    How Can I Sell My Book Through Writers Exchange E-Publishing? If you are looking to
distribute a book through the Readers
Eden bookshop you need to email
Sandy and she will set you up an account as a "provider"
and you can enter your books, track sales, set prices, set specials
and make coupons. You have full control of your books and earn 50%
of every sale, minus the paypal fee charged at the time of the sale. WE ARE CURRENTLY OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS. Please note, if you have a spam controller that asks us to visit a website, so that you can receive our emails, then please use another email address. If you do not hear from us, that might be your problem, as Writers Exchange will not be responding to spam filtering requests. If we cannot contact you directly by email, your submission will be deleted. Contents * Acceptance Times * Accepted Genres * Are we a vanity press? * BEFORE You Submit * Format * Distribution or Exclusively Published? * Summary of the Differences between Exclusive and Non-exclusive contracts * Writers Exchange Contracts (Exclusive, Non-exclusive and Artist Contracts) * Contract Clarification - some points that authors have been unsure of are answered here (including the illustrator payments). * Message From Senior Editor to Prospective Authors/Editing Advice *** 
* Business/Finance Are we a vanity press? No, we are a royalty paying publisher. The only reason some people get confused is because our authors pay their own setup fees for print - which is not a requirement to be electronically published. In fact our print option is supplied at the author's request only.
We subcontract the print books to Charlotte Raby who does all the work of formatting the books and getting them through the Booksurge system.
The authors pay the setup fee that Booksurge charges, and nothing else. They do not pay Charlotte for her time in making the books. Charlotte does not get any money from the author's setup fees, these are what Booksurge charges and every cent of it goes to Booksurge (and if we start using Lightning Source or other providers, it would be the same, the author would pay only the setup fee that the printer charges).
Charlotte earns her money from a percentage of any books sold, the same as traditional publishers do. Not from the authors (of which she is one).
Not anyone can have print - we are not open to printing outsiders' books. Only our books that have previously been accepted for exclusive electronic publication are eligible for print. Which means the book must already be published by us in electronic format. Our books are only accepted after meeting certain standards that many authors do not manage. Then it has been edited both by me, and usually by the senior editor at least once, the cover art is supplied by WEE's cover artists (unless otherwise requested by the author), the isbn is supplied and the book is professionally formatted etc. All of this is free of charge as part of the publication process.
Authors who do use our print services still receive 60% in royalties of all sales. Which is a much higher royalty rate than traditional print publishers who pay the measly setup costs. Note: When the authors buy their books to sell themselves, they pay the wholesale price plus $2 per book, this $2.00 is our 40% of the sale of the book.
For those wondering why we do it this way the reason is two-fold.
We have had some suggest that to prevent people thinking we are vanity press we should just make the authors take their books to whatever printer they want and let them do it. I am sorry, we are here to help our authors, I don't see how making them do all the work themselves, without any previous experience is more beneficial then paying the setup fee for the printer. If we did make them do it themselves, they would have to format their book, organise an isbn, change the cover to work for a print book with a front, back and spine etc. Charlotte does this all for them - at NO charge (since we don't see one cent of the setup fee, that is the printer's fee only).
Another reason that Writers Exchange E-Publishing is not a vanity publisher - WEE as a company has now subcontracted the print work, and not only do we not see any of the setup fees (as of July 2008), we also no longer even get any profit from the sales, that goes to our subcontractor.
Print: Most of our books are coming out in print. For novels we were using the company Booksurge to make our print books, this company charges up to $99US setup fee for novels. We are not a vanity press - despite what some critics might say because we charge our authors the print setup fee. For more information see the "Are we a vanity press?" section above.
Contracts: (Note: These contracts are identical to those sent out to the authors unless specific arrangements have been made on an individual basis). Writers Exchange E-Publishing PUBLISHING Agreement: Writers Exchange E-Publishing Terms of Agreement: Writers Exchange E-Publishing C/- Sandy Cummins PO Box 372 ATHERTON QLD 4883 AUSTRALIA DATE: ___________________________________________________________ AUTHOR'S REAL NAME: ______________________________________________ PSEUDONYM: _____________________________________________________ STREET ADDRESS: _________________________________________________ CITY, STATE, POST CODE (ZIP): ______________________________________ TELEPHONE (INCLUDING COUNTRY CODE): _____________________________ EMAIL ADDRESS: ___________________________________________________ TITLE: ___________________________________________________________ LEGAL SIGNATURE: _________________________________________________ DATE SIGNED: _____________________________________________________ Writers Exchange E-Publishing SIGNATURE: __________________________ DATE SIGNED: _____________________________________________________ This contract is between Writers Exchange E-Publishing and __________________ (Author's legal name). You, the Author agrees to the following: 1. Author agrees to submit the complete work to us electronically with any revisions we have asked for at the agreed upon time and within reasonable limits or this contract will be void. Publisher reserves the right to final approval of the revised manuscript. The final manuscript will be provided to the Publisher in MS WORD or RTF. If the contract has been signed On Spec the Publisher reserves the right to cancel the contract if the finished work cannot be edited into publishable quality. 2. Author agrees to grant Writers Exchange E-Publishing the exclusive rights to publish and sell in digital format (electronic download, disk, CD, or any other digital format known or unknown at this time) of the work mentioned above. This right is extended for the English version only, any foreign language rights remain the property of the author. 3. Author warrants and represents that the material s/he writes and submits is original with him/her: that it does not infringe upon any copyright, proprietary right, or any other right of any kind, that it does not libel or invade the privacy of any person and that the Author has the unimpaired right to convey the rights s/he has granted the Publisher in this Agreement. Author will indemnify Publisher and hold Publisher harmless against all claims, losses and expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees) which result from breaches of Author's warranties and representations. 4. Author agrees to provide a bio that includes a photo of Author, a blurb to use on the back of disk and for our website and promotional material. Publisher reserves final right to rewrite or edit cover blurb. 5. Author agrees to give Publisher the right to use the Author's name, likeness, title of book, and bio material for publishing, advertising and promoting the work. 6. Author agrees to self-promote material to the best of his/her ability - and ensure that it is clear that their promotion is on their behalf as the Author, not as a representative of Writers Exchange E-Publishing. 7. There is no time-limit on this contract as either the Author or Publisher may terminate contract within 90 days by submitting a certified mail notice to the other party and all rights will revert to Author at time of termination. 8. Author will receive 50% of the retail download price (minus half of the paypal or credit card gateway fees) if Author provided the work complete. If Writers Exchange E-Publishing is required to do the cover-art on the Author's behalf, the royalties to the Author will drop to 40% to allow 10% to be paid to the cover artist. For illustrated books the author royalties will drop to 30% to allow 20% to the cover artist. 9. The Author may use an approved excerpt of the work at his/her website but must include a link from Author's website to the Writers Exchange E-Publishing website. (This link should be used for email signatures, or online bios that mention the book). 10. The Publisher's staff editors will edit the book, this edition is NOT to be sold elsewhere without the Publisher's consent, even after this contract is terminated. (The Author retains the right to sell their original version, just not the version edited by Writers Exchange). 11. Publisher will promote through online and offline sources and will keep an updated website but will not be responsible for site downtime and interrupted transmissions. 12. With advance notice, Publisher will work with bookstores, conference hosts, or Author for book signings or contests to provide any needed books. Details will be worked out between Publisher and organisation or bookstore. 13. All other sales, other than those mentioned above will be through the Publisher, via their website, phone, fax, email, mail, or other means as determined by the Publisher and Author will receive royalties after costs*. (When selling through our site Author will receive royalties on LIST PRICE). *NB - we have received queries on "costs" for the above paragraph, by this I mean that the cost of production or fees from distributors/credit card companies are taken out, and the remainder is shared at the usual ratio between Author and publisher. For example the print books have the cost charged by the Printing company. The costs taken out are the exact amount that has to be paid by Writers Exchange E-Publishing, there is no extra going to the publisher. 14. The Publisher is responsible for sending out at least three (3) copies of the work for review. The Author may send out such other review copies as he/she deems advisable. The Publisher and Author shall maintain communication as to where the review copies are sent and the reviews engendered by such copies. Getting the word out on the work is agreed by both parties to be a continuing joint effort and full cooperation between the parties is of the highest priority. 15. Publisher can provide cover art for your book. If however Author has cover art he/she wishes to provide, Author must warrant that provided cover art in any form generated either by computer, hand, or photo is owned by Author or doesn't infringe any copyright. Publisher has final approval of any and all cover art. Author will provide cover art to specifications of the Publisher to size, clarity and content. 16. The Publisher will provide the Author with at least one copy of the finished cover art and at least one copy of the finished book. 17. The Publisher is solely responsible for obtaining an ISBN number for the finished work. 18. If the Author chooses not to register the copyright, the Publisher shall not be held responsible for any harm the non-registration might cause the copyright holder in the future. The copyright shall at all times be in the Author's name. 19. The Publisher has the sole right to set the prices of the download and may decide to drop the price after a period of time to stimulate sales. 20. Royalties will be constantly displayed to the author by way of an online royalties page. This page will be update as needed. A written report of sales can be obtained by request. 21. Royalties will be paid to an Agent or other person in representation of the Author if the Author so specifies. 22. The publisher reserves the right to cancel this contract if the work cannot be polished to a publishable standard. 23. If the author wishes to use the Print on Demand Service they may be responsible for the initial set-up fee. END SAMPLE CONTRACT. Note that there is no time-limit on the contracts. Contracts can be cancelled easily by an email from either party. If everyone is happy I see no point in having to renew contracts every so often.
Writers Exchange E-Publishing DISTRIBUTION Agreement: Writers Exchange E-Publishing Terms of Agreement: Writers Exchange C/- Sandy Cummins PO Box 372 ATHERTON QLD 4883 AUSTRALIA DATE: ___________________________________________________________ AUTHOR'S REAL NAME: ______________________________________________ PSEUDONYM: _____________________________________________________ STREET ADDRESS: _________________________________________________ CITY, STATE, POST CODE (ZIP): ______________________________________ TELEPHONE (INCLUDING COUNTRY CODE): _____________________________ EMAIL ADDRESS: ___________________________________________________ TITLE: ___________________________________________________________ LEGAL SIGNATURE: _________________________________________________ DATE SIGNED: _____________________________________________________ Writers Exchange E-Publishing SIGNATURE: __________________________ DATE SIGNED: _____________________________________________________ This contract is between Sandy Cummins, trading as Writers Exchange E-Publishing and __________________ (Author's legal name). You, the Author agrees to the following: 1. Author agrees to submit the complete work to us electronically with any revisions we have asked for at the agreed upon time and within reasonable limits or this contract will be void. Publisher reserves the right to final approval of the revised manuscript. The final manuscript will be provided to the Publisher for evaluation in MS WORD or RTF. If the contract has been signed On Spec the Publisher reserves the right to cancel the contract if the finished work cannot be edited into publishable quality. The author is responsible for making all format of the work to be sold on this site. (ie PDF, HTML, microsoft reader etc) 2. Author agrees to grant Writers Exchange E-Publishing the non-exclusive rights to publish and sell in digital format (electronic download, disk, CD, or any other digital format known or unknown at this time) of the work mentioned above. This right is extended for the English version only, any foreign language rights remain the property of the author. 3. Author warrants and represents that the material s/he writes and submits is original with him/her: that it does not infringe upon any copyright, proprietary right, or any other right of any kind, that it does not libel or invade the privacy of any person and that the Author has the unimpaired right to convey the rights s/he has granted the Publisher in this Agreement. Author will indemnify Publisher and hold Publisher harmless against all claims, losses and expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees) which result from breaches of Author's warranties and representations. 4. Author agrees to provide a bio that includes a photo of Author, a blurb to use on the back of disk and for our website and promotional material. Publisher reserves final right to rewrite or edit cover blurb. 5. Author agrees to give Publisher the right to use the Author's name, likeness, title of book, and bio material for publishing, advertising and promoting the work. 6. Author agrees to self-promote material to the best of his/her ability - and ensure that it is clear that their promotion is on their behalf as the Author, not as a representative of Writers Exchange E-Publishing. 7. There is no time-limit to this contract as either the Author or Publisher may terminate the contract within 90 days by submitting a certified mail notice to the other party and all rights will revert to Author at time of termination. END SAMPLE CONTRACT.
As of 1 March 2001 if you are an Author wishing to use the services of Writers Exchange Staff Artists to do the cover art (or book illustrations) you will need to sign the following contract as well (My Thanks to Ariana Overton for providing the contract for our use): Standard Artist Agreement Date: __________________ BETWEEN _________________________ (Artist), hereinafter referred to as the "Artist" And _________________________, hereinafter referred to as "Client". In consideration of the mutual agreement, made and entered into as of this _____ day of _____, 20.., by and between __________of ___{address}_______ ("artist") and __________ of __{address}________ ("client") agree to the terms as set out as follows: GENERAL PROVISIONS .01 Business Purpose. The business of the artist/client relationship shall be as follows: For the Artist to provide cover art ***[or book illustrations] for the electronic book ****[insert title] and the client to reimburse the Artist with Royalty Payments of 10% of the revenue of the book. ***[change to 20% for children's illustrated books] to the minimum of $200. .02 Term of the Agreement. These terms shall commence on Date: __________________ and shall continue in existence until terminated with the consent of both parties, or dissolved by law or as hereinafter provided. Title of Work: ___________________________________________________________ Category of Use: {Artist grants to client} Exclusive reproduction rights to the total jacket design with art and/or photography for packaging and advertising of (NAME BOOK). This includes permission for use of the artwork on the books themselves, Internet downloads of each book and on any Internet sites for the purpose of promotion of said book. Use of the Art Work on any item other than the agreed upon book (NAME BOOK) as referred to in this contract is considered to be a separate royalty item and which shall be defined as any other means of promotion for the Work, {NAME BOOK TITLE} described above, including but not limited to mugs, T-shirts, posters, postcards and the like. The Artist, by his/her initials, acknowledges that he/she is permitting the use of this Work for such other promotional items which shall be accounted for in royalties separate from the jacket design sales at the rate of 50% of the net profit of each item. Accounting of all sales and monies must be submitted to the Artist with each monthly check. Artist's Initials: Any change or alteration in the total design or illustration must be with the artist's consent and approval which will be (signified with the artist's initials.) Medium of Use: Electronic and print media and whatever media is used for the promotional items if the Artist had agreed to such usage. Edition of Book: Geographic Area: Worldwide Time Period: Artist agrees to assign the rights covered under this Agreement to the Client as long as the Work is carried on the market. Artist further agrees that if the Work is taken off the market that will be considered a termination and Clause 3 herein will take effect as to handling any remaining inventory the Client might have and how the Artist is paid. The Artist reserves any rights not expressly transferred. Any use beyond that granted to the Client herein shall require an additional Agreement {TO BE SIGNED BY BOTH PARTIES.} Terms 1. Royalty. {The Client shall pay to the Artist} ten percent (10% or 20%) in US Dollars of the Work's retail download price for any Work sold as long as said Work is sold through the Client or a Client-approved vendor. The Client agrees to authorize their epublisher (NAME, ADDRESS, PHONE, EMAIL, URL) to pay said artist the agreed upon % of all book sales, promotional items or any product sold with the graphic on it. Epublisher will pay the artist in the same manner as contracted with the author. The author agrees to obtain said epublisher's signature and agreement upon this document and to mail to artist before any work has commenced. If the epublisher does not agree to enter into this agreement, the author agrees to be solely responsible for payments. The Client also agrees to provide any detailed accounting reports, along with the appropriate amount owed, to the Artist within one week (7 days) of Client receiving any accounting from epublisher. The Artist if he/she has agreed to promotional use of his/her artwork shall be paid fifty percent (50%) of the net profit on all other items bearing the image or artwork as described in this agreement for any item sold other than the artwork used on the book jacket. 2. Royalty Statements and Payments. The Client will deliver a royalty statement each month. This shall be done no later than the 30th day of each month. {Payment of all royalties must be sent to the artist every month no later than the 30th day of each month. Should there be no sales in any given month the client will forward a nil report no later than the 30th day of each month. } The Client shall be open to allowing the Artist to examine the books if a question arises about the sales of the Work. The Client will provide proper tax documentation in a timely manner. The Artist is responsible for paying his or her own taxes in such royalty payments. 3. Termination. Either party may terminate this agreement with a ninety-day (90) written notice sent by certified or other delivery in which a receipt is provided. A decision by the Client to take the Work off the market will act as a termination; the Client will inform the Artist within seven (7) working days if the Work is pulled from the market. Upon termination, all rights under this agreement revert to the Artist. The Client has the right upon termination to sell outstanding inventory featuring Artist's work and the Artist will continue to receive royalties under this agreement for those sales. *********Should the Client decide to change Publishers, suppliers or any other outlet that will be selling the Work, the Client agrees pay the Artist for the work that they performed. The fees are as follows: The sum of Two-Hundred U.S. dollars ($200.00) for illustrating a children's picture book, or the sum of Fifty U.S. Dollars ($50.00) for a book cover. This is the base fee the Artist requires for each original Work produced for the Client or for the Client's representative or Publisher. *** All royalties previously paid is to be deducted from this amount. All royalty payments that have been paid to the Artist for the use of the Work will be deducted from the base fee until the entire amount is paid in full. Should the Client decide to discontinue use of the Work for any reason, the Client agrees to pay the Artist any sum remaining of the base fee. By signing this contract, the Client authorizes his/her publisher or any other representative to release any and all royalties to the Artist for the use of their work(s), whether their current works are using the original Work or not, until said fee is paid in full to the Artist. 4. Infringement. In the event of an infringement of the rights granted under this agreement to the Client, the Client and the Artist shall have the right to sue jointly for the infringement and, after deducting the expenses of bringing suit, to share equally in any recovery. A party has the right not to join in such suit, but shall still have the right to share equally in any recovery made by the other party after costs are deducted. 5. Ownership of the Artwork. The Artist retains ownership of all original artwork, whether preliminary or final, and the Client shall return such artwork within thirty (30) days of use. It is agreed that the copyright in this work belongs to the Artist and that this work is not work for hire. There is no intention that this is a work of joint authorship. Artist is an independent contractor. The Artist guarantees that his/her copyright in this artwork does not infringe on any other person's copyright. The Artist shall hold Client harmless and indemnify Client in the event another person claims rights in the artwork covered by this Agreement. 6. Credit Lines. A proper copyright credit line shall be displayed citing the Artist and any other creators on any usage. 7. Entire Understanding. This agreement is the entire understanding between the Client and the Artist and supersedes all previous agreements regarding the Work, whether oral or in writing. Modification of this agreement may only occur in writing signed by both parties. 8. Construction. The parties agree that the law of the State of either party shall govern. 9. Dispute Resolution. The parties agree that if a dispute arises out of the terms of this agreement that such dispute shall be referred to mediation prior to any legal action being filed in a court of law. Both parties agree to mediate any disputes in good faith and give the chosen mediator at least two mediation sessions to attempt to facilitate a settlement to the conflict. Nothing precludes the parties agreeing to continue the mediation beyond two sessions if all concerned feel a settlement can be reached. The parties shall choose a mediation service such as AAA, JamsEndispute, or the like that will provide a panel of three mediators with the complaining party striking first and the responding party striking second. The remaining mediator shall conduct the mediation sessions. Both parties will split the cost of the mediation sessions equally and agree to abide by the Mediation ethics/rules/law of the State in which the mediation occurs. The Client acknowledges that by signing this Agreement he/she agrees to use the artwork for the purposes cited herein. Client:___________________________________ Address: Phone Number: The Artist acknowledges that by signing this Agreement he/she has assigned the rights to use the artwork for the purposes cited herein to the Client. Artist: Address: Phone Number: The E-Publisher that is contracted with said Client and will be using the artwork to sell products on their website or privately, agrees to the above terms and agreements. E-Publisher Name:_______________________________________________________ Address:_______________________________________________________________ Phone:__________________________ Fax:______________________________ Email:____________________________________________________________ Signature of Authorized Party:__________________________________________________ Contract Clarification: There have been a number of queries regarding the artist contract for children's books. Here are some of the questions (and answers) that you might be asking. If your questions are not answered here, please email me and I will add them to this list: Does Writers Exchange E-Publishing pay the artist directly for their 10% or 20% royalty shares? Yes we do. For the entire time the book is available from our site, we calculate the artist and author royalties from each sale and put the amounts owing on their individual online royalties pages. We then pay both parties after they have accrued a minimum $10US balance. When do I (the author) owe this $50 or $200 minimum fee to the artist? The author only ever owes this money if the book royalties has not paid it, AND should the author decide to remove their book from Writers Exchange. While the book remains on the site the artist is reimbursed through royalties only. The artists give Writers Exchange a large reduction in cost for the artwork (price professional artists, they won't do it this cheaply) and in return we protect them by assuring them of a minimum fee. Why Isn't the Artist specified when I sign my Artist Contract? There are two reasons for this:
Message from Senior Editor To Prospective Authors: Are you sending us the very best that you have to offer? Have you gone over your manuscript carefully? Have you checked for spelling errors, sentence structure problems, POV problems, punctuation problems, plot problems? Is your story consistent? Do you know how to show, not tell? Do you understand how to use dialogue tags? Do you know what they are? The biggest concern for me is Point of View. Shifting POV in mid-scene is usually considered head-hopping. Yes, I know that some well-known authors do this, but they are well-known. Most of you are new authors, trying to find your place in the world of writing. You don't have the luxury to break the same rules that the well-known authors do. Sorry, but that's the truth. POV should only be changed at a scene break or a chapter break. I can usually tell when it's intentional or the author really doesn't know what POV is. Another big issue is telling versus showing. When you begin to tell the story, as opposed to showing what happens, you lose your intimacy with the reader. Readers begin to skim at this point. Have you ever had to read a history book for school? You all have at some point, I am sure. What parts did you remember? Was it the pages of narrative, where you were told what happened? Or was it the pages where the story was shown either by dialogue, quotes, or as a piece of fiction? I would bet the latter. Would you like to go to a movie and have the words simply shown to you on the screen? Of course not. You go to a movie to be immersed in that world, to become one with it for a few hours. Your book should do the same thing. You need to create a world with your words. You need to paint the picture, show the reader what you are saying, immerse the reader in your world. A good book will hook the reader so thoroughly that they will have a hard time putting it down, will want to get back to it ASAP, and will oftentimes be oblivious to what is going on around them. My sister is testimony to this. Whenever she was totally immersed in a good book, you could shout her name right beside her, and she wouldn't register it. *G* Another peeve of mine is improper spelling. Please, don't assume that I know everything either. I don't. I look it up. So should you. Word will not catch everything. Trust me. A couple of other things here. The last several books I have done I have noticed the tendency to continually use the person's name in dialogue as in: "Ted, I don't know what you mean." "Well, Ned, let me explain." "Oh, yes, Ted, please do." Do you talk like that? Do you really realize how little you say another person's name when speaking to the person? Listen to conversations around you, listen to your own. You'll see how little you actually use another person's name when speaking to them. Going to the door, he opened it. Picking up his pants, he put them on. Things like that. You cannot do both actions at the same time. You first go to the door, then you open it. You first pick up the pants, then put them on. Besides reading better, it eliminates an ing word, which are weak words in most cases. Punctuation is a biggie as well. Some problems that I see consistently are the use of pronouns. Incorrect: "I want to go there," He said. Incorrect: "I want to go there." He said. Correct: "I want to go there," he said. Correct: "I want to go there." He said it with a grin. Commas are a big issue with me. Mainly because of the tendency worldwide to not use them! I like commas. They seem to make the sentence read better. I use them where they make sense. I know that some books will say that you don't just use commas where they make sense, that there are rules for commas. I agree, but with the media failing to use them, I guess it's not a huge issue if authors fail to use them. *Sigh* I still like commas before the word too when it ends a sentence, and on both sides of the word too when it's in the center of a sentence (if it means also]. BTW, it's means it is. Don't use it when you mean its. Look it up. All writers should have a thesaurus, a dictionary, and some sort of grammar book on their desk. They should also use them. *G* [Note from Sandy: As of September 2004 Writers Exchange will be using "Style Manual for authors, editors and printers" 6th edition Published by John Wiley & Sons as our overall standard. So if in doubt, get a copy of this book (you can buy it online) and read it for our editing standards. This is an Australian book and will be a bit different from the US standards that most authors/editors will be familiar with from the States] If you would please go over your manuscripts and double check them before you send them in, it would speed things up considerably. As an aside, Sandy is very open to helping new authors get their break, but I can tell you right now that NY would not accept manuscripts with obvious errors. They simply get too many submissions. They will not do your editing for you. That's your job. It's part of being a writer. Some further editing advice from our author Dotti Enderle: There is a wonderful "Highlighting" method of self-editing that I teach in my writer's workshop. It's simple. Take four highlighters - pink, blue, yellow, and green. Then highlight your manuscript from beginning to end like this: Pink - action Blue - dialogue Yellow - thoughts and feelings Green - narration When you've finished, you should have a fairly balanced manuscript of colors. If you have lots of green, watch out. You're probably telling, not showing. Remember that action, dialogue, and emotion (inner dialogue) are story. Description is NOT story. So be careful not to stop your story to describe something. Example of stopping the story for description: I hurried to the food court, knowing I was uber-late meeting Sandy and Jenna. They were already five minutes ahead of me, scoping out the hot guys at the video games. "It's about time you got here," Sandy said. Jenna nodded, rolling her eyes. She wore a t-shirt with the cutest pink kitty on the front. Sandy had on her usual low-cut camisole. Looking down at my own clothes, I knew I couldn't compete. This had disaster written all over it. Keeping the story flowing: I hurried to the food court, knowing I was uber-late meeting Sandy and Jenna. They were already five minutes ahead of me, scoping out the hot guys at the video games. "It's about time you got here," Sandy said, her bra traps peeking from her low-cut camisole. Jenna nodded and rolled her eyes. Even the pink kitty on the front of her t-shirt looked cuter than me. This had disaster written all over it.
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