Tag: Writing (Page 10 of 16)

A Marketing Team reason for rejection

Here’s a tip: If you want to get an instant rejection letter from an editor, start your cover letter this way…

Dear Editor,

I couldn’t find any other book about [my topic here], so I decided to write one myself! 

Rejection. 

Why? Well, there are several reasons—and any one of them merits your rejection letter.

First of all, what you’ve just shown is that you are willfully ignorant about publishing in general. In America alone, there are over a million books published in a year … and yet you can’t find a single volume in all of history that somehow addresses a topic similar to yours? 

That’s just stupid—but writers do it all the time. Just today I got a query for a new book about the Titanic. Can you believe it? The author actually said this to me: “There are virtually no current Titanic books available for adults.” Funny, if you search for “Titanic” in the books section of Amazon.com, you’ll discover over 2,000 books on that topic. But this author thinks “there are virtually no current Titanic books” out there. That kind of deliberate ignorance just won’t sell.

Second, you are willfully arrogant about your place in publishing. You claim to be the sole voice of authority on this particular topic—yet if that were truly the case, and if there truly were a demand in the market for that kind of knowledge, then I’d be pounding on your door instead of you pounding on mine.

Third, you’ve shown that you are woefully unaware of the competition to your book—yet I can guarantee there will be other books that compete for buying dollars to be spent on your book. In fact, a quick subject search on Amazon.com will probably show me dozens of such books. (Titanic books, anyone?)

Fourth, I expect that your book should be somehow unique within publishing. But since you don’t have any knowledge about who or what your competition is, you’re woefully unprepared to tell me the truly unique qualities of your manuscript.

Fifth, if there really is no competition for your topic in the marketplace (as you claim), then there’s no significant target audience that wants to buy a book like yours. Why should I invest my publishing house’s capital in your book when there’s no proof that people even want it?

Sixth…well, I could go on, but I think you’re getting the point. 

Competition in the marketplace is the foundation of our capitalist system. That means if you intend to be successful publishing within that system, you’d better have a clear, accurate understanding of the competition that’s out there trying to take dollars away from your book.

I guarantee my Marketing VP wants to know about that competition. If you can’t give me that information because don’t know who your competition is, or because you have faulty knowledge of your competition, that tells me you don’t know how to succeed in this business. 

And that means I should reject your book.

What You Can Do About It

1. Use Amazon.com already. 

In this age of unprecedented information access, I’m continually amazed by authors who tell me they have no knowledge of any competitive books on a topic. I always want to ask, “What century are you living in?”

In Amazon.com alone you’ve got an instantly searchable database of almost every book currently in print, and for millions of books that are now out of print but still available in “used” or collectible format. What’s more, for just about every book in the Amazon catalog, there is a summary of publishing information that includes things like the publisher, the year published, retail pricing, and even a content description. 

All of that information, readily at your fingertips, tells you the what, when, who, why, and how of any book in their system.

And you’re telling me you can’t find that stuff anywhere? Please. Get off your butt and use Amazon.com already. You’ll be amazed at what you’ll find out about your competition there.

2. Become an expert on your marketplace. 

Look, if you want to publish suspense novels, you probably don’t need to worry too much about which parenting books are bestsellers right now. But you absolutely must know who people like Tess Gerritsen, Dean Koontz, Stieg Larsson, and Lee Child are. And you need to know why they dominate the suspense publishing category in bookstores. 

So take time to become an expert in your chosen publishing category. Don’t write your books in a vacuum; that only leads to stilted prose and, often, poorly developed duplication of other people’s ideas. But if you know all there is to know about your competition, not only will that improve your writing, it’ll improve your ability to concept new ideas that are unique within the publishing landscape. My Marketing VP will love that, by the way.

3. Don’t be lazy.

If this is a temptation for you, re-read Editorial Reason #14 earlier in this book. The same principles apply when dealing with my Marketing VP’s demand for accurate knowledge of your book’s competition.

Looking for more? Check out these links:

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

A Marketing Team reason for rejection

Back in Reason #45 I mentioned to you that there are more than a million books published in a year. In fact, in 2009 there were 1,052,803 book published in America. Just under three-quarters of those (764,448) were self-published, while a little over 25% (288,355) were released through a traditional publishing house.

Do you understand what that means? 

Today alone, traditional publishers will release on average, 790 new books. 

If you include books that were self-published (and you should because they also compete for dollars in the marketplace), that number jumps up to roughly 2884 books released every single day in America.

At the same time, the largest percentage of Americans who buy books (50%) will purchase less than one book per month (10 or fewer in an entire year).

Is this starting to sink in for you a bit? 

Let’s be generous and say that the average reader will buy one book this month. There are over 87,000 brand new ones for that reader to choose from…plus the 87,000 that released last month…plus all the ones released all the months before today that are still vying for attention.

Now, put yourself in place of the Marketing VP at my publishing house. How will you overcome all that competition to get the attention of a reader focused on a single book by a relatively unknown author? 

That’s the question that rings loud every time I bring your new proposal to my Marketing VP’s desk. To her credit, my VP is willing to tackle that huge chore, to find ways to creatively bring a new book to the front of a reader’s mind. 

Unless you send me a proposal on a topic that’s already overdone in the marketplace. When that happens, those overwhelming numbers start to add up in her brain, causing her head to shake from left to right instead of nodding from up to down.

You see, overexposure of certain themes often results in “topic fatigue” among buyers. (After all, when was the last time you bought a new book about The Atkins Diet?) And new books on tired-out topics don’t often beat the odds—there’s simply too much competition out there. If that’s the kind of book you want to publish, chances are good you’ll be rejected.

What You Can Do About It

1. Keep current on what’s being published. 

Hey, look at this as an excuse to hang out at your local bookstore. You like browsing the shelves anyway, don’t you? 

Seriously, at least once a month you should spend an hour or two just walking around Barnes & Noble or Books-a-Million or whichever is the favorite independent bookstore in your local area. Check the shelves that carry books in your typical publishing categories, see what’s new, what’s old but still being carried in the bookstore, and anything else that looks interesting.

And yes, in case you’re wondering, people on my side of the desk do that too. In fact, one of my former supervisors at a publishing house used to require that I spend an afternoon every month in a bookstore somewhere, checking out the competition. It was even a part of my annual job performance review. So are you surprised that your proposal is rated by the same measure?

2. Avoid over-published themes. 

This seems like obvious advice, and I wouldn’t give it except that many authors don’t understand it. If you see that everybody and their dog are publishing books that explain the basic principles of a thriving healthcare system, well, maybe you don’t need to add more of the same to bookstore shelves.

At the same time, don’t assume that a popular theme is over-published. 

The key here is what you bring to the conversation. Do you have something new and unique to add to the healthcare discussion? Then by all means, go right ahead with your book. But make sure you really are offering something “new and unique.” If you’re not, you’ll just get sidelined by topic fatigue and find your manuscript back on your desk with my rejection letter attached.

3. Make the competition irrelevant by becoming a pro at differentiating your book. 

Ah, have I piqued your curiosity yet? If so, then read on to Reason #47 my young Padawan…

Looking for more? Check out these links:

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

A Marketing Team reason for rejection

I learned this lesson the hard way early in my career, in my first year as an acquisitions editor for a mid-sized publishing house. 

I brought to my publishing board what I thought was a very strong candidate for publication—a non-fiction book for teens. I’d done my homework. We’d had initial success publishing for the youth market recently, and this particular book was powered by strong writing and a credible author. I had good first-year projections from the sales team, and unified support from editorial. 

Time came for me to present, and things were going unexpectedly well. Voices of support were cropping up all around the table, and even my typically skeptical Marketing VP seemed to be nodding his head in agreement. The only person who said nothing was my Publisher. 

Perhaps I took for granted that my Publisher was already on my side. Or maybe I figured he wouldn’t concern himself with marketing issues, since his real strength was in editorial. But I shouldn’t have ignored his silence…

About four minutes into my pitch, I felt like this book was a shoo-in for approval. Then, while I was actually still speaking, my Publisher stood up. He walked to nearby bookcase and, in one swift motion, swept an armful of books of the shelf. Barely looking, he tossed them all onto the middle of the boardroom table, right in front of me. Then he did it again. And again. And he kept burying us in books until there were about 200 of them spread out in lumpy stacks before us. Again without saying a word, he finally walked back to his chair and sat down.

Then he looked me straight in the eye and said, “Your book is no different from any of these.”

And that was it. 

Discussion over. 

Decision made. 

We didn’t even bother to vote on the proposal I was advocating. I’d been unable to compellingly differentiate the book I was pitching from the hundreds of books on our table—let alone the hundreds of thousands in the marketplace at large. I should have easily predicted the final decision:

Rejected.

What You Can Do About It

1. Don’t get caught unprepared when the books start flying. 

Being able to significantly differentiate your book from the competition is simply a non-negotiable for just about any publisher. In your proposal, this should fall under a section called, “Competitive Analysis,” or “Market Analysis.”

Typically what this includes is a list of three to five prominent books that are currently popular in your selected category. (For instance, if you’re publishing in the Cookbook category, then you’d probably include titles by people like Paula Deen, Jillian Michaels, Anthony Bourdain, and maybe even Julia Child.) 

For each of these potential competitors, you’d then include a short summary of content (I usually just copy this, with credit, straight from Amazon.com). Then you’d show two things. First, how your book compares favorably to the popular one. (For example, “Like Paula Deen’s work, my cookbook has classic homestyle recipes with immediate appeal to middle class families!”). Second, you’d show how your book will differentiate itself in a unique way to attract buyers to yours. (“Unlike Deen’s book, my cookbook delivers remarkably tasty recipes without overindulging in high-risk health habits for family members, like excess butter and fat.”)

It’s a balancing act, true. You have to show that your book has a similar audience appeal like the popular one, and yet you also have to show that your book is better. It takes practice, but it’ll pay off if someone on the publishing board likes to throw a few books around the table.

2. Take a lesson from Grand Central Station 

On a chilly Saturday in 2007, Grand Central Station came to a standstill. That’s when about 200 “agents” from Improv Everywhere showed up on the Main Platform and simply froze in place. The result was a dramatic, attention-grabbing spectacle—and one of the best visual examples of the power of differentiation that I’ve ever seen.

No, these “agents” didn’t loiter around reading books. But they did enter a “crowded marketplace” and, in only seconds, made themselves clearly stand out from the competition (the thousands of others in the station) in such a way that everybody took notice.

So here’s what I’m suggesting: First, watch the online video “Frozen Grand Central” (available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMj3PJDxuo). Then ask yourself these questions: Why did just standing still make thousands of people stop and take notice? What principles do I see at work in this situation that will help me to differentiate my work? How can I apply those principles in my next proposal?

If you can answer those questions well, my Marketing VP will notice your book…even in Grand Central Station.

3. Don’t overdo it.

While I can’t emphasize enough the absolute necessity of being able to effectively differentiate your book from the competition, I do want to warn you that there are risks to going too far with this. Remember, the goal here is to show that your book delivers some unique benefit that others don’t have—not to give an exhaustive list of every book published on a similar subject. 

I remember one time looking at a book that I thought had potential—until I saw the Market Analysis. The author had certainly done his homework. He’d listed close to 20 other books on the topic, most of which I’d never heard of. All that did was convince me that his subject was currently over-published and unable to sustain a new entry in that category, so I rejected on that basis. 

So be careful to stack the comparisons in your favor. Stick with three to five competitors, and you should be fine.

Looking for more? Check out these links:

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

A Marketing Team reason for rejection

“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

Only six words, but they evoke the gamut of emotion in the reader: Curiosity, tenderness, joy, and sorrow. 

In fact, this is a complete short story written by Ernest Hemingway, and one that he called his best work. Well, with that kind of skill, Papa Bear must have made his Marketing VP proud indeed. 

Now, you don’t have to be a legendary writer of fiction in order to succeed with your latest pitch to a publisher—but you should be able to quickly, succinctly evoke the desired emotions when talking about your book. This will happen primarily in the content summary section at the beginning of your proposal. And, unlike Hemingway, you have much more than six words use! But you’d better be able to do this quickly, most likely in 50-60 words (or less). 

Why is it so important to be able to evoke desired emotions when talking about your book? Because emotion dictates decision-making. Neuroscientist, Benedetto de Martino, is just one of many researchers to confirm this connection. After his lengthy experiment on decision-making among gamblers, he reported, “We found that everyone showed emotional biases; no one was totally free of them.”

In How We Decide, Jonah Lehrer chronicles medical studies on patients with damaged emotion centers in the brain to arrive at the conclusion that “emotions are a crucial part of the decision-making process…a brain that can’t feel can’t make up its mind.” So, in the content summary at the beginning of your proposal, you’ve got about 60 words to make the brains of your editor, Marketing VP, and sales VP feel the right emotions that will prompt them to buy your book. Use those words wisely, and you’ve just increased your chances of actually making it to the next publishing board meeting.

What You Can Do About It

1. Take charge of your reader’s emotions. 

Of course, in the case of your content summary, your readers are the editor, Marketing VP, and Sales VP—but since you know who they are that gives you more power than you likely have used in the past. When composing your content summary, read past the words and into the emotions those words evoke. Take charge of what your reader will feel when he or she first encounters the quick description of your book.

For instance, are you selling a book about solutions to dolphin de-population in the Pacific Ocean? Then you’ll probably want to open with a statement that evokes concern in the reader (“When all the dolphins are gone, humanity will be next in line.”) Then you’ll want to move into a statement that brings relief and/or optimism (“But that’s not going to happen while you’re around.”) And you’ll close with a line that sparks enthusiasm and/or heroic impulses in your reader—and which maximize your book’s importance in those feelings (“This book will show you how to save the dolphins…and save your world.”)

2. Be careful not to unintentionally evoke the wrong emotion. 

We live in a politically correct world, and that means paying attention to potentially offensive terminology (unless, of course, your intent is to offend). Regardless of how you feel personally about political correctness, it makes no sense to offend when you don’t have to do so. 

If you open your summary by casually referring to the Holocaust as myth, for instance, you’ve immediately irritated a majority of your readers. If you use a word like “niggardly”—even though this word refers to being miserly and has nothing to do with a common racial epithet—many will still feel anti-racist sentiment toward you and your work as a result. 

So, as you’re writing to evoke desired emotion, be careful that your words don’t unintentionally evoke the wrong emotion.

3. Pay attention to how you feel.

Try this creative exercise for writers. First, list seven motivating emotions, such as anger, curiosity, excitement, and so on. Then assign each emotion to one day of the week.

Take a notepad with you as you go through your week, and every time you feel that day’s assigned emotion, jot down the circumstances or catalyst that prompted that emotion to surface in you. This could be something as simple as watching a beer commercial or being cut off in traffic. 

At the end of the week, review your journal entries and ask yourself, “What principles can I learn about evoking emotion from these experiences? And how can I use those principles to evoke emotion when I’m talking about my book?”

Looking for more? Check out these links:

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

A Marketing Team reason for rejection

All right, first I’m going to tell you the reality behind endorsements, then I’ll tell you why that reality is irrelevant. 

By now you probably know that endorsements on the back of a book are nothing more than people doing favors for each other. They rarely reflect actual praise for a book. In fact, most times, the people who wrote the endorsements didn’t even read the book. (Of course, that’s not true of the endorsements on the back of this book…wink wink, nudge nudge.)

Here’s the way it works. I do a friend a favor—say, endorse her book or help him find an agent, or introduce her to my editor. She’s subsequently a hit in the marketplace (yay for her!). So when my next book rolls around, I politely ask her to do me the small favor of endorsing my book. 

Well, she knows two things: 1) she may want a return favor from me in the future (say, a foreword for her next book), and 2) if she puts her name on the back of my book, that means all my readers will see her in a positive light…which could create add-on sales next time she publishes. So she graciously writes a sentence or two saying how wonderful my book is, and we both go on with our lives. 

This is why it’s so important to network in the publishing industry, to make friends, and to stay friends with people of influence and/or people who might become people of influence. And that’s why the reality is that most (not all, of course) blurbs showering praise on a book and plastered all over the back cover are really just a you-scratch-my-back-and-I’ll-scratch-yours sham. 

Now, here’s why that reality is irrelevant: Because endorsements impact sales. 

Believe it or not, more than one-third of American readers say they “buy a book because of a quote from another author.” Crazy, huh? But true. Plus, stellar endorsements give a marketing team another hook to use when shouting about your book to the media—and they create PR goodwill from people who view the endorser favorably.

In fact, I’ve even had a book denied in publishing board simply because I couldn’t promise one specific person would endorse that specific book. Again, crazy, huh? But that’s the way it works sometimes.

So, when you’re preparing the proposal for your next book, be sure to include a section that highlights people to whom you are somehow connected and who, when asked, are likely to endorse your book. If the names on that list are recognizable, you’ll definitely get my Marketing VP’s attention.

What You Can Do About It

1. Stay networked. 

This is the key to securing solid endorsements for any book. Like most things in life, it’s not what you know but whom you know. So be someone who knows a lot of people. 

When you attend a writer’s conference, be the person who meets people. In some cases, go ahead and schedule appointments even though you don’t plan to pitch anything to a certain agent or editor. Tell them that you just wanted to meet them. Get their advice on the industry. Let them know you exist in case you send them a pitch sometime in the future. 

Join online writer’s groups, write reviews of books by authors you like, post comments on author blogs and websites. Just stay in the game, so to speak, even if you don’t yet have a play to call. Next time you need a great endorsement, that networking may just pay off. 

2. Don’t assume only authors can be endorsers. 

My wife once published a book called The Low-Fat Lifestyle. (Great book by the way—sincerely!) If you look at the back cover on that book you’ll see an obligatory endorsement from a prominent women’s author/editor. Above that one, however, you’ll see an endorsement from a guy who’s never written a thing in his life. 

So why does he rate as a significant endorser for this book? He’s a medical doctor, an accomplished physician, and an expert in the field of health and medicine. That makes him a person who immediately lends credibility to the healthy ideas my wife included in her book. 

So don’t assume your endorsers must always be other writers. Find credible experts in the field who can lend their authority to the material covered in your book. Sometimes that carries more weight than even a bestselling author.

3. Stay on good terms with your editors.

John Maxwell is a New York Times bestselling author, one of the nation’s foremost experts on leadership, and a well-respected business guru to millions. I personally have never met, nor spoken to, nor even exchanged emails with Dr. Maxwell. Yet he wrote an entire foreword to one of my books. 

How did I pull this off? Well, I stayed on good terms with an industry friend who went on to become both my editor and Dr. Maxwell’s editor. When the time came for collecting the foreword and endorsements, this editor did me a huge favor and contacted John Maxwell on my behalf. (And hey, if you’re reading this, I still owe you one Mark!)

Like I said, it’s not always what you know, but whom you know. So stay on good terms with your editors—even through all the waves of rejections. Those people may one day do you a big favor when it comes time for endorsements.

Looking for more? Check out these links:

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