Hello,

Firstly, let me thank you for your entries to last month's Booker competition. In the real Booker prize there was a surpise winner, with Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss taking first place over the bookies' favourite, Sarah Waters. In our competition, I discounted a number of entries because they were flagrantly over the 100 word limit. There was a point to asking you to write to such a tight word count – linked to last month's article – and to not adhere to the competition rules is to waste your own time. However, there was a clear winner that I'm pleased to print below.

Cyril Crew has submitted a review that is tightly constructed, informative, descriptive and witty – all in 100 words! This entry wins a £15 Amazon voucher as, sadly, we could not extend to the £50,000 that the Booker winner received!

Whatever your earnings from writing, you would do well to have a look at this month's feature article that shows you how to keep on top of the paperwork that all writers have to manage.

Have a great month,

Teresa.

Who I Think Should Win The Booker Prize.
Cyril Crew, Eire.

Kate Grenville encapsulates the misery and squalor of lower class
London during the late eighteenth century. The threat and horror of
Newgate prison fail to deter the main character, William Thornhill,
from stealing to feed his pregnant wife Sal and their child. Reprieved
from the gallows, he and his family are sent to the Australian penal
colonies where their fortunes twist and turn like the river. An
antipodal journey of literary excellence; of enduring love, hope and
endless optimism. "The Secret River" is a joy to the senses. I even
had a notion for Kangaroo meat.

FREELANCE MARKET NEWS
an essential guide for freelance writers

For up-to-date market information, Freelance Market News is invaluable.

Issued 11 times a year it's packed with information on markets in Britain and around the globe, plus you get all the latest news and views on the publishing world.

Every subscription comes with FREE membership of The Association of Freelance Writers. Your membership also entitles you to discounts on books and competitions, a free appraisal worth £18 and a Membership Card which confirms your status as a Freelance Writer. For full details and to subscribe visit our new-look website: www.freelancemarketnews.com

Keeping Records

When you are starting out as a writer, there are two people you need to keep records for: yourself, and the tax man. It is best to set up an efficient system straight away, either on your computer or in a hand-written notebook. If you choose the computer option there are spreadsheet programs, such as Excel, which may make the task easier. Do back up your records on a separate disk though, and/or print them out regularly, in case of computer failure.

I like to see at a glance what work I have sent out and where. The best way I've found to do this is to set up a table, with headings along these lines: title of work; where it has been sent; date sent out; response received and when; payment, if any. Further notes could be included, such as whether an editor has suggested you revise and re-send the piece. You might also add whether you submitted work via email, or by post.

Once you have these details you can start to monitor how you are doing, and plan your future strategy. You will be able to check which editors have given you a quick response, and which have dragged their heels (and may need a reminder). You will see at a glance how many pieces of work you have out at any one time, and how many – if any – you have already sold.

Clear records of where a piece of work has been sent will help you avoid the embarrassment of sending it to the same place twice. I also like to keep a list of possible alternative outlets, so if it is rejected by the first editor who sees it I can quickly send it out again. This goes some way towards relieving the pain of rejection that every writer has to go through.

As time goes by, you can review your progress as a writer. When I started out I made it a rule to have at least ten short stories or articles out at any one time. For the first couple of years I was only selling about one in ten of these. A few years later I could see from my records that my 'hit rate' had increased to about eight out of ten. This was tangible proof that I had improved my writing and was building up a good network of contacts who were buying from me regularly.

For tax purposes, you will need to keep all your receipts and invoices. I keep these separate, in different envelopes that are clearly labelled, but of course you must remember to put every scrap of evidence, whether of income or expenditure, into the right file or envelope straight away. If you file them in date order you can pull out the relevant information more easily. This should be part of your routine from the very start of your writing career.

You might also find it useful to keep receipts with your household bills, as a proportion of these might be allowable as expenses. Find out what you can offset against tax, such as stationery costs, postage, books, etc and make sure you understand your responsibilities by contacting your local tax office when you start out as a self-employed writer. They are usually very helpful and will send any relevant leaflets.

Any royalty statements, in particular, should be very carefully filed. Although they are often tricky to understand fully, they should allow you to keep track of how your books are selling.

Never assume that you are going to earn so little from your writing that you need not bother about tax. Taxable income can creep up on you once you start to sell your work on a regular basis and, in the UK, you need to register as self-employed within the first three months to avoid a fine. What began as a modest supplementary income can also increase quite suddenly if you are lucky enough to get a substantial advance. It will be far easier to fill in your tax return if you already have the relevant information at your fingertips. If you sell any work overseas you may find that new rules apply, such as having to get an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) for the United States.

The time may come when you decide you need an accountant, but they will still need all the relevant information from you, presented in an orderly way. When you are a published author you are eligible to join a union, such as the Writers' Guild or Society of Authors. They can offer help with the practicalities of running a writing business, and also issue useful leaflets. The Society of Authors issues a series of Quick Guides on such topics as copyright, tax and VAT. All this may seem very far in the future as you start out as an aspiring writer, but being methodical about keeping records will give you a firm foundation on which to build your business. Good luck!

AUTHOR'S BIO

Viv Doyle has had over 500 stories and twenty genre novels (under various pseudonyms) published plus quizzes and articles. She tutors for The Writers Bureau and gives talks and runs workshops on writing.

YOUR FEEDBACK

In August we notified you of a scheme that was offering an £18,000 bursary to one lucky writer. However, David Reynolds has kindly contacted us to let us know that, "If it seems too good to be true, then it probably is not true! Seeing the item on MCNA in the August E-zee Writer, I went to the website. The download links did not work as the pages were 'being updated'. I therefore sent off an sae for details and application form as suggested. I also looked up MCNA on Companies House; they were only incorporated in June 2003, their filings are up-to-date, BUT they have the exemption as a SMALL COMPANY!

Today I got a letter saying the whole thing was off, information now repeated on the website. "Following increasing difficulty with administering the bursary ..." This is a feeble excuse, and makes one wonder how they administer their core business.

A quick search shows that they have publicised the bursary widely, especially to universities, many of which have been advertising it. My guess is that they were overwhelmed with applications - with a £12 fee to have a chance of £18,000 and very few conditions it is not surprising. They are refunding those who paid the £12 fee, but I have wasted two stamps to no good purpose, not to mention my time.

David Reynolds, UK.

* * * *

I have been getting great inspiration and encouragement in writing through the course I am studying (although it is taking me ages between modules). So much so that I have started a charity called The Ganesh Project which aims at tackling the problems of literacy and poor standards of education around the world. By encouraging others (particularly children) to write and express their ideas, I hope to bring about awareness of this problem and to empower communities to take responsibility for their own education. We publish children's stories in e-book and audio book format on our website and eventually wish to publish a regular journal featuring the best of the stories submitted. So far it is only my own stories that are featured on the site and we are thinking of ways to get more people to submit stories.
 
The Ganesh Project is looking for new writers to follow in these footsteps and not only launch their own careers as published authors, but also to support a great cause doing it. The Ganesh Project also hopes to collect the stories featured on the website and regularly publish them in a magazine. These will be distributed in as many countries and in as many languages as possible, thus promoting the writers and giving the children of the world something good to read.

Do you have a story that you want to share with the world? Do you know anyone who does? Do you have any books you want to pass on? Do you know of any people that desperately need something to read? You can get in touch with Jamie via the website at www.theganeshproject.org
  
Jamie Harbison, UK.
 
* * * *

Contact us with any thoughts, questions or queries at: ezeewriter@writersbureau.com with 'Feedback' in the subject line.

THE WRITING CLINIC

This month we have two queries on a similar topic. If you've had similar problems, why not let us know in the Feedback section above. Remember, if you have a question you want answering then send it to: ezeewriter@writersbureau.com with 'The Writing Clinic' in the subject line.

"I often have short articles published but when I come to read the finished document it sometimes bears little resemblance to my original text. In one of my pieces the words were mostly the same but the tone was changed making it appear tongue in cheek and rather sarcastic. When does editing become total rewriting? Do they need the writer's permission to do this or is all copy fair game when submitted? I'd appreciate your thoughts on this."
Natasha Tucker, China.

THE WRITING CLINIC'S ANSWER

Dear Natasha,

I'm afraid that once you have sold a piece of work to a magazine the editor can do pretty much as he/she wishes with it.

Obviously, if factual inaccuracies were introduced then you would have a good case for making your views known and asking for a correction to be printed in a subsequent issue.

But if it is simply a change of tone (and, yes, I appreciate that this can alter the slant of an article entirely), or paragraphs being cut to fit space available, then your only redress is to not submit any further pieces to that particular publication.  So, balance your feelings against the size of the payment cheque and act accordingly!

* * * * * * *

"As a WB student, I was pleased to get my first article published recently, in the UK Elvis Fan Club magazine. I did not get paid, but I was hoping to generate photo sales; unfortunately, my website address was omitted! However, my main point is about the editing of my article. I mailed it neatly printed, double-spaced etc but pointed out that I could easily send a disk or email of the article in electronic format. The acceptance letter from the editor gave his direct email address, but did not ask me to re-submit the article. So someone has re-typed the whole article into their system, seemingly attempting to do so word for word. There were a couple of minor omissions, but what really caught my eye were the replacements of correct text with incorrect amendments:
"... his or the authorities' fuss" was rendered without the apostrophe;
"... fans who had booked" became "fans that had booked";
"A selection of my pictures was used" became "A selection of my pictures were used";
"The first Elvis record that made enough of an impression on me to buy it was ..." became
"The first Elvis record that made enough of an impression on me was ..." -  enough for what?

If I include a tear sheet of the article as published in my portfolio, anyone reading it will assume that these errors are mine.
While it is too late to correct the published article, should I point out these problems to the editor?"
David Reynolds, UK.

THE WRITING CLINIC'S ANSWER

Dear David,

I think I've already more or less answered your query with what I've said above.  You can certainly point out these problems to the editor but I suspect that the best you can expect is a verbal apology and the more likely outcome will be that they won't bother to use your work in future.

But your letter does raise an interesting point.  At Freelance Market News we receive lots of correspondence from editors of various magazines, providing their guidelines and telling us what they like to receive from freelance writers and what they definitely don't want to receive.  It never ceases to amaze me how many of them use poor grammar and punctuation.  I'm sure some of them have never heard of the apostrophe!  So, perhaps they are not the best people to correct their sub-editors' mistakes. 

* * * * * * *

Note: If you are a student of The Writers Bureau and have a question relating to your course please contact the Student Services Department directly at: studentservices@writersbureau.com

Helium is a free to register site where you can contribute articles, review other articles - and share in the reward too. They say, "Helium is a community where YOU contribute. A fun, addictive place for people who are passionate about a topic to write and be heard. We use peer-review, a process where Helium writers compare one article to another to decide which is best. After many comparisons by many people, our ranking engine knows which article should be on the top. The better you write, the higher you rank, the more your reward." www.helium.com

We cited the company Expertsources back in April as a great organisation to approach if you were looking for an expert quote. They say that localised quotes are now also available and it is possible to search the UK by region. They add, "There are now more than 2,000 experts to chose from throughout the UK covering any topic from chocoholics to China.  We recommend all writers/researchers to register – you never know when it will come in handy. And (which may clinch it) membership is FREE for journalists & writers." www.expertsources.co.uk

This is one of those useful, all together in one place sites! Lollipop has a comprehensive list of UK small press publications with a brief description of their genre and a link to each website. www.indigogroup.co.uk/llpp

This month I am pleased to introduce you to Karen King who has tutoring for The Writers Bureau for the last three years. In addition to tutoring, Karen has also written the Writing for Children and the Write For Profit Using The Interent courses for us. She is an extremely accomplished children's writer and is in an excellent position to guide students through the pitfalls that so many students make when starting out. Find out more at: www.karenking.net

That brings us to the end of this month's issue. Next month, Heather Cooke tells you how to have an even Happier Anniversary! We look forward to seeing you then.

As usual, if you've any suggestions or would like to comment on content then please contact Teresa at:
ezeewriter@writersbureau.com

And don't forget – if you've enjoyed this issue of E-zee Writer and found it useful, tell your friends about it so that they can subscribe too!
www.writersbureau.com/resources/ezewriter.htm

THE WRITERS BUREAU, SEVENDALE HOUSE, 7 DALE STREET,
MANCHESTER, M1 1JB, ENGLAND.

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