YOUR NOVEL PROPOSAL FROM CREATION TO CONTRACT; The Complete Guide to Writing Query Letters, Synopses, and Proposals for Agents and Editors

Blythe Camenson, Marshall J. Cook

ISBN 10: 0898798752 / ISBN 13: 9780898798753

Published by Writers Digest Books, Cincinnati, 1999

About this Item

Near Fine in a Near Fine dust jacket.; From the personal collection of notable photojournalist Ted Spiegel, known for his work with National Geographic and his portrait of John F. Kennedy.; 246 pages.

Seller Inventory # 322216

Bibliographic Details

• Title: YOUR NOVEL PROPOSAL FROM CREATION TO CONTRACT; The Complete Guide to Writing Query Letters, Synopses, and Proposals for Agents and Editors
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books, Cincinnati
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0898798752
• ISBN 13: 9780898798753
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition; First Printing.
• Seller catalogs:
  • Writing and Publishing

About this title

Synopsis

Offers a step-by-step guide to the publishing process, including examples of synopses and queries

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From Chapter 1: Your Publishing Options

"Writing is not the lottery. New writers have to be realistic about what it takes to get published. But there is one similarity to the lottery: You have to play to win." --Lori Perkins, literary agent

Close to 60,000 books will be published in the U.S. this year. That's more than 160 books a day! We'll spend about twenty billion dollars buying those books. Book publishing is a big business.

Although popular fiction will account for more than half of all books sold, only about 10 to 15 percent of those 60,000 published titles will be fiction. A few fiction titles will account for a disproportionate number of sales: fifteen to twenty novels will each sell a million copies or more. In a typical year a handful of writers will account fo two out of every three novels sold. You know the names of these titans. Before you read on, see if you can name the seven writers who have dominated fiction sales in recent years.

Ready? They are in no particular order, -John Grisham
-Stephen King
-Michael Crichton
-Tom Clancy
-Danielle Steel
-Mary Higgins Clark
-Dean Koontz

No surprises there. Before you change your name to King, Clancy or Crichton, though, keep in mind that the market uncovers new and talented writers each year. Recent examples include Carolyn Chute (who had to borrow money for postage to submit her first manuscript to a publisher), E. Annie Proulx, Larry Baker and Amy Tan. Talented writers are still breaking the publishing barrier, and these folks prove it.