We all like samples and examples. Today, I\u2019m not talking about food samples like you get at the grocery store, but examples to illustrate a certain process in writing or publishing. <\/p>\n
How much does it help you to write your query letter when you see an example of a query letter posted someplace? When you read someone else\u2019s market analysis, does it help you to write yours? Some authors just get more confused by seeing examples from material that doesn\u2019t exactly relate to what they are writing. But reading the instructions for writing the proposal or query letter, for example, doesn\u2019t quite bring the process into focus for them, either.<\/p>\n
If this is you, let me see if I can help. Before trying to follow a model or a set of instructions, find out what purpose the query letter or book proposal has. What is its function? What is it supposed to accomplish for you? Key in on how the query letter or the synopsis is supposed to benefit you\u2014what its job is.<\/p>\n
What is the job of an author\u2019s query letter? To sell a publisher or agent on your project and on you. For example, a query letter will:<\/p>\n
\u2022\tIntroduce your book project.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tSuccinctly describe it to a publisher or agent.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tHelp the publisher\/agent understand why this book is important\/needed.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tIdentify the proposed audience and how large it is.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tExplain why you are the person to write this book.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tDescribe your platform\u2014what you have to offer toward promoting this book.<\/p>\n
The publisher wants to know that he will make some money on your project.
\nWhen you write a query letter or an entire book proposal, you need to think like a savvy publisher not an emotional author. You need to know what his concerns are, what\u2019s important to him and what it takes to convince him to consider a project like yours. If you don\u2019t have a clue about any of this\u2014you\u2019ve been more concerned with what you want to write, how writing makes you feel, what you want to get out of publishing this book, etc.\u2014you may not get a second look from a publisher or an agent.<\/p>\n
Spend some time thinking about this concept this week. Practice thinking like a publisher when you ponder your project, while you\u2019re writing, and especially while you work on your book proposal and your query letter. Keep in mind that a publisher is more interested in his bottom line than he is in your good writing or your feelings. It may surprise you to discover (through this exercise) how much your approach to your query letter, your proposal and your book changes.<\/p>\n
Personal Note<\/strong> If you are new to publishing and you have a book in the works or ready to publish, please, please read Mark\u2019s book first. <\/p>\n And read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book <\/em>to learn all of your publishing options. After reading the first three chapters, you will have a much greater understanding of the publishing industry and how you might fit into it. The remainder of the book will help you to choose the right option for you and for your project and it will guide you every step of the way through publishing and beyond no matter which option you choose. It will also prepare you for the largest, most intense part of producing a book\u2014promoting it. YES it is up to the author to promote his\/her book no matter which publishing option he chooses. This book tells you how.<\/p>\n
\nI hope I stopped an author from blindly rushing into the first publishing contract she received for her book this week\u2014from a pay-to-publish company. It is one that Mark Levine, in his book The Fine Print of Self-Publishing l<\/em>ists under \u201cPublishers to Avoid.\u201d Thankfully, she visited my blog first and contacted me. She is rethinking her rash decision.<\/p>\n