Lisa Tener

Book Writing Coach

editors

“Take out the Affirmations,” said the Editor…

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I recently read an article by my colleague Chellie Campbell on the Wealthy Spirit Blog.   IChellie just loved her story and had to share it, so here’s my interview of Chellie about that defining moment when a publisher told her she liked her book but, “Take out the affirmations.”

Lisa: So, Chellie, can you give us a little background?

Chellie:  Lisa Hagen, my agent, and I had been working together to find a publisher for my book, The Wealthy Spirit, for over a year, through endless rounds of interest, rejections, almost-deals, and deals that fell through. So when an editor wanted to speak more, I was thrilled.

Lisa: How did the call go?

Chellie: We introduced ourselves and chatted for a few minutes.  Then I asked the fateful question, “What about the book do you feel needs to be changed?”

Lisa: That’s always tough to hear. What did she say?

Chellie: Deb, the editor, told me that we had to take all the affirmations out of the book. My heart sank like a stone.  No way could I take the affirmations out —they’re critical in helping people think more positively about money.

Lisa: Affirmations can be trite though…

Chellie: The average person has 60,000 thoughts every day, and most of what they’re thinking about money is depressing:  “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer,”  “You can’t make money in this economy.”  You have to actively change the way you think about money to have abundance flow into your life, and that means repeating positive statements about money every day. You need to replace the old, negative thoughts.

Lisa: So in your case, the affirmations were really integral to the method. How did the editor respond when you told her that?

Chellie: She said affirmations are old news. It had already been done. So, I asked her if she was doing affirmations and there was silence. She finally admitted she didn’t do affirmations.

The Wealthy SpiritLisa: Wow, that’s a gutsy question. Did she try them?

Chellie: Yes. I gave her my list of favorite affirmations. I told her to say them out loud while looking at herself in the mirror every day for the next 21 days.  Then we’d talk again. Three weeks later she said, “Chellie, this is amazing!  I’m getting unexpected money in the mail, people are paying me back loans I had forgotten they owed me, and I’m getting bigger and better book deals!”

Lisa: So she let you keep the affirmations!

Chellie: Yes. And that’s why the book was published with the subtitle, “Daily Affirmations for Financial Stress Reduction.”

Lisa: I love it. So what affirmations did you give your editor? Clearly they work!

Chellie: Here they are:

  1. People love to give me money!
  2. I am rich and wonderful.
  3. I am now earning a great big income doing what satisfies me.
  4. Something wonderful is happening to me today—I can feel it!
  5. All my bills are paid up in full and I still have all this money.
  6. My affirmations work for me, whether I believe they will or not.  (This is for the skeptics among you.)
  7. A lot more money is coming into my life.  I deserve it and will use it for my good and others.
  8. All my clients praise me and pay me!
  9. I am a money magnet!
  10. Money comes to me easily and effortlessly, waking and sleeping.
  11. I am now highly pleasing to myself in other people’s presence.
  12. I walk, talk, look, act, think and am rich!
  13. I am a winner–I win often, and I win big!
  14. I now receive large sums of money  just for being me!

Lisa: So, a few take-aways here:

1. The editor is not always right, nor is conventional wisdom. Do  listen, editors usually know what they are talking about and understand the market, but also trust your inner guidance when it’s telling you something different.

2. Try affirmations–they work. (especially Chellie’s!).

Have any questions for Chellie (or your own affirmations stories)? Share them here.

Chellie Campbell is the creator of the Financial Stress Reduction® Workshops, and author of Zero to Zillionaire. She has been prominently quoted as a financial expert in the Los Angeles Times, Good Housekeeping, Lifetime, Essence, Woman’s World and more than 50 popular books.

Chellie invites to you sign up for her free daily e-mails from The Wealthy Spirit–a page-a-day book with stories and tools for creating a rich life inside and out. You can also join Chellie for The Financial Stress Reduction® Telecourse: starting February 11 on Monday or Wednesday nights or Tuesday or Friday afternoons.

How to Choose a Literary Agent: Red Flags

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Your Book Writing Coach

A couple of questions came up about literary agents today and I realized it would be a good topic to share with you. It’s easy to get taken advantage of it you don’t know what to look for or even aren’t quite clear on a literary agent’s role.

A student from my most recent Bring Your Book to Life Program is just putting the finishing touches on her self-help book, which has quickly gone from rough idea to a powerful manuscript. She e-mailed me today asking about a particular literary agency I had never heard of.

I looked them up in Preditors & Editors, a free online listing of editors, literary agents and others, which tells you whom to watch out for, and who has a solid reputation. This one was a big “strongly not recommended.” Use this resource if you have any question about an agency. It’s a great place to start. Also ask for references from an agent before you sign.

One of my clients signed up with a literary agent because her friend spoke highly of the agent. This agent promised all kinds of access. While I had some great agents in mind for this author, it seemed her new agent had super relationships with the publisher my client wanted most. So I gave it my blessing.

The agent recommended hiring a terrible ghostwriter

Later, we learned that these promises were all hot air. The agent first recommended a terrible ghostwriter. A ghostwriter was unnecessary for this book anyway, but the ghostwriter hatched up the book and even the agent agreed it was a mess. Then the agent sat on the book proposal for over a year doing virtually nothing. And this was for a highly marketable book and an author with a very loyal and impressive following.

Once you sign with a literary agent, you have a contract, and you can’t just leave unless you can prove they’ve violated the contract. This is a really important decision–so decide wisely and do your research before signing. And certainly have an entertainment lawyer look at your agent’s contract.

Having said that, I don’t want to scare you off of literary agents. A literary agent is one of the most important people in your career as an author. A good agent will find you a publisher who is the right fit for you and your book–one who shares your vision for the book. They’ll negotiate a great deal and look out for your interests. And they’ll often even help you plan your next books.

On a radio interview on Power Women Magazine today, the host, Deb Bailey, asked me how much you pay a literary agent up front. Nothing. If a literary agent asks for up front payment, run in the other direction. The Association of Authors’ Representatives, the national association that literary agents belong to, prohibits such up front fees.  It’s considered a conflict of interest, because it could cause them to take on a book that doesn’t really have a good chance of getting published.

Literary agents get paid when you get paid by your publisher (through your advance and any royalties).  A literary agent may suggest that your book  proposal or book needs editing. They may even recommend an editor. But their own association prohibits them from collecting fees to make your proposal publisher-ready. You can hire a separate editor to do such work. They won’t have a conflict of interest.

Any more questions about literary agents?  Ask away. Want to share your experience with literary agents? Please do.

Who’s on Your Team?

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Whos on Your Team?
Who's on Your Team?

I recently read Open, Andre Agassi’s autobiography. It’s a great read and I was also struck by how dependent he was on the people on his team. I think that’s true about most successful people–they don’t do it alone. They have great coaches, managers, trainers, strategists, advisers, mentors…

Who are the people on a writer’s team? Here are some:

Your students and clients are part of your team!
Your students and clients are part of your team!

Your Fans: If you blog, or have any kind of Internet presence, the people who are part of your social networking and blogging community are part of your team, as are those people who attend your talks or are your private clients. They’re your future readers and they know what they are looking for and wanting. Listen to them. See what blog posts get the most comments. What grabs them? What questions are they asking you?

Your Mentors: Certainly talk with your mentors about your goals and your book, especially if they are published authors. They can help you clarify your book concept and what makes your book unique. Maybe they’ll write a blurb, too.

Specialists: Book coaches, editors, writing coaches…there are lots of people out there who can help you hone your writing and your message, and also help you with accountability and other blocks or challenges that may come up. They know the industry and can help you write a book that sells. A slight change in your book hook or audience could make a big difference in the marketability of your book.

Literary Agents: If you’re fortunate enough to have a literary agent, certainly run your book ideas past them. They can help you fine tune your ideas, pick amongst different book ideas and even identify new books to write.

Publicists: Many people wait until they have a book to sell before hiring a publicist. After all, why waste money on publicity if you don’t have anything to sell? The problem with this strategy is that when your book comes out, you really don’t want to start at ground zero in marketing your book. You want to have a platform–fans who are already waiting for the book release so they can get your book and learn from you.

If you wait to develop your platform, your book will be much less attractive to agents and publishers. You may not want a full-on publicity campaign, but consider a modest Internet-based campaign to build your platform. You’ll need to have some way to develop a relationship with people who find out about you–so that they join your mailing list or fan page and you have a way to reach them when your book comes out. You can also monetize the publicity you get, so that it at least pays for itself. Perhaps offer a teleseminar series on the subject and use any feedback to perfect your book! Which brings us to another set of team members:

Clients and Students: Get feedback from clients and students to perfect any  systems or programs you provide in your book. And see if any are willing to review drafts of any chapters and give you feedback on the book itself. Because they are in your market, they are the very best readers you can get. They can get into the minds of your readers because they are your readers.

Business Coach: I’ve had a business coach for many years now. I’ve worked with several different people and each one taught me different things. You may want to consider working with someone who is also a published author or works with authors. They’ll help you integrate your business plan/model and your book promotion efforts effectively.

Virtual Assistants: How did I wait so long to put this person on the list? I hired my Virtual Assistant, Geri, in November and I don’t know how I ran my business without her. A virtual assistant can take care of lots of details while you’re writing your book (scheduling interviews of subjects, researching information for the book proposal) and take over other tasks to give you time to write. Also, they can help you with book publicity and platform building.

Make sure your team members are seasoned and mature!
Make sure your team members are seasoned and mature!

Friends: Your friends will want to support you any way they can, right? Reading and feedback (just remember, they may not be your market), cooking you a meal while you slave away at your book, taking the kids to the movies so you can write, sharing connections…let them help you! And they’ll probably want to throw a book party when the book comes out and tell all their friends on facebook about your book.

So, who’s on your team? (and whose teams are you on?)…What positions are missing from your team and need filling? You don’t have to assemble your team all at once but what one step can you take today?

Is Your Book a RISK? More Gems from the Harvard Course

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As promised, here’s another important insight from the Harvard Medical School CME publishing course.

Regina Brooks of Serendipity Literary Agency
Regina Brooks of Serendipity Literary Agency

I’ll share something Regina Brooks, from Serendipity Literary Agency shared with me. Over dinner at Stephanie’s on Newbury Street, Rusty Shelton, Regina and I discovered just how much we had in common when we all ordered the same thing on the menu (home made pasta with wild mushrooms, vegetables, crab and parmesan). Clearly, we all have good taste (at least in my opinion).

Regina said that editors at publishing houses are not taking chances on anything risky. They’re nervous that if they come to the editorial board meetings with something that sounds a little out-of-the-box, they’ll be the next one to be let go. They’d rather bring fewer projects to the table than risk bringing something that doesn’t look like a sure thing.

What does that mean for you if you’re looking for a traditional publisher?

1. Demonstrate that your book has much in common with related books that have done well in the past (though make sure your book adds something new to the field (new research, new information, a new angle, a different niche, special features–but nothing too wacky!).

2. Demonstrate a large market for your book. Do your research. Give numbers and sources of those statistics.

3. Make sure your writing shines. And no typos, please. Hire an editor if you need to.

4. Demonstrate you can market the book effectively by establishing a powerful author platform (e-mail list, website/blog  traffic, speaking engagements, publicity, internet presence, etc.) and creating a kick-tush marketing/promotion plan. You may need to develop your author platform more.

Is this all bad news? No. I’m a firm believer that every challenge is an opportunity waiting for you to see it that way, embrace it, and make the lemonade. My own publishing experience with The Ultimate Guide to Transforming Anger is a great example of that!

The good news is that all the extra research, writing and platform development will, ultimately, help you reach a larger audience and sell more books. How great is that?

How to Choose an Editor

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As a comment to an earlier blog post, Deb Scott asked what kind of editor to hire before self-publishing her book.

I recommended hiring a good copy editor, because you want to edit for style, organization and format, as well as grammar and punctuation. It seemed to me though, that I shouldn’t give you some advice about the kind of editor to hire without suggesting how you might hire the right editor, as opposed to the wrong one.

I’ve had people come to me who’ve spent thousands of dollars on editing and they know they need to start all over again. They threw their money away.  It’s painful to hear about it and I don’t want it to happen to you. Follow these rules and you should do okay:

1. If you can, get a recommendation from someone who got their book traditionally published or knows good editor from bad.

2. Make sure the editor is familiar with your genre. You don’t want someone who only does how-to books to edit your memoir.

3. Find out what other books they’ve edited.

4. Ask the editor questions about their previous experience. What kinds of things have they done for recent clients (helped organize the material more clearly, helped the writer draw out the anecdotes better, helped the author show vs. tell, etc.)?

5. You may want to ask for a sample of their work.

If you feel you still need more information before making your decision, see if they’ll let you pay for the first chapter before committing to the entire manuscript.

As I think I mentioned in the earlier comment, don’t hire a POD or printing company to edit your book. They will usually look for the cheapest person around because they generally compete on price, not quality. The result is most often a book that doesn’t even seem edited at all.

You should ask about the person’s rates–is it by the page, the word or the hour? Can you get a quote on the project ahead of time? You may want to get several quotes. The ranges are quite varied–you usually get what you pay for, but don’t assume that a higher price always means higher quality–do your due diligence and get references.

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