Linda Glaz – Advice from an Agent and Giveaway

Advice from a Literary Agent

by Linda Glaz

I can’t stress enough how important it is, from an agent or editor’s point of view, for an author to do his or her homework before submitting material. A little side not—anytime I offer advice, it means it’s something I did wrong on my own journey and don’t want you to do the same. Spending years not paying attention is lost time when you might be getting published.

If you just blanket all agents with your work and get nowhere (and you’ll get nowhere), then the opportunity to actually make contact is gone. Most of us keep a record of who submits and when. So, if you try to sneak it in the door a second time, I’ll know and will send you a “friendly” reminder that I already said no.

But if you do the research of each agent, ask yourself these questions: Does Agent Smith handle my genre or type of work? Does he take nonfiction, fiction, literary, sci-fi, fantasy, romance, and on and on? Does editor Jones work with new authors or has she said specifically that she will only take a look at work from published authors? If she said it, chances are very good—she means it. Should I try and be sneaky and say I met with Agent Geezer at Such and Such Writers’ Conference? This can really backfire when you are approaching an agent with an amazing memory (Just cuz I’m old doesn’t mean I’m a dope). Does Agent Doozy charge a fee for looking at my work? NEVER pay an agent a cent. They work for you! The most you should ever encounter is copying costs if they have to send your work by snail mail which doesn’t happen often anymore. Have I gone to the agency site to see EXACTLY what the agent wants submitted? So very important; if you haven’t, you will probably get a “not for me” response. No agent wants to work with someone who isn’t going to follow directions. Would the agent be interested in going to my website to see my work? This happens more often than not, and I’ll be very honest, if you’re too lazy to put together the proposal we want, I’m not going to have a read, and I’m certainly not going to drop what I’m doing (unless you’ve already caught my interest with an amazing proposal) and go to your website to look up what you think I’ll be blown away by. And lastly (though the list could on and on), have I formatted my proposal in the correct manner? 1” margins, 12 pt. New Times Roman, widows and orphans turned off, first line set at .5, and finally, no fancy fonts, colors, lines, clip art, pics, etc.; need I say more?

If you HAVE done all you are supposed to, contact the agent or pitch to him or her at a conference and just be yourself. Your work, as well, will speak for itself. Send a couple, wait for responses, and even if you’re rejected, you might glean some wonderful advice that will help your next submission be even better.

Good luck, and good writing!

Meet the Agent and Author:

Linda, married with three grown children and three grandchildren, is a complete triple-A personality. How else would she find time to write as well as be an agent for Hartline Literary Agency? She loves any and every thing about the written word and loves when families pass stories along through the generations. If she isn’t writing or putting together a contract, you’ll find her taking a relaxing bath with her e-reader in hand. Her background in karate, soccer and the Air Force has allowed her to meet a lot of “characters” along the way. If you find a strange and weird character in one of her books, watch it! It might be you!!!

Hartline Literary Agency

Click on the pictures below for information about buying her novels.

Book 1: With Eyes of Love

Barbara (Bunny) Richardson lives a perfect life. Wonderful family, amazing voice, and very handsome, very wealthy fiancé. But it doesn’t take long for her to realize he will always make decisions that benefit only him and his business. Barbara will never know the desires of her heart, only that she will be the beautiful woman on his arm. Then, when traveling with her family, Barbara is stranded in a flood in Tennessee, and the handsome man who comes to her rescue turns her perfect life into chaos. Two years later, when they find their paths have crossed again, Jackson, holed up in his room, refuses to meet with her. How could she love a burned and scarred freak, a remnant of Pearl Harbor’s destruction? A man who didn’t save a seventeen-year-old seaman who was counting on him? But Barbara has other ideas. She intends to shame the pity party out of Jackson and when that doesn’t work, she tries a dangerous game of making him jealous at his sister’s wedding. How deep is beauty? And do we get the chance to see real beauty with eyes of love?

Book 2: Always Abby

When Abigail Richardson visits the Judge family in Tennessee, the war is winding down, and Abby hopes to catch a peek of their youngest son and her pen pal for the last six years since they were stranded in the flood, William Judge. As he steps from the train and walks right toward her, her heart flutters in her chest. Yet, Will keeps on walking, all the way to the redhead beyond her. Jeannine. As he introduces the small orphan, Henryk, that he’s brought back from the concentration camp in Germany, Jeannine makes it clear she doesn’t plan to be a readymade mother. Abby, on the other hand, takes “Hank” directly to her heart, and it’s Will who sees more than just a freckle-faced pen pal. Abby’s all grown up. But what of his promise of marriage to Jeannine?

I love that these are part of a story of a family, and are based around the actual, though fictionalized, friendship of two women. My mom and my aunt. And while some things are VERY loosely based on their friendship, it’s the friendship itself that I wanted to bring to light. Two women who shared more than most close sisters do. The kind of friendship that anyone would give anything they had to possess.

Pearl Harbor is explored in book one to show the true horrors of war. As a veteran who served during Vietnam, I don’t have any firsthand experience of war, but male friends coming back gave me enough grist to help me understand just what our men and women go through. The surprise at Pearl left so many not only wounded, but scarred emotionally in a way that they never recovered completely. I wanted to show that aspect in the story and how a person could turn from God because of it. But also, how love can reach into the soul and help a person find their way back home, both emotionally and spiritually.

The concentration camps in Germany didn’t play favorites, they were horrible to everyone, Jews, Gentiles, minorities, it didn’t matter. If you were on the Third Reich’s hit list, you ended up in a camp, and children didn’t fare much better than adults. Again in book two is a sobering account of WWII, but also a wonderful romance of young love found, love lost, and love found again. And the trust and love of a child who has been through more than most adults have faced in their entire lives, but the innocence that reminds those around him of God’s love.

The Substitute Bride

What happens when a young woman traveling west is aboard a train that derails? Hit on the head and unsure of who she is, she is greeted at the next station by a handsome rancher who tells her they are supposed to get married. That day!

Book Giveaway:

Leave a comment on this blog post by next Tuesday for a chance to win an e-book copy of With Eyes of Love.

Julie Lessman – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Free Book Giveaway)

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

Memories of a Published Author (and giveaway)

by Julie Lessman

Close your eyes. Can you hear it? The jangle of the spurs? The reverberation of guitar strings? The haunting wah-wah voice while Clint Eastwood strolls into the desert graveyard for a showdown with an Italian cigar slowly rolling in his mouth? And then, all at once, beyond your control … your stomach growls and you realize you’re hungry for spaghetti. (Sorry, for all you sweet, young things out there, you’ll just have to ask a baby boomer what that means.)

Ah, memories. Ol’ Clint mowing ‘em down with his Colt 1851 Navy revolver in a movie about three gunslingers who dig and claw their way to gold buried in a cemetery. Which, now that I think of it, is faintly reminiscent of a writer’s golden dreams of publication—we dig and claw in the sands of unpubbed island in search of the “gold” while editors, agents and contest judges gun us down. And, as in the case of my 46 rejections for A Passion Most Pure—the potshots keep whizzing by, over and over again!

Sigh … to have our names emblazoned across the cover of a book—oh, yes—a golden dream to be sure, but as the old adage points out, all that glitters is not gold. Sometimes it’s the glint of a jealousy in one’s eyes when somebody gets pubbed instead of you or the sheen of tears when a contest judge slices and dices your ms., or even when a reviewer calls your work “scum reading.” Sniff … will somebody pass the Kleenex, please?

So … as a war-torn veteran of five years (which really needs to be multiplied by five given my CDQ personality that imposes excessive wear and tear on the mind, spirit and tear ducts), I want to talk about the “good, the bad, and the ugly, and no, I’m not talking how a baby boomer CDQ looks first thing in the morning after a rough night of sleep—I’m talking publication and beyond.

Oh, the wide-eyed wonder of being a newbie! There’s something so innocent about it, you know? Like after I finaled in the Golden Heart in 2005 and sent out 25 query envelopes to agents? Yeah, I even stickered those little suckers with a cute, little gold emblem that said “2005 Golden Heart Finalist” because I was certain that would open doors, right? Well, it certainly opened envelopes, yes, each promptly thrown away, no doubt, to the sound of maniacal laughter. But open doors? Uh … not so much.

Which brings me to the “GOOD” on my publication journey. One night an e-mail pops up in my mailbox from a certain Natasha Kern after twenty-four agents had already rejected me, and I’ll be honest—I thought it was a hoax! I mean, come on—I was savvy enough to know that Natasha Kern had appeared in Writer’s Digest Magazine as one of the top 25 agents for new writers to have, but when her e-mail asked me to call her at a Portland, Oregon phone number, I balked.

That’s the GOOD, now enter the “BAD” with fear, doubt, trembling and nausea … “What if it’s a scam?” I asked my husband, chewing my lip raw, “or a cruel joke somebody is playing on me?” My eyes flared wide. “I mean, Portland for heaven’s sake—everybody know agents only lived in New York!” “Well, you have nothing to lose by calling, Julie,” my husband said with a squeeze of my hand. Oh, yes, I did, I thought. My confidence (what was left of it), my hope and, yes, even my supper—in that order. I took a deep breath and reread the e-mail three times, which went something like this:

Julie, do you have an agent yet? If not, please call me at this number immediately. I am leaving on a trip and was hoping you could overnight your manuscript so I can read it on the plane.”

Yeah, right. Twenty-four reputable agents send rejection letters through the mail for A Passion Most Pure, and I’m supposed to believe somebody obviously posing as Natasha Kern wants me to express mail my ms. to OREGON, of all places??? And all this after seeing only FIVE pages and a synopsis (her submission guidelines back then) when all the others saw three chapters and a synopsis??? I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t buy it, and yes, the scary part is that I realllllly was that green, and I’m not talking environmentally.

BUT … I was also desperate, so I called … and the GOOD news is it WAS Natasha Kern and yes, she did actually sign me, the poor dear. The BAD news? She didn’t fully realize till after the ink was dry just how many times I’d been rejected. I believe the word she used was “daunting.” But apparently not too daunting for her amazing skills as an agent because she landed a contract for me within six months. OH. MY. GOODNESS!!!

So there I was, a newbie with a three-book deal, visions of sugar plums (masquerading as Ritas, and Christys and 5-star reviews) dancing in my head, completely certain that getting published would validate me as a writer. (Shaking head here.) Boy, did I have my pajamas on, ‘cause I was definitely dreaming.

Not that good things haven’t happened, because they have, but NOBODY warned me about the roller-coaster ride ahead. Sure, I launched into the sky shrieking with hands high when Revell told me A Passion Most Pure was the “fastest fiction release” they’d ever had up to that time (the “good”), then whooped for joy when I crested the height of that coaster with five-star reviews that brought tears to my eyes. But I wasn’t prepared for the plummet down the rails (the “bad”) when sales took a dive along with the economy and 1-star reviews maligned my books, my character and my faith in God.

And that’s when the “ugly” began—tears and self doubts, jealousy and low self-esteem, causing me to question my ability as a writer and whether or not my type of romantic passion was what God had called me to do. An ugliness so painful that I actually considered quitting writing altogether at least a dozen times in the last five years, begging God to PLEASE lobotomize that part of my writer’s brain that was enamored with book sales, contest wins and 5-star reviews.

Well … He didn’t “lobotomize” me, although to some of you, I’m sure it seems like it at times. Nope, He did something even better—He taught me how to defend myself, to draw my Colt and gun down the bad and the ugly, and let me tell you—ol’ Clint has nothing on me! I have learned the true stance of a gunfight—to keep my eyes fixed straight ahead on God  (Proverbs 4:25—Let your eyes look straight ahead) and not look to the right: contest wins, book sales or good reviews—or to the left: not finaling in contests, low royalties and scathing reviews (Proverbs 4:27—do not turn to the right or the left) and above all else, guard my heart (Proverbs 23). For me that means:

Praying for blessing on every person who gives me a bad review (now, don’t take this as license to have me pray for you, please!).

Praying for authors of whom I am jealous to go to the bestseller list (my good friend, Julie Klassen is a good example, a true story I talk about in my Seeker blog entitled Oh, For the Love of God, Part 2 at http://seekerville.blogspot.com/2008/11/oh-for-love-of-god-part-2.html).

Keeping my mouth free of perversity and corrupt talk far from my lips (Proverbs 24) by asking God to help me to repent and pray when I complain, whine or gossip.

And instead of praying for God to take the desire for awards, good reviews and sales away, to pray for strength to bear up under the job He has given me to do. (This has been a HUGE help to me because God ALWAYS gives you the grace to do what He has called you to do!)

There is no question the life of a published writer—Christian or non—is a blindfolded walk through a minefield of the good, the bad and the ugly. Where a writer can go from being awarded a booby prize for the most rejections in a year like I did at the 2005 ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers conference) … to winning the 2009 ACFW Debut Book of the Year for the very same book. But … as Christian writers, we’re not in this alone. We are writing for a God who according to Romans 8:28, makes all things—the good, the bad and the ugly—work out for the good of those who love Him (i.e. those who obey his commands, John 14:15—if you love me, obey me) and are called according to His purpose (which is all of us who are writing for Him!).

I don’t know about you, but for me I plan to aim high and go for the real gold—honoring Him rather than myself—in my attitude, my words and my actions, ONLY doable with His help, of course. Because take it from someone who’s been there WAY more than she likes—fixing my eyes, happiness and hope on contest wins, great book sales or good reviews is nothing but fool’s gold. And trust me—I may be slow for my age, but I’m no fool!

Over the last five years, I’ve learned a lot about the “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” as both an aspiring writer and a published one, so I thought I’d share a few of them with you today. Who knows? Maybe I can spare you some pain and give you a push in the right direction.

THE “GOOD” THINGS I DID AS AN ASPIRING AUTHOR:

1.) Joined ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers at http://www.americanchristianfictionwriters.com/), FHL (Faith, Hope & Love at http://www.faithhopelove-rwa.org/) and RWA (Romance Writers of America at http://www.rwanational.org/), both to get connected with other like-minded writers and to learn a lot about your craft.

2.) Took a fiction-writing class and attended writing seminars

3.) Attended writer conferences such as ACFW to learn, to make friends, to network and to pitch to agents and editors.

4.) Join a critique group (you can do that through ACFW).

5.) Purchase and study writing books such as Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King or Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maas, AND invest in a great thesaurus such as The Synonym Finder by Rodale Press or utilize FABULOUS Thesaurus websites like the OneLook Reverse Dictionary(my writer’s bible!!) at http://onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml.

6.) Enter contests for invaluable feedback, growth, confidence, networking opportunities and to get your name out there.

7.) Frequent websites/blogs that deal with writing, such as The Seekers http://seekerville.blogspot.com/, http://www.mybooktherapy.com/index.html ,     http://www.rachellegardner.com/, Inkwell Inspirations (who have a GREAT page on writing resources!) http://www.inkwellinspirations.com/p/writing-resources.html , and Writer’s Alley http://thewritersalleys.blogspot.com/ to mention only a few.

8.) Go for an agent first, publisher second.

9.) Query, Query, Query!

10.) Then pray your heart out and put it in God’s hands.

THE “BAD” THINGS I DID AS AN ASPIRING AUTHOR:

1.) Compared myself to others, inciting jealousy and ingratitude (http://seekerville.blogspot.com/2009/09/conference-cpr-julie-lessman-style-and.html  2.) Queried publishers without an agent (biggest reason my rejections topped at 45 rejections on A Passion Most Pure.

3.) Didn’t get a website or platform till a few months before my first release (NOT GOOD … need to start building that platform NOW.

4.) Wasted time over-editing books when I could have been writing more, especially since publishers pay editors to edit your book!

5.) Didn’t research publishers and their guidelines before I pitched to them. http://seekerville.blogspot.com/2008/03/buckle-up-its-going-to-be-bumpy-ride.html

THE “UGLIEST” THING I DID AS A PUBLISHED ASPIRING AUTHOR:

1.)    Went off hormones when I was entering contests — YIKES!! (http://seekerville.blogspot.com/2007/10/caution-hormone-free-zone.html

THE “GOOD” THINGS I DID/DO AS A PUBLISHED AUTHOR:

1.) Connect with my readers through blog interview/giveaways, Facebook, Twitter and e-mail as much as I can because to be honest, after writing, this is what I love to do the MOST!

2.) Issue a newsletter 2-3 times a year with book excerpts and new covers, giveaways, pix of my reader friends and contests such as having a character named after you in my books.

3.) Build my newsletter list with special contests/giveaways for newsletter recipients only.

4.) Speaking engagements and teaching workshops.

5.) Maintain a weekly personal blog called Journal Jots where I keep my reader friends apprised of all that’s going on in my life and feature contests/giveaways.

6.) Set up blog tours during a book release.

7.) Contact all good reviewers on blog tours and ask them to post their reviews on CBD.com, Amazon.com, etc. Pray for the bad reviewers while staying FAR away from them … J

7.) Sign up for Amazon’s Author Central at https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/landing?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

7.) Establish a group blog like Seekerville. J

THE “BAD” THINGS I DID AS A PUBLISHED AUTHOR:

1.) Scheduled too many book signings. To be honest, according to my publisher, book signings are not worth the time and investment, and I’m inclined to agree.

2.) Scheduled too many blog interviews during a book release—not a good idea if you actually want to write. NOTE: I do believe this is beneficial if you are a new writer trying to get your name out there, but according to my publisher, it’s not an effective use of a writer’s time after you are more established.

3.) Checked my rankings on Amazon WAY too much, which according to my publisher are not valid indicators of sales.

4.) Entered too many unnecessary contests, which is not worth the money, the time and the grief when you don’t final.

5.) Spent too much time on e-mails, especially to reader friends to whom I simply cannot write a generic note to save my soul.

THE “UGLIEST” THING I DID AS AN ASPIRING AUTHOR:

1.)    Compared myself to other writers. DO NOT DO THIS!!! We are all unique to God, and He has appointed each of us to a particular journey, so embrace where He has you and ENJOY it! Mantra: For His glory, not ours.

2.)     Measured my success and worth by sales, figures, contests wins and Amazon rankings, which might work in the secular market, but when you write Christian fiction, these things are NOT an accurate measure of either your success or your self worth … EXCEPT in how you handle them before God!

GIVEAWAY TIME!! Leave a comment by this week, and you will have the chance to win a signed copy of any one of my books including my upcoming release Love at Any Cost.

Thanks, Tamera, for this wonderful opportunity to appear on your blog! I LOVE to hear from reader friends, so if they like, they can contact me through my website at http://www.julielessman.com, either by sending an e-mail via my site or by signing up for my newsletter at http://www.julielessman.com/sign-up-for-newsletter/.

Also, I have a cool blog feature on my website called “Journal Jots” at http://www.julielessman.com/journal-jots1/, which is a very laid-back Friday journal to my reader friends that will give your readers an idea as to my relaxed style of writing. Or readers can check out my favorite romantic and spiritual scenes from each of my books on the “Excerpts” tab of my website at http://www.julielessman.com/excerpts/. Finally, I can be found daily at The Seekers blog at http://seekerville.blogspot.com/, a group blog devoted to encouraging and helping aspiring writers on the road to publication.

Hugs,

Julie

Meet the Author:

Julie Lessman is an award-winning author whose tagline of “Passion With a Purpose” underscores her intense passion for both God and romance. Winner of the 2009 ACFW Debut Author of the Year and Holt Medallion Awards of Merit for Best First Book and Long Inspirational, Julie is also the recipient of 14 Romance Writers of America awards and was voted by readers as “Borders Best of 2009 So Far: Your Favorite Fiction.”

Chosen as the #1 Romance Fiction Author of the Year in the Family Fiction magazine 2012 and 2011 Readers Choice Awards, Julie was also awarded #1 Historical Fiction Author of the Year in that same poll and #3 Author of the Year, #4 Novel of the Year and #3 Series of the year. She resides in Missouri with her husband, daughter, son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter and is the author of “The Daughters of Boston” series—A Passion Most Pure, A Passion Redeemed, and A Passion Denied. Book 1 in her “Winds of Change” series A Hope Undaunted ranked #5 on Booklist’s Top 10 Inspirational Fiction for 2010.

Click on the pictures for information about buying Julie’s novels.

How To Land An Agent

 

Now that I have an agent, Linda Glaz from Hartline Literary Agency, I’ll tell you the deep dark secrets that every writer wants to know about how to get published. But you must promise to keep these under your hat. Don’t tell another soul.

Don’t Give Up. Publishing is a hard business. Competition is fierce. The writer who lands an agent is most likely the one who never gives up.

Learn All You Can About The Writing Craft. Most people with talent have worked hard to learn their craft. Talented athletes practice sports drills for hours a day. Musicians learn how to play their instruments. Professional singers hire voice coaches to perfect their singing voices. If those talents require honing, why do writers think they can sit down and writing without working at learning their craft and be able to write anything worth reading?

Write Another Book. I know. Your first book is your baby and the most brilliant idea you’ve ever had. But the truth is that no matter how many edits your first book goes through, it probably won’t be published first. This is true of 99.9% of authors. Stephen King’s first novel wasn’t published until he became famous publishing other novels. Mary Connealy wasn’t published until she wrote her seventh novel. So if you want to land an agent, write more than one book.

Don’t Self-Publish Your First Novel. Publishing is changing, and I’m not going to try to talk you out of self-publishing if that’s the direction you want to go. But I will tell you that if you don’t wait for traditional publishing for your first novel, the chances are it will stunt your growth as a writer. We, as writers, always think we’re ready to be published before we really are. Even if you succeed in self-publishing, you won’t perfect your craft to become a publishable writer if you take shortcuts. Here’s 10 Reasons I Decided To Become Commercially Published.

Work Hard. Nobody like to hear this. But the truth is, if we want to succeed at anything, we need to work hard at it.

Follow the Agent’s Guidelines. You may have a brilliant idea to get your submission noticed, but the truth is that professional submissions that follow an agent’s guidelines to the letter are so rare that it will get you noticed.

Research Agents. Many writers do blanket submissions to everyone and could wallpaper their bedrooms with the form rejections they receive. If you send your Christian romance to a agent who prefers erotic fiction, you’re going to be rejected. If you send your gritty western to an agent who loves historical romance and Amish fiction, you’re going to be rejected. Research what agents represent if you want to land an agent. Otherwise you’re wasting the agent’s and your time. Also make sure you check the agent’s rating through Preditors and Editors. There are many disreputable agents and publishers out there.

Go To a Writer’s Conference. Even if you don’t land an agent at a writer’s conference, you will make connections. Those connections might help you later.

Find Critique Partners. It’s hard to edit your own work especially when you’re just starting out. Get a group of critique partners who will point out where your writing needs improvement.

Join Online Writing Communities. ACFW, ChristianWriter.com, Absolute Write, and Edgy Christian Fiction Writers are only a few of the many writing communities out there. These communities are very helpful when you don’t know where to turn for advice.

Don’t Give Up. I know. I already said that one. But it bears repeating.

So now you know my secrets. What do you mean you’ve heard them before? Maybe that’s because they are the real steps on how to land an agent.

Should Writers Have Literary Agents?

 

I hear this question from time to time among my writing friends. One size doesn’t fit all and what works for me may not work for you. I do have a literary agent – Linda Glaz from Hartline Agency. I’m thrilled she agreed to become my agent.

Here are five reasons I wanted an agent:

1. Agents can submit your novels to large publishing houses that won’t accept author submissions.
2. I still have a lot to learn about the publishing process, and my agent is my ally in that process.
3. My agent has client groups where I can network with other authors when it comes to marketing and other things I need to know.
4. Agents typically get a better deal from publishers than lone authors do.
5. A good agent lends credibility to my work showing it’s publishable material.

That’s my list. Do you have other reasons you are seeking an agent? Or maybe you have reason not to seek an agent. Either way, leave a comment and share them.

Tracking Submissions

I once submitted a novel to the same agent twice. I forgot I’d already sent it to him and was embarrassed to get two rejections letters within a couple of days of each other. Not very professional. That humiliating moment taught me I needed a system to track submissions. Every writer needs a system. Here are a few that work.

Online tracking: Author Advance, formally Litmatch offers a free online service to track submissions. The only drawback to this system is it only tracks agents and agencies and only those in it’s database. Still it’s a good system.

Excel: Setting up a table in Excel to track submissions is a good method if you know how to work with tables. Column heading can include these: Date submitted, Work submitted, Agent or Publisher, Materials sent, Answer, Additional Materials sent.

MS Outlook: If you have MS Outlook or a similar program, this is a good way to track submissions. Set up a contact for each agent and publisher you submit to. You can keep track of these by placing them in a new contact folder called submissions. You can also make subfolders for each project. The contact info has a note section where you can add any info you want. To keep track of answers, you can set up color coded categories. Submission pending would be yellow, additional material or acceptance would be green, and rejections would be red. You can add in the note section whether it was a form rejection or if they had advice for further reference. You can even add a flag to follow up on submissions after a certain amount of time.

MS Word: You can have a page in Word for each project. Each paragraph has information about someone you want to submit to and what materials you’re submitting. Color code each agent or publisher by using the text highlight color. You can get as elaborate with this as you want by not only tracking the submissions through different colors, but by tracking first, second, and third choices for submitting before you send out any material. One advantage to this method is all information about each project is in one document. Another is you can add as many notes as you want without limiting it to an Excel table box.

If you have some ideas for tracking submissions that have worked for you and aren’t listed here, please share them in the comments.

Fiction Proposal Marketing Page

The marketing page includes market analysis, similar books, and what you, the author intend to do to market your book.

Market Analysis:

This is the section where you tell the demographics, target audience, of who would be interested in your book. Include age, gender, interests, religion, or anything else you think might narrow it down. Don’t write that everyone would like this book. You want to narrow your niche.

Similar Books:

This is usually the hardest part to do. You aren’t looking for books that are the same as yours. List novels that have some similarities. For instance, if you’re writing a romance about the Revolutionary era, list other romances from that era. Don’t be afraid to list movies or crossovers. For one novel I said it is Redeeming Love meets Outlaw Josie Wells. This is that important to get exactly right. You’re just giving the agent or publisher an idea of what kind of people this story will attract.

Marketing:

This is where you list what you, the author, is willing to do to market your novel. Here’s some ideas of what you could list here.

• Local Book Signings
• Presentation at library
• Museum Presentation
• Speak at Churches
• Social Networking
• Blogs and Websites
• Blog Tours
• Influencers

Fiction Proposal Biographical Page

The biographical page consists of two parts. Part one is the biographical sketch, and part two is past publications. 

Biographical Sketch:

Don’t put too much effort in this section. You don’t want to write a complete biography about how you wanted to write since you were in third grade. The main thing you want here is the following:

Name

Location: This is important information if you live near the setting of your novel. Otherwise you’ll want to write something like “I live in Akron, Ohio.”

Family: married, number of children. You can mention this, but don’t dwell on it unless you’re related to Jerry Jenkins.

Education: Only have this if you have training of education in something that relates to writing such as an English degree or you’ve taken a writing course. If the story touches on something where your education helps, go ahead and put that. For instance, if you’re writing about a police officer and you’ve taken law enforcement training, that would be applicable. Also if you’ve had nurses training and are writing about hospital life, put that down.

Career: Only list this if it’s applicable.

Writing Groups: If you belong to any writing groups, list these.

Websites/Blogs: List any websites or blogs you have.

Past Publications:

If you’ve been published at all, include this section. Otherwise leave it out. Also leave out any self-published or vanity published books or novels unless they’ve sold over 10,000 copies. POD and e-books can be listed if you didn’t have to pay to have them published. You’ll want to include name of publication, date, and publishing company.

Fiction Proposal Sell Sheet

The sell sheet is the second page of your fiction proposal. Not all agents or publishers require a sell sheet, but some do. Even if they don’t, it doesn’t hurt to add a sell sheet to your proposal.

Your sell sheet should include the following elements:

Promo Sentence Sales Handle:

These are sometimes called loglines or taglines. This is one sentence or a couple of short sentences, sometimes just a phrase, that gets you interested in the book. To get an idea of how to write a sales handle, look at best-selling novels or popular movies. Here’s a few good ones.

The Patriot: Before they were soldiers, they were family. Before they were legends, they were heros. Before there was a nation, there was a fight for freedom.

Air Force One: Air Force one is hijacked with the president and his family aboard.

Independence Day: Aliens try to invade earth on Independence Day.

Liar, Liar: An attorney, because of a birthday wish, can’t tell any lies for 24 hours.

The Hunt for Red October: A Soviet submarine captain uses Russia’s ultimate underwater weapon as a means to defect to the west.

A good logline has three components:

• Who the story is about (protagonist)
• What he strives for (goal).
• What stands in his way (antagonistic force).

Back Cover Promotion:

This is the one to two paragraphs you would have on the back cover of your novel telling what your book is about. You don’t want to give away endings or surprises here. The Missionary by William Carmichael and David Lambert has an example of a good one. 

David and his wife Christie rescue impoverished children in the slums of Venezuela. But for David, that’s not enough. The supply of homeless children is endless because of the corrupt policies of the Venezuelan government.

In a rare moment of anger, David lashes out publicly against the government, unaware of the chain reaction that will soon follow.

When the CIA offers David a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play a key role in a “bloodless” coup, he decides to go for it. But little by little, he falls into an unimaginable web of deceit that ends in a desperate, life-or-death gamble to flee the country with his wife and son, with all the resources of a corrupt dictatorship at their heels.

Genre:

Tell what genre this is. If it fits in more than one genre, list only two and place the most important one first. The exception to this is if the novel fits in the Christian category. Then you can list Christian, then two genres. For more information about the different genres, click here.

Word Length:

You can estimate here to the nearest thousand. Also your word processor program word count is acceptable. There’s no need to use any complicated formulas.

Series:

If this novel is part of a series, list the other books and a short blurb on what they’re about.

Purpose or Spiritual Premise:

Some agents require this. Don’t sweat about it because it’s not a deal breaker. Just list any theme you notice. If you have scripture the theme is based on, list that here too.

History of the Manuscript:

This is important information for agents. They will want to know if you’ve submitted the manuscript to any publishers.

The Fiction Proposal

Most agents and publishers at some point during the submission process ask for a proposal. There are many books and articles out there that teach how to write a non-fiction proposal but very few about fiction proposals.

For the next few posts after Thanksgiving, I’ll cover different aspect of the fiction proposal. This post covers what should be in a proposal and how to format it. Different agents and editors require various things in their proposals. My recommendation is to write a full proposal. If you do this, you can delete certain parts not needed for your submissions, but you won’t have to rewrite a new proposal for each agent. Here’s what you should have in a full proposal.

Cover Page: The cover page should have your contact information and the title of your proposal. In the left hand header, have the contact info. Center the title in the middle of the page. Here’s an example.

 

Name

Address

City, State Zip

Phone Number

Email

Website or Blog

 

TITLE

A Proposal by Name

Genre

Word Count of Entire Manuscript

 

Sell Sheet: On the second page, you should start page numbers in the right hand corner. The second page is a sell sheet. I’ll talk about what a sell sheet is later. Here’s what’s included in the sell sheet.

• Promo Sentence Sales Handle
• Back Cover Promotion
• Genre
• Word Length
• Series (if applicable)
• Purpose or Spiritual Premise
• History of the Manuscript

Synopsis: Next is the synopsis. Remember to have a three page and a one page synopsis available. For more about the synopsis, click here.

Biography Page: The biography page includes a biographical sketch and past publications.

Marketing Page: The marketing page includes market analysis, similar books, and what you, the author intend to do to market your book.

Sample Pages: Normally sample pages are asked to be included in a proposal. You can tack these onto the end of the proposal. Include another cover page telling the title, how many pages or chapters are included, and your name centered on the page. There’s no need to include contact info on this page because you have it at the beginning of your proposal.

After you write a full proposal, you can tweak it for each publisher or agent’s submission guidelines.

The Synopsis

Most publishers and agents ask for a synopsis when you submit. If you need a proposal, the synopsis is almost always a part of that proposal. I recommend you write a three page synopsis and one page synopsis. The requirements for submissions vary, so if you have both lengths on hand you should be all right. The thing to remember about a synopsis is it will be the worst writing you’ve ever done.

Here’s some things that might help you write your synopsis.

A synopsis is the summary of a full length novel. This means you have to tell the story in as few words as possible. This is the time for you to tell, not show.

The first paragraph of your synopsis should be a short blurp about the novel. Think about the paragraph you would write for the back cover of your book to catch people’s attention.

Single space a synopsis, and have one inch margins and size 12 font.

Write the synopsis in present tense.

Tell the main plot and introduce the main characters. Don’t worry about subplots or minor characters here.\

Tell your ending. You don’t want to hide your surprise ending here. You want to show it off and let the people your submitting to know the novel reaches a satisfactory ending. If you don’t convince them of that, they might not be interested in reading the whole manuscript.

Here’s some links that will help you write your synopsis.

 For the Synopsis Writing Challenged

Writing a Novel Synopsis

The Synopsis Project

Writing the Fiction Synopsis