April Meeting + More Grants
Plus: This group can't save a bad book
Hi everyone! Our April Meeting is today.
Authors of Nonfiction Meeting
Thursday, April 25
5:00pm Pacific, 6:00pm Mountain, 7:00pm Central, and 8:00pm Eastern
More grants
Here is a Medium article called A Journalist’s Guide to Financing Your Nonfiction Book Project, and the answer is basically grants. I combed through and added a few more things to this sheet of grants that could be relevant to us. I want to bring your attention to the Fund for Investigative Journalism, which funds investigative journalism projects including traditionally contracted books for up to $10,000. There are 3 deadlines a year including April 29.
Funds for Writers also has this big list of grants for writers, but they vary a lot, and I can’t promise how many are relevant.
See you tonight!
No group, technique, or advice can save a bad book or video
Earlier this month I gave a presentation at The Society for Environmental Journalists about TikTok for journalists. I summarized some pros and cons of science journalists using TikTok here. The #1 con right now is the fact that the functional ban may hold up!
(Oh well, maybe there is some app that can roll my TikTok videos over to Instagram? TW: graphic)
Recently I joined this program called #WomenofTikTok, which I don’t really get the point of, maybe it’s to keep people posting content, from which TT profits, under the guise of feminism? And the timing…I can almost hear the band playing on the deck of the Titanic.
Anyway, I joined the group chat for the other participants and saw someone posted a common lament that I see any time I scroll past TikTok discussions:
“TikTok is so unfair! Interact with my video to help me get out of my shadow ban!” (paraphrased)
I’ve never seen proof that shadow bans on TikTok exist, but I clicked on the “shadowbanned” video anyway and looked at the rest of the account. It was clear as day that every video on the account was stolen. Not “maybe arguably fair use,” just effortlessly and illegally snatched.
This person was part of a program trying to figure out how to elevate her content, a group that specifically states they want to encourage authentic, high-quality videos, and she’s complaining that her stolen content wasn’t getting views. Why would she think she deserves an audience for something she didn’t even make?
Unfortunately, I see people demanding that their low-effort content gains fame and fortune in creative spaces all the time.
It is easy and rewarding to tell people little tricks and tips and resources, but it’s hard and miserable to tell people that the problem is they need to improve their skills, they’re putting the cart before the horse. But that’s the reality for a lot of creators. It is a waste of everyone’s time to ask for agent representation on a book with a summary (and sometimes a title) that is full of misspellings. Authors asking for marketing advice for their 5,000-word libelous rant or 400,000-word copyright-infringing tome with a poorly done AI cover is absurdly common. It’s ok and good to do things badly—that’s how we all start! The issue is expecting people to buy unprofessional, plagiaristic, or poorly made things, and expect tidbits of advice to save them. That’s like asking what kind of garnishes to put on a turd.
Luck, privilege, technique, and strategy are real things, and I lament the reality that many creators with ten times the talent I have do not get the fame and fortune they deserve. That’s unfair and sad. But the fact that very bad books and content rarely get popular is perfectly fair.
If you want to get better at writing, may I suggest taking some classes like the ones offered by The Open Notebook, considering higher education, reading well-respected books on writing, blogging a ton, getting smaller gigs, joining a local writing group where you can exchange feedback (if there’s one that is useful for your genre,) and practicing! Even doing those things doesn’t guarantee success, but that is the only road.