It’s fair to say that the publishing market is changing all the time, new trends pop up and publishers react accordingly (just look at the spate of self-published erotica being snapped up by traditional publishing houses since Fifty Shades). But the question remains can you ensure that your timing of submission is right to hit a particular trend whilst being in the best position to monetise the international and subsidiary rights to this work?

We believe the answer is yes but that for far too long it has often been out of reach for the majority of authors, particularly those who might want to stay indie.

So let’s take a look at how we, at IPR License, can help to shed a bit of light on these grey areas.

First step is simple – sign up.

This is immediately followed by why?

In essence IPR License helps you to…

• Make money from licensing your works in different formats and countries.
• Know your rights to learn how to monetise your literary rights effectively.
• Showcase your writing to publishers and agents around the world.

Once you’re a member you can begin to upload your work.

When signing up to our global platform we immediately make your work part of an online database of available rights. You can also choose if you want to upload your manuscript for 3rd party evidence of copyright registration.

The fact is that the sales of international and subsidiary rights make up a large proportion of a book’s income for publishing houses, yet most authors will only consider being published in their own country or language. Showcasing your work to a worldwide publishing audience can open up a number of doors to international, as well as domestic markets, which may previously have appeared out of reach.

We reverse the submission process:

Joining IPR License means that your work is part of our database for a full year.

By giving publishing houses and editors extensive online search facilities they can come looking for work that fits the gap in their list rather than you having to hope that you’re hitting the editor’s desk with your submission at the optimum moment. This helps level the playing field for indie and self-published authors.

IPR License can facilitate important relationships

We also send out regular bulleting to to over 3,000 publishers (not just our members) highlighting the projects we have available, both from member publishing houses and our indie/self-published authors and we pass on any interest we receive.

We’re also constantly building and updating information on each of our member publishing houses so that we know what they’re looking for at any one time and can direct them to work we think might be suitable. And thanks to our extensive trade publishing experience we can help facilitate these relationships.

Attract global interest in your work

We can’t guarantee you will sell your work but we do firmly believe that joining us will give you the best opportunity to really capitalise on the potentially lucrative international rights market.

And as a special offer if you contact us at info@iprlicense.com with the code Bubblecow25 you will receive a 25% discount on your first year’s membership for those signing up before 1 May 2013.

IPR License launched in 2012 and is the global, digital marketplace for authors, agents and publishers to list and license book rights.

Please note this is a guest post written by IPR License.

The post Are you Looking to sell Your Book’s International Publishing Rights? appeared first on ProActive Writer Blog.

When you first upload your book to Amazon it can be pretty scary. They ask for a stack load of information without ANY indication of which bits will help with sales and which are just there because they need to be.

As part of our Uploading to Amazon online course we teach writers that they should be seeing their Amazon page as ‘real estate’ that they own. Your Amazon book page is one of the ONLY places on the Internet that potential readers will go to with the understanding that they might buy your book. This is huge. To have a visitor to your Amazon page that is ready to buy is an opportunity you can’t miss.

Below is a list of six ‘areas’ of your Amazon book page you should consider altering when trying to capture the maximum number of book sales:

1. Title:

Does your title match other books in your genre? For example, if you are a crime thriller, which is part of a series, you may want to consider putting the name of the investigator in your title. Such as A Study In Scarlet [A Sherlock Holmes Case]. The point here is to consider what extra information can you include in your title that will give the reader a hint at the book’s genre.

2. Contributors:

Amazon gives you the option to ‘name check’ people who have helped you create your book. If you have used a cover designer, illustrator, editor or proofreader then they should be included. In fact, if anyone has provided significant help then you should try to squeeze their name onto the contributor list. The reason is that it provides social proof. In short people will see that someone else is prepared to attach their name to your book and it must, therefore, be OK.

3. Book Cover:

A good book cover will help sell books but there are two key aspects you should consider. The first is to ensure your book’s cover matches the covers of other books in your genre. Readers will associate certain cover designs (styles) with certain genres. Does your book fit? The second is extra information. You can add anything to the cover in addition to the book’s title and your name. Consider including tag lines and other information. A good example is to include a phrase such as ‘…if you liked Game of Thrones you will LOVE this book!’

4. Product Description:

Your book’s description should be packed with as much information as you can manage. Below is a list of the things I suggest you include:

• One paragraph blurb.
• Outline of chapter content for non-fiction.
• One paragraph about you.
• A link to any social media or blogs.
• Reviews from places other than Amazon.
• Testimonials.

5. Category:

Your book should be added to two categories. I suggest one broad category (e.g. Books > Fiction) and one narrow category (e.g. Books › Crime, Thrillers & Mystery › Legal). The reason for this is that you will hopefully attract readers from the broad category, whilst having a chance of moving up the charts in the narrow category.

6. Reviews:

Reviews sell books. Your first goal is to get reviews. The best way to do this is to simply ask. Consider giving your book away and asking people to leave reviews. You are aiming at getting into double figures before easing up. Don’t be too worried about 1 and 5 star reviews, most readers will ignore these, it is the overall score that really counts. In the early days of your book, getting reviews is more important than sales.

—

I would urge you to think of your Amazon book page as something you are looking to control. Readers will be coming to the page thinking they might buy. In this situation your job is twofold. The first part is to make your book as attractive as possible for the potential reader. By this I mean having a good title, nice cover etc., but there are also factors you can’t influence (for example the reader may be looking for a book that is not the same genre as your book).

If the potential reader is on your page and your book is a good fit then you have a second job and that is to reduce the perceived risk to the buyer. The potential reader will be worried they will be making a mistake, and you need to do what you can to ease this worry. Lowering the price will do this to an extent but that is a blunt instrument. Testimonials, reviews and social proof will do a far more subtle and far better job at reducing the risk in the buyer’s mind.

The post How to Optimize Your Amazon Book Page to Sell More Books appeared first on ProActive Writer Blog.

Andrew Lownie Literary Agency: UK literary agent blogging from an agent’s viewpoint.

Authors on Show: Blog for Authors on Show website, lots of marketing stuff.

Author Marketing Experts: Blog for Author Marketing Experts website, as the name suggests this is marketing based.

Author Media: Blog for Author Media wedsite, mostly marketing stuff.

Jody Hedlund: Writer Jody Hedlund shares tips and tricks about writing.

Author Culture : A team of writer bloggers offering general writing advice.

Book Maven: Lots of interesting articles about all things writing.

BookBaby Blog: Excellent blog from the excellent book distribution service.

Caroline Smailes: Great posts about what it is like to be a published writer, this is one to watch!

Catherine, caffeinated: Personal blog of writer Catherine Howard.

Chip MacGregor: This is the blog for the MacGregor Literary. Great articles from an agent’s viewpoint.

Copy Blogger: This popular blog has some great articles about writing for the web.

Daily Writing Tips: Unmissable blog with stacks of help on the technical side of writing.

Joe Wikert: Joe is a publishing insider and provides an intelligent insight into the world of books.

Nick Daw: Nick provides a never ending stream of insightful and helpful articles for writers of all genres.

Smashwords: A must read blog from the excellent book distribution service.

Start Your Novel: A twice weekly blog providing writing inspiration.

Stroppy Author: This is a nice blog providing a ‘behind the scenes’ viewpoint for writers.

Terrible Minds: This excellent ‘warts and all’ blog sees best selling writer Chuck Wendig telling it as it is!

The Book Deal: What Alan Rinzler doesn’t know about publishing isn’t worth knowing – just read this blog.

The Book Designer: Joel Friedlander gives a book designer’s viewpoint of the publisher world.

The Creative Penn: Joanne Penn offers readers her thoughts on writing and getting published.

The Shatzkin Files: Mike Shatzkin takes a thoughtful look at the world of publishing.

The Writer’s [Inner] Journey: This blog focusses on the art of writing.

WinePress Publishing: The blog for WinePress Publishing with a focus on marketing.

Write Anything: A team of bloggers producing articles on all things writing.

Write it Sideways: A team of bloggers providing general writing advice.

Writer Unboxed: A blog about the craft and business of fiction

The post 28 Blogs Every Writer Should Read appeared first on ProActive Writer Blog.

Charles A Cornell is a typical self-published writer. He has a talent for writing, but never felt that the long and torturous route of traditional publishing was for him. Therefore he decided to self-publish his first novel Tiger Paw, which is a classic crime thriller and has a wide appeal.

Charles recently contacted BubbleCow to tell us about the success he had experienced giving away his book for free. This post is a summary of the key lessons he was able to draw from the process.

The Importance of Competitions

Charles’ first experiment with free was in the form of a Goodreads giveaway. He put up a single signed hardback copy of Tiger Paw, which readers could win by simply ‘signing up’.

This produced about 1000 sign ups from readers based across the globe. Once the competition was over Charles followed up with these people by email. The result of this was that 450 put Tiger Paw on their GoodReads reading list.

Charles considered the exercise a success and felt that he had ‘raised his profile’. However, despite the interest he had not seen a significant increase in either sales of the book or reviews.

The significant lesson that I draw from the competition was that Charles was as interested in reviews as he was in sales. The thinking here is that if you are able to get readers to your Amazon page, the deciding factor on whether they buy or not is often the book’s reviews. The more good reviews you can gather, the better the long-term sales.

The Advantages of Free

With the goal of gaining reviews in his mind, Charles decided to give his book away for free. He explained, ‘I wasn’t getting any purchases or any reviews to drive purchases. I was a bit frustrated, so I thought what the hell, I’ll make it free so that people would start reading it in bigger numbers!’

Using the Amazon Select system Charles set the book to be free for three days. In the days running up to the giveaway Charles went into promotion overdrive. Below is a list of just a few key activities:

• He emailed his existing mailing list of potential (including the people who had signed up for the competition).
• He utilised social media (Twitter and Facebook) to inform his followers of the giveaway.
• He emailed people and asked them to promote the giveaway (I know, because I was on his list!).

So the results…

In total 3300 copies of the book were given away. This resulted in good (some 5 star) reviews appearing on both Amazon and GoodReads almost immediately. The impact on sales was significant with Tiger Paw selling around 15 copies a day, lifting the book to #13 on the Free Kindle List for all Mysteries & Thrillers in the Kindle store and #2 in Police Procedurals.

Conclusions

My takeaway from the experiment is the importance of reviews. Here we can clearly see a link between giving away free copies, gaining reviews and that translating into long-term sales.

When I asked Charles what he felt he had learned this was his response:

The biggest disadvantage I have is that the sequel is not ready and won’t be for about a year. However, that doesn’t bother me because I have some extremely devoted fans who can’t wait to get their hands on the sequel. I plan, next year, to take your advice and include the first two or three chapters of the new novel at the end of a revised edition of Tiger Paw and then make Tiger Paw free for an extended period of time at the launch of the new novel. So between new customers and the pent up demand, I have much more confidence that my marketing efforts will translate into sales.

You can find out more about Charles and his books at: http://charlesacornell.com/

If you found this article interesting I would also suggest you read publisher Scott Pack’s experience of giving his own book away for free.

The post The Secret of Giving Your Book Away For Free appeared first on ProActive Writer Blog.


]]> http://proactivewriter.com/blog/the-secret-of-giving-your-book-away-for-free/feed/ 0 http://proactivewriter.com/blog/the-secret-of-giving-your-book-away-for-free/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Bubblecow/~3/tlX4Q4Np78U/ http://proactivewriter.com/blog/should-writers-pay-for-professional-services/#comments Sun, 06 Jan 2013 12:25:29 +0000 garysmailes http://proactivewriter.com/blog/?p=73 In this article I ask if seeking professional help (editing, cover design, ebook conversion etc.) is really beneficial. We look at the areas where self-publishing writers spent money and discover if this had a long term benefit on their book sales. At the start of 2012 Dave Cornford and Steven Lewis set out to survey [...]

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]]> In this article I ask if seeking professional help (editing, cover design, ebook conversion etc.) is really beneficial. We look at the areas where self-publishing writers spent money and discover if this had a long term benefit on their book sales.

At the start of 2012 Dave Cornford and Steven Lewis set out to survey more than 1000 self-published writers. Their aim was to identify the common factors that led to the success of the ‘normal’ self-publishing writer. They were not interested in the ‘Kindle Million’ members, but instead, wanted to see what the ‘normal’ writer could do to help improve their chances of success.

This series of posts delves into their research and presents the findings in a way that YOU, a ‘normal’ writer, can use to make your book a success.

Getting Help

One criticism often levelled at self-published writers is that their work is below the standard of traditionally published books. A belief exists that self-published books are unedited, badly proofed, poorly set out with disastrous covers.

So did the survey go any way to dispelling this myth?

Well… no!

It turns out that of the 1000 writers surveyed the majority of them published their books without any kind of professional input.

• 70% of writers digitally publishing formatted their own ebooks.
• 70% of writers using print-on-demand designed their own internal layouts.
• 45% of all self-publishing writers designed their own cover.

What did People pay for?

The survey shows us that roughly 30% of self-publishing writers paid for at least one kind of professional service.

The most common investment was in cover design with 45% of writers paying for a professional cover design.

The next most common area where writers were willing to pay for professional help was with copy editing. Here we saw that 29% paid for a copy editor to check their work, though a further 29% received unpaid copy editing.

Proofreading was next on the list with 25% of writers paying a professional proofreader, though 46% received proofreading for free. The remaining 29% proofread their own work.

Just behind proofreading was story editing (which we offer) with about 20% of writers opting to pay for this service.

One trend worthy of mention is that writers who had already self-published with no professional help were, on average, 30% more likely to pay for help with their subsequent books. The biggest ‘winner’ here was story editing with a 31% increase amongst serial self-publishers.



Source – http://blog.taleist.com/

Does Paying for Professional Services Help Sales?

It is easy to say that self-publishers should be paying for professional input, but is this really true?

The bottom line is that self-publishing is a business and if professional help is to be considered essential it must demonstrate a benefit in sales.

The survey addressed this question directly and found that ‘self-publishers who received help with story editing, copy editing, and proofreading made 13% more than the average.’

A potentially more interesting fact was that self-publishing writers who received help with story editing, copy editing, proofreading AND COVER DESIGN, made 34% more than average.

This suggests that a professionally designed cover alone is worth an 18% spike in sales.

On the flip side, those paying for professional ebook formatting saw just a 1% increase in sales.

Perhaps the most depressing figure is that writers doing their own story editing, copy editing, and proofreading made 58% LESS than the average writer!

Conclusion

The figures speak for themselves when it comes to getting professional help.

Writers who did seek professional help sold more books than those that did not.

This means that if you are seeking to maximise the sales of your book you should do the following:

• Pay for a professional cover to be designed.
• Pay for professional story editing, copy editing and proofreading.

My final word is that though the figures are clean cut, what the survey fails to address is profitability. It may well be the case that the overall sales of niche titles means that spending close to $1000 (if not more) on design and editing is simply not viable for your book.

At BubbleCow we often work on a figure of 250 sales to cover the cost of story editing. If you don’t think you can sell 250 copies of your book, then story editing might just be too expensive. However, the survey is suggesting that you need more than just story editing. I would therefore be looking at a figure of around 500 book sales to break even.

The reality is that for a well marketed book 500 sales is not an unachievable figure. At BubbleCow we talk to writers on a daily basis who are selling between 100 and 1000 books a month. This said, we tend to say that 100 a month is a more realistic figure start figure.

In conclusion, I feel the choice on how much to spend on preparing a book for publication is one that needs to be taken on a book-by-book basis. If you feel your book can sell more than 1000 copies then I would strongly suggest you invest in cover design and editing. However, if you feel 1000 copies are simply beyond your expectations then you need to adjust your budget to match. In this case I would be saying that, if nothing else, you should be looking for a professional cover design.

The post Should Writers pay for Professional Services? appeared first on ProActive Writer Blog.


]]> http://proactivewriter.com/blog/should-writers-pay-for-professional-services/feed/ 2 http://proactivewriter.com/blog/should-writers-pay-for-professional-services/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Bubblecow/~3/BHVnAaSoEoU/ http://proactivewriter.com/blog/5-top-tips-to-making-your-cover-look-professional/#comments Sun, 06 Jan 2013 12:24:11 +0000 garysmailes http://proactivewriter.com/blog/?p=71 In this article professional cover designer Kura Carpenter provides five tips to producing a professional cover design. You will discover the one key secret to a great cover design, whilst also being shown a step-by-step process to producing a great book cover design. When Gary asked me to write a guest blog post on “5 [...]

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]]> In this article professional cover designer Kura Carpenter provides five tips to producing a professional cover design. You will discover the one key secret to a great cover design, whilst also being shown a step-by-step process to producing a great book cover design.

When Gary asked me to write a guest blog post on “5 top tips to making your cover design look professional” I was both thrilled and humbled to share my knowledge. Ok, truthfully I felt a bit smug. I thought, I can do this, I know this stuff. Easy-freaking-peasy. I cracked my knuckles and prepared to type up my 5 Top Tip Manifesto.

Cover Design Tip One: Hire a Professional.

Tip Two… ah.

And there I got a bit stuck. I went and made a coffee. Played on Facebook and Pinterest for a while and then came back to the manifesto.

Tip Two…tip two.

You see, despite knowing in my heart Tip One trumped all other tips, I also knew that being a one-tip-wonder would not be accepted as gospel and that people would consider me biased. So I thought about my process and what I’ve learned, and I’ve broken it down into four parts:

Cover Design Tip Two: Research.

Find as many books cover images as you can that: A) have been published within the last 5 years and B) are alike your novel in these aspects: genre, audience age group, audience gender.

The covers must be similar to your book so it’s no good gathering ‘How-to’ guides if you’ve written a futuristic zombie series for young adults.

Divide the images into two groups: Covers you love vs. Covers you hate.

Then pick out the key elements in common from each group. Some things to consider with be: colour schemes, typefaces, photo image versus illustration. What type of imagery dominates? Landscapes? Single character or groups?

At the end of this you should have a clear idea of you want and what you don’t want appearing on your cover and at the same time you’ve just analysed all the current trends in cover design. It’s not just about what you want after all, but what a stack of advertising professionals have devised will appeal to that particular audience. Your audience.

Cover Design Tip Three: Images.

Similar to Tip One, because when it comes to using images on your cover design, whether photographic or illustrated you should use a professional image library. Why? One, this avoid nasty copyright infringement, and 2, the simple truth is you will get much better quality images.

Do not, do not, copy and paste something you found on Flickr, unless, lean in close, I have to whisper this, that’s right, closer, closer… NO! Bad author! Bad, bad bad! How would you feel if someone plagiarised your writing?

Cover Design Tip Four: Typefaces.

This is a little hard to explain if you’re not a design nerd like moi, but trust me, typefaces are important. The typeface you use for your title should compliment the images and at the same time reflect and enforce the novel’s tone and style.

It will be helpful to understand that most people have preconceived ideas about fonts (whether they are conscious of this or not) and therefore it’s important not to muddle things up. For example, imagine a cursive script font, like old fashioned copperplate handwriting. Such a font would be suited to a Historical Fiction novel, but would be highly comically and plain old inappropriate if used on a modern novel following a jaded sports journalist who uncovers a ice-hockey scandal that goes to the heart of the…

You get the idea.

If you don’t, having completed Tip Two you should have a pretty good idea of the kind of font to use even if you don’t know the name of it, whether it’s san serif or slab serif or decorative. Give yourself a quick Google lesson in the basics san serif versus serif fonts and go from there.

Cover Design Tip Five: Testing

The cover design you end up with, whether you did it yourself (bad!) or entrusted a dedicated, talented designer (*good*) to create for you, the proof is in the testing. So it’s time to round up a focus group (minimum three but more is better) of readers. Your focus group should be avid readers of your genre, and also the intended age and gender. Show them your proposed book cover along with a selection of those book covers you loved and get feedback on what they think. There is no point asking your 40-year-old brother Bob the accountant to give you his feedback if you’ve written a Young Adult novel novel.

Why? Because our life experiences influence everything. They bias everything to. Graphic Designers spend a lot of time learning to think first and foremost what their intended audience wants/needs.

So while Tips Two through Four are very important and should help you on your way, at the end of the day Tip One is the Tip to rule them all. Why? Because you get what you pay for: professional input equals professional output. This is common sense.

Kura Carpenter is a Freelance Graphic Designer based in Dunedin, New Zealand. She specialises in book jacket design and create covers for authors all around the world. You can find out more at her blog – http://kuracarpenterdesign.blogspot.co.nz/

The post 5 Top Tips to Making Your Cover Look Professional appeared first on ProActive Writer Blog.


]]> http://proactivewriter.com/blog/5-top-tips-to-making-your-cover-look-professional/feed/ 4 http://proactivewriter.com/blog/5-top-tips-to-making-your-cover-look-professional/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Bubblecow/~3/2xW1bufEhoc/ http://proactivewriter.com/blog/here-is-a-proven-method-that-helps-writers-to-research-their-books/#comments Sun, 06 Jan 2013 12:22:31 +0000 garysmailes http://proactivewriter.com/blog/?p=69 For a number of years I worked alongside writer Terry Deary, helping him to research a number of the Horrible Histories titles. In this article you will discover the secrets I learned that allow me to quickly research information that could be used to write books. You will also discover how to focus your efforts [...]

The post Here is a Proven Method That Helps Writers to Research Their Books appeared first on ProActive Writer Blog.

]]> For a number of years I worked alongside writer Terry Deary, helping him to research a number of the Horrible Histories titles. In this article you will discover the secrets I learned that allow me to quickly research information that could be used to write books. You will also discover how to focus your efforts so that you use your time well to find the facts you need to take your book to the next level.

The two most common mistakes I come across when teaching writers to research are as follows:

1. Knowing what you don’t know: Most writers embark on the process of research with a scattergun approach. They often delve into a subject, quickly becoming bogged down with the vast swamp of detail. It is a better approach to take a step back, get a feel for the topic and then define what you don’t know.
2. Having a system: It is not uncommon to see writers researching in a haphazard and makeshift nature. One of the biggest lessons I took away from researching for the Horrible Histories series, was that research is a job with a defined goal. You are often looking for specific information and it is better to have a system that allows you to find this information quickly, rather than approach the issues with your fingers crossed, searching though masses of sources hoping you will stumble on what you need.

This article spells out a system that will allow you to define the information you are looking to find and then show you a way to find this with the least effort.

It is essential to recognise that there are two types of research: General and Specific.

General Research

This is all about gathering a wider knowledge of the subject of your novel or book. In fact, to be more precise, this is about discovering what you know, and more importantly, what you don’t know.

• Read general books: Start with outlines and histories of the period (topic) under study. Get a feel for the key events of the time. Read books at all levels. Children’s history books are often a good place to start since they will give you a nice overview.
• Read ‘real’ history books: The next stage is to read some serious history books. Find out who the key historians are in the area of your research and read a couple of their books. Good history books will have loads of references to the sources that the historians used in their research. You can use these references to find more history books.
• Beware of the Internet: At this stage you are still gathering a deeper knowledge of the subject area. You may find that the Internet is not the most helpful tool, since it will tend to focus on defined information and facts. This said, I often found Wikipedia a great place to clarify details.
• Make notes: This is very important. As you read, make notes of the key points and, most importantly, write down questions.

Specific Research

Having gathered a general knowledge you will now be ready for specific research. At this point you are looking to define what you don’t know. This is all about answering the questions that will help with your writing. However, the key is to be specific.

Let’s say you are writing a scene set in London in 1867. You have a young couple walking down a street at night.

You could ask:

‘In Victorian Britain what did a London street look like at night?’

This would be fine but it is very hard to answer. Where would you begin? You would be very lucky to find a website or book that would give you the description you needed.

OK – let’s change the question to:

‘In 1867 what did a London street look like at night?’

This is a more specific question and therefore easier to research. You might do a Google search on ‘London streets 1867’. This might pull up some useful information.

An image search I did produced this picture:



The picture shows lampposts, but your general research should have told you that gas lighting was introduced into London at some point during your period. Since you can’t be sure what year the picture was produced, you can’t be sure that gas lighting was being used in 1867.

So the question now becomes:

‘In what year was gas lighting introduced to London?’

A Google search on ‘gas lights London introduction’ brings up this Wiki page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_lighting

If you hit Ctrl F you can bring up a search box in your browser. Now type in ‘London’ and keep scrolling through.

Soon you get to this paragraph:

The first public street lighting with gas took place in Pall Mall, London on January 28, 1807. In 1812, Parliament granted a charter to the London and Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company, and the first gas company in the world came into being. Less than two years later, on December 31, 1813, the Westminster Bridge was lit by gas.

You would now be able to confidently describe gas lighting in your novel’s narrative. Though this might not be the full answer, since you are not sure just how widespread lighting was by 1867, you can see the process.

The key to effective specific research is good general research. The hours spent reading will give you the knowledge you need to ask the correct specific questions.

Sources to answer good specific questions include:

• Google: This is the number one search engine for a reason. The key is to be creative with your search terms. Time spent learning advanced search terms and techniques will be well spent.
• Books: You may find that there are whole books written that will answer your question. Type ‘London gas light’ into Amazon to get the general gist.
• Professionals: It sometimes pays off to be cheeky. Don’t be afraid to contact key professionals that you think might be able to answer your questions. Many will be more than happy to help a writer.
• Friends: Don’t forget you real and internet friends. If you have a question than ask people if they can help – you never know.

The result of this system is that you can define your research into a series of questions. Once you have the broader general understanding, you can use specific questions to tease out relevant details. This means that you will never waste time blindly hoping to stumble on the answers your need, but will instead have a laser like focus the source mostly likely to bring the answers you seek.

The post Here is a Proven Method That Helps Writers to Research Their Books appeared first on ProActive Writer Blog.

At the start of 2012 Dave Cornford and Steven Lewis set out to survey more than 1000 self-published writers. Their aim was to identify the common factors that led to the success of the ‘normal’ self-publishing writer. They were not interested in the ‘Kindle Million’ members, but instead, wanted to see what the ‘normal’ writer could do to help improve their chances of success.

This series of posts delves into their research and presents the findings in a way that YOU, a ‘normal’ writer, can use to make your book a success.

The Profile of a Successful Self-Publishing Writer

Let’s start with age.

Most writers looking to self-publish their work are aged between 30 and 60. In fact, we can be even more precise by saying that the most common age for self-publishers is between 40 and 49-years-old.

One assumption that has always been made about writers, be they traditionally or self-published, is that they are educated. The survey seems to add weight to the argument that better educated writers tend to write better books. The results showed that just under half of the writers surveyed were educated at degree level. In addition, nearly 30% of the writers also held a graduate degree in addition to their first degree.

It is often quoted by writers that ‘writing full time’ is their dream. However, this ambition has long eluded all but the most successful writers. Once again, the survey supported the commonly held belief that most writers don’t earn enough to give up their day job. In fact, just over half of the writers surveyed described themselves as ‘in full time employment.’

One interesting statistics seemed to bear out a trend we have seen at BubbleCow. Over the past year we have been using the term ‘retired writer’ to describe writers who have retired from work, but rather than take up knitting or golf, they have chosen to spend their spare time writing and publishing. This group take their work very seriously and often have disposable income to spend on their ‘hobby’. The survey supported this idea of ‘retired writers’ with just over 20% of the writers surveyed describing themselves as ‘not employed and not looking for work.’

The Importance of Being Published

One very interesting conclusion that can be drawn from the survey, is the importance of traditional publishing.

The idea was to discover if a writer’s past experience with the traditional publishing world held any clues for the potential success as a self-published writer.

It turns out that the previous experience of a writer, did indeed have some bearing on their success as a self-published writer. The survey showed the most successful self-publishing writers had, at some point in their career, been published by a traditional publisher.

We can all recognise this type of writer. They have been published, perhaps have an agent, but due to disillusionment with the changing publishing industry, turn to self-publishing as a more profitable avenue for their work.

The statistics showed that, on average, a writer who had been previously published by a traditional publisher earned 2.5 times more than an un-published writer.

The reason for this is open to some debate. It has been suggested that previously published writers have an insight into the ‘process’ and therefore have more understanding as to what is required to make a book a success. It may be that these previously published writers understood the pre-production process (editing etc.) and marketing aspects of the industry. It may also be that they had a pool of established readers who were willing to make the switch from traditional to self-published books.

However, there was one other interesting possibility. It may simply be that self-published writers, who were previously published, were just better writers. The fact that they had previously been ‘picked’ by a publisher was a reflection on their talent to create commercially successful books.

In fact, on examination, the survey does seem to support this idea to some extent.

If you compare the income of self-published writers, who had previously been rejected by a publisher, to the income of self-published writers that had NEVER been rejected by a publisher, we find that those NEVER rejected earned 31% more.

Let’s say this another way. If you are a writer who has chosen the traditional route but have then been rejected, you will, probably, sell less books than a writer who has never even approached a publisher.

The implication here is that the work of those rejected by publishers is simply not as attractive to readers. This may be an issue of quality, but it may also be an issue of commercial suitability (they are not writing books readers want to read). It may well be the case that those writers who have never been rejected, would be able to secure a book deal if they chose to pursue the traditional route.

So What Does all This Mean?

The aim of this post is to give you some idea of the ‘type’ of self-published writer that has the most chance of success. Producing an average is always dangerous, but this survey does allow us to paint a picture that has at least a kernel of truth.

The profile of the ‘successful self-published writer’ is as follows:

• They will be aged between 40-49.
• They will have a degree.
• They will have been previously published OR they will have never submitted to a traditional publisher.

The post Do you fit the Profile of a Successful Self-Published Writer? appeared first on ProActive Writer Blog.

The Role of an Agent

I spend much of my time reading and eating and talking about cake, which makes me no different from lots of other people in the publishing industry. But the reading bit is usually done outside of the hours of 9-5, when I am usually to be found at my desk at A P Watt, eagerly looking for new writers and helping my authors find their way in the big, confusing world of publishing. Before I worked here I fondly imagined the life of an agent was a reasonably idle one, with feet propped on a desk as we read through sheaves of pages, sipping occasionally from a never-empty coffee mug. HOW WRONG I WAS. In truth there is a lot of admin and paperwork of a more tedious kind, but the thrilling moments when you receive offers for the books that you have worked so hard on are worth all the battles over contracts and chasing for five pence worth of VAT on royalties etc.

A literary agent is the middle man between author and publisher. We are an author’s advocate and a publisher’s filter. It is our job to know the editors out there and what they’re looking for, so that we can excitedly place your book in their hands and know that there is something of interest for them in it. I keep up with editors who work in the genres that I have a professional interest in, and learn what they are publishing and looking out for; they keep in touch with us so that they might be included in our submissions when something that we both might love comes along. There are lunches, yes (although not as many as there used to be, sadly), and tea and cake, but we are all most concerned with finding an incredible book to publish. The One. And editors are as subjective as agents, but hopefully we all have a good idea of what people want to read.

My authors are many things to me: clients, friends, geniuses, patients (!); people to admire and to enjoy. There is no one relationship to aspire to between an author and an agent, I don’t think: each relationship is unique and as long as we’re both happy then, well, we’re both happy… Communication is vital, as are mutual trust and respect. Know what you’re looking for in an agent, and don’t be afraid to be open about that when you first meet. And if you’re not sure what you’re looking for then don’t be afraid to be open about that too – the world of agenting was completely unknown to me before a friend got a literary agent and I was introduced to her; I don’t expect anyone else to know exactly why we are here and am happy to explain.

Our first task as agents – once we’ve signed you up (info on which will follow) – is to work with you to get your book or proposal into the best possible shape it can be before it goes to an editor. This might involve some editing – light or extensive – but which we will carry out with an eye on making the book into the most appealing prospect for the publisher. Sometimes this is done by strengthening plot or characters, or it could be growing a non-fiction chapter plan or working on sample chapters; sometimes all it takes is a few simple tweaks to your existing material. Not every agent gets heavily involved in a pre-submission editing process, but I love this part of working with my authors and it’s in both our interests to make your work irresistible. So in the first instance, an agent is there not only to facilitate access to a publisher, but to make your book as great as it can be before an editor’s eyes are on it.

Once we have an offer for your book, we’re there to ensure that you get the best terms possible. Luckily for me, working for an established agency such as A P Watt means I can make use of boilerplate agreements with all of the mainstream publishers, and many smaller ones too. This ensures that our authors get some of the highest royalty rates across the industry, and that we will keep up with developments in publishing – such as e-books and multimedia – and make sure that you consistently get the most favourable terms, even as the nature of publishing develops and changes. We will also fight for a worthwhile advance (of course!) and, where possible, separate your rights so that our brilliant foreign rights or media departments (at APW) can take your book overseas or to film/TV/radio production companies, and we can get it sold in as many languages and into as many mediums as possible. In the age of the shrinking advance all income is welcome, and there’s nothing like the pleasure of seeing an American or foreign language edition and knowing that Czech/Spanish/Vietnamese readers are enjoying your book in their very different parts of the world.

When a deal has been agreed and a contract signed, the agent steps back a little and lets the author and the editor get on with it. We’re there to help if you need us, but we’re mostly keeping an eye on things as you get on with writing/redrafting your book, seeing your proposed cover, and discussing the publisher’s marketing and publicity plans. We retain our role as the middle man. My colleagues will do their best to take your book to foreign publishers (usually when it is at the final draft) and to any appropriate media companies too. We keep beavering away with your book here, but more quietly as your primary relationship is with your editor/s.

After all this, we’re here to help and support you in any way we can, throughout your writing career. I’m always very excited by a new novel or book idea coming into my inbox from one of my clients, and I mostly take on writers that I believe have long term potential, especially where fiction is concerned. I want you to have a long and very healthy career as an author, and will do anything I can to make this happen. Agents should be a sounding-board for any new ideas you want to throw at them, and knowledgeable about what’s happening in the market so that they can bring that knowledge to your idea, where possible. Hopefully we can bring lots of opportunities your way that you may not have found on your own, and make sure that you and your book get the most from those opportunities.

At the very least, I’ll take you for tea and cake.

How To Approach Us

We are not monsters. Honestly. We take no pleasure in turning down your work, and we don’t lie when we say it is not for us. We’re not denying you feedback on your submissions because we are ‘cold-hearted rejection machines’ (as one writer memorably called a colleague), we simply don’t have the time to give you any feedback because we are busily emailing, reading and giving feedback to the authors on our client list. Every single day I think about how much time and effort writers have put into their books, and I appreciate it. I get submissions from writers who have never shown anyone their book – a book that they may have taken twenty years to write, and who feel hugely vulnerable showing that book to me. It is a privilege to read a writer’s work, and I try to never forget that. And yes, sometimes some of our submissions are just plain mad or baffling, but that doesn’t mean I underestimate the effort that went into them.

What I can’t stress enough, is the importance of doing your research before approaching an agent. The painful truth is this: every agent wants something slightly different from a submission package. The best way of finding out what this is is to go to agency websites and look at their submission guidelines (or check The Writers’ and Artists’ Handbook). Then look at the agent profiles and choose which would be most suited to you/your book. Little tip/pet peeve here: if you’ve written a children’s book, don’t send it to an agent who has no children’s books on their list, or no visible interest in children’s books. There are many, many agents out there with many, many interests: you’re sure to find someone/several agents who suit you and your work.

For me, the perfect query letter consists of three parts. (Hopefully this would also serve you well with most other agents too but, as I said, look at their individual agency submission guidelines). At A P Watt we ask that writers send us a query letter and full synopsis. The query letter should be addressed to the agent you wish to read it (whom you have carefully selected after your impeccable research). Start your letter with a few lines about why you have approached us, both to show you have done your research and to flatter our enormous egos. Then should come a blurb about your book. For me, the ideal length of this is one paragraph – I’m thinking the kind of blurb that you would find on the back of a book jacket. Don’t worry about how brief this is, as you get a chance to expand in your full synopsis. Lastly (thirdly), should be a paragraph about you: a writer-ly bio. Include what’s relevant here. What might be relevant is that you have done a Creative Writing MA or had your work published in a magazine; what is not relevant is the name of your cat or that your beloved wife of twelve years thinks your book is better than anything Stephen King has ever written.

Don’t try to be funny, quirky or unusual. Always be polite. When it comes down to it, your query letter is our first introduction to you, as a writer, and we are looking for hints that you might be a very exciting prospect. Jazzing up your letter with photos, wisecracks or alternative fonts (Times New Roman is the font of choice) does not do you any favours. Especially Comic Sans – that does you no favours at all.

A ‘full synopsis’ should be a full outline of your plot/narrative. For me, this doesn’t need to be longer than one (or, at a push, two) double-spaced page/s or approximately 250/350 words. Again, different agents ask for different things when it comes to a synopsis (sorry), but it’s likely you’ll be asked to provide a couple of synopses of different lengths further down the road to publication anyway, so consider it good practice. Include the ending of the book, even if this gives away something enormous; it’s ok to tell us the whole story, because we want to know the ending at this stage. You don’t need to introduce every single character, just those most important to the development of your story. And for non-fiction it’s roughly the same rule for a synopsis – give us the most vital bones of your narrative, and we will flesh them out with the reading if we are intrigued. A synopsis of more than two pages is a turn-off for me, because it hints at a lack of editing skills. And really, you should be able to pitch your book quickly and succinctly, just as we will have to do when we talk about it to editors. Indeed, when editors pitch books to retailers, they often have to do it in just a sentence or two. Maybe it’s helpful to think about exactly what your pitch might be if you had to do this. You never know when you might bump into an agent in a jacuzzi… (I met an author in a jacuzzi a couple of months ago. Nowhere is safe!). I’d always recommend reading other synopses if you are struggling with your own. What have publishers and authors chosen to highlight on book jackets, websites and Twitter? How are they pitching their books to potential readers?

When we reject a submission, it is for one reason: we are not the right person to represent you. We have looked at your synopsis and not seen the ‘X factor’ in it, or we have not felt drawn to your work in the way that we would wish to be in order to take your submission further. Often I know immediately upon reading the submission letter whether it’s a ‘yes or a no’; often I put emails or letters aside to look at later and re-read or ask for more material. Most often I will think that a submission is not for me. But that is because I am one person with my own tastes in an industry filled with many people with many tastes, and I am looking for a book that resonates for me personally. If I haven’t replied to a submission after a couple of months have passed – which I always aspire to do – it is not because I am cold-hearted or uncaring, but because I simply haven’t had the time to get through my submissions pile. At the moment, I know that my reading pile goes back further than two months, and every day it glares at me accusingly and I try to make time for it. One day…

Feel free to submit to a number of agents at once, and nothing gets your submission to the top of our reading pile faster than serious interest from another agent, so tell us if this occurs. Chasing us for a response to your submission with a simple, polite email after a couple of months is fine. Repeatedly ringing and haranguing my lovely colleague who works on reception, is not. (Anyone who’s rude is rejected outright, and there are some breathtakingly rude people out there sometimes!) As a general rule, if you haven’t heard anything from an agent after two months, don’t hold out for a positive response but continue to submit to others. And usually submitting to one agent per agency is enough; we’ll pass your submission on to a colleague if it’s great, but better suited to a colleague.

If we are excited by your submission, then we’ll get in touch and take it from there…

Ultimately, I would hope that the conversation between agents and authors is always an open and honest one, right from the outset, and that we’re approachable and accessible. All we really want is to find books that we love and we’re proud to take to editors, and that we can then see released into the world, ready to whip up a frenzy of excitement and appreciation from millions of readers. And I hope we would always be working together – author, agent and editor – on achieving this.

Founded in 1875, A P Watt is the longest-established literary agency in the world. It is also one of the most dynamic and successful.

The literary estates this agency represents include those of some of the foremost British and Irish writers of the 20th Century. Its current authors include leading novelists, biographers, historians, and specialist writers pre-eminent in their field. The agency also represents some outstanding children’s authors and illustrators, and, in its film and television department, a select number of screenwriters and directors.

A P Watt’s clients include a Nobel Prize winner, four Booker Prize winners, three Orange Prize winners, several Whitbread and Costa Prize winners, and the first Children’s Laureate. Their writers have created many bestselling books, long-running television series and hit films.

The post How to Approach a Literary Agent (Written by a real life AP Watt Agent) appeared first on ProActive Writer Blog.

I can trace the birth of the idea for BattleBooks back 29 years. I was ten years old and attending the local primary school. The school had a book club, and every so often we received a small catalogue that we took home and picked out a book we would like to buy. The order slip, and money, would be handed back to the school. Then, after what seemed like almost a lifetime, the book would arrive at school and be handed out in class.

To this day I can remember rushing home and lying on my stomach in the front room of our small three bedroom house as I devoured the opening pages of The Warlock Of FireTop Mountain. I can still remember thinking that the book was simply the most amazing book I had ever read, and that I would never need to read another book again. I loved that book, I read it from cover-to-cover. In fact, that exact same copy is sitting just inches away from me now, on my desk, as I write.

For those who have not read The Warlock Of FireTop Mountain, it is Interactive Fiction. The reader reads one section and is then presented with a choice as to which way to proceed. You make a choice and then progress onto the next section of the story.

Well, as it turned out, The Warlock Of FireTop Mountain was not the only book I was ever to read. In fact, in the intervening 29 years I have read quite a few other books. But none have ever managed to re-create that sense of sheer excitement and wonder. So when the idea for BattleBooks formed, “The Warlock Of FireTop Mountain for battles.” I knew that I was onto a winner. I also knew that I needed to do the idea justice. At the time I was a published writer, but had no agent. I knew that if I wanted to make my idea for BattleBooks work then I needed to secure an agent. To do this, I needed a cracking query letter and book proposal. Below is an exact copy of the resultant query letter. I have added a commentary in italics which explains why I included each section.

Query Letter For BattleBooks

Series name: Battle Books

Book title: Battle of Hastings 1066

Battle Books is a series of books based on important battles that give the reader the chance to decide the outcome of the action.

This is a brief summary aimed at quickly ‘framing’ the books and allowing the agent/publisher to assess if the series was something in which they would be interested. If writing today, I would certainly add the phrase ‘Interactive Fiction.’ I would also use the term “Fighting Fantasy for battles.”

*****

In the Battle of Hastings 1066 the reader assumes the role of William the Conqueror with the story beginning just hours before the famous battle. The book is divided into a number of sections, with each painting a snapshot of the battle and giving the reader a set of choices. These choices are aligned to different sections of the book. The reader weaves through the battle, with each section presenting new paths and creating multiple outcomes which range from the death of William to the complete defeat of the English army.

This is a brief, but concise summary (synopsis) of the proposed book. The aim is to make it very clear to the agent/publisher what the book is about without relying on a previous knowledge of Interactive Fiction, or Fighting Fantasy. Though I knew that I could use these examples to appeal to some agents/publishers, I also wanted the pitch to have a wider appeal so it could be safely circulated around the company to other important people who may have no knowledge of the sub-genre.

The text has been written to appeal to the 9-12 year old age group. The narrative is character driven, focussing heavily on William and his closest commanders. The events that unfold are presented not only in the context of the battle as a whole, but also with a view to their impact on the main characters. The story examines the themes of courage, cowardice and masculinity. As the story unfolds the nature and demeanour of William changes subtly, shifting with the reader’s choices. Some option paths result in a cold and ruthless killer, whilst others paint a picture of a warmer and more sensitive leader.

In hindsight this paragraph contains too much waffle and not enough focus on market. If writing today I would have tighter definition of the readership, along the lines of “9-12 year old boys (with a focus on reluctant readers).” I would also include three competitor titles, I would have probably included Beast Quest, Fighting Fantasy, and Dr. Who Decide your Destiny.

The Battle of Hastings 1066 is the first in a series of books. Hastings has been chosen for the initial battle since it is an historical event that is covered in the National Curriculum and therefore familiar to the reader. However, there is no limit to the scope of this series and the marketing strategy would determine the future titles, though the potential for sales in America, a country with a buoyant military history market, may be an important consideration. Examples of possible titles include Agincourt, Culloden/Bannockburn, D-Day, Stamford Bridge, the battles of Caesar, English Civil War and even the Ancient Greek wars.

The focus here is firmly on the potential market. I knew that a large publisher would only be interested if they could see the potential for international sales. I was worried that by picking an English battle, Hastings, that I was limiting this potential. This is the reason for the focus on the US market. In fact, the final four battles chosen were Hastings (which was written at the time of pitching), Marathon, Iwo Jima and Arnhem.

The market for Battle Books would initially be mainly boys age 9-12 and would appeal to the traditional Horrible Histories market. However, other market segments could be targeted. The obvious link with the National Curriculum means that the books could be sold into the school market, this would be helped by the agreement of Horrible Histories author Terry Deary to provide a forward for the book free of charge. Battle Books also lends its self to the book club segment and tourist trade. The children’s range would be supported by an interactive website aimed at older teenage/adult readers. This would be free of charge, though has potential for additional income streams. It is also envisaged that an adult version would be produce. This would be targeted to the large specialist Military History market.

Here I wanted to show my willingness to market the books. However, I also wanted to exploit my links to bestselling writer Terry Deary. I have known Terry for a number of years and, at the time of pitching, he had already agreed to write a forward for the book.

Gary Smailes is an experienced writer and historian. He has written a number of children’s history books, with two titles in the Brave Scots series examining the lives of William Wallace and Robert Bruce (2007). In addition, he has a series of eight books due for publication in 2008. These are biographies of Modern Heroes, written for children. Gary has a master’s degree in Military History from Liverpool University. In addition, he has worked for many years as a researcher on the popular Horrible Histories series.

In the biography section I wanted to establish my credentials as a professional writer. I wanted to make it clear that I was experienced in working with publishers and had the academic background to support my claim to writing ‘historically accurate’ books.

What You Can Learn

I have since written a lot about writing book proposals. I strongly suggest that your next step should be to go and read this material. It will give you step-by-step instructions on the best way to structure your query letter, and help you to avoid missing out vital information. However, there are a few points I would like you to take away from this post:

• Play to your strengths: If you have certain aspects of your book that set you aside then make them clear in your pitch. In my case I have a postgraduate degree in military history, have a publishing track record and strong links to the bestselling writer in my genre. What are your strengths? Are you showing them off?
• Every query letter is different: The guidelines I have suggested you read are just that, guidelines. One of the most important aspects of your pitch is your own voice. I wanted to show that I had an intellectual framework for the books, and therefore made sure my query letter reflected this persona. I write children’s books in a different ‘voice’ but chose to not use this for the query letter. It was, however, clear in the extract I included in the pitch. Does your query letter reflect your ‘voice’?
• Do your research: Research is critical. The more you understand about your book and the marketplace the stronger your pitch. I knew that I needed a male agent with a strong understanding of history. It took me two years to find such an agent. In the process, I pitched to countless agents and publishers, before I finally found a home for BattleBooks. Yet, this process taught me a valuable lesson. I could have drastically cut the time it took me to find an agent (and not to mention reduce the number of rejections), if I had carried out some focussed research into the best possible agent at the start of the process. Who is the perfect agent for your book?

In the end I was offered representation by Andrew Lownie and he was able to place my books at Franklin Watts.

The post The Query Letter That Won Me An Agent And A Four Book Deal (And Why It Was So Successful) appeared first on ProActive Writer Blog.


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