In today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* More on Licensing
* According to Reedsy
* Ebook aggregator PublishDrive
* Daily diary
* Of Interest
* The numbers
Quote of the Day
“From my close observation of writers… they fall into two groups: 1) those who bleed copiously and visibly at any bad review, and 2) those who bleed copiously and secretly at any bad review. Isaac Asimov
Which is why I generally don’t read reviews at all and recommend against it. What a reader thinks of your book is none of your business.
***
Kris Rusch has just posted a new article on her Patreon account. Without giving away anything, she mentioned “licensing software” in passing as one way to manage your inventory.
Because I will probably eventually need it (not sure whether I need it now), I looked up the term. Most entries that popped up were for “how to license software.” Not at all what I wanted.
As it turned out, I should have searched for “license management software.”
Eventually, I did, and I found three really great resources. Click the Writer Resources tab on the Journal website, then click Licensing.
Bear in mind that if you currently have a small inventory of IP (along with their possibly licensable characters, unique items [items you imagined], settings and situations) you can probably manage your inventory with a series of spreadsheets. That’s what I intend to do first, and I have around 300 bits of IP.
While you’re on the Writer Resources page, you might want to browse the other resources. I add to them constantly.
***
According to Reedsy, the average cost of copyediting an 80,000 word novel is $1360. That’s 1.7 cents per word. Huh. News to me.
When I take on a copy edit, I most often charge 1 cent per word (so $800 for an 80,000 word novel) or less. And I provide a free sample edit to let the writer see up front what I can do for her. As an added bonus, I actually know what I’m doing.
Just saying, be careful out there.
Reedsy also mentions “developmental editing.”
Uh, no. Don’t let anyone that deep into your work. Just don’t. How can anyone else “develop” a story that’s in your head?
***
Ebook aggregator PublishDrive finally got back to me in regard (but not in response) to the question I asked. Only they answered an entirely different question.
They said yes, I could distribute through them as well as other aggregators, which of course is not what I asked at all. Sigh.
***
Rolled out at 2:30, came to the Hovel and wrote most of the stuff above.
Today will be another learning day for me and my new publisher, though one adjusted with more breaks and more learning sessions.
As I thought about our upcoming (as I write this) second day of study, a realization settled over me: it might be awhile before I write fiction again.
For those new to the Journal, even a week of not writing is a long time for me. My “breaks” usually consist of a day or two at the most. Yet today will be the 10th day in a row that I haven’t written any fiction.
I guess we’ll see, but faced with doing so much catching-up, I find it difficult to switch back and forth from the conscious learning mind to the creative writing mind.
On the up-side for you, I’ll be sharing much of what I learn here, although without getting into anything that is proprietary to Dean or Kris. So what I share here in the short term will not be an adequate replacement for you jumping into the learning yourself. I just wanted to be clear about that.
Apparently even the Learn Along is still open for new signups. To jump in, visit https://wmg-publishing-workshops-and-lectures.teachable.com/ and click the Learn Along Licensing tab.
Up to the house at 6.
Talk with you again tomorrow.
Of Interest
See “Story, Reading, and Writers” at http://prowriterswriting.com/story-reading-and-writers/.
See “Trademark Book” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/trademark-book/.
See “The Graveyard of Stories” at https://killzoneblog.com/2019/07/the-graveyard-of-stories.html. Take along a salt shaker.
See “Death of a Novel” at https://www.johnclarkson.com/post/death-of-a-novel. Interesting that this traditionally published author is “recasting” the whole novel instead of rewriting.
Also see the “Readers + Writers” category at https://www.johnclarkson.com/blog/categories/readers-writers. I’ve added this to Helpful Pro-Writer Websites on my Writer Resources page.
As just one example, see “How to Write Great Fight Scenes” at https://www.johnclarkson.com/post/how-to-write-great-fight-scenes.
Fiction Words: XXXX
Nonfiction Words: 700 (Journal)
Total words for the day: 700
Writing of ()
Day 1…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for the month……… 3173
Total fiction words for the year………… 354511
Total nonfiction words for the month… 15330
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 199530
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 554041
Calendar Year 2019 Novels to Date…………………… 7
Calendar Year 2019 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2019 Short Stories to Date… 1
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 44
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 194
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31
Reedsy may be tallying averages from ALL copy editors, without regard to if it’s fiction. If you try to get copy editing in Washington DC, it’s $100 an HOUR. I also ran across a fiction copy editor with a minimum charge of $250.
But in my copy editor hunt, I also saw writers who did developmental editing and proofreading but not copy editing. That suggested more than anything else that it was a money grab for a writer not making money at writing.
Although Reedsy writers occasionally post a useful bit of advice (for example, their recent article on “BookBub for Authors”), by and large the articles there are written by amateurs who don’t have a clue what they’re talking about. That’s why they seldom make the cut into the “Of Interest” section of the Journal.
Two other quick points regarding copyediting (and other services)—
First, in this modern age I can’t imagine why any writer would limit their search to any particular geographic location.
Second, if I were searching for a copyeditor, I would test them to weed out the frauds. The first question I would ask is, “What is a run-on sentence?” The second would be, “What constitutes passive voice and when is it appropriate in fiction?” And I would ask a few more. Maybe I’ll do a topic on that soon.