Agents talk. Editors talk. Publishing is a small world and your book proposal only gets one shot at success. Learn which mistakes to avoid while preparing a winning proposal that will command a contract from an agent or publisher. Last November, Swenson Book Development, LLC offered a workshop outlining what to include in a book proposal. This February, we continue the adventure with an intensive, three-hour workshop on how to write the contents of a book proposal, including a review and critique of your proposal-in-progress. You will learn, step-by-step, how to develop a marketing strategy and complete a competitive title analysis. If you are a writer seeking to develop, revise, or refine a book proposal before sending it out to agents or acquisition editors, this workshop is for you. When: Saturday, February 11, 2012, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. Where: Buffalo Street Books, 215 S. Cayuga Street, Ithaca, NY Facilitator: Jill Swenson, Ph.D., Swenson Book Development, LLC Cost: $75 per person ($60 for bookstore cooperative share-owners) Register: Email buffalostreetcooperative@gmail.com with your name, phone, and workshop of choice Advance registration required Workshop limited to 12 participants
It’s important for an author to know the differences between the various kinds of editing, and understand what professional services an editor may or may not provide. When you work with an editor, find one with whom you can clearly communicate your needs, expectations and working style. Not all editors are the same. Copyeditors read your document and look for errors in punctuation, spelling, grammar,… [Read More]
Filed Under: Copyeditor, Development Editor, editors, Fact-checker, Ghostwriter, Line editor, Technical editor, Writing Coach
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Growing up in a home with books explains, in part, my love of books. My father has always had a library. That Bob Swenson read Ariel and Will Durant’s 11 volumes of The Story of Civilization and William Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, meant I surreptitiously read them too, in junior high. Cold War novels, international espionage thrillers, an occasional mystery, Michener,… [Read More]
There is more than one path to publishing today. Whether your plan is to seek a traditional publisher or self-publish, you need a book proposal. Consider it a business feasibility plan. Before you invest your time and intellectual energy to a book project, first determine whether there is market demand for your new product. Figuring out how you will harness that market demand and fulfill… [Read More]
Good writers read good writing. While you are writing your work-in-progress, keep reading great books. Here’s our recommendations for a super summer reading list. Non-Fiction Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan Death in the Baltic: WWII Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff by Cathryn Prince Dirty Wars by Jeremy Scahill Good Prose: The Art of Non-Fiction… [Read More]
Tracy Kidder and Richard Todd have co-authored Good Prose: The Art of Non-Fiction and opened a window into writing and editing, writer and editor. Author of Strength in What Remains, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World, Tracy Kidder won the Pulitzer Prize for his 1981 non-fiction narrative, The Soul of a New Machine. Kidder established… [Read More]