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  • Mad Iguana replied to the topic My failure in the forum Podium 7 years, 7 months ago

    To be honest, Alan, that the very act of having written something complete enough to be able to send it out to comps is a success, so I’d start off by saying Congratulations on that massive success before worrying about the relatively small “failures” that followed.
    That said… It’s far easier to say these things than do them/feel them. My…[Read more]

  • Daedalus replied to the topic My failure in the forum Podium 7 years, 7 months ago

    The not-getting-shortlisted thing is tricky. I had one story that was shortlisted in a major competition. I worked on it a bit more and submitted it to a few other places…and was met with silence.

  • Raine replied to the topic My failure in the forum Podium 7 years, 7 months ago

    Oh, failure is hard! And so unavoidable. It’s a bit like the ‘slushpile’ term though isn’t it? Perhaps more negative than it needs to be for some of the things we are talking about. Things like not getting short listed in major comps, or not getting a story into a popular journal … are they really failure, or are they a lack of success? Maybe…[Read more]

  • RichardB posted an update 7 years, 7 months ago

    Sudden prayers make God jump.

  • RichardB replied to the topic My failure in the forum Podium 7 years, 7 months ago

    I’m rather good at that too. Though how would I Know? In concrete terms I haven’t actually had any writing successes.

  • Debi Alper replied to the topic Getting an Agent. in the forum Blogs 7 years, 7 months ago

    You called, ma’am? Yes, no ‘c’ required for the reasons already given on this thread. It sends out a signal that you don’t really know how this stuff works, which is less-than professional.

  • Woolleybeans replied to the topic A Room with a View in the forum Blogs 7 years, 7 months ago

    Go to ‘Groups’

    Go to ‘A Room with a View’

    Go to ‘Forum’

    The different topics are all in the ‘A Room with a View’ group forum. You will find ‘Chit Chat’ and explanations of what the competition is there.

  • Elle replied to the topic A Room with a View in the forum Blogs 7 years, 7 months ago

    Has the competition moved here from the word cloud. Do I need to sign again? Where is the group? Can you tell I’m confused?

  • 5 days to enter A Room with a View

    If you don’t get in this challenge, you’ll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.

  • Daedalus replied to the topic My failure in the forum Podium 7 years, 7 months ago

    A failure of mine is to take each failure to heart while not believing that successes are real or worthy

  • On the How to get an Agent thread, page 3. In any event, here is the course:
    https://www.faberacademy.co.uk/creative-writing-courses/who-do-you-think-they-are-character-creative-writing-course-gic2.html

    The course is horrendously expensive, and the course info is a little misleading in that the tutoring is only in the morning. Nevertheless, I,…[Read more]

  • Jonathan posted an update 7 years, 7 months ago

    Quick question: has anyone here ever paid for the services of an editor, and if so, how much was it?

    • I had a detailed editorial report a few years back from Writers’ Workshop. 85,000 words cost £457. Today, Jericho writers will charge you about £547 for the same work. (I say ‘about’ because they quote $720 – which is odd for a UK based firm)

      • If you go to their site, there’s a drop-down table of charges for a range or word counts.

        • I did the same as Ath – several times over. Price is often based on the length of your manuscript, and varies from editor to editor/company to company.
          But a good editor is definitely worth paying for – just be absolutely certain that your MS is as polished as you can get it before you send it (use trusted beta readers for eg) to save doing it…[Read more]

          • I paid ~£600 for a 109K ms via the Cloud, but have since learned it is cheaper, by ~30% to approach an editor direct.
            You may find that authors in the genre you write in are willing to edit – there’s certainly loads on the crime circuit.
            I have to say I got far more help from beta readers.

      • Ah yep, thanks. There I am looking at £782. Was yours a copy edit or developmental, or something else?

        • Not sure who you are asking, but mine was development, ‘does this have legs?’ (In hindsight, I think I might’ve been robbed.)

          • I’d also recommend that before submitting to an editor, you have someone proofread it properly – get the punctuation right (if that’s not your strength) and typos sorted.

        • Mine covered the structure, story, development etc. in some depth with recommendations and critique and an assessment of good and bad features and marketability. There was copy-editing but this was not the primary purpose.

    • Is this for an editorial report, or to actually edit the text?

    • I have, Jonathan, a couple of times. Mine was for an editorial report, but included a general text edit. I went directly to a book doctor/editor rather than through Cloud. As I have already seen mentioned, they tend to be more competitively priced and thorough, though it depends what you’re after.

      • When I’ve looked into developmental editing, the cost seems to come to a couple of thousand at least, for a 140,000 word MS. The JW one is about £780 which is a bit more do-able. Who have people used?

        • I always ask for Debi, cos she is editrix supreme. It meant I had to wait sometimes, but it was always worth it. Not sure who else they have on the books for editing…

  • Philippa East replied to the topic My failure in the forum Podium 7 years, 7 months ago

    @alanr, commiseration on the “failures”, but it’s never a failure to put your work out there and to try. Glad you got some useful feedback at your one–to-one and you’ve found a way to implement it

    @bellam I am excited about the new computer. I do agree that we remain writers even when not physically writing. It’s nice that you can see that your…[Read more]

  • Philippa East replied to the topic Getting an Agent. in the forum Blogs 7 years, 7 months ago

    Hi @alanr. My hair IS kind of chestnut, but I wouldn’t call it vivid! So don’t think that was me…. Hope we will cross paths another time.

    Yes @daedalus – I suspect there is a US / UK split. The writer I knew who kept putting “c”s on things was from the States.

    I think I recall @Debi weighing in on the discussion previously to say no “c”…[Read more]

  • Thank-you for the bum-kicks everyone! They were great, and it was idea of tea that did it in the end (surprise!). I have rewritten the scene. It’s not perfect, but it’s done. Phew.

  • Bella replied to the topic My failure in the forum Podium 7 years, 7 months ago

    My significant failure this year has been to have written nothing.

    I am not sure that there is much I can learn from that failure, but I have discovered that the desire to write is not one of the flash-in-the pan obsessions to which I am prone. The desire is still there, and I have valid reasons for the mojo loss.

    I am hitting the half-century…[Read more]

  • Daedalus replied to the topic Getting an Agent. in the forum Blogs 7 years, 7 months ago

    I suspect there might be a difference between US and UK practice as far as copyright goes. In the UK, copyright is presupposed so you don’t need to do anything to assert it. In the US it may be a bit less clear cut

  • Indeed it is. Well done John. That’s an amazingly fast turnaround as well, they must have loved it

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