http://www.reddit.com/#faq
The Huffington Post
The Los Angeles Times
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Learn More About SOPA and PIPA Today!
You may notice that many websites are going off-line today...take some time to learn the facts regarding the two bills in questions :Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act. Below are some sites to visit with more information:
http://www.reddit.com/#faq
The Huffington Post
The Los Angeles Times
http://www.reddit.com/#faq
The Huffington Post
The Los Angeles Times
Monday, January 16, 2012
Reason #69 Your Book was REJECTED!
As I was perusing mentor M's book of mistakes, while thinking about book benefits, I came across Reason #69: Your Book Costs Too Much to Make and I immediately thought, oops! I must remember to take this into consideration. As mentor M points out, we can get ourselves rejected by forgetting that benefits cost money! Think, for instance, about a glow-in-the-dark pop-up book that (after your child finishes reading it) can be turned into a small paper town by simply extracting all the pop-outs and fitting them together (tab A into slot B style). That fantastic book, though totally possible to make, would cost a fortune and so...REJECTION!
So what kind of benefits are rather costly for the average book...well, here are a few...
* full color printing
* permission fees for song lyrics
* maps
* permission fees for reprints of artwork
* large excerpts from other authors
* creative formatting or binding
And let's not forget E-books...
* adding pictures
* adding any graphic
* adding music
So let's just remember, folks buy books for what they say. And lots of book benefits (like anecdotes and humor) are free!
* full color printing
* permission fees for song lyrics
* maps
* permission fees for reprints of artwork
* large excerpts from other authors
* creative formatting or binding
And let's not forget E-books...
* adding pictures
* adding any graphic
* adding music
So let's just remember, folks buy books for what they say. And lots of book benefits (like anecdotes and humor) are free!
Friday, January 13, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
My Book Benefits
Being sick with a cold gives you a lot of time to sit in bed and think...about book benefits. So remembering that a feature is something your book has and a benefit is something your book does, what are my book's benefits? What are my features?
*Bennies for...
- Open the reader’s eyes to the numerous scriptures that reveal the Holy Spirit as woman.
- Equip readers with simple scriptural arguments to help them explain the femininity of the Holy Spirit to others.
- Encourage readers (regardless of their faith or spiritual orientation) to truly honor women.
- Explain why Bible translators continually choose the pronoun “he” when referring to the Spirit of God.
- Provide practical advice and spiritual experience to help others develop a relationship with the Holy Spirit.
- Help women to see themselves as God’s true children, made in God's image, loved, honored and highly respected by God.
- Introduce Christians to their mother--confirming that God truly is a family.
* special features
- Beautiful illustrations of different images of the Holy Spirit are included at the beginning of each chapter.
- Quotes from spiritual leaders, saints and authors are included throughout.
- Personal anecdotes regarding my own spiritual experience with the Holy Spirit are interspersed throughout.
- Sub-headings and chapter summaries are used.
- An introduction by ? is included (hmmmmm, have to work on this one).
- A link to a blog is included to discuss the book.
As I worked on this section I learned something important--that I had violated Rule No.10 Your Book Tries to Do Too Much
Mentor M tells us "One book one message." As I looked over my benefits (in my first draft) I realized I had actually written two books: one that listed the biblical evidence and one that explained why this information had been lost to the Christian church and why it's important for the information to come out now. I had crammed every possible thought and reference into the book and the book was now a bloated 400 pages. Needless to say, I now have some editing to do on the book, and everything that does not include "biblical evidence" will be cut. After all, as mentor M says: "If you're writing a manuscript and you find yourself drawn toward a deeper exploration of a subtopic or side plot, it should set off a red flag in your critical evaluation of your own work."
*Bennies for...
The MotherHeart of God: Biblical Evidence for the Femininity of the Holy Spirit
- Open the reader’s eyes to the numerous scriptures that reveal the Holy Spirit as woman.
- Equip readers with simple scriptural arguments to help them explain the femininity of the Holy Spirit to others.
- Encourage readers (regardless of their faith or spiritual orientation) to truly honor women.
- Explain why Bible translators continually choose the pronoun “he” when referring to the Spirit of God.
- Provide practical advice and spiritual experience to help others develop a relationship with the Holy Spirit.
- Help women to see themselves as God’s true children, made in God's image, loved, honored and highly respected by God.
- Introduce Christians to their mother--confirming that God truly is a family.
* special features
- Beautiful illustrations of different images of the Holy Spirit are included at the beginning of each chapter.
- Quotes from spiritual leaders, saints and authors are included throughout.
- Personal anecdotes regarding my own spiritual experience with the Holy Spirit are interspersed throughout.
- Sub-headings and chapter summaries are used.
- An introduction by ? is included (hmmmmm, have to work on this one).
- A link to a blog is included to discuss the book.
As I worked on this section I learned something important--that I had violated Rule No.10 Your Book Tries to Do Too Much
Mentor M tells us "One book one message." As I looked over my benefits (in my first draft) I realized I had actually written two books: one that listed the biblical evidence and one that explained why this information had been lost to the Christian church and why it's important for the information to come out now. I had crammed every possible thought and reference into the book and the book was now a bloated 400 pages. Needless to say, I now have some editing to do on the book, and everything that does not include "biblical evidence" will be cut. After all, as mentor M says: "If you're writing a manuscript and you find yourself drawn toward a deeper exploration of a subtopic or side plot, it should set off a red flag in your critical evaluation of your own work."
Friday, January 6, 2012
Book Benefits...and also features
We've covered the world of not-so-boring word count and also the world of laser-precision audience and now we are on to book benefits (sounds sooo exciting!)
Now if you're writing fiction this proposal point won't challenge you much because...well, the benefits of fiction are usually similar depending on what genre you're writing. For instance, the benefit for a romance book better not be "This romance will make you think hard about where you invest your money!" And the benefit for a horror definitely shouldn't help us, "understand the complexities of overseas adoption." Fiction better entertain me, or scare me or make me fall in love before it teaches me anything, but then again if through the experience of entertaining me a book doesn't teach me something...anything--then we call that a romance! (Ha, ha, that's a joke...smiley face).
But seriously, what is a benefit? Our mentor M tells us, "Make your book more salable by showing how it will help your readers." And our other mentor, M, warns that if we don't pay attention we could get rejected because of Reason # 34 - You Don't Understand the Difference Between Features and Benefits!
So, for the record (and so we don't upset any agents) a feature is different from a bennie. (Which I never knew...in fact, the notion of having a "feature" section in my proposal never once came to my mind). So what is a feature? It's something your book has -- something you've added to the whole book like adding a good large dose of wonderful-tasting purple garlic to a stew (which, by the way, is also a benefit because garlic is good for lowering cholesterol). So there you have it: a feature is something your book has and a benefit is something your book does.
Your features may include (remember both non-fiction and fiction books have features):
-pictures
-humor
-cartoons
- anecdotes
-chapter summaries
-interesting headings
-sidebars
-reflective quotations
-exploratory questions
-links
-a blog readers can follow
-checklists
-appendices
-footnotes
-glossary
-index
-a romance (romance is the biggest selling genre...so if you can work one in, then yippee!)
-a sequel!
Benefits are a little different, and our mentor M tells us to put them into four categories:
1. Personal (this book will make you feel...blah, blah, blah)
2. Social (this book will help you get friends or keep friends or dump friends...in a nice way)
3. Proffesional (this book will help your profession)
4. Nobel (this book will change the world!)
Now if you're writing fiction this proposal point won't challenge you much because...well, the benefits of fiction are usually similar depending on what genre you're writing. For instance, the benefit for a romance book better not be "This romance will make you think hard about where you invest your money!" And the benefit for a horror definitely shouldn't help us, "understand the complexities of overseas adoption." Fiction better entertain me, or scare me or make me fall in love before it teaches me anything, but then again if through the experience of entertaining me a book doesn't teach me something...anything--then we call that a romance! (Ha, ha, that's a joke...smiley face).
But seriously, what is a benefit? Our mentor M tells us, "Make your book more salable by showing how it will help your readers." And our other mentor, M, warns that if we don't pay attention we could get rejected because of Reason # 34 - You Don't Understand the Difference Between Features and Benefits!
So, for the record (and so we don't upset any agents) a feature is different from a bennie. (Which I never knew...in fact, the notion of having a "feature" section in my proposal never once came to my mind). So what is a feature? It's something your book has -- something you've added to the whole book like adding a good large dose of wonderful-tasting purple garlic to a stew (which, by the way, is also a benefit because garlic is good for lowering cholesterol). So there you have it: a feature is something your book has and a benefit is something your book does.
Your features may include (remember both non-fiction and fiction books have features):
-pictures
-humor
-cartoons
- anecdotes
-chapter summaries
-interesting headings
-sidebars
-reflective quotations
-exploratory questions
-links
-a blog readers can follow
-checklists
-appendices
-footnotes
-glossary
-index
-a romance (romance is the biggest selling genre...so if you can work one in, then yippee!)
-a sequel!
Benefits are a little different, and our mentor M tells us to put them into four categories:
1. Personal (this book will make you feel...blah, blah, blah)
2. Social (this book will help you get friends or keep friends or dump friends...in a nice way)
3. Proffesional (this book will help your profession)
4. Nobel (this book will change the world!)
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Congrats to Winner!
Lori Verni-Fogarsi is this month's winner. She is taking home the big book of agents!
Check out her website and her new book Momnesia.
Check out her website and her new book Momnesia.
Monday, January 2, 2012
2011 Recap
Great 2011 recap about the changes and the ups and downs in the publishing industry at David's blog
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