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WPN, November 2024
The Giving Thanks Issue
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From Sandra Murphy, Editor
The December issue will be lighter so everyone can enjoy the holidays with friends and family, cookies and egg nog, and boxes with bows—or the much easier gift bag. Look for the January issue to be packed full of helpful articles and tips to make your creative life easier and even fun.
In the meantime, happy Thanksgiving!
Sandy, Editor, editor@writersandpublishersnetwork.com
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Ask the Book Doctor: About Artificial Intelligence by Bobbie Christmas (and AI)
Q: What are your feelings about using artificial intelligence to write a novel?
A: I’m intrigued with all the discussions about AI. My opinion is AI might generate some great ideas for novelists, but I hope those writers build on those suggestions and write fiction in their own voice and based on their own creative ideas. I doubt I’d want to read an AI-generated novel.
When it comes to nonfiction, however, especially for short pieces, I’m blown away by the possibilities. AI amazed me today at my very first attempt at using it. I asked it to write a column about writing and editing. The results are below. Although I had to revise some it, AI churned out the same information I’ve been touting for years. It would have taken me hours to write the following, yet it took AI only a few seconds. Here’s what it produced:
The Art of the Edit: Crafting Clarity and Conciseness written by AI
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The Publishing Game by Jay Hartman
Ah, November. The air starts to take a turn for the cold, people start thinking about holiday get-togethers and the most important thing of all starts: holiday baking.
Of course, Thanksgiving also happens. A time for families to gather and enjoy turkey and pumpkin pie. Or possibly pizza if those side dishes happen to go south. It’s a time to reflect on the things we’re thankful for. As a publisher, I have a different outlook on the things I’m thankful for. Here’s a short list of the Publishing Industry Items I’m Thankful For this year.
- I’m thankful for print-on-demand. This year saw a hurricane season with brutal storms that left places like Florida and North Carolina reeling. It also upset all kinds of infrastructure. A dock workers’ strike on the East Coast meant many publishers couldn’t get their books into the hands of their readers. Thanks to print-on-demand through IngramSpark and Amazon KDP, this was never an issue for me. My readers could purchase their titles from anywhere in the world and still get them in record time. Not to mention, no forests were destroyed to create books that would get pulped when copies invariably would go unsold. That’s a win for both the environment and the operation of the business.
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This holiday season, help be a part of doing good for others. The Perp Wore Pumpkin is available anywhere and everywhere ebooks and/or paperbacks are sold. If you purchase directly from White City Press, you’ll pay less which creates a larger donation to the charity since there are no retailer fees and free shipping worldwide.
The double hurricanes caused a lot of damage. The net proceeds from Perp sales will go to the Northern North Carolina Second Harvest Food Bank to help those in one of the hardest-hit areas.
Remember, hunger is year-round.
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How Libraries Choose Books, Can Yours Be One of Them? by Shelly Toler Franz
I think it’s every writer’s dream to see their book on a library shelf. As a public librarian who is friends with +/- a million authors, I’ve had the privilege of making a few of those dreams come true. Unfortunately, there are some limitations on what even I, as a Readers’ Advisory Librarian who also does Adult Fiction Collection Development, can do.
Backing up a bit, I’m a public librarian who also owns the Facebook group “Save Our Cozies”. I formed that group several years ago, when Penguin and Random House merged and decided there was a glut of cozy series on the market and started canceling and discontinuing them. Since cozy mysteries are my preferred escape from reality, I had a lot to say about this, and so did a lot of other people. As the frontwoman for the group, I ended up on a conference call with bigwigs from New York publishing, including the legendary Tom Colgan. I must have made at least a faint impression on someone, as Vicki Delany dedicated one of her Lighthouse Library series books to Save Our Cozies—and credits the group with the fact Crooked Lane picked up the series and it’s still going.
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Shelly Franz specializes in Adult Collection Development and is the Adult Readers’ Advisory Librarian at the Dixon Public Library in Dixon, Illinois. A native Texan, the southern drawl remains. She’s lived in the Midwest, surrounded by corn fields for 20 years with an adoring husband and four feline hooligans.
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On the Other Side of the Pond by Karen Keeley
Coming from Canada, I have been asked when travelling in the States if I parked my dogsled at the border—is my igloo in safe hands? Okay, I get it. Always good for a laugh, right? But living next door to the US, we’re more alike than you may think. We’ve grown up on American TV, sports, films, books, documentaries and news programs. I like to think we’re cousins with many more similarities than differences.
Even with that in mind, pick up any novel or collection of English short stories, and depending on the publisher (and the writer), the book will be in either American or British spelling. For some, they see spelling mistakes, the extra letters added such as the U in colour, labour and liquor. Or the extra L in travelling and jewellery. The extra zed (yes, we say zed, not zee) in recognize or apologize. It is, after all, the Queen’s English (now, the King’s English). And since I’m Canadian, I write with the extra letters—something tied into my upbringing despite the American influence in oh, so many things.
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To learn more about Karen’s writing, visit her at www.karenmkeeley.blogspot.com
Karen lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She’s a member of the Short Mystery Fiction Society (SMFS) and Sisters in Crime, Canada West Chapter. Her stories have appeared in a number of anthologies: literary, speculative, and crime.
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Writing Alone, Writing Together by Vicki Berger Erwin
Not only do I have a co-author for the nonfiction I write, it’s my husband. We’ve been married a long time, we’ve written several successful books together, and we’re still married—happily. Admittedly, I started the process slowly. I wrote twenty plus books alone, wrote a book with a photographer, co-wrote one with a friend, one with my son, then…
I had a long career in the book business, but my husband didn’t start writing (outside of his job) until he retired. He had a speaking engagement in Arkansas for his first Civil War title and I went along. Speakers included Charles and Caroline Todd, a mother-son team, who spoke about writing together. On the drive home, I said, “We could do that,” meaning write together. We came up with an idea for a mystery novel set during the Civil War and brainstormed all the way home. Then, we wrote. I’d write a section. Jim wrote a section. Neither of us wrote in order, nor had we completely planned out the plot. Unfortunately, the sections never meshed, but it was good practice, and we learned something important. Divide and conquer.
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Vicki Berger Erwin had a varied career in the book industry beside writing over thirty titles including middle grade mysteries, YA, true crime, and popular history. She also worked in a library, bookstores, was a sale rep for a major publisher, and ultimately owned an independent bookstore, her dream job. Steamboat Disasters of the Lower Missouri River, co-authored James W. Erwin, was published by The History Press.
Vicki’s first short story, “Magpie Baby,” appears in the anthology, Yeet Me in St. Louis: Crime Fiction from Under the Arch, published by White City Press, an imprint of Misti Media.
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Approaches to Janie's Got a Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Aerosmith by Avram Levinsky
At a recent crime fiction conference, I heard a well-established writer explain that when contributing to music-inspired anthologies, all you need to do is match the title.
I cringed.
Luckily, editor Michael Bracken demanded much more of the authors contributing to Janie's Got a Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Aerosmith, and I believe we delivered.
Before describing my own approach to writing for the anthology, I’d like to explore the stories of four outstanding authors who drew heavily from the music and to great effect.
The best music-inspired stories capture the mood and tone of the song. John M. Floyd did this masterfully in “Hole in My Soul,” based on the Aerosmith hard-rock ballad. The song’s mood is despondent, and its tone is theatrical. Floyd puts the reader in the head of a despondent first-person narrator and quickly paints a world theatrically saturated with crime and imminent danger. There are Easter eggs, hidden references to the song, but in this case, they also contribute to the central mood. It’s a captivating work of fiction.
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A recovering musician with one gold record on his living room wall and countless unsold records in his attic, Avram Lavinsky has been shortlisted for awards including the Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize, the Al Blanchard Award for New England’s best crime story, and twice for the Killer Nashville Claymore Award. His crime fiction has appeared in Best New England Crime Stories, The Best Mystery Stories of the Year, and numerous other publications. He’s also earned starred reviews from the nation’s toughest critics, his three teenage sons, although not often.
Janie’s Got a Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Aerosmith, published by White City Press, is available at https://whitecitypress.com/product/janie/ with free worldwide shipping available, no minimum purchase required when purchased through the website.
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Are Editors Professionals? by Arthur Vidro
Back in my newspaper days, we often worked late to complete an issue before it got shipped (by car) to the printer. We didn’t receive overtime. The reason, I was told, was because we were professionals. A full-time professional gets paid a flat rate per week (or year), and whatever needs to be done, he or she does. If we put in a ton of extra time, we could take some “comp time” off in return. But not extra pay.
I was happy with the set-up, happy to consider myself a “professional.”
In today’s world, popular websites for finding freelance help treat editors as if they were fast-food workers. I’m grateful instead for the Editorial Freelancers Association web-site (and perhaps one or two others), where editors are vetted, pay dues, and treated as the pros they are. If you seek a quality editor, the EFA is a good place to start.
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______
Arthur Vidro is a freelance editor/proofreader/writer and has sold eight short stories and hundreds of newspaper articles. He may be reached at vidro@myfairpoint.net. This article first appeared in the Spring 2018 issue of Calliope, whose ISSN is 2691-1388.
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| Great Webinar coming in December |
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Ever wished for a podcast that focuses whole episodes on improving your writing?
Or episodes devoted to poetry as well as fiction and nonfiction? Are you tired of podcasts that talk incessantly about marketing and promotions and conferences when you’re struggling with the basic process?
The Write Focus podcast is designed to meet these needs. Debuting in 2020, TWF offers information on the writing craft, productivity, process, and tools.
The podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.
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This year TWF
featured two craft series and two productivity series.
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Currently in its fifth season, TWF produces an episode every Wednesday. A hiatus occurs during the hectic month of December.
Emily Dunn split her writing personality into three. M.A. Lee hosts The Write Focus podcast and writes historical mysteries and writing guides. Edie Roones pens historical fantasy while Remi Black crafts noblebright fantasy.
That’s too many eggs in one basket, but she’s having fun. She’s published over sixty titles of fiction and nonfiction, from novels to novellas and short stories.
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TWF is available on a variety of media outlets, including YouTube, Podbean, Spotify, Apple, Amazon / Audible, Samsung, iHeart, Tune-In, and many others. No subscription is needed to access current and previous episodes.
For resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com
Base media outlet, Podbean: . https://eden5695.podbean.com/
YouTube video channel with a recent episode: https://youtu.be/iBL7BGj2xsc?si=wmtKCx9AZFQUU-iQ Email winkbooks@aol.com
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| Bits and Pieces—News You Might Have Missed |
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Scribner to Look for a New CEO Next Year
Nan Graham will step down as publisher of Scribner in 2025, per Simon & Schuster CEO Jonathan Karp. She will remain with the imprint for a year, editing current clients and seeking newtitles.
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NeuroDiversity Comic Con to Launch in New York
Comics artist and writer Ramon Gil and New York City's Gillen Brewer School have launched the GBS NeuroDiversity Comic Con, slated for November 9.
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Penguin Random House is partnering with United for Libraries
The $25,000 grant program will assist rural and small libraries.
PRH, United for Libraries Partner on Grant Program (publishersweekly.com)
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Beyond the Bookshelves, Libraries are Hubs for Community Well-being and Connection
Libraries encourage well-being, social connections, and education. Use by Gen Z and millennials has shifted to offerings of more than just books, including yoga classes and advice on nutrition.
Beyond the Bookshelves, Libraries are Hubs for Community Well-being and Connection - Blue Zones
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3 Goals for Writing Great Historical Fiction from
television writer/author Ryan C. Coleman
- Entertain 2. Enlighten 3. Deliver accuracy.
- 3 Goals for Writing Great Historical Fiction - Writer's Digest (writersdigest.com)
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Publishers Sign Petition Condemning ‘Theft’ by AI Companies
Publishers Sign Petition Condemning ‘Theft’ by AI Companies (publishersweekly.com)
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Pending Merger
The boards of directors at the Independent Book Publishers Association and the Publishers Association of the West have voted to approve the merger of the two organizations. They vote this month.
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