Please, before contacting me, take a minute to skim through the...
Please understand that if your question is already
answered here, you will not receive a response by e-mail. I'm inundated with
e-mail and, although I wish I could respond to everything, I can't. It's
physically impossible.
If your question isn't answered here, you'll find my e-mail address at the bottom of the page.
- Can I hire you?
- What are your ghostwriting
terms?
- Will you speak at our conference?
- Will you read my work?
- Can you recommend an agent/publisher/editor?
- How do I sell my nonfiction book?
- Will you write a book blurb or foreword for me?
- Can I interview you?
- Can you give me advice about...?
- Can I hire you as an editor?
- Will you help me get something to
Celine Dion?
- I want to be a full-time freelance
writer. Can you tell me how?
- Do you own Absolute Write?
Thanks for your interest in my work. Please feel free to e-mail me (my
address is at the bottom of the page).
What are your ghostwriting terms?
I often work as a ghostwriter. I am normally brought in
by editors or agents, but I am always willing to hear from people seeking a
ghostwriter directly. I work in nonfiction only (not novels).
To sell a nonfiction book, you need a book proposal,
which is a document that contains an overview of your proposed book along with
information about you, the book's intended audience, your publicity ideas, the
competition for the book and how yours will be different and/or better, an
annotated table of contents, and sample material. You then send that book
proposal to agents or publishers (or both), and publishers make offers based on
it. You don't need a complete manuscript before you have a publishing deal.
I charge a flat fee to ghostwrite this proposal, and
I'll warn you that I'm not cheap. For the book
itself, there are a number of ways to work out a fair split.
The fit between author and ghostwriter is important,
too. We both have to feel like we'd enjoy working together. I need to feel that
the subject matter is within my areas of interest and that the book could sell
well. If we can meet all those conditions, we might just be ready to rock!
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I really, really appreciate it when people want me to
come speak to their writing groups, or lead a workshop, teach a seminar,
etc. However, I have to say "no" if it requires plane travel. Plane
travel just isn't my thing. However! If your event is in or
close to New York, there's a good chance I can do
it. Write to me or my
publisher and we'll talk.
If you're interested in selling my books and/or using
them as door prizes, please contact my publishers.
For Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer or The
Street-Smart Writer, contact sara@nomadpress.net.
For Hattie, Get a Haircut!, contact info@keenebooks.com.
For Outwitting Writer's Block, contact Liza
Byron at eliza.byron@globepequot.com.
For Words You Thought You Knew, contact Gene
Molter at emolter@adamsmedia.com.
For Conquering Panic and Anxiety Disorders, use
the contact form here: http://www.hunterhouse.com/contact.asp.
For Celine Dion: For Keeps, contact Tammie
Barker at tbarker@amuniversal.com.
For Bullyproof Your Child for Life, contact
Julia Fleischaker at Julia.Fleischaker@us.penguingroup.com.
Many writers write to me to ask me to read and critique
their work. I'm sorry, but I can't do this. I could give you a
hundred reasons, but the most important one is that I just don't have the
time.
There is a board set up on Absolute Write where you can
share your work and get critiques. Just visit http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums.
Register (free and painless), then go to the "Share Your Work"
section, which is password-protected (the password is listed right on the
board's description). Hop on in and share away. Just be aware that it's
considered good manners to critique other people's work if you're asking for
critiques of your own, too.
No. Again, I get so many requests from writers
who want me to suggest appropriate markets and editors for their work, or who
want me to refer them to my agents or editors. If I want to give you a
recommendation because I know you and your work, I will do so on my own. I
do not give recommendations to people I don't know. It puts my reputation
on the line, and it's a very uncomfortable situation if an editor comes to me
and says, "Boy, that writer you recommended is a real pain in the
butt!"
Yes, I'm sure you're a wonderful person and a terrific
writer and you'd never cause me any trouble. Nonetheless, that's my rule
and I'm sticking to it. I'm sorry.
If you're looking for an appropriate market for your
book or article idea, I suggest you buy the latest copy of the Writer's
Market (an annual guide published by Writer's Digest), which lists
guidelines for thousands of magazine and book publishers. You can also just hop
on over to your local bookstore, write down the names of publishers who publish your
sort of work, and send them your stuff. Simple as that.
For agents, a good place to search is www.agentquery.com,
along with the acknowledgments pages of books like yours.
How do I sell my nonfiction book?
I wrote a series of posts about how to write a book
proposal over
here. I hope to one day write
about the entire publishing process. Hope you find it helpful.
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Maybe. Feel free to ask.
If I turn you down, it probably has nothing to do with your book's quality and
everything to do with my crazy schedule. Please note that I don't do
blurbs for novels because I'm not a novelist and don't feel qualified.
You bet. See my media page.
I do my best to answer readers'
questions. Please understand that I get about 100 e-mails per day
and if I tried to answer them all, I'd never get any work done. Many of
the articles and the books I've written are meant
to answer the questions I get asked most frequently. But I really do enjoy
hearing from my readers and if there's something you want me to help you with
that you can't find an answer to elsewhere, please feel free to contact
me. If it's important and you haven't heard back from me in a week, drop
me a line to remind me. I'm completely approachable, just on deadline most
of the time!
That's something I do very rarely, and
only for nonfiction in areas of my interest. You can try me if you like.
Since I began working on Celine's book,
I've received an awful lot of requests for help from fans and people who'd like
to work with Celine. I understand and sympathize with how difficult it is
to reach a celebrity like Celine; however, I really can't help you get your demo
tape/letter/gift/resume/etc. to her; I can't ask her questions for you; I can't
give you private contact info; I can't get you a backstage meeting, autograph,
or tickets; etc. I'm just not in a position to do that and I hope you
understand. You can reach her company through the official website at www.celinedion.com.
And to answer the other question about Celine-- what's she like?-- a genuine
sweetheart.
Everything I could possibly tell you is in
my book Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer.
Please don't send me your resume or bio and ask me how you should get
started. I already wrote a whole book about it, and there's no way for me
to condense that into an e-mail. I promise you it's a good
book.
Do you own Absolute Write?
Used to, for more than 7 years. Then I got
pregnant and knew I needed to rearrange my priorities some, so I sold the site
in November of 2006. I have nothing to do with managing it anymore and I am no
longer a member. It was an enormous pleasure running the site for so
long.
Okay, you've earned it. Here's
Jenna's e-mail address:
(Not clickable to confuse spam-bots.)
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