Jeanette Cooper Novels

Writing A Killer Query Can be Simple

By Natalie R. Collins

Query letters and synopses are the bane of writers every where. Extremely prolific authors with 200,000-word manuscripts suddenly suffer writer's block when faced with a letter that starts: "Dear Agent."

Why are these two products so difficult to write? Perhaps because we are making it harder than it needs to be. In today's column I will focus on query letters. Query letters are simple. There are only five parts to an effective query, although others will tell you there are four. This is the format that I follow:

1. Hook

2. Book description

3. Genre, word count, market

4. Your credentials

5. Ending

Sounds easy, right?

It is, if you remember to put it in perspective. A query letter is the tool that you will use to sell your work and yourself to an agent. This is your 30-second Superbowl spot. It needs to be brief, well-written, include all the vital information, and be snappy.

Let's start with the hook. What is the most important aspect of your work? You need to focus on something unique, original, and attention getting. I advise against using a question for your hook. This is an overused tactic, and one I'm sure that agents are tiring of. As an example, I will use my own query letter for for Outer Darkness, my second book. This query letter received a very high and positive response from the agents I queried.

1. Hook: Allison Marie Jensen is a rebellious young Mormon woman whose father rules his world and family like a god.

With this hook, I am hoping to give the agent a reason to want to read on and be compelled by my storyline. After you find the right hook, you move to the second part of your query, the book description.

2. Book Description: The Church sets his right in stone, and Allison chafes under the strictures of fundamental religion. Struggling to leave her abusive past behind, she sets out on a journey of self-discovery only to discover that in trying to destroy her father, the only person she has hurt is herself. Following a brutal attack, Allison retraces her tumultuous childhood years, trying to fill in the gaps of a patchwork memory. She uncovers a conspiracy by a series of Church leaders to cover up the abuses of a sexual predator. Determined to bring him, and those who didn't stop him, to justice, she sets out on a journey that drastically changes the lives of every member of her family--including her fanatically religious father. Stalked by her rapist, she ultimately discovers the worst betrayal is perpetrated by those who believe themselves to be following God's will.

Your book description should be as brief and compelling as you can possibly make it. Secondary plots and characters have no place here. You don't have the time for them. What you need to get to is the meat of your story. What drives this manuscript? After you have your description down, you move to genre, word count, and market.

3. Genre, word count, market: With recent events spotlighting Utah, including the 2002 Olympics and media coverage, and the trial of polygamist Tom Green, there has been much interest in Utah and the Mormon Church. This 80,000-word work, mainstream women's fiction, covers much of the history of the Mormon religion, and opens up to the world a closed society about which very little is known.

Should you always include a genre? In my opinion, no. I research the agent I am querying first, before trying to put a "tag" on my work. Most often, agents will decide what genre your work fits in, and you don't have to. If you do feel it necessary to use a genre, try to keep it broad and non-specific. From here, we move to your credentials.

4. Credentials: I have over twenty years writing experience, including eleven years with the largest daily newspaper in Salt Lake City. I also served as an editor for the 2001 and 2002 Sundance Film Festivals. Outer Darkness is based on my own upbringing as a Mormon. Through my work with Sundance, I have been approached by several independent producers interested in screenplay rights to Sisterwife (Booklocker, 2001), which is garnering excellent reviews, and was voted number seven in the annual Preditors & Editors Poll for 2002. I have two other books completed, and have started on my fourth.

Keep it short and sweet. Do not list every award you have received, or every school you have attended, but be careful not to leave something important out, also. After you have introduced yourself, end it on a brief, professional note.

5. Ending: Please let me know if you are interested in reading Outer Darkness. Best, Natalie R. Collins.

That's it. Nothing more is needed, except, of course, a SASE for those snail mail queries. If you divide your query into these five parts, it makes your job much easier. If you have included something that does not fit in one of these groups, you should seriously consider whether or not it is necessary to your query.

Queries should never be more than one page, and should always be professional written, edited, and proofread. Even email queries should contain your contact information, and should be professional.

In my next column, I'll be attempting to make a synopsis as easy as a query. Wish me luck. I'd rather sit on a den of fire ants.

Copyright © 2001-2002 Natalie R. Collins

Books Recommended for Authors

THE INSIDER'S GUIDE TO GETTING AN AGENT

By Lori Perkins

Writer's Digest Books, Cincinnati, Ohio , 1999, 244pp.

          For any writer trying to find an agent, I recommend this comprehensive book. Ms. Perkins gives the reader a look into the business life of an agent and what they do. Then she proceeds to give chapter by chapter steps toward finding the right agent, interesting her/him with a well-developed query, and offering query samples. She  lets a writer know what to expect from an agent, as well as gives interesting information into the bargaining procedures between agent and editors of publishing houses. I love this book and refer to it frequently when I am sending queries to agents.

_____________________________________________

THE FICTION DICTIONARY

By Laurie Henry

Story Press, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1995, 325pp.

A good knowledge of the terminology used to describe fiction is a must for well-informed writers.

The Fiction Dictionary gives you a comprehensive "writer's" dictionary that teaches as well as defines and points out well-chosen examples.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO CHARACTER TRAITS

By Linda N. Edelstein, Ph.D.

Writer's Digest Books, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1999, 331pp.

This book examines dozens of personality types, revealing the motivations and influences behind a range of behaviors. Hundreds of quick-reference lists, charts and case scenarios supply the psychological bacground you need to make your characters believable and engaging.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CREATING CHARACTERS: How to Build Story People

By Dwight V. Swain

Writer's Digest Books, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1990, 197pp.

(If I have ever loved any book, it is this one. I learned more about writing from this book than any I've read. If you buy this book, I promise you will not be disappointed.)

This is the most helpful writer's book I've ever read. It is so well written, it reads almost like a novel while giving the reader one of the most comprehensive study courses there is on how to make your characters so believable that they come alive on the printed page. I highly reccommend this book to anyone who writes or wishes to start writing.

Book Marketing: Five Tips for Successful Online Book Promotion

http://www.selfpublishebooks.com/book-marketing.html

Book Marketing

Whether your book is self-published or published by a major publisher, take charge of book marketing by following the five tips below. Even if your book has been picked up by a major publishing house, they may do little in terms of book promotion. You have poured your heart and soul into your book, so don't drop the ball when it comes to publicity.

Five Book Marketing and Book Promotion Tips:

1. Search online for newsletters and web sites that address the target audience for your book. Contact the publisher of the newsletter or owner of the web site and send them a press release about your book. Some web site owners may be willing to consider your book for review. Rather than just sending them your book, contact them first to verify their mailing address. If your book is an ebook, offer them a complimentary download in exchange for a book review.

2. Find newsgroups that cater to your target audience and use your book marketing skills to let them know about your book by answering their questions and then posting information about your book as part of your signature line. Do not post a blatant ad about your book. Be helpful rather than solicitous.

3. Although it may be expensive to do book marketing in the offline world, the online world is full of opportunites. Many of today's bestselling authors first garnered notice in the online world by achieving success on Amazon. Do all you can to achieve this by promoting your book page on Amazon.

4. Kick off your online publicity by getting friends and family to read your book. ask them to spread the word. Have them select ten people from their email address book--friends, family or acquaintances--and send them a short email about your book.

5. Create excerpts of your book and submit them for publication in online newsletters. Make sure to include an author profile at the end that tells readers where they can purchase your book online.

Now that your book is written, turn your attention to book marketing and promotion. Read about book promotion products and services that have helped me to sell my book. Resolve to do a little every day. Each day, contact two publishers of online newsletters or post an answer to someone's question in an online forum making sure to include your book title and where it can be purchased online in your signature line. Whatever you do, commit to doing book marketing for at least two years after your book comes off the press. After pouring your heart and soul into your book, make a commitment to doing the same with book promotion.

Note: One of the most important things that authors fail to do is build a web site that draws targeted readers to your site. Learn how to do so by reading the article below. Don't just put up a web site that will only be visited by your family and friends. Build a site that will actually draw interested readers who will want to buy your book, so you'll get book sales while you sleep. The toolset I recommend and the one I use myself does not require any technical knowledge.

Make an Informercial and Promote Your Book, Product or Service

Book Marketing Plan - A Book Marketing Strategy for Success

Ebook Website Design

Information Marketing System - Build an Empire from Your Book

Book Promotion

Internet Book Promotion

Self Publish Ebooks

Writing & Publishing Tips: How to Get a Top Literary Agent & Sign That Coveted Six-Figure Deal

By Susan Harrow

http://prsecretstore.com/sixfigurebookproposaljanal.

Top literary agents get about 400-1,000 unsolicited queries every month from hopeful book authors. Publishing houses sometimes juggle 5,000. Most of my private clients and participants in my seminar "How to Get a Six-Figure Book Advance" ask me, "How is an author supposed to get an agent's attention when there is so much competition?"

First of all, don't write a book-- write a book proposal. Publishers buy ideas, not books. To capture a reputable literary agent's attention, you'll need to show that you're a media star, or a star in the making. Good writing can be bought but star power can't.

Here are five more tips to landing a top literary agent and a six-figure advance:

1. Do your research.

Literary agents specialize in very specific interests. For example, my agent loves tearjerkers but won't take on books that involve children in peril. You want an agent who has represented books similar to yours, who sells books on a regular basis, who is devoted to you, and has the time to give you a little guidance through the literary labyrinth.

Sometimes a newer, less experienced literary agent who is hungry for business is more dedicated and has more time to spend with you than an established one with a reputable cadre of authors. I recommend two ways to find the literary agent right for you:

- Look in the acknowledgements of books similar to your topic. A happy author always thanks his literary agent. Once you've located your ideal agents, become familiar with their tastes, learn everything you can about their interests, pet peeves, and preferences, and review their websites for submission guidelines. Show that knowledge in your query letter or initial phone conversation.

- Read Publisher's Weekly, Publisher's Lunch, and Variety to see who sold what and for how much. You will get a sense of an agent's sensibility and be able to speak knowledgeably about the types of books they prefer when you know what's happening in the industry in general and in your area of expertise in particular. You'll know more than most people who submit proposals as you'll be apprised of books that aren't even published yet and movie deals in the making. And you'll get a sense of market trends.

2. Write a book proposal that reads like a thriller.

After you've located the agents you want to approach, the next step is to complete your book proposal. Once interested by your call or query letter, the very best literary agents move at hyper-speed. They'll want to see your book proposal-- now. They'll either ask you to Fed Ex or e-mail it.

There is a real art to writing a best-selling book proposal that makes the literary agent you've chosen say, "I want this person as a client." To make your book proposal read in one sitting, you'll want to write in short paragraphs with strong headlines. Be sure to give the chosen agent an immediate impression of how your book will read by writing the proposal in the same style as your book.

Find unusual, quirky, provocative tidbits about your subject that will entice the literary agent to say, "Wow, I never knew this." Imagine the kind of tips that a terrific magazine article would include. When an editor at a top New York publishing house is reading your book proposal she is thinking, what kind of media exposure will we be able to get for this book? Can we get magazine feature articles, newspaper pieces, radio shows? Will the subject matter and the author interest the producers of "Good Morning America," "The Today Show," CNN, or "Oprah"?

3. Prove you have a platform.

The one thing that thrills a New York publisher the most is your platform. Your platform is simply your reach. How many people are influenced by your ideas worldwide? To simplify this even further, a publisher wants to know one thing and one thing only (once they are interested in the subject matter of your book), and that is? how many books are you going to sell and to whom. You'll need to demonstrate that you're a great media guest, that you have an audience eager to snap up your books, and that you have a proven track record for selling your books or wares.

4. Reveal how your past performance predicts future behavior.

Map out each venue and determine how many people are in attendance and how many of those people will buy your book. Include workshops, seminars, fairs, media appearances, book signings, keynotes, teleseminars, webinars, events, newsletter lists, blogs, partnerships, etc. Quantify everything in great detail. Estimate and base potential sales on past sales you've completed.

5. Show you are the one.

Show that there is a clear need for your book and that you are the only one who can write it. In other words, what problems are you solving and why are you the undisputed expert? What gap in the market are you filling? One of my clients whose topic was about how to be the very best at what you do and who you are, had a black belt, was a concert violinist, and had given seminars at The White House. She walked her talk, and lived her words. You need to have top-notch skills in order to gain the interest of a high caliber literary agent.

Follow these tips, and you can land a top literary agent and a six-figure deal. I hope to see your name on the New York Times best-seller list!

Media coach & marketing strategist, Susan Harrow, can help you get paid $100,000 or more for your book. For over 17 years, she has helped speakers, authors and entrepreneurs get 6-figure book advances. In her book, Get a Six Figure Book Advance, Susan explains the 15 steps to making big money on your next book proposal. Buy it now and receive $450 worth of free bonuses at:

http://prsecretstore.com/sixfigurebookproposaljanal.

http://www.selfpublishebooks.com/writing-a-press-release.html

7 Tips for Writing a Press Release to Promote Your Book, Product or Service

Writing a Press Release ...

When you want to get the word out about something, a new book you have written, an event you are sponsoring or a product you are offering, one of the best ways to get it in front of a lot of people is to write a press release.

Also known as a media release or news release, a press release is written as a news article and contains important information regarding whatever it is that you are promoting. Reporters and news agencies can pick up your release and either print it in their publication or contact you for further information. It is a quick, fairly simple method of promotion, but there are some consistent rules that should be followed.

Before I give you tips to write a press release that will get your book, product or service in the news, let me tell you about my recent experience. November is National American Indian Heritage Month, so I wrote a press release tying in this event to some material in my book Keepers of the Children: Native American Wisdom and Parenting Rather than just send a free release, I put out a little bit of money to have a professional editor work with me to target specific areas and publications for my release.

Targeting is essential because it gets your press release into the hands of those most likely to publish it. With this service, you'll also get detailed analytics. My press release went out to 50,989 media outlets with 1161 reads. This resulted in over 2000 sales of my book. Not a bad deal for a 30-day period for a book that is more than 4 years old. Now, that you understand the purpose Press Release Distribution get started or read on.

7 Tips for Writing a Press Release

1. Capture their attention. The headline is your first chance to capture your reader's attention, and the first paragraph, the lead, is your second chance. This is one of the most important steps in writing a press release. If you don't make the grade on either of these, no one is going to read your release. Write a compelling headline that is descriptive, brief (no more than 80 characters including spaces) and makes your reader want to read more.

2. Remember the Six Serving Men of Creativity. Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem about the six serving men of creativity and journalists have long held to those six ?men?: who, what, when, where, why and how. All of these should be answered in your first paragraph.

3. Make it Newsworthy. You are not writing and article or a story, you are writing a newsworthy piece of journalism. When you write a press release, you are looking for the angle for your piece, think along those lines. Are journalists really going to care if you wrote a book on weight loss, or is it more newsworthy to play up the fact that your book highlights a revolutionary, new process that allows people to eat more of the foods they love? Find the newsworthy angle and play it up, but remember, it isn't a sales page so stay away from sales lingo. If possible, tie your angle into an upcoming event, like National Weight Loss Day.

4. Include Company Information. When writing a press release, you should devote one paragraph to company information. Give a brief history, or talk about what the company does. Include a quote or two from a key figure in the company. Don't go overboard with this part of the release, you don't want it to look like you are promoting the company. Remember, you are merely reporting the news.

5. Use Good Form. Write in a clear, concise manner and keep slang and trade jargon to a minimum. Don't use your press release as a sales page (yes, I said this before, but it bears repeating), write it as a solid news article, tailored to the reporters and news agencies that you want to pick it up.

6. Create a Boilerplate. A boilerplate is added the last part of writing a press release and is the one place where you can get away with marketing. Write up your company, product or whatever you are promoting in a brief, 3 or 4 sentence sales pitch. Include contact information and web addresses. This is your one and only place on your press release where you can actually get away with a little sales copy. The same boilerplate that you create can also be used for your other releases as well.

7. Signal the End. At the end of your release, it is a standard practice to include # # # centered a space below the last line of your text, usually the boilerplate. This lets your reader know that they have reached the end of the release. It also puts a professional polish on your release.

By writing a press release and sending it via a Press Release Distribution service, you can:

* Reach 100,000 contacts * Increase web visitors to your website * Increase your search engine rankings * Get top placement of your news release on Yahoo! News * Get coverage in important media outlets like USA Today * Know exactly how many people have viewed and read your release which allows you to track your efforts.

Now that you have the tools to write an eye catching, newsworthy press release, sign up with the oldest and best Press Release Distribution service on the web. This is one of the best ways to promote your book, product or service. The world is waiting for your news!

Articles to Help with Your Query Letter

How to Query an Agent
How to Write a Dynamite Query Letter
The Art of the Query
How to Write an Attention-getting Query Letter
The Art of the Query
The Complete Nobody's Guide to Query Letters
The Query (Or Proposal) Letter
Writing a Query Letter That Sells
How to Write a Query
Master The Art Of The Query Letter
How to Write a Dynamite Query Letter
How to Write a Query Letter -- For Articles
Writing Effective Queries
How to write a query letter
Writing A Good Query Letter
Sample Query - pdf
Query Letter Workshop - pdf
Demystifying the Query Letter
Sample Novel Query Letter

Winning Query Letter Samples
Query Letter FAQ
Master the art of the query letter
How to write a query letter
Quick Query Letter Checklist
Writing Your Cover Letter
Submission Primer 101
Perfect Query Letters
What should be in a query letter
Preparing E-mail Queries
The Last Query
Email Query DOs and DON'Ts
A Terrific Query Letter
How To Write Great Queries
The Novel Query
Query for an Agent
Writing a Query Letter That Sells
How to Write a Query Letter

Writing & Publishing Tips: How to Get a Top Literary Agent & Sign That Coveted Six-Figure Deal
By Susan Harrow

Top literary agents get about 400-1,000 unsolicited queries every month from hopeful book authors. Publishing houses sometimes juggle 5,000. Most of my private clients and participants in my seminar "How to Get a Six-Figure Book Advance" ask me, "How is an author supposed to get an agent's attention when there is so much competition?"

First of all, don't write a book-- write a book proposal. Publishers buy ideas, not books. To capture a reputable literary agent's attention, you'll need to show that you're a media star, or a star in the making. Good writing can be bought but star power can't.

Here are five more tips to landing a top literary agent and a six-figure advance:

1. Do your research.
 
Literary agents specialize in very specific interests. For example, my agent loves tearjerkers but won't take on books that involve children in peril. You want an agent who has represented books similar to yours, who sells books on a regular basis, who is devoted to you, and has the time to give you a little guidance through the literary labyrinth.

Sometimes a newer, less experienced literary agent who is hungry for business is more dedicated and has more time to spend with you than an established one with a reputable cadre of authors. I recommend two ways to find the literary agent right for you:

- Look in the acknowledgements of books similar to your topic. A happy author always thanks his literary agent. Once you've located your ideal agents, become familiar with their tastes, learn everything you can about their interests, pet peeves, and preferences, and review their websites for submission guidelines. Show that knowledge in your query letter or initial phone conversation.

- Read Publisher's Weekly, Publisher's Lunch, and Variety to see who sold what and for how much. You will get a sense of an agent's sensibility and be able to speak knowledgeably about the types of books they prefer when you know what's happening in the industry in general and in your area of expertise in particular. You'll know more than most people who submit proposals as you'll be apprised of books that aren't even published yet and movie deals in the making. And you'll get a sense of market trends.

2. Write a book proposal that reads like a thriller.

After you've located the agents you want to approach, the next step is to complete your book proposal. Once interested by your call or query letter, the very best literary agents move at hyper-speed. They'll want to see your book proposal-- now. They'll either ask you to Fed Ex or e-mail it.

There is a real art to writing a best-selling book proposal that makes the literary agent you've chosen say, "I want this person as a client." To make your book proposal read in one sitting, you'll want to write in short paragraphs with strong headlines. Be sure to give the chosen agent an immediate impression of how your book will read by writing the proposal in the same style as your book.

Find unusual, quirky, provocative tidbits about your subject that will entice the literary agent to say, "Wow, I never knew this." Imagine the kind of tips that a terrific magazine article would include. When an editor at a top New York publishing house is reading your book proposal she is thinking, what kind of media exposure will we be able to get for this book? Can we get magazine feature articles, newspaper pieces, radio shows? Will the subject matter and the author interest the producers of "Good Morning America," "The Today Show," CNN, or "Oprah"?

3. Prove you have a platform.

The one thing that thrills a New York publisher the most is your platform. Your platform is simply your reach. How many people are influenced by your ideas worldwide? To simplify this even further, a publisher wants to know one thing and one thing only (once they are interested in the subject matter of your book), and that is? how many books are you going to sell and to whom. You'll need to demonstrate that you're a great media guest, that you have an audience eager to snap up your books, and that you have a proven track record for selling your books or wares.

4. Reveal how your past performance predicts future behavior.

Map out each venue and determine how many people are in attendance and how many of those people will buy your book. Include workshops, seminars, fairs, media appearances, book signings, keynotes, teleseminars, webinars, events, newsletter lists, blogs, partnerships, etc. Quantify everything in great detail. Estimate and base potential sales on past sales you've completed.

5. Show you are the one.

Show that there is a clear need for your book and that you are the only one who can write it. In other words, what problems are you solving and why are you the undisputed expert? What gap in the market are you filling? One of my clients whose topic was about how to be the very best at what you do and who you are, had a black belt, was a concert violinist, and had given seminars at The White House. She walked her talk, and lived her words. You need to have top-notch skills in order to gain the interest of a high caliber literary agent.

Follow these tips, and you can land a top literary agent and a six-figure deal. I hope to see your name on the New York Times best-seller list!

Media coach & marketing strategist, Susan Harrow, can help you get paid $100,000 or more for your book. For over 17 years, she has helped speakers, authors and entrepreneurs get 6-figure book advances. In her book, Get a Six Figure Book Advance, Susan explains the 15 steps to making big money on your next book proposal. Buy it now and receive $450 worth of free bonuses at: http://prsecretstore.com/sixfigurebookproposaljanal.