From Web Writer to Book Writer

This is a post from Leslie Truex, one of our WAHM 2.0 writers and author of the Work at Home Success Bible.  I asked her to share some wisdom with us from her experience in writing and publishing a book after many years as a web publisher.

If someone had told me ten years ago that I’d someday be a go-to gal for work-at-home information AND that I’d have a published book for moms who want to work at home, I’d have thought they were nuts. Its cliché I know, but true. First off, I didn’t start out in the corporate world so my business knowledge and experience was nil. And while I got good grades in school, writing terrified me.  And yet, here I am making a living from home and helping others do the same through my website WorkAtHomeSuccess.com and recently published book, The Work-At-Home Success Bible (Adams Media 2009). How did that happen??

I can tell you that it didn’t happen by design, at least not originally.

Like many young mothers, when I had children I wanted to be home with them, but couldn’t afford it. My work-at-home journey was typical of many moms in that I fell for scams and had a few unsuccessful attempts at a home business. What I really wanted was to work-at-home in a job, but there was woefully little information about telecommuting. What information I could find indicated that only people with very specific skills such as computer programming, editing, and translation were able to work at home.

But I persevered. As technology advanced, so did the opportunities to work from home. I have telecommuted as a social worker (I still do contract work in adoption) and freelanced online doing writing, research, and website maintenance. In 1998 I began to share my insights and discoveries about working at home on a website, WorkAtHomeSuccess.com. The site quickly grew as I added job postings, scam alerts, and resources. The site started as a hobby, but as advertising and affiliate programs came on the scene, I took advantage of them. Pretty soon the site developed into a stream of income.

Since then opportunities to work at home have exploded including telecommuting options. But the information about telecommuting was still lacking. There were a few websites and even fewer books that covered the details about telecommuting.  As a telecommuter who was helping others find telecommuting work, I thought I was a good candidate to write a book about the ins and outs of finding a work-at-home jobs.  I did what the writing books told me which was to write a book proposal and send it off to agents. Unfortunately no agents wanted it. Nor did they tell me why. In the end,  I published the book through POD with small success.

By 2006 there still wasn’t any traditionally published resources that fully detailed how to find a work-at-home job, so I decided to pitch a book again.  This time I studied publishing paying special attention to platforms. Because my website had good traffic and a thriving email list, I had a platform in place (ready-made buyers). Another change to the proposal was in my “voice”. Instead of writing in the dry style of an academic paper, I wrote in the voice of the pajama mama-clad work-at-home mom that I’d become. The query was rejected 9 times but two agents asked for the full proposal and both offered to represent me.

After some tweaking, the proposal went out to publishers and was eventually bought by Adam’s Media. The only change the publisher made was that instead of a book about telecommuting alone, it wanted a complete guide… a Bible (its term not mine) on working at home.

If you’ve been considering publishing a book through a traditional publisher, you may have heard how difficult it is to get an agent or a publisher. My experience wasn’t bad, but that’s because I did my homework. The truth about publishing is that you need more than the expertise and the ability to string words together coherently. You also need a platform and terrific marketing plan.  Publishers need to know that you’ve got an audience and know how to reach them. Traditional publishers offer great distribution, but the big marketing budget is only used for their top writers (Stephan King etc). So if publishers are going to invest in your book, you need to tell them how and where to reach your audience.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Build your platform first. Know your brand and get it out in the world. Use PR, public speaking, article writing, blogging, podcasting, social networking, email newsletters, and anything else you can think of to position yourself as an expert. Use resources such as HARO (HelpAReporter.com) and Pitchrate.com to let reporters know you’re an expert they can interview. (PRLeads.com is a good source to but it’s expensive).
2. Write a proposal that outlines your book including a well-planned out marketing plan. Areas that need to stand out besides the quality of writing are your hook and platform. Further, make sure the proposal as well as the sample chapters reflect your writing style and personality. There are many good books to help with this.
3. Identify agents or publishers that fit your topic. The biggest gripe agents and publishers have about new writers is that they submit books on topics they don’t represent. Writer’s Market (book and online) and other sources have lists of agents and publishers. Study agent/publisher websites and lists of books they’ve already worked on to see if yours will fit.
4. If you’re emailing agents/publishers (only do so if they indicate they accept email queries), send a query letter first as opposed to the whole proposal. Make your query as compelling as possible to generate interest. Again, there are fabulous books (I like How to Write Irresistible Query Letters by Lisa Collier Cool) to help you with this.
5. Understand that rejection is part of the process.  Consider tweaking your proposal and query if it’s receiving lots of rejections. Keep researching agents and publishers. Even JK Rowling got rejections.
6. If you still don’t find a traditional publisher, consider self-publishing. Today Print-On-Demand is affordable and very easy. You can get an ISBN and have your book listed along all the others at Amazon and bookstores. Self-publishing is another way to built your credibility and platform, and could eventually lead to a book deal. Many authors got their traditional book deal through their self-publishing efforts.

I may not have started out to be a work-at-home professional or a writer, but I’m thrilled to be where I am and I’m eagerly looking forward to the future with new plans and projects! Who knows where I’ll end up?