Digitizer Group Blog

The “Unfair Advantage” of a Book Proposal

Many authors have asked me this question recently:

“Val, what is your secret? How come you were able to land a Publishing Contract with a leading New York Publishing House on a first attempt, whereas we’ve been trying for so long and STILL there’s no contract in sight??”

I got a little tired of answering that, so I’ve decided to put my answer in writing.

To put it simply – all you need is an Unfair Advantage over the majority of other authors that submit their books to the same publishers as you do.

Now here’s where the rubber hits the road. You have to Think differently than they do!

How differently? This is how. Please don’t think that submitting your manuscript is just a “numbers game”. I also thought this way before, until I came across The Successful Proposal Template.

By the time I was done with the template, I’ve realized this important thing.

When you are submitting YOUR book to the Publisher – you can’t think wholesale. On the contrary – you must think retail!

Why?

Because, as I’ve learned from my younger days of being a sales clerk, “Retail means detail!”

Now please pay attention here – the next part is extremely important!

You have to know your publisher intimately, before you throw anything at all at them – whether it’s a question you submit through their website, an email, a phone call – anything!

Do not assume that it’s all about you. No, it’s all about them at this point!

First and foremost, try to do a very in-depth research on your publisher and answer these 3 important questions:

1. What is this publisher looking for?

2. Why would they want to engage with you, as opposed to someone else?

3. Is there an opportunity to develop a long-term relationship?

Trust me – this is exactly what they think when they are reading your proposal!

Now about the proposal itself.

You may disagree with me, but I truly believe that at this particular stage of the game (we are talking your successful manuscript submission here, folks!) the book proposal is more important than the manuscript itself!

Before you start cursing me and calling me names, think for a moment here.

If it was the other way around – why haven’t you landed on your own Publishing deal until now? Huh? A very humbling thought…

Please allow me to continue then.

The “Unfair Advantage” of having your Book Proposal done is this:

1. You can use your book proposal as a platform for your marketing campaigns

(now that you’ve already pitched your ideas in it, marketing becomes a simple “cut and paste” effort)

2. You can use your book proposal for your PR campaigns

(every time you approach the media, or when they approach you, use your book proposal to communicate your main idea to them – hey, what do you think I used in my video script? Check my videos below – most of the content came from my book proposal, of course!)

3. You can even use your book proposal as a way to formulate your ideas for your future books and other products and explain your whole strategy there, too! (Don’t worry – people won’t steal your ideas from you – they simply can’t because no one is capable of jumping into your head and becoming you! 🙂 )

This is what I did in mine – I explained to my Publisher why I wanted to put all of my topics in 3 books – and what was the Big Idea behind starting to write the trilogy in the first place! By the time they finished reading my book proposal they had practically NO questions for me, as I’ve already answered them all in my proposal.

Book Proposal = Resume

In other words – the proposal to the Publisher is the same as the resume to your prospective clients. They don’t know if they want to meet with you yet, but you need to give them all the reasons why they should.

So, if you are a young author, or if you have been struggling for awhile, please let me know if you want any help from me and I will be happy to throw some ideas at you, if you want me to.

You can contact me directly or send an email to: info@digitizergroup.com

Are you a “Uniter” or a “Divider”?

I think that President Obama is doing a wonderful job bringing people, religions and even whole nations together.

He has the power, the skill, the ability and the mission to bring us all on the same page – regardless if we are christians, jews, muslims or non-believers.

You can see his good, positive intentions in everything he does. From bringing the American Presidents of the Past, Present and the Future together to careful selection of his Team members to the sense of urgency that permeates each and every move of the new President. You can see that President Obama is clearly a “uniter”, and not a “divider”, like many other country rulers of the past and present.

No wonder that the very first interview that President Obama gave to the Al-Arabiya TV was addressing the Muslim community of the world.

We can see how well the new President is building rapport with the Muslim world throughout the interview, and how he emphasizes several times that America has nothing but respect to the Muslim community. This is a breakthrough message from a very progressive leader.

We can learn a good lesson from the President here. We can try to learn from him how we can also become uniters (and not dividers!) in each and every aspect of our day to day lives.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on this blog. I will be happy to hear from you.

The Global Book Tour – Part 7

In this final video of the Global Book Tour Video Promo I reveal the answers to the following questions:

– Are we supporting the Habitat [For Humanity]?

– What do Experts need to do to become one of the Speakers of the Global Book Tour?

– Where can the Experts find me speaking about my Book?

I will also explain more about my very special campaign and reveal its slogan…Do you want to know what it is? Then, without further ado – go ahead and watch this last video!

Technorati tags: global book tour, secret power of an expert, success trilogy, val slastnikov, book promotion

The Global Book Tour – Part 6

Part 6 of the Global Book Tour Video Promo is all about the power of an expert, the book that I wrote for the benefit of all Experts of this World, and about the publisher who is going to release the book in the Spring of 2009.

Here’s the list of questions that this video is addressing:

– When is the book coming out?

– Who is going to publish it?

– What is so special about them?

Now what about you? Are you an Entrepreneurial Author yourself? If you are – can you share your story with our blog readers?

What about your publisher? Can you tell us about your publisher, too and let us know what’s so special about them?

I challenge you to leave me some comments on this blog. It will be my pleasure and honour to respond to your comments and to answer any of your questions, my friends…

Technorati tags: global book tour, secret power of an expert, success trilogy, val slastnikov, book promotion

The Global Book Tour Video – Part 5

In Part 5 of the book video promo Fred and I are diving deep into definitions, such as:

– Why did I call my book “The Secret Power Of An Expert?

– What IS the Power of an Expert?

and…

– Why is it a Secret?

What do you think about my answers to Fred?

Can you provide your own definition of an Expert?

And, most importantly, what do you think the Expert’s power is all about?

I challenge you to leave me some comments on this blog – or you can watch previous videos if you scroll down this page – and leave me some comments there.

Technorati tags: global book tour, secret power of an expert, success trilogy, val slastnikov, book promotion

The Global Book Tour Video – Part 4

Part 4 of of this Interview is all about the Solution to a “Big Problem” that Fred and I discussed earlier, and the Book that I wrote for all Experts of this World.

Fred asks me the following questions in this short video:

– How are you planning to help Experts achieve prosperity and stop struggling?

– What is the title of your book?

– What is your book about?

And, for the first time ever, I mention the term “Unfair Advantage”…

Curious? Then go ahead and watch the video!

Technorati tags: global book tour, secret power of an expert, success trilogy, val slastnikov, book promotion

The Global Book Tour Video – Part 3

In Part 3 of the Global Book Tour Video Promo Fred asks me 2 questions:

– Can all types of Experts experience this ‘Big Problem”?

– What are some of the “Red Flags” that an expert should be aware of?

Interesting thing though: when I mention a couple of “Red Flags”, Fred agrees that he also experienced them in the past – and some of those “red flags” are still haunting him until this day… I know that he speaks from the heart, because I’ve been there myself.What about you? Have you also experienced the Red Flags of the “Big Problem”‘?If yes, please feel free to share them on this blog… Just be honest with yourself, will ya?

The Global Book Tour Video – Part 2

Yesterday I sent you a video about Fred Vokey, a friend of mine who dragged me out of bed and made me come clean about my very first book, “The Secret Power of an Expert.”

In today’s video Fred asked me 2 questions:

• What do I do for the Experts?
• What is the Big Problem in the Experts Market?

Watch the video to get the answers…

Fred really cornered me yesterday…

You know, I tried to keep this “under wraps” until Spring, but yesterday morning my good friend and colleague Fred Vokey literally dragged me out of bed and made me come clean about my very first book, “The Secret Power of an Expert.”

He huffed… and he puffed… and he made me answer each and every question about how I’m planning to promote my message to the World…

Way to go, Fred! Persistent? Yeah, he always been! 🙂 Here’s the documented proof…

American Dream come true

Find more videos like this on Morgan James Publishing

Last Summer David Hancock, the Treasurer of Habitat for Humanity Board of Directors and the Founder of Morgan James Publishing, partnered with Northrop Grumman for the 6th time, to open a new home built by the Habitat for Humanity in the City of Newport News.

This is an “American Dream come true” for yet another family…

Way to go, David! We salute you!