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Release Announcement for The Magic of Fiction

February 29, 2016 by Fiction Editor Beth Hill
last modified March 12, 2016

The release date for the print version of The Magic of Fiction is Tuesday, March 15, 2016. And yes, I’m excited.

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The Magic of Fiction

 

Launch Week Festivities

I’m releasing the book, but you get to join the fun. Visit The Editor’s Blog during launch week for live help with your WIPs and for chances to win prizes.

Through Sunday, March 20, get $10 off the purchase of The Magic of Fiction (at the CreateSpace store). Details and coupon here.

Sunday, March 13

~  Read a preview of the book through a featured excerpt

~  Critique the First Paragraph—post the first paragraph from any work in progress (fiction or nonfiction) and invite other writers and editors (including me) to offer critique and suggestions. (real-time critiques from 5 to 7 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time)

Requirements and specifics here

Monday, March 14

~  Read previews of the book through multiple excerpts

Tuesday, March 15

~  Read a preview of the book through a featured excerpt

~  Release Day! Buy a copy of the book

~  Sign up for a chance to win a First-Thirty Edit, an edit of the first thirty pages of a manuscript. (No purchase necessary—the winner will be chosen randomly from entries.)

Wednesday, March 16

~ Read a preview of the book through a featured excerpt

~  Get your fiction and writing questions answered during a real-time question and answer session. (There will be two sessions so we can accommodate a variety of time zones—4-5:30 p.m. EDT and 9-10:30 p.m. EDT.)

Thursday, March 17

~  Read a preview of the book through a featured excerpt

~  Prize-pack Giveaway—the prize pack includes

– a searchable PDF of The Magic of Fiction

and winner’s choice of three (3) books from the following list:

Grammatically Correct (Stilman)

New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors

New Hart’s Rules

Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage

The Oxford Dictionary of Current English

Webster’s New World College Dictionary (5th ed.)

The Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.)—winner’s choice of print edition or one-year subscription to CMOS online

No purchase is necessary to be in the running for the prize pack. The single winner will be randomly chosen from comments posted to all Launch Week articles at the blog—if you comment, you have a chance to win. And the more you comment, the more chances you have. (Only legitimate comments will be considered, so comments such as “hi there” will be deleted from the articles.) Books subject to availability.

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Specifics, rules, and exclusions will be posted with each event or at the beginning of launch week, as is appropriate. But if you have questions, please ask them.

I hope you’ll join me for launch week. And remember to invite your friends.

***

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36 Responses to “Release Announcement for The Magic of Fiction”

  1. Pam Rauber says:

    Yaaaaay!!!!! Crowd cheers. I bought your PDF. Downloaded to iPad. It’s okay. I have a hard time finding places. Obviously, I don’t know how to use iBooks. Then again, I’m a hard core, multi-colored, post-it person. I’m addicted to colorful post-its.

    • Pam, I’m sorry the iPad and the PDF don’t get along. What’s so wonderful about the PDF is that every word is searchable—maybe try it on a desktop or laptop?

      I won’t be putting together an e-book version for the same reason you had trouble reading the book on an iPad—a nonfiction book with dozens of fonts and different indentions and a variety of example styles just isn’t going to work with most e-readers. A PDF holds its form, which is great for my purposes. But anything else would just be a lot of text with little differentiation between page elements. In other words, an ugly mess.

      I’ve decided I love CreateSpace. I’ll let you know about IngramSpark when I finish with that process.

      Thanks for the cheers. I’m very excited about this book. (And I’m already working, at least passively, on the next one.)

      • Phil Huston says:

        Try adobe reader for iPad. It’s free. The iBook app prefers ebook formats. Or, if you have it on desktop as well, use something like Calibre to convert it and send it back via iTunes. PDF’s do look like ***** on iBooks. It’s not like Beth doesn’t have anything else to do but she could one of her personal assistants 😉 to convert everything on demand.

  2. What is the cost of the book?

  3. Pat Garcia says:

    Congratulations, Beth.
    I will participate. I have read through the blog post and have a question.
    Are you saying that everyone can post the first paragraph of any work they are working on?
    Shalom,
    Pat

    • Yes, Pat. Exactly. You’ll post the first paragraph and I (and others who want to chime in) will offer critique. If the post gets quite busy, I can’t guarantee that every paragraph will receive a critique, but that is the intention.

  4. Congrats on the book launch, Beth! I have no doubt your book will be a raging success, if your blog posts are any indication. I’m excited to read the excerpts! Not sure yet if I’ll post a paragraph, but I’m happy and willing to offer critiques on the work of others. 🙂

  5. Judy L Mohr says:

    Congrats on the book launch. You must be bouncing off your seat with excitement. It looks like it’s going to be a full-on week and I’m looking forward to reading snippets. Bring it on.

  6. Pat Shaw says:

    I just wanted to chime in with my congratulations and wish you a successful book launch! So many people are going to benefit from this available to them and I’m betting it becomes their go-to resource for both writing and editing! I can’t wait to read it! Best wishes to you!

  7. Janet says:

    Hello Beth,
    First, Congratulations on your book launch! It looks like a complete package of writing & editing. It is very exciting. I look forward to using the knowledge in my manuscript.
    Jan

  8. Kat says:

    I have no doubt that this book will become a permanent fixture on my desk (not on my shelf). You say that you saw a need – I have to agree. Finding books that are specifically geared to fiction editing is ridiculously difficult. Your website is helpful and I send many of my clients here to learn more about what they need to do (and why). I have every faith that the book will become a must-have for writers *and* editors worldwide.

    Thankyou, Beth.

    • Kat, it’s true—there really isn’t much available on editing. There are some great reference materials for different aspects of the craft, but nothing comprehensive. Of course, I’m sure readers will let me know what I forgot in Magic, meaning I’ll have to add a volume 2 at some point. A book on punctuation and grammar for fiction writers is already in the works.

      I’m nodding at your inclusion of and why. Sometimes that’s the most important bit of information we can share. When we know why, we can extrapolate to other circumstances.

      Thanks for sharing your good wishes. I’ll join my faith to yours.

  9. I just purchased the book from Createspace. (Not available on Amazon.ca). I would like to enter the contest for first thirty edit. Thanks.
    Pirkko

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