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

Glad we could all be of help. Good luck.

 

Well, today I started it. The book idea that's been percolating in my head for more than five years, I finally started serious work on it.

I was lucky enough a couple years ago to cover a really big story, which won me my first (and, to date, only, APSE award). After thinking about it over the years and a couple false starts, today I really started putting words on the page, organizing this huge story into talking points and a potential proposal I could shop around. One of my mentors in this business is helping open some doors for me, too, for which I am eternally grateful.

And, I've got to say, all of this scares the bejeezus out of me. The enormity of it all. The writing, the reporting, the selling that's going to go into all of it.

At the same time, I can't remember being this stoked about something I've worked on in a long time.

Thanks to everyone on this thread (jgmacg and Jones, especially) for the guidance and inspiration. Back to the blank page ...

 

Misery loves company. Welcome, and good luck.

 

Hey, everyone, I just wanted to let you all know that I have really appreciated all the tips and back-and-forth here. I have just signed a contract with a major publishing company in Toronto and expect to have a North American release of my book in the fall of 2009!!

Special thanks must go to my agent - I won't name that person here, lest they get swamped with proposals, but they know who they are. I couldn't have come this far without them.

Thanks also to everyone who responded to PMs and e-mails and never once made me feel like I was asking a stupid question.....even when that's exactly what I was doing.

It's been a long journey to this point, and I know there's even more hard work ahead of me, but I'm ready for it and I'm very excited to be able to do what I'm doing. I know I won't get rich off this deal, but to me the money is secondary. It's primarily about being able to grow as a writer and build a platform for myself, not to mention tell a story that deserves to be told and shared with as large an audience as possible.

So, to all of you with an idea and a dream - don't give up! It can happen for you too! Best of luck!!! 8) ;D

 

Hey DJ, good for you. To Tiger, FoF and Mr. Olsen, keep your starting tasks small, in achievable portions, and let your momentum and confidence build, and realize that almost everything you do at the beginning you'll re-do over and over anyway, no matter what, becasue as you wriute you learn about a subject, and as you learn more it will change by necessity. So don't fret or beat yourself up over a bad day, bad paragraph, bad phrase, or empty page.

 

Congratulations JJ -- you were helped out because people believed you weren't in this just for a goof, that you were going to write a book and that you were going to do a good job at it. You should feel really, really good about the work you put into things already and about getting a deal. That's great news.

Now sit your ass down and get to work.

 

To DoubleJ--Congrats, and you're very welcome. There are few things more rewarding to agents and editors than finding talented new authors with great ideas, and it's an honor and a privilege to be working with you on yours.

But for all of you who dream of the alleged luxurious life enjoyed by bestselling authors, be careful what you wish for, according to this story in today's Boston Globe.

http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2008/06/09/top_writers_feel_heat_from_publishers_presses/?page=1

In an age when reading for pleasure is declining, book publishers increasingly are counting on their biggest moneymaking writers to crank out books at a rate of at least one a year, right on schedule, and sometimes faster than that.
more stories like this

Many top-selling writers, such as John Grisham and Mary Higgins Clark, have turned out at least one book annually for years. Now some writers are beginning to grumble about the pressure, and some are refusing to comply.

Not that writers are being explicitly harassed, but costly advance marketing plans are increasingly tied into the expectation that the most profitable authors will have a new book out at roughly the same time each year. In today's intensely competitive marketplace, readers will turn to another author if a writer fails to come through at the usual time, which could cost a publisher big bucks.

Many writers below the top tier are also being urged to pick up the pace. In some cases, publishers have made a book-per-year promise an explicit condition of taking on a new author.

"It's no problem, as long as you don't have a life," said Patricia Cornwell, the Massachusetts-based author of the enormously successful Kay Scarpetta crime thrillers. "The Scarpetta [manuscript] that's due out Oct. 7 is due in a few weeks, because they have to reserve the storefront real estate and pay for it. If I don't get the book turned in on time, they'll be freaking out. If I miss my deadline, I miss the entire year. Sometimes there's an overwhelming feeling of panic. It's like a rock 'n' roll concert, and what if I don't show up?"

 

Congrats, Double J.
Since you and I have talked about your project at length, I know it should be a huge hit.
Just make sure you invite me to the launch party, OK?

 

Hell, as you're the new head of Double J Marketing and Procuring, shouldn't you be organizing the party? Hop to it, son!!

 

I've been writing a non-fiction book about teaching in the inner city with all the dexterity of a high schooler trying to unhook a bra.

I've cobbled together a proposal, reached 56,000 words, and come to some sort of conclusion. I know there are probably some holes still left to fill, but it's probably better if a pro helps me do it. If anyone cares to read it, it's posted online PM me and I'll send you the link, just be warned that I haven't completed my own editing yet.

 

The kid who has already been arrested for directing porn is hook enough for me.

Alas, I am not an agent nor an employee at a major publishing house. Good luck, though, it looks really interesting.

 

I'd be a little cautious about posting so much of a proposed proposal on a public forum, no matter what the topic - you might be giving another former teacher the same idea.

Your sample chapter will have to be killer - the best, most visceral and memorable story you've got that will hit an agent or editor like a hammer. No analysis - story.