Guest post by Laurie McLean, Partner at Fuse Literary. Laurie represents the wonderful REUTS author, J.M. Frey.

When I first read The Untold Tale by J.M. Frey, I was amazed at both its audacity and its storytelling energy. The characters were like none I’d read about in an epic fantasy novel. The hero was the spymaster for the king masquerading as a fuddy-duddy second son whose older brother was a hero of legendary proportions. The heroine did not fit into preconceived notions of women in this fairy tale world. There was also something very mysterious about her background that we don’t find out about until mid-way through the book, so I won’t spoil it here.

Suffice to say that I loved this book and I set about trying to sell it to eager science fiction and fantasy editors in New York. I pitched the book and they all wanted to take a look. Months passed, as they do during the submission process. Then the rejections began to amass. It was too “meta.” The hero was not “alpha” enough. It was too long. It was non-standard. And the always popular and very general, “It’s not right for my list.”

I don’t know about all of you, but I am tired of reading the same old tropes in my sword and sorcery or quest fantasy novels. I search for new tales and new ways of telling them. I look for diversity in both characters and setting. I want the thrill of the adventure, but in a new way. That’s why I loved J.M. Frey’s The Untold Tale, as well as the second book which is launching in December 2016: The Forgotten Tale.

Frey strives for the diverse and unexpected in her books. This made it difficult for me to sell it to mainstream publishers who wanted more of the same that had sold so well in the past.

Frustrated beyond belief that I was unable to sell this series, I was giving a keynote at a writers conference in Seattle, and I mentioned that everyone’s path to publishing was different. I urged the hopeful writers in the room not to compare themselves to successful authors who had come before them (although everyone does), and I told the tale of my difficulties in selling a book of my heart.

Afterwards, as I was getting coffee (it was cold in Seattle that fall), two young women approached me and said that they appreciated my speech. They wanted to know more about the book I was having trouble selling. So we sat down and I waxed on and on about The Untold Tale and why I thought the quality of the writing and storytelling was superb, and how I couldn’t believe I hadn’t been able to sell it. One of them asked for my card, and as we exchanged information, she told me that she was an editor at a small-but-growing publisher in the Pacific Northwest called REUTS Publishing.

Bottom line: At that very conference, Kisa Whipkey asked to read The Untold Tale. She saw what I saw in that manuscript and bought not only book one, but all three books in the series plus several additional novellas, short stories and other bonus material in that world that would accompany the main event. Not only that, she also liked the second series J.M. Frey had shown me, about the first female pilot in a mechanized society reminiscent of World War I, The Skylark’s Song, and she eventually bought that as well.

The Forgotten Tale, the middle book in the series, is one of those rare breeds of middle books that actually carries its own weight. It is a rousing story in and of itself, and a worthy sequel to The Untold Tale. It deals with an apocalypse most of us readers would surely find horrific: the classic stories of our world are disappearing, and Forsyth Turn and his wife Pip must solve this mystery before all stories are erased forever. THE HORROR!

I hope I’ve intrigued you sufficiently that you’ll pick up a copy of The Untold Tale and its successor, The Forgotten Tale. J.M. Frey is just about done with the final book in the series, The Silenced Tale, and I am sure it will be equally enthralling.

‘Til then, I will remain a champion for all tales, comfortable and itchy, magical and harshly realistic, epically long or quickly consumed. To the bookshelves!

-Laurie McLean, Partner

Fuse Literary Agency

The post The Untold Tale…That Almost Went Untold appeared first on REUTS | Boutique Book Publisher |.

Hello REUTS friends and family! We wanted to make sure everyone was aware of a new, but subtle, change to our submissions page. Unfortunately, we receive so many submissions each day, coupled with the fact that the REUTS team reads and evaluates these differently, it tends to take us a little longer than other publishing houses to respond to a submission. Because of this, we tend to get a lot of friendly nudges requesting status updates. Previously, this was acceptable per our submissions page, but this is where you’ll notice the recent change. We will no longer be responding to submission nudges, unless you’re an agent and/or have a full/partial manuscript with us.

Please keep in mind that we do respond to all submissions, either with a request or a rejection, so you don’t need to worry about your submission being rejected because of a lack of response, or that you’ve missed our response. We’re working through our queue, and will respond to everyone once a decision has been made.

Thank you for your continued patience. We love all of our REUTies <3

The post A (Small) Update to Submissions appeared first on REUTS | Boutique Book Publisher |.

The arches around her shone golden with each step she took towards the aisle. This was her happiest day, a day where all the gods and goddesses were not fighting, gossiping, plotting against each other. For once they would all gather and celebrate a day of happiness.

A day of a wedding.

Nut’s blue hair was twisted up on an elegant knot, stones decorating the crown of her head, while the white fabric fell on waves from her chest to her feet, creating ripples of sparkling tiny diamonds. It was a gift from her parents Shu and Tefnut, who were standing beside Ra, close to the top of the aisle.

And to the right of Ra, at the base of the pearl made aisle, he was standing.

She could still the recall the nights when she was to stretch upon the sky, creating and holding the stars on her body, the tips of her toes and fingers touching the infinite skies of Earth. The humans had created temples, small castles on every region, despite the rough ruling of Ra. But thanks to him, the earth was fertile and people could celebrate the coming and going of the seasons.

It was one of those nights, when Nut would ascend from her tower at the top of the highest mountains, spreading her blue tinted wings from her arms, heading up to bring the night once again. As she flew away from the mountains over the plains of this single continent where the humans resided, she saw a man running into the night. Even from her height she could see the brown dark skin of his, the brown long hair and the eyes that glowed like amber.

His stride was strong, confident of his power but she focused on what he was leaving behind him. A trail of green light covered the ground and soon wheat appeared, growing healthy and strong. “Geb.” She muttered softly, watching the god of earth blessing the human fields. She hadn’t realized that her voice was carried with the winds until she saw the god in question stop running and titling his head up.

Their gazes locked, his amber eyes with her dark purple. Despite his speed, Geb wasn’t tired and Nut hovered above him, forgetting for a moment her daily task. She could feel the pull of the sky, night needed to come and the stars in her mind begged to be released. “My lady.” Geb’s smooth voice echoed in the night and with a quick nod and a nervous smile, Nut flew upwards, letting her body grow bigger and bigger, until the night fell and the stars shone above a smiling Geb.

They spent months greeting each other, sometimes close to nighttime others at the gatherings of the gods, when the humans would present at the hallways of Ra’s labyrinth castle and offer their sacrifices. Tefnut, Nut’s mother, would smile at her daughter as she was stealing glances with Geb and her father Shu, god of air, who already knew from the winds what his daughter was doing, would beckon Nut towards Geb. They were a matching couple despite their opposites.

They were balance.

Nut stopped right in front of Geb and he pulled slowly the veil which covered her face. He smiled at her as he pulled her hands toward his and together they turned to Ra. A almost eight feet, the god of all gods was magnificent with his clothes pristine white and the symbols of his rule, the ankh and the scepter on his hands. His yellow eyes and dark green skin glowed as he leaned down and placed his signs of ruling upon the heads of Nut and Geb.

“Here we bless the union of our earth and sky. Here we share the happiness of their love.” Ra’s voice flattered slightly as if the word felt sour on his mouth. “May the Eye of mine and Ma’at’s feather always be the guides of your eternity.”

Everyone on the wide chamber roared with joy when Geb kissed Nut. His lips tasted of honey and sunshine, warmth and spice; he was truly intoxicating.

***

“Ra has received a prophecy.” Geb spoke as he entered the resting room. Nut got up from her armchair, a book open in her hands.

He saw the worried expression on her face and sadness enveloped him. He didn’t want to tell her the news. He didn’t want to see her beautiful eyes watering from tears. She was supposed to be starlight and night, cool air and love, not grief and anguish.

Geb felt her pale white hands on his chest, slowly making their way on his cheeks. He looked down at her. “Tell me love. What has made you so troubled?”

Geb covered her hands with his. “Ra has gotten word from the Underworld, the lower plains, where Anubis and Ma’at reside. He summoned me when he learnt it.”

Nut closed her eyes for a moment as if bracing herself for the news. “Ra has issued an order. We are not to have children.”

She snapped her eyes open, horrified. “Why? Why would Ra do this to us?”

“Because he fears that our children will overthrow him.” Geb stated miserably and Nut stepped away from him shaking her head in grief and disbelief.

“Our children would never try to overthrow Ra! This is crazy and scandalous!” Nut shouted, rage making her wings appear on her hands. The blue feathers were dark, almost black from her anger and sadness.

Geb hugged her. “His words were clear: “Nut shall not give birth any day of the year.” That’s what he said.” He felt her cool tears falling on his skin and Geb held her tight, cursing Ra for his suspiciousness. If they were not to have children, to celebrate the fruit of their love then how would they continue on eternity just the two of them?

***

“Thoth!” Nut shouted as she flew into the wide gardens of the god’s residence. “Thoth, where are you?” she shouted again as she landed.

The sound of steps was heard behind her and an ibis-headed man with brown robes steeped into her vision. He opened his arms, like a father waiting for his child and Nut run into him, crying miserably.

“I know Nut, I know.”

“It’s unfair!”

“Yes, but Ma’at’s words always carry a deeper meaning. As the god of wisdom, I am not allowed to take sides but I can tell you this; Ra cannot be the only one who will rule the humans.”

Nut stepped away from him wiping her tears. Her blue hair was falling down to her shoulders and the dark grey dress was clinging to her sides. “I don’t care about power Thoth, never had. Why do I need power when I can command the sky and the stars?”

“Your words are wise child.” Thoth’s ibis head moved to the sky, then back to her. “I will help you but you’ll have to trust me.”

“Anything Thoth. Tell me what to do”

“You’ll do nothing. You see, the year has only 360 days. Ra declared that you can’t have children in this span of time. But what if I create more days for you and Geb?”

Nut stared at him wide eyed. “How will you do that?”

“The god of the Moon, Khonsu, always rivals Ra’s light. If I could take some moonlight from him then I would create enough days for you and Geb.”

Nut smiled at him and kissed his palms in a gesture of gratitude. Thoth shook his head and held her shoulders. “You are brave Nut but remember that Ra will not tolerate this behavior.”

“I will not regret this Thoth. Neither will Geb.”

“So be it child.”

***

Geb stared at the dark sky, watching the stars blinking as Nut stretched her ethereal body over Earth, bring night once more. He sighed sadly and walked to his study. A map was lying on the table, showing the borders of each divine residence while the humans were scattered around them. From the upper plains where Ra and the elemental gods and goddesses resided to the lower plains where gods like Anubis, Ma’at and lower ones lived, Geb preferred the lakes on the borders between the residents of Thoth and Tefnut. Nut always liked to swim there.

He looked at the window again. The moon wasn’t visible. Maybe Khonsu was gambling again and the earth god wondered what and with who he was gambling. The dry season had already began and for the god it was a time of rest. He would get to spend more time with his wife, trying to heal her wounds.

“Geb…” her ethereal voice sounded and he sprint towards the window. He saw stars falling, a star shower enchanting and beautiful to his eyes. The winds spoke to him of a location, away from the populated residents and worried the god jumped from the window of the tower, welcoming the ground under his feet. He ran towards the direction of Nut’s voice with the stars above him a guide.

Five days. Thoth had managed to win from Khonsu five more days by tricking the god to gamble his moonlight. Nut and Geb couldn’t be happier for this chance. And within this span of time, along with the help of Tefnut, Nut’s mother, the sky goddess gave birth into five children. Their names were unique and echoed like a song into the divine plains: Isis, Osiris, Horus, Set and Nephthys.

But their cries didn’t go unnoticed. Ra found out where Nut and the children were held and along with his guard he arrested them, while Geb was away at the lower plains tending at the farms of the humans. His powers weren’t enough to protect Nut, but since the children were gods and goddesses born by the union of the polar opposites, the balance was a pulse that stretched into the very core of every god and goddess.

Ra’s guards arrested Geb and together with Nut, they were brought before the aisle of Ra, the very same he had blessed them on their wedding day. “You have disobeyed my orders!” Ra roared his yellow eyes gleaming of power.

But Nut and Geb stood brave before him. They were earth and sky; nothing could scare them, not now. “We never disobeyed you.” Geb said.

“Your words were for the days of the year. So I found a way and created five more days.” Nut spoke, not wanting to betray Thoth and his kindness for her.

Ra was silent. He understood that he couldn’t kill the children but a punishment had to pass. He smiled down at them. “You are right. But that doesn’t change the fact that you gave birth. That was also an order.”

“And with what right do you deny us to have children. You are the sun god but we govern the skies and earth!”

“Kill our children and we shall destroy humanity!” Geb roared and earthquakes shook the ground.

Ra continued smiling. “No, I will not kill you.” A tornado appeared suddenly and lifted Nut from the ground. She shouted trying to control the winds, which had trapped her body, but it was impossible.

Geb shouted her name and when he tried to catch her, he found his feet struck to the ground. His amber eyes shone and the god growled at Ra. The sun god lifted his right arm and Nut’s body ascended towards the open part of the ceiling. “Nut shall forever stay on her ethereal body bringing the night and you Geb, shall forever stay on the ground unable to take your human form again.”

“No!” they both roared and stretched their arms trying to touch each other.

Ra turned to Nut’s parents. Tefnut watched with silent horror her daughter’s punishment and Shu had tightened his fists, holding his promise to Nut, not to speak but instead take care of her children.

“Shu, will have the duty on keeping you apart from each other. LET ALL THE GODS AND GODDESSES KNOW THAT FROM THIS MOMENT EARTH AND SKY SHALL BE SEPARATED FOREVER!”

Ra’s voice created earthquakes and the skies darkened as Nut ascended to the sky, losing her human body as higher she went. Geb called and called her name as he was losing his onw body at the same time. Their cries echoed, the gods remained silent, until everything calmed and the skies cleared again.

Shu wailed as he shed his human body and took the responsibility to keep the pair from touch each other again.

Centuries passed. The five children of Nut and Geb grew stronger and shaped the hierarchy of the gods. Every night when the stars appeared to the sky, the winds would carry the rustle of leaves the soft hum of earth towards the blinking stars. And at the same time when stars would fall to earth, just before they would dissolve on the air, few stardust would fall on the ground touch it. It was the only thing Shu could do for Nut and Geb.

And the humans would know the story and some of them would strain their ears to the sky and listen to the humming song of Geb and Nut.

“Stars and dust, earth and stones

Hearts were lost but they remain close.”

Follow Alexandra on Twitter (@Alexperc92)

The post PRW Runner-up Tour: Nut, The Forever Lonesome Sky Goddess by Alexandra Perchanidou appeared first on REUTS | Boutique Book Publisher |.

As Editorial Director for REUTS Publications, I’ve been privy to first-hand knowledge of publishing’s “mysterious” acquisitions process.  And over the past two years, I’ve witnessed innumerable querying blunders that hurt the author’s chances, rather than helping them. I’m not the first to offer up this kind of advice-oriented post, but armed with personal insight and pet-peeves, I thought I’d add my own thoughts into the mix.

So, with only a modicum of tongue-in-cheek snark (okay, make that a lot of snark), I give you:

What Not to Do When Querying

(aka How to Piss Off an Acquisitions Editor)
by Kisa Whipkey

There are plenty of posts out there that explain what you’re supposed to do when querying, the steps that are supposed to lead to that coveted moment where someone offers you representation. There are also posts that tell you what to avoid. But I don’t know that I’ve seen anyone really say the following, in all its blunt glory. Because the truth of the matter is this: there are definitely things you can do as a writer to increase your chances of a book deal, but there are also plenty of ways to blow it. (Also, it should be noted that this information applies to agents as well, not just acquisitions editors.)

So let’s break down some of the worst publishing faux pas you can make, yes?

DO:

Submit to publishing houses and agencies that interest you.

DON’T:

Submit to them blindly, and then ask a bunch of questions about how they operate. That’s something that needs to come first and is a dangerous game to play. Vet the places you’re planning to query before you hand them your work. Not after. That wastes everyone’s time, and there’s nothing agents and editors hate more than wasting time. We have precious little of it as it is. Be courteous and ask your questions up front, please. Most of us are more than willing to answer.

DO:

Query agents and small presses.

DON’T:

Query them both simultaneously, and definitely, definitely don’t use a small press as leverage for attaining an agent’s interest.

This one’s two-fold, so let’s start with the first half: don’t query agents and editors simultaneously. Small presses are fantastic. So are agents. But they lead to two completely different publication paths. And there’s nothing we despise more than falling in love with something, only to discover that the author wasn’t serious about working with us after all. It breaks our literary-loving hearts. So please, know where each publication path leads and which one is right for both you and your project.

Which brings us to the second half. This is a serious faux pas, and one I hope none of you ever commit. Never ever use a small press for the sole intent of gaining interest from an agent. Leveraging an offer of publication from a small press to get an agent’s representation (or even a bigger publisher) is like dangling a wedding proposal from someone you pretended to like in front of the mate you really want. It’s mean, and cruel, and makes you a horrible person. It’s also a sure-fire way to end up on a publishing house’s Black List. Yes, we have those. And publishing is a small world; we talk. So be careful which bridges you burn. Treat all parties involved with respect and professionalism. If you want an agent, don’t query small press editors. If you receive an offer from somewhere else, tell us. There’s a perceived divide in publishing, the us vs them mentality, but we’re all just people. And we all just want a little consideration. Is that too much to ask?

DO:

Research the various agents and editors you’re querying. Find out what they like, personalize your query, follow their submission guidelines, and all that other stuff you’ve seen touted a million times. It’s good advice. We appreciate that.

DON’T:

Spam your submission to everyone at the agency/publishing house. And definitely don’t resubmit the same query, after receiving a rejection, to someone else within the company. Publishing houses are like families. We all know everyone else, and we know what they like. So if we see a submission cross our desk that isn’t a fit for us, but would be for one of our colleagues, we’ll tell you. Better yet, we’ll tell them. (Or, alternatively, acquisitions can be a team effort, as it is at REUTS, and everyone who has a say has already read your work prior to the decision being issued.) Talking about books is one of the reasons we got into publishing, so you can bet our water cooler conversations revolve around that too. If you receive a rejection, accept it gracefully and move on.

DO:

Keep track of your submissions and the response times associated with each.

DON’T:

Incessantly hound an agent or editor for a decision. Wait until the listed response time has passed and then politely — key word there: politely — nudge for a response. Submission in-boxes are the first to brim over with a plethora of time-consuming tasks. And as I said above, editors and agents are incredibly busy people. Reading actually falls low on our priority scale, as our days are usually spent dealing with the various tasks associated with producing the projects we’ve already signed. So reading the new queries that rain down like, well, rain, is a luxury we don’t have on a daily basis.

We know you’re excited for your work, and that you can’t wait for that glorious day when someone from our side of the fence is equally excited for it, but constantly yapping at our heels like a chihuahua does nothing but annoy us. We don’t appreciate being backed into corners, and if you push too hard, guess what the answer is: NO. That’s not the relationship you want to have with your potential publishing allies, is it? You want someone to appreciate those words you slaved over, to savor the story you carefully crafted, and to join you in screaming its brilliance from the rooftops. Rushing a decision allows for none of those things. The most you’ll get is a half-assed read-through and a reluctant yes. Patience really is a virtue here, people. As much as it sucks, it will benefit you in the long run.

DO:

Follow agents, editors, and publishing houses on social media and interact with them. Forming networking connections is a fabulous way to form relationships that further your career. But be careful. There’s a fine line between creating useful contacts and this . . .

DON’T:

Abuse the accessibility social media gives you. We’re there because we genuinely want to meet the authors behind our next favorite read. We want to support the writing community and foster a kinship that bridges the gap between publisher and author. And we want friends who like what we like. We’re human. It happens.

We’re not there so you can harass our every waking moment with status requests, update requirements, or attempts to pressure us into taking your work by leveraging the opinions of others who have read it. That’s not the best impression to make, so just don’t do it, okay? There are a lot of factors that go into an acquisitions decision, but endorsements from random Twitter buddies isn’t one of them. Now, maybe if your random Twitter buddy is Stephen King or JK Rowling, that might be different. But still, save that for the query letter, or better yet, get them to blurb your book after it’s signed.

DO:

Create an online persona, platform, and all that good stuff.

DON’T:

Parade things you don’t want the world to see. One of the biggest factors in an acquisitions decision is actually whether or not the team involved would want to work with the author. So, in that sense, submitting a query is on par with a job interview. And guess what? We do our research. We may love your talent, falling all over your manuscript with gushing adoration, but if we discover that you’re the world’s biggest Prima Donna on social media, guess what? Your appeal just went down. Don’t get me wrong, opinions are great. Everyone has them, along with a certain piece of anatomy that usually accompanies that phrase. But think about how your opinions may be perceived by someone on the outside.

Shaming other authors, railing against other publishers, responding horribly to a rejection, and whining like an attention-starved kitten are not appealing things in a potential partner. Would you date someone who checked those boxes? Probably not. So can you blame us if we don’t want to work with that person either? Publishing is a long-term relationship, taking months or years to come to fruition, and you can be darn sure we’re not going to want to work with someone who will make that time an ulcer-inducing, grey-hair creating pain-fest. You could have the most brilliant masterpiece, but if you yourself are a piece of work online, I’m pretty sure you can guess what the verdict will be. So the moral here is this: think about your online persona. Craft one that will be appealing to both your audience and your potential publisher. And generally try to avoid things that would fall under the heading “authors behaving badly.”

The take-away from this candid look at the publishing process is simple, really. It all comes down to common courtesy. Editors and agents are people. As in human. As in we have lives and obligations and families too. And just like you want us to shower you with glowing praise and go to the ends of the earth to champion your project, we want you to understand that your manuscript is not God’s gift to publishing. We may think it’s brilliant, it may be among our favorite reads of all time, but it’s definitely not the only one we’re working on. Show respect of that fact, handle your interactions with poise and professionalism, and you’ll manage to avoid every single one of the querying faux pas I just listed. Sound like a plan?

Kisa is full of fantastic knowledge spanning from editorial to martial arts routines (and how to write fight scenes as realistic as possible). Her blog is chock-full of awesome, and you can follow her on Twitter (@KisaWhipkey) for instant gratification.

The post What Not to do When Querying appeared first on REUTS | Boutique Book Publisher |.

With every rejection we send, we like to leave the relationship open ended, allowing authors to reach out and ask the all-important question: why was my submission not accepted? Every author runs into this question, likely multiple times throughout the course of their publishing career. Of course we can’t divulge all the specifics, but we can give a broad explanation specific to your manuscript. We want to try and help our fellow author in any way possible, even if REUTS wasn’t the best fit for their particular story. On the heels of what’s quickly becoming the REUTS Full Transparency Series, which includes, “Hey, what’s taking so long?” The Delays of Publishing and What Not to do When Querying, I’d like to dive into a bit of the factors—or, in this case facets—of why a manuscript might be rejected.

[Side note: Also applicable is our Why Rejection Sucks, From Both Sides blog post]

Below you’ll find the five major facets that play a part in deciding whether to request a full-manuscript/offer a contract or reject a submission.

The Multiple Facets of Rejection

Writing Quality

Let’s face it: there are a lot of people out there pursuing their dreams of becoming a published author. A lot. Statistically speaking, that means we see both fantastic, amazing, I’m-so-jealous-of-this-writing writing, and then we see underdeveloped, needs-a-bit-more-experience writing. And, in the big, wide world of authors and publishing, most of the time the writing isn’t as spectacular as we’d like it to be when considering a submission. Since we’re immediately given some insight into your writing style via the query letter (and then samples, if they’re requested), your writing quality is almost like the first hurdle to overcome. It’s the first impression, just like a book cover in a bookstore. It’s something that can instantly determine our decision.

Now, speaking from a REUTS’s perspective, Editing Quality is different than Writing Quality. As we state on our website, we’re always looking for the diamonds in the rough (rough . . . rough . . . rough . . . Aladdin, anyone?) and try our best to read in between the lines, for the story beneath the words. That means if your weak points are spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc . . . we won’t immediately write-off your story (pun definitely intended). That’s exactly why we have an editing team—to edit (and trust me, they get hungry when you don’t have any editorial work to feed them). So the difference really is in the quality of the writing, the way you structure words into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, and this then leads me into my next point . . .

Story Building

Continuing from my point above, Story Building is something we try to determine from a synopsis and the sample pages we request. Sometimes the writing can be picture perfect, beautiful, the words flowing like velvet across the screen, but if the story doesn’t manage to suck us in right at the start, or continue to hold our interest, then we have a problem. Sure, with only a ten page (as requested by REUTS) manuscript sample, we’re not always able to determine if the story building matches up to the standards we’re looking for, which is why we’re more lenient on this point and will likely request a full-manuscript. But if you’re unsuccessful in, at the very least, grabbing our attention at the start of your manuscript, there is a slim chance we’ll request to read more. Just like your writing quality, the first few paragraphs of your story are meant to take an iron-gripped hold of us and never let go. It’s the ZING—BANG—POW of your story, and instead if I’m worked into a yawn, that doesn’t bode well for response.

Submission Formatting/Errors

This happens every so often, when an author (for whatever reason) doesn’t follow our submission guidelines. Either we get something addressed to another publication or agent, something outside of the genres we publish or completely negating the required fields of our form, any submission formatting/errors are cause for an almost immediate rejection. This just comes down to time (or lack thereof) of our acquisitions team members. We get so many submission that do follow our guidelines, we don’t have time to check up on the ones that don’t. Most submission guidelines are there for a reason, and to not follow them is not only disrespectful to the people you’re querying, but gives us a very bad first impression–of your attention to detail, of your interest in our company, of you. And we hate to say that because we want to be the cheering section for all authors pursing their dreams, but sometimes we have to draw a line in the sand.

Conflict of Interest

This one is simple and easy to determine from a query alone; if we currently have a title in our collection (either published or in production) too similar to something you’re pitching, we’re almost always going to send a rejection. Exception: if a submission can be coupled together with a title in a similar genre, with a similar feel (but not too similar, there is a difference) we may consider it. For example, if we have a meta-fantasy book in our collection about how story characters come to life (a la Off Book, by Jessica Dall), we’ll be more attracted to stories where book characters are aware of their existence, or a story where the line between a book world and the real world blur (a la Inkheart by Cornelia Funke or The Never Ending Story by Michael Ende).

Author Personality/Online Representation

We hate to say it but it wouldn’t be full transparency without addressing how authors maintain their online persona. At a boutique pub like REUTS, our team is 110% hands-on during the production of a book–that means dealing with the author on a daily basis. Since we have such a tight-knit team, and we consider ourselves (team members and authors) a family, that means searching for the right personalities to seamlessly fold into the bunch. Unfortunately, if via your submission or your social media accounts (e.g. Twitter) we see behavior that’s concerning, difficult to work with, or just downright offensive, it does weigh into our decision. And yes, this means we do check you out when you submit (otherwise known as online stalking). Authors should consider their submission to any publication or literary agency as if it’s a job interview, and there are quite a few things you don’t do when applying for a job:

• Bad mouth any connection to the individual or the company in plain view.
• Post questionable/offensive/any word that ends in -ist messages.
• Brag and or harass (either other authors or the people you’re submitting to)

It’s a bit of selfishness and a bit of a preemptive strike; we want to work with authors with good personalities, a positive outlook and who will make the long . . . tedious . . . and always stressful journey toward publication just a little more enjoyable. Our team tries to go beyond the publisher-author relationship, and many times we develop deep friendships with our authors. Trust me, the way you present yourself in any situation makes a huge impact on us publishing folk.

If you have any questions about this article, or have a question/topic for another article that might fit nicely with our REUTS Full Transparency Series (there, I dubbed it as such. It is so), let us know in the comments! Any member of the REUTS team is accessible, so don’t hesitate to let us know what you’re thinking.

And if you want to follow my spastic, usually incoherent ramblings, check me out on Twitter @amRuggs! I tweet a lot about gifs, memes, and booze, sometimes all in one.

The post The Multiple Facets of Rejection appeared first on REUTS | Boutique Book Publisher |.

In the publishing world, there’s a lot going on behind-the-scenes even when it may not look like it. In fact, the bulk of a publisher’s (or agent’s or writer’s) efforts aren’t publicly broadcasted. When an announcement is made or a book is released, it comes on the heels of weeks, or even months, of behind-the-scenes teamwork. Because we like full transparency and providing an inside look into how we do what we do, I wanted to touch on delays; why they happen, and why they aren’t always a bad thing. So in a fashion similar to Editorial Dir. Kisa Whipkey’s What Not to Do When Querying article, here’s:

“Hey, what’s taking so long?”
The Delays in Publishing.

For organizational means, I’m going to break down “publishing” into the main phases an author and publisher go through. Please note this is specific to REUTS and how we move through these individual phases. Though other pubs may have similar processes, there isn’t a “one size fits all” method to publishing.

Submitting

Number one delay: Slush.

Now, don’t assume that’s bad. Slush is just a term to describe all the submissions we receive. Some are good, and some are not so good. Kind of like snow—you’ve got the pristine, fresh snow, and then the mucky, brown snow. Mix them together, and you have slush. Not bad, just how it goes. Every publisher or agency has slush, and everyone has their own method of trudging through it.

Delay’s happen here from an overwhelming number of submissions. If you have 100 submissions looming in the slush pile, and each includes a query/synopsis and the first ten pages of the manuscript, there’s quite a lot of reading involved at the very start of the process. And, in order to make the most informed decision on whether or not to request the full manuscript, we read them all. This causes a delay at REUTS because of the unique method we’ve adopted to handle submissions. Instead of submitting to one Acquisitions Editor who then decides yay or nay (and if yay, has to convince the rest of the team to feel the same way), we have a panel consisting of the four REUTS directors. Each of our directors reads through each submission, provides their thoughts, and submits a decision. It then comes down to a majority vote. Only after a majority vote has been decided can we respond to an author regarding their submission. And at REUTS we provide a unique response email to all of our submitting authors, regardless if it’s good news or bad news.

Only then can we move a manuscript out of the “submitting” phase, and into the “reviewing” phase.

Remember, requesting an update only delays us further, since the time it takes to look up your manuscript, track down the email with any discussion, and respond back takes precious time away from actually reading your submission. Here are REUTS we always respond to a submission made. No exceptions. So if you haven’t heard from us, that’s actually better than if you had and received a rejection.

Reviewing

Number one delay: Reading.

If a submission makes it to the “reviewing” phase that means we’ve requested a full manuscript for further . . . review. Makes sense! This is, without a doubt, the longest part on your journey toward receiving that beloved contract offer. In requesting manuscripts with a minimum word count of 50,000 (and many times a story is well over that), it means an acquisitions team has to read a full-length book before making a decision. Just like in the “submitting” phase, our panel of four REUTS directors are involved in reviewing the full manuscript. Each director reads the manuscript, and then there’s the discussion. Since people read at different speeds, with their own set of different delays (remember: our directors have responsibilities to already signed authors outside of their acquisitions duties) there’s no way to accurately gauge how long it will take all four team members to read a manuscript. Then there’s the discussion, which is absolutely necessary, as each of our directors brings a different perspective to the table. Editorial Director Kisa Whipkey weighs in on the amount of work involved in bringing a manuscript up to publication standards. Marketing Director Summer Wier weighs in on how marketable the title would be in the current—and future—marketplace trends. This method, along with many other factors, allows us to determine whether a title will work within our collection or whether it isn’t a good fit.

We take our job very seriously, as I’m sure all Acquisitions Editors do, and that means taking our time to make sure our accrual of a new title will benefit both REUTS and—most importantly—the author.

Production
(editing, cover design, marketing, etc…)

Number one delay: Life.

Your editor won’t be your cover artist. Your cover artist won’t be your marketer. That right there means there are at least four people working together to produce your novel. And, guess what, those four people all have lives independent of each other, independent of REUTS. Yes, you’re included in that four, too. We don’t expect an author to focus on their manuscript 24/7, just as we don’t expect our production team to focus solely on your manuscript 24/7. It’s a fact many tend to ignore: life gets in the way. Sometimes you can’t control it. Sickness, death, children, leisure . . . delays sometimes happen because of the things you can’t plan for. It doesn’t mean your editor/cover artist/etc . . . isn’t fully vested in your project. It doesn’t mean you’re not a priority in the eyes of the publisher. It just . . . happens. As much as we try to account for life-based delays, let’s face it, they’re unavoidable.

In addition, on top of those life delays each team member involved in the production of your title has at least a handful of other books they’re also working on, simultaneously, and trying to make sure all authors receive the same amount of attention, especially if one of the authors has a book release looming sooner than another.

Sometimes this means we miss the original publication date, and it has to be pushed back (trust me, this happens a lot in publishing, and not just to independent presses). Many times that means scrambling until the very last second before a release day, making sure everything is set and ready to go. But always this means we’re working our very hardest for you and your manuscript. A delay doesn’t mean otherwise.

So you see, there are a lot of pieces to the puzzle that come together, from start to finish, to produce a book. Delays aren’t necessarily a bad thing. We’d much rather delay any phase of the process in order to give your story the time of day it deserves. In the “Submitting” phase, that means actually reading through your submission, and determining if we’re the best fit as a publisher or not. In the “Reviewing” phase, that means reading every word of that 50,000+ word story, becoming emotionally invested in your characters/world/etc… and trying to find a place for it in our collection. And then finally, in “Production”, where if everything wasn’t done digitally, our blood, sweat, and tears would stain your pages because we want to put out the very best product possible.

Publishing is largely a waiting game. That should come as no surprise. But just remember what they say:

Patience is a virtue.

The post “Hey, what’s taking so long?” The Delays in Publishing appeared first on REUTS | Boutique Book Publisher |.

Learning how to pitch yourself is one of the most IMPORTANT skills you can cultivate as a writer. I might even go as far as to say it’s THE most important skill. Whether you’re un-agented, agented, signed, unsigned, indie or traditionally published with an impressive backlist under your belt. Hell, whether or not you’re even a writer. Pitching yourself is selling yourself. But in a clear, coherent and easy to digest little package. It’s the first thing you should open with, and the center of your platform.

In baseball, the entire game begins with a pitch. Based on the outcome of that pitch, you can usually begin to see the direction the game will take. Will the batter score a home run? Will he strike out? Will the first baseman catch the ball on a pop fly? After the pitch, anything can happen.

From what I’ve seen and read, 90% of writers develop their book using some variation of this order: inception, conflict/plot, characters/setting, back story, outline, dialogue, polish, summary/synopsis, query letter, pitch. Whether or not some of these steps are shuffled, in writing (unlike baseball), the pitch almost always comes last. (Especially the one-sentence pitch–or ”elevator” pitch, and the 140 character or less–minus the title, of course–Twitter pitch.)

With my first completed novel, I did the same. Because I thought that’s what I was supposed to do. And like 90% of other writers, I found myself struggling with the thought of condensing my enormous, complicated work of literary genius–and I say this with tongue planted firmly in cheek–into a single sentence of 20(ish) words or less. Or even–gasp!–a tweet of 140 characters or less. To me, as a former journalist, it was like taking the inverted pyramid structure to its most painful point. After all, how could a person POSSIBLY fit anything but the most crucial information of the simplest story into 140 characters or less, while still having room for a title and a hashtag?

But then I started practicing. I started taking the plots of some of my favorite books and condensing them into a single sentence, just to see if I could.

I started with the 4 W’s of journalism (and one H, depending on what school you went to) and wrote out the story like so:

The 4W and Sometimes H Approach: Who? What? When? Where? (How?)*

*You’ll notice that I left out the Why. That was intentional. WHY, you might ask? Because for our current purposes, the Why is superfluous. The Why is what we call back story, and that has NO place in a pitch. Also, in the words of Alfred Lord Tennyson, “Ours is not to reason why. Ours is but to do, or die.”

Who: Jane Eyre

What: an Eponymous Orphan

When: 1840s

Where: England

How: after being cast out by unloving relatives and spending her childhood in an orphanage, Jane becomes a governess and tragically falls in love with her brooding employer.

Then, I combined the story’s most crucial information into a single sentence, like so:

“After being cast out by unloving relatives and spending her childhood in an orphanage in 1840s England, the eponymous Jane Eyre becomes a governess and tragically falls in love with her brooding employer.” (33 words)

Not the most sexy sentence, but it gets it all in there, right? But then, to make it EVEN shorter, I would try to combine/condense as many words as possible and get rid of any information that wasn’t strictly NEED to know. Like so:

Jane Eyre, in 20 Words or Less

“The eponymous Jane Eyre spends her childhood in an orphanage, becomes a governess, and tragically falls for her brooding employer.” (20 words)

Granted, there’s some important stuff missing, but GUESS WHAT? This beautiful 2o word sentence is also (drumroll, please) only 132 characters, with spaces. And quotes.

Now, let’s TWITTER-ize it! (If you take out the quotes, that’s 130 characters. Remove the ‘the’ at the beginning of the sentence for another 3+ characters, and for a BONUS, you can capitalize the MC’s name since Jane Eyre is ALSO the title of the book! So now, let’s see… *Mutters* Subtract that, carry the one….) And voila!

Jane Eyre, as a Twitter Pitch**

**I know what you’re thinking. Yes, I DID just condense a 180,000 word novel into less than 140 characters, and yes, I DO put my pants on just like everybody else. One leg at a time. No pictures, please.

Now–all fake modesty and self-mocking aside–imagine for a second… What if you STARTED framing your story around this short, yet action-packed 140 character sentence? Unless you’re a baseball player, this method might seem completely backwards. After all, how can you pitch something that hasn’t been created yet? Right?

But if you REALLY think about it, it’s not that crazy.

Because every story begins with a single idea. A spark, if you will. That “what if” sentence that makes you go, “yeah, this could be a story.” But then, as you begin the monumental task of creating characters, fleshing out back stories and plotting out a coherent and engaging series of events…that spark can so often get lost between the cracks. Sooner or later (probably when you find yourself in the position of summarizing your 90,000+ manuscript back down into that “easy to catch” format) you’ll realize that the story you set out to tell–and eventually pitch–isn’t actually pitchable. And you’re stuck in the metaphorical dugout, because you didn’t think about how you were going to sell your work and start the game.

What if you tried it backwards? What if you wrote the story like you had a certain agent in mind, or a certain publisher? What if you pretended like you already had an editor ready to buy, and readers waiting to scream your name from the stands? Would it terrify you, or would it keep your eye on the metaphorical ball?

Discuss. (Or, in other words, Batter up!)

***

Note from V: This article was originally published on my website on 7/13/2013. But since I’m currently embroiled in the blood bath that is Pitch Wars, I found it especially pertinent. Also, I’m too busy stalking and threatening the other mentors to write a whole new post. Call me lazy if you want, but I prefer the term “efficient.”

The post Marketing Monday: Inspired by Pitch Wars appeared first on REUTS | Boutique Book Publisher |.

(Prepare to get kingslapped with knowledge, interwebs!)

In today’s saturated online landscape, there is only ONE thing that will put you head and shoulders above your competition: Content.

Seriously, you guys–clear, reliable, quality CONTENT.

That’s it. That’s the secret. Continual product. Otherwise, your target market will eventually get tired of waiting for the next product, and they’ll move on.

Having a hard time thinking of your beloved book as a product? I know, it’s totally harsh. But so, so true.

Think about it this way: maybe you’re a baker. Like, you are really good at baking wedding cakes. It’s a gift you were born with, blessed by the pastry gods. The first cake you bake is scrumptious, amazing. The couple you make it for is thrilled. Everyone at the wedding is raving. But then the party ends, and everyone goes home. Some of the guests will remember that awesome cake, and go looking for your information. They’ll want to see what other kind of stuff you know how to make. If you’re lucky, they might even want to hire you to make a cake for them.

But whoops, it took you so long to make the first cake that you’re not really sure  you want to dive right in and start making another one. Heck, you just finished pouring your heart and soul into that last cake, and you’re tired. Maybe you’re not even sure if you can do it again. So you put it off, and eventually, people stop asking for a taste. They forget about you. Until one day, you feel like baking another cake and no one is around to try it. And you have ALL the sads.

Yes, I realize that was a terrible, terrible example. (Unless you like Cake Boss, then it’s an AMAZING example.)

***

So. (Ahem) What does this mean for you? How about if I just tell you, and skip the analogies from now on, eh?

If you’re a book blogger, post a lot of book reviews on your blog. Do it frequently, and do it well.

If you’re a journalist, you need to keep writing articles. Otherwise your portfolio will gather dust, and no one will want to hire you.

If you’re an author, you need to write a lot of books. Sorry guys, but that’s the way it is. Sure, it’s difficult. Sure, it’s an extremely demanding existence. But today’s consumer is demanding and fickle at the same time and–with a handful of exceptions, like us die-hard George R.R. Martin fans–they don’t want to wait more than a year to find out what else you’ve got up your sleeve.

***

So how do you do this? How do you ensure that you’ve got enough content to satisfy not only your current fans, but potential future fans on top of that?

First of all, you write. A lot. And you keep writing. Even if you think it’s terrible. Because that’s not just the best way to produce a ton of content, it’s also how you get better.

Tune in next week for (much, much) more helpful tips on how to create clear, reliable, quality content! (I promise, it’s not as difficult as it seems!)

The post Marketing Monday: CONTENT. Do you even HAVE it, bro? appeared first on REUTS | Boutique Book Publisher |.

Think THIS.

NOT this.

I feel like I’ve had this conversation with my PR/marketing clients (and myself) at least a million times:

Me: “You need a new author photo.”

Author: “Why? The one I’ve been using is a perfectly good photo of me.”

Me: “Yes, it’s a great photo of you. But it’s a posed shot taken at a conference.” Or, “But it’s more than five years old.” Or, “But it’s pixelated, and/or has TERRIBLE resolution.” Or, “But the lighting is god-awful.” Or, “But it’s a super awkward size, has awkward framing, or can’t be cropped without losing some serious quality.”

(Note: the Subtext of All My Specific Reasons: It is a NICE picture of you. But it is not an AUTHOR photo.)

Me: “An author photo is not a picture. It is a BRAND ICON. It’s your version of the McDonalds golden arches, or the Pepsi red and blue beach ball. Or the Nike swoosh. It’s how your readers/followers/fans and the world in general connects all of your social media personalities and online properties. It’s an instant recognition generator. With a single look, it not only introduces you to the world, but it exemplifies what you stand for and what you have to offer. It’s the KEYSTONE of your online persona.”

All Authors in the World, (at least in my experience): “But…But I HATE having my picture taken!”

Me: “Yes. I know. We all do. But that’s why we have to suck it up and do it anyway, as many times as it takes to get that one ICONIC image.”

Author: “But having professional photos taken costs a lot of money.” Or, “I always feel so uncomfortable working with professional photographers. I feel like I’m being judged.” Or, “Why can’t I just use a picture I already have, from that day when my hair was looking REALLY good, and spruce it up on Photoshop or something?”

Me: “Because THIS IS YOUR BRAND. YOU CANNOT HALF-A$$ YOUR BRAND.”

Don’t panic, because there’s a REALLY GREAT ENDING to this conversation, and I’m going to share it with you now. Are you ready? Here it goes.

1. No one said you had to PAY anyone to take your author photo. You can take it yourself with a digital camera and timer. You can ask your husband/friend/family member to take it. You can take it yourself with an iPhone (although, this will only work for lower res photos such as profile pics, etc.). With today’s technology, it is EASIER than ever to take a professional looking photo.

2. There really aren’t any ironclad rules about how an author photo should be staged or formatted. As long as it’s high resolution / high quality (and I’ll go into that in more detail in a minute), the lighting is good (again, see below), it vaguely resembles what you look like in real life (no 1990s Glamour Shots, please), and it effectively represents your BRAND as an author, you can pretty much go with whatever works the best for you!

3. It’s SO MUCH EASIER to TAKE a great picture, than it is to MAKE a great picture. Would you take a Harry Potter book and try to revise it into an erotica book? NO. (Not to say there wouldn’t be a market for that. But if you DID want to do this, it would be 100x better to start with the concept of a HP erotica book and work from there. Tweaking things to be something they’re not is INCREDIBLY AWKWARD.) This is why you DO NOT Photoshop. You do NOT crop your sister in law out of your wedding photos and just use that one. The more clean/professional/”expensive” your photo (and the rest of your web presence, by the way) looks, the more likely people are to assume your product (i.e. your books) will match. And BELIEVE ME, people can tell if you’re using something for a purpose other than what it was originally intended for. (Are you still slightly horrified by my Harry Potter erotica example? Because I am.)

With those VIP points in mind, here are some tips on how to create the best possible DIY Author Photo:

(Note: most of these tips come from my personal experience as a broadcast reporter and film producer, and if they can work for me, they can work for YOU.)

Staging: Find a quiet place with good lighting (or create one, as mentioned below). The background should be SOLID, but not white. Muted colors are best. If you can hang a black or dark-colored sheet behind you on the wall (minus the cat hair, of course), even better. Also, for optimum ease and comfort of photo taking, you should be SITTING. DO NOT show the chair or any furniture in your photo. Also, no picture frames, wall sconces or light switches.

Styling: Your hairstyle and clothing should be chosen with a “head and shoulders” perspective in mind. Solid colors are best, since prints will distract from your face. Your FACE should be the central focus of this photo. Wear more makeup than you normally do, because 50% of makeup is invisible to the camera. Eye shadow and blush are ESSENTIAL for women. If you’re a man, you might want to flirt with some mascara or a light touch of skin-tone base powder. Put your hands in the photo if you must. Don’t go too crazy with the accessories. Remember, the focus is YOU.

Quality: Use the nicest digital camera you can get your hands on. Borrow if necessary. Once you’ve got your staging set up, take as MANY photos as you possibly can. Switch up your position (very subtle like) and/or your facial expression every 5-10 photos. Take breaks in between to look at your photos objectively, and see what works. Hate everything? DON’T LET YOURSELF GET FRUSTRATED. Just take a breath and try something new.

Lighting: The importance of lighting in photography CANNOT be stressed enough. If the lighting is good, you’ll appear up to ten years younger and your eyes will seem to glow with an intelligent, almost ethereal light. If your lighting is bad, you’ll have dark circles, thinning hair and several additional chins. IT’S IMPORTANT. Your lighting should be bright enough to banish the shadows from your face, without being bright enough to “wash you out” (that’s where your face is so pale that your features begin to disappear). Sit directly facing a window on a cloudy day, or find a desk lamp with a soft, white bulb. Make sure the light is coming from directly in front of you, or directly in front and slightly above. NEVER from directly above or below, or to either side. That creates nasty shadows. Look at the photos as you go to check for any unsightly shadows or frizzy stray hairs being captured by the camera. Also VIP: try to “find the light” with your eyes, without looking directly AT it. That’s how you’re going to achieve that awesome inner-eye glow.

Insider Tips: Try putting a mirror behind the camera, and looking at it as you pose. Just make sure to flick your eyes to the camera lens when the pictures are actually being taken. If you’re not a person who usually wears makeup, stick to neutral colors (eggshell, pink, beige, light brown) but PILE it on. Use shimmer powder (VERY sparingly) to highlight the inner corners of your eyes, and use bronzer to “burn out” the outer edges of your face (top of your forehead)–which brings the focus back to your EYES, where it belongs. You can also swish a little bit of bronzer underneath your chin to create a slightly stronger jaw line. Just make sure to BLEND your makeup, and check the photos to ensure that your neck doesn’t look like a totally different color than the rest of your face.

Quantity leads to Quality: Like I mentioned before, the more pictures you take while you’re made up and staged, the better chance you’ll have of finding even ONE photo that makes you happy. If you’re having a volunteer take the photos, don’t feel bad about asking them to rapid fire and take about a hundred. Or stop them if you see something that’s not working. If they’re willing to help you do this, chances are they’re willing to help you do it RIGHT. Bribe them with cake, if necessary. Cake usually works. And OF COURSE, if you are lucky enough to have an amateur photographer friend or a pro who’s willing to take these pictures for you for free, DO NOT FORGET to thank them profusely and give credit to the photographer whenever you post the photo.

Go nuts. Have fun. Experiment. And feel free to share your success stories in the comments. (Bonus if you include a link to your AWESOME new author photo.)

Note: In the interest of full disclosure, this article was originally posted on my website.
However, since your face is part of your brand, and brand recognition is VERY important, I felt the need to share it here also.

Note #2: Photos used in this post are public domain and were obtained from http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/

The post Marketing Monday: How to Take a Kick@$$ Do it Yourself Author Photo appeared first on REUTS | Boutique Book Publisher |.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the inner-workings of the publicity business, 90% of the time new authors are put in charge of writing their own press releases.

Even if you do eventually end up reaching the level of success where you can hire someone to do it for you, it’s actually STILL in your best interest to at least take a look at the end result, so you can be 100% clear on how your product (i.e. your book, and yourself as an author) is being represented to the public.

SO PAY ATTENTION to this post, y’all.

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

Veronica Park has written a book, and this marvelous book has just been released. It’s something you’re going to really want to read, because it has vampires, and UFOs, and pirates. Also, Ron Perlman gave it two thumbs up over the phone, and Stephen King called it “an actual book, which has words and everything.”

This book, which is called IN YOUR FACE, JK ROWLING, is a preternatural celestial romp through time and space, which combines themes of love and loss with slapstick hilarity of unimaginable proportions. The main character, JOE SNOW, is a sexy yet likeable mix of Harry Potter and General Zod. Joe and his equally sexy supernatural friends must save the world from an onslaught of gigantic gummy bears or everyone will die screaming, buried in a gooey, flaming napalm.

To contact Veronica Park (the author) about this existential overload of fictional glory, please contact Veronica Park (the Director of Marketing) at REUTS Publications via the following methods:

email:

phone: 1-555-555-5555

website: www.reuts.com

For your convenience, here are links to the above mentioned materials:

Amazon.com – where the book is on sale, etc.

Veronica Park (the Author’s) blog

VP’s Twitter

VP’s Facebook

***

This is the basic format for writing a press release. Obviously, I used totally fictional (as in, I made them up on the spot) examples and mostly fake contact information…and okay, let’s be honest, I probably took a few too many liberties with creative adjectives…but that’s just kind of how I roll when it comes to blogging. Sorry.

Ahem. To put it more clearly, a good press release should include the following information, in the following format:

Press Release (optional)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (NOT optional)

TITLE OF BOOK by Name of Author

Today’s Date — Why we are sending this press release? What makes this NEWS? (It’s not just that a book is being released–new books are released every day.) What makes this author or this book unique? Why will this publication’s readers want to know about it? (Include specific information about the target demographic–i.e. “Teens between the ages of 14-17 who live in urban areas will especially enjoy this book, because a, b and c.”

What is the book ABOUT? Be brief, but clear. Specific. Journalists don’t have time for vague descriptions or ominous platitudes. This is NOT a query letter, but it ALSO shouldn’t be boring. i.e. “TITLE OF BOOK is about NAME OF MC, the daughter of a New Orleans dog groomer who finds out she can control dogs with her thoughts.” What are the stakes? (What will make people keep reading?) i.e. “When MC finds out that someone at the National Dog Show is cheating, it’s up to her to find out who it is before her mother loses the title, and the prize money that will save their house from being repossessed by the bank.”

If the journalist in question is interested in following up on this story, here is where they can contact your publisher (or you, if you’re an indie author). Choose at least 2-3 methods whereby they can contact you, and state what types of interviews you’d be willing to provide (for example, if you’re sending the press release to a blogger who also has a podcast, this VERY SHORT paragraph would be a good place to mention that you’d also love to be considered for a live interview.)

###

Note: KEEP IT TO ONE PAGE OR LESS, ALWAYS. And always end with either *** or ###.

Rules:

• Keep it simple. Keep it short. Be as clear as possible without sounding boring or overly explanatory.
• ALWAYS include contact information.
• Tailor the end of the first paragraph to the publication you’re targeting, just like you would with an editor/agent in a query letter.
• Keep it professional. Write in 3rd person, even if you’re writing a press release about yourself. Don’t make jokes or personal comments that will make the tone seem amateur or sloppy. (Basically, don’t pull most of the crap I did in my first example letter.)
• Do make it interesting and engaging.
• If you’re emailing the press release, you don’t need to include a cover letter style heading, but you DO need to include all of the info listed above.
• Don’t just make a carbon copy press release and send it to a billion people at a time. Even if it seems like that’s a good idea, you’ll lower your response rate that way.

Alright, that’s it for now. Go forth and practice writing your press releases! As I always say, there’s no teacher like experience!

BY THE WAY, here are some other FABULOUS articles that discuss format and content: how to write a press release that very busy and no-nonsense journalist types (like me…but with far less nonsense, probably) will actually WANT to read:

Crowd sourced responses from Journalism.co.uk on What Journalists Want to See in a Press Release

8 Tips for Writing a Great Press Release by Zach Cutler of the Huffington Post

How to Write a Press Release that Gets Noticed by Entrepreneur.com

The post Marketing Monday: The Art of the Press Release appeared first on REUTS | Boutique Book Publisher |.