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Here’s the latest: Perfect Timing

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Have you noticed that the marketing (aka: platform) professionals keep adding things to our “must do” list?

It started with blogs, then it was Facebook, now it’s Twitter. With everything that we do to market our books, it’s not a surprise that at times actual writing can take a back seat.  So what can we do?

Simplify.

Are you trying to manage 3 or more email addresses? Simplify. Which one(s) can you cancel?

Are you working on, but not finishing, more than one manuscript right now? Simplify – pick and finish one.

Are you overwhelmed with the number of social media outlets you are trying to keep up with? Simplify. Choose one and become really consistent in its use, then you can add another one as your time grows.

Where else can you simplify your writing life? You can do it!

In my efforts to simplify, I’ve decided to discontinue this blog –NOT quit,  just simplify.  I will still be blogging about writing, marketing and business on my main website JOJOJENSEN.COM.  Join me!

When it doubt…simplify!

In the business world, keeping things professional really matters. Too often, the place where being professional really matters is neglected—your “voice.” There is a whole world of audio marketing in which it’s important to look—and sound—professional. Making sure your “voice” is well represented means making sure you’re professional not just in the way you speak, but in what you say and where you say it.

“Professional” is a word that is thrown around pretty frequently, but how do you define it? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary points out a few, but the most relevant definition for our purposes is, “(1) : characterized by or conforming to the technical or ethical standards of a profession (2) : exhibiting a courteous, conscientious, and generally businesslike manner in the workplace.”

Where do you start using your voice to sound professional?

1. Social Media

If you don’t have professional social networking accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In, sign up today. To make sure you are portraying a professional voice and image, don’t neglect spell check, and be sure to proofread everything you write, even a casual comment. You might even decide to start blogging—just make sure it’s done with great care. Social media serves as a valuable customer service tool, so it is imperative to monitor and manage these sites regularly to show you are active, and address customers’ questions, comments, and issues.

2. Your Voicemail

At home, on your cell, or at the office, be sure to have a professional voicemail greeting anywhere you might receive a business call. Speak clearly and slowly, and be sure ask the caller for their name, message, and call back number. A message that says “Hey it’s Dave, I’m screening your call” isn’t going to win over many clients or receive any job offers.

3. Your Phones

Your phone is another place where sounding professional matters. Be sure to take the time to recording any IVR announcements and Messages On Hold clearly and with a interest in your voice. Remember: what callers hear on your phone line can be one of the first impressions they have of your company. On the phone, callers will literally hear your voice (even if it’s a professional voice talent, not yourself, speaking)

Of course, these are just the first steps, where to begin when you start thinking about finding professionalism. Being professional starts with you—and your voice.

The mules plod along, putting one sure foot in front on the other as they descend the steep trails.  These mules don’t run or trot – they lumber along until they reach their destination.

As you hit the marketing trail, let the mule be your guide.

Learn how to plod.  Embrace the slower place of the amble.  Adopt the power of lumbering toward your goal. Remember: it’s not how fast you reach your destination, but how long you stay there.

Just like the mule making it safely to the bottom of the canyon, success in marketing and sales is about just taking the next step, and then, doing it again. Participating in the day-to-day, unsexy grind.  Making the phone calls. Writing the query letters. Taking the risk of putting yourself out there with consistency and persistence.

One of my favorite sentiments is; “I’m an overnight success and it only took me 20 years.” 

Here’s some Plodder questions to ask yourself :

• Do you set aside time for marketing every day? Weekly? Bi-monthly?
• What is your preferred mode of marketing? Phone calls? Drop ins? Emails? Social Media? All the above?
• Is it working? Are you getting the results you want?
• Do you have support? A person who can, and will, kick your butt and keep you on task?
• Do you have a specific goal or goals in mind? Sell your book? Book a job? Secure a specific client?

Marketing and sales success goes to the people who keep at it, taking one steady step at a time, ignoring the steep incline and just doing the work.  Hail to the Plodders, for we shall take our persistence to the bank.

Opportunity - Take The Exit

True story: While I was plugging away on my book Dirt Farmer Wisdom I worked in a salon and spa. I wrote paragraphs and revised chapters between folding laundry and restocking shelves. Very glamorous.  Part of that job was also chatting with the clients, who always seemed ask me if I was doing something else, beyond sweeping up hair.  I grabbed those opportunities and told anyone who asked that I was a writer and was in search of a literary agent and an editor.

Anytime an opportunity presented itself, I pitched my book and I did it with purpose. I met lots of other writers seeking publication, a few authors who gave me the inside scoop into the industry and even someone whose cousin was an agent. She gave me their contact information along with an introduction. Nothing came of that, but it was worth the effort in terms of practice.

You just never know where luck will meet tenacity.

As writers it’s important that we outgrow the timid, socially awkward stereotype and embrace a vivacious attitude of success.  As you work on your book, tell everyone what you are doing, what you want to do with it, and what you need to reach your goal.

Having a concise, intriguing three-line pitch at your disposal is important to help us feel confident and comfortable as we tell people about our projects.  It doesn’t matter where our book is in the writing/revising process, what is important is that we have a working pitch to draw on when the occasion arises.

Be brave. Share your passion for your writing project whenever and wherever you can.  You never know when magic will happen.

Are you really going to ask that?

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to wake up in the year 1600 with nothing on you but a bottle of Scope and a pocketknife?

What would you do if you had a dream that we went to school naked, but discovered that it wasn’t a dream?

Without any magical talent, will Thomas stand against in the alien hordes or run away like every one expects?

Should you use questions in a pitch and risk annoying the agent & editor, or search for stronger story details to keep their interest?

Using questions in a pitch is like falling in love with the word “was.” It’s too easy.  Just as we are always on the lookout for stronger, more vibrate words to describe action and characters; we should avoid using questions to begin or end a pitch.

It’s lazy, predictable, and not effective.

In one of Nathan Bransford’s ubiquitous blog posts he said that one thing he didn’t want to see in query letters was a rhetorical question instead of a solid hook.”  The same goes for a pitch. What you want at the end is to show how the hook plays into your pitch and the consequences.

If you are tempted to use a question in your pitch or query, try this.

Write out your question and read it out loud. Then turn the question into specifics about the main character or the main gist of your nonfiction book.

Using the examples from above…

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to wake up in the year 1600 with nothing on you but a bottle of Scope and a pocketknife?

When Heather fell asleep it was 2012, but when she woke up, it was the year 1602 and all she had in her pocket was a mini-bottle of Scope and pocketknife.

What would you do if you had a dream that you went to school naked, but discovered that it wasn’t a dream?

Every night, 16-year-old Annie had a nightmare that she stood in front of her English class naked, only this time, it wasn’t a dream.

Without any magical talent, will Thomas stand against in the alien hordes or run away like every one expects?

Not knowing if his magical talents will ever kick in, Thomas decides he would rather die without magic than live as a coward.

Don’t be tempted to use the old rhetorical question in your pitch – it’s annoying and shows a certain lack of creativity. Instead, search out and use the active details of your book to make your pitch stand out of the crowd.

Get what I’m saying?

FYI: If you want to submit a 3-line pitch for review and revision, go to www.savvyauthors.com and send in your pitch to Pimp My Pitch.

Face Plant by Eric D. Snider

Over the last month I’ve had my ass handed to me in the form of intestinal issues and then, ‘cause blowing up like a balloon wasn’t fun enough, an unexpected major surgery.  Needless to say, writing and submitting my book didn’t even cross my mind. It’s almost impossible to be creative when I couldn’t get off the couch.

I’m beginning to feel better and one of the first things I wondered was, “would I be able to get back to writing – ever?”  Long breaks away from writing and my misguided belief that if I didn’t stay on task with a project my desire to write would disappear kind of freaked me out.  Could I…would I ever be able to get back to the writing life I love?

All this got me thinking, how do we get back into our writing, revising and marketing groove after a life event kicks our butts?  How can we handle the spit balls life throws us yet continue to follow our writing dreams?

Here’s a couple ideas:

• Write for 15 minutes
• Write 200 words
• Write a page
• Write a blog post
• Respond to blog posts
• Scribble down a poem about not writing
• Write a query letter for a book you have no intention of ever writing
• Write your Emmy, Oscar or Tony acceptance speech

Now it’s your turn to share. Tell me how you deal with obstacles that are thrown in your writing path. How do you get back to your writing life when something knocks you off course?  What are your fool-proof tricks for overcoming distractions and get back to work?

For me, writing this post has been a big step to getting back into the world.

Quit reading and go write something!

The Ultimate Backfire

Have you ever been so pissed at an agent or editor’s response to a pitch, query, sample pages, or book proposal that you want to tear them to shreds and share your pain?

Do you think an agent’s submission requirements to be ridiculous?

Do you find it parochial for a publisher to only accept submissions via an agent?

Do you want to swap stories of possible mistreatment by an agents or editor with your fellow writers to spare them the same experience?

Don’t!

You can have all the thoughts, feelings, and opinions you want, but don’t share them online. Don’t post them on a forum or blog about them.  Don’t make a snarky 140 character comment on Twitter. Don’t. Just don’t!

If you engage in online agent or editors bashing, there is a better than average change that it will come back to bite you in the ass.  There I said it.  By venting online, in print, this one action has the power to derail, delay or destroy our writing careers before they even get started.

How?

Agents and editors google too.  They spend as much time on Facebook, Twitter and surfing blogs as you do.  They will find out. Or, their friends will stumble upon your post and share it.  There is no upside to taking your fight online.

The cost of a few lines of rancor is way too high.

Complain to your critique group. Yell at your partner about the “unfairness of it all.”  Let rip with your dismay to your closest friend. Rant, rave, but don’t press “okay.”

Yes, there are less than reputable people (notice I didn’t use the word agent) out there claiming that they can get you published if you pay them a reading fee or pony-up an editorial tariff.   These people prey on writer’s desire to be published.  They stink.

Abuses should be reported. You can make genuine complaints to Editors & Predators. They update the list daily and would like documentation of wrong doing.  P&E maintains a running list of “agents” that are members of AAR – The Association of Author’s Representatives.

Which Conference to Choose?

It’s never too early to start scribbling down the pitch for your book or thinking about which writers conference(s) you want to attend.  There are so many great choices that sometimes it can be hard to choose.

That’s why I’m here.

Here is a quick list of Ponder Points.

• Skill Building
• Cost
• Geography
• Best Fit
• Pitching

Skill Building

If you are looking to strengthen your current writing skills and discover new ones, then search for a conference that is heavy on craft workshops and not so focused on the marketing aspects of writing and publishing.  While a lot of conferences do offer pitch sessions and in-depth marketing programs, keep your eyes on the “How To” classes to really give your writing a boost.

Cost

Some writing conferences are more expensive than others, but don’t let that stop you from going.  It’s good to be fiscally aware of our resources, but think of attending a writers conference as professional development.  Who said that you have to attend the full conference? Maybe you could go for just a day?  And if you are watching your sheckles, be sure to take full advantage of any volunteer opportunities and/or scholarships that the conference may offer.  Before you make a choice that you can’t go…ask the conference organizers what they can do to help. A little Dirt Farmer Wisdom from me to you… “You don’t get what you don’t ask for.”

Geography

There are writers conferences all over the globe.  Consider this Ponder Point: choose two conferences a year.  Go to one that is close to home and one that you have to travel to. By going to one that is close to where you live, you can meet up with writers you already know and meet new writers from your home turf.  Choosing another conference outside of your area offers you an expanded reach. Even if the conference is only a few hours away it gives you the opportunity to meet new people and build your network in a different geographic area.  If you live in Vermont, consider a conference in Texas.  If you hail from Oregon, head toward Chi-Town for some mid-west insight.

Best Fit

Working off the “two conferences a year” concept, if you write genre fiction, one of those two conferences could be genre specific.  The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) has a national conference and smaller regional gatherings that offer in-depth information on the all things Children’s and young adult.  Mystery, science fiction and romance writers (RWA) have their own conferences that can help writers become more fluent in their chosen genre.

Pitching

Not all conferences offer pitch sessions with agents and editors.  If your book is ready to pitch, this is an opportunity not to be missed.  Unless you work in publishing, face-to-face meetings with agents and editors are rare, if they happen at all.  When you are checking out possible conferences to attend consider whether or not you are going to pitch your project.  And sign up for those pitch appointments as soon as you can. They tend to go fast!

Writing conferences are places to meet other writers and compare notes, make new friends and network your buns off.  Choose wisely and you will be rewarded.

I'm on fire

Telling writers not be creative is a kin to telling firemen not to be hunks of burning love.  Or, for the men out there, asking supermodels to not be sexy. Can’t be done.  (Send photos of the ugly ones, otherwise I won’t believe you)

Urban Fantasy?

Regardless of what you write; articles, essays, romance, biography, westerns or how tos, creativity is just part of the deal.  It’s important for us to think of out of the box. We need to come up with new and exciting ways to revamp a familiar theme or figure out how to explain complex ideas and situations in a way that will engage the reader to continue reading.

Okay, being wildly creative is what writer’s do and do well.  Where writers want to turn down the creativity is in picking a genre. Sure there are new genres popping up every so often, but it’s hard to be the first. In fact, I imagine that even the first person to write Steam Punk probably pitched it as alternate history or science fiction or even science fantasy.

Agents, editors, and retailers must have a very clear idea where the title belongs because that helps them sell the manuscript.  If industry professionals can’t picture your book on the shelve, virtual or otherwise, it will be three or fours times harder to secure a contract for you book.

POP QUIZ: Name your genre. Name your subgenre.

While you might consider this a silly exercise, you would be surprised how often people can’t name the genre or subgenre of their book.

Here are some links to help you out.

Writer’s Digest List of Genres & subgenres. This is pretty comprehensive

http://www.writersdigest.com/article/genredefinitions/

Science Fiction genres and subgenres

http://www.writing-world.com/sf/genres.shtml

Mystery genres and subgenres

http://www.writing-world.com/mystery/genres.shtml

If you can’t narrow down your genre and subgenre, try to find inspiration here.

http://www.fictionfactor.com/articles/hsubgenres.html

In the interest of instant recognition of your project when you pitch, choose a genre that already exists. Now is not the time to reinvent the wheel.

Side note: Members of Savvy Authors have the opportunity to pitch their projects online to agent and editors. They bring in agents and editors often who are actively looking for manuscripts.  Just a FYI from me to you.