To get a novel published you normally have to write a your novel first. If you're famous or dead you can maybe get a ghost writer write it. But that's no fun. To write you have to actually write. Not just plan your novel or think about it or put it off.
To be a writer you have to write.
This is not as simple as it sounds for many people. They have trouble getting ideas. Or they feel intimidated by the blank page or virgin computer screen. Or they find it excruciatingly difficult. If you fall into this group you should consider a different set of activities.
To move writers' careers along, is what I am saying helpful?
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Getting published in the traditional way, part 1.
If you're a fiction writer you normally have to write a your novel first. This is not always the case. If you are famous otherwise or an established author you can get a book contract with a proposal or a discussion over coffee.
But if you're like > 99% of first-time writers, you have to write the novel first. This is a daunting task. You are a creator of a product and before you can get published you have to have something to publish.
If you're writing non-fiction it's different. To be continued.
To move writers' careers along, is what I am saying helpful?
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
But if you're like > 99% of first-time writers, you have to write the novel first. This is a daunting task. You are a creator of a product and before you can get published you have to have something to publish.
If you're writing non-fiction it's different. To be continued.
To move writers' careers along, is what I am saying helpful?
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Option 1: Get Published the Traditional Way
Your first option of getting published is to go the traditional route. Here is the sequence of events that has to happen before your book becomes a big seller:
Step 1: Write a book.
Step 2: Interest an agent.
Step 3: Get the agent to sell your book to a publisher.
Step 4: Get the publisher to get it into a bookstore.
Step 5: Have lots of people buy it.
This is the publishing system of Dan Brown, Stephen King, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, etc. This industry John Steinbeck said made horse racing look like a stable business. This industry I have dubbed the Literary-Industrial Complex.
I'll talk more about what you have to do to make this sequence of events come to pass.
To move writers' careers along, is what I am saying helpful?
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
Step 1: Write a book.
Step 2: Interest an agent.
Step 3: Get the agent to sell your book to a publisher.
Step 4: Get the publisher to get it into a bookstore.
Step 5: Have lots of people buy it.
This is the publishing system of Dan Brown, Stephen King, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, etc. This industry John Steinbeck said made horse racing look like a stable business. This industry I have dubbed the Literary-Industrial Complex.
I'll talk more about what you have to do to make this sequence of events come to pass.
To move writers' careers along, is what I am saying helpful?
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
If you want to become an author, you have three choices
If you have written a book and wish to get it published you have three options.
Option 1: Go the traditional route, i.e. find an agent, have the agent find a publisher, have the publisher put it in a book store, sell the book to the public.
Option 2: Publish the book yourself. There are lots of choices right now.
Option 3: Have a literary broker help you get published.
I'll talk about each option in the coming months.
To move writers' careers along, is what I am saying helpful?
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
Option 1: Go the traditional route, i.e. find an agent, have the agent find a publisher, have the publisher put it in a book store, sell the book to the public.
Option 2: Publish the book yourself. There are lots of choices right now.
Option 3: Have a literary broker help you get published.
I'll talk about each option in the coming months.
To move writers' careers along, is what I am saying helpful?
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Moving Toward a New World of Publishing
We are currently in the middle of a revolution in the way information is created, delivered, and defined. Who decides what art is, what role consumers of art should play in its creation, and how everything gets done are in the middle of a vast and deep transformation.
The literary-industrial complex is losing some of its way. It won't go away altogether because it is sometimes useful. But we are seeing a smushing together of creators of art and consumers of art.
How this is going to sort itself out is anybody's guess. However, the ability of us writers to determine our own fate and define art as we see it is growing rapidly. We no longer have to rely on the way others see art and fit ourselves to it and beg for their recognition of our art.
More on this next time.
To move writers' careers along, is what I am saying helpful?
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
The literary-industrial complex is losing some of its way. It won't go away altogether because it is sometimes useful. But we are seeing a smushing together of creators of art and consumers of art.
How this is going to sort itself out is anybody's guess. However, the ability of us writers to determine our own fate and define art as we see it is growing rapidly. We no longer have to rely on the way others see art and fit ourselves to it and beg for their recognition of our art.
More on this next time.
To move writers' careers along, is what I am saying helpful?
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
So What's So Bad About the Literary-Industrial Complex?
Nothing inherently. But when the thing gets to the point where new writers are stifled for reasons not related to the quality of their witting things get dicey. Hemingway was about to give up when he caught a lucky break. Where would we be now without Hemingway?
The literary-industrial complex tells you that if you don't published, your work is S#!T. Why do we care about this? Well for a lot of reasons.
When it pretends it's working for you, takes your money, then tells you you're work is crap it's bad.
When it solicits your work then tells you it hasn't had time to read it because it gets so many query letter it's bad.
When your attempts to publish yourself is called going to a vanity press--as if published authors aren't vain--it's bad.
When it calls you names it's bad. When it dominates the very choices you make it's bad.
When it affects the language you use and the way you think it's bad.
Nothing's inherantly bad about the Military-Industrial Complex either. But when it militarizes the society which feeds it and constricts choice it's bad.
To move writers' careers along, is what I am saying helpful?
To get published as a Sherpa writer, contact me at 215 219 5825 or twb2@verizon.net.
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
The literary-industrial complex tells you that if you don't published, your work is S#!T. Why do we care about this? Well for a lot of reasons.
When it pretends it's working for you, takes your money, then tells you you're work is crap it's bad.
When it solicits your work then tells you it hasn't had time to read it because it gets so many query letter it's bad.
When your attempts to publish yourself is called going to a vanity press--as if published authors aren't vain--it's bad.
When it calls you names it's bad. When it dominates the very choices you make it's bad.
When it affects the language you use and the way you think it's bad.
Nothing's inherantly bad about the Military-Industrial Complex either. But when it militarizes the society which feeds it and constricts choice it's bad.
To move writers' careers along, is what I am saying helpful?
To get published as a Sherpa writer, contact me at 215 219 5825 or twb2@verizon.net.
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
On Commas
Having come away from reading Cormac McCarthy, who believes in no punctuation except periods at the end of sentences, to Scott Smith, author of A Simple Plan, a great title by the way, who uses every punctuation known to man or woman including semicolons, I've decided that less is more.
I don't go as far as McCarthy, because the reader has to follow the book, but get rid of as many commas as you can. They slow the reader down and mitigate mood.
Never mitigate mood.
To move writers' careers along, is what I am saying helpful?
To get published as a Sherpa writer, contact me at 215 219 5825 or twb2@verizon.net.
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
I don't go as far as McCarthy, because the reader has to follow the book, but get rid of as many commas as you can. They slow the reader down and mitigate mood.
Never mitigate mood.
To move writers' careers along, is what I am saying helpful?
To get published as a Sherpa writer, contact me at 215 219 5825 or twb2@verizon.net.
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
More on the Literary-Industrial Complex
Why do we care about this? Well for a lot of reasons.
First, the thing has produced a lot of great work. Look at the movies we get to see. The books we read. The poetry we hear. There are a lot of wonderful authors out there who have given us all millions of hours of absolute ecstasy.
We've learned a lot about the world we wouldn't have known. He met some characters we wouldn't have met otherwise. We were, and continue to be, moved in ways we would not have been otherwise.
When Carl Sandburg calls Chicago the city of broad shoulders, hog butcher to the world, these are images that stay with us and shape the way we think.
So is this bad? Not in itself, no.
To move writers' careers along, is what I am saying helpful?
To get published as a Sherpa writer, contact me at 215 219 5825 or twb2@verizon.net.
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
First, the thing has produced a lot of great work. Look at the movies we get to see. The books we read. The poetry we hear. There are a lot of wonderful authors out there who have given us all millions of hours of absolute ecstasy.
We've learned a lot about the world we wouldn't have known. He met some characters we wouldn't have met otherwise. We were, and continue to be, moved in ways we would not have been otherwise.
When Carl Sandburg calls Chicago the city of broad shoulders, hog butcher to the world, these are images that stay with us and shape the way we think.
So is this bad? Not in itself, no.
To move writers' careers along, is what I am saying helpful?
To get published as a Sherpa writer, contact me at 215 219 5825 or twb2@verizon.net.
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
What is the Literary-Industrial Complex?
The literary-industrial complex is that cluster of institutions, organizations, and individuals that determines who gets published and who doesn't. It's been called the the literary establishment. One writer called it "the machine."
The existence of a literary-industrial establishment affects our ability to feel empowerment, to touch others, to make a difference in our writing in other people's lives.
How this relates to the military-industrial complex, we'll examine subsequently.
To move writers' careers along, is what I am saying helpful?
To get published as a Sherpa writer, contact me at 215 219 5825 or twb2@verizon.net.
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
The existence of a literary-industrial establishment affects our ability to feel empowerment, to touch others, to make a difference in our writing in other people's lives.
How this relates to the military-industrial complex, we'll examine subsequently.
To move writers' careers along, is what I am saying helpful?
To get published as a Sherpa writer, contact me at 215 219 5825 or twb2@verizon.net.
To read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.
If you want info on buying or selling a home, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
To receive Sherpa tips on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
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