Around the Word

Because You’re Worth It. If you haven’t already checked out our writeup of the recent presentation by Michael Levin—aka the Business Ghost—here at Gotham headquarters, read it now. And when you're done, check out David Murrary’s article over on Vital Speeches of the Day about not giving yourself away for free. As he says, tryouts are for Little Leaguers, so get your head in the game and don’t sell yourself short—although don’t pull a Linda Evangelista and tell everyone you won’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day.

Sweet Dreams, Missouri. After publishing about 2,000 titles in fifty-four years, the University of Missouri Press is set to close its doors. Known for publishing great works within the historical, journalism, political, and creative nonfiction fields, the company has been struggling since the recession began and faced difficulties with the technological changes within the publishing industry. An exact date for the close is still unknown.

Throw Like a Girl and Still Score. With women still making 60 cents to a man’s dollar, women’s organization Her Girl Friday recently met with a panel of experienced journalists and editors for a discussion about how female journalists should pitch their stories to stand out in a sea of male bylines. The bottom line of the discussion was that when pitching, journalists need to show a supreme level of confidence. Be prepared for rejection, but never back down. “There’s not a lot of support for women in this industry,” said Ally Millar, 31, an early member of the group. “We thought it would be great to have this event to help women connect. If we band together, maybe we can move forward together.”

Like A Million Little Pieces, Without Making Oprah Angry. Clark Kent has Superman, David Bowie has Ziggy Stardust, and many famous authors have their own alter egos that they inject into their stories as sort of a faux autobiography within their works. Flavorwire has compiled a list of some of the best known, including Kurt Vonnegut’s Kilgore Trout and Sylvia Plath’s Esther Greenwood. Is it a cheap ploy for character development, or is there a benefit to hiding behind someone else’s name? Who would your alter ego be? Let us know in the comments.

Tips to Die for. . . from Our "Killer Book Proposal" Workshop

In today’s competitive publishing world, you not only have to be a fantastic writer, you also have to learn to think like a marketing and PR executive. That was the key takeaway from the workshop we presented last week in conjunction with ASJA: “How to Write a Killer Book Proposal… For a Dead Tough Market.” Leading the conversation were veteran literary agent Marilyn Allen, bestselling author and freelance editor Bev West, and Gotham President Dan Gerstein.

Marilyn and Bev both agreed that the book market isn’t dead, but it is in a state of flux. Although it seems like advances are shrinking, editors are getting laid off by the score, and acquisitions are stalling all around, the truth is, if you know how to properly navigate the new publishing climate, there are more opportunities than ever to get your voice heard and back up your book ideas with solid market research that commands top dollar. The best news? Marilyn reported that last fall and spring she sold more books than ever.

So how do make sure your proposal gets to the top of the pile? Here are some tips from our panelists.

Before you type your first line…
Do your research and gather the data that you need to prove your market. Bev emphasized that one of the most important decisions to make before you ever set pen to paper is to clarify your brand message and define your target audience. Who are you writing for? What is the central message you’re trying to convey, and why will it appeal to your target audience? What’s already selling in your space, and what’s fresh about your project that those books don’t offer? Marilyn suggested reading the reviews of competitive titles to see if there are needs that aren’t being met. If you want to write a book about honey and you learn that readers of the bestselling honey books complained that they all lacked recipes, that’s your cue to write a book that includes honey recipes.

Be the whole package: “hook, book, and cook”
Marilyn said that when she’s considering taking on a project or client, she’s not just looking at the quality of the writing, she’s looking at the whole package. The hook: Why is this book about trees different than all the hundreds of other books about trees? The book: What is in this book that we a haven’t read before? The cook: What makes you the right person to write this book? Bev and Marilyn both agreed that building a platform that illustrates your unique expertise and your connections with your target audience is more important than ever in today’s market.

Get to know social media make the internet your BFF
We’re living in an internet-driven world. If you don’t have a social media presence, you might as well forget about getting a nonfiction project published. Bev said that agents and publishers look for a platform first. Before they even read a proposal, they check out your blog, your social media following, and how large your online footprint is. Marilyn suggested approaching your target community as if you’re networking at a cocktail party. Start by posting your content—and make sure you have something to say—and then mingle with your audience. Don’t neglect SEO when tagging blog posts—you want your audience to be able to find you. And remember: the internet is dynamic, not static, so you need to update your content and engage your audience regularly. Marilyn described how she found one of her latest projects, a book about Pinterest, by seeking out the “expert” who was blogging about it the most and the loudest. This level of audience engagement is very labor-intensive and can seem overwhelming. Dan suggested that one way to save time and energy is to tap into the glut of under-employed twenty-somethings and outsource the job of generating content to them.

Finally, here are ten tips for a pitch that packs a punch:
1. Start with a bang. Jump right in and keep them wanting more.
2. Provide a market overview with strong ad copy. Make it smart, funny, and relevant.
3. Describe your target audience: What are they like, what are they looking for, how are you connected to them already, and what’s your plan to engage them further?
4. Show that you already have a platform and access to your audience.
5. Sell yourself as part of your book package.
6. Do your competitive title analysis right. Don’t ever compare your project to Eat Pray Love or Marley and Me—name-dropping bestsellers is a sure sign of an amateur. Choose perennial favorites and align yourself with books that have staying power.
7. Make sure your chapter outline demonstrates the shape and arc of your book. Include sound bites and emphasize the hook.
8. Make sure your sample chapter(s) show off your voice and give a sense of what differentiates your content from the rest.
9. Be succinct and efficient: engage, educate, and entertain. Have empathy for the person who’ll be reading your proposal, and remember that yours isn’t the only proposal in the world.
10. Be professional. Make absolutely sure your proposal is proofread and typo-free. Avoid unnecessary bells, whistles, and nontraditional formatting.

***

The whole workshop is available as a streaming webcast over on the ASJA portal site. Check it out!

Book Spotlight: The Insider's Guide to Book Publishing Success

We're very pleased to spotlight The Insider's Guide to Book Publishing, written by our friends at independent distributor Midpoint Trade Books: Eric Kampmann, Margot Atwell, and Sarah Lucie. Given the drastic shifts in the publishing industry in the past few years, this book could not be more timely. It is truer now than ever before that absolutely anyone can write and publish a book, yet the process remains daunting and opaque to most people outside the industry. This book will go a long way toward demystifying and illuminating the right steps to take on your publishing journey, helping prospective authors determine the best way to bring their books into the world. 


Gotham Ghostwriters spoke with Margot Atwell about the relevance of this book, the publishing industry today, and their new hybrid publishing division, Midpoint Plus.

Without revealing your secrets, can you give me a brief overview of what's covered in the book?
There are no secrets in the book, just straightforward information about publishing that we've learned from years (and, for Eric, decades) of experience in the publishing industry. It is divided into sections, each of which covers one aspect of publishing. "Publishing Overview" describes seven different publishing options for authors, from publishing with a major house to independent publishing with a distributor to an e-book-only launch. Other sections cover the manuscript, production, sales and distribution (two areas many authors know very little about), marketing and publicity, and finance. We also include case studies written by authors and industry professionals to show what a success story looks like from the inside, and how hard it is to make a book successful.

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing aspiring authors today?
Right now is a fantastic time to be an author, and options for publishing have proliferated to the point that whatever an author wants to do, he or she can do. There are so many different ways to publish a book, in e-book format or print. Tons of great writers who might have been overlooked by the major houses in the past can take their writing careers in their own hands and publish their own books, build their own markets, and see greater rewards than they would have under the traditional publishing model.

The greatest challenge facing authors is there is not enough information from reputable sources about how to make publishing decisions. Many authors decide to self-publish their books without knowing what it takes to do so, or what all the steps are. I see many authors looking to industry experts for help, and sometimes they find generous, knowledgeable people who can steer them in the right direction, while other times they find people who are much more interested in making money than in working with an author to find out what is right for his or her book. Authors can make unnecessary and costly investments in seminars that aren't helpful, cover designers who overcharge and under-deliver, or printing way too many copies of their book without any way to bring it to the market.

We wrote The Insider's Guide to Book Publishing Success to demystify the publishing process for people who have never seen it from the inside, and to arm them with the right questions to ask themselves and the people they might work with. We hope it will be a valuable tool for authors and new publishers.

Why was now the right time to bring this book out?
The industry is changing fast, and technology is allowing authors to publish their own books more easily and economically than ever before. At the same time, and probably because of that, self-publishing is losing the stigma it once had, and many more people are turning to self- and independent publishing. Even Book Expo America is acknowledging the massive rise in self-publishing with this weekend's UPublishU event at the Javits Center. We will be there giving away free copies of our book, so please stop by and say hi! We'll be at Booth #4345.

What makes your team uniquely qualified to write this book?
Eric has forty years of book sales and distribution experience. He has worked with independent book publishers since 1981, and has owned and run Midpoint, a distributor for over 250 independent publishers, since 1996. He has seen many major changes in the publishing industry and can put the current shifts in a broader context.

I am the Publisher of Beaufort Books, an independent publisher distributed by Midpoint Trade Books, so I have much more of an editorial and marketing background. This helps round out the book and give readers a wider view of publishing. We also called on other publishing professionals to provide information for key sections, such as special sales and social media.

Tell me more about Midpoint Plus.
We created Midpoint Plus to fill a need that we started to see more and more. Frequently, great authors who are becoming first-time publishers will approach Midpoint Trade Books looking for distribution. However, the learning curve for a first-time publisher is enormous, and most often, these authors' books would fail because they had overlooked one (or more) important piece of the publishing puzzle. Midpoint Plus is a publishing services company that can assist, guide, and mentor new publishers. We can help with just one part of the process—like finding and working with a cover designer to achieve a great professional-looking cover, or developing and implementing a marketing plan—or we can help with the entire process, from manuscript development to getting the books on bookstore shelves and beyond. Our books get national distribution into bookstores, wholesalers, online retailers, and appropriate specialty accounts through Midpoint Trade Books, and we have a very sales-oriented vision, which sets us apart from many other book doctors, book shepherds, and consultants, most of whom have an editorial background and might not be able to provide such holistic assistance or access to sales and distribution.



Margot Atwell is the Publisher of Beaufort Books, an independent book publisher based in New York City, and Director of Midpoint Plus, a publishing services company founded in 2011. Before joining Beaufort Books in 2006, she worked at the Irene Skolnick Literary Agency. When she is not working on books, she plays Gotham Girls Roller Derby under the publishing-appropriate moniker Em Dash.

Around the Word

Internet Save the Queen. Over 40,000 pages of Queen Victoria’s private journals have been posted online by her great-great-granddaughter Queen Elizabeth, just in time for the Queen’s upcoming jubilee. The journals contain everything from politics to passions, beginning in 1832 when she was just thirteen, up until her death in 1901. The journals are so detailed you can almost imagine her in the present, sitting at her royal computer and updating her Facebook status. Sample quote: “Had a good night and could take some breakfast better. Took an hour's drive at half-past two. It was very foggy, but the air was pleasant.”

Dear Diary, it’s Me, Saddam. Speaking of diarists, Raghad Saddam Hussein, daughter of the late Iraqi dictator, is seeking a publisher for her father’s handwritten journals. The content of the memoirs has not been specified, but they are the only personal documents that Hussein had written by hand. What do you think is in them? Tell us in the comments.

Turn that Frown Upside Down . . . or Into a Fat Paycheck. Salon has an exclusive excerpt from Augusten Burrough’s newest book, This Is How, which urges those with dark memories to do what we normally pay hundreds of dollars in psychiatric bills for: let them go and move on. It's an interesting suggestion from the man who wrote Running With Scissors, which basically transmogrified his painful memories into a whole lot of money in the bank.

Arisen from the Grave of Past Literature. Hesperus Press is hosting a contest to find out-of-print gems to re-publish. To enter, submit a title for consideration, along with a 500-word introduction explaining why you love it and why it should be brought back. If your book is chosen, they'll publish your intro with it. The deadline is June 1st, so dig through your bookshelf now for your favorite tattered classic—it might just be coming back into style.

Business Wisdom from the Business Ghost

Earlier this week we were privileged to have premier ghostwriter Michael Levin (aka the Business Ghost) give a dynamite presentation at our offices on a topic that’s on the minds of nearly all writers-for-hire today: How do you market yourself in a way that will land you high-paying work from high-profile clients?

The key takeaway: Your mindset matters most. You are not just a writer, Levin told the packed room of writers from the GG network; you’re an entrepreneur who runs a business specializing in writing. Deal with your fear, and stop being halfhearted with your self-marketing. Value your skills properly, and ask for what you’re worth. It’s the only way you’re going to get it.

Once you’ve got the right attitudinal bearings, Levin said, there are a number of basic sales and marketing techniques that writers can leverage to generate more productive leads and land more rewarding deals. Here’s some of the top tips and tricks Levin shared:

Cold-calling works
Keep your pitch simple: “Hi, my name is Michael Levin of Business Ghost, and I specialize in writing books for people of your stature. I don’t know if you’ve ever considered writing a book, but if you’re interested, I’d love to talk to you about working together.” Pique their curiosity—no one uses the telephone anymore—and appeal to their ego. Many writers worry that cold-calling is bothersome, but you’re not bothering someone if you’re solving a problem for them.

Don’t be afraid of gatekeepers
Secretaries, assistants, and other gatekeepers are benign dictators—if you’re nice to them. They respond, like anyone, to respect and kindness. (Of course, you could also make a habit of calling at 8 am, before the gatekeeper gets to work.)

Get over your fear
Be confident! The more you push on “no,” the more the client will push on “yes.” You have to act like you’ve got a winning lottery ticket in your pocket, meaning you could take this job or leave it. Use a line like: “I’m very fortunate to be busy with other projects, but I can usually make room in my schedule when something exciting comes along.”

It doesn’t matter if you’re less experienced in the subject matter
Tell the client, “My credentials as a writer are more important than my knowledge of your industry.” The client is the one who knows his or her subject matter; you’re being hired on the strength of your writing skill.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve never written a book before
There are many ways to get paid for your first book. You could write for a percentage of the back-end (with clearly defined metrics), for example, or you could get paid on a per-chapter basis. You’ll certainly charge less than market rate, so position it like this: “I’m buying market share in my future, and you’re lucky enough to be getting a great deal on a fantastic writer.” Michael suggests charging $15 to $20k for your first book, and increase your rates with each subsequent project.

It’s not a vanity project
Many clients get nervous about self-publishing a book, because they don’t want it to look like an ego-driven idea. Michael has a great essay on his website called “But Isn’t It a Vanity Book?” that answers this question. In short: a vanity project is all about stroking the ego, whereas a self-published book is about providing a service. Tell the client that it’s her duty to share her acquired knowledge with the world.

Don’t be so smart
To be smarter than the client is stupid. Channel seventies TV detective Columbo, and use what you don’t know to keep the client talking. In addition, don’t be tricked into giving away all your secrets for free in an initial interview. Clients will flatter you to inflate your ego and keep you talking—which is the same thing you should be doing to them.

Set up your next session
At the beginning of your first meeting with a client, explain that you’re going to give him a lot to think about, and that you’d like to schedule your next meeting or next step now. That prevents you from leaving with nothing but a weak promise of “I’ll be in touch.”


Want to hear more from Michael? Check out his Business Ghost website and follow him on Twitter at @Business_Ghost.


Michael, a New York Times–bestselling author, has built one of preeminent ghostwriting practices in the country. His company, Business Ghost, has produced more than 100 ghostwritten and co-written books, of which eight have been national bestsellers. He also appeared on ABC's hot reality show Shark Tank, and his episode will re-run tonight, May 25th, at 8pm.

Our Next Free Workshop: May 31

In conjunction with ASJA, Gotham is proud to present our latest free workshop for writers: How to Create a Killer Book Proposal . . . For a Dead Tough Market

If you’ve tried selling a nonfiction book to a publisher lately, you’ve probably read the same writing on the wall we have—it’s a bear out there. Submissions are booming, but deals are shrinking and advances are shriveling. Editors and agents are focused if not fixated on projects that come with a built-in platform, today’s magic password for publishing. For those of us not named Oprah or Madonna, that means there is more pressure than ever to offer an indelible proposal. One that gets your story or idea to stand out, break through, and ultimately tickle a buyer’s sales bone.

To help make this challenge a little less daunting and a little more digestible, we have pulled together another panel of industry experts to walk you through the key elements of crafting a killer proposal to maximize your book’s chances of selling. We will cover a number of tips and tricks to keep your or your client’s project from going directly into the slush pile and instead keep your reader riveted to the pitch, including: 1) how to position your book in the marketplace; 2) how to identify your target audience; 3) how to create a brand message; and 4) how to create a powerful marketing statement.


Leading the discussion will be:

Marilyn Allen
Founder of the Allen O’Shea Literary Agency and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Book Proposals & Query Letters

Beverly West
Author of the bestselling Cinematherapy series and President of Kitchen Table Media, which specializes in branding experts to succeed in the publishing marketplace

Dan Gerstein
President of Gotham Ghostwriters

WHEN
Thursday, May 31st
6–7:30 p.m.

WHERE
ASJA’s Office, Times Square
1501 Broadway, Suite 403


please register at

www.asja.org/calendar

Guest post: A Tribute to Hillman Curtis

BY DAVID ALM
This post originally ran on Contrary Magazine's blog.

Here is a truth about ghostwriting that I never knew until now: You can write about practically anything in the first-person—except death.

One week ago today, an old friend died after fighting cancer for three and a half years. He was just 51, had a wife, two young children, and countless friends scattered all over the world. He was famous enough for his obituary to be featured in the New York Times. And he was the only other person in the world, besides myself, whose life, ideas, and work I have discussed using the word “I.”

He was Hillman Curtis, a web designer-cum-filmmaker, and I was his ghostwriter.

We had become estranged in recent years, but I knew he was sick. In 2010, five years after our last book project together, he confided in me over email that he “had a bad case of cancer.” It was meant as a joke, an allusion to one of his favorite films, The Royal Tennenbaums. Hillman liked to lighten the mood whenever possible, but I didn’t catch it. I was too much in shock. He had reached out to me much like he always had: seemingly on a whim, with an idea for a project that he wanted my help with. That’s how Hillman worked with everyone.

Only this time, the project didn’t involve a book. We wrote two together, one in 2001 and another in 2005—but I’ll come back to that. The first time he emailed me, in May 2001, it was simply to ask if I might have time to help him structure his thoughts for a book on new media design he was writing. I had interviewed him a few months earlier for a magazine article about broadcast design, and apparently we’d hit it off. I was only 25. I jumped at the opportunity.

Thus began a unique kind of partnership. When he had time, he would write a mess of ideas—stream of consciousness, really—and then I’d turn the draft into a chapter. Other times, we’d simply sit and talk, and I’d record the conversation. Later I would transcribe the conversation and write a chapter from that. I got to know him very, very well during this process. I internalized his voice, started using his expressions, and even went against my own literary judgement and ended a lot of sentences with ellipses (as he liked to do…).

The book was a success, and we worked on many other projects over the years. He would call me up, or email me, and say he needed my “special touch” on a piece of writing—usually copy for a website, a chapter for another author’s book about design, or a speech. Payment varied—once, when I was very broke, he paid my month’s rent, in addition to the fee we had already established. In 2005, we wrote a second book, about digital filmmaking, a field he waded into and then immersed himself in during his last decade of life, ultimately replacing his web design work with artist documentaries, commercials, and short narrative films. He was a self-described “serial self-reinventor.” And he was successful at practically everything he put his mind to.

Except for the last project he tapped me for, in 2010. He wanted me to train him for a half-marathon. He had begun chemo, he explained, and he was often very tired. He needed something to focus on, and someone to “kick his ass,” as he put it. He even offered to pay me.

I never said no to Hillman, and not because I was afraid to. When he asked someone to do something for him, it was usually a tremendous opportunity. “Do you have time to help me write a book?” Of course. “I just got this new film equipment; will you help me make a documentary about David Byrne?” Are you kidding? Yes. “Will you give me something to look forward to three months down the road, and an excuse to get out every day and breathe fresh air, talk about life, and simply enjoy being alive?” Absolutely.

But this time, Hillman didn’t follow through. We exchanged many emails about running. I advised him, developed a modest schedule for him, and encouraged him every time he reported back about a run he had completed. But we never met to go running in Prospect Park, as we’d planned on doing twice weekly, nor did he ever run a half-marathon.

I never pressured him. When he was reluctant to begin our second book together because he didn’t quite know what kind of book he wanted to write, I waited—for two years, and through many false starts in the meantime. And so, when he faltered on the running, I didn’t “kick his ass,” as he’d asked. After all, he was dealing with a bad case of cancer.

Maybe I let him down. Maybe he wanted me to be Mickey to his Rocky, never backing down, showing tough love from the side of the road, stopwatch in hand as I shouted his quarter-mile splits. But I just didn’t have the heart for that.

A lot of people knew Hillman, and many more respected him. He revolutionized the web. He helped untold numbers of young designers find their way. And he gave a few of us, those lucky enough to have worked closely with him, opportunities of a lifetime.

I wish that I could ghostwrite a goodbye from Hillman, channel his voice one last time. But I can’t. Even so, if I were able to suggest the idea, I think I know exactly what he’d say: “Right on.”