Works of great fiction hook the reader in the very first sentence and explain later. Readers respond to that kind of skill, as do agents and editors. So, don’t overlook the importance of a great first sentence and a great first paragraph. Boring and insignificant leads signal a lack of skill and creativity on the part of an author. It takes practice to create leads that make a statement, but it’s worth the effort.

Start your story with a hook, set the tone, and above all, make sure the reader wants to continue to the next sentence. No, a powerful opening doesn’t guarantee you’ll write a bestseller, but it does get you off to a great start.  A lead line often determines whether a book is worth reading or purchasing. So, show the reader you have what it takes. Dazzle your readers. You’re planning to write an amazing work, so start with a great first sentence.

Below are three well-known lead lines. Each one compels us to want to know more. They all sound as though they start in the middle of something, not at all like beginnings. The authors start with an intriguing statement and go from there. They also don’t explain the features of the story or give away the storyline. Remember, the first sentence is to hook the reader, you can proceed with unfolding the story later.

“All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this.” Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

“Marley was dead to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it.”  (Note how word repetition helps get the point across—Marley is definitely dead.) A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

“Where’s Papa going with that axe?” Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

Now you try. Here are two made-up book scenarios. You write the first sentence. Don’t forget, a good lead line never tells the reader what the book is about.  1) A story about an unusual serial killer who goes around killing the cats and dogs in his neighborhood. 2) A story about a woman who never leaves her house. Now, go for it!

Need examples? Take a look at these: Famous Lead Lines    Now, go for it. Show me what you’ve got!

A query letter—as uncomfortable as it sounds—is a sales letter. The goal of such a letter is to convince a publisher that your book will make money. Money, for any publisher is the bottom line.

Here’s an example—a hypothetical one of course—of what you’re up against. The numbers aren’t absolute, but they are representative of what a publisher faces.

A publisher (publishing a trade publication) will spend about $5,000
 on the editorial; $3500 on packaging (cover design & production); $500 on typesetting & interior layouts; $12,000 
on printing & binding; $6,000 
on marketing; $3,000 
on warehousing; and another $5,000
 on sales. He or she will spend more if the book is hard cover and these figures do not include the royalties the publisher will have to pay the author.

The total cost for the publisher: $40,000, and that doesn’t include the advance he/she will pay you when the contract is signed. So, if the cover price of the book is $13.99, and the net price (the amount the publisher actually receives for each book) is $6.30, then the publisher will have to sell 6,349 copies of your book just to break even.

(Calculations taken from www.rachellegardner.com. Rachel Gardner is a literary agent with WordServe Literary Agency. )

So, how do you convince a publisher your book will do that, and do it in a reasonable amount of time? You need facts. You need strong hard facts and the skill to write a letter that will convince/interest the publisher of the viability of your book. You don’t need to put all the information into your query letter, but you do need to have the information in order to write a convincing letter. Below are somethings you should include in your letter. Take the information you glean and skillfully weave it into your letter. You can’t write everything in a one-page query letter, but you can use the space to convince the publisher to ask for more information. If you do a good job of convincing, you may just be asked to send a book proposal with more information or chapters of your book.

1) Information about your market:

• Into what genre and specialty does your book best fit? Hint #1: if you walked into a bookstore, in which section would you want to find your book displayed?
• To what specific groups will the book appeal and why? To define your group by gender, occupation, age, religious, political, ethnic or affectional preference, personal interest, etc.
• What benefits your book will bring to this audience? For what reasons will these people find the book appealing? Why should they buy, read, and talk about your book?
• Is the potential market large enough to make the book worth publishing? What is the estimated size of your target reading audience? The larger the potential reading audience, the better it will be. Publishers are looking for big numbers.

2. The book’s competition:

• How is your book different from, better than, or similar to books now available in bookstores?
• Why will prospective readers choose to buy your book rather than any of the others? Creating this difference is the job of the author.
• How does your book stand out? How is it better? More complete? More informative? More unique? What niche does yours fill that others don’t? Compare and contrast your approach to theirs.
• How many books have competing titles sold? Are those books backlisted?

Where to look for facts:

1. BISG (Book Industry Study Group) Facts about industry (genre) sales overall. www.bisg.org
2. Books in Print—A reference book you can get at a large local/college library
3. Amazon.com—check the book’s ranking.
4. Genre Associations–they often have loads of facts on how books in their genre are selling.

See this site for all the details

Yep, writing is challenging. It starts with acquiring professional writing skills and then learning a new way to think about how to emotionally influence the reader. However, with all that being true, learning to write is only the beginning of one’s journey to successful authorship. The other side of the coin is getting people to read what you’ve written. A writer that remains unknown is the author of a book that never gets read. 

Factoid: Amazon pays up to 70% of sales to its self-published  e-book authors. Quite a profit if you sell a lot of books.

Here are some facts that will help you think more kindly about getting a following:

• Decide who the readers are who would want to read your book (age, sex, income, likes and dislikes, etc.). They are your market–the people you are looking for and who are looking for you. They are the folks with whom you need to communicate. Help them find you, to love what you write, and to love you as an author.
• Find out where your readers congregate and start talking to them. Discuss the plot of your book, your characters, and ask for interaction. In other words, make friends. These are people you will get to know you and who will keep in touch with you for years to come.
• Identify the overall message of your book. Those of you who have studied at The Writing Loft know the importance and value of what The Loft calls a focus statement. Your book’s focus statement is the heart and soul of your story; talk about that message.
• Talk about subjects that resonant with your type of reader and then connect their reading interests with your writing–your interests.
• Decide how much time you will spend each week making friends. It doesn’t take long to establish relationships. Just remember, it’s the quality of the interaction, not the time you spend that matters.
• Social media isn’t about how many friends you have on Facebook, its about how many of those friends interact with you. Google gauges the quality of your sites by the amount of interaction you have–whether people care enough about what you are saying to talk to you.

Tell me what you hate about creating a following, social media, or publicity, and I’ll show you how easy and enjoyable it can be. There is more than one way to tackle any situation.