#Authoring

Introvert, extrovert, it doesn't matter: asking other authors for help, especially for the considerable favor of a book blurb, can be nerve-racking. Jennifer and Kim have been there, and share some specific tips for approaching your fellow scribes for those back-of-the-book endorsements (hint: a little smooching of the tuchus is in order).

And we talk with Gavin Edwards, author of wonderfully unique biographies of Mister Rogers and Tom Hanks and generous giver of book blurbs, who shares a great story about how he got a celebrity book blurb for himself.

Resources:

• Gavin Edwards author website
• Gavin Edwards' Kindness and Wonder: Why Mister Rogers Matters Now More Than Ever

After you've written a book, what happens when you turn it over to your editor to be published? Suddenly, after months or years of being alone with your work, you're suddenly subjected to outside feedback and faced with some major decisions regarding packaging, like choosing a title and subtitle and commissioning a cover. These steps are perhaps the most critical to how your book will look to the world—and the final decisions are not always within your control if you're going the traditional publishing route.

In this episode, Jennifer and Kimberly share insights and war stories from working with editors and publishers on a book. They offer thoughts on when to push back on editorial decisions, how to haggle about titles and subtitles, when to ask your agent to step into a conflict between you and your publisher, and how covers come to be.

Cover designs discussed:

• Everything I Need to Know: I Learned from a Chick Flick
• Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted
• Seinfeldia
• The Way We All Became the Brady Bunch
• Why? Because We Still Like You

From selling a book idea to selling yourself as the best person to write it, a stellar book proposal is a must. Jennifer and Kim chat about the specific parts of a proposal – with examples from the winning proposals that sold their books – including your author biography, market research, a promotion and marketing plan, and the sample chapters.

We also chat with bestselling author Sheila Weller, writer of a fantastic new biography of Carrie Fisher, about how she comes up with her book topics.

And, score!, Jennifer offers listeners a free annotated copy of her book proposal for Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted: And All the Brilliant Minds Who Made The Mary Tyler Moore Show a Classic!

Resources:

• Sign up for Jennifer's newsletter and book proposal sample
• Sheila Weller's Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge
• Publishing expert Jane Friedman on How to Write a Book Proposal

With self-publishing available at the click of a mouse and traditional publishing struggling to find what works, going outside the Big Five looks better than ever. Is some form of self-publishing right for you?

We're talking with Anna David, the founder of Launch Pad Publishing, a company that walks you through the process, from idea and manuscript to a finished book available for purchase. David knows of what she speaks: She's the New York Times bestselling author of eight books who lived the best and worst of Big Five life before she turned toward helping others achieve their independent publishing dreams. She spills it all here, telling us how to adjust those publishing dreams to current marketplace reality, what can go wrong with Amazon, and how to make a business out of your book.

Resources:

• Anna David website
• Launch Pad
• The Gorga Guide to Success by Joe Gorga
• Ryan Holiday website

Every book project begins with an idea. And after that, it's up to the author and her or his agent to get that idea out into the world (more specifically, into the hands of an enthusiastic editor).

From finding the right agent and how to manage what will hopefully be a long client/agent relationship to demystifying the process of publishing a book and working with editors, superagent Laurie Abkemeier (Marley & Me, Rise of the Rocket Girls, Seinfeldia) – Jennifer and Kim's agent – engages in a real talk conversation about one of the most important members of an author's professional team, the literary agent.

Bonus: the agent who didn't even like dogs before she agented the greatest dog book of all time shares the idea for the book she's dying for someone to write.

Resources:

• Laurie Abkemeier at DeFiore and Co.
• Laurie on Twitter
• Laurie on Tumblr

Authors Jennifer Keishin Armstrong (New York Times bestseller Seinfeldia, Sex and the City and Us) and Kimberly Potts (The Way We All Became the Brady Bunch) introduce #Authoring, the podcast by authors, for authors, featuring 100% real talk about the wild, wonderful publishing business. We're here to talk about everything that comes after writing the book: working with editors, promoting your work, making money, and beyond.

In this episode, we give you some background on our own credentials and walk you through what to expect from the rest of Season 1, from getting and keeping an agent to self-publishing, from planning events to publicity, and beyond.

Resources:

• Jennifer Keishin Armstrong website
• Kimberly Potts website
• #Authoring on Twitter