If You Write It, You Should Read It

Go check out the autumn 2009 issue of this publication, described in this note from the editor, Lauren Kessler:

Etude: The Journal of Literary Nonfiction

In this issue…

> THOMAS GIBBS, M.D. struggles to help a patient.

> MICHELLE THERIAULT searches for sea otters.

> MARC DADIGAN goes to the fights.

> KATHERINE GRIES tries to get a good night’s sleep.

>JOHN R. CORRIGAN remembers important lessons.

>In LISTEN UP, our audio feature, JACK HART, national writing coach and author of A Writer’s Coach, talks about narrative techniques in news writing.

>In WIDE ANGLE, our multi-media feature, Etude’s own MICHAEL WERNER and KATIE CAMPBELL chronicle the experiences and transformative art of World War II-era pacifists at Camp Waldport on the Oregon coast.

Plus…

>ISOLDE RAFTERY interviews the inestimable (and delightfully curmudgeonly) Barbara Ehrenreich.

>TERESA BARKER explores books that place little actors on a big stage.

>LAUREN KESSLER bids adieu to another book manuscript.

>Our thoughtful reviewers comment on seven new literary nonfiction books on topics ranging from western wildfires to British birds, from boat building to fine art collecting, from life in an urban hospital to the joys of house remodeling.

Etude is published quarterly by the Literary Nonfiction program at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication.

As always, we encourage and invite your comments. Use the “contact us” link on the magazine’s website.

Look for our WINTER 2010 issue on January 31.

All back issues are archived at our site.

--
Lauren Kessler
www.laurenkessler.com

Editor, Etude Magazine
Director, graduate program Literary Nonfiction
latest project, ThinHouse.net

__._,_.___

Quote

Understand this, I mean to arrive at the truth. The truth, however ugly in itself, is always curious and beautiful to seekers after it.

--Agatha Christie, author (1890-1976)

For Those Who Twitter

Writers Digest's list of agents on Twitter
http://twitter.com/WritersDigest/agents

WD's list of publishers on Twitter
http://twitter.com/WritersDigest/publishers

and a blog:
http://guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/

Peeking into the Publishing World

From GalleyCat, a brief comment on how more editors are shifting to become agents. Oh, the ever-changing world of publishing!

Assistants & Resources

I really want an assistant, someone willing to put together my clips, call magazines to make sure an editor listed on the masthead is still there, scan my published articles into my computer, chase down miscellaneous facts to flesh out a scene, etc., etc.

I've heard of virtual assistants; today I came across a Web site for certified authors' assistants. And on the site, there was a list of author resources, including On Becoming an Author," "Ten Powerful Strategies for Writing a Nonfiction Best Seller," and "Ten Things Rookie Authors Do to Mess Up Their Nonfiction Book Success." Take a gander.

And I'd love to hear from anyone who uses an assistant--where you found the person, what he or she does for you, how it's working out.

Call for submissions

Dear Writers,
We are now seeking submissions for our fall edition. The deadline is September 21st. The Rio Grande Review is a nonprofit bilingual publication run by students of the MFA in Creative Writing at The University of Texas at El Paso. All genres and visual art forms are considered for publication. Prose: 5,000 words, Poetry: 10 pages. We accept works in English and/or Spanish.
To view our complete submissions guidelines, visit our website at www.riograndereview.com
We look forward to reading your submissions!
Sincerely,
Rio Grande Review EditorsSahalie, Miranda & Silvana


RIO GRANDE REVIEW
University of Texas at El Paso
PMB 671500
W. University Avenue
El Paso, Texas 79968
(915) 747-7012
editors@riograndereview.comwww.riograndereview.com

Gay Talese's Writing Day

Do you have an ascot?

http://ow.ly/hqKN

Markets

From the e-newsletter put out by Worldwide Freelance (http://www.worldwidefreelance.com/).
I hesitate to post these because most of them pay very little. On the other hand, literary magazines usually pay nothing; a little money is a step up from nothing.

WRITING MARKETS


MIAMI HERALD TRAVEL SECTION, USA
Travel section: "Well written, well researched stories that we cannot easily get on the wires get our attention." Will accept finished manuscripts on spec only. Rates range from $300 for a lead, $200 for a normal-length article, $25 for photographs used in black-and-white and $75 for photographs used in color, with a cap of $500 for a story/photo package with multiple images.
Guidelines: http://www.miamiherald.com/816/story/8006.html

MOMSENSE, USA
http://www.christianitytoday.com/momsense/
Nurturing mothers from a Christian perspective with articles that both inform and inspire on issues relating to motherhood and womanhood. Published bimonthly. Paying market. Guidelines: http://www.christianitytoday.com/momsense/content/info.html

MIDSTREAM, USA
A monthly Jewish review. Welcomes submission of manuscripts that deal with Jewish life and culture, current Jewish affairs,political, social, and cultural, in America and in Israel. Each issue contains many articles, at least one short story (fiction),and 5-10 poems. Length: articles: 2,000 to 4,000 words; fiction: 2,000 to 5,000 words. Pays $0.05 per word, $25 for poems.
Guidelines: http://www.midstreamthf.com/writerguide.html


MOMENTUM, CANADA
The magazine for the self-propelled. For people who ride bikes. Providing urban cyclists with the inspiration, information, and resources to fully enjoy their riding experience and connect with local and global cycling communities. Pays between $15 and $50 for an article, and $10 to $30 for a photo or illustration.
Guidelines: http://www.momentumplanet.com/about/get-involved


US-CHINA TRAVEL NEWS
The main areas of interest are China and North America, but also have a continuing interest in Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea, Australasia, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Most stories are 800 to 1,400 words and conclude with a "Know Before You Go" sidebar that lists hotels, restaurants, clubs, tours, and attractions. Welcomes both veteran and novice writers. Pays $35.
Guidelines: http://www.usctn.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=35

MIDWEST TODAY, USA
Quarterly general interest magazine covers a variety of subjects, including news, sports, politics, entertainment, the arts, religion, poetry, fitness, outdoors, travel, exclusive interviews with Midwest-born celebrities, people profiles, the environment, nostalgia, economics, agriculture, humor, consumer issues, and more. Pays "a modest fee."
Guidelines: http://www.midtod.com/new/writers_guide.html

METRO, AUSTRALIA
A national, refereed journal that is published four times per year.Australia's oldest, continuously published film and media magazine having been published since 1968. Specializes in longer articles,reviews, interviews
and analysis of Australian, New Zealand and Asian cinema, television and new media. Paying market.
Guidelines: http://www.metromagazine.com.au/writers.html


Search 750 markets in our free markets database:
http://www.worldwidefreelance.com/markets.asp
For European writing markets subscribe to our European Edition at http://www.euwriter.com/

More Bits of Info

I have a ridiculous love of miscellaneous bits of information. Reading these consumes an impractical amount of my time. But they are so interesting! Here's a place to learn all sort of writing/publishing stuff:

For anyone interested, the July 2009 issue of the Southern Review of Books newsletter has been posted and may be accessed at Southern_Review <<http://www.anvilpub.net/southern_review_of_books.htm>http://www.anvilpub.net/southern_review_of_books.htm>.
Do you know the percentages of books sold by various retailers? You may be surprised at what we found.

Other stories include:
1. For first time ever, more POD than conventional titles published in 2008
2. Breaking news from the book barons
3. Top-flight faculty announced for Boston author-publisher classes
4. Little, Brown to publish book on 'missing link' fossil
5. Publishers Weekly's Ed Nawotka joins Publishing Perspectives
6. News about bookstores, publishing, marketing and promotion
7. Where do consumers buy books? Here's the latest data
8. SIBA introduces 'The Okra Picks,' a southern-fried book list
9. How bad is it - and what is the book business doing to cope?
10. BookExpo America attendance down a bit less than expected
11. AAP reports April sales up, but still down for year to date
12. Update journalism: Latest skinny on past Southern Review stories
13. Georgia author specializes in books on Virgin Mary apparitions
14. Bookstore manager details experience with Espresso book machine
15. The publishing revolution: News of e-books and other new media
16. Lightning Source now providing books for Espresso book machines
17. Useful information and free services for writers
18. Arcade Publishing files for Chapter 11 protection
19. Berean Christian Stores seek Chapter 11 protection
20. News about self-publishing and vanity presses
21. Oldest indie bookstore in nation, Conkey's, going out of business
22. Shaman Drum in Ann Arbor closing at end of June
23. Marketing books: what works and what doesn't
24. Atlanta author promotes first novel by visiting 100 indie bookstores
25. Authors swear by Twitter, but hype undercut by study
26. Milestones: Records and news of note in book publishing
27. Fanny Howe wins $100,000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize
28. News of chicanery, dishonesty and tort-feasing in the book business
29. Author Robert Vaughan to keynote Harriette Austin Writers Conference in Georgia
30. Major upcoming trade shows, book fairs and book festivals

Web site at <http://www.anvilpub.net/> www.anvilpub.net for the latest information on books, manuscripts and publishing properties we're brokering.

Noel Griese, Editor, Southern Review of Books, Anvil Brokers/Anvil Publishers, Inc., Atlanta, GA

A Year of . . .

We should all take heart in the books I've been seeing on the library's "New Nonfiction" shelf: people have written about the year they've "lived biblically," read the Oxford Unabridged, gone without buying anything made in China . . . The take-away message is that if these guys can snag a book contract, well, by gum, so can we. Now, if I could just find the thing to spend a year doing.

This week I read A Year Without "Made in China": One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy by Sara Bongiorni. On little more than a whim, Sara convinces her husband to go along with the idea of not buying anything made in China to see how difficult it is to do for a family of four (having two kids brings up the issue of Christmas a lot). The book chronicles the year's struggles with finding sunglasses, deciding how to classify a product that has a Chinese-made component, and other people's reactions to the boycott, etc.

I remain unperturbed about China's place in the world economy, but it struck me how important the reader's perception of the narrator is in these "year of" books. I'd rather not spend an entire book with a narrator I consider ho-hum. I've worked out a formula, something along these lines:

• If you like the narrator, the topic doesn't matter much.
• If you're obsessed with the topic, you care only that the narrator is competent and credible.
• If you don't care much about the topic, the narrator ought to be funny or brilliant or beyond ordinary in some way.

As writers, we have to recognize that not everyone is going to like us. If we tried to be universally liked, I expect the result would be blandly pleasant (as opposed to pleasantly bland). To write this "year of" sort of book, a person puts herself on the line. Way too much like high school, unfortunately. With any luck, however, we focus on an honest portrayal and take our chances with who likes us.

Nieman Suspends Narrative Conference

Ouch! Journalism's financial woes are spreading to peripheral organizations. Money woes have led the Nieman Foundation to suspend its annual Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism. According to the Boston Globe, the foundation will get 8 percent less in endowment payments for its next fiscal year, beginning July 1. The foundation is taking other cost-cutting measures as well, such as having fewer Nieman fellows and scaling back its Nieman Reports.

Organizing

Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.
―A.A. Milne

In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.
―Carl Jung

Hang in there until the story makes sense to you--and your reader.
―Lois Baron

Oh, That Web Site We All Need

Here's a surprising statistic: According to the Make Information Pay seminar,* 5.3 percent of sales are made from awareness raised by an author’s Web site.

The Book Publicity Blog has a post and lots of excellent comments on why you should have a Web presence NOW (or no later than four months before your book comes out). My first impulse is to grouse about yet another thing to do. But, speaking for all the writers who are shy, miserable at small-talking and glad-handing, and otherwise antisocial, we should be relieved to market outselves in the vast halls of the Internet where we are a step away from real people.

*To learn more about this seminar, see the article on the Southern Review of Books.

Gaping Void Art

The illustration posted on my blog is on an automatic feed. I don't choose each day what art to put up, but normally I find this artist witty. He who draws these pieces on the back of business cards. Occasionally, I'm offended by his work, such as the art I find today ("Pussy"). I grant that some men may have this world view, but I hate that word pussy, even if it refers to cats. I'd block the feed, but--embarrassing but true--I'm afraid I won't figure out how to unblock it later.

Just Ask Yourself . . .

Raymond Obsfeld, in Novelist's Essential Guide to Crafting Scenes, advises

When you finish reading a scene, ask yourself, "So what?" Is this scene necessary?" Read the scenes before and after the one in question and ask yourself if it really matters. Does whatever happens deserve its own scene? Could the information be placed in one of the neighboring scenes?

category: craft

10 Mistakes to Avoid

The blog Holt Uncensored has useful list of 10 mistakes writers make a lot.

Pat Holt, the author, also has an interesting take on The Horse Boy's father being so media savvy--the story of a father who takes his autistic son to Mongolia for, um, horse therapy.

category: craft

The 4x6 Scene

The hallmark of creative nonfiction is the scene. Any fool journalist can give you anecdote. James V. Smith Jr. in The Writer's Little Helper advocates listing each scene in your story on a 4x6 index card. These cards can be shuffled around to decide how to you tell your story.

• On each card, jot down what happens in the scene--action, players, and setting.
• State the purpose of the scene: (1) move the story line ahead; (2) introduce or develop character(s); (3) introduce or worse a problem; (4) solve a problem; (5) set up later scenes; (6) create atmosphere or develop setting; or (7) present information or data.
  
• Identify a singular element to highlight: action, conflict, imagery, invention, irony, dialogue, or suspense.

Later in the book, Smith explains the last bullet item, calling it the ACIIIDS test. It's his contention that each scene should contain all these elements, with one dominating.

Action--the level of movement or activity ("impending," "incidental," "overt," "urgent," "frenetic").
Conflict--the level of argument or contention ("tension" to "fatal").
Imagery--the level of visual cues ("suggested" to "determinate").
Invention--the level of creativity in a scene ("cheap trick," "blink-blink," wondrous smile," "expletive," "WOW!").
Irony--the level of wit, or sense of humor, in a scene (from "subtle" to "take your breath away").
Dialogue--the level of conversation ("internal" to "imbroglio").
Suspense--ranging from "invisible" to "nail-biter."