Author: Elizabeth Spann Craig

Okay, I know it seems I’m hopping around a lot between topics.  That’s because not only am I starting a new book, but I’ve got a book that’s being published next summer. 

Although there’s lots and lots of information on querying, synopses, finding a publisher, etc., there’s not a whole lot on what happens after your book is put under contract and before it’s published. 

I thought this blog entry that is referenced by literary agency Fine Print Literary Management does a good job explaining what’s going on (particularly publicity-wise) in the 6 months–1 year before your book hits the shelves: Fine Print blog entry .

These days, the more that the author can do to promote his book, the better. There are plenty of inexpensive means of promotion, like going on a blog tour.  There’s a wonderful group that discusses promotion and publicity for mystery writers (and other writers) called Murder Must Advertise http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MurderMustAdvertise/ . You have to join the group (it’s free) and then you can either view the forums online or you can choose to have them delivered to you by email.  They also offer some great tips in their archives on working on publicity before your book is published.

Agent Susan Rabiner offers seven tips on getting your book proposal noticed on her client, Penelope Trunk’s, blog .

On the other hand, Penelope Trunk writes five reasons why you don’t need to write a book: here .  Interestingly, she is working on her second book.  :)

Check out this blog entry by Moonrat regarding the editorial cycle: Editorial Ass: the Editing Cycle (a confession) . It’s reassuring to know that editors experience the same gamut of feelings that writers do. I sometimes forget that editors feel (and are) accountable for the success of a work and are just as anxious to avoid a manuscript full of problems as we are. And can have just as many insecurities.

I have so many days where I look at my WIP and wonder “Where am I going with this?!” It’s good to know I’m not alone.

Here is Brian Klems’ article for Writer’s Digest on submission don’ts. He’s recently back from the Maui Writers Conference (apparently a great event, if you’ve got the means) and the five “don’ts” were collected from an agents’ panel he attended. I’ve come across number 5 before on other blogs: “5. Don’t resend a query or manuscript a day or two later with a note, “I found a mistake in my proposal and fixed it.” Once it’s sent, it’s sent.” I’ve never resent a query or manuscript, but I can understand the urge to try to obliterate an imperfect copy. It’s funny how sometimes something can look perfect and read perfect, but once you hit that send button, all the errors seem to stand out in red to you. Don’t let this happen to you! Give yourself a chance to sleep on it and then take a fresh look at your query/synopsis/manuscript in the morning and see if it’s still as perfect as it seemed the night before.

Incidentally, Brian Klems’ entire blog for Writer’s Digest looks interesting. It covers blogging, copyrights, editors, publishing, formatting, the whole nine yards. Here’s the link: http://blog.writersdigest.com/qq/ .

Nine-tenths of the advice out there urges writers to obtain an agent before negotiating your book contract with a publisher. Here is an excellent blog (written by editor Moonrat) explaining why having an agent is essential. 

That being said, sometimes it’s easier to find a publisher than an agent (okay, neither one is easy, but I’ve got a publisher and no agent.)  I found it tough to locate  information about publishing contracts online, and the library and bookstore were also little help.

The very best information was on two different agent blogs:  the “Agenting 101” series (look for it on the right hand side of the page.  There are eleven references) on the Pub Rants blog by agent Kristen, and a blog entry called “Ten Things to Know if You Go Commando” on agent Janet Reid’s blog. 

Another site I found helpful showed a sample author contract, just to give you an idea the document may look like:  www.writecontent.com.

Negotiating your own contract still isn’t the way you want to go if you have a choice.  But these articles (the “Agenting 101” series is really almost a class in publishing contracts) can go a long way in helping you out.