Dead Calm, Bone Dry one sheet

Step One: Take a Breath

Sometimes at conferences authors get so jazzed up with the appointment that they aim a fire hose in the face of faculty. They’ve been told they only get a couple of minutes to make that pitch and get the editor or agent’s attention, so they come prepared with their one-sheet and proposal but then forget to take a breath.

Often, the faculty wants to know more about the person sitting across the table than they do the project. This is a relationship business. No matter how good the pitch or project, or even how well you write, if the editor or the agent doesn’t feel they can build a rapport with that author and establish a relationship, they may not be that jazzed about the project anyway. So slow down and breathe.

Step Two: Bring Your One Sheet

Bring your one-sheet. And bring your proposal if you have it. Do not expect the editor or agent to take that proposal with them. In fact, most of us may not even take your one-sheet. But it’s good for you to have both because we’re going to ask questions and you’re going to need to refer to that proposal or that one-sheet to answer those questions. We may ask what your marketing plan is and you need to be able to quickly flip to that section of your proposal and give us that information. How many Facebook friends do you have, Twitter followers, what’s your Pinterest reach, are you on Goodreads? What’s your platform and can you market the book? We may ask those questions. You need to be able to get your hands on that information quickly.

Each editor and agent looks at a one-sheet a little bit differently. I take about a minute to read over the sheet and I approach it like a reader might in a bookstore. I tell authors to imagine they are in a Barnes and Noble. They are standing in front of a bookshelf. Pick up a book and scan the front cover. That’s going to give the title, the author, and if there’s a tagline that goes with that title. The one that comes off the top of my head is – I think it was the second Jaws movie – “just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water”. That’s a killer tag line.

So you have your title, your tagline, your author name, and probably in some cases you have some visual elements that hints at what the cover might look like. It’s not that you’re designing the cover, but if it’s a romantic beach read you’re probably going to have picture of a sunset or a sunrise at a beach, or people walking on the beach. But you don’t have to do it this way. Some editors and agents don’t want to see visual.

Next, it’s that back cover copy. What is the promise of the book, what is its premise? Is there a payoff for the reader? If I’m interested in that book I’ll ask for more – as would a reader. That’s the power of a one-sheet.

Step Three: Be Prepared to Email Your One Sheet or Proposal

Most editors and agents that come to conferences are flying in, so they just don’t have room to take printed copies of anything back with them. Often, we will ask a conferee to email us the proposal or the one-sheet as an attachment. If you’ve got it on a flash drive, that’s good too. When I go to conferences if somebody gives me a flash drive I take that back to the room and transfer it to my laptop, and then I have it with me. For me that’s really helpful because I’m flying to conferences, and if I’ve got the proposal when I leave the conference, or the one-sheet, then in the airport and on the plane I can kind of look over a lot of what I’ve just talked with an author about, and make a decision before I get home. If I don’t do it while I’m in the air then it may be months before I get back to that author.

Step Four: Know in Advance What a House is Looking For

If an editor is not looking for the project that you’re pitching, be respectful of that and don’t argue with the editor. Most major houses have their submission guidelines up on the site, so you know what they’re interested in purchasing before you get to the conference.

Step Five: Watch the Time

Editors and agents want to give your their undivided time, but they have also been asked by the conference director to stay on schedule. Make it your job to watch the time for them. Trust me, editors and agents appreciate an author who knows the value of time and respects the 15-minute slots for ALL authors. Personally, when I find an author who helps me stay on-schedule I know that I’m looking across the table at a professional.

So there you are: pitch, breathe, listen, and leave on time.

Good luck at your next writers’ conference.

“Early in the morning before the sun is up,  I am praying and pointing out  how much I trust in you.”
Psalm 119:47 TLB

Some of you know that it took five years and rejection slips from 42 editors before the first book I wrote was accepted for publication. Before that I struggled for several years to finish the manuscript. Self-doubts, and to be honest, God-doubts had me close to giving up many, many times.

The “deadly Ds” – disappointment, doubt, discouragement, even despair – were my frequent companions. What kept me keeping on?

• Promises such as Galatians 6:9: “Let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up” (TLB).

• The very first words I ever felt the Lord speak to my heart: “Child, I never said it would be easy to follow Me, but I have promised always to be with you.”

• My husband who never told me to go get a “real” job even during times when things were really rough financially.

• My pastor who paid my way to my first writers’ conference and held me accountable afterwards to use what I learned.

• Friends who year after year babysat my three children so I could go to the St. Davids Christian Writers Conference.

• The network of writing friends who encouraged me, and Gayle Roper and Anne Sirna who mentored me.

Yes, it took many long, discouraging years but that first book did get in print. The rest – seven other books, the Greater Philly and Colorado Christian Writers Conferences that I direct, the 70 conference faculties I’ve been honored to serve on, and my day-long writing seminars that I’ve given around the country over 50 times – are the fruit of abiding in Him and trusting Him to do what I could never do in my own strength.

The key really is trust, especially when the deadly Ds threaten to derail me. I’m learning that I am free to trust or to doubt, but when I do not trust, I grieve the Lord.

I want to encourage you not to give up and to make registering for the July 31 – August 3 Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference a priority. Lodging is available on campus for only $39 a night if you share a room (a great way to make a new writing friend although you can book a single room for $59 a night). I need to get a room count to Cairn University by July 15 as well as a count for meals. So don’t procrastinate! You can still register after that, but the cost for meals will increase and I can’t guarantee a bed for your head.

• If the evil one is bombarding you with the deadly Ds, trust the Lord.

• If the logistics of childcare for your kids seem impossible, trust Him.

• If you can’t see how to fit the conference in during a summer packed with activity and demands on your time, trust Him.
• If you need more encouragement to overcome your self- doubts, click here.

• If financially it seems impossible, trust Him. Be bold. Ask family, friends, or your church to help. Apply for a scholarship or email me to request time payments.

The next 15 registrants will receive an additional free one-on-one appointment with a faculty member of your choice. (We do ask you to give us several choices since appointments are booked on a first-come basis.)

Come one day and get two appointments, two days and get three appointments, and three days (with an additional bonus appointment) get FIVE appointments.

Wednesday is a pre-conference day with 18 early bird workshops and an exciting evening session where various faculty will encourage you to “Write His Answer to Issues that Concern You,” but it is not counted toward your appointments. Perhaps one of those appointments will open the door to publication as it did for me.

Father God, thank You that You know the plans You have for us and our writing – and that they are good plans. Help us to trust You when we face the deadly Ds. Thank You for all the incredible people You have brought into my life these past 30 years of directing GPCWC and for all You have done and all You will do a I trust You.

In Him