~~~Lara Zielin~~~

STATUS: Thinking I’ll miss the ice cream store up the street when we move. Their soft-serve is divine.

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: Who is making all the muppet videos online? Patti sent this one and, after seeing it, I have to say I don’t care who makes them – as long as they keep doing it!

Sorry for the delay getting to the Nonfiction Part II post. Life’s been a little, uh, hectic and hasn’t left much time for blogging. Cuz remember the post where I said we should probably wait to move because with Rob making a movie and me doing edits to Donut Days that this probably wouldn’t be the greatest time to pack up and head out? Well, that’s sort of still true. But we said screw it and decided to move anyway. The result is that it’s been a tough month, let me tell you, but I think the rewards will be worth it. Our new house rules. Anyway, on with the myths …

Myth #3: The best way to find a publisher is to do a Google search.

I am ALL about the Goggle searches, let me tell you. But as I was packing up my stuff over the weekend, I came across my Writers’ Market books from a couple years ago. And that got me thinking about how, in the digital age we live in, it’s easy to just type a query into Google and try to find your future publisher that way. But really, when you’ve got your book proposal all typed out and ready, the Writers’ Market is a great resource and shouldn’t be overlooked. You have access to many publisher names that might not be in Google, and they get specific about what they do/don’t want to see. Plus they list website and phone information. This is critical if you are going to publishers directly — you need to do your homework on who is and isn’t a good fit for your project.

Of course, you won’t really need to query publishers directly if you decide to get an agent first. Which leads me to my next myth….

Myth #4: Get an agent?

A great agent can be a god-send for a number of reasons. Contracts and deadlines can get worked out more smoothly, plus it’s awesome to have someone advocating for you in general.

However, you might not need an agent right away. Many small nonfiction presses will happily work with unagented first-time authors. That’s not so much true with fiction — most publishers (though certainly not all) want you to be represented. But certainly with nonfiction I found it was much easier to get in the door solo.

Whether you decide to contact a publisher first, or go with an agent first, what you’ll need no matter what is a great query letter. One of the best agents in the business, Kristin Nelson, has loads of posts on her website dedicated to the art of writing a good query. Her tips apply no matter if you’re contacting a publisher or an agent — the guts of the letter will have many similar qualities.

If you have more nonfiction questions (or publishing questions in general) or if you think something I’ve posted here is totally bogus, be sure to give me a shout-out in the comments section!

STATUS: Ready to move! Only a few more days before we’re in our dream home. Eeeeeee!! [excited squeal]

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: I am addicted to Vh1’s “I Love the New Millennium” and one of my most favorite parts about it has to be the commercial they used to advertise it. Condoleezza never looked so fun.

A friend of mine recently expressed an interest in publishing a nonfiction book, and after hearing his pitch I definitely thought it could work. It was a fresh take on an old subject, and I thought it would be a welcome addition to bookshelves. But then he started talking about the way he thought he’d go about bringing his book into existence, and I didn’t so much love that. Which made me think that there might be a lot of misconceptions out there about writing nonfiction, and I thought I could maybe use my blog to clear a few of them up. After all, the roadmap with fiction is pretty easy by comparison. You write a book, you get an agent, you find a publisher. One, two, three. Unless you skip the second step because you’re a lawyer or something.

But nonfiction is a bit more complicated. Having written and sold a nonfiction book, here’s what I learned in the process.

Myth #1: Start your nonfiction book endeavors by finding a contact at a big publishing house (Houghton Mifflin, Simon & Schuster, etc.) and talk to them about whether or not they might be interested in your book.

Gah! This is the equivalent of deciding to go grocery shopping and then calling up the manager at Piggly Wiggly to ask them if they carry potatoes. Don’t contact anyone at a publishing house or an agency as your first step — ever. Why? Because you have to do your homework first. Trust me, people will be much more inclined to chat with you if you’re knowledgeable about the industry and market you’re jumping into.

So what is a good first step instead? Go to Border’s or Barnes & Noble and look at all the books on the shelves that are even remotely like yours. Every. One. Of. Them. Write down the titles, the authors and the publishers. If they list their agents, write that down, too. This is useful because you’re going to have to explain, ultimately, what books are on the market that will compete with yours. And knowing what publishers have printed books like yours will help you narrow down where to send your book when you’re ready. Knowing what’s on shelves already will also help you explain why your book is different from all these, which leads me to my next point.

Ultimately you’ll have to explain to a publisher why your book — on growing daisies, for example — is different than all the other books on growing daisies that are on the market today. You will have to outline why and how you have a fresh take on this subject, and why people are going to want to buy it. If you haven’t figured that out yet, then don’t bother pursuing your nonfiction book dreams. Because I can tell you right now a publisher won’t go near it. Sorry for the harsh lingo, but having a fresh idea in a saturated market is what’s going to get you noticed. That’s as true for nonfiction as it is for fiction, actually.

Myth #2: Write the entire book, then figure out the nonfiction publishing process.

Well, okay, it’s not terrible to write a book and then figure it out, but you don’t have to. You can write one or two really solid chapters, then you can work on what’s called a nonfiction book proposal. That’s where you outline what your book will cover, who your book will compete with, what demographic it will reach, and why certain publishers should be interested in it. For the best road-map on writing a book proposal, please see The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Published by Sheree Bykofsky and Jennifer Basye Sande. This book is the Bible for anyone wanting to publish nonfiction, and it’s good for fiction as well. It’s brilliant, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

A publisher can actually sign you — with a contract and an advance — based on the proposal and the first two chapters. So you don’t have to write the entire book first. That’s one of the cool things about nonfiction.

On my next nonfiction post, I’ll cover whether or not you need an agent, and whether or not you should create “supplemental pieces” to go along with your book.

STATUS: Better than my last post.

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: A kid getting set up by his dad to play the maze game online. It’s mean. It’s a horrible depiction of parenting. But it’s fuh to the nee.

Okay, so the last post? Was in response to Brett Favre wanting to leave the Packers to go play for someone else. After he told us all he was retiring. I think he’s ruining a fabulous legacy, just because he doesn’t know what to do with his life besides throw a football. Today I’m happy to report that the Packers are handling it well. They won’t release him, and they still want to start Aaron Rodgers.

At least someone’s thinking clearly.

SCREW YOU,

BRETT.

SERIOUSLY.

SCREW. YOU.

Full story.

STATUS: Dreaming of August and life in our new home. I am the luckiest girl in the whole world. Seriously. And not just because of the house. I have a great life to go inside of it, too!

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: Anyone remember when the Facts of Life went to Paris? I sure do. I love how they changed the intro to show how the girls were flying abroad. You knew right away it was a Very Special Episode.

I was reading yesterday about a new novel, First Wife, by Curtis Sittenfeld. I am fascinated by the premise, which is not-so-subtly based on Laura Bush’s life and, apparently, is raising some eyebrows in D.C. (Btw, gorgeous cover. Luuurve it.) What I think is so interesting is that Sittenfeld took aspects of the First Lady’s life, created a character around them, then fictionalized the poo out of most everything else.

In a sense, that’s what all of us writers do. Consciously or not, we’re taking things that have happened–at least in our own experiences–and then we build a story from that foundation. I’m 100 percent comfortable doing that with my own life; Sittenfeld made me stop and think how much we writers do that with other people’s lives, too. Sometimes we do it overtly, sometimes not.

My next novel (not DONUT DAYS, the one after that, which is all written and in the queue and which I am so totally pumped about it, I get an adrenaline rush every time I think about it) is based on a lot of real-life happenings. Granted, they happened to me, but they happened to a lot of other people, too. My characters reflect that. Is there a line we writers shouldn’t cross when we craft our characters and base them on true events, on real people?–I don’t know. But I’m still excited as heck to see what happens with the story. And to pick up Sittenfeld’s novel in the meantime.

STATUS: Taking a break.

FAVE LINKEY POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: This video on the history of Lolcats. I heart Lolcats so much. I’m obsessed.

As I was doing my makeup today, I was thinking about the funny relationships we writers, editors, and agents all have with each other. And that got me thinking about what writers, editors, and agents all want to say to each other but sometimes can’t. And THAT, gentle readers, inspired the following shirts. They’re all available on CafePress.com for sale if you are inclined to buy one. But you don’t need to buy one to get a laugh out of them.

Here’s a shirt for agents:

And one for writers:

And one for editors: