Yesterday I was out of town and unable to blog because I got home very late. Today, I’m continuing with short answers to the “easy questions” you all have submitted over the last few days. I’m holding the “hard questions” for later.
Rebecca wrote:
One thing I continue to struggle with is balancing the POVs in my novels (both in number of POVs and the weight allotted to each). I’ve read of various formulas to follow, but I’m afraid that in reality it parallels the writer’s ‘voice’… which I’m still developing. Does it? How many POVs is too many?
Randy sez: You can do as many or as few as you like. A lot of novels have only one POV character. THE GODFATHER seemingly had about 50. (Probably not that many, but it felt like it.) Whatever works works.
Marcus wrote:
Is there anything you (or your agent) can do to help guarantee placement of your book in a bookstore? Of the 17 or so commercially published books I’ve been a part of, I’ve only ever seen two or three that have actually made their way onto shelves.
Randy sez: There are no guarantees in publishing. Bookstores make their decisions based on what they think will sell. Self-published books are very hard to place in bookstores. Books by royalty-paying publishers will generally end up in stores that work with those publishers and not in others. For example, a book published by a Christian publisher is very likely to be stocked by Christian bookstores, but less likely to be stocked in a Barnes & Noble. A book on Eastern meditation is very unlikely to wind up in a Christian bookstore, but it has a fair chance of being in Barnes & Noble, and quite a good chance of being in a store with a mystical slant.
Bonne wrote:
If you are working on public speaking and are willing to help promote your book in other ways, at what point in the proposal do you mention this to a publisher or editor?
Randy sez: Mention it in the Marketing Plan in your proposal. In your bio, mention your experience in public speaking or other promotional methods that you have experience in.
Destiny wrote:
And another question that is not related to “Best Practices” and one that doesn’t HAVE to be answered: What’s your take on the NaNoWriMo?
Randy sez: NaNoWriMo is GREAT! Use it as a motivator to get you writing on a large scale. Don’t worry about how “good” the novel is. Just focus on getting your wordcount up. As most of my readers know, November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and there’s a site at www.NaNoWriMo.com dedicated to encouraging people to write that novel in November.
Daan wrote:
Is it okay to begin a second scene with another POV character directly after the disaster ending the first scene and after the second scene proceed with the sequel to the first scene?
Randy sez: Yes.
Mary wrote:
I have a question that I hope someone has an answer to. What doors are open to the disabled writer. My disability has kept me chair-bound for four years. I had spent the time improving my craft and have a short story coming out in an anthology soon. I don’t have the ability to go to conferences and meet agents and publishers. I have finished two science fiction/fantasy novels for young adults, and am currently working on book 1 of an adult sci-fi trilogy.
As my health allows, I research publishing houses until I find one that sounds like it prints what I write. Then I send my manuscript. To this point my health has only permitted me to submit by e-mail.
I know I will need to have an agent in the long run because of my poor health. I have started two new treatments that promise to increase my energy so I can start submitting to agents. But from what I read, agents don’t usually like unsolicited manuscripts from unknowns any more than publishers do.
Randy sez: It certainly helps to make personal contact with an editor or agent at a writing conference. However, most agents are open to unsolicited queries or proposals. You should check their web site to see which they want–a query or a proposal. Then just follow the directions. It would make sense to insert a note with the query/proposal saying that you would love to meet them at a conference, but you have a disability that prevents you from traveling.
Remember that good writing trumps everything. It always has. It always will.
Randy, thank you very much for that confirmation.
Hiya, and thanks for the feedback. I’m pretty sure my struggles are related to my maturing “voice”, since it’s becoming easier for me to figure out which POV the next scene should be in as I log more writing time/experience. I’ve just recently come off of revising a novel from 4 to 2.5 (*smile*) POVs, since the v1 felt too cluttered. So I’m a little gun-shy about adding more. Thanks again!
NaNoWriMo rocks! I am quoted several times in Chris Baty’s book, NO PLOT, NO PROBLEM (he founded NaNoWriMo). NaNoWriMo has given me great lessons in sticking-your-butt-in-the-seat-and-writing-no-matter-whether-you’re-inspired-or-not!
I think this is my fifth year. I have “won” every year. It’s a blast and I highly recommend the experience. I hope to do the screen writing one in the future but had to pass this year.
In this season of my life it gives me great practice and some material to use later when my kids are older and more able to do without Mom. It helps me feel like I’m at least making some baby steps toward my dream.
You have to do it “seat of your pants” if you haven’t worked on an outline ahead of time. I’ve done it both ways. You definitely can’t be picky and be editing all the time because word count is more important in this exercise. However, I do a little editing anyway and it seems to add to my word count that way, too, as long as I don’t get obsessed with it. Sure, the first draft is crappy — but again — it’s something to work on later.
I would love to be “buddies” with other Randy Ingermanson students. Feel free to e-mail me if you’re doing NaNoWriMo so I can add you to my buddy list on the site!
Regarding Mary’s comment. From what I understand,it is very attractive to agents and publishers to present a high virtual profile as a means of promoting your work. All investors want to know how marketable you are. Though conventions are great PR, the web covers the globe.
If you can tell these people you have a website, a blog, you are a member of many groups/organizatios online and/or off… If you present them with a marketing strategy (blog tours to promote your book, hi profile interview sites, etc) your disability becomes less of a hinderance(if it was one before).
In fact, I know of one new writer (Jaimeson Wolf)who among many, many other things started up a blog about about what it was like to have a disabilty. That blog was almost immediately picked up by a publisher and is scheduled to be released as a book.
There are also many online conventions which you can attend and further your career. The annual FREE MuseOnlineConvention just ended a week ago. I almost unwittingly sold a book at one of the classes last year, and pitched a couple more at this one (one of which is now a solicited submittal).
We live in wonderous times, Mary. Never count yourself out–make lemonade. (smile)
Hope this helps or gives you some ideas.
Karla, I/we need your email. camilleeide at verizon.net
(sorry Randy & blogfolk, no other way to get it)
Yes! Nanowrimo! I LOVE it, and look forward to November every year. I’ve “won” three times and I look forward to completing again this year. It really is fun, and it forces you to write whether you feel like it or not. Also, I’ve learned a lot about myself from it. I’m a very pro-outline kind of gal, but for all my Nanowrimo’s I’ve just started at the beginning (with no clue where I was going)and you know what? All three of my winners were pretty decent stories. I even managed to get all the loose ends tied up at the end. It taught me that I don’t HAVE to depend on an outline. *Although I still prefer to use one…lol*
Yes! Nanowrimo! I LOVE it, and look forward to November every year. I’ve “won” three times and I look forward to completing again this year. It really is fun, and it forces you to write whether you feel like it or not. Also, I’ve learned a lot about myself from it. I’m a very pro-outline kind of gal, but for all my Nanowrimo’s I’ve just started at the beginning (with no clue where I was going)and you know what? All three of my winners were pretty decent stories. I even managed to get all the loose ends tied up at the end. It taught me that I don’t HAVE to depend on an outline. *Although I still prefer to use one…lol*
I recently got my novel published with a smallish publisher. And I was wondering how do you go about promoting your book with local book stores. Do you just approach the manager? or how does it work? And do you have any other tips for promoting a book?