Tag: Mike Nappa (Page 12 of 23)

An Editorial Team reason for rejection

Yes, I know, this seems like a petty reason to reject a book. After all, you’ve been taught by “experts” that a cover letter/email has to include a number of certain things, right? 

Everybody knows that a cover letter is supposed to have a strong, attention-grabbing opener. It should have a summary of your proposed book. It should list your qualifications for writing the book, and tell of any unique marketing opportunities you bring to the table. It should include a note as to whether yours is an exclusive or simultaneous submission, and should tell whether or not you’ve got artwork available to use. It should tell who the audience is and why they’ll buy. It should blah blah blah blah. 

I’m going to tell you the truth: Most of that advice is hooey. 

It’s rare that an experienced editor actually reads your cover letter/email anyway. We’re more interested in the book itself than we are in your puffery about it. And besides, most of that information above should be included in the proposal section for your book. Why duplicate it in the cover letter? 

Here’s the risk that you take with a long cover letter/email: If you bore me too soon (see Reason #25), I’ll probably reject your book before I even get to your manuscript. Also, letter writing is a different skill than say, novel writing or children’s book writing or even nonfiction writing. But I’ll pre-judge your skill in all those categories by my first impression of the cover letter you sent me. 

Your cover letter really should just be an introduction, along with a short request for consideration of your book’s publishing potential. But if your email reveals you to be a “Long Talker”—that is, someone who doesn’t know when to shut up—well, chances are good I’ll cut you off with a letter of my own. A rejection letter.

What You Can Do About It

1. Get in the door, then get out of the way. 

When you send me a cover letter/email, here’s all I really need to see: 1) your contact info, 2) a request that I consider publishing your book, 3) a brief (two sentences max) description your book.

Give me that info, and then get out of the way. Tell me if I have questions or need more info, that I should feel free to dive into your proposal itself where I’ll find all the additional details I want—and then some. Make me curious to find out what I’m missing if I don’t read your full proposal. 

After all, what would you enjoy more, reading about a book—or reading the book itself?

2. Never, don’t ever, let your cover letter/email be longer than 250 words (about one page). 

Regardless of what you include in your cover letter/email, it’s unwise to ever let it go past the one-page mark (about 250 words) in length. Otherwise it won’t get read. 

When an editor or an agent gets a two- or four-page cover letter/email, the best you can expect is that he or she will skim to the end. We just can’t afford to take the time to read these preliminary materials in detail until after we’ve decided that we want to pursue your book. Otherwise we’d never get ahead of the workload on our desks. (And honestly, a lot of editors never do accomplish that anyway.) As for me, when I get a long cover letter, I typically read the first paragraph and the last, and skip everything in the middle.

So be careful not to sabotage yourself with a cover letter/email. Keep it to one page, and it might actually get read.

3. Beef up your proposal so you can cut down your cover letter/email.

I hear what you are saying to me. “Mike, you’re giving me a double standard here! In this book you’re telling me that all kinds of things are absolutely essential to tell an editor about my book—but now you’re telling me to keep my mouth shut. What’s up with you?”

OK, I understand that this advice might be frustrating and possibly confusing for you. But what we’re talking about here are priorities. The number one priority of your cover letter/email is simply to get the editor to read your manuscript. That’s it. So do what it takes to get that to happen, and keep your cover letter’s focus there.

All that other info you need to include? It belongs in the proposal section of your submission package. That’s where you can talk in detail about your unique credentials, the mass audience appeal of your book, the special marketing opportunities for your book and so on. 

Remember, your proposal section can be as long, and as detailed, as you want it to be. So beef up that section—and keep your cover letter/email lean and focused.

Looking for more? Check out these links:

• Mikey Can’t Sleep blog
• Mikey Timeline
• Fan-Favorite Books
• Mikey on Amazon

An Editorial Team reason for rejection

In 1631 Robert Barker and Martin Lucas were the royal printers in London. Imagine their pride when, by order of King Charles I himself, they were commissioned to publish a new edition of the King James English version of the Bible. 

All went well for Barker and Lucas, and their publication of the Scriptures was considered a general success, until…

About a year later, it was discovered that a compositor error had omitted a single, tiny little word (“not”) from Exodus 20:14. The result of that teensy error in sentence structure? God’s 7^th Commandment now read: “Thou shalt commit adultery.” 

Barker and Lucas were publicly reprimanded, fined what was then an enormous sum, and stripped of their printing license.

Still, Barker and Lucas were in good company. Some 20 years earlier, in 1611, the first edition of the King James Bible also contained a muff. A reference in Ruth 3:15 was inadvertently misspelled, which caused the biblical heroine to be identified “he” instead of “she.”

Why do I tell you these stories? Because I want you to understand that words have meaning and consequence. 

If your words are garbled, misspelled, grammatically-challenged, omitted, duplicated, misused, or otherwise incoherent, your meaning is lost. The consequences of that kind of presentation is that I will be both frustrated by you and doubtful of your credibility as an author.

Hey, you claim to be an author, but you can’t even string together a coherent sentence? Very funny joke. But I’m not laughing.

Yes, a certain amount of typographical error is to be expected in any lengthy piece of writing, your book proposal included. But if I begin to see more than just a few inadvertent typos or even one glaring error in the way you use our language, your proposal won’t last very long in my hands. It’ll be rjectd. Excuse me. I mean rejected.

What You Can Do About It

1. Memorize this website address: Dictionary.com 

I’m amazed how many authors simply don’t double-check when they use unfamiliar words. On more than one occasion, I’ve actually sat with an author, looking at a manuscript, and asked, “What does this word mean?” My question is always sincere—if I don’t know something, I’m the kind of guy who isn’t embarrassed to ask about it. Too many times the author has looked blankly at me and either stumbled through a guess at the meaning or simply said, “I don’t know exactly.” 

Crazy. Why give away precious real estate in your manuscript to a word whose meaning is unsure to you? Look, words are more than just tools. They are the gems you use to decorate the jewelry of your prose. Guard them. Study them. Know them. 

And visit Dictionary.com for instant help or even just to expand your vocabulary. When it’s this easy, you have no excuse for word abuse.

2. Keep this book next to your computer: The Pocket Wadsworth Handbook 

You may feel like an uneducated high schooler when you buy this book, but it’s worth it. The Pocket Wadsworth Handbook by Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell contains—in easily-accessible, clearly organized sections—all the grammar and spelling rules you and I should have memorized before going to the senior prom.

I actually discovered this book when I was teaching English Composition at a state university. So many of my students had graduated from high school without basic grammar skills, that I was constantly frustrated by having to explain again what they should have already known. Finally, I required every student to buy this book, and then I just started marking their papers with notes for them to study certain pages from it. 

Now, don’t tell my students this, but along the way I discovered I didn’t know as much as I thought I did about grammar and spelling! So I kept this book, and I still use it as a reference whenever I’m unsure of whether to use “lay” or “lie,” or when it’s appropriate to use a semicolon. I’d recommend you keep a copy nearby as well.

3. Swallow your arrogance.

Some writers are almost haughty about their grammar and spelling skills—or dismissive of their lack of expertise in those areas. Those people deserve the rejections they receive. Don’t be one of them.

Instead, when you’re done writing, assume the worst. Recognize that even your best effort is going to be pock-marked with errors and unintentional corruptions. Go ahead and swallow your pride and take steps to eliminate (as much as you can) the mistakes you know are there. Here’s a process I use that, while not perfect, certainly helps: 

1. Spell- and grammar-check. Use the basic spell-check function in your software to catch obvious errors. 
2. Re-read the manuscript word for word, beginning to end, on your computer. (I’m always amazed at how many stupid mistakes this reveals, like words left out of sentences, cut-and-paste casualties, and confusing word choices.)
3. Spell- and grammar-check again.
4. Print hard copy and read it, word for word, beginning to end, marking corrections with a pen. (Again, there are always obvious errors that I should have caught earlier when I do this!)
5. Make corrections on the computer file. Spell-check and grammar-check again.
6. Find a friend or family member to read the manuscript and mark errors.
7. Make corrections…and pray you caught everything!

Looking for more? Check out these links:

• Mikey Can’t Sleep blog
• Mikey Timeline
• Fan-Favorite Books
• Mikey on Amazon

An Editorial Team reason for rejection

Imagine that you and I are professional bakers. We’ve got a recipe for Chocolate-Raspberry Muffins that our customers simply love, and so we agree to work together to bring those to market. I promise to do the actual cooking, the messy measuring-and-mixing work in the kitchen. You promise to supply the ingredients needed to make our delicious muffins.

Now, you and I both know that this recipe requires chocolate chips, eggs, flour, milk, baking soda, salt, and fresh raspberries. So it’s not unreasonable for me to expect you to bring those things to the kitchen. But what if you show up with a lumpy bag containing only chocolate chips and eggs? 

Well, I could make Chocolate Scrambled Eggs…but not Chocolate-Raspberry Muffins. 

Or what if you delivered to me baking soda, salt, chocolate and raspberries, but left out the flour and milk? Well, again, without the complete ingredients I simply can’t make the full recipe. 

Unfortunately, this is the way some authors view their proposal submissions. They send the parts they like (chocolate! raspberries!), and either ignore the need for other necessities in the “contract approval recipe,” or provide cheap, poorly-made ingredients that simply can’t stand in for the quality required in baking.

Please understand this: If you want me to cook with you in the publisher’s symbolic kitchen, you’ve got to give me all the ingredients I need to have success with the publishing recipe. The place to do that is in your proposal.

Typically speaking, every book pitch you send out should include all of the following proposal elements: 

• A compelling title and subtitle

• Short (one paragraph) at-a-glance summary of the book’s content

• Short summary of your author bio / credentials

• Short description of series potential (mostly for fiction only)

• Manuscript details (such as word count, completion time frame, and shelving category)

• Clear identification of your book’s primary target audience, along with potential secondary audiences that could add on sales

• Clear, compelling statements of reader benefits (that could be used in marketing copy)

• Competitive analysis of books like yours that are already in the market

• Annotated table of contents, with chapter-by-chapter content summaries (for nonfiction)

• Plot summary (for fiction books; best to keep this at around 500-1,000 words)

• Compelling writing samples (introduction and at least one full chapter for nonfiction; full manuscript for fiction)

There are also additional elements you can add to your proposal that are helpful—such as a list of potential endorsers, PR possibilities, or even a mockup of an advertising piece—but those are not essential. The things that are essential are the bulleted items above. If you send me a proposal without these ingredients, chances are good I’ll view it as incomplete—and reject your book.

What You Can Do About It

1. Don’t omit anything an editor expects. 

Before today you might have been able to plead ignorance when it came to preparing your book proposals. Ah, but with knowledge comes responsibility. Now that you know what I have to have to succeed with your proposal, you have no excuse.

So don’t send a proposal unless it’s complete. If that means you have to take extra time or postpone your submission schedule, so be it. You’ll do better by including everything I need anyway, so it’ll be time well spent.

2. Don’t do a shoddy job on anything the editor expects. 

Some authors live by the rule that “anything is better than nothing” or “good enough is good enough.” Unfortunately, neither of those philosophies is true.

The only thing worse than sending me an incomplete proposal is sending me complete crap in your proposal. Your proposal should reflect clear, competent thinking that’s reinforced by the superb samples of your writing. If you’ve rushed through your competitive analysis, or don’t actually understand how to articulate reader benefits in a compelling way, you’ve wasted what little time you spent on those things.

Remember, good enough is never good enough. Make sure you submit only your best, from beginning to end.

3. Don’t pitch to me until you are absolutely sure you’ve got all the ingredients I need to succeed with your proposal.

Before you send me your work, the one gift you have is time. As long as my company is in business, I’ll be considering book proposals—yours included. (And if I can’t stay in business, do you really want to publish with me anyway?) So take the time you need to prepare a complete, effective proposal package before you send it to me. 

After all, you’re only going to get one chance for this book to make a good impression on me. Be sure to make it count.

Looking for more? Check out these links:

• Mikey Can’t Sleep blog
• Mikey Timeline
• Fan-Favorite Books
• Mikey on Amazon

An Editorial Team reason for rejection

Yes, this is a “catchall” reason for editorial rejection, and one that’s not often articulated in publishing circles simply because it makes us agents and editors look like lazy loafers in our work. Obviously agents and editors work hard—in our industry it’s required for success. At the same time, we all hate doing extra work. 

As I mentioned in the introduction (and despite the arrogance with which we typically carry ourselves), the fact is when it comes to your book we editors are advocates at best and cheap salespeople at worst. In order to secure a contract for you, we’ve literally got to sell your idea to the people who have the power over the corporate checkbook. 

If you’ve ever had to work in retail, you know what this is like—and how difficult it can be to overcome the obstinacy of a miser and his money. As a result, we’ve got what seems like a million little details to attend to, all with the hopes that our diligence in preparation for a publishing board presentation will result in successfully securing a contract for your book. 

Meanwhile, we’re also in the middle of editing several other books on our schedule, dealing with a temperamental author or two, hiring and coaching freelance editors, preparing to present at a sales conference for books we acquired a year or two ago which are just now reaching the public, sifting through a billion other book proposals, answering tedious emails, attending way too many irrelevant meetings, solving problems that unexpectedly arise during production, and…well, you get the idea. 

What that means for you is that, both on an emotional and intellectual level, I will prejudge your proposal based on the amount of new work I expect it’ll make for me. 

If I like your book idea, but realize I’m going to have to teach you how to organize your thoughts, or how to write dialogue, or whatever, I’ll usually reject. If I see that your competitive analysis is nonexistent, or weak, that means I’m going to have to do it for you if I want to publish your book. But I’m already working 10-hour days, so I’m just not going to take the time for that. I’ll reject you instead. Same goes for titling, and author platform summaries, and anything else that’s actually part of my job—but which I’m hoping you’ve already done for me.

Bottom line, editorially speaking? 

Your best chance to avoid rejection is to do as much of my job for me as possible, and show it in your proposal. After all, I do hate taking on extra work.

What You Can Do About It

1. Review Reason for Rejection #30. 

If your proposal is complete, you’re already a step ahead of 90% of the other authors pitching books to me this week. So use the information there to make sure you’ve already done all the basics of my job before you send me your book.

2. Become familiar with my job responsibilities. 

Don’t simply assume you know what an editor does. Most likely, you don’t have a clue as to all the little frustrations that fill our days. So try to find out. Read career books on editorial jobs. Check out editorial jobs on Indeed.com or LinkedIn.com, and study the specific responsibilities and qualifications listed in those job descriptions. If possible, ask to be allowed to “shadow” an editor for a day at a publishing company, magazine office, or newspaper headquarters in your local area. (Bring along your son or daughter and pretend it’s an “educational field trip” for your children.)

The point is, once you know what the mundane tasks are that fill up my day, you can tailor your proposal to complete them for me. Then when I look at your book, I’ll rejoice that it makes my job easy for once—and will advocate enthusiastically for your book as a result.

3. Remember that, when it comes to securing a contract for your book, my primary job is as your salesperson.

Think of me as someone you’re hiring to effectively present your book to my publishing board. Now, you’re not going to just slap a few pages in my hand and send me off to close the sale. No, if you really want me to make those customers buy, you’re going to take time to immerse me in a thorough training about the features and benefits of your product (your book), to suggest real-world sales strategies I can use with my customers, and to give me every tool you can think of to help me succeed. 

After all, you only succeed if I do. 

So when you prepare your proposal pitch and writing samples, make sure to give me everything I need to be the best salesperson your book could possibly have.

Looking for more? Check out these links:

• Mikey Can’t Sleep blog
• Mikey Timeline
• Fan-Favorite Books
• Mikey on Amazon