WHAT MAKES A BOOK SELL?

 I have added to this previous post because like the pub industry, I am evolving and have more to say on the subject....

What makes a book sell to a publisher, and sell-through to readers?


It is NOT how fabulous your website or blog is. It is NOT how many facebook or twitter friends you have, how many publishing links you forward or put on said website, blog, facebook and twitter. It is not how much editors and agents like you, though being a pain in the arse will NOT help you in any way, shape or form.

What sells a book is THE WRITING coupled with an ORIGINAL, COMPELLING CONCEPT!

You have heard that great writing will rise to the top and find its way. Yet we all know that not all great writing sells. There is marketing and sales to contend with, and even in my 3 short years of agenting I have had quite a number of books that editors loved and sales and marketing told them that it would sell, but just not enough....and the books are still not published. Breaks my heart. Breaks the editors' hearts. And oh, the author. So very unfair. BUT, publishing is a business and fair is not the leading part of the equation here.

But couple GREAT WRITING with an ORIGINAL AND COMPELLING CONCEPT and you are 75% there. The rest is luck, timing, bizarre unknown factors that none of us understand but we kill ourselves trying to, and kismet. When HARRY POTTER, TWILIGHT, WIMPY KID, 13 REASONS WHY, etc were brought to acquisitions meetings and given the green light, publishers made an educated guess that these books would sell. They make those educated guesses on other books (and in some cases pay big advances and pump marketing dollars into them) that are equally fantastic but for some mysterious reason never find their audience. I worked in marketing for a couple of decades and this is just how it goes. What made the Pet Rock, Silly Bands, Chia Pets, Fuzzy Wuzzy was a Bear Soap, etc sell? Don't know.

Is it all word of mouth? Is it superior product--maybe yes in books, but in Pet Rocks?

So let's talk about 'superior product in books'. In my opinion, the ORIGINAL, COMPELLING CONCEPT outweighs mediocre writing, but the better writer you are (LEARN YOUR CRAFT!) the stronger CAREER you will have as a writer be it traditional published or self-published.

And to the self-published, $0.99 sales price may get you a heck of a lot of first time readers (if you are so lucky) but if your writing is crap, who the heck is going to buy your second book? Let me quote my friend and 80+book author Kathleen Duey: Almost no one expects musicians to get good on an instrument without years of lessons, books, years of practice. There is a similar learning curve for writing. (read full post here)

So, my advice to writers other than the all important LEARN YOUR CRAFT---

1. Brainstorm concepts and pitches before you commit to a new book.
Even if you love your your new idea....write 10 more to get your creative juices going and see if you can come up with something better and/or improve on your original idea.
Brainstorming without self-criticism is an excellent way to unearth your creativity.

2. If you have a critique group/agent--consider picking the 3 that you most want to work on and share it with them to see if you are on track to writing something truly original and compelling.

3. Find the manuscript voice you want to work with. This is not Author Voice--Author voice is your unique voice that permeates all your work, this is the Manuscript Voice--the tone you want to tell this particular story in.

4. Write 3 chapters in your chosen Manuscript Voice and see if it is working. Share it with your critique partners, and, if you have this kind of relationship, with your Agent. While these first chapters may end up in the dumpster as many first chapters do, it is the tone/ characters/ setting/ concept/ freshness/ uniqueness that must shine through. Sometimes we come up with an amazing concept but we just cannot write an amazing manuscript to do the concept justice. I find this all the time in queries....amazing concepts with pages that are not compelling. If you cannot write to the chosen concept, pick another one. You have a list of 10+. Or brainstorm again.

5. Be absolutely mindful of every character you choose to put in the book. Why are they there? How do they move the story forward? What is interesting about them that will make a reader care about following them from page to page to page? What would make a reader demand book 2 and 3 because they can't bear to say goodbye to these characters? This is a must even for stand-alones. Don't you love that feeling when you slow down at the end of a book because you just don't want it to end?

6. Plot the heck out of the book. If you are a pantsers (as opposed to an outliner), no problem. Just make sure you go back through one full revision with the plot in the forefront of your mind asking How can I make this book UNPUTDOWNABLE?

I could go on and on but I want to hear from you...what do you think makes a book sell?

MYSTERY/CRIME WRITERS & PLOT

For all you mystery/crime writers out there, there is a fantastic blog that you need to know about -- RED JUNGLE WRITERS....Eight smart and sassy crime fiction writers dish on writing and life.
It's The View. With bodies.

And when Hallie Ephron, one of those eight fabulous/famous writers, needed help with plot she turned to the one and only PLOT WHISPERER. Lucky for us Hallie shared the interview on the blog. Here is an excerpt:

HALLIE: I wonder (she said selfishly) if you could offer a few tips for conjuring plots for mystery novels -- or perhaps a few pitfalls?

MARTHA: I do not pretend to be an expert at crafting mystery novels, I leave that to you. However, after more than 20 years of analyzing hundreds of novels of all genres, memoirs and screenplays and teaching and consulting with writers from five years old to 102 from all over the world, I am an expert on plot.

You say you are on page 225 and, based on the page count of your recent novel (congratulations, by the way, on a fabulous story!), I’d say you are either building to the crisis or in the threshold after the crisis and making final preparations for the ascent to the climax.

HALLIE: Amazing! You are exactly right.
Read the complete interview here!

BLIND SPOT cover and excerpt!

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Fall 2012

Website: http://www.lauraellenbooks.com/

Twitter: @lauraellenbooks 

Winter stopped hiding Tricia Farni on Good Friday.

A truck driver, anxious to shave forty minutes off his commute, ventured across the shallow section of the Birch River used as an ice bridge all winter. His truck plunged into the frigid water, and as rescuers worked to save him and his semi, Tricia’s body floated to the surface.

She’d been missing since the incident in the loft six months ago. But honestly, she didn’t come to mind when I heard that a girl’s body had been found. I was that sure she was alive somewhere, making someone else’s life miserable. Maybe she was shacking up with some drug dealer, or hooking her way across the state, whatever. But she was definitely alive.

Easter morning that changed.

“The body of seventeen-year-old Tricia Farni was pulled from the Birch River Friday night. A junior at Chance High School, Tricia disappeared October 6 after leaving a Homecoming party at Birch Hill. Police believe her body has been in the water since the night she disappeared.”

I couldn’t wrap my brain around it. Tricia was a lot of things, a drug addict, a bitch, a freak, but dead? No. She was a survivor. Something—the only thing—I admired about her. I stared at my clock radio, disbelieving the news reporter. Ninety percent talk, AM 760 was supposed to provide solace from my own wrecked life that weekend. I thought all those old songs with their sha-la-la-las and da-doo-run-runs couldn’t possibly trigger any painful memories. I guess when a dead girl is found in Birch, Alaska, and you were the last to see her alive, even AM 760 can’t save you from bad memories. 

"THE CLASSROOM" COVER REVEAL!

Guess who is on the Walmart BESTSELLER WALL!!!

DITCHED by Robin Mellom!

IDITA-READ + free signed ICE ISLAND/Random House to teachers

LACE UP YOUR WINTER BOOTS FOR THE IDITA-READ READING PROGRAM!

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is an annual sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. Mushers and their faithful huskies cover over 1,049 miles in 9–15 days. The Iditarod began in 1973 as an event to test the skills of sled dogs and mushers. It also honors the 1925 Serum Run in which countless numbers of Eskimo children in Nome had been exposed to the highly infectious disease diphtheria. The serum was transported to Nome by dog teams in the ancient tradition of Native Alaskans, who had mastered the art of using dogs for winter transportation.

Today, teams race in blizzards and whiteouts, sub-zero temperatures, and gale-force winds. Temperatures often dip to below −100 °F (−73 °C). The current fastest winning time record was set in 2011 by John Baker with a time of 8 days, 19 hours, 46 minutes, and 39 seconds. This year's race begins Saturday, March 3rd.

PROCEDURE:
1.  Teachers explain to their students that they will compete in their own Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Their race will be a reading race.
2.  Each student  draws a musher ‘s name from entries on the Iditarod website: www.iditarod.com.  Each day during the race, they’ll try to read faster (pages or minutes) than the number of  miles covered by the musher they have drawn.
3.  Teachers will track each student’s progress on a large map of Alaska.  (Tracked by daily visits to the website during the race.)  The goal is for students to read faster than their musher is traveling down the trail.
4.  Students select their books before the ‘vet check.’ Teachers will decide if the student’s books are “healthy” (grade/ability level).
5.  As students read to each checkpoint, they’re responsible for logging in their time and having it checked by a race marshal (teacher).

GOAL:
1.  Students read 1,049 minutes or pages appropriate to each student’s reading level.
MATERIALS:
1.  Large map of Alaska with Iditarod Trail & checkpoints clearly marked.
2.  Legend listing distances between checkpoints.
3.  Name pins/tags to mark students’ reading progress on the trail.
4.  Sleds or dogs (felt or construction paper) to mark progress of mushers.
5.  Iditarod Reading Log for each student.
6.  LOTS OF BOOKS!

OBJECTIVES:
1.  Encourage recreational reading.
2. Develop an interest in history and geography of Alaska.
3.  Encourage completion of a project.

ICE ISLAND (Random House, 2012) was inspired when Sherry visited St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, after the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. It was mid-March and bone-numbing cold. Sherry was startled by the sight of polar bear hides drying on racks, and amused by children playing with chunks of ice like blocks. She thought, One of these days I’ll use these in an adventure story.

FROZEN STIFF (Random House) was inspired by a summer press trip to Alaska, where she spent a week kayaking to the largest tidewater glacier in North America.
FROZEN STIFF has been used in the classroom as a companion for Call of the Wild and Julie books and has been on several state reading lists, including Battle of the Books nationwide.

As part of her research for photo-illustrated DASHING THROUGH THE SNOW: The Story of the Jr. Iditarod (Mondo), Sherry rode inside a dog sled for the first part of the 1,049 mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Sherry is the woman sitting is the sled!

Sherry is thrilled to be the first ever recipient of the SCBWI Book Launch Award for ICE ISLAND.

From the WorldWide IDEA:Read a Route Website:

Author Offers Signed Book to Kick Off Idita-Read 2012 Registration Opening

Earlier this week, author Sherry Shahan wrote me with an amazing offer to WorldWide IDEA's Idita-Read 2012 Team Managers: a complimentary signed copy of her new book, ICE ISLAND (Random House, January 2012) to the first 10 who contact her.

Several teachers have already registered for our 2012 event and the book offer has been passed along to them, but there are still complimentary copies available. I expect them to go fast, so don't wait to register for the event for the chance to get this free, cool book for your students to read during the event and beyond!

ICE ISLAND is an Alaskan-based adventure for readers aged 9-13. It is the story of two kids who get lost in a freak snowstorm during a training run with their sled dogs. The pair must rely on each other — as well as their faithful dogs — to survive subzero temperatures and bone-numbing exhaustion.

OUT IN THE WILD....

Spotted Ralph Fletcher's ALSO KNOWN AS ROWAN POHI out in the wilds of my local B&N!

FABULOUS PICTURE OF DOUBLE BOOK LAUNCH JOY

You Go, Girls!

DITCHED & ICE ISLAND LAUNCH TODAY!

Robin Mellom (L) & Sherry Shahan (R) toasting to their book deals!

CONGRATS, ROBIN MELLOM & SHERRY SHAHAN, who happen to live within a few minutes of each other.

FOR ALL PICTURE BOOK WRITERS, READ THIS!

For all pb writers, great advise here!

Four-part interview with Maria Modugno, Vice President and Editorial Director of HarperCollins Children’s Books.

http://robsanderswrites.blogspot.com/2012/01/interview-with-maria-modugno-part-i.html

http://robsanderswrites.blogspot.com/2012/01/interview-with-maria-modugno-part-ii.html

http://robsanderswrites.blogspot.com/2012/01/interview-with-maria-modugno-part-iii.html

http://robsanderswrites.blogspot.com/2012/01/interview-with-maria-modugno-part-iv.html

AND,  Three-part interview with Golden Books/Random House Editorial Director, Diane Muldrow.

http://robsanderswrites.blogspot.com/2011/11/interview-with-diane-muldrow-part-i.html

http://robsanderswrites.blogspot.com/2011/11/interview-with-diane-muldrow-part-ii.html

http://robsanderswrites.blogspot.com/2011/11/interivew-with-diane-muldrow-part-iii.html

Thanks, Rob Sanders, for you wonderful blog, Picture This!