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Book Review Information4 Questions to Answer Before Contacting a Book Agent
by:
Roger C. Parker
Obtaining agency representation is your 1st step toward deed fruitfully
published. Most publishers won’t even as look at uninvited
manuscripts.
But, before approaching an agent to represent you, you should end the presentation of your book.
Agents don’t have time to waste dealing with business ‘wannabees’ who don’t have, and may ne'er
have, a concrete project to represent. To busy agents, dreams don’t do it.
If you approach an agent before you’re prepared, you may ne'er
be able to contact them again. They’ll consider you a ‘dreamer’ and disregard you emails and phone calls.
Elevator Speech
Before approaching an agent, prepare an ‘elevator speech’ describing your project in the less than thirty-seconds it takes for an average elevator ride. If you can’t, your project probably isn’t available for prime time.
Your elevator speech must answer four major questions:
- What is your book about?
- Who is going to buy it?
- How makes it dissent from existing books on the subject?
- How are you going to promote it?
1. What is your book about?
Finalize your book’s title and contents before contacting an agent.
The title is crucial to your book’s success. It must attract the attention of acquisition editors, book reviewers, bookstore managers, web surfers and readers. The title is often your one – and only – chance to do a sale.
Finalize your book’s table of contents and prepare a brief description of the contents of each chapter. You should as well cognize how long your book is going to be and the number of illustrations, graphics or worksheet
Prepare two – three, if you’re a first-time author – sample chapters and hire a professional editor to fine-tune them. It’s better to show three perfect chapters than a finished manuscript filled with writing system
errors.
You don’t have to write your whole book before approaching agents. And your sample chapters don’t have to begin with the 1st chapter, nor do they have to be in sequence. But, they must represent your writing at its best.
2. Who’s going to buy your book?
Next, show that there is a accessible
market for your book.
Strive for urgency. Describe the market intrigued by, or disappointed by, your book’s topic. What symptoms makes your book help solve? How many a folk share the problem? What are the consequences of the problem your book addresses?
Quantify your book’s market in terms of purchase
power, temperament
to buy books and ability to be reached through associations or publications.
3. How wish your book be different?
Next, position your book relative to existing books on the topic. Existing books on the same topic are a plus, not a minus. They prove there is a market for books on the subject.
-What are the strengths and weaknesses of existing books?
-Why wish readers choose your book over existing books?
This section offers you an possibility to describe your background and how it contributes to your book.
4. How wish you promote your book?
Promotion is your responsibility, not the publisher’s. Your ability to promote your book is as important as your ability to write your book.
Start by characteristic book reviewers and editorial contacts who can help promote your book. List publications that power run an extract from your book. Research producers who book guests for radio and TV interviews.
Discuss your speaking experience and temperament
to travel to keep your book. Describe how you wish promote your book on your web site.
List authorities in your field who have offered to write a introduction or provide you with cover testimonials.
Agents are busy. To the extent you can sell your book idea as a realistic possibility in thirty seconds and can keep your answers with research and strong sample chapters, you are well on your way to success.
After you’ve been with success
published, you may be able to sell a book on simply the basis of an email. But for now, you must be fully prepared.
Just simply about the Author
Roger C. Parker is the $32,000,000 author with over 1.6 million copies in print. Do you do these marketing and design mistakes? Find out at www.gmarketing-design.com
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