Let's face the Re-Words. Like Rejection– by Ruth Bonetti

Authors tread a hard road to bring our words into print. Knock-back rejections can drive us into foetal positions, vows to give up writing. To use our time with real jobs like accountancy. 

 

Or we learn to handle rejection, and learn from it.

 

For those who still hope to hook a publisher, take heart. Big name authors were rejected many times by publishers, who now regret that.

Mega author, J. K. Rowling has hooked youngsters to read doorstop-size books. Harry Potter featured large at recent Book Week parades. A dozen publishers, including Penguin and HarperCollins, rejected her. (Now the woke lobby reject her. If anyone deserves the right to speak out, Rowling does. Yet because she resists the trans agenda, she is de-personed and a target for death threats.)

• C.S. Lewis is said to have received around 800 rejections before he sold a single piece of his writing.

• Orwell’s Animal Farm copped “It’s impossible to sell animal stories in the USA.”

• The Diary of Anne Frank: “This girl doesn’t, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the curiosity level.”

Polish that manuscript. When it gleams, submit. Hold breath rather longer than wise (Pray. Sigh.) 

Review. Reflect. Or React– self-publish

Many of us choose to self-publish. With experience and out-sourcing aspects outside our skill-set, we can produce a book in hand in a fraction of time that big houses take. Along the journey, we encounter many steps of the process.

(Enjoy Playing the Clarinet was published by Oxford University Press. The others were indie published by Words and Music.)

We can apply the lessons learned from personal rejections in life. My past year was constricted by abuse on various fronts–and backs. Doors slammed in my face. I'm grateful for Anne Hamilton's support and wisdom, especially in her book Dealing with Azazel: Spirit of Rejection. Her recent book Dealing with Beliel: Spirit of Armies and Abuse is on my bedside table. Anne challenged me to confront and to call out bullies–and also those complicit in it. 

Review. Reflect. React. 

Anger turned inward equals depression. Thanks to Anne's insights, I feel energised and invigorated to call out abuse. 

Which led me to a 70-year break-through to RECONCILIATION 

Long story short. Aggro and jealousy since I was born led someone to de-person me. Triggers blocked my ability to create, my very being. 

Over the decades, I attempted to reconcile. But it takes two to tango. 

REPENT

I faced and acknowledged my own knee-jerk missteps on tender toes, times I had retaliated. Confront, call out. A brother's funeral led me to articulate a radical step:

A brother's funeral led me to articulate a radical step:

"Unless X attempts some reconciliation, that person is not welcome at my funeral." (Whenever...) 

We broke ice with superficial, tentative communication. Next steps warmer and more genuine. 

RECONCILE! Drumroll 

This antagonist of a whole lifetime will next week host an afternoon tea with cake and bubbles for my birthday. 

Hallelujah!

In this blog thought to venture into the reactive F-words like:

• FLIGHT
• FIGHT
• FREEZE
• FORGET
• FORESTALL

But Anne Hamilton covers these better than I can.  Do check out her books!

Once converted to become an indie publisher, RUTH BONETTI has produced books for those who perform Words and Music. Her Speak Out–Don't Freak Out is now available on audio book. 

Which led Ruth to a new project; narrating her award winning Trilogy Midnight Sun to Southern Cross while she awaits prompts for fresh writing. Listen to an introduction and Chapter 1 of Burn My Letters here. She offers her new expertise to narrate other authors’ books. 

Order autographed copies of Ruth's books. 

CWD Member Interview – Ben Morton AKA Morton Benning

Most Thursdays in 2019 we will be interviewing one of the members of Christian Writers Downunder – to find out a little bit more about them and their writing/editing goals.

Today's interview: Ben Morton AKA Morton Benning

Question 1: Tells us three things about who you are and where you come from.

I grew up in Whyalla SA, which is essentially a hot and dry city masquerading as a country town, where my friends and I camped out as teenagers to be the first three customers of the newly opening Hungry Jacks.

I first left home when I was nineteen to live over 300km from a free dinner at mum’s because I wanted to study ministry, preaching and theology and become a youth pastor, but I had to work as a t-shirt artist to pay back my fee debts.

I met my wife while studying and then teaching drama and creative writing at Tabor Adelaide and we spent a year teaching English in Japan together before settling back in Adelaide and having two girls (one more baby on the way as I write this).

Question 2: Tell us about your writing (or editing/illustrating etc). What do you write and why?

I mostly write and teach speculative fiction because I find the fantastical environments to be a more interesting place to tell stories and explore ideas. I enjoy writing poetry from time to time as well, and I like to write a good mix of adventure and humour. I also use my writing, editing, typesetting, illustration and design skills to run a small business that makes use of modern publishing methods to turn unpublished writers into published authors. I call what I do assisted publication because it has many of the benefits of self publishing and also of what used to be called vanity publishing, but avoids most of the drawbacks of both. I am excited to give writers the opportunity to see their hard work become available to their audience without having to impose the barrier of a great deal of financial expense (which, let’s face it, writers mostly don’t have a lot of money).

IMMORTALISE | creative and artistic services

Question 3: Who has read your work? Who would you like to read it?

I wrote a Y/A speculative fiction novel entitled Playing God and an anthology of fantasy poems and stories called The Tale of Alathimble Spaide and Other Such Nonsense, both with Stone Table Books, which have gained a little traction in local geek culture. Most of my published works are collected in nearly every edition of the Tabor Adelaide anthologies entitled Tales from the Upper Room or the two anthologies published by my writer’s group Literati, If They Could Talk and Something in the Blood. Those have mostly gone out to people connected in some way to family and friends of Tabor, Adelaide. I have published Morton’s Anglish Fictionary (with my own label, Immortalise) which has a small local following in and around Adelaide. I really intend for my books to be read by people who love the sorts of things I love, fantasy, sci fi, language play, adventure and a good laugh.

Question 4: Tell us something about your process. What challenges do you face? What helps you the most?

I haven’t got a solidly laid out process. I mostly start with an idea I want to explore and create characters, conflict and an environment to fit it. I only ever plan fairly loosely, but I usually have a pretty good idea where I think a story needs to end, even if I am not sure about all the steps to get there. I like watching my characters figure out how to achieve their goals. I find that I enjoy creating characters a little too much and often want to add too many of them and give them too much attention. I also like them too much to let them struggle at times. I discovered in the process of my novel that the advice I had been given about skipping a bit and telling a chapter a bit further on in the story was really good advice that I should have paid attention to earlier. Skipping ahead to a part of the story that is beyond where you’re stuck and then backfilling later is a good way to get past a blockage.

Question 5: What is your favourite Writing Craft Book and why?

I haven’t read a lot of writing craft books, and it’s hard to pick just one of the ones I have, so I’m going to cheat a bit and choose two I haven’t read. A favourite youtuber of mine has recently published a book based on the writing tips from his channel “Hello Future Me.” On Writing and Worldbuilding by Timothy Hickson is high on my agenda to read next. His tips are always well thought through and have solid and well analysed examples from quality media. I love watching his videos and always benefit from re-watching them. I also recently did typesetting for Rosanne Hawke’s Riding the Wind, which I haven't read properly yet, but I have a very good idea of the content from working on it. Rosanne has so much practical experience and such a lovely and humble way of sharing the things she has learned. She was a great teacher in person, and I value her advice a great deal.

Question 6: If you were to give a shout-out to a CWD author, writer, editor or illustrator – who would they be?

There are so many folks in CWD who are friends and have been at some time a student or a mentor to be, and it’s hard to pick one person, but I know that Wendy Noble has a third book in her wonderful Beast Speaker trilogy coming out soon. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the first two, and I hear Dragon Home is going to be a good ending for the set.

Question 7: What are your writing goals for 2018? How will you achieve them?

I am currently working on a series of spec-fic dungeonpunk-esque novellas in which a group of solo characters each go on a similar mission in the same place at the same time but with little or no actual contact with each other. I want to create the stories so each solo mission stands alone, but their plot events interact so that they each enhance the others. I am in the process of applying to Flinders to undertake a cross-discipline PhD in creative writing and theology, partly because I am fascinated by the ideas I’m exploring, but also so that I can incorporate the creation of these books into my study and unapologetically spend whole days working on them.

Question 8: How does your faith impact and shape your writing?

There are two answers to that. The first is essentially monkey-see, monkey-do. God has created me to be creative. He is a world-builder, and so am I. I am fascinated by the complexity and simplicity and interconnectedness of everything God has created, and I try in my much oversimplified way to explore what he does by doing it too. The other is that I have been created to be a communicator. I discovered fairly early in my spiritual journey that Jesus has placed in me a deep passion for that moment of realisation and understanding. I love to see it in myself, but I love even more to be the one who helps someone else to reach it. I can tell someone some truth I have learned, and it becomes knowledge they retain or forget, but if I can, through my creative work, help someone to discover a deep truth for themselves then they own it. It grows in them and forms part of who they are. That makes my heart sing.

Draft2Digital Offers Print on Demand Alternative

There have been a few shake-ups with the print-on-demand industry lately. The big changes happened around a year ago. First, GST changes prompted KDP to stop sending author copies to Australia. A little over a month later, Amazon closed Createspace and folded it into KDP Print. The conversion of titles caused a few headaches for some authors with large backlists.

As a result of these changes, a lot of Australian indie authors turned to Ingram Spark, who can not only get your book listed on Amazon, but also in the Ingram catalogue that bookstores order from. In addition, Ingram offer the option for hardcovers. And they have a factory in Australia where books can be printed locally if you want that proof copy, or a little inventory to hand sell. The main disadvantage of Ingram Spark is that they charge a fee for each manuscript upload.

A new player is arriving on the scene, which will provide a third option for consideration. I have been accepted into the BETA program for Draft2Digital’s new POD service. I’d yet to dip my toe into the world of print books, so this seemed the perfect opportunity to get started.

Draft2Digital’s print service has some good things going for it. First of all, they can distribute to the Ingram Catalogue, but they don’t charge a fee for upload. Of course, getting your book onto the catalogue is no guarantee your books will end up on the shelves of any store. But it does mean that if you approach a bookstore, you can tell them that the book is available in their usual catalogue, should they be willing to order it.

One feature I really like is the cover converter. Many cost-conscious indie authors elect to buy an ebook cover. This is a single rectangular image that represents the front cover. But print books also have a spine and a back cover. Does this mean that when you want to make a print version of your book you must go back and pay for a full print cover design? Draft2Digital have an alternative. They take your existing ebook cover and generate an appropriate spine and back to match. Clearly this won't have a fancy picture that continues from the front to the back. They’ll use a solid colour that goes with your cover artwork, add the blurb, author bio, author photo, and a place for the barcode. I think the results look great.

Draft2Digital’s print service has a wide array of options. You can choose trim size, paper colour, cover finish, all the standard settings you’d expect. You can provide your own ISBN, or Draft2Digital will provide one for free. You can also customise the orphan and widow control (how many orphaned words on the next page will cause the entire sentence to move the next page). You can elect to have all chapters start on the right-hand side, or not. You can allow the software to automatically generate the cover and the inside content, based on your eBook, or you can provide your own cover or PDF interior.

Here's a tip I've learned. If your eBook has hyperlinks in it, the automatic print conversion will add the URLs as footnotes. This makes sense. You can't click hyperlinks on a print book. But there may be times you don't want this behaviour. For example, you might have spelled out the full URL in the link text. To prevent the software from adding the footnote, you need to ensure that the URL contains the protocol identifier (http://).

I found that I had all the options I Would need, but it wasn’t immediately obvious where to find those options. The user interface wasn’t entirely intuitive to me. This is to be expected in a BETA. The process will no doubt be smoothed a little when it goes public. My biggest issue was that I was too nervous to proceed past a certain point while I was just experimenting, in case my experiment ended up published. Fortunately, Draft2Digital provide excellent support. I sent in a bunch of questions and they responded with very detailed answers, which got me back on track.

Draft2Digital give you the option to receive a proof copy to review prior to authorising the release of the book. You can also purchase author copies.

All in all, I’m quite happy with the experience of creating my first print book through Draft2Digital. Once it goes live it will provide a viable alternative to KDP Print and Ingram Spark, and will probably be my default go-to service for future projects.

You can learn more about Draft2Digital's POD service at draft2digital.com/printbeta.

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Adam David Collins is a speculative fiction author from Tasmania, Australia. He draws inspiration for his stories from his over-active imagination, his life experiences and his faith. Adam is a great lover of stories, enjoying them in books, movies, scripted TV and computer games. Adam discusses these, along with his monthly Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Bulletin on his youTube channel. You can find him at AdamDavidCollings.com