Thinking About Writing a Book?

While most of you know that my passion is music and entertainment, a lot of you do not know that I like to write as well. I have been told by several people that I should take my vivid dreams, eventful life, and inspiring thoughts of wisdom and put them on paper for others to enjoy.

I know you are probably wondering why I am talking about my love of writing on a blog about music and entertainment. The reason I wanted to address this is that there is a lot of money to be made in the world of literature—especially for musicians. They already have a musical following and writing a book could potentially open the door for musicians to reach reluctant readers and readers who would not normally read books from R&B and Hip-Hop artists.

If you are interested in publishing a fiction book, a children’s book, or interested in publishing any other genre, there are certain steps that you must conduct before shopping your book to different literary agents and publishers.

The first step is to make sure to complete your manuscript. There is no way to be able to secure a literary agent without providing them a point of reference. Trying to shop an unfinished manuscript is unprofessional and makes you, the author look unreliable. A key step in the publishing process is to refrain from sending unsolicited works. An unsolicited work is work sent without being referred from an agent or attorney. Most unsolicited works are not taken seriously and receive an “unaccepted” response.

Another step to take when trying to shop around for literary agents is to submit a query letter. A query letter is a letter sent to a literary agent (who specializes in the genre you write) asking for a chance for them to review your manuscript. The query letter could be compared to a resume’s cover letter—it gives the literary agent background information about the work you are trying to shop, information about yourself, and it requests a chance for you to submit a few chapters of your manuscript if they like what they read.  If they are interested, you can look forward to meeting with them to have an interview and have them read a few pages, sections, or chapters of your book.

I hope that this blog post has been interesting and informative and good luck in finding the perfect literary agent!