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Not Sure How to Approach Social Media? CARE about Your Readers

by Karrie Nodalo | via Flickr

Today’s guest post is from author and social media expert Frances Caballo (@CaballoFrances).

Among all the rules you’ll find online—the 80/20 rule (only 20 percent of your posts should be about your books or blog posts), the admonitions against using social media as a bullhorn, the warnings about over-automating—there’s also an unspoken tenet.

This tenet isn’t a rule that comes up on the blogosphere. Instead, it’s more of a system of approach; to describe it, I use an acronym that I created while preparing for the San Francisco Writers Conference last February.

If you follow the approach I’m about to explain, you can be sure that the time you spend on social media will generate the type of engagement with readers that you want to have.

Ready for the acronym? When you sign up for social media networks, be prepared to CARE about people. I know that it seems self-evident to care about people online, but give me a moment to break down the acronym.

C—Communicate with your readers.
A—Answer your readers’ questions.
R—Relate to your readers.
E—Educate with stellar content.

And most of all, simply care about people.

Joanna Penn often talks of social karma. As she explains it, if you want book sales, buy books. If you want book reviews, write reviews for all of the books you read. If you want people to like your Facebook page or follow you on Twitter, like your readers’ and friends’ Facebook pages and follow them on Twitter.

Reciprocate actions. And just as you might offer money to a homeless stranger, smile at a person walking down the street, or invite a new family from your church over for tea or dinner, take the types of actions online that will help you to get to know the people who follow you and want to connect with you.

In other words, be kind online. Be inquisitive. Be responsive. Be open to meeting people and revealing parts of your life.

Let’s look more closely at CARE.

Communicate with Your Readers

The most basic tenet of social media is the ability to socialize with others, whether they are your readers, colleagues, friends, or key influencers.

You’ve read blog posts in which bloggers decry those individuals who use social media to communicate too frequently the mantra “Buy my book.” To use social media as a bullhorn to talk about your books, yourself, and your blog posts is the opposite of social media’s basic premise: to socialize with others.

Whether we’re discussing Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or any other social media network, to continuously tweet or post status updates about the availability of your book is a violation of the trust your readers place in you when they decide to follow you or like your Facebook page.

What can you do instead? Communicate with your readers, colleagues, and influencers. Share experiences. Ask questions. Learn about them. Follow them. Share a funny incident. Discuss a common frustration or even fear. Express gratitude.

In the examples below, Mary Mackey, a New York Times bestselling historical fiction and fantasy novelist, received a message from a new follower. See how she responded to the comment, even though it wasn’t about her directly or any books she’d written.

Answer Your Readers’ Questions

How often do you respond to your readers’ questions?

Make sure you’re visiting your notification, comments, and message areas across social media accounts, checking to see if anyone is asking you a question—particularly on days when you’re posting new content.

Sometimes, you won’t find questions, but maybe a reader has left a comment that prompts you to ask a question. You won’t know if you don’t return to your posts.

The A in CARE is also for availability. Part of engaging with readers is being available to them online to address them one on one. Try to schedule fifteen minutes every day to engage.

In this example, I answered a follower’s question:

Relate to Your Readers

Do you really know your readers? You can become familiar with them by asking and answering questions and just talking with them on social media. That’s right, have a conversation; even though the platform can be somewhat stilted, it’s still possible.

For example, I like to thank followers on Twitter for their retweets. On Facebook, I like readers’ and friends’ comments and, if they leave a comment, I might have a follow-up question.

Another way to understand your readers and engage with them is to survey them periodically.

For example, after I’d been blogging for a while, I surveyed my blog readers, asking them to tell me what they most wanted to learn about in the future. I could have blindly decided on social media topics to write about, but engagement increases when I write about the issues already on the mind of my readers. You can do this either informally (through a social media or blog post) or formally, through a free SurveyMonkey account.

Here’s a communication between a former domestic violence survivor and a psychotherapist writing a book on domestic violence and coercive control:

Educate and Entertain

What do key influencers post on social media? If you study their posts you’ll see that they tend to post a mix of tweets and updates that have excellent content and some entertainment value, whether it’s in the form of quotes or memes.

For years, I’ve described Facebook as a balance of the mundane and the meaningful. I define mundane posts as entertaining, and meaningful posts as those with an educational value. It’s especially important to reach a balance between the mundane and the meaningful on Facebook pages.

If you look at my Facebook page, meaningful posts never receive as many comments, likes, or shares as entertaining status updates in the form of quotes and fun memes. But it’s important to post links to valuable content for those fans who do value informative blog posts.

On Twitter, images always receive far more retweets than my tweets about my most researched blog posts. As a former vice president of Yahoo! once told me, “Marketing is about entertaining.” I choose to believe that I would have fewer followers if I didn’t balance the entertaining tweets with valuable information that indie authors need to succeed in publishing and marketing. Marketing statistics back this up. It’s common for visuals on Twitter to increase engagement by at least 25 percent.

The entertaining tweets and status updates are like the frosting on a cake, sugary sweet and fun to eat, but what we really want is the cake, right?

Here’s an example from Peg Fitzpatrick’s account:

Now it’s your turn. How do you approach social media?

For more from Frances Caballo (@CaballoFrances), check out Social Media in 30 Minutes a Day.

The Complete Guide to Query Letters

This post was originally published in 2014; it is regularly updated with new information.

The stand-alone query letter has one purpose, and one purpose only: to seduce the agent or editor into reading or requesting your work.

The query letter is so much of a sales piece that you should be able to write it without having written a single word of the manuscript. For some writers, it represents a completely different way of thinking about your book—it means thinking about your work as a product. And it helps to have some distance from your work to see its salable qualities.

This post focuses on query letters for novels, although much the same advice applies for memoirists as well; nonfiction book queries are addressed here.

Before you query

Novelists should have a finished and polished manuscript before they begin querying. Even though I repeat this recommendation again and again, numerous writers ask if they’re the exception. “But what if I’m two-thirds of the way done?” Or, “What if the manuscript is currently being copyedited and it’s almost finished?”

Well, sure, you can query if you want. But what will you do if the agent/editor immediately asks for a partial or full manuscript, and you don’t have it? You may end up rushing your writing or editing process (undesirable to say the least), or admitting to the agent/editor that it will take you X weeks or months to follow up, which makes you look foolish.

To avoid creating a high-pressure or awkward situation, I recommend you wait until you feel the manuscript is totally done—the best you can make it. That doesn’t mean you have to hire freelance editors or copyeditors or proofreaders, but it does mean fixing or revising anything you know needs attention.

5 basic elements of every query letter

I recommend that every query letter include these five elements, in no particular order (except the closing):

Personalization: where you customize the letter for the recipient
What you’re selling: genre/category, word count, title/subtitle
Hook: the meat of the query; 100-200 words is sufficient for most novels
Bio: optional for unpublished fiction writers
Thank you & closing

This post elaborates on each of those elements—keep reading!

How to open your query letter

You should put your best foot forward, or lead with your strongest selling point. Here are the most common ways to begin a query:

Maybe you’ve been vouched for or referred by an existing client or author; mention the referral right away.
If you met the agent/editor at a conference or pitch event, and your material was requested, then put that upfront.
When you’ve heard the agent/editor speak at a conference, or you read an interview or post that indicates they’re a good fit for your work, mention it.
Starting with your story hook is a classic opening, but of course the hook should be compelling (more on this later).
Published or credentialed writers may mention their track record, especially if they’ve won awards or received an MFA from a well-known school. However, very few fiction writers begin their query by talking about themselves because most are unpublished. (This isn’t a problem, though.)

Many writers don’t have referrals or conference meetings to fall back on, so the hook becomes the lead for the query letter. Some writers start simple and direct, which is fine: “My [title] is an 80,000-word supernatural romance.”

Personalizing the query letter

Remember, your query is a sales tool, and good salespeople develop a rapport with the people they want to sell to, and show that they understand their needs. Show that you’ve done your homework, show that you care, and show that you’re not blasting indiscriminately.

However, you will not be rejected if you don’t personalize your query. Still, I think it can set you apart from the large majority of writers querying—if it’s done meaningfully, and that’s the point. Here’s an example of a strong, personalized lead.

In a January interview at the Guide to Literary Agents blog, you praised The Thirteenth Tale and indicated an interest in “literary fiction with a genre plot.” My paranormal romance Moonlight Dancer (85,000 words) blends a literary style with the romance tradition.

If you personalize the query by saying, “I found you in Writer’s Market,” and you add nothing else, that’s not a meaningful context. You need to go further than that, and say something that can’t be added to practically every query letter you send.

Identifying what you’re selling

Your book’s title, word count, and genre are generally stated upfront, although you can wait until the end of the query to spell out this information.

Title. Everyone knows your book title is tentative, so you don’t have to explicitly state the title is tentative.

Word count. If your novel’s word count is much higher than 100,000 words, you have a bigger challenge ahead of you. Eighty thousand words is the industry standard for a debut novel. See this post for a definitive list of appropriate word counts by genre. If you have an off-putting word count, some agents recommend withholding this fact until the end of the letter, once you’ve potentially hooked them.

Genre. If you’re unsure of your genre, you can leave out any mention of it; however, in such a case, I recommend drawing a comparison between your book and another (hopefully recent) title. You can say that your book is written in the same manner or style as another specific book or author, or that it has a similar tone or theme. Just be careful of overdoing it. One or two comparisons should be more than enough, and the more thoughtful the comparison, the better. Comparing yourself to a current New York Times bestselling author can come across as arrogant or too easy; it’s better to demonstrate a nuanced understanding of where your book falls in the literary landscape.

3 elements of the story hook

For most writers, the hook does all of the work in convincing the agent/editor to request your manuscript. You need to boil down your story to these three key elements:

Protagonist + his conflict
The choices the protagonist has to make (or the stakes)
The sizzle

Or, you can think of the hook in terms of: what does your character want, why does she want it, what keeps her from getting it?

Some genres/categories should also be sure to clarify the setting or time period.

The “sizzle” is that thing that sets your work apart from all others in your genre, that makes your story stand out, that makes it uniquely yours. Sizzle means: This idea isn’t tired or been done a million times before.

How do you know if your idea is tired? Well, this is why everyone tells writers to read and read and read. It builds your knowledge and experience of what’s been done before in your genre, as well as the conventions.

When a hook is well written but boring, it’s often because it lacks anything fresh. It’s the same old formula without distinction. The protagonist feels one-dimensional (or like every other protagonist), the story angle is something we’ve seen too many times, and the premise doesn’t even raise an eyebrow. The agent or editor is thinking, “Sigh. Another one of these?”

This is the toughest part of the hook—finding that special je ne sais quoi that makes someone say, “Wow, I’ve got to see more of this!” And this is often how an editor or agent gauges if you’re a storyteller worth spending time on.

Sometimes great hooks can be botched because there is no life, voice, or personality in them. Sometimes so-so hooks can be taken to the next level because they convey a liveliness or personality that is seductive.

In Laurie Scheer’s The Writer’s Advantage, she well demonstrates the difference between a boring story hook and an exciting one:

I have heard an eternity of pitches featuring women as victims, survivors, single mothers, etc. If someone pitches me a story about a 43-year-old unmarried woman who has had a successful career in advertising or law or pharmaceuticals or whatever, and decides at the last minute that her biological clock’s ticking and she wants to have a child … I will wait for the writer to tell me the rest of the story.

And there is no rest of the story, because in their mind, that is their story.

To which I say, “Who cares?” Seriously, who will care about that storyline? No one. We have seen numerous stories about women wanting to have children later in life. I could produce a list at least two pages long consisting of books and movies with this plot line.

However, if one of the main characters is a 43-year-old single businesswoman having her first child and, at the same time, her 22-year-old niece is also having her first child—because the niece does not see the benefit of having a career and only wants to be supported by a rich husband—I suddenly see some conflict here.

Whenever I teach a class where we critique hooks, just about everyone can point out the hook’s problems and talk about how to improve them. Why? Because when you’re not the writer, you have distance from the work. When you do come across a great novel hook, it feels so natural and easy—like it was effortless to write.

Examples of brief story hooks

Every day, PublishersMarketplace lists book deals that were recently signed at major New York houses. It identifies the title, the author, the publisher/editor who bought the project, and the agent who sold it. It also offers a one-sentence description of the book. These hooks are inevitably well-crafted, and can help you better understand what hooks really excite agents/publishers. While your hook would/should probably get into more detail than the following two examples, these hooks help illustrate how much you can accomplish in just a line or two.

Bridget Boland’s DOULA, an emotionally controversial novel about a doula with a sixth sense [protagonist] who, while following her calling, has to confront a dark and uncertain future when standing trial for the death of her best friend’s baby [protagonist’s problem] [a doula with a sixth sense? cool.]

John Hornor Jacobs’s SOUTHERN GODS, in which a Memphis DJ [protagonist] hires a recent World War II veteran to find a mysterious bluesman whose music [protagonist’s problem] — broadcast at ever-shifting frequencies by a phantom radio station — is said to make living men insane and dead men rise [twist]

Check for red flags in your hook

How to tell if your hook could be improved:

Does your hook consist of several meaty paragraphs, or run longer than 200 words? You may be going into too much detail.
Does your hook reveal the ending of your book? Only the synopsis should do that.
Does your hook mention more than three or four characters? Usually you only need to mention the protagonist(s), a romantic interest or sidekick, and the antagonist.
Does your hook get into minor plot points that don’t affect the choices the protagonist makes? Do you really need to mention them?


Writing about your background (your bio note)

For novelists, especially unpublished ones, you don’t have to include a bio in your query if you can’t think of anything worth sharing. But it’s nice to put in something. The key to every detail in your bio is: Will it be meaningful—or perhaps charming—to the agent/editor? If you can’t confidently answer yes, leave it out. In order of importance, these are the categories of pertinent info.

Fiction writing credits. Be specific about your credits for this to be meaningful. Don’t say you’ve been published “in a variety of journals.” You might as well be unpublished if you don’t want to name them. If you have no fiction writing credits, you don’t need to state that you’re unpublished. That point will be made clear by fact of omission.

Nonfiction writing credits. Many novelists wonder if it’s helpful to list nonfiction credits. Yes, mention notable credits when they show you have some experience working with editors or understanding how the professional writing world works. That said: Academic or trade journal credits can be tricky, since they definitely don’t convey fiction writing ability. Use your discretion, but it’s probably not going to be deal breaker either way. I’d leave out credits like your church newsletter or credits that hold little to no significance for the publishing industry professionals.

Self-published books. Sooner or later this information will have to come out, so it’s usually just a matter of timing. Lots of people have done it, and past self-publishing doesn’t really hurt your chances with a new, fresh project. However, if you’re trying to get an agent or publisher for a book or series that’s already been self-published, my advice is to not bother trying. If your self-published book were successful enough for a traditional publishing deal, you probably would’ve had agents or publishers already knocking on your door. Do not make the mistake of thinking your self-publishing credits make you somehow more desirable as an author, unless you have really incredible sales success, in which case, mention the sales numbers of your book and how long it’s been on sale.

Your profession. If your career lends you credibility to write a better story, by all means mention it. But don’t go into lengthy detail. Teachers of K-12 who are writing children’s/YA often mention their teaching experience as some kind of credential for writing children’s/YA, but it’s not, so don’t treat it like one in the bio. (Perhaps it goes without saying, but parents should not treat their parent status as a credential to write for children either.)

Writing cred. It makes sense to mention any writing-related degrees you have, any major professional writing organizations you belong to (e.g., RWA, MWA, SCBWI), and possibly any major events/retreats/workshops you’ve attended to help you develop your career as a writer. You needn’t say that you frequent such-and-such online community, or that you belong to a writers’ group the agent would’ve never heard of. (Mentioning this won’t necessarily hurt you, but it’s not proving anything either.)

Special research. If your book is the product of some intriguing or unusual research (you spent a year in the Congo), mention it. These unique details can catch the attention of an editor or agent.

Major awards/competitions. Most writers should not mention awards or competitions they’ve won because they are too small to matter. If the award isn’t widely recognizable to the majority of publishing professionals, then the only way to convey the significance of an award is to talk about how many people you beat out. Usually the entry number needs to be in the thousands to impress an agent/editor.

If you have no meaningful publication credits, don’t try to invent any. If you have no professional credentials, no research to mention, no awards to your name—nothing notable at all to share—don’t add a weak line or two in an attempt to make up for it. Just end the letter. You’re still completely respectable. 

On the other end of the spectrum: avoid cataloguing every single thing you’ve ever done in your writing life. Don’t talk about starting to write when you were in second grade. Don’t talk about how much you’ve improved your writing in the last few years. Don’t talk about how much you enjoy returning to writing in your retirement. Just mention a few highlights that prove your seriousness and devotion to the craft of writing. If unsure, leave it out.

If your bio can reveal something of your voice or personality, all the better. While the query isn’t the place to digress or mention irrelevant info, there’s something to be said for expressing something about yourself that gives insight into the kind of author you are—that ineffable you. Charm helps.

Novel queries don’t have to address market concerns

Don’t be tempted to elaborate on the audience or market for your novel. This is often misunderstood since nonfiction writers do have to talk about market concerns. However, when it comes to selling fiction, you don’t talk about the trends in the market, or about the target audience. You sell the story.

Also, novelists don’t need to discuss their marketing plan or platform. Sometimes you might mention your website or blog, especially if you feel confident about its presentation. The truth is the agent/editor is going to Google you anyway, and find your website/blog whether you mention it or not (unless you’re writing under a different name). Keep in mind that having an online presence helps show you’ll likely be a good marketer and promoter of your work—especially if you have a sizable readership already—but it doesn’t say anything about your ability to write a great story. That said, if you have 100,000+ fans/readers on Wattpad or at your blog, that should be in your query letter.

Close your letter professionally

You don’t read much advice about how to close a query letter, perhaps because there’s not much to it, right? You say thanks and sign your name. But here’s how to leave a good final impression.

You don’t have to state that you are simultaneously querying. Everyone assumes this. (I do not recommend exclusive queries; send queries out in batches of three to five—or more, if you’re confident in your query quality.)

If your manuscript is under consideration at another agency, then mention it if/when the next agent requests to see your manuscript.

If you have a series in mind, this is a good time to mention it. But don’t belabor the point; it should take a sentence.

Resist the temptation to editorialize. This is where you proclaim how much the agent will love the work, or how exciting it is, or how it’s going to be a bestseller if only someone would give it a chance, or how much your kids enjoy it, or how much the world needs this work. Basically, avoid directly commenting on the quality of your work (whether to flatter yourself or criticize yourself). Your query should show what a good writer you are, rather than you telling or emphasizing what a good writer you are.



Thank the agent, but don’t carry on unnecessarily, or be incredibly subservient—or beg. (“I know you’re very busy and I would be forever indebted and grateful if you would just look at a few pages.”)

There’s no need to go into great detail about when and how you’re available. At the bottom of your letter, including your email address and phone number.

Do not introduce the idea of an in-person meeting. Do not say you’ll be visiting their city soon, and ask if they’d like to meet for coffee. The only possible exception to this is if you know you’ll hear them speak at an upcoming conference—but don’t ask for a meeting. Just say you look forward to hearing them speak. Use the conference’s official channels to set up an appointment if any are available.

Appropriate query length

In its entirety, the query shouldn’t run more than 1 page, single spaced, if printed, or somewhere around 200 to 400 words. I recommend brevity, especially if you lack confidence. Brevity gets you in less trouble. The more you try to explain, the more you’ll squeeze the life out of your story. So: Get in, get out.

The following stuff doesn’t belong in the query

Your many years of effort and dedication
How much your family and friends love your work
How many times you’ve been rejected or close accepts
How much money you’ve invested in editors or editing
Such-and-such well-known person has read your work and/or offered advice on it. Perhaps it’s boosted your ego or confidence that some VIP has read your work or offered a critique. But agents/editors will make up their own mind, and if your VIP really believed in your work, why aren’t they offering you a referral to their agent or editor?

Special advice on email queries

Email queries tend to get read and rejected more quickly than snail mail queries; with that in mind, you may want to create two separate versions of your query letter, one for email and another for printing. Here’s a formatting process I recommend:

Write your query in Word or TextEdit. Strip out all formatting. (Usually there is an option under “Save As” that will allow you to save as simple text.)
Send the query without any formatting and without any indents (block style).
Use CAPS for anything that would normally be in italics.
Don’t use address, date headers, or contact information at the beginning of the e-mail; put all of that stuff at the bottom, underneath your name.
The first line should read: “Dear [Agent Name]:”

Some writers structure their e-queries differently than paper queries—they make them shorter or add more paragraph breaks. Consider how much the agent can see of your e-query on the first screen, without scrolling. That’s probably how far they will read before responding or hitting delete. Adjust your query accordingly. Usually the hook should go first, unless you have a strong personalization angle.

If you have an e-mail address for an editor/agent who doesn’t accept e-mail queries, you can try sending your query on a hope and a prayer, but you probably won’t receive a response. In fact, I’ve heard many writers complain that they never receive a response from email queries. (Sometimes silence is the new rejection.) This is a phenomenon that must be regrettably accepted. Send one follow-up to inquire, but don’t keep sending e-mails to ascertain if your e-query was received.

You’ve sent your query—now what?

If you don’t hear back, follow up after the stated response time using the same method as the original query. If no response time is given, wait about 1 month. If querying via snail mail, include another copy of the query. If you still don’t hear back after one follow-up attempt, assume it’s a rejection, and move on. Do not phone or visit.

If an agent asks for an exclusive read on your manuscript, that means no one else can read the manuscript while they’re considering it. I don’t recommend granting an exclusive unless it’s for a very short period (maybe 2 weeks).

In non-exclusive situations (which should be most situations): If you have a second request for the manuscript before you hear back from the first agent, then as a courtesy, let the second agent know it’s also under consideration elsewhere (though you needn’t say with whom). If the second agent offers you representation first, go back to the first agent and let her know you’ve been made an offer, and give her a chance to respond.

Additional resources on query letters


QueryShark: run by an agent who critiques queries

AgentQuery: a database of agents, plus a community that can help critique your letter

Looking for more?

Start Here: How to Get Your Book Published
Start Here: How to Write a Book Proposal
Back to Basics: Writing a Novel Synopsis

 Need one-on-one help?

Check out my Query Letter Critique Service.

How to Write a Query Letter

This post was originally published in 2014; it is regularly updated with new information.

The stand-alone query letter has one purpose, and one purpose only: to seduce the agent or editor into reading or requesting your work.

The query letter is so much of a sales piece that you should be able to write it without having written a single word of the manuscript. For some writers, it represents a completely different way of thinking about your book—it means thinking about your work as a product. And it helps to have some distance from your work to see its salable qualities.

This post focuses on query letters for novels, although much the same advice applies for memoirists as well; nonfiction book queries are addressed here.

Before you query

Novelists should have a finished and polished manuscript before they begin querying. Even though I repeat this recommendation again and again, numerous writers ask if they’re the exception. “But what if I’m two-thirds of the way done?” Or, “What if the manuscript is currently being copyedited and it’s almost finished?”

Well, sure, you can query if you want. But what will you do if the agent/editor immediately asks for a partial or full manuscript, and you don’t have it? You may end up rushing your writing or editing process (undesirable to say the least), or admitting to the agent/editor that it will take you X weeks or months to follow up, which makes you look foolish.

To avoid creating a high-pressure or awkward situation, I recommend you wait until you feel the manuscript is totally done—the best you can make it. That doesn’t mean you have to hire freelance editors or copyeditors or proofreaders, but it does mean fixing or revising anything you know needs attention.

5 basic elements of every query letter

I recommend that every query letter include these five elements, in no particular order (except the closing):

Personalization: where you customize the letter for the recipient
What you’re selling: genre/category, word count, title/subtitle
Hook: the meat of the query; 100-200 words is sufficient for most novels
Bio: optional for unpublished fiction writers
Thank you & closing

This post elaborates on each of those elements—keep reading!

How to open your query letter

You should put your best foot forward, or lead with your strongest selling point. Here are the most common ways to begin a query:

Maybe you’ve been vouched for or referred by an existing client or author; mention the referral right away.
If you met the agent/editor at a conference or pitch event, and your material was requested, then put that upfront.
When you’ve heard the agent/editor speak at a conference, or you read an interview or post that indicates they’re a good fit for your work, mention it.
Starting with your story hook is a classic opening, but of course the hook should be compelling (more on this later).
Published or credentialed writers may mention their track record, especially if they’ve won awards or received an MFA from a well-known school. However, very few fiction writers begin their query by talking about themselves because most are unpublished. (This isn’t a problem, though.)

Many writers don’t have referrals or conference meetings to fall back on, so the hook becomes the lead for the query letter. Some writers start simple and direct, which is fine: “My [title] is an 80,000-word supernatural romance.”

Personalizing the query letter

Remember, your query is a sales tool, and good salespeople develop a rapport with the people they want to sell to, and show that they understand their needs. Show that you’ve done your homework, show that you care, and show that you’re not blasting indiscriminately.

However, you will not be rejected if you don’t personalize your query. Still, I think it can set you apart from the large majority of writers querying—if it’s done meaningfully, and that’s the point. Here’s an example of a strong, personalized lead.

In a January interview at the Guide to Literary Agents blog, you praised The Thirteenth Tale and indicated an interest in “literary fiction with a genre plot.” My paranormal romance Moonlight Dancer (85,000 words) blends a literary style with the romance tradition.

If you personalize the query by saying, “I found you in Writer’s Market,” and you add nothing else, that’s not a meaningful context. You need to go further than that, and say something that can’t be added to practically every query letter you send.

Identifying what you’re selling

Your book’s title, word count, and genre are generally stated upfront, although you can wait until the end of the query to spell out this information.

Title. Everyone knows your book title is tentative, so you don’t have to explicitly state the title is tentative.

Word count. If your novel’s word count is much higher than 100,000 words, you have a bigger challenge ahead of you. Eighty thousand words is the industry standard for a debut novel. See this post for a definitive list of appropriate word counts by genre. If you have an off-putting word count, some agents recommend withholding this fact until the end of the letter, once you’ve potentially hooked them.

Genre. If you’re unsure of your genre, you can leave out any mention of it; however, in such a case, I recommend drawing a comparison between your book and another (hopefully recent) title. You can say that your book is written in the same manner or style as another specific book or author, or that it has a similar tone or theme. Just be careful of overdoing it. One or two comparisons should be more than enough, and the more thoughtful the comparison, the better. Comparing yourself to a current New York Times bestselling author can come across as arrogant or too easy; it’s better to demonstrate a nuanced understanding of where your book falls in the literary landscape.

3 elements of the story hook

For most writers, the hook does all of the work in convincing the agent/editor to request your manuscript. You need to boil down your story to these three key elements:

Protagonist + his conflict
The choices the protagonist has to make (or the stakes)
The sizzle

Or, you can think of the hook in terms of: what does your character want, why does she want it, what keeps her from getting it?

Some genres/categories should also be sure to clarify the setting or time period.

The “sizzle” is that thing that sets your work apart from all others in your genre, that makes your story stand out, that makes it uniquely yours. Sizzle means: This idea isn’t tired or been done a million times before.

How do you know if your idea is tired? Well, this is why everyone tells writers to read and read and read. It builds your knowledge and experience of what’s been done before in your genre, as well as the conventions.)

When a hook is well written but boring, it’s often because it lacks anything fresh. It’s the same old formula without distinction. The protagonist feels one-dimensional (or like every other protagonist), the story angle is something we’ve seen too many times, and the premise doesn’t even raise an eyebrow. The agent or editor is thinking, “Sigh. Another one of these?”

This is the toughest part of the hook—finding that special je ne sais quoi that makes someone say, “Wow, I’ve got to see more of this!” And this is often how an editor or agent gauges if you’re a storyteller worth spending time on.

Sometimes great hooks can be botched because there is no life, voice, or personality in them. Sometimes so-so hooks can be taken to the next level because they convey a liveliness or personality that is seductive.

In Laurie Scheer’s The Writer’s Advantage, she well demonstrates the difference between a boring story hook and an exciting one:

I have heard an eternity of pitches featuring women as victims, survivors, single mothers, etc. If someone pitches me a story about a 43-year-old unmarried woman who has had a successful career in advertising or law or pharmaceuticals or whatever, and decides at the last minute that her biological clock’s ticking and she wants to have a child … I will wait for the writer to tell me the rest of the story.

And there is no rest of the story, because in their mind, that is their story.

To which I say, “Who cares?” Seriously, who will care about that storyline? No one. We have seen numerous stories about women wanting to have children later in life. I could produce a list at least two pages long consisting of books and movies with this plot line.

However, if one of the main characters is a 43-year-old single businesswoman having her first child and, at the same time, her 22-year-old niece is also having her first child—because the niece does not see the benefit of having a career and only wants to be supported by a rich husband—I suddenly see some conflict here.

Whenever I teach a class where we critique hooks, just about everyone can point out the hook’s problems and talk about how to improve them. Why? Because when you’re not the writer, you have distance from the work. When you do come across a great novel hook, it feels so natural and easy—like it was effortless to write.

Examples of brief story hooks

Every day, PublishersMarketplace lists book deals that were recently signed at major New York houses. It identifies the title, the author, the publisher/editor who bought the project, and the agent who sold it. It also offers a one-sentence description of the book. These hooks are inevitably well-crafted, and can help you better understand what hooks really excite agents/publishers. While your hook would/should probably get into more detail than the following two examples, these hooks help illustrate how much you can accomplish in just a line or two.

Bridget Boland’s DOULA, an emotionally controversial novel about a doula with a sixth sense [protagonist] who, while following her calling, has to confront a dark and uncertain future when standing trial for the death of her best friend’s baby [protagonist’s problem] [a doula with a sixth sense? cool.]

John Hornor Jacobs’s SOUTHERN GODS, in which a Memphis DJ [protagonist] hires a recent World War II veteran to find a mysterious bluesman whose music [protagonist’s problem] — broadcast at ever-shifting frequencies by a phantom radio station — is said to make living men insane and dead men rise [twist]

Check for red flags in your hook

How to tell if your hook could be improved:

Does your hook consist of several meaty paragraphs, or run longer than 200 words? You may be going into too much detail.
Does your hook reveal the ending of your book? Only the synopsis should do that.
Does your hook mention more than three or four characters? Usually you only need to mention the protagonist(s), a romantic interest or sidekick, and the antagonist.
Does your hook get into minor plot points that don’t affect the choices the protagonist makes? Do you really need to mention them?


Writing about your background (your bio note)

For novelists, especially unpublished ones, you don’t have to include a bio in your query if you can’t think of anything worth sharing. But it’s nice to put in something. The key to every detail in your bio is: Will it be meaningful—or perhaps charming—to the agent/editor? If you can’t confidently answer yes, leave it out. In order of importance, these are the categories of pertinent info.

Fiction writing credits. Be specific about your credits for this to be meaningful. Don’t say you’ve been published “in a variety of journals.” You might as well be unpublished if you don’t want to name them. If you have no fiction writing credits, you don’t need to state that you’re unpublished. That point will be made clear by fact of omission.

Nonfiction writing credits. Many novelists wonder if it’s helpful to list nonfiction credits. Yes, mention notable credits when they show you have some experience working with editors or understanding how the professional writing world works. That said: Academic or trade journal credits can be tricky, since they definitely don’t convey fiction writing ability. Use your discretion, but it’s probably not going to be deal breaker either way. I’d leave out credits like your church newsletter or credits that hold little to no significance for the publishing industry professionals.

Self-published books. Sooner or later this information will have to come out, so it’s usually just a matter of timing. Lots of people have done it, and past self-publishing doesn’t really hurt your chances with a new, fresh project. However, if you’re trying to get an agent or publisher for a book or series that’s already been self-published, my advice is to not bother trying. If your self-published book were successful enough for a traditional publishing deal, you probably would’ve had agents or publishers already knocking on your door. Do not make the mistake of thinking your self-publishing credits make you somehow more desirable as an author, unless you have really incredible sales success, in which case, mention the sales numbers of your book and how long it’s been on sale.

Your profession. If your career lends you credibility to write a better story, by all means mention it. But don’t go into lengthy detail. Teachers of K-12 who are writing children’s/YA often mention their teaching experience as some kind of credential for writing children’s/YA, but it’s not, so don’t treat it like one in the bio. (Perhaps it goes without saying, but parents should not treat their parent status as a credential to write for children either.)

Writing cred. It makes sense to mention any writing-related degrees you have, any major professional writing organizations you belong to (e.g., RWA, MWA, SCBWI), and possibly any major events/retreats/workshops you’ve attended to help you develop your career as a writer. You needn’t say that you frequent such-and-such online community, or that you belong to a writers’ group the agent would’ve never heard of. (Mentioning this won’t necessarily hurt you, but it’s not proving anything either.)

Special research. If your book is the product of some intriguing or unusual research (you spent a year in the Congo), mention it. These unique details can catch the attention of an editor or agent.

Major awards/competitions. Most writers should not mention awards or competitions they’ve won because they are too small to matter. If the award isn’t widely recognizable to the majority of publishing professionals, then the only way to convey the significance of an award is to talk about how many people you beat out. Usually the entry number needs to be in the thousands to impress an agent/editor.

If you have no meaningful publication credits, don’t try to invent any. If you have no professional credentials, no research to mention, no awards to your name—nothing notable at all to share—don’t add a weak line or two in an attempt to make up for it. Just end the letter. You’re still completely respectable. 

On the other end of the spectrum: avoid cataloguing every single thing you’ve ever done in your writing life. Don’t talk about starting to write when you were in second grade. Don’t talk about how much you’ve improved your writing in the last few years. Don’t talk about how much you enjoy returning to writing in your retirement. Just mention a few highlights that prove your seriousness and devotion to the craft of writing. If unsure, leave it out.

If your bio can reveal something of your voice or personality, all the better. While the query isn’t the place to digress or mention irrelevant info, there’s something to be said for expressing something about yourself that gives insight into the kind of author you are—that ineffable you. Charm helps.

Novel queries don’t have to address market concerns

Don’t be tempted to elaborate on the audience or market for your novel. This is often misunderstood since nonfiction writers do have to talk about market concerns. However, when it comes to selling fiction, you don’t talk about the trends in the market, or about the target audience. You sell the story.

Also, novelists don’t need to discuss their marketing plan or  platform. Sometimes you might mention your website or blog, especially if you feel confident about its presentation. The truth is the agent/editor is going to Google you anyway, and find your website/blog whether you mention it or not (unless you’re writing under a different name). Keep in mind that having an online presence helps show you’ll likely be a good marketer and promoter of your work—especially if you have a sizable readership already—but it doesn’t say anything about your ability to write a great story. That said, if you have 100,000+ fans/readers on Wattpad or at your blog, that should be in your query letter.

Close your letter professionally

You don’t read much advice about how to close a query letter, perhaps because there’s not much to it, right? You say thanks and sign your name. But here’s how to leave a good final impression.

You don’t have to state that you are simultaneously querying. Everyone assumes this. (I do not recommend exclusive queries; send queries out in batches of three to five—or more, if you’re confident in your query quality.)

If your manuscript is under consideration at another agency, then mention it if/when the next agent requests to see your manuscript.

If you have a series in mind, this is a good time to mention it. But don’t belabor the point; it should take a sentence.

Resist the temptation to editorialize. This is where you proclaim how much the agent will love the work, or how exciting it is, or how it’s going to be a bestseller if only someone would give it a chance, or how much your kids enjoy it, or how much the world needs this work. Basically, avoid directly commenting on the quality of your work (whether to flatter yourself or criticize yourself). Your query should show what a good writer you are, rather than you telling or emphasizing what a good writer you are.



Thank the agent, but don’t carry on unnecessarily, or be incredibly subservient—or beg. (“I know you’re very busy and I would be forever indebted and grateful if you would just look at a few pages.”)

There’s no need to go into great detail about when and how you’re available. At the bottom of your letter, including your email address and phone number.

Do not introduce the idea of an in-person meeting. Do not say you’ll be visiting their city soon, and ask if they’d like to meet for coffee. The only possible exception to this is if you know you’ll hear them speak at an upcoming conference—but don’t ask for a meeting. Just say you look forward to hearing them speak. Use the conference’s official channels to set up an appointment if any are available.

Appropriate query length

In its entirety, the query shouldn’t run more than 1 page, single spaced, if printed, or somewhere around 200 to 400 words. I recommend brevity, especially if you lack confidence. Brevity gets you in less trouble. The more you try to explain, the more you’ll squeeze the life out of your story. So: Get in, get out.

The following stuff doesn’t belong in the query

Your many years of effort and dedication
How much your family and friends love your work
How many times you’ve been rejected or close accepts
How much money you’ve invested in editors or editing
Such-and-such well-known person has read your work and/or offered advice on it. This is something I’ve found writers really don’t like to hear, because it’s important to their ego or confidence that some VIP has read their work or offered a critique. But agents/editors will make up their own mind, and if your VIP really believed in your work, why aren’t they offering you a referral to their agent or editor?

Special advice on email queries

Email queries tend to get read and rejected more quickly than snail mail queries; with that in mind, you may want to create two separate versions of your query letter, one for email and another for printing. Here’s a formatting process I recommend:

Write your query in Word or TextEdit. Strip out all formatting. (Usually there is an option under “Save As” that will allow you to save as simple text.)
Send the query without any formatting and without any indents (block style).
Use CAPS for anything that would normally be in italics.
Don’t use address, date headers, or contact information at the beginning of the e-mail; put all of that stuff at the bottom, underneath your name.
The first line should read: “Dear [Agent Name]:”

Some writers structure their e-queries differently than paper queries—they make them shorter or add more paragraph breaks. Consider how much the agent can see of your e-query on the first screen, without scrolling. That’s probably how far they will read before responding or hitting delete. Adjust your query accordingly. Usually the hook should go first, unless you have a strong personalization angle.

If you have an e-mail address for an editor/agent who doesn’t accept e-mail queries, you can try sending your query on a hope and a prayer, but you probably won’t receive a response. In fact, I’ve heard many writers complain that they never receive a response from email queries. (Sometimes silence is the new rejection.) This is a phenomenon that must be regrettably accepted. Send one follow-up to inquire, but don’t keep sending e-mails to ascertain if your e-query was received.

You’ve sent your query—now what?

If you don’t hear back, follow up after the stated response time using the same method as the original query. If no response time is given, wait about 1 month. If querying via snail mail, include another copy of the query. If you still don’t hear back after one follow-up attempt, assume it’s a rejection, and move on. Do not phone or visit.

If an agent asks for an exclusive read on your manuscript, that means no one else can read the manuscript while they’re considering it. I don’t recommend granting an exclusive unless it’s for a very short period (maybe 2 weeks).

In non-exclusive situations (which should be most situations): If you have a second request for the manuscript before you hear back from the first agent, then as a courtesy, let the second agent know it’s also under consideration elsewhere (though you needn’t say with whom). If the second agent offers you representation first, go back to the first agent and let her know you’ve been made an offer, and give her a chance to respond.

Additional resources on query letters


QueryShark: run by an agent who critiques queries

AgentQuery: a database of agents, plus a community that can help critique your letter

Looking for more?

Start Here: How to Get Your Book Published
Start Here: How to Write a Book Proposal
Back to Basics: Writing a Novel Synopsis

 Need one-on-one help?

Check out my Query Letter Critique Service.

Using Twitter to Make Powerful Connections as a Creative Professional

Photo via VisualHunt

Today’s post is from Daniel Parsons (@DKParsonsWriter), author of The #ArtOfTwitter.

Finding an audience for your books can seem like an insurmountable task when you enter the publishing space with no prior experience. Thankfully, Twitter can help you become not only an engaged member of the community but—in time—an influencer with a loyal audience.

Four years ago, I joined Twitter because I was writing my first book, and every blog post on the internet seemed to be saying the same thing: authors need a social media presence. Starting out, I had one goal, and that was to get 3,000 engaged Twitter followers. Why 3,000? Well, I had heard that you only start to get interactions on every tweet when you hit that number, and publishers wanted authors with ready-made, interactive audiences.

A lot has changed in the last four years. For a start, I discovered self-publishing and decided that I preferred it to the traditional route. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is my focus on Twitter. I now have 93,000+ followers, reach 500,000 people every month, and get over 200 interactions per day. My followers have helped me grab the attention of powerful influencers, got one of my stories 30,000 reads on the story-sharing site Wattpad, and landed me a job at a publishing house. Along the way, they’ve helped my tweets trend above those of A-list celebrities—beating the likes of Craig David and Ryan Seacrest in various hashtag games.

While I wouldn’t say I’m a social media guru, I am now in a position to teach other creative professionals how to find their voice and build a platform through Twitter. I do this professionally, teaching authors exactly how to swell their online presence without losing their integrity or too much of their time.

While I could talk about Twitter for hours, I know most writers are busy people. I’ve noted five short pointers here that anyone can use as a Twitter cheat-sheet. They provide a good foundation for any writer, whether you are a total newbie or just struggling to see growth.

1. Brand Yourself

Branding yourself might sound like some horrible, corporate tactic, but all it really means is filtering what you share on social media so that it fits in with your public persona. If it helps, think of it this way: don’t say anything on Twitter that you wouldn’t say on stage at a literary festival.

2. Follow People

There is a misconception that following lots of people on Twitter to get reciprocal follows means that your tweets will have less influence. This simply isn’t the case. As long as you’re tweeting quality content and attracting active, relevant followers who are interested in your field of work, your tweets’ interactions will grow to rival those of “real” celebrities who have the same number of followers as you. The fact that they are only following a few hundred people and you’re following a few thousand will have little influence on the level of interactions your tweets receive.

I often receive more interactions for tweets on a hashtag than other accounts that have hundreds of thousands—and sometimes millions—of followers. If you want the influence that comes with exposure and you’re not already a prominent public figure or an early adopter, following people is a sure-fire way of achieving this goal.

3. Use the Three Key Principles of a Good Tweet

Most users are on Twitter to (1) be entertained, (2) be inspired, or (3) acquire knowledge. I suggest you build a relationship with your followers by satisfying these three desires. Tweets that fulfill these desires can come in the form of jokes, behind-the-scenes access to your creative process, exciting news updates, inspirational messages, and articles that you think your followers would find interesting. That isn’t an exhaustive list—and it may need to be skewed a little in favor of whatever you find appeals to your followers most—but it’s a good starting point if you’re not sure what you should be tweeting.

It’s been established that selling books like a door-to-door salesman on Twitter doesn’t work in most cases. What does work is positioning yourself as an interesting, approachable person that people will want to support. Having an army of supporters over a bag of cash may seem like a bad deal in the short term, but over time your followers have a lot more to offer you than a quick buck.

4. Get Answers

Old wisdom suggests that a good leader is often a good listener, and that’s just as important to consider when approaching Twitter. I ask a lot of questions on Twitter. Not only will doing so help you get to know some of the influencers in your industry, it will help you to befriend your most avid supporters, demonstrating that you want to hear their thoughts and opinions.

You can take that last point to a grander scale by crowdsourcing opinions and advice. I’ve used this method to tweak book covers and titles based on public consensus, and it has worked phenomenally. Of course, it’s said that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. Not all opinions are equal, but asking the right questions and choosing what comments influence you can improve your work.

If you want to know something extremely specific, then Twitter can also serve as a better search engine than Google, especially if you already have a significant number of followers. A question that could take hours of trawling blogs and official documents on Google to answer could be resolved almost immediately by your followers. After all, if you have thousands of followers, one of them is likely to know more than you do about a niche topic. Even if they don’t, they might pull people who do into the conversation.

A while back, I had a query regarding copyrighted song lyrics and how they can be used in the character dialogue of a novel. Finding myself at a loss on Google, I eventually sought help on Twitter. Within a few minutes, my followers gave me the answer, backed up their advice with credible sources, and even brought the bestselling crime author Ian Rankin into the conversation to offer his expertise.

5. Drive Traffic and Use Your Leverage

Forming trusting relationships with your followers can lead to rewards—some of which will be totally unexpected. After joining Twitter, I soon discovered that it wasn’t really a sales platform, but it had potential for building an author business. By curating quality content, you will quickly gain a high level of trust. Due to the trust I’ve built, almost all of the links I post—with honest descriptions, of course—get between 20 and 100 clicks. Sometimes as many as 500 people visit my website as a direct result of a single tweet. High follower counts grab attention, but I think a much better metric to promote is the number of interactions you can command per tweet.

There are various ways to use these stats. One way is to attract well-known authors to be interviewed on your website (or podcast, newsletter, or whatever else you produce). By promising to promote the author you’re interviewing, you can be associated with their high-profile name. Likewise, it’s easier to get a speaking role at a conference or event if you have thousands of Twitter followers and offer to tweet about the event.

Alternatively, your Twitter stats can even help you get a job. At the 2015 London Book Fair, publishing experts on a panel suggested that modern publishers sometimes more highly value social media know-how over English degrees. That sounds insane, but I’ve nabbed one job in publishing purely based on my Twitter following, so I’m an example of that movement at work.

Twitter isn’t the only way to build a career, or a must, but mastering it does add a valuable tool to the utility belt of any author-entrepreneur. Happy tweeting!

If you found this post helpful, check out Daniel’s book The #ArtOfTwitter.

Making Peace with Your Ghosts

Photo credit: liquidcrash via Visualhunt / CC BY-SA

When writers talk about where their ideas come from, the answers are as varied as wildflowers: they write about what keeps them up at night, or they ask “what if?” or they explore topics that leave them full of questions without answers.

In the case of Erin Rose Belair, she writes about the ghosts she’s made peace with. She describes this feeling in her essay for Glimmer Train:

I used to think stories had to come from some higher order, some grand tale. But I only started writing stories when I learned how to make peace with those ghosts, when I learned how to listen to what I was already telling myself.

Read Belair’s full essay, and also take a look at these other features this month at Glimmer Train:

The SNCF by Karen Malley

Accidental Bonsai by Lisa Graley

My New Series of Columns on Self-Publishing

Photo credit: @mist3ry30 via Visualhunt / CC BY

Earlier this year, I began writing monthly for the IngramSpark blog, which is focused on the concerns of self-publishing authors and small presses. (As some of you may know, I recommend IngramSpark for authors who want to distribute and sell print books.)

Here’s a quick list of what you’ll find:

4 Often Overlooked Details That Help Your Book Look Professionally Published
Compelling Back Cover Copy: Not Too Little and Not Too Much
The Right Time to Make Your E-Book Free
Advance Review Copies: How They’re Used and Why to Create Them
Are Book Awards Worthwhile for Indie Authors?
5 Tips for Approaching Influencers About Your Book

Are there specific topics you’d like to see me discuss in future columns? Let me know in the comments.

Join me at Digital Book World 2017

Years ago, when I worked at F+W Media, I had the opportunity to be involved in guiding the first year of Digital Book World (DBW) programming, in 2010. To give you a sense of just how long ago that was in technology terms, Apple’s announcement of the iPad coincided with the first DBW event. Kindle Unlimited didn’t exist. Borders was still in business.

I left F+W that same year, but later returned to Digital Book World as a panel moderator, addressing the role of self-publishing and indie authorship as part of (or outside of) the larger industry.

Digital Book World is going through a top-to-bottom refresh for 2017, and—in partnership with Porter Anderson—I’m working with them on the third, new day of the conference devoted to indie authorship. You read more about the new vision for the entire event in this official announcement.

I can’t give you any specific details yet on the programming since it’s still being sorted out, but Porter and I seek to offer both an overview of trends and useful nuts and bolts information on marketing, publicity, and distribution.

Registration will open soon, and once we have an official program to share, I’ll let you know.

What It Means to Be Fierce on the Page

Sage Cohen

I first met poet and author Sage Cohen (@sagecohen) at the Willamette Writers Conference, while I was an editor at Writer’s Digest. The first thing that struck me about her was her laugh; you could hear it from across the hotel. I also recall her wearing a lovely silver necklace that said one word: Bloom. (I immediately asked her about the artist who created it and ordered something similar for myself!)

While at WD, I acquired her book, Writing the Life Poetic (one of the very few poetry titles we published during that time!), and she just released her third book with WD this month. It’s called Fierce on the Page, and I recently excerpted it here.

Sage and I recently discussed the themes in her book and how she frames the writing life.

Jane: Why “fierce”? What does that mean to you?

Sage: By “fierce,” I mean relentlessly self-responsible. At every moment, we have the opportunity to lean into what life serves up and use that experience to further refine ourselves as instruments of our craft—and our lives. I believe this is the path to becoming unstoppable in our evolution.

I believe the way we write can define (and transform) the way we live. And I believe ferocity is our best compass for finding our true way forward—so we can do our best work, live our best life, and make our greatest contribution. When we want to change or heal or learn or grow, we have the option of writing ourselves there. I wanted to invite people to explore these possibilities—and give them some tools of inquiry.

Fierce on the Page isn’t the sort of book that Writer’s Digest typically produces—it’s not how-to or instructional. This book is story oriented. Why?

In my experience, witnessing the stories of others is one of the best ways to access ourselves. I share how experiences with my son, my pets, my divorce, my co-parent, and my community served as my laboratory for cultivating my craft (and myself). I do this in the hope that readers will invent new ways to discover their own, best way forward.

Also, I believe that we don’t live in our lives; we live in the stories we tell about our lives. For me, writing has always been alchemy: from resistance to acceptance, from pain to beauty. I believe that people who are attracted to a life of writing have an incredible opportunity to transform and transcend the events of our lives, finding a resonance of grace simply by writing something just right.

Most authors prefer to be considered experts. But you advise your readers that they are the only expert they’ll ever need. Why do you say this?

I am the expert of me, and you are the expert of you. What works for me won’t necessarily work for you. Each of our jobs as writers and humans is to seek out strategies that have worked for others, try them on for ourselves, use what works, and let the rest go.

This is more difficult to accomplish than you might think. We all want to be handed a success formula from someone we respect; and often we hang on way too long to techniques that aren’t serving us. I believe that every writer already is enough and has enough of what they need to create the writing life they want. My goal is to help writers discover the tools, attitudes, and strategies that help them leverage and optimize their own raw materials of insight, craft, and voice.

Your son, Theo, and your many pets come through as powerful muses. How has parenting shaped your writing—and vice versa?

Parenting a child and animals is a love practice. And writing is also a love practice. They way I navigate any moment on the page or in my home ripples out to the rest of my (writing) life. In my 30+ years of writing practice, I have learned that anything that matters to us holds all the opportunities we need to become increasingly effective in that realm—and in every realm.

I find that many writers struggle to give themselves permission to write, to call themselves writers, to give themselves the time it takes to write. How do you counsel people on this?

Everyone is a keeper and a teller of stories. We come into this world hard-wired for the repetition of sound, rhythm and pattern in language. Before we can even speak, we delight in recognizing our own experience and learning about those unlike ours through the stories we are told. This affinity for story is ordinary as a lullaby and it anchors us firmly to people everywhere, throughout time.

Some people are inclined to write things down and others are not. Some people feel the call to write; yet they struggle to make the time and space or give themselves the permission to do so. Writers know who they are, even if they’re not writing much yet. My hope is that everyone who is attracted to this mode of transportation will take the risk to ride. You never know what landscape awaits you until you turn beyond what is known and start traveling toward what is possible.

But you should bother only if you love to write—or you suspect you might love it. It’s okay if you believe you’re not tall enough, broke enough, exciting enough or well dressed enough to write. You could even spend some time right now listing every single objection to why you cannot or should not write. Once you’ve emptied your mind of protests, pick up that pen or keyboard and get going. If you love to write, trust yourself to the writing. Yes, it’s that simple. You may even discover as you go that you’re taller or better dressed than you once thought!

What has your biggest challenge been as a writer?

Steering myself from scarcity toward sufficiency has been my most enduring challenge. Because scarcity has a root system that can send up any kind of weed into any kind of context I am cultivating. What I mean is: there is always something to believe I don’t have enough of in support of my writing life: time, money, expertise, readers, approval, or talent. My practice has been to welcome these stories of “not enough,” and then to practice a greater trust in a higher truth: that I can simply love what I am doing, and that is more than enough. No matter what the limitations may be, no matter what the results I produce.

Should You Pay for a Publicist?

by arbyreed | via Flickr

Today’s guest post is from author Dorit Sasson (@VoicetoStory).

You’ve written a great book and—if you’ve self-published—probably shelled out for the services of a good editor and cover designer. The last thing you want is to pay for a publicist. But in a sea of authors, how will potential readers know about your book?

As a traditional-turned-hybrid author publishing with She Writes Press, I foot the bill for all the publishing costs but reap a much higher percentage of royalties for both print and ebook sales for my debut memoir, Accidental Soldier: A Memoir of Service and Sacrifice in the Israel Defense Forces. My book is distributed like a traditional one, in all the retail channels; distribution is a major challenge facing self-pubbed authors, and traditional distribution is an advantage of my particular press.

I invested in a publicist to break into mainstream media, which led me to identify a number of online and print women’s media sites that would be perfect for my coming-of-age memoir and mother-daughter story. Of course I could have tried approaching these editors on my own, but that would have been time-consuming, and I didn’t have the established and nurtured contacts. Accidental Soldier has been featured with The Reading Room, Brit + Co, Writer’s Digest, Reader’s Digest, SheKnows.com, Working Mother magazine, Teen Vogue, and Seventeen—and that’s just a few. I would have never gotten that far on my own.

However, good publicists are not cheap. They command higher payment than a quality editor because they spend more hours over a longer time period working for you and your book.

A standard fee for an experienced publicist in the US is $100 an hour, and you will need their services for about four months prior to publication and for two to three months after. An average campaign ranges between 50 to 100 hours over the required time period. That’s $5,000 to $10,000 for a modest publicity campaign.

Chances are, you won’t recoup this initial investment because you are investing in building your platform. But, if you intend to write more books, the right publicity will build your platform and those loyal readers. You might not see the logic in hiring a publicist if you aren’t going to recoup the initial investment, but with your subsequent books, you may not need so many hours because you’ve already built that initial groundwork.

My PR firm, Booksparks, also branded my new author website, called “Giving Voice to Your Courage.” Additional costs included arranging a bookstore tour, sending book galleys to reviewers and media, and contest fees. This additional investment could run from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars depending on the bells and whistles.

Here’s What My Publicist Has Done So Far

Read and fell in love with my book, and felt confident in finding an angle to pitch media (print, blogs, trade reviewers, interviewers, TV, and radio) based on a long list of contacts. My publicist and I collaborated on developing the list.
Sent a press kit to the appropriate media.
Planned my publicity campaign and kept me on track.
Suggested contests suitable for my memoir and entered my book.
Put my book on sites like NetGalley and Goodreads to garner reviews.
Organized blog tours, in-person book tours, social networking, and websites.
Kept me calm and focused; together, we have celebrated small and large achievements all throughout the campaign.

Things to Consider When Hiring a Publicist

Seek recommendations from trusted author and publishing friends.
Interview a few publicists.
Make sure the publicist “gets” your book and can champion it to the finish line.
Ask about packages that run for a set time or the ability to spread work out over a longer period, which can reduce your payments.

If you’ve already spent 3,000+ hours writing your book and invested in an editor, a proofreader, and a cover designer, what is better: investing more dollars hoping to sell enough books to make your losses less painful (or even make a profit), or selling 200 copies to friends and family before your book sinks without a trace?

Again, one might not see the logic in investing so much money to break even, especially when authors can approach editors themselves. The way I see it, it’s incredibly time-consuming to approach and follow up with editors. Of course, one can always go the local route and do a lot of the legwork, but from my experience, going the mainstream media route requires the efforts of a publicist.

For more from Dorit Sasson (@VoicetoStory), check out Accidental Soldier: A Memoir of Service and Sacrifice in the Israel Defense Forces.

A Simple Tip to Feel More Empowered in the Business of Writing

Sometimes we can feel discouraged in our accomplishments as writers, especially if we’re receiving rejections or not selling as many books as we’d like.

But I’ve found a proven way to feel better about the progress you’re making, and it involves recognizing how much you’ve learned about the publishing business simply by reading other books and having conversations about those books. You can find depths of meaning in the shared language and goals you’ve developed with the writers around you.

Read the full post: How to Distinguish Yourself Among Agents and Editors