| janfields | exit
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| janfields | Join us this afternoon in the AUDITORIUM-Scheduled Events Room for an "Open Forum" with Web Editor Jan Fields. A full-time freelance writers for over 20 years, I have dozens of magazine articles and stories, as well as other mystery publications...wwwwooooo. I welcome your questions on time management, getting started, writer's block, marketing, writing rights, writing earnings, or anything else you'd like to discuss. Bring your QUESTIONS to this open forum—in five minutes.
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| janfields | The Tuesday afternoon "Open Forum" will begin promptly at 3 Atlantic/CANADA, 2 p.m. Eastern, 1 p.m. Central, Noon Mountain, and 11 am Pacific. While you wait for the "Open Forum" to start, if you are in the AUDITORIUM, feel free to use your ASK A QUESTION button RIGHT BETWEEN THE YELLOW “MAP” AND THE RED QUESTION MARK IN ICHAT to post some questions for the discussion group—two minutes from now.
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| janfields | Good afternoon! Welcome to this Tuesday afternoon’s "Open Forum" session. I'm your moderator, Jan Fields, Web Editor. I'm back for an informal time of answering any questions you might like to ask, on any subject. So feel free to ask what's on your mind--and I’ll tell you what’s on mine! First, please read these announcements, then we’ll get started….
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| janfields | IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS: Send questions you'd like answered or discussed by using your "Ask a Question" icon/button. (It looks like a thought bubble icon, RIGHT NEXT TO THE RED QUESTION MARK.) I will post the questions one at a time in the chat room and do our best to answer them. Also note: If you want to make it possible to ask the longest question you can, first type “/ask” (without the quotation marks), then leave one space after the end of “ask”, then type as many characters of your question as you can. If your question is not complete, send the second part next, then if necessary the third, etc…
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| janfields | WARNING: If you don't post anything at all, SOME of you will be bounced off the system in 15 minutes. TO PREVENT THIS, type something (either a question to the moderator or even a private message) every 15 minutes to stay active and remain online. Some folks just type a period and hit enter...that works too. But try not to post chit-chat, please, it can confuse some of your fellow chat-sters.
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| janfields | Good Afternoon Writerfolk...I am so happy to see y'all through the power of being sort of in two places at once.
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| janfields | Pay no attention to the jan behind the curtain.
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| janfields | Today we've got great questions and I'm raring to go...
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| janfields | Yes...so many things is writing are just like OZ, caq
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| janfields | But...unfortunately I can be more of a scarecrow than the wizard
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| janfields | High Hopes asks In light of increasing postal costs and overworked/stressed out editors, do you feel it is necessary to send a "thank you" for every submission-accepted or rejected? How do editors feel about this policy?
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| janfields | Okay...here is where I admit that I have little or no manners...
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| janfields | I almost never send thank you notes...
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| janfields | unless an editor has gone well out of her way, which sometimes they do...
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| janfields | because the editors I've met are wonderful over-worked sweethearts...
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| janfields | So unless an editor gives me a lot of revision suggestions or a great tip on another market
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| janfields | I don't think folks who reject me.
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| janfields | I refrain from calling them names under my breath...I figure that's nice.
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| janfields | I do thank editors during the revision process for all their work in helping my work be it's best.
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| janfields | And sometimes I will thank an editor for something WHEN I SEND THE NEXT submission.
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| janfields | Otherwise...no thank yous from me.
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| janfields | But it's always nice to thank an editor who clearly went out of her way for you.
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| casey | an editor at a conference said she doesn't like to receive those notes because she doesn't have the time to read them
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| janfields | Yup...you really don't want to add to an editor's workday...but thanking an editor for the past when sending the NEW sub...well, that can't hurt.
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| janfields | And when you're in the revision process...you're corresponding a lot...so thanks don't add to the burden.
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| caq | Isn't writing a job? Do you send employers thank you's for your paychecks? I just am confused as to why the feeling is there to say "thank you", in light of the fact that it is a business arrangement, unless the siturations you just stated.
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| janfields | Right...I'm afraid that's pretty much how I see it.
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| janfields | I try always to be cordial though because I respect what editor's do...but I thank those who clearly go beyond the job.
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| janfields | It's just that mostly they don't have time to go "beyond the job" ...it's a tough job time-wise.
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| janfields | Hey, someone has good news...I love good news.
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| dell | I have good news, Jan. For the first time, I sold one of my ICL assignments. Last week, Wee Ones accepted my assign 3 (on the praying mantis) for 2007 July/Aug issue. I took it out, tweaked it a bit, and it sold!
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| janfields | THAT IS FANTASTIC.
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| janfields | I'm so glad for you dell.
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| janfields | And Wee Ones is such a nifty market...the editor is just a sweetie.
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| janfields | Go Dell, go Dell...way to sell it, way to sell it. <-- I'm so not an adult.
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| marys | great news dell
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| dell | And Jennifer Reed, the Wee Ones editor, was so sweet in her comments. She even checked out my web site!
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| janfields | Yeah...she's a dear..and AN ICL INSTRUCTOR...go instructors...
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| vettemom | Can we clone Wee Ones editor?
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| janfields | Actually a lot of editors are sweeties...the Moo Cow editor is just a doll.
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| janfields | And I loved the Cricket staff...alas, for them.
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| janfields | And I think Highlights folks are hired on the basis of being sweet.
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| janfields | They are just a teensy bit overworked...but if you see them at conferences, TOTALLY say hi.
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| janfields | They are very nice folks.
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| jodyjl | I'll add on to Dell's news. I sold an article to Wee Ones last week as well. I think Jennifer is busy, busy!
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| janfields | Well, GO Jody...cool.
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| janfields | I would sing my Go Jody song but my daughter's rabbit is looking at me funny.
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| janfields | Ah, I see I have confused someone...I shall attempt to rectify
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| dell | Jan, what is 'Moo Cow?' I know there's a Moo Press, small book publisher out of Westchester, NY.
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| janfields | Moo Cow Fan Club is a "newish" nonfiction market
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| janfields | They take queries and assign pieces.
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| janfields | Very nice folks to work with...but only a quarterly.
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| janfields | Eqqamy...the ask button isn't available in...hmmm...html chat I think.
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| janfields | You can private message to pass on your question to someone to post for you.
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| janfields | Oh...one more Jody cheer.
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| marys | great Jody
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| janfields | Now...more questions.
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| kswcolorado | Have you heard anything about where the "displaced" Carus
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| kswcolorado | editors are going to end up? New jobs, new markets?
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| janfields | I know Julia Messina opened a bookstore.
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| janfields | And Paula Morrow is hanging out her own editing shingle.
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| janfields | Some of the folks are freelance editing.
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| janfields | I haven't heard of anyone landing at a magazine yet.
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| jobranham1964 | is a website important /a plus - in these computerized days?
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| janfields | Yes and no
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| janfields | I have a website...actually I have several
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| janfields | And I have gotten work offers THROUGH my website
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| janfields | It makes a handy place to contact you
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| janfields | Or read more about you.
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| janfields | But it's a time consumer
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| janfields | And it can be expensive.
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| janfields | Don't make one at the expense of your writing time/money
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| janfields | But if your career is moving along, you might want to think about having one.
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| janfields | As I HAVE been offered work-for-hire educational and package work through my website.
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| eggamy | is the Cerus group closing?
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| janfields | Carus? AKA Cricket group is not closing...they just moved the office
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| janfields | To put the "bugs" under the same roof with ASK and CLICK
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| janfields | Unfortunately that meant any editor who didn't want to move to Chicago
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| janfields | Got removed.
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| janfields | Not so nice.
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| janfields | But the magazines are fine...and they are still collecting subs at the old address.
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| janfields | All pieces under contract are safe and will be published.
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| janfields | Though response times may be slower than usual.
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| casey | mel gave us your blog address. can you give it again? I enjoyed reading it.
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| janfields | Sure...http://www.livejournal.com/users/cute_n_cranky/
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| janfields | It's not business related though
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| janfields | Just me running my mouth
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| janfields | But you can see how cute my kid is :-)
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| spotslover2 | What is your URL, Jan? So we can see what an affective website looks like. Thanks, Sarah.
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| janfields | Well...I have a site at http://www.janfields.com
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| janfields | But it's static
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| janfields | You should NEVER let your site grow static and old
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| janfields | Web content needs to be dynamic and mine USED to be
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| janfields | But I have too many irons in the fire.
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| janfields | I also have http://www.kidmagwriters.com
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| janfields | Which updates monthly -- it's a market oriented web magazine though
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| janfields | Not a personal site
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| dell | When I contact nursery schools about doing pajama parties/book signings, or schools about doing school visits, I believe I look more preofessional now that I can refer them to my web site.
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| janfields | Yes, web sites are PERFECT for advertising ANY outside stuff you do
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| janfields | Like school visits
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| janfields | And..by the way...you can do school visits as a magazine writer.
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| janfields | I know magazine writers who do them...and kids know the magazines
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| janfields | Just like they know the books.
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| janfields | They still thank you're cool
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| dell | preofessional??? lol, I meant professional
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| janfields | That's okay...I can just about half spell myself.
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| janfields | Especially in chat
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| janfields | Kate asked: I know I'm not supposed to send another story to a magazine that
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| under consideration, but what about magazines |
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| Pockets or Hopscotch? What if I've |
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| theme due in March, and I have another that |
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| in April? I probably won't have heard back yet |
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| send the second one anyway |
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| janfields | Okay...here's the thinking behind not sending more than one piece to a magazine...
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| janfields | You don't want to compete with yourself...
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| janfields | BUT if you're sending to two different themes...
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| janfields | Or sending material for vastly different seasons...
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| janfields | Or sending very different kinds of material...
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| janfields | You can send more than one thing to one magazine -- I do it all the time...but...
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| janfields | I send them in separate envelopes with cover letters expressly for THAT submission.
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| janfields | When I'm subbing I want the editor's eyes totally on THAT sub...so I send separately in mailing
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| janfields | But I don't wait to hear back to send something else as long as it's not likely to be competing for the magazine slot filled by the first piece.
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| janfields | HighHopes: Do you know if Wee Ones still accepts a rebus? I didn't see it listed on their new guidelines. If so, do they still require the author to provide the pictures?
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| janfields | Yes, Wee Ones accepts rebuses...but you MUST send the graphics for it.
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| janfields | If you can't do the graphics..you can sometimes find folks who can.
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| janfields | Say...high school art students...who would LOVE to do it just for the art credit
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| janfields | Which Jennifer would happily give them.
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| janfields | Nerakp asks: I was reading the guidelines for Learning Through History the other day. They buy all rights, including copyright. I know what "all rights" means, but what does it mean if they buy a copyright?
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| janfields | Oh...wait...freckles, a rebus is a story...
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| janfields | where part of the text is replaced by pictures
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| janfields | So a sentence might say; Jane loved her cat
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| janfields | But in the magazine, the words Jane and Cat would be replaced by graphics
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| janfields | Or would have graphics on the page right with the word.
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| janfields | Okay..back to Nerakp's question about ALL RIGHTS.
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| janfields | All rights automatically means you are agreeing to transfer the copyright to the magazine.
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| janfields | Learning Through History just added it to the guidelines to make that clear.
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| janfields | Because you've sold ALL RIGHTS, you cannot resell the piece.
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| janfields | You cannot quote from it with attribution...and if you quote from it, you must not quote over ...say 10% of the total content.
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| janfields | You cannot simply rework it a bit and sell it again.
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| janfields | Because that would be a derivative work and only the copyright holder has the right to a derivtive work
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| janfields | To sell something related to the ALL RIGHTS piece, you would have to make it fundamentally different so the two do not seem directly related.
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| janfields | Basically, if you sell ALL RIGHTS, you need to walk away from the piece...so you need to decide if you're comfortable with that before making the sale.
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| janfields | Personally, I only see all rights if
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| janfields | 1. I get paid A LOT
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| janfields | 2. I really really really want a specific clip
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| janfields | 3. I don't care about the piece and know I don't want to use anything in it.
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| janfields | That's about as far as I can explain...
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| casey | Is using the word mystery, clue, or secret, etc. in a title old stuff now? Or are they still being used?
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| janfields | Magazines love mysteries...book publishers sort of love mysteries.
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| janfields | Kids adore mysteries.
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| janfields | And they still glom onto words like "mystery" or "clue" or "secret"
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| janfields | Not as much as "spy" or "extreme" or "super" but still pretty hard.
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| janfields | So if you've got a mystery...sure, slip a good "mystery" word in.
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| janfields | The worst that happens is an editor changes it.
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| janfields | But it'll identify what you've done...and editors that love mystery will be glad.
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| eggamy | are the Cerus group addresses right in the current Mag market from ICL?
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| janfields | Carus...yes, you can send to that address and I have been told that it will get to the Cricket mag group just fine.
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| janfields | They are keeping mail coming through the Peru address until they have all the new offices in order.
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| janfields | There is also a Chicago address...the one used for "Ask" and "Click" in guides and it works also.
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| janfields | Right now, the main key is patience because they WILL be slow in response time.
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| janfields | Lizziegirl asks: What is slant?
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| janfields | Slant means the particular slice of a topic that you are writing nonfiction about.
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| janfields | For example: Elephants is a topic...but no one wants a general piece on elephants.
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| janfields | Because it is going to be encylopedic..it can't help it.
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| janfields | But if you interview the lady who runs the elephant "retirement" home in Tenn...then that's a slant.
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| janfields | If you interview the guy who got stomped by an elephant but fought to keep the elephant from being "put down."
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| janfields | That's a slant
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| janfields | If you research why elephants are endangered...that's a slant
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| janfields | If you look at elephant mythology -- that's a slant.
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| janfields | Think of it as a slice
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| janfields | The most interesting slice you can find
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| janfields | One that fills the word count and amazes the reader.
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| vettemom | What makes Cricket and Highlight so good as a mag?
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| vettemom | compared to othere, year after year?
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| janfields | One is editorial oversight...they have always had skilled editors
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| janfields | And LOTS of submissions
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| janfields | So they can pick from the very best.
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| janfields | Another is money...they can invest in the look of the magazine
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| janfields | And again...they can invest in taking the time needed for the editorial process.
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| janfields | And they have HUGE readerships so writers like to be published in them.
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| janfields | After all...how likely are we to sell 1,000,000 copies of our book?
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| janfields | But a story in Highlights will reach 1,000,000 kids.
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| janfields | Who wouldn't want that?
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| janfields | bechu asks: Is it in order and polite to include a brief, brief,
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| for writing |
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| janfields | Most of the time, contest entries don't need cover letters...unless it's requested in the guidelines.
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| janfields | But I can't seem to do ANYTHING without a cover letter
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| janfields | So sometimes I handwrite (neatly) a nice cover on a large sticky note and put it on my contest entries.
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| janfields | Makes me feel better.
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| janfields | And no one will ever hate you for sending a cover.
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| vettemom | Okay, Jan I'm sold! Thanks..Cricket here I come!!!
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| janfields | You go, girl
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| janfields | By the way, lots of folks are scared of hand writing stuff.
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| janfields | Honestly...editors do not care if you handwrite your envelopes
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| janfields | They won't even notice
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| janfields | If you send a sub that doesn't need a cover but add a handwritten stickie...they won't be bothered by that.
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| janfields | They don't even mind if you do one or two small handwritten corrections on a manuscript.
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| janfields | Just be very clear...if you write like my doctor...get your kid to do it for you :-)
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| janfields | Kimber...I see your question about FACES....and I don't know the answer so I'll find out and put it in the newsletter for Monday.
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| caq | Some contests state in the entry submissions to follow the instrucitons to a "T" and if you don't , they will not be considered. So if they say that and they do NOT want a cover letter, I don't htink I would send anthing but what they ask for. Wouldn't that be wiser?
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| janfields | I always try to follow guidelines, but if you put a stickie on it...they'll just take it off before they distribute it to the judges.
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| janfields | They won't hate you.
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| janfields | They save that for the folks who staple when they said paperclip.
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| janfields | Or slather their name on the entry when they clearly said not to.
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| janfields | Sometimes...we just gotta rebel...just always think -- am I making the receiver's job harder?
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| janfields | Cause if you are...they might not hate you...but they will make little grrrr sounds.
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| janfields | Caq asks: How much attention should a writer pay to things like spelling, grammar, and punctuation before submitting a piece for critique?
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| janfields | I think it's ALWAYS a good idea to be aware of your spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
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| janfields | I see a lot of newer writers who send stuff to editors with lots of those kinds of errors
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| janfields | And they figure...if my story is good enough, they'll get over this
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| janfields | They won't.
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| janfields | And it's HEALTHY for you to learn to be anal about spelling/grammar/punctuation
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| janfields | So even when you're exhanging stuff for crits with friends...it's a good idea to take
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| janfields | the time to edit
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| janfields | for the little errors.
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| janfields | Because it will let your crit group concentrate on the Story, etc...rather than fixating on the typoes
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| janfields | I personally, am TYPO QUEEN...I have a crown somewhere to prove it.
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| janfields | So I check, double check, and check again.
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| janfields | And I still make mistakes.
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| janfields | But I always want to put my best writing foot forward...because my work is such an important part of me.
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| marys | How do we find such wonderful critics ?
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| janfields | I found mine accidentally.
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| janfields | And that's how many folks find theirs.
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| janfields | It helps if you read a lot of writing discussion boards...and make friends.
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| janfields | Offer to exchange work...and don't take it personally if they already have crit buddies.
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| janfields | Eventually you'll find a place to click.
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| janfields | It took me THREE writing groups before I clicked...
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| janfields | The first treated me like E.F.Hutton..when I talked...an awefilled hush fell over the room.
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| janfields | Eeeek
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| janfields | The second thought I was too "corrective" and wanted only supportive crits...so we had a style clash.
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| janfields | But the third was "just right" and so far I haven't broken them.
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| caq | The work is not only an important part of you, but also a relfection of your ability to pay attention to details that matter. It shows our communication skills or lack of.
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| janfields | I totally agree...it's hard to communicate clearly when your reader is puzzling out your mistakes.
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| janfields | I once sent an email to an editor with whom I was working...
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| janfields | Telling her that I was ready to send the whole manuscript.
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| janfields | Unfortunately, I said: "I'm ready to send the whore manuscript."
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| janfields | To this day, she gives me grief when she sees me.
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| janfields | Thankfully, she still loves me, but you can see that wouldn't make a great FIRST impression.
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| janfields | babyfish asks: Do you have to get permission to write a story about an incident
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| you know |
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| janfields | It depends
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| janfields | If you're writing fiction and you change it substantially...sure...
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| janfields | If it's only one small slice of your story and you change it some...sure...
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| janfields | If you're writing nonfiction...not really.
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| janfields | You can run into invasion of privacy issues if someone recognizes their incident...
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| janfields | And feels you're revealing things about them publically...
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| janfields | And, of course, you never want to cut in on another writer's story turf...so I don't "borrow" life events from writers.
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| janfields | Usually
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| caq | if you change it substantially, it is not that story anymore, so why the permission? Do the tv stories who say, "Taken from a true event" or "The names have been changed," get permission?
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| janfields | If the person's friends and family would relate the story TO the friend...
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| janfields | And it might cause him/her embarassment
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| janfields | Then you've got an invasion of privacy issue.
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| janfields | One that has gone against writer's before.
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| janfields | And against publishers/tv companies/newspapers...blah, blah
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| janfields | But if you change it so much that the friends of your friend would no longer associate it with him
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| janfields | And he wouldn't recognize it as being about him
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| janfields | Then you're fine
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| janfields | I'm afraid it's 3 pm...so that's about all folks.
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| janfields | The time sure flies here.
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| janfields | Thank y'all for coming
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| janfields | And for sending such great questions
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| janfields | I know I missed a bunch but watch for the Monday newsletter
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