These days I’ve become preoccupied by the idea of having my work published. I know I have the talent, but I’ve been mired in an extended slump that would have had me, had I been a baseball prospect striving to earn a call-up to the Big Leagues, demoted to a lower rung of the minors. I have a handful of stories in that still need a tweek or two, but nothing that’s publish-ready quite yet. I’ve considered the self-publishing route, but I’m still eyeing the dream call-up of traditional publication.
I recently came across the following article on Chuck Sambuchino’s “Guide to Literary Agents” blog, written by by Michael Larsen of Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents. He has represented hundreds of books, and authored the guide HOW TO WRITE A BOOK PROPOSAL, 4th Ed. He runs the San Francisco Writers Conference, which takes place every President’s Day weekend.
1. Passion—your love for creating and communicating about your work
2. Purpose—personal, literary, publishing, and community goals that inspire you to achieve them
3. Prose—devoting yourself to the holy trinity of content: reading, writing, and sharing
4. People—crowdsourcing your success by building win-win relationships with engaged, committed communities of people you serve who want to help you, because they know, like, and trust you. Using your passion to serve others is the ultimate key to success and happiness.
5. Platform–continuing visibility with your communities and buyers for your kind of book
6. Pre-promotion–test-marketing your work in as many ways as you can
7. Promotion— serving your communities by sharing your passion for the value of your work
8. Professionalism
- a positive perspective about publishing
- being a contentpreneur running a business that creates, promotes, and re-purposes a steady stream of scalable content in as many forms, media, and countries as you can
- building a brand
- maximizing your ability to innovate and be creative, and your use of technology
- being a life-long learner
9. People, Planet, and Profit—making the effects of your efforts on the holy trinity of sustainability—in this order–the criteria for determining what you do
10. Perseverance—the holy trinity uniting the ten keys: content, communication, and commitment. Having courage, a plan, patience, discipline, faith in yourself, a long-term perspective; failing your way to success; simplifying your life; and celebrating your victories.
Here’s a link to the original article.
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