
I am so excited… poetry (chapbooks and short-form writing) is coming, soon, as its own thing, to the Devil’s Party Press family.
Watch this space for more information. And look for clues about it here.
I am so excited… poetry (chapbooks and short-form writing) is coming, soon, as its own thing, to the Devil’s Party Press family.
Watch this space for more information. And look for clues about it here.
OH MY GOODNESS! I love this song, “You’re Dead,” by Norma Tanega.
But wait, what if you were dead?
Have you prepared?
Today your writing, or art, is not just your writing, it is your intellectual property.
As such, when you ride off into the sunset someday, and leave your intellectual property behind, there is the very real possibility that someone you are blood-related to, or legally related to, will own this intellectual property.
Your publisher, whoever that may be, cannot just, “Send the checks to my wife!”
It does’t work like that, and you may find your published book is now… unpublished.
(Except that you will not not find it to be unpublished because you’ll be, you know, dead.)
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:
If you want your books to stay available after you no longer are, you will need to put something in writing stating who the book(s) belong to, and whether or not you wish that person or those people, to continue to make them available for purchase. Your publisher needs a copy, and so do your heirs.
If you do not do that….Your book will sunset when you do.
It’s a choice, and you could also choose just to have your books go out of print. But they do not have to.
Here is a great blog post I found on preparing for this little hiccup that mortality throws at us.
We recommend that you check with your own estate lawyer, and your heirs. If you draw something up, and your heirs are unprepared for your daughter to own your books when your son thought he was getting them, again, your publisher will have to just cease the publication. Your publisher can’t make your children, Sue and Edward, love each other after all these years.
It’s an old Philly joke that we’re all going to die by SEPTA bus. Possibly it is an underserved ribbing. IDK, but I do know that now that I no longer live in Philadelphia, the chance of me getting hit by a SEPTA bus has lessened somewhat, but I still don’t feel as permanent as I would prefer to.
We are all the same in this boat.
So, think, for just a small moment, about your books, and what you would like to do with them. Make your wishes notarized, and legal, and known to those who want to own your books, and to your publisher(s), so that no one stops your books from outliving you.
Here’s wishing you a happy and healthy weekend, and I do implore you to watch out for the SEPTA busses. SEPTA: you never know when it will make that turn! (That’s my slogan, not theirs!)
But right now you can get a deal!
Sign up for editing in the month of February (2023) and mention the ATWOOD20 code to get 20% off of our editing service.
You do not have to begin or end editing in February. As long as you sign-up BEFORE 2/28/23, and request a START DATE for a slot before May 2023, the discount is yours.
Sign-up here. Don’t worry if you may not know your “exact” word count yet; just send a small sample and let us know what we can do for you.
Recent projects:
Helped two authors finish dystopian books of over 600 pages each.
Worked with an LGBTQ novelist on fantasy world-building.
Helped a humor writer amp up the laughs.
Found the perfect ending to a short story.
Added pathos to a memoir.
Sharpened six query letters.
Provided three editorial assessments.
Got a manuscript ready for serializing on Kindle Vella.
Not everyone needs the same thing. Tell us how we can help you~
Check me out the 10th of every month! And leave me a comment sos that I know I’m not all by my lonesome.
And, these authors have been at it for years, so check them out too. This is a great site!
But right now you can get a deal!
Sign up for editing in the month of February (2023) and mention the ATWOOD20 code to get 20% off of our editing service.
You do not have to begin or end editing in February. As long as you sign-up BEFORE 2/28/23, and request a START DATE for a slot before May 2023, the discount is yours.
Sign-up here. Don’t worry if you may not know your “exact” word count yet; just send a small sample and let us know what we can do for you.
Recent projects:
Helped two authors finish dystopian books of over 600 pages each.
Worked with an LGBTQ novelist on fantasy world-building.
Helped a humor writer amp up the laughs.
Found the perfect ending to a short story.
Added pathos to a memoir.
Sharpened six query letters.
Provided three editorial assessments.
Got a manuscript ready for serializing on Kindle Vella.
Not everyone needs the same thing. Tell us how we can help you~
What a great little resource this is. Isn’t it wonderful how some sites offer so much for no charge at all?
We buy copyright for all of our single-book authors, and it is important to have, and our pleasure to provide.
As an offshoot of this topic, I am often asked by authors if they can republish with a publisher something they have self-published on the web, or stuck on Wattpad, things like that. The short answer is no, at least not with us. Publishers want new content, not ABC (already been chewed) content. If people have been reading it for free, publishers usually do not then want to try and sell that. So, think about that. Building your readers and your brand, you may decide to give some of yourself away for free, and that’s not a bad thing to do, but keep the stuff you want to try to sell a publisher on private, until you’ve found your publisher. AND, what if you see many other people writing in the same genre and the idea is close to yours and so why is yours better???
Yours should be tasty for a publisher because it is better: it has that spark: talent. How do you get talent? Well, some folks can dance, and some folks can dance. (You do not want to see me dance….) Everyone is not going to have talent, and everyone is not going to get to “publisher-good.” That doesn’t mean your writing won’t be loved by thousands when you self-publish. Readers are not necessarily as choosy as publishers. But, if you have a certain something, a good editor can help you push your own envelope, and fan those sparks into a full-on fire. Something to think about.
Great information from the Copyright Alliance, in any case. Keep writing, and be safe with your writing. Good luck~
Poetry is more and more getting its due. Why is that? Could it be because poetry soothes the soul, and so many souls need soothing? Could it be because poetry is easy to read quickly, on your phone? What other thoughts do you have?
Dianne here, and I earned my MFA in poetry writing, and I am a fan of the stuff. We try, at DPP, to incorporate poetry into our anthologies, and certainly I love putting it in Instant Noodles. And I wish I could do more.
WATCH THIS SPACE.
We’re doing our best to hatch something poetic at DPP. So, stay tuned!
In the meantime, let me recommend a few poems for you:
THE BARBARIANS HAD ACTED REGRETTABLY – COLIN JAMES
SOMETIMES AN EGG – ALICE ROMANO
BLUE PERIOD #3 – R. GERRY FABIAN
NOTHING’S BETTER LEFT UNSAID – GABBY GILLIAM
TROUT FISHING – STEPHEN BARILE
CHRISTMAS DAY WALK ~ ALAN BERN
SUMMER ZUPPAI – ROBERT FLEMING
HOLY ILLUSIONS ~ VIRGINIA WATTS
STOLEN PLUMS – BENJAMIN B. WHITE
MOSS SOUP AND MANICOTTI – JOHN JOHNSON
ABOVE SNICKER’S GAP ~ MORGAN GOLLADAY
CHRISTMAS EVE FROM UNDER THE TRAIN TABLE – R. DAVID FULCHER
As we move further into 2023, we realized it was time to redo the Hawkshaw Press site (home of our crime fiction novels and collections). The site has gotten a fresh makeover, and we’ll be updating Gravelight and Out of This World soon as well.
Meanwhile, please drop by Hawkshaw Press and meander a while, Flatfoot.
Welcome to HARDBOILED AND LOADED WITH SIN, the new anthology series by Hawkshaw Press. First issue drops SUMMER 2023.
Here’s the deets:
Fiction only.
Short stories 1500-7,500 words. If yours is longer send us a query @ publisher at Devil’s Party Press dot com.
12 pt New Times Roman, double-spaced.
Authors over 40 only.
Submit everything through our Duosuma page as a Word or Pages file.
FEE: 10 bucks
PAYMENT: All authors selected for publication receive a one-time royalty of 25 bucks, a copy of the anthology, and our semi-undying love.
Have you signed up for the DPP newsletter?
Subscribers got early access to the current (12/25/22) issue of Instant Noodles (that’s right, they got the password to get to read it before the general public!).
And this month, we have a freebie that we hope authors can use to help them meet their goals.
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