I’m delighted to introduce you to my client, and friend, Richard Wills. Richard was my Publishing Coach client in 2021. We started working together in September and finished in December. Six months later Richard sent an email, a glorious email, to say he’d landed a publishing contract! I was over the moon, as I’m sure he was too. Congratulations Richard.
As I have a new course called Pitch Your Book to help writers find a publisher, I asked Richard if he would write a few words about our work together. Much to my delight, he wrote more than a few words! I know it can seem impossible to land a publishing contract, and I’m thrilled to share with you this success story.
I have two Pitch Your Book courses coming up — 8 to 29 November 2022 and 9 to 30 January 2023. This online course teaches you how to package up and present your book in its most compelling form. We start with your synopsis, then move on to your query letter, digital platforms, and finding agents and publishers to pitch. The aim is to build your confidence and get you one step closer to publishing your book. For details please visit: gutspublishing.com/publishing-coach
xx Julianne, director at Guts Publishing.
Many authors are not natural self-promoters. Most of us do not have a background in sales, so the important task of presenting our manuscripts to publishers can seem an onerous one. We usually leave this till last, after shedding blood sweat and tears on our book, and don’t always give the process of how to get a publisher interested the attention it deserves.
As well as helping to develop the first draft of my book ‘Bloody Social Worker’ with her astute editorial skills, Julianne Ingles from Guts Publishing guided me through this process. From making the query letter punchy and appealing, to the synopsis concise and attractive, her expertise gave me the confidence and ability to gain that seemingly elusive publishing contract.
I am confident that enrolling on Julianne’s course will give you the skills you need for achieving your goal, and I say this from my own experience. I had only experienced rejection or complete indifference from publishers before I worked with Julianne. I came to the realisation that my query letter and synopsis lacked polish, were flat in their delivery, and displayed my lack of confidence and naivety in how to sell my book. Julianne helped me to put this right and I finally got that contract.
It's not easy. You will have to deal with many rejections. But it only takes one publisher to say yes. Go for it.
Richard Wills, author of ‘Bloody Social Worker’ (Dec 2022, Thinkwell Books)
Twitter: @67RichardWills