When my wife and I started dating, we were caught in the magnetic chemistry of young love. It was roses and smiles and sighs and bliss. Then I messed up. I asked her out to a restaurant where I had a coupon from a previous girlfriend. That was bad enough, but it got worse when […]
Lack of platform (which here can be defined as your ability to help a publisher promote your book) is the number 1 reason we turn books down at Baker, and I’m sure we’re not alone. It’s simply easier to come across solid concepts and great writing than it is to find an influential platform. While […]
Growing up, my family had a running joke. Whenever someone asked for a tissue, invariably the response came back: “Tissue? I don’t even know you!” Publishers invest a lot more than a tissue’s worth in the books they publish, so it’s important for them to know who they’re working with. That is why your bio […]
This is so hard! I received over twenty submissions for book proposal coaching, and picking just one to work on is killing me. What’s even more intense is that I find myself really connecting with all the yearning these submissions reflect. You all have such great stories and aspirations. What I hate—what I really cannot […]
Let me start with three reasons working on a book with a lousy concept is a bad idea: Beautiful, compelling writing is terribly important to publishers, but if your beautiful writing is in the service of a concept that no one will buy, publishers will have a hard time getting excited. A far-reaching platform is […]
In high school, it was the designation we drama nerds longed for: Triple Threat. If you could not only act or sing or dance but do all three, you were that much more likely to get the part. Janey Sommers, our fearless teacher, made it clear that in the real world, if you wanted work, […]
