I get a lot of emails for different organizations that I either volunteer for or belong to. Sometimes I want to get out my highlighter and mark the information I need.
Frequently I’ll get a page-long email with only one sentence that was actually important.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with information overload.
On one hand, it’s wonderful to have so many writing resources and tips online. When I was starting to seriously write (seven years ago), there wasn’t enough information online. Now there’s so much that it can be hard to know where to start.
The basics you should cover if you’re about to submit a finished manuscript:
Going pro? You need to check out those agents and publishers before you submit. There are some really wicked people out there that prey on writers (who are sometimes more creative than they are business-headed.)
If you are submitting (and you’ve checked out your agent and editor and done your homework there), you really do need to make sure your manuscript has been proofed by a separate set of eyes. You could go several ways with that: the free route (a really objective-minded friend or family member), a critique group (you can find them online if you’d rather say at home or have time constraints), or you can even pass it by a professional editor that you pay yourself. You want your manuscript to be as clean as it can possibly be.
Review those industry guidelines: You need to be really sure that you’re following agent and publisher guidelines when you submit. You can easily find guidelines online these days. You’ll want to make sure you don’t send your thriller to a romance publisher, or make similar mistakes.
Have an email address. I’m always surprised at who doesn’t have a professional email address. You can get one that’s separate from your family email through a free provider (Google Mail, Hotmail, Yahoo.) Try a professional-sounding address like Your Name @gmail.com.
Personal website or a blog that functions as your home base. I could be argued out of the notion that this is a basic…but I really do believe it is. Even one page that introduces you in a basic, professional way to an editor or agent works fine. Blogger, through Google, offers free blogging, as do some other providers. You could also go through WordPress, which can provide you with a blog that’s also a website (with a home page and other tabs.) I have a separate website from my blog— I bought my domain name from GoDaddy (they have silly commercials, but they do have good deals). I designed my site with their program, “Website Tonite.”
What information should your website or blog contain? How to contact you (email), your genre, and what you’re working on now is probably good enough. You can put up a friendly looking picture of yourself or an image related to your book and call yourself done.
What basic tips do you have to add that I’ve forgotten or left out?
We have so much information available to us by way of the Internets that we really have no excuses to be prepared.
I still have my Writers Market book available, but it’s very easy to locate markets online.
Really great information, Elizabeth. I am learning!
Great summary! When I’m ready to submit, I may have to tidy up my blog so it’s a bit more professional looking (out with the cats and in with a headshot). I parked the domain name I wanted for later, but haven’t started a website yet.
Good advice Elizabeth. Keeping everything professional is very important.
Very informative post. There is so much information out there that a person who’s in a hurry could be lead down a wrong path quickly. These tips should be printed out and posted for anyone who is looking at getting published. Great post.
Elizabeth – Thanks so much for these tips. They really are terrific ideas, and I agree that there is definitely such a thing as “overload.” I would add this: Make sure that all of your points of contact (Facebook page, Twitter account, Website, etc.) are accurate and up-to-date. Also, keep them secure. As a sad lesson, my Twitter account got hacked yesterday, and so a spam message got sent to every single person on my list! Fortunately all is well now, but it is important to keep your password updated, your links clean and your contact info. easy to find and current.
I have both a blog and a website. The website was professionally designed. Books can be ordered there, but I haven’t sold any books that way. I was thinking of letting the website go–but now I’m reconsidering. Thanks, Elizabeth.
Karen
The business of getting published is a business. Learn your facts. Shape your queries. Make the best possible pitch. Creativity will make you write, but logic will start you down the road to publishing success.
Be sure to check out Preditors & Editors before sending out queries.
And have a marketing plan ready, as so many publishers now require one.
Good information!
Very solid advice. I’ve started getting much better responses to my queries since I got a website. Now, I’ve also got a much better query, but I think the two go hand-in-hand with a professional presentation of myself. So far, it’s working!
– Liz
Lots of folks think they don’t need a web page until they’re either sold or agented. Maybe not, but what you do need is a domain name. It doesn’t cost much, and you don’t have to have a web site once you get a domain name. But if you wait, you might find that your own name has already been taken.
Great advice as always. A little self-promotion on the Internet – or even just a way for readers to contact them – is great for an author. I actually haven’t posted my e-mail address on my blog! Should probably get around to doing that. Thanks for the reminder!
Great post Elizabeth. I would recommend that once you create your basic website, start expanding it. If an agent is interesting in you, s/he will often check out your online presence and that includes your website.
Helen
Straight From Hel
YOu make really good points. I never thought blogging was important for an author until I began. And, checking the validity of your agent and publisher is so important.
ann
Good advice. I think it’s important to also keep track of who you send to and the date, so you don’t send info more than once. It also helped me to track the replies.
I’m with Journaling Woman. No excuses these days for not being well informed and prepared. Good lord, there’s university’s full of free tutorials on ever aspect of our business on the internet for free.
Good advice here. I’m sending the permalink to a first time author I’m editing for and she could use this advice.
Marvin D Wilson
I like this – all helpful and just enough! My blog, as you know, is a reflection of my life not just as a writer but as a householder, a meditator, a chicken rancher and aspiring accordion player. I guess I need just a writing one but I continue to think about this instead of deciding. So thanks for the kick in the butt whether you meant to or not!
Watery Tart — sometimes it’s merely that you’re not the only one on the planet with your name. There’s another Terry Odell who’s an artist/photographer and I get Google Alerts for him all the time. When I first bought my domain, my name was taken, and I used my middle initial, but when it was up for renewal, I checked and whoever had terryodell.com previously hadn’t renenwed, so I grabbed it. Fast.
Excellent info, as always, m’dear. Love how well-organized everything was laid out.
Teresa–I do still like Writers’ Market…fun to flip through it. But you’re right, there’s a lot of the info online.
Lorel–At least you parked your name–as you know, since you reserved it, there’s a really booming business out there with people buying domain names in other people’s names and then selling it back to them. I sat on my name pretty early…way before it was really necessary.
Jemi–Thanks!
Diane–Great advice. “Preditors and Editors” (odd spelling, but that’s the website) and the “Writers Beware” blog are really useful tools. And the marketing plan…sigh. Yes, unfortunately, that’s very important too.
Mason–I think it’s true in publishing like anything else…if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And it really hurts to see excited writers who get completely defrauded with some of these scamming “agents” and “publishers.” But good, reliable info is out there.
Alex–Thanks!
Liz–Glad it’s working out! I think the 2 things do make a difference in how the industry views us.
Margot–Oh, Margot, I got about 25 of those DMs on Twitter yesterday! Not just from you, but from a lot of people. I keep checking my sent items to make sure I haven’t been hacked, too. I think you’re right–we need to establish and PROTECT our online identity.
Helen–You’re so right. I’ve heard that more and more–that agents and editors who are interested in a query (and if they have a couple of seconds) will click onto your link to find out more about you. It can prove a good selling point.
Ann–I think a web presence is getting to be more and more important. Not as much as the writing itself of course, but still really important–it’s your professional face for your work.
Jane–That’s a VERY good point. Because we’ll just drive an agent or editor crazy if we accidentally keep resubmitting the same query.
Karen–I know what you mean…I spend a fraction of the time on my website that I spend on my blog, but the website is really my front door to my books. In fact, I need to update it today–just got a book cover to put on it. :)
Marvin–Thanks so much! :)
Jan–I love your blog! And I think it does tell us a lot about you. You could always put more writing-related things in your sidebar if you wanted to–what you’re working on, a link to a webpage that’s all about your writing, etc.
Elspeth–Oh, that’s such a great point. We’ve got to tap into that logical side to break into the publishing (business) world.
Excellent suggestions and tips. Thanks.
uh oh…. domain name. web site… More to do? Ack! I hadn’t heard of the buying up of other people’s names–how ROTTEN of them! I think maybe being in this Amazon contest may make me vulnerable there, so thank you for the reminder!
I think your point about an email with your name is important. Don’t want to be sending your baby off under the name, “Hotpants21@aol.com” or something equally unprofessional.
Best Wishes, GooeeyGoop76
Imagineering Fiction Blog
Terry–Exactly. Even if you have the domain name just reserved and don’t put up a website yet…it’s important to get it for the future. Unless, of course, your name is John Smith. It’ll be already taken. :)
Julie–A lot of people will put their email address with (at) in the address on the blog…trying to keep the bots from finding your email address and spamming it.
Hart–As Terry mentioned, sometimes it’s accidental (there’s another professional with your name who wants a web presence), and sometimes it’s a really savvy domain hogger who makes money that way. So sitting on your name does make some good business sense.
Terry–And that’s a real pain. The whole reason I’m Elizabeth *Spann* Craig and have my maiden name in there is because there’s another Elizabeth Craig out there who is actually dead, I believe, but she sells a HECK of a lot of cookbooks. Very famous in the UK, I hear.
Carolina–Why thank you! :)
Gooey-Goop76 :)–So true! And probably we should have a professional-sounding answering machine message too, now that I think of it.
Carol–Thanks!
I’m so glad you linked to P&E, they really provide a great service to warn off newbies to unscrupulous agents especially.
BTW, last night I was trying to find the average word count for a cozy mystery, I googled those terms, I tried to look up the writing guidelines for Berkely Prime Crime, and to no avail!
So…..could you please tell me the average word count for a cozy? By the looks of one of the books, I’m guessing 55,000?
Thank you!
Actually, this is making me feel like I’m doing many of the right (or is that write) things. And, now that I’m getting a rhythm of using them, it’s not that overwhelming….at least not tonight.
Great suggestions. I’d add to stay professional and not complain. (But an occasional grumble makes us human!)