How to use this Page

• Swag—Fact #1: people like free stuff. Fact #2: it doesn’t really help to give people free stuff that they won’t use and that people won’t see. So even if your book is about, say, bird watching, are you really going to get sales of your book by handing out expensive swag like binoculars with your book’s title on it? (Hint: no.) The best swag is simple. Bookmarks, pins/buttons, postcards, tote bags, and posters. If you want to make a few more expensive items for giveaways closer to on-sale, that’s cool too, but make sure it’s something people will use. I have a dozen sticky note pads, lanyards, and bracelets (even suntan lotion and a manicure kit) that will never see the light outside my cubicle walls.

• Blogger Requests—Do not forward blogger requests piecemeal to your publicist. Yes, we’re known for being organized, but we’re also dealing with massive amounts of email. (Currently, I have more than 24,000 emails in my inbox. Not including the ones I’ve filed.) Keep an excel spreadsheet of requests (include name, blog name, address, email, and stats) and send them all at once about 5 months before on-sale. If someone requests an ARC after that, start a new list or refer them to your publicist (check with them first to be sure that’s okay). Also, please don’t put your publicist’s email address on your website. There should be a general email you can use for the publicity department or publisher.

• Events—I don’t recommend doing events before on-sale unless you have backlist you can promote. In that case, bring your fancy swag for the new book! But if you don’t have a book to sell, it’s really just not worth it. People have short memories, even if they take your bookmark with them to “pre-order when they get home.” Save your time, money, and energy for when you have a book you can sell.

If you want to do events locally, check with your publicist for help arranging them. It’s best if we know what you’re doing. For several reasons, but mostly because if we know about an event, we can be sure the store orders books and gets them on time. Local bookstore events can be a great way to support the book, but don’t expect that the bookstore will bring a crowd for you. They’ll do their part with promotion, but you should be inviting your friends and family.

Are you traveling anywhere within the US around your publication date? Let your publicist know and they may be able to arrange an event. Especially if you’re going somewhere where you know a lot of people who may come out to see you.

Regional trade shows are another great way to meet the booksellers at bookstores in your general region. There are eight indie bookseller fall trade shows: NAIBA, NEIBA, SIBA, MPIBA, Heartland Fall Forum (for MIBA and GLIBA), SCIBA, NCIBA, and PNBA. (Google those acronyms!) Ask your publicist if you could be pitched for a signing, especially if it’s within driving distance. Your publisher may be willing to cover travel costs if it’s further away, but don’t expect that they will.

• Announcements—Don’t announce anything without telling your publicist and marketing team. Sign a new deal? Going to a festival? Got a blurb? We can help with these announcements and determine the best time to make them. And, even just from a bandwidth perspective, it’s worth combining efforts.

• Balance—Yes, the squeaky wheel gets grease. It’s true. But it’s all about balance. You want to walk the fine line between being a squeaky wheel and being overly persistent. So don’t email your publicist every time you have an idea. Gather your thoughts and put them into one email, then give him/her at least a few days to get back to you. Sometimes we have to research something or get an answer from another department. Silence does not mean we aren’t thinking about you. Also, anything you can do on your own, especially research, do it!

• Freelance publicists—There are some amazing freelance publicists, but some are better than others, and some are better at working with your publisher than others. If you want to see what else a freelance can do to supplement your publisher’s plans, by all means, check into it. Some agents work with freelancers regularly and can suggest a few, some of your author friends might have recommendations (or warnings), and your publicist might even have some thoughts. I don’t always think it’s necessary, but it depends on what the publisher is doing. Definitely talk to your publicist, your agent, and your editor before hiring a freelancer.

Also, one last thing to know: I hate saying no. I hate it in my personal life, I hate in my professional life. I have trouble even saying no to my cat. Seriously, that’s why she’s so fat. So please respect the “No.” When I say we can’t cover your travel costs or pitch you for something, there is a reason. And I hated saying “No” just as much as you hated hearing it. Please don’t make me say it twice.

Congratulations on being published and good luck! I hope to see you at an event, conference, trade show, or festival one of these days!

LIZZY MASON is the Director of Publicity at Bloomsbury Children’s Books. She previously worked in publicity at Disney, Macmillan Children’s, and Simon & Schuster, and graduated from Manhattan College (which is in the Bronx) with a degree in Journalism and a minor in English. Lizzy dedicates whatever spare time she can to reading and writing YA fiction. She lives with her husband (and his comic collection) and their cat Moxie (who was named after a cat in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials) in Queens, NY. Follow her @LizzyMason21.

Recently I announced that the publication date of Wintersong has been moved from Fall 2016 to Winter 2017, and I had a lot of questions asking why it would take so long for the book to come out when it was already finished and edited?

Ah, my friend. Sit back and listen, because we are going to be discussing this interesting phenomenon called publishing time.

In the PubCrawl Podcast, Kelly and I have discussed submissions and acquisitions, sales conference, and touched briefly on the concept of launch. Traditional publishing is generally scheduled about one year in advance, so if your book gets acquired in 2016, it may not be published until 2017 or even 2018.

Why is that? Well, most publishing houses operate on a schedule of “seasons”: periods of 3-4 months that comprise a catalog. For example, at my publisher, the seasons are as follows:

1. Winter (January through April)
2. Spring/Summer (May through August)
3. Fall (September through December)

Each season has a schedule of when things need to be submitted or finalized: launch, catalog, sales conference, etc. While acquisitions and editing may happen at any time during the year, the actual publishing part of publishing happens at set times. For example, for books to be published in Fall 2017, the schedule may look something like this:

1. November 2016: Launch (introducing your book to the sales and marketing force)
2. January 2017: Catalog (getting information about your book online for booksellers, librarians, et al to take notice)
3. March 2017: Sales Conference (when the people selling your book into their accounts start pitching to their buyers and getting a feel for how many copies of your book Barnes & Noble, Amazon, indies, etc. will be taking)

If your book is to be published September 2017, then why all that time between sales conference and publication date? This is so your marketing and publicity team have time to start building buzz about your book to the consumer: sending your book out for reviews at all the trade publications, big magazines, newspapers, etc. or buying ad space or social media or what-have-you. By the time your book comes out, hopefully enough people will have heard about your book to seek it out on release day.

So what happens if you miss any one of these deadlines? Situations vary from book to book, but the house generally has one of two options: scramble to get everything together, or push the book back a season. You can miss deadlines for all sorts of reasons: you didn’t finalize the cover on time, the edited book is coming in too late for blurbs and may miss its galley date, etc. There are reasons to scramble: if the book is timely, if it’s a well-known author with an established series and the publisher wants to get the next installment out to fans as scheduled, and so on and so forth. But in many situations, the publisher will choose to push the book back.

The advantage of pushing a book back is that you have time to set everything up properly. The sales force has an enormous list to work on every season, and a last minute addition, or a book with all the pertinent info “TK” (to come), would cause the sales and marketing team a lot of stress.

You can, of course, crash a title. This means exactly what it sounds like: crashing a book as quickly as possible through editing and production so it makes the sales dates for a particular season. This is generally done for celebrity books, political books that may need to be out in time for election season, movie tie-ins, TV show tie-ins for the next season, what-have-you. But these are generally books where the sales force as already heard of the author or property, therefore less leg work needs to be done to set it up to their accounts.

What happened to Wintersong? In my announcement, I said that my book was recategorized from adult to teen, and those markets are handled by two different sales forces at my publisher. We couldn’t simply re-designate everything; we had to re-launch.

So there you have it! Publishing time. Let me know if you guys have any further questions, and I’ll try to answer as best I can.

This week JJ and Kelly talk subrights, or the pocket change of the publishing world! Also, our call for query submissions to be critiqued on our future query critique podcast is still open, so please send them in! Plus, more horror podcast recommendations.

Show Notes

• A subsidiary right is the right to produce or publish a product in different formats based on the original material.
• Primary subrights include:
  • First and second serial
  • Translation
  • Audio
  • Film/TV
  • Dramatic
  • Merchandising/Commercial
  • Graphic Novels
• Secondary subrights include:
  • Library binding
  • Large print
  • Book club
  • Anthologies
• Reach for the sky rights!
  • Theme park
  • Video games
• Granting vs. retaining subrights
  • Retaining subrights:
    • If you retain a subright, you (or your agent) are responsible for the sale/licensing (“exploiting”) of the subright
    • The advantage is that you would receive money from the sale/licensing directly (minus your agent and co-agent’s commission).
  • Granting subrights:
    • If you grant a subright to the publisher, the publisher is responsible for exploiting those rights.
    • You and the publisher will split the proceeds from the sale/licensing (generally 50/50, but these splits can be negotiated)
    • The advantage of granting subrights is that money from the sale/licensing go against your advance, so you would earn out your advance faster and receive royalties on your book sooner

Real Life Example of Retaining Subrights

• During the process of negotiation, your agent sells North American rights only for an advance of $10,000.
• You make a foreign sale to a German publisher for $10,000.
• The foreign co-agent takes 10%, your agent takes 10%, leaving you with $8000 to paid to you directly.

Advantage: You get $18,000 in hand.

Real Life Example of Granting Subrights

• Let’s say during the process of negotiation, you granted more subrights to the publisher for more advance money, so you sold World rights for an advance of $15,000.
• The publisher makes a foreign sale to a German publisher for $10,000.
• Because the split is 50/50, your publisher makes $5000, and you make $5000. The publisher applies this money against your advance, so now you need to sell $10,000 worth of royalties in order to start seeing royalty checks.

Advantage: You get $15,000 in hand, but will earn out faster.

• PRO TIP: If you do grant subrights to the publisher, make sure there is language in your contract to ensure that these rights would revert back to you within a certain timeframe, should they go unexploited.
• PRO TIP: Make sure you also have language that only grants explicitly listed rights to the publisher, e.g. “Any right not explicitly granted herein is retained by the author.” Also, make sure you excise “whether now known or hereafter devised”.

What We’re Reading/Books Discussed

• Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
• The Glass Sentence by S. E. Grove
• The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff
• A Break with Charity by Ann Rinaldi
• The Burning Sky, The Perilous Sea, and The Immortal Heights by Sherry Thomas
• The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle
• Imaginary Girls, The Walls Around Us, and 17 & Gone by Nova Ren Suma
• Bone Gap by Laura Ruby
• The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig
• Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

What We’re Working On

• Kelly is still working on her YA, and is also co-writing a MG with her friend.
• JJ has seen cover concepts for Wintersong and is excited to share them with you in the future! She is still working on mental health, and is working on her Beauty and the Beast retelling VERY SLOWLY. She is also trying to write short fiction, to put more writing tools in her arsenal.

Off Menu Recommendations

• Kelly went to see the Newsies musical on tour (musical soundtrack and of course, the movie!)
• JJ went to see Deadpool this past weekend
• Cooked by Michael Pollan
• The West Wing
• The X-Files
• The Black Tapes podcast
• Tanis podcast

That’s all for this week! Next week we’ll be starting a WRITING MECHANICS series, where we troubleshoot how to write a novel. First up: STRUCTURE.

Contracts are not sexy.

I taught a course on publishing contracts at The Loft Literary Center recently–a long-held dream come true–and one of the first things I told my students is that contracts are not sexy.

It’s easy to glamorize the publishing industry and the life of a writer. It can seem like an endless swirl of cover reveals and starred reviews and book tours. Even the difficult parts can be romanticized: the struggle to put words on the page, to find an agent, to land a deal.

But it’s also important to remember that, for those who publish, writing is a career. I’m passionate about publishing contracts because I want to help empower writers to take control of their careers. And I believe the single most important thing a writer can do to take control of their career is read and understand their contract.

If you have a publishing contract have you ever read it? I mean really read it, not just skipped ahead to the section detailing your advance payments, or grinned like a maniac at the sight of your name on the signature line. I know a lot of authors haven’t. And I get it. Contracts are intimidating. They’re long, full of a lot of complicated language, and sometimes have entire clauses dedicated to things that will never happen (Force Majeure, anyone?).

I implore you to read yours.

If you have representation, your agent should be well-versed in contracts and will handle all the negotiations on your behalf. So in that case it isn’t particularly important for you to force yourself to read through your entire contract, right? Wrong.

Your agent isn’t a party to the contract; you are. You are required to meet all contractual obligations and you should know what they are and what happens if you don’t or can’t meet them. You should know how your current contract affects your future books. You should know how long the Publisher will own the rights to your work, and when and how you can get those rights back. You should know what warranties you’re making to the Publisher, and be sure they’re all true. Even if your agent negotiated the best possible deal for you, it’s still your responsibility to understand the terms.

Writers today have more resources at their fingers tips than ever before. If you have an agent, use that resource. After you’ve read your contract ask your agent to explain things that you don’t understand. If you don’t have an agent, ask your editor. Talk to other authors. Google. And do it before you sign.

I have heard so many horror stories from writers who did not properly read their contracts. Some signed on with scam Publishers and got their hearts broken and their books ruined. Some signed on with well-respected Publishers, and were unhappy to discover that their contract was more restrictive than they had assumed.

I know as a culture we’re conditioned to scroll to the bottom of User Terms and Conditions and click “agree” without so much as a backward glance; I’m guilty of it, too. But don’t be so cavalier with something as precious as your intellectual property. Don’t be so indifferent about the fate of your career. I’ve worked in publishing for a long time doing many different things, but the most valuable insider advice I can give you is to read your contract.

Rejection. We’ve all been there, starting with the threesome of friends that decided to become a twosome without you, or the unrequited love you slathered on that skinny basketball player in sixth grade. Writing is not for the faint of heart. It often feels like the bad days outnumber the good, that the days of utter dejection and rejection will stop the ship from sailing all together. Many days, I feel like the luckiest person alive to be doing the one thing I’d always wanted to do — make a living as a writer. Some days, I feel like I might chuck it all. Go catch up on those movies I’d been wanting to watch, those travel adventures I’d wanted to take. I wouldn’t read, because reading would only remind me of my giving up. But it would be an easier life, wouldn’t it?

Statistics show that the average number of rejections writers receive before selling a manuscript is about 3,967, based on absolutely no evidence at all. Once you do make that sale, there may be and probably will be dark days ahead. There is the pain of being rejected for blurbs. The torment of not feeling cool enough on social media. The agony of reviews, both professional and bloggers. There is the consternation of not being included on ‘lists,’ or not being invited to conferences, and the heartache of being passed up for awards. There is the distress of having an agent fail you, or an editor leave, or your publisher not buying your next book.

Stacey: Speaking as someone who has a book out and two on the way, When I feel down about publishing, I distance myself. I surround myself with Stacey-supporters and avoid that thing that brings me pain. I get busy doing other stuff, cleaning out the coupon drawer (I know, I have a coupon drawer) finding stuff to giveaway to the Salvation Army, I research my next vacation spot.

Then, when I’m ready, I talk to other people who have ‘been there’ and can validate my experiences. One of my favorite quotes is, “misery shared is misery halved, and joy shared is joy doubled.”

Stephanie: As someone who has shared both misery and joy with Stacey Lee, I can say that the above quote is so true!

One thing that helps me deal with feelings of rejection is to think of books as if they are birthdays.

When it’s getting close to my sister’s birthday and my family starts talking about how we are going to celebrate, I don’t start feeling sorry for myself. I never wonder, Why isn’t anyone talking about my birthday? Isn’t anyone excited for me? Same for her presents. I’m not going to count how many presents my sister receives and then compare the number of gifts I’m given for my birthday—that would be ridiculous.

And I believe the same type of comparing can be said for books.

So, let’s say, your book is slated to come out in summer or fall of 2016, avoid the temptation of feeling bad because the winter and spring books seem to be receiving most of the attention right now—those books have birthdays coming up, they should be getting the buzz.

Stacey: It’s important to remember that there is more to you than your writing. We are not in a race. What can screw us up is the image in our head of how things are supposed to be. As nobody ever said, the flower does not compare itself to the beauty of the flower growing beside it, it just blooms. We each proceed at the pace we’re meant to proceed, taking the losses as they come, but also the wins. There is the joy of connecting with a reader who needed your book. The hug from your critique partners, whose love and support goes way beyond books. There are the emails from your publishing team calling you ‘awesome.’ There is the simple joy of losing yourself in your storytelling. These things must be remembered.

*Cue a rainbow.*

Stephanie: During the holidays I spent sometime cleaning out my closet and I found a journal from when I was in high school. I was nervous about looking inside it—I was a pretty depressed high school student—so, afraid of what I might find, I told myself I would only peek for a second. The page I opened to was a list, written in brightly colored markers, full of all the things I wanted. I listed things like clear skin, perfect SAT scores, to be able to dance, and to someday write a novel. And while I still don’t have clear skin, my SAT scores were far from perfect—and sadly so are my dance skills—I did write that novel.

And I know I’ve said it here before, but just writing a book is a huge accomplishment, whether it sells or not. I meet so many people who tell me they want to write a book, but hardly any of them actually sit down and do it. So if you have written a book that is awesome. If it’s being published, or if it’s about to be published, that is even more incredible!

Stacey: Remember the speeder chase scene through the redwood forest in Return of the Jedi? It’s exhilarating to watch that scene because the camera shows it from the perspective of the rider, Luke. You don’t get a sense of exactly where he’s going, but you feel all the bumps and jolts and swoops and loops that he experiences. As we enter this new year, take a moment to rise above the chase scene, and view it from the top, where unlike that scene in Star Wars, you will not see all the bumps and dips, but the one thing you will see is your progress.

Now it’s your turn. We know all of our readers are in different places with their publishing journeys—we’ve shared a bit about our experiences, so now we’d love to hear from some of you.

This week JJ and Kelly are back to their regular format and discuss X Meets Y, or The High Concept Pitch: what it is, what it entails, and whether or not you need it. Also, the difference between “commercial” and “literary” (if any), and as always, what we’re reading and enjoying this week!

Show Notes

“High concept” is really just the ability to distill your premise down to one or two sentences. It can encompass the “X meets Y” pitch, but a high concept pitch is really the kernel of a story—the handle, as JJ’s old boss used to say—you can pick up and hand to someone else (i.e. sell).

• “Commercial” vs. “literary” is a false dichotomy; they are writing styles, not concepts. You can have the exact same idea and write it in a commercial way, or write it in a more literary manner.
• The Art of Writing Copy by JJ

Name that Book/Movie/TV Show!

• The children of Greek gods go to summer camp.
• A retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma set in 90s Beverly Hills.
• A retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice as told through a neurotic British woman’s diary entries.
• A retelling of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew where Katrina is a 90s riot grrl.
• Children battle each other to the death on reality television.
• House of Leaves meets Battlestar Galactica (bonus: this is a PubCrawl alum’s book!)
• Labyrinth meets Amadeus (we’re giving this one to you)
• A girl who can’t go outside falls in love with the boy next door

What We’re Reading/Books Discussed

• The Corrections and Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
• Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (and movie)
• The works of Margaret Atwood
• Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
• The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
• The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
• Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
• The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
• Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson
• Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
• Truthwitch by Susan Dennard
• Passenger by Alexandra Bracken
• Fire and Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (JJ actually reviewed this on her blog)
• Star Crossed and A Curse as Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce

What We’re Working On

• Kelly is working on an old YA project.
• JJ is setting aside her middle grade for the moment and focusing on an adult project to get ready to send her publisher for her option book.

Off Menu Recommendations

• Top Chef
• Life is Strange (JJ is on the bandwagon!)
• RadioLab’s episode “The Cathedral“
• That Dragon, Cancer
• Jane McGonigal’s TED talks and SuperBetter
• Arkham Horror (not Arkham Asylum as JJ mentions, although she has played that too)

That’s all for this week! Next week we’ll talk about CRITIQUE GROUPS! If you have any questions you would like us to answer, send us an ask or leave a comment!

A question I used to see a lot from aspiring writers when I was still working in publishing was Do I need a website? Do I need to get on Twitter/Facebook/Tumblr/Instagram/[insert social media platform]? What do agents and editors mean when they say “online presence”?

I won’t lie; whenever I received a submission from an agent, the first thing I did was Google that author. I wasn’t necessarily looking to see if the author had an enormous platform or following; I just wanted to get a sense of the person behind the words. For me, it was always the most helpful if the author had a personal website where I could go, read their bios, find their social media links, etc. Not having a professional website isn’t a deal-breaker, but these days, it would strike me as a little odd.

I’ve been coding and designing websites since I was in high school (does anyone else remember Geocities? No? Bueller? Bueller? Okay, I’m just old then.), so I’m pretty comfortable with this sort of thing, but I know this entire process bewilders a lot of people, so I thought I would write a tutorial for our readers (and some of our members!) to help them out.

This is a bit of a long post with a lot of images, so the rest is under the cut!

1. Pick a domain name.

A domain name is your address on the internet, as it were. Ours is publishingcrawl.com, but as an writer, it’s best to have a domain under the name you’re writing under. (For example: Mine is sjaejones.com because I am writing as S. Jae-Jones.) The first thing I would do is check to see if your name is available. The easiest way to do that is simply type yourname.com into your browser and see if anything turns up.

If your name is already taken, then you can add -writer or -books to the end of your name, or else try .net or .biz, although .com is probably best for search purposes.

2. Select a web hosting plan and register your domain.

Most web hosting services will register your first domain for free, and for the sake of simplicity, I would recommend you do it all at once.¹ Select your plan of choice. (For most writers who don’t expect heavy blog traffic, the most basic plans are sufficient. You can always upgrade later.) Register your new domain name with your host provider.

3. Install WordPress.

Okay, now here’s where things get a bit complicated. Think of a website as a piece of property: the host is the land itself and the domain is the address. If you want to live on that piece of land, you need to build a house.

If you know HTML, you could code that house yourself. (I’ve done so; it’s incredibly time-consuming and exhausting.) Or you could download and install a CMS, or Content Management System, like WordPress, Joomla, or similar. We at PubCrawl use WordPress (and I do for my own website as well).

Once you’ve set up your domain, you will prompted to set up a username and password for your host. Once you’ve done that, log in to access your Control Panel (usually called cPanel by most hosting services).

Once you’ve been logged in, at the top navigation bar, you will see cpanel. Clicking on that will lead you to your Control Panel, which will look something like this:

Bluehost and other providers will often provide a 1-step installation for WordPress and other CMS builders. Under Website Builders, click on the WordPress logo and you’ll be brought to a page that looks like this:

Start a brand new install, select your domain name, and Bluehost will do the work for you.² Set up your WordPress login with a username and password.

Once everything’s been installed, in order to access the backend of your website, type www.yourname.com/wp-admin/ and you’ll see this:

Fill in your username and password and that will take you to your Dashboard, which looks like this:

Ta-da! Now your website has been set up. Time to make it look pretty.

4. Select a theme to install on your website.

The default WordPress theme is actually pretty decent, but if you want to put your own personal stamp on your website, I would recommend browsing the WordPress themes gallery. There are a lot of themes you can choose, many of them for free. You can also hire a designer to make your website more personal at this point, but to be honest, a lot of the free themes at WordPress are clean and professional, so there isn’t a huge need to break your bank account.

5. Fill your website with content.

In your WordPress Dashboard, you’ll see an option on the lefthand navigation bar titled Pages. This is where you can create different pages for your website: an about page, information about your books, a blog, a contact page, etc. As an editor, I didn’t need all that much, just a place to contact you. Readers may like a lot more extra content, so include as much information about your book as you please!

That’s all for this post. Hope this was helpful for everyone who’s looking to set up a website and didn’t know where to start. If you have any further questions, leave them in the comments and I’ll try my best to answer, although each case will be different, of course. 

This week, JJ and Kelly talk to Mallory Hayes, a book publicist! She answers a few questions about publicity and gives some advice. Also, once again, EVERYTHING IS STILL HAMILTON. Stay tuned to the end for bloopers where Mallory and JJ attempt—very poorly—to rap.

Show Notes (TL;DL)

• The difference between marketing and publicity is that marketing is coverage you pay for whereas publicity is coverage you don’t pay for (e.g. ads fall under marketing, pitching for reviews in publication is publicity)
• Publicists have media contacts that an author may or may not have, and can leverage their contacts to get their authors more or better exposure.
• We covered some promotional stuff in last week’s podcast!
• When in doubt, ASK! Publicity can differ from imprint to imprint, house to house, publisher to publisher. You never know until you ask.
• Promotion/publicity generally starts about 6 months before publication with ARCs or galleys going out, ramping up as you get closer and closer to publication. Don’t start too soon, or else people will forget.
• The number one thing you should not do: respond to reviews. Just…don’t do it.

What We’re Reading/Books Discussed

• If Hermione Were the Main Character of Harry Potter (A.K.A. Hermione Granger and the Goddamn Patriarchy)
• A Harry Potter Where Hermione Doesn’t Do Anyone’s Homework for Them at The Toast
• Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
• Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen
• Big Magic, The Signature of All Things, and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
• On Writing by Stephen King
• Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer (which Sooz recommended on PubCrawl!)
• Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
• Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (A.K.A. J.K. Rowling)
• The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
• The Little Stranger, Tipping the Velvet, and Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Creative Endeavors

• Mallory is writing a YA novel!
• Kelly and JJ are gearing up for NaNoWriMo (add us at bookishchick and sjaejones, respectively)

Some more NaNoWriMo tips

• EVERYTHING CAN BE FIXED.
• Fixing is easier than creating from scratch.
• Write and DON’T LOOK BACK, DON’T LOOK BACK.

Off-Menu Recommendations

• Chef
• Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries
• The X-Files
• Amadeus
• YES. HAMILTON. AGAIN.

This week, Kelly and JJ explain what happens after you get published, including print formats, the life cycle of a book, and publicity and promotion. Plus, a NaNoWriMo pep talk!

Show Notes

• A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing: Remainders by J. A. Konrath
• What Are Remainders? by Rachelle Gardner
• Self-Promo and Marketing Materials That Work by Erin Bowman
• Do You Have to Say “Yes” to Everything? Sherlocks v. Watsons by Stacey Lee and Stephanie Garber
• Making the Most of Social Media Networks as a Writer by Erin Bowman
• Exciting New York Times Bestseller List Changes Mean Your Favorite New YA Books Are About To Get More Attention at Bustle
• The Times it is a-changing, part deus by Michael Bourret

We’ve written quite a few posts on the topics of promotion, self-promotion, and social media here at PubCrawl, so browse at your convenience!

TL;DL Version

• There are different print formats: hardcover, trade paperback, and mass market.
• Books can get remaindered, which means that the publisher is selling off the remaining stock of a title at a loss to make room at their warehouses for new titles. This does not necessarily mean your book is going out of print.
• The best way to promote books is to make personal connections, i.e. DON’T (solely) BE A SHILL FOR YOUR OWN WORK.
• The New York Times bestseller list is…complicated.

Creative Endeavors

Both Kelly and JJ are doing NaNoWriMo this year! Add us as writing buddies and keep us accountable! We are bookishchick and sjaejones, respectively.

Some NaNoWriMo tips

JJ won NaNoWriMo 13, and then went on to sell that novel, so she feels she’s got a leg to stand on. Some tips and links:

• What should you write about? Anything you want, but if you’re stuck for plot, retelling something can help!
• Pick a story with a small element of “wish fulfillment”. No judgement! Writing from a place of subconscious desire really helps you with word count.
• The Big Idea: How to Turn an Idea into a Book (a post I wrote about finding what to write about)
• More posts on Ideas on PubCrawl!

Books Discussed/What We’re Reading

• Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (on audio)
• The Rose Society by Marie Lu
• Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
• The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore
• The Burning Sky and The Perilous Sea by Sherry Thomas
• The works of Courtney Milan
• The Raider by Jude Deveraux
• For My Lady’s Heart, Shadowheart, and The Shadow and the Star by Laura Kinsale
• Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
• Again, Georgette Heyer!
• The works of Sarah MacLean (the series JJ keeps calling Fallen Angels but is actually called Rules of Scoundrels)

Off-Menu Recommendations

• Secret Garden, Enchanted Forest, and Lost Ocean by Johanna Basford (grown-up coloring books!)
• Dear Bitches, Smart Authors podcast
• Girls Next Door webcomic by Pika-la-Cynique
• And as per usual, EVERYTHING IS STILL HAMILTON. Both Kelly and JJ are loving “Right Hand Man” at the moment.

Hi all! Julie here.

Erin Bowman wrote a great post about the steps in the editing process here, but I wanted to dedicate an entire post to pass pages.

Full confession—despite the fact that I’ve been around writers for years and heard a lot about “pass pages,” I didn’t fully understand what they were until I was about to receive my own! So chances are, if you’re reading this post and you’re not already a traditionally published author, you probably aren’t one hundred percent sure what they are either. No worries! Today I’m going to talk about what pass pages are and the purpose they serve in the process. I’m also going to share my personal experience with them, because I didn’t know what a big impact they were going to have on me until that big envelope came in the mail!

The basics of pass pages… 

Pass pages are the actual pages of your book, laid out as they will appear when the book is bound. They are created from the text after copyedits are done. As the author, you’ll receive these pages for your review, which means this is one more time you will be expected to read your own book (after having read it and re-read it for several rounds of revisions, line edits, and copyedits,) but it’s also one final chance to catch mistakes and make any (small) last minute changes.

I first learned about this stage of the process when I confessed to my editor that I was terrified about the prospect of finalizing the text and knowing the book could no longer be “fixed.” (I’m that person who dreads finishing something, because as long as it isn’t finished, it can always get better.) My editor assured me that even after line edits—even after copyedits—I could still make small changes. Because the final opportunity to make those changes didn’t come until I got my pass pages.

When you receive your pass pages, you will be able to review the book as it will appear in the bound copies. It gives you a chance to not only review one last time for typos or errors, but it also gives you the chance to see if the layout caused any unforeseen issues, like a word left alone by itself at the top of a page. You’ll read the text, but a copyeditor will also read it. You write your changes or notes directly on the page (in a color other than black so it stands out!) and send it back by your deadline. While you read through it, a proofreader reads though it as well, so after you return your pages, you may still receive questions from the proofreader, if there are any issues they spotted that may have been missed before.

Also, it’s interesting to note that the changes made at this stage will be incorporated into the final book, but not into the ARCs, since your ARCs will be at the printer by the time you are reviewing your pass pages. (This is why ARCs have that note on the front that says “Uncorrected Proof.”) Also, if you have an issue with the appearance of the text on the page, this is the time to say something, since changes can still be made. One author I know didn’t like the font that was used on sections of her book that were meant to look like handwriting. Pass pages gives an author the chance to discover these issues and have them addressed.

So that’s the mechanics of pass pages. But there’s more to it than that.

The emotional side of pass pages…

For me, seeing these pages for the first time was the most emotional experience of the publishing process so far. When I pulled the stack of pages from the envelope and saw my words laid out like a real book… I cried.

The first page I saw was the title page. I’m not sure why holding the title page felt more real to me than seeing the cover—after all, it’s the same information on both!—but I think it was the tactile experience of holding it in my hands. It’s on paper, just like a real book! Also, I saw for the first time the details created by Erin Fitzsimmons, the wonderfully talented designer who not only designed my cover (which will be revealed on Thursday!) but also the interior of the book. The title page, chapter headings, and page number details were all perfectly suited to the world of the story, and I knew they would support the reader’s experience. This all felt so right, and pretty overwhelming.

The pictures I’ve included here were among many I snapped as soon as I opened the envelope, so I could share the look of the book with my family. I needed to share this “real book” moment! That’s the emotional side of pass pages—the part no one really warns you about.

So that’s it! What do you think? Have you gone through this process yourself? What was your experience like? If you haven’t gone through the pass pages process, do you think you would enjoy it, or do you dread the thought of reading your own book one… more… time… ? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

This week Kelly and JJ talk about CONTRACTS. Yes, contracts. No, it’s not boring, we promise. Also, how Ernest Hemingway can help you write middle grade and how everything is still Hamilton. EVERYTHING WILL ALWAYS BE HAMILTON.

Show Notes

We haven’t written a ton on the subject of contracts here at PubCrawl, but here is a post by alumni Joanna Volpe and Jordan Hamessley-London:

• The Great Debate: An Agent and Editor Discuss the Latest in Contract Negotiation

TL;DR (or TL;DL for Too Long, Didn’t Listen), the three most important clauses to which you should pay attention in your contract are:

• Rights of Termination
• Delivery
• Option/Non-Compete

Creative Endeavors

JJ is still working on her middle grade novel and is reading Ernest Hemingway for research. Not because her middle grade is about bullfighting and notions of masculinity, but because from a craft perspective, no one does spare yet emotionally resonant better than Hemingway.

Books Discussed This Week

• The Sun Also Rises and For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
• Duck Sock Hop by Jane Kohuth, illustrated by Jane Porter
• Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho
  • the Regency romances of Georgette Heyer
  • Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
  • the whimsical works of Diana Wynne Jones
  • The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper
• The League of Seven by Alan Gratz

Off-Menu Recommendations

• Alpha Bear game
• Sailor Moon manga, the not-so-good TokyoPop versions and the much better Kodansha reissues
• Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne (Good news! It is translated into English!)
• Sandman by Neil Gaiman
• Saga by Brian K. Vaughan
• Miss Marvel by G. Willow Wilson

That’s it for this week! Next week, we will be talking about how to take a story FROM BRAIN TO BOOK: A Look Into the Behind-the-Scenes Publishing Process. As always, if you have any questions or comments, sound off in the comments, or ask us on Tumblr!

Have you ever wandered through the aisle of a bookstore, browsing the faced-out titles, when you spot a name on the cover that isn’t the author’s? Something that might look like this?

This is a “blurb”, or what I like to call the author’s letter of reference.

In publishing, blurbs are something of a contentious topic, as different people debate whether or not blurbs are even necessary. I will admit that as a consumer, I’ve only ever once picked up a book because of a blurb, and that was the very book for whom Neil Gaiman gave the above quote:

I will also admit to the fact that Neil Gaiman’s blurb isn’t the only reason I picked up this novel; I had already read a review of this book in Time magazine, and I remember reading somewhere that it had also won the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards. And I’ll wager that most readers don’t really notice the laudatory praise on book covers, or if they do, it will only push them over the line from “Undecided” to “Will Certainly Buy.”

But for a debut novelist, blurbs can be something of a stressful thing. As an unproven author with no history or sales track behind you, the best way to get the attention of your publisher’s sales and marketing force is to come into launch¹ with some hefty endorsements. Ideally from writers who have a proven track record, who also write books in a similar vein to yours.

Did you think that putting yourself out there and finding rejection would end once you get a book deal? Oh no, my friends; this party never ends! I kid, I kid, but to be honest, be prepared to be pitching you and your book for the rest of your life: to agents, to editors, to authors way higher up the food chain than you, to booksellers, to readers, etc. Once a manuscript begins the process of moving from a story in your head shared with you and your editor to a tangible product, that’s when blurbs come in. That’s when you and your editor pitch your book to other authors and ask if they would be interested in reading with an eye toward blurbing.

The matter of which authors to approach for blurbs is partially political, partially personal, and partially mercenary. This is where having a community of writer-friends (like PubCrawl!) can be incredibly beneficial; friends who have already published are usually more than willing to put their name behind yours.

This is also where comps can come in useful. If you know that your fantasy novel is similar in tone and scope to another author, then you can pitch said author and ask if they would blurb your book. (Or your editor will do this, if she has the contacts. But everyone is generally pitching in for contacts at this point, including your agent. This is also when asking for blurbs can start to feel a little bit like a popularity contest.)

Do blurbs matter in the long run? I don’t think they do, or at least, not on the consumer end. But for a publisher’s sales and marketing team, blurbs are a fantastic tool. Sales reps at publishers have a number of accounts into which they sell their titles. Because it’s not likely they’ve read every book coming out that season, they’ll see a book with a blurb by X Author and Y Author, and know just how to pitch it. “Oh, this book will appeal to fans of Stephen King and Joe Abercrombie.” The bookseller hears this, and then knows where to shelve the book in the bookstore, and to gauge how many copies they should buy for their store, based on their customer metrics.

The ideal blurb should look like this. It should:

1. Come from an author whose work is similar in tone, scope, style, and genre as yours.
2. Ideally come from author whose name carries some weight (this is where things can get political).
3. Be positive! (Duh.)

Sometimes, at the end of the day, you may not end up with any blurbs. And that’s okay. Blurbs are mostly just a marketing gimmick, another tool in your arsenal. Not getting a blurb won’t kill your book. As I always say, your story is what matters most, and if the story is strong, the readers will find you.

That’s it! If you guys have any more questions about blurbs, or any other part of the publishing process, feel free to leave them in the comments!

by Kara Taylor

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There’s a ton of information out there for writers on the submission process, or what happens once you’ve signed with a literary agent and it’s time to take your book out like a nice, meaty gazelle to all the editor lions. Usually when an author says their manuscript is on sub, they’re talking about a complete book.

by

Amie Kaufman

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One of the things we like to do here at Pub Crawl is give you a peek behind the curtain at parts of publishing you might not otherwise see. If you follow any authors on social media, the odds are very high you’ve seen them mention their copy edits more than once. So what exactly are they?

Copy edits come later in the editorial process—almost the last thing authors will do before it’s too late to change the text! (And believe us, most authors aren’t nearly ready to stop tweaking words, even when it’s time!)

The copy editor is many things. Grammar guru, continuity expert, repetition police, dictionary, the works. Here’s how some of it works:

Grammar guru: The copy editor will mark up all the spots the story’s grammar isn’t quite right, indicating what the correct usage would be. It’s then up to the author to either accept the chance, or write ‘stet’ (which is Latin for ‘let it stand’, we’re a quaint bunch in publishing) if they want to leave it the way it is. The author might want to leave something the way it is (technically incorrect) for any number of reasons. The character’s voice—a teenager mightn’t say ‘whom’, even if it’s correct. Their own personal style—they might really like using far too many em-dashes, like I do. Impact—they might want a sentence fragment or something all mixed up to create a sense of confusion, or chaos, or to shine a light on particular words. (Fun fact: ask any group of authors what they stet the most, and they’ll almost always tell you it’s the places the copy editor points out you should, technically speaking, have a semicolon.)

Continuity expert: The copy editor is the one who points out that when your character says ‘I can’t believe it’s only been three days’, they really shouldn’t believe it. Because it’s been five. (Whoops. Yes, that is a personal example.) They check all kinds of things, from eye color to that one mention of a character who got erased in an earlier draft, and technically shouldn’t exist at all. The copy editor is the one who points all this out after you’ve read the manuscript dozens of times, and would cheerfully swear it’s completely clean.

Repetition Police: After checking the manuscript completely, the author is usually completely sure there are no word repeated too close together. They usually find they’re wrong. (See what I did there?) The copy editor catches repeats and confusing language, anywhere it’s not quite clear what a sentence means.

Dictionary: During copy edits on These Broken Stars, Meg and I learned that you can rifle through a box hunting for something, but you riffle through papers. Two Fs. When you’ve got an Aussie on the team, the copy editor sometimes also points out things that might be correct in Australia or the UK, but are completely confusing if you’re an American.

Suffice it to say we love our copy editors, who make us look smart! For more entertaining tales of saves copy editors have made for other authors, check out this hilarious post by author, literary agent and Pub Crawl/LTWF alumnus Mandy Hubbard.

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This post is adapted from an article that originally appeared in my monthly newsletter — if you liked it, you can sign up here.

Amie Kaufman is the co-author of THESE BROKEN STARS, a YA sci-fi novel out now from Disney-Hyperion (US) and Allen & Unwin (Australia). Book two, THIS SHATTERED WORLD, is coming in November 2014, and her new trilogy will start with ILLUMINAE, coming from Random House/Knopf in 2015. She is represented by Tracey Adams of Adams Literary. You can find her on Twitter or on Facebook, or visit the These Broken Stars website for exclusive sneak-peeks and contests. Amie lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband and rescue dog.