Query Letters To Literary Agents About Book Proposals - Three Warnings
Posted on April 18, 2008 - Filed Under Writing and Speaking | Leave a Comment
Query letters from first-time writers to literary agents usually contain numerous mistakes, mistakes that are easy to avoid. This tip sheet can save you the embarrassment of making these blunders, especially in a query letter, which is the most important letter you’ll ever write.
In case you’re not sure why it’s the most important letter you’ll ever write, just stop and think about it. If you don’t send a query letter, how will you ever get a literary agent? And without an agent you’ll almost never get a book into print with a good publisher.
Read More..>>Internet Authors Have Feelings Too
Posted on April 16, 2008 - Filed Under Home and Family, Writing and Speaking | Leave a Comment
Everybody knows what the dream looks like. First, you write a book. Next, you send it off to a nationally known publisher. Finally, you are rewarded with a contract for an enormous amount of money, you are interviewed on television, recognized in the street, and feted wherever you go. It’s all wonderful.
Read More..>>How To Look For A Literary Agent Online
Posted on April 16, 2008 - Filed Under Writing and Speaking | Leave a Comment
When you have a book proposal or a manuscript ready to be seen by an editor, your next step, if you’re like most beginning and professional writers, is to look for a literary agent. The problem is that many fledgling writers don’t know how to look for an agent. This article will explain how to find a literary agent online. You may also have fun in the process if you follow my suggestions.
HOW TO LOOK FOR A LITERARY AGENT ONLINE
Read More..>>The Hare, The Tortoise, And Publishing
Posted on April 16, 2008 - Filed Under Writing and Speaking | Leave a Comment
In Aesop’s fable of The Hare and the Tortoise, these two animals agree to a race. Everyone knows that a hare is fast while a tortoise is slow. However, during the race, the hare decides to take a rest part way through and falls asleep. As a result the tortoise wins the race. Aesop’s moral in this story is “slow and steady wins the race.” Aesop could have written this fable for small publishers. Small publishers should model their business plan after the tortoise in this tale; slow and steady.
Read More..>>Where To Look For A Literary Agent
Posted on April 12, 2008 - Filed Under Writing and Speaking | Leave a Comment
Why spend time and money looking for a literary agent if your agent isn’t going to be able to help you get your book published for a good advance and with a good publisher? This article will explain the biggest mistake beginning writers make when it comes to literary agents: not knowing where to look for an agent.
WHERE SHOULD YOUR LITERARY AGENT HAVE AN OFFICE?
Read More..>>Presenting In The 21st Century
Posted on April 7, 2008 - Filed Under Writing and Speaking | Leave a Comment
In the middle of July, 24 publishers awaited the marketing presentation about to be given by nationally-recognized expert speaker, Brian Jud. Attendees settled in their seats. Brian and I chatted as we prepared to begin. When everyone had gathered, I began to describe the event and then introduce our speaker.
But these weren’t ordinary presentation circumstances: I was deaf and blind to our audience, I couldn’t see or hear a soul. I had first-timer nerves. I had to have faith that the system was working.
Read More..>>How To Make Your Book A Best Seller
Posted on April 3, 2008 - Filed Under Writing and Speaking | Leave a Comment
Turn on the light. Unlock the door. Here are the amazing secrets that can no longer be kept in the dark!
So how do books become best sellers?
Usually hyped out of this world by the publisher, if he thinks he has a good seller on his hands. But we’re not talking publishers. We are going to talk about you. I have seen books which were amazing and sold zilch. Why not? No hype.
From here we are assuming you have written a book. A “How To” type book which you fully researched before you even wrote it because we all know, don’t we? You check out the potential market first!
Read More..>>Book Proposals - My Top 10 Secrets
Posted on March 23, 2008 - Filed Under Writing and Speaking | Leave a Comment
Joel writes books about baseball. He’s a good writer, and his angle is the psychology of sports. The only problem is that Joel is such a fanatic about getting all the science right that he seldom stops to think about the way to sell his work.
When I coached Joel, I told him my first secret: Be commercial. This doesn’t mean you need to forget the science or be crass. But it does mean you need to look at the marketplace.
Read More..>>Why Book Publishing Will Increase As We Say Goodbye To Newspapers
Posted on March 21, 2008 - Filed Under Writing and Speaking | Leave a Comment
Most people agree that book publishing is here to stay and newspapers are on their way out as readership of the latter continues to drop.
This truth came rather brutally to me the other day when days after purchasing a valued Sunday newspaper, I still hadn’t read a word in it. It really hit me when I realized that although I couldn’t find time to read the newspaper I was reading no less than two books at the same time.
I sat down stunned and really though about it. In the end I came up with some interesting gems that helped me see the future more clearly than I ever have before. Here they are;
Read More..>>Why Book Publishing Is So Lucrative Just Now
Posted on March 17, 2008 - Filed Under Writing and Speaking | Leave a Comment
Why should publishing books based on your life experience or areas of expertise be so lucrative just now? After all there is so much free information on the World Wide Web, so why should anybody want to buy any books?
These are fair questions. However the first thing that you need to know is that the availability of so much free information online instead of quenching the thirst for it has had the opposite effect. In fact free information has helped create a huge hungry market for more information that can only begin to be satisfied by publishing and selling books.
Read More..>>