by Barbara McNichol

In my workshops and ezines, I constantly encourage writers to improve their writing by tightening their paragraphs. But what does that mean?

It means finding ways to get your point across using words that each “work like a galley slave” in the sentence or paragraph. Maximum effect using a minimum number of words. Whack wordiness!

Let me throw out a challenge–that is, tigthen the paragraph below by rewriting it. Your assignment? Convey the essence of this paragraph using a maximum of 21 words. Ready, go!  

The subsequent chapters then will focus in great detail on each of the steps to make sure you know how to accomplish each step before proceeding to the next step and how to measure whether or not you are ready to move to the next step.

Your next (even more meaningful) assignment? 

Dig out a page or two of your own writing and pick the longest paragraph you’ve written. Count the number of words in that paragraph and then rewrite it completely, reducing that number by a third, even half. Ensure you keep the meaning intact while making each word “work like a galley slave.” 

Show me the results of either assignment or both (email the before/after writings or post them in this blog) and I’ll reward you with my Word Trippers ebook. 

Give it a whack!

Self-publishing guru Dan Poynter has done it again. He gives writers shortcuts to writing, publishing, and promoting their books—this time in the form of an new ebook: Books: Tips, Stories, & Advice on Writing, Publishing, & Promoting.

This easy-to-read, story-filled guide makes good writing a priority. Dan’s tips in the BE PRECISE chapter advocate cutting out the ‘fuzz’ in fuzzy writing. They include:

• Write short sentences.
• Have one idea in a sentence.
• Use active, not passive voice.
• Avoid jargon, clichés, and hackneyed expressions.

Simply do these four things and you’ll instantly make your writing more readable. (They’re only simple if you remember to do them!)

By Jerry D. Simmons (used by permision)

Publishers often make mistakes and it is important that writers are aware of the problems that can occur before the process moves along to publication.

Writers who self publish should especially be aware of common mistakes when publishing their own manuscript. Regardless of whether the publisher produces hundreds of titles or one, awareness and avoidance of common mistakes should be practiced.

Here are the seven biggest mistakes that publishers and authors make.

[1] Rushing to Publication

The first is rushing a manuscript to publication before the editorial process is complete or when the manuscript doesn’t deliver. Editors working inhouse are under pressure to deliver on a very tight and strict deadline to meet a publication date. The problem is that the manuscript may not be ready and ultimately will fail because of that fact. With self-publishing the pressure is off and yet too often writers tend to proceed to release date rather than correct the editorial problems.

Nothing can kill a book’s potential faster than rushing to publish a manuscript that is not ready for release. That same principle holds for the self-published who have revised and rewritten their manuscript to death and it still doesn’t work. In that case, the best approach is to avoid publication. Simply place the writing on a shelf and start something new. Rather than make a publishing mistake of this magnitude, the best advice is to delay, not destroy.

[2] Improper Categorization

The second mistake is placing the wrong category on a book that ends up in a spot where readers are not able to locate the title. With big publishers, this happens more than you can imagine because their goal is to segment each category into as many subgenres as possible to gain a competitive advantage.

The problem with that thinking is retailers and online sellers have caught on and now refuse to separate general categories into several sub-categories, thus making it more difficult for consumers to find individual titles or authors.

The same problem holds true for online sales where they are not fighting shelf space but still hesitate to slice and dice too many mainstream categories. This is difficult to understand but the idea seems to be keep things as simple as possible so readers will be forced to browse rather than go directly to what they want. The web site search engines help but online booksellers are smarter than we give them credit for. They have learned to throw as many titles in the face of the searcher in hopes they will purchase more than one .

[3] Title Mistakes

Bestselling authors seldom worry about titles; their notoriety can withstand just about anything. Not so for relatively unknown writers searching to expand their audience.

For both fiction and nonfiction, titles must provide direction for the reader. Romance writers cannot get away with titling their love story The Amazing Race or Guns for Hire. These titles send the wrong message and savvy consumers will often rush right past, regardless of the quality of the manuscript.

Title problems are especially troublesome for nonfiction where subtitles play a major part in the success of the book. If the title does not imply an immediate position for the reader, then often the book gets passed over.

If you are writing a particularly narrow niche manuscript that screams, for example, business finance, then the title should hit that nail squarely on the head. In addition, the subtitle should bring the subject into focus, making selection quick and easy.

With titles, the publisher and author get only one chance, so a mistake in this area can be fatal.

[4] Package Mistakes

Once the title is secure, the package or cover must convey the same message. The best advice is to browse the aisles of a local bookstore for comparison packages of similar titles and take notice of the colors, font, placement of title, and author name, whether photos or illustrations are used as opposed to simple title design without illustrations.

In this case, following the lead of the major publishers is a good idea. If they do one thing well it is package books because they have a tremendous advantage when it comes to knowing what consumers want.

Never get sentimental about specific designs that your friend or relative created for you. While a sweet gesture, if the cover misses the mark, the publication may never recover. Once the title is out in the market, trying to recall for a new look is not only difficult but costly. Plus the issue with pulling one title from the market and eventually replacing with a new one is time consuming. Leave the packaging to the experts and allow them to create a unique design for you with your specific direction. This is the best approach to book packaging.

[5] Pricing Mistakes

Writers value their work at a much higher level than the average consumer.

While every work has value, the truth is that the market sets the price, not the publisher or author. If fiction titles in your category are generally priced in a range separated by four dollars, it is wise to stay from the middle to the bottom of that range. It’s especially true if you are relatively unknown and building a readership. Trying to price yourself at the high end means you will compete for the same dollars as bestselling or notable and more experienced writers.

When it comes to pricing, it is easier to go up rather than go down. A reduction in price often indicates a fire sale when it comes to books and that screams failure. Special promotions with price reductions are fine but it still signals a potential problem. Consumers are smart when it comes to disposable income and they know the market when purchasing books. Price right from the beginning and avoid these issues.

[6] Format Mistakes

Not every manuscript should be published and not every format works for every publication.

Although this mistake is largely an issue for traditional publishers, there are mistakes that self-published authors make with regard to format. For example, print should not always be the first choice. Digital publishing makes a lot of sense when the budget is small and the readership is nonexistent. The question to ask is: why spend the majority of your budget on print when an eBook can produce the same result for much less?

Formats are the various designs for which a publication is produced. They include hardcover, trade paper, mass market paper, for the sake of the self-published a print-on-demand publication, audio and finally eBook. Publishers and authors need to consider the cost of producing each format versus the availability of distribution to reach the intended audience. Print distribution is costly and largely ineffective for the self-published. While eBook distribution is easy and open to all, print is not. Access to the marketplace combined with the marketing budget and intended audience should help to determine the format. Print often results in overprinting, which is one of the most costly format mistakes.

Publishing a paperback simultaneous with an eBook is almost standard for new writers and while both serve different markets, the marketing often cannot support both formats. The shotgun approach of publishing in many formats at once does not often work and failure in one format rarely ends in success in another. Each format requires a different marketing strategy, an approach that does not hold water for every format. Add the category and price into the thinking and it turns out not to be as simple as most think.

[7] Failure to Market

If a publisher or author makes mistakes in any of the six previous areas, then no amount of marketing will overcome the obvious errors in publication. If the publisher or author makes a serious mistake in any one of the six areas,  then the marketing task is made more difficult. In a marketplace that is highly competitive, publishers and authors cannot afford to make even one mistake and expect to overcome the problem with marketing.

For many publishers, the most common mistake is inadequate marketing; failing to provide the title with sufficient exposure to generate sales. In that case, the title is abandoned because the schedule means more new titles are coming quickly and there is not adequate time to recover.

For the self-published, failure to market means a re-start, pulling back and starting over. Books fail to sell copies for many reasons and here are the seven most common mistakes that result in failure.

Summary

Getting all seven points correct does not mean instant success because the competition is tremendous and the market is unforgiving.

Getting all seven points correct gives the publisher and author the best opportunity at achieving success in a very tough environment.

As a writer you cannot be discouraged but rather you need to be empowered with the knowledge that you know what it takes to be successful as an author.

Luck and timing always play a major role but the best chance at meeting your personal and professional goals is to put yourself and your publication in the right position to capitalize on what may happen in the market. Don’t be afraid and don’t give up! Writing and publishing is difficult but only those with industry knowledge, skill as a writer, and a strong temperament can make it as a successful author.

Jerry D. Simmons is a 35-year veteran of New York publishing with Random House and the former Time Warner Book Group. Over the years he has worked on thousands of New York Times bestselling titles and with hundreds of New York Times bestselling authors. Today he spends his time writing about the importance of understanding the marketplace and educating writers about publishing and book marketing. Jerry can be contacted at his web site www.WritersReaders.com

by Barbara McNichol

I have been creating an evergrowing list of common one-word vs. two-word confusions as part of my Word Trippers. I started a list that has now grown and migrated to a page of its own. See One or Two? for the latest. And return often, as I’m regularly adding more!

I appreciate your comments and suggestions for confusions that come up. You never know; they could be featured in Word Trippers of the Week (sign up at www.WordTrippers.com) and/or myblog–nonfictionbookeditor.com.

Always–the goal is to share editing angles for improving your writing!

by Bob Kelly (used by permission)

Do you know how readable your writing is? You should. In fact, with all the tools available to you these days, there’s no excuse not to know. I assure you that your target audiences know – instinctively. Once they start reading what you’ve written, they’ll keep going – or quit – depending on how easy or hard it is you’ve made it for them.

The good news is that you, as the writer, don’t have to depend on instinct. Take anything you’ve written and you can quickly determine how readable it is by calculating the average grade level needed to understand it.

I produce a quarterly newsletter for a client, who requires that each of the dozen or so articles I write and/or edit per issue have an average grade level of 12 (high school graduate) or less.

Used to Be a Tedious Task

Calculating readability used to be a tedious task. One way was to take a sample of 100-200 words, count the number of words, then the number of sentences, then the percentage of words with three or more syllables. Take the average sentence length plus the average of the longer words, add them together and multiply the sum by a factor of 0.4. The result: the average grade level needed for comprehension.

I did that for years. But now, as we used to say in Noo Yawk, fuhgedaboudit! I simply highlight the writing sample, go to www.readability-score.com and paste in the sample and instantly see the average grade level, also known as the Fog Index.

Readability Doesn’t Equal Comprehension

A word of caution: finding that level is just the first step. Comprehension and readability are not the same thing. According to The Wall Street Journal, “People prefer to read well below their education level, and at a fog index of 13-college freshman-even a PhD’s eyes may start to glaze a bit. At 17 virtually the whole audience has fled.”

Most business magazines are written at the 9-10 level. I once read that TV Guide is at 6, and Reader’s Digest at 8. So, unless you’re writing a doctoral thesis or a legal brief, I strongly recommend you aim for a level of 10, or below. Once you start doing it, you’ll find it comes naturally. (I just checked; this article is at 7.)

If your writing is higher than 10, and you’re struggling with how to lower it, send along a sample and let’s see if I can help – with no strings attached.

Bob Kelly founded WordCrafters, Inc. in 1979, providing complete writing and editing services for authors, speakers, businesses and professional men and women, ministries and other nonprofit organizations. A former newspaper editor and publisher, he’s an award-winning author/co-author of 20 books, and has edited or ghostwritten more than a dozen others. His unique and extensive collection of quotations numbers 480 volumes and 1.7 million quotes. He’s also the author and publisher of a popular free monthly ezine: The KellyGram: Wisdom and Wit about the Wonderful and Often Wacky World of Words. His email is bob@wordcrafters.info.

By W. Terry Whalin (used by permission)

I’ve read thousands of book proposals as an acquisitions editor and a former literary agent. I continually teach on the topic because I believe many writers don’t understand the critical nature of this specialized document called a book proposal.

On the traditional side of publishing, editors and agents read proposals. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve written nonfiction or fiction because this document includes information, which never appears in your manuscript yet is critical detail in the decisionmaking process.

As a book publisher at Intermedia Publishing Group, many of my authors have not written a book proposal because we work with full manuscripts. From my perspective of working in book publishing for over 20 years, every author should create a book proposal for their book–whether eventually they publish the book with a company where they pay to get it published (subsidy or self-publishing) or whether they find a traditional book publisher. In the proposal creation process, the author learns some critical elements about their book concept plus they are better positioned in the marketplace.

Here are four benefits of proposal creation (and I’m certain there are many more):

1. You Define Your Target Market. Many authors believe their book will hit a broad target–everyone. No successful book is for everyone. Each book has a primary target audience and the proposal creation process helps you define, pinpoint and write about this audience. It is important in nonfiction but it is also important in fiction. For example, romance is the largest fiction genre yet there are many divisions within the romance genre. Every proposal needs a target which is defined– yet large enough to generate volume sales. You learn and achieve this balance when you create a page-turning book proposal.

2. You Understand Your Competition. While creating a proposal, the writer has to take a hard look at which books are competing with your idea. This process helps you understand the marketplace. Many new authors believe they are writing something unique with no competition. It’s not true.

Every book competes in the marketplace and you will be a better equipped author if you understand your competition.

3. You Create A Personal Plan For Marketing. Whether you like marketing or dislike it, the reality is every author has to market their own book. It doesn’t matter who publishes your book–whether you self-publish or go with a large traditional house. As you create a book proposal, you will be including practical, specific and measurable ideas that you can execute when your book enters the market. The proposal will be a valuable reference tool for you because you’ve done this important creation process.

4. You Possess A Valuable Tool To Pitch Agents and Editors at Traditional Houses. I’ve written it a number of times but it bears repeating here. Literary agents and editors do not read manuscripts. They read book proposals. Even novelists need a book proposal for their initial pitch to an editor or agent. And if you self-publish and are successful with selling your book, because you own everything, if you receive an attractive offer from a traditional house, then you can move the book. Without a proposal you can’t properly pitch the concept and you’ve eliminated this possibility.

I believe writers should explore every option and keep their possibilities open. You’ve narrowed the possibilities rather than expanded them if you don’t have a proposal.

If you make the effort to create an excellent book proposal, then you will be ready to pitch your book at any time and any place.

Editors and literary agents do not read manuscripts (a surprise to authors). They read book proposals. Learn more at: http://bit.ly/wbkpro

***

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and editor, lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com.

Terry’s  Book Proposals That Sell has over 100 Five Star Amazon reviews and continues to help many writers. His online course, Write A Book Proposal has helped writers around the world to learn the step-by-step techniques of creating a proposal.

by Beth Justino

Choosing an editor is a big step. This is the person you will trust with your words, your ideas, and your vision. How can you choose wisely?

The first step is to understand what kind of editorial service you’re looking for. Editors work with manuscripts in different ways. Some take the “10,000 foot” view, considering your book’s overall structure and theme, while others are basically holding a magnifying glass right up to the details of spelling and punctuation.

Which is right for you? Do you want someone to tear your work to shreds? To suggest alternate endings, or to point out entire chapters that aren’t necessary? Or do you want someone to check the spelling?

While not everyone uses the terms noted below, these are standard descriptions for different editing services.

Developmental:

Also often called a “substantive edit” or “manuscript evaluation.” This service invites an editor to critique your overall manuscript. Feedback often comes in a memo, or in annotated comments throughout the work, that provides general guidelines and feedback for you to tackle revisions. The editor doesn’t actually change anything in the document itself.

For nonfiction manuscripts, the feedback will focus on the impact of your content: its clarity and conviction, the flow of ideas, and the effectiveness of the writing style.

Line:

This is typically the most intense (and some say, invasive) editing, and the place where you really need to trust your editor. Line editors bring out the best in your author’s voice and make your writing shine. That means that sometimes a line editor will make actual content changes to a work.

Line editing represents the highest level of the editor’s craft. Line editors consider what can be trimmed, condensed, or cut in order to improve pace, avoid repetition, and make the experience of a book as engaging as possible. A line edit might include:

• Eliminating wordiness, triteness, and inappropriate jargon.
• Giving dialogue more “snap” and bite.
• Smoothing transitions and moving sentences to improve readability.
• Extending examples, adding subheadings.
• Suggesting—and sometimes implementing—more comprehensive additions and deletions, noting them at the sentence and paragraph level.

 Copy:

Copy editing is, I think, what most people envision when they think about editing. The book remains largely in the order and at the pace that it was, and editorial changes happen at the sentence level.

Copy editing may include:

• Editing for clarity, format, syntax, obvious factual errors, and continuity. 
• Correcting faulty spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
• Correcting incorrect usage (such as who for that).
• Checking specific cross-references (page numbers, references, etc.)
• Flagging inappropriate or over-used figures of speech.
• Changing passive verbs to active.
• Flagging ambiguous or incorrect statements.

 Proofreading:

This is usually the final step in editing, when a detail-oriented, meticulous editor goes word-by-word to correct grammar, spelling, usage, and typographical errors. Proofreaders make sure that spelling (is it grey or gray?), hyphens, numerals, and capitalization are always consistent.

Proofreading fixes what our computer spelling and grammar checkers miss.

Which of these services fits what you need right now?

Beth Jusino is an editor, teacher, and the Director of Book and Author Marketing for The Editorial Department, one of the oldest and most respected author services firms in the United States. There, she evaluates everything from self-help nonfiction to mystery novels, women’s fiction to memoir. She lives in Seattle, where she is a member of the Northwest Independent Editors Guild, and teaches a “Guide to Getting Published” seminar each quarter at the University of Washington’s Experimental College in Seattle. She has published white papers on Writing a Nonfiction Book Proposal and Market While You Write: Developing Your Author Brand While You’re Still Working on Your Book (both available from The Editorial Department for now, and Amazon soon).  Find out more at www.editorialdepartment.com.

The Nonfiction Writers Conference is an online writer’s conference for nonfiction authors. This year, organizers have packed the schedule with powerful content to help you write, publish, and promote your nonfiction books. A great line-up of 15 speakers and topics  includes these colleagues I’ve known and learned from over the years:

DAN POYNTER: Self-Publishing and the Future of the Book Industry

JOHN KREMER: How to Create a National Best Seller Without Breaking the Bank

MICHAEL LARSEN: How to Land a Traditional Book Deal with a Great Book Proposal

JANE ATKINSON: Break in to Professional Speaking

The 2012 conference features all 15 speakers over three days MAY 16 – 18. The virtual sessions are conducted via teleseminar (on the phone) or via Skype (long distance rates may apply). Here’s the best part. You can participate in Q&A with the speakers. Recordings and transcripts are also available, depending on the fee rate you select.

Grab a seat on your couch and learn from the experts how you can write, publish, promote, and profit from your nonfiction book.

http://nonfictionwritersconference.com/

 by Barbara McNichol

This follows a recent post on what worries authors about the editing process. The points below reflect answers from 40 authors who sent me their thoughts about what they expect when they hire an editor for their nonfiction manuscripts. 

Specifically, they told me that . . . 

1. They want more than a clean up; they want a major step up in clarity.
2. They want support in thinking through the organization of the material in the first place before nitty-gritty editing begins.
3. They want the editor to be tuned in to the author’s objectives for the book, keeping those top of mind throughout the process.
4. They want their points made more succinctly and artistically and their stories told well. As one author said, “An unedited piece can make my point but in a less elegant way than one that’s been edited.”
5. They want their ideas made more appealing by adding vivid words and gem phrases they didn’t think of themselves.
6. They want insight on the effect their writing is or is not having on the reader. As a stand-in for the reader, your editor can play this role well.
7. They want editors to catch problems that casual readers wouldn’t. In terms of content, that includes unfinished thoughts or missing steps or unclear logic or a story that falls flat. In terms of language, that means fixing grammar, spelling, agreements, redundancies, repetition, mixed modifiers, run on sentences, and more. In terms of effectiveness, it means improving the flow and tightening the writing throughout.

In your experience, do these points reflect what you want? What other factors are important to include? Please share them.

by Barbara McNichol

As editors, we may think we know what authors want , but how often do we test our assumptions and ask?

I did just that by sending out three questions to approximately 125 clients and 300 authors in my circle. From the 40 thoughtful responses I received, I got a much clearer sense of what worries authors when it comes to the editing process. They told me that . . . 

1. They’re concerned about the editor changing their “voice” while editing—altering their style so much that it doesn’t come across as their own. As one person said, “Sometimes editors add their own ideas rather than helping the author express his or her own thoughts in a clearer, more concise way.”
2. They don’t want the “juice” in the original writing to be watered down by too much word-whacking (which is a term I use).
3. They’re concerned that an editor isn’t sensitive to subject matter, that they’ll approach editing mechanically rather than engaging with the material and delivering on the book’s objectives.
4. One author talked about his previous editor being out of tune with his effort to convey something unique. He said, “This editor never invested in my passion and the spirit that I wanted to come out in my writing.”

What worries you? What would you add to these comments? (Look for more questions and answers in future blog posts.)