Tag: book proposal

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An Excellent Guide to Writing Cover Letters and to Making Pitches

Format Magazine is out with a great page on pitching editors:

https://www.format.com/magazine/resources/art/how-to-get-published-advice
(external link)

They advise most of what I’ve recommended over the years but I’d add a few things.

Consider making two or three pitches in an e-mail. An editor knows in a sentence or two if your project is intriguing, why spend four or five paragraphs developing your thoughts when one or two will do? Since you have the editor reading, pitch another topic.

Fewer than one in ten cover letters leads to acceptance, get efficient at writing them and realize they are as hard to craft as the article you are proposing. Learn to accept rejection, and what is even more frustrating, get used to absolutely no acknowledgment at all.

Consider carefully what you might get paid. If the magazine pays only $100 or so, is it worth your time? If the article will require travel, your own photographs, and 2,500 words, it may make more sense to pitch another publication that will let you at least break even.

The time you spend writing for very little could be better spent making pitches to a magazine that will reward your effort. Unless you are resume building or just enjoy writing on a particular subject, always angle for better paying work.

Regarding book proposals, I’d say to query with a one page letter before writing a full proposal. A complete proposal will take you at least a month to write. See that a publisher is interested first rather than commit to what might be a doomed project.

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Three Days in The Hospital

“Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.” John Lennon.

I was furiously woking on my newest book proposal when I suffered an attack of acute colitis. The severe abdominal pain landed me in the emergency room and then into the hospital for diagnosis and treatment. Because I had other things wrong with me, it took a while for the specialists to determine the primary cause of my pain.

Now that I am out, I am looking at rest and the hope of getting back on track. My book proposal deadline is still May 13th. I do not know if I can make it. Worst case scenario is putting a tremendous amount of work into it, only to fall short at deadline, missing by a few hundred words. I need my health to hold out. Before more life happens.

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Slack Time is Over

I’ve been given the chance to redraft a book proposal, with the thought of making the title more marketable. I’ll have to redo the cover letter, make a new table of contents, and rewrite a sample chapter. All of this is a welcome opportunity.

Last month a local publisher asked me to sit down over coffee to discuss a book deal. I had done a great deal of writing for that proposal, penning two sample chapters and two sidebars. Alas, the publisher decided to pass on the project but I was glad to make a pitch in person, something quite rare in the book trade.

And what if the current publisher passes on my proposal to them? I’ll be fine with that because I can turn the writing into articles for Rock&Gem. And writing time is well spent, especially when writing with specific goals and requirements in mind. There’s a discipline imparted to what might otherwise be an open-ended project.

A freelancer has to be keenly aware that they can’t ramble on about subject they like at any length. Like an invention, a book is only worth something if someone wants to buy it. There has to be a demand. And that is what an editor and a marketing person at a publisher knows best. We may be able to write, but can we draw an audience?

Well, as I said, slack time is over. Time to go through my library, start gathering my thoughts, and get typing. I am trying to put down my new drawing tablet.(internal link) Although I am just making crude doodles right now, I am convinced this tool will let me go further. I think it will help me produce maps for articles that I have always wanted to make.

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Turning Down Work

UPDATE: As of December 20th, 2017 I am back to accepting new assignments. I have submitted my latest book proposal.

ORIGINAL POST: For the first time I am turning down work. To get my book proposal done I can not accept any new assignments. Has this problem happened to you? It is a very uncomfortable position to be in.

The group I am turning down has been good to me and I have enjoyed working for them. But I have two sample book chapters to complete by January 2d and I will not get them done unless I apply myself. Already I am thinking I may need another week to finish.

I don’t know if this will permanently wound me with this employer. I hope not but I will understand if it does. This is all  unsatisfying in that the book proposal is purely speculative, perhaps some money in the distant future, while the company I am turning down pays promptly at the end of every month.

Have any of you had to deal with this problem and how did you manage?

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Battling Through a Cold – Working on A TOC

After I got back from Atlanta a week ago I developed a bad cold. It lingers still. I want to get a book proposal (internal link) done by January 2d and I fear I may not make it.

Aside from my infirmity, I am struggling with writing a table of contents. This book’s word count can’t exceed 70,000. Let’s call it 60,000. That permits 12 chapters of 5,000 words apiece to 20 chapters of 3,000 words apiece. But is there any reason, aside from aesthetics, to make the chapters uniform in length?

I know I want some sidebars, short pieces from 750 to 1,500 words. Already I have disconformity. I’m leaning toward having the first chapter quite long as it is an introduction to the book. And then have the remaining chapters hew closely to 2,500 words.

The path I am now on is identifying the topic for each chapter, as well as a list of sidebars. I  have in mind 15 main topics and three sidebars. Have any of you done a Table of Contents? And if so, what did you find? Please e-mail or comment.

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Writing Another Book Proposal

I just submitted a magazine article two weeks ahead of deadline. Yay me! Now, I can turn to writing a book proposal that an editor asked me to develop. I short queried first, taking no more than twenty minutes to write up the query. The editor replied, asking for a complete proposal, one that includes two sample chapters. Here’s what this publisher asks for:

  • A cover letter, including: a brief summary of the book, the approximate length (word count) of your manuscript, and why you think your book is a good fit for Imbrifex Books.
  • A table of contents or outline of the book’s contents
  • Two sample chapters
  • Any photographs or illustrations you believe might assist us in evaluating your proposal (do not send originals!)
  • A brief list of similar or competitive books, including title, author, publisher, ISBN number, and date of publication. (These are all available on Amazon.com and other online booksellers.) Tell us what makes your book unique. How does it differ from your competition? (This is vitally important information — please take the time to research thoroughly and think about it carefully.)
  • Marketing and publicity plans or ideas
  • A description of your book’s target audience (Please be as specific as possible.)
  • A brief autobiographical summary or résumé. What do you, as the author, bring to the project?
  • Your mailing address, daytime phone number, and e-mail address

A big project, eh? Certainly. And I’ll develop a website to support the proposal, just like I did with NevadaAg.com (external link). One editor, who passed on that project, called Nevada Ag’s website the best book proposal idea he had ever seen. Why all this work?

It’s all about commitment. Any press is taking a big risk on your book, both in time and money. They want to see that you are also fully involved, not just in writing the book but also in marketing the title. Are you a true partner or not?

A good comparison is the business plan. You can’t ask for financing based on an interesting idea, you have to develop a lengthy, well analyzed plan that shows how your idea makes economic sense. Business plans can take months to write but they are the first test a lending company will ask you to pass.

I am aiming to complete my proposal by January 1st, 2018. A warning word to all my foreign readers — little gets done in America during December. It is a very difficult time to get hold of people. Lots of holidays in December with families often the central focus. Get your correspondence done now or be prepared to wait longer for replies next month.

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News and Notes

I’m happy to report I’m working on another outdoor magazine assignment. I’ll be traveling soon to the Mojave Desert to start taking photographs and to conduct interviews. Looks like the weather will be good.

I’ve also been asked to submit a complete book proposal to a local publisher. He and I are on good terms, although every idea I have sent to him has been deemed non-commercial. In fact, we are on such good terms that I was able to send him a book pitch that took only twenty minutes to write and was just four paragraphs. I sent that short pitch to him, knowing there was no reason to send a complete pitch if he didn’t like my idea to begin with. Well, he does like my current idea so he’s asking for the following:

  • A cover letter, including: a brief summary of the book, the approximate length (word count) of your manuscript, and why you think your book is a good fit for us.
  • A table of contents or outline of the book’s contents
  • Two sample chapters
  • Any photographs or illustrations you believe might assist us in evaluating your proposal (do not send originals!)
  • A brief list of similar or competitive books, including title, author, publisher, ISBN number, and date of publication. (These are all available on Amazon.com and other online booksellers.) Tell us what makes your book unique. How does it differ from your competition? (This is vitally important information — please take the time to research thoroughly and think about it carefully.)
  • Marketing and publicity plans or ideas
  • A description of your book’s target audience (Please be as specific as possible.)
  • A brief autobiographical summary or résumé. What do you, as the author, bring to the project?
  • Your mailing address, daytime phone number, and e-mail address

Whoo! Quite a list. But very typical for a book proposal. I am now starting to think about how to do all of this. Two sample chapters. Tough. But the door is open. Now, I have to walk through it.

Wonderful site on the Mojave here (external link) Picture from their website.

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Estimating Nonfiction Book Sales – One Example

I’ve been in touch with a book publisher about an idea I have for a Nevada travel book. He asked me to work up some figures. How many copies would it sell? Not knowing any way to estimate, I spent a few hours on the net and came up with a conservative figure. Have you done any estimating? I’d like to hear about it. E-mail: thomasguyfarley@gmail.com

The text of the file starts below and then you’ll have to download a Word doc to see all of the discussion.

July 12, 2017 (End of the Road Nevada – Working Title)

I estimate the book would sell 500 to 750 copies in its first printing. Possibly a thousand if we are lucky. I say first printing because I think an atlas type book, let’s just call it an atlas, would be a good candidate for printing new editions in the future as information changes. People might be encouraged to buy new copies as new editions come out. Before I get into my analysis, can I further explain what this book might encompass? From my standpoint, of course, knowing your comments and additions would make the book better.

The travel guide would be a book for the road, an atlas perhaps, showing what lies between cities and towns.  A book showing where dirt roads go from the main highway, describing geothermal plants, prisons, working gold mines, military properties, Indian reservations, abandoned power plants and so on. Old rail beds and radio communication sites on the tops of different mountains. Places you see from the highway or interesting places lost behind the hills. Something that would explain “What is it?” as you drive through all the “empty” spaces between Nevada’s settlements.

The Book Market: Related Titles

Using an Amazon book sales calculator, we can make a stab at some potential book numbers. I list four related titles. I’m using Amazon’s Best Sellers Rank for base figures. These numbers have changed considerably in just a few hours while I was working on this report. Must be dynamic numbers that are constantly updated in relation to other books.

https://www.tckpublishing.com/amazon-book-sales-calculator/

Download the Word file for the rest of the discussion (internal link to Word file)

Understanding an Amazon report is key to understanding my discussion. These reports are at the bottom of every book listing.

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Radioactive Cows and Operation Haylift

I’ve added two new posts to NevadaAg.com (external link). One post describes the experimental dairy farm at the Nevada Test Site in Nye County. The other details Operation Haylift, which saw the United State’s Air Force dropping tons of alfalfa to snow stranded cattle in 1949.

These posts support my website NevadaAg.com. That site in turn supports my book proposal on Nevada agriculture past and present. It may be a lot of work to build a site for a proposal, but getting a book deal isn’t easy. Anything I can do to help myself seems like a good idea.

A website allows me to show off my vision for a book beyond the sample chapter that a publisher requires. And any material I do write for the site can go into the book if it is accepted. A gamble? A bad risk? As Billy Joel once said, “I have been a fool for lesser things.”

operationhayliftmovie

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Updating My Book Proposal At NevadaAg.com

02/12/2017 Update: Revisions completed!

Original post:

Five months ago I constructed a website (external link) to support a book proposal on Nevada agriculture. That site needs updating and I’m doing that this week. The sample chapter I have in .pdf needs the most work.

In that chapter, a survey of past and present Clark County agriculture, I mentioned what was then limited marijuana production. That’s changing. Nevada is now phasing in recreational pot statewide. Also, the Obama administration in their last days declared the Gold Butte area in Clark County a national monument. That’ll take away an unknown amount of grazing land. And I recently bought a great book called A Gamble in the Desert. It’s a history of the Mormon Mission in Las Vegas. This was the first organized settlement by non-native people and really the beginning of the city. These settlers attempted a variety of crops and I can now report on what they grew.

This need for revisions brings up a bigger question. What is better? A printed book that goes out of date as soon as it hits the printing press? Or a website that can be constantly changed?

These days, with printing on demand, it is possible to print a new book edition every year or so, even if the cost per book is higher than traditional printing with a large press run. (And you don’t have to worry about a big inventory you may never sell.) You can stay fairly current, therefore, even in hardcopy.

Websites are great as far as being current, but they are as demanding as a needy child. In managing privateline.com (external link) I found that a four hundred page website was beyond my ability to maintain. At least as an unpaid webmaster.

And then there are e-books. Another publishing option. And another subject for another day.

Right now, it’s time for me to start revising and updating NevadaAg.com. I’ll check back here in another week or so. In the meantime, let me know if you have any experience with today’s publishing choices. Thanks, Tom

grass-fed-cow-featuredimagenew