tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post1366272375781340105..comments2024-03-28T02:00:11.260-05:00Comments on A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: I Have Seen the EnemyJA Konrathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-83707166651202645142013-09-23T07:19:05.755-05:002013-09-23T07:19:05.755-05:00I like the content of this blog. Nicely managed bl...I like the content of this blog. Nicely managed blog. i feel happy to see such kind of amazing place from where i can bought a good furniture for my home.<br /><a href="http://www.expressbedz.co.uk" rel="nofollow"> Express Bedz </a>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06215786991184520008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-83551157628343305852013-09-12T18:33:53.228-05:002013-09-12T18:33:53.228-05:00I appreciate you writing this post, Joe. I know yo...I appreciate you writing this post, Joe. I know you don't hate all gatekeepers because you still have your agent, right?<br /><br />I think it's important to remember, in these evolving times, that we don't know who the enemy is. And we don't know, with role shifting and rotating, who we will be working with in the future, or how, or why.<br /><br />Thanks for showing writers how to be brave and stand up for number one. It's getting easier for the rest of us thanks to brave folks like you.Christina Katzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14877586168135936638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-5749832456993770312013-09-12T18:18:06.926-05:002013-09-12T18:18:06.926-05:00Great! Thanks for that, Joe. Okay. Limeys out. Bri...Great! Thanks for that, Joe. Okay. Limeys out. Brits in.Geraldine Evanshttp://www.geraldineevans.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-79477655761708456142013-09-12T13:14:17.744-05:002013-09-12T13:14:17.744-05:00Do you still use the word 'Limeys' over th...<i>Do you still use the word 'Limeys' over there? Just checking. :-)</i><br /><br />I dunno if Jack or Herb would use Limeys. They'd say Brits.JA Konrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-77809087372069709372013-09-12T12:55:14.725-05:002013-09-12T12:55:14.725-05:00I never was ‘OK’ with rejection. But it’s a lot mo...I never was ‘OK’ with rejection. But it’s a lot more palatable when the editor was polite, dealt straight with me and didn’t waste my time. Sounds like you’re doing all those things, Joe. Good for you. Tim Tresslarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-74331985247441502352013-09-11T22:24:21.847-05:002013-09-11T22:24:21.847-05:00Joe, Wow! Kudos.
When I began to read this post ...Joe, Wow! Kudos. <br /><br />When I began to read this post I imagined you would retract your offer. I am still gobsmacked that you made the offer and took on more work. That you keep the offer on the table leaves me gobsmacked squared.<br /><br />I have read one Jack Daniels story. I would need to read many more to get comfortable enough with her to write a story that featured her. For now, I shall stick with my own worlds. <br /><br />But if we ever meet, I'm buying the beers. antareshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00928062661776005108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-70698292850625586312013-09-11T22:11:55.098-05:002013-09-11T22:11:55.098-05:00Joe you made my day. Open ended JD story acceptanc...Joe you made my day. Open ended JD story acceptance. Hooray! <br /><br />1st - As distasteful as rejection letters are for you to write, you do us writers a great service pointing out the "why". There will be other rejections in their future. They benefit from your efforts, again.<br /><br />2nd - Of course JD must be a major part of the story. Part of the franchise. (She's the Golden Arches-recognizable, ever present.) Reading Cherry Bomb now, my 5th JD novel. Read many of her short stories too.Love 'em. Love all your characters. May take a stab at Harry McGlade, if I can keep to the point. Trying to do them justice as they interface with Hunter-K9 Detective and his handler.<br /><br />3rd - Thanks for head hopping comment. POV consistency is a weakness of mine when I'm telling the story. But I'm learning your style. It's better. My challenge is I have 12,000 words. Gotta trim it and send it. (These pesky 8 hr WINNER challenges keep interrupting. Now a series.) But some trimmings could be used in the novel story, if... when...<br /><br />Joe, I sure appreciate your unselfish efforts to help us become better at crafting our products.<br /><br />Jeff Ezell - <br />CARJACK KIDNAP B00EXS9LF0<br />Copy just this ASIN # into blank Google search. See what you get <br />Then try your own book.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13650618703761755628noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-31002473374637824042013-09-11T19:24:07.190-05:002013-09-11T19:24:07.190-05:00Joe, I'm having a go at writing for your unive...Joe, I'm having a go at writing for your universe with both sets of characters.<br /><br />It's a bit more of a challenge for me as I'm a Brit. But at least I have the advantage that I write a lot of humour/humor in my books, too. Okay it's Brit humour/humor. At least it is for my characters' dialogue.<br /><br />I've just finished the first draft, having taken your advice on board.<br /><br />What does Mrs Joe think of the idea of Jack and Herb taking a trip to England chasing after a new bad guy?! Could be a nice vacation/spending spree for her (see, I'm getting the lingo already!). Do you still use the word 'Limeys' over there? Just checking. :-)<br />Geraldine Evanshttp://www.geraldineevans.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-85570439699834356442013-09-11T16:40:48.637-05:002013-09-11T16:40:48.637-05:00Harry McGlade's cameo in LOST HOMICIDAL MANIAC...<i>Harry McGlade's cameo in LOST HOMICIDAL MANIAC (ANSWERS TO "SHIRLEY") is the greatest moment in the character's history.</i><br /><br />But it doesn't rival Andrew Mayhem's cameo in Banana Hammock...JA Konrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-44401289594334920152013-09-11T16:37:55.664-05:002013-09-11T16:37:55.664-05:00Joe, it is posts like this that really speak to yo...Joe, it is posts like this that really speak to your humility. You have nothing but my respect.C. Purcellnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-23436646269083638692013-09-11T16:34:45.478-05:002013-09-11T16:34:45.478-05:00I'm one of the lucky few so far that wrote an ...I'm one of the lucky few so far that wrote an accepted submission. I can't wait to see what Joe does with my story (I'm particularly excited to see cover art), and hopefully my share of the royalties will help me purchase that Quarter Pound with Cheese I've spent the last year and half saving up for. :)<br /><br />When writing the story, I really didn't even consider how much face time Joe's character should have versus my character. It just so happened that the story I wanted to tell required pretty much equal screen time for each character.<br /><br />I feel fortunate that I got just right during the process to break through.<br /><br />- Joshua Joshua Simcoxnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-23096184205898149272013-09-11T15:04:56.190-05:002013-09-11T15:04:56.190-05:00Jeff, Harry is my all time fave character. I adore...Jeff, Harry is my all time fave character. I adore Harry.Tracy Sharp - Author of the Leah Ryan Serieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12239533451929739327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-20262808021101600302013-09-11T15:01:44.585-05:002013-09-11T15:01:44.585-05:00Harry McGlade's cameo in LOST HOMICIDAL MANIAC...Harry McGlade's cameo in LOST HOMICIDAL MANIAC (ANSWERS TO "SHIRLEY") is the greatest moment in the character's history. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-24549025425463124902013-09-11T14:57:28.498-05:002013-09-11T14:57:28.498-05:00Joe: I self-publish and publish other writers too...Joe: I self-publish and publish other writers too, and I keep asking myself if it's worth the effort of doing so. It takes so much time to take a promising draft and coach the author through improvements, without doing the writing myself (and I'm better off writing my own stuff with that time, since so far only my own work is bringing in the money). Rejection is no fun for either the rejector or rejectee... but neither is wasting time and frustrating both parties. I feel your pain. <br /><br />I also think it's awesome that you are doing this experiment. When a book works, it will reflect well on both of you, and presumably keep spreading the gospel of Jack Daniel, that guy you write about. ;-) Patrice Fitzgeraldhttp://www.patricefitzgerald.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-35766198512978488752013-09-11T14:47:28.405-05:002013-09-11T14:47:28.405-05:00Interesting discussion. For those interested, I’m ...Interesting discussion. For those interested, I’m one of the writers who had his story rejected. Below is the letter Joe sent me with some of my own thoughts added afterward in parentheses.<br /><br />Hi (potential writer)—<br /><br />Sorry, but my wife and I are rejecting your story. (Obviously I was disappointed but pleased that Joe got back with me instead of letting me figure it out on my own. In the business world where I occasionally reside, there are many who hate to give bad news so they simply don’t).<br /><br />It is a good story, engaging and well written, but we feel the bad guy doesn't seem like Barry Fuller. If I may ask, was this an older story that you tried to change into a Fuller story? You've obviously read Bloody Mary. But it doesn't quite seem like my character, and the Jack Daniels references seemed added as an afterthought. (Good eye on Joe’s part. Yes, this was part of a story I had rewritten. Part of my thought process was that I believed a story I already had would save me time in writing an entirely new tale which, in retrospect, probably wasn’t a good idea. Another reason though, was that it mirrored what Joe had done with Bloody Mary. If I remember correctly, he’d written that story as a different novel but later rewrote it for his second JD novel. I thought it’d be fun to rewrite one of my older stories about one of the characters featured in a rewritten book that is engaging and still growing in popularity with readers. Didn’t pan out, but we learn by doing.) <br /><br />You also do some POV head hopping, which isn't my thing. I like it to have one POV character per section, but you pop into both Barry's and Ben's heads at the same time. (Nothing to add here. Guilty as charged).<br /><br />Ultimately, I'd have to do too much rewriting to make this work for me. (Understood. This is a business after all. I should have gotten it right the first time).<br /><br />It's so weird writing a rejection letter, since I've gotten over 500 like this one I'm writing to you. I know how much it sucks. (Empathy. Not sure everyone likes or appreciates it, but I do).<br /> <br />My advice would be to change Barry Fuller's name, take out all the Jack Daniels references, and self-publish this. <br /><br />Thanks for sending it.<br /><br />best,<br />Joe<br />http://www.JAKonrath.com<br /><br />Old pros like Dean Wesley Smith tell of editors back in the day who used to add notes about what they thought worked or didn’t to their rejections. Smart writers learned from such advice. The rest, well, my guess is that they remained frustrated, cursed the messengers and remained unpublished. Personally, I’m grateful for the feedback.<br /><br />I’m omitting my name since I don’t want this to come across as a promotional tool, though won’t rule that out in the future. Others have paid attention, learned and grown from what Joe has taught over the years. Frequent contributor, Jude Hardin, comes to mind. I’m finishing up one of his books now. I have a feeling that Joe’s latest experiment is going to be win/win and that his readers are going to be introduced to many talented writers for years to come.<br /><br />Joe had, what, 500 rejections before he got published? I’m nowhere near that. Time to get off the Internet and get back to work.<br /><br />Like Joe and others have said--It’s a great time to be a writer. <br /><br />P.S. – For anyone who may still doubt Joe’s business acumen or his idea-generating ability, one of his earlier books involved a character who was dying of cancer that an editor rejected since he didn’t see any potential in it. I’m not saying anyone from Breaking Bad stole his idea, but if any of Joe’s neighbors see me sifting through his trash bins by the curb at night please know I’m only looking for ideas he may have prematurely discarded. Just saying.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-27695798751701635142013-09-11T14:09:18.704-05:002013-09-11T14:09:18.704-05:00A new idea is always worth trying (a good one is, ...A new idea is always worth trying (a good one is, anyway), but the process will always require tweaking—that's to be expected, I think.<br /><br />This reminds me of the advice a longtime TV-producer friend of mine used to give when I was trying to break into that game: If I hire you, your job is to write the script I would have written if I'd had the time.<br /><br />It's not a perfect match, but not a bad approach to start with.Michael Alan Peckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17757406702223683469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-16101212626817342702013-09-11T13:58:37.843-05:002013-09-11T13:58:37.843-05:00Joe, I think it is great what you are doing. Great...Joe, I think it is great what you are doing. Great that you have your wife to help.Jill Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10754506629717417267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-12249055468214370972013-09-11T13:52:38.829-05:002013-09-11T13:52:38.829-05:00I read "Floaters" to get a feel for what...I read "Floaters" to get a feel for what kind of collaboration Joe's done in the past w/ an author (Henry Perez) who brought a character of theirs (Alex Chapa) into the JD universe. That was my model, at least. (BTW, a PDF of 'Floaters' is still free at Perez's website.) <br /><br />So the practice in writing such a story, like others have mentioned, is helping me grow as a writer (apart from Joe's role as a gatekeeper). Because of that challenge, I'm now writing more stories with my character, AJ Rakowski, a psychic detective, so I'll have something enjoyable (hopefully!) to offer future fans.Garth Perryhttp://www.garthperrywriter.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-2064094927459104392013-09-11T13:42:38.236-05:002013-09-11T13:42:38.236-05:00Everyone should read the Jack Daniels series anywa...Everyone should read the Jack Daniels series anyway. They're fun as hell, which is why they net Joe so much $.Tracy Sharp - Author of the Leah Ryan Serieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12239533451929739327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-67178742293888924372013-09-11T13:22:26.178-05:002013-09-11T13:22:26.178-05:00Honestly, my assumption was that Jack would be 70-...Honestly, my assumption was that Jack would be 70-80% of the story, with author character playing a sidekick role.<br /><br />I haven't read any of the Jack Daniels series, so it would be pointless for me to attempt this.Alistair McIntyrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08549555602692910018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-51988380620243084002013-09-11T12:05:38.874-05:002013-09-11T12:05:38.874-05:00I think Joe was pretty clear. He did also say that...I think Joe was pretty clear. He did also say that you need to read Jack Daniels. <br /><br />It helps if you love the Jack Daniels universe. If you love it, it's not even a question that his characters take a major roll in the stories. <br /><br />Joe is ultra cool no matter how you slice it. Who else would open their characters up to unknowns like he is? It doesn't happen. <br />Tracy Sharp - Author of the Leah Ryan Serieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12239533451929739327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-10035325406013386922013-09-11T10:48:10.553-05:002013-09-11T10:48:10.553-05:00Protecting your universe is a crucial thing, Joe. ...Protecting your universe is a crucial thing, Joe. I'm not sure I could do what you do, risking the reality of my greatest series to someone else's ideas about it. I'd want to protect my series with everything I've got from something I don't see working well.<br /><br />The gatekeeper of a publishing firm is only trying to protect profits and a company's name. Not to say some submitted works aren't total garbage, but as you point out over and over, too many rejections hit good ideas. <br /><br />You on the other hand, are trying to protect an idea. You would love to see all your submissions and the writers succeed regardless of your opinions. Publishing companies don't have that same value because a rejected book succeeding elsewhere is less profit for the company. I see a phenomenal difference between the two.Josh Brownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-40127422071682584712013-09-11T10:14:24.294-05:002013-09-11T10:14:24.294-05:00Or is it open-ended?
Yes. I have no plans to stop...<i>Or is it open-ended?</i><br /><br />Yes. I have no plans to stop this anytime soon.JA Konrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-39305085316310269042013-09-11T09:55:21.752-05:002013-09-11T09:55:21.752-05:00Just think of it like this, Joe. These writers are...Just think of it like this, Joe. These writers are stretching their abilities to meet your qualifications. That is making them better writers. Perhaps some of them will set their sights on writing for Kindle Worlds once they'd experimented with Joe's World! You are doing them a favor.Kay Bratthttp://www.kaybratt.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-51841611425592568892013-09-11T09:29:05.122-05:002013-09-11T09:29:05.122-05:00Another aspect is the ability to write humor. When...Another aspect is the ability to write humor. When I first read a JD story, I laughed out loud in a number of spots and read them to my spouse who said, 'sounds like the way you write.' That gave me hope that I might capture that aspect of your style. Excited! Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07247138706232007382noreply@blogger.com