When you send an email to query an agent or publisher, or to pitch a podcast or book review, do you sometimes wonder whether your message disappeared into cyberspace because you did not receive a response? Did it end up in a spam folder? Is no response a “no”? Could your email address be the problem? If you’re using an account from AOL, Yahoo, or Hotmail, it may well be that your email was never received. If your address is associated with your website and hosted by a company with servers used by spammers there is a possibility your email address is blacklisted by the recipient. If you have never sent an email to a particular address before, there is a good chance you will receive a delivery failure notification or end up in a spam folder. Unsolicited email (a message from someone who has no previous email contact with you) runs the risk of refusal by the recipient. Once you have been whitelisted by the recipient (by using the reply button to a message they have sent you), you can rest assured your email is being delivered. And if you’re using Apple Mail you can relax as there tend to be fewer problems with their email applications. But how do you know where you email goes? You can take steps to make sure your email messages get delivered. Gmail is the most reliable method for business correspondence. Google Workplace (formerly known as G Suite) offers custom and secure business…

When you write a book, it needs to be about something. When someone asks what your book is about, how do respond? Do you stumble over your words trying to describe your book? Time to pin down your premise. The perfect pitch means you need to hone your premise statement. Premise: The central idea, situation, or set-up which provides the foundation and pushes the narrative forward. What happens as a result of actions is another way of describing the premise. If point A is where the conflict or problem arises and point B is the outcome, then the premise is A leads to B. Perhaps another way to get a handle on the premise of your book is to determine its main point or take-away lesson. What’s the moral of your story? A premise is usually one sentence. “When Dorothy is caught up in a Kansan tornado, she visits a magical place called Oz, only to discover there’s no place like home.” Expressing your premise — your driving idea — helps you while you write. It keeps you from wandering too far astray from the organizing concept and your narrative arc on a steady path. Consider your opening scenario, central characters, the inciting incident and how the stakes are raised. Your premise may be stated in the form of a question. “What if a group of school boys stranded on a desert island work to govern themselves?” A premise should be brief, provocative, and include the central characters, a conflict,…

ONE:  Your publisher or your publicist will need to send a query letter to the producer of the radio program. It’s much better to have someone else query for radio interviews on your behalf. But doing most of the work to assist your publisher or publicist in booking radio interviews will increase your chances significantly. And if you are a nonfiction writer, there is a chance a good query letter will lead to a booking.  You want to book radio interviews for the month before release and the six months to a year after a book has been released. Your query letter should contain four paragraphs. One, why you think you’d make a good guest on their show. This first paragraph means you need to do your homework on the radio program and host and audience to demonstrate you believe there is a good fit. Two, the premise of your book and the pitch for an interview. This second paragraph is short but the most important. It’s your Hollywood spiel, your elevator speech, your hook. The third paragraph is about why you and who cares and so what. The fourth paragraph includes your specs. Your book, title, subject/subgenre, publisher, availability of an Advance Review Copy and press packet, and your availability to be interviewed with contact information. I can’t say enough about the hook. That second paragraph needs to be tight. Convince the reader of the query that the story is current, timely, compelling. Anniversaries, current debates, related news. The…