Q: I’m interested in writing a book. I’ve always enjoyed writing, and I’ve been blogging for a while, but I’ve never tried writing a book. Should I go back to college and take some English classes? I’ve also considered getting an MFA. Would that help? A: You certainly need to study, …
Author: Kristen Stieffel
Kristen Stieffel is a writer and freelance editor specializing in speculative fiction. She's a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association, Christian Editor Connection, and American Christian Fiction Writers.
Why owning your ISBN is important—or not
When you hire a vendor to produce your book, the company usually provides one of its own ISBNs, which makes it your publisher of record. This is also true if you use the free ISBN provided by Create Space or Smashwords. Bowker is the U.S. registrar for International Standard Book …
Why what you call a ‘publisher’ matters
Last week, I wrote about the differences, slim though they are, between vanity presses and subsidy presses. In the comments, Jennifer wrote, “What a publisher calls itself does not matter. What matters are the terms of the contract.” True. A company can call itself whatever it chooses, but whether it’s …
Vanity press vs. subsidy: What’s the difference?
Q: Earlier you talked about the difference between royalty publishing and a subsidy press. I’ve heard other writers complain about “vanity presses.” Is there a difference between a subsidy press and a vanity press? A: Depends on who you ask. Some people think so-called “traditional publishing” is the only true …
When self-publishing, consider your profit potential
Whether you’re buying publishing services from a single vendor or from a set of freelancers, you have to do a cold calculation. Can you sell enough copies of your book to recoup your investment? In an earlier post, I talked about some of the costs that go into producing a …
How does one train to be a fiction editor?
When I guest blogged at Random Writing Rants the other day, a commenter asked about how one gets trained as a fiction editor. Here’s an expanded version of my answer. I belong to two professional associations, both of which provide editor training: Editorial Freelancers Association The Christian PEN: Proofreaders …
What having a publisher gets you
The self-publishing revolution has a lot of writers asking whether they even need a publisher. It’s a fair question. So let’s take a look at what a publisher does for an author. First and foremost, as I’ve said before, the publisher pays the bill. That is, the publisher fronts all …
Q&A: Do you need permission to mention a product name?
Editors are frequently asked whether it’s permissible for writers to mention product or business names in books. The short answer is yes. The long answer is be careful.
Why the traditional publishing model is broken
As we discussed last week, in the royalty or “traditional” publishing model, the publisher pays the author for rights to publish a book. That’s the simple explanation, but in fact there are all kinds of complications in this system. The up-front payment authors receive for their book is called an advance, …
How publishing works
I once sat across a coffee shop table with a client and outlined the publishing process for him. He was astounded. It never occurred to him that someone else would bear the cost of producing his book. He was more familiar with the manufacturing business model, where if you want …