Five Questions before Querying Agents

June 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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Over the eons of book publishing, agent querying became the obvious next step once an author finished a manuscript. Today, it’s not so simple. Sometimes, agent querying is the very best next step to publication–sometimes, though, querying isn’t the route that will lead to the most success in publication. Before spending hours and hours writing and sending out hundreds of queries, take a few minutes to ask yourself the following five questions: 1) Does my book fit into a genre publishers are looking for? Does your book have an obvious publisher-ready genre? Of course it should should be fresh and original, but does it have some logical ties to a  specific genre, and therefore a specific audience? Publishers need good… [read more]

Filed Under: Agents, Audience, Book Marketing, Editing, Indie Publishing, Literary Trends, Pitching, Planning, Pub. Industry, Query Letter Tagged With: , , ,

The 5 Principles to Book Reviews and Endorsements

April 27, 2012 by 2 Comments
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In the book world, reviews and endorsements are extremely important… Both official reviews and unofficial consumer reviews are vital to a book’s launch into the market. Readers are becoming more and more dependent on reviews of all kinds when choosing which books to buy, and bookstore buyers tend to look at a book without reviews as less professional—but, of course, it depends on how the reviews are handled. Below is a list of the five principles for review/endorsement submissions! 1. Don’t solely target traditional book reviewers and book bloggers, such as Kirkus Book Reviews, Publishers Weekly, or Bookslut.com.  These sources receive tons of submissions every week, and while a review from one of these places will speak highly for your book, it… [read more]

Filed Under: Audience, Pitching, Planning, Pub. Industry, Query Letter, Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

How to Develop an Emotion-Evoking Elevator Speech

March 2, 2012 by 2 Comments
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We know you’re emotionally charged when it comes to your book. Every author is! By the time you’re reaching out to publishers, agents, or editors, you’ve hopefully put your TIME, blood, sweat, and probably tears as well into carefully crafting the “perfect book.” After that, it would be a challenge for you to NOT be emotional about it. No one else has that luxury—and no one else cares how emotional it was for YOU. They care about how it can be emotional for them. It’s a big challenge to make your audience react emotionally. The biggest challenge? Making publishers, agents, and editors react emotionally—which, of course, you have to tackle first. In order for your readers (or industry professionals) to… [read more]

Filed Under: Audience, Book Marketing, Pitching, Planning, Query Letter

The First Line: 4 Tips to Writing an Opener that Keeps Readers Reading!

February 24, 2012 by 1 Comment
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The first line of your book is unquestionably the most important one you will write. It is the line that eggs the reader on, pushes them forward, encouraging them to take a chance with their valuable time on the next line, the next paragraph, the next page, chapter, and ultimately, the entire book. I’m going to say it again, more explicitly: your readers’ time is valuable. Especially readers of today. Readers of today are constantly inundated with information, to the point that it takes a great deal of interest for them to want to know more about any given topic. Add to that an almost complete devaluing of information due to the fact that it is so immediately accessible at… [read more]

Filed Under: Book Marketing, Planning, Query Letter, Writing, Writing Tips Tagged With: , ,