Now the advice portion. I occasionally have a habit of taking a more difficult path. Here is that difficult path. For the easy path, I recommend just doing steps 9-11, skip to 14-15, then close with 20-22 (marked in bold).
1) Get an agent by responding to a call for authors on an IT encyclopedia.
2) Offer to write the encyclopedia.
3) Write 30 page proposal.
4) Agent submits proposal to publisher.
5) Publisher loves proposal.
6) Publisher decides to stop printing encyclopedias.
7) Publisher changes mind, gets back into encyclopedia business, then changes mind again.
8) Agent gets new job as an editor, forgets to tell clients or publishers.
9) Cold query for new agent.
10) Pitch new agent on Satellite book.
11) Agent gives feedback.
12) Procrastinate on proposal, 'cuz paying work is more fun than speculative writing.
13) Remember proposal, apologize.
14) Send proposal to agent.
15) Agent shops it to most likely publisher.
16) Publisher not sure whether print books are worth doing (oh no, not again!)
17) Publisher also says they are considering similar proposal by another author.
18) Invent an entire DIY Space line that Publisher could do that involves both authors, spec it out, offer to do 4 in that series.
19) Rewrite proposal to fit publisher's spec (which I had invented for them).
20) Publisher accepts!
21) Send publisher headshot for publicity purposes.
22) Write books.
Face it, writing is easy, but the business of writing? That's brutal.
Alex
Launching Project Calliope, sponsored by Science 2.0, in 2011
News every Tuesday at The Satellite Diaries, every Friday at the Daytime Astronomer
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