 For Authors: February 03, 2010 Issue [#3533] |
  For Authors
This week: Edited by: CHRISTMAS cub-BELLS R RINGING!  
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Hello, everyone! Welcome to this edition of the For Authors newsletter.  This week's topic is focused on simultaneous submissions, but first off, I'd like to share a few quotes with you. Enjoy!
Quotes:
"The faster I write the better my output. If I'm going slow, I'm in trouble. It means I'm pushing the words instead of being pulled by them. "
~ Raymond Chandler
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"The only thing I was fit for was to be a writer, and this notion rested solely on my suspicion that I would never be fit for real work, and that writing didn't require any."
~ Russell Baker
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"You can't say, I won't write today because that excuse will extend into several days, then several months, then… you are not a writer anymore, just someone who dreams about being a writer."
~ Dorothy C. Fontana
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"People on the outside think there's something magical about writing, that you go up in the attic at midnight and cast the bones and come down in the morning with a story, but it isn't like that. You sit in back of the typewriter and you work, and that's all there is to it."
~ Harlan Ellison
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"Writing is physical work. It's sweaty work. You just can't will yourself to become a good writer. You really have to work at it."
~ Will Haygood
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"A writer never has a vacation. For a writer life consists of either writing or thinking about writing."
~ Eugene Ionesco |
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Exclusive vs. Simultaneous Submissions
Should I send out my manuscript to multiple publishers at the same time?
I cannot answer yes or no to this question. It's something many writers struggle with. Either way you look at it, there are pros and cons.
Many traditional publishing houses take four or more months to respond to a manuscript. If you have only one manuscript in circulation, it could very well take years before you find a publisher who accepts your piece. Simultaneous submissions, however, may cut that time in half or more.
Be aware. Make sure before you send out simultaneous submissions, you do your homework. You should always read the writer's guidelines before sending out anything. If the publishing house guidelines states "We do not accept simultaneous submissions", don't send a copy of your manuscript to that publisher unless you do it exclusively. If they say "Accepts simultaneous submissions", go for it. And be sure to mention in your cover letter that your manuscript is a simultaneous submission. But please-- make sure your manuscript suits the house you are sending your manuscript to. Sending it to publishers only because they accept such submissions is a big waste of time not only for you, but anyone else involved in the process. Many publishers no longer accept simultaneous submissions because they don't want to be bombarded by writers who shotgun their work out anywhere without bothering to do their homework.
If you do get accepted after sending out simultaneous submissions, be sure to contact the other publishers and request a withdrawl of your manuscript. Be polite and professional... always.
With all the stipulations out there, such as "No longer accepts unagented materal", "Only accepts material from previously published authors", "No longer accepts unsolicited materal", and so on, it's imperative that you follow the guidelines to whichever publisher you send your work to. Too much time goes into perfecting our manuscripts to just toss it out to anyone as long as they are a publisher. Know where you are sending to and that your manuscript might fit the needs of the editors.
One disadvantage of sending simultaneously to several places is if you later discover you could improve your story, or you want to change something in it. If you've already sent your manuscript to ten publishers, and I would assume the top ten publishers you wish to be published through, and you've been rejected, your chances of resending the improved piece to those publishers and getting published are not good. Consider sending to only three or four editors at a time.
I can't say it enough: Do your homework. Do your homework. Do your homework..
I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors!
 Here are a few links for further reading on simultaneous submissions:
http://marielamba.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/stranger-than-fiction-are-industry-li...
http://www.underdown.org/multiple.htm
http://www.writing.org/html/a_multiple.htm
And a few books to check out:
Putting Your Passion Into Print: Get Your Book Published Successfully! by Arielle Eckstut and David Sterry
How To Be Your Own Literary Agent: An Insider's Guide to Getting Your Book Published by Richard Curtis
 Now for a prompt... ( better yet, homework assignment!)  Study guidelines from several publishers. What have they published recently? Do they accept unsolicited material? Simultaneous submissions?
May you have an inspiring week and an exceptionally inspiring year!
Keep on Writing!
Cubby ") |
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~FEEDBACK~
Ladyoz 
What a great newsletter - thanks!!
~ My pleasure!
Adriana Noir
Great tips on how to find your voice and discover your style, Cubby! And just in time too! The holidays always seem to leave people drained and stuffed with writer's block! Or maybe that's just me. 
~ Nah! It's not just you. 
J. A. Buxton 
"Don't think and then write it down. Think on paper."
~ Harry Kemelman
The above quote doesn't always work for me. I get my best ideas for the longer stories while lying in the dark waiting to fall asleep. Often, my insistent characters act out complete chapters for me. They keep me awake for hours while showing what I need to write about them the next day. I wonder if any other WDC members have this problem with their pushy characters.
~ That's wonderful! At least your characters are alive and well and won't leave you alone, LOL! I betcha most writers would love that problem.
fuzzmeister
Hi. I've been a member of WdC on and off for the last few years with several incarnations and have written from my heart. My writing is a reflection of me, particularly in my blogs. I don't hold back and know that my mind, heart and vocal chords are in sync. What the writer has NO control over is the ears and hearts of others. I'm not popular here which is why I keep leaving then coming back to start afresh. Yet, despite promises to myself, the same voice keeps emerging and I end up just as shunned as ever. My current incarnation; I don't actually care anymore. I write for me now. There's no money or popularity in it, but you're right. Voice is vital and I will continue to holler my lungs into the WdC void.
~ Thanks for sharing that. It takes all kinds of voices in this world. If we all wrote the same, how boring life would be!
Scyth
i have had trouble with my voice in my writing!!! i WILL try those tips for writing!!! Thank You!!!
~ You are very welcome!
Angelica Weatherby-Star on top 
This is a really nice newsletter! Of course I don't have my voice in any of my stories and such.  Maybe I should try "finding" that voice.
~ Or easier yet, allow your voice to find you.
LJPC - the tortoise
Hi Cubby! Great NL about the most important part of writing - an author's individuality. I went searching for my voice for quite a while. Then, as with Dorothy, I found I'd had it all along!  -- Laura
~ You should consider writing about that journey!
Jane
Excellent 'find your voice' advice, Cubby! (as well as true) That's exactly how I found my voice. At first, my writing was shy and then I studied how authors wrote (esp King) and then I got caught up in the rules and restrictions but then one day I said the heck with all that and wrote how I wanted...in other words, I wrote for myself and....voila. My voice emerged! It's easy to get tongue-tied when writing but not if you let go of your fears and self doubt and just be yourself. Thanks for the reminder and motivation!
~ I watched an interview the other day where the writer said to learn everything you can about what it is you are writing about (historical facts). Then forget everything you learned and just write. I think that compares very well with what you have just said.
Red Writing Hood <3 
Loved your choice of quotes!
~ Thank you!
Azrael 
Hello, i love these newsletter, always learn something new, thank you.
Azrael
~ Glad to hear it!
Being Diane
I loved the newsletter and my creative writing teacher said you could hear my voice in my writing from the first letter I wrote. I couldn't believe it and think it must come from the fact I write from personal experience. I am saving this newsletter cuz I know it will help me down the road! Thanks, going on 5 years at writing.com..Diane
~ Not everyone writes well about their personal experiences, so I'm thinking you write from your heart and that is where your voice is! Congratulations!
 Thank you all for the wonderful feedback!
As always...
Have a wonderful week!
AND KEEP ON WRITING!!!
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