20 Questions Needed!
OK - help! - If you're a person who wouldn't mind becoming a famous writer before you're dead, give me one question you have about getting from here to there (there being famous, not dead). Big issue or small. I'm pretty sure you can post anonymously here, so please don't be shy.
(brainstorm answers provided; longer answers pending consultation with actual famous writers . . .)
(brainstorm answers provided; longer answers pending consultation with actual famous writers . . .)
posted by Contact at 9:52 AM
35 Comments:
Hey. Questions like... Dear Ms. Gore, how would you recommend getting the attention of well-to-do publishers?
-Adrian
When can I call myself a writer? Do I have to be published to be a real writer? If you could let me know before my high-school reunion on Saturday, I'd appreciate it.
Tiffany
what are the points at which your integrity is more important than your paycheck (particularly in a pre-publication working life)? how do you know when to just jump off the cliff, or when to wait for a safety net?
how would you recommend getting the attention of well-to-do publishers?
start small. publish everywhere. contribute to everything. you will get attention.
When can I call myself a writer?
when you write. no publication needed. but beware the dumb reactions. when people ask me what i do, i tell them i sell t-shirts on the internet.
what are the points at which your integrity is more important than your paycheck?
probably applicable to your post-publication working life, too, since publication doesn't pay that much. opinion: your reasonable rent/mortgage is more important than your integrity. if you have kids, feeding them is more important than your integrity. but after that, jump off the cliff! no need to worry about feeding or clothing yourself or always having the electricity on or student loans or your credit rating or anything.
Do I have to read everything from ancient to modern to all the slock in the journals...and, worse yet, do I have to understand it?
Jeez, what if I'm a slow reader?
Ignorance of other writers' work keeps me from discouragement & I am less well-read than the average bus driver.
--Garrison Keillor
Ariel, I have TONS of questions. How many can I ask?
1. How do I get on national tv shows?
2. How do I get representation with a speakers bureau?
3. How do I get more recognition in the mainstream without selling my soul to Satan? Heh.
how do i know if it's good? and how will i know when to quit if it isn't?
I heard that I can claim writing workshops, conferences, research books, etc. on my taxes. I also heard that if I don't make money after 3 years, my writing will be considered a "hobby" and non-deductable. Is this true? What else can you tell me about writing and taxes? 'Cause I really want to go the Maui Writers Conference and write it off!
Mahalo,
Tiffany
LaSara said...
Ariel, I have TONS of questions. How many can I ask?
1. How do I get on national tv shows?
Send them sexy press releases and no material that will make them worry you might swear or advocate orgies on their show. Send said sexy press releases to local tv show. national tv shows have interns scanning the local ones and that's where they get a lot of their stuff. also big papers. if you can get in the sf chronicle, tons of tv people look at that to get their stories.
2. How do I get representation with a speakers bureau?
I dunno. Prolly just send them press kits.
3. How do I get more recognition in the mainstream without selling my soul to Satan? Heh.
Just lead with the stuff that the mainstream can handle. Include everything, but lead with fun, spunky &sexy on the days you need to impress the man. . .Keep your book proposals "mainstream" and then add the real stuff after your advance check has cleared the bank.
Anonymous said...
how do i know if it's good? and how will i know when to quit if it isn't?
if you're having fun doing it, who cares what's "good"? good is subjective. go to www.ursulakleguin.com, click on "about writing" and then click on "rejection letter."
Anonymous said...
I heard that I can claim writing workshops, conferences, research books, etc. on my taxes.
Yes.
I also heard that if I don't make money after 3 years, my writing will be considered a "hobby" and non-deductable. Is this true?
Yes. At some point they will call you on a consistently money-losing business. Three years or five years. But then if you start making money later you can start writing stuff off again.
What else can you tell me about writing and taxes? 'Cause I really want to go the Maui Writers Conference and write it off!
GO! Write it off. Writers don't pay that much in taxes ever because their whole lives are an expense.
How do I know if others will want to read what I write? Am I just fooling myself that my writing is readable?
publish a zine and find out. if no one wants to read it yet, you just need more practice, so keep publishing the zine.
How important is good writing vs. good selling?
I see plenty of okay-not-great writing placed in decent paying markets. How'd they do that?
Was there a time when you didn't think you were going to make it as a writer? What helped you through that time period?
Jenny
Okay. Where do I start? Period. I'm a hospital worker and a yoga teacher. I've been furiously scribbling in a journal and writing on friends blogs for ages and have no frigging idea what to do with my jewels. I wanna write. I do.
How important is good writing vs. good selling?I see plenty of okay-not-great writing placed in decent paying markets. How'd they do that?
They did that, usually, with good writing + good selling + delivering consistently usable work on deadline. They are reliable, and an editor would rather work with a pretty good writer she knows is going to deliver than a great writer who might come through. Obviously, you don't want to get in the habit of producing & publishing mediocre work—it'll do you no good in the long run—but don't be afraid to lower your standards at 11 p.m. on the night of your midnight deadline.
Was there a time when you didn't think you were going to make it as a writer? What helped you through that time period?
Hmmm. We gotta ask a famous writer that one. The chances I'm going to make it as a writer are still very slim. Good thing I don't have any marketable skills or I might get distracted...
Okay, here's my question.......how do I get someone, anyone interested in my sorta run-on sentence, life story, memoir that is basically my version of "A Million Little Pieces" and "Running With Scissors"? Okay, two questions really, how do I find a good editor!?!
If you need an editor before you find an agent & publisher, there are 2 options:
1. Pay someone
2. Join a writing workshop or convene a writing group in which you will bring a chapter a week for feedback. A workshop of about 8 people will get you some whack feedback (don't let a committee get you to toss the deep shit that makes your writing yours), but mostly a group that size will get you a good collective edit.
One getting someone interested once it's roughly how you want it . . . Preferably you have some writing credits for shorter pieces . . . is prepare a query. A query is a short letter like you'll find in the submissions guidelines at www.fbliterary.com and the first 10 pages of the book. It's great you have other books to compare it to. See if you can find the agents for those books in the acknowledgements. Also send your query to any published authors who are acquaintances of yours (not the whole manuscript unless they ask for it) to see if you can get an agent query. If you are interested in any smaller presses, you can check their website for submissions guidelines and go for it unagented, but it's much trickier.
Okay. Where do I start? Period. I'm a hospital worker and a yoga teacher. I've been furiously scribbling in a journal and writing on friend's blogs for ages and have no frigging idea what to do with my jewels. I wanna write. I do.
Start a zine. It sounds like it's time to for you move on from journaling to writing for strangers. Start with a humble zine and send it to friends and strangers, advertise it on your friend's blogs, send it to zine-review zines & put it out on consignment in your local indy bookstores.
Is there anywhere near Portland for a mother and teenaged daughter to take a writing workshop together? Maybe with other mothers and daughters....
eliza
What if you didn't go to college? What if you couldn't spell? could you have still become a writer?
Hi Ariel! I am not interested in the fame so much as I am the money because I am tired of being broke. How do I parlay my 15 minutes of fame when it comes to big money and then take myself out of the limelight?
oh and another thing, I want to open a bookstore next year, do you have any tips or suggestions or resources to point me to? Other than the fact that I love to read and love to hang out in bookstores and am an indie publisher myself, I no next to nothing about the bookstore business.
and of course that should be 'know' LOL!
What if you've had enough small successes and are ready to move to something bigger and better – where do you start? Submit a query to a publishing company? Find an agent? (And how do you find an agent?) Just keep sending stuff out to national magazines and hope sooner or later they accept something?
I am a struggling writer who has been begging another writer (one of her favorite writers) to start a online writing course. Do you happen to know when this writer might think about doing that? *smirk*
OK, first off, my questions:
1. Why do publishers ask for a look at sample chapters, ask you not to send out simultaneous submissions while they're considering it, and then take six (or more) months to reject it? Are you really expected to sit on the manuscript for six months waiting for them to make up their minds (assuming they don't lose it or forget to contact you at all)?
2. Where can I find an agent that is not completely clueless about pop culture? Is an agent really necessary?
3. How important is networking? I don't hang out with other journalists and writers in my area, b/c when I'm not writing I'm home with my family. I don't see any editors socially and it seems like I would be getting a lot more assignments if I were partying/hanging out/sleeping with the right people!
4. Can't publishers hire interns or impress volunteers to write polite rejection letters rather than sending out the demoralizing bland photocopied form letter?
5. What do you do when a magazine rejects your idea for an article and then a few months later gives the exact same assignment to one of their "house" writers?
For 16 years I have been moderately successful in being published in 'zines, alternative newsweeklies, newspapers, low-circ magazines, and anthologies, but I can't seem to make the jump into more mainstream magazines ("too quirky") or getting a book published. I have been through three agents in five years and they were basically worthless. Although the queries have gone down well and sample chapters have been read by publishers, indie to major houses, the conclusion is always that I'm a good writer but my projects won't appeal to enough readers to make them enough money and warrant taking me on.
It's like I have to prove to them up front that I'll make them X amount of cash. It's starting to get really depressing, and I feel like a total loser.
Thanks in advance for your opinions, Ariel.
How can one write personal essays without upsetting one's significant other and paranoid family-of-origin? My addict mother has actually threatened to sue me if I ever write about her. Do I wait until she is dead? My s.o. freaks out if I even write an e-mail to someone about him, let alone an entire essay.
How do you handle snide comments about your vocation as a writer made by family members during the holidays? Like "Are you still trying to write?" "Are you still doing that little writing thing?" "What have you gotten published lately?" "Do you actually make any money?" "It's a good thing your husband has a real job, huh?" "Have you ever been in Good Housekeeping? Why not?" "What does your husband think about what you're doing?" and my favorite "I bet you would have made more money working at McDonald's all these years."
What is a sexy press release? I don't mean to be dumb, but I don't know what you mean by 'sexy'? And how do you do it while trying to be taken seriously as a professional and not just some hack?
Not a dumb question at all.
Basically, a journalist is a storyteller. But the stories have to be true, relevant, and timely. Sexy is a big plus.
So a journalist needs stories. If she ends up selling your product (zine, book, whatever) in the mean time, she doesn't mind. But her job is to find good stories. If you have lead time, it's great to get a short internship at a small media outlet where you can read all the press releases that come through looking for stories. You'll begin to see the kind of thing that catches your eye and the kind of thing you can easily turn around and pitch to your editor. But if you don't have time to do that, you can still play.
Anyway . . . A journlist is also super-busy. So if you could actually WRITE that story she needs for her and she could just sort of rewrite it, that's ideal. 90% of press releases that come across my desk are simply announcements: This book has been published. This reading is taking place. This zine is new and here's the zine. Or whatever. So, if I have a ton of time I can report the story -- find the lead (the revelence and the sexiness), interview the author, read the zine, etc. And then I can write up a little review or preview. But I don't have time. So the sender of the announcement/press releae is sucking eggs. 10% of press releases are something I can use. These are feature stories that--with a little more reporting and fact-checking--are ready to go. They are only a page long, so I can expand them if I want to, but if I'm on deadline and I have a blank page--I've got a story to plug in. Extremem plus if there's an active picture to go with it (not just a head shot). Good plus if there's a head shot and a picture of the product.
So . . . What you want to do is look at your target media. Find three to five stories that are the kind of stories you want written or broadcast about you and then model your press release after these.
A great press kit will include:
• A one-page press release that reads like a feature story (maybe some background on why you wrote the book or made the zine; something about you that makes the whole thing fairytale-like; plus a quote or two from an "expert" or a reader whose life you changed...something like that.
• Then a one-page Q & A with...YOU! Questions you'd want the journalist to ask you if she had time to think of the questions, and your answers.
• A good photo that is a little more than just a headshot--maybe you leading a workshop or performing a poem from your book. Musicians have it easier here, but you can find something.
• And finally a picture of your book, zine, or product. Make the journalist's job SO EASY that she has no excuse to say no.
What if your dream is to be a syndicated columnist? How would you recommend getting started?
O.K.
So I have an idea for a book that I feel NEEDS to be written. And I write regularly on my blog. But, when I try to consistently write about the same topic day after day in a linear manner, I find myself drifting...almost as though I am rebelling against, of all things, myself.
So I'm wondering if you have any little tips or tricks for keeping yourself focused on something specific for the entirety of a book. Short, that is, of tying yourself to the chair.
Hi Ariel. My brother turned me on to the Essential Hip Mama for my 44th (yikes) birthday. No going back now! So good to laugh at the crazy stories of other moms. I'm not the only nut case! Anyway, I've been writing for years and years. The published stuff is all health and nutrition. I'm finally carving out a few hours for fiction writing, starting with short stories about women tuning into their survival strength. Here's the question: How do I find an experienced writer(s) to "mentor" me in my new endeavor, reading my work, giving critique, giving ideas for where to submit...
Thanks! Jenny Young Seidemann
I was wondering what or where to start if you wanted to get into publishing or editing?
I was wondering what or how you would get started in publishing or editing?
What is the best way to start a zine, how to form it into a zine, how to get it out in the public, and anything else it takes in producing a zine?
I'd like to know how do you get published when publishers wont take you without an agent, agents wont take you if you havent been published, but you cant get published without publishers or agents?
Do you give blurbs? I have written a book set to be published in April 2008 called "It Gets Easier I Promise and Other Lies We Tell New Mothers." I am a big fan of your books "The Mother Trip" and "The Hip Mama Survival Guide."
I'd be happy to send you the manuscript, just say the word!
Best,
Claudine Wolk
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