1) Be a story teller. You would be amazed at the number of  writers who do everything but. Often novels come as character portraits or memoirs written as fiction. Absent is any attempt at suspense, any motivation for the reader to turn those pages. As the novel unfolds, the story invariably begins to tread water and then sinks beneath the waves. The reader does not sit on the edge of his or her chair. Instead, retreats into a glassy-eyed coma.

2) An oversimplified definition of a good story. Not two cats on a mat meowing at each other or two dogs yawning but a cat and dog growling and spitting and about to launch into heated combat. Conflict, suspense keep the reader reading. Again so often ignored by writers.

3) Premise. You should be able to sum up the story in one sentence A woman police lieutenant and hostage negotiator must establish contact and overcome a faceless tormentor who is determined to make her a hostage of fear.—Nora Roberts, High Noon. An act of violence shatters a small town and the daughter of the judge sitting on the case should be the state’s witness but cannot remember what happened—or could she. Jodi Picoult, Nineteen Minutes.

4) A sympathetic character. You want to portray a character the reader roots for.

5) Equally important it helps if you can devise a character who is villainous, evil, bad, somoe one the reader hates but cannot get enough of. My favorite was Hannibal Lectur.

When he arrived on the page, I was always hooked.

6) A love story always helps. They do not have to go off into the sunset. But it would be nice if they get into the same bed. Sex is good. Love is better. Sex and love is best.

7) Surgeons go to medical school, lawyers go to law school. All you need to do is go to Amazon or the bookstore or the library. Read, read, read and think about what you are reading and why the novel works for you.

Writing is not something most people can dash off. Morris West,  a best selling novelist, could and did write his novels in his head but most people need paper and pen or a computer. It is an arduous but an enormously satisfying task.

9) Before you begin, write  a multi-page outline of  the novel A great example of a superb story  teller and novelist who does just that is Ken Follett. Read  WRITING THE BLOCKBUSTER NOVEL by ALBERT ZUCKERMAN, his esteemed editor and agent. You will learn how Follett does it.

Hillel Black, freelance editor, hillwen@aol.com, web site hillelblack.com

1) Almost all literary agents are listed in The Publishers Market Place or LMP, a huge , expensive, 1229 page volume which you should be able to find in a public library. It contains their actual and email addresses, and a brief description of the kinds of book they represent as well as titles recently placed.

2) Approach an agent with both an email and letter that cogently describes your book—the description should not take more than a paragraph or two—followed by a brief bio that makes clear why you have the authority (called a platform) to write the book if it is nonfiction. Or a brief description of your novel in which the premise shouts, “Yes, I would like to read that manuscript.” Whatever you do, skip the hype. Big turnoff.

3) You need to able to send the agent a proposal that includes an overview ,a table of contents in which you include a paragraph or two describing the contents of each chapter and two sample chapters if the work is nonfiction or at least one hundred or more pages if a work of fiction.

4) Conduct a thorough search and list and describe the competition for your book, especially nonfiction, and spell out how different. For fiction, name works similar or genres that were and are successful.

5) A way to find a potential agent appropriate for your work, cruise a book store, select a volume similar to yours and check out the acknowledgment page that often lists the name of the agent for that work. Then in your email and letter write that the recipient represented such and such work which you enjoyed reading and that your work is of the same genre and might be of particular interest to the agent.

6) Provide an estimate of the number of words of the work and length of time it would take to complete it.
Hillel Black, free lance editor, member of the Consulting Editors Alliance, email hillwen@aol.com, 212 734 8497

What are  the most one to five words that you can write before, during or after you have completed your book?

The book title. Those are the words on your billboard (jacket)that first stare the reader in the face. Can a book title make a difference. Yes up to a point. The title can entice the reader to look further, the flaps or the copy on the back of a trade paperback and even inside the book itself.

All good titles should imply some kind of question. such as what is this book about? One of my favorites was THE TUESDAY EROTICA CLUB. EROTIC,  hot word. EROTICA CLUB, getting hotter. And they meet once a week. Yummy. Book was eventually published in at least 20  countries. The word “erotica” is hot from the North to the South Pole and everywhere in between. Maybe a good name for your baby girl. Erotica Jones. She would have no trouble fetching dates.

Often though titles are born, not made, which is to say they become famous and even iconic after the book is published and it generates universal attention and even becomes a household word(s).

Such was the case with MASH. When I published it,  I received a call from the movie producer who wanted to know what the hell did  the word MASH mean. I told him it stood for a Kentucky whiskey. But it also was the acronym for a surgical hospital in Korea. Besides I said we would not change the title because the publisher had spent $375 for the creation of the jacket. Understandably the movie producer thought I was mad. Not far off the mark. However the movie guys had the brilliant idea of putting astericks after each letter. Despite the title which was in itself meaningless to the casual observer everybody including those with a seeing eye dog would recognize it because the book, the movie, a big sleeper, and then the TV series took on lives of their own.The book by the way was initially turned down by 32 publishers as well as by a bunch of directors before Altman signed on.

But do take the time to think of a catchy title. It is worth a major effort.

Hillel Black, free lance editor, hillwen@aol.com, 212 734 8407

The manuscript was submitted to Alfred Knopf, one of America’s esteemed publishers. He dismissed it as “Very dull. A typical record of family bickering, petty annoyances and adolescent emotions.” Several months later the work ended up in a pile of unsolicited manuscripts in the Paris office of a Doubleday editor. As the editor left for lunch he waved to his assistant and told her to reject them all. A smart young lady, she wisely ignored him, began reading one of the submissions, could not put it down and when the editor returned, told him,
“You must read this one.” He did. Doubleday published it. Aside from the Bible, which has been around a little bit longer, it became the most successful book ever published.

And the answer is…..The Diary of Anne Frank..

So what can an editor do for you? (Would note, I have edited hundreds of books and with one exception never met an author who did not need one.) No editor turns a book into a bestseller. But he or she can make a difference between publication –on occasion amazing things can happen—and oblivion.

For one, almost by definition you are too close to what you have written
whether it is a work of the imagination or one based on research, interviews and reporting. A good editor has an experienced eye and can be objective about your book.An experienced editor has spent years thinking about why and what makes a book work from its structure and characters to its execution. He or she possesses valuable knowledge that can help make your book publishable.

A good editor has a sense of the market place and can help shape your book so it will find an audience.

And because a good editor gives a damn, you and the editor will have one enormously meaningful thing in common. Both will be passionately committed to your manuscript which means you and the editor can speak honestly and candidly to each other. That is a very special relationship that we do not often have.

Finally, the editorial process is the equivalent of a one-on-one tutorial similar to the tutorials given at Oxford. You would be surprised about how much you can learn.

My favorite story concerns an editor who pursued a recalcitrant Dorothy Parker while she was on her honeymoon. Ms. Parker wired back, “Too effing busy and vice versa.”

Sorry to say I was not that editor.

Hillel Black, Free lance editor

hillwen@aol.com
212 734 8407

120 East 81 Street
New York, NY 10028
212 734 6407

The setting for it was one of America’s most unpopular wars. It was published at the height of another war that was so unpopular it unseated an American president. The book was circulated for over eight years and turned down by 32 publishers. (I just thought it was hysterical and. instead of a committee of readers, gave it to another editor who laughed and agreed. It was published by William Morrow.) Eventually it was made into a film by Robert Altman after a dozen other directors rejected it. The characters in it have been seen by more people than the characters in any other work of fiction.

And the answer is….. MASH.

We know publishing is a mercurial, unpredictable business. Consider what the following titles have in common—Spartacus by Howard Fast, Chicken Soup for the Soul, In Search of Excellence and The Celestine Prophecy. They were self published before traditional publishers picked them up. All became mega best sellers.

But the chances of this happening to you are slim. In 2008 alone, 185,000 titles were self published and I doubt that you can name two of them.

So why should you write a book and then hope that some farsighted publisher will publish it?

Because you have a story to tell and something to say. You believe that to be so and you are right. Yes, your thoughts, insights, stories do have value.

The process of sitting at a computer or with a pad and pencil and writing means that you will be living through your imagination, one of those rare gifts you can actually give yourself

Writing a book is hard. No kidding you say. That is good because when you take on the challenge and you complete the work you will have an immense sense of pride and fulfillment.

And, yes, books do get published including thousands by unknown authors by reputable publishers as well as even more by the authors themselves, who, by the way, can and often do successfully market and distribute them themselves. (You must read RED HOT INTERNET PUBLICITY by Penny Sansevieri to learn how it is done.) Most books whether published by a publisher or by the author do not sell a huge number of copies—every now and then God smiles and WOW!!– but they do have a much greater ripple effect than you might imagine. More people will know about your book and stories than you would predict like a stone skipped in a pool whose shore is too distant to see.

Hillel Black
Free lance editor of over 20 NY Times best sellers
hillwen@aol.com