Tips for authors

Literary agents, Tips for authors

1. You’re pitching the wrong agents

I’ve written about this before, but the #1 reason queries landed in the trash when I was an agent was because we simply didn’t represent the type of book the author was proposing. Do your research.

2. Your query letter isn’t strong enough

The assistant in charge of the agency’s slush pile glazes over when she reads your pitch. Or your query sounds like a million other queries she’s read. Or there just wasn’t anything in your letter that made that particular reader think I’ve got to read more.

3. Your sample chapters don’t deliver on what your query promised

Say the agent responds to your query by requesting the first 50 pages of your manuscript. Hooray! Your query letter did its job. But a few weeks or months later you get a letter saying, “thanks, but it’s just not for me.”

What’s interesting (and frustrating) here is that something in your query made the agent think your book could be for him or her. So where’s the disconnect?

It could be your concept or approach to the concept isn’t original enough, or the agent didn’t find it compelling enough to appeal to a large audience.

It could be the execution — the writing isn’t strong enough, the tone isn’t right, the concepts aren’t supported, the format feels tired.

It could be the agent just isn’t that into it.

Or it could be #4.

4. You just haven’t found the right agent yet

It could be that there’s nothing “wrong” with your query or your manuscript, you just haven’t found the right person to bring it into the world yet.

We’ve all heard countless stories of bestselling titles that collected hundreds of rejection slips before finally landing in the right hands.

Go to writer’s conferences and book meetings with agents and editors. Reach out to authors you know whose agents represent the type of book you are pitching. Test different query letters to see which ones get better responses.

Here’s the thing: Literary agents represent books they believe they can sell. And the best literary agents only take on books they personally connect with and believe they can sell.

An agent might like you, she might like your book, but if she doesn’t think she can sell it, it makes absolutely no sense for her to take it on. (Since reputable agents only make money on the books they sell.)

Keep submitting. Keep building relationships. Keep trying.

 

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Blocks, Book writing, Purpose, Q&As, Tips for authors

Today I received a reader question I just had to share with you.

This comes from an author who has published several books with major publishers. In other words, she knows what she’s doing.

She writes (edited to protect her privacy):

I call it the “You know what you should do?” syndrome. I ran into this with my last book.

I’d say I was working on a book. People would ask what it was about. I’d try out my elevator pitch on them to gauge reactions. Most friends would just give me an honest reaction (in that case, enthusiasm). Some would offer a helpful suggestion or two. And a handful would say, “You know what you should do?” and then proceed to tell me how to write my book.

I think it might be that there are some–okay, probably many–people out there who want to write books and, when they hear about someone else writing one, promptly become the writing equivalent of a backseat driver.

Their suggestions are many and not always in line with my plan for my book. This makes me feel like my idea’s not good, second guess myself, and not want to tell anybody what I’m doing!

Have you heard about this happening with other authors? And what’s your expert advice?

My advice about these book “visionaries” would be to consider them an informal (albeit uninvited) focus group. And just like every focus group, you take in all the feedback and draw your own conclusions.

The great part about getting feedback that makes you bristle is it solidifies YOUR vision for your book.

 
Kind of like when you ask your mom which dress you should wear, and she picks the blue dress. But that makes you realize you’re definitely wearing the green one.

So instead of making you feel lousy about your idea or second guess yourself, you could turn that around and silently thank that person for helping you know exactly what path you want to take.

Go green, baby, go green.

How about you? How do you deal with writing backseat drivers?

 
 

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Blocks, Purpose, Q&As, Technique, Tips for authors

Tonight I have the honor of speaking to the ladies over at Mamacoach Circle on the subject of “Tapping into your inner author.” One of the questions they sent over before our call is this:

“I love how you say on your website that by going deeper we stop sounding like everyone else. Can you say more about that? We notice so many coaches using the same language, even copying each other’s words.”

I love this question because so much of what I see on the web is so repetitive and copycat sounding it makes me itchy.

It reminds me of a strategy & content project my husband and I did for a multibillion dollar company. Working privately with our core client contact (we’d never embarrass a stakeholder in public), we gave her a quiz where we lifted different lines of copy from her company’s site along with two or three competitor’s sites. The copy ranged from how each company defined itself, what they did, and what made them different.

We asked our client to identify the source of each line (her company, or a competitor’s). She got bonus points for naming the competitor.

Impressively, our client got each question right. But she saw our point loud and clear. Everyone sounded like everyone else.

What if you ran the same test on your site copy? Are you objective enough, as our stakeholder was, to see what a potential client would see?

Stay tuned for Part 2, where I’ll offer up a list of specific ways to bring out your voice and distinguish yourself from everyone else.

—-

Want to join in on tonight’s teleclass (or get a recording of the call emailed to you)? Get details here.

 

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Blocks, Book writing, Purpose, Tips for authors

The web is abuzz with prompts for 2013 planning. “Make this your best year ever!” everyone seems to be shouting. And every day I come across a new planning tool to help me do just that.

“Too bad I can’t do that,” I caught myself thinking.

Because you see, I’m pregnant — with twins.

I launched this business last May, and there’s still so much I want to do, so many tools and programs I want to create to help you write the book you were meant to write.

But knowing come June I’ll be back in newborn land — times two — I thought I had to sit the first half of the year on the sidelines, too.

Thankfully I’ve learned not to believe everything I think.

I recently wrote on my parenting blog about how this news of twins initially knocked me down physically and emotionally. But now that I’m feeling better, I’ve realized a few things.

  • I can still make plans.
  • I can still grow my business in 2013.
  • I can still welcome the new clients who are showing up.

And most of all:

My goals are still the same, they just might take longer than I’d planned.

Maybe I’ll go crazy and indulge in one of those fun planning tools. And just like last year, I’ll come up with my guiding word for the year rather than making New Year’s resolutions.

But I’m not going to let myself feel left behind just because I’m not able to grow my business this year as much as I initially thought.

Maybe you’re in a similar situation — maybe life or business circumstances mean you won’t have the space you desperately want to write your book.

Trust that it will still be there for you, and that your life experience this next year will make it an even better book than if you’d written in now.

/ / / /

Writing prompt

Keep your hand in it

You may not be making the progress you’d hoped on your book. But instead of letting it keep you up at night with frustration, try this super simple trick:

  1. Start a new Google Doc
  2. Whenever you have a thought or want to make a note about the book you’ll eventually write, make the note.
  3. You may even want to date it, journal style.

There. Done.

You’ve captured your thought rather than hoping you remember it or pushing it away because “this isn’t the time.”

You’re slowly making progress instead of pushing the thought away.

This is creating with ease and flow.

And there’s nothing creativity loves like ease and flow.

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Blocks, Tips for authors

“I’m on such a writing roll, I’m terrified to stop.”

I hear this from clients all the time.

And so it goes. We’re scared when we are writing, and we’re scared when we’re not.

Four ways to deal with the fear of not writing:

  1. First of all, keep writing. When in creation mode, by all means stay in creation mode. This means even if you have a pile of revisions waiting for you, or research that still needs to be done, save it.
  2. Have some faith. Whatever got you to this point of massive output is not going to suddenly disappear. It’s true we all have times when we are more productive than others, but we have to trust that ideas will always come, and that words will flow again.
  3. What’s the worst that can happen? Chances are that day will come when words. just. get. stuck. One of my favorite quotes on writing comes from Henry Miller’s 11 Commandments of Writing: When you can’t create, you can work. Remember those revisions and that research you put off before? There’s always plenty of writing-related work to do when you’re not in the writing flow.
  4. Find the benefit. To help quiet the fear of not being able to write, remember that all creatives need time to refill the well. This is why it’s perfectly acceptable for ad agency creatives to go to the movies or a museum during the day. Refilling the well for you might mean conducting a workshop (to gather more stories), taking on a new type of client, attending a conference, or, my fave, heading off to Kripalu for the weekend.

How do you deal with the fear of not writing?

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Blocks, Tips for authors

Are ghosts and goblins lurking around your keyboard, preventing you from writing the truth?

What will my mother say when she reads this?

Are witches waiting to pounce on your every word?

Will my peers think I’m an imposter?

Are spiders hiding in dark corners, waiting to crawl on you the moment you’re not looking?

I can’t tell that story. It’s just too personal.

Are ghosts from the past paralyzing your future?

I can never live up to the success of my last book/program/workshop.

Well, then.

Invite these ghouls and goblins over for a cup of tea. Let them say everything they have to say. All of it.

Are they right? Do they have valid points? Maybe, perhaps. But are you really going to let them stop you for finding out for sure?

You have let them speak, now thank them and send them on their way.

And if that doesn’t work?

I’ll be your exorcist.

 

 

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Blocks, Purpose, Tips for authors

I had to make a tough decision this past summer.

It was about the babysitter we’d had for the past two years. On so many levels, she was fantastic. She was a trusted sitter in our town, she loved my boys, and she made it her mission to run them like crazy so they slept well at night.

For two years, she came once a week. But this year, with the boys out of daycare and me launching a new business, I needed her more. She started coming three days a week, and that’s when I realized she wasn’t a great fit for us anymore.

Things would set me off (last minute changes to our schedule, coming home to a messy house) but I’d push those thoughts away, thinking how thankful I should be that my boys had fun all day and that they were safe.

More and more, little annoyances became major sources of frustration and anxiety for me. My husband said I should be thankful that the boys had fun all day and that they were safe.

I knew the situation wasn’t right, but I felt guilty for wanting more.

I tried leaving the sitter notes and reminders, and reviewing our schedules in advance to avoid last minute changes. But the situation did not improve. After I missed a client meeting due to another scheduling mishap, I knew I had to make a change.

And once I made that change, everything shifted.

We now have a babysitter who supports me and my boys. Everyone is calm and happy. I come home to a sparkling house. The boys’ beds are made and their hair is brushed (two things that often don’t happen in our house!). Getting out of the house in the morning is a completely different experience — because the sitter is calm, the boys are calm, and everything just flows.

Here’s the thing:

We cannot do our best work when we’re not getting the support we need.

I’m seeing it over and over with my coaching clients — moms who are exhausted, trying to do it all, holding on to old arrangements that so don’t fit anymore.

And when we’re in the thick of it, figuring out how to change it can be more overwhelming than just tolerating it a little longer.

So try this

Start to see the solution.

Once you can see it, take one small step.

What will your small step be?

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Blocks, Technique, Tips for authors

I started playing the violin when I was four years old. When I moved to New York in my 20’s, I had the honor of studying privately with Julie Lyonn Lieberman, a gifted teacher who specialized in teaching classical violinists how to improvise.

We started out with the circle of fifths, which felt like learning the ABCs for the first time. We moved on to Irish folk songs (the foundation of blues), then blues, then Jazz.

Eventually I was playing with a “dreamy rock band” called Edison Woods and performing at places like The Knitting Factory, Joe’s Pub and La Sala Rosa. And recording this album (check out track 8). Here’s us circa 2003 in Williamsburg. So serious!

Edison Woods

Learning how to improvise is about working through fear.

It takes a ridiculous amount of bravery to express music without a script, in real time and in front of your bandmates and audience (Joe’s Pub!).

And for me, it meant learning to trust that there was music inside of me at all.

When I would show up for my weekly lessons at my teacher’s Upper West Side studio, I was full of work stress (late-90’s advertising), most likely hungover (late-90’s advertising), and obsessed with boy drama (late-90’s advertising). I was lucky she let me keep coming.

One particular lesson that still stands out to me today is this:

The quality of your music begins before you even lift your violin to your shoulder.

One day, Julie asked me to pick up my violin and start playing. Then stop and put the instrument down.

Next, she said to think about my lower back, then lift the violin and bow into position, and start playing.

Over
and over
and over.

The shift in the quality of sound was unmistakable when I paid attention to my lower back.

I didn’t really get it then, but now I do: By thinking about my lower back, I was creating an intention about my music before the vibration of the strings began.

Writing Warm-Up:

What are you bringing to the keyboard today?

Are your fingers thinking they should really be washing the dinner dishes? Are they shaky from stress or indecision? Are they insecure about what is going to come out today? Are they too wrapped up in how long it’s been since they last touched the keys for something that really mattered? Are they impatient?

Stop. Breathe. Light a candle or drink a glass of water. Find a ritual that works for you.

Let go of what happened before and what might come after.

Good.

Now put your hands in your lap. Take a breath. Think about your lower back as you lift your arms to your keyboard.

Do it again a few times.

Good.

Now start improvising.

 

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Blocks, Purpose, Tips for authors


Desk drawers filled with old notepads and sunscreen. A refrigerator with half-consumed drink bottles and miso soup containers. A company name on the front window. And bathroom shelves overflowing with miscellaneous office supplies, hardware pieces, and watered down cleaning supplies.

This is what my husband and his team left behind when they relocated their office 30 miles south to Manhattan. (No offense, guys!)

When I arrived to work this week, to the office I now call my own, I felt itchy. Unfocused. Squirrely. Distracted.

“Why can’t I focus?” I said out loud (to no one).

“Because all I want to do is declutter and purge.”

Ahh.

I crossed out my to-do list and spent the next two days cleaning, sorting, and purging. I scrubbed the old letters off the front window and rearranged furniture. I sprayed the surfaces with lavender cleaner, let in the Hudson River breeze, and lit a candle for good measure.

By obsessively organizing and cleaning, I was making space for my new business.

Even though I have worked in this office all along, the type of work I am doing here has changed. This practice of making space helped me connect to it in a new way. It helped me establish a presence that wasn’t there before.

It’s now the end of my first week. I’m at my desk and the words are flowing. The door is open, the fan is on, surfaces are clear. The frantic keyboard clicks from the writer across the room keep me focused.

Although my vision for how I will use all this uncluttered space is still blurry, I am ready. I can’t wait to see what magic begins to fill it.

Writing prompt

What cobwebs and gum wrappers are getting in the way of your writing?

You feel like you can’t start writing your book until you track down all the notes you’ve been collecting.
Track down the notes.

You can’t get started on your ebook until you can picture the format.
Give yourself one week to figure out the format.

Your computer constantly asks you to update its software, which you can’t do because you’re almost out of room.
Backup, purge, tune up, or upgrade. A writer doesn’t have many expenses. Your computer is worth the investment.

You’re afraid write your story because it’s nonfiction and you’re worried what the other characters involved will think.
Release that fear. Get the first draft down, privately. There will be plenty of time in future drafts to alter identities.

Release what’s holding you back or distracting you or getting in your way.

All of this non-writing related work is part of the writing.

Learn more about making space with this quietly powerful program.

New coaching packages

Whether you’re working on a book, blog series, e-program, or mini e-book, I can help you get clear on your message, work more efficiently, and bring more depth to your work.

Check out my updated, simplified packages.

“After a few months working with Britta, the programs I am leading, the blogs I am writing, and the stories I am telling have more beauty and depth than I thought I was capable of.” —Hannah Marcotti
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Blocks, Book writing, Purpose, Tips for authors

A friend of mine runs a popular style blog called Frenemom. Recently, she published a post titled “Naked Cell Phone Pictures.”

I joked with her that she was just trying to get her site traffic up.

“That didn’t come close to my most popular post,” she said.

What was her most popular post?

“The one where I posted fat pictures of myself.”

(She had an INFANT at the time. She wasn’t fat, she was postpartum.)

Either way, my mind keeps going back to this story.

Why is her “fat” story her most popular post?

Is it mean-spiritedness? Good old-fashioned schadenfreude?

Or is it because in this post, she reveals a side of herself (ourselves) most of us would want to hide from the world.

I’d argue for the second.

In “Mrs. AA’s” signature tone, she writes:
Mrs. AA Frenemom

“I have read countless articles asserting that the birth of a child is a time when a woman realizes that there is someone more important than her in life and that she should now take a back seat to the upbringing of this child. Screw that.

What I realized was that it was finally time to put me first. Because if I didn’t, my little lady would see a mother who worried about what others thought of her and lived life by a script rather than a mother who embraced what was important and was incredibly happy in her own life.

Obviously I wanted my daughter to be well cared for and showered with love and affection, but I also wanted to show her that it is entirely possible not to be a fat, nutso, sweatpants-wearing “mom” type while doing it. The fog had lifted.  The bitch was back.”

And so there it is. Her “why.” The depth behind this woman’s incredible wardrobe, stunning closet, and overall fab-seeming lifestyle.

Seeing our style maven down and out makes us feel closer to her. It brings depth to a subject some might write off as frivolous. Even though we might not be able to travel the world, carry  $1,500 handbags and dress ourselves out of a closet the size of a Manhattan apartment, we can have fun watching her do it — and learn a few things along the way.

What does this have to do with you?

Most of us are writing to further our businesses. We are writing to establish our expertise and professionalism. We are writing to gain our reader’s trust. So showing a less-than side of ourselves seems counter intuitive and even detrimental to our “brands.”

Today I challenge you to challenge that thinking.

Mrs. AA concludes,

Today, because of the encouragement of my own mother and support of my husband, I have started Frenemom. It may not bring me much money or fame, but it brings me so much more. A sense of self, a sense of pride and a sense of humor. What more can a girl ask for?  (Okay, I admit it. I still want thinner thighs.)

Writing prompt

What part of your story could reveal that would build more trust, more understanding, and more connection between you and your readers?

Give it a try. Write it out even if you have no intentions of ever sharing it. See what happens.

And if you want someone to help you find the right balance, you know where to find me.

 

(By the way, my friend didn’t actually post naked photos of herself.)

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