Kimberly Dawn Wells's Blog
Posted by Kimberly Dawn Wells
Many aspiring writers are looking for a sure thing. They want to make sure that if they start they will become wildly successful. With several years, and thousands of hours of work, just about anyone who really wants to be a writer can become successful. But these writers aren't in to years of work and 15 publishing credits before they make the New York Times Bestseller list. Nope, they're looking for a sure thing. So they ask the question, "Would you buy this book?"
Would I buy a book about a pig and a spider? If it's Charlotte's Web, sure. If it were anything else? Probably not.
Would I buy a book about rock climbing or boxing? If I were interested in rock climbing or boxing, which I am. If I weren't interested in rock climbing or boxing, probably not.
Would I buy a book about a teenage boy wizard? Probably not. But that didn't prevent millions of other people from buying the Harry Potter series and shooting JK Rowling into fame and fortune.
None of these ideas for books is any better than the others. Ideas, more or less, are dead. Nearly every idea has been done in one way or another. The execution, however, the method for which it is done, changes every day.
To ask "would you buy this book" before writing it is like asking "would you like this person" before meeting them. There's no way of telling if the book might catch our interest. You can have a great plot, write a great teaser, and photograph a fabulous book cover. But if the writing is dry, boring, full of mistakes, or hard to understand, you've just ruined the whole thing.
Asking "would you buy this book?" is, frankly, pointless. No one can really give you a helpful answer that will mean anything in the end. It is, however, guaranteed to set you up for some major disappointments if you don't like the answers you receive, or the results you get later on.
Posted by Kimberly Dawn Wells
After asking for articles relating to a website for which I am the newsletter editor, I received a flood of submissions all right. Unfortunately, they weren't exactly what I was looking for.
One gentleman told me he was working on an article about the changing political and governmental structure of his home country. He would send it to me when he was done. Another woman sent me an article on a marketing technique. There was no introduction, no contact information, and it was in no way related to the service I write about. When I asked why she was sending it, she simply replied, "Aren't you looking for articles?" Neither of these was related to the topic at hand and won't help me satisfy the 40,000 finicky readers I speak to each week.
There are five main reason I rejected 27 various article submissions I received so far this month.
- has nothing to do with the topic
- didn't follow formatting or length rules
- doesn't include proper contact information
- errors, errors, errors, errors, errors
- has nothing to do with the topic
Seeing a theme here? The problem is, I never know exactly how to ask people, "Why are you sending me this?" in a way that won't offend them. The other problem is that it's only my snippety nature that wants to ask them why they're sending it. To me it's obvious that it isn't what I want. It isn't obvious why after asking them to read my guidelines for submission they still thought it appropriate to send it.
Whenever you submit an article, be prepared to answer, "Why are you sending this to me?" If an editor asks and you can't give a good answer, rethink sending it off in the first place.
Posted by Kimberly Dawn Wells
I don't remember how I ended up at Answers.Yahoo.com, but I do remember thinking how it would be a great way to share my knowledge and push traffic to my articles. After spending two and a half hours answering questions, I realized it could be a lot more.
Writers and wannabes swarm to forums and resource sites to soak up every bit of information possible. It's normal to get requests for information here. After all, isn't that the point? But finding aspiring authors at a less niche site is quite a different story, and quite a lesson in human ignorance.
Of course, I mean 'ignorance' in the best possible sense. I, for example, am ignorant about rock climbing. I can repel off the side of a cliff for a rescue operation but don't know the first thing about getting back up there on my own. So learning what absolute newbies have to ask about book publishing and writing was a true lesson for me.
There seems to be a disconnect between what happens in the writing and publishing industry and what other people think happens. Movies and extraordinary success stories seem to have created a fairy tale image that authors write a book, schmooze with editors at fancy cocktail parties, and receive excited 4 am phone calls about how their book was so great, the editor couldn't put it down, can you come in at 9 to sign a multi-million dollar contract?
Unfortunately, overnight success doesn't happen overnight. Just ask Jodi Picoult. Her overnight success took nearly fifteen years to create. Imagine yourself having to wait fifteen years and fifteen books to achieve the recognition and appreciation Jodi has. Are you willing to stick it out? I'm sure glad she did, and I bet she is too.
Visit me at Answers.com to find out what kind of advice I'm sharing with others. Feel free to ask your own question. You might just find it answered here, as a full length article.
Posted by Kimberly Dawn Wells
The internet has opened the door for six billion people to share ideas between each other. The increase in knowledge and technology has grown at an astounding rate in the last 10 years, and it nearly frightens me to think of what we might have access to ten years from now.
While most of us benefit from this most of the time, there are pitfalls that come from the chance to get advice from anyone, anywhere, at any time. Years ago, it took expert status to publish a book, get on a talk show, or write newspaper columns on your topic of choice. Today, anyone with an opinion can mass produce their ideas, good or bad, true or false.
An industry as complex and confusing as that of book publishing is a prime example of a chance to be misled, misinformed, and disappointed.
Take self-publishing for instance. I recently read a long rant about how bad it is. "It's lazy, unprofessional, and won't get you any sales." True. You can get into self-publishing and end up with a poorly formatted book that is full of mistakes and was poorly promoted. However, that isn't the fault of the self-publishing system, which is simply a combination of a la carte services for authors of any caliber. Rather, it is the poor planning on the part of the writers who failed to edit their work properly, define their marketing plan appropriately, and seek the advice of others when desperately need.
Or social networking sites. I recently replied to a blog post written by a student who's teacher had demanded each student in his class take down their MySpace and FaceBook pages or risk getting in trouble. The idea was that everything you put on the internet is available for everyone to see, and you don't want to create that image. True. If you post crude images and sloppy language, you've sealed your reputation. But what if you posted pictures of you writing, speaking, and signing books? What if your friends were a network of readers? What if you posted excepts and event dates and tips for authors? What kind of reputation would you get from that?
Most of the resources you find as a writer will not be inherently bad. There are always the bad contracts, poorly run businesses, and scams, but most of the time the positive or negative value lies in how you use it. Learn how to use tools to their greatest capacity and how to protect yourself legally. Don't take all the advice of just one or two people, including myself. Do your research and test the waters on your own. Take responsibility for your projects and don't believe everything you hear about how easy or how impossible it is. Getting your book published IS possible. Becoming a better writer IS possible. Anything you want in the publishing industry IS possible, as long as you are willing to give it the time, commitment, and respect it deserves.
Posted by Kimberly Dawn Wells
The entry was due months ago and I still have months to wait for the results. It isn't the first writing contest I've entered but it's an entry I'm very proud of. I can't stand the wait, so I decide to read through my entry one more time.
Everything is perfect. The descriptions are spot on, the flow is right, and the readers have no reason to suspect the sneaky surprise ending I'm about to hit them with. But as I get to the end of the story, something is amiss. I read it again. Oh, bugger. Have I made a mistake?
Not a spelling mistake, mind you, but an error of clarity. The story is about a woman, which you can tell since her first name is used throughout, and in the end of the story someone refers to her using her last name. But alas, I have forgotten the detail that puts the two together. Will the readers notice? Will they know who the person is referring to? At that part of the story, only two characters are chatting, and the main character obviously responds. Bugger.
When I first wrote the story I thought it was due in December. Then I found out it wasn't due until February so I let it sit. Just before the deadline, it went through several re-writes until I achieved my final product. While I did send it through spell check and read it out loud to find spelling and grammatical errors, I didn't let it sit enough to forget it.
I'm confident this little slip won't cost me the contest. If I don't do well it will be for another reason. But it is a huge lesson to me to practice more of what I preach by letting my work stew for a while before editing it one last time. It may not be so important this time, but it could cost me on my next assignment.
