Category Archives: The Fictorians

The Art of the Cover Letter

Cover letters Kristin Luna Publishing Starting a Career Submissions synopsis The Fictorians The Writing Life No Comments
Look at you writing that cover letter like a champion!

Perhaps the most dreaded feedback for a writer or a skyscraper architect to receive is: “Can you make it shorter?” For some writers, this is one of the most painful parts of the editing process. For me, it’s… well, I actually haven’t gotten that note before. I write short, and I friggin’ like it that way.

Turns out I’m not alone. I’ve received some significant compliments from editors and publishers on my short, concise, and to-the-point cover letters. I found this curious, until I realized I have lots of experience with cover letters. At a former job, I was first point of contact for applicants and read literally thousands of cover letters. I’d taken note of what worked, what didn’t, and what could work if finessed. Below, I’ll give you that basic structure based on what you’re submitting to an editor or publisher.

The most important thing to mention is that if you can turn the basic into the unique without it being overblown, braggy, or down-right weird, then do it. Your cover letter is your chance to introduce yourself in a provocative, distinct way. Take advantage of the opportunity!

 

Dear EDITOR/PUBLISHER NAME,

(A)It’s my pleasure to submit SHORT STORY/MANUSCRIPT TITLE for your consideration for PUBLICATION NAME.

(B1) [If you are submitting a novel, directly go in to a little about yourself. In this section about yourself, be sure to mention:

  • If you have met the editor or publisher at an event, immediately remind them when and where you two met, and remind them that they asked to see your work
  • Published works (if you have many, choose your top three or just use the titles of the magazines, for example: My short stories have appeared in Intergalactic Medicine Show, Pseudopod, and Daily Science Fiction.)
  • Ongoing works such as blogging, reviews, or newspaper/magazine columns
  • Soon-to-be published works
  • Long-term works (ex. “I am currently writing a horror fantasy series set in 1920’s Brooklyn.”)
  • Any other writing-related credits (editor, copywriter, etc.)
  • One or two sentences about yourself including your day job, inspirations, aspirations, unique experience you hold that might be attractive to a publisher — this is an opportunity to hook an editor with your personality]

(B2) [If you are submitting a short story, I recommend first talking about the story:]

“SHORT STORY TITLE” is a X,XXX-word GENRE (ex. psychedelic fantasy) set in SETTING (ex. the heart of an acid trip).  INCLUDE 2-3 MORE SENTENCES ABOUT YOUR STORY. THIS IS YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH. MAKE SURE YOU REALLY HOOK THE EDITOR WITH THIS DESCRIPTION — MAKE THEM SO CURIOUS THEY CAN’T HELP BUT READ YOUR STORY TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS.

(C1) [For submitting a novel, now is the time to go into 1-3 paragraphs about your story. This will be different than what is explained in B2, as you need to go into a longer pitch of your novel. In these paragraphs, take the editor on a small tour of what they can expect to read in your novel. Go over the main characters and basic plot, then mention the themes you delve into as well. After the long pitch, if you haven’t mentioned it already, state your target audience for your novel, approximate word count, and any other information you feel is important for the editor to know. For example, mention that you gave your novel to ten 5th grade boys (your target audience), and provide quotes of from the boys detailing how they loved the book.]

(C2) [For submitting a short story, now is the time you can talk about yourself. Keep it to a paragraph and just list your past, ongoing, and soon-to-be publications, and a fact or two about yourself (where you live, that you are a professional skydiver, that you have 49 grandchildren, etc.).]

(D) [Thank the editor for their time in this short section, and put it in your own words.] I appreciate your time, and thank you for taking a look at my story/novel “SHORT STORY TITLE”/NOVEL TITLE. I look forward to hearing from you.

(E) [Your personal information goes here such as:]

NAME
E-MAIL ADDRESS
PHONE NUMBER (optional)

As you may have noted, a cover letter for a novel will be a bit longer than a short story, but both should be limited to between four and six paragraphs. You don’t want the editor spending their precious time reading your cover letter. You want to leave them intrigued as to who you are and excited to read your story. So much so, they’ll jump right into reading your manuscript.

Additional (and helpful) resources:

  1. Submission and Formatting Basics: http://www.writersdigest.com/tip-of-the-day/how-to-submit-short-stories-formatting-basics
  2. Submissions 101: http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/literary-journal-submissions-101
  3. Writing a Query Letter: http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/how-to-write-the-perfect-query-letter

Writing How-To’s for Fun and Profit

Guy Anthony De Marco The Writing Process 1 Comment

I have many author friends who get burned out after writing a book-length collection of short stories or a novel. They start dreading their next project, having just toiled away for weeks or months.
“Why not cleanse your palate by writing a non-fiction book,” I’d ask. After some grumbling bout how tough it is to write non-fiction, some actually do give it a try—and they add to their published bibliography and, sometimes, their bank account.

Everyone has something they like to do, or they have some special knowledge that they think is too mundane to do anything with it. For example, I have an ancient hand-written notebook of recipes from my great-grandmother and grandmother. This was at the turn of the 19th century, before refrigeration and electricity were commonplace on farms, through the Great Depression and the first World War. They didn’t waste anything back in those days. Actually, there’s a cookie recipe in there specifically for milk that had spoiled. Yes, they are delicious and they don’t smell like rancid milk.

I’m going to take those old recipes and put them together in a period cook book, padding them out with some recipes from my dearly departed mother and my brother, Gilbert, who is quite the accomplished chef. His pumpkin cheesecake is to die for. Gilbert will be a co-author, as will the rest of the family.

I used to be in the Information Technology field for 37 years. I have a large collection of installation guides I wrote for software installation, as well as server installation and maintenance. I’ve been putting out short how-to guides under a pseudonym for a while, and combined they provide a nice revenue stream to support a charity I selected. That pseudonym is now seen as an expert in the field, even though he technically doesn’t exist.

You have plenty of things you enjoy doing, I’m sure. For example, if you enjoy being the Dungeon Master for your local Dungeons and Dragons group, consider publishing your homemade modules using one of the open, generic gaming systems. A great place to find samples is to visit DriveThruRPG.com and look for some of the freebie modules. I’ve published a couple of books back in the 1980’s with some of my unique items, creatures, traps, and modules. I have over 300 that have been used during the years I played consistently. In fact, consider designing your very own game, possibly centered around gaming systems like Savage Worlds or Pathfinder, or even one of the open-source gaming systems.

I enjoy target shooting, so I wrote a short tutorial under a pseudonym for authors who want to have additional realism added to their gun-wielding characters. I’ve also produced books on topics ranging from how authors can use QR Codes to improving your WordPress author website.

All of these are things I do anyway for fun, so by taking the time to write things down, organize them into a coherent work, and then convert and publish, I get to have another book for my revenue stream and to increase my authoritative stature in my chosen fields. Sometimes, it even brings in a trickle of funds. Enough trickles can eventually combine into an Amazon-sized river. (See what I did there?) I have also collected articles together and either used them as a giveaway on my blog (combined into PDF, ePub, and Mobi versions), or sold them for a very low price, such as 25 cents using Amazon’s price-matching system. Other times I use them as a fund-raiser for charities.

If you need a break, consider writing something non-fiction. After it’s published, you’ll feel refreshed and ready to tackle that 500-page tome of fantasy you’ve been contemplating.

Finding Your Aha! in Non-Fiction Writing

Ace Jordyn Craft & Skills The Writing Process No Comments

Welcome to November – it’s non-fiction month!

Writing stories – that’s what we do, most certainly! Then there are those non-fiction things that we’re forced to write to sell the creative. Back jacket book blurb, synopsis, query letter – which is the most frustrating one for you? Or, are they all understandably so? We’ll get some tips on those as well as cool information on things like ghost writing, blogging, writing grants and understanding those pesky editorial mark ups. Just to make it all easier and to make more sense, Adria Laycraft, our guest on Tuesday November 4th, will talk about the difference between fiction and technical writing.

No matter what we write, there is story to be found, even in non-fiction and our November 16th guest, Billie Milholland will tell us about that. There is even money to be made with nonfiction, as Guy Anthony De Marco, Colette Black and guest Tereasa Maille will show us.

I must confide that sometimes I find it very difficult to switch from writing pure fiction to writing the technical stuff especially when it comes to promoting my own work. But I’ve come to realize that I’m quite comfortable translating the technical/scientific to people. I see stories in whatever I write. As a speaker, on business planning, agricultural marketing and food safety/food science, that’s a great skill to have. I always can find the stories in the science and business to translate into easily accessible information. When I understood the story, understood my audience and what they needed, and how they needed to hear it, magic happened. The aha! moments abounded, faces furrowed with confusion would grin and light up. People became excited about the possibilities for they could now see themselves as part of the story.

That makes non-fiction writing much the same as fiction writing – there is a story to tell, there is information, ideas, feelings to communicate. The language and the rules may be slightly different but it always comes down to story.

So, I’m looking forward to November. Anything, any hint or aha! that helps me convey the non-fiction better is awesome. I hope you have fun with it too!

And as a special treat, Fictorian Greg Little will be launching his new book Unwilling Souls. Watch for that blog – it promises to be good!

Wrapping Up October (Mummy-Style!)

Guy Anthony De Marco The Writing Process No Comments

We’ve had a heck of a scary month at the Fictorians. Halloween is tomorrow, when the undead and the kiddies wander around playing trick-or-treat. Earlier this month, we had the real horror — presidential debates and political congressional hearings took over the airwaves. It’s Christmas for folks who love dark fiction and black humor.

We’ve heard from wonderful guest authors this month, such as Nicole Cushing, Tonya De Marco, Matthew Warner, Petra Klarbrunn, Pamela K. Kinney and Annik Valkanberg.  Some of them appeared for first time on the Fictorians. We’ve learned all about writing horror and dark fiction from the usual suspects, plus how to mix genres together, get romantic with the dark side, and even channeling dark periods in one’s life into fiction.

Next month, we’ll be concentrating on writing non-fiction, including query letters and blurbs.

For the first time on the Fictorians, tomorrow on Halloween we have a treat for you. After you’re back from raiding the candy stores of your neighbors, curl up under a blanket, munch on a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, and visit us for some flash-fiction scary stories from the Fictorians and their friendly honored guests.