Directions For Friendly Letter: Advice Letter: You Are Going To Write A: Fill & Download for Free

It was at a writing seminar given by science fiction writer Ray Bradbury where I heard him say that every writer has a million bad words in him; you just have to keep writing until you get them all out.What Ray Bradbury meant by this is quite simple: writing, like anything else, takes practice; coming up with ideas takes practice as well. That's not intuitively logical — after all, it doesn't seem that you need practice to think — but learning to write is rather like learning mathematics. You are literally exercising a whole section of your brain that you haven't used a great deal before. When someone starts to learn higher math, he needs practice in the problem-solving skills before he can start getting the answers right on a regular basis — learning to write is the same sort of function, applied to words.So don't be discouraged that you can't just sit down and write, straight off; you've got to actually establish physical neural pathways that haven't been there before. You're going to fumble around and get "wrong answers" for a while (that's the "writing the bad words until they're all gone" part) until you're consistently getting "right answers" (good prose).Now the physical part of writing — construction, grammar, that sort of thing — is one obstacle, but is probably the easiest to overcome. This is the equivalent of learning your adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing; it is rote-work, but once you've got it, it's there all the time. There are two enormously helpful grammar and punctuation books. Now, don't wince — these are not only well-written, they are hilariously funny, and I guarantee the examples this author chooses to illustrate each grammatical point are so entertaining that you won't forget the rule. These are The Well-Tempered Sentence and The Transitive Vampire by Karen Elizabeth Gordon.The best general book on writing that I have found is Ray Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing. Although Ray Bradbury is one of the best-known and recognized geniuses in science fiction, he has written far more than just science fiction and fantasy, and he is recognized as an important writer by the academic community as well as the critics in his own genre. This book is not so much a "how to write a science fiction novel" as a "how to train your mind to make you a writer," and as such, it is an incredibly useful book for anyone who wants to become a writer.The three legs that fiction stands on are: characters, setting and conflict. You may have been told that before, but not what that means. Now we come to the "figuring out what to write" part, the part that people mean when they ask, "Where do you get your ideas?" What they really want to know is "How do you recognize an idea that can be used as a basis for fiction?" Ideas themselves are everywhere, quite literally. The trick is to recognize them for what they are.Here is an example: you and I are driving down the road; the wind is clearly blowing toward us, yet just ahead of us, a piece of battered cardboard seems to lift off the ground and skitter across the road at a right angle to the wind, just avoiding our car, quite as if it were alive. You say, "My goodness, look at that! You'd almost think it were alive!" and think no more of it. But an idea has just passed right through your mind. I, the writer, who is used to recognizing an idea that can be used in fiction, think, Well! And what if it were alive?Here is the key to recognizing and using ideas — a principle taught by another genius among science fiction writers, Theodore Sturgeon: "Ask the next question." Ted considered this such an important principle of writing that he had a symbol made — a capital letter Q with an arrow coming out of it horizontally — to remind his students that this is the fundamental basis of writing. He even had it made up as a pendant and wore it.And this is where ideas come from. Everything that happens in your life can have further questions asked about it; everything in history can have further questions asked about it. To take my example of the cardboard above — once the question "What if it was alive?" is asked, and answered by the assumption that it is, the next question is "What would it be?" The answer to that would lead to further questions: "Why is it there?" "What does it live on?" "Where did it come from?" "What would happen if someone found out that it was a living creature and not just a bit of rubbish?"Come up with the questions and answer them, and you have a story. Perhaps that example is a bit too fantastic for you — so let's go down the path that a romance writer would take with a new example and a similar set of questions. Let's say you and I are walking through town, shopping, and we see a couple quarreling about his flirtations with another girl. Perhaps you are embarrassed. The romance writer will immediately think, "Why has she chosen to have this fight in a public place?"The answer to that must again lead to more questions (let's assume that she wants to embarrass him in front of his friends). "Has he a habit of infidelity?" "Is she going to leave him (or he leave her)?" "What will she do next?" And so on through a romance story that could lead her into trouble (getting involved with someone dangerous), into adventure (deciding to get away from it all on an exotic holiday), into danger (if she finds a new boyfriend and the old one turns out to be obsessed about her and becomes a stalker) or into nearly anything that interests that particular writer. The setting can be moved out of the present day altogether and into the past, making it a historical romance. Remember that you are writing fiction; you have to get your mind out of the habit of thinking "Oh, that couldn't possibly happen" and into the habit of asking "What if it could?"Now we come to the first part of the "fiction equation" — character. You probably know your neighbor, a relative or your best friend pretty well, certainly well enough to base a character on him or her. Or you know the kind of person that you would like to have as a best friend. Or you have a pretty good handle on what you think makes someone despicable. There are your characters. Now use them, with all those "next questions."What if your neighbor has secretly nourished a broken heart over a lost love for years and suddenly that lost love reappears? What if he's been secretly building bombs in his garage? What if he's really an alien? What if he's really a magician (so that's how he keeps that exotic sports car running!). What if he wins a lottery prize? How would that change his life and would it be for better or worse?Remember that although you determine how your character reacts to these situations, you have to keep those reactions "within character." For example, a swine isn't likely to become suddenly altruistic. Charles Dickens took Scrooge through an entire life-shattering set of experiences before he became the jolly benefactor of Tiny Tim!Someone who is timid by nature, when confronted with a terrible situation, is likely to fold up. If you want him to face it, he'll probably have to be in a situation where he cannot escape and has to deal with it alone. Someone who is a hopeless romantic when confronted by an unpleasant reality is either going to ignore it (with disastrous results) or have to face it for the first time in his life (with results that will change him irrevocably). You do manipulate the reactions of your characters (driven by your what-if questions) and you add to your pile of what-ifs to be answered with a pile of "how will he handle this?" questions.Now you determine the setting. All of these can be placed into the setting of your choice and it is the setting that determines the genre. Put your character and his or her problems into a space station and it becomes science fiction. Put it on a ranch in Texas and you have a Western. Put it in 1850 or 1066 and you have a historical novel.The setting you choose becomes part of the questioning process; obviously a Norman knight is not going to get email from his lost love, and a ranch in Texas isn't going to be a place where your hero is going to be shopping for a high-fashion wardrobe. When you have the setting, your research will give you more directions on where to take your hero and his problems, for the setting will help give you a framework to put the characters into.Lastly, conflict. I've implied conflict in "Ask the next question." It's no good having a book full of lovely, agreeable people doing pleasant things; no one will read it. Furthermore, real life couldn't be farther from that! Even in the best of families there is conflict; if it doesn't come from inside the family, it comes from outside. There are problems with money, problems with neighbors, problems with weather. There are all the little domestic disasters that have the potential (for a writer who asks what-if) to become more than a "little" disaster.Of course, if you'd like to inject a bit more excitement into your characters' lives, you can always do so by injecting major conflict. The classical sources of conflict are "man against man," "man against himself" and "man against nature" and you don't have to confine yourself to using just one in a book. Have your major character coping with a hurricane or a killer blizzard (man against nature) and undergo a major revision of his personality (man against himself).Or drop two of your characters in that same hurricane (man against nature) and have them fighting about how to cope with it (man against man). Have one of your characters so unhinged by something that someone has done to him (man against man) that he hits someone with a lorry, then in a fit of remorse, revises his own character (man against himself).There you have it. Now comes the hard part: gluing yourself to a chair and doing the actual writing. Good luck!

Startups 101: How to Create a Business PlanThe first thing you need to do is create an executive summary and a mission statement.After that, you need to study your market, compare yourself to your competition, create a share structure, outline financials, and fill out the rest of the pertinent data like the other people suggest.Below is an example of the last executive summary and mission statement that I created for a company I was planning to launch earlier this year.Since I own the company, wrote this from scratch, and decided that I will not be launching this product, I decided to share. (Yes, it is heavily focused on marketing, but that's my primary expertise, if I'm even somewhat good at it... Who in the world knows...)I worked with a Product CEO and operated as the COO at this company and recruited a highly talented team, however the Product CEO decided to part ways so we scrapped the business.Also, you may not want to make a public benefit company unless you already have investors you can turn to for sure who don't care what kind of business you own. If you are seeking to raise money from venture capital, then it is highly unlikely that they will invest into your model.1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARYCompany Name | Tagline | An American Public Benefit Company Founded in February of 2013, (“SE”) features contemporary women’s fashions specializing in comfort, fit and sexiness, established by a diverse group of individuals, led by the C.E.O. Ms. Lee.SE holds idealistic aspirations of giving back to the underprivileged, creates American Jobs and gives back to the community, while keeping the clientele engaged through social interactionsSE provides:• A Philanthropic Vision.• Patriotism.• Quality Clothing.• Best Styles for women of the 21st Century.• Quality Content.• An Interactive Community.SE’s innovative design and marketing team constructs visionary product campaigns and strategies, designed to push SE to the forefront of the industry.Derived from the fictional character, Sophia Serrano, from the film Open Your Eyes, SE’s inspiration is characterized by Sophia’s radiant qualities of being: positive, down-to earth, original, mysterious, sexy, and guileless in a perfect world.Sophia is the “ideal” woman because not only is she divine in nature, she is able to cope through the greatest obstacles that obstruct her from her path. Simultaneously, Sophia is so unique, she makes a man follow her into the afterlife of his dreams. Not only did she (tagline) in the real world, she left him in need of her in the afterlife.SE wants other fashion brands and the world to know that everyone in this world matters, no matter your race, ethnicity, financial background or country of origin.SE empowers people to make a difference by:• Helping the Underprivileged Children of America.• Creating American Jobs.• Providing a more Eco-Friendly environment.All of SE’s products are made in the United States, providing more opportunities to influence economic growth.SE ensures no usable fabric goes to waste by collecting all the scraps of fabrics and donating the items to (charity), with the sole intent to create exclusive items, blankets, or articles of clothing for the less fortunate. In addition, SE donates 10% of all sales to (charity) , to help feed, clothe, and provide shelter for the less fortunate.SE plans to take a creative approach to branding and marketing the company.Not only will SE use traditional methods of marketing, such as mailing clothes to celebrities, look books to bloggers and editors, buying editorial spots, sponsoring events, and advertising online, SE will take grass root efforts to the next level in attracting hits to the website, along with social media to keep the clientele engaged.Sending celebrities, fashion editors and bloggers free gifts never guarantees the promotion of an item, so SE has decided to implement a revenue sharing program with its clothing. Each individual influencer will have a personalized URL to direct their clients to SE’s website. Each purchase made within thirty days by the referral of an “influencer” will generate an earnings check of $25 to the referrer. Checks will be cut once the accumulated balance reaches $300, or can be exchanged to store credit.SE will seek out make up artists, photographers, stylists, and other professionals within the fashion industry to provide an opportunity to earn an extra source of income through its revenue sharing program. SE will also provide clothing to stylists, to have featured in editorial along with video content.SE’s grassroots efforts will take place in the form of carefully selected event sponsorships. Through event sponsorships, models will be showcased wearing the SE product through a trade booth. SE will take pictures of celebrities who try on the products and feature blog posts through social media efforts of the celebrities, while distributing the highly sought out images to fashion bloggers. SE will then pass out $10 SE Clothing Branded Gift Cards to people who fit the role of the target consumer of the brand at the event. Initially, 50,000 gift cards will be made for distribution within the first year, of which we expect at least 25,000 to visit the website URL.SE will implement a referral based program, where if a friend is referred to purchase an item through the SE website through their email or social media link within 30 days, the customer will have the choice to have one of the following occur:• $25 will be credited to the referrer’s account for Future Purchases.• $25 will be donated to the referrer’s Charity of Choice.The referee will also receive $10 credited off their first purchase. Studies indicate that 1 out of every 3 customers will refer their friends to a site that they trust and enjoy.SE will partner with publishers and affiliates such as Google Affiliate, Commission Junction, Avantlink, Affiliate Window, Webgains, Pepperjam, Integrate, Etc. to allow professionals to earn a profit by referring their clientele to purchase items from SE.In order to create better organic SEO (Search Engine Optimization) results to guide more online traffic to the website, SE will carry lines of both popular name brand and up-and-coming American Made products by other designers, such as Nasty Gal, Diesel, Ralph Lauren, Armani, Etc. In order to acquire the product necessary, SE will create a strategic partnership with its manufacturer to sell their excess inventory.Once new customers visit the SE site, they will be given an opportunity to register on the site to claim their $10 credit. Through registration, information such as the customer’s name, email address, phone number, address, and social media profiles will be gathered.Once the customer registers, they will be able to access the site. A welcome email will be sent to the customer within one day, welcoming them to the site. Within 5-7 business days, a letter stating SE’s appreciation of the customer with an outline of the brand’s philanthropic vision will be physically mailed to the customer on company letterhead and hand signed by the C.E.O., Ms. Lee. The customer will then be emailed, informing them that their gift card will expire in 30 days, 3 weeks, 15 days, 7 days, 3 days, 2 days, and a final offer email. This cycle will repeat for another 30 days for a total of 60 days, which will trigger a sense of urgency within purchasing an item within the allotted timeframe.SE will engage with customers by providing the first few sentences of educational content through email, while providing links to the blogging section of the website to read the full article, along with social media efforts on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, DeviantART, Tumblr, Google+, Polyvore, Wanelo, Quora, Lyst, Etc. to build trust with the clientele, and keep them engaged with the brand. SE will track user activity through analytic services provided by Kissmetrics to measure which campaigns work best, to better understand our audience.SE will influence increases in transaction sizes by donating one item to charity for every $300 spent in a single transaction. Not only would revenues increase, the philanthropic vision would accelerate to creating a bigger influence to society, which in turn will create a better image for the brand.SE will have a section on the site where users can upload images of their new purchases, how they pair their outfits, provide feedback to others, and like other consumer’s styles, creating an engaged society of buyers who become advocates and prosumers of the brand.SE will begin sales on the retail website, then slowly trickle into many online boutique stores, physical boutique stores, then into major department stores. Since bulk purchases from vendors decrease manufacturing costs, the business model is extremely scalable. As SE becomes a more established brand, price increases will be implemented in 10% increments per season, increasing profit margins while manufacturing costs decrease.SE will create separate databases for consumers who have at least purchased one item and another database for loyal consumers. In regard to the database of consumers who have purchased, collateral material providing a promo code for a promotional discount will physically be mailed to the clients two weeks prior to an anniversary or holiday sale, to provide exclusive access to the promotion. SE will randomly select users from the loyal consumer database to provide a free gift with purchase, expedited or free shipping, and various other promotional tools to reward brand loyalty.Once SE establishes a loyal client base, verticals will be integrated one product at a time in minimal quantities, initially to test the market to see how well the product does. Verticals will range from products such as cosmetics, shoes, handbags, hats, stockings, scarves, jewelry, and other womenswear based products.Led by C.E.O. Ms. Lee, SE has hand selected a managerial team of 8 creative unique individuals to grasp a portion of the $500+ billion dollar market by creating quality content, negotiating with vendors, managing finances, and laying out the long term growth of the company, all while creating beautiful product.10 years from now, in the year 2023, SE plans to be acquired by LVMH, PPR, Richemont, Valentino Fashion Group, The Aeffe Group, Puig, Diesel, Phillips-Van Huesen, Hermes, Liz Claiborne, Inditex, The Arcadia Group, or Aurora Fashion for a strike price of $300 million. SE is currently seeking seed financing in the amount of $275,000 to be used to cover manufacturing, marketing, legal and operational expenses to establish the brand.MISSION STATEMENTUnited together, SE’s commitments to society are as follows:#1. To Mother Earth:We vow to make sure that no usable fabric is wasted. All usable scrap material will be recycled into specialty items, blankets or created into articles of clothing for the less fortunate.#2. To Our Nation:We vow to Shop American. We vow to only manufacture our product in America. We are creating American jobs and doing our part in rebuilding the American economy.#3. To Our World:We vow to take a stance against child labor. We take a stance against the Chinese sweatshops with hazardous work conditions.#4. To The Less Fortunate:We vow to provide food, clothing, and shelter for children who are unable to take care of themselves, especially the ones right here at home.#5. To Our Customers:We vow to make sure you feel beautiful and (tagline). We vow to create the sexiest, most reliable products made from the best material we can find. We will provide the best fit possible. We will listen to your opinions and make decisions based off of your feedback. Your voice will be heard.#6. To Our Design PartnersWe vow to provide our client base accessibility to your designs to increase your exposure in the market place. Whether you are a small designer who is just beginning or an established brand, there is a place here for you to showcase your items, as long as the product is manufactured here in America.#7. To Our Employees:We vow to bring the jobs back home and provide fair wages. We vow to provide a fun and friendly stress-free work environment.#8. To Our Shareholders:We vow to provide you a seat on our board. We vow to listen to your expertise. We vow to provide returns in a timely manner. We vow to fulfill your philanthropic vision.Oh, it might be in your best interest to include a mind map as well.The first five pages should include the following information:BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PLANMARCH 2013****** CONFIDENTIALITY & DISCLOSURE NOTICE ******IMPORTANT: This document is for information purposes only and sent at your request and is covered by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act 18 U.S.C. 2510‐2521. This is neither a solicitation of investment nor an offer to sell and/or buy securities. This communication may contain non‐public, private, confidential or legally privileged information and documents intended for the sole use of the designated recipient(s). The unlawful interception, use or disclosure of such information is strictly prohibited under the applicable laws of the U.S.A. and the State of Nevada. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons/entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this document and / or a transmission of this document in error, delete any electronic copies of this document and / or return this document to (Name, Address)CONFIDENTIALITY & DISCLOSURE NOTICEIMPORTANT: This document is for information purposes only and sent at your request and is covered by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act 18 U.S.C. 2510-2521. This is neither a solicitation of investment nor an offer to sell and/or buy securities. This communication may contain non-public, private, confidential or legally privileged information and documents intended for the sole use of the designated recipient(s). The unlawful interception, use or disclosure of such information is strictly prohibited under the applicable laws of the U.S.A. and the State of California. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons/entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this document and / or a transmission of this document in error, delete any electronic copies of this document and / or return this document to (Name, Address)CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENTThe undersigned reader acknowledges that the information provided within this Business Development Plan (“BDP”) is confidential; therefore, reader agrees not to disclose it without the express written permission of SE.It is acknowledged by reader that information to be furnished in this BDP is in all respects confidential in nature, other than information which is in the public domain through other means and that any disclosure or use of same by reader, may cause serious harm or damage to SE and other sources identified herein. The information, estimates and projections contained herein have been prepared by SE in good faith and on a basis believed to be reasonable; such estimates and projections involve significant elements of subjective judgment and analysis. No representation or warranty, expressed or implied, can be made as to the accuracy or completeness of such information, and nothing contained in this BDP is, or shall be relied upon as, a promise or representation as to the past or the future. This BDP is submitted in connection with the evaluation of a potential transaction and may not be reproduced or used, in whole or in part, for any other purpose.Upon request, this document is to be immediately returned SE,.___________________Signature___________________Name (typed or printed)___________________DateThis is a Business Development Plan. It does not imply an offering of securitiesFORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTThis document may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including, but not limited to, statements as to future operating results and plans that involve risks and uncertainties. We use words such as “expects”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “estimates”, the negative of these terms and similar expressions to identify forward looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by those projected in the forward-looking statements for any reason. References herein to “the Company,” “we,” “our,” “us” and similar words or phrases are references to SE, and/or its subsidiaries, unless the context otherwise requires.CONTACT INFORMATIONInquiries may be directed to the appropriate party below:Leonard KimCOOSEAddress:Phone:Fax:Email:The Table of contents should include the following information that no one, aside from analysts read:TABLE OF CONTENTS1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY1.1 OBJECTIVES1.2 MISSION1.3 KEYS TO SUCCESS2.0 COMPANY SUMMARY2.1 CAPITALIZATION SUMMARY2.2 COMPANY LOCATIONS AND FACILITIES.3.0 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES3.1 THE SE TECHNOLOGY3.2 COMPETITIVE COMPARISON3.3 MARKETING MATERIAL3.4 TECHNOLOGY FULFILLMENT3.5 FUTURE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES4.0 MARKET ANALYSIS SUMMARY4.1 MARKET SEGMENTATION4.2 TARGET MARKET SEGMENT STRATEGY4.2.1 MARKET NEEDS4.2.2 MARKET TRENDS4.2.3 MARKET GROWTH4.3 SERVICE BUSINESS ANALYSIS4.3.1 BUSINESS PARTICIPANTS4.3.2 DISTRIBUTING A PRODUCT4.3.3 MAIN COMPETITORS5.0 WEB PLAN SUMMARY5.1 WEBSITE MARKETING STRATEGY5.2 DEVELOPMENT REQUIREMENTS6.0 STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENTATION SUMMARY6.1 SWOT ANALYSIS6.1.1 STRENGTHS6.1.2 WEAKNESSES6.1.3 OPPORTUNITIES6.1.4 THREATS6.2 STRATEGY PYRAMID6.3 VALUE PROPOSITION6.4 COMPETITIVE EDGE6.5 MARKETING STRATEGY SUMMARY6.5.1 POSITIONING STATEMENT6.5.2 PRICING STRATEGY6.6 SALES STRATEGY6.6.1 SALES FORECAST6.7 MILESTONES7.0 MANAGEMENT SUMMARY7.1 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE7.2 MANAGEMENT TEAM7.3 MANAGEMENT TEAM GAPS7.4 PERSONNEL PLAN8.0 FINANCIAL PLAN8.1 START-UP FUNDING8.2 KEY FINANCIAL INDICATORS8.3 BREAK-EVEN ANALYSIS8.4 PROJECTED PROFIT AND LOSS8.5 PROJECTED CASH FLOW8.6 PROJECTED BALANCE SHEET8.7 BUSINESS RATIOS8.8 THE INVESTMENT OFFERING8.9 VALUATION8.10 USE OF FUNDS9.0 APPENDICESTABLE: SALES FORECASTTABLE: PROFIT AND LOSSTABLE: PROFIT AND LOSSTABLE: CASH FLOWTABLE: CASH FLOWTABLE: BALANCE SHEETIf you're using a business plan to try to attain a loan for a small business... I took a different business plan for a nightlife company, brought a cofounder with a 680 credit score, and went to Long Beach SBDC and they helped me get approved for a loan from a credit union for $30,000 two years ago. The whole process took less than a week, since we already had our business plan finished prior to showing up. We ended up not taking the loan because our programmer ran off with the money we had paid him prior without delivering our technology.There are Small Business Development Centers, sponsored by the Small Business Association, all across the United States that will help you make a business plan for free, read it, and even shop it out for business loans.If you're using a business plan to attain financing from an Angel Investor or VC, then all that matters is your executive summary and your slideshow. I mean, you still need the other data filled in, but these are the only two areas of which they put their main focus on. However, a lot of investors use two financial analysts to carefully go over every detail within a business plan prior to investing their own cash. So, the fine details are pretty important regardless of what anyone else says.Also, if you need to know how to split equity with your startup, read more here: How much equity do you give early employees when the company is bootstrapped?Read more at my blog: Startups 101: How to Create a Business Plan

Congratulations! You've finished your manuscript! I hope you have an audience to give you a standing ovation, because the agents and the publishers are not going to give you one. If you're looking to go the traditional publishing route because you are so very good, I hope you have been researching agents and publishers and reading up on their submission requirements before you've finished your final draft. And -- are you sitting down? -- you're 10 percent done.The traditional route is to find yourself an agent because publishers are too busy to be bothered with unknowns and you should be spending your time writing your next novel and planning your PR moves, and not studying which publisher is lacking what you have. Literary agents are supposed to know this.If you are a die-hard do-it-yourself-er, get thee to the reference section of the local library and pore over The Literary Marketplace, which lists publishers and agents by genre. It's important to match your work to the right agent or publishing houses. If your book's main character is a hard-drinking lesbian PI, you might as well flush 20 bucks down the toilet if you send your manuscript to a house specializing in Christian fiction (unless, of course, the whole thing is a come-to-Jesus story).You will need to pitch your novel to your agent or prospective publisher. Most publishers who will have the resources to do right by you will have a website with information about their submission requirements. If you don't follow them, your manuscript won't be considered. Most publishers/agents want you to send them a submission query letter before they will look at the rest of your work. You'll need to describe:Your story in 250 words or less (and how many words are in the manuscript);Who your market is;What your competition might be and how you stand apart from it;What groups or societies you belong to (and how big they are) that might be markets for your book;Whether you are willing to travel to do book signings;If you can speak well, whether you'll do radio interviews or TV appearances, or;Whether you'll be involved in making a book trailer, i.e. a video that can be uploaded to an internet site. Many publishers have pages devoted to what's called their "frontlist" or releases within a publishing season, which is typically either spring or fall.If the agent or publisher wants to see your full manuscript after they've received your feeler letter, rejoice! But don't nag. Find out what their evaluation time is and if you haven't heard from them in that time frame, contact them to politely ask if they have come to a decision. If you have made multiple submissions to different publishers (or an agent has done this for you) and you're getting multiple bites for it, then the fun begins. If you get too cavalier in a bidding war, that might get things off to a not-so-friendly start with the "winning" publisher. Your publisher is supposed to be your partner, not your adversary.Most agents take from 10 to 15 percent of royalties paid to you, and most publishers have a boilerplate contract wherein a few things are negotiable, such as which publishing rights you grant permission for them to format for distribution, i.e. world rights (meaning they can sell translation rights on your behalf, taking a percentage of royalties from such sales) or English world, or North American. Sometimes you or your agent might want to reserve certain rights to sell yourself, such as movie rights, or ebook rights, or translation rights, if you know other companies that might be better able to exercise these rights.Most traditional publishers will pay you an advance against royalties. Publishing services like iUniverse and Outskirts Press will not. The advance is usually a portion of the publisher's best bet as to what they can net in the first print run. They want to make back their "plate" costs (the one-time costs leading up to the first impression of ink or toner on paper) and the advance they paid you plus a gross margin of usually at least 60%. That's why they need to know how many words you've written and all about your market so they can run the numbers and offer you a fair advance against royalties.Royalty rates can be anywhere between 5 percent and 20 percent, with either of these extremes being kind of rare. It's usually around 10 to 15 percent of either the net received or the cover price. Obviously a percentage of the cover price is a better deal for the author. A percent on net is better for the publisher because different selling venues ask for different discounts, which would eat into the publisher's margin if they are paying on cover price.Once your book sales have earned out the advance, then you get paid royalties either biannually or annually. Even when your book sales are working against the advance, you should always get a royalty statement. All of these details will be in the contract.You also must have in the contract a clause that states a time frame within which the work will be published. Typically this is within 18 months or less. It's not ethical, but publishers have taken works off the market by just paying the advance and "delaying" publication until you get fed up and take your work elsewhere.The truth is most publishers won't promote your book beyond the season in which it is released unless it's being released in stages, i.e., hardcover first, then paperback. Depending on the publisher an ebook edition may be released simultaneously. It would be worthwhile for you to find out what the marketing budget is and in which publications your book will be announced.There are many details in negotiating contracts that I cannot get into here so if you don't have an agent covering it for you, you may want to get a lawyer in publishing to look at it. Don't get a regular lawyer to do this because they will raise questions that will annoy the piss out of the publisher and potentially kill the deal. I've seen it happen.Okay, so let's say you've negotiated the contract to your satisfaction and a publication date has been set, you had a contractual date to deliver your final manuscript, and you've met the date. Next your book gets copy edited (and vetted to make sure nothing libelous is in there); you get to yea or nay the edits. It then gets typeset and you should be allowed to review page proofs. Your edits get incorporated to a second set of pages that most authors don't see; it depends on your deal. The book is on a schedule and has an appointed date it's supposed to be at distribution channels and you don't want to mess with that because all of this runs on a time-sensitive "cash flow." Big publishers have all their print runs scheduled in advance to minimize cost and maximize profit. If they lose their schedules with their printers bad things start to happen.When your book goes into production it is usually about four months to get your first offset copy. If you're printing digitally, about a month can get cut off the schedule. Only the biggest authors can get a manuscript through this system in less than four months.If all of the foregoing sounds like a major pain in the ass, there is a nontraditional way thanks to the internet and digital publishing. What everyone forgot in the rise of large publishing houses is authors and printers with their hand-set plates of moveable type used to have direct relationships; authors are the original publishers. On the internet, everything old is new again. Now the "local printing press" is glowing right in your face, right now.Self-publish digitally first, build an audience, save up funds for a print edition. As an ex-traditional publisher, I say this with mixed feelings, but here goes: get into the Kindle Direct Program (KDP). Amazon's CreateSpace site can help you put together your book for both the ebook platform and print format. The path of nonresistance is the path of least resistance and Amazon has made it really easy to get you published. It's the marketing and self-promotion that's daunting and time-consuming. KDP is a 90-day agreement so if you don't get satisfaction, you can get out of the exclusive agreement and sell your book on the many other sites selling ebooks, such as Smashwords.Start a blog and build an audience. There are many free blogging platforms you can get set up on and share your progress with your imagined audience; publish excerpts; and get people involved with your vision. Don't get disconcerted about talking to a seeming void. People are listening. You have to reach out and pull people toward you when you do this. I'm partial to WordPress.com, which has all sorts of built-in code to attract people who want to read your stuff.Get onto Twitter and search for stories and people in your #genre. Collect authors who are self-publishing and watch what they are doing and see how you can set yourself apart, and then build a following there by tweeting a mixture of links to your writing and interactions with people sympathetic to your work.Start a Facebook Page for you, and when you know the title of your book, one for that. Start a Google+ account. Get on every social media platform you can stand. In LinkedIn, join groups of authors there. You can also find book professionals there to help you with advice. But post your writing on your blog and link out to all those other platforms from there. Check out Reddit.Quora has several boards for sharing fiction, such as We Write Short Stories, or you can start your own board as Aman Anand has done with The American Novel Project.A couple of authors I like who have done what I just described are Cristian Mihai -- a multi-talented artist and publisher -- and Sara Zaske who reviews the genre in which she writes at YA Fantastic Book Review. These two have different approaches and are very informative and refreshing. Mihai is working on an exciting new publishing project. Zaske has written an excellent timely fantasy with an environmental twist called The First and it was exciting reading her updates on her publishing progress. Another publisher who is using Quora in a creative way is User-11567716934911258437, self-described "head rabbit" at The Bittersweet Group.My stepfather, an independent record producer, used to say, "Throw enough [stuff] up against the wall and something's bound to stick." Don't take anything personally and never give up.