Writers Tricks of the Trade Issue 6, Volume 6

NYT BEST SELLERS LIST NOV 20, 2016 NYT Complete Lists SOLICITING REVIEWS) written a book on word-of-mouth alone. What if they do find your book by chance? How are you going to stop them from reviewing it on their own? Gotcha! COMBINED PRINT & EBOOK FICTION 1. THE WRONG SIDE OF GOODBYE BY MICHAEL CONNELLY 2. THE WHISTLER BY JOHN GRISHAM 3. THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN BY PAULA HAWKINS 4. THE AWARD BY DANIELLE STEELE 5. TWO BY TWO BY NICHOLAS SPARKS COMBINED PRINT & EBOOK NONFICTION 1. KILLING THE RISING SUN BY BILL O'REILLY AND MARTIN DUGARD 2. THE MAGNOLIA STORY BY CHIP GAINES AND JOANNA GAINES WITH MARK DAGOSTINO 3. HILLBILLY ELEGY BY J. D. VANCE 4. BORN TO RUN BY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN WHAT TO DO? First of all, never use a spray and pray, generic submission query letter. I shouldn’t have to explain how much and why such a letter sucks. What I will tell you is that you should have a core letter made up with a description of your story. It should have a slug line, then a brief description of the story. Mine has a basic spoiler without going into too much detail. The top has the title and the number of words. The bottom has my name, web page, e-mail, web site, and Twitter addy. At the top is a blank spot to customize each letter to the individual or publication I’m submitting to. Sometimes, I offer something in return, like doing reviews or articles. Why should they offer something when I’m asking for the same? At the bottom, above my contact info, is where I leave room for thanks and any other personal info to them. RESEARCH The thing you need to do is to research each site. Follow their instructions and be sure to look into their publication or site so you have some idea of what you’re submitting to. Let them know you’ve done your homework and are not submitting blind. Nothing is more unprofessional than submitting blind! I learned a lot of this from Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound, at the 2015 Las Vegas Writer’s Conference. Her presentation was a great help in getting me started on this quest for reviews. You can look her up on the net. She’s also on Twitter. 5. SHAKEN BY TIM TEBOW WITH A. J. GREGORY NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2016 Happy writing! Fred PAGE 4 WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE

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