An Update
I recently became the Executive Director of The Spiritual Literacy Foundation Inc. a global non profit created to share the wisdom inherent in all faiths, teach individuals how to cultivate spiritual literacy, and promote books of a spiritual nature.
To learn more about the organization, visit the website: http://spiritualliteracyfoundation.wordpress.com
Please stay in touch and contact me at jackieoneal@thespiritualliteracyfoundation.org if you have questions.
You may access my expertise at any time on Evisor 
Approaching A Literary Agent
I often get inquiries from authors who are either perplexed about the process of approaching a literary agent and request guidance, but who also feel grandiose about the position of the book in society.
Sometimes they send along a sample letter to an agent for my critique, and in most cases the correspondence lacks the essential elements agents look for. From my experience, some authors appear to get the most stumped when asked to write a brief description of the book. Here is an area where authors tend to be the weakest- from waxing grandiose, to absence of details.
The book description should be at least one paragraph (as the other elements mentioned below) in length and may include information about what the book will teach readers in a very specific way.
An agent will also want details about the author such the author’s credentials, publishing history, and may include the author’s platform.
Finally, it’s important to discuss in some detail the potential market for the book in as much detail as possible. It serves the author to do some research and include statistics if needed.
I can share a case study here where an author made the claim her book was targeted toward seniors. I advised her to go to check the census.gov site where she learned there are 40.3 million people over age 65 in the U.S. It is important to present these numbers.
In her letter she also mentioned geographic areas where she felt she would find potential readers as the book dealt with universal cross-cultural myths.
She wrote: “People living in South America, Central America, and in Eastern Europe would be interested in reading this book because it involves their cultures, myths, and traditions about the supernatural as well.”
In addition, she anticipated the book would be translated into various languages.
My reply was that although it may certainly be true persons in those areas appreciate books touching upon myths, the statement she made was too general. “I would leave it out until you do more research. Depending on the publisher, you can’t control whether or not they will release an edition as translation. Or you can say “In the event the publisher decides to release translations, my marketing would include…..
in various languages. You might need to explore how many people in Eastern Europe, Mexico, and Central America are fluent in reading English.”
After the letter was revised, it was quite compelling and after it was sent to the agent, the agent requested a copy of the manuscript.
The process of revision took a couple of weeks, but it was well worth the effort to get the attention of a New York agent.
Before you embark on the journey, be clear your manuscript is polished.
In order to meet agents face to face, consider attending a writer’s conference where you may have the opportunity to showcase several chapters of your book in workshops run by agents. Squaw Valley Community of Writers is an excellent choice. I was selected to attend several years ago, and it proved worthwhile for the contacts I made, although expensive.
When in Doubt, Work With Professionals
Not long ago I received an inquiry from an author who needed a referral for a designer and a professional service that formats PDF files for Kindle to create an e-book. The best source I know about in the industry is Publish Green, but later I participated in an interesting webinar hosted by Alice Lyttle. She recommended a resource called 5fiverr.com
She said freelancers post their offerings PDF conversion and formatting they tend to charge $5 for 20 pages. It’s the type of service I’d stay clear of since the formatting for Kindle is quite specific. As my mother always said, “cheap is expensive in the long run.”
I don’t get paid to endorse Publish Green, but I am a believer in referring the best services available. Many authors bemoan costs, and in this situation it’s crucial to realize making an investment in a book pays off as one will have a professional looking product in the end.
It also makes sense to hire a professional designer and perhaps have them work side by side with the freelancer on 5fiverr.com if you want the best results.
Staying on the media’s radar by writing articles
For authors looking for high profile visibility for their books, one effective way to stay on the media’s radar is follow trends and write about it. Now that you’ve written a book that reflects your expertise, it behooves you to share the currency of your knowledge. What some persons seem to overlook is the value of the third-party credibility element, and being perceived as a thought leader in their industry, even after time has elapsed, and it may seem others have forgotten their quote, profile, or editorial. In point of fact, media coverage can easily be recycled via social networking sites, and hence the coverage can still gain momentum while remaining in the forefront.
Here are some of my quotes related to the topic:
Media Alerts:
“By issuing statements via a media advisory on a regular basis, or replying to a journalist’s query in a concise way, you are demonstrating to the media that you are tracking the new trends in your industry, have a relevant viewpoint to share with their audiences, and therefore are an excellent source. In addition, you can share the content of your media advisory on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.”
Being a Thought Leader:
“What some persons seem to overlook is the value of the third-party credibility element, and being perceived as a thought leader in their industry, even after time has elapsed, and it may seem others have forgotten their quote, profile, or editorial. In point of fact, media coverage can easily be recycled via social networking sites, and hence the coverage can still gain momentum while remaining in the forefront.”
Tune In: Tuesday Jan. 31, 2012 at 8 PM EDT
I’m very often asked about my ideas related to how authors can market their books in creative ways, hence I never hesitate to mention doing virtual book tours. It’s definitely a cost-effective ways to build buzz about a newly released book. Authors, even those published by established firms should realize creating awareness is key to increasing book sales in the long-term. More and more of my clients are realizing that one of the powerful benefits of virtual book tours includes raising search engine rankings- very important- in a world where being number 1 on Google, is an indicator of high visibility and that one has been “found” by a target audience easily!
Please join me tomorrow Tuesday Jan. 31, 2012 at 8 PM Eastern. I’ll be interviewed by host of “Successimo Stories,” January Jones to discuss
virtual book tours and how I became an author success coach with the Successimo company.
Here are the details:
“January Jones sharing Successimo Stories” at www.blogtalkradio.com/januaryjones
Stay tuned!
Fact-Checking: Refining The Information In Your Book- Part II
Fact-Checking: Refining The Information In Your Book- Part II
The last post discussed the importance of fact- checking during the early stages of revising a manuscript. As promised, this next post will reveal some techniques that will streamline the fact-checking process:
1) Take time to read through the manuscript and spend time highlighting any statistics or quotes that appear on the page.
2) Make every effort to develop a chapter by chapter list of facts that need to be verified and make note of the page numbers where the information appears. It is best for tracking purposes, to use a spreadsheet and maintain notes and activities already undertaken during the process. Make sure you are clear on who the sources of information are.
3) Early in the process, undertake the work of finding the primary sources of information. For example, if the a fact states approximately 17 % of children ages 2-19 are obese in the U.S. and you verify the fact and find it in Dr. X’s book, you have identified a secondary source. But you still need to find the primary source, or the institution that conducted the original research. In this case, the primary source is the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. When in doubt, don’t underestimate the value of tracking down primary sources.
4) Attempt to ensure a statistic you are checking in a secondary source (book, magazine, or website) is accurate in comparison to what you have presented in your book.
5) Make sure the secondary source you have found, if it is a book, makes reference to the primary source ( private research groups, government entity, university, or non-profit)
6) Examine the copyright page ( the page behind the title page) of the secondary source where you identified the statistic or quote. Read to see if the author has been given permission to use the quote or statistic from the primary source.
7) It can take a great deal of digging to uncover the primary source sometimes. You can try typing the quote in the Google search engine. This may help you find references, but keep in mind your most important job is to find the original source. When in doubt, consult with a reference librarian.
8) In cases where you find the primary source, the author still needs to get permission to use the information in their own book.
O’Neal Media Author Services offers fact-checking services. For more information, visit: http://onealmediaauthorservices.com
Fact-Checking: Refining The Information In Your Book
As many authors tend to save material related to their areas of expertise for years, they tend to use anecdotes, statistics, and quotes from others’ sources.
It’s important for authors to recognize plagiarism as the act of using others’ intellectual property as if it were their own. There are many egregious cases on the books, but also examples of unintentional acts of plagiarism due to having internalized, or memorized quotes, statistics, anecdotes without providing proper attribution, or undertaken to get permission to use such material.
As authors develop original ideas and theories, the process includes collecting factual data to support the thesis in the book. In cases like this one, the author needs to invest time in doing fact-checking and verifying the original sources of information, or primary sources.
Primary sources might be private research organizations, or non profits.
In cases where an author intends to update a book and release a second edition, it is crucial to make sure any facts or statistics mentioned in the manuscript are still valid.
It is common for authors to attend professional seminars to stay current on trends in their industry. As a result, they may take copious notes, and neglect to jot down the name of the speaker who delivered the information and the attribution related to the primary source.
Once the author is ready to compile the manuscript, it is then vital to to research the sources of the facts that will appear in the finalized version.
Fact- checking serves an important purpose and the reasons for it are sound. Authors will want any facts in the book to be quoted in a correct manner, and will want to verify the accuracy of any facts present in the book.
In sum, authors need to spend time figuring out if they need permission from the source of the primary research to use the information in the book. This is a professional step that should never be neglected.
There are a number of techniques that can help the process of fact- checking progress smoothly and these will be discussed in the next post.
Stay tuned.
Do you know that fact-checking and obtaining permissions is one of the writing services we offer? To learn more, visit O’Neal Media Author Services online: http://onealmediaauthorservices.com/services/
