Guest Review: The Writer's Essential Tackle Box, by Lynn Price

We all know the lovely Lynn Price of Behler Publications, and her fantastically useful and funny blog: now you can get your hands on a great big chunk of her advice in this beautiful and fascinating book, The Writer's Essential Tackle Box: Getting a Hook on the Publishing Industry. This review, from Lyndsey R. Davis, is for the American edition of the book: but in May a UK edition is going to appear from prizewinning independent publisher, Snowbooks (who, regular readers will know, happen to be one of my absolute favourite publishers). Watch out for it!


With the abundance of ‘how to write’ blogs and books on the market, Lynn Price, of Behler Publications, tackles the issue from a fresh perspective in The Writer’s Essential Tackle Box. It’s not a fishy story. She deals with issues that others do not cover.

For a published author re-entering the game, or the newbie bursting with story ideas, the process can be daunting. Ms. Price gives an insider’s view of the industry using a Question and Answer format, interviewing the Who’s Who of the publishing world; her pithy remarks clarify while engaging the reader. Many books present an author’s single point of view how something should be done; Ms. Price’s experts corroborate—in their own words—what works.

Navigating the book is easy. The four sections have subheadings which direct the reader to specific topics—no need to use the index. However, the latter avails a quick search.

Section 1: The Interviews offers over two hundred pages packed with pragmatic approaches. Agents such as Andrea Brown, Rita Rosenkranz, Peter Cox and Laurie McLean elaborate on procuring representation. Wilda Williams of Library Journal, Jim Cox of Midwest Book Review, and Lauren Roberts of BiblioBuffet suggest ways to use their services in expanding a book’s exposure. Jerry D. Simmons clarifies the murky waters of publishing: the pros and cons of big and small houses, explaining the complex system of book sales and returns. Amy Collins and Sharon Goldinger detail what a Book Shepherd does for those who elect to self-publish, and how they are distinct from vanity presses. Writing on tours and bookstore signings, Gayle Shanks adds to Ms Price’s tips for the prepared author. George Foster illustrates the secrets of cover design. Greg Snider answers questions about distribution, while Ingram and Lightning Source disclose warehousing facts, information excluded from most ‘how-to’ books for writers. Mike Sirota promotes the independent editor’s role in producing a polished work. Victoria Strauss and Peter Cox shed light on how to connect with the cyber world and internet resources. Anita Halton and Annie Jennings spell out why authors need publicists and public relations specialists. Website creation is no longer the elusive fish with Cathy Scott’s design. Ms. Price hooks the reader with her introductions and simplifies with her summaries.

Section 2: “Forget the bait, pass me the Maalox”: The Submission Process provides the prospective author with a step-by-step, hilarious approach to the often painful journey. Here, the pragmatic lessons begin: busting the myths that are foisted on anxious writers, enumerating instructions on The Log Line, the Pitch, the Author’s Bio, query letters, synopses, and the fateful rejection. However, this section ends on a high note with the Promotion plan.

Section 3: “Chumming the Waters” distinguishes between commercial publishers, vanity presses, and print on demand, and adds to Jerry Simmon’s interview on publishing. Ms. Price itemizes the nitty-gritty issues in succinct nibbles: cash flow, print runs, pricing, reviews, marketing, sales force, disclosure and more. With this information, the aspiring author can recognize the pitfalls and make informed choices.

Section 4: “The Writer’s Survival Style Guide” is packed, like sardines, with the ‘worst and best examples’ of writing. Ms. Price updates the standard that was set by Strunk and White’s Elements of Style with this lexicon of contemporary editing because it’s more readable and humorous. In this text, a writer learns to recognize a ‘sick’ submission and give it a proper four-part autopsy. However, a worthy submission may emerge after the surgery on the Fluffitis, Backstoryosis, Dialog Tagococcal, and Pointofviewicemia and overloaded descriptions with a heavy emphasis on telling instead of showing. Though she doesn’t state a resurrection is possible, her examples offer hope that rewrites will distill the essence of a good story and if mixed with a balance of description and dialog, it may be possible to recover from a case of Dullitis.

Ms. Price anticipates questions that a reader, unfamiliar with the industry, might have. She presents a lexicon that includes more than a glossary of terms. Her clear examples show how it should be done, and complex definitions become understandable. Though this book serves a new writer well, the savvy author will enjoy the sage reminders, profound insights, and recommendations, to say nothing of reveling in her wit.

Some books lend themselves to becoming dog-eared—no doubt supported by the margarita-making beagle. Thumbed pages and bent corners reflect its usefulness. This book meets that criterion because it satisfies a need in every writer. Unfortunately, for those who claim they can only afford a single comprehensive reference on writing, Ms. Price has removed any excuse for someone not to tackle the writing and editing of a piece.


Lyndsey Davis writes fiction and non-fiction, since retiring as a US Navy Chaplain. She has published non-fiction articles for newspapers, magazines, websites and co-authored two books: Daily Devotions for Advent and Christmas, Daily Devotions for Lent and Easter. An irregular blogger, she twitters and writes articles, devotionals and stories for several online services and publications, while juggling several Works in Progress. Of course, the real balancing act is saved for home life, with a husband, two sons, four cats, one dog, twenty fish and a turtle.

Now Charlie Needs Our Help

Now that we've found Brenda Carter, we need to find someone else. Someone who could offer Charlie a lovely new home.

Charlie is an eight-year-old neutered male cat, who looks to me as though he contains a fair amount of Maine Coon heritage, and here he is in his sex-kitten pose. Charlie is sociable, happy, and clean around the house, but sadly he needs a new home as his owner is having to move to a new home where she can no longer keep him. Charlie likes to go out, so needs a home where he'll be safe from traffic. He has a slightly runny eye as he had cat-flu when he was a kitten, but he is otherwise fit and well. As you can see from the photograph he is a nice clean boy who enjoys a bath (so long as you remember not to put any water in it) and he has an oversized joke tail which he wears to cheer everyone up.

He lives in Leicestershire at the moment, and at a push I can collect him from there and get him to Leeds, Sheffield or Manchester if that would help.

Can anyone offer Charlie the loving, appreciative home that he so richly deserves?

Calling Brenda Carter!

A short-story writer called Brenda Carter has written a story called Past, Present and Future and sent it off into the big wide world all alone.

And I mean all alone.

Brenda's contact details have become separated from her story, which is a shame: because an editor wants to buy the story, but can't find Brenda to let her know.

So, if anyone out there knows Brenda, could you please ask her to contact me? Or if you ARE Brenda, do a little happy-dance ever so quickly and then contact me, so I can tell you who you need to contact!

Persistence Or Desperation?

In the relatively short life of this blog (I began blogging in June 2008), I've told just three people that they are not welcome here.

One was a writer who argued with me about YouWriteOn's vanity-publishing scheme. I didn't object to his arguing: we are all entitled to express our own opinions. But I did object to his sneering and insults, and to his somewhat abstract leaps of logic, and they led to me telling him to leave.

Another was a writer who repeatedly used to this blog as a forum in which to insult and libel others. I deleted his comments and warned him that I would delete anything else that he contributed. He has now mostly shut up, although he does still try his luck from time to time (without any success, I’m glad to say).

The third was a writer who asked me for help in finding an agent or a publisher. A quick look at her work confirmed that she was nowhere near ready for publication; and the publishers who had asked to see more of her work were both of the pay-to-play variety. When I advised her to revise more, and avoid those publishers, she sent me several angry emails and wrote a couple of long blog posts about how rude and discouraging I had been; and when I tried to reply to her blog-posts, she deleted my comments.

She made potentially libellous comments about me on a few other blogs; she visited the blogs of bannee number two and tried to poke him into action again; and she emailed friends of mine, warning them against me.

A couple of months later she emailed me, asking for advice on a couple more (you've guessed it) vanity presses; and ended with a postscript which explained how she had forgiven me for my rudeness towards her.

I ignored her email and a few days later she emailed me again only her tone was a little less friendly. I continued to ignore her; she continued to email me every few days, becoming ruder each time.

When her e-mails finally became threatening I replied. I told her I wouldn't respond to any more of them, and that I didn't want to hear from her ever again, and that was pretty much it. Until yesterday. Guess who I had an e-mail from?

Hello, Jane, remember me? It's your old friend [name withheld] here, wondering why I haven't heard from you. The good news is that I got a publisher interested in publishing my book. The printing is going to cost me £2,750 but I think my writing is worth investing in. What do you think?

She's not going to like my reply.

How I Got Published: Vivian Swift

I think that Vivian Swift is being just a little too self-deprecating when she places all of her success on leverage: from what I've seen of her book, she has a remarkable talent and a welcoming style which probably played a far bigger part in her success than she realises. Here's her view of her rather original path to publication, which just shows that sometimes things work out just fine when you ignore all the rules!


I've since learned that the word "quirky" is publishing-world code for "unpublishable", but when my quirky book was published by BloomsburyUSA in 2008 I thought it was because my illustrated travel memoir about staying put was JUST what editors the world over crave: a really different kind of reading experience. Turns out that no, that's NOT why I got published (did I mention that I've learned that editors loathe "quirky" books?): I got published because, as a complete and total nobody in the publishing world, I wisely leveraged a single teeny bit of biographical research into a golden "in" with my FIRST choice of powerhouse agent who got my manuscript read by all the best houses in New York City.

The total time from the day I first mailed my query letter (to my one and only agent choice) to the day I got a publishing deal was three and a half months—which includes the delays caused by my bad timing; my new agent had to send my manuscript proposal out during the Christmas holidays.

Here’s my story: I was a fifty-year old unemployed gemologist who had spent two years putting together the first three chapters of a book I had long fantasized about writing, a modern version of The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady. If you don’t remember that book, that must mean that you weren’t alive in 1977 when it became a publishing phenomenon (to date, five million copies have been sold). Not that I expected to out-do The Edwardian Lady; I just wanted to write my own homage to a book that I had greatly admired since I was twenty years old.

The manuscript of my first three chapters was fifty-three pages long, and it was entirely hand-lettered. I bound it into an eight-inch-square booklet, illustrated with over one hundred small watercolour paintings. It was exactly the kind of manuscript that one is forbidden to toss over the transom. But I didn’t know that at the time; I had never taken a writing class, attended a writing workshop, read a publishing industry blog, or had face-to-face contact with anyone remotely connected to the book publishing business. Only from reading my local newspaper years earlier had I learned about the one “insider” guide I used to prepare myself for becoming an author: Forest for the Trees by Betsy Lerner, a former top editor in New York City. The reason I read about Betsy Lerner in my local newspaper was because she was a famous local author: Betsy and I happened to be living in the same small town on the shore of the Long Island Sound at the time. That article in the local paper also mentioned that Betsy had recently become a literary agent. Good to know, I remember thinking; if I ever get around to writing that book I’ve always wanted to write….

So, half a dozen years later, I have this fifty-three-page hand-lettered illustrated manuscript and I have only one agent on my mailing list. I had done a little follow-up research on Betsy Lerner and found out that she had a stellar reputation representing hip, urban, literary writers; yet I was still sure I wanted only her to read my cozy, suburban, un-literary manuscript. She represented Neil deGrasse Tyson! My hero! The coolest astrophysicist ever! So like any starry-eyed wanna-be writer doofus, I sent her my query letter with my home-made manuscript attached.

But I’m not a complete doofus: I made sure to mention, in my query letter to the formidable Ms. Betsy Lerner, that she and I had a connection: we had once lived in the same small village on the Long Island Sound.

Leverage, my friends; I was looking for leverage. I was dumb enough to think that name-dropping a town with just seven thousand households in it was leverage. And the funny thing is, it was.

Less than a week after I’d sent her my manuscript I got a voice mail from Betsy Lerner herself (which, by the way, is the single most validating moment of my entire writing life, even now, a year after my first book is published). Quaking, I dialled her phone number. She picked up after two rings. I was speaking to Betsy Lerner in person.

“How did you know that I used to live in [small town on the shore of the Long Island Sound]? was the first question she asked me.

And then she said that she liked my manuscript but, she warned me, my book was very odd and she wasn’t at all sure she could sell it, but she wanted to give it a try. That was in November, 2006.

“This is so not my thing,” was one Editorial Director’s response when Betsy first sent him my manuscript [translation: It’s too quirky for me]; “I’m going to give it to another editor here who does more of this kind of thing [translation: An editor who likes lost causes].” And then, a few days later, he emailed back: “I can’t get this book out of my mind. I’m keeping it.” And then we knew we had passed extensive internal review about a month later but by then it was almost Christmas, and then it was New Years… I had a signed contract on Valentine’s Day 2007, with my dream publisher, BloomsburyUSA.

There’s only one agent, I am convinced, who could have got such a fabulous publisher to look at such a quirky little book as mine, by dint of her reputation for good taste and keen eye for good writing, which she was willing to squander on my behalf: My agent, Betsy Lerner.

Not that there weren’t struggles, over the cover (I fought to keep Bloomsbury from re-designing it), and the fact that it’s a very quirky book to market in a very a tight economy (An illustrated book for adults? A travel memoir about staying put? With cats?? No wonder Borders put it in their Self Help section.). And of course I’ve had my usual first-time-author indignities: my first book event at Barnes and Noble where I was shuffled off into the Children’s Department to sign books at a knee-high kiddie table under a poster for Captain Underpants was merely a harbinger of things to come.

But now, as a published author, I am invited to speak to audiences of unpublished writers about my experience and the one thing I have to tell them about getting the right agent is leverage. See above. Which may or may not be helpful. Because, usually, stupidity doesn’t get you very far in life, except when it does.

Publication in November 2008 of my first book, When Wanderers Cease to Roam: A Traveler's Journal of Staying Put, has been such a marvellous experience of stupid perseverance and dumb luck that I’m going to try to do it again, with an even quirkier book, one that even Betsy Lerner has doubts about. It’s an illustrated travel memoir about a road trip through France. “A book about France is a hard sell right now,” she tells me.

Wish me luck.

No One Edits Any More? Ha!

I just came across literary agent Andy Ross's lovely interview with Mary Norris, copy editor at The New Yorker.

There are some lovely details in it, and it shows just how meticulous editors are (and yes, I've heard the myths that editors don't edit any more and I just don't believe it). I particularly liked Andy's note at the end of the interview, in which he discusses how Mary edited the blog article once it was finished. I bet it's all the better for it.

Guest Review: Twelve Short Stories And Their Making

My thanks to Paul Lamb for bringing this lovely little book to my attention, and for letting me reproduce his review of it, which originally appeared on his blog last year.


I’ll confess at the start of this post that I don’t have a high respect for most how-to writing guides. I’m not sure that fiction writing can be taught. Having said that, though, I do think it can be learned. In my experience this is done in two ways: extensive reading and exhaustive writing. We’re on our own for the second part, but occasionally we can find a little help with the first part.

I recently finished reading 12 Short Stories and Their Making, an anthology collected by Paul Mandelbaum and published in 2005 by Persea Books. Within are twelve richly textured short stories followed by interviews with their authors. Among the writers included are familiar names like Sandra Cisneros, Ellen Gilchrist, Gail Godwin, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Tobias Wolff. Each author’s story is presented first, and it is followed by a conversation between Mandelbaum and the author. The conversations provide insight into the varying creative processes of these diverse writers.

This isn’t a book telling you how to write your short story. Rather, it is a book telling you how these authors wrote their short stories. The conversations describe how the stories came to be written the way they were as well as how they couldn’t have been written in any other way. We see what their motivations and intentions were. Sometimes we see what other writing has influenced them or what incidents in their lives found their way into the stories and why. Mandelbaum also manages to tease some technical discussion from each writer. By offering these insights, this book lets all of us see how it might be done and so perhaps plumb our murky depths to find our own motivations. It gives us a sort of permission to venture down new creative roads.

The anthology does not try to be all things to all writers. Rather, it takes a more measured approach, offering two selections for each of the categories: character, plot, point of view/voice, setting, structure, and theme. The stories are arranged by which category they best illustrate. With a breakdown like this, and with the in-depth interviews that follow each story, this book might deserve a place on your reference shelf.

For my part, I always like to read anthologies because I get introduced to writers I have not tried before. Often I find a new favorite among them. Persea Books has several other writer-focused anthologies that might merit your attention as well.

How I Got Published (Part II): Tommy Donbavand

Last week we heard all about Tommy Donbavand's metal balls and how they helped him get four non-fiction books published in the competitive how-to market. This week he tells us how he sold his first novel, turned it into a series, persuaded his publisher to double the length of his contract and picked up a few sundry books deals along the way. I am in awe.


I began to teach writing to adults in the evenings and set up a web forum to enable people in the classes to stay in touch. Before long, an established writer posted on the board said that Egmont Press was looking for writers-for-hire for a new children's horror series, but that only writers with published fiction to their name need apply. It was steel balls time again....

I called the editor and convinced her to let me write a sample chapter. I was successful and soon chosen as the first author for the Too Ghoul For School series, eventually writing five titles for the range: Terror in Cubicle Four, Silent But Deadly, School Spooks Day, Attack of the Zombie Nits! and A Fete Worse Than Death. I was paid a one-off fee for each book, and no royalties — and it wasn't even my name on the cover — but it was published fiction, and a step in the right direction.

My school events continued apace and I soon spotted an ad looking for a new writer-in-residence at Seven Stories, the UK's centre for children's books, based in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. I applied and got the gig, ready to spend the next twelve months running workshops and writing exclusive material for visitors.

It was time to take a leap of faith so, in September 2006, on the day my son was born, I quit my job at the theatre company and became a full-time writer. I started writing to agents again, pretty much to deaf ears until one of them suggested I contact Penny Holroyde at Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency. I sent her my latest manuscript — a comedy space adventure for kids — and waited for her response.

Penny asked me to come to London for a meeting and explained that the book wasn't what she was looking for, but asked if I was working on anything else. I pitched an idea I had for a comedy horror series of my own and she liked it. I signed with the agency and settled down to write what would become Fang of the Vampire, the first title in my Scream Street series.

I worked for almost six months on refining the manuscript and redrafting until it was in good enough shape to submit. Penny's notes were invaluable and, eventually, the series was picked up by Walker Books for publication in the UK from October 2008 onwards.

Now the hard work really began and, with my new editor Emma, I got stuck in to writing the series while doing as many school events as I could. Book two was called Blood of the Witch. Part way into book three, Heart of the Mummy, I had an idea for a 'second' Scream Street series and, whipping out the metal orbs again, I pitched it to Walker at their annual sales conference. The six book series was now doubled to twelve instalments (later upped again to thirteen so I could drop a longer 'hinge' book between the two sets of adventures). Eight books have either been published so far, or are available for preorder from Amazon: Flesh of the Zombie, Skull of the Skeleton, Claw of the Werewolf, Invasion of the Normals, and Attack of the Trolls.

My regular school visits paid off when I was approached by Reading Is Fundamental (part of the UK's National Literacy Trust) and asked to become the first RIF Ambassador, attached to a primary school in Middlesbrough and charged with the task of getting the pupils into reading and writing. It was a great experience — and the school even initiated the 'Tommy Donbavand Writing Hero' award!

Scream Street began to sell to other countries around the world, including Australia, Italy, Sweden and Japan. In August 2008, the series was launched in the US, published by Candlewick Press.

In January last year, I contacted seven other UK children's authors with the plan of setting up a joint website called Trapped by Monsters through which we could promote books and 'share' readers. The premise is that we were on our way to write the ultimate anthology of monster stories — when the monsters got to us first! Now held captive in dark, damp caves, we're made to blog about great kids books in return for food and toilet paper!

So, that's where I am today. I'm busy putting the final touches to the 10th book in the Scream Street series, and have added events at literary festivals to those I still run in schools. I've written two novels for Barrington Stoke, a publisher specialising in books for dyslexic and reluctant readers, and have just been asked for a third. I've even been invited to the Houses of Parliament at the end of this month to discuss getting kids excited about reading.

I'm not sitting on my laurels, however. I work hard at promoting my books online through websites, guest blog posts and Twitter — and the old steel balls are always polished and ready to use, should the need ever arise...


The Scream Street books have their own websites: you can find the UK one here, and the American one here.

One of the things I like about Tommy (apart, of course, from his books) is how he makes this all sound so easy. It's not, of course: he writes a lot, he writes very well, he always has a few new ideas up his sleeve, and he delivers his manuscripts on time and in good order. If you can do that too, then you might get published just as "easily" as he has!

Why We Have Gatekeepers

In fiction and in life there are often gatekeepers who guard the entrance to the castle or the enchanted kingdom. Consider St Peter, standing guard at the pearly gates, or those big blokes in dark glasses and wash ’n’ wear suits who stand outside the nightclubs and only let the pretty girls in. In both cases there are good reasons for them to be there: the big blokes are fulfilling a health and safety function by ensuring their nightclubs don't get overcrowded, and a public relations function by only allowing the prettiest admission (thereby establishing their club’s reputation for being a hot totty spot); while St Peter makes sure that heaven doesn't get filled up with non-believers and troublemakers, and therefore remains heavenly.

These gatekeepers do an unpopular but necessary job. So when people complain that literary agents are no more than self-appointed gatekeepers who are preventing writers from reaching editors they fail to consider what would be the result—to writers, publishers and readers—if agents stopped carrying out their literary gatekeeping role.

Editors are very overworked. A lot of their time is taken up by reading, and close reading at that. In order to do their job well they cannot skimp on this: editors were already horribly overstretched year ago; in the last year many have lost their jobs, and the books that they were responsible for have been handed over to the editors who remain employed, adding to their already too-heavy workload. This lack of time is nothing new: but it has been compounded recently, to a horrible degree.

No wonder, then, that editors prefer to work with agents. Doing so frees editors from the tyranny of the slush-pile; and they know that anything an agent submits is likely to be both publishable, and appropriate for their lists. It gives those editors time to work more closely with their writers, and to do their best to ensure that their books are the best that they can be. This means that we, as readers, have better books to read; and also that we, as writers, are displayed to our very best advantage.

There is a cost to the publisher: the contracts that agents negotiate are usually far more beneficial to the writers who sign them than a standard publisher’s contract, and so the publishers’ shares of income is cut: but the advantages of not having to deal with the mountain of slush outweigh this by a significant degree.

Guest Review: Writer's Café

My thanks to Jo Stafferton for this review of Writer's Café, a computer program which helps writers organise and develop their work. Some very well-regarded writers have praised it: if you don't believe me, just take a look at the Writer’s Café website. You might see a familiar name on its front page.


My current work-in-progress is a children’s novel set in Ancient Egypt, an idea that has been going round in my head for some years. Now, I am no Egyptologist, so as you can imagine, attempting a project like that required a lot of research, a lot of note taking. I started out using notebooks to scrawl down my notes from books, the internet and museum visits and I got myself a giant piece of paper, upon which I printed out and stuck relevant photos from the internet (I don’t have space for a pin board at home). But I found myself overwhelmed by the volume of information, the notebooks got lost and the large piece of paper became crumpled down the back of a bookshelf, all progress in my work-in-progress stopped, for months bordering on years.

Then by chance I discovered Writer’s Café; you are able to download a demonstration version, which is pretty much fully functional with a few limitations (notably in its plot lining function, which is why ultimately I upgraded to the paid version) but it does give a good idea what it can do. I was able to go back to the photos I had found on the internet and place them on a ‘virtual’ pin board alongside notes and ideas for my story. Good websites I had found and wanted to preserve in their entirety, away from the muddle of the rest of my ‘everyday’ bookmarks on my internet browser, were placed in a ‘virtual’ scrapbook. Lengthy notes from my Egyptology textbooks were written in the program’s notebook feature. Everything was basically kept in one, well organised place, which was invaluable to me, as I lack space in the real world to store those things on paper.

What really saved my story though was the program’s Storylines feature, an electronic version of a very long corkboard and some index cards, you would put your plot points on a series of cards and place them in the order you wanted them, dividing them into chapters as you go. Having my stalled storyline out in front of me like that, enabled me to see the holes in my plot and enabled me to plan in a way that I had struggled with before. Consequently my project, which had stalled prior to me discovering Writer’s Café, at approximately 15,000 words, is now, as I type at 34,000 words and unlike before, I am fully confident that I am going to finish it.

There are other features in Writer’s Café to, that I use less frequently if at all; a journal, a names generator, writers’ tips, writers’ prompts and an eBook ‘Fiction: The Facts’, written by Harriet Smart, the published author behind the program.

So, ultimately there’s not much you can do on Writer’s Café that you can’t do in real life with a pen and a piece of paper, but if you’re disorganised and lack a space of your own to store and display your notes and plans as you work on them, Writer’s Café is a big bonus, particularly for any writer who has a large volume of notes and ideas to organise, such as someone writing historical fiction or for anyone having a whole new world to create.