Are You Ready? by Jim Hart

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?”

A Sample Chapter Online by Terry Burns

My client group is discussing the in’s and out’s of putting the first chapter (or more) of their work in progress online. Work that is put online for a critique group such as our own ‘crit room’ or any restricted access forum is not considered published, but any work that is put online and is accessible by the general public IS considered published. Some of these sites have a major number of followers, maybe even more than a printed version would sell to.

Why would an author want to do this with an unpublished work anyway? The usual justification is hoping an agent or editor would run across it, like it, and contact them asking for more. This has happened, but it is very rare. For the most part agents and editors have enough to wade through without going online searching for more. A majority of agents and editors won’t even go online searching when someone gives them links to material instead of providing it in a proposal as requested, but that’s a different topic. I believe the potential of ruling a work out by publishing it online outweighs any potential on accidentally interesting an agent or editor in the work.

As to the weight any particular publisher would give to material that has been published online, that varies from paying no attention to it to having it rule the project out for them. It would probably depend on how much of the work had been put up. For some publishers if any at all has been put up they don’t much like it.

My own opinion is that I don’t like to put any work online until it is contracted for publishing and even then after consulting the publisher. Some would not want it to be done at all unless they do it themselves and others have rules about how it can be done. I believe they feel there is no point in courting a potential problem when they have plenty of submissions by people who have not made their work public. Most if not all of them who wouldn’t mind restrict it to a maximum of one chapter.

It can make a difference if a work is entered in contests. In contests the judges are sent the contest material without the author’s name attached. If the work has been published online WITH the author’s name attached it can contaminate the judges pool for the work. Many contests will not accept a work if that has happened.

How about blogs or social media? Publishers used to pay little attention to them, but that isn’t the case any more. Audiences for these now go up into the thousands and most publishers consider them a significant marketing tool. The number one sales tool for a book is name identification or “buzz” and having a strong online presence is a major way of doing that, hopefully beginning long before there is a book to promote.

Let’s talk about nonfiction. It used to be that non-fiction books were much easier to sell to a publisher than fiction. Not so much these days, and I believe the reason for that is just what you are talking about, the amount of material that is online for free. If someone pitches me a project and I know all of their research was done online I know all of the material in their book is available for free. It may still have value to a potential buyer since that research has been done and all of the material assembled in a logical order . . . or it may not. There is no telling which way a publisher would come down on that question.

Is an author who has a regular blog now considered ‘published?’ Actually, yes, and the degree of the publishing credit would depend on the number of regular followers. We can look at it like this, a blog with a couple of hundred followers would be like having a writing credit of writing something like a church newsletter. One of my clients has a twitter account with over 40,000 followers. That is the equivalent of being a regular columnist in a small magazine.

The bottom line is that online publishing has changed or evolved in the past few years and many aspects of it are looked upon in quite a different manner. But then that’s the only constant in the publishing industry . . . change.

Would You Read On? hosted by Diana Flegal

Thank you for joining us. Please leave a comment after reading today's First Page submission. Let us know if you would read on.

Chapter One

Monday

“S-s-shut up and f-f-forget it! You’ve s-s-seen nothing and know nothing! G-g-got it?”

The whispered words radiated out in waves of malevolence, like heat rising from a country blacktopped road in midsummer. The air vibrated with a pregnant sense of malice, shifted, then swirled in ghostly forms around her.

An unexpected mental vision of a deadly snake intent on its victim slivered in her mind, and Tara Layne shifted her gaze to the ground, hoping no snake would materialize.

Was this Montana land holding its breath, waiting? Waiting for what would come next? Waiting to see what she would do?

A sense of evil washed over her, and she shivered. Parts of the blue sky peeked through the tree branches, yet beneath those branches the light seemed to have dimmed. Had it? No leaves stirred. The chirping birds, the clattering insects, hushed, as if an early evening had set in.

She leaned forward and strained to hear.

Nothing.

No more stuttering words.

Yet someone was out there.

Tara eyed the northwest forest. Brian Jamieson’s private hunting and entertainment grounds. She slowly spun in a circle. No sign of human inhabitants. As far as she could tell, Hickory, her pet mouse, was the only living creature around-other than herself.

Who had breathed those words a moment ago?

Someone close by.Would You Read On?

Last weeks submission was the First page of Stolen Woman, the first in a series of 3 Christian suspense/romance novels on international human trafficking and missions. Find out more at www.stolenwoman.org, or check out Kimberly's blog at www.stolenwoman.blogspot.com.

Publishing Transition Ups the Role of Your Platform by Jennifer Hudson Taylor

History repeats itself.

I wish we could learn from our past mistakes as a society, but we seem doomed to ignore the hard lessons previous generations have learned and make them our own. It may look a bit different with new technologies, different people, places, and time--but the ultimate deal is still the same.

People are hungry for power. They work hard to build a business empire, rake in as much profit as possible, put competition out of business. They start out with excellent customer service because they have to, but once they're on top and the only game in town, they begin flexing their muscles and setting unfair prices, contracts, and percentage rates with their partners.

Who are we talking about?

First, it was the small publishers who were ousted by the big six publishers in NY.

Now, it's the big six along with book stores, facing the threat of the powerhouse of Amazon.

As usual authors and agents are caught in the middle. We're still producing our stories. Agents are still submitting them, but we're all listening, trying to discern where the winds will lead us.

Here's one thing that won't change: 

• The old publishing model depended on an author's platform and their ability to promote themselves.
• The new publishing model will still depend on an author's platform, and more so, especially their online platform. 

Do not be discouraged or deceived. Every new follower you gain on Facebook, Twitter, and to your blog--it matters. Every new subscriber you receive to your email newsletter--it matters. Each new connection you make on Goodreads, Google+ or Pinterest--it matters. It's one more person who has the potential to hear about your books and buy them, and whoever they have the ability to influence. This is limitless. Promotion is hard and sometimes it isn't fun, but it does make a difference.

People can't buy books they've never heard of before. And even if they've heard of your books, you must give them a reason to buy your book out of all the many choices competing for their attention. Sometimes it's by allowing them a chance to get to know YOU through interviews, personal blog posts, book signings and just sharing the blessings God has given YOU to pass onto THEM. People are more willing to buy and support an author they feel like they know than from someone with whom they have no connection.

I want to leave you with a link to a blog post that will make you think.
Amazon--Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts by Kristen Lamb

Would You Read On? hosted by Diana Flegal

Dear Reader;
Would you read on? We look forward to your comments. Be sure to scroll down for the name of last weeks courageous author who offered their first page to you for critique. This weeks First page follows:

Shanghai, 1933 / Year of Rooster

Every few minutes, the young female mourner paused from her loud wailing. She wiped her face with a grimy cloth, and peeked curiously at the people crowded along the street watching the funeral procession. This was her first experience as a paid mourner in Shanghai, and Li-ming was hot and sticky in the stiff white mourning robe and hood covering her patched, dirty clothes. But she barely noticed her discomfort as she gazed at the amazing city where she had arrived just yesterday by ox cart.

Several weeks ago, she and her cousin had disguised themselves as boys and run away from their ancestral home in the remote northwestern village of Twentieth Tower Gate of China’s Great Wall. Soon to be married to aged widowers, they both agreed in secret they would rather die escaping than live forever miserable. And so on a moonless night, Li-ming and her cousin fled from the serpentine shadow of the Great Dragon Wall, with their dowry coins stolen from their parents securely hidden in their underwear.

After weeks of perilous travel, they had arrived at Shanghai’s West Gate, dust-covered, hungry, and their dowries nearly gone. There the plump manager of the Shanghai Sang-fu Mourning Company, with a leering smile, offered them food, work and housing. Li-ming had looked briefly at her cousin before nodding a silent acceptance for both of them. She desperately hoped their work as paid mourners would soon erase their impoverished past and, in time, enable them to repay and restore honor to their families.

The two had rejoiced in their hearts at this seeming good fortune bestowed by the gods. And as they hurried past a shrine on their way to the Mourning Company, they did a quick bai bai worship. However, the grimy idol looked back at them with stony silence, and neglected to warn them that paid wailing by day would soon be accompanied by far more unpleasant duties at night. And that now their chances of living for more than a year or two longer were few.

Last weeks victim, I mean author was the brave Vonie Harris. Thank you Vonie for sharing your first page with us.

Would You Read on hosted by Joyce Hart

Welcome to the next installment of First Pages. We welcome your comments.

Professor Grossmayer shook his head at Alex’s senior art project, closing the portfolio with a soft thud. In the professor’s hands was the power to approve or disapprove the hours upon hours of intensive work Alex had put in, the power to approve or disapprove his graduation from art school. Alex found himself holding his breath. He felt Grossmayer’s filing cabinets and messy piles of paper closing in on him.

In the silence of the professor’s small office, he heard the echo of his father’s voice when Alex had showed him his first pen and ink drawing. “Are you even right, Boy?” he’d said with disdain, scowling down at the rendition of the train tracks that ran through their town.

The professor replaced Alex’s art in the leather portfolio. “I had hopes your senior project would bring the art out in you, but it didn’t. I won’t be recommending you for graduation.”

“I, uh,” Alex’s voice croaked and he cleared his throat. “I don’t understand, Professor.”

Grossmayer stood and retrieved some papers from a filing cabinet in the corner. “You remember Martin Rankle’s alumni lecture last month?”

Alex nodded. Rankle had given the annual alumni lecture in Alex’s freshman year, too. He had held them all spellbound, talking about finding inspiration and looking at the world as an artist.

Grossmayer tossed a print of some artwork on the table. “Take a look at this.”

Alex looked. The art was not amazing or anything, but the promise of talent was absolutely there, leaping off the page. He’d always had a sense of these things.

“This is some of Rankle’s work from his freshman year here.” Grossmayer announced. Then he slid another art print across the table. “This is a piece from his senior project.”

Alex looked. This time, instead of the promise of talent leaping off the page, the trees, the river, the light and shadow, the colors themselves leaped off the page.

“Look at what he accomplished when he attended here,” Grossmayer boomed. “Look at the depth, the heart of his work. You have obviously not learned here what Rankle did. Mr. Carmichael, not only do you have no talent, you wouldn’t know art if it bit you on

Special thanks to Anne Schroeder for stepping up and offering us her First Page for critique last week.