Bookcraft 2.0 Archives - Successful Blog

Bookcraft 2.0: 12 Cold Truths about Publishing and The 2 Proofs Every Publisher Wants

January 31, 2007 by Liz

Write a Book, Then Build a House?

It’s a typical conversation. I’ve had it with many authors. They work really hard on a manuscript only to find out that it doesn’t work as a book. The conversation goes something like this:

AUTHOR: [confused, frustrated] I don’t understand why this doesn’t work. I’m an intelligent person. I should be able to do this. Why am I so stupid about this?

ME: First, stop the self-torture. I’m better at it than you are. Your intelligence shows everywhere. You’ve just never done this before.

AUTHOR: [disappointed] But I read. I’ve written two dissertations. I’ve managed policy documents for entire organizations.

ME: Yep. That experience helps, for sure. But think about this. I’ve lived in a house. I wear shoes, drive a car, and have 1.5 million miles on airplanes. I can’t build any of them.

AUTHOR: [cheerfully sardonic] And your point is?

That is the moment at which I get their attention.

12 Cold Truths about Publishing

I understand an author’s feelings of confusion, disappointment, and frustration. Something about using books all of our lives, gives us an intimate relationship with them. Well, we think the relationship is with the book, but really it’s with the content. That’s where the misconceptions start. Here are some cold truths publishers wish every author realized.

“Great” content doesn’t mean much, if no one reads it. Great content has to be written and presented well. Then it has to sell.

The value of a book is not in the idea. The value is in the execution.

If an author doesn’t care enough to prepare a manuscript according to industry standards, a publisher has no reason to think the author would care more after work has really started.

The content has to fit into a book-size container that can be efficiently manufactured. Manuscript that won’t do this doesn’t stand a chance of getting read.

Published books are more rigorously organized and more literally consistent than most self-published documents produced for a small, homogenous group.

Anyone who knows you has no credibility as a critic.

Placing a book with a publisher is a business deal in which the book is the product/work.

A book manuscript should be offered to a publisher that is already selling books to the manuscript’s target market.

Design and editorial choices are made to serve a national or international market. Editors and designers are paid to make such choices.

People do judge a book by its cover. A great cover and design will sell the first book faster than the most compelling content. Fine writing and solid content gets the repeat sales, evangelists, and loyal fans.

Don’t leave messages for a publisher who doesn’t know you. Don’t send registered packages. Don’t think a FedEx will impress. All of these are 3-D world spam.

Publishers dream about authors who do their homework, know the competition for their idea, and come to the process ready to join a working relationship.

Publishing is a business.

The 2 Proofs Every Publisher Wants

So what does it take to get published?
You can overcome these cold truths with two proofs.

Prove that you can write a professional manuscript readers will want to buy.

Prove that you’re an author, who is a pleasure to work with and brings value to the process.

Want to get published? Are you willing to prove it?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
If you’d like Liz to help you make a plan to meet your goals, click on the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Bookcraft 2.0: Writer, Book Editor, Copyeditor — What Do They Do?

December 14, 2006 by Liz

Who Does What?

Phil and I have moved into Section Two of the four sections of his book. Are you surprised to notice that I’ve not talked about sentence structure or commas? . . . . When I was a publisher, I used to tell my boss:

You have to build the book, before you can see the commas.

Beginning of the Writing Process (courtesy of Voyages In English 2006)

This diagram shows the part of the writing process that Phil and I are currently working on.

This post is a closer look at what we’re actually doing — what his role is as the writer and what my role is as the book editor.

The Writer

The writer, that’s Phil, crafts the message. In this case that’s his blog posts.

The writer’s job is to choose words with precision and arrange them carefully. His purpose is to convey meaning. He does this by prewriting, drafting, and writing/revising. The writer is on the outgoing side of the message. In this process, Phil’s blog posts are the draft in the diagram.

The Book and Content Editor

The editor’s job is to challenge the writing. All editors are on the incoming side of the message. We remove ambiguities, errors, and barriers. An editor ensures that the meaning the writer intends is the meaning that reader receives. Editors look and listen for the audience and then tell the writer the truth about what they see and hear.

That’s why and how great writers and editors form lasting partnerships. The relationship is balanced and symbiotic.

As the book editor, my job is to help structure and challenge the writing to ensure that every idea and detail belongs in the book. As the content editor, my job is to challenge the writing, looking for problems in the expression of ideas — logic, clarity, and cohesion. I think about questions like these.

Is the focus clear? Is the message sound? Does the structure make sense for the premise? Does every part meet the standards?
Is the structure natural to the topic? Is the navigation seamless and not in the way of the message?
Is the voice confident and consistent? Does it sound like Phil’s voice? Is the tone authentic and appropriate for the audience?
Do the words make sense, with a consistency? Will the reader hear what Phil is saying without a chance of misunderstanding? Does the word choice fit the premise and the way the audience listens?
When I turn the page, is what comes next, what the reader expects?

As I answer each question for myself, I share my answers with Phil. Every week we talk. Phil uses our conversation and specific edits to do his writing revisions. He adds new content where he agrees it is needed to make the pages fit together and flow. He wants the message in the book to work for readers.

The Copyeditor

When we’re finished with all of the pages, we’ll hand them over to a copyedtior. Then the focus moves from “what” the writer is saying to “how” and “how well” the message is said.

Though copyeditors still care about sense and logic, their irreplaceable contribution lies in their work to achieve linguistic perfection. Copyeditors check for grammar, usage, mechanics, syntax and semantics. In some scenarios, proofreaders follow to check spelling and punctuation. They also check to ensure that no new errors have been introduced during the editing process. In other scenarios, copyeditors do these roles too.

Phil and I have three more sections to get through the diagram. But keep watching, we might be doing a few things with Section One while we’re working on those. . . .

–ME “Liz” Strauss
If you’d like Liz to help you find or make a book from your archives, click on the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Bookcraft 2.0: Why Consistency Makes Authors Look More Intelligent

November 27, 2006 by Liz

This week Phil and I reached a benchmark. We finished the first edit on the first of four parts of his book. This first section will serve as the prototype for the rest of the book. As the prototype section, we used it to test our ideas for how the book would work. Could the vision we talked about be a reality when we tried it out across a complete section of posts from Phil’s blog?

As we moved through the section, we were to careful keep to these standards.

The content and structure work together.
If one isn’t working, don’t force a fit. If the structure works for all but one page, that page doesn’t belong. If many pages don’t fit, the structure needs to be refit.
Consistency is a value, a benchmark of quality, and a support for readers. It also makes authors look smart.

That’s right. Consistency makes us look more intelligent.
In fact,

It’s better to be consistently wrong than inconsistently right.

Why Being Consistently Wrong Is better than Inconsistently Right

When we meet someone who thinks and talks like we do, we call that person someone who “gets” it. We think people who think like we think are intelligent . . . and those who donÃ¢â¬â¢t, well, theyÃ¢â¬â¢re not.

I can adjust when I talk to someone. I can put my “best brain” forward. I can listen actively and organize what I say to meet how someone takes in information. Teachers do that every day.

But how does an author do the same thing? Book readers think in many ways. An author can’t adjust for each reader.

The answer is one word, consistency.

Why is it better to be consistently wrong than inconsistently right?

You can spell the word house as hous, and if you do so consistently, readers will accept it as an alternative spelling. Miss once and they will see the mistake.

How Does Consistency Make Authors Look Smarter?

Consistency is key to a predictable book. When a book is predictable, readers know where you’re going without thinking about it — they “get” how you think. Giving readers consistency in every facet of a book means they can concentrate on what you’re saying. Your message and it’s brilliance can shine right through.

At the Book Level — A consistent structure offers orderly navigation. Readers know what to expect and what will come next. The experience is predictable and repeatable. Readers can feel safe that they know where the author is going. That can make an author look smarter, because readers feel the author is following a logical, predictable progression.

At the Detail Level — Many companies have a house style that determines how they phrase terms and spell certain words. Publishers and journalists follow a style manual for the same reasons. A consistent style provides credibility and accuracy. If an author is consistent in matters of detail, he or she establishes trust on matters of accuracy — inconsistency undercuts that bond and makes readers wonder whether the thinking is equally inconsistent and flawed.

Staying consistent lets a reader know how an author works and where he or she is going. Authors can’t adjust for readers, but they can make it easy for readers to follow their thinking. When authors do that, readers feel like the author “gets” it.

We all know that someone who “gets” it is really intelligent. — as intelligent as we are. It proves itself out consistently.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
If you’d like Liz to help you find or make a book from your archives, click on the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Bookcraft 2.0: Why Bloggers Choose Better Titles than Authors

November 6, 2006 by Liz

In a conversation with Phil early this morning, we realized we are ready for the collaboration part of this endeavor. Here’s how it will work:

Phil will choose two days or evenings per week we can meet via voice.
He’ll arrange his time so that after each call he has a block of writing time.
I’ll arrange my time so that before each call I have prep time. I’ll send a list of the pages we’ll be talking about.
When we talk we’ll cover 3-8 pages in one section, discussing what rewrites they might need to flow together.
Phil will do the rewrites immediately after.
Phil will hold all of the rewrites until we’ve been through the entire first pass of the book.

Now the book is shaping up as a whole. We’ll be looking at how things fit together and flow. One of the relevant key word strings in Phil’s working title is “practical tips.” On the pages, we made a rule that each page has a real-life application of what Phil has described. During our two phone calls each week, we’ll be testing each tip to make sure that there are no repeats, that all of them can be done, and all can be called practical.

We’ll revisit the working title even more often than we already were.

The cover and the title are a promise of what is inside of the book. So we are careful to constantly revisit the title to make sure that the choices we make are in keeping with what our goal is.

This is where bloggers outshine the average off the street author. Bloggers know the value of relevant key words. They know readers search for important terms.Bloggers understand from their daily publishing that they should call a book what it is, not something clever that readers won’t understand.

We’re scaffolding down to a manscript that is beginning to be more like a book.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
If you’d like Liz to help you find or make a book from your archives, click on the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Bookcraft 2.0: Even the Best Shoes Don’t Belong in a Bookstore

October 30, 2006 by Liz

Look for Books Like Yours

If you recall, Phil, an editor, and I have been through his pages. We sorted them into four parts. I’ve read the parts through again and begun the process of fine tuning the order. This will get us to the final book map. We also checked the market at Amazon to see what books like Phil’s new book were doing. . . .

I promised to tell you more about that.

When I started in publishing I was a freelancer. I read everything I could about writing and one bit of advice always confused me:

Go after the publishers who already sell the kind of book you want to write.

To me, that advice seem counter-intuitive. Why would a publisher want another book about writing if they already had a list full of them? Shouldn’t I go to where a publisher didn’t have any?

[Read more…]

Bookcraft 2.0: Book Research at Amazon, the Data Giant

October 16, 2006 by Liz

Hitting the Market

Whether your plan is to sell your book or give it as a value-added premium, it’s a shame to invest the time to build a resource that no one is going to read. Book ideas aren’t different from other product ideas. They need market research to validate their worth.

No idea is a great just because someone had it.
It becomes a great idea when we prove it solves problem or meets a need in a new and remarkable way.

If you start from scratch or work from your own blog, a trip over to Amazon for research is the first place you should go once your idea begins to take form. Because I was new to Phil’s blog, it took time to get to that single — Hey this might be it! — idea. So we’re on our way over that right now.

Come along.
[Read more…]