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mary rosenblum
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Hello, all!
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mary rosenblum
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Welcome to our Friday After
Hours Forum.
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mary rosenblum
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If you're new here, remember
that you need to click on the 'Ask a Question' button or the 'word bubble'
next to the red question mark at the top of the screen in order to ask a
question. Your regular 'send' bar won't reach me! Or you can use /ask and
type your question into the regular send bar if that works better for you..
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mary rosenblum
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Tonight's topic is a result of
a line of a couple of questions that came up late in my interview with
Charlaine Harris Shulz last night...
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mary rosenblum
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and they were thought
provoking, but required way too much commentary to work in the final stage
of the interview. But they make a perfect Forum topic.
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mary rosenblum
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Wyrde posed the questions, and
thank you wyrde because they were excellent.
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mary rosenblum
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The question had to do with
publishers' expectations and what shapes writers' inspirations.
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mary rosenblum
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And you hear a lot of writers...both
new and pro...talking about what a publisher 'wants'...
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mary rosenblum
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and how to write 'for the
market'.
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mary rosenblum
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There is a three-way
relationship in the universe of published prose.
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mary rosenblum
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You have the publisher, the
reader, and the author.
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mary rosenblum
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They make up a dynamic whole
and there is a lot of three way give and take.
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mary rosenblum
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It's very easy to assume that
the publisher hold all the power...
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mary rosenblum
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sitting behind a huge, teak
desk...yep, menage a trois, wyrde...:-)....and deciding WHAT SHALL BE.
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mary rosenblum
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It's not nearly that simple.
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mary rosenblum
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Publishers need to make a
profit and that means they need to sell a LOT of books...
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mary rosenblum
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as in 100,000 copies to make a
comfortable profit on your book.
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mary rosenblum
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Guess what the flip side of
this particular equation is?
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mary rosenblum
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Readers must BUY those 100,000
copies.
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mary rosenblum
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So, as you may guess,
publishers, like Hollywood play a dual game...
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mary rosenblum
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they want to give the readers
what they already have demonstrated they will buy..(As in Harry Potter the
Twelfth)...
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mary rosenblum
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BUT...many of the blockbusters...most
of them, actually...are unexpected. The very same Harry Potter the First is
an excellent example of that.
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mary rosenblum
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So publishers get ulcers
vacillating between 'new' that might be hot, OR might lose them their
shirts...and 'tried and true' like yet another sword and sorcery fantasy in
the Dungeons and Dragons style.
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senicynt
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I had a question yesterday that
may have been answered but technical difficulties prevented me from seeing
it. She said that she had to make a few changes to suit Harlequin
publication standards. What kinds of changes were they?
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mary rosenblum
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She didn't say specifically,
sen, but Har-Sil have very specific formulae for their books. The first
kiss must happen this soon, this must happen, this cannot happen, and so
forth.
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senicynt
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Blockbuster wrtiters - Stephen
King - Is his writing always good or does he ride on fame a bit? (I've
never read his books - not a horror fan._
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mary rosenblum
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Never ever equate good with
popular, senicynt. Sometimes it is true, often it is not.
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wyrde
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Harlequin has fairly detailed
requirements, doesn't it?
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mary rosenblum
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Yes, they do. Very.
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mary rosenblum
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And they are guaranteed sellers.
They have refined the 'reader niche' very precisely and they fill it very
precisely.
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info
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ideally, publishers must sell
100,000 books, but what is an usually number of books sold for a book? I
assume it isn't always 100,000 of them.
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mary rosenblum
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Very rarely, info. If you're
selling 100,000 for sure, you're on that stand beside the supermaket
checkout. :-) Most writers...
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mary rosenblum
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myself included are
'midlist'...not selling at those numbers. If your numbers build, you'll
usually stay published...
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mary rosenblum
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although not always. Politics
intervenes. I lost a building mystery series through politics, not numbers.
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mmolly
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Because times have changed so
much as far as romance goes...wouldnt it be wise for Harlequin to adjust
with the times?
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mary rosenblum
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Why, Molly? They have a
formula that WORKS. They are very successful. Why should they fix somethign
that...for them at least...isn't broke?
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mary rosenblum
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Now if another line with a
more flexible formula starts outselling them..then they'll change.
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mary rosenblum
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Realize I don't care of that
sort of Romance because it IS formula, but plenty of readers do.
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wingedwarrior24
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Harlequin, whats that?
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mary rosenblum
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That is the largest Romance
publisher, winged.
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mary rosenblum
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If you're new here, remember
that you need to click on the 'Ask a Question' button or the 'word bubble'
next to the red question mark at the top of the screen in order to ask a
question. Your regular 'send' bar won't reach me! Or you can use /ask and
type your question into the regular send bar if that works better for you..
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mmolly
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How do the publishers decide
what the readers will want? Obviously by what they have sold well before,
but how do they decide on new areas? I cant imagine a publisher would get a
lot of feedback from readers.
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mary rosenblum
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Oh publishers get tons of
feedback from readers!
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mary rosenblum
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People write letters, go to
websites, talk to editors at conference panels...
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mary rosenblum
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and the editors...who are out
and about...pay attention.
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mary rosenblum
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They also watch short fiction
to see what seems to be hot, and pay attention to trends...
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mary rosenblum
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Recently, Tor Books brought
out a very erotic fantasy in a rich, lush style with a lot of S & M
overtones and it sold like gangbusters.
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mary rosenblum
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Now everybody wants that sort
of book.
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mary rosenblum
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To publish, I mean.
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senicynt
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Hi mary, If you have a successul
line and your current publisher drops it, does the industry prevent another
publisher from picking up the remaining novels in teh series?
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mary rosenblum
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Not at all, but it rarely if
ever happens. You end up having to go small press if you want to continue.
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mary rosenblum
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The reason is that they can't
control the first books in the series...your old publisher has THOSE.
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mary rosenblum
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And people want those first
books. So they'd rather you created a new series.
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mary rosenblum
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Now if the series has been
around for ten books or so, or has outstanding numbers...
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mary rosenblum
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the other house will pick it
up if they figure readers won't insist on book one. Charlaine switched
houses with one of her series.
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mary rosenblum
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But for a short series...six
books or less...it's much less likely unless you are selling VERY VERY
well.
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info
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S&M?
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mary rosenblum
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Sadism and masochism, info.
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wyrde
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you can see where those detailed
requirements, since they provide a solid framework, would appeal to certain
personalities, but not so much those writers concerned with creativity and
art...
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mary rosenblum
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No kidding, wyrde.
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wyrde
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so an element of novelty, in
subject matter, that is, plus, I would think, good writing, could inspire a
publisher to take a chance on a new writer/idea...
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mary rosenblum
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Yes. And that is where stubbornness
is a virtue.
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mary rosenblum
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If you do have that 'new',
'different', 'between the cracks' book...
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mary rosenblum
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you will have to keep it out
at a LOT of editorial desks. You have to find the editor who says, 'I know
this will work'..
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mary rosenblum
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and goes to bat for your when
Marketing tells her that of course it will not.
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mary rosenblum
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If you look at most of the big
blockbusters, they had been rejected many times before they sold.
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mary rosenblum
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And that's it...new,
different, cool...is a risk. So you have to find the editor for whom it
clicks.
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mary rosenblum
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If it's just like ten other
books on the shelf, it's not likely to be a blockbuster.
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wingedwarrior24
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will editors and publishers know
you from a pen name if you use your real name?
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mary rosenblum
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Winged, you have to give them
your real name. That is unless your pen name can cash the check! And the
IRS will take a dim view of that unless your pen name also has a SS#.
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mary rosenblum
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I'm teasing you, but you do
sign contracts with your real, legal name.
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mary rosenblum
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diamond, you asked me a
question, but out of context, I'm not sure what you were commenting on.
Want to amplify a bit?
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wyrde
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so you say that innovative books
can have a lot of rejections, but as you yourself have said, it can take a
long time to get a rejection, so how long are we being stubborn, a decade?
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mary rosenblum
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Hopefully not that long.
Years, yes.
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mary rosenblum
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Sorry, folks, this is not a
fast-results business...not in novel form.
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mary rosenblum
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But goodness...while you're
keeping that one out there, you're writing and selling other books.
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mary rosenblum
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There is no rule that you have
to publish THIS book before you publish the next book!
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mary rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor. Tonight we're talking about the
publishing world and how you fit in. I've published seven novels and more
than 60 short stories and will do my best to answer any questions you have.
If you're new here, remember that you need to click on the 'Ask a Question'
button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question mark at the top of the
screen in order to ask a question. Your regular 'send' bar won't reach me!
Or you can use /ask and type your question into the regular send bar if
that works better for you..
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diamond2007
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yea, talking about Harliquin not
changing their formula, wouldn't it be wise to change before or even with
trends, so they don't have to wait untill someone else has already out done
their sales?
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mary rosenblum
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Thanks diamond. Well, yeah,
you'd think so...but the publishing business is badly run in my opinion...
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mary rosenblum
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It used to be that the many
independent houses made enough to take 'flyers' on new writers/voices and
had a few solid standards that paid the bills.
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mary rosenblum
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With consolidation, you really
have only about three major publishers with many imprints... (three is not
accurate, but very few)...
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mary rosenblum
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And these are now huge
operations making very small profit margins...
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mary rosenblum
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and editors are employees, not
the publisher, so they can't take risks too often. They must produce books
that make money.
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mary rosenblum
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I think this is very much to
the detriment of prose in general...
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mary rosenblum
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and I do think that the
proliferation of books on the internet in many forms will change this...but
change is slow.
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geezer
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How much does it cost the
publisher to put out say 50,000 books?
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mary rosenblum
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I don't know the exact
numbers, geezer, but consider this...
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mary rosenblum
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a paperback is sold wholesale
for about 60% of the cover price. The author gets 5 - 8% of that price and
I think production costs are over two dollars per book, but I could be
wrong about that.
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mary rosenblum
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That's what I remember hearing
but it was some time ago...doubt it has gone down though.
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mary rosenblum
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So that does not leave a whole
lot of money per copy.
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lil-duv
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so people like Nora Roberts and
Danielle Steele, have #'s so they don't have to make the changes they are
always in demand?
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mary rosenblum
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Lil, when you're talking Nora
and Ms Steele, they can pretty much write what they want...
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mary rosenblum
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BUT...
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mary rosenblum
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and here's what you all don't
realize from your side of the 'first sale'...
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mary rosenblum
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if their numbers begin to
decline because readers don't like what they're writing...
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mary rosenblum
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they will be in trouble with
the publisher.
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mary rosenblum
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They will get less money for
the next book. Or maybe it will be rejected in the hopes that she will
'return to the tried and true'...
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mary rosenblum
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and if you're paying the
bills, less money or no money for a rejected book is a big deal.
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mmolly
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Do the publishers ever work
together in a case like that? If it should turn out to be profitable?
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mary rosenblum
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Publishers do work together in
certain ways. St. Martins will print the hardcover edition of a new fantasy
and Tor will publish the paperback...that sort of thing.
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wingedwarrior24
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straying from the subject, Im
having trouble describing characters persoanalitites, any tips?
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mary rosenblum
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winged...very simple one. :-)
Don't describe your characters' personalities.
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mary rosenblum
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Let the readers figure it out
for themselves.
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mary rosenblum
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We figure out what people are
like by watching them and listening to them.
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wardg
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Do the publishers usually have
the right to pick a dropped series back up if it starts to sell well?
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mary rosenblum
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No, ward.
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mary rosenblum
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How it happens is that your
agent...and this is why you pay her...writes a clause into your
contract...if the book goes out of print, the rights revert to you.
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mary rosenblum
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If you sell that book to
someone else, they get it. You have all the rights. The first publisher no
longer has any legal claim to that book.
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mary rosenblum
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Now if the books in your
series are NOT out of print...
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mary rosenblum
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but the publisher doesn't
think the series is growing and declines the next book...
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mary rosenblum
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and you take it small press
and it sells a huge number of books...
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mary rosenblum
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the publisher may want your
next book in the series...IF...you have not promised the small press house
in your contract that it has right of first refusal.
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mary rosenblum
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If you have done that...then
the small press publisher gets the first chance to buy that new book.
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wardg
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What is the range of approaches
then, all the way from formulaic romances to random flashes in the
cross-genre pan?
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mary rosenblum
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Pretty much, wardg.
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lil-duv
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seems like you have to read
almost as much as you write to get to what market is yours
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mary rosenblum
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Not at all, lil.
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mary rosenblum
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What's the central force of
your book? Ghosts? Future technology? Murder? World Crisis? Love and sex?
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mary rosenblum
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You have fantasy/horror SF
mystery thriller and romance.
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senicynt
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I think the 'times' have to be
correct also. Gone with the Wind is a story of success after long hardship
- It was a blockbuster during teh depression.
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mary rosenblum
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Oh, you said a mouthful, sen.
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mary rosenblum
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If you read Donald Maas's new
book 'How to Write the Breakout Novel'...
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mary rosenblum
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he simply gives you the
formula for a strong thriller.
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mary rosenblum
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And yep, all those best
selling thrillers like Hunt for Red October and the like...
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mary rosenblum
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follow that formula. BUT...there
are dozens of midlist thrillers out there that do, too.
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mary rosenblum
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No one has ever been able to
tell writers how to make sure that their book is a best seller.
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mary rosenblum
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After the fact EVERY author is
going to tell you how he/she planned to make this a best seller and did.
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mary rosenblum
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Well we ALL want our books to
be best sellers. But it is what I call the 'brass ring' factor that does
it.
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mary rosenblum
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Remember the old fashioned
merry go rounds from postwar US, where you grabbed a ring and the brass
ring got you a free ride?
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mary rosenblum
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If your book hits the market
just right...you are a new Harry Potter.
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mary rosenblum
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if not...you are just another
YA fantasy with ghosts and a school for wizards.
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joker
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do publishers sell each book on
its merits, or do they bundle them for retail. if you want book #1 you must
also buy #2
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mary rosenblum
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Books are distributed through
a couple of huge distributors, joker. While publishers offer
incentives...more percent off if you buy both...they can't insist.
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senicynt
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So.... You sell a few quick,
formulaic reads to places like Harelquin to pay the rent while you work on
the next blockbuster, if you can ever get a publisher to take a chance on
you. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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That's a perfectly good way to
do it, sen.
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mary rosenblum
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Consider the romances the day
job if you want. :-)
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wardg
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so authors that sell a creative
start get trapped by their own formula?
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mary rosenblum
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Boy they sure can, ward.
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mary rosenblum
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what do you think would happen
if Joan D said she was never going to write another HP book and her next
was going to be about robots?
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mary rosenblum
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I'd hate to be the poor
postman delivering her mail! LOL
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mary rosenblum
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And the publisher is going to
scream to high heaven!
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mary rosenblum
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Success is wonderful, but then
you have a LOT of fans who are waiting for you to write the next book that
they want to read.
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senicynt
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Other than Analog - Who else
publishes SciFi shorts of a socio-politico-biotech nature?
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mary rosenblum
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Asimovs, F &SF, Strange
Horizons...that's an online.
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mary rosenblum
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SciFiction, but that's a very
tough market.
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wardg
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so trapped in your own formula
is a disadvantage to the three-way menage that is the market . . . but hey
it pays the rent, right?
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mary rosenblum
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Trapped in your own formula is
a lovely way to add to your IRA, wardg. And you don't have to stay there.
You just have to put up with the whining and grousing.
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diamond2007
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I know this is a little off
topic, but I'm confused about the hard/soft, being two different publishers,
since you had said the hard doesn't make much money, why would a publisher
want to give up the money for the soft? or am I missing something
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mary rosenblum
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Well, some houses are set up
for publishing hardcover and they usually do the job for the publisher who
bought the book in the first place...
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mary rosenblum
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although it can work the other
way. So say publisher A bought your book...they might decide to bring it
out in hardcover...
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mary rosenblum
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because they are a hardcover
house and they're pretty sure they'll make a nice profit on it...
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mary rosenblum
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and they license the soft
cover rights to B...who brings it out as a mass market paperback...
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mary rosenblum
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and has to pay a bit back to A
for each book sold because of the license agreement, but they still make
money.
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mary rosenblum
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That's one way.
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mmolly
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Do they ever work together if
one publisher drops a series, then another has picked it up and it becomes
profitable...will the first one work with the second to get the first books
back out on the shelves?
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mary rosenblum
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No. They are competitors.
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mary rosenblum
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in fact, Molly, I know of
cases where the first publisher kept the book in print ONLY so that the
second publisher couldn't get the rights.
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mary rosenblum
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Dear, publishers are NOT
working in your interest.
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senicynt
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Off topic - Are you going to
invite Greg Bear to a forum sometime? :-) If so,. I want advance notice so
I can get the day off. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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Oh, I should. I know he'd do
it. I'll find out when he has something new coming out. I need to tell my
my sf book sold since he gave me a lot of his research links when I started
it. Good idea.
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lordjaw
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can you find an agent, say in
the phone book?
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mary rosenblum
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No, lordjaw. You need to go to
the Authors and Artists Representatives website. That is the professional
guild of agents...
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mary rosenblum
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and they have a code of
ethics. So if an agent does not belong...ask yourself why.
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mary rosenblum
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Their FAQ page is an education
on how to find an agent and they have contact info for agents who are
currently accepting new clients.
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mary rosenblum
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http://www.aar-online.org/index.html
Association of Authors' Representative homepage
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senicynt
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Does he have a background in
biology or genetics?
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mary rosenblum
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Sen, Greg has a background in
whatever he's writing about. He does THAT MUCH research.
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mary rosenblum
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He gave me a lot of the
sources he used for Darwin's Radio...talk about a graduate level in genetic
theory!
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info
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if you have a novel that you
send to an agent or publisher who, in turn, decides to publish it, you
could have it set up in a contract that said publisher retains your book
for so long and then renegociate the contract, couldn't you?
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mary rosenblum
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Well, you can try, info. The
publisher may tell you that they won't do that. You can withdraw your book
or not.
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mary rosenblum
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Some things they'll negotiate
on, other things not.
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geezer
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Do you need an agent in the
Christian market? I heard that you don't.
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mary rosenblum
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dunno, geezer. I know a lot of
folk don't bother with agents for small press...but you know what????
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mary rosenblum
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Those words are forever.. I
just sold a book I first published in 1993.
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mary rosenblum
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If I were to just now discover
that I couldn't republish it, but I hadn't thought of that when I signed
that contract...I'd be up the creek.
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mary rosenblum
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I think I'd at least run a
small press contract past a lawyer who specialized in publishing contracts.
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mary rosenblum
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I interviewed Daniel Steven
about a year or so ago...he's an arts lawyer.
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mary rosenblum
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Go read his transcript.
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speckledorf
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You sold Drylands again? Very
cool!!! Congrats!
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mary rosenblum
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Nope. Chimera. Briget McKenna
wants Drylands. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor. Tonight we're talking about the
publishing world and how you fit in. I've published seven novels and more
than 60 short stories and will do my best to answer any questions you have.
If you're new here, remember that you need to click on the 'Ask a Question'
button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question mark at the top of the
screen in order to ask a question. Your regular 'send' bar won't reach me!
Or you can use /ask and type your question into the regular send bar if
that works better for you..
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|
mary rosenblum
|
The main thing that I wanted
to get at here, is that the publishing world is not entirely closed to new
ideas.
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mary rosenblum
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They are conservative. The
small presses and e books are much more open to something unusual...but
your returns will be smaller unless you're very lucky.
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mary rosenblum
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But you CAN get something new
past the wariness of the NY publishing world. If you believe in your
book...
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mary rosenblum
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then consider it a long term
project. Work on other things and market them while this one is circulating
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mary rosenblum
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Trends change.
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mary rosenblum
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When I had my mystery series
at Berkely, they wouldn't let me put anything supernatural into the
stories.
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mary rosenblum
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Now, they publish paranormal
mysteries.
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mary rosenblum
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If I had had one that hadn't
sold then, I could try it now.
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mary rosenblum
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Greg Bear...since his name
came up...who is one of the TOP sellers in Sf...
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mary rosenblum
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has a closet full of unsold
novels he wrote in his twenties.
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mary rosenblum
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While they were circulating,
he was writing more...
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forest elf
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what was happening that made the
world ready for harry potter? why did he sell instead of ending up in the
"who wants to read about a boy wizard?" heap?
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mary rosenblum
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Elf, if you can answer that
one, you can write the how-to book and I guarantee you'll sell a million
copies!
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mary rosenblum
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Everyone wants to know that
one, and nobody has a clue.
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wardg
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who is briget mckenna? he asked
sheepishly
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mary rosenblum
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Oh, she's a small press editor
who has expressed interest in bringing out one of my out of print Sf that
were published in the past.
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geezer
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Wasn't there a push to get kids
to read about the time Potter came out?
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mary rosenblum
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Nah, it's not that simple,
geezer, and adults bought it just as much as kids. No, it was simply the
right time, for some reason. Like I said...if you can figure it out...
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mary rosenblum
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Oh yes...one other thing...
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mary rosenblum
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Charlaine Harris Schulz last
night said something that sort of bothered me...
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mary rosenblum
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but it wasn't the right time
and place to get into it.
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mary rosenblum
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Someone asked her if you had
to be talented to be a writer or just work hard...and she said talent was
the important part...
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mary rosenblum
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and I wanted to address that.
A lot of folks think of talent as something like a scarlet W on your
forehead...it's going to be obvious.
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mary rosenblum
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And it's not at all. Nor do
you particularly need to be very talented to get published.
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mary rosenblum
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Talent in FICTION is the
ability to tell a story easily and well.
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mary rosenblum
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And as I said, there is no
physical manifestation.
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mary rosenblum
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It's something you discover as
you go. People TELL you that you're talented. You don't KNOW it.
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wardg
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how does that relate to the
choice of where you are in the formula versus creative spectrum? would less
talent mean more formulaic?
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mary rosenblum
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No, it doesn't have anything
to do with it...it's just something I wanted to bring up...
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mary rosenblum
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because a lot of people are
easily discouraged and willing to say they have no talent.
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info
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one must have some kind of
talent to be accepted into Long Ridge or none of us would be here now,
correct?
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mary rosenblum
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Thats probably a pretty good
assessment.
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lil-duv
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I understood that LR doesn't
take students without talent
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mary rosenblum
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Yeah, lil, because we
guarantee you that you'll produce a publishable ms, so you have to be able
to DO that.
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coach
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there's always been a push to
get kids to read- especially boys. The difference is, Harry Potter just
struck a chord- good writing, good story-telling, lots of action. But why
it over some others? No one knows
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mary rosenblum
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Exactly. And there have been
other 'wizard school' books publislhed. As I said...the brass ring factor.
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frazz
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It's a matter of learning how to
hone that talent. Right?
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mary rosenblum
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Certainly. And how to stretch
it and make it grow.
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mary rosenblum
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I think nearly everyone has
talent to some degree or you wouldn't be writing.
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mary rosenblum
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How many tone deaf people try
to become career pianists?
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owlybear
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Mary...I've been writing in my
column about my reunion with my daughter, who I hadn't seen for 13 years
nor talked to in 7yrs. I have 4 Parts so far and expect 3 more to complete
the story. What would I have to do in my editing to sell it to a magazine
as an unpublished story -- or should I mention it's been published?
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owlybear
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Each part has been about 900
words....
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mary rosenblum
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Wow, owly. And good for you!
Lessee... 900 words by seven works out to 6300 words so far. I think you're
not going to sell that to a nonfiction magazine at that length...
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mary rosenblum
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But you might be
...possibly...to sell it as a serialization. A very few mags do that.
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mary rosenblum
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Or you might find short
segments that will stand on their own with a bit of tweaking. And that
means they are different and you don't have to say a word about publishing.
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mary rosenblum
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Myself, I'd think more in
terms of finding several shorter narratives in that large one.
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frazz
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I think it's also like when my
mom wanted to paint, but she got discouraged. I told her the only way she
would ever get better was to keep painting.
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frazz
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Then after a year, I told her to
look at her first painting and she was amazed at how much better she was!
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mary rosenblum
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Excellent illustration, frazz.
You really don't see how much better you're getting with every piece you
write.
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mary rosenblum
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It's a good idea once a year
to go back and look at the first story /article you ever wrote. BOY will
you be impressed. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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I think the way to look at it
is this...it is the talent that drives you, and craft hones your prose to
the point where everybody can share what you want them to share.
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mary rosenblum
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It's not a case that you write
and write and one day someone stamps 'not talented' on your forhead.
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wardg
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i have switched from writing
potential articles to article series to a full tilt bozo novel . . . and i
am not published yet . . . is this a mistake?
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mary rosenblum
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Not at all. I'd write as many
different things as you can bring yourself to try. They will all improve
you, you'll have to use different...
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mary rosenblum
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techniques as you do different
things, and you'll get a feel for what works for you.
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mary rosenblum
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That's why I started with
short stories...so I could experiment without committing myself...
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mary rosenblum
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to a 80,000 word ms...and then
I fell in love with the form for itself.
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mary rosenblum
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The main thing is ...write
what you love. Don't write the same thing every time.
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mary rosenblum
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Believe in your story. If you
thought it was good when you started, it probably is.
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mary rosenblum
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If it takes you ten publishers
and three years to sell it...so be it.
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mary rosenblum
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Maybe you'll have sold a
mystery series or three more books by then.
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mary rosenblum
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Just keep writing and
remember...
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mary rosenblum
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what is a 'rule' in publishing
today, is not a rule next year or the year after or the year after that.
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mary rosenblum
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Books are forever. They don't
'spoil' if you don't sell 'em in six months.
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wardg
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it sounds like you are on the
creative side versus the formula side
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mary rosenblum
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ward, I have always written
the story I want to write first and then asked myself where to sell it.
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mary rosenblum
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I suspect I always will do
that. I considered writing formula to pay the rent...
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mary rosenblum
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but you know what? If I'm
working to pay the rent, I'd rather teach writing and write what I want.
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mary rosenblum
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So my fiction does not at the
moment pay the rent, but that's fine. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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It does what I wanted to do as
a writer...
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mary rosenblum
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it touches readers and changes
the way they think about the world..
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mary rosenblum
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and I know that because they
tell me so when I meet them...
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mary rosenblum
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and that's all I ever really
wanted to do with my writing, so how can I be anything but a success?
Whether I make 10,000 on a book or 100,000?
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wardg
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what an insight, to choose what
you want to change in the reader . . .
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mary rosenblum
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Oh, I'm forever on my soapbox
about something, wardg. :-) Some readers have been annoyed at me because
they wake up at 1 AM and start thinking about things. Heheh.
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mary rosenblum
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well, this has been a fun
'Oregon Hour'.
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mary rosenblum
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But I'd best be off. I have to
get up at...shudder..4:30 in the AM to head out for a dog show.
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mary rosenblum
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I think 'early to bed' is a
good idea.
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mary rosenblum
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I should be here for our open
chat on Sunday...
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mary rosenblum
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same time as the After Hours.
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mary rosenblum
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If I start snoring, Sunday,
just kick me. :-)
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diamond2007
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thanks for everything and good
luck tomorrow!
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speckledorf
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Better put the doggies to bed
early too:-)
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mary rosenblum
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Thanks, all of you!
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mary rosenblum
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We will all go to bed
promptly.
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mary rosenblum
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Good night!
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