I hope you like it. Publication date is Aug 10th. And the only industry expert to have read it already has given ACE feedback - part of which you'll see if you squint at the cover.
Dear Agent is going to be the partner in crime to Write a Great Synopsis, and between them I hope they'll cover everything you need to submit a novel to an agent or publisher. Dear Agent also focuses heavily on how to pitch your book in a paragraph, so will be very useful for self-publishers trying to write the blurb for their books.
GIVEAWAYS GALORE!
To celebrate, today I am offering two blog readers a free copy in advance of publication! (More chances later, here, on Twitter, and FB.) All you have to do is leave a "pick me!" style comment below and I will pick two names after the deadline of midday on Monday 16th.
And there are THREE MORE chances on my Facebook Author page right now - try for both! That's five free copies today, and more to follow later.
Winners will receive their copy (it's an ebook - and you do NOT need an ebook reader to read it) at the end of July, all being well.
Obviously, I'm hoping that some people will like it and say so on Amazon or Twitter or a blog - or ANYWHERE! Pretty please with sparkly bells on. I'm not very good at asking for Amazon reviews, but they are all I have in my quest to make this work. If I can get it to shoot up the rankings at the beginning, it really helps.
I will be blogging some free extracts and offering other giveaways here, on Facebook and on Twitter up until the day before publication. And when it's published it will be STUPID cheap for one weekend only so keep your eyes open! The best place to keep on top of any news will from now on be my Facebook Author Page. Please wave at me there.
Please, if you value the advice here on this blog and in the books, do shout about it in the right places. I will love you forever.
49 comments:
Woo! Nice cover. This is my 'pick me!': I'd love a copy. Good luck with it.
Pick me, please!
Your advice is sensible, tough but spot-on. (Hope that's not too sycophantic - it happens to be true.)
Pick me please. I'll be in the UK to collect it and I'm sure I'll like it and say so.
I'm in there! I'll shout it all over the place, Nicola because of all the help I've had from you to get published.
Pick me please too.
Oohh I like that gold seal on the cover!
I actually need this book...is it going to be possible to buy one via PayPal?
Would love to win this!
Please pick me! On a scale of One to 'I Need To Win This', I'd rate myself at about an 'I wonder if a bribe would help?'
Like a bright red rose.
Like a congested nose.
Pick me.
Like a pick 'n' mix.
Like a chocolate fix.
Pick me.
Like a welcoming hug.
Like a blogpost interview plug?
Pick me!
I confess to having an agent but that's partly down to you and as I own all your books, I'd like to own this one too.
Pick me and I'll show it to everyone at my writers' group plus shout about it on the Litopia Writers' Community :-)
Thanks for the offer. Cover looks great: book sounds fantastic.
Pick me and Ill use your name as my heroine in my next book :D (and I wont annoy you) lol :D
Pick Me for I'll promote it like a possessed enigma who strives for maverick innovation.
Your advice has always been fantastic and if this book is anything like the Synopsis one, then I sense greatness from yourself shared.
Agents beware... The days of discarding on the basis of a letter could be a thing of the past.
Stand tall Crabbiters... the Wise One has an audience.
Ooh yes please! But if I don't win I download it anyway and will blog about what sounds exactly the advice I need. I know have a GREAT manuscript - see, I'm being positive here - only somehow I can't get agents to get past my lacklustre submissions.
Please, please, please - plus lots of bribes like promises of reviews and maybe chocolate and reviews and a mention in the acknowledgements of my book which will of course find an agent now ... (well, when it's written, and edited ...)
I'd really love a copy. I've had two offers from publishers, but with such small royalties that I couldn't afford to say yes. I'm guessing that I'm looking at the wrong publishers, and need help to get the right one. Your blog advice is great and the book sounds perfect :)
Love your comments! I note you are all restraining yourselves from offering champagne, though... *frowns*
Imran - "Agents beware... The days of discarding on the basis of a letter could be a thing of the past." Love it! Now, if you read Dear Agent and do indeed love it, that would be a fabbity thing to put on Amazon. *coughs*
Esmeraldamac- the normal range of royalties from publishers for a paperback is 7.5-10% (often on an escalator - ie, a higher royalty once a certain sales figure is reached). Are you saying you've been offered less? Bear in mind that publishers are bearing the cost of printing, distributing, warehousing, marketing (you hope!) and editing etc etc etc. That's why trade royalties are lower than KDP.
I loved your Write A Great Synopsis, and good advice on pitching to agents is just what I need now. Please pick me!
Please add my name to the hat. If not you shall force me to pay for it! (wait - that won't convince you, will it?)
This would look nice on my Kindle alongside my copy of HTWAGS. :)
I was going to ask you to pick me, but I think you should pick Derek instead - his poem is a masterpiece, and should be embroidered on cushions.
Penwright, that is very generous of you, and yes, the poem is indeed genius!
Oh, lookie, I can post again! I reiterate my offfer of eChampagne here ;)
Have written manuscript, with the Crabbit help of Write To Be Published (tick).
Have written synopsis, with the Crabbit help of Write A Great Synopsis (tick).
Fingers have thus been poised at the keyboard for 6 months in readiness to make the perfect approach with the Crabbit help of Dear Agent (semi-tick).
Will it be an even longer wait for you to stick stamp on envelope in true Crabbit style and propel me towards the postbox when the time comes?
Yes, I would love further sensible advice from you for the next stage of my journey!
Ooh, please pick me, I would love a copy! Very relevant for my current situation :D
I've only just found your site, but I will be back. Love the advice! Pick me...I am comment number 25 - just like Christmas, how can you deny that?
Yes please! Yes Please!! Pick me.
but I loved Derek's comment/poem, so if not me, then him.
Yes please yes please' pick me so my novel can be complete! ;-) And prove that Friday 13th isn't really an unlucky day!....
Writing to an agent is very scary,
But with Nicola's help, it will no longer be hairy.
No more submissions with toffees or nude pics,
Dear Agent will stop us from becoming convicts.
Please, please, pretty please, please pick me,
And put an end to my dreadful poetry.
Well, it's the Companion to Write a Great Synopsis and I have that so don't want it to be lonely.
And I have soon to (scary, scary) write the synopsis for my adult novel and get a new agent for adult books so I think you should pick me as I am "pre-published" in that area!
Ooh! Pick me please :)
Would love a copy...have enjoyed spreading the word about 'WAGS' and will do the same here!
Are these how to books available only as e-books, or will there also be paper versions too?
Pick me please.
I'll give it a push on my blog too, but probably not till September as I am away for most of August. That's not to say I don't want to be entered into the Pick Me draw!
Woo-hoo!!! I already have Write to be Published and WAGS, so Dear Agent will be in good company ;o)
And I tell anyone who'll listen (& even those who don't) how super-fabulous your advice is.
So please pick me ... please please! I know its unattractive to beg but PLEASE!!!
I'd love your book Nicola, pick me please pretty please, sparkly bells, bows and bangles.xxxx
Oh yes please pick me! I love the synopsis book, it's a gem.
This would be just what I need after a week of writing reports, school residential visits and musical productions of 'The Jungle Book!'
Pick me because I can sing and I feel sure that will help your publicity quest. And because I wantsss it preciousssss
Don't pick me, as Elizabeth will get worried *waves* - but do tell me how UK-centric it is, please? I have a class of US summer school students in creative writing and am putting together a list of useful resources for them at the moment. But they will go back to the US in late August and will be pitching to US agents. Useful for them or not?
How are you going to choose? The worst poster will need your help the most, so should I slip in the odd error? Pock me!
Pick me please.
I've left space next to your other books on my Kindle.
Debbie
Pick me, pick me, I'm ever so eager :-D
Pick me please, Nicola. Please? Pretty please? Oh ok, well just plain ordinary please then.
Good luck with it by the way!
Am late to the party and can't possibly compete with all that bribery and poetry. But I'd still love a copy of your book (tho I'll buy it anyway!).
Do please pick me. It is quite close to midday in the UK, but here in this particular portion of Canada, it is 7:39 a.m. and 30 degrees Centigrade, and the jackhammers are about to begin going BRRBRBRBRBRBRBRBRBR outside my window again. I need something to console me.
Stroppy - good question and one I considered carefully while writing the book because I wanted to be completely clear and honest. The truth is that it will be very useful for anyone pitching a book because it shows you how to pitch your book brilliantly and pithily in the pitch paragraph which comes into both the UK-style covering letter and the US-style query letter. BUT, as I say in the book, this *is* a British book, written from a UK (and other non-US) perspective and I'd say only 80% relevant to a writer pitching to US agents. The lists of things you should and shouldn't do would be virtually identical.
I think what i can honestly say is that for the couple of quid it's going to cost (c50p for the first weekend and thereafter around £2.70) it's going to be well worth it but it will not tell a US writer everything he/she needs to know.
You are all wonderful and I'm going to be running your numbers through the random generator later today. Cross your fingers!
Captain Black - only ebooks, I'm afraid. I just don't have time to do and sell the paper versions. Sorry :(
Thank you! I will put it on the list with that caveat.
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