Janet Q. Glaser, the Wordwright
The Writer's Life of Frivolity and Philosophy

The FREE Muse Online Writers Conference is a fantastic conference to attend in October 11-17. You can go in your jammies, eat chocolate at your desk, and catch up on laundry while you meet esteemed writers, publishers, workshop leaders, and writers of all genres.

You may attend the forums and interact any time of day or sign up for scheduled workshops that work into your day’s activities. The workshop  handouts are packed with information that you can save and peruse later at your leisure. (I know, what leisure???)

The Muse Online Writers Conference is FREE if you sign up before August 15. A nominal charge of $5.00 is added after August 15. (Just think, you aren’t spending any gas money to get to the workshops…) Registrations will not be accepted after September 10.

This workshop has been valuable to the development of my career. I think you will pick up a nugget or two that will help you in your writing as well as meet some wonderful, helpful, sincere folks at the conference.

Let me know if you sign up.  I will look for ya’!!!

According to an article in Publishers Weekly by Marcia Nelson, Author Solutions, a company made up of well-known self-publishing service providers–AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford Publishing, Wordclay and Xlibris–is now establishing self-publishing associations with traditional publishers such as Hay House, Nelson, and evangelical Christian publisher, B&H. The plan is that the traditional publisher will monitor the self-published titles to glean books to add to their own lists.

Indications are that only self-pubbed titles selling 5000 or more could be considered for purchase by the traditional means. In self-pubbing circles, most books sell 300 copies.

This cozying up with the self-publishing services is a new way of thinking in the publishing world. Instead of looking down their noses at those who want to do all the work of publishing their fiction or non-fiction entries, the publishers are discovering that there really are worthwhile books written by authors who can not only write, but can offer different voices to topics that many traditionalists overlook. This opens up a whole new audience for purchasing books.

There are few and far between self-published books that are snapped up by a large publishing company, but with this new addition of self-publishing arms in the traditional field, there may be more opportunity to win a contract, if desired, with a traditional company.

Are you thinking about self-pubbing or have your book already finished? Then you may be interested in this Free self-publishers online conference to be held May 12-14.  Their website states–” learn about a wide range of book writing, publishing, and promotion topics from recognized experts in the publishing industry. Our speakers will inspire and motivate you, while helping you get the most out of your book publishing experience.”

From the information I read on the site, the conference was a huge success last year with glowing testimonials. I will attend this year and give you a report or hop on their site and check it out for yourself.

I try to be upbeat about my writing projects, but I am disappointed and befuddled at my latest experiences. My March 4 blog questions if a publisher is in business. I made another attempt to connect with this publisher after finding another email address to use, but once again, all email addresses come back as not deliverable.

I have a book at a publisher who asked for a full ms in October. I heard from her in November that it was under consideration. I emailed last week wanting to know where it was in the decision process. No answer. I certainly don’t want to send it out to another pub if my ms is still being considered. Remember all those warnings to make sure you don’t send out simultaneous submissions unless you include that info in your cover letter?

I have sent my ms to pubs who require exclusives, but I will do that no longer.

I understand why writers are turning to self-publishing where the writer is in control of the project. I truly would like to have a partnership with an editor at a publishing house who will help guide me and improve my writings. I want to deliver the best book I can to my readers.

Check out this video on publishing. Join us at The Writer’s Chatroom tonight from 8- 11 to discuss it.

Muse It Up Publishing is opening its doors for business. Lea Schizas, the energetic whirlwind, is launching this new business and is looking for submissions. Click here for genres and more information.

If the dedication she has for her well-organized, award winning free online conference is any indication, I am sure she will operate this publishing company with the same degree of attention to detail and accessibility. The Muse Online Writers Conference, the brain child of Schizas and Carolyn Howard-Johnson, is a week long opportunity for writers, editors, publishers to network and learn from the numerous workshops offered on writing techniques, platform building, writing business, queries and book proposals, etc. Schizas offers this outstanding opportunity FREE–no strings attached.

If nothing else gets you to check out this new publishing company,  launching their new website in April, perhaps this quote from Schizas will peak your interest.  In an email, she said, “I promise to be a nice publisher.”

Best wishes to you, Lea and the staff at Muse It Up Publishing!

I have spent two years writing a small novella. I began the book as a project for National Novel Writing Month. Nano challenges a writer to produce a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. I didn’t make it to 50,000 because I told the story in about 25,000 words and I just didn’t feel it is fair to a reader to pad the books with 25,000 words of nonsense just to make the number. For the past couple of years I have occasionally taken out the book which languishes in a Word file in my laptop and revised the story.

It is a fun story to write and one genre that I never write in–horror. But since horror stories are so popular, I thought I’d give it a go. I had a riot with it..the plot, the setting, the characters all fell into place. I shared it with my writers group last summer, and we cackled over the possibilities of situations in the story.

I decided to look for a home for the ms.. a publisher. So I sent the ms to my First Readers for feedback and suggestions. After receiving excellent ideas for improvement and encouragement when they said they couldn’t put it down, I worked more hours on editing and revising.

I found a pub who wants novellas. Believe me, most pubs are not requesting novellas or short stories. They seem to prefer 60,000 words and no way was this gal gonna add that many words to this book.

So I queried a pub and the editor immediately emailed me back asking for the ms, cover letter, and marketing plan. I emailed the documents back in less than two weeks from her contact. Lo and behold, the offices are closed, but will re-open in February. Hello? This is March.

I checked the website and it was a blank page…not that it didn’t exist anymore. Today I checked and the page is up, but with a note they are having problems with their site.

Sooooooo—-now what? I guess I’ll give them a couple of weeks and then email to see if they are still in business. I know that there are more possible publishers out there, but I really like this one, so I hope they are doing fine and will be in touch with me very soon. Oh, and yeah, I hope they like the story so they will publishe it!

Ah, the life of a writer…….

A well-written, clear explanation of differences in publishing your book via traditional publishing or self publishing is presented on the Writers Chatroom blog.  Kim Richards breaks down the topic by informing the reader about big traditional publishers, small presses, subsidy pubs, and self-publishing.  If you are trying to make a decision as to what is best for your book, please check this blog  for good information.

Can it be possible that I have been working at my computer as a freelance writer for 15 years?  Right after we sold our flower shop and garden center business, I screwed up my courage to walk in to our local newspaper office and ask to talk to the editor.  I asked him if he could use some stories for the paper.  I gave him some of the ideas which I thought would be of interest to the community.  And he said okay.  It was just that easy.  My first story was an interview with a family I knew well, so I was comfortable with them.  When it was published in the newspaper with a photo, my heart soared when I saw my byline.  What a thrill.  My editor gave me a chance to write a news story and many more followed that first one.  Oh yes, he had to do editing and revising, and I learned something every time I put the story together, then read his polished version in the paper.

I queried several magazines with article ideas and received many rejections.  But I persevered and was accepted to write several articles through the years.  Unfortunately the main magazine dealing with camping closed its doors this year, a result of the downturn in RVing and camping in this economy.

I tackled writing for an online magazine too, now known as e-zines.  This was completely foreign writing to me as there had to be a certain standard of get in and tell the story and get out.  No extras, just the information.  The format was different but also the new idea of including keywords and SEO was a daunting task until I understood the necessity of that if I wanted to have anyone find and read the articles in this vast cyberspace of information.

Some of my short stories are floating around the Internet, but I have not pursued them because they don’t earn much money. They are fun to write.  I guess that’s why I have begun writing fiction novels.  It is exciting to create a world and characters and play with them.  I would never have tried a novel except that I was spurred on by the challenge of Nano—the 50,000 word novel written in a month known as the annual National Novel Writing Month.

I have written a non-fiction book for middle school girls that is now under consideration at a publisher.  Keep your fingers crossed that it will be contracted for publication this year.

Fifteen years ago, the Internet was in its infancy, no social networking sites, no Messengers.  There was no demand for information like there is now.  I don’t remember laptop computers that a writer could take anywhere to compose a story in a library or coffee shop.

So much has changed except that a writer always needs a good story to tell.  It is still true that to get the work published,  follow the rules of good grammar and punctuation, as well as be vigilant for accurate spelling. Don’t rely completely on spell checker.  (Remember their, there, and they’re.)  

Now go out there and write the best story you can.  You can do it.  Perhaps not in one month or one year, but you will be a writer if you keep working toward that goal.

The Muse Online Writers Conference begins October 12, a unique writers conference that you can attend sitting in your jammies, eating chocolate at your computer, and not even wash your face! Plus the time you spend at this conference is determined by you because you can join in at your convenience to read the forums and interact with the presenters.

The old saying is “you just get what you paid for it” but in this FREE conference, you get a LOT more. Not only can you network with writers, editors, publishers, self publishers, you can pick up valuable writing tips, publishing information, writing courses, and even pitch your book idea to a publisher. BTW the conference is free, but you will want to throw in a donation because it is worth it.

Ebooks always seemed like a dreamer’s idea. Now Ebooks are reality. Although they are only about 1-2% of book sales at present, companies are working on formatting books so that they are more user friendly. Look at the upgrade on Amazon’s Kindle. Sylvan Dell is formatting ebooks that may give the Kindle format some heavy competition. The big publishing houses are putting print books into ebooks. Changes are a-coming, or should I say, they are here!

An author friend listed a book publisher who was taking submissions. In this age of slow economic times many of the leads to publishers have fallen through because they are either not taking submissions or have closed their doors. I was delighted to find one actually looking for books to publish.

I filled out the short query form online. I wondered about that since most pubs want a query letter, table of contents, and one to three chapters of the book before they make a decision as to slush pile or possibility pile. AFTER I filled out and submitted the info, admittedly having stars in my eyes with dreams of having a possible publisher for my non-fiction children’s book, I checked Preditors and Editors website. Next to the pub’s name in red letters was “strongly not recommended.” Yikes. I also found an entry in the Writer’s Beware site giving the publisher “two thumbs down.” Oh yes, I will do some more fact-finding before crossing them off the list. But FYI, always check Preditors and Editors and Writers Beware so that if you choose a questionable publisher, you can go into a deal with your eyes wide open.