Sell Your Novel to a Major Publisher

Course details

You've written a book, and you're excited to get it into readers' hands. Selling your novel to a major publisher is one of the best ways to get your novel in front of an audience. This course is an insider's guide that can help you pitch your book to agents and editors. Jessica Brody—author of the Unremembered series and more than 20 other books, including the #1 bestselling plotting guide, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel—provides tips on finding agents, selling your book to multiple non-US markets, writing great query letters, and understanding the terms of your first contract.

Learning objectives
Comparing traditional publishing and self-publishing
Writing and revising your novel
Finding an agent
Perfecting your pitch
Writing a query letter
Researching agents
Submitting to agents
Reading your book contract
Negotiating advances and royalties
Understanding the publishing process

Concepts

1. Overview of the Publishing Process

01 - Why I created this course
02 - Traditional publishing vs. self-publishing
03 - What to expect from this course
04 - Overview of the entire publishing process

2. Writing and Revising Your Novel

05 - Writing your novel
06 - Revising your novel
07 - Words of advice on writing and revising

3. Introduction to Literary Agents

08 - Why you need an agent
09 - Finding an agent - Overview

4. Creating and Perfecting Your Pitch

10 - The definition of a pitch
11 - The logline
12 - The elevator pitch
13 - The short synopsis
14 - The full synopsis

5. Writing Your Query Letter

15 - Introduction to the query letter
16 - Part 1 - Hook their attention
17 - Part 2 - The book summary
18 - Part 3 - Why this agent
19 - Part 4 - All about you
20 - Query letter summary
21 - Technical details

6. Researching Agents

22 - The agent submission list
23 - Agent research tool #1
24 - Agent research tool #2
25 - Agent research tool #3
26 - Agent research tool #4
27 - Agent research tool #5
28 - Agent research tool #6
29 - Organizing your list

7. Submitting to Agents

30 - Overview of the agent submission process
31 - The magic query maximizer (MQM)
32 - Customizing your query letters
33 - General dos and don'ts of querying
34 - Receiving responses and analyzing results
35 - Getting rejections
36 - Selling in vs. selling out
37 - Thank-you letters
38 - Getting interest
39 - Getting signed
40 - Agency contracts
41 - Frequently asked questions about agents

8. Selling Your Novel

42 - Key publishing terms
43 - The publisher submission process
44 - Publishing houses - A road map
45 - Revisions and submissions
46 - Publishing houses - A peek inside
47 - Offers and auctions
48 - Money and advances

9. Navigating Your First Book Contract

49 - An overview of book contracts
50 - Royalties
51 - Subsidiary rights
52 - Option clauses

10. The Publishing Process

53 - Your last revision
54 - Copyediting
55 - First pass pages
56 - Cover art
57 - ARCs
58 - What to expect leading up to publication
59 - Frequently asked questions about the publishing process

Conclusion

60 - Farewell and good luck