What I Learned In College: Do Your Research

            Welcome to part three of my series “What I Learned in College.” If you have not checked out part one, “Platforms” or part two, “Ways to Publish,” I encourage you to do so, though they are not related to this post.

            Something that has been emphasized in my college reading and videos is that, as writers, we must do our research. I spoke about this too in my last post “What I Learned in College: Ways to Publish,” but it is such an important topic that I wanted to spend more time talking about it. Since some of the reasons are the same, this will be a bit of a shorter post, but I will give some specific things to research when it comes to genres, formatting, publishing options, query letters and proposals, and agents.

            Unless we are writing for a business, us writers are on our own to write our projects and find a way to release them to the world. New writers especially are susceptible to choosing the easiest option without thinking of the consequences. I am grateful I learned this in college before diving into the publishing process by myself. Many people try to take advantage of amateur writers by scamming them or offering low-quality services. I think we can agree that we care deeply about our projects and we want them presented at their best. In order for our writing to be of good quality when it’s released into the world, we need to make sure we are doing everything right.

            If you’re like me, you groan at the idea of research. You probably relate it to pages-long research essays for school or some other project you didn’t want to do. I can say writing research is a little more fun since it’s something I am passionate about, but it can be overwhelming.

            What should you search for?

Genres

            Genre research is a little different than what you may think. Most of your research will actually come from reading books that are in your genre (yes, fun reading!). According to Jerry B. Jenkins (jerryjenkins.com), you should read hundreds of books in the genre you write in. When we read books similar to ours, we find out what does and doesn’t work as well as what the genre looks like.

            Don’t forget that there are many subgenres that differ from each other. You may write science-fiction, but do you write space operas or space exploration? Yes, there’s a difference (as I have discovered in the past couple of years). Luckily, libraries contain many books and may also offer eBooks that you can read. Pay attention to the subgenre, especially if it’s the one you write. If that subgenre looks different than the book you’re writing, then maybe your book belongs in a different subgenre. This is important information to know for when you write your query letter to an agent.

Formatting

            When it comes to submitting your manuscript to an agent or publisher, formatting is important. I have heard that when you’re writing, you are welcome to format your story in any way you want if it helps you get it written. But if you want agents and publishers to be able to read or accept your story, then it must be formatted correctly.

            There are many online resources that will tell you how to format a manuscript. You may also want to check the requirements an agent or publisher has on their website. If a publisher has a specific format they want you to follow, most likely they will list it on their website. Do your research so that your manuscript has every chance possible to be accepted.

            Formatting also plays into self-publishing. Any self-publishing program will allow you to format your book yourself, but if you want it to look professional, there are certain things you must include. How do you format a copyright page? Where should you put your acknowledgments? Are there any other pages that should be included in your book? Also pay attention to margins and how to format a cover (some self-publishing programs won’t accept an AI generated cover, so watch out). The more research you do beforehand, the easier it will be to publish your book.

Publishing Options

            Since I addressed this in my last blog post, I will keep this brief. Researching your publishing options is vital so you know what’s best for you and your manuscript. Doing research before and during the writing process will help you determine how much work needs to be done before you’re ready to publish.

            Researching publishing options will also help to make sure you aren’t being scammed by companies and programs. Look at reviews and other authors who have used that company or programming. Are they all good reviews, or are there some red flags?

Query Letters and Proposals

            As someone who is stepping into this part in my writing career, I am doing research to make sure I format everything correctly and include everything that is needed. There are many examples of query letters and proposals, as well as outlines for them, online that you can look at.

            Something to note is that when writing a query letter or proposal, you need to have done research about the market your book will be going into. For example, I need to research the YA sci-fi/fantasy market. Which books are popular, and who are they written by? How well is that genre doing in the market? How will your book stand out from the others?

            Jerry B. Jenkins has an article titled “How to Write a Winning Book Proposal” and “How to Write a Query Letter That Grabs an Agent’s Attention” on his website jerryjenkins.com if you have more questions about proposals and queries.

Agents

            I am also at the point in my writing where I am researching agents. Like publishers, some agents can scam you. One of my college courses provided some websites where we can find credible agents. The ones that don’t require a subscription are author and publisher Terry Whalin’s website (www.terrylinks.com/agents) and the Association of American Literary Agents (www.aalitagents.org). You can also check out the Acknowledgments page in books to see which agent or agency the author used.

            An agent should not be charging you money for their services. When you land a publishing deal with a publishing company and get a royalty advance, the agent usually takes a 15% share of the advance and that is their payment. If an agent wants you to pay them out of your pocket, they’re probably not a good option.

            Research isn’t always fun, but if we want to get published correctly, then it is important for us to do. Navigating the writing world can be crazy, but thankfully there are other authors out there who have been through the same thing and want to help us newbies through it! The tricky part is making sure we are looking at reputable websites and talking to the right people.

            I wish you luck on your research!

Bibliography

Jenkins, J. B. (2019). How to write a winning book proposal. https://jerryjenkins.com/how-to-write-a-book-proposal/

Jenkins, J. B. (2019). How to write a query letter that grabs an agent’s attention. https://jerryjenkins.com/query-letter/

Colorado Christian University. www.ccu.edu.

Whalin, T. www.terrylinks.com/agents

The Association of American Literary Agents www.aalitagents.org