How to Get Published

by Al Kalar

Okay, so this has nothing to do with getting published.  I just thought you’d like to know what happens to your manuscript in the eBook publishing world of AKW Books.  This is our in-house cycle from inquiry to published work. We’ll assume you are sending in a work of fiction (non-fiction is slightly different, but many of the skills required and our procedures are the same).

When you send in an inquiry, it arrives in the same email box with all our other correspondence, so whoever opens it up will route it to one of our editors.  With this act, we assume you have read and agreed to our standard contract (Standard Agreement). (more…)

by Al Kalar

A good story requires conflict. Without it, you don’t have much to offer the reader. Perhaps a fictional travelogue can get by without conflict, but any good yarn is pretty boring without it.

I ran across a good checklist for conflict written by our old friend, Ben Bova. The list is his, the comments are mine. (more…)

by Al Philipson

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.”  -Mark Twain

Okay, your muse is on strike and your editor is begging you for another great story like the last one. What do you need to do to feed the stubborn creature?

For me, one of the things I do is just look around. Story ideas are everywhere in “real” life. The news is full of them if you can stand to pay attention to the twaddle that passes for “news” these days. People around you have personal experiences that might make the germ of a story. Your own experiences might give you an idea. (more…)

by Al Kalar

A poet called in about a submission he’d sent. While we talked, he asked that if I didn’t like his poetry, could I give him some guidelines as to what to write. He seemed to think he could write poetry to order.

I can’t think of a better way for him to kill his writing career.

Poetry, song writing, and such can indeed be cranked out to a formula. Unfortunately, formula writing comes off as just that.  Some of it will actually sell, but it will never become “great literature”. (more…)