Writing about sailing adventures - and the stuff learned?!

[Paul L]

I don't know about mag pieces. I have a had lot more trouble actual getting paid my magazines for published articles than getting the article published. A lot of magazines run on a pretty thin financial model.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Paul L

I don't know about mag pieces. I have a had lot more trouble actual getting paid my magazines for published articles than getting the article published. A lot of magazines run on a pretty thin financial model.

Yes, it can be a problem. But this is another reason you want to treat the whole transaction professionally. Work out the assignment, the story specs, the rights being licensed or sold, the fee (including when it must be paid … upon acceptance is what you want, not publication). Get the contract in writing.

Not saying you won’t get burned with a deadbeat publisher not paying on time (or at all). But if they know you know how the business works, they are less likely to try and take advantage of you. At least, this has been my experience.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Work out the assignment, the story specs, the rights being licensed or sold, the fee (including when it must be paid … upon acceptance is what you want, not publication). Get the contract in writing.

Never let them publish before paying. Don't give them ownership until you're paid.

[Paul L]

In my case(s) there was always a written contract and they never had ownership, just first north American publishing rights. You really can't do a lot of negotiating for the dollars involved in a boating magazine article. It just isn't much. The hassle of getting a check afterward was enough to piss me off - multiple times.

[Jolly Roger]

Sure, I’m an armature writer all right, and I have no problem admitting it! Although I have earned more than $10,000 over the past year writing about boating and things. This is by no means enough to support a “professional” occupation, but I remain hopeful.
For those who are not familiar with the jargon, a “query” is a pitch to a magazine editor, to accept a piece from you which you have not yet written, and who doesn’t know you from Adam.
I don’t know a single editor who would accept a query from any unpublished writer, and I got nowhere on that tack. It was not until I sent a complete article, including images to Good Old Boat magazine that I had my first acceptance.
Any new writer needs to show editors what he can do, not what he says he can do.
I have only recently had my first “commission” query accepted, and that for a unique story which nobody else could tell. It will appear in Augusts’ edition of Good Old Boat.
Nor have I had any problems being paid thus far. All the major magazines who have accepted my pieces have made an offer, with payment periods which vary from acceptance to post publication. Some have legal contracts, some, like Good Old Boat don’t. None makes them any less professional.
Another aspect is the number of boaters I have met who tell me, “I’ve got a story I could write about—such and such.” Six months later…still nothing.
So you just need to get on with it Chris…you never know until you try.

[tv195]

So you just need to get on with it Chris…you never know until you try.

Thanks Jolly Roger! I really appreciate the discussion so far and I got several very good pieces of advise , but I was missing the optimism and enthusiasm a bit ;-)
Call it naive, but I think I will go for it and just try it, publish the book and see what feedback I get.

Talking about magazine articles, one idea was to take and slightly modify selected book chapters and submit those to sailing magazines - worth a try? This could create some income and might be a good ad for the book. I am an unpublished author - well my wife and I had one article published in Good Old Boat when we stopped at the Galapagos of Mexico - Isla Isabelle, so it might be hard to get a foot in the door. But I'll check out Michael Robertson’s book.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by tv195

Thanks Jolly Roger! I really appreciate the discussion so far and I got several very good pieces of advise , but I was missing the optimism and enthusiasm a bit ;-)
Call it naive, but I think I will go for it and just try it, publish the book and see what feedback I get.

Talking about magazine articles, one idea was to take and slightly modify selected book chapters and submit those to sailing magazines - worth a try? This could create some income and might be a good ad for the book. I am an unpublished author - well my wife and I had one article published in Good Old Boat when we stopped at the Galapagos of Mexico - Isla Isabelle, so it might be hard to get a foot in the door. But I'll check out Michael Robertson’s book.

The enthusiasm can only come from you and it can't initially be motivated by money. If you enjoy doing this then it's the thing to do. We've written books we never intend to publish but they put on paper our life experiences. When we're thinking of something past, we can pick one up and read how we felt about it when it happened. We looked back recently to the day we met a certain friend the first time. We write to capture memories so we're very enthusiastic and love doing it, even though no one reads it but us.

I see your book in much the same way, capturing memories and, in some cases, how you managed to create those memories. Then you're taking it one step further and sharing it with others.

That's why so many cruisers blog. They're capturing and sharing memories. I love to read cruisers' books or blogs and imagine the emotions they were experiencing along the way.

[hellosailor]

tv-
If your intended target has a web site (as most magazines do) I would suggest your first move is to look for a "Guidelines for Authors" or similar page. If you don't find one, then contact them and ask for guidelines.
Some will simply reject unsolicited manuscripts. Some will require them in unformatted MSWord .doc files form, or other specific form. (That used to be "typed on plain paper, double spaced, 60 characters per line"(G).
Some will tell you they want world-wide copyrights and exclusive use for a period of one year. Or ten. Or domestic US rights for five plus the right to publish them in other forms like a "best of" book. That's all open to negotiation and as an unpublished writer it is pretty much "take it or leave it", but that could prevent you from republishing your work in a book. Or similarly, if you've already published online, they would not be interested in seconds.
Your local library can help you out with one of those "So You Want to Get Published" books for writers, if you want a fast start for free. (Online guides often seem to have an agenda, like selling their own book about the subject.)

[Jolly Roger]

If you publish as a book, whether in internet or paperback form, you practically eliminate your chances of getting individual stories accepted by magazines. Most editors want to know if the piece has been published before, and some contracts require you to sign off that it has not.
You would therefore be better to go the reverse direction, get them into magazines, which generates income rather than expenses, then publish as a compendium later.

[tv195]

as an unpublished writer it is pretty much "take it or leave it", but that could prevent you from republishing your work in a book. Or similarly, if you've already published online, they would not be interested in seconds.

Good point, I didn't think about that. I saw Don Casey doing this, he published chapters of his book as articles in a sailing magazine, but he works on a different level.

I see your book in much the same way, capturing memories and, in some cases, how you managed to create those memories.

Totally agree! I think a book is an excellent way to preserve memories. Who knows maybe sometime our kids and grand kids will read it .

[hellosailor]

Don Casey is an extremely well known and established author. People will buy a magazine because his name is on the cover. And, he may be staff.

When you reach that point in your profession, you CAN negotiate with publishers. You can demand and extra two cents a word, or $100 a photo, and you can negotiate copyrights and geographies.

VERY VERY DIFFERENT from the unpublished writer, who will be told "take it or leave it" because the magazine has no reason to bargain and change their base terms.

Now,if you're unpublished and you are asked for "five year worldwide exclusivity and first publication rights" and you reply "but I'm under contract to the Sriznitzian Yacht Club and it will have to be published there, once, as well. For a circulation of 157 members." you might get away with it.

Today, with web sites and the global internet? Worldwide, exclusivity, published or electronic media, compilation rights, audio rights, some publishers have asked for the moon and the stars. Which is why you see some fine work being self-published on Amazon, 20+ years after the authors paper publisher ran out of stock and relinquished the rights. (Often, an OCR scan of the last version the author had, since they no longer have the electronic version.)

That's the way the game has always been played. Establish yourself, get your name out there, pay your dues, and only then can you start negotiating.

[toddster8]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Today, with web sites and the global internet? Worldwide, exclusivity, published or electronic media, compilation rights, audio rights, some publishers have asked for the moon and the stars. Which is why you see some fine work being self-published on Amazon, 20+ years after the authors paper publisher ran out of stock and relinquished the rights. (Often, an OCR scan of the last version the author had, since they no longer have the electronic version.)

Yes, the days of mailed reprint requests are long gone and my meager stock went to recycling years ago. But I still get an occasional email request for a particular book chapter. The publisher never even gave me a copy of the book. I just have a scanned photocopy.

[tv195]

Just in case anybody still looks at this thread, the book won't be ready before August 14th. I blame my copy editor, but well I don't pay her so I don't have much leverage :-))

[Foolish]

I'm probably one of the more successful sailing authors with my Singlehanded tips book. I originally wrote it as nothing more than a way to teach myself better singlehanded techniques after coming in second in the Singlehanded Transpac by 0.1 knot average speed. I had absolutely no intention of publishing it. I just put it up on the San Francisco Singlehanded website and people were welcome to download it free. Then I talked about it a lot on the various sailing forums and it generated a lot of discussion. You can still find the free version here:
http://sfbaysss.org/resource/doc/Sin...rdEdition2.pdf

After it was downloaded more than 25,000 times, I got a call out of the blue from McGraw Hill - International Marine. They wanted to publish it and were even going to pay me for it! The woman at IM had been watching it from the very start. She mentioned a stupid spelling mistake that was only up for a short time.

So I spent several months writing a lot more words and going through the very painful editing process. Now, 2 1/2 years later, it's sold more than 9,000 copies and has paid for my yacht club fees, which makes my wife very happy.

Another nice part is that I've just finished writing a novel and my success with my first book is attractive to publishers. Let's keep our fingers crossed that I can find a new publisher.

Good luck with your book. Keep in mind that the process of writing is supposed to be the fun part. Everything after that is just work.

[tv195]

Hey Foolish,
Just saw your post. Good to hear a success story after all!!
And I can definitely relate to the "very painful editing" process.

I will stick to self publishing for now and see how the book is doing on amazon, but I might send McGraw Hill - International Marine an email. It can't hurt to explore all possible options, right?

Good luck for your novel!