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Helpful Writing Tips – Author Video, Podcast and Sample Book Proposal
I just finished writing a children’s book. The actual time spent writing the book only took about two hours. The research and preparation I did prior to my writing took about 20 hours – several visits to the library, a 2.5 hour documentary and many internet searches.
The editing work I did after those first two initial hours took about 12 hours. I’m now on draft seven of that book and it’s in the hands of two editors for review. I’m allowing myself the next month to edit and tweak it further before I place it in the hands of its intended audience.
After I wrote the book, I turned my focus to the book proposal. Yes, I know it should be the other way around but since my book is a children’s illustrated book (being illustrated by someone else), I didn’t see a need to do a proposal beforehand. I wanted to do the writing first; then perfect my pitch to a publisher or agent. The actual act of writing the proposal took me two hours. The research I spent to find that right proposal took me about four hours.
So when I hear the phrase, “preparation is key,” I know now that it really means, “preparation may take double or triple the time you actually spend doing the actual task or job in which you’re preparing.” It’s true. Most of the tools that helped me I found on my own through internet and book searches. I asked around but most responses I received were vague or not detailed enough for me. I had to be my own advocate and my own research assistant.
Rather than have you spend hours of preparation, maybe I can cut your time in half, or at least reduce the time spent on preparation. Therefore, I’m sharing this post to my writer friends and the writing community. If you have an interest in what a real author goes through, want to see what a real book proposal format looks like and receive inspiration on how to make your story come to life, please see my links below.
Here are three things that helped me in my writing journey. Maybe they will help you too. Even if your book is not in the children’s genre, like mine is, you may still find this podcast, video and sample book proposals beneficial. My next book may be something completely different. I have a feeling it will be. Still, I will begin with this same format and by listening to these authors who are making it happen; then I will tweak it to meet my specific needs.
1) My editor friend sent me this TED TALKS video to inspire me before I rewrote my children’s story. I really enjoyed it. If your audience is children or young adults, I highly recommend watching this video:
http://www.ted.com/talks/mac_
2) This is a great podcast I listened to by a Children’s Christian author. She portrayed a realistic picture of what it means to be an author – how you can’t live off two books and how you have often have no input on things like an illustrator. I enjoyed her insights.
http://randomwritingrants.com/
2 a) Here is a written piece about this same author that gives some helpful writing tips.
http://randomwritingrants.com/
3) Here is a sample book proposal that I found through searching online. I really liked this clean, detailed format. I used it to form my own proposal for my editor and future publisher. I particularly liked how this one included tools to help you sell your story or book. For example it lists categories like “unique angles,” “reader benefits,” “possible endorsers,” and more. It helped me broaden my vision of who my audience will be and who can help me promote my book. This was very helpful:
http://writersedgeservice.com/
Again, I’m just sharing these tools that were of great use to me. Good information and resources should be shared, in my opinion.
If you have found other helpful links, please leave a comment. Thanks and happy writing!
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