Mary Martin, Ph.D.

Yes, Editors Will Change Your Book

I received a hilarious e-mail from a friend whom I've been consulting during his process of writing his book and getting an agent and a publisher.

He has a great deal that includes a movie, a television series, and a bunch of money (like, hundreds of thousands of dollars), and this is is first book and he's not even a writer.

Here's the e-mail:

I received the editors edits yesterday. My book is now in a mostly unrecognizable form. What had been a low brow, puerile, jejune adventure in ******** is now a thoughtful, mature story of life passage.

I suppose this is normal, or is it?

Yes, in fact it is normal. And you can fight it if you want. You might even win a couple of battles. But the editor's job is to use your manuscript to create (recreate) the book that is the most marketable. A team of people (not including the editor, often) crafts the sometimes-new angle (or voice) of your book, and the editor's job, like the film editor's job, is to cut the product to fit the vision of the director (publisher).

Though many people would respond: How on earth can you complain about anything when you have a deal like that, imagine if there were things about your book that someone tinkered with. A lot of things. Things on every page.

I hope that someday you're in a position to even have the opportunity for such a problem.

Get Thee a Writing Partner

Nothing provides motivation to write (or revise) better than a looming deadline when your publisher has already paid you your advance.

However, for those of you whose deadlines are looming only in their minds, the resulting motivation may be, shall we say, less urgently experienced.

Accountability is of course a blessing and a curse, but when you want to get something done, if you create a system for accountability you dramatically increase the probability that you'll get it done.

Why?

Because you'll be mortified if you don't.

A writing partner who is currently writing something is ideal, as you can set goals together and your processes might be similar. I recommend weekly goals for, say, 90 days. You should speak or e-mail once a week, and report what you have done to your partner and even give them something to read and comment on (it hurts, I know). This way, you have someone to talk to about your writing and your struggles, and that someone can even give you feedback if you want it (sometimes you won't. Instead, you'll simply want a congratulations for doing what you were supposed to do.).

Not everyone is surrounded by writers, however. Or maybe the writers you know aren't people you'd feel comfortable going on a 90-day journey with. If that's the case, who in your life--whom you trust and wouldn't mind speaking with once a week--is either working on a project or hasn't started a project they've always dreamed of (i.e., their "someday" never arrived). Ask that person if he wants to get down to business and explain how you can help each other with your goals by being accountable to each other.

Create a spreadsheet with deadlines, actions to take, goals to be reached, and even your feelings during the process, for the entire 90 days (or maybe just 30 days--whatever time period works best for both of you). Make two copies: one for you and one for your partner. Once a week, talk about what you've done and how you felt. A regular set of topics will likely emerge in your conversations, which will end up being like therapy: who is supportive of your work, who resents the time you spend on it, where you get your best work done, when you get your best work done, how you feel about being accountable.

You might revise your schedule based on how things go during the first week or two. Many people find they were unrealistic when they created the schedule, not factoring in all of the vicissitudes of daily life that keep them from their plans.

Finally, remember to give yourself something wonderful upon reaching your goal. Do something fun with your partner--celebrate your accomplishments!

And then set some new goals and begin again . . .

On Bill Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors

I just finished Bill Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors, which, like his other books, is entertaining and helpful.

Reading it like a regular book (as opposed to a dictionary) isn't what I'd recommend, as if you spent hours at a time with it you could easily retain very little. What you'd come away with is: If I ever have a question about usage or spelling, I should consult Bill's book first.

With each letter (it is a dictionary, remember), you'll learn things you didn't know, clarify things you were fuzzy on, and realize some things you would've bet your net worth on are incorrect. There are also words, names and places you never heard of, and when you're finished reading at least you can say you've been introduced to them.

Here are some of my favorites:

• admit to is nearly always wrong. You admit a misdeed; you do not admit to it (5).
• aggravate. Strictly, means to make a bad situation worse. If you walk on a broken leg, you may aggravate the injury. People can never be aggravates, only circumstances (7).
• bereft. To be bereft of something is not to lack it but to be dispossessed of it, to lose it. A spinster is not bereft of a husband, but a widow is. (The word is the past participle of bereave.) (37)
• center around. Center indicates a point, and a point cannot encircle anything. Make it "center on" or "revolve around" (64).
• different. Often used unnecessarily, as in "It is found in more than 250 different types of plants." In such constructions it can nearly always be deleted without loss (96).
• effete does not mean effeminate and weak, as it is often used. It means exhausted and barren. An effete poet is not necessarily foppish, but rather someone whose creative impulses are spent (108).
• gamy. Not -ey (135).
• high jinks ( two words) is the usual spelling, though some dictionaries also accept hijinks. The derivation is unknown, but it is not related (or to be confused with) jinx as in bad luck. The word can be used as either singular or plural (159).
• if and when. Almost always unnecessary. Choose one or the other (170).
• jamb. Not jam. A doorpost or similar (183).
• lacy. Not -ey (197).
• major, as in a "major initiative," "major embarrassment," "major undertaking," and so on, remains a severely overworked words, and this brings a kind of tofu quality to much writing, giving it bulk but little additional flavor. Nearly always it is worth the effort of trying to think of a more precise or expressive term (214).
• nauseous is an adjective describing something that causes nausea ("a nauseous substance"). To feel sick is to be nauseated (237).
• originally is often needlessly inserted into sentences where it conveys no additional information, as here: "The plans were originally drawn up as long ago as 1972" (Observer) (250).
• replete is not merely full but overfull, stuffed (291).
• schadenfreude. (Ger.) Deriving pleasure from the misfortunes of others; pronounced shah-den-froy-duh (302).
• thinking to oneself, as in "I thought to myself: 'We're lost,'" is always tautological; there is no one else to whom one can think. Delete "to myself." Similarly vacuous is "in my mind" in constructions like "I could picture in my mind where the offices had been" (331).
• vocal cords. Not chords. Vocal cords are so called because of their shape and structure, not because of their tonal qualities (354).

I don't know about you, but I'm fairly good at eliminating excess verbiage when writing (because I usually edit), but when I read Bryson's book, I realize that my speech is a disaster!

On the Lack of "Fairness" in Publishing

A friend just received a $200,000 advance on a book that is about something timely and has a significant celebrity and beautiful-people component to it, and let's just say it's not what one might call serious literature (nor is it meant to be). Another friend commented on how "unfair" that was.

Here's my advice: If you think about the publishing business in terms of fairness, you'll drive yourself to fits of rage. Publishing is a business and, generally speaking, its goal is to profit from the sale of books (and rights and ancillary products, etc...). If a large mainstream publisher has a choice between signing an author with a sexy book that will appeal to enormous numbers of women (we are the ones buying most of the books), or a more artful book with a more narrow appeal, who do you think is getting a book deal?

Now, small and independent publishers often have missions that do not begin with: Make as much money and appeal to the most people as possible.

If your niche-y idea, well-written of course, is rejected by large publishers, that's probably because a large publisher isn't the right place for your book. If you want a huge publishing house to sign you, you have to offer it a huge publishing house-kind of book, including a great platform.

Do yourself a favor and eliminate the word "fair" from your vocabulary. Think instead in terms of matching your work with the right publisher and doing your part to demonstrate you have what it takes to work with that publisher.

On the Science of Calculating the Advance

A client of mine is in the wonderful position of having a bidding war on his hands. This means that his agent pitched his book to several publishers, all of whom are interested, and presumably his deal will go to the highest bidder.

What kind of advance are we talking about for a first-time author? How is it calculated?

I read a formula once but have never seen anything like it be able to explain any advance I've ever seen, so I won't print it here. I did find a great article in the New York Times from a year ago called "The Greatest Mystery: Making a Best Seller," by Shira Boss, that sums up what I've experienced over the last decade.

The advance payment to the author is often an estimate of the first year’s royalties, usually 10 percent to 15 percent of expected sales. The advance is a liability for the publisher because it is a fixed cost. It doesn’t have to be repaid by the author if it turns out to be an overestimate, which it usually is. But when earned royalties exceed the advance amount, the author is paid more.

Calculating the advance accurately would be a prized skill, but no editors claim to have a scientific handle on how a book will sell. Instead, they emphasize the role of intuition and say that while big unexpected losses and gains do happen, somehow it all works out.

But results are not spectacular, for an industry that had $34.6 billion in net revenue in 2005. Net profit margins hover in the mid-single digits for the $14 billion trade segment, which covers adult, juvenile and mass market titles, with an estimated 70 percent of titles in the red.

When it comes to advances and what might be a best seller, it's really all about being a good guesser. Several books I was not at all excited about ended up being best sellers, and the books of my favorite clients didn't do that well. I was frankly shocked that at least one best seller did so well, and doubly shocked that a certain timely book by an expert didn't do so well.

There are many variables at play, and the most anyone can do is do their best during each phase of the process and consult experts to help with the tasks that they don't have a lot of experience in. There are no guarantees, but completion of a book and getting it published is no small feat, and should be considered a significant achievement no matter what happens when the book hits the shelves.

What Are You Waiting For? Write!

I've received several e-mails (you can reach me at mary@marymartin.net) from people who know, deep down, that they are writers, but who haven't tried to write anything (for publication or otherwise), and haven't tried to get a job that involves writing.

I have nothing to say other than: What are you waiting for? Do you need permission? And if so, from whom? Is some person in your life supposed to acknowledge your writer-ness, after which time you'll find it acceptable to write? Do you feel like if your job involves writing that doesn't make you a real writer (I suffered from that one for years)? Is it that the sheer quantity of writers in the world is so intimidating that you can't possibly imagine anything good coming of you beginning to write (when there are already millions of writers)?

First, let me say that you're not writing for anyone else, unless your job is to write. And if you are actually getting paid to write, you should consider yourself lucky because for every job you do and get paid for, there are writers who would agree to do the same job without pay, just for the experience.

If you are writing for yourself, you aren't in competition with anyone else. It doesn't matter how many romance novelists there are. If what's screaming to get out of you is a romance novel, What are you waiting for? Write!

An exercise I'm fond of doing with my clients is The Excuse List. List all of the reasons you haven't begun (or finished) writing whatever it is you want to write. Then, play devil's advocate with yourself and address each of your excuses. I promise you, it will be very easy to debunk all of the myths you've created for yourself that allow you to not pursue what you say you want to pursue.

Confront all of your excuses and, next to each one, write the objection to your excuse that makes it look ludicrous (that's how it usually happens). No one else is watching. Be honest with yourself and put all of your excuses to rest, once and for all (or at least for today). Finally, ask yourself: Am I able to devote 20 minutes to writing today? No? How about 10? Whatever number you come up with, write for that period of time, today. Then tomorrow write for that period of time, as well. If you can't, ask yourself why not? Repeating The Excuse List exercise will take at least a couple of minutes. Wouldn't you rather use that time to write?

What Are You Waiting For? Write!

On the Importance of Publisher's Weekly

Publisher's Weekly (PW) has many benefits and one significant drawback--the cost. A one-year subscription to the magazine in print is $239.99, and a one-year subscription to the virtual edition is $180.00. If your business is writing, you'll get special offers that will save you some money, but no matter how you look at it, this is not an inexpensive venture.

There is a lot of great material online for no cost, however I recommend the purchasing the virtual edition (who needs to recycle another magazine, plus you save nearly $60!) because PW has so many useful features that you'll be shocked you ever lived without it.

What's so great about it, and is there anyone who won't benefit from it?

I'll deal with the second part first. There are probably people for whom it is less necessary, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that they wouldn't benefit. People who are going to write what they're going to write and don't care about what's actually going on in the industry will find it less helpful. However, even if no one can persuade you to alter your focus, give up on your idea, or make it fiction rather than memoir, you can still benefit from PW, and here's why (i.e., here's the answer to the first part) . . .

If you're a writer, publishing is your industry and it behooves you to keep abreast of its ever-changing landscape. PW tells you who is coming and going, as well as what companies are merging or going out of business. It tells you what books are coming out and who the agents are (and that could be your cue to write an agent if your book is similar to one listed). It devotes entire issues to mysteries, romance, health, and many other topics and genres. It reviews books (that's where the coveted "starred review" can be seen) and has author interviews.

Because there's so much useful information online, here's what I suggest before purchasing any kind of subscription: Spend some time on the site, and also purchase a copy of the magazine. Determine which sections are helpful to you and which aren't and whether you can get everything you need online. If you're in the business of writing, you always need to weigh how much something will cost against its advantages and disadvantages. This particular purchase, similar to a subscription to the Oxford English Dictionary, is one that requires deliberation.

Some of My Favorite Writing Books

Whether writing is a hobby, a passion or a career for you, it would behoove you to read about writing. I was recently asked to list some of my favorite books about writing, grammar, punctuation and style. Without further ado . . .

• Lapsing Into a Comma and The Elephants of Style by Bill Walsh (who has a great blog at TheSlot.com.
• The First Five Pages and A Dash of Style by Noah Lukeman.
• Woe is I by Patricia T. Conner (who has some great grammar myths here).
• On Writing Well by William Zinsser.
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.
• Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss.

The dominant theme in most of these book is that they're funny, and I like to laugh. There's a decent amount of overlap in the material, but considering repetition is the mother of mastery, the overlap can't hurt and is likely to help.

What's a Buy-Back Clause?

If you're a first time author with a decent, but not spectacular platform, you might be able to get a deal with a large publisher if you agree to a buy-back clause in your contract. What this means is that you are agreeing (as in contractually obligated) to buy back the first, say 5,000 books if they aren't sold in a certain period of time. Essentially, the publisher is saying that your track record isn't good enough for them to publish you, however, if you'll agree to paying for the first run of books (5,000 or 10,000), you can have their prestigious name on the spine of your book.

For some authors, having that name on the spine is necessary, or at least they think it is. Although self-publishing isn't exactly the same as the vanity press, it still doesn't have the same credibility as a large or mid-size publisher. But if it costs you more to have that name on the spine than it would if you self-published, and you're an entrepreneur, you probably wouldn't pursue a contract with a buy-back clause because it's not a great deal financially.

With that said, it has its benefits. First, there's that name on the spine. Next, you don't have to do anything but write the book, try your best to sell it, and then write a check for the remainder of the buy-back quantity. (And you'll also need space to store all those books.) Finally, you don't have to worry about getting your book into bookstores, and you don't have to worry about reprinting it just to get it onto Amazon.com.

If starting a publishing company, getting your ISBNs, finding a layout person, a cover designer, an indexer, a proofreader and a distributor sound like more than you can handle, and you can get a publisher to sign you with a buy-back clause, it might be worth it for you. This isn't one of those issues that's always good or bad. You have to weigh the benefits for your unique situation, crunch the numbers, and decide whether it's worth it for you to accept (or pursue) this type of deal.

On Style Guides

If your job is to write or edit, chances are you have been given a style guide to help you make important decisions such as which words should be capitalized in a title or headline.

Or whether to hyphenate if you're writing in industry that could easily be overrun by hyphens, such as the financial services industry (or financial-services industry, wherein you'll find estate-planning attorney or estate planning attorney and wealth-management specialist or wealth management specialist).

Or how to punctuate and capitalize the information in bullets.

If you're ever unsure about, for instance, whether you should put a period after the information in a bullet point, here's a tip: Ask if there's a style guide for your work. All publications either follow a style guide or have one of their own (e.g., the New York Times Manual of Style is for the obvious, while most other journalists will follow the Associated Press' Stylebook). Depending on the field, you may have be governed by the Chicago Manual of Style, the APA (American Psychological Association, and it's not just for psychologists) style, or the MLA (Modern Language Association).

If you're writing for yourself, hoping to be published someday, write in the style of the field and genre that you'll soon be a part of. If you're writing for someone, let's say a small company, who doesn't have a stylebook, you should at least always be consistent when it comes to style. Make sure all of your bullets have the same format, punctuation and capitalization. If you use hyphens, make sure you use them in the same way throughout the document.

And if you want to try to make a couple extra bucks (I've done this, by the way), ask your client/employer if you can (for a fee, of course) create a style guide to prevent future streams of questions by allegedly nitpicking writers and editors.