An Ode to Wikipedia

I am old enough to remember hard-bound encyclopedias, those infallible sources for grade-school reports. And I am old enough to remember the pre-Google era, when I would wonder, and wonder, and yet my questions remained unanswered. Do you remember the days when you had to wait to go to the library?

Now, for a quick answer, above all, there is Wikipedia. Of all the innumerable sources of internet information, Wikipedia is my go-to source for quick answers to my constant questions. On my computer’s browser, it holds the place of honor, that first, left button on my bookmarks toolbar.

Here’s a small example of Wikipedia’s usefulness: Today, someone cryptically wrote“TIA” in an email to me. I was at a loss. I Googled it, and discovered that TIA is the acronym for a transient ischemic attack, and for the Telecommunications Industry Association, too. No luck. Wikipedia was more helpful: It listed every instance of TIA, categorized from medicine, transportation, people’s names, and literature and the arts, and that’s where I found my match. In my case, the meaning was "TIA" (thanks in advance), common usage in internet slang. How could I not know that? Well, now I do. Thanks, Wikipedia.

Today there was a banner at the top of the Wikipedia page, with a message from the founder, Jimmy Wales. I idly clicked on it and read the message. I'd never thought of it before, that Wikipedia is "a humanitarian project to bring a free encyclopedia to every single person on the planet." I was touched by Wale’s earnest idealism. I donated a few dollars.

What does it mean to have facts at your fingertips? What is it worth? A lot, to me. I think it has changed the way I navigate the world. Now, I expect to know – and if I don’t, well then I’ll find out. Thanks, Wikipedia.

Read Jimmy Wales’ message about Wikipedia, and consider donating a few dollars yourself by clicking the button below.

If everyone reading this donated a dollar, we would be able to keep Wikipedia strong, secure, and ad-free.

Not everyone can or will donate. And that’s fine, because each year just enough people support Wikipedia with a small donation. If you feel it's your turn, please make a small donation of $10, $20, $35 or whatever you can to keep Wikipedia free.

Most people don't know this, but I'm a volunteer.

I don't get paid a cent for my work at Wikipedia, and neither do our thousands of other volunteer authors and editors. When I founded Wikipedia, I could have made it into a for-profit company with advertising banners, but I decided to do something different. Commerce is fine. Advertising is not evil. But it doesn't belong here. Not in Wikipedia. Wikipedia is something special. It is like a library or a public park. It is like a temple for the mind. It is a place we can all go to think, to learn, to share our knowledge with others. It is a unique human project, the first of its kind in history. It is a humanitarian project to bring a free encyclopedia to every single person on the planet.

Every single person.

We're a small organization, and I've worked hard over the years to keep us lean and tight. We fulfill our mission, and leave waste to others.

To do this without resorting to advertising, we need you. It is you who keep this dream alive. It is you who have created Wikipedia. It is you who believe that a place of calm reflection and learning is worth having.

This year, please consider making a donation to protect and sustain Wikipedia.

Thanks,

Jimmy Wales

Wikipedia Founder

click the botton to donate

The Power of Memoirs

What's so special about memoirs? And what's the difference from a personal essay? Generally, a personal essay explores an idea, and draws upon personal experiences and reflections to draw a conclusion about that idea. It is personal, because it is one person’s opinion, their unique perspective. Personal essays tend to be focused and short.

A memoir can convey so much more than an essay, both in content and style. Like the personal essay, a memoir will delve into an individual's experience in a search for meaning and insight. A book length memoir will, inevitably, include a greater number of personal tales, which can then be linked together to examine cause and effect throughout one's lifetime.

A memoir can also be shaped into a highly artful literary form. As an editor, I often receive a rough draft of a memoir in chronological order. That’s because we tend to think of our life story as beginning at birth and ending with…well, you know. However, if you are asked, “What about the meaning of your life?” all sorts of different life stories will emerge. You’ll explore the turning points that shaped your identity and values. You’ll remember the people who influenced you, for better or worse, and how. These stories, which can be tied together by themes, rather than ordered by date, make for especially fascinating reading.

In the commercial marketplace, we often see published memoirs of famous politicians or celebrities, or memoirs by people who have had such an extraordinary experience that they make national news and sign a book deal. Yet each of us, perhaps in a less public or spectacular fashion, has stories to tell. Life itself teaches us powerful lessons, and if we’ve stopped to learn and reflect, we can share our experiences and teach those lessons to others.

At StoriesToTellBooks.com, we get lots of writers who don’t aspire to a national book deal, but want to self publish their memoirs for family and friends. Now that self publishing is so inexpensive, anyone can write a book for their loved ones, and some may even produce a book that is of wider interest.

What’s the difference between what you write privately, for family and friends, rather than commercially? Private self publishing means you can include the things your family will care to know, and to keep forever. We design books that include precious family photos, letters, recipes, documents. These images illustrate and amplify the memoir’s meaning. An illustrated memoir is wonderfully unique, reflecting the author’s life and interests. A commercial author, on the other hand, must consider what will be universally appealing to the general public, and shape their content to convey more universal and broadly appealing messages. They rarely contain more than a few illustrations, as these are too personal for the general reader.

One of the questions authors often ask is “How do I know if I am done yet?” That’s a good question, as there is a lot of flexibility in memoir; there is no one “right way” or a template to fill in. Like many editors, we offer “manuscript evaluation” to read the draft and advise whether to keep writing, or not. Generally, if the scope of your book is too broad, you’ll write a lot of too short, too shallow stories. With memoir, it’s better to cover less ground, in more depth. After all, if you have many, many stories with a lot of depth, you may have more than enough material to publish two books!

Memoirs are powerful because they touch the heart. They originate from true life stories, and the reader will inevitably put themselves in your shoes and imagine, what if it had been me? Your reader will not only think, but they will feel, as if they had been there themselves. When you tell your stories, you are transporting the reader to a different time and place, and they will know and feel what it was to have lived your life. What greater art?

Writing Commercial Fiction?

Check this out! There’s a new kid in town, and this one is accepting unagented manuscripts. If you write genre fiction, such as mystery, romance, or science fiction, this is a chance to be discovered. They are called Musa Publishing, and they have a number of genre imprints, and also a speculative fiction eMag called Penumbra.

Of all the obstacles that face new authors, being without an agent is one of the most formidable. After all, you just want to submit your book, right? Why this two-step process, then, of finding an agent to represent you?

Agents have traditionally been the gatekeepers of the publishing industry, screening manuscripts to locate the ones most likely to succeed at a given publishing house. For an author, this means giving up perhaps 15% of a book’s revenue to the agent – a tough price to pay. Traditionally, authors have grudgingly paid their dues to gain access to a publisher.

So when a publisher comes along who will deal directly with an author, without the agent’s cut, it gets interesting. And this new publisher, Musa, posts the terms of their author contracts online. http://musapublishing.blogspot.com/p/royalties.html

Musa royalties are set up as the following:

• For trade paperback copies sold less returns: 15% percent (FIFTEEN) of the cover price received for each sale made directly on the Musa Press site.
• For trade paperback copies sold less returns: 15% percent (FIFTEEN) of the cover price for each sale made on third-party wholesalers, distributors, resellers, or vendors sites.
• For electronic edition copies sold: fifty percent (50%) of the cover price received for each sale made directly off the Musa Press site.
• For electronic edition copies sold: fifty percent (50%) of the NET amount received for each sale made directly from third-party wholesalers, distributors, resellers, or vendors.
• For electronic edition copies sold on sale: fifty percent (50%) of the sale price received for each sale made on the Musa Press site.

Here’s the interesting twist it took me a moment to understand: Musa starts all authors off with ebooks, and then, depending on their sales, goes to print. Their site states:

PRINT—Musa will select books for our print line based upon sales. If your sales reach a certain level, your book will go into print. At that time, for any book sold on our site you will receive 15% of the cover price and through a third party you receive 15% of the net.

Is this a good deal? That’s a matter of perspective. The unknown question, as with any publisher, is what will they do to market and promote your book. How many copies will be sold? If your book is accepted by a publisher who then lets it grow stale on the shelf, it’s never a good deal. If the book gains lots of exposure because the publisher does the job of marketing and promotion well – then that is the stuff of an author’s dreams come true.