I recently stumbled upon 101 Reasons to Stop Writing while surfing the writing blogosphere. I love it.

This past weekend, I spoke about the art of query letters at the Northwest Ohio Writers Conference. Download my query letter handout as a PDF: NovelQuery.pdf (80.05 KB)

At Writer’s Digest Books, we’re in the process of updating our popular title Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript and are looking for insight from agents/editors on how the industry is changing. Here are a few things we’re interested in knowing.

1. How have queries and submissions changed for you in recent years? Do you request different information? Do you accept email queries? If so, do you prefer electronic or paper queries? How important is format and formality in electronic communication?
2. What are your pet peeves and turnoffs?
3. What are your do's and don'ts for writers?
4. Have you changed how you select authors? How many of your authors are found through queries, and how many through other means? Do you want to hear about an author's platform?
5. What recent changes in your market do you want writers to know about?

Writers are also welcome to comment and offer tips.

Click here to e-mail me directly!

There's a blog offering the best explanation ever of how your book gets sold into bookstore chains, by the marketing manager at John Wiley & Sons. Here's a brief snippet:

But bookstores are businesses, not public conveniences. No store has the responsibility to carry every book published -- although, to be honest, that's a straw-man argument, since no one is asking for that. (They're just wishing that their books, the books they like, and the books by their friends be spared the chopping block.) I market books for a living, so I can tell you an unpleasant truth: the order for any book, from any account, starts at zero. The publisher's sales rep walks in the door with tipsheets and covers, past sales figures and promotional plans, to convince that bookseller's buyer to buy that book. In many categories -- SFF is still one of them -- the chain buyers say "yes" the overwhelming majority of the time. But not all the time. Sometimes, that buyer is not convinced, and the order stays at zero.

Everyone has offered such wonderful comments on the magazine covers that I wanted to share/review some of them:

Mary Ulrich comments:

I would think you have two audiences, the subscribers and the people who will buy WD off the shelves.  The first sample has more of the "Entertainment tonight" appeal and might hook the McGafferty fans to an impulse purchase. As a subscriber I like number 2 or 3 because I am most interested in the "craft" articles and like a creative drawing. …

In the Dec. issue of WD, in the small print on the bottom of page 2, it says that WD is "a bimonthly publication".  Last issue I was confused to receive the December issue at the beginning of October. So WD is published bimonthly, 6 X a year, or quarterly?

First, to answer Mary's question: WD magazine is published 6x/year. I'm not sure why, up until this point, we haven't clarified this by labeling the cover with "November/December", "January/February" and so on. Something for me to research!

But to get to the real point: Mary hits on a perplexing issue that Writer's Digest magazine faces: the difference between what would be appealing to many of our subscribers (usually more advanced writers) and people who buy the magazine off newsstand—the type of person we usually label as the "aspiring writer" or the "dreamer," though all great writers are dreamers (even still aspiring) to some extent.

WD's circulation department has sales information that supports using an author photo on the cover because photos perform better than illustrations on the newsstand. Of course, what subscribers would prefer is a gray area, but based on the small sampling of comments here, it does appear that people who have read the magazine for a while tend to favor the illustrated cover.

However, it's hard to overlook the truth behind these comments:

A writer on the cover makes me connect as opposed to some abstract art. (PatriciaW)

The picture on the front cover of real people who struggled to write and enjoyed every bit of their struggle, touches my heart most and gives me the motivation I need as an aspiring writer. Their success to be featured on the cover speaks more words than any art could reflect. Art and cartoon could work for specific topics inside the magazine, but real people appeal more to the majority of would be writers. (Amina)

The first one absolutely caught me. I didn't know who Megan McCafferty was, but it didn't matter to me, as the "Write Your Novel in 2009" was much the clearest on that page, and that was what grabbed me. (Deb)

I generally tend to believe that writers who buy off newsstand are initially pulled in by the photo (they connect with the human face -- this is probably subconscious -- even if they don't recognize the face), but don't buy the issue unless the cover lines really deliver on a benefit or dream the writer has -- in this case, to write a novel.

As for subscribers, I can only hope they continue to renew because of great content, and generally overlook covers meant to appeal to newsstand buyers?

It's a big challenge for us to tackle in 2009 and beyond.

We're putting the finishing touches on the January/February 2009 issue of Writer's Digest, and have four very different options for the cover.

Which one do you like best?
And which featured story looks most exciting to you?

It's been just a little over two weeks since Writer's Digest was re-organized within F+W Media as a community-category (rather than as separate media/business units). Hands down, it's the most exciting time I've ever experienced at WD (and not because of the frenetic energy and craziness of Q4 environment in a poor economy).

Here are the major projects I've been working on these first 2 weeks:

• Releasing our books with new-media tools, delivering the same information or concept across all Writer's Digest-related properties in a way that makes sense for each one
  (see Donald Maass example below).
  
• Launching new educational sessions (live webinars) through WritersDigest.com by end of year.
• Planning an all-new writers conference in Fall 2009 that focuses on the business of being a successful author in a time of great change.
  
• Developing a business plan for digitizing all of our backlist books so that writers can choose, chapter by chapter, what content they want and personalize it for their needs.
• Creating a unified brand identity that helps everyone immediately recognize any kind of Writer's Digest experience.
• Designating an Online Brand Editor who oversees and creates a strategy for our online content, no matter what its source (magazine, book, event, community/forum), and makes sure it all works in concert with each other. (And also evaluates what YOU visit and enjoy!)
  
• Evaluating WD magazine's editorial plans for 2009: what should our feature packages be and how should the columns/depts change?
• Launching of a new community site at community.writersmarket.com (kind of like Facebook for writers), for subscribers of WritersMarket.com

The immediate benefits I've noticed:

• We're starting to use our content in smarter ways and distributing it in different ways
• We're making better use of our internal talent (editors), who can contribute and be involved across all writing-related properties, not just their formally designated piece of the pie
• We're beginning to develop a more integrated and valuable online strategy that better serves writers

I think one of the best examples of our brave new world is how we plan to launch Donald Maass's new fiction-writing book next spring, Fire in Fiction. If this book had released a year ago, we would've run a couple ads, maybe scored an excerpt in the magazine, and that would be it.

Today, with WD run as a community-category, here's what's slated:

WD Magazine
Original article on fiction writing from Don to run in spring/summer 2009

WritersOnlineWorkshops
Original online courses (regular courses plus brief webinars) built around the book, offered in the months prior to and following the book's release

Digital Products
Simultaneous Kindle and other e-book editions

Online at WD.com
Sneak preview chapter posted before publication
E-launch party on WD.com blogs/forums, featuring exclusive live chat with Don

WD Newsletters
Free chapter download and advance purchase incentive (buy book early, get access to exclusive online chat)

Conferences
Feature Don as a speaker for at least one event in 2009

Of course, all this change doesn't come without its challenges, and you'll no doubt get to experience a little of that rough road with us, as we figure everything out. As we boldly move forward, I hope you will come to our aid with ideas and suggestions (and perhaps a sprinkling of patience).

Everyone has been so helpful in giving feedback on magazine content, so here's a sneak peek at our issue themes for the coming year. This is a very broad-stroke outline, but gives you a sense of our focus each issue.

If there's a particular technique, topic, or area that you've always hoped we'd cover, let me know!


April 2009
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SELF PUBLISHING

• The new perception of self-publishing; emerging tools and models
• Resource chart on POD companies (what they offer, fees, rights, etc.) and reader feedback on self-publishing experiences.

WORKBOOK: Revision and Self-Editing

• How to turn a first draft into a salable manuscript
• When and how to work with freelancers to get a book into shape

June 2009
GET KNOWN BEFORE THE BOOK DEAL (MARKETING & PROMOTION ISSUE)

• How to market and promote yourself before and after you make the sale
• The most effective way to use social networking tools to sell yourself & your book
• Hands-on guide to online viral marketing tools (blog tours, book trailers, reading groups, podcasts)

WORKBOOK: Writing Memoirs and Life Stories (when you’re not a name)


August 2009
PUBLISHING 101: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU WRITE A WORD

• Visual guide to how your book moves from proposal to print to on the shelf—all the steps, all the things you need to know ahead of time
• What to expect from your publisher (editorial, marketing, publicity)
• How the industry has changed and new steps you need to take to ensure successful publication

WORKBOOK: The Art & Craft of Storytelling; Hooking Your Reader From Page One


October 2009
AGENTS AND EDITORS SPEAK OUT (THE GATEKEEPER ISSUE)

• The new roles of gatekeepers and how to be an equal partner in publication
• The anatomy of a book deal and a book contract: what you must know and ask about even if you do have an agent

WORKBOOK: Novel-writing related


December 2009
THE FUTURE OF PUBLISHING

• The changing economic model of media and the emerging role of writers as content providers—five essential rules to follow to stay in the game
• How to negotiate the smartest deal for digital rights and e-rights (and when to keep all such rights for yourself)

WORKBOOK: Writing Groups & Critique Group Guide; A Fresh Start in the New Year

I thought you might be interested in reading some of the personal responses I received when I asked what you'd like to see in the magazine in 2009.

• I'd like to see more focus on writing and editing fiction (less on other types of writing), and I'd love to see regular articles on innovative book promotion—not just the basics or the same things we've all read, but how to really promote your book—most especially novels, because they're not as obvious about how to promote them as non-fiction is.

• As someone who is writing a non-fiction social history/reference guide, I would like to see more information about breaking into non-fiction for and by writers of non-fiction when one isn't a celebrity or "name."

• What about including more stories from authors about their initial path to publication. Aspiring writers want to know how other writers got started. I think WD does a pretty good job of profiling bestselling authors, but I think aspiring writers want to hear more about numbers of rejections—in other words the struggle involved and how it ultimately paid off.
  

• More news/features on alternative and self-publishing. Thanks to the Internet, the publishing industry is transforming right before our eyes. Today's writers have so many other options other than the traditional publishing routes, and I'd love to read more about these options. Everyone is always worrying about query writing and how to get an agent, when the Internet gives true self-publishers the marketing and distribution tools once reserved only for the big publishers.

• I definitely vote for more on self-publishing. I don't see it as a "game" as much as an effective strategy to getting a formal book deal, if one desires it. That's what worked for me. I also see self-publishing as a strategy to experiment with new ideas to gauge the market response. Again, very effective and efficient for me to
  test out new ideas with my audience on a smaller scale and monitor impact,
  modify, what have you, before courting taking the idea that next step.

• I hope the new technological tools you're planning to discuss will
  include podcasting.
  

Thanks to everyone who took time to comment both here on the blog and those of you who e-mailed me personally. Your input is invaluable in helping shape our direction!