Last week, I republished the article, An Inspiring Rare Friendship in anticipation of Publish Don’t Perish Tip #11 – Be Accountable. It’s so easy to be pulled away from your writing when “life” interferes. Sometimes you need a break, as I discussed in Tip #10 , however, sometimes while the break is helpful, it may extend longer than intended, and you can move farther and farther away from your goals. This slippery slope is especially easy for the writer, an often lonely profession. However, when you set yourself up to be accountable, important goals are likely reached. Today’s article will share ways in which you can make yourself accountable.
Accountability Partner
The Best Partner — Joni & Karen
Find yourself an accountability partner. This is someone you can share your daily or weekly writing goals with and who will check in with you to see if you’ve met them. This doesn’t necessarily have to be another writer, it can be anyone willing to see you succeed.
Writers’ Group
.Join a writers’ group. I have been blessed by one of the most incredible, supportive groups imaginable. We meet monthly, although during these times of social distancing, we missed a few until we found our rhythm with a new venue — Google Meet. It’s not quite the same as being together in person, but it’s almost as good and still provides motivation to write. These amazing people have the ability to fill my soul.
At the start of each meeting we pray together and provide a 90 second update on where we are with our writing. It’s amazing what that 90 seconds can inspire us to accomplish during the month.
Writing Retreat – Donna Wichelman, L.A. Sartor, Sandi Rog, Karen Fischer, Audra Harders, Candi Fick
Critique Group
Join a critique group where like minded
writers set writing goals and provide regular drafts to other members for
critique. Each group will have its own set of “rules” and “guidelines” the
members need to follow. But each member is held accountable to participate and
write.
Go Public
When you go public with your readership, family, and friends, you don’t want to let them down. Search Beyond Lies is a very important project for me, and by going public with An Inspiring Rare Friendship, I want you to hold me accountable. My goal is to have Search Beyond Lies ready for my professional content editor (Candee Fick) by December 1, and ready for my copy editor (Elizabeth Fenton) by Christmas. I will check in with you regularly.
An Inspiring Rare Friendship
What suggestions do you have to help us be accountable?
Tip #10 in the Publish Don’t Perish Series is — TAKE A BREAK, when you need one. Sometimes the process of making lemonade from life’s lemons requires a break for whatever reason. When it comes to the life of an author, sometimes a break will do wonders for writer’s block. However, sometimes different aspects of our lives must take a priority, whether it’s children, your spouse/significant other, day job, a family member who needs assistance, or …
The last post
Karen Van Den Heuvel Fischer
The last post I published was the last Thursday in April, thanks to Candee Fick. The last post I wrote, was two weeks prior. Friends, I took a break from writing. Not all writing, I am an attorney with the law firm of Karen VDH Fischer LLC and I write legal documents all day, whether for businesses, estate planning, probate, Employee Handbooks, or … . I took a break from writing my articles and working on my book, Search Beyond Lies. That break is over, and I am charging forward.
Search beyond lies
My latest novel (a work in progress) is titled, Search Beyond Lies. It’s very important to me, as it was inspired by my son’s close friend and mentor, Brian Perri, who lost his life on Mount Meeker on June 30, 2018 and those who would not give up on his search — my son, J.C. and Brian’s close friend from his army days, Kimo, who is now a part of our family. Although inspired by these incredible people, the book is a work of fiction and will have a happy ending.
Brian Perri
An inspiring rare friendship
After the 3-week search for Brian, I wrote an article titled, An Inspiring Rare Friendship. Although I posted this article on my website, it was subsequently lost when my website “crashed” and a number of published articles could not be recovered. Next week, I will republish this article, as it will be instrumental for the next tip.
Take a break
Take a break with a culinary work of art.
Take a break if you need it, and please don’t feel bad about taking it. Do something fun if you can or a task you enjoy, perhaps painting, gardening or culinary works of art, whatever your pleasure (mine is culinary since I have no talent with a paint brush or with the garden — although I enjoy others’ creations). These are unprecedented times and it’s important to take care of yourself.
Writing is both a solitary and community activity.
On the one hand, as a Christian romance author, I
spend countless hours inside my head and staring at a computer screen as me,
myself, and I brainstorm plots, characters, and themes before pouring rough
words onto a page and then rewriting them into some sort of logical order.
On the other hand, what good is a story if there’s no
one to read it? But before sharing my words with the book-loving community of
readers, I also work with my critique partner and editor, not to mention
multiple other people-run businesses for graphics, cover design, marketing,
advertising, and my amazing review team. What started as a solo project soon
includes a much bigger group all connected through the power of the internet.
A BOOK IS MORE THAN A STORY
My introvert-perfect work process took on a unique
element when I was invited to be a part of a multi-author boxed set releasing
on Mother’s Day.
For those unfamiliar with boxed sets, they are
essentially a collection of ebooks by various authors packaged together and
sold as a single unit. Readers get multiple stories for one low price and can
discover new-to-them authors in the process. While authors can multiply their
marketing budget and social media reach by pooling their resources.
It’s a win-win situation for both authors and readers.
But, working with other authors to create a boxed set is not without its
challenges. So, if you’re considering working with someone else in a co-author
or collection opportunity, here are a few logistical items to consider.
Communication
Like most things in life, communication is key. For
us, we created a secret group in Facebook where we could hold discussions, document
our decisions, add to shared files, and hold each other accountable. We also
set up a shared Dropbox folder to collect the stories and graphics images. As
we grew closer to the launch, weekly updates were posted with short lists of
things to do.
Another thing we did very early was create a
comprehensive list of tasks and internal deadlines for each step in the
process. Then, team leadership naturally emerged as we discussed our prior
experience and thankfully nobody had to learn a brand-new skill in order to
pull this off. Some were familiar with blurb writing, formatting, and uploading
to publishing platforms. Others were good at editing, regularly shared in
multiple other Facebook groups, or had leads to marketing outlets. A few already
had paid access to graphics programs and were able to create our cover, 3D
image, and other promotional images. Every task on our list was given a “point”
person.
Deadlines Met!
Even with plenty of advance notice, as those internal
deadlines approached, a few of the authors in the group had to bow out for
various reasons leaving us with five that were ready to move forward. So, if
you’re creating new stories for a set instead of recycling previous work,
either have a flexible release date, build in time for “life” delays, or bring
more authors onboard early to leave you with a solid group in the end.
Last—and this will make Karen’s lawyer brain
squirm—were the legal and financial agreements. By bundling our stories, we
were creating a single unique product and splitting the profits. The same
person who uploaded the files for publication would also be the one responsible
for receiving, splitting, and paying out our earnings with full transparency.
In addition, by publishing “wide” to a variety of international retailers
beyond Amazon, we all had to agree to restrictions about when and where we
could publish our individual stories later. And while we didn’t draw up a
formal contract, all of these decisions are documented within our group.
Love is in the Air
Our collection releases on Mother’s Day 2020 so while it’s
too soon to know how effective our marketing efforts have been, early reviews
have been very positive. And I’m sure there will be plenty of lessons to apply
to the next time I participate in a collection.
Because collaborating with other authors has been an invaluable experience both personally and professionally.
(c) 2020 Candee Fick
———-
Love is in the Air: 5 Contemporary Christian Romances
This collection of five brand new romances is
sure to send your heart soaring. Journey from Canada to Georgia and Colorado to
Paris by way of Michigan as these couples find love is in the air. All they had
to do was look up.
Author Candee Fick
Candee Fick is a multipublished, award-winning author. She is also the wife of a high school football coach and the mother of three children, including a daughter with a rare genetic syndrome. When not busy writing, editing, or coaching other authors, she can be found cheering on the home team at sporting events, exploring the great Colorado outdoors, indulging in dark chocolate, and savoring happily-ever-after endings through a good book.
Contracts can make or break you. Most people, especially writers and other business people deal with a variety. Today we’ll take a look at publishing contracts.
If Writing Is Your Passion – Never Give Up!
Please keep in mind the purpose of this article is as an educational resource only, it is not to provide legal advice.
Publishing Contracts
The decisions you make today can have profound consequences that can haunt you for years. Also, keep in mind that just because they are listed in a reliable source as a publishing house to consider, doesn’t mean that a particular publisher is ethical or follows industry standards.
Case-in-point
I will use myself as a case-in-point. My second child was Trisomy 18 and was stillborn. The doctors wanted me to terminate my pregnancy after receiving a test result and I refused.
A Beacon for Life
I wrote a book that was cathartic for me, and my intention was not to make money off of it, but to buy them and distribute them to people who might benefit from the message. Now this was before the e-book era when self-publishing was very costly. At that point I had never been to a writer’s conference and did what most people do — bought a book of publishing houses and agents and started to send out query letters.
The rejection letters rolled in. Finally, I got the “yes” from a publisher. I read the contract and there were a number of clauses I did not like but they refused to negotiate. Their position was that I was a first time author and I could take it or leave it. I felt I had no choice if I wanted to get my message out and I signed on the dotted line.
Release Day
My book came out and frankly they did a nice job on the final product. This was one of the first publishing houses who did print on demand — they did not have the ability to store thousands of books. Under the contract, they had the right to determine the price of the book and my discount came off their price. Their retail price was $14.99 for a 99 page book and my 30% author discount brought my price down to the retail price it should have been sold at. I couldn’t afford to buy it and give it away. But then God stepped in and took control.
I got a call from the publishing house telling me that they had an order for three books, and they mistakenly printed 300 books — Would I like to buy them? I told them I couldn’t afford to buy them. They offered 50% off. No… Then 60% off. No… I ended up buying them for 80% off and donated most of them to charitable organizations. God did use my book to save lives.
The Right of First Refusal
This publishing house had the right of first refusal to my next book and I did not want them touching it with a 10 foot pole. I researched what books they did not publish and there was only one — children’s picture books. Guess what my next book was? — A children’s picture book. I submitted this next book, received the rejection letter, and I framed it.
With e-books and the ease of Indy publishing, authors have more negotiating power. The days of take – it – or – leave – it are pretty much a thing of the past. But the author still needs to understand what they’re getting themselves into.
The next article in this series will take a look at author representation contracts, the common parts of a book contract, and important considerations.
Tip #9 in the Publish Don’t Perish Series is — TREAT WRITING AS A BUSINESS. It is a business, whether full time or part time, depending on where you are in life. Since it is a business, you should treat it as one. What does this mean?
A Multifaceted Business
My earlier article explained how writing is a multifaceted business. It’s not just about writing your story, although that is a critical piece — without the story, there is no business. With that in mind, it’s important to reach out to other writers; know where your go-to resources are with helpful tools, hints, and knowledge.
Tools of the Trade
The Author Toolbox
Your business needs to be set up with the tools of your trade. As a writer, this involves a number of electronic tools, including at a minimum, internet, a computer (unfortunately with electronic submissions, etc., the typewriter is history), printer, and smart phone. Because the author is expected to handle most of the marketing, even with a traditional publisher, additional tools include a website, social media, and access to someone who can help you in case of technical difficulties, which are guaranteed to occur.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, most people must work from home. For a writer, that’s the status quo. With more and more people working from home, there are additional considerations that can make life easier.
Life isn’t easy, and when you’re dealt lemons, Tip # 8 encourages us to make some lemonade. Right now all of us are in the largest crisis of our lives. To say that we were dealt lemons is a gross understatement, but we must make lemonade in the meantime.
As writers, you may ask, “What does that looks like?”
Relationships
Life is all about relationships, and the success of our books is all about relationships as well:
Relationships between our characters,
The feelings we stir between our readers and our characters (also a relationship), and
Marketing our books.
With today’s on-the-go society, very few families spend time together. The Stay-at-Home Order has provided an opportunity for families to spend time together and hopefully strengthen those relationships. Of course the opposite is possible, but we’ll be hopeful that’s not the case.
Great Family Time!
In today’s high tech society, we have the opportunity to reach out to each other electronically to continue our social interaction with others and deepen those relationships. It is also placing those who were not technically savvy to become more proficient. As writers, those are critical tools.
Emotions
It’s hard to make your characters’ emotions “real” without experiencing those emotions yourself. The COVID-19 pandemic has put us all in a position to feel emotions we may never have experienced — EXTREME, to say the least. We can use those emotions we feel to make those emotions “real” in our characters.
COVID-19
More Writing Time
Under normal circumstances, quite a few writers are not able to write full time because they still have to support themselves and their families. With the Stay-at-Home Order in place, those who are unable to work, have more writing time. Those who are now working remotely, can use their drive time for writing.
Support
There are so many concerns and variables associated with those concerns. Some of us have “children” who are on the front lines of this battle. My daughter is a neurosurgery resident who is in the forefront, along with the daughter of a fellow writer in my writers’ group, Jill Haymaker, whose daughter is an ER doctor.
THE MEDICAL STAFF ARE OUR HEROES
Prayer is our sword and comfort. The medical staff are the heroes in this battle and need our support and prayers.
A Big Thank You to Our Heroes!!
Let us stand together as a community of writers and lend a hand of support, encouragement, and prayer.
What recommendations do you have to pay our support forward?
Since February is the month for love and heart health, this is the perfect time to share Tip#7 — Don’t Forget the Chocolate! Although any kind of chocolate can show love, only the right type of chocolate is healthy for our hearts and mind.
What’s the Right Type of Chocolate
Theobroma cacao is the botanical name for chocolate and it means “food of the gods.” As with most food items in today’s society, chocolate is processed every which way. Processed chocolate is high in sugar and fat with very little nutritional value. The right type of chocolate is dark chocolate with a high concentration of cacao (at least 70%).
Chocolate: Are You a Cacao or Cocoa Writer by Kathryn Ross
Kathryn Ross wrote a wonderful article, Chocolate: Are You a Cacao or Cocoa Writer? This article delves deeper into the differences between chocolate and cacao, and in her creative and talented manner, Kathryn applies it to your writing.
Potential Health Benefit
If you combine the right kind of chocolate with a healthy lifestyle, research shows that potential health benefits include:
improved blood pressure;
enhanced heart health;
decreased LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol); and
increased blood flow to your brain.
Dark Chocolate – Good for Your Heart and Mind
Studies also show that dark chocolate may reduce the risk of diabetes by improving insulin sensitivity and blood sugar levels. Diabetes is a growing problem and a known risk factor for heart disease, with an even higher risk for women. Keep in mind, a healthy lifestyle is critical. For more information, check out my article, Dark Chocolate & Love’s Heart Healthy Month.
Karen Van Den Heuvel Fischer
Your writing and life can benefit from the “food of the gods” so long as you combine it with a healthy lifestyle. Tip #3 — TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF will provide you with guidelines to make that a reality. Remember, your best writing, your best work, your best time happens when you’re at your best self.
Writing is work. As writers, we understand what that means, however, our friends and family may not. This is especially true when you work at your craft from your home.
A number of writer friends have often shared their frustration with the constant interruptions they encounter from people they know. I confess to experiencing the same frustration as a writer. However, unlike the writers I know, I found myself in the perfect position for an experiment. With a Master of Science degree, I am quite familiar with experiments.
I joined a law firm as one of their attorneys in the areas of estate planning, business, and real estate more than a year ago. I confess to enjoying the practice of law more than I ever have in my entire career (I won’t reveal how many years that is, but suffice it to say it’s more than 20). I work with an incredible, brilliant group of attorneys and support staff. Another plus, is that although our main office is fully staffed (with 3 satellite offices), unless I am meeting with a client, I work from my home office — where the experiment begins.
I don’t write full time, but, I never did. I have practiced law since I graduated law school, however, when I moved to Colorado, I practiced more part time until I started with this firm. With the exception of my clients, my family and friends saw me as a writer, and interruptions were a constant problem. Once I joined this firm, while I worked out of the same home office, the interruptions ceased.
Writers Beware of the Legal Pitfalls
What does that tell us? That others considered my work as a full time attorney as a “real job” while my work as a writer was not. To say that is frustrating is an understatement, however, there are things we can do.
Treat writing as a “real job.”
Go to your workplace, whether it is a separate room in your home, an area of your home, the library, a picnic table in a specific park, or Starbucks.
Let your family and friends know your work schedule.
During your writing (work) hours, shut off your phone, do not answer your door, and do not check your email.
Karen Van Den Heuvel Fischer
Once they realize you are not available during work hours, they will understand that you are working. Fortunately, I am an early bird and my writing time takes place before most people rise. My “workday” for writing begins around 4:30 a.m. with my workday as a lawyer around 8. For me, a perfect solution.
When it comes to intellectual property rights, confusion abounds. Between copyright, trademark, service mark, and patents, questions arise as to what rights apply. The purpose of this article is to help shed some light on the differences. Remember, this article is an educational resource only and is not to provide legal advice.
What Is a Trademark or Service Mark and How Do They Differ From Patents and Copyrights?
Registered
A trademark is a brand name. A trademark or service mark includes any word, name, symbol, device, or any combination, used or intended to be used to identify and distinguish the goods/services of one seller or provider from those of others, and to indicate the source of the goods/services.
What is a trademark or service mark?
• A trademark is generally a word, phrase, symbol, or design, or a combination thereof, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others. • A service mark is the same as a trademark, except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than goods.
Do trademarks, copyrights, and patents protect the same things?
No. Trademarks, copyrights, and patents protect different types of intellectual property. A trademark (or service mark as the case may be) typically protects brand names and logos used on goods and services. A copyright protects an original artistic or literary work. A patent protects an invention.
Do they protect the same thing?
Likelihood of Confusion with Other Marks
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) examines every application for compliance with federal law and rules. The most common reason to refuse registration is a “likelihood of confusion” between the mark of the applicant and a mark already registered or in a prior-filed pending application owned by another party.
The USPTO determines that a likelihood of confusion exists when both (1) the marks are similar, and (2) the goods and/or services of the parties are related such that consumers would mistakenly believe they come from the same source. Similar marks or related goods/services by themselves are not enough to support a finding of a likelihood of confusion, unless a court has held that the mark is actually a famous mark. That is, generally two identical marks can co-exist, so long as the goods and services are not related.
Each application is decided on its own facts and no simple mechanical test is used to determine whether a likelihood of confusion exists.
Mistakes Do Happen
An author filed a trademark application claiming exclusive rights to the word “cocky” in Romance book titles. Once she obtained the trademark registration she went all out and sent multiple notices requiring authors to change the title of their books. She attempted to block the sale of books by romance writers who used that word in their title. Amazon even complied with her take down request.
Mistakes do happen!
“Cocky” is a popular word in the genre, and it didn’t take long for her registration to be contested, especially when a recipient of one of her demands happened to be an intellectual property attorney and the registration was clearly an error on the part of the USPTO.
The law is explicit — only series titles can be trademarked, NOT book titles, and common words can’t be trademarked unless the word creates an association with a specific source (i.e. an individual author) in the minds of the public. Moreover, the USPTO specified that a trademark owner in a book series title cannot prevent that mark from being used in a single book title. “Only series titles can infringe another series title.”
Next month we’ll take a look at contracts, an area encompassing everyone whether you are traditionally published or self published. What has your experience been?
This incredible APODS Series, written by Amanda Cabot is a must read for not only writers, but EVERYONE and I recommend you apply APODS to your life. I am a writer and a practicing attorney, and I found it extremely useful in mine. This post will take you through a summary of each article and a link where you can find more. Even if you’ve been following along, I highly recommend reviewing this Series again. Thank you Amanda for sharing your invaluable expertise!
This article is the first in the series on time management and getting to the end. Although time management is only one part in the multifaceted solution to getting to the end, it’s an introduction to a system that goes by the acronym APODS — Analysis, Priorities, Organization, Discipline and Support. Get a quick peak at each of these five areas.
To address priorities, you need to first establish those priorities, understand the opportunity costs of those priorities, and accept the fact that we cannot do everything.
This article focuses on ideas gleamed from Marilyn Paul’s book, It’s Hard to Make a Difference When You Can’t Find Your Keys. Amanda discusses 4 of her points she found particularly useful.
Support is the final step in the APODS Series. You will not want to miss this article!
This Series has been an invaluable resource for so many, especially me. What did you find most helpful?
Amanda Cabot
Amanda Cabot is no stranger to getting to “The End.” She juggled a sixty-hour a week job with nonnegotiable deadlines and building a house long-distance at the same time that she wrote two books a year. Whether or not she kept her sanity during that time is debatable. Amanda is the best-selling author of over thirty novels, eight novellas, four non-fiction books, and what she describes as enough technical articles to cure insomnia in a medium-sized city.
Out of the Embers by Amanda Cabot
Out of the Embers, the first of the Mesquite Springs trilogy, has an official release date of March 3, but it’s currently available for preorder at all the major online retailers. If you prefer brick and mortar stores, your local bookseller should be able to order a copy for you.
