Yeah, my first question! It's one I’m sure lots of people have, or at least one similar:

“I recently purchased the 2008 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market. On Page 84, it says always leave a one inch margin on all sides of the paper. In my 2003 version, it says leave one and a quarter inch margin on each side. The two versions also disagree on how to set up title page. Have most editors decided they want a different format, or is one of the two a typo? I would like to know which is correct - the 2003 version of your book, or the 2008 version. Thanks for you help.“

The one-inch margin is a general rule, and when editors and agents want something different they usually say so. Most editors won’t throw out your manuscript because it had one and a quarter inch margins unless they specify other margins in their submission guidelines. ALWAYS do what they tell you in the submission guidelines (even if they say use 13.5 pnt Tahoma font and 7/8 inch margins), but if they don’t specify fall back on the one-inch margins. 

Use the title page guide from the 2008 edition, but I want you to note a few things. It is only the placement of the information that has changed, not the content. Still needed are your name and contact information, name and contact information of your agent (if you have one), word count and title with byline. That's it. No more, no less. Following proper formats is important, but it doesn’t help much if your page looks beautiful but the content is lacking. It is more important to make sure you have the correct information on the page and that it’s clear and easy to read. I would also like to note that agents and editors don’t want, or need, a title page for your sample chapters; they only want a title page for a full manuscript (novel, not short story).

While we're on the subject of formatting, I want to cover the query letter. There are also a few differences between the sample in the 2008 NSSWM and earlier editions. The date is now on the right instead of the left. Your phone number is under your address instead of under your signature. Your contact info is now lined up neatly. These are relatively minor changes. No editor I know will throw out your query letter because you have the date on the left side instead of the right. Focus on the things that have stayed the same. All of your contact information is present and grouped together. The letter is addressed to a specific individual. The body of the letter concisely states what the story is about and gives the credentials of the writer. This is the part of the sample to really study.

As long as you're not writing on neon green paper with red ink and decorating your envelope with unicorn stickers CONTENT TRUMPS FORM. If you don't believe me, go read the archives in Miss Snark on formatting.

Sorry about not posting yesterday, I was enjoining myself at my church's picnic. I hope everyone else also had a wonderful Labor Day weekend.

While sifting through my email I found that Icv2 has an interview with DC President and Publisher Paul Levitz. They talk about the state of comics in general and some of the DC family, including Minx and Zuda Comics.   

Every once in a while I check out Zuda Comics to see what they’ve added to the site in preparation for the October launch. Levitz said something in his interview about postcards, so I thought I’d check them out. It’s quite the range of style and ability. Some are really simple drawings that I think were done by a ten year-old, while others are spectacularly well done, and one is done in full color. There are a couple funny ones, three that I think are just creepy (in a good way), and several look like professionals drew them. I think Sarah Hanley’s comic with the dragon (way down near the bottom) is my favorite because there is a full story in this one panel. 

Also now on the Zuda Comics website is clarification, from Levitz, regarding copyright and payment for comics purchased by DC via Zuda. "The copyright for each comic submitted to Zuda will be owned by its creator. DC will publish the winning/chosen comics under fairly conventional publishing agreements adapted to the peculiarities of the digital platform: initial payments for the work that is done, with royalties from revenues based on other uses, such as books, merchandise and movies/television shows. In the next couple of months the contracts will be going up on the site, and we're doing our best to make them as clear as possible, so people can make an informed decision about submitting their work."

It's nice to have an idea of what the terms are, but I know people will be very interested in seeing the actual contracts and reading the fine print.

Time for some more shameless promotion of the latest edition of NSSWM. I guess I'm making a habit of posting interview excerpts on Monday. Here's a bit from Sigrid Nunez: 

Looking back on your experiences writing and publishing five successful novels, what is the lesson you've learned with respect to craft that you most wish you could travel back in time and tell your pre-Feather self in order to save her anxiety and/or grief? What bit of publishing knowledge would you share with her?

To begin with publishing knowledge, I think many writers believe that if they could just get that first book sold, all their problems would be solved. The truth is, only one problem would be solved, and a great many others would arise. If you're going to survive as a writer, you need a lot of patience in order to deal with the inevitable frustrations and disappointments of being published. Few writers I know have not been dismayed to learn they have almost no say in how their book will be produced, presented to the world, and marketed.

With regard to craft, I wish I'd learned earlier to be braver and more ruthless about cutting or abandoning drafts. Just because you spent hours or weeks, or perhaps even longer, revising and polishing something doesn't mean in the end it will be any good. It may still have to be discarded, and you have to learn to see this not as failure, or as wasted time, but rather as part of the process. Writing well is something you have to learn, and as with most human endeavors, much of what is essential can be learned best by doing it wrong first.

Check out the book for the full interview by Lauren Mosko. Nunez talks about the inspiration for some of her books, blending fact and fiction in her stories, the disclosure of self in writing, teaching, and the usefulness of fellowships and conferences.

If there's a specific topic you'd like to see addressed, shoot me an email at nsswm AT fwpubs DOT com.

Fish Publishing is the place to go if you write short crime fiction, but especially if you write historical crime. They sponsor several contests over the summer, with the winners receiving cash and publication in an anthology. They have the Micro-Fiction Showcase (deadline Aug 31),  Fish-Knife Award (deadline Sept 30), Short Histories III (deadline Sept 30), Criminally-Short Short Histories (deadline Sept 30), and the 14th Fish International Short Story Prize (deadline Nov 30). All of these contests are online submissions only, with story lengths and prizes of varying size.