Beth Greenslade's Blog, page 95

Chains

Why bother getting up? I can just lay here forever, the ground is cool, yes it is hard but it is not uncomfortable. Get up, it’s what the other voices here say, it is what they do, they go about their activities, leaving little trails of light where their feet touch the ground. Those that pass me tell me to get up. I do not, I lay here, beneath the chains, I could easily slip out from beneath them and move on but why when the darkness keeps me here. I can see the light from where I lay, two large windows, that bring images to this dim world of ours, but I do not approach. The light does not bother me in my rest, it cannot reach where I lay.

I used to remember when I got here, when these chains were draped around my neck for the first time. The others had given them to me, they all said that they were too heavy for them and that I was strong enough to carry them. Then I used to take them off and go about my day like the others, but now I just lay here beneath their weight. The chains feel heavier than they did then, but the chains have not been altered. New chains have not been added to my shoulders, instead, the new chains lay across the ends of the old along the ground, neither binding me or holding me down. Yet I do not strain against them, I do not try to flee.

“What are you doing?” A voice asks, I do not answer.

“Why don’t you do something?” Another asks, I turn my face away.

“You should just go to the windows, and see the world, it will make you happy,” Another says, I would laugh if I but had the energy to do so.

Instead, I yawn and lay my head against my pillow of chains and stare up at the darkness above me. It is so black and empty, nothing to cause me harm, nothing to cause me worry, just darkness, cold and welcoming.

The lights at the windows go out and the other voices cry in anguish, filling my darkness with their pain. Why must they be so afraid of the dark, it is nice here, it could be quiet if they but silence their voices for a moment. If they would be quiet I could sleep, but they do not quiet, they call to each other through the darkness. Complaining about another wasted day, about more wasted time, calling from one end of the darkness to the other about how hard it was to be them. They did not wear the chains, yet they complained of their hardships, I tried to block them out, but they kept me up, just as they did every night.

Get up, they would call when the lights came back on the next morning, and get up they would. Each of them walking by me as I lay here, staring up at the darkness overhead. Praying for it to fall upon us all and silence them forever. Then I could sleep, then maybe I would have the strength to push off these chains for one more day.

I steal a glance over at the windows, the day outside is bright and welcoming, but the warmth does not reach me here. Many of those that walk around me rush to the windows to see the view beyond, cheering and exclaiming of the beauty of the day. They call to me, for me to come and see, to enjoy the light as they do, but I do not rise. I roll over and turn my back on the light to stare into the darkness once again.

“When the darkness comes forever, it will be your fault,” A voice whispers to me as it passes.

“The lack of light here is your fault,” Another says to me.

“Your sorrow brings the darkness,” Another snap.

“This prison is your making.”

“How is it my fault?” I demand, “I did not bring the darkness, nor did I bring these chains.” I replied, “You all gave me these, you are the ones who keep me here in the darkness, and out of the light, you are those that have bound me here.” I retort.

“We have not bound you,” One replies.

“Our burdens were too much for us to bear so we gave them to you, you are the strongest of us, yet you have let the chains weigh you down as they once did each of us.” Another says.

“I am not strong enough,” I call to them. The light from the windows fade and go out, once more and the voices cry again into the darkness. Tonight I cannot take it, I cover my ears and scream for them to be quiet. I pray for the darkness, I pray for the end. It would set me free of these chains.

A gray glow comes from where the light usually shines through the windows. There is never a glow at this time of night, I sit up, the chains around me scratching along the dark floor. What is that beyond the window, I have never seen that place before, there was something odd and terrifying about it. I must see it better, the thought had never crossed my mind before, to go  to the windows, but I knew now that I needed to get closer. I pushed my hands against the cold ground, the chains screeched in protest as I slowly rose to my feet. I stumbled along, the chains dragging stridently along the ground as I stepped. I heard the voices in the dim light beyond, whimpering in fear, crying for forgiveness, searching for hope. I reached the windows and looked out.

Beyond was the host, the being that gave us our world, her hands were stretched out before her, and beyond her reach was a great chasm. Below was rushing water, turbulent and dark, the cold air of the night blew through the windows and struck me. She was going to go to the darkness below.

“No!” I cried, “No you cannot,” I wailed. “The darkness is not for you,” I called to the host; I knew she could hear me. “You have too much to live for,” I pleaded. “I will carry your burdens, just don’t take the light from us,” I wept.

“I thought you were not strong enough?” A voice behind me asked. I turned to see a voice I had not seen before. She stood in a blaze of light; in her hands was the longest chain I had seen in my life. The chain glowed as coals in a fire, warm yet dangerous.

“I am strong enough for this,” I replied, I knelt before her.

“This is life; it is heavy and will weigh you down,” She said, her voice kind and soft.

“I am strong enough,” I repeated, she laid the glowing chain across my shoulders and vanished. I glanced back out the windows; the host stepped back from the edge and turned away from the abyss beyond.

The next day I stood at the windows, watching the world outside. This was my purpose, to carry the burdens of those around me. I lightened their hearts so that they could continue to live in their light. One day the darkness would come, but we would all be ready for it then. I was a prisoner of my own making not of others; I am strong enough to carry on with this life. I am their light and their darkness. I am their hope.

 

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Great Blog Ideas For Your Author Blog

Writing an author blog can be tough at times. For a start many writers prefer to ‘stick to what they know’, and if that’s writing fiction, it’s particularly difficult for them to write a blog which requires different skills and ideas.

Being able to come up with fresh and engaging ideas for your author blog time and time again can be tricky. A successful post will be not only interesting but also relevant to your writing and will help or entertain your readers too.

So what are the kinds of things you can include on your author blog? Here are some helpful tips to keep those ideas coming and make sure you never run out of content

A writing contest

Writing contests always go down well and are a great way to get some engagement from your fellow writers. Just make the objective clear and the rules simple. If you can offer an incentive that’s wonderful, but lots of people will just be happy to see their work published on your blog, so if that’s all you can offer, that’s great too.

A  book review

Help out your fellow authors by writing up a book review every once in a while. While you don’t want this to be the primary focus of your blog, it’s an excellent way to put in some fresh content, and you might find that other authors are willing to return the favour with your own book too.

An author interview

You could also interview fellow authors for your blog. Naturally the more high profile, the better so ask around and see if you can do a quick interview with an author who has had some work published and this should attract a good readership to your website.

Writing tips and advice

Since writing is what you love, why not share some invaluable writing lessons, tips and advice? Offer how-to guides or share what you’ve learnt along the path of your writing journey.

A piece of fiction or poetry

Of course, your blog can also be a place where you showcase your work, so don’t be afraid to make some of your posts pieces of fiction,  such as short stories, extracts from your book, or poems you have written too.

Inspiring quotes

If you are feeling a bit lazy, posts filled with inspirational quotes are always popular and are pretty easy to pull together at short notice.

Top ten lists

Offering your opinion or doing research, so others don’t have to is always appreciated. Pull together some top ten lists such as your favourite books, your favourite pieces of writing software, the greatest lessons you’ve learnt and so on and these can make for engaging and informative posts.

Guest posts

Another great way to make your blog look busy is to accept guest posts as well. Getting other people to contribute to your blog will give it added authority as well.

The above ideas should've you some food for thought on what to include in your author blog - remember there is no harm in reading and following your fellow author blogs too to get some inspiration too!

How do you get ideas for your author blog? Share them with us here!

 

 

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10 Writing Goals To Set Yourself Before The End Of The Year

With the end of the year approaching there has never been a better time to take stock of what you have achieved around your writing this year and to see if there isn’t time to get your head down and accomplish some last minute goals. This way you can end the year feeling satisfied with your writing progress, and ready to start 2018 with a bang!

So what are some excellent writing goals to set yourself before the end of the year? Let’s take a look at some of them.

1 Get that book finished

If you are nearing the end of a novel why not motivate yourself to have one last push and get it finished before the end of the year? Imagine how proud you will be if you can start 2018 saying ‘I’ve written a book, don’t you know?’

2 Start that book!

It might be that you’ve been delaying starting your novel for the majority of this year. Now is the perfect time to sit down and get those first few chapters out. If you go into 2018 having already started, you’ll hit the ground running, more determined than ever to get that novel down.

3 Make a list of publishers and agents to send your book to

If you want to get organised why not do some research into publishers and agents, you can send your novel to? Get a list together and make notes of their submission guidelines, so you are ready to start the new year by getting your novel out there - how exciting would that be?

4 Set up your author website

If you don’t have an author website why not make it your goal to get this up and running by the end of the year? An author website makes you appear more professional and is a great platform to build your fanbase from.

5 Write ten blogs

Set up an author blog and write ten bogs for it, so you’ve got plenty of material to release in the new year.

6 Enter a writing competition

Why not use this time to write and submit something for a writing competition? Imagine if you won? What a great way to end the year that would be!

7 Get something published

Send off a short story or poem to a magazine or online publication. Seeing your work in print before the end of the year will be a massive confidence boost.

8 Write a Christmas themed short story

Feeling festive? Why not write a Christmassy tale that you can share with family and friends to get everyone into the holiday spirit?

9 Write every day

Why not set yourself the goal of making time to write each day until the end of the year? You’ll feel so proud of yourself if you stick to it.

10 Write something for each member of your family

Whatever you are planning to get them for Christmas, why not make part of your gift a personal piece of writing for each member of your family - they are sure to be delighted with your thoughtful, touching present, and you’ll get lots of excellent writing practice in too!

These ten writing goals are ideal to keep in mind and get done before the end of the year. Do you have any writing goals you hope to achieve before the end of 2017? Share them with us here!

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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Things To Remember When Asking For Feedback

One of the most useful ways you can help yourself improve your writing is to ask for feedback. Having someone who isn’t as close to your work as you are, read and critique it, can help you see both where you are going right and where you are going wrong!

However, asking for feedback can be pretty nerve-wracking. If you have poured your heart and soul into your work it’s no wonder you might be feeling a little sensitive when it comes to discussing it. However constructive or indeed pertinent another’s comments might be, it can be difficult not to take feedback the wrong way (unless it’s just gushing about how amazing your work is of course!).

The best way to combat this is to do some preparation before you ask for feedback, to think carefully about exactly what you are asking for and whose opinion will be most beneficial to improving your work.

Here are some things to remember when asking for feedback:

Don’t choose someone close to you.

It's going to be difficult to get a genuinely constructive critique of your work if you ask someone close to you. Your mum, your partner, a dear friend - they aren’t going to want to hurt your feelings and are more likely to look at your work with rose tinted spectacles on anyway. Ask someone you can trust to be completely objective - if you are not just looking for an ego boost that is!

Opinions are subjective.

You’ve got to face facts that not everyone will like or ‘get’ your work - and that’s OK. If someone fundamentally disagrees with what you have done or simply doesn’t ‘like’ it, it doesn’t mean your work has no value. So remember to take even the most professional opinion with a pinch of salt.

Be clear about what kind of feedback you want.

Be specific about the type of constructive criticism you want, give examples if necessary to be even more obvious. You can also make it known what kind of feedback you don’t want. The clearer you are the more likely you’ll get the kind of feedback you can actually use.

Remember you don’t have to follow their advice.

It’s great to get the opinions of others, and hopefully, you will be able to take on board their feedback and use it to improve your writing. However, it is good to remember that you don’t have to! Your work is yours and yours only. You can make it exactly as you want it to be!

Only ask for feedback when your work is ready to receive it.

Wait until you feel you have done all you can to improve your work before giving it to someone else for feedback. If it’s not up to standard and full of glaring errors and mistakes it will be hard for them to get past that and their review will be much less helpful than it could have been.

Remember, they are doing you a favour.

At the end of the day, unless you are paying for a review or critique, this person is doing you a favour and trying to help you - it’s always good to remember that, no matter what sort of feedback they give!

It’s great to get feedback, to strive to learn more, to have a desire to improve our writing and make it the best it can be. Just remember that negative feedback doesn’t mean you should give up, and positive feedback doesn’t mean your work is perfect. As long as you are always trying to grow, always trying to improve as a writer - that’s the most important thing!

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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Writers! Here’s How To Have More Self-Belief

Sometimes we all need a bit of a boost, particularly when it comes to our writing.

In fact, one of the most common problems that we writers suffer from is self-doubt. If we let self-doubt take over, it can be pretty debilitating. It can stop us from progressing, it can fill us full of fear and stop us from putting our work out there. In the worst cases, it can put a halt to our writing altogether.

The good news is that if you are feeling full of self- doubt, you are not alone! Most writers go through a period where they feel unsure, uncertain and don’t have the confidence they should have to keep on going.

However, having a belief that you are indeed good enough, that you can, in fact, do it, is so important. It’s so easy, even when we are doing well and becoming successful, to believe it is all just a fluke, or that someone is playing a trick on us and it will all come crashing down if we so much as dare to blink!

So how can you get more self-belief as a writer, and never let writer’s doubt stand in your way again? Here are some helpful tips:

Have a writing mantra

Every time before you start writing why not start by repeating a positive writing mantra, or have a list of motivational quotes or phrases by your writing desk which you can read through before you begin? This will help you start off in a positive and confident frame of mind.

Write little and often.

The more you write, the more confident you will feel about your writing. Try to write a little every day, and this will stop you from going for long periods without writing and then feeling panicky and uncertain when you do attempt to get back to it.

Know that you are not alone

Remember, every writer has been in the same position as you at some point or another. Reading about other writers moments of self-doubt can help you realise this is just a phase and that you can get through it!

Congratulate yourself

You are following your dreams. You are doing what many people would love to do but just can’t. You are amazing! You should congratulate yourself for actually giving it a go. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t got to where you want to be, the fact that you are making those steps is impressive in itself.

Believe in your success, learn from your mistakes

When you do have some success, however small, make sure you take a moment to realise what it means. Success as a writer, in any form, is challenging. You should be proud of yourself. If you make mistakes or receive negative feedback, reviews or rejections try not to take them to heart but learn from them instead. Remember all of this is what makes you a real writer after all!

Be yourself, believe in yourself, and just keep going!

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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What It Really Takes To Become A Successful Author

In many ways, there has been no better time to be a writer. The ability for anyone to self-publish has, in a way, levelled the playing field for many writers and there is no denying that if you are determined and committed enough, there is no reason why anyone and everyone that wants to can’t see their book in print.

However, advances in technology and an increase in the number of platforms where authors can publish and market their witing has changed the way that authors must work. While, in a way, it could be argued that success is there for the taking if they genuinely want it, there is now so much more to think about, and so many different avenues to explore.

So, in this contemporary society, what does it take to become a successful author?

Having passion, determination and a clear goal in mind

To be a successful writer you need to have a goal, and that goal should be crystal clear and seared into the forefront of your mind. Becoming a successful author is an endurance race and also a battle. You’ve got to want it more than anyone else, you’ve got to put more hours in than anyone else. If you don’t have the passion, and the commitment, if you aren’t willing to put in the hours and have the sheer grit it takes to keep your head down and keep on going, you aren’t likely to get very far.

Writing, reading and practising every single day

People have different opinions about what makes a good writer, but one of the most important things to remember is that while having natural talent and brilliant ideas is one thing, real writers are the ones who write. If you write every day, consume books like you’ll run out of air, and keep putting your work out there, it’s going to be much easier for you to improve your craft. So keep your nose to the grindstone and one day it will pay off.

Having platforms and being smart about how you use them

You won’t get very far in this day and age without having built sturdy, successful platforms from which you can shout about your work. A modern, successful author needs to be churning out content, be engaging their readers, and makes sure they are always visible and growing their network of contacts, readers and fans.

Promotion, promotion, promotion

Being a good writer is essential. There is no denying that. But if you want to be successful you need to be a brilliant promoter too. This is where many authors become unstuck. They want to write, they want to share their stories with the world, but do they want to spend hours investigating all the ways they should market themselves? Do they want to put themselves out there by continuously talking about how great their work is? Do they want to shell out money to market their stories? Probably not. However, without doing so, it’s going to be very tough for them to get their books to be seen.

The right attitude

Writing was, is and will continue to be a seriously tough and competitive profession, and becoming successful isn’t easy. Remaining positive, building good relationships, taking care of your readers and having a great attitude even when things aren’t going your way is just as important as everything else. So even when the chips are down, remember, if at first, you don’t succeed…

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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Should Your Protagonist Be Based On Yourself?

Basing a character or characters on yourself is somewhat inevitable. Even if you believe you are writing characters who are entirely fictional, who live in a made up world and whose adventures and journeys are nothing to do with your own life, just by the fact that you are writing them, and they have been created from your own imagination, means that a little bit of you can’t help but sneak through.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with basing your protagonist on yourself, but it is essential to understand what makes a fictional character different to one in real life, and therefore one that readers want to read about. If your character isn’t engaging, captivating, exciting and full of life, it will be difficult for your readers to relate to them.

While you might be all those things, let’s face it, not every experience, thought or action in our lives is all that interesting, in fact, many of the day to day motions we go through are relatively mundane. So if you use yourself as a base for your protagonist, you must only take the most fascinating, unique parts of your personality, the most intriguing thoughts and the most surprising adventures and fictionalise them for your book.

There is the danger of putting too much of oneself into a character and therefore then becoming too attached to them. If you base your protagonist on yourself you might become overly protective of that character. You might not want bad things to happen to them, or might give them too much of your time in which case other characters suffer.

Putting yourself into your protagonist, or, indeed, any of your characters does take courage, and bravery in writing is almost always rewarded. Human beings are complex and fascinating. If you are really willing to explore the different aspects of your personality, your motivation for doing the things you do and saying the things you say, the things that make you most vulnerable, and most afraid, you have the potential to create a character whose openness and vulnerability make your reader go weak at the knees.

It’s also important to tune into the little things that make a character come alive, that make them human. We all have our quirks, our little personality traits that are uniquely ours. Hiccuping when we get nervous, having a compulsive bathroom routine, or singing loudly and out of tune in the car. Whatever they may be, zoning in on them and giving them to your characters will breathe life into them and make them seem more real and relatable.

Putting yourself into your characters takes practice, and while you might do it without even thinking about it, if you want to use your life and your experiences in your novel, there are some exercises you can try.

Write down all the things you love about yourself

Write down ten things that make you cringe

Reveal your darkest secret

Explore your saddest memory

Describe your body in detail - and be completely honest about it

Write down your five greatest fears

Exercises like this will help you do a little soul searching and help you pick out interesting things that you can use as character traits in your book.

Of course, to some authors the idea of basing a character on themselves is horrifying. There are ways to try and avoid doing so too. Spending time painstakingly creating a character who is nothing like you is doable, but you may well find that this character simply ends up being a manifestation of an alter ego you wish you had, the kind of person who does everything you want to, who says everything you are afraid to say.

The truth is there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to whether you base your protagonist on yourself, and in fact, it may be easier to accept that a little bit of you might rub off on all your characters, rather than fight against it.

Whether you are trying to or not, the most important thing is that you create characters that are alive, that have beating hearts, inquisitive minds, who are full of life, have passions, goals, fears and secrets. If you can create characters like that you are on the right track regardless!

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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Lessons Learned From Writing A Second Book

It may seem obvious, but the more books you write, the better you’ll get, and the higher your chances are of getting published too!

Writing your first novel teaches you so much, and often you feel as though you are a completely different writer by the time you decide to embark on a second. However, writing and completing the second novel is a huge learning curve as well, and there are plenty of useful lessons to take away from it too.

So what are the most likely lessons you’ll learn when writing a second book?

Practice makes perfect.

Your second book will be better than your first. Your third will probably be better than your second. The more you practice writing, the better you’ll become at it, so just keep on writing whatever you do, and you’ll see yourself improve day by day.

You shouldn’t be afraid to experiment.

Writing the second novel makes you a little braver. You know when to play it safe and when to push the boundaries. You’ll allow yourself the freedom to experiment more and find what works for you.

The more you plan, the easier it will be.

While some writers prefer to let their writing just ‘come to them’ and see where it takes them, most find that, at some stage, they’ll have to get organised and do a little planning. Creating chapter outlines and doing your research will make your life so much easier, your book more believable and will help you to ensure that there is a story to be told.

You’ll still have bad days.

Just because you’ve already written a novel, you won’t necessarily feel any more confident or self-assured about this one. You’ll still have days where you wonder what you are doing, where you feel wholly demotivated, where you read over what you’ve written and feel as though you are the worst writer in the world. However, you’ve been through it all before so you should be able to deal with it better and pick yourself up to get on with it faster too.

Your first draft will still be terrible.

Every first draft of every novel, whether it’s your first or your hundredth will still need a significant amount of editing to get it looking good. You’ve pretty much just got to accept this as part and parcel of the job and be prepared to go back and break down, reshape, rewrite, kill off, and start again before your novel begins to take shape.

Writing the second novel is just as exciting as writing your first, if not more so. Just remember that all writers, no matter how experienced and successful, are  all on a journey and can learn more and improve more no matter how good they already are. If you keep writing and remain open to learning, you are bound to get better and your second novel will make you even more proud, determined and elated than your first ever did.

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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How To Motivate Yourself To Edit Your Book

For many authors writing the book is a breeze compared to what comes after. It’s all well and good getting your story down, but when you’ve finished the final chapter the real hard work begins!

Editing your book can be a long and somewhat arduous process. Book editing takes real concentration, perseverance and skill. It can be daunting, exhausting and intimidating, and sometimes, dare we say it, pretty dull too!

The elation and excitement we feel when we’ve finally gotten our story down can quickly come to an end when we begin to edit our books. Those chapters that seemed to flow from your effortlessly now seem clunky and nonsensical, the characters that you felt so sure your audience would fall in love with now appear lifeless and dull. The world which you so painstakingly created suddenly just isn’t believable anymore.

These are just some of the problems writers face when editing their book, and the more we uncover, the harder it can be to stay motivated and want to carry on. It seems insane to give up now, and yet tempting to do so. While we want our books to be perfect before we publish them, we also feel disheartened and lacking the energy or inspiration to make them as good as we know they can be.

So what are the things we can do to help keep up motivated and determined to get through the often sluggish book editing process? Here are some tips to help you.

Work little and often.

It can be easy to become fatigued when editing our book if we try to do too much at once. Try just taking your book editing page by page or chapter by chapter. If you try to do as much as you can as quickly as possible, you won't do as thorough a job and will end up having to go back and redo half of it anyway!

Step away when necessary

Sometimes a little perspective is all you need. When you feel the editing process becoming too painful, give yourself a little break. Do something else for a few days before you come back to it, and you are likely to have renewed energy and enthusiasm for the project.

Alternate tasks

When it comes to book editing, there is lots to do. Try spending one session concentrating on spelling and grammar and the next on content and context. Doing this will help stop you from getting to bogged down in one thing or another and help keep editing as interesting as possible.

Set goals and deadlines

Setting goals and deadlines will help keep you on track and motivated. Without doing so, it will be much easier to put book editing on the backburner and procrastinate. The sooner you get on with it, the better!

Get feedback

Get feedback at various stages of the book editing process, preferably from individuals who you trust, to be honest, and critical but also encouraging and positive too!

Stay positive

Everyone has days where they think their writing is awful and want to give up on it. However, you need to silence that inner critic and keep persevering. No one ever wrote a perfect book at their first attempt so just keep at it, and you'll soon see your book start to shape up and turn into something to be proud of.

Know when it’s time to hire a professional

However good you are at editing, and however long you spend doing it, it's important to know when the eye of a professional is necessary. A professional book editor will be able to spot things you've missed, so it's always a good idea to hire one.

Let go of the idea of perfection

You'll probably never think your book is perfect, so it's a good idea to let go of the idea of perfection and simply aim for 'I've done my best,' instead!

These tips can help you tackle the book editing process with gusto, and see it through to the end. Do you have any top book editing tips? Share them with us here!

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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Planning Your Book Proposal – Our Top Tips

An excellent book proposal can make all the difference when you are trying to get the attention of agents and publishers. Without one it’s likely that your book might be moved onto the slush pile without even having been read - and then the time, effort and hard work you put into creating, crafting and editing it, will have all gone to waste.

Writing a book proposal is not something that comes naturally to most writers - no matter how skilled they are. However, understanding the elements you need to include, what will make your book proposal stand out and what editors and publishers need to see to give your book a chance is so important.

So, if your book is finally ready to send off, don’t let it, or yourself, down with a dud book proposal - follow these handy tips to ensure you write a great one!

Don’t include unnecessary detail.

Agents and publishers don’t need to hear your whole life story. Make sure the information you give them is what they want and need to hear. If you get too flowery with your language or make your book proposal ridiculously long, become too conversational or add lots of annoying detail they have to wade through, they might lose interest before they’ve even looked at your work.

Know your story.

No one knows your story better than you. Therefore no one can do a better job of explaining what it is about. It might take you a while to get it perfect, but if you keep trying you will get there. The ability to accurately summarise your plot while making it sound like a must-read novel is a definite skill, but you can do it, and spending time getting this just right is absolutely critical.

Be engaging, not boastful.

Many authors dread writing book proposals because they hate having to talk about their accomplishments or even dare to pretend that their book might be good. However, writing a book proposal is not the time to be modest or coy. You need to convince the publisher or agent that your book is worth reading. You don’t need to make lofty, un-evidenced claims about it being the greatest story ever written but you do need to be convincing - and that’s OK.

Consider the why.

Agents and publishers want to know why they should consider taking a chance on your book - and remember, every book is risky, especially from a new author. Tell them why your book is the right book for them, why it fits in with their catalogue, why and what kind of audiences will love it and, in particular, why it will make them money.

Be unique

Only you can judge whether adding a little pizzaz is the right call. At the end of the day we all know the statistics, we all know that agents and publishers receive thousands of manuscripts to look over and it’s all to easy for yours to get lost in the stack. Adding something special that makes yours stand out might just be the thing to get it noticed - it is a risk of course!

Follow the guidelines

Last but by no means least, make sure you follow whatever guidelines are set out on their website. Don’t try to be smart or think you can present your proposal in a way that breaks their rules because ‘you know better.’ They’ve asked for it to be delivered in a certain way because that’s the most convenient and practical way for them. Don’t mess with that.

Remember, you only have one chance to get your book proposal right. So make it count!

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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