It’s Monday, 9:01 a.m. I’m sitting in my office, feet up on the desk. I may look like I am doing nothing, but I’m actually thinking, and thinking hard, about which author’s book will get my attention first. The phone rings. Caller ID tells me which author it is. I ignore the call and let it go into voicemail. The phone rings again. Another author. Another ignored phone call. The phone rings a third time. I grab the receiver. Why? It’s my favorite author, Publisher’s Pet!

Teacher’s pet. Publisher’s pet. It’s a good thing.

No one gets more of my attention than an author who can help me do my job and make me look good doing it. I’m crazy about authors who can write well, understand marketing and sales, and will roll up their sleeves to promote “our” book.   

I want a well-thought-out marketing plan attached to every book I have to launch, and I want it to come from the author, who should know his market even better than I do. Yes, authors fill out an Author’s Questionnaire, but these forms are rarely taken seriously and are often ignored. The marketing plan is as important as the quality of the book. Actually, with a great marketing plan an awful book can succeed! People will buy it, though they may not finish it! (I’m thinking Nabokov’s Ada, but feel free to disagree. I just don’t want to hear it!)

Last week I sat in on a writers workshop and listened to members read excerpts from their previous week’s writing. One aspiring writer had completed a lengthy, turn-of-the-century novel and was fine-tuning it by reading it out loud to the group before trying to find an agent. I talked to her about some of the critical sales tools she might use to separate her from the pack: the upbeat covering letter, exciting book outline, and smart marketing plan that would accompany sample chapters of her book. It never occurred to her to develop a marketing plan. Big mistake. And good luck finding an agent.

Unsolicited manuscripts “in them thar hills” of the slush pile may well get a serious read if you attach a marketing plan that proves you know your market and how to reach it with your book. Otherwise, the reader, associate editor, acquisitions editor or agent will just get another paper cut while shoving your manuscript into the self-addressed, stamped return envelope.

I’m good at sussing out a market and moving books, but I’m even better and faster with a helpful author who has taken the time to understand the book’s market (fiction or nonfiction), supplied me with every idea, from the harebrained to the brilliant, that he has, and then sat down to work with me, side-by-side, to combine my harebrained and brilliant ideas with his into a primo marketing plan virtually destined to bust through the competition.

But to really lock in the position of Publisher’s Pet, I want a proactive author. (Not a pest, asking me what I’ve done lately to promote his or her book and why I haven’t sent a copy to a friend of a friend who works in publishing.) I want someone “out there,” flogging the book with me, implementing those parts of the marketing plan to which he has committed and sustaining the effort.

James Brady, columnist and author of The Scariest Place in the World and The Marines of Autumn, gets it. We bumped grocery carts in Amagasett last summer and chatted. This author never, ever stops promoting his books. In a telephone conversation we once had, he told me ”flogging” his book came first.

William Hood, coauthor of A Look Over My Shoulder–A Life in the CIA, doesn’t get it. He’d been away for months, and I had assumed he was promoting his and the late Richard Helm’s book. Smart, I thought, but no, he had been summering in Maine. Bill told me he left the publicity entirely up to the publisher. Not smart, I thought.

Rigel Crockett, first-time author who wrote Fair Wind and Plenty of It, a memoir about working on a tall ship as it circumnavigated the globe, sort of got it. He booked himself on his own speaking tour at places like The Explorers Club and Mystic Seaport, but was hesitant to ask his publishing house for reimbursement of some of his expenses. After we spoke, Rigel went back to the publisher, and sure enough, the publishing house found a few pennies to help cover his expenses. 

Sandy Jones, coauthor with Marci Jones of Great Expectations–Your All-in-One Resource for Pregnancy & Childbirth, gets it. She supplied me with well-thought-out marketing plans that included an analysis of her competition, lists of doulas, ob-gyns, associations, and radio and TV shows specializing in family issues. She targeted major companies manufacturing baby products and became a consultant. While Sandy was busy pitching in, I got her a multipage spread in Fit Pregnancy and a massive commitment for content exposure and links to Barnesandnoble.com on Ivillage.com, the #1 women’s network with “25 million unique viewers each quarter.” Sandy, my Publisher’s Pet.

When Publisher’s Pet calls, I reach for the phone every time. Pronto.

Lawrence LaRose neatly ducked a question thrown at him today while he gave a talk about his 2004 book Gutted—Down to the Studs in My House, My Marriage, My Entire Life at the Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton, New York.

He was asked how well the book was doing. Amazingly he didn’t blink. He didn’t get dodgy-eyed.

Gutted is selling as a used book on Amazon for $1.23.

LaRose’s 1996 book, The Code: Time-Tested Secrets for Getting What You Want from Women–Without Marrying Them, is selling on Amazon for $.30.

He wanted $20 for the hardcover version of Gutted, a few copies of which were available on a table nearby. I offered him $10. He said: ”But you’re an author, too.” (Like I’m supposed to show some sympathy.) I pointed out to him that I could buy the book for $1.23 online! Sold: $10.00!

Cruel and heartless though I may be toward a fellow author, I know he is just learning a lesson that I learned a long time ago—and moved over into the business side of publishing. The retail price of a book is meaningless. There is no money in publishing for the vast majority of authors. Having a book sell more than 100,000 copies is as “difficult as making an NBA team” I read somewhere, and I believe it. My titles sold very well – over 600,000 copies. Maybe his first book did, too, since he smartly spoofed and rode the coattails of The Rules: Time-Tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right on the publicity circuit and onto a sofa beside Oprah. But just because you sell tens of thousands of copies or even hundreds of thousands of copies, doesn’t mean the big checks will roll in for the author. Not like they do for the publishing house. Read the contract.

What’s an advance against royalties, really? It’s a loan. Something you have to “pay back” calculated on your paltry royalties before you see a dime more. Yes, there is the possibility that enough copies will be sold at high enough prices and you’ll receive the maximum royalty, and you may actually manage to “pay back” that loan, but the likelihood is slim, slim, slim. And that’s the way publishers like it. The contract is designed to fill the coffers of the publishing house, not the polka-dotted, porcelain piggy bank of the author.

Here’s what I recommend for authors today. Don’t accept an advance against royalties. (Yippee! A $100,000 advance against royalties! OK, make it $10,000.) Surprise! It’s doled out upon signing the contract, turning in an “approved” manuscript, being published, and (horrors!) reaching the six-month mark after the pub date if the publishing house can get away with it. Get a check upfront as payment in full, and get as much as you can. Say the magic words “work for hire.” Then make them pay more than the advance they intended to pay because a work-for-hire contract relieves them of that much-hated task of figuring out how much (actually, how little) they can owe you.  

Determining royalties is a matter of interpreting the contract – which is done in favor of the publishing house, naturally. Money you have in your hand today is worth much more than money tomorrow. By the way, the size of the check you are offered will indicate the kind of support your book will get.

Let the publishers do what they want with the book. Give it away, make it a loss leader for another book, sell ads in it, slash the price, ignore it, remainder it. Once you’ve got your money, you can spend it, save it, invest it and get on with your next book. You won’t have to worry about losing your book’s champion when the editor changes publishing houses, you won’t have to sweat the contract clauses that take that dollar you would have earned for each book sold and reduce it to $.15, you won’t have to worry about your “intellectual property rights.” You’ll know what you have. Period. You’ll no longer be a pathetic figure waiting at the end of the driveway in a blizzard, hopping up and down in the cold, waiting for the postman to drive up and hand you that slim white envelope from your publishing company. You’ll be out of the publishing crapshoot.  

The Perturbed Publicist, Fourth and Final: “What are we here for anyway?”

For the past three weeks, I’ve covered a number of the business aspects of publishing. There are many, many things that you’ve got to do to survive in this industry, and I’ve seen the writer’s frustration that comes along with keeping your head above water. There’s an inherent danger in the publicity game, though—so many authors start working so hard on their own publicity that they forget about what it is they were made to do in the first place.

Uh…write.

Remember? The thing you love? The thing you were born for? The thing that got you into this cutthroat industry in the first place? Writing. I’ve been writing in one form or another since I was in the seventh grade. Granted, at the time, it was terrible stuff, but I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. I wrote in high school; it got better. I wrote in college; it got much better. I’ve been writing as a so-called “adult” ever since graduation four years ago, and I continue to grow, day by day. Practice makes perfect. Patience makes perfect, too—patience in yourself and patience in this industry.

I’ve had clients try to give up. They’ve been writing for years, and they have yet to make it on Oprah. They threaten to go back to the office job. They say things like, “Maybe writing isn’t for me. Maybe I just can’t do this anymore.” I want to smack these people, because I know a decision like this will haunt them someday. Writers are made to be writers, and you can’t escape that, no matter how frustrated you become and no matter how many rejection letters you receive. I’m sorry, but it’s true. Fight it all you want, but you are a writer. You will always be a writer, so save me the sob story and just admit it. What do I do to fight the writing blues? Let me give you a glimpse into Sara Dobie, Writer, instead of simply Sara Dobie, Publicist….

1)

Watch Wonder Boys. I realize Wonder Boys was originally a book by the ever-eccentric Michael Chabon. I realize it’s quite a good book, in fact. However, it’s the movie that gets me in the writing mood. It’s the story of Professor Grady Tripp—a once successful author who hasn’t had a new book in seven years. He’s writing, though. It’s a book he can’t finish, and it takes a catastrophe of comic proportions to get him back on the right track. This film makes me want to write because it reminds me why we write. We write because, in Grady’s words, we just can’t stop. I dare you to try and make it through this entire film without picking up a pen and paper. I dare you to stay away from your computer for a full twenty minutes after the final credits have rolled. Whenever you feel frustrated and bored with your art, watch this film, and feel the invigoration of words waiting to be put on the page.

2)

Study On Writing, by Stephen King. “Writing is not life, but it can sometimes bring you back to life,” says the brutally honest King in his study of the storytelling craft. Speaking from personal experience, I could not agree more. King wrote this memoir of sorts after being hit by a van—an accident that almost took his life and put the serious stuff in perspective. There is technical advice in this semi-autobiography, but it sometimes reads more like a love letter than an academic manual. To whom is the letter addressed? Why to WRITING, of course. On Writing will take you a bit longer than the two hours it takes to watch a film, but it’s time well spent. It’s like bringing out the big guns, when you’re horribly blocked or just horribly irritated with the last chapter of your new novel. I own a copy because of the notes I took, and it’s safe to say that most writers should. (Your library won’t appreciate you bleeding red ink on their property.) Plus, you may need to go back to the book often. If you’re a writer, there will always be the threat of a block. There will always be irritation, so why not keep your big guns around for the really rough days?

3)

Read something awful. This is the meanest of my three go-to fix-alls for bad writing days, but I tell you, it works wonders. Read something terrible. I have some favorites, but I feel like this may be more personal. For instance, if I really want to get myself riled up about the state of literature, I’ll skim The Da Vinci Code. The short chapters and constant cliffhangers make me giggle, and they also make me want to do a better job than good old best-selling Brown boy. It makes me want to sit down and write a book that will blow his out of the water—not in sales, but in quality. A book I write will never beat his numbers, but I can blow him out of the water in craft. Suggestions for you? Check out bad blogs—there are plenty of them nowadays, owned and operated by bad writers who think they’re good. Another personal favorite? Go to ESPN.com and read the message boards. I have never seen such atrocious grammar or sentence structure in my life, and it’ll make you want to be the next Proust with the 3200-page Remembrance of Things Past. Writer’s block? What writer’s block?

With that, I leave you to it. Be your own publicist, but first and foremost, please be your own writer. We’re in this industry because we love it. We’re writers because we love it. It’s frustrating, it’s hard, and it’s what we do. It’s what we will always do, because you can’t run from your passion—it will catch up with you eventually.

Posted by: Sara Dobie

"But I'm not newsworthy!"

Yes, you are.

You have a book, and how many people can say the same? You're a writer, and it's totally cool; so why shouldn't people hear about it? Why shouldn't they know all about you? This does not mean you should tell strangers what you had for breakfast, and it does not mean you should tell your editor about the fight you had with your significant other. It does mean that you need a newsletter, and this opportunity for free publicity is not something to fear. I'm going to make it easy on you. At my office, I put together a company newsletter once every two months. You may wonder, "How does she do it?" Or better yet, "How does she actually enjoy it?" It's simple! Once you learn the tricks, you'll be a master of the lost art of newsworthy newsletters.

1)    The dreaded CONTACT LIST: Why spend the time on a newsletter if you have nowhere to send it? I'm sure your family will want to see it, but your family can only buy so many copies of your book before going broke. A good contact list takes time to develop, and it should never stop growing. It should be all over the spectrum, covering every base in every industry. What kind of spectrum am I talking about? Start simple, with your author friends. You're all writers, so you can all enjoy reading about what you have in common…writing! Next, go into media territory. Is there a certain reporter at your local paper who covered your book release? What about a television anchor who showed up at one of your events? These are the people to get on your contact list. Something in your newsletter may catch their eye, and little lucky you will be all over the news again. Then, there are educators. Did you do a school visit recently? Add the school media specialist and principal to your list. Are there locally owned book and gift shops in your backyard? They should be on the list, too! Then, there's your publisher's publicist. They should know what's going on, and finally, yes, keep your family and friends on the list. Why not? They have to love you, right?

2)    It's all about TIMING. A newsletter should not be once a week. It should not even be once a month. I say stick to bi-monthly. Don't be annoying. I mean, seriously, how much could really happen in a month? You don't want people to start blocking your emails, simply because they're irritated. Plus, it will build a sort of anticipation as the two-month time span nears conclusion. Your friends will start asking about your newsletter, and if you're lucky, so will bookstores owners and educators.

3)    It's about SAVING MONEY. It should go without saying, but just in case….this newsletter of yours….it should be sent by email only. In this tech-savvy age, if someone doesn't have email (okay, make an exception for your grandmother), forget about it. You cannot afford printing and postage costs, so just don't go there. Email. Email. Email. Also, post your newsletter on your website. (YOU HAVE A WEBSITE NOW, DON'T YOU?! Yeah, that's what I thought!) Look into a program like Microsoft Publisher, which actually has a newsletter template for you to use! Publisher can easily be turned into a PDF file, which is what format you should use to post the newsletter on your site.

4)    Use your FRIENDS (in a good way): You have friends in the industry. It's hard not to, once you're published. You have editor, publisher, reporter, and writer friends. Use their expertise to spice up your newsletter. Solicit them for information and quotes. Ask them to write articles. Not only does their wisdom help others, but it also gives them free exposure. It's a win-win scenario, and it endears you to your readers. And how about when your friend's new novel garners an award or a rave review? Mention it in your newsletter! Why not? We're all here to help each other, right? (Of course, if your book happens to get a similar award or rave review, that should be front and center! After all, it is your newsletter.)

5)    Don't fear PHOTOS: You should always be taking pictures at signings, school visits, and presentations. It puts a face by the name. It gives you the appearance of being friendly, even if you aren't. Put those photos in your newsletter. It's kind of like a kid with a picture book. Sure, they like the story, but they're really there for talking animals and rainbows. The same is true of most adults. We like photos alongside news stories, because those photos make the stories pop. The photos give us a visual, and even though your wealth is based in words, you're still a human being. So don't be afraid of putting a face beside your name. Now that you have a starting point, get to work, and make your own newsletter that is truly newsworthy.

Posted by: Sara Dobie

Did you know that my neighbor has written a novel?

Well, neither did I, until she found out what I did for a living. Now, I’m no longer the annoying woman from Ohio who laughs too loud at stupid comedies and listens to talk radio while getting ready for work everyday. Now, I’m “in publishing.” Now, I get fresh baked cookies on weekends and courteous inquiries about my job. And I know what’s coming—in two weeks, she’ll finally get up the guts to ask me to look at her manuscript, and I will politely decline, saying farewell forever to fresh baked dessert.

It’s not that I don’t want to discover the next James Patterson. It’s not that I’m jaded or an eternal skeptic. It’s just that, in regards to manuscripts, I am powerless. That does not mean that you, as a prospective New York Times bestselling author, need to be powerless, as well. There are tricks to the trade that give you the edge, and it all comes down to one word: research.

1)  Know the PERSON: What on earth would possess someone to send a manuscript to a public relations manager? I have no idea, but it happens all the time. I’ve gotten emails, letters, and phone calls from authors pitching their ideas to me. While I appreciate their passion for the project, there is nothing I can do for them. It wastes their time, and it wastes my time, too. If they would take but a few moments to visit our company website, they would find the name and contact information for our editor. So do it! Then, once you have the name of that all-powerful editor, kindly use it in your communications. Perhaps, when irritable, I may call coworkers by their titles (“Hey, gift shop sales!”), but it’s not very friendly. If you can find a name, use it. If an editor’s name is used often in reference to a certain publishing house, be absolutely sure to use it. Otherwise, we’ll know you didn’t do your research. You don’t know us; we don’t want to know you. Which brings me to number two…

2)  Know the PUBLISHER: This very morning, I listened to my office manager on the telephone in her office. In her lovely, personable voice, she struck up a conversation with the disembodied voice on the other side of the line. It became evident to me that the voice on the line had not done his research. He had, however, gone into his pitch—a nice sales tactic, but even in sales, you need to know your customer. This man was pitching a full-length memoir to my office manager, and we only publish children's picture books. Not only did he not know our editor, but he didn’t even know us. It would have been more useful for him to pitch his personal banker than our office manager. It comes back to research. Once you’ve completed your masterpiece, you have to take the time to investigate your options. I know you’re excited that your book is finished. You want to shout from the rooftops and start sending, sending, sending. However, this will get you nowhere if you don’t know where to send! You should start with The Writer’s Market, otherwise known as the Publishing BIBLE. (It’s available in paperback and in an online format, although purchase is necessary, either way.) Buy the newest version, and get to work. Here, you will find publishers listed with full company details, including website addresses. (For children’s book publishing, check out the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, too!) Once you’ve made your Writer’s Market list of prospective publishers, keep the research going. Visit their websites. In this electronic age, websites are going to have the most up to date information. There, you will be able to find the names of editors and usually manuscript submission guidelines. Know your prospective publishers. If you’re lucky, you may be in business with one of them for a while, so don’t tie yourself to a sinking ship.

3)   Know YOURSELF: By yourself, I am of course referring to your manuscript, which in turn directly relates to your query letter. Don’t groan. I know we all hate query letters. There are about a million articles and websites about writing the perfect query letter, and you should do some research in this arena. However, no amount of research is going to write your query letter for you. You have to be a researcher, but you also have to be a writer. Some tips from the battlefront?

•  Okay. Let’s talk etiquette first. It may seem simple, but make sure your letter and manuscript are in good shape. DO NOT submit a manuscript with a coffee stain. It’ll be in the trash before you can say, “slush pile.”

•  When you submit your query letter, DO enclose an SASE—Self Addressed Stamped Envelope—when using snail mail. It’s common courtesy, and we’ll take it as lack of professionalism if you forget. It all goes back to following directions! And DO NOT always expect a response.

•  If your book includes illustrations or photographs, DO NOT tell the editor what those illustrations or photographs should look like. The editor is not interested in the artistic process; the editor is interested in your manuscript, and the only thing touched upon in your query should be your manuscript. You are the writer, not the designer.

•  Finally, publishing may be a creative industry, but it is still a professional industry. DO NOT include personal information in your query letter unless it has direct bearing on your qualifications to write your manuscript. Editors don’t want to hear about your pets or your offspring who don’t treat you with respect. We don’t want to hear about all your other manuscript rejection letters, and trying to make us feel guilty will not up your chances of acceptance. Instead, you’ll just tick us off, and we do not want to work with an author who will just tick us off. Do your research! If you respect the process, the process will respect you!

Posted by: Sara Dobie

My mother knows how to text message. She also recently learned how to send picture messages. This is the woman who used to make me type letters for her because she said it would take twenty seconds for me to do something that would take her an hour. Now, she types her own letters. This is technological evolution. It exists in the Dobie family, and it exists in publishing.

That's why I just don't get it when authors aren't tech-savvy-when they don't even put effort into becoming tech-savvy. We aren't a society of typewriters and snail mail anymore. The internet is king, and we must bow at its feet. Yes, you may feel fear at first, like John Conner in Terminator 2, running from the robots. But you have to realize that without this evil online empire, you-and your book-will fail.

So, you ask, how do I make friends with the information super highway?

Well, listen, dear readers, and learn.

1)    Website AND Blog: Oh, the dreaded BLOG. Wait, don't skim ahead yet. I'll start with websites. You-and your book-need a website. This website is for both of you. It introduces you to fans. It puts a face by the name, and a cover image to the book. It makes you a person, not just a name on that fancy book's cover. You will be more likely to schedule events, garner media appearances, and increase sales if you are more than just a name. You, just like your readers, have a life outside of your work, and fans like to hear about it. Onto the blog. Blogs, for those of you who live in caves, are like online journals where you can write your daily thoughts and post news and upcoming events. Again, the idea here is to make you into a person-to make you of interest. You're selling your book, but you're also selling YOU. Get a website! Do it! It's the first step to tech-savvy.

2)    Google Alerts: I love Google alerts. Sure, hypothetically, they could be used as a fancy stalker method, tracing the activities and Facebook postings of ex-boyfriends. (Not that I know anything about it….) However, more importantly, they let you know when you make news. All you have to do is go to www.google.com/alerts. This takes you to a website where you can type in words and phrases you'd like to monitor. In other words, you should type in your name and the name of your book. That way, whenever you are mentioned on the web, you'll be sent an alert. I suggest posting any received media coverage on the website (that you created already, RIGHT?) so that other people can see how important and popular you are. You can also make friends with the media by sending them thank you emails whenever they write about you. People like the words "Thank You." Use them often. Being tech-savvy means being aware of what's out there, and Google Alerts will get you there.

3)    Free Press Release Distribution Services: If your first question is "What's a press release," we have bigger issues. Press releases help keep you in the limelight. (There are about a million websites with tips on writing these. Just search "press release" online, and you'll have more info than you ever could have wanted.) Anytime something good happens, you should be writing and distributing a press release to your local media and posting the press release on your website. Then, comes the tech-savvy part. Post your press releases on free press release distribution websites. Examples would be PR.com, PRlog.com, Pressexposure.com, and many, many others. These sites allow you to post your news for free. Here's the key-let's say Joe Shmo from Idaho wants to look up something about you. He types your name into a search engine, and things pop up: your WEBSITE, your BLOG, and then, press releases. He's taken to a press release distribution site, and he reads about your recent award won, conference appearance, etc. It's an online presence. It's your online presence, and it didn't cost you a thing. The fact is, the easier you are to find online, the better your chances are of success in this new publishing world of internet and text messages. So get out there and become tech-savvy…we'll all thank you for it.

Posted by: Sara Dobie

Dear writers,

One of the most frustrating parts of my job is not being able to answer the question, "but WHY did you reject my query letter?"

In general, I feel like our process is a good one. I read 100-150 query letters a day (takes me about an hour or two every day, including weekends). I request fewer than 10 sample pages each day out of the batch. Each of those writers receives a standard form from me which basically says, "Your query letter is intriguing, please submit the first 30 pages of your work." But, what happens to all the ones on whose work we pass? They receive a standard rejection letter. Our letter reads, in short, "Thank you for submitting to our agency, but this project is not right for us."

Frequently, a writer will respond to my rejection email and ask, "Can you give me any feedback?" or "What specifically would you like to see in my work?" or something like that. Unfortunately, I don't have time to respond to these emails, nor do I have time to write up critiques on the query letter itself. And, I admit, this does frustrate me. I wish the process were more human. I wish I had time to formulate thoughts for each submission. From a business perspective though, our time and energy needs to be focused on selling and promoting the books of the clients that we have already signed. If a work doesn't fit within our parameters, then it doesn't make sense (again as a business) to invest time with it.

So, here are some tips on where to go to get critiques of your work. Since I can't do it myself, hopefully these resources can help. It's my way of adding what humanity I can to this very difficult and overwhelming process. Best wishes to all of you!!!

1) Getting a critique of your manuscript can be challenging. Try:
- local writers groups
- writing conferences (like the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference here in Colorado)
- local chapters of big writers organizations (like Romance Writers of America)
- agents will often donate a free critique to charities - donate to a charity and win a critique (like the Brenda Novak Diabetes Auction every year)
- submit your manuscript to writing contests that are being judged by agents or editors (these frequently come with critique pages)

2) Getting a critique of your query letter is a bit easier as it is shorter and requires a shorter time investment by the reader
- review evileditor.blogspot.com (a blog where an editor tears apart query letters and shows writers how to make them stronger)
- www.writers.net (great overall help for new and experienced writers)
- read Kristin's query letter help at pubrants.blogspot.com
- hold your query letter up next to the back cover of a book. That's how it should read. Does it?

Posted by: Sara Megibow

Dear writers,

I just got back from attending the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Conference. I must say—it was one of the best organized and most enjoyable conferences I have ever attended! Well done COFW!!

Here are some tips for getting the most out of a conference:

1) Work up a one sentence pitch for your manuscript. That way when someone asks you, "what are you working on" you can respond quickly. This is what I'm thinking—something along the lines of, "A 100,000 word regency romance about an honorable duke bringing his mother home to care for her in her sickness, and the lovely country nurse who moves in with her." Or, "A 75,000 word edgy young adult manuscript about a military brat starting off her senior year of high school in yet another new town and the surprising bunch of rejects who befriend her." Write it up, make it short and practice reciting it aloud.

2) Attend as much of the conference as possible. I was excited about the quality of presentations all weekend in Ohio. Even if a writer attended without a finished manuscript to pitch he or she would have learned a LOT just by attending the workshops.

3) If you do have a finished manuscript, then try to attend a pitch session with an agent. Please remember that it's not much help if the manuscript isn't finished yet. Also, it will be most beneficial to you if you pitch to an agent who represents the genre of work that you write.

4) Relax. Especially during those pitch sessions. We know you are nervous—it's okay. Take a deep breath and go for it!

5) Finally..some tools—bring business cards—I received several of them and it helped me remember who was who. Always have a pad of paper and pen or a laptop or some way of writing notes. Have access to your query letter and manuscript—workshops may be available in which you can polish your work.
 
Conferences are a great learning tool for writers—I highly recommend them! Enjoy and have fun!

Posted by: Sara Megibow

Dear readers,

Welcome behind the scenes! ForeWord has offered me the opportunity to blog this month about the publishing world from the view inside a literary agency. Enjoy! If you post comments here, I will do my best to respond to any questions that may come up.
 
I am the assistant (also known as “the reader”) at Nelson Literary Agency (www.nelsonagency.com). We are actively acquiring clients who write science fiction, fantasy, romance, young adult, middle grade, commercial fiction, literary fiction and memoir. As most of you probably know, a literary agent works with a writer in order to sell their manuscript to a publishing house.
 
So, if you are a writer interested in being published, you may be hunting for an agent. And, how do you attract the attention of an agent? With an outstanding query letter!!!  A query letter includes a brief bio and a short description of your work. Nelson Literary Agency receives 100 or so submissions a day (35,000 query letters in 2007). My job is to read them all, send out the standard rejection letter for those that don’t fit our agency, and ask for sample pages (the first 30 pages of the work) for those query letters that pique our interest. Sounds like fun, huh?
 
In my experience, the query letter accurately represents  the quality of a manuscript. That’s how important it is. The question writers tend to ask me is, “What are you looking for? How can I make my query letter better?” Here are some answers:
1)    DO YOUR RESEARCH! Before you send your query letter make sure you understand the submission guidelines for any agency to which you would like to submit! The vast majority of rejection letters I send out go to writers that didn’t read our website and are submitting incorrect information. For example, we accept only email queries, but some agencies want snail mail, and some agencies want synopses instead of queries, and some want the first 100 pages of the book, etc.

2)    Get a good grasp of the genre of your work. Is your work a sexy regency historical romance or a paranormal young adult fantasy? You don’t have to be able to rattle off all the genres and subgenres out there, but you should know in general where your work falls. If you feel like you need direction, here’s a suggestion: walk into a bookstore and look around. Would you think to find your book on the shelves marked “fantasy” or “mystery” or “horror” or “romance.” That’s a good place to start. If it really isn’t that easy, try this, “My book is a completed work of fiction.” That’s enough for me! The trouble is that many, many query letters I read are for self-help books, or picture books, or spy novels. We don’t represent works in any of these genres. Of course, this goes back to point number one, which is read the submission guidelines before sending in your work. But also – know your genre!

3)    Make sure your work is completed – really completed. You query letter should read like this, “I have a COMPLETED work of fantasy” or “I’d like to submit my FINISHED 100,000 word romance novel.” If interested in your query letter, my first step is to request the first 30 pages of your work. It can be very frustrating to request a work and have someone email back, “well, it’s only in it’s first draft, can I check back with you when I’m finished?” I will have gone through tens of thousands of other submissions by then and my energy will be focused on someone else. Of course, we accept works that need editing, but in general edit, polish and double check your work before starting your agent hunt.

4)    Remember to include the title of your work, your contact information (especially your email address), and your name. These are little details that help us and make your query letter more professional.

5)    The meat of your query letter should be a paragraph (or two) which we call “the pitch.” It should sound exactly like the back cover of a novel – short, exciting, engaging, descriptive. To repeat the instructions above, we don’t want a synopsis (although some agencies do), and we don’t want character profiles or chapter titles, or plot points. If you want good practice at this, pick up some of the novels in your house (or at the bookstore again) and read the back cover. Then, try to copy the energy, the focus and the length of that type of paragraph and that is exactly what I am looking for.

6)    This may seem obvious, but remember to make your query letter short. Your bio can take up a paragraph and your pitch can take up a paragraph or so. And, that’s about it. Remember that I see about a hundred of these a day, so the more professional and concise the better chance that I will ask for sample pages.

7)    Despite the fact that I just said to make it short, I do want to see details. A sentence like this is powerful: “The hero and heroine don’t realize the king has hired them to defeat a slobbering were-bear when they accept a simple call to arms at the castle.” A sentence like this is not: “The hero and heroine have many adventures.”

8)    Finally, avoid reviewing your work. This is another way of reiterating that the pitch should sound like the back cover of a book. But, sentences like this do not help promote your work, “my writing is fast and exciting,” or “this book is geared toward teenage girls,” or “the voice of the hero is authentic.” Describe your work, don’t review it.

9)    As an added bonus, here are some helpful websites for more information on query letters and the query process:

Pubrants.blogspot.com  - (Kristin’s publishing blog. She has posted the original query letters for many of our clients – talk about a great resource!)

Evileditor.blogspot.com  - (an editor posts query letters, reviews them, comments and makes changes. See the evaluation process as it happens!)

www.writers.net  -  a great online resource for writers including feedback on query letters

Posted by: Sara Megibow

Seven years ago, in a moment that was either inspired or crazy (or both) I decided to write a humor book called Carpool Tunnel Syndrome: Motherhood as Shuttle Diplomacy. I had already worked as a writer and editor for several years, had a graduate degree in journalism, and had many author friends, so this idea wasn't quite as ludicrous as it might have been if I were, say, an actuary for an insurance company. Since I knew something about book publishing already, it made my idea merely meshugena.

Still, as an unknown writer, I knew my chances of landing an agent and contract with a reputable publishing house were slim. So, trying to save time and aggravation (that was the idea, anyway) I decided to self-publish. Knowing I lacked the skills to handle all the functions of a publisher, I researched publishers that offered self-publishing services. One man at the publishing house I almost (and should have) signed with was saint-like in his patience for my endless questions during numerous phone calls.

This brings me to my favorite line from the movie "Terms of Endearment," when Jack Nicholson, who plays a retired astronaut romantically involved with Shirley MacLaine, keeps trying to make a break from MacLaine, who is clinging to him needfully. Just when he thinks he can bolt, MacLaine latches on again. Nicholson, in classic tone, says, "Just seconds from a clean getaway."

And so there I was, ready to write the publisher a big check and get my book project moving,  when a friend about to self-publish her husband's book invited me to publish my book under her new imprint. She had read John Kremer, she had bought a block of ISBNs, she was applying to B&T and Ingrahm for distro agreements, and she was an outstanding graphic designer who I knew could ably handle the book design.

"Why not?" she said. "I know you could save a lot of money if we do it together."

And so, like Nicholson, just seconds from a clean getaway, I signed an agreement with my friend that we cobbled together as best we could. This was a big mistake. I ignored my misgivings, such as that my friend had a controlling personality that I knew could make her difficult to work with, and that despite my research, which included calling publishing attorneys, no one had ever heard of this kind of publishing partnership and could offer no advice about how to structure the contract. Our agreement spelled out our respective responsibilities as we could foresee them. But of course, certain things were not foreseeable, such as my friend's marriage dissolving, her life becoming so tumultuous that she could no longer keep up her end of the bargain, and the worst: her deciding to yank her (ex)husband's book from circulation, ending her imprint, and therefore forcing me to declare my own, precious first book OOP when it was barely getting its sea legs.

This was devastating. I had devoted more than six months to just marketing the book, networking with every Mom-related web site in the universe, sending out review copies, contacting magazines, a maniacal one-woman marketing machine. And she was the one who convinced me to publish with her! 

Despite this, we had three successes: Radio shrink Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who had more than 20 million listeners back then, plugged the book on her show and offered it as a giveaway to "the first five callers" who called our toll-free number. (No one on her staff told us that our phone would start ringing at 6 a.m. and go through the night, by "first callers" who listened to the show in every time zone imaginable.) I also sold an excerpt to Woman's Day (circulation 6.2 million at that time), and they also put in our toll-free number to order.

Dr. Laura's plug pushed the book sky-high on Amazon . . . for about two days, after which it settled back down to humble territory. I was bewildered that the Woman's Day excerpt did almost nothing for sales that we could see, until I realized that a magazine whose every issue hawks "20 ways to save money" (my excerpt was about saving money, too) was a magazine whose readers waited for their books at the library. 

The third, and most substantial success, was my selling 2,500 copies of Carpool to Scholastic Book Fairs. This was a huge achievement, though a logistical pain (25 copies to this location; 87 to this location, etc), but at least I made a little money.

When I was forced to declare Carpool OOP, we hired a legal mediator to untangle our partnership, simple as it was. While my partner's troubles were far worse, I still felt I had gotten a raw deal. Thinking about what might have been with the other publisher was useless, but I wasn't ready to remainder my book to a small sad blip in publishing history. Tune in next week to find out what happened next!

(By the way, if you'd like to order a copy of Carpool Tunnel Syndrome, please order it from my web site, www.judygruen.com. Remember, it's OOP!)

Posted by: Judy Gruen

It is hard to talk about publishing without, well, talking about authors. After all, without them... Seriously, while I wouldn't say that today's authors have it rougher than their predecessors (indoor plumbing! soft, comfy pajamas! TiVo!), when your entire industry undergoes a sea change, you can't help but be affected. To my mind, the biggest challenge facing today's author is rising above the noise.

Think about how many books are published each year—300,000 and counting, if I recall correctly. Add in the books published last year. And the year before. And so on. Plus the classics and perennials, and you being to wonder how anyone ever catches the attention of a reader.

According to Publishers Weekly, they reviewed about 6,000 of those releases last year. That's a whole lot of reviewing, but it's not near enough to get the word out. And, as we know, newspaper review space is rapidly dwindling. This puts additional burden on authors to get the word out while remaining true to the work.

It's hard.

Today's readers expect more from authors...as do today's publishers. Let's focus on the former first. As the demand for "authenticity" increases, so does the desire to erase the boundaries between author and person. Once, authors were people of mystery, we didn't really know who they were, just that they created. Now, it seems to be a rule of celebrity (and as authors do publicity, they become celebrities of sorts) that it all hangs out. This is uncomfortable on a lot of levels.

Here is the funny thing: I don't want to know about the personal lives of authors. Generally, my relationship with them comes through their fiction. Real lives are so often, well, meh. I mean, it sort of taints the reading experience to know that the author is dull and tedious in real life.

Or petulant. Or paranoid. Or insecure. Or any of the traits that makes us human.

This is the fine line that authors must walk: maintaining enough mystery to keep their readers from confusing fact with fiction while using social networking tools to maintain open lines of communication and build audiences. My feeling is that most of us are pretty boring, and describing our daily activities doesn't help generate interest. Very few people have the talent—and the lives—to write personal blogs that sustain reader interest.

But you have to keep your name out there, make sure they remember you between books, sustain interest while enticing new readers.
 
Oh, and just to make it that much tougher, this must be done in conjunction with building a broad, effective social network. Depending on who you are and what you write, this network ranges from a basic email list to a personalized social system with features that rival the best of Facebook. It means that the modern author must—and I do mean must, not might or should—spend precious time maintaining the author brand.

The burden of doing this and more rests firmly on the shoulders of the individual author. Your publisher simply doesn't have the resources to lavish dollars and staff on maintaining the author publicity machine. Very few authors get the red carpet marketing treatment. And while publishers are offering increased online opportunities, the publishers also own the readers reached via their efforts (hint: if you have a good agent and your publisher is collecting names and email addresses, make 'em share). Just as you won't want to cede control of your list to Facebook, MySpace, or any other social network, you don't want to cede control of your information to your publisher.

Let me say that again because I actually heard an industry expert suggest, with a straight face, that authors shouldn't worry about such archaic notions as websites. "Just keep it all on Facebook," he said.

No. A million times no. Do. Not. Keep. It. All. On. Facebook.

Not if you cherish your author brand. If you're cool with carefully building a network only to have it dismantled when the service disappears or glitches—and I can guarantee that a system will glitch at that moment when you need it the most because that's how Murphy's Law works—and if you're cool with rebuilding your network from scratch, then sure, let someone else own your data. I mean, it's just your career. Why not trust it to a system created by a couple of near-college graduates who had a cool idea and lousy security (no real services insulted here)?

Sorry, I digressed. Back on topic. Just had to get that out. Today's authors are competing on a level their foreauthors could not have envisioned. Competition for time and energy is fierce, both from other forms of entertainment and from within your own industry. Conventional wisdom suggests that the window for capturing reader interest is very short—a week or two after a book's release, maybe additional time if you go through multiple formats—in order to meet sales expectations.

The care and feeding of a career starts long before that book hits the shelf and continues long after that book is past the window allowed by said conventional wisdom. This branding effort (and, yes, you are a brand and you want your brand to succeed more than anyone else on the planet) takes time, energy, and strategy. You aren't just publicizing a book...you're building a social network that extends beyond traditional shelf life.

It's sometimes too easy to spill your guts and overshare when it comes to building a relationship with your fans, your readers. It's a tough line that authors walk as they hone the tools needed to maintain these reader ties while remaining true to the work. I can't tell you how to find the necessary balance to do it all and to do it well. That you'll need to figure out for yourself.

But I can tell you that the socially networked author you need to become will be easier to face if that author isn't the person you see when you brush your teeth every morning. I see the former as a character in your repertoire, someone you put on when working the marketing side of your brain.

I see the latter as someone your public doesn't need to meet, doesn't need to know.

Posted by: Kassia Krozser