BY KATHI KAMEN GOLDMARK AND SAM BARRY

The Author Enablers are here to answer your questions about writing and publishing. Together, Kathi and Sam have more than 25 years of experience in book publishing. Kathi is an author, radio producer and former publicist; Sam is a marketing manager at a major publishing company and a freelance editor. They are also proud members of the Rock Bottom Remainders, the all-author rock band founded by Kathi in 1992.

The file you save may be your own

Dear Author Enablers,

When writing my stories, do I save them in one document for easy sharing, or separate them by categories? Sounds petty, but I want to be efficient.

Mandy
Ruston, Louisiana

There is no rule here; just make sure your document gets saved. Every author we know has lost work because of carelessness (accidentally saving an old file while deleting the new one), overconfidence ("Computer crashes happen to other people, never to me!") or plain old fatigue. Save constantly while writing and back up your files frequently. Other tricks include having a friend keep copies on another computer and e-mailing documents to yourself. If you're in a class or writers group, saving each chapter as a separate document will make it easier to share and revise the pieces you present. Once you're happy with your revisions, delete older files with the same title, or rename the files to indicate that they are old versions.

Dear Author Enablers,

I enjoy books about mind-body health. I'd like to review of some of these titles. How do I find publications that publish book reviews, short of looking over every magazine on the newsstand?

Karen
Wethersfield, Connecticut

Professional publicists pay bucketloads of money to acquire "Media Lists," documents that provide data on print, television, radio and Internet media—including format, areas of interest and contact information, as well as helpful tidbits such as Oprah's favorite chocolate. Don't tell anyone we suggested this, but if you have a pal who's a publicist, you might ask for a media list in return for your firstborn child. The publicist will insist on meeting you at midnight under a bridge in another city to make the exchange. That newsstand is starting to look better and better, isn't it?

Once you've selected the appropriate publications, it's important to familiarize yourself with their content and style. How long are the reviews? Are they mostly positive, or do they seem to delight in slamming books and authors? Editors will be listed on the masthead of most publications; a call or web search should deliver submission guidelines. Then it's up to you to impress the heck out of them with your insight, literary integrity and good writing. Be patient—this may take some time.

Dear Author Enablers,

Why is the word "that" overused by so many authors? It is usually unnecessary to the sentence. This particular word is so irritating in most newspapers, novels and nearly anything else in the printed world.

Barbara
Escalon, California

That is a darned good question. We wish we had thought of that ourselves, but that's the way the cookie crumbles! Actually, we think that you are overstating your complaint—that is a useful word, although sometimes improperly used. We suggest that you look at that note on usage under the definition in that there American Heritage Dictionary.

Dear Author Enablers,

I remember you nincompoops from when you were in my sixth grade class; I just can't be sure which one of you put that thumbtack on my chair.

I'm hoping to win your "unintentional grammatical error contest" by pointing out that in your January column, you started four sentences with the (forbidden!) words "And" and "But." I guess you don't remember all my fascinating grammar lessons on that type of faux pas.

Your former teacher Mrs. Veigel
(via Richard, Plainview, New York)

Posing as Mrs. Veigel (who really was Kathi's sixth grade teacher) is sort of a dirty trick, but we'll consider Richard's entry anyway. Although we remember the "and" and "but" rule, it may be that times have changed and this informality is now allowed under certain circumstances. We're going to invite our readers to weigh in on this weighty issue. But don't be as hard on us as Mrs. Veigel!

Thanks for writing,
THE AUTHOR ENABLERS