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BlackBerry Nation - The Book

What This is All About

This is a blog to document the chronology of progress of my proposed book: BlackBerry Nation: Why Email Rules Our Lives and What We Can Do About It. This is my first book and I've learned a lot and hope that these posts help other writers avoid some of my first-time book writer mistakes. This video by Dennis Cass sums up very well (and quite humorously) the dynamic world of book publication and promotion.

What's In A Title Anyway?

So the title of my book has been blown out of the water by a guy in Canada publishing a book on Wiley in a few months. No biggie, I forge on. More updates soon. How do you like my new title?

The Truth About Sustainability and Passion

An idea is just an idea until you execute. In my case, executing on my book idea was spending a year and a half writing a book proposal, an excellent book proposal to be blunt. But then the real work began. I shopped it (and continue to) to agents and have gotten some interest, but nothing solid yet. My biggest drawback is that I haven't finished by sample chapter. Why? Well, my interest in this whole thing has been waning.

It's not that I'm not passionate about writing or even my book idea, it's just that I find it difficult to sustain forging ahead, nose-to-the-grindstone interest in this initiative, in any initiative. How long can I really "want" it? I'd gone weeks and weeks (8 maybe) without writing one word or hardly thinking about the book. Then a cool thing happened.

I was asked by Jim Canterucci, the author of Personal Brilliance, to participate in a podcast. And, even cooler, be the featured podcast interview for the entire month of November. I recorded it with him today. Jim is a "Brilliant" professional who shows class and grace in everything he does. Preparing for the podcast, my interest in this book was revived. In preparing for the podcast, most of which was discussing the very concepts that will be in the book, things clicked.

I wrote nearly 1000 words for the book just last night alone. I'm back on track. So, I guess the lesson is that while not being able to sustain interest for long periods of time can be frustrating, the true test is whether passion sustains. And yesterday I learned that my passion for this project is there still.

I'm off to the races once more.

Agents Say No Sometimes As It Turns Out

I've sent out queries to 5 agents as it stands today.

- One is interested but needs chapter summary as previously talked about
- Two haven't responded yet
- Two have said, "Thanks, but no thanks."

What I find encouraging is that the rejections have been very polite and encouraging. I don't doubt that they are a standard template they use for all rejections, but it's nice that they are making the effort to be friendly. Here they are:

Thank you so much for giving BookEnds a chance to consider your work. While I found your query intriguing I'm afraid I wasn't sufficiently enthusiastic to ask for more at this time.

As I'm sure you know, publishing is a subjective business and it's very likely you'll find another agent who feels differently.

I wish you the best of luck and the greatest success.

Thanks so much for sending your query, and for offering me the chance to consider your material. Unfortunately, your project does not seem right for me.  Since it's crucial that you find an agent who will represent you to the best of his or her ability, I'm going to have to step aside from asking to represent your manuscript.

You should know that my decision reflects my present work-load, and the type and amount of material which I'm presently representing.  It does not reflect on your material, and I certainly encourage you to continue to seek representation, especially since this is such a subjective business -- what works for one agent or publisher may not work as well for another (I'm afraid, though, that I cannot recommend someone for it).

Best of luck!

 

Query Letter First Draft

Okay, well I haven't posted lately. For no good reason, except that I haven't had too much to report. I'm way too busy putting off one day into the next to avoid having any real book writing success. I highly recommend it for you aspiring writers out there.

I did have an article published, though, in Church Executive magazine. It's on cybersquatting, and if you want to read it go here. Each of these articles, of course, continues to build my platform, which is a very good thing. I'm considering pitching the Chicago Tribune next, I've got a ton of ideas.

So on to my recent progress. Thinking it would take much longer that it really did, I decided to pound out my query letter to agents. It's that part where you sell you idea in one-page. It's a synopsis of your proposal, basically. Below is my first draft.

The average knowledge worker sends and receives over 160 emails everyday. Email management is consistently a top five gripe among corporate employees. Three in five people say they are on the brink of a data management breakdown. Yet, less than 10% of companies offer any kind of email instruction to their people, leaving the majority of us completely untrained and left to our own devices to sort through our portion of the over 100 billion emails that rocket through cyberspace each day.

BlackBerry Nation: Why Email Rules Our Lives and What We Can Do About It will be the first book to not only examine our psychological and emotional dependency on email, but to also offer unique strategies to help readers understand and react to email in a way that is relevant and productive in today’s hectic, information-overloaded world. Email is not just a work tool or a personal communication device anymore. It’s become something bigger, something symbolic of our culture and who we are. The book will build on this idea by exposing the misconceptions and dangers of multitasking, explaining why our “electronic legacy” – the idea that an email is never really deleted and could pop up at anytime to come back and haunt us – is our most important asset in the new millennium, and citing studies that reveal disturbing facts like how over 50% of BlackBerry users admit to checking email on the john. Surely a sign that some folks may need some help bucking their email addiction.

The success of recently published email books like The Hamster Revolution (Berret-Koehler, 2007) and Send: Managing Your Email at the Office or Home (Knopf, 2007) coupled with a market of over 1.2 billion email users worldwide illustrates not only the scope of the market for this book, but also people’s desire to improve their email habits. Promotion for the book will include extensive Internet initiatives, including an online interactive tool that readers can use to anonymously “report” people who are not following the strategies laid out in the book. Users can go to the site and type in the email address of the “offender” and choose from a drop-down list of what strategy was not followed. The website will send a humorous email to the “offender” citing them for an offense and then offer details from the book and how reading it can help them achieve their own email success. To be effective the email will have to be light-hearted and humorous as to not upset the recipient, but when done correctly will generate a buzz and viral marketing effect that could prove very profitable.

I am the founder of the Center for Email Excellence, an organization dedicated to the betterment of business communication through email. I have over 15 year of technology experience and have helped scores of clients understand and improve their online communication. I’m a frequent writer and speaker within the high-tech industry, having just spoken to executives in Philadelphia on better email management. I’ve been published in various national magazines and have had my writing featured in The Writer magazine and the freelance writing book Ready, Aim, Specialize (Marion Street Press, Second Edition, 2008) I’d be happy to forward you my full proposal and any other information you may need about this project at your convenience.

In the meantime, you can reach me at chris@chrisbonney.com or 630-664-2880. I look forward to hearing from you. For more background, feel free to visit my website: www.chrisbonney.com.

 

Ever Spoken To An Agent Before?

Big day! I ended up getting a response from the "big named agent" a few days ago and he asked me to go ahead and forward my entire proposal to him. Sweet, right? Well, of course, I did right away. Today he sent me an email telling me to call him. Sweet, right? So, I went through a thousand scenarios as to what might be talked about. Does he love my proposal and want to work with me? Does he think it stinks and wants to tell me personally? Will he quiz me on what I really know about email? The list went on and on in my mind. In the end he was a very personable man with a ton of great insights. We talked about my promotional plan mostly because that is what it is all about in the end.

He asked if I would be in san fran or NY anytime soon because he thought it might be nice to meet. He asked if I had seen the agent/author agreement on his website because he'd like me to sign it. In the end though I had one thing working against me and he brought it up when I asked, "So where do we stand then?" He said, "You need to finish your sample chapter." Okay, that's doable I thought. And told him so. I have a new absolute priority in my life: put off writing a sample chapter.

How long do you think I can do that for?

Finally Submitted To An Agent

Okay, I've sent an email to another agent. He's a big name agent, in fact. He literally wrote the book on  non-fiction book proposals. I read his book along with 4 others that I'll share with you in an upcoming post. I learned a little from each and put all that knowledge into my proposal. The big name agent is unique in that he only asks for the title of your book and the promotional plan. Makes sense if you think about it, I guess. Below is the email I sent. I'll follow up with him in two weeks if I don't hear back. Stay tuned.

Dear Big Name Agent-
As directed, I'm including only my book title and promotion plan below. You are currently the only agent I am submitting to. I do have a completed proposal ready for your review, if you are interested. I look forward to hearing from you and I'm excited about the potential opportunity of working together. I like what you say on your website about commitment. I've been writing for 15 years and feel more joy and passion in writing each day.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like to discuss my work further.

Chris Bonney

I'll include a copy of my promotional plan in an upcoming blog post.

In the meantime, I'm preparing for my speaking gig on August 4th and putting together a query for Chicago Tribune on the state of Facebook's older members and how they are infringing on their childrens' friends accounts. It's a modern-day conundrum.

Another Week Gone

Haven't heard one thing from Eric Neuhaus about the proposal I sent to him. In hindsight, I'm not sure if I worded the email correctly. He may have misunderstood that I am interested in him being my agent. He told me he is a brand new agent and that he'd be willing to look at my proposal. When I sent it to him I didn't send a query letter, but simply this:

Eric-

As promised, attached is my proposal for BlackBerry Nation: Why Email Rules Our Lives and What We Can Do About It. I appreciate your interest in my work.

I’m finishing up my sample chapter. In its stead I have attached an email article that was just published in the June issue of FORUM magazine. I plan to have my sample chapter completed by July 15 and will begin a full-blown agent search at that time.

I look forward to hearing back from you and please let me know if you need any other information from me. I'm happy to provide whatever you may need.

If you're able, it would be great if you could confirm that you have received this. The file is large so I want to make sure it went through. Thanks!

See how it kind of doesn't exactly say I want him to represent me? Maybe I offended the guy. I assumed we had a different type of rapport since we'd spoken previously. Not sure. Truth be told, too, July 15 is screaming right at me and I haven't written one word of a sample chapter. I'm at a loss for what the first words of the chapter should be. Gulp...Anyway, I've sent Eric a follow-up email. We'll see what happens.

Also, I have a speaking gig coming up first of August that I'm trying to prepare for as well. It's the ultimate distraction from this book. Ugh.

On the up side, I'm reading a supercool book about social networking called: Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky. If you're into Facebook and that type of stuff at all, and, let's face it, every book writer should be, check it out.

Where Is Inspiration?

I've simply stopped. My proposal is fully written. It's been sent off to one agent. Haven't heard a thing from him. I spent a year and a half on the proposal (couldn't I have written the whole book in that time?) and here I sit. I have the agents names, but I have no query. I have no sample chapter. I have this irrational fear that there is no money in writing. That I need to do more than just write. Speak, for example. Need more speaking gigs. Turns out a published book could turn into more speaking gigs, no? Okay, focus, Chris, focus.

The Agent Search

Okay, so the proposal is done. I've sent the proposal to one agent in NY already. He is a new agent and someone I talked to previously about helping me write my proposal in the first place. Though I opted to use someone local to help me with my proposal, he was gracious enough to stay interested in my project. His name is Eric Neuhaus. He is also the author of Bulletproof Book Proposals.

I've been investigating other agents that I can send my proposal to. What I've done is pick up books by authors that I admire and see who they list as their agents in the acknowledgment section of their books. I admire guys like Daniel Pink and intend to send a proposal to his agent, who happens to be one the most successful agents on my list.

Once I got a list of names together, I went to the Writer's Market website to get more info on them. My takeaway is that agents must get sent a ton of crap. The disclaimers they put on their submission information pages make it look like they think the world is full of idiot writers. Maybe it is. To keep things positive, here is a tip from Ebeling and Associates. This one is actually helpful, so that's why I'm including it.

"Approach agents when you're already building your platform, you have a well written book, you have a firm understanding of the publishing process, and have come up with a complete competitive proposal. Know the name of the agent you are contacting. You're essentially selling a business plan to the publisher. Make sure you've made a convincing pitch throughout your proposal, as ultimately, publishers are taking a financial rosk by investing in your project."

Keep in mind that you should follow the submission guidelines on an agent's website precisely. Don't get creative. They cannot accept gifts and are not always up for overly-creative approaches. At least, that's what I hear.

Here is my list of agents:

Rafe Sagalyn
Chris Calhoun
Jan Miller
Jacky Sach
Michael Snell
Doris S. Michaels
Kathryn Green
Michael Larsen
Michael Ebeling
Fredrica Friedman
Jim Levine

Next step before contacting these folks is to finish my sample chapter. They all seem to ask for one. More soon.

When Is Your Book Proposal Ready?

 Again, I set a hard deadline for myself to get my revised book proposal finished. That deadline was Sunday. I sent it to my reviewer on Monday and have a call with her tomorrow to discuss. As I sent it I was tempted to tell her all the things I already knew were wrong with it, but I refrained.

I'm so close to this proposal that I can hardly say what is or isn't working. That's why I hired her, right? So, I'm going to let her read it without any input for me and we'll see if my thoughts and her thoughts match.

But that leads me to the question: How do you really know when a work is completed? I think it was Sting who said you don't finish a song, you simply abandon it. I feel the same way about this proposal. It is over 30 pages so it is also my longest work ever. For that I feel pretty good.

I'll post again on Friday to let you know how my convo on Thursday goes. In the meantime, any thoughts on how you decide when a piece is done?

Photo credit: Loty