I’ve got a bunch of query letters out there percolating, and it’s going to take a little while longer to get the cover to Achilles Wept done (good things come to those who wait, right?), so I’ve turned my attention back to the Avery McShane series.
The idea here is to get the rights to the original Avery McShane book reverted from Bloomsbury back to me. I contacted Sterling Lord (my literary agents for that book) and asked them to contact Bloomsbury. I sent my first email to the agent on August 4th. They eventually agreed to help on September 22nd. Still no word from Bloomsbury. I kick their tires every month or so.
With the rights to Avery McShane back where they belong, I will market a package of the first four books in the series. And to do that, I’m working on a formal book proposal, which consists of the following pages or sections:
Super cool, graphics-laden book proposal cover
Introductory letter
Executive summary
Detailed outline of each story (with a link to the queries for each)
Reader reviews section from Avery McShane (and maybe some for the unpublished ones)
Marketing section with plans for promotion, positioning, branding and bundling
About the Author and Illustrators section
In all, about 10 pages. My clever idea is to send the book proposal to the Sterling Lord agent, “as an example of what I’m trying to do with the series, and why I need the rights back to do it”. Maybe it’ll interest the agent, but likely it’ll just end up being another monthly tire kick. Who knows…
Anyway, I’ve only worked on the Intro Letter so far, and here’s where that stands.
Dear Publisher,
My name is Gregory Leigh Lyons (pen name Greg Lyons) and I write wild and dangerous adventure stories for children and middle-graders, most of them set in foreign countries.
Today’s market is in need of new, fast-paced and action-filled adventure books that resonate, in particular, with the underserved market for young male readers. Having those stories set in exotic locales only adds allure and mystery.
Inspired by the action-packed adventures of Young Indiana Jones, the nostalgic tones of Stand By Me, and the fearless detective work of the Hardy Boys, this series features the dangerous and exciting adventures of Avery McShane and his best friends Billy and Todd - the Machacas - growing up in the jungles of Venezuela. They are sure to resonate with the kids who read them, and their parents who will buy them.
Here are one-liners for each book:
Avery McShane and the Silver Spurs – Avery along with his friends Billy and Todd find a murdered gaucho’s spurs, leading to a dangerous bid to bring a vicious gang of diamond smugglers to justice.
Avery McShane and the Lost Tepui – The boys are kidnapped while on a fishing trip to the Orinoco River; they escape but must now elude their kidnappers and the hungry creatures of the jungle.
Avery McShane and the Voodoo Witch – While on a sailing vacation, Jamaican pirates steal their parents’ sailboat and take it to their Caribbean island hideout, not knowing that the three friends are still onboard.
Avery McShane and Gypsy Circus – A Gypsy Circus comes to Campo Mata, and Avery McShane and the Machacas must deal with a sudden upswing in weird and creepy crimes.
You can review the books in detail throughout this proposal. I am particularly proud of the first of the series, which was published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books (London) in 2012. It was only released in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. Go figure. A story about North American kids growing up in South America was never released in those two regions.
This is your opportunity to target that huge market with a series of adventures that is sure to resonate with middle graders here and overseas.
So, if you’ve been keeping up with this newsletter, you’re starting to get a glimpse of the not so glamorous side of being an author. Your work could be incredible but, if you don’t sell it (and sell it really, really, really well) it’ll never see the light of day.
Oh, and don’t get me started on having to learn how to photoshop to make each page of the book proposal look cool and themey (is that even a word?).
Here’s my first crack at taking the treehouse drawing my mom did - it’s in the ‘Two Birds, One Query’ post from a week or two back - and make it into a page I could use for one of the book proposal sections.
So yeah, not good.
We’ll get there…
Busy, busy. When you are published, you are going to think, "Wow, that was easy! - not." Thank-you for writing about your publishing journey. Sending positive thoughts.