This is the third installment in a seven part series called, "An Author's View of the Publishing Process."
Part 1: A Book Concept Takes Shape
Part 2: Writing the Non-Fiction Book Proposal
Jenn had stumbled upon her agent almost by accident – he was an old friend from her college days who, upon reading her writing, offered to represent her. Oh, if only I could be so fortunate!
So off we went to the writers’ conference. Day One of the conference was one of the most terrifying days of my life, because that’s the day we had group appointments with editors and agents. From 5-7 would-be authors met in a conference room with either a literary agent or an editor from a publishing house. Each of us, in turn, was allotted about three minutes to “wow” the editor with our pitch.
I had prepared 10-second and 30-second “elevator pitches,” which means that I summarized my book’s theme, salability and my own “platform” in that time frame. Talk about stress! The editor would listen, ask a few questions, and then render his or her verdict, right then and there.
Time and time again, the proposal I had spent months slaving over was dismissed with a “Sorry, it won’t sell…your market is too narrow…great idea, but no thanks.”
Jenn’s agent agreed to meet with me one-on-one to peruse my proposal. He quickly glanced through the pages and commented, “The first thing a potential reader does is look at the title and cover. Then they read the back cover copy. Then, if they’re still interested, they look at the Table of Contents. You need a different title and more catchy chapter titles.”
And that was that. No offer to represent me. No offers from anyone, in fact. I held it together during the rest of the conference, bursting into tears only once in the safety of our hotel room. After the conference ended, I began revamping chapter titles.
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