What does a "book" look like?

What's your mental picture of "a book"?

Soft cover 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"
Your Pocket Divorce Guide

First, most people think of a paperback (a.k.a. soft cover), then of a hard bound, textbook-like object. The minimum depth would be 1/2" with a seriously professional cover design.

I don't have a graphic of bits & bytes, but mentally we'd include audio books.

Nothing else qualifies!

You may think (!) that if you plan to write "a book," you need to create one of those.

But wait!

Comb-Bound Handbook
Add Pizzazz to Your Books

What about the 8 ½" x 11" HANDBOOKS and WORKBOOKS? Plastic comb-bound or wire bound, they're handy, useful and certainly don't need to be 1/2" thick. 

And SHORT BOOKS? Are you familiar with the 8 ½" x 5 ½" half-size short book that's "saddle stitched"? They're still called that, because in the olden days, the pages were literally stitched together at the center fold of an 8 ½" x 11" size sheet of paper. 

48 pg. Short Book
10 Effective Ways
to Promotes Your Seminar

This short book started life as a tri-fold brochure but then kept growing! I'll be writing more about it in the blog-future.

For this one, published in 1998, I was both author and cover designer. (I never made that mistake again!) But it was packed with 48 pages of useful information.

So you see, even in print versions, there's variety in style and production of our books. At least one of your local print shops can print and bind the handbooks in either plastic comb or wire binding, as well as the half-size short bookswhich are not stapled in the center instead of "stitched."

Many of us have valuable information to share, but we know instinctively that the standard hard- or soft-binding are quite the right form for sharing it. These options give us lots of room for useful layout and creativity!

Enjoy ~

Nonfiction Author's Tip #2

 Book writing is organic (and a little bit magic)!

Writing-in-progress is organic, like children - not static. By the end of a chapter, you may realize the previous chapter needs a lead-in to this one. Or the message you meant to write has shifted and now leads to a different insight or conclusion.

That's wonderful (usually)! Your brain has sprinkled creative writing dust into your pages in for form of additional content!

Yay, Brain!

The same thing can happen to your Table of Contents. At some point, maybe after you've typed the last page, you'll see that's not the most useful, orderly flow of information.

Ah, so you rearrange. Maybe you'll need to alter the first and last paragraphs of some chapters, to create a natural transition to the next one. Than you'll follow your muse and tuck in some cool examples or side stories.

Be excited! You're improving your already *phenomenal* book.

Most writing, fiction and non, short and long presents lively, new information.

<|>  After all, they're our literary children.  <|>

Pushing the Limits: Plagiarism or Simply a Quote?

To quote or not to quote~

So to avoid plagiarism, you Google the current definition of copyright, so as to avoid being sued.

Surprise!  There is currently no formula to ensure that a predetermined percentage or amount of a work—or specific number of words, lines, pages, copies—may be used without permission.                       https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html

Heaven forbid that it should be as simple as it used to be!

So is it a matter of Honor vs.Legality?

Writers often struggle with the fine line difference when creating their own articles or books.

·         Is quoting a written or spoken work OK?
Generally yes, if it's just a sentence or two, is in quotation marks and doesn't include a catchy slogan if it's just ordinary words

·         If it's just one sentence?
Generally yes.

·         If it's just 49 words or less?
That very handy old rule is no longer in effect.

·         How about if the words or phrase is trademarked™  as with a slogan?
NO unless you put the trademark symbol next to it.

When you do use an acceptable quote, honor that author by stating attribution: author, book or article title, publisher and publishing date. That's also a matter of honoring a fellow author.

Case in Point:

A few years ago, one of my book coaching clients got an official Cease & Desist request from a very large corporation several states away. It seems she had used the same 3 words

in the same order as one of the trademarked slogans this company owned! 

* Shock - Panic - Worry*

I connected the author with an intellectual property rights attorney. He contacted the Corporation, who used that phrase in all kinds of expensive branding and advertising. My client's attorney said they might or might not have a case. But they undoubtedly had a sizable legal division and ample time and money to keep taking her back to court.

She changed the title~

So when in doubt -- don't.
Create your own original version of those words.

________________________________________________________________________

THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT DEFINITION OF COPYRIGHT

Copyright: A form of protection provided by the laws of the United States for "original works of authorship", including literary, dramatic, musical, architectural, cartographic, choreographic, pantomimic, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, and audiovisual creations.

 "Copyright" literally means the right to copy but has come to mean that body of exclusive rights granted by law to copyright owners for protection sole ownership of their work. Copyright protection does not extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, title, principle, or discovery. Similarly, names, titles, short phrases, slogans, familiar symbols, mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, coloring, and listings of contents or ingredients are not subject to copyright. unless they are trademarked!

https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/definitions.html

Nonfiction Author's Tip #1

Let your passion move your pen!

 

Where do you start writing?

NOT AT THE BEGINNING

First go through your notes and outline or tentative Table of Contents and note which chapters make you: lean forward --  feel excited -- mentally talk to your future readers.

Write about what stirs your passion! 

Start writing now! Your eagerness will spill out
in sentence after glorious sentence of sharing. 

Let it flow -- don't tweak and polish. 

Grin - type - GET JAZZED as the words tumble out.

<> You'll be stunned at the energy of your writing <>

All First Drafts are "Rotten" -- Even Yours

Actually, Ann Lamott's richly insightful book Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life says "shitty first drafts."

Most prose professionals agree on a few basic rules for writing a nonfiction book:

• Select topic
• Create Table of Contents listing the primary chapters of your book
• Write the book
• Rearrange the chapters as many times as necessary for flow of information
• Write "The End" at the end

You will have resisted the urge to stop and edit each page as you go, but have mostly kept writing in the interest of honoring your "conversation with the reader." 

But the self-edit comes after you finish that beautiful first draft.

          Next *DO NOT SHIP IT OFF TO AN EDITOR.* 

Your rough collection of words isn't quite ready for prime time.

Then too, it might cost more if the editor has to struggle through confusing pronouns and verb tenses.

Let the manuscript sit for a few days to cool off and allow your mind to rest. Then read a chapter, go back and make corrections and notes for change, and just circle (or underline) typos, misspellings and punctuation errors.

Go through the whole book, one chapter at a time, noting the flow and pace of information and evenness of voice, tone and writing style, making any changes that will improve the quality.

Type the corrections, smile, do a little happy dance and send it off to whichever professional book editor you've connected with. 

And celebrate!

 

     

Will "everybody" want to buy your book?

Identify the target audience for your book!

As a consultant and book writing coach, one of the first questions I ask is: who is your target audience? Then I go on to explain that they'll need to identify their target reading audience, the person who will benefit from your insights.

AND NOT "EVERYBODY" WILL FALL INTO THAT CATEGORY!

For nonfiction books, the future readers are usually the buyers, too. So the content, arrangement of information (Table of Contents) and additional information like glossary or resource material need to appeal to the one who's going to curl up in a chair with the book in hand. (Or settle onto a booth at lunch with their e-book version.)

Make a TARGET AUDIENCE list:

       *  Male -- female -- both
       *  Age range
       *  Book shoppers -- yes or no
       *  Primary age range

As you write and promote your book, keep those  in mind. 

If your chapters have clever titles, add matter-of-fact subtitles, like Flying Solo: budgets for the newly single in a personal finance book.

Put yourself in their place in wording some of your sentences. If it's something you learned through trial and error, say so.

That kind of information builds a bond between them and you and isn't that what you had in mind to begin with?

Happy identifying!

Lin

                Create Your Writer's Journal

Ever wish you had a bushel of ideas and spot-on observations about the world around you to dip into for article and book ideas? You can have handy books full of them. Start your own journal.

You can give it a name if you want, maybe Henry or Randomness or Jewels. Start with a hard bound "book" of blank pages wrapped in burgundy leather or a steno pad. If it has blank pages, it'll work.

When you fill it up, start a new journal, write the date begun on it and keep it and a pen handy.

DO NOT TRY TO...

·      organize your thoughts,

·      worry about a "theme,"

·      aim for straight lines or punctuation.

JUST WRITE...

   ·     nature observations,

   ·     people interacting,

   ·     personal, neighborhood and world crises,

   ·     your critique on anything,

·      notes on gratitude, annoying habits, yearnings, joys and rhyme.

·      cuss, pray, demand,

·      write a sultry haiku,

·      ...snips and bits.

Sometimes you'll start an essay or even a book. You don't need to finish it. Over time, lots of small ideas take glorious shape, blossoming silently while you were thinking about getting the oil changed .

When you're fresh out of  publishable ideas, start paging through your journals, and enjoy the wealth of ideas you created. 

Happy writing, 

Lin