Writer Mama Riffs on Raising A Writing Career Alongside Your Kids

By Mary Andonian

If you want to make a good impression on editors every time, you’ll want to master the fine art of the query letter. The query letter is simply your pitch in print. It’s what you’d say to your editor if you had her cornered for two minutes at a writers’ conference. (But try not to do it in the bathroom. They really hate that.)

Before your salutation, you’ll address your editor in the upper left corner. If you don’t have a specific name, you’re not ready to query yet. For example, do NOT call him “Acquisitions Editor” or “Senior Editor.” Instead, go on-line to Writers Market and research the publications you’re targeting. Find out who’s buying the materials you write, and address your query to this person. Be sure to spell her name correctly.

Salutations are addressed to Mr. or Ms., never by a first name unless you know this person and have done business with him in the past.

Your opening paragraph should establish common ground. Who referred you and/or why are you writing? Name your piece in your opening. Ex: Christina Katz suggested I contact you regarding my proposed book, Sell Yourself a Writing Career: 100 Sales Strategies That Will Help You Sell your Next Book.

Your next one or two paragraphs offer important details. What is your book idea and what section would it live in at the bookstore ? Compare and contrast your books to others currently on the hit list.

Explain why you’re the best person to write your book. Describe your platform. What is your previous publication experience? How does your reading audience find you? Website? Blog? Online class or conference workshop? The editor will want to know if you are qualified, and this is the paragraph where you prove it.

Close with an offer to send more. Thank your editor for considering your query. Remember to print your contact information on your stationery, especially your e-mail address.

Finally, don’t forget the most important item in your query package, if requested in the guidelines: The SASE (self addressed, stamped envelope).

Bonus: Use the Forever stamp on your SASE so your editor won’t have to add postage after the obligatory USPS rate change in May. She’ll appreciate your efforts to make her job that much easier.

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Mary Andonian is the agents and edtiors coordinator for the Willamette Writers Conference, one of the largest writers’ conferences in the United States. In past years, she was Co-chair and Program Coordinator. She just completed her second book, Bitsy’s Labyrinth. Contact Mary at maryandonianwwconference AT yahoo.com.

You’re meeting your potential client for the first time. Or maybe you’re pitching your proposal to an editor at a writers’ conference. What to bring? In both situations, you’ll want to arm yourself with professional materials you can use throughout your conversation and leave behind after the meeting. These printed materials represent who you are as a writer, so make them count!

Staples: Business Cards identifying you as a writer, your printed bio on high quality, ultra white (107+ euro bright or better) paper, two pocket portfolios, and 2 x 4 white labels.

Print your proposal title in the center of your label, and adhere it to the front of your two pocket portfolio. On the inside, affix your business card in the die-cut holder, provided. Your cards should include your name, address, phone, and email. You may also include a title, such as Freelance Writer, or Principal (if you own your own writing consulting service, for example). Your card should not include any titles from your past life vocation.

Tucked inside the left pocket should be your bio. It should be a summary of your writing achievements, not a chronological list of every job you ever held or irrelevant degrees and associations. If it’s iffy, show how the degree can translate into the writing world: “I have an MBA with an emphasis in Marketing, a skill set that might come in handy after my book has sold.”

If you’re fortunate enough to have clips, or past writing credits, include it with your bio or as a stand-alone sheet behind your bio page. Your rate sheet can also go here.

In the right pocket should be your proposal information, on top, your proposal letter; behind it, your book summary.

Your proposal letter should be printed on your “letterhead.” Take the time to create a word template that contains your contact info in the footer section. Consider formatting the font differently than Times New Roman to make it stand out from your query (or proposal) text.

Your book summary is a paragraph-by-paragraph summary of your proposed book chapters. As a “newbie,” you’ll need to prove to an editor that you’ve thought your book through to its final chapter.

Since the query letter is probably the most important item in your portfolio, we’ll devote the entire April column to this subject. In the meantime, get your supplies, prep your label, bio, and letterhead, and I’ll see you next month!
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Mary Andonian is the agents and edtiors coordinator for the Willamette Writers Conference, one of the largest writers’ conferences in the United States. In past years, she was Co-chair and Program Coordinator. She just completed her second book, Bitsy’s Labyrinth. Contact Mary at maryandonianwwconference AT yahoo.com.

By Mary Andonian

Take this mini-quiz: Google your name. How many records on the first page of results are about you? I am fortunate. My name is unique, so the very first record that shows up when I Google my name is my website. Your job this month is to find a way for your web content to show up on the first page of a Google search.

What if your name is Mary Smith? A quick Google search yielded Mary Smith as a: painter, novel character, landscape architect, and police officer, all at the top of page one! If you have a common name, try including your middle name in your professional signature, or create a unique business name that will put you at the top of a web search. Just make sure to include it on your letterhead and business cards.

This can be accomplished any number of ways. If you’re lucky, you can affiliate yourself with a hit E-zine, like The Writer Mama or Writers on the Rise. These E-zines use technology that “tags” your name so it will be one of the first results in a web search. I don’t completely understand how it works, but I certainly reap the benefits.

If you’re not a contributing columnist, you can accomplish the same feat by being the master of your own domain via website or blogging. According to this morning’s edition of The Oregonian, I live in one of the most blog-friendly places in the United States! To learn more about blogging, visit www.wordpress.com, www.blogger.com or www.typepad.com. These blogging sites will walk you through the set up process.

You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on expensive software like Adobe’s Dream Weaver or Contribute to build and maintain a website, (although if you’re technically savvy, they can prove to be invaluable tools). Instead, you can create a free Yahoo account and use one of their templates to create your own “shingle.” Purchase a domain name (your name, preferably), select a basic site, and get typing!

No matter what strategy you choose, creating a professional web presence has advantages. An editor can glean more information from your website or blog than a one-page query letter. Your query letter can point to your website or blog, allowing an editor to see the expanded version of your bio or read your clips in their entirety. But please don’t fill your site with an endless array of cute family photos and whimsical musings about your pet cat. Your site should define you as a serious writer. Unless you are writing about family life, try to keep your site as professional as possible.

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Mary Andonian is the agents and edtiors coordinator for the Willamette Writers Conference, one of the largest writers’ conferences in the United States. In past years, she was Co-chair and Program Coordinator. She just completed her second book, Bitsy’s Labyrinth. Contact Mary at maryandonianwwconference AT yahoo.com.

By Mary Andonian

Is this is the year you’ve decided to take the plunge and become a professional writer? Maybe you already work full time at something that pays the bills but doesn’t fulfill you. Or perhaps you work overtime at home, raising kids and keeping house.

Regardless of your present circumstances, if you have decided to devote time to your writing passion and want to earn money doing it, then congratulations! We’re going to give you some tips on how to make your dreams a reality.

How do you feel about your decision? Do you believe you can soon be a professional writer? Before you can become a writer on the outside, you must first believe in yourself on the inside. Try the following to develop your inner writer’s self esteem:

Creating your professional image is an inside job first. If you don’t take yourself seriously, how will anybody else? And when you’re feeling insecure about whether or not you deserve to pursue your dream of becoming a writer, consider what my brother Randy shared with me many moons ago, before I was about to interview for a much desired job: “Mary, if anyone before you has ever performed this job, regardless of their abilities, why not you?

People have been making a living at writing for many years. Why not you?

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Mary Andonian is the agents and edtiors coordinator for the Willamette Writers Conference, one of the largest writers’ conferences in the United States. In past years, she was Co-chair and Program Coordinator. She just completed her second book, Bitsy’s Labyrinth. Contact Mary at maryandonianwwconference AT yahoo.com.