  Drama
This week: Prima Donna Don'ts!! Edited by: Fyn  
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"I'm not a diva. I'm a tadpole trying to be a frog." ~~Toni Braxton
"Success can make you go one of two ways. It can make you a prima donna - or it can smooth the edges, take away the insecurities, let the nice things come out." ~~Barbara Walters
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The term 'prima donna' comes from the 'first lady' who was accorded higher status and better treatment than any other lady, and hence it came to mean what it does now. Divas, prima donnas . . .what is it about getting a book published that turns normal, rational, likeable people (men and women) into divas who think that they are the only, make that ONLY person in the world?
Self-publishing, or pay to publish where the author receives editing, layouts, excellent covers, marketing, book signings, promos, and radio or television spots seems to bring out the diva and suddenly they (singular) think that the world should bow to them.
SEVEN THINGS ABOUT SELF-PUBLISHING TO REMEMBER!
1. You are NOT the only author. You may or may not be the best author they've ever encountered. They may try to treat you that way, but be realistic.
2. Decent pay to publish houses DO NOT make their money from the 1500 or 2500 dollars (total) they charge for editing, layout, covers, marketing and print and bind. They make their money from the books sold whether it be to the author directly, Amazon, Barns & Noble or any of hundreds of independent book sellers. They truly WANT your book to be the best it is capable of being, so that it will sell the most books it possibly can.
Thus when an editor corrects punctuation and grammar, or tries to get an author to avoid repeated word use or find different words rather than hackneyed cliches, it is for a reason, not to 'change' the author's voice.
3. It is a time-consuming process. Depending upon the level of writing, length of book and knowledge of things like punctuation, tense and viewpoint, editing takes time. It isn't unusual to find upwards of 10,000 corrections in a 350 page manuscript. When an author approves an editing job and finds a few an editor may have missed, it is not nice to be witchy about it. Remember, they've already found thousands the author missed!
4. If a package contains editing and the author had approval on the edits, that's what you do, approve or disprove the corrections, but this is not, I repeat, NOT the time for major revisions, as the work has already BEEN edited. It will cost you to have another full edit done and your manuscript will go to the bottom of the pile already waiting for an edit. The same goes for layout!
5. Print and bind. Most houses send their books out to 'print and bind.' Printers check the manuscripts over (called pre-flight' to make sure the layout is perfect, that margins are correct for the book size, that type is embedded and numerous other things are done. Then it gets printed.
BUT. Printers are in business too. The size of the job dictates pecking order. Printer dates are written in mud. Let's be clear (!) on this one. They may give the publisher a date, (which, in general, they are loath to pass on to the writer) but it is not written in stone. Size matters. If your book is standard size (6 x 9) it may go faster because machines don't need to be reset. Then there are the big money makers for print houses. If they get an order for 100,000 copies from, for example, the state, it will take precedence over an author's fifty or hundred books. Just the nature of the beast. There is nothing, short of doing their own print and bind, a publisher can do about this. Besides, even if they DO do their own print and bind, the same logistics would still apply.
6. NEVER set up signings, events or book parties until you have your books in hand. Simple. Don't do it. It will save you effort, energy and embarrassment. Publishing houses won't do it. You shouldn't either.
7. Of course, you can't wait! Of course, you are excited, geeked and ready to explode in anticipation! Patience is golden. Good things come to those who wait. The feelings will be even better if you work with your publisher and his team, for then, when your book comes out, you will be on top of the world with a finished book you will be inordinately proud of!! |
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Fiona Hassan  says: Nice newsletter, and I think it's true. I don't know so much about that kind of thing exactly, because I don't have a cellphone, video games, etc. but the limited contact I've had with that lifestyle thru movies and similar things leaves me tending to agree with you. I'm 16, and I've noticed my 14-year-old sister is having issues -- not as bad as what you were describing, but worse than I had. I think the difference is the type of music we listen to. Music can't not have an impact on us. A lot of modern music (pop, rock, etc.) makes the listeners selfish/rebellious in some way. I've noticed that when I'm upset I want to listen to that because it somehow matches with what I'm feeling. What I should do, really, is listen to classical-type music that will calm me down. :) -Fiona
could be! Personally, I still think it is a choice to feel or act a certain way...but hat is just me.
A.T.B: It'sWhatWeDo wrote: I was an aloof teenager, so I never experienced the mania of relationships and the frequent fallout. I worked since 14, kept a scholarship for private school, played sports, and paid for anything I didn't "need" at the time - "need" was of course subjective and decided by my parents. I remember spending a month's pay on snow tires at one point, pulling into school in an older but wild-enough Honda coupe, staring at BMW's, Saab's, and the one kid that got a new Range Rover his senior year thinking, "...snow tires. Really?"
It gave me a perspective on late adolescence that, if anything, I refer back to as a contrast to what "my" teenage characters ought to be. Times of Trial is a perfect example of that, and I thank you for featuring it.
There are good kids left in the world...I see one from time to time, more often than not here on Writing.com. It's reassuring to know that those are the writers that will one day replace us bewildered ol' codgers, eh? 
Oh dear.....you calling me old? *Climbs back into her rocking chair*
Prairie Rose adds: I have 2 children aged 25 and 16. I remember the terrible struggles I had with my parents back in the 70s. I felt they expected me to rebel just because I was a 'teenager'. For my part, I just wanted to continue the relationship I had enjoyed for the previous 12 years. When did I suddenly become an alien creature? I still felt like the same person. So I decided to parent my children differently. I kept reminding myself everyday, from the moment they were born, that this is a person just like me. Whether she is crawling or needs to borrow the car, she is still the same person. We all have good days and bad days. The person inside is the same. We all make mistakes, but the person one the inside is the same. I'm not saying my kids are perfect. They've done all the usual things that 'teenagers' are accused of doing. They are still the same person inside. That's all that counts in my book.
amen!
Ida_Matilda_Wright Help says: I love your quotes...
Thank you
Winnie Kay  writes: Great NL, Fyn! Today's teen is a new breed, indeed. If I can get more out of my nieces and nephews than a  and a "WhatEVER", I'm elated just to hear their voice and to be acknowledged as existing in their 'misunderstood' space.
billwilkox says: fyn, I've got four teenage daughters . . . enough said. |
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Drama: May 25, 2011 Issue [#4420]
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