Sales and Marketing: The last frontier in the independent vs. traditional publishing turf war?

by A.M. Khalifa, thriller author

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AM Khalifa on Google +

[Note from Jodie: We're pleased to welcome a new member to CFC: A.M. Khalifa, my client and friend, is a talented, world-traveled author whose riveting international thriller, Terminal Rage, was published in August. Take it away, A.M.!]

I recently spent five days attending the single most important annual event for the publishing world, the Frankfurt Bookfair. The 5-day affair is an immersion in anything and everything to do with the business of books and reading, providing rare insight into where the industry is, and where it’s heading.

Frankfurt Bookfair: The public is still interested in reading

Publishers, printers, digital chain suppliers, agents, and logistics companies convene every year in Frankfurt to flex their muscles as well as make the big deals. Here is my impression on where the industry stands in terms of the rise of independent publishing vs. traditional. 

Books are going to be around for a long time

The most reassuring impression I had is that reading is alive and well. Concerns about the interest in books declining as a result of diminishing attention spans and competition from online media are by-and-large exaggerated. The fair was initially limited to trade visitors, but once it opened up to the public I felt a deep hunger and intense interest in books and authors. The handful of successful writers who showed up were hounded like movie stars.

This is good news if you happen to be a writer. Our craft is still highly in demand. Keep writing, even if the route between you and your future readers seems obstructed by the business side of the industry. It's only a matter of time before even that is democratized.

The final stage of the book revolution is coming

The revolution that's rocking the publishing world is still in its infancy - its real seismic effects are yet to be felt. And it may take a while. The publishing industry feels ominously similar to the music world ten years ago. The big players in Frankfurt seemed tentatively nervous of what is about to come. Gone is the resolute hubris of say, five years ago. Because there are intruders at the gates. Not posing any huge danger for now. But catapulting tiny fire balls at the fortress, patiently making small but effective dents. Microscopic gains that will one day add up.

Advances in technology have resulted in the explosion of electronic books and high-quality print on demand solutions, as well as somewhat reliable distribution networks. This has lowered the entry bar dramatically. Producing a professional book and making it available for sale is no longer a difficult or prohibitively expensive pursuit. 

But herein is the inherent contradiction of self-publishing that is both comforting and worrying for mainstream publishers.

Because anybody can do it, the emphasis on quality has never been higher. That’s the good news for traditional publishers because they can play up how their infrastructure filters out all the duds, and makes sure readers get only the quality material.

The ‘bad’ news however is that even though there is a lot of sub-standard material being churned up, truly amazing works can also slip through the cracks. And once enough excellent writers establish themselves outside the realm of traditional publishing, mainstream readers will start paying attention and look with a more serious intent at indie authors to discover the next great read.

The main juggernaut of the business has now been cornered to the last remaining strongholds of the big publishers: sales and marketing. As most self-published writers know all too well, even if you’ve just written the most ground-breaking novel of all time, if you can’t get it reviewed, and if you can’t get on the airwaves to promote it, and if you can’t get it stocked in all the brick-and-mortar book stores, and if you can’t flood the market with huge print runs, then it doesn't seem worth the effort. And that’s what big publishers are holding on to for dear life: Access to the public and the ability to shape their tastes and needs using unlimited resources.

So where will the revolution come from, one might ask? From a third-party.

Just like Amazon's CreateSpace and Lightning Source democratized the production process for printed books, sooner or later some smart entrepreneur will figure out a business model to provide effective sales and marketing services to independent and small publishers. Not the con artists who currently prey on inexperienced authors like vanity publishers or self-proclaimed literary consultants. But legitimate players. Of course if mainstream publishers can heed the cautionary tales of the music industry, they would be rushing as we speak to plan for the future and make sure they’re providing these services ahead of the competition. But who knows if they will.

In the future, instead of the big five, there will be thousands, even millions of smaller publishing cells, being serviced by professional and effective enabling vendors. Me, you, and others like us. Not just on the production side, but before that at the editorial level, and after that at the sales, marketing and distribution points. Social media will be a part of that menu, not as a main course or even as a side dish, as the prognosticators would like us to think. But more like a condiment.

Readers: Are you looking more to indie writers for quality fiction?

And fellow writers: other than sales and marketing, what other advantages do you feel mainstream publishing has over independent publishing?

And speaking of quality control and competing with traditional publishing, see Jodie Renner's related article on The Kill Zone yesterday: Indie Authors - Should You Revise & Republish Some of Your Earlier Books?


A.M. Khalifa, author of international thrillers, writes exhilarating, contemporary stories pulsating with life and unforgettable characters. His debut novel, Terminal Rage, is a layered thrill ride that moves seamlessly from inside a nerve-wracking hostage situation to far-flung locations across the world, challenging readers to stay ahead of its unpredictable plot.

Sign up to Khalifa's newsletter to stay up to date with his activities and posts. You can also follow him on Twitter or like him on Facebook.

Author's Bill of Rights

By Andrew E. Kaufman

How Much Time Should I Give Other Authors?

It’s a question I often ask. The truth is, I’d help everyone if I could, because I know how overwhelming being (or becoming) an author can be. I also know how frustrating it is to feel excited about my work, and then struggle to get others to feel the same enthusiasm. By nature, I like to give just as much as receive and find equal joy in both. Besides, I truly love meeting other writers. We are a community, and I enjoy being a part of it.

But with that comes another set of issues: part of it is time; the other is that these days, it feels like there are almost as many people writing books as reading them. 

And it seems the busier I get with my career, the less time I have, with even less of it to enjoy activities in my personal life. Since I signed with a publisher, I’m no longer my own boss. Now there are deadlines set by others that I’m obligated to meet. There are conference calls with my editor, with promotions people, and with my agent. My time doesn’t seem to belong to me as much as it once did.

Despite this, I still want to offer other authors help when they ask for it. I’ve just learned to recognize my limitations. Since my writing and my readers have to come first, I can’t provide everyone with everything they need. I can only do my best, but I have to accept that my best will not always be what I’d like.

So in setting these priorities, I’ve made some decisions, devising a Personal Author’s Bill of Rights. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

Amendment 1: Reading Requests/Endorsements/Beta Reads

I have the right to refuse reading or endorsing another author's book when asked.

This was the toughest one for me. I feel bad saying no. It’s not that I don’t want to read another author’s book—it’s that next to writing a novel, reading one is a huge time investment. I usually read at bedtime, but sometimes that only lasts a few minutes before I pass out.

I will occasionally break this rule if I know an author well enough (and their work), and even then, it depends on whether my schedule will permit. But I’ve run into trouble there as well. I’ve made promises, only to find I’m not able to follow through when my workload becomes too overwhelming. So, as much as I hate to say no to a friend (and suffer the ill effects of that decision) I’ve decided it’s far worse to say yes, and then not be able to deliver. The guilt is colossal.

Amendment 2: Offering Advice.

I will always answer emails from authors who ask for advice and try my best to do so in a timely manner.

With limits, that is. If I feel I can answer a question, I will—unfortunately, how much information I’m able to provide depends on the question, and anything requiring an in-depth outline or pages of explanation simply isn’t manageable. But I do try to do my best and be as helpful as possible, and I also apologize when I can’t.  I don’t always have to give advice, but I do feel an obligation to be kind to everyone.

Amendment 3: Promoting Other Authors’ Books on Social Media and Beyond.

I will gladly promote other authors’ books that:

1) I know and trust deliver quality content

2) I know (period).

But even with that, I’ve started to feel I need to clearly state when I haven't read a book I’m promoting, because it feels unfair to readers otherwise. Then the question arises: how do I enthusiastically recommend a book I’ve never read? Haven’t figured that one out yet.

Amendment 4: Appearing as a Guest on Blogs/ Doing Interviews

 I will always make time to be a guest on blogs (time permitting) and will gladly do interviews.

This applies to all of them, no matter how big or small, because I’m honored to be asked, and because they’re doing me a favor by showing interest (Not the other way around).

Amendment 5: Appearing at Writers' Gatherings

I will always say yes (Time and geography permitting) in order to encourage other authors.

 

See above—same reason, and because when I first started out, I never had the benefit of getting advice from experienced authors, and I know what a big difference it would have made if I did. Besides, as I've mentioned, I love meeting other writers, and I benefit from that just as much as they might.

Have I left anything out? And what about you? Both writers and readers: how do you manage time constraints when the requirements of everyday life seem to get in the way?

Rewire

By Andrew E. Kaufman

I’ve been thinking about doing some rewiring lately. Not in my house, but in my brain: my writer’s brain. It seems to have gone a bit wonky.

Because I’ve realized that being a good writer isn’t just about grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Plot arcs are crucial, but they don’t mean a damned thing if your own story is out-of-whack. Writing is about being in the right place emotionally, not just on paper, but in your head.

So in doing my rewiring, I’ve identified some short-circuit issues—places where I seem to be getting in my own way, where a fuse or two got tripped. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

Comparing Myself to Other Authors 

I don’t do this as often as I once did (not really), but occasionally, I find myself slipping down that slope. It’s a bad one. Here's me reading a book. It goes something like this:

Me: (First chapter)“Damn, what an awesome passage.”

Me: (Fifth chapter) “Damn, the dude can write.”

Me: (Tenth chapter) “Oh, Damn….”

Me: (Midbook) “Oh Sh#*… I’ll never be this good,”

Me: (End of book) “Ohgoodlord. I seriously suck.”

Coveting thy author: bad move. It’s a prescription for failure. It’s a trap, a self-imposed esteem ambush. Even worse, it’s the fastest way to kill inspiration and creativity. I can’t compare myself to other writers because quite simply, I am not That Writer. 

Worrying About Numbers

I’ve decided to decide that numbers don’t matter—not in the overall scheme of things; or at least in the little one, that worrying about them doesn’t do a damned bit of good. Worry all you want, but whether you do or not, numbers are still going to happen. They’re a unit of measure, not a way of life. Sales rankings, book units, word count, my age, my checking account balance: all unhealthy obsessions. Life matters. Numbers don’t.

Forgetting Why I Write 

I still do this.

Sometimes (he said, grudgingly) .

I get so caught up in deadlines, book deals, sales, and everything else that writing isn’t about, that I forget why I do it in the first place. And then I remember the times when none of those things existed, when it was just  me and the written word, and the more I do, the more I realize, those were the best days of my life. It’s so easy to get caught up in the business of writing instead of the passion that drives it.

Not Trusting My Process

The moment I’m about to give up--when I’m chewing the ends off pencils, throwing things, and doing the primal scream--is always the exact moment before I make my biggest breakthrough, when the most amazing things happen. I’ve come to accept that this is part of my process. It’s how I roll. I can’t change it, so I’m going to learn to live with it and accept that I have to go There before I can get Here (even if it sort of sucks sometimes).
    

All Work and No Play:

That’s me.

I’m the first to admit it.  All do is write. I don’t mind that all I do is write, because I love being a writer—but still, it feels like all I ever do is write. And it feels unbalanced. And unhealthy. And it feels like I have no life outside of writing.  So my goal this year is to make time away from writing (After my deadline, of course--just in case Thomas & Mercer is reading this). To take Caleb to the beach more often and to simply enjoy. To live more.  Writing is my passion, but my passion can’t thrive in a vacuum; I have to feed it with living.

Fear of Failure

'Nuff said.

How about you? Got any bad wires that need fixing? Here’s the place to come clean.

Promise, I won’t tell ;)

7 Great Websites for Publishing Info

by L.J. Sellers, author of provocative mysteries & thrillers

I hear from writers all the time wanting to know about resources and how I keep up with everything. Keeping up not only with writing and promoting, but also staying informed about the publishing industry—which is very competitive and constantly evolving—is critical to success. With that in mind, here’s a list of my favorite websites.

The Passive Voice: This is an aggregate site that collects and links to blogs about the industry, with intelligent commentary from the site owner, who is an ex-entertainment lawyer and book formatter.

Publetariat: Another great aggregator site with a lot of how-to articles from writers about writing, promoting, and formatting.

Digital Book World: A collection of news, blogs, and commentary about everything happening in the electronic publishing world.

A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing: Joe Konrath always has great blogs and guest bloggers about self-publishing and often discusses pricing, a critical piece of the process.

For Crime Fiction Authors:
The Crime Fiction Daily: I also subscribe to this daily newsletter, which is specific to crime fiction and often includes real crimes stories, from which ideas spring.


The Graveyard Shift: I love this blog for news about police tactics, events, and more (such as its Castle reviews).

Writer's Forensics Blog: Fun blogs about death and crime scenes. What else can I say?

I know there are a lot more  terrific sites (and I could spend all day perusing them). What are your favorite sites for staying informed or developing your craft?

Cut the Clutter and Streamline Your Writing

- Part I

 
by Jodie Renner, editor, author, speaker

In my editing of fiction manuscripts, it seems one of my most important jobs is to help my clients streamline their writing so the ideas flow more smoothly.

I’m talking about those extra words that aren’t needed to enhance the mood, plot or characterization, or bring the story to life; the clutter of words that are getting in the way of the imagery and story and slowing down the pace. 

Think of a flower garden that is stifled by weeds to the point where you can’t see the flowers. Or a cluttered basement or workshop, where you can’t find the things you really need. The good stuff gets lost, or at least difficult to find among all the junk.

So once you’ve gotten through your first draft, it’s important to go back in and cut down on wordiness and redundancies in order to make your story more compelling, pick up the pace, and increase the tension and sense of urgency.

But of course, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water—no need to make your style so laconic that you’ve sucked the life and voice out of it. Keep all those juicy words and phrases that set the tone, define your voice and attitude, add atmosphere, provide sensory details, deepen your characters, add to the suspense and intrigue, and so on. Just cut out the excess blah-blah and leave the gems behind.

Sol Stein calls this important part of the editorial process “liposuctioning the flab.” As he says, “Flab is the enemy of every writer. Superfluous words and phrases soften prose. […] Flab, if not removed, can have a deleterious effect on the impatient reader, who will pay less attention to each word and begin to skip….” But after you go through and cut the flab, the remaining text will be much stronger and more compelling.

So if you want your fiction to sell, here’s some clutter to look for and expel, so the readers have nothing between them and your story:

First, take out any words, sentences, or paragraphs that are unnecessary, impede the flow of ideas, and slow the pace down. Search and destroy all those little words and phrases that just clutter up your sentences, adding nothing.

Here are some examples from my editing. I’ve changed the details to provide anonymity.

Before: They slept each night in the cheap motels located less than a mile’s drive from the interstate.

After: They slept each night in cheap motels just off the interstate.

 

Before: “You must never touch anything in this room if I don’t tell you to or if I haven’t given permission.”

After: “You must never touch anything in this room without my permission.”

Even better: “Do not touch anything in this room without my permission.”

Or even: "Do not touch anything in this room."

Before: The captain often asked a question of his men without really wanting their opinion. It was his way of providing a sense of democracy to his leadership style, when in actuality there was none.

After: The captain often posed questions of his men without really wanting their opinion. It was his way of pretending his leadership style was democratic.

Before: Jason motioned to a particular number in the middle of the spreadsheet that Tom currently had on the computer screen.

After: Jason motioned to a number in the middle of the spreadsheet on the screen.

Or: Jason pointed to a number in the middle of the spreadsheet.

Or even: Jason pointed to a number on the spreadsheet.

Take out empty, filler words like “It was,” “there was,” and “there were”:

Before: There was a long scar just above both eyebrows that gave him a sinister look.

After: A long scar above his eyebrows gave him a sinister look.

Or: A long scar on his forehead gave him a sinister look.

 

Before: I headed down a rickety set of wooden steps to the basement. There was a dim light ahead in the hallway. To the right there were cardboard boxes stacked high. To the left, there was a closed door with a padlock. Suddenly, I heard muffled sounds. There was someone upstairs.

After: I headed down a rickety set of wooden steps to the dimly lit basement. To the right cardboard boxes were stacked high. To the left, I saw a closed door with a padlock. Suddenly, I heard muffled sounds. Someone was upstairs.

I could play around with this some more, but you get the picture.

So, avoid cluttering up sentences and paragraphs with little words and phrases that aren’t needed, and impede the natural flow of ideas:

 

Before: Admiral Paul McLean strode into the room. A four-star admiral who currently was commander of the US Special Operations Command located in Tampa, Florida, McLean directed all the Special Forces throughout the military from the Green Berets to the Navy SEALs.

After: Admiral Paul McLean strode into the room. A four-star admiral and commander of US Special Operations in Tampa, McLean directed all the Special Forces, from the Green Berets to the Navy SEALs.

 

Finally, an example from Sol Stein:

Before: There is nothing I would like better than to meet an interesting person who could become a new friend.

After: I would like to meet an interesting new friend.

 

In Part II, we’ll examine more ways of streamlining your language to make your message more compelling, like cutting way back on adverbs, reducing the number of adjectives, avoiding repetitions of words, synonyms, and ideas, and cutting paragraphs and even scenes that don’t add anything or drive your story forward.

Copyright © Jodie Renner, April 2012

Resource:
Sol Stein, Stein on Writing

Also, see Jodie's article, "Clear, Concise, Powerful Nonfiction Writing."

 

Jodie Renner is a freelance fiction editor and the award-winning author of three craft-of-writing guides in her series An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction: Captivate Your Readers, Fire up Your Fiction, and Writing a Killer Thriller, as well as two clickable time-saving e-resources, Quick Clicks: Spelling List and Quick Clicks: Word Usage. She has also organized two anthologies for charity, incl. Childhood Regained – Stories of Hope for Asian Child Workers. You can find Jodie at www.JodieRenner.com, www.JodieRennerEditing.com, her blog, http://jodierennerediting.blogspot.com/, and on Facebook and Twitter. 

A novel timeline

By Gayle Carline

When I tell some people I'm an author, their first response is, "You know, I'm going to write a book someday, when I've got the time."

Others actually think it's amazing that I told a story in so very many words and got it published.

So for those of you who are going to write a book someday when you have the time, and for the rest of you who wonder how we do it, here is the history of a novel:

The Idea. It strikes like lightning and it is brilliant. BRILL-ee-YANT. What if a man/woman/person is found behind/on top of/underneath a piano/antique store/museum display, having been killed with a baseball bat/cannon ball/pickle fork? But there's a twist - a twist only YOU can write.

The First Fifty Pages: You realize there is a degree of difficulty in your idea. The person you want to be the murderer is refusing to be portrayed as a prim, yet cold-hearted librarian. You know that you need to set up X here so that Y can happen in the last act, but nothing is cooperating and your plot is already trying to de-rail itself. Order must be restored for you to continue, so you stop writing long enough to research where exactly a pickle fork would have to be inserted to kill someone. You spend a few hours on Facebook and call it "re-grouping."

The Slide from the First Third to the Mid-Point: Order has not been restored, but you have accepted the new plot offered by your characters. (Secretly you plan to kill them all off and start with new characters on the next book.) Now the problem is, you're bored. Every sentence you type sounds like, "Blah blah blah, blahdy blah blah." Ennui makes you want to chuck the whole thing and start over, but giving up sounds cowardly. Your choice is to slog through the blah, in hopes of redemption during editing, or hit one of your characters with a heavy object. Hint: there is no wrong answer here.

The Mid-Point to the Second Third: The mid-section spike in action and revelations has you invigorated. You have a clear idea of where this story is going, but you need to be careful to lay out the clues in the right order. You begin to make lists of who has to find/say what. These lists begin to invade your other lists. (You DO make lists, right?) Suddenly you're in the grocery store trying to find a dry cleaning slip from 1994 in the bread aisle. It's not there.

The Last Third: This is the home stretch, and by that I mean it stretches infinitely. The action is there, the reveal is there, you've got all the characters in the room, and - the damn book won't end. You spend three weeks writing "the last 20,000 words" because it seems you're always about 20,000 words from finishing. Just keep writing.

The Wall: Suddenly you hit it - The End. All that's left is a little post-coital wrap-up. Do you end it upbeat and perky, with everyone standing around the water cooler, laughing? Do you give it a noir, downer, "forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown" ending? Again, no wrong answer here, unless your last line is, "Tomorrow is another day."

Et, voila! You are finished. Except for the months you'll spend editing, the months you'll spend waiting for an editor to edit, writing a great query letter that sells the concept, weeping for joy when you sell it for a big advance, weeping with sadness when you realize you hate the cover art and the title they gave it. After that comes promotions and marketing, and pretending you're still in love with your book, even though you're distracted by a new Idea (a brilliant one).

And that's all there is to it. Easy, right?

Show Those Feelings — and Reactions!

by Jodie Renner, editor, author, & speaker        

One of the main reasons I put down a book is because it seems flat to me, the characters cardboard cutouts, the protagonist bland, bored and boring, or even cold and unfeeling. If the characters don’t seem to care about others or react to what’s happening to them, why should I?

Most fiction is character-driven, and to get into the story, we need to be able to identify closely with the protagonist. And we won’t do that unless they have some warmth and determination and hopes and dreams and insecurities and fears – and react to things! Then we feel and react too, along with them, and start to worry about them and cheer for their small victories. Once you have your readers fretting about your hero and rooting for him, they’re hooked.

As Jack M. Bickham says, “Fiction characters who only think are dead. It is in their feelings that the readers will understand them, sympathize with them, and care about their plight.”

So bring your characters to life by showing their deepest fears, worries, frustrations, hopes and jubilations. If readers see your hero pumped, scared, angry or worried, they’ll feel that way, too. And a reader who is feeling strong emotions is a reader who is turning the pages.

Jessica Page Morrell tells us that in fiction, the writer’s main responsibility is to “make the readers care; that is, bring us to tears or outrage or heart-thumping worry. Stories with emotional power engage the reader’s intellect, senses, and emotions as he sees and hears the unfolding action.”

Donald Maass wrote a whole book, The Fire in Fiction, dedicated to putting passion into your writing. In discussing your opening, he says, “Too many manuscripts begin at a distance from their protagonists, as if opening with a long shot like in a movie. That’s a shame. Why keep readers at arm’s length?”

He continues, “Novels are unique among art forms in their intimacy. They can take us inside a character’s heart and mind right away. And that is where your readers want to be. Go there immediately.”

And emotions take the reader into your story world, too. As Maass says, "It is the combination of setting details and the emotions attached to them that, together, make a place a living thing. Setting comes alive partly in its details and partly in the way that the story's characters experience it." 

So always take time to show the characters’ feelings, thoughts and reactions to what’s happening around them. Don’t let a stimulus go without a response, an action without a reaction. And as your characters respond, so do your readers.

But don’t go overboard with it — you don’t want your protagonist to come across as gushing or hysterical or neurotic. It’s important to strike a balance so the readers want to relate to and empathize with your main character, not get annoyed or disgusted with her and quit reading.

As Morrell says, “Emotions also help propel a story forward, but it’s not easy to strike the exact balance of emotions in each scene. No emotions on the page, no emotions in the reader.” BUT “Melodrama on the page and you inspire indifference in the reader.”

She continues, “Beginning writers often fall into the trap of overdoing with shrillness or silliness. Their characters have hair-trigger tempers and are forever howling in fury, throwing tantrums, and issuing ultimatums. On the flip side, sometimes beginners pen a sob story of misty-eyed sentiments or a way-too-cheerful and saccharine, gee-whillikers tale.”

But you don’t want to have a story that leaves readers “feeling nothing besides shades of boredom.” So how do we strike that balance? How do we as writers find the emotions to bring our characters to life, but also find a happy medium between flat, emotionless characters that bore us and hysterical drama queens that make us cringe?

Morrell advises, “Since emotions are embedded in the human condition, you need to find a way to portray jealousy, betrayal, grief, misery, rage – the whole gamut of strong emotions – with nuance yet believability.” Friends, beta readers and critique groups can be an invaluable help with this.

Jack M. Bickham advises us to consider how we’ve felt in similar circumstances, then over-write first, and revise down later. “I would much prefer to see you write too much of feeling in your first draft; you can always tone it down a bit later…. On the other hand, a sterile, chill, emotionless story, filled with robot people, will never be accepted by any reader.” He counsels writers to “avoid the impulse to play safe.”

In Part II of this article, we’ll discuss specific techniques on finding those emotions and striking a balance between showing too little and too much emotion.

Do you have any techniques for bringing out your characters’ reactions and feelings? And for ensuring that you don’t go off the deep end with it?

Resources: Jack M. Bickham, The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes; Donald Maass, The Fire in Fiction; Jessica Page Morrell, Thanks, But This Isn’t For Us.

For more info, see "Appeal to the Senses -- and Emotions!" Jan. 10, 2012

Jodie Renner is a freelance fiction editor and the award-winning author of three craft-of-writing guides in her series An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction: Captivate Your Readers, Fire up Your Fiction, and Writing a Killer Thriller, as well as two clickable time-saving e-resources, Quick Clicks: Spelling List and Quick Clicks: Word Usage. She has also organized two anthologies for charity, incl. Childhood Regained – Stories of Hope for Asian Child Workers. You can find Jodie at www.JodieRenner.com, www.JodieRennerEditing.com, her blog, http://jodierennerediting.blogspot.com/, and on Facebook and Twitter.