ISBW #151 – Feedback Show

This is the first of our dedicated feedback shows, complete with a Good Cop, Bad Cop at the end of the show. You’ve been warned.

Still somewhat shaky on the “two a week” thing. Working on it. Promise.

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• 00:00:06 ISBW #151
• 00:00:40 Quick State of the Mur Update: recent attendance at the North American SciFi Con (NASFiC). Also, Mur will be at WorldCon in Australia this year, come say hi if you’re in the area/hemisphere!
• 00:02:15 GoTo Meeting Message
• 00:03:14 FEEDBACK: do you need an agent to publish your book? (“No, but.” Please also check out previous episode on what agents do); pros & cons of using a pseudonym on the internet (the writing persona vs. the day-job professional persona); risks of identifying oneself as Twitter-friend of an agent in a query given that this will also identify the author as a teenager (CKHB adds: NONE! Really. Agents do not care how old you are, they only care if the book’s good. And you don’t want to miss out on reaping the benefits of using your Twitter-friendship as a kind of “networking.” I got a second shot at an agent who rejected me first round because we later made friends on Twitter. Just sayin’.); a listener scored a book deal! ANDREW just sold his first novel to Pyr only nine months after finishing it! Rock on, Andrew; discussion of the “pebble effect” of editing as “Bill & Ted-ing”; suggested products EverNote and Fujitsu ScanSnap for scanning and using handwritten notes; listener WALTER has finished his first novel! Go, Walter!; considering different beta readers for different sections of a novel; book trailers (fun viewing: trailer for Mary Robinette Kowal’s Shades of Milk and Honey); on “making progress” for writers just starting out – contests, mentorship programs through Podiobooks.com or online writers workshops; showing and/or telling in flashbacks; Anthologize.org for formatting blogs into ebooks; voice recording as a writing tool, and enjoying editing as “leveling up”.
• 00:24:03 GOOD COP/BAD COP: bad cop as good practice for creative types to experience rejection; getting over the trauma of having a novel bring bad luck to beta readers (CKHB adds: you should absolutely write the story of the burned bad-luck book, it’s like The Ring in novel form or something…); am I an “annoying writer friend”? (Leech Fight Song!); criticism of Con attendees’ appearance, John Anealio’s awesome hair, and general abuse.
• Apology from the Good Cop.

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