Book Pitch Consultation – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

A month or so ago, I bought The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published by The Book Doctors, who were promoting their book with an offer of a free 20-minute consultation with purchase of the book.

I’m almost 100 pages in, and the book has been awesome. If you’re a writer who’s serious about getting published, this book will give you a step up in your journey. I wish I’d found it years ago.

My consultation was a little less than 20 minutes. I spoke with Doc David and began with an attempt at humor by telling him I had a rough draft that I’ve been editing, but “it’s in such a rough condition, I wouldn’t show it to my mother”. Laughter. That was a good start.

Then I read him my 200-word pitch.

Doc David said he really liked the pitch. His main feedback was he wanted to know what my character looked like. He wanted to be able to picture her and wanted me to give the reader more of a reason to spend 20 hours reading my novel. We talked about that for a few minutes. I was intentionally keeping my main character nondescript because I thought it would make more people be able to relate to her and picture themselves in her position, but he had a different opinion. I liked the feedback and got a vivid feel for what my character looked like. (Incidentally, she’s a tall, curly haired red head who always stood out because of her looks and hated it. Because of that, she’s worked her entire life to avoid attention.)

I also had a couple of questions to ask. To preface them, there’s a section in The Essential Guide about social networking. The book really stresses the importance of this.

Because I have a decent number of friends on facebook and a somewhat broad network from politics (I still admin DemocraticDiva.com and write for it once in a while, and I am still on the Emerge Arizona board), I wanted Doc David’s advice on using a pen name in relation to facebook and building a network.

His first question was, “Why do you want to use a pen name?”

I don’t really want to, but I don’t think my next novel is going to be chick lit. With that in mind, I think I have to take into account the practicality of using a pen name for chick lit and my real name for the novel I want to be remembered for. Yes, I dream big.

Doc David’s response was to get busy on creating a facebook account using the pen name and to start friending people I think would be interested in reading the chick lit novel. Good advice, and he even gave me examples I hadn’t thought of before.

Next question, does social networking clout give you leverage in negotiating with a publisher?

I expected him to say yes, but I didn’t expect him to tell me that publishers now ask for this information and want statistics, like how quickly is your network growing, how many people will buy the book? Luckily, I use Google Analytics for my blog and can keep track of my growth on facebook and Twitter. Knowing this in advance definitely gives a writer something to work on.

Last, Doc David reiterated he really liked my pitch and said to rework it with some physical details about the main character. After I did that, he said I could email the pitch to him for feedback and he’d look at my manuscript.

I was floored and dismayed. My novel has a very long way to go. I reminded him that it was in such a rough state, blah, blah, blah. He said it was an open-ended offer.

A few things on this… If a professional says they’ll look at your book, you don’t leave them waiting. I now have a deadline for editing this novel, and I’m already a day past.

Despite this, my novel is in no condition for human eyes. I can barely read it without flinching. So, I am giving myself a month to edit this before I have a weekend edit-a-thon, of which, you (my friends and family) will be asked to spend a weekend with me reading through this novel. I hope some of you will help.

The other thought? Oh my god, someone not related to me liked my pitch and has offered to give me additional feedback.

I will give periodic updates on my progress (and will be spending a little less time blogging).

This is where I am tonight.

Number of pages edited: 16 pages

Current novel length: 177 pages

What do you think? Do you want to give me feedback on my book pitch? Want to help me decide on the title?

Blogger’s block – Nothing to report

I know it’s been quiet here, and I wish I had something of value to offer today.

I don’t.

I have seven posts in various drafts and am unable to finish any of them. I’ve edited the same 10 pages of my novel for the fourth time.

I’m tempted to post a photo of something that doesn’t mean anything, but after reading through 100 or so of my RSS feeds and seeing 50 or so variations on writing tools and implements (quill, notebook, computer, pen, pencil – and not even a blackwing 602 or moleskine in the bunch. How disappointing.), I feel reinforced in my convictions of not adding inane photos to posts.

Instead, I wasted your time with a meaningless blog entry. My apologies!

Useful iPad/iPhone Book Tracking App – ReadMore

I didn’t know I was in the market for a book tracking app until a friend told me about ReadMore ($1.99 through iTunes).

I used to use Excel to track the books I read. I’d track books by title, author, who referred it, and my comments. I liked keeping track of my reads, but it was inconvenient. I’ve tracked reads every which way, old fashioned (pen and paper), a Facebook app, web-based apps (but I don’t remember which ones and haven’t gotten around to trying GoodReads – mostly because I apparently created an account and resetting my password never seems to work, so I can’t log in), etc. Excel wasn’t perfect, but it worked for me.

I bought ReadMore in December and have used it faithfully. What I like most about it is I just scan the ISBN with my phone, and the app pulls the book info from that – no data entry. I can also search for a book manually (yes, data entry, but until my iPhone learns to read my mind, I’m stuck), like when I hear about a book I want to get, I just search for it and add it to my stack until I get the book and read it.

The other thing I like about ReadMore is logging my reading sessions. ReadMore lets me track the time I spend reading, and it calculates how many pages I’ve read, how many pages are left, and how many days (at the current rate of reading) until I finish the book and log it as complete. If you like statistics, you’ll love this.

ReadMore also allows exporting, so I will eventually try to export my reading history to Excel. I’m eager to try this, but I’m waiting to get a few more books under my belt.

In summary, ReadMore keeps me honest with my book reading.

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I’m always looking for more apps that might be useful, and recommendations go far with me. So, let me know if you’re using a great app and why you recommend it.

When blogging isn’t fair

A friend of mine, we’ll call him Payne, hadn’t updated his blog in seven months. Since Payne and I talk about writing a lot, I issued a challenge, it went something like this:

Me: Hey! Your writing goal for this week is to write one blog post. I don’t care if you post a picture of a toe with a one word caption (toe). Your blog needs content.

Payne: The pressure!

Me: You need it.

Payne: I’ve moved on.

Me: What do I need to do, slap you in the face with a white glove?

Payne: We’ll see.

And a few and sundry other comments, with no clear indication of whether Payne was going to post or not.

One day later…

Payne: Over 200 pageviews today. Thanks for the kick in the ass.

Rat bastard.