The All Rights Issue is Spreading...

Just want to point everyone in the direction of the Womagwriter blog where further bad news on all rights fiction contracts have now spread to monthly magazine Spirit & Destiny.

The magazine was seen as a new market for short story writers even though it was only one story a month and obviously needed stories that would fit the magazine's profile.

I usually read the magazine on Readly and it's always good to see a story by writers I know. I doubt I will continue to read it now they're requiring all rights for their fiction.

More worrying for writers is that the magazine is a Bauer publication. They also produce Take A Break Fiction Feast; although that is a closed list so writers who aren't on the list can't submit anyway, but the implications, for those writers who are, is worrying.

When I wrote my article for Writing Magazine last summer (around the all rights situation at Woman's Weekly) I mentioned the potential for the other magazines to also move to an all rights contract.

Last year's
All Rights issue

I hoped I was wrong.

People's Friend have not gone the all rights route and are consequently receiving even more submissions, with writers waiting longer than before to hear the outcome for their stories.

So many newer writers cut their teeth on the womag fiction market and years later move on to writing novels for mainstream publishers.

If Bauer extend the all rights contract to their TAB Fiction Feast magazine I think a number of womag writers will stop submitting.

If that happens it won't just be the writers losing out...

Scrivener, Word or Open Office?

I decided I'd try out Scrivener to see if it would help me get my manuscript done.

There's a 30 day free trial and the days only count down every day you use it, so if you only open it a couple of days a week the free trial will last longer than a month.

When the trial is up you either purchase it or remove it.

Friends do say it is a learning curve but there's lots of helpful info available: YouTube videos, a user manual within the programme and instructional videos. Then there's Anne Rainbow's ScrivenerVirgin site.

At the moment it's all making my head spin...

Which programme?

I can import a Word document, but apparently Tabs are not good and muck up the formatting later.

Since Word 2007 no longer has technical support- no updates- I've found it creating glitches in my formatting of documents and I've had to use the tab key more.

I'd considered Office 365, but apart from having to pay monthly or annually, the version of Word would not read my much earlier documents; as I understood the info it would remove my 2007 version during the download.

I bought the Office 2007 disc when I purchased my previous computer and then had to reinstall Office 2007 when a Microsoft update created major issues with my current desktop (resulting in it having to be wiped) I am now on my third and final use of 2007.

I've downloaded Open Office and found it useful for a number of things, but I wasn't comfortable with it for the novel. So I've persevered with Word.

Now I'm trialing Scrivener.

As I'm mid-rewrite of Chapter 9 in Word 2007 I've decided to start Chapter 10 in Scrivener and see how it goes. If it works for me and I buy it, I can sort out the earlier chapters in Word and then import them in.

I like the ability to make your own templates so you can use them with every novel or use the pre-existing templates.

Like any new programme it's as much about learning where things are and how to use it.

The biggest advantage is being able to prepare the finished novel for being an e-book, in ePub for example. (Of course you still need an editor.)

Today I set up the title and the chapters, then tomorrow I'll try the cork-board bit...

I must admit that the last time I looked at Scrivener (about four years ago) I didn't like it, it confused me, but now I'm at a stage with my writing where it makes sense and I can see how helpful it could be.

Are you a Scrivener convert or a Word or Open Office user?