#Traditionally Published

[sjohnsonwriter-blog]

Literary Agent Feedback: Pacing

Throughout the summer, I've been editing my Witches of the Waves manuscript:

Beta reading

Deleting and rewriting

Editing

After previously querying draft 15 of my manuscript, I will now query draft 21.

Here's how much I had to do to get my manuscript to where it needed to be based on literary agent feedback.

That was my summer. What did you do? Let me live vicariously!

[avaantares]

Fanfiction Authors: HEADS UP

(Non-authors, please RB to signal boost to your author friends!)

An astute reader informed me this morning that one of my fics (Children of the Future Age) had been pirated and was being sold as a novel on Amazon:

(And they weren't even creative with their cover design. If you're going to pirate something that I spent a full year of my life writing, at least give me a pretty screenshot to brag about later. Seriously.)

I promptly filed a DMCA complaint to have it removed, but I checked out the company that put it up -- Plush Books -- and it looks like A LOT of their books are pirated fic. They are by no means the only ones doing this, either -- the fact that """publishers""" can download stories from AO3 in ebook format and then reupload them to Amazon in just a few clicks makes fic piracy a common problem. There are a whole host of reasons why letting this continue is bad -- including actual legal risk to fanfiction archives -- but basically:

IF YOU ARE A FANFIC AUTHOR WITH LONG AND/OR POPULAR WORKS, PLEASE CHECK AMAZON TO SEE IF YOUR STORIES HAVE BEEN PIRATED.

You can search for your fics by title, or by text from the description (which is often just copied wholesale from AO3 as well). If you find that someone has stolen your work and is selling it as their own, you can lodge a DMCA complaint (Amazon.com/USA site; other countries have different systems). If you haven't done this before, it's easy! Here's a tutorial:

HOW TO FILE A COPYRIGHT COMPLAINT FOR STOLEN WORK ON AMAZON.COM:

First, go to this form. You'll need to be signed into your Amazon account.

Select the radio buttons/dropdown options (shown below) to indicate that you are the legal Rights Owner, you have a copyright concern, and it is about a pirated product.

Enter the name of your story in the Name of Brand field.

In the Link to the Copyrighted Work box, enter a link to the story on AO3 or whatever site your work is posted on.

In the Additional Information box, explain that you are the author of the work and it is being sold without your permission. That's all you really need. If you want, you can include additional information that might be helpful in establishing the validity of your claim, but you don't have to go into great detail. You can simply write something like this:

I am the author of this work, which is being sold by [publisher] without my permission. I originally published this story in [date/year] on [name of site], and have provided a link to the original above. On request, I can provide documentation proving that I am the owner of the account that originally posted this story.

In the ASIN/ISBN-10 field, copy and paste the ID number from the pirated copy's URL. You'll find this ten-digit number in the Amazon URL after the word "product," as in the screenshot below. (If the URL extends beyond this number, you can ignore everything from the question mark on.) Once this number has been added, Amazon will pull the product information automatically and add it to the complaint form, so you can check the listing title and make sure it's correct.

Finally, add your contact information to the relevant fields, check the "I have read and accept the statements" box, and then click Submit. You should receive an email confirmation that Amazon has received the form.

Please share this information with your writer friends, keep an eye out for/report pirated works, and help us keep fanfiction free and legally protected!

NOTE: All of the above also applies to Amazon products featuring stolen artwork, etc., so fan artists should check too!

[beneathathousandskies]

Blog Tour (Book Review): Straight Expectations - Calum McSwiggan

Hello! Today I am delighted to be joining The Write reads Ultimate Blog Tour for Straight Expectations by Calum McSwiggan, a charming YA romance book that has captured me heart and soul. Disclaimer – I received a copy in exchange for an honest review, all thoughts are my own. Book Summary: Seventeen-year-old Max has always been out, proud and just a little spoiled. Frustrated by the lack of…

[checanty]

I just noticed I didn't tell you yet--which is shameful as it is Tumblr where the Mermaid Scientist was born! My Mermaid Book was picked up by Eye of Newt and is available for pre-order right now (it's coming out very soon, though, so any orders should make it until Christmas if that's a concern of yours)! If you're in North America, I'd suggest ordering directly through my publisher's website, however it's available anywhere you'd usually order books. You can ask your favourite indie book shop to order it for you or--if there's no other option or you're worried about crazy shipping costs where you live--it's available via the place starting with A, which shall otherwise not be named, as well. Please note: This is an edited version of the original book. It's shorter, but with more coherent world building and a beautiful new layout and design. It's a proper field guide now!

[specialagentartemis]

the problem with many self-published indie authors i that in order to get any audience and any traction at all, they have to be on social media A Lot. And people who are on social media A Lot have weird things happen to their brains. And a lot of them get super goddamn annoying and I end up not wanting to read their books because they're too annoying on social media.

[mittensmorgul]

which books used to be destiel fics?

hi there! there's a lot! Some I know about, like this list *which was posted in 2013* so obviously there are many more now.

There's also a number of writers who have written destiel fic and then gone on to successful traditional publishing careers (or who already had successful publishing careers and also wrote some destiel fic). I'm not sure how many of them would like to be publicly included on a list like this, though... but if you ask me off anon i will be happy to rec some of those authors and their published works (and... i do actually rec their works, in my "you should be reading" tag when they cross my tumblr dash, so that might be a good place to start).

if any destiel authors would like to rec their traditionally published works, they can reply here too! I'd just like to make sure authors are comfortable being listed like that before taking that liberty.

[saintturpentine]

So you know how a lot of modern romance books are just published starwars reylo fanfics…yeah…I think we need start publishing mcr fanfics traditionally …

[salparadiselost]

Guys I may, and I know this is shocking for fanfiction readers, read a traditionally published book.

[celestial-sphere-press]

Original Work Binding: When You Are Old

an anthology of works by me, my siblings, and my parents, created for my mom for mother's day!

I really wanted to use this pretty fall chiyogami paper for the cover, so I leaned hard into that motif for the design. In searching for a title, I found the William Yeats poem by the same name, and decided to use that (and included it as a preface).

I continued the maple leaf pattern throughout, and I did gold acrylic splattered edges, which I felt came out very nicely! They look a bit like sunlight dappled through leaves.

The cloth for this project is black colibri, which I think came out very well and foiled fairly nicely.

I do think one of the really cool things about this hobby is being able to go: yes, I *can* choose to elevate whatever writing I want to the level of Published Book.

[sjohnsonwriter-blog]

Is Your Manuscript too Polished?

Querying literary agents isn't easy, and I've learned a thing or two so far. (Actually, I've learned a lot.) However, there was some feedback that I kept getting a lot, so it was time for me to delve deeper into why I was getting the feedback.

[wonder-worker]

“Studies of Elizabeth Woodville […] have been hampered by the continuing fascination with her brother-in-law, Richard III. The Ricardian [and Yorkist] apologetic is now largely dependent upon the argument that the Woodville family posed such a threat to Richard of Gloucester, and the kingdom as a whole, that Gloucester had little option but to take the throne from his Woodville-dominated nephew. Although this argument has [irregularly] been contested, a reassessment of the queen's role in 1483 has not yet been attempted. Michael Bennett, in his 1987 account [...] still dismissed her as `an inveterate intriguer, capable in her vanity and fecklessness of some remarkable shifts and turns'. But more often she is scarcely mentioned in general histories of the period.”

-J.L. Laynesmith, “English Queenship 1445-1503” (thesis for the degree of DPhil in Medieval Studies, University of York, Centre for Medieval Studies, April 1999)

[whump-in-the-closet]

I love reading non traditionally published works. I love reading stuff on here, specifically. I love the incredibly varied writing styles— one story may have staccato sentences and short, abrupt, emotionally charged clips of dialog— another story flows and the words literally seem to blend into each other and it’s like poetry— some stories i read i can literally taste the suffering the oc is being put through— another one may feel like iron; action packed and complex and with lore upon lore for me to dive into— another one could have only two scenes written but they’ll leave you staring at your screen, wondering what you’re doing here with your life— some stories leave behind a line, just one small line, but it stays in your head, spinning on and on, and never letting you forget how the story changed your entire personality

the stories here (told by storytellers)— they’re all fantastic

[caliburn-the-sword]

if someone wrote an urban fantasy ya 4-5 book series set in australia with a bi second generation chinese immigrant as the protagonist, which both allegorically and literally explores the immigrant experience, as well as allegorically depicting how alt right groups groom well meaning good people into their ranks by exploiting their fears,,, would you read it 👉👈 just asking for a friend 🥺

[jesncin]

alright!! I've got!! A comics marathon personal goal! I'm gonna try to finish a 12 page fancomic before the year ends and before publishing work comes back and I get busy! I can't post wips until next year but I'm letting this be known so I can stay accountable!

[allthetropes]

OKAY, AO3 CHILDREN, GATHER ROUND

peek = verb = to take a look

peak = noun OR verb = the summit, to come to the highest point

pique = verb = to rouse

The boy peeked around the corner at the peak of the mountain, his interest piqued by the noise he was hearing. If I have to read one more fic that says something like "this will peek your interest" i'm gonna lose it

oh, that's another one

lose = verb = to fail or misplace [looz]

loose = adjective = baggy, not tight [loos]

and while I'm at it

affect = verb = to change

effect = noun = a change

blond = adj = male with yellow hair

blonde = adj = female with yellow hair

brunet = adj = male with brown hair

brunette = adj = female with brown hair

fiancé = adj = male betrothed

fiancée = adj = female betrothed

( yes all of those suck, blame the french )

revenge = noun = a victim gets their own back on the person that made them suffer

avenge = verb = back-pay is given to a bad person in the name of their victim but not by the victim themselves

desert = noun = large wasteland

dessert = noun = meal course, typically at the end of the meal, usually consisting of something sweet

breathe = verb = to inhale and exhale

breath = noun = the air that is inhaled or exhaled

bridal = adj = belonging to a woman on her wedding day

bridle = noun = tack for around a horse's head (can also sometimes be a verb meaning to restrict and lead somebody or something)

[moonyinpisces]

ur published irl? 👀

yeah haha, at risk of doxxing myself i've been published a handful of times in literary magazines! they're perfect coffee table books to start conversation when people visit lol. i'm trying to format one of my grad school essays to publish to a proper lit journal so i can have my name in the academic world too but also... i'm having far more fun writing good omens fanfic at the moment LMAO