Do I only represent Christian Writers? by Terry Burns

Well now, that's a good question?

I'm not sure, because I don't ask people about their faith in the submission process. I suspect since people can clearly see that this is a Christian agency (even though we do work in the secular market as well) that they would probably be comfortable with that if they were going to submit to us.

But I don't ask.

I do know one thing, an atheist or non-Christians might be decidedly uncomfortable in my client group. You see, I require all clients to be in a private online group which gives me the ability to contact them all at once. The group offers three options, priority messages only (I'm the only one that can send a priority message), on digest, and on full access where they can talk directly not only with me but with other clients as well.

I do watch what the group talks about and do participate, maybe more than I should. Once the group was set up another interesting aspect came out. They turned out to be an amazing group of prayer warriors who genuinely care for each other and pray for one another with great effectiveness.

See why I think a non-believer would probably not be comfortable in the group?

Then there is the fact that I am drawn to content that has a good faith message. Yes, that narrows the possible places it can be submitted but that is after all why I decided to start doing this. Will I represent something that does not have faith content in it? Sure, we need good family entertainment as well as Christian books. Saying that you can tell I don't park my beliefs and morals at the door even if I am doing general market books.

My mother has passed on now, but she is still my measuring stick for projects. If it is something that would have offended my mother then it isn't something I want my name associated with. It's a measuring stick that I'm comfortable with and I don't mind if people shake their head and say I'm giving up sales. Of course I am, but they aren't sales I want to make. There are plenty of agents that do those, they don't need me doing it.

But I'm taking the long road around the mountain answering the question. Do I only represent Christian authors? Probably. Is it intentional? No, I just think all of my clients are Christians, and whether I actually ask someone or not, that is who I am likely to end up with.

An unscheduled interview by Terry Burns

I belong to a lot of social media sites, facebook, twitter, writing groups, etc. I don't have time to participate a lot but I watch what is being discussed and who is doing it. Sometimes I see something being discussed that I think maybe I have something I should contribute and I do, but mostly I quickly just keep my finger on it quickly before I delete and get back to work.

I take note when someone without sufficient experience is giving advice I consider not to be solid and when I see that I will watch a bit closer for a bit. Usually a more experienced writer will chime in and I don't have to, but if not I'll speak up. Not that I consider myself an expert on everything, but I attend a lot of conferences, network with a lot of people who are terribly knowledgeable and well, a lot of good information does come my way.

But what's with the title of this blog? What's an unscheduled interview? I keep an eye what I have on my plate, what I have in my inbox to work. If I'm holding some work to evaluate I recognize if I start seeing that name coming through the social media. In a proposal people often tell me what they want me to hear. As part of the evaluation process if I start having some interest I'll probably google them to get a closer look.

But if I see them coming up in social media I may tune in. I get an informal look at who they are, what they think, if we might be a personal match for each other. Snooping? No, it's out there for personal consumption. It's out there because they want others to know them better and that's what I might use it for.

I've said that the process of getting an agent and the process of an agent deciding to represent a client is a lot like dating and it is. First and foremost it is about the writing, pure and simple. I'm looking for well written stuff that I can fall in love with and really want to help get it out on the market. But I also want people that I like and get along well with, people I connect with, people who will fit well in my very tight-knit client group.

Sometimes I can find out a lot about that in an unscheduled interview.

Open to New Clients - by Terry Burns

Am I open to new clients?

I get that a lot.

I get an email asking that question and they most of the time they could just skip to the next step, go to our submission guidelines at www.hartlineliterary.com and just send me a proposal because that's what I'm going to tell them.Oh, occasionally they say something in the note that causes me to know that there is no point in sending it, but a quick check of the submission guidelines can tell people what those situations are as well.

Many wish to check me out with my clients before they send and I encourage them to do so. I don't post the email addresses of clients but if the person knows one or more of them I believe they are all happy to tell about their experiences. If the person doesn't know one of them I still don't give out the addresses but if they will ask me I will ask my client group if 2-3 of them would like to initiate the contact from our end. Usually they are happy to.

I am getting quite picky, however, so be sure you send your best. I get a lot of really good things sent to me and I can just take a few. It can be a great project and I just don't connect with it, or maybe I don't see the market for it or feel I have the right contacts to get it to market. And I have a great group of people in my client group, people that connect closely with one another and support and pray for one another. I look for people that I can see fitting in with those terrific folks.

We do think career over here and try to help our authors grow. Over 80% of my clients have published since they signed with me no matter what we have had to do to make that happen. I'd like for that to be 100% but I know that will probably never happen. Doesn't mean I'm not shooting for it. It also has a lot to do with the goals and aspirations of the individual author and whether those goals are realistic for that individual work. And it has to do with the fact that I don't just sign projects then try to sell them, I see if I have a clear path for the project or I don't put it under contract.

That doesn't mean I guarantee to sell anything. But it means I do see solid potential or I don't take it. Am I open to new clients? Yes indeed . . . if it's the right project.

Five-Star Reviews! By Linda S. Glaz

Here you go; something we all want. Five-star reviews for our books. But what do readers think when they see all fives on a review? Or a review that is amazing and awesome, but so vague, one has to wonder whether or not the reviewer actually read the title.

Readers will probably think Mom and sis did a lot of reviews.

And we want more than that, right? We don’t ask for someone’s opinion so that they can tell us what we want to hear.

I’ve noticed in the inspirational community, we truly encourage each other. A multi-pubbed author might offer to read a work and help a newbie on their way. I have to think that makes our community a very special one. No, I don’t to think it; I know it. I see the acts of kindness every day in many ways. Client A who has been waiting ten years to get a contract will help Client B, who just signed with me, and gets offered a two-book deal at a much-coveted house, to get his or her edits ready in time. Client B might then go on to help Client A clean up her proposal, her last chapters, whatever it takes to get her novel ready.

However, and this is an issue that stands out to me as a negative within the community, when asked for a review, too many of us, and most of us have done it, will give a review that should probably be a 4-star review, five stars. Why? There’s no one answer, but my gut tells me that it’s because we are an encouraging bunch. We don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.

It’s not hurting feelings, it’s being honest. The author learns from constructive criticism, or should. We all should. Just having smoke blown up our tights doesn’t help us to grow as writers. Crit partners start us out, and reviewing readers keep us going.

I did have to laugh over the review of one book I read. The reviewer praised the author up and down, and then gave her a three. Really? How did that happen? The reviewer complained that there was a “religious” thread in the book. IT WAS LOVE INSPIRED! Really, what did she expect? But the fact was, she tried to let her true feelings be known, silly as that comment was. The truth is what teaches us, nurtures us, guides us.

What type of reviews do you do? Have you seen? Have you endured???

How do I become an agent? By Terry Burns

I've had people ask me about becoming an agent, and it's true that anybody can hang out a shingle and say they are an agent. There are no licensing requirements, courses one has t take or tests to pass, which is why people have to be leery of unknown agents. But acquisitions people know this and a submission from an agent they don't know can receive even less attention than a slush-pile submission from an unknown author. Personally I would have never jumped off myself without being associated with a known agency like Hartline.

So, how do people start new agencies successfully? Most come out of publishing where they established their name in the industry with a known publisher. I'm one of few that came out of the writing side. The key is having contacts, having people in the industry who know who you are. Either that or they get accepted to intern at a big established agency. Most agencies have such interns patiently working their way up the ladder. Most have college degrees.

The next key is building those contacts. The first few years I worked doing writing conferences at the rate of a couple a month, building my name and building exposure. I was looking to acquire some good clients, but maybe even more importantly I was firming up those contacts with editors. Not a lot of money made during this formative period. Being a little off the beaten path I had the choice of apologizing for living in the Texas Panhandle or coming right at it. I'm not big on apologizing, so I wear the big hat and boots and a flowing mustache and hope it causes people to remember me. I've cut back and this year only doing a dozen conferences and if the economy keeps going the way it is going may cut back a bit more.

At Hartline Joyce was my agent, and still is, but she gave me my start and mentored me. I'm very grateful to her and loyal to her as well. In return I have mentored some people myself. I had a young lady come up to me at a conference and convince me that I needed an assistant and that she would work for free to get the experience. This is known as a remote internship. I helped her get the experience she needed to go on and found her own Indy press. 

Since then there have been others willing to work to get the experience they need and to start forming contacts. One has gone on to become a Hartline agent alongside me, two others have become editors at small presses and one founded her own PR company. I have a couple of others working in that capacity with me now and they put in quite a bit of work as I let them try more and more of the process to learn what is going on.  I worked with a client to form his own literary agency and another client to found another Indy press. Those who have moved on from it did 2-3 years with me until they had enough of a grasp of what was required for me to be able to write them a letter of recommendation to someone.

So what am I saying it takes to become an agent? It takes learning the business somehow, from someone. It requires gaining visibility and contacts either by getting with an established organization or building credibility ourselves. It takes learning about contracts and negotiation and getting comfortable doing both. It takes learning how things work in the industry and how to keep up with the people changes as well as the publishing changes.  It takes some business savvy and sales ability. In short, it takes a whale of a lot more than someone just announcing that suddenly they are an agent.

To Self Publish or Not to Self Publish, That is the question - by Terry Burns

“Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune . . .”

“Ah, enough of that. I’ve been following discussions on self-publishing across author groups and online forums. It is a hot topic.

“My opinion on it hasn’t changed. I have no problem with self-publishing if the decision to do it is made in the right way. I do believe it is a bad idea for an author to go into it simply as a knee-jerk reaction to rejected submissions from traditional presses.

“Those negative responses may well mean that the book is not ready to publish and the last thing we need is more books thrown out there without the quality that we would like to see in the marketplace. The decision to self-publish should not be an emotional decision but rather a business decision based on solid facts.

“Authors need to consider what they are giving up by self-publishing and what they gain by doing so. They need to know what skills they need to self-publish and what they have to do to be successful. They may realize it is to their benefit to stay the course, get the help they need, and keep working until they can hook up with a publisher. Possibly they should lower their sights a little to go with a small house or indy publisher.

“The first question an author needs to ask, whether he or she goes for traditional or self-publishing: Is my book really ready to be out there? Sometimes we don’t want to hear the answer we need to hear.

“But let’s assume the answer is yes. It's a good book, well written and well edited, but it just isn’t finding a publisher. That makes it a candidate for self-publishing, but is it a good idea? More information is needed to make that decision.

“Just throwing the book up on Amazon, sitting back, and reaping the proceeds seldom happens. The author needs to do more work, like giving it a good cover. Covers play a major role in buying decisions, so a cheap or an unattractive cover can kill the chances of a book being successful. Then the author must market the book and do successful promotion. And don’t forget about the necessary distribution channels for getting the book into bookstores.

“Authors can be successful self-publishers, some even earn far more than had they gone with a major publisher. But for every one that succeeds, hundreds of others end up selling only a few books to friends and relatives. It isn’t the quality of the book that determines which side of the fence the project comes down on. A wonderful book with a poor cover and weak marketing, promotion, and distribution simply is not going to garner sales.

“So the question is not “Do I want to self-publish?” Rather, it is “What is involved in my acting as my own publisher, and do I have the right skills, or can I acquire the skills that I need to be successful?”

Oh, yes, and Happy St Patrick's Day day from an Irishman whose grandmother's name was Lizzie O'Green (they dropped the O on the boat on the way over from Ireland.)

Screen Test by Terry Burns

 

The seduction of the screen.

No, I’m not talking about the movies.

It seems like I spend most of my life looking at a screen. It’s how I work incoming and outgoing submissions, communicate with clients and editors, research markets . . . in short it’s how I work.


But then there’s social media that I have to participate in for the sake of visibility and name identification. There are hundreds of emails coming in demanding my attention. Time to pay the bills? Look at the screen. Get some rare time to write? Look at the screen.

Taking time away from the computer? Watch the big screen across the room for a movie or some football. Need to know what’s going on in the world? I don’t read the newspaper anymore, I get my news from TV news or online. Watch the screen. Even if I am watching the big screen the computer is pushed aside on an airdesk and the sound of a message coming in or other alert can pull me right back.

Make a phone call? Much smaller screen, but can do email and facebook there too. Now the screen is actually attached to my body if I am out and around. I just had a computer meltdown and was without it for several days. That should have been a relaxing respite but it wasn’t. I was stressing over getting it back up and the things I was supposed to be doing and wasn’t.

How much is too much? When things are competing for my time it is often one type of screen competing with another. I know it is a constant problem for writers trying to carve out writing time and balance it with other aspects of their life. I’m just the opposite, trying to carve out time away from the screens.

How about you, what’s your relationship with the screens in your life?

You liked my book? by Terry Burns

You said you liked my manuscript, so why did you decline to represent it?

Good question.

I read a lot of projects that I enjoy the read but just don't have any place I can go with it. Has nothing to do with how good a story is or the quality of the writing, it has to do with being fair with the author.

All agents have different sets of contacts. Sure, we overlap a great deal, work with the same houses, but there are editors that are good friends of mine but they seldom acquire anything from me. Why? Because our tastes are very dissimilar and they tend to not like projects that I am drawn to. Other editors have much more similar tastes and as a result are much more favorable to the things that I've chosen to represent.

I work for my clients, but in initial contacts it is much more like I am working for the editors. I'm trying to establish those relationships, trying to understand what they are looking for, and work at helping them find it. But once I establish interest in a project then I am strictly representing my client. This task is much easier if we tend to like the same type of project.

I come from the writing side of the industry rather than the publishing side. I'm very sensitive to tying a project up and then finding I have no place to go with it. If that happens I have it tied up with little chance of success so for all practical purposes it is off the market. I wouldn't want anybody doing that to me and I don't want to do it to anybody else.

For that reason part of my process in evaluating a submission is to not only decide if I like the book and like the writing, but do I see a clear path for it? Not that I guarantee to sell one, just do I see some people in my contact list that I'm sure are a possibility for it. If I don't then another agent with a different set of contacts might be a much better match for it.

It's all about being positioned to effectively represent it.

What do I represent? by Terry Burns

I don't understand why people will submit to an editor or agent without looking at submission guidelines to see what they are representing and how they want to receive it. Would they go to a doctor without first checking to see if they are a general practitioner or a specialist of some kind, to see if they treat whatever they need treated? Would they go to a store looking for something without seeing if it was something the store sells?

But it is clear from the submissions that I receive that many, maybe even most, have not bothered to look at what the agency, or me personally are trying to represent at the present time. They send me things that our guidelines clearly say we do not handle at the present time, wasting not only my time but their time.

I'm from West Texas, the Texas Panhandle to be precise, and I wear a big hat. I don't know how many people jump to the conclusion that I only handle westerns. Every conference I have people who say they did not submit to me because that's not what they write. I would represent a good western, but at present only have a couple of clients that write them.

There are those who won't send me a romance because they figure I'm an old cowboy and wouldn't like them. I'm also Irish which means I tear up in a good chick-flick or like a romance that brings a smile to my face. Admittedly if it gets a little too flowery for me I tend to pass it to one of the ladies, but other than that . . .
I work with a lot of middle reader and young adult. Seems a lot of people don't expect that out of me either, totally ignoring the fact that I have 5 kids, ten grand-kids and two great-grandsons. And you don't expect me to be drawn to things for young people? True, I don't do things aimed at those younger than middle reader because I'm not a good judge of them. They all look cute to me.

I like historical or historical romance if it catches my interest. I like a good mystery, but they don't seem to like me, I'm having trouble finding a home for the few that I have. I handle some nonfiction but not as much these days. There is so much available online for free that it can be hard to place, and when it does find a home it is more about the platform and name recognition of the author than anything else. I am particularly not having any luck in the devotional market, way too many people there chasing too few publishing opportunities. Again it may be more about platform and name identification than anything else.

I like inspirationals and women's fiction, books aimed at a male audience if it is something that can also appeal to female readers. Mostly it needs to be a book that is well written, one that pulls me in from the very first page and keeps me in the story all the way trough. I like books that make me feel what the author is feeling: happy, sad, mad, scared . . . some genuine emotion.

People are making a mistake if they take a look at me and decide because of my age or the way I dress or the way I talk or some other characteristic that I will like or will not like something. There are plenty of places starting with those submission guidelines or the many places where you can find out more about the books that I'm placing that will tell you for sure whether we might possibly be a match or not. It should be that way for all agents or editors. Before we submit to one we should have a good idea whether they are a possibility or not. Blind or mass submissions seldom work. For one thing, many agents or editors feel if the submission they are receiving is not personal to them that it doesn't deserve a personal response.

So, does that help to figure out what I might or might not like?

Story is king by Terry Burns

When I make that statement in a workshop, particularly if there is a pastor or two in the group, someone is sure to say "No, it's the message I want to impart that is important."

Maybe that's what is important to them, but if the story doesn't work chances are someone is not going to read far enough to get the message. And the message should never overshadow the story if it's going to work. The story must be king.

I think most of us are storytellers. When my brother and I were young we might begin playing together by setting up a scenario something like this: "What if I was a Sheriff back in the old west?"

"And what if I was an outlaw?"

"And you robbed a bank."

"And you came after me but I was too smart and set an ambush."

"But I saw the ambush and . . ."

We'd go on and on, our imaginations setting scenario after scenario, often the planning for it taking more time than we actually spent playing. Other cousins would often join in.

That where so many stories come from, a character, a place, a thing or an idea and beginning to ask "what if?"

So many of us lose touch with that storyteller instinct. We forget we know how. Then again, being able to tell a story and being able to write it in a manner that it is worthy of publication are two entirely different things. We can learn the latter if we apply ourselves to it, but the ability to come up with and tell good stories, even if we all know how to do it, the ability to do it well can be an elusive gift.

I did a workshop for the school system in the little town of Groom, Texas. Students from the 5th grade through high school were in the session. We did the what if game they immediately jumped into the spirit of it.

I asked one student for a what if and she said, "What if I had a puppy?"

I asked the boy next to her and he said, "And what if that puppy was really a space alien?" Trust a boy to go that way with it. We went on for some time building our story and it was fascinating. The high school kids were a little "too cool" to really get into it, but it reinforced my idea that we all know how to play the game.

Have you ever gone shopping for a story idea and just focused on something, almost anything, and just asked, "What if?"

Guest blog by Terry's client Donn Taylor

The Magic of Transitional Words and Phrases
Long, long ago and in a universe that no longer exists, my high school basketball coach taught me a simple offensive technique that paid off handsomely on the ball court. It was truly simple: just lean and look one way while placing the opposite foot outside and somewhat behind the defender’s foot. That put the defender at a disadvantage when I pivoted past him on that pre-positioned foot. This is not to say that I was ever a particularly good basketball player. Nor was I a particularly good piano player when my teacher taught me another simple technique, lifting the elbow to facilitate passing the ring finger over the thumb on the keyboard.

The point is this: In many skills, remembering to employ simple techniques sometimes provides large rewards. Thus it is with astute use of transitional words and phrases in writing. “Transitions” are the words and phrases that show relationships between ideas. The most common are the coordinating conjunctions: “and,” “but,” “or,” “for,” “nor,” “yet,” and “so.” (“For,” “yet,” and “so,” of course, can also be used as adverbs.) Later, I’ll mention several transitional words that are more complex, and then suggest a way for the writer to simplify the reader’s task without simplifying the content, or message, of the writing.

But first, let’s look at things from the viewpoint of the reader. Fundamentally, the reader faces two problems: first, finding the ideas (the content) stated in the text and second, discerning the relationship each idea has to those around it. If he has to perform both of these at once, the reading becomes more difficult. But if he can perform them one at a time—even when the separation consists only of split-seconds—the reading becomes easier.

That’s where transitional words and phrases come in. Let’s start with those coordinating conjunctions. When a reader sees the word “and,” he knows that something of the same kind will follow. When he sees either “but” or “yet,” he knows something in contradiction will follow. Similarly, the word “or” indicates an alternative, and “nor” indicates alternatives in the negative, while “for” and “so” introduce stated causes of what went before.

By revealing the relationship in advance, the transitional word frees the reader’s mind to focus on the content of the following statement.
 
This function is not too important in ordinary compound sentences, but it becomes more important as the ideas presented become more complex. Consider, for example, transitional words and phrases like “therefore,” “consequently,” “however,” “of these,” “in addition,” “of course,” “although,” “in spite of,” “besides,” “also,” “for example….” I’m sure all of us could name many others. And I’m sure you’ve already noticed that I used several of these in the preceding paragraphs.

My theory is that when the reader sees one of these words or phrases, his mind registers the relationship and automatically forms a blank sentence structure that needs only to be filled in. I think it works like this:
Although ________________, ____________________________________.
Similarly, ____________________________________________________.
Consequently, _________________________________________________.
However, ­­­­­­­­­­­_____________________________________________________.

In each case, the transitional word signals the relationship of ideas and the expected sentence structure so that the reader only has to fill in the blanks with content. His job has become easier.

The short, choppy sentences of journalistic style often leave the reader guessing about the relationships of ideas. Too often, the result is portrayal of a child’s-mind world in which all things happen and none have specific relationships to others. But the writer who portrays an adult world of complex relationships can facilitate the reader’s comprehension through the skillful use of transitions to show the relationship of an idea before the idea is stated.

As it is in athletics and musical performance, so it is in writing. Conscientious use of the simplest techniques can often produce the greatest gain.

About Donn:
Donn Taylor led an Infantry rifle platoon in the Korean War, served with Army aviation in Vietnam, and worked with air reconnaissance in Europe and Asia. Afterwards, he completed a PhD degree at The University of Texas and taught English literature (especially Renaissance) at two liberal arts colleges. His novels The Lazarus File andRhapsody in Red have received excellent reviews, and he has also authored Dust and Diamond: Poems of Earth and Beyond. His new book is another suspense novel, Deadly Additive. He is a frequent speaker at writers’ conferences such as Glorieta and Blue Ridge. He and his wife live near Houston, Texas, where he continues to write fiction, poetry, and articles on current topics.
Donn’s Latest Release:

Meet you at the conference? by Terry Burns

Soon it will be time to head over to Marshall Texas to East Texas Baptist University for the East Texas Christian Writer's Conference. I've gone to this conference for a number of years and I love it.

Set on the shady, peaceful campus of ETBU it is an economical conference packed with lots of content and excellent presenters. The dates are October 26th and 27th, starting right after lunch on Friday and ending up about 5 pm on Saturday. The keynote speaker Friday evening will be James Watkins speaking on "I have a dream!"

I'm going to be talking about the difference in writing to reach the nonbeliever. Christian readers and nonbelievers look for different things in a book, Christians want a lot of faith content and they want it right from the get-go. But the very thing that they are looking for will cause a non-believer to put the book down. Many who say they are writing a 'crossover book' are actually writing a book that will not have enough faith content to satisfy the Christian publishers but with too much such content for the secular publishers. They end up in the 'no man's land' in between where neither want the book. A true crossover book is written for one market or the other but written in such a way that it manages to cross over to the other.

I'm also going to talk about how to develop a writer's persona. Many people are simply too shy to meet with editors and agents to pitch, or to do promotion or interviews, or the other activities a writer must do to be successful. There is a way to develop a writer's persona and pretty much hide behind it to do what we need to do. Others are about as shy as a chain saw but they are uncomfortable in such writing situations because they don't know how to present themselves as a writer. These are the totally opposite ends of the spectrum, but for both as well as all of the degrees in between, the answer is learning how to determine how we need to present ourselves as a writer and to project ourselves that way.

Finally, my third session will be a "look behind the curtain." I'll be talking about editor and agent pet peeves. Participants will hear a lot of things from a survey that Hartline agent Linda Glaz and I conducted, things that turn an agent or editor off. But there are also peeves that authors have about agents and editors as well, that sword cuts both ways. Those in the class will have the opportunity to unburden themselves with some of the things that bother them as well.

The conference is a short but content-packed event that people are sure to enjoy and sure to feel they really got their money's worth. Hope to see you there.

A Press Kit? Guest blog by Terry's client James R Callan

Why would I need a Press Kit?  I have trouble getting my family to ask about my book.

First, that’s the wrong attitude.  You must expect there will be interest in your work.  Suppose the fifteen-year-old on the American Olympic swim team got on the block thinking, “I’m not going to win.  Why try?” She would lose. She would be indulging in a self-fulfilling prophesy.  She didn’t, and she won gold.

You need a Press Kit because you expect people to want to know about your work, and you expect some to write about your work.  Why not make it easy for them?  At the same time, why not put the pictures and words you like in front of them?  Many will take your press release as is. It saves them time and effort. It also encourages them to come back for more when you have another book to publicize.  True, these may not be from The New York Times or even Publishers Weekly. But a good mention on somebody’s website might precipitate a little buzz, generate some sales.  It never hurts to make it easier.
So, what goes into the Press Kit?  The basic elements are:

• Pictures of you
• Pictures of the covers of your book(s)
• A sell sheet (or One Sheet) for your latest book
• Author biography
• An actual Press Release (recent book release, award won, presentation, book signing, etc.)
• A list of all your currently available books
• A list of links to places you’d like them to visit.

Pictures of the author.  You should have at least two: one in high resolution and one in “Internet” resolution.  In other words, one that is perhaps two megabytes in size and one that is 100 K or less.  You want a good quality one in case someone is going to print the picture in a program or brochure.  On the other hand, a large file is slow to load on the Internet, the ensuing picture is generally small and the Internet picture isn’t going to be displayed in high resolution anyway.

I imported this 2 megabyte file (Cleansed by Fire cover)into this blog, and it was automatically cut down to  about 21 kilobytes.  I put the pictures (same picture but two different sizes) in the two sizes into Word where the sizes were maintained.  I could not tell the difference — on my monitor.

You also might want to put in two different views of you, the author. One can be a formal pose and one can be a casual pose. Present each in high resolution and in low resolution.

Covers.  The same can be said about the covers of your books. Include a high res file and a standard res file.

Sell Sheet — You probably already have one.  Include a copy in the Press Kit.  I recommend a PDF file which ensures that it looks the same after it’s downloaded.  What goes in one?  A picture of the cover of the book.  A brief description of the book – similar to the blurb on the back cover.  A small picture and a brief bio of the author.  And – this is important – where the book can be purchased, and where additional information is available.

Author Bio.  There’s one on the sell sheet, so why do you need a separate bio?  Actually, you need TWO separate bios, one short and one longer.  If the person wants a bio and doesn’t see “Bio” or “Biography”, don’t expect her to go through all your files looking for it. She’ll just do without.  Remember what I said earlier: make it easier; save them time.

Why two versions? If you only have a short one, they can’t write much about you.  Suppose you only have a long one and they want a short one.  Would you rather decide what gets cut out or let them decide what to cut?  And put your picture on each one.  “But, I have picture files.”  Make it easier.

Press Release.  Again, make it easy for them. If there’s a ready made press release, particularly one well done, they might just grab it and publish it. Give them that opportunity. Tell about your latest release (if not too old), or an award you won recently, or a book signing.  Perhaps you gave a workshop at a conference, or made a presentation to the Rotary Club.  Anything thing that is “news” and concerns you and your writing. If you haven’t done anything recently, then do something now.

List of Books.  Letting them know what else you’ve written can only be good.  Who knows where it will lead?

Links.  Guide them to additional information.  That should include your website, blog, especially good reviews, awards you’ve won, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.  They might not follow any of the links.  But they might.  We’re back to that “Make it easier” bit.  They may browse some of these sites and use nothing from them.  Is that a waste?  Not for you.  The more they know about you, the better position you are in.
At one of the Northeast Texas Writers Organization (NETWO) conferences recently, an agent and an editor stayed up well past midnight playing board games with several conference attendees.  I don’t know whether any of those game players signed with the editor or agent.  But I’m betting the agent and editor know their names, and will respond to a query at some later date.

The more they know about you, the more likely they are to remember you in the future.  It’s why you give people one of your cards.  It’s why WalMart pays to print its name on the throw-away plastic bags.

More information on the author is available at:

www.jamesrcallan.com

www.murderacappella.com     A Sweet Adelines mystery.  
Book Trailer at:  http://www.vimeo.com/38414180

www.cleansedbyfire.com        A Father Frank mystery.  
Book Trailer at:  http://www.cleansedbyfire.com