What to Submit
The number of manuscripts we are actually able to read is finite. In order to increase the chance that your proposal will receive good attention and hence increase the chance that we'll publish it, we ask that you do not submit the entire manuscript until we ask for it, but rather send us the following:
-- a table of contents
-- a sample chapter
-- a proposal which answers the following questions:
1. In 75 words or less, what is the book about?
2. What qualifies you, or gives you authority, to write such a book? (We are interested as much in experience as in formal degrees.)
3. What other books in the field exist, when were they published, and how is yours similar or different? Will the world really benefit from decreasing the number of trees in order to add another book on this subject?
4. What aspects of your book are completely original? Describe how.
5. Out of over 4,000 trade book publishers in the United States and Canada, why are you sending your proposal to river Bones Press? How did you learn of us?
6. Whom do you imagine to be the audience for the book? What do you think are the best ways to reach them? If you could have the book serialized or reviewed, what are the 5 or 10 most important publications in which it could appear?
7. What help can you be in the promotion of the book? Organizational connections? Mailing lists? Workshops? Tours? (We are primarily interested in publishing authors who are prepared to help substantially with the promotion of their own books.)
8. We sell books back to authors at a deep discount. How many of your own books do you think you might need initially, if any?
9. What is the length of your manuscript? Provide a word count (many word processing programs can calculate this automatically).
10. When do you expect your book to be completed? How much do you currently have written?
11. Manuscripts must be submitted on disk. What platform do you work on (Mac or Windows)? What make and model of computer do you have? What word-processor and version?
How to Submit a Proposal
We cannot guarantee serious consideration of a proposal that does not include all of the elements above. If you want a response and/or your manuscript returned, include a self-addressed stamped envelope (or international stamp coupon of sufficient value, if you are outside Canada); we cannot either acknowledge receipt of, nor return, materials for projects we reject that come without a SASE or equivalent. Please be patient; we are reading as fast as we can! We will ask for the whole manuscript if we wish to see it. Please understand that decisions to publish are complex and require much more time than do refusals. Please do not call us once you have sent us your proposal; we'll contact you as appropriate. — Thanks very much indeed for thinking of us!
River Bones Press
331 Elmwood Dr. Suite 4-212,
Moncton, N.B., Canada E1A 1X6
Tel: 506-204-3128 www.riverbonespress.moonfruit.com
E-Mail: mailto:riverbones@live.com
What Should You Include in Your Bio for Agents?
Q: I’ve recently finished my first novel and have begun searching for an agent to represent me. Some of the agents ask for a writer’s bio. Could you please tell me exactly what information I should include in this bio? What should be left out?—Terrie Smith
A: Writers are often advised to write bios that read like jacket copy, but catching the eye of an agent is about convincing her that you’re just as marketable as your book is. You also need to clearly show why you’re qualified to write your proposed book. In any bio, you want to focus on your job qualifications.
“Your bio should highlight any features that will hook readers’ interest,” says Katharine Sands, an agent for the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency. “The rule of thumb is to convey in one paragraph that you can be successfully published. Of course, you want an agent to fall in love with your writing but, to an agent, your query letter is actually your interview for the job of book author.”
According to Sands, there are four pressing questions you need to ask yourself before writing your bio:
1. How have you and your work been noticed up until now?
2. What professional achievements or personal interests serve to make you, along with your project, an intriguing package?
3. Does your background show special insider knowledge that would enable you to transport your readers to an interesting world, such as backstage in Hollywood, behind the scenes with Washington power brokers or a behind-the-headlines look at your subject?
4. How is your work informed by personal experience, such as meticulous research, surviving a catastrophic event, cherished family lore or travels to exotic lands?
“As an author, you must be an impassioned ambassador for your book,” Sands says. You should also consider including ways you can promote your book to readers (e.g., do you have access to mailing lists? Can you set up seminars or workshops to promote yourself?).
If you have blurbs from published writers, literary awards and/or reviews, include them. List your participation in readings, events and book festivals to show you’re not publicity shy.
While this sounds like a lot, most first-time novelists are lucky to have a few of these to include. If your bio is running a little thin, it’s best to leave it that way. You don’t want to include unrelated personal information, negative setbacks or rejections you’ve logged in your writing life.
“I don’t need to know that your aunt knew Elvis or you love cats or you make great lasagna,” Sands says. “Agents tend to short-circuit if too much information diffuses the message that this one work could work.”
Brian A. Klems is the online managing editor of Writer’s Digest magazine.
I Have Finished a Book, What is Next?
So, you say you have written a book and it is ready to be published? Your biggest questions are: (1) What do I do next? (2) Where do I go with my manuscript? (3) Who do I contact to get my book reviewed and evaluated for publishing? (4) How will my book get published and by whom? (5) How much is publishing going to cost me? (6) Can I trust everything I read in publishing catalogs or on the Internet? (7) Who will sell my books? (8) Will my books get put into all of the major bookstore chains? And the list goes on and on. Let’s discuss an initial stage of the book publishing process, how to choose the correct method of publishing.
This column will be ongoing throughout the remainder of this year, and will serve as a guidepost for you, the author, to follow, and stay out of publishing trouble. Not everything you need to know will be offered to you at once. However, let’s begin by laying some clear groundwork for the consideration of getting your work published.
So, what ARE your publishing choices?
Step One - Identify and understand the various methods of publishing.
There are several ways you can publish your book and we will mention them briefly without a long description of what they do or don’t do. The most common ways are:
Traditional royalty publishing – there is usually no cost to you, but there are other important things for you to know like having to find an agent to present your book to a traditional publisher. This could easily cost you time and money with no guarantee that a traditional royalty publisher will publish your book, if accepted, in a timely manner suitable to you. Very few authors get picked up and contracted by a royalty publisher and fewer still get an advancement of money for their book. This is the land of big dreams with about one pot of gold for 50,000 books submitted.
Subsidy self-publishing – this is where you, the author, pay for all of the work to be done on your book, with little or no interaction with those doing the work, and once the book is done you may pay as much as 45% of your first printing run sales to the subsidy publisher. So, you pay for your book to be published and you pay the publisher again when the book is sold. This cost is usually high and communication with the publishing staff is at an all time low. You have little or no say-so even though you are paying the tab. Subsidy presses are also known as vanity presses.
Co-op self-publishing – very similar to subsidy publishing, however, the organization, company or person publishing your book (that is published elsewhere) is actually splitting the costs of publication with you. Various terms are given for royalty splits. We truly don’t know of very many successful co-op ventures. We would not suggest this method of spending your money for publishing your book.
go to publishing 2 for more info.....
