[AnomalyCon] Writing Professionally - CNFW

Writing Professionally

AnomalyCon 3/30/13 12:00 PM

Panelists: C. Vaughn, G. Carriger, Q. Allen, P. Wacks, S.J. Chambers

Disclaimer: This is part of my series "Con Notes for Writers".  These posts contain notes I took at a convention or event so these ideas are not my own.  See this post for more information.

Don’t quit your day job.  Don’t plan on making a living by writing.

How to break in professionally: sell some short stories first

Different avenues to publication: traditional, e-pub, self-publishing

Keep a list of formal goals (1 year, 5 years, 10 years)

Aim high – “you may still miss your target, but you won’t shoot your foot off”

Make a cutoff – ex. One panelist wouldn’t sell a short story for less than 3 cents a word.

Advice she wishes people would have told her:

Most book advances are going to be $5,000-10,000 (you’ll pay taxes on that and your agent will take a 15% cut so don’t plan on seeing all of that)

It will take a while before you can make enough to live – or it may never happen

One panelist didn’t actually get any royalties for one book after the advance until 2.5 years after it was published. Know there’s a LOT of waiting time involved.

Benefit of self-publishing: Amazon pays you monthly.

Successful authors might straddle the line – publish some with a big publishing house and some on the e-book self-publishing platform

The “big five” or “big six” (major publishers) might not be around much longer – be ready to approach publishing by self-publishing method

Be prepared for marketing once your book is ready to go – especially if you’re doing this all on your own

Try for the big six and plan on going the self-route afterwards if it doesn’t work out. Don’t count on it.

If self-publishing, have three editors look over your stuff: one specifically for content, one for consistency, one for typos.

Tips and Tools:

• Professional memberships (Such as Horror Writers or SFFWA)
• SFFWA – one panelist found an agent through their directory by looking at people who had the same kind of style she did and who was representing them.  Plus, then you can ask people what they think of their agent.
• Ralan.com – short story market guide, recommended
• If you sell a short story, then you’re “sold” and you can join things like SFFWA that are exclusive to published authors
• ****SFFWA was really recommended – can join when you’re published, even one short story might qualify you to get your foot in the door
• Very useful at the beginning of your career – market watch in their bulletin and stuff
• Helpful to have a “Tribe”
• Locus – like Vanity Fair for SF world, look at getting a subscription.  Contains insider trading information.  Look at what’s been sold and what editors are buying.
• Writer beware - recommended
• “Predators and Editors” – market watch for people who make money by scamming writers

Re: Networking

• Convention green room – hang out with other writers, chat with the big name authors in the green room
• If you have another skill and can get on as a panelist, you can get an inside to hang out with other artists/authors in the green room – get on as a panel host and then you can get access to the green room
• Networking and conventions are a writer’s water cooler

“earning out” (once the publisher has made back what they paid you in advance and start paying you back for what is actually coming in/royalties) – that’s when you really crack the champagne

Re: Short Stories

• Tor.com – good for short stories, they pay a lot
• Asimov – a digest
• Not much money in short stories, but it’s a lot of name recognition
• Good fix for writer’s block while writing a novel – write a ss and then come back to the novel!

Re: Beta Readers

• Patrick Rothfuss sends his books out to 100 beta readers!
• One panelist says she does 10 drafts before she sends it in

Tips for Editing:

• Read the entire novel out loud – it uses a different part of your brain and will help you find mistakes