Tag: #AuthorLife

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I Can Buy Myself Flowers, But This Time Susan Did It!

If you don’t know, I run Current Words Publishing, a very small partner publishing house. I do primarily editing for authors who have completed books, fiction or non-fiction, and if they want to seek out traditional publishing, Dave writes them a query letter. If they just want to get their book out there, Dave creates an interior file and a cover, and we get the book published and distributed. The second option is one a lot of non-traditional authors take (sometimes authors are older, or young but with no publishing credits, experience, or MFA program mentors to help out, or poets, or diverse in some other way, so not as tasty for the traditional publishers and agents who are only considering the book in terms of its money-generating ability, and not at all choosing books solely based on quality of story, as we all wish they would. Sad, and very true.).

As Current Words Publishing I try to give authors what they tell me they need, so just an edit, okay. Advice only, okay, and always free. Full publication, sure. Publication, by any publisher, does not include promotion. Promotion, unless you already have a large following, comes from the author. The author must pivot from writer to marketer, and learn how to sell the book, even when given a shot by a traditional publisher. This is part of the inequality and difficulty of publishing for authors. It’s definitely not in the author’s favor. We do not contract for marketing, meaning authors cannot buy marketing services from us. Buying marketing services (getting a publicist) is incredibly expensive, and much of the time they simply give you a road map for DIY, so the author is still responsible for the book’s sales.

Dave and I charge for editing, and publishing, because sales for new authors are low, and we’re not college or grant-funded, so we have to stay in business in some way. But, we try to balance that with a lot of free advice, resources for our authors, monthly marketing meetings, and events to help promote them.

Yesterday we had a live event for Susan Burgess-Lent’s wonderful novel, When All the Girls Stopped Singing.

Susan has a long history of work in Sudan, where some of the book takes place. She also gave away three signed copies to attendees chosen at random.

Soon Dave will give us the video from the event. You’ll be able to see Susan read, and she’ll have a video she can share on her socials.

Me, asking Susan some questions about her book, and how she wrote it.
Susan, giving her usual thoughtful answer.

We had such a lovely time. I think everyone who attended (it was on Zoom) enjoyed it. Keep up with our events (always free and on Zoom) here.

Today I had the delightful surprise of a flower delivery from Susan. (Susan, if you’re reading this, I think this may be the first time in my life I have ever gotten flowers delivered!) What a surprise. I filled my lady-head vase with the bouquet, because that’s where flowers go around here.

The bouquet also came with a little succulent. I had recently bought a little Lucky Cat tea cup just perfect for a little plant, so in it went. Now I’ll be able to enjoy the flowers for some time, and the succulent forever.

Thank you so much Susan. I really appreciate your kindness.

If you’re interested in meeting Dave and I just to talk about your project, we are always happy to do a Zoom and talk. We always have a half hour to chat about what publishing is like, and give advice on setting up a website, social media, how to approach trying to land a traditional publisher. So if that’s something you’d like to consider, email me (dianne @ currentwords dot com). Just put that all together like an email address would typically be. Writing a book is a very “by myself” process. Editing and publishing doesn’t have to be. Helping authors like Susan is really one of the lucky joys of my life.

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Affordable Book Editing: Transform Your Manuscript

Have you thought about having an edit on your writing project? You can have it on a full book, or a short story/memoir, or even a poem.

What’s the benefit?

  • A second pair of eyes.
  • A dialogue with an experienced editor who is focused on your work, and what you want your work to achieve.
  • One-on-one interaction.
  • A live Zoom discussion.
  • And lots more!

What’s an edit look like?

Kinda like this, though every book is different:

crisp clear notes to show you why I am suggesting what I am suggesting, and collaboration that suits you.

How much does an edit cost?

As a member of ACES and the EFA, I edit based on the standard scale. That means I charge a per-word fee. This is because words can be cut during editing, and words can be added, but the price is based on the original word count. Some editors charge an hourly fee, but I don’t do that, because what if I read much faster than another editor? The other editor is going to present you with a much higher bill, and you’re going to pay for that person’s lack of experience and speed. Word count is much fairer to you, the author. The EFA recommends three to four cents/word, and I charge three cents. For that three cents I will do a combined edit: developmental, line/copy, and proofreading. I’m a registered business in Los Angeles, California, and I give you a contract, so you know what you’re getting, and when you’re getting it. I also offer a free query letter if you’re going to send your work out to agents and publishers. If you decide in the future that you want to publish with Current Words Publishing, I hold a spot for you for two years (no obligation) and do not require a second edit. If you choose to self-publish you can hit us up for any tasks you need help with, like formatting the manuscript. Sometimes authors choose to do a small piece at a time, depending on what they have time and budget for. I’m open to what works best for you. As an example, a 50,000-word piece would cost $1500, and take one week for me to complete, but would include free Zoom meetings and a free query letter, and help and suggestions on how to start promoting yourself as an author.

What makes me the best editor you can hire is that I am so experienced. I have spent over 25 years working with new authors of fiction and non-fiction in many colleges on both coasts. I published an award-winning student literary magazine at UMES for four years. As an editor I have worked on a lot of mystery, horror, dystopian, speculative, fantasy, magical realism, women’s, LGBTQ+, erotic, memoir, and short story collections, including the celebrated Echoes from the Hocker House. I studied under Juan Felipe Herrera, Syd Lea, Luanne Smith, Betsy Scholl, and Christopher Buckley, to name a few. I ran a very successful workshop that met bi-monthly for seven years. I run a poetry coop, and a literary magazine, and I have curated, edited and created many anthologies of horror, mystery, and literary fiction. I have also been a guest editor at literary conferences including the Atlanta Writers’ Conference. I’ll be at the self-publishing conference in Atlanta this spring, where Current Words Publishing is one of the sponsors. There are so many things an experienced editor can do that most “editors” can’t. You have to be choosy. And going with one of the large “we have editors” sites really hamstrings you, because those editors are not allowed to become a part of your literary life. They’re only allowed to do the job and move on. I am not like that. I invest in the authors I work with for the long haul.

The new year is just around the corner. January is already filled for me, but I am open to your project any time after January 31st, as needed. Depending on what you need I can turn around a full novel in as little as a few weeks. Some folks just like to have me edit their new work, a short story or a chapter in the novel, as they finish it. I am very open to a collaboration that suits you.

And, once the year is over, it’s over, and we, much to our frustration, cannot go back. So maybe what you need in 2025 is that push, that meeting, that obligation to send something to someone who is going to interact with it, and you. Let’s make 2025 the year that your book or collection becomes a reality. If you’re interested email: dianne@currentwords.com, or choose a meeting time that suits you.

Here’s to a happy, healthy, and literary new year!

Dianne

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READING BEN, AGAIN AND AGAIN

I met Ben Talbot when he somehow found me online, and asked me to edit a short story he had written. I read the short story, and it was, well, you know, my kinda fiction. It was funny, sly, and odd in the best possible way. It took me by surprise, and, as a person who has read thousands of books and probably hundreds of manuscripts, it is hard to write something that presents to me as fresh. Ben’s story did all of that.

Ben writes a blog.

When an author works with me I give advice on the whole “I’m an author” thing, and my advice is always that each author needs a website (the author’s personal shelf in the bookstore that is the WWW, where readers can find him/her/they), and then to communicate, even if it feels like whispering into the void, so people know about you, have a chance to get to know you, as an author and a human. Most folks don’t take my advice, and even I have trouble with my own advice, as I just don’t get the time I need to attend to my own blog, but Ben took my advice and is blogging… daily. 

Ben already had a website with a blog, but he has started making blogging a very regular part of his life, and that takes some stamina and commitment to one’s writing career. Ben has both.

Ben is also a person with a unique way of seeing the world in general, and I think that is his literary “blessing,” if you will, that makes his fiction so compelling when you read it. You can get a taste for it in his blog. If you wonder what the elusive thing called “talent” is, I guess I would say, loosely, it is the ability to do what other people can do (right? Like even I can play a little piano…) but to do it in an either especially skilled way, or with a unique interpretation, or a different way of “playing the instrument” that results in surprising and new ways of…. seeing, hearing, etc. 

Ben is releasing his first book in 2025, a collection of short stories that function as a novel, much like the classic, WINESBURG, OHIO, by Sherwood Anderson, that is actually labeled as a short story cycle. Ben’s collection is called Periscope City: Where the Lonely Go to Live Alone. Reading Ben’s blog will give you an idea of his style, and keep you up to date on when his book releases. It’s under construction with us now, and I’ll be certain to post when the pre-order is available.

I especially like today’s post by Ben. I left a comment on it that it’s like poetry, of a sort. It’s not so much what Ben has to say, as it is the way in which he says it.

Over two million books get released each year. The first step to being read, which the blogging has an opportunity to help with, is having people know that your book even exists. The second step is, once you get them reading, keep them hooked. And that’s where Ben’s writing shines, at least is does for me, a reader who has been bored way more often than hooked, by books sent my way to edit.

So take a look at today’s blog entry from Ben, and see if you see what I see in his style that I find so intriguing.

And if you’re working on your own book, ask yourself if you are willing to out yourself out there, over and over, whispering into the void, to try to find your readers.