Business

This note arrived in my personal inbox this week, from a writerly acquaintance.

“I hate queries,” she said. “They frustrate the hell out of me. Would you be willing to share your query and explain why you did what you did?”

Of course I didn’t mind–as long as she didn’t mind that I post my response on the blog; I’d been struggling to come up with a topic for this week.

She didn’t mind. Here goes.

Dear Query Hater,

Your query hatred is not unique, me thinks, and probably falls second only to synopsis hatred in the necessary-but-not-creative-writing category. Here’s the query I sent to my agent, Elisabeth Weed. I’ve changed the title from Unbounded to The Last Will of Moira Leahy for obvious reasons.

Dear Ms. Weed,

Allison Winn Scotch emailed me just a bit ago to say you’d be interested in hearing more about my manuscript. I’m thrilled for the opportunity, as Allison raves about you and I believe your agency would be a perfect fit for my work.

Weed Literary is looking for inventive storytelling. The Last Will of Moira Leahy is a 100,000 word commercial rite-of-passage tale about death, identity and acceptance, told through the eyes of twin sisters and woven with a fascinating mythology in the vein of Louise Erdrich’s The Painted Drum. You’re also seeking provocative fiction with a dash of humor. Though 9 out of 10 women cry when they read this story, they’ll also laugh a lot.

Some awesome guest bloggers have filled in for me the last two weeks–thank you, Kay and Ann–so today I’m going to catch you up on what’s been happening with my book. About two weeks ago, my galleys came in! I posted about this milestone on one of my writers’ sites (GIAM, you rock), and a few people had questions.

“Wait, I thought you just turned in your first-pass pages, like two seconds ago? How did the galleys come so quickly?”

Then a few more people chimed in to say, “Yeah, this is confusing. ‘Splain it to me.”

I agreed, it is confusing. A blog idea was born. This, to the best of my knowledge, is

HOW A BOOK IS MADE:

First step: editing. You might spend a few weeks or months (or more) revising your manuscript with your editor after your publisher commits to your book. When you’re both satisfied, you submit your final draft, which isn’t really final, but that’s okay–that’s what they call it. This then goes to Production, where a copyeditor is assigned, designs are drafted for the interior of the book, and more. In other words, this is when things get fun.

From this point onward, any changes you decide to make are made by hand on a master manuscript that originates with the publisher. So if you have a fantastic brainstorm between this and the next step, write it on a piece of paper and stick it somewhere important; don’t make changes on your electronic file ever, ever again and expect your editor to accept them.

(p.s. I have an office, but I like to work on the comfy couch sometimes, too. Doggy foot warmer is an added bonus.)

Second step: copyedited pages.

It seems like every day, I hear of a new social media tool that, as a writer, I am told that I MUST be on. The latest, of course, is Twitter, and I’m not the only one. In the past year alone, Twitter has grown by an astounding 1342%, which means that every day, thousands of users are getting their tweets on. The question remains: productive tool for writers or just another time suck?

My conclusion after diving in? Hmmmm, unsure. Probably a little bit of both.

I’ll admit up front that I was very, very dubious about Twitter. I already have a blog, which I use strictly for professional purposes, and I’m already on Facebook, which I use strictly for personal purposes (I don’t friend people whom I don’t know, etc), and this, to be honest, was enough for me. The blog allows me to disseminate marketing info as needed, and Facebook allows me to keep up with friends whom I otherwise wouldn’t have. So…where does Twitter fall into the mix?

Backtrack just a little: for those of you who don’t yet tweet (what updates on Twitter are called), Twitter is essentially just a tool for you to provide bulleted shots of “what are you doing right now?,” akin to those Facebook status updates, but unlike on FB, people tweet often – numerous times a day, citing what they’re doing, where they are, forwarding on information from other Tweeters, passing along links that they deem important or just entertaining. That, in a nutshell, this is Twitter. That’s it! Another difference between Twitter and Facebook, and this is a big one, is that anyone can see your tweets, unless you create a private profile, so conceivably, the breadth of your reach – marketing-wise – could be much wider. AND, you do not have to reciprocate friendships, so unlike on FB, in which you see all of your friends’ info and vice versa, if someone follows you, you do not have to follow them. Which, actually, I like because I can control the flow of information that comes my way.

Okay, so with that out of the way, here is my experience: I’ve slowly warmed up to Twitter, though the jury is out on whether or not it is imperative. I signed up several months ago when fellow writers were urging me to, claiming it was a tool that I simply couldn’t live with out. Huh? Really? But I created an account and waited for the magic to happen…and it didn’t. I didn’t really see the purpose of filling people in on the minutia of my day, and I definitely didn’t need to read about theirs. I also found the Twitter home page really confusing and overwhelming, and those Twitter acronyms? Forget it. My brain had a meltdown.

But a week or so ago, I resolved one last time to give Twitter a chance.

Today WU is happy to have guest blogger JA Konrath with us. I mentioned Joe in my post Tuesday, when I talked up his great blog, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing, and free e-book, The Newbie’s Guide to Publishing Book. He’s here with us today to chat about self-promotion and his new book. Welcome, Joe!

How Do I Self-Promote?

My name is Joe Konrath. Under the name JA Konrath, I’ve written six books in the Lt. Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels series. The latest, Cherry Bomb, comes out July 7. Under the name Jack Kilborn, I’ve written a horror novel called Afraid, which is coming out March 31.

Over the years I’ve done a lot of self-promotion. A whole lot. I’ve mailed out 7000 letters to libraries, visited over 1200 bookstores, spoken at over a hundred conventions, book fairs, and libraries, and published more than 70 short stories and articles, all since 2004.

My blog, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing, gets a few hundred thousand hits per year. I’ve been nominated for a bunch of awards, and have won a few. I’ve been reviewed by some major publications, and a slew of smaller ones. I’ve been on the radio. I’ve been on local TV. My books are available in ten different languages, and there are over half a million of them in print.

A question I get asked all the time is: What is the best form of self-promotion?

On the surface, it’s a simple question. But it’s actually a tougher than it looks, for several reasons.

Rarely, if ever, will your self-promotional efforts pay for themselves in books sold. Traveling to a convention and selling a hundred books–while spectacular–still won’t cover the cost it took to get to the convention.

Self-promotion has varying degrees of success, based largely on luck. Something that worked really well for you one year might not work at all the next year, even though you did the same exact thing.

The intangible effects of self-promotion are hard to gauge. I can say, for sure, that I’ve handsold about 15,000 books in my career. But I’m probably responsible, either directly or indirectly, for many more sales. I just didn’t witness those sales firsthand, so I can’t truly judge the effects my promotional techniques are having.

That said, I do have a few self-promo tips that I’m fairly sure work, and work well. As always, your results may vary. But keep in mind that promotion is an ongoing, cumulative process. It keeps building on itself.

Books sell one at a time. If you consistently follow these techniques, you will sell more books. Whether you’ll sell them fast enough or in quantities large enough to justify your efforts is something only you can answer. But remember that each book you have a hand in selling is one book that might not have ever sold. Also keep in mind that selling a book to a reader who loves it means you are selling more than just a single book; you’re selling every book you ever write, because you’ve made a fan.

Here are things you should be doing:

So the wonderful Teri suggested that I chat about my experiences with book clubs, and her idea couldn’t have come at a better time. Time of My Life seems to be a popular book club choice these days, I guess because women, myself included, can talk endlessly about their “what ifs,” and whether or not they have any relevance in their current life. So, because of that, I’ve been doing quite a few call-ins or emails with book clubs.

What I love most about these experiences is hearing directly from readers. I’m working on my third book right now, and while the writing is organic and I’m staying true to my character’s voices and motivations, I’m also keeping in mind feedback that I’ve received from readers and from book clubs. Not in any way selling out, mind you, but just…well…for example, I very intentionally left the ending of TOML ambiguous. I wanted readers to make their own choice about what had happened to Jillian and where she was headed from here. But I’m learning, in talking with people, that not everyone was pleased with this. That after reading 300 pages, they wanted a bigger payout. I stand by my choice, and I wouldn’t change a word of that ending, but listening to their thoughts has certainly made me open-minded about the decisions I’m making in my next book. Again, not that I’d revamp anything I’m currently writing, but yeah, sure, this is a consumer-oriented product, and if I can make them happy while making myself happy, well…win-win, right?

One thing that’s always fun when talking to readers is that I almost inevitably hear about their own lives and the various ways that they connect with these characters. Listening to their stories – their what-ifs, their takes on marriage and motherhood – I’m always pretty amazed at how we all share so many common threads in our lives. Regardless of circumstance, our human experience is often one and the same, and that’s always pretty fascinating. And again, this has definitely helped influence my next book: as I work my way through the chapters, I do try to keep in mind ways that I can keep these characters grounded and relatable. There is nothing better than reading a book and feeling like you really empathize with the heroine, and sometimes, when I’m maybe veering into making a character too unlikeable or too unrealistic (because, of course, life is heightened in fiction), I consider my readers and wonder how I can ensure that they’ll connect with my character’s actions.

Of course, it’s not all wine and roses with these call-ins and/or emails.

Honest mistakes you can learn from are probably the best kind. I made one of those recently, and I’d like to share it here.

While on Twitter, I started linking to blog posts at Writer Unboxed. One of my followers was an independent bookseller, who visited WU and made an observation: We were linking exclusively to Amazon–with every interview, every book mention, ever “psyched about” update. Was I a newbie author who wanted to befriend indies or not? Why wasn’t I linking to indie stores, too? Did I realize how indie-unfriendly my blog appeared?

Wow, no.

Kath and I have always linked to Amazon because it was easy, and we thought we were doing our part to serve our guest authors and our readers. And, truthfully, we hadn’t even heard of Indiebound until recently. It hit us that other writers–especially writers who don’t yet have a publishing contract, like Kath and I when we started WU–might not (a) know about Indiebound and/or (b) realize how they’re coming across in the wide scheme of things. They might make choices for convenience rather than thinking through the implications of those decisions. They might, inadvertently, close channels they’d want open in the future.

The seller and I exchanged a few emails, and I asked if he’d be interested in an interview for WU to enlighten other writers across the blogosphere. He was more than willing.

It’s my hope that you’ll do your part as well. Link to this Q&A. Talk about the broader issues on your own blogs. Avoid our tunnel vision. Spread the word.

Interview with Rob Dougherty, manager of Clinton Book Shop in Clinton, NJ

TW: Tell us about Indiebound. What exactly is it?

RD: Indiebound is a program of the American Booksellers Association that was launched in the summer of 2008. Basically it’s Book Sense revamped, with a new logo and branding campaign, with the goal of trying to get all indies united across the country. If you go on their website, Indiebound.org, it gives you a complete description, but what they want to do is create a forum where independent booksellers can come together to create a larger web presence.

TW: What makes Indiebound such a powerful tool?

[Update: Since I wrote this post on Friday, Amazon has changed their policy re: the Kindle. Though I still think this topic is worthy of discussion, it does make the point somewhat mute. No pun intended.]

So you’ve probably heard that the second generation of Amazon’s e-reader, the Kindle, has been released. The mania finally got to me and I ordered one. The reader in me is excited to play. The writer in me has other things in mind; I’d like to better understand the reading function that has many authors, agents and publishers nervous.

If you haven’t read about this yet, let me fill you in. The new Kindle can read to you. It can read newspaper articles and it can read books. Entire books. At no extra charge. If you’re wondering if this puts Amazon in violation of copyright law, then you’re not alone. Everyone is wondering about that. Everyone is talking about it. Neil Gaiman had an argument with his agent over it. Jason Pinter then disagreed with Gaiman’s disagreement, which is to say he doesn’t believe the Kindle should be able to read anyone a bedtime story or any other kind of story.

Has Amazon crossed a line, made it so that you will now have both a regular e-book and an audiobook whenever you download a Kindle book? Will more people purchase Kindle books because of this benefit? Will fewer people buy audiobooks if they have this reading option available to them, even if it means hearing a less-than-desirable voice spitting out those words?

Critics of the feature say yes, absolutely, and they’re ready to battle it out. Others say no, that when you buy a book, you buy the rights to read it aloud or have someone else read it aloud or record it for yourself and listen to it if you like. Besides, the Kindle’s voice isn’t something you’d want to listen to for long stretches of time, they say; it’s a convenience for between times, like when you’re driving or getting dinner ready or taking a shower, when you just can’t put the book down.

But. It’s slippery, isn’t it?

I guess the argument comes to this: