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Category: Publishing

Publishing, of course, is the be-all and end-all of most writing. That is, writing that goes beyond a few sentences here and there.

Do I have any special inside information?

Heck no. All I have are my own experiences and observations, which I am willing to share with you.

A Quick Comparison of Publishing to Running a Blog

I’ve been in a situation where I have had to sift through guest post submissions and pitches to a blog. And… so many of them are just plain terrible.

Sorry, folks, but they truly are!

Why are they so bad?

No Fit

Do you even know what we do here? It’s on the website, so there’s kind of no reason for you to not know it at least a little, tiny bit.

Same thing with publishing. You honestly think they’re going to take your vampire time travel story/auto repair manual in a publishing house that only handles romance?

Bad Grammar, Spelling, Etc.

Why do I accept guest posts? I do it to be a good sport and to build connections. But I also do it to save time. If your pitch or your draft are full of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and other errors, guess who’s job it is to correct all that?

Your publisher feels the exact same way. Sure, your work is going to be edited. Of course it will be! But it’s like sending your clothes out to be cleaned. You don’t have to roll around in mud before sending them out.

Tone Mismatch

On the blog, there are all kinds of posts but only some are on general topics—and we don’t do those anymore. So, if your pitch hinges on a pre-pandemic post, you’re missing the boat.

For your standard publisher, if they are a Christian publishing house, the likelihood is high that they won’t want you to be sending them drafts with promiscuous characters unless there’s a very clear comeuppance or lesson learned, etc.

Anyway, read the room, folks!

PitMad on X AKA TwitterPublishing, Published, Positive Reviews, Middling Reviews, Bad Reviews, Teasing, Blurb, Query letter, Elevator pitch, teasers, pitmad, rejection, Easter eggs, Starting, Digital Publishing Game, pocket conflicts, Manuscript Wish List, Reading, Submission Guidelines, Set Dressing, Hairstyles and Costumes, Aroma vs Odor or Stench, Mixing a Score in Words and Music, Disgusting vs Delicious, Hot or Cold, Publishing Stats, Jewish characters, trust your readers,

PitMad on X AKA Twitter

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on September 15, 2026

The Late, Lamented PitMad on Twitter/X

Oh PitMad, why hast thou forsaken us?

Sadly, I am here to report that PitMad as an event is no more.

So had you ever seen the #PitMad hashtag on X? But, why should you have cared about PitMad?

So, here is a look at what PitMad was. … and a bit on how things are today.

What was #PitMad Back in the Day?

PitMad was a quarterly pitch session on X. So essentially what you would be doing was tweeting about your work. But it was only on specific dates, and agents and publishers were watching.

Oh, and I still call it tweeting. I bet many people do, too.

In addition, it only happened in March, June, September, and December.

It was a great idea! Agents and publishers would essentially scour the Twittersphere, searching for anyone using the hashtag. And, preferably, also using a genre hashtag or two. If an agent liked your pitch, then that was an invitation to query, or at least pitch a bit more.

Your friends could rally around you and offer their support by retweeting your tweets—but liking them was considered to be a faux pas.

When it was still going on, I would dive deep into hashtag and search for people who had not been retweeted much, if at all. And I would retweet them, either with words of encouragement or a comment about how interesting their premise sounded.

And if it were to return, I would do the same. Other writers are not my competition. After all, how many books do you have in your home or on your phone or e-reader?

How many are in the library? Your book most likely will not knock mine out of any of those places. And mine would never do that to yours, either.

Getting Ready With PitMad Hashtags

So you could do yourself a favor, and create your tweets in advance. As in, today.

The idea was to know what to tweet. And you wanted to be able to fit both the #PitMad hashtag into your tweet, but also the hashtag specific to your genre. So, according to Sub It Club and Brenda Drake, the hashtags were as follows:

Main Hashtags for PitMad

† #AC – Action
• #AD – Adventure
† #BIZ – Bizarro Fiction
• #CON – Contemporary
† #CR – Contemporary Romance
• #E – Erotica
† #ER – Erotic Romance
• #ES – Erotica Suspense
† #F – Fantasy
• #FTA = Fairy Tale Retelling
† #GN = Graphic Novel
• #H – Horror
† #HA – Humor
• #HF – Historical Fiction
† #HR – Historical Romance
• #INSP – Inspirational
† #LF – Literary Fiction

• #M – Mystery
† #MA = Mainstream
• #Mem – Memoir
† #MR – Magical Realism
• #NF – Non-fiction
† #P – Paranormal
• #PR – Paranormal Romance
† #R – Romance
• #RS – Romantic Suspense
† #S – Suspense
• #SF – SciFi
† #SFF – Science Fiction & Fantasy
• #SH = Superhero
† #SHRT = Short Story Collection
• #SPF = Speculative Fiction
† #STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics
• #T – Thriller
† #TT = Time Travel
• #UF – Urban Fantasy
† #VF = Visionary Fiction
• #W – Westerns
† #WF – Women’s Fiction

Age Categories

So, per the Pitmad site, you had to use an age category. And here they were:

• #A – Adult
† #C – Children’s
• #CB – Chapter Book
† #MG – Middle Grade
• #NA – New Adult
† #PB – Picture Book (this is the youngest age category)
• #YA – Young Adult

Added Hashtags (Optional)

† #DIS = Disability subject matter
• #IMM = Immigrant
† #IRMC = Interracial/Multicultural subject matter
• #LGBT = LGBTQIA+ subject matter
† #MH = Mental Health subject matter
• #ND = Neurodiverse subject matter
† #OWN = Own Voices
• #POC = Author is a Person of Color

Older Hashtags

† #AA – African American (might not be used anymore?)
• #CF – Christian Fiction (might not be used anymore?)

So there did not seem to be particular hashtags for Zombies or Vampires or the like.

What Were The Rules?

Per Ms. Drake and PitchWars (run by the same people), the rules were:

† You could only pitch complete, polished manuscripts. This meant, no works in progress were allowed!
• So, you could not pitch anything already published, no matter how many changes you had made to it.
† You had to keep the feed clear, so you were not supposed to favorite pitches made by your friends. But you could always retweet and even add commentary to the original post with the #PitMad hashtag.
• Also, you were not supposed to tweet agents or publishers unless they tweeted you first.
† Plus you had to be courteous and professional, of course.

• In addition, if you could not be there, you could use a scheduling program like HootSuite to schedule your pitches.
† You could only pitch three times during a dedicated #PitMad day. And the tweets had to differ somehow, even if it was just a difference of a period.
• But if you had more than one MS to pitch, you would get three tweets per MS.
† Finally, if you were invited to submit a manuscript, you had to be sure to put PitMad Request: TITLE in the subject line of your email when sending your request. Plus, of course, you had to follow all other submission guidelines for the requestor.

What was the Schedule?

It was March, June, September, and December. Also, the times were 8 AM – 8 PM, Eastern Time.

For 2021, the dates were:

• March 4
† June 3
• September 2 (hey, that’s my birthday!)
† December 2

Note: all of these were Thursdays.

Pitmad: Always and Forever

X and other social media platforms remain valuable places for independent authors to pitch their works. Currently, with no more official setup, and with certain rules in place, X is not necessarily the most hospitable place for such pitches.

After all, per the 4-1-1 strategy, a standard six posts should be four interesting or educational posts from other people,  one educational post by you, and one promotional post by you.

Given that ratio, even attempting Pitmad now would mean a total of 18 posts per project you are trying to pitch (this is allowing for three separate Pitmad-style postings).

Is it impossible? No. Is this strategy a rule carved in stone? Of course not. But you can see how fast everything could multiply, particularly if you had more than one project to tout. And keep in mind: X has also changed demographically.

Per Sprout Social, the ratio of men to women is about 2:1. Users also post a lot, which can help to bury your pitch.

Pitmad: Takeaways

So, I am keeping the hashtags in this post because they are still useful on X, Bluesky, Facebook, and elsewhere.

Publishers and agents are still there—they are just not running under the auspices of PitMad anymore. And those publishers and agents are on these other social media platforms, too!

All in all, there are still many more agents and publishers out there. Consequently, you need to get their attention! Matching your ideal reader and their demographics to those on a particular platform is probably a better idea than ever before.

So you had better get crackin’!

And Now a Word About X, Today and Beyond

So, it is probably just as well that Pitmad has gone to that great tweet in the sky, for X itself at times teeters on the brink. Of course, that could change tomorrow. But right now, things still look a little grim.

However, while there have been some alternatives (such as Post and Mastodon), they are a bit lacking for one reason or another. Mastodon has a ton of individual servers (a bit like Discord). But these seem to be silos.

How do you find all your friends? Post seems just to be so new and not very big yet.

Bluesky, though, is looking considerably more promising!

So, even if PitMad were to be resurrected, those platforms are not necessarily the best new home for it. Perhaps they will be in time. But right now, despite its clear current problems, X still has its place.

But never count out Bluesky.

Want to see more from me, on writing, and the business of being an independent author? Click here to add my site as a preferred source.

Want More About X?

If my experiences with X resonate with you, then please be sure to check out my other blog posts about Twitter/X.

While it has a newish name, and has changed considerably, a lot of these tips will still work. And they will often work with other social media platforms as well.

Almost Everything But the Tweet

• Starting a Twitter Stream
† Demystifying Twitter/X
• X/Twitter, Social Media and Professionalism
† Verbal Elements on X
• Visual Elements on X
† Optimizing X
• Metrics and Timing on X
† Offsite Connections from X

Next blog post

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Submission Guidelines or, How to Do Everything You Can to Turn a ‘No’ Into a ‘Yes’

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on February 11, 2025

Background – Submission Guidelines

Every single publisher has them. And every single agent does as well. What are they? Submission guidelines.

Ignore them at your peril.

But let’s back up for a second.

Beforehand

Before you even get to the guidelines, it will behoove you to do some research on the publisher or agent you are courting.

Just like Elton John sang, you can’t find “gold in a silver mine.” (see about one minute into the video)

What I mean is, sending your zombie romance to a publisher which never takes zombie stories is an exercise in futility.

So, start with research. Find the receptive agents and publishers who would accept your book.

And, find out who is taking on new clients. Everything else may be perfect, but if your chosen agent or publisher is taking a break, do not query them until they are ready to start accepting new submissions!

Find Those Guidelines!

Okay, you have found a likely publisher or agent. And you know that they are open to submissions, because their X or Bluesky or Facebook feed said so. Okay, that’s great. Now, where are those pesky guidelines?

Often, these are prominent pages on any publishing or agent website. Guidelines are important to your chosen recipient. So, they are going to make them relatively easy to find. But if you can’t find them, ask! Bluesky, X, or Facebook are often the best places for you to ask.

And while it’s less common, you may even find this information on an About page or the like.

What is in Standard Submission Guidelines?

Nearly always, you will see guidance on things such as:

• Fonts and spacing
† Format
• Date(s) for submissions, if applicable
† Who to address a submission to
• How to add a submission to your query

Let’s take these one at a time.

Fonts and Spacing

Many places will ask that you only submit pieces in Times New Roman. Also, often the size is twelve point, and the spacing is double. But why is this?

Times New Roman is a standard font and virtually every computer has it. Also, virtually every computer and publisher can read it. TNR is also a serif font, and those tend to be easier to read. The twelve point standard is also meant to make a piece easier to read.

So is double spacing. But double spacing has another purpose.

Double spacing is good if the agent or publisher prints any (or even all) of the pages of the manuscript. Because for people who edit by hand, double spacing just plain gives them more room to work with.

Format

Formatting generally refers to stuff like whether a recipient wants your MS to come in Word format, PDF, Google doc, or something else.

If you don’t have Adobe, don’t worry! Just run a search for free tools to convert Word (or whichever format your MS is in) to PDF. And for Word to PDF, you can use Adobe Acrobat.

Submission Guidelines: Dates

Some publishers and zines have rolling submissions. Others have specific submission periods. And others might have both, where you can submit any time for their regular stuff but are on a tight deadline for something special.

Consider how you need to be reminded of various deadlines and schedules in your life. Do you need a number of calendar reminders? Or is one sufficient? Either way, set up a reminder for the submission deadline the same way.

Bonus! Shave a few days off the submission deadline and set your reminder for that date instead. You’re a lot more likely to get something in by the 15th if you tell yourself it’s due on the tenth.

Oh, and don’t ask for extensions unless you’ve been working with a publisher a lot. They have crafted their schedules to best optimize their time and resources. Maybe they’ve paid for ads. If you’re going to be late, that throws a monkey wrench into everything.

And the publisher will simply pick someone else who won’t mess up their schedule.

Who to Address the Submission to

Unless you have a contact on the inside and they’ve said you can do this, only send your MS to the correct person. Adding the CEO to your submission distribution list isn’t going to endear you to anyone.

That is, unless the CEO is a close family relation or has specifically said you can do this. Otherwise, just leave the CEO alone.

How to Add a Submission to Your Query

What do I mean by this, when it comes to submission guidelines?

Is there submission software you must use? Or will they take your MS as an attachment to an email? Or do they want you to upload it somewhere (a Google folder is usually great for this) and just give them the link?

Keep in mind that you will need to check sharing settings if you have to upload anything.

Bonus: Saving Styles in Word

Wait, what?

Before you take on the wonderful world of submission guidelines, and hopefully even before you start writing, you should create styles in Word. That is, if you’re using that software. It’s also useful to create a template and then just reuse it.

Knowing that publishers often want TNR in twelve point type means you can just make a style that fills these parameters.

Now, recognize that these instructions are for Word version 2411, which is part of my current Microsoft 365 subscription. But Microsoft doesn’t change this methodology too often.

How to Save a Style

1. Start typing.
2. Format your prose any way you like. Don’t forget extras like font size, margins, and indentation.
2a. If you must have the first sentence of a chapter look different (such as if you add a drop cap or don’t indent), then make a separate style just for the first line.
3. In the Home menu, choose Styles.
4. In the bottom left, click on ‘Create a Style’.
4a. Name it something logical, rather than Style5. You want to name it something more like XYZ Publisher Submission Guidelines.
5. Click ‘Modify’.
6. Check and update any specifics you may have missed in step #2 or #2a.
7. Save that bad boy!

Now, you can use your new style to make your submissions beautiful and perfect. And, if a publisher has a different variation, you can always change the style, or create a new one from the old.

In addition, if a publisher changes their mind after you’ve written your MS, you can still fix it easily.

After all, updating the style means Word will update it wherever you used it.

Pretty neat trick, eh?

Why Do All This?

Some of this may feel like jumping through just so many hoops. And perhaps a bit of it is. But if you ignore these hoops, you’ll be giving a publisher or agent a reason to say no.

Don’t do that. If you’ve got 20 ways for them to simply say no, do your level best to eliminate all 20 of them. Smooth out every bump in the road you see. Following an agent or publisher’s submission guidelines is key to achieving your main objective.

Which is to get your prose out there, not turn your work into some odd exception that an agent or publisher has to try to convince themselves to take a chance on.

Takeaways for Submission Guidelines

Submission guidelines exist for a reason. Often, this is to make publishers’ lives easier. Ignore them at your peril.

Because if you don’t follow them, it’s like pulling defeat from the jaws of victory. For a publisher will simply choose to work with someone who will.

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Reviewing – Positive Reviews

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on September 17, 2024

Positive Reviews

Consider this: positive reviews are the lifeblood of any independent author. We live for them! And they help us sell more books, which is really awesome. But how can you make them even better?

Caveats

Don’t provide a positive review in exchange for a positive one you just got. And don’t provide one in the hopes that you’ll get one in return. Personally, I very rarely give out five stars. A book has to truly leave me sock-free. I can enjoy a book immensely but still not give it five stars. However, I give out a lot of 3- and 4-star reviews, particularly to indie authors.

And if my review is a positive one, I spread it to as many places as I can.

Length

Just saying you loved a piece is not enough. It’s better than nothing, of course. But you, too, are a writer. You can do better than that! While you don’t have to hit an actual word count, it is more helpful if you give the review some time and attention. Naturally, if you are pressed for time or you have to do a lot of reviews, then you will not get into things like you would if your time was more open.

Plus it does not have to be a novel. A 50 – 150 word review should do nicely, unless it is a blog post. In that case, best practices for blog posts is 300 or more words. So adjust accordingly.

Specificity

Writers often get crippling self-doubt. Imposter syndrome is common. Generalized reviews don’t help much. Be clear about what you loved.

Scarlet O’Hara was a strong female character in a man’s world. What is most impressive about her is the fact that she was written in 1936. Hence Margaret Mitchell was almost revolutionary in writing her. While today we might scoff at some of Scarlet’s machinations, she still manages to be a memorable and memorably flawed character. Her motivations are clear and logical. Her endgame is satisfying.

While the author is no longer alive to read my praise, the paragraph still gets across my admiration for the work (I do, for real, like the book, although it’s not one of my absolute favorites, and I know it’s problematic). This is also a meatier review than just “It’s great!” The review does not just make the writer feel good; it also provides vital information for potential readers. As a result, it’s can help more with sales.

Spoiler-Free Positive Reviews

Please don’t give away the ending! My above review snippet about Gone With the Wind does not give away the ending. In fact, it gives away just about none of the plot at all.

I would write a longer review (the above bit is really just a part of it) where I would probably mention the US Civil War and Rhett Butler. I might get into Ashley Wilkes and Melanie Hamilton, particularly if I were writing a blog post and needed to make word count.

Spread the Love

There are several online places which take reviews.

Amazon reviews most directly affect a writer’s sales and potential sales. If you provide positive reviews on an obscure book blog read by only a few people, then the impact will not be as great. You can also review on other countries’ versions of Amazon (UK, Canada, etc.), GoodReads, CreateSpace, Barnes & Noble, or iBooks.

Positive Reviews Should Have a Call to Action to Read the Author’s Other Works

A call to action is anything from ‘click here’ to ‘buy this’. It is a statement online whereby you are asking someone to do something. It does not have to feel like a hard sell. Instead, you can write things like:

• This book was fun and I can’t wait to see what else the writer has written.
† I hear there is a sequel and I can’t wait.
• I checked out the writer’s Amazon page (provide the link) and they are blogging there. I’m excited to read what they have to say.

Above all, you are really doing someone a solid.

Positive reviews will make ANY author’s day! #amreviewing

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Reviewing – Bad ReviewsPublishing, Published, Positive Reviews, Middling Reviews, Bad Reviews, Teasing, Blurb, Query letter, Elevator pitch, teasers, pitmad, rejection, Easter eggs, Starting, Digital Publishing Game, pocket conflicts, Manuscript Wish List, Reading, Submission Guidelines, Set Dressing, Hairstyles and Costumes, Aroma vs Odor or Stench, Mixing a Score in Words and Music, Disgusting vs Delicious, Hot or Cold, Publishing Stats, Jewish characters, trust your readers,

Reviewing – Bad Reviews

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on September 12, 2024

Bad Reviews

Bad reviews can be tough to write! However, you need to write the occasional less than wonderful review in order to establish and maintain credibility. Not every novel is a stellar one. And not every effort is perfect and pristine. Pretending everything is awesome helps no one, and it undermines your credibility as a reviewer.

This blog post is about reviewing badly-written works. But if a work is out and out plagiarized, then have at it. That’s just plain wrong, and it may be copyright infringement.

Soothing Hurt Feelings and Maintaining the Relationship

Let’s face it. A less than glowing review is going to engender some hurt feelings. Plus there is every possibility a friendship will end over it. That’s not someone being a prima donna (at least, that isn’t necessarily the case).

Rather, it’s that you just told someone their baby was ugly.

Yeah. It’s like that.

So, what do you do?

I believe one reasonable response is to essentially perform a cost-benefit analysis. Not everyone is a critic of any sort. Consider how hard it is to get your own work reviewed at all. It’s work!

And people like to be pleasant, plus they want very much to be liked. They may be a part of the community and hoping for positive feedback in return.

Or they might be friends or family. Hence we are all essentially graded on a curve. Know that going in.

One thing you can do is, delay and defer. Maybe that’s weasel behavior. But it will soften the blow if the negative review is not the first one anyone sees when researching a book. If someone already has 100 reviews, then it won’t be quite so noticeable.

Of course, lots of indie writers never get that many reviews. But you might be able to delay a bit.

Another idea is to go fast. Detail and length are not your friends here, so make it quick.

Consider the Audience

I suggested this for middling reviews. But it holds true here as well. Who is more likely to read your review? If the writers asks you to review on Amazon, then you are going to rather directly affect someone’s sales and potential sales.

But if you are being asked to review on an obscure book blog read by sixteen people, then the impact will not be as great. Plus you can initially post your negative review only on the obscure book blog.

Once the writer sees the review, I doubt he or she will push for you to share it on Amazon, GoodReads, CreateSpace, Barnes & Noble, or iBooks.

And, if you really want to be sensitive to the author’s feelings, you can also show them the review before you post. They may very well tell you not to bother.

Providing Constructive Criticism in Bad Reviews

While this is a good idea in theory, it’s not really what someone is looking for when they request a book review. Instead, rather than hearing that they should learn dialogue tags by checking out this Grammar Girl link, they want to read about how their book moved you.

However, you still might be able to slip in some constructive criticisms, and write things like I would love to see this book with shorter chapters; it might benefit from another round of edits or some strategic splitting. Or I was hoping for a less challenging mystery. This one was hard.

You’re not damning with faint praise but you’re also not putting lipstick on things.

And there’s no law that says you can’t privately message the writer and help them out with that kind of constructive feedback.

A Few Escape Hatches for Your Lousy Reviews

Preface a bad review with some escape hatches which will help the writer. After all, you’re not there to trash them, right? Here are a few ideas:

† I am not the intended audience for this work or genre. – For example, if you’re over 60 and asked to review YA, you probably aren’t in the intended audience. Maybe younger folks would be big fans.
• The work is unique. – Unless it’s plagiarized, this is nearly always going to be 100% honest and accurate.

† It is a good freshman effort. – This is straying into the realm of damning with faint praise. But it’s not a horrible thing to write about a work. Most people are not going to do well with their first novel. And that’s okay. Overnight successes are rare, and they should be.
• I really liked this one thing and think you should have written a lot more of it. – Liked one of the supporting characters? Enchanted by the setting? Think the plot was a good idea but poorly realized? Then this suggestion is for you.

Of course, you are not rewriting the piece for the writer. But your suggestions might just become helpful plot bunnies for them for later. Maybe they really will write a sequel or prequel, or revisit the scene, or rework the plot in another piece.

Salvage the Relationship by Privately Reviewing

You might be able to save things by privately telling someone – you don’t want me to post this review. There are review sites which will do this, and will often give the writer a choice. If a writer really wants reviews, they might be okay with a less than wonderful one.

You are presumably friendly or at least cordial with the writer. Give them a break and give them the option.

By the way, negative reviews can often help a new writer. Not only do they give the writer what could end up being really valuable feedback, they can even boost sales.

For consumers considering taking a chance on a new, unknown author, a rash of 5-star super-perfect reviews can seem suspect. But a few poor reviews can give the whole thing more credibility.

And here’s the kicker. No matter how bad your review is, it will still be listed on your reviewer page on Amazon (yes, they exist; just click on a reviewer’s name). This is a small spreading of news/linking back, and it will be helpful—almost no matter what you say. Almost.

How about Bad Reviews for Famous People?

If you only write 4- and 5-star reviews, then you are probably selling everyone short. Just like bad reviews can give a writer more credibility, they can also give the reviewer more credibility.

But if you don’t want to hurt your friends’ feelings, what do you do?

One idea is to review all sorts of books. Review classics where the writer is long dead. Or review popular works with hundreds or thousands of reviews where no one will notice your review much, anyway.

Did you hate reading The Scarlet Letter? Then go ahead and trash it on any review site you can find.

It’s not like Nathaniel Hawthorne is going to rise from the grave and complain, right?

Er, right?

Or just use a screen name.

Bad reviews are a little like medicine. Often unpleasant, but they can help cure problems!

#amreviewingClick to buy Untrustworthy on Amazon

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Reviewing – Middling ReviewsPublishing, Published, Positive Reviews, Middling Reviews, Bad Reviews, Teasing, Blurb, Query letter, Elevator pitch, teasers, pitmad, rejection, Easter eggs, Starting, Digital Publishing Game, pocket conflicts, Manuscript Wish List, Reading, Submission Guidelines, Set Dressing, Hairstyles and Costumes, Aroma vs Odor or Stench, Mixing a Score in Words and Music, Disgusting vs Delicious, Hot or Cold, Publishing Stats, Jewish characters, trust your readers,

Reviewing – Middling Reviews

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on September 10, 2024

Middling Reviews

Let’s be honest: fair to middling reviews are harder to write than either positive reviews or negative ones. Why? Because there is definitely a skill involved. But you are probably going to write more of them than any other type of review. Why is that? Because truly superlative works are uncommon. At least, they should be.

As always, kindness should be your guide. The work isn’t out and out awful. It just needs some help. Mid-level reviews can be extremely helpful. They can provide valuable feedback for a new author. Because it is sweetened with praise and other positives, it is more palatable.

Consider the Audience

But who is most likely to read your review? If you review on Amazon, then anything you write is going to rather directly affect someone’s sales and potential sales. If you review on an obscure book blog read by only a few people, then the impact will not be as great.

So what happens if you post your middle of the road review only on the obscure book blog? Once the writer sees the review, he or she might not want to push for you to share it on Amazon, GoodReads, CreateSpace, Barnes & Noble, or iBooks. Or maybe the author will want to see your review spread all over the internet. It’s hard to say. Your mid-level review may be the best one they get.

And consider that the sheer number of reviews an author gets on Amazon will help with sales. A book with 500 reviews of varying stars and enthusiasm levels will have a link in at least 500 places (each reviewer has a page—wait, you didn’t know that?). If you click on the name of a reviewer, it lists all of their reviews.  But a book with 5 stellar reviews? It’s only listed on the pages of 5 reviewers.

Now, both are important. But you can see that a volume of reviews will help an author. And if the best you can muster up is a fair to middle review, then go for it.

The Value of Middling Reviews

For a new author, potential buyers are often suspicious of 100% stellar reviews. Hence if the 5-star reviews are peppered with some 3-stars, then potential buyers tend to feel more comfortable that they are seeing accurate reviews that were not bought and paid for.

Furthermore, if the author has enough reviews (the number seems to be ten or more), Amazon will sort them by most helpful positive and most helpful negative. If your middling reviews are the most helpful negative reviews, that can actually help writers.

So, how do you get started?

The Shit Sandwich

Yeah, you read that right. Since this is not going to be a wholly negative review, you can split it into thirds. This makes it feel less unremittingly negative. The first third should be the smallest or smaller positive thing you have to say. In the middle is the negative thing you need to say. Finally, end with your strongest positive.

But why am I suggesting this particular order? Let’s look at some examples.

Consider These Examples of Middling Reviews

1. The Cowardly Lion character was fantastic and very credible. The Tin Woodsman was dull. Dorothy was okay.
2. The Dorothy character was all right but could have used some work. The Tin Woodsman was hard to take at times. My favorite character was the Cowardly Lion.
3. The Tin Woodsman was terrible. Dorothy was passable. The Cowardly Lion was amazing.

In the first example, you might think it’s a purely positive review. It’s easy to forget the negative in the middle when the positive starts off so strongly. In the third example, the writer is put on the defensive nearly immediately. The review feels negative, even though the end is positive.

Further, in the second instance, the first part is generally positive albeit with constructive criticism. The middle part is negative. But it gives a specific reason for the reviewer’s negative reaction. This is also something the writer could potentially build on and fix in later works. And the final part adds a positive personal touch.

Of course you would never write such a simplistic review. Plus you are reading this blog but you are not the author of The Wizard of Oz. So, these quickie reviews are not personal to you. Therefore, substitute your own work, and consider how each review would make you feel.

Length

Because this is not a negative review, you can add some length to it. But because it’s not unremittingly positive, it does not have to be lengthy. The ideal length is probably about 50 to 100 words. If you want to say more, contact the writer in private. For self-published works, editing and republishing are usually pretty easy. Hence if you find a glaring translation error, the writer can fix it. You can save the day with your review.

Ending on a High Note

End with a positive. Seriously. Don’t lie, but there is no reason to be nasty. Be encouraging; so many indies suffer self-doubt. This is your opportunity to be kind. After all, next time, you may be in the hot seat.

Middling reviews — semi-tough love for writers. #amreviewing

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Writing Needs Editing Part 2

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on August 22, 2024

Writing and Editing Part 2

For editing part 2 let’s get past acting like your own biggest fan, like we did in Editing Part 1. Time to get out the scissors. Or the weedwhacker, as is the case.

More Editing Part 2 of a 2-Part Saga

So, let’s go to editing Part 2!

Now last time, we looked at some general issues surrounding editing. Although the process may seem daunting, it still must be done. For this post, I will assume you have done the tasks outlined in the first part.

If not, then this methodology will still work. But I think you’ll find you will need to do the preliminary steps anyway. Hence you might as well get them done now. Then it’s on to Editing Part 2.

Spell Check

Maybe it sounds dumb. Perhaps it’s obvious. But you still need to run a spell checker. Don’t have one? Then try a free spell checker online. But if you have a spellchecker in your application, use it.

Understand that certain typos will be a problem. If you type ‘that’ for ‘this’, it will not show up, as those are both real words. Hence your spellchecker provides only a preliminary solution. Have the program ignore names, in order to eliminate them from contention.

Find and Replace

Your find feature is a godsend; use it! Furthermore, if you use names which might have typical typos, try searching for them with ctrl-F.

For example, the main character in my 2015 NaNoWriMo novel had the name of Marnie. Hence I searched for the word ‘Marine’. But I made sure to check on usage before I hit ‘replace’.

This feature also works when you change a character’s name.

Find and Count

Do you overuse some expressions? Repetitive language isn’t bad. But too much of it is dull. Consider usage, and adjust repeated sentences accordingly.

That Attack

My good friend D. R. Perry taught me this one, and I love it.  Have your program count how often you use the word ‘that’. Of course, it’s not a bad word outright. But overusing anything can be dull.

By counting this particular word, you get a handle on your use of certain idiomatic phrases. E. g. ‘he thought that’, ‘she said that’, ‘they felt that that was funny’.

In all three of these instances, the word ‘that’ can be cut without losing any sense.

Synonym Sweep

This time, search for the word ‘very’. As with ‘that’, the word is perfectly fine, despite what Stephen King says.

However, he is right (as was Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society) insofar as it’s a not so precise use of language. What’s better: ‘very big’ or ‘gigantic’? For a children’s book, probably the former. For any other kind of book, it may be the latter.

If you can clip the adverb and instead enhance the adjective with a better synonym, your writing will be more interesting. Stay away from obscure adjectives (e. g. ‘Brobdingnagian’).

Also, your characters can use all the adverbs they like when speaking. But try to cut them in your scene setting, your transitions, and your exposition.

That’s the first half of Editing Part 2. Now onto the second half.

Editing Part 2: It’s Time for the Fat Cutter

You’ve been doing this all along, with ‘that attack’ and ‘synonym sweep’. The idea is to excise unnecessary words. Unlike the former two methods, this one will require some reading. Up until now, everything has been done programmatically.

Now you need to do some digging. But first check how long your chapters are.

There is no hard and fast rule for chapter length, but if all of your chapters are 20 – 35 pages and one is 63, then that one might have some fat you can cut. Or maybe you can just split it into two or even three chapters.

Consider descriptive text and exposition. You need it, but how long does it have to be? Familiar places in the current time period probably just need a few words: downtown Detroit, the Great Barrier Reef, etc.

Or familiar places in the past need more but can still be pretty spare, such as Victorian-era London, or ancient Rome during Claudius Caesar’s reign.

Familiar places in the future need more but you can build on today: 2023 Berlin maybe has taller buildings, 3116 Istanbul might be enclosed in a geodesic dome. Transportation is likely a lot faster.

But unfamiliar places will need more lavish attention to detail. Consider this: metaphors and similes are your friends. The new planet might be as big as Saturn but without rings, and smell like wet dog.

Editing Part 2 of Scene Shifts and Plot Changes

These are much bigger and will take up a lot more of your time. Before you do either, you might want to consider whether your story can be understood by beta readers without doing either. If so, then keep this in mind (maybe take some notes) but don’t do it.

See what beta readers say. Maybe you won’t need to make such drastic changes at all.

Final Read-Through Before Betas

Give it one last read-through. Look for the right words in all the wrong places. E. g. a typo which turned out to be a correctly spelled word, so spellchecker missed it. Those can be devilishly hard to find, so look closely.

Look for sense and ease of understanding. Make sure your plot makes sense. Then kiss your manuscript good-bye (for the time being) and send it off to beta readers.

Post-Beta Readings and Editing Part 2

After betas, Editing Part 2 should be followed by a kind of Editing Part 3. Consider your betas’ advice. You don’t need to take it all, but do listen with an open mind. Do one last read-through and then send your work to a professional editor, if you can afford one.

Why should you, if you’ve done all this? Because you (or I) may have missed something. In addition, all this preliminary work was free. Your edited work will come back a lot faster and cleaner.

Then, and only then, can you consider querying.

Editing Part 2—yep, there was a part 1, as well. See below for the link.

Click to buy Untrustworthy on Amazon

Want More on Beta Reading and Editing?

If you want more on beta reading and editing, then please be sure to check out the following blog posts:

Beta Reading:

• Beta Reading for Indie Writers
† Beta Reading, Part 2
• Working With a Beta Reader
† Beta Readers and Editors

Editing:

• Writing Needs Editing, Part 1
† Choosing an Editor
† Editing Tips

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Writing Needs Editing Part 1

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on August 20, 2024

A look at editing Part 1. Writing is why we’re here. But editing is what makes it sing.

What’s this All About? Editing Part 1 – in a Nutshell

Check out editing part 1. If you don’t do any editing, then don’t expect people to read your work.

Unless you normally write six-word horror stories, you are going to need an editor. Everybody needs this service. However, you should edit your work before handing it over to a professional.

In particular, if you are just coming off something like NaNoWriMo,such as #30Day50k, then you need to trim the fat. Because we all pad in order to make word count for NaNoWriMo.

Don’t be ashamed of this! And a lot of it might turn out to be the good kind of fat. In particular, if it helps you introduce a new and interesting character, or set a new scene, or transition a story line properly, it can be terrific.

But you still need to go through it with a fine-toothed comb. Everybody needs to do this. And there are no exceptions. So never, ever think that you can just wiggle your way out of this one. Because, spoiler alert, you just plain can’t.

Adding Words

Sometimes, you actually add words in order to edit a story. And that is perfectly fine. If a description was rushed, or a scene feels forced, you may need to add words.

In particular, if you wrote your story with placeholders such as: fix this later or add transition here, you must address those problems!

Getting Started With Editing Part 1

Are you wondering why this post was not added back in November? It’s because editing requires some ‘leave it alone’ time. Frankly, this is too early. Because I highly recommend leaving your work for a full month before tackling editing.

Just, find something else to do during the month of December or the like. Between the holidays and the end of the quarter and the end of the tax year (and up here in New England, you might get some snow to shovel), I’m sure you can think of something.

Okay, Now We’ll Really Get Started With Editing Part 1

So you’ve set your work aside for a month. Your first job is to read your manuscript through from start to finish. Want to take notes? Sure. Or not. This is your show. But read all 50,000 or 100,000 or whatever words.

You’re not a writer, and you’re not reading as the writer. Rather, you are reading like a fan.

In the next article, I’ll show you where to go from here.

Writing Needs Editing part 1 means, yes, there’s a part 2 a-comin’….!

Click to buy Untrustworthy on Amazon

Want More on Beta Reading and Editing?

If you want more on beta reading and editing, then please be sure to check out the following blog posts:

Beta Reading:

• Beta Reading for Indie Writers
† Beta Reading, Part 2
• Working With a Beta Reader
† Beta Readers and Editors

Editing:

† Writing Needs Editing, Part 2
• Choosing an Editor
† Editing Tips

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Editing Tips

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on August 1, 2024

Time for Some Editing Tips and Tricks

Here are some editing tips and tricks for you, me, and all the writers we know! And don’t know, too ….

Because if you ever did NaNoWriMo recently, then a few months later was right always about the time you might start to thinking about attacking the editing beast. Or maybe you just didn’t want to look at it yet. And that’s perfectly fine.

However, you would need to edit it eventually. Since professional editors cost money, it will always pay for you to do some of the work early.

Furthermore, if you have beta readers (and every writer should!), then you owe it to them to not waste their time reading an unpolished manuscript.

Of course they should expect some issues as that is why you’re turning to them in the first place. However, a big garbage can full of word salad does no one any good.

Editing Tips: Preliminaries

So first of all, before you do anything else, run spell check. While that sounds simple and obvious, I have beta read for people who didn’t do that first.

Dialogue

Second, check your dialogue tags. So, what are dialogue tags? Dialogue should run one of three ways:

1. She said, “I’m hungry.” Notice the comma before the first quotation mark, and then the period before the second? The first two words are the dialogue tag. The comma is mandatory in this case. And it’s the same thing if you move the dialogue tag to the end. So in that case, you would write: “I’m hungry,” she said.

2. She patted her belly. “I’m hungry.” Notice there’s no comma this time? That’s because the initial sentence is an action; it’s not a dialogue tag at all. Rather, it’s a body language attribution.

3. She growled, “I’m hungry!” The comma is back! And Grammar Girl (as usual) says it best: “Simplicity is the rule in attributives. Many writers try to think for the reader by replacing “said” with words like grunted, growled, demanded, bellowed, cooed, roared, squalled, and simpered. If the tone of the dialogue is not immediately apparent, rewrite the dialogue and not the attributive.”

Make sure your dialogue tags are correct and your dialogue makes sense. Body language attributives are helpful, as they keep a conversation from turning into a festival of talking heads.

Scenes, Exposition, and Description

And third, get into your scenes and anything (or anyone) else you need to describe. But don’t go overboard. Too much description can bog down the action. And too little can leave your readers guessing. So here is where a knowledge of films can help.

Current movies rarely show little transitional scenes like walking down a hall or driving unless something else is going on. And you should absolutely do the same.

That is, if your character starts off at school and then comes home, don’t show the character on the school bus unless that particular scene matters.

Editing Tips: Takeaways

Do some basic editing, at the absolute minimum, before anyone else looks at your work. Respect others’ time and they’ll keep helping you.

I hope these editing tips and tricks helped, because Yes, YOU need editing!

Click to buy Untrustworthy on Amazon

Want More on Beta Reading and Editing?

If you want more on beta reading and editing, then please be sure to check out the following blog posts:

Beta Reading:

† Beta Reading for Indie Writers
• Beta Reading, Part 2
† Working With a Beta Reader
• Beta Readers and Editors

Editing:

† Writing Needs Editing, Part 1
• Writing Needs Editing, Part 2

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Beta Reading, Part 2

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on July 11, 2024

Check out Beta Reading, Part 2 – Son of Beta Reading!

For this, beta reading, part 2, let’s take a look at the actual feedback process. But first, let’s get the mechanics out of the way.

Practical Mechanics

When beta reading, you are generally only using a few possible programs. Here’s how to best use them:

† When using Microsoft Word, go to Review and then select Track Changes. Use this feature to add Comments as well. If using Word, it helps a lot if the writer is using styles and headings. If they don’t know what those are, Google is their friend.

Styles make it easy to change a font size on the fly if a publisher demands a different one for querying. And headings make it easier to find where chapters break.

• When using Google Docs, turn on Editing Mode.

† For any other programs, you may do best to just ask the writer to save the piece into Google Docs. Why? Because it will be easier for you. After all, you are doing them a favor. You aren’t being demanding if you ask for some consideration in this area.

What Sort of Feedback do they want?

This might feel like it should be obvious, but it’s not. Abusing the author is, of course, out of the question. You certainly should be honest in your assessments. At the same time, though, consider the following two sentences.

The main character is boring.

or

The main character is not very interesting.

These two sentences mean nearly the same thing, but the second one is a bit gentler.

Consider this: even the worst of stories is somebody’s baby. Don’t be a jerk to the writer. This holds true even if you really want to burn their computer to assure that they never, ever write anything again.

And I have read stories like that.

Fixing Problems

Every reading is different, but there are a few basic issues which a manuscript might have.

Technical Issues

Your writer doesn’t know how to use dialogue tags. They argue with you over how to write out numbers. Punctuation and capitalization feel wrong, but you just can’t explain why. This one is easy.

Call in the authorities. Grammar Girl is an easy, breezy read. Just cite it, with a link. Or try Strunk and White for something more formal.

Get really fancy with The Chicago Manual of Style. Don’t forget, American English differs from British English, and there can be some nuances with Canadian or Australian English as well.

Normally, it’s a logical fallacy to appeal to an authority. But in this instance, it will save everybody’s time.

Inconsistencies

Is the character dark-skinned on page 3, and fair on page 78? Point these out immediately. For some inconsistencies, the writer may be able to split the difference. Maybe a short character got tall because they grew.

Padding

This is a big problem with NaNoWriMo novels. And for good reason! You are rewarded for being verbose. Hence ask the writer – is this scene necessary? Is this level of description vital to the plot?

Characters are analogous to actors in a film. The main ones are leads, then comes the supporting cast. And then come the extras. The leads need a lot of description, assuming that’s not some sort of spoiler.

The supporting cast gets some description, but not as much as the leads. The extras are sketched. And the same is true for scenes. Scenes which drive the plot are leads.

Transitions and other necessary scenes that aren’t plot drivers are relegated to supporting status. These can be red herrings and blind alleys in a mystery. Or the more minor obstacles thrown in the way of true love in a romance.

Or they can be the scenes depicting local color, and expository paragraphs.

Truly minor scenes are extras, and they can also be extras if they are a part of a more important scene. For example, if your two police officer characters go to a coffee shop to discuss the case, then their discussion is probably a lead.

But the color of the walls of the coffee shop, or the barista’s snappy comeback? Those are extras.

If a story feels overly long, then it’s probably been padded. Work with your writer on how to streamline those parts of the narration.

Sketches

I am guilty of this one, mainly because I am often working to get the idea down on paper. This is another thing which can happen in a NaNo novel. The time limit can push a writer to elide over certain transitions. Same rules apply. If it’s a lead, then you need some meat on those bones. For supporting, it depends.

Further, if every scene feels like an extra, then it’s hard to figure out what the work’s focus and plot really are.

By working with a three-tiered scene and character system, both you and the writer can focus better. If Betty the Barista is important, then the story really needs to focus on her dark eyes, her jaunty beret, and the rose tattoo on her left shoulder. If she’s just seen in passing, then she probably doesn’t even need to have a name.

Above All (When it Comes to Beta Reading)

Be kind and patient, as well as you can. These problems may take the writer some time to fix. Be encouraging! But if it is just not working, then don’t hesitate to cut the cord.

Beta reading—it matters.

Click to buy Untrustworthy on Amazon

Want More on Beta Reading and Editing?

If you want more on beta reading and editing, then please be sure to check out out the following blog posts:

Beta Reading:

† Beta Reading for Indie Writers
• Beta Readers and Editors

Editing:

† Writing Needs Editing, Part 1
• Writing Needs Editing, Part 2
† Choosing an Editor
• Editing Tips
† How to Edit a Manuscript: 7 Stages to Success

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Beta Reading for Indie Writers

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on July 9, 2024

Let’s Look at Beta Reading

Beta reading is both an art and a science, I feel. There are good ways to do it. And there are not so good ways.

But as an independent writer, the best way to get beta readers to help you is to become a beta reader yourself. Here I’ll address common issues and ways to make it a more productive experience for both of you.

Editing, Copy Editing, and Proofreading

A beta reader is analogous to a beta tester. You are supposed to be checking a piece before querying or self-publication or posting on a free content site such as Wattpad. Beta testers generally do not test software’s very first iteration. They might be asked to test a function or even the whole shebang once it’s done. But they don’t test the lines of code to see if they are correct. That is a developer’s job.

And beta reading is similar. You are not responsible for checking basic stuff like spelling. The author should have run their work through a spellchecker, prior to sending it to you. If they do not have a spellchecker for some odd reason, then you as the beta reader are in for quite the ride. And this is not a happy ride, I assure you.

How to handle it

What should you do If someone sends a document utterly riddled with spelling errors? Here are a few options:

• Kick it back (nicely) and tell them to run a spellcheck before they send it back to you. If they don’t know how to do this, then you can suggest they Google free spellcheckers or save it as a Google doc (under Tools, there is a spellchecker).
† Correct their spelling, but make it clear this will increase the time frame considerably. For most people, even if they are not in much of a rush, this a good incentive to take care of business.
• Tell them the relationship isn’t working out.

A lack of spellchecking does not necessarily mean someone doesn’t care about your time. The writer might not be a native speaker. They might be very new to the scene. Or they could have certain forms of dyslexia which make a spellchecker kind of throw up its metaphoric hands and run in the opposite direction.

If any of these are the case, then see if you can get compensated for your time. Because at that point, you’ve gone beyond beta reading.

Length and Time and Expectations for Beta Reading

The best-laid plans, yadda yadda, you know the rest. We plan one thing, but life has a tendency to inconveniently intervene. Consider your time, how fast you read, and any monkey wrenches life might throw. A good rule of thumb for planning is to multiply by one and a half. Therefore if you think 1,000 words will take you an hour, then consider it will take 90 minutes and plan accordingly.

Ask about their schedule. Maybe they want to publish in two months, or twelve. If you can’t meet their deadline, all is not lost! Instead, you could just beta read the first few chapters. Figure out what works best. Or agree to work together at a later date.

Beta reading is a kind of rite of passage for indie writers. Consider what it means to entrust your MS to someone!

Click to buy Untrustworthy on Amazon

Want More on Beta Reading and Editing?

If you want more on beta reading and editing, then please be sure to check out the following blog posts:

Beta Reading:

• Working With a Beta Reader
† Beta Readers and Editors

Editing:

• Writing Needs Editing, Part 1
† a href=”/editing-part-2/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Writing Needs Editing, Part 2
• Choosing an Editor
† Editing Tips
• How to Edit a Manuscript: 7 Stages to Success

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