#Author writing vs. Contract work

[thebibliosphere]

What are your thoughts on authors writing and posting fanfiction of their own work? Do you think being self published vs traditionally published makes a difference? I tried searching around about the topic before but found nothing conclusive, other than the statement, "if you're the owner of the work, you might as well make more money off of it," which doesn't sit right with me.

I mean, I'm quite (in)famously writing an AU fic of my own work (Sugar Vladdy) purely for fun and because Tumblr has a unique ability to pilot my lack of impulse control like the ADHD version of Ratatouille.

Numerous people have told me they'd buy Sugar Vladdy if I ever decided to make it into a proper book. Frankly, I'm not interested in that because my motives for writing Hunger Pangs vs. Sugar Vladdy were different.

Writing for profit vs writing for fandom occupy different spaces in my brain. They scratch different itches. Yes, I'm playing around with the same characters. But I'm sort of just treating it like enrichment in my enclosure. It lets my brain throw around all the ideas that wouldn't work for those characters within the canon universe but still likes to go, "Oh, but what if..."

Honestly. No idea how much of that is my ADHD or what, but that's the only way I can explain it. They're the same, but they're not. They're fun in different ways. And I can get away with it because I'm self-pub. I haven't sold the rights to anyone. The world and characters are mine. I can put my blorbos into situations if I want to.

Now, if I were trad-pub, there would probably be a lot of restrictions about what I can and cannot do surrounding my own characters because I've sold the rights for X amount of time. I couldn't just give things away. It might be considered a breach of contract if I did. It'd definitely be something I'd need to run by an agent first just to make sure.

As for not liking the "might as well make money off it" mindset, as a literal struggling writer who lives paycheck to paycheck, I'm not going to judge anyone who keeps their official work as for profit only. People deserve to be paid for their labor. If they/we want to create stuff away for free, that's up to us.

Would I personally find it stifling and joy-killing to only ever write for profit? Yes. But that's a me thing. Not a universal thing.

[wingsoverlagos]

Lewisohn vs. Shepherd

I'm still at work on the whole Kim Bennett thing, but here's a quick Lewisohn vs. post to spice things up. Actually, the book from which I was cross-referencing was due at the library, so I started work on this, quickly realized the source was also readily availble online, but decided to finish it anyway.

The source at hand is Jean Shepherd’s October 28th, 1964 interview with the Beatles, published in the February 1965 issue of Playboy. You can find a transcribed version here or a scanned copy here. It’s a great, quick read - seven pages sparkling with Beatles wit and a concerted effort by George to convince the interviewer he's in love with Ringo. Small tw for transphobia in the form of a tired pronoun joke at the expense of April Ashley.

Tune In pulls three quotes from Shepherd's interview. Two of them are below the cut - their are minor changes (one exceedingly minor) to those quotes, but the first quote I'll address is taken wildly out of context. It's not the most offensive distortion of history that Lewisohn has put forward, but its maddeningly blatant - and pointless.

Tune In 26-20 vs. Shepherd 1965, p.54

The quote of interest is highlighted in green, but I included the preceding paragraph because the context matters greatly here. The Beatles & Brian were down in the dumps, having struck out with every record company with any semblance of artistic merit. Lewisohn highlights that John and Paul in particular were down in the dumps, but that “their young friend George stayed optimistic. He rallied them, he showed them that while they might be thinking the worst, he was remaining hopeful.” His evidence for this is the quote highlighted in green, in which John says Brian and George knew they would make it big.

Well. Let’s check the source.

If you look at the quote, once again in green, it’s almost correct—Lewisohn drops “our manager”, but it’s close by Tune In’s standards. Take a look at what’s around the quote, and you’ll see it’s taken wildly out of context. John isn’t talking about George’s confidence in the Beatles ability to score a record contract in 1962; he is unambiguously referring to George’s confidence that the Beatles will succeed in America in 1964. And that confidence didn’t stem from “the Beatles’ mantra” that “Something’ll turn up”—George thought they’d be successful in the states because he was aware of their U.S. record sales.

The thing that gets me here is that it’s so unnecessary. As a historian writing for a general audience, the Beatles must be a dream: you have a core group of four complex, interesting, musically gifted people whose personal and artistic growth played out in the public eye, exhaustively documented. They were surrounded by a supporting cast of vibrant characters to root for or revile, who all played a role in a story brimming with friendship, romance, rivalry, wit, and tragedy. There's no reason to rewrite history for the Beatles - their story can be both factually correct and narratively compelling, yet Lewisohn joins a storied list of authors who have felt the need to gild the lily.

What does this add to the Beatles story? How does it benefit the narrative to portray George Harrison as a plucky kid from an afterschool special, cheering on his elders with unflagging optimism when things look bleak? It’s trite, and it’s fake. It's not the Beatles.

This isn’t the most earth-shattering act of historical revisionism Lewisohn has committed to print, but its brazenness is galling. In the introduction to Tune In, Lewisohn states, “I’ve wanted a history of deep-level inquiry where the information is tested accurate, and free of airbrushing, embellishment and guesswork, written with an open mind and even hands, one that unfolds lives and events in context and without hindsight, the way they occurred…” And yet we get this. He knowingly took this quote two years and a whole Atlantic Ocean out of context, and he had the audacity to tout his book as “tested accurate, and free of airbrushing, embellishment and guesswork.”

He's pissing on our feet and telling us it's raining, folks.

Tune In 29-4 vs. Shepherd 1965, p.56

An impressive number of little deletions and changes for such a small quote.

Tune In 33-1 vs. Shepherd 1965, p.54

This one almost isn’t worth mentioning. The only change is the emphasis removed from Ringo’s “them” in the original quote.

Sources:

Lewisohn M. 2013. The Beatles: All These Years Vol. 1: Tune In. New York (NY): Crown Archetype. [ebook]

Shepherd J. 1965 Feb. Playboy Interview: The Beatles. Playboy 12:51-60. Accessed online 2024 Mar. Available from: https://imgur.com/a/HY2Ji

[necronatural]

I may have followed you for BSDante but between ORV posting and getting me hooked on Shinozaki-kun...

I beg for your recommendations list because you have Taste.

baby all I read is historical romance. Read dungeon meshi and mob psycho 100 i guess

some good manga, no particular theme

The Summer Hikaru Died - READ THIS. Middle school summer love story BL crushed by psychological/cosmic horror

telework yobanashi - slice of life romance about a guy working from home getting to know his apartment neighbour

sensitive boy - shoujo romance about a boy trying to understand 'normal' after being sexually assaulted in middle school, with a variety of experiences with the concept of sex and relationships like a (seemingly?) aromantic woman and a (canonically) asexual classmate

I Was Summoned by Mistake, but I'm the Heroine - geni yuu has an entire manga cinematic universe about isekai girls and this is the first one. very pre-lightnovel-isekai storytelling style with post-lightnovel-isekai tropes.

A World Where Everything Definitely Becomes BL vs. The Man Who Definitely Doesn't Want To Be In A BL - for my eminent yaoi scholars

Heterogeneous Linguistics - dungeon meshi for languages. Linguist ventures to the land of Fantasy Monster Races where each has their own fascinating language and writing system and each have their own ways to communicate with other races, helping him slowly piece together how they communicate (with the help of his teacher's young half-wolfman daughter)

When a Cat Faces West - by the author of Mushishi so you know the vibes are good, a tiny investigation office for reality-bending incidents coloured by the people they happen to.

Double House - Simple story of a lesbian runaway and a trans woman bouncing off each other as they grapple with what it means to be a woman.

Yomi no Tsugai (Daemons of the Shadow Realm) - Arakawa Hiromu's new manga. Really good. I won't spoil anything besides the fact it's about several factions of people who can contract spirits with special abilities to fight vying to obtain the main character, who's auspicious birth heralds a vast potential power

[swordsandarms]

This is a reply in regards to this post, which highlights the high likelihood that, whether people are fine with the author's choices or not, RxL is written by him with romantic nuance as far as the text goes. @sahtinekryze

And I think this fandom really needs to have a honest analysis of the idea of "selfishness" in narrative choices such as this, which is that when it comes to how the whole "duty vs love" scenarios Martin writes, he does not actually writes it with some wide spectrum ranging from selfish to sacrificial. There are usually no other choices than the two.

Could one define the alleged choice of breaking a noble marriage contract that would have negative political influence at the least, had it been the best case scenario (which one would logically assume the two might have hoped for instead of very lots of people dying including themselves) as 'selfish', which in its very definition is doing something for one's self, though it may not be advantageous for others? Yes.

But as I said, Martin doesn't write a middle ground. There's that, or Lyanna marries an unwanted man and is hence forced to have a non-consensual relationship with him, and forced to carry children out of a noncon relationship, so that her male relatives can reap benefits of political power, as well as her groom through her womb. And as shows inspired by these books love to show us very graphic such cases (like Daenerys in GOT, or the storyline given to show!Sansa, or the changes for show!Alicent in HOTD), I am sure fans should have learnt better about the accusations usually thrown at Lyanna in fandom spaces in regards to being another woman marrying against her will in a society where a woman cannot say no, marital rape isn't recognised, and a husband is "just taking his rights": that "this is just being whiny". (There are many other examples in the books; the author is also not holding back on what unwanted or unsuitable marriages mean to women.)

Against the fanon idea that she is some wild, demanding, conceited girl, she doesn't rage, she doesn't bite. She has a tentative, soft spoken conversation with her brother about it and her reluctance in the matter, and is (nicely) dismissed.

Had she not (allegedly, while all is unconfirmed) fallen for the Crown Prince and he for her, there is no one else powerful enough to extract her from her situation (her male relatives having made up their own minds in the matter), nor anyone else to go from where she cannot be recovered by a powerful and connected family and fiance. No one else she could marry/sleep with that wouldn't be shut down and covered (as seen with Tyrion or Lysa) to preserve the higher price for which her womb can be bartered. Just no other viable choice that wasn't the other end of the scale: a woman being sacrificed by men, for men's uses.

As I said at the start, this is simply how Martin writes these conflicts of "mind and heart". He corners the characters. There is no light at the end of the tunnel that isn't also sort of "selfish" and "dumb" looking on the surface.

This can be applied to more such situations in the text-

Catelyn undoes the already precarious state of her son's campaign by releasing their most valuable captive. She has not even a guarantee that her 'selfish' act for love will work. But there are no options she's given. No one else cares to make it a priority to get her daughters back. The only other choice is to let it be and let 2 girls be sacrificed in marriages of ill intent to use their wombs and discard them, unsure if she will find anything left of them but Lannister named babies when this is over. It is "selfish". It is "dumb". Yet she's cornered.

Jon makes the decision to go fight Ramsay Bolton because he's run out of options and he's cornered. Arya is allegedly in the hands of the family that have viciously killed a number of Starks and taken Winterfell. She is 11 and allegedly married. He is made sick at the thought of what is being done to her. He's tried the "lesser" tactics of getting her rescued without being seen as trespassing the status quo of the NW publicly, by sending others for her. But it was always going to come to this. Ramsay guesses (or finds out) that his escaped bride would make it to the Wall. Keeping "peace" and "doing his duty" instead of "being selfish and dumb" is handing over "Arya" himself if she even makes it to appease the Lord of Winterfell, sacrificing a girl to an unwanted marriage meant to use her for her womb and discard her.

There are no actual choices when there is no actual scale in between "selfish and dumb" and the sacrifice of a girl (or, you know, 2,3, as many as Westeros would swallow as it did for millennia for this or that Lord or King to amass and keep power), whether they are Lannisters trying to get Winterfell, or Starks extinguishing the line of the Warg King.

[bimboficationblues]

what would you put on a political theory syllabus if you could

like an intro/survey course? so the conventional theory class in Anglo-American poli-phil goes roughly like this: Plato/Aristotle -> Machiavelli (if you fuck nasty) -> Hobbes/Locke/Rousseau -> J.S. Mill -> Marx (sometimes, and only with the disclaimer that this guy needs to lighten up!) -> omission of like 120 years of global thought, including the shifts wrought by two World Wars, postcolonialism, and 1968 -> Rawls. there's usually, but not consistently, some idiosyncratic liberal picks from the various omitted periods/regions based on whatever the academic in question is preoccupied with, or attempts (sometimes sincere, sometimes half-hearted) to add some diversity to the lineup, most typically some form of liberal-leaning writings on feminism or racism or occasionally postcolonialism.

I think this abridged history is like, okay but not great (Charles Mills' Decolonizing Political Philosophy is a great piece on why). it’s produced by a combination of both the discipline's narrow post-Rawls liberal paradigm, and the constraints of intro/survey courses, which aim for breadth rather than depth (which I think is generally reasonable at least on its face), so the trick I would want to pull off is making something that works within the latter constraint while not succumbing to the paradigm.

the question sort of demands interrogating what a theory class is for in the ideal sense, what it uniquely can offer (so, going beyond specific skills that can be developed in other ways, like learning to write, understand, critique, and respond to long-form argument, or the more cynical pipeline-to-labor stuff like credentialing).

I think some main goals would be 1) contextualizing your existence in the world as a political subject, 2) be able to pass an ideological Turing test, i.e. accurately represent the substance of different perspectives and worldviews such that you could "pass" for the authentic thing [so I would include writers/writings that I detest for KYE reasons], 3) increase your autonomy as a political agent and ability to recognize how these various concepts and systems underlie the fabric of our political language and practice and how you can apply them in reality in collaboration with others.

an extension of these goals, imo, is that political thought without a history is dead in the water - this is why I have kind of a hardline opposition to trying to learn political theory mostly through social media and why "leftist theory recs" on here usually drive me absolutely crazy. so any teaching of these readings would probably require a decent level of contextualization.

then there's a question of structure. my intro class was actually pretty enjoyable despite following the pattern described above, as my prof centered the class around different chapters of Plato's Republic, using each chapter as a jumping off point to talk about connections with a more modern political thinker while also incorporating some short fiction of Octavia Butler. cool stuff! I think organizing around theme is edifying. there's tradeoffs to doing chronological vs thematic organization of readings though, which I want to keep in mind

so with all that I think it would look roughly like this (though frankly my reach might be exceeding my grasp), and you could pretty much reorganize the readings to be chronological if you wanted:

"The Political"/Power: I think spending some time on "metapolitics" is important, like what politics is and what the function of political philosophy is. So start with some different perspectives on realism vs. idealism (the Republic, the Melian dialogue, The Prince) and sliding into competing definitions of politics as conflict vs consensus (the Arendt/Fanon and Schmitt/Benjamin "debates")

Authority: Hobbes/Rousseau/Hume on the social contract, the Crito/Thoreau/MLK on civil disobedience, ideally an anarchist of some stripe (would rather include Bakunin or Kropotkin but R.P. Wolff might be the more cohesive move)

Equality/Property: Locke's Second Treatise, Rousseau's Discourse on Inequality, The Communist Manifesto and/or Marx on primitive accumulation as an alternative genealogy of property/money, Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morality as illustrative of a reactionary/aristocratic perspective on equality (you could swap in Aristotle instead for a different take), Fanon in Black Skins White Masks

Justice: Plato, Rawls on distributive justice, Nussbaum on capabilities/global justice, Mills on the racial contract

Freedom: Mill's On Liberty, Marcuse's "Critique of Pure Tolerance," some chapters from Capital V1, "Throwing Like a Girl" by Young (plus maybe some Beauvoir/Wittig). work in Berlin and Pettit's competing ideas of liberty

then maybe end on Foucault writing in a broad mode about subjectivity OR Benjamin's "On the Concept of History" - either would be good for a kind of "call to action" that I like in a politics class

there are some concepts that might warrant their own segment (domination, violence, sovereignty, revolution, security, progress - I waffled on making "property" its own unit), but I'm trying to not go too crazy (and it's possible they could get folded into other concepts as corollaries). I'm also leaving out various authors that I do think merit inclusion (Adorno, Dewey, D&G, Lenin & Mao, Althusser, Davis, various contemporary writers), but I would probably follow the path of my Middle Eastern Politics professor - put supplemental/suggested readings in there for the freaks that like this stuff.

and finally I think the above is more tailored to be an introduction (if a somewhat sweeping one), you could take an alternative tack and construct "contemporary issues in political theory" (e.g. migration/refugees, climate, economic crisis, security state/surveillance) and I think that would also be a rewarding survey

[brostateexam]

Writers have always endured indignities in Hollywood. But, as long as there are millions to be grabbed, the trade-off has been bearable—except when it isn’t. The past month has brought the discontent of television writers to a boiling point. In mid-April, the Writers Guild of America (the modern successor to the Screen Writers Guild) voted to authorize a strike, with a decisive 97.85 per cent in favor. The guild’s current contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers expires on May 1st; if the negotiations break down, it will be the W.G.A.’s first strike since late 2007 and early 2008. At issue are minimum fees, royalties, staffing requirements, and even the use of artificial intelligence in script production—but the over-all stakes, from the perspective of TV writers, feel seismic. “This is an existential fight for the future of the business of writing,” Laura Jacqmin, whose credits include Epix’s “Get Shorty” and Peacock’s “Joe vs. Carole,” told me; like the other writers I spoke to, she had voted for the strike authorization. “If we do not dig in now, there will be nothing to fight for in three years.” TV writers seem, on the whole, miserable. “The word I would use,” Jacqmin said, “is ‘desperation.’ ”

How did it come to this? About a decade ago, in the era of “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad,” and “Veep,” TV writing seemed like one of the coolest, best-paying jobs a writer could have. As with the talkie boom of the nineteen-thirties, playwrights and journalists were flocking to Hollywood to partake in the heyday of prestige TV. It was fun. “We were all just trying to figure out, like, where to live. How do we sublet? Do we buy a car? Do we rent a car?” Liz Flahive recalled. In 2008, Flahive had just had a play produced Off Broadway when she got hired to write for “Untitled Edie Falco Project,” which became Showtime’s “Nurse Jackie.” TV, unlike big-budget movies, was a writers’ medium, and it was undergoing a creative explosion. “The old-timey mentality was: you go work in TV, and it breaks your brain, and you learn all these terrible habits,” Flahive said. “But you didn’t. You were writing great scenes, and for really good actors.”

The “Nurse Jackie” writers’ room, Flahive recalled, “was half queer, majority female. It was half people who had done TV for a long time, and half people who had never done TV before.” But it was possible to learn. “I turned in my first script, and the co-E.P.s sat me down and said, ‘This is really great. But this is the most expensive episode of television ever written. It’s a half-hour show, and you have forty-one setups.’ I was, like, ‘What’s a setup?’ And they explained, ‘If you set this scene here, and you write this scene here, this is a whole company move, and this is a whole new set we have to build.’ And then I got to take that script and go sit on set and actually see what it meant when you write ‘EXT. SUBWAY PLATFORM,’ and why that’s complicated.”

Flahive rose through the ranks of “Nurse Jackie” and went on to co-create the Netflix comedy “GLOW” and the Apple TV+ anthology “Roar,” both with the playwright and producer Carly Mensch. But, in the intervening years, the profession has devolved. Streamers are ordering shorter seasons, and the residuals model that used to give network writers a reliable income is out the window. The ladder from junior writer to showrunner has become murkier, with some people repeating steps like repeating grades, and others being flung to the top without the requisite experience, in order to meet demand for new content. Studios are cutting writing budgets to the bone by hiring fewer people for shorter time periods, often without paying for lower-level writers to be on set during production, which makes it all but impossible to learn the skills necessary to run a show. On “Roar,” Flahive said, “we had to fight to budget for writers to prep and produce their episodes,” and some of her writers had never been to the set of shows they’d worked on, “which is astonishing to me.”

[adventuresofspock]

An Evening with Neil

I had the absolute pleasure to spend the evening with some of the loveliest people while we listened to @neil-gaiman talk. The sense of community and helpfulness was remarkable. The Venice Performing Arts Center must have been near capacity.

The sort of plan was to answer audience questions and read from various works. Pictures at the end! Here’s how it went:

- What was the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received? Read your contracts! Everything is open for negotiation, even the date at the top of the contract.

- How do you deal with criticism? Very badly 🤣

- READING: A Calendar of Tales: October (which just so happens to be one of my favorites.)

- Have you ever finished writing something and thought “this is special?” All of it! But yes, American Gods and Ocean at the End of the Lane felt different.

- Did you have the Sandman story arc completely planned out or did you wing it? Yes and yes.

- MY QUESTION!! First off, happy birthday! Can you offer some advice on when you feel you’ve done enough research to write on a topic vs getting sidelined by doing too much research? I have a lot of natural curiosity but it can work against me at times. I loved this answer and thank Neil again and again for giving it time.

- READING: Making A Chair (Poem)

- Who is your favorite Doctor? Patrick Troughton

- How do you keep going after criticism? “Try rejecting this!” And “Stop writing shit. Just write the good stuff.”

- Who are your favorite authors? Diana Wynne Jones, Ursula Le Guin, Peter Straub, Gene Wolfe, Dickens, Austen

- Did you ever have a book soundtrack to write to? Yes, all of them had soundtracks!

- READING: Watching From the Shadows (Poem)

- Have you ever dealt with imposter syndrome? Classic Neil/Neil story!

Waiting at the front of the line

Canvas totes they handed out

My signed book haul!

Neil, being authorly

My little drawing of Hazel’s tree (you can rake the leaves)

[nicosraf]

Hi, I think you mentioned that you decided not to go through with traditionally publishing Angels Before Man for fear of censorship and because you're closeted/wouldn't be able to do most author things.

Does tradpub not allow authors to not show their face/stay anonymous? This is something I've been curious about so I could know if trad publishing is possible for me or not.

And what are the other things they'd expect of authors that an anonymous author wouldn't be able to do?

Thank you and looking forward to all your future books! :)

Hello!

Let me start by saying that it's really difficult to explain the situation with tradpub at the moment. A lot is going to depend on your genre and age range, and where you're coming from. Your options are different if you're just a normal person who writes vs an MFA grad.

But — Tradpub expects book tours, strong social media presence (especially booktok), signing events, panel events at conventions, and so on. These are all things I couldn't do and were going to be a big caveat in any contract I signed. It's not that tradpub makes anonymity illegal or anything, but all publishers expect a certain degree of marketing obligations from you. This isn't the 80s where you just sent your book to the publisher and focus on the writing part.

So anonymity causes... a little trouble. Because the market is so crowded, when you ask for accommodations regarding not showing your face, it's more likely that a team will throw your book away and move on to someone who isn't going to get in the way of modern marketing styles. A publisher isn't just selling your book; they're selling you as a person. They want to sell you so that people will buy all of your work. They want to brag about the school you went to and your background.

So, yes you could manage to get anonymity into the contract but it's not going to look good for the acquisition and marketing team.

I feel like I always sound deeply pessimistic about tradpub but there are definitely authors out there that have managed to keep their lives more private!! Full anonymity though is very rare.

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (6-12 Oct 2024)

clyde you were the mvp of this entire series

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🥰 Every Door Opens (notoska) - Part 1 of We Made Ourselves - 74K, post WS angsty slow burn getting together fic - very delicious

🥰 Melt Into, Melt Until (notoska) - Part 2 of We Made Ourselves - 79K, stucky, post-getting together, lots & lots of slooooooow sex (positive) (very positive)

🥰 The Blood Contract (ikft) - 75K, Suits vampire AU - author's description: "What if we did Suits but half the characters were vampires for no discernible reason? What if that ended up changing very little … Because nothing screams satire like a bunch of lawyers who are also vampires." - great worldbuilding. first in a series but does stand alone

😍 A Man Takes His Sadness Down to the River (The Consolation of Philosophy) series - parts 1-3 (dorian_burberrycanary) - first 3 fics in a series of 4 works (40K out of 151K total) - a marvelous stucky post-EG/TFATWS fix it (knowledge of TFATWS canon not required)

💖💖 +136K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

Unorthodox (LearnedFoot) - Suits: Mike/Harvey, 6K - enjoyable alt-meeting AU

Something Else When I See You (emchant3d) - MCU: shrunkyclunks, 5K - 🔥🔥🔥

Normal (LearnedFoot) - Suits: Mike/Harvey, 9K - amnesia fic just never gets old!

Bon Voyage (spqr) - Doctor Odyssey: Max/Avery/Tristan, 11K - been fervently hoping someone would write this OT3 since ep 1 aired. Truly blessed this writer (one of my faves) took it on.

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

In Deep: Life at the Bottom of the Ocean With Dr. Sarah McAnulty - Session 4

Dr. Odyssey - s1, e3

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - s1, e1-2

The Sam Sanders Show - Sasheer Zamata on Queerness, Witches, and Disney

Handsome - Drew Barrymore asks about bats in caves

Handsome - Pretty Little Episode #8

The Sam Sanders Show - Monét X Change: Drag, Politics, and Opera

Dirty Laundry - s4, e5

Gastronauts - s1, e1

Elementary - s2, e9-19

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

Pop Culture Happy Hour - A Different Man

Code Switch - Ask Code Switch: Is it a preference or fetish?

Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me! - Dear Wait Wait: How do I keep my kid from biting people?

Vibe Check - The Vibe Coven

The Sporkful - How Cascatelli Ended Up In A German Museum

Pop Culture Happy Hour - SNL, Late Night, And The Election

⭐ Pop Culture Happy Hour - Pop Culture Pumpkin Spice Lattes: Basic But We Love It

Death, Sex & Money - Bonus: Two Sex Columnists on Tapping into Turn-Ons

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Saturday Night And What's Making Us Happy

Dear Prudence - I Spread A Rumor That Alienated My Friends and Mentor. Help!

Dear Prudence - Prudie Plus: My Partner is Kind, Generous…and a Trump Voter. Help!

It's Been a Minute - Is the free speech debate dead? Plus, the devil! Smart Podcast, Trashy Books - 636. Swordcrossed Cozy Romantasy with Freya Marske

⭐ Today, Explained - Pennies don’t make cents

99% Invisible - Christiania

Ologies - Momiology (MUMMIFICATION) with Kara Cooney & Salima Ikram

Re: Dracula - October 11: Freedom of Soul

Sibling Rivalry - The One About Diddy

It's Been a Minute - The SMACKDOWN: Techno vs. Aaliyah vs. Motown

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Juliana Hatfield covers

[andypantsx3]

Similar to the Todoroki ask, how do you write Bakugou 💀, I feel like the way you write him is very much in character of him. Your portrayal of him is definitely my favourite. Do you have any tips? THANKS :)))

Lmao once again I am honored you would trust me with this!! Omg I for sure do not write Bakugou nearly as well as some other writers in this fandom--I really feel like Bakugou in particular attracts some of the more character-driven authors because he's just like, an absolutely immaculately written character on his own.

But once again I can offer you the things that I personally do when I write him, and you can kind of pick and choose what might work for you depending on the kind of story you want to tell.

Technique-wise, Bakugou for me is all about power words. Everything he does, I make him do with force--he kicks open the door, he throws himself down in his chair--even when he's still, you get the sense that he's seconds away from blowing a hole in something. I'll always go for like the most exaggerated synonym for his actions possible, and try to come up with ways to communicate tension even when he's not doing anything.

Plot-wise, I like to shape the story around what I see as some of his strengths as a character: deeply apparent flaws (lol hear me out), and tsundereness lmao.

Canon Bakugou is such an interesting character specifically because of all the problems he has. He's short-tempered, he's desperate to prove himself, he misinterprets things and communicates so ineffectively, especially at the beginning of BNHA. I like to tie at least one of those things into any story involving Bakugou--that's why they are so often enemies-to-lovers romances, because he and Reader fundamentally misunderstand each other, and I will make it all Bakugou's fault.

I also really like what a total tsundere he is--especially in more recent chapters, you can tell that what he says doesn't match how he feels. He'll yell at Mina and Denki for trying to stuff him into the Christmas outfit, but ultimately let them do it. He'll go berserk on the Todorokis for involving him in their family drama, but he'll crop up in Shouto's room after the ~reveal~ to talk about Shouto's feelings about it. So I like to play this aspect of his character up in my fics too--make him call Reader an idiot but kiss her, make him claim to loathe Reader but protect her, etc etc. It's words vs actions with this dude.

Dialogue-wise, Bakugou is super distinct. He's got a foul mouth and he knows how to use it, so all of the dialogue I give him is abrasive or smug, even in some of the more intimate moments. With Bakugou, I always give him a nickname for Reader that is slightly condescending--"princess", brat", etc--and those always get tossed around a lot.

He gets a swear word in basically every line, and he makes a lot of very direct statements, like "I'm not taking care of this brat," or "That nerd couldn't do shit anyway," like he has always reached a decisive conclusion. Even when he phrases things like a question, he'll really just be using it as a tool to advertise his own opinion--"Anyone tell you you've got a mouth on you?" or, "You think I'm your fucking maid service?"

He also gets a bunch of contractions--it's never "I am not," it's always "I'm not,"--and I also give him the occasional elision too, where words get cut up into shorter sounds like "'S not my fault," instead of "It's not my fault," or "You fuckin' wish," instead of "You fucking wish." Lastly, he also gets a bunch of dialectic tics and sounds, like "Oi," or "tch" if he's being judgmental.

A lot of writers do different things with his dialect, though, and some writers have written really successful, like, softer-sounding Bakugou too, so I'd appreciate any tips from those writers!!

[literaticat]

How true do you think “no subbing to editors in August” is? My agent is holding off on subbing to some editors I REALLY want to sub to until late July at least, but I kind of want to ask to do it earlier…

Quick question: Did you read my lengthy answer from yesterday? Go do that.

Now, in that answer, I said that I PERSONALLY would not be keen to send a new submission to editors at the end of August.

Mid-July is not the end of August. The END of July is not the end of August. EARLY AUGUST is not even the end of August, though it's getting close to it!

Your agent wants to send "In Late July" -- you want them to send earlier than that. Hate to break it to you, but friend, but we are on the downside of July already. So I guess what you are saying is, your agent wants to send it sometime in the next two weeks and you want them to send it yesterday?

FWIW, in terms of timing, there is no difference between this coming week vs the week after (or the week after that, for that matter). There is zero benefit to be gained from sending earlier. It'll be fine either way. If it were actually going to be MID AUGUST, I might suggest just waiting until September -- but July? It's fine. (And yes, if timing WAS an issue, I would for sure suggest WAITING rather than PUSHING FOR EARLIER.)

Point being, your agent knows what their own schedule looks like and what publisher schedules look like. Trust that they know how to do their job. THEY REALLY WANT YOUR BOOK TO SELL.

...

OK, fine, I hear authors saying -- if it doesn't matter, why won't my agent do it RIGHT NOW???? Because I WANT THEM TO????!

Perhaps it would help to get a bit of a peek behind the curtain at the Agent side. (MY POV, obvs, I can't speak for YOUR agent, but they would likely resonate with some or all of this!)

From my perspective: For ME, sending submissions is actually not quite just "dash off an email and press send." It would take me a solid UNINTERRUPTED day (like, 8+ hours) to 1) make a proper submission list, cross-referencing it with every other submission to be sure I am not overwhelming any one editor, cross-referencing with the most updated info from our database, probably running it past my colleagues to see if they have any intel to add, 2) write a pitch, look over the ms for the umpteenth time, edit and rewrite the pitch, get second eyes on the pitch, write and fuss over the personalized emails, and then 3) quadruple check everything is right, and get them out. HOWEVER - I have never had an uninterrupted day.

Bear in mind that there are actually lots of other things I have to do which are arguably MORE important (or at least, more time-sensitive) than sending this ms out -- like anything to do with money, contracts, negotiations in progress, "book emergencies", etc. So, the time-sensitive things HAVE to come first. But OK, no problem, I can just break the 8 hours or so up into chunks over the course of a week.

So, let's say on Thursday I have a couple hours and can do that submission list Jenga (I don't want this ms to overlap editors with other projects, each author has their own submission history that needs to be taken into account, etc etc - it's complicated!). Then on Friday I have an hour and can do the first pass of the pitch letter -- over the weekend I can look over the ms again -- on Monday I can do whatever tweaks and fussing -- and then if I can finish that day, I'll schedule the emails to go out on Tuesday. GREAT. Done in under a week!

HOWEVER. I also do have other clients (sorry!) -- each of them ALSO thinks that their ms is the center of the universe. Which is fair!

But if it takes me the course of a week-ish to do one submission, and three (or six... or eight) people all desperately want me to send to editors RIGHT NOW -- and meanwhile time-sensitive things keep happening -- how would that work exactly? I can do two or three sort of "semi-simultaneously" -- like stagger them, work on multiple submission list researches at once, etc -- but it takes longer. It also makes the JENGA of it all more complicated.

I want to give each project its proper time in the sun! I WANT to spend time on this and do it carefully! WHY DON'T YOU WANT ME TO DO THAT? If I know that X is when I will have time for this, and you are like "NO, DO IT NOW" -- that would make me cry.

I probably should not have let you that deep into my brain, sorry.

[switch]

I'm trying to figure out Vlad's speech pattern, do you have any tips on writing his dialogue?

ohh yeah that's tough. i struggled with that for a while and i'm still not 100% sure how exactly i'd put it to words since i kinda just started feeling it out...

uh i think one thing that especially helped with vlad for me was really listening a lot to his voice acting and then just sort of... imagining how his particular deep and kind of slow-spoken and kingly cadence would translate to and sound in written dialogue... does that make sense...

i mean one, uh, 'nice' thing about vlad is that he doesn't have a lot of written dialogue. between his gameplay/my room lines, his interlude, the gray collar event, vegas, valentine, and halloween revival, plus his relatively sparse dialogue in apoc, you can basically look at... everything he's ever said in, like, a day for reference (heck i've got like a 10 minute video of every single line he says in the apoc anime). i will say that some of his early my room lines do have a bit of an odd feel to them, though...

uh, anyway, as for more specific tips... uhhh.... he tends to use more refined or formal or even old-fashioned-sounding language, but critically without sounding excessively flowery, either, as he's often also pretty direct and conveys authority in the way he talks at the same time. especially if he's giving some kind of speech, or talking about something before battle, or scolding someone (apoc and vegas). he says stuff like "fool," "unsightly," "end yourself", "i thank you/you have my gratitude" etc... when he does get more poetic or indirect is in higher bond levels where he starts alluding to things more than outright stating them (bond 5, bond 10, ascension 4), so that's also situational.

it's also sort of shown/implied that he lightens up a bit more when dealing with kids or teenagers in chaldea, and obviously the protagonist, but he really never feels casual even at his most relatively casual or happy state. when writing him i'd definitely recommend veering towards more formal language than you might think is necessary vs risking making it sound too casual, as i would say it sounds out a lot weirder fast when a vlad is accidentally written even a bit too casual than it does when he's written maybe a little excessively formal. he also doesn't seem to laugh a lot outside of brief "heh"s or "hehe"s or even the occasional "oho". he seems to go "hm" or "hmph" sometimes if he's contemplating things or not happy about something... maybe it was sort of a weird translation, but the end of his interlude 1 where he just outright says "sorry for forcing you to accompany me" instead of anything more... noble-sounding feels like kind of a rare big deal thing, for him.

a lot of fan translations outright write him into using "thee"s and "thou"s and "canst"s and such, or at least having him switch to talking like that in certain situations, which i do definitely think works contextually for him. he doesn't use contractions a lot of the time ("there is" "i am" "it is" "i shall", etc) but he does still use them sometimes, (there's multiple instances of "i've" and "i'll" peppered around at the least), so it's not a hard and fast rule- it seems to just be more dependent on who he's talking to and whether or not it works with the flow of that particular line of dialogue. he tends to address other people by titles of some kind rather than by name.

actually i do remember one time the way vlad talks was described to me as something like the way some kind of dark anime villain would talk. he talks like an anime villain who isn't actually a villain...

ugh does any of this make sense, i don't know, so much of this is situational.......

[ashintheairlikesnow]

The Artist

The epistolary work I found myself working on this morning... someone writing about Savvie Marcoset and her, uh, misunderstood genius. 

See if you can find all the places where our writer thinks he’s being subtle. Jax belongs to @comfy-whumpee

The Motherfucking Gallaghers masterlist

-

The art vs. the artist: Separating Savannah Marcoset’s music from her misdeeds

By: Elliott Monroe Williams

 -

The problems caused by our modern obsession with “canceling” imperfect people are multiplying every day, touching every single aspect of our lives. Whether it’s a new scandal involving a professional athlete, celebrities like James Corden or Matt Damon, or even someone who simply said the wrong thing in a public place where their mistake was recorded and shared across the world, it seems like every day brings another person who “deserves” to be “canceled”.

What does it mean to be “canceled”? The MacMillan dictionary defines canceling, the verb, as withdrawing support from or ceasing to engage with a celebrity or public figure whose views you dislike. 

 It’s one thing to make a choice not to provide further opportunities for a platform or profit to someone whose views or actions you abhor. I support such a choice wholeheartedly and have made similar decisions myself. But does someone’s distasteful action or viewpoint mean you can’t enjoy their creations if you already loved them? Can you still read your favorite books if the author turns out to have repugnant views they simply won’t stop shouting to anyone who will listen? Can you watch the Tour de France during a doping scandal? Can you love a book written in the 19th century after discovering that the author of the book was abusive to his family?

In the case of classical music, is there any truly brilliant composer who wouldn’t be “canceled” if they were alive today? 

Does enjoying their compositions mean signing off on their crimes?

From Beethoven through Guesaldo, composers have always behaved badly

They often say instability and genius walk hand-in-hand, and many of our most beloved historical composers were criminals in their own day. Ludwig van Beethoven was famously once arrested for and charged with prowling and vagrancy after walking the chilly streets with no hat, no coat, and no form of identification. He peered through the windows of Viennese citizens’ homes until the constable was called, and a local musician had to identify him.

Johann Sebstian Bach spent a month in jail for terminating a contract with an employer. Pietro Mascagni was arrested for embezzlement (although he was later acquitted of any crime) and was an enthusiastic supporter of dictator Benito Mussolini. While legal, you could argue that such open support for the authoritarian leader would likely lead to being “canceled” today.

Should a man who supported such a dictatorial government in his own time be held as someone whose music must be shunned even today, decades after his death?

Carlo Guesaldo, whose eerie madrigal compositions offered modernist sound centuries ahead of its time, was even known to have murdered his philandering wife and her lover, and potentially also his father-in-law, although this is likely a later embellishment. While he was never charged with the crime, he nonetheless did not deny it.

These men were brilliant individuals with eccentric personal lives. Does the decision to commit a crime mean we cannot enjoy their work without approving of every action they’ve undertaken? What if we speak not of an historical composer, but a modern woman whose crimes have made her a household name?

What about Savannah Marcoset?

A brilliant violinist convicted of serious crimes

 Savannah Marcoset is arguably the most famous classical performer and composer worldwide, but it is unfortunately not for her music. She is currently serving a sentence of life without parole after being convicted of a series of crimes, including multiple counts of false imprisonment in the first degree, a variety of assault convictions, and also for obstruction of justice and attempting to intimidate a witness and jury tampering. 

Already well-known as a childhood prodigy at her chosen instrument, the violin, Ms. Marcoset moved into releasing recordings of her own original compositions at the tender age of fifteen. By twenty, she was selling out venues like Carnegie Hall. Classical music aficionados declared her the second coming of Elliott Gould, a new eccentric genius who kept to herself off the stage but shone like a diamond under the lights, with her violin in her hand.

Shortly after finishing her undergraduate degree at the prestigious Juilliard School, she lost her beloved parents in a tragic, still unsolved aviation incident. In the chaos of her grief, she forgot to eat, to sleep, and even to pursue the music that had given her life such meaning before. Her uncle, in an effort to help her regain stability, provided her with an individual who would clean the home, keep her safe, and ensure she had someone to talk to through the worst of her grief. 

To her shock and dismay, the man provided to her as an employee and servant turned out to be illegally purchased through a recently-uncovered human trafficking network in the UK. 

By all accounts and by Ms. Marcoset’s admittance at her first trial, Jackson Gallagher - the man who had been abducted, sold into modern slavery, and ended up Savannah Marcoset’s unwitting servant - spent more than a year in her employ before the situation was discovered when he was able to pass a message on to his father when Ms. Marcoset took him to the UK to visit.

Gallagher was freed and sent back home shortly after, and Ms. Marcoset spent years in prison after conviction. She was granted parole on the condition that she remain under virtual house arrest, only able to leave for performances, recording sessions, and other professional matters. She also was forced to wear an ankle monitor so that her location could be tracked at all times.

Ms. Marcoset never left her home except for the short trips for performances that she approved with her parole officer. Journalists and reporters came to her home to interview her, and none saw any sign of anything amiss. And yet, shortly after her release, Jackson Gallagher disappeared from his father’s apartment. Declared missing and eventually presumed deceased, Gallagher would only resurface years later, showing up on his father’s front step with two small children and a story. 

Savannah Marcoset, it turned out, had been hiding what she called her ‘husband’ and their eventual children together in her family’s home all along.

She was eventually tried and convicted of her crimes, and will never again see the outside of prison walls. She attempted to publish a memoir, whose release was canceled after intervention by Jackson Gallagher’s legal representation, Collins McKay of McKay, Kline, and Benson. McKay successfully argued it would cause emotional harm to her two children, the project was canceled, and Ms. Marcoset’s memoir languishes in a safety deposit box in an undisclosed bank. Ms. Marcoset continues to grant interviews, however, and has recently recorded and released a new album, which will be released in February, titled Permanent Pause. 

With the news of her new album, interest in her story has been renewed. Many classical music fans are calling for a boycott of her work, while others make the point that the proceeds will go entirely to a trust that will profit not Marcoset herself, but her two children by Gallagher.

Can we appreciate good music from bad people?

If misdeeds must be eternally punished, even as the person might grow and change with time, this insists that someone is never better than the one time they were at their worst. Do we judge Beethoven by his slovenly housekeeping or even his way of looking into the homes of others while wandering the streets?

Do we cease to listen to Mozart because of his propensity for arrogance and a sometimes less than pleasant demeanor? Do we turn away from Guesaldo’s genius when learning of his single act of double-homicide?

No, we do not. 

We acknowledge unfortunate realities, of course, but even so we equally acknowledge the great men and women of music as part and parcel of their time and place. Noblemen in a time when nobility lived above the common law applied to others, composers during the days when what we call classical music was what everyone revered and flocked to see. Celebrities of their time who acted within the more lax boundaries of their day.

I would argue Savannah Marcoset, in some ways, is the same.

Sure, she is a modern musician, but she was raised by a family whose criminality only recently came to light, and continues to insist that she was unaware of her parents’ true occupations until after their deaths. For someone who grew up in a household in which servants were, by and large, unpaid and had been with the family for generations, is it so strange that her sense of what counts as ‘freedom’ was so wildly out of touch?

Of course, I don’t excuse her crimes, and the law has duly punished her for them. She will never see the outside of prison walls, and is only given a single hour each day to exercise outdoors. Jackson Gallagher has successfully ensured she has no legal rights to her two children whatsoever and will likely never see them again. While she is allowed visitation, her visitors must be approved by the prison warden. Beyond her interactions with guards and staff, she lives an utterly solitary life. 

She even admitted in a recent interview with a journalist in People Magazine that she doesn’t even know what her children look like, and worries often about them, with no chance to settle maternal worries, as Gallagher has resettled back in the UK. 

In many ways, she has been returned to those early days after the loss of her parents, when she lived in a great big building entirely alone, with only her music for comfort.

Some of her greatest work was written while she was in the midst of the crimes she was convicted of. Firecracker, which she herself called ‘a story of falling in love’, was written even while she held Gallagher as a captive within her home. She acknowledged, after conviction, that the idea for the title had been his, a childhood nickname he hoped would gain the attention of the family still searching for him. Its follow-up, Five Stones Thrown (the title is another name for a game called jacks, and Marcoset has admitted it was a sort of personal joke), is perhaps the greatest album of her career. A woman at the top of her industry, channeling her pain, uncertainty, and fear into music the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades if not centuries.

Deciding whether or not Ms. Marcoset’s work has redeeming value shouldn’t be a decision on whether or not she is a good person. Clearly, she has committed heinous crimes she is rightfully being punished for. I don’t support her music because of what she has done, but in spite of it. I don’t believe good music should be subjected to the whims of human misdeeds, but valued far beyond the silly little lives we lead.

In short, separate art and artist, but know who profits off the sales

In the case of Savannah Marcoset, I would never buy another album of hers if I thought she would make a cent off the sale. She is a woman who committed heinous, violent crimes against a man who could not escape her. 

But I also know she won’t make a cent. 

I take comfort in the fact that all proceeds of sales of her work from the day of her conviction have been moved into a trust that her two children will be able to access once they reach the age of 25.

That said, I know how difficult it is to hear music the same way once you know what was happening during the time it was composed. Firecracker and Five Stones Thrown are albums that tell a story of an all-consuming love, both the good and the bad, but it was a love lived as horror for the other person forced into the story. Gallagher still lives with the physical, tangible results of that horror even today as he parents the children he shares with Ms. Marcoset.

Still, the music is divine, and such perfect melodies should not be lost to our shifting sense of right and wrong. We shouldn’t “cancel” music because the composer is imperfect. It is imperative to separate art from artist, because very few of us have lived pristine lives, and those who create art - musicians, artists, actors, and others - are far from likely to be perfect themselves.

Bad people often make exceptional art.

Every time I purchase a new album by Savannah Marcoset, I do so knowing that she won’t see a dime. Jackson Gallagher and his two children as a result of the crimes she committed against him will. 

In that way, it’s them I support by separating art from artist, and not Ms. Marcoset at all.

-

Elliott Monroe Williams lives in New York City with his girlfriend Bree, his dog Fuzzles, and an ill-tempered iguana named Joe. He has written for the New York Times, NPR, and a variety of online publications focused on classical music. 

You can find his other writing on Savannah Marcoset in the archives on his personal website, elliottmwilliams.com. 

Editor’s Note: Jackson Gallagher did not respond to repeated requests for comment on this piece prior to publication.

-

@eatyourdamnpears @burtlederp @finder-of-rings @arlin-always-writing @wildfaewhump @whump-tr0pes @iaminamoodymoodtoday @orchidscript @sableflynn @pretty-face-breaker @raigash @whumptywhumpdump @boxboysandotherwhump @thefancydoughnut @mylifeisonthebookshelf @whumpinggrounds

[tullipstudio-blog]

SELF-PUBLISHING VS TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING: WHICH ONE IS MORE PROFITABLE?

Self-publishing in children's books is the process of independently producing, distributing, and marketing a children's book without the involvement of a traditional publishing company. It allows authors and illustrators to retain creative control and a larger share of the royalties from their work, but it also requires them to take on many responsibilities typically handled by a publishing house.

1. Creating the Book: This involves writing the story, illustrating it (if you're also an illustrator), or working with an illustrator. The book should be professionally edited and designed to meet industry standards for quality.

2. Production: Self-published authors must handle the production of physical and digital copies of the book. This includes formatting the book for print or e-book publication, securing ISBNs (International Standard Book Numbers), and creating cover designs.

3. Distribution: Self-published authors can make their books available through online retailers, like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and independent bookstores. Print-on-demand services, like CreateSpace and Ingram Spark, can be used to produce physical copies as they are ordered, reducing upfront costs and the need for inventory.

4. Marketing and Promotion:  Authors are responsible for promoting their books, including building a website or social media presence, organizing book launch events, and seeking reviews and media coverage. Marketing is a critical aspect of self-publishing, as it helps you reach your target audience.

5. Pricing and Royalties: Self-published authors have control over pricing their books and typically receive a higher percentage of royalties compared to traditional publishing. However, they are also responsible for covering production and marketing expenses.

6. Copyright and Legal Matters: Authors must handle copyright registration, contracts (if working with illustrators or collaborators), and other legal matters on their own or with the help of legal professionals.

7. Quality Control: Self-published authors must ensure the quality of their children’s books, from editing to printing, to compete with traditionally published works.

8. Financial Investment: While self-publishing can be more cost-effective than it used to be, there are still expenses involved, including editing, cover design, marketing, and distribution costs. Authors should be prepared for these financial commitments.

Self-publishing in children's books can be a rewarding way for authors to see their work in print and reach their intended audience. However, it requires dedication, a commitment to quality, and a willingness to learn about the publishing and marketing process or seek professional assistance when needed.

Traditional publishing in children's books refers to the traditional and established method of getting a children's book published through a traditional publishing house.

Here are the key elements of traditional publishing in the context of children's books:

1. Acquisition: The process typically begins with an author or illustrator submitting a manuscript or children's books proposal to a literary agent or directly to a publishing house. The publisher's editorial team reviews the submission for its potential to be published.

2. Editorial Process: If a manuscript is accepted, it goes through various stages of editing, which can include developmental editing, copyediting, and proofreading. The publisher may also provide feedback on the children's books content, structure, and suitability for the target audience.

3. Illustration: For children's picture books and some middle-grade and young adult novels, illustrations play a significant role. The publisher may hire an illustrator or work with the author/illustrator to ensure the visual elements align with the story.

4. Design and Layout: The children's books design and layout, including the cover and interior pages, are professionally created by the publisher's design team. The layout takes into consideration the age group and format of the children's book.

5. Production: The physical production of the children's books, including printing and binding, is managed by the publishing house. They handle the choice of paper, typefaces, and other production details.

6. Distribution: Traditional publishers have established distribution channels that allow the children's books to be made available to bookstores, libraries, and online retailers. They handle the logistics of getting the book into the hands of readers.

7. Marketing and Promotion: Traditional publishers typically have marketing and publicity teams that work to promote the book. This can include author book tours, advertising, social media campaigns, and other promotional activities.

8. Sales and Royalties: The publisher sells copies of the children's books, and the author receives royalties based on the sales. Royalty rates vary, but they are typically a percentage of the book's cover price.

9. Advance: Some authors receive an advance payment from the publisher against future royalties. This advance is typically paid upon signing the publishing contract and in installments.

Traditional publishing can offer authors and illustrators many benefits, including professional support in all aspects of book production and distribution. However, it often involves a competitive submission process, and the author or illustrator may have less control over certain aspects of the children's books content and design compared to self-publishing.

It's important to note that the landscape of publishing, including children's book publishing, has been evolving, and there are now various hybrid and alternative publishing models available to authors and illustrators, allowing for more flexibility and control over the publishing process.

Self-publishing and traditional publishing are two distinct routes for bringing a children's book to the market, and they have their own advantages and disadvantages.

Here's a breakdown of the key differences between the two:

1.     Control:

a.  Self-Publishing: Authors have full control over the content, design, and distribution of their children's books. They make all the decisions, including the cover design, formatting, and pricing.

b. Traditional Publishing: Traditional publishers have the final say on many aspects of the children's books, including the cover design, illustrations, and sometimes even the content. Authors have limited control over the final product.

2. Cost:

a. Self-Publishing: Authors bear the financial responsibility for the entire publishing process, including editing, cover design, and marketing. While this allows for more control, it can be expensive.

b. Traditional Publishing: The publisher covers the majority of the production costs, such as editing, cover design, and printing. However, authors typically receive lower royalties to compensate for this financial support.

3. Time:

a. Self-Publishing: The process can be relatively quick, allowing the author to set their own timeline. The children's books can be published within a few months.

b. Traditional Publishing: The traditional publishing process is typically slower due to the need for manuscript acquisitions, editing, and the production schedule of the publisher. It can take a year or more to see the children's books in print.

4. Distribution:

a. Self-Publishing: Authors need to handle distribution themselves, which often involves selling through online retailers, local bookstores, or at events. E-books can be distributed through various online platforms.

b. Traditional Publishing: Traditional publishers have established distribution networks and relationships with bookstores, making it easier to get the children's books into physical stores. They also handle the distribution of e-books.

5.  Marketing:

a. Self-Publishing: Authors are responsible for their book's marketing and promotion, which can be time-consuming. They may need to build their own audience and hire marketing services.

b. Traditional Publishing: Publishers have marketing departments to promote books, which can include author tours, advertising, and other promotional activities. However, even traditionally published authors often need to be involved in marketing efforts.

6. Credibility and Prestige:

a. Self-Publishing: Self-published authors may face challenges in gaining recognition and credibility, as there is no external validation of their work. However, this has been changing as self-publishing becomes more accepted.

b. Traditional Publishing: Being traditionally published can lend credibility and prestige to an author's work, as it implies that the manuscript has been vetted by professionals.

7.     Royalties:

a. Self-Publishing: Authors typically receive a higher percentage of royalties for each book sold, but they also bear the costs of production and marketing.

b. Traditional Publishing: Royalties are usually lower, but the publisher covers production and distribution costs.

The choice between self-publishing and traditional publishing for a children's book depends on an author's goals, resources, and preferences. Some authors may prefer the creative control and potential for higher royalties in self-publishing, while others may value the support and credibility offered by traditional publishers. Hybrid models and collaborative publishing options also exist, providing additional choices for authors.

[siddhundi]

Insurance Write for Us: Your Guide to Crafting High-Impact Guest Content

If you've come across the phrase "insurance write for us," you're already on the right track. Writing for insurance platforms offers a fantastic opportunity to showcase your expertise, expand your online presence, and reach a broader audience. Whether you’re an experienced insurance professional or a newcomer eager to establish yourself, crafting high-quality, insightful content can open doors to new possibilities. Sharing your knowledge through engaging articles helps you make a meaningful impact in the insurance niche, building trust and offering valuable insights that readers genuinely appreciate. This approach allows you to not only inform but also connect with an audience looking for reliable, relatable advice on insurance topics.

This guide will show you how to create content that stands out, covering everything from topic selection to impactful writing strategies. Embrace the chance to make a meaningful impact in the insurance niche with engaging, informative articles that readers will love.

 What is “Insurance Write for Us”?

Before we dive deep, let’s clarify what “insurance write for us” actually means. This term typically appears on websites that invite freelance writers or industry experts to contribute blog posts, articles, or guest content. It’s a call for knowledgeable voices to share their insights on various insurance topics.

Why Are Guest Posts Important in Insurance?

In the insurance world, guest posts offer a way to:

Share unique perspectives on complex topics

Build credibility and trust with readers

Connect with a broader audience and extend your influence

Create a helpful resource for those seeking answers to insurance questions

Why Should You Write for an Insurance Website?

So, what’s in it for you? Writing for an insurance website can open doors you hadn’t even considered!

Build Authority: Contributing to an established website allows you to establish yourself as an expert.

Network Expansion: Writing for industry blogs connects you to a professional network.

Audience Reach: Your work reaches a broader audience, allowing you to showcase your expertise.

Content Portfolio: Each post serves as a sample of your writing, helping you secure more gigs or projects.

Picking the Right Topics

When pitching ideas, remember: the topic matters! Selecting a subject that both captivates the audience and reflects the website’s tone is crucial. You want something that resonates, so think along these lines:

Trending insurance issues, like the rise in telehealth coverage or new insurance technology

Common policy misunderstandings, like deductible vs. premium

Essential tips for first-time buyers

Real-life insurance success stories

A well-chosen topic is your first step to making a strong impression!

Crafting Content That Stands Out

You’ve got your topic – now, how do you make it shine? Here are a few pointers to keep your article lively and engaging:

Keep it conversational: Speak directly to the reader, use contractions, and let your personality show.

Provide value: Make sure your content genuinely helps readers understand something about insurance.

Structure well: Use headings, bullet points, and numbered lists to break down complex ideas.

Be informative: Even if you’re writing informally, accurate information is key.

 What Types of Insurance Topics are Popular?

For the most impact, tailor your post to address specific insurance types. Some of the most popular topics include:

Health Insurance: Cover trends in health coverage, telemedicine, and mental health benefits.

Auto Insurance: Dive into policy add-ons, cost-saving tips, or state-specific requirements.

Life Insurance: Discuss policy types, benefits, and tips for selecting the right plan.

Home Insurance: Offer advice on bundling, types of home insurance, and coverage for disasters.

Each of these areas has unique challenges and questions. If you can address these directly, your content will resonate strongly with readers.

Writing for Different Audiences

Not all readers are insurance experts, so tailor your content accordingly. Here are a few different audience types you may want to keep in mind:

Casual Readers

These readers are curious but not super knowledgeable. Stick to simple language, use examples, and clarify any jargon. For instance, instead of “deductible,” explain it as “the amount you pay before your coverage kicks in.”

Industry Experts

For professionals in the field, don’t be afraid to use technical language and include data-driven insights. This audience values depth and precision, so be as thorough as possible.

Essential Tips for Formatting and Submitting Your Article

Once you’ve drafted your masterpiece, ensure it’s polished and ready for submission. Here’s a quick checklist:

Follow Formatting Guidelines: Most sites have specific guidelines on structure, font, and length.

Include Relevant Sources: If you reference stats or studies, link to reputable sources.

Avoid Self-Promotion: Websites want unbiased, informative content, not an ad for your business.

Proofread: A typo here or there might seem minor, but it can detract from your credibility.

 How to Pitch Your Idea

It’s pitch time! Crafting an attention-grabbing pitch is crucial, so keep these tips in mind:

Personalize It: Address the editor by name if you can find it, and mention specific articles on their site that you admire.

Present a Unique Idea: Let them know why your topic stands out and how it aligns with their site.

Be Concise: Editors are busy, so keep your email short and to the point.

Link to Samples: If you’ve written similar pieces, include links to showcase your work.

Conclusion

So, there you have it! Whether you're a seasoned insurance expert or just looking to share insights, “insurance write for us” is your golden ticket. With the right topic, style, and pitch, you can connect with a whole new audience, expand your reach, and build a reputation in the industry. By following these steps, your submission has every chance of standing out!

[daquanshell]

If You Start in the Morning

Yesterday I didn’t finish my blog post until the wee hours of the night, probably because I didn’t actually start writing until the night, so today we are going to start writing in the morning, take notes throughout the day, and then finish at night. This should give a more clear image of what a “Day in the Life” for me actually looks like at the moment.

The Morning usually starts with a prayer (the Shema) before looking for something to eat. Since moving on my own it’s been quite difficult to maintain adequate nutrition, due to my unusually high housing expenses, and while I shouldn’t have any problem qualifying for Financial Aid or the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, the reality of it is that both of those are going to require a fairly massive amount of paperwork, and I haven’t really had the time to both gather all the prerequisite paperwork and submit it to the proper authorities.

Planning for Retirement

A few weeks ago, I verified my social security benefits as part of my own financial plan and by doing so, I was able to look back at my salaries over the course of my career.

Historically, a large portion of my income has been as a 1099 independent contractor (which is not taxed) but I usually also have a salaried job that pays enough to afford my living expenses, while the commissions from work allow me to afford my lifestyle. This has not changed whatsoever, although since moving to the financial services industry, the amount of money I can make has been bottlenecked for two reasons.

Working from Home

After the COVID-19 Pandemic, the vast majority of jobs went from meeting in the office and traveling to the field together, to meeting online and traveling to the field alone. I have never been a fan of this change and it can be cited as one the main reasons why I left the Consulting industry for more Customer Service Oriented roles, but even Customer Service roles can have you working from home if your job doesn’t require you to meet with clients face to face on a regular basis.

I really can’t stress enough how much I dislike working from home. It’s impossible to make real connections with your coworkers and very difficult to make good first impressions. Of my greatest strengths has become my professionalism: I can look and act the part on the front end while getting the results on the back end. I’ve demonstrated this multiple times throughout my career

Here’s a photo of my team when I worked at Entel Marketing, a small marketing and advertising firm located in Dallas, TX.

I got the job through a referral from my previous employer, which allowed me to do the same line of work I was doing previously but in a different environment, which was really what I was looking for at the time. Entel had a really frustrating way of paying out and accounting for contracts, and back then, my poor admin skills lead to poor money management, and even though I was making more money, my take-home didn’t increase much.

Salary vs. Commission

One of the biggest points of contention in my industry is the everlasting battle of Salary vs. Commission.

Right now, I have the best of both worlds, a decent salary (about $33k a year) and multiple business opportunities that allow me to scale my income into a much more comfortable territory.

One of the reasons I’m not particularly in a rush to re-enlist in the Marines is mostly because currently, I both have a significantly better living situation (My Apartment > The Barracks) and I even make a bit more money (about $8k a year more) while being significantly closer to my religious community, in addition to being able to freely practice my religion at home.

That being said, my recruiter said something that piqued my interest during our last meeting. He pretty much told me that, barring a commission to an officer, my best bet for reenlisting would be to qualify for BAH, which is a massive increase in pay.

Here are the numbers:

E-2 Annual Salary = $25,790

E-2 Annual Salary w/ BAH = $56,426

It gets even crazier if you become an officer:

O-1 Annual Salary = $45,914

O-1 Annual Salary w/ BAH = $93,689~

An O-1 with BAH makes almost four times the amount of an enlisted, member of a similar pay grade, which is kind of insane if you ask me.

Outside of the Military, my current employment is doing well. One of the Managers at a firm I work at recently encouraged me to strive for a leadership position, which would come with a healthy pay raise (about $37.5k, or a $4.5k increase) and more time in the office.

For the time being, I’ll shoot for that, while continuing to work on my baccalaureate and necessary business licenses.

I’d also like to publish more of my work. These blog posts have been super insightful, so I’ll probably continue to write them while expanding my writing to include more personal development, professional development, financial literacy, since those tend to be the highlights of my day to day anyway.

I’ll probably start tomorrow’s post with an income disclosure statement (similar to this one) before exploring more financial illustration and uniform guidelines.

In addition to that, I’ll hopefully be able to link everything together. It would be nice to see all of the work I do in one place, in addition to being able to refer to the links both in person and online.

I’m very happy with the way this post has turned out so I’ll end it with more anapodota:

If you start in the morning (you’ll be finished at night)