If you follow the techniques outlined in this article, you will be able to write more effective and revealing dialogue for your novels. The techniques will allow you to avoid writing one-dimensional characters that fail to grasp the reader’s interest and imagination.

“Characterization is an accident that flows out of action and dialogue.” Jack Woodford

Wiki defines characterization as: ‘the process of conveying information about characters in narrative or dramatic works of art or everyday conversation. Characters may be presented by means of description, through their actions, speech, or thoughts’.

Everyone you will ever meet in your life is a paradox, you included. Each person has a set of beliefs and understandings; this is the never-ending internal dialogue, the voice in your head, which dictates your thoughts and feelings.

This is the first dimension.

The second dimension is your external dialogue, the words you say.

Your internal thoughts and external dialogue are not always the same.

The final dimension is your reaction to events. How you react to events is a mirror of your internal dialogue and often in contradiction to your external dialogue.

It is this contradiction between internal thoughts, external dialogue, and reactions to events, which creates believable and memorable characters.

Example

Imagine a situation in a novel…

A father’s only son is murdered by a serial killer. The father says at one point in the novel, “I intend to find and kill the man who murdered my son.” Then, later in the climax of the novel when the father does indeed come face-to-face with the killer, rather than kill the murderer, he turns him over to the police. It turns out that the father’s external thoughts and internal dialogue were not aligned – just like real life. Perhaps the father believed that justice, rather than murder, was the correct moral solution. Thus, the novel sees the father contradicting his dialogue, and his actions reflecting his internal feeling. It is this complexity that makes for a three-dimensional character.

Dialogue is not conversation

Just listen to any real-life conversation and you will see it has little resemblance to the dialogue written in novels. When we converse in real-life situations are sentences are clipped, we talk across each other and most of the time use non-verbal cues for communication.

The mistake many writers make is to see dialogue in a novel as a reflection of real-life conversation – this is not the case.

The aim of dialogue in a novel is to fulfill one of two very distinct goals:

1. To provide plot or character information.
2. To develop characterization and build the depth of your characters.

Dialogue is a tool.

Writing Dialogue

To write effective dialogue you must first understand what Robert McKee calls ‘beats’.

He explains that the ‘beat’ is the smallest unit of construction, used to build scenes and acts. He defines a beat as, ‘an exchange of behaviors in action/reaction’.

A second important aspect of a beat is that it passes a very particular piece of information or documents a change in character. Dialogue can be made up of a string of beats, each with its own distinct direction.

For example, if we return to our fictional novel that sees a child killer on the loose. The following exchange takes place between the father of a murdered child and a police officer. As we have said previously all dialogue must have a direction. The aim of this exchange is to set up the father as a person who has said they will kill the murderer of his child. It also provides important plot information (private investigator), which would be built on later.

It had been a few days since they had discovered the mutilated body but this was the first time the police officer and the father had met in person. They had chatted on the phone twice, but the conversations had been truncated, nothing more than short, unemotional exchanges of information.

”I am sorry for your loss,” said the policeman.

”Yeah,” said the father, his head in his hands, not looking up as he spoke.

”I have just spoken to my boss and he is expecting to make an arrest in the next few days,” said the officer.

”I hope so,” replied the father, looking up. “You are not the only person looking for the killer. I have hired a private detective to follow some of my own theories.”

The officer’s face failed to show any emotion. “That’s regrettable. We don’t encourage…” He paused searching for the correct word. ”Vigilantes. I hope you plan to pass any information you gather to the police.”

”No,” says the father looking directly into the officer’s eyes. “I intend to find and kill the man who murdered my son.”

If we look at this exchange we can see the action/reaction process:

Exchange 1

[ACTION]”I am sorry for your loss,” said the policeman.

[REACTION]”Yeah,” said the father, his head in his hands, not looking up as he spoke.

Here we see the police officer unable to cope with the deeply emotional situation and reverting to a well-worn, even clichéd comment. The father has been under extreme emotional pressure for days and has spoken to countless police officers. He feels helpless. The authority figure of the police officer is challenging him on many levels. Therefore, his reaction is almost a non-reaction as he tries to maintain some control of the situation.

Exchange 2

[ACTION]”I have just spoken to my boss and he is expecting to make an arrest in the next few days,” said the officer.

[REACTION]”I hope so,” replied the father, looking up. “You are not the only person looking for the killer. I have hired a private detective to follow some of my own theories.”

Unable to express his emotions the police officer tries to engage in conversation by offering ‘information’ he feels the father will find useful. The father’s reaction is one of anger and leaves him feeling more helpless as a father and man. In the exchange, he tries to gain some level of control by telling the police officer about the private detective.

Exchange 3

[ACTION] The officer’s face failed to show any emotion. “That’s regrettable. We don’t encourage…” He paused searching for the correct word. ”Vigilantes. I hope you plan to pass any information you gather to the police.”

[REACTION] ”No,” says the father looking directly into the officer’s eyes. “I intend to find and kill the man who murdered my son.”

The police officer suspects the father is not telling the truth about the private detective. His response is to ‘toe-the-line’ and provide un-emotional information. This further angers the father and he responds with the threat to murder the killer. At that moment, the father believes his words since they give him some control and increases his feelings of masculinity. Only his later actions will show his true internal voice.

The Key Points

In order to write effective dialogue, here are the key points to understand:

• A character is made up of three elements; dialogue, internal thoughts/feelings/beliefs and reaction to events. Characterization is the inconsistency of these three elements.
• See dialogue as ‘beats’. That is short sections that alter a character and/or pass a specific piece of plot information.
• Dialogue is all about action and reaction.
• You can only write effective dialogue if you understand the internal motivations of your characters.

What To Do Now…

Practice! Think up a simple section of dialogue, just one beat with two characters and write it out. Focus on action/reaction. Try to express a character’s internal thoughts with external dialogue. Keep it simple and remember the goal (direction) of the beat.

In this article, I will show you why understanding conflict will make you a better writer and help you to create engaging stories that capture the reader’s imagination. I will also show you how to avoid creating boring and one-dimensional characters.

Creating Tension

In the previous chapter, I discussed the importance of structuring your novel. I suggested you use a Three or Five Act structure which, in brief, contains an initial inciting incident, which compels the protagonist to act (Act 1), a climax that sees the inciting incident resolved (Act 2), and a section of resolution that ties up all of the loose ends (Act 3).

A very basic example of this would be a crime novel. The inciting incident would be the discovery of a body, the climax is the solving of the crime and capture of the murderer, the resolution is the motive behind the crime and the character’s actions.

The beginning of traditionally structured novels sees an inciting incident. Once this incident has occurred the writer has set up a level of tension within the reader’s mind. The reader knows this incident must be resolved and they will keep reading to seek the emotional release set up by the inciting incident, this is just human nature at work. This is the cliffhanger effect.

Imagine someone telling you the setup to a joke in the morning and then refusing to tell you the punch line until the next day. It would drive you insane! No matter how poor the joke, your natural instinct will drive you to resolve the mystery.

Writers can exploit this human trait.

Once the inciting incident has been set up, your novel will gain its own ‘momentum’. However, simply resolving the inciting incident would produce a short and very boring book. Instead, the reader is engaged by placing the protagonist in a state that, whilst seeking to resolve the inciting incident, the main character is continually faced and forced to resolve smaller conflicts.

The set-up and resolution of smaller conflicts, within the novel’s wider tension that comes from the resolution of the inciting incident, is the bricks and mortar of a novel.

The best way to do this is through the protagonist’s reaction to events.

Whilst these events may represent physical conflict, they may also illustrate other levels of conflict. The choices a character makes and how these reflect internal dialogues can be illustrated by how they react to a particular event. It is the way in which the protagonist faces and resolves the conflict, whilst in the search to resolve the final inciting incident, that will keep the reader interested.

The Three Types Of Conflict

In his book Story, Robert McKee explains that there are three types or levels of conflict:

1. Inner: This is a protagonist’s internal thoughts, feelings and belief system.
2. Personal: This is relationships with friends and family.
3. Extra-personal: This is society as a whole.

Inner conflict is the level of conflict at which novels have the advantage over other mediums such as films. The inner conflict is the voice that plays inside everyone’s head, it is their thinking, decision-making, sets of beliefs, prejudices etc. A skillful writer will establish an inner voice for their main characters and then demonstrate how this conflicts with external events and actions. The beauty of a novel is that you can ‘show’ a reader the protagonist’s inner thoughts. You can demonstrate how they are at conflict as they struggle through a string of events. A good example of a novel that uses inner conflict well is The Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs.

Personal conflict is the next level up and focuses on the conflict that arises from the interaction between characters. Conflict in this context is not violence (though that may be an option). Conflict is simply a set of circumstances/events/thoughts that are opposed to the protagonist’s wishes as they move to the resolution of the inciting incident. McKee suggests that a good example of personal conflict is the soap opera. I would add to this that any great love story operates on a personal conflict level – boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, girl’s parents/friends/society disapprove of the relationship.

Extra-personal conflict is the final level of conflict and involves the protagonist’s interaction with a wider society. This could be with the beliefs of society, such as in George Orwell’s 1984 or with the police/army/enemy (see any war/action movie). Extra-personal conflict is almost exclusively event driven.

Building Better Stories

The best novels use all three levels of conflict.

A great example of this has already been mentioned, and that’s Orwell’s 1984. Orwell demonstrates a masterful use of conflict in this book as he drags the reader to the book’s inevitable conclusion.

The inciting incident comes when the protagonist (Winston Smith) receives a note that simply says, ‘I love you’. This note forces a string of inner, personal and extra-personal conflicts as Winston Smith is forced to act. This then sets up a situation that must inevitably be resolved. At the highest level there is constant extra-personal conflict as Big Brother looks on, dictating the every move and thought of Winston Smith. The personal conflict is brought into sharp focus as Winston Smith’s relationship with Julia (the author of the note) develops a relationship that is forbidden by Big Brother. The final level of conflict, inner conflict, is presented throughout the book as Winston Smith struggles to reconcile his own internal thoughts, and desires with the propaganda of Big Brother. In fact, you could argue that what makes 1984 such a successful novel is not its dystopia vision, but the deeper questions that Winston smith is forced to ask and answer via the inner conflict.

What To Do Now…

I suggest that, if you do nothing else having read this chapter, it would be to start looking at novels and stories in relation to conflict.

I would suggest you read a novel, a bestselling ‘classic’ is a good place to start, and view the novel in terms of locating the inciting incident, whilst also recognizing internal, personal and extra-personal conflict.

In this article, I will teach you a set of techniques that will allow you to bring cohesion and a meaningful narrative arc to the structure of your novel. The techniques will allow you to avoid producing confusing, and emotionally disappointing story narratives.

It is easy to mock and dismiss the ‘science’ behind story writing. Hey, I used to do it a lot (though I was unpublished at the time). It was not until I learned more about the technical nature of writing and how a narrative can be constructed from scratch, that I finally lifted my own writing from a mediocre level, up to a level where publishers were prepared to take a gamble on my books.

The Five-Act Structure

Dramatic Structure is a narrative structure taken from the ancient Greeks and was used with great success by Shakespeare. In fact, Dramatic Structure remains the basic narrative framework on which the majority of successful novels, plays and films are based.

In its very simplest terms, this is the idea of a start, middle and an end.

In 1863 German playwright Gustav Freytag set out what was to become known as the ‘dramatic arc’. Freytag identified a five-act structure: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and dénouement. He produced a pyramid to demonstrate this idea; this is known as the Freytag pyramid.

The five acts can be broken down as follows:

1. Exposition: Sets up the story providing any contextual background the reader needs, but most importantly it contains the inciting moment. This incident sets the story in motion. An incident forces the protagonist to react. It requires resolution, producing narrative tension.
2. Rising Action: On a simplistic level this is the obstacles that are placed in the way of the protagonists as they attempt to resolve the inciting incident.
3. Climax: This is the turning point of the story. It is the point of the highest tension. In many modern narratives, this is the big battle or showdown.
4. Falling Action: The falling action is that part of the story in which the main part (the climax) has finished and you’re heading to the conclusion. This is the calm after the tension of the climax.
5. Dénouement: This is the resolution of the story where conflicts are resolved and loose ends tied up. This is the moment of emotional release for the reader.

Perhaps the most famous example of the Five Act Structure is William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Here’s a summary of the five acts:

Exposition – The exposition is very vague since the characters are introduced throughout the first part of the play. It can be considered that the entire first act is the exposition. Inciting incident – The three witches start the play off with a prophecy that Macbeth will become king and that Banquo’s children will become kings after Macbeth.

Rising action – The rising action is when some of the prophecies are coming true and Lady Macbeth is trying to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan.

Crisis/Climax – The climax is the actual murder of Duncan.

Falling action – The falling action is all the events occurring after the murder where Macbeth tries to hide his crime and cement his position as king by killing other would-be kings. Lady Macbeth goes insane.

Denouement – Lady Macbeth dies and Macbeth is executed. Malcolm becomes the King.

The Five Act Structure is a very classical interpretation of dramatic structure. The start of the 19th Century (and the rise of the film) saw a more simple, but very similar, narrative structure increasing in popularity: the Three Act Structure.

The Three-Act Structure

The best way to think of the Three Act Structure is as a simplification of the Five Act Structure:

1. Set Up: This is the introduction of the characters, plus any information the reader needs as context for the upcoming events. This also contains the inciting moment, which establishes narrative tension and spurs the protagonist into action.

2. Confrontation: The act sees the protagonist facing conflict to resolve the situation. Each time they appear to have found a solution, they are faced with more intense problems.

3. Resolution: This act sees resolution of the inciting moment and ties up any loose ends that have been unraveled. This is a mixture of climax and dénouement from the Five Act Structure.

A good example of the Three Act Structure is Star Wars.

This flow diagram from William P. Coleman’s blog offers an excellent simplification of the narrative arc.

How To Write Using Structure

The theory behind story is long established, but applying it to your writing is not an easy task.

As a starting point I would suggest you ask (and answer) these three questions:

1. What is the inciting incident in your book? This incident must have such an impact on the protagonist that they are left permanently altered and have no choice but to act to resolve the incident.

2. What conflict does your protagonist face? Conflict can be Inner (internal, in the mind), Personal (with family and friends) or Extra-Personal (with society as a whole). Conflict is the fuel that drives your narrative.

3. How is the Inciting Incident resolved? The resolution to the inciting incident must overcome the conflict and leave the protagonist permanently changed.

The answer to these questions will give you the framework on which you can build your three or five act story. However, to build the structure, you must first understand how acts are formed.

Building Acts

The building blocks of an act are scenes. In its simplest form, a scene is an event that forces the protagonist to act, altering them in the process.

To examine further… the scene will begin with the protagonist in a certain state. This may be as simple as happy or sad, or something far more complex as being perceived as a hero or villain. An event will occur that will force the protagonist to react. In reacting to the event, the protagonist is faced with conflict, which they overcome. In this process, their state is altered.

Example

The protagonist of a novel is driving his car late at night along a seemingly deserted street. He is returning from a date with his girlfriend, where he proposed and she said yes. He is happy and content, his world seems to be falling into place.

Suddenly, a drunken man stumbles out in front of his car. The protagonist can’t stop in time and he hits the man. The protagonist halts the car and can see the drunken man lying in the road. The protagonist looks around. There is no one else about. No one has seen him hit the man.

What should he do?

The right thing would be to phone the police and ambulance services, but he has been drinking and would be arrested [conflict]. He stares at his phone and glances at the man in the road before finally speeding away.

This scene sees the protagonist moving from a state of happiness and contentment to one of confusion. In a split second his world has changed from blissful peace to chaotic pain. One thing to note is that this scenes sets up the chance to examine another layer of writing, and that is the difference between a character’s thoughts and their actions.

Imagine in writing this novel you had developed a backstory where the protagonist was a ‘great guy’. You had even included a scene where he goes to great lengths to comment about his ‘ethics’. You have a side character commenting on him being a “nice guy” and an “honest person.” This one scene suddenly exposes a chasm between the protagonist’s thoughts and words and his actions, demonstrating a difference between his internal dialogue and his external actions.

This is a good example of why events in themselves are of little interest, but the way characters react to these events is fascinating.

An act is constructed by linking a number of scenes. The act, in itself, will have its own narrative arc with the same rules as the scene. An act will see the protagonist changing state as he overcomes conflict. Each scene will see the protagonist moving in a stepwise fashion from one state to the other.

When considering an act structure for your novel, my tip is to start with the sweeping narrative of your story, then to build into this the Three or Five Act Structure. Once you have these acts in place, you can then pencil in the key events turning these into scenes. You can then sketch out the event, conflict and change in state for each scene before finally writing.

What To Do Now…

The Three and Five Act Structures are just two of many act structures, but they are, especially the Three Act, by far the most common form of storytelling. I would urge you to go back to the novel you are currently writing and determine if you are applying an act structure to your narrative. If not, then it’s time to act.

My final note is a plea… don’t fall into the trap of thinking at your writing is beyond the need for the act structure.

It is true that there are examples of unstructured novels and films. They exist, but to be honest they are very rare.

If you are looking to apply an act structure to your novel, start with the Three Act Structure, it is the easiest to understand and will give you the best results with the least amount of effort. A well-written novel, which falls into a three or five act framework, has a far better chance of being published than one that is written with an unstructured narrative.

In this article, we will begin the process of preparing your extract for submission. I will explain the principles of editing and show you how self-editing will help you to produce the best document possible. Effective self-editing will help you to avoid submitting a manuscript that is riddled with obvious typos and silly errors.

Agents and publishers are inundated with manuscripts on a daily basis. In fact, they see so many manuscripts, and have so few publishing slots available, that they are looking for reasons to say no, not yes. It is easier for an agent/publisher to discover fault with a book and find an excuse to reject than it is to say yes. This means that it is your duty as a writer to give the agent/publisher no reason to say no!

For an agent/publisher, any time spent editing a book simply costs money, and cuts into profits. As it stands, any time spent working with a writer is time that could be spent publishing books or negotiating deals. The result is that agents/publishers are looking for books that are as close to ‘publication-ready’ as possible.

A well-edited book, which needs little in-house editing input, is a very interesting prospect for any publisher. Therefore, all other things being equal, a well-edited book stands a far better chance of publication over a book that needs work.

This may not be fair, and may not be good for the industry, but it is the current situation. It means that it has become a writer’s duty to make their book as close to ‘publication-ready’ as possible.

Understanding The Editing Process Is Key

If your book were to be prepared for publication by a publishing house, it would pass through a four editing step process prior to printing.

1. Structural editing
2. Stylistic editing
3. Copy-editing
4. Proofreading

The aim is simply to produce a book that is accessible and readable. Yet, the editing process is as much an art as a science and includes a large amount of ‘gut feel’. This said, self-editing (and even professional editing) hangs around three key questions. These questions are constantly posed in the editor’s mind (be that the writer or a third party). Only by consistently applying these questions can a good edit be performed.

• Is the book’s organization and content suitable for the intended audience, medium, market, and purpose? [Structural]
• How can the book’s meaning be clarified, the flow improved and the language smoothed? [Stylistic]
• Have you ensured the correctness, consistency, accuracy, and completeness of the document? [Copy]

Self-Editing Tips

When self-editing there are a number of tips and tricks you can use to make the job that little bit easier.

Be Consistent

Writing a book is a long process that often spans years. During this period, it is easy for writers to lose track of some of the minor plot details. However, it is vital that a writer makes every effort to maintain consistency throughout the writing process. The problem is that readers will notice mistakes. If you tell your readers that a character has blue eyes in the opening chapter, and then six chapters later you say they are brown, the reader will remember.

My tip is to use character reference sheets. These are simply lists of the key aspects for all of your characters. On these sheets you should record all the key facts — age, description, eye color etc. Include any details that might be important, such as relationships with other characters, home address and other details you develop. One additional tip is to get into the habit of updating your sheets as you build the characters.

Use Simple Grammar

Not all writers are grammar experts. In fact, the reality is that many writers struggle with grammar. My tip is to keep it simple. The correct use of the period (full stop) and comma will get you out of most tough spots. Learning the rules of the correct use of the apostrophe is also crucial, as is the grammar/punctuation of speech. However, beyond this you are getting onto dangerous ground. If you are unsure of the correct usage of the semi-colon, then don’t use it (even if Microsoft Word insists otherwise).

Formatting

Consistent formatting is an important, but often overlooked, part of editing. By this we are talking about titles, subtitles, indenting, font etc. You need to pay attention to anything that appears on the page. One way to get around inconsistencies is to use the ‘style’ function of your word processing package. Another way is to pay attention each time you start a new section, type in a header or change font. Being aware is half the battle.

Tense Usage

When talking to our editors the issue of tense was highlighted as a common problem. The switching of tenses (past to present/present to past) is something that happens to all writers. It is for this reason that you must pay particular attention to this problem.

Read Out Aloud

This is a tip that I think every editor worth their salt will pass onto writers. Once your work is completed, read it out aloud. Personally, I use a software program called Text Aloud. This allows me to follow the text as the computer reads it out. Reading your work out aloud will help you to spot silly mistakes but also the sentences that don’t flow. Another tip is to print your work out and read it from paper. I am not sure why (something to do with screen resolution?) but this seems to help spot mistakes.

Be Harsh — Cut The Dead Wood

Cutting back is a vital and very powerful skill for writers to develop. The foundation to the exercise should be for the writer to look at each section and ask ‘do I need this?’ Overly wordy sentences, extended paragraphs and repetition should all be removed. In addition, ANY section that fails to move the plot forward should be cut. I have seen novels where whole characters have been removed. Cutting back the work is painful but if done correctly will improve your book tenfold.

Read Each Line As A Line, Then A Paragraph, Then A Section, Then A Chapter…

If you have carried out all the steps above, and you are happy with your novel, then it’s time to start again. This time you need to go through the novel on a line-by-line basis. You may find it helps to wait for a couple of weeks before you try to re-edit. This time around, you need to scrutinize each sentence in turn, fine-tuning as you go. Then, when finished, go back and look at the text paragraph by paragraph. Be critical. Next, examine each section, then chapter and so on…

More Self-editing Tips

Perhaps the biggest problem writers face when editing their own work is simply getting too close. Even when holding the questions listed above in your mind, writers can still find it just too hard to detach themselves. However, this is understandable; in fact, I would go as far as saying this is essential.

The essence of any COPY edit is grammar and spelling but this is NOT an edit. An edit is so much more. It is important that a writer avoid becoming obsessed with spelling. Yes, spelling is important, and yes, you must be as accurate as possible. However, grammar is just part of the puzzle. A good edit consists of all three questions listed above — spelling is just one aspect.

One potentially powerful option open to writers is to use friends and family to help with the edit. My advice here is clear. Firstly, be very precise with friends and family in just what you require from them. They can act as great proofreaders, but if this is the job you want them to carry out, then be clear. Tell them all you want is feedback on grammar and spelling only. Secondly, be selective about what you implement from friends and family feedback. Even the best-intentioned feedback can be damaging and ill-advised. Be prepared to listen, but also be prepared to ignore. After all, it is your book.

If you have managed to get this far then you should have written your query letter and constructed your synopsis. The third and final part of the book proposal is the extract.

The whole point of your book proposal has been to push the agent and publisher to the point at which they are willing to read your extract. Your query letter and synopsis will have demonstrated that you represent a real ‘commercial’ opportunity, however it will all be for nothing if your extract is not up to scratch.

You Only Have To Be Good Enough

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell examines the roll of intelligence and ability in the success of any given project. In essence, his findings are simple.

Gladwell concludes that as long as the individual met a certain ‘standard’ in their chosen field, then success was dependent on other factors. In other words, as long as your writing ability and technical ability are ‘good enough’, then it will be other factors that decide on the success of your book. However, if your writing is not up to the required level, then rejection will follow.

This means that writing Shakespearian-standard prose will not bring certain success, but a mistake-riddled manuscript, with poor narrative, is bound for rejection.

No agent or publisher is expecting a manuscript to land on his or her desk print-ready. Editors are aware that all books need work prior to publication. Every novel will be edited at least once and will receive a copy edit and close proofread. However, agents and publishers are cost sensitive and they are looking for manuscripts that need as little work as possible. Gone are the days when an agent or publisher would spend years nurturing a writer; today they are looking for a fast turnaround.

The long and short is that no matter how well written your book proposal, if your extract is not ‘good enough’ it will be rejected.

The Structure Of Your Extract

Agents and publishers can be difficult beasts at times and each will have their own ideas on what your book proposal should look like. I would insist that before sending an extract to a publisher or agent that you read their submission guidelines carefully. However, as a general rule of thumb your extract should be:

• A sensible font in 10 or 12 point (I would suggest Arial or Times New Roman).
• Double-spaced.
• Three chapters or fifty pages (double-spaced).
• The first chapters in your book.

These rules are always over ruled by a specific agent or publisher’s own guidelines.

Ensuring that your extract is the opening of the book has two distinct advantages. The first is that the first fifty pages of your novel should contain your inciting incident. This event causes the protagonist to react and sets up the narrative arc. The second is that including non-sequential chapters just raises too many questions. The agent will wonder why you haven’t given them sequential chapters, perhaps even worrying that you are trying to hide a slow or clumsy opening. A third reason is that the opening section of your book is arguably the most important. If you can’t hook an agent or publisher with this extract, what hope do you have with your reader?

In the remaining articles, we will look at ways to ensure your book is the best it can possibly be at the time of submission.

In the previous article, we went into detail about how you can use acts and scenes to produce a framework from which your synopsis can be written. In this article, we address some of the common questions posed regarding a synopsis.

Double or Single Line Spacing?

In a pre-internet world, where all submissions were printed and posted, agents and publishers would insist that documents were double-spaced. The world has moved on but many agents/publishers are still insisting on double-spacing. I suspect the main reason for this is that your synopsis will be printed out and double-spacing leaves room for mark-up. It is for this reason that I strongly suggest that you double-space your synopsis. This said, I would also suggest you always check the agent/publisher’s guidelines before submitting.

How Long Should A Synopsis Be?

Agents, publishers and writers all seem to have a view on the ‘correct’ length for a synopsis. Before we examine this question in a bit more detail let me say just one thing, there is no correct answer. If your synopsis covers all the key plot points, major characters and is not excessively long or short, then it will be OK.

You should be aiming for a synopsis length of between two and ten pages (double-spaced). If you want a target length then I would aim at not exceeding five pages. In fact, I would go one step further and say that if you can hit three-five pages in length then you will please just about everyone.

There is a school of thought, which says the two-page synopsis is the perfect length. I have never come across a decent argument as to why ’two pages’, and my view is that it often puts too much pressure on a writer.

I have also come across a number of writers who opt for a two synopsis approach. They will write a longer five-page (ish) synopsis and include a short one-page summary. For me, and anyone following this guide, I would strongly suggest you don’t take this approach. Remember, the query letter contains a one-paragraph synopsis, so if the agent/publisher has got to the point of reading your synopsis they need a substantial document that presents all the information.

Which Tense?

Your synopsis should be written in present tense. This is the industry standard. The example from the previous lesson demonstrates this…

BOB SMITH, a middle age cop with relationship issues and a problem with drink, is called to the scene of a grisly murder of a young girl. After only a brief examination, he recognizes the method of her death. Another girl was killed in a similar manner only weeks before and Bob Smith is sure he has a serial killer in his city. The post mortem confirms Bob’s fears, whilst also revealing the killer used a strange ceremonial knife and left a note containing a biblical quote in the mouth of the dead girl.

Anything Else?

The first time you introduce a major character in your synopsis, you should put the character’s name in capital letters.

In the previous articles, we looked at writing your query letter, we examined the role of Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake Concept in discovering the structure of your novel. We first looked at how it could be used to develop an elevator pitch and then expanded further on the concept when writing a brief synopsis. In this chapter, we are going to once again return to the Snowflake Concept and use the Five Key Elements to act as the skeleton when writing your full synopsis.

In the previous article, we looked at the role of the synopsis and discovered that it was a document that not only provided a summary of your book’s plot, but also reassured publishers that your book will fit their publishing portfolio. The aim of this lesson is to give you a solid, workable framework from which you can write a synopsis that provides agents and publishers with all the information they require to make an informed decision about your book. It will also help you avoid writing a synopsis that fails to outline all the key characters and all the major plot events.

To recap, the Five Key Elements approach asks five questions, which when answered by a writer will pull out the essential aspects of a novel. The questions are as follows:

1. Who’s the main character?
2. What is the situation that is forcing the main character to take action?
3. What is the main character’s aim?
4. What is stopping the character from achieving their goal?
5. What is the pinnacle of the story, the moment at which the character’s goal may be lost forever?

You should have already answered these questions and it is these answers we are going to use to develop the synopsis.

The Start, The Middle And The End

Most successful novels, and almost all successful films, operate using a variant of a classic three-act structure. In its most simple terms, this is the concept of the start, the middle and the end.

Here is a very rough (and I mean very rough) outline of a typical three-act structure:

• START: The inciting incident occurs; an event that forces the protagonist to act.
• MIDDLE: The protagonist attempts to resolve the inciting incident but faces ever-increasing difficulties.
• END: The inciting incident is resolved by the protagonist.

The Five Key Elements approach is designed to use the five key questions to allow you to clearly define your novel’s start, middle and end.

If we now combine the five key questions and the three-act structure we get the following:

1. START: The inciting incident (Question 2) occurs, this is an event in which the protagonist (Question 1) is forced to act.
2. MIDDLE: The protagonist attempts to resolve the inciting incident but faces ever-increasing difficulties (Questions 3 and 4).
3. END: The inciting incident is resolved by the protagonist (Question 5).

Example

Let’s use a very basic police drama as an example.

The plot is straightforward. Bob Smith is a cop who doesn’t play by the rules but gets the job done. He is divorced and likes a drink. When a serial killer strikes for the second time in Bob Smith’s city, it is up to the cop to track down the killer.

OK — let’s apply the five questions:

1. Who’s the main character? Bob Smith.
2. What is the situation that is forcing the main character to take action? Second murder.
3. What is the main character’s aim? To capture the killer.
4. What is stopping the character from achieving their goal? Don’t know who the killer is, must follow the clues.
5. What is the pinnacle of the story, the moment at which the character’s goal may be lost forever? Meets the killer in a violent showdown.

This may seem like a very simplistic breakdown of the story, but when writing a synopsis it is best to work from the bottom upwards. If you are able to sketch out the start, middle and end of your novel it will be far easier to expand this into a 3-5 page synopsis.

Think In Acts

It is now time to look at your plot in detail.

The best way to think about your novel when writing a synopsis is in acts and scenes. If you have followed the start, middle and end process detailed above, you will have a natural three-act structure, with Act I (the start), Act II (the middle) and Act III (the end).

Let’s apply this to our example:

Example

ACT I (start): The serial killer strikes for a second time and it falls to Bob Smith to solve the murder.

ACT II (middle): Bob Smith follows the clues found at the murder scene until slowly uncovering the identity of the murderer.

ACT III (end): The murderer is tracked down to an old deserted warehouse. Bob Smith arrests the murderer in a showdown. The motive for the killings is revealed.

I strongly suggest that at this point, you split your novel into acts. I understand that you may feel your novel doesn’t fit the three-act structure and that’s fine. However, it will still naturally split into scenes. There are models for five-act novels, or even more. Yet what is important when writing your synopsis is not the act structure, but the fact that you have clearly identified the acts in your book.

Think In Scenes

A scene is a passage of your novel in which the protagonist undergoes some kind of change. This might be emotional, they may learn something new or it may simply be a change in circumstances. In its own way, a scene is a story in itself. A good indication of a scene is that it can be lifted from a book and stand-alone. Each scene will have a start, middle and end. It will also have an element of conflict.

Your next step is to split your acts into scenes.

There is no rule to number of scenes per act and each scene can be a different length. In fact, each act can be a different length (in a classic three act structure Act 1 and 3 tend to be of similar length and both shorter than the longer Act 2). In fact, you will probably find that you have a ready-made scene breakdown in the form of your chapters. There is a strong possibility that you have naturally formed chapters from scenes.

Example

I have resisted the temptation of plotting out a full novel and have instead included the breakdown of the first three scenes of Act 1:

• ACT 1: Scene 1 - Bob Smith told of a murder. The reader learns that Bob Smith is single and the disorganized nature of his living arrangements point towards a disorganized life. (Change: learns of murder, this is also the inciting incident)
• ACT 1: Scene 2: Bob Smith arrives at the murder scene. The victim and the circumstances of the death are similar to a past murder. (Change: learns that a serial killer is active)
• ACT 1: Scene 3: Bob Smith attends the post mortem. He discovers the victim was stabbed with an unusual ceremonial knife. He also discovers a note in the victim’s mouth with a biblical text inscribed. (Change: learns vital clues)

This example gives you an outline you can use to plot out your own novel’s scene and act structure. From this outline, you will be able to produce your synopsis.

Summarize Your Plot

Having identified your novel’s act structure and then listed the scenes within each act, you are finally in a position to write your synopsis. There is no easy way to do this and the long and short is that you are going to have to summarize down the key events.

We will talk more in the next chapter about the length of your synopsis, but as a rule of thumb you are heading for between 2-5 pages (double spaced).

To add to the complexity, you don’t want to be talking about acts and scenes in the synopsis. Your synopsis needs to be a reflection of your novel with its own narrative arc (start, middle and end). To help you visualize the kind of document you will produce, I have summarized the example we have used above. One word of warning here. Our example contains just one character and none of the complexity that you will find in a full novel. However, the example below will act as a workable guide.

BOB SMITH, a middle age cop with relationship issues and a problem with drink, is called to the scene of a grisly murder of a young girl. After only a brief examination, he recognizes the method of her death. Another girl was killed in a similar manner only weeks before and Bob Smith is sure he has a serial killer in his city. The post mortem confirms Bob’s fears, whilst also revealing the killer used a strange ceremonial knife and left a note containing a biblical quote in the mouth of the dead girl.

Summary

1. Use the Five Key Elements questions.
2. Split into acts and scenes.
3. Ensure synopsis has its own start, middle and end.

When it comes to preparing a book proposal, the biggest obstacle that many writers face is the dreaded synopsis. At BubbleCow we hear on a daily basis from writers who just don’t know where to start when it comes to writing a synopsis. It is not uncommon to hear of writers who have struggled for weeks, or even months, to wrestle their story into some kind of meaningful summary.

I would like to say that this guide will make writing a book synopsis easy. I would also like to say that by following the chapters you would suddenly be able to knock up a winning synopsis without even breaking a sweat. I would like to say this, but I would be lying. Writing a synopsis is tough and there is no short cut!

This said, what the following articles will do is teach you how to write a book synopsis. They will give you the tools and framework you need to construct a synopsis that fulfills an agent’s or publisher’s wildest dream.

What Is A Synopsis?

In its most simple form a synopsis is an outline of your novel. It introduces all the key characters and events, whilst outlining the narrative arc from the start to the end. Perhaps the best way to understand a synopsis is to understand why agents and publishers insist that you include one in your book proposal.

The role of the synopsis is as follows:

1. To provide a complete summary of your book’s narrative arc.
2. To reassure the agent/publisher that your book fits within their publishing portfolio.
3. To provide a document that can be used to secure a commission for your novel.

A Synopsis Provides A Summary

Agents and publishers face a paradox. Though they are busy and their time is stretched, they still need new books and new writers to feed the publishing machine. The book proposal has been developed as a time-effective method of assessing new books. In many ways, the book proposal is as much about removing books that are unsuitable as finding those that are suitable.

The book proposal process means that unsuitable books are pruned from the proposal system as quickly as possible.

The first ‘gate’ is the query letter. Assuming that your letter is well written, it will show to the agent/publisher that your book is:

• of the correct genre,
• has a potentially interesting narrative,
• is written by an interesting writer who is aware of the market.

Having progressed past the query letter stage, the next hurdle is the synopsis.

Your synopsis will allow the agent/publisher to confirm or deny that your book’s narrative has enough potential to invest further time assessing your novel. However, even if you have ticked all the boxes with the query letter, if your synopsis is not up to scratch then rejection looms.

A Synopsis Reassures

In previous chapters, we have developed the idea that publishers are highly specialized in certain genres. In reality, the situation is far more complex and subtle than this.

Many publishers will have their own publishing ethos and agenda. They will be looking to publish certain ‘types’ of books. This may not even be the same types of books as they have published previously.

For example, you may come across a publisher that has had great success publishing ‘vampire’ novels. When you look closely at their recent publications, you see vampire title after vampire title. Therefore, if you have written a vampire book, this publisher may seem the natural choice. However, behind the scenes, the publisher may have decided to move away from vampires and are looking for books about werewolves. This means that your vampire book, though of the correct genre, will not be suitable for their plans.

This may seem depressing on the surface, since the public often have little indication on where publishers are intending to go with their next books. The good news is that agents do!

In the example above, a good agent will know the publisher in question is looking for books about werewolves and will be looking for novels about that topic. Should you have written a book about werewolves and submit to the agent, then bingo — right place at the right time!

Therefore, one role of a synopsis is to communicate the deeper narrative arc of a novel, without agents and publishers having to spend a whole day reading your manuscript. It allows them to quickly find and identify novels that are of potential interest. The flipside is that it also allows them to quickly reject novels with narratives that agents feel are not commercial (agent code for ‘publishers are looking for something different’).

A Synopsis Helps Secure a Book Deal

If you are able to secure representation by an agent and if your book is submitted to a publisher, who shows interest, then the synopsis is a vital part of the commissioning process. What tends to happen at a publisher is that an editor assesses your work in the first instance. If they feel your book has potential for the publisher, it is then presented to a committee of other, often more senior editors. These editors assess the potential of your book. Should they feel your book matches their plans, then a deal is offered.

Part of this assessment process is your synopsis. Rather than each commissioning editor reading your book, they will often read just the synopsis, and use this to form an initial impression. This means that your synopsis is an essential document. It means that time invested in your synopsis now will pay off in the long term.

In this article, we will look at a number of issues that will help you negotiate some of the more difficult or confusing questions that may arise whilst preparing your book proposal. By this point, you should have a workable query letter. This article aims to try to answer some of the common questions that arise in regards to a query letter.

How Do You Pitch a Series of Books?

It is very common for fiction writers to have an idea for a series of books. After all, a series can be a very attractive prospect for potential agents and publishers. However, this raises an important question as to the best way to pitch your series of books.

As a general rule of thumb, my advice to writers pitching a book series is that your approach is dependent on how many books of the series are actually written.

If you have written just one book, but have the outline/synopsis/vague idea for a series of follow-on books, then pitch just one book. By this, I mean that your pitch should focus very heavily on your written book, with just a small section in the cover letter explaining that you see the book as part of a series. Don’t include any information beyond this simple statement. You are selling a single book NOT a series.

If you have written more than one book then your pitch is for the whole series. Your book proposal will focus on the books as a set, with a separate synopsis for each title. The important difference here is that you are selling a book series, not a single book.

A single book with the potential for a series is one product; a series that has already been written is an entirely different product.

Why Does it Matter?

Well in the first instance, everyone (well not everyone but you know what I mean) says their book is part of a series. This is far more common in certain genres, but is still commonplace across the board. The problem is that if your series is not written then your claim is just hot air. Agents/publishers need to see a product, and yes, the potential for a series will strengthen that product’s appeal, but ultimately it is sales that will determine the number of follow-on books that are produced.

You may have a great idea for a ten-book series of novels, but the publisher has seen it all before. Unless you have a book series that is actually written, then make the series aspect of your pitch nothing more than an added bonus.

What if the Book is Already Self-Published?

It is not uncommon for an agent or publisher to seriously consider a book that has already been published. However, it is all going to come down to sales. If you have sold 10,000 books in two weeks then agents will come running. The flipside is that if you have sold just a handful then questions will be raised.

If you are pitching a book that has been self-published, at some point the issue of sales will come up. My advice is that if the book has impressive sales (more than 2000 per year), then they should be listed in detail in your pitch. If the sales are less impressive, then still say it has been self-published, but avoid adding exact numbers. However, be aware that the agent/publisher will ask — this will be your chance to explain the reasons for the poor sales.

In this article, you will learn the importance of providing the outline for a realistic marketing plan. If done correctly, this will avoid you appearing to the agent and publisher as just another wannabe writer.

In the previous article, you learned how to construct an effective biography. In this chapter, you will learn how to present a marketing plan that will impress agents and publishers.

This chapter covers the final section of your final paragraph. By this point, you will have clearly identified your book’s genre, its readership and your value as a writer. This final section shows what you are prepared to do to promote your book.

Marketing budgets, for even the biggest publishers, are becoming squeezed and any significant marketing opportunities a writer can bring will be a big advantage in their bid to secure a book deal.

Offline Aspects

To begin you should be listing all offline contacts you have access to that will set you aside from other writers. All publishers will have a marketing department with access to many traditional newspapers and magazines. However, if you have fast-track access to offline organizations, which are relevant to your book, this is a huge bonus. For example, if you have written a book about rock climbing and are the editor of a world-renowned rock climbing magazine, then this needs to go into your pitch.

The importance here is relevance. The better access you can have to a potential target reader, the more attractive you will appear to the publisher.

Online Aspects

The need for an online presence is well established. Before pitching, you should have a well-established blog/website, as well as active social media channels. However, when detailing your online aspect it is essential that you offer precise and detailed information.

Blog: Include your blog/website name and url (web address). If you have a blog, make sure you have posted regularly in the weeks running up to pitching. There is nothing worse than a dead blog! It is also essential that you provide some kind of stats to show the reach of your blog. Don’t be worried by your numbers, your blog is what it is. However, do remember that it is relatively easy to work out the traffic coming to a blog, so you might as well be upfront about your efforts. I would suggest you include the following stats:

• Unique visitors per month: This is the number of unique individuals who have visited your blog in the last 30 days. For example, one individual may visit your blog three times in one week. However, this would only count as one unique visitor. Note: RSS and email subscribers do not count toward your total. For a true count, you must add the number of subscribers you have to this monthly total.
• Page views per month: This is the number of pages your visitors have viewed in the last month. If you divide this number by your total unique visitors, you will get the average number of pages viewed by each visitor.
• Percent change in the last 12 months: This is the rate of growth in the last 12 months. Publishers want to know if your audience is growing and at what rate. Here’s the formula: unique visitors in the last 30 days, minus your unique visitors for the same period 12 months ago, divided by your unique visitors for the same period 12 months ago, multiplied by 100.
• Average number of comments per post: This is a little trickier, because not all commenting systems keep track of this stat. Disqus, the system I use (and highly recommend) provides an “analytics snapshot” that tells me how many comments I received today, last month, and all time.

Social Media: Include any social media channels where you are active. It is important that you provide your ‘handle’ (e.g. on twitter @bubblecow), any significant numbers (e.g. number of followers) and anything about that channel that is important. If you have a Facebook fan page where you run a popular monthly writing competition, make sure this is included.

Summary

• List all relevant offline contacts
• Included meaningful stats
• Be creative!

In this article, you will learn what to include in your biography to ensure you are an attractive prospect to agents and publishers. You will also learn how to avoid including irrelevant or damaging information.

In the previous article, you learned how to write a brief synopsis. In this chapter, you will discover the importance of a good biography.

By this point you will have already completed the first three paragraphs of your cover letter. The fourth paragraph covers two key elements: the first is your biography; the second is your marketing plan. This lesson is all about you, your profile as a writer and any interesting facts that may act as potential marketing hooks.

In this paragraph, you will be presenting the following key facts:

• Your writing history.
• Information about you as a person.
• Your marketing platform.

A common mistake writers make is to assume that their life, beyond writing, is of little interest to a publisher. This is simply not the case. In the modern internet age, the writer is as much a product as the book and it is for this reason that writers must sell themselves when pitching their book.

To help you construct the first part of your final paragraph, I will go through each of the key points in turn:

Your writing history: Writing history is not an essential part of being published; many debut writers, with no writing history, are able to secure a book deal. However, detailing your writing history will give the agent/publisher a feel for just how serious you are as a writer. If you are able to paint a picture of a writer who has been through a series of steps, over a number of years, developing and honing your craft in the process, this will be a big positive. Therefore, I would suggest that you consider including the following information:

• ANY published material. This can be books, magazine articles or even poems. Any published work will show that someone, somewhere, has taken a gamble on you and your writing.
• Any writing competitions in which you have been placed.
• Any long term writing groups to which you belong.

This is not an exhaustive list, but gives you an indication of the kinds of information you should be including.

Information about you as a person: The aim here is to give the agent/publisher a snapshot of you as a person. The reason for this is twofold. The first is to flesh out your proposal, to help the agent see you as a person and to make it that little bit easier for them to say yes. The second is for potential marketing opportunities. If you are a skateboarding grandmother or a skydiving headmaster, then these are all hooks for a marketing camping.

Let me give you two examples:

The Stephen King publishing story is famous, but let me tease out one fact. Wikipedia says, ‘King actually threw an early draft of the novel in the trash after becoming discouraged with his progress writing about a teenage girl with psychic powers. His wife retrieved the manuscript and encouraged him to finish it.’ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King] This throwaway incident is, in fact, a great hook for any media outlet and instantly provides an interesting story that can be used to kick start a marketing campaign.

The second example is in regards to GP Taylor. He is a children’s writer, but more importantly, at the time of his first novel being published, he was a vicar. Once again, ‘vicar turned writer’, provides a great ‘in’ for a media campaign. The point is that for GP Taylor his job as a vicar may have seemed mundane and unimportant, but to the marketing department it was gold dust.

Summary

• In the modern internet age the writer is as much a product as the book.
• Include any writing history.
• Include any aspect of your life that might act as a good marketing hook.

In this article, you will learn that providing an outline of your book’s narrative will help the agent and publisher to make an informed choice. You will also learn that an extended synopsis is unneeded and may even put the agent or publisher off your book.

In the previous article, you learned why it was essential to pitch a completed manuscript. In this chapter, you discover the best way to summarize your book’s narrative into a single paragraph.

By this point, you should already have the ammunition to complete your first two paragraphs. The first consists of a tag line and elevator pitch. The second pin points your book’s genre, lists the word count, provides competitor titles and explains the status of the book.

The third paragraph in your query letter is a brief synopsis of your book. Before I delve into the guts of this topic, I want to make one point — this is a BRIEF synopsis.

As we have discussed, at the moment of reading your query letter, the agent/publisher is concerned with assessing the suitability of your book for their list. Therefore, the synopsis here is to reassure the agent/publisher that your book is of the correct genre and is something they will be comfortable selling to publishers.

In addition to the query letter, your book proposal will also be including a more extended synopsis. This will probably be a couple of pages in length and provide a detailed outline of your book. Therefore, there is no need for your brief synopsis to be longer than a single, short, paragraph.

We have already talked about using the Five Key Elements, and we are going to return to this concept in order to write an effective synopsis of your book. As a reminder, the Five Key Elements come from these five questions:

1. Who’s the main character?
2. What is the situation that is forcing the main character to take action?
3. What is the main character’s aim?
4. What is stopping the character from achieving their goal?
5. What is the pinnacle of the story, the moment at which the character’s goal may be lost forever?

Let’s look at these in a little more depth and examine how they relate to your synopsis.

Who’s the main character? This may seem a simple question, but its aim is to clarify whom the story is about. Good stories are about people, not events, and knowing which character your story is about is essential. Another name for the main character is the protagonist. Looking at some examples, you will see more clearly what I mean.

Who is the protagonist in the Harry Potter series? Well, Harry.

What about Lord of the Rings? In this case, it’s Frodo. In Lord of the Rings you have many characters and many events, but the protagonist is Frodo. He is the main character that drives the narrative forward.

What is the situation that is forcing the main character to take action? All traditionally structured stories will have an event, early on in the narrative, which forces the protagonist to react. This event leaves the protagonist no option but to act. They may choose not to act, but this is still an action (or non-action). This is called the Inciting Incident.

A clear example of this is in a cop drama. A body is found (inciting incident) leaving the protagonist police officer no choice but to react to the event.

What is the main character’s aim? Here we are looking at the protagonist’s resultant choice from the inciting incident. The event will have forced the protagonist to act and they now have a goal or aim that will resolve the incident. Returning to the cop drama, the discovery of a dead body will force the protagonist police officer to react. Chances are he will resolve to catch the killer. Catching the killer is now the aim of the protagonist. The aims and goals of your character may be complex, but for the sake of the synopsis, you are looking to define the key aim.

What is stopping the character from achieving their goal? Having defined the protagonist, the event that spurs them into action and their goal, you can’t have the resolution occur in the opening pages of the book. For any type of story to exist there needs to be forces beyond the control of the protagonist, which conspire to stop them achieving their goal. This is conflict. It may be that the protagonist is facing an internal struggle, which is stopping them from reaching their goal. It may also be that people close to the protagonist stand in their way or it may be that society as a whole is providing the conflict. It may even be the case that all three types of conflict exist simultaneously.

In our cop drama, it is the serial killer running and hiding that is causing the conflict. Yet in Lord of the Rings, as Frodo seeks to destroy the ring, larger powers conspire to stop his progress. Yet, he also faces personal conflict as he fights an internal psychological struggle with the ring.

What is the pinnacle of the story, the moment at which the character’s goal may be lost forever? This is the climax of your story, the point at which the protagonist resolves the inciting incident. This can be as simple as catching the serial killer or throwing the ring into Mount Doom. However, it may be less obvious as the protagonist overcomes an internal battle. However, whatever your climax it is essential that you identify this important moment.

By answering these five questions you have the basis for a synopsis.

Example

As an example, I have returned to The Three Little Pigs. However, I have refined the answers in light of our new understanding of the questions.

1. Who’s the main character? It was, ‘The Three Little Pigs’. However, the protagonist of the story is actually the Third Little Pig. The story is about him, not his brothers.
2. What is the situation that is forcing the main character to take action? Was, ‘Left home and need to make their way in the world’. This now becomes, ‘Big Bad Wolf attacks’.
3. What is the main character’s aim? This was to, ‘Build three new houses’. It now becomes, ‘To survive the attack of The Big Bad Wolf’.
4. What is stopping the character from achieving their goal? Was, ‘Big Bad Wolf will ‘huff and puff’ and kill the pigs’. We can now think of this in terms of conflict, so this now becomes, ‘Big Bad Wolf is strong and able to destroy houses made from straw and sticks’.
5. What is the pinnacle of the story, the moment at which the character’s goal may be lost forever? ‘Two pigs are killed and a third needs to escape’, becomes ‘Big Bad Wolf attacks the house made of bricks’.

Using the answers to the questions, I then combined the five key elements to get the following one paragraph synopsis of the story:

Thrown out of their homes, the Third Pig and his two identical twin brothers are forced make their way in the world. When the brothers hear of a pig eating serial killer, known as the Big Bad Wolf, they have no choice but to build houses in which they can hide. The First Little Pig builds a house of straw and the Second Little Pig a house of sticks. Yet these are little protection from the Big Bad Wolf, who huffs and puffs and eats the pigs. The Third Little Pig constructs his house from bricks and when the Big Bad Wolf attacks, he discovers the huffs and puffs are useless. Yet, the big Bad wolf decides to climb down the chimney and only the quick thinking of the Third Little Pig saves his life, as he places a pot of boiling water on the fire and the Big Bad Wolf comes to a steaming end.

Summary

1. The synopsis should be no longer than a single paragraph.
2. Use the Five Key Elements to build your synopsis.
3. Keep it brief.

In this article, you will learn the importance of resisting the temptation to pitch an incomplete manuscript.

In the previous article, you learned the importance of competitor titles. In this chapter, you will find out why agents and publishers are only interested in completed manuscripts.

Having determined your book’s word count, and identified a number of competitor titles, the final aspect of the second paragraph is the status of your book.

We have all done it…

You’re a couple of months into a writing project, the story is taking shape and you have a couple of thousand good words down on paper. We feel good and we are sure we know where the novel is going. Slowly the question arises in our head, ‘Is this good enough?’ You consider the idea of submitting it early to a publisher or agent — after all, what do you have to lose? If they reject it then nothing’s lost, the novel is in its early stages after all. If they like the book, it will give you the validation you need and, you never know, perhaps even a book deal!

Please, please, please ignore this voice in your head — it is not your friend.

Under no circumstances should you submit your book to an agent or publisher until you are 100% sure it is finished and ready to go.

Let’s deal with the reasons why you may feel the need to submit your unfinished manuscript to an agent or publisher:

1. Validation: I understand: all writers have that nagging voice at the back of their mind that is telling them that their work is not good enough, and I mean ALL writers. Now, let me let you into a secret, no publisher will ever make that voice go away. No matter how many books you write, no matter how many bestsellers you produce, that voice will remain. No one can make it go away. All you can do is ignore it. IF and it’s a big if, you need some early validation then look elsewhere for the answer. I suggest a professional editor (like BubbleCow) or a reading group or even a friend, but not an agent.

Books are rejected for many reasons and quality is just one. If you pitch early to a publisher in the belief that a yes means it’s good enough and no means its rubbish, you are destined for heartache. An agent or publisher just can’t give you what you need.

2. A reason to keep going: If you are a quarter of the way through a novel and its getting tough, then tough. Suck it up and keep writing. If you need external motivation at that early stage, then writing really isn’t for you. Writing is a lonely, nerve-wracking and confidence-sapping pastime. You need the constitution of an ox and the determination of a bull. You need to be able to ignore the logical and reasonable voice that is telling you to stop and get validation, and just keep writing. Get words on the page. There are many techniques that will keep you writing but looking for an agent to offer you a book deal on a partially written novel is just not one of them.

3. A book deal: I personally know many published writers from bestsellers to specialist niche writers selling a couple of hundred books a year. I can safely say, hand on heart, not one of these was offered a deal on a book that was partially written.

Does it happen? Well, yes. Debut novelists do get offered book deals on partial manuscripts… but it is very rare. In fact, as the publishing world alters it is becoming almost unheard of. In reality, if you submit a partially written manuscript to an agent or publisher the most likely response you will get is, ‘no thanks’. The best possible response you can reasonably expect will be a request to see the full novel, and this leaves you with a problem.

The publishing world moves quickly and the agent will not wait around for six months (or a year) for you to finish your book. The result will be that you go into a tailspin, stabbing away at your computer, rushing through your novel, all for the sake of an agent who has shown a glimmer of interest. The resultant novel will probably be sub-standard, the agent will read it and reject.

The cold hard truth is that you get one chance with any agent. Why would you blow that chance by submitting a partially written novel?

To sum it all up, your second paragraph should contain a statement saying the novel is written and ready for submission.

Summary

• Don’t submit a partially written manuscript.

In this article, you will learn how carefully listing a set of books that are similar to your book will allow agents and publishers to have confidence that your book is suitable for them. This technique will also allow you to avoid confusion regarding your book’s genre.

In the previous article, you learned the importance of word count. In this article, you will discover how knowing the marketplace increases your chances of landing a book deal.

In addition to word count, your second paragraph should also contain a list of competitor books. The reason for this is not to say that you are ‘like’ the writers of the books listed, but instead to demonstrate to potential agents and publishers that you have a firm grasp of where your book fits in the marketplace.

We have already established that genre is essential for agents and publishers. However, one problem that agents and publishers face is that many writers incorrectly place their books. It is not uncommon for an agent or publisher to get a pitch for a book that says it is in their genre, but once they start reading they soon realize it has been misplaced. By listing competitor titles you can ensure that you avoid this disastrous problem.

I have found that, when initially explaining the concept of competitor titles to writers, I will often face understandable resistance. Writers will say things like, “Why should I turn an agent’s attention to my competition?” They will also often express a concern that by highlighting well known writers they themselves will come across as arrogant or overly ambitious.

Both of these viewpoints misunderstand the aim and potential power of competitor titles.

Why Use Competitor Titles?

One of the reasons that a writer is rejected by agents and publishers is that the agent or writer misunderstands the nature of the book being proposed and fails to see that it would be suitable for their list.

As I described, the publishing industry is based around genre. We have seen that bookshops, booksellers, publishers and agents have all positioned themselves to be experts in producing, marketing and selling a particular genre of book. Agents and publishers spend time and effort making it clear to writers what genres they represent and publish.

There are two important facts to remember:

1. No matter how good your book, if you pitch it to an agent or publisher that doesn’t represent or publish your genre, your book WILL be rejected.
2. Agents and publishers are so used to receiving books from an unsuitable genre that it is the writer’s duty to ensure that there is zero chance of the genre of their book being misunderstood.

There are two ways to ensure the genre of your book is not misunderstood. The first is to clearly state the genre of your book at least once (if not twice). The second is to provide three or four titles of other key books that are similar to your book AND are in the same genre.

Agents and publishers are experts in your genre. If you start listing books that they recognize as being in the genre they represent and publish, there is no chance that the genre of your book will be misunderstood.

How To Choose Competitor Titles

There are two criteria for selecting suitable competitor titles:

• The books MUST be the same genre as your book.
• The books MUST be similar to your book in some way.

I suggest that you don’t begin selecting your competitor titles until you have firmly established your book’s genre.

As for the titles you end up listing, it is very much a personal choice. You may find that one or two books jump out for a particular reason. They may have been strong influences on your writing, or they may represent a particular niche in your genre. This will be especially true if you are pitching a sub-genre to a more general agent or publisher.

For example: Let’s say you are pitching a book that you have identified as Science Fiction, but could easily fit into the sub-genre of cyberpunk. The problem you face is that, since cyberpunk is a very narrow sub-genre, there are no agents or publishers specializing in publishing this genre alone.

You don’t wish to put off potential agents or publishers by openly declaring the book as cyberpunk and therefore you pitch your book as Science Fiction and make no reference to cyberpunk. You feel this will open up more agents and publishers. However, by carefully selecting your competitor titles you can make it clear that your book fits into the sub-genre of cyberpunk without ever mentioning the word ‘cyberpunk’.

In this case my three competitor titles would be:

William Gibson’s Neuromancer (A genre-defining novel).

Philip K Dick’s Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep (the novella on which the film Blade Runner was based).

Gary A. Ballard’s Under the Amoral Bridge (a more modern title).

When choosing your competitor titles I suggest you use the following pattern:

• Book 1 – A genre-defining classic.
• Book 2 – A book that you feel is very like your book.
• Book 3 – A more modern title.

The reason for these choices is as follows:

strong>Book 1: A genre-defining classic> — this clearly defines your genre and should support your earlier declaration of your book’s genre. An agent or publisher of the correct genre will be intimately aware of this title and it will leave no chance of confusion that your book is suitable for them.

Book 2: A book that you feel is very like your book> — a second re-enforcement of genre, plus it gives you a chance to pinpoint the niche within a genre (or sub-genre) in which you see your book fitting.

Book 3: A more modern title> – this is showboating. You are demonstrating that you understand the genre, the marketplace and the potential readership. Get this choice right and you will leave the agent or publisher in little doubt regarding which genre your book belongs.

Using The Internet To Pick Competitor Titles

The first step to selecting your three titles is to pick your classic title. This should be the easiest title to choose since almost all genres will have a handful of very famous bestsellers that define the genre. If you are struggling to think of a genre-defining book then it is time to reassess your genre. If you have written a novel without at least a basic understanding of your book’s genre, then you are going to find it very difficult to impress an agent or publisher.

However, this said, I would suggest that you carry out a Google search using the following two terms:

‘Bestselling [your genre] books’

And,

‘Classic [your genre] books’

In the case of ‘cyberpunk’ this produced a number of good hits. A quick browse of these website showed that Neuromancer is considered to be a genre-defining book.

You now have your classic title and you can use this to pick your second title. The best way to do this is to open up Amazon and search on your classic title, in our example Neuromancer.

Having located your classic titles’ page on Amazon scroll down and look at the very handy ‘Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought’ section. This will give you a list of titles that are similar to your ‘classic title.’

A bit of browsing should produce your second book. Remember this needs to be similar to your own book and still in the correct genre (or the sub-genre of cyberpunk in our example). Please beware, not all titles listed will be in the same genre as the classic title.

That gives us two of the three titles, but leaves the tricky third title. This book requires a bit more knowledge and work to locate. I hope that you will have a good understanding of the genre and can quickly identify a bestseller from the last year or so. You are looking for a title that fits firmly in the genre, but has sold well in the past twelve months. If no title jumps to mind a bit of internet searching will help.

You need to search on Google using terms like:

‘Best seller [your genre] [last year e.g. 2012]’

Or,

‘Best [your genre] [last year e.g. 2012]

Or,

‘New [your genre]’

This was, in fact, the way I pinpointed Gary A. Ballard’s Under the Amoral Bridge as the third title in our example.

Remember the aim of your competitor titles is twofold:

1. To clearly identify your genre and show that you will fit into their list.
2. To show that you understand the genre and the marketplace.

Summary

• Listing competitor titles is not boasting.
• There are two criteria for competitor titles: 1. Same genre as your book, 2. Similar to your book.
• It takes time and research to identify your competitor titles.

In this article, you will learn why an inappropriate word count can be an obstacle to a potential deal. You will also learn how to avoid word count being an issue for agents and publishers.

In the previous article, you learned how to define the genre of your book. In this chapter, you will begin to understand why word count can become an issue.

When writing the second paragraph of your book proposal it is important to include the approximate word count of your book. If your book is not finished, then estimate. It is also best to quote the number of words, rather than the number of pages. The reason is that the number of words of a printed page alters (especially when considering digital publishing). By using word count you avoid any potential confusion.

I am often asked by unpublished writers what is the correct length for their book. My answer is always the same, “It depends!” The only thing that is important is that your book is neither too long nor too short. However, the ideal length varies with genre.

The almost universally agreed minimum word count for a novel is 40,000 words. Below this then the book will be considered a novella. I would strongly suggest that if your book is sub-40,000 words that you seriously consider expanding. Though novellas have their place, they are very difficult to sell to publishers and you will probably not be able to secure agent representation with a novella.

If you are writing science fiction then the minimum word count is 50,000 words. The reason for this is that 50k is the minimum size for a novel to be considered for the prestigious Nebula Award.

As for typical novel sizes, I would suggest that you should be aiming somewhere in the region of 60-80,000 words. However, some genres can be considerably longer. It is not unusual for a fantasy or thriller novel to be closer to 100,000 or even 120,000 words.

So, as a rule of thumb your novel should be between 80,000 and 100,000 words.

Why does size matter?

Let’s start with very small novels…

The publishing industry has a belief that when readers are deciding to buy a book, physical size plays a part in the buying equation. Rightly or wrongly, it is felt that very small novels (sub-40,000 words) will appear flimsy and less substantial than the competition, and therefore will, in the mind of the reader, not be worth the cover price. Now, I understand that this may (or may not) be the case in reality, but all that matters is that this belief persists in the publishing world. If your novel is below 40,000 words it will be an issue.

And too big…

The problem with large novels (we are talking above 150,000 words) is twofold. The first reason is all to do with cost. If a novel is made up of hundreds of thousands of words then it will naturally need many pages, and pages cost money. Large novels with hundreds of pages can quickly become prohibitively expensive to print.

All books are a gamble, but those by debut novelists are even more so. A publisher will be looking to print at least a couple of thousand books in their first print run. It is cheaper to print 60,000 word novels than it is to print 120,000 words novels. Therefore, smaller novels = less financial gamble.

The second reason is also all to do with cost. When an agent or publisher is assessing a potential book deal, foreign rights sales will play a part in the thinking. Foreign rights are permission for the book to be translated and sold in other countries. These rights are sold to foreign publishers — giving agents, publishers and writers an additional cash windfall. However, very large novels present a problem. Translators charge by the word and therefore very large novels bring with them very large translation costs. This means the rights will be more difficult to sell and this will be seen as a negative by agents and publishers when initially assessing your book.

Summary

• Word count is linked to genre.
• Aim for between 80 and 100K.
• Always talk in word count not page count.

In this article, you will learn the importance of genre in avoiding unwarranted rejection. You will also learn how to identify your book’s genre and use this to find an agent or publisher.

In the previous article, you learned how to define the essence of your book using the elevator pitch. In this article, you will learn how to identify your book’s genre and use it in your book proposal.

Before embarking you should have already constructed the first paragraph of your query letter by using a tag line and elevator pitch.

We now move onto the second paragraph…

Why Genre Is So Important

Many writers are uncomfortable with tightly confining their work to one particular genre. A feeling exists amongst writers that for a book to be truly excellent, it must be genre breaking — this is, to be honest, a huge pile of bull crap!

Genre is a tool used by agents, publishers and booksellers, and, therefore, must be a tool that YOU also use. If you are to produce a focused pitch with a realistic chance of winning a book deal it is ESSENTIAL that you accurately define your genre.

I will say this again… Accurately defining your book’s genre is essential to the success of your pitch.

As a book editor, I see a plethora of books, and I can safely say that over the years I have never come across a book that didn’t fit comfortably into a genre. It is true that some books are further towards the edges of a particular genre; it is also true that some even have elements of more than one genre. I have even seen books that are on the verge of redefining their own sub-genre, but I have never come across a book that couldn’t be assigned correctly to a single genre. As you will see, this is a good thing when it comes to pitching your book.

The key to understanding the structure of the publishing world is to think bookshelves. If you start at the point of sale, books are stacked onto bookshelves and displayed to readers. These bookshops are divided into sections (genre) allowing readers to browse the sections of particular interest.

Bookshops, being a business, need to ensure that they fill their precious shelves with books that will sell. Think about it: if you own a bookshop with limited shelf space, which book are you going to put on a shelf? One that will sit for six months before being sold, or one that will be sold within hours or days? Easy choice.

This means that bookshops are looking for books of a particular genre, which will sell well (in other words, the best bestsellers).

Moving one rung up the ladder, we come across the question as to where bookshops buy their books. The answer is booksellers.

There are two types of booksellers, those working for distributors and those working for publishers. Big publishers will employ their own booksellers, whilst a smaller publisher will use a distributor (a distributor is a company that represents many smaller publishers). However, either way these booksellers will be selling books of a particular genre. This situation is easier to grasp when you move up yet another rung of the ladder and look at publishers.

Publishers are based fully on finding writers and publishing books of one particular genre. A good example is Osprey Publishing. Osprey’s core business is publishing military history books and therefore has the in-house editing, design, marketing and distribution expertise for military history.

When Osprey wanted to branch into selling fiction books, they didn’t try to do it in-house, but instead bought a smaller publisher called Angry Robot and brought them under the Osprey umbrella.

You will find that big publishers, such as Hachette, sell many genres of books. However, when you delve into the structure of these companies you will see that they are actually made up of many smaller imprints, each with their own genre expertise.

The final rung of the ladder is the agent. It will be of little surprise to see these are also focused on genre. An agent’s job is to find books that are both of publishable quality and have enough commercial potential, and then place them with a suitable publisher. For an agent to do their job they must have an eye for a good book, but also understand what publishers are looking to publish. This requires an intimate knowledge of genre. This is why you find more than one agent at big agencies.

This means that no matter which way you look at things, genre is essential.

This means that when pitching your book you MUST clearly place it in a genre.

I would go one-step further and say that failing to place your book in a genre will result in rejection.

Agents and publishers are inundated with manuscripts and they are looking for a reason to say NO. If they read your query letter and don’t get a clear indication of the book’s genre, that’s just one more hurdle you are placing in between your book and an agent/publisher’s clear understanding of what you have written. It is also just one extra reason for an agent or publisher to say no, not yes!

How to Define Your Book’s Genre

The steps to defining your book’s genre are as follows:

1. Pick three books that you feel are similar to your book and will be read by the same readers as would read your book.
2. Go on to the Amazon website and see in which category these are listed.
3. Consult the list of genres below to confirm you have a suitable genre.

Here’s a list I use. This has been based on the listing of sites such as Amazon, plus genre lists used by publishers and agents.

• Action and Adventure.
• Chick Lit.
• Children’s.
• Commercial Fiction.
• Contemporary.
• Crime.
• Erotica.
• Family Saga.
• Fantasy.
• Dark Fantasy (probably still a major sub-genre!).
• Gay and Lesbian.
• General Fiction.
• Graphic Novels.
• Historical Fiction.
• Horror.
• Humor.
• Literary Fiction.
• Military and Espionage.
• Multicultural.
• Mystery.
• Offbeat or Quirky.
• Picture Books.
• Religious and Inspirational.
• Romance.
• Science Fiction.
• Short Story Collections.
• Thrillers and Suspense.
• Western.
• Women’s Fiction.
• Young Adult.

Example of how to define your book’s genre:

As an example, we will look at Lord Of The Rings.

Imagine you had written this book but didn’t know into which genre it fitted best. The first step to finding the book’s genre is to make a list of books that are similar to Lord Of The Rings. In this case, I was able to list three books that are similar to Lord Of The Rings.

These titles are:

1. The Scions of Shannara by Terry Brooks.
2. Redwall by Brian Jacques.
3. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin.

The next step is to go onto Amazon. Type in the title of the book and find its Amazon page. Once there, scroll down about three quarters of the way until you come to a title that says, ‘Look for similar items by category’. The information below this will tell you the book’s category, which relates to its genre.

In our example we found the following:

• The Scions of Shannara = Books > Fantasy
• Redwall = Books > Children’s Books > Fiction > Science Fiction & Fantasy AND Books > Fantasy
• A Game of Thrones = Books > Fantasy > Epic, Books > Fantasy > Series AND Books > Science Fiction

Looking carefully at these results it becomes clear that all three books fall into just one category (genre) and that’s FANTASY.

If we consult are own list of books we see FANTASY is on the list — yeah!

Just one word of warning here, Amazon is neither a book publisher nor a traditional bookseller. Amazon allows publishers and writers to list books in multiple genres. It is essential to remember you are writing a book proposal to an agent and that agent will almost certainly represent just one genre. Please don’t confuse Amazon’s category listing policy with the book genre model of the traditional book publishers and agents.

What happens if it is not clear to which genre your book belongs?

It is possible that you will choose three titles that seem similar, but are in fact spread across a few different genres. If this happens, pick another three titles and repeat the process. If this still fails to resolve the issue than the problem may be that you are not being general enough in your genre choice.

Many writers are instinctively drawn to sub-genres, but this should be resisted.

For example, William Gibson’s Necromancer is, strictly speaking, cyber-punk. However, if I were pitching it today I would class this book as Science Fiction. However, this is a rule of thumb and can be broken.

The litmus test is this: are there agents and publishers openly representing the sub-genre in which you are interested? If the answer is no, then go for the parent genre. If the answer is yes, then the sub-genre will be fine.

For example, Dark Fantasy (a sub-genre of fantasy) has recently started to gather a considerable following. You can now find sections of bookshops dedicated to this genre. This is a good sign that the sub-genre is strong enough to stand alone. Another sign is that we are seeing agents and publisher specializing in the sub-genre. This means, for me, that you would be safe to declare your book as Dark Fantasy, rather than just fantasy.

However, one final word of warning.

The tighter you define your genre, the smaller the number of agents and publishers that will be open to you when you come to pitch. The flipside is that if you have correctly defined your genre (or sub-genre in this case); this small group of agents and publishers are far more likely to say yes, since your book may be just what they are looking to publish.

Summary

• If you are to produce a focused pitch with a realistic chance of winning a book deal it is ESSENTIAL that you accurately define your genre.
• Use similar titles to define your genre.
• Avoid sub-genres.

In this article, you will learn how to use a brief summary of your book to communicate the essence of your work in the most concise manner possible. Using the Elevator Pitch technique will help you to avoid agents and publishers misunderstanding the nature of your book.

In the previous chapter, you learned the importance of a tag line and how a tag line can be used to communicate the essence of your book. In this chapter, you will learn how this technique can be expanded to produce an Elevator Pitch, which is a brief summary of your book’s content.

What is an Elevator Pitch?

The job of the tag line is to grab the agent or publisher’s attention, using established schema to short cut to the heart of the book. The job of the elevator pitch is to build on this foundation.

If you use the elevator pitch in the way that I am going to teach it will allow you to clearly communicate the ‘essence’ of your book, and in the process help you to avoid any potential misunderstanding about your novel and its meaning.

The elevator pitch is a concept borrowed from the business world.

Imagine you are an entrepreneur who is looking for investment for a new business. You have arranged a meeting with potential investors, but their office is on the top floor of a large building. You wait for the elevator to arrive. After what feels like an eternity the doors slide open and you step into the elevator. The doors close and you look to your right to see the unmistakable image of Donald Trump. You know, weird hair, killing glances.

Now’s your chance to impress — this is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You have the length of the elevator ride to pitch your idea, secure his investment and live happily ever after…

This is fine, but you are not seeking investment. You are pitching a book, not a business. However, the concept remains that you have just a few sentences to explain the concept of your novel, whilst capturing the attention of an agent or publisher.

The Five Element Approach

There are a number of ways to write elevator pitches. Some people start with a mass of information, describing their novel in the finest detail and then work backwards, cutting and shaving until they have the bare bones. Other writers do the opposite, starting with the smallest nuggets of information and then adding only the essence until they are left with the outline.

I suggest that you don’t leave this process to chance.

The technique I am about to teach you will avoid hours of painful thought and procrastination and instead show you how to construct an effective, focused and complete summary of your novel in the fastest time possible.

For the past few years, I have taught writers to use a method for writing elevator pitches that I developed from Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake Concept.

Randy Ingermanson is a physicist turned successful novelist. He is, unsurprisingly given his past, an advocate of planning in writing. He states on his site that, ‘good fiction doesn’t just happen, it is designed.’ He goes on to explain that when writing a novel, ‘you start small, and then build stuff up until it looks like a story’.

This is fine, but how’s it going to help you with an elevator pitch?

The answer is that you can take the outline of Randy’s Snowflake methodology and use it to deconstruct your novel’s narrative and themes. Then once this is done, you can rebuild the parts to form a coherent summary of your book.

You can deconstruct your novel by asking yourself five questions. The answer to each question represents one of the five key elements of your book.

Here are the five questions:

1. Who’s the main character?
2. What is the situation that is forcing the main character to take action?
3. What is the main character’s aim?
4. What is stopping the character from achieving their goal?
5. What is the pinnacle of the story, the moment at which the character’s goal may be lost forever?

Before you move onto the next section, go find a piece of paper and a pen and write out the answer to each of the questions above. Please don’t skip this stage since it’s an essential part of the process. In fact, these five questions will even go on to form the backbone of your synopsis!

The next step towards writing your elevator pitch is to take the answers for all of the questions above and write them into a single coherent paragraph. This process is not easy and may take you a few attempts to get it right. Don’t worry, that’s part of the process.

The aim is to produce what is, in essence, a tight outline of your book’s plot. Once you have this in a single paragraph, you can then chip away at it and force it into just a couple of sentences.

Example

As an example, I have taken the popular children’s fairy tale, The Three Little Pigs. Below you will see the steps I have taken to form an elevator pitch for this well-known tale.

1. Who’s the main character? The Three Little Pigs.
2. What is the situation that is forcing the main character to take action? Pigs have left home and need to make their own way in the world.
3. What is the main character’s aim? Build three new houses.
4. What is stopping the character from achieving their goal? Big Bad Wolf will ‘huff and puff’ and kill the pigs.
5. What is the pinnacle of the story, the moment at which the character’s goal may be lost forever? Two pigs are killed and a third needs to escape.

Using the answers to the questions, I then combined the five key elements to get:

Three little pigs venture out into the world, looking to make a new home. However, vicious serial killer, the Big Bag Wolf, is on the prowl. After a terrible killing spree, can the last little pig — who is left with just a pile of bricks — escape?

Your Turn…

Before progressing to the next chapter, you should have a workable one-paragraph summary of your novel. It may take you days, or weeks, to get to this stage, but don’t worry. Remember, this one paragraph will HOOK the agent or publishers, frame the book and force them to keep reading.

The final step is to trim the paragraph down to just a couple of sentences. I can offer little help at this point. You need to just bite the bullet and get trimming. To help you out, here’s what I managed produce for The Three Little Pigs:

With his brothers already devoured by a serial killer known only as The Big Bad Wolf, and with just a pile of bricks between him and certain death, the third pig fights for his life.

Summary

• A novel can be deconstructed with five key questions.
• These key questions provide the skeleton for your elevator pitch.
• An elevator pitch takes time to get right.

In this article, you will learn how using a tag line will help you quickly convey the essence of your book without a long and complicated explanation. It will also help you to avoid agents and publishers misunderstanding the nature of your work.

In the previous article, we looked at the Four Paragraph Method and discovered how applying the framework will ensure you provide all the information needed by agents/publishers to make an informed decision about your book. In this chapter will look at the first paragraph and examine the role of the tag line.

Jaws In Space…

The summer of 1979 saw the release of a unique science fiction movie. The film was to become hugely popular and to this day is widely regarded as a sci-fi classic. In fact, in 2008 Empire magazine listed Alien as the 38th greatest American movie of all time. However, the success of the film was never guaranteed and its runaway popularity took the studio very much by surprise.

The fact that Alien was ever made is a minor miracle. From the very outset of the project, the script for Alien presented writers Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett with a huge problem:

How do you convince a major studio to back a film that, by its very nature, is difficult explain and has no similar films on which to call?

The answer was to forget about the complexity of the plot and genre-bending narrative, and instead focus on communicating the essence of the film. In the end, O’Bannon and Shusett successfully pitched their concept for Alien by using one very simple phrase. They described the movie as, ‘Jaws in space.’

The rest, as they say, is history.

The role of the tag line in your query letter is to communicate the essence of your book, in a way that will avoid agents or publishers misunderstanding the nature of your story and its place in the market.

A tag line is a simple sentence that summarizes the ‘essence’ of your book. Its aim is to short cut the need to explain the context of your novel and instead draws on an already existing schema of understanding.

Let me explain…

Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett could have approached the studios in a very different way. They could have gone into the meetings, determined to make the executives understand the complexity and nuances of their script. They could have explained that they were writing a cross-genre movie that mixed science fiction with horror. They could have explained the genius of keeping the monster hidden for much of the film, only revealing it when the audience were begging for a clear on-screen ‘reveal’ of the alien. They could have even tried to place the movie within the social climate of the time, suggesting the alien was a reflection of Cold War communist fears.

But they didn’t, and that was why the film was made.

Instead of trying the almost impossible task of educating the film studio executives as to the plot and narrative of the film, they instead decided to draw on universal memories and experiences that matched the ‘essence’ of their film.

By drawing on a well-known film, in this case Jaws, the writers were able to short cut the pitching process and automatically trigger images in the studio owner’s minds. In 1979 everyone was aware of what Jaws represented, the vision of ‘Jaws in space’ wasn’t a huge leap in imagination.

So is ‘Jaws in space’ an accurate description of Alien?

No… not by a long shot. Alien is much more. But ‘Jaws in space’ was enough to spark the interest and open the door to developing the pitch.

The Power of Schema

To understand how to construct a powerful tag line, you must first understand the concept of the schema.

In psychology, a schema is a ‘pattern of thoughts’ or ‘a cluster of pre-conceived ideas’. Suppose I say ‘Christmas’. This will conjure a set of images in your mind. These images are a schema. Granted that each person will have a slightly different schema, but a large portion will overlap. Now imagine I say, ‘Easter is like Christmas, but without the presents.’ This will conjure an image based on your schema for Christmas.

Going back to our example of ‘Jaws in space’, you can begin to see why this phrase was so powerful. By referring to Jaws, the writers of Alien were tapping into the schema of Jaws. They knew that anyone who had seen Jaws, and in 1979 that was just about everyone, would have a certain schema. It is impossible to think about Jaws without conjuring images of a huge shark, terrorizing helpless swimmers. The feeling of tension and horror are also brought forward. Therefore, ‘Jaws in space’ becomes a huge, terrifying monster, terrorizing helpless humans, but in space. Perhaps not an accurate description of Alien, but close enough.

The power of the ‘Jaws in space’ phrase was not its accuracy, but the fact it was close enough. It removed the need for the writers to explain a complex narrative and instead cut to the heart of the film in just three words.

This one phrase was enough to HOOK the studio executives.

Writing your own Tag Line

I recently celebrated the release of a four-book series with publisher Franklin Watts. When I pitched the concept for BattleBooks to my agent, and then to my publisher, I successfully employed the tag line technique.

I could have described my books as what they are: detailed, historically accurate interactive fiction based around historical battles, aimed at children 9-12 years old. This is, in fact, an accurate summary of what BattleBooks was to become. Instead, I decided to pitch the books as ‘Fighting Fantasy for battles’.

I summed up the essence of my books by tapping into the schema for Fighting Fantasy, a set of books that I knew an agent interested in my books would have read and loved.

Here are the three actions steps you can use to create your own tag line:

1. Describe the essence of your book.

Grab a pen and paper and write out two or three sentences that describes the ‘essence’ of your book.

Think about:

• the book’s plot, its setting,
• the big idea behind the writing,
• the intended readership,
• any other factors that sets your book apart from the competition.

Spend some time on this, work at the sentence, writing and re-writing until you are happy. It may take you a couple of days to focus in on the essence of your book.

If you go back to BattleBooks, this is where I produced the description: ‘detailed, historically accurate interactive fiction based around historical battles, aimed at children 9-12 years old.’

2. What book is like your book?

Having written the summary of your book, your next stop is Amazon. First, locate the section of the site that matches the genre of your book. If you don’t know the genre of your book, then skip ahead and read the section about genre, and then come back.

Once on the Amazon site, navigate to the ‘books’ section:

You will then be presented with a list of ‘categories’, these are the genres:

Pick your genre and click on the link. In this example, I clicked on ‘science fiction’. If you now look in the bottom left, you will see a list of the bestsellers. Click on the title link:

You will now be taken to the bestseller list:

Once you have the bestseller list for your title you need to methodically search the list and write down books that are like your book. These don’t need to be identical to your book, just similar in some way.

One thing that is important to remember is that you will be using these books to tap into the schema of the agents and publishers. This means that the books need to be popular enough for agents or publishers to have read them, or at least be aware of their basic premise. For example, many people have never read a J.K. Rowling novel, but still have a schema for these books.

You may find it useful to examine your own bookshelves or list of all-time bestsellers on the internet for your genre. You are looking for well-known books. The more prevalent the book in the consciousness of its readers, the more firmly held and commonly similar the schema will be, and the more powerful your tag line will be.

For example, if you were to say your book was like, ‘Da Vinci Code with zombies,’ you will be able to tap into a strong schema. Most people are aware of the Da Vinci Code and many people hold a similar set of understandings of the novel’s content. However, saying ‘The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail with zombies’ is far less powerful. This is despite the fact the Holy Blood and the Holy Grail is the non-fiction book on which the Da Vinci Code is based. The truth of the matter is that the schema for the Da Vinci Code is stronger than the one for Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.

3. What is different?

You should now have a couple of sentences that describe your book and a list of popular books that are similar to your own. The final step is to work out how your book is different from the other books on your list.

Alien was ‘Jaws in space’. That is, it was a horror movie with a single unstoppable monster but set in space, not the ocean.

My own BattleBooks are ‘Fighting Fantasy for battles,’ — that is choose-your-path interactive fiction, but set during battles and not in dungeons.

You must use your description of your book to find a book that is similar to your own and then define how it is different. This is the key; you use the schema of the chosen title to short cut the explanation process, but then use the difference to define your book’s unique angle.

Summary

• It is difficult to simplify complex ideas without a frame of reference.
• A schema is a common understanding of a term or phrase.
• Three steps to a tag line: Describe the essence of your book, What book is like your book? and What is different?

In this article, you will learn about the Four Paragraph Method and discover how it will ensure that your query letter provides all the information needed for an agent or publisher to make an informed decision about your book.

In the previous article, we examined the role of the query letter. We discovered that the overall aim of the letter was to ensure that an agent or publisher would clearly understand your book’s content, your book’s genre, your book’s readership, your book’s place in the market and your role as a writer. We also discovered that providing this information would allow the agent/publisher to make a fair assessment of your books potential to be a commercial success.

Define Your Book’s Genre And Demonstrate Its Commercial Potential

Before we delve into the detail of the Four Paragraph Method, I want to make one important point: the best possible outcome you can expect from your query letter is for the agent/publisher to read your synopsis and extract.

No matter how good your query letter turns out to be, no matter how detailed the information you present, and no matter how accurate the brief synopsis you include, the best you can hope for is for the agent NOT to reject your proposal.

No query letter has ever sealed a book deal. At the end of the day, the quality of your book (or more accurately its commercial potential) will sway the agent/publisher. This said the query letter is the first essential step to that elusive yes!

On the first reading of your query letter the agent/publisher is really only asking two questions:

1. Will this book fit into the genre I represent/publish?
2. Does this book have the commercial potential to make a profit?

Notice there is no question about quality of writing or complexity of narrative, nor the realism of your characters.

At this early stage it’s commercial considerations, not plot considerations that are uppermost in the agent/publisher’s mind.

Rather than looking for a reason to say YES, they are looking for a reason to say NO.

This means that your query letter MUST address these two questions. If you fail to answer the questions, you leave the agent/publisher the easy option of simply rejecting your book.

Agents are busy; they see hundreds of books, why would they go to the trouble of reading your synopsis and extract, only to find the book is of the wrong genre? If you fail to accurately define your book’s genre or demonstrate its commercial potential, agents/publisher will find it easy to say no!

The Four Paragraph Method

I am a working writer and the query letter is an essential tool in my toolbox. The reality is that if I can’t write a book proposal I don’t get work and I have to stop writing. Over the years, I have experimented and refined my query letter style, finally developing the Four Paragraph Method. This technique has proved to be a powerful and effective way to write query letters that provide agents/publishers with all the information they require.

These four simple paragraphs will not only answer the two questions highlighted above, but also give the agent/publisher an insight into your book’s content and your role as the writer.

The structure of the four paragraphs is as follows:

• First Paragraph: This paragraph starts with your book’s tag line and gives your book’s elevator pitch.
• Second Paragraph: This section contains marketing and readership information including word count, genre and indication of competition.
• Third Paragraph: This is where you include a very brief synopsis.
• Fourth Paragraph: The final paragraph is where you will include your biography and any relevant writing experience.

Summary

• The best you can hope for from a query letter is for the agent/publisher to read your synopsis and extract.
• Define your book’s genre and demonstrate its commercial potential.
• Use the Four Paragraph Method to ensure you provide agents/publishers with all the information they need.

In this article, you will discover why a book proposal is essential and understand what an agent or publisher is looking to find in a successful book proposal.

What Is A Commercial Success?

The goal of the Book Proposal is very simple. Its job is to convince agents and publishers that your book has the potential to be a commercial success.

In this context ‘commercial success’ does not mean bestseller. Instead, commercial success means a book that the publisher is able to sell to enough readers for them to make an overall profit. With big publishers (such as HarperCollins) ‘commercial success’ is often measured in the tens of thousands of sales, whilst for smaller niche publishers, such as the military history publisher Osprey, ‘commercial success’ is measured in the thousands, if not hundreds.

To understand what a publisher is looking for in a potential ‘commercial success’ we must first understand how their businesses work.

Though the publishing industry has changed in recent years, their business model is still (largely) based on the concept of selling books to real, physical, brick and mortar bookshops.

This is important and you need to understand this to be able to think like a publisher.

The sales process starts when a potential reader walks into a bookshop. Rather than walking aimlessly up and down the aisles, most readers head for the section of the bookshop that contains the books they like to read. If the reader is a Science Fiction fan then they head for the Science Fiction shelves; if they are looking for cookbooks then they will go to the cookery section, and if they’re looking for a book for their kids, then it’s off to the children’s aisle.

This makes sense and we have all done it. However, it is important to see that at the very granular level bookshops are segregated by GENRE.

When looking to stock their shelves bookshop buyers are also genre focused. They will buy books based on genre from representatives of publishers who publish books in that genre.

When the book buyer needs a Science Fiction novel, they will go to a Science Fiction publisher; they get cookbooks from cookbook publishers and children’s books from children’s book publishers. These publishers are experts in producing genre specific books that sell well in bookshops. The publishers have teams of people (writers, editors, marketers and salespersons) all specialized in that one genre.

This brings us full circle. When you approach a publisher (or agent), they are simply looking for books that fit their genre model and will sell well in bookshops.

Therefore, a Book Proposal must do two things:

1. Convince the publisher that the book fits into the publisher’s business model.
2. Convince the publisher that there is a big enough readership for the book to make a profit.

The Aim Of The Query Letter

The book proposal is split into three sections: query letter, synopsis and extract. We will go into depth regarding the synopsis and extract in later articles.

The query letter, sometimes called the cover letter, is the first thing the agent or publisher sees. It introduces your book and you, as a writer. Many writers underestimate the power of the query letter and instead of producing a highly detailed document that allows them to ‘sell’ their book; they instead provide a brief please-read-my-synopsis-style letter.

This is a recipe for rejection.

The query letter is an agent or publisher’s first contact with your book and provides you with a chance to ‘frame’ your book proposal, impressing them from the first word.

The goal of a query letter is as follows:

1. Provide a clear outline of your book’s content.
2. Define your book’s genre.
3. Define your book’s place in the market.
4. Define your book’s potential readership.
5. Provide information of your book’s status.
6. Outline your marketing plans.
7. Sell you as the writer.

In the next article, we will look at how the Four Paragraph Method will allow you to fulfil each of these seven goals, in the process providing agents and publishers with all the information they need to make an informed decision about your book.

Summary

• Commercial success is a book that makes a profit for the publisher.
• The publishing industry is segmented by genre.
• The aim of a book proposal is to convince the publisher that the book fits into the publisher’s business model, whilst also convincing publishers that there is a big enough readership for the book to make a profit.

As an editor, I’ve edited hundreds of books. One thing that you quickly notice is that there are certain mistakes that you see repeated time and again. This article contains the five most common grammar and punctuation mistakes I come across on a daily basis. My hope is that by sharing some of these with you, you’ll be in a better position to avoid stepping on these literary mines.

Double Quotation Marks vs. Single Quotation Marks
This one is particularly important to me, because as an editor, it’s a mistake that I see very frequently, and it is one that is very time consuming to fix, which is ironic considering how easy it is to avoid.

• In American English, the only time that it is acceptable to use single quotation marks in your writing is if you have a quote within a quote (and even then, the author still doesn’t recommend using them).
• In British English, and seemingly most other countries around the world, the rules on single quotation marks vary far more widely. They are frequently used for dialogue and quotes within quotes.
  If you are an international author trying to market your work to an American audience, please keep this in mind, as you will be saving your editor from a massive headache (and yourself from having to pay for more extensive proofreading) in the long run.

Oxford Comma – To Use It or Not to Use It?
This one isn’t really a rule, per se, so much as it is a discussion point. It’s the “Who shot first, Han vs. Greedo?” of the English world, and depending on who you ask, you’re going to get different answers.

The Oxford comma is the comma that goes after the second item on a list (lions, tigers, bears). Some editors say that you must use it, while others don’t think it’s necessary at all, and more than likely, this great grammar debate will never be solved. While the author personally thinks that writers should use it, ultimately, that choice rests with the author.

 They’re, Their, and There
This one is the scorn of high school English teachers everywhere, mainly because they know full well that despite their best efforts to correct it, most people are going to continue making this error until such a time that only the trees, roaches, and Twinkies are left standing. Let’s see if we can break this down simply because once you see it mapped out visually, this is actually a very simple concept to grasp.

• “They’re” is a contraction meaning “they are.” Use this one when you want to refer to a group of people, not a place or a thing.
• “Their” is used to refer to the ownership of something (i.e. an object) and is only used to describe a single person, not a large group.
• “There” is used to refer to the location of something. It’s never used to describe people or possessions, just the position of an object.
  So all you have to remember is one of them is for groups, one of them is a single person, and one of them is for places.

Difference between A and An
Despite how commonly this particular typo occurs, this is probably the simplest rule that we’ll cover. Once someone points out how to use these two articles correctly to you, it’s unlikely that you’ll repeatedly make the error again.

• Use “a” anytime the word after it in a sentence begins with a consonant (that’s any letter that’s not a vowel.) For example, you wouldn’t say “an dog,” you would say “a dog.”
• Inversely, you’ll want to use “an” any time it is before a word in a sentence that begins with a vowel. You’ll never eat “a apple,” but you can surely eat “an apple.”

Just remember that one of these goes with vowels and the other one goes with consonants and you’ll never make that mistake again. Also, an easy way to figure this one out is to immediately “look” at your sentence after you write it. It something seems “off” to you about it, you have probably used the wrong modifier.

Affect vs. Effect
This one is by far the most confusing and though we would never officially cop to it, a lot of literary professionals (writers and editors) will still make this mistake on a semi-regular basis.

“Affect” is used when trying to describe (as it’s a verb) an emotion or an influence on something’s physical state – how somebody is feeling about something. It is always associated with a mood or a physical change in the properties of something.

“Effect,” on the other hand, is a noun, and is used to indicate the end result of an event. It has nothing to do with emotions or feelings and more to do with the concrete facts you can observe about someone or something.

Basically, you can’t see someone’s “affect,” but you can see the “effect” of something they have done afterward. Affect is the emotion that causes something to happen, while the effect is the aftermath of the event.

There are a lot of other errors that we could cover here, but these five are some of the most common that we give clients feedback about. My sincere hope is that by bringing some of these issues to the forefront, writers will be more aware of what kinds of mistakes we (as editors) are looking for and how to avoid them.

In this article, you will discover the steps a novel must go through in order to be made into a film; you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the process and discover the elements that you, as an author, can control to have a positive impact on the chances of seeing your book on the big screen.

This article will focus on the period of time before filming begins since this is when an author has the most impact on the project. Once the cameras start rolling, the author’s role lessens greatly.

The Process

The process of turning a novel into a film is a long and complex journey filled with dangers, disappointments, and frustrations. Even if an author is able to attract interest in turning his or her book into a film, the chances of it actually happening are still pretty slim.

This said the process is not all doom and gloom. Recent changes in the way films are being funded is creating more demand for suitable novels, and authors are not helpless in making their stories more attractive to filmmakers.

Although authors often play only a small role in the filmmaking process, they can do certain things to make their book more appealing to filmmakers.

The Option

If a filmmaker decides to make a film version of your book, the filmmaker’s first step is to secure what is known as an “option”. This is a legal agreement between the author and the filmmaker, which gives the filmmaker the right to make a film adaption of the novel.

This is not a contract to make the film. The full contract comes later.

The option gives the filmmaker a set period of time (normally a year) to meet certain criteria to show progress toward the film’s creation. These key milestones tend to be things such as funding and screenwriting.

The filmmaker may pay the author for the option, though this is not always the case. Payments made for options vary from nothing to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The amount paid will often depend on:

• Demand for the option (Is there more than one person interested?).
• The author (J. K. Rowling will be able to demand more for an option than an unknown author).
• The book (a best seller will be more valuable than an unknown book).
• The filmmaker (Steven Spielberg or Ron Howard may be in a position to pay more than a first-time director).

The option will run for a determined period of time. This is often a year, but, as with all things, can vary. You also often find that options will have clauses that dictate the way they operate. For example, a filmmaker may ask for an automatic extension if they are able to raise a certain amount of money in a set period of time.

Finally, there are two important things for an author to understand about an option:

1. If the film is not in a position to be made within the agreed period of time (normally due to lack of funds), the option lapses. The rights revert back to the author, and the author gets to keep any option money.
2. Most options lapse before the film is created. Being offered an option on your book is the start of the process, and it something to celebrate; however, it is no guarantee that your book will make it to the screen.

Fundraising

The single biggest factor of whether your book gets made into a film is money.

All films need a budget. This is a cash amount that covers all aspects of the filmmaking process. This is not just the obvious stuff, like paying actors, cameraman, and screenwriters, but also such elements as catering, location costs, and general admin.

When the filmmaker approaches you for an option on your book, they will work out just how much money they need to make the film. In the vast majority of cases, the filmmaker will not have this money and will have to raise it.

We’ll first look at the traditional way money is raised, and the impact this has on the filmmaking process, before examining a newer option that is changing the ways in which films are funded. In fact, this second option might mean that your book is more likely to be made into a film.

Traditional Funding

The two most important elements to remember when considering the way films are funded are that (1) budgets tend to be large, and (2) many films either make no money or even lose money at the box office.

This means that, when seeking funding, the funding parties have all the power. They are looking to minimize their risk and increase their upside. They know they may lose cash, but, if they back a box-office winner, the rewards are huge.

Filmmakers tend to approach organizations that have experience in backing films. These organizations vary from rich individuals to groups of investors to companies set up with the sole purpose of funding films.

It is very unlikely that a filmmaker will be able to secure enough cash from a single investor, and so most filmmakers are, therefore, looking for a pool of investors. These investors will all be looking for the best deal possible. That means they will be looking to invest the minimum amount of money for the maximum return (cut/percentage of the profit).

This cocktail produces pressure on filmmakers to hit deadlines and produce films on budget. This same pressure has filmmakers making decisions that don’t seem sensible from the outside.

Did you ever wonder why the director of the recent Fantastic Four film was trying to distance himself from the movie before it was even released? The reason was that production choices had been based on profit, not quality.

Crowdfunding

In recent years we’ve seen a new way to fund films, and this is via crowdfunding. A new generation of filmmakers is emerging, and, in the process, they are looking for new ways to fund projects that leave them with more control.

BubbleCow co-founder, Caroline Smailes, was approached in 2014 by YouTuber and filmmaker Luke Cutforth (known as LukeIsNotSexy to anyone less than about twenty-years-old). Luke wanted to make Caroline’s best-selling novel The Drowning of Arthur Braxton into a film. It was not the first time a filmmaker had tried to convert the book to film, with the previous attempt stalling after funding froze up. Caroline agreed with Cutforth on and was excited about the idea of crowdfunding, later saying:

Luke’s approach was refreshing. He’d already introduced my book to his fan base, and they’d really embraced my work. I was excited to see if we could make a film from the ground up with the fans being involved from the very start.

The Kickstarter process is an exciting development for both authors and filmmakers. It means that films can be funded without the negative influence of backers who are simply looking for a profit. It means the creative control remains with the filmmaker, and choices made on set can be for the good of the film, not the good of the investor.

When asked about the crowdfunding process Luke said:

I wanted to fund the film in a way that gave me maximum creative control. I didn’t want to be in a situation where I had to cut a scene because it was too expensive or hire a certain actor because it was ‘good for marketing’. I also felt that my fans would enjoy the chance of being part of the journey and feeling part of something this big.

Luke set the budget for the film at £65,000 or about $100,000 USD. A small budget but enough to make the film. One of the advantages of Kickstarter is there’s no limit to the amount that can be raised. If a project fails to hit the target, then it remains unfunded, and no money is taken from backers. However, if the film hits its target, backers are still free to invest in the project far beyond its initial target.

The exciting thing is that it really works.

Luke announced the Kickstarter campaign via his YouTube video late one Friday night, and, within a couple hours, he’d already raised almost half of the proposed budget. Funding slowed a little in the following days, but it was not long before the campaign was fully funded.

I will not spoil the surprise and reveal the final amount they raised, but you can see the end figure by going to the Kickstarter page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fireflight/the-drowning-of-arthur-braxton

Contract

If a filmmaker is able to fulfill the criteria for the option (this usually means raising enough money), then the author is presented with a contract. This is the legal document that basically decides how much cash the author will get when the film is made.

Before we look at the details of the contract, it is worth saying that, if you get to this point, then you need to do your happy dance. Many, many authors have their books “optioned” and never see a contract. Authors will even have their books optioned multiple times only to see each deal fall through, usually due to a lack of funding. Not every filmmaker has the financial clout of a Spielberg, and the ability (or inability) to raise funding is often the deciding factor as to whether a film gets made.

Film contracts are complex beasts, and each will vary from film to film and book to book. This said, there are a number of elements that remain the same. The most important of these is what percentage of the initial budget will be set aside for the author. In essence, the overall budget is the magic amount of money needed to make a film. Budgets range from thousands to millions of dollars.

The contract will clearly state what percentage of this final budget will be due to the author. Once again, this varies greatly. However, it is not uncommon for an author to get 5 to 10% of the final budget.

The next element to consider will be the cut of the profit that is due to the author. You see, the author is due both a cut in the budget AND any profit the film may make in the long run. Once again this figure will vary greatly but is likely to be in the single-digit percent range, if at all.

One thing to remember is that, on paper, many seemingly successful films never really make any profit. This is just the nature in which films are made and funded. Take the Star Wars film Return of The Jedi. It is common knowledge that “on paper” the film never made any profit. This is also the case for Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, which both lost money, and Forrest Gump, which broke even.

This brings us to our final point about contracts and something authors need to watch carefully, and that’s who gets the merchandising rights.

Merchandising is big business, and that’s why films like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Star Wars can lose money at the box office but still make money in the long run (we used to be able to add DVD sales to this equation, but that’s no longer the case, though live streaming services, such as Netflix, will have an increasingly important role in the equation).

It is essential that, as the author, you think carefully about where the merchandising rights will end up going. Be aware that a cut of merchandising profits may earn you money years after the film has been made.

Screenplay

It is a commonly held belief with authors that they should have some say in the final screenplay. This may or may not be the case. As with all aspects of filmmaking, this will vary from film to film. It may be that you are able to negotiate some kind of creative control over the final script, but this is not always the case.

Screenwriting is big business with screenwriters being able to demand hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single screenplay. It is very unlikely that you, as the author of the book, will be asked to write the screenplay. A director will want a trusted “professional” to write the screenplay and may not be happy with interference from the original author. You may well find yourself in a situation in which your story is significantly altered, and you have no control over these changes.

It is not uncommon for characters to be cut from the original book (those actors are expensive). This means that new scenes need to be written and old scenes cut to ensure that key elements of the story can be delivered. You may also find that budget restrictions or technical considerations also mean that certain scenes are cut, moved or changed.

The reality of filmmaking is that, in most situations, the best an author can hope for is an agreement to have some input regarding potential changes.

What Can Authors Do to Make Their Books More Attractive to Filmmakers?

Having looked at the initial process in which a novel is turned into a film, we now turn our attention to the things that you, the author, can do to make your book as attractive as possible to a potential filmmaker.

We are going to consider three key aspects that you can control, but, before we do, let’s just dwell on one important part.

These tips are all about making your book as attractive as possible; however, the key element is the story. If your book’s story is weak, then nothing else matters. These tips are about putting your story in the most attractive light possible. As the old saying goes: you can’t polish a turd.

We’ll now look at the three key elements of a strong story:

1. The structure of your novel.
2. The setting of your story.
3. Your characters.

Structure

There remains a belief in the writing community that writing a novel around a set structure will, somehow, inhibit the creative talents of the author. This is rubbish. Almost all great novels (and films) are built around a three or five-act structure. In fact, one of the main jobs of the screenwriter will often be to convert the novel into a three-act narrative arc.

So what is a three-act structure?

In its most basic form, a three-act structure is presenting the story with a beginning, a middle and an end. The story starts with an incident that forces the main characters to act; the action then raises to a point of climax before declining to the point of resolution. This is summed up using the diagram below, known as Freytag’s Pyramid.

Now … this is a super simplified version of the three or five acts, and you can find out more here.

The point is that filmmakers will almost certainly be looking to use this structure for the final screenplay. If you are able to give this to them from the start, then you are already one step ahead.

Many authors fear that using a rigid structure will constrain their story, but there’s a way to get around this problem (if it is even a problem).

The first step is to get your basic idea down on paper. At this stage, you will probably have very little of the story, perhaps a few ideas and characters. All that matters is that you are writing out ideas and committing them to paper. You are looking to give your story some very basic form.

The second step is to plot out your story with no structure in mind at all. Every author approaches this stage in a different way. One example might be to start with a certain scene or problem and work forward (or backward) from this point. It really doesn’t matter how you do this. All that matters is that you have a very basic idea of how you want the story to unfold.

The final step is to force the three or five-act structure onto your story. The key is to mold your story in such a way that the three-act structure will produce a natural beginning, middle, and end. It will also have the added bonus of giving you a natural narrative tension, as the reader is posed with plot questions that are left unanswered until the final act.

When asked about the role structure played in her novel The Drowning of Arthur Braxton, Caroline said:

When I started writing the novel, I knew that structure was going to play an important part in the book, but I didn’t really worry about it until after the first draft had been written. I just started with the idea that I wanted to write a modern fairy tale.

I had a few scenes in my mind before I even started writing. At the first-draft stage I often jump around in the story, writing scenes that interest me and developing the character’s storyline. This is, perhaps, the most exciting stage of writing.

Once the first draft was complete, I went back to the story and started to convert it into a three-act structure. It’s funny how, Arthur, who turned out to be the main character, was not even in the first draft. He didn’t spring to life until I realized I needed a wider story to tie all the characters together in a structure that would excite the readers.

When asked about the importance of structure in filmmaking, Lex Beckett (assistant director) said:

Though it is not essential that a novel is already in a structure that lends itself to making a film, it makes life a lot easier. You will often find that one of the biggest shocks to writers is when they see that the screenplay has significant differences from the novel. This is often unavoidable but the changes can be minimised if the novel starts off structured in a way that makes sense to the director.

Setting

One of the obvious differences between a novel and a film is the importance of visuals. Since a novel happens inside the reader’s mind, the visuals available to the author are unlimited. If an author wants an alien planet with an insectoid overlord, fine. Just write up a decent description. However, for a filmmaker, realizing this vision might be possible but will almost certainly be expensive.

This means that certain novels are more attractive to filmmakers for the simple reason that the visuals presented are easier (and more likely cheaper) to recreate.

This is what Caroline Smailes had to say on the subject:

When I started writing the novel, I had three locations in mind. The first was a lighthouse, and the second was a “holy well,” both located in North Wales. These were close to my home, and I visited them on numerous occasions during the writing process. The third location was the Victorian baths in Manchester. I visited them early in the writing process and took loads of pictures. These were pinned to the walls around my desk and were used as constant references during the writing process.

This video shows the reaction of Luke Cutforth, the director of The Drowning of Arthur Braxton, when seeing the baths for the first time. In it, he explains why the location was ‘perfect’, how physical location is linked closely with the screenwriting process and talks briefly about the realities of budget.

Characters

One element that authors often don’t consider when writing a story is the number of characters involved. This seemingly unimportant element of the novel is often critical for a filmmaker. The thinking is pretty simple: actors are expensive, and the more characters you have, the more actors you need.

This means that, if a filmmaker is faced with a novel packed full of characters, the filmmaker has two choices. The first is to increase the budget; the second is to decrease the number of characters, reworking the story. You will often find that a screenwriter will cut characters from a novel and reallocate their key storytelling elements to another existing character. The result is that the plot quickly moves away from that seen in the book to become something new.

Caroline Smailes recognizes the importance of cutting characters for a film:

In the book I added two characters called Kaster and Pollock. They were added in at about draft five or six and were actually based on the Muppet characters Statler and Waldorf. I really enjoyed writing them into the story, and felt they added a nice depth and texture to the novel. However, once the screenwriting process began, these characters were the first to be cut from the script. Luke felt that we could tell the story without them in the film version, and, to be honest, he was right.

Summary

In the recent past, it was a rare event for an author to find his or her book being made into a film. Even if the author managed to secure an option, it was still an uphill struggle to actually get the film made. However, things are changing.

A new generation of young filmmakers, linked with new and exciting methods of raising funds, is allowing us to enter a golden age for films.

In the coming years, we will see filmmakers becoming more experienced at raising funds, along with viewers and readers becoming more willing to back exciting new projects at the grassroots level.

As an author, you can play your part in accelerating this process. By writing with a clear structure, being mindful of settings and considerate with the use of characters, you can produce a novel that’s attractive to a potential filmmaker.

Filmmakers will always be looking to adapt novels, and there’s no reason why you can’t capitalize on this process. By understanding the filmmaking process and writing your book with one eye on the chance of an adaptation, there are more chances than ever that you’ll see your work on the big screen.

You’ve written a book and you are not sure if self-publishing or traditional publishing is the best option.

In this article, you’ll discover the pros and cons of both self-publishing, traditional publishing, and even hybrid publishing.

You’ll find out that the correct answer for your publishing journey is very personal and it all about you, your book and your goals.

Forgot what other writers have done with their books and focus on what is right for you.

The Publishing Landscape

The current publishing landscape is both complex and dynamic; consisting of traditional publishing, self-publishing and hybrid publishing. However, this complexity is providing a golden age for authors, who have more publishing options than ever before. In this examination of the book publishing landscape, you will discover the main options that are open to authors, how these interrelate and where self-publishing fits into the equation.

You can split the publishing landscape into six key elements:

1. Big Publishers

These are book publishers that represent about 60% of the English language [source] books published in the US. They typically publish hundreds of books per year and have a large number of employees with a range of expertise. They will only accept submissions from agents.

Big publishers will often also have smaller ‘imprints’, that though they appear as separate publishing companies, still operate under the umbrella of the parent company.

These publishers are often referred to as the ‘big five’ and include Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan.

Here’s a list of English language book publishers.

2. Agents

An agent is a person, or company, who will represent an author’s interest. Since big publishers will not accept submissions directly from authors, the agent’s main role is to match authors with publishers. Agents also act in a screening process, in which they will find authors with ‘commercial’ potential for publishers.

Once a writer has secured a deal with a publisher, the agent will act as a link between the agent and publisher. Typically, agents receive about 15% of the money paid to an author by the publisher.

Here’s a list of notable agents.

3. Independent Publishers

These types of publishers are simply defined as publishers separate from the ‘big five’. They are sometimes called ‘independent publishers’. They are smaller in nature than big publishers but can still publish in excess of 100 titles per year. Typically to be classed as a small press, the publisher will be publishing more than fifty titles per year.

They will have smaller, less specialized teams than big publishers. On average, they will sell fewer books than their bigger rivals. They will also have smaller profits and tighter operating budgets. A small press will often work with both agents and writers directly.

Here’s a list of some small presses.

4. Micro-publishers

These are the smallest of the traditional publishers. They tend to be run by either a single person or a very small team. They will typically publish between ten and fifty titles per year. These tend to be ‘hobby’ publishers and often focus on niche topics. They run on a very small budget but can have a loyal readership.

Micro-presses tend to work directly with writers.

5. Self-Publishing

Authors opting to self-publish have two main choices: either take a DIY approach and do everything themselves (or via service providers) or use a self-publishing company, who will typically charge an up-front fee and, perhaps, a fee per book sold.

The vast majority of books are sold via the Kindle Digital Publishing platform (KDP), with Apple as the second major source of sales. It is difficult to find accurate figures for self-published titles. However, it is widely understood that about 40% of eBooks sold are self-published [source].

6. Hybrid Publishing

It is becoming increasingly common for writers to take a ‘hybrid’ approach to book publishing. This will see writers opting to pick the publishing option that best fits their current project, be that traditional or self-publishing. Author Chuck Wendig wrote an article about this topic.

What is a Big Publisher?

Though you will find thousands of book publishers, of a large variety of shapes and sizes, only a small proportion of these can be considered ‘big publishers’.

In the US, about 60% of English-language books are published by one of five publishers. These are often called the ‘big five’ and include Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan.

Though these big publishers have a number of characteristics in common, there are a few important elements that you must consider when assessing if a big publisher is right for you and your book.

These include:

• They publish a large number of books.
• Specialization.
• Imprints.
• You will require an agent.

Let’s consider these in turn.

Large Numbers of Books

A big publisher will publish in excess of 100 books per year, often much more. These books will come from many genres and cover a vast variety of topics. On the surface, the fact that publishers are looking for so many books appears to be a good thing. It means they are constantly on the lookout for new talent to fill their publishing schedule. The problem this presents is that not every book they publish is created equally.

It turns out that publishers are very bad at predicting which books will sell well and which will flop. Therefore, they take an approach of publishing many books, aware that only a small percentage of these will go on to be bestsellers. The small proportion that sells very well, will cover the costs (and more) of the other books.

Though publishers are bad at spotting a bestseller, they are very good at predicting a potential bestseller from early sales data. This means that once a book starts to sell well in the opening weeks, they will push all their resources behind this book and leave the other books to wither. If you are the author of a potential bestseller, you’ll see the full power of the publishing machine. If your book is deemed to not be a potential bestseller, then you’ll be left to fend for yourself.

Specialization

Big publishers work hard to find and train the best publishing professionals. They have large teams that focus on every aspect of the publishing process from editorial, to cover design to marketing. This means that books published by one of the big publishers will be the best they can possibly be.

Imprint

All big publishers operate the same model when it comes to structuring their companies. They will have a main ‘mother’ company and a number of smaller companies, called imprints. It is common to see the mother company publishing books of a more general nature and the imprints focussing on just one or two genres.

It is important that authors don’t assume that being published by an imprint is a lesser form of publishing, this is simply not the case. It is true that many big publishers will ‘move’ their biggest selling authors into the mother company, but this should not be a consideration for new authors.

Authors tend to find themselves at imprints for one of two reasons. The first is that the book they are publishing is a less mainstream genre. Imprints often have an excellent genre-specific knowledge and are, therefore, the natural home for books on the genre in which they specialize. The second is that imprints are sometimes seen as ‘breeding grounds’ for new talent. It is not unusual for a new and unproven writer to start their career at a smaller imprint and be moved ‘up the ladder’ as they grow and develop.

Here’s a great infographic created by Ali Almossawi, where he shows the relationship of imprints to their mother companies.

Agents

One common element that binds all big publishers, and their imprints, is that they only work with authors that are represented by agents. The main reason for this is that agents act as gatekeepers, screening potential authors and working to find the types of books publishers need to fulfill their publishing catalog.

One common mistake new authors make is to assume that an agent’s main job is to say no to rubbish books. It is true that most books, that an agent sees, are simply not up to a standard they require. However, if you have been rejected by an agent, it is not automatically because your book is badly written. Agents are looking for books that publishers will find attractive (often called ‘commercial’). In short, these are books that agents and publishers feel have the potential to sell many thousands of copies. Many a well-written book has been rejected simply because an agent feels that it is not ‘commercial’ enough.

Money Talks

The final piece of the jigsaw for writers considering a big publisher is to follow the money. No big publisher will ever ask an author to pay anything towards the publication of their book. That’s just not the deal.

When you sign a deal with a publisher you are giving them the right to publish your book. In return, they are agreeing to give you a cut of each sale. The publisher will provide all the cash needed for editorial support, printing, marketing and anything else that is required. In return, they’ll give you a cut of about 15% of the price that they sell each book (of which you’ll give about 15% to your agent). This is known as a royalty.

There’s two other things to consider in the money equation: advances and other rights.

An advance is the upfront payment the publisher will make for your book. This is not a free gift, but is, instead, an advance on the royalties that they feel they will be paying you in the coming years. Therefore, if you received an advance of $10,000, you’d need to earn $10,000 worth of royalties before you started getting any more cash. Advances are seen as a gamble by the publisher and the bigger the advance the more ‘skin’ they have in the game and the bigger their desire will be to make your book a success. If a book fails to sell enough copies to ‘earn back’ your royalty you don’t have to pay anything back. However, the chances of getting another book deal are reduced.

The final thing to consider is ‘other rights’. When you sign a deal with your publisher, you’ll give them the rights to sell your book in your country (called territory). You’ll also give them the right to reproduce your story in book form (paper and digital). However, there are other rights associated with your book. These include the rights to publish in other countries, audio rights and film rights. If your book is a success, these rights can be ‘sold’ to interested parties. This will earn you additional income. Some rights, especially foreign rights, can be very lucrative for an author.

The Advantages of Going with a Big Publisher

There are many advantages of being published by a big publisher, many of which are personal. However, below are three key benefits:

1. Potential Rewards Huge

IF your book becomes a bestseller, and that’s a massive IF, then a big publisher is the best place to be. A big book publisher will ensure that your book gets everything that is needed to make it a success. They will work with you and your agent to really fulfill the potential for your book.

2. You Don’t Have to do Anything, Other Than Write

A big publisher will work hard to ensure that you have time to focus on the most important task, which is writing. During the editorial process, you will be required to carry out work on your book, but once the book is published this stops. You will also be required to carry out some marketing activities, but these are often limited.

3. Legitimacy

This is not an advantage to be underestimated. Many authors want to be published by a big publisher. They want the legitimacy this brings; they want to be a ‘published author’. This is fine, just be aware that if this is a driving motivation, then seeking a big publisher is probably the only way you’ll scratch that itch.

The Disadvantages of Going with a Big Publisher

A big publisher is not right for every author. Here are a few of the key reasons you need to consider when making a choice.

Screwed If You Are Not a Bestseller

Big publishers work on a model of publishing many books and then focussing on the few that appear to be bestsellers. This is great if you are one of the 20% that are successful, however, if you are not then things are not so rosy. A big publisher will not push cash into marketing a book they don’t feel has potential. This means that many authors with big publishers, find their book being ignored after the first month of publication.

Mid-list Is Death

There was a time when mid-list authors could make a decent living at a big publisher. This is simply no longer the case. A mid-list author is one who sells enough books to keep getting new deals, but not enough to be a bestseller. A big publisher sees the potential but will not invest the time and money that may be needed to push this author into the bestseller category. The result is that the author is left with mediocre sales and a poor income from writing.

It Takes Years

If you have written your book and want it to be in print within the next six months, then a big publisher is not the correct option for you. It can take months to secure an agent and then, even with an agent, you can be looking at up to a year for that agent to secure a publishing deal. Then, even with a publisher, they make be looking at a twelve month lead time until the book is published. It is not at all unusual for a book to take up to two years from the time the author completes to the book being on the shelf. The publishing industry is slow!

Is a Big Publisher Right for Me?

There are so many factors to consider when deciding on a publishing route, and the choice is so personal, that only you can make that choice.

This said I think there are three things to consider.

The first to is how you see your publishing career. If you are prepared to take your publishing journey one book at a time, then a big publisher might be a logical choice. It is common for authors to write a book that fits a big publisher perfectly, but for their next book to struggle to find a home. The key is to go into the process with just one book in mind.

The second is to consider just how ‘commercial’ you feel your book would be for publishers. They are looking for books that will sell at least a couple of thousand copies in the first year. It might be that your book is just too ‘niche’ for their ambitions. A good way to test the commercial potential for your book is to submit it to a few agents and see what they say. If they feel it has commercial potential, they will ask for the full manuscript.

The final aspect to consider whether you intend to leverage a potential book deal. Being published with a big publisher will open certain doors. If you plan to go into teaching creative writing or a similar field, then being published will help you achieve these goals. Most writers, even those with big publishers, struggle to make a full-time living. You might find that securing a big publisher book deal opens a few career doors that would have otherwise been closed.
It is becoming increasingly common to hear of authors deciding to pick independent publishers as the best option for their books. This might not be the perfect option for some authors, but is it right for you and your book?

What is an Independent Publisher?

The term ‘independent publisher’ applies to any publisher that is not one of the big five (or one of their imprints). They tend to range in size from publishing tens to hundreds of books per year, they also range in size in regards to their publishing team and overall profitability.

However, there are a number of key factors that link all independent publishers:

• Small team.
• Genre specific.
• Limited budget.
• No agent.

Let’s look at each of these:

Small Team

Independent publishers lack the resources of big publishers and will, therefore, have small and less specialized teams. Whilst a big publisher might have whole departments dedicated to such tasks as cover design and editing, an independent publisher might see these tasks falling to a single person or even an external freelancer.

This means that books may not receive the same thorough treatment you’d expect from a big publisher. You may also find that an author is expected to ‘pitch in’ to a much larger degree. This may be in the editorial process, but it will almost certainly be the case in the marketing strategy.

Genre-specific

Independent publishers are often genre-specific, publishing books for one small niche within the wider marketplace. This might be military history, picture books or just about any of the other genres.

The advantage of this approach is that the publisher will have an intimate knowledge of the genre and the readership. They will have genre-specific knowledge that is missing in a bigger publisher. In fact, it is not unusual for a big publisher to ‘buy up’ a smaller publisher just to secure the genre expertise.

If you are writing in a defined genre, especially one away from the mainstream, you may find the expertise locked within an independent publisher will allow your book to flourish.

Limited Budget

As you may expect, independent publishers will operate on a limited budget. This is not true for all independent publishers since some of the larger companies make a healthy profit. However, at the smaller end of the scale, independent publishers are often working on a very tight profit margin.

The impact of this will be seen throughout the process. Independent publishers will tend to publish fewer books and (on the whole) take fewer risks. You never see outrageous advances paid to authors and expensive marketing campaigns are out of the question.

There is a flip side to the limited budget and that is that independent publishers tend to be very good at selling the books they do publish. They often don’t focus on securing bestsellers (a process you see in big publishers) and, instead, tend to focus on making each book profitable in its own right. From an author’s viewpoint, this means the chances of a runaway success are rare (it happens but not often and tends to be linked in with a book winning a major literary prize), but it also means that you are unlikely to be ignored by your publisher if your book is not a hit in the opening weeks.

No Agent

Many smaller publishers will accept submissions directly from an author. This means that authors without agents can submit. However, this may leave the author in a difficult position, since they will be left to negotiate the contract by themselves, but an agent is not essential. If you have struggled to find an agent, approaching smaller independent publishers may be a good way to get your foot on the traditional publishing ladder.

Money Talks

When assessing the suitability of an independent publisher for your book, the deal they are offering is critical.

Independent publishers often mirror big publishers in their approach to contracts, but there is some variation.

When you sign a deal with a publisher you are giving them the right to publish your book. In return, they are agreeing to give you a cut of each sale. The publisher will provide all the cash needed for editorial support, printing, marketing and anything else that is required. In return, they’ll give you a cut of about 15% of the price that they sell each book. This is known as a royalty.

There’s two other things to consider in the money equation: advances and other rights.

An advance is the upfront payment the publisher will make for your book. This is not a free gift, but is, instead, an advance on the royalties that they feel they will be paying you in the coming years. Therefore, if you received an advance of $10,000, you’d need to earn $10,000 worth of royalties before you started getting any more cash. Advances are seen as a gamble by the publisher and the bigger the advance the more ‘skin’ they have in the game and the bigger their desire will be to make your book a success. If a book fails to sell enough copies to ‘earn back’ your royalty, you don’t have to pay anything back. However, the chances of getting another book deal are reduced.

There are a few things to consider with independent publishers and book deals:

The first is the size of the advance. A big publisher may be offering advances ranging from thousands to tens of thousands, this will not be the case with a smaller publisher. Advances tend to be in the thousands. It is also not uncommon for a smaller publisher to offer no advance at all. If this is the case, the author should be offered a bigger cut of the book sales, in excess of the 15% offered by big publishers. It is also not uncommon for publishers to offer ‘profit share’ contracts. This is where the profit for each book sale is split 50/50 between the author and publisher.

The second important element is that it is much more common for small publishers to allow authors to retain ‘rights’ for their book. Most publishers will want the digital right but beyond that, they can be flexible. If you are being represented by an agent, the agent may wish you to retain these rights so they can attempt to sell them to a third party.

The Advantages of Going with an Independent Publisher

Deciding to take the plunge with an independent publisher is a difficult choice but here are a few things that might help:

They Know Your Genre

Independent publishers operate on tighter profit margins and, therefore, tend to stick to one genre. This means that they have unique genre expertise, which might help you sell more books. If you write for a genre that is under-represented by big publishers, an independent publisher might just be the answer.

You Don’t Need an Agent

Finding an agent is a time-consuming process with no guarantee of success. Many writers just don’t have the patience to wait for agents to ‘discover’ them in their slush pile. If you don’t want to play the agent game, but still fancy a traditional publisher, then an independent publisher might be the best choice.

You Retain Some Control

Creative control can be a deal breaker for some writers. If this is an important element of the publishing process for you, then a big publisher might not be the ideal choice. Since independent publishers have smaller teams, they tend to work more closely with authors and are keen for their creative input. If control is your thing, then an independent publisher might be worth a punt.

The Disadvantages of Going with an Independent Publisher

The main disadvantages to independent publishers come when they are compared to a big publisher. These may or may not be important to your thinking process.

You’ll Probably Make Less Cash

Independent publishers tend to produce books with predictable sales over time. Though bestsellers do, at times, emerge from independent publishers they are not part of the publisher’s business model. Instead, they focus on publishing books that will make smaller profits over time. This means that, as an author, you’ll probably sell fewer books than you would have at a big publisher. Well, in the short term anyway.

It’s Not a Big Boy

This might be stating the obvious but independent publishers are not big publishers. If legitimacy is a key driving force, then you may be uncomfortable being published by a smaller publisher.

You’ll Have to Do More

This is listed as an advantage as well as a disadvantage. An independent publisher’s smaller team mean that some of the publishing burden will fall on your shoulders. You will be expected to play a part in the editorial process, you might be asked to help pick covers and you will certainly be asked to play a significant part in the marketing strategy. If you don’t have the time or inclination to get involved, then an independent publisher might not be ideal for you and your book.

Is an Independent Publisher Right for Me?

There are so many factors to consider when deciding on a publishing route, and the choice is so personal, that only you can make that choice.

This said I think there are three things to consider.

The first comes down to your goals. If you seek the legitimacy of being traditionally published but have been unable to secure an agent and/or big publisher, then an independent publisher may be a good fit. You will discover that they are easier to access and may be more willing to publish your book. You will also find that you come away from the process with both digital and print copies of your book. There is even the chance your book will be stocked in bookshops.

The second reason why an independent publisher might be a good fit for you and your book comes down to your time commitment. If you are in a position when you don’t have the time or inclination to self-publish, then an independent publisher may well be a good option. They will provide all the resources you require, with you only having to invest a minimal amount of time into editorial and marketing duties.

The third reason for seeking an independent publisher is a little less obvious. If you have written a book that has a clearly defined niche market (e.g. military history, coding or fly fishing), and you feel that you lack the marketing expertise to sell the book via self-publishing, then an independent publisher may be the ideal option. An independent publisher will have a deep and proven understanding of your readership, they will know the books your potential readers buy (and read) and they will know how to access this market.

Though the choice to self-publish has become increasingly common, it still poses a huge leap for many authors.

What Does Self-Publishing Involve?

Before you can make an informed choice as to whether self-publishing is the best option for your book, you first need to understand what is involved in the process. Unlike traditional publishing, be it via a big or independent publisher, you will be required to spend money, invest time and undergo a steep learning curve. Self-publishing is also not a one off investment, once you have your book out in the world, you will need to continually invest time (and perhaps money) into marketing your book.

In its most simple form self-publishing is the process of publishing your book, without the help of a traditional publisher. It consists of the following elements:

• Writing.
• Editing.
• Cover design.
• eBook design.
• Publication.
• Marketing.

The writing element is self-explanatory. The editing will cover both structural editing, line editing, copy editing and proofreading. Cover design will involve a cover for the digital version of your book, as well as the paper version. Conversion to an eBook will involve converting the Word document into one or more digital formats. Publication will involve uploading to Kindle Digital Publishing (KDP), but might also involve other services such as Apple Books. The marketing element is on-going but will include short term promotions and a long term marketing strategy.

Each of these elements is worthy of far deeper examination, but for the purpose of this article, all that is required is that you are aware of the investment of time and resources that will be required.

Broadly speaking, self-publishing can be split into two types:

1. DIY.
2. Assisted.

DIY Self-Publishing

This is the process of self-publishing in which you, the author, completes each of the elements. This may involve you physically doing what is required or paying a third party service company or freelancer to carry out a particular task.

DIY publishing will see you keeping full control of the process. You will be responsible for the completion of each step. Though this brings with it an insane level of control, it does mean that you will probably have to learn a number of new skills (or pay someone with those skills). For example, converting a Word document to a digital format CAN be a pretty simple process. However, if your manuscript has any level of complexity you will need to understand the finer elements of the ePub format, as well as CSS coding, to do a good job.

Assisted Self-Publishing

This is still the process of self-publishing, but one in which you pay one company to take on all elements of the process (note this is not the same as paying a freelancer to complete one element of the process).

There are a number of companies that will provide a full service, but they all tend to operate around the same model. This will involve them providing you with an upfront cost to turn your Word document into a digital and paper book. This price will likely be in access of $1500. In addition, they will probably also ask you to pay an ongoing fee to cover storage of your paper books. It is also common for them to charge you a price per book after the initial print run has been sold.

The main advantage of this approach is that you, the author, will not need to do anything beyond editorial input and saying yes or no to such elements as cover design. The main down side is the cost. It is more expensive to self-publish in this way.

Please note; it is my experience that these types of full service companies make money on creating paper books. They will, therefore, be looking to encourage you to print about 300+ copies of your book. Be aware that the chances of you getting your book into bookshops is very slim. Also be aware that advancement in Print On Demand technology means that companies such as CreateSpace can fulfill paper book orders with no up-front cost to the author. Think carefully before you print hundreds of your book.

What Are the Advantages of Self-Publishing?

Self-publishing is a choice that many authors come to after much contemplation. It may be that an author is excited about publishing their own book, or it might be that they don’t have the time or inclination to seek out a publisher/agent, or it might simply be that they have been unable to secure a traditional publishing deal.

Whatever the reason, I feel there are a number of clear advantages to self-publishing:

Control

For many authors, retaining creative control is a critical element of the publishing process. If you wish to remain in full control of every element of your book, then self-publishing is your only option. It is not uncommon for authors following the traditional publishing path to have little or no creative control. If you decide to self-publish you will be making every decision about your book.

Money

As with all industries, it is all too easy to find the stories of multi-million selling self-published authors. Yes, they do exist but they are the rarity. The reality is that you should be looking to sell between 500 and 1000 books in your first year. This is very doable for a more mainstream title with good marketing. This means that you will probably recoup your upfront investment in the first year of sales and break into profit thereafter.

This might seem a little disheartening but this is the model that most independent publishers operate under. They look for a book to break even as quickly as possible and then go on to make profit over time.

If you have a good book, a good marketing strategy and are prepared to play the long game, you will make a profit.

Taking Advantage of a Small Market

Many books get rejected by agents and publishers simply because that they feel they are not ‘commercial’ enough. This is an industry term to describe a book they feel lacks the potential to sell a few thousand copies. Publishers tend to have an initial print run of between 1000 and 3000 books. They want these books to sell, if they fail to sell out the print run, they lose money. This means that books with smaller, niche, readerships never stand a chance.

If you’ve written a book with niche appeal (I’d class that as selling less than about 500 books per year), then self-publishing is just about your only option. This is not to say the process will not be profitable and exciting. It just means the book will never be attractive to a mainstream publisher. Their loss!

Speed

The traditional publishing industry is slooooow, really slow. It is not uncommon for a book to take two years from completion to being in a bookshop. You will find that publishers often talk in years, rather than months and weeks.

If you simply want your book published or you have a time-sensitive topic, then self-publishing will be the best option. There is no real need for the process to be as slow as some publishers would lead you to believe. There are some elements that take time. It will probably take you two or three months to go through the editorial process. You can also add in a number of weeks for the cover design and eBook conversion. However, with a bit of crafty project management, you can probably cut down the time for publication to about six months, if not less.

Experience

The final advantage of self-publishing is the sheer joy of the process. Publishing your own book should be an exciting experience. You’ll get to work with publishing professionals, learn new skills and get the joy of selling your own work. On top of this, you get to interact with readers and really feel like a writer.

What Are the Disadvantages of Self-Publishing?

Though self-publishing possesses many clear advantages, it would be unwise to not point out some of the clear disadvantages.

Before you decide to take the plunge and self-publish your book, here are a few points to consider:

Resources

If you opt for a DIY Self-publishing approach you will find that it is a time consuming process, which will test your resources. From a money viewpoint you will need a budget of around $1000 to successfully publish a book. The main outlays will come in the form of editing and proofreading, though eBook conversion and cover design may also be costly. It is possible to reduce some of these costs by ‘doing it yourself’ but this becomes a pay off against your time. You might decide to save $200 by doing your own eBook conversion. However, to do a good job you will need to be on a pretty steep learning curve. In the end, it will come down to a choice between money or time.

Please note; the figures above assume you are starting with a ‘digital first’ approach. This involves the initial creation and sale of an eBook. Once the book is selling you can then consider adding a Print on Demand option, which requires no upfront cost. If you intend to print real paper books, then costs will start to spiral.

The assisted self-publishing approach is a slightly simpler choice. Here, the company you engaging will have all the knowledge and this will save on your time. However, you will be paying more than you would have if you took the DIY approach.

Marketing

Whether you opt to take the DIY or assisted approach, you will, at some point, need to take an active role in promoting and marketing your book. This is a time-consuming process, which has a set of skills you will need to master.

A good marketing strategy will be a mixture of short-term promotion and long-term marketing. You will need an effective strategy that will get your book in front of potential readers. The reality is that this will take time and knowledge. If you wish your book to be a success your marketing strategy will become a fundamental part of your daily life.

Outside the Publishing Model

The final point to consider when self-publishing is that your book will fall outside the traditional publishing model. This may sound obvious but it brings with it unseen considerations.

There is a system set up to sell, promote and market books published via the traditional publishing path. You will not have access to this system. In reality, that means that you will not be getting additional income from the sale of rights (film, foreign language, audio etc.), you will not get your book submitted for prestigious prizes, you will not be able to get your book reviewed in national newspapers and you will not be getting your book stocked in nationwide bookshops.

Is Self-Publishing Right for Me?

Self-publishing can be an exciting and profitable option for many authors. However, before you opt to take the plunge, here are a few things to consider.

The legitimacy of being published by a ‘traditional’ publisher still holds sway with both authors and readers. If you opt to be self-published, you will receive some negative feedback. I recently received the following email from a successfully self-published author:

I self-published my last book. It was a success, (4000+ sold) but it’s still seen as ‘something less’ by everyone I know in publishing. Infuriating.

The second point to consider is that self-publishing is far from an easy option. It will require an investment of time, money and emotional energy. In my experience, many self-published books underperform simply because the author lacks either the resources or knowledge to make the book a success.

The final thing to consider is that self-publishing is an exciting thing to do. It sees you in full control of your book and the publishing process. You get to be involved in every step of the process, which brings with it all of the highs and lows. You get to see your book in ‘print’ but also experience the excitement of ‘making sales’ and ‘connecting with readers’. I would urge that of all the factors that you need to take into consideration, you never lose sight of this important point.

If you plan to publish your book via a big publisher, or even some independent publishers, you will, at some point, need an agent.

The Role of an Agent

Most authors understand that agents are essential in the traditional publishing process, but not everyone understands what it is they will do for your career. Agents play a number of critical roles.

The first role that agents fulfill is to act as gatekeepers. It is their job to filter potential authors and present only the most suitable to publishers. It is worth mentioning that ‘quality’ of books presented to an agent is not the deciding factor on whether they feel they are worthy of representation. It is true that if your book is of poor quality; it will almost certainly be rejected but this is not always the case. Agents and publishers will not shy away from very heavy editing or even using a ghostwriter to turn a badly written book into something they can publish.

The key factor that decides if an agent is interested in a book is what they call ‘commerciality’. This is the book’s potential to sell thousands of copies. When an agent says a book is ‘commercial’ they mean it has a wide appeal to readers. This means that if you have a commercial idea, quality is less important. This is why you get ghostwriters writing celebrity biographies. The latest sport star might have a great story but no ability to write. No problem, the agent will find a ghostwriter.

However, for most authors, a book must possess two qualities. It must be commercial and of a high enough standard that it will not require too much work to prepare it for publication.

Publishers don’t have the resources to screen out commercial novels from the slush pile and, therefore, rely on agents.

The second role of an agent is to understand what publishers want from new books. Publishers are constantly assessing the books they publish and making predictions on where the market will go. They are looking for trends and to build on the success of previous books. This means that publishers will often have a checklist of books they are seeking.

For example, let’s say that a publisher feels that supernatural romance is a developing genre. They’ve seen lots of books that focus on romance and vampires and even romance and werewolves. One publisher now feels that romance and mermaids will be the next trend. They will, therefore, be looking for a mermaid romance novel.

This is where agents come into play. Publishers and agents talk all the time. An agent is constantly listening to publishers and storing away the kinds of books they are seeking. In fact, this is one of an agent’s biggest strengths, they know what publishers want.

Let’s go back to our example.

Our publisher has decided they want a mermaid romance book. They go to lunch with an agent and they tell the agent about this trend. The agent comes away knowing what the publisher wants. This means that if the following week they see a submission from a writer who is pitching a mermaid romance, then a deal might just be waiting to happen.

The third key role of an agent is in negotiating deals. Assuming that you have written a book that is of interest to a publisher, the time will come to do a deal. This is where agents earn their money. They know what is a typical deal, they know what clauses you want in the contract and they will be able to push the publisher for the best deal. They will also be able to do this without harming your relationship with the publisher. Once the deal has been signed the agent will step to one side and you will work with the publisher directly. The last thing you want is this relationship to be soured by the previous negotiation.

The forth role of an agent is to act as a barrier between you and the publisher. Once the deal has been completed and the publishing process starts, there will be lots of little issues that will come up. One thing an agent will be able to do is to handle these problems on your behalf. They will be able to talk openly and honestly with the publisher and resolve any problems. They will also be able to tell you when things that are happening are normal and when things are going wrong. The result is that you will be able to focus on maintaining a healthy and positive relationship with your publisher.

The final key role of an agent is to make sure you get paid. An agent will ensure that a publisher is living up to their side of the contract. They will chase royalties and make sure they are correct (it is not unusual for publishers to make mistakes). They will also ensure that the less common clauses of the contract are being fulfilled. For example, it is not unusual for an advance to be split into at least two stages (if not more). This is normally half on signing and the rest of delivery. The agent will make sure you get the cash they have promised when they have promised.

What Agents Want to See in an Author

Having the ‘right’ book is only part of the process and is not the complete picture. In order for a writer to be an attractive proposition for an agent they must tick a number of boxes.

In a recent article in The Bookseller (11 November 2016, page 7), UK agent Ed Victor outlined what it was he was looking for in a writer.

‘Victor has three criteria for taking on an author, he says: personality, the quality of the book and its money making potential. Any one of those three will swing it.

“If there is a person I really like and want to be close to, whose work is OK but doesn’t make very much money, I’ll do it. If there is another, one who has written an extraordinary book, [even if] it won’t make a lot of money I’ll do it, because I love books. And if there is a book by someone who is not wonderful, and the book is not particularly good, but it is going to make a lot of money, I owe it to my company to do it.”’

Why Agents Are Essential

If you are looking to make a living from publishing with traditional publishers, then an agent is an essential part of the process. However, if you are still undecided, here are three points to consider:

An agent will know things about publishers you never will. Not only do they know what books they are looking to publish but they also know the staff and internal politics. Agents ‘get’ publishers and know how they tick, they know the up and coming editors and the editors that should be avoided. Agents are the only people that will be able to give you honest advice about how to navigate the publishing process.

The second point to ponder is that you can’t get near a big publisher without an agent. You will be able to build a reputation without an agent, by focusing on approaching smaller independent publishers, but if you want to speak to the big boys then you will require an agent.

The final point is that agents will stop you making mistakes and this is not just from a financial viewpoint. An agent will hold your hand during the publishing process. They will provide advice and give you guidance on how to progress your career. They are one of the few people in the publishing world that will have your best interests at heart. After all, the better you do the more cash they make.

I want to end this article with one word of warning and that is that not all agents are created equal. If you are looking for an agent the focus should be on long-established agencies located in the ‘publishing’ city of your country (e.g. New York and London). There are many great ‘solo’ agents but if you are offered a deal from a solo agent then approach with caution. There is one great question you can ask that will help separate the wheat from the chaff and that is, ‘can you give me a list of your clients?’ A successful agent will be doing book deals for writers that are selling books. Do your research, check up on the agent and do some googling of their clients. You are looking for an active agent (one doing deals) that represents writers from your genre, who are selling books.

There’s a good chance that if you have spent any time looking at publishing options for your book, that’ll you have come across the term ‘hybrid publishing’. This is a relatively new term and worthy of some clarification.

What is Hybrid Publishing?

The term hybrid publishing has started to be used more commonly in recent years. It is a term authors give to a publishing career that encompasses books that are both self-published and published by traditional publishing companies.

For example, let’s say you write your first novel. It’s a thriller about a maverick cop trying to catch a serial killer. You pitch your book to a handful of agents, but get no positive replies. After six months, you decide that self-publishing is the best option.

Your book sells well and it spurs you on to write a sequel. Your first thought is to self-publish the second book, but you decide to give agents one more try. This time you have some success and an agent agrees to represent your book. They find a small independent publisher that wants to publish your book and you secure a book deal. The book is published and sells OK. You enjoy the process.

You now have the writing bug and decide to write a collection of short stories. You talk to your agent and they feel that though they like your book, it is not ‘commercial’ enough for them. You both agree that self-publishing will be the best option.

This example is a great illustration of hybrid publishing. The author is picking the option that is best for their book at each step of the process. They end up with a career that sees books both self-published and published by traditional publishers.

What Are the Pros and Cons of Hybrid Publishing?

The nature of hybrid publishing means that for many authors it is more of an evolution than a revolution. Writers tend to ease themselves into the process as they try to find the best options for their books. This said, there are a few elements that need to be considered.

One advantage of hybrid publishing is the flexibility it brings to an author. It means that, at no point, is an author tied into any one option. It gives authors a freedom from the demands of publishers. It also means that an author is never left in a situation where a book they have written has no publishing ‘home’.

The flip side of flexibility is instability. The fact that an author has no one clear path to publication means that each book is faced with a certain level of instability – Will the agent like it? Will they find a publisher? Should they self-publish? It also means that an author may struggle to build a long term relationship with both their agent and publisher, who may feel a little aggrieved that they choose to opt for self-publishing.

Is Hybrid Publishing Right for You?

The reality of hybrid publishing is that an author often drifts into it out of necessity, rather than choice. It tends to come about when an author is unable to secure a deal with an agent/publisher and turns to self-publishing. The other path is the opposite, where an author has been self-publishing and then finds an agent/publisher interested in their work. It is not uncommon for agents to ‘follow’ the Amazon charts and approach the bestselling self-publishing authors with potential traditional book deals.

Hybrid publishing is becoming increasingly common and this trend looks set to continue. The traditional publishing industry are looking to the self-publishing world for the ‘next big thing’, whilst authors are comfortable with switching between both traditional and self-publishing.

I bet you agree with most writers that ‘show, don’t tell‘ is an overused phrase that’s lost its meaning.

As some involved in book editing I hear this a lot…

For some, show, don’t tell has become a cliché with little value, but as a professional editor, I’d insist that showing, not telling is the most powerful tool a writer can use. Utilizing this one technique will make you a better writer overnight.

Afterall, clichés are clichés for a reason and there’s a strong element of wisdom behind the well-worn phrase.

Not convinced?

I am a professional book editor who has edited more than 500 books and one of the advantages of editing so many books is that you start to see trends. You learn the most common mistakes writers make and learn what advice will have the most impact. I’ve discovered that by far the most common mistake writers make is that they tend to tell rather than show.

The impact of telling is that readers become bored as you produce unengaging prose and two-dimensional characters

In short, failing to show is killing your book. 

Creating Boring Books

One of the most common reasons a reader stops reading a book is that they become bored. The reader will start with the best of intensions, but if the plot is weak, the characters are undeveloped and the writing is not fully engaging, the reader will turn off. We’ve all done it, just how many books have you started and never finished?

Your role as a writer is to keep the reader engaged. Fortunately, this process is not too difficult.

When reading a book, the reader must feel part of the story. They must feel as if they are ‘in’ the narrative, experiencing what is happening. The best way for this to happen is for you to treat the reader as an observer to a scene. A reader must ‘see’ the scene as it unfolds in front of them. They must be able to picture the location and characters, visualizing the actions as it occurs.

This means that you SHOW the reader all that is happening, not TELL them.

For example, if you were to write:

‘The woman was happy.’

This would be TELL. You are telling the reader the woman’s emotion; she’s happy. The reader is left with no wriggle room. They are left with no work to do and don’t need to engage.

However, if you wrote:

‘The woman smiled and then jumped in the air, clapping her hands.’

This time you are forcing the reader to do work. They need to picture the scene and the woman. You are leaving some narrative space for the reader to lean into and add their own meaning. Is the woman happy? Ecstatic? Something else? It’s now the reader’s job to engage with the story and add the meaning. This is SHOW. You are describing the woman’s actions. The reader remains part of the scene and, hopefully, the character’s actions trigger an emotion in the reader.

By showing, not telling emotions, plot and back-story you are forcing the reader to ‘lean into’ the book. This keeps them engaged and part of the process. Each time you tell the reader something about the story, the reader is pushed onto the back foot and disengages, too much tell and the reader gets bored and stops reading.

The aim is to create a narrative space between the character and the reader.

By showing the reader what is happening, but not telling them, you force the reader to work out the reasons for the character’s words and actions. This way they must build their own picture of your characters.

The Role of the Narrator

Once you switch your thinking to the need to show, it soon becomes clear that the role of the narrator alters. If you are telling, then the narrator is doing all the heavy lifting. They are the reader’s direct route into the plot. The narrator is spoon-feeding the reader the story, leaving the reader with no room to build their own narrative.

This means that when showing, the role of the narrator changes. The narrator is now there to describe characters, their actions, the locations and, on occasions, the thoughts of characters. They are not telling the story, they are describing it.

This does produce one issue. If the narrator is describing the actions and words of characters, how do you pass key plot points to the reader? If you can’t just have the narrator just tell the reader, how do you pass back-story for a character and key plot information? How can this be done if not in the narration?

The answer is simple; you do it via dialogue.

If you want the reader to know something about the character’s background or a key plot point, you do it in a conversation between characters. This way the reader remains an active part of the story process. They will ‘discover’ the plot in the words of the characters, rather than have is passively spoon feed to then via the narrator.

For example, if you are writing a novel in which a key plot point is that the main character must be able to fly a plane, you would not put this information in the narrative, you would put it in a conversation. The wrong way to do this would be for the narrator to tell the reader the character could fly a plane. The correct way would be to show the reader by having the topic come up naturally in conversation and then have the character admit they can fly a plane.

Let’s look at another example…

If you want the reader to know your main character is an expert in hand-to-hand combat then you are presented with two options.

The first would be to tell the reader. This is the wrong way to pass the information. For example:

John had grown up in a tough city, where survival was more important than education. School life had been problematic and fights were part of everyday life. However, after one fateful day, when he had returned home with a black eye, John’s father had insisted his son should toughen up. From that day on, John attended the local karate dojo training each day until he was an expert.

The second would be to show the reader. This is the correct way and leaves the reader engaged and active. For example:

’You look pretty good, do you keep in shape?’ said Paula, eyeing John’s well-formed torso under his tight t-shirt. John smiled.

‘Yeah, but I am not a gym rat,’ John replied.

‘No? You must pump weights or something; you don’t get a body like that eating pizza and watching TV.’

John smiled. There was a pause. ‘I think the whole pumping iron thing is a bit weird.’

Paula’s eye scanned John’s body. ‘So what’s your thing?’

‘Martial arts.’

‘Ohh.’ There was a tone of surprise in Paula’s voice. ‘You any good?’

‘Yeah. Pretty good.’

‘How long you been training?’

‘Since I was a kid.’

John shifted in his chair and stared at Paula for a moment, his fingers touching his face.

‘I grew up in a bad are,’ John’s voice was almost a whisper, ‘there were fights at school every day. One day a gang of lads jumped me. I didn’t stand a chance; I was a wimp at the time. I was beaten up pretty bad. When my old man saw the state of my face he didn’t say a word, he simply grabbed me by the hand and took me to the martial arts dojo on the corner of our street. I had never been in before. My old man took me inside, had a quick word with the guy who ran the place and left me there. For the next ten years, I went every day after school and train. I even started to enjoy it.’

‘Sounds… interesting.’

‘Well, I never came home with a black eye again.’

This example contains back-story. The way John whispers the reply shows he is not comfortable with his past. I had decided his father had beaten John and John didn’t like talking about his past. I have added pauses to reflect John’s internal voice as he ‘filters’ what is said to Paula. However, the reader is shown the words and there’s no further explanation. The reader is forced to add their own meaning, becoming engaged in the process.

Elements of a Story

A good story is made up of three elements:

1. A character’s internal voice.
2. A character’s external voice.
3. A character’s reaction to events.

This means that whilst you are showing back-story via dialogue and events, you can also build the character. A character’s internal voice will be providing a ‘dialogue’ that reflects the character’s thoughts. A reader will never ‘hear’ these. The external voice is what is reflected in the dialogue. This is shaped by the internal voice.

For example, above I had decided that John had an internal voice that said, ‘People who pumped iron where self-indulgent and lacked self-confidence’. This was reflected in his words. I never told the reader this; I let it show between the lines, so to speak.

The final aspect is the way a character reacts to events. In our example, if a mugger confronted John he would probably fight back. I suspect he would also react badly to a bully. These reflect John’s internal dialogue, but it is not something that should be told to the reader, instead, it is shown in the actions of the characters.

The interest for a reader comes when the three elements (internal, external and actions) don’t match. In real life, what people say, think and do are very different things. It is this paradox that creates three-dimensional and interesting characters.

So… if you shortcut all of this and just tell the reader, you have missed all the elements that make novels such great tools for telling stories and examining human behavior.

Summary

• Plot and back-story are passed only via dialogue.
• Narration is only for description of actions, characters, and locations.

One simple technique you can use in your writing, to ensure that you are showing, not telling, is called the camera test. This is a simple process; imagine a scene from your book as if you are viewing it through the camera lens. You then write the scene only using the elements that the camera would see (or hear). This means that your focus shifts to describing characters, locations, actions and words. What you can’t do is focus on using the narrator to dump back-story and plot.

Showing not telling is a cliché for a good reason. It is a great phrase to shorthand a whole methodology of storytelling. By showing, not telling you are forcing yourself to write in a way that will create great, fully developed characters and stories that will keep the reader fully engaged from start to finish.

Writing Manual

If this is a subject that interests you, I have written a whole book on the subject. It is free and you can download it today; just click the link below:

Read The Writing Manual for free...

One question I get asked a lot is – ‘how do I edit my own book?’

If you are going to successfully self-edit your own novel then it is essential that you take one important step: stop thinking like a writer.

Or, to be more accurate: if you are going to self-edit your own novel with any level of success, then you need to stop thinking like a writer and start thinking like an editor.

I am not suggesting this is easy (or even enjoyable) but it is the first important step in the process of becoming a self-editor.

OK, so how to move from ‘how do I edit my own book?’ to becoming a self-editor?

Well the best place to begin is with your manuscript. You need to stop seeing your Word doc as a magical spell that creates wonderful stories but instead see it as a ‘technical’ document that can be formatted in a certain way that creates the maximum possible engagement with the writer.

Less romance, more reality.

The result of seeing your manuscript as a collection of formats, systems and ‘rules’ is that you can start to enforce some best practices and consistency to your writing.

In this article, you will discover the checklist that we use at BubbleCow to help prepare a manuscript for editing. It contains a number of repeatable steps that can be used to help lift your novel to a higher standard. If you follow these steps your book will not only read better and contain fewer errors, but will also be easier to convert to ebook format.

Why Listen To Me?

I run a busy professional editing company called BubbleCow which deals with hundreds of edits per year. We’ve been running since 2007 and over the years I have discovered that the key to consistent high-quality editing is good training, good communication, and clear systems.

One problem that we have identified is that not all manuscripts come to us at the same technical standard. This means that editing can be difficult since you need to start at a different point for each book.

I realized that we needed a way to make sure that all manuscripts were at the same editorial point when editing started. This way editors would not need to worry about missing vital steps.

The solution was to create a system (in this case a checklist) that allowed all of the essential-yet-routine parts of the pre-edit to be completed with the minimum amount of hassle. Before each edit begins in earnest, the editor follows the checklist and applies each step to the manuscript on which they are working.

The result is a consistent, high-quality service.

What Does The List Look Like?

Our Pre-Edit Checklist (that’s what we call it) is nothing too exciting; it is just a list of tasks that must be completed before an edit can start.

However, don’t be fooled by the simplicity – this little list is more powerful than it seems.

The list has been designed to ensure that each manuscript receives the same careful attention and that nothing is missed.

There’s nothing more comforting for an editor to know that if they follow a simple list of tasks they will be able to start editing in the confidence that they have removed many of the simple problems.

Why This Helps You

In a recent conversation with a writer whose book I was editing, I talked about our Pre-Edit Checklist and explained that it helped prepare each manuscript for editing. I talked about how it had transformed the way we edit, making the process smoother and more accurate. They were excited to hear what I was saying but was surprised that we hadn’t published the list, allowing writers to benefit from our knowledge and expertise.

This seemed like a great idea and this article is the result.

The aim of the article is to give you a solid base from which you can self-edit their own writing.

The W Word

Before we get onto the list, there’s just a little word of warning.

I get that there’s a debate over the ‘best’ word processor for writers and, to be honest, I am not really for weighing in on this argument. What I do want to say is that, at BubbleCow, we use Word for all of the editing we carry out.

The reason is simple. We have found that Word is by far the best word processing software when it comes to editing tools. It tends to be fast and easy to use once you have a grasp of the tools. As a result, this list assumes that you are using Word. This said all of the items in the checklist will still work with most word processing packages.

The Pre-Edit Checklist

1. Check you have a backup copy – Before you start editing, make sure that you have created a backup copy of your manuscript. This way you will end up with an unedited and edited version. As a side note, we use Dropbox to backup all of our edits. They not only have a free option, but they also have ‘version control’, which means you can often rescue text you’ve accidentally deleted.

2. Turn tracked changes off – This is a point aimed more at professional editors, but I know many writers that like to edit using tracked changes. However, even if you do intend to use tracked changes, it is important that you ensure that they are turned off at this point. The reason is that If you leave them, the next steps in this list will potentially produce thousands of changes you’ll have to manually accept or reject.

3. Turn nonprinting characters on – The ability to turn non-printing symbols on or off is still not common knowledge. If you click the ‘Home’ ribbon in Word you will see in the center the symbol for nonprinting characters. You need to ensure this is on. Once clicked you will be able to see loads of formatting symbols in your text that are there to help editors but that won’t show in the final manuscript. These include paragraph breaks, manual line breaks, spaces and page breaks.

4. Check line spacing – As a rule we find it is best to edit at 1.5 line spacing. This is more to do with ease of reading. The way that the spacing is changed is to highlight the whole manuscript (ctrl A) and then right click and press ‘paragraph’. In the spacing section hit the ‘line spacing’ box and set to 1.5 lines. Once the edit is complete, feel free to change back to the line spacing of your choice.

5. Check indentation – The correct way to indent a manuscript is for the first paragraph of each new chapter to be flush and the remaining paragraphs to be indented. The way that the indentation is changed is to highlight the whole manuscript (ctrl A) and then right click and press ‘paragraph’. In the indentation section hit the ‘special’ box and set to ‘first line’. You can alter the indentation size in the next box. Please note that this will indent ALL paragraphs. You may need to go back and remove the indentations from chapter headings and the first paragraph of each chapter.

6. Remove double paragraph breaks – Paragraph breaks are what appear in your manuscript when you press Enter or Return. They indicate that a paragraph is complete. It is not uncommon for writers to separate paragraphs with two paragraph breaks (hitting return/enter twice). There’s no need to do this. If you are looking for space between paragraphs this can be added at the conversion stage. More importantly, many ebook conversion processes will strip out the extra ‘white space’ and using two breaks can cause potential problems.

7. Remove double spaces – In the days of typewriters it was often considered that adding double spaces between sentences was the best practice, but this is no longer the case. Single spaces are enough. At some point down the line, someone (a typesetter or person doing ebook conversion) will need to remove the extra white space, so it is best that you solve this problem now.

8. Replace exclamation marks with periods (full stops) – The overuse of exclamation marks is considered a sign of weak writing. You should use the context of the surrounding paragraphs to show the reader any ‘shock.’ The problem you face is that most exclamation marks will be in speech and in most cases it will be ok to replace the with a full stop. However, in some cases other punctuation will be more appropriate (comma, question mark etc.). Therefore you have two options. The first step for both options is to use the find/replace tool to find all exclamation marks. You then have two choices. You can either do a manual ‘find next’ and replace each with the correct punctuation. The second option is to just replace all with a full stop and then pick up the mistakes when you edit the manuscript.

9. Check chapter breaks – One essential element of the ebook conversion process is the ability to identify the start and end of chapters. The best way to do this is to use page breaks. To do this, first find the end of a chapter. You must then place the cursor at the end of the last sentence of the chapter. Once you are happy the cursor is correctly placed, click the ‘insert’ ribbon. On the left-hand side of the screen you will see a icon for ‘page break.’ Just hit this once.

10. Check ellipses – An ellipsis is the three dots that are used to indicate the omission of a word, or perhaps a pause. You need to make sure that these are three dots in length. The problem editors face is that the ‘correct’ way to present an ellipsis is . . . (dot space dot space dot). Now, the issue is that many ebook conversion tools will not recognise this format. The ebook language (html) already has its own symbol for an ellipsis and that’s … (dot dot dot – no spaces). Therefore, it is just better in the long run to make sure you are using the version with three dots and no spaces. To fix this run a find and replace that ‘finds’ . . . and ‘replaces’ with …

11. Turn tracked changes on – This is optional – naturally it is essential for our editors but less so for self-editing writers.

A Word Of Warning

It may not seem much, but these eleven items are deceptively powerful. They will give you a framework from which you can start each edit, as well as providing you with the confidence that you are starting from the best possible point.

This all said, it is not all unicorns and roses. I just want to say a little about the dangers of using checklists. You will find that, as you become familiar with the contents of the list, that it is easy to just assume you have followed all the steps. This is dangerous and here’s why…

When we first introduced this list at BubbleCow it was emailed to our editors and they were asked to use it for each edit. We are only a small team and we were all in agreement that the checklist was a good thing. It worked great for the first couple of months. There was a noticeable drop in little errors being missed and editors reported that the initial phases of the editing process were now much more enjoyable. However, this ‘honeymoon’ period didn’t last long and after a few months we started to see little inconsistencies creeping back into edits. These should have been picked up by the checklist.

I went back and chatted with our editors and it turned out that we were all making the same mistake. We were so aware of the list, and had become so familiar with its content, that we were just assuming we had followed all the steps. In our familiarity, we’d been missing steps.

The solution was simple. We decided to print out the list for each edit and then physically tick off the steps as they were completed.

Overnight the errors disappeared.

The moral of the story is that complacency is the killer.

If you are interested in using lists, and want to find out more, I’d suggest you read Atul Gawande’s excellent book, The Checklist Manifesto.

When a book publisher offers a book deal to a new author, the contract will talk about ‘advances’ and ‘royalties’. These can be a little confusing to new authors, though a little bit of knowledge will go a long way to helping you fully understand what you are being offered.

In this article, you will learn about royalties and advances, you will discover what is usual for a book publisher to offer and you will find out how the publishing world is changing the way it provides advances and royalties.

This article has been written as a very basic guide and is designed to give new authors a feel for what they can expect. Royalties and advances are complex in nature and it is something that you should discuss with your agent or an independent publishing professional.

What Is a Book Royalty?

When working with big or independent publishers, the first step in the publishing journey will be for the publisher to offer you a contract. In this contract, they will stipulate the royalty that you will be paid.

This royalty is the amount of money you will get per book you sell. The figure in your contract will be quoted as a percentage.

For example, your contract may say that you will get 10% of each book sale.

Published Price or Price Received?

There are two types of royalty: published price and price received.

A royalty that is linked to the published price will be based on the price that the book is sold to the final customer, the reader. For example, if you are offered a 10% royalty and your book is sold in a bookshop for $10, then you get $1 per book sold.

A royalty that is linked to the price received will be based on the price that the book is sold to the retailer, the bookseller. For example, if you are offered a 10% royalty and your book is sold to the bookshop for $10, then you get $1 per book sold. If makes no difference what the price the book is sold to the reader, your royalty is based on the price to the bookseller.

The type of royalty you will be offered will depend on the genre but as a very rough rule of thumb, academic books tend to use price received, whilst books sold to the general public mostly use published price.

How Much Book Royalty?

The amount of royalty you will be offered depends on many factors, such as genre, your position as a writer, the size of the advance, your agent’s ability to negotiate, to name just a few factors.

As a super general rule, a 10% royalty would be a good deal.

The royalty paid on hardback books tends to be a few percentage points higher than paperback books, and you may find you have a very low percent for books that are sold at extremely discounted prices. It is also not uncommon to see a sliding scale with your percentage cut increasing as the number of books sold increases, though this tends not to kick in until around the 10,000 book mark.

Advances

The royalty will define how much cash you get per book. However, some publishers will give authors an ‘advance’ on the amount of royalties they feel a book will sell. As a general rule of thumb, the bigger the advance, the more confident the publisher will be of the book’s success.

A word of warning. You have probably heard talk of six-figure (or more) deals being offered for books. These are very rare and tend to only be offered to authors that either have a huge track record (think Rowling) or massive public interest (think A-list celebrity). The reality for most authors is that advances are significantly less.

So what can you expect?

The answer is that it is hard to tell. As with royalties, many factors come into play. Your track record is important, as is your agent’s ability to negotiate, the genre also plays a part. However, advances between $5000 and $20,000 are not uncommon. An experience mid-list writer, with a track record of sales, may expect around the $50,000 mark, though it may be much less.

Over the past ten years, the royalties paid to authors have reduced significantly. Authors that were seeing $50,000 advances ten years ago can now often expect much less.

It is also not uncommon to hear of deals with zero advances. These tend to be with independent publishers, rather than big publishers. If no advance is offered, the royalty paid tends to be higher. It is also not uncommon for some writers to negotiate a deal with zero advance but an increased royalty rate.

Earning Out

One term you may come across in regards to an advance is ‘earning out’. This is a phrase the publishing industry use for a book that has sold enough copies to earn back the original advance for the author. For example, if an author receives a $10,000 advance they would need to earn $10,000 in royalties before they paid off their advance.

So what happens if a book fails to pay off its advance?

In this situation, it is the publisher that has to cope with the loss. The author would not be expected to repay any of the advance. However, there is a knock on effect. Authors that received notable advances and then fail to earn out, will be considered a ‘risk’ for future books. A big advance might seem desirable for authors but this is not always the case. If an author is looking to make a career in writing, they are better to have advances that roughly equal the amount they will earn in the first year of sales from royalties.

Profit Share

One type of contract, which has become increasingly popular, is the profit share contract. These tend to differ from publisher-to-publisher, but they operate on the same basic principle.

When a book is published, it will require a certain amount of initial investment: editorial, printing, marketing etc. In a profit share deal, royalties are paid until the book’s sales have covered the cost of production. However, after this point, the profits are then split 50/50 between the publisher and author.

For books that sell a lot of copies (have a few large print runs), these deals can be very profitable for the author. However, for books that sell fewer copies and have many smaller print runs, the publishing costs can spiral out of control and it can be the case that even though a book is selling, the profit is small once the costs have been deducted.

In summary, we have seen that there are two types of royalties: Published Price or Price Received. Typically, an author will be getting about 10% of the price of the book sale. They may also get an advance on the royalties. These advances can be profitable for the author, but should reflect a realistic prediction of sales.

The current publishing landscape is both complex and dynamic. However, this complexity is providing a golden age for authors, who have more publishing options than ever before. In this snapshot of the book publishing landscape, you will discover the main options that are open to authors, how these interrelate and where self-publishing fits into the equation.

You can split the publishing landscape into six key elements:

Big Publishers

These are book publishers that represent about 60% of the English language [source] books published in the US. They typically publish hundreds of books per year and have a large number of employees with a range of expertise. They will only accept submissions from agents.

Big publishers will often also have smaller ‘imprints’, that though they appear as separate publishing companies, still operate under the umbrella of the parent company.

These publishers are often referred to as the ‘big five’ and include Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan.

Here’s a list of English language book publishers.

Agents

An agent is a person or company who will represent an author’s interest. Since big publishers will not accept submissions directly from authors, the agent’s main role is to match authors with publishers. Agents also act in a screening process, in which they will find authors with ‘commercial’ potential for publishers.

Once a writer has secured a deal with a publisher, the agent will act as a link between the agent and publisher. Typically, agents receive about 15% of the money paid to an author by the publisher.

Here’s a list of notable agents.

Independent Publishers

These types of publishers are simply defined as publishers separate from the ‘big five’. They are sometimes called ‘independent publishers’. They are smaller in nature than big publishers but can still publish in excess of 100 titles per year. Typically to be classed as a small press, the publisher will be publishing more than fifty titles per year.

They will have smaller, less specialized teams than big publishers. On average, they will sell less books than their bigger rivals. They will also have smaller profits and tighter operating budgets. A small press will often work with both agents and writers directly.

Here’s a list of some small presses.

Micro-publishers

These are the smallest of the traditional publishers. They tend to be run by either a single person or a very small team. They will typically publish between ten and fifty titles per year. These tend to be ‘hobby’ publishers and often focus on niche topics. They run on a very small budget but can have a loyal readership.

Micro-presses tend to work directly with writers.

Self-Publishing

Authors opting to self-publish have two main choices: either take a DIY approach and do everything themselves (or via service providers) or use a self-publishing company, who will typically charge an up-front fee and, perhaps, a fee per book sold.

The vast majority of books are sold via the Kindle Digital Publishing platform (KDP), with Apple as the second major source of sales. It is difficult to find accurate figures for self-published titles. However, it is widely understood that about 40% of eBooks sold are self-published [source].

Hybrid Publishing

It is becoming increasingly common for writers to take a ‘hybrid’ approach to book publishing. This will see writers opting to pick the publishing option that best fits their current project, be that traditional or self-publishing. Author Chuck Wendig wrote an article about this topic.

In summary, we can see that the publishing landscape has grown more complex with the development of self-publishing. Writers are more aware of the choices they face and have more control over their books than ever before. It seems logical that this empowerment of writers will continue in the coming years. 

Many authors dream of being ‘picked up’ by a big publisher. However, despite the potential rewards, big publishers are not the best option for every author.

In this article, you’ll discover how big publishers work, you’ll find out the pros and cons of being with a big publisher, and you’ll discover how to determine if a big publisher is right for you.

What is a Big Publisher?

Though you will find thousands of book publishers, of a large variety of shapes and sizes, only a small proportion of these can be considered ‘big publishers’.

In the US, about 60% of English-language books are published by one of five publishers. These are often called the ‘big five’ and include: Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan.

Though these big publishers have a number of characteristics in common, there are a few important elements that you must consider when assessing if a big publisher is right for you and your book.

These include:

• They publish a large number of books.
• Specialization.
• Imprints.
• You will require an agent.

Let’s consider these in turn.

Large Numbers of Books

A big publisher will publish in excess of 100 books per year, often many more. These books will come from many genres and cover a vast variety of topics. On the surface, the fact that publishers are looking for so many books appears to be a good thing. It means they are constantly on the lookout for new talent to fill their publishing schedule. The problem this presents is that not every book they publish is created equally.

It turns out that publishers are very bad at predicting which books will sell well and which will flop. Therefore, they take an approach of publishing many books, aware that only a small percentage of these will go on to be bestsellers. The small proportion that sell very well, will cover the costs (and more) of the other books.

Though publishers are bad at spotting a bestseller, they are very good at predicting a potential bestseller from early sales data. This means that once a book starts to sell well in the opening weeks, they will push all their resources behind this book and leave the other books to wither. If you are the author of a potential bestseller, you’ll see the full power of the publishing machine. If your book is deemed to not be a potential bestseller, then you’ll be left to fend for yourself.

Specialization

Big publishers work hard to find and train the best publishing professionals. They have large teams that focus on every aspect of the publishing process from editorial, to cover design to marketing. This means that books published by one of the big publishers will be the best they can possibly be.

Imprint

All big publishers operate the same model, when it comes to structuring their companies. They will have a main ‘mother’ company and a number of smaller companies, called imprints. It is common to see the mother company publishing books of a more general nature and the imprints focussing on just one or two genres.

It is important that authors don’t assume that being published by an imprint is a lesser form of publishing, this is simply not the case. It is true that many big publishers will ‘move’ thier biggest selling authors into the mother company, but this should not be a consideration for new authors.

Authors tend to find themselves at imprints for one of two reasons. The first is that the book they are publishing is from a less mainstream genre. Imprints often have excellent genre specific knowledge and are, therefore, the natural home for books on the genre in which they specialise. The second is that imprints are sometimes seen as ‘breeding grounds’ for new talent. It is not unusual for a new and unproven writer to start their career at a smaller imprint and be moved ‘up the ladder’ as they grow and develop.

Here’s a great infographic created by Ali Almossawi, where he shows the relationship of imprints to their mother companies.

Agents

One common element that binds all big publishers, and their imprints, is that they only work with authors that are represented by agents. The main reason for this is that agents act as gatekeepers, screening potential authors and working to find the types of books publishers need to fulfil their publishing catalogue.

One common mistake new authors make is to assume that an agent’s main job is to say no to rubbish books. It is true that most books, that an agent sees, are simply not up to a standard they require. However, if you have been rejected by an agent, it is not automatically because your book is badly written. Agents are looking for books that publishers will find attractive (often called ‘commercial’). In short, these are books that agents and publishers feel have the potential to sell many thousands of copies. Many a well written book has been rejected simply because an agent feels that it is not ‘commercial’ enough.

Money Talks

The final piece of the jigsaw for writers considering a big publisher, is to follow the money. No big publisher will ever ask an author to pay anything towards the publication of their book. That’s just not the deal.

When you sign a deal with a publisher you are giving them the right to publish your book. In return, they are agreeing to give you a cut of each sale. The publisher will provide all the cash needed for editorial support, printing, marketing and anything else that is required. In return, they’ll give you a cut of about 15% of the price that they sell each book (of which you’ll give about 15% to your agent). This is known as a royalty.

There’s two other things to consider in the money equation: advances and other rights.

An advance is the upfront payment the publisher will make for your book. This is not a free gift, but is, instead, an advance on the royalties that they feel they will be paying you in the coming years. Therefore, if you received an advance of $10,000, you’d need to earn $10,000 worth of royalties before you started getting any more cash. Advances are seen as a gamble by the publisher and the bigger the advance the more ‘skin’ they have in the game and the bigger their desire will be to make your book a success. If a book fails to sell enough copies to ‘earn back’ your royalty you don’t have to pay anything back. However, the chances of getting another book deal are reduced.

The final thing to consider is ‘other rights’. When you sign a deal with your publisher, you’ll give them the rights to sell your book in your country (called territory). You’ll also give them the right to reproduce your story in book form (paper and digital). However, there are other rights associated with your book. These include the rights to publish in other countries, audio rights and film rights. If your book is a success, these rights can be ‘sold’ to interested parties. This will earn you additional income. Some rights, especially foreign rights, can be very lucrative for an author.

The Advantages of Going with a Big Publisher

There are many advantages of being published by a big publisher, many of which are personal. However, below are three key benefits:

Potential Rewards Huge

IF your book becomes a bestseller, and that’s a massive IF, then a big publisher is the best place to be. A big book publisher will ensure that your book gets everything that is needed to make it a success. They will work with you and your agent to really fulfil the potential for your book.

You Don’t Have to do Anything, Other Than Write

A big publisher will work hard to ensure that you have time to focus on the most important task, which is writing. During the editorial process you will be required to carry out work on your book, but once the book is published this stops. You will also be required to carry out some marketing activities, but these are often limited.

Legitimacy

This is not an advantage to be under estimated. Many authors want to be published by a big publisher. They want the legitimacy this brings; they want to be a ‘published author’. This is fine, just be aware that if this is a driving motivation, then seeking a big publisher is probably the only way you’ll scratch that itch.

The Disadvantages of Going with a Big Publisher

A big publisher is not right for every author. Here’s a few of the key reasons you need to consider when making a choice.

Screwed If You Are Not a Bestseller

Big publishers work on a model of publishing many books and then focussing on the few that appear to be bestsellers. This is great if you are one of the 20% that are successful, however, if you are not then things are not so rosy. A big publisher will not push cash into marketing a book they don’t feel has potential. This means that many authors with big publishers, find their book being ignored after the first month of publication.

Mid-list Is Death

There was a time when mid-list authors could make a decent living at a big publisher. This is simply no longer the case. A mid-list author is one who sells enough books to keep getting new deals, but not enough to be a bestseller. A big publisher sees the potential but will not invest the time and money that may be needed to push this author into the bestseller category. The result is that the author is left with mediocre sales and a poor income from writing.

It Takes Years

If you have written your book and want it to be in print within the next six months, then a big publisher is not the correct option for you. It can take months to secure an agent and then, even with an agent, you can be looking at up to a year for that agent to secure a publishing deal. Then, even with a publisher, they make be looking at a twelve month lead time until the book is published. It is not at all unusual for a book to take up to two years from the time the author completes to the book being on the shelf. The publishing industry is slow!

Is a Big Publisher Right for Me?

There are so many factors to consider when deciding on a publishing route, and the choice is so personal, that only you can make that choice.

This said, I think there’s three things to consider.

The first to is how you see your publishing career. If you are prepared to take your publishing journey one book at a time, then a big publisher might be a logical choice. It is common for authors to write a book that fits a big publisher perfectly, but for their next book to struggle to find a home. The key is to go into the process with just one book in mind.

The second is to consider just how ‘commercial’ you feel your book would be for publishers. They are looking for books that will sell at least a couple of thousand copies in the first year. It might be that your book is just too ‘niche’ for their ambitions. A good way to test the commercial potential for your book is to submit it to a few agents and see what they say. If they feel it has commercial potential, they will ask for the full manuscript.

The final aspect to consider whether you intend to leverage a potential book deal. Being published with a big publisher will open certain doors. If you plan to go into teaching creative writing, or a similar field, then being published will help you achieve these goals. Most writers, even those with big publishers, struggle to make a full time living. You might find that securing a big publisher book deal opens a few career doors that would have otherwise been closed.

In conclusion, being published by a big publisher can be an exciting journey. I have had more than twenty books published by a range of publishers, big and small. I also have a literary agent. At times, I was even able to earn a full time living as a writer. However, I started my journey about ten years ago and today the publishing landscape is very different. Big publishers still have an important role to play in a writer’s career but I’d urge you to consider the potential ups and downs before committing to that elusive book deal.

It is becoming increasingly common to hear of authors deciding to pick independent publishers as the best option for their books. This might not be the perfect option for some authors, but is it right for you and your book?

In this article, you’ll discover how independent publishers work, you’ll find out the pros and cons of using an independent publisher and you’ll learn if an independent publisher is the correct choice for you.

What is an Independent Publisher?

The term ‘independent publisher’ applies to any publisher that is not one of the big five (or one of their imprints). They tend to range in size from publishing tens to hundreds of books per year, they also range in size in regards to their publishing team and overall profitability.

However, there are a number of key factors that link all independent publishers:

• Small team.
• Genre specific.
• Limited budget.
• No agent.

Let’s look at each of these:

Small Team

Independent publishers lack the resources of big publishers and will, therefore, have small and less specialized teams. Whilst a big publisher might have whole departments dedicated to such tasks as cover design and editing, an independent publisher might see these tasks falling to a single person or even an external freelancer.

This means that books may not receive the same thorough treatment you’d expect from a big publisher. You may also find that an author is expected to ‘pitch in’ to a much larger degree. This may be in the editorial process, but it will almost certainly be the case in the marketing strategy.

Genre Specific

Independent publishers are often genre specific, publishing books for one small niche within the wider marketplace. This might be military history, picture books or just about any of the other genres.

The advantage of this approach is that the publisher will have an intimate knowledge of the genre and the readership. They will have genre specific knowledge that is missing in a bigger publisher. In fact, it is not unusual for a big publisher to ‘buy up’ a smaller publisher just to secure the genre expertise.

If you are writing in a defined genre, especially one away from the mainstream, you may find the expertise locked within an independent publisher will allow your book to flourish.

Limited Budget

As you may expect, independent publishers will operate on a limited budget. This is not true for all independent publishers, since some of the larger companies make a healthy profit. However, at the smaller end of the scale independent publishers are often working on a very tight profit margin.

The impact of this will be seen throughout the process. Independent publishers will tend to publish fewer books and (on the whole) take less risks. You never see outrageous advances paid to authors and expensive marketing campaigns are out of the question.

There is a flip side to the limited budget and that is that independent publishers tend to be very good at selling the books they do publish. They often don’t focus on securing bestsellers (a process you see in big publishers) and, instead, tend to focus on making each book profitable in its own right. From an author’s viewpoint, this means the chances of a runaway success are rare (it happens but not often and tends to be linked in with a book winning a major literary prize), but it also means that you are unlikely to be ignored by your publisher if your book is not a hit in the opening weeks.

No Agent

Many smaller publishers will accept submissions directly from an author. This means that authors without agents can submit. However, this may leave the author in a difficult position, since they will be left to negotiate the contract by themselves, but an agent is not essential. If you have struggled to find an agent, approaching smaller independent publishers may be a good way to get your foot on the traditional publishing ladder.

Money Talks

When assessing the suitability of an independent publisher for your book, the deal they are offering is critical.

Independent publishers often mirror big publishers in their approach to contracts, but there is some variation.

When you sign a deal with a publisher you are giving them the right to publish your book. In return, they are agreeing to give you a cut of each sale. The publisher will provide all the cash needed for editorial support, printing, marketing and anything else that is required. In return, they’ll give you a cut of about 15% of the price that they sell each book. This is known as a royalty.

There’s two other things to consider in the money equation: advances and other rights.

An advance is the upfront payment the publisher will make for your book. This is not a free gift, but is, instead, an advance on the royalties that they feel they will be paying you in the coming years. Therefore, if you received an advance of $10,000, you’d need to earn $10,000 worth of royalties before you started getting any more cash. Advances are seen as a gamble by the publisher and the bigger the advance the more ‘skin’ they have in the game and the bigger their desire will be to make your book a success. If a book fails to sell enough copies to ‘earn back’ your royalty, you don’t have to pay anything back. However, the chances of getting another book deal are reduced.

There are a few things to consider with independent publishers and book deals:

The first is the size of advance. A big publisher may be offering advances ranging from thousands to tens of thousands, this will not be the case with a smaller publisher. Advances tend to be in the thousands. It is also not uncommon for a smaller publisher to offer no advance at all. If this is the case, the author should be offered a bigger cut of the book sales, in excess of the 15% offered by big publishers. It is also not uncommon for publishers to offer ‘profit share’ contracts. This is where the profit for each book sale is split 50/50 between the author and publisher.

The second important element is that it is much more common for small publishers to allow authors to retain ‘rights’ for their book. Most publishers will want the digital right but beyond that they can be flexible. If you are being represented by an agent, the agent may wish you to retain these rights so they can attempt to sell them to a third party.

The Advantages of Going with an Independent Publisher

Deciding to take the plunge with an independent publisher is a difficult choice but here are a few things that might help:

They Know Your Genre

Independent publishers operate on tighter profit margins and, therefore, tend to stick to one genre. This means that they have unique genre expertise, which might help you sell more books. If you write for a genre that is under-represented by big publishers, an independent publisher might just be the answer.

You Don’t Need an Agent

Finding an agent is a time consuming process with no guarantee of success. Many writers just don’t have the patience to wait for agents to ‘discover’ them in their slush pile. If you don’t want to play the agent game, but still fancy a traditional publisher, then an independent publisher might be the best choice.

You Retain Some Control

Creative control can be a deal breaker for some writers. If this is an important element of the publishing process for you, then a big publisher might not be the ideal choice. Since independent publishers have smaller teams, they tend to work more closely with authors and are keen for their creative input. If control is your thing, then an independent publisher might be worth a punt.

The Disadvantages of Going with an Independent Publisher

The main disadvantages to independent publishers come when they are compared to a big publisher. These may or may not be important to your thinking process.

You’ll Probably Make Less Cash

Independent publishers tend to produce books with predictable sales over time. Though bestsellers do, at times, emerge from independent publishers they are not part of the publisher’s business model. Instead, they focus on publishing books that will make smaller profits over time. This means that, as an author, you’ll probably sell less books than you would have at a big publisher. Well, in the short term anyway.

It’s Not a Big Boy

This might be stating the obvious but independent publishers are not big publishers. If legitimacy is a key driving force, then you may be uncomfortable being published by a smaller publisher.

You’ll Have to Do More

This is listed as an advantage as well as a disadvantage. An independent publisher’s smaller team mean that some of the publishing burden will fall on your shoulders. You will be expected to play a part in the editorial process, you might be asked to help pick covers and you will certainly be asked to play a significant part in the marketing strategy. If you don’t have the time or inclination to get involved, then an independent publisher might not be ideal for you and your book.

Is an Independent Publisher Right for Me?

There are so many factors to consider when deciding on a publishing route, and the choice is so personal, that only you can make that choice.

This said, I think there’s three things to consider.

The first comes down to your goals. If you seek the legitimacy of being traditionally published but have been unable to secure an agent and/or big publisher, then an independent publisher may be a good fit. You will discover that they are easier to access and may be more willing to publish your book. You will also find that you come away from the process with both digital and print copies of your book. There is even the chance your book will be stocked in bookshops.

The second reason why an independent publisher might be a good fit for you and your book comes down to your time commitment. If you are in a position when you don’t have the time or inclination to self-publish, then an independent publisher may well be a good option. They will provide all the resources you require, with you only having to invest a minimal amount of time into editorial and marketing duties.

The third reason for seeking an independent publisher is a little less obvious. If you have written a book that has a clearly defined niche market (e.g. military history, coding or fly fishing), and you feel that you lack the marketing expertise to sell the book via self-publishing, then an independent publisher may be the ideal option. An independent publisher will have a deep and proven understanding of your readership, they will know the books your potential readers buy (and read) and they will know how to access this market.

In conclusion, authors find themselves with independent publishers with many reasons. Personally, I have had books published by not only big publishers, but also good sized independent publishers and even tiny one man band micro-publishers. At the time of publication for each book, the choice of publisher felt correct. I’ve always tried to work with publishers that understood what I was trying to do, as well as provided the best chance of the book being a success.

Though the choice to self-publish has become increasingly common, it still poses a huge leap for many authors.

In this article, you’ll discover what is involved in self-publishing your book, you’ll find out the pros and cons of self-publishing and you’ll see if self-publishing is right for you.

What Does Self-Publishing Involve?

Before you can make an informed choice as to whether self-publishing is the best option for your book, you first need to understand what is involved in the process. Unlike traditional publishing, be it via a big or independent publisher, you will be required to spend money, invest time and undergo a steep learning curve. Self-publishing is also not a one off investment, once you have your book out in the world, you will need to continually invest time (and perhaps money) into marketing your book.

In its most simple form self-publishing is the process of publishing your book, without the help of a traditional publisher. It consists of the following elements:

• Writing.
• Editing.
• Cover design.
• eBook design.
• Publication.
• Marketing.

The writing element is self-explanatory. The editing will cover both structural editing, line editing, copy editing and proofreading. Cover design will involve a cover for the digital version of your book, as well as the paper version. Conversion to an eBook will involve converting the Word document into one or more digital formats. Publication will involve uploading to Kindle Digital Publishing (KDP), but might also involve other services such as Apple Books. The marketing element is on-going but will include short term promotions and a long term marketing strategy.

Each of these elements is worthy of far deeper examination, but for the purpose of this article, all that is required is that you are aware of the investment of time and resources that will be required.

Broadly speaking, self-publishing can be split into two types:

1. DIY.
2. Assisted.

DIY Self-Publishing

This is the process of self-publishing in which you, the author, completes each of the elements. This may involve you physically doing what is required or paying a third party service company or freelancer to carry out a particular task.

DIY publishing will see you keeping full control of the process. You will be responsible for the completion of each step. Though this brings with it an insane level of control, it does mean that you will probably have to learn a number of new skills (or pay someone with those skills). For example, converting a Word document to a digital format CAN be a pretty simple process. However, if your manuscript has any level of complexity you will need to understand the finer elements of the ePub format, as well as CSS coding, to do a good job.

Assisted Self-Publishing

This is still the process of self-publishing, but one in which you pay one company to take on all elements of the process (note this is not the same as paying a freelancer to complete one element of the process).

There are a number of companies that will provide a full service, but they all tend to operate around the same model. This will involve them providing you with an upfront cost to turn your Word document into a digital and paper book. This price will likely be in access of $1500. In addition, they will probably also ask you to pay an ongoing fee to cover storage of your paper books. It is also common for them to charge you a price per book after the initial print run has been sold.

The main advantage of this approach is that you, the author, will not need to do anything beyond editorial input and saying yes or no to such elements as cover design. The main down side is the cost. It is more expensive to self-publish in this way.

Please note; it is my experience that these types of full service companies make money on creating paper books. They will, therefore, be looking to encourage you to print about 300+ copies of your book. Be aware that the chances of you getting your book into bookshops is very slim. Also be aware that advancement in Print On Demand technology means that companies such as CreateSpace can fulfill paper book orders with no up-front cost to the author. Think carefully before you print hundreds of your book.

What Are the Advantages of Self-Publishing?

Self-publishing is a choice that many authors come to after much contemplation. It may be that an author is excited about publishing their own book, or it might be that they don’t have the time or inclination to seek out a publisher/agent, or it might simply be that they have been unable to secure a traditional publishing deal.

Whatever the reason, I feel there are a number of clear advantages to self-publishing:

Control

For many authors, retaining creative control is a critical element of the publishing process. If you wish to remain in full control of every element of your book, then self-publishing is your only option. It is not uncommon for authors following the traditional publishing path to have little or no creative control. If you decide to self-publish you will be making every decision about your book.

Money

As with all industries, it is all too easy to find the stories of multi-million selling self-published authors. Yes, they do exist but they are the rarity. The reality is that you should be looking to sell between 500 and 1000 books in your first year. This is very doable for a more mainstream title with good marketing. This means that you will probably recoup your upfront investment in the first year of sales and break into profit thereafter.

This might seem a little disheartening but this is the model that most independent publishers operate under. They look for a book to break even as quickly as possible and then go on to make profit over time.

If you have a good book, a good marketing strategy and are prepared to play the long game, you will make a profit.

Taking Advantage of a Small Market

Many books get rejected by agents and publishers simply because that they feel they are not ‘commercial’ enough. This is an industry term to describe a book they feel lacks the potential to sell a few thousand copies. Publishers tend to have an initial print run of between 1000 and 3000 books. They want these books to sell, if they fail to sell out the print run, they lose money. This means that books with smaller, niche, readerships never stand a chance.

If you’ve written a book with niche appeal (I’d class that as selling less than about 500 books per year), then self-publishing is just about your only option. This is not to say the process will not be profitable and exciting. It just means the book will never be attractive to a mainstream publisher. Their loss!

Speed

The traditional publishing industry is slooooow, really slow. It is not uncommon for a book to take two years from completion to being in a bookshop. You will find that publishers often talk in years, rather than months and weeks.

If you simply want your book published or you have a time sensitive topic, then self-publishing will be the best option. There is no real need for the process to be as slow as some publishers would lead you to believe. There are some elements that take time. It will probably take you two or three months to go through the editorial process. You can also add in a number of weeks for the cover design and eBook conversion. However, with a bit of crafty project management, you can probably cut down the time for publication to about six months, if not less.

Experience

The final advantage of self-publishing is the sheer joy of the process. Publishing your own book should be an exciting experience. You’ll get to work with publishing professionals, learn new skills and get the joy of selling your own work. On top of this, you get to interact with readers and really feel like a writer.

What Are the Disadvantages of Self-Publishing?

Though self-publishing possesses many clear advantages, it would be unwise to not point out some of the clear disadvantages.

Before you decide to take the plunge and self-publish your book, here are a few points to consider:

Resources

If you opt for a DIY Self-publishing approach you will find that it is a time consuming process, which will test your resources. From a money viewpoint you will need a budget of around $1000 to successfully publish a book. The main outlays will come in the form of editing and proofreading, though eBook conversion and cover design may also be costly. It is possible to reduce some of these costs by ‘doing it yourself’ but this becomes a pay off against your time. You might decide to save $200 by doing your own eBook conversion. However, to do a good job you will need to be on a pretty steep learning curve. In the end, it will come down to a choice between money or time.

Please note; the figures above assume you are starting with a ‘digital first’ approach. This involves the initial creation and sale of an eBook. Once the book is selling you can then consider adding a Print on Demand option, which requires no upfront cost. If you intend to print real paper books, then costs will start to spiral.

The assisted self-publishing approach is a slightly simpler choice. Here, the company you engaging will have all the knowledge and this will save on your time. However, you will be paying more than you would have if you took the DIY approach.

Marketing

Whether you opt to take the DIY or assisted approach, you will, at some point, need to take an active role in promoting and marketing your book. This is a time consuming process, which has a set of skills you will need to master.

A good marketing strategy will be a mixture of short term promotion and long term marketing. You will need an effective strategy that will get your book in front of potential readers. The reality is that this will take time and knowledge. If you wish your book to be a success your marketing strategy will become a fundamental part of your daily life.

Outside the Publishing Model

The final point to consider when self-publishing is that your book will fall outside the traditional publishing model. This may sound obvious but it brings with it unseen considerations.

There is a system set up to sell, promote and market books published via the traditional publishing path. You will not have access to this system. In reality, that means that you will not be getting additional income for the sale of rights (film, foreign language, audio etc.), you will not get your book submitted for prestigious prizes, you will not be able to get your book reviewed in national newspapers and you will not be getting your book stocked in nationwide bookshops.

Is Self-Publishing Right for Me?

Self-publishing can be an exciting and profitable option for many authors. However, before you opt to take the plunge, here’s a few things to consider.

The legitimacy of being published by a ‘traditional’ publisher still holds sway with both authors and readers. If you opt to be self-published, you will receive some negative feedback. I recently received the following email from a successfully self-published author:

I self-published my last book. It was a success, (4000+ sold) but it’s still seen as ‘something less’ by everyone I know in publishing. Infuriating.

The second point to consider is that self-publishing is far from an easy option. It will require an investment of time, money and emotional energy. In my experience, many self-published books underperform simply because the author lacks either the resources or knowledge to make the book a success.

The final thing to consider is that self-publishing is an exciting thing to do. It sees you in full control of your book and the publishing process. You get to be involved in every step of the process, which brings with it all of the highs and lows. You get to see your book in ‘print’ but also experience the excitement of ‘making sales’ and ‘connecting with readers’. I would urge that of all the factors that you need to take into consideration, you never lose sight of this important point.

In summary, this is a golden age for authors. Never before have authors had so many options and so much power. It is now possible for a book to be written, published and read without a publisher ever being part of the process. It is a true democratisation of the writing and publishing world. These are exciting times for authors.

If you plan to publish your book via a big publisher, or even some independent publishers, you will, at some point, need an agent.

In this article, you’ll discover the role of an agent, you’ll find out what an agent is looking for in an author and you’ll learn why agents are essential to pursuing a traditional publishing career.

The Role of an Agent

Most authors understand that agents are essential in the traditional publishing process, but not everyone understands what it is they will do for your career. Agents play a number of critical roles.

The first role that agents fulfill is to act as gatekeepers. It is their job to filter potential authors and present only the most suitable to publishers. It is worth mentioning that ‘quality’ of books presented to an agent is not the deciding factor on whether they feel they are worthy of representation. It is true that if your book is of poor quality; it will almost certainly be rejected but this is not always the case. Agents and publishers will not shy away from very heavy editing or even using a ghostwriter to turn a badly written book into something they can publish.

The key factor that decides if an agent is interested in a book is what they call ‘commerciality’. This is the book’s potential to sell thousands of copies. When an agent says a book is ‘commercial’ they mean it has a wide appeal to readers. This means that if you have a commercial idea, quality is less important. This is why you get ghostwriters writing celebrity biographies. The latest sport star might have a great story but no ability to write. No problem, the agent will find a ghostwriter.

However, for most authors a book must possess two qualities. It must be commercial and of a high enough standard that it will not require too much work to prepare it for publication.

Publishers don’t have the resources to screen out commercial novels from the slush pile and, therefore, rely on agents.

The second role of an agent is to understand what publishers want from new books. Publishers are constantly assessing the books they publish and making predictions on where the market will go. They are looking for trends and to build on the success of previous books. This means that publishers will often have a checklist of books they are seeking.

For example, let’s say that a publisher feels that supernatural romance is a developing genre. They’ve seen lots of books that focus on romance and vampires and even romance and werewolves. One publisher now feels that romance and mermaids will be the next trend. They will, therefore, be looking for a mermaid romance novel.

This is where agents come into play. Publishers and agents talk all the time. An agent is constantly listening to publishers and storing away the kinds of books they are seeking. In fact, this is one of an agent’s biggest strengths, they know what publishers want.

Let’s go back to our example.

Our publisher has decided they want a mermaid romance book. They go to lunch with an agent and they tell the agent about this trend. The agent comes away knowing what the publisher wants. This means that if the following week they see a submission from a writer who is pitching a mermaid romance, then a deal might just be waiting to happen.

The third key role of an agent is in negotiating deals. Assuming that you have written a book that is of interest to a publisher, the time will come to do a deal. This is where agents earn their money. They know what is a typical deal, they know what clauses you want in the contract and they will be able to push the publisher for the best deal. They will also be able to do this without harming your relationship with the publisher. Once the deal has been signed the agent will step to one side and you will work with the publisher directly. The last thing you want is this relationship to be soured by the previous negotiation.

The forth role of an agent is to act as a barrier between you and the publisher. Once the deal has been completed and the publishing process starts, there will be lots of little issues that will come up. One thing an agent will be able to do is to handle these problems on your behalf. They will be able to talk openly and honestly with the publisher and resolve any problems. They will also be able to tell you when things that are happening are normal and when things are going wrong. The result is that you will be able to focus on maintaining a healthy and positive relationship with your publisher.

The final key role of an agent is to make sure you get paid. An agent will ensure that a publisher is living up to their side of the contract. They will chase royalties and make sure they are correct (it is not unusual for publishers to make mistakes). They will also ensure that the less common clauses of the contract are being fulfilled. For example, it is not unusual for an advance to be split into at least two stages (if not more). This is normally half on signing and the rest of delivery. The agent will make sure you get the cash they have promised, when they have promised.

What Agents Want to See in an Author

Having the ‘right’ book is only part of the process and is not the complete picture. In order for a writer to be an attractive proposition for an agent they must tick a number of boxes.

In a recent article in The Bookseller (11 November 2016, page 7), UK agent Ed Victor outlined what it was he was looking for in a writer.

‘Victor has three criteria for taking on an author, he says: personality, the quality of the book and its money making potential. Any one of those three will swing it.

“If there is a person I really like and want to be close to, whose work is OK but doesn’t make very much money, I’ll do it. If there is another, one who has written an extraordinary book, [even if] it won’t make a lot of money I’ll do it, because I love books. And if there is a book by someone who is not wonderful, and the book is not particularly good, but it is going to make a lot of money, I owe it to my company to do it.”’

Why Agents Are Essential

If you are looking to make a living from publishing with traditional publishers, then an agent is an essential part of the process. However, if you are still undecided, here’s three points to consider:

An agent will know things about publishers you never will. Not only do they know what books they are looking to publish but they also know the staff and internal politics. Agents ‘get’ publishers and know how they tick, they know the up and coming editors and the editors that should be avoided. Agents are the only people that will be able to give you honest advice about how to navigate the publishing process.

The second point to ponder is that you can’t get near a big publisher without an agent. You will be able to build a reputation without an agent, by focusing on approaching smaller independent publishers, but if you want to speak to the big boys then you will require an agent.

The final point is that agents will stop you making mistakes and this is not just from a financial viewpoint. An agent will hold your hand during the publishing process. They will provide advice and give you guidance on how to progress your career. They are one of the few people in the publishing world that will have your best interests at heart. After all, the better you do the more cash they make.

I want to end this article with one word of warning and that is that not all agents are created equal. If you are looking for an agent the focus should be on long established agencies located in the ‘publishing’ city of your country (e.g. New York and London). There are many great ‘solo’ agents but if you are offered a deal from a solo agent then approach with caution. There is one great question you can ask that will help separate the wheat from the chaff and that is, ‘can you give me a list of your clients?’ A successful agent will be doing book deals for writers that are selling books. Do your research, check up on the agent and do some googling of their clients. You are looking for an active agent (one doing deals) that represents writers from your genre, who are selling books.

In summary, an agent is an essential part of the traditional publishing process. I started my writing career working as a researcher and editor in the popular Horrible Histories series. This opened a number of publishing doors and I was able to secure five or six book deals without an agent. However, it was not until I found an agent that my writing career really started to take off. I now have more than twenty books in print with more in the pipeline.

There’s a good chance that if you have spent any time looking at publishing options for your book, that’ll you have come across the term ‘hybrid publishing’. This is a relatively new term and worthy of some clarification.

In this article, you’ll discover what hybrid publishing means, you’ll uncover the pros and cons of hybrid publishing, and you’ll find out if hybrid publishing is right for you.

What is Hybrid Publishing?

The term hybrid publishing has started to be used more commonly in recent years. It is a term authors give to a publishing career that encompasses books that are both self-published and published by traditional publishing companies.

For example, let’s say you write your first novel. It’s a thriller about a maverick cop trying to catch a serial killer. You pitch your book to a handful of agents, but get no positive replies. After six months, you decide that self-publishing is the best option.

Your book sells well and it spurs you on to write a sequel. Your first thought is to self-publish the second book, but you decide to give agents one more try. This time you have some success and an agent agrees to represent your book. They find a small independent publisher that wants to publish your book and you secure a book deal. The book is published and sells OK. You enjoy the process.

You now have the writing bug and decide to write a collection of short stories. You talk to your agent and they feel that though they like your book, it is not ‘commercial’ enough for them. You both agree that self-publishing will be the best option.

This example is a great illustration of hybrid publishing. The author is picking the option that is best for their book at each step of the process. They end up with a career that sees books both self-published and published by traditional publishers.

What Are the Pros and Cons of Hybrid Publishing?

The nature of hybrid publishing means that for many authors it is more of an evolution than a revolution. Writers tend to ease themselves into the process as they try to find the best options for their books. This said, there are a few elements that need to be considered.

One advantage of hybrid publishing is the flexibility it brings to an author. It means that, at no point, is an author tied into any one option. It gives authors a freedom from the demands of publishers. It also means that an author is never left in a situation where a book they have written has no publishing ‘home’.

The flip side of flexibility is instability. The fact that an author has no one clear path to publication means that each book is faced with a certain level of instability – Will the agent like it? Will they find a publisher? Should they self-publish? It also means that an author may struggle to build a long term relationship with both their agent and publisher, who may feel a little aggrieved that they choose to opt for self-publishing.

Is Hybrid Publishing Right for You?

The reality of hybrid publishing is that an author often drifts into it out of necessity, rather than choice. It tends to come about when an author is unable to secure a deal with an agent/publisher and turns to self-publishing. The other path is the opposite, where an author has been self-publishing and then finds an agent/publisher interested in their work. It is not uncommon for agents to ‘follow’ the Amazon charts and approach the bestselling self-publishing authors with potential traditional book deals.

Hybrid publishing is becoming increasingly common and this trend looks set to continue. The traditional publishing industry are looking to the self-publishing world for the ‘next big thing’, whilst authors are comfortable with switching between both traditional and self-publishing.

In summary, the choice to opt for the hybrid publishing path is probably one that you will take out of necessity rather than desire. The good news is that hybrid publishing is pushing the power back into the hands of authors. Traditionally published authors are painfully aware that self-publishing is now a very viable option for many writers. It is only a matter of time before we see big authors opting to bypass a big publisher and publish their own work.

So you’ve had your book professionally edited, and you are faced with the task of turning the feedback into something that lifts your book to the next level. This article will help you do that.

The chances are, when you pop open that email from the book editor, you’ll be faced with two things. The first is a mass of detailed tracked changes within the manuscript itself, and the second is a separate report, listing suggestions on larger topics as to how to improve your book overall (pacing, plotting, etc.). Dealing with this second element means some level of rewriting.

You will discover here how to get the most from your professional book edit. You’ll learn a step-by-step process that addresses all the feedback, while also applying those tracked changes and even doing major rewrites. Note that this process works for nonfiction as well as fiction, but sometimes “your novel” will be the default form referenced herein.

Step 1: Take In The Book Edit

OK, … so you have your feedback from your professional book editor; you are excited and scared at the same time, but you are ready to move forward.

Your feedback will consist of two elements: a separate report and your manuscript with some embedded tracked changes. Please note I am assuming that you have had your book edited by BubbleCow. Feedback from other editors will be less detailed, but the principles of this article will still apply.

The report will consist of the editor’s thoughts and guidance, and the tracked changes will be smaller alterations embedded within the main manuscript.

The first step is to read through the editor’s report. One word of warning: it is human nature to react defensively to any corrective feedback. Your brain will see it as an attack, and you will revert to a fight-or-flight response. This means you’ll either want to scream and shout that the editor is wrong or just go and hide. However, this is an emotional reaction, and you need to use your rational brain instead. The single best way to switch from emotional to rational is to give it time. (If you are interested in this subject, Dr. Steve Peters has written an excellent book on the subject. It is called The Chimp Paradox.) Therefore, the first thing to do after reading your report is to stop, breathe and wait.

Authors often tell us that they’ll take a couple days to absorb the report. They’ll read it a few times, and, with each read, they’ll start to see the value in the comments and guidance.

Another thing we often get told by authors is that nothing is really a surprise in the report. They kind of knew the issues beforehand, but they just didn’t know what to do. They often say things like, “Ah, … I did worry that I was not adding enough description, but I was just unsure at what points to expand.”

Step 2: Tracked Changes and Comments in Your Novel

Having absorbed the report, and perhaps even made a few notes, the best place to go next is to the main manuscript.

You will find that a number of changes have been made to your book, using a track changes system. This is a tool built into all major word processing software that allows an editor to make a semi-permanent change. What happens is that the editor corrects the manuscript, and the software shows the reader the changes but remembers what has been altered. The result is a manuscript that contains lots of tiny tracked changes.

For example, let’s say the author has incorrectly punctuated a sentence of dialogue. They’ve used a period (a full stop) instead of a comma. The editor would change the period to a comma. This would show up in the manuscript as a tracked change.

A manuscript can contain a surprising number of these small changes. In fact, it is not unusual, even for a manuscript in ‘‘good shape” before editing, to have hundreds of changes.

Your first job will be to go through these changes and decide if you wish to keep them.

The software package you are using will allow you three optimal options for dealing with the suggested tracked changes:

1. Agree to individual changes: It is possible to look at each individual change and then press the accept button (in Microsoft Word, using its track changes program, which is our default herein) to keep the change.
2. Disagree to individual changes: It is possible to look at each individual change and then press the reject button to remove the change and revert back to the original text.
3. Agree to ALL changes: It is also possible to Accept All changes in the manuscript with a single press of a button. However, this is not recommended, since you may not wish to incorporate all the suggestions.

Working with the Comments

The next step is to consider the comments embedded in your manuscript. These are different from the tracked changes. They are not suggestions for small changes (like changing a period to a comma). They are, instead, comments directly from the editor to the author.

The content of the comments will vary greatly. They might be a question, an indication of a part that needs more work or some feedback that links with a wider issue from the editor’s report.

The best approach is to work through the comments in turn and do one of the following:

• If the comment can be resolved quickly with a small rewrite or addition to the manuscript, then do it immediately. Once you have made the change, then delete the respective comment.
• If the comment needs more work, perhaps it is part of a wider issue or indicates a section that needs rewriting, then do nothing. Just leave the comment as a reminder to work on that later and move on.
• If the comment needs no action, or you disagree with the suggested change, then just delete that comment and move on.

Since you will have already resolved the tracked changes, once you have completed this initial process, which includes addressing the easier comments, all that will be left in your manuscript are the comments that require more work.

You are now ready to consider your first rewrite.

Step 3: Start Your Rewrite

By the time you reach the point of rewriting, you will have carried out a number of important steps. You’ll have decided on all the tracked changes edits; you’ll have acted on the comments that need either no, or a small amount, of work, and you’ll have read over your report and will have a feel for the editor’s feedback.

The best way to approach your rewrite process is in a stepwise manner.

Many authors make the mistake of trying to fix all the problems in a single rewrite. This is not a great idea. Whenever you alter a first draft, it is very easy to add in more mistakes than you are correcting. It is, therefore, essential that changes are done deliberately and with thought.

The best first step is to find the biggest issue within your book (reread the report and the remaining comments within the manuscript) and then come up with a strategy on how this one problem will be fixed. If needed, make a small plan with the steps you will take. Think carefully about each change and the potential impact on the story.

Once you have a plan, it is time to dive in and start rewriting. At this point, it is essential that you work methodically and at a steady pace. Don’t rush ahead; just keep making the changes as they are needed.

Once you are happy with the results, it is time to move on to the next problem. Return to the editor’s report (and remaining manuscript comments) and work out what you will tackle next. Once again, make a plan and work methodically.

You should work through your report, focusing on changing one issue at a time, applying it to the whole of your manuscript, then repeating these steps until all the issues have been addressed.

This process can take time, anywhere from weeks to months, but don’t rush. This is probably the last chance to make significant changes to your book.

Step 4: Get Some Feedback

OK, … so you’ve sweated blood and applied the feedback from your professional book edit. You are probably feeling a little bruised and unsure of just where you stand with your manuscript. This is a classic situation of not seeing the wood for the trees.

What you need is some feedback at this point, and you may want your friends and family to come into play here.

While their feedback can be very useful, you must receive it at the correct time and know how to “decode” that feedback to add value to your book. The best time for friends and family feedback is after the rewriting stage (the book’s second draft). By that point the book has been seen by a professional editor, you have made rewrites, and the story is almost there. You are just looking to gain confidence and have someone pick up any errors you added in the rewrite.

The biggest issue with friends and family is that they are not editors, and, therefore, the feedback may be biased and generic reader’s feedback, where individual preferences for book-reading may cover various genres. In essence, it means that you’ll get generalized feedback that will not have an immediate application. You’ll be dealing with comments, such as “I didn’t like this character” and “I wish there were more ninjas.” However, here’s how you can squeeze out actionable value:

Be Realistic

The problem is that your mum/dad/husband/wife/friend all want your novel to be great, yet they also probably like you and don’t want to hurt your feelings. This means feedback from this inner circle is all but useless. For the best, most honest and most valuable feedback, you need to break out of this circle and into the big bad world.

Seek out the kind of people who would actually read your book in real life. It is these people, real readers, who will give you the kind of feedback that counts. You could try asking friends in your social media network or, perhaps, on forums you visit. The key here is to pick people who will be honest and have some knowledge of your genre.

There Are Two Types of Feedback

When you start looking for feedback, it is important to understand that you have two options:

1. General
2. Specific

General feedback is when you give the reader your book and just ask what he or she thinks. This type of feedback is good for getting a feel for the flow and what people will be saying about your book. It is also (potentially) good for building your confidence.

The problem with general feedback is that it is just that—general. It is unlikely it will bring up any specific questions or actionable criticism.

When collecting your general feedback, make sure that you listen more than you talk. Getting feedback via email or a Word doc is great, but actually speaking with your reader is the best possible solution. This gives you a chance to watch body language and prompt the reader for more insightful answers. However, when interacting with readers, you must resist the temptation to explain. Just listen.

Ask open-ended questions. These types of questions will give you the best results:

Typically who/what/when/where/why/how questions all work well.

Asking, “Did you like Chapter 2?” will produce a limited response; either they did or didn’t like the chapter. However, asking, “What did you like about Chapter 2?” or, even better, “What didn’t you like about Chapter 2?” will produce the best possible feedback. You could even go with the supercharged “What would you do to make Chapter 2 better?”

Specific feedback is potentially the most valuable type of feedback. This is when you ask a reader to look at one potential problem and provide their thoughts.

Let’s say that your editor found that your book lacked description. The editor’s feedback stated there was not a strong sense of place and that you needed to add more details as to settings. The editor’s report itself had given examples of how to do this, and the comments within the manuscript had suggested where it should be added. You have applied this feedback in the rewrite but are still a little worried if this issue was properly addressed.

This is where specific feedback comes into its own. You could give a reader the first chapter of the book and say something like, “Read this chapter and tell me if you can visualize the locations described,” or, better still, “What, if anything, should I do to improve the sense of place?”

The beauty with specific feedback is that you can get fast and accurate results. You can go back to readers multiple times with short sections of text, asking them a specific question.

Step 5: Filter the Feedback

Not all feedback is created equal, and not all readers are capable of giving you the kind of feedback you need. It is, therefore, essential that you filter the feedback, be it good or bad.

Resist the temptation to leap into action and apply the changes that readers suggest. Remember, their suggestions will be things that they think might help, but most readers know less than you do about writing. Instead of reacting instantly to their comments, take a step back and assess.

If you are unsure whether a suggestion is worthy of action, the first step is to get enough feedback. One reader may not be enough; you probably need at least three readers to assess your book, before you make major changes.

If you get enough feedback, then you can look for trends and patterns in the readers’ comments. If all the feedback says Chapter 1 is too short, then it’s time to revisit Chapter 1. However, if one of ten readers says Chapter 1 is too short, it’s probably best to ignore this single comment and make no changes.

Step 6: Read Your Book Out Loud

By this point, you’ll have probably produced three drafts of your novel, and you are ready to move forward. The next stage is to read through your book and check for obvious mistakes.

The best way to do this is to print out the full manuscript and read the book out aloud. There’s something about seeing words on paper and visualizing the scenes that really helps you spot mistakes. The perfect scenario is that you print two copies. Then, while you read it out loud, your critique partner follows the text. This way you’ll pick up those errors that your brain is autocorrecting.

Step 7: A Final Read-Through

You are now almost there, and it is time for the final read-through. This is where friends and family can really help.

The best way forward at this step is to print out a number of copies and send them to friends and family. Ask them to read through it and mark on the copy any errors that they find. This will provide you with fixes to make to the master digital copy, as the visceral nature of this process is both effective and satisfying.

Step 8: Professional Proofread

The final stage is to pay a professional to proofread your work.

One word of warning here: please don’t skip this step. The temptation for many authors is to assume that all the typos have been removed. This is dangerous. A professional proofreader’s job is much more than fixing typos. One of the most important things that the proofreader does is apply consistency. This ensures that everything is not only right but you are doing the same things in the same way each time.

Summary

Preparing your book for publication is a complex and difficult process, not one to shortcut. No one will care about your book as much as you do, and the pre-publication stage is your last chance to ensure your book is both the best it can be and error-free.

The professional edit is just the start. The editor’s feedback will give you a road map to address issues in your book, but it will take at least two or three rewrites to navigate this map.

Friends and family will play an important role in lifting your book to the next level, but you must know when to ask for help and when to just plow ahead without any additional feedback.

Publishing your book is an exciting, fulfilling and hopefully profitable pursuit. However, if your book is to succeed, you must see the completion of your first draft as not the end but the start.

In this article, I will set out to explain why so many famous authors (Stephen King being perhaps the most vocal) warn other authors against the use of adverbs. In fact, King’s hatred of adverbs is so intense that he’s been quoted as saying, “Adverbs are evil.” You will discover the role of adverbs in fiction writing, and I’ll demonstrate why removing adverbs from your writing will make your book more enjoyable to read. In short, I’ll explain just why adverbs are evil.

What Is an Adverb?

The Wikipedia definition of an adverb (whether ending in LY or not) is paraphrased below:

An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, adjective, other adverb—or a noun phrase, clause, or sentence—and can also be used as a determiner (which are otherwise articles, quantifiers, and/or quantities that precede a noun). In general, adverbs express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering questions such as: How? In what way? When? Where? To what extent?

See the Wikipedia entry for the exact quote: [Source].

That could be a little confusing, so let’s look what the great Stephen King has to say about adverbs. This is taken from his masterpiece On Writing:

Adverbs … are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They’re the ones that … end in -ly. [Source].

So an adverb is a word that modifies a verb (an action word, e.g., jump, kick, drink). Common adverbs end in the suffix -ly (like “quickly”), and, as such, they’re pretty easy to spot in a block of text.

Why Are Adverbs Evil?

Stephen King wrote in On Writing that the “road to hell is paved with adverbs.” Why so much vitriol for such a simple way of writing?

Let’s take the following sentence:

He closed the door firmly.

The adverb in this sentence is “firmly,” and it describes the manner in which the door is being closed. Its job is to guide the reader toward an interpretation of the sentence controlled by the author, who is attempting to control the image in the reader’s mind. The result is that there’s no room for misunderstanding … right? The door was firmly shut. Isn’t that what an author is seeking? Good clean sentences with no room for misunderstanding?

Well, this innocent-sounding sentence is hiding a crippling problem that plagues many authors with great potential.

But, before we get to the problem, a little background …

Show, Don’t Tell

Show, don’t tell, is perhaps one of the most overused and misunderstood writing mantras. In fact I’ve written a whole book (it is free, by the way) that aims to help authors better understand the philosophy of show, don’t tell. However, I’ll outline the key points before moving on as to why adverbs are evil. It all links, I promise.

The principle of show, don’t tell, is that your job as an author is to paint a picture in the mind of your reader. You have a story in your mind, and you are using words to get it into the mind of the reader. There are two ways to do this:

1. You can SHOW the reader your vision.
2. You can TELL the reader your vision.

For example, imagine you were writing a scene in which a man had just learned of the death of his wife in a car crash. If you were TELLING, you might write:

John sat on the seat and cried loudly. He was clearly distraught at the news of the crash and honestly felt as though he would not be able to go on.

In the sentence above, the author is telling the reader that John is crying loudly, that he is clearly distraught, and that he can’t go on. The problem is that, by telling, the reader is removed from the equation. The author is leaving very little narrative space. The reader is being force-fed the story. In addition, this sentence fails to stimulate any level of emotion in the reader. As the reader, you are not being asked to “feel” the emotion; instead, you are being asked to observe the action from a passive stance. You are not part of the story; you are an observer. The natural progression from this is that you will not care about the character and what is happening to John.

The second option is to show. If you were SHOWING, you might write:

John slumped back in the chair, his shoulders dipping as his hands came to his face. A muffled sob escaped. He leaned back, dropping his arms to his knees. He looked at the ceiling of the small room. Tears ran down his cheeks as another sob emerged from his lips.

In this sentence, I have taken a very different approach. Rather than telling my readers that John is sad, I have described sadness. I have tried to write out the actions of a man who is “distraught.” The aim is to stimulate an emotion in the readers, to paint a picture that their brain will recognize as sadness. In turn, this forces them to become an active part of the process. The better the description, the better the results—and, by “better,” I mean, closer to the way a person would act in real life in this situation.

It is an established fact that every emotion carries an action. If you are able to describe the action, then your brain will be able to match this to an emotion which it has experienced. This is what Hemingway is referring to when he talks about “truthful” writing. He is not talking about writing down your darkest secrets but about writing in a way that reflects true human emotions and actions.

If done well, showing allows the author to suck the reader into the book and to become part of the story. If you have ever felt a genuine emotion when reading a book, it was because the author was showing.

Adverbs Are Dangerous Shortcuts

We can now turn our attention back to adverbs. In the sections above, we’ve talked about emotion (and we will come back to this, in terms of adverbs, in a little more detail), but adverbs also have another dark side.

Adverbs tend to do more harm than good, and here’s the reason why: they rob the readers of the opportunity to provide their own context to the story. You, as the author, are not showing the readers how something is done; you’re telling them about how it was done, and that is never the more compelling of the two choices for the reader.

This is still the principle of show, don’t tell, but below I’ve applied it to actions rather than emotions.

Here’s a simple example, just to further illustrate this point:

He turned on the light quickly.

That doesn’t seem like a big deal, right? He’s just turning on a light. Now let’s look at the sentence without the adverb:

He turned on the light.

Now that we’ve removed the description, you may be saying to yourself, “Well, that’s a lot worse, isn’t it? Now we know less than we knew before about how he turned on the light.”

Here’s the trick—you don’t need to tell the reader everything. The readers can work things out for themselves. In fact the more “narrative space” you leave, the better it is for the reader. Adverbs are just a crutch. What matters, in terms of verbs, is what comes before and after them—the context. If someone is walking around a spooky dark mansion and looking for a light switch, the way they would go about that is different from someone who’s looking for a light switch after a night out at the bar. By describing your scene in sufficient detail before and after you apply your verbs, the reader will be able to fill in the gaps themselves via context. Don’t rob them of the opportunity to set their own version of your scene in their head—that’s where all the fun in reading lies!

This approach forces the reader to be an active part of the reading process. They are not just following along with the text. They are being forced to “lean into” the story and be an active part of the process. The story is happening in their head, not on the page.

You might think this is all a bit wishy-washy, but here’s a little experiment. Think of a time you saw a film adaptation of a book you loved. For me, it was The Hobbit. If you read the book first, then saw the movie, did you feel just a little disappointed in the film version? Did the main character not look the way you imagined or was the main location just wrong? That’s because you had created the image in your mind. I am even betting that, if you went back to the original text, you’ll find the descriptions of the character or location are just not as crisp and precise as you remember. That’s you, as a reader, filling the narrative space. The overuse of adverbs can deny the reader of this pleasure.

By allowing them the opportunity to do some world-building in their own heads, you allow your audience (your readership) to build an emotional connection to your work—you force them to care.

Adverbs and Emotions

When looking at the role of adverbs in context, it is clear how they can limit the impact of an author’s words. However, when dealing with emotions, those adverbs play a little different role.

First, we have the obvious application in which telling robs the reader of the context and leaves the reader as a passive observer. Take this sentence:

John sighed sadly.

What does that even mean? How do you “sigh sadly”? If you were to remove the adverb, it would improve this sentence in an instant. The reason is that the reader is forced to engage with the writing. The context of the surrounding paragraphs would direct the reader as to how and why the character was sighing. If the context is sad, then the reader will add in the type of sigh required.

As we have seen, the best way to stimulate emotion in readers is not to tell them the emotion the character is feeling but to show the reader with words and actions. However, this is not always an author’s first instinct and can, even with the best of intentions, slip into bad habits. This is where the second role of adverbs comes into play, and that’s adverbs as flags.

The principle here is not complex. If you are telling, not showing, then you can be almost 100 percent sure that you are using adverbs. That means if you search your book for adverbs (just use Word’s Find feature, looking for LY), each time you find one, it’s an example of tell for the most part. This gives you a chance to rewrite and turn the tell into show.

Below is a link to a free online tool for finding adverbs in your projects. You just paste in your text, and it highlights those pesky adverbs in red—very useful. See:

The Adverb Detector

Adverbs in Dialogue

Perhaps the most reviled example of adverbs (as far as Stephen King is concerned) is their use in dialogue.

One of the fastest ways to signal to a publisher or reader that you are a writing rookie (and maybe that the reader should spend time on another book) is to fill up your dialogue with adverbs. Let’s look at this example:

“Where is the briefcase?” she asked angrily.

“I’m sorry. He took it from me, boss,” he said sheepishly.

“Get out there and find it right now,” she said hastily.

Those adverbs above are superfluous to our needs. Let’s look at that same scene, now without all the adverbs:

“Where is the briefcase?” she asked.

“I’m sorry. He took it from me, boss,” he said.

“Get out there and find it right now,” she said.

There’s no difference here in terms of the information being conveyed. The one concern an author might consider is that the adverbs give the reader extra information about the state of the speaker. However, this goes back to telling. The context of the surrounding paragraphs will give the reader everything needed to work out how the words were said. More important, by removing the adverbs, you force the reader to lean into the story and become more engaged. The first example (with adverbs) produces a passive reader; the second (without adverbs) produces an active reader.

Adverbs are a writing crutch—ensure that your writing is strong enough to stand on its own two feet.

Use Beats to Add Context

Context is a key term when it comes to writing and the removal of adverbs. This is the environment you set and the story that unfolds. Within this framework, the reader is allowed to fill in the blanks that the lack of adverbs leave.

One way to add more context is through the use of beats. Beats are the sections between dialogue that describe action.

Look at this example. It is Denise’s birthday, and she’s just been presented with a surprise birthday cake:

“I love cake,” Denise said happily. “Would you like some?”

If we remove the pesky adverb, we get:

“I love cake,” Denise said. “Would you like some?”

The context of the surrounding paragraphs will supply the reader with enough information to show them that Denise is happy. However, we can go one step further and use a beat between dialogue. Here’s the example with a beat:

“I love cake,” Denise said. A smile formed on her face. “Would you like some?”

Here, “a smile formed on her face” is the beat, and it provides the reader with a little more context. Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of this example. All we have done is add a smile. However, you recognize a smile as the action of someone who is happy. You are, therefore, filling in the emotion.

Study Screenplays

For examples on the best way to use beats, you can steal a trick from screenwriters. I would recommend finding the script to your favorite action movie (there are tons of script databases on the Internet) and looking it over to see how the screenwriter worked action beats into the dialogue. One little note here, you will find lots of adverbs in screenplays. Don’t forget they are screenplays, not novels, so different rules apply.

Here’s a short section of the amazing film Chinatown (this link will give you a copy of the full screenplay):

GITTES: I don’t want your last dime.

He throws an arm around Curly and flashes a dazzling smile.

GITTES: What kind of guy do you think I am?

CURLY: Thanks, Mr. Gittes.

GITTES: Call me Jake. Careful driving home, Curly.

He shuts the door on him, and the smile disappears. He shakes his head, starting to swear under his breath.

In this example, we see Gittes flashing and dropping a smile. The beats add context to the words. Even though screenplays are not like novels, reading just one screenplay will give you an insight into the best way to use beats in your novel.

A Little Goes a Long Way

In the long run, if you are reliant on adverbs, it will hold back your writing from being seen by the largest possible audience. Think of adverbs as sprinkles of rosemary on a great dish of lamb—a little bit goes a very long way. You should be looking to use, at most, a handful of adverbs. If you take care to consider each time you use an adverb, the ones you leave in will have added power. Some authors, Stephen King included, are religious about killing adverbs and will rake through their manuscript in search of adverbs to squash. If you look over your writing and see too many adverbs in a chunk of text, go back and remove them. Remember: show, don’t tell, always.

What Others Say About Adverbs

There is a long tradition of authors waging war on adverbs. Below is a list of articles that you might find of interest:

• 50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice
• Being an Adverb
• New Year’s Resolution: No Adverbs
• The Adverb Is Not Your Friend: Stephen King on Simplicity of Style
• What Is an Adverb and Why Should You Care?
• Complete List of Adverbs

Are you considering self-publishing your ebook? If yes, then ebook formats are important and this is article is all for you. If no, well this post is probably a waste of your time and it’s best you stop reading now…

Still with me? Good.

OK – let’s just define Self-Publish a little more clearly.

This article is for writers who intend to sell their book in ebook formats.

In short, this means via Amazon or Apple onto eReaders such as the Kindle or iPad. The goal of this article is to explain a little about the technical aspects of creating ebooks. It’s not a full-blown technical guide. It has been written to give you just enough information to be dangerous.

In other words, this article will help you decide on the next step forward.

By this I mean this article will give you enough information for you to make an informed choice about the best way to convert your Word/Pages/OpenOffice file into an ebook.

HINT – There’s more than one type of ebook format and not all eReaders will read each type.

Think VHS vs Betamax.

What Are The Key Concepts Behind Ebook Formats?

Let’s start at the start…

Ebooks are very different from documents created on word processors such as Office, Pages and OpenOffice. At the most basic level documents created by word processors have the text and style mixed together. This means that if you put a word in italics, it’s hardwired into the document as an italic word. This means that no matter which version of the word processor opens the file, the word in italics will remain in italics.

In a digital ebook file, this is different!

When a word document is converted to a format that can be read on an eReader, two very important things happen:

1. The text is separated from the style.
2. A ‘styling’ is stored in a separate file.

Let me explain. Let’s say you write the following sentence in a Word document:

This sentence contains a word in italics.

If you then converted this to a format for an eReader you would get two things.

The first would be pure text that said:

This sentence contains a word in italics.

The second would be a separate file (called a CSS file), which tells the eReader that when rendering the word italics in this sentence, put it in an italic font.

When the eReader displayed the sentence it would initially render the text and then apply the CSS to make the word italics into italics.

The second thing to understand is that text is reflowable.

When using a word processor a page is a page. It contains a set number of words and when the page is full another is created.

This is NOT the case for eReaders.

To understand why you need to think of how ebooks are read. The problem is that we don’t know what device a reader is going to use to read your book. They could read it on a Kindle, but they could also read it on an iPhone, or any one of many different devices. Most devices have very different screen sizes.

If we created ebooks with one set page size in mind, they would not fit correctly on any device but the one we had in mind when developing the ebook.

The solution is reflowable text.

This means that the eReader will fill the screen with your text and then just flow what remains into the next screen. As far as an eReader is concerned there is no such thing as a page… Just a screen to fill with text. If the reader alters the screen size, no problem the text just flows to fit.

Magic!

This means that as an ebook creator you have to stop thinking about pages and just think about the text.

What Are The Major Ebook Formats?

I am hoping that the last section demonstrated that ebook formats are very different from word processor files (Word, Pages etc.).

This is a key point.

In short, a word processor file CAN’T work on an eReading device – it’s just not set up correctly (Word files are FIXED LAYOUT digital, while eReaders need REFLOWABLE text). It’s like putting a vinyl LP in a DVD player and expecting it to work. If you are going to make your book viewable on an eReader device you must convert it to a digital format.

Now…

There are a number of ebook formats out there. However, I want to just give you enough information to get started. Since the two most popular reading devices are the Kindle and the iPad, I want to focus on just two formats: Epub and Mobi.

All digital files (Epub and Mobi included) are, in fact, a collection of files. For those with a technical knowledge, they are just files zipped together, but instead of calling them .zip we call them .epub or .mobi. A digital file is more like a website than a Word file. In fact, a digital file has a close cousin to the website and shares many common structural features. As a side note, many people believe that, ultimately, ebooks will be read in web browser, but we digress.

If you were to open up an Epub or Mobi file you would find lots of smaller files. I don’t want to go into the technical side of things too much, but I do want you to understand the basics. So…

All .epub and .mobi files contain:

• A file that contains JUST the plain, unformatted text.
• A file that tells the eReader how to display elements of the text (this is the CSS, remember the italics?).
• Lots of other files that contain all sorts of other information, such as images, ISBN, your name etc..

So why is this important?

It’s important because some people will tell you that converting a word processor file to a ebook format (epub/mobi) is simple. IT IS NOT! If a digital file (Epub/Mobi) is not correctly prepared you will, potentially, face a huge problem when your book is read on a device you have not tested (think Kobo and Sony Reader). In fact, even using the tools provided by Amazon to convert your files is not guaranteed to produce a ‘clean’ file.

What is Epub?

You should now understand that for a book to display correctly on multiple eReading devices you need a specific digital file. The standard format, as recommended by the posh-sounding International Digital Publishing Forum is the Epub. The Epub is an open format that means that is it not ‘owned’ by any one company or device. Since Epub is the standard format, MOST eReaders will display an epub. In fact, it is very easy to read an Epub with lots of free tools out there that will allow you to read an Epub on your computer. It is even possible to read an Epub in a web browser, such as Firefox.

However, what really counts is eReaders and there are a number of important devices that will reader Epub:

• Apple iPad and iPhone.
• Kobo eReader.
• Barnes & Noble Nook.
• Sony Reader.
• Android phones.

You might notice that there is one, very important eReader missing from the list – the Kindle. The Kindle WILL NOT read epub files. That’s correct, the Kindle chooses NOT to allow Epub files to be read.

It’s unclear if this choice of Amazon not to display epubs files will alter in the future. Some believe that it will; others feel that while the Amazon store remains dominant, Amazon eReaders will continue to ignore Epub.

So What Is Mobi?

If Epub is the universal ebook format, what’s Mobi? The answer is that Mobi is Amazon’s version of Epub. In essence, Amazon have tweaked the Epub format to create Mobi files that can only be displayed as Mobi files.

That means that if you want to read a book on your Kindle you have no choice but to buy the book from the Amazon store. It also means that if you buy a book in Mobi format you can’t read it on a device that is not able to read Mobi files.

This is called DRM.

So what does that mean for you as a self-publishing writer?

It means that you have no option but produce TWO digital ebook formats of your book – Epub and Mobi. The good news is that once you have an Epub file it’s a very simple process to convert it to Mobi. God bless Amazon!

What should I do about converting?

I’m betting the reason you are reading this article is more about conversion than interest in technical formats. By this point, I am hoping that you now understand why you need to convert to a digital ebook format, and you have no option but to create an Epub AND Mobi file.

The question is how?

Creating An Epub/Mobi file

When it comes to converting from a word processor file (Word/Pages/OpenOffice) to Epub/Mobi you have three options:

1. The Meat Grinder

If you are going to upload to digital readers such as the Kindle and iPad, it is possible to use tools they provide to convert your book. Let’s start with all key devices, other than the Kindle.

Apple only allows a select number of third-party companies to upload books to the iBook store. This means that you, as a self-publishing writer, can’t just upload your book to Apple. There are a number of companies out there that will help you upload to Apple, but I suggest you start by checking out Smashwords. This company will allow you to automatically upload your book to a number of devices. Though they don’t charge for this service, they do take a small cut of each book that is sold. The big bonus with Smashwords is that they have developed a ‘meat grinder’. This is an online system that allows you to enter your text and then convert to Epub.

At this point, I would say that for some books this is the perfect option. I will say that again – for some books this is the perfect option.

It may be that using Smashword’s free meat grinder is the perfect solution for you and your book. However, for complex books, especially those with images, the meat grinder can produce variable results. In this case, you may be looking at a different answer.

I have spoken to a number of writers that feel the meat grinder is simply not good enough to produce consistently ‘clean’ conversion.

Smashwords solves the Epub problem but what about the Kindle? Kindle is the gorilla in the marketplace and is where you will make the most sales. This means that even if you do use Smashwords to upload to Apple iPad and a number of other eReaders, you still need to crack the Kindle nut.

The good news is that Kindle actually offers its own ‘meatgrinder’ solution in the form of a similar service at the Kindle Direct Publishing website.

Amazon provides free tools that you can use to convert your Word/Pages/OpenOffice document to a Mobi file. Once again the quality of the conversion can vary. If your book is a simple text document then KDP might be the perfect solution. However, if your book is complex you may be forced to look elsewhere.

One final option is Pressbooks.

This is a free online tool that allows you to create ebooks from scratch. It’s a WordPress-powered free online application that allows you to simply create ebooks at the push of a button. I suggest you check them out if considering the ‘meatgrinder’ option.

2. DIY

So, what if you don’t want to take the meat grinder approach? If this is the case then you are into Do It Yourself territory.

There are many software solutions to creating Epub files, some free and some paid. However, my advice here is to be cautious: it’s a very steep learning curve. It is NOT a simple case of downloading some free software and pressing a button. You will need a deeper understanding of the Epub design, as well as a passing knowledge of HTML and CSS. This said, if you are considering producing a lot of Ebooks, then DIY may be a very viable option.

I’d start by checking out sigil.

3.Professional Help

The final option is to pay someone to convert your book for you. Like anything else, this is buyer beware. As we have learned creating an ebook from scratch is not an easy process. My advice is to look for a professional who has come recommended and is prepared to show you a sample of their work. The cost varies greatly depending on size and complexity of the book, but a figure of $100 would be a good starting point for an average novel.

Covers

The final point worthy of mention is book covers. You will need a cover for your book. You will need this cover to be of the correct size and resolution. Once again we are in a situation where you will need to weigh up the cost of paying a professional and the cost in your time in learning to design a cover. Again the pricing can vary greatly but a figure of $200 would not be unusual.

The Snowflake Method is one of many methodologies and techniques for writing a novel. In fact, Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake Method is one of the most respected methodologies out there.

The founding concept behind the Snowflake Method is that great novels are designed not conjured out of the ether.

If you want to write a better novel, you need to stop making it up as you go along and start applying a purposeful methodology to your process and the Snowflake Method is a great starting point.

So what’s the Snowflake Method all about?

The Snowflake Method is based around the idea that a writer begins with a simplistic deep theme and then, over time, develops and adds complexity. In other words; you start with a simple idea and then build on this idea until is transforms from a single sentence or idea into a full-blown novel.

I am not saying that the Snowflake Method is the ‘best’ method to write a novel. In fact, I feel many writers will be horrified at such detailed levels of planning. However, some writers will find an affinity with the Snowflake Method.

If you are a writer that plans, this article might just change your writing life!

The Snowflake Method Ten Step Process

1 .Write a one-sentence summary of your novel.

2. Expand the sentence to a paragraph describing the story narrative, any major events, and the ending.

3 . Now consider the main character and write a one page summary for each, considering the following points:

• A one-sentence summary of the character’s storyline.
• The character’s motivation (what does he/she want abstractly?).
• The character’s goal (what does he/she want concretely?).
• The character’s conflict (what prevents him/her from reaching this goal?).
• The character’s epiphany (what will he/she learn, how will he/she change?.
• A one-paragraph summary of the character’s storyline.

4. Go back to the summary you wrote in 2 and expand each sentence into a paragraph.

• Randy’s advice here is: Take several hours and expand each sentence of your summary paragraph into a full paragraph. All but the last paragraph should end in a disaster. The final paragraph should tell how the book ends. Source

5. Write a one page description for each major character, which tells the story from their point of view.

6. Expand your one page plot synopsis into a four page plot synopsis.

7. Expand your character descriptions from 3 into full ‘character charts’.

8. Using the expanded synopsis, make a list of every scene you will need to write to complete the novel.

9. Using the scene list, write a multi-paragraph narrative description of each scene.

10. Write your first draft.

This post is a summary of Ingermanson’s thinking and ideas. I strongly suggest that if you wish to apply the Snowflake Method that you go to Randy Ingermanson’s website to find more details.

So you are looking how to format dialogue?

Correctly formatting dialogue in a story can trip up even the most talented writer. From the outside, it can appear that formatting dialogue is a black box of contradictory rules. In this article, I want to dispel this myth and detail a set of easy-to-use guidelines that will allow you to grasp the basic building blocks of dialogue formatting.

The best way to explain the rules of formatting dialogue is to use an example.

In this article we will follow the steps that are required to format the following section of dialogue:

Hi have you seen my cat Bob said. No Bill said I have no idea where your cat is. If you see my cat will you let me know Bob questioned looking sad. Of course Bill replied with a tone of concern.

Formatting Dialogue: New Speaker, New Line

This is a pretty easy rule to apply. Each time a new speaker speaks you place the line of dialogue on a new line. This line should also be indented. We can see how this applies to our example:

Hi have you seen my cat Bob said.

No Bill said I have no idea where your cat is.

If you see my cat will you let me know Bob questioned looking sad.

Of course Bill replied with a tone of concern.

Formatting Dialogue: Adding Speech Marks

Our next rule says that all speech should be placed in speech marks. These can be either single (') or double ("), it's your choice. However, keep in mind that if you use, say single ('), you need to be using the opposite, in this case, double (") when you are reporting speech inside speech. I also like to use the opposite when a writer places thoughts within a text.

'Hi have you seen my cat' Bob said.

'No' Bill said 'I have no idea where your cat is.'

'If you see my cat will you let me know' Bob questioned looking sad.

'Of course' Bill replied with a tone of concern.

Formatting Dialogue: Punctuation

When writing dialogue you will often use 'tags'. These are verbs that link the spoken words with the remainder of the sentence. Commonly used tags include said, asked, replied and many more. Without going into the technical detail, to correctly punctuate spoken words and tags you must link them using a comma. If you use a full stop the sentences are broken and it no longer makes sense. If we look at the second line of our example we see:

'No' Bill said

This is a single sentence and therefore must end with a full stop, giving us:

'No' Bill said.

The tag in this sentence is 'said' and this must be connected to the speech. If you added a full stop at the end of the spoken words, it would separate the tag and become incorrect:

'No.' Bill said. [WRONG]

Instead, we must link the spoken word and the tag with a comma, this gives us:

'No,' Bill said. [CORRECT]

If we apply this to the full example we get:

'Hi, have you seen my cat?' Bob said.

'No,' Bill said. 'I have no idea where your cat is.'

'If you see my cat will you let me know?' Bob questioned, looking sad.

'Of course,' Bill replied, with a tone of concern.

Please note that in the first and third lines we have used a ? instead of a , since it is a question.

And that's about it... As I said this is a quick and dirty guide designed to get you out of most tight spots. If you are interested in really delving into the murky world of grammar and punctuation, I suggest you check out Chicago Manual of Style.

Best Book Genre - Fiction or Non-Fiction?

Best Fiction Book Genre

Best Non-Fiction Book Genre

Conclusions