To borrow from Nike: Just do it!

To borrow from Larry The Cable Guy: Git her done!

In other words, stop dreaming, stop wondering and … start writing. You’ve heard it a million times: a writer must write. So to become a writer, you’ve got to find the inspiration, the motivation, the energy and the passion — and yes, make the time — to get your story on paper. And you can only do that by sitting down in front of your computer, opening up a blank document and start typing.

Writing is a process that for many appears to be so simple and easy. That’s probably why so many people claim to have a great idea for a book, because they’ve read many books and think it’s merely a matter of dreaming up some intriguing characters, creating a fascinating plot and telling the story. Of course, anyone who’s sat down and stared at a blank screen knows there’s much, much more to it than that. Writing can be lonely and agonizing, time-consuming and frustrating, exhilarating and intoxicating … all at the same time!

Yes, writing something you’re proud of can be overwhelmingly satisfying. The sense of achievement is like nothing else. But it is not simple and easy.

Before that first word is typed, it’s important to create an outline, a blueprint for your story, to make sure you have a logical order to the story you’re telling and are including all the characters, locations, scenes, etc. that you want to be a part of your book. Few writers I know just jump into a story without first composing an outline to form a foundation for what they want to say and how they want to say it.

Getting started writing is often the toughest part. Coming up with that first sentence, that first paragraph, can sometime be excruciating. A practice I used as a working journalist, facing the challenge of cranking out a 1,200-word story with a fast-approaching deadline hanging over my head was this: just type anything, the most basic sentence or two, to get started. Once I got started, the story-telling often flowed much easier and I could always go back and edit my start to make it better.

Another tip: Don’t make writing a laborious chore. As a writer, you can’t sit back and wait for inspiration to strike, but you also shouldn’t sit there wasting time and effort when the words aren’t coming. Tend to your project with a steady schedule, but allow yourself breaks — maybe a couple of hours, maybe a couple of days — to clear your head and regain the pleasure of storytelling.

One style mistake I find common among new authors is a tendency to write too long of sentences that inevitably turn into too long of paragraphs. In most cases, but not always, it’s better for the reader when sentences are kept shorter and large blocks of text are broken up into two or more paragraphs.

Also, it’s important to focus in on descriptive details in your writing. Writing is painting a picture for the reader’s mind, so including more details and descriptive terms will make your writing more captivating to the reader while creating a more vivid image of whatever it is you’re writing about. (“I got nowhere to go,” he quietly mumbled, as opposed to, “I got nowhere to go,” he said.)

Another valuable suggestion when it comes to writing is to constantly edit and re-edit your work. When you think you’ve got it finished, let it sit for a few days or weeks and then read/edit it again. And tweak it again a few weeks later … and maybe once more. And it’s always wise to have a new set of eyes review your work, whether that person be a professional editor you hire or someone with a journalistic/writing background.

I was once told, and learned it to be true, that even the best writer’s work can always be improved with some solid editing.

Of course, watching your work get edited and altered takes an open mind and thick skin. But the finished manuscript will be something you’ll be proud of because, well, you did it and got it done! No more wondering. No more dreaming.

The 63-page book, Come Unto Me, was published by Zone Press late last month. The author’s mother purchased 100 copies with the intention of giving most of the copies away as gifts to family members and the many friends her son had acquired over the years. To make the book’s release an even bigger event, we suggested she host a book release party … which the mother was able to organize with the help of a close friend who owns a stationery shop and offered her store as a site for the party. It was held last Sunday.

And yes, the party was a resounding success. A great crowd showed up to recognize the author’s proud moment as a published poet and the store completely sold out of the 50 copies it had purchased. The author’s mother had brought some copies from her inventory and another 15 or so books from her batch were sold. To top off the afternoon, the signature of the author — who is wheelchair-bound, quickly tires and would not have been able to personally sign many books — had been made into a stamp so that all the sold books could come autographed!

It turned out to be a great event that a proud mother and son won’t soon forget. I know I won’t!

From us at Zone Press, have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday season.

Over the years I’ve given quite a few books as gifts. Even for the hardest-to-buy-for person, a book can usually be a winning gift to give. You can always find an ideal book on a subject that interests that person: a sports book for athletic fanatics, a cookbook for food lovers, an automotive book for gearheads,  a Western for good ‘ol boys . . . well, you get the idea. Nearly everybody is passionate about something and you can always find a book out there on that topic.

And today it’s easier than ever (and quite cost efficient) to track down the perfect book. The Internet, of course, has made book shopping extremely quick and easy. All major book chains have extensive websites to order from and usually offer great deals for their member shoppers.  And if you prefer browsing bookshelves, there are any number of well-known retail outlets whose massive inventories provide a wide selection from which to choose. Also, most cities and town have at least one established used-book store  where you can walk through cozy isles of books looking for a great — at a discounted price! — gift to give someone.

Of course, I’ve gotten many books for gifts, which I love. My family knows my interests lie in sports and guitars/music, so over the years I’ve built an interesting library of sports biographies and sport history books along with many books on my favorite six-stringed instrument as well as my favorite all-time band: The Beatles. One Christmas, my wife hit paydirt twice with one gift— a coffeetable book chronicling all the musical equipment used by the Beatles during their career in the ’60s. Of the books I’ve recieved I can honestly say I’ve read them all, some more than once, and will probably never trade them in at a used-book store or slap a “for sale” sign on them at a garage sale.

So if any of my family is reading this, keep ‘em coming! For me, you can’t go wrong with a book at Christmas.

For those of you interested in writing and seeking to learn more about the craft as well as the book-publishing industry from other writers, this is your group. It’s a state-wide organization but is based in the Dallas area with monthly meetings held in nearby Richardson. There’s a reasonable membership fee to join and each meeting features a presentation by someone connected to the world of writing and publishing—maybe another veteran author, an established editor or perhaps a representative from the publishing side.

After checking out their website (www.writersguildoftexas.org) and talking with one of their administrators on the phone, it appears to be an organization that we’re excited to become, in a small way, associated with. As part of the new member’s packet, we’ll have a flyer showcasing some of our recent releases as well as information about Zone Press and how we can help writers get their work published.

So, if you’re a writer and are anxious to be around other creative writers looking to learn all they can about their craft and the publishing industry, we suggest you check them out.

Actually, it quite simply. The letters P-O-D stand for the phrase “Print On Demand.” This is a printing process born from today’s digital technology, in which books are printed “one at a time” on a computer-operated press. And much like you’re able to print a document on your home PC and print in any quantity you want — ranging from one copy to, oh, let’s say, 200 copies — the POD process allows printing companies to produce books in any number desired. Including one single copy . . . if that’s what is ordered.

The beauty of POD printing is obvious. It’s quick and easy, for starters. Once a printer has the files for a book’s cover and interior pages loaded into its computer system, it’s essentially a matter of that printer hitting a “print” button to produce a book.  Next week when three more orders for the book comes in, the files can be uploaded and three more copies can quickly be printed and shipped. And in three months, when the author wants another order of 50 copies, those are printed and shipped right then and there. Simply, the books are printed only when they’re ordered. And in the specific amount requested.

What’s more, the POD process keeps the publisher and the author from having to take on the cost and hassle of keeping a large inventory of unsold books lying around collecting dust  in a warehouse or spare bedroom. For a publisher working with many authors, it’s extremely costly to warehouse boxes and boxes of books that may or may not ever be sold. And while authors certainly enjoy having some of their books around the house to show off and give to folks, most writer’s don’t want to have stacks of boxes of their hard work taking up space in their house or garage.

And if you’re wondering about the quality of POD printing, there’s no need to worry. To most people’s eyes, there is virtually no difference that can be detected between a book that been created in a POD process and one that was printed using the industry’s other printing option: offset printing. Today’s digital technology has advanced to the point where printing quality is rarely an issue.

One last benefit from POD printing is that most publishing houses, as we do at Zone Press, can afford to give authors substantial discounts when ordering their books via POD for themselves. So with each sale of a book from their own inventory, the author gets his/her initial investment back while also making a nice profit that usually is  more than they’d receive from a royalty.

Recently I had heartwarming experience working with a gracious, soft-spoken woman  in her early-80s, who came to us in hopes that we could help get her poetry book published. She knew nothing of the publishing business, had no idea of where to even begin to find a publisher and wound up at our office thanks to the recommendation of a friend. She had a collection of some 40 poems, wanted a few photos to accompany a handful of the text and had selected a title and photo she envisioned on the cover.

For her, the project was truly a labor of love. You see, she was not the author of the poems, but rather the mother of the author. Her only son was in his early 50s and had suffered from multiple sclerosis for nearly 30 years. His condition had reached the point where he was mostly bedridden, able to withstand the pain of moving around in a wheelchair just a few hours each day. He lived alone with a full-time caretaker in a guesthouse next to his mother’s home and got out very rarely. His mother frankly told me that she wasn’t sure how much longer he would live.

Upon hearing more about her son’s life, it became apparent how talented and spiritual this man was. Before becoming sick, he’d been an accomplished trumpet player in his college’s band who later attended law school. After being diagnosed, he became active in landscape photography, economic research, communications and politics. He’d also become a poet, a good one whose output filled folders and binders and allowed him to express his feelings and observations on paper.

Now, as a gift to her son, the mother had compiled about 40 of his best poems and, unbeknownst to her son, was getting a book of his work produced. She handpicked 10 of her son’s outstanding landscape photos to showcase inside the book, as well as a nice cloud-filled sky shot to use on the front cover. The book, which will be titled Come Unto Me, will be published just in time for the holidays. Talk about a great surprise!

To see her joy and feel her gratitude as this project has come together has been truly inspiring. To have played a small part in creating this gift and making her dream come true has been a wonderful experience. Knowing how happy this book is making her, I can only imagine how thrilled her son will be to see his poetry in print.

Before you take that first step towards getting your work published, consider two important steps to be considered prior to submitting your manuscript: how it’s been compiled and whether it’s been edited. Having your book presented to a potential publisher in an acceptable format, as well as having your work fully edited will, in the long run, help your book be the best it can be.

Presenting your manuscript in an acceptable format to the publisher simply means that it’s in a format that’s workable for the publisher. Many writers may be inclined to create a “book design” look with their manuscript, adding fancy chapter headers, using a variety of fonts, type sizes and type treatments within the text or formatting the text with special indentions and line leading. Actually, most publishers (certainly we do at Zone Press) prefer a simple manuscript produced as a basic word document. In other words, a single-spaced typed document using 12-point Times New Roman type is what we’re looking for. One line of spacing between paragraphs is helpful and a basic .5-inch paragraph indention is preferred. That’s it! Writers should be focusing on the words they’re putting down on the page and spending any time and effort and “dressing up” the manuscript is really a waste of the author’s time.

Of course, this isn’t to say the author doesn’t have a say in special type treatment, such as putting a section of text in italics or bold type, or perhaps setting off a section of type with special indentions. Simple instructions within the manuscript can assure that your wishes will be followed.

Maybe the most important step in getting a manuscript ready for submission is getting it edited. Even the most accomplished, successful writers have their work edited . . . probably more than once by more than one editor. It’s always helpful to get your work looked over by a new pair of eyes. Good proofreading can not only catch simply mistakes such as grammar, spelling or punctuation, but expert editing can always improve the way a story is told. Nobody’s work is perfect. Even the best writers’ words and presentation can be tweaked, cleaned up or revised to make it even better.

Finding a good editor, however, can be challenging for a new author. If the publishing company you’re considering doesn’t offer proofreading or editing services, there are other options. Sure, a close friend or relative might review your manuscript, but they might be hesitant to make many changes or offer editing ideas in fear of angering a friend or family member. An obvious possibility is to contact a local newspaper and inquire if a reporter or news editor there would be interested in a freelance job as your editor. Another option is contacting a teacher–with a background in English or journalism–at a local high school or college and seeing if they’d be available as a hired editor.

 Every writer should value the work of a good editor. Yes, proofreading and editing services are probably going to cost you, but don’t underestimate the benefit of having your manuscript reviewed by an experienced, competent editor. Your manuscript will appreciate it. And so will you.

We are a small publisher based in Texas and, for the most part, it is first-time authors that come to us with their work. Last summer, we were approached by three co-authors, who in their retirement years had compiled and written an intruging true-life story about one of their distant relatives. None were trained writers, previously published authors or established reporter/journalist types with any knowledge of the publishing business. Simply, they were three relatives sharing a family tree who became fascinated with the life and death of one of their great-grandfathers.

They had spent years investigating this man’s life — a West Texas rancher in 1900 convicted of a murder he may (or may not) have committed who later escapes from jail and is shot to death after several months on the run. They explored county records, spent countless hours on the internet doing research and began piecing the story together. They had kept personal notes from discussions with various family members from as far back as the 1960s and eventually turned a mysterious family tale into an interesting true story about Old West justice.

And what’s made their book-publishing journey even more exciting is that they were able to compile more than 15 photographs, including a nice shot of the book’s main character for the front cover, to create a neat photo section for the interior of the book.

Now we’re on the eve of the book’s release, another self-publishing success story in which we’ve helped someone’s (or in this case, several folks’) hard work see it’s logical and exciting goal: an actual book!