I may have addressed this topic in a blog long ago, but it bears repeating. If you see a blog post written by someone you’re in contact with and think you were the source of that blog, you could be right. And that’s good.
Say, for example, you asked a question about developing a sympathetic heroine. Then, behold! You see a blog post about that topic the next day. It could be a coincidence; the blogger may have written it well before you saw it. I’m writing this post two months before I expect it to go live.
But what if the author wrote the post because you asked a question? Rejoice! You have helped that blogger serve their audience better. If you’re asking a question, so are many others. Instead of the blogger inventing a post on toothpaste brands in publishing, the post is talking about topics that help authors.
And that’s a good thing!
Your turn:
What topics would you like to see addressed on this blog by Tamela, Bob, or Steve?
Thank you for following our blog. What other blogs do you recommend?
How can we improve our blog?
Don’t Make These Post-Rejection Mistakes
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Thanks for the opportunity to ask questions! I asked on a recent Publishing Q&A webinar about the timeline or order of events from writing to publishing. The answer veered into a (very helpful) discussion about choosing the right kind of beta readers, but never really answered the question.
So we write and rewrite and edit and polish our manuscript while working on our platform. I’ve read that we should send our work to an editor before submitting it to a publisher. Does that come before or after sending it to beta readers? Do we need to have endorsements before submitting or after? Should we have any extras, like a dedication page, foreword, and/or afterword on hand before submitting? Any help along these lines is much appreciated.
I’m a bit late in commenting, but if you see this, I’d love to learn more about the system behind categorizing books, specifically fiction. I want to write a book that fits well in a category, and make sure a book I’ve already written fits into a definite category, but I feel like I’m missing a lot of specifics.
Also, I’ve learned from this blog that it’s important to stick to a genre so your readers know what to expect from you. What are acceptable parameters for staying “in your genre”? Are deviations like, from fantasy to post-apocalyptic, or romance to historical fiction still too different?
If you’re still taking questions, one just came to mind. If an author crowdsources–asks his or her Facebook followers or blog readers for help in brainstorming–does the author owe anything if he or she uses an idea presented in that way? I have seen some do it as a contest. They’ll ask for ideas for the book title or a character’s name, and if they use one, they’ll give that person a free, signed copy of their book when it’s published. I think in that case that’s all the reader expects. Sometimes in an acknowledgements section, I’ve seen an author thank someone for a title idea or specific help with some detail of their story. Should anything else be done legally? Since the author is asking for ideas, is he or she using someone else’s intellectual property if they use one of the ideas? Or since they asked and the reader offered freely while clearly understanding the author’s intent, is it enough to reward them with a copy of the book or a mention?
Great question! Look for a blog post soon.