gal-friday is branching out

Well, you heard it here first, or rather second- facebook seems to always be first- gal-friday is branching out to Vancouver. Coquitlam to be exact. After residing in Edmonton for almost 25 years, it's time to move onwards and upwards into the mountains and by the sea. As many of you know my business only started in October of 2009 after the firm I was working for closed it's doors. Since then it's been months of learning curves and craziness starting my own business, but it's all coming together now. I have a great group of freelance writers and designers, and my associate Literary Agent Brian Wood is showing me the ropes as an agent.

We are now at the point where we can offer Agent services and Publicity services all in one. Selling a book is much easier if you have a media platform and if the world knows about you. With gal-friday we are able to deliver both. It's been a great partnership and is getting stronger every day.
We are the only company that is combining that service, and we are also the only people who will give you an honest (very honest) opinion about the sales potential of your book. Most agents don't give those kind of responses. But with us you are guaranteed that if we don't take your book on- you'll know why. Whether you like it or not!!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with my little business I am a freelance writer and I continue to write as much as I can on those days when I might get a little spare time. I recently finished a non-fiction nature biography and as we speak it is with an editor at Doubleday, and I am awaiting it's fate. So as a writer, and someone who worked behind the scenes at Chapters/Indigo as well as in front of the camera, our business is an excellent one to consider when thinking about the world of publishing.

As well, I handle several businesses, some of whom I've worked with for years with their marketing and publicity.

So, by the fall I will have relocated to Vancouver and Brian and I will be all set to attack the United States with our publicity and selling talents. We hope you stay along for the ride!

Do you have a Publicity Platform?

I recently returned from a whirlwind trip to Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto, to meet with people in my industry. It was an eye-opening and inspiring trip, and I am very glad that I was able to connect with key players in the Canadian publishing industry. My associate Brian Wood was gracious enough to invite me along on several meetings with editors at the major publishing houses, including McLelland & Stewart, Doubleday, and John Wiley, to name a few. And I also met with a few clients and freelance sub-contractors.

One of the common themes I heard about on my trip was the vital need for authors to have a publicity platform. If you want to play with the big kids, they need to know your name. When you submit to an agent or publisher, you need to have some media backing to boost your creditability. If you say you are an expert in the field, but you have nothing to show for it, why are they going to publish your book?

This is especially relevant in non-fiction. It's not just about the words anymore. It's about name recognition. Build your brand, publish the book. The two go hand in hand.

I receive many inquiries about proposals and query letters that are being sent to agents and publishers. Many of the notes I receive mention that they have been rejected anywhere from 20 to 200 times with little or no feedback on why they aren't getting anywhere.

One of the reasons I started my business was to make sure that writers had a place to go to have their questions answered when they submit their work. There is nothing more frustrating for a writer when after months or years of writing and submitting, you get rejection after rejection with no reason why.

Most literary agents and publishers simply don't have time to comment on any queries that are sent to them. Some agents only deal with A-list writers ( those that are in the media all the time), and publishers are limited on the number of new first-time authors that they can take on.

It's important to note that when you are putting a query letter and proposal together that it is not just about the book. It's about SELLING your book. You need to talk about all your media appearances, include links to your publications, MP3's, and PDF files so that the agent or publisher can get a clear picture of your work, and how much work you are willing to put into selling your publication. 

A Publicity Platform includes all the blog sites, websites, print media, and target markets that you have either appeared on/in, or that you plan to include when your book is published. Publishers aren't able to give every new author a publicist to get them started, so either it's up to you to do all the marketing, or you can hire a publicist.

Either way, you won't sell books if no one knows who you are or where your book is selling.

If you have a question about your proposal, I would be happy to give you some tips. If you are interested in putting a publicity platform together, consider hiring gal-friday publicity to get one done for you.

Feel free to email me at rachel@gal-fridaypublicity.com

It's a Dog eat Dog World- do I get a treat now?

So. I had finished the first draft of my book. It had taken forever to write, but it was done. Now what? Well after thinking it over I gave it to my sister to read. She liked it, but I was pretty sure she would because it was about her dogs as well. Why wouldn't she like it? But she gave me points and areas to work on as well. If there is one thing I can count on, it's that my sister won't hold back if she dislikes something. For a family member she's pretty honest.
Now, if i was a lone writer without any publishing connections I would have started that process of trying to find an agent to sell my book, or I would have just started shopping it myself. But fortunately, I chose a career in publicity, and as a result I have dozens of amazing authors as friends, and one in particular who is a literary agent.
Now, my type of book isn't really his style, but because we had worked in the same circles, he agreed to be my agent and try to sell my book.
Success!! I was half way there- how much harder could it be?
So I sent my manuscript to my agent and Lucy and I waited for his reply. And when it came it wasn't exactly what I had expected...

Less Business- More Blogging!

Image by lunaweb via Flickr

With all the research that I do on publicity and social media, I realized that I was committing a cardinal sin on my blog. I was reprinting articles for the sake of saving time, but not actually giving my thoughts to them. That's the whole point of a blog. So many people find me and my business through my blog that I really should be a little more aware of the social aspect of this site. I have my website to update and talk about articles- and it's fine to reprint them here, but I really shouldn't be afraid to weigh in with my opinion.
I'm not going to lose business because of it.
In fact, if anyone goes to my website, they'll see that both my associate Brian and I are pretty laid back but very blunt people when it comes to criticizing modes of publishing books, agents, and our writing services.
I am a book publicist. It's what I love to do. I am also a business publicist. I love working in the field of media, and hearing the viewpoints of everyone. So from here on it, this blog will now be used for my  thoughts. Without a filter. Like it or lump it!
Cheers!