You have the opportunity for your book to make a difference in people's lives, to change the way we look at the world, to open up new doors for us, to inspire and enrich us. Don't take half-measures. Don't stop short. Invest yourself fully on the page, so this book can be everything its original inspiration held.
What usually stops a writer from doing this? First, there is the FEAR of what friends, family and colleagues will think. There is an INSECURITY about revealing one's true self for the world to see and judge. The writer may also have a privacy issue; once you put something into the book and "out there" there is no taking it back. You make yourself a "public person." And innocently enough, it is often a matter of the writer getting tangled up in the concepts and all the technical requirements--distancing the writer from the very passions that started him or her writing to begin with.
No matter the reasons a writer holds back, the result is that readers don't latch on; it becomes another "forgettable" book. The author did not speak to them. It was words on a page, all perfectly logical and let's hope intelligent, but lacking the passion, ideas, heartbeat, or fire that grabs us and won't let go. Smart books written with a "gloved hand" are hard to latch onto.
Open up and let go. Let the fire in your belly out. Let the ideas out. Tell us what you really have to say, and stand by it. Put yourself out there to be heard.
Laurie
www.authorbiz.com
Photo credit: Clipart
Memo to Agents (and Authors)
William Morris's recent memo to clients about the Google book settlement contains several errors that are likely to sow some confusion. [h]ere's the deal in one sentence: unless you want to sue Google, there's no good reason to opt out of the settlement. If you want to allow your book to be searchable in Google's database, and you want to be fairly compensated for Google's use of your work, and you want to retain complete control over whether, and how, your book is displayed or sold to users, you should remain in the settlement.
William Morris's principal mistake is that it appears to think that the uses that the settlement permits Google to make are interminable. This leads the agency to draw a series of erroneous conclusions: that authors can't negotiate higher rates for works covered by the settlement, that the agency won't be able to bundle all of an author's books (whether or not they're covered by the settlement) into a single negotiation with Google, and that its clients would be better off with a settlement of more limited duration. Most fundamentally, it leads the agency to conclude that authors are limited in their dealings with Google to the settlement's terms, unless the court changes those terms. It's wrong, on all counts.
Staying in the settlement does not diminish the agency's -- or anyone's -- negotiating power.* This is because all rights granted Google under the settlement are terminable at will by the rightsholder. Licenses that are terminable at will give the rightsholder far more power than a license of defined duration. In book publishing (as in life) all negotiating power comes from the power to say "no." The settlement fully preserves that power for rightsholders, from day one. By staying in the settlement:
• You aren't limited to the (quite favorable) royalty rate we've negotiated.
• You have the right to veto your publisher's decision to make your in-print book available in any way through the settlement.
• You have the right to block all displays of your out-of-print books, even if rights haven't reverted to you, even if your publisher wants to display the books.
• You have the right to have your work in Google's searchable database and display only snippets to users, blocking all other uses by Google.
• You have the right to change your mind (allow books you'd previously blocked to be displayed; block books you'd previously allowed to be displayed) at any time.
• This is just the start.
* One caveat: those who remain in the settlement do give up their right to sue Google. However, William Morris believes Google's scanning is a fair use (an unusual position for those concerned with authors' rights, and a decidedly outlier position for those in the copyright bar). What is more confusing is that William Morris encourages authors to opt out of the settlement while at the same time encouraging them to grant Google the right to use digital copies of their works for search purposes. If an author opts out, however, Google may well remove his or her books from the database in order to avoid an infringement suit, and the author's books would not benefit from Google search. In fact, the only way to ensure that your book will not be completely removed from the database, and thus benefit from Google search, is not to opt-out. Then will you be able to turn off all display uses except the free, search-based uses (snippets and previews) that will drive traffic to bookstores.
For some authors, the book's role in the Big Plan is to increase their speaking fees. Sometimes the book is supposed to bring in new and bigger consulting clients. Often the book will help a freelance writer increase article fees or open doors for a regular, paid column. Until you know what your book is supposed to do--by itself and within the larger Plan--you won't know how to maximize the content of your book or strategically include aspects that will serve your larger plan.
No matter where you are in your book process, short of production, it is not too late to figure this out and make a course correction, even if it means a lot of rewriting, extra time and work. You don't get a do-over; if you miss your mark from lack of planning, then you've lost the opportunity.
Don't hesitate to stop, back up, re-think, and re-tool your book. If that little voice is saying you're rushing things, or you're not sure if you've got this book on track, now is the time to rethink. Your planning and your focus is the only way to get the book to do its job later--no one can do it for you if the book isn't lined up within your larger goals and strategy.
Have a think...
Laurie
www.authorbiz.com
Photo credit: imagesafter.com
So you can see that in order for you to get the right agent match, you need to consider the matter of the agent's style and job perspective in addition to him or her being a match for your book.
There are very few bad agents because bad agents don't stay in business. But there are bad agent-author matches, which leads to both people being unhappy and the author losing valuable time being confused or unsure of what to do next. I get calls from authors asking "Is it me or is it my agent? What should I do? How long do I give this?" If the match is wrong, you end up with situations like the book not selling, or the book that is sold not really being the book the author wanted to write, or the book sold and now the author is pressed into a time schedule and publisher expectations he or she was not prepared for. If you're expecting your agent to coach you or explain things to you and then find your calls not returned or emails unanswered, you will be frustrated. If you are asking your agent questions all the time and the agent doesn't really work that closely with his or her authors, both of you will be distressed.
3. The third tricky author-editor situation, which is increasingly common, is that half way through the process, your editor accepts a position at another publishing house and jumps ship. You are not necessarily the first to know. With luck your agent is, but sometimes it is sudden. Here are a few indicators that your editor might have one foot out the door:
Do unto other writers as you would have them do unto you. If it were my material being excepted, what would I think it fair use? When would I think it is egregious or flat out stealing? As a writer, you should be highly sensitive to copyright issues, since you want to protect your own work.
And why not get permission? Can't be bothered? Don't you want other writers to be bothered enough to contact you? Plan with enough time, in advance of your deadlines, to secure the appropriate permissions. It can only be recommended that you err on the side of caution. You will find a number of books available to help you with forms and procedures.
Over recent years we've seen a number of high-profile plagiarism lawsuits and situations. Authors Guild has steadily pursued (and won) class action suits against the media for abuse of freelance writers' material, and now Google for their online scanning of books to offer in their book search program. Amazon has just backed down from its Kindle 2 speech mechanism to state that each author will have the Yea or Nea option to authorize the audio portion of Kindle (which they were earlier just going to use without permissions or fees).
I regularly see writers being too cavalier with their online material, be it a blog or a website. I see everyone helping themselves to everyone else's stuff, and piggybacking on it. It is up to each of us, each writer, to protect our material, and to show that same respect for other writers' work. You should also have this book on your shelf: The Copyright Permission and Libel Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers by Lloyd Jassin and Steve Schecter. Taking the preventative approach to copyright infringement is the cheapest insurance you can have. Be careful out there. . .
Laurie
www.authorbiz.com Photo: Clipart (c) 2009 Laurie Harper
** Disclosure: I am the agent on this excellent book, though I would recommend it even if I were not.
Authors frequently cut and paste from Amazon, which is fine, to put in descriptions of the books. List the competitive book like this: Book Title (Publisher, Year of Publication), followed by its description. Then you would say something like "While this book gives a good summary of the problems of education today, it does not show a parent how to help their child in school. My book....." You will only cover the most recent or most popular books. The point here is to demonstrate to the publishers that you know your area, you know the literature that is out there.
Many authors say they don't want to read other authors' books while they are writing their own because they don't want to confuse their own thinking, or find their material already written. But as an author you have to read your colleagues' work. You have to know where you fit in. In this section of the proposal, you must intelligently and persuasively write about your competition--separating which books are complementary to your work, which books sound like yours but are not (and why), and which directly compete with what you are doing but how yours has an edge. You can see again how that hook you worked on in the Overview is playing a role here too.
You should know that while the agent is pitching your book to an editor, the editor is simultaneously punching in key words into Amazon, saying "well there sure is a lot published in that area...it shows 1250 titles..." and you have to have prepared your agent with the ammo to position your book and defend it accurately, as well as excite the editor.
When you are done with the Competitive Books piece, start a new section called Author Marketing. This part shows a combination of your expertise and your marketing muscle...what you can do to consistently market your book to your target readers, even as other authors try to get on to "your shelf." Don't skimp on the details of everything you will be doing to call attention to your book when it is published: web site, internet marketing, blogging, social networking, speaking (where and how often and to how many people a year), article writing, select bookstore talks and events in your local area or places where you will be traveling for work, organizations or associations you belong to that have chapters throughout the country that you will tap to promote the book....you get the idea.
Your proposal now has: The Overview, The Audience, About the Author, Positioning, Competitive Books, Author Marketing, Table of Contents, Annotated Outline, and Sample Chapters.
Now that you have done all this work, go read Jeff Herman's WRITE THE PERFECT BOOK PROPOSAL: Ten That Sold And Why. Once you have read his different types of book proposals, put the final polish on yours, spread your wings, pass Go and collect your $200--go forth into the publishing world.
Whew. And this is why authors say it is easier to write the book than to write the proposal!
Laurie
www.authorbiz.com Photo: (c) 2006 L Harper
And now LENGTH. If I had a quarter for every time I was asked "How long does it have to be?" . . .There is no length parameter. It takes whatever it takes to compellingly write about, explain, and champion your own book. Some proposals, including the sample chapters, are 90 pages. Some are 45. It doesn't matter. What matters is that it is complete and convincing, and that it excites people to read your manuscript.
Next time, I'll talk about the Overview, I promise.
Laurie
www.authorbiz.com Photo: (c) 2007 L Harper
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