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I had an inquiry this week as to a particular website I listed as a resource in one of my blogs sometime back. I attempted to locate it for the person who inquired, but was not clear enough as to which one she was seeking.

In the process of researching my past blog posts, I found many useful ones with numerous resources for authors and freelance writers. So today, I thought I’d suggest that you do a little research of your own through my blog posts and see what you can find of interest to your situation. A resource that was meaningless to you four years ago might be of great interest to you now, for example. You may have noticed a resource you wanted to check out, but never got around to it.

My posts number 1,397 with today’s entry. If you want a real jolt of information on writing a book proposal, book promotion, freelance writing, resources, etc., scroll down to “Categories” and begin an educational journey.

In the meantime, today is a good day to order a copy of my latest book, Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author You’ll find it at Amazon.com and also at my website: http://www.matilijapress.com/PublishYourBook.html

Yesterday, we talked about the first P in successful publishing: Planning. Today we focus on Preparation.

Once you establish that your book is a viable product, begin outlining, organizing and writing it.

Also work on your platform (another important P word in successful publishing.) How?
• Create a massive mailing and emailing list.
• Become known among leaders in your book’s genre/topic.
• Become known among your potential readers by writing and submitting articles or stories to appropriate publications.
• Develop workshops and seminars on your book’s topic and present them.
• Publish your own newsletter.

This will be a busy and enjoyable period in the process of becoming a published author. You will sometimes think that these eight to thirty-eight (or so) months spent writing your book are the hardest you’ve ever experienced. But I want you to hold this thought: You ain’t seen nothing yet! Most authors say that they thought the writing process was hard until they got involved in promoting their books.

It is for this reason that I recommend working on your platform while you are in writing mode. You’ll be more well-prepared for what is to come.

If you are serious about producing a viable product–a successful book, you really MUST read my book, Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author. Knowledge is essential to success in this industry.

http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

What does it take to become an author? Notice that I didn’t even insert the word, “successful” in this sentence. Success is relative, anyway, isn’t it? I know authors who don’t believe they are successful until they sell 100,000 copies. And then there are authors who celebrate their success if they earn back enough to pay their printing costs.

But what does it take to become an author—to accomplish the requirements of authorship? During my nearly forty years as a career writer and author; after 35 published books and after having worked with dozens of clients on their book projects, I’ve narrowed it down to 5 P’s. Ask any author who has been around the block and they will tell you that it takes:

• Planning
• Preparation
• Proofing
• Publishing
• Promotion

There are no shortcuts. One cannot deviate from this established path to authorship. If you want to become an author and experience whatever measure of success you desire, you must consider each of these 5 P’s. (It wouldn’t hurt to throw in the word Patience, either.)

Planning
Before you start writing the novel or the nonfiction book of your dreams, put some thought into the potential for your project—a lot of thought. I suggest writing a book proposal. You wouldn’t open a business without a business plan. Consider the book proposal a business plan for your book. At the same time, look at your book as a product. If you view this project any other way, you are already starting down the wrong path.

Before proceeding, ask yourself, “Why do I want to write this book?” and “What is the purpose of this book.” If your responses are valid and reasonable, move forward. If they are frivolous and emotionally-driven, reconsider your project.

Now sit down and write a book proposal. There are many resources to guide you, including Herman and Adams, Write the Perfect Book Proposal and my How to Write a Successful Book Proposal.

What will you learn as you progress through the book proposal process? Here are the most important questions that you need to answer through your book proposal.

• Do you have a valid book at all?
• Who is your audience and where are they?
• What else is out there like your book?
• Is there actually a market for this book?
• What are your qualifications for writing this book?
• Do you have a strong enough platform to generate sales for this book?
• How will you promote this book?

What you learn from a well-researched, well-developed book proposal will guide you in making your next decision. Is your original idea a good one or do you need to tweak it a bit in order to make it more marketable?

This could be an important turning point in your project. Make an emotional decision (I love my idea and I’m sticking with it even if I can’t justify producing it) and you may fail. Make an educated decision based on the facts revealed in your book proposal, and your book has a fighting chance.

What about a book proposal for a novel? While the book proposal process is designed with the nonfiction book in mind, I recommend preparing one for a novel, as well. You should establish your genre, have a plan for your story, know something about your audience and how to reach them and you must be prepared to promote your book once it is a book. The fact is that no matter which publishing option you choose, you—the author—are responsible for promoting your book. So you’d better start building your platform—your following, your way of attracting readers.

Watch for an explanation of the next set of P’s needed in order to succeed as a published author tomorrow.

ANNOUNCEMENT
Reviews for my latest book, Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author, are coming in and boy are they great! I’m also hearing from people from all over the globe–people who, despite my serious attempts to be known, have never heard of me until now. And the ranking at Amazon for this book has gone from over 4 million to 45,000. Yahoo! Check it out at Amazon.com or http://www.matilijapress.com

I frequently get questions from hopeful authors about writing a book. Most of these authors are writing a memoir. Many feel they’ve been wronged and they want to make it “right” by exposing the culprits (often a major company or the government). These people contact me for writing help. But I generally give them a lot more than what they ask for. And I’m pretty sure that I give them quite a bit more information than they want. All they want is to write that book and start circulating it to the masses. I attempt to give them a reality check and try to get them to see the whole picture, not just the part where they write a book and live happily and prosperously ever after.

Here’s what I generally say to the author who seems to be starting off on the wrong foot with the wrong book, those with minimal writing skill and those with unrealistic expectations:

“Before you go head-long into writing a book to publish, please seriously consider two things. What is the purpose of this book? And what is the reason you are writing it? If it is for revenge, for example, this might not be a good enough reason. If you are expecting to make a lot of money, this is highly unlikely. There is MUCH more to producing a book than just getting the writing right.

In this regard, however, I would suggest that you join a writers’ critique group. Share your work and pay attention to the feedback. If you allow yourself to and if the group is made up of even fairly good writers, you will learn volumes.

I also recommend that you read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. It is a good education for first-time authors. It is important that you know what goes into a good book, what it takes to get a book published and, most importantly, what the author’s responsibility is after he or she produces a book. Whether you self-publish, go with a pay-to-publish company or land a traditional publisher, it is up to the author to promote his or her book. And most authors fail. Nearly 80 percent of books sell fewer than 100 copies. Publishing is a fiercely competitive business.

It has been my observation (backed up by statistics) that readers are not all that interested in reading memoirs by unknown authors.

I know this sounds awfully discouraging. My intent is to help you gain more understanding about authorship. It is not generally a way to make a lot of money. As I said, only a little over 20 percent of authors make any money and a large percentage of those make only around $1,000 in a year.

In order to be successful, you really have to come out with a good product that is wanted in the marketplace. And you have to know what you’re doing when you enter into the world of publishing. Read my book. And then decide what to do with regard to your book.”

Many of you are nodding your heads vigorously as you read this because you’ve come into the world of publishing either with or without the appropriate education. And you know what a difficult business this can be.

Those of you who continue to harbor unrealistic expectations, tend to ignore the wisdom in messages like this one.

If you have not done so already, begin NOW studying the publishing industry, your options, the possible ramifications of your choices and your responsibility as a published author. Read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. This is your education into the publishing industry. This is your college course in preparation for the major, major decision to publish. And this book is currently discounted at my website.

http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

It’s Christmas morning. I didn’t expect to give you a blog today—thought I’d be too busy. But Lily (my cat) and I woke up early (must have heard the tiny reindeer hooves outside the window), so I have time to write this before heading over to my family’s house with my homemade cinnamon rolls.

I want to write this morning about the prospect of having your blog noticed by a publisher. I hear over and over that publishers keep an eye out for interesting blogs that would make good books and are actually offering contracts to bloggers. That’s what I keep hearing.

Last night I finished reading a book I got as an early Christmas present. It’s The Daily Coyote by Shreve Stockton. It’s the story of how the author raised a 10-day old orphaned coyote successfully to adulthood. Charlie still lives with her and his best friend, Eli the cat, in Wyoming. It was toward the end of the book that I discovered Shreve was wooed by publishers who had stumbled upon her blog, The Daily Coyote. Several of them offered her book deals. She chose to go with Simon and Schuster.

This morning, I attempted to locate some additional stories around the blogger becoming an author scenario. Here’s what I found. The movie (and book) Julia and Julia started as a blog, as did the book Past Secrets, Stuff White People Like and several food blogs. One blogger was approached by National Geographic with a book deal. She shopped her blog around and ended up choosing another publisher.

Food blogs are especially popular with publishers who are seeking new book projects.

Do you maintain an interesting blog? Are you getting the publicity that could put your blog in line with major publishers’ radar? It wouldn’t hurt to put more effort into your blog if you are, indeed, interested in finding a publisher—or having a publisher find you.

So this is my big WOW holiday gift to you this year. Stop hiding away your wonderful story or book idea. Start blogging about it in an organized, interesting manner. As I said, reach out for publicity in all of the most obvious and not so obvious ways. If you truly do have a knack for writing and you have a good story, valuable information or a new twist on something we all enjoy reading about, you just may lure in a publisher.

In the meantime, if you actually have a book in mind, don’t wait for a publisher to show up. Establish a blog and maintain it. But also get busy writing a book proposal. Flesh out your idea, reveal your marketing plan… Study the publishing industry. Evaluate publishers, select a few that are appropriate and go for the gold.

If you need help with your book proposal (most first-time authors do), consider signing up for my online book proposal course. http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookproposal.htm

Merry Christmas Everyone

I’ve been commissioned to write another book. The publisher for Promote Your Book (August 2011) AND Publish Your Book (scheduled for February of 2012) has issued me a contract for a third book. Due date for the completed manuscript is February 29, 2012. That’s three books accepted in 2011.

I will tell you more about the book with time. I will reveal that it is related to book promotion.

How is it that my books are getting accepted by a publisher in a time of such intense competition? When authors receive rejection after rejection from publishers, how is it that I (and, of course hundreds of others) are landing publishing contracts? One secret—that isn’t really a secret, if you’d just pay attention to the experts and your sense of logic—is writing the right book for the right audience. Know who your audience is, what they need/desire, and write the book they want.

Another key to getting published is choosing the right publisher. Many hopeful authors go helter skelter using a scattershot method of locating publishers with little regard to what the publisher typically produces. The publisher I’m currently working with is a niche publisher, which is a good fit because my books are niche books. They publish books on the business side of art, writing and so forth. And I write books in that category. There are hundreds of niche publishers and small to medium size publishers seeking good projects in all topics and genres.

And remember that not every publisher produces books for young adults, children, etc.
Some publishers specialize in mysteries/suspense, nonfiction only, children’s books, local history, historical novels set in certain periods, etc.

Another thing many new authors don’t seem to consider is their approach to the publisher. I’ve read many, many query letters and book proposals. I can see why some of them are tossed out, discarded, rejected almost immediately time and time again. Your approach to a publisher or an agent, especially in this time of such fierce competition, is crucial to your chances of landing a contract. I recommend that you have a professional look over your query letter and/or book proposal before you send it out to even one publisher. You may be missing important elements, such as your marketing plan, your platform, your target audience, etc. Your story description may be confusing and incomplete, for example.

Most authors enter into the world of publishing with the same mindset they used in writing the book and, generally, this tactic is going to lead to your book’s failure. You can (and should) use your creative side during the writing phase of your project. But, in order to succeed as a published author, you really must adopt a mindset that’s more about business when you are ready to approach publishers and agents.

Do yourself a favor in 2012. If you are close to finishing your novel or nonfiction book, contact me for assistance in writing your query letter and/or book proposal. Let me help you make the transition from creative writer to savvy author.

PLFry620@yahoo.com
http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com