I recently spoken to an acquisitions editor over one of my novel submissions. When we got to the part of me replacing an actual action i.e I looked around the room, she made note of this: When you replace action tags (he said, she said) with actual action, you have to make sure the reader knows who is speaking and who is not. Example from my written work before and after her suggestion:
Before…
Are Writing Groups Helpful or Counterproductive?
I recently spoken to an acquisitions editor over one of my novel submissions. When we got to the part of me replacing an actual action i.e I looked around the room, she made note of this: When you replace action tags (he said, she said) with actual action, you have to make sure the reader knows who is speaking and who is not. Example from my written work before and after her suggestion:
Before suggestion:
“Please, I implore you. How do I rectify this situation?” Alpha pleaded looking between the council faces.
“What was the first thing you did to this universe you created?” Alpha turned his gaze to a stunning goddess that held placement in the council.
“I created light where there was no light.” The goddess snickered.
The suggested fix for this:
“Please, I implore you. How do I rectify this situation?” Alpha pleaded looking between the council faces.
“What was the first thing you did to this universe you created?” A voice called out; Alpha turned his gaze to a stunning goddess that held placement in the council.
“I created light where there was no light,” Alpha replied indignantly. The goddess snickered.
Too many times I have seen writers take advice from writing groups telling them to drop the action tags of he said, she said and go with an action to cut down on how many “saids” “replieds” etc you have in your novel. As you can see, I place the necessary paragraph breaks to insinuate a different person speaking. However, the action afterward doesn’t really foreshadow exactly who was speaking. When reading back, I am glad I did make the amended change even if it did include an action tag.
I have come to the conclusion that unless I am being taught by someone who is actually published through a big time publishing company or works for a legitimate publishing company, that all advice offered is just that: advice. It was later stated that the norm for publishing now is to drop the action tag and go with action. However, the acquisitions editor deterred this “fact” and told me that companies prefer the he said, she said banter in the narrative. It gives a clear and concise image in the reader’s head of who is actually speaking and who is listening.
After just a few minor things such as the action tag missing and a quotation mark missing, she overall enjoyed my style of writing and even gushed about the editing qualities my book presented (I did all of the editing and had one proofreader who caught only a few mistakes). This brings me to my next subject of advice from writing groups on social media: Is it necessary to hire a professional editor?
When I send my books out to beta readers, they read the book not once, but twice. The first time they read, it is to enjoy. The second time they read, it is to catch errors for me. To the everyday reader (many of which are critics and quick to catch mistakes in writing) my book passed. The plot had no holes, the editing was past par, and they thoroughly enjoyed the read. I had completely obliterated my first chapter after a rejection letter from a publishing company telling me it had too much info dump. I reworked the one chapter into two separate chapters and edited once more. Again, writers in writing groups still had criticisms on the manuscript to change this and delete that or why is that eve in there? Well, after the acquisitions editor and I spoke, I no longer follow the advice that is handed out in the writing groups. It feels like they try to tear you down as opposed to help build you up (to the point where I was told my first chapter still needed rewritten).
I was rejected by the company the acquisitions editor worked for due to company policy on emerging authors. The manuscript this time was not rejected due to info dump or poor writing. She encouraged me to submit to other companies that there should be one to accept and that I am doing. I am doing one more quick polish to the manuscript, and putting it out to more companies. So far it has had only 4 rejections and one company declined because they were shutting down their business. Not too shabby? Two of the companies were pre-editing the first chapter. The other two, one I explained above, and the other wasn’t looking for Paranormal Romance for their Fantasy submissions.
I guess the point I am trying to make, from trial and error, is to seek actual professional advice from people in the industry. Double check any writing advice lent to you from writing groups, and if you feel like your writing style is different than the norm, go for it! You may be the next Stephen King setting goals and taking book deals 😛
Publishing Companies active on Social Media
Publishing Companies active on Social Media
Some may think this is a good thing. A big time publisher favoriting your tweet or liking a post on your facebook page; you end up giddy and excited right? What about small publishing companies? YES, someone likes my book summary! No. As of late, I had submitted my novel and a couple short stories to a company that was rejected. I am fine with that. I then posted about one of their contests where…
Publishing Companies active on Social Media
Some may think this is a good thing. A big time publisher favoriting your tweet or liking a post on your facebook page; you end up giddy and excited right? What about small publishing companies? YES, someone likes my book summary! No. As of late, I had submitted my novel and a couple short stories to a company that was rejected. I am fine with that. I then posted about one of their contests where the last short story I submitted to was declined. It didn’t make me angry. Their professionalism did. See Changing Rules of a Contest post submissions deadline for more information on that.
I stumbled across a woman in one of my writing groups that was quite upset with the results of this contest. Many were because of the noted change after submissions. I told her I had blogged about it and even updated the blog with information the company provided (to further damage their reputation). They have commented in every group that I posted the blog or commented about the situation. THAT in itself is unprofessional. Writing groups are safe havens for authors to vent about their rejections or errors they have found in the publishing industry. To have a owner of a publishing company reply in a writing group as the publisher and stalk from group to group from either tip offs it was in there or he was already in the group unknown (he added himself to one group “And just so happen the latest post was the issue above”).
I felt like I couldn’t even vent about an experience without having the publishing company slam more information about the contest down my throat. Is this good syntax or bad? Should publishing companies stoop to social media and invade your personal space with their guidelines to the submissions and tell you to vent to them if you have an issue or problem. No! I made the mistake of mixing friendship with business as I had friended the owners of this group. Hell, I have even promoted their publishing company in my blog posts and on social media. No, I did not do it to gain favoritism. They are a new company and word of mouth spreads fast. I have blogged about other companies and will continue to do so for company spotlights. But, you do not come into writing groups and defend your company. Do you see Little, Brown, and Company infiltrating Facebook group or replying to Tweets about them if someone vents about rejection or company policies? No!
I think the point I am getting to is unless it is your group and the people of the group know that you are a publisher, free play. Do not go to other groups to dig yourself a hole. It’s bad character and looks bad on your publishing company. If someone vented in a group about my future publishing company, I am not retaliating. Hell, the day after I made my website public for it I was put up on absolute write website and they trashed my company. I myself did not reply, but my co-publisher did. I let it fly-by and waited it out and by and by the trashing came to an end.
In conclusion, it’s not always a good thing when a publishing company stalks your posts. They could be stalking for a completely different reason. They should not be allowed to talk about their publishing in a writer’s group that is solely for educating writers (that is promoting). When I vented about my experiences just opening the website up for my company, I never mentioned a name and told members to pm me for information. That is proper etiquette. Not as soon as you join the group introduce yourself as being the owner of a new publishing company and then proceed to infiltrate yourself into someone’s post because it was about your company. They do not want to hear from you! You rejected them! You are rubbing salt in their wounds.
I ended up having to block the owner. It was bad enough he joined one group and replied, but in another group he copied his statement and replied. I left his writing group, unliked his publishing company page, blocked him, and feel like I have to be on edge of someone running back and telling him “Oh she is talking about the company!” I didn’t mention the name in this blog, in the previous blog, and only when prompted did I answer on group posts. The second response in a different group didn’t even warrant their name! It is what it is. I will be removing the company from my blog list. I do not want my readers going to them when they have poor professional skills (and that is not my opinion alone).
Changing Rules of a Contest post submissions deadline
Changing Rules of a Contest post submissions deadline
I recently partook in a writing contest for an interactive anthology/book. The rules were to write between 1,500-2,000 words a fantasy piece that, if chosen, could be broadened into a 10k word submission. The rules were 5 submissions would be chosen to vote upon post submissions. After the deadline ended at 12 am last night, I received an email where the publishing company said after receiving a…
Changing Rules of a Contest post submissions deadline
I recently partook in a writing contest for an interactive anthology/book. The rules were to write between 1,500-2,000 words a fantasy piece that, if chosen, could be broadened into a 10k word submission. The rules were 5 submissions would be chosen to vote upon post submissions. After the deadline ended at 12 am last night, I received an email where the publishing company said after receiving a numerous amount of submissions they had changed the number of chosen submissions. Great? No, as opposed to raising the number of submission granted to be voted on, they lowered it from 5 to 3. *UPDATE: The publishing company replied to a comment abut this on a thread in a different writing group. All submissions were supposed to have been showcased for voting. Does this make it better or even worse that they went from all submissions to just 3? They claimed it would have taken too much room on the voting page. If you do a small summary of each book to choose from with an excerpt, no it would not have. You can make it go to separate pages as well.* This bothered me a bit. First off, if you run a contest on your publishing company page with definite submission guidelines and rules after the submissions are submitted, you cannot change those rules. This is not only bad syntax, but if like me, authors will be less likely to submit again. Why change the rules? If you had more submissions than you thought, you raise the number of allotments for spots to vote not decrease them.
Mind you, this is the second contest I have entered into with this company. I was staking out a third one for an anthology submission for a “Legends” contest that dealt with myths or urban legends of society. I am no longer submitting to this contest after the previous contest had been changed post submissions. The contest ran for two weeks. I had taken a sabbatical from writing and when I realized the deadline was over last night, I hurriedly wrote my submission piece and put it out to my beta readers. If changes to the number of submissions chosen were to have been made, they should have been made when they realized the number of submissions entered. Why didn’t they change it past week 1? I came in on the very last day and they had not changed. It does not bother me my submission was not accepted. This is not the point of this post. The point of my post is to be wary of publishing companies who change contest rules AFTER the contest has been over and done with and all submissions accepted.
Also, if presenting a contest, there should be some sort of rule where previously published authors of the company should not be able to enter into the contest (one of the winning entries was one of their own published members of the company). You aren’t hosting contests to promote your own writers. This is a chance for other writers to have a chance at the winning spotlight. I myself have not been published by this company, however, I am being published in an anthology with a separate company. When things like this arise with companies, it always sets off red flags for me. I am nearly finished with my short story for the next contest they are having, however, I am holding off on it for a different anthology now. I was extended an invitation by another small publishing company to submit my stories to.
I am not complaining I didn’t receive a spot on the voting line. I am complaining, however, that two opportunities for writers to receive a voting poll for their stories was overlooked by the company. Rule of thumb for writers is to always trust your gut. I was wary to submit a novel to them (that was thankfully turned down after speaking with other people regarding the company). I was even more hesitant to submit one of my short stories that was declined as well for an anthology. This third contest spelled out everything I need to know about them and why my gut was itching at the back of my mind not to submit to them. I have always been cautious when it comes to my writing and submitting it to people. I do know I will follow my gut from now (it has yet to lead me astray).
For those of you interested in an anthology contest, go to this website for submissions:
I have become acquainted with the owner of this small press and quite frankly, their personality speaks to me better than others I have met on social media.
Here are the guidelines for submissions:
“Great writer! Highly recommend. Will be using again.”
Between the Lines Publishing is looking for submissions for its first annual anthology. The publication will focus on the liminal world. Do you have a poem, flash, or short story with a liminal theme? This can be anything dealing with the world between worlds in time, space, gender, etc.
If you are interested, please send questions or submissions to submissions@btwnthelines.com.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: 1 August 2016
Anthology will be released: 31 October 2016.
All authors will receive a print copy with the ability to purchase additional copies at discounted price.
Authors retain full rights.
Previously published (you must have full rights) and multiple submissions accepted.
All of these experiences I have as an author are building me for my experiences as a publisher when my company actually takes full launch! Thank you for your time. I would list the company, but I don’t want to completely obliterate their reputation. They are just starting off, been open for a year, but hopefully their strategies hone in better than what they are currently. As of now, I will no longer submit to them until they can prove they have pulled themselves together and their rules do not change post submissions.
Author Spotlight- D. R. McHale
Author Spotlight- D. R. McHale
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In a past life Dougie has been a musician and song writer, playing in several bands, performing live and recording music. He has a degree in Learning Disability nursing and a post graduate diploma in autism. Dougie lives in Dunfermline, Fife, with his wife, teenage daughter, older son and golden retriever. The Homecoming is his first…
