Posts Tagged ‘write’
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WHAT GIFT CAN I GIVE A WRITER?
By Vicki Hinze
A few years ago, I was shopping late for Christmas due to two weeks of flu knocking me to my knees–and I was reminded of Christmases past–and faux pas committed on behalf of well-meaning family members (not mine, but those of other writers) when it came to shopping for their writers. Join me for this little trip down memory lane—and avoid the mistakes those non-writers made…
There’s the writer wife who left hints–some subtle and some bold, including a sale circular taped to the refrigerator door–and still ended up with a lovely piece of crystal when all she’d yearned for had been a fax.
There’s the writer husband who left hints–including an explicit, written addition to a shopping list–and still ended up without the gift card from the office supply store he wanted because his darling wife “wanted to surprise” him. She did, of course, but not in the way she’d hoped.
Then there’s the writer who wanted books–novels to read–and got Quick Books, so the writer could do the spouse’s business’s bookkeeping. (Yeah, that went over well.)
And the spouse who got a trip to Italy when the sole item on her wish list was to attend a writer’s conference–which now, she could not attend because of the expensive trip to Italy.
For those of you shopping for writers. Here’s the thing. Writers are very easy to please. If you want a cannot fail gift, give them a card for an office supply store. The writer will feel they’re in heaven–and that they’ve got the most thoughtful person in the world shopping for them. Why? Because of the thought, the acknowledgment that writing is important to the writer–and you know that and place value on it.
If you want something more personal, consider a special pen or notebook. Flag tapes, post-it-notes, banker’s clips. None of these are expensive items, but you would be amazed at how many times on writer’s chat loops, Facebook and Twitter, they’re discussed. A specific type of paper. A specific pen. Pastel or neon post-its. A little organization caddy for these tiny things. Anything writing-related brings smiles to the writer’s face and warms his or her heart.
And if you’re flat broke and cannot afford a gift, there are still heart-warming things you can do for your writer:
1. Post a book review. Have you read an author’s book and loved it? If so, go to amazon.com or bn.com or indiebound.org or iTunes, or goodreads, or shelfari or library thing—to any online store and post a review of the book. Authors do read them and they are grateful for them.
2. Write a fan letter. Listen, these are absolutely treasured by authors. And they don’t care if they’re emailed or written on a paper towel. It is the thought–hearing what you have to say about their work–that counts.
3. Give the writer the gift of time. Watch the kids for an hour so s/he can write. If you are the kid, then give the writer a coupon.
Years ago–and this remains one of my most favorite gifts ever–my daughter gave me 20 coupons. She’d handwritten them on squares of paper she’d cut. Each was good for her to bring me a cup of coffee. Considering my office was upstairs and the coffee was downstairs, this was a really, really thoughtful gift. I loved it–and to give it, boy, she loved me.
Office supplies and coupons. For writers, it just doesn’t get much better than this!
Acknowledgement of the writer in the human being is the best gift of all. *
© 2012, Vicki Hinze
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Vicki Hinze’s latest releases are: Christmas Countdown (romantic suspense), Duplicity (mystery/thriller), One Way to Write a Novel (nonfiction).
Vicki Hinze
Good news to share!
I’m now writing a weekly column for all the Social In Network, Writing–Live!
These articles focus on writing–meaning, they are constructed from a writer’s point of view. The subject can be just about anything. It’s all fodder, right?
I’m looking forward to hearing what others have to say, and to addressing topics of concern to others as they relate. So feel free to comment or shoot in your questions. You’ll see a contact on this site and at the bottom of each Social In post. FB and Twitter, too, of course.
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Book News
I know this is going to be a hard holiday season for many, so I’m doing what I can to offer books I can offer free and those I can’t, I’m seeking ways to discount them. It’s not much, but it’s what I can do, and if we all do what we can, the sum is making a difference.
Right now, on iTunes, you can get a copy of Duplicity free. On the book page, you’ll find the iTunes Book link.
Watch the blog here. I’ll post the current free book or discounted book so you can find it there.
Blessings,
Vicki
© 2011, Vicki Hinze
WARNING: This is a no-edit zone…
The word manipulation does not carry positive connotations, and yet when the writer views it, it’s through a different prism, and it is a useful word—and writing tool.
The writer writes to make a point. S/he presents facts through the character being used as a vehicle to support the position the character takes—his or her story role. Often the writer also uses a second character and facts opposing that position. This even hand (showing both sides of the coin or issue or challenge) creates the greatest amount of tension and conflict—provided the author presents the pros and cons with equal tenacity, logic, and authenticity. A genuine respect for both sides is required.
When the writer does it, what’s happening? The writer is manipulating the facts and the reader’s emotions. At core level, the writer is pitting good against evil, right against wrong—or any opposing views on the writer’s subject/topic of choice.
This pitting of opposing views or ends of a spectrum makes for the best fiction because the author isn’t telling the story with a lopsided view. S/he is putting the good, bad and indifferent into the mix and tossing it like a salad—so that there’s a blend of good and bad in the good and in the bad. That brings not just the topic or big questions into view for consideration, but also gives the reader the opportunity to notice all the shades of gray on both sides.
The reader tends to invest more personally in the shades of gray. Why? Because s/he can relate to more in them, or see in those shades more of what s/he believes. (Remember, there are few absolutes. There is good in bad and bad in good. Unintended consequences come to mind. Think of the stopped clock. It’s still right twice each and every day.)
Readers connect with characters and stories through emotion. Writers connect with characters and stories through emotion. The writer has a purpose in writing this specific story with this specific character. S/he feels this character can best tell the story, live it, or demonstrate the reason the writer wants to tell this story. So of course, in making the point that motivates the writer to write, in choosing the character(s) s/he chooses to demonstrate/live/tell this story, the writer manipulates.
S/he manipulates everything from the details included to the setting, the mood and tone, the secondary characters, the opposing characters—everything. Every single element, even those that are in direct opposition to the goal s/he has for the novel, is manipulated. (The bad guy loses. You might relate to some of his shades of gray, but not so much you want him to win.) Even what isn’t in the book is evidence of writer manipulation. What s/he elects not to include, not to address, impacts the overall story conclusions.
So writers, when you think of manipulation, don’t think of it as the dirty word it is too often in life. Think of it as massaging your story and characters so that they become the best vehicles and means to convey the message that first motivated you to write the book.
Manipulation is not always a dirty word. Sometimes it’s the blessing that brings your message into stark relief where it can be grasped, understood and embraced by others. That’s, in my humble opinion, a hardworking tool for writers.
Blessings,
Vicki
WARNING: This is a no-edit zone…
Relevance and the Math Business
© 2011, Vicki Hinze
Most writers aren’t fond of math. We’re into words. And yet in our industry many are all about the math. Math over content often decides what gets published, and that simple truth makes it imperative that writers start getting into the math business whether or not they’re fond of it. Why? Because it isn’t just publishers and agents who need to stay relevant, authors do too.
The industry is in the middle of a revolution. Ebooks have come into their own and turned the “normal” paradigms on their ears just as a few years ago electronically tracking sales turned the selections for publication process on its ear.
There was a time when the decision on whether or not to buy a book was a subjective, gut-instinct editorial decision. Both the author and the editor were made or broken depending on the outcome in actual sales. Because the sales tracking took a good six months to get a firm handle on a project’s performance and even longer to know for fact, publishers took chances on authors. Built authors over three or four books provided the author’s sales showed progression.
When the electronic reporting went active things changed. Gut instinct was balanced with reporting and marketing decisions. More publishers began buying by committee rather than on editorial instinct. And now hearing that the editor loved and wanted to buy an author or a project and couldn’t get it through committee is a common refrain uttered by many across genres, across the market.
A similar thing is happening now with publishers on ebooks. And because authors have the option of becoming publishers, publishers are put into the position of determining relevance. For the first time, authors are asking, “What can you do for me that I can’t do for me?”
Publishers can do things that authors can’t—at least, today they do. Tomorrow? Who knows? Things are changing on nearly every front with lightning speed.
A few years ago an agent saw this coming and started an ebook arm that helped his clients get their rights/backlist up in ebook format. I’ve spoken to a few of those authors and found none who were not happy with the way the arrangement has worked out for them. But back then the agent took a lot of heat from other industry professionals, including other agents. Now some of those agents who gave the visionary heat are also setting up similar programs.
What that first agent saw that the others didn’t or elected not to act on until now was that as more avenues opened for authors to become independent publishers, like publishers, agents need to stay relevant in the process or lose the income for not staying relevant to the process.
Now some will say authors, acting as their own publishers, don’t need agents. Some will say agents are needed more than ever because agreements and licenses and secondary licenses are still there and are global and they require trained eyes and comprehension. That a literary attorney might review and comprehend and explain but if the author isn’t trained to comprehend and implement, challenges to the author can occur. That there are retail programs within retailing programs agents can access for their authors that aren’t accessible to authors on their own, or aren’t as readily assessable to authors on their own. Same holds true for publishers.
A case can be made either way—with or without an agent/publisher. A critical consideration in the assessment should be the author’s skill level and awareness/familiarity of licenses and opportunities. The lower the author’s skill level, the greater the author’s need for a skilled agent and/or publisher. Another critical consideration is time. It’s an investment. Time spent competently meeting business end requirements is time spent not writing. Not writing produces no product. No product equals nothing to sell. So there are different things to look at in making your personal call.
In the future, I expect that agents will become more like business managers and brokers. Aiding and assisting in licensing but also in areas physically impacting publishing. Coordinating a core group of associates who do specific things that need doing to take a book from manuscript to print/eformat. People like editors, copyeditors, cover artists and those who code the work for specific formats. Perhaps publicists and marketing professionals also because making readers aware of works is going to be the name of the game that next to content most impacts sales. There’s that math again!
In the future, I expect that publishers will become more like marketers and publicists. Their primary job, aside from getting the book “out there” will be making sure readers and industry pros know the work is out there. In other words, to elevate awareness. Why? Again, next to content, awareness will most impact sales. And again, there’s the math.
Authors can get the books to market in eform and in print. But unless readers of that type work know the works are available and buys them, the works are not going to sell. It is true that selling direct requires the author to sell far fewer copies to earn the same money as with an agent/publisher. It is also true that in an author selling direct there are no advances and there are upfront expenditures. Look for more retailers to develop their own programs where they do offer advances and/or to cover initial prepublication expenses. That’s happening already and I believe it will become more widespread. In these expectations are pros and cons that are directly relatable to the individual author and impact decisions on what the author will do and how s/he will elect to do it. Authors and their specific situations are independent. One size doesn’t fit all.
So an author must do a full-scale assessment of his/her specific situation and goals, and then do the math. Not just for a body of work, but perhaps also on specific projects within the body of work. And based on that assessment, the author then must decide what route s/he wants to take based on the specifics revealed in thorough, practical and realistic evaluation (both personal and relative to the work or body of work).
One thing I have not touched on that I probably should. I didn’t speak to it before now because it was rumor. But it’s happened in multiple places with multiple people now and authors should be aware of it because it can have a direct impact on them.
Before now few authors had the luxury of publishing their own work. They were more or less at the mercy of the publishers or they had to put a ton of money and effort into forming their own traditional publishing company. That gave authors far fewer options and alternatives. The author wrote, submitted, and then prayed. A lot and often. Much of the division of power in the strategic business alliance—whether it was agent/author or publisher/author—was weighted in the agent or publisher’s favor.
The downside for the agent: Time is money. Every author acquired required time. With every submission, an agent risks his/her reputation. The upside for the agent: S/he has other clients, so the risk factor is diffused more so than the author’s. The author has all his/her eggs in one basket—the agent’s.
The downside for the publisher: It risks its reputation in taking on an author/work. If the author/work doesn’t perform well, it reflects and impacts the publisher’s credibility and fiscal stability. The editor who acquired non-performing author/work risks current and future employment prospects. The publisher takes risks, putting its resources and reputation behind the author/work. The upside for the publisher is that it has many authors and many works and that diffuses its risks. If one project tanks and other exceeds expectations, the publisher’s version of income-averaging investing comes to its rescue and aids the health of the publisher overall.
The author’s risks are not diffused. If the project tanks, the author tanks and that’s that on that project and beyond. Numbers and sell-through follow an author, so the next book becomes more difficult to sell. Bear in mind that the author takes these risks with no idea what s/he will earn, how his/her work will be packaged, marketed or distributed. Most authors don’t even know in what form a work will be sold. (That’s often the case for most new authors. Those authors higher up the chain get consultation rights and input and can split and define formats and such in the contract. But while the author has input, the final decisions are still the publisher’s, including even titles of the works. It’s rare that this is not the case. Publishers feel they take the lion’s share of risks so it’s fair and right that they retain the lion’s share of say. Some are reluctant to even tell the author what the print run will be on a project. (There’s that math again.) I’ve never understood that beyond the obvious of a publisher not wanting to announce to its competition its numbers so therefore considers it proprietary information on that basis. But withholding that information from the author creates challenges for the author. Math challenges.
The author can’t budget or do the most basic math projections without specific expectations. While more and more publishers expect the author to promote and market, the author can’t do either rationally because s/he doesn’t have essential information to make the best or wisest decisions. That hurts both author and publisher—agent, too, for that matter. Yet this is how things have are/were/have been. And again, this strategic alliance has benefits and risks for both publisher and author. The publisher’s risks are more diffused. The author’s got all her eggs and reputation and next-work potential in that one basket.
Do note that none of this, or the other tangents applicable in the author/agent or author/publisher relationship, make the relationships adversarial ones. Far from it. In these strategic business alliances all parties have a vested interest and a common goal: to make each work the most successful work possible. Each party has to do the math.
So to stay relevant or establish your relevance, should you go the traditional route for publishing your work? Do it with or without an agent? Do both? Publish both? I can’t answer that for you. There are too many variables in every single author’s case/work(s) to make a simple deduction. Oh, I could line up authors, say: “You, yes. You, no. You do a hybrid. You need an agent. You don’t.” But that’d irresponsible because it’d be based only on my subjective opinion. It’d be arrogant and I’d certainly be wrong. Since you and not I will live with the results, it should be your decision, not mine. You make it. You’ll be accountable for it and you’ll enjoy the success and failure. Remember, we all have different definitions for success and failure. Mine are likely different than yours. The author’s bottom line: Use your math, make your call.
What I can say responsibly is this: In today’s publishing climate, authors need to look at all options and then weigh and consider those options as they relate to the specific author and the specific project at this specific time and under the author’s specific current circumstances, and then make the call for him/herself.
Any decision made by the author most impacts the author. It should be based not on another’s opinion but on the author’s assessment of his/her relevance, and to determine that, s/he must do the math.
Blessings,
Vicki
WARNING: This is a no-edit zone…
Called to Serve? Bottom Line: Trust God
©2011, Vicki Hinze
Many believers feel called to serve and answer that call only to then feel displaced among others in their field or area of expertise. They have no qualms with others in their sphere also called to serve. They have close friends and wonderful relationships with many in that sphere. But still they feel they don’t quite fit. Or, more specifically, that their contributions—the means through which they serve—don’t quite fit.
Some don’t feel embraced by the community they seek to serve. Some love but feel slightly out of step with the community. And some feel their service fits the mold or established template . . . and yet it doesn’t.
Their reactions to this sense of belonging but not belonging, or of being on the fringe, vary. But it’s typical for these servants to suffer bouts of insecurity, of feeling as if they’re failing—not just those they intend to serve, but failing their Lord, which is far more disturbing to them—and their esteem and sense of worth feels hammered.
This leads to servants questioning themselves about their path. Well, first to doubting it. Had they interpreted their calling correctly? Are they doing what they’re supposed to be doing? The way they’re supposed to be doing it? Is the rough road they are on a sign that they goofed and they’re not on the right path at all?
All these things and more in which the servant feels a sincere lack of certainty seep in and take hold, and before the servant knows it, seeds of fear and doubt sprout and grow into full-fledge mounds.
That really clutters up their thoughts and that clutter feeds the uncertainty until the mound becomes a mountain.
Here’s the thing. All that clutter and scrub brush grows like crazy and wraps like vines on a tree until the trunk of the tree is obscured. That trunk is truth. The truth founded in faith.
Evil wears many faces and uses many methods to counter good. We all know it, but we also need to remember it. Evil also attacks us where we’re most vulnerable, and how much more vulnerable can a believer be than in a profound desire not to fail God? So the more we fear and doubt, the more power we give to evil and, boy, will he use it against us.
There’s a key reason this is so. Evil has a strategy. If we’re tied up in knots and consumed by fear and doubt, we’re playing pretzel, and when we’re busy being a pretzel, we’re not busy serving. Evil wins. If good isn’t there to counter it, evil wins by default.
But servants aren’t doomed to be pretzels or helpless victims in this unless they fail to recognize, acknowledge and address what is happening. If servants do those things, they recognize that they can counter.
With what?
A mustard seed’s worth of courage—that’s all it takes to turn things around.
Courage for what?
To pick up a machete.
A machete. Huh?
When you pick up a machete and cut through the vines concealing and choking the trunk, you remove that which binds the trunk. When the trunk is unbound and exposed, the truth is unbound and exposed. You can see the truth because it’s revealed.
When the truth is revealed, what happens? Clarity.
A few points I think are noteworthy:
- 1. Picking up that machete is trusting God. He knows you. He knows your heart and everything else about you. Nothing is hidden. And He chose you for service. Imperfect, flawed, scarred, battered and/or soul-weary, He chose you. If you’re on the fringe, He knows it. If you or your service doesn’t quite fit an established mold, He knows that, too. If you are walking in faith, in His path and will and not your own, being where you are, doing what you’re doing might not be comfortable, but it’s not a mistake. Bottom line: Trust God.
- 2. If you aren’t on the right path, or you’re not sure you’re on the right path, ask Him to make that clear. Ask Him for signs you can’t miss or misinterpret and believe you’ll receive them. Ask for guidance to the right path and believe you’ll get it. Here’s a tip: You will. It’s blatantly stated, not up for debate, and couldn’t be more clear than it is in Matthew 21: 21-23: “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Either you believe in His Word or you don’t. Bottom line: Trust God.
- 3. Evil loses its power. It can’t trick, deceive, clutter or muddle your mind. It can’t stand up to truth. God promised to be with you always. He promised never to leave or forsake you. If anyone’s not been home or been left in the hall, it isn’t you. You left Him. So reconnect. Evil will flee. Bottom line: Trust God.
- 4. With a clear mind, you reassess and grasp this gem of truth: There are no molds. There are man-defined similarities, traditions, general commonalities and preferences, but God made each of us universal (in spirit) and unique as individuals. That’s an important distinction. The Word tells us we are fashioned by His hand. We are as He made us, with the gifts and abilities He gave us. We choose whether or not to use them and whether or not we use them as He wishes or we wish, but they’re there. So if we’ve chosen His wishes, we’re following His will, and we still feel we must be like others or fit some other mold, isn’t that a backhanded way of saying God messed up? And isn’t that insulting Him and expressing a lack of gratitude and a lack of faith? Isn’t that counter to the bottom line, which is: Trust God.
You know, I’m a simple woman and not some highly skilled theologian. But that doesn’t mean my purpose is less valuable or less valued than anyone else’s. Neither is yours. God infuses us all and uses us all in ways of His choosing. We sometimes get so mired down in minutia that we forget that.
We can get too mired down to notice or recall or discover many facets that truth reveals. That’s worth remembering, too. Not just on the “God giving to us” end, but on the “us giving to God” end. He doesn’t need us. He wants us. He respects our free will and delights in our desire to connect with Him and serve Him, and in our willingness to serve Him by serving others. That’s significant because we’re all different. Why is that so significant?
Because being different, we see and react to different things in different ways. God made us so. That means human beings aren’t one-size fits all. We need different approaches, different methods and different means. Something that touches one person will not touch another. Something that touches that second person won’t touch a third.
God comes to each of us in ways we understand. As different people who are in different places with different attitudes and different perspectives standing on different rungs of our own personal spiritual ladders, doesn’t it make sense that He would call servants capable of touching those He wants touched in ways they understand and grasp what He wants understood and grasped?
And doesn’t it make sense that He’d match servants and serving?
We question, and that’s a good thing so long as it is constructive. But when we fret and worry and fear and doubt, that ceases to be good, it becomes destructive and that destroys momentum.
I look back over this post and realize that it’s been a circuitous route leading back to a place that could have made this a two-word post.
Trust God.
But I hope that there’s been value in the journey and that whatever fears and doubts you’ve been experiencing, it’s helped bring a little clarity or triggered something in you that brings you clarity. I hope that when you reach the bottom line, it’ll be the simple and elegant bottom line:
Trust God.
Blessings,
Vicki
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