Q & A about Query Letters
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May 10, 2016

Who should you send a query letter to? Agents – If you are writing fiction, memoir, or a children’s books, you must have an agent who will represent your work to publishers. Publishers – If you are writing nonfiction or poetry, you can query the publisher. TIP: Research the agency or publisher. Visit their website and check their submission guidelines.   How do I find… [Read More]

The use of exclamation points and caps flag authors as amateurs
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August 21, 2012

Flagrant misuse of grammar rules hurts a writer’s chances for publication. Agents and editors take one quick glance and form a strong first professional impression. Don’t send up red flags and get rejected by your amateur abuse of punctuation or capitalization rules. Your email query may never be opened if you put the subject line of your message in all caps. WHEN YOU ARE USING… [Read More]

What an agent and publisher need to know about you, the author
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July 28, 2012

Authors may be surprised to learn that before an agent or publisher reads a word of their manuscript, they make judgments based on the query letter or proposal. They read your materials to assess the potential for successful publication based on the information they gather about the book, about the audience, and yes, about the author. In the last two posts, I focused on questions… [Read More]

Connecting your Facebook Business Page with your Personal Profile Timeline
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July 14, 2012

If you’re an author on Facebook, you’ve certainly noticed that your personal timeline and your page exist as two seperate entities – at least on Facebook, your ‘Author-Self’ and ‘Everything-Else-Self’ are as divided as the North and South Poles. It’s not even possible to write on your own personal timeline; you can only communicate with other business pages directly. What’s a well-connected and sociable author to… [Read More]

Developing a Marketing Strategy for your book proposal
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February 11, 2012

If you have a have a nonfiction book project or a completed fiction manuscript and you want to publish it traditionally, you need a book proposal. To get a publisher’s interest, you need to provide information about your book, your audience, and yourself. Though introduced by a query letter, the book proposal explains the nuts and bolts of your book: number of chapters and their… [Read More]

Writing Your Non-Fiction Book Proposal: A Workshop next weekend
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February 4, 2012

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,… [Read More]

Landing an agent or publisher for your non-fiction book
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December 27, 2011

You might think you have a non-fiction book concept worth publishing, but in order to convince an agent or publisher of that you will need a winning query letter and full proposal. Writers tend to focus too narrowly on the ideas and content of their manuscript and lose perspective on the purpose of a book proposal. Think of it as a business plan. If you wanted… [Read More]

What is a book development editor?
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October 6, 2011

A professional developmental editor works with a book author to: complete a manuscript that will interest agents and/or acquisition editors at publishing companies; develop a winning book proposal (perhaps the most important role a development editor can play); position and package the writer’s concept to an agent or publisher; and establish an electronic persona and online audience platform for the writer. A book development editor is NOT… [Read More]

The Fiction Writer’s Perspective: Live from the TCPL
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October 1, 2011

I’m not a fiction writer. I stick to what I know and what I know is English literature and social media. Yet this past week, I attended a workshop at the Tompkins County Public Library (TCPL) on writing historical fiction.  On Wednesday night I assisted Jill Swenson, the host and experienced writer, editor and CEO of Swenson Book Development LLC. It was the last meeting… [Read More]

A Matchmaking Tool: Publisher’s Marketplace
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July 17, 2011

Swenson Book Development, LLC works to match an author’s project with an agent or publisher. Our success in doing so makes many people wonder how we do it. Drawing back the curtain on the Wizards of Bookery, we reveal one of the methods employed in our toolkit to serve our clients’ objectives. Publisher’s Marketplace is the largest online network of publishing professionals. Our professional subscription… [Read More]