All about Genre

Most new book authors know whether they are writing nonfiction or fiction. But within these two broad categories are many genres. Nonfiction, for example, includes such genres as biography, how-to, memoir, self-help, and travel--to name just a few. Fiction includes fantasy, horror, mystery, romance, thriller, and sci-fi. To complicate things further, each of these genres has numerous subgenres.

Sometimes, therefore, authors have trouble identifying their particular genre. If you are working on a book and are not sure where it fits, check out this introductory guide to book genres...

Writing Conference Registration Open

Registration recently opened for the next Surrey International Writers' Conference. If you live in, or plan to visit, the area of Vancouver, BC, Canada, then now is the time to sign up for the conference, which will take place October 19-21, 2012, in Surrey, BC, Canada. Early registration is crucial if you want to be assured of getting your choice of face-to-face meetings with agents and/or acquiring editors. For details, go to: http://www.siwc.ca/

All around North America, summer and autumn are the seasons when most writers' conferences are held. Their offerings vary, but the best of them provide workshops for writers, editing and writing cafes, networking opportunities, and one-on-one pitch meetings with publishing industry professionals. To find out about times and locations, go to: Shaw Guide to Writers Conferences & Workshops

Amazon.com

Just updated my author page at Amazon. Stay tuned for further updates...

All book authors, FYI: Amazon's Author Central is exceptionally user friendly. If you are a book author and have not joined Author Central, I recommend that you do so. You can add videos and photos, and update your book cover image(s).

Self-Publishing & Vanity Repackaged

Self-publishing is the name of the game these days, and there are many options. The best-known services are the print-on-demand (POD) publishers, to which you, the author, pay a fee that will typically include basic production, the ISBN number, and placement on some online bookselling sites, such as Amazon and the publisher's own bookstore. This is a start but, in many cases, you will have to pay extra, either to the service or to a third party, for the additional marketing and distribution necessary to generate significant sales.

For an excellent introduction to the various kind of self-publishing alternatives, check out the information on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) website: http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/pod/

I also offer a briefer overview in my updated information article "Self-Publishing—New Options for Writers."

I always advise my clients to adopt a buyer-beware approach to all kinds of self-publishing services. But, above all, avoid the old-fashioned vanity presses that have repackaged themselves as POD services. In the old days, such outfits would charge a huge fee—often in the range of  $15,000 to $20,000—to produce several hundred copies of books that would typically end up gathering dust in the author's basement. This was bad enough, but now some of these outfits are offering POD services that include a "complimentary" set of 25 or so books—for the same outlandish cost that once got you 10 or more times the number of books.

Typically, these vanity publishers offer little or nothing in the way of marketing and distribution. While this may also be true of the newer POD services, the crucial difference to note is that many of the latter services are only charging a fraction of what the vanity publishers insist is a fair fee. Why pay $15,000 when you can get comparable services for $1500?

For more cautionary information about vanity publishers, see this SFWA article:
http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/vanity/

New Online Archive

I have recently started an online archive of selected news items from  Helping You Get Published.com quarterly updates. Items selected may have ongoing interest for clients and visitors to the website. Check out the new archive...

Included items date back to the spring 2010 launch of the re-designed version of Helping You Get Published. Earlier items, from 1999-2009, are available to clients on request.

Is Email Killing Your Chances of Getting Published?

Email Writing Syndrome (EWS) is the latest debilitating side-effect of the email overload in our home and working lives. A delusional condition of varying severity, EWS causes susceptible writers to confuse the style of email messages with actual writing...

Anyone who writes anything for any kind of serious purpose should read this article: "Email Writing Syndrome: Are You at Risk?"