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| Introduce Yourself Don't be shy. Step up and introduce yourself. |
03-16-2008, 09:09 PM
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#1
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Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Los Angeles
Gender: Female
Posts: 3
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I'm Here to Help Get You Published!
Hi All!
I'm Donna Sozio and the reason I'm here
is to help get you published.
I sold my first book in just three weeks -
and I'll show you exactly how I did it.
From time to time I'll post useful articles
I wrote for first-time authors.
Below is the first of many.
And I would love your feedback.
Yours,
Donna
3 Simple Secrets to Create an Instant Bestseller
By: Donna Sozio
Before you even begin writing your book there are three steps you must take if you want your book to hit the literary scene as The Next Big Thing.
The First Step to create an instant bestseller is to ask yourself: Does my book hit a universal nerve? If the answer is yes, you must be able to define exactly what that universal nerve is. Then your book should provide either a solution or at least a temporary escape from the universal nerve you just stepped on. That way you not only identify your book's audience but also demonstrate your connection to them. Which gives your future publisher a very strong reason to buy your book.
Although there is something inherently romantic about obscurity, there must be an element in your book that connects with at least half of humanity for you to create an instant bestseller. Take The Da Vinci Code, for example. This book was about an incredibly obscure sect within the Roman Catholic Church. Yet, the Da Vinci Code sold over 60 million copies.
The Da Vinci Code’s success wasn’t due to its award winning writing. This book became an instant bestseller because it hit a universal nerve. The story appealed to every person on the face of the earth who has ever questioned religion. The author, Dan Brown, would have made a huge mistake if he positioned his book to appeal only to the group about whom he was actually writing. Which is to say the potential audience of your book is much wider than just your subject.
If in doubt, think of it this way. The larger your audience, the larger your book advance. Even if your book is about something obscure, you must position its appeal as universal. Only then will literary agents and publishers recognize it as instant bestseller material.
If your book doesn’t hit a universal nerve, don’t write another sentence until you follow this Second Step to instant bestseller success. Ask yourself this question: Why am I writing my book? The answer will help you discover your audience and assist you in discovering which universal nerve you will hit.
Most people write books for one of two reasons. Either they are processing something in their inner world through the situations and the characters they dream up in the context of their book. Or they are have a burning desire to tell the outside world all the wonderful insights they have gained after successfully processing their inner world.
Both impetuses are equally fabulous and you can create instant bestseller material using either approach. You only need to successfully match the universal nerve you hit to the demographic that it will impact. Once you learn how to do this, you have just learned how to create an instant bestseller!
The Third Step is to boil down all of this information in a succinct and engaging query letter to successfully woo, wow, and entertain a literary agent so they can recognize immediately that your book is an instant bestseller. This is done by distilling your bestselling concept into a slam-dunk-sign-me-now pitch that entertains instead of explains.
For a literary agent to recognize your book as instant bestseller material, your query letter must be a “mini-me” of your book. For example, if you’re writing humor, a literary agent should be laughing after the first line. Or if you wrote a wistful memoir about unrequited love, it’s your job to romance your future literary agent and put them in the mood to read your manuscript.
Creating an instant bestseller can be simple. You only need to know what to do and how to do it. By following the first three steps above, you are well on your way to success. Most writers write without knowing why they are writing. Then they submit without knowing what they are submitting. But not you. The three steps above help get you clear on the potential of your book. Which means the message will be clear to your future literary agent and publisher as well.
***Donna Sozio is the author of Never Trust a Man in Alligator Loafers (Citadel 2007). Using her own instant bestseller secrets, she got a literary agent in three weeks and her book sold in another three weeks. Visit the links in her "signature" to learn how she did it.***
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03-16-2008, 09:26 PM
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#2
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Wordsmith
Join Date: May 2007
Location: On islands
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,988
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I'm not really given to looking at somebody describing their writing and saying, "Wow, what a bunch of horseshit," but this is an exception.
Perhaps readers will also be interested in my own book, "Secrets For Getting In The Pants of Nymphomaniac Supermodels"....a $50 value. Let me know.
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03-16-2008, 10:05 PM
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#3
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Adept Writer
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Brooklyn
Gender: Male
Posts: 794
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Hey Lin - you accept credit cards?
__________________
A humble wolf with dreams of being on a stamp, releasing an autobiography, having a film made showing his daily struggles, having a world wide fan club... - Code Red
"Doing? You're doing what ANY sane man in your appalling circumstances would do. You're going mad." - The Killing Joke.
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03-16-2008, 10:23 PM
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#4
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Writer
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 36
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lin
I'm not really given to looking at somebody describing their writing and saying, "Wow, what a bunch of horseshit," but this is an exception.
Perhaps readers will also be interested in my own book, "Secrets For Getting In The Pants of Nymphomaniac Supermodels"....a $50 value. Let me know.
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Would paypal work? ^^
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03-16-2008, 11:18 PM
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#5
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Ink Slinger
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Anstead, North London (...or New Zealand)
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,919
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Sounds like a real interesting book lin ^^
__________________
~ Why am I...Why am I losing to someone like you? ~
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03-17-2008, 12:28 AM
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#6
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Wordsmith
Join Date: May 2007
Location: On islands
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,988
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Quote:
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Hey Lin - you accept credit cards?
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Credit where credit is overdue, I always say.
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03-17-2008, 09:40 AM
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#7
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Ink Slinger
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Bandit Country
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,208
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by donnasozio
Most people write books for one of two reasons. Either they are processing something in their inner world through the situations and the characters they dream up in the context of their book. Or they are have a burning desire to tell the outside world all the wonderful insights they have gained after successfully processing their inner world.
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Most people write a book because they WANT to write a book. NOT because of the reasons you've given. I write books because I love to write. Getting published is a bonus. I said this before and I'll say it again: if the only reason you're writing is to get published, then you're cheating yourself before you start. By all means, strive to get published, but don't write because of that.
Anyway, welcome to the forum. Hope my welcome didn't come across as harsh.
Sam.
__________________
Perception of reality is not the same thing as reality itself.
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03-17-2008, 03:41 PM
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#8
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Wordsmith
Join Date: May 2007
Location: On islands
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,988
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Quote:
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the reason I'm here is to help get you published.
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I'm not here to get my rocks off, honey, I'm here to help YOU acheive womanhood and orgasmic realization.
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03-17-2008, 03:51 PM
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#9
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Addict
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: in a body
Gender: Private
Posts: 188
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Quote:
3 Simple Secrets to Create an Instant Bestseller
By: Donna Sozio
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I wish you turn this one into a bestseller too. Keep us updated about it. 
__________________
"All, all is theft, all is unceasing and rigorous competition in nature; the desire to make off with the substance of others is the foremost - the most legitimate - passion nature has bred into us and, without doubt, the most agreeable one."
Marquis de Sade
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03-17-2008, 08:03 PM
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#10
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Wordsmith
Join Date: May 2007
Location: On islands
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,988
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Ms. Guaranteed Blockbuster keeps sending me PM's about how cool she is.
The latest is an alleged endorsement by "horror writer Martin Treanor" who read 25 pages of her book, swooned and said it led him to success.
His website cites a couple of short stories in web-based "magazines" and announces that the "much awaited" novel "The Temptation" will soon be available. Which it is: from lulu.com
We can assume that he learned a lot from her tipsheet to be able to create a query to sell the notoriously picky editors at lulu on this blockbuster project.
Meanwhile an examination of her chicklit "smash hit" (from Citadel, a small imprint of Kensington) ranks 149,561 on amazon.
Even more interesting is this comment in the customer reviews:
Quote:
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All of the other reviews sound exactly the same, about the same length, no specifics, suggestions to buy the book for friends, most reviewers have not reviewed any other books, etc. This is a sign that they have been written by promoters, not real people. Is the book this fake?
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Comments on that comment include two others saying they think the other reviews are fraudulent and a chipper response from the irrepresible Ms. Sozio saying that shoes are a valuable tool for women to judge men by and the book is endorsed by "celebrated relationship expert Dr. Pat Allen"
Allen is also described and as a "best selling author", perhaps on the basis of "Getting to I Do", rated at 9,812 on amazon.com or perhaps "Kissing Or No Kissing", which weighs in at #449,053 (Perhaps he read Sozio's book betweenw writing them?) Both are heavily discounted, and "Kissing" is published by Cheval Publishing...the only book in its catalog.
Now. I ask you....
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03-17-2008, 08:12 PM
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#11
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Adept Writer
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Mi is happy celebrating over 5 long years staring at a blank page with a mind filled with thought.
Gender: Female
Posts: 985
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Does your book come in hard back, lin?
By the way, Donnasozio, have you even wrote any books that aren't self-help manuals? Oh wait you said this was your first book. How do you expect anyone to trust your advice?
__________________
WARNING: VERRRRY HAPPY PERSON!
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03-17-2008, 08:16 PM
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#12
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Writer
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: St. Louis
Gender: Male
Posts: 26
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the OP forgot to plug the infomercial that goes along with the book. Oprah, anyone?
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03-17-2008, 10:59 PM
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#13
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Wordsmith
Join Date: May 2007
Location: On islands
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,988
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Hardback? Not hardly, ar, ar ar. If you're talking about the one on my banner, it doesn't even have an ISBN. It's an outlaw, woman!
No, not her first book, the first one is that thing about aligators...a woman's guide to judging men by what shoes they wear. Instead of something superficial
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03-19-2008, 12:58 AM
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#14
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Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Pennsylvania
Gender: Male
Posts: 18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lin
Perhaps readers will also be interested in my own book, "Secrets For Getting In The Pants of Nymphomaniac Supermodels"....a $50 value. Let me know.
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So you say it's a $50 dollar value...but how much does it actually cost?
Do you take bad checks? Is there a refund if I don't get into the pants of a Nymphomaniac Supermodel? Also...I'd like to know when you plan on releasing volume two: So you've got her pants off - Now what?
I wonder if it's a blow to her ego to know that your 'book' is getting more attention than her attempt to scam the rest of us.
(What if the only way to get into a Nympho Supermodel's pants is to try them on when she's not home?)
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