Q: How do I make myself stand out when pitching to a publisher?

A: Empathy! Publishers appreciate writers who understand their issues and make life easier for them. That means you make their mission yours, not vice versa.

Do your homework. Carefully assess what the publisher’s all about, including their scope and product lines. Read their marketing material, catalog, and corporate description as well as their author guidelines. Look up some of their books. If you feel you mesh, let them know that you are in sync and can help them accomplish their goals.

In other words, ask not what your publisher can do for you, but explain what you can do for them. Tell them how you fit into their product line and how you plan to reach the kinds of customers they seek (on your dime, not theirs). Put yourself in their shoes. If you were a publisher who wanted to be known for certain types of books, what would you do to build your business and image and make sales to your target customers?

Of course, it goes without saying that you must keep your promises: submit professional quality work that fits in with the publisher's mission, meet deadlines, and be a joy to work with.

If you focus on your publisher’s needs rather than your own, you will sparkle like gold and avoid the slush pile.

Back in library school, lo these many years ago, I had a professor who said, “If you use the word ‘access’ as a verb, don’t come knockin’ round my door.” I imagine these days she’s a pretty lonely person. You may have noticed that the language includes a lot more verbs than it used to, “access” included. Turning nouns and adjectives into action words has become not only acceptable, but trendy.

Or has it? Do you think it’s okay to “architect” a system? How about to “obsolete” an idea? Or to “unchurch” a population? (Gosh, that wasn’t even a word before it became a verb.) Is it okay to turn any word into a verb? If not, where do you draw the line?

I'm not comfortable erasing all the demarcations among the parts of speech. I’m okay with “googling” a search term, although I have to admit the first time I heard "Google" verbed I wanted to scream. But I just can’t see “sourcing” a fact (what does that mean anyway?), “lensing” a video, or “uniquing” a concept.

What do you think? Write me. I really want to know, since if everything I’ve learned about grammar is wrong, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do!

In June 2005, Harper’s magazine reported the number of books published the previous year in Iceland and the United States per 100,000 residents: 212 and 63, respectively.

Susan Harrow at Publishing Central says “Top literary agents get about 400-1000 unsolicited queries every month from hopeful book authors. Publishing houses sometimes juggle 5000.”

So many of us get sidetracked by our day jobs, which absorb our time and sap our energy, even if we love what we’re doing. Here’s a trick for reclaiming snippets of time for writing during your busy days:

Every time you write, make a note or several about what you’re going to do next time. Write your ideas and tasks in bold at the top of your document so you won’t miss them. The next time you have a few minutes to write, consult your notes first. You’ll know exactly what you want to do and will be able to jump right in.

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