Now what?

You’ve just spent the last umpteen months pouring your heart out, bringing life to a main character, giving them purpose, and perfecting the wording. Where do you go from here?

Personally, I want to write some more. I enjoy the process. Except for the frustrations that melt away upon completion of a piece, it is a satisfying endeavor. I’m on a roll. I’ve got more story left in me. I don’t want to stop and try to sell the thing. I want to write.

But sell you must if you want to see it published. Stage two of book writing is not nearly as enjoyable as the initial creation phase. The business end of it is a different animal. You’ve got to convince someone your work is publishable. You know it is. Can’t they just take your word for it?

Not that I speak from experience. Rather, it is where I now find myself. I’ve been here before. I finished one story and jumped right into the next. I made only a heartless effort to push that story because I write. Sales is not my thing.

The first step is to find an agent or editor that prints the kind of stuff you write. Gone are the days when writers sent out willy-nilly to any and every publisher. One should study what kind of stuff they prefer. If a house specializes in YA romance, don’t waste their time with an MG boy story. Research publishers until you find a list of houses that would likely be keen to your work. Find out if they even accept un-agented stories. If they don’t, repeat the vetting process with agents. Investigate the guidelines a particular house has for accepting work.

With a target in mind, create a query letter for that publisher or agent. A query is a business letter asking permission to send a manuscript. You’ve got only one chance to make a first impression and the query letter is it. Agents and editors receive hundreds of requests and have strategies for navigating through them all. They will look to see if its something they normally publish and check that you’ve followed their guidelines – where your research pays off. They’ll look at grammar and spelling and conciseness of writing. A mere ten seconds is all that is needed to reject months and months of hard work.

The first line of your story should entice the reader to read more and likewise, the query letter is should hook the agent/editor to read on. It should be written in the same tone as the manuscript itself. You’ve got a few sentences to reveal the plot and full disclosure is what they want. You’re not writing the jacket blurb to draw the reader in. The agent/editor wants to know precisely the story you want them to take on. Tell the genre, word count, and target audience of the reader and why you chose them. Finally, a query should reveal a little about yourself, especially of anything you’ve published. There is Internet and hard copy resources to better acquaint with how to write a query letter.

Pushing your work is an unfortunate necessity. After you’ve written those magical words, “the end,” you’re not really finished. But before you can quit your day job and stay home and write, you need to venture into sales.

Selling Your Novel

By: Julie Daines                     

Selling your novel can be harder than writing it.  So when it comes time to start sending your precious story off like a lamb to the slaughter, it pays to do it right.

Most agents request three elements: the query, the synopsis and the first chapter.  These are your tools to selling your book.

Here’s a basic guide that I’ve found helpful in preparing each of these elements.

The Query:  In the query letter you are selling the concept of your book.  It should identify the main characters and setting, and then a quick idea of the main themes, the conflict, and what’s at stake.  (I’m only referring to the paragraph or two about the actual book.  You’ll also need to show that you’ve done research about the agent, show some credentials etc.)

The Synopsis:  In the synopsis you are selling the story of your book.  The plot, what happens, the character arc, and how it all comes together in an exciting and wonderfully original, thought out way.

The First Chapter:  With the first chapter you’re selling the writing of your book.  This is where you let them see your amazing style, the original voicing, and the way you turn a phrase just right.  With these pages you convince them that they can’t possibly live without reading the rest of your novel.

This is, of course, a general guideline.  Ideally, you want a small overlap, letting each element carry a hint of the others. For example, the fact that you are a good writer should also be evident in the query and synopsis.

Good luck!