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Writing and Publishing, Part 7:
Creating the content:
Editors and other Purchasing Agents:
I said early on that I would like to encourage writers to become
their own publishers. For some, that may sound like a daunting
challenge. I'm sure that some authors will want to try the traditional
route, at least as a first option. This means, following some
rather rigid rules of procedure. Communicating with a publisher
has it own protocol. The larger the publisher, the more rigid
will be their procedure and the less accessible they will be.
So be it.
The first thing you will need to do is select a publisher. Of course, you will be looking for a publisher who's business is publishing the kind of book you have written. One very good place to make that kind of search is in a book entitled, "Writer's Market." This is an annual publication which has a very comprehensive listing of most North American publishers of books and magazines.
Along with editors names and phone numbers, you can find statements about what they publish and their various writer's requirements and or guidelines. The book is also available on CD-ROM for computers. I'm sure some of the larger libraries will have it.
Once you have decided on a publisher, you will need to communicate with an editor of some sort. Now, the editors that we must deal with as new writers are nothing more than purchasing agents. They are not the noble, lion-like heros portrayed in Hollywood. Like most other purchasing agents, their task is to find useful products, in this case manuscripts, and buy them at the least possible cost to the publisher.
To communicate with this editor you will want to prepare a query letter. It is important to realize that your query letter is your sales letter and résumé combined. It should be as carefully written as any work you do. Your task is to make the editor want to see what you wrote. In this, it is important to be very positive but also realistic. It's not advertising. Exaggerated claims will be dismissed out of hand.
Your query letter must answer some basic questions. First, what is the genre of your work? It could be fiction, exposition, self help or something else. Tell the editor where the work fits and make sure that the publisher is in that business. You must also tell the editor the plot or purpose of the book. If it's fiction, what is the story. If it's exposition, what information does it present?
The editor will also expect to know the theme of your work. This is the why question. Why did you write the book? What do you have to say? Why is it important? This ties into how the book can, or cannot, be marketed. The theme is about motivation. It must satisfy these questions. Why will people buy the book? Why will people talk about the book? A good story alone is not enough.
Get it straight. The plot is the story. The theme is the message. Even in exposition, there is a theme. It's the distinction between what you are saying and why you are saying it. If you can't answer the why questions, my advice is, don't bother with the book.
What the editor will not want in your query is a detailed outline of the work. She will not have time to read it. Keep your query letter to one page, single spaced. You may want to give the editor a flavor or sense of the book. If you do, put the first two paragraphs, the last two paragraphs, and two other paragraphs on a separate page. "Just one page." Tell the editor what it is in your query letter. Your query letter and a few paragraphs will tell the editor all she wants to know about your writing skills. Here is the simple truth. If six paragraphs do not interest the editor, she will not bother with the rest of the book.
Here is one more important point. E-mail is not a good medium for a query. E-mail is a very good tool for casual and informal communication. It is not a tool for formal communication. A query letter is exactly that, a formal letter! It should be as well formatted as any other business letter. It is the most important letter you will ever write. Why would you spend the time to write and format a letter and then send it through a medium which is sure to destroy that formatting?
Now, having made my case against E-mail as a medium for the query, I will add a caveat. Some very busy magazine editors actually prefer E-mail queries. It pays to check. I also believe, as time passes, other editors will become more comfortable with the E-mail query. This is not a permission to be careless. Your query must still be very carefully written. I don't mind E-mail queries, but I do mind carelessness. Like it or not, in your query you are giving the editor an example of your work. Make sure it's a good example.
Here is an example of how not to write a query. This showed up in the editor's E-mail box one day. I call this one rookie. Except for replacing the name with asterisks, I have made no changes or corrections to this.
Hi,
I'm a rookie writer, just beginning to look into publishing. I
know nothing of the ropes. I like the honesty I perceived on your
sight. I thought I'd send off an e-mail to see what might happen.
I believe my book is going to be unique, and popular. I also imagine
you hear that a LOT.
This is the first e-mail, the first search, the very start. (Other
than the book having begun I mean.) I shouldn't really say I'm
a rookie writer. I've been writing for YEARS. It's a book I've
never written yet. But I can't seem to stand it any longer, and
it's just got to happen. So, if you might be interested, write
me back and I'll send you the first page.
You tell me.
Thanks,
******** **********
I receive queries like this much too often. The thing which bothers me about all of them is the fact that the correspondents have not done their homework. They simply flip our a careless email. I really don't care if the writer is a rookie. We all started off that way. I do care about professionalism.
Okay, once you have written and mailed your query, be prepared to wait and wait and wait for a response. The turn around time will usually be measured in months. For the few times I have bothered to query editors, that has been my experience. As I said, there is a protocol involved. Do not expect it to favor an unknown writer.
There is a more information about communicating with editors,
in the essay, "Message to Writers." Feel free to read
it. Next time, we will get into the computer as a tool of the
writer. It's probably stuff you already know, but I can assume
very little.
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