Imagine signing a book deal with a publishing house! There is still plenty of opportunity for first time authors who take the time to learn the expectations of the marketplace. Yet, those who don’t learn the rules can decrease their chances of getting published or make success take much longer than it needs to.
Your first tip: Study the requirements and expectations that agents and publishers have for a quality book proposal. This blog is full of many detailed posts about writing book proposals successfully. Use the “search” function to the right to read several of these posts.
| Point Value | Clues/Actions for Points | Earned Points |
| 15+ | Comment on this post by sharing your favorite Book Proposal suggestion from my many blog posts on the subject. | |
| 5+ | Tweet @lisatener your favorite blog post on writing a book proposal from the many articles on lisatener.com (again, the search function can help you find them). Use hashtag #authorresourcehunt. | |
| 15+ | Read Lisa’s testimonials and share the author name from your favorite testimonial as a comment on this post. | |
| 10+ | Tweet your favorite quote (100 characters or less) from the testimonials page along with a link to that page and #authorresourcehunt | |
| 5+ | Post your score for today on this blog post as a comment, along with your total score from the whole hunt. | |
| Total |
Click here to download a PDF version of the checklist to track your points.
Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade just as painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them. Then rearrange the rules to suit yourself. ~ Truman Capote
Next week, we will announce 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes for most overall points.
First Prize
• Free download of Inspiration to Author – A complete roadmap to take your book idea from mind to manuscript [value $997]
• An inspiring journal for your writing
• My favorite writing pen: A Pentel EnerGel–choose from purple, blue and black
Second Prize
• A one-half hour consultation with Lisa Tener [value: $200]
• An inspiring journal for your writing
• My favorite writing pen: A Pentel EnerGel–choose from purple, blue and black
Third Prize
• Free download of Quick Start to Kick-Start Your Book: Turn your Passion into Profit– includes Empowered Author: How to Avoid the 10 Worst Mistakes of New Authors and Writing Breakthrough: 5 Powerful Steps for Inspiration and Flow! [value: $97]
• An inspiring journal for your writing
• My favorite writing pen: A Pentel EnerGel–choose from purple, blue and black
I loved the idea of listening to people talk about books, whether at a book store or elsewhere, from the article Write a Book Proposal: Researching Your Markets for the Book.
My favorite author quote was from Kimber Simpson. I don’t tweet so will put it here:
If you follow her instructions and encouragement, and make time for it in your life (Week 3: What are you going to give up to finish your book? Best question ever!), you may just find your dream coming alive on the page. It can be found on https://jodieburdette.net/lisatener/testimonials/
Thanks, Lela.
My favorite book proposal suggestion is to be a perfectionist with your book proposal or book for the top three reasons; branding, credibility and clarity. I have included the link here if others would like to read it https://jodieburdette.net/lisatener/2013/11/how-to-write-a-book-proposal-or-book-why-i-am-a-perfectionist/
There were 2 testimonals that I liked; Linda Joy. I am biased because of my connection to her and Aspire magazine. I have admired her work for years. Also Maureen Hancock, ” I found my voice” I can relate to those words as being a part of my journey.
Points for today 35 total for challenge 165.
Thanks, Lisa!
I found your statement “You can still begin to look for an agent while you develop your platform.” very encouraging!
Oh, Good.
I found that most important, Lisa KNOWS that it is still possible to land a major publishing house deal. So many coaches and publishers tell you to give up on your dream and that is a death worse than Ebola.
Next: Branding! Essential in an online world! This I got from Lisa’s blog post that I tweeted if I did things right (Perfectionist…)
Testimonial: Vint Virga, Author of The Soul of All Living Creatures ” Lisa helped me fine-tune my book proposal and cultivate my style and voice as a writer.” https://jodieburdette.net/lisatener/testimonials/
Lisa: I found two broken links which I emailed which were testimonial pages.
I got the max…maybe more? 240 for the Hunt. Fun and good teaching, promoting and website de-bugging experience! HA!!!
Leena, Congrats and thank you for the heads up on broken links!
I learned much from two articles by Lisa Tener.
1. “Why I Am A Perfectionist” on her blog post – she lists several reasons why publishers can overlook your proposal and suggests hiring a proofreader before submitting your proposal.
2.” Writing Chapter Outlines” article – the more you understand your readers needs and who your readers are, the easier it will be to write your chapter outlines.
I don’t tweet so I’ll tweet here – I enjoyed Lisa’s interview with Jill Grimes titled, “Savvy Advice On Writing A Book And More”.
On Lisa’s Testimonial Page, I was touched by author Susan Rizzo Vincent, who wrote,
“Dreas’s Dream” with a forward by Jane Seymore.
My favorite quote is from Michaela Karlsen, author of “Plant Based For Life” – Lisa’s approach is professional and effective without being pushy and her intuition about the next step has proven true many times.
35 points for today
165 total for Author’s Resource Hunt – if you accept the 4 tweets I made here and not on
Twitter, I have an additional 20 points – 185 points?
Thank you everyone for a memorable and delightful educational experience
WOW – I just read Writing A Memoir: An Interview With Richard Hoffman.
I now know where to focus my intentions – Yay!
I want to read his book too, “Half A House”.
He has some excellent insights and a key word is simplify.
That’s one of my favorite posts. Richard is an amazing teacher. He often teaches at the University of Rhode Island’s Ocean State Summer Writing Conference in June.
My favorite book proposal is “How To Make Sure Your Book Proposal Gets Read…And Fast.”
The author who’s my favorite is Bonnie Leonard, EdD, CLC
My score from today is 50 points.
My grand total is 225.
My favorite book proposal suggestion is from Lisa’s post- how to make sure your book proposal gets read…and Fast! I found this to be very informative!
The author name from my favorite testimonial is : Writing Memoir:An interview with Richard Hoffman. I am going to go and purchase and read his book “Half the House”.
I am on my iPad and can’t figure out how to post a link to the page for my favorite quote that I tweet so I am going to tell you the favorite quote here:
“Don’t write about your life, write from your life”. Richard Hoffman
Score for today is: 45 pts
Score for total Author Resource Hunt: 200 pts.
Pre-hunt-70 pts
Day 1-20 pts
Day 2-30 pts
Day 3-35 pts
Day 4-45 pts
Thank you so much for the opportunity to play and learn! I had such a wonderful time and learned a great deal that I can put to use while on the journey of writing my book!!!
Correction 50 pts for today. Total points for hunt 205!
“Get crystal clear about the book you are writing: your vision, your goals and the audience you want to reach.” That’s where I am right now, so that’s the best advice for me.
Favorite quote from Testimonials: “Lisa provided incredible inspiration during the most difficult time of the writing process: shaping the book into something real and bringing the book from concept to life.”
Today’s score: 40
And total score form the hunt:
– pre-hunt 50
– day 1 20
– day 2 30
– day 3 20
– day 4 40
Total: 160
and a lot of fun. Thank you, Lisa!