mel boring

Good afternoon! Welcome to this Tuesday afternoon's "Open Forum" session. I'm your moderator, Mel Boring, and the Web Editor for this site. We're 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.

mel boring

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.) The moderator (me, Mel Boring) will post the questions one at a time in the chat room and do my best to answer them.

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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.

mel boring

We have a HUGE backlogue of questions today, because...

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my webmail is WORKING NOW!...

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So I have collected umpteen dozen questions, and I hope you will be patient if one of them was yours....

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First, I want to go back to TWO good questions asked last week, and follow up on them....

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Someone asked about Style Manuals, and I recommended the CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE as an EXCELLENT one!...

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But there are two others of note,...

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One of them is the Associated Press Stylebook, which was developed in the old days of the Associated Press....

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The AP STYLEBOOK is still around, and still available, and can be had new for , at places like Amazon.com....

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Secondly, the NEW YORK TIMES MANUAL OF STYLE, is probably second in preference among editors (2nd to the Chicago Manual), and can be bought for about

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A far 4th in style manuals is the WASHINGTON POST DESKBOOK ON STYLE....

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It is from the old days of the Washington Post newspaper....

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I don' t know how much it costs, but probably Amazon.com can track it down for you....

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The SECOND question from last week is about International Reply Coupons....

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Those are what you include when you send a manuscript overseas or to Canada, instead of return (U.S.) postage....

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I talked to a postmaster in a city near where I live (30,000 population),...

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and Bob said that YES, IRC's are STILL available!....

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They now cost , plus the cost, of course, of the return postage from whatever country....

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Since you asked this question, Mary Beth, I asked him if they were available ALL over the U.S.,...

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and he said, "Yes. But in smaller towns, they may run out of them."...

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I'm THINKing that in VERY small towns, the postpeople MAY not know what they are....

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But IRC's ARE available from the U.S. Postal Service today....

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And Mary Beth, will YOU please let us know if you find them in a larger post office near you? THANKS! And THANKS for asking!

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I wanted to know if the institute has a writer's group I can join or perhaps there is one that you can recommend. I have some previously written stories that I would like to get critiqued.

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No, ICL does not have a writer's group you can join, but...

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I have seen people hooking up in our own Writer's Retreat....

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You can get there by going to www.institutechildrenslit.com,...

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and click on "Rx for Writers," then on "Writer's Retreat."....

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When you get there, you may ask ANY question about writing....

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AND, people can respond there privately if they are willing to critique your manuscript....

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Will ANY of you message me if you've "hooked up" to do that with someone on the Writer's Retreat, please?

lizr

- has anyone checked to see if IRC's are available online through the postal service?

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Not that I know of, lizr. But that's a super idea!...

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Would you try it before next Tuesday, (or maybe NOW on another browser?), and let us know?

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Meanwhile, here are some late, breaking words from Mary Beth:...

mbvoelker

I couldn't find any info about IRCs on the USPS web site.

mbvoelker

I ended up asking the editor if I could submit via email. I could and did and its already rejected. :-( At least it didn't cost postage. Now if I could just convince the postal clerks that I'm right and that IRCs are not obsolete and that they ought to order some. This is the larger post office in my area. :-/

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Mary Beth, you ALWAYS seem to take lemons and make lemonade--you are an inspiration!

kisentia

What are some guidelines for doing a biography on a living famous person?

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First, kisentia, you DON'T need the living famous person's permission to write a biography about them!...

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If you WANT to, you can try to contact that person, not asking permission, but asking for information about them, and perhaps even an interview....

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As long as a person is famous, they are like being in "the public domain," and any bio is fair....

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Many famous people have "press agents" (some called by another name), whose job it IS to give writers information about their client....

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If you do an Internet search on the famous person, you MIGHT find information even there,...

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OR you might find the name of their press agent....

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Also, of course you will track down any books about them, and magazine articles, to read and use as sources....

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The GENERAL format for a biography for children is this:...

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Chapter 1 is most always a "defining moment" in that celebrity's life, and is written to "grab kids by the ears."...

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For instance, in a biography of George Washington Carver, the biographer used for chapter 1...

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the scene of GWC visiting the U.S. Congress with a suitcase....

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And in a dramatic presentation, GWC opened the suitcase and pulled out a jillion products made from peanuts....

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Then Chapter 2 of a children's biography usually goes back and covers their birth and growing up....

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Chapters 3 and later then follow in roughly chronological order the person's life right to the present moment. I hope this helps!

margieh

The UK postal service is online, too. Royal mail? Not sure.

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THANKS, margieh! That might be a way to find out about IRC's for England.

kisentia

How do you reference a website in a bibliography?

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Yes you do, kisentia. But you have to make as sure as you can that they will still...

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be around when your book comes out....

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Of course, they will be in the "linkline" form, like: www.anysubject.com,...

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Editors will want to be VERY SURE they will still be on the Web when your book comes out a year or two hence.

dragginlaydee

I have been in a critique group since Jan. of last year, that got its start on the Writer's Retreat. We are about 9 strong right now, and it has worked out very well for us.

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THANK YOU, THANK YOU, dragginlaydee!!!...

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You couldn't have brightened my day more!...

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To the person who asked the question, you've put out the welcome mat!

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dragginlaydee, could you tell us how you went about exchanging each others' e-mail addresses, or just HOW you got in contact? Message me so I can share with everyone, OK?

casey

Since Highlights buys all rights, I assume they don't want reprints. I just had an article published in Wee Ones and if I rewrote it with a different slant, etc. and offered it to Highlights, would it be a smart idea to tell them about the article in Wee Ones?

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Yes, casey, they want FIRST RIGHTS among those ALL RIGHTS....

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I (I think wisely) would NOT, for two reasons...

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First, WEE ONES is not in competition with HIGHLIGHTS....

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Secondly, you CHANGED the article, and it is a different one, different slant. So keep that to yourself, since it IS a DIFFERENT article now.

graceann

What is an IRC?

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THANKS, graceann, for asking a basic question I was too thick to answer before! (-:}...

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An IRC is an International Reply Coupon....

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When you submit to another country, like Canada or Great Britain,...

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instead of enclosing a stamped, self-addressed envelope for their reply,

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You enclose with your submitted manuscript, an IRC,...

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And the editor at the other end can exchange that for stamps...

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at the post office in their country....

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Why USE IRC's? Because U.S. stamps can't be used to send anything FROM that other country to you in the U.S.---THANKS for asking!!!

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For those of you who joined us after we started, this is an "Open Forum" session where you are free to ask any writing and publishing questions you have, and your moderator (Mel Boring) will do his best to answer them--the sky isn't even the limit!

silverdove

Mel, several times I have been told that the internet is....

silverdove

is not an acceptable as a solid information source by.....

silverdove

publishers. I have found several sites that appear to be...

silverdove

reliable sources. So now what?

silverdove

Are publishers beginning to accept information from online..

silverdove

sources?

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Editors will accept information from online, silverdove,...

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IF it is reliable. But most often, on-line articles do NOT give info about where the info came from, or WHEN it is datelined....

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If the source you use is a MUSEUM, like the Smithsonian Institutions,...

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YES, that is reliable because of that institution....

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OR ANY museum on-line is considered reliable....

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One key to determining whether a site is reliable, and whether an editor will accept it is to look at the END of its URL (address on the web that comes into the "Address" slot on your browser)...

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If the URL has ".org" at the end, it is an organization, and is reliable....

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If it has ".edu" on the end of its URL, it is an educational institution, and can be relied upon....

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I KNOW that editors will accept info from these....

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But if you come across a site that is "unsigned," that is, has no one's particular name attached to it,...

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or doesn't give a SOURCE for their info, or a DATE, then that site is not considered reliable, EXCEPT...

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that you CAN get information from it to be TESTED via other sources as to its reliability, silverdove....

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I've given a looooong answer. Will you please message me if I did NOT answer your question?

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Good, lizr got some info about the IRC's on the web!...

lizr

it seems - from what I just read on various websites - that the IRC needs to be purchased at a post office because that post office has to stamp it

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So, apparently IRC's ARE available, according to this web source, which is the USPS, right?

mbvoelker

Personally, I cautious about .org sites. Many organizations have agendas and slant their info accordingly. So if I use handguncontrol.com I also go to nra.com. ;-)

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THANKS, MB! You're RIGHT, any organization can get an .org site--such as the Ku Klux Klan, so you have to "sift" those....

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The nra.com MB mentioned is the National Rifle Association, an organization that is reliable.

kplano

About the biography, I was given advice that the death should be in the next to the last chapter and the last chapter should summarize the person's legacy.

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Right you are, kplano. I believe that Enslow Publishers, who do LOTS of biographies, does just that....

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I didn't mean for you to "let the person die" at the end, (-:},...

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and it is important to have a "wrap-up" like their legacy at the end. THANKS, kplano!

kisentia

what format do you use to put a website in a bibliogrphy?

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You would list the name of the site, such as The Smithsonian Institution, and after that site name, the SECTION of their site where you got the info,...

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like the Museum of Prehistoric Science, for example,...

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then give the URL of the site, like www.smithsonianorg.prehistoricscience.org....

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That is PURELY fictitious, but that URL would be last, and made into a hyperlink,...

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which is one of those "underlined blues" that you can click on to go there, kisentia.

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Once you sell an article to a magazine, can you re-sell it to some other? If not, then what do we do with an already used article/story?

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Yes, you CAN re-sell it, but NOT the FIRST RIGHTS, those are already used....

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You can sell SECOND RIGHTS or also called REPRINT RIGHTS for the article or story....

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For instance, you might sell Second Rights for a story to a test-book publisher who wants to use your story with questions for comprehension on a test.

lizr

here is a website about IRC's - with a picture and explanation of them http://www.n6hb.org/s-a/irc.htm

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THANK YOU, lizr! I'm going to go there mySELF later!

cup

when I asked an authority at SeaWorld to check my

cup

manuscript for accuracy. Much of it was in error...and

cup

all of my information came from books I'd read on the topic.

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That is tragic, cup, and I'm sorry that happened....

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But you DO make a good point....

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MOST mags, like Cricket and Highlights, have the articles fact-checked,...

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and organizations liek SeaWorld are natural fact-checkers....

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I have to ask, cup, were the books you read OLD books? Message me, will you, please?...

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As for publication date, when I write nonfiction, I try to get books and articles that were published during the last ten years....

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Of course, there are SOME CLASSIC books about subjects published a LONG time ago--so you can choose those with care, too.

mbvoelker

When submitting a book do you paperclip each chapter together or just stack the sheets with no fasteners at all?

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I just stack my sheets with NO fasteners at all, mbvoelker....

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DO NOT STAPLE the sheets, because editors want to read them by just slipping the page they finish under the others....

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If you put your name, and an abbreviated title on ALL the pages after page 1, you don't need any fasterners,...

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and that is what most editors prefer.

mrsmouse

Is there a limit to how many times you can sell a reprint?

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GOOD question, mrsmouse! No, there is no limit to how many times you can sell a reprint....

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Of course, you would tell the buyer WHERE it had been printed,...

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though that buyer will have seen it some elsewhere, which is why they might write or em you and ask to buy a reprint.

silverdove

Mel, do you have any information about contacted these.....

silverdove

organizations who set up the "Comprehension Tests"?.....

silverdove

Would like to see their guidelines

mel boring

I can only think of ONE, silverdove....

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It is RIVERSIDE PRESS. They are owned by HOUGHTON-MIFFLIN,...

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who might be owned by ANYone now, because they were recently up for sale...

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But look for RIVERSIDE PRESS on the Internet, silverdove, because they do ONLY tests....

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One other one is SILVER-BURDETT, whom you can searchword-trace on the INternet, because they do SOME testing materials....

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Another is McGraw-Hill. Gee, I'm thinking of several, after all, I guess! (-:}...

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But searchword those on the Internet, and at least you can get started finding them that way.

cup

I'm glad I asked him before I submitted my manuscript.

cup

My books were not old ones.

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THANKS, cup--that's an experience for us ALL to take to heart in writing nonfiction!

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What cup is saying, I see now, is that the manuscript was sent by CUP to SeaWorld for fact-checking before being submitted to a magazine--THANKS, cup!

sonja

Is it common for magazines to buy all rights?

sonja

and would you advise for or against selling all rights?

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It is common, now, with "BIG" magazines, sonja, like HIGHLIGHTS (who always DID buy All Rights),...

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and CRICKET, who RECENTLY began to take All Rights....

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My advice when you're STARTING OUT is to sell All Rights, to get a foot in the door....

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But after you have a publishing track record, they you can ask HIGHLIGHTS and CRICKET about only First Rights....

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What I'm hearing through the "grapevine" is that CRICKET is NOT taking All Rights from ALL writers, but is negotiating with veteran writers...

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Also, what I'm hearing is that CRICKET is willing to let you have the BOOK RIGHTS back, so you could publish it as/in a book....

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We're out of time, but I want to remind you that...

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Tomorrow, Wednesday evening, July 16, we will have...

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a TWO-SITE CHAT NIGHT with our sister organization, the Long Ridge Writers (adult writers) Group....

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If you go to: www.longridgewriters.com, you will find your way to the chat room,...

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and it's at 6PM Pacific Time/7PM MountainTime/8PM Central Time/9PM Eastern Time/10PM CANADA/ATLANTIC Time....

paige

Will the chat tomorrow night be transcripted?

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I THINK we can arrange that, paige, THANKS for asking!

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I hope to see YOU there! BYE for now!