cybertoothtiger's Blog

Shalom Fox Bloggers.

I have heard alot from bloggers as well as friends

who are writing books but are not sure about how to go about getting published. Or what all is involved. Now it is not for the timid. Book agents can be cruel. To them YOU are nothing. Until published. No matter what you have written or how noble it may be. They are looking at one thing. CAN YOU MAKE THEM MONEY. Yes the content is important, but what they are truly looking for is a cash cow, so to speak.

You also have to be willing to take rejection. It will come, so you better get ready for it. Now some may go the self publishing route. That is fine for some, but for me I want to be published under the BIG NAME....Now there is the writing of the query letter. It can be slow, but it has to be good. You need a good hook, and it has to be interesting. Also your first time out you dont want to jump on the band wagon and write about something everyone else is. It will be very difficult, and or darn right impossible unless it is complete dynamite. For example, the book market is flooded with vampire stories. Right now unless the story stands up above the rest and your a big name already. More than likely you will fail. I have seen it happen time and again.

There are markets that are hard to sell in. Poetry happens to be one of them. Most major companies, not all, but most want mysteries, scifi, fantasy, romance and so on. But it can be done, as snoopy has proven. But you have to be determined and willing to go thru rejection and down right snobby nose humiliation. Not always, but with publishing companies and agents, like I said. You are concidered nothing till you are published. It is not fair, but thats the way it is unfortunatly in the publishing world.

Now, as for "Danz" I did not sell thru a query letter. I was rejected by at least 45 different publishing companies including several european companies. I sold "Danz" to Bantam thru a writers confrence. It cost me 550 dollars for the weekend.

This got me in front of hundreds of book agents and companies. You walk thru and pitch your book to each and every agent. You have 3 minutes to make your pitch and you better have all your ducks in a row. Example, copyright on your story/charactors. The book needs to be edited. You have to present a polished copy for them to read if they are interested. You need to be able to break down your story within 3 minutes. This is standard and has been for years. But I found it the best way to get your book published. For example,

Clan of the cavebear, Lord of the Rings, Titanic,

were sold at one of these confrences. I had spent Saturday and Sunday pitching "Danz" and with little success. I was very discouraged, and was about to give up when I discovered I had one publisher left to pitch "Danz" soooooo, I had to run to the bar for some liquid courage.(four whiskey and coke, my fav.) Then I pulled myself up by the bootstraps and went and saw the last book agent.

Bantam books. I did my pitch, though I was thinking this was it. It was do or die. And as luck would have it, she was a big fan of ice age. I didnt even get to finish my pitch before she stopped me and agreed to look at it. So now the rest is history.

The most important thing to remember is........

Presentation, Presentation, Presentation..........

As some of you know by my blogs I have gotten quite good at it.

What you, the struggling writer needs to remember is you have to present your book or story to the book agent as the best story on the planet. You have and can convince them that they cant live without your story in thier publishing collection. This I will elaberate on in another blog.

Now unlike most, I do offer free advice and help with publishing. I can tell the first time writer what works and what does not. But be sure to have the copyright before you go out presenting your book. Unfortunatley there are alot of thieves out there,and they will steal your story if they can. Not all are like that, but there are some out there.

Later on I will discuss the pro's and con's of finding a proper editor.

I will also, later on discuss how to write a dyamite

query letter. Though for me I was fortunate with Rip Off Press and Gonzo for publishing my books earlier on. Though depending how this blog goes

I will write more on the subject.

Not to brag, but I have been in the publishing world for some time and would be more than happy to help others get there too. I can be contacted at Sabertoothdenham@gmail.com

So all I can say now is dont be discouraged if you get rejection letters and so on. I did but I kept on pushing. You need to be determined and willing to accept the rejection. Me I am not one of those that knock at the door. I kick it, and I dont stop until my foot is broke or I kick the d*** door in. You need to be tough to break in. But what I have learned it takes persistance.....

So all I can say now to you struggling writers is dont give up, keep to your dreams. And keep on writing.........

M.T.D.

THE COSMIC TIGER