8 Things Authors Need to Look for in Their Contracts Today (ETS papers)

The publishing industry is in the middle of a radical transition. The shift from print to electronic media is reshaping the industry, bringing new players to the table, and raising questions and concerns for both new and experienced authors.

At ETS, Bill Mounce presented a paper on “What Every Author Should Know about Electronic Publishing.” he argued that this is a great time to be an author if you stay informed about the industry and the chaining dynamics.

KEY PLAYERS

He began by making a few comments about the key players in book publication.

• Publishers. The best part of this section was the helpful reminder of the risks that publishers take when publishing a new book. In many ways, they put both their money and their reputation on the line every time they publish something. (Unfortunately, Bill didn’t address the question of self-publication. He seems to assume that traditional publication will be the path forward for most Bible/theology authors.) And he of course commented and the shift to electronic publication, which will be the focus of his comments in the next section.

• Distributors. Two key shifts to be mindful of here. First, there’s the shift from smaller book stores to the big box stores. And then there’s the shift from physical stores to online stores. Both have impacted the industry tremendously.

• Software. This was one that I hadn’t considers, but Mounce pointed out that distributing books through software programs (e.g. Logos) raises its own issues. Since these books are more likely to come bundled in a package with other books, contracting and licensing is more difficult than with stand-alone products.

• Authors. Bill’s primary concern here is that authors aren’t staying up on these issues. he also commented that authors need to be aware that publishers don’t always (or even often) make decisions about electronic rights with the authors best interests in mind. And he thinks that software companies are often the worst offenders here.

• Others. During the Q&A one person commented that he would have liked to hear more about editors and their role. And I’d echo this for agents as well. What do authors need to know about how the changing context has affected them?

8 Things Authors Need to Look for in Their Contracts

Given all of these changes, Mounce identified eight things relative to electronic publication that authors need to be looking for in their contracts.

• Sub-licensing. This gets a bit complicated, but here’s how I understand it. If you sign a contract with Publisher A, you receive a certain percentage of the book’s sales as your royalty. But, if Publisher A decides to sub-license the book to Publisher B for some reason, Publisher A only receives a portion of the sales price from Publisher B. And, since the author only receives a share of Publisher A’s money, the author gets much less in return for books sold by Publisher B. Mounce’s recommendation, then, is to check sub-licensing clauses very carefully and avoid them if possible.

• Agency Model. What percentage of the book is kept by the “agency” (e.g. Amazon), and how are the author’s royalties calculated. For example, if Amazon keeps 30% of the book’s sale price, and the author is supposed to get 30% of the royalties, is the author’s share calculated only off the 70% that remains after Amazon’s cut, or is it based on the full sales price? He didn’t indicate that he thought the former model was a problem, only that authors need to know enough to find out what the actual arrangement is.

• Digital Marketing Plan. He strongly recommended finding out how the publisher intends to use digital marketing (e.g. website, social media) to get the word out about the book. Although the author will need to be highly involved, don’t let the publisher convince you that it’s all the author’s job.

• Discounting. If the book ever gets offered at a discount, how does this impact your royalties? Do you get paid off the full or discounted price?

• Electronic Development Costs. Assuming that the book is originally published in print form, who will cover the costs of converting it to an electronic format? Mounce pointed out that this is becoming less of an issue as electronic publishing becomes the norm, but he still recommended looking into it.

• The Unknown Issue. He skipped the sixth one.

• Minimum Royalties. I missed some of this section, but the general idea was to pay attention to any “minimum royalty” clauses in your contract and perform some “what if” calculations to see how they might actually impact your take home.

One last note that I found interesting. Mounce pointed out that it’s more important than ever for authors to pay attention to their contracts. Back in the olden days (i.e. up until a few years ago), if a book stopped selling enough copies, it would no longer be cost-efficient for the publisher to keep the book in print. So, the publisher would let the book go “out of print” and the publication rights would be returned to the author. But in the age of electronic and on-demand publication, there’s not really any reason for a publisher to let a book go out of print. This means that the publication rights may not ever be returned to the author. So watch your contract closely.

This was an interesting paper. As I said, I would have liked to hear a bit more about some of the other players in the process. And I’m curious to know what number six was. But otherwise, this was a helpful inside look at a complex industry.

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To Write Better Papers, Kill Unnecessary Clutter

Pack rats fascinate me. I know people who have two or three storage units to house all their stuff. And that’s not counting garages, spare bedrooms, attics, and all their other nooks and crannies. They tell me that they’re holding onto everything “just in case.” You never know when that electronic potato peeler might come in handy. But, of course, when they really do need to find something, it’s almost impossible. They’ve got some good stuff, but it’s hidden in all the clutter.

Writers are amazing pack rats. (Students are too.) We’ve accumulated so many important sentences, paragraphs, footnotes, and research. We just don’t want to let go.

So, we end up with papers and books that feel like they’ve been stuffed full with all the accumulated debris an academic pack rat can find. There’s probably some good stuff in there. But who can tell? Who can find it?

So, today’s advice is: kill the clutter.

Cross out as many adjectives and adverbs as you can. It is comprehensible when I write: “The man sat on the grass,” because it is clear and does not detain one’s attention. On the other hand, it is difficult to figure out and hard on the brain if I write: “The tall, narrow-chested man of medium height and with a red beard sat down on the green grass that had already been trampled down by the pedestrians, sat down silently, looking around timidly and fearfully.” The brain can’t grasp all that at once, and art must be grasped at once, instantaneously.  ~Anton Chekhov (HT AdviceToWriters)

This works in non-fiction writing as well. Unnecessary modifiers deaden prose; they numb the reader and make it difficult to figure out what you’re saying. Of course, adjectives usually aren’t the problem in academic writing. Even simple adverbs are too prosaic for us. We prefer to use entire clauses to muddy our writing.

Here’s an exercise for you.

1. Take any paragraph from the last paper you wrote.
2. Identify the main idea of the paragraph. (If it doesn’t have one, pick a different paragraph and remember that paragraphs should have a purpose.)
3. See how much you can eliminate and still have the paragraph communicate that main idea. Make it a game. See how short you can make it and still deliver the purpose. This is the core of your paragraph and it’s what your reader needs to know. Anything that you add to this core has the potential to muddy the waters and make your reader miss the point of the paragraph.
4. Go back to the original paragraph and look at the extra words/clauses one at a time. Ask yourself whether they really contribute anything. If you left them out, would the reader really miss anything important? If not, leave them out. If they’re not helping, they’re hurting. There is no middle ground here.

Now, I’m no minimalist.  Brevity can be bad. Short sentences get boring. Variety is good. This is choppy.

So, feel free to mix things up a bit. Just make sure than when you do, you have a reason for doing so.

It’s the beginning of another school year, so it’s time to clean house. Set your pack rat ways behind you and commit to using your language carefully, your words wisely, your prose purposefully. (How many adverbs should I cross out from that sentence?)

Kill the unnecessary clutter.

[This post is part of our Tips for the Th.M. series, offering suggestions on how to survive and thrive in a postgraduate program.]

How to destroy your own research paper in one simple step

Some words should never find their way into research papers. Wikipedia is pretty high on that last. So is anything that is not technically a word (e.g. IMHO). Fortunately, though I’ve heard from others who’ve experienced the terror of encountering these in papers, I have not yet experienced it myself. That’s a good thing. (Note to my students: for your sake, please keep it that way.) But, there are some other student favorites that I’d like to see disappear forever.

“So, I would like to try to explore the possibility of….”

Just stop.

This sentence and its ilk taint the beginnings of far too many otherwise good papers. Using a sentence like this to describe your paper is like building a solid table and then ripping one of its legs off. It may still be standing, but no one will want to use it. With one sentence, you’ve cut the legs out from under your own research paper.

Here’s why.

1. Explore (investigate, consider, etc.): Really? You’re handing in a 20-page research paper and the only thing you’ve done is “explore” something? I’m going to assume that you didn’t actually find anything interesting, otherwise you would tell me. Right? You wouldn’t keep that a secret, would you? Because if I thought that you found something cool and were just keeping it from me, I’d be pretty upset. And that wouldn’t be good. So, as your reader, I only have to options here: (1) you didn’t find anything interesting and I shouldn’t bother reading your paper; (2) you found something interesting that you’re hiding from me, and I should be angry with you. Neither option ends well for you.

So, I’d suggest that you go ahead and tell me what you found. If Indiana Jones goes on an expedition and finds some ancient and extremely valuable treasure. He doesn’t come back and tell people that he just explored for a while. He tells them what he found! So, start with that. And, by the way, not finding something is still a discovery. If you went looking for X and didn’t find it, that’s worth reporting. If nothing else, you’ve demonstrated that it’s not there.

2. Try to (attempt to, seek to, etc.): This just makes it worse. With “explore” you’re telling me that you just wandered around for a while exploring without actually finding anything. Now you’re telling me that you’re not even sure you accomplished that! You didn’t explore, you just tried to. Was it hard? Did you encounter monsters along the way that made it difficult for you to complete your expedition? Whatever the obstacles were, I appreciate that you put further the effort. But, your paper would make much more compelling reading if you gave me some reason to believe, especially here at the beginning, that you may have actually succeeded. Otherwise, I think I’ll just stop here.

3. Possibility: This just keeps getting better. Now we’re not even sure that this thing you’re going to try to explore even exists. And, what’s worse, I’m reading this after you’ve supposedly tried to explore it. So, all I can conclude is that even though you’ve already tried to explore it, you’re still not sure whether it exists. I don’t know about you, but I have better things to do with my time that read about somebody who tried to explore some non-existent thing.

So, with one sentence, you’ve completely undermined my confidence in your argument. And, you’ve done it by making it exceptionally clear that you don’t have any confidence in your own argument.

Nonetheless, I find sentences like this in papers all the time. Why is that? Why are so many students eager to destroy their own papers at the very beginning?

1. Fear: Students use language like this as a shield they can hide behind. If I say, “I am going to argue that X is true or not true,” I’ve backed myself into a corner and I’d better make my argument. But, if I just say that I’m going to “explore” something, I’ve left an open door for escape. I haven’t really committed to anything, so there’s nothing to worry about. Fear is a powerful motivator for creating weak beginnings.

2. Beginning with the beginning: This introduction reads like the student wrote it first and then never came back to revise it later. I can understand how you might think at the beginning of the journey that you’ll just be exploring some issue. That makes sense. You don’t know yet how things will end. So, if you want to sketch an introduction from that perspective at the beginning to clarify in your own mind what your purposes are, fine. But that’s not the end of the story. When your paper is done, you should have something more interesting to report. And, since I’m obviously reading the paper after it’s all done, why not go ahead and tell me what that is? Revise your introduction!

3. No argument: Of course, it’s entirely possible that the problem is with the paper, not the introduction. Maybe you don’t have anything more interesting to report. If your paper just wanders around and “explores” or “summarizes” a lot of information, there’s not much your introduction can do to jazz that up. Unfortunately, if this is your problem, you’ve got some work to do. Simply re-writing your introduction won’t be enough.

4. A “student” mentality: I think this lies at the heart of the problem for many. Growing up, we’re told that the student’s job is to learn. So, we create papers from the perspective of the learner, writing tentatively and cautiously rather than confidently and authoritatively. That may be fine earlier in our academic careers (though I’d question that as well), but not in graduate or postgraduate research papers. If you haven’t already, it’s time to give yourself permission to be a teacher. You’ve done the research. You’ve (hopefully) constructed an argument and drawn a conclusion. Now, you’re the teacher. Inform me.

Let the words of the master guide you here:

Do or do not. There is no try.

Yoda was a very wise man…person…goblin…thing.

[This post is part of our Tips for the Th.M. series, offering suggestions on how to survive and thrive in a postgraduate program.]

Writing tip of the day: How to Reverse-Outline Your First Draft

I’m big on outlining. It’s a great way to make sure that everything in your paper fits together and works toward the same goal. If you have stray elements, things that don’t really contribute toward your argument, they’ll really show up on an outline.

So, I think the first step of writing a good research paper is putting together your outline.

It can also be very effective as one of the last steps.

Here’s an interesting article on reverse-outlining: going back over your paper and outlining it as you’ve actually written it. It’s amazing how far your first draft can slip away from your original outline. So, reverse-outlining is a tool you can use to see if your argument still hangs together and if every section/paragraph still works toward that end. It can take a little time, but it’s well worth the effort.

Writing quote of the day

This one actually works for quite a few endeavors, but definitely for writing.

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

Samuel Beckett (1906-1989)

HT Quotes4Writers

Writing tip of the day – Don’t get stuck

Here’s a good tip from Advice to Writers on the importance of not getting stuck.

When you’re writing and come to a rough spot and the ideas just aren’t flowing, put down dummy text and keep on moving—especially if it’s at the end of the day and you’re going to stop. Your brain will never stop for the day, even if you have stopped working, and there’s a very good chance you’ll come up with something better. Also, at the very least, you’ll have something to come back to the next day, instead of a blank page. That’s important. ~Larry Gelbart

I do this all the time when I’m writing, whether it’s a blog post, a research paper, or even an email. Don’t get stuck. If I’m not sure what I want to do with a paragraph/section, I’ll just make a couple of comments about what I think that section needs to be about, and then I’ll move on. Normally, by the time I make it back, I have a pretty good idea of what needs to happen.

Writing thought of the day…on “verbing” words

The Verbing of America

The verbing of America
Is getting out of hand,
Yet many nouns are also verbs,
Like toast and rake and land.
When I first heard hospitalize,
I thought it was a crime;
Why don’t we apartmentalize?
We will — just give us time!
If when we change a noun to verb
To come up with our `verbing,’
Why can’t I, when I’m using herbs,
Refer to it as herbing?
For if I call myself a cook
, The verbal form is cooking;
And if I give someone a look,
It’s also known as looking.
I give a gift
But I’m not gifting.
You get my drift,
Or am I drifting?
I get a bill
Because of billing,
But taking pills
Is never pilling.
I place a pin,
And I am pinning.
Play a violin —
Is it violining?
But play a fiddle,
And you’re fiddling;
Or is this getting
Much too piddling?
Planting some seeds
Is always seeding,
And pulling weeds
Is surely weeding;
If drawing blood
Is always bleeding,
Why does a flood
Not lead to fleeding?
I’m wined and dined
But never beered.
I’ve eyed someone,
But never eared!
Turn on a light,
And I am lighting.
Turn on a lamp,
And it’s not lamping.
If I can verbalize
A needle,
And egging on
Can mean to wheedle,
And I am doodling
With a doodle,
When I cook pasta,
Can’t I noodle?
With all these punctuation marks,
I’m doing quite a lot of dotting;
But if I were to use a dash —
Don’t you agree that I am dashing?
But comma-ing and period-ing?
And yet I can italicize
And sometimes must capitalize.
I Anglicize — but Germanicize?
Or Swedicize, or Gaelicize?
With this I could go on and on,
Really ad infinitum;
Whether I lick these word problems,
I sure cannot beat ’em.
Our language is an enigma
In how its words are used;
And that is why, in verbing nouns,
We ought to be excused.

via Harold Schiffman

Writing tip of the day – 8 Ways to Increase the Joy of Writing

Here’s a great post offering 8 Ways to Increase the Joy of Writing. The author focuses primarily on freelance authors, but his advice applies across a wide range of writing genres – including papers that you might write for a class.

Read the whole post for his explanations, but here are the eight tips that he offers. My personal favorite is #4. Learning to write well is a pain, something that I’m still learning about. But, I have discovered that the better you become at writing, the more fun it is. I suppose it’s like any skill that way. “Learning how to…” is a pain; “being able to…” is fun.

1. Write about what interests you.
2. Move from one writing project to another.
3. Learn to type fast.
4. Learn to write well.
5. Budget your time well.
6. Think about why you write.
7. Vary your writing location.
8. Practice present-moment awareness.

(I’d also point out that he incorrectly associates “present-moment awareness with Buddhism.” This particular terminology may be Buddhist, but the concept is found in many systems.)

How to get more done by pretending you’re on an airplane

I get more work done when I’m flying. It’s as simple as that. I can spend two hours on an airplane and accomplish almost as much as I can in an entire day in my office. What’s that all about? And, more importantly, how can I be that productive even when I’m not on a plane? I’d love to tap into that level of productivity on a regular basis.

So, why do I get more work done when I’m flying? It’s really pretty simple.

1. No internet, no internet, no internet. I have a laptop and a smartphone. So, wherever I am, the internet constantly beckons. Even when I’m not actually on the internet, “I’ll just…” lurks in the back of my mind, draining some small part of my mental focus. If nothing else, I have to assign a few brain cells to guard duty, constantly saying “no” to that ever-present temptation. And, if I give in, say goodbye to at least fifteen minutes. More if you count the time it takes to re-engage whatever I was working on. But, on an airplane, it’s gone. Not just the internet, but even the temptation. (I’m way too cheap to be even slightly tempted to pay for in-flight access.) So, flying equals instant productivity boost.

2. No Email. One of the great benefits of being in an office that uses Outlook for email comes from the fact that I don’t have Outlook installed on my laptop. When I’m away from the office, I need the internet to access my email. So, of course, no internet means no email. And, no email means that I can actually get some other things done. Granted, I’ll have to face those emails eventually. But for now, pure bliss. (I’m sure many love not being able to use their phones. But, I since I rarely use my phone as an actual phone, that’s not much of a benefit for me.)

3. No Drop Ins. Western Seminary is a great place to work. Faculty, staff, and students enjoy spending time together, and faculty always have their office doors open so people can drop in and chat for a bit. It makes for a wonderful work environment. But, it does take a toll on productivity at times. On an airplane, of course, drop ins are a bit more challenging. As long as I don’t end up next to someone who can’t figure out that the laptop, book, and headphones I pulled out of my briefcase when I sat down probably means that I don’t want to chat, I don’t have a problem with social interruptions.

4. Nowhere to Go. Unless you’re more talented than I, you can’t really go anywhere on an airplane. I suppose you might need to visit the bathroom on occasion, but that’s about it. You can’t run errands, go for a walk, visit another office, or frolic in the fountain. (I’ve never actually done that, but it sounds like fun.) You’re stuck. That’s probably not good for too long, but in short doses it’s fabulous.

So, planes are great for productivity. But, that doesn’t really help unless I want to start flying even more than I already do – which would eventually result in me writing a post on “5 Things I Learned about Why Flying All the Time Is Bad for Your Marriage.” The question, then, is how to replicate that kind of productivity when I’m not flying.

To that end, here are four things that I’m going to try implementing in my regular routine.

1. Find my peak productivity place. Other than airplanes, where do I get the most work done? It clearly isn’t my office. And, working from home is nice, but it’s hardly more productive. And, I can’t afford to buy a cabin in the mountains somewhere. So, the next best option for me is a coffee shop. Next to airplanes, coffee shops have long been my second most productive environment. But, now that they all offer free wifi, they’re not as good as they used to be. (BTW – If anyone knows a good coffee shop near Western Seminary that does not have free wifi, let me know.) So, I need to do a few more things to make a coffee shop my perfect productivity place.

2. Turn the wifi off. This isn’t quite as good as not having wifi, but it’s a close second. For some reason, actually turning the wifi off on my laptop removes some (not all) of the temptation. Granted, I can easily reach over and turn it on again, but that extra step is just enough of an obstacle to make me more likely to leave it off. And, the longer it stays off, the more work I get done.

3. Use “airplane mode.” This one’s actually a little harder. I use my cell phone. A lot. I’m one of those people who is constantly fiddling with their smartphone. So, if I’m going to get some good, focused work done, the cell phone must go. I could turn it off completely, but I don’t like waiting for it to start up again. So, “airplane mode” it is.

4. Use a “distraction free” writing program. The first three steps will work just fine if I’m just reading. But, when I want to get some writing (or note-taking) done, I’m going to try something else. Lately I’ve been doing most of my writing in Evernote, and it’s great. But, for maximum productivity, I’m going to try one of the newer “distraction free” writing tools. The idea behind these programs is that they go full screen and prevent anything on the computer from interrupting your writing experience. Once I’ve killed the internet, I’m not sure what else could pop up to distract me, but now that I’ve created a great work environment, I don’t want to take any chances.

So, that’s my grand experiment in increasing my personal productivity. And, so far so good. I wrote the first half of this post on the airplane this morning. And, I finished it this afternoon in a coffee shop using every guideline except the distraction free writing program. (I haven’t decided which one to use yet.) We’ll see if I can manage to make it a regular part of life rather than just an isolated afternoon. If I succeed, I’ll come back and let you know how it went. Stay tuned.

[If you’re interested in this, you may also want to check The 7 Habits of Serious Writers. Scientia et Sapientia is sponsored by the Master of Theology (Th.M.) program at Western Seminary. It’s an open forum, so please feel free to join the discussion.]

The 7 Habits of Serious Writers

Here’s a great post from Ali Luke on the 7 Habits of Serious Writers. She has some great advice for developing good writing habits that should serve anyone who foresees a lot of writing in their future.

Read the post for the full comments, but here are the 7 habits that she highlights.

• Habit #1: Writing
• Habit #2: Focus
• Habit #3: Reading
• Habit #4: Learning
• Habit #5: Redrafting
• Habit #6: Professionalism
• Habit #7: Reflection

Without a doubt, my biggest struggle on the list is number 2. I’ve noticed on my last several trips that I get a lot more done when I’m on an airport than just about anywhere else. Why? No distractions. I’m too cheap to pay for the in-flight internet, and it’s not like I can get up and go anywhere. So, as long as I pack my briefcase properly and don’t include the kinds of things that are likely to draw my attention during the flight (i.e. the novel that I started the night before), I don’t really many options. It’s either be productive and get some work done, or stare listlessly out the window. Somehow I need to learn to replicate that distraction-free environment when I’m not flying. Or, I need to fly more. One of the two.