{"id":2515,"date":"2023-01-25T01:18:36","date_gmt":"2023-01-25T09:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/?p=2515"},"modified":"2023-01-08T18:21:40","modified_gmt":"2023-01-09T02:21:40","slug":"auntie-deborahs-new-writing-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/2023\/01\/25\/auntie-deborahs-new-writing-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Auntie Deborah’s New Writing Advice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0It’s a new year, and aspiring writers have questions!\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span>Q: Dear Auntie Deborah, I just got the rights for my novel back from my now-defunct publisher. Will I be able to sell it to another publisher?<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
A:\u00a0It\u2019s a wretched situation and I\u2019m so sorry you find yourself in it. If it helps, you\u2019re not alone. Not only are publishers going under but mergers are resulting in the cancellation of contracts for not-yet-delivered books, even for long-running series by established authors.<\/span><\/div>\n

\nThe short but brutal answer is, probably not. The exception might be if your book sold brilliantly, as in NYTimes Bestseller List, but even then it\u2019s unlikely to attract interest because it\u2019s \u201cold news.\u201d Publishers today are extremely conservative in the books they acquire; editors are reluctant to take chances; alas, your book now falls into the category of out-of-print\/poor sales figures, regardless of whether it\u2019s the fault of the book or not. The sales numbers might be low because the book was only available for two days, but that doesn\u2019t matter. The other possibility is the few specialty small presses that occasionally acquire previously published books by authors\u00a0with huge readerships, books that for one reason or another got dropped (as in your case, where the publisher ceased business). Your agent should be able to advise you whether this is a possibility for you.<\/span><\/div>\n

\nYour best bet is to get a new, professionally designed cover and ISBN and self-publish the novel yourself. If you do this, I encourage you to go \u201cwide,\u201d that is, hit multiple vendors, not just Amazon Kindle. Draft 2 Digital will allow you to place a book in many markets, including those providing library loans, or you could do it individually. You could also put out an audio version of your book.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Q: Is it better to use names or numbers for chapter titles?<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
A:\u00a0There is no \u201cbetter.\u201d There are conventions that change with time. Do what you love. Just as titles vs numbers cannot sell a book, neither will they sink a sale. If your editor or publisher has a house style, they\u2019ll tell you and then you can argue with them.<\/span><\/div>\n

That said, as a reader I love chapter titles. As an author, I sometimes come up with brilliant titles but I haven\u2019t managed to do so for an entire novel, so I default to numbers. One of these years, I\u2019ll ditch consistency and mix and match them. Won\u2019t that be fun!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q: Can I make changes to my self-published book once it’s released?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0Of course, you can. If they\u2019re minor changes, like fixing typos, just upload the corrected file. If the changes are more substantial, like a revision, it\u2019s best to indicate that so your readers don\u2019t think it\u2019s a different book. \u201cAuthor\u2019s Revised Edition\u201d is one way of indicating this.<\/span><\/p>\n

The same goes for changing cover art. Traditional publishers and indie authors do this all the time, as styles in cover art and design evolve. Just make it clear it\u2019s a new cover, not a new book. Otoh, fanatical collectors of your work will grab the new-cover edition just to be complete.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q: What’s the best way to collaborate on a novel?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0There is no best way, there\u2019s only what works for you and your partner. One can draft and the other revise; you can alternate scenes or even chapters; one can dictate and the other edit while transcribing. Or whatever.<\/span><\/p>\n

The hard and fast rule is: GET YOUR AGREEMENT IN WRITING, including how you will handle a break-up. Consider it an ironclad literary pre-nup. You will save yourselves a world of hurt if you rely on your memory of an oral agreement once money is involved.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0It’s a new year, and aspiring writers have questions! Q: Dear Auntie Deborah, I just got the rights for my novel back from my now-defunct publisher. Will I be able to sell it to another publisher? \u00a0 A:\u00a0It\u2019s a wretched situation and I\u2019m so sorry you find yourself in it. If it helps, you\u2019re not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[144,228],"class_list":["post-2515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","tag-advice-to-new-writers","tag-writing-advice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2515"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2516,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2515\/revisions\/2516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}