t be so indifferent about the fate of your career. I’ve worked in publishing for a long time doing many different things, but the most valuable insider advice I can give you is to read your contract.

This week Kelly and JJ go into a little more detail about how to write a query: what works, what doesn’t work, the who, the what, the where, and the whys. Also, have a query you want to have critiqued? Email us!

Show Notes

• Browse all of PubCrawl’s posts on querying: Query Tips, Querying, and Querypalooza!
• Our previous podcast episode about Querying and Representation
• JJ has laid out “formulas” for copy before
• More about Inciting Incidents (which we also discussed in our first NaNoWriMo episode)
• JJ’s query for Wintersong (then called The Goblin King)
• Our episode about the High Concept Pitch

Tips for Best Query Practices

• Emotional distance from your work is best (we know this is hard!)
• Don’t go too broad; the more specific the better
• You don’t need to include absolutely everything about your book in your query—just enough to entice the agent into wanting more
• The shorter, the better: sweet spot is 250 to 400 words
• Let your story speak for itself; don’t talk about your book (show, don’t tell!)
• Try to limit the number of characters you’re naming in your query (they generally say no more than 3): the protagonist, the antagonist, major ancillary character
• Also, you may write a flawless query, but the agent may still pass because it’s simply not their taste

The “Formula”

SETUP: A brief “laying of the scene”: setting, premise, etc. The “status quo”, as it were.
INCITING INCIDENT: A disruption of the status quo (e.g. a stranger comes to town)
CONSEQUENCES OF INCITING INCIDENT: How the world has changed after the Inciting Incident
THE MOMENT THE PROTAGONIST BECOMES PERSONALLY INVOLVED: What it says on the tin

The SETUP but when INCITING INCIDENT happens CONSEQUENCES OF INCITING INCIDENT occur, so then THE PROTAGONIST BECOMES PERSONALLY INVOLVED.

All of this together gets across what the stakes are, and that’s what generates tension and interest in a story.

What We’re Reading/Books Discussed

• Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman
• Salvage and Sound by Alexandra Duncan
• Morning Star by Pierce Brown
• Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan
• Assassin’s Heart by Sarah Ahiers
• Scripted by Maya Rock

Off Menu Recommendations

Lots of other podcasts this week!

• Limetown
• Lore by Aaron Mahnke
• The first season of Serial

Oh, and this is the DVD box set of Hart to Hart with JJ’s high school on the cover. And if you have not seen Legally Blonde, we suggest you rectify that immediately.

What We’re Working On

• Kelly has been giving classes at The Loft about contracts, so if you’re in the Twin Cities area, you should check it out!
• JJ is still working on mental health, but still thinking about writing

That’s all for this week! Next week, in continuation of our Publishing 201 series, we will giving an overview of SUBRIGHTS. 

Hey guys! Welcome to the last post by Tara Sonin, the Marketing Manager for Paper Lantern Lit. We hope you’ve enjoyed learning a little more about book packaging. Today, Tara is just going to answer the questions readers have left for us Thanks for dropping by, Tara!

Thanks, Publishing Crawl for hosting our final post in the Behind the Page series! We loved reading these questions and hopefully provided satisfactory answers. You can always ask us more questions on Twitter @Paperlanternlit, or email [email protected].

1. What social media advice would you give to a non-published author who’s in the process of finishing her first novel?
First, I want to commend you for already thinking about your social media strategy before you’ve started the process of querying and publishing your book—it’s never too early to get a jump on the game!

My advice would be to think strategically about social media: what platforms and processes will allow you to a) reach the most readers without b) uprooting your entire life? Think about your schedule, obligations, and priorities: what is most important to you about social media. Don’t over extend yourself. What do you want to communicate? If it’s blogging about your writing process, create a schedule and stick to it. If it’s sharing photos and behind-the-scenes snapshots into your life as a writer, take an Instagram course about how best to position and filter your photos. If it’s connecting with other writers and forming friendships, Tumblr and Twitter might be the place for you to communicate directly with people in your community. But most importantly: do not try to perfect all of them at once! Pick one, get really good at it, and make sure you highlight your success on that platform when you query agents. Good luck!

2. Can you speak to how your writers have gotten excited about your ideas? 
The most important element of our process is finding a writer that gets jazzed about the material; the world, the characters, the conflict, everything has to speak to them in an authentic way. That can happen in a number of different ways. Eleanor Herman, author of LEGACY OF KINGS, was already a historian when she started writing this YA series…but it was her first time actually creating characters from scratch, as most of the other people she’d written about before actually existed! We really saw her shine and have a lot of fun building the quirks and emotional lives of made-up people. Julie Leung, author of MICE OF THE ROUND TABLE, an upcoming middle-grade fantasy series, was a huge Redwall fan before signing on to this project, so any opportunity to write about forest creatures and mice made her really excited! Just because the ideas originate with us doesn’t mean that we don’t want our authors to connect to the story and have fun writing it—that’s what really gives the book life.

3. Do writers get to shop from your list of plots?
There’s no database of “plots” that we have on file. We brainstorm stories organically, as ideas come to us, and search for writers on a project-by-project basis. We also don’t usually generate projects “for” specific writers. That said, we are always open to working with writers who approach us and are interested in our business model—if we have a project in development that we think will fit with your style and interests!

4. Have you ever found that your chosen author already had characters or concepts weirdly and coincidentally overlay with your developed plots? 
This phenomenon is pretty popular. Elizabeth Gilbert talks about it in her book BIG MAGIC: that many people can actually come up with the same story, at different times, in different places. That’s because, when you think about it, there actually is a finite number of permutations that stories can take, at their “blueprint” level. For example: Girl meets Boy. Girl and Boy hate one another. Girl and Boy eventually get along. That would be just one example of a common story thread you see over and over again, interpreted by other writers. We’ve never actually found that our authors already had WIP’S exactly like the books they are writing for us, but interests certainly do overlap! M.E. Castle, author of the Clone Chronicles series (and the forthcoming FAKESPEARE) is super interested in sci-fi, space, and robots—which was why it made perfect sense to us that he be the one to bring Popular Clone to life!

5. How do you choose your writers? 
Unfortunately, there’s no standard formula or equation I can give you, because the process is different for every project! However, in general, we audition multiple writers for each project, searching for things such as:

• Do they take risks, and do those risks pay off?
• Is the tone consistent with what we’ve asked for in the spark?
• What is their command of language like? Do they have proper grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure?

Once we review auditions, we look at the author as a whole: do they have a social media platform? Are they engaged in the publishing community? Do they have an agent? None of these things are automatic yes’s or no’s, but we like to get a sense of authors and their commitment to the craft—because once we sign a contract with them, we are committed to making them a success. Then, after reviewing the samples and discussing our needs for the project, we hopefully find a writer!

6. Do publishers still have ‘wish lists’ and their own content ideas for you to work with?
Plenty of publishers have their own IP (Intellectual Property) that they produce in-house, without the assistance of a packager. In general, we don’t work with publisher IP. However, there are times that an Editor will approach us looking for Concept X, and if we are excited about that concept and think we can bring it to life with trademark PLL flare, then we’ll pursue it!

7. Do you partner with overseas creators?
Absolutely. Thanks to technology today, it’s really easy to get in touch even if there’s a time difference. If you live in another country, don’t be discouraged! Plenty of authors active in the American YA community are actually from overseas.

TARA SONIN is the Marketing Manager for Paper Lantern Lit. She received her B.A. in Theater and English with a concentration in Creative Writing from Barnard College, Columbia University. Tara recaps The Vampire Diaries for Vulture Magazine and writes romance under the name Taryn Scarlett. When not dreaming up catchy marketing campaigns and reading all the books she can get her hands on, Tara is usually found in Zumba classes or singing an eclectic repertoire of show tunes.

Pub Crawl is such a wonderful mixture of things. Writing craft, publishing industry insights, Days in the Life posts, cover reveals, and so many other things. In fact, being an avid Pub Crawl reader is partly what made me curious enough to know more about what being on the inside of the industry was like. Admittedly, I’m still learning! But for any of our readers who are considering breaking into publishing, here are some of the things I’ve learned so far:

1. New York, New York

I hate to be the bearer of bad news (if you’ve never had a desire to live in NYC), but if you want to work in publishing, you are going to have a much, much easier time doing it in New York. That’s not to say there aren’t small presses and literary agencies littered throughout the country where you might be able to get a foot in the door – but New York is the hub.

2. Internships are key.

If you don’t live in NYC, lots of literary agencies offer what’s called a remote internship. This refers to an internship done mainly through email, and your main job is to read manuscripts the agent for whom you are interning has requested from writers. This kind of internship is a great way to establish if you even want to learn more about working in publishing. I did a remote internship before I came to New York, and was very lucky to have made that contact when I ended up making the move.

And if you do decide to make the trip to New York, the next step is an in-house internship. Yes, most publishing houses and agencies want you to have a bachelor’s degree at the very least (though Penguin Random House very recently nixed this notion). But what publishers and agencies look at most closely is your internship experience.

So what does that mean?

It means, know what kinds of internships will give you the experience you need relevant to the job you want. For example, small presses will usually utilize interns in a number of ways – publicity, editorial, mailing, etc., whereas a larger house will have you in a specific department, usually editorial or publicity. And a literary agency will have you doing a lot of different things because agents themselves do a lot of different things – you might be organizing excel files, writing a report on a manuscript an agent has requested from a writer, or reading queries from the slush pile.

The great thing about internships is they can help you see where you do and *don’t* want to work without too much pressure. If you thought you were destined to work in publicity, but your internship in the publicity department at X house left something to be desired, then maybe you’d be happier in editorial, or even in a more design-centric department (admittedly a rather hazy area of publishing for me).

Be prepared to have at least two internships on your resume before getting hired for a full-time assistant position (the most basic level in all publishing employment).

3. Money, Money, Money

There are downsides to internships, of course. Many of them are unpaid or pay very little but still require as much of your time as a part-time job. So be prepared to save up money for living expenses, and to look for another part-time job as well. And to have roommates. And to eat ramen for a lot of meals.

Look, it’s not glamorous – even when if you work your way up, publishing is not an industry to join for the money. You do it because you love books, and you love writers, and you want to be part of their success. Publishing definitely has its issues – diversity being its biggest one by far – but more and more spotlights are being centered on those issues, and my guess (and my hope) is those who are working their way up from the bottom right now are going to be part of the wave that initiates true, honest change.

4. Twitter is your (Networking) Friend

Twitter is a fantastic space for writers. But it’s also a wealth of publishing information, job and internship opportunities, and possible industry contacts. I found my first internship when an agency I follow tweeted about it, and ditto for my job. And I have met some of my best friends in New York through Twitter, like when I plucked up the courage to reach out to another agency assistant and asked to meet up.

The interns and assistants you become friends with when you are just starting out become the editors and agents you work with down the line. Those relationships are more important than you know, and twitter is a great way to start some of those conversations

Just keep in mind that this does NOT mean “tweet at editors or agents from whom you want a job/book/autograph”. There are still rules of respectability on Twitter – in the same way writers are discouraged from pitching agents, it’s discouraged for anyone looking for employment/internships to pitch possible employers on social media. Find people at the same level as you and connect.

5. Be Willing to Go All In

I’m just gonna say it: If you aren’t willing to dedicate your heart and soul to publishing, then it might not be for you. The image many of us have of an editor who reads manuscripts and edits at his/her desk all day is a lovely one, but unfortunately quite far from reality. In fact, most editors don’t get to do much editing, if any, during the work day at all – it’s what they do when they get home from work. The same goes for agents – much of the day is spent on the phone with publishers or clients, and it’s not until the evening commute and after that they get to read queries and manuscripts.

So why do it? Well, that’s up to you. For me, the idea of helping bring a book that I believe in to life is a seductive one. There’s really nothing better than reading a query that excites you, requesting a manuscript you end up loving, and working with it through to publishing completion.  And at the end of a stressful day, a book and its writer’s victories make everything you’ve done to get it there worth it. Being at the launch of a book you helped to, well, launch, is one of the most rewarding experiences. And the community is tight – the support is real.

I hope this has been helpful for any of you who are thinking of taking the plunge!

Rejection. We’ve all been there, starting with the threesome of friends that decided to become a twosome without you, or the unrequited love you slathered on that skinny basketball player in sixth grade. Writing is not for the faint of heart. It often feels like the bad days outnumber the good, that the days of utter dejection and rejection will stop the ship from sailing all together. Many days, I feel like the luckiest person alive to be doing the one thing I’d always wanted to do — make a living as a writer. Some days, I feel like I might chuck it all. Go catch up on those movies I’d been wanting to watch, those travel adventures I’d wanted to take. I wouldn’t read, because reading would only remind me of my giving up. But it would be an easier life, wouldn’t it?

Statistics show that the average number of rejections writers receive before selling a manuscript is about 3,967, based on absolutely no evidence at all. Once you do make that sale, there may be and probably will be dark days ahead. There is the pain of being rejected for blurbs. The torment of not feeling cool enough on social media. The agony of reviews, both professional and bloggers. There is the consternation of not being included on ‘lists,’ or not being invited to conferences, and the heartache of being passed up for awards. There is the distress of having an agent fail you, or an editor leave, or your publisher not buying your next book.

Stacey: Speaking as someone who has a book out and two on the way, When I feel down about publishing, I distance myself. I surround myself with Stacey-supporters and avoid that thing that brings me pain. I get busy doing other stuff, cleaning out the coupon drawer (I know, I have a coupon drawer) finding stuff to giveaway to the Salvation Army, I research my next vacation spot.

Then, when I’m ready, I talk to other people who have ‘been there’ and can validate my experiences. One of my favorite quotes is, “misery shared is misery halved, and joy shared is joy doubled.”

Stephanie: As someone who has shared both misery and joy with Stacey Lee, I can say that the above quote is so true!

One thing that helps me deal with feelings of rejection is to think of books as if they are birthdays.

When it’s getting close to my sister’s birthday and my family starts talking about how we are going to celebrate, I don’t start feeling sorry for myself. I never wonder, Why isn’t anyone talking about my birthday? Isn’t anyone excited for me? Same for her presents. I’m not going to count how many presents my sister receives and then compare the number of gifts I’m given for my birthday—that would be ridiculous.

And I believe the same type of comparing can be said for books.

So, let’s say, your book is slated to come out in summer or fall of 2016, avoid the temptation of feeling bad because the winter and spring books seem to be receiving most of the attention right now—those books have birthdays coming up, they should be getting the buzz.

Stacey: It’s important to remember that there is more to you than your writing. We are not in a race. What can screw us up is the image in our head of how things are supposed to be. As nobody ever said, the flower does not compare itself to the beauty of the flower growing beside it, it just blooms. We each proceed at the pace we’re meant to proceed, taking the losses as they come, but also the wins. There is the joy of connecting with a reader who needed your book. The hug from your critique partners, whose love and support goes way beyond books. There are the emails from your publishing team calling you ‘awesome.’ There is the simple joy of losing yourself in your storytelling. These things must be remembered.

*Cue a rainbow.*

Stephanie: During the holidays I spent sometime cleaning out my closet and I found a journal from when I was in high school. I was nervous about looking inside it—I was a pretty depressed high school student—so, afraid of what I might find, I told myself I would only peek for a second. The page I opened to was a list, written in brightly colored markers, full of all the things I wanted. I listed things like clear skin, perfect SAT scores, to be able to dance, and to someday write a novel. And while I still don’t have clear skin, my SAT scores were far from perfect—and sadly so are my dance skills—I did write that novel.

And I know I’ve said it here before, but just writing a book is a huge accomplishment, whether it sells or not. I meet so many people who tell me they want to write a book, but hardly any of them actually sit down and do it. So if you have written a book that is awesome. If it’s being published, or if it’s about to be published, that is even more incredible!

Stacey: Remember the speeder chase scene through the redwood forest in Return of the Jedi? It’s exhilarating to watch that scene because the camera shows it from the perspective of the rider, Luke. You don’t get a sense of exactly where he’s going, but you feel all the bumps and jolts and swoops and loops that he experiences. As we enter this new year, take a moment to rise above the chase scene, and view it from the top, where unlike that scene in Star Wars, you will not see all the bumps and dips, but the one thing you will see is your progress.

Now it’s your turn. We know all of our readers are in different places with their publishing journeys—we’ve shared a bit about our experiences, so now we’d love to hear from some of you.

This week JJ and Kelly are back to their regular format and discuss X Meets Y, or The High Concept Pitch: what it is, what it entails, and whether or not you need it. Also, the difference between “commercial” and “literary” (if any), and as always, what we’re reading and enjoying this week!

Show Notes

“High concept” is really just the ability to distill your premise down to one or two sentences. It can encompass the “X meets Y” pitch, but a high concept pitch is really the kernel of a story—the handle, as JJ’s old boss used to say—you can pick up and hand to someone else (i.e. sell).

• “Commercial” vs. “literary” is a false dichotomy; they are writing styles, not concepts. You can have the exact same idea and write it in a commercial way, or write it in a more literary manner.
• The Art of Writing Copy by JJ

Name that Book/Movie/TV Show!

• The children of Greek gods go to summer camp.
• A retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma set in 90s Beverly Hills.
• A retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice as told through a neurotic British woman’s diary entries.
• A retelling of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew where Katrina is a 90s riot grrl.
• Children battle each other to the death on reality television.
• House of Leaves meets Battlestar Galactica (bonus: this is a PubCrawl alum’s book!)
• Labyrinth meets Amadeus (we’re giving this one to you)
• A girl who can’t go outside falls in love with the boy next door

What We’re Reading/Books Discussed

• The Corrections and Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
• Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (and movie)
• The works of Margaret Atwood
• Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
• The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
• The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
• Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
• The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
• Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson
• Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
• Truthwitch by Susan Dennard
• Passenger by Alexandra Bracken
• Fire and Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (JJ actually reviewed this on her blog)
• Star Crossed and A Curse as Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce

What We’re Working On

• Kelly is working on an old YA project.
• JJ is setting aside her middle grade for the moment and focusing on an adult project to get ready to send her publisher for her option book.

Off Menu Recommendations

• Top Chef
• Life is Strange (JJ is on the bandwagon!)
• RadioLab’s episode “The Cathedral“
• That Dragon, Cancer
• Jane McGonigal’s TED talks and SuperBetter
• Arkham Horror (not Arkham Asylum as JJ mentions, although she has played that too)

That’s all for this week! Next week we’ll talk about CRITIQUE GROUPS! If you have any questions you would like us to answer, send us an ask or leave a comment!

A question I used to see a lot from aspiring writers when I was still working in publishing was Do I need a website? Do I need to get on Twitter/Facebook/Tumblr/Instagram/[insert social media platform]? What do agents and editors mean when they say “online presence”?

I won’t lie; whenever I received a submission from an agent, the first thing I did was Google that author. I wasn’t necessarily looking to see if the author had an enormous platform or following; I just wanted to get a sense of the person behind the words. For me, it was always the most helpful if the author had a personal website where I could go, read their bios, find their social media links, etc. Not having a professional website isn’t a deal-breaker, but these days, it would strike me as a little odd.

I’ve been coding and designing websites since I was in high school (does anyone else remember Geocities? No? Bueller? Bueller? Okay, I’m just old then.), so I’m pretty comfortable with this sort of thing, but I know this entire process bewilders a lot of people, so I thought I would write a tutorial for our readers (and some of our members!) to help them out.

This is a bit of a long post with a lot of images, so the rest is under the cut!

1. Pick a domain name.

A domain name is your address on the internet, as it were. Ours is publishingcrawl.com, but as an writer, it’s best to have a domain under the name you’re writing under. (For example: Mine is sjaejones.com because I am writing as S. Jae-Jones.) The first thing I would do is check to see if your name is available. The easiest way to do that is simply type yourname.com into your browser and see if anything turns up.

If your name is already taken, then you can add -writer or -books to the end of your name, or else try .net or .biz, although .com is probably best for search purposes.

2. Select a web hosting plan and register your domain.

Most web hosting services will register your first domain for free, and for the sake of simplicity, I would recommend you do it all at once.¹ Select your plan of choice. (For most writers who don’t expect heavy blog traffic, the most basic plans are sufficient. You can always upgrade later.) Register your new domain name with your host provider.

3. Install WordPress.

Okay, now here’s where things get a bit complicated. Think of a website as a piece of property: the host is the land itself and the domain is the address. If you want to live on that piece of land, you need to build a house.

If you know HTML, you could code that house yourself. (I’ve done so; it’s incredibly time-consuming and exhausting.) Or you could download and install a CMS, or Content Management System, like WordPress, Joomla, or similar. We at PubCrawl use WordPress (and I do for my own website as well).

Once you’ve set up your domain, you will prompted to set up a username and password for your host. Once you’ve done that, log in to access your Control Panel (usually called cPanel by most hosting services).

Once you’ve been logged in, at the top navigation bar, you will see cpanel. Clicking on that will lead you to your Control Panel, which will look something like this:

Bluehost and other providers will often provide a 1-step installation for WordPress and other CMS builders. Under Website Builders, click on the WordPress logo and you’ll be brought to a page that looks like this:

Start a brand new install, select your domain name, and Bluehost will do the work for you.² Set up your WordPress login with a username and password.

Once everything’s been installed, in order to access the backend of your website, type www.yourname.com/wp-admin/ and you’ll see this:

Fill in your username and password and that will take you to your Dashboard, which looks like this:

Ta-da! Now your website has been set up. Time to make it look pretty.

4. Select a theme to install on your website.

The default WordPress theme is actually pretty decent, but if you want to put your own personal stamp on your website, I would recommend browsing the WordPress themes gallery. There are a lot of themes you can choose, many of them for free. You can also hire a designer to make your website more personal at this point, but to be honest, a lot of the free themes at WordPress are clean and professional, so there isn’t a huge need to break your bank account.

5. Fill your website with content.

In your WordPress Dashboard, you’ll see an option on the lefthand navigation bar titled Pages. This is where you can create different pages for your website: an about page, information about your books, a blog, a contact page, etc. As an editor, I didn’t need all that much, just a place to contact you. Readers may like a lot more extra content, so include as much information about your book as you please!

That’s all for this post. Hope this was helpful for everyone who’s looking to set up a website and didn’t know where to start. If you have any further questions, leave them in the comments and I’ll try my best to answer, although each case will be different, of course. 

In part one, we looked at book signings and other programs. But how do you pitch your program to a library?

Showcases: Some state and regional library associations run performer showcases, where local authors and performers who wish to present in libraries can share a brief taste of their programs (usually 10-15 minutes). Participating in a showcase is a great way to put your presentation in front of lots of librarian eyeballs (and sometimes school contacts as well). You will likely be presenting alongside magicians, mad scientists, and naturalists with adorable fuzzy creatures, so share the liveliest parts of your presentation!

No showcases in your area? Consider creating your own! Join forces with other authors, illustrators, or children’s performers and propose a free showcase session for your state or regional library conference. This is a win-win: you get to promote yourself, and the conference gets a free program. And of course, don’t forget to hand out bookmarks, postcards, or brochures with your contact and booking information!

What kind of program?: If you can tie your program into library initiatives, you will make it easier for librarians to say yes to booking you. Some major trends:

The Makerspace Movement: Providing hands-on spaces to create, with everything from 3-D printers and coding software to discarded books turned into art. This type of programming may be geared to children, teens, or adults. Check out this Library Journal article for an overview: http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/10/public-services/the-makings-of-maker-spaces-part-1-space-for-creation-not-just-consumption/

STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math): Public libraries are offering more programs with an explicit science focus, but they are also emphasizing the math, science, and technology elements found in traditional storytimes. This School Library Journal article gives a picture of what these programs look like: http://www.slj.com/2013/10/programs/full-steam-ahead-injecting-art-and-creativity-into-stem/#_

Early Literacy: This is not early reading – rather, it is the constellation of skills, such as print awareness, vocabulary knowledge, and the ability to apply real-world knowledge to a text, that prepares children for the tasks of reading and writing. Check out the American Library Association’s page on Early Literacy and Libraries for more information: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/literacy/earlyliteracy

A Word about Meeting Rooms: Library meeting rooms are often available for use by community groups. This can cause some confusion when writing organizations want to hold programs at the library. If you approach the library about “using the meeting room” for a program, you will likely be given the standard community group reservation policies, which often include a ban on selling anything during the program. However, if you approach the library requesting that it sponsor or co-sponsor a program, new doors are opened. When the library sponsors a program, book sales are usually allowed and the event will appear in the library’s publicity.

Partnering with Other Community Organizations: Bring extra value to your program by brainstorming ways to connect with schools, community groups, and local businesses. Erin Hagar, author of Julia Child: An Extraordinary Life in Words and Pictures (Duo Press) had a group of middle school students perform a skit about the famous chef at one of her signings. Find local businesses related to your book’s topic and ask them to help get the word out to their customers about your event, through print or social media. If you are traveling some distance for the event, offer a discount if the librarian helps connect you with local schools willing to host a presentation on the same day. Invite the local independent bookseller to sell books at your program. If you’re not sure where to start in contacting these local groups, ask your librarians – providing those resources is their job, after all!

Swag and Selling Books: The number of books you sell can vary wildly from library to library, and you can’t necessarily judge the effectiveness of the program by the number of books sold. Depending on the location, audience, and timing of your program, the audience may not be in the frame of mind to purchase a book. (Case in point: When my nonfiction book, Little Hands and Big Hands: Children and Adults Signing Together (Huron Street Press) came out, I did a mini-storytime featuring American Sign Language to promote it. In libraries where the program was scheduled in place of the regular weekly storytimes, I sold few books – often the parents would tell me that they hadn’t even brought their wallets, because they were in storytime-attendance mode.)

Make sure you have bookmarks or postcards to hand out to each attendee with information about your book and your website. That way, there is a chance that person may purchase the book later (or at least leave the bookmark on a restroom counter and someone else will see it!)

It’s important to clarify whether books can be sold during the event, and if so, who will be responsible for bringing and selling them. The Friends of the Library may be on hand to sell books, or the library may have a pre-existing relationship with a local independent bookseller.

If the library expects you to handle book sales, bring a friend or family member to handle sales so you can focus on signing, or contact a local bookseller yourself. Don’t forget to account for sales tax, and to report your direct sales as required by your state. The Small Business Association has a handy guide for collecting and reporting sales tax here: https://www.sba.gov/blogs/sales-tax-101-small-business-owners-and-online-retailers

Making the event go smoothly: Communication is key! Confirm the event in writing. If you set up the event with a central coordinator, then call the branch where you will be presenting a day or two before the program and find out who your in-person contact will be. Make sure that person knows when to expect you and has your cell phone number to contact you en route if necessary. This day-before call seems like a small thing, easy to overlook, but it is HUGE for creating rapport with your host and showing your professionalism.

During the event itself, be a good guest. Don’t be a diva, and communicate clearly about what you need for the program to go smoothly. Understand that your host may not be able to stay in the room the entire time because the library is short-staffed, or someone is vomiting in the children’s department, or there is a crisis at the circulation desk. (There’s always an adventure happening in a public library!)

Afterwards, send a thank you note to your host as well as to the contact person. Post pictures from the event on your website and social media and tag the library. (Do not post any photos that show faces of attendees unless you have their written permission!)

Keep a record of the staff you work with at each library, so that, when your next book comes out, you can send a personal note – and perhaps secure another invitation to present!

Other Ways to Connect With Public Libraries

Getting the library to carry your book: Most libraries have centralized Materials Selection specialists who develop the collection based on reviews, the library’s budget, and community needs. Even if your book is published by a major publisher and is reviewed in national journals, it’s a good idea to reach out to your local libraries and let them know that you live in the area.

If your book is published by a smaller press, or if you are self-published, then you may have a tougher time. Libraries rely on review sources such as Booklist, School Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly, and if you don’t have trade reviews to show them, they may not consider purchasing your book. Many libraries have established a process for local authors to submit one or more copies for the materials selectors to review.

Patrons can also request that the library carry certain books, and the more requests the library gets, the more likely it is to purchase the material. Enlist the aid of your supporters to make these requests at their local libraries.

Public libraries can be an author’s best friend! I hope these tips have given you some ideas on how to start connecting with libraries far and near.

Got more tips for working with libraries? Share them in the comments!

KATHY MACMILLAN is a writer, American Sign Language interpreter, librarian, founder of The Sweet Sixteens (www.thesweetsixteens.com) and avowed Hufflepuff. Her debut young adult novel, Sword and Verse, is an epic fantasy that explores questions of power and prejudice. Find her at www.kathymacmillan.com and on Twitter at @kathys_quill.

Thanks to Netflix and other media streaming services, we now have the ability to “binge watch” entire series on our computers or our televisions, which, by all accounts, has completely revolutionized the way we watch tv. Netflix original programming releases an entire season of a series in one shot, removing the agony of waiting and reruns. Binge-watching has become such a phenomenon that Collins Dictionary UK has declared it their word of the year.

In fact, Binge-Watching is so much of a phenomenon that publishers are latching on to this idea, and are attempting to spawn a new phenomenon- binge-reading!

About 3 years ago, Canadian author Eric Walters approached his publisher Orca Books with a revolutionary idea. He wanted to publish a group of 7 linked adventure novels and release them simultaneously. Crazy? For a publishing world used to releasing a series one book at a time over the course of months or years, it might have seemed so, but Walters and Orca struck gold with the concept. Readers could purchase the entire set all at once, and there was no waiting for the next book. They could finish one and move onto the next without ever having to miss a beat. Series such as Conspiracy 365 and The Last Thirteen started by releasing a few titles at a time, and then one a month over a short period, and they also gained traction with audiences who appreciated the shorter turn-around time for the next book.

As someone who often reads book one of a new series and never quite makes it back to the next one when it comes out a year or two later, I love this idea. I hate waiting for the next book. I hate waiting for the next episode for that matter, and don’t even get me started on waiting over mid-season and summer hiatuses. The longer the wait between books, the less detail I’ll remember about the first book, and it takes away from my reading experience to keep trying to play catch-up and remember what happened in the previous book which was probably 100+ books ago for me. If I have immediate access to the rest of the books in the trilogy/series, I will likely read them all in one shot. While Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander is by no means finished, having all 8 books in the series on my shelf has made it much more appealing for me to read the entire series. As soon as I finished one, I could pick up another, and another, and so on. I’m currently 1/3 of the way into book 5, but with fall being as busy as it is, my binge-reading of the series will have to wait until the next time I have an extended break.

According to an article I came across today on http://publishingperspectives.com/2015/11/forget-binge-watching-try-binge-reading/?utm_content=buffer659af&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#.Vk-AM3arS71, market research is showing that more and more kids are binge-reading popular series fiction such as Wimpy Kid, and that readers tend to buy all of the volumes of a series at once rather than gradually. For an author, publishing more rapidly can lead to increased sales, in that you can keep building on the momentum of your first book. My customers love series that have multiple volumes available at once, because they all tell me that with kids, you need at least 3 to make an impact on the shelf and get discovered.

Are there any drawbacks to this? Possibly. I’m sure there will be numerous studies that later show we are feeding the “now” impulse and not teaching kids (or adults) the value of patience or delayed gratification. There have also been hints that the more books an author is pushed to publish in a year, the greater a chance that the quality of writing will suffer, which also isn’t a good thing for publishers, authors or readers.

Regardless of the pros and cons (of which I’m sure there are many), it looks like the era of binge-reading is gradually coming upon us, and I for one, am happy to embrace it. Now please excuse me while I dive back into my latest series.

I’ve been lucky to experience public libraries from both sides of the reference desk: as a Children’s Services Supervisor at Carroll County (MD) Public Library (where I still work as a substitute), and also for thirteen years as an American Sign Language storyteller performing in libraries up and down the East Coast. As I gear up to promote my YA debut Sword and Verse (HarperTeen, January 19, 2016), I’m putting everything I’ve learned to good use—and thought maybe other authors could benefit from these tips too.

How Public Libraries are Structured

Public libraries come in all different sizes and shapes. Some are part of a state or local government. Some are independent entities. In my home state of Maryland, most public libraries exist within county systems of central headquarters administering multiple branches. In some places, libraries function as individual units, and multiple independent libraries may serve overlapping geographic areas.

The first step in connecting with libraries is to figure out the structure—that will give you an idea about where collection and programming decisions are made. Front-line librarians may need to direct you to higher-ups for decisions about programming and whether the library will carry your book. Some branch managers or department heads may be able to schedule a program for their branches, but you’d need to connect with a systemwide coordinator to get into the other branches. You can find directories online by searching for your state library or state library association. Or just call the library and ask – most librarians will be happy to help!

Book Signings and Other Programs

While your publisher may set up some appearances, most authors cannot count on this. It’s definitely in your best interest to make contact yourself.

To charge or not to charge: It’s up to you whether you are willing to make appearances for free or charge for them, but one thing is certain: public libraries LOVE free programs. They routinely face budget constraints. Consider the type of program you are offering. Will you be doing a promotional reading/Q&A/signing? A lower cost or free program might be appropriate. If you’re offering something more substantial, like a class or workshop, you should absolutely and unapologetically charge for your time.

Library Friends Groups: Many libraries have Friends groups that provide program funding and volunteers to help out at programs. The programs themselves are usually booked by the library staff. If you have a contact in a library Friends group, ask him or her to suggest you as a presenter!

Publicity Lead Time: Libraries generally have a long lead time—much longer than bookstores or schools—for scheduling events. The deadline is usually about 3 months before the event, and some require publicity information for all summer programs to be submitted by December 31 of the previous year. So contact early and think ahead!

Summer Reading Program: Summer reading is HUGE—it’s the busiest time of year, and most libraries do much more programming in the summer than the rest of the year. That’s because most public libraries run reading incentive programs for preschoolers, school age kids, teens, and adults, with prizes ranging from coupons and local business gift certificates to chances to win iPads and Kindles. Librarians spend many spring days in local schools talking up books and the summer reading program. Most libraries also have larger budgets for summer programming. So if you want to pitch a workshop or other paid program, summer is a good bet.

Many libraries throughout the U.S. participate in the Collaborative Summer Reading Program (http://www.cslpreads.org), a consortium of shared thematic summer reading materials for all ages. The themes for the next two years are available on the site.

Upcoming themes are:

2016: wellness, fitness, and sports

2017: architecture, building, construction

If your book ties in to one of these themes, you’re golden! But if it doesn’t, think about how you can make your presentation relate to the theme. For example, could you talk about the architecture of your plot and give your presentation a catchy title to match? I guarantee that will catch the interest of program schedulers. Tying your presentation to the summer reading theme will also allow you to pitch that program to multiple libraries that follow the collaborative theme.

Public libraries can be an author’s best friend! I hope these tips have given you some ideas on how to start connecting with libraries far and near. I’ll be back on PubCrawl on November 30th to share more advice on things like planning a program and getting the library to carry your book.

Got more tips for working with libraries? Share them in the comments!

KATHY MACMILLAN is a writer, American Sign Language interpreter, librarian, founder of The Sweet Sixteens (www.thesweetsixteens.com) and avowed Hufflepuff. Her debut young adult novel, Sword and Verse, is an epic fantasy that explores questions of power and prejudice. Find her at www.kathymacmillan.com and on Twitter at @kathys_quill.

Stacey here chatting with my Doppelganger and fellow PubCrawler Stephanie Garber about one of my favorite ways to read a book—audiobooks! A good narrator can really enhance the “read” in so many ways. So Stephanie and I thought it would be fun to chat with the person who narrated Under a Painted Sky to get a behind-the-scenes look.

Before we begin our interview, some basic understanding. Audio rights are one of several rights one can grant a publisher, and they are another potential revenue stream. If you grant this right, your publishers can either make your audiobook themselves through one of their in-house audiobook imprints (an example would be Penguin Random Audio for adult books and nonfiction, and Listening Library for YA and children’s books), or license the rights to a third party publisher (like Tantor Media, which published UAPS). Whether an audiobook is actually made simply depends on whether your publisher believes there is a demand. I’ve seen several estimates of how many traditionally published books turn into audiobooks each year, and the one I’ve seen most cited is 10%.

Now onto our interview!

Stacey: How did you get started in the biz of audiobooks?

Emily: I got started in audiobooks through an audition process. I found out about the submission information through my network of actor friends at the time. I had just moved back to the US from having done animation in Hong Kong for a couple of years and was itching to get back in the groove somehow. I was already immediately involved in theater so that was my base.

The ironic twist in my life. When I was in kindergarten, my teacher told my parents that I needed to pay more attention and practice reading out loud because I was struggling. Ha! I guess I took that information to heart.

Stacey: Where did you come by your beautiful, clear voice? Is it something people commented on (or got you dates or jobs)?

Emily: Thank you! I’ve used and trained it my entire life. I started singing and dancing and learning how to use my body and voice from a very young age. As I got older, my studies became about understanding alignment and breath, which have saved my voice. And I’m always learning.

Over the years, I have played many great parts in musicals and theater so that’s primarily where I got my kicks using my body/voice.

As a budding adolescent, I was told on a number of occasions by peers that my voice was sultry and I could work for a sex hotline. Oh, 13-yr-old conversation! Now that I think about it, maybe that early exposure to a sexualized existence for women and girls and the limitation to it helped me along toward my feminist ways. Not that there’s anything wrong with working on a sex hotline or reading steamy scenes out loud, but being a sex worker was perhaps not the only aspiration for a 13-yr-old girl.

Stephanie: I would love to know how you prepare for work. Do you mark up the books so you know which voice to do? How do you ‘create’ a voice for a particular character?

Emily: I always read the book beforehand—a piece of crucial information about a character or the plot may come up at the end of the story and heaven help the person that has to go back and fix everything!

Sometimes authors provide a lot of information about a character and so the voice comes very clearly based on that. How does that person stand, walk, breathe, what culture are they from, why is their voice scratchy or smooth or high-pitched or low-pitched, etc.? Sometimes all you know is that it is a woman or a man who works at the post office or serves food. Then, I get to have a little more room. On my first job, I was told that I could take it easier with the character voices because people were listening to a book (not watching a cartoon). It also depends on the tone of the book. Some are more fantastical than others and varying points of view from book to book lend toward different tones of narration.

Stephanie. How does one learn to speak with a particular accent? Do you speak any languages?

Emily: I speak conversational Cantonese and some Mandarin…and I can parrot very well phrases in Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Korean, Russian, etc. I love languages and accents and dialects and have had a lot of exposure to them.

Chinese is a language spoken at home and I studied Mandarin as a foreign language in high school and had a few dance teachers who spoke almost exclusively in Mandarin. I’m always listening for language variations and practicing. Perhaps being a singer/musician and learning both a tonal language and English together growing up helped with having an affinity and knack for a broad range of sound? If I weren’t doing it for books/work, it’d probably be a hobby! There’s also a great resource called the International Dialects of English Archive that I use when I don’t necessarily have an accent or dialect off of the tip of my tongue.

Stacey: During an especially emotional scene, when you sound like you’re crying, it makes the listening cry, too. Are you really experiencing sadness when you’re doing that voice in that a moment?

Emily: Often, yes. Narrating a story is participating in the story to a certain degree—sometimes more than other times depending on the nature of the text, but certainly always being invested in the telling of it.

Stephanie: How many hours a week do you spend narrating? Do you have a day job?

Emily: I am a full time voiceover artist and a good portion of the work I do is in audiobooks, though I sometimes also do work in animation, commercial, and other aspects of voiceover. I love the format of audiobooks. Though it can be very taxing recording long sessions for long stretches of days, especially as someone who does this work full time, I’ve learned how to take care of myself so that doing this work that I love so much is sustainable. I can’t record for more than 5 or 6 hours a day before everything (voice, brain, body) starts going haywire. I am an independent contractor who runs my own business, so the hours and work itself vary widely.

I also perform physical theater or something else where I’m acting, singing, and/or dancing. I am also a teacher, mostly teaching yoga now.

Stephanie: What’s your favorite voice to do?

Emily: My favorite voice is one that I have yet to use in a book or show! It’s a shy young boy who has really bad allergies. I’m working on getting him into a project with some colleagues where he can be an animated character or a puppet.

Stacey: For people who want to go into the business of narrating audiobooks, what’s your best advice?

Emily: Be prepared to work hard: Take acting classes. Pay attention to how people sound and what makes them sound that way. Practice. Listen.

Stacey is giving away the audiobook of Under a Painted Sky, so you can see for yourself how lovely Emily’s voice is!

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Roger Czerneda Photography

Science fiction folks know. What they like and don’t like. Most particularly, they know what they love. All about what they love. I’ve been to conventions. Trust me. You can count me among them for I’m just as cautious about a “new” take on a beloved film or tv series. Hopeful, yes, because I want more. But cautious.

Because, seriously. What if They mess it up?

There’s no mysterious and plural They involved in my books. There’s just me. My publisher, quite rightly, expects me to know what I’m doing. My readers do too. So when I returned to write more about Morgan and Sira, I understood the stakes. I had to get it right. Me. All by myself.

Unless…I had help. What if I could find another set of expert eyeballs? Someone who’d recently reread the first six books of the series. Someone who cared about details. Someone who loved the story enough to tell me if I messed up their hopes for it.

Impossible, I thought, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Having received permission from my publisher to grant access to the unpublished manuscript, I set up a webpage with quiz questions drawn from the series, and launched a Betareader Competition. (You can try it yourself, with answers!)

EGAD! People leapt to participate. It was amazing. I took the top ten respondents and grilled them with a second, tougher quiz. At the end, I’d found my readers. I’m delighted to introduce Carla Mamone and Lyndsay Stuart, winners of a tough job and official betareaders of the first draft of This Gulf of Time and Stars.

Julie: Ladies, whatever made you do all this?

Carla: When I heard about the betareader competition, I thought it sounded really fun and interesting. I’m a very meticulous person, so I knew I could (hopefully) do a good job. Plus, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to work with one of my favourite authors.

Lyndsay: I was spending a lot of time stuck in a chair with a new baby and needed to set my mind to some work or go crazy.  It was a chance to use my powers for good.  Besides, how could I live with myself if I let the chance go by without even testing myself on the quiz?  

Who am I kidding? While all that is true, the draw was the chance to read the book early!  I’m terribly impatient and all the work was worth it!

Julie: I have to admit, it was wonderful knowing you were both so excited to do this. But it was work. What did you find the hardest part?

Carla: Not being able to tell anyone about the story. I love talking about the books that I am reading, so it was really hard not to talk about such an exciting story. My husband would ask me what was so funny or why I was crying and I couldn’t tell him about any of it. That was definitely the hardest part.

Lyndsay: The characters and the story aren’t mine so who am I to say when they aren’t right?! It was a bit tough to look at things a little more critically than usual – especially when the story was so interesting & exciting that the last thing I wanted to do was flip back and double check things! In a few places I had to highlight the text and admit that I didn’t understand the reasons underlying particular tensions or a character’s reaction to ::cough, cough:: circumstances.

Julie: Carla, you went above and beyond. I do believe I would have trusted your husband. But thank you for being so good about the non-disclosure thing. (Sorry about the tears, but it did help to know where the story had impact.) Lyndsay, when you showed me what you didn’t get, that was great. Very often I’d been obtuse, or found a different way to tweak. Now, I’ll feel less guilt once you’ve told us what was the most fun.

Carla: Not having to wait until November to see what happens next to Sira and Morgan. I also really enjoyed working with you and Lyn. You’re both so kind, I couldn’t ask for better people to work with.

Lyndsay: I bounce-floated around the house for a month, the surprises in the story are so good! Julie doesn’t just dish out surprises, she’s given us clues about the next book too! I have my guesses and can’t wait until you guys read the book. There is much to discuss.

Julie: Back at you, Carla. And the wait’s over now! One thing I’d asked, and you provided, were any bits you especially enjoyed. Thank you both for those.

The crucial factor, for me, in choosing a betareader wasn’t only expertise, for many people had that, but how well—and quickly–you could communicate my mistakes to me. Time was of the essence, as I had only the gap between my submitting first draft and the final galleys in which to make corrections. You were both amazing, but be honest, how hard was it to squeeze this into your lives?

Carla: The timing actually worked out perfectly. I was in the middle of planning my wedding and was getting pretty stressed and overwhelmed. Betareading gave me an excuse to take a break from wedding planning for a few weeks. So, after I was finished, I was excited to get back to planning and didn’t feel as overwhelmed.

Lyndsay: When this competition began I had a 2 month old baby and a 2 year old toddler, all my reading, studying and annotation couldn’t happen until nap time and I knew Julie was depending on me. Eek! I learned that diapers and reading tablets do not mix with pleasing results.

Thankfully it seems that my real world job experience reviewing written material paid off and for once I got to offer helpful suggestions on something I love. Is this what we call a Unicorn? It’s at least Cinderella getting to go to the ball.

Julie: Congratulations again, Carla! And how lovely being a reader was something good at the time. Whew! Lyndsay, as a person who started full time writing with a 6 month old and a 2 and a bit, I tip my hat. It’s hard enough to get to the bathroom, let alone think. Bravo, both.

Both, you see, because I decided to have two betareaders. (As well as a trusty standby third in case.) Why? Firstly, so you could, if you wanted, talk about me behind my back. The main reason, however, was because I saw from your quiz answers regarding the sample scene that you each identified different problems to bring to my attention. I’m not sure you knew that, but I knew I should have you both. How did you choose what to point out to me?

Carla: I tried to find anything that didn’t match the characters’ personalities or descriptions from the previous novels. I didn’t include anything that was specific only to Gulf, unless I felt that it was necessary.

Lyndsay: Hmm, how to answer without spoilers? For example, there was a section where the timeline had a tiny hiccup. A discrepancy of +/- a few hours doesn’t usually jog a reader out of the story, but in this book I had to point it out. It mattered because the characters can’t go out in the dark so the timing issue created an impossible situation.

Julie: Humbled, I was. Grateful, most of all. Thank you, Carla and Lyndsay, from the bottom of my heart. Gulf wouldn’t be the book it is without you, and you gave me the confidence to send it forth knowing those who’ve loved the series will continue to do so. It’s only fair to let you two have the last word!

Carla: I just want to thank you, Julie, for your wonderful books and for letting me be a part of this one. I had a great time!

Lyndsay: To Julie & DAW, I’m very glad to have gotten this opportunity and thankful to all who helped make it happen.

To you, Readers, I must say that at the end of Rift in the Sky Julie promised all of us we “ain’t seen nothing yet.” Julie knows exactly who and what we love and she’s filled this book up with all of it. Wondering what’s next to come is killing me! Until then it’ll be a big treat to read the final, polished version of This Gulf of Time and Stars.

Julie: Thanks again! A last, last word. (I get to do that.) Invaluable as my betareaders’ expert eyes proved–followed by those of my alert editor, copyeditor, and proof readers–please remember the responsibility for consistency and continuity in the Clan Chronicles is mine alone.

As it should be. Enjoy this new installment!

And now, the giveaway! Enter to win a free copy of This Gulf of Time and Stars, open to participants in the US and Canada. If audio books are more your thing, we’re giving away one of those, too! Listen now to a sample from the audiobook of This Gulf of Time and Stars narrated by Allyson Johnson, courtesy of audible.com

Cover Credit: Matt Stawicki

The Clan Chronicles is set in a far future with interstellar travel where the Trade Pact encourages peaceful commerce among a multitude of alien and Human worlds. The alien Clan, humanoid in appearance, have been living in secrecy and wealth on Human worlds, relying on their innate ability to move through the M’hir and bypass normal space. The Clan bred to increase that power, only to learn its terrible price: females who can’t help but kill prospective mates. Sira di Sarc is the first female of her kind facing that reality. With the help of a Human starship captain, Jason Morgan, Sira must find a morally acceptable solution before it’s too late. But with the Clan exposed, her time is running out. The Stratification trilogy follows Sira’s ancestor, Aryl Sarc, and shows how their power first came to be as well as how the Clan came to live in the Trade Pact. The Trade Pact trilogy is the story of Sira and Morgan, and the trouble facing the Clan. Reunification will conclude the series and answer, at last, #whoaretheclan.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Since 1997, Canadian author/editor Julie E. Czerneda has shared her love and curiosity about living things through her science fiction, writing about shapechanging semi-immortals, terraformed worlds, salmon researchers, and the perils of power. Her fourteenth novel from DAW Books was her debut fantasy, A Turn of Light, winner of the 2014 Aurora Award for Best English Novel, and now Book One of her Night`s Edge series. Her most recent publications: a special omnibus edition of her acclaimed near-future SF Species Imperative, as well as Book Two of Night`s Edge, A Play of Shadow, a finalist for this year’s Aurora. Julie’s presently back in science fiction, writing the finale to her Clan Chronicles series. Book #1 of Reunification, This Gulf of Time and Stars, will be released by DAW November 2015. For more about her work, visit www.czerneda.com or visit her on Facebook, Twitter, or Goodreads.

In the school market, the content of the books we sell is paramount- especially in Young Adult Fiction, where the topics don’t always fall in line with the values of the particular community. For this reason, many of our school boards have a review process in place to evaluate the suitability of materials being considered for purchase in a school.

Recently, a reviewer lodged a complaint about one of the submitted books because the story is loosely based on a political scandal that took place in our city, and the resemblance of the main character to the political person involved offended the reader to the point that it’s been deemed unsuitable for purchase by any school in that board. The author has previously published middle-grade novels, and is a journalist/editor as well, but isn’t what we’d call a recognizable name, or someone who will likely be reviewed by professional journals. What especially bothered me about this (other than feeling like the positive messages in the book were overlooked) is that I suspect that had the author been one of those big names, I don’t think that it would have been as offensive to the reader.

Whether you are a bookseller/educator/librarian or reader, there are certain authors whose books we purchase sight unseen. A new book by Mr/Ms Superstar is a no brainer, and we seldom stop to ask what it’s about. One such superstar author has frequently taken on headline-making subjects, and the books are generally well-executed. The author is frequently applauded for having a finger on the pulse, and appears on multiple awards lists on an almost annual basis. Whether or not this superstar author would ever write about this particular subject is besides the point, but this got me thinking about whether or not these authors are a bit like the Emperor from the popular Andersen fairy tale.

In the fairy tale, two weavers promise the Emperor a suit of clothes that will be invisible to anyone who is unfit for their position, stupid or incompetent. When the Emperor parades around naked in front of his subjects, everybody is afraid to tell him that there is new suit, and instead praise the non-existent suit of clothes. All except for the one child who has the courage to call him out.

Publishing is a business, and just like any business, it has to make money. If a publisher is fortunate enough to have a John Green or a James Patterson in their stable, of course they want to ensure that the author is well-treated and happy, (again, just like any business does with their clients) but perhaps it’s gone too far to the point of publishers, reviewers & readers alike being held hostage by these emperor status authors, making them unwilling or unable to criticize something for fear of seeming stupid or incompetent or of being criticized by the author’s fans on Social Media- especially when the same book by a lesser known or less popular author would be torn to shreds.

I’m not suggesting that all of these authors are like the emperor and not deserving of their superstar status, but my question is whether or not we allow them more slack because of that reputation, and if in doing so, we’re doing the author, the book, and the readers a great injustice.

This week, JJ and Kelly talk to Mallory Hayes, a book publicist! She answers a few questions about publicity and gives some advice. Also, once again, EVERYTHING IS STILL HAMILTON. Stay tuned to the end for bloopers where Mallory and JJ attempt—very poorly—to rap.

Show Notes (TL;DL)

• The difference between marketing and publicity is that marketing is coverage you pay for whereas publicity is coverage you don’t pay for (e.g. ads fall under marketing, pitching for reviews in publication is publicity)
• Publicists have media contacts that an author may or may not have, and can leverage their contacts to get their authors more or better exposure.
• We covered some promotional stuff in last week’s podcast!
• When in doubt, ASK! Publicity can differ from imprint to imprint, house to house, publisher to publisher. You never know until you ask.
• Promotion/publicity generally starts about 6 months before publication with ARCs or galleys going out, ramping up as you get closer and closer to publication. Don’t start too soon, or else people will forget.
• The number one thing you should not do: respond to reviews. Just…don’t do it.

What We’re Reading/Books Discussed

• If Hermione Were the Main Character of Harry Potter (A.K.A. Hermione Granger and the Goddamn Patriarchy)
• A Harry Potter Where Hermione Doesn’t Do Anyone’s Homework for Them at The Toast
• Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
• Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen
• Big Magic, The Signature of All Things, and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
• On Writing by Stephen King
• Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer (which Sooz recommended on PubCrawl!)
• Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
• Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (A.K.A. J.K. Rowling)
• The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
• The Little Stranger, Tipping the Velvet, and Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Creative Endeavors

• Mallory is writing a YA novel!
• Kelly and JJ are gearing up for NaNoWriMo (add us at bookishchick and sjaejones, respectively)

Some more NaNoWriMo tips

• EVERYTHING CAN BE FIXED.
• Fixing is easier than creating from scratch.
• Write and DON’T LOOK BACK, DON’T LOOK BACK.

Off-Menu Recommendations

• Chef
• Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries
• The X-Files
• Amadeus
• YES. HAMILTON. AGAIN.

Hey guys! Kat here Today, I’m bringing you an interview with Kamilla Benko, an editor for Paper Lantern Lit who is also publishing her MG novel, THE UNICORN HUNT, with Bloomsbury!

1. Hey Kamilla! Describe THE UNICORN HUNT for me in 3 words.

Wish-full, Wonder-full, Sister-full. (You didn’t say they had to be real words!)

2. Okay, now you can describe it in a sentence or two.

The UNICORN HUNT explores that idea that magic exists in anything that requires creativity as well as in family relationships—specifically, sisterly bonds.

3. Where did the original idea for the UNICORN HUNT come from? 

I was inspired by two things: a painting and a tapestry. When I was eight, my aunt painted a picture of two girls—me and my sister—stumbling upon two unicorns in a sunlit meadow. It was the most magical thing I had ever seen, and I always wished I could step inside the brush strokes.

Then when I was 22, I went to The Cloisters in New York City and saw the Unicorn Tapestries that depict a medieval unicorn hunt. These beautiful images are woven of silk and gold, but the milk-white unicorn is covered in blood. There are seven tapestries all together, but one of the panels has been torn and only fragments remain. I asked myself, “Why would anyone want to destroy a tapestry of unicorns?” and by trying to answer that question, The Unicorn Hunt was born.

4. Share a bit about your path to publishing. Have you always wanted to write, in addition to becoming an editor?

Funnily enough, I always wanted to be an editor, not a writer! At the age of 11, I was reading in the field behind my great aunts’ house, and this thought came to me: Someone thought that I should read this book, and I want to be the person who helps put stories out there. I didn’t know until I asked my mom that what I was describing was called editing/publishing.

I was lucky to land a number of internships during college: at Foundry Literary + Media, Simon & Schuster UK, and Viking Children’s Books. Later I was hired as an editorial assistant at HarperCollins, and now I work as an editor at Paper Lantern Lit. Things came full circle for me at PLL, when authors I had read as Stephen Barbara’s intern—Lauren Oliver and Lexa Hillyer—were now my bosses, and Stephen became my agent.

I find nothing more intimidating than a blank page, and as an editor, I never had to face them. But as I worked with Lauren and Lexa, both writers as well as editors, I was inspired to write down my own stories for the first time. With their encouragement, I drafted the first chapter of The Unicorn Hunt…and then I found I couldn’t stop writing!

5. Fill in the blank: “Fans of _____  by ______  will love THE UNICORN HUNT because… “

Fans of THE PRINCESS ACADEMY by SHANNON HALE will love THE UNICORN HUNT because both follow young girls who feel ill-prepared to face the shifting world around them and must rely on an inner strength they didn’t know they had. Plus, there’s a pinch of magic in both!

6. Okay, last question! What’s one Middle Grade book that should be mandatory reading for all adults?

Ugh, that’s so tough! I’m going to cheat and give you two.  One is from my childhood that helped me as I grew up and perfectly captures children’s frustration of not being in control of their own destiny, and one that I read now, as an adult, that I wish I could have read as a kid. The first is Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine and the second is The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin.

Thanks for joining us today, Kamilla!

Any of our readers dream of being a double-threat and edit as well as write books?  

KAMILLA BENKO spent most of her childhood climbing into wardrobes, trying to step through mirrors, and plotting to run away to an art museum. After interning and working for several publishing houses, she now dreams up stories as an editor for Paper Lantern Lit. She currently lives in Brooklyn with her bookshelves, teapot, and hiking boots.

This week, Kelly and JJ explain what happens after you get published, including print formats, the life cycle of a book, and publicity and promotion. Plus, a NaNoWriMo pep talk!

Show Notes

• A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing: Remainders by J. A. Konrath
• What Are Remainders? by Rachelle Gardner
• Self-Promo and Marketing Materials That Work by Erin Bowman
• Do You Have to Say “Yes” to Everything? Sherlocks v. Watsons by Stacey Lee and Stephanie Garber
• Making the Most of Social Media Networks as a Writer by Erin Bowman
• Exciting New York Times Bestseller List Changes Mean Your Favorite New YA Books Are About To Get More Attention at Bustle
• The Times it is a-changing, part deus by Michael Bourret

We’ve written quite a few posts on the topics of promotion, self-promotion, and social media here at PubCrawl, so browse at your convenience!

TL;DL Version

• There are different print formats: hardcover, trade paperback, and mass market.
• Books can get remaindered, which means that the publisher is selling off the remaining stock of a title at a loss to make room at their warehouses for new titles. This does not necessarily mean your book is going out of print.
• The best way to promote books is to make personal connections, i.e. DON’T (solely) BE A SHILL FOR YOUR OWN WORK.
• The New York Times bestseller list is…complicated.

Creative Endeavors

Both Kelly and JJ are doing NaNoWriMo this year! Add us as writing buddies and keep us accountable! We are bookishchick and sjaejones, respectively.

Some NaNoWriMo tips

JJ won NaNoWriMo 13, and then went on to sell that novel, so she feels she’s got a leg to stand on. Some tips and links:

• What should you write about? Anything you want, but if you’re stuck for plot, retelling something can help!
• Pick a story with a small element of “wish fulfillment”. No judgement! Writing from a place of subconscious desire really helps you with word count.
• The Big Idea: How to Turn an Idea into a Book (a post I wrote about finding what to write about)
• More posts on Ideas on PubCrawl!

Books Discussed/What We’re Reading

• Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (on audio)
• The Rose Society by Marie Lu
• Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
• The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore
• The Burning Sky and The Perilous Sea by Sherry Thomas
• The works of Courtney Milan
• The Raider by Jude Deveraux
• For My Lady’s Heart, Shadowheart, and The Shadow and the Star by Laura Kinsale
• Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
• Again, Georgette Heyer!
• The works of Sarah MacLean (the series JJ keeps calling Fallen Angels but is actually called Rules of Scoundrels)

Off-Menu Recommendations

• Secret Garden, Enchanted Forest, and Lost Ocean by Johanna Basford (grown-up coloring books!)
• Dear Bitches, Smart Authors podcast
• Girls Next Door webcomic by Pika-la-Cynique
• And as per usual, EVERYTHING IS STILL HAMILTON. Both Kelly and JJ are loving “Right Hand Man” at the moment.

Hey all, Hannah here! Last week, I spoke in depth about how to summarize your novel for a query. The month before, I gave some tips on little ways to take yours to the next level. Today, I’m going to go into a bit more depth about some of the larger mistakes I often see that might give agents a reason to reject a query.

This is a hard truth: many agents receive hundreds of queries a week, and yours will, someday, be among them. When an agent reads so many queries every day (if they are lucky enough to find the time among all of their other responsibilities), it sometimes becomes easier to find reasons to reject a query, rather than reasons not to.

The number biggest reason a query gets rejected, aside from simply not fitting an agent’s list or tastes? A query that betrays poor to no research. So without further ado, here are some mistakes I regularly see that tell me a querier has jumped the gun.

Mistake: Telling instead of showing.

Yes, this is true in queries as well as fiction. Every so often I’ll see a query that has a very short summary, often even more like a logline, detailing the very broad plot points of the story, followed by many paragraphs explaining character motivation and themes.

For example:

When a girl and a boy are thrust into an emotional situation, they are forced to confront the realities of friendship and go on a search for the meaning of life.

I wanted to write this book because the themes of lost love and identity speak to me, and, as someone who has experienced a terrible breakup, I felt I was the best person to tell this story. Michelle and Tony are best friends but I wanted to drive an emotional wedge between them in the form of a third love interest.

Etc.

This tendency comes from not knowing how to summarize your story. Rather than over-explaining to the point of confusion, the story is under-explained to the point of being too broad. Anyone who still doubts their ability to summarize their novel well should check out last week’s post for guidance. Because an agent should be able to tell quite clearly from the stakes you outline in the summary what your character’s motivations are.

Mistake: Explaining this is the first book you’ve written/that it’s recently completed OR calling this your debut/yourself a debut writer

This is a mistake because it highlights you as possibly inexperienced whether you are or want to be framed that way. It isn’t pertinent information – it changes nothing about your story, how you summarize your story, or anything within your bio. The only thing it does is tell me that there’s a possibility you haven’t done your research.

There is no need to point out if this is your first book or your fiftieth. Let the work speak for itself.

Mistake: Confusing “personalizing your query” for “restating the submission page on the website”

This actually a very easy mistake to make. We often see advice that suggests personalizing a query by telling the agent why you chose him or her. This shows the agent that you didn’t just mass email your query – you took time and put thought into who you contacted.

But what I often see instead of “I noticed quirky, adventurous middle grade on your #MSWL, and felt my manuscript fit the bill”, is: “I went to your website and saw that you are looking for thrillers and upmarket fiction and romance and that you enjoy working with new authors. Therefore I am emailing you.”

Here’s the thing: the agent knows what’s on the website. Don’t waste valuable query space repeating it. That space should be for you and your story. And if you don’t have something more specific to personalize with, that’s okay! If you chose the agent based on what the website says he or she wants, just start with your hook and go from there.

Mistake: Naming more than three characters.

A long, confusing summary often gets that way when too many characters are named in a query. The moment you name a character is the moment you tell a reader that character is important. Perhaps you have more than one main character – maybe you have five, or seven! It doesn’t matter. Pick your most important character, the one whose struggle your book is ultimately about, and focus your query on him or her. After that, only name those who absolutely must be named in relation to the summary. If you can help it, try not to name more than three characters. The person reading your query will (hopefully) be far less confused.

One of the things I struggled with when querying was exactly this problem – knowing who to name and who to leave out. But trust me: it can be done.

Mistake: Using bad comp titles.

This one is actually really hard to get right, in my opinion, and if you aren’t entirely certain, just don’t use them. Do they help? Only if they’re spot on.

Using books that are huge sellers/extremely well-loved is generally a no-no. Why? Because comparing yourself to J.K. Rowling or Suzanne Collins or Stephen King goes back to the haughty or poorly researched issue. It’s much safer to use titles that do/have done well enough and are known, but not so huge that you look arrogant or ignorant of other good books. It’s also generally best to use something more current – more than a couple years old and they begin to lose relevance.

See? Told you it was tough.

Another question I sometimes get: can a querier use TV shows or films as comp titles? The answer is…yes and no. Tread lightly here. I wouldn’t use more than one TV/film comp title, and if you do, it’s often helpful to balance it with a book title. Lots of agents feel differently in this category – some hate when queriers use TV/film titles, and some really like it. If you aren’t sure, do your research. Check out an agent’s twitter, interviews they have done, etc. If there are no answers to be found and you aren’t 110% certain of the titles you’ve chosen? Skip them. This is another area where it’s best to err on the side of caution.

It’s true that there are writers who make mistakes like these and still get agents. All of publishing is subjective – what bothers one agent may not bother another. The format one agent loves, another might hate. But being informed and well-researched shows in a query, no matter who you’re querying. And that is far more valuable than you realize.

Once again, I hope this has been useful. Good luck to everyone in their querying endeavors!