It is always a joyful time after months of formatting, revision, cover design, and more revisions, when you can finally hit the big yellow PUBLISH button! Assisting Verne Lucero and his wife, Christy in creating “My Blessed Street” was fun – this memoir hits home to anyone with interest in early 20th century life in New Mexico and how faith can carry you through some really tough times. Click here for more information.
(Powerpoint Presentation available at end of article after May 2,2021)
How do you find ways of converting thoughts to cash?
Whether your aim is to write articles, stories or books, you can focus your work in such a way as to capture interest by marrying your own experiences with what various segments of the population wish to know.
Do you write romance? mysteries? science fiction? So do a LOT of other people. What would help you capture a portion of these markets for yourself? There are several popular cozy mysteries with clever and interesting gimmicks, for instance:
Although the majority of magazines focus on a specific topic, they are always looking for new information or a new angle on that topic. Garden magazines may have published a hundred stories on the best ways for senior citizens to raise tomatoes, but they will run another one if it is interesting and from a fresh point of view.
Did you know that if you write a lot of stories on one topic, you can combine all those stories into a book? Rose Marie Kern has had over 1,000 articles published on various elements of aviation. Her book, Air to Ground, is a compilation of all those articles and is very popular with flight instructors, new students, and aviation groups around the nation.
So how do you find niches that you are comfortable with writing about? Some people focus their whole lives on one thing – others enjoy multitasking. You need to objectively look at yourself and your life to determine what are things that other people admire about you? What things do you know so well you don’t even think about them as something others might enjoy?
Start by creating categories describing the basic elements of a person’s existence: Career/Jobs, Avocations, Passions, Hobbies, Activities, Places you’ve been, Talents. Include things you may have experienced that are not in the normal realm such as: Have you every been physically attacked? Do you work with physically challenged people? Have you experienced a natural disaster up close and personal?
Write those elements in boxes surrounding a central box, then see if you can determine how they can be used in your writing. Say you grew up in a big loving family on a Hoosier farmland then got a job that transferred you to the New Mexico desert where you were all alone working for a boss that is into something shady.., what on your chart can you add to the tale to round out your character and her experiences?
Rose’s Experience Chart
This chart is especially helpful for writing short stories and articles for magazines. Under Hobbies – you see Dogs/Corgies. If you have pets, I guarantee you’ve been entertained – write about it! You may have a gift for crochet or knitting, a special story connected to the baby blankets you’ve made for family, or hospital baby wards.
There are dozens of magazines devoted to craft beers, recipes, woodworking, hunting etc….all of them are looking for a new point of view. Books, articles, stories…people like familiar topics, but they want a fresh viewpoint.
You could just engage your talent with one kind of writing…but why restrict yourself? You can choose to be productive on many levels in many directions You can create multiple streams of income.
Click here for the .pdf of Rose Marie Kern’s presentation on Niche markets
Given May 19th via Zoom during a SouthWest Writers meeting.
The lust for glory and fortune are as old as the origins of mankind.
Obsession, unbridled, can result in the destruction of the individual and the people they love. Toro – The Naked Bull is such a tale.
Luis Montoya, oldest of the Famed Montoya Bullfighting family is dashing with a lust for power and women. Soon he is to be anointed “greatest” Matador adored by the residents of Villa de Candelaria and much of Europe. He is handsome, charismatic, brash and driven, thirsty for fame and the spoils which accompany it. Luis’ relentless quest for power comes at the expense of anything or anyone. Luis is also the object of Gabriella’s heart. She is the untouched, beautiful daughter of one of the town’s hardest working toolmakers, Juan Trujillo.
Simone, a younger brother, is an honorable man and an accomplished Matador in his own right. He is often troubled by his calling as a Matador, but carries on the Montoya family tradition of bullfighting.
It has often been said that the brave have no fear. Bullfighters know this is false. They live with danger, fear becomes a familiar acquaintance. The Toro is bred to wield chaos and fury in the dirt circle. The bullfighter knows he is totally exposed amid the mighty forces of the bull, just inches away.
In Spain, in the early1950’s, when bullfighting was a cultural tradition of almost mythical proportions. Its people love and admire Matadors and the trappings and pageantry of the Corida. For some, Matadors are defined for their bravery and defiance of death. Bulls (toros) are also held in great regard for their strength, spirit, ferocity and courage. The juxtaposition between the courage and skills required to address and defeat a 1600 pound raging bull, against the terror of being impaled is a metaphor for life in TORO – The Naked Bull. The spectacle of Corrida – bullfighting with its pageantry, protocols, power, fame, bravery, and romantic ideal makes for a powerful saga. Add the elements of betrayal, loyalty, resentment, and love amongst the Montoya brothers and the cocktail of family rivalry and chaos explodes .
The smite of the Toro is furious. The forces of destiny persist amid any attempt to sway its course. Destiny comes. It always comes.
A native of Albuquerque, New Mexico USA and a graduate of the University of New Mexico, Jeffrey started TORO-The Naked Bull as a life project in 2008 inspired by child and teen year experiences, including numerous trials and tribulations while growing up in Albuquerque. After he survived a car crash at ten killing his mother Shirley, he was raised by his hard-working grandfather and domineering grandmother in a lower middle-class area of Albuquerque.
Thrust into a new world absent of his mother, he experienced love, dysfunction, violence, isolation, a quality education and a childhood rife with contradictions, all of which inspired the compelling saga of TORO-The Naked Bull.
As an adult he worked across multiple disciplines including, Sales and Marketing, Corporate Relations, Media Relations, Behavioral Economic Sales & Training and has hosted various Television Programs.
Currently, Jeffrey is the host of a weekly opinion and interview style radio show called “The Gauntlet of Truth” on a 50,000-watt radio station in Albuquerque. He is a professional drummer and enjoys: public speaking, writing, reading, astronomy, running and biking. Jeffrey is married to an incredible woman, Nancy.
The New Mexico Press Women have announced the winners of their 2021 Communications Contest and two books published through RMK Publications took awards!
The Flypaper Witch Murders by Mary Candace Mize came in 2nd place in the Historical Fiction category.
Seeing the World in 20/20 by SouthWest Writers took Honorable Mention in the Anthologies division.
Although not all of our talented authors choose to enter their books into the various contests, we are very proud to have contributed to the success of those who do.
Rose M. Kern’s book on Creating Microclimates for High Desert Gardening took first place in the Crafts division of the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards. This annual event is sponsored by the New Mexico Book Coop. (http://nmbookcoop.com). It has 48 categories of prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction and more.
This compilation is the result of years of experimentation while producing large quantities of fruits, vegetables and flowers in the New Mexico high desert. It discusses how weather extremes can be modified with advance planning.
The book is available on Amazon. Click Here
The Flypaper Witch Murders by Mary Candace Mize is now available for sale in both print and ebook formats through Amazon. Although fictionalized, the story, set in Hungary after WWII, is based on actual events which took place in a small village after the men returned from fighting in the war.
Although the crux of the tale evolves from the pain of a young woman whose gentle father was cruelly murdered by men who’d returned home from the war, the story ripples through the lives of many villagers. It is richly endowed with love turned to ashes, personal hopes and fears and flavored with the desires, frustrations and triumphs of every day existence.
For more information you can check out Mary Candace’s website: https://www.theflypaperwitchmurders.com
Most people see the restrictions being placed on public gatherings and movement due to the coronavirus as a royal pain in the…well, you know what. However for those of us with the need to express ourselves through the written word, the enforced inactivity has a silver lining.
If you have been frustrated because there is a story or article in your head that has been fighting to get out – well now is the time! There are a plethora of short story and poetry contests going on for those who just want to sharpen their skills or need a “writer’s Block” diversion from a book project. One of the best is from SouthWest Writers in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Their contest has 11 categories with separate awards for prose and poetry in each category. First place in each category is $50 and 2nd place is $25, and that is not all. The authors of winning entries are given the option of having their work published in an anthology by SouthWest Writers! www.southwestwriters.com
As for books, this is an ideal time to finish your project – especially those who want to self-publish. Finish the fun part – the writing – and get serious about the steps you will need to take to get to publication including:
Remember if you need help with any of this, RMK Publications can help.
Also, for those engaged in either fiction writing or memoir writing there is an excellent book out entitled Revising Fiction by Kirt Hickman. (Even though Memoirs are not fictional, they are written in the same styles as fictional stories rather than non-fictional reference materials.)
Any challenge in life offers options – this one actually encourages you to succeed in something dear to your heart, because now you have the time to do it!
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Making your manuscript sing means it must look and read as professionally as possible. Some types of editing tighten up and enhance the storyline. Others deal with the nuts and bolts of language and punctuation. Here are the various types of editing an author should consider before self-publishing.
Copyediting is a light form of editing that applies a professional polish to a book. The editor reviews your work, fixing any mechanical errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Copyediting is the least-expensive version of editing.
Refers to a unique edit that falls between copyediting and developmental editing in intensity. In line editing, the editor looks at your book line by line and analyzes each sentence. The editor considers word choice and the power and meaning of a sentence. The editor considers syntax and whether a sentence needs to be trimmed or tightened.
Mechanical editing refers to the application of a particular style, such as The Chicago Manual of Style or Associated Press (AP) Style. The editor looks at punctuation, capitalization, spelling, abbreviations, and any other style rules. Mechanical editing is sometimes included in copyediting.
Substantive editing considers a work’s organization and presentation. It involves tightening and clarifying at a chapter, scene, paragraph, and sentence level. Unlike developmental editing, which covers the big-picture issues and deep-level restructuring, substantive editing deals with the actual prose.
The developmental editor looks deeply at the organization and strength of a book. Think big picture. It includes everything from pacing to characters, point of view, tense, plot, subplots, and dialogue. Weak links are exposed and questioned. The editor scrutinizes order, flow, and consistency. Are the chapters and paragraphs in the right order? Does the pacing lag anywhere? Is anything missing? Are the characters likable? Developmental editing considers all the aspects of a manuscript that make the book readable and enjoyable. Because of the extensive nature of this form of editing, it is more time intensive and costly. However, it is worth the investment if you are serious about succeeding as an author.
The purpose for writing a critique is to evaluate somebody’s work in order to increase the reader’s understanding of it. Shorter and less detailed than developmental editing, a critical analysis is subjective writing because it expresses the evaluator’s opinion of a text. Writing a critique on a work helps us to develop knowledge of the work’s subject area. It looks at the work’s purpose, intended audience, development of argument, structure of evidence or creative style. A recognition of the strengths and weaknesses of the work.
The process of reviewing the final draft of a piece of writing to ensure consistency and accuracy in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and formatting.
RMK Publications does copy editing and proofreading as well as book formatting. For editors of other types we recommend you check out the SouthWest Writers Professionals Directory at this website: www.southwestwriters.com
In the past you only had two options, hope to be published by a big publishing house, or do everything yourself and take it to the local printshop. Today you have choices that fall in between those two extremes. A concierge publisher performs those actions you need help with, but does not do everything a traditional publishing company would. Because Indie publishing has become very popular, some companies even use the word Concierge as part of their name.
A concierge is a personal assistant. Concierge publishers offer you the whole world of services from editing, formatting, marketing, cover designs and more…at a price. A traditional publisher will handle everything and in return take 60% or more of the royalties received from sales of the book. Concierge publishers vary wildly in their pricing structures. Many of them will offer to do everything for fee paid in advance as well as a smaller continuing payment taken from royalties.
RMK Publications offers specific services for a one time fee. Authors who work with us have determined what they need, they just need a little help in a couple areas. We are their personal assistant for getting their work published. We can help you with books, ebooks, picture books, or chapbooks. Our personnel have experience in many genres from memoir and self-help to romance, science fiction, mystery and more.
We are at your service!
