by Maggie Langrick | Aug 25, 2017 | Articles, Deep Stuff, Writing about writing
It’s very trendy to publish a book these days. Last year, 300,000 books were published traditionally, and more than 700,000 books were self-published. That’s right: over a million new books were unleashed on readers in 2016 alone.
Fiction writing has always been a popular creative pursuit, but it’s nonfiction that has recently exploded among new authors. Being a published author is now a necessity for any professional who takes their career seriously. Virtually every unpublished life coach, business consultant, advisor, therapist, spiritual leader, trainer, teacher or researcher is either writing a book now, thinking about writing a book, or feeling bad that they haven’t yet written a book. And it’s not only those in consultative positions who want to publish. Many entrepreneurs, executives, and leaders feel an urgent need to write a book that will act as an ambassador for their corporate or personal brand.
The rise of professional public speaking has greatly accelerated this trend. Those who wish to establish themself as a thought leader in their field knows that having their name on a New York Times bestseller is still the very best way to get there. Of course, not every aspiring author will get within striking range of that vaunted list. But even those at the back of the pack feel an urgent need to publish a book, setting their sights on Amazon rankings instead.
Self-publishing makes it possible for anyone to put out a book any time they are ready, even if their material is not. Sadly, novice authors who rush to publish inevitably wind up with an underdeveloped, poorly executed book that few people will buy and even fewer will read and recommend. If they have a nagging feeling that the work they’ve produced does not read or look like a “real book,” they are probably not sure why.
It’s no wonder there is confusion. The popular definition of a book has changed in recent years, especially in that blurry space between self-publishing and content marketing. Essays and white papers of just a few thousand words, richly padded with white space and graphics, are routinely promoted as “books” offered free to download from websites as an enticement to join a mailing list. Is this a real book? If not, what is?
I was recently asked that question: “What is a real book?” My immediate answer was that a real book puts the needs and interests of the reader above those of the author. More specifically, a real book is one whose ideas are well developed, and whose writing is engaging, clear, and persuasive or entertaining. A real book is well researched and its sources carefully cited. A real book contains front and back matter that conforms to publishing industry standards, a well-designed jacket and interior, and appropriate cover copy. If it has an index, that index is professionally produced. A real book is free of typographic errors (or close to it). Above all, a real book provides something substantial, new, and consequential. It has a big idea at its center. A real book makes a lasting impact on its readers. It is enduring, not ephemeral.
These are the hallmarks of a real book, and they are very difficult for a self-publishing author to execute well. The fault lies not with self-publishing as a model. The problem is that self-publishing yields poor results when authors undertake it alone and unsupported, or when amateur advisors counsel them to make bad decisions.
Authors who are pursuing a traditional publishing arrangement face many of the same challenges, especially those to do with editorial and marketing. Long before a publisher agrees to back their book, even before their book proposal is written, they must work out what their book should be about, how it ought to be structured, who its intended readers are, and how best to sell it to them. And then they have to write a blindingly good sample chapter.
Humbled by the size of the task ahead and their lack of publishing expertise, many first-time authors look for guidance on the Internet, where there is no shortage of courses, webinars, and publishing consultants competing for their attention and money. A few months ago, I downloaded a free “book” claiming to offer such publishing advice in the name of research. It was substantial, in a sense. At more than 150 PDF pages in extent, it chewed through most of a toner cartridge in my home office. However, it was laughably flimsy in terms of its content. Every 8-1/2 x 11 page featured several 24-point headlines, bold pull-quotes, an array of colour blocks and bands, and a scant 200 words of text. An entire page near the beginning was given over to acknowledging a particular intern who had helped “pull the content together” (complete with a full-bleed image of her). Several more pages were dedicated to pushing the author’s online coaching programs.
The title of this document was “How Not to Suck at Writing Your First Book”. Let’s all just take a moment to absorb that.
This “book” promises readers that they will finish writing their full-length nonfiction manuscripts in just thirty days — a masterful feat for even the most seasoned professional writer. In fact, it reassures us, it’s easy to “turn your daily conversations and knowledge into a high-quality book in record time” — just a few hours! — by speaking extemporaneously into a voice-to-text dictation program.
Its author is the creator of a successful online self-publishing course, which he founded in 2014 shortly after dropping out of college at the age of 19. His is just one of the thousands of online programs marketed to would-be authors desperate for useful advice. The express goal of many of these programs is to squeeze long-form pieces of writing out of people’s heads as quickly and easily as possible. They encourage students to overcome self-doubt with “empowering” phrases such as “You don’t have to be an expert to add value.”
For these guys, the Facebook maxim “done is better than perfect” is a winning formula for success. And maybe they’re right, if their goal is to hack through the chore of content creation for marketing purposes. What it is not is a formula for a real book.
This shortcut attitude bothers me. Not only because I care about books, but because I care about ideas. Expertise is under assault in the age of “alternative facts” and intellectual relativism. We are in danger of losing our ability to distinguish between what is real and what is phony, and I consider this a threat to enlightened society.
It is in this spirit that I am writing How to Write a Real Book: A Guide to Publishing Great Nonfiction for Authors Who Aren’t Writers. I’ve chosen to address this group — “authors who aren’t writers” — for two reasons. First, because career writers, from journalists to novelists, are already very well served. There are plenty of books out there to help professional or creative writers hone their craft. Second, because I believe that this other group — people who are serious specialists in a discipline other than writing — have the greatest need for sound advice. They are also the most worthy of support, and most at risk of squandering their own potential by being drawn in by low-bar programs aimed at the most impatient and least competent.
It’s true that not everyone who wants to write a book has a book-worthy idea, but there are a great many knowledgeable experts whose work deserves to be shared with the public. They’re capable of writing books worth buying, reading, and recommending. They just aren’t going to do it in thirty days under the misdirection of a self-appointed “publishing expert” who believes that true expertise is unimportant.
Writing a real nonfiction book is not a simple or intuitive undertaking for most people. But it’s also not impossibly hard. Aspiring authors need candid, unbiased advice from smart and experienced publishing professionals who understand their particular needs and objectives, and who want to see them succeed in making a positive contribution to the world with their books.
And let’s not lose sight of the ultimate beneficiaries of their expertise: readers. If people who are seeking specialist advice have enjoyable, mind-opening experiences with books, they will turn back to them, again and again, for support, instruction and inspiration. Our modern world offers plenty of ways to access knowledge and insight, but it still holds true that books — real books — deliver value that few other communication forms can match, and I believe that their continued place in our society is worth preserving and promoting.
by Maggie Langrick | Jul 5, 2017 | Articles, Creative Stuff
When I sit down to work with a new author, I always ask them about their goals for their book, and invariably I get a version of the same answer: They want to make a difference in people’s lives. Very often, they want to change the way people think, elevate a conversation, and bring new understanding to a vexing problem.
That’s a great mission. We all want to have an impact on the world, and most of us would like that impact to be a positive one. But changing the world through a book begins with changing the mind of one reader, and then the next. Most of us are stubbornly attached to our positions, which means that if you are writing with the ambitious goal to influence public opinion, your book is likely to face an uphill battle. Those who already agree with you don’t need persuading, and those you hope to persuade aren’t interested in having their minds changed for them. So how do you make an impact on society through your writing?
Authors of mission-driven manifestos share some common pitfalls. The more clearly you understand and anticipate them, the better you can avoid preaching to the choir or having your words fall on deaf ears.
Pitfalls to avoid when writing a passion project
The Problem: Focusing on the Wrong Things
When you’re very close to your subject matter, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s most pertinent to readers who may be new to your ideas. As an expert, you’re likely to underestimate the value of basic information, which you might assume everyone knows (and which you might be bored to tears by). You may also have a tendency to overestimate the interest value of arcane observations and implications, which may be fascinating to you but not necessarily central to your thesis. This pitfall is especially common among academics, who love the intellectual workout they get from debating the finer points of an issue with equally well-informed colleagues. That will not fly in a mainstream book. Persuasive writing requires you to join the reader at their current level of understanding and walk them, point by point, to a new way of thinking.
The Remedy: Get a Tough Developmental Editor (and Listen to Them)
The deeper your expertise, the more you need a hard-headed developmental editor who is not afraid to raise objections and identify gaps or inconsistencies in your arguments. At this level, editing is about strengthening the book’s comprehension and logic, not fiddling with its spelling and grammar. The most common criticisms you’re likely to hear from your developmental editor are: put this in laymen’s terms; this section is beside the point; and explain why this matters. Although they must be a muscular thinker, your editor need not be an expert in your subject. In fact, it’s better to find an editor who can approach the material with a level of familiarity similar to that of your target audience. If your argument is clear and persuasive to your “smart novice” editor, you can assume it will be clear and persuasive to readers, too.
The Problem: Unconscious Bias
Manifestos are ideological by definition, so you will undoubtedly be taking a position in your book. But take care to check yourself for bias: it’s possible that you may be overly attached to a particular interpretation of the material, leading you to misrepresent the information, or present your opinions as fact.
Of course, it’s perfectly fine to express an opinion or take a position, and in some cases doing so may be central to the book, but opinion has to be framed as such. It’s even okay to hold a contrarian point of view; informed opinions can be persuasive even if they are outliers. But inflating your opinion or failing to put forth a balanced case will come across as manipulative, which will raise readers’ skepticism. Your argument should be, “This is my position on this issue, and here is some evidence to back up my claims,” rather than, “Trust me, I am right” or, worse, “Listen only to me.”
The Remedy: Invite Constructive Criticism
Conduct careful research. Lots of it. And be equally careful in your note-taking. The consensus bias means that humans are fallible to shaping arguments that shore up our assumptions. You can get away with that in a dinner party debate, but your critics will poke holes in your argument (or ignore your book altogether) if your argumentation is anything less than rock solid.
When your subject matter is controversial, it’s critical to test its credibility by sending out your manuscript for peer review to other experts who know your subject well. It can be very hard to invite other experts to critique your work, (many authors worry that their peers will judge them harshly on their writing abilities, or shoot down their ideas), but it’s imperative to do so. Solicit feedback from people whose credibility and expertise you respect, especially if they’re in a different ideological camp.
The idea here is not to reverse your position or even to soften it, but to argue your points more effectively. Readers are more likely to be persuaded by your arguments if they can see on the page that you’ve considered other points of view.
If there is a person or organization already preaching your gospel, don’t ignore or aim to discredit them—consider joining forces. Join the movement that’s already in progress, and be bold about making your own unique contribution. You want a book with an argument that is distinct from others’ but you probably won’t be saying something absolutely brand new, so don’t pretend you are.
The Problem: Excessive Negativity
At the heart of your manifesto is a problem that cries out to be solved. Seeing as you’re worked up enough to write an entire book on the subject, it’s fair to assume you’re probably feeling a certain level of personal frustration about it. You may have noticed a million different ways in which the problem presents itself, and a million terrible side effects. Resist the temptation to catalogue them all in your book, and keep your book scrupulously clear of bitterness and judgmental attitudes. Not only is excessive negativity a big turn-off, it’s unbalanced, unhelpful, and intellectually lazy.
The Remedy: Focus on Solutions
The best manifestos are more than polemical rants. They propose solutions and open new avenues of possibility. Yes, you’ll need to illustrate the magnitude and breadth of the issue, and might even want to inject a little drama into it. But it’s important to strike a balance between presenting new ideas and bashing old ones. To really engage readers’ attention and move them to action, you must give them an actionable takeaway, or at least a new worldview to embrace and promote.
The Problem: Forgetting the Reader’s Priorities
You may desperately want people to take better care of the planet, raise their children more compassionately, or contribute more to their communities, but do you think they care what you want? Of course not. They’re reading books that scratch totally different itches. Now, there are plenty of people who already care about the things you do, and you could write a how-to book to help them to do them or understand them better, but that’s not the same thing as converting new hearts and minds to the cause. Every reader, when browsing for something new to read, considers the question: “What’s in it for me?” And if the answer is: “a lecture,” most people will pass.
The Remedy: The Trojan Horse
Every ideological cause has practical applications that benefit all sorts of people in different ways. One of the best ways to persuade readers to try something different or care about something new is to find an authentic benefit that already matters to them. In marketing, this is called the “Trojan Horse” strategy: deliver something that they want, but slip into it what they need.
Environmentally apathetic readers might be persuaded to recycle more and reduce waste if you can show them how it will save them money. People stuck on a junk food diet might be open to eating differently if they learn that it will increase their energy and productivity. If they’re trying to lose weight, you can also show them how to develop a healthy attitude about food and love their bodies.
Determine how your philosophy or methodology might impact people who are less inclined to be interested in it, and show them why they should care. This might not seem like the book you intended to write, but if you get it right, you stand a much higher chance of altering the behavior or attitude of a whole population.
***
In this article, I’ve focused a lot on the challenges faced by mission-driven authors, but it’s important to remember that you also have some pretty amazing strengths. Writing any book is an incredibly demanding task, but your passion ensures that you’ll have the commitment to see your project through. You’ll also have a desire to make the book as good as possible, so you’re less likely to cut corners or fudge the details. And when the time comes to market it, you’ll have the enthusiasm necessary to talk persuasively about your book in interviews, and to champion it on social media.
As a truly interested subject matter expert, you understand your issue and its ramifications deeply. And because you know all the major players in that space, you’re in a good position to build a community of interest and support around your book’s themes. This is where your passion really pays off. Guided by the truth of your own experience and the insight of your research, you have an instinctual sense of who truly “gets it”. This will be immensely helpful when the time comes to build your team, bringing in the mentors, collaborators, and publishing team members who will work with you to execute your grand vision and make your mark on the world.
***
Manifesto Checklist to Change the World
How can you determine the marketability of your book idea if you are too close to it to tell if it’s viable? Here’s a short checklist of attributes that any manifesto must have.
- Bona fide expertise. Are you a demonstrable expert on the subject? If not, consider taking a journalistic approach. Interview people who are experts, and apply your own analysis to tie their testimony together. (Don’t just quote their books.)
- Solid research and documentation. Take no short cuts when exposing the status quo!
- A concept that people are already looking for. Be clear on your target readership and take care to avoid the conceptual pitfalls of passion projects.
- Awareness of your expectations and the real-life pros and cons of publishing. Will your professional credentials be called into question? What affect will a book have on your reputation? Will going on the record about your passion project help you live your values?
- Assurance that a book is the appropriate medium for your world-changing message. Is there a sufficiently “big idea” to warrant a full-length book, or could your ideas be easily summed up in an article?
- If you were able to see this idea objectively for a second, would you tell yourself to keep going? If so, keep going.
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by Maggie Langrick | May 2, 2017 | Articles, Deep Stuff, News and Events
This week the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) announced the changes that will be made to its upcoming new edition, which comes out in September. As an editor, a publisher, and a progressive idealist, I am applauding one of those changes in particular: approval of the use of the singular pronoun they.
The English language is one of the most shape-shifting languages in the world. Every year, English speakers add new words to the lexicon and repurpose old ones. Some of these innovations are widely adopted and become part of the language; others fall by the wayside. There are lots of grey areas along the way, between variant spellings, optional punctuation conventions, and good old slang.
This makes life tough for editors, guardians of language whose job is to make sure that writers follow the rules. But what happens when the rules are incomplete, contradictory or agnostic, as is so often the case in our rapidly evolving tongue? That’s where style guides like CMOS come in to provide consistent guidelines on word use, grammar and punctuation that almost every book editor follows, whether or not they agree with all of its points.
See what I did there? Until this week, the CMOS and most English teachers would insist the sentence I just wrote is wrong, and more properly should be: “…to provide consistent guidelines on word use, grammar and punctuation that almost every book editor follows, whether or not he agrees with all of its points.”
Remember when the world was male by default? The human race was known as man, married women called themselves Mrs. Joe Blow, and any person not specifically identified as female was always referred to as he, even if his gender was not known. Doesn’t that sound archaic now? Humankind has evolved since then. Most editors and writers now opt to use the cumbersome phrase he or she when referring to an unknown or hypothetical person, but the “generic he” is still a thing, at least in formal writing.
Speech is different. In conversation, people often use they or their as a generic pronoun. Think of the sentence: “Every attendee must have their own ticket,” or “If a stranger comes to the door, don’t let them in.” The practice is so common, some editors and language experts have argued for years that the singular they should be officially embraced in written English too. The debate has gained more energy and urgency with the rising numbers of individuals who are transgender or non-binary, many of whom prefer they as their personal pronoun of choice (a usage the new edition of the CMOS fully accepts).
I’m as much of a stickler for linguistic correctness as the next editor, but on this issue, I am firmly in the pro-they camp. I believe that one of the greatest strengths and delights of the English language is that it is constantly evolving to better reflect the lives and times of its speakers. Like gender, it is fluid.
Having said that, we have avoided using the singular they in most of the books we’ve published at LifeTree. Aside from breaking with CMOS convention, it can have an odd ring to it, so some readers would likely be put off or confused. But in our newest title, The Sacred Path of the Soulmate by Gerald Sze, we enthusiastically employed they, them and their throughout the book, and included an editors’ note explaining our decision.
“When your lover shows you unconditional kindness, they empower you to love and respect yourself.”
A treatise on the spiritual purpose of true romantic love, the book is filled with candid stories of the intimate side of life, as well as relationship advice for lovers of every stripe. The editorial team and the author agreed that using “he or she” every time we mentioned “your partner” would be intolerably unwieldy. We could have chosen to alternate between he and she from one anecdote to the next, a very common way to make a text more inclusive, but we felt strongly that this could introduce gender-bias into the subtext of the situational examples given, especially those to do with childrearing, money, sexual attraction, and housework. In other words, almost every aspect of romantic relationships!
In the end, the thing that pushed us to take the linguistically controversial plunge was a desire to be inclusive to all people, in all sorts of partnerships. Consider this passage from the book.
Love is when you lose your breast to cancer and your partner kisses the surgical scar and says you will always be the most beautiful person in the world to them.
Love is when the family is getting bigger and your partner suddenly loses their appetite for pricey Starbucks coffee and takes on a second, part-time job because they have too much free time.
Love is when your partner cuts your hair for you for 40 years because you’ve never found anyone who cuts it as well as they do.
This language might sound a little clunky to some people, but you can see how using he or she anywhere in the above examples would risk reinforcing gender stereotypes that don’t reflect the breadth of human diversity.
By contrast, the pronoun they makes no assumptions about who the reader is, who they love, or how either person in the relationship is expected to behave. We feel that this is an enlightened ideal worth pushing the boundaries of the English language for. This week, the editors of the Chicago Manual of Style agreed, and brought us one step closer to that ideal.
by Maggie Langrick | Feb 6, 2017 | Articles, Creative Stuff
Of all the book chapters you will write, your introduction is likely to confound you the most. What should go in it? How long should it be? Is anyone even going to read it? Most authors find themselves scratching their heads over questions like these. I hope to answer them here.
A book introduction isn’t strictly necessary in every book, but most non-fiction books will benefit from having one. If you’re going to include one, it’s critical to get it right. Potential readers often skim the introduction to help them decide whether or not to buy a book. An introduction that’s engaging and compelling can clinch the sale, but a dull or meandering one can kill the reader’s interest before they’ve even glanced at Chapter 1. Having said that, some readers skip the introduction altogether, so it must also stand alone and should not establish important facts or statements essential to understanding the rest of the book. So, what does go into it?
A non-fiction book introduction has a few jobs to do:
1. Tell the reader what’s in it for them.
Most importantly, the introduction should tell the reader what they will gain from reading the book. Some introductions are highly specific in describing the book’s content, breaking it down chapter by chapter. This is especially true of how-to books that need to be read or used in a specific way. Others simply describe the life-transforming gifts the book promises to deliver. You should choose an approach that supports your material, and speaks to your reader’s needs and motivations.
2. Create interest.
The introduction must also prime the reader for the experiential journey they are about to embark upon. What will it feel like to read this book? Be consistent with the style and tone of voice that you use in the book, and don’t hold back on the charm. You must sparkle on the page and be every bit as clever, insightful or helpful as you are in the rest of the book. Think of the introduction as a blind date. Your undecided potential reader needs to figure out whether they like spending time with you enough to invest their time, attention and money in a longer-term relationship.
3. Build rapport.
Unless you’re writing a memoir, your book’s chapters will largely focus on your reader’s problem and your solution to it, rather than your own personal stories, thoughts and opinions. But the introduction is one place where it’s definitely ok to “break the fourth wall” and address your reader directly, as an author and a human being. Open up a little bit about your personal motivation for writing the book. Was there a particular “aha” moment when you realized that you needed to write it? Tell that story now. And who do you hope to help with the book? Sharing your desire to serve a particular type of person will help to forge a bond between you and your potential reader, demonstrating to them that you understand their needs and are motivated by serving their best interests.
4. Build trust.
Finally, your introduction should underscore your authority as the right person to write this book. No doubt you are a credentialed expert in the subject you’re writing about, but you can’t take it for granted that your readers know that, so use the introduction to conversationally share some details of your professional history. If you’ve been helping clients with this problem for twenty years, say so. If you played an important role in pivotal moments in your industry’s history, explain how. If you’ve conducted deep research or developed a proprietary system, tell them about it. This is not bragging, it’s putting yourself in context. You must answer the reader’s unspoken question: “Why should I listen to you?”
Length
There are no hard and fast rules regarding the ideal length of an introduction – just make it as long as necessary to get the job done, and no longer. That could be anywhere from a single page in some cases, up to a full-length chapter if there’s a particularly fascinating back-story to share. Usually, it’s best to aim somewhere in between, leaning toward the shorter side. Certainly, you do not want to write an introduction that’s longer than your average chapter length. Just stick to the highlights, and save the detailed foundation of your book’s premise for Chapter 1.
Timing
Although your introduction is placed at the front of the book, you don’t have to write it first. In fact, many authors find it much easier to write the introduction last, sometimes even after the first round of substantive editing is complete. By that time, you’ll have found your voice and your confidence as a writer, and you’ll also be able to draw the reader’s attention to specific sections in the book.
Above all, don’t make the mistake of thinking of the introduction as a dull but necessary evil. Yes, lots of people will skip it, but that’s no excuse to treat it like a throwaway. Put your best foot forward. Take time to write it with care and confidently showcase your ideas, your personality, your history, and your dedication to the reader. Your up-front investment will pay off in reader engagement and book sales.
by Maggie Langrick | Nov 12, 2016 | Articles, Deep Stuff, Personal Stuff
I woke up crying the morning after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States.
It happened because I’d been crying in my dream, of course. I was at Hillary Clinton’s campaign headquarters with some close friends and other women, watching Trump’s numbers climb. How could this be happening? She was ahead in virtually all the polls. She’s the most qualified presidential candidate the US has ever seen. She’s so much better, smarter, more trustworthy, principled and experienced than her opponent, even senior Republicans were switching teams to support her. But as the inevitability of Hillary’s defeat became clear, we packed up the room somberly, taking down posters and stacking chairs, hugging each other, and crying. I woke up with tears on my pillow.
The fact that I am devastated by the outcome this election might seem odd to some, since I’m not American and Hillary Clinton was never going to be my president. But the pain I’m feeling isn’t about my personal circumstances, or whether the US election will affect my daily life. This is gender pain, and millions of women are reeling from it now.
A good friend remarked this morning that he didn’t see gender as a major factor in Hillary’s loss, pointing instead to anger and disruption, and the loss of grand American ideals. He said that we should be crying for all Americans, not just for women and men who are disappointed by a still-intact glass ceiling. He’s not wrong. There are so many people to cry for right now, and so much to cry about. The problem with a situation like Trump’s victory is that it has so many overlapping seriously upsetting implications, it is difficult to know which of them to mourn first, loudest and longest.
So today, I am crying about the hideous racism, hatred and division this man unleashes and legitimizes. I am crying about the threat a Republican majority government poses to the environment. (Good God, the Arctic!) I am crying about Trump’s disdain for American democratic institutions and processes. I am crying about the Supreme Court and the rollback of human rights that we are likely to see there under Trump, especially the hard-won right of women to control what happens to our own bodies. I am crying about his inhumane stance on immigration and refugee asylum. I am crying about the destabilizing effect he may have on NATO. I am crying about the fuel that his victory gives to xenophobic, extreme-right groups in other countries. Any one of these things is well worth crying about. But we also really need to cry about the undeniable role that misogyny has played in putting this monster, and all the potential monstrosities he brings with him, into the White House.
Yes, we women are disappointed that our horse lost the race, especially since she was the favourite, but that is not the source of our anguish. The far greater tragedy from a feminist perspective is that she lost to a grossly indecent misogynistic bully and sexual predator. That her almost comically high stack of qualifications were somehow trounced by his complete absence of them. That so many men (and, most profoundly distressing, so many women) in America feel ok enough about his hostility and boorishness to cheer him on all the way to the Oval Office.
We have watched him mock, ridicule, menace, invalidate and otherwise bully women all the way through the campaign, from Rosie O’Donnell, Alicia Machado and Megyn Kelly to Hillary herself. We watched him brag about grabbing women’s genitals and putting his mouth on theirs (let’s not call it kissing, please) without their consent, and then we watched him denounce and threaten to sue nearly a dozen women who came forward to tell us that his alarming boasts were not empty words. We watched him parade the women who accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct before the media in an attempt to leverage their suffering for his own gain. We read about the charges against him of allegedly raping a 13-year old girl.
While all of this turned our stomachs, it also stiffened our resolve. Hang in there, sister, we thought. Keep your head high while he digs his own grave, and your day (our day!) will come. Hillary’s victory would be womankind’s vindication for his abuse, and by extension for the abuse and indignities that all woman have suffered at the hands of men who are not running for president. His defeat would send a clear signal that the days when bullies can expect to get away with this shit are over.
And then the unthinkable happened: The bully got away with it. In fact, he was rewarded for it with power and prestige that he doesn’t deserve, and a leadership position for which he is completely unqualified. Through his words and actions, Trump declared that women’s rights don’t matter or aren’t real, and, to our horror, the American public backed him up on that. This is quite enough to cry about all on its own, so let us have our moment of mourning, for crying out loud.
maggie langrick
Founder and Publisher, LifeTree Media
Maggie Langrick is the President and Publisher at LifeTree Media, a publishing company specializing in nonfiction books and ebooks that help, heal and inspire. Before founding LifeTree in 2013, Maggie was Arts and Life editor for the Vancouver Sun newspaper. In June 2016 she was shortlisted for the Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence, Canada's only national peer-reviewed editing prize, for her work on Shell, by Michelle Stewart. She is the author of the forthcoming book Bold, Deep and High: How to Write Your Best Book. Maggie calls herself "an optimistic cheerleader for the human race", and thrives on a balanced diet of yoga and ribald humour.
by Maggie Langrick | Aug 26, 2016 | Articles, Writing about writing
What the heck is a hybrid publisher, anyway? And how do you know if you’ve found a good one?
At its best, hybrid publishing offers many of the benefits of being published by a traditional publisher — including access to market (i.e. brick-and-mortar bookstores), high quality editing and design — as well as the benefits of self-publishing, such as higher royalties, ownership of rights and creative control. I founded LifeTree on this model because I wanted to offer authors the opportunity to have the best of both worlds. But not every company that calls itself a hybrid publisher delivers on all these criteria.
Because hybrid publishing is a relatively new and emerging model, different firms use the label in slightly different ways, which understandably leads to a lot of confusion among authors about what it is, how it works, and who it’s for. If you’re wondering whether hybrid publishing is right for you, you’ve probably Googled it and discovered some inconsistency in the services offered, which can be a frustrating experience.
It’s hard to shop around for something if you don’t know what you’re looking for. So how can you tell a quality hybrid publisher from a time-waster? When speaking to J.S. Leonard on his Bleeding Ink podcast, I mentioned that there are three essential questions to ask. Now I’ll also give you the best answer you can hear for each of the three, as well as the worst answer.
1. How is your distribution handled?
Best answer: “We are distributed to the book trade, which means that we have a national (or international) team of sales reps who will actively sell your book into stores. We supply these reps with a full set of sales materials relating to your book, including cover art, a sell sheet, excerpts from the text, and sometimes Advance Reader Copies (ARCs), which are also referred to as ‘bound galleys’. Each season, we meet with our distributor to present our upcoming titles to the sales team. In turn, the reps meet with buyers at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, airport stores, specialty retailers, libraries, and all other sorts of booksellers. Through our distributor, retailers sometimes offer us the opportunity to participate in ‘co-op’ arrangements, in which your book is given special placement in the store such as the front table, in exchange for a fee. We also handle warehousing, shipping, order fulfillment, and the processing of returns, as well as calculation and payout of royalties.”
Worst answer: “Your book is available to order in any local bookstore.” Some hybrid publishers and self-publishing companies claim to offer “worldwide distribution,” when really what they mean is that your book is listed in the catalogue of a book wholesaler such as Ingram. This means that, although a customer could technically walk into a store and order your book, they will never find it on the shelf there: no sales reps are presenting it to retailers, so no retailers are stocking it. This is not true trade distribution.
2. Do you do developmental editing?
Best answer: “We sure do! In fact, we consider developmental editing the most important part of the book creation process. This is editing at the bird’s-eye level, in which we examine fundamental aspects of the book such as its topic focus, structure and tone. What are its core messages, and are they clearly expressed? Have new ideas been introduced in the right sequence so that each one builds on what has come before? Is anything missing from the book, and does anything need to be taken out? Is the book geared to appeal to its target market? These are critical questions to resolve before the manuscript can be revised and copyedited. Our editors are industry-seasoned book publishing professionals who will bring sound, informed guidance to your collaborative relationship.”
Worst answer: “We will copyedit your book to make sure it is free from typos and grammatical errors.” Many vanity publishers and self-publishing companies tout their copyediting services to authors, who may be unfamiliar with the various levels of editing. Yes, copyediting is essential to any book – but only once the deeper developmental work has been done. Otherwise, you’re icing a half-baked cake.
3. Who owns the rights to my book?
This one’s a bit more complicated, because it depends on whether or not the hybrid publisher jointly invests in the book’s production with you, or whether you have put up all the money. If you’re the sole financial backer of your book, then you should own all the publishing rights, now and forever (as you would under LifeTree’s model). If your hybrid publisher is jointly investing with you, then there are a number of different ways the deal might be structured, but be wary of any hybrid publisher who insists on acquiring your rights without making a financial investment in the book.
Of course, there’s much more to know about hybrid publishing. I covered a lot of it in my conversation with J.S Leonard, when he interviewed me for his Bleeding Ink podcast. Click here to listen to it.
This article was originally published on the LifeTree Media blog.
maggie langrick
Founder and Publisher, LifeTree Media
Maggie Langrick is the President and Publisher at LifeTree Media, a publishing company specializing in nonfiction books and ebooks that help, heal and inspire. Before founding LifeTree in 2013, Maggie was Arts and Life editor for the Vancouver Sun newspaper. In June 2016 she was shortlisted for the Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence, Canada's only national peer-reviewed editing prize, for her work on Shell, by Michelle Stewart. She is the author of the forthcoming book Bold, Deep and High: How to Write Your Best Book. Maggie calls herself "an optimistic cheerleader for the human race", and thrives on a balanced diet of yoga and ribald humour.
