Tag: writing community
New information for Squatchcon, and Left Coast Crime has been posted to the Events Page.
Pretty exciting stuff for me: teaching a Magic Systems Workshop at SquatchCon, as well as hosting a Writers Meetup there and speaking on some cool panels. Some small changes to a reading at Norwescon, and updates on the Left Coast Crime panels I’ll be on in April. Check it out!
I’ve received information and posted what I can confirm of my Spring Convention and Events schedule. So if you want to catch up to me in March or April this year, visit the Events Page! I’m really excited to be teaching some writing and editing workshops, chatting with writers and fans, moderating and speaking on panels, and hanging out with some really cool folks around Western Washington! Hoping to see some of you out in the Wilds of Western Washington this Spring!
So, I’ve gone and registered for two upcoming genre conventions in my area: Norwescon—Seattle-area’s longest-running Science Fiction and Fantasy convention, which happens over Easter Weekend (March 28-31 this year) at the Hilton-Doubletree near SeaTac airport; and Left Coast Crime—a wandering Mystery Literature convention which will be hosted at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue On Seattle’s Eastside (what a mouthful), in mid-April.
I’m already talking to the programming folks at NWC, so I will be on at least a few panels and I might be holding some workshops. LCC is a bit of a different beast, since the programming folks essentially look at who wants to be on programming and what they are good at or interesting to hear talking about, and then stick them on a panel that fits. Or don’t. Because you don’t attend Mystery conventions as a pro the same way you attend SFF cons. Panel selection is based on the programming folks knowledge of the genre and the attendees, so the panels are likely to be created to showcase the writers and other pros that the attendees are most likely to want to see or hear from, plus a few smaller names to round out the panel and give the newer or lesser-known folks a hand up. Therefore, I have no idea if I’ll be on anything at all. But it’s always fun to hang out with the Mystery Fans and writers regardless.
So if any of you are hoping to catch up to me in person before the my next book comes out (sometime next year) that’s a couple of places you can find me. Hope to see some of you around!
So it’s been awhile. Doing some Editing and Writer Coaching, but still looking for more clients, got an account on BlueSky Social (you can find me there as @katrichardson) in hopes of dodging the Social Media apocalypse on Twitter, and throwing myself against the wall of some short stories and an attempt at A New Novel (or whatever it turns into.)
The Edgar Allen Poe inspired anthology Kickstarter at Falstaff Books was successful, so that’ll be coming out before the end of the year (sooner, IIRC, but check the campaign link updates or Falstaff Books for info as that moves further in production.
In the meantime, it’s mostly dogs, digging/filling holes and grading roads on the someday-house site, and trying not to eat all the tasty baked goods Mr. Kat has been learning to make.
I’ve never been so glad to be working via remote. I am being interviewed for a podcast later today, and I’ll still be able to get some other work done, rather than spending most of my day commuting two hours to a recording studio for 90 minutes of set up and recording, then driving home again another 2 hours.
Some things about virtuality suck, but not commuting is not one of them.
I engaged in a conversation recently on The Twit (@katrchrdsn) and FurryElephant (@kat_richardson@universeodon.com) with an #IndieAuthor, and others, about editing costs. She was quoted $6K for an edit based on word count and is aghast. I’m not, but then, I’m old and have been in the editing game since 1991.
Editing and Cover Art are vital to any book’s success and they are worth paying for. Yeah, $6k for editing may be high, however, cost depends on how much work the edit represents; word count, genre, level of edit expected, degree of interaction the editor offers, and so on make a big difference in the cost. Also the editor’s rep and hourly rate have a price. In-demand, well-regarded, and/or award-winning editors charge more for their time.
My editing prices start around $2.5K for developmental edit on 90-120K genre fiction manuscripts. Longer books, Coaching, Non-Fiction, line-edit, and Technical editing cost more. I don’t do Copyedit or final proof. Those are specialized skill sets and they should be performed by someone other than the author or dev/line editor, if possible (it helps to have new eyes on a project at that point, among other reasons.)
I will occasionally do “single pass crits,” which are super-light and get the client a short—usually bullet-point—crit letter to work from, but I still have to charge $800 for my time, because it takes most of a week to read 90-100K and write up the notes (plus my bookkeeping/invoicing). I try not to do a lot of these, since they take more hours than I charge for, and I bill at less than half my normal rate.
If the writer’s new to the self-pub systems, getting some help on formatting can also be worth some cash first time through (or trading services with another writer who’s more experienced). This is also something I don’t do, and which writers should not expect from a freelance editor.
If a writer doesn’t have the money for some services, they’ll have to settle for something less than their ideal. Shopping around and being willing to spend less on some things, and do more themself is necessary. If you consider yourself an Indie Writer, you are also, effectively, an Indie Publisher, and that comes with all the hats. You either wear them all, with varying degrees of success, or you farm some out. Editing is worth paying for, whether you pay in cash or with an exchange of services with another member of the Writing/Editing community. I don’t say this just because I’m an editor as well as a writer, and I want your money; I know first-hand that I’m a great editor when I’m working for someone else, and a bit blind to my own writing faults when working for myself. YMMV.
I’ll be on the Get to Know Mystery panel at Willamette Writers this weekend and hanging around in the “lounge”! #wilwrite20
I’m currently reading through the ms. Finding the “stupidents” before I send it anywhere. I’d forgotten to flip the “include in compile” switch on a key scene, so I had to run the compile again
Good thing I checked, right?
This has been on my mind a lot lately:
Writers of every kind have a culture of silence about contract clauses and advances. Sometimes this is exacerbated by NDAs, but a lot of it is social and corporate pressure to keep quiet, and not to complain for fear of adversely effecting relationships with publishers and PR departments, or setting precedent for the next contract. It’s one of the reasons it’s also very difficult to address misbehavior and actual malfeasance by publishers, agencies, or their employees, since most writers fear retribution or ostracism. This also holds for self-pub and indie-pub writers working directely with small presses, distributors, and vendors. We need to work on breaking down that silence, and then the rest falls into place.
I understand the purpose of NDAs in relation to patents, R&D, and some other product aspects of commercial competition, but they should not be general gags on writers discussing publisher/press/distributor/vendor boilerplate, advances, ebook clauses, royalty schedules, non-compete clauses, rights reversion, or so-called “morals” clauses, among others. If we are free to discuss such aspects of contracts without fearing we will lose our often tenuous financial security, we help aspiring writers as well as established ones, and writing will become a less-abused, and less anxious, profession.
There is a line between discussion and whining that can be hard to negotiate, but this self-censorship serves dishonesty and potential abuse in both small and large companies more than it serves the writing community.
