Highlights from Elizabeth Lyon’s Presentation on How to Write Nonfiction Book Proposals

Notes by Ashleigh Rousselle

A nonfiction book proposal is a business report but it needs to get people excited about your work.

Sixty pages or three chapters should be included.

Novelists have to write the entire novel before; Nonfiction authors need to see if their idea should be developed.

“About the Author” means “Why are you qualified to write this book?”

Expect to be studied personally to see how well you can sell your books. Build your platform! (Platform is self promotion.)

It’s guesswork—you need to convince them that your book will sell in one-three years. Find statistics.

Memoirs can’t just be about yourself, you need a universal/relatable theme.

“A book for everybody is a book for no one”—Define your audience: gender, age groups…  (Women buy more books).

An illusion: making money off books.  75% of books published don’t make back their advance.

Writing books for not a lot of money still allows you to reach the audience you want to reach and could still bring future opportunities.

Multiple books can build an audience.

Go to amazon.net; be clever with synonyms. Find books comparable to what you plan to write (That aren’t self published, and came out within the last five years).

Comparing your book to books that are already published pushes you to make yours different.

If you have already written your book, it probably will need to be revised (a lot), but it’ll be finished by the deadline…

Your writing has to be deemed “professional,” continue improving it

You need to write in an entertaining way, it has to be rewarding/interesting on every page.

If you’re writing a memoir, be prepared to be asked for the whole thing. (Though you could always chop it into smaller pieces and publish them wherever you can.)

Anything you’ve written is already copyrighted. (Protects writers.)

“Fast tracked books” come out six months to a year.

Books can be deemed “out of print”—located in the contract.

Children’s Writers: publishers prefer to assign illustrators for your book.

When selecting your theee sample chapters select consecutive for memoirs, and representative for “how to” books.

Highlights from Carmen T. Berneir Grand’s Presentation on Writing Children’s Books

Notes By Ashleigh Rousselle

Preliminary Research is important no matter what you’re writing; just make sure your research doesn’t take up your actual writing time.

Get as much information as you can. You’ll never know what you can use.  Check and keep track of all your sources.

Remember how children think (not liking someone because they don’t comb their hair).

Let publisher decide the appropriate age of people who would read your book.

Not everything should go into a children’s book (ie. if it follows history, skip the cannibalism)

Write with 3H’s: Head—ideas, Heart—feeling, and Hand—(hand-written first)

We all have a scary editor inside our heads who says, “This is garbage.”  Blindfold them.

When editing, read out loud

Writing groups—cool down for a few days and then re-look at comments

Don’t follow editors and attempt to tell them your story orally

Surprisingly, children’s stories can take years, especially if your illustrator gets sick and no one tells you.

Watch out for skin color of characters—it’s easy to accidentally insult people.

Information doesn’t have to be for just one book, you can take advantage of everything you write.

You need three-dimensional characters; you need to know what’s bad about your character.

Your book can become complete with illustrations without you even seeing sketches. Writers don’t handle that.

Editors often change where they work.  Keep on good terms with all of them—someday they might be in a position where they can help you.

It’s good to call and check up on your manuscript after you’ve submitted it for consideration, they may have lost it.

Don’t worry about illustrations unless there’s something that’s not clear from the text.  (Like gender of a character.)  Don’t send instructions. Try recommending an illustrator by letter instead.

Keep in mind if you partner with an illustrator—they may like your work and not the illustrators or vice-versa.

They nearly always include things you don’t expect—just let it be.

Self-published books can be picked up by publishing companies

When you have passion or talent, you should share it with the world.

Send your submissions to multiple places, otherwise it will take forever.

Keep writing—don’t wait on your mailbox.

Try writing folk stories in the way you would tell them today.  Though be careful—are they in the public domain or not?

Advances for children’s books are very small.

A good agent should be your cheerleader, and not constantly putting you down.  They should also be attending a lot of conferences, know the industry, and be a member of AAR—Association of Authors’ Representatives.

Keep your brain going—put it all down as quickly as possible.  Keep a little notebook with you at all times.

Writing is also thinking.

In cover letters don’t say, “The kids in my library love it”—they’ll decide.

Don’t send it out until 2 or 3 people have read it and until YOU are satisfied.

Highlights From Brian Libby’s Presentation: Flex Your Freelance Potential

By Ashleigh Rousselle

You don’t have to wake up to an alarm; it’s not 9 to 5.

There’s a freelancer identity: freedom, and hard work.

There’s not much of an education requirement, not often asked for resume.

Anybody can write—there are lots of avenues to write in (like when he used to review movies).

Know that you aren’t going to get rich.

When in doubt use quotes!  Interview people.

Your opinions can turn into articles.

Consider using an outline—it’s different for every writer.

Your job:
1) Tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em
2) Tell ‘em
3) Tell ‘em what you told ‘em

Always know what you’re writing about and put main points in the first paragraph.

“Nutgraph”—a nut is what you hang your story on.

Make a contract with yourself about how much you’re going to write.

You might be gathering information for a book subconsciously.

Sometimes you might do something for nothing (or for little) because it leads you to something else.

Be aware: publishers can go bankrupt and not pay you.

Sometimes you make your own luck.

Usually you get a contract or assignment before writing.

Know your reason for writing.

Go to publishers with ideas, after a while they might come to you.

Blogging—you never have to wait to get published, you get your foot in the door, and have something to put on your resume.

Be honest with the editors; impress them by being persistent—work with options.

Be humble—write for anyone; get your portfolio started.

Have some attitude—don’t take no for an answer.

Don’t hold yourself to standards—find your voice.

Persuade editors, then readers.

You don’t want to write for someone just once; try to form a relationship.

Find an accountant who deals with writers—tax write offs.

Highlights from Christine Fletcher’s Presentation: Essential Skills for Every Fiction Writer

By Ashleigh Rousselle

If you’re going to write fiction; you’re going to have to read fiction.

If you plan to write romance, read romance; read in your genre.

The most important parts of novels are: character, action/conflict, and details.  These are “rock-bottom essentials.”

Fiction begins with characters—the people on the pages. Your character shouldn’t be a puppet; a good character lives and breathes on the page—they have morals, flaws, things that are unique to them. When the book is over readers should be able to understand the characters enough so that they keep thinking about them for years.

Christine Fletcher swears she knows some characters in novels better than she knows members of her own family. And that’s good!

Readers shouldn’t just identify with characters; writers want them to become emotionally invested. It’ll keep them reading the book, and make them tell others about the book…

You need to be able to visualize/see your character. Not just physical, but motivations—why they do what they do.

Basic wants: love, money, power. Figure out what your character wants more than anything. You also need to know why.

Fear—what’s  at stake?  What happens if the character doesn’t get what they want?  Has to be huge—has to really matter—for that character.

One main want, and one main fear, should run through the entire book. Keeps the book together, introduced at the very beginning.

People in real life can be as out of character and unexplainable as they want but your characters cannot.  They can’t suddenly change, everything they do has to be reasonable for the character you’ve introduced the readers to—which is why the basic wants help. If you don’t know why your character is doing something, neither will your readers. You can surprise readers, but the decisions your characters make can’t come out of left field with no real reasoning behind them.

We can use fiction to explore the things that drive us insane. Things we want to know but never will. In fiction we can figure it out. You can make it all make sense in your head

Know your characters better than you know yourself.

Experiment with 1st person versus 3rd person—how does it sound in your head?  If the main character seems to be talking directly to you then write in 1st.  What’s the easiest way to tell the story?

Characters have to be compelling; readers have to be on their side. It’s the main character that’s taking the readers through the story. Characters must feel intensely, and take action. Characters have to do something.

Reading a novel is an investment of energy and emotion—make it worth it.

Stories usually begin with an inciting incident, which cause the protagonist to take action. It’s the incident, which set the story in motion. Something that jars the protagonist out of usual routine and sets them down a certain path.  Must be something that plays off characters great want or great fear.  Also: why now—what’s happening to make you chose that moment to start the story.

Readers should feel like they’ve been dropped into characters lives.  Meaning they should have had a life before the novel started.

Don’t procrastinate writing your novel in order to figure out every detail of your characters lives—some things can only be revealed while you’re writing the novel.

Conflict drives the story. No conflict, no story. Anything that opposes your characters. Internal or external. Something your character has to overcome.

Characters who have no internal conflict and are perfect are called “Mary Sue” or “Mary Stu,” they should not exist. Everyone has internal conflict, so characters with internal conflicts are extremely relate-able. They have to be clear on the page for the reader.

External conflicts can be situations or people, minor to major. Time could even be a conflict. Creates tension.

Remember the weather!

The antagonist has to be as compelling as the protagonist. Don’t rely on clichés.

Readers often judge by the first page—so make it interesting!

Antagonist has all own (dis)likes, wants, and fears—just like protagonist.  Well-rounded person.  Antagonist needs to be worthy of protagonist, need to be evenly matched.

There must be conflict of some kind on every page.  Keeps tension going and readers attentive. No matter how small, doesn’t have to be explosions, and car chases, more like a knock at the door, or a strained silence between mother and daughter-in-law.

You must torture your characters. (Make bad things happen to them.) Making your characters miserable doesn’t guarantee that your readers will keep reading. you can’t make random bad things happen. Conflict has to be meaningful; has to be related to the story question (the question around which your story is based—enough to make the reader read to the end to get the answer.)

Toward the end: bigger conflicts, and the more it should play against your characters flaws, wants, weaknesses…etc.

End can’t be predictable—why would you read till the end?

Conflicts can occur directly because of main characters actions.  It’s their fault.

Never resolve all the conflicts, (until the end).

Don’t protect your protagonist, something really needs to be at stake. If you’re avoiding a scene you need to write it and let it play out.

Fictional dream—getting immersed in novel. Not being aware that you’re reading, being in the book.  You start visualizing the world the writer wrote.

Don’t jar your reader out of the world you create. Be careful with the language.

Details bring the world alive, they leave cues, let senses take over.

Don’t describe everything, describe the right details.

The writing shouldn’t call attention to itself, the story is the main focus.

Details show emotion, that emotion must match the rest of the story.

Use all five senses, don’t always rely on sight.

Highlights from Christina Katz’ Presentation: A Platform Primer for Aspiring Authors

By Ashleigh Rousselle

• Strategy: when making goals for your writing, aim lower so you’ll achieve/succeed sooner.  (Build up a series of small accomplishments, which will grow over time.)
• Promoting yourself on the Internet (through blogs etc) can be wonderful but it’s pretty crowded.
• You need to know who you are writing to, and why. Clarify your audience, find your niche.  Brand yourself.
• Be visible to the people you want to reach; be accessible, hear your audience speak, email them.
• Memberships are give and take relationships—join three inexpensive associations.
• Pick a topic in which you have a depth of knowledge—a writer’s job is never done.
• We all want readers!  Being a writer is about finding readers—we want to be read!  And we need to be read by the right people at the right time.
• Books that don’t sell, don’t stay in print.
• Discover the balance between the quality of your writing and the quality of your platform.
• Agents love platforms, they look for recognizable people.
• Find your focus, you need hypothetical people to buy your book, which means knowing why you do what you do and why others should care.
• You need to take 100% responsibility for your writing career; no finger pointing—work with people you trust.
• Stay with the times, experiment with new things, like Twitter perhaps (though if your audience wouldn’t be on it neither should you).
• When dealing with media be aware of the word “no.”
• Visibility doesn’t always happen in the traditional way.
• Get yourself a “tribe”—people who can help.  Network!  Network!  Network!  Find a “matchmaker” for your work.
• Once you find out who you are, what you do, and what you’re about, good things will start happening.
• Figure out your “author name” it needs to be recognizable and unique.
• Get a tagline, an email signature, consider getting professional headshots, and keep your bio updated.

More about Christina Katz at www.christinakatz.com.

Highlights from Linda Kuhlmann’s Presentation: The Pros & Cons of Self-publishing

By Ashleigh Rousselle

Print on Demand Publishing:

• Print on Demand (POD) means your book is printed as it is ordered.
• How to find a self-publishing house: look in the books that you read. Check quality and price of the book.
• Contracts are a balancing act. Be aware of which rights you’re giving up. Attorneys can looks at contracts and help you navigate.
• Some places will literally judge your book by its cover.
• Pay for editing! Published mistakes are embarrassing!
• A galley is a pre-publication copy of your book, a “tell-me-what-you-think-of-this” copy. Once your book gets reviews, you can put them on the back cover or inside your book.
• The best thing you can do is network. Be nice to everyone, you never know where contacts will lead you.
• Have a promo copy of your work wherever you go. Promote yourself. Go into bookstores and talk to people. Get them to order your books. Don’t take “no” for an answer.
• Types of editors: Line (grammar), Content (location, time line of story, consistent eye color), and Story (actual storyline—does it flow?). However it’s your story. You don’t have to make changes.
• Become your own publisher to combat discrimination against POD. Purchase ISBN numbers at www.Bowker.com. Create Business name, and Logo—register you publishing business with the state, and send manuscripts to book finishing service.
• Define your audience: think of places outside of the bookstore where your book could be sold. For instance a book about a horse for sale in a horse supply store or at the race track.
• Create contact lists: independent and chain bookstores, librarians, book club members. Start event mailing lists.
• You have to take yourself seriously. Self-publishing is a business not a hobby.

Traditional Publishing:

• Can possibly be 2-10 year process to get a book published.
• Get an agent, then agent gets a publisher. Possible advance, editing rewrites, cover design, and text formatting, marketing advantages, large bookstore chain support.

POD Publishers List (examine initial set up costs):

www.llumina.com

www2.xlibris.com

www.lulu.com

www.createspace.com (through Amazon

Additional Services/Fees: Editing services, marketing packages, galley costs, time, cost of books to writer, return policy costs (optional)

Independent Book Publishers List:

Independent Book Publishers Assn. (www.pma-online.org)

Book Marketing & Book Promotion (www.bookmarket.com)

You can learn more about author, Linda Kuhlmann at her website.

Highlights from Cynthia Whitcomb’s presentation on “The Play’s The Thing”

Ashleigh’s Notes

By Ashleigh Rousselle

2008-2009 NAS Intern

Try writing with a partner: you can balance each other, you can act out a scene, you have two separate senses of humor

The difference between screenplays and theatre plays:
Screenplays—show (don’t tell), are visual, include character evolution, and are made for people of average intelligence
Plays—tell, are verbal, and are more intellectual

Plays are about discovery—what the audience does or does not know

When you begin to write a play—believe that you’ll end up somewhere

Write so that the audience is “inside the thing”—actively engaged

Less words=more emotion

Imagine the play—in detail— as you write it

Plays should have a lot of laughs, and a bit of tears

A suggestion: have an intermission by one hour into the show

A scene can be as long as you want

The biggest need in theatre is for Christmas plays (people can only see “Christmas Carol”, and “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” so many times)

You will write in the same style of whatever you read (so stay away from romance novels unless you are writing romance novels)

Writing is like a muscle: the more you do it—the stronger it gets

“Follow your joy, follow your bliss”—you can start a new career

Bounce your ideas off actors—they’re really emotionally open, and you can see what is or is not funny

Instead of copyrighting right away, register with the writer’s guild

When dealing with a contract, edit it as you like, then initial—don’t involve your lawyers right away

Just remember, with writing, “You win some, you lose some—you win some.”

Tips From Samatha Duclouz Waltz on Writing Personal Essays for Publication

Ashleigh’s Notes

By Ashleigh Rousselle

2008-2009 NAS Intern

• Essay anthologies are mostly published by themes. Fit the market to break in.
• Practice finding your voice, but still fit the needs of the market.
• Market research is always a good idea. Before submitting ask for writer’s guidelines and get the name of the editor.
• Working with editors is all about good relations. Be easy to work with.
• In your writing, be specific, pick a topic, and really zoom in on it.
• Answering a question, or having a prompt, can help to keep your writing focused on a topic.
• Start with a hook to capture the reader’s attention and keep it.
• Know where the story is going. Have a beginning, middle, and end.
• Layer your story. Go back in rewrites and utilize the 5 senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell.
• Write something and then let it sit a few days before you review it.
• Get other people to read your work. Start a writing group if you need one.
• Keep meticulous records of ideas, and always back up your work.