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5 Research Steps Before You Write Your Book Proposal

Photo credit: The City of Toronto via Visualhunt.com / CC BY

Note from Jane: I’m offering an interactive course on nonfiction book proposals starting June 5. My expertise on this topic comes from more than a decade of acquisitions experience at a traditional publisher, where I reviewed thousands of proposals.

Writing a nonfiction book proposal—a good one—requires not only sharp clarity about your idea, but also how that idea, in book form, is relevant and unique in today’s market. You’ll have a much easier time writing your proposal if you take time to conduct market research beforehand.

Step 1. Explore and understand competing titles.

Searching for competing titles—the books that currently exist on your topic and serve the same audience—is one of the easiest ways to begin your research process. Visit the bookstores in your area, and the library, too. Go to the shelf where you would expect your book to be placed. What’s there? Study the books closely and take notes. After you finish combing the bookstores and libraries, check specialty retailers that might carry books on your topic (e.g., Michaels for arts and crafts books). And of course be sure to look at Amazon.

Here’s a worksheet to guide your research of competing titles.

Step 2. Research the digital media landscape.

It would be a mistake to think your competition is limited to print books. Today, your greatest competition may be a website, online community, or well-known blogger. Do a thorough Google search for digital content and online experts serving the same audience as you. Is it easy to get needed and authoritative information? Is it free or behind a pay wall?

Don’t stop at Google. Also search YouTube, app stores, iTunes podcasts, and online communities relevant to your topic. Look for online education opportunities, if relevant. Understand how your audience might be fulfilling its needs for information from online and multimedia sources—and also from magazines, newsletters, databases, and events/conferences.

This information may or may not end up in your proposal, but the upside is this: you’re developing an amazing map and resource of how to market your book when it’s published.

Step 3. Study the authors and influencers you’ve found.

As you go through Steps 1 and 2, you’ll uncover authors, experts, and influencers on your topic. Just as you studied the books and media, dig deep into the platform and reach of these people. How do you fit among them? How will you set yourself apart? Are there hints about how you need to develop your own platform to be competitive in the eyes of a publisher?

Here’s a worksheet to help you take notes on authors and influencers.

Step 4. Pinpoint your primary audience.

By this point, you’ll have considerable information about the print and online landscape related to your topic. You will probably have some notes about the type of audience or demographic being served. (If not, go back and look for clues as to who the books or media appear to be targeting.)

It’s a big red flag to any agent or editor to say that your book is for “everyone.” Maybe it could interest “everyone,” but there’s a specific audience that will be the most likely to buy your book. Who are those people, and how/where can you reach them? Again, Steps 1–3 have probably given you some pretty good hints. If not, try asking the following:

What social media outlets seem to be most important, active, or relevant for your target audience? Where does your audience gather online? What are their behaviors or attributes in those gathering places?
What else does your audience read? What do they watch? Who do they listen to in the media?
Are there any trend articles, statistics or research about your readership that might be helpful? Try running a keyword search through Google, then clicking on the “News” tab to find features or trend reports on your topic. (E.g., if you search for “millennial parents,” you’ll find a boatload of trend pieces and advice on marketing to that demographic.)

The better you know your target reader (or primary market), the better you’ll able to build a proposal that speaks to why anyone cares about what you’re writing. Furthermore, an intimate understanding of your audience often leads to a better book.

Step 5. Analyze how you reach readers.

This is where you look at your platform and measure how well you reach your target readership, through the following:

Your website/blog
Email newsletter
Social media
Speaking and teaching
Professional memberships or affiliations
Partnerships or special connections, especially those that might influence media coverage or buzz
Any other tools you have!

Here’s a platform worksheet to help you cover the most important bases.

This is a good time to refer back to Step 3, and review the authors and influencers you’ll be competing and/or collaborating with. You want to look like you measure up well but also have something fresh or different to offer.

Your platform directly informs the marketing and promotion plan that’s included in your proposal. The best marketing campaigns begin with what you have in place today, not what you hope to happen (e.g., Oprah calls). Also, being thorough in describing your platform (if only for yourself) helps you more effectively develop a marketing plan before your publication day, and collaborate with your publisher on marketing and publicity.

5 Steps to Kick Your Marketing FOMO to the Curb

Today’s guest post is by social media expert Chris Syme (@cksyme), author of The Newbie’s Guide to Sell More Books With Less Marketing.

Authors often ask me what the best marketing strategy is for selling more books. That is an easy question to answer: write more books. But what if you have a solid production schedule already—whether it’s writing two books a year or ten books a year? All you really want to know is how you can sell more of those books. That drive will contribute to your success. But it also produces one of the biggest enemies to your author business: marketing FOMO (fear of missing out).

FOMO chokes your productivity

FOMO is an energy-stifling state of mind. Some psychologists theorize that FOMO is driven by the pressure to have a perfect life. Theoretically, this is fueled by the false depictions of the perfect lives of authors you see on social media. Everybody there is in the know, having a great life, and selling tons of books. You are not, so the pressure starts building.

Are you suffering from marketing FOMO? Let’s find out. See if any of these sound familiar.

When you are on Facebook or other social media to do marketing work (posting, responding to comments), do you drift away and start reading posts and clicking on links unrelated to your marketing tasks?
Do you have your phone set to sound off when there’s a new notification on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram?
Is your RSS feed or inbox cluttered with blog posts from marketing sites?
Are you a member of more than ten closed Facebook groups for authors?
When you read a blog post by an author who has found a way to sell thousands of books with Facebook ads, do you have a burning desire to copy what they did? Even though you’ve never run a Facebook ad and don’t really have the budget?

As it relates to marketing, FOMO hampers a person’s ability to reach realistic goals and stick to a defined course of action. It is not a product of attention deficit like the lovable dog in the cartoon yelling “squirrel.” Marketing FOMO is more debilitating than distracting.

There are only so many hours 

If you suffer from marketing FOMO, your marketing tasks will never be done. Your goal of dedicating one hour to marketing each day turns into four hours on Facebook, one hour on Twitter, 15 minutes writing a book description for your new novel, and two hours trying to figure out how to copy another author’s successful promotion on Pinterest. Pretty soon you’re spending more time marketing than you are writing. You may not question the why of what you’re doing. If somebody succeeded at it, it must be worth my time. Believe me, it’s not.

Fail to plan, plan to fail

Nothing ever happens without a plan. Start today and begin kicking your marketing FOMO to the curb.

1. Designate one primary social media channel for engagement and sales. I am a firm believer (from my years of marketing experience) that most authors need only one social media channel for engaging fans and selling books. The rest should just be outposts that redirect readers to the location where you are connecting with fans. According to the latest Pew Internet research, the majority of people have multiple social media accounts. You do not need to be everywhere to catch your readers, just the right place. Here are a couple resources to help you with this:

My four-part series on why less social media equals more engagement
My book: The Newbie’s Guide to Sell More Books With Less Marketing

2. Schedule and optimize the time you spend on social media. The biggest contributor to marketing FOMO is the failure to separate your business social media interaction from your personal social media interaction. This may be complicated by the practice of using your personal Facebook profile to promote your author business, but your first step has to be to schedule a time for marketing-only tasks and stick to it.

The best tip: monitor your social media, blogs, and other online media through notifications. For instance, when you go to Facebook business page to monitor comments and posts, check your “notification globe” at the top of your page on the blue menu bar. Do not go scrolling through all the posts to see if there are any new comments. Instead, on the notification pull-down menu, check to see if anyone has posted, decide if you need to respond, put up a post if that’s what you are there for, and move on. Don’t get caught up in going through every post on your page looking for new comments. Apply this same thinking to all your other channels. The object is to spend your time engaging, not browsing.

3. Market by goal and not by tips and tricks. Have a master plan behind your book marketing. That is the best deterrent to keep you from drifting and following every fly-by-night tip that comes along to sell more books. Marketing is not a guessing game. While there are times for testing and experimenting, that shouldn’t be your strategy. My book, The Newbie’s Guide to Sell More Books With Less Marketing, has a free online course that walks you through the process of putting together a personalized marketing plan based on your time, resources, budget, skills, and backlist.

4. Declutter the amount of marketing advice you take in. Book marketing advice is so abundant online that my head spins just thinking about it. Find a handful of reliable sources and don’t worry about the rest. My website has a resource page to help. Start with a few and build as you have time. Make an effort to pare back the sites that are not necessary to your marketing progress. Don’t worry—if it’s necessary to your success, the resources you are following will talk about it.

5. Track the results of your marketing. Make sure you are familiar with the data each online marketing resource gives you. Make a plan to check only the data that informs your marketing decisions and do it on a weekly basis. Keep an ongoing document with your results.

Beware: Most data dashboards have way more data than you need. Track only the data that matches the objectives of your marketing goals. For instance, if you are trying to identify possible street team members or influencers to help sell your books, look through your weekly posts in Facebook Insights (posts page) and track who comments, shares, and likes. This is the beginning of a list of possible reviewers or advocates that can join an insider team to help sell your books.

Facebook Insights offers great data, but there is too much there for the average author. Know which data will help you make better marketing decisions and track only that data. The rest is fluff.

Marketing FOMO can cripple your book production. Keep this truth before you: the best book marketing strategy is to write the next book. Spend less time marketing and more time writing. Get your plan in gear today.

If you enjoyed this post, take a look at The Newbie’s Guide to Sell More Books With Less Marketing by Chris Syme.

How Do Literary Agents Approach Diversity?

Today’s guest post is a literary agent Q&A by Sangeeta Mehta (@sangeeta_editor), a former acquiring editor of children’s books at Little, Brown and Simon & Schuster, who runs her own editorial services company.

Most people working in the book world would agree that, although strides have been made to increase diversity, there’s still a long road ahead. Some publishing companies have imprints devoted to multicultural books (HarperCollins’ Amistad, Simon & Schuster’s Salaam Reads, Kensington’s Dafina), and others make diversity their primary mission (Lee & Low). Nearly every established publisher, from the Big Five to independent presses, has launched some sort of initiative or committee or program dedicated to diversity. But are these efforts enough? How do agents—generally considered the gatekeepers to publishing companies—approach this highly subjective issue? Are they in a position to increase diversity and equity in publishing? I asked Saba Sulaiman of Talcott Notch Literary Services and Eric Smith of P.S. Literary. 

SANGEETA MEHTA: To start, what is your definition of diversity? Do you think that this word  is losing its meaning , or is the conversation just getting started?

SABA SULAIMAN: I think the conversation has already started—in fact, author Alisha Rai did a fantastic panel at the RT convention this year called Diversity 102 which addresses this issue perfectly (here’s the thread). Most industry professionals are aware of the need for more diverse books—I’m ready to talk about how best to combat the lack of diversity in publishing, both in terms of the books we read and push out, and in terms of employing more marginalized people in the industry.

ERIC SMITH: For me, diversity is about a wide array of people being represented. And the reason we frequently talk about publishing having that diversity problem, is because…well, those people aren’t represented. And it’s tiring. I don’t think we’re losing the meaning, I think lots of us are just exhausted from having the same conversations again and again

Have you encouraged any of your authors who don’t consider themselves under-represented to include diverse elements in their manuscripts, whether in the form of characters or themes? To hire  sensitivity readers ? Assuming that acquiring editors are looking for books that reflect diversity of their readers, would you be helping your clients become more competitive by suggesting they write inclusively? Or would it be disingenuous to nudge your clients to write in a certain direction?

SABA SULAIMAN: I would feel uncomfortable advising anyone to purposely make their books more inclusive, or cater in any way to the so-called “diversity trend.” If they were seriously considering it on their own, I would encourage them, point them toward useful resources, and let them know it’s a huge responsibility which they should commit to with honesty and rigor, but I think it’s disingenuous to suggest it out of the blue (I actually wrote a blog post in which I go into more detail about this issue).

In terms of sensitivity reads, I have certainly encouraged my authors to seek them out, and will continue to do so. I like to think of them as competency reads; just like it’s necessary to ask a trusted critique partner for editorial feedback to ensure that your book is polished from a writing craft perspective, making an effort to get multiple reads from people who are personally familiar with the aspects of marginalization your book contains will help ensure that your story, your world, your characters, and their interactions make sense. This is aside from it being imperative that readers, especially young readers, don’t walk away from books that contain inaccurate or damaging representation feeling alienated, confused, or compelled to say, do, or think things that perpetuate harmful stereotypes of marginalized individuals.

ERIC SMITH: I don’t push the authors I work with out of their lane. When you’re driving, that’s how a car crash happens.

But, when they do have diverse characters in their works, characters who they don’t identify with, I do encourage sensitivity readers. I wouldn’t be interested in the project, otherwise. It’s important to get those voices right.

It’s also important to me to respect my clients. I work with a Muslim author. I work with an author who is a cancer survivor and an amputee. I work with a mental health advocate who lives with bipolar II. What would it say to the authors I work with if I worked with a writer trying to discuss a subject they don’t personally identify with, when these are topics my authors are so very close to?

I’m not interested in doing a disservice to readers, or to the authors I call clients and friends.

Are you inclined to pitch projects by a marginalized author to marginalized editors who share the author’s background? Is it appropriate to take an editor’s background into consideration when you put together your submissions list?  

SABA SULAIMAN: It may be. It depends on whether or not the editor has ever indicated or mentioned an interest in reading work that relates to their marginalization. Many editors don’t, so I don’t assume either way.

As an agent, it’s my job to make sure I get my clients’ books into the right editors’ hands, especially since many houses have policies which limit how many editors we can submit the same project to. This does involve my making an effort to learn about their interests in order to get a sense of what kinds of books they enjoy and want for their lists, and I think it’s perfectly reasonable for me to take their various backgrounds into account—where they grew up, what their personal interests are, etc., all count towards that.

ERIC SMITH: Hm. That’s an interesting question. I don’t know. Something about that seems not-quite-right? I think I’m more inclined to pitch an editor based on their tastes. The genres they read, the books that are their favorites. Projects they’ve been asking to see more of. I’ve definitely sent pitches to editors who have said they were looking for more diverse voices.

I’ve had some bad experiences with people assuming they knew more about my background than they really did, or thinking I would relate to something when pitching me at conferences. 

On this same note, do you think writers are more inclined to pitch projects to you if you share their background? Do you find this attitude complimentary, or does it place unreasonable expectations on you? Pigeonhole your expertise as an agent?

SABA SULAIMAN: Yes, I do receive many queries from authors who share different aspects of my background and identity, but since I’ve gone out of my way to welcome these submissions, I don’t think it’s a problem. I can understand that it can be frustrating for an agent who’d rather not receive such queries (for fear of being pigeonholed, or for whatever reason), but I personally do not feel that way. I get plenty of queries from people who don’t share my background—purely from a statistical standpoint, most authors aspiring to get published traditionally in the US do not share my background at all, so queries from them will continue to pour into all of our inboxes, not just mine.

As a result, I actually welcome queries from people who share my background because I’m an immigrant and a woman of color; I know for a fact that many female immigrants of color don’t even know if there’s a space, let alone any interest, in their stories and artistic endeavors in our industry, so I feel especially honored to welcome submissions from them (and from other people belonging to any marginalized groups).

ERIC SMITH: Not really. I’m sort of this ambiguously brown person who gets asked “where are you FROM from?” on the regular. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind it if someone decided to pitch me because they knew my background and could actually relate to me (that part is key). But that’s a personal thing. I can’t speak for all agents/editors here.

Sometimes, though, in-person, people will pitch me with something like “you’ll like this because [insert something terribly offensive here].”

I think there’s a right and a wrong way to do this. The right way? You’re writing in your lane, you relate to the agent, and you bring it up. The wrong way? You’re writing out of your lane, and assume the agent will be all about the book because of a character you’ve written. I’m sorry, but if you aren’t writing in your lane, don’t come at me saying I’ll love a book because you happened to write a black character, and know my wife is a black woman. This happened once at a conference, and that’s not even the most disastrous pitch I’ve had in-person.

Needless to say, I screamed internally the rest of the day.

From forming  We Need Diverse Books  to creating hashtags like #ownvoices and #PoCinPub , to establishing  DVPit  and an  open call for submissions from Muslim writers , members of the publishing community have made a remarkable case for the need for diversity in publishing. Interestingly, most of them are children’s book writers and agents. Is this because diversity is more necessary in children’s books than in the publishing industry as a whole?

SABA SULAIMAN: I do think the stakes are higher for making children’s fiction more inclusive in terms of its characters and themes, because young readers are impressionable, and the books they read will more likely shape their worldviews than in the case of adult fiction. As publishing professionals working in children’s fiction, we have the power to influence what kinds of narratives children have access to—catering to children is certainly a bigger responsibility than catering to adults, as in most cases. So it makes sense that the initial push came from organizations like We Need Diverse Books, which focus on children’s fiction.

That being said, I’m very glad that adult publishing professionals have also begun to put out calls for diversity. We need more diverse narratives across the board, and it’s also important for us to empower marginalized authors writing both adult fiction and nonfiction to step ahead and share their stories. 

ERIC SMITH: You know, I don’t work on enough adult fiction to really say much about representation there. But diversity in children’s fiction feels so critically important. When a kid sees themselves in pop culture, whether we’re talking about novels, comic books, or movies, that has one powerful effect on a child. It’s seeing that they matter. That their voice matters. That it has a place out there in the world.

I mean, what could be more important that that?

What is the literary agent’s responsibility to represent diverse voices, if any? Assuming that everyone within the literary ecosystem has a responsibility, should the onus be on acquiring editors, since it’s their companies that ultimately choose which books go out into the world?

SABA SULAIMAN: If everyone within the literary ecosystem has a responsibility, then the onus should be on all of us. Acquiring editors should not bear the entire brunt of this, since they often operate under circumstances which they have little to no control over. So many editors I know have had diverse books they wanted to buy get disapproved of by sales and marketing, or by their colleagues or publishers, so editors aren’t solely responsible for what gets published.

Booksellers and librarians also have a huge role to play since they determine which books get shelf space—this matters considerably because even books that eventually do get published will have little to no impact if readers don’t know they exist, or have no access to them.

ERIC SMITH: I mean, I can’t speak for the goals of other agents or editors. But in a dream world, sure, ideally everyone is actively looking for those marginalized voices and using their position in the industry to elevate their work. And I certainly feel like I’m seeing more and more agents and editors discussing wanting more diverse authors on their wish lists. Which makes me happy and hopeful.

Personally, though? It absolutely is my responsibility to represent diverse voices. If my children, and my nephews and nieces…if they grow up and one day ask me about the books I’ve worked on, and are unable to see themselves in the work I’ve represented…I have utterly failed to do my job.

Do you have any other tips for writers—under-represented or not—who are looking to secure representation with you? With any literary agent?

SABA SULAIMAN: Try to make sure your project is in its absolutely best shape before you query it—you only get one chance with each agent you query, so use it wisely!

ERIC SMITH: When it comes to me, the best way to get my attention is a great query letter. Often times, that’s all I have to rely on, really. Take your time, follow that particular agent’s instructions (some agents want to see a first chapter right away, others just want a pitch), and do your research (make sure they represent your genre).

When I can, I also like to play along with events like DVPit and other Twitter pitch contests. That’s another good way to potentially get my attention, but remember, hundreds of people play along in those! You can always just send an email. That works just as well, and I’m guaranteed to see it.

Saba Sulaiman (‪@agentsaba‪), an agent with Talcott Notch Literary Services, works with both Adult and Children’s Fiction and Non-Fiction. She is looking to build her MG and YA lists, particularly with contemporary realistic stories. In adult, she likes Fiction (Literary, Upmarket, Commercial, Romance), Mystery/Thrillers, and Memoir. A first generation immigrant who is constantly negotiating her own identity and sense of belonging in a place she now calls “home,” Saba is committed to highlighting more diverse voices with compelling stories to tell; stories that demonstrate the true range of perspectives that exist in this world, and address urgent and often underexplored issues. Authors include Lyz Lenz, nonfiction writer and managing editor of The Rumpus.

Eric Smith (‪@ericsmithrocks) is an associate literary agent at P.S. Literary, with a love for young adult books, sci-fi, fantasy, and non-fiction. He began his publishing career at Quirk Books in Philadelphia, working social media and marketing on numerous books he absolutely adored. Eric completed his BA in English at Kean University, and his MA in English at Arcadia University. A frequent blogger, his ramblings about books appear on Book Riot, Paste Magazine, Barnes & Noble’s blog, and more. If you would like to send a query to Eric, please review his Submission Guidelines, and check out his wishlist on his website.

The Pressure to Release More, More, More Titles

by Jason Mrachina / Flickr

In my author consultations, I’m hearing more often about the pressures that writers feel to produce more product more quickly, in order to keep up with the competition and stay front-of-mind with readers.

Sometimes authors think there’s a secret to producing more that they don’t know yet.

There isn’t one.

Whenever you produce titles fast, you’re making trade-offs. This is the topic of my latest column at Publishers Weekly, where I recall one of the first business principles I learned: “Fast, cheap, and good—pick two.”

Read the entire column.

Don’t Immediately Trust Mainstream Sites on Publishing Stories

Over the last month, there have been a couple publishing stories receiving wide play across mainstream news sites such as The Guardian, Vox, Huffington Post, and others. While such outlets may be respectable and have the ability to get most stories right, in the publishing industry, two problems often come into play:

A lack of understanding of industry statistics—and an inability to put them in their proper context
Knee-jerk judgment regarding anything Amazon does

Publications with business models that predominantly rely (or did rely) on print also have the “nostalgia” problem—where they’re particularly prone to latch on to any story that indicates a possible resurgence of print or decline of digital. (I’ve addressed this problem before.)

Here are the latest stories that are causing confusion—and sometimes moral panic—where it’s not deserved. (Note that the following material is adapted from The Hot Sheet, the subscription email newsletter I run with journalist Porter Anderson.)

Amazon’s Buy-Box Policy Change for New Books

A lawn-mower vendor or a light bulb manufacturer could have told you this was probably coming. In every part of Amazon’s far-flung retail operation, third-party vendors “compete with Amazon”—that’s Amazon’s own language—to be the default sellers of items in a product’s buy box—the box that contains the purchase button and indicates the seller and purchase price.

This wasn’t the case for non-used books, however, until earlier this spring, when Amazon introduced this same capacity for third-party vendors to be made the seller in the buy box of new books. This change has kicked up a firestorm of complaint in the publishing community.

Let’s start with Amazon’s statement to the press on this: “We have listed and sold books, both new and used, from third-party sellers for many years. The recent changes allow sellers of new books to be the ‘featured offer’ on a book’s detail page, which means that our bookstore now works like the rest of Amazon, where third-party sellers compete with Amazon for the sale of new items. Only offers for new books are eligible to be featured.”

At the heart of the matter for publishing people is the question of “new.” If that book is in fact new, then it will have been bought from the publisher (or an official wholesaler/distributor) by the third-party vendor. Thus, the vendor’s payment will have paid the publisher and thus the author.

So, the question is: Are these new books really new? Are they being sourced legitimately? Amazon says it’s working hard to be sure that books offered as new are actually new. In this seller forum thread, you can see a third-party seller (called “tomepusher”) working through a long exchange with other vendors. His listings have been removed by Amazon, he says, “because of complaints about used items sold as new.” In the course of this exchange, you see the vendor being told by colleagues that he should have an invoice “directly from the publisher” as protection, to prove the books were legitimately bought new, if Amazon inquires.

And the retailer isn’t the only one inquiring. Michael Cader at Publishers Lunch has reported that Penguin Random House is asking Amazon re-sellers “specifically how and from whom you are acquiring our books.”

Coverage from Publishers Weekly has included a precise definition from Amazon of new as “brand-new, unused, unread copy in perfect condition. The dust cover and original protective wrapping, if any, is intact. All supplementary materials are included, and all access codes for electronic material, if applicable, are valid and/or in working condition.”

As is frequently the case, reaction to Amazon’s application of its standard buy-box policy to books is probably overheated. It’s not clear yet how much actual impact this may have on revenues for authors and publishers if third-party sellers are indeed held to dealing in actual new books.

That said, at the heart of the disturbance is a mystery as to how third-party vendors can sell new books at the low prices they charge (and still make anything) and how they’re obtaining the books they say are new. If anything, this development will lead to a healthy tightening of some publisher’s own sales policies—particularly as it relates to advance review copies, hurts, and remainders—as well as to tighter controls on what books are sold as new on the Amazon platform.

Note: If you believe your book (or anyone’s book!) is being sold as “new” by a third-party seller—but it really isn’t “new”—you can file a complaint with Amazon. Both authors and publishers have had success in removing illegitimate third-party offers, either by contacting the third-party seller directly, asking for removal, or by contacting Amazon.

The Concern about UK’s “Screen Fatigue” Report

The latest UK Publishers Association’s report included a purported rise of 8 percent in physical sales (to the highest level since 2012) and a 17 percent drop in the total consumer ebook market.

As usual, without an understanding of context and nuance, the mainstream media waded right in for the latest doom-of-the-ebook wallow. Chief among these was the Guardian’s piece proclaiming that ebook sales have plunged in the UK “as readers return to print.” In that story, Publishers Association chief Stephen Lotinga speculated that “people are now getting screen tiredness, or fatigue, from so many devices being used, watched, or looked at in their week.” This, of course, as every other screen-distributed medium seems to thrive.

The Guardian published another story on the same day in which it asserted that ebooks have “lost their shine” because “Kindles now look clunky and unhip.” More such misinformed coverage could be found at CNNMoney and Engadget: the pile-on was underway as print fans rejoiced and yet another industry report left the unseeable unsaid: we can only guess at how many ebook sales are out there unless Amazon suddenly becomes more transparent. It’s well known that Amazon and other online retailers don’t make ebook sales data available. And rather than explaining that we simply don’t have adequate data to assess how much of the market is going to ebooks, publishers’ trade organizations tend to favor the narrative that supports the concept of the print resurgence dear to many.

David Vandagriff at the Passive Voice blog wryly posited that “screen fatigue” sounds like a marketing phrase. He suggested that they might have “considered ‘bookstore fatigue’ or ‘high prices fatigue’ while they were brainstorming.”

And at the Bookseller, editor Philip Jones, arguably the single most astute of all UK industry observers, noted that, when the Publishers Association report announces falling ebook sales, they don’t count Amazon’s numbers, of course, or Bookouture’s, or those from Head of Zeus, Endeavour Press, Amazon Publishing, or self-published writers. “Were we a little clearer about this missing bit, we would not today be reading about how … the ebook was dead (again),” he wrote.

The publishing industry in the UK and US has a real problem—not necessarily of its own making—in trying to assess its digital reach, given the lack of accurate digital sales data from online retailers. While that problem can be laid at the steps of Amazon, it’s the job of publishers associations to characterize what data they do have on digital sales as only partial, and to be wary of contributing to overstatements of what’s known about ebook sales and print supposedly blasting back. Not coming clean about this is misleading to their own customers, as well as to the culture at large.

If you enjoyed this analysis, try a 30-day free trial of The Hot Sheet.

How Much Should You Personalize a Query Letter?

Photo credit: Fotografik33 – www.fotografik33.com via Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC-ND

When I worked at a mid-size commercial publisher (from 1998-2010), one of my primary responsibilities was acquisitions. I evaluated queries and proposals coming in and also recruited writers I wanted to work with.

Whether the materials were hard copy or digital, one thing was the same: very few were addressed to me personally unless they came from a literary agent. And even fewer seemed to demonstrate a good understanding of what types of books my company published.

Whenever something came in that demonstrated the writer or agent understood what we published—and could explain why the proposed book was a good fit—I immediately paid close attention and put more thought and care into my response. If it was a rejection, I tried to explain the honest details of why and, furthermore, if I could see a way to successfully reposition the book for our needs.

This is why I often counsel writers to personalize their query letters, whether they are approaching an agent or an editor. It shows you’ve done your homework and you’re selecting the recipient with some care. It’s much better salesmanship to have some level of customization that demonstrates appreciation of the recipient’s needs and wants.

However, some agents (and editors) have spoken out against customization or personalization, going so far as to say such methods backfire. When I speak or work with writers, there is understandably some confusion as to how to best proceed. Personalize or no?

The answer can be complicated and is based on the following factors.

1. If the agent or editor has said publicly they don’t like personalized queries, don’t do it.

This is simple: you’ll always be a better sales person when you’re aligning your pitch with the stated desires or submission guidelines of the recipient.

2. If your personalization is weak, don’t bother.

Some people customize their queries by saying something like, “I see from Writer’s Market that you’re looking for thrillers.”

Well, so what? That’s not particularly convincing or interesting information to the agent. It doesn’t say anything about you or your work that they wouldn’t pick up from the rest of the query.

Some writers will try to go a step further, look at the agent’s submission guidelines, website, or blog, and then insert the agent’s own language into their query as a way to personalize the letter. Again, you’re telling the agent something they already know. At best, it’s probably neutral information; at worst, it could be annoying.

However, there can be ways to do this that are charming or effective. For instance:

“I follow your blog and know you are currently looking for paranormal romances—without vampires or werewolves—and want to offer my novel for your consideration.”

There’s a bit of a wink and a nod here, and it’s unlikely to be annoying to an agent who likely appreciates someone is paying close attention.

3. Avoid being too personal or chummy.

Sometimes it’s great to open with a paragraph that acknowledges that you met the agent, conversed on social media, or had some other kind of interaction. When you mention this sort of thing, you mainly want to do it to spark their memory: “Oh, right, I remember this person from the San Francisco pitch event.”

But it’s possible to go too far and evoke a coziness that isn’t really appropriate. For example:

Avoid

“We chatted briefly at the San Francisco Writers Conference reception, where I bought you a glass of merlot. I hope your two schnauzers didn’t miss you too much—I can’t bear to be away too long from mine. It must be hard to travel so much for your work.”

Better

“We chatted briefly at the San Francisco Writers Conference reception and later I pitched you [such-and-such work]. I’m following up with the requested materials.”

There aren’t any hard-and-fast rules as to what’s “too much,” but don’t try to affect an intimacy that doesn’t exist. Especially if you’ve never met the person in question, tread carefully—it’s easy to come off as creepy if you’ve been stalking someone online and found details they wouldn’t want or expect you to reference in a query. (“I see seven years ago that you went on a long vacation in Italy with your family. My novel is set in Italy…”)

4. Do mention specific books represented or published, but don’t overly flatter.

It’s hard to find an agent or editor who doesn’t like it when you demonstrate knowledge of their clients or list. It’s ideal if you can reference such work in relation to your own, or express enthusiasm for it in some way that might connect it to the work you’re pitching. But it’s not mandatory.

However, avoid buttering up or flattering the agent to a degree that makes you look silly or subservient. Talk about their list or their clients in a way that shows you have knowledge of the literary landscape or that appreciates their place in it. This works best if you can be specific, rather than saying something that could be lifted and placed into any query letter for any agent/editor. (“You’re the greatest and have the best clients!”)

In fact, that last bit is a good rule of thumb for any personalization: The more you could potentially lift that language and insert it in any query, regardless of who’s receiving it, the less meaningful it is.

The bare minimum

At the very least, address the agent by name. And spell the name correctly! Avoid first name only, since it may come off as too casual.

Have you heard any helpful advice on personalizing queries? Share in the comments.

For more help on queries

How to Write a Query Letter: Novels
How to Write a Query Letter: Nonfiction and Memoir

The Key Book Publishing Paths: 2017

Since 2013, I have been annually updating this informational chart about the key publishing paths. It is available as a PDF download—ideal for photocopying and distributing—plus the full text is also below.

Looking for earlier versions of this chart? Scroll to the bottom of this post.

One of the biggest questions I hear from authors today:

Should I traditionally publish or self-publish?

This is an increasingly complicated question to answer because:

There are now many varieties of traditional publishing and self-publishing—with evolving models and varying contracts.
You won’t find a universal, agreed-upon definition of what it means to “traditionally publish” or “self-publish.”
It’s not an either/or proposition. You can do both. (See this interview with CJ Lyons.)

There is no one path or service that’s right for everyone; you must understand and study the changing landscape and make a choice based on long-term career goals, as well as the unique qualities of your work. Your choice should also be guided by your own personality (are you an entrepreneurial sort?) and experience as an author (do you have the slightest idea what you’re doing?).

My chart divides the field into traditional publishing and self-publishing.

Traditional publishing: I define this primarily as not paying to publish. Authors must exercise the most caution when signing with small presses; some mom-and-pop operations offer little advantage over self-publishing, especially when it comes to distribution and sales muscle. Also think carefully before signing a no-advance deal or digital-only deal. Such arrangements reduce the publisher’s risk, and this needs to be acknowledged if you’re choosing such deal—because you aren’t likely to get the same support and investment from the publisher on marketing and distribution.

Alternatives to traditional publishing: I define this as paying to publish or publishing on your own. I’ve broken this down into hybrid publishing models, where a publisher is positioning itself as a hybrid approach between traditional publishing and self-publishing, and self-publishing. With either approach, there’s a risk of paying too much money for basic services, and also for purchasing services you don’t need. If you can afford to pay a publisher or service to help you, then use the very detailed reviews at Independent Publishing Magazine by Mick Rooney to make sure you choose the best option for you.

Feel free to download, print, and share this chart however you like; no permission is required. It’s formatted to print perfectly on 11″ x 17″ or tabloid-size paper.

Below I’ve pasted the full text from the chart.

Big Five (Traditional Publishing)




Who they are

Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan (each have dozens of imprints).

Who they work with

Authors who write works with mainstream appeal, deserving of nationwide print retail distribution in bookstores and other outlets.
Celebrity-status or brand-name authors.
Writers of commercial fiction or genre fiction, such as romance, mystery/crime, thriller/suspense, science fiction and fantasy, young adult, children’s.
Nonfiction authors with a significant platform (visibility to a readership).

Value for author

Publisher shoulders financial risk.
Physical bookstore distribution nearly assured, in addition to other physical retail opportunities (big-box, specialty).
Best chance of mainstream media coverage and reviews.

How to approach

Almost always requires an agent. Novelists should have a finished manuscript. Nonfiction authors should have a book proposal.

What to watch for

Author receives an advance against royalties, but most advances do not earn out. (Meaning: The advance is likely to be the only payment the author sees from the publisher; it does not have to be returned if the author does not earn out.)
Publisher typically holds onto all publishing rights for all formats for at least 5-10 years.
Many decisions are out of the author’s control, such as cover design and title.
Authors can find themselves unhappy with the level of marketing support received, and that their title “disappears” from store shelves within 3-6 months. However, the same is true for most publishers, regardless of size.

Mid-Size & Large (Traditional Publishing)




Who they are

Not part of the Big Five, but significant in size, usually with the same capabilities. Examples: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Scholastic, Workman, Sourcebooks, John Wiley & Sons, W.W. Norton, Kensington, Chronicle, Tyndale, many university presses (Cambridge, Oxford).

Who they work with

Authors who write mainstream works, as well as those that have a more niche or special-interest appeal.
Celebrity-status or brand-name authors.
Writers of commercial fiction or genre fiction, such as romance, mystery/crime, thriller/suspense, science fiction and fantasy, young adult, children’s.
Nonfiction authors of all types.

Value for author

Identical to Big Five advantages.

How to approach

Doesn’t always require an agent; see submission guidelines for each publisher. Novelists should have a finished manuscript. Nonfiction authors should have a book proposal.

What to watch for

Same as Big Five, but advances and royalties from mid-size publishers may be lower than Big Five, especially the more specialized or enthusiast publishing houses.
Some mid-size publishers may be more open to innovative or flexible agreements that feel more like a collaboration or partnership (with more author input or control).
University or scholarly presses typically pay low advances and have very small print runs, typically with a focus on libraries, classrooms, and academic markets.

Small Presses (Traditional Publishing)
Who they are

This category is the hardest to summarize because “small press” is a catch-all term for very well-known traditional publishers (e.g., Graywolf) as well as mom-and-pop operations that may not have any formal experience in publishing.
Given how easy it is in the digital age for anyone to start a press, authors must carefully evaluate a small press’s abilities before signing with one. Legitimate small presses do not ask authors to pay for publication.

Who they work with

Emerging, first-time authors, as well as established ones.
Often more friendly to experimental, literary, and less commercial types of work.

Value for author

Possibly a more personalized and collaborative relationship with the publisher.
With well-established small presses: editorial, design, and marketing support that equals that of a larger house.

How to approach

Rarely requires an agent. See the submission guidelines of each press.

What to watch for

You may not receive an advance or you’ll receive a nominal one. Your royalty rate may be higher to make up for it. Diversity of players and changing landscape means contracts vary widely.
There may be no physical bookstore distribution and/or the press may rely on print-on-demand to fulfill orders. Potential for media or review coverage declines when there is no print run.
Be very protective of your rights if you’re shouldering most of the risk and effort.

Hybrid Publishing
Key characteristics

Author funds book publication in exchange for expertise and assistance of the publisher; cost is often thousands of dollars.
Author receives better royalties than a traditional publishing contract, but makes less than if self-publishing on their own.
Such books will rarely be distributed into physical retail bookstores, although in some rare cases, it may happen.
Each hybrid publisher has its own distinctive costs and business model; always secure a clear contract with all fees explained.

Value for author

Get a published book without having to figure out the service landscape or find professionals to help. Ideal for an author who has more money than time.
Some companies are run by former traditional publishing professionals, and offer high-quality results.

What to watch for

Some self-publishing (assisted publishing) services have started calling themselves “hybrid publishers” because it sounds more fashionable and savvy, but such companies may be nothing more than an assisted self-publishing service.
Not all hybrid publishers are created equal. Fees dramatically vary and quality dramatically varies. Research carefully.

Examples of hybrid publishers

Curated. These companies are selective or may have editorial guidelines to follow. Examples: SheWrites Press, Greenleaf.
Crowdfunding. Authors must raise money for the publisher to contract the work. Example: Inkshares, Unbound.

Self-Publishing: Assisted
Key characteristics

Similar to hybrid publishing: authors pay to publish. An older term for this would be “vanity publishing.”
Contractual arrangements vary, but the best services charge an upfront fee, take absolutely no rights to the work, and pass on 100% net royalties to the author. They make money on charging authors for the services provided (editorial, design, marketing, and so on), not on copies sold.
Such books will almost never be stocked in physical retail bookstores, although in some rare cases, it may happen.
Many assisted publishing services have different packages or tiers of service, while others offer customized quotes.

Value for author

Get a published book without having to figure out the service landscape or find professionals to help you. Ideal for an author who has more money than time.
The best and most expensive services offer a quality experience that is comparable to working with a traditional publisher.

What to watch for

Most marketing and publicity service packages, while they can be well-meaning, are not worth an author’s investment.
Avoid companies that take advantage of author inexperience and use high-pressure sales tactics, such as AuthorSolutions imprints (AuthorHouse, iUniverse, WestBow, Archway).

Examples of good assisted services

Matador, Mill City Press, DogEar, Radius Book Group, Book in a Box, Girl Friday Productions. To check the reputation of a service, check Mick Rooney’s Independent Publishing Magazine.

Self-Publishing: DIY
Key characteristics

Authors manage the publishing process on their own and hire the right people or services needed to edit, design, publish, and distribute the book.
Each author has to decide which distributors or retailers they prefer to deal with.

DIY ebook publishing services

Primary ebook retailers that o er direct access to authors: Amazon KDP, Nook Press, Apple iBookstore, Kobo.
Primary ebook distributors for authors: Smashwords, Draft2Digital, Pronoun. The author is responsible for producing ebook files, uploading marketing copy, ebook metadata, etc. Most services are automated and offer little assistance.
Ebook retailers and distributors that directly serve the author market operate primarily on a nonexclusive basis and profit by taking a cut of sales; you can leave them at will. There is no contract.

DIY print publishing services

Print-on-demand (POD) technology makes it affordable to sell and distribute print books via online retailers.
Services most often used: CreateSpace, IngramSpark. If you have printer-ready PDF files, it costs little or nothing to start. If not, you’ll have to hire assistance.
The services mentioned above can make your work available to order through online retailers and bookstore outlets. They take a cut of every book sale.

Traditional print runs

Some authors may hire a book printer and manage inventory, fulfillment, shipping, etc. and sell print copies via Amazon Advantage.










For more information on getting published


Start Here: How to Get Your Book Published (traditional publishing)
Start Here: How to Self-Publish Your Book
How to Evaluate Small Presses
A Definition of Hybrid Publishing
Should You Traditionally Publish or Self-Publish?


Earlier versions of the chart

Click to view or download earlier versions.

2016 Key Book Publishing Paths

The Key Book Publishing Paths (2015)

4 Key Book Publishing Paths (late 2013)

5 Key Book Publishing Paths (early 2013)

A Writer’s Worst Fear

Today’s guest post is by author William Kenower (@wdbk) and adapted from his book, Fearless Writing, published by Writer’s Digest Books.

In my years of teaching and speaking, I’ve met a lot of writers. Each of them, it seems, has a pet fear. Some writers are afraid of poverty, others of obscurity; some are afraid of writing a dull book, others of writing a shallow one; some are afraid their writing is too literary, while others fear that theirs is not literary enough. The list goes on and is as varied as the stories these writers tell in their workrooms. But the more I’ve listened to their worries, the more I’ve been convinced that every writer’s pet fear stems from the mother of all fears: What other people think of what I write is more important than what I think of what I write.

What makes this particular fear so seductive is its apparent practicality. It seems practical because we are not just writers; we are authors. It doesn’t matter whether you have published thirty New York Times best-selling novels or have just sat down to begin your memoir. If you have ever shared even one thing you have written with another person, you are an author. The moment you surrender this thing you wrote in the supreme privacy of your imagination to the unknown of another person’s mind, your relationship to your writing changes. You are no longer writing in your journal or diary. Now this poem or story or essay is destined for another human heart, and every author quickly understands that he has no control whatsoever over what occurs when that other human heart receives it.

It is a little disorienting. If I am an author, it is quite natural to want—indeed, even to need—the validation of others. If I have any aspirations toward making a living at this, I certainly require other people to like it. I need an agent, an editor, and a publisher to like it. I would prefer if a few critics like it; and I certainly need readers to like it. If no one likes it, then I might as well be writing in my diary.

But writers have something else in common besides this shared fear: They prefer solitude while writing. This is exactly the problem with what other people think of what I’ve written: Those other people aren’t with me while I’m writing it. No matter how much I want other people to like it and how much I dread the idea that they will hate it, I am still the only one writing it. I can receive all the feedback and editorial notes in the world, but in the end I must go to my workroom alone and choose every word. No one can make these choices for me. It doesn’t matter who my target audience might be, how big a contract I receive, or how many Twitter followers I have—I am still the one choosing. Whether I like it or not, the only way to write is to consult my own curiosity and imagination. Nothing else can tell me what word or sentence or scene should come next. Like it or not, my imagination and curiosity are all I have.

In this way, writing is a form of deep self-acceptance. But do not make too much of this term. It is often seen as a spiritual mountaintop, accessible only by a dedicated and holy few. Writing has taught me that we accept ourselves all the time; it’s just that many of us don’t realize it because, in truth, self-acceptance often feels as natural as breathing. The moment I stop fretting about what other people think of this paragraph or that sentence, the moment I have accepted that no one else is actually in the room with me and that to write I must consult only my own curiosity and imagination, I have accepted myself. Nothing is more unique to me than my curiosity and imagination. I am never more myself than when I ask, “What interests me most?” Only I know the answer.

Finally, here is a strange truth with which writers must live: Even if no one likes what I have written, I can’t stop being interested in it. I may be embarrassed, hurt, disappointed, suicidal even, but my curiosity does not actually turn off or change shape because someone else isn’t as interested in what I have written as I am. That curiosity cannot simply vanish; it may get stuffed down, ignored, or disguised as a different story, but it will remain in place until I shine the light of my attention on it again. It is as if beneath all the fretting, jubilation, and despair that often accompany sharing my work with others, my curiosity, my imagination, and I don’t actually care what anyone else thinks. No matter how bad I feel if someone doesn’t like what I’ve written, I cannot correct my curiosity to please other people, even if I wanted to. I’m stuck with it.

This is why the moment I believe that someone else’s opinion of my work is more important than my own, I am lost. I have nothing to guide me through the uncharted waters of a story. If I believe this, then I have annihilated my own curiosity in favor of another person’s. I have nothing to offer, and yet I keep writing and wondering why I don’t like a word of it.

I admit that I came to this understanding by a long and torturous road. For much of my writing life, I didn’t just believe that I cared deeply what other people thought about my writing—I knew it empirically! Every time someone told me they liked what I had written, whether in the form of a critique or an acceptance letter, I felt good. And, conversely, every time someone told me they didn’t like my work, I felt bad. It was as predictable as fire feeling hot and ice feeling cold. My goal was to become such a Good Writer that people would almost always like what I had written, and I would consequently almost always feel good. After all, I couldn’t think of a moment in my life when I preferred feeling bad to good. So I had no choice but to care what people thought, because their opinions determined how I felt, and how I felt was extremely important to me.

By and by—by which I mean about twenty years—I questioned whether I truly cared what other people thought of my work, or if my motivations went deeper. If I only cared about what other people thought of my writing because their opinions seemed to make me feel good or bad, didn’t this mean that my ultimate goal was simply to feel good? I began to wonder: Did their opinions actually, scientifically, immutably cause me to feel one way or another? I asked myself if there was one instance where someone’s praise hadn’t made me feel significantly better or one instance where someone’s disinterest or downright dislike hadn’t made me feel any worse. I recalled, of course, numerous such instances. is meant my response to those opinions wasn’t as predictable as re and ice. Which meant that something else besides those opinions was responsible for how I felt.

Exploring that “something else” is best left for another post. In the meantime, remember this: You will find your confidence and begin to write fearlessly the moment you stop caring about what anyone else thinks. That’s it. Really. I have suffered greatly over my writing life. I’ve felt blocked, gotten rejected, and have abandoned stories I couldn’t finish. In every instance, my suffering abated the moment I stopped caring what anyone else would think of what I was writing.

If you want to write something and share it with others, if you want to be an author, begin simply by forgetting about all those other people with whom you will eventually share what you have written. Forget about criticism and praise, forget about markets and agents and editors. You will remember all of that in time. But for now, forget it. No one is looking over your shoulder, no one is reading what you have written, and no one has an opinion about it. Right now you are alone, and it is time to write.

If you enjoyed this post, I highly recommend taking a look at Fearless Writing by William Kenower.

The Author’s Path: The Journey to Publication

Today I’m happy to share an exclusive with my readers: a detailed look at how NetGalley’s Stuart Evers and Myfanwy Collins went from manuscript to publication. They offer a comprehensive look at their publishing experience, including marketing and PR advice.

Stuart Evers is a former commissioning editor and now author of two collections of stories and a novel, as well as the NetGalley UK Community Manager.

Myfanwy Collins is the author of a novel for adults, a collection of stories, and a novel for young adults, as well as the office manager at Firebrand Technologies (NetGalley’s parent company), and manager of social media for Bookish (NetGalley’s sister site).

Here’s an overview of what you’ll find in the hour-long discussion, with time stamps:

1:45: How to write a book
8:30: Your book is ready! Now what?
10:00: The conventional approach
12:30: Tips for finding an agent
19:00: What happens if a publisher accepts you
22:50: The slush pile blues
25:30: How work is submitted
28:45: Submissions tools
32:30: Pre-publication marketing
39:50: Marketing tools and activities
50:00: Q&A

How to Spot Toxic Feedback: 7 Signs That the Writing Advice You’re Getting May Do More Harm Than Good

Photo credit: lovelihood via Visual Hunt / CC BY-SA

Today’s guest post is by editor and author Susan DeFreitas (@manzanitafire), whose debut novel, Hot Season, won the 2017 Gold IPPY Award for Best Fiction of the Mountain-West.

The path to publication with your debut novel is seldom straightforward, but in my case, it was especially fraught—in part because I received a lot of feedback that wasn’t all that helpful, from people who didn’t understand what I was trying to achieve.

If you suspect you’ve been subject to this sort of feedback, first let me say this: you are not crazy, and the people who have given you this advice are not necessarily malicious.

But if you recognize the following characteristics in the critiques offered to you by peers, mentors, editors, or book coaches, it may not just be inept—it may, in fact, be toxic.

1. Failure to Understand Your Intent

My debut novel is about three college roommates, all of whom are involved in the fight to save a local river, and all of whom are seduced by the same young man, who may or may not be an undercover agent.

Based in part on real events, Hot Season tackles themes like drought, wildfire, and water in the West, and as such, it is an inherently political book.

But some of my peers in graduate school seemed to consider these themes a big risk—one that might keep me from getting published. One actually wondered aloud if political fiction could be good.

These people did not read the sort of books I read, so they lacked a sense of the sort of authors I was in conversation with—authors like Barbara Kingsolver, Lydia Millett, and Ed Abbey. Simply put, these people were not the right readers for my book.

I’ve seen the same thing in critique groups: A literary writer unfamiliar with the conventions of genre will advocate for geeky details to be cut. A reader who enjoys thrillers will encourage the author to play up a cloak-and-dagger angle, when what that author intended was something more along the lines of existential dread.

This is not to say you should only share your work with people who share your tastes—only that you should not share your work with people who are unaware of their own biases.

2. Projection of Personal Issues

Have a critique-group partner who’s always advocating for the first-person POV? Chances are, he struggles with the third person.

Notice that someone in your workshop always wants to know more about a secondary character? You may have noticed that those sorts of characters in her work are often more interesting than her protagonists.

Even mentors are not immune. In grad school, one of my instructors questioned whether a section of my novel set in Portland, Oregon, should be moved to another city. I mean, punks in Portland—so cliché! Why not Cincinnati?

Never mind the fact that I have never been to Cincinnati. Or that—see above—my novel is based on real events, which did not occur there.

In this case, I have to assume that this mentor, as an author, sometimes selects settings for her stories at random, based on ideas she has about them—ideas that she has, in the past, found it useful to interrogate.

Which is fine, but again, that’s not my issue, nor did her feedback honor the intent of my work.

3. Inappropriately Personal Feedback

In the creative writing workshop, we critique the work, not the author. But unhealthy personal dynamics can lead to feedback that is useless at best and toxic at worst.

I’m talking about the couple that is ostensibly critiquing either other’s work but is, in reality, having a very public argument—the member of the workshop who’s constantly deriding your work as derivative, though this isn’t an opinion that seems to be shared by anyone else.

One particularly pernicious example, to my mind, occurs when a male workshop mentor uses his feedback to pursue a female student—or to psychoanalyze her. (I’m stating this in gendered terms because I have never seen its reverse, though no doubt that occurs as well.)

4. Unprofessional Tone

One freelance editor I hired used multiple exclamation points to let me know that my story was boring and my characters dumb (he referred to one as a “complete airhead”). He also stated that my novel would have to abandon its multiple points of view in favor of that of a single character (apparently, the only one he could stand).

This man is a professional instructor at the graduate level, in addition to being a professional editor. Honestly, I have no idea how he’s still employed.

This is not to say that my plot or my characters didn’t need work (that was why I had hired an editor). But when I sent him my book, I was not consenting to have it disparaged or degraded, and when you share your work, neither should you—no matter how many publishing credits a mentor or publishing professional may have to his name.

With an early draft, more often than not, the truth hurts. But there’s absolutely no reason it can’t be related in a professional and courteous manner.

5. By the Book

The next editor I worked with took a different approach. In response to the next draft of my book, she wrote, “It would be helpful to draw a simple outline: Conflict; Plot point 1; Plot point 2; Plot point 3; Resolution of initial conflict.”

Wow, this whole writing thing was so much easier than I had imagined! (Now, why was I still paying off those student loans?)

Alexander Pope said “a little learning is a dangerous thing,” and the study of creative writing is no exception. Study screenwriting and you’ll look at every novel through the lens of the three-act structure; get turned on to The Hero’s Journey and you’ll see every story as a descent to subconscious depths; figure out how broadly applicable Freitag’s Pyramid is, and for a while, you’ll think you’ve got this thing called fiction figured.

Years later, as a freelance editor myself, I see this editor for what she was, despite her position with a respected agency: a rookie.

Because as any experienced editor knows, the novel is far too interesting an art form to completely conform to any one system (especially one that’s taught in freshman comp).

6. Not Thinking It Through

To her credit, the same editor pointed out that the resolution of my novel’s main conflict came too early, which was something I’d suspected. But her suggested fix? Just switch the chapters around. Like that wouldn’t pose any problems for the story whatsoever.

The point of hiring an editor or book coach is not just to have someone tell you your manuscript is a mess—it’s to have someone to help you think through the fixes and come up with one (or more) that’s viable. This entails thinking through the multitude of ripple effects that any major change would entail and squaring them with the perceived intent of the book.

Which (as the book coach Lisa Cron points out) is hard work, on a purely cognitive level. But anyone who cannot do it has no business offering professional developmental feedback.

7. Conflating the Problem with the Fix

The bestselling fantasy author Neil Gaiman once said, “Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.”

As a freelance editor (with, at this point, more than five years of experience under my belt), I’d like to think that my recommended fixes are right more often than not. But as an author, I know that the problems and the fixes can’t be so conflated in my feedback that my client (or critique-group partner) can’t tell one from the other.

Ultimately, only the author can know what’s right for her work.

Holding true to my own internal compass is what led me to persevere with my novel in the face of the toxic feedback I received—to hold true to a vision that, ultimately, my readers embraced.

Consider: If I had taken out the descriptions of the high-desert landscape that bored fans of domestic dramas, would I have won an award for Best Fiction of the Mountain-West? If I had scaled back the political themes in my work, would readers have compared my work to that of Barbara Kingsolver and Margaret Atwood?

If I had written a traditional novel, with one central point of view—rather than the POVs of multiple female characters—would that novel have been hailed for its complexity as a work of feminist fiction?

Take your knocks as a writer, but don’t lose sight of your vision. Keep writing for the person who loves what you love, who sees what you see, feels what you feel. Keep reaching for the specificity that makes you who you are as an author, even as you improve your craft.

Because, ultimately, that’s what will distinguish you in an overcrowded market.

Moreover, remember that you’re on an extraordinary journey, of a very personal type. You owe it to yourself (and to your work) to find companions who are worthy of your trust.