Writing Audience | Indie Scriptorium — Self Publishing Collective (SPC)

Responsible Publishing – Legal and Moral Considerations

So, you’ve written a short story, an essay, a non-fiction book, a memoir, or a novel. You’ve done the plotting, the research, created worlds and words and honed it to a very fine piece of writing. You’ve used Beta readers, editors, proof-readers, formatters and designed a wonderful cover and a tight blurb and finished it with an author bio. It’s ready to publish, and that’s so very exciting but scary too.

Putting a manuscript out for publishing, no matter if you use a traditional or hybrid publisher or go totally Indie, it is your work, and you are responsible for how it is received in the wider world.

Legal considerations

Before publishing, it may be a good idea to think about what you have written. We all know the pitfalls of plagiarism, making sure all the ideas and words are yours alone. If not, then other contributions must be acknowledged fully and honestly, preferably in the authors’ note or in a bibliography. If you refer to actual events and people, you have to be one hundred percent accurate or risk the ire of your knowledgeable readers. The adage, think about every reader as an expert and an editor is sound advice.

If you change historical dates and timelines, fudge a fact for the sake of a better story, make sure you fess up to this in your author notes. It’s acceptable but acknowledge changes to the public record and why you made the changes.

The legal issues to consider before publishing include copyright, permissions to use another person’s image or writing, and defamation. The Australian Society of Authors and the Australian Copyright Council have information sheets that you can download.

Defamation laws were amended recently, the same laws now apply to all Australian states. The act of defamation involves making false statements, either written or verbal, that damage a person’s reputation. Make sure your written piece is accurate and the truth. A person who believes you have damaged their reputation can sue and the outcome may be costly. If you include real people in your written piece, maybe get it checked out for a legal appraisal.

In addition, you have a legal obligation to make a National Library of Australia deposit of your published book, but an ISBN is not mandatory but highly recommended. Indie Scriptorium will have more information on ISBNs in a later blog.

Moral considerations

As an author, it is imperative to consider how your work, fiction or non-fiction, impact on your readers. You may include scenes of violence, rape, incest, murder and other challenging tropes but have you considered how a vulnerable reader could be disturbed by your storyline. I’m not advocating censorship, but as writers, it makes sense to reflect on how readers may be affected when they read about the violence and distress of your characters. You may need to ask, is it essential to the plot or gratuitous violence? Can you write a scene without graphic descriptions but leave the reader with an impression of the damage wreaked by your protagonist? You need to consider if your storyline can justify or inform deviant behaviour or increase racial and sexual vilification. If a book or scene is overtly graphic and potentially disturbing, consider a warning that the content may cause distress for some readers. Include it in the blurb. I presume that some warnings may intrigue some readers and encourage sales.

Sensitivity readers are in the news at present because of the controversy over re writing the Roald Dahl books, but they are a useful type of editor to use if your book involves some contentious issues. For example, if you are writing a book which includes references to indigenous people, then a sensitivity reader can provide expert information about the accuracy and consequences of your work. Again, it is not about censorship, but it is about consideration and empathy and ensuring that your work will not cause distress.

Writing cannot all be all pleasant subjects and happy endings but consider the legal and moral pitfalls to avoid. The best antidote is to get honest feedback from other writers, editors, beta readers and whoever else will read your manuscript. And kill your darling’s if you need to–but not with too much gratuitous violence.

Cheers

Image– The Thinker © Creative Commons

Indie Scriptorium-What does it take to become a writer?

Step Two–Writing to be read.

A reader is your audience. Your job as a writer is to give your reader the best possible experience of understanding and enjoying your thoughts, experiences, ideas, and creativity.

To turn your written piece into something that others will read, understand and enjoy requires two further steps, critiquing and editing. You will also need a computer and an understanding of how to create a word document or someone who will help you with this task.

When I first started out writing, I did not understand the need for critiquing and editing and wrote a massive novel of 180,000 words on a typewriter, and then did not know what to do with it. A kind person read it and pointed out that it was too long, overly complex, had too much explanation, didn’t read well, and contained far too many grammatical and spelling errors. I became totally dispirited and deposited my tome in a bottom draw where it still resides today.

Since then, I have written hundreds of small pieces of written texts. Some were essays for study, work projects, small exercises in writer’s groups and short stories for competitions. I have learned from these the craft of writing. I have improved my style and continue to improve. This is a process that never stops. I am learning every time I write, critique and edit.

I am now writing novels to be published with Indie Scriptorium and they need to be as close to perfect as possible. Getting feedback and then editing your work is as important as writing it in the first place and can take up more time and effort. But it will be worth it.

Let’s start with critiquing. What is a critique? My Collins dictionary defines a critique as a “Critical essay” and many people view a critique as a negative criticism of something as it comes from the word critic. But I like the Oxford Languages definition on Google “Critique–a detailed analysis and assessment of something.”

When writing, you want a detailed analysis and a fair assessment of your work. As a writer, you need encouragement and constructive feedback, so it’s important to look for the strengths of the writing as well as the improvements required.

It is difficult to critique your own work. When you are writing for a reader, you need another set of eyes. A trusted person, or persons, who will give you their honest opinion about what they liked and what they didn’t. What worked and what was confusing, what was difficult to understand, or lacked pace and interest. Getting feedback is essential.

I have a lovely friend who reads my first drafts and tells me if she enjoyed the story and the characters. I also have writing friends who give feedback about the plot, characters, writing style, research used, word usage, sentence construction and grammar. Writing groups can provide good feedback, but I would suggest that you ask one or two members to become your critique partners and then share your work fairly amongst yourselves. Writing groups can be too supportive, you need a balance of encouragement and critical evaluation to improve your writing. I also employ a professional editor who provides me with invaluable feedback.

Google-How to find a Critique Partner and there is a plethora of articles that I suggest people read before approaching another writer. Some Writing Organisations will provide critiquing services for a fee or will help you match up with another writer. Entering competitions can provide you with some excellent feedback, especially if the judges are readers. I have found a questionnaire a useful way to gain feedback from readers as it focuses their attention on what aspects of your writing you need to improve.

Critiques strengthen your writing. Reviewing someone else’s work strengthens your writing and leads you to the next step: editing. (To be covered in my next blog in July)

And in the spirit of critiquing, I welcome your feedback for this blog.