Insider Info #8 - The rejection "form" letter

​At some point in your career, whether when you are getting started, or when you feel the need to leave one publisher for another, or who knows when - you will get one of these. They are usually short, they are rather bland, they rip your dreamers heart to shreds, and they tell you abso-freaking-lutely NOTHING! Usually. Unless you are with a bigger publisher in which case you may (heavy emphasis here) get the "why" answered.

It will more or less go like this:

Dear [Your name/pseudonym here]

We regret to inform you that your story [Insert title you submitted here] is not a good fit for us at [Insert publisher name here]. We wish you the best of luck in all your endeavors.

Sincerely,

[Name of the schmuck that got stuck sending you this letter inserted here]

Now, let us note, this is a very short version of the rejection letter. In some cases it will be longer, in others... Pretty much what you see is what you get. Basically, whether your rejection letter is four pages long, or two measly sentences, it boils down to the same thing. They don't want to publish your story.

This can be extremely frustrating. We know, we understand, we sympathize and we buy Ben & Jerry's in bulk because of it. Sadly there is nothing to be done about it. It is what it is. Now, in some cases, you can send them a return email inquiring about what in your story wasn't a good fit. You do need to be careful here though, it's a bit of a shaky ledge to be hanging off of. They might tell you, they might not, either way, whatever they send you, do NOT get into an email discussion/argument with them. They are the publisher. They are *cough* "always" *cough* right. Ask if you feel the need, and take whatever they send back in the vein that it is helpful criticism. Unless they don't send anything back at all, in which case call them all sorts of names and plot their violent, bloody deaths. 'Cause we're authors, and that shits just plain fun!

While receiving a rejection letter is depressing, it's a fact of life, and life just isn't fair. If you are of the generation that actually played outside, got a job in high school for spending money, and didn't have your parent(s) catering to your every whim and need, you understand this. If you are from the generation that doesn't know what any of that previous sentence means in relation to you, boy-oh-boy, you have even bigger issues than one measly little rejection letter.

That's it for the moment - we'll have more on this topic, for sure!

The Moderator (the only one not with a current deadline - woohoo!)

Insider Info #7 - Idiosyncrasies of Publishers

This may not be an issue for all authors but we have discovered that, depending on a few factors, you may be or become one of the authors with a publisher who has a few... Hmm, how shall we put this? "Quirks".

We did a little poll through some of the authors we know, beyond our little group -though we did include our own experiences- to find out the answer to a question that kind of just came up during one of our Blog topic discussions. We did discover though that 99.999% of this issue tended to occur more with the e-Book industry publishers and less the more "traditional" print publishing houses. We're not talking about Harlequin, Random House, St. Martin's Press, etc, etc, for example. We're talking strictly e-Book first over anything else. We won't name any names but we're sure you can all come up with a list on your own.

The question was:  What is the biggest pet peeve you have with your publisher?

The answers were some we've all come across and a few that made us giggle too. And the answers were, in no particular order, limited only to ones that were clean and non-snarky.

• "Timelines for getting me my first/second round of edits, no consistency" -- Yeah, been there, done that! Sadly this is often the result of their work load on their end and the number of editors on hand at any given time. They do take holidays so give them a break. But keep an eye on the calendar and if your publishing date is approaching too fast, make some noise.
• "Seems like no one (left hand) actually knows what the others are doing (right hand)" -- Ouch! No solution here but to keep your own shit together and keep an eye on the horizon for any signs that their shit's about to blow.
• "My one editor seems to be great and the other has got to be having troubles or something because wow! Do they even read each other's notes?" -- No, we don't think they actually do, and you, the author, usually get blamed for that too BTW.
• "My publisher has a set of what they call House Guidelines for what can and can't be used in a story and how a story can flow. For example, they have this thing about semi-colons (that's the one used for a winky faced emoticon for all you new generation authors). But I'd swear they are not all using the same Guidelines! One says they all have to come out and the next editor goes and puts them all back in." -- Yeah, been there and done that too! Oh and you, the author, get blamed all the way for not using them where they should be if they should be.
• "I'm not sure what English language these people have studied and are "experts" at, but it's not the same one I was taught." -- It never is. We're pretty sure they all studied the Queen's English, in England, in the 16th century. Well, that's our take on that one anyway.
• "Vague emails to questions I have that really shouldn't be so hard to answer, what is with that?" -- Ahh, yes. This is the "covering our ass" diversionary tactic. Because the "boss" isn't always available and "legal" may be on a beach somewhere, there is some poor schmuck that is answering your email. High enough up the food chain to do so, but not high enough to give "official" word on anything. While irritating we found that just emailing back with a thank you and "can you pass this along to so-and-so so I can have these answered more to my desire" usually helps. But be nice and polite and ass-kissy.
• "Cover design, they ask what I want and don't want and then do whatever they want and yet I can't get it fixed or supply my own." -- Yikes! Ye-e-e-e-a-a-a-ah, been there too. This one bites the big enchilada for sure. Though, in a lot of cases, if you talk to your rep and explain why it's not your vision - or even what you requested per their nifty little form, they will get it fixed. You can even request a different artist to do the work from the supplied info you gave - not that they always will honor this one so be ready for a "no" on that.
• On a side note here: If you find a cover artist with your publisher that "gets" you and your visions, request them each time. Most publishers will ask you if you have a preferred artist when you do your cover art forms, FILL THAT PUPPY IN!

And the last one we put on the list... Because it was funnier than hell and, point of fact, happened to the author not once, not twice, but six times over a four month period making it even more amusing:

• "I think I was butt dialled by my publisher!" -- SWEET! But nothing here you can do except maybe send this person an email and let them know they might want to lock that puppy down when it's in a pocket.

We are sure there are many more out there. Actually, we know they are, but they were a little too personal and could involve privacy/contractual issues, so they were not added to the above list. There you have it. The joyous idiosyncrasies of dealing with a Publisher. If you have one you'd like added to our next list, we're sure there will be one, send it to us at:  the-unvarnished-author@gmail.com

The Moderator

Insider Info #6 - Things you may never have thought of

Now, as most of the first world population is on Facebook - and other social media sites - this problem may not come up. But it is something important you need to know.

As an author you want to have a fan page for, well, your fans. This will be a place for them to gather and rave about your greatness and... Okay, so that may be pushing the envelope a little, but we can all hope right?

Something you may not know though is that unless you create a page for your author persona and then a fan page, you could run into difficulties. Where? you ask. Glad you did. Advertising on Facebook. If you ONLY have a fan page - in other words you have your own personal page and you "Create a Page" - you can NOT advertise as your author persona, only as your real life self. At all. Ever. You need to actually make a Facebook account for your author persona and then create a page for your fans from that persona. This of course doesn't matter if you are using your real name but if you are writing under a pen name, be forewarned. Yeah, screwy huh?

We think so too but with the way things are always changing and moving on Facebook we're never sure what the hell is going on anyway. Which brings us to another tip we want to warn you about on Facebook. Check your "Active Sessions" on a regular basis. Wait! Before you freak, we have directions.

Go to the little "cog" in the blue bar at the top of your screen. It's the little round bumpy looking wheel to the right of your name and the little lock that looks like it's going really fast. Click on it and scroll down to "Account Settings" - click on it. Once you are in there you want to look to the left hand bar where a number of things are listed. It reads, in descending order:  General, Security, Privacy, Timeline and Tagging, etc, etc.

You will want to click on "Security". At the bottom of these bolded headings of the page that just appeared reads "Active Sessions". Click on "Edit" to the right of it (little blue link) and a drop down like screen will appear. You need to know where you are signed in from at all times so you know if someone is hacking your account. Try and remember if you check your Facebook from work, your phone, a tablet or iPad, etc. But these should (in theory - unless you are on a trip) be all in the same city. If there are ANY not in your current location - click the little link to the right that says "End Activity". Do this with every session NOT your own. Then, immediately, change your password and check again. Hackers are evil little shits and they love to do stuff to fuck you around.

Once you have done a second round of checks. Change your password one more time. This may seem redundant, you just did it. But that old saying, better safe than sorry, applies here. So do it! Once you have done that - warn your fans. Post up a message letting them know that you were potentially hacked -if you can, give a rough time line as well- and let them know that anything before your current message should be ignored as potentially dangerous spam especially anything with a link in it.

There you have it, our helpful tips to ensuring the safety of your online life. We will have more to come.

The Moderator

Insider Info #5 - Publisher stance on reviews

A book review is a scary thing. A reviewer is some stranger that will be reading your book and giving an opinion on it. That there is key, something you must remember, a review is one persons personal view of your work. Not all people will like your works and not all will have nice things to say about it.

But since we covered that in the post Insider Info #1, we will be looking at the stance of the publisher toward reviews. Specifically we will be looking at the publishers that tell you not to bother getting reviews or say that they don't permit their books to go to reviewers. This is a serious flag on the play.

Put yourself in the publishers shoes for a moment. If you have helped this author, nurtured them, done editing, made suggestions to make the work richer and more satisfying, wouldn't you want this book to get a stellar review? Now, because reviews are one persons opinion this won't always happen, but in a lot of cases a reviewer will provide a suggestion from their point of view that could help the author or just that work. We think this is a good thing.

So why then do some publishers say you are not permitted to submit your book to a reviewer?

Exactly! Why? Because there is something to hide. Whether it is because they know their editing department is a bunch of hacks and are trying to cover this up or because they just want to keep a low profile, none of these reasons are acceptable. As an author you have the right to send your book for review. Period. If this puts a shameful face on you and therefore your publisher, so be it. But getting the opinion of some outsider is a good thing and may show you just what slipped under your radar in regards to your work and your publisher.

Now, there is one thing you absolutely have to check and should have caught your eye if you've been reading your contracts as we've told you you must. Is there a clause in your contract that says you, as the author, are not permitted to send your book for reviews? If there is, make sure this is the last book you ever send this publisher and move on with your career elsewhere. Anyone that leaves it up to the Amazon Trolls and such, to review your book, is not a publisher you want to be with.

The Moderator

Contract Information

Since this post kind of hits many of our normal tags from Rules, to Insider Info and even into The Scoop, we felt we'd leave this in the "General" realm and just give it multiple tags.

The below links are from an authors website (Tymber Dalton). Please note: We are NOT promoting her as an author. We are NOT promoting her works by any of her pseudonym's. And we are NOT promoting any of her publishers.

We were pointed toward her by one of our Moderators and, after reading the posts we've supplied links for, felt the need to share them with you. She is quite knowledgeable about contracts as her husband used to practice law and has a few years experience that also allows her to know what she's talking about. Now, she is NOT a lawyer, just married to a man who used to practice law and what she has to say is sound advice but in no way admissible in a court of law. However, if you read through each of the articles we've supplied links for, you will see she has provided quite a bit of information to assist you in untangling the legal web a hokey publisher can weave.

We found the articles detailed, intriguing and with a very unique and informative spin to them. But if you happen to buy her books that's fine too, that's just not the purpose of this post or why we are supplying her links.

Pop Quiz: Contracts

A Bad Publishing Contract Deconstructed, Part 1

A Bad Publishing Contract Deconstructed, Part 2 - The Ugly Truth

A Bad Publishing Contract Deconstructed, Part 3 - The Uglier Truth

And since you may not also remember these other links that she supplied here they are again nice and clear:

The Passive Voice (Contract Counsel)

Writer Beware

Preditors & Editors

Duration of Copyright (USA) things to know and understand

There you have it. Some more information about contracts spelled out in a manner that makes sense for those of us who get the urge to fall asleep the moment we see legal documents. Hopefully this extra information will help you to avoid pitfalls that some of us have had to learn the hard way. Now, one last time, the author that supplied the deconstruct of the contract in question is NOT a lawyer. She has been in the business a while and has a husband who practised law so she is knowledgeable but not, in any way, shape or form a lawyer. If you ever have a question about a contract, ask your own lawyer.

The Moderator

Insider Info #4 - Publisher on-line groups

Many publishers in this wild and crazy digital age have "groups" that, as one of their authors, you can be a part of. These can be exclusive groups on Facebook, Yahoo! or any other number of places. These are literally places just for the authors of the publisher where no outsiders (readers, fans, stalkers) can be a part of.

While you may feel intimidated coming into a publishing house and their inner sanctum as we shall call it, this is only natural after all, do at least say hello to everyone once you join the group. All these authors are people who you will want to know to some degree. Be friendly, but do not over share, there is a fine line there that you will have to personally set for yourself. Every author has a line they won't go over, now you just need to find yours.

Chat with other authors but tread with care. You don't yet know these people so approach it as you would a first date (it's an example - chill!). Say "hi", give a little about yourself like your chosen genre and maybe a tiny bit about your personal life. For example: "I'm married, just celebrated our tenth anniversary and we have two darling if slightly exuberant kids, a boy and a girl". It's simple, lets everyone know right off you have a family that takes up some of your time and yet doesn't reveal too, too much.

Now if you make friends with another author or several others you can always chat, OFF-SITE please, about other things. This is why messenger programs were invented - use them. But your on-line presence in your publishers group should always remain professional yet friendly. On your personal page and fan site you can be a little more outgoing and giving of the information, but you need to remember that every author of the publisher is likely on the publisher site and doesn't want drama there.

These sites are for assistance, moral support and general information that the outside world doesn't need to know about. Even if your publisher doesn't have a direct presence on the site, there are some that are strictly author's only or no "parents" allowed, you still have to keep a professional face there. After all, do unto others as you would have them do to you. Remember it, live it, breathe it and don't forget it. 

So, quick recap. Be friendly, be polite and share just enough to make yourself a human being to these people. But don't go overboard - they needn't know every minute detail of your life - that's why you have a personal and fan page.

The Moderator

Insider Info #3 - Advertising

No matter who you are, or how big you become, you need to advertise. This is both to get your name out there and promote your work. For the purposes of this post we are focusing on you and your first books.

There are any number of ways to advertise and promote your work. For your first books you need to find the free sites that you can join and post on about it in the coming weeks and days leading up to the release. If you are not independently wealthy, these sites are your friend. Facebook has tonnes of them. But make sure you read the descriptions before joining to ensure you are in the right ones. Some are for all genres and others are very genre based. In other words, posting fantasy in an erotic site when your book isn't classified as erotic, will have the owners likely giving you a smack on the knuckles - not always but be wary. If you're unsure ask.

Yahoo! Groups are another way to do this, there are some great sites out there for you to utilize where, for the most part, genre plays no part. Just make sure you are on sites for promoting and NOT RPG advertising, nothing pisses those mods and owners off more than you posting about a book on their RPG based sites. On these promo sites you will get an email or ten from them, it's an automatic thing, with things like rules, posting days and so forth. Pay attention to their rules, some mods and owners are big sticklers while others are a bit more relaxed about things. And definitely don't forget to check out Google Groups and, we think, there might be even a few on Wordpress and other such sites as well.

Blog spots are another way to get your books out there to a different audience. This is where a fellow author or blogger for authors does an "interview" about you and your new work. They post it up a few days before the book is to come out. Not only can you send your readers over to read all about you and your book but the author or blogger's audience is also getting to learn about you. This is, most times, a free thing as well.

There are also, for when you can afford it, sites out there that will do the promoting for you for a fee. They hit all the hot spots as well as put you and your book into their newsletters or popular newsletters out on the Web. These are great because you hit a wider audience than most of us of semi-fame could ever manage. Yes we all have our following, readers who love our works and will pretty much buy anything we put out. But it's great to hit a wider range of readers, readers you might not normally have caught the attention of. And, potentially, bring more readers into your particular fold.

That's it for this round, hope we've given you a few more things to think about. Remember, if you have questions shoot them off to us. We do check the site regularly but we might miss a question in the comments section so feel free to email us.

The Moderator

Insider Info #2 - Create a website

Every author should have a website. A website will allow your target audience, as well as potential new readers, to get to know you and your works. Some important details to this end are as follows:

• Find a hosting site you like, there are many and - depending on how adept you are with HTML and other coding - they go from super simple to extremely complicated.
  
• Don't worry about purchasing your domain name right away. There are some who say it looks better if you have a www.yourname.com or .net or .org but really, you are just starting out and that isn't a cost you're ready to deal with. Plus, you want to give the site a test run before committing like that and doing it as a freebie is a great way to proceed.
• When you have found a hosting site you think you can work with, play around with the templates and find something that makes you happy. Don't go for splash and glam just because you can. You want it to catch peoples eyes and yet be pleasing, not searing their corneas as they scramble for the mouse to get off your site.
• Visit other author sites to see how they have constructed them. You want to have a good flow that a) makes sense and; b) doesn't piss off your audience. Browse both professionally tended and amateur author sites and see what you like about their sites and what you don't. This way you can implement it on your own.
• Do not go crazy right off the starting blocks. Create a warm and welcoming home page with something that will catch readers eyes. Make sure you have a page dedicated to just you. Put up your picture (only if you are 100% comfortable doing so) and put up a biography of you to tell your readers a bit about you beyond your author's cap (be careful how personal you get). Then ensure you have a page solely dedicated to your books. Or many sub-pages. Or whatever you want. And always, always ensure you have a way for your audience to reach out and contact you - be it a form or a link that opens an email page for them to send you a message.
• Play around with it until you feel comfortable with the flow. The more at ease you are with it, the more likely others will find the same ease of moving around your site. Try a few different pages but only use what you like and what you think will benefit you as a writer. Not everyone needs the same things on their sites.

There are many sites out there that have a month to an indeterminate trial length of time. Find one that you can try out for a good six months without having to commit, at least. Some free sites you can use before going all the way with a "purchased" domain are:

• Wordpress.com
• Blogger.com
• Weebly.com
• Webs.com
• Yola.com

Once you have it set up how you like it get your friends and family to go through it. These are some of your toughest critics right there and they will be honest with you about something like this. Ask them to go through the site, front to back, top to bottom and rate it for ease of use, ease of finding things, readability and of course - that all the potential links actually work. Trust us, we've been there and missed a link or two in our days. Or worse, had it go somewhere it really shouldn't have! The horror of it all.

Depending on the hosting site you've chosen you may never actually have to purchase a domain name. Despite what your publisher may say, it isn't an absolute must have. Yes it looks a lot prettier without the hosting name as part of your web address, but it's free. Free is good. Free is awesome. Free is the best thing ever on the planet. And, considering some of the money you will start shelling out in the near future, free is necessary when and where you can get it.

Stay tuned for more insider info in the days to come. We'll be touching on how to advertise yourself as well as getting that brand new website you just constructed out there for everyone to find and see.

The Moderator

Insider Info #1 - Reviews & Reviewers

Reviews are a fact of life for anyone that has published anything, no matter the content. Some are bad, some are ho-hum and some are good to great. They are also something you will have to deal will as you and your career progress. Not all authors listen to reviews, especially when they are first starting out in the business. Depending on the reviewer any review passed along in regard to your work can set off a myriad number of emotions.

There are a number of categories of reviewers. Note:  The below are just terms we've heard over the years and there are as many other terms out there as there are types of reviewers.

• The Troll - This person literally trolls for books to read and then shred. They are the least favourite of all reviewers out there. They also come in a number of sub-categories themselves:
• The Wannabe - Someone who thinks they're the next John Grisham or Nora Roberts of writing. Because they haven't been signed by a publisher (for any number of reasons) they take out all their inner crap on up and coming authors and, even on occasion, established big authors. These can also be people who have written the greatest thing since sliced bread but are still searching for the publisher that would suitably adore them and put them up on a pedestal as they feel is deserved.
• The Hater - The name is pretty self-explanatory really, they hate pretty much anyone and anything they've written.
• The I-Know-It-All - Again, pretty self-explanatory. These people will read your book because your publisher has put it into a category on-line that is "their" genre. They will then pick apart your work and point out all you've done wrong and why it shouldn't be in said category. They may often also get into bouts of on-line arguments with others who have reviewed your work and it just goes downhill from there.
• The Façade - These are people who could be fellow authors, publishers or people who don't want their identities known, under a false identity on-line who give reviews. These are the ones that if you are getting rave reviews from others will try and bring your rating down to ensure their (in the case of publishers and fellow authors) favourites books outsell yours. These are also the hardest ones to prove as being not who they say they are. This can also go the other way as well, if you are their favourite then they will defend your work on-line to those bringing it down.
• The On-Line Reviewer - These are people who work for review sites, legitimate ones, that you can send your book in for a review. All of these sites have very specific guidelines in place as to what can and cannot be said in a review. They are also giving a personal opinion so you need to take that into account as well when you get their reviews back. These are the ones you will see the most of as an e-book author. They take free submissions but, should they make a legitimate purchase of your book, they can also submit a review directly to you as well.
• The Make-It-Or-Break-It Reviewer - This is the big league reviewer that, unless you find a unique niche to write and hit it big, you will likely never run across. These are the ones that do reviews for papers, magazines and huge on-line followings. For example, this would be the New York Times reviewer. These are the guys that can make or break an author's career. Each hold degrees, know the English language inside and out, and can out grammar-Nazi the best on any social media site there is. And they are also some of the scariest people on the planet to an author.

Whether you read your reviews or not, you will get them. Especially from any on-line sales site - like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and iTunes to name just a few. You should know that if you decide to read the reviews, to look at them not as the author, but as an outsider. Not everyone is going to like what you write and there will always be someone with something negative to say about everything. As is in life, there's always that one (or more) person who just has to rain on your parade. If the criticism is constructive and actually helps you become a better writer, bonus! But if all the reviews do is have you question why you are writing, consider not reading them. After all, you are writing because you enjoy it. Let the haters hate and write for the love of creating the worlds you are creating.

That's it for this post. We've complied a small listing of review sites for e-books on the right panel. Most are individual sites that we've dealt with but there is one that has a lot of resources for new and even established authors if you are interested. That said - get out there and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

The Moderator