I just completed another interview. Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell at WriteForYou.Biz sent me nine questions via email this morning and I spent a good hour and a half responding. I’m just not one to allow a task to wait—to put off doing something that can be done now. Of course, something has to go on the back burner, doesn’t it?
In my business world, there are two basic types of tasks: those short-term tasks that come in rather randomly and ongoing work. I will generally interrupt ongoing work (editing, speech work, article-writing, etc.) in order to handle questions that come in, interviews, book orders and so forth. It does my heart (and nervous system) good to take care of projects in a timely manner rather than allow them to stack up around me.
This is not to say that I don’t have stacks and stacks of paper representing projects all over this office. There are those lower priority things that may or may not get accomplished. There are ideas, projects and research I might pursue. And some of the stuff in these stacks eventually go in the round file. Sigh.
How mundane and depressing. Instead of carrying on about those ever-growing stacks, I’d like to share with you something I wrote in the interview with Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell this morning.
She asked:
“In your opinion, what is the most common mistake that writers make when starting out?â€
My answer:
I assume you are talking about writers who want to be published. In this case, the most common and most disastrous mistake they make is not studying the industry—not taking time to become somewhat knowledgeable in the area of their publishing interest. Freelance article or story writers need to learn something about the submission process, they need to study the magazines for which they want to write and, despite what their hearts tells them, they really must listen to their heads. When Submission Guidelines say “We want factual articles on the positive aspects of adoption—no more than 1,500 words,†don’t send a 3,000-word fiction piece focusing on an adoption gone bad.
Hopeful authors are even more vulnerable than freelance writers because they have more at stake—more emotion, more money and more time invested. It is crucial that authors study the publishing industry before getting involved. I tell audiences that publishing is not an extension of your writing. Writing is a craft, a creative endeavor, a heart-thing. Publishing is a business and must be approached as such.
I tell audiences that there are two secrets to publishing success. First, study the publishing industry so that you know your options, the possible consequences of your choices and your responsibility as a published author. Second, write a book proposal. A book proposal is your business plan and you need this whether you are writing a novel, a nonfiction book, a children’s book or even a book or poetry. Most traditional royalty publishers request some form of a book proposal for manuscripts of every type, these days.
But there’s an even more important reason for writing a book proposal—for you! Even before you start writing that book, you need to know whether or not this is a viable product. Is there a market for this book? What is your competition? What makes your book different, better—more desirable than what’s out there on your topic or in your genre? You must define your target audience and determine where they are and how to approach them. And you really must develop a platform.
These are all necessary to authorship success and they can all be accomplished through the diligent and thoughtful execution of a book proposal.
Learn more about writing a book proposal by signing up for Patricia Fry’s Book Proposal Course at http://www.matilijapress.com/bookproposal.htm
And order your copy of “The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book†today.
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html
Questions/comments? PLFry620@yahoo.com
In the meantime, I am starting up a 6-week Freelance Article-Writing course April 22, 2008. Learn more about this course at http://www.matilijapress.com/course_magarticles.htm And sign up TODAY!