CHARLIE’S CHOICE

Weekly Tips to Help YouWrite,

Publish & Promote Your Books  

WHETTING THE APPETITESOF AGENTS AND PUBLISHERS 

Okay, it’s time to take off your writer’s cap…or at least tilt it a bit to the side because you’ll still have to call upon your skills as an author to craft a powerful query letter and a smashing proposal to sell your book to a literary agent or to a publisher. 

You’re now in stage 2 of the traditional publishing path that we introduced in last week’s “Charlie’s Choice” column. Your job now is to sell. Your tools are a query letter and a book proposal. It’s the query’s job to open the door by intriguing the agent or publisher. Making him/her yearn to learn more about your new masterpiece. 

If the letter does its job, the agent will invite you to submit a proposal for your nonfiction book. If you’ve written a novel, a proposal is not required, although many feel it is makes sense to prepare a selling proposal to accompany the finished manuscript anyway. The reason for this difference is really very simple.  

The strength of a nonfiction book is its content; the quality of the information it offers the reader. While style and writing ability are important, content rules. Your proposal must convince an agent that you have the knowledge to impart. A sample chapter or two added to the proposal will reveal your ability to present it well. 

Style, characterization and pace are essential elements of fiction and can’t be demonstrated in a proposal. Therefore you must submit the completed novel. As indicated above, I think it’s a good idea to include a partial proposal. Many others agree with me. It should include the sections that describe the market you anticipate for the book and the promotional techniques you plan to employ to reach that market.   

Your Audition 

When you write your query letter, think of it as your audition. But, as I point out in my book The Writer Within You, your audition has a great advantage over that of the actor or dancer or singer. They have just the one moment to win over the producer. You have as much time as you need to reframe and rewrite your query until it is as perfect as you can make it.  

Make use of that advantage. Don’t attempt to edit immediately while the draft is fresh in your mind. Let time pass between versions. Time is a great copy editor. It allows you to see weaknesses that you might not otherwise unearth. 

If possible, develop a hook, a pithy phrase or sentence that relays the essential nature of your book. Place it as a separate line at the beginning of the letter. You might want to use bold face to help it stand out. A strong hook often is later used as a marketing tool by the publisher. You may recall that I mentioned in a previous column that at different times I have used two hooks to promote my latest book. ”Retire the WRITE way” and “Old is getting younger everyday.”  

The success or failure of your endeavor depends on your opening paragraph. Intrigue the agent, and he/she’ll read the balance of your letter. In just two or three sentences you must capture the most stirring element of your book…its essence.  

The following paragraphs should expand on the basic idea and explain where you are taking it. You may wish to add a pertinent quote, if you have one from a recognized authority. Or perhaps list one or two experts whom you have interviewed for the book. Be very specific in this section; do not generalize. You aren’t writing a book on fishing. Explain that your book concentrates on fly fishing for trout, the technique and the equipment needed.  

The last task is to sell yourself as the most logical person to write this book. The agent doesn’t care much about you personally at this stage. He/she cares only about your training, your experience, your other qualifications to write this book. Don’t be shy, but conversely don’t blow your own horn with adjectives. Keep this section strait forward and objective. 

The Nitty Gritty 

Never forget to enclose a SASE with your query if you want a reply. Try your best to hold the letter to a single page. I know it is difficult to condense all of the information I spoke of above into this limited space. However, many agents insist that if you can’t write that tightly and state everything you want to in one page, you don’t know your subject well enough and therefore are not qualified to write a book. 

The letter should be single spaced, typed in 12 pt Times Roman, upper and lower case. Leave one inch margins on both sides. Do not attempt to attract attention by using fancy or colored paper. And don’t try to be cutesy. This is a business letter. Keep it that way. 

I had intended also to analyze the book proposal in this post, but I realized as I covered the query letter that both of these elements are so vitally important to your success that I had to cover more detail than I had originally intended. You’ll have to wait until next week for the book proposal, with each of its components—seven or eight in most proposals—examined carefully.  

In the interim, should you have any questions about any aspect of publishing, as well as writing or promoting your book, take advantage of our “writer-to-writer” program. Send your questions to charles@retirement-writing.com. You can expect a response within two days…and at no charge.   

What Do Others Think of You?

Try Monitoring Your Presence Online

Who’s saying what about you? You probably have no idea unless you learned to use the tools that are available, but often not familiar to the average author.

Why is it important? Even if you just mind your business, write your books and articles and stay away from controversy, you never know what comments may be made about you or your work  on this huge and essentially uncontrolled digital monster.

You publish a book and suddenly reviews that you never solicited appear. Some may be favorable, and you certainly want to be able to use them. If someone has a negative comment about your work, you should know about that too. It’s also beneficial to track activity on your primary subject and to know how keywords that relate to it are being used.

You can check on usage of your keywords with www.monitorthis.com. Two of the leading search engines provide the ability to discover what’s being said about you. www.google.com/alerts and www.alerts.yahoo.com are two superb tools to accomplish this sleuthing.

Try them. You’ll be amazed. I did, and discovered my name, my new book and a good deal of commentary that I never realized existed.

PRIME LIBRARY DISTRIBUTON CHANGES OWNERSHIP

Rob Zimmers, longtime staffer at Quality Book Inc, has assumed the ownership of this major book distributor to libraries. Quality Books not only is considered one of the most effective distributors in this specialty, it also is one of only two PCIP suppliers for self-published books. With Quality’s high level of success and Rob’s 32-year history with the company, it is likely that little will change. You can find the company on the Web at www.quality-books.com.

What Reviewers Wish Authors Knew

While on the subject of book reviews, I thought this excellent advice from Amazon top 50 reviewer Cindy Penn was important enough to pass on to fellow authors. In a recent issue of The Writer Gazette, Cindy listed a dozen pet peeves of book reviewers, and she certainly should be aware of them. In addition to her work for Amazon, she serves as Senior Editor of http://wordweaving.com and is the eBook specialist for the highly respected Midwest Book Reviews.

Cindy cautions when sending an ARC (Advanced Review Copy), be certain the draft has been relatively well edited even if the very final editing hasn’t yet been completed. She warns that it’s her practice to “mention really poor editing in a review if it interferes with the reading experience.”

When you submit the manuscript, be sure to include your name, book title, e-mail address, ISBN and date of publication on it whether it is digital or hardcopy. If you don’t send a press kit or release with your manuscript, at least include a synopsis and setting. Reviewers also want to see a bio of the author, particularly items that are relevant to the book.

It is important to query and read submission guidelines before you send your manuscript. Be polite and be patient. Realize the high volume of books submitted to a reviewer. And when the review has been completed, stay polite even if the review is less than positive. Thank the reviewer. Remember that many reviewers are book lovers and volunteer their time to review. They won’t always like your work. Don’t condemn them for that, for we all read with different viewpoints and varied likes and dislikes. Be gracious even if you don’t feel like it. You never know whether a future book might be sent to this same reviewer.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TO BOOK REVIEWS?

How ironic!  Just as I’m in the process of reaching out for reviews of my latest work, the subject of book criticism in newspapers has exploded with articles appearing in the dailies and on the Web about cutbacks, mergers with other subjects and even elimination.

Reviewing was one of the cover stories in the current issue of the prestigious Columbia Journalism Review. Concerned about what I was reading, I attended a panel discussion at Columbia’s School of Journalism last week.

The discussion got pretty testy as other panelists protested the insistence by Steve Wasserman, former book reviewer of the Los Angeles Times and author of CJR’s cover story on the decline of book coverage by newspapers. Wasserman opened the forum with a long argument—almost as long as his endless article in the magazine—decrying the slippage of intellectuality in the nation.

Few would deny that there’s been a severe loss of intellectuality among our leaders in the executive branch…and you can toss in a loss of integrity as well. But other panelists, particularly highly respected Philadelphia Inquirer reviewer Carlin Romano, took umbrage with Wasserman’s proclamations charging him with “snobbery” and “pomposity.”

Once calm prevailed with the soothing influence of Elizabeth Sifton, author, editor and senior VP at Farrar, the discussion turned to possible ways to make book pages more relevant and exciting to the general public. (And as a result more attractive to advertisers.)

There certainly has been slippage, but it has been in the space allotted to books and book reviews. Even the mighty NY Times, the premier Sunday book section, has reduced pages. Wasserman accurately illustrates the trend by pointing out reductions at his alma mater the LA Times, San Diego Union-Tribune, Chicago Tribune, Raleigh News & Observer, Cleveland Plain Dealer and others.

I urge all of you for whom book reviews are an integral part of your promotional program to dig up a copy of CJR and read Wasserman’s article. It is far longer than it has to be, but does contain a great deal of critical information every author should be aware of.

WONDER WHY YOUR MASTERPIECE

CAN’T FIND A PUBLISHER?

Read This

The annual Jane Austen Festival in Bath (England) is usually a pretty strait-laced event, but this year Director David Lassman broke with prissy Nineteenth Century manners, and managed to embarrass almost all of the major book publishers in England. 

Annoyed that he couldn’t find a publisher for his own book Freedom’s Temple, Lassman did some minor editing and rewriting to the opening chapter of three of Jane Austen’s novels, and submitted them to 18 of the majors along with a plot synopsis. He used a penname and new book titles. His response: a deluge of rejection slips. 

Only one publishing house, Jonathan Cape, indicated it recognized the hoax when it received a query for First Impressions, in reality Pride and Prejudice. Lassman changed the characters’ names slightly (for example, Bennet became Barnett). But most shocking, he copied the book’s famous opening line word for word, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”   I hope Lassman’s experiment makes you feel a tad bit better as you cope with those ubiquitous rejection slips.

BLOG READERS ARE BIG BUSINESS

Here’s some fascinating news about the commercial impact of blogging, released  by comScore’s Media Matrix: 

Blog readers generally earn more than $75,000 per year and have a hi-speed Internet connection. They stay online ten hours longer per week than the average surfer (23 hours for blog readers compared to 13 for the others). Still more important for those of you who are using your sites to sell, blog readers are 30 percent more likely to buy goods or services online than the average Internet user. Sure sounds like a market all of us would love to tap. 

THE INTERNET IS GROWING UP…CAPTURING THE ATTENTION OF OLDER AMERICANS 

Ever since Neilsen/Net Ratings announced that the number of adults 55 and over that actively use the Internet is about the same as the number of 18 to 34’s, alert operators have begun to pay real attention to seniors and the older baby boomers who are rapidly joining their ranks. 

The boomers come with years of familiarity with computers, forcing hi-tech investment gurus to reconsider their preoccupation with just teens and young adults. The 50-plus market is growing daily. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that boomers are reaching age 60 at the rate of one every seven seconds.   

Before I targeted my latest book The Writer Within You to retirees, my own research confirmed the fact that the antiquated view of seniors spending their days on the golf course, at the card table or just lounging about was no longer the reality.  

I was so impressed by what I discovered that I began to use the catch phrase “Old is getting younger everyday” in many of my promotions. Today’s dynamic older crowd is generally eager to tackle new challenges and fulfill the dreams long harbored but not realized because the responsibilities of family and career took precedence.  

Use of the Internet by seniors is growing at the rate of 9 percent a year, Forrester Research states. Even more impressive, 46 percent of those computer literate Older Americans go online daily, according to Internet.com. The Pew Internet and American Life Project reveals that online shopping by the senior population is growing faster than shopping by any other age group. 

Is it any wonder that the venture capitalists who reaped such success from their investments in the burgeoning social networking market that caters to the younger set are now setting their sights on the vibrant graying generations. Making investment even more attractive are the findings that oldsters are much more loyal than the younger set that is known to constantly switch allegiance from one site to another. 

The New York Times recently reported that tens of millions of dollars are now being dedicated to financing social networking sites for seniors and boomers. So watch out My Space, You Tube and the many others. Competition is booming.