The Sell Your Novel Tool Kit

Table Of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction

Chapter One: How Novels Get Sold
Eight Ways to Sell Your Novel
The Ninth Way
The Challenge of Sales
Breakthrough: “Investing in People” by Rainer Rey, author of a medical thriller

Chapter Two: Beginning Your Marketing Tool Kit
Overview of Publishers
Product Lines
The Jobs of Literary Agent, Editor, and Writer
Coping with Trends
Money Matters
A Foot in the Door: “Getting an Agent; Firing an Agent” by Charles H. Snellings, author of horror novels

Chapter Three: Ready to Market?
First – Finish
Diagnostic Checklists
Writer’s Critique Groups
Professional Editors
Categorize Your Novel
Sixteen Ways to Describe Your Novel
Tempting Titles
Breakthrough: “Long Deserved; Long Overdue” by Paul Cody, author of literary novels

Chapter Four: Dissecting the Synopsis
Content
A Model Synopsis
Style
A Foot in the Door: “Learning Through Critique” by James D. Axtell, author of off-beat mainstream

Chapter Five: Studying the Synopsis
Nine Synopsis Applications
Medical Thriller by Rainer Rey
Historical Mainstream by Patricia Jean Hyatt
Horror by Charles H. Snellings
Generation-X (off-beat mainstream) by James D. Axtell
A Foot in the Door: “Running the Writer’s Iditarod” by Patricia Jean Hyatt

Chapter Six: Dissecting the Query
Queries Defined
Lead
Model Query Letter
Body
Closing
Style
Types and Uses
A Foot in the Door: “Overcoming Marketing Block” by Patsy Hand, author of mystery, suspense, and mainstream novels

Chapter Seven: Successful Queries
Literary – Contemporary
Literary – Generation X, Magical Realism
Mainstream – Historical & Biographical
Mainstream – Historical
Mainstream – Historical Epic
Mainstream – Contemporary Christian
Mainstream – Contemporary, Adventure
Mainstream – Contemporary, Gay/Bisexual
Mystery
Suspense
Speculative Fiction
Fantasy
Romance – Regency
Romance – Western Historical
Children’s 9-12
Breakthrough: “Don’t Tell Me What I Can’t Do.” by D. Marion Wilkinson

Chapter Eight: The Sample Chapter Tells All
Which Sample Chapters?
First Chapters – Expectations
First Pages – Expectations
To Prologue or Not to Prologue
Mechanics of Format and Submission
Breakthrough: “Every Minute Counts” by Marne Davis Kellogg

Chapter Nine: Researching Publishers and Agents
Setting Up Your Own File
Publishers’ Specifications
Directories
Trade Journals
Classification of Literary Agents
Databases, Acknowledgments, and Word-of-Mouth Opinions
Breakthrough: “Bring the Body and the Mind Will Follow” by Martha Lawrence

Chapter Ten: Systematic Marketing
Your Marketing Target
Executing Your Plan
Taking Stock
Breakthrough: “The Power of Persistence” by Micah Perks

Chapter Eleven: Goodbye Rejection: Hello Re-direction
The Re-direction Process Defined
Consciousness Raising 101
Dreamcrushers
Four Types of Rejection Letters
Personal Re-direction
Breakthrough: “The Ideal Writer-Agent Partnership” by Melissa Jensen, author of Regency Romances

Chapter Twelve: Choosing the Right Agent for You
30 Questions to Ask the Agent You May Hire
Red Flags in the Author-Agent Relationship
Breakthrough: “Writing from Soul” by Gregg Kleiner, author of a literary novel

Chapter Thirteen: The First Sale and Beyond
Negotiating Your Own Book Contract
Agent or Lawyer for Hire
Agent-represented Negotiations
Shaping Your Career
Second-book Queries
Managing Success

Appendices: Sample Author/Agent Contract; Resource Directory
Index
About the Author