Today, we’re excited to reveal the cover for Fred’s latest adventure, The Fangs of Freelance. Check it out!

Fred and friends are up to their usual shenanigans, and this fourth installment in the beloved series brings all the signature Hayes wit you’ve come to expect. But it also contains quite a few new twists and turns that kept us glued to the edges of our seats in suspense. Don’t just take our word for it, though. Check out the back cover blurb:

 

When Fred formed his own parahuman clan out of necessity, he understood that it was going to come with new responsibilities. Much as he hoped those tasks would center around extra paperwork and perhaps the occasional mandatory class, enough time around the supernatural has taught him to be ready for anything. Or so he thought.

As a freelance accountant for the Agency, Fred soon finds himself being tossed into new, unexpected, and perilous situations. From inventorying ghostly castles, to exploring unsettling amusement parks, to negotiating with dangerous mages, it seems there is no end to the uses for an accountant of Fred’s specialty. But dangerous as the new jobs are, the greatest threat may come from the past. An old enemy is making waves once more, an enemy who would go to great lengths to destroy Fred and everyone he loves. And this time, they’ve brought backup.

Sounds awesome, right? Perfect for reading beside a pool, in a hammock on a beach somewhere, or in the air-conditioned comfort of your own home. So grab your favorite summertime drink, raise a glass to Drew Hayes, and curl up with your very own copy. The Fangs of Freelance will be officially available for purchase (at all your favorite online retailers) on July 25, 2017.

Pre-order today, through The REUTS Shop, and receive the eBook early, on July 21, 2017!

The post Cover Reveal // The Fangs of Freelance by Drew Hayes (Fred the Vampire #4) appeared first on REUTS | Boutique Book Publisher |.

Guest post by Laurie McLean, Partner at Fuse Literary. Laurie represents the wonderful REUTS author, J.M. Frey.

When I first read The Untold Tale by J.M. Frey, I was amazed at both its audacity and its storytelling energy. The characters were like none I’d read about in an epic fantasy novel. The hero was the spymaster for the king masquerading as a fuddy-duddy second son whose older brother was a hero of legendary proportions. The heroine did not fit into preconceived notions of women in this fairy tale world. There was also something very mysterious about her background that we don’t find out about until mid-way through the book, so I won’t spoil it here.

Suffice to say that I loved this book and I set about trying to sell it to eager science fiction and fantasy editors in New York. I pitched the book and they all wanted to take a look. Months passed, as they do during the submission process. Then the rejections began to amass. It was too “meta.” The hero was not “alpha” enough. It was too long. It was non-standard. And the always popular and very general, “It’s not right for my list.”

I don’t know about all of you, but I am tired of reading the same old tropes in my sword and sorcery or quest fantasy novels. I search for new tales and new ways of telling them. I look for diversity in both characters and setting. I want the thrill of the adventure, but in a new way. That’s why I loved J.M. Frey’s The Untold Tale, as well as the second book which is launching in December 2016: The Forgotten Tale.

Frey strives for the diverse and unexpected in her books. This made it difficult for me to sell it to mainstream publishers who wanted more of the same that had sold so well in the past.

Frustrated beyond belief that I was unable to sell this series, I was giving a keynote at a writers conference in Seattle, and I mentioned that everyone’s path to publishing was different. I urged the hopeful writers in the room not to compare themselves to successful authors who had come before them (although everyone does), and I told the tale of my difficulties in selling a book of my heart.

Afterwards, as I was getting coffee (it was cold in Seattle that fall), two young women approached me and said that they appreciated my speech. They wanted to know more about the book I was having trouble selling. So we sat down and I waxed on and on about The Untold Tale and why I thought the quality of the writing and storytelling was superb, and how I couldn’t believe I hadn’t been able to sell it. One of them asked for my card, and as we exchanged information, she told me that she was an editor at a small-but-growing publisher in the Pacific Northwest called REUTS Publishing.

Bottom line: At that very conference, Kisa Whipkey asked to read The Untold Tale. She saw what I saw in that manuscript and bought not only book one, but all three books in the series plus several additional novellas, short stories and other bonus material in that world that would accompany the main event. Not only that, she also liked the second series J.M. Frey had shown me, about the first female pilot in a mechanized society reminiscent of World War I, The Skylark’s Song, and she eventually bought that as well.

The Forgotten Tale, the middle book in the series, is one of those rare breeds of middle books that actually carries its own weight. It is a rousing story in and of itself, and a worthy sequel to The Untold Tale. It deals with an apocalypse most of us readers would surely find horrific: the classic stories of our world are disappearing, and Forsyth Turn and his wife Pip must solve this mystery before all stories are erased forever. THE HORROR!

I hope I’ve intrigued you sufficiently that you’ll pick up a copy of The Untold Tale and its successor, The Forgotten Tale. J.M. Frey is just about done with the final book in the series, The Silenced Tale, and I am sure it will be equally enthralling.

‘Til then, I will remain a champion for all tales, comfortable and itchy, magical and harshly realistic, epically long or quickly consumed. To the bookshelves!

-Laurie McLean, Partner

Fuse Literary Agency

The post The Untold Tale…That Almost Went Untold appeared first on REUTS | Boutique Book Publisher |.

As August comes to an end and September looms, transitions are on the forefront of everyone’s minds. Kids go back to school, leaves start to fall, the scorching heat of summer gives way to pleasantly cool breezes and stormy nights, and another batch of post-its shifts into the overdue pile on my Infamous Wall of Post-it Deadlines. But there’s also something exciting in the wind: REUTS Publications will be open to submissions again!

One more time for the people in the back:

Starting tomorrow, REUTS will once again be open to submissions!

Our brief hiatus from the slush pile is over, and the doors will be flung wide. We’ve been working behind the scenes to create an improved submissions process, and we’re eager to test it out. It’s more automated, more streamlined, and should help dramatically improve the response times. You will have to create an account, but don’t worry, it’s completely FREE. And it absolutely will not be used to spam you unnecessarily. You’ll receive correspondence pertaining to your submission and nothing more. You have our promise on that.

**For those of you still waiting to hear from us, please be patient. We’re working our way through the list and should be in touch shortly. You do not have to resubmit.**

What should you expect from this shiny new system? Well, everything you expected before, just better.

• Wait times for queries (and hopefully full manuscripts) should be significantly shorter
• We will still respond with a personalized response to each and every query (a lack of response does NOT equal “no”)
• We will still accept manuscripts without agent representation (but we’re always happy to see agent submissions as well)
• We’ll give you an insider look at our tastes and thoughts via #REUTSsubs and this weekly blog post series

So, all in all, sounds pretty good, right? We’re excited about it; hopefully you are as well. #REUTSsubs will be kicking off this week, so be sure to watch my twitter feed (@kisawhipkey) if you want to catch those in real time, otherwise, the first compilation post will go live next Monday. But for now, I’ll give you a little preview of what we’re looking for, the official REUTS Publications Manuscript Wishlist, as it were. We’re always open to anything that falls within the YA or NA category, but these are specific requests from our acquisitions panel.

• New twists on paranormal creatures (bonus points for vampires or zombies)
• Dark fantasy in the vein of Uprooted by Naomi Novik or Fire by Kristin Cashore
• Thriller/Suspense (think Gone Girl for a YA audience)
• Intricate, multi-layered narratives a la Inception or The Memory Painter by Gwendolyn Womack
• Science Fiction (space opera or soft sci-fi, specifically)
• Dystopian in the style of Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard or Legend by Marie Lu
• Mythology/Fairy Tale infused fantasy (Preferably not urban fantasy or paranormal romance)
• Gothic fantasy and/or romance (Jane Eyre by Emily Bronte, Dracula by Bram Stoker, and The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux are personal favorites of the team)
• Historical fiction (any time or place, as long as it’s accurate)
• Contemporary fiction (romance is fine, but not required)
• Paranormal satire in the style of Christopher Moore

Remember, those are specific requests, and they certainly aren’t the only things we look for. So if I didn’t list your genre, but you feel like it could still be a good fit, go ahead and submit! We’d love to see it. After all, our next favorite read might be in a genre I haven’t listed above. All we ask is that it be original, innovative, well-written, and contain emotional resonance. How you achieve those things is entirely up to you.

— Kisa Whipkey
Acquisitions & Editorial Director

The post Adventures in the Slush Pile: 8/31/15 Edition appeared first on REUTS | Boutique Book Publisher |.

Queries. Pitches. Synopses. Three words that strike fear into every author’s heart. And rightfully so — selling your book to an agent or editor depends on your ability to encapsulate your story’s heart into a few simple sentences. For most people, that’s a nearly impossible challenge. But perhaps if we look at why this practice is necessary, it will help you understand how to do it. So, for my first installment in this new series, I’m going to show you what I look for in a query. Keep in mind these are solely my opinions, and other agents or editors may look for something else, but if you plan to follow along with #REUTSsubs this next week, this will give you a glimpse at the thought process behind my decisions.

Let’s start by looking at the three potential ways you go about introducing your work to an agent or editor. They are:

1. The Traditional Query Letter & Synopsis
2. Pitching in Person
3. Elevator Pitches on Social Media

All three serve the same purpose — hooking your audience into asking for more. That’s a phrase I’m sure you’ve all heard thrown around in writing seminars, but what does it actually mean? In essence, it means you break through someone’s focus enough to grab their full, complete attention and get them to react. In other words, it’s a sales tactic.

Now, I know many of you just groaned. Sales is about as far from writing and creativity as you could possibly get. But the truth is, publishing is a business. There are bottom lines to be met, production costs to worry about, returns on investments that have to happen, etc. So when you send in a proposal (which, let’s face it, is what these things really are — sales proposals), what you’re really doing is arguing why we should become your business partner for this venture. And you’d darn well better be convincing. Don’t you think?

So, how do you achieve that? What makes a sales proposal appealing to the potential buyer? How do you turn indifference into “OMG, yes, I must read this”? Well, I look for a couple of key ingredients:

• Interesting concept and premise
• Unique attributes
• Market Potential

That’s it. Every time. Seriously.

Whenever I’m reviewing a pitch/query/etc, I ask myself the same three questions:

“Does this make me excited as a reader?” (This is more of a visceral reaction than a true question. Basically, I’m looking for that internal pique of interest, that “oooooo” factor.)

“What makes it different from everything else in its genre?” (The more specific the better on this front. Diverse cast? Unique twist or angle on the familiar? New setting?)

“What is it similar to/where would I put it on a shelf?” (This is ultimately the most important because it tells me a: where it fits within the REUTS catalog, and b: where it fits in the larger market and who its readership might be.)

All right, now let’s look at how you apply that insight, shall we? Because each type of pitch listed above is a slightly different opportunity to sell your work, and you shouldn’t use the same blanket strategy for each.
 

The Traditional Query Letter & Synopsis

 
First off, a query is not a synopsis and vice versa. They’re two separate entities used to achieve the same goal, but one is the lead singer, and the other is the band. You need both, but they serve completely different roles in the process.

Your query letter should be no more than 2-3 paragraphs, and its sole job is to pique the reader’s interest. It has to fit that criteria I listed above. It needs to give just enough information for me to tell whether or not it could be a fit for REUTS. So focus only on the most important aspects — the conflict and stakes that drive your story, sprinkled with a little info on the world/character and just a hint of what makes your manuscript different from the rest. Give me the heart of the tale; I don’t care about the rest yet.

Other things I need to know are genre, target audience, and comp titles (comparable books that might bear similarity to yours). Genre tells me where it fits in the bookstore and who it might appeal to, target audience tells me who I’m going to get to read it, and comp titles give me an instant snapshot of what to expect in terms of feel/tone/theme/style, etc. (One caveat on choosing comp titles: aim for ones that aren’t genre heavy-hitters, but that are prominent enough I’m likely to have heard of them. Also, the more unique the mash-up, the quicker I’ll be able to pin-point my expectations as reader.)

And that’s it. Two paragraphs should easily be enough room to capture all of that, once you isolate the key things an agent/editor looks for. Your final paragraph should be about you, what you bring to the table in terms of experience, etc. Honestly though, most of the time, we kind of skim that info. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it to us, just that more weight is placed on the content of the story than your particular pedigree.

IF you’ve achieved your goal and hooked my interest, I’ll dive right into the sample pages (because a great pitch does not always mean great execution), and if those pass the quality test, I’ll check out the synopsis. A synopsis is a glorified outline. It tells me the highlights of your story in 1-3 pages. It should capture the emotions, the main conflicts, some of the character motivations, and the entire narrative arc. The details of your world, sub-plots, supporting cast, etc, aren’t as important; the structure of your overall story is.

Manage to hold my interest through all of that, and guess what? You’ve just earned a full manuscript request. (I’m pretty sure this is the process most agents/editors go through, but some of the particulars may vary a little.)
 

Pitching in Person

 
Ah, now, this is a whole different game — one part speed dating, one part American Idol audition, all rolled into a giant ball of anxiety for everyone involved. But it’s a very viable option if you have the chance. Out of 55 total pitches I heard at the Willamette Writers Conference, I requested samples (and even some fulls!) of 48 manuscripts. The idea behind this is much the same as the process above, except you only have 10 minutes, if you’re lucky, and have to talk to an actual person. Terrifying stuff, for sure.

So what’s the key in this scenario? Be a human. Don’t stiffly recite your memorized query letter while you stare at the table. Engage with us! Take that query you wrote above and hone it even more. In a 10 minute pitch session, your pitch should take up no more than 2-3 minutes, max. Literally give us the bare bones, the core of your story, and then let us come to you. Think of it like baiting a wild animal; you don’t give away the whole dinner up front, you toss out some crumbs and lure us into the trap. In other, less poetic words, give us time to ask questions.

A face-to-face pitch session should feel more like a conversation, and every agent/editor will hone in on something different. So leave yourself room to answer questions. If you don’t and you babble through all 10 minutes, you might end up not getting a request. Because that tidbit in the middle that you glossed over was the one thing that agent/editor was looking for, and you didn’t give them time to find that out.

Your mission in an in-person pitch is simply to get that business card (See? American Idol golden ticket, right?) and a request to see more. That’s it. You’re not going to be signed on the spot, and you’re not going to give us your entire book on a silver platter. It’s simply the first step to a longer conversation.
 

Elevator Pitches on Social Media

 
Have you guessed the reason behind this order yet? It’s because they get progressively shorter and shorter. Much like pitching in person, an elevator pitch on social media should comprise the basics of your story. It should only contain the hook, the thing that is most likely to get people to stop and say “ooo, that sounds good.” You have 140 characters, so every letter has to count. Which is why you really only want two things (aside from genre/audience): the stakes/conflict, and what makes your story different. Again, you’re not trying to cram your whole book into 140 characters; that’s madness. You’re only trying to get us to want more. Which is why including that unique-factor is crucial.

To win this round, all you have to do is get a favorite from one of the stalking agents/editors, which then results in a submission of what? The first type of pitch: a traditional query letter and synopsis. It all comes back around to create a massive circle.

So there you have it, a breakdown of both why pitching is necessary and my particular thought process for evaluating them. Over the course of this next week, I’ll be starting #Pubsubs on Twitter, giving you a chance to see this in action, and periodically, I’ll add articles that may or may not be helpful to those navigating the query trenches to this blog series (along with the weekly Tweet compilations, of course). If you have any suggestions for topics you’d like me to cover, feel free to leave them in the comments below.

Until next week, happy pitching!

— Kisa Whipkey
Acquisitions & Editorial Director

The post Adventures in the Slush Pile: 8/17/15 Edition appeared first on REUTS | Boutique Book Publisher |.

Welcome to the newest addition to the REUTS blog!

As you well know, the staff of REUTS Publications believes in transparency, and there’s nothing we enjoy more than finding new and creative ways to offer authors insight/advice on navigating the murky depths of the publishing industry. We’re certainly not the only ones with this philosophy, though, and I would be remiss if I didn’t give credit where it was due. See, what I’m about to unveil was inspired by the acts of fellow industry professionals at the Ruben Literary Agency, Inklings Literary Agency, Red Sofa Literary, and many others, all of whom are responsible for creating the Twitter hashtags #tenqueries, #500queries, etc.

Recently, I asked authors how they felt about those very hashtags and the possibility of seeing one from REUTS. The answer was an overwhelming and resounding, “YES, do it!” Because, as you may have noted above, the people who usually participate in these kinds of activities are agents, not presses. But agents and editors (especially small press editors) don’t always look for the same things, and it was abundantly clear that some of you out there are curious to see how we differ.

Therefore, I’m launching #REUTSsubs and following in my predecessors’ footsteps. As I browse the slush pile looking for gems waiting to be snatched up, I’ll tweet my thoughts/verdicts. The point of these, while hopefully entertaining, is to offer authors insight into the way an acquisitions editor makes their decision. The queries will remain anonymous; I’ll only list the category, genre, and my overall opinion. Sounds just like the others, doesn’t it? That’s the idea. However, there is an added component that I haven’t seen the others do yet.

Once a week, I will take all those tweets and compile them here on the blog. Twitter captures a snapshot of the decision process — the ultimate verdict — but it doesn’t allow for a lot of explanation as to the thought behind that verdict. Personally, I believe that’s the portion that will be most helpful to the authors battling it out in the query trenches. From personal reasons, to catalog clashes, to components that could have been done differently, there are a plethora of reasons as to why something might be rejected. And fitting that into Twitter’s limit is nigh impossible. So, to that end, the weekly blog summary will allow for additional commentary that can’t be squished into 140 characters while also providing a handy location to catch them all.

Also, REUTS does their acquisitions by panel, meaning that no one person has the final say. So it would be deceptive to say that the verdict you see from me on Twitter is the ultimate verdict on a submission. Sometimes (frequently, actually), we end up with split decisions, resulting in more discussion and eventually a majority ruling. To reflect that process more accurately, I’ll be adding commentary from the other acquisitions members to the blog posts as well. You may also see them pop up on the hashtag every once in a while. Though, for the most part, I’ll be the one curating it all. (Don’t groan too loudly; I might hear you. )

So, that’s it. Keep an eye on #REUTSsubs in the next few weeks if you’re interested in my humble opinions, and look for the first summary edition of “Adventures in the Slush Pile” to go live on Monday, 8/17/15. (Why not next Monday? I’ll be attending the Willamette Writers Conference in Portland, OR for most of this week, so I’ll be accepting pitches in person, as opposed to wading through the slush pile.) See you then!

— Kisa Whipkey
Acquisitions & Editorial Director

The post Adventures in the Slush Pile appeared first on REUTS | Boutique Book Publisher |.

In the publishing world, there’s a lot going on behind-the-scenes even when it may not look like it. In fact, the bulk of a publisher’s (or agent’s or writer’s) efforts aren’t publicly broadcasted. When an announcement is made or a book is released, it comes on the heels of weeks, or even months, of behind-the-scenes teamwork. Because we like full transparency and providing an inside look into how we do what we do, I wanted to touch on delays; why they happen, and why they aren’t always a bad thing. So in a fashion similar to Editorial Dir. Kisa Whipkey’s What Not to Do When Querying article, here’s:

“Hey, what’s taking so long?”
The Delays in Publishing.

For organizational means, I’m going to break down “publishing” into the main phases an author and publisher go through. Please note this is specific to REUTS and how we move through these individual phases. Though other pubs may have similar processes, there isn’t a “one size fits all” method to publishing.

Submitting

Number one delay: Slush.

Now, don’t assume that’s bad. Slush is just a term to describe all the submissions we receive. Some are good, and some are not so good. Kind of like snow—you’ve got the pristine, fresh snow, and then the mucky, brown snow. Mix them together, and you have slush. Not bad, just how it goes. Every publisher or agency has slush, and everyone has their own method of trudging through it.

Delay’s happen here from an overwhelming number of submissions. If you have 100 submissions looming in the slush pile, and each includes a query/synopsis and the first ten pages of the manuscript, there’s quite a lot of reading involved at the very start of the process. And, in order to make the most informed decision on whether or not to request the full manuscript, we read them all. This causes a delay at REUTS because of the unique method we’ve adopted to handle submissions. Instead of submitting to one Acquisitions Editor who then decides yay or nay (and if yay, has to convince the rest of the team to feel the same way), we have a panel consisting of the four REUTS directors. Each of our directors reads through each submission, provides their thoughts, and submits a decision. It then comes down to a majority vote. Only after a majority vote has been decided can we respond to an author regarding their submission. And at REUTS we provide a unique response email to all of our submitting authors, regardless if it’s good news or bad news.

Only then can we move a manuscript out of the “submitting” phase, and into the “reviewing” phase.

Remember, requesting an update only delays us further, since the time it takes to look up your manuscript, track down the email with any discussion, and respond back takes precious time away from actually reading your submission. Here are REUTS we always respond to a submission made. No exceptions. So if you haven’t heard from us, that’s actually better than if you had and received a rejection.

Reviewing

Number one delay: Reading.

If a submission makes it to the “reviewing” phase that means we’ve requested a full manuscript for further . . . review. Makes sense! This is, without a doubt, the longest part on your journey toward receiving that beloved contract offer. In requesting manuscripts with a minimum word count of 50,000 (and many times a story is well over that), it means an acquisitions team has to read a full-length book before making a decision. Just like in the “submitting” phase, our panel of four REUTS directors are involved in reviewing the full manuscript. Each director reads the manuscript, and then there’s the discussion. Since people read at different speeds, with their own set of different delays (remember: our directors have responsibilities to already signed authors outside of their acquisitions duties) there’s no way to accurately gauge how long it will take all four team members to read a manuscript. Then there’s the discussion, which is absolutely necessary, as each of our directors brings a different perspective to the table. Editorial Director Kisa Whipkey weighs in on the amount of work involved in bringing a manuscript up to publication standards. Marketing Director Summer Wier weighs in on how marketable the title would be in the current—and future—marketplace trends. This method, along with many other factors, allows us to determine whether a title will work within our collection or whether it isn’t a good fit.

We take our job very seriously, as I’m sure all Acquisitions Editors do, and that means taking our time to make sure our accrual of a new title will benefit both REUTS and—most importantly—the author.

Production
(editing, cover design, marketing, etc…)

Number one delay: Life.

Your editor won’t be your cover artist. Your cover artist won’t be your marketer. That right there means there are at least four people working together to produce your novel. And, guess what, those four people all have lives independent of each other, independent of REUTS. Yes, you’re included in that four, too. We don’t expect an author to focus on their manuscript 24/7, just as we don’t expect our production team to focus solely on your manuscript 24/7. It’s a fact many tend to ignore: life gets in the way. Sometimes you can’t control it. Sickness, death, children, leisure . . . delays sometimes happen because of the things you can’t plan for. It doesn’t mean your editor/cover artist/etc . . . isn’t fully vested in your project. It doesn’t mean you’re not a priority in the eyes of the publisher. It just . . . happens. As much as we try to account for life-based delays, let’s face it, they’re unavoidable.

In addition, on top of those life delays each team member involved in the production of your title has at least a handful of other books they’re also working on, simultaneously, and trying to make sure all authors receive the same amount of attention, especially if one of the authors has a book release looming sooner than another.

Sometimes this means we miss the original publication date, and it has to be pushed back (trust me, this happens a lot in publishing, and not just to independent presses). Many times that means scrambling until the very last second before a release day, making sure everything is set and ready to go. But always this means we’re working our very hardest for you and your manuscript. A delay doesn’t mean otherwise.

So you see, there are a lot of pieces to the puzzle that come together, from start to finish, to produce a book. Delays aren’t necessarily a bad thing. We’d much rather delay any phase of the process in order to give your story the time of day it deserves. In the “Submitting” phase, that means actually reading through your submission, and determining if we’re the best fit as a publisher or not. In the “Reviewing” phase, that means reading every word of that 50,000+ word story, becoming emotionally invested in your characters/world/etc… and trying to find a place for it in our collection. And then finally, in “Production”, where if everything wasn’t done digitally, our blood, sweat, and tears would stain your pages because we want to put out the very best product possible.

Publishing is largely a waiting game. That should come as no surprise. But just remember what they say:

Patience is a virtue.

The post “Hey, what’s taking so long?” The Delays in Publishing appeared first on REUTS | Boutique Book Publisher |.

First, we fed your blood thirst with “Bloody Ever After.” Then, we showed you the ugly side of death with “The Ugly Dead.” Then, we brought you to hell and back with “Fairy Tales from Hell.” And finally, we changed your perspective on happily ever after with “Shifty Stories to Read in the Dark.”

Now, it’s time to give you what you’ve waited all month for: the finalists for this year’s chilling, thrilling season of Project REUTSway. In alphabetical order. Without revealing the names of the stories that have been chosen.

What this means for you, if your name is on this list, is that you’re STILL in the running to win it all. You just have to wait until January 31st to find out if you’re a multiple story winner, a single story winner, or a runner up whose story will be featured in full as part of our Grimm and Chilling Tales blog series (Coming to the REUTS blog in February, 2014)!

Are you ready? Here we go:

The FINALISTS of Project REUTSway 2013 are: (in alphabetical order by first name/author name)

If you’re not on this list, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you again for being a part of Project REUTSway. When we embarked on this journey, we had no idea what was going to happen. The outpouring of talent and enthusiasm we experienced was both exciting and humbling, and we’d be lying if we didn’t admit that choosing only a few finalists was probably the most difficult thing we’ve had to do all year.

Thank you for sharing your time, your energy, and your gloriously twisted imaginations. We wish you all the happiest endings imaginable.

Sincerely,

The Project REUTSway Team

The post Introducing…The Project REUTSway 2013 FINALISTS!!! appeared first on REUTS | Boutique Book Publisher |.

This week, I’ve been judging entries for the ProjectREUTSway competition held during the month of November. Buried amid 144 short stories, I started to think about what exactly makes one “successful”. I think most of you know by now that I, myself, published 3, so this is a topic that hits very close to home. It’s also one I’ve never really stopped to think about. Until now. Because, let’s face it, short stories are strange. Similar to novels and yet completely dissimilar, they require a certain — almost magic — recipe to really shine. I don’t believe in the undefinable though, (at least not when it comes to writing) so let’s see if we can’t identify the exact ingredients that make short stories such a unique form of storytelling.

Short stories are often considered a novelist’s training wheels; the idea being that someone can learn the basics of storytelling through short stories and then graduate into novels. But that’s not exactly what happens. Because, in reality, they require two different skill sets to pull off well. A short story is not a truncated novel, nor is a novel an elongated, rambling short story. Rarely can the concept for one be turned successfully into the other. And yet people still try. Why? Because short stories have been given a bad rap. Novels take all the glory, leaving short stories to rot in creative writing jail like fiction offenders. They’re looked down on as an inferior form of narrative, an eighth grade diploma to the novel’s PHD. After all, the only difference between them is length, right?

Wrong.

There are three things a successful short story must have: brevity, focus, and telling. Yes, you heard me, telling. But before you get your knickers in a bunch, let me explain further.

1. Brevity

 
Novelists are taught the value of brevity. But even the most refined novels still sprawl, meandering through details and settings and other things short story authors simply can’t afford. Literally every word matters in a short story. No detail is extraneous. If we mention the light blue collar on a random cat, you can bet that collar is important somehow.

The same holds true for the words themselves. Novelists are allowed to write sentences like this:

She paused, grabbing the handle of the stainless steel refrigerator and pulling it open with a subtle flick of her wrist.

(Hey, no comments on the quality. Clearly, I know that sentence is atrocious. I’m proving a point. )

That’s 21 words to say this:

She opened the refrigerator door.

Yes, that may be a bit exaggerated, but you see what I mean, I hope. When you only have maybe 5000 words of space, every letter has to serve a purpose. Successful short stories know this, and the language/storytelling is as finely honed as a scalpel. If it doesn’t somehow move the plot along, impart valuable information or absolutely have to exist, it doesn’t.

2. Focus

 
I’m a firm believer that every story should have a message, a reason for existing. But maybe that’s because I started out as a short story author. Whenever I come up with an idea, I identify the core message first, before the setting, characters, or even plot. For example, The Bardach is a story about identity, Spinning is about fate, and Confessions is about losing faith. Even Unmoving has a focal point. At its core, its about compassion. This type of focused narrative is one of the more notable differences between a short story and a novel.

Short stories are single-minded. Like a starving man spotting food, they keep their eyes on the prize. None of this wandering off into detours, flashbacks, subplots or other shenanigans that novels get away with. Nope, they have one message, one plot, one climatic moment that everything points to. And, interestingly enough, short stories are typically driven by an event, rather than a character. The focus is on the action, not the person doing it.

How does this translate into our recipe for success? Well, you’ll be able to feel the underlying drive in a really good short story. You’ll walk away from it remembering the message, not necessarily the characters. So make darn sure you know what you’re saying, both literally and subtextually.

3. Telling

 
All right. I know this is the one you were waiting for. After all the times “show, don’t tell” has been beaten into your head, you simply can’t believe I’d actually stand here and advocate telling, can you? Well, I’m not really.

See, the thing is, showing is still 100% better than telling. But, telling is allowed in a short story. Due to the limited amount of time you have to impart your narrative, there’s really no way around it. You don’t have the luxury of wasting thousands of words, or even hundreds, showing us the back-story. Nor can you illustrate anything directly outside the timeline of the main event, regardless how important it may be. So that only leaves one option — telling. You should still avoid the dreaded info-dump if you can, but slipping in the occasional line of summary, or a paragraph of back-story, won’t automatically earn you peer derision. Well, most of the time, anyway.

Successful short story authors are masters of knowing when to tell and when to show. (Which, by the way, I am not. Just wanted to clarify that in case anyone thought I was going to be cocky and throw myself on that list.) They give you just enough information — typically in the form of telling — to make their worlds/characters feel as fleshed out as a novel’s, but not so much that you really notice. They cover a lot of ground in a really short amount of time, making this the hardest skill on the list. It actually requires mastery of the other two to pull off, which is why I listed it last.

And there you have it; the anatomy of a successful short story. Learn how to control these three elements and your short fiction will stand out in a pile like little beacons. And let’s all try to stop viewing short stories as the lesser form of fiction. They’re not inferior. Just different.

**This post has been syndicated from Editorial Director, Kisa Whipkey’s personal Blog: Nightwolf’s Corner.**

The post The Anatomy of a Successful Short Story appeared first on REUTS | Boutique Book Publisher |.

Surprisingly, I’ve actually seen the statement (more than once) that writers don’t need to worry about things like grammar and spelling. That’s the editor’s job; they’ll clean it up. (Every time someone says this, another editing muse disintegrates into ash from the horror.) No, actually, that’s not our job. It’s yours. Yes, editors (especially freelance editors) are more forgiving of the occasional typo and drunk-sounding sentence than your average reader, but that doesn’t mean they want to sludge through something that isn’t even as legible as your 4th grade history paper. And if your 4th grade teacher made you proofread, what makes you think an editor standing between you and publication, between you and being paid for your work, wouldn’t expect the same thing?

Exactly. They do.

But that doesn’t mean editing has to be as painful as a self-lobotomy. In fact, I’ve given tips to get you through the revision process before. (Divorce Your Words; Save Your Story) It’s a topic that bears repeating though, so today, I’m going to give you another set of helpful insights, not from the perspective of a writer (like that previous post was) but from that of an editor. (Hold on a moment while I swap my writer hat for my editor one . . . Okay. Ready.)

1. Step Back

 
No, I’m not bastardizing “step off” so don’t get your panties in a bunch. Step back is a concept from the art world. In fact, it’s one of the first things you learn at art school. (Yes, you learn stuff at art school. Shocking, I know.) The idea is that an artist can’t clearly see the entirety of their work when they’re hunched over it and it’s about 6 inches from their face, so they have to “step back” to change their perspective and see their work the way the world does. Now it makes sense, huh?

The first step in self-editing is finding a way to create that shift in perspective, to see the work you’ve poured your heart into for the past year in a different way. We’re too close to it during the creation phase, viewing it like an overprotective mother turning a blind eye to their kid’s flaws. You have to break that connection before you can even begin to analyze your work objectively. You need to step back.

The easiest way to do that is simply to shove your manuscript in a drawer for a few days and avoid it like a note from a debt collector trying to repo your car. I recommend a bare minimum of 48 hours, but a week to a month would be better. That allows the warm, fuzzy glow of creation to fade away and stark reality to set in. If you can’t afford to take the time off, then simply changing the mode of viewing can help. Download it onto an eReader or print it out. Even just move to the Starbucks two blocks away instead of the one next to your house. The change of venue will automatically clear your perspective of any lingering rosy tint and allow you to see more clearly.

2. Ignore the Details

 
Editing is synonymous with comma hunting, spell-check, and word choice, right? Wrong. So many writers (and more than a few editors) dive right into the detail work, thinking all they have to do is clean up the grammar, completely skipping over a very crucial step — structural editing. Bypassing this is like trying to repair a broken bone with makeup. All you end up with is a mangled limb painted like a hooker. Offensive, maybe, but it gets the point across, no?

At this stage in the process, no one cares if you spelled “definitely” wrong, or have a bazillion commas in all the wrong places. Ignore all that. Look deeper, at the story itself. If the structure isn’t working, there’s no point in polishing. That lump of coal’s not turning into a diamond. The only way to fix it is to become a story surgeon, diagnosing and repairing things that are otherwise fatal to your chances of publication. How? Like this:

Take that fresh perspective you earned in step 1 and read through your manuscript from an aerial view, glossing over all the details. You’ll fix them later. Right now, you want to focus on things like pacing, character motivations, world development, scene transitions and narrative sequence. What’s the message of your book? Is that coming through clearly? Do the characters feel like fully-fleshed out people, or cardboard cut-outs? Are the scenes in the right order or does shuffling a few around improve the plot’s progression? These are the kinds of questions you should be asking. Trust your instincts as a reader. We’ve all been programmed to know when a story works and when it doesn’t. And don’t be afraid to make a giant mess; you can stitch it all back together afterward.

3. Murder Your Habit Words

 
Habit words are insidious, riddling your manuscript like a cancer, so before you send your book off to the cosmetic surgeon (aka, your editor) for that much-needed facelift, you need to eradicate them. (Don’t ask why my favorite analogy for editing is medical. I don’t know.) Don’t feel bad, everyone has them. They’re like comfort food, something we turn to without even realizing. My habit words are “was” and “so.” I’m sure I have others, but that’s all I’m admitting to.

Other common ones are “that,” “had,” and “actually.” It can also be a phrase like “for a moment” or “roll his/her/their eyes.” Pretty much anything you find repeating over and over again qualifies as a habit word. Ideally, you should try to avoid repeating words on the same page or even the same chapter! The English vocabulary is huge; use it to your advantage. But without being pretentious about it. Rarely will you find a word that doesn’t have at least one synonym. So before you go to the next step, arm that delete button with a hefty dose of radiation and go hunting for your habit words. You can’t kill them all, but you’ll be surprised at how even just this small tweak can drastically improve the smoothness of your prose.

4. Rhythm’s in the Details

 
Now you get to go through your manuscript with a fine-toothed comb, copyediting line by line until it’s as perfect as you can make it on your own. This includes things like fixing rocky sentences, condensing wordy parts, simplifying convoluted phrasing, fixing grammar mistakes and just general tweaking for rhythm and smoothness. This is what people picture when they hear “editing.” It’s the tedious part that will make you want to poke your own eyes out just so you never have to read that chapter ever again. It’s repetitive and monotonous, but it’s like sending your book to the gym. Each pass will trim a little more of the fat until your manuscript is a lean, efficient piece of storytelling. At which point you send it to an editor and the whole process starts over.

That’s right. I just outlined what a professional editor does. (With the exception of #1.)

So, why, if these are all steps you can do yourself, do editors exist? Because they provide objectivity. Even a self-editing master won’t be able to catch everything. Writers can never truly disconnect from their work, can never view it with complete objectivity, because they know the story and what they were trying to convey. An editor provides clarity, finding things that are confusing or missing just like a reader would. But since they’re also literary doctors, they’ll help you fix it, saving you from the embarrassing backlash of reader criticism and scorn. Besides, two heads are better than one. Right?

**Syndicated from Nightwolf’s Corner, the personal blog of Senior Editor, Kisa Whipkey.**

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So, what exactly is a hybrid of self-publishing and traditional publishing methods? Let’s elaborate.

Self-Publishing

There are articles upon articles discussing the pros and cons of going the self-publishing route with your novel. The pro which typically heads up the list is control. As a self-publisher, you make all the milestone decisions when producing and publishing your manuscript; from how you want your book printed–double spaced lines, or 1.5 spaced lines? It does make a difference!–to cover art designed exactly the way you dictate, to the release date, etc. All the control falls within your hands. But, as we all know, “with great power, comes great responsibility.” So, as a self-publisher, you bear the brunt of the work (or must find experts to contract the work out to) and the stress that comes with publishing sans publisher. You get the good (control) with the bad (work, problems, decisions, responsibility, all of the consequences, etc.).

REUTS is interested in the “good” that comes with self-publishing, and that’s where the first part of our hybrid nature comes in. We give authors the control over how their novel is produced during every aspect of production. While editing, we don’t dictate changes or rewrite for you. We suggest alternatives and options we feel would make your story stronger. When discussing cover art, the first question we ask is: “What is your ideal cover to represent your story?” And we do our best to make that ideal a reality. If you have any problems with any aspect of your book’s production, we work with you to find the route that makes you happy.

Our team is comprised of experts, but we use that expertise to guide your vision, not strip you of control.

^{AND PLEASE NOTE: Even though REUTS utilizes self-publishing’s philosophies, we are not a self-publishing service. We have a standard submission process, and manuscripts are turned away if they don’t meet the criteria we’re looking for in our collection. We do not charge the author a penny. Ever. Period. No ifs, ands or buts.}

Traditional Publishers (Big NY Presses)

On the opposite side of the spectrum, we have the “big press” publications everyone’s familiar with: Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Penguin, etc. Those companies sport rigorously high submission standards, and sometimes only seem to seek immediate bestsellers. What does REUTS borrow from their methodology? The experts.

Aspiring authors seek traditional publishers because of what the publisher has to offer: professional editing, professional marketing/design and professional promotion. REUTS offers all of that as well as full control over the production of your manuscript, blending the best of both worlds into one progressive service.

Each of our team members hails from a specific discipline. We love what we do, and coming together with REUTS has allowed all of us to blend our previous work experience with our passion: books.

Still not convinced? Here’s a quick look at what you can expect when working with us:

• REUTS offers two rounds of editing, which both involve the author from start to finish. Instead of working “offline” in Microsoft Word for the editorial phase, our editors work with an author in Google Docs, collaborating on edits together, and avoiding the dreaded “red wall of text” that comes with tracking changes in Microsoft Word. A manuscript goes through the First Round of editorial with a lead editor, to tighten up the story structurally and clean up the mechanics. The second phase (dubbed “Second Look Editorial”) pulls in a second editor to pore through the manuscript with a fine-tooth comb, looking for would-be errors, ensuring the document sparkles for publication.

• Cover art is another important phase in the creation of a novel. “You can’t judge a book by the cover,” they say… yet we all know that a great/poor cover can make or break a book. REUTS understands this, and has a team dedicated to creating superb cover art, and extending that branding across different promotional platforms (social media skins, poster/swag products, advertisements, etc.). Some of our team members have over ten years of design experience. Collectively, we’ve got a lifetime of knowledge!

• Some would argue that the most important phase in the production and success of a book is promotion. As the Creative Director, I come from a background of professional advertising in a nationally recognized advertising agency (with clients such as CITGO, Southwest Airlines, and Loyola University). What benefits stem from an advertising agency background? Advertising tips, tricks and experience. How do we apply this to the promotion of a REUTS title? We cover things from digital book/blog tours (reveals, interviews, reviews, events, etc.), sending out press releases, providing authors with swag, traditional advertisement banners on GoodReads or applicable book websites/blogs, book trailers and more! We utilize every outlet, every shred of knowledge our team has gained over the years, toward the benefit our titles. We’re not successful unless you’re successful, so we work hard to put your book in reader hands (or digital shelves… we embrace the eBook readers, too!)

• Last but not least: royalties. REUTS offers above industry standard royalties. We believe the profits should go back to the author, which is why REUTS pays the author their cut first, before any money reaches the production team. Our team doesn’t get paid unless the author gets paid, because we are all compensated based on the same sales royalties! We all have a vested interest in the success of your novel, which creates a mutually beneficial relationship that promotes trust and productivity.

So there you have it! Just a little bit of insight into REUTS, our process, and what being a hybrid company truly means. We’ve taken the best from both worlds, and are combining those benefits into an experience authors can look back on and see as fun, enriching and worthwhile. At REUTS, we endeavor to bring both aspiring and veteran authors an unparalleled feeling of confidence and clarity when publishing their work. That’s what makes us stand out in an industry where transparency is often a tradeoff of prestige.

We realize information can often be misconstrued across the Internet, and urge anyone with even a shred of confusion to contact us with any specific questions you might have about REUTS, how we operate, what we offer, etc. We’re here to serve, and want to make sure you have the most accurate information out there.

You can also check out our FAQs page, to see if your question has already been answered.

Finally, here’s a picture of a cat… in space… because we like to offer a little something for everyone.

^{*You’ll see we prefer to refer to ourselves as a “publishing agency,” because– in addition to providing the actual publication of a book via editing and typesetting– we have the expertise to focus on the aesthetic and brand of a book and author, together. Again, this goes along with our hybrid mentality.}

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