When
I receive a query that I find interesting my next step is to ask the writer to
send me their proposal. At that point three things can happen:
1)
The writer sends their proposal
2)
The writer asks if they can send their synopsis, samples or manuscript
3)
The writer ignores the request and sends sample chapters or the manuscript
Lately
it seems as if options #2 and #3 are most popular. And that leaves me with three
choices:
1)
Ask again for the proposal
2)
Respond that I am not interested in pursuing this project
3)
Delete the e-mails and move on to something else
What
this communicates is that:
1)
The writer doesn’t have a proposal
2)
The writer doesn’t know what a proposal is
3)
The writer doesn’t have a clear understanding of how to get their book
published
The
simple point of this blog is this: don’t send a query unless you already have
your proposal complete and ready to send. Without a book proposal an agent, or
editor, will not be able to make an informed decision on what step to take
next.
This
is a challenging time to get a book published. And yet there are so many tools
available, and information is so easy to find, that anyone can learn the steps
needed to try and get a book published. The Hartline Literary Agency clearly
spells out what we would like to see in a submission: http://www.hartlineliterary.com/guidelines.html
During
the last two weeks I’ve participated in two free webinars, from two different
organizations, and I gleaned a few more pieces of valuable information
involving proposal writing and book launches. Did I mention that they were
free? They only cost me two hours of my time. And of course the hosts of these
webinars also had a product to sell at the end of the webinar. But you know
what? I’m OK with that because I already received something of value for free,
and honestly, the products being offered were competitively priced. If I was a
writer with a manuscript to pitch, I probably would have purchased at least one
of them.
Writers
who fail to learn all that they can about the business of publishing, beginning
with the query and proposal process, are just setting themselves up to fail.
There are no shortcuts. For some of the authors that I’ve encountered over the
past month it would have been far better for them to take another couple of
weeks, or more, and:
1)
Learn more about publishing
2)
Research our agency
3)
Have a completed proposal
So
before you send your query, ask yourself: “Am I ready?”
