27 Reasons Why Short Stories Are Rejected

These hot tips come to us by way of the Virginia Quarterly Review blog. (My son, Waldo Jaquith, is their Web developer.)

And while we're on the subject of the UVa's literary magazine, you should know that this is not your father's VQR. It has been souped up by young-pup editor Ted Genoways.

The latest edition (Spring Issue: Superhero Stories) features graphic novelist Art Spiegelman.

Plus, once again, VQR is a finalist in the National Magazine Awards (these are the Pulitzer Prizes of the magazine world), with three nominations.

So, whether you're looking to submit, or are hankering for a majorly good read, keep VQR in mind.

Okay, I'm done bragging now.

Do have a look at those 27 Reasons Why Short Stories Are Rejected. They are all useful (well, apart from number 24, which is absurd.).

Google Will Help Promote Your Book -- For Free

Alert LLLer Kathleen Valenzi Knaus ("Knaus"! She's a newlywed!) sends along this tip for those of us who have books to publicize: Promote Your Books On Google - for free.

From the Google site:
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Want a way to sell more books without spending a penny on marketing? Sign up today and soon you'll be able to.

Google Book Search allows publishers and authors to submit their books for inclusion in Google’s search results. Whether you’re a large publisher with a thousand-title backlist or a small press that puts out a few titles a year, participating in Google Book Search can:

• increase your books’ visibility at no cost
• drive sales by reaching Google’s worldwide user base
• refer qualified traffic to your website
• deliver a new revenue stream via contextual ads placed next to pages from your book
[Main site: http://www.books.google.com.]
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If anyone has given this one a whirl, I hope you'll click on "comment" and let us know how it worked out.

Nuts & Bolts of Publishing and Promotion

Jenny Gardiner has helpful information to pass along (and, as the Sultan of Self-Promotion, Jenny knows what she's talking about):

A writer friend forwarded this to a loop I'm on. This is an agent's blog, and his piece about self-promotion is worth reading for anyone hoping to break into the industry in this grueling market. www.NathanBransford.blogspot.com
-Jen
American Title III winner, Sleeping with Ward Cleaver, (Dorchester/Feb. 2008)
JennyGardiner.net & www.thedebutanteball.com

[At Bransford's blog, scroll down to August 23rd for the self-promotion post. But don't confine yourself that post -- Branford has lots of good advice regarding other aspects of getting that manuscript published. How to write a synopsis is another good one. A good blog to bookmark, IMHO. --Janis]

Freelance Writing: How Much Should You Charge?

Leslie Middleton has a request:

"I wanted to ask fellow LLLers about freelance grant-writing -- anyone have experience? how to set fees? willing to talk to me about it?"

If you have wisdom to share, you can post it in a comment, and/or email Leslie: LMiddleton at embarqmail dot com.

Report from Denver

LLL Denver. Seated (L-R): Sara Megibow, Kristin Nelson, Kelly Notaras, Debra Fine.
Standing: Janet Singleton, Tamara Greenleaf, Carleen Brice, Elizabeth Wrenn, Bella Stander.

Today was the third Denver LLL. We've had exponential growth: just two Ladies in June, five in July and nine today. Denver being just a wee bit (make that almost 15x) bigger than Charlottesville, we had to make some concessions to geography. Which means we had to forego Royal India at the SE end of town in order to accommodate the Ladies who live in the Boulder area.

So today we met in an Irish pub in NW Denver, Mead St. Station in Highlands Square. Upside: Good location, good prices, good food, great iced tea. Downside: Catch-as-catch-can parking, no reservations, noisy. Next month we'll probably meet at a larger, quieter (hooray for sound-deadening carpet!) Chinese restaurant with its own parking lot.

Hot tip from agent Kristin Nelson: If you're an author, freshen up your website periodically by posting "deleted scenes" from your novel. Your readers will love it, and you won't have to worry about giving away protected material.

Support Authors' Rights

The Authors Guild sent out an email to members yesterday, which begins:

When collectors donate manuscripts, letters, and diaries of an author to libraries or universities, they are entitled to deduct the fair market value of those literary papers from their income for tax purposes. When authors donate their manuscripts and other papers to libraries or universities, they're permitted to deduct only the cost of the physical materials used to produce those documents (the cost of paper, ink, toner).

The difference, of course, is immense, and immensely inequitable to authors who choose to donate their papers for scholarly research.

We now have a good chance to right this wrong, and we'd like your help.

Read the rest: Literary Papers Tax Bill Needs Your Support

You Don't Hear About the Rejections

Everyone who writes (and submits) gets rejected. A fact of life. Does that make it hurt any less when it's YOUR literary creation that gets the thumbs-down? I'd love to know how you all deal with this. Maybe we need a ritual, a voodoo dance or something, to get us back on track. Do you break down? Throw something? Kick the dog? (Hey, don't kick that dog!) How do you cope with rejection and keep on writing?

Website Insights

Are you a Literary Lady with a website? Or maybe someone who'd like a website, but you're not sure how to go about it? Elizabeth Howard asked me for advice about this the other day, and I was no help at all. (My son Waldo does my site for free and charges other people more than the average writer could afford.)

So, we're looking for advice: How much should one expect to pay? Do you look for someone online? Should that someone be in Charlottesville, or does it matter? What other tips can you pass along?

[posted by Janis Jaquith]