Avoid mannerisms of punctuation, typestyles, and sizes. Before you do anything else, check out these submission guidelines from two agents I’m familiar with. A book shouldn’t be where you start any more than you should enroll in grad school when you’re a kindergartner. Each of these elements will dramatically increase the professional look of your final product and, thus, your hope of selling more books. Lousy writing, editing, and proofreading—sometimes clearly nonexistent. Obviously, there are good agents and bad agents. See more of Jerry B. Jenkins on Facebook. You can say that your audiences have been enthusiastic or that beta readers have expressed excitement. If you’re planning to start blogging, check out this post on creating an author website. News & Media Website. So it has to be fast and convincing. So start building yours now. His fiction often explore eschatological themes and settings. If you can’t think of what to write, then edit. How else would they deal with things like: I’ve written over 185 books, yet I often wonder whether I can finish the next one. Your analysis of competing books, and where yours fits. Because that list your title is on that is “available” to every store owner and manager is merely a master list of all the books on some distributor’s Internet site of every title in their catalogue. The synopsis would naturally go beyond the elevator pitch and tell what happens and how things turn out. For nonfiction, include every major issue you’ll cover and the basics of what you’ll say about it. This is a summary of your book’s premise, told in the time it would take for the editor to reach his floor if you happened to find yourself in the same elevator car. Publisher. One caveat with writers’ groups: make sure at least one person, preferably the leader, is widely published and understands the publishing landscape. Make your query letter crisp and short. Remember, the editor is on your side. Here’s a great example of a query letter, with a breakdown of why it works, by Brian Klems of Writer’s Digest. Otherwise, take the time to put together a professional proposal that shows an agent you know how to work and can be thorough. How could they do that to you? So here’s a list of my favorite 12 books on writing to get you started. Writers may understand that they are not experts in cover design, layout and typesetting, marketing and promotion, warehousing, distribution, and sales. The former vice president for publishing at Moody Bible Institute of Chicago and currently chairman of the board of trustees, Jenkins is also the former editor of Moody magazine. Forgot account? What kind of tribe have you built? So make it stimulating and intriguing. I’m not necessarily evaluating or endorsing them, except to say that I know them to be ethical and trustworthy and find their guidelines helpful and sound. You’re thinking, It took me months, maybe years, to write hundreds of pages and you didn’t even get to the good stuff! Leave nothing out. You must determine what will set you apart in a noisy marketplace. So, you no longer need to store countless copies in your garage or basement. He is best known for the Left Behind series, co-written by Tim LaHaye. Follow the agent’s submission guidelines to a T. Proof your letter before sending. Specifics add the ring of truth, even to fiction. To avoid such embarrassing errors, do your research. Any typo on such a short document makes you look like an amateur. So find reviews. Follow their submission guidelines to a T. Know what the publisher wants, and tell them why you believe your book is right for them in light of that. Do NOT skimp on them. Check with other clients. Immerse yourself in the details of your setting. ), On the fiction side, the definition of an outliner is obvious. If you resort to this route, realize that you are the publisher now. You’ve read or heard of writers who had never written a thing before and yet scored with a million-seller on their first try. All great stories are rooted in solid research. Your Instructor: Jerry Jenkins For more than 40 years, Jerry has used the art of storytelling to communicate life-shifting messages to millions. Writing your book won’t be easy. I get it. Jerry's writing has appeared in Time, Reader's Digest, Parade, Guideposts, and dozens of Christian periodicals. If your research stinks. In 2016, Jenkins was described as a dispensationalist Christian … The competition is so fierce these days, I would lean toward a full proposal almost every time. But few can see their way through to the end. NYT bestselling author Jerry B. Jenkins answers questions and offers tips in under 2 minutes. Here’s the short version of everything I cover in this complete, step-by-step post: I get it. You’re antsy. What qualifies you to write this book? When you’re starting out, another pair of eyes on your work can prove to be invaluable. To use an ancient adage, cream rises. Try that and see what it gets you—likely a pink slip. (And you thought I was joking about sinking.). Some want only this. To Save a Life. Such companies are using you as little more than a content generator, pretending to have “chosen” your book from among the many they have to choose from, when the fact is they would publish anything you send them in any form, provided your accompanying check clears the bank. Throttle back. Why? A book is where you arrive. Avoid the term literally—when you mean figuratively. They’ll likely ask for a query letter, synopsis, proposal, and perhaps a few chapters. Or you may have chosen to self-publish online, in print, or both. sans serif type. ), c. Your target audience and why they’ll enjoy your book, Agents need to believe they can sell it before they’ll ask you for more. Writing is not a solo. So you’ll need a proposal at some point. Don’t sell too hard—let your premise speak for itself. Take this free assessment now and learn to unlock your true potential: DON’T Try to Become an Author Until You’ve…, …Studied the Craft and Polished Your Skills, …Plugged Yourself into a Community of Writers, Create a Writing Schedule You Can Stick to, Editing Your Book Like Crazy (Again) with an Editor, Choosing the Right Self-Publishing Company, here’s a list of my favorite 12 books on writing, few writers ever make it to the first page, give your manuscript the best chance to succeed, A directory of some of the world’s top almanacs, You’ll have steady income—one less thing to worry about—while trying to build your. But, depending on which you are, you’ll approach the planning phase completely differently. You can push back respectfully if you feel strongly that they’ve missed your point on something, but do this only when the sting of criticism has worn off and you’re thinking rationally. Insurance, retirement, all my benefits. I asked this of the head of WestBow Press™, a division of Thomas Nelson and Zondervan, and he said he always advises customers that this is the ideal route. So, they invest in those other services and cut corners on editing and proofreading. Great writers are great readers. Three trusted colleagues have produced masterful works on how to write book proposals, so check out what they have to offer: Michael Hyatt: Writing a Winning Book Proposal, Jane Friedman: How to Write a Book Proposal, (Jane also has some great material on query letters, so search her site for that, too.). Let them to do their job. Neither is better or worse. If your character drives 10 miles east out of the Chicago Loop, he’d better be in an amphibious vehicle, because he’ll be in Lake Michigan. Resist the urge to write a long cover letter. Allow your proposal to do the heavy lifting. It’s also rare that a self-published book finds its way to bookstore shelves outside the author’s own town. Regardless how you feel about outlining, you need an idea of where you’re going before you start. Avoid the words up and down—unless they’re really needed. Take a night school or online course in journalism or creative writing. They’ll let you create a poor product and tell you it’s great. Check The Writer’s Market Guide and The Christian Writer’s Market Guide for publishers that don’t require agent-represented manuscript submissions.