How Editors Know You're An Amateur

Are you happy being an amateur writer? Do you want to stay in that happy state? Then just follow these tips in all your submissions.

Don't address the editor by name. After all, there may be many editorial staff at the publication just waiting to jump at the chance to read your work, and you don't want them to miss out do you?

Don't use double spacing. You never see articles or stories published in double space do you? So why should you bother double spacing your work, when someone is just going to have to convert it to single spacing later?

Don't bother checking your spelling or grammar. That's the editor's job isn't it?

Don't send return postage. Why should you assume they'll return your work? That's defeatism. If they want to publish it, they can write you a letter - surely they can afford that? And as you've paid to send it to them, surely they can pay to return it?

Don't put your name on the manuscript. They're bound to keep your manuscript and the cover letter together aren't they. No one would ever file correspondence and submissions in different places. Neither would they keep your letter, and send your submission to someone else to appraise it. That never happens.

Don't tell them how many words it is. Surely they can count?

Don't use a standard font. Everybody else does, and you want your manuscript to stand out from the crowd.

Don't use a new ribbon or cartridge. Why waste ink when the manuscript will get re-typed before publication anyway?

Don't tell them you've sent it to other editors. What they don't know can't hurt them. And you can always play one editor off against an other when they both offer you publication. Surely they'll understand that they can't expect an exclusive look at your work without a guarantee to publish it?

Don't read the publication's guidelines. Your work is so good that they'll have to publish it, even if it doesn't fit what they say they want. They just don't realise that they want it yet, that's all.

Just follow the tips above, and you're guaranteed to remain a happy amateur for ever.

Approaching J.R.R. Tolkien's Writings

One of the most common questions I encounter from readers approaching J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings is “Where do I start?” The list of books “written by” J.R.R. Tolkien can be overwhelming and confusing.

Most readers are familiar with The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but locate the Tolkien section at your local bookstore and you’ll likely find a dozen or more title staring back at you. What’s more, many of those will proclaim themselves as “prequels” to The Lord of the Rings.

Ironically, Tolkien only published four books on Middle-earth (his fictional world) during his lifetime - The Hobbit and the three-volume Lord of the Rings series.

The two major posthumous publications are The Silmarillion and the recently published The Children of Hurin. So where should you start? With the “prequels”? The Lord of the Rings? The Hobbit?

Here are my simple ordering suggestions for reading Tolkien’s works:

•The Hobbit
•The Lord of the Rings (three volumes)
•The Silmarillion
•The Children of Hurin

While the events chronicled in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings may occur thousands of years after many of the tales in The Silmarillion and The Children of Hurin, these tales stand on their own, without the background necessary for the latter two pieces.

The time to tackle The Silmarillion and The Children of Hurin is after reading The Lord of the Rings, and reaching an understanding of the basic heroic structure of Tolkien’s created world.

While browsing Tolkien’s books, you may also come across a number of other titles not listed above - for example The Book of Lost Tales or The Return of the Shadow, Morgoth’s Ring (and many others).

These books are collections of Tolkien’s unfinished and abandoned writings on Middle-earth, generally of interest only to those who have read his core writings and are interested in the development and writing process of Tolkien’s “mythology”. They are fascinating snapshots of the creative process at work, but would likely be confusing and nearly unreadable to someone unfamiliar with his earlier works.

Adam M. Smith is the owner of http://www.tolkien-online.com, an informational website dedicated to criticism and study of the life and writings of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Tips on Choosing a Title For Your Book

How many of you have spent hours or days toiling over the title for your book? My first book, The Cliffhanger, was renamed probably six times before I stayed with the current title. Naming your book can be difficult, especially if the book will work as a sort of branding for everything else you do. Non-fiction books are often seen as a stepping stone to speaking engagements, product launches, and a variety of other business endeavors. In fact, the naming of a non-fiction or business book is so critical that a poorly chosen title can actually make or break a books success. If you're in the midst of picking a name, or planning future titles. There are some basic strategies you should consider before you finalize your book cover.

The name of your book must tell people what it's about. If you try to be clever and make them guess, your potential customer will just put it down and move on to a title they do understand.

Put the benefit right in the name - for example Chicken Soup for the Soul tells you right up front that much like a cup of chicken soup when you're sick, this book is going to make you feel better. If this leaves you feeling perplexed, take a moment to list five benefits of your book - once you have those benefits listed slowly but surely a book title will begin to emerge.

Think about all the different uses you might be able to derive from the name of your book. Is it going to be on your web site? Is it a stand alone book or part of a product line? Or is this book one of a series? Determining the exact uses of this title will help you define it further.

And finally, go see what the competition is doing. Spend an afternoon at the bookstore and see what titles have worked well for similar books in your genre.

Other Naming Tips Did you know that some words are easier to remember than others? Sound odd? Not really. Language experts will tell us that we just react differently to certain sounds. The letters K and P for example are what language experts call "plosives." A plosive is a little bit of language that pops out of your mouth and draws attention to itself. A plosive is a "stopper" in language. A plosive makes us pause for emphasis when we say it. The letters B, C, D, K, P and T are all plosives.

IWhat's especially interesting is that brand names beginning with plosives have higher recall scores than non-plosive names. Several studies of the top 200 brand names have made that point. Examples: Bic, Coca-Cola, Kellogg's, Kodak, Pontiac, etc.

If you've picked a title for your book or a name for your business or product line that is "unusual" - you might want to check the meaning first. That goes for foreign translation as well. Here are a few examples of names that were chosen without the proper research:

In 1997 Reebok issued a mass recall of their new women's running shoe dubbed "Incubus" - a savvy news reporter brought their attention to the fact that incubus means: "an evil spirit believed to descend upon and have sex with women while they sleep. Estee Lauder stopped short of exporting their line of Country Mist makeup to Germany when managers pointed out that "mist" in German is slang for "manure." Trying to be clever, The folks at Guess jeans placed the Japanese characters "ge" and "su" next to a model in Asian magazines, intending them to mean "Guess." But "gesu" translated in Japanese means "vulgar," "low" class" or "meanspirited."

Naming Tip! Stumped for a name? Try heading over to The Naming Newsletter. While this site is designed primarily for naming and/or branding companies, there's a lot of great information on titling strategies and tips that can translate easily to your book title.


Penny C. Sansevieri is a book publicist who turns authors into success stories. Get her free author marketing newsletter and insider tips at http://www.amarketingexpert.com

Effective Fiction Research

The question of why research should be a part of the craft of writing fiction I'll leave for another article. Suffice it to say, there are three reasons at minimum to include the skill of research in your craft. The first and second reasons require an understanding of the reader. It may or may not be surprising to learn that far more non-fiction titles are published and sold every year than fiction. And this should tell you that readers would actually rather be educated than entertained (it may also say something about the quality of the entertainment being sold, but that's a soap box I'll resist from stepping atop at the moment). Thus, if you can educate your reader while entertaining them, then you may be able to broaden your readership. Secondly, readers demand a certain level of credibility or authority from their authors, with whom they will be spending so much intimate time.

The third reason requires an understanding of you, the author. Very few of us may be gifted with an imagination of, say, a Stephen King or a Dean Koontz. Everything we need to craft our story may not be stored upstairs. We may and usually must venture outside of our mind to find the raw material to build our worlds, characters, and plots. And truth be told, even if you were King or Koontz, you too might be caught doing your homework from time to time. Research is a core skill of the novelist if for no other reason than to inspire.

So assuming research is, in fact, going to be a tool in our bag, then how can it most effectively be used?

The first thing to understand is that research for fiction can be subtly different than for non-fiction. And the difference ties back to the three reasons for researching fiction in the first place. Fiction is not held to the same standards as non-fiction. Absolute truth is not the goal of the fiction author, nor the expectation of the fiction reader. Metaphoric truth, however, is. As such, there is no requirement to support the research or defend it. In fact, the best fiction is to be written such that the research is invisible to the reader.

With that understanding it may be easier to think of the fiction research method as being more organic, less structured and academic. The whole exercise is really directly for the author's benefit and no one else's. The indirect benefit to the reader comes in the form of a credible and densely written story that engages her both intellectually and emotionally.

Therefore, the methods for effective fiction research are as varied and unique as are the authors. For me, I must first develop a premise founded on a rich theme or themes before I can begin to dive into the research. Once I have my premise, though, I begin by identifying the broader subjects that I'll need to explore for both credibility concerns and for story inspiration. I then give myself a crash course on each subject, assimilating what I learn, what inspires me, and what ideas come as a result. At times this can all be accomplished through reading books, journals, magazines, etc. Other times I must interview subject matter experts, travel to specific locations, or even try a particularly new and foreign activity. Do whatever is required to fill in the gaps in your own knowledge while also following your instincts. If something intrigues you, stumps you, or, heaven forbid, keeps you up at night, then by all means explore to your heart's content.

I mull this material over and over in my mind until I make it a part of my own experience. Then when it's time to write I find that the material I've gained is there at my fingertips and it comes out naturally in what I say. And this is because I'm not lecturing to the reader, trying to teach them, or even preach to them. I'm just talking to them, telling them a story that also happens to relay a message that has become important to me during my research phase.

To give a simple example, during the writing of my first novel, Cryptid: The Lost Legacy of Lewis & Clark, I realized that in order to make my premise work I needed to graft my story into the history of the reader's own world. I felt this would be the best way to suspend the reader's disbelief while they read a thriller that had Sasquatch ravaging the characters in the dark woods of the Olympic National Park. I happened to be reading Stephen E. Ambrose's Undaunted Courage at the time. Specifically, I had come across entries from Lewis describing their first close encounters with the grizzly. And bingo, just like that, I had found my answer. I could introduce into my story lost journals of Lewis & Clark that described their close encounters with Sasquatch. Because of research, two subjects that appeared to be unrelated now became integral to my plot.

The most difficult thing to learn and accept about the craft of researching fiction is that the process is essentially organic. So your method of research will differ from mine.

It requires faith in yourself and in the craft. All you can do is take that first step. Start by going to the library, surfing the web, or interviewing your ninety-year-old grandmother. And then have the courage to let the research lead you where it may. After all, research is what insures that the readers don't have all the adventures.

Eric Penz is the author of Cryptid: The Lost Legacy of Lewis and Clark. Visit his Web site to learn more, http://www.ericpenz.com