“I know for a fact that my book will be a bestseller,” is an all-too-frequent statement in query letters we receive from unpublished authors seeking representation. Truth is, they do not know this for a fact, and they have nothing factual at all to support their claim.

Not even experienced, highly qualified publishing professionals would make such an assertion, particularly in regards to the work of an author with no publishing history. In this business, no one can guarantee a book’s success.

These would-be published writers usually follow their blatant declaration with something like this, excerpted from a letter I received last week:

“I just need an agent to get me a deal with a good publisher who will heavily promote my book with a publicity plan guarantee, and we will all make money.”

Occasionally this writer will go even further, demanding that the book publishing contract include a $30,000 (or $20K, or $50K) promotion budget or publicity guarantee. Sometimes they’ll soften the latter requirement by offering to match the publisher’s promotion money out of their advance.

Ignoring the inappropriateness of this approach, this sample query letter excerpt illustrates a serious misunderstanding of the inner workings of book publishing.

Learn more about how book publicity works in Publisher’s Big Publicity Gamble, the story behind Jed Rubenfeld’s The Interpretation of Murder, published by Henry Holt.

Copyright 2006 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

Fiction authors have been given the advice, “Show, don’t tell,” for decades. No doubt every aspiring author has heard this important phrase, yet many seem to stumble over the concept behind it.

“Show, don’t tell” means that the writer acts out what happened instead of summarizing what happened. The latter makes the text dull by throwing away the drama and the forward momentum of the story.

“Show, don’t tell” is the difference between passive writing and active writing.

Active writing is what sells. The author is rewarded with a large readership and income.

Non-fiction writers should take this advice to heart, as well.

To help you understand what this means, take a look at my article, Start With a Story, which includes examples of how to make reader-friendly articles and books.

Hint: “Show, don’t tell” is the secret ingredient in successful query letters to agents and editors.

Copyright 2006 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

How to write a strong opening

Let’s say George is a science writer who has been contracted to do an exclusive article for a popular magazine with a readership in the millions.  It will be a great credit for him, and he’s being paid a good deal of money to do it. He has an abundance of statistics and scientific facts and analysis to put in his article, but he’s never before written for a large general audience. He’s worried that his editor and his readers will find his information dull and boring. He can’t seem to get started with the writing, and his deadline is looming.

What should he do?

It’s easy—start with a story. Write a paragraph or two or three about a person’s experience relative to the topic, drawing the reader into the rest of the article with a human-interest angle.

For instance, George could begin:

“Betsy Bergen had natural pale blonde hair all of her thirty-nine years. That is, she did until the morning of her fortieth birthday, when she awakened to discover that it had turned bright green overnight. This native of Verdant Valley, CA wasn’t the only one—all of her California relatives over 39 have experienced the same weird phenomena.”

Writing Options:

—Use a real person. In the example, above, this would be Betsy Bergen. The writer would have interviewed her and secured her permission to be quoted in his piece. If you cannot use the person’s real name, you can assign him or her another name, so long as you let the reader know about it, hopefully giving the reader some idea of why this was done.

—Use a fictional person. In my opening for this article, George is not a real person, but you already knew that. I clued you to this fact by using the words, “Let’s say.” There are many ways to do this, and all are fine so long as the reader is clear that you are creating a fictional example.

—Create a composite person. This would be a sub-category to creating a fictional person. You take elements from several real people to create one fictional example to illustrate your story. Again, the reader should understand that you are not naming a genuine person in your article.

—Write a story as if it were about the reader in the present. For example, in When You Query An Agent, my article published by The Writer Magazine, I used this technique:

“You’ve written the great American bestseller. You think you need an agent.  How do you get an agent interested in you?”

My target audience—people interested in getting an agent to sell their novels to a publisher—was pulled into the article immediately.

—Write a story as if it were about the reader in the past. For instance, you could say:

“If you happened to be panning for gold in 1849 in California, you may have been anxiously waiting for a ship to bring you a letter with news from home. But you may also have been desperate for something more important in that letter than family news: cash to get you through the winter without starving to death.”

Now that we got George through the first few sentences of his article by writing a story, he’s no longer stuck. His words are flowing as he is fleshing out his article with all the wonderful statistics, scientific studies, expert opinions and advice he’s gathered by relating them to Betsy Bergen and her family. His editor–and his millions of readers–are happy with the results. Later he can use this same technique when he’s expanding his article into a successful book.

Copyright 2006 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

A publishing professional tells you about the differences between writing print articles or books and writing for a web site.

The Internet is the largest market for your freelance writing, with your potential readership surpassing that of any of the print media. As a bonus, your words will probably exist in cyberspace forever.

But writing successful web content, the kind that attracts a large following, requires a different approach than writing articles or books. Why?

Web readers are impatient. Few surfers read material word for word; instead, they skim it.

If viewers see dense, wordy text, they’ll leave your content unread, no matter how well it matches their interests and needs.

Avoid dense text by freely using these easy tools:

* Bolded subheadings jump out at the eye, helping the reader identify useful information.

* Bulleted or numbered lists condense wordy paragraphs into easily digestible phrases or sentences.

* Empty space gives the reader’s eyes a rest, allowing the words to stand out. Freely use double-spacing between bullet points, paragraphs, headings and text. Allow for margins all around.

Not only with your text look more appealing on the page, people will read your content.

For web-writing success beyond your dreams, follow these tips:

* Put your important information first. Do not spend much time leading up to your point, jump right on it. Your readers will not tolerate fluff.

Our key message here is to motivate web writers to use bolded headings and bulleted lists and to understand why this is crucial.  The impatient reader will quickly get your important information, even if they don’t scroll down to the rest of your article or read every word.

* Have a professional mind-set. Take your web writing as seriously as if you were writing for the magazine, book or other print markets.

* Clearly understand the purpose for each piece of your content, whether article or blog. Have something worthwhile to say, offering new information and fresh ideas. What is your point? Address it with every word.

* Write short sentences and paragraphs. Limit sentences to 25 words and paragraphs to three sentences. (This is a guideline, not a rigid rule.)

* Good writing is tight writing. Each paragraph should have a main point, and each sentence should pertain to that point. Every word, sentence and paragraph should do important work, otherwise prune without hesitation or regret.

* Think brevity. Online articles should be shorter than the comparable print version; blogs should be shorter still. Both must convey an important message in the fewest possible words.

* Have fun! When you enjoy your writing, your readers will, too. They’ll become your fans, eagerly anticipating your upcoming content. And providing outstanding content to attract a large readership is what it’s all about.

Copyright 2006 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

Why?

Because the content goes in an entirely different direction than the author’s description.

Rather than focusing on helping the reader by providing worthwhile information directly applicable to the readers’ lives, their stated purpose, the writer instead wants to tell their life story. They’ve convinced themselves that others would be interested.

Usually, they are not.

Unless there is something truly unusual about their life experience, and the writer has written in a compelling voice, in addition to having come kind of connection that will assure strong book sales, publishers won’t be interested.

As an example:

You’re suffering from some kind of illness, let’s say it’s breast cancer. You think others would want to learn about what it’s like to go through that illness. You’ve never published anything, but you kept a daily journal which you consulted to write up a manuscript about what happened to you as you went through traditional treatment. You tell us how many million women go through exactly the same thing every year, so they’d be interested in hearing from someone who’s done it.

Unless you offer something of personal benefit to the reader, like an explanation of new treatments and resources to help readers along their own path, your story likely won’t be picked up by publishers.

What you are really doing is filling your inner need to give an outlet for all the emotions you perhaps suppressed through your treatment.  This has been done before, by people who are famous or well-published, who have a ready audience of interested readers.

A writer we know got a publishing contract for a nonfiction book. When it came time to deliver the manuscript, however, her editor was dismayed to find that instead of sticking to her topic, she delivered a book of stories about her late husband.

Writing as therapy can be valuable. But it usually isn’t publishable.

If you find yourself drifting off-subject, recognize it and go ahead and do it to get it out of your system. Just understand that you probably won’t be able to sell that material. And if your therapeutic writing is effective, you probably won’t want to.

Before you get all ruffled by this advice, remember that we are speaking in generalities, based on lots of experience in this industry. There are always rare publishing exceptions—your work may be one of them!

Copyright 2007 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

Suggested reading:

Why Alice Sebold had to write stop writing her bestselling novel, The Lovely Bones and write her nonfiction memoir first.

Yet, memories of her own real-life rape kept interfering with her work. So Sebold set aside her novel manuscript and instead began to write her nonfiction book, Lucky, which detailed her own attack and her rapist’s subsequent trial.

Lucky went on to became Alice Sebold’s first published book, a memoir which did well and established her credentials as a book author.  The title refers to something chilling she had been told by a policeman: that she was lucky to have survived her attack, as the previous victim had been brutally murdered.

The Lovely Bones was Sebold’s second published book; a novel exploring what might happen if someone didn’t survive a brutal rape. Sebold wisely made her character younger so that she could examine the effect on her fictional parents, siblings and school friends.  It became a bestseller almost overnight, despite the editors who were doubtful due to the novel’s “dark” subject matter.

In the aftermath of her real-life attack, Sebold might have wondered what would have happened had she died—would she have been better off?  Her answer, as told through protagonist Suzie Salmon, is no—but you can find peace, even in death.

Many first novels are semi-autobiographical; in this way, Sebold was able to exorcize her own story and be free to write her novel, benefiting herself both personally and professionally.

Copyright 2006 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

Find out why you should consider writing nonfiction.

What is a Memoir?

Discover the many benefits of publishing nonfiction books and articles, even if your goal is to be a successful novelist. Nonfiction can jumpstart your writing career.

Every writer should seriously consider nonfiction. Here’s why:

Quicker Sales. You don’t have to wait years to get published, especially in the articles markets.  The time to a publisher’s contract for nonfiction is shorter in the book industry, too.  Unlike novels, nonfiction books are marketed and sold before they are written.

More Openings. From small town newspapers to global commercial publications, the market for nonfiction articles is almost unlimited. In contrast, have you noticed how few print publications run short stories these days?

More Money. In general, entry-level nonfiction book authors are paid better than their fiction counterparts. The income from nonfiction articles is much greater than the payment from short fiction, which may amount to little or no money, or perhaps only one or two free copies of the publication containing the story.

Less Competition. At least half of the people we meet say they want to publish a book, usually a novel; some industry studies place that statistic even higher. Since there are far, far more writers trying to publish fiction, the nonfiction markets (comprising approximately half of all trade books published), hold better odds for a sale.

Valuable Credits. Your writing experience is a major part of the package you present to a publisher when you are seeking a writing contract. Previous sales make you look like a professional. Editors and agents are more likely to trust you to write well and meet deadlines, since you’ve already proven you can do it.

Build Confidence. After you get a few sales under your belt, you will come to believe that you CAN do this. Each success will lead to bigger and better successes as you develop your career, getting you past that inner voice doubting your abilities.

Writing Maturity. Any writing that you do will increase your ability to write well. Writing skills develop through experience, by actually writing, regardless of what type of writing it is.

Build Your Knowledge Base. Writing nonfiction, whether it’s short pieces or full books, requires research and, probably, interviews with experts. What you uncover as you develop your material will lead you to discover other salable nonfiction ideas. The information you collect will be useful to you if you write fiction, as well, adding richness and depth to your work.

Update: 2010. The paid markets for print nonfiction articles are no longer open but the internet now provides opportunities for writers to access a vast audience, potentially generating good income.

Copyright 2006 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

“Dear Agent:

I’ve got 5,000 copies of my published book in my garage, all ready for you to sell to bookstores for me.

Signed,

Eager Author”

We can’t tell you how many times writers have contacted us with letters like this, or something similar. We’d guess the number to be in the thousands.

Sometimes the “published” books they refer to were self-published; more often, they were not. Instead, the eager writer paid exorbitant prices for a sub-standard product from a vanity press.

It’s not our job

Either way, self-published or a vanity scam, getting your book into bookstores is not what a literary agent does. We’re in the business of getting the writer’s manuscript published by a real book publishing company—one who pays the author for the privilege, not the other way around.

When we’ve taken the time to explain this to the Eager Authors who write to our agency, they become quite disappointed. “What am I going to do with all my books?” they ask.

What happened?

Obviously, in their eagerness to get their name on a printed book, these wanna-be published writers didn’t think this through, learning what self-publishing a book is and what it isn’t.

Some of them may have self-published books that could go on to sell well; most of these Eager Authors do not. And the problems holding them back often go way beyond the issue of the quality of the text. It’s not possible to be successful with a sub-standard printed book.

Self-education should come before self-publication.

Done properly, your self-published book may lead you to contact a literary agent with a different kind of letter, one that asks if it is time to take your successful title to a trade book publisher for even greater success.

Copyright 2007 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

Advice for writers who want to become published authors.

We’re all busy these days. It’s easy to get caught up in our daily routine and forget about those things we’d really like to do, someday.

That’s why the end of the year is a good time to assess our previous accomplishments and set new goals for the New Year.

What is your unrealized dream?

–Do you have a secret desire to become a published author?

–Or perhaps you are making money with your writing but want to ratchet your career to the next level?

Write it down.

The simple act of expressing your desires in print will help you realize them. Take pen to paper or apply your fingers to your keyboard and tell yourself what you’d really like to accomplish before the end of the coming year. What is your heart’s desire?

Make it happen.

Then set some goals for yourself. Decide on concrete next steps that will take you from where you are now to where you want to be at this time next year.

Get Published in the New Year offers practical advice that will help you write and sell your work in the coming year.

Copyright 2006 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

Have you always wanted to be a published author, someday? Why not make it your New Year’s resolution—a literary agent tells you how.

There are all sorts of paying markets for everything from short pieces to full-length books.  But you can’t switch from wanna-be writer to published author unless you have something to sell–and this means you’ve got to get writing. Here are some tips:

–Get started now. Don’t wait for “someday.” Actually beginning to write something is the biggest obstacle for most people. Once you’re involved in a project, it gets much easier, but that first sentence, first page, first paragraph are usually the hardest, even for published pros.

–Turn off your inner critic. It doesn’t matter if your first words are good. It just matters that you get some down on paper or keyboarded into your computer. You can always rewrite them later—in fact, it is likely that you will want to. But for the time being, just write. Give yourself permission to write badly, if that is what it takes to get the words flowing.

–Write regularly. Schedule appointments with yourself to sit down and write. It doesn’t have to always be the same time of day and it doesn’t even have to be every day.  Do not let a week go by without actually writing something, however.  Look at your busy schedule and find one or more time slots that you can dedicate to writing, even if it is just 15 minutes per sitting. Some people get up a little earlier before work while the house is still quiet and their mind is fresh. Others are night owls who get creative at the end of the evening when the family is asleep. Discover what works for you.

–Set up a dedicated writing space. Assign yourself a spot for that purpose, even if it is just a tiny folding table in the back corner of your laundry room.

–Quiet, please! Shut the door to outside noise. It is probably best to avoid all potential distractions such as TV, radio, recorded music. (Perhaps multi-tasking by doing a load of laundry would mask outside noise to your writing corner.) Ask your family not to interrupt you during your writing time unless it’s an emergency.

–Start small. If you feel overwhelmed at the thought of beginning an entire book, start with an article. If a full-length article seems too hard, start with something shorter, like a letter to the editor for your local newspaper. The important thing is to get started.

–Create your mindset. Know that if you have the desire to get published, you will find the means. Make it your New Year’s resolution to get published!

Copyright 2006 by Barbara Doyen. All rights reserved.

See Also:

Write It Down, Make It Happen