From Telling to Selling

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Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me!
Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me! Agents Need Me!

From "Telling" to "Selling"
This is a fabulous time to be a writer.
Never before have there been so many opportunities to get published. Amazon.com offers over nine million (9,000,000) titles. Add to that another six million (6,000,000) titles--in English--for sale in Canada, England, So Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Your manuscript can become one of these fifteen million (15,000,000) published books.

However . . .
Due to the availability of the computer, millions of people who can type and have a printer think they are writers. They reason, "I have the tools of a writer, ergo, I am a writer." That's like believing if you have a hammer in one hand and nails in the other, you can build a porch. HAHAHA! (Not on my house).
Busy little bees that they are, these typists pump out queries,synopses, book proposals, and manuscripts, and submit them endlessly. This creates a log jam (known as the “slush pile”) all agents and editors and publishers must dig through to find the next Hemmingway or Clancy or Rowlings. And dig they do. Everything submitted is read, eventually. (Eventually could mean a six-month wait for a response to your query letter.)
Your challenge, as a writer, is to understand the competition is for attention, not for quality. You must stand out from the majority of submissions flooding the publishing world. And no, don’t even think about day-glow envelopes, flashing widgets, scented paper or tickets to the International Bowling Tournament Finals. (Actually, that might just work!)
Focus your attention on learning to write an effective query letter to start the ball rolling.
Make a mind-set shift.
Begin to think like the agent or editor or publisher who will be reading your query letter.
What do they want?
They want to know W-I-I-F-M, meaning "What's In It For me?" Are you a writer with skill and a saleable manuscript. Agents need product (books) to sell for a profit. They also want to meet writers who have an inner world populated with stories waiting to be written.
Suggestion:
Re-think your phrase “I need an agent.” Turn it around. Agents need me so they have a continual supply of well-written material to sell to publishers. Start declaring, "Agents need me!"
Change your mindset:
The one you used to create your manuscript is the exact opposite of the one required to sell it. It’s gut wrenching creativity morphing into hard-core business mode. If sales aren’t your gig, don’t worry. Any human smart and determined enough to complete a manuscript also is smart and determined enough to learn how to shift from "telling to selling" and write the necessary "sales" documents.
Your publishing career begins with the query.
However, if the task of writing a query gives you a raging headache (and craving for chocolate or donuts) give yourself the gift of stress-free query practice. The 36-page "Sales Pitch" Query Letter Tutorial/Workbook will help you. It's available now at the Bookstore.
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You can become a slush pile survivor!

Everyday, agents deal with dozens or hundreds of submissions: query letters, manuscripts, and book proposals as they create competition for attention.

You can win this competition for attention. How?

Go to school, meaning this Online Academy.
Visit every classroom.
SIGN UP for the Online Academy mailing list and receive a 12-page tutorial, "25 REALLY Dumb Query Letter MistRakes," (not available anywhere else). Plus, you'll be the first to receive notification about contests, special offers, upcoming tele-chats, agent updates, and new tutorials as they become available.

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Tutorial/Workbook (ebook)
Learn to write a sizzling query letter "Sales Pitch" paragraph--often the only one the agent ever reads.
This unique ebook, a 36-page workbook / tutorial (written by Molli Nickell), can help you effectively introduce yourself and your work to an agent. Because your query first paragraph must motivate the agent to keep on writing, learn how to craft one that captivates their interest.
Tutorial / workbook will teach you: WHY your query first paragraph is a make-or-break situation
HOW and why to shift from "telling" to "selling
WHAT agents want you to tell them
HOW to write story paragraphs to help you write all the sales documents you need (query, synopsis, first page, book proposal)
CONTEST WINNING first paragraphs to study
WRITING EXERCISES to help you learn how to write an effective "sales pitch" paragraph to motivate the agent to read your entire query.
COST: $14.95
(That's less than a movie ticket, gallon of chemically flavored cola, and bucket of trans-fat laden popcorn, and a whole lot more beneficial to your writing career.)
ORDER from the Bookstore