Reviewer's Tip - Show, Don't Tell

"Show, Don't Tell" is a classic line editors are known to lament when working on a manuscript.  We frequently read books where the author has forgotten this well-known, but easy-to-forget rule.  You want your readers to experience the story through your characters thoughts, feelings and actions, NOT by reading your narration.  


Not sure what the difference is?  Consider:


Tell: In a horse story - "the horse had been ridden all day and he was tired."
Show: "After a long day of hard work, the horse's head hung low and his hooves dragged along the ground."


Another example:


Tell: "When Billy threw his baseball through the Hendersons' window, he was terrified."
Show: "When Billy threw his baseball through the Hendersons' window, his heart began to race."


Dialogue can also fall victim to "show, don't tell" as characters explain their actions to their fellow characters.  Your readers will appreciate less tell, more show.


To add a little confusion to the mix, there are times when a little "tell" is okay.  When?  According to James Scott Bell ("Exception to the Rule". Writer's Yearbook 2003 (F+W Publications): p. 20.)  "Sometimes a writer tells as a shortcut, to move quickly to the meaty part of the story or scene. Showing is essentially about making scenes vivid. If you try to do it constantly, the parts that are supposed to stand out won't, and your readers will get exhausted." Showing requires more words; telling may cover a greater span of time more concisely. A novel that contains only showing would be incredibly long; therefore, a narrative can contain some legitimate telling. (wikipedia) 

Kirkus Staff Leaving By Year's end

Reprinted with permission of Publishers Weekly

By Jim Milliot 

Although it is unclear when the last issue of Kirkus Reviews will be published, the staff for the prepub book review will be gone by the end of the year, a spokesperson for parent company Nielsen Business Media said. On Thursday morning, Nielsen announced that Kirkus, along with Editor & Publisher, will cease operations while the company sells its core business-to-business magazines to the newly formed investment group e5 Global Media Holdings. There are no plans to run online Kirkus reviews or a strategy to try to keep the Kirkus brand alive. It is also uncertain what Nielsen will do with the Kirkusreview archive. A total of 18 people worked at Kirkus and E&P.

Nielsen is also home to The Bookseller. The spokesperson said there are no plans to close that publication or to change the publication schedule of the magazine that covers the U.K. book market. Nielsen (then known as VNU) bought The Bookseller and started the since-closed The Book Standard in a bid to increase its coverage of the book market.

Kirkus Closing

Reprinted with permission of Publishers Weekly


As part of the sale of its business to business publications, Nielsen Business Media has announced that it is closing its book review publication Kirkus Reviews as well as Editor & Publisher. No details on the closing have been released yet. Nielsen is selling its major publications, including The Hollywood Reporter and Adweek to e5 Global Media Holdings.

New Book Award!

FIVE STAR PUBLICATIONS UNVEILS NEW LITERARY CONTEST:

PURPLE DRAGONFLY BOOK AWARDS TAKE FLIGHT

(CHANDLER, AZ)—With nearly 25 years of experience under its belt, Five Star Publications knows award-winning books. Its own titles recognized in numerous national writing contests, the Arizona-based publisher is taking its industry expertise to new heights by honoring the work of others. Preparing for its first annual Purple Dragonfly Book Awards competition, Five Star Publications is raising the bar for children’s books in 19 categories—from stories about families, hobbies and pets to tales about the environment, religion and health. Five Star will begin receiving submissions for its 2010 contest this month, with all submissions due by June 14, 2010. Winners will be announced at the Arizona Literary Awards Banquet on November 6, 2010 in conjunction with Arizona Authors Association Literary Contest and Book Awards.


“Five Star Publications is proud to announce the Purple Dragonfly Book Awards,” said Linda F. Radke, Five Star founder and president, “because we want to help parents give their children only the best in reading excellence. Geared toward stories for children between the ages of four and 10, the Purple Dragonfly Book Awards are designed to bring families together with great children’s literature, and a Purple Dragonfly seal on a book’s cover lets parents choose new titles for their bookshelves with confidence.”


The Purple Dragonfly Book Awards are currently open to children’s books published between the 2007-2010 calendar years. Exceptions include titles by Five Star’s employees and their immediate family members; contributing editors and writers; affiliated authors; and close acquaintances and relatives of contest judges. Participation is open to authors of both traditionally published and self-published books from any press except Five Star Publications. A Grand Prize winner and First and Second Place Winners in each category will be selected based on content, originality and overall readability, with emphasis on innovation and creativity. The Five Star judging panel will include experts from the fields of editing, reviewing, bookselling and publishing. “Being honored with a Purple Dragonfly Award will confer credibility upon each winner, as well as provide extra positive publicity to further their success,” said Radke.


Based in Chandler, AZ, Five Star Publications has been publishing and promoting award-winning fiction, nonfiction, cookbooks, children’s literature and professional guides since 1985. For more information, visit www.PurpleDragonflyBookAwards.com.

Leads From Linda - Registering as an expert

You might want to register as an expert at: http://pitchrate.presskit247.com/index.asp


They send daily media leads. Not all apply, but some just might work for you. It’s up to you to do your own pitching.


Leads from Linda comes to us once a week from Linda F. Radke, of Five Star Publications.  Learn more from her book The Economical Guide to Self-Publishing.

New Harlequin imprint continues to stir controversy

Recently, we posted an entry about Harlequin's plans to introduce a new imprint, Harlequin Horizons.  This new imprint was designed to give self-publishers a chance to publish and get their books out to the general public.  Romance Writers of America, along with other writers' groups, didn't like that idea.  They told Harlequin that if they went ahead with using the Harlequin brand name with the self-publishing imprint, Harlequin books would no longer be eligible for entry into any of their award competitions.  Harlequin bowed to the pressure and renamed the imprint DellArte Press, thus removing any implied connection between the two.    Now another organization, Mystery Writers of America, has followed suit and removed Harlequin from their list of approved publishers.  According to Lee Goldberg, a member of MWA, (from his blog) 


"We did it because Harlequin remains in violation of our rules regarding the relationship between a traditional publisher and its various for-pay services.  What does this mean for current and future MWA members? Any author who signs with Harlequin or any of its imprints from this date onward may not use their Harlequin books as the basis for active status membership nor will such books be eligible for Edgar® Award consideration."  For the full post, please read Mr. Goldberg's blog.   http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/a_writers_life/2009/12/mwa-delists-harlequin.html


Harlequin's "self-publishing" imprint is not true self-publishing, but rather what many consider a vanity press.  People are quite vocal about their feelings on this - just check out all the comments.  Should Harlequin's books be removed from award consideration from the various organizations and should people no longer be granted membership based on books published through a vanity press?  What do you think???

Library Sales

From - The Economical Guide to Self-Publishing: How to Produce and Market
Your Book on a Budget by Linda F. Radke.  Published by Five Star Publications.

Library Sales 

If possible, try to get your book reviewed by a library publication—or at least by one of your local librarians. Scan a couple of copies of Library Journal or School Library Journal to find out which people are reviewing books for them. If you can garner a good review in Publishers Weekly or Library Journal, you may be able to encourage librarians from around the country to add your book to their shelves. At Five Star, we’ve gotten from 50 to 1,000 orders for books that 

were reviewed in just one of the major library journals—and those orders weren’t just from libraries. We’ve often seen an increase in sales from Baker & Taylor after a book was reviewed in a library publication, as well. 

Mailings to acquisitions librarians can also be beneficial, as long as those librarians have budgets of more than $25,000/year to work with. You can use co-op mailings to help make reaching those potential buyers more affordable; 

you should include a one-page flyer and an order form in a co-op mailing package. 

You can also offer to give talks at your local libraries. Although you generally won’t get paid to speak, you might sell books, both to attendees and to the library itself. 

Creating a bookmark and contributing to your local library can help get the word out to library patrons—and your kind gesture will also garner attention from other librarians.