Change is Hard. You Go First.

We are creatures of habit and like to keep doing the same things over and over. It's how I operate and assume you do as well. Yet the world around us continues to change and if we want to succeed as writers, we need to change with it. The weather changes all the time and is outside of our control yet we change what we wear and other details to keep up with these changes.

My iPhone will often have apps that need to be updated. Other times the entire operating system will be updated and many of the standard programs suddenly look different and have different features. Change is all around us and involves taking some calculated risks and experimentation and always learning new things. It's not easy for any of us but it's a part of our world and culture. As I've mentioned in these entries in the past, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. If you want a different result, you need to make some changes.

As writers and publishing professionals, we spend a lot of time sitting in front of our computer. Over the last few years, I had not been exercising and eating the wrong things. My weight ballooned and my waist size grew.  About a year ago, I decided to change my eating habits—in particular carbs and sugar. Yes I was exercising several times a week but it was not the exercise which made a difference in my weight. It was my change in eating habits. I went from a size 46 waist to 38 and people could see a difference in my appearance. It was not easy to change my eating habits and is a constant struggle but the results have been amazing. This week I went to the doctor for a physical. I'm supposed to do this every year but had not done it for several years and hasn't even been to see my doctor since August 2014. They pulled my medical chart and noticed a substantial difference in my weight—in fact, I was down 38 pounds from my previous visit.

As we approach the end of 2016 and look toward 2017, it's a good time to take a few minutes and reflect on your publishing life. Are you selling enough books or magazine articles? Are you pitching the editors on a regular basis and looking for new opportunities? If you aren't satisfied with the current results, what changes can you make to have different results in the days ahead?

Is there a new training program that you need to go through like my Write A Book Proposal course or even creating your own course and selling it? I encourage you to get my Simple Membership System (which is a complete self-contained training package) and create your own training program. Or can you plan to attend a writer's conference in 2017 to meet some new editors and publishing professionals?

You do not have to remain in a rut or in the same place next year as you are today. You can change and move forward. As I said in the title of this piece, change is hard. You go first. If I can help you, reach out to me and ask. My work contact information including my phone number is on the bottom of the second page. In the comments below,let me know about the changes you are planning for the days ahead. We are surrounded with all types of opportunities. Which one will you seize and move ahead?

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Three Reasons to Do It Yourself

This morning I packed up a copy of Book Proposals That Sell.  An order for the book came into my shopping cart. I've developed a little pattern of printing the packing receipt, the label and getting it ready to take my post office. When I look at what other authors are doing with their websites, they often send their buyers to Amazon. I understand these authors make this choice because it is easier for them and they do nothing additional and many people already have all the buying details set up on Amazon.

It took me several additional steps to get this book packed up and ready to mail. Why do I bother doing it myself? Here's three great reasons:

1. Make more money through selling directly to the reader than through Amazon or some other places. I purchased these books at a steep discount (something authors need to think about when they contract or create a book). You don't need a shopping cart like I use and can simply use a free PayPal button for the sale. Most readers have a PayPal account so this option is easy for them to use. These readers get the book directly from you and if they prefer it to be autographed, then they have this possibility since they've bought it from the author.

2. Personally touch my readers and add them to my email list. You can learn more details about creating an email list here. My shopping cart is also where I send emails to my list. Every author needs to create and be adding to their email list. More and more editors and literary agents are looking for authors who have email lists and can directly reach their readers.

For my case with Book Proposals That Sell, I have an additional reason. This book has been on the market for a decade. Recently I got a One Star review on Amazon because of the out of date information. Admittedly publishing has changed since this book was first published. Yet the book has over 130 Five Star Amazon reviews. Now I've lowered the price from $15 to $8 and I've “fixed” all of the out of date websites. If you buy the book through my website, then you get these fixed websites through an automatic email (called an autoresponder). Plus you receive other unique bonuses which I've created. Notice my intentional planning: the only way for the reader to get these “extras” is to purchase the book directly from my website.

3. Provide the reader additional value and give them the opportunity to go deeper in this subject area. I wrote Book Proposals That Sell as a frustrated acquisitions editor. Later I wrote and developed other products in the book proposal creation area.  I have a 12 lessons course called Write A Book Proposal. I have a CD package called Editor Reveals Book Proposal Secrets. Finally I have a teleseminar called Proposal Secrets where I interview a number of publishing colleagues about book proposals.

To be honest, packing books is not my favorite task. In addition to having a way for the reader to give you money, mailing supplies like labels and priority envelopes) have to be kept on hand. I've gotten the process down to a few minutes for each one. I'm committed to continuing to mail my own books. 

As an author, you have the greatest vision for what can happen with your book and the deepest passion for it. Let your passion show in how you sell your book. 

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The Value of Persistence

In the writing world, it happens often. A writer will craft a piece of writing—like a query or a book proposal or a magazine article or a book manuscript. They will approach an editor or literary agent and either get no response or a polite “no thank you.” At this point in the process, the writer can give up and chalk it up to experience. Or they can choose another path of persistence and keep getting their work into the marketplace.

I often tell writers that successful publishing is the process of being in the right place at the right time with the right person with the right material.  A number of rights have to line up for that piece of writing to be published. As a writer, you are in search of the right opportunity. It does not happen instantly. And if it does, then that is a rare fluke. It happens to me—all the time. I write emails which are unanswered. I make phone calls and leave messages which are not returned. I even offer book contracts to authors which they don't acknowledge or accept.  The lack of response bothers me but it does not make me stop or give up. I understand the value (and necessity) of persistence.

In the last few weeks, an author signed her contract with Morgan James Publishing. Her memoir will be published next year. When we spoke, she told about sending her manuscript out to various literary agents and not getting a single response. I was struck with this lack of response.  Maybe her pitch wasn't attractive. Maybe she sent it to the wrong literary agents. There are any number of variables which can cause this type of response but I still felt bad for this author.  I found her personal story fascinating and well-written.  As her book gets published next year, I hope it catches a lot of attention in the market.  I've tried to manage this author's expectations and encourage her that the success of her book will be 80% up to her efforts. There are many unknowns ahead but I'm confident in this author because she understands the value of persistence.

One of the best known examples of persistence in the publishing community is Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen for their first Chicken Soup for the Soul book.  As Mark explains in the foreword for Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams, their book was rejected 140 times. Now that is a lot of rejection.   In the process, Jack and Mark heard every reason for rejection from large and small publishes—yet they persisted to believe in their book and that they would eventually find a publisher.  Now this series of books is one of the best-selling books in history. If you follow this link, you can read the complete story and download the foreword and first chapter of the updated edition of Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams.

What challenges are you facing with your current publishing? Are you getting rejected?

Maybe you need to send your material to a different set of editors or agents. Maybe you need to learn more about the craft and business of writing to improve the quality of what you are sending.  Possibly you need to select a good writer's conference to attend in the next few weeks or months. There are many ways to learn the skills you need. For example, I've had a number of people take my Write A Book Proposal course and gain practical teaching from those lessons. Each of us need to keep growing in our knowledge and skill and connections in this business. Persistence has great value.

Why Every Book Needs a Proposal (Even Self-Published)

I've read thousands of book proposals as an acquisitions editor and a former literary agent. I continually teach on the topic because I believe many writers don't understand the critical nature of this specialized document called a book proposal.

On the traditional side of publishing, editors and agents read proposals. It doesn't matter whether you've written nonfiction or fiction because this document includes information which never appears in your manuscript yet is critical detail in the decisionmaking process. My Book Proposals That Sell has over 100 Five Star Amazon reviews and continues to help many writers. My online course, Write A Book Proposal has helped writers around the world to learn the step-by-step techniques of creating a proposal.

As a book publisher at Intermedia Publishing Group, many of my authors have not written a book proposal because we work with full manuscripts. From my perspective of working in book publishing for over 20 years, every author should create a book proposal for their book—whether eventually they publish the book with a company where they pay to get it published (subsidy or self-publishing) or whether they find a traditional book publisher. In the proposal creation process, the author learns some critical elements about their book concept plus they are better positioned in the marketplace.

Here are four benefits of proposal creation (and I'm certain there are many more):

1. You Define Your Target Market. Many authors believe their book will hit a broad target—everyone. No successful book is for everyone. Each book has a primary target audience and the proposal creation process helps you define, pinpoint and write about this audience. It is important in nonfiction but it is also important in fiction. For example, romance is the largest fiction genre yet there are many divisions within the romance genre. Every proposal needs a target which is defined—yet large enough to generate volume sales. You learn and achieve this balance when you create a page-turning book proposal.

2. You Understand Your Competition. While creating a proposal, the writer has to take a hard look at which books are competing with your idea. This process helps you understand the marketplace. Many new authors believe they are writing something unique with no competition. It's not true. Every book competes in the marketplace and you will be a better equipped author if you understand your competition.

3. You Create A Personal Plan For Marketing. Whether you like marketing or dislike it, the reality is every author has to market their own book. It doesn't matter who publishes your book—whether you self-publish or go with a large traditional house. As you create a book proposal, you will be including practical, specific and measurable ideas that you can execute when your book enters the market. The proposal will be a valuable reference tool for you because you've done this important creation process.

4. You Possess A Valuable Tool To Pitch Agents and Editors at Traditional Houses. I've written it a number of times but it bears repeating here. Literary agents and editors do not read manuscripts. They read book proposals. Even novelists need a book proposal for their initial pitch to an editor or agent. And if you self-publish and are successful with selling your book, because you own everything, if you receive an attractive offer from a traditional house, then you can move the book. Without a proposal you can't properly pitch the concept and you've eliminated this possibility.

I believe writers should explore every option and keep their possibilities open. You've narrowed the possibilities rather than expanded them if you don't have a proposal.

If you make the effort to create an excellent book proposal, then you will be ready to pitch your book at any time and any place.

Be More Than a “One-Hit Wonder”

Editor’s Note: This article is the fourth in the Content into Consistent Income Series. Here are the links to the other articles: Use Your Content in a New Way, How to Keep Them Coming Back and Set It and Forget It.

Many authors are focused on a single book idea. They craft a book proposal and pitch it over and over. Yet if you think about the publisher’s perspective, they are looking for authors with multiple book ideas or more than a “one-hit wonder.”

In this Content Into Consistent Income Series, I’ve been talking about the merits of a membership site. I’m going to use a personal example of how you can become more than a one-hit wonder with your topic.

About eight years ago as a frustrated acquisitions editor, I wrote Book Proposals That Sell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. This book continues to help writers and has 100 Five Star reviews on Amazon. I sell the Ebook version. Yet I knew I could do more with this important topic to writers. At any moment, there are millions of proposals and manuscripts in circulation in the offices of publishers and literary agents. Unfortunately many of them are poorly crafted and have no understanding of the importance of the pitch. You have seconds to catch the interest—and it involves work and understanding the audience for your pitch (an editor or an agent).

I took my experience and some of the content in Book Proposals That Sell and repurposed it into a membership course called Write A Book Proposal. My book is different from the course because the book is a series of secrets or insights about proposals where the course is much more step-by-step creation of an excellent book proposal—yet each one is focused on the same topic.

Can you take your book or something that you regularly teach or speak about and repurpose your content into a membership course? The membership course can be a critical element in what some people call your backend and position you in the market as more than a "One-Hit Wonder."

When you first thought about opening a membership site, you probably spent at least a little time crunching the numbers.

Example: You did calculations like this: If you have 200 members each paying you $50 a month, that’s $10,000 per month. Or if you open multiple membership sites, charge $27, and get 500 members, that’s $13,500 per month. Or maybe your goal was 1000 members across one or more sites each paying $19 per month, which puts $19,000 in your pocket.

Chances are, however, you stopped calculating when you figured out that final front-end figure. But here’s the thing: That “final” figure only tells half the story. If you’re only taking into consideration your front end profits, you’re leaving a lot of money on the table.

You see, some of the easiest money you’ll ever make is by selling more products and even more expensive products to your existing customers on the backend.

Consider this: If you put up a good sales letter for your membership site, you may convert anywhere from 2% to 5% of your visitors. So if 100 people walk through your virtual door, two to five of them will become members.

Now let’s say you have 100 members paying you $20 per month (that’s $2000 per month). These 100 members are going to be open to your other offers, meaning you’ll likely convert in the double digits. So perhaps you offer these 1000 members a $50 ebook – you may find 20% (20 members) taking advantage of the offer, which puts an extra $1000 in your pocket.

With just one offer you boosted your income by 50%, simply by selling a product to your existing customers! Now imagine if you did this with 500 customers… 1000 customers… or more. You can see the possibilities!

Now in order to tap into these backend profits, you need to offer something that complements but does not compete with your membership site. One of the best ways to do this is to recommend related products from within each lesson. That is, you tell your members where to get more information on a topic that you’re not covering in depth.

Examples:

• Let’s suppose your membership site teaches people how to create and market their own products. And let’s suppose you get to the topic of search engine marketing. You may go into depth on the topic of SEO, but refer your members to another product in order to learn more about PPC marketing.

• Your general “how to adopt a child” site might refer members to specific sites or products if they want to adopt children from specific countries, such as Guatemala or China.

• You might refer your dog obedience and training members to a “trick training” book (since you’re not covering that topic in the site).

• Your weight-loss site might refer people to an ebook that covers weight loss supplements, herbs and vitamins in depth.

Another way to make money on the backend is by recommending that your members buy a specific tool in order to complete a task.

Examples:

• During the lesson on SEO (search engine optimization), you may recommend that your readers purchase a WordTracker.com subscription.

• You’re teaching people how to do build and profit from a mailing list. You recommend Aweber.com.

• You’re teaching people how to repaint a classic muscle car. You recommend a specific store (using your affiliate link) where people can pick up the sanding and painting supplies.

• Your golf site might point people towards buying a specific set of clubs.

There’s a fortune that lays hidden in the backend of your membership site.

You can tap into this fortune by regularly making related, complimentary offers to your existing members!

I’ve written this article to show you the potential for the Simple Membership System. Get yours today and begin building your backend so you are not a one-hit wonder. Finally watch for my final article in this Content into Consistent Income Series where I explain how to create a family of sites.

You Can Set It and Forget It

Editor’s Note: This article is the third in the Content into Consistent Income Series. Here are the links to the first article (Use Your Content in a New Way) and second one (How to Keep Them Coming Back).

Quick, what is it about a running a membership site that makes you NOT want to run one? If you’re like most marketers, the idea of being chained to your computer week after week delivering content is a major downside.

When you first got online, you probably had dreams of living the “Internet lifestyle.” You couldn’t wait to get away from the daily grind and job responsibilities. And yet if you run a membership site, it can feel like a job. You can’t see yourself running off to play on some exotic beach when you need to upload content at least once a week or more.

One alternative is to outsource this task. That is, you hire someone else to upload the content every week when you’re not available. But outsourcing comes with it’s own problems – namely, you need to have 100% trust your freelancer to upload the content on time.

So if you haven’t yet developed a relationship with a freelancer, you probably won’t feel comfortable leaving your business (and your customers’ satisfaction) in a stranger’s hands.

Now before you toss aside the idea of ever having a vacation while running a membership site, let me give you two game-changing words: Autoresponder delivery.

You see, with a traditional membership site (like a Private Label Rights (PLR) site), all members get the exact same content. So the person who just joined today is going to get the same content this month as the person who’s been a member for a year. Next month, everyone gets the same content again.

Obviously, this doesn’t make sense if you’re running a training site. That is, you want everyone to start with lesson #1 and get the lessons in order. So the person who joins today gets lesson #1. Meanwhile, the longtime member may be getting lesson #50.

The solution? A true “set it and forget it” model, which you can achieve by delivering all the content using an autoresponder.

Here’s how it works…

1. You create content for your entire course. So if you have a yearlong course with weekly lessons, you’d create 52 lessons. If you have a three month course with weekly lessons, you’d create 12 lessons.

2. Load your course into your autoresponder. Next, you need to get an autoresponder through a service like Aweber.com or GetResponse.com. Simply load up your messages into your autoresponder. Set the first lesson to go out immediately after the customer joins the course. Set each subsequent message to go out on a weekly basis.

3. Create a sales letter. Now create your sales letter and insert your order button (from a payment processor that accepts recurring billing, such as PayPal).

4. Drive traffic to your site. Here you can use all the usual methods of driving traffic, such as affiliate and joint venture partners, content marketing, pay per click marketing, social media marketing and similar.

5. Play golf (or whatever). Now the members roll in and your autoresponder takes care of the rest, leaving you free to do what you want!

Just imagine: You could set up multiple autoresponder-based, fixed-term membership sites. Just set one up, drive traffic and move on to setting up the next one. Rinse and repeat until you’re making as much money as you want! You can learn the full story on how to establish your own membership site with the Simple Membership System.

In my next article in this Content into Consistent Income Series, I’m going to show you how to create a backend offer. Watch for it in a few days.

As you can tell, I believe there is huge potential for every reader through the Simple Membership System. It gives you the ability to set it up and forget it.

Create a GBHG for This Year

Do you have a Great Big Hairy Goal (GBHG) for the new year?

Whenever the calendar flips to a new year, it's an opportunity to change and make some dream of yours happen. Mark Victor Hansen often talks about the necessity of creating this GBHG. Write down your goal in a few words. Then paste it on the mirror in the bathroom or on the top of your desk or some place that you see it often.

When you see that goal what steps are you taking today to accomplish this GBHG?

One of my friends wants to publish her fiction. She has taken courses and attended writers conferences. Active in publishing, she regularly helps other writers improve their books through detailed work and critiques. From time to time, I ask this friend about her own writing and what is happening with it. Year after year, it never happens and yet I know she continues to hang on to this GBHG.

I love what my friend Bodie Thoene told me years ago about the work of writing her 600+ page manuscripts. “No little elves come out at night and type my pages,” she explained. Instead Bodie consistently writes pages and completes novels.

Maybe you've actually completed several novels or nonfiction manuscripts. It takes something else to get that material published. You have to craft an amazing pitch or book proposal. Yes, fiction authors need book proposals. You have seconds to grab the attention of the agent or editor.

If you've done the work to create this proposal or manuscript, it does absolutely no good to keep it in your computer or file drawer. You have to actively be looking for the right connection—the right editor or the right literary agent who will champion your cause and get your book into the marketplace. I'm keenly aware that it is hard work and takes consistent and regular effort.

Consistent effort is how you accomplish a GBHG. You have to take your larger goal and break it into smaller goals. Get it on your daily list of “things to do” so you move forward and accomplish your goal.

A year ago, I was speaking with a friend about how I had not accomplished one of my GBHGs. For a year, I took a course on how to create a membership course. I worked through the lessons in the course and created my game plan of what I would make and what it would look like. I even wrote the website for it. But it never happened. I was speaking with this friend about how I had never pulled it completely together to launch this project. It was in limbo where it resided only in my head and not in the public.

As I spoke to my friend, I was struck with how crazy I must have sounded. In that moment, I decided to take action and complete my course and launch it.

Taking action is not simple. It required hours of focused work yet last year I launched my Write A Book Proposal course and have had great feedback from the various students who have completed the course. The course is 12 lessons and over three months. I am continuing to market this course and encourage people to take it. I know it is helping writers around the world to have better proposals and pitches.

Last summer, I met one of my students who came to the writers' conference in Philadelphia. She came from Sydney, Australia! It opened my eyes that my online course has no geographic or time boundaries. Students can learn on their own pace and schedule anywhere in the world.

I've got my own GBHG for this year. I've written it down and I've broken the goal into smaller parts that I can easily accomplish—with consistent effort. I'm excited about the potential of my GBHG to help many people in the weeks ahead.

OK, now it's your turn. What have you been dreaming about in your heart to accomplish, yet for whatever reason not getting done? Pull out some paper or open a file on your computer and write down your GBHG. Then break it into smaller steps and create a plan for you to get it done in the weeks ahead.

We've started a new year. I believe you can get it done. I will be accomplishing my GBHG. How about you?

Answers for Your Proposal Questions

You pitch your book idea to an agent or editor. They ask for a proposal since these publishing professionals do not read manuscripts but read proposals.

Then you run into a snag and have a question. Where do you turn for answers? Or maybe you've been submitting your manuscript and getting little response or only form rejections from agents and editors.

You believe your idea is a solid one for consideration yet something is off and you don't know where to turn with your questions.

I've got good news. It's likely you are asking the same question that others are asking. Many years ago, King Solomon said, “There is nothing new under the sun.”

As an editor and literary agent, I've answered the same questions from different writers from different parts of the country. Thursday, October 13th I'm hosting another teleseminar about the creation and marketing of book proposals. I'll be answering your questions for a full 70–minute free event. If you can't make the live event, still register because it will be recorded and you will receive the replay information which you can download to your computer or iPod.

In addition as a resource, I've created a new Ebook, Book Proposal Basics. When you register for the teleseminar, you can get this free 24–page resource.

If you don't have a question, that's OK. I encourage you to go ahead and sign up. Just put “no question” in the box asking for a question and you will quickly reach the confirmation page where you can instantly download the free Ebook.

I look forward to answering your questions about proposals on the call.

A Crucial Element to Book Proposal Success

After reading thousands of book proposals, I know for a fact that many writers fail in the section about their competition. The writer either falsely believes there is no competition (every book competes) and writes that information explicitly for this section or they write a section which is incomplete and not persuasive.

Whether you write nonfiction or fiction, the competition is an important part of every book proposal. Below I’m including an excerpt from the excellent Publish Your Nonfiction Book, Strategies for Learning the Industry, Selling Your Book, and Building A Successful Career by Sharlene Martin and Anthony Flacco. Yes, Sharlene and Anthony have focused on nonfiction but if you are a novelist, do not be fooled into thinking this material is not for you. It is equally important for you to learn. Every writer can profit from a careful study of this book. Here’s their valuable excerpt:

“Next to your platform, your book comparisons (or comps) section is the biggest key to the success of your proposal. Your comps section must consist of three to six examples of recent books that are similar to yours, and which sold well. Take time and care in considering the right comps for your project. They must reflect well on the potential success of your book.

To find appropriate comps, you can start with online booksellers such as Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble (www.bn.com). Look for recent books that cover the same or similar subject matter as yours. Because trends and habits change, a book that did well thirty years ago will not necessarily do well today, and so it will not be a good comp. There is no use in comparing your book to a dinosaur. Additionally, new people are constantly moving into publishing, and they might not be aware of a book that old—or even one from ten years ago. Newer books give agents and editors a point of reference for current consumer buying habits in your field.

No matter what your book title and subject, you are sure to find a few comps that are close. Amazon.com offers several million titles; a few have to be similar to yours. When you find eight to ten books that look promising and that are similar to your book, check those titles in terms of sales. The number one mistake that authors make here is that they list comparative titles without any thought to the success of the books. There is absolutely no point in holding up a book that tanked as a supporting example.

Many authors use the daily sales rankings at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble to determine sales success, but these numbers only reflect very current sales and are not accurate indicators of the overall, long-term sales of a book. A better bet is to go to the best-seller lists in The New York Times or USA Today. Both publications archive their best-seller lists and you can check to see which of your prospective comps are on those lists. If you are lucky, you will find one or two of your comps have done exceedingly well. One might even have a blurb on the cover to the effect of “Sixty Weeks on the Best-Seller List!” or you might find a book that is in its fifth or sixth printing.

Then do your homework. Find the publishers of the recent comps that sold well, and go to their websites. See how many books they release each year and how large their backlist is. If you want to attract a large publisher, you need to use comps that have been published by a large publisher.

If these steps have completely eliminated your prospective list of comps, go find some more. If some comps are still on your list, go to an actual bricks-and-mortar bookstore or a library to find an actual copy of your prospective comp. Then assess it for quality. If the manufacture of the book is done as shoddy work, that publisher will not be among the respected in the industry. When you hold the inferior book in your hands, it becomes apparent that if you had used it as a comp, that would only draw an unfavorable comparison—something that you surely want to avoid.

As you can see, this process can take some time. After you finally get three to six suitable titles, pull information for the comp’s title: author, publisher, publication date, page count, ISBN, and whether it is hardcover, trade paperback, or a mass-market paperback. Be careful: Many popular books have more than one edition, as well as large print and audio versions.

You definitely want to choose the printed version that sold best. Often, but not always, it is the original hardcover printing of the book. Pull a cover image so agents and editors can get a visual. Format the image as you did the other photos in your book proposal, then place it in your document near that book’s title information.Next, decide how best to compare and contrast your title with each of the comps. To do this, (a) develop a one-paragraph description of the comp, then (b) add another paragraph of analysis explaining how your book offers positive points that the other book lacks. The common theme for all commercial nonfiction is that your book is similar to others in ways that have proven successful, but it is also uniquely yours by virtue of your valuable perspective.

CAUTION:More is not more, here. One prospective author sent us a proposal that included twelve comps, ten of which were from small, university, or self-published presses. If your goal is to be with a university press for the prestige, then by all means use those books as comps. But don’t use these kinds of books and expect to get a sizable advance, as those presses pay very little in the way of up-front money.

With the proliferation of information on Internet, there is no excuse for an author to remain ignorant about the profession. Check out your references. For example, if the publisher of a prospective comp doesn’t have a website, run! If the website is cheesy, run faster. Consider that the way this sloppy website looks to you now is how you would look to others, if they learned that this publisher was handling your work.

Never bluff. You must read your competition. Otherwise how will you determine the right way to position your book? You could easily end up looking like a fool by declaring a certain book to be a “comp” for yours, when your recipient is aware that it is not a good comparison. With today’s tight budgets, accurate competitive analysis is more important than ever, but the onus of it is upon you, ahead of the publisher. When you multiply your book by hundreds of others, it is clear that editors at publishing companies have no time to do this for each book that they are thinking about buying. But if you try to bluff your way through with lazy work, you will never know how to predict what your recipient already knows about the topic. The accuracy of your comps is another arena where you can demonstrate that you are the writer for this book.

Regarding the language in your comparison: Certain words and phrases are the kiss of death in the comps section of a proposal. Never say, “This book is better than__________________ .” Who knows whether your proposal might end up being read by the agent or editor of the book you just slammed. It can happen! A better way to approach is to say: “My book offers _____________ in order to go deeper into the topic than other books have done so far.”

Never try to get off with light work by claiming that “there are no other books out there” like yours. This is actually a very old and tired gimmick that has been attempted far too many times to carry any weight. Many of your competition will try it anyway, which is fortunate for you because it isn’t going to work for them, either.”

Excerpted by Permission from Publish Your Nonfiction Book by Sharlene Martin and Anthony Flacco (Writer’s Digest Books, 2009) Pages 74-77.

How To Swim In A Sea of Ideas

Many years ago at a writer's conference I took a continuing session from long-time Guideposts Contributing Editor Elizabeth Sherrill. One sentence from that teaching has stuck with me for years, "Writers are swimming in a sea of ideas."

Our writing can go in a million different directions. There are countless print magazines, book publishers, online magazines and much more to pull our writing talent. How do you keep track of the various ideas yet still focus and not have a bunch of half-baked material in your files?

Many writers have asked me how in the world I've created such a large body of published works. Normally I respond, "Writing a book is like eating an elephant. You do it one bite at a time--or one page at a time or one paragraph at a time." It is a matter of consistently working toward a goal and completing that goal. Then you plan a new goal and work toward that goal. Half-written articles and stories do not get published or go anywhere.

I want to give you several ideas to capture those ideas yet to also focus on moving forward and accomplishing your publishing dreams.

First, take time to plan. Have a daily "to-do" list and cross off those items. Are you moving forward toward your short-term and long-term goals? What is holding you back? Can you eliminate or lessen those things that are holding you back? The time you spend in planning will reap huge benefits to your writing life.

Also, write down your ideas. Every writer needs a place to keep these ideas. I suggest you purchase a simple blank notebook and use it to write down your ideas, dreams and possible writing projects. Here's the key: you write them down but do not execute them. They are captured so you can return to them but not overwhelming you.

Weave these ideas into your daily writing life. If you want to get into magazines, then you need to be pitching or writing queries for magazine editors. If you want to get a book publisher, then you need to learn how to write a book proposal and be pitching book editors with your proposal--yet only after it is carefully crafted and not half-baked.

Commit to consistent writing and submitting. Besides the necessity to write and complete your ideas, you need to be sending it out into the marketplace--to editors and agents who can move you toward publication. You accomplish nothing to have partially written or completely written manuscripts in your computer or paper files. I have a number of projects that are in different stages of completion. I'm working consistently to get these projects completed and launched into the marketplace. You can follow the same path.

Keep Knocking on Different Doors. You never know which door will be the right one for your writing. In fact, you will never know if you don't consistently knock on that door to see if it will open. Persistence and perseverance will pay off.

Competitor or Colleague. Your Attitude Is Critical

At first, the slogan seemed confusing to me. Within the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the leading nonfiction writers group in the U.S., I would often hear, "We train our competition." Why would someone train their competition?

I've been an active member of the ASJA for many years and I've seen the truth of this statement. Our members freely give information about how they snagged a magazine assignment at a top publication including the name of the editor and the details fo their query letter. We readily help each other to land a hard-to-get literary agent or a top book publisher.

Why? Because instead of seeing the world as competitive, we see the world that needs good writers. Plus underlying the slogan is the understanding there is plenty of work for everyone and the greater need is to help as many people as possible to achieve their dreams. Your attitude about the work is critical. In my view, there is plenty of work for everyone. It's more important to view others as colleagues than competition.

Seven years ago, I wrote Book Proposals That Sell which has 97 Five Star reviews on Amazon and continues to sell as an Ebook and a paperback. I often receive emails from authors who have used the book to get the attention of a literary agent or a book contract. Recently I heard that one of my agent friends, Marilyn Allen and her partner Coleen O'Shea released Book Proposals & Query Letters which is a part of mega-selling series, The Complete Idiot's Guide.

I read the book and wrote a five star Amazon review plus I sent the notice of my review out to my network. Why would I do that? Aren't I undercutting my own book sales and audience if I encourage people toward Book Proposals & Query Letters? Aren't they competitors? Not really. There are millions of people who need book proposal help. I would rather work with people as colleagues than consider them competitors. See the difference in attitude?

Here's what I wrote about Book Proposals & Query Letters:

I’ve been in publishing more than 20 years in many different roles (author, magazine editor, co-author, acquisitions editor, literary agent and publisher). If I’m going to read a how-to book about the creation of book proposals and query letters, I want to make sure I’m learning from someone who has the authority and experience on this topic. Marilyn Allen and Coleen O’Shea are publishing experts and this book is written with honesty and authority. It resonates with the undercurrent, “we know what we’re talking about here.” The pages of this book are packed with wisdom and sound counsel—whether you have just decided to write a book or whether you are writing your 31st book. Every author can learn something from reading –and re-reading this book. It deserves your careful study—then most importantly—taking action on their advice and applying it to your submissions.

Here’s the problem: some publishing experts estimate there are six million proposals and manuscripts in circulation at agents and publishers. You only have seconds to make a good first impression. The authors emphasize this important need in their fourth chapter about The E-Mail Query Letter: “Some publishing professionals estimate that only 1 percent of all queries ever result in representation. Put another way: for every 100 queries an agent reads, only one author has a shot at becoming a client. Yes, that means the odds are against you—but they aren’t impossible. As the adage goes, ‘You gotta be in it to win it.’ Increase your chances of getting into that coveted 1 percent by following a few simple ground rules before you even keystroke the word ‘Dear.’” (Page 43-44)

The authors begin with queries but make a clear preference to writing your proposal before you write your query letter. As they explain in a section called “Agents’ Advice”: “This might sound like a no-brainer, but don’t send out a query letter before you have written your book proposal. The query letter might go to the agent or editor first, but you need to have the proposal ready to be sent out as soon as possible when requested. Keep in mind, too, that the query letter might look easy because it’s a short document, but in fact it can be the hardest piece to write.” (Page 40)

Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, you can improve your queries and book proposals if you take action on the advice in these pages. I read it carefully with a yellow highlighter and found myself nodding and highlighting many sections of this book. THE COMPLETE IDIOT’S GUIDE TO BOOK PROPOSALS & QUERY LETTERS packs a power punch. I highly recommend it.

Ok, that was my review of this terrific resource that I posted on Amazon. In recent weeks, I've invested a great deal of energy to put together the lessons and details of my online course about book proposal creation: Write A Book Proposal. One of my bestselling fiction author friends called it a "bold new effort." I've not seen anything like it in the marketplace which teaches this step-by-step approach to creating an excellent book proposal. From my perspecitve, there is no competition in this area. I see a massive amount of need from people who would like to get published but haven't a clue how to properly approach a literary agent or book editor with their ideas. The critical element is your attitude and how you see the world around you.