List your top five movies. Mine are...
The Counte of Monte Cristo
You've Got Mail
Hitch
Everafter
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Then find the theme.
Do you see mine? (Helps if you've seen the movies.) My theme here is hidden identities. A little disturbing but fun to write about--which I started doing before I even realized my fascination with this theme. My manuscript FIGHT OR FLIGHT is about a woman who went into the witness protection program at the age of twelve, and sixteen years later ends up working with one of her childhood friends who has no idea who she really is.
So now that you've found your theme, share it with us and see if it fits into what you are writing or what you want to write. You might discover a little something about yourself in the process.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
BOOKING BOOK EVENTS
So, the first book in Lynn Hardy's PROPHECY OF THE FLAME series is re-releasing next month. It's fun to see the following she has developed from attending sci-fi conventions and renaissance faires. There is even a video game being designed based on her characters--which gives me "coolness points" with my son. But the coolest thing about Lynn's book is how all proceeds will be going to Agape Assistance (http://www.agapeassistance.org/) to help get homeless families off the street. So we've cooked up a little event to bring in even more money for the charity...Lynn and I are meeting with the promotions department at Edward's Stadium 22 today to finalize the coordination of Lynn's book launch with the premier of fantasy movie Percy Jackson. Basically, we are going to be having a little party in the lobby of the theatre Feb. 12-13. We'll have radio stations broadcasting live and models dressed up like the characters from PROPHECY OF THE FLAME handing out information on Agape Assistance. A raffle for movie tickets will also help raise money. Cake will be served. (What's a party without chocolate?) And of course, Lynn will be autographing copies.
Lynn has been a blast to work with. At first we went the sci-fi route, planning to launch her book at a convention, but with nothing scheduled nearby we had to come up with a Plan B. The funny thing is that Plan B is going to B so fabulous that I already have other authors asking for similar movie star treatment.
My response? Don't limit yourself to what's been done already. If you've got a horror book, maybe launch at a haunted house. If you write cowboy poetry, go to the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering like author John Cline is doing. Or try to break a world record like I'm going to do when my middle-grade novel THE WATER FIGHT PROFESSIONAL comes out. (Anybody up for the world's biggest water fight?) If it's your book, make it a fun and memorable experience for you.
Friday, January 22, 2010
WHAT EVERY AUTHOR MUST KNOW ABOUT THEIR BOOK
In my new position, I now have writers calling me with questions. I even got an email from a writer in Thailand last week. And I love giving encouragement and advice, but that's kinda hard to do when the writer can't explain their manuscript to me. For example, if I ask, "What audience does your book appeal to?" I don't want to hear, "It's really a book for all ages. There's something for everybody in it." That tells me nothing, and it's comes off as a little arrogant. So...
Genre--What category of books would your book be shelved with at Barnes and Noble?
Word Count--Give at least an estimate if your not finished writing it yet. For a novel, aim between 75,000 and 100,000 words no matter how much you want to be like Stephanie Meyer.
Audience--What kind of person will you be marketing your book to? Ask yourself, "If I were going to put a commercial for my book on television, what time slots or T.V. shows would I want to run it during?" (Answering with "the Super Bowl" doesn't count.) Now, that's your audience.
Pitch Line--Describe your book in one sentence. Basically, what does your protagonist want more than anything in the world, what is keeping him/her from it, and what does he/she have to do to get it? Imagine you are on an elevator with me and you have to sell me your book before I get off. What is going to hook my interest and make me remember your idea in that short amount of time?
Comparable Titles--What other books are out there like yours? And don't tell me your idea has never been done before. It's all been done before, though hopefully you've given the subject a unique twist. Know your competition. Know what other books are going to appeal to the audience you are aiming for. These should be the books that appeal to you too.
Bio--Why are you the one who needs to write this book? What qualifies you or makes you passionate about the subject?
If you haven't analyzed these aspects of your writing before, it'll be a great exercise for you in narrowing your focus and really finding out more about yourself and your work. And when you get it all figured out, give me a call.
Genre--What category of books would your book be shelved with at Barnes and Noble?
Word Count--Give at least an estimate if your not finished writing it yet. For a novel, aim between 75,000 and 100,000 words no matter how much you want to be like Stephanie Meyer.
Audience--What kind of person will you be marketing your book to? Ask yourself, "If I were going to put a commercial for my book on television, what time slots or T.V. shows would I want to run it during?" (Answering with "the Super Bowl" doesn't count.) Now, that's your audience.
Pitch Line--Describe your book in one sentence. Basically, what does your protagonist want more than anything in the world, what is keeping him/her from it, and what does he/she have to do to get it? Imagine you are on an elevator with me and you have to sell me your book before I get off. What is going to hook my interest and make me remember your idea in that short amount of time?
Comparable Titles--What other books are out there like yours? And don't tell me your idea has never been done before. It's all been done before, though hopefully you've given the subject a unique twist. Know your competition. Know what other books are going to appeal to the audience you are aiming for. These should be the books that appeal to you too.
Bio--Why are you the one who needs to write this book? What qualifies you or makes you passionate about the subject?
If you haven't analyzed these aspects of your writing before, it'll be a great exercise for you in narrowing your focus and really finding out more about yourself and your work. And when you get it all figured out, give me a call.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
WHY PAY TO PUBLISH?
I remember being a kid excited about my mother's attempts to have her books published. She'd sold over fifty magazine stories and came very close to having her work picked up by a traditional press. I went to writing workshops with her, and I always got autographed novels in my stocking every Christmas from authors she'd met. Her dream became my dream. So the first day I picked up Writer's Digest, I was amazed to see an ad that said she could have her manuscripts printed into book form anytime she wanted. Why didn't she pick up her phone right away?
That's when Mom explained to me the stigma self-publishing has. You weren't a real author unless the publisher paid you. So that's what I grew up believing. And according to her definition, I became a "real" author. I did my homework. I got an agent. I sold two books. But now what do I do? I work for a small-run publisher where authors can pay to have their work printed. And I love it.
I love the creative control our authors have. I love the relevance our books have in the community. I love how so many of the writers give the money they make to charities. I love being a part of their dreams. And while I don't believe Borderline Publishing is right for everyone, there are certainly benefits to what we offer.
Who should pursue short-run publishing? I'll tell you.
1) Authors with community interest. A national publisher would not have been likely to pick up a children's book on the renovation of the Idaho State Capitol, but there is definitely a market for it in Boise. Diana Baird's picture book is sold at the Capitol gift store and used by teachers in local elementary schools.
2) Businessmen and women. One of the toughest things about not going the route of a traditional publisher is the marketing you miss. First of all, Borderline does offer marketing and distribution. (Which separates us from most short-run publishers.) Second, if you have the heart of an entrepreneur, you have the skills to sell your book successfully. Many writers don't want to deal with this process, but honestly, nobody knows your book better than you do and nobody has the passion for your book that you do. You might actually really enjoy this process.
3) Writers with a niche market. One of my favorite publishing personalities is Chip MacGregor. (If you're interested in writing at all, you better be checking out his blog.) And though Chip is listed as the number one agent in America, he self-published his own book on magic tricks. Why? Because he knew there would be a group of people interested, and he knew where to find them. It's not a book with mass market appeal--it's not supposed to be. Borderline has an author who caters to homeschoolers. Same kind of deal.
4) Authors too outside the box. Have you heard of The Shack? It's the New York Times best-seller that has editors going back through their log of submissions to make sure they hadn't rejected it. All it got was rejections because it was either too Christian or too New Age. Yet it met a felt need, and readers often bought more than one copy at a time. I once heard an editor give a list of reasons why he rejects manuscripts--one reason is if it's too inside the box while the next reason is if it's too outside the box. Gotta love the irony. :-) This is the category that one of my manuscripts will fall into and the reason I will publish through Borderline someday.
5) Those who want creative control. Writing is right-brained. We're creative. And it can be hard to let a publishing company take our "baby" and morph it into what the left-brained businessmen think will sell. Their expertise is usually a good thing, but one of our authors just recommended Borderline to a best-selling author who wants to self-publish his next book for this very reason.
6) Speakers. If you are a speaker, you already have a venue for selling your work. It can be an addition to your presentation. I'm so excited about one book I'm editing that the author wants published in time for classes he is teaching this spring. He might not even need to do much marketing because his clients will spread the word. And in return, the books will bring in even more participants to his seminars.
7) Fund-raisers. This is one of the coolest things about working with our authors. I feel like I'm really making a difference. Proceeds from book we print are going to charities that do everything from keep families off the streets to help fund AIDS research. I even called my son's teacher this morning because yesterday he said, "Mom, I wish I could do something to raise money for kids in Haiti." (I'm so proud.) That got me thinking. Jordan's class does an author talk every Wednesday where students read stories they've written, so why not compile their work into a book form and have them sell copies to family and friends? Everybody wins.
8) Money-lovers. Not the best category to fall into, but the truth is that it won't surprise me if in the near future, a famous author leaves his traditional publishers for a bigger piece of the pie. Not only does Borderline Publishing offers higher royalties on books we distribute, but what we try to encourage our authors to do is pre-sale books so that the income from the first few books pays for the entire print run of the book, and then every additional copy they sell from the first printing gives them 100% profit. Not a bad deal.
Just because Borderline Publishing is short-run doesn't mean we are a short cut. Do your research before you sign any contract. And if you find that we best meet your needs (and you fit into one of the above categories) I look forward to helping you get your dreams into print.
That's when Mom explained to me the stigma self-publishing has. You weren't a real author unless the publisher paid you. So that's what I grew up believing. And according to her definition, I became a "real" author. I did my homework. I got an agent. I sold two books. But now what do I do? I work for a small-run publisher where authors can pay to have their work printed. And I love it.
I love the creative control our authors have. I love the relevance our books have in the community. I love how so many of the writers give the money they make to charities. I love being a part of their dreams. And while I don't believe Borderline Publishing is right for everyone, there are certainly benefits to what we offer.
Who should pursue short-run publishing? I'll tell you.
1) Authors with community interest. A national publisher would not have been likely to pick up a children's book on the renovation of the Idaho State Capitol, but there is definitely a market for it in Boise. Diana Baird's picture book is sold at the Capitol gift store and used by teachers in local elementary schools.
2) Businessmen and women. One of the toughest things about not going the route of a traditional publisher is the marketing you miss. First of all, Borderline does offer marketing and distribution. (Which separates us from most short-run publishers.) Second, if you have the heart of an entrepreneur, you have the skills to sell your book successfully. Many writers don't want to deal with this process, but honestly, nobody knows your book better than you do and nobody has the passion for your book that you do. You might actually really enjoy this process.
3) Writers with a niche market. One of my favorite publishing personalities is Chip MacGregor. (If you're interested in writing at all, you better be checking out his blog.) And though Chip is listed as the number one agent in America, he self-published his own book on magic tricks. Why? Because he knew there would be a group of people interested, and he knew where to find them. It's not a book with mass market appeal--it's not supposed to be. Borderline has an author who caters to homeschoolers. Same kind of deal.
4) Authors too outside the box. Have you heard of The Shack? It's the New York Times best-seller that has editors going back through their log of submissions to make sure they hadn't rejected it. All it got was rejections because it was either too Christian or too New Age. Yet it met a felt need, and readers often bought more than one copy at a time. I once heard an editor give a list of reasons why he rejects manuscripts--one reason is if it's too inside the box while the next reason is if it's too outside the box. Gotta love the irony. :-) This is the category that one of my manuscripts will fall into and the reason I will publish through Borderline someday.
5) Those who want creative control. Writing is right-brained. We're creative. And it can be hard to let a publishing company take our "baby" and morph it into what the left-brained businessmen think will sell. Their expertise is usually a good thing, but one of our authors just recommended Borderline to a best-selling author who wants to self-publish his next book for this very reason.
6) Speakers. If you are a speaker, you already have a venue for selling your work. It can be an addition to your presentation. I'm so excited about one book I'm editing that the author wants published in time for classes he is teaching this spring. He might not even need to do much marketing because his clients will spread the word. And in return, the books will bring in even more participants to his seminars.
7) Fund-raisers. This is one of the coolest things about working with our authors. I feel like I'm really making a difference. Proceeds from book we print are going to charities that do everything from keep families off the streets to help fund AIDS research. I even called my son's teacher this morning because yesterday he said, "Mom, I wish I could do something to raise money for kids in Haiti." (I'm so proud.) That got me thinking. Jordan's class does an author talk every Wednesday where students read stories they've written, so why not compile their work into a book form and have them sell copies to family and friends? Everybody wins.
8) Money-lovers. Not the best category to fall into, but the truth is that it won't surprise me if in the near future, a famous author leaves his traditional publishers for a bigger piece of the pie. Not only does Borderline Publishing offers higher royalties on books we distribute, but what we try to encourage our authors to do is pre-sale books so that the income from the first few books pays for the entire print run of the book, and then every additional copy they sell from the first printing gives them 100% profit. Not a bad deal.
Just because Borderline Publishing is short-run doesn't mean we are a short cut. Do your research before you sign any contract. And if you find that we best meet your needs (and you fit into one of the above categories) I look forward to helping you get your dreams into print.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A BOOK
Lots of exciting stuff going on at Borderline Publishing this month, so exciting that I would (and used to) do it all for free. I'm planning book launch parties, writing press releases, scheduling book tours, brainstorming cover ideas, and collecting endorsements. I'm a dreamer and this is a dream job. If you're like me, you'll be thrilled to see what Borderline is offering for 2010...
This is the first in a series of six free writing workshops to be held around the valley. I hope to see you at North Star Books on January 30th from ten to noon. Please let me know if you have any questions.
And as for future blogs, this is what you can expect from me:
Monday--Marketing
Wednesday--Writing Prompt
Friday--Off the Top of My Head
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