Jon Samsel

Recently I had the good fortune to meet and chat with Jess Roberts, president of iRecruitMedia, an interactive media recruiting firm who’s goal is to help leverage their industry knowledge and strong work ethic to bring the most talented professionals to the companies that need them. Jess says his team focuses on the interactive media arena—helping small-to-medium sized, high technology and fast-paced growth companies in the branding, gaming, convergence, mobile web, interactive and digital media space.

I assume a recruiter needs to stay well connected. Any networking insights or best practices you can share?

Roberts: Talk to everyone. I have a huge network of people that I stay connected to. I’m not just talking LinkedIn or other social sites. I’m talking real people, real networking. The best advice that I can give anyone is to not think that you’re above anyone else or that just because a person isn’t your “target” that the person isn’t valuable. Also, don’t make it all about you. If you’re only trying to expand your network to just benefit you, you’re not doing it the right way. Honestly be about helping other people.

What type of employment positions do you focus on—and why this niche?

Roberts: I’m focused on interactive media, mobile web/applications, and gaming. It’s an industry that not only do I love it, but I believe in it. I’m huge video game fan myself. I love to watch my kids light up when they’re online playing on NickJr. When I see my 4 year old working the keyboard and mouse like a pro, it makes me smile.

I work with my clients for whatever they need. It’s typically something in the sales or technology areas. I love being able to bring a person that has been over quota for the last few years but is looking for a company that values him as a person to a company that establishing a foot hold in the market place and is looking for the person that can help get them there.

What are some recent positions you have filled—title and pay ranges?

Roberts: Here are a few examples:

• Interactive Account Managers – Base $100K – OTE $250K
• Director of IT – Base $110K
• Systems Analyst – Base $79K
• Account Executives – Base $85,500k – OTE $175K
• HTML Markup Coder – Base $66K
• SEO Marketing Expert – Base $77K
• Interactive Creative Director – Base $73K

Do you have any recommendations for job candidates in your niche looking to increase their chances of getting hired?

Roberts: Don’t just randomly submit your resumes to companies. Work with a recruiter to put together a game plan. Hiring managers and HR are getting slammed with resumes everyday from tons of people that are not qualified for the positions that they are applying for. Find a recruiter that will spend the time to get to know you and what you are looking for and have a good enough relationship with their clients or can develop a relationship to get quick and pointed feedback.

Do you utilize any of the professional social networking platforms such as LinkedIn or Plaxo—and if so, how do they help you do your job?

Roberts: I utilize LinkedIn a good bit. It has helped me to keep a finger on the pulse of my industry. I also belong to a few industry specific networking sites and groups that allow me to keep my sights cleaned.

What sets me apart for other recruiters including internal ones is the fact that I’m pounding the pavement everyday and working with the latest skill sets all the time just in this industry. Staying in touch with other people in the industry helps keep me fresh. LinkedIn is a great tool for that.

In your opinion, how can job seekers benefit from social networking? In what way–how?

Roberts: I think that job seekers have to be careful in social networking. They would want to be sure that any profile they have on the web represents them in a positive fashion. Employers and recruiters are starting to check the Facebook and MySpace worlds in reference checking. If you’ve got pictures of you hanging upside down from the lights of your office, it may not be a good thing.

I think that social networking sites can help candidates to keep up with what companies are doing and make great research tools before an interview.

What would you like people to know about you that may not be apparent until someone gets to know you?

Roberts: I like to have fun with this and everything else I do. I’m not the guy that’s going to call you and read off of some script. I’m real. I don’t try to do fancy sales talk or B.S. clients or candidates. I’m a bit on the goofy side and will probably have you cracking up before we hang up the phone. The reason why is that I want to be a breath of fresh air for everyone. Look, I’m the CEO of my business. I have employees and a business to run. I understand how busy you are during the day and that you get tired of hearing the same old story from the hundreds of recruiters that call.

My goal is to be the one recruiter out there that can make a difference to a company.

Contact:
Jess Roberts
President, iRecruitMedia
http://www.irecruitmedia.com
jroberts@irecruitmedia.com
Ph: 866-933-6019

The Company Profiles feature on LinkedIn is a cool research and networking tool (in BETA) that helps users gain some keen insights into what companies are all about, what’s happening within those firms, and who within these companies you should consider connecting to. Since LinkedIn tracks so many types of inter-related pieces of information on their system, they are in a unique position to find trends in the work history of users and identifying connections between companies. According to LinkedIn, “[Company Profiles] information was aggregated from non-personally identifiable data of LinkedIn users who are currently employed by this company. This data only reflects estimates about this company’s employees and is not endorsed or provided by the company.”

Getting to the tool is easy. In the top navigation bar on LinkedIn, click on the ‘Companies’ tab. You can locate companies by keyword, country, zip code, by name or browse by industry. Once you’ve located a company you are interested in (in my case, eBay) you are ready to start spelunking all that Company Profiles has to offer.

So what’s so great about Company Profiles? LinkedIn quickly calls out the social movers and shakers within any given firm, how far away these people are from you—2nd degree, 3rd degree, and who they are likely to be employed by next (aka their extended career path). Company Profiles shows you the names of people who recently joined a company, what type of positions are most common with that company, and the gender mix of employees at that firm. LinkedIn’s Company Profiles feature can be leveraged to locate these data sets, and more.

It is true that some data in Company Profiles is not 100% accurate from a research point of view (the feature relies on members and partners for some of its data). But as a social networking tool, the interconnected data trends that LinkedIn provides are robust in and of themselves. Plus, the information is free for you to leverage as you see fit.

Company Profiles Can Help You Network in Five Easy Ways

Company Profiles helps you better leverage your most valuable LinkedIn asset: your personal connections. Through Company Profiles, your former, current, and potential colleagues and their connections can become valuable access points for you to capitalize on. Company Profiles can help you:

1. Find a new job
2. Secure new clients or assignments
3. Conduct competitive research
4. Identify business partnership opportunities
5. Spot the most socially connected employees at any given firm (the influencers)

Find a New Job

Company Profiles provides a list of all the LinkedIn users in your network (up to 3 degrees away from you) who currently work at a given company. LinkedIn users who have recently joined a given company are also displayed. Recent promotions or changes to positions are listed, along with the most popular positions held across the company. If you are a job hunter, what a great resource this is tap into!

For example, let’s say you are seeking a project manager position at eBay. By using the Company Profiles feature on LinkedIn, today you would discover:

• 2% of eBay’s 10,000+ employees have jobs relating to project management (so this company does need your services)
• Most people at eBay work out of San Francisco (if you live in the Bay Area, this would be a good company to consider working for)
• The number of current eBay employees you know or are connected to (they may know eBay managers who are hiring, and perhaps they can even recommend you for a job)
• There are 7 divisions within eBay that might also be hiring project managers (PayPal, Shopping.com, Half.com, StubHub, mobile.de & eBay Motors GmbH, ProStores and Skype).

Landing a new job is never easy—and it helps if you are searching while still gainfully employed. LinkedIn should be considered as one of your first job hunting resources. It’s not a job search and resume submission site per se, but by utilizing its social networking tools, you can read about new positions being offered and who you might know that can open a door or two for you. The rest is up to you.

Secure New Clients or Assignments

Okay, so you are a graphic designer, freelance writer, salesperson or perhaps you’re a technology consultant trolling LinkedIn looking to drum up new business. Where do you start? How can you harness Company Profiles to secure an assignment or a new client without being perceived as a networking marketing leech?

Two words: Research wisely. The one thing Company Profiles does well is help users sort and search for relevant data, quickly and easily.

Here are a few suggested next steps:

• Use Company Profiles to search the industries you’re most interested in working with
• Locate the employers, experts and customers you most want to talk to
• See who you know at your target companies, or who in your network can introduce you to them
• Ask questions or exchange ideas with like-minded people (join a group and participate in a discussion). By tapping into a broad network on what you can offer and what you are looking for, you may be impressed by the number and quality of replies/referrals

Conduct Competitive Research

The company descriptions within Company Profiles are provided to LinkedIn by Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor’s, a company that provides financial research and analytical solutions to over 2,400 investment banks, fund managers, and corporations. Besides a company overview section, key statistics such as headquarter locations, industry type, type of company, size, revenue, year founded and a link to their website is also included.

The above-mentioned fields of information are valuable in their own right, but combined with some of the related social networking information provided, the context of this research data can be exploited to achieve your desired goals.

Identify Business Partnership Opportunities

LinkedIn is a business person’s best friend. It takes your personal business network online, giving you access to people, jobs and opportunities like never before. It’s your 24/7 electronic rolodex!

LinkedIn’s motto is clear: Connect the world’s professionals to accelerate their success. Built upon trusted connections and relationships, LinkedIn has established the world’s largest and most powerful business network. Currently, over 34 million professionals are on LinkedIn, representing all five hundred of the Fortune 500 companies, as well as a wide range of brands across dozens of industries.

So how does one go about leveraging Company Profiles to partner and do business with other firms? The key is to be proactive, but smart about approaching potential business partners. One of the big misconceptions about LinkedIn is that it takes too much time to master and that it’s ineffective. Wrong! LinkedIn really works. The key is not waiting around for others to come to you—you need to reach out to others in a classy, respectful and compelling way. Don’t be a business wallflower. Introduce yourself to those you don’t already know, or ask people to introduce you to contacts of theirs that can assist you. You’ll be glad you did, as most LinkedIn users are members for the same reason—to accelerate their business careers.

Let’s take my profile for example. As of January 27, 2009, I had 437 connections linking me to 4,577,100+ professionals on LinkedIn. That’s a pretty large pool of potential business partners to reach out to. I might start my prospecting efforts by searching Company Profiles for companies in need of my products and services, then look to see how many current and ex employees are in my connected network. I would start with those I know directly (1st), then move on to those I know indirectly (2nd, 3rd, etc). I would have my hands full with prospective partner contacts in no time. Then it would be up to me own pitch and follow through as a means to secure new business.

Spot the Influencers

Popular profiles can be found in the Company Profiles section of LinkedIn. These are users who are spotlighted because they are actively updating their profile, being referenced in Q&A’s, getting email solicitations, participating in industry groups, using embedded tools, and/or frequently the result of searches and other activities within the LinkedIn network. According to LinkedIn, “users who appear on this list have the most profile views at their company.”

Why is important to identify and communicate with the key influencers related to your line of work or interest? Influencers can create buzz around your product or service, and they can open up unforeseen opportunities for you. By tapping into their social equity and by engaging in word of mouth marketing on your behalf, social influencers can boost awareness and transfer some of their social capital to you.

Brand advocacy fuels business growth—and it can be more important and effective than brand awareness or satisfaction. Influencers can help influence the business decisions, and the purchase decisions of others because what influencers have to say is generally trusted more than other sources.

Some assertive social influencers such as TopLinked LIONs (LinkedIn Open Networkers) have figured out how to harness The Hawthorne Effect, which involves getting others to participate in trialing, testing, reviewing and suggesting improvements to whatever they are working on—a product, business concept, website design, media plan, start-up venture, and the like. The theory goes that collaborative participation inevitably makes everyone positively disposed to the subject at hand, and those with whom you engage end up among its biggest champions. LIONs and other social media influencers have figured out how to tap into, exploit and share this new form of network marketing—hypertext magnetism so to speak.

Now that you can start to see the benefit of following, communicating and befriending the most socially connected employees at any given firm—it’s time to network with them. Keep in mind that first impressions are everything. Don’t contact an influencer until you are sure you have something worthy to talk about—and to offer. Poor first impressions could have a lasting negative impact…so be careful.

There are several ways you can build a second income from the books you write and place with publishers. Advances and royalties add to your yearly total as an author. There are also subsidiary rights sales (also called ancillary right sales) to magazines, newspapers, book-clubs, audio book companies, and/or film companies. Other subsidiary rights include electronic rights, speaking engagements, and foreign rights fees. All of these fees can add up to a hefty sum, assuming your book carves a respectable place for itself in the marketplace.

An advance is not a handout from a publisher to an author; it’s your own money you receive on the future earnings (royalties) of your book. An advance means just that—an advance against the royalties to be earned by your book. When your book is published and selling, you won’t get any more money until it has earned back the amount paid as an advance. So the publisher gets back the money advanced to an author when the book starts to sell. Many books, unfortunately, never earn back their advances. A number of others just break even. What every author shoots for, and publishers, too, are books that earn back their advances and then go on to earn a profitable return (or much better).

Newcomer authors should realize that an advance can help you financially while you complete your manuscript. Many small publishers do not offer advances, but the major companies work this way, with half the advance paid when you sign a contract and the balance when a completed, and acceptable manuscript, is delivered to the publisher.

Once the book is published and selling, an author will receive royalty reports twice a year with any amount due enclosed. Most publishers send these royalty statements in the spring and fall along with any subsidiary rights payments.

Agent Margot Maley says, “Writers can make a lot of money on ancillary deals. I have a few authors who make more money on speaking engagements relating to their books than they do on the books. Film and audio rights can be huge if you have the right book. Foreign rights can bring in as much or more income as the original English rights deal. Electronic rights, though still kept by most publishers, are not exercised all that often.”

Here is an amazing statistic for you to digest: LinkedIn has over 34 million members in over 200 countries and territories around the world. In fact, a new member joins LinkedIn every second of every day! If you’ve ever wondered how to harness the power of Linkedin to grow your social sphere, land a job, promote your company, whatever—then this article might provide you with a few actionable ideas to propel you forward.

Here are seven simple ways to leverage LinkedIn to expand your social network:

1. Create a robust profile. It’s really important to take the time to make your LinkedIn profile as detailed as possible. Yeah, it’s a hassle, especially since you can’t simply upload your resume and pre-populate LinkedIn’s forms with the click of the mouse. But once you fill everything out, your profile can act as a 24/7 beacon that attracts other LinkedIn users to you. For example, by listing the fraternity you were a member of in college or by including the sport you played, skills you’ve acquired, or awards you’ve won—you increase your odds that a person browsing your profile with find a common interest. This, in turn, will make it easier for them to reach out to you because now the two of you have a common frame of reference from which to start a dialog.

Updating your Reading List is another way you can round out your profile (although this is officially a LinkedIn tool or application (more on this later). This tool is easy to use and it’s one more way for people to get to know you through the books you enjoy and recommend.

Whenever I am on LinkedIn looking for people to connect with, I love it when I find a common bond or interest with someone I don’t yet know. I often include this tidbit of information in my letter of introduction to them. This method has been successful for me 90% of the time.

2. Share the now. Why not describe what you are working on right now, or what you are looking for—LinkedIn makes this easy to do. Describe the type of project you are toiling away at. Or the type of customer you hope to land next. Or even the ideal job you are looking for. Simply update the LinkedIn profile tool that asks, ‘What are you working on?’ Update this as often as often as possible. Think of this feature as a mini-Twitter on LinkedIn (only not nearly as robust and powerful).

This is an easy profile update feature that serves two important purposes:

• It informs your network what you are doing right now. If what you are doing is of interest to them, you are likely to hear from them right away. People generally know this is the closest thing to a real-time content post you will see on linked in, and people often chime in on what you have to say since it feels like they are responding to what you’ve posted. Try it and see. Of course, it helps if you have enough people in your network to begin with!

• LinkedIn posts the ‘what you’re working on now’ post in their status update feed, which functions as a newsfeed and populates this information across your existing network—increasing the odds that someone will notice what you are doing and engage a dialog with you.

3. Add connections. This is where LinkedIn has made ‘connecting your network’ easy. You have a choice of inviting contacts one by one, importing contacts from Microsoft Outlook or from your webmail accounts such as Gmail or Yahoo Mail, or even connect with past or present colleagues/classmate by viewing a list of individuals already using LinkedIn. This single connectivity feature will help jumpstart your LinkedIn connections like no other.

4. Join a group. Better yet, join lots of groups that are of interest to you. You may not get accepted into all of the groups you solicit, but try anyway (many groups require that you have a background related to the group’s charter…again a robust profile listing listing all your experience will aid you here). Joining a group is free and there is nothing to lose by participating. I have found that by becoming a member of a group, you immediately increase your odds of meeting people with common interests. And by reading and engaging in the group’s discussions, you can learn about the people, issues and subjects that are of interest to participants.

5. Offer something of value/Give of yourself. Help someone in a group by answering a question or contributing to a discussion topic. Not only does this show good will on your part, but this act of giving has a positive ripple effect on your LinkedIn network that may surprise you. For example, yesterday I answered a question posted by a member of the LinkEds & writers group who inquired about getting a literary agent. I provided some brief advice, plus included a link to a few articles on my blog that were related to the topic. From this simple act of helping this one LinkedIn user, here is the impact I have been able to measure so far (in a single day, mind you):

• 3 new LinkedIn connections
• 1 invitation to join a related group by the host
• 17 visits to my blog
• 2 favorable blog comments left by satisfied readers
• 1blog comment asking if I’d be interested in being interview for a new non-fiction book being written by an writer in the UK
• 2 new links to by blog
• 3 Delicious referrals to my blog
• 4 Twitter referrals to my blog
• 2 StumbleUpon referrals to my blog
• 1 kind message from an editor at a major national magazine thanking me for ‘pointing the group to these helpful resources’

Not too shabby considering I only answered a single question for a single person on LinkedIn. Multiply this by 10 times and you can quickly see how the act of giving can have a huge impact on your social networking goals.

6. Include your contact info. I am continually surprised by the number of LinkedIn users do not include their contact information for all to see (phone #, email address, website URL, blog link—include all or a cobination of contact methods, whatever you are comfortable posting). LinkedIn has become this generation’s Rolodex. It’s not enough to simply post you profile. You need to make it easy for people to get in touch with you.

For example, by not including your email address in plain view on your profile page, it may be hard for someone to add you to their network (LinkedIn will ask how this person knows you and if they select ‘other’ they will be prompted to submit your email address—if they don’t have it, the request can be denied). By including a link to your blog or company website, a LinkedIn user can visit your site at a later date and time when it’s most convenient to them.

7. Add an application (or two). LinkedIn has teamed up with premier companies to embed their applications into your profile. Connect your Wordpress blog, collaborate with Huddle workspaces, display your Slideshare presentations, and even display your current location, upcoming trips and travel stats via TripIt. Getting started is pretty simple. You’ll be able to install and use your new applications in only a few seconds.

Now that you’ve read all about expanding your LinkedIn social network by utilizing some simple pointers, try them out for yourself. I am confident that within a few days or weeks, you’ll start seeing results.

Keep in mind that results are subjective. Some people just want to connect with old friends and colleagues on LinkedIn and they are not trying to grow a large social network. Others are trying to utilize LinkedIn to promote their company/blog, land a new job, or generate new clients. And then there are others who aspire to become a LinkedIn Open Networker (LION) with 2500+ connections.

Whatever your ultimate goal, keep in mind that as your LinkedIn network grows, you may experience ancillary benefits too, such as increase visits to your blog, business partnership opportunities, guest speaking offers, ReTweets, inquiries from recruiters, a ‘hello’ email from a prior romantic interest, and more. You’ll never know what’s possible until you try.

I first met Joe Konz online via LinkedIn.com. We were both members of the discussion group, LinkEds & writers, and we started a conversation on the subject of copy editing, writing and the decline in print newspaper readership. You see, Joe is a career newspaperman – reporter, writer and editor – who currently is chief of the copy desk that produces 11 community newspapers published by The Indianapolis Star Media Group. I asked Joe if he wouldn’t mind sharing his thoughts about his job, the news industry, advice he might have for novice writers, as well as what makes him tick creatively.

What I learned from Joe is that he is a compositionist at heart, a framer of images and words, someone who utilizes language and compositional technique to elicit an emotional response, while trying to present the world as precisely as can be depicted. This is by no means an easy task. Read the interview, and enjoy!

How has the job of copy editing has changed through the years?

I’d probably single out the change in technology as one of the biggest factors. It’s transformed the way we operate, going from the glue, pencil and paper era to one of computers, electronic editing and design pagination systems and satellite transmissions of pages to remote printing sites. That, in turn, has affected the editing protocol – the way copy and content editors interact to effect improvements to copy and pictures before they are published. Content and copy editors formerly conferred exclusively either face to face or by telephone. There still is a some of that – maybe 50 percent – but we also interact a lot now by in-house email, and some editors even use instant messaging services.

Can you briefly summarize what you do on any given day?

I supervise a staff of nine people – including two designers – who produce the 11 community newspapers circulated to the suburban areas of Indianapolis. These sections strive to provide micro-local coverage of news, sports and events that the communities couldn’t (or wouldn’t) get in the main section of the metropolitan newspaper or from most other news/media sources. My staff designs and copy edits the sections.

In copy editing, we provide the final “read” of story text, make minor tweaks – such as correcting misspellings or grammatical errors, and consulting content editors and/or writers on any significant organizational problems, including substantial trims, that we feel are necessary to make a story clearer and/or more readable.

We also write the headlines on stories and the captions for photographs, and we proofread the pages before we release them to our typesetters.

What do you love most about your job?

Two things, primarily.

One is the satisfaction of being able to successfully coordinate all of the elements involved in the aforementioned copy editing process so that our operation can meet 11 production deadlines. That alone can be a daunting task, given the landmines of late or swapped out copy and pictures, stories falling apart at the last minute, photos not being assigned until the last minute, dealing with and adjusting page production to accommodate breaking news, etc., not to mention technical issues that could arise – especially computer and/or network crashes.

The other is the splendid way the staff I work with interacts. It’s a treasured camaraderie and respect; the grueling aspect of the job I described previously would not be nearly as bearable without this.

How do you feel about the future of printed newspapers?

There are still a lot of people who appreciate the ability to hold ink and paper in their hand to access the news. I’m one of those. And there are still advertisers who appreciate the advantage of having their product or services in a “hands-on” media, one in which a customer can clip and either set aside for future reference or bring with them to the store when they shop. But is the number of people who read or subscribe to newspapers dwindling? Certainly, which is why most publishing companies are striving to bolster their online product and presence, because they know that’s where a growing number of people are turning to find their news “now,” when they want it. The Internet presents a vast forum and opportunity for newsgathering organizations to provide anything and everything a reader could want or need, certainly much beyond what can be provided in the limited structure of a newspaper or other print product.

What advice would you give to someone right out of college thinking about a writing or editing career at a newspaper? What skills should they have? What’s the best way to land a job?

The basic journalism skills – a command of the language and compositional technique, accuracy, balance and fairness – will always be valid in the news gathering industry. But today, a “student” also must be well-versed in new media – making and editing audio and video clips and posting news online. A proficiency in operating video equipment and using video/audio editing software and learning and mastering basic HTML code are huge assets. I might even say “musts.”

The best way a student can situate himself or herself to land a job not only is to be able to present a “clips” record of published work to prospective employers, but also have CD or DVD copies of their new media work to share with prospective employers. Having internships with professional media while in college (with good references from those experiences) also is a huge plus.

To actually land a job might be tougher than usual for as long as the economic climate is so dour. Joining business networking organizations (the online networking sites LinkedIn and Plaxo are examples) is a good start. At those sites, you can build your “connections” network and join “like-interest” groups where you could come across employment opportunities you might not find elsewhere.

Tell me a little about your photography.

I describe myself as an avid hobbyist. It’s a fulfilling, creative outlet. I’ve had a couple dozen of my images published in the newspaper where I work, but I’ve received no extra compensation for it (as per company policy), so I don’t think I could be considered a pro. I’m working on some projects where I’m hoping to get more exposure of my work, but it’s not something I’ve necessarily set as a firm goal. They are ideas that motivate me, and as long as I feel motivated, I’ll chase after them.

What inspires you as an artist?

I am inspired by seeing inspired photography or other art, if you can understand what I’m getting at: something that reflects how a photographer – or any artist – gave considerable thought to compose and capture his or her work.

There have been quite a few masterpieces that evolved from “accidental” (or maybe “fortuitous” is a better word) photography. You know, a situation where dumb luck, or the mere act of being at the right place at the right time, resulted in a lasting image. War photographs are good examples. Two examples of non-war photographs that fall into this category:

1. A very young John Kennedy Jr. saluting from the side of the street as the casket of his father, assassinated President John F. Kennedy, processes in front of him at JFK’s state funeral in November 1963. The photographer, of course, could not have known that John was going to strike that pose, but he was there and positioned perfectly to capture it. Everyone who was alive at that time remembers that image vividly.
2. A less-known (except in the pricey industry of art collection) example is Frenchman Henri Cartier-Bresson’s “Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare” (1932), a street photography image featuring a male pedestrian, in almost silhouette form, trying to jump over a large puddle with his shadow in the water presenting a wonderful artistic, complementary element. Cartier-Bresson, in the right place at the right time, snapped the shutter on his 35mm Leica rangefinder the moment before the man’s foot would land in the water, sealing the photographer’s reputation as one specializing in capturing the “decisive moment.”

If I can learn how a particularly inspiring work was accomplished, as I have with that particular photograph, I feel inspired to pursue and explore creative ways with my photography.

Joe’s Photo Galleries and Blog:
www.joekonz.fototime.com
http://photo.net/photos/joekonz
http://photopotpourri.blogspot.com

Submitting your new book for consideration to a publishing house is every writer’s goal, second only to the aspiration of actually seeing your book in print. Perhaps a better phrase for the manuscript submission process is the numbers game. Practically all publishers these days state flat out that they absolutely want to be queried first. The numbers game is thus played with queries, proposals, or a partial to complete manuscript. Some authors claim they got a go ahead from at least a few publishers after sending 20 inquiries. Your results may vary from a few positive responses to none on query letters. This might improve somewhat by offering to send a proposal, but there is no assurance of this.

Author Aliske Webb tried to place her novel with 150 publishers and was rejected by all of them. Still, she refused to give up. “We went the usual route, sending the book to all 150 publishers.” Rejected but still game, Webb and her husband sold their home, self-published the book, and made a tour of quilt shows all over America. Some 2 1/2 years later and 25,000 copies sold, Webb signed with a small publisher in Pennsylvania.

By this time, some major publishers in New York finally realized the large untapped market for Webb’s book. Webb was soon offered a four-book contract for a substantial amount.

Author Darryl Wimberley offers his thoughts on submitting manuscripts: “You have to submit every place, all the time. Keep track of your submissions and never stop! Because you cannot know in advance which avenue, if any, will get your book placed.”

An author’s determination and faith in your work can make all the difference in success or failure. You can never give up but just live with hope, and the numbers game, that one day you will hit. Give up on the other hand, and you’re down for the count.

Let us assume that you have come up with a new book idea. You like it and believe it would sell. How do you present your idea to publishers? Here are some choices open to you:

1. Describe your idea briefly in a letter consisting of anywhere from a few paragraphs to a full page.
2. Describe your idea in an email to a dozen publishers and offer to follow up with an outline and sample chapter. This is the multiple submission method. Numerous authors report good results from using it. You can send multiple query letters and also multiple outlines and chapters to a dozen or more publishers.
3. Hit the editor you write or phone with a working title. This can help keep the book idea better fixed in the editor’s mind.
4. Simply state that you want to write a book on a given subject and tell why you believe it might be right for that publisher. Do this for each company you contact.
5. Ask the editor if there is current interest in new book projects. Name the categories that include your book ideas, such as self-help, how-to, childrens books, adventure novels, romances, or whatever. Most people in the industry think of romances, westerns, mysteries (and certain other types) as genre books.

This last method is really just a request for an editor’s okay to send some new book projects. It sometimes works if your timing is right. An editor may well be looking for some new titles in certain categories, like health or popular psychology, for example, so you might get a green light to send what you have in those categories.

Now that you have aroused the interest of a publisher enough for them to offer you a book deal, you need to establish clear and definitive deal parameters that are in your best interests. When the publisher and author come together (usually via telephone) to work out the fine print of a deal, the process is referred to as a negotiation. Both sides state what they want and expect from the other side, an agreement is reached, and the deal is done.

It’s a good idea to have an experienced agent or attorney negotiate a deal on your behalf. Experienced negotiators can often times get you more money and perks than you could have negotiated on your own. They also serve as a buffer between you and the publisher––so that the artist/publisher relationship never deteriorates over money conflicts. Obviously, any book deal should be written down, examined with a fine-tooth comb by your legal expert, and signed by all involved parties.

Here are some major issues authors should address during negotiations:

• Establish realistic development time schedules with some back-up plans for delays
• Establish realistic payment schedules
• Set reasonable credit requirements (where and how will your name appear on the book?)
• Set a realistic approval process (comment period) that doesn’t delay development yet ensures a quality product
• Establish reasonable boundaries for future content revisions (if necessary)
• Create a Drop Dead Clause (what happens if the publisher decides to terminate you from the project or terminate the project completely? Is the terminating party required to pay the other party some form of compensation?)
• Agree to Goodies Clauses (complimentary copies of the product, travel expenses, per diem, royalties)
• Provide for a resolution process in the event of disagreement (a mutually trusted third-party or arbitrator)

Here are some general tips for improving the quality of your negotiations:

• Formulate an agenda in advance of negotiations (what you need out of the deal vs. what you’d like)
• Find some common ground with the person you are negotiating with. Do they like sports? Do they have kids? Light conversation prior to negotiating allows each side to be more forthcoming
• Never lie. Unethical behavior is rarely rewarded. If you must bend the truth, do it sparingly
• Try not to negotiate your own deal. Tough negotiations can sometimes resemble a bitter divorce. It sours the client / artist relationship
• Listen calmly to the publisher’s requests and arguments. There will be plenty of time to present your counter offer later
• Never swear, be demanding, or hang up on the publisher (it only makes you look childish)
• Never concede a deal point unless you receive a comparable deal point in return. You must be willing to walk away from a deal if you are being forced to concede a point you are passionate about
• Be careful what you ask for in a deal. You may actually get it!
• Take rigorous notes and follow up all meetings with a memo outlining all agreed-upon terms
• Don’t gossip about the points in the final deal or tell stories about the opposing negotiator. The opposing side will most surely remember your big mouth if you ever have to negotiate with them again

At the conclusion of the deal, take your opponent to lunch or send over a gift basket. A simple act of kindness heals all egos.

Authors sometimes voice their frustration in trying to find the right publisher for their manuscript. Even experienced authors with track records are sometimes uncertain which publisher is right for certain books.

Published author Darryl Wimberley offers this blunt advice for writers looking to land a publishing contract: “If you’re a writer, you need to hunt with a shotgun, not a rifle.”

How to Find the Right Publisher

One of the best ways to get a handle on this quest is to request the latest catalogs from the publishers you are considering. You can order these by mail or view them online by visiting the publisher’s website. After studying them, pick the companies you believe would do the best job on your type of book. Be sure your choices are those publishers actually specializing in your genre.

An indispensable guide is the 88 year-old Writer’s Market, an annual book which contains listing on thousands of publishers across the country. The Deluxe edition includes online access to more than 6,000 market listings and daily updates. WritersMarket.com offers submission tracking tools, daily publishing news, and an archive of helpful articles for writers.

Another way authors find the right publisher is via an agent. A key reason authors sign with agents is the fact that any good agent worth his or her salt knows which publisher is best for a given book. Agents are so close to the business and deal with all the major publishers that they become good at matching books with publishers.

Another possible way to find the right publisher is expensive, but it has worked for a number of authors. You simply pack your bags and visit New York, where most of the top publishers are located. You visit different publishing offices in hopes of getting a lead on the right one for your book. It’s best to write, email or call them before arriving in New York to save your time. Some will not see you, but others may be willing to see what you have, providing you have written specific editors first and requested an appointment.

Editors are so pressed for time these days that this method of going to New York could fail completely. The test will be to write editors first and see if any reply and actually grant you an appointment. If your manuscript is completed, you can either let them know that fact or not. Can’t secure an official appointment? You could try socializing around hotspots where editors and publishers are known to frequent in hopes of rubbing shoulders with the right people. This is a long shot–but funnier things can happen.

How to Evaluate a Publishing Company

Studying a publisher’s catalog will give you a feel for the type of books they seem to like. Visiting a publisher’s office can also help you evaluate them. Most publishers display their current books in their lobby areas near the receptionist. In some publishing offices, you will get a cold, unresponsive reaction. Others are completely polite and professional. Asking other authors what they think of this publisher over that publisher is another sure-fire method for getting the inside skinny on a publisher’s booklist and reputation.

You are more likely to be treated kindly and courteously by publishers than by agents. Many agents won’t give you the time of day unless you’re a big time, mega name author. Again, if you plan to contact agents, too, while visiting New York, be sure to call or email them first for an appointment. If any agree to see you, consider yourself fortunate.

One of the biggest mistakes new authors make is to send novels to publishers who don’t want fiction or nonfiction proposals to publishers mainly interested in novels. Basically, it’s never a good idea to send unsolicited material to any publisher. Only send what you are asked to send. Follow this simple rule and you will save time, money, and much aggravation.

Reading the trade journals of publishing can give you clues about different publishers, and that would help you to evaluate various ones.

Going online and visiting the Web sites of various publishing houses it a great way to get to know a publisher. You can learn about their corporate policies, key officers and/or editors, submission policies, front list titles, back list titles, and almost anything you need to know about them. Best of all, you can access this information 24 hours a day at your convenience.

Social media sites are emerging as publishing resources as well. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the like are all electronic networks that can be navigated and harvested for personal and professional gain. If you’re not a frequent visitor of social network websites, it’s not too late to lend your voice, commentary, questions, content, advice and insights to this bold new interconnected world!

As I have stated in previous blog posts, a story is made up of a series of paragraphs and the paragraph is the means by which a story is structured. A paragraph consists of a deliberate series of well-phrased sentences having to do with a single topic. Whether a story’s two hundred words long or several hundred thousand, the most important passage in your book, article or blog post is the opening paragraph.

Transitions are bridges that move the reader out of one paragraph to another. The better your transitions, the smoother your article will read.

Here are some popular kinds of transitions:

• Start the next paragraph with a quotation.
• Start the new paragraph with a question followed by the answer. As each paragraph takes up a new thought or related aspect of the subject, a question is often a good way to move into a fresh paragraph. A word of caution. Don’t overdo the question-and-answer technique.
• Find a phrase or word at the end of the last paragraph you have written and repeat it or use something similar. This often makes for a smooth transition.

Examples of Paragraph Transitions

In an article titled, “New Success Secrets,” which was to be published years ago in Salesman’s Opportunity magazine, writer L.P. Wilbur needed to show the reader how to strengthen his or her selling personality in order to become more successful. Here is an example of the transition used:

“Secrets for more success then are actually tied in with your personality. By improving your weak personality factors and putting more firepower behind your strong qualities, your selling personality can continually grow into a dynamic and powerfully attractive force.”

Next came the transition sentence leading into the third paragraph of the article:

“Think of your selling personality as a magnet.”

The technique used here to continue into the next paragraph is a specific step the reader could take to improve his or her sales personality; to think of it as a magnet.

In an article titled, “The Self-Employment Picture” notice the transition between the first and second paragraphs:

“The world of self-employment is wide open and offers you a variety of opportunities. A few of the many possibilities include a resume writing service, house cleaning, investment services, child care services, and virtually any kind of business you offer for a fair price. You really have quite a choice.”

Here is the transition sentence leading into the second paragraph:

“The Small Business Administration says that there is one chance in five that a new business will still be operating and actually run by the same owner after a 10 year period.”

The transition technique used was a paraphrase of a quotation from the Small Business Administration. This statement led naturally into the second paragraph and also let the reader know the odds against a new business during the first ten years.