Category: The Business of Writing

There is more to being a writer than just writing your stories. There is a business aspect to this industry too. From hiring editor through to understanding copyright, this series is about understanding the business side of writing.

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AI-Generated vs AI-Assisted: Where I draw the line

If you aren't sure what I'm talking about when I say ChatGPT… What rock have you been living under?

Writers around the world (novelists, screenwriters, poets, short story writers, etc.) became concerned when ChatGPT exploded onto the scene in late 2022. No one really knew what it could do or how far it would go. And the market became flooded with AI-generated stories—most of which were not worth the 1s and 0s used to create them. But ChatGPT evolved… and so did the concerns.

In 2023, it came to light the copyright nightmare that was ChatGPT, and we're still trying to deal with that as an industry. Amazon added tags to their KDP system, requiring that publishers specify if a body of work was created using artificial intelligence (AI). Lines were being drawn about the ethical usage of the technology, and lawsuits were filed against OpenAI (and other AI developers) regarding their abuse of copyright laws in sourcing the materials used for training of the algorithms.

We are now in 2024, and there is still so much we don't know or can't agree on regarding the usage of AI within publishing. There is only one thing that is certain: AI is here to stay.

As writers and editors, we are now being forced to make decisions about how we will conduct business. It's about drawing a line between AI-generated works and AI-assisted works.

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My Amazon Nightmares

Some of you will already know about my Amazon publishing nightmare, because I've made mention of it on my Facebook (or I've spoken to you behind the scenes and have sought advice). But for anyone who doesn't know…

Mid-January 2024, Amazon's automated systems decided that I'm a fraudulent and misleading person, and closed my account. It was a heartbreaking moment, because I honestly believed that the 2024 version of my book would get published without it being available for purchase through one of the largest online bookstores. To my relief, that is not the case—I managed to convince Amazon to give me my KDP account back—but we were running close to the wire.

There are positives in all of this mess, even though it is a mess. And there are lessons that I'm learning too.

Stick around, and I'll fill you in on the details.

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11 tips for getting quality editing on a minimal budget

Professional editors are expensive. You'll get no arguments from me on that one. Behind the scenes, editors constantly agonize over what rates we should be charging, trying to find the balance between being affordable and actually earning enough to pay our own bills.

And as much as editors try our best to be affordable, more often than not, a writer's budget doesn't extend far enough to make such a venture worth the pennies involved.

Developmental editing (my area of expertise) is the one aspect of editing that seems to suffer the most from this cost dilemma. Under ideal circumstances, every writer heading down publication roads would be able to hire a developmental editor to help them with the story and characterization aspects of their manuscripts, and hire a copyeditor to help with language and the line-level editing. It would be fantastic if every writer could benefit from the professional eye on how the narrative is constructed. But the cost of such a venture doesn't make it practical. So, writers need to think outside the box to find that help with editing.

Today, I want to explore some of the ways that you can edit your manuscripts cheaply without compromising your editing standards.

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Finding the Right Editor

Within my various writing groups (mainly online), it's not surprising that I encounter a variety of interactions about finding an editor. While some know that I'm an editor too and not just a writer, when I take part in these conversations, it is only to pass on my knowledge and experience about the things that writers should ask when seeking to hire a freelance editor.

The questions below are general. You might not need to ask every question, but getting the answers before you work with an editor will help to go a long way in forging a healthy working relationship with your editor.

In fact, these questions can apply to any freelancer that you might hire to be part of your team, be they a cover designer, book formatter, publicist, and, to a lesser extent, an agent. (Yes, an agent is technically a freelancer too.)

Within this post, when possible, I have also included my answers (as the editor).

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Your Roles in Your Writing Business

No matter how you look at it, if you are heading down the road towards publication, then you are running a writing business. Most of us don't start out thinking of it that way. We just want to write. But with publication comes money, taxes, marketing, and sometimes hiring others.

I have written on this topic before, highlighting how this whole running-a-business thing tends to just creep up on us. But for today's post, instead of focusing on how we are all little business owners, I want to delve into the different hats that we all need to wear.

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