R Dodge Woodson Publishing: nonfiction

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Friday, December 2, 2011

Writers: Sell Your Life Experiences

Writers: Sell Your Life Experiences.: Copyright © 2011, R. Dodge Woodson. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.

Disclaimer

Information contained in this work has been obtained by R. Dodge Woodson (herein referred to as “the company”) from sources believed to be reliable. However, R. Dodge Woodson, Roger Woodson, authors, employees or freelancers of the company do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information published by the company. R. Dodge Woodson, authors, employees and freelancers of the company do not guarantee any work offered by the company to be free of any errors, omissions, or damages arising out of the use of the information. All work is published with the understanding that R. Dodge Woodson, authors, employees and freelancers of the company are supplying information but are not attempting to render advice or professional services. Anyone requiring services or professional advice should seek such services and/or advice from qualified professionals who offer the advice or services being sought. The publisher and all its associates hereby state that they are not offering tax or legal advice. R. Dodge Woodson is not providing legal, tax, or other professional services as a result of this work.

Any comments or questions can be directed to rw@rdodgewoodson.net.

Writers: Sell Your Life Experiences.

Have you ever read an article or a book and found the writing style to be awkward? Did it appear that the author was standing outside the circle of knowledge and simply reporting facts? This is too often the case when writers gain their subject matter solely from research.

Authors who know their subjects convey that confidence in their writing. Far too many novice writers seek publication through topics that they do not have a full grasp of. There is no need for this. You can do very well by writing about what you know.

People have varied backgrounds. While I might write about fly fishing, you may be more comfortable publishing a piece on skiing. It would not make much sense of us to swap topics to write about. Both pieces would come off as cold research.

When you know your subject matter first hand, your writing can be conversational and informative at the same time. This is a sign of an accomplished non-fiction writer. What is your favorite hobby? Why not write a compelling article about it? You could write about your job, your experiences in college, or your love of gardening. Stick to what you know and your writing career is far more likely to blossom.

Writing a Book

Writing a book is a big undertaking. If you have not been published previously, I believe that you should cut your teeth on articles. It is much easier to prepare a manuscript of 2,000 words than it is to prepare one of 100,000 words for a book.

Book authors are expected to be experts in their field. If you do enjoy expert status, a book project might be right for you. There are a number of different opportunities in authoring a book. You can go for a book that will be published by a mainstream publisher. Expect this to be a difficult deal to make. Competition for large publishers is immense. Your credentials for writing a book have to be outstanding in order for a publisher to offer you a contract.

Many large publishers will not work directly with writers. These publishers want to deal with literary agents. The problem a budding author faces is that agents want published authors to represent and publishers want agented writers to publish. If you write how-to books for consumers, you are far less likely to need agency representation.

Modern technology makes it possible for writers to self publish themselves with either Ebooks or Print-on-Demand (POD) books. There is a lot more to this than just writing a book and sending the manuscript to a printer or burning a PDF.

Good books require professional editing, page composition, proofreading, art manipulation, indexing, and cover design. Most individuals cannot afford to pay for all of these professional services. But if you cut corners on your publication it will show.

Books are big-ticket items. Articles are much easier to break into and much more accessible to unknown writers.

Articles

Articles used to be published mostly by newspapers and magazines. It could take a year to see your work in print with a magazine. With online articles, you can be up and running as a published author in one day. The credibility is not quite the same, but published is published, and it all helps. New writers need examples of their work and online articles are a great place to get your feet wet.

Article length generally ranges from 750 words to 2,000 words. Magazines seem to be paying an average of ten cents per word. Some magazines pay thousands of dollars for articles with photos included, but the heavy-hitting pros are pounding this market.

How much will you make from an online article? You are not likely to see much income from your writing effort. However, the exposure these articles bring to your name and your web site can be quite valuable. This is a side benefit of gaining experience and adding to your portfolio of sample works.

Life Experience

Whether you choose to write articles or books, concentrate on your strengths through life experience. Make your readers feel as if they are sitting across a table from you exchanging information. Endear yourself to your readers. Believe in what you are writing. It will show in the finished work. Concentrate your efforts on topics that you have a passion for and tell your stories from the heart. Don’t make the writing too flowery. Remember that you are talking in a normal conversational tone to an old friend on the other side of your words. You are not writing a press release for the Department of Tourism.

Okay, Where Do I Sell My Work?

Selling your work and seeing your work published are two very different goals. Magazines are known for “paying” rookie writers with copies of the magazine where the article is published. This doesn’t put food on the table, but it is a strong step in building a foundation for yourself as a published author.

You can do online research to see which magazines are buying articles and what they are paying. For example, if you are into fishing, check out all the fishing-related magazines for opportunities. Don’t hold out for big bucks in the beginning, be happy with getting published.

Online articles might not pay you a penny for your submission, but the exposure can be very valuable down the road. These articles tend to be short and you can get some much-needed experience while seeing your byline on articles almost right away.

If you have a full book project in you, check online for publishers who publish the types of books that you want to write. You can do this at online book stores. Type in “fishing” and look to see who published the books listed. Then find the publishers and learn about their submission guidelines. Expect a lot of rejection here, but one win is an awesome experience.

R. Dodge Woodson, Publishing

R. Dodge Woodson Publishing (www.rdodgewoodson.net) is both a book producer and a book publisher. Personally, I have written over 110 books for major publishers and dozens of magazine articles. My team produces dozens of professional reference books for major publishers. I got started writing articles around 1991. In the publishing world you have to build a track record and network your contacts to be successful.

Changes in the Internet, Ebooks, PODs, and other new technology has created tremendous change in the old-fashioned style of publishing. If you are just starting out, this could be the perfect time for you. Old grey-beards like me have trouble transitioning from traditional publishing to modern publishing. Fortunately, you will be getting in near the ground floor and with enough effort and ability your writing future should be quite bright.

Now stop reading and start writing.

How to write a book proposal

Writing a Book Proposal Copyright © 2011, R. Dodge Woodson. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.

Disclaimer

Any comments or questions can be directed to rw@rdodgewoodson.net.

Writing a Book Proposal

The first step in getting a publisher to publish your book idea is writing a book proposal. This intimidates some people. It doesn’t have to be frightening. Once you know the components of a professional book proposal you can attack it one phase at a time and prevail with a superior proposal. If you can’t create a winning book proposal, you are not likely to be able to sell or write a book.

What does a book proposal consist of? The basic elements are as follows:

 Cover letter

 Title of the book

 Table of contents

 Audience

 Competition

 Concept and approach

 Credentials

 Reviewers

 Sample chapters

 Contact information

Cover Letter

Your cover letter should be concise. Keep it to a single page. This letter is your sales pitch, so make every word count. Tell in no more than two paragraphs why a publisher should be interested in your idea. Follow this with a brief review of your credentials to author the book and then lead into the proposal contents.

Title of Book

Choose the title of your book carefully. Don’t make it too long. Avoid being cute with the title. If you are selling a how-to book, the title should reflect the subject matter. An example might be: Remodel Your Bathroom in Less Than a Month! Another example could be: Building Your Own Compositing System. The book title is the beginning hook for securing a publisher, so invest enough time in it to make yourself successful.

Table of Contents

How long should a table of contents be? It should be as long as it needs to be. Most non-fiction books contain between 10 and 20 chapters. I would say a good average is around 16 chapters. The word count for such a book is likely to be between 50,000 words and 85,000 words.

Chapters do not have to be equal in length. You should make them as long as they need to be to convey the required information to readers. A table of contents should begin with a heading for an introduction. From there, you list chapters in numerical order as they will appear in the book. Under each chapter title you should either write a paragraph that explains what the chapter will contain or use a bullet list of at least five key topics to be covered in the chapter.

Consider if your book will benefit from a glossary or appendix materials. If so, this information should be listed on the table of contents.

Audience

Who is the audience for your book? Never say everyone. There should be a prime audience and a secondary audience. If you are writing a book about treasure hunting, your prime audience will be treasure hunters. Secondary markets could be bottle diggers, metal detecting enthusiasts and so forth. The more defined list of an audience you provide, the better your chances of making a sale are.

Competition

You need to know your competition and point it out to your perspective publisher. Don’t look for a book that has never been written. Publishers like the comfort level of being able to check the sales records of similar types of books to see what the likelihood of success is for your project.

Online book stores are excellent places to conduct your research. Find three books that match your concept as closely as possible. Then record the following data for your proposal:

 Book title

 Author’s name

 Publisher’s name

 Date of publication

 Number of pages in the book

 Price of the book

 International Standard Book Number (ISBN) for the book

Determine what makes your book idea better or different and explain it to the publisher. If you can’t do this, your book will probably not get published by a major publisher.

Concept and Approach

The concept and approach are your big sales pitch. This is where you describe the contents of your book, your credentials, and what will make your book a pleasure to publish and profit from. This section is usually about two pages long.

When fleshing out the concept and approach you will want to include the types of illustrations you will use and how many of them the book will contain. How many book pages do you foresee the book having? Will you incorporate tip boxes or sidebars?

Don’t worry about pricing the book or suggesting cover designs. The publisher will take care of this when the time comes.

Use this section to describe your writing style. Conversational style is usually desired. Tell the publisher whatever is suitable to your topic in a way to make the book appear more desirable.

Credentials

Credentials are a key element in selling a non-fiction book. List all of your experience related to the subject matter. Make note of your education, licenses held, or other information that makes you the right author for the book. List any organizations that you belong to that might be conducive to special sales. Essentially, sell yourself.

Reviewers

Many publishers will want to receive a minimum of three peer reviews of a proposal before taking a project to the editorial board for approval. Include the names, titles, credentials, and contact information for people knowledgeable of your subject who may be willing to do a review for the publisher. The publisher is likely to use your people and some of their own for the reviews.

Sample Chapters

Many publishers will require one or two sample chapters from unknown authors. This allows the publisher to study your style and ability. It is best to use chapters from around the middle of the book. Avoid using the first or last chapter. Make your work shine. If you have gotten to the stage where a publisher is reading your sample work, you are well on the way to getting a book contract.

Contact Information

Don’t forget to include all of your contact information for publishers to use. It may be surprising, but some authors fail to do this. Make yourself accessible and easy to contact if you want to make a sale.

Submission

The last step is the submission of your proposal. Some publishers will accept electronic submissions while others want printed pages submitted. Check the publisher’s guidelines for the name of the editor to submit your work to and in what form the work should be submitted.

Publishers frown on multiple submissions. Don’t send your proposal to more than one publisher at a time.

Once you make your submission, it is a waiting game. Quick answers are often rejections. Expect it to take weeks to get any type of desirable reaction from a publisher. Be patient. If you are lucky, you will get a phone call when you least expect it to discuss the prospects of publishing your book. Making the sale will be an unforgettable experience.

Nonfiction Writers

Nonfiction writers often have the best chance of getting published. This applies both to magazines and books. How-to articles and books are in demand. If you have a skill, hobby, or passion, there is probably an outlet for what you have to offer.

R. Dodge Woodson Publishing, www.rdodgewoodson.net, is a seasoned pro at writing nonfiction. He has dozens upon dozens of articles to his credit and well over 100 books published by major publishers. As a producer, he has been instrumental in getting probably 100 experts published by such publishers as Wiley, McGraw-Hill, Elsevier, CRC, and others.

Dodge has started this blog as a resource to writers. He also created the Writer's Nook on Linkedin and has more than 330 members.

In the coming weeks and months you will find tips and tidbits here they may help to get your words into print.

If you are interested in being published by a major publisher, Dodge can be of great help. He doesn't charge the writers a single cent. The publishers pay his fees. This is an excellent opportunity for a host of experts who are interested in writing professional reference books.

Welcome to the blog.

Dodge