The following are the full details of a presentation given by Anne at the Independent Publishers

Anne McCullagh Rennie

'Inspiring, uplifting, internationally best-selling author'

Below are the full details of a presentation given by Anne to The Society of Editors Held at Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts.Level 1, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney (CBD) on Tuesday April.4th 2006.

‘Publicity and promotion -

do most editors really know what to do?’

with

international best-selling author

Anne McCullagh Rennie

An informative, entertaining discussion aimed at helping editors work with writers

to successfully publicize and promote their products and themselves, to the benefit of all.

· Introduction

· Role of the Editor and the Author

· Where does your author’s book fits in the market place?

· Can you sell the book you are working on in one sentence?

· Credibility – does your author have it?

· Show and Tell

· Don’t assume - Communicate

· Why bother?

· Who writes the backblurb?

· Thinking right to promote your business and your clients’ books

Useful tips for novices and established editors.

Anne McCullagh Rennie is one of Australia’s internationally best-selling authors. She has written four pacy family sagas, Pain-Free Living, a cookbook for arthritis sufferers and her own family’s inspiring, heart-warming biography You can call me Ellie. Last year two of her novels went into the bestseller list in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Over the past 16 years Anne has worked with editors, both freelance and in major publishing houses including Random House, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, New Holland, Woman’s Day, Family Circle, New Idea and Who magazine. A motivational speaker and regular guest on TV and Radio, Anne’s story was featured on ABC TV Australian Story. Today Anne shares her favourite tips and ideas on how editors can help authors promote their books and themselves.

Introduction:

When I decided to become a writer I realized I had to get close to real writers and people connected to them. I joined every organization I could or attended their meetings. One of those was the Society of Editors. At your meetings I listened in awe, trying to understand the process that gets a book from my head to the bookstore shelf. I am honoured to be invited to talk to you today. My topic is‘'Publicity and promotion - Do most editors really know what to do?’ I’d like to start by briefly looking at:

The role of the editor and author - who does what and how they mesh.

When I started writing I thought my job as an author was to write the words and then hand over the manuscript to someone who would look after everything else. That included publishing the book, promoting it and getting it out into the bookstores. I had no idea how the publishing industry worked and that there were different sections within the publishing house, editing, publicity, graphic art ... I really didn’t understand the role of the editor, or the depth of their involvement I had to learn that by working with an editor.

Over the past sixteen years I have worked with editors who get involved at different levels depending upon what the publication was. Some have fallen in love with my characters, others taught me how to write recipes that were easy to follow. I had one magazine editor dismiss my short story as unbelievable and sentimental, only to have her leave, and the new editor publish it declaring she was enraptured by my style. I have fought editing, negotiated chapters to stay and paragraphs to be cut.

I have been astounded at the understanding and commitment an editor brings to an author’s work, and daunted by 1000s of little yellow stickers throughout my edited manuscripts! Now because I understand the process, I get less daunted. I like to think I am more willing to accept changes and am able to work much more constructively with my editor. This includes using their expertise for topics like writing the backblurb, discussing ideas for shout lines for the front cover - both essentials for publicity and promotion ….but more of that later.

I have realized there is no such thing as an isolated author. To become published you have to become part of the team. Author, agent, editor, publisher, publicist, sales and marketing, reader….

What is your position? Are you a novice editor, well-established. Are you editing for Self publishing, in-house publications, trade articles. Do you get heavily involved in your projects?

Do you understand your industry?

Do you know the best market for your client’s works?

Do you come up with ideas for publicity and promotion?

Do you even think it is your job to do so?

Often the editor is the primary link between the author and the publisher. While some projects involve simply making grammatical and punctuation changes with no opportunity for interaction with the author what I would like to focus on are those editing jobs where you have a chance to influence the final manuscript and help the author from the outset.

You are dealing with writers. Toss them an idea and the smart ones will write something! Do you know if your client understands the whole editing process? Or do you just go with the flow? Remember ‘the pie gets bigger’. If their book becomes a huge success and your name is in it, that can only be good for you too.

The more you can prompt your author to act on promotional ideas at an early stage the better it is for all concerned. But do editors understand that many seemingly knowledgeable, confident authors often have no idea of how the publishing industry works?

Opportunities for publicity and promotion have already started to appear by the time you receive the manuscript. By publicity I am talking not only about press releases the author will need to write or assist with at the end of the process, or radio and TV interviews if they are fortunate enough to be invited, I am talking about the ability to sell the book from the outset including for example snappy in-house sales pitches, and simply becoming aware of what you need to do as you progress through to the finished publication.

The world of publishing is changing rapidly, with more being expected from the author and freelance editors and less time allotted to producing each new book.

If you, the editor, can point out some of these publicity opportunities, you can help your author be more successful, demonstrate your knowledge and professionalism, make your client happy and be more likely to receive repeat business.

I’d like to share my favourite tips that continue to work for me in promoting my novels, cookbook and family biography.

Which book should your author’s book sit next to on the bookstore shelf?

I wanted my first novel Reach for the Dream to sit next to The Thornbirds, A Town like Alice Evan Green’s Alice to Nowhere. Reach for the Dream went straight into the Australian Bestseller list alongside A Town like Alice, It has also gone into the bestseller list in Switzerland an Germany alongside The Thornbirds.

Wanting to publish short stories for women’ magazines, I bought all the magazines I could find and analyzed them. Whether you are dealing with a publishing house for your book, in-house publications of reports, articles, self publishing, the goal is to get the material read. So you need to understand the market your author is aiming for to do the best editing job.

So which book should your author’s book sit next to on the bookstore shelf?

Having established where it fits in the market place talk about the book, short story, report as though it does. If the title is still undecided use a working title. You never know what useful person you may talk to at one of your editors’ networking groups. Until the very last minutethe title of my third novel Song of the Bellbirdswas Beyond the Song and I actually published the title in my second novel.

Mistake? Possibly but it didn’t stop Song of the Bellbirds from going on to be an international bestseller. And the title Beyond the Song – well it sounds like another novel.

Sell your client’s book in one sentence!

Be able to say what your client’s book is about in one sentence. Impress a prospective publisher or reader. You never know who’s listening. Make it snappy. ‘Our family biography You can call me Ellie is one Australian family’s story of love and determination.’

Credibility – does your client have it? – Why do you need to worry? Publishers want credibility. Thousands of dollars change hands in lawsuits in the publishing world. Your author needs to work out their credibility.

What do I mean?

Take our family biography You can call me Ellie. Ellie is the name of our younger daughter. She has Down syndrome. I have over 30 years experience of raising children, one of whom has Down syndrome. I went to school with a girl with Down Syndrome who could play the piano better than me. Our daughter Ellie went through regular school, received her school certificate. She can ski, swim, cook has a regular job and is emerging as a talented Australian artist.

Pain Free Living, a cookbook for arthritis sufferers I was diagnosed with osteo-arthritis when I was in my early thirties. I got rid of all symptoms of arthritis and with my doctor’s help weaned myself off all medication, by making simple changes to the foods I was already eating For the past 14 years I have been free of arthritis pain and misery and take no medication for arthritis .

Credibility for my novels:

Song of the Bellbirds is ‘a bittersweet tale set against the wheatfields of Queensland and the opera houses of Europe and America’. I studied singing at the Royal College of Music London and the Akademie für Müsik,Vienna. I researched the area around Toowoomba.

Ride with the Wind ‘from pony club to Melbourne cup and an unforgettable woman’. - I talked to jockeys, race horse trainers and owners. I visited stables and racetracks. What is your author’s credibility? Do they really know what they are talking about?

Show and Tell

I thought I’d demonstrate a bit of publicity and promotion at this point I have brough along my novels, cookbook for arthritis sufferers and family biography, business cards and postcards.

Authors are shy, discerning, brash and insecure. Help them understand how they can help themselves at the outset. Tell then after the event, which in my experience so often happens, and they will not thank you!

I have three business cards with colour photos of my novels and non-fiction. When I started handing them out I quickly discovered people will accept more than one card. In fact if you don’t give your cards to all the group the ones you don’t offer cards to for fear of being too pushy, will feel left out!

When you give out your cards explain briefly about your books: You can call me Ellie is our family biography and these are my novels and cookbook for arthritis sufferers. Plus I have a book of short stories written by some of the biggest names in Australian popular fiction

My business cards are my greatest marketing tool.

I have given away over 14,000. of them

At first others laughed politely at my blatant self promotion, then they criticized, then they copied!.

Encourage your authors to create their own business cards. Check your business card. Does it say what you do? Does it capture interest? Good business cards are money well spent.

Don’t assume – Communicate

You’re an established editor. You’ve worked with major publishing houses, magazines, journalists, corporations. You know your area of editing expertise and you have developed a solid base of clients. You know the process. You are in danger of assuming! Don’t assume. Ask questions.

The world of publishing and editing continues to change with no warning. When I started writing I worked with editor/publisher Julia Stiles from Random House, who took me through the whole editing process. I got to understand in-house promotion and publication, stages of editing and she talked to all the relevant people including me.

In November 2004 my freelance editor sent the finished manuscript of my family biography You can call me Ellie to my publisher. My editor whom I had worked with before, put in a lot of effort improving You can call me Ellie, with me. All was good, I thought . I decided to take a holiday or our boat in Lake Macquarie.

The day before I got the final proofs back from the publisher I found a number of my punctuation and text corrections had not been included. The in-house editor didn’t seem very fussed. I panicked and rang my agent! The whole thing was quickly sorted out but with a certain amount of heartache on my part as I frantically proof-read on our catamaran while my younger daughter and husband holidayed around me.

The explanation: It had been two years since I had finished a book and the publishing industry had changed without my knowledge. As part of normal publishing and editing cost saving practice, my excellent freelance editor had only been paid to edit to a certain level, and she then handed the manuscript to the in-house editor who was supposed to complete the correction.

Through lack of communication and assumptions on my part and on the part of the relatively inexperience in-house editor, a whole level of editing nearly got left out. Don’t assume. Ask questions.

On a lighter note, returning to my earlier editing experiences, not all mistakes are potentially bad . Include big margins down each side and double spacing. Use a clear font (Times New Roman 12 point or similar font) for easy reading. Type the title, chapter, page number, your name and contact details and date of this edit on each page. Editors and publishers will drop your manuscript, spill coffee on them have their children scribble on them!

I didn't believe it.

Then it happens to me!

When pages came back in the wrong order I felt hurt. Then my long time editor and friend and now a young mother, Julia, sent back a manuscript complete with yellow stickers, coffee stains and scribble on, not one, but two chapters! With a little note ‘ sorry Anne, my son drew a picture when I was editing and I wasn’t quick enough to stop him – I hope you like it (ha! ha!).

This was the woman who has fallen in love with my characters and turned three pages of my turgid prose into two gleaming paragraphs. Suddenly I say her as human. From then on our communication grew. I haven’t worked with her for five years but I am hoping she will edit my next novel.

Why bother?

Presumably you are an editor because you love to edit. It is a valuable skill. Writers write, editors edit and improve. Writers don’t want to do what editors do, but we do want to employ your skills.

But why bother with the extra publicity and promotion stuff?

The publishing industry is a very small world. Everyone talks to everyone else and the players regularly change places. Often the only link between author and publisher is the editor. Stay attractive to both authors and publishers. Stay polite despite battles with authors to change scenes, cut chapters, stay focused. Rework manuscripts and make suggestions for how to place the manuscript for publishers – (Which book should your client’s book sit next ton on the bookstore shelf?)…

Remember the pie gets bigger. If you do a good job publishers will want to employ you. Your name will be included in the acknowledgements, ( encourage your author to write an acknowledgements page and fill in some of the publishers and editors’ names for them).

All my novels are selling well in Europe. My German translator has her own website in which my books are feature alongside other best-selling authors. My editors are all are praised in the Acknowledgements in every one of those books. Guess where my friends and colleagues go to look for good editors. Remember the 80-20 rule. 80% effort for 20 % of the project. It is worth making that extra effort even when you are unsure of the outcome..

Who writes the backblurb?

So you’ve decided to look long term as well as short. You’re building a client base of successful authors. There is considerable debate about who writes the back blurb but my advice is:

Encourage your author to write their own backblurb and shout line well before the final proofs stage, and run your eye over it. Present the publishers with a backblurb and they can fine-tune it with the author before the mad panic of production. Authors know their work better than anyone else and the audience they want to reach. You as their editor know where they sit in the marketplace so you are well placed to know the style of shout line, backblurb etc that will work.

Books get sent to book fairs and promotional events without warning . I learned the hard way. When my second novel Ride with the Wind sent to a book fair, no one talked to me until it was too late and it was all in a frantic rush. There was no bookcover, Just the title on a white page and the backblurb hidden inside, was far too long. I get my backblurb to my editor and publisher way in advance these days.

Think right to promote your business and your clients’ books

As an editor where do you want to end up? In 1992 I decided I wanted to be one of Australia’s top internationally best-selling authors of popular fiction. I had written a cookbook for arthritis sufferers.

Shortly after making that decision I met my agent Selwa Anthony. I then published four novels. My first novel Reach for the Dream became an instant bestseller and won a SASSY Award. Last year Reach for the Dream and Song of the Bellbirds went into the bestseller list in Germany and Switzerland and my family biography You can call me Ellie was published and won the 2005 SASSY Award for ‘Strength of Spirit’. Ride with the Wind comes out in hard back in German in mid 2006. I am on track for what I dreamed of back in 1992.

If you know where you want to end up as an editor, you will attract the people you need to help you get you there and you will be successful.

My suggestion is: Learn as much as you can about your industry not just as an editor but through the eyes of the author and the publisher too. Watch out for changes that occur and alert your authors and the companies you deal with Ask questions. Keep communicating. The more good, professional, advice you offer, the more attractive you become to publishers and authors and the more your own business spirals upwards.

Conclusion:

· Do you know where you client’s book fits in the market place?

· Can you say what your client’s book is about in one sentence ( two maximum)?

· Credibility - does your client have it?

· Don’t assume - communicate.

· Why bother?

· Who writes the backblurb?

· Thinking right to promote your business

· Where do you want to end up?

'Publicity and promotion do most editors really know what to do?' You are part of this whole team process but it doesn’t need to weigh you down. Actually, I’m sure you’ll agree parts of it are fun! The more knowledge you have, the more you can pass on to the author and publisher.

Start thinking ‘Publicity and Promotion’ at the START of your project. Toss ideas to the writers. Talk to the publishers. Add your insights. Editors are a vital ingredient in the whole publishing process.

At whatever level you choose to become involved, keep enjoying what you are good at - editing. We need you!

It’s been a pleasure talking with you.

Anne McCullagh Rennie

Click here to email Anne with your comments on this article and on the discussion.

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