Time to Write

A Look at Emma Stern Publishing

A reader asked whether I know anything about a publisher called Emma Stern Publishing, which is open for submissions by writers. I’d never heard of them, but you can learn a lot by looking at a company’s website and doing some Google searches.

WHO RUNS EMMA STERN PUBLISHING?

The “about” page of the site says Emma Stern Publishing is ”an established trade publishing company that delivers excellence.” All of their titles were published within the past week and their website was set up three months ago.

The heads of the company are named as Nigel Pearson and Martin Safra.

I couldn’t find anything about either of them via a Google search.

There is a Martin Safra on Facebook. He uses an avatar for his profile picture. The fact that he updated his profile 3 years ago but has only 15 friends suggests he’s not a very active Facebooker. Of course this could be an entirely different Martin Safra.

WHERE IS EMMA STERN PUBLISHING LOCATED?

The website lists the address as 107 Fleet Street, London. 107-111 is owned by Regus, a company that offers virtual offices and temporary meeting rooms. 146 companies use the 107-111 Fleet Street address.

WHAT NOVELS HAS EMMA STERN PUBLISHED?

There are a handful of public-domain titles, but of more interest to aspiring authors will be what kind of original novels Emma Stern has published.

Their most prolific author is Jack Rubin. The protagonist of his crime novels is named…Jack Rubin.

 Rubin’s “Chekhov’s Gun” is listed as being published January 18, 2016. It’s a 154-page paperback, and costs $11.99. Here’s the opening, from Amazon’s “Search Inside” function:

“I was only a messenger.

Delivering messages for Ives.

I had to meet this guy in Canning Town. I discovered that he was attending a party.

I parked my motor car in Woodford Green and took the Underground train to the East End. I found a taxi and the driver knew the street.

‘This is a black area,’ the driver said. [Note: single quotes as in the book]

It was too. [Missing comma as in book]”

 “Dead Heat,” “White Meat,” and “Deep Blood” are all by Jack Rubin, all published on January 18, 2016. All can be bought on the Emma Stern site, but are listed as out of print or unavailable on Amazon.

Two authors named Jack Rubin showed up in a Google search. One writes about horse racing, the other about Micrographics. No trace of the writer of hard-boiled fiction.

The other fiction author is Charles D. Deakin, with “A Bad Business,” published on January 18, 2016 and listed as “unavailable” on Amazon.

There is a doctor named Charles D. Deakin who writes books, but they’re medical texts (the Emma Stern bio of Deakins says he’s in insurance, so obviously that’s not the same person). I couldn't find any trace of a thriller writer of that name.

WHAT NON-FICTION BOOKS HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED BY EMMA STERN?

Many of the non-fiction Emma Stern titles are no longer than a pamphlet, although they’re priced like paperbacks. They all show the same publication date (January 18 was a busy day at Emma Stern Publishing).

 “The Making of Soap,” by Berenice Blackburn, sells on the Emma Stern site for £5.99 (about $7.50). It’s 42 pages long. Shown as unavailable on Amazon.

 “Control Your Blood Pressure,” by Dr. Mary-Beth Jordan, is 28 pages long and costs £4.99 (about $7.50) The one review on Amazon.co.uk says, “If the author is really an American working as a blood specialist in Britain, I can’t find any trace of her on Google.” Amazon says it is unavailable.

“The Circulatory System” is credited to Gordon Calloway. Price: £4.99 (about $7.50). Length: 24 pages.  Here’s part of his short bio on the publisher’s website: “Doc' Calloway works in a minor public school. Minor in terms of status but not in its teaching. Gordon Calloway went to the school immediately after university, roe [sic] to be Head of Science, and has made biology his specialism…” Wouldn’t a doctor normally indicate where he went to medical school, and his degrees?

Then there’s “A Guide to Gothic Horror,” by Tom Anderson, yours for £4.99 for 38 pages. This one wasn’t published on January 18. It was published on January 25 (yesterday, as I write this).

The bio says Tom Anderson is an authority on the literature of the 18^th Century. A Google search didn’t turn up any Tom Andersons of that description.

Then there’s the lengthier (72 pages) “Life Skills and School Improvement,” by Robert Shaw-Byrnes. That’s a rather distinctive name, let’s see what a Google search turns up.

Nothing.

His page on the Emma Stern site says: “Later in 1916 [sic] Robert\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s [sic] complete and detailed book about School Improvement will be produced and marketed by Emma Stern Publishing.”

There’s a testimonial from Bryan Betteridge, but no listing for an author of that name on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk and no book by him on the Emma Stern Publishing site (at least not yet).

The prolific Jack Rubin writes, “I was a happy man when the publisher gave me a contra t for the first novel. And over the moon to be offered another for the next three, at that time unwritten.” It’s interesting that the publisher apparently waited until all four were done before publishing any of them (since they all have the Jan. 18, 2016 publication date).

EMMA STERN’S SHY WRITERS: NO PHOTOS, NO WEBSITES, NO SOCIAL MEDIA

What a shy bunch this group must be—most authors I know have a website, a blog and/or a Facebook page and Twitter account to promote their writing. There are no such links.

There are no photos of any of the authors. Some are represented by generic silhouettes of a head (the same one for several authors).

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Let’s sum up:

All the books were published in the same week (as of this post, within the past week).

All but one are shown as out of print or unavailable on Amazon.

The principals of the company give no indication of their publishing experience and they don’t show up in a Google search or on Facebook.

None of the authors show up in Google searches.

None of the authors have their photos on the site.

None of the authors have links to social media or their own blogs or websites.

If any of the above is incorrect, I will be more than happy to publish a correction.

In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts or any experiences with Emma Stern Publishing in the comments below.

One word at a time and a reminder

Why book trailers are not a good idea for self-published fiction authors

I see that somebody is selling a course for self-published authors on how to make "Hollywood-style" book trailers. 

I don't think that's a very good idea. Reading a book is a different process from watching a movie. A trailer is a sample of the full movie-viewing experience, it's not a sample of the full reading experience.

Authors of non-fiction have it easier. If, for instance, your book is about cooking, you can make a trailer that includes some cooking tips. Viewers will know that if they like those tips, they'll get more like them in your book.

If your book is about space travel, you can build a few fun facts about that in your trailer. If they buy your book, they'll learn more about that topic.

However, if you've written a novel, there's not the same kind of link. Yes, if it's a mystery in which the protagonist is a chef, you could include a cooking tip but people don't buy fiction for tips. Similarly, viewers wouldn't read a sci-fi novel primarily for facts.

I've seen book trailers in which authors are interviewed (or interview themselves) about what inspired them, their research process, etc. Unfortunately, people are likely to find that interesting only if they've already enjoyed the book or know you from other things you've written. Sorry to be brutal, but otherwise nobody cares. 

Even non-fiction authors who make a trailer for their book are left with the big question: how do you get people to watch it? Put it on YouTube? Here's a little quiz:

In 2014, Youtube said 300 hours of new videos were uploaded every:

A. Week

B. Day

C. Minute

You probably guessed right--300 hours every minute! That's not to say you can't get your target audience to watch your YT video, just that it's not easy.

The bottom line: if you're a self-published author of fiction, there are better ways to spend your money than learning how to make a book trailer or on a trailer itself. 

 

 

Related articles

How can authors promote their novels without tweeting or blogging?

Why social media doesn't work for unknown novelists

What ingredients do you need for flow?

A lot has been written in the past few years about the state of "flow," in which whatever you're doing seems to come to you effortlessly. I had a rare experience of it yesterday, on a ten-hour flight back to London from Los Angeles.

I wrote about six thousand words during that time, on a new idea for a kids' book. I'm sure the work is rough but it was great to have it pouring out. 

THE CONDITIONS FOR FLOW

The conditions seem to be:

• being away from your usual workspace - in this case, an airplane
  
  
• being in a place with low external stimulus - this was an overnight flight, the cabin was dark, and most people were sleeping. When we got on the plane I thought there might be a  LOT of external stimulus, since the middle row opposite was occupied by two dads, a little girl, and two very young babies. The little girl was well-behaved and, amazingly, the infants didn't cry even once.

• having few interruptions - there were two meal services, one of which I skipped, the rest of the time the flight attendants were rarely seen.

• not stopping to re-read or critique the material

I'm not sure whether having a general idea about where the story is going is important. In this case, the same character is involved in a lot of short stories, which is an easier structure to handle.

That's not to say that flow happens every time those conditions are met. I've made that flight many times, and have been very productive on only one out of five or six.

CAN WE CREATE THE CONDITIONS?

It's made me wonder to create such conditions without getting on an airplane. Some writers do it by going to a hotel for a few days or weeks, not turning on the TV, not hooking up to the wi-fi, and taking at least some of their meals via room service. That's a fairly drastic approach, though (as well as expensive).

Working in a cafe, ideally without internet access, can be a mini-version of that, although here in the center of London it's hard to find one that doesn't have the distraction of people-watching and the obligation to move on after you've had a couple of cups of coffee. Maybe I just need to look harder for an unpopular place. 

Getting on a train (obviously not during peak times) for a couple of hours might do it, although given the price of train travel it could be an expensive option.

If you'd care to share how you get into a flow state, please leave a comment. I'll be experimenting more with this and will let you know how it turns out.

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Kurt Vonnegut's tips for writing with style: number one

The price and the pleasure of doing (too) many different things

The case for courage in writing

I got an email the other day from an aspiring screenwriter who had an idea for an unusual structure for her screenplay. She asked whether I thought it would be safer to stick to the traditional three-act structure and "maybe just drop in a few more unusual elements."

Of course it's hard to give advice on a specific project when you don't know the story or the details of the alternative structure, but in general I agree with this advice from painter Courtney Jordan about mixed media artwork:

"Mixed media artists can't be faint of heart. You have to be brave to try mixed media techniques that you've never tried before, but I've discovered that you won't get anywhere--and you kind of feel let down--if you don't push it enough to show you are actually mixing media."

I think the same is true for screenwriters and novelists. If you have an unconventional way to tell your story--and you're using it because it's the best way, not just to be different for the sake of it--go for it.

Trying to stick to the rules and be just a little unconventional probably will make your novel or script just as muddy and unconvincing as a mixed media artwork by an artist who lacked the confidence to go all the way.

In the world of screenwriting, scripts that stand out often are not the first ones to be bought, but they capture the attention of those who read them. Those readers know they're dealing with a writer who has the courage to venture out of the safe territory. Ironically, they may then hire you to write something more conventional, but at least you'll have your foot in the door.

(For tips on writing, from inspiration through to publication, get a copy of my book, Your Writing Coach, published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

A great source for character information for writing your novel or script

If you're writing a novel or screenplay and are looking for inspiration for your characters, check out a website called Hopes and Fears. It features a series of anonymous first-person accounts of a variety of jobs. Here are a few examples:

"I worked as a carnie, and possibly for the mob."

"I monitor missile activity with satellites for Lockheed Martin."

"I dig up dirt on wolves of Wall Street."

"I loved working at a legal brothel in Australia."

"I do magic tricks and hammer nails up my nose."

Obviously, if your protagonist has any of these occupations you'd have to do a lot more research than just these accounts, but they could get you started. They also could be excellent for helping you create interesting minor characters. 

Warning: It's easy to find yourself spending a lot of time reading these rather than doing what you're supposed to be doing!

Should you avoid these 7 types of characters in your fiction?

I spotted a fun blog post by Hannah Heath, young aspiring author, on 7 cliched characters in YA fiction that she says need to stop:

1. The character that is full of teen angst
2. The girl that's pretty but doesn't recognize it until a boy tells her so
3. Characters involved in love triangles
4. The Chosen One (fantasy novels)
5. The one with horrible parents
6. The "strong' female character who only looks strong because she's surrounded by a bunch of wimpy guys
7. The brooding bad boy

Here's the link to her full post:http://hannahheath-writer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/7-cliche-characters-in-ya-fiction-that.html?showComment=1431281728926#c4811727783150299797

Actually, if you cut these characters out totally you'd wipe out about 75% of teen/YA fiction (and a lot of adult fiction, too), but the point is to write them in an uncliched way.

One thing that turns characters into a stereotype or cliche is if their one dominant trait or characteristic is all we know about them.

As soon as you give the brooding bad boy some other qualities, for instance, he stops being a generic brooding bad boy and starting turning into an individual.

When I was writing sitcoms, the rule was that every character should have one strong characteristic, but that should be complemented by several more that might emerge more gradually.

As an example, in the classic sitcom, "Golden Girls," Blanche was the sexy one, Rose was ditzy, Sophia was feisty, and Dorothy was sensible. However, one reason the series was so successful and lasted so long was that as time went on you got glimpses of other aspects of their characters.

One good strategy, once you've established your character's basic trait, is to find a situation in which they act the opposite way--of course that has to be motivated by the circumstances. Then it's fun, for instance, to see Dorothy being the sexy one, or Rose being feisty.

The Three C's of Plot (and how they help you write the middle of your story)

There are many ways of constructing a plot. One I find useful is to consider what I call the three C's:

 

• Conflict
  
  
• Choice
  
  
• Consequence

 

You can use these to develop your main plot, but they are equally useful in constructing the smaller components of your story--the chapters or scenes. This is especially true in helping you construct the hardest part of any story, the middle.

THE BIG PICTURE

You can use the three C's to come up with a logline, which also is the spine of your story. For example:

A young man obsessed with becoming a great drummer finds himself tested to the limit by a brilliant but abusive teacher. ("Whiplash")

The three C's don't always occur in the same order. In this instance, it's the young man's choice (to become a great drummer) that leads to the conflict (the harsh demands of the teacher) that leads to the consequence (being tested to the limit).

This order is typical of stories in which the protagonist sets out to achieve some kind of goal. However, there are many stories in which the protagonist initially is reactive rather than active. For instance:

A young girl finds herself trapped in a strange  and threatening alternative reality with three companions. The four journey to see a wizard who can give each of them what they most want--in her case, a way to get home. ("The Wizard of Oz")

Dorothy doesn't choose to go to Oz (at least, not consciously), so her story begins with conflict when she finds herself there, threatened by the Wicked Witch. Her choice is to join her three odd companions on a search for the wizard who can help them get what they want. The consequence is the adventure they experience, and her realization that there's no place like home.

THE PARTS OF THE WHOLE

Throughout a book or movie, the protagonist continues to make choices, whether voluntarily or because she is forced to, and these choices have consequences which lead to further conflict. A scene may start with either a conflict or a choice that leads to one.

A scene can start with either a conflict or a choice that leads to one.

For example, let's say you're writing a thriller in which your protagonist's identity has been stolen. Fearful that this is leading to her being framed for a murder, she takes action to discover who is responsible.

She finds a clue that the woman impersonating her is going to be at a certain restaurant for dinner. She decides to confront her (the choice). At the restaurant, she challenges the woman (conflict). Unfortunately, the bad guys sent a ringer, and the protagonist is arrested for assault (consequence). 

That leads to a new conflict, between her and the system. She has to make a new choice: insist on what seems like a crazy story, and risk being sent to a psychiatric hospital, or play along and accept the blame for something she didn't do.

Whichever choice she makes will have further consequences that lead to more conflict, until there is some kind of final showdown.

BUILDING THE STRONGEST SCENE AND STORY

In each scene we can ask what choices the protagonist has, and which one leads to the most interesting story development. Obviously, the choice has to be consistent with the character you have created, and the character and his or her choices are influenced by the genre as well as the plot.

In action stories, we give the character very few options; in each new development he finds himself faced with some seemingly impossible task he must perform in order to avoid disaster. Think James Bond. 

In more sophisticated stories, there are several viable options and which one the protagonist chooses helps us to understand him better and perhaps consider what we would do in his place. In that version, James Bond might stop to consider whether the outcome of the violent tasks being demanded of him are worth the sacrifice of his humanity. Confronted with a particularly vulnerable beautiful woman, he might opt not to sleep with her just to get the information he needs.

HOW THIS HELPS YOU WITH THE MIDDLE OF YOUR STORY

The middle is where many stories weaken. They cease to grow and we feel like the story has been padded. This happens even though there is all kind of conflict and action. 

The reason is that the protagonist has stopped making new choices. The story has set up the basic conflict, and that conflict may escalate but if that escalation is just mechanical, the story will stall in terms of its emotional impact.  

To see how this works, let's go back to the woman whose identity has been stolen. In the middle (Act II if we're talking about a screenplay), first they take all the money in her bank account, then they make it look like she's been embezzling money at work so she loses her job, then they set up a situation in which she's arrested for assault. 

Those are all escalations, but if they are just the result of the actions of the people who are using her, they will not be as powerful as if they are at least in part the result of new choices she makes. For example, maybe she decides, 'If I'm going to be convicted for embezzling money whether or not I've done it, I might as well do it." Shortly after she's been fired, and with her bank account already cleaned out, she takes some of the company's money in order to be able to fight back against the people setting her up. She's made a moral choice that feels like an emotional escalation.

Even more dramatically, if she's going through a divorce and a custody battle, she might decide that her child would be safer with her ex-husband; although it tears her up, she drops her quest for custody. (Hmm, do we think the ex-husband might be in on all this?)

In short, the middle of your story will grow in intensity if the escalation operates on several levels, rather than just the degree of physical threat to your protagonist. Some of the big action movies that lack this try to cover for it with bigger explosions and more impressive effects, but for audiences with an attention span longer than 30 seconds, this ploy can work for only so long.

Whether you use the three C's right from the start, or to help you strengthen your story once you've bashed out a first draft, giving thought to choices, conflicts, and consequences can help you write a more powerful screenplay or novel. 

 

Not take a break may be harming your writing

We know that taking a short break during a long writing session is helpful, but research shows a surprising reason. Apparently, focusing exclusively on one task for a long time can actually make it disappear from your mind. 

One of the authors of the study, Alejandro Lleras, compared it to the way we tend to stop noticing anything that is constant in our environment. For instance, you may put a poster on your wall. The first few times you see it, you notice the colors and perhaps it cheers you up. After you’ve seen it every day for a while, your eyes still see it but it stops registering. As reported on the Psyblog site, Professor Lleras says:

“Constant stimulation is registered by our brains as unimportant, to the point that the brain erases it from our awareness…If sustained attention to a sensation makes that sensation vanish from our awareness, sustained attention to a thought should also lead to that thought’s disappearance from our mind!”

He tested this with two groups. One focused on one task for 50 minutes without interruption, the other switched tasks from time to time. The performance of the first group went down, the performance of the other group stayed comparatively high.

The brain responds to changes, so even if you feel you are too busy to take a total break, at least switch to doing another task for a few minutes and then get back to the main one. Since research also suggests that sitting for too long is bad for you, an easy way to do this is simply to get up, walk around the room, perhaps drink a glass of water, and then get back to work. During this brief break be sure to think about something other than just the project you’re working on, or it may not function as intended. 

However, in terms of writing, if you find yourself in a flow state, with the words coming to you easily, I'd advise that you keep going.

If you're writing a romance or romantic comedy (or are looking for a partner)

The first episode of a new podcast called PsychCrunch features interviews with researchers in the field of personal attraction. While they are pitching it toward people looking for help with dating, the information could also be useful for anyone writing a romance or romantic comedy screenplay or novel. 

The guests include researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, University of Baltimore, and Rochester University. Here's the link:

http://digest.bps.org.uk/2015/02/episode-one.html

There's additional interesting and useful information on their collection of articles for this year's Valentine's Day:

http://digest.bps.org.uk/search?q=+valentine%27s

Novelist Jeffrey Deaver on planning a novel

Thriller writer Jeffrey Deaver believes it's important to outline your work before starting to write it. He says his background as a lawyer probably contributed to his dedication to preparation.

In a three-minute video hosted at SimonandSchuster.com, he describes his process in detail--including how he does 30 or 40 drafts before sending a manuscript to his publisher:

JEFFREY DEAVER ON HOW HE WRITES

Crucial book descriptions that don't quite work

 

jjjjjjjjjjComing up with a snappy description of your book is important these days. Here are a few that aren't terrible but have room fo improvement:

Little is known about the great artist Rembrandt’s life — but this enlightening biography reveals the man behind the paintings. Read this lively, fascinating portrait of one of history’s most enigmatic figures! 

Little is known..so you made it up? In that case, isn't it a historical novel instead of a biography?

With a killer on the loose, brilliant but damaged FBI profiler Jacob Thorne and special agent Emma Kane are determined to track him down. Their hunt for the murderer leads them through rural Nebraska in this harrowing thrill ride. 

Is it just me, or does "rural Nebraska" not go well with "harrowing thrill ride"?

When Cindy and Mattheus part ways, Cindy leaves the Caribbean to start a new chapter of her life. But before she can settle in, another shocking murder pulls her back to Bermuda — where, together again, she and Mattheus must solve the crime before it’s too late… 

I guess if you have already read other books featuring Cindy and Mattheus this would make sense. Even so, "before it's too late" is a bit vague...too late for what?

It's not an exaggeration to say that your book description (to be featured on the back cover, Amazon listings, letters to agents, and so on) may be the hardest and most important part of writing your novel.

An ad man on the most revealing thing about a character

In a recent email, Roy Williams, the Wizard of Ads, made this statement:

Tell me what a person admires and I’ll tell you everything about them that matters.

He tied this to the idea of image, the picture of ourselves we try to create for the world--which probably isn't paying attention, by the way. 

It's a good way to think about a character as well as about real people. If you know what your character admires, and the image he or she wants to project, you know a lot. And if you know how that image differs from who they really are, you know even more.

How long does it take to get out of writing shape?

Is there such a thing as getting out of writing shape? I read the other day that if you exercise regularly and then stop, it takes three to five weeks before you lose general strength but specialized (sport-specific) strength diminishes in as little as two weeks.

There's no doubt that taking a break from anything you do a lot can be beneficial, but if you stop writing for an extended period is there a danger that you'll lose "writing strength"? Well, I doubt that you will suddenly not be able to string words together, but I think there is a danger that you'll lose momentum and some of the passion you had for the project you were working on when you stopped.

After all, the writing habit is like any other, it gets stronger the more we do it, but weakens when we stop. Of course sometimes life gets in our way and we have to stop. In that case, a few strategies might help:

1. Schedule your re-start. Put it in your calendar and clear the time needed on that date and afterward. It may be that you'll have to change this date and that's fine, but at least this way you have a specific target.

2. When you stop, jot down the next few things you'll write when you resume. For instance, this could be a note about what happens next in your novel or screenplay.

3. Unless you want or need a total break (when you go on vacation, for example) take a few minutes each day to think about the project and note any new ideas. When you resume, these ideas will help you get started again.

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Cliches to avoid : waking from the nightmare (eeek!)

There's no shortage of cliches to avoid in films and novels, and here's a great illustration of one of them: 89 scenes in which someone sits bolt upright as they wake from a nightmare (screaming optional). The collective effect is hilarious:

 

Cinematic Rude Awakenings from Roman Holiday on Vimeo.