Writing

How to Get a Book Deal

Anne and Marie
Marie Sutton and Anne Riley

Skittles, Red Bull and Kanye West’s College Dropout — those are the things that helped Marie Sutton write a book in seven months.

On Saturday, Feb. 21 See Jane Write hosted the workshop How to Get a Book Deal with local authors Marie Sutton and Anne Riley.

Marie Sutton is the author of The A.G. Gaston Motel in Birmingham: A Civil Rights Landmark, which was published November 2014 by The History Press. Anne Riley is the author of the young adult novel Shadows of the Hidden, published December 2012 by Compass Press.

Marie and Anne helped workshop attendees craft a rough draft of a pitch letter to sell their book idea to literary agents and publishers.

Before putting participants to work, Marie and Anne shared the stories of how they landed their book deals, gave tips on how to bring a book idea to life, and discussed the good, the bad, and the ugly about publishing.

marie teaching

Before committing to writing a book there are some important questions you need to ask yourself, Marie said: Why do you want to write a book? What are you willing to sacrifice? Can you be disciplined enough to complete the task? Do you have a support system? Can you write? 

For folks who want to write a book but aren’t sure what they want to write about, Anne said simply consider what you like to read.

Marie and Anne are both wives and mothers and they work full-time. So finding time and space to write wasn’t easy for either of them, but they did it anyway. Marie would “get in the zone” around 9 p.m. each night. She’d sit at her dining room table and write while listening to Kanye West, snacking on Skittles and sipping on Red Bull. She even had a comfortable outfit she’d wear that she called her writing uniform.

Anne finds it impossible to write at home — distracted by laundry, dishes, etc. — and prefers to work in a coffee shop or library instead.

Anne stressed the importance of perseverance. She revised her last novel two dozen times! It’s OK if your first draft is terrible. It probably will be. “Dare to suck,” Anne said, causing the crowd to burst into laughter. To be a good writer you must also let go of your pride. Get people to critique your work and welcome criticism. It’s the only way you’ll get better.

If you decide you want to go the route of self-publishing, beware that to successfully sale your book you will have to make marketing your full-time job, said Anne, who self-published her first novel before it was later acquired by a small press. Anne had a lot going on when she was trying to promote her book. “I was giving birth and self-publishing at the same time,” she said with a laugh.

Whether you have a book deal or not, you still need to promote yourself. A few simple things you can do to promote your book include: Get a Facebook page for your book and use other social media like Twitter, get business cards, tell EVERYONE about your book, establish new relationships with people who could help promote your book and work the relationships you already have.

The Perfect Pitch

janes at work

When crafting your pitch letter, particularly for a non-fiction book, consider the following:

  1. What is the working title of your book?
  2. Write a one-line description of your book.
  3. Who is the book’s primary reader? Who is this book for?
  4. Why do readers need this book? What void does it fill? For non-fiction writers, consider the mission of your book. For fiction writers, consider how your story is unique. Are there other books on this topic (for non-fiction) or other books that tell a similar story (for fiction)? If so, why is your book different? If not, is there a need or desire for this book?
  5. Why are you the right person to write this book?
  6. Do you have enough to write a whole book? Would this be better as an essay, blog post, or short story?
  7. List the chapters of your book.
  8. What will be your book’s word count?
  9. What sources do you need for this book? Do you have access to information about this topic or to resources you need to flesh out your story?
  10. Do you have access to built-in audiences? If so, who? Be specific.

Anne teaching

For fiction query letters, Anne offered the following tips:

1. Don’t simply send a form letter. Start by explaining specifically why you chose to query this particular agent. Did something you read online attract you to this agent? Do you know someone who works with this agent?

2. Next offer essential information such as your book’s title, genre, and word count.

3. Then offer a summary of your book’s plot. Include setting, conflict and an introduction of your main characters. You want to be very interesting and intriguing here. If the agent isn’t hooked here, your query is toast, Anne said.

4. Include information about yourself. Offer anything interesting and relevant. Anne said you should leave out generic things like “I’ve been writing since I could hold a pencil” or “I’ve always known I wanted to be a writer.” Explain why you stand out from other writers. What makes you special?

5. Close your letter with any information the agent needs to know (such as if other agents are reading your manuscript) and a quick thank you.

Remember, Anne said, agents will judge your writing ability by the strength of your letter. After all, if you can’t write a good letter, why would anyone think you could write a book.

The Results Are In!

results
Image by League of Women Voters via Flickr/Creative Commons

Earlier this month I created a two-question survey and offered a pretty sweet incentive to complete it: Those who completed the survey would have a chance at winning free admission to See Jane Write events held February – December 2015 (excluding events for members only).

And the winner is….

Emily G. 

Congratulations, Emily!

And thanks to all of you who completed the survey.

The results revealed three things — 1) you all love live events 2) you all are ready to blog like a boss and 3) you’re having trouble finding time to make your writing dreams come true.

Live educational vents will continue to be the bread and butter of See Jane Write. Future events will offer information on how to monetize blogging properly use business tools like MailChimp, PayPal, etc. In fact, I’ve decided that the theme for this year’s Bloganista Mini-Conference will be Blog Like a Boss!

how to write and have a life

As for time management — I’ve got you covered there, too. My e-course How to Write and Have a Life is all about how to make time for your dreams. Over the course of a dozen lessons you will learn how to set goals that will help you better manage your time, how to get rid of bad habits that are wasting your time, how to adopt healthy habits that will make you more peaceful and productive, how to rekindle your romance for your blog, how to write more, read more, and stress less, how exercise can make you a better writer, and how to give yourself a break. Enroll today!

How to Fail at Self-Publishing (and How to Succeed)

carrie
Carrie Rollwagen

One day I’m going to write a book and when I do I hope I can somehow channel the wit and wisdom of Carrie Rollwagen. Carrie is the author of The Localist, a book about why small shops matter and her quest to only shop from local stores for one year. But you probably already knew that because since Carrie’s book was released in November she has been everywhere! Not only has she had book signings at places like Naked Art Gallery and Little Professor Book Store, but she’s been on radio stations like 100.1 FM and television shows like Talk of Alabama to discuss her book. She did a live chat on AL.com. and even hosted a gift tag and calligraphy bar party around the holidays! But I shouldn’t be surprised that she’s so good at promoting her book. She was just as great at promoting her Kickstarter campaign through which she raised much of the funds needed to self-publish The Localist.

And to think this all started with a blog! Yes, that’s right; Carrie first chronicled her shop small experiment through blogging. Now she’s transformed her blog idea into a book idea and is showing us all how to self-publish and self-promote the right way.

thenest
Photo by Jamie Golden

On Tuesday, Jan. 20 at The Nest, Carrie led a talk on self-publishing for about two dozen women as part of the See Jane Write event From Blog to Book with Carrie Rollwagen. During her talk I kept thinking about how, unfortunately, so many self-published authors do the complete opposite of what Carrie was saying, which might explain why so many self-published authors fail at selling their books and building a fan base.

So here’s what NOT to do:

1. Simply copy and paste your blog into a Word file and call it a manuscript. While Carrie’s book was inspired by her blog, she didn’t simply compile her posts and ship them to her printer. “Your blog can act as a focus group,” she said. It will help you determine the topics your fans care about most.

Carrie says she read through her blog and made a list of all the themes of her posts and arranged them into categories and those categories became chapters.

Even though her book is non-fiction, she still wrote her chapters in the form of a narrative. “Story is powerful,” she said.

Carrie Talk
Leading a workshop for a group like See Jane Write is a great way to promote your book!

2. Don’t bother rewriting your work or hiring an editor. Carrie wrote the first draft of her book in only a month. But she spent about a year rewriting it. “Writing is rewriting,” she said. “You need a good editor.” As for choosing the right editor, be sure you pick someone who actually has the time to edit your book and someone with an editing style that works for you. For example, if you want someone who’s not going to simply line edit your work but will ask questions about concepts and composition, find someone who will do just that.

3. Be really, really boring. When marketing your book you must be creative. This means just say no to boring book signings. “Create events that are interesting and newsworthy,” Carrie said. “If you’re doing events there needs to be something more than you just sitting at a table of books.” That’s why Carrie hosted events like a gift tag and calligraphy bar party and a local business holiday fair. Carrie also used her Kickstarter campaign to generate excitement for her book.

4. Be pushy with booksellers. As a self-published author it will be tough to get your book in stores, but it’s not impossible — unless you’re a jerk. Be mindful of the financial risk it takes for an independent bookstore to carry your work and be as easy to work with as possible. One tip Carrie offered was giving a bookseller a free copy of your book to put on shelves. If the book sells most likely the owner of the store will want to sell more and thus work out a distribution deal. Side note: if you don’t want to end up with thousands of copies of your book sitting in your basement, work with a printer who offers a print-on-demand option.

Carrie on TOA
Carrie on Talk of Alabama

5. Be elusive and mysterious with the press and ignore social media. If you want your book featured in local media make it easy for reporters to cover your events! Send out well-written, informative press releases.  On your blog include your author bio, a list of important facts about you and your book, and hi-res images that the media can use.

Also, Carrie said, “Feed the social media beast.” Create a hashtag for your book and use it! Instagram is a good way to get people excited about your brand (yes, as an author you are a brand) and Twitter is great for reaching industry influencers.

Have you self-published a book? What did you learn from your experience? 

What did you learn from this year’s #bloglikecrazy challenge?

kate spade she is quick and curious
I finally believe this popular Kate Spade quote applies to me!

Today marks the end of #bloglikecrazy  — See Jane Write’s annual challenge to post a new blog post every day for 30 days in the month in November.

Usually I survive #bloglikecrazy by planning ahead. I usually spend October brainstorming ideas for dozens of posts and will even start drafting some of them. That wasn’t the case this year. Because my fall has been so busy, I was often developing the idea for and writing a post the same day I published it. But I’m glad things turned out that way because this year’s #bloglikecrazy taught me something valuable: When it comes to writing and blogging, I actually do know what the hell I’m doing!

I suffer from major impostor syndrome, that feeling we women often have that tells us that we’re not good enough and that we don’t deserve the position or power that we have. I often feel this way about writing and blogging. Because of the popularity of See Jane Write, people in Birmingham regard me as a blogging and writing expert, a title I often shirk because I don’t have a New York Times best seller on my resume and because I don’t seek to make money from my blog through advertisements or sponsored posts.

But when See Jane Write members emailed me questions about blogging (questions I had promised to answer in the form of blog posts this month) I could answer their questions thoroughly and easily. I didn’t have to consult any “expert.” The answer was already beneath my curly coif!  And on days when I didn’t have a question to answer I was able to easily come up with a blog post idea and write it quickly and concisely while still making it an interesting, inspiring, or informative narrative.

Who knew that, of all things, this year’s #bloglikecrazy challenge would help me overcome my impostor syndrome!

I’ve realized that I may not know everything, but I know a lot, and I’m smart and resourceful enough to figure out and learn the things that I don’t.

 

What did you learn from this year’s #bloglikecrazy challenge? 

Did I hear you on NPR yesterday?

mynameisjavacia

For about a year and a half now I’ve had the honor of writing a monthly column for WBHM 90.3 FM, Birmingham’s NPR station. And for the past year, in addition to writing for WBHM.org I also discuss my post for the month on air.

This month’s essay is about learning to love my name and learning to be proud of where I’m from.

Having a name like Javacia isn’t easy. When I introduce myself to people they typically look at me as if I’m a green girl from Mars. And there was a time when I worried that my unique name could be a liability. One look at my name and you know I’m black and I’ve been told that some potential employers might not hire me because of that. In my WBHM post I discuss how becoming a writer changed how I viewed my name.

Being from Birmingham isn’t easy either. People who’ve never stepped foot in the state of Alabama think they know what Birmingham is all about and criticize my Magic City. And to make matters worse, some Birmingham residents are ashamed of their home. But just as I had to respect my name before I could expect other people to do so, we must be proud of our city if we ever want perceptions of Birmingham to improve.

Visit WBHM.org to read my post and listen to my radio segment.

 

Each day in November for #bloglikecrazy I’ll be publishing a blog post that answers your questions about blogging, social media, writing, wellness or women’s empowerment. Send your questions to javacia@seejanewritebham.com.