How To Get A Nonfiction Book Published: A Bulletproof Book Proposal For Publishing Agents & Editors

How To Get A Nonfiction Book Published: A Bulletproof Book Proposal For Publishing Agents & Editors

09:15:00   How To Get A Nonfiction Book Published: A Bulletproof Book Proposal For Publishing Agents & Editors,

Robert W. Bly

Publishing Articles | March 26, 2010

Every book publisher asks five key questions about every project he or she considers. Here's how to make sure your book proposal gives all the answers, and convince your book agent to help you publish your book.
You have a great idea for a nonfiction book. Everybody thinks it's a great idea. But will a book publishing company think it's a great idea - enough to pay you an advance, commission you to write it, publish your book and sell it?
That will depend largely on your book proposal. Here's where you demonstrate persuasively that your idea has merit, and that the company will benefit from publishing your book. Of course, even a solid idea and a great book proposal can't guarantee success, but they surely can tip the odds in your favor. But if either the idea or the proposal is weak, your chances of a sale are slim to none.
Book editors look for certain things when reviewing book ideas and proposals. To improve your chances of winning a book publisher's contract, let's look at the five key questions they ask and the best ways to answer them.
1. Is there a large enough audience interested in this topic to justify publishing a book?
You want to stay away from a highly specialized book, which draws limited audience. You want your book to be among the books that appeal to a general audience or at least to a large segment of the general population.
You must demonstrate to your prospective publishing agent that your large audience - of hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions – exists.
One excellent source of market data is Standard Rate and Data Service (SRDS), a book listing US magazines that accept advertising and their circulations. SRDS is available at your local library or from the publisher (tel. 847/375-5000). Look for the combined circulation of the largest publications in your book’s area.
However, keep in mind that only a small percentage of the intended audience will actually buy your book. And a major book publishing company hopes to sell at least 5,000 copies of your book. So if you're writing a book that appeals only to the 44,171 branch managers working at banks nationwide (say, How to Manage Your Branch More Efficiently), and 2% can be persuaded to buy the book, you've sold only 883 copies - not nearly enough to make the project worthwhile for either you or a publisher.
2. Is this a book or a magazine article? Will it sell?
There are two substantial differences between a book and a magazine article, which will determine if the material you have will be accepted by a book publisher.
First, there is the matter of time: It can take 18 months to two years from conception to bookstore.  If you have an idea for a book about Recession proof Business at the onset of a recession, like I had in 1991, that recession may be over by the time the book comes out and it would not sell. However, a magazine article’s time line of publication (or that of a small booklet) is much quicker (weeks to few months).
Second difference is in length: Do you have enough material for a book?
The average nonfiction book is about 200 pages in published form, with approximately 400 words a page. That's 80,000 words; about 320 double-spaced typewritten manuscript pages. Most books range between 35,000 words (a slim, 100 pages volume) to 200,000 words or more. An article, on the other hand, can include anywhere from 300 to 2,500 words or so.
How do you know whether your idea is a book, article or booklet - and how do you convince a publishing agent that your concept is a big one? Here are some guidelines:
First, see if there are other books on the topic. The existence of a few similar titles indicates that this idea is big enough to deserve a book.
Second, go to the library and see what else is written on the topic. If you feel overwhelmed by all the magazine articles, newspaper stories, booklets, pamphlets, surveys, reports and statistics on your topic, that's a good indica­tion the topic is 'meaty" enough to justify a full-length book.
Third, organize your information into chapters. Think about how you would logically explain your topic or present your information, and organize it into major categories. These will become chapter headings.
A full-length nonfiction book typically has 8-15 chapters. If your outline has fewer, the publisher may think there's not enough information to fill a book on your topic. Shoot for an outline with at least nine chapters.
A detailed table of contents proves to the book publishing company that your topic is appropriate for a book, not just a magazine article.
3. What's different or better about your book?
The first page or two of your book proposal must contain an overview of your idea, the book content and its target audience.
The first two paragraphs of your overview must tell the editor why and how your book is unique, different or better than other books already published on this topic.
The angle that makes your book different can take many forms: A slant toward a different audience, a better way of organizing the material, or inclusion of topics not covered in other books.
For instance, my co-author and I wrote a nonfiction book, Technical Writing. Structure, Standards and Style, because we wanted to create a handbook for technical writers that emulated the concise, to-the-point style and format of The Elements of Style, William Strunk and E.B. White's popular style guide for general writers.
Our proposal called our book "the Strunk and White of technical writing," which instantly communicated the key appeal of the concept. Our book agent sold the book - within three weeks - to the first book publishing company who looked at it.
Another section of your proposal that positions your book in relation to others on the same subject is the "Competition" section. Here you list and describe competing books; each listing should emphasize how your book is both different and better.
Include in the Competition section those books that cover the same - or very similar - topics as your book; that are published by major publishing houses; and that are no more than five years old.
How many books you list in this section will be important. The presence of two to six competitive books shows there's a market for this type of book, while still room for one more. On the other hand, if there are seven or more books a publisher may think the field is overcrowded, and you'll probably have a difficult time making the sale.
4. Will people pay $25.38 for this book?
According to Albert N. Greco, professor of marketing in Fordham University, the average hardcover nonfiction book sells for $25.38; the average trade paperback edition - for $20.40. Your book must be interesting or valuable enough to make readers part not only with their money, but with their time as well.
A how-to or reference book proposal should stress the benefits readers will get when they buy the book. If your book is biography, journalism, history, or any other form of nonfiction written primarily to entertain, your proposal should highlight some of the more fascinating details of the book.
5. Why should the publishing agent hire you to write it?
Your proposal must show why you're uniquely qualified to write the book. Such qualifications fall into two categories: writing credentials and expert credentials.
Writing credentials establish your expertise as an author. In an "About the Author" section of your book proposal, write a brief biographical sketch of yourself, and include information about your past publications (publishers and dates of publications, excerpts from favorable reviews and sales figures – if they’re impressive).
Expert credentials establish your position as an authority in the topic of your proposed book.
In my experience, your expert credentials don't need to be in-depth. Editors understand you can research the topic, and they don't require you to know everything about it before buying your book. They just want to convince their editorial board - and buyers - that you know what you're talking about.
Of course, having a published book to your credit is one credential that always impresses the book publishing companies. And that's a credential I'm sure you'll soon have if you follow the five key points covered in this article.
For additional information about book publishing and other ideas of survival in a down economy please visit www.bly.com/reports.

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Surprising Facts About Shakespeare

Surprising Facts About Shakespeare

09:02:00   Surprising Facts About Shakespeare,

Artois Cinquante Deux

Entertainment Articles | January 5, 2016

Many of the facts about William Shakespeare are not as clear cut as you might have thought. Here are six of those surprising facts about Shakespeare.

Whether you love or hate his work, the words and phrases of William Shakespeare have made their way into the common English Language and his plays have been performed on stage more times than any other playwright. Much of his life, though, is still a bit of a mystery and some people even doubt that Shakespeare even wrote his own words. It’s also a fact about William Shakespeare that he disappeared completely between the years of 1585 and 1592. Some people say he was acting on stage in London, others believe he went travelling around Europe, but there is no written record at all of his whereabouts in those years. Here are six more facts about Shakespeare that you might find surprising.
His family were illiterate
The first Shakespeare fact that you might find surprising is that, despite the man himself being one of the greatest writers of all time, none of his family could read or write. There is documented evidence that his father couldn’t write his own name and it is believed that his mother was illiterate too. What is, even more, surprising is that Shakespeare’s own children are thought to have been illiterate as well.
He was not an Elizabethan playwright
Shakespeare is often referred to as an Elizabethan playwright but it would be more accurate to call him a Jacobean playwright. Although the bard did indeed write plays during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, most of his popular plays were actually written during the reign of King James I.
He did not write all the words to his own plays
While some people believe that Shakespeare didn’t write any of his own works at all, it is almost certain that he would not have written all the words of his plays himself. Many of the witches’ scenes in Hamlet, for example, were written by ‘assistants’, which was a common practice for playwrights of that time.
He didn’t expect his work to last beyond his own lifetime
Although we still study his works today, it is a fact about William Shakespeare, that he never thought that his plays would be anything more than entertainment for the people of his time. He didn’t even bother publishing any of plays in print; that didn’t happen until after his death. He was only really concerned with writing plays that would be the Elizabethan equivalents of box office hits.
We don’t know how to spell Shakespeare’s name
No one is really certain how Shakespeare spelled his own name because he changed the spelling himself on the various documents that historians have found with his signature on. To make matters, even more, confusing, the writer often abbreviated his name on letters and other documents as well.

He invented new words and phrases
When there wasn’t already a word in the dictionary that could convey what Shakespeare was trying to say, he just invented his own, or he joined words together to form new ones. There are over 1700 words in the modern English dictionary that were invented by Shakespeare including; lacklustre, eyeball, birthplace, luggage and bedroom.
Many of the facts about William Shakespeare that we do know are still debated today. You can find more fascinating facts about Shakespeare here.

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Shakespeare Under The Sky

Shakespeare Under The Sky

09:02:00   Shakespeare Under The Sky,

 Carmella Borchers

Entertainment Articles | September 22, 2014

I still remember the first time I saw a Shakespeare play. I was a child and my mother took me to see A Midsummer Night's Dream to add some culture to my life. Although I was delighted with the fairi...
I still remember the first time I saw a Shakespeare play. I was a child and my mother took me to see A Midsummer Night's Dream to add some culture to my life. Although I was delighted with the fairies, the costumes and the spectacle, at the end of the show, when my mother asked me what had been my favorite line, I said, "so is Lysander." I denied at the time that it was because this was the only line I understood, but I now know the falsehood of my childhood protests.
Years later, I find myself understanding far more of Shakespeare's lines, enjoying the poetry of his language, and reading many of his plays. Recently, I had the pleasure of attending a production of Coriolanus on the Boston Common. Though the plot of the play was not my favorite Shakespeare story- being far too political and military for my tastes- the experience of watching theatre under the open air was one that I would encourage anybody who enjoys a good show to partake of.
I arrived with a few friends and found a soft patch of grass just as the show was beginning. The company decided to perform the play in modern dress, which I was once told is actually a more accurate depiction of Shakespearean plays, as the actors of his time would have worn stylized contemporary clothing. I enjoy costuming, and expected to be disappointed by the lack of long dresses, but I found the modern attire of the actors lent a more interesting air to the piece, especially the military portions. We seated ourselves on the ground; the night air was pleasantly warm, and frequently a breeze stirred the leaves of the trees overhead. A blimp hovered behind the stage, an unplanned feature that would have distracted from the show had the play not been performed in modern dress. As it was, I found the blimp to be merely a delightful surprise.
The actors performed with gusto, stating their lines powerfully and audibly. Music was used between scenes, lending a cinematic air to the production, as did the use of lighting, smoke and sound effects. I found myself wondering what Shakespeare himself would have thought of the performance. Surely he would be impressed that even years and years after his death the play was still being performed. But would he call it a misinterpretation? Would he find it appalling that guns were used rather than swords? Or would Shakespeare find it all thrilling and rejoice in the adaptations? It's impossible to say. Personally, I thought the modern effects were well done, without being overstated.
Perhaps it was the lighted stage under an open sky, or the echoes of the actors' voices in the distance, but having theater performed outside was just a miraculous experience. I can only imagine how glorious it would be to have a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, much of which takes place in a forest, performed in the open air of the Boston Commons. I would say theater was made to be performed outside. Regardless of the play, watching Shakespeare as mosquitos tickle your knees and grass stains your shorts is an experience not to be missed. It was an experience as new as watching my first Shakespeare play all those years ago.

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‘Hamlet’ by William Shakespeare

‘Hamlet’ by William Shakespeare

08:58:00   ‘Hamlet’ by William Shakespeare,

 Olivia Hunt

Education Articles | May 6, 2007

Hamlet has inspired more critical speculation and comment from critics and scholars than any other play by any dramatist in English literature, including Shakespeare himself.

The play has become a cultural icon of our times. The first performance of Hamlet was in all probability within 1601 to 1602. Shakespeare put together the story of Hamlet on the basis of his familiarity of Ur-Hamlet, which in turn was based on an account of Hamlet in Belleforest and Saxo. But Shakespeare’s play was still distinct from the original Hamlet.
Hamlet is a revenge play. Revenge as an aspect of plot structure of the plays appears in many plays of Shakespeare, for example, in the “Richard II,” and “Tempest.” Hamlet has not one but four revenge plots. Hamlet commits himself to avenge his father’s death at the hands of Claudius, his uncle, who also marries his mother and usurps the throne of Denmark. Another son, Laertes, vows to take revenge for the killing of his father by Hamlet. Fortinbras invades the kingdom of Denmark to avenge his father’s death at the hands of old King Hamlet. And there is yet another son who vows “revenge” in Hamlet: Pyrhhus slaughters Priam, whose son had killed Pyrhuss’s father. Each plot of Shakespeare’s revenge play followed a structure, beginning with an “exposition” followed by “anticipation” and “confrontation” and “delay” leading to “fulfillment” or “completion” of the revenge. But what makes Shakespeare’s Hamlet a different and superior work is that even though, Hamlet is a revenge play, the focus of the play is on higher principles of life and living. The great poetic richness of the play raises it to a higher plane of enriched creativity and distances it away from the average revenge play and their insistent focus on blood, violence and amoral and villainous unthinking protagonists. Hamlet is less of a revenge play than a play about revenge.
Theatre is a theme in Hamlet. The play within the play is the central action of the play and is the key to the very mystery of the plot. Hamlet is full of references to the language of theater, like “ play,” “ perform,” “ applaud,” “prologue,” “part,” etc. the play contains numerous private jokes, as if, shared between the actors of the play, such as the comment in act III by the actor playing Polonius: “ I did enact Julius Caesar.” All the characters in the play have an obsessive compulsion to act a role. In the play, no opportunity is missed to exploit the potential of a theatrical situation: eight deaths, high pitched rhetorical speeches, the play-within-play, the fencing match, the graveyard scene, the duel between Laertes and Hamlet and numerous rhetorical speeches including Hamlet’s own soliloquies.
In the end, Hamlet turns out to be a great tragedy rather than a mere revenge play. In Hamlet, the extra human agency takes the form of the ghost and the tragic disaster occurs on account of Hamlet’s acts of commission or omission. Hamlet also is a religious play. The Christian element so predominates the play that Hamlet comes across as concerning himself with the theological questions of sin, damnation and salvation. Elizabethans had an obsessive concern with afterlife and believed in heaven, hell and purgatory.
In conclusion Hamlet has been treated as a study in melancholia and madness, as a study in ambition and political manipulation, as a philosophy can inquiry into a number of issues that feature in the writings of Montaigne, of even as a study the back part of characterization.

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How to Gain Better Understanding of a Poem?

How to Gain Better Understanding of a Poem?

08:53:00   a, Better, Gain, How, of, Poem?, to, Understanding,

 image source:

telegraph.co.uk

inPoetry
byEmily Green

The meaning of some poems is obvious the first time you read them, while in others meaning is expressed in a nonliteral, nonlinear way. Reading the same poem at different times of your life, you will probably reveal previously unrecognized nuances. Poetic language is not just a code that should be deciphered, there is always room for ambiguity.
Yet, in this article you will find a number of techniques that will help you extract meaning from poetic texts.
Pre-reading
To begin with, take a pencil. You will circle important words, underline related ideas or repeated words, mark any part you find confusing, and just jot down your ideas in the margins.
Look at the poem without actually reading it. How long are the lines? Are they broken into stanzas? Are there any irregular lines? How dense is the text?
It is not uncommon for poets to use visual impact. In some poems, for instance, the arrangements of words help to represent different voices in a dialogue.
What is the poem about?
Read through the poem silently, then aloud several times.
Think about the title and its relationship with the text.
Ask yourself: "What is this verse about?" and write down the answer. You will probably add new ideas while investigating the poem.
Can you understand the author’s attitude toward the subject of the poem? Does he admire something or is he ironic? How would you describe the mood?
Analyze the situation described in the text. From whose behalf is it written? When, where and why is the person speaking? Whom is the poem addressed to? Try to find any circumstances and be sure that you are talking not just about your impressions, but about something that is present in the text.
Some poems are based on a comparison or analogy. How do you feel about this comparison? What does it add to your understanding of the poem?
Syntactic knots
Paraphrase every line (sentence) aloud. Define the structure of every sentence: its subject, the verb, the object. Find which word every modifier refers to.
Explore poetic devices
Determine the rhyme scheme and the metrical pattern. Why, do you think, the poet chose this particular rhyme scheme and metrical pattern?
Is the verse divided into parts (by rhyme, stanzas etc.)? How does this division contribute to the overall meaning?
Analyze the imagery. Look for metaphors, similes, personifications. What can you say about the language? For instance, when writing literary analysis of the poem ‘Still I Rise’ by Maya Angelou, you will point out the interesting use of the words “dirt” and “dust”.
Can you define a certain genre? Does the poet meet the genre rules?
Look for sound effects
Can you notice any sound effects (like cluster of sounds, change of rhythm inside the poem, alliteration, assonance)? Write down your findings in the margins.
How does the length of the lines relate to the meaning, grammar, and rhythm? Typically, many lines end with punctuation (end-stopped lines). If the end of the line does not coincide with a punctuation mark, you usually need to read to the end of a phrase (sentence) without a pause at the end of each line to retain the grammatical sense.
However, it is a good idea to try another method of reading a poem, too: pause at the end of each line (even if it is not an end-stopped one) and check whether breaking lines in an unexpected place create any new meanings.
Explore meaning by levels
The first level is the literal meaning (the most straightforward story). Try to “translate” the text into simple language. Now it’s time to find the connotative and symbolic meanings. You will certainly notice that some of the words or phrases stand for something else, other than their literal meaning.
Explore the context
Some poems can be understood without any historical, literary or biographical context. Yet, if you know a lot about the time when the poem was created, the place that it refers to, the author’s life, it may give you a better understanding of the text. Still, it can also result in preconceived ideas.
It could be a good idea to use both methods and see how your understanding of the text changes as you find out more about its context. Also, you may discover literary allusions.
Discuss the poem
This is one of the best ways to discover new meanings. Having answered the questions on your own, find out what others think on the topic. Keep the discussion grounded in the text.
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Benefits Of Speed Reading

Benefits Of Speed Reading

01:30:00   Benefits Of Speed Reading,

A question that is often asked of speed reading trainers is whether or not anyone can improve their reading speed. The simple, straightforward, answer to this question is "yes", they can. However, this is not to say that the leaner will not have to provide some input of their own: after all, all learning is a form of trade-off. In this regard, the following are seen as the four essential elements that a student of speed reading will need to bring with them if they want to learn to speed read:
1. A desire to improve
Strange as it may seem, not everyone is willing to accept that there is a better method of reading than the one currently being used by the student. Most likely, the student has learnt their current reading method at a very formative age - probably on their mother's knee. As a result, it can be hard to try and convince students to adapt to new methods of reading, a skill we see as so fundamental, none of us is really willing to accept that we do not know how to do it, and do it well, already. Therefore, a real desire to improve your reading speed is the first essential element you'll need to bring with you to class.
2. A willingness to accept new ideas
Another concept that we learn in our formative years is to sound out our words (technically called subvocalize) as we read them. In part this is done so that we learn how to pronounce the word, not read it! However, in later life this habit can be extremely difficult to break. But, if you want to be able to improve your reading speed, it is a habit you will have to break.
In addition, most of are taught at some stage in our life that if we have not comprehended, or understood, what we have just read, to go back and reread the passage. Again, this is a habit which speed reading courses see as a no-no. You will have to discard it if you want to improve your reading speed. However, it's not easy to do.
Finally, whichever of the speed reading methodologies you select to learn, it is likely that you'll need to learn to read large chunks of information at the same time, or to skim read. As children we are taught that these practices are not good for us - we will likely miss information, or misinterpret it.
As you can see then, a willingness to accept new ideas is going to be essential if you want to learn to improve your reading speed.
3. Motivation
Although motivation may be considered similar to desire, the essential difference is that not only do you need to have the desire to learn, but you need to keep that desire for, potentially, a long period of time. In practice, learning the proper speed reading technique only takes a very short time. But the real test is in having to practice and practice everyday.
This means that a student of a speed reading course is going to need to maintain the motivation to learn how to improve their reading speed over a prolonged period. Indeed, some would argue that you never stop learning to improve your reading speed.
4. Practice
The adage is "practice makes perfect", and nowhere is this adage more appropriate than in the reading learning process. Anyone who wishes to improve their reading speed is going to have to practice over prolonged periods.
Conclusion
To sum it up, if you want to learn how to improve your reading speed, all you is (i) desire; (ii) willingness; (iii) motivation; and (iv) practice.

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Does speed reading take the joy out of reading?

Does speed reading take the joy out of reading?

01:20:00   Does speed reading take the joy out of reading?,

A common enough remark is that speed reading takes the joy out of reading. However, is this entirely fair? Would it not be fairer to say that being able to speed read actually increases the joy of reading? To answer this, we need to look at some of the reasons why we are speed reading in the first place!

It should always be in the forefront of your mind that speed reading is a skill. It is adopted when certain circumstances arise and it is not always necessarily a skill you need to invoke each and every time you read something.
An example, if you are curled up in bed reading the latest thriller novel, it is unlikely you are going to want to be speed reading. The reason: first, because you have spent a lot of money on the novel and so want to make it last; second because part of the atmosphere that you have set in which to read is one of relaxation and taking things easy.
If we now transfer the scene to one where we are reading the latest financial report from ABC Company Limited, even if we are doing this in bed, the environment in which we are reading has dramatically changed.
The need and reason why we read the text in these two scenarios is not the same. In the former we are at leisure. In the later we are in professional mode. Clearly in the later, where we want to be done with the reading and off to sleep, we can adapt out speed reading skills and in the former we may choose not to.
In other words, speeding reading skills are a "horses for courses" skill. Invoke them at times when you need to read something really fast, but not when you don't need to.
Furthermore, as your retention rates are usually better with speed reading, it is often a good idea that you speed read at times when you have a special need to comprehend and retain the information you are reading. If we go back to the financial report/thriller novel example above, it is far more likely that comprehending and retaining the information in the financial report is going to be more beneficial to you, so utilize your speed reading skills at this time so that you can enhance your chances of comprehending and retaining the text.
Finally, speed reading does not have to be a cumbersome, professional, skill. It is quite possible to enjoy your time speed reading something, in much the same way as you would when reading a novel. To do this all you need do is create the correct atmosphere in which to speed read. Eliminate all distractions, such as music and chat. Do a pre-read of the materials: read the index, headings and su
eadings. Then speed read the text. Retain the information. Utilize that information.
As you can see then, having the ability to be able to speed read will allow you the choice of reading faster, or slower. It's about having choices.

Article Tags: Speed Reading, Reading Skills, Speed Read

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