Professional Skills

The Entrepreneur Mindset

February 17, 2021 By LDSPMA Leave a Comment

By Mariah K. Porter

Has it ever crossed your mind that you—as an author, painter, podcaster, blogger, etc.—are an entrepreneur?

Well, congratulations, because you are!

Google defines an entrepreneur as “a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.” While we may all be starving artists thanks to those financial risks, I define it as “someone who wants to be vastly successful in a creative field.” Doesn’t that sound like what you’re doing?

Could your creative business benefit from your treating it as an entrepreneurial endeavor? I bet it could!

You may already be doing things typical of an entrepreneur, such as dedicating your time to work on your projects. You may even be getting up early to get things done. But what more can you do?

A young man at a laptop with creative and business ideas illustrated behind him, showing his entrepreneur mindset.

Here’s an exercise for you. Go to five people who know you or your work well and ask them one of two questions: “What do I do better than anyone else?” or “what do I do better with my creative endeavor (writing, podcasting, etc.) than anyone else?”

Evaluate their answers, then utilize them! Whatever it is they say, emphasize that to other people. Put it in your biography. Flaunt it in your ads. The answers your friends give you are going to help you market yourself to your target audience.

For example, if three out of five say that your characters are so realistic and relatable, take advantage of that. Tell the world that these characters will be their new best friends. If they tell you that your expertise has changed their lives, quote them. Let the world see what you can do.

Creating and revising a product is only half the battle as an entrepreneur. The other half is marketing. In order to truly treat your business the way it deserves to be treated, you have to put in the work to get eyes on it. There’s a whole world of information out there on how to do that, but this is a good place to start.

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Mariah K. Porter is an author, entrepreneur, and mental health advocate. Her YA Fantasy series, Recovering Happily Ever After, is about teens struggling with anxiety and depression the same way she does. When she isn’t writing or managing her business, you can probably find her at home listening to J-Pop with her small children. You can find her website at mariahkporter.com.

How to Start a Blog

January 27, 2021 By LDSPMA 2 Comments

By Oakli Van Meter

Knowing how to start a blog is one of the hardest things, at least for me. My junior year at BYU, one of my professors said that we all should start a blog. She said it would be a great portfolio tool later on. I went home that day and started a blog. I wrote on and off for a while, then life happened. At the end of my senior year, I revived the blog for a class assignment. It felt great to have a required weekly post. Then once again, life got in the way and Wise Ole Oak is sitting quietly in the corner waiting for me to get back to it.

Why, you ask, does anyone care about my sad excuse for a blog? Why does it matter? Because I’m a classic case of “what not to do.” That being said, I feel prepared to share my advice on how to start a blog—advice sown from the fields of my failure.

First, choose a hosting platform.

Do you research, but don’t overstress it. There are plenty of free platforms that are virtually the same. Choose one that’s easy to use. My personal favorite is WordPress, but there are plenty of other good options that you can learn about here or here. Keep your site simple but professional. You don’t want text boxes of filler text from the template still lurking, but you don’t have to fill everything up with stuff.

Second, decide what your blog is going to be about.

You want to focus on what would benefit your potential clients. Editors could focus on writing or self-editing thoughts. Social media gurus could post about how to use social media. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s something you’re passionate about. Something you can write about pretty much every week.

Third—and this is crucial—make a plan.

When to post, how often to post. (Hint: Monday mornings are a great internet traffic time.) Without a plan, you’re going to struggle to keep up. Trust me, I know. Create a spreadsheet with dates and topics. Set reminders. If you can, write several blog posts over the course of a few days. Then you don’t stress-write two hours before you want to get it posted.

Speaking of posting, make sure you’re sharing your blog posts to your social media channels. (And if you don’t have any of those, create some!) If you have an email newsletter, include the link there. Anywhere that your desired audience could see it, post it.

Finally, write. And enjoy it.

Blogging shouldn’t be stressful. It should be an additional, fun way to engage with your audience or clients. If it’s becoming stressful, step away for a bit. The inspiration often comes away from the keyboard.

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Oakli Van Meter is a wife, mother, and a freelance editor, writer, and blogger.

Acting with Juice Boxes: Exploring Indian Breathing Techniques

January 20, 2021 By Brittany Passmore 2 Comments

I certainly don’t consider myself a professional actress by any means, but I cherish the memories I have from participating in school and community productions. Because we have so many talented and aspiring actors and actresses in our membership, I wanted to talk about a breathing technique I learned from my high school theatre teacher about rasa boxes.

Rasa Boxes

My director taught me and my peers this Indian breathing technique during one of our many play rehearsals. He explained to us that rasa was an Indian word that could be translated as “breath” but also “the juice of life.” We joked that the rasa box technique could also be called the “juice box” technique.

The technique can be illustrated with a three-by-three square. Each box represents a different state of emotion, such as sadness, pleasure, anger, and so on.

raudra anger, frustration, rage	bhayanaka fear, terror	karuna sadness
sringara pleasure, bliss	shantra beyond emotion	hasya mirth, laughter
bibhatsa disgust	vira gallantry, heroics, courage	adbuda wonder, awe

Shantra is in the centermost box because it is “beyond emotion,” or a neutral state that can lead to all other emotional states.

The main idea behind rasa boxes is that your breath can be used as a tool to embody these various emotional states. Once you “activate” or engage the breath properly, you can better feel and portray the actual emotion throughout your body.

The Exercise

My teacher led us through an exercise to try out the technique. We would always start with shantra, a calm and even breath. There, we would re-center ourselves before and after we attempted other emotional states.

We would pick one of the rasa boxes—like vira, for example, the breath of gallantry, heroics, and courage—and try to activate that breath. We measured the intensity of our breath (and thus the emotion) on a scale of one to ten, one being the weakest and ten being the strongest. Then we would work our way up and down the scale to explore the breath—not necessarily to get all the way to a 10 but to see how our breath influenced our body language. After playing with the breath at different intensities, we would go back to shantra, recenter, and choose another rasa box.

It wasn’t an easy exercise. I struggled at first to know how to portray an emotion like vira—after all, how do you breathe heroically? My director encouraged us to just keep focusing and projecting the emotion through our breath. He warned us to not overthink the exercise and let go of whatever held us back, and I found myself understanding the technique more as I tried other breaths.

A young woman sitting crosslegged with her hands in front of her diaphram, breathing.

Takeaway Lessons

I learned from this exercise that how I breathed could actually influence how I felt and how my body reacted. I wasn’t an expert at applying this technique in all my high school acting, but I think it helped me better portray the role of a simple countrywoman going into shock after experiencing a driveby shooting.

And although I don’t usually remember all of the Indian names for the different rasa boxes, I’ve become more aware of how my breath is related to my everyday actions. I’ve learned that focusing a little control on my breathing can truly influence my attitude and the results I see in my life.

Try out this breathing technique in your acting (or everyday) pursuits! Remember that the point is not to overthink the process and get each emotion perfect on every number of the scale. The point is to explore what your breath does to your emotions and body so you can be more aware of the power your breath has and discover new ways to portray various emotions.

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Brittany Passmore graduated from BYU with a major in editing and publishing. She works as a freelance editor specializing in science-fiction and fantasy. When she’s not reading, writing, or editing, Brittany loves to be a stay-at-home mom to her 18-month-old son and dabble in her musical hobbies of piano, flute, guitar, and singing. Oh, and of course, she loves practicing yoga.

Website: https://brittanympassmore.wixsite.com/passmoreedits

A photo of the author of the post, Brittany Passmore.

A Quick Primer on Starting Your Own Home-Based Business

October 5, 2020 By LDSPMA Leave a Comment

By Amy Collett

Entrepreneurship is a lofty goal, but one many aspiring business owners can easily reach by starting small with the home-based business. By getting your venture established in this manner, you can maximize flexibility and minimize overhead. But how do you get started? Is it really possible to market yourself and make money? Answers are found below.

In the Beginning

One of your first steps before applying for your business license or putting up a website is to determine what you want to do and what type of business structure you’ll have. Most home-based businesses are run as sole proprietorships. However, if you need to protect your personal assets, you may want to establish yourself as an LLC.

Next, take a look at your funds. When you do not want to dip into your savings, you have plenty of options from the Small Business Administration Bridge Loan program to raising funds via friends and family. Financing your business venture can give you working capital to buy inventory or equipment. Further, by not dipping into your personal nest egg, you won’t be quite as stressed out about money, and you’ll have cash in hand to reach your professional goals. There are non-governmental funding sources available as well, and Zen Business notes that many larger companies have even taken it upon themselves to provide grants for SMBs.

Getting Started

Now that you are ready to go and have the funding to do so, you may want to look into hiring a helping hand as you establish yourself as a leader in your industry. The type of assistance you need will depend on what you do. If you are a book writer, for example, you’ll want to find an experienced editor, and the Latter-day Saint Publishing and Media Association notes that you can start by looking for recommendations from other writers.

You might also need help with administrative, technical, or other tasks outside of the scope of your expertise. In this case, hiring a freelancer may be a smart choice. First, an independent contractor will cost you less overall, even if you have to pay slightly higher hourly rates. But more importantly, you will have access to a global platform of people with the types of experience you need. There are downsides, however, and it makes sense to review the pros and cons of hiring freelance help before you recruit.

Customers Are Key

One of the most intimidating aspects of running your own business is putting yourself out there and finding customers. It requires a high level of confidence, and you have to be ready for rejection. Start by developing a plan, which might include scouting for potential clients on social media or sponsoring local events to draw attention to your business. Make sure to price your products or services competitively, taking into account everything from your local economy to the value that you bring. You do not necessarily have to be the least expensive option but the one that provides the very best for the money.

Once you begin bringing in customers, remember the importance of customer service. No matter what you do, there will always be competition, and if they are perceived as more customer-centric, you can bet that is where consumers will go. Focus on quality, and remember that getting things right the first time is the best way to make a good impression. This, in turn, will convince your customers to tell their friends and family about you, which equates to more revenue.

The above tips can help you get started. Ultimately, however, the success or demise of your business is something only you can determine. It might be a daunting endeavor, but entrepreneurship is one that comes with many benefits—ones that you have to experience for yourself to appreciate.

7 Steps for Hiring a Good Editor

April 6, 2020 By LDSPMA 3 Comments

By Victoria Passey

Understand the different types of editing.

There are several types of editing: content/developmental editing, substantive/deep-line editing, copyediting, and proofreading, as well as edits for style guides and fact-checking. Together, they create a funnel of sorts, progressively narrowing down to your finished, publication-ready manuscript.

Since there are many different terms for the different phases of editing, we’ll simplify them into four major categories so you can determine the type of editor you need for each phase of your project.

Content editing takes a big-picture look at your manuscript. This stage reviews your manuscript’s major strengths and weaknesses regarding plot issues, organization, pacing, structure, etc.

Substantive or deep-line editing looks at your writing. The primary goal at this stage is to address the artistry, clarity, word economy, voice, and emotional impact of each sentence and paragraph (which can include any last little issues with the developmental points above, like pacing, dialogue, and rhetoric).

Copyediting is that final, fresh set of eyes where the editor catches any last issues that might trip up readers. This stage includes all the fine details, from clarity, to grammar and mechanics, to consistency issues and typos. Generally, it’s also concerned with style-guide issues, like bringing things in line with The Chicago Manual of Style.

Proofreading is a second quality control round and, depending on whether you are traditionally or self-publishing, will happen before or after a book is in the galley stage—when the interior layout is completed and it looks like a “real” book. You may also want a separate or related galley proofread, which addresses the aesthetics and consistency of your book’s typography.

Understand your budget and goals.

Your budget, goals, and publishing path will drive what kinds of editing will serve you best and how many rounds of editing your manuscript will go through. Sending your manuscript through each of the phases is the ideal for traditional-pub quality, but if you can’t afford it, at a minimum, you’ll want a developmental edit, followed by a solid copyedit. An experienced developmental editor can discuss the industry, market, and which editing phases would make sense for your genre and individual work.

Search within your community.

Though it may be tempting to rely on online searches to find an editor, word of mouth is your best bet. Ask your writer friends (writing groups or other communities you’re a part of) for recommendations for editors.

Your editor should be vetted by the writing community. Look for strong reviews and community recognition or involvement.

Know the qualities of a good editor and of good feedback.

Your developmental editor should have a solid understanding of writing craft, particularly story structure, pacing, and character arcs.

Your line or copyeditor should be very familiar with The Chicago Manual of Style and Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary because these are the standard guides for style and usage within the publishing industry. It’s also important that your copyeditor respects your authorial voice and has an impeccable understanding of modern grammar and usage.

The ideal editor will provide firm, honest, kindly phrased feedback—not just empty praise.

As an author, you want feedback that helps you improve your manuscript by giving you a candid look at its strengths and weaknesses. Empty praise may inflate your ego, but it won’t help you grow and improve as a writer.

Understand a developmental editor’s genre specialty.

It’s important that your developmental editor understand your chosen genre, especially as you progress in your writing career.

Any good content editor can edit and give feedback on general story structure and craft, which can be beneficial for writers who are just starting out, but as you progress in your writing career, an editor who understands your genre is increasingly important.

An editor who understands your genre also understands the tropes, audience expectations, and what’s already been done (what you’ll look cliché for doing) within that genre.

For example, if you want to become a well-known romance author, an editor who isn’t an expert in romance plot structure and doesn’t know the difference between romance subgenres isn’t the right fit for you.

Get a sample edit before moving forward.

Before you decide on an editor, ask for a sample edit of a short selection from your manuscript. A sample edit will help you understand the editor’s skill level, as well as how they’ll approach your work and your feelings as an author. Make sure to compare the different sample edits you get from all the editors you are considering. Price is not a good comparison point—if you don’t get a quality edit, you’ve wasted your money, regardless.

By the way, most editors use Track Changes in Word to record their line edits and comments. Understanding this feature will ensure that you can view your editor’s notes and accept or reject their changes.

Discuss details.

Once you’ve decided on an editor, be sure to discuss the details of your project. Laying out the details (in a written contract) early on will save both of you many headaches later.

Some of the details you’ll want to discuss are deadlines, costs, payment arrangements, and a work-for-hire contract where your work is protected and the editor is under an NDA (nondisclosure agreement).

You should be able to discuss these details over the phone—either with someone in the company you’ve hired, or the editor themselves if they are an individual freelancer. And make sure you get it in writing!

Getting a manuscript ready for publication is a collaborative effort based on a mutual love of books, respect, and creative effort. If you and your editor respect each other’s time, effort, expertise, and vision, the resulting product—and partnership—will amaze you!

A few editorial recommendations to get you started:

Eschler Editing: This award-winning, experienced team of editing and publishing/promotion professionals has editors for most every genre and every type of editing—specializing in fiction and nonfiction (plus poetry, dissertations, essays, web content, etc.) Find them at EschlerEditing.com.

Joshua Essoe: Joshua is a skilled content editor who does sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, YA and adult, and their subgenres (but no lit fic, romance, or children’s/MG). Find him at JoshuaEssoe.com.

Suzy Bills: This editing professor works with all genres. Find her at [email protected].

Josh Vogt: Josh is a highly experienced editor who can work with most fiction genres (though maybe not super-literary fiction, as he prefers plot-driven works); he also does gaming lit and loves speculative fiction. Find him at write-strong.com or [email protected].

Precision Editing Group: This experienced team of editors and best-selling authors tackles many genres. (They just don’t do poetry or dissertations.) Find them at PrecisionEditingGroup.com or [email protected].

The Manuscript Dr.: A team of story-savvy fiction editors. Find them at TheManuscriptDr.com.

Mentoring Is a Relationship

September 15, 2019 By LDSPMA Leave a Comment

By Barry Rellaford

Reflect on a time in your life when someone believed in you, saw something important that you didn’t see in yourself, or gave you an opportunity to learn and contribute. Who comes to mind?

Perhaps it was a teacher. A family member. Someone you worked with. A Church leader or adviser. A sports coach, music teacher, or theater director. Maybe it was a leader of a writing workshop. Perhaps it was someone you interacted with for only a moment.

I’ve asked people around the world to engage in this simple reflection, and I’m constantly inspired and humbled by their answers.

The person you’ve thought of likely served as a mentor for you—someone who helped you develop your potential, especially professionally.

Mentoring is more than an activity; it’s a relationship. While the focus is on the performer’s development, mentoring brings benefits to the mentor as well. The dividends of mentoring relationships are much the same as in other high-trust relationships: increased confidence, improved results, greater positive energy, and true joy.

One of the greatest mentors in my professional life was Chriss Mecham, my supervisor in my first corporate job. She took a risk to hire me (I didn’t have the two years of corporate management development experience CompuServe was looking for) and rapidly gave me opportunities to understand and work toward achieving my potential.

But Chriss could be tough.

At one point, I was being a maverick, drawing attention and credit to myself. In a very direct and caring way, she helped me see that the work I was doing depended on an entire team. And instead of reining me in, she opened the gates, continued to extend trust, and gave me more opportunities to grow. I love and appreciate her for the investment she made in me, and we’re still close friends 30+ years later.

Belonging to a professional organization like LDSPMA provides many opportunities to mentor and be mentored. “Let’s take a look at some of the ways to find or be a mentor.”

How Do I Find a Mentor?

To find a mentor, start by thinking of people in your field whom you admire. Seek them out in person, online, or by phone. See if they would be willing to occasionally meet or otherwise talk with you to help you progress in your career.

Another way to find a mentor is to come to LDSPMA’s annual conference. It’s an unparalleled opportunity to interact with industry luminaries in an intimate setting. Meet speakers and panelists before and after their sessions. Connect with them online and through what they’ve published.

Also join LinkedIn, and follow thought leaders. Comment on their blog posts and social media pages. If you’re interested in having someone you admire serve as your mentor, then ask. It’s that simple. Meeting the potential mentor in person and establishing a meaningful relationship will facilitate this possibility.

For example, Richard Leider is one of the luminaries in the field of purposeful work and living and is the author of several bestselling books, including The Power of Purpose. I traveled to the San Francisco Bay area to attend a workshop he was leading, and I took the initiative to help him set up for the day and to visit with him one-on-one. That initial meeting grew into the opportunity to spend three weeks together in Tanzania and to lead workshops together. Most successful people are generous in paying forward the investment their mentors made in them.

With so many new publishing modalities, you may find that your mentor is younger than you—and more experienced! Don’t be embarrassed to learn from them, and see how you can help them in return.

What If I Want to Mentor?

Reflect on the person who extended trust to you, and do the same as they did—for the same reasons. Care about people. Care about your profession. Invest your energy and time in helping others by providing mentoring.

In a professional association, like LDSPMA, one of the greatest benefits of membership is mentoring relationships. If you’re an experienced editor, publisher, writer, filmmaker, composer, podcaster, or other publishing/media professional, look for opportunities to share career and life lessons and help shorten the learning curve of a rookie in the field.

Take on leadership roles in professional circles. Share lessons learned in talks, articles, LinkedIn posts, and other online avenues.

Conclusion

“I am a part of all that I have met,” wrote Tennyson in Ulysses. I seek to be the best part of all whom I’ve met. I look forward to meeting you at an LDSPMA event or online. Please let me know how I can help you in your journey of sharing light!

Advice from the Experts: Steve Piersanti (Former Publishing CEO, Founder of LDSPMA, Acquisitions Editor)

July 17, 2019 By LDSPMA 1 Comment

By Lessa Harding

In high school I had a homeroom-type class that contained a mix of students from every grade. There were a number of classic high school characters, as well as some who broke all the molds. There was the kind, handsome senior who’d fit in any Hallmark movie. There was the beauty queen who thought she was better than everyone else. There was the Christian girl who stood up to every attack on her beliefs. There was a soccer star, a basketball champion, a physics wiz, and a math nerd (that last one helped me solve homework problems using dry erase markers on the window). And there was the guy everyone wanted to be. He had a successful business, good grades, and a confidence that somehow removed him from the social hierarchy that is high school. We all knew he’d succeed at whatever he did, and we all looked up to him for it. Recently, my thoughts turned back to him. The reason? I was interviewing Steve Piersanti.

I know nothing about Steve’s high school experience, but I have to admit I felt like I was a freshman again looking up to that most-likely-to-succeed senior in my advisory class. Steve is the kind of guy who gets back up every time he gets knocked down, who accomplishes everything he puts his mind to, and who then helps others do the same. I was amazed to learn that he not only founded LDSPMA but also founded and edited a student scholarly journal while attending BYU, graduated with highest honors, began his career as an advertising copywriter at Jossey-Bass Publishers, and worked his way up to the position of president at the same company. Later, he founded Berrett-Koehler Publishers and served as CEO while also working as an acquisitions editor. He somehow also found time to play basketball, lead an annual gardening workshop, prioritize family functions, and go backpacking. The best thing about him, though, is that unlike the senior in my advisory class, Steve is approachable, is kind, gives encouragement, offers praise when it’s due, and is willing to help others who want to follow in his footsteps. Let me share some of his advice for traveling along the path to success:

“Most authors are primarily focused on how their books are written. That is important, but what is equally important is the marketing of your book.”
“The number of books being published annually in the US has tripled in 12 years, while total book sales have not grown.[1] . . . The only way publishers have kept afloat is by shifting more and more of the marketing to the authors. An author today must come to their publisher with a marketing plan…. What publishers look for now is the author’s so called platform. When you submit a proposal to the publisher, you need to include a strong section about what you are willing to do to help market your book.”
“If you want to get up to speed on how to get your book published, here is how you get started:
- Go to the annual LDSPMA conference, and learn about how to market books.
- Learn what successful authors do, and do it yourself.
- Figure out what your potential assets are (e.g., blogging, social media, connecting with audiences, and speaking).
- Get involved with groups and associations in your genre.
- Then think about publishing your book.
“You have to pick the right publisher to pitch your book to. Most have a particular area they are interested in. You need to do upfront research about the publishers you would like to pitch to.”
“When a publisher asks, ‘What are the competing works,’ don’t say, ‘It has no competition’ or ‘My book is unlike any other.’ Those kinds of statements work against you.”
“Everyone starts at the bottom and works their way up. Figure out what you want to do, and actually start going after it instead of going on your current inertia.”
“Everyone has many setbacks. I suppose [the best response] is going back and revisiting what you are really trying to accomplish. What really matters and what doesn’t matter? . . . [After a failure] you have to come up with a new game plan and come at it with a new perspective.”
“Some things are going to take decades. You just have to accept that. You can keep going!”
On how to balance family and work: “Family commitments that I make, I always came through on them. If I said I was going to be somewhere, I did it. Don’t let something ‘come up.’”
“Don’t work on Sunday. That is a day for family and church. Same thing with Family Home Evening. . . . Build [your schedule] around [those important family obligations].”

[1] See the article titled “The 10 Awful Truths about Publishing,” https://www.bkconnection.com/the-10-awful-truths-about-book-publishing.

So You’ve Written a Book. What Now?: 3 Steps from Lisa Mangum

July 17, 2019 By LDSPMA 1 Comment

By Lisa Mangum, Managing Editor at Shadow Mountain

So you’ve written a book. Now what? Well, after revising it and polishing it and reading it through one more time, you’re probably ready to send your book to a publisher. Here are three things to get you started on that journey.

1. Do your research. Not every publisher publishes everything, so make sure the publishing house you’re submitting to is actually looking for the type of thing that you write. A house that doesn’t publish children’s picture books will not publish your children’s picture book, no matter how well written it is. You’ll need to research publishers online, look at their backlist titles, and perhaps even follow them or their editors on social media.

Another way to narrow down your list of publishers is to look at other books in your genre. In addition to looking at who the publishers are, check the acknowledgments page, since authors often thank their agents and editors by name.

2. Follow the guidelines. In your research, you’ll likely have found submission guidelines posted somewhere on each publisher’s site. The best thing to do once you’ve read through the guidelines is to follow them exactly. If the guidelines specify to submit 10 pages, do that. If they say to send the pages in the body of an email (as opposed to an attachment), do that. If they say you must have an agent in order to submit, get an agent.

As a general rule, agents, editors, and publishers like to see manuscripts formatted with the following specs: double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins.

3. Write a query letter. Writing a query letter is one of the hardest steps in the process, but the document is required by agents and editors alike. There are a lot of resources online that can help you learn how to write a query letter (a great place to start is AgentQuery.com), but here’s a simple overview of how to structure your first draft:

A basic query letter has three paragraphs. The first is the “hook”—the premise of your story summarized in just one or two sentences. The second paragraph is where you can elaborate on the storyline, introducing secondary characters, plot points, and themes. The final paragraph is a short bio of who you are and why you wrote the book you’re pitching. Somewhere in the letter, you also need to mention the book’s title, genre, and approximate word count.

It can be hard to distill the entire plot of your book in one paragraph, so I recommend focusing on the four Cs: character, conflict, choice, and consequence. Introduce me to your main character. Explain the conflict he or she is facing—the goal that needs to be accomplished and some of the obstacles that are standing in the way. Focus on the choice your main character has to make at the end of the story. Make it clear what is at stake for the main character by presenting the consequences of that choice.

Finding a publisher for your book can feel like a marathon at times, so don’t panic if the path feels long and a bit unpredictable. Just keep moving forward and working on your craft, and you’ll find the path that is right for you.