The Gryphon's Feather Studio

Spring Cleaning....

First up:

I was hacked.  seriously hacked.  I'm still trying to sort out how, but it has necessitated a number of changes, including the deletion of my gmail account and my Facebook account.  I am still working on making all the necessary transitions, password and account changes, and looking for a better way to create a group site for my classes to use.

For now, I won't be friending people on FB I don't know, but will be creating a separate FB Page instead for folks interested in my news, links, my work, books, and classes. It isn't out of snobbery, but out of a need to prevent this from recurring and thereby preserving my sanity. 

I'm not sure the situation arose out of Facebook, but it was the first thing to develop issues. (Strangely, I never played games via FB, clicked on any of those links, and was rather careful, I thought, with my privacy settings.) 

My new email address is listed in the sidebar. 

 

Next:

I am not going to be doing a fifth book for Quarry, as I could not make their schedule work, and the book could not be rescheduled.

My understanding is someone will be writing this book in their own way and with their own content, but I have not heard who that will be. 

So, as such, it is important that you know that I am not  authoring this book:

I know these are my images, my artwork, and my name.  Given that this decision was finalized in February, I'm a bit perplexed and somewhat dismayed that my name and images are still being shown and pre-orders are being accepted.

If you have pre-ordered this book, you should know that it will be written, with the content, techniques, and images created by someone other than me.

 

 

 

 

fries with sea salt & fresh-ground pepper

necessary fortification for writing

freshcut fries from Burgh'ers... there was a burger, too, a Pitt's Burger but I ate that delicious mess right up, instead of taking photos. As you can tell by the empty white bag, the fries didn't go to waste, either.

using the native camera in my iPhone 4

sole app: Strip Designer

 

Next Step In My Book Process

Typically, once I have an idea for a book, the next step is to see what my editor thinks of the idea- is it viable? marketable? has someone else already beat me to the punch? what does she think? From there, if the response is favorable, I write a book proposal.  A book proposal discusses:

• topic-what the book is about,
• the purpose of the book,
• the content and approach you will use
• who is the target audience
• market analysis- competition
• what sets this book apart

A book proposal also includes a table of contents, and sometimes, but not always, a sample chapter.  Sample chapters may be needed to show how the book might hang together or to demonstrate your written voice and/or writing skills.  Your editor might need a sample chapter with images to sell your book to the Acquisitions Committee.  (Acquisitions decides what books will be published- they work according to a publishing schedule based on seasons/sales numbers.) My editor compiles all this  and some book sales statistics into a book brief.

If I didn't already have an editor, I would talk with my agent.  An agent can sell your proposal to a publisher.  I found my agent by word of mouth- someone I knew writing a book had used that agent.   Then, another friend used that same agent, so I sent an inquiry (which listed my books, and the books and magazines to which I have been a contributor) about whether they'd be interested in representing my work. My agent said yes!, and we began a series of conversations culminating in my signing an agreement with their agency for the book I am currently writing.

Why did I obtain an agent?  After writing a couple books and knowing my editor, I felt very comfortable that I was doing okay with the relationship with my editor, and the advance (the money one receives for writng the book before the book is published) portion of the contract.  But I had no way of knowing whether I was doing okay with the rest of the terms in a book contract.  And, I lacked the language and information to ask the right questions.

Important advice:

An agent should never ask for money from you before they will represent you.  They earn their money by selling your work to a publisher and taking a percentage of your earnings.  

If I didn't have a relationship with an editor and I didn't have an agent, I would do what comes next, I would submit my book proposal to the publisher.  Quarry, F&W, and Lark all accept submissions and have information posted on their websites about how to proceed.

It seems like a good time to talk about money.  From talking with other teachers that write books for various publishers, I can tell you the publishers handle remuneration differently. People have mentioned numbers that range from $4000 to $10,000, and of course the rest of their contracts are unique to their book deal as well.

I don't feel comfortable giving a specific number, because well, somehow that seems unprofessional.  I do fall into the middle to upper range of the numbers I just mentioned.  I earn more in my advance now than I did with my first.  I have not earned any royalties from any books to date.  I'm certainly not getting wealthy writing books. 

Writing is one aspect of my business.  I travel to teach at venues (some of which bring in more income than my first book)  and I teach online classes.  I have other ideas that I may begin to pursue.  People have asked about how this art/writing/teaching life compares financially to what I earned when I left my university position; my gross income is about half of what it was in my old life. 

Happiness is worth a great deal, though.  And, for me, being home with my children is worth a great deal. 

Next, we'll talk about what happens after your proposal is accepted.

How it comes to be

Since I mentioned last week that I am writng a new book, I thought it might be interesting if I took all of you along with me as I do so.  While I can't really share the actual content of the book, I thought you might want to know about how the whole "write a book" process unfolds. 

I'm often asked how I came to write books for Quarry, how I approached them with my ideas, etc.  Truth be told, I didn't approach them- they approached me.  Now, a year or two before that happened, I did indeed have an idea for a book.  I had been emailing with Sharilyn Miller, who was then the editor for Somerset Studio, and she put me in contact with someone at another publisher.  At that time, that particular publisher had a very firm set of guidelines- their craft/art/hobby titles were made up of an introduction and then 25 how-to projects. This was not the book I had in mind, so I thanked them and let go of the idea. 

At this point I had been a contributor to a few books,  had some magazine articles published and had been the artist portfolio feature in Somerset Studio.  I taught each year at Artfest, but because I was still working fulltime and had two weeks of vacation annually, that was my only teaching engagement each year. 

I was teachIng at Artfest in 2006, and had run into Holly Harrison.  Holly had authored books to which I had contributed.  She and her editor, Mary Ann Hall, were attending and having a great time.  Mary Ann had been by my classroom over lunch, and then on vendor night, she approached me about doing a book.  Now, one thing I can tell you for sure about teaching at large venues is that people say all sorts of things about various and sundry opportunities.

  So, based on a number of experiences which I won't dish about, I assumed Mary Ann was being kind.  Then, once we were all home again from our Artfest adventure, she emailed me.  "Oh," I thought, "she meant it!" We had a couple of meetings over the phone to discuss what she had in mind for me and what it looked like to write a book for Quarry. 

Mary Ann had a firm concept for the book- it was based on the classes I taught that year at Artfest and became Mixed Media Nature Journals. Mary Ann wanted me to write a book drawing from the work  in my class samples, and from work in the pile of personal journals that I had out (for folks to look at) on my teaching table in the classroom.  She had perused my work and looked through my class handouts one day during lunch.   During those initial phone calls, since I was totally new to the process, we discussed what the book process entailed, and what was needed to put together a book proposal.  Each subsequent book was based on conversations I had with my editor about ideas I had, books they were looking to have and then a proposal I put forward for consideration.

I'm going to take you all through the process with me this time.  So, more soon!