SIMON SAYS – Reasons for Rejection
May 19, 2010 by Adrian
Filed under Simon Says
Last week, we established that an unsuccessful submission results from a publishing house rejecting your writing, not you as a person. So what kind of reasons could an editor possibly have for not wishing to publish your masterpiece? Well, perhaps they just accepted a similar story to yours or they might even have just published one. You weren’t to know this, of course, but this will mean that they aren’t going to look favourably on your story right now, no matter how good it is. Your project could even feature a topic that this particular editor finds intensely irritating, a personal preference you couldn’t have anticipated, but something which certainly prevents your work getting any further with that particular publisher. You could also be guilty of not doing your homework. Maybe you didn’t study the publisher’s guidelines closely enough and submitted something that was the wrong length or in a genre which they specifically state on their website that they have no interest in publishing. Your delightful tale of an adorable dog who gets lost in the forest and has adventures with various woodland creatures is hardly going to appeal to a publishing house dealing exclusively with non-fiction topics such about earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. And naturally, the editor could even just be having a bad day, which again is impossible for you to plan for, but is something which does nothing to improve your chances. Whatever the reason however, its important to realize that there is a reason and it’s usually a business decision based purely on whether your work is a fit for them at that moment in time.
SIMON SAYS – Rejection: Taking it Personally
May 12, 2010 by Adrian
Filed under Simon Says
As painful as rejection is, especially for the beginning writer, it must be stressed that it is nothing personal on the part of the publisher or editor. Writers who take rejection personally have to change their way of thinking if they hope to have a career in the business. Writing can be a solitary and lonely profession and writers tend to live very much inside their own imaginations for long stretches of time, as the plot comes together and the characters form. As a result, they can’t help but be deeply attached to the project. Consequently, it’s a little like sending your children off to their first day of school when you mail that manuscript out to the publisher. This is your baby, one that you’ve nurtured until its perfect. How could anyone not like it, right? However, a writer must remember that the rejection by the editor or publishing house is a rejection of the writing, not of the person. If you can accept that, then perhaps you can look at ways to improve the work you sent out, or even abandon it altogether, if you so desire. But if you convince yourself that there is something dreadfully wrong with you as a human being, you might never write again or at least never have the courage to submit anything else, forever fearful of being rejected.
Those reviewing your work at a professional publishing house are doing so in an unbiased manner. Your novel has already been read perhaps by friends, relatives, work colleagues and lots of people who know you. Yet you are never going to get a truly honest opinion until you send your work to someone who isn’t acquainted with you personally. Since the editor has no idea who you are, how can they be judging your work on anything but its own merits? There are lots of reasons why a submission might be rejected, which we will examine next week.
SIMON SAYS – Virtually Famous – Websites for Authors and Writers: Part Four
April 14, 2010 by Adrian
Filed under Simon Says
On their websites, companies both large and small often use testimonials related to their products to draw in prospective customers. You can do the same by reproducing the reviews of your work. If you’ve received favourable comments from teachers, librarians or parents, be sure to add those to your web pages too. You may also have copies or excerpts from interviews you have conducted with the media or a perhaps you have a decent video of one of your presentations. Some authors, like me, include excerpts from their published books on their website, others prefer to showcase selections from upcoming, unpublished work.
Children’s authors sometimes have study guides for teachers to use when working with their books in the classroom and I have such guides for each of my books available on my own site.
Even if you aren’t self-published, you may wish to sell your books online, if you have available stock of your own. E commerce remains very important in today’s business world and many websites run by authors have a separate page containing order forms designed for you to purchase books directly. Many companies providing website hosting also offer assistance to create your own e commerce site. And don’t forget any writing related services you may offer. I have separate web pages outlining my online workshops for both adults and children, manuscript evaluation, editing and other services for writers, as well as pages for copywriting, website creation and services for businesses.
SIMON SAYS – Websites for Authors and Writers: Part Three
April 7, 2010 by Adrian
Filed under Simon Says
Once your website is up and running, it is important to check any links on an ongoing basis, to ensure they are in working order and still lead to the appropriate destination. Your links don’t all have to be business related. On my own site, here I connect to the Marvel and DC Comics websites, acknowledging the influences behind my fourth novel, The Emerald Curse. Plus I have links on the author biography page to my favourite soccer team’s website, to pages related to the area of the UK where I grew up, and so on.
Your readers always want to know more about you, so give them something interesting to read. This also applies to any additional pages you may want to include.
Tell the world what you are doing and what’s going on in your professional life, such as a schedule of signings, your latest book launch, any future publications, upcoming festivals or other events. If you update it regularly, people will keep coming back when you release details of new books, appearances, awards and so on.
If you have a blog where you also post this kind of information, make sure that there is a link prominently displayed on your website’s home page, biographical details page and any other page that is likely to attract sizeable traffic. If readers can expect to see something new or some kind of announcement, they are more likely to keep making return visits.
SIMON SAYS – Websites for Authors and Writers: Part Two
April 2, 2010 by Adrian
Filed under Simon Says
When creating content for your website, biographical details are a must, but don’t be tempted to go overboard. Your website may be your home in cyberspace, but it’s a marketing tool too.
Pictures of you with your family or pets certainly present a good, wholesome image, but don’t overdo it. Photographs from your professional life are far more beneficial. If you have a picture of you shaking hands with a celebrity at a black tie function, by all means put it on the site. If you have photographs taken at your presentations and workshops in schools or libraries, use those pictures as well.
Try to display the cover art of all your books and show people where they are available and the price. This applies not just to your home country, but other countries too, if your books are distributed elsewhere.
My own site connects directly to each novel’s pages at Amazon worldwide, as shown in this example. I also post links to the professional organizations I belong to, plus the major online bookstores, my publisher, arts organizations and so on. There are pages devoted to the historical background behind four of my books, such as this one, with all these pages containing links to websites with a wealth of information for my readers.
