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Question: Getting a book published?
I have what I believe is a good idea for a non-fiction “season in the life” type sports book. The story will be more compelling a year from now and I am wondering how to go about seeing if any publishers may have interest.
Can anyone with experience tell me how to get started? Anything from who I would contact at the various publishers to see who to send my submission to and what to include in my proposal. Any type of protocol really.
Clearly I have very little experience in this realm, any further advice would be appreciated.
Answer:
Answer by Persiphone_Hellecat
Non fiction works differently than fiction.
With non-fiction, generally you do not write first. You produce a “book proposal” and shop it around. With fiction, you do the book proposal after you write the book.
The book proposal is your most important selling tool. It is a very specific document that must contain very specific items. I just finished doing one. It took me several days – close to a week actually. There are many good books on the market you can get that teach you how to write one. Do not underestimate its importance. It sells your book. So go to a bookstore and start reading through some of the books they have on the subject. The one I used is called How To Write A Winning Book Proposal.
From there, you go to Writers Market and start searching for agents or small publishers who produce books in that genre. You will not get through to major publishers without an agent.
I have experience in the field of sports related books – I ghostwrite for a major sports personality. Be very precise with your proposal. Make sure it is absolutely letter perfect and as detailed as you can make it.
Also I will tell yoiu that when producing a non-fiction book, you will have to keep copious notes. You will need releases from everyone you speak to. Every photo must be documented and releases signed. You have to keep logs of where information came from – how you obtained it. You will end up having 5 or 6 large spiral notebooks filled with information when you are through. It is a very difficult and tedious process – which is why non-fiction writing is not for everyone.
I do not write non-fiction myself but this past summer I took a Master Course with an author who was kind enough to show us the notes on his latest book. It was overwhelming the amount of material he had for one book that was 330 pages long.
Good luck.
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They’re, Their, There – Three Different Words.
Careful or you may wind up in my next novel.
Pax – C
I read several books when I was a teenager (fiction) that I don’t know the author of but would like to find again. These books would be 25-30 years old. I realize there are so many books published out there that have been published by obscure and unknown publishers, but the books I’m looking for were checked out from my local public library. Does anyone know where I could start?
So you think you have a really cool idea for your first novel but don’t know where to begin with the writing?
Ok, here’s a question. Is your novel going to be a mainstream novel or a category novel? What’s a category novel, well it’s one that fits into in a category such as romance, science fiction, historical, crime saga, suspense, you get the idea.
A mainstream novel has a unique style and theme. These are books that cannot be put into any category. They are difficult to write, and even more difficult to sell. They are the type of novel we call literary – the type that wins the Booker prize.
Before you start your writing journey, do read lots of books including novels that have been published recently in your chosen area. Choose the publishing houses that are printing work like yours. You can send for guidelines and their current catalogue. The length of the book will depend on the category. If you want to write light romances, you’ll find these vary from 50,000 to about 55,000 words. Historical romances and sagas are often 100,000 words or more.
Have an idea of the sort of reader who will purchase your novel. Make sure that each chapter in your book has a hook. So this is a paragraph that raises a question in a reader’s mind, and one that can be answered only by reading further.
Your novel must have a character with a problem, and that difficulty should be presented from the start. If it helps, write out your story on a sheet of paper on on a spreadsheet. If this is your first bookit is best to use a background that is familiar to you.
PLANNING AND PLOTTING
Don’t rush into your writing. It is essential that you write regularly or you are in danger of losing the thread of your novel. Plot comes from characters, but remember that plot and character must fit perfectly together.
Don’t forget, every incident in your plot – like every word in the narrative, should be there for a purpose.
A novel should start with a problem at the beginning of your story. Make sure your plot has that ’X'factor – make it different. Somehow make the publisher want to buy it! Most of all enjoy writing and following these tips.
John (Tim) Mitchell trained as a journalist at the University For the Creative Arts (Farnham) after spending two years at the Arts Institute at Bournemouth specialising in audio-visual production.
After a brief spell freelancing in radio and print journalism, Tim went onto work for the UK Central Government’s Defra and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) in marketing/communications before working for RedRok Media
RedRok Media
The Department of State, on December 14, 2009, published a proposed rule to increase the U.S non-immigration visa application fees, also called as the Machine-Readable Visa (MRV) fee and Border Crossing Card (BCC) fees. The non-immigration visa application fees have been raised from its current $131 to $140 and the immigration rule is published in the Federal Register. The proposed rule will bring a layered structure with separate fees based upon the visa category.
The proposed new non-immigration visa application fees are meant to cover the cost of processing non-immigrant visas and border crossing cards. Border crossing cards are issued to certain adult applicants in Mexico. Basically this proposal is initiated to overpower the growing cost of processing non-immigrant visas (NIVs). Some of the categories of non-immigrant visas are very intricate that need profound consideration than other categories of non-immigrant visas, resulting in higher costs.
Under the newly proposed immigration rule, the following visa categories will pay the new non-immigration visa application fees that include
• E (treaty trader and investor)
• H (temporary worker or trainee)
• K (fiancé(e))
• L (Intracompany transferee)
• O (alien with extraordinary ability)
• P (athlete, artist or entertainer)
• Q (international cultural exchange visitors)
• R (religious worker).
Visas that are not petition-based, such as B1/B2 tourist and business visitor visas and all student and exchange-visitor visas are required to pay a fee of $140. Petition-based visas would pay $150 for an application. This category includes H visa for temporary workers and trainees, L visa for Intracompany transferees, O visa for aliens with extraordinary ability, P visa for athletes, artists and entertainers, Q visa for international cultural exchange visitors, and R visa for religious occupations. The K and E visa applications will cost $350 and $390 respectively.
The new immigration rule regarding the U.S non-immigrant visa application fees will come into effect only after the Department of State considering public comments.
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