There’s nothing quite like it. That feeling of walking into the bookstore and seeing your name on the cover of a new release sitting there on the shelf. It’s pretty damn magical, if I do say so myself.

But there’s also nothing quite like the feeling you get when, after waiting for weeks, sometimes months, you finally get a response from the editor or agent to whom you submitted your latest work and…it’s another rejection. Even worse, there isn’t any helpful feedback – no sense of where you went wrong or what you can do to make it better. How are you supposed to improve if no one is telling you what you’re doing wrong? How are you supposed to make yourself stand out from the thousands of other submissions they are receiving?

I know, you say to yourself, I’ll sign up for one of those live workshops. One taught by a team of successful authors. Surely they can help me, you think. But every workshop you look at costs hundreds of dollars per session, never mind what it will cost to travel and stay in the hotel for the week. By the time you’re done you’ve spent well over a thousand dollars. Who can afford that?

There has to be a better way. You know what? There is.

It’s called the Summer Writing Intensive and it’s taught by two successful authors, Jon F Merz and Joe Nassise, who have sold more than thirty books between them in the last eight years to publishers such as Simon & Schuster, Harlequin/Gold Eagle, Kensington, St. Martin’s Press, HarperCollins and Tor.

You want to be confident the next time you submit your work. You want that submission to generate interest; for that editor or agent to sit up and take notice. Ideally, that interest will turn into an offer of publication and eventually, later on down the road, you’ll be the one walking into that bookstore looking for that first sight of your new book on the shelves, waiting for a legion of crazed readers to buy it.

The Summer Writing Intensive can help get you there. Best of all, you can do it from your own home at a fraction of the cost of other writing retreats.

The workshop consists of eight live webinars; each focusing on a key element of the writing craft that you need to know in order for your manuscript stand out from the rest and to make your career what you want it to be.

Each webinar session will be an hour long and will include handouts and real-world examples to illustrate the point of each lesson. As a participant you’ll be able to ask questions and interact during all of the sessions, allowing you the opportunity to learn from your fellow participants as well as from the instructors. Transcripts of each session will be available after the workshop for you to refer back to at a later date, so you’ll always have the material on hand when you need it.

Here’s a quick look at the sessions and what you’ll be focusing on in each one:

Story Structure: Crafting a Plot that Begs the Reader to Keep Reading

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• How proper structure is necessary for a story to work
• Why conflict is the key to any story, regardless of genre
• The three pillars of plot that support your story
• The best ways to build complications that make sense and increase the conflict

Living, Breathing Characters: Make Your Heroes and Villains Come Alive

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• Techniques to design and execute character arcs in your stories
• How to give your heroes larger-than-life qualities
• The proper use of backstory and how to provide context to your characters’ actions
• How to create villains that your readers love to hate

Pacing: Getting to the Climax is Just as Important as Having a Good One

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• How to craft an effective hook to open your story
• The importance of adding tension to every page
• Why so many books sag in the middle – and what you can do to prevent it from happening to yours
• Five ways to craft a knock-out ending

Action Scenes: It’s a Gun Fight not a Ballet

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• The basics of a fight: emotion, adrenaline, and tactics
• Armed and unarmed fighting for writers
• Structuring your fight scene so it leaves the reader breathless
• Does it make sense? Understanding anatomy and how the body responds to being punched, pulled and crushed

Revision: Sharpen that Knife, Baby!

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• How proper structure can keep your revision work to a minimum
• Specific techniques to organize your revision work so that you don’t waste unnecessary time
• How to know what to revise and what to leave alone
• Ways to polish the good stuff to make it great

Proposals: In Order to Sell, it has to Sing

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• The three key elements of a great proposal
• How to write a synopsis that grabs them by the throat and won’t let go
• How to write a query letter an agent or editor will actually read – then act upon!
• Ways to craft a proposal package that will have your editor or agent wanting more

Social Media Marketing: Using Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to Build Your Career and Promote Your Work

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• What’s behind the Facebook craze and why it’s important to you
• The difference between a solid Twitter presence and a poor one
• How using LinkedIn can enhance your career and provide opportunities you might have otherwise missed
• How to measure and monitor your social media impact

Digital Editions: Stop Leaving Money on the Table

In this lesson you’ll learn:

• What you need to know before putting digital editions of your work up for sale
• Tips and tricks to properly format your book for sale on the Kindle
• How to get format and upload your book for sale on the iPad
• Ways to promote and publicize your digital editions to make the most of your offerings

The techniques Joe and Jon will be teaching in the workshop have helped them write and sell successful novels in a variety of genres – here’s just a sample of what they’ve published recently:

Better yet, the workshop has been designed with the would-be author’s pocketbook in mind. You get:

• Eight sessions focused on improving your craft
• Handouts and real-world examples to help you put the techniques into action
• A written transcript of each session
• Feedback and advice from two bestselling writers

All for just $125.00

The workshop begins July 21^st and runs through Sept 8^th, meeting each Wednesday night. Sessions start at 9:00 pm EST and run for an hour. (If you have to miss a session, the workshop transcript and materials can be sent to you following the session.)

If you’re thinking about submitting your work in the next few months, you don’t want to miss the Summer Writing Intensive. We’re limited to 100 slots, so get your registration in early!

Yesterday, fellow writer Joe Konrath announced that the next book in his Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels mystery series, Shaken, would be published through the Amazon Encore program.

What makes this interesting, for those of you who might not be familiar with Joe’s career, is that the last six books in the Jack Daniels series had been published in hardcover to a fair degree of success by Hyperion. Joe is also an author who has taken advantage of the ability to make his backlist available to readers via the Amazon Kindle and has been having great financial success with that strategy, earning royalties of more than $4000 per month as a result.

Having already had success taking matters into his own hands with regard to his backlist, Joe apparently decided to pursue the same course when New York passed on the eight book in his popular series. As he says on his blog, “Traditional publishers had a chance to buy Shaken last year. They passed on it. Their loss. Their big loss. Their big, huge, monumental, epic fail.”

As far as I know, this is the first time that the Amazon Encore program has been used to publish original fiction, Previously, it has republished works that had been previously self published by the authors themselves.

Joe has been vocal in his stance that publishers need to change in order to keep up with the changing face of publishing, given the rise of ebooks, ereaders, and the many ways authors now have to bring their works to the readers who enjoy them. While he won’t discuss the specifics of the deal itself, Joe does say “that my terrific agents have been involved from the very beginning of negotiations, and have been essential in getting me a very favorable contract. I couldn’t be happier.” Given what he publicly admits to making with his self-published Kindle books, I imagine Amazon must have cut a nice deal with him for him to say he “couldn’t be happier.”

I admit I’m intrigued by this development. I’d certainly love it if my Kindle books would sell as well as Joe’s are selling currently and I suspect that this move will really boost his sales, both for his current titles and for Shaken itself. Being on the front end of a big new wave is always a good thing. Is it sustainable? I don’t know. Will Joe do this for the rest of his books? I don’t know.

I do know it will be interesting to watch and see.

Tell me, what kind of implications do you see resulting from something like this?

Update 11:15 PST: Tim Holman, Publisher of Orbit, responds to questions similar to those I proposed on a post at John Scalzi’s blog, Whatever. I’ve copied his answers at the bottom of this post for those following along here.

Yesterday Orbit, the science fiction and fantasy imprint of Hachette Book Group, announced a digital short short fiction program for their authors that would begin later this year. To quote from the press release…

Orbit (US) has offered to publish digital editions of all original short fiction written by its authors. The digital editions will be distributed widely through major retail channels, for reading on a variety of devices. Authors will be paid a royalty for each story sold, rather than the flat fee more common in the short story market.

Tim Holman, Orbit VP & Publisher, said: “We know that writing short fiction is important for many of our authors. By offering to publish their short fiction – and to publish it quickly – we will be providing a new way for them to connect with readers. The initial response from our authors has been great, and we are looking forward to launching the first stories later this year.”

I’m a big fan of Orbit. They publish some of my favorite writers – Lilith Saintcrow, Mike Carey, Kate Griffin, Charlie Huston – and always produce first rate books. But I have to say that I can’t sing the program’s praises yet.

Don’t get me wrong – I think it is terrific that they’re trying to find new ways to put writers and readers together and that they’re using a digital medium to do it. But the announcement left a lot of unanswered questions rolling around in my head and I guess I’m a bit too jaded to believe that the answers to those questions will end up falling on the writer’s side of the equation.

For starters, the press release states that authors will be paid a royalty for each story sold, rather than the flat fee that is the current norm in the short fiction arena. In other words, the writers will be providing content without being paid for it – the promise of potential payment is not fair exchange for the work involved in writing the story. Yes, long term the writer might make more from a royalty based approach, but at the same time there should be some payment for the time and effort spent in producing the story. If Orbit were to offer some kind of advance on that royalty, I would feel much better about their proposed approach.

And speaking of royalties, how much will it be? 75%? 50%? 25%? How will it compare to the royalty percentages offered by other digital retailers, such as Amazon.com? Will it be paid on a monthly, quarterly or semi-annual basis?

For that matter, what kind of support will the authors participating in the program receive from Orbit? Will the stories go through some editorial process? Will Orbit accept all stories offered by its writers or will there be some kind of selection process in place to assure the quality of the content being offered to consumers?

As you can see, a lot of questions still need to be answered. Since I’m not an Orbit author (though I’d like to be!) it doesn’t impact me directly today, but it has the potential to do so in the future as more publishers follow suit and create such programs. Getting the details right from the beginning will help prevent precedents from being set, precedents that are not mutually beneficial to both the author and the publisher.

So, kudos to Orbit for stepping out and trying something new, but there is still a long way to go in ironing out some of the details it seems. I’ll reserve my judgment (and hopeful praise) until more information comes to light.

Tim Holman’s response:

The program is likely to be royalty-only. This might not be attractive to some, but I believe it may well be beneficial to authors. Again, perhaps not all authors, but that’s what can happen in a marketplace. I like the principle of creating a direct relationship between the popularity of a story and the revenues received by author and publisher. I also like the idea of giving readers the opportunity to pay for short fiction if they are prepared to do so, and think that doing so adds an interesting dimension to the short fiction market.

Orbit will be handling editorial and marketing for the stories. We like to work with our authors on some aspects of marketing, but there will be no onus on any author to provide any service related to this publishing program.

DRM-free is unlikely.

Matters relating to royalty rates and accounting, and the grant of rights, have been outlined to our authors and their agents, but before we make any final decisions we are giving ourselves the opportunity to process feedback from them. If this publishing venture doesn’t make good sense to enough of our authors, it won’t make good publishing sense for us.

It wasn’t asked, but I can also say that we’re expecting individual stories to be priced at $1.99.

Tim Holman

While digging around online yesterday doing some research for a new project, I came across a letter David Mamet wrote a few years ago to his writing staff on the CBS show, The Unit.  The letter discusses the art of writing drama, specifically for television, but I think it holds a lot of instruction for those of us who make our living writing stories, regardless of medium.  Discovered on the A TV CALLING blog, I’ve reproduced it here, just as it was originally written (Mamet apparently likes the Caps Lock key)

TO THE WRITERS OF THE UNIT

GREETINGS.

AS WE LEARN HOW TO WRITE THIS SHOW, A RECURRING PROBLEM BECOMES CLEAR.

THE PROBLEM IS THIS: TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN *DRAMA* AND NON-DRAMA. LET ME BREAK-IT-DOWN-NOW.

EVERYONE IN CREATION IS SCREAMING AT US TO MAKE THE SHOW CLEAR. WE ARE TASKED WITH, IT SEEMS, CRAMMING A SHITLOAD OF *INFORMATION* INTO A LITTLE BIT OF TIME.

OUR FRIENDS. THE PENGUINS, THINK THAT WE, THEREFORE, ARE EMPLOYED TO COMMUNICATE *INFORMATION* — AND, SO, AT TIMES, IT SEEMS TO US.

BUT NOTE:THE AUDIENCE WILL NOT TUNE IN TO WATCH INFORMATION. YOU WOULDN’T, I WOULDN’T. NO ONE WOULD OR WILL. THE AUDIENCE WILL ONLY TUNE IN AND STAY TUNED TO WATCH DRAMA.

QUESTION:WHAT IS DRAMA? DRAMA, AGAIN, IS THE QUEST OF THE HERO TO OVERCOME THOSE THINGS WHICH PREVENT HIM FROM ACHIEVING A SPECIFIC, *ACUTE* GOAL.

SO: WE, THE WRITERS, MUST ASK OURSELVES *OF EVERY SCENE* THESE THREE QUESTIONS.

1) WHO WANTS WHAT?
2) WHAT HAPPENS IF HER DON’T GET IT?
3) WHY NOW?

THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS ARE LITMUS PAPER. APPLY THEM, AND THEIR ANSWER WILL TELL YOU IF THE SCENE IS DRAMATIC OR NOT.

IF THE SCENE IS NOT DRAMATICALLY WRITTEN, IT WILL NOT BE DRAMATICALLY ACTED.

THERE IS NO MAGIC FAIRY DUST WHICH WILL MAKE A BORING, USELESS, REDUNDANT, OR MERELY INFORMATIVE SCENE AFTER IT LEAVES YOUR TYPEWRITER. *YOU* THE WRITERS, ARE IN CHARGE OF MAKING SURE *EVERY* SCENE IS DRAMATIC.

THIS MEANS ALL THE “LITTLE” EXPOSITIONAL SCENES OF TWO PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT A THIRD. THIS BUSHWAH (AND WE ALL TEND TO WRITE IT ON THE FIRST DRAFT) IS LESS THAN USELESS, SHOULD IT FINALLY, GOD FORBID, GET FILMED.

IF THE SCENE BORES YOU WHEN YOU READ IT, REST ASSURED IT *WILL* BORE THE ACTORS, AND WILL, THEN, BORE THE AUDIENCE, AND WE’RE ALL GOING TO BE BACK IN THE BREADLINE.

SOMEONE HAS TO MAKE THE SCENE DRAMATIC. IT IS NOT THE ACTORS JOB (THE ACTORS JOB IS TO BE TRUTHFUL). IT IS NOT THE DIRECTORS JOB. HIS OR HER JOB IS TO FILM IT STRAIGHTFORWARDLY AND REMIND THE ACTORS TO TALK FAST. IT IS *YOUR* JOB.

EVERY SCENE MUST BE DRAMATIC. THAT MEANS: THE MAIN CHARACTER MUST HAVE A SIMPLE, STRAIGHTFORWARD, PRESSING NEED WHICH IMPELS HIM OR HER TO SHOW UP IN THE SCENE.

THIS NEED IS WHY THEY *CAME*. IT IS WHAT THE SCENE IS ABOUT. THEIR ATTEMPT TO GET THIS NEED MET *WILL* LEAD, AT THE END OF THE SCENE,TO *FAILURE* – THIS IS HOW THE SCENE IS *OVER*. IT, THIS FAILURE, WILL, THEN, OF NECESSITY, PROPEL US INTO THE *NEXT* SCENE.

ALL THESE ATTEMPTS, TAKEN TOGETHER, WILL, OVER THE COURSE OF THE EPISODE, CONSTITUTE THE *PLOT*.

ANY SCENE, THUS, WHICH DOES NOT BOTH ADVANCE THE PLOT, AND STANDALONE (THAT IS, DRAMATICALLY, BY ITSELF, ON ITS OWN MERITS) IS EITHER SUPERFLUOUS, OR INCORRECTLY WRITTEN.

YES BUT YES BUT YES BUT, YOU SAY: WHAT ABOUT THE NECESSITY OF WRITING IN ALL THAT “INFORMATION?”

AND I RESPOND “*FIGURE IT OUT*” ANY DICKHEAD WITH A BLUESUIT CAN BE (AND IS) TAUGHT TO SAY “MAKE IT CLEARER”, AND “I WANT TO KNOW MORE *ABOUT* HIM”.

WHEN YOU’VE MADE IT SO CLEAR THAT EVEN THIS BLUESUITED PENGUIN IS HAPPY, BOTH YOU AND HE OR SHE *WILL* BE OUT OF A JOB.

THE JOB OF THE DRAMATIST IS TO MAKE THE AUDIENCE WONDER WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. *NOT* TO EXPLAIN TO THEM WHAT JUST HAPPENED, OR TO*SUGGEST* TO THEM WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.

ANY DICKHEAD, AS ABOVE, CAN WRITE, “BUT, JIM, IF WE DON’T ASSASSINATE THE PRIME MINISTER IN THE NEXT SCENE, ALL EUROPE WILL BE ENGULFED IN FLAME”

WE ARE NOT GETTING PAID TO *REALIZE* THAT THE AUDIENCE NEEDS THIS INFORMATION TO UNDERSTAND THE NEXT SCENE, BUT TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO WRITE THE SCENE BEFORE US SUCH THAT THE AUDIENCE WILL BE INTERESTED IN WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.

YES BUT, YES BUT YES *BUT* YOU REITERATE.

AND I RESPOND *FIGURE IT OUT*.

*HOW* DOES ONE STRIKE THE BALANCE BETWEEN WITHHOLDING AND VOUCHSAFING INFORMATION? *THAT* IS THE ESSENTIAL TASK OF THE DRAMATIST. AND THE ABILITY TO *DO* THAT IS WHAT SEPARATES YOU FROM THE LESSER SPECIES IN THEIR BLUE SUITS.

FIGURE IT OUT.

START, EVERY TIME, WITH THIS INVIOLABLE RULE: THE *SCENE MUST BE DRAMATIC*. IT MUST START BECAUSE THE HERO HAS A PROBLEM, AND IT MUST CULMINATE WITH THE HERO FINDING HIM OR HERSELF EITHER THWARTED OR EDUCATED THAT ANOTHER WAY EXISTS.

LOOK AT YOUR LOG LINES. ANY LOGLINE READING “BOB AND SUE DISCUSS…” IS NOT DESCRIBING A DRAMATIC SCENE.

PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR OUTLINES ARE, GENERALLY, SPECTACULAR. THE DRAMA FLOWS OUT BETWEEN THE OUTLINE AND THE FIRST DRAFT.

THINK LIKE A FILMMAKER RATHER THAN A FUNCTIONARY, BECAUSE, IN TRUTH, *YOU* ARE MAKING THE FILM. WHAT YOU WRITE, THEY WILL SHOOT.

HERE ARE THE DANGER SIGNALS. ANY TIME TWO CHARACTERS ARE TALKING ABOUT A THIRD, THE SCENE IS A CROCK OF SHIT.

ANY TIME ANY CHARACTER IS SAYING TO ANOTHER “AS YOU KNOW”, THAT IS, TELLING ANOTHER CHARACTER WHAT YOU, THE WRITER, NEED THE AUDIENCE TO KNOW, THE SCENE IS A CROCK OF SHIT.

DO *NOT* WRITE A CROCK OF SHIT. WRITE A RIPPING THREE, FOUR, SEVEN MINUTE SCENE WHICH MOVES THE STORY ALONG, AND YOU CAN, VERY SOON, BUY A HOUSE IN BEL AIR *AND* HIRE SOMEONE TO LIVE THERE FOR YOU.

REMEMBER YOU ARE WRITING FOR A VISUAL MEDIUM. *MOST* TELEVISION WRITING, OURS INCLUDED, SOUNDS LIKE *RADIO*. THE *CAMERA* CAN DO THE EXPLAINING FOR YOU. *LET* IT. WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERS *DOING* -*LITERALLY*. WHAT ARE THEY HANDLING, WHAT ARE THEY READING. WHAT ARE THEY WATCHING ON TELEVISION, WHAT ARE THEY *SEEING*.

IF YOU PRETEND THE CHARACTERS CANT SPEAK, AND WRITE A SILENT MOVIE, YOU WILL BE WRITING GREAT DRAMA.

IF YOU DEPRIVE YOURSELF OF THE CRUTCH OF NARRATION, EXPOSITION, INDEED, OF *SPEECH*. YOU WILL BE FORGED TO WORK IN A NEW MEDIUM — TELLING THE STORY IN PICTURES (ALSO KNOWN AS SCREENWRITING)

THIS IS A NEW SKILL. NO ONE DOES IT NATURALLY. YOU CAN TRAIN YOURSELVES TO DO IT, BUT YOU NEED TO *START*.

I CLOSE WITH THE ONE THOUGHT: LOOK AT THE *SCENE* AND ASK YOURSELF “IS IT DRAMATIC? IS IT *ESSENTIAL*? DOES IT ADVANCE THE PLOT?

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY.

IF THE ANSWER IS “NO” WRITE IT AGAIN OR THROW IT OUT. IF YOU’VE GOT ANY QUESTIONS, CALL ME UP.

LOVE, DAVE MAMET
SANTA MONICA 19 OCTO 05

(IT IS *NOT* YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO KNOW THE ANSWERS, BUT IT IS YOUR, AND MY, RESPONSIBILITY TO KNOW AND TO *ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS* OVER AND OVER. UNTIL IT BECOMES SECOND NATURE. I BELIEVE THEY ARE LISTED ABOVE.)

So what do you think?  Are Mamet’s three rules on writing a scene as important for novelists as they are for television writers?

With the digital age upon us, agents and editors have started to accept email queries.  Like with any submission, proper formatting is important when submitting a query via email.  Curtis Brown agent and blogger Nathan Bransford wrote a terrific post this week showing you exactly how to do this by using his post as a query in and of itself. 

You can find the full post HERE

The query he created to illustrate his point is copied below:

Dear Blog Readers,

This is how you format an e-mailed query letter. Note that I did not begin with the recipient’s address or my address or the date, as that is not customary for an e-mail. I also am not indenting because indenting and e-mails do not mix.

I am using block formatting. I double space between paragraphs but otherwise the query is single-spaced. It is written in a default font, it is left-justified, and the font is a normal size. If I have copied from a word processing program or past e-mail I am careful to make sure the fonts and sizes match. I haven’t added pictures or tried to get fancy with anything because I want the agent to see that I’m confident in my words and don’t need any gimmicks to make my query stand out.

Believe it or not, less than 25% of the e-queries I receive are properly formatted. While you won’t get rejected if your query is incorrectly formatted, if you accomplish this simple task correctly you will convey an indispensable aura of professionalism. And remember: the amount of time you spend formatting, coloring, bolding, italicizing, and adding pictures to your query is inversely proportional to how professional it looks when you’re finished.

Sincerely,
Nathan Bransford (note that I didn’t leave space for a signature since it’s an e-mail)

My address
My phone number
My e-mail address
(optional: my website/blog)

—

If you are currently getting ready to send your book or proposal out on submission, I’ve got a special coaching offer designed just for you.

My Book Proposal Review service will give you a comprehensive review of your proposal, from the cover letter to the sample chapters, and help you feel more confident that you’ve got a first-class, professional presented product ready to send out to your agent or editor of choice. Even better, its extremely affordable.

My Book Proposal Review service include:

• A review of your entire proposal package, from cover letter to sample chapters
• A written evaluation highlighting the areas that work well and those that need additional effort
• A 30 minute coaching call that answers any questions your might have about the evaluation
• Specific suggestions on how to research and approach agents and publishers

I’ve sold fourteen novels, all on proposal, so you’ll also be getting the benefit of my years of experience and knowledge focused on you and your project.

So how much does this actually cost?

The introductory price for the next few weeks is only $50.00!

I’ll be making this a regular part of my coaching repertoire in the spring and will be raising prices at that point, but for now you get a smoking deal and a complete review of your book proposal for less than the price of a night out at the local steak house.

So how do you get started?

Use the Paypal button below and include the email you want me to use to contact you. I’ll get in touch, have you send your materials, and give you a quick turnaround date for when you can expect your written evaluation. It’s that simple! Why wait?

I’ve always been a fan of both diversification and experimentation when it comes to my writing career. From my soon-to-be-launched cell phone project to making my work available in a variety of digital formats, I’ve tried to examine different ways to bring my writing to the people who value it the most – my readers.

2010 is going to be an adventure in living out that belief; I’m going to try different things and see just what folks respond to the most. And I’m happy to say that I’m here to announce the first of these experimental ventures – The Mirror’s Road.

The Mirror’s Road is a novel I’ve had hanging around in the back of my head for awhile. It’s such a mix of genres that I’ve never even tried to sell the idea to a publisher – it would probably give the guys in the marketing department fits as they tried endlessly to pigeonhole it into one genre or another without success. But it’s a story I want to tell, one I want to share with all my fans, so I’ve been looking for a way to do just that.

I found it through a little site called Kickstarter.

You see, Kickstarter is a site devoted to doing just what its name implies – kickstarting projects with the help of others. People pledge money to a project in return for cool rewards and a behind-the-scenes look at the development process from beginning to end. The site is backed by Amazon.com, which provides an appropriate measure of security to the entire process. It’s all or nothing funding, too; if a project does not meet its financial goal in the timeframe set (between 1 and 90 days) then no money changes hands.

I’ve turned The Mirror’s Road into a Kickstarter project, as you can see from the widget below, and I want to invite you all along to share the ride with me. If you decide to back the project – and there are various levels of doing so from $5.00 to $100.00, with appropriate rewards for each – you’ll get to participate in the project with me, providing suggestions on everything from character traits to plot lines. You’ll get to follow along from development of the intial idea to the actual writing, from the production of the cover art to the final printed product. And regardless of the level of backing you chose, you are assured of getting a copy of the completed book as my way of saying thanks for supporting the project.

So what’s the book about? I can tell you it’s an urban fantasy novel, full of things that shouldn’t exist in a world that doesn’t quite believe in them. And it’s a road story too, about a young man on a journey, searching not only for his destiny but also for the almond-eyed girl that appears in his dreams each night, the girl that calls him on through the darkness. Who they are and what they mean to each other? Well, I think we’ll find that out in time.

If you want to get involved, and I really hope you do, simply click on the widget above which will take you to the project’s home page. There you can read the first chapter and learn more about the project. If you discover that you’re interested in supporting it, simply click on the pledge level you want, select your reward, and follow the Amazon check out process.

And remember, the pledge period runs until April 16, so your card won’t be charged until then and only if we meet our goal.

I’d love to hear what other people think about taking this type of approach. What do you like about it? What do you dislike? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Two wonderful posts this morning that are very enlightening with regard to understanding why some books get rejected.

In the first, literary agent Janet Reid of Fine Print Literary Management breaks down the 124 full manuscripts she requested this year into offers (2!) and rejections and then breaks the rejections down again into groups showing why they were rejected.  Read it here.

The second, and similar post, is by Del Rey  Editorial Director  Betsy Mitchell over on the Suvudu blog and she does the same thing.  Read that one here.

Of particular note – the reason most books were rejected from both the agent and the editor?  Simply just not good enough.

With the rise of less expensive ebook readers and the growing interest in using mobile devices such as handhelds and cell phones to read digital content, the question of how an author should best handle their digital rights is becoming more complex.  Recent changes in how publishers are compensating us for this content has also made it more important for us to understand just what is being offered and by whom.

Back in October 2008, Random House sent out a letter to industry agents informing them of a change in policy regarding ebook royalty rates on all future contracts.  Previously, RH had paid 25% of the suggested retail price of the title.  The new policy was that they would be paying 25% of the amount received for all titles.

What, exactly, did this mean for writers?  Under the old policy, if a book retailed for $10.00, the author earned a royalty of $2.50 on every book sold, regardless of any discounting the publisher might do on the title.  Under the new policy, the writer would only receive 25% of what the publisher took in instead.  So if the book retailed for $10.00, but the publisher had to discount that 50% for the distributor, the author would only receive 25% of the 50% the publisher made, or somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.25.

That was a significant drop, any way you look at it.

Shortly thereafter, Simon & Schuster followed suit, adopting the same policy as Random House.  Thankfully, the vast majority of other publishers continued to offer what was at the time the standard 25% of list price royalty rate.

Now we have another bump in the road.  MacMillan, parent of such companies as St. Martin’s, Farrar Straus and Giroux, Henry Holt, Picador, and Tor among others, announced this week that they would be making changes in their ebook royalty rates as well.

Here’s a direct quote from CEO John Sargent’s cover letter:

“It won’t surprise you that we have looked at the growth of development of digital delivery of the content from our books.  A number of the new contract’s provisions, specifically in the grant of rights and royalty sections of the contract, reflect our response to those developments.  Our starting premise is that digital rights in the content we publish in print book formats must be included in the basic grant of rights that we receive from authors.  In addition, as the methods for dissemination of content rapidly change and the distinctions between sales and licenses blur, we have determined that a single royalty rate, based on the amount received by the Publisher, should apply to all exploitation of the content of the book in digital form.”

That standard royalty rate Sargent is talking about?  Turns out it’s 20% of monies received.

Back to our example.  If that $10.00 book is published by one of MacMillan’s companies, that $2.50 royalty is now reduced to $1.00.

As both a Tor author and one who is highly interested in digital rights, let me give you my honest opinion.

That sucks.

To show you what I mean, let’s compare that to my recent deal with Blackbetty Mobilemedia.  Under that contract, I get a royalty rate that is 20% of the catalog retail price of the book.  Each episode of The Cerberus Protocol (the first book in the HELLstalkers series) will sell for $2.99.  There will be six episodes – one will be free to bring people into the story and the other five will be at the above rate.  The cost to buy the complete book is therefore $14.95, or roughly the price of a trade paperback.  Of that $14.95, I walk away with $2.99.

$1.00 versus $2.99.  Which would you take?

But there is another issue here that needs to be examined and that is MacMillan’s insistence that digital rights be included in the initial sale.  That clause means I can’t sell the print rights to the HELLstalkers series to any MacMillan subsidiary, since I’ve already licensed the rights elsewhere.

Question is, should I be upset by that?

Let’s say Tor bought the rights and decided to bring the book out in paperback. Standard royalty rates on a paperback run 6% on the first 25K copies, 7% on the next 25K and 8% thereafter.  To make things easier, let’s just use that higher royalty rate.

Paperbacks typically sell for $7.99 now.  8% of $7.99 is 63 cents.

What becomes the determining factor now is not the royalty rate but the distribution model.  If I can get the book in front of as many people in digital form as I can in print form, I am far better off doing it the non-traditional way.

Something like 450% better off, in fact.

Part of my reasoning in accepting the recent offer from Blackbetty was to test if that distribution model is in place yet.  By partnering with a major telecommunications giant like Vodafone (who, incidentally, also own Verizon here in the States) I’m betting that we can put this book in front of as many pairs of eyes as I could if I sold it to a traditional publisher.  If I take into account the fact that it will be published in seven different territories simultaneously, I believe that I can even beat that pre-existing model.

Time will tell.

(Note – MacMillan did include a higher royalty rate on direct-to-consumer sales in the new contract – 10% of net receipts on the first 10K copies, rather than the old 5% industry standard, but I’m not giving them any credit for that because they don’t make any kind of commitment to changing how they market direct to consumers.  The higher royalty ate does little good as a result.)

With November less than a week away, I thought I would provide a little assistance to those non-members who have stopped by the site and who are also going to be attempting NaNoWriMo.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term, NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. Every November more than 100,000 people try to write a short (50,000 word) novel between midnight on Nov 1^st and midnight on Nov 30^th.

In the words of the program’s founders:

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that’s a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

I unofficially participated in NaNoWriMo back in 2006 and 2007. This year, I’m going to be doing so on a more formal basis, joining the ranks and posting my daily word counts to keep me pushing forward on a new work I’d like to see completed before the end of the year.

One thing I learned from previous attempts to write a novel in thirty days is that you need to be prepared ahead of time. The more prep work you do, the easier it is to meet your writing goals each and every day, which, of course, means you have a greater chance of completing the challenge overall.

I’ve heard many a would-be NaNoWriMoer (is that even a word/) state that their storyline just sort of fizzled out after a week’s worth of effort, that they didn’t know where to take it from there. Their failure is not due to a lack of effort, but rather a lack of understanding the structure of stories in general and a lack of applying that structure to the work they are doing.

So, in order to help my fellow NaNoWriMoers (I’ve decided it is now a word, so there!) come to grips with their stories ahead of time, here is a basic structure that you can find in many successful stories today and which might help you plan for the challenge ahead.

Step 1: Characters, Conflict, and Major Story Goal are introduced

At the very beginning of your story, the characters, the opposition/conflict, and the overall goal of the tale are introduced.

Step 2: Characters begin their journey

The characters will begin consciously or unconsciously making preparations for the “journey” or adventure that they will be undergoing throughout the tale. A deeper sense of their abilities and motivations is given to the reader during this section, a means of letting the reader “get to know them” better.

Step 3: First Goal is determined

The characters make a decision to take some action relative to helping them reach the story goal. That goal is identified for the reader, as are the reasons behind it.

Step 4: Actions are taken to reach that goal

The characters take some action designed to bring them closer to the goal outlined in the previous step.

Step 5: Characters are prevented from reaching their first goal

The first goal is thwarted, either through the actions of the opposition or some other circumstances that are not under the characters’ control.

Step 6: Characters react

The characters react to the fact that they failed to reach their goal.

Step 7: Stakes are raised

The stakes the characters are facing if they do not reach the story goal are raised, which in turn raises the tension and excitement of the story for the reader. This is also where the characters react to the raising of the stakes.

Step 8: A new (second) goal is developed

Determined not to let one set-back prevent them from reaching their goal, the characters develop a new, larger goal (since the stakes are now higher.)

Step 9: Actions are taken to reach the second goal

The characters take some action designed to bring them closer to the goal outlined in the previous step.

Step 10: Characters are prevented from reaching their second goal

The second goal is thwarted, again either through the actions of the opposition or some other circumstances that are not under the characters’ control.

Step 11: Characters react

The characters react to the fact that they failed to reach their goal for the second time.

Step 12: Stakes are raised

The stakes become even higher, with greater consequences in the event of failure. The characters react to this change.

Step 13: Low Moment Begins

At this point the characters are feeling their failures. They are demoralized and uncertain just what to do next. Some may even be on the verge of giving up. It is only the high stakes that keep them in the game now.

Step 14: Third Goal is developed

With uncertainty and confusion running rampant, the characters try to rally and push onward. A new goal is developed, though this time the specter of failure looms close at hand.

Step 15: Actions are taken despite uncertainty

Determined not to give up without a fight, the characters push through and attempt to reach the goal one more time, despite the fact that their chances of success look slimmer by the minute.

Step 16: Dark Time Begins

The characters fail miserably and the terrible circumstances they have been trying to avoid seem all too likely.

Step 17: Characters react to the dark time

Despair sets in as the characters reach their lowest emotional point in the story. Everything they feared is about to come to pass and they seem to be completely out of options. The stakes are at a fever pitch by this point.

Step 18: Pivotal change occurs

A crucial event takes place that makes the character’s all too well aware that they don’t have the option of failing. Maybe their lives are on the line. Maybe it is the life of a loved one or the fate of the entire world. Whatever it is, the characters must face it and decide that they have to give it go or die trying.

Step 19: Goals are revised one last time

For the last time, the characters set a goal and go for it with all they’ve got.

Step 20: Final showdown happens, the opposition is defeated and the characters react to their success

The characters face off against the opposition and this they succeed. The opposition is defeated and they are left to figure out just where they go from here.

So there you have it, a twenty step, tried and true plot structure that you can use to plan your NaNoWriMo novel ahead of time and be ready to go when the clock strikes midnight on Sunday.