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Writer's
Resources
Getting Started
Write Something
Create a
Website
Upgrade your
Website
Website Resources
Finding Work
Magazines
Open Call Boards
Write Companies
Contests
Links
Working
Visit the Company's Website
Submission Guidelines
Message Boards
Contracts
Writing an Application Letter
NEW
Scams and Warnings
Royalty Work
Blogging
Ghostwriting
Pay
Pay Per Word
Royalties
But I'm not making any money yet!
Companies Which Don't Pay
Online Stores
Meet People
Where to
Post Press Releases
Non-Roleplayers - a story
Terms and Definitions
A Closing About Me
Getting Started
Write Something
Write something. Seriously.
Even if you know how and where to submit material and ask for work, it's both
a confidence builder and practical necessity to have some material written.
You can show it off as a sample or even submit it.
I started by writing a 300 page epic
on time travel that no one wanted to look at. I started a little too big.
Five years and 22 publications later, I've decided to just develop the book
myself.
Create a Website
A website is
the modern business card. It tells people who you are. It provides examples
of your work. It tells people how to contact you. You need one.
If your only
option is a free site, get one without popups, just add banners. I highly
recommend coughing up 120$ a year for a site without adds and your own
domain name.
If your HTML-Fu
isn't that great, make the site simple and clean. You only NEED a few things
on your site.
- Your name and email address
(Contact Us)
- Examples of your work (best on
a sub-page, gallery for an artist)
- A little about yourself (what
do you do - art, layout, editing, writing?)
- Just a splash of art (don't
steal, chase down some free clipart).
Optional site
elements include links, galleries, photos, games, a web comic, a message
board,
Don't put music on
your main page (Index.html). Don't put popups on your main page. Check your
spelling. Don't write text that sounds nervous or bragging.
Upgrade the
Website
Not every writer, even the successful ones, have
websites, or good websites. In the advancing age of technology, it's simply
an advantage to have one. I was fortunate that when my family bought a 386
computer in the late 80's I squirreled it away into my room and taught
myself to use the thing and became a computer junky. It makes it a lot
easier and cheaper to have a website. Of course, there isn't a lick of flash
on the site so I have plenty of room to improve.
As an advancing writer, it's certainly time to create a better site, however basic,
or upgrade your old site. It shows potential employers that you care about
your image and you are dedicated enough to put together a strong self
promotion. It gives consumers of your product somewhere to learn more about
the product, ask questions and demand future products.
Website Resources
Providers: www.NetNation.com
- This is the company hosting this page. They've been very good to me. Other
recommended hosts;
www.hostmonster.com,
www.apache.org
(for hosting a website on your own computer),
www.1&1.com,
www.godaddy.com,
www.5dollarhosting.com,
http://sites.google.com.
Website Software: Programs for creating a webpage include Postnuke (http://www.postnuke.com/),
Word Press (http://wordpress.org/),
NVU (http://www.nvu.com/),
Microsoft Frontpage, of course, and Adobe Dreamweaver.
Retailing Products: A recourse to sell books from your site is PayLoadz
(https://www.payloadz.com/).
They are free until you start selling a lot of product and it's an
alternative to
www.RPGnow.com or
www.DriveThruRPG.com but PayLoadz doesn't
watermark yet.
Message Board: RPGnet's and En-World's board software (http://www.vbulletin.com/).
Also Phpbb (http://www.phpbb.com/)
very popular software you can see on many, many boards. Setting up and
maintaining a message board requires a bit of computer know-how. Your
website needs to have a database and you will have to contact your provider.
I paid a one-time fee to have a database added to my site.
Finding Work
Magazines
Writing
for a magazine isn't a big commitment for a publisher so they are willing
to take their chances on an unknown. Articles should be 1-4 pages, meaning
short is good. They won't publish your 20 page document. There is usually
a long wait before publication and they may hang onto your article for years.
It's a good idea to send many articles on a variety of topics. Print magazines
tend to actually pay you, which is handy.
Research your magazine. Buy a copy
and see what they actually print. Visit their website and find the all important
Submissions document. Submitting material to the right person
in the right format is vital. Magazines pay between 1 and 5 cents a word.
Open-Call Boards
Visit
the message boards listing open calls and write the publishers and ask for
work. Once you get published by a company, they will keep your name on their
freelance writers list and you could get job offers from them in the future.
Don't be afraid to ask about more work, but don't pester them. It can be months
before they need another writer. (See my Links for publishers)
Write Companies
It doesn't work with every company but you can write companies and simply
ask for work. The smaller companies will actually consider you. Its a good
idea to propose an idea to the company but keep is simple or generic. (You
don't want the company to worry that now, if they publish something similar,
you will accuse them of stealing your idea.) Don't be afraid to send them
your resume
Contests
A contest is
essentially work you do for free. I was first published as a result of a
contest by Mongoose Publishing. I ended up getting paid and it was a very
positive experience. I would consider entering contests by reputable, large,
companies.
Many contests
require you to buy something, usually a book, and are little more than
scams. That said, the entrance fee for a reputable contest is not a scam -
but it's up to you to determine the difference.
Going straight to publishers is
probably more effective. There is no incentive to publish contest winners
after the contest. They may not even like your work - it was simply the best
of the material presented to them.
Links
Working
Visit the
Company's Website
A company's website can tell you a lot about the
company. If the website is never updated that is a warning sign about the
company. Updates show signs of life in the company, even if it's not a top
notch site. Most companies with quiet websites never published the work they
asked me to write (and consequently I was not paid) and four, so far, have
gone out of business.
Submission
Guidelines
I've said it elsewhere, read the company submission
guidelines. That will help you determine if they accept submissions and how
they would like them submitted.
Message Boards
Many d20 companies have message boards.
This is a a great place to go talk in an informal capacity. Don't ruin this
experience by asking for work (see Asking for Work below), but use it as a
chance to learn about the company. At the very least find out who is in charge
of the company. It would also be great to find out who takes submissions and
valuable to just chat with a few people and get out of the noob catagory on
the message board. Usually 10 messages will do. Of course it depends how serrious
you are about the working for this particular company. You probably don't
have time to spend on 75 different company's boards!
Most of my best conversations have happened on boards. This is because the
company creates the board as a place to chat. Employers don't have to be as
careful that what they say could be interpreted as a job offer and there is
less worry about ideas being posted that could later be used to sue the company
if they publish a similar product.
This only goes so far though. Wizards of the Coast employees, officially,
NEVER look at their message boards for the above two reasons. People are always
asking for jobs and suggesting product changes on those boards - especially
with all the MTG card creation. The boards are great fun though and you can
learn a lot off them.
Warnings
Contracts
Contracts generally guarantee that the writer gets paid if the publisher has
the work published. It also specifies dates, the amount of pay and a
disclaimer that the publisher can alter the work and is not required to
actually publish it.
Realistically, no one goes after anyone in this business. It's just not
worth the cost of an airplane ticket. A contract helps to make sure everyone
is on the same page and it establishes a higher level of professionalism
from the publisher.
RPGnow's
E-publisher's Guide:
(http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=17585&it=1)
Besides advice for the aspiring publisher, this book provides templates for
contracts. As a writer/artist/editor/layout artist this gives you the
option of requesting or even submitting an alternative contract. Contracts
are a necessary headache but knowing them and knowing what alternatives are
typically available can help you. The book is well worth the investment of
it's cost.
Writing an
Application Letter
This is simple advice. If you want
professional letter writing advice, I would hunt it down
on the internet. This meandering bit is based only on my
own experiences and biased opinions - as is everything
else in this document.
As a publisher, I've had the
chance to see a lot of application letters, and most of
them are really bad. You've got a really good
opportunity to improve your chances by learning how to
write a good application letter.
I can break the letters down into
3 categories.
1. Chat-Room Letter:
This letter does incomplete or short sentences, Grammar,
punctuation and proper letter format are missing. Thanks
to Cut & Paste, the links usually work. This kind of
application is most common from artists.
2. My name
is Inigo Montoya. You killed
my father.
Prepare to die:
(I'm going to be a little mean here - be warned.) These
letter start by bragging about your name. The
publisher does not care what your name is. He wants to
know why you are writing. (I'm writing to apply for
----). Your name goes at the bottom of the letter. If
you've impressed the publisher, he might read it.
These are not
bad letters. The applicant has made a serious effort to
apply, demonstrate his skill and use format technique.
He's just not a professional yet.
3.
The Professional Letter: This fellow starts with my
name. He tells me why he is applying. He includes a list
of references, with links I can check. He might even
have an attachment. He closes with his name and some
kind of signature.
I've got a good Letter,
does that mean I get the job?: No, and what's more,
there is still a good chance the fellow with the bad
letter got the job. A publisher might receive 20
letters. He MUST reject 19 of them. A good letter only
helps. If you haven't got the skills (samples, gallery,
list of publications) and other people do, it won't save
you. A good letter simply improves your chances.
How does a Publisher Choose?:
He looks at all the applications and makes a choice
based on his opinion. There is no right or wrong answer
and he is never sure he has made the best choice. He
might have liked one piece in the artist's gallery, or
known someone the writer has worked for. His opinion
changes. What he chose on one day, might be different
from another. If he goes back and reviews his choice he
might decide to change it. There is no one saying "haha!
You made the right choice."
Applying as Writers:
When a writer writes an application letter, it must be
better than when an artist does. I'm not hiring an
artist to write. A writer's application with spelling
and grammar mistakes has immediately hurt his chances
tremendously. Even later letters are important. As a
freelance writer, I spellchecked most of my mail to
employeers.
My favorite letter had no
spelling mistakes, was correctly formatted, contained a
writing sample attachment and 3 links to others and a
website I could go look at for more information. And he
worked for a company I had worked for. It's not fair,
but it's who you know. As you are in the business longer
and longer, you will know more people.
I have deliberately
gone out and worked for a variety of companies to help
increase my circles. I'll never know if it helped or
not.
Feedback and Rejection
Letters: If a publisher sends you a rejection
letter, respond and thank him. It is the very BEST way
to make friends with that publisher. It's hard writing
those letters. You are disappointing everyone who
receives one. Writing them back and thanking them is
saying "it's okay". You've just made yourself must
easier to work with. It doesn't guarantee a job, but
it's one of those things that helps.
Consequently, sending
negative feedback about a rejection letter is possibly
the worst thing you can do. I'm writing a series of them
right now and I feel positively ill thinking about any
negative feedback - and I'm a bitter jaded internet
user.
Scams and Warnings
Royalty Work:
Royalty work is at best suspect. I've
heard many complaints about royalty work and few happy stories. Of the dozen
books I have written for royalty payment none have been published. Everything
I have written on pay-per-word has been published. If they can't afford to
pay you, chances are they can't afford to stay in business. Four companies I
wrote for on a royalty basis, went out of business. I'm a little (whole
bunch) jaded about royalty work. It does exist and it can be successful but
I am wary of it from small companies who only offer royalties. Besides, 5%
of 1$... ...well you do the math.
Update:
I have now successfully received payment for a variety of royalty work from
Bards and
Sages and
The Le Games.
(Edit: OMG I had a typo. It said 'I have -not- successfully received.' That
is completely untrue. Bards and Sages and The Le Games have been very good
to me.)
Blogging:
Blogging, posting on message boards
to keep them alive, or writing thousands of short articles, pays
so little it's a waste of time. It's not going to help your career.
Ghostwriting: Ghostwriting
does not help your career at all. You are writing for someone else and you
never get credit. You're just doing it for the money, which is usually far
from worth it.
Pay
Pay varies. Some may be paid up front and/or when the manuscript is turned
in with full payment on publication. More often the writer is paid after the
product is published, always, in the case of royalties. Pay may include both
royalties and pay-per-word but more often it is one or the other.
Pay Per Word: Respectable
pay ranges from 1 to 5 cents per word. Better magazines and publishers
will pay 5 cents a word - Dragon, Dungeon, Wotc, Goodman Games etc. Getting
1-2 cents a word isn't something you could live off of, but at least they
are taking you seriously. Generally anything under 1 cent a word should be
considered non-paid.
Famous writers can get paid as
high as 50 cents a word an possibly more with royalties. But don't start
dreaming about these salaries until you've been in the business for ten
years and have a few best sellers!
Royalty
Royalty's
vary. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 25% to 33% seems about right. I don't
like royalties because there is NO incentive for the publisher to actually
publish your work. I only like to accept royalty payments with a company
I've already worked for, perhaps on something small, which they paid me for.
My first 8 royalty projects never got published - at least not by the
publisher who requested the work.
But I'm Not Making Any Money
Okay, you're normal. If you were
making money, you'd be what we call 'lucky'. I'm four years in and I've
earned about 3 months worth of 'real' work income from my writing.
Subtract the cost of books, Gen-Con and other trips, the website, the
computer and computer programs and you've got a huge black hole. I work part
time as a lifeguard, live at home, go to school and write but I'm publishing
books. When a full time position comes up at Wizards or Mongoose, now they
reply and I've been short listed several times.
If I did get hired, it would mean a greater level of success. I'd switch to
writing full time. I'd move. There would be new problems though. There
are always problems but the more you overcome the better you are prepared
for the new ones. You don't fight the fact new problems will arrive, but
instead meet them with calm preparation.
It'd rather be rich and healthy than poor and sick.
I like this twisted version of the cliché because it says that you can be
successful. Life isn't Hollywood. Success does not imply some penalty for
achieving it. Yes there is the underlying opposite message that things can
be very bad but I'm a glass-is-half-full kind of guy.
2008
Update: Seven years in and the pay has improved, but not considerably.
However, I am focusing on getting my products published. I could be making
more money doing other peoples work, rather than making my own and trying to
sell it. I've made a choice there.
Companies Which Don't Pay
So, you've written
something and sent it to a company. Maybe it's been published, maybe not. So
where is that paycheck? It's been six months, or longer! They aren't
responding to me e-mails!
Unfortunately this isn't
unusual. The company may have gone out of business or they might be in
financial trouble or some other "real-world" situation might have them busy.
Remember that second job you have to pay the bills - many publishers also
have second jobs while they are trying to get their company off the ground.
Keep writing the company.
If you are polite, you've got a much better chance of getting a reply than
if you hassle them, no matter how frustrated you are. Also try to find
message boards they use - the message boards where you got work from them or
the message board on their website. At the very least you might find other
writers in the same situation and possibly get an explanation.
Four companies I worked
for went out of business. In each case I was asked to write a book,
submitted it, and never heard from them again. Repeated efforts to contact
them failed and I watched their website expire. Then I took my book
elsewhere. I guess I'm lucky. If they had published any of those books, that
would represent a problem. I imagine they might not bother paying me.
Remember freelancing is a
small-time business, at least for most of us. Neither side can afford an
airplane ticket and the cost of a hotel room, much less the price of a
lawyer - so suing each other is not a viable option - no matter what your
overzealous best friend says (demands) you should do. The quick exception is
if you contest copyright with Wizards or another large company.
Go look at the companies
website. If they are still updating their webpage and putting out new
product - they are still alive. Chase them. Write them. If you aren't
published ask for the product back, but be polite. Publishing anything, even
PDFs, requires a lot of work and always a certain amount of money. Most
publishers aren't interested in keeping a product they aren't going to
published. If you HAVE been published, you'll have to keep asking for
payment.
Looking at Legal
Options: Your legal options vary depending on your state, province and
country. Lawyers are required to do a certain amount of pro-bono work (work
for free). This allows you to contact a lawyer and get some advice for free.
If you are lucky enough to be close to the publisher, small claims court
might be an option but it would make more sense just to go talk to the
publisher instead.
(Disclaimer: I am not a
lawyer and this document (my WritersResourcePage) is not intended as legal
advice.)
Online Stores
RPGnow and Drive
Thru RPG, merged together as One Book Shelf are the largest d20
PDF sellers.
E23 offers products from a select group
of publishers.
Paizo Publishing publishes Dragon and
Dungeon and everything that comes out of Wizards of the Coast and has expanded
to include PDFs from other companies, dice and the usual slew of products.
En World
is a massive message board which also sells products including it's own line
of d20 products. They have my favorite open-call board. (En World's Open Calls & Job Vacancies).
Many d20 companies sell their
products from their own webpage as well. This includes any products they
have licensed out to other companies, so you can see which other companies
they are doing business with.
Meet People
Okay, you've
published a few things and you're serious about writing, now what?
Gen Con
I like to say I didn't
know anything until I went to Gen-Con. That's not true but it sure opened my
eyes. Goodman Games was the first company to suggest to me that I come down
to Gen-Con for their annual get together. I turned them down thinking it
would be a colossal waste of money (1000$ for ticket, room/board plus
purchases). The following year, I decided to needed to start meeting
publishers and I went.
The most important thing I
learned is that most of the "legends" I looked up to were just people, very
approachable and friendly. Each of them have their own doubts and worries,
even thought from my point of view they were tremendously successful.
Other Cons
There are lots of local conventions you can go to. You might not see the
Wizard's booth and Gary Gygax might not be the guest of honor, but you can
meet people there and learn - oh and have fun.
Where to Post Press Releases
Advertising is critical. It's simple. If you don't advertise, generally no
one hears about your product and you don't sell any copies. A press release
is a free way of advertising on message boards.
http://www.flamesrising.com/
http://www.rpgnews.com/
http://www.grumblingdwarf.net/
http://www.pen-paper.net/forum/
http://www.ukroleplayers.com/
http://www.gamewyrd.com/
http://forums.rpghost.com/
http://www.kenzerco.com (Advertising
in KODT magazine)
http://www.sjgames.com/ (Advertising
in Pyramid magazine from Steve Jackson games)
Terms and Definitions
Contents
d20
Notes
d20
Terms and Definitions
Other
Terms
(I have provided a brief overview
of the d20 system. This is NOT a legal document and may contain errors or
be out of date. Follow the links to Wizard's d20 site for legal information
and the d20 license.)
d20 Notes
What is the SRD?:
The SRD is the System Reference Document (clear as mud eh?) which is everything
for the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monstrous Manual
and Expanded Psionic's Handbook that you are -allowed- to use. If
you find something in a WOTC book that does not appear in the SRD, you are
not allowed to use it. This includes several of the best known monsters, all
character names and very importantly anything to do with character generation
and XP (see the d20 liscence).
What is the d20 liscence?:
Wizards basically let anyone write D&D - but you can't call it D&D.
You can (and must) call it d20. d20 products are compatible with and require
the core books.
Core Books: These
are the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monstrous Manual and
Expanded Psionic's Handbook (PHB, DMG, MM)
Open Gaming License:
This license is a little more flexible. Essentially you take the SRD and create
you own game, including character generation. You still can't copy the PHB
character generation - you must make up your own. OGL books usually are not
100% compatible with d20 books and thus are not as popular (in theory). With
the market glut the OGL books are probably just as popular.
d20 Terms and Definitions
d20: In game terms this refers to
a 20 sided dice, a polyhedron. It is also the name of the liscence WOTC (Wizards
of the Coast - part of Hasbro) created so that anyone can write Dungeons and
Dragons material.
BOED: Book of Exalted Deeds (produced
by WOTC)
BOVD: Book of Vile Darkness (produced
by WOTC)
OGL: Open Gaming Liscence
SRD: The System Reference Document.
This is a list of everything from the Core Books you can use when you write
d20.
WOTC: Wizards of the Coast, a Seattle
Washington USA based company, part of Hasbro, which produces games such as
Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons.
Other Terms
Royalty: The publisher
pays the writer a percentage of the books net or gross sales usually on a
monthly or bi-monthly basis. On smaller runs they often wait until a certain
amount of pay has accumulated before paying.
Pay-Per-Word: Simply, the
publisher pays the writer an amount for each word in the final published
document. Often this is slightly less than the word count for the final
submitted manuscript. This ranges from 1-5 cents for freelancers up to 50
cents for famous novel writers.
Non-Roleplayers
This page is less about advice and more about moral support. It can be very
frustrating explaining to your family and your friends what you do. They may
not respect your writing or take your efforts seriously or just always put
on that disappointed look when you talk about RPGs.
First, there is nothing wrong with writing Role Playing Games. Every year I
go to Gen Con and see fifty thousand odd people with the same interests and
passions I have. Role playing and fantasy in general is gaining more and
more acceptance. If someone says you should be making more money - remind
them, and remember yourself, that most writers of ANY kind struggle for
money and success. The clichéd starving-writer is very much a reality.
Most of us work at another job as our primary source of income. As a result
most writers are very skilled in a secondary occupation, something they can
use in their writing. Writers work very hard, putting in hundreds of hours
for a book and seeing payment that is well below 10$ an hour! Also it can
take months or even years before a written product is accepted and
published. Some never make it to print.
A Bit of
Truthful Comedy: Adrian M. Pommier replied to the
following message over on
Goodman Games Forums. He hit the nail on
the head so well I asked him for permission to post the message here for
other writers. Enjoy.
Post subject: Question for the
writers/ developers/ artists/ cartographers
Hey all,
"So what do you do?"
Do you have a hard time relating what you do to
civilians? Do you find yourself explaining what a role-playing game is again
and again?
just curious.
-Brendan
Pommier's
Reply
OH YEAH
All the time.
"I'm a freelance game writer."
Normally they somehow refuse to hear "game" and fixate on "writer".
"Oh, a writer! Do you write novels?"
*sigh
If they hear "game," they say, "Oh. (note the lack of exclamation point) Do
you write board games?"
This leads to a discussion like, "No, it's like those
choose-your-own-adventure books you might have read as a kid, but lots of
people can do it at the same time, and one guy 'runs' the book for
everybody. I write the scenario for the 'book' and they play it."
Something like that. If they say, "You mean...(always a pause) like D&D?"
They usually follow with, "I used to play that in college. (wait for
it...wait for it...) Do people still play that?"
"No, I write these things but nobody buys them. Weird business, huh?"
^ is what I want to say. I actually usually launch into something like how
it's still popular and I talk about GenCon.
To which I usually hear, "You mean it's like a Star Trek convention?"
And I cleverly counter with, "No, it's more like a trade show for the
industry, more like E3 for video games (oh how prophetic THAT turned out to
be) or any of the conventions that CJ (my uber-chemist wife) goes to. Only
more fun."
Big laugh, next topic of conversation. I swear and would testify before
Congress that I've had that exact conversation no less than three times.
- Adrian M. Pommier
A Closing about
Me
I was a freelancer from 2001 to 2008 when I started Charke
Publishing. I'm still a freelancer. I still have a day job which pays all
the bills, including the costs of my writing. If Charke Publishing breaks
even through 2009 I'll be happy.
Am I
happy with my writing, yes. I'm thrilled. Not only to I have a number of
books published, but, as a publisher, I can now chose
which books to publish. Wizard's actually
returns my emails and now I can write "publisher" on my resume.
I still chase fulltime
writing work with bigger companies in pursuit of the
dream - making enough from this field to live on.
Mark Charke
www.Charke.ca
Thinking Outside the Box
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