Reality writer--what the writing biz is like

The video says it all.

Only thing I can add is thank God for the good editors I have--you know who you are.

Thanks to a fellow ASJA member for sharing this link.

Should a poet plan on starving?

I enjoyed sharing my poems with members and guests of a historical society in Jacksonville.

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When I was young my mother, when I repeated my ambition to become a poet, advised me in typical no-nonsense fashion.

“Poets are dead before anybody knows who they are.”

Years later, as I worked steadily at trying to survive as a freelance writer, I continued to write poetry on the side. I published many poems, earning small amounts from educational publishers, magazines, contests and at least one Web site.

Finally the day came when a publisher agreed to invest his money in my collection, A Poetry Break.

Because I was so grateful, I undertook a promotional campaign worthy of a new drug discovery. I spoke, I traveled and I blogged.

It paid off. The book did well enough for the publisher to take on my nonfiction book. And now that I am in the final edit on my new poetry collection, I’ve dialogued with several publishers about bringing it out.

I am also considering self-publishing, for a number of reasons. Here’s a list:

1. I do not work in the academic world and therefore have nothing to lose by self-pubbing.
2. If I calculate royalties by way of self-publication, compared to royalties from self-publishing, my profits would increase by choosing the latter route.
3. I do not want to work as hard this go-round. Promoting the book consumed so much of my time my freelance nonfiction work suffered.
4. I would like total editorial control over the book.
5. The book biz sucks.

You are probably wondering why I have included reason #5. I could fill a book with support for that statement, but I came to learn many things as I pounded the pavement as an author. For one thing, bookstores and distributors order books, and then return the books that do not sell. This makes anticipating income very tricky. You may have a great royalty one quarter but then see your royalties decimated in the next due to returns. In addition, if your publisher is not one of the big houses, you will be very lucky to get reviews. In order to get reviews you or your publisher often must (1)schmooze and (2)politic. We were very lucky on my poetry collection. I count as a stellar moment in my life learning that a newspaper columnist, a complete stranger to me, reviewed my book, and so did others.

In addition to all that, if you are to succeed in today’s book world, you must write a book that targets a specific group of book buyers. I confess this is a simplified explanation, but will simply say if you write a book titled ‘How to Teach Your Dog to Play the Piano,’ you will have a ready line of dog lovers waiting for your signature at the nearest bookstore. Or if you develop a line of mysteries with a young sexy detective who is one part Jewish, one part Christian and one part Muslim and maybe one part Buddhist—I am imagining both the maternal and paternal lineage—you will have a runaway best-seller, having capitalized on a number of trendy niches.

Meanwhile, I ply my trade and count myself lucky to be able to earn money by writing columns and articles like the one you are reading right now. My poetry book still sells; I earn fees for speaking and talking about poetry and creative writing. I have learned to recognize those as numerous blessings.

Perhaps I am also learning to admit to myself that my mom was right. Or at least she was close.

What I am telling myself in response is that it really doesn’t matter. A poet is a poet and can’t do a thing about it.

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An invitation

Visit my blog Covering Florida.

If you’re interested in writing for online sites, visit my column at The Writer. Web Savvy has covered digital cameras, writing style for the Web, and moving a publication from print to online. Available to premium subscribers only.

SPJ president explains support for National Geographic in lawsuit filed by freelancer

Absent the front pages of most newspapers today is a story about an organization ensconced in the newspaper realm for almost a century. The story actually impacts publishers and content providers in all media. In simple terms, the Society of Professional Journalists has filed an amicus brief supporting National Geographic in a lawsuit brought by a photographer whose last name is Faulkner and others whose images were used in the magazine’s print edition. Geographic decided the magazine also owned rights to those images for use in a CD-ROM collection comprising numerous issues of the print edition. Two federal courts are at odds over who actually owns the rights. This is a simplistic explanation. Writer Erik Sherman offers the nitty gritty at his WriterBiz blog.

When I learned SPJ had filed the brief on behalf of Geographic, I immediately questioned the wisdom of an organization whose membership includes both publishers and freelancers. It seemed to me neutrality offered the best path for SPJ. In other words, this is not SPJ’s fight. In my opinion, seizing the opportunity for battle was not a wise move.

As a result of SPJ support for Geographic, the chair of SPJ’s freelance committee and one employee resigned. On message boards related to professional writing organizations, on telephones in freelancers’ offices and on blogs written by freelancers, the issue has become a hot topic.

Many of us will not renew our membership as a result of SPJ’s decision. Others who were about to join have shredded their applications.

SPJ president Christine Tatum has a rather eloquent blog entry at Freedom of the Prez, whereby she defends the organization’s decision, made by Tatum and the Legal Defense Fund Committee chair, to support Geographic. Without meaning to, I’m sure, she infused a bit of humor into the fracas. Here’s what Tatum wrote:

“I stand by the decision I helped make because it stands to help clarify law so that freelancers can negotiate smarter contracts that help ensure they're paid fairly for their work. It might sound odd - even ludicrous to some - but a ruling in favor of a publisher in this case actually could help all freelance journalists well into the future.” The decision was made, she says, “…After very, very careful consideration.”

If you really, really believe that argument, I have a Pulitzer Prize I’d like to sell you.

SPJ might have made a conciliatory statement about this matter, averting what should have been obvious: impending alienation of the freelancers in the organization’s midst.

If contracts for freelancers are an issue, you’d think there’d be information plastered all over the SPJ Web site. Prior to joining, when I heard the organization’s name, SPJ—to me—stood for freedom of the press, and for protecting my rights as a journalist to information held in government files. I never envisioned SPJ as an organization involved with contracts between freelancers and publishers, and I doubt any of the other freelance members did either. That’s what I have organizations like the American Society of Journalists and Authors for.

Federal courts disagree about Geographic’s use of the materials, so we are not likely to resolve the right and wrong on blogs or phones or message boards. For one thing, the legal brief is as long as the community phone directory we get here in our neighborhood.

Tatum writes, “A ruling in favor of National Geographic Society is a relatively rare opportunity to help advance that very important and far more progressive discussion. It would add clarity to the law and protect journalists by improving their chances of receiving fair compensation.”

This reminds me of the impact made on my driving by a handsome officer who handed me a ticket for speeding.

Absent this entire sequence of events is a large dose of common sense. Geographic could have paid their contributors a reprint fee for digital use in a collection, one that will surely be profitable, and that society may have saved large payments to legal firms, and none of this would have been an issue. Does a publication really prefer paying a lawyer rather than a contributor? What does that say about the moral standards of such a publication?

I plan to cancel my membership in the National Geographic Society too.

I’ll hand it to SPJ president Tatum. She did a fine job of crafting words to justify SPJ’s decision. What’s missing is the logic. There’s a hole in the foresight as significant as one famous emperor’s new clothes.

And now that I think of it, I actually have two Pulitzer Prizes for sale. Cheap. I’ll engrave your name right on the front of them. Email me for details.

What's up

Drop by my new column Web Savvy at The Writer magazine. In this column I feature information about all aspects of sharpening your pen with knowledge about the Web. If you want to know how to make the Web work for your writing career, Web Savvy is a great place to visit. My first columns focused on social networks for writers and digital photography as a means to increase freelance sales.

I'm still posting daily at Covering Florida.

You can also catch some of my articles at The Florida Times Union, Coastal Homes, and in other magazines and newspapers. If you read UPI news, chances are you're reading me there at times even if there's no byline.
Have a great summer!

New freelance gig

I inked the contract yesterday, so it’s too early to tell how things will go. But I signed on to write the Jacksonville, Fla. blog for 451press.com.

I’d been searching for a good blogging gig for several weeks, simply because (and obviously to readers) I like to blog. This type endeavor will fit well with the other work I do, for clients like the Florida Times Union, The Writer, UPI, and Coastal Homes. And I can still pitch the one-ups to publications I love, like Christian Science Monitor. The poetry manuscript is 90% complete, and the nonfiction book is rocking along.

If you’re looking for a paid blogging position, '451press' is still looking for writers. I chose a city site because I like writing about Jacksonville—I am sure I’ll never run out of material. It appears to be a fairly painless risk for me.

I like the contract '451press' offered—good terms on rights and a compensation deal that will grow as I grow the traffic. I’ll post five days a week. I looked at many other sites, but most want either exclusive or long-term rights and there’s no means of growing the compensation.

I’ll be building the site soon, and will keep you informed about the progress. I’ll announce the launch at this site.

And if you’re a writer looking for a pretty non-stressful blog deal, you might take a look at the topics and cities open to writers.

Thinking of freelancing? Tips for the trade.

This morning, on the Blog Catalog discussion board, someone asked a question about resources for freelancers. I get similar questions by email.

Frankly, I don’t think there’s ever been a better time to be a writer. Consider all the content we take in each day, via the Web, TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and products. If you’ve ever read a cereal box, you know what I mean by “products.” Somebody produces all that content. It might as well be you or me.

The Web has more resources than you are likely to use. A good starting place is Writers Weekly. Markets, a forum, writer-bewares, and a variety of articles can be found there; you may opt for a free newsletter.

The Writer is also very useful, both in print and on the Web. I write for the magazine and the Web site, but long before I did, I read every issue. I’ve sold work and won contests based on listings there. My Web column there, Poetry Beat, has covered everything from self-publishing to sites that help you promote and publish.

The American Society of Journalists and Authors has info available in the public section of the Web site. This organization hosts an annual meeting each April. Non-members may attend. The speakers are always top-notch, and there are opportunities to meet editors and agents in person.

The site that grew this blog, Creative Writer US, has archives with many articles about freelancing.

Another site I highly recommend is The Renegade Writer, a site based on the popular book by the same name.

For physical resources, study your favorite magazines at the library. Study the ads and copy content to learn what readers enjoy. Your daily newspaper may also have a local or metro section in need of freelance content. You can usually get contact info for editors from the ‘about us’ or ‘contact’ links usually at the bottom of the site cover page. This is true for magazines too.

Not-for-profit organizations and government agencies often purchase content; I’ve sold to both many times.

Above all, realize that content providing is a business. Providers (formally known as writers) aim at selling information and services. Don’t do it for free.

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Read the latest Poetry Beat at The Writer and catch the latest scoop about Foetry.

Super resource for bloggers

For bloggers hoping to increase readership and income, iwebis.com is a great resource. Mona Weathers, who writes under the pen name monawea, offers information about earning opportunities, social networking, communicating with readers and other topics of interest to those of us bitten by the blog bug.

Monawea says she blogs as a personal “outlet,” and for the extra family income. She tells her readers they’ll learn about the changing Web. She discloses the fact sometimes the reader will find sponsored reviews. And with humor, she promises, “You will not find out what I had for breakfast, lunch, dinner or any other meal in between.” She even notes there'll be occasional grammar and spelling errors.

She’s organized a “Mass Buzz” promotion for Blog Catalog members (blogcatlog.com). That event launches May 14.

I highly recommend a visit to Monawea’s blog—I’ve learned a lot during my own visits.

Meanwhile, if you have a blog tip or favorite site, feel free to post it in the comments section.

Spring fever throws a wrench into the writer’s handiwork

My beagle hound Shadow is in the same boat I'm in. He can afford to be lazy.

The gush of spring is strong enough
to play with the globe of earth like a ball on a fountain...
--from ‘Craving for Spring’ by D. H. Lawrence

Florida can be very challenging to productivity as spring comes on. I can’t really figure why. Here, there are no sharp definitions between seasons. A coral rose on my deck bloomed on Christmas Eve, an event that struck me as so amazing I wrote a poem about it. My reaction to that aromatic bloom was followed by the realization I was gauging winter here by upcountry Carolina standards, where snow always falls a few times each season and temperatures require a quilt on the bed most of the time.

I don’t think I’ve used a quilt since moving here four years ago.

Today I watched an assortment of cardinals, squirrels, and tiny sparrows take turns at the seed I scatter, and my restlessness made me want to turn away from work. I couldn’t do that. In the business of writing, especially if you’re an independent, spring is the go-crazy season.

I thought of Lawrence’s poem, ‘Craving for Spring,’ and realized the line that includes "play with the globe of earth like a ball on a fountain" perfectly describes what spring does to my brain.

Window-gazing fits most writers’ personalities—we are, after all, famous procrastinators. I must remind myself to take time to procrastinate soon.

Bonsai, Texas deputy Gilmer Hernandez and poetry

Lately the variety in subject matter has kept me on my freelancing toes.

National Poetry Month is just around the corner, and you can read my Poetry Beat column suggesting ways to celebrate and asking how your city celebrates at The Writer magazine online. There are many columns archived there. I did a column with poets who blog, learning how blogging connects writers to readers. There's an interview with New England’s accomplished Powow Poets and a visit with poet Lee Slonimsky whose wife novelist Carol Goodman uses his poetry in her mystery novels. As an aside, I’d like to recommend any of Goodman’s books; she’s mainstream but literary and her works are page-turners. She’s amazing.Her new novel The Sonnet Lover comes out soon. Slonimsky’s poetry is also amazing; he has a new book out Pythagoras in Love.

My column at The Writer is premium content, so it’s for paid subscribers only.

Other recent publications include the Christian Science Monitor. If you’ve never eaten a kumquat, have a look at my essay to see what you’re missing. That's my fully loaded kumquat tree in the photo on this page.

There’s another essay in CSM published last week about the love poem clinic Dorothy Fletcher and I did at Starbucks Coffee Company in Jacksonville’s Lakewood community. For this essay, CSM staffer Scott Wallace did a very clever illustration.

I learned a lot about bonsai while covering a workshop for the Florida Times Union.

There’s an essay at Family Security Matters about the plight of Gilmer Hernandez, a Texas deputy who’s being handed the rawest deal imaginable from the federal government.

I have an article in an anthology, Faces of Freedom, a hardcover book edited by Rebecca Pepin, co-anchor for Tri Cities newscast in Tennessee. All proceeds from that book will go to charity. And another anthology to be issued by the WOMPO group of poets will include a sonnet I wrote.

Soon to come—a story on an environmentally friendly community in St. Augustine, written for a national magazine, another story for The Writer about Jendi Reiter and Adam Cohen’s Winning Writers site, and various essays and news stories. I freelance for UPI, but don’t get a byline for that work.

Meanwhile two book manuscripts stare me down every morning and will soon demand to be released into the world.

If you’re in the Jacksonville, St. Augustine, or Daytona areas, come see me at the events listed in the upper left corner on this page. All events except the Center Academy workshop are open to the public.

Hope you'll read some of my stories and if you do, I hope you enjoy them.

Never ever a dull moment.

The don't-miss-it conference for writers

Click here for information about the ASJA conference.

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More times than I can count, the same question from writers finds its way to my inbox: How can I get published?

I’ve recommended useful sites like those listed in the links on this page. Writers can also turn to nonfiction books and magazines mentioned in previous posts at Bookbeat.

There are seminars, retreats, and conventions. But if you can only go to one gathering, the one I’d recommend is organized by the American Society of Journalists and Authors.

Years ago, if I’d known about the annual conference organized by ASJA, efforts to reach some of my goals would have been much less frustrating.

Here’s why this organization stands above so many others. ASJA members meet rigorous standards in order to join. Once a writer qualifies, you become part of what I believe is the top organization for professional writers in the country. Our work appears in virtually every well-respected magazine, newspaper or Net site you can name. Many ASJA authors’ books are published by top houses.

What didn’t I know before I became a member? I could’ve attended the conference anyway. It’s open to all writers.

This conference won’t send you off on some feel good mission to learn how to be inspired. If you write, you’re already inspired.

What it will do is put you in the middle of a gathering of editors, agents, accomplished authors and veteran independent journalists. Writing may be a solitary endeavor, but succeeding at it depends on networking and staying on top of new developments in our field.

I meet writers at events where I speak or read, and many ask me to recommend a conference or workshop. The ASJA conference is my top recommendation. This year, sessions on attracting an agent, connecting with magazine editors, writing for children’s magazines, trends in travel, food and wine writing, and freelancing for custom publishing markets are just a few of the opportunities for writers of all levels.

Topping off the roster of accomplished guest speakers and panelists is keynoter Jeanette Walls, author of the bestselling memoir The Glass Castle.

The ASJA conference brings writers to the center of the publishing world, enabling a look at how the profession works from the inside out.

So if you’re a writer looking for a worthwhile experience, join us at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City April 21-22. I promise you won’t be disappointed. And do look me up if you decide to come!