Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos

More about publishing books

I’ll be continuing with what turns out to be a series of posts related to the publishing industry. Why? Because I’m halfway through revising my second novel and when it’s ready (whenever that may be) I intend to approach agents for that as well. Which makes me curious about an industry I want to be a part of, but know very little about.

All compliments and credits go to the original writers of every post I’ve reblogged, who researched and wrote about the subject so we can read them and learn a thing or two.

Today I draw your attention to Kristen Lamb’s Blog. Some of you might read her blog. For those of you who don’t, click on the link and spend some time there. There’re are a lot of things to read and learn from her in almost every aspect of writing and publishing.

A while back, she wrote an article about the nuts and bolts of the traditional publishing business called The Ugly Truth of Publishing & How BEST to Support Writers. Once again, I was shocked after reading it. Shows how little I know about important things. For me (and perhaps for others like me) traditional publishing meant writing a book, editing it to the best possible shape, getting an agent (oh, how glorious moment that’ll be!), and then

photo credit: Sheng P. Hermione Granger via photopin (license)
photo credit: Sheng P. Hermione Granger via photopin (license)

magic would happen and it’d eventually reach a publisher who would love it, and I’d see it on shelves of bookstores. Then I’d write another novel, and another, and I’d get paid a percentage. Simple as that. After all, once we choose to publicise our art and feel good about earning some money from it, we become entrepreneurs.

So, hands up, how many of you have actually ever wondered how a writer gets paid once you buy one of their books? Ever heard of terms like “remainder copies” or “print runs” and how they affected the writer’s wallet? I sure didn’t. I still don’t, ’cause I have a feeling this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Okay, hands up then, how many of you believed (before you started writing or met one of those strange creatures called writers) that writers make a lot of money? If not a lot, then perhaps a decent amount of it.

photo credit: kevin dooley Hey teacher! I know the answer! via photopin (license)
photo credit: kevin dooley Hey teacher! I know the answer! via photopin (license)

Almost every friend I have who knows I write has the same misconception.

Read Kristen’s post and see how things really are. It’s a long read, but you’ll learn so much from it.

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos

Inspirational Prompt 33

Since tomorrow is Halloween for most of you, I figured I should post something relevant, something dark and, hopefully, a bit scary.

You’re in a single-room apartment where the last rays of light slip through the window and land on an old woman sitting on her rocking chair. She lives alone and forgotten. On her lap is her dog, a feisty and very protective little beast that snarls or bites anyone who dares come near her, or makes the dreadful mistake to walk outside the tiny and rundown apartment she inhabits. She has just put a record on the player – Verdi’s Nabucco – and a strong, crystal voice rises in an unpresedented crescendo.

On the wall facing her are photographs of herself at a much younger age, when the spotlights seemed like they’d never go dark, when fans flocked to her and others begged to be on stage with her. On the other side of the wall she has pinned newspaper articles from when they dragged her to prison, accused for murder. No one comes near her anymore. No one wants to know her. She’s all alone in the world. Except for her dog guardian.

The song on the record ends. It’s a live recording, so people applaud, a true standing ovation. The dog on her lap is calm. This song is almost second nature to it by now. The clapping from the record fades and eventually ends. Silence.

Except for the clapping sound in her small room that carries on. It’s coming closer.

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos · 1 Comment

More about available publishing paths

Not long ago, I published a poll where I asked published writers who visit my blog to tell the rest of us which publishing path they chose and why. Apparently, within some of these categories are subcategories, and since I’ve been trying to gather and present you with as much info about publishing as I can, I figured those of you about to have something published, or who want to try a different publishing path than traditional, might find the following interesting.
A while back, Jane Friedman posted an infographic outlining the five key publishing paths. Since then, she has updated that infographic with a new one which includes more available and up-to-date publishing options. Don’t you just love infographics? Full of knowledge, condensed into a single image.

Needless to say the poll I mentioned earlier is still open and will remain open and wouldn’t mind a few more visiting published writers to drop by and click one of the options there. If you haven’t seen it yet, now’s the time 🙂

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos · 6 Comments

How long does it take to publish a book?

For the past few weeks I’ve been posting things about the publishing industry, things I found interesting. And since the internet is vast (maybe not as vast as the universe) and things tend to be quite hard to find sometimes, I figured I might help another fellow writer by reblogging some of the little treasures I have found.

So a few years back, when I started writing, and decided I didn’t want to write just for myself, I found an infographic called Book’s Life Cycle. I don’t mean how long a book stays a book before it’s turned into pulp, but what are the steps between an idea sparked in our brains and the end result; a published story (traditionally or electronically), comfortably resting in a reader’s hands.

At the time, wet behind the ears as I was, I googled “How to write a book.” After sieving through the hundreds of results there, I found this infographic

lifecycle-of-a-book

You can find the original source from http://publishingtrendsetter.com/life-cycle-book/

You see, back then all I knew was that if I wanted to get traditionally published, all I had to do was get an agent, and then voilà! The magic wand would do its magic and I’d have a book on a bookstore’s shelf. Yay me! I draw your attention to where the step with the agent is on that image. That’s right; way up there. Right after the step where the writer actually writes and edits. And where’s publication? Waaaay down, with several other steps in between.

I’m not going to lie to you; there was a moment where I thought to myself, “what have I gotten myself into?!”

So, for all of you new writers like me, take a good look at this image. Don’t ever assume your story is ready, or wonder why your favourite authors takes so long to publish the next book (I can think of at least once I’ve foolishly complained about it. Hint: It’s a he, wears glasses, currently writes Dark Fantasy, allegedly indulged in pizza crawl at least once, and likes to kill almost all his characters… Yeah, him!). Look at all the steps between the writer writing up the book, and it actually hitting the shelves. Granted, for big-shot writers like the one I vaguely outlined, the time the process takes is sped up, BUT the fact remains: LOOK AT ALL THE STEPS!

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Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos · 3 Comments

Inspirational prompt 32

Harry pulled his collar to the wind and the damp, and squatted. Even his smoke had a hard time staying lit in this weather. He glanced at the other well-tended graves to the left and right.
“Waste of space. Should ‘ve let you out for the vultures.” He took the smoke out of his mouth and spat on the dirt mound. He stood up, ignored the popping sounds his knees made, dropped the cigarette, and stomped it with his foot.
“Sure took your sweet time dying. I thought you’d never give up.

“You thought right,” a voice behind him muttered.