Another Day, Another Series of Horrific Stories Out of VA Facilities
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Morning Jolt May 23, 2014 There won't be a Jolt, per se, on Monday, Memorial Day, but you'll get a message from NR publisher Jack Fowler. Another Day, Another Series of Horrific Stories Out of VA Facilities Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki apparently is going to institute a new lengthy waiting period before action to address the problem of lengthy waiting periods. We've lost patience over your losing patients, Mr. Secretary. Meanwhile, I usually scoff at the perennial "rogue low-level employees in Cincinnati" excuse, but every once in a while, that blind squirrel finds an acorn.
Whistleblowers keep coming forward:
They're brave, since past whistleblowers describe all kinds of retaliation. And the complaints are jaw-dropping:
Don't worry, America. The U.S. Senate is on the case! Nah, just kidding. The VA reform and accountability bill passed the house with 390 votes earlier this week. And then. . .
Happy Memorial Day, huh? Uniting and electing that Republican-controlled Senate sure looks good right now, doesn't it? Oh, Mississippi. What Are We Going to Do With You? In Senator Thad Cochran, Mississippi Republican, we have a longtime GOP incumbent who spends like you would expect a member of the Appropriations Committee to spend. . . and then we've got the challenger who has at least four too many nut-jobs supporting him:
The Clarion Ledger reports, "Authorities said they have no evidence at this point linking the alleged conspiracy to a campaign." But former NR reporter Bob Costa, now at the Post, reported, "When asked whether he is investigating McDaniel and his advisers, Madison County District Attorney Michael Guest said 'no persons or persons have been cleared.'" It's tough to dismiss McDaniel because of some supporters' unhinged behavior. . . but you also have to wonder just what the heck is going on over in his campaign. Are there any more shoes to drop? Is this too much of a risk for the general election? Or is another term of Thad Cochran just too intolerable? Thank You, and My Effort to Help Out the Aspiring Authors Out There First of all, thank you so much to everyone who pre-ordered a book Thursday. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your response stunned me; on Thursday afternoon, "The Weed Agency" hit 176 on Amazon's bestseller list. My publisher's thought: "Great! Now just do that every day from now until publication!" But instead of subjecting you to another sales pitch, I thought I would try to give you something more useful, some advice that may help you reach this joy someday. Things You Should Know If You're Thinking of Writing a Book First, a really important question: Do you enjoy writing? If you don't, stop here. (Wait, keep reading, I mean, stop your book-writing plan here.) It's not enough to enjoy reading, or enjoy the subject. You have to be willing to spend a considerable amount of time, staring at a screen and gathering information — be it research or just things from your imagination — and putting it all down and then — undoubtedly my weakest area — organizing it, editing it, and re-editing it to get it to flow as smoothly and clearly as possible. Second, you need an idea. It needs to be unique, or unique enough. You'll be stunned how many good ideas have already been written about, to little fanfare and attention. You need to be able to make your concept sound extremely compelling in a very brief description. Then you can get to work on your proposal. Your proposal will lay out the premise of your book and why you're the right person to write this book. You've heard of the "elevator pitch" — you have to convince the publisher why he should sign you to a contract in the amount of time it takes to take the elevator to the penthouse office. Magazines like Writer's Digest and Writer's Market are full of articles with headlines like, "Do You Really Need an Agent?" I'll give you a much shorter answer: yeah, you do. Unless you are someone who seems like a natural author — a celebrity in your own right, or Bob Woodward right after breaking Watergate — you're going to encounter a lot of "no"s from publishers. (And if, by some chance, you're accepted on your first or second proposal, congratulations, and/or I hate you out of jealousy.) In the end, by signing with an agent, you're trading a portion of your advance — usually about 15 percent -- in exchange for the agent setting you up with an editor and company who wants to publish your book. If you can arrange that deal on your own, great; some authors do accomplish this, and get to keep that extra fifteen percent. Agents do two things. First, you're paying the agent for his or her knowledge of the field, of knowing which editor at which publisher to contact with this proposal. And this is their real job, matching up authors and publishers, and knowing which editors will like which ideas. The second thing the agent does is handle the contract and related paperwork, and you probably don't want to have to spend a lot of time on that. A lot of agents will turn you down. Some won't be accepting new authors, others just won't be interested in your idea. I was rejected by 29 of the first 31 agents I contacted for my previous book, now available at fine remainder bins everywhere. There is a good chance you will be rejected by many publishers before you find one interested. You just have to commit to happily wallpapering your bedroom with rejection notices if that's what it takes. (I am extremely lucky to have a terrific agent, one of the two who didn't turn me down, Mel Berger of the William Morris Agency. Please contact him if you're interested in acquiring the film or television rights to "The Weed Agency.") If you've written for the public before, you will be a safer bet for a publisher, because you've demonstrated an ability to A) write coherently, B) meet deadlines C) not plagiarize or spur a libel lawsuit. If you haven't written professionally before, then in your proposal you'll want to point to previous work done on deadline, to reassure a potential publisher that they won't find themselves without a product on the due date. A lesson for those who do write professionally — the book-buying audience isn't that interested in variations of things you've written elsewhere; the hits offer readers something they can't get anywhere else. The tone, breadth, and subject matter of Liberal Fascism was extremely different from that of Jonah's previous writings. Rich's Lincoln Unbound is different from his column, magazine pieces, and previous books. Sure, Charles Krauthammer's Things That Matter includes previously-published columns and essays and previously given speeches, but most of that stuff is extremely hard to find. I have been blessed with very good editors on my books. Your mileage may vary. Some have a very light hand, some have heavier hands. You have to know what parts of your idea you're willing to revise and tweak and change, and where to draw the line. My personal experience suggests that the publishing industry has a lot of turnover, with editors changing jobs, titles, and publishers frequently. I've now had one bad experience with an editor's sudden departure and one "good" one, even though I missed the old editor. You've got to roll with the punches, and make sure one editor successfully passes the baton to another. A hard lesson is that there is no guarantee of success, even if you do everything right. The bookstore shelves and tables are crowded. Newspaper and magazine book-review sections seem to shrink each year, and their slots are gobbled up by well-known celebrity authors. Yes, there's a risk people won't like your book, but the more likely disappointment is that people won't notice it. If you have been reading this and thinking, "wow, this sounds like fun," I'd say go for it. There's a reason this world is full of bibliophiles; a good book offers an almost unrivaled pleasure. ADDENDA: Here's Thursday night's appearance on Greta Van Susteren's On the Record. To read more, visit www.nationalreview.com
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