SueHarrison.com

Your Question: Milly Balzarini asks,”The Lost Road Home” became a book because my husband suffers from PTSD due to combat in Vietnam. Writing the book was easy compared to selling it. I am not a salesman and I need some help marketing this book . Any suggestions would be helpful to me. Thank you!

Sue’s Reply: First of all, Milly, I’ve checked out your website (www.thelostroadhome.com).  It’s great, and a terrific start.  (It convinced me to order a book!)  Plus I see that THE LOST ROAD HOME is available through Amazon.  You’ve taken some very positive steps.  So some of what I say here will not really apply to you, but maybe it will help others with the same question. 

I remember being totally blown away when I realized that I had to be a salesperson for my first book (and all books after!). For crying out loud, wasn’t writing it enough!  Nope.  And that was in the good old days when publishers allotted more for book promotion than they do now.

So whether you self-publish or even if a large house brings out your book, once that book has covers and an ISBN, You the Author suddenly have to morph into You the Salesperson, You the PR Guy and You the Marketing Maven.

The good news is that there are so many more resources out there now, and a lot of them are free.

1. The first step is to convince yourself all over again that your book deserves an audience.  

2. Second, in the case of non-fiction, as Milly’s book is, the author must have a platform - a legitimate connection to and knowledge about the subject. 

3. Third get very brave.  Ask for airtime, for presentation opportunities, for book table space.  The worst that can happen is a “No”, “No thank you”, or a door slammed in your face.  None of that is fatal.

Go out there and volunteer your time and speaking abilities to libraries, focus groups and volunteer organizations. Tell them you’ll speak for free, but would like to bring books to sell. Be alert for any programs on radio or television that are currently hosting discussions or programs that highlight your subject.

One that comes to mind right at the moment regarding Milly’s subject matter (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is the new season of Kiefer Sutherland’s television hit “24″. One of the main characters (a woman) is dealing with PTSD. It’s time to call a few radio stations and even television stations and pitch your book. FOX affiliated station managers can be reminded that one of their prime time action dramas is all about PTSD, and you can explain to an audience what that’s all about.

Google author events in your own and adjoining states, and in any state you happen to be visiting, and invite yourself along.  Many of my relatives and friends have opened doors for me where they live (and provided me free room and board for a couple of days) for library presentations and bookstore and media events.

Here are a couple of websites of interest, but remember that the folks at these sites are trying to sell something in addition to giving away free information. Buyer beware! With that in mind, check out John Kremer’s site and his book “1001 Ways to Market Your Book”. Check out www.WritersServices.com. Again, they have free stuff, but also services for sale. Don’t buy anything unless you’re absolutely sure you are willing and able to make this investment EVEN IF IT GIVES YOU NO RETURN! (Personally, I’ll stick with the free stuff, other than an occasional purchase of a how-to book.)

Marketing is hard work, but it’s something that every author has to do.  As you know, Milly, it’s part of the package.  Good luck!

Blessings, Sue

Your question: Lynn Emerick asks – Is editing – reshaping a book – the job of an agent or an editor at a publishing company?

Answer from Sue: Reshaping a manuscript is ultimately the author’s job, but, in the case of a manuscript being readied for publication, both agents and editors are highly involved.

I have worked with two agents (not including agents in Europe and Asia). One gave me very specific changes that needed to be made. The other was more idea/plot/characterization oriented. That experience (plus what I have read and heard from other authors) leads me to believe that an agent’s approach to editing is dictated by his or her personality and whether or not they enjoy – or at least can tolerate – the process of editing. I also suspect that the best agents are also very good editors.  Whatever editorial changes an agent recommends, it is still the author’s duty to make the changes and do most of the problem-solving involved in making those changes.

Good agents are about the busiest people out there (and if your agent is NOT busy, you need to find someone else to market your work). Most agents are handling multiple projects, as well as sifting through large quantities of queries, reading manuscripts for their clients and for each of us who dream of becoming a client, and are doing all this while running a business (taxes, forms, contracts, filing, all that fun stuff.) If an agent comes across a manuscript that has promise but needs major editing to be marketable, that agent is probably too busy to take it on, although the agent may make suggestions and ask for a re-submission.

An editor who works for a publishing house knows that the manuscript in his or her hands is already considered to be highly marketable. Otherwise the editor’s company would not have purchased it in the first place. The editor wants to improve that marketability even further.

In the case of fiction, the editor will make suggestions, often very detailed suggestions, about plot, characterization, back story, and even check into your background research. In the case of nonfiction, your editor will check your sources and facts and, of course, your presentation.

Whatever changes an editor decides are necessary will be made by the author, not the editor.  It’s like making a movie (well, sort of).  The editor directs; the author acts.  

If the author’s corrections are acceptable to the editor, the editor will pass the manuscript to a line editor, who will edit concerning word choices, small inconsistences and so forth. Then the manuscript will be vetted by a copy editor, who checks for grammar, spelling errors and typos.  After these two edits, the manuscript goes back to the author who okays or nixes the suggested changes. 

Anyone who edits a manuscript, including your pre-submission readers, is doing the author a huge favor. It’s a lot of work to read a manuscript and even more work to make editing comments or suggestions.

Check out these great Blog posts about editing:
Rachelle Gardner’s CBA-Ramblings.blogspot.com ”10 Things to Expect from an Agent” (on the sidebar on the right of the Blog); also check out “Editing,” particularly the first Post by Terry Brennan.

Bookends, LLC  Blog, “Stages of Editing.”   I’m sorry, but I can’t get a direct link to Bookends (a literary agency), but you can access them from the Rachelle Gardner site.   Just check out her “A Few of My Agent Friends” sidebar. 

I look forward to hearing your suggestions and questions on this Post. What are your experiences with editors? Anybody out there ever hire a freelance editor?

Blessings, Sue

I remember when my dream was to become a PUBLISHED AUTHOR, with READERS and even maybe, perhaps, possibly earning money for what I wrote. I am fortunate. That dream came true for me, but not until I had learned as much as I could about how the book business worked. What agents do; what publishers do; what authors are supposed to do. (I’ve still got a lot to learn!)

If any of you are pursuing that dream, in the midst of that dream or have achieved that dream you may be interested in our February Give-Away Book. It is JEFF HERMAN’S GUIDE TO BOOK PUBLISHERS, EDITORS, AND LITERARY AGENTS 2010. To be eligible for the drawing, simply post a question or a comment about writing, publishing, editors or agents on this Blog, January 19 through February 19.  The book drawing will be February 20.  I will notify the winner who will receive the book via USPS book rate shipping.

The February Book Give-Away is in honor of my brother Bob.

Good Luck!  Sue

The snow is blowing in hard across the bay. It cuts the face, burns the eyes, numbs the toes, but I absolutely love January, February and March.  Am I nuts?

Nope. Winter is the time I hide away and write. Instead of only an early morning stint at the computer, I have long lovely days to spend with words. How rare, how joyous!

During my career as a novelist, I have had the privilege of working with big houses (Doubleday, William Morrow, HarperCollins), a small commercial publisher (Thunder Bay), and agents and publishers on four continents. I’ve waded through sixteen-page, multi-title contracts, foreign contracts, and royalty statements. I’ve been fortunate enough to be successful, and I’ve been dumb enough to get burned.

I have a whole lot yet to learn. So why don’t we help each other?

I’m currently working on a new manuscript. Maybe you are, too. I’m currently trying to find a new agent. Maybe you’re looking for an agent, too. Or maybe you’re a reader, and you’d like to know a bit more about the business that brings us the books. 

So let’s talk about it. Let’s help each other figure things out.  Honest questions and helpful answers.

And to add a little sweetener to the mix, anyone who posts a question or an answer will be in the drawing for our February 2010 book. It’s a great one (in size and content) –  Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, and Literary Agents 2010.  Check my next post for details.

Blessings, Sue Harrison

I’m concerned that the current unrest in Haiti will discourage people from donating  to earthquake relief funds. Yes, there are problems, but pulling back and doing nothing is not the solution.

It’s easy to forget the God factor – that He is in charge.  Our place is to trust and to help however we can.  Because I did not know where best to send my donation, I contacted a friend who had served as a missionary for OMS International in Haiti. She told me that Franklin Graham’s group, Samaritan’s Purse (Perhaps you have participated in their Christmas Child shoebox drives.) is working with OMS and Missionary Flights International to fly workers and supplies into Haiti.  Through this cooperative effort,  tarps, tents, water purification kits, food, clothing and medical supplies are being shuttled to the people of Haiti. 

You can go online and donate directly with a credit or debit card through the Samaritan’s Purse website, the OMS  International website or Missionary Flights International. 

Meanwhile, let’s keep the people of Haiti, as well as our soldiers and all the relief workers,  uplifted by an ocean of prayer. 

Blessings, Sue Harrison

Our book winners for January, 2010, are Karyn Kiefer and Roberta Johnson! Karyn’s was the first name drawn, so she will have her choice of our two books, and the other book will go to Roberta. Karyn and Roberta, please email me at sue@sueharrison.com. Congratulations!

Here are the two book blurbs I promised you. Hope you have entered a post about any book you gave to others in December. If so, yours will be among the names in our drawing on Thursday for one of these two books. Good luck!

BETWEEN SUNDAYS by Karen Kingsbury

A jacket blurb: “Megan Gunn works two jobs and spends her spare time helping at a youth center. Much of what she does, she does for the one boy for whom she is everything — a foster child whose dying mother left in him Megan’s care. Mow Megan wants to adopt him, but one obstacle stands in the way. Her foster son, Cory, is convinced that the 49ers quarterback Aaron Hill is his father.”

DARK ASSASSIN by Anne Perry

This mystery set in Victorian England follows William Monk and his intrepid wife Hester as they attempt to solve the riddles behind three mysterious deaths. Their invetigations take them from the luxurious drawing rooms of London’s power brokers to the undergournd warrens of London’s poor and starving. “With gripping courtroom scenes, breathless horror beneath the earth, and a plot that twists and turns toward a stunning denouement, DARK ASSASSIN is absolutely one of Anne Perry’s best.”

(FYI: These books have already been given away.  If you would like to enter the monthly drawing for a free book(s), please read the most recent Free Books! Post.)

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE getting books. I have a whole corner of my office stacked with Books-I-Can’t-Wait-To-Read, which are, of course, the very best kind!

So just as I promised, I’m going to share the joy by giving away two hardcover novels by two great authors. If this book give-away is successful (In other words, if I receive replies to this Post…) We’ll try to do this every month. No contests, just a set of weird or silly or fun qualificaitons. This month’s qualifications? You are eligible if you gave someone a book in the month of December – any kind of book for any reason, in December, 2009. Just post a reply to me on my Blog and include the title of the book(s) you gave.

On Thursday evening, I will place the names of the “postees” in a bowl and draw out two. The first drawn will receive his or her choice of one of the two novels below. The second will receive the remaining book. I will mail you your book via USPS book rate mail. Yes, you’re eligible if you live somewhere else than the USA.

This month’s books are (drumroll….) BETWEEN SUNDAYS, a love story by Karen Kingsbury, and DARK ASSASSIN, a mystery by Anne Perry. I’ll post Blurbs about each of them tomorrow and publish your posts as they come in.

This month’s Book Give-Away is in honor of my brother John, whose birthday is in January.

Good luck!

Sue

When I was in my late twenties, mom of two toddlers, I was an easy mark. If anyone asked me to serve on a committee or volunteer for a job in our church or our community, I ALWAYS said yes.

A wise friend took me aside one day and said, “You know, Sue, if you work yourself to death, nobody’s going to stand over your grave and say, ‘Poor girl, she did it all for us.’ They’re going to stand over your grave and say, ‘What a fool!.’”

As a novelist, I’ve learned that if I don’t set boundaries, I lose my writing time.   I try to curtail inconvenient phone conversations with a polite comment along the lines of,  ”I’ll make this quick.  I’m in the middle of my writing time.’  (People don’t know if you don’t tell them.)  Our household password is PYOW.  Pull Your Own Weight.  If you wear the coat, you hang it up.  If you make the mess, you clean it up.  (We’re still working on that one, especially with the dog.)  The dog HAS learned to wait for his walk until after my writing time.  I schedule activities and interviews in the afternoons.  (I’m a morning person, so that’s when I do my most intensive writing.)

Now I’m the first to admit that I haven’t perfected this boundary thing.  So how about share with me and other Blog readers how you attack this problem.  What works for you?  I’d love to know!

Blessings, Sue Harrison

When I was ten years old, my Grandma Kate began a Christmas tradition that would profoundly impact my life. She gave me Laura Ingalls Wilder’s LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS. Every year after, she gave me one or two books in the series until I had them all. What a treasure! Because of those books, I fell in love with words – a love affair that has continued to this day.

Our family tradition of book-gifting also continues. This year for Christmas, my son and daughter-in-law gave me THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett. (I am halfway through and love it!) My husband gave me NEW YORK by Edward Rutherfurd. Rutherfurd is one of my favorite authors. I can’t wait to immerse myself in his latest.

Did you receive any books this December? If so, let us know their titles.

Next week I’ll be giving away a couple of books – which I hope to do every month or two. No contests, just a set of weird or silly or fun qualifications. Drop in and see if you will be one of the lucky recipients.

Blessings! Sue