Vanity Press

The other day I knocked off work early, went home and watched a Dr. Phil re-run. The story was about a mother and daughter feuding over publishing rights to a book. The mother claimed that the daughter took her real-life story and was planning to publish it as if it were her own, and was refusing to share the expected $3 million royalty. The daughter said that her publisher was initially very excited about the book and thought it would be a best-seller, but had now declined to publish the book due to the conflict with the mother. The publisher had a rep in the audience and got to put in her two-cents worth—along the lines of, yes, we would have published it, but not with this battle going on concerning ownership of the rights.

This is all very sad, but not my point.

My point is: the “publisher” was Publish America.

And everyone, including Dr. Phil, was talking about them like they were a REAL PUBLISHER!

I was shocked!

Publish America is not a real publisher. They are a vanity press. They do very little editing, no marketing, they print on demand (which isn’t all bad, but…), their books are overpriced, bookstores won’t stock them, and if you ever, ever try to use them as a credential with a real publisher, they will laugh you out of their office!

Two other companies that frequently show up as credentials in queries I receive are Author House (at least they admit they’re a vanity press) and BookSurge (owned by Amazon).These are not real publishers either. Do not use them as credentials when approaching a real publisher unless you’ve sold over 2,000 copies of your book. 9And in that case, don’t mention that you “published” through these companies, just say that you self-published and your book sold X number of copies. This will tell the publisher that 1) you wrote well enough to sell to more than your circle of family and friends, and 2) that you know how to market yourself and your book.)

I know how hard it is to have a good novel and receive rejection after rejection. Companies like this play on that heartache, promise you the moon, but they do not deliver. Stay away from them. Like the plague. Like a very bad plague with a 99.9% mortality rate.

Once again, I want to remind everyone of a wonderful site, Preditors and Editors. If you’ve found a publisher via the Internet (rather than a legit Writer’s Guide), do your research before signing up with them.

Contemporary/Historical Label Researched

In response to this post, Tristi asked:

I don’t see how 1974 isn’t considered historical. Isn’t the Vietnam era historical? Isn’t anything that happened in the past considered historical? If not, this blows my current WIP out the window — it’s Vietnam era and I’ve been calling it historical. Silly me.

Rather than replying in the comments section, I’m talking about this here because Tristi brings up a good point. What do you call your novel? You need to be clear about this because that classification will determine where you submit the novel for publication. So.

Remember the fuzzy line I mentioned? A story about the Vietnam Era is right in the middle of that fuzz. It happened less than 50 years ago, yet there is definitely a historical aspect to it.

So how do you decide what to label it? Research!

Research is not hard, especially if you use the Internet. I found an answer in less than 10 minutes, and I suspect Tristi already knows what that answer is because she writes historical fiction and therefore, is no stranger to research. But for writers who have never done this type of research before, the idea of it can be daunting. I hate it when I have to do something new and I don’t even have a clue of where to begin. So, because I am so kind (and also because I’m procrastinating getting started at work today), here’s what I did.

First, I know that Tristi’s previous novels have a large medium dollop of romance in them, so I’m looking for historical romances set in the Vietnam War.

I went to Amazon.com and looked up vietnam romance. I also went to ask.com* and typed in historical romance vietnam. I did some clicking around in both places and came up with two important clues.

#1: Tree of Smoke, by Denis Johnson, is an espionage thriller set in the Vietnam War. It was published September, 2007. It won the fiction category in the National Book Awards. Amazon classifies it as Thriller; Genre Fiction: War; Genre Fiction: Historical. This is a good hint that the Vietnam War era is considered historical.

#2: At historicalromancewriters.com, browsing by time period, I found the Vietnam War era listed. Good sign. It lists two books in that time period—one by Danielle Steele and one by Lindsay McKenna. I don’t know who Lindsay McKenna is, but everyone has heard of Danielle Steele. If her romance set during the Vietnam War can be classified as a “historical romance” then we’re on the right track.

You could do more research if you wanted to, but based on this, I think it’s safe to call a novel set during the Vietnam War a historical novel—especially if the war is an intrinsic part of the storyline and not just a fluffy backdrop.

*In some situations, Ask.com is a better search engine than Google.

Where to Get a Review

No doubt you have addressed this subject before, but I’m a relatively new reader. My question is about getting your book reviewed (my publisher is sending out very few review copies). So how should an author go about obtaining reviews? What sources would you recommend? Which reviewers would you recommend on a national level?


Your marketing/review plan depends on the type of book you’ve written (see “genre specific” below). Some reviewers won’t accept books directly from the author. You’re going to have to do some research and customize your own list of reviewers, but here are some areas to consider.

National reviewers: New York Times (if your book is selling well enough), Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Midwest Book Review (they have a list of links to online reviewers), Library Journal, Foreword Magazine (reviews smaller, independent publishers). Also, go talk to your local librarian. He/she may have some ideas.

Genre specific: Reviewers often specialize in specific genres or age groups. Go find a few best-selling paperback books in the genre you’re writing and look at their blurbs. Any professional reviewers listed would be ones to consider.

Local/regional/niche: Newspaper and magazines—your city and any big city within 100 miles. Try to get them to do a feature story on you as a local author as well as a review. Look for genre magazines that do reviews. If you’re LDS, you want to get it reviewed on Meridian Magazine and in the major Utah papers.

Misc. Bloggers: There are a zillion bloggers out there who do book reviews. Find some that you like, that are getting good traffic (you can usually judge traffic by the number of comments they’re getting). Other bloggers to consider are: friends, family, fellow writers.

Readers, any other suggestions? Give us links if you have them.

December, 1963

Reading pitch critiques over at the BookEnds Agency blog, Jessica voiced concern about a story set in 1974. “It’s not a time period that’s considered historical and not one I’m sure would be of interest to [the YA] age group.”

My MS is also set in the recent past, because to me that’s just when the story takes place. Perhaps I’m just waxing nostalgic.

Does time period really matter? Does something have to be either contemporary or historical? Would it make sense to try and justify setting this story in 1989, or should I just give all of my characters cell phones and iPods and forget about it?

You’re writing for teens. They live in the NOW. They want to imagine themselves as the main character. Do you know any teens who want to imagine themselves as their parents??

The easy sale is going to be something that is clearly historical or clearly contemporary. When you’re writing within the past 50 years, the line between the two gets fuzzy. Fuzzy lines means it’s going to be hard to sell your story to an agent or publisher, and even harder to sell it to the reader. There are notable exceptions that deal with the recent past, such as The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton about teens in the 50s, first published in 1967, and Stephen King’s The Body/Stand by Me set in 1960, published in 1982.

The setting is determined by the story. Ask yourself why you’ve picked this particular time period. Would/could your story be just as strong if it was happening today? If the answer is yes, hand out the cell phones and make it an easier sale.

Internet Publishing Conflict

When it comes to “publishing” your work on the internet, either though blogging or sites like CTRStories, do you need to let a prospective publisher know that it’s been on the internet? For example, if I blog about my child with dyslexia and later decide to write a book about dyslexia using some of what I’ve written on my blog, will that cause a problem?

Yes, you do need to let the publisher know. Let’s say you blog regularly about dyslexia and people come to your blog specifically because of that, then you’ve already begun to establish yourself as an authority in this area. That is a good thing.

Whether or not it causes a problem depends on how close a match the two pieces of writing are. If what you’ve posted is word for word what is in your book, you’re going to need to take those posts down before you start submitting. You might leave up a small number of posts (ones that have the most positive comments) to show that people respond well to your writing but if you have too much up there, you’re diluting the sales potential of the book. It’s a fine line—you want enough there to entice people to buy the book, but not so much that they feel they’ve already read it.

It also depends on the publisher. Some have a policy of no excerpts posted anywhere. Others feel that a few short excerpts are a good thing. Even those who are very strict will probably not have a problem if what you’ve posted represents just a few pages of a much longer finished work, but they may have you take it down when they offer a contract.

Personally, I would not post anything I was planning to publish in print on the Internet until I had a signed contract with a publisher and their permission to do so.

How to Do Everything Wrong

This is a learning blog. It’s important to remember that. What that means is that at some point, I might use YOUR mistake as a teaching tool for others, including yourself. Such is the following.

I am posting the query verbatim because rarely do I get such a shining example of so many things done wrong. Unfortunately, however, I frequently get queries that contain one or more of the mistakes found in this one.

[E-mail query sent simultaneously to 24 different publishers]

Subject: Scipt submission?

To Whom it May Concern:

I am the author of a script for a children’s book I am interested in publishing. I would like to know if your respective companies handle this type of work. I will send the script when I am satisfied of a good fit between my book and the publisher.

Never, ever, EVER send an e-mail blast to multiple publishers. If you want to query several publishers at the same time, send them each their own individual e-mail, addressed only to them.

Do your research! Of the 24 “publishers” this e-mail was sent to: 3 are not publishers, 9 do not publish children’s books, 2 were for people at the same company, 1 is out of business, 1 does not accept unsolicited manuscripts, 1 does not accept e-mail queries, 5 I’ve never heard of/websites are “parked”. Only 4 out of the 24 would be appropriate places for this author to query.

Subject: Scipt submission? Be very careful before you click send. Proof and reproof. If, by some chance, a mistake like this happens to you, do not bother resending the same e-mail with the word corrected. (The author did.)

To Whom It May Concern. This is part of your research. Find out who the editor is and send an individual e-mail to an individual person.

I am the author of a script for a children’s book… A book is called a manuscript. A script is a play or screenplay. What did you write? A book or a play? I am not being picky here; I really don’t know. I would guess it’s a book mislabeled as a script, but I’ve guessed that before with queries using similar phraseology and been wrong.

I am interested in publishing. Does this mean you want to us to publish your book or you want us to help you self-publish your book? If the latter, are you querying us for printing services or asking if we would distribute your book after you’ve printed it? Again, I’m not nit-picking; I really am not sure. I’ve guessed both ways in various queries and been wrong multiple times.

If you want us to publish your book, say so. If you want us to distribute your book, say so. If you want to self-publish, you should contact a vanity press or a printer, not a publisher.

I would like to know if your respective companies handle this type of work. What type of work? Children’s books? Or self-published works? The answer to your question should be covered in your research. You should already know if we handle the type of work you’re talking about, whatever it is.

I will send the script when I am satisfied of a good fit between my book and the publisher. No. This is not how it works. Your research should have already satisfied you that we would be a good fit for you and your book—that we accept children’s books, that your topic is something we are interested in, that your writing style/technique/theme is something we would consider. You discover this by visiting our website to 1) read our guidelines, and 2) see what we’ve published previously. Most of the publishers this e-mail was sent to would not be a good fit for this book.

After you are satisfied that the publisher is someone YOU would want to work with, then you send the query and/or manuscript according to the guidelines listed on the publisher’s website. The publisher then decides if THEY think you are a good fit for them.

My guess is this e-mail was ignored and immediately deleted upon receipt by most, if not all, of the recipients. If the author was lucky, they may have received back a polite, formulaic rejection but I seriously doubt anyone would take the time to explain why they were rejected.

Bottom line: No serious publisher would respond in a positive manner to this e-mail because they would immediately know that this author had not done enough research to understand even the basics of how the business side of publishing works. It would require way too much work on the part of the publisher to bring the author up to speed. Also, the attitude of the last sentence would throw up lots of red flags—this author is going to be difficult to work with and will probably fight me every step of the way. Not worth the trouble.

A Few Observations and Comments

All contests on this blog are mostly for fun. They are also a learning experience for you.

So. Here are some mistakes that were made by the authors submitting to this contest. Funny thing (or not so funny, depending on how you look at it), NONE of these items were singular events. More than one person made each of the mistakes listed below.

1. Submitting after deadline has passed. Deadlines were clearly stated in large, bold, colorful type. Submissions received after the deadline were excluded from the contest.

2. Word count too high. Before you submit, make sure you check your word count. Most software will do this for you. If your’s won’t, invest in new software. Most contests/magazines don’t give you a chance to fix and resubmit.

3. No title on your story. I didn’t explicitly state that each story needed a title, but these are short stories. Short stories need titles.

4. Additional submissions did not contain contact info. Your name, contact info, word count and, for this contest, whether you were a published or unpublished author, needs to be included in every submission. Treat each submission as if it was your only submission. Don’t assume the editor will know and/or remember that you’re the same John Doe who submitted a story a week before.

5. No title in Subject line. I didn’t specify that you include the title in the subject line of your e-mail, but it helps. Especially when an editor is looking for a specific story but can’t remember the author’s name, and 80% of the submissions say “Christmas Story” in the subject line.

6. Authors did not know if they were published/unpublished author. I thought the guidelines were clear on this. There was one person who had a situation that did need clarification from me, but the others should have been able to figure it out by reading the submission guidelines carefully.

7. Authors sent published stories. Again, I thought it was clear what was to be considered published and what was not. And again, there was only one request that really needed my clarification.

8. Authors asked where to send the submission/Authors asked where their stories would be posted. ??? I’m guessing someone told them about the contest, gave them my e-mail, but didn’t send them to my website. But still. All of that is covered in the submission guidelines for the contest. The funny thing is, the second question was asked several days after the story was submitted. Never submit your story anywhere if you don’t know the details of the contest.

9. Adding me to your joke list. You don’t know the editor. The editor is not your friend. The editor gets enough e-mail already. Do NOT send the editor jokes or sentimental e-mail spam. Don’t send them to me either.

10. Did not vote for yourself. The whole reason I gave you TWO votes in each category was so you could vote for yourself, and then vote for someone else. Okay, in real life, you rarely get the chance to vote on whether or not your story gets accepted for publication. But it’s the attitude of not voting that’s going to work against you. If you don’t believe in your story enough to “vote” for it, why should the editor?

I am now heading off for my Christmas vacation. I will be back after New Year’s.

Happy Holidays to each of you.

LDSP

Scheduling Dilemma

There were 27 entries to our Christmas story contest. 27! That is just amazing and I’m very happy that so many of you decided to participate.

However, it does create a bit of a scheduling dilemma for me. Since it will take quite some time for me to give each of these entries a serious read and to prepare my comments on each one, I will not be answering any questions here until after the contest is over and I’ve commented on each post.

Also, there’s my “day job” and that whole Christmas thing which seems to be taking up a bit of my time…

But please, keep coming back to read the comments of others. And just because you’ve cast your vote, that doesn’t mean you can’t comment on the other stories. Tell us what worked for you, what didn’t work, what you might have done differently. (But be nice.) Remember, each comment gives you an entry into the December book contest.

Clarification on Participating on This Site

You do not need a blog to submit a story for the contest, nor to vote for a story, nor to comment on any post. You don’t even need a Google ID, as this blog accepts anonymous comments.

Also, someone already voted. Voting does not start until December 16th. Please wait until all stories have been posted. Please read all of them. Then cast your vote.

So far we have 9 stories. I will be posting two a day until they’re all up. There is still time for YOU to send me that story you’ve been working on…

Also, the December Comment Contest has begun, so start chatting.

Ghost Writer Wanted

Where do you go if you have a project and you need someone to “write for you”! I have looked everywhere and I can not find anywhere to find a good LDS author to help me out. any suggestions?


The technical term for what you’re asking for is ghost writer. Good ghost writers are hard to find because good writers are usually busy writing their own stories. You’re also looking at a substantial investment. Most ghost writers charge by the page. Experienced ghost writers charge between $50 to $100 per page, or more. Some ghost writers are willing to work for the lion’s share of the advance and/or royalty. It really is not feasible to hire a ghost writer unless you’re a celebrity or politician, someone who’s guaranteed book sales because of their personality.

Generally, when a ghost writer is required, it’s the publisher who sets up the relationship. They find a writer they know and trust and have them work with the “author”. In the LDS market, the only time I know of this being done is when General Authorities need help with a book.

Now, if you’re talking about writing your memoirs or family history and need someone to help with that, consider finding a college student with reasonably good skills who might be willing to work for a lot less.

Anyone else have an idea on this?

Querying a Series

When it comes to the first book of a series, how much of the query should dwell on the overall Main plot-line of the series (that’s only beginning in the first book) verses the specific ending-plot of book 1 alone? (being that it has both). This is a Fantasy series (could also be YA) with a set number of books that completes the main story. Course, from a newbie, is something like this a plus or minus when you receive it?

In your query, address book one. At the end of your letter, state that you intend this book as the first in a series of x number of books, following the story of A as he/she does whatever. Don’t go into much more detail than this. The publisher will ask about it if they’re interested.

Now, if it’s an epic adventure that really cannot be done in one book, you could add a second page to the query that gives a two to three sentence breakdown of each of the additional books.

In general, for a first time author, book one of the series should be written as a stand-alone novel. You can leave small clues in the book that can be pursued later and you can create an ending that allows for a sequel but you need to have the story complete in itself in case the publisher decides not to publish the rest of your series. Nothing is more disappointing to a reader then a book with a cliff hanger that never gets resolved.

Whether it’s a plus or a minus depends on how well written the book is. If it’s great, I’m going to be excited that there are more on the way. If it turns out the book sells well, then I’m going to want a new one each year until the series is done. If the book stinks, then it really doesn’t matter.

LDS Book Pricing

Why are most books in the LDS market larger and more expensive than mass market paperbacks? Why are fiction titles by certain well-known authors published in hardback and sold for $25, while other authors’ works are published in paperback and sold for $15 or less? Why should I spend $25 for a book that I will read once, when I can buy something for much less that I will enjoy just as much? If LDS publishers sold mass-market size paperbacks at a lower price, I would be more inclined to buy them instead of borrowing them from the library or my sister-in-law, finding a used copy, or waiting until the overpriced hardback copy hits the bargain shelf and I can buy it for $4.99 or less.

“Mass-market” is the key to this question. Mass-market paperbacks are printed in massive quantities on a web press and on newsprint paper. The LDS market isn’t massive. Most LDS fiction books start with a printing of around 2,000. At those quantities, it costs us the same amount to print a typical mass market size book as it does to print the larger trade paperback book (6×9; better paper). Since we have to charge the higher price for the books anyway, we might as well give our customers a little better quality so they don’t feel so bad shelling out the extra money.

The decision to print the book in hardback or paperback is based on how many copies the publisher thinks they will be able to sell and if they think readers will want to keep it and re-read it. Historical LDS series fiction is more likely to go hardback. Romances, mysteries, YA and children’s books are more likely to be in paperback.

Actually, LDS pricing on trade paperbacks and hardbacks are pretty competitive with national releases. National trade paperbacks range from $9 to $14, and national hardbacks from $19-$25 or more.

I’m not one to say you should buy an LDS book just to “support the industry.” Yes, I’d love people to buy our books but only if those books have value to the reader. You, as the reader, have to decide if a particular book is worth the price the publisher/bookstore is asking. If it is, buy it. If it isn’t, borrow it.

My Website Name Is Taken

I’m looking ahead to the day that I will have a published novel. I know that you recommend having a website. My name as I plan on using when I publish is already taken as a website. I’ve thought of using my middle name, something that doesn’t have my name in it, etc. What is your thought on what is best for naming a website? I would think using your name would be the best, but if it’s not available, what are some other ideas to think of?

Wait until your book has been accepted and then talk to your agent/publisher about it. That may sound like a lame answer, but really, it’s the best one. When you’re ready to publish, your publisher and/or agent will do some checking on your name. If it’s the same as someone else who writes in your genre, they will suggest other options—using a middle name, maiden name, initials, pen name. If you do need to use a pen name, they can help you choose one that will give you some marketability or exposure.

Also, website ownerships come and go all the time. Even if it’s taken now, it may be available in a year or two. In the meantime, I suggest doing something free, simple and professional, like a blog. If you don’t want to post to a blog, you can adapt that format to make a more “static” site that you don’t have to post to. You can also join a free social networking site and create a profile that looks very nice. There are lots of options out there other than a traditional website.

Royalties

I understand the basics of royalties. But is it typical for a new author to get a royalty? How much do they usually get? What happens if they don’t sell many books? I guess you have to pay the company back if you didn’t make enough to cover royalty? Thanks for any information.


Yes, all authors should get a royalty. How much they get depends on the contract they sign. Each publisher is a little different but a typical royalty expectation is between 6 and 10% of either the wholesale or the retail price (again, depending on what you negotiate with your publisher).

Some authors may also receive an advance, although there are many LDS publishers who do not pay advances under any circumstances. An advance is a pre-payment of royalties based upon a publisher’s expectation of sales. IF you get an advance, you will usually get a portion of it upon acceptance of your completed manuscript and the rest when the book goes to press. IF you get an advance, you will not earn additional royalties until you have sold enough books to have earned that amount in royalties.

For example, let’s say your royalty is $1 per book. (That’s not likely for a first author in the LDS market, but it’s easier to do the math this way.) Then let’s say you got a $500 advance. (Again, not likely in this market but let’s pretend you’re a good negotiator.) You would not earn any more royalties until you’d sold 500 copies of your book. At that point, your royalties will kick in again and you’ll earn them at the rate of $1 per book sold.

NO. You never have to pay back an advance unless you default on the contract. That only happens if you receive an advance before you submit your finished manuscript–and no publisher in this market will agree to that. Or if your actions make it impossible for the publisher to sell your book.

And NO. You should never have to pay back a royalty because you don’t get paid until the publisher actually sells the book. Some publishers may have a clause in their contract that says if your books are returned unsold from the bookstore, then those books will be credited against your future royalties but you should never have to return a royalty once the check has been sent to you. If this isn’t addressed in your contract, ask for it to be clarified.

Local vs Online Critique Groups

My MS is gradually approaching the point where I would like to share it with a critique group. However, my home is a thousand miles away from the epicenter of LDS publishing.

My question is this: Would I be better off meeting with a local critique group who may not be familiar with the church and the LDS market, or should I try and find an online group of other LDS writers to work with?


A local critique group will give you real-time feedback. You can ask questions and get answers immediately. You can hear the intonation they use when they make comments, see their facial expressions, hear them snicker in appropriate places (or not). That type of feedback is very valuable. While online groups can give you good feedback, you don’t get to see or hear that immediate emotional reaction to your writing.

If you can find a local group without religious bias that is willing to work with you, that is your best bet. The fact that they may not be familiar with LDS culture is not necessarily a negative thing. If your writing is clear enough that non-LDS readers can understand the LDS concepts without feeling preached to, and they can relate to the universal human emotions and experiences that are also part of your story, then you’ve done some good work.

If, however, you can’t find a group that is open to religious writing in general, and/or LDS writing in specific, then your only option is online. Which is not to say that online critique groups don’t also provide a valuable service to the writer. They do. So don’t feel bad if you can’t find a local group.

E-books for Christmas

I’m writing a Christmas story, that I am going to give out to friends for Christmas gifts. I am not a published author yet. I’ve thought about possibly putting it as an online e-book, but don’t know if it costs money to do. That way, if they enjoyed it, they could show it to other friends and family. I guess my question is what is your opinion of e-books? I plan on going the regular route of publishing companies when I finish my novel. But for short stories to share with others, what would be the best way to share – besides giving them a file or printout of the story?

I wouldn’t make an e-book out of something you planned to publish in the future without the permission, guidance, help of your publisher/agent. But an e-book is a great way to distribute a story you’d like to share with family and friends.

You need to create the file—which is often a pdf file (my preference because you can make it look pretty) or some type of generic text file (easier for you; but ugly). You also need a delivery method—which could be as simple as sending it through e-mail.

If you want a fancy delivery service where you can post the file and let people come download it at their convenience, you’ll need some type of website and server capabilities to do that. You could create a Yahoo group and post it in the Files section. That is free.

Or if you want something more complex, you’ll need to get that info from somewhere else. I’m not involved in that part of our company. (We do very few e-books.) For a really spectacular example of doing this, see what Marnie Pehrson has done. I have no idea how she did it so I can’t really help you with the specifics.

Anyone with experience on this want to chime in?

Thanks for the Response

Just wanted to say thank you to all who have already responded to my request for sponsors. I’ll be putting a calendar together soon and getting that out to all of you.

I still have plenty of room for more sponsors, so if you haven’t responded yet but you want to, go right ahead and do it!

Sponsor LDSP

I’ve been doing this blog since April 2006. I’ve done 483 posts. In celebration of that fact, I’m going to list 483 things about me. (Laughs maniacally.)

Just kidding. (Sorry, I could not resist.)

Seriously, during that year and a half, I’ve held several contests, the prizes of which have been funded by me. But since I am cheap …uhm… tired of funding this all by myself …uhm… need to use that money for chocolate we’ve been talking about promotion, I thought it would be a good idea to let you do a little self-promotion via sponsorship of this blog.

To be a sponsor, you need to be willing and able to provide a prize during the term of your sponsorship in the form of a copy of YOUR book, plus the cost of shipping it to the prize winner.

There are two forms of sponsorship—sponsoring a contest or sponsoring the blog for a month.

1. Contest sponsorship. Writing contests have two prizes so each contest will have two sponsors. The sponsors of the contest will get a brief bio on the contest introduction page AND the cover of their book with link to website or blog on the sidebar. At the end of the contest, I will announce the winners. Winners will send me their mailing address which I will forward to the sponsor of their prize. Sponsor needs to ship the prize within a week of receiving the winner’s address.

2. Blog sponsorship. At the beginning of each month, I will select a new sponsor(s). Sponsor will get a brief bio on the post for the first business day of the month AND the cover of their book with link to website or blog on the sidebar. At the end of the month, I will put the names of everyone who has commented on the blog that month into a hat and draw out a winner. As with the contest sponsorship, I announce the winners and the sponsor ships the prizes. Depending on the level of response, there may be up to three blog sponsors each month.

Why you want to be a sponsor: This gets your book cover and link to your website or blog in front of a targeted audience. (Writers are generally avid readers and BUY books.) My average unique visitor count per day is around 70; some days it goes over 100.

More stupid requirements details for being a sponsor:

  • Since the prize is your book, you must have a published book (traditional or self-published; no e-books).

  • Book must currently be in print and available for purchase via the Internet.

  • If you have published multiple books, you may choose the title you want to offer as the prize.

  • Authors may only sponsor one prize per month and cannot sponsor both a contest and a month at the same time.

  • If you have multiple books and want to give them each a turn at sponsoring a contest or month, sponsorship will be alloted in a way that’s fair to others who want to sponsor. (Example: Depending on the response, your first book may sponsor in January; second book may not have a turn until April.)

  • You may choose one link for you book. It can be your personal website or blog, or your publisher’s website, or any other website where your book may be purchased.

  • Publishers may sponsor a contest or month, but they must do so in their author’s name.

  • Publishers may submit multiple authors/books. Each author will be considered as a separate submission.

  • I will calendar sponsors in the order that I receive the e-mailed request.

  • In your e-mail to request a turn at sponsoring, tell me whether you want to sponsor a contest or a month, the title of your book, the website or blog you want it to link to, a short bio and a photo of yourself (photo optional). E-mail me now.

To win a Contest Prize: Participate in a contest, follow the rules, and win.

To win a Monthly Prize: Leave thoughtful comments. Comments like “That’s cool” or “Way to go” do not count. You need to show by the content of you comment that you have read the post and given the topic at least 3.5 seconds of sincere thought.

If you guys like this idea and volunteer to be sponsors, we’ll start the Monthly Sponsors in December and the Contest Sponsors with the upcoming Christmas Story Contest. (Look for details on Monday.) If no one volunteers, then we won’t.

Audio Books

What are the criteria publishers use in determining which books will be recorded as audiobooks? Who chooses the voice talent, and is there any chance of a first timer having their audiobook “read by the author?” Thanks for your helpful blog.


You’re welcome.

It varies depending on the publisher. Covenant records a lot of their books on audio. Other publishers, not as much. A lot of the time it’s based on sales. If a book sells really, really, really well, most publishers will consider an audio version.

The publisher chooses the voice talent. If you have done voice recordings before, there’s a possibility they will let you do your own but it’s unlikely.

My Lack of Spirituality is Showing

Kristen Nelson, over on Pub Rants (bookmark that blog if you haven’t already), talked about a query she got last month that stated if she didn’t get the writer a book deal, it would be her fault if the writer died. I really wanted to laugh but I can relate too closely to that situation. Only I get threatened with eternal damnation. (Not kidding.)

I think the one that takes the cake for me is where the writer submitted a book and it was really, really horrendous. There were no less than 40 errors (mostly spelling and grammar, some misuse of words) in the first page. In his/her query, the writer stated that they had prayed about this book, that God had told them to write it, and that my company was the publisher God wanted to publish it.

I was very nice when I rejected it. Even included a personal note. She was devastated. I got a scathing reply which included insinuations about my level of spirituality and my commitment to the gospel. The writer warned me that if I didn’t repent and live righteously enough that the Spirit could speak to me that I would suffer the punishment of e.d.

About two years later, the writer resubmitted. The errors were down to about 25 on the first page. I rejected again. She cursed me again.

Just recently I heard from the writer. They wanted to inform me that another publisher had snapped up their book and very much appreciated its spiritual quality and said publisher was non-LDS so what was my problem?

If any of you feel the same way about your books, you could try this writer’s publisher.

P.S. I’m all out of questions. Please send more.

Self-Promotion: Easier Said…

It has come to my attention that we need another discussion on self-promotion because some of you (and YOU know who you are) are not very good at it.

I understand that it is hard to go around tooting your own horn. You don’t want to be so over the top that your friends and family run screaming each time they see you coming. But there are some simple and very easy ways to self-promote that are very rarely offensive. Here are a few (in no particular order).

  1. Donate copies of your book to your local libraries. If you write for children or teens, donate copies to the local schools. If you’re up to it, offer to do a book reading or a class on becoming an author, etc.

  2. Offer your books as prizes in community events, blog contests, etc.

  3. Join some of the online social networking groups and/or blog rolls; submit posts and/or articles to online communities. There are a gob: MySpace, Facebook, Cre8buzz, Digg, Sk-rt, Helium, BlogHer, Digg, BlogCatalog, Stumble, Squidoo, etc. The purpose of this is to get people to come to you blog or website where they will see a tastefully posted image and description of your book on the sidebar/webpage.

  4. Join writing and book review forums and comment on a regular (weekly) basis. Don’t spread yourself too thin. Select the ones where you feel you fit in. Use a signature in these forums that links to info on your book(s).

  5. Join local networking groups, like Chamber of Commerce, service clubs, book clubs, writers groups, etc. Select ones that give you the opportunity to spotlight yourself and your books, or that provide networking social events.

  6. Offer to donate reading copies of your book(s) to book clubs.

  7. Create a simple e-mail signature with a link to info about your book(s). You don’t want this to be 10 lines long, two or three at the most.

These take minimal effort to set up and maintain yet they put and keep your name and your book in the public eye.

Do you have a simple, effective promotional idea? Please share in the comments section.

For some other good ideas on promotion, read here and here and here.

"Published" Defined by Context

Question: how do you define “published”? If something has been published but it’s not fiction, and therefore not in the genre we’re testing waters in now, does that count as being published?

For the purposes of the Christmas contest (details to be announced soon), published means:

  • fiction only
  • book, newspaper, magazine, or paid online publication
  • traditional publisher or self-published

For the purposes of submission, it usually means anything that someone besides your mother has paid you real money for the rights print. Self-publishing doesn’t count unless you’ve sold several thousand.

How to Read the Rankings

Hi. Thanks for all your work on your blog. I love it. My question is how much validity do we give rankings on Amazon and the Deseret Book list? My book only sold one copy last month and yet it’s still riding on the DB list, albeit very low on the list. It doesn’t make sense. Do you know how those work?


The rankings on both these two lists are valid and give you an idea of how your book sales compare to other books in the same genre or category.

Rankings are based on sales volume as compared to the other titles on the list. I’m not sure how frequently the ratings are updated, if it’s automatic as items are ordered, or if it’s done at the end of the day but I think the rankings are updated daily. Either way, if your book is listed on the website, it’s going to show up somewhere in the rankings.

In your example, your book would be listed in the rankings above the books that sold zero copies that month, but below those that sold two copies that month.

I’m not sure how the rankings handle books that sell at the same rate. For example, if there are four books that sold one copy that month, they may be sorted alphabetically (which would not be very helpful) or by the most recent order placed (which is only marginally more helpful).