The Necessity of Change

 

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

When I opened and read the email, a surge of dread and fear swept over me. I know that’s a little dramatic but for over 20 years behind the scenes of my online presence, I had been using a shopping cart. This tool is where I kept my email list, my products that I sold, the autoresponders (automatic emails) which I used for each of my lead magnets to my newsletter.

Many years earlier I set up my online business with a determination to do it myself. There is no assistant or even a virtual assistant. My newsletter is my connection to readers and something I control and send each time. 

I picked up the phone to call the support line for the shopping cart. Yes, their servers were old and outdated. They were closing down on June 15th. Overwhelmed, I knew I could not make this change on my own. I reached out to a friend who is a tech expert. His schedule didn’t allow him to help me but he referred me to a former employee who could help me make this transition. While the change cost me financially, the various pieces of my old shopping cart were moved, then tested and validated that they were working. 

Let’s face the fact: no one likes to change. It’s easier to keep doing what you have been doing in the past than to make the transition. Change is hard and often takes unexpected hard work and can be costly--not just in terms of time but actual expenses.

As I made this change, this tech person advised me not to import all of my old newsletter emails into the new system. The response and open rate would be low with lots of spam. I understood because several years ago I had imported these emails into my new system with such a terrible response rate.  I was almost kicked off the new tool. Instead of importing the old email addresses, I sent a series of emails encouraging my subscribers to move to the new location. 

When I focused on my readers, I asked what I could give them to encourage them to continue on my newsletter list. In 2008, when I was beginning my blog, The Writing Life, I compiled six months of entries into an ebook. I had not promoted or used this ebook in 17 years. Thankfully I found it on my computer. As I read through it, I saw the value for the reader and the volume of material was 87 pages of writing content. 

In a short amount of time, I reworked the introduction, skimmed through the pages and switched out a few images, updated my bio and the links in the final pages, then sent it to my tech person. It was added to the lead magnet which asked my subscribers to change to my new tool. 

This page is more than a transition/ change device, it is a new tool which I can use now and in the days ahead. Just follow this link to be added to my newsletter list. 

If you face a change, you basically have two choices--give up or plot a course of change. I’ve had several writer friends who switched from my old shopping cart when I chose to continue. As writers, we have a series of such small but important choices. How can you lean into the change, get the help you need and make the transition? It is what I encourage you to do.

I meet many writers who want to find a traditional publishing deal or a literary agent. Their challenge is the standard and relationship numbers have continued to climb for agents and traditional publishers. After a lengthy time of trying, these writers grow discouraged and decide to self-publish. Instead I encourage you to look at independent publishing and in particular Morgan James Publishing. We have a 20+ year track record of successfully working with authors. The exploration process costs you nothing but some time and it could change your presence in the marketplace. Reach out to me if I can help you.

What changes are you facing? How are you handling it? Let me know in the comments below.

Tweetable:

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New Podcasts:

In these articles, I’ve encouraged you to use PodMatch or some similar tool to book and record podcasts. Last week another podcast recording launched:

Engel Jones (@EngelJones) and I had a brief conversation about writing, publishing myths and how to seize opportunity on the 12-Minute Conversation Podcast. Listen at: https://bit.ly/3FOB2S6

I’m currently working for my third publisher as an acquisitions editor. Without exaggeration, I’ve spoken with hundreds of authors about their books and plans. Over and over, I find many authors have an unrealistic expectation for what will happen when their book gets published. I know much of the publishing process is outside of anything that an author can control. I wrote 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS, which is a practical easy reading book to help you. Get my decades of insights in 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS for only $10, free shipping and over $200 of bonuses.

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Since 2004, I have blogged about The Writing Life over 1,700 entries and one of the top 27 content writers. With this simple form, each week you can get my new articles, encouragement and insights at: https://t.co/W6uU64u6aA

Critical Editorial Decisions

 

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

As an acquisitions editor at a New York publisher, I’ve read many submissions from potential authors. It’s one of my main tasks to read these submissions and speak with the author to see if they are the right fit for the publishing house. Often these authors have received little feedback about their submission. 

From my decades of experience in this business and writing for many different publishers, I know firsthand how submissions are handled. The editor or literary agent is reading the submission for their own needs. If it looks like something they could use in their bsuiness, then they will reach out to the author. If not, they will not respond and instead press on to the next submission. The author is left with little to zero feedback about what can be done to improve the submission so it could fit the needs of the publishing house.

Understanding these foundational details is a critical part of the publishing process. It’s like the concrete in the image above in this article. The concrete mixture has to be correct or the foundation of the building will not be a strong one. It's the same process in publishing. Every writer must have the right mixture in their submission to hit the right target. From my experience, I will see something different from another person. There is definitely a process and the author needs to enter this submission process.

As an editor, I’ve watched writers make critical editorial choices which affect the results of their work. Because they are new to the business, often they will not understand these critical junctures until months or even years after the fact. In this article I want to give some detailed examples in hopes it will help you become more aware and sensitive to the importance of these decisions.

The book writing process begins with a well-designed foundation. Bestselling novelist James Scott Bell talking about this element in this article, The Art of the Outline. It’s worth studying the patterns and habits of other writers to see how you can improve your own creation process. Notice the creativity that is poured into this storytelling and how it is the foundation of their manuscript. Just look at the detailed planning that J.K. Rowling poured into her Harry Potter books.

Some of the basics why your submission is getting rejected or no response:

--Your word count is too large. For a nonfiction book, the ideal length is 50,000 to 60,000 words. For a fiction submission, it is around 60,000 to 80,000. If your novel is 100,000 words (a common length), you are going to get rejected with no idea why. The published book will be too large and require a high retail price (affecting sales). The word count details are important.

--Is the submission poorly written or not appropriate for the publishing house? If so, you are asking for silence or rejection.

--The editor or literary agent doesn’t understand the title or the overview or the pitch. This situation happens and can why you are getting rejected.

Recently a novelist sent a submission to Morgan James Publishing. He had worked on this novel for years. It was a good length and had an interesting pitch and storyline. The story was something we would possibly publish. I put the submission through our system. The internal feedback was a pass (for now). This author needed a developmental editor to improve his manuscript and change the pass to a contract offer. We recommended an excellent developmental editor who this author hired to help him. He got the feedback from the editor and the path to get his revised work was steep and required a lot of changes and revision. He set everything aside and self-published. 

I understood what this author did but his choice greatly limited the reach of his novel. He has some other writing possibilities so we are still exploring them. My key point is achieving excellence and good storytelling is hard and sometimes as authors we have to choose the hard path. I’ve watched this process happen with many authors through the years.

If you are in this situation, here’s some actions to take:

--join a critique group with some honest feedback

--use some honest beta readers and get their feedback

--hire an experienced developmental editor and follow their suggestions and feedback. There are many different editors and potential costs for this process. I encourage you to ask around and choose carefully. A novelist told me that he had hired some well-known editor and was paying $500 a chapter for editing (excessive in my view). Each author should make careful editing choices.

The publishing process is filled with critical decisions. During each stage, you need to make wise choices to have a solid foundation and find the right publisher. What critical editorial decisions did I miss? Let me know in the comments below.

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Preparation To Teach

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

From the opening sentences, the workshop looked like a disaster. The speaker began with a story about their computer and how it crashed on the way to the conference. They had a detailed presentation but could not get their laptop and their powerpoint to work. It was disappointing and the content of the workshop went downhill from that moment. As a member of the audience, it was painful to see this workshop leader struggle with their topic. Throughout my years in the publishing community, I’ve been in a number of these types of sessions with technology issues. Sometimes these glitches consume the entire workshop and I’ve walked out regretting the wasted time. I could have chosen to go to a different workshop but didn’t make that choice. Recently on Jane Friedman’s blog, author and book coach Andromeda Romano-Lax cautioned writers about workshops and retreats. 

Because I’ve been attending and teaching at workshops for years, I've heard some remarkable speakers, stories and information about the publishing world. I celebrate each opportunity to learn and listen to these leaders in our industry. For my own speaking and teaching, I’ve made a number of decisions.

1. Don’t Depend On Technology. I do not use a computer or powerpoint or any other technology which could crash and not perform for the workshop.

2. Use Old School Handouts with a Twist. Instead, I use paper and online handouts with the information. Also I make a point to include website links to information which is not in my presentation yet will be valuable to the various members of the audience. My goal with each handout is to make it the most valuable piece of information they take home from the event.

As I write this article about preparation to teach, I’m preparing for a couple of workshops. One workshop is online and I will be traveling to another one for a live event over several days. Because I often teach on a particular topic, it would be simple to pull out my folder with my handouts and teaching notes. I could cut down the preparation time and use my previous materials--but that is not what I do. I’m writing this article to show that I do much more than this minimun preparation. To show you the creative energy I pour into my handouts, here’s a recent example.

For each workshop, I think through what I will be teaching. Have I had a recent experience that I can add a story to the workshop? Your personal stories add interest to your audience and keep them engaged in the workshop. Is there a new resource you’ve learned about which you can highlight as you teach? 

Finally I review my handout. Is the information what I want to teach? Do my links to additional information work? Is the additional information updated and current? I keep this online information on my own website instead of pointing to one which someone else controls and could instantly change. This decision reassures me that the information will be available and accessible to the workshop participant. 

While each conference is different, I will send my updated handout to the conference coordinator. Often they have a place on their website for workshop handouts. Sometimes this place is password protected and other times anyone can access it. What they do in this area isn’t a concern to me. I’m eager to get my information to as many people as possible. Some conferences print copies for their workshops. Other conferences will estimate your audience and ask you to bring these handouts.  I print a number of these handouts, put them in my teaching folder and bring them to the event. For each handout, I include my email and other contact information so I can be easily reached. It is always interesting to get handouts from other instructors who barely have their name on the handout--much less their contact information. It’s all a part of the process of pouring creativity and thought into your handout.

I encourage you to have high expectations and goals for your own teaching. My personal goal each time is that my workshop will be one of the most significant experiences for that participant during the event. I understand that it costs time and money to attend a workshop. I want them to feel like their entire investment in the conference was earned through my single workshop. 

Often these sessions are recorded and through the years, writers will email and tell me they have listened to my recordings and taken action from my teaching. Whether you are aware of it or not, there is a long-term ripple effect from your teaching. As others have taught into my life, I’m passing along my experiences and insights to others. It’s our way of serving and helping others which will last beyond anything you will ever know about--which is remarkable to me. 

Do you teach other writers at workshops or conferences? What is your preparation process and what insights can you add to this article? I look forward to your comments.

 

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Every Writer Needs a Champion

  

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

The process of getting published is complicated--especially if you are looking for something besides self-publishing. Even self-publishing is complicated with many wrong possible choices. Every writer is looking for the right place to get published. That process of finding the right place often involves asking many questions. As someone who has been in publishing for decades, I personally see the complexity. 

One of the ways to ease your publishing journey through the complexity is to locate a champion. Within publishing, this champion does not carry the title of champion. It could be a writing coach, a literary agent or an editor at a publishing house. If you have such a champion, they are looking out for you as your book goes through the publishing process. Good communication is a value for this person and they understand that if the details don’t line up properly, then you will not get a contract offer. This champion will help you get through the process and answer your various questions. If the champion doesn’t know the answers, they will find the right person with the answer. 

If you don’t have a champion, then you will get generic rejection letters with zero information or insight. It’s possible for you to be stuck in this rejection cycle for years. At the heart, the publishing business is relational and you have to work to find the right relationship--someone you trust and who has wisdom and experience that you need.

Let me include a couple of stories to illustrate the important role of a writer’s champion. Recently at Morgan James Publishing, I got a submission from a pastor with a daily devotional with 365 entries or 125,000 words. As an editor, I could see the internal discussion with my colleagues and this book was going to get rejected because of the proposed size. When this book got into production it was likely going to be over 400 pages and have a retail price of $35. These production details were something out of the author’s sight but critical for the decision-making process. I asked my colleagues for suggested alternatives and one suggested a 180 day devotional. Because the page count is smaller, then size and retail price would be a fit for the marketplace. With the reduced size, it could become a product which could generate sales and succeed. I called the author to see if he was willing to make this adjustment. Some authors are willing and others are not. Thankfully this author was open to our suggestion and got a contract offer for his book. Notice the flexibility of the author to make such an adjustment.

With another author, I looked at the internal comments about her proposed book, and I could see it was also going to be rejected because of the proposed size. I called this author to see if she could reduce her word count to something which could work and thankfully she was willing to make this adjustment and received a contract offer. 

There are several lessons in these stories. First, as a writer, you have to be aware of the word count and what is working in today’s marketplace. Readers are looking for shorter books. I’ve had several authors who have proposed novels which are 200,000 word novels or similar to large works of fiction. When I suggested finding a place in the middle of the book to break it into two books, the author refused which terminates the possibility of publishing their book. For your book to succeed in the marketplace, it has to be commercial and reasonably priced. As an author, you have to be teachable and coachable to find your place in the market and sell books.

Often in these articles, I encourage you to take consistent time and energy to expand your connections in the publishing world. It will take work for the writer to locate the right champion or publishing connection. Whether you make this connection in person at a writer’s conference or online, make the connection. If you and I are not connected on LinkedIN, then look at my profile and send me a connection invitation.

What actions are you taking to find a champion for your writing? Let me know in the comments below. 

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An Essential Skill for Every Writer

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Last weekend, I spent four and a half hours on a marathon pitch session with different authors. It was the first time in four years, this group was doing these pitch sessions. There were five or six other editors and agents who were also taking pitches from these authors. Several years ago from a similar session I found a number of authors to publish. I was eager to hear these book pitches.

To prepare, I had a bottle of water in easy reach and a pad of paper to make notes about each author. The various authors pitched 32 books during this time period. Normally they only pitched one book but several of them pitched more than one book. The bulk of these pitches were novels but some were nonfiction books. I heard a lot of variety within these categories of fiction or nonfiction. 

As each person made their pitch, I wrote their name, the title of their book and a few other details about them. Like my experience from years ago, I found many of these authors were not ready immediately to submit to me. For a fiction submission, I need the complete manuscript and synopsis. Many of these authors were in revision and didn’t expect to be ready to submit for six months or even a year. 

As I interacted with each person, I listened carefully to learn about their book, the length of it and see if it was going to be something that Morgan James Publishing would possibly publish. As a publisher, we have a wide range of topics and possibilities. For many of the pitches, I encouraged them to send it to me when they are ready. In general, we look for clean fiction (no profanity) that is 100,000 words or less. In a few cases, the novels were over that 100,000 limit. When I heard a pitch with a larger word limit, I asked if the author could pause the story and produce two books. Our word counts are not arbitrary but are based on our experience selling books.  Particularly for a first-time author, it is hard to sell a 400 to 500 page novel--which is the result of a 170,000 to 200,000 word count. 

For the bulk of these authors, I expressed interest in their submission and encouraged them to send it whenever they were ready. One of the people assisting the traffic flow and pitches told me, “When an author comes out of your room from pitching, they look like they have been to Disneyland.” I was grateful to have this level of author excitement.

From my previous experience, I knew I had to take some additional action after the event. Four years ago, I gathered the email addresses of each author then wrote a personal email asking for their submission. The leader of this event told me I was the only editor or agent who collected this information and used it with the various authors.

Like last time, I collected each author’s email and phone number so I can email and follow-up. For each person, I cut and pasted their information into my address book. I’ve been working on my email to these authors and will get those written and out in the next few days. 

I called this article, “An Essential Skill for Every Writer.” The essential skill that I’m writing about is follow-up and follow-through. I’ve been working in the publishing community for years. I have no illusions about my writing skills or storytelling. In fact, I continue to learn and hopefully grow to improve those areas of my skills. One of my essential skills is understanding the importance of follow-up.

When I’m at a conference, I will often pitch a book idea or a magazine article idea to an editor. After I pitch, I listen for their reaction and feedback. If they say something like, “That’s a good idea, Terry. Write that up and send it to me.” 

After I finish my conversation, I make a little note about the idea and their reaction in my notebook. Then when I go home, I write the article and send it to that editor. It’s not that my pitch gets published and like others I’ve been rejected many times in this process. But, at least I gave myself a chance to get published.

From traveling around the country and teaching at various conferences, writers pitch their book ideas to me. I listen and when I hear a good one, I hand them my business card and encourage them to send it when it is ready. Here’s the truth: probably only about 10% to 20% of these writers actually send it to me.  Not everything that is submitted gets a book contract and eventually published. Publishing is a team process that involvcs consensus building with colleagues to get a book contract.  As a writer, you must follow-up and follow-through.

Do you have this follow-up skill? If not, you can grow it. What if it has been months or even a couple of years since you got the green light from an editor or agent to your pitch? If that editor or agent is still in their same position, I would still follow-through and send the requested material. I’ve been with Morgan James for ten years. Sometimes it has been several years since an author has reapproached me with their submission. Without exception when I hear from them again, I ask them to send it. 

Often in these entries, I’ve written about the necessity of pitching to the right person with the right stuff at the right time. Yes, many rights have to line up for that to happen. 

I’m certain there are other essential skills for every writer. Which ones stand out to you? Let me know in the comments below.

 

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Three Reasons to Use Gentle Follow-up

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

As a writer, I participate in a couple of online groups. Several of these groups, I have been an active participant for decades. I hope you are active in some of these online activities for your own growth as a writer and the opportunity serve and help others. In one of these groups, members can ask questions and get help. Recently an author asked about what to do with a submission to an agent. This author followed the agent's submission guidelines and sent his material. The guidelines gave an estimated time for a response but this writer hadn't received a response and the time had been about three times past the estimated timeframe. What should he do?

 

I understand this situation from two perspectives. First, as a writer, I know the pain and frustration of waiting with no response or even finally getting a form rejection letter. Many publishers and agents never even bother to respond to the submission because of the large volume they receive. 

 

As an editor, I know the challenges of responding to authors and while I try to be prompt and in touch, I'm imperfect and know I have a number of submissions that I still need to press forward for my publisher. The work is never done and there is always more to do, another book manuscript and another author to process. Each of us have the same time limitations and over the years I've tried to give myself (and others) some measure of grace in how we communicate. 

Each publisher, editor and literary agent has their own system and method of responding and keeping up with their authors and relationships. The easiest answer for an editor or agent to give is one the author doesn't want to hear: “no thank you” or “not the right fit” or “going to pass.” That's why in the title of this article I include the adjective “gentle.” You want to be careful how you reach out to this decisionmaker/ gatekeeper to foster and build your relationship with them. While they may reject your current idea, they may be attracted to your next idea. There is truth in the old saying, “Never Burn A Bridge.”

 

In the remainder of this article, I want to give you three submission ideas for your writing:

 

1. Simultaneously submit. You should not wait around for a single editor or agent to respond to you because for reasons outside of your knowledge or control, they may never respond or respond months down the road. Waiting is hard for everyone. Your best action as a writer it so submit to multiple places at the same time. The key if you use this strategy is to explicitly say so in your cover letter and/or proposal. Then a second critical step is when you sell the project or sign with a literary agent or something happens, you need to notify everyone else who has not responded. This step keeps the lines of communication clear, transparent and professional. 

 

2. Keep track of the timeframe. How long has your submission been out? After a few weeks, it is often time to send a gentle follow-up—which I will explain in the next point.

 

3. Use The Gentle Follow-up. A gentle follow-up reaches out to ask if they received it. Maybe it got lost or arrived when they were out of their office. Or any number of other things could have happened to yur submission. It's a reasonable question to ask if they received it. If they have acknowledged their receipt (as we do at Morgan James), then follow-up asking if they need any additional information. This request is not pushing but gentle and reasonable and simple to answer. 

 

The reality is weird things happen in the publishing world. Many of those strange things are outside of your personal control. For example, I've written about 2,000 reviews on a large bookseller's website (not going to say the specific name). During an afternoon last week, about 800 of my posted reviews disappeared.  I have no recourse or anyone to ask about the reason. My response is to keep pressing forward and writing more reviews.

 

If you haven't read my 10 Publishing Myths book, I encourage you to take advantage of my special offer, get this book and read it. Of my goals with this book was to explain that much of the publishing process is outside of our control as writers. I balance this fact with a series of pro-active actions every author can take to get the word out on their book which will translate into sales. As you read this book and apply it to your life, you will be able to take advantage of my decades of experiences in the publishing world.

 

As writers, we need to use the gentle follow-up with our submissions. What experiences have you had in this area? Let me know in the comments below.

 

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Updated One of My Popular Free Ebooks

Do you ever return to an old Ebook and update it? Over ten years ago, I wrote Straight Talk From the Editor, 18 Keys to a Rejection-Proof Submission. It has been one of my most popular free Ebooks. It is also one of the entry points where someone signs up for my email list.

I've worked at three publishing houses as an acquisitions editor plus for several years I had my own literary agency (now closed). I've read thousands of submissions and worked with many authors to contract and publish their books. Also I've published over 60 books for traditional publishers. From this vantage point, I wrote Straight Talk From the Editor.

Whether a writer is brand new and trying to get published for the first time or someone has been in the market for years, every type of writer can gain insights from this Ebook. I detail things not to do and actions to take which will rejection-proof your submission. Each story and detail are packed with practical insights from my experience. Each chapter ends with a summary and action steps for the reader.

Originally I wrote this Ebook for the Amazon Short program (which was stopped years ago). Amazon had the book exclusively for a period of time then it went to a nonexclusive relationship. Recently this Ebook wasn't working and I got that little technical glitch worked out so it does work.

I pulled up the Ebook on my screen. I had not revised this Ebook in four years. Some of the details needed revision and I had some new resources to add to the Ebook. In other places, links in the Ebook did not work and needed to be fixed. The book needed an update—something we can easily do in this electronic world. Admittedly it took a little editing and writing time to revise it. Then I had to do some technical work to upload the revised Ebook. Finally I tested these changes to make sure the replacement Ebook was in the
right place and everything in the book works.

I use this Ebook in a variety of places including on my blog on the Writing Life. Also this Ebook is on the back of my personal business card which I use at events and conferences. Often I am with other writers so an Ebook from an editor is an appropriate gift to others. Also this Ebook is one of the few links in my personal email signature (another way I let people know about it and encourage them to get it).

If you haven't read this Ebook, I encourage you to subscribe. You will have access to the Ebook right away.  Or maybe you read this material years ago as a subscriber and want the latest version, then subscribe again for access.

I wrote Straight Talk From the Editor (and have updated it) because I want you to succeed as a writer. Editors and agents receive hundreds of pitches, proposals and submissions. If they respond, they send a generic rejection letter which gives no idea why it was not accepted. From my experience, writers struggle to get real insights about why their pitch didn't hit the mark and get published. My Ebook is focused on providing information which is not easily accessed from my experience in the publishing world. Even at a writer's conference where you are face to face with the literary agent or editor, it is hard to get this information. I love conferences but editors and agents know the attendees have invested a lot to get to this event and the purpose is to encourage and train rather than give the hard truth. In Straight Talk, I've attempted to be transparent and balanced to help writers succeed with their submissions. Admittedly it is tricky to achieve.

Do you update your Ebooks from time to time? Let me know in the comments below.

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Continual Experimentation

While editors, agents and other publishing executives would like to proclaim they know what makes a successful book, the real story is the process involves continual experimentation. If there was one formula or path, then every book would be a bestseller—and that is certainly not the case.

No matter where you are in the writing process, every writer needs to be reaching their audience with their website, social media, email list, physical events and more. Some people fall into the “shiny object syndrome” where they are chasing the latest and greatest tool. Every week there is a new social network or a new tool or program. Each of us must find the right path for our writing and our audience.

In the last few years, one of the growing areas is video with the explosion of YouTube and other ways of adding video to your website. I've had limited participation with videos. I've watched other writer friends launch a YouTube channel and incorporate more video into their websites but I have not.

In the last few months, I was invited to attend the Ohio Christian Writers Conference and will be there in early November. You can see a short interview here with some tips for writers:

These writers have also launched Serious Writer Academy and invited me to be a part of their faculty. For my first class, I taught one of my most popular writer's workshops: Editors Read Proposals Not Manuscripts. This video format is available 24/7 and I broke my teaching into four sessions:

1. Five Questions Every Book Editor Asks
2. Six Reasons Book Ideas Are Rejected
3. Book Proposal Check List
4. Six Ways for Your Proposal to Stand Out

I've reviewed hundreds of book proposals and the teaching in this video session can be a game changer for your submissions. Because the session is on video, you can watch it multiple times and capture all of the details and information to build your submissions to editors.

This class is hopefully the first of several which I will be teaching ate the Serious Writer Academy. I look forward to your feedback as you take this workshop.

This class shows how I'm continuing to experiment and look for new audiences—as well as provide new products for people who have been in my audience for some time. I hope you are continually experimenting as a writer with new opportunities—testing to see which ones will work, then stopping those which do not work. Tell me about your experimentation in the comment section.

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As a writer are you continuing to experiment? Learn more details here.  (ClickToTweet)
 

Get Answers for Your Book Proposal Questions

For over 25 years, I've been in the publishing business and I continue to learn new information every day. One of the keys (which no one controls) is making the right connection with the right person at the right time and the right place.

While you can't control that element, you CAN be actively working to learn all that you can about how to make the best possible pitch. Also you can get insights and answers from experienced editors.

I want to help deepen your understanding of how editors and agents make their decisions about your proposals and pitches. Remember editors and agents don't read manuscripts. They read book proposals.

Even if you are going to self-publish, you still need a book proposal because this document gives you a business plan for your book. It's true whether you are writing nonfiction, fiction or even children's books. 

As a frustrated acquisitions editor to help writers send better submissions, I wrote BOOK PROPOSALS THAT $ELL, 21 SECRETS TO SPEED YOUR SUCCESS. This book has helped many would-be authors to get an agent or a publisher. This book has over 130 Five Star reviews.

But don't get this book from Amazon. Why?

In recent weeks, I have purchased all of the remaining copies of the book from my former publisher. I slashed the price from $15 to $8 and created new bonuses for anyone who gets this book:

http://BookProposalsThatSell.com

On Tuesday, April 19 at 6 p.m. EST or 3 p.m. PST (starts promptly according to www.Time.gov), I'm going to be answering your questions in a FREE 70-minute teleseminar. You can sign up and ask me any question about proposal creation and proposal marketing at:

http://askaboutproposals.com

In addition, I've created a new FREE Ebook for everyone who signs up at the teleseminar: SOME BOOK PROPOSAL INSIGHTS. For the last few years I've written a column for Southern Writers Magazine. You can gain my proposal insights in this 30-page Ebook packed with content when you sign up at:

http://askaboutproposals.com


I'm excited to help many more writers to be successful 
with their publishing dreams as they read and study BOOK PROPOSALS THAT $ELL) http://BookProposalsThatSell.com). I encourage everyone to ask a proposal question at:

http://askaboutproposals.com

I look forward to speaking with you on April 19th. If you can't make the time of the call, please go ahead and sign up anyway. The entire teleseminar will be recorded and EVERYONE who signs up will receive an email with the replay link. Also if you sign up, you will be able to 
download the FREE Ebook right away. This report is loaded with valuable advice.

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Get your book proposal questions answered during this free teleseminar. (ClickToTweet)