We’ve been talking about pitching your manuscript (as well as yourself) to editors and agents. One commonly used tool for this is the “one-sheet”–a sheet of paper that summarizes the high points about your book and you.

I’ve invited novelist and freelance editor Meredith Efken to answer some of the many questions posed by my loyal blog readers. Meredith is the author of the popular e-book Writers Conference Survival Guide, which tells you how to get the most out of those all-too-expensive writing conferences.

Sally wrote:

I have a hard time finding the right publisher for a narrow niche. Is it time to self-publish? At writers’ conferences, my work has been praised, but not for their market.

I’m thinking about doing some e-books. What are the pros and cons of e-books vs. “real” books?

Randy sez: Self-publishing can be a good idea if you have the skills to carry it off. You need to be able to get your manuscript professionally edited, of course. And most important, you need a marketing platform big enough to make it worth your time. If you are speaking to thousands of people per year (and can sell books at the back of the room) then self-publishing almost always makes sense. If you have a web site or blog with similar exposure, then again it makes sense. If you don’t have that kind of marketing platform, then you need to team up with somebody who does. That “somebody” is a royalty-paying publisher.

E-books can be good, and I think the Amazon Kindle is going to make it (finally) work for fiction. But again, an e-book will only earn you money if you have a marketing platform. If you don’t, then you need to team up with someone who does.

Sylvia asked:

My daughter recently sold her historical novel to a rather new publishing house which is taking a new tack in publishing. Here are some things about the house:
It is a Christian publishing house, fairly new, that encourages first-time authors. The editor seems to be well-respected. They only print on demand and offer no advance, but give 25% of profits to the author instead of the usual 10-15%. They do little PR, leaving a lot of that to the author. They sell only on-line, but sell through the “big” companies: Wallmart, Target, Barnes & Noble, Borders and Amazon.
I recently asked an agent (on his blog) what he thought about this venture. He wasn’t very encouraging. He seemed to regard POD publishers with “vanity” publishers. I realize that agents are by-passed with this type of publisher, so he might not “approve” for his own economic reasons, although this agent is a respected one, and I would hope he would give an honest evaluation.
What is your take on such a publisher?

Randy sez: POD is not the same as a vanity publisher. At present, I have too little information to evaluate this, since I don’t know the details. The question I would be asking first is whether there are upfront fees that the author has to pay. Also, whether a POD publisher can really get a book into Wal*Mart, Target and B&N.

Meredith commented on this question:

The thing with self-publishing is that the distribution is extremely difficult. And e-books are still very limited in sales. You also lose the opportunity to have a traditional publisher pick it up because most of them won’t want something that has already been published in any form. I would advise being patient, keep working on other projects, develop your craft, adjust your sales pitch, and don’t settle for anything less just because it’s taking a long time.

Martha asked:

I have always been able to speak in front of groups with not problem. I taught English and sponsored Student Council groups for years, served as president of a number of groups and minored in public speaking. I even direct a conference here in Houston. Why is it that when I sit across from an editor I am suddenly tongue tied or babble like a child who doesn’t know what he’s saying without or without a one sheet, and with my “one liners” memorized. After years of attending conferences, I have yet to “sell” a manuscript to an editor. And I know several editors personally, but when it comes to getting them interested in what I write…

Meredith’s answer:

I feel your pain, honey! I, too, am comfortable speaking in front of people, but I am acutely uncomfortable pitching or even discussing my own work. I can’t answer your “why is this” question, but I can tell you what helps me. First, do use a one-sheet. Second, take a bottle of water with you into the pitch session. My mouth gets very dry when I’m nervous, so the water is a must. But you can also use it to give yourself a break. If you start to babble, stop and take a drink. Gives you a way to get control again without being too obvious about it.

This past April, I pitched for the first time in quite awhile (having an agent means I don’t really have to pitch, so I’ve avoided it). I, too, tend to babble or get tongue-tied, so what I did was let the editor guide the conversation. We exchanged a few small-talk remarks and then she asked me to tell her about my book. So I gave her my pitch line (use that one-sheet–which I wished I’d had!) and then told her “I don’t want to unload the entire plot line on you–what would you like to hear more about?” She actually wanted to hear more details! And it helped turn it into more of a question and answer session, which was somewhat more comfortable for me than trying to give a big presentation. If I’d had a professional looking one-sheet, I would maybe have handed it to her after giving my pitch line, and then taken a BIG swig from my water bottle while she perused it. She asked for me to send three sample chapters and a synopsis, so I’d say it was a successful pitch. But I was still nervous.

In my Writers Conference Survival Guide, I have some other suggestions for how to handle pre-pitch jitters. But don’t get too down on yourself about being nervous. It’s quite normal, and there is nothing wrong with you. Editors and agents generally understand how nervous writers can get. If you plan out some coping mechanisms in advance, you can learn to get through it. I just accept the jitters as part of the process
and work to keep them under control. Having experience pitching successfully, I now don’t let it bother me because I know I can be successful in spite of it.

Randy sez: I think it simply comes down to practice. You will get better at pitching by pitching. If you don’t feel confident, then going in with the goods is essential. Then you don’t have to talk much. Just show them your work. Listen, if it sings to that particular editor or agent, then you win. If it doesn’t sing to that particular editor or agent, then the best pitch in the world ain’t gonna fly.

OK, enough for today! Tomorrow, I’ll continue working through the backlog of questions that you’ve asked, so be patient. We should be able to get through them all in the next week or so.

We’ve been talking about “one-sheets” recently. A “one-sheet” is a sheet of paper that you take with you to help you in pitching yourself and your manuscript to an editor or agent. This is generally most useful to you at a writing conference, since that’s a common place to meet either an editor or agent for an appointment.

I asked Meredith Efken, author of the Writers Conference Survival Guide, to help me respond to the many questions my loyal blog readers have posted here in the last few days. Meredith types scorchingly fast, and she sent me a vast amount of material. I’ll be posting it here over the next few days, along with my own comments.

Meredith’s first comment is the following:

On one-sheets: It’s not surprising to me that editors aren’t asking for one-sheets. These are a fairly new innovation that WRITERS came up with. They actually snitched the idea from professional speakers who send out one-sheets as part of their media kit–once again proving how creative and brilliant we writers really are. I have never used a one-sheet either, because I got an agent before one-sheets became popular. So no, they’re not “essential.”

But they are a great visual tool for a couple of reasons. One, they give the nervous writer a “cheat sheet” to use in the pitch session. Those of you who blank out and can’t remember a thing about your book the moment you sit down with an editor will love using a one-sheet. Two, if you have one that looks professionally designed, it can become a powerful tool to help the editor visualize your story concept as well. Remember, the pitch session is essentially a business presentation, so having a professional-looking visual tool to go along with your verbal pitch can be helpful. It’s not required, but it is useful.

The thing to remember is that the editor may or may not take the one-sheet with them. Don’t ask them to, and don’t be upset if they hand it back to you. One-sheets are pitching tools, and if your pitch went well, then the one-sheet functioned properly. Do get one that looks professional, though. A sloppy, home made one is worse than none at all. If you aren’t able to create or pay for a professsionally designed one, then you can certainly make yourself a cheat sheet. I just wouldn’t advise giving the cheat sheet to the editor.

Randy sez: I mostly agree with Meredith here. I don’t particularly see the need for a professional one-sheet, since I see it as a pitching aid, not a pitch in itself. If you need it to remind yourself what you want to say, then a 3×5 card is as good as $300 one-sheet. If you believe that a glossy piece of paper is going to sell your book without some stellar writing to back it up, then please come buy a bridge that I own. It’s just north of San Francisco, and in good shape, but I don’t need it anymore because we moved.

Now that I think about it, I have used a one-sheet once. Years ago, John Olson and I pitched an idea for a Mars novel to an editor friend (Steve Laube, now an Xtremely successful agent) at a writing conference. We walked into the appointment with a blank pad of paper and a head full of ideas. John pitched the idea. Steve listened. I nodded my head wisely and kept quiet because I was a terrible pitcher in those days. During the 45 minute conversation, we sketched out the journey to Mars on the blank pad. That was our “one-sheet.” When we finished the pitch, Steve said, “Sounds great, guys. Now show me some great writing.” Months later, we sent him a proposal with three killer chapters. He bought the book and you can read those chapters in our novel OXYGEN. I don’t know what became of our “one-sheet.”

Meredith also had some good comments on Hannah’s question about how much of your manuscript should be done before you pitch:

I think it’s best for an unpublished writer to have as much of the manuscript finished as possible before pitching. First, you’ll have to have a complete manuscript in order to sell it or sign with your first agent. Okay, yes there have been exceptions to that, but in the vast majority of cases, you can’t sell your first book without having finished it.

To pitch it, I don’t think you have to have it completely written, since the proposal review process takes months. But it should be pretty far along. Remember, it’s not just finishing the book that counts–once you finish the manuscript, all you have is a completed rough draft. You don’t want to send an interested editor or agent a rough draft. Leave time for revisions.

Second, you’ll look more viable and serious as a writer if you can honestly say, “Yes, I’m within four chapters of finishing the manuscript” or “Yes, it’s written.” It will show you’ve put in time and effort into your project and aren’t just pitching an idea you came up with in the shower that morning. Third, even for published writers, it’s difficult to pitch a project you aren’t yet familiar with. You can have all the pre-writing done that you want, but the voice and flavor of the novel develops as you labor over the manuscript. You discover things about your characters you hadn’t seen before, and there may be important plot changes you make once you get into the writing of the story.

Having recently sold two books on sample chapters alone, and then having to write the books, I am finding that it’s sort of like having a safety net ripped out from under a tight-rope walker. My editor is now expecting the book to look like what I pitched, even if I get into it and want to take it a new direction. I still have creative freedom, but I have to be careful. I would NOT have wanted to try this as a first-time author.

So, as a final response to this question, I would recommend a first-timer to have at least several sample chapters completed, and preferrably half to three-quarters of the book finished before pitching. Your pitch will be stronger and it will be less pressure if you get a proposal request and eventually a full manuscript request.

Randy sez: I agree with this. On Monday, I talked about my less-than-stellar pitch of my first novel TRANSGRESSION to Chip MacGregor years ago. He requested the first hundred pages, which I had in first-draft form. Later he requested the whole manuscript, and again, all I had was a completed first draft. What did I do? I sent it to him, but I made it VERY clear–this is a first draft and it’s really rough.

He bought the book based on the first draft, and THEN I had to do revisions in about four months. At the time, that seemed horrendously short, and I had a lot of anxiety about it, even though they didn’t ask for much revision. (These days, four WHOLE months to do revisions seems like an eternity.) I worked very hard to revise the story the way I knew I wanted it. It would have been very nice to have a more polished manuscript to give him upfront, but you play the hand you’re dealt. I had been waiting ten years to get published at that point, and I was not going to tell him, “Oh, sorry, I’ve just got this crappy first draft so you’ll have to wait for it.” So I gave him what I had.

Tomorrow, I’ll post more of Meredith’s comments and answer more of the questions that are piling up.

I can see we are way overdue to talk about pitching yourself (and your manuscript) at conferences. So far, there are about 25 comments responding to my last post, and many of those have excellent questions which deserve excellent answers.

Camille mentioned Meredith Efken’s terrific e-book WRITER’S CONFERENCE SURVIVAL GUIDE. I should have mentioned that in my last post but I forgot. Meredith is my freelance editor and one of the funniest novelists I’ve ever read, and her e-book tells you just about everything you can imagine on conferences. I’ve asked Meredith to answer some of your questions, so those will be appearing over the next few days (until we wear her out).

Lynette asked:

Onto my question, what is the difference between a one-sheet and a one page synopsis of the novel?

Randy sez: A “one-sheet” is kind of like a mini-proposal. It’s partly about you and partly about the book. The emphasis should be on arousing interest in the editor or agent. You typically use it during a one-on-one meeting to help you present what you want to present.

A one-page synopsis is a very high-level summary of the plot of the story. It will not mention you, the author, at all. Frankly, most one-page synopses are about as exciting as a phone book. Useful information, to be sure, but they contain only about five paragraphs, one to set the stage and one for each of the major chunks of the storyline. A one-page synopsis is generally too short for a proposal; I recommend doing about 2 single-spaced pages for a proposal, which gives you enough room to summarize every sequence of scenes in about one paragraph.

I have never used a one-sheet. Nobody ever told me about them back in the bad old days when I was scared to death to meet editors or agents. Nowadays, I’ve gotten past those fears and anyway, most editors know me now, so there’s no point in giving them a one-sheet with my bio. So I usually sit down and just talk without an agenda. I’ll tell them what I’m working on and find out what they’re working on and that’s that.

Those of you who have nice one sheets, go ahead and email them to me and I’ll be happy to post them on my site as examples. As my way of thanking you, I’ll include a link back to your web site or blog.

Hannah asked:

What and how much questions regarding the project am I expected to answer? Do I need to have a lot of details finished? I guess, what I am really asking is, how much of the project should be finished in my mind before I try to pitch it?

Randy sez: You should give the genre, the expected word-count (to the nearest 10,000 words), a one-sentence summary and a one-paragraph summary. You should also tell how much of the manuscript is complete and whether it is polished or first-draft. You should also have a bio about yourself. We have discussed many of these issues separately over the past year on this blog. You do not have to have the whole project finished, but be aware that you will NOT sell a first novel unless the manuscript is finished and polished. You may possibly get an agent before then, however. If your novel is only partly finished, then your mindset should be, “My one-sheet is a chance to introduce myself to an editor and arouse interest, but I’ll have to wait till it’s done before this editor is going to be ready to consider buying it, so this is really just an introduction and nothing more.”

Once again, I’ll emphasis that a one-sheet can arouse interest, but it cannot sell your manuscript. What sells your manuscript is your manuscript.

Let me tell you a story which I’ve told several times. Years ago, I met an editor named Chip MacGregor at a writing conference. I made an appointment with Chip and did absolutely everything wrong–except one thing. I had brought five pages of my manuscript. They were the first five pages, and they ended with a strong hook.

Despite the fact that I practically babbled at Chip, (or maybe because I was babbling), he asked to read my sample pages. They were good pages and he asked me to send the proposal and 100 pages. I did, and that led eventually (18 months later) to selling my first novel, TRANSGRESSION. I can assure you that my babbling didn’t sell the book. If I’d had a one-sheet, that would have helped me not look like an idiot, but it would not have made one speck of difference in the final result.

As a postscript, Chip later became my agent and we worked together for several years, until he moved on to a job with a major publisher. Now he’s agenting again and is more successful than ever. I am one of the many authors he discovered, and I’m certainly not the only one who babbled like a loon during the first interview. Every editor and agent knows how to look past the babbling to the essential point: “Can this writer write?”

That’s all for today. Tomorrow, I’ll take up more of the questions you all posted, and Meredith will also be chipping in answers to some of them. Stay tuned!

I’ve been reading all the comments over the last couple of days and am completely depressed at all the great books that I’ll never have time to read. I’ve also been staying up late every night reading (when I was supposed to be blogging) so I could finish rereading Harry Potter #6.

I have to say I am incredibly impressed with the ending of this book. HP #6 breaks the pattern of the other books by NOT ending with a victory for Harry. The reason, of course, is to put Harry in a box and force an ending to the series. So the book ends in Xtreme disaster, in which much of what you thought certain is no longer certain. This is the first time I’ve read #6 since reading the 7th and final book in the series, and I noticed some clever things designed to mislead the reader. JK Rowling of course does clever things to mislead the reader in every book, but she usually clarifies them by the end of the book. Not so in Book #6. I’m looking forward to rereading #7.

One of my loyal blog readers recently emailed me to ask about pitching her novel at a forthcoming writing conference. She particularly wanted to know about “one-sheets.” I am not able to answer detailed questions like this in email anymore because I get so much email. However, I promised to address this on my blog. I’m thinking it’s time to discuss writing conferences again, since we’re in the middle of conference season, and I myself will be going to a couple in the next 10 weeks.

What is a “one-sheet?” Good question. It’s whatever you want it to be, as long as it’s one sheet of paper. A “one-sheet” tells a bit about you and your book, summarizing all the high points.

Do you need a “one-sheet” to sell your book? LOL, I have never made a one-sheet. I’m sure it’s handy for breaking the ice when meeting an editor or agent, but you can do that just as well yourself by . . . being yourself. And trust me, you are more interesting than a piece of paper.

When you meet an editor or an agent, you are really pitching two things simultaneously–your project and yourself. Let’s talk about those in order:

Your project: It’s handy to have a one-sentence summary for your project. We talked about this a couple of months ago. Remember, a one-sentence summary does not sell your book. Great writing sells your book. The one-sentence summary just saves time by letting the editor or agent know in 5 seconds whether or not they might be interested in it. The purpose of the one-sentence summary is to get the editor or agent to read your sample chapters. Those chapters will make or break the book. Period. Every editor I’ve ever heard comment on what makes them buy a book has said the same thing: “I’m looking for great writing.”

Yourself: It is a good idea to be clean and neat but there is no reason to go overboard on dressing up. However, there are exceptions to this rule. If your brand is “walking pig-sty” or something similar, then you should present that image. And if your brand is “super-stylish fashionista” then you better be dressed that way. My brand is something along the lines of “zany physicist” so it is expected that I’ll dress like a geek. It would (I believe) be a mistake for me to dress up for a meeting with an editor, because no zany physicist would be caught dead looking fashionable. So be yourself. The editor or agent is going to be asking, “How can I sell this writer?” If you are famous, fascinating, funny, beautiful, outrageous, or whatever–anything that will make you insanely more marketable than the next writer–then highlight that. If you are none of those (most writers, quite honestly, aren’t) then don’t worry about it too much. In that case, be neat and clean and highlight your writing.

So getting back to the tangent, do you need a one-sheet? The short answer is this: If you can make one in a day or two that will nicely summarize who you are and what you’re writing, then do. If you are going to spend three months obsessing about one lousy piece of paper, then don’t. Obsess on your sample chapters instead.

OK, it’s question time. What burning questions do you have about pitching yourself and your manuscript? Leave a comment here and I’ll work through them.

I’ve spent the day putting together my e-zine and I am about all written out. So today, I’d like to point you to Chip MacGregor’s blog at www.ChipMacGregor.com. He’s got the best explanation of the economics of publishing that I’ve ever seen. If you’ve ever wondered about advances and how publishers earn their nickel, Chip will give you the goods.