| |
| |
|
Go Back | About | Contact | Web Design News | |
|
|
|
4 Questions to Answer Before Contacting a Book Agent
Obtaining agency representation is your first step toward getting profitably published. Most publishers won't even look at unsolicited manuscripts. But, before approaching an agent to represent you, you should finalize the presentation of your book. Agents don't have time to waste dealing with publishing 'wannabees' who don't have, and may never have, a concrete project to represent. To busy agents, dreams don't make it. If you approach an agent before you're prepared, you may never be able to contact them again. They'll consider you a 'dreamer' and disregard you emails and phone calls. Elevator Speech Before approaching an agent, prepare an 'elevator speech' describing your project in the less than thirty-seconds it takes for an average elevator ride. If you can't, your project probably isn't ready for prime time. Your elevator speech must answer four major questions:
1. What is your book about? Finalize your book's title and contents before contacting an agent. The title is crucial to your book's success. It must attract the attention of acquisition editors, book reviewers, bookstore managers, web surfers and readers. The title is often your one - and only - chance to make a sale. Finalize your book's table of contents and prepare a brief description of the contents of each chapter. You should also know how long your book is going to be and the number of illustrations, graphics or worksheet Prepare two - three, if you're a first-time author - sample chapters and hire a professional editor to fine-tune them. It's better to show three perfect chapters than a finished manuscript filled with spelling errors. You don't have to write your whole book before approaching agents. And your sample chapters don't have to begin with the first chapter, nor do they have to be in sequence. But, they must represent your writing at its best. 2. Who's going to buy your book? Next, show that there is a reachable market for your book. Strive for urgency. Describe the market intrigued by, or frustrated by, your book's topic. What symptoms does your book help solve? How many people share the problem? What are the consequences of the problem your book addresses? Quantify your book's market in terms of buying power, willingness to buy books and ability to be reached through associations or publications. 3. How will your book be different? Next, position your book relative to existing books on the topic. Existing books on the same topic are a plus, not a minus. They prove there is a market for books on the subject.
This section offers you an opportunity to describe your background and how it contributes to your book. 4. How will you promote your book? Promotion is your responsibility, not the publisher's. Your ability to promote your book is as important as your ability to write your book. Start by identifying book reviewers and editorial contacts who can help promote your book. List publications that might run an extract from your book. Research producers who book guests for radio and TV interviews. Discuss your speaking experience and willingness to travel to support your book. Describe how you will promote your book on your web site. List authorities in your field who have offered to write a foreword or provide you with cover testimonials. Agents are busy. To the extent you can sell your book idea as a realistic possibility in thirty seconds and can support your answers with research and strong sample chapters, you are well on your way to success. After you've been successfully published, you may be able to sell a book on just the basis of an email. But for now, you must be fully prepared. About The Author Roger C. Parker is the $32,000,000 author with over 1.6 million copies in print. Do you make these marketing and design mistakes? Find out at www.gmarketing-design.com
MORE RESOURCES:
SEO - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Promotion - Credibility Extras For many of us, marketing our titles is one of the most tedious tasks of being an author. Even authors who published with large New York houses are expected to take part in marketing and promotion. Dont Clone your Book or Business Marketing Remember that the miracle of cloning sheep has its drawbacks. The main one--dying young. Top Ten Non-Techie Steps to Market your Book Online Are you an author who is looking for new ways to promote your book or business? Does the traditional promotion you do take too long and not bring you top results? Are you willing to investigate easy non-techie ways to get more book buyers?Check out these ten steps within "Ten Non-Techie Ways to Market your Book Online:"Step1. Ten Steps Preparation and FoundationWhen marketing your book Online, you need to attract the right customers to your Web site. How to Sell Your E-book - (or other information product) - Through Quickie Seminars I've been selling my own self-published information products (mainly e-books) online for the past 3 years. Is it profitable? Definitely. Whats Killing Your Publishing Career? With the large increase of books being published by self-publishers, and the up-rise of print on demand, there is still a lot of death taking place in the publishing industry. Thus far, 175,000 books have been published in 2005. 7 Vital Book Promotion Tips As a literary publicist I often am asked about publicity tips, tricks, and the magic behind my work. It's not magic. Top Ten Ways to Promote Your Books Through Flyers A flyer is an excellent, inexpensive way to promote your book. What makes one flyer so much better than another? Use these top10 tips to make your flyer stand out from the crowd. How To Market A Suspense Novel In An Online Multimedia Format If you haven't heard of the author C.F. Media Events for Book Promotion "How do I set up a media event?" -- As a publisher, that's a good question to have an answer for.Media events and public appearances can fall into any number of categories and include any number of venues (book stores, radio interviews, television interviews, writing group speeches, presentations, chat room interviews, online book tours, public forums, and more). 8 Easy Online Ways to Market Your Book For Free Marketing your book whether you went the POD, e-book, or traditional route can be a daunting process. Figuring out what works and what doesn't can take time, energy, and if you're not careful a lot of money. The Booklet Journey Opening a New World 1991 was a pivotal year in my life. My professional organizing business was 8 years old. Book Marketing 101 for the Self-Published Author -- Getting Started No matter what any publisher or marketing company tells you (even the traditional publishing houses), you, the author, are almost 100% the reason your book will sell.It is your belief, excitement, enthusiasm, and energy that will get a reader excited about buying your book. The High Cost of a Six-Figure Book Advance The six-figure book advance, like the New York Times bestseller, is the object of many a writer's fantasy. Whether it's also a realistic goal is something else again. Buzz-Based Book Marketing Once upon a time, people went to bookstores when they wanted to buy a book. Or at least, that was the theory. Top Ten Getting Started Tips to Market Your Book and Business Want to sell a lot more books? Want clients calling every day to find out more about your service? Most emerging businesses forget the #1 way to promote anything--the Internet. Specifically, writing and submitting articles. How to Grab the No.2 Spot on Amazon for Advance Book Sales When my first book was published way back ten years ago, I thought that was it.I reckoned I'd never write another one. Online Book Promotion Beats Traditional Seven to One - Part 1 While traditional marketing can work for the book author or publisher, the return is dim for the huge effort it takes. You must promote 90% of the time to even get a milligram of attention. You, Your Book and the Internet! Authors, especially self published, small press and Print on Demand authors should understand the power of the Internet when promoting a book. There is POWER in cyberspace authors and it's only getting bigger and better. How To Get The Most From Your Free eBooks Marketing Campaign First, your ebook needs to have an attractive title.The title should grab the attention of your intendedtarget audience. What's Wrong with the Internet? It Must be Broken! After months of scouring the internet, I could not put my hands on the 2 million links various search engines said were available to do my book promotions. First, let me say I perceive myself as an intermediate user of the internet, but maybe my perception was misguided as I searched and realized I couldn't put my pointer on the links I wanted.
|
ChicagoAnimation's Acquisitions: Market Polls - 1pennyStock.com
Sponsors: Paving | VTL's | Religious Statues
