November ~ December 2008 Newsletter
"The more we know, the more we see; the more we see, the greater our pleasure."
John Leonard   1939 - 2008 

Dear Newsletter Readers,
     This month, we attended two panel discussions of editors and agents. While they acknowledged what a tough market it is today, they also offered some words of encouragement: there's room for WWII books and Romance genre. 
      And they had tips for submissions and queries.  We will post more complete notes, as well as sources for agents and publishers on our website.
      In this issue, we posit a new idea about our ever evolving process with writers:  The New Collaborators. 
     And much more news about our writers.
                       Tish and Patrick
The New Collaborators
      Collaborative writing is the new model of authorship.  The new collaborators convene around a good idea or promising manuscript, in a strength-with-strength relationship, they develop it into a more immediately marketable text.
     This goes far beyond the assistance of a writing group or a college class or two. In this model, collaborators move ideas to text by combining skills that used to be part of editorial development: creative thinkers collaborate with wordsmiths; researchers collaborate with grammarians; spontaneous thinkers collaborate with organizers; and in the mix you may find marketers, illustrators, book designers, and webmasters.   Continued below.

In this Issue
The New Collaborators
Our Authors
The Latest from Publishers & Agents
Patrick's Punctuation Primer
Write Your Own Bio Tip #2
Links of the Month
Men's Writing Group

 
Authors
Mark Greene

mark greene
Mark has enlisted TEC for a little editorial help in shaping his new comic-thriller North Maine Weird
This first novel is a crime genre page-turner about an ex-Navy SEAL with authority issues, romantic conflicts, and some dubious business connections. Master Chief Rudd has landed at less-than-desired duty station, teaching officer wannabes survival skills in the tangled woods and mosquito swamps near the Canadian border. Rudd tries to do the right thing with his trainees while maintaining his promising new relationship. Of course, he's the kind of guy whose "right thing" is not always what is written in law... Rudd's methods generate some serious blowback when pitted against the craziness (and the unusual women) that emerge from the trees and tiny towns of the great Northeast.

 

Clare Jaymes

Kathy
Clare Jaymes. (ok that's not her real name.) "Clare" is an amazing woman who has emerged from a life on the street surviving by any means necessary and is now living a responsible, somewhat secure life.  Her novels are based in her real-life experiences.  We met at the Wesleyan Writers Conference, and the first pages she showed me just knocked me out: vivid, compelling, empathetic, and in a fresh, urgent voice. (Tish)

     "Well?" he asks, chuckling, "We can't stand here all day." Looking up at him, he was a stranger. This was not the man that just a few hours ago held me down on the couch.
      I stared at the candy, refusing to make a decision until I knew for sure it was the perfect choice. What will make it okay? He looks at me again. Decide! I am supposed to be deciding on a treat so we can hurry home so he does not miss wrestling. He holds up a bag of M&Ms, plain. I shake my head. He squeezes my neck. Hard. The right side of my face is rubbed raw from the scratchy fabric of the sofa. After my aunt left for Bingo, he had started on me, mouth and hands. When I struggled, he pushed my face into the cushion to stop me from screaming. His fingers jabbed at me, separting me, ripping my insides. I flailed  on the couch upholstery, unable to free myself from him, unable to make a sound anywhere near a scream, my breath, my voice hot, smothered. His damp hands pried my legs apart. As I fought, I tore away a button from the cushion, a small version of the swirled orange, green and purple sofa fabric design.  I tore it away, and I still hold on, squeezing it as I look at the bright candy wrappers, the treats, the bribes.
      Minutes pass in front of the candy counter. He starts tapping his foot. My eyes speed up scanning every shelf. He holds up Skittles. I shake my head. Chunky. No. Starburst. No. Nestle Crunch. No. I want something.  I need something.  I should take what I can, but I have no place in my head to decide with.
Next Month: link to Chapter One
 

Laura Campbell

Laura Campbell

Laura Campbell is a dynamo of a woman. She is the founder of   Discover the D Spot, a Divorce and Life Transition Coach. Laura is creating a Divorce Lifestyle Expo, and with a little help from TEC, she is writing a book, Hitting the D spot: The Successful Divorce Lifestyle. "One day I allowed the "D" word to enter my mind.  DIVORCE.  Could I possibly get divorced?  How could I tell my husband, a good man, that our marriage wasn't right for me?  How could I tell my parents and my friends that I had failed? I was paralyzed by these thoughts and frozen with fear."  Laura gives supportive advice on how to stay grounded and sane, and how to re-invent your life as a strong single woman but without kidding yourself. She also doesn't flinch from discussing some of the not-so-nice truths that all other books on divorce avoid. Yes divorce is a change for a life transformation, but sometimes, you just have to take care of business like getting a job. Or, did you know that STD's are on the rise in single woman? The book is a down-to-earth, warm-kiss and slap-in-the-face read   all in one.
 
The Latest from Publishers and Agents
In Their Own Words
      We attended a panel discussion sponsored by the Connecticut Press Club  in October.
Sean Desmond, Senior Editor at Crown, and Deb Werksman, Executive Editor at Sourcebooks (Romance fiction), offered tips for writing a good book proposal. Desmond said: "When you present your market research, be sensible.  Please don't compare your book to The Da Vinci Code or another runaway bestseller; on the other hand, don't bother to list 20 other books on your topic that didn't sell. Please do mention endorsements you can get from well-known authors. If you have 6,000 Facebook Friends, mention that. Authors need to be willing to promote their books on their own, so list any and all of your marketing plans."  Werksman added:  "When submitting a proposal, don't be coy, even if you have a brilliant cliff-hanger: tell me the ending.  Otherwise, I won't seriously consider your proposal."  She also advised, that writing for the Romance genre has four basic rules: write a heroine readers can relate to, present a hero worth having, provide a setting that is complex and well-nuanced, and always write a positive ending.  "Romance readers want escapism, and they want to be happy."
      On  October 29th, Westport Writers Workshop hosted a panel discussion at the New Canaan Library.  The panel consisted of writers, an agent and a publisher. The agent, Denise Marcil, President of Densie Marcil Literary Agency gave us a list of "Ten Ways to Find the Right Agent For You." She emphasized that writers must be very particular.  You need to look for an agent who handles your kind of nonfiction book or your fiction genre.  Also, you need to make contact intelligently.  Here are her suggestions for ways to find an agent: l. Referrals from other writers. 2.  Referrals from book editors.  3.  Referrals from magazine editors.  4.  Literary Marketplace. 5.  Writer's Market and Writer's Guide to Book Editors, Publisher and Literary Agents by Jeff Herman.  6. Writer's conferences. 7.  Publisher's Weekly and PW Newsline. 8.  Publisher's Lunch and Publisher's Marketplace. 9. Acknowledgements page in published books. 10.  AAR Website.
Submission information from Crown and Worksmen, along with notes and websites information from both panel discussions and other publishing and agent sources, will be posted on our website on the What's New page soon.
The New Collaborators continued
     The Editing Company is founded on this vision of the New Collaborators:  we want to offer writers the support that will put their ideas into publishable form.  Yes, it should be flowing prose, logical, grammatical, and if necessary, fact-checked; however, it should also be ready for the marketplace and sent to an appropriate venue in an appropriate form.  Some books should be self-published, others need agents, still others will sell from proposals. 
     In the new publishing environment, the writer's responsibility in creating a book is not just in the hours spent writing a presentable manuscript but includes assembling effect editorial and marketing support.
     The Editing Company envisions new strategies for providing writer support depending on the degree of collaboration. We offer hourly services to edit or trouble-shoot manuscripts; ad hoc instruction in style and form; fee-based work for developing projects; shared royalty and shared credit when the degree of collaboration warrants it; or a range of options depending on the evolving needs of a specific project.  

From the forthcoming TEC publication, Death of the Author: The New Collaborators
© The Editing Company, 2008.
Links of the Month
WRITERS ON WRITING
"These are rules I've picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I'm writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what's taking place in the story. If you have a facility for language and imagery and the sound of your voice pleases you, invisibility is not what you are after, and you can skip the rules. Still, you might look them over."
    ------------------------------
"Books That Tower Above the Rest" article
By Janet Maslin & Michiko Kakutani, NYT 11/27/08
-------------------------------
"How to Publish Without Perishing" article
 by James Gleick, NYT 11/29/08
Write Your Own Bio
Tip #2
Last month we discussed starting out by writing a detailed description of a happy and successful professional experience. This month we add to that: spend 3 minutes making a list of what you do best.  Be as exact as you can.  If you can really peel, do you peel potatoes, mangoes, or sequined undergarments best? Include everything you do well, not just professional skills.

Join Our Mailing List!
Men's Writing Group - Fairfield County
Work on your writing chops with a no-bull editor in a group that reflects your readers.
Positive feedback, insightful suggestions, support but no frills.  Fiction or Non; thrillers, humor, food, travel, essays, outdoors or indoors, even poetry.  
Get out of your head and onto the page with a New Year's resolution you can keep. Place and time to be determined by needs and size of the group.
   Email: Patrick or call Patrick @ 203.644.6129.

 

Tish&Patrick
Oh yes, who are we?
Check us out on our website The Editing Company
We are Patrick McCord and Patricia (Tish) Fried, the editors of TEC.  We offer complete support services for writers, business people and the professional practitioner. Let us get you started: book proposal, brochure, website, bio, keynote speech and resume. We can help you edit or co-write your manuscript and help you find your market niche. Don't forget our one-on-one tutorials. We have book designers, web designers, logo designers, printers - - support services to help get your project done efficiently, elegantly and right the first time.
Call 203.454.4522 or email us click.
William Gibson, Playwright, from NY Times obituary by David Carr
William Gibson, a playwright who had a gift for creating strong, popular female characters and wrote "The Miracle Worker," died on Tuesday in Stockbridge, Mass. He was 94. Mr. Gibson, who was in his 50s by the time he experienced success as a writer, told [his good friend, Arthur] Penn, " 'Good things come to those who wait ... far too long.' "  Even into his 90s, Mr. Gibson continued to write as if his life depended on it, perhaps because it did.  "Writers go bad when the angels desert them, ... but the writing angel is still with me. And that's the thing where I feel most alive - at least while I'm doing it. I started out to be a writer and I'm still a writer. Not bad."
Patrick's Punctuation Primer
As a general rule, foreign words and Latin phrases are in italics when used in prose. For example ipso facto, ciao bella, danke, tovarich, etc. Some foreign words, however, have been used so frequently that they have entered English (or American) vernacular have lost their italics: 'status quo,' 'data,' or the abbreviation 'etc' (which would be et cetera, two words, in italics, if not abbreviated).  One common Latinism not in italics, but usually in parentheses, is '(sic),' and it's used when you record a purposeful error, a misspelling, or a pun.  To show your reader you intended the word or phrase exactly as rendered, use (sic) which means ("thus" or "this is the way I want it") immediately after.  Example: if you were a relentless punster you might entitle your diary "Pundemonium (sic)." Also use '(sic)' when quoting verbatim transcription of a questionable phrase or word:  "They misunderestimated me" (sic).
 
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