You’re at a writers’ conference, and you finally have a chance to sit in front of the literary agent you know would be perfect to represent your books and an editor from your favorite publishing house… And you’re so nervous that you can barely put two words together, much less spit out the elevator pitch you […]
How does a Christian author write for the general market?
Perhaps you’ve been reading the industry news lately and noted that Christian publishers are putting out way fewer books than they did a few years ago. This is for various reasons — Christian bookstores closing, publishers consolidating and buying each other out, and so on. Agent Chip MacGregor wrote a blog post on this recently […]
Things I want in a middle-grade Christian fantasy, by agent Sally Apokedak
I get a lot, a lot, a lot of Christian middle grade fantasy in my inbox. And I would love to sell some of that. Here’s how you can move to the top of the slush pile: Pay attention to the mechanics If you have trouble with verb tenses or points of view or misplaced […]
Best Query Letter Advice
We love your advice. Thank you for sharing! If you missed out on sharing a link to a synopsis sample or article and/or your best advice for new authors, please feel free to share in a comment here. We’ll add it to our Author Resource lists. Make sure to include both your name and a […]
Author Resources – The Synopsis
Thank you so much for the great input last week on advice for the new author. If you missed out, please feel free to post your best advice in a comment here. We’ll add it to our list. Make sure to include both your name and a link to your website or blog. This week […]
Proposals Part 10 – Formatting
Formatting Your Proposal You will spend a great deal of time creating your proposal, so you want to present it in a professional manner. Before you send it off, check the website of each agent or publisher you plan to contact. If they have posted guidelines for writing and/or formatting a proposal. If they list […]
Proposals Part 9 – The First 3 Chapters
First Three Chapters The first three chapters is the section of the proposal where you can wow the agent or editor with your writing ability. Your platform is very important, but the writing and the story supersede everything (writing is king!). They are looking for something that grabs their attention and holds it—something they can […]
Proposals Part 7 – Comparable Books
Publishers will want to know that there are other books on the market that are similar to yours that have sold well. This underlines the fact that there is an audience they can sell your book to. Spend some time doing research to come up with four or five novels similar to yours in some […]
Proposals Part 6 – Author Marketing Plan
Strategies for a Strong Marketing Plan In this section of the proposal, you share your platform and your marketing plan. Your Platform – Simply put, your platform is the people you have some type of connection with. These are the people you have access to for selling your book. Everyone has a platform, even if […]
Proposals Part 5 – Market Analysis & Audience
This section has numerous titles, but basically what the publisher wants to know in this section is who your audience is? What segment of the marketplace will be interested in reading your book? Who are your potential readers? It would be nice if we could simply say that we’re writing for everyone. Or maybe we […]