Dear O'Abby: How do I do better world-building in my book?

 Dear O'Abby,

I just got my MS back from a group of readers and need some help.  All of them liked the story and the characters and the overall structure of the book, but they all mentioned that they felt the world-building was weak.

Now this is confusing because my book is contemporary and is set in an imaginary, but very typical modern, western city.  Think anywhere from London to Chicago to Sydney.  Any of them could be the setting for this book.  Or even smaller cities - anywhere with suburbs, more than one public high school, a public transport system etc.

I always thought world building was something that really only applied to fantasy or sci-fi or historical books where the reader needs to understand the landscape, politics etc.  I didn't think a contemporary book set in a place most readers will recognise needed much world building.

What do my readers mean?

Kind regards,

World-weary

Dear World-weary,

World building is talked about most in relation to genres where the story setting may not be familiar, but even books set in the real, modern world need a degree of world building to feel real.  You can assume that the majority of readers are familiar with cities, but I think what your readers are commenting on is a lack of specific details that will make your fictional city feel real.

Things like the weather.  A hot, dry city is very different to one where it rains almost daily.  Something as simple as knowing the weather patterns for your city will affect the way your characters dress, travel and behave.  As will the landscapes. For example, if one of your characters walks or cycles everywhere, the experience will be very different in a city built on hills than one built on the flat.  How the characters spend their leisure time can also be affected by the landscape surrounding them.  If there is a lake and it's summer, they probably hang out there and swim or boat or fish.  The same if the city is on the coast and there's a beach.

Or maybe they don't.  Maybe the beach is there, but your character hates the way sand gets everywhere and the way salt air feels on her skin so she never goes.  

You don't need to tell your reader everything about the city, but a few well-placed details create a world that feels authentic and this makes your characters, who live and engage with this world, more authentic too.  If a character is getting anxious waiting for a bus because they have to get to an urgent appointment on time, you could throw in a mention of the city's re-organisation of the public transport system and how unreliable it has become as a result.  This not only provides added context for the character's anxiety, but also gives depth to the world in which they live.

Other small details that can add texture to the fabric of your world are sounds and smells.  Writers often forget to engage all their characters' senses as they move through stories.  In real life we all gather information about the world we move through by sensing things as well as seeing them.  An interesting exercise is to describe the place you're in, or a place you know well, without using the sense of sight.  How much can you show using only things you can hear, smell or feel?

It's the small details that make the setting compelling, and by focusing on the details your character would be most conscious of, you're not just building a world, but your character's world.  How they interact and react within it also builds the character and makes them more authentic too.

I hope that helps. 

Best of luck with your revision!

X O'Abby

P.S.  Here are a couple of books that might be of interest to you: 

Preparing to Write Settings That Feel Like Characters

The Urban Setting Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to City Spaces (Writers Helping Writers Series Book 5)

Spotlight on New Book Debut Author Anya Leigh Josephs #giveaway

Queen of All (The Jena Cycle Book 1) by Anya Leigh Josephs

Welcome to PRIDE month! It feels appropriate to start with a book that has an LGBTQ+ main character. 🏳‍🌈



1- In the world of "Queen of All," are LGBTQ+ people accepted, permitted, and treated equitably? If not, what is the reasoning?

There are multiple cultures in this world, and they have different attitudes towards LGBTQ+ people! In QUEEN OF ALL, though, we’re mostly in the Kingdom, dealing with human society, where LGBTQ+ people are not accepted or even widely known about. I did consider having a queernormative world for QUEEN OF ALL, because I know how many LGBTQ+ readers long for stories free of homophobia (and there are so many great ones out there!) but it didn’t match the story I wanted to tell. Jena’s journey is about accepting and loving herself in spite of the ways she is different from what her world expects of her, and it was important to me that her sexual orientation be a part of that directly, not just metaphorically. In future books, we’ll also get to see what different kinds of societal attitudes towards queerness can mean to LGBTQ+ people.

2- Would you please, in 160 characters or less, give a #WriteTip ?

Yep! It’s “write more.” You have a whole lifetime to improve your work, and the best way to do so is by practice. Craft will come with that.

3- What most motivates you to read a new book?

Lately, I’ve mostly been buying and reading new books by my fellow debut authors, both because I want to support this wonderful community and because I want to keep track of what’s going on in the book world! But there is a very specific type of book I tend to prefer—basically, I’ll check out the sci-fi/fantasy section and pick up anything that has an original concept and seems to be well-written, with some diversity in characters. Usually, what’s most appealing to me is a really interesting magic system.

4- Did anything exciting go on in your life over Memorial Day weekend?

As of this writing, it hasn’t happened yet! But I don’t have any big plans—I’ll probably be scrambling to do some last-minute book promo.

Goodreads: Enter for a chance to win Queen of All (The Jena Cycle Book 1) - Giveaway dates: May 22 - Jun 20, 2021

5- Would you share a picture with us of your book in an interesting setting?

Copies aren’t really out in the world yet, but here is the very first ever picture of me with my book, which I think is pretty cool!


6- How has social work in NYC been impacted by the pandemic and quarantine over the last year or so?

It’s been really difficult. I left my last job in the social work field because the changes caused by the quarantine made it impossible to keep doing that work ethically and effectively. Although we’re all affected by the pandemic, it has caused disproportionate hardship for marginalized communities. It’s difficult for social workers to help when we can’t change the pandemic and we’re often unable to meet with people in need face-to-face the way we usually would. I’m working towards an MSW now, and looking forward to being able to start off better in this field as we rebuild post-pandemic.

7- What's your Twitter handle, and do you have two or three writer friends on there to shout-out to for #WriterWednesday ?

I’m @anya_writes on Twitter! I’d love to shoutout my friends Molly ( @SteinSeroussi ) and Naomi ( @NaomiAnsano ), who are both awesome querying writers. For #3, I’ll cheat and recommend you check out #the21ders to find all the debuting YA and MG writers for this year! It’s such an incredible, welcoming community, and there are so many cool books coming!

8- When did you first know you wanted to publish a book someday?

Probably around the time that I started to figure out that books were written by human people and didn’t just pop into existence fully formed! So I figure I was about four years old at the time?

9- Are you a Plotter, Pantser, or Plantser, and how did you adopt that style?

I’m a recovering pantser. I’ve always just made up my books as I go along, but my friend Molly (Twitter above!) has become a plotter and is sort of taking me along for the ride? Plot and pacing are my weaknesses as a writer, probably because I usually make the plot up as I go along, and I feel like the best way for me to improve is to start actually outlining!

10- What does your basic writing schedule look like, and how often do you write?

What is a writing schedule? I’m not familiar with this term. More seriously, I try to write every day, more or less, except Saturdays which are my day off. I often fit in a short writing session around homework, internships, lectures, and my job, but I do best when I have a long chunk of time free so I can “get in the flow” for several hours.

11- What is your favorite book by someone else, what's the author's Twitter handle, and what do you love most about that book? #FridayReads book recommendation time!

Author name: N.K. Jemisin @nkjemisin
Title: The Fifth Season
Love because: It’s just an absolute masterwork of speculative fiction. It speaks to so many important, huge, deeply human questions. What is the relationship between humans and the earth? How do we relate to our families in the face of intergenerational trauma? How do we fight back against oppression? If you haven’t read it, you absolutely must.


12- What emotions do you hope your book will evoke for the reader?

For this first book, I honestly just hope that people will enjoy the read! I hope that readers will feel seen and represented, and get to enjoy a fun adventure story.

13- What kind of impact do you hope your book will have?

I hope it will help people who are very often erased from fantasy. In my experience, plus-sized folks, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ readers are often drawn to the imaginative world of fantasy, because we need to imagine different possibilities than reality offers us. And yet even in these made-up worlds we don’t often get to see ourselves represented. My hope is that QUEEN OF ALL can help change that. If it finds its way into the hands of one young fantasy reader who is struggling to accept their body, or ashamed to be queer, and helps them feel a little bit less alone, it will all have been worth it.

14- What is your favorite creative non-writing activity to do?

I love theatre! In recent years I’m more of a theatre-goer than anything else, but I also direct plays! I am particularly drawn to Shakespeare.

15- In what ways are the main characters in your book diverse? diversebooks.org #WeNeedDiverseBooks

Hopefully, my book is very diverse! It’s a second-world fantasy, so characters don’t use the same words to describe their own identities as we do in this world, but if they did, Jena would be a plus-sized, mixed-race lesbian with a mental health disability and Sisi would be a Black plus-sized woman. There are also supporting characters of lots of other racial and ethnic minorities, and later books will introduce main characters who are trans and who have other disabilities. Also, although the religion in the world is invented and magical, all the world building is heavily influenced by Jewish religion, culture, and tradition. It does feel a little strange to list the diversity out like this, as the book isn’t just diverse for the sake of filling out identity categories—it’s meant to reflect both my own lived experiences and the diversity of the real world!

16- What method do you feel is the best way to get book reviews?

Ask a lot! This goes for every part of marketing. It feels so awkward to try to promote your own work, but thanks to how algorithms work, if you aren’t consistently posting about your book and requesting reviews, a lot of times people won’t see it even once! Plus, a clear, direct ask (like, “please check out my book, QUEEN OF ALL, and leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads if you enjoyed it!”) is one of the strongest ways to market something. People like to help! And they especially like to help if they know exactly what to do!

17- What was the deciding factor in your publication route?

I’m published by Zenith, an imprint of GenZ Publishing, which is a small press. I did query agents for several years with an eye to a more traditional publishing route, but I didn’t get much interest, and definitely no offers. Zenith offered on the book thanks to a Twitter pitch contest. I considered continuing to query, but I knew finding a home for this book was going to be hard. It’s almost impossible to sell a trilogy as a first-time author, there are still barriers for queer writers and bias against plus-sized representation, and the YA market has changed since I started writing the book in ways that mean it’s no longer in line with what’s been selling big. Luckily, I took Zenith’s offer. It’s been the perfect balance of retaining a lot of creative and artistic freedom over the book, getting a ton of direct support from a small and close-knit publishing team, and also having the kind of professional editing, gorgeous cover design, and marketing support a publisher can provide.

18- What's the biggest writing goal you hope to accomplish in your lifetime?

I mean, I did it! Publishing this book has always been my dream, and now it’s happening. Which still doesn’t feel real. Of course, I’ve moved on to other goals now. I’d like to get an agent for my next project, I’d like to be a NY Times bestseller, I’d like to be someone’s favorite author one day. But the biggest writing goal of all, I’ve met.

19- Would you please ask our audience a question to answer in the comments?

What kind of representation would you love to see that you haven’t found in a book yet?

20- Anything else you would care to share about your book and yourself?

About the book:

QUEEN OF ALL is a young adult adventure fantasy novel with diverse #ownvoices representation. It is the first in a planned trilogy, introducing Jena’s story. Her mother disappeared when she was a baby, and her best (and only) friend, Sisi, is not just the lost heir to a noble Numbered house, but also the Kingdom’s most famous beauty. Jena herself is just awkward, anxious, and often alone: not exactly heroic material. But when a letter summons Sisi to the royal court, both girls find their own futures, and the Kingdom’s, in Jena’s hands. Sisi, caught between the king and the crown prince, searches for a magical secret the Prince is willing to kill to keep. Jena can save her: but only if she is willing to let her go, maybe forever. It’s hard to do that when she’s in love with Sisi herself.

About me:

I’m a 27-year-old debut novelist living and working in New York City. I’m in school for my Master’s in Social Work, and I also have degrees in English from Columbia and UCLA. When not writing or working, I can be found loitering outside theatre for cheap tickets, reading doorstopper fantasy novels, and worshipping my cat, Sycorax. My writing can be found in FANTASY MAGAZINE, ANDROMEDA SPACEWAYS MAGAZINE, and MYTHAXIS, among others. You can find all my writing at http://anyajosephs.com. I’m also on Twitter @anya_writes , on Instagram @anya_leigh , and on Facebook /anyaleighjosephs.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Queen of All (The Jena Cycle Book 1) by Anya Leigh Josephs

June 2021 Pass Or Pages Agent Panel Reveal!

 

Meet the agents who will critique your Adult Fantasy entries!

*Note.Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction, often set in a fictional universe, sometimes inspired by myths and folklore. The query should feature magical or supernatural elements that probably do not exist in the real world.

  

Michaela Whatnall

Dystel, Goderich and Bourret LLC

Michaela Whatnall joined Dystel, Goderich & Bourret in 2019 as the assistant to Michael Bourret in the West Coast office. After graduating from Emory University with a degree in English and linguistics, Michaela completed the Columbia Publishing Course. Their background in school and library marketing accounts for their strong interest in children's literature, from picture books up through middle grade and young adult novels and graphic novels. In the adult fiction space, they are particularly seeking character-driven speculative fiction, sci-fi/fantasy, and other genre fiction that features historically underrepresented characters. They are also interested in nonfiction for both children and adults, especially narrative nonfiction in the areas of history, the creative arts, and lifestyle.

 

Rebecca Podos

Rees Literary

Rebecca Podos is a graduate of the MFA Writing, Literature and Publishing program at Emerson College. Her Young Adult fiction (The Mystery of Hollow Places, Like Water, The Wise and the Wicked) is published by Balzer+Bray/ HarperCollins. In the Young Adult and Middle Grade categories, Rebecca loves everything from high fantasy to horror, contemporary to historical, and rom-com to magic realism, as long as it has a strong voice and memorable characters whose humanity shines through. OwnVoices Jewish and LGBTQIA books,  stories exploring multi-generational relationships, novels featuring marginalized voices and cultures across genres, and a sci-fi about a queer spaceship captain are high on her wish list. She is also now acquiring Adult romance in the vein of Well Met, Red White & Royal Blue, The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics, and Alyssa Cole’s Reluctant Royals series, as well as Adult sci-fi and fantasy. Send your sweeping, sexy Kushiel’s Dart-style epics, please! She is thrilled to represent books by authors like Reina Luz Alegre, Ashley Herring Blake, Rin Chupeco, Sonia Hartl, Mackenzi Lee, London Shah, Rebecca Kim Wells, and more.

 

Elle Thompson

Triada US Literary Agency

Assistant agent Elle Thompson joined Triada US as a literary assistant to Uwe Stender and is now looking to build her list with stories that are evocative, intelligent, and character-driven. She is interested in a wide variety of genres within YA and Adult fiction.
 
In adult fiction, Elle is currently seeking smart horror rooted in terror (particularly with gothic elements, special attention paid to atmosphere, and horrors that set themselves around the house or that have a historical rooting); cozy mysteries that evoke the countryside and the home; literary fiction that explores grief, historically centered and character-driven stories, or relationships (platonic or romantic, and I am particularly interested in stories that center the relationships and friendships of women); historical fiction centering on individual moments of change for either the environment or the protagonist and that is strongly character-focused; dark academia takes on thrillers, horror, or evocative literary fiction; women’s fiction that offers stand-out protagonists and ensemble casts; and fantasy of all kinds.

Details for June 2021 Pass or Pages: 

Entry starts: Monday, June 7 at 6 a.m. Eastern
Entry ends: Friday, June 11 at 6 p.m. Eastern
Category/Genre: Adult Fantasy!
How To Enter: Fill out the entry form on the contest post when it goes live on June 7.
What Is Required: Your query (NO BIO or personalization for agents), your first 250 words, a complete and polished MS

You can also read more about the rules here.

The winning entries with agent commentary will be posted on Operation Awesome the week of June 21st, one entry each day. If you aren't comfortable with having your entry (which will be anonymous) shared on the blog, please don't enter Pass or Pages!

If you have any questions, please ask in the comments or tweet @OpAwesome6. Also, feel free to chat about the contest with fellow participants with the hashtag #PassOrPages.

US Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day here in the USA.  It's a day when we remember and commemorate our fallen service members.

We don't do a lot of poetry on the OA blog, so in honor of Memorial Day, I thought I'd post a poem written during World War I, in memory of fallen service members everywhere.  This poem is in the public domain.

John McCrae - 1872-1918

 

 

#QueryFriday

 It's time for #QueryFriday! Enter for a chance to win a query critique by yours truly! Here's how to participate:

1. Comment on this post and at least one other post from this week by SUNDAY 05/30 at 12 pm EDT.

2. Leave your email address in the comment or have it available on your Blogger profile. (If I can't find you, I can't get in touch with you!)

The winner will be chosen via random draw and will be announced in the comment section of this post on Sunday.

See this post for additional rules. Good luck!

-Amren

Dear O'Abby: Can I really not respond to reviews?

Dear O'Abby,

I'm confused about the various pieces of advice I've read about whether or not to engage with reviewers who review my books.

I know to never reply to a negative because if you feed a troll a hundred more trolls will appear. But what about receiving good reviews?  We can't say thank you because then it'd be like we only acknowledge the behavior we want to see (which is glowing reviews)?

But there's negative because someone doesn't like your book and has legit feelings. And then there's negative because they are a "Karen" and just wanna yell at someone and today it's this author. Like one guy didn't like my book. Okay. His review included "I only read the first paragraph." I mean... you judged the whole book on one paragraph and wrote a review longer than the amount you read. Okay... yeah, I'm not gonna respond to that. 

But also, what about reference books? If someone writes a question in the review, a legit question that could have been in the book but wasn't. As a reference author, am I supposed to ignore that? Or is it acceptable to answer then?

And who the fridge came up with this moral ethical standard that authors are never allowed to reply to reviews or comments?

Yours,

Baffled

Dear Baffled,

I feel your pain.  This is such a grey area and it seems like everywhere you look there's conflicting advice.

You're right when you say never to engage with reviewers who leave negative reviews.  It never goes well.  Even if you are not being defensive, the mere act of communicating with a reviewer can be seen as defensive, whether in public or privately.  So let the bad reviews lie, even if they say stuff that is obviously wrong or mis-construed.  It may hurt, but it's best to just set them aside and move on.  Even if you feel like the entire world is piling on you for a stupid little mistake you weren't even aware you made and which people who haven't even read your book are railing about.  Grit your teet hand move on.

Some writers claim never to read reviews at all because it's better for their mental health.  If you find yourself obsessing over a bad review and feeling tempted to respond to the reviewer, you may need to set this kind of boundary for yourself.

Some reviewers think they are doing you a favour by tagging you when they post their reviews and this makes it even harder to ignore the bad ones, the ignorant ones or the just plain mean ones.

But what about good ones?  To be honest, I don't see a whole lot of harm in thanking a reviewer for a great review, but I would probably not do it publicly.  I work really hard to get reviews for my books and once I get ARCs, I spend weeks and weeks reaching out to book bloggers and other reviewers to try and get them to review my work.  On average, I probably get 2-3 reviews from every 50 or so emails, so when I get a good review I like to go back to the reviewer saying something generic like, "I'm so glad you enjoyed it".

By that token, if I get bad review from someone I reached out to, I will often reply to them too, saying thank you for taking the time to read the book.  I just never reference the review or anything they said in it, even if I disagree wholeheartedly with what they have said.  No point opening up that can of worms!

But the point is, all this is happening behind the scenes.  I never respond to reviewers on Goodreads or Amazon or on their blogs.  I might re-post a good review or quote a section of it on that book's page on my website with a link to the full review, but I don't comment on the review in a public forum.  And I'm always polite and never argue with a reviewer's opinion.

In terms of answering a question raised in a review of a reference book, that's trickier.  I would probably still advise not engaging with the reviewer in public, but if the question is a good one and something you feel needs addressing, you could reach out directly to the reviewer to answer it. Just remember that there is always a chance that this conversation may not go as well as you hoped and things could spiral out of your control if the reviewer decides to take your private correspondence public.

So while it probably is best practice not to respond publicly to any review, I don't think the publishing police are going to cancel you for a private "thanks" email you might send.  But that's just my opinion and based on my own experience.  If other authors out there have different experiences, please tell us in the comments.

X O'Abby

Spotlight on New Book Debut Author Sherra Aguirre #JoyfulDeliciousVegan

Joyful, Delicious, Vegan: Life Without Heart Disease by Sherra Aguirre

1- Vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, flexitarian, beegan, paleo, plant-based diet- How is a person to choose?

The terms can be confusing, and there’s overlap so I advise starting with your goal in mind. If your focus is animal welfare and preventing unnecessary suffering, then vegan or plant-based would be a logical choice because it means you would eliminate all animal products including milk, eggs and all dairy products from your diet. These two terms are often used interchangeably.

If your goal is decreasing environmental harm, similarly you would want to eliminate meat and dairy, the foods that contribute as much to greenhouse gas emissions as the fossil fuel industry. It turns out that what you eat is more important than what you drive!

For maintaining good health as we age, vegan or plant-based eating is your most powerful ally providing high fiber, high nutrition, and lower saturated fat, all scientifically proven to lower chronic disease risk.

Flexitarians eat as they like including animal products and plant foods. Pescatarians typically avoid land animals, however they may still have the milk and dairy. Paleo eaters often focus on weight loss and include lean meats, vegetables and fruit, while limiting dairy and grain.

2- Would you please, in 160 characters or less, give a #WriteTip ?

Looking at a blank page can be paralyzing, so just jump in and start! The first draft is just that, a starting point.

3- What most motivates you to read a new book?

Lately it’s the subject matter. I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction on topics which shed new light on old social, political and economic issues.

4- Do you have a favorite celebrity chef/ cook?

Yes! It’s Bryant Terry! His Vegan Soul Food Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African American Cuisine, published in 2009 is a classic. It’s Southern cooking reimagined and it encouraged me to remove the limits on what is possible with all plant-based cooking and baking.


5- Would you share a picture with us of your book with something yummy you made?



6- In your opinion, why are African American women more vulnerable to heart disease in the US?

There are several factors. The first is our socio-economic status which means our communities overall have less access to quality health care and are often located in underserved areas where safety, food deserts and even environmental hazards are not uncommon. More attention is now being focused on the stress of economic instability as a health hazard in and of itself.

Our food traditions can compound the problem with an abundance of fried and processed foods, and often a reliance on salt, sugar and fat to make what is affordable taste really good. The fast food industry capitalizes on our food culture and lack of means to afford fresh fruit and produce by advertising cheap, easy to access, commercial grade versions of traditional southern foods that even more unhealthy than the originals.

7- What's your Twitter handle, and do you have two or three writer friends on there to shout-out to for #WriterWednesday ?

It’s @SherraAguirre . My shout-outs would go to my author daughters @atticalocke and @TembiLocke along with @stephycha , @byanygreens Tracye McQuirter.

8- Do you have a favorite #bookstagram image or account/ profile?

I don’t. Something to consider.

9- Are you a Plotter, Pantser, or Plantser, and how did you adopt that style?

I think this may more easily apply to fiction writers. That said, with this book I was more of a plotter. Writing is always easier for me when I start with an outline. It tells me where I want to start, where I want to go, and the road to take me there.

10- What does your basic writing schedule look like, and how often do you write?

Although I don’t have a strict schedule my mornings are my creative time. I ideate in the morning and execute those ideas later in the day after they have percolated a bit. I write when I get excited or intrigued about an idea or when I have a deadline!

11- What is your favorite book by someone else, what's the author's Twitter handle, and what do you love most about that book? #FridayReads book recommendation time!

Author name: @saileshrao
Title: Carbon Yoga: The Vegan Metamorphosis
Love because: It offers the vision of a compassionate and sustainable future for humanity.


12- What emotions do you hope your book will evoke for the reader?

As my title suggests, joy based on the possibility of maintaining good health throughout our lifetime; gratitude for the enjoyment of colorful, delicious vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds, grains and spices prepared in an infinite variety of ways.

13- What kind of impact do you hope your book will have?

I want to empower people with the simplest, and in fact the only way to prevent or reverse the chronic illnesses like heart disease. It is our greatest killer and is preventable or even reversible by changing how we eat.

14- What is your favorite creative non-writing activity to do?

A few years ago I would have never thought this, but cooking is an amazingly creative activity that involves all the senses. Before, I never liked it, wasn’t good at it and saw it as a chore. Now I absolutely love it because even though I am no chef, the food I make and enjoy is really good and it loves me back. If I could make this transformation, anyone can!

15- In what ways are the main characters in your book diverse? diversebooks.org #WeNeedDiverseBooks

As an African American writer I certainly agree that we are all richer when diverse voices are heard. I am an advocate for food security and food justice for our marginalized communities, and a sustainable food system for all of us. Attaining these goals will require the inclusion of all segments of our communities in the conversation and problem-solving processes.

16- What method do you feel is the best way to get book reviews?

I think reviewing and sharing books you love with other readers across various platforms is a very good way. People appreciate this and often reciprocate.

17- What was the deciding factor in your publication route?

I submitted to She Writes Press, a hybrid publisher, and winner of the 2019 Indie Publisher of the Year award. I liked their business model and that they prioritized new voices among women writers. They offered the services and distribution network of traditional publishers.

18- What's the biggest writing goal you hope to accomplish in your lifetime?

Writing Joyful, Delicious, Vegan: Life Without Heart Disease was a means to my goal of sharing a lived experience of reversing my hypertension, despite family history. I was encouraged by the science, but it was the stories of others that inspired my health journey. While I want every reader to take something from this book that will make a difference in their health and wellbeing, my goal is to use the book as a tool to engage with people in our communities that can benefit most from the message.

19- Would you please ask our audience a question to answer in the comments?

What is the secret you share in your book to making and sustaining any healthy lifestyle change?

20- Anything else you would care to share about your book and yourself?

"Joyful, Delicious, Vegan: Life Without Heart Disease shows you how to use whole plant foods and mindful living to bring health and joy to every stage of your life".
--Brian Wendel, founder and president of Forks Over Knives

Author Bio

Before becoming a food activist and author, Sherra Aguirre founded and led a successful business for three decades, winning national awards for entrepreneurship, innovation, and service excellence. She sold the company to focus on her passion for healthy diet and lifestyle, having spent many years researching and reading extensively about the relationship between what we eat and preventable chronic diseases. In Joyful, Delicious, Vegan: Life Without Heart Disease Sherra shares her personal story of reversing her hypertension, despite a lengthy family history of heart disease, by adopting a whole plant-based diet. She is passionate about empowering others to maintain vibrancy and good health throughout their lifetimes.

Follow me:
http://sherraaguirre.com
http://facebook.com/AuthorSherraAguirre
http://instagram.com/sherraaguirre
Twitter @SherraAguirre


Joyful, Delicious, Vegan: Life Without Heart Disease by Sherra Aguirre

June Pass or Pages Genre Reveal!

 

The genre for the June 2021 Pass or Pages is...

Adult Fantasy!

Here are the important dates for this round:

June 1st: Agent panel announcement

June 7th to 11th: Entry window (via a form here on our blog)

June 21st to 25th: Feedback reveals!

For a recap of the rules and links to previous rounds, click here. Stay tuned for our agent panel reveal next week!

OA Recommends - Writer Beware

Every month we introduce you to a different writer-oriented website. These are sites with which one or more of our team members has had positive experiences. We hope you'll check them out and let us know what you think! 

This month on OA Recommends, we are featuring Writer Beware.  If you followed our saga on the Twitter scammer last year -
Original post
Update #1
Update #2
Final
you noted that we included comments from Victoria Strauss, who runs the Writer Beware site and blog.  She keeps all of us writers safe by letting us know about scams in the publishing industry.

Let's learn more about Writer Beware!

1- What is the origin story or history of the site?

People often ask me if I got involved with Writer Beware because I was scammed. The answer is no--by and large, my publishing experiences have been relatively positive. But I was fairly ignorant when I began to seek publication, and while scams weren’t anywhere near as common as they are now, it was luck more than anything else that prevented me from falling into questionable hands.

Around the time I first went online, in the mid 1990’s, several major scams were just beginning to implode, in part through writers’ discussion of their experiences on the internet: scam book doctor Edit Ink, fraudulent vanity publishers Northwest Publishing and Commonwealth Publications, and the notorious Deering Literary Agency with its satellite vanity publisher, Sovereign Publications. (There are descriptions of all these scams on the Case Studies page of the Writer Beware website.) I was at first fascinated, and then horrified, by this fraudulent shadow-industry, which I hadn’t known existed. When I saw a call on the website of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for a volunteer to create an online resource on literary fraud, I jumped at the chance, and began to put together the website that would become Writer Beware.

At the same time, my late colleague and friend Ann Crispin, then SFWA Vice-President, was working on establishing a Committee on Writing Scams, whose mission was to gather information on literary fraud and find a way to disseminate this to writers. Neither of us was aware of what the other was doing until a mutual acquaintance put us in touch. Our efforts seemed to dovetail perfectly, and we decided to join forces.

2- What are some of the biggest changes that Writer Beware has experienced over the years and have your original site goals changed?

When Ann and I started Writer Beware in the late 1990s, we hoped to eventually put ourselves out of business by raising awareness of writing scams. Over 20 years later, Writer Beware is busier than ever, and unfortunately there's no sign that will change anytime soon.

Predatory vanity publishers are as active in 2021 as they ever were (unfortunately), but the other scams that were common when we started out—fee-charging literary agents, editing referral schemes—are much less prevalent now, thanks in large part to the growth of self-publishing and small press options that have provided alternatives to traditional publishing. But as publishing has changed, the scammers have adapted. By far the largest number of schemes and scams these days are aimed at small press and self-published authors--in particular, re-publishing and marketing scams.

These scams try to poach writers away from their publishers and self-pub platforms with offers for hugely expensive and largely worthless re-publishing and marketing services that supposedly will boost sales and audience for their books, transition them to Big 5 publishers, get them a movie deal, and more. Often operating under multiple names, they're incredibly aggressive cold-call solicitors, and highly dishonest in the way they present themselves, even to the point of impersonating reputable agents and publishers. Some do provide the promised services, although seriously overpriced and of substandard quality--but many just take the money and run. I've heard from authors who've lost thousands of dollars to these scams. (See my blog post for an overview: https://accrispin.blogspot.com/2019/08/from-philippines-not-with-love-plague.html .)

3- Are there any big events or exciting news coming up for Writer Beware in 2021-2022?

I would love to be able to say "yes"! But no. We'll just keep plugging along, providing warnings and outing predators.

4- With all the websites for writers out there, why should someone take the time to read Writer Beware; what makes Writer Beware unique?

Writer Beware is unique in that it focuses exclusively on schemes, scams, and pitfalls in and around the publishing industry. There are other websites and blogs for writers out there, but I'm not aware of any that have our exclusive focus, or include such a wide range of information (see the next question). Our database of complaints and documentation, compiled over more than 20 years, includes thousands of agents, publishers, editors, contests, marketing services, and others, and is the only one of its kind in the world. We regularly share information from this database with writers who contact us with questions.

5- What types of warnings does Writer Beware feature?  [Agents, publishers, contests, etc]

Writer Beware has many faces!

The Writer Beware website (https://www.writerbeware.com/) provides detailed warnings about common schemes, scams, and pitfalls, advice on how to recognize and avoid them, and links to helpful online resources. There are sections on literary agents, vanity publishers, vanity anthologies, editors and editing, contests and awards, self-publishing, small presses, and copyright, as well as a page of writers’ alerts, a series of case studies of actual scams, a resource on possible legal recourse for writers who've been scammed, and our famous Thumbs Down Agent and Publisher Lists.

To complement the website's general warnings, the Writer Beware blog (https://accrispin.blogspot.com/) provides up-to-the-minute info on the latest schemes and scams, along with advice for writers, industry news and commentary, and a special focus on the weird and wacky things that happen at the fringes of the writing world.

Writer Beware's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/WriterBeware ) features news, scam warnings, and info about the writing world, and provides a forum for discussion. Ditto for my personal Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/victoriastrauss ).

Last but definitely not least is Writer Beware's free research and advice service (our email is beware [at] sfwa.org ). Writers can contact us with questions about agents, publishers, etc., and we'll check our database to see if we've gotten any complaints or have gathered any negative information--or, if we haven't, research the issue and offer an opinion (we aren't lawyers, so we can't provide legal commentary or advice).

6- How does someone contact Writer Beware with information or questions about a possible problem entity?  What types of information does Writer Beware seek?  Is the identity of the person who contacted you confidential?

The main way to contact us is via email: beware [at] sfwa.org. Writers can also message me on the WB Facebook page, or ping me on Twitter. We can't accept anonymous complaints, and must hear directly from the affected person (not from someone on their behalf), but identities are absolutely kept confidential. We never share names or unique identifying information unless we're given express permission.

There's more info about who we are, how to contact us, and how we gather information at the Writer Beware website: https://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/about/

7- How do you choose what to feature on Writer Beware?

The WB website is intended to be an informational and reference resource, so although it's regularly updated, it otherwise doesn't change much.

For the WB blog, where I post more or less weekly, it's a judgment call, depending on the number of complaints (I need enough to indicate a pattern, rather than an isolated incident), the amount of documentation (if I'm going to write about a bad contract, for instance, I need the actual contract in hand), and the urgency (for instance, if a publisher is on the verge of going out of business or has suddenly adopted a predatory business practice, or if there's evidence of a new trend in scams, such as the overseas publishing and marketing scammers I mention above). I also write about important issues of general interest to writers (for instance, the Internet Archive's unpermissioned scanning of in-copyright print books), and I have a special affection for the seriously weird, which is more common in and around the publishing industry than you might think (such as my post last year on insanely prolific internet troll Gary Kadet).

8- Are there other ways for authors to network to prevent being scammed by fake agents, publishers, contests, etc?

Following reputable agents, publishers, and self-publishing experts on social media can help, primarily because such people offer reliable info about the workings of the publishing world. One of the best ways to avoid being scammed is knowing how things actually work in publishing and self-publishing: if you know what's reputable and/or effective, it's easier to recognize what's suspicious or scammy. Writers' groups and forums can also be helpful--though you do need to be careful, because people who know nothing are as willing to give opinions or advice as people who know something, and there are a lot of people who know nothing on the internet.

Most important: be an educated writer. Learn about the publishing/self-publishing industry—and do it BEFORE you start trying to get published. Attempting to learn as you go or on the fly is the best way to get entrapped by scams, or sidelined by bad advice. In the quest for publication, knowledge is your greatest ally and your best defense.

9- Would you please list the links and ways people can find Writer Beware website, blog, social media.

Writer Beware website: https://www.writerbeware.com/
Writer Beware blog: https://accrispin.blogspot.com/
Writer Beware Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WriterBeware  
Victoria's Twitter:  https://twitter.com/victoriastrauss
Writer Beware email: beware [at] sfwa.org

Victoria Strauss is the author of nine novels for adults and young adults, including the WAY OF ARATA duology (THE BURNING LAND and THE AWAKENED CITY), and a historical duology for teens, PASSION BLUE and COLOR SONG. She has written hundreds of book reviews for magazines and ezines, including SF Site, and her articles on writing have appeared in Writer's Digest and elsewhere. In 2006, she served as a judge for the World Fantasy Awards.

Victoria is co-founder, with Ann Crispin, of Writer Beware, a publishing industry watchdog group sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) that provides information and warnings about the many scams and schemes that threaten writers. She maintains the popular Writer Beware website and blog, for which she was a 2012 winner of an Independent Book Blogger Award. She was honored with the SFWA Service Award in 2009.

Visit her at her website: http://www.victoriastrauss.com/


Thank you Victoria for sharing with us about Writer Beware!

Flash Fiction Friday

 It's Flash Fiction Friday! It's starting to get hot out there - where I live, at least - so the prompt for this weekend is SWELTERING.

[Image: A bulldog laying in a pile of ice cubes]

Length: 2000 words
Deadline: Sunday, May 23, 2021, 2am Central Standard Time

Leave your entry in the comments, please. As always, the winner will get a badge and bragging rights!

Dear O'Abby, How do I publish my poetry?

 Dear O'Abby,

I'm a poet and I have a whole bunch of completed poems, some which have been published in magazines and literary journals, and a lot that haven't.  I'd like to publish a collection of poetry, but I can't seem to find any agents who seem to represent poets.

Can you help?

All the best,

Bemused.

Hi Bemused,

I think the reason you can't find an agent who represents poetry is because in general, agents don't represent poetry.  Not unless it's in the form of a novel-in-verse.

Most poets approach poetry publishers directly with their work as they tend to be small presses and often quite specialised.  I suggest visiting your local bookstore or library and browsing the poetry section.  If you find a book of poetry that feels similar to yours or covers similar subject matter, look at the publisher information and you can then look them up and find out if they are accepting submissions, and how to submit to them.

I found this list of poetry publishers, but I don't know much about them, so do your research before you submit.

You mention that you have had poems published before, so if you do end up getting a publishing deal for the collection, you will need to check your contracts to make sure you have the right to offer re-print rights to your publisher.  Most contracts for journals etc I've seen allow this to happen, but may require a note saying "first published in X" and sometimes a date and/or issue number.

You will need to make sure of your rights even if you decide to self-publish a collection of your poetry, which is an equally valid option.

Or you could just continue to submit your work to magazines and journals as you have clearly been doing quite successfully.  Having work in these publications often raises your profile as a poet because people who don't habitually read poetry might stumble across your work, read and enjoy it even if they have never set foot in the poetry section of a bookstore.

You can also do all these things.  Being a poet allows you a lot of flexibility in the ways you make your work available, even if poetry tends to be a fairly niche market.

Hopefully this helps!

All the best for your ongoing publishing journey, whichever direction you choose to go in.

X O'Abby

 

Spotlight on New Book Debut Author Casie Bazay #giveaway

Not Our Summer by Casie Bazay

1- Your book characters get a "bucket list of places to visit." Have you done much traveling in your lifetime?

I plugged KJ and Becka into one of my Yellowstone trip pics

I have actually! I grew up camping with my family quite a bit and now my husband and I enjoy traveling to new places around the U.S. whenever we can. I’ve traveled to all of the places except one described in Not Our Summer, and I had a lot of fun envisioning how Becka and K.J. would see those places.

2- Would you please, in 160 characters or less, give a #WriteTip ?

Read your work aloud to check the flow, as well as to check for missing or repetitive words. Then, after finishing your final revision, use a text-to-audio app to listen to your writing. You’ll be surprised by what you catch!

3- What most motivates you to read a new book?

I usually pick up books based off of online buzz or if a friend recommends the book. Of course, there are also certain authors I have on auto-read because I’ve loved their previous works so much. This includes Ken Follett, Lauren Oliver, and Erin Hahn.

4- What is your favorite tree to hug? 🌳🌲🌴🏞

I don’t discriminate when it comes to trees—I love them all—but I do have a favorite tree. :-) It’s a giant oak on our property. We had a rope swing on it when my kids were younger.

5- Would you share a picture with us of your book with an animal you care for?


McCoy

6- What's a common misconception about horses?

People always use the expression, “healthy as a horse”, but horses can actually be quite difficult to keep healthy in domestic situations. As a lifelong horse owner and a freelance writer specializing in horse health, I’ve learned about so many common equine ailments. Horses have a very sensitive digestive tract, for instance, and you have to be very careful about how you feed them.

7- What's your Twitter handle, and do you have two or three writer friends on there to shout-out to for #WriterWednesday ?

@CasieBazay and sure, I’d love to give a shout-out to my #Pitch2Pub friend @justine_manzano whose next book, Never Say Never comes out in June. Also, to @AmyWagnitz who has been such an enthusiastic supporter of my writing. And last but not least, to my talented #AMM mentee @SouleStories !

8- Do you have a favorite #bookstagram image or account/ profile?

I really love all the support and positive vibes from The Book Bratz ( @bookbratz ). They seem like a great group of young ladies! @bookbratz

9- Are you a Plotter, Pantser, or Plantser, and how did you adopt that style?

I am a Pantser through and through. When I first began writing, I thought I would be a Plotter (because I’m fairly organized and tend to be a planner when it comes to other facets of life). I definitely tried to force myself into that role; however, I couldn’t, for the life of me, make it work. I’ve since accepted that I’m a Pantser who likes to have a vague plan of where the story will go.

10- What does your basic writing schedule look like, and how often do you write?

I work from home as a part time freelance writer, so I typically focus on my freelance work in the mornings and my fiction writing in the afternoons. When my kids were in school (pre-Covid), that was much easier.

11- What is your favorite book by someone else, what's the author's Twitter handle, and what do you love most about that book? #FridayReads book recommendation time!

Author name: @ShanaYoungdahl
Title: As Many Nows As I Can Get
Love because: It’s a beautifully and masterfully story told through a nonlinear structure that really hits you right in the feels.


12- What emotions do you hope your book will evoke for the reader?

Overall, I’d hope that readers feel sympathy, surprise, and hope while reading NOS.

13- What kind of impact do you hope your book will have?

My hope is that NOS is the kind of book that people find entertaining and fun. I also hope it will hook more reluctant readers and inspire them to read more books. Lastly, I hope that the places the girls travel to in NOS will inspire readers to come up with their own bucket list of places to travel to.

14- What is your favorite creative non-writing activity to do?

Is gardening creative? If so, I’d say that. :-)

15- diversebooks.org #WeNeedDiverseBooks What's your favorite book with a diverse main character?

My favorite book with a diverse MC is Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley. It’s amazing!

16- What method do you feel is the best way to get book reviews?

I think genuinely connecting with readers, other writers, and book bloggers online is a good way to get people interested in reading and reviewing your book. Also be willing to do the same for others.

17- What was the deciding factor in your publication route?

I decided from the start that I wanted to traditionally publish with a big publisher because I wanted to see my book on the shelf at Barnes and Noble and other book stores. I also wanted my book to be available to readers around the world. Not that that can’t happen with self publishing or small presses, but I figured a big 5 publisher would get me the best shot at those things. My idea was “go big or go home” and I stuck with that for 10 years while writing and querying four books. It finally worked out. :-)

18- What's the biggest writing goal you hope to accomplish in your lifetime?

I hope to have one of my books made into a movie! Probably not super original, but I’ve dreamed of that from the beginning, too.

19- Would you please ask our audience a question to answer in the comments?

What’s your favorite book that’s come out in 2021 or which 2021 book are you most looking forward to?

20- Anything else you would care to share about your book and yourself?

NOS blurb:

It's bad enough that estranged cousins Becka and KJ see each other at their grandfather's funeral, but when he leaves them a bucket list of places to visit together over the summer, so they can earn their inheritance, it seems like things are about to get much worse.

However, with each trip the cousins complete -- like riding mules into the Grand Canyon or encountering a bear and a hot tour guide at Yellowstone -- they steadily learn about and begin to trust one another. That is until the truth behind Grandpa's bucket list, and their family feud, is revealed, testing Becka and KJ far beyond their limits. Will they ultimately find a way to accept each other or will their grandpa's wish to mend his divided family end up buried alongside him inside his grasshopper green casket?

Bio:

Casie Bazay is former middle school teacher who now works as a freelance writer and editor. In her spare time, Casie enjoys exploring the great outdoors, spending time at the barn with her horses and goats, reading, and watching movies (especially young adult novel adaptations). She lives on a hay farm in northeastern Oklahoma with her husband and two children but loves traveling to new and exciting destinations whenever she can.

Links:

@CasieBazay Twitter
@Casie_Bazay Instagram
https://facebook.com/casiebazayyaauthor
http://casiebazay.com

GIVEAWAY!

Get a signed copy of NOT OUR SUMMER.

US only. Must provide a US address and answer question 19 in the comments to be eligible.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Not Our Summer by Casie Bazay