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Index
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Introduction: It Takes Less Than a Minute to Reject Your Book
Part One: Editorial Reasons for Rejection
#1. Your Writing Is Crap
#2. You Lied to Me
#3. You Insulted Me or My Company
#4. We’re Already Publishing a Similar Book
#5. Your Target Audience Is Too Big
#6. Your Target Audience Is Too Small
#7. Your Target Audience Isn’t My Target Audience
#8. Your Book Is Too Extreme
#9. Your Ideas Conflict with My Values and/or My Company’s Values
#10. Your Book Tries to Do Too Much
#11. Your Word Count Is Too Long or Too Short
#12. You Are Not Credible on the Topic You Want to Write About
#13. You Didn’t Do Your Homework
#14. You Are Lazy
#15. You Didn’t Pass the “First Line Test”
#16. My Publishing List Is Packed for the Next Eighteen Months
#17. I Had a Fight with My Spouse and/or Children Just Before I Read Your Proposal
#18. You Didn’t Eschew Obfuscation
#19. You Pitched Me Two Awful Ideas in a Row
#20. Your Agent Pitched Me Two Awful Ideas in a Row
#21. You Don’t Have an Agent
#22. You Didn’t Give Me Enough Writing Samples
#23. I’ve Rejected This Book Before
#24. You Are Clueless about Copyright Law
#25. Your Book Is Boring
#26. You Took the D-Train
#27. Your Project Is Unoriginal
#28. Your Cover Letter Was Too Long
#29. You Stink at Grammar and Spelling
#30. You Didn’t Give Me a Complete Proposal
#31. Bottom Line—You Didn’t Do Enough of My Job for Me
Part Two: Marketing Reasons for Rejection
#32. You Have No Idea What It Means to Market a Book
#33. You Have No Legitimate Means for Promoting a Book
#34. You Don’t Understand the Difference between Features and Benefits
#35. You Have No PR-Worthy Accomplishments
#36. You Are Not Able to Run a Grassroots Publicity Campaign for Yourself
#37. Amazon.com Reviewers Don’t Like You
#38. You Have No Internet Presence
#39. Your Internet Presence Is Shoddy and Unprofessional
#40. You Are Not Engaged/Poorly Engaged in Social Media
#41. Your Title Stinks
#42. Your Introduction Is Useless
#43. You Look Unprofessional
#44. You Are a Poor Verbal and/or Informal Communicator
#45. You Demonstrate No Knowledge/Faulty Knowledge of Your Competition
#46. There’s Too Much Competition for Your Book
#47. You Aren’t Able to Significantly Differentiate Your Book from the Competition
#48. You Can’t Quickly Evoke the Right Emotions When Talking about Your Book
#49. You Can’t Provide Impactful Endorsements for Your Work
#50. My Marketing Team Tried to Promote a Similar Book in the Past, and It Failed
#51. My Marketing VP Is Unfairly Prejudiced Against You
#52. My Marketing VP Doesn’t Care about Your Topic—and Doesn’t Think Anyone Else Will Either
#53. Bottom Line—You Weren’t Good to Mama
Part Three: Sales Reasons for Rejection
#54. You Are Not a Celebrity
#55. There Is No “Brandwagon” Trend You Can Latch Onto
#56. You Have No Sales History to Speak Of
#57. You Have a Sales History, and It Sucks
#58. You Self-Published Yourself into Oblivion
#59. Women Just Aren’t That Into You
#60. My Sales VP Thinks of You as an Unknown (the “No Froofies” Rule)
#61. My Sales VP Is Hostile toward Me or My Editorial VP, and Is Sabotaging Our Careers by Undervaluing Proposals We Bring to Publishing Board
#62. My Sales VP Can’t (or Won’t) See the Future
#63. You Are the Wrong Gender
#64. You Have Unrealistic Expectations about Your Publishing Potential
#65. You Don’t Know Why People Buy Books
#66. Other Books We’ve Done Similar to Yours Did Not Sell According to Expectations
#67. Nothing Similar to Your Book Shows Up on Industry Bestseller Lists
#68. You Can’t Identify Specific Sales Channels That Your Book Will Sell Through
#69. Your Book Costs Too Much to Make
#70. You Want Too Much Money
#71. Your Novel Is Not a “Romance”
#72. My Sales Team Is Struggling to Sell Our Current Line of Books
#73. There Is No Real Sequel Potential for Your Book
#74. My Sales VP Asked a Spouse/Friend/Baby-sitter if They Would Buy Your Book, and the Response Was Unenthusiastic
#75. My Sales Team Asked a Few Key Book Buyers if They Would Stock Your Book, and Their Response Was Unenthusiastic
#76. Your Book Failed a Focus Group
#77. Bottom Line—Not Enough Profit Potential
Afterword
Appendix: Recommended Resources for Writers
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Back Cover
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