Tools For Your Publishing Toolbox

Deborah Malone

“Death in Dahlonega”

"Murder in Marietta"

www.deborah-malone.com

 The Road to Publishing

1.      Finish That Novel:  Finish the book. Publishers are not really interested in ideas. They want to see that a would-be author has the skill, the stamina and the discipline to finish the job. After finishing your book set it aside for a couple of weeks then go back to it and start editing. Hire an editor if necessary. Two books I’ve found invaluable for my writing:

“Write in Style” by Bobbie Christmas and “Goal, Motivation and Conflict” by Debra Dixon.

2.      Researching Publishers And Agents:  Study books that are the same genre as your book and see who their agent/publisher is. It is usually listed in the front of their book. Look for publishers on-line and study their guidelines for submissions. Find out what they are looking for. There are also books that are helpful to find publishers such as: “Christian Writer’s Market Guide” by Sally Stuart and “2012 Writer’s Market” by Robert Lee Brewer. Note: It is necessary to have an agent for big name publishers. If you do not want to go this route please do not forget the small presses. Please do your homework and check out small publishers or self-publishing companies. If you go this route a book you will want to read is: “Stress-Free Marketing” by Renea Winchester.

3.      Write A Synopsis And Query Letter: According to Kaye Dacus at www.kayedacus.com  you should first and foremost familiarize yourself with the kind of synopsis your targeted publishing house requests. Most will want a “normal” synopsis (about one doubled-spaced synopsis per 10,000 words of your novel.)  - Your query letter is your introduction to an editor/agent. You do not want to immediately label yourself as a “newbie” or an amateur when they open the envelope. Spend time learning the correct way to write a query.

4.      Prepare Your Proposal: The proposal is where you really brand yourself as a writer. It’s where you show the agent/editor that you’re so much more than just 100,000 words of a story written down on paper. It’s where you show them you understand the industry, you understand what they’re looking for, you know who your competitors are, and you realize that 80% + of the marketing for a published author is done by the author.

5.      Send Out Queries:  Be sure and follow the guidelines of the publishers you’ve researched. Send only what they’ve ask for – do not add anything unless they’ve requested it. It is important to not send any photographs or illustrations. Do not use fancy paper or elaborate fonts. These are the marks of an amateur, and will only hurt your chances. (www.mythicscribes.com)

6.      Be Prepared For Rejections:  You will receive them. Most of the rejection letters will be in form letter style. Do not let this get you down. Keep sending out the queries. Every author has a story to tell about the rejections letters they accumulated before being published. Consider a rejection letter as a sign you are writing. How many people can say they’ve even received a rejection letter? Keep writing and persevere. The writers who persevered are the ones who are now published.

7.      Continue Writing:  Don’t stop writing. The more you write the more you improve in the craft of writing. It will help you find out if you are able to write more than the “one hit wonder.” It might be that it will be your second or third book that gets published so don’t sit idle while waiting to hear from those publishers.

  

 

 

                 THINGS YOU CAN DO WHILE WAITING FOR PUBLICATION

1.      Establish A Website: Once your book is contracted and by the time it shows up in online bookstores, you should have a website – preferably one with your author name as the URL,(www.deborah-malone.com) so that readers can easily find you. Use Google blogspot for free and pay only for the URL.

2.      Start A Blog:  I’ve discovered blogging and reviewing books is a great way to get your name out in the world of writing. You can build a following before you have your book published. If possible use your author name as your URL. Interviews and book giveaways are a great way to draw traffic to your blog. You can use Google or Wordpress for free

3.      Start An Author Facebook Page:  If you start an author page as opposed to a personal page it allows followers to connect with you without having to wait for a friend approval. You can post book news, awards, and book signings.

4.      Get An Updated Author Photo:  This doesn’t have to be a high-priced photograph, but make sure it is updated and of good quality. It won’t hurt to have a couple of different shots.

5.      Set Up Accounts On Reader Sites:  There is a great opportunity in this area. You can sign up at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, and Shelfari. Then when your book is published you can set up author pages and list your book and your information.

6.       Get Business Cards, Postcards and Bookmarks:  Vista Print offers great prices on these items. You can get your business cards before your book comes out – be sure and put your picture on your card. Someone might not remember your name, but they will remember your face. If you place a small order with Vista Print they will send you discount cards with that order then you can place future orders at a greatly reduced price.

I made my own bookmarks out of heavy duty paper and saved a lot of money. Don’t forget the book I mentioned earlier “Stress Fee Marketing” by Renea Winchester, it includes a lot of detailed information on these marketing strategies.

 

 

 Deborah Malone’s first novel Death in Dahlonega, finaled in the American Christian Fiction Writer’s Category Five writing contest! Deborah was also nominated for 2012 Georgia Author of the Year in First Novel category. She has worked as a freelance writer and photographer, for the historic magazine “Georgia Backroads.” She has had many articles and photographs published, and her writing is featured in “Tales of the Rails,” edited by Olin Jackson. She is a member of the Georgia Writer’s Association as well as Advanced Writer’s and Speakers Association. As a current member of the American Christian Fiction Writer she has established a blog where she reviews Christian Fiction.  

 

Making Writing Managable

BookBaby

                     



[This article was written by guest contributor Lynda McDaniel, co-founder of The Book Catalysts.]

Have you ever coveted a cozy writer’s garret where you could create brilliant bestsellers in long, uninterrupted writing sessions?
Well, don’t. That fantasy can ruin your chances of becoming a successful author. Here’s why:

1. As long as you think that’s what it takes to write a book, you’re less likely to write.

“Oh, I don’t have time to write today,” you tell yourself because you don’t have several hours to spare. Or “It’s just too hectic to write today.” Excuses like these feed the procrastination beast, which seems to have an insatiable appetite.

2. Uninterrupted periods of writing can cripple your creativity and productivity,…

… according to Benjamin Nugent in the New York Times (February 2, 2013). He learned this the hard way while enrolled in a master’s program in fiction. Nugent isolated himself in a prairie town with no Internet, no TV, no iPhone so he could produce great literature.
Only he didn’t.
“The disaster unfolded slowly,” he writes. “The professors and students were diplomatic, but a pall of boredom fell over the seminar table when my work was under discussion. I could see everyone struggling to care. And then, trying feverishly to write something that would engage people, I got worse.”
He explains that when writing well was his focus, the quality of his work became the measure of his worth. As a result, he couldn’t judge whether his latest draft was good or bad. “I needed it to be good in order to feel sane,” Nugent adds. “I lost the ability to cheerfully interrogate how much I liked what I had written, to see what was actually on the page rather than what I wanted to see or what I feared to see.”
So take heart if you can’t create a distraction-free environment. You don’t want one!

3. You don’t need to write for hours.

It takes only 40 minutes a day to start—and finish—your first draft. Sure, you’ll need several months at that rate, but you will finish because this amount of time is doable for just about anyone. Forty minutes is 10 or 15 minutes longer than studies such as the Pomadoro Technique, but according to researcher Pierre Khawand at
People-OnTheGo in San Francisco, those extra minutes are magic. “My belief,” Khawand writes, “after working with thousands of people on productivity issues and challenges is that … after 30 minutes of focused work, the ‘engine’ is now fully warmed up and functioning optimally, so those extra 10 minutes are ‘pure’ performance. Those 10 minutes are all in the high-potential area. We must grab them while we can.”

4. Instead of long slogs or occasional spurts, regular writing sessions keep your creative brain on alert.

The pick-up/put-down method of book writing tends to dilute the brain’s focus. When the brain is primed by writing regularly, your “idea factory” continues working while you do other things—like having coffee with a friend, stirring the soup, or walking the dog. Ideas seem to pop into your head out of the blue.

5. The specter of long sessions can lead to long periods without writing,…

… which leads to lost continuity and playing catch-up. Again, that pick-up/put-down method requires you to repeatedly find ways to reengage in the process. But when you write regularly, you’re in touch with your work in progress.

 6. As little as 10 minutes can be productive.

In addition to writing a few sentences of copy in your manuscript, you can accomplish a lot in 10 minutes. Here’s a sampling:
Brainstorm: book and chapter titles; subheads; dynamic verbs to replace a couple of flat ones; names of people to use in your anecdotes, case studies, and stories, and idea for sidebars.
Jot: key points to list at the end of a chapter, a summary of a chapter for your book proposal, a list of illustration ideas for your book, and notes for a hook in an upcoming chapter.
Plan: your calendar and block out available writing times in the next 30 days, note the experts you need to find for backup information, do a computer search to verify an essential fact or two you’ll need in a future section.
Ponder: your project with your eyes closed, perhaps focusing on a dilemma—describe it to yourself, define it, and invite the answer in. Then open your eyes and go on with your day, open to fresh solutions and ideas.
For every subhead you brainstorm, list you make, or fact you verify, you’ve saved yourself a few minutes later on. Besides, no matter how much or how little you get done in a few minutes, you’re keeping your creative brain primed—ready and raring to go to the finish line.
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Bio: Lynda McDaniel is the co-founder of The Book Catalysts (www.bookcatalysts.com), offering book coaching, manuscript editing, and the on-demand book-writing course “Catapult into Your Book!” (http://bookcatalysts.com/writing-class )

Deborah has worked as a freelance writer and photographer, since 2001, for the historical magazine “Georgia Backroads.” She has had many articles and photographs published during this time. Her writing is featured in “Tales of the Rails” edited by Olin Jackson. She has also had a showing of her photographs at Floyd Medical Center Art Gallery as well as winning several awards. Her debut cozy mystery "Death in Dahlonega", a winner in the ACFW Category Five Writer's Contest, is now available. She is a current member of the Georgia Writers Association, and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. Deborah has been nominated for Georgia Author of the Year 2012. She has an established blog, Butterfly Journey, where she reviews Christian Fiction. You can also catch her at Sleuths and Suspects, where she reviews mysteries. She also contributes to the Cozy Mystery Magazine every other Tuesday.
 

What A Great Graphic Artist Can Do For (Or Is It To?) A Writer

How Can Such A Cute Face Cause A Major Rewrite?

You know a great Graphic Artist is a gift from God, but they can also really mess a writer up. 

The graphic designer who redesigned my blog, Jesse Ruiz, and I had so much fun we decided to collaborate on the cover of my next e-book, Chasing Lady Midnight.

You all know what the plan was. I had posted a free little story, was going to put it into e-book format, offer it for free, and then maybe do a follow-up book later. Jesse and I got together, I told him my idea, he gets an idea on the basic premise, to which I agree. After a few days he works his magic, shows me the cover and throws a monkey wrench into everything because of his awesome talent!

Now I need to warn you, I’m going to give you a few details, but not tell you the the end design. Not because it’s a good cover, but because it is a fantastic cover! It will be revealed just before the book comes out in the Fall. Trust me, it will be worth the wait.

So how did Jesse singlehandedly turn my story on its head? By making a couple of little additions.

On the cover is Lady Midnight’s alter ego. Fashionably dressed walking a dog. So what? There was no dog in my story! And it’s not just any dog, it’s a basset hound. My favorite breed of dog (I even love Hush Puppy shoes because of them) and the most comical dog on the face of the planet. Imagine a fashionista (on a budget) who owns a basset hound whose superhero costume is all black which she hates because it's just too Goth!

Brilliant!

But now I have to do a major rewrite! Why? Couldn't I have made her a dog walker or something? No! I fell in love (can you fall in love with a graphic?) which got all my creative juices going! I immediately gave the dog a name (to be revealed later) and then God gives me another idea that has it morph into a superhero cozy mystery with a brilliant choice for a villain and everything! 

See what a great cover can do for a writer, or is it to you?
Graphic Artists! They cause nothing but trouble, but in a good way. I think.

Of course Jesse is anxious for the book to be released. It's his first e-book cover and he's really excited about it. But I tell him, you're the one who necessitated a rewrite. So be patient!

Because now I’ve got to write a story to live up to this fantastic cover, and trust me, that is not going to be easy.

A lot of prayer is going to necessary. But isn't it always?

Mystery writer C.L. Ragsdale is the author of The Reboot Files a Christian Cozy Mystery Series, and a superhero story called Chasing Lady Midnight. A California native, she loves to "surf" the web to research plot details for her fun, quirky stories. She has a degree in Theatre Arts which greatly influenced her writing style. Working in various fields as a secretary has allowed her to both master her writing skills and acquire valuable technical knowledge which she uses liberally in her plots. Although that is where she got her idea for The Secretary, she is not an evil mastermind. Although some of her former employers might disagree. These days she contents herself with knitting while contemplating her next diabolical plot. Story plot that is.

Her blog is located at http://shortmysteriesandtalltales.blogspot.com

Her Facebook Authors Page is located at http://www.facebook.com/pages/CL-Ragsdale/219184744858421