Tag: Uncategorized

I’m completely out of questions and my brain is too tired to try to guess what you’d like me to post about. If you send questions, I’ll answer them promptly, in the order they’re received. If I have no questions in my Inbox, then I won’t be posting.

It is, however, time for our annual Christmas Story Contest. . .

Another urgent message about the new bookstore opening. This time, she even sent me a picture to go with the post:

Opening a new store is so much fun—and so much more work than I ever expected. We laid our plans, had all our ducks in a row, and then. . . several of our product shipments were delayed, including books for the author signings.

So rather than have our wonderful authors sitting at our store with no books to sign, we’ve decided to push back our Grand Opening by one week, to November 15th.

We will still be open this Saturday, November 8th, and the 25% off coupon is still good—and we’d love to have all of you drop by and shop. But our authors and the drawings for cool stuff won’t happen until Saturday, the 15th.

For those of you who’ve sent out email blasts and posted on your blogs, please update this information. There will most likely be updates and changes to the Author Signing schedule as well. Stay tuned.

I most sincerely apologize to everyone for this inconvenience.

*No, we won’t have Christensen art in our store, at least not right now. But you can purchase it HERE.

G’day LdsPublisher

I have a question, but I really wasn’t going to ask it, because it may be more of a personal issue than anything else. But, on your recent post, you asked for more questions, so here i am. Do with it as you wish.

The publishing world seems to have already been a difficult wall to break through. Now, considering the increasingly unhelpful markets, I can only imagine the idea of publishing (for a first time fictional author) even more so impossible. So, my question is, unless you’ve got those magic ties and favors to roll in, why bother?

I hope that didn’t seem too over-dramatic, but it’s a serious thought on my mind.

Why bother? Because despite the pain in the neck it can be to get published, having your words in print is one of the most wonderful things in the world.

All publishers, even the unhelpful ones, are looking for new authors. Most publishing houses have several slots in their schedule specifically reserved for new authors. If you have a burning desire to write and to publish, go for it. Keep trying.

I have some good ideas for books and I’m ready to start querying agents. Just curious if you can tell me about how long after an agent accepts me will I have to write the book?

Are you talking fiction? Fiction books need to be finished BEFORE you start querying agents. Or publishers. You need to write it. Then have some readers go through it—not family or close friends, but discriminating readers who know something about what’s selling today. Make changes based on your readers’ suggestions. When your book is as perfect as you can get it, then you’re ready to start querying.

If you’re talking non-fiction, if it’s your first book, I’d suggest you be fairly close to done before querying. If you have a platform, do a lot of public speaking on your topic and are generally known as an expert in the field, you might be able to get by with an outline and the first few chapters when you query. But plan to be able to finish the book in 3 to 6 months—the sooner the better.

P.S. I’m out of questions. Please send more.

I’m not working with an LDS publisher. I’ve submitted to a small national publisher. But I’m hoping you can help me anyway. This publisher likes things via e-mail, not snail mail. (Thanks for telling me to check their website for preferences.) Anyway, I sent a query and after two weeks, I got an answer back. They wanted the first two chapters. So I sent them. No problem there.

The problem is that the day after I sent the chapters, I realized I was having some e-mailing issues. I had two friends tell me they hadn’t gotten my e-mails. As far as I can tell, the e-mail with the chapters went through but what if it didn’t? Do I send an e-mail asking if they got the chapters? Or just assume they did and wait? And if I wait, and they didn’t get the e-mail, then will they think I’m not interested in them anymore?

You do the same thing you do when you send a package in the mail. You assume they got it because 99.9% of the time, they will.

Do they give you an expected turn-around time with partials? If so, wait that amount of time. If they don’t, then give them 30 days. If you don’t hear anything from them by then, send an e-mail.

This might seem strange to you, or may not. I’m an illustrator (mostly children’s) however I have done stuff for the Ensign mag. and such. But I was wondering (I came across your blog) if you worked with anyone in the LDS publishing field who works in the children’s book area. I’m wanting to send my portfolio for possible consideration for illustrating and I’m really not having any luck finding any publisher contact info anywhere.

I’ve had questions on illustrating before, so this isn’t strange.

Read my ansers here and here .

Go to the bookstore and find out who publishes illustrated children’s books. Then check their websites for guidelines on submissions. If you can’t find any (and you probably won’t), call or e-mail and ask for their guidelines for submitting illustrations.

I’m receiving pressure from several writing friends to submit to two different publishers. What is your opinion regarding submissions in the LDS Market for a first time author? Do you think they should start out with the top LDS publishers, or try for some of the smaller publishers, and what do you see as the benefits or disadvantages of each?

First off, submitting to the “top” publisher and working your way down the popularity list is not the smartest way to work. Look first for a good match with your book. The “top” publisher may not publish your type of book and to submit to them would be a waste of your time and money, and theirs.

Visit DB and/or Seagull—in person or on line. Find books that are on the shelf/site that are similar to yours—similar in genre, topic, etc. Make a list of those publishers. Then go to their websites and carefully read their submission guidelines, which usually include what types of books they’re looking for.

You’re also looking for whether they accept multiple submissions or if they require an exclusive. If they require exclusives, plan on your mss being in their hands for up to 6 months. This makes is a very slow process.

Once you’ve got your list of publishers that are a good match for what you’ve written, talk to any authors you know who publish with them. See if you can get them to give you their honest opinion on things like how easy the editors are to work with, the amount of time it takes to get from acceptance to store shelf, how much publicity and marketing they do. If you find an author who just raves about their publisher, you might consider putting that company at the top of your list.

Bigger publisher. Advantages—they have more money to promote/market your book; they generally accept a higher number of mss in a year; they have name brand recognition so your book will probably sell better. Disadvantages—you’re one of many authors they’re working with; if another book explodes, they’ll concentrate on them and your book may be neglected if it’s not selling as well.

Smaller publisher. Advantages—you generally get more personal interaction with the editor/publisher; they need your book to sell so they’ll focus on it. Disadvantages—they don’t have the budget or the connections of the big guys. No signing tours or other perks.

Here’s some info from Evil Editor. Click this link:
Large Press, Small Press, Short Press, Tall Press
Then copy and paste the title in his search box.

Can a solo book be sold to a publisher more easily if it can be spun into a series?

In my opinion, yes. It’s much easier to sell a second and a third book by the same author than it is to sell the first book by a new author. Series books ride the coattails of their predecessors and require less work to get them into the stores.

However, don’t send a fully outline of an entire series with the submission of your first book. Query the first book, then add one sentence at the end of the letter along the lines of, “I have ideas for serializing these characters.”

I’m a fairly successful blogger. (Around 1200 hits a day, during the week–less on weekends. Apparently I attract people who should be working.) Anyway, what my true dream is, is to be on the LDS speaker’s circuit. I realize I can’t get a job visiting Stake Conferences (and truly, who would want to?). I’m not a religion professor, so the whole know your religion stuff is out of reach for me. But, women’s conferences, youth conferences, that Deseret Book sponsored “Time out for Women” thing. I want to do that.

I’m actually a good speaker. And once upon a time, I was a professional trainer, so I know I’m good in front of a crowd. Give me a clip on microphone and I’m ready to go. But, I think I need to publish a book to get noticed. (Somehow I doubt even an Ensign article will do what it takes.) Do you think this is true? Deseret Book isn’t going to have me on their speaker tour unless I publish with them, so in order to fill my dream, do I have to 1. write a book and 2. get Deseret Book to publish it? Is there another way? If there isn’t another way, is it best to write a doctrinal book, humorous “women’s issue” book, sappy “women’s issue” book, or fiction?

I realize this is probably a funny question to ask a publisher, but I figured you’d have greater insight than I do on this issue. I suppose you love for your authors to do this type of thing because it sells books. Thanks!

This is funny. Well, not funny ha-ha, but unusual. It’s the exact opposite of most people I talk to on a regular basis, who write a book and then want into the speaking circuit as a way to promote their book.

I’m not sure I can fully answer this question, so readers, please chime in. This is what I know. It is difficult to get into the LDS speaking circuit, particularly the BYU women’s conferences. There is an application process. You have to send a video. And it can take years. It’s easier to get in to the BYU-Idaho conference, and once there, you have a stepping stone to BYU in Provo.

Time Out for Women is one giant commercial for Deseret Book and their products. That’s not to demean it or say it isn’t useful or helpful to those that attend. From all I’ve heard, it’s a wonderful event and enjoyed by all. But you do have to have a DB book or product.

You don’t need a book to speak at youth conferences or enrichment nights. What you need are a few people to give you a start, do a fabulous job and then word will spread. It’s easiest to do this if you have a timely topic to discuss that would be of interest to these groups—literacy, last days, finances, etc.

The reason authors have an easier time breaking in to the speaking circuit is because their book sets them up as an “authority” in their subject area. It’s a credential. You can get your credentials in other ways—like through a successful blog. But you need to find someone who will get you started, and I’m not sure how to do that.

If you do decide to write, what you write depends on what you want to speak about. If you want to speak on doctrinal issues, write a doctrinal book. If you want to speak on women’s issues, write a book about that.

Readers? Are any of you popular LDS speakers? What advice do you have?

Lots of good input on my question from yesterday. I really appreciate it.

Let’s use coloring books as an example, because they’re close to what we’re looking at, although some will be more workbook style, or crosswords, or word searches or whatever. Ideally, we’d produce locked pdf files, where people can’t change anything in the file. We’d want our customer to be able to download it and print it from their computer. Also, we have no problem with a customer printing multiple copies for their own children, or for their Primary class. What we don’t want is for the Stake Primary president to buy it, then print copies for every teacher in every ward in the stake. We also don’t want individuals to buy one copy, then e-mail it to all their siblings, aunts, cousins, neighbors, etc.

Now. My personal belief is that if people want to cheat and want to “steal” copies, they’re going to find some way to do it. Even if they buy a printed book, they can always take it down to Kinko’s and print a million copies on the self-serve machines and no one is the wiser. Also, I believe that most people are honest and when you explain about copyright and what is and isn’t allowed, they will follow that. Especially if they’re LDS.

But, one of our authors is refusing to let us do it unless we can somehow make sure that their book can’t be easily stolen. They feel that because it’s so much easier to e-mail a file than it is to physically photocopy it, that they’ll lose control over their product which they’ve worked very hard to create.

Comments? Ideas? Suggestions? Thoughts? Feelings?

I’ve been answering questions on this blog for 2 1/2 years now. Can you believe that? I ought to throw a party or something. Instead, I’m throwing a question out to you and hoping upon hope that one or more of you will have an answer for me.

I’ve been a little swamped lately. Have you ever noticed that just when your job becomes do-able, and you’re feeling like you’ve hit your stride, the boss comes by and throws something at you that is so above and beyond your current skill set that suddenly you’re drowning?

That wasn’t the question. Keep reading.

We have some game/workbook type products that we’re considering but we want to make them available via electronic download, as well as the traditional printed format. So my task is to find a way to create and deliver the e-files that will allow them to be printable and retain their formatting, like a pdf file, but that can’t be e-mailed or transferred between computers. Oh, and it needs to be something that I can learn to do in-house.

Any ideas?

I’ve been told that having a sequel to a book will help boost the sales of the first book. Is this true? And if so, how much of an increase should I expect?

This is one of those areas that we can’t exactly quantify. Sometimes a sequel boosts sales of the first book, sometimes book two doesn’t even sell as much as book one. Depends.

Let’s say 100 people buy your first book. (I know, you’d rather I say 1,000,000 bought your first book, but I really don’t want to type all those zeroes.) They read it and like it and tell their friends. The friends plan to buy book one but never get around to it. After a while they forget about it and they never buy the book. End of story. End of sales.

Until the sequel comes along. Those same 100 people who bought book one, and liked it, all go buy book two. (This isn’t reality, but pretend it is.) They read it and like it and tell their friends. Some of these friends are ones they hadn’t told about book one. Some of them are the same ones they told before. Some of their new friends go buy the books, and the old friends go, “Oh, yeh. I was gonna’ get book one and I forgot.” So about half of the old friends go out and buy both book one AND book two. The other half plan to, but never do. And some of the new friends go buy both books too.

Then volume three comes out and the original 100 people who bought the books, plus fifty of their old friends, plus a handful of their new friends all go out and buy book three. They read it and like it and this time, they make fun of their friends who haven’t read it yet—old and new. Peer pressure builds and now an additional 300 people go out and buy all three books.

So. If the first book is good, then yes, sequels help add more to their sales. If the books aren’t so good, you’ll see everything in the reverse, with fewer people purchasing each new book in the series, until eventually the publisher decides it’s not worth his/her time and money.

But that would never happen to YOU because YOUR book is going to be wonderful, right?

Dear LDS Publisher:

I was referred to you by Laura Craner and wonder if you might help me promote something that I think is a worthwhile enterprise, especially in light of your site’s interest in Mormon culture. My proposal is as follows (an invitation originally posted on A Motley Vision just yesterday):

Call for Submissions

Sensing a lack of critical (as in the literary sense) approaches to Stephenie Meyer, her work, and their cultural connections in the general Twilight discourse, I’ve put together (with Laura Craner’s editing help and William Morris’ technical assistance) an online, open access literary journal in an effort to bridge that gap. It’s called Reading Until Dawn: Critical Essays on Stephenie Meyer.

Knowing that there are people out there who can bring critical insight and textually supported readings to this conversation, we’re extending an invitation for critical essays to be published in the first issue, “The Persistence of Stephenie Meyer”. Whether you consider yourself academic or amateur, you can submit as many essays as you want.

What We’re Looking For

We’re looking for well-written essays that thoughtfully explore the Twilight novels and their reception and that contribute critical dimensions to our understanding of Meyer’s work and her place in contemporary American, world, and even, since Meyer has been so open about her Mormon-ness, Latter-day Saint culture and literature. Contributors need not be LDS or be major fans (or detractors) of Meyer’s work. We’re simply looking for submissions that say something interesting about the novels.

Submissions, Issue Close Date, and Contact Info

If you’re interested in contributing (or know someone who might be), please refer to this Introduction to catch scent of our rationale and submit your essays (of between 2,500 and 5,000 words, in Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect format, and according to MLA bibliographic guidelines) according the procedures laid out here. Please include a brief bio statement to be published with your essay.

The essays for the first issue will be published as they’re accepted and the first issue will be closed on January 15, 2009.

Any questions can be directed to me (Tyler) here.

Thanks for your consideration.

Tyler

1) If you receive a submission without an SASE, will you find a way to contact an author if you are not interested in the manuscript?

2) Should authors always include an SASE?

3) Does including an SASE make you think the author doesn’t think very highly of his work?

1) Not usually. If the author gives me their e-mail address, I will reject them via e-mail. I do not make rejection phone calls. I do not send rejection letters on my own dime, unless I want to encourage the author.

2) If the publisher’s submission guidelines say to include an SASE, then include it.

3) Heck, no! It makes me think they’re willing to follow directions.

Overall, on the SASE issue, I’m all for everyone—publishers, agents, authors—to get with the 21st century and do submissions and rejections via e-mail. It saves everyone time, money and trees.

How many “copycat” submissions do you see? Have you ever seen a compelling “copycat” submission?

Do you mean plagiarized? Or simply an idea that’s hot?

I’ve never gotten a plagiarized manuscript.

I’ve gotten Harry Potter-esque submissions and Twilight-ish submissions. Sometimes they’ve been good, but not right for my company.

Generally, if a book has hit it big, the trend is over by the time the copycats start showing up.

What do you think of prologues? Epilogues?

Done well, love them. Done poorly, not so much.

Here’s my opinion in more detail.

What is the shelf life of a novel compared to a non-fiction title?

For fiction, you’re going to get most of your sales in the first year after release. It will stay on the shelf as long as it continues to sell. Average, however, is 1 to 2 years.

Non-fiction average is about 3 to 5 years.

I have noticed lately that Deseret Book, or a certain publisher if you prefer, has being raising the list price on their books dramatically, almost to the point of being overpriced. Overall, have prices of LDS books in all genres increased more this year than in the past?

Book prices are increasing because the costs of printing and delivery have increased. But it’s not just Deseret Book, or LDS books. It’s all over. Have you checked out Barnes and Noble or Borders lately? Their prices are going up too. As is the price of gas, and groceries, and . . .

DB picked up my book about a month ago. The first time I found it on the DB bestseller list 2 weeks ago, it was #137. Last weekend it was at #89 and today it was at #39. Maybe it’s just a coincidence. I’m not sure how else to track sales. Which brings me to a question: On the DB Bestseller list, do you know how many books have to sell for a book to move up 1 place, 10 places, 100 places?

Deseret Book recently made some changes to their website, making it a little more difficult to determine what place your book is in on the list. You have to hand count it. But the ranking of your book on the list still works in the same way.

The DB list tracks sales in relationship to the other books. If Book A sells two copies, and Book B only sells one copy, then Book A is first on the list and Book B is second on the list.

Go to the site and select the category your book is listed in. (Some books are listed in multiple categories.) There’s a light blue bar across the top of the list of books and on the right hand side you can tell it how to sort the books. Default is by Popularity. That’s what you want. Then count down to your book to determine what spot on the list it’s in.

There’s no way to find out exactly how many copies of your book have sold, only how it sold in relation to other books in the same category. There’s also no way to find out how many more copies those books above you on the list are selling. The difference between first place and second place could be one copy or 100 copies.

I was going to start into an explanation of the LDS book market, what’s wrong with it, how to fix it, etc. But that’s a big deal—and it’s taking some time to pull my thoughts together and get them organized. But I promise, it’s coming. Maybe even next week.

So today, I’m going to teach you how to Google yourself. Why is this important? Because it lets you know who’s talking about you. You need to know this if you’re trying to create buzz about your new book.

Every author needs to set up some Google Alerts. Once your Google Alert is set up, you will get an e-mail every time someone talks about you on the Internet. It’s easy to set up and it’s FREE. (Love that word.)

Go to the Google Alert page.

You want to set up an alert on your name and the title of your book. Let’s say you write under the name Jane Smith Doe. You’d want an alert for Jane Smith Doe, one for Jane S. Doe, and one for Jane Doe. The more common your name, the more alerts you’ll get for people that are not you, but deal with it. (And complain to your parents.)

I’d suggest you select Comprehensive as the type of alert. That way it will track websites, blogs, news, etc. I’d also suggest you select Once a Day as your frequency.

Once your alerts are created, you’ll start getting emails that list the places on the Internet where people are talking about you. Go read them. This will give you a feel for how you and your book are being perceived in the general public.

Also, if it’s a blogger who’s talking about you, leave a comment. Thank them for talking about you. Always be pleasant and polite, even if they’ve said bad things about you. This lets their readers know that you are interested and approachable and a nice person.

We had a very mild storm the other night. Just some rain and a little wind. Nothing to even blink an eye at. But something happened during the night and our Internet radio receiver went out. Our Internet fix-it guy still doesn’t know exactly what happened but we’ve been without Internet access for days now. Yesterday, he got it to the point where I could go to one webpage and download maybe two e-mails, and then it would freeze up again. When I left the office yesterday, he was still scratching his head and muttering under his breath.

But he worked some magic last night and today, we’re up and running. Yea!

I’m going to sit here and write all of next weeks posts right now and get them up and scheduled with Blogger so that come rain or shine or earthquake or whatever, you’ll still get your daily fix of LDSP—unless, of course, Blogger gets swallowed into the depths of the earth or washed out to sea.

I don’t want to stir up the hornet’s nest again (start here), but I did promise to give my opinion on Angel Falling Softly by Eugene Woodbury.

First for the issues regarding this book as LDS fiction. As I said before, Mr. Woodbury has the right to write as he wishes. Zarahemla can publish whatever they wish to publish. I’m not going to censor them. If what they write and/or publish is outside LDS interests, then the books won’t sell.

We, as readers, play a huge part in molding the future of LDS fiction. Publishing is a business, and as such, it must be profitable. When a book sells well, readers can expect similar books to be published. When a certain type of book does not sell well, you can be sure fewer and fewer of those types of books will be showing up. We cast our vote as to what is good and/or praiseworthy with our checkbooks, every time we purchase or don’t purchase a book.

I don’t think that Woodbury or Zarahemla intentionally misled readers, trying to sneak a “racy” book over on the LDS audience. They make it clear on the back cover what to expect when they say, “As the two women push against every moral boundary in order to protect their families, the price of redemption will prove higher than either of them could have possibly imagined.” The phrase “every moral boundary” seems pretty inclusive.

I do think, however, that some readers will see the Zarahemla name and assume that it won’t be “that” bad. The lesson from this is, don’t assume anything. Before buying a book, read a few reviews or talk to people who have read it. With the number of LDS bloggers who talk about books, it would be rare to find a newly published LDS fiction title that doesn’t have someone blurbing about it.

And here’s a good place to plug my other blog. I post the new books there. After you read them, go post a comment. Help your brothers and sisters out, so they’ll know what to expect.

Now, about the book itself. I wasn’t as upset about it as some readers were. Maybe that’s because I was forewarned. The idea of vampires in an LDS neighborhood didn’t upset me too much, but I didn’t think there was enough backstory and explanation to get comfortable with it, nor was there enough development of the mother’s character for us to understand how a previously faithful LDS woman could so quickly jump to vampirism as the cure for her daughter’s situation.

I thought the sex scenes, although extremely tame by national standards, were too descriptive. I didn’t like the portrayal of Job—I didn’t feel it was accurate. However, that is one character’s opinion of Job. It would have been nice to see opposing thoughts and views.

I didn’t feel that the daughter was doomed. The way Woodbury sets up how vampires are made was very interesting—it’s based on a genetic adaptation to a particular virus. For me, that takes it out of the realm of damnation and into the medical. But for this to have been really effective, I think Woodbury should have given us more.

In fact, my biggest complaint about the book is that it needed more: more backstory; more of the relationship between the sisters (there was great potential for exploring the question of how we make choices with the limitations that life gives us; this was mostly ignored); more details on the virus; more explanation of the business takeover; more depth to the mother, more struggle for her; more explanation of why it was necessary to bite the mother before biting the girl; more details on Milada’s background. If some of this had been filled in, and some of the intimate descriptions left out, I think fewer people would have had a problem with this book.

I’ve been a horrible blogger this week. I’d say I was sorry, but I’m too overwhelmed to feel anything but overwhelmedness. There have been some changes with my day-job responsibilities and as with any change, you suddenly realize that you have to adapt far more than you had expected you would. Something had to give, several somethings actually, and posting here was just one of those things that have been temporarily neglected.

I’m hoping next week will be better. I do have questions in the hopper waiting for my answers. I also haven’t forgotten that I promised commentary on the LDSBA and industry, as well as my take on Angel Falling Softly (which I have now read).

But, just in case I am still hit and miss while I get into a new work groove, I’m willing to accept guest bloggers. Send posts that have something to do with the writing and/or publishing process.

The Summer Book Trek ends on Sunday, August 31st. We have a few days to finish up what we’re reading and to post and link our final reviews. This has been fun for me and, I hope, fun for you too. I read several LDS authors during this time, but not the ones on my list. Life works out that way, sometimes.

If you’ve already finished your reading list, you can go ahead and post your wrap-up/summary post. Please consider answering these questions (especially the blue ones):

1. How many fiction books by LDS authors did you read?

2. Did you read more than you would have read if you hadn’t participated in this book trek?

3. Did the reviews posted by other participants influence which titles you read? How?

4. Did the Whitney awards influence which titles you read? How?

5. Did the many, many virtual blog tours that happened this summer influence which titles you read? How?

6. Did you finish all the books you had planned to read? If not, why?

7. Did you discover any new authors whom you now love?

8. Did you nominate any of the books you read for Whitney awards?

9. Would you be interested in another LDS themed reading challenge either this winter, or next summer?

You have until Thursday, September 4 to post your wrap-up and link it to the Mr. Linky below. The book prize posted this Friday (Aug. 29) will be awarded to a random person on that Mr. Linky list.

[And speaking of book prizes, I totally apologize for not posting a prize last Friday. I was on vacation and thought my assistant was going to do it. She was busy with family things and thought that was the one thing that I was going to do while I was gone. Since this week is half over, I don’t want to slight the sponsor who was supposed to have gone up last Friday. I’ll be posting them this Friday.]

Be sure to link to the specific post that contains your wrap-up, not to your blog home page.

CORRECT: http://ldsfiction2.blogspot.com/2008/06/summer-book-trek-2008 -wrapup.html

INCORRECT: http://ldsfiction2.blogspot.com/

LINK WRAP-UP POSTS HERE: