Quite the Life (and all in Times New Roman 10pt!)
Long ago and far away I presented my company’s research at conferences far and wide.
One such presentation (from 2007, so dated, I’m sure) dealt with marketing to men and women, and specifically the differences necessary to get the attention of one, the other, and both.
Here’s a podcast of that presentation, ressurected because it’s mentioned in “Sex on the Beach” chapter of That Think You do.
Enjoy!
I received a rejection on Meteor Man last week. The editor wrote
I can appreciate the attention to detail in your world, but without knowing about the world or characters or what’s going on, the terminology bogs me down a bit too much.
The comment intrigued me because no first reader commented anything similar. Even first first readers – those unfamiliar with my work – didn’t make similar comments. I often gets comments about my world-building but they tend to be more like “Amazing!”, “Rich!”, “Vividly detailed!”, and “Immersive!” (one of my personal favorites).
When I do live readings of works-in-progress, I sometimes get a comment along the lines of “You do more world-building in ten pages than most authors do in the first hundred” and I should spread things out.
I ask in return, “Would you continue reading? Do you want to find out more?”
Unanimous yeses often accompanied by listeners leaning forward in their seats and sometimes by outstretched hands seeking a copy.
All of which tells me I did an excellent job world-building. If people were overwhelmed to the point of being numb, they’d back away rather than continue forward.
Two Recent Classes…
I’ve long suspected that storycrafting and storytelling aren’t the paramount reasons work is accepted or rejected.
Sadly, this was confirmed by two different classes I took over the past few weeks. The classes were from different sources and a little over a week apart. One class had an agent and a publisher, the other had two magazine editors.
I take such classes because I want to understand what got Story A accepted and Story B rejected. A con panel with editors explaining what stood out pro and con in stories from their slushpiles would be gold to me. I’d pay serious dollars to attend such a panel session.
Me, I look for common threads in everything from character to theme, action to plot, … Sometimes the common thread is obvious, other times…?
And always it comes down to “How come this and not that? Give me a list of what works and what doesn’t so I’ll have a better idea how to perfect my own work for publication.” (by the way, two books that do a great job of this are Barry Longyear’s “Science Fiction Writer’s Workshop – I: An Introduction to Fiction Mechanics” and On Writing Science Fiction: The Editors Strike Back).
Want to know what I found out?
Greetings! I’m your friendly, neighborhood Threshold Guardian. This is a protected post. Protected posts in the My Work, Marketing, and StoryCrafting categories require a subscription (starting at 1$US/month) to access. Protected posts outside those categories require a General (free) membership.
Members and Subscribers can LogIn. Non members can join. Non-protected posts (there are several) are available to everyone.
Want to learn more about why I use a subscription model? Read More ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes Enjoy!
A while back I discussed the value of book reviews with some author friends. One-self pubbed author offered some (to me) amazing information and I share it here with the big caveat (from the source) “Please take nothing here as gospel.”
First, everything offered is based on research and articles read over several years, and a lot of informed guesswork.
The above is an old graphic, the thresholds have changed and it over simplifies. It’s from an article way back, one of several that all agreed in principle on how it worked, but varied hugely on numbers, the list offered below is also an oversimplification and about the average threshold numbers from memory.
There are a shit ton of articles out there, but a fair few of them are screwed by people trying to sell services, ‘we can help you beat amazons algorithm, just send us money’, etc. As such I am always a little dubious of their ‘facts’ though the concessions of those facts adds up to what is described.
The best of these is KDP rocket, and it’s a one off fee with a whole lot of support, but it is also a rabbit hole.
If your goal is improving book sales through reviews… Continue reading “Book Reviews, Goodreads, and Amazon”
Just under three years ago I posted Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes. I had both Patreon and this blog at the time, Patreon’s interface got more challenging than it was worth, and over time I moved everything here and closed down my Patreon account completely.
Most people supporting me on Patreon followed me over (thanks!). Some didn’t, explained their reasoning, I honored it, and so it goes.
Recently…oh, pretty much this year…more and more people contact me about how useful my blog is to them, what a resource it is to them, how informative it is to them, and I’m thrilled because I enjoy helping people.
And at a certain point, some people – not all people, only some – take advantage.
It’s one thing when people take advantage and know they’re doing so. Such people are abusive and are generally hollow, with little real depth. Avoid them. They’ll suck you dry, spit out what’s left, and move on to their next victim.
It’s a completely different thing when people don’t know they’re taking advantage of a situation. Let them know, point out what they’re doing, they’ll make amends.
And if they don’t? For whatever reason they don’t? See two paragraphs above re “It’s one thing…”
Principles
Susan and I ran a successful business for years. We ran it according to some Principles we learned during our walk upon the planet, through the cosmos, and elsewhere.
Allow me to share two which pertain to this:
What’s Changing
Most of the Marketing and StoryCrafting posts now require either free or paid membership. I’ve modified the Critiques charge structure so that membership at any paying level gets 50% off the cost of critiques.
Have a challenge with the For-Pay model? Let me know what it is
I’ll give you a Muse subscription account for free. I’ve done it for several people. But be prepared to offer serious comments on my posts and join in the discussion, be one of my first readers, leave reviews on my books on Amazon or Goodreads, or offer something in exchange.
My first rumination can be found at Ruminations Part I – “Your eyes are completely healed”
My second at Ruminations Part 2 – Numbers lead to informed decisions
Rumination Part 3-1 is Ruminations Part 3 – Sensitivity Readers, Part 1
Rumination Part 3-2 is Ruminations Part 3 – Sensitivity Readers, Part 2
Rumination Part 3-3 is Ruminations Part 3 – Sensitivity Readers, Part 3 – I Take a “Writing the Other” class
Rumination Part 3-4 is Ruminations Part 3 – Sensitivity Readers, Part 4 – Is your character POC or POM?
Ruminations Part 4 is Ruminations Part 4 – I can’t talk to women anymore
Ruminations Part 5 is Ruminations Part 5 – Joseph Carrabis (was/could be/might have been) (Personal Pronouns in Fun and Earnest)
Long, long ago I read Robert Silverberg’s NightWings and loved it. I reread it in college, again in my thirties, in my fifties, and it’s on my shelf for yet another read as I type this.
My latest version has a new introduction by Silverberg and is the genesis of this rumination.
Personal Setbacks
Silverberg mentions some personal losses in his new introduction; his house caught fire and he lost many works in progress (this was in the 1960s. “Backup” was a carbon copy you kept in another room). He sent an editor a rough version of NightWings. Silverberg lived in New York City, the editor’s offices were in New York City, people knew each other in the NYC science fiction/fantasy writing community, and the editor, knowing Silverberg’s situation, offered him LOTS of money for the rough draft.
Silverberg describes it as “…the sort of favor that one professional would automatically grant another in a time of crisis.”
Continue reading “Ruminations Part 6 – Professionalize this, Buddy”