Category: Query Letters

How to Write a Query Letter for a Nonfiction Book

You’ve got a great idea for a nonfiction book. You’ve written a killer book proposal. Now you need a fabulous query letter to grab an agent or a publisher so they ask you to send your proposal for review. To write a killer query, you need a one-page letter with three basic sections or paragraphs. [...]

What Query Letter Errors Mean to an Agent

The adage says, “You only get one chance to make a first impression.” For writers, that first impression often gets made not in person but in writing with a query letter. In that document, which is sent to a literary agent (and sometimes to a small publisher) if you are looking for a traditional publisher [...]

Sunday November 13th, 2011 in Agents, Finding an Agent, Query Letters | No Comments »

20 Things To Do Before You Turn in Finished Written Work

As you near the completion of any fiction or nonfiction writing project—book, article, essay, e-book, short story, or blog post—you want to ensure you turn in or publish your best work. What needs to happen before what you’ve written gets sent out to a literary agent, acquisition editor, or publication editor, or before you publish [...]

How to get your query or proposal accepted

Do your queries and proposals come back rejected? Do you receive form letters giving you vague reasons why your work isn’t acceptable? Have you considered…changing something? If your work gets rejected without specific reasons, it might be time to try something different–to do something different. In the world of personal growth and self-improvement there’s a [...]

Publishing Mentor Tip: Submit Your Work Regularly

Submitting your work ensures publishing success. I’ve heard it said that you can’t win the lottery if you don’t purchase a ticket. In much the same way, your writing will never be published if you don’t submit it to publishers and publications. How often do you submit or resubmit your work? Do you resend your [...]

How to Query a Magazine Editor and Land an Assignment

As a seasoned magazine journalist and a nonfiction editor, I know how to query a magazine editor and what type of pitch makes an editor sit up and take notice. I also know what mistakes will make one never get past the first sentence or two. These days, the best way to approach an editor [...]

To Write Your Book and Get it Published, Build Your Platform NOW!

I just returned from speaking and working as a “book doctor” at the San Francisco Writers Conference. I’ve attended or worked as a volunteer at this particular conference for six years! This was my first year as a presenter. If I could pass along just one bit of information I heard stressed over and over [...]