Authors' Thread (New! Improved! Now With 10% More Questions!)

Re: Authors' Thread

I'm bumping this back up the board for our latest attendees. Welcome!

Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here.

Just kidding.

 

Re: Authors' Thread

Sirs, Madames,

I wonder about blurb etiquette. Two matters:

1. Mr macg kindly blurbified my last tome -- is it kosher to use the same blurb on the next cover? If so, should it be as a reference to the author rather than the work? Or should it reference last book?

2. I'm on a ridiculously short deadline (July 1 for full manuscript, because much material ties to an event in late June, publication to come in October, quick turn-around). Is it okay to send out a half-manuscript or even three-quarters for blurbation?

YHS, etc

 

Re: Authors' Thread

1) I'm certainly okay with that blurb appearing again. It's the blurb that keeps on giving.

2) I'd check with your agent and publisher to see what the protocol might be here. I'm sure there's no rule against it. It also might make a lot of sense to send a partial mss. if you're looking for a quote from an expert in the field who understands the nature of the late June/early deadlne event.

 

Re: Authors' Thread

Mr. macg-

As someone who hopes to join these ranks sooner than later, I can't tell you how helpful this thread is. Thanks for starting it.
No questions at the moment. Plenty later.

 

Re: Authors' Thread

Thanks, RD.

Some days this place can give you goosebumps.

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/41286/

 

Re: Authors' Thread

I have a question related to using quotes in a book.

I understand you can use "so-and-so says" rather than "that guy said" if you have personally interviewed so-and-so. But do the rules change at all if you have interviewed someone but it wasn't in person or over the phone (ie. by fax or e-mail)?

To clarify, I'm 100 per cent sure of the identity of the person in question.

 

Re: Authors' Thread

J[sup]2[/sup] -

I don't think there's a strict stylebook answer here. Books are odd ducks, and reflect the idiosyncracies of their authors, editors and publishers. The rules are anything but hard and fast.

Seems to me the attribution "wrote/written in an e-mail" is becoming more and more common. Or, in the case of a fax, "the subject answered in a written interview" or "in response to a series of written questions."

Or, if you're doing endnotes, chapter notes or footnotes, identify the mechanism for the quote there.

My general guideline on quotes and attributions is to get as much boilerplate information as I need into the first citation - without destroying completely the rhythm of the sentence. I think, too, that you have to make some of these decisions based on the size of the quote, and how often that source is going to recur in the text.

Let's see what some of the other booksters say, though.

 

Re: Authors' Thread

Here's some advice for authors wanting to help out their cause in the marketing of their books.

The marketing plans for most books are done prior to the official in-house launch of the book at sales conference. That means if your book is being published in October, the reps will be out selling the thing in the spring/early summer.

Ask for a meeting with the publicity director, the publicist who will be assigned your book and the sales director shortly after you deliver final ms. Just say you have some "suggestions" for the marketing of your book--if you do.

Bring along ideas but more importantly bring along a list of contacts that you might have in the sports media. Publicists by nature are generalists so they may not know, for example, that one of the best hockey blogs around is James Mirtle at the Globe & Mail.

There's a fine line here between helpful and pushy. Last thing you want is getting a reputation in the publishing house as "author from hell". Your book will die a very quick death.

Remember this meeting is a double-edged sword. If the PR department has never met you before and find out that you mumble, haven't washed in five days and look like a serial killer, they may decide that an author tour isn't going to help sell your book

If you're charming and eloquent, ask if you can come to the sales conference to pitch your book to the sales department. Remember: these are the people that are going to place your book in the stores and you're much better off with a stack at the front than two copies shelved in the sports ghetto.

Booksellers are your friends. Never forget that.

If you're on tour, have your publisher carve out some time to do "drop-ins" on chain and major independent bookstores This is a chance to chat up your book with those on the front lines. And don't just talk to the manager. Say hi to the cashiers and the clerks on the floor. Make small talk. If they do any handselling, they'll be sure to remember your book because they'll be able to say when talking to a customer, "Oh, Joe Blow, told me a funny story about his book....." People love shit like that.

 

Re: Authors' Thread

Can someone help me with what is included in a book proposal?

I'm putting one together for my Master's project. I left the business to teach in an inner city and I have some whoppers to tell. I think my book could sell.

From what I understand, a proposal should include a few chapters and some research about other books in the genre and how mine is different/better. Is there anything else I should include to give myself a better chance? Is there anything else I should know?

Thanks for all the help. This thread offers the perfect blend of expertise and encouragement for me.

 

Re: Authors' Thread

Question about literary agents - although this might not be fair because it's asking for a general answer.

Are agents primarily interested in representing a particular work, or an author? (assuming there's no reason to believe the author may be just a one-book wonder)

 

Re: Authors' Thread

Double J, any good agent wants to represent an an author.

They'll take a chance on a young novelist because they see that the person can write and may have a couple of dozen potential books in them.

It's an investment in the future and although every publisher wants to publish the next Grisham, they also need midlist authors who can become annuities.

 

Re: Authors' Thread

I have been absent from the blessed Workshop for a while and thought, now that my latest book ride has entered the cruising stage, I should finally try to balance the posts-to-reads ratio on this little number.

Anyway, as honestly as possible, I’m going to relate my recent (and not so recent) experiences in the marshmallow-and-lollipop land of books, and hopefully some lessons will surface out of the murk.

Okay.

I wrote my first book -- it was also nearly my last -- in 2000. At the time, I was a sportswriter, covering boxing mostly, for the National Post, a newspaper in Toronto.

I decided it might be a good idea to write a book, kind of like a memoir, about my time as a rookie fight writer, ringside.

Across the street from the newsroom, there was a small Canadian publisher named House of Anansi. They had recently published a book -- Hard Core Roadshow, by a guy named Noel S. Baker -- about a rookie screenwriter that I liked very much, so I thought I’d give them a try, just out of the blue.

I emailed the publisher, a woman named Martha Sharpe. We had lunch at a Japanese restaurant nearby. I complimented the Baker book and said that I wanted to do the same thing for boxing. She said that if I wrote it, and if it was any good, she would publish it. But she couldn’t give me an advance, on account of my never having written a book before.

At this juncture, I should point out that I did not have an agent, and I didn’t shop the idea anywhere else.

Martha’s encouragement was enough for me. No proposal, no outline, no deal, I took a six-week unpaid leave from work, buried myself in my girlfriend’s apartment -- and by “apartment,” I really do mean apartment, not vagina -- and banged that shit out. I wrote around 1,000 words each day, some days more, never less, and ended up with around 60,000 words. It came pretty quick, because it was mostly my memories of a string of fights I covered. I went back to work after my leave was up, continued to edit, and added another 10,000 words probably. After, I stopped by and gave it to Martha, who was shocked that it was single spaced.

She decided to publish it, which made me ecstatic. In my giddiness, I then did the stupidest thing I’ve ever done (did I mention that I didn’t have an agent?). I signed a TWO BOOK DEAL FOR WORLD RIGHTS. I got around $16,000 -- $10,000 for the first book, and $6,000 for the mystery second book that I surely had in me. In my mind, that guaranteed that Anansi would publish whatever I might want to write about -- I thought it was security for me, that I would be able to write another book no matter what, plus I was getting more money upfront than I would have for a single book. A sweetheart deal!

Of course, in truth, it was security for the publisher and the publisher alone: that if I hit it big, they had their hooks into me. This is a business of art, but never forget, it’s still a business.

Anyway, pretty quickly Anansi sold the book -- originally called BOXING SUNDAYS, it became FALLING HARD -- to an American publisher, Arcade, and a British publisher, Yellow Jersey, a division of Random House. Arcade was to pay $5,000; Yellow Jersey the same in pounds.

Some percentage of that was applied against my advance, but not all of it.

The book came out in 2001. They had a nice launch party for me. The National Post ran a big excerpt. I was very excited.

And then, pffffffft.

CON'T.--