Show me the money - or, rather, don't...

You're all used to me coming on here and ranting about how authors must be properly paid for their work. This isn't one of those rants. This is different.

First, an admission. I'm quite good at saying that the deal is not good enough (when it isn't) and asking for something fair. But I'm very bad at sending out invoices. It's OK with the books that my agent handles, as I don't have to send out invoices. And royalties are OK as they're self-billling. But the other stuff, advances, flat fees - no. I 'forget' or put it off. I rationalise that I can't be bothered to invoice in stages when each stage is a relatively small amount - I'd rather invoice the whole lot at once.

Yesterday I discovered why I do this.

It's not inefficiency - I'm efficient about all other aspects of the business of writing. It's not any difficulty with the process - I know how to do the invoicing and recording; after all, I've been doing it since 1988! I have thought about it before, but couldn't come up with any particularly convincing reason.

I've said many times that just because someone enjoys their work isn't a reason not to pay them properly. We pay surgeons and landscape gardeners and actors. But that's looking at it from the wrong side of the fence. That's challenging the problem of the world not wanting to pay us. This is from the writer's side of the fence, though.

I'm writing an adult book on psychology at the moment - quite a light-hearted book, that poses a series of questions and then anwers them with reference to classic studies in psychology. (That cover image has the wrong title. I know. Don't worry about it. Early days.) Anyway, I was writing up a study by Lepper into how inner motivation is reduced if outer motivation is supplied. Children who like to draw will draw less (spontaneously) if they are once offered a reward for drawing, as later they assume they did drawing for a reward (payment) rather than pleasure. The point is that we associate an external reward (money) with spending our time doing something we'd rather not do. So then we assume we didn't really like doing the thing (I didn't really like writing that book) because otherwise we wouldn't have been rewarded for doing it.

And that's why I don't like invoicing. I know I should be paid, I know I deserve to be paid - but I also know somewhere that I don't want to lose the inner motivation by knowing I'm being paid. And it's why I really like BACS because I don't have to take a cheque to the bank and see I'm being paid for it. It's nothing to do with embarrassment about payment, or feeling of low self-worth, or work-worth. It's about preserving the feeling that I do this job because I want to.

So all I need is an assistant to do my invoicing...

Making things in the real world

I've been away from here for a long time - longer than ever before. But I hope I'm back now. I've been making things in  the real world. Or, rather, helping or overseeing other people make things.

My daughter has had a baby. I have helped build a home for her little family to live in. And I've written some books, of course. I didn't make either the baby or the building, but I did a lot of support work with one and supervisory work and decision-making with the other. And it struck me as being rather like editing. The editor doesn't write the book, but helps it into the world, shapes its structure, makes sure the right people and materials are in place for it to get from idea to thing. And I feel proud of my daughter and grandchild and their new micro-house even though I didn't really make them, just as an editor is proud of the books in her list.

The baby was born last month, and the micro-house is ready for moving into this weekend. I will have more time to catch up on the writing projects that have slipped a bit, and to be back here, hassling and narking and whingeing and hoooraying as appropriate. This time last year, I didn't expect either project. Life is full of surprises. I hope this year brings you all good surprises.

Happy 2014!

Contractual oddity

I found this interesting bit in a publishing contract I was signing this morning:

'If the Publishers decline to accept the typescript, they will set out their reasons for doing so... in a written notice of at least 250 words.'

I don't think I've seen that before - the publisher setting a word extent for their rejection letters. I suppose it means they can't reject the MS over twitter. And they can't reject it just be saying 'it's shit'. It means they have to give some critical feedback, I assume. But I guess they could use the 250 words saying just exactly how shit it is... I think I'd better write the books in this series well, as I don't want to read 250 words of how shit they are.

About telling the truth

Last weekend (23rd November, 2013) I was in Winchester speaking at the Lighting the Spark conference organised by SCBWI - the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (UK bit). In case you haven't come across it, SCBWI is an excellent and supportive organisation run by and for writers and illustrators, both published and unpublished.

I'd been looking forward to going to the conference for months. As it approached, and problems at home multiplied, I kept all digits crossed, but finally got there. And then - after a a lovely evening with Crabbit Nicola Morgan and OUP designer/illustrator Lily Trotter, I got food poisoning. Aaargh. All looked in jeopardy. But Nicola and the wonderful and kind Kathryn Evans found me a dungeon to lurk in until five minutes before my slot and I got through. We had a lively session, thanks to the great audience, but I was only about 10% sparkle and I'm very sorry if I disappointed anyone who felt they had squandered their mid-morning slot on me. At least Lily didn't disappoint.

Lily and I were talking together about writing and illustrating for the education market and non-fiction. There seems to be a massive misconception that these two are the same thing. I wanted to use part of our session to help straighten that out, but in the event only touched on that. We decided instead to have a massive conversation with the audience, a Q&A session, which was much more fun. But in case you actually wanted to know what non-fiction covers, I'll put here what I didn't say there.

(I'm going to illustrate this post with my own books simply because I don't need permission to use the illustrations and I already have the covers on my computer. Please don't think I want you to buy them, or think they are better than other books. There are no links to buy - this is not a promotional post.)  

Types of non-fiction

Like all writing you want to sell, if you write non-fiction you need to identify your market and write for it. There are, roughly, four types of market for non-fiction. (I'm talking about books here. There are lots of markets for articles and other stuff, too.) You can write for:

Proper educational markets - academic books and text books.You'll find these books in classrooms and in school and university libraries. If you can find a school library.

Some text books are used for home-schooling, or for people providing extra work/tuition at home. I don't generally write these at all. Many are written by teachers with expertise in how the subject is taught. Although it is very easy to develop expertise in a subject, expertise in how it is taught really only comes from teaching it. That's how you find out which methods work and which bits people find hard. There are also open learning books, which are course books for people who don't have face-to-face tutorial support. It's quite a specialist area, and as most of it is now delivered online it's not a market that's generally reached through traditional publishers. The exception is teaching English as a foreign language, which is pretty much dominated by one or two big publishers.

Academic books are not for children. I have written them, but only in my area of academic expertise. If you have a PhD/academic teaching experience, you might be able to write academic books. But you won't get any worthwhile money from it, so you might not want to.

 Schools and libraries - books that are not used as teaching texts, but often support areas of the curriculum or provide extra information about topics and subjects a child might be introduced to in school. You'll find these books in libraries, school libraries, and sometimes in bookshops. If you want to write these, you'll have to get to grips with the National Curriculum and various bits of the US state curricula, but they are not specifically curriculum-coverage books.




 
Trade - general non-fiction which is not linked to the curriculum or school subjects. These are usually on topics children are interested in but don't have to learn - ballet, vehicles, spies, crafts, dinosaurs, space.. that kind of thing. it also includes some types of novelty book - such as origami instructions with packs of paper, or pop-up non-fiction books. You'll find these books in normal high-street bookshops. If you can find a high-street bookshop.

Mass market - often cheaply produced in large print runs, and entirely uneducational - such as joke books, books of random facts, books about sport and games. This includes puzzle and quiz books and some types of novelty title.They are often sold in discount bookshops and through organisations such as Book People.






And finally... educational books are not only non-fiction. There are educational books that are stories. They can be:

Stories written specifcally to be part of reading schemes or as graded or levelled books. You'll need to understand about reading levels, sometimes write to a brief, and take account of things that are and are not allowed to make the texts acceptable to a wide range of children. Many are based around school or home environments, or involve pets or other animals. They will have to fit in with a list or series so that teachers know what to expect and can plot each child's progress.

 Stories for reluctant or slow readers. This is my favourite market, but it's very challenging. You need to come up with plots, characters and themes appropriate to older children, then present them in accessible language and with simple syntax but without ever being patronising. It's a special skill - if you want to write flowery description and slowly unfurling plots, this is not for you.

Retellings of classics or traditional tales. What it says on the tin. Some people don't approve of these as they say - quite rightly - that the point of a book is not just its story. But some children are drawn to read the full text later because they liked a retelling. These are not a chance for being imaginative. You need to distill the essence of the story and (as long as the publisher allows it) a feel for the style of the original, and know where to cut (no room for a full Dickensian cast).



Of course, there's loads of other things to say about writing non-fiction/educational books. But I have to go and write about dinosaurs and maths, so they will have to wait for another day.

Don't be a rhinovirus

I don't usually do this - write a post that just directs you to go and read something else - but I'll make an exception for this one because anyone who writes

"My field of expertise is complaining, not answers. I know there’s no point in demanding that businesspeople pay artists for their work, any more than there is in politely asking stink bugs or rhinoviruses to quit it already. It’s their job to be rapacious and shameless."

deserves it. Tim Kreider, writing in the New York Times on why writers should (almost) always refuse to write for free. With the added bonus of a template 'No' email you can use to turn down such 'offers of exposure' as the offending people consider them. (Not as shouty as the Harlan Ellison video.)