Sample Chapters: Let’s talk just a moment about Sample Chapters. Every proposal package includes sample chapters for the story you are proposing. Even if you are a multi-published author, you will have to write sample chapters for new contracts with new publishers, so it is wise to learn how to write them now. There are so many elements to writing decent sample chapters, and we’ve covered most of those topics over the past year, but I felt we needed to touch on them in order to fully cover the proposal package. When new authors read “Sample Chapters” in the submission requirements of an editor or publisher’s website, sometimes they are tempted to think… “I’ll pick my BEST chapters…chapter one, chapter eight, and chapter twenty-two.” Delete that […]
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About Susan May Warren
Former Russian Missionary Susan May Warren is the best-selling author of more than 40 novels and novellas with Tyndale, Barbour and Steeple Hill, and Summerside. A Christy award and RITA winner, and multiple finalist for the RITA, Christy and winner of Inspirational Readers Choice contest, Susan currently has over a million books in print. A seasoned women’s events speaker and writing teacher, she is the founder of http://www.mybooktherapy.com an online community for writers, and runs a fiction editing service teaching writers how to tell a great story. Visit her online at: http://www.susanmaywarren.com.Author Archive | Susan May Warren
The Synopsis – Sell your Story
Let’s talk today about the Synopsis. While your Cover letter and Marketing Plan sells the story concept, the Synopsis sells the story itself. What is the synopsis? This is your story, in a nutshell. It’s a wide angle look, highlighting the big moments, and telling in a way that engages your editor’s imagination. The last thing they want to read is a dry retelling of your story. Let’s start with an overview of a great synopsis: Step One: A good synopsis starts out with outlining the character’s goals, their fears (as a set up for the black moment) and their deepest desires – with a hint at why. You’re trying to show what they are they after, and why? What their conflict is, and what God is […]
Read the RestCover Letters and Marketing Plans…sell your novel CONCEPT
So….you’ve polished your story, the agent is breathlessly waiting for it…time to send it in, right? Nope. First you need to write a proposal. A post-conference, request proposal consists of a Cover Letter, a Marketing Plan, a Synopsis, and the first three chapters. I like to write my Cover or Query letter last because, well, by then I know what I’m trying to say. And, you should already have those first three chapters written and polished, right? If this is your first book you should have your manuscript already written. And you should know your physical, emotional and spiritual plots, including the black moment and the epiphany. You should know who your character is, what his values are, what motivates him and what his greatest […]
Read the RestNow What? Post ACFW Conference Chalk Talk
Are you home from the ACFW conference? Finally unpacked? I took a terrible head cold home with me from the plane (thank you coughing guy sitting next to me). But, what a great weekend we spent together at the annual ACFW Conference! I hope you came home filled with encouragement and new ideas on how to make your writing breathtaking. Now what? Conferences can be overwhelming – between the requests for proposals or full manuscripts, new story ideas, craft lessons, marketing epiphanies and loads of new friends. Where and how do you start to process all this information? First, sit down a make a list of everyone you met, from editors to fellow authors, to newbies. Then, start reaching out. If they are editors or agents who […]
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