Books for LDS Readers. Tips for LDS Writers.
Have you seen those reading challenges that are popping up all over the blogosphere? (See examples here, here and here.)
We want to do a summer reading challenge over on the LDS fiction blog and we need a fun and catchy name for it—something that captures the feeling of summer fun reading and LDS authors/fiction.
Post ideas in the comments section.
There will be a prize for the winner.
Can you define LDS-standards as it relates to writing for the LDS market?
?? What??
If you’re LDS, you should have no problem figuring this out. If you’re not LDS, you should probably write for another market. (If you really need details, you can find a list of taboo topics here.)
Clarification to yesterday’s post about the protagonist needing to live by LDS standards: I’m talking mainstream LDS fiction, not edgy LDS fiction. There are a few places willing to look at edgier stuff but most LDS publishers are looking to sell to the mainstream LDS reader.
Now, your protagonist does not have to start out living by LDS standards. Recent case in point, Stephanie Black’s Fool Me Twice. Her main character is not LDS. When we meet her, she is a willing participant in a scam to inherit money from a distant relative. However, by the end of the book, she feels incredibly guilty about this and has changed to live a more honest and ethical life.
Do you expect LDS-standards in submissions that are not LDS-related (for example in a fantasy submission, would you expect the characters to live LDS-standards)?
I am an LDS publisher, so yes, I do. Obviously your antagonist would be exempt from moral behavior, but your protagonist should be someone the LDS reader would respect and respond to in a positive way.
If you intend to publish nationally, then no, I would not expect the characters to live LDS standards—but I would hope that your main character would still be moral and ethical.
(See more here.)
Hi there,
I have a few questions I’m hoping you might feel inclined to answer. I’ve put together a group of popular LDS mommy bloggers who would like to create a humorous, uplifting book for LDS women. Each of our blogs have relatively high traffic (in the realm of 1,000 – 10,000 hits per day, per blogger), and between the ten of us we have thousands and thousands of dedicated readers. The women we’ve assembled are funny, touching and very talented.
Is the query process different for an anthology than it would be for a work of fiction?
No, not really. If the publisher asks for sample chapters or pages, send several of the essays.
Do we need to have the book one hundred percent completed before we shop it around?
No, but you should have a very clear idea of theme, topics, contributors, AND marketing plan because anthologies are harder to sell.
My understanding is that anthologies are typically more like non-fiction books— you prepare a proposal and then write the book. Is that correct?
Yes, but you’ll want some sample chapters/essays and you’d need to be able to complete the book quickly.
With Mommy blogs becoming so popular, I think an anthology has potential. One of the most popular Mommy bloggers, Heather Armstrong at dooce.com, just released an anthology of blogger essays. I’m not sure how it’s doing but it got a lot of buzz. Bloggers have a pre-existing audience which could potentially generate more sales right off the bat than would an unknown author.
This week’s new titles over on the LDS Fiction blog:
Journey of the Heart by W. Dave Free
Freshman for President by Ally Condie
A Modest Proposal by Michele Ashman Bell
Did we miss any? If we did, let me know.
We’ve also posted the next contest and the winner of last week’s contest.
If you publish a book, you obviously believe it will sell. If a book doesn’t sell well, what do you think are some of the causes?
Assuming the book is, indeed, a well-written book, in the LDS market the main reasons a good book doesn’t sell well are:
All of these reasons are issues with the publisher, not the author. Unfortunately, it reflects on the author, making it more difficult for them to find another publisher willing to take a chance on them. If an author finds themselves in this situation, they need to double their efforts at getting the word out about their book and encouraging positive word-of-mouth recommendations.
Another issue occurs when a poorly written book is published. It gets negative buzz from readers and doesn’t sell well. This is the publisher’s fault because it shouldn’t have been published in the first place—or it should have been cleaned up first. Some publishers put very little effort into editing and clean up work. Their “bad” books tarnish the reputation of their “good” books. (There is one publisher whose titles I will not buy because so many of them are poorly written. If I think I might like one of their books, I check it out from the library or buy it at D.I.)
I have a publisher who wants me to write faster and says they want my future books. Is there any value in me trying to “upgrade” or should I just be grateful that someone wants to publish me?
If you have a publisher who loves you and wants more of you, why in the world would you want to leave them?
The only reason to even consider switching publishers is if they’re not doing a good job for you—or if they’re a small niche publisher and you want to go national.
Are they targeting your maket? Do they pay you a fair royalty? Are they promoting your books? Are your books selling well? If so, stay where you are.
This week’s new titles over on the LDS Fiction blog:
Free Men and Dreamers (vol. 2): Twilight’s Last Gleaming by L.C. Lewis
Finding Dad by Alma J. Yates
Waiting for the Light to Change by Annette Haws
The Great and Terrible (vol. 5): From the End of Heaven by Chris Stewart
The Host by Stephenie Meyer
Did we miss any? If we did, let me know.
We’ve also posted the next contest and the winner of last week’s contest.
What happens when a book you’ve published receives bad reviews?
It can impact sales—depending on who gives the review and how legitimate the review seems to readers.
If the review is just a slam, filled with typos, poor grammar, or personalized comments, most people ignore it—as do we. If the review is intelligent, well-written, and seemingly unbiased, it can cause us grief. Then we cry and cuss and stomp around, howl and gnash our teeth, cover ourselves with sackcloth and ashes, burn effigies of the reviewer. You know. The usual stuff people do when they’re disappointed.
Depending on where the review was published and what was said, we might try to get fans of the book and/or author to publish contrasting viewpoints. For example, if it’s on amazon or a blog, we might encourage the author to encourage their fans to post polite comments that disagree with the reviewer, or to post their own positive reviews online—but only if that was their honest opinion.
But most of the time, we don’t really do anything about it. If the book is good, fans are already out there posting positive comments. If the bad review is deserved then we use that information to do better next time.
Only once have I ever personally contradicted an online review. The reviewer complained that the non-fiction book included every scripture and quote by a general authority on the topic. From our point of view, that was the selling point of the book. Need info on this topic? Here’s all you ever wanted to know—and then some. So I politely stated that in their comment section. I also identified myself as the publisher. That particular review didn’t seem to hamper sales. We did just fine.
How many people in your company have to be convinced a book can sell before you offer a contract?
14 1/2.
Just kidding.
I’m not sure what the purpose behind this question is. Knowing the answer won’t really make a difference in the process as far as the writer is concerned—unless you want to try to bribe everyone who is involved in the decision making process. (That probably won’t help much either.)
But to answer your curiosity, this varies a lot between companies, depending on their size. Job positions that have to be on board are Editor, Readers, Marketing, Management. Each of these positions may be held by one single individual in a very small company or there may be committees of editors, readers, marketing people, and managers that have to be in agreement in a large company. Some companies may require a consensus, some only a majority. The opinions of some people on the committees may carry more weight than others. There may be one person at the top of the chain who has veto power, regardless of how many others think it’s a good idea; or one person may have the power to push a project through, regardless of how many people think the book won’t sell.
Bottom line: the answer to this question won’t help you get published. Write a good book, send it to the publisher or editor you think will love it and move on.
I am interested in becoming an editor or ghostwriter. I have now started reading a book that was published without being edited, and in desperate need of a ghost writer. These writers all had valuable ideas, but no support or advice for how to make it a well written book. I want to help. How do I become qualified or listed, or whatever I have to do to break into this area?
Technically, this is outside the scope of this blog, but I decided to address it because published authors are frequently approached about ghostwriting books for other people.
If you’re interested in having your own career as a published author, I’d suggest staying away from ghostwriting and concentrating on your own stories. However, some excellent writers struggle with new ideas but are great at shining up the work of others and receive lots of personal fulfillment from doing so. If this is the case, then ghostwriting and/or book doctoring might be something for you to consider.
In ghostwriting, generally you write the entire book from someone else’s outline and research notes; they put their name on the cover and you are listed briefly in the acknowledgments. Sometimes they’ll give you credit on the front, as in “by Jane Doe, with Sue Smith.” (You would be Sue Smith.)
A book doctor takes a nearly complete manuscript and fixes it, often rewriting major portions. Credit and acknowledgments are the same as with ghostwriting, but since the author wrote the first draft of the book and you are merely polishing it, they rarely give you credit on the front cover.
Qualifications are: you need to be a good editor/writer, able to fix the words of others without obscuring their original voice. Create a bio listing your writing credentials or industry experience. Put together a portfolio of your work to show people.
Pricing varies widely for these services. Do some Googling and then decide what you’re worth. In the beginning, the first time you work with a new client, you should be willing to do one chapter free to show them what they can expect from you. After you have several published books, you can show those as samples.
As to how to “break in” to the business, you most likely will not be hired by a publishing company unless you know someone in the biz who is willing to give you a chance. Also, a publishing company would hire you as an editor for an hourly rate, which is going to be much less than freelancing as a ghostwriter.
You will most likely be working with non-fiction first-time authors or experts in a particular area who do great workshops and presentations and need a book to extend the reach of their message. Set up a website, get business cards, spread the word that you’re open for business. You’ll get your first few clients based on the strength of your personality and confidence. After that, they will (hopefully) start referring their friends and colleagues to you.
I’ve been getting several spam comments posted lately, some with viruses attached. Most of them I’ve caught within minutes of them posting, but some I haven’t.
Although I hate to do this because it’s so annoying, I’ve turned on the Word Verification feature for commenting. Hopefully that will do the trick.
I had a one-on-one session with the visiting agent. She said she liked the pages I showed her and asked to see more, once they were written. This will take a month or so. In the meantime, should I write a brief thank-you note, mentioning the project and thanking her for her time? Or don’t agents and editors like to use their valuable time reading thank-you notes?
Personally, I like a very expensive box of dark, chewy chocolates and a dozen roses.
Seriously, on the one hand, it’s nice to make a personal connection and treat agents as if they were real people, in which case, Miss Manners would suggest that a short thank you note would be in order here. On the other hand, let’s say this agent saw 50 people over the space of a conference, that’s 50 thank you notes she’ll have to open and read—and if she’s really, really busy…
I’m assuming you gave her a gracious thank you during your session so I’d say wait and include a brief thank you as the first paragraph of your cover letter when you send your manuscript, along the lines of “Dear Ms. Whosit, Thank you so much for visiting with me in a one-on-one session at the LDStorymakers conference in March 2008. I made the changes you suggested and enclosed are the additional pages you requested I send. . .” Or something like that.
What is the place of poetry in the LDS market? Is there any hope of selling a poetry collection to any publisher? If so, what kind of poetry would be of interest?
Poetry is a hard sell in any market, unless your last name happens to be Dickinson or Frost or . . . Even Carol Lynn Pearson, the LDS poet, doesn’t sell much poetry.
The only way you’re going to sell a book of poetry to an LDS publisher is if it’s a gift book, a children’s picture book, or part of an anthology (like Especially for Mormons)—but even those are tough sells.
I’d suggest sending your poems to magazines. The Ensign and New Era publish poems. There are also lots of Christian magazines looking for poetry. Check the 2008 Writer’s Market.
It was suggested by a reader that I do a regular post here about the LDS Fiction blog. So far for 2008, we have 24 new releases by LDS authors. I think that’s pretty impressive. Please go take a look. Let me know if I’ve missed any.
Starting this Friday, I’ll post an update listing the new titles that have been added during the week.
I’d also like to do something to encourage you to go over to that blog and look around, leave comments, and rate the books you’ve read. Since most of the comments over there are anonymous, we can’t do a monthly comment contest like we do here. I was thinking about a weekly post offering a free book if you left a comment on that post within a specified time period. Like the contests on this blog, the book prizes would need to be supplied and shipped by authors and publishers.
If you’re interested, send me an e-mail with LDS Fiction Prize in the subject line and the title(s) of the books you’re willing to offer as prizes.
What type of information/milestones do you tend to convey to the author? What’s the minimum (or happy medium) that authors should expect?
This varies between publishers, but here is our usual communication schedule:
Do you have suggestions for ways authors can improve communications with their publishers?
Hmmm, do you mean how can you communicate with them? Or how do you get them to communicate with you?
Some publishers/editors are lousy communicators—they rarely return phone calls or e-mails, and when they do, they don’t give satisfactory answers. This stinks. It shouldn’t happen. Communicating with the author is part of their job and they should do so in a professional and timely manner. If your publisher/editor is a bad communicator, there is probably nothing you can do about it. Sorry.
Some authors have unrealistic expectations of the time a publisher/editor can spend with them. I have authors who call once or twice a week and want to spend an hour talking about the problems they’re having with their current work in progress. This is very inappropriate and, I confess, I often duck their calls. I have others who call regularly to see if the edit is done, how many pages have been typeset, if the files are at the press yet… This is inappropriate too.
But assuming you are a professional and realistic author and you’re working with a professional and responsible publisher/editor, just ask them what their expectations are. Do they prefer phone calls or e-mails? What is their average response time? What types of communications do they want from you? (Example, I want to know when my authors are doing marketing/promo activities so I can help support those.) If both parties are reasonable, it shouldn’t be too hard to work something out.
Hello LDS Publisher Readers,
I’m writing from a new group blog called Mormon Renaissance (www.mormonrenaissance.org) that focuses on improving the craft, critical discernment, and the quality of Mormon artistic efforts. In a recent post, I discussed the idea of Mormon literature as an aesthetic that spreads across multiple genres, rather than limited to a single genre. In continuing our discussion of this issue, we’re thinking about a follow-up series of guest posts by Mormon authors on how they can write something uniquely Mormon without betraying the expectations of their genre. If you are a published Mormon author from any of the following genres and are interested in writing a few paragraphs on how your genre fiction can also be “Mormon” fiction, please send me an e-mail:
Science fiction/fantasy
Romance
Mystery
Historical Fiction
Literary Fiction
Liz Busby
lizbusby [at] byu [dot] edu
Several of us have been debating how much “fictionalizing” is acceptable in nonfiction. If the basic facts are true and correct, is it acceptable to enhance dialogue and setting? Or to change names and gender? Moreover, if that’s allowed, at what stage in the process should the author inform the editor—in the query letter, the cover letter, or when working with the editor on revisions?
The only time it is acceptable to change the facts in nonfiction is when you’re using case studies to illustrate a concept and you change the name of the person and their identifying details. This should be stated right up front in the book’s introduction and as a footnote on the first case study.
If you enhance the dialogue and setting, change name, gender or any other fact, then it is no longer nonfiction—it is fiction, based on a true story and should be labeled as such in your initial query.
Update: You have a little more leeway with memoirs and autobiographies. As Annette commented, you can’t go all hogwild with the facts, as did James Frey in his “memoir” but you can alter some details to protect the innocent (or guilty) and you can adjust conversations somewhat. Tell you editor exactly what was changed and they will help you stay within acceptable limits.
The national market has the NYT Best Seller list to acknowledge fiction titles that are selling like hotcakes. The LDS market has no equivalent. (The LDSBA used to do a Top Ten list, but they don’t anymore.)
While I can’t really reproduce an NYT type best selling list [because 1) publishers aren’t going to easily divulge that info to me, and 2) I don’t have time to collect it], with your help we can create a cumulative best-seller list.
Although copies sold is more often an indicator of marketing than quality, if a book sells over 10,000 copies, that’s saying something. While good books may be overlooked because they weren’t promoted effectively, a bad book can only get so far on hype.
With that in mind, we’d like to acknowledge top selling LDS fiction over on the LDS Fiction blog. For these purposes, LDS fiction is defined as books published for the LDS market by LDS publishers.
We have four categories we’d like to recognize:
Bronze—sold 10,000 copies* or more.
Silver—sold 25,000 copies* or more.
Gold—sold 50,000 copies* or more.
Platinum—sold 100,000 copies* or more.
If you are the publisher or the author of an LDS fiction title that has hit any of these sales levels and is still in print, please e-mail the following info: Title, Author, Publisher, Release Date.
*All combined printings and formats for the title, books and CD sales.
How common are advances in the LDS publishing world? And how is an advance calculated?
LDS advances are less common than in the national market. Some publishers never give them, others give them according to their own set of criteria. Some only give advances after the first book. I can’t give you exact numbers. We usually offer an advance in the three digits. Sneer away, but it’s all we can realistically offer.
Some publishers have a standard advance they offer based on the type of book—fiction might get $X while non-fiction gets $Y. Others offer an advance based on the number of books they expect to sell in the first few months. This is all guess-work on the part of the publisher because the advance goes into the contract before they get pre-orders and reviews back.
I get the newsletter from the Nelson Literary Agency and frequently read her blog. It’s always got good info and I recommend it to all writers who intend to publish someday.
Her February newsletter there was an article from her assistant, Sara, that talked about issues surrounding e-mailing queries. (Scroll down to the cream part.) I thought it was very good and I’ve had the same issues.
Other recent posts on Kristen’s blog that I think you should check out:
New Rules for Promotion (about websites) which links to this post, also about websites
YA Top 25 (things they see too often in YA submissions)
Daily Digest Reading (a list of recommended reading for those who are serious about publishing in a national market)
I had another post scheduled for today, but this question came in this morning and I had to bump it to the front of the line. (The line of questions, btw, which is getting shorter and needs to be pumped up by you dear readers…)
I have recently begun reading more LDS fiction, and I have found some works that I really enjoyed. I look forward to meeting the authors and sharing my appreciation in person.
However, I have also started several books that have been thrown across the room in frustration and then abandoned. I wonder just what I should do when given the chance to meet one of these authors. Do I avoid them? Pretend I’ve never read their book? Lie about my opinion? Or just present them with the brutal truth?
You must certainly find yourself in similar situations on occasion. How do YOU handle them?
You have no idea how often I find myself in these situations because I socialize with many authors and publishers, and I am really, really picky with fiction. Plus, being an editor by trade, my eye picks out all the mistakes. I can’t stop myself. Even in mostly perfect books, I find things I would do differently (ergo, “better”). So I try to avoid that conversation entirely and when a friend asks, I say, “Well, you know me. I don’t like anything…”
This is really tough. Especially if they are one of the better selling LDS authors who churn out title after title and actually make money for their publisher. Apparently someone (many someones) is reading and enjoying their work so they’re not going to listen to anything I say.
However, over the years I’ve found many diplomatic ways to say positive things without lying about my true opinions. Things like, “I’m so glad for you, that your books are selling well…” or “You’ve got a great cover on that book…” or “What an interesting concept. Books that address that topic are really needed in the market…” 99% of the time, that suffices. And it’s also true.
If pushed for an opinion, which I rarely am, I tell them that I can’t really offer an opinion on books published by my competition, as that is a conflict of interest. You may not have that as a out but there are any number of ways you can answer that question diplomatically. Simply smiling and nodding works well in a group situation. I never, ever, ever would give anything but superficial comments to an author in a public situation.
On the rare occasion, if an author approaches me privately and assures me they want my honest opinion, I will give it to them. I start small, with typos and things like that. If they respond maturely, then I move on to plot holes. If that goes well, then I give them the dirt, no holds barred—but I also point out the things they did well.
On the other hand, if I’m doing a book review, then I feel an obligation to the reader, the person who will be spending their cash on a book. Then I tell the honest truth, pulling no punches. But that, too, can be done in a kind and respectful way.
Which kinds of books do you prefer: character-driven or plot-driven?
Yes.
Depends on the type of book you’re writing. You can find examples of both in every genre; every book needs both solid characters and an interesting plot. If I had to choose, I go for the character because I need to care what happens to them.