WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.980 --> 00:00:06.559 Tom Wilde: Okay. Hi, everybody 2 00:00:06.890 --> 00:00:11.250 Tom Wilde: welcome, one and all, to the 1st session 3 00:00:11.360 --> 00:00:13.040 Tom Wilde: of Crime Races week 4 00:00:13.080 --> 00:00:33.360 Tom Wilde: on the Thursday. It is Thursday, isn't it? Yeah, that's right. Just making sure I'm in the right time. Zone, right? Place. Welcome along, everybody. While everyone's joining. We'll just wait a minute. And so if everyone can gather here, and then I'll go through a few housekeeping slides for regular attendees. You'll know exactly what those are. 5 00:00:33.661 --> 00:00:55.048 Tom Wilde: but for anyone attending for the 1st time is just give you an idea of where to find replays and all the other things that are available to you this week. My name is Tom Tom Wild. I lead the partnership team at pro writing ape. I'm your host for today's session, and, Steven, you're ahead of the game already. Hi from Texas. If you can all follow Stevens 6 00:00:55.620 --> 00:01:21.200 Tom Wilde: example, and just add in chat where you're dialing in from. It's great to see how far and wide our audience is based. And wow! There is some really interesting folks here today. Texas, Indiana, Indianapolis, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Scottish Highlands. Congratulations on yesterday's game. Nellie. Is a vast improvement. I'm hoping for the same today 7 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:47.729 Tom Wilde: from England. Hi from Kara in Ontario, Sue from Michigan. Wonderful! I I really love seeing how how wide our audience is, and it's great to have you all with us. So thanks for adding that, okay, let's dive in. I don't wanna take up any more of the time. I'm not. Today's main event. We'll get onto that in a second. So I'm gonna share my screen and we'll go through a few of the housekeeping bits and pieces. 8 00:01:48.107 --> 00:01:58.569 Tom Wilde: Again. Many of you will know all about this, but just a big welcome. These are your notes. So accessing your replays, they're going to be added to the Hub page. So once 9 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:25.139 Tom Wilde: they're processed by zoom, which can take some time they'll be on the hub page that sits in our community. You should see them there. Well, certainly, by the end of the week, but they're often a lot quicker. They'll be available on the pro writing and community page for all members to view. By June the 28th and don't forget that Monday to Thursday this week. That's for anybody to attend totally free. 10 00:02:25.240 --> 00:02:35.380 Tom Wilde: But if you want to come along to Friday, they are reserved for premium and premium pro users. Only you can upgrade your accounts by Friday morning, and that we do have a little incentive for you. 11 00:02:35.743 --> 00:02:40.279 Tom Wilde: To do that. And if you're upgraded by Friday morning you will have access to those 12 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:51.009 Tom Wilde: speakers. On Friday, you will receive an email Friday morning with all instructions for those attending live sessions and to view Friday replays. 13 00:02:51.180 --> 00:03:02.879 Tom Wilde: So let's get on to that. Your offer. 15% off yearly premium or premium pro. So what does premium or premium pro license mean for you guys? Well, you can downlook 14 00:03:03.445 --> 00:03:13.359 Tom Wilde: richer suggestions more advanced suggestions. Author comparisons, full integrations with Scribner word and 100, many more applications 15 00:03:13.831 --> 00:03:21.219 Tom Wilde: you can go much further than the 500 words you limited to with the free version. So you can go. 16 00:03:21.260 --> 00:03:31.009 Tom Wilde: yeah, really into depth on full chapters, full manuscripts. You can curate your editing experience with things like snippets, dictionaries, style guide rules, and more. 17 00:03:31.730 --> 00:03:39.210 Tom Wilde: All you have to do to take advantage of the offer is use the code CWW. 2024. So crime writers week 2024 18 00:03:39.260 --> 00:03:45.079 Tom Wilde: on the purchase page. So the purchase page pro writing aid has a voucher code box or a discount code box. 19 00:03:45.200 --> 00:03:47.950 Tom Wilde: Pop that in there, and you'll get a 15% off 20 00:03:48.356 --> 00:03:52.149 Tom Wilde: and as it suggests that the offer ends by July the 6, th 21 00:03:53.220 --> 00:03:59.299 Tom Wilde: okay. And if you wanted to keep talking crime writing well, you can join our community 22 00:03:59.390 --> 00:04:01.350 Tom Wilde: or communities hosted 23 00:04:01.707 --> 00:04:16.149 Tom Wilde: you can access it via the website you will be able to enjoy conversations with many of those attended today. And we often host lots more content on there besides. So you can see the link there. I'll add a link to the human community 24 00:04:16.290 --> 00:04:18.640 Tom Wilde: towards the end of the session today. 25 00:04:18.880 --> 00:04:21.710 Tom Wilde: so that you can find that really easily, too. 26 00:04:21.959 --> 00:04:25.460 Tom Wilde: And then just a quick reminder for this session. 27 00:04:25.930 --> 00:04:26.960 Tom Wilde: So 28 00:04:27.180 --> 00:04:41.139 Tom Wilde: please use this QA. Box. If you've got any questions for Susie, our speaker today. I'll be monitoring that we'll have time at the end for those questions. We may be able to answer some in the middle as well. 29 00:04:41.393 --> 00:04:58.150 Tom Wilde: In terms of please do use chat, but if you post questions in chat, the danger is that we just lose sight them quite often. There are lots of in really interesting great back conversations going on during these sessions. That's wonderful. But if you've got a question for Susie, please put it in QA. I'm much more likely to see it then. 30 00:04:58.230 --> 00:05:00.969 Tom Wilde: and put it to Susie at the end. 31 00:05:01.210 --> 00:05:10.550 Tom Wilde: and again links to offers and from speakers from us, and our speakers will be available on the crime writers. Week Hub and in the participants guide 32 00:05:10.590 --> 00:05:16.219 Tom Wilde: again. I'll add links to those at the end. I think Susie's got a particular offer for you, and we'll come to that in a minute. 33 00:05:16.390 --> 00:05:26.919 Tom Wilde: but that's all I need to do in terms of housekeeping. So I'm going to stop sharing my slides, and I'm going to introduce today's guest. 34 00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:28.150 Tom Wilde: So 35 00:05:28.600 --> 00:05:39.719 Tom Wilde: I'm delighted to be joined today by Suzy Quinn. Susie is an international best selling author, ghostwriter, entrepreneur, and renowned book consultant 36 00:05:39.820 --> 00:05:50.520 Tom Wilde: as editorial director of Kevin Anderson Associates or Kaa. At Kaa's London office. Suzy leads initiatives in the UK. Europe and beyond. 37 00:05:50.690 --> 00:06:02.639 Tom Wilde: She works closely with writers, literary agents and publishers in the UK. She also corresponds closely with Ka's American office providing clients with a global approach to publishing. 38 00:06:03.347 --> 00:06:32.070 Tom Wilde: We're delighted to have Susie here, and she's gonna be sharing the 3 secrets to best seller success. I'm sure it's gonna be an absolutely fantastic session Susie will be sharing, I think, a a promotion as well with you offering a mini manuscript review with one okay's literary agents, and there'll be more details of that towards the end. But without further ado, Susie. Welcome to crime writers week, and we can't wait to hear all about what you got to say. 39 00:06:33.010 --> 00:06:47.497 Suzy K. Quinn: Thanks so much, Tom. And may I also say that I love programming aid? I've been using it? And yeah, it's a, it's a great program, and I'm not just saying that it's really really good. I really like it. I I am using it with Scribner at the moment. By the way after our conversation. Anyway, that's that's for another time. But 40 00:06:48.000 --> 00:07:11.770 Suzy K. Quinn: yeah, this is a great thing. So it's amazing to be here. Thank you so so much and really really nice to see you all crowding into the participants box and and nice to see you on the chat as well. And thank you so much for writing in chat. I I we are seeing all of them. I promise we just can't mention everyone's names, because it'd be too many. But yeah, please do keep sort of saying hello and things. It's really really nice. So I guess, Tom, would you like me to share my screen. Now is that kind of the. 41 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:21.370 Tom Wilde: Ye. Yeah, that'd be great, Susie, if you, if you share your screen and take it away. I'll sit in the background. And as I said, we'll just monitor questions as we go along. But yeah, the floor is yours. 42 00:07:22.180 --> 00:07:28.339 Suzy K. Quinn: Okay, so just use this excuse slightly shunk way of doing it. So I've got to do that. Okay, right? How are we looking. 43 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:30.440 Tom Wilde: Yeah. All good to see it. 44 00:07:30.440 --> 00:07:54.470 Suzy K. Quinn: Okay, so so welcome to the 3 secrets of bestselling authors. This is with me best selling author, Susie K. Quinn, and I'm also sponsored by Kevin Anderson and associates. I've got an interesting story with these guys. I bumped into the London book fair. Last year, and they were talking about setting up a London office and kind of 23 books in. I'm kind of missing human beings, and I kind of 45 00:07:54.754 --> 00:08:08.965 Suzy K. Quinn: sort of I didn't exactly say I do it for them. But anyway, long story short, they kept asking me, and now I'm setting up the London office, which is actually loads and loads of fun, and they offer editorial services for authors, both traditionally published and self published. So 46 00:08:09.370 --> 00:08:14.000 Suzy K. Quinn: they are. They are sponsoring the seminar today. So who is this seminar for? Well. 47 00:08:14.290 --> 00:08:17.639 Suzy K. Quinn: anyone who wants to make an income from books which might sound 48 00:08:17.670 --> 00:08:21.429 Suzy K. Quinn: kind of really obvious. But when I say income, I'm really talking about 49 00:08:21.650 --> 00:08:35.710 Suzy K. Quinn: quitting the day job and living off books. So if this is the dream for you to not work anymore, and to well, to to work solely on your books and novels. Then this is who this seminar is aimed at. 50 00:08:36.860 --> 00:09:06.080 Suzy K. Quinn: It's also to get more sort of granular on this. It's aimed at fiction authors who want to create a best seller. So we are primarily focused on fiction. However, a lot of the tips in this seminar are really useful for non fiction authors as well. So they are still relevant. But I'm more coming at it from a fiction point of view, because my best selling books have all been fiction, and when we talk about a best seller just to clarify this one, we're talking about 100,000 copies plus. So we're not talking about a best seller in like an Amazon 51 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:13.449 Suzy K. Quinn: obscure list. We're talking about great big sales of books that are going to give you a decent income. 52 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:42.900 Suzy K. Quinn: and it's the seminar is also for anyone who wants to understand the mechanics behind best sellers. So what I mean by that is, anyone in author services, anyone who works in publishing who's a literary agent or publishing editor. What's in this seminar is useful for you as well. So anyone who works in the sort of surroundings of of authors will probably pick up some useful things here of how to serve authors better, and what they might need to do well, both financially and also connecting with readers. 53 00:09:44.700 --> 00:09:51.259 Suzy K. Quinn: So the 3 secrets of bestselling authors. Well, in this webinar, you're going to learn 54 00:09:52.220 --> 00:10:00.720 Suzy K. Quinn: what many best sellers have in common. So there are some patterns and commonalities and similarities between best sellers. And we're going to talk about those. 55 00:10:02.350 --> 00:10:24.989 Suzy K. Quinn: Why, best sellers are not about writing talent. So this is my favorite favorite thing to talk about, because I think we get really hung up as writers on, especially when we get rejections and things like that from publishes, or or we our books on selling on Amazon, where, you know, is the writing good enough? I'm just not that good enough, you know, writer, the talent isn't there. And I'm just gonna talk about why, that's that's the wrong focus. And we can focus on something better than that. 56 00:10:26.390 --> 00:10:45.029 Suzy K. Quinn: and also you will also learn how, in generally speaking, how to boost your chances of best seller success. So we'll be really bringing lots of ideas together, to talk about how you can boost your books in your writing, to create a better chance of selling large quantities of books into the hundreds of thousands. 57 00:10:46.650 --> 00:11:06.760 Suzy K. Quinn: So I'm gonna talk a little bit about a little bit about me. So this is a very old photo. It. It's not the AI photo that I use at the moment, which is much better. But this is me where before my hair started going great and and I died it. So I've sold a million over a million books worldwide, and my name is Suzy K. Quinn. 58 00:11:07.003 --> 00:11:21.629 Suzy K. Quinn: I am a bestseller in the Us. The Uk. And Germany, and I've also sold. I sort of lose track of the countries. I'm sorry if this sounds really arrogant, but I've so I've sold in kind of like all over Europe, and then some obscure more school places like Korea, and stuff like that, and and Russia and things. 59 00:11:22.730 --> 00:11:32.899 Suzy K. Quinn: And I'm published in my own name by 2 of the Big 5 publishers. So that's Harper Collins, and has yet, and I've also, as a ghost writer being published by other big 5 publishers. 60 00:11:33.294 --> 00:11:39.390 Suzy K. Quinn: So that's just to give you an idea about why, I might maybe know what I'm talking about at times. 61 00:11:39.490 --> 00:11:49.730 Suzy K. Quinn: not all the time, and my books have consistently hit the best seller charts. So some authors have one bestseller, and that's great, but my books have consistently been best selling. 62 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:53.960 Suzy K. Quinn: So how did I achieve this success? 63 00:11:54.370 --> 00:11:56.100 Suzy K. Quinn: Did I advertise? 64 00:11:57.420 --> 00:12:02.900 Suzy K. Quinn: Did I promote on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, or these days? Also Tiktok. 65 00:12:03.930 --> 00:12:22.670 Suzy K. Quinn: Nope, I didn't do any of that. So my 1st book, my first, st best selling book, which is not my 1st book, but my 1st book that became a bestseller. I didn't do any promotion at all. And in fact, I get asked by authors all the time, you know, when we're talking about self publishing because I publish. And I I traditionally publish and I'm self published. 66 00:12:22.902 --> 00:12:43.320 Suzy K. Quinn: They asked me, okay, so yeah. But to be self published. Don't you have to really get out there promote your book, and I don't wanna do that. And I don't wanna be kind of have to be on Facebook all the time. And that kind of thing. But I really sincerely did not do any of that with my first, st best selling book. It wasn't even under my own name. It was nothing to do with anything I'd done before. My sales mainly came through 67 00:12:44.830 --> 00:12:46.459 Suzy K. Quinn: word of mouth. 68 00:12:46.847 --> 00:13:10.519 Suzy K. Quinn: So basically, readers. Sorry this is. Readers love my books, which makes me feel very arrogant. But trust me what I tell you, that there are plenty of readers that don't love my books. If you look at some of my reviews. I I've got some terrible reviews from people readers that hate my books, but a decent amount of readers love my books to make them best sellers, and because they love them they really have a real connection with them. They have strong, a strong relationship with the books 69 00:13:10.520 --> 00:13:27.979 Suzy K. Quinn: they go and tell their friends about the books, and then they kind of organically promote on social media. So they'll take pictures of the books and put on Instagram, and they'll tell their friends, you know, on on social media, about the books like more people find them and all that stuff kind of happen organically, although they'll put it on, you know, kind of forums and and stuff like that. 70 00:13:29.370 --> 00:13:38.860 Suzy K. Quinn: Fans often email me asking for new books. So there actually isn't a day goes by that I don't get an email from a fan asking me for a new book in a certain series to continue the series. 71 00:13:40.150 --> 00:14:03.300 Suzy K. Quinn: And I receive a 4 to 4.5 star average review on Amazon. I've just noticed an extra S on the reviews there which is annoying me, annoying me, and it will probably annoy you to as a writer. So I I have a sort of tangible social proof that people are enjoying the books that they're not just kind of. There isn't another weird reason why they're buying them. But there, there's they're enjoying what the contents, and they're continuing to read through the series. 72 00:14:03.450 --> 00:14:08.350 Suzy K. Quinn: and just to give you a little bit of a social proof there. Here's some of my books. 73 00:14:08.430 --> 00:14:09.900 Suzy K. Quinn: and you 74 00:14:10.060 --> 00:14:34.100 Suzy K. Quinn: for summary on this slide they should be pictures of the reviews. Let's see if the next one Nope, there isn't okay. So if you go on Amazon and I should have flagged up one of the reviews on here. You can see they've all got kind of like thousands of you know, for between about 4.2 4.3. So average sorry about this broken slide here. My lack of social proof. I will need to fix that. But anyway, so these books have got really good reviews. 75 00:14:35.300 --> 00:14:55.069 Suzy K. Quinn: Now, before you think I'm getting too ahead of myself. And the how wonderful I am! Things absolutely were not always this way at all. So once upon a time I had no readers completely 0 readers. I was a complete nobody, and I was just a struggling author who was desperate to get published and desperate to have readers, and and failing miserably. 76 00:14:55.570 --> 00:15:21.509 Suzy K. Quinn: my manuscripts were rejected by agents and publishers, so I sent off many, many, many, and and and this is a thing of age. You can again see by hair. But I had to send them off in paper. You know that that was when I started writing books I sent off paper, chunky paper manuscripts I had to pay to print, to agents and to publishes, and sadly, those manuscripts were recycled and not accepted, which is very sad. 77 00:15:21.510 --> 00:15:36.030 Suzy K. Quinn: So as a result of this, I obviously made no money from fiction writing, and you can see that sad little broken heart down the bottom there. And for how? How rich did I felt about the situation, and how difficult and upsetting. That's that time of life was for me. 78 00:15:38.070 --> 00:15:52.289 Suzy K. Quinn: But I did initially have a novel published. So my, for after years of rejection I got lucky, and this is my 1st published novel here. It's called Last Acres and yeah, it was I. I got a publishing deal, so 79 00:15:52.290 --> 00:16:13.709 Suzy K. Quinn: my novel hit the right desk at the right time. And I really I'm not just being humble with that. It it really really did so as a ghost writer at the time, and I submitted a ghost written manuscript to my now literary agent, who asked me if I had anything else, and I had this book that I'd written, and he gave it to an editor who happened to love Japan, and and her mother had just died, and there were things of mothers dying in the book and things like that. 80 00:16:14.130 --> 00:16:19.880 Suzy K. Quinn: So I think I got really really lucky. And the editor was an amazing editor as well. She was really sort of big, well-known editor. 81 00:16:19.890 --> 00:16:36.920 Suzy K. Quinn: So lucky me, this was. This was fantastic, so I was offered a publishing deal. It was a really good publishing deal, a really exciting one. And and I was yeah, I guess I was very happy, although we're also weirdly surprised and numb as well. But I was generally happy. 82 00:16:36.930 --> 00:16:49.999 Suzy K. Quinn: and in the main I kind of thought my features are right, it was assured. So I thought right now I've been published. This is great. I will. Now this is now my job. I can now write books for a living fantastic. My Jews will come true. How wonderful! 83 00:16:50.460 --> 00:17:04.140 Suzy K. Quinn: You can probably tell by my tone where this is going, there's less happy things to come. So and now from this slide titled my 1st novel failure. So my 1st novel did not become a bestseller. Very sadly. 84 00:17:04.280 --> 00:17:28.520 Suzy K. Quinn: It sold just over 10,000 copies. Which, by the way, just this, did make me feel a bit better. It's the same amount that Jk. Rowling. So when she sold us Robert Galbraith, I think I'm right in saying that before she put her name on her 1st mystery book. You remember, after Harry Potter, she released a detective novel and they did it under a pen name, and it sold 10,000 copies, and then the publishers thought, Oh, wow! We better put her name on it because it's not selling. So 85 00:17:28.520 --> 00:17:37.900 Suzy K. Quinn: they put her name on it. It's all loads, and that's wonderful. But 10,000 copies, not a great number. If you want to make a living as an author, although also not terrible. 86 00:17:38.280 --> 00:17:58.270 Suzy K. Quinn: However, the 10,000 copies were largely due to my own online promotion. So this is bad, really, because I was running around kind of, I had my own website. I had Facebook staff. I was doing making Youtube videos, all sorts of things to promote online. And the ebook actually sold really well, even though this is not a sort of traditional 87 00:17:58.270 --> 00:18:09.932 Suzy K. Quinn: ebook type book. So the you know the and I. So what I'm saying with that is, I know that the I I promoted the ebook with my online promotion. So I know that the sales were due to my promotion. 88 00:18:10.622 --> 00:18:37.407 Suzy K. Quinn: But this didn't really matter, because the book got medium to bad reviews. So that word of mouth following didn't happen. It was also very sort of heartbreaking and kind of surprising. You know that this obviously, you think you know books a bit like your children, you know, and you love them, and you think they're beautiful. And then, when you know when, when you have the cold awakening, that my children are beautiful, obviously, but when you have the cold awakening that you know. Maybe other people have different opinions. It's it's very shocking and unpleasant. 89 00:18:37.957 --> 00:18:44.859 Suzy K. Quinn: So I discovered a very harsh truth, which was that publication was not a golden pathway to best sell it. And I really thought 90 00:18:45.120 --> 00:18:55.479 Suzy K. Quinn: genuinely thought that if publishers picked a book that was it. That meant it would sell, you know that was the golden stamp, and off off we go down the the beautiful, you know, pathway to bestseller Land. 91 00:18:56.252 --> 00:19:09.260 Suzy K. Quinn: I also learned that most publish. Novels are not best sellers. Again, a complete surprise, because I thought the publishers, you know, there might maybe to be a few phrases, but I thought in the main, they're gonna pick books that are gonna do really? Well. And and that's kind of how it works, you know. 92 00:19:10.076 --> 00:19:25.709 Suzy K. Quinn: And that publishes publish authors, and on average about $15,000 a year. So this was again, a big surprise. So because also most authors have a full time job alongside their writing again something I had not anticipated. I I didn't realize that was the case. 93 00:19:26.086 --> 00:19:38.889 Suzy K. Quinn: So I had a picture of you're an author. You write all day, that's what you do. I had no idea that a lot of authors are teachers or doctors, or whatever else, and they they write on the side because it's not financially viable to write full time. 94 00:19:39.230 --> 00:19:42.700 Suzy K. Quinn: What? What a horrible surprise! But don't worry. Things things get better. 95 00:19:43.047 --> 00:19:51.820 Suzy K. Quinn: They briefly get worse, but then they get better. So at this, while my 1st novel failed, another book sold 1 million copies, and, in fact. 96 00:19:51.840 --> 00:20:07.350 Suzy K. Quinn: if this is just illustrates some of the efforts I did to self remote. I had 2 book launches. I have one in Common Garden huge, one invite hundreds of people, and I had another book launch in Brighton and in Common Garden. This book I asked the bookshop owner, the Water Stones book shop, owner and 97 00:20:07.350 --> 00:20:32.309 Suzy K. Quinn: manager. What, which is your favorite book? And she led me up to a huge display of this book, a street cat named Bob, and she told me how she loved it. It was such a wonderful book. And I felt hugely intimidated because I she hadn't mentioned anything about my book which she did have time to read if she needed to. So I kind of, you know, was was interested in this book, whilst also fearing it immensely. So it sold sold a million copies. This book 98 00:20:32.540 --> 00:20:54.729 Suzy K. Quinn: the author was unknown, like like me, and and more than that, was not I guess, was not a professional writer, as far as I know. Whereas I was at the time I was writing copy and ghost writing and things like that. And did no online promotion, although I think there is a very good Pr story around this book. But by and large, there, there wasn't a great big promotional push or loads of ad spend or anything. 99 00:20:55.220 --> 00:21:05.230 Suzy K. Quinn: So what made this book succeed? I've written novel here. I think it's kind of hidden under something, but it should be book, because it's non fiction. What made this book succeed while mine failed? 100 00:21:06.120 --> 00:21:30.579 Suzy K. Quinn: So best seller secrets, I decided to find out. This is sorry. Just drop my watch. And this was very important to me. To basically figure out what I done wrong because my book was not selling I thought, surely there must be patterns of formulas, and I discovered that. Yes, indeed, there are. After lots and lots and lots of study. I found so many things, so many commonalities between big best selling titles 101 00:21:31.650 --> 00:21:43.089 Suzy K. Quinn: at least more than luck and timing. So luck and timing definitely happens. And I've had both of those things. But having a best seller is definitely about. More than that, you can definitely bring more control to the table. 102 00:21:43.290 --> 00:21:54.199 Suzy K. Quinn: So I've now studied thousands of best sellers. I'll be honest. I don't think I've read 1,000. I've read hundreds, but maybe not quite into the thousands, but I've studied this sort of form and the kind of you know, the an, the analysis of thousands. 103 00:21:54.360 --> 00:21:56.949 Suzy K. Quinn: There are secret patterns and foreigners. 104 00:21:57.290 --> 00:21:59.799 Suzy K. Quinn: and I'm going to share some of them with you. 105 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:07.419 Suzy K. Quinn: so are you ready to get started? I hope you're now concentrating this bright orange slide is is helping you pay attention. 106 00:22:08.060 --> 00:22:12.440 Suzy K. Quinn: Let's let's go. I wish that traffic light was green, but anyway, I'm sure you understand the sentiment. 107 00:22:12.630 --> 00:22:17.830 Suzy K. Quinn: So basically, secret number one, what best sellers have in common. 108 00:22:18.460 --> 00:22:28.730 Suzy K. Quinn: So this isn't quite the secret. This is kind of like a prelude to the secret. So what do best sellers have in common? Let's this, let's talk a bit about that. So how many of these books did you love? 109 00:22:29.080 --> 00:22:35.579 Suzy K. Quinn: So we've got here 50 shades of gray da Vinci code, Frankenstein, the flag share and gone, girl. 110 00:22:35.720 --> 00:22:56.209 Suzy K. Quinn: and these are all huge bestsellers, or obviously different time periods. But I I would say, you know how many of these books that I really love. I really really love the Da Vinci code. I love that book, but I also know loads of people that really didn't like it at all. I didn't get on with it. And the rest of them. I'm kind of like. Hmm kind of middling with really Frank and son. I actively didn't like what I had to study that school. 111 00:22:56.533 --> 00:23:07.209 Suzy K. Quinn: So basically the these are, you know, the. But yet these are all best selling titles, even though they're not in any way, you know, loved by absolutely everyone. In fact. 112 00:23:07.400 --> 00:23:09.169 Suzy K. Quinn: moving on here. 113 00:23:09.250 --> 00:23:17.169 Suzy K. Quinn: A bestseller does not appeal to everyone, and, in fact, most best sellers hated more than they loved. You know most best. Sellers are actively disliked 114 00:23:17.500 --> 00:23:23.150 Suzy K. Quinn: by by people because they've become popular. People don't people feel angry. They don't get it. Why is this book popular? 115 00:23:23.460 --> 00:23:38.749 Suzy K. Quinn: But that's okay. That's absolutely fine. Because the people who love best the particular title really, really, really loves them, has a passion for them, really connects with them, and champion them, and share them with lots of other people. So moving on to what secret number one actually is 116 00:23:39.010 --> 00:24:03.589 Suzy K. Quinn: is that best sellers target pre-made audience. So what I mean by that is the best sellers. I'm I'm going to go into some examples in a minute. But basically the the the books are absolutely loved. I loved by a specific group who really love them, who get behind them. This is their book, this is their thing, and then the book becomes very visible, and lots of other people say, and you know a best seller ensues. 117 00:24:04.440 --> 00:24:29.430 Suzy K. Quinn: So I've got an example here. So eat, pray, love this book connected with childless women in their thirties. So when this book came out there was a sort of emerging. I mean, there's always been obviously childless women in their thirties. But there was a real emerging kind of group of women who actively, were choosing not to have children and making it a positive choice and and basically not, you know, not letting it define them that they they didn't have children. 118 00:24:29.430 --> 00:24:48.510 Suzy K. Quinn: And this book really connected with that group, and it made them and they really loved it. And all the message in it really resonated with them, and because they loved it was so passionate about it, wanted to share it with other people. It then became very popular with that the rest of that group, and then very visible, you know, in in a wider sense, and became best selling 119 00:24:49.230 --> 00:25:00.160 Suzy K. Quinn: another book another similar example to that the beach. So when I I'm actually it connected with the the young backpackers and the Student Gap year population. And I was actually 120 00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:24.020 Suzy K. Quinn: at at Backpacker when this was a popular book, so I was one of those people with the Bucks Act walking around Thailand with a copy of the beach in my bag, and it really connected, even though it's actually quite a dark book. And it wouldn't really be my normal choice, because it was very so connected with what I was doing at the time, and and so resonated with this group of emerging, this sort of emerging group of more affluent. I guess you know younger people, I mean, I'm not saying I felt affluent at the time, but 121 00:25:24.020 --> 00:25:27.710 Suzy K. Quinn: I must have been to be able to go traveling and work my way around the world and that kind of thing, because 122 00:25:27.730 --> 00:25:31.410 Suzy K. Quinn: 20 years before, I would have just got a job or gone to university, or whatever. 123 00:25:32.350 --> 00:25:46.709 Suzy K. Quinn: So another example go on the train. Now, this might sound very kind of straightforward go on the train connected with commuters, but people are actually really suggestible, and if you're taking the train every day, and you see a book as the word train in it. And you read the 1st page because. 124 00:25:46.710 --> 00:26:04.009 Suzy K. Quinn: yeah, that's what you do. If a book looks decent or you've you've seen it around and it's about sitting on a train just like you do every day drinking gin and tonic. And then they see something scary outside the window. That's a real powerful connection to you. And what you're doing. And this could be me, this, yeah, this is really resonated. 125 00:26:05.610 --> 00:26:28.779 Suzy K. Quinn: So best sellers target a specific group. And these can be genre readers. So this is something that publishes. Do so. Publishers look at reader groups. So that would be thrillers. People who love thrillers, romance, high octane thrillers. And you know, sci-fi horror, the the big genres. So a specific group can be a group of readers who collect around a specific type of book. 126 00:26:29.790 --> 00:26:41.939 Suzy K. Quinn: They can also be subgenre readers. So this is getting a little bit more granular and actually easier to target in a way. So it could be, you know, cozy, small town romance might be the target. So which is a subgenre of romance. 127 00:26:42.940 --> 00:27:03.030 Suzy K. Quinn: or it could be some other fan base. So you know, it could be. Maybe people who like gardening, or people who have some interesting cars or something like that, something that you know. If you really love, let's say you love gardening, and you you it's a book about gardening or so fiction about gardening. It will connect with you because you would be okay. Yeah, that's my interest as well. I want to read about that 128 00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:07.020 Suzy K. Quinn: so? Who are your readers? 129 00:27:07.480 --> 00:27:31.160 Suzy K. Quinn: Are they? Maybe twilight fans. So 50 shades of grey was very popular with fans of twilight, probably not all fans of twilight. But with enough. We wanted the sort of adult grown up version of those characters and see how they interplayed in you know, robotic scenario. Basically so that was a great group of readers for El James. The twilight fans wanted to read 50 shades of grey, and that was a big, you know, big launching pad for that book? 130 00:27:32.590 --> 00:27:37.949 Suzy K. Quinn: Might they be blue Collar? Horror fans. So Stephen King, of course, writes horror, and that's within 131 00:27:37.960 --> 00:27:52.379 Suzy K. Quinn: the horror, genre. But just to get more specific, he writes very much about everyday Americans. You know the people you might meet in the street people who've got very ordinary jobs. And really, you can really identify with the characters if you feel good to the ordinary person. 132 00:27:54.550 --> 00:28:05.810 Suzy K. Quinn: or maybe they are high octane thriller readers, so maybe your readers are leech old fans who who love hurt in thrillers and want more books like this, and your books might meet what they're looking for. 133 00:28:07.930 --> 00:28:16.350 Suzy K. Quinn: So stay on target. I'm a Star Wars fan. So if this is a hope, hope, this resonates with other Star Wars fans identify your group of readers. 134 00:28:17.280 --> 00:28:35.159 Suzy K. Quinn: and then write a book aimed at these readers. Now I I know this sounds a little bit like, you know, destroying the sort of artistic soul of writing that we're just kind of cookie cutter writing and just creating for a marketing group. It's it's not quite as straightforward as that or even, quite, as you know, quite as simple as that, but 135 00:28:35.160 --> 00:28:53.110 Suzy K. Quinn: having an idea of who your readers are, and how you can reach them, is an excellent way to create a best seller, and you can be original within your reader group. So if you're sort of thinking well, you know, I don't really write genre stuff. I don't write, you know, romance and threadless and things. My mind's more of a book club read. It's a bit more random. 136 00:28:53.140 --> 00:29:05.413 Suzy K. Quinn: There will be something in your book that will be able to tap into a reader group. I'm sure there will be. Say that we there'd be some kind of group that that your book will resonate with. So, just to give you an example, my 137 00:29:05.740 --> 00:29:07.809 Suzy K. Quinn: one of my books don't tell Teacher 138 00:29:07.910 --> 00:29:20.209 Suzy K. Quinn: you. You might wanna guess who got in touch with me a lot about that book. It was teachers. So I got loads of loads of family you know, from from teachers about that book which I hadn't. I hadn't thought about actually. So, anyway, there you go. 139 00:29:21.350 --> 00:29:23.860 Suzy K. Quinn: So secret number 2 140 00:29:24.020 --> 00:29:33.600 Suzy K. Quinn: best sellers are not about writing talent. So obviously, I'm going to elaborate on this a little bit more. Just give a little bit on time. I think we're doing okay. Best sellers are not about writing talent. 141 00:29:35.280 --> 00:29:38.040 Suzy K. Quinn: so we're led to believe that 142 00:29:38.430 --> 00:29:42.219 Suzy K. Quinn: only the most talented authors achieve success. 143 00:29:43.300 --> 00:30:04.910 Suzy K. Quinn: And if you haven't yet achieved success, you're not talented enough, and I think we all probably I mean, maybe some of you have really have excellent, you know, bulletproof confidence. That's fantastic. But I think a lot of authors do question if their books aren't selling, or if their books aren't being taken on by publishes, a lot of authors will question. Okay, well, is it me? Is it my writing? I need to get better at writing? I'm just not good enough. 144 00:30:05.160 --> 00:30:18.910 Suzy K. Quinn: In fact, my literary agent said that to me. He said he written a book, and it wasn't. He wasn't good enough because it didn't sell, and therefore, you know, he stopped today. But success is about something bigger than the writing, and if we really think about it, we can prove this quite 145 00:30:19.340 --> 00:30:20.600 Suzy K. Quinn: conclusively. 146 00:30:21.780 --> 00:30:43.050 Suzy K. Quinn: So the 50 shades of brave phenomenon. Now I really struggled to say the word phenomenon, I really struggled to say it, so I really need to take it up these slides. But if I say the the explosion that was 50 shades of gray. The very popular book that was 50 shades of grey was actually slated by the writing community, which, by the way, I think is really snobby and was not nice. And 147 00:30:43.050 --> 00:30:53.351 Suzy K. Quinn: I I it's really stuck up. I think the writing is obviously decent, because otherwise people wouldn't have been able to access the story so readily. So, you know. But from a sort of I I guess. 148 00:30:53.630 --> 00:31:07.490 Suzy K. Quinn: you know, from from a a literate point of view. Should we say the the writing was regarded as inexperience, or or it didn't sort of you know it did a lot of show and telling, not showing. And things like that. You know things that you're not supposed to do. As a writer. So 149 00:31:09.218 --> 00:31:23.399 Suzy K. Quinn: yeah, it's 1 of the best selling books of all time, even though one of the best, it probably is still the best selling book of all time. Actually, even though it's widely agreed in the writing community that it's not one of the most you know. Well, written books. Sorry ill, James. I think you're fabulous, but I'm just, you know. 150 00:31:23.785 --> 00:31:26.040 Suzy K. Quinn: just putting that out there. So 151 00:31:27.610 --> 00:31:38.130 Suzy K. Quinn: we have another way of looking at. Why, it's not writing talent that's that sells the book, which is the one hit. Wonder again? I'm going to try so phenomenal. 152 00:31:38.130 --> 00:31:59.739 Suzy K. Quinn: Oh, it's trouble so some authors only ever write one bestseller, so it's 1 hit. Wonder. So we get loads of kind of you know daily authors who write one run away, smash it, and, best seller. I think the beach might be a good example of that actually, and chocolate by Joanne Harris, and and they don't manage to meet that the sales of that book again. 153 00:32:01.130 --> 00:32:05.090 Suzy K. Quinn: So they write many books, but only one hits the book, The Big Time. 154 00:32:05.920 --> 00:32:26.370 Suzy K. Quinn: and if best selling books are about talent, how could this be so. Joanne Harris, who wrote chocolate, which is a wonderful book. You know. She's written books afterwards. They've they have been bestsellers because she's got a huge name, and and publishers are really behind her, but but they haven't met the success of chocolate or or eclipse it. 155 00:32:26.750 --> 00:32:44.209 Suzy K. Quinn: so if if best selling books are about the talent of the author. The talent doesn't change, you know. It should be the the author which should be able to knock out a best seller every single time. If it's about the talent, you know, they're writing talent. But that's not the case, because we see these these runaway successes all the time this is sort of one hit wonders. 156 00:32:44.210 --> 00:32:59.906 Suzy K. Quinn: So now let's look at James Patterson. I'm not gonna attempt to say that word again. So James Patterson has written 147 best sellers. He's probably written more by the time I'm saying this he's probably written 5 more during the during the course of this seminar 157 00:33:00.270 --> 00:33:03.940 Suzy K. Quinn: and every one of his books hits the best seller charts everyone. 158 00:33:04.410 --> 00:33:22.949 Suzy K. Quinn: So he uses ghost writers, which I'm sure you've all heard about. So it's not even his writing we're buying. So this doesn't make any sense at all right. If it's if he's if it's really about his his writing talent that's selling all these books. Then ghost writing wouldn't work at all. It would have to be him writing the books himself in order to have this kind of success. So what is what is creating it? 159 00:33:24.180 --> 00:33:31.930 Suzy K. Quinn: So I've got this lovely. I didn't realize my size is going to be animated. This is very nice detail. So what makes a best seller if it's not writing talent. 160 00:33:33.220 --> 00:33:36.100 Suzy K. Quinn: a strong one sentence premise. 161 00:33:38.310 --> 00:33:48.849 Suzy K. Quinn: So secret. Number 2 is that a strong premise is more important than the writing is more. It's it's it's more relevant to you having a bestselling book than the quality of the writing within the book. 162 00:33:49.770 --> 00:33:55.209 Suzy K. Quinn: So James Patterson's books all have a simple, snappy premise. You can say in one sentence. 163 00:33:55.650 --> 00:34:23.879 Suzy K. Quinn: so you can share the premise in a sentence, and the premise is full of conflict and drama. So when you hear what the premise is, you feel well, I really wanna know more. So so one of james Patton's recent ish books. Swimsuit. I'm sure he created that title purely so. He can have a female in the swimming costume on the on the cover because he's really good at marketing advertising, and he knows that women in Bikini sales stuff but the title, you know, swimsuit. And then we find out. It's about a serial killer who kills 164 00:34:23.949 --> 00:34:32.570 Suzy K. Quinn: and swim suit models. It's already intriguing. Right? Might not be your sort of book. But you're interested. You're like, okay, wow, okay. Why is he only killing women in in swimming glasses? 165 00:34:34.830 --> 00:34:37.859 Suzy K. Quinn: So I'll give you a few one sentence premise examples. 166 00:34:39.190 --> 00:34:56.859 Suzy K. Quinn: So we have here twilight Girl falls in love with a vampire, which, again, really, you know, romance not, might not be your thing at all. But you're interested in. Oh, I wonder how that story is gonna pan out. You might not even read the book. But you still be interested if someone said, Well, that's about a girl who falls in love with a vampire. You probably have a load of questions about how that was. Gonna transpire 167 00:34:57.420 --> 00:35:19.279 Suzy K. Quinn: hunger games brilliant one, since it's premise. 12 teams fight to the death, and everyone wants to know how that story is gonna go. And they also think, Okay, well, you know, what would I do in that scenario? You know what you know. If I was put in this sort of kind of Youtube, I was. Gonna say, Utopian is not Utopian dystopian setting, and and had to kind of fight for my life and kill other people. What would I do? Would I be able to do it 168 00:35:19.650 --> 00:35:23.639 Suzy K. Quinn: really intriguing, and then a more recent one, the flag share. 169 00:35:23.640 --> 00:35:51.289 Suzy K. Quinn: So a girl has a time share flat with a man she's never met so and there's a little bit more to this concept in that they share a flat, and she stays there in the evening, and he stays there in the daytime might be the way around and and they never meet each other, and it's and it's a Romcom. So so the the title here is Tiffany and Leon, or Sorry, the subtitle Tiffy and Leon share a bed. Tiffy and Leon have never met. So it's a great one. Sentence. Oh, wow! How does that work? Then let's let's find out more about that. 170 00:35:52.980 --> 00:35:55.229 Suzy K. Quinn: So my big premise mistake 171 00:35:55.320 --> 00:36:02.859 Suzy K. Quinn: was, I absolutely did not start my 1st novel with a strong premise. I had no idea it was even a thing I didn't. You know. I didn't think about that tool. 172 00:36:03.190 --> 00:36:32.020 Suzy K. Quinn: and my premise is really weak and complicated, muddled, I absolutely could not say in a sentence. It took about 2 paragraphs to be able to say, and even then I wasn't too sure. And there are other bits I did. It says it's kind of about Tokyo. It's about a girl that goes to Tokyo and her friends missing, and you know and I thought about my one sentence, actually, after I've written my book. So so basically, yeah, I got asked to write the cover copy the jacket copy. Well, the Amazon page actually sorry. The the back cover. 173 00:36:32.020 --> 00:36:44.789 Suzy K. Quinn: back cup of coffee. And yeah, I wrote the backup copy and and it came out so much better than the book. And I was like, Wow, I wish wish I'd written this book. Cause this is good. So the key. Things about your premise is, it must be simple. 174 00:36:45.070 --> 00:36:47.199 Suzy K. Quinn: You must be able to say it in a sentence. 175 00:36:47.230 --> 00:36:51.309 Suzy K. Quinn: and it must make people go. So they must want to know more about the premise. 176 00:36:52.120 --> 00:36:57.370 Suzy K. Quinn: Now let's move on to secret number 3. So readers like what they know. 177 00:36:57.990 --> 00:37:12.690 Suzy K. Quinn: Let's talk a bit more about that. So what are these books about? So we've got class gataches. My 1st novel failure on the left here. How embarrassing! And we've also got come a little closer by Rachel Abbott. So if I move on here, you can see 178 00:37:13.060 --> 00:37:14.759 Suzy K. Quinn: Rachel Abbott's book 179 00:37:14.790 --> 00:37:17.089 Suzy K. Quinn: looks a lot like these books. 180 00:37:17.370 --> 00:37:37.630 Suzy K. Quinn: so you can see. It's very clearly marked, psychological, thriller. So sort of dark, you know, domestic noir, maybe psychological thriller. It looks exactly the same as these other, you know titles in on the bookshelf, and if you went into a bookshop and you saw it, you would know from the messages on the cover and the title exactly what that books. 181 00:37:38.960 --> 00:37:44.640 Suzy K. Quinn: My book, on the other hand, was very hard to categorize. Now you could look at it and say, Oh, well, it's kind of women's fiction. 182 00:37:44.700 --> 00:38:09.760 Suzy K. Quinn: you know, which is fair enough. But actually, if I told you that when we came to do the covers when the publisher came to choose covers. We also had a completely different thriller cover with kind of like. It was red, like bright red, and it had, like a black kind of like eye on the cover. Because the book was so muddled that it could be sold as a thriller, or it could be sold as women's fiction, and there wasn't really sort of a plan for it, because the book itself was just too hard to categorize 183 00:38:10.545 --> 00:38:13.989 Suzy K. Quinn: and that was very confusing to read us in terms of wanting to pick it up. 184 00:38:16.700 --> 00:38:27.780 Suzy K. Quinn: So the secret number 3 really is that readers like what they know, or at the very least they'd like clear signposts of what they're gonna get, and to to to know, to have something familiar about what they're buying 185 00:38:27.860 --> 00:38:30.450 Suzy K. Quinn: so that they're not, you know, kind of getting something they don't like. 186 00:38:30.830 --> 00:38:33.310 Suzy K. Quinn: Now, there's a little bit of a conflict here because 187 00:38:33.320 --> 00:38:35.299 Suzy K. Quinn: publishes one originality. 188 00:38:35.320 --> 00:38:44.559 Suzy K. Quinn: So publishing editors read thousands of manuscripts, you know all I mean not every year. But they read. They read an awful lot of manuscripts, you know. 189 00:38:44.930 --> 00:38:52.679 Suzy K. Quinn: and they love different and original material, and they often tell writers to send them something different. Send them something they haven't seen before. 190 00:38:53.060 --> 00:38:59.769 Suzy K. Quinn: because they want to see something new. You know, they're fed up of seeing people trying to do another 50 shows a grade, another Harry Potter, you know. 191 00:39:01.110 --> 00:39:23.120 Suzy K. Quinn: So they tell right is to surprise them. And this is, if you go on any sort of creative writing courses, and I've been on a lot or spoken to publishing editors or cons talks, and put your hand up for a question, and said to a publishing editor, Oh, you know, what are you looking for? By and large they'll say something on the lines of Give me something different. Give me something I haven't seen before. Surprise me! Give me give me originality, right? 192 00:39:23.470 --> 00:39:43.782 Suzy K. Quinn: Which is fine for publishing editor, because they're not taking the risk of spending a year 6 months, or a year, or 2 years writing a book. So they're not having that unpaid risk which is your time that you're you're risking. So it's fine to write something different and original. But it's much harder to sell it. So 193 00:39:44.340 --> 00:39:53.909 Suzy K. Quinn: yeah, this is kind of a conflict, because readers want the same and and selling the same kind of thing, and I'm going to clarify what I mean by the same in in a moment is easier. 194 00:39:54.810 --> 00:40:18.409 Suzy K. Quinn: So publishers want. Different readers want the same. It's big conflict. Publishers looking for originality and surprise, but reads want more of what they know, and by and large it's safer. If you want to shoot, for making a best seller, it's safer to tread the already trod path and write for readers. And because even if you don't get publishing deal, you can self publish, and you can try and reach readers that way. 195 00:40:19.590 --> 00:40:24.699 Suzy K. Quinn: So there are actually still millions, millions of searches on Amazon. 4 196 00:40:24.770 --> 00:40:26.789 Suzy K. Quinn: books, like 50 shades, are great 197 00:40:28.040 --> 00:40:29.659 Suzy K. Quinn: books like Harry Potter. 198 00:40:30.730 --> 00:40:46.989 Suzy K. Quinn: and authors like Stephen King. So imagine if your book is a little bit like one of these searches, how much easier is gonna be for you, you know, if if you if you've written a book that actually is a bit like Stephen King. And if someone search for authors like Stephen King and your book came up, and your book genuinely was similar in a similar vein. 199 00:40:47.230 --> 00:41:12.440 Suzy K. Quinn: That would be much easier to get best seller. Now, I'm not talking about copying Steven King. That's not what I mean. But I'm talking about being inspired by what's gone before and not worrying too much about that. So these titles, you know, you don't need to copy any of them. But but if you do happen to have a book about a wizard school, people like that, you know, that's that's something that people want to read about. And and because they finish Harry Potter, and there's no more I wanted. They want more books of that kind of thing, you know. 200 00:41:13.490 --> 00:41:18.070 Suzy K. Quinn: So also, readers are very often very loyal to one type book or genre. 201 00:41:18.700 --> 00:41:32.000 Suzy K. Quinn: and they're happy to have rewinds on the same thing. They might read one book on holiday a year, something like that. So they've kind of forgotten the plot of the book by the time it's the next year, and they're okay to have things that are quite similar as long as it kind of delivers the things that they're looking for. 202 00:41:32.680 --> 00:41:35.760 Suzy K. Quinn: So don't worry about following existing patterns. 203 00:41:36.020 --> 00:41:48.759 Suzy K. Quinn: Stand on the shoulders of giants is what all good artists do. So Leonardo da Vinci, I've kind of his mentor has gone out of my head, but you know he did have a mentor of some. i i i promise of some kind. 204 00:41:49.010 --> 00:42:10.829 Suzy K. Quinn: And and then, after lots of people, Leonardo da Vinci was was then into her music, and all the rest of it, and their inspiration so celebrate other bestselling authors. Don't be jealous of them. Don't be thinking, oh, you know, like they say successful. Now it's all close for me, and there's no room for me. Celebrate them. What they're doing, and look at what they're doing and feel free to be similar to them. Don't think oh, they've stolen that. You know 205 00:42:11.080 --> 00:42:19.899 Suzy K. Quinn: that part of that that road. Now I can't. I can't do that. Not true. If they're doing. If there's lots of demand for certain type of book that means people want more of it. 206 00:42:20.310 --> 00:42:22.400 Suzy K. Quinn: So understand. They give us a roadmap 207 00:42:22.580 --> 00:42:31.279 Suzy K. Quinn: and be inspired by what is already selling. Check the best selling chart at the best. Seller charts, read best sellers, and that kind of thing. 208 00:42:31.490 --> 00:42:50.279 Suzy K. Quinn: So once you have your fan base, then you can innovate, and I don't want to kind of put anyone off right in the next 1984 or anything like that, because obviously brilliant books are innovative. But I'm saying from the standing start, it's gonna be much easier to get into books and publishing if you kind of go with go more along with what's gone before. 209 00:42:52.800 --> 00:42:55.790 Suzy K. Quinn: So let me just summarize 3 best seller Mega secrets 210 00:42:55.940 --> 00:42:59.030 Suzy K. Quinn: number one, best sellers target a pre-made audience. 211 00:42:59.640 --> 00:43:03.329 Suzy K. Quinn: Number 2. A strong premise is more important than the writing. 212 00:43:04.180 --> 00:43:10.119 Suzy K. Quinn: and number 3 readers like what they know. So I've also got for you a lovely bonus secret. 213 00:43:10.150 --> 00:43:22.670 Suzy K. Quinn: It's a nice animation. There we go, bonus secret number 4. Who you gonna get 4 secrets in this demo. It's so exciting. So 80% of best selling writing is rewriting. 214 00:43:22.900 --> 00:43:24.570 Suzy K. Quinn: Okay? Interesting one. 215 00:43:25.050 --> 00:43:35.699 Suzy K. Quinn: So I'm gonna talk about publishing, editing and publishing editing stages, and this ties into who was sponsored by, say, Kevin Anderson associates, and what they offer. So within traditional publishing 216 00:43:36.060 --> 00:43:38.039 Suzy K. Quinn: there are lots of editing stages. 217 00:43:38.220 --> 00:43:58.320 Suzy K. Quinn: So we start with the Critical review and analysis. That's the developmental edits that's making the big changes to your manuscript. So publishers will will you know. In. In my case they change the whole plot. But basically they, you know. And they asked me to make the the the girl who dies in the book be related in some way to the hero. Good, good tip 218 00:43:58.596 --> 00:44:11.030 Suzy K. Quinn: and then maybe taking out chapters may maybe slimming stuff down. Maybe. You know, getting rid of whole trunks or elaborating on certain things. These are the big developmental changes this happens within publishing. But you should be doing it, too, with your book. 219 00:44:11.550 --> 00:44:30.789 Suzy K. Quinn: There's then the line edit which tidies up the writing and kind of condenses down sentences. Maybe rearrange the sentences or reverses them, so that you're writing in a more compelling way, and just makes it a bit tidier, Anita, for the audience. So they don't trip up pro writing aid. Of course, is very good for using somewhat of a line edit capacity 220 00:44:31.076 --> 00:44:52.530 Suzy K. Quinn: and then finally, the copy edit and the proofread and editors. If you're looking for traditional publication, they will thank you for using programming it to reduce their workload. So when you're submitting to literary agents in the 1st instance, and it will then go to publishers. The fewer edit fewer errors in the manuscript, the better you look to publish it. The more polish you look the more professional you look. 221 00:44:52.530 --> 00:45:00.819 Suzy K. Quinn: and you also reduce their workload further down the line, which they will, they will thank you for and pro writing aid. Really, really, really good for doing this on so many different levels. 222 00:45:02.510 --> 00:45:07.299 Suzy K. Quinn: So when I wrote my 1st book, I thought I needed to create a perfect manuscript all by myself. 223 00:45:07.880 --> 00:45:19.530 Suzy K. Quinn: and I took proofreading courses, editing courses, everything. I really I I was actually I sound so stupid now, but now I know the process. But I genuinely thought that was what I had to do. You know, I had to submit the perfect manuscript to publishers. 224 00:45:19.620 --> 00:45:32.829 Suzy K. Quinn: So it was a huge surprise. We published and find out. There are all these different stages. That kind of like, you know, that basically rewrote the book. It really did it. It. It recreated. It took my product from a standing start, and it re it made something else out of it. 225 00:45:33.162 --> 00:45:46.549 Suzy K. Quinn: A book is better as a team effort. In fact, I go further and say you can't. Really, you know, it's it's a very unusual best selling book that happens without the team effort, without people to offer feedback, to make changes without coaches and support around you and that kind of thing. 226 00:45:46.730 --> 00:45:54.059 Suzy K. Quinn: So you don't have to do this on your own. But if you do want to do this on your own, you probably shouldn't. You should probably bring an extra help in some way or another. 227 00:45:54.360 --> 00:46:17.890 Suzy K. Quinn: because publishing is very competitive, and that's both Indie publishing and traditional publishing. So it's it's it's competitive. But I don't want to be negative about things because you you can do it, you know you definitely do it, but it's a competitive industry. So if you were competing in the Olympics, you'd hire, if you could, the best coach the best people around you to surround you and and make you the best your game, because you know all the other Olympians. They all have coaches, too. 228 00:46:18.260 --> 00:46:47.169 Suzy K. Quinn: So hiring the best editor cover designer publicist gives you an advantage in both traditional and Indie. Publishing. The advantage in traditional publishing is, if you've worked with an editor beforehand a really good big fire publishing editor. Before you go to a publisher your book would be a much, much better shape to get through the gates and the barriers into the team. They'll see it as a much more ready piece of work. They'll be much more happy to to to work on it because they don't have an awful lot of time to make huge changes. 229 00:46:48.660 --> 00:47:07.130 Suzy K. Quinn: So with Kevin Anderson associate. So this is the team. I'm sick up in London at the moment, and having so much fun doing it. It's kind of nice to be out of my little writers. Writers cave for a little bit and do this. So you can now hire Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling editors. So whereas before you could only work with these editors. If you got through the gates of the publishing house 230 00:47:07.538 --> 00:47:11.429 Suzy K. Quinn: you can now hire them directly, and use them to work on your manuscript. 231 00:47:11.890 --> 00:47:19.920 Suzy K. Quinn: and these are the best editors in the business. So we're talking about people who've had multiple Sunday Times or New York Times bestselling number ones 232 00:47:19.960 --> 00:47:30.009 Suzy K. Quinn: and hundreds of Sunday Times and New York Times. Bestsellers so huge success figures, editors who really walk the wall kind of help people get to where they want to be publishing Wise 233 00:47:30.670 --> 00:47:56.710 Suzy K. Quinn: and Ka editors give authors a competitive advantage. I think I said this before my other slide. I should should tie it out, but it's a competitive advantage in traditional and Indie publishing. So for the indie publisher, you've got, basically, you're able to get your book in the best shape with you can hire the best publishing entity in the business to get your book in the best shape along with the best cover designer. And just have a you know, the the best chance of success in that market traditional publishing. It's more about getting through the door. 234 00:47:57.490 --> 00:48:08.360 Suzy K. Quinn: So everyone now can access big name publishing talent which wasn't available not that long ago. So now you have access to Big name Big 5 and best selling editors. 235 00:48:08.920 --> 00:48:17.139 Suzy K. Quinn: So here's I'm going to go through this quickly, because we're going to come up for questions soon. So KA. By numbers, you can see we've sold. The team has sold 100 million books. 236 00:48:17.409 --> 00:48:32.220 Suzy K. Quinn: and 200 plus Sunday Times and New York Times bestsellers. We've got some books here that our team has worked on 5 nights of Freddie says recently been in the cinema. I don't know if you've if you've seen it. There's not a lot fiction here, but we do do a good amount of fiction. 237 00:48:32.730 --> 00:48:44.860 Suzy K. Quinn: So the one of the edges you can work with here is our Uk. Editor, Adam Strange. So he's a number one. New York Times, Sunday Times. Bestselling editor, former commissioning editor at Hashtag. He was at Little Brown for over 10 years. 238 00:48:45.708 --> 00:48:48.010 Suzy K. Quinn: Here's a few of his books here. 239 00:48:48.230 --> 00:49:01.299 Suzy K. Quinn: We've got Jamie Levine, who's worked on the the Jr. Tolkien estate. She's an amazing fantasy editor. She's also a lovely, lovely person. She's wonderful. She just casually told me the day that she'd met Stanley, which was joyful. 240 00:49:01.700 --> 00:49:11.069 Suzy K. Quinn: We've got Amanda who has worked with Stephen King among many other authors who's a very nurturing, lovely editor, also very lovely human being. 241 00:49:11.410 --> 00:49:18.209 Suzy K. Quinn: And then we have our 4 military agent, Adrian, who worked on the 3 dark brown series, which is New York Times. Best selling number one 242 00:49:18.510 --> 00:49:27.180 Suzy K. Quinn: and part of the thing we're offering, which I'm going to wrap up with very quickly, because I want time for questions is, we're we're offering. We're giving you guys a special offer, which is the Adrian 243 00:49:27.230 --> 00:49:38.900 Suzy K. Quinn: will review and analyze your manuscript for free. So she will. If you send us your manuscript, she will look at your manuscript as if she were a literary agent assessing it, and she'll let you know 244 00:49:39.140 --> 00:49:58.630 Suzy K. Quinn: what you might need to do to work on the manuscript. It's a very minor assessment. It's more of a skim read, and it's kind of an introduction to editorial services as well, because if she thinks you'd editing, she'll offer that, too. But here we go that. So we've got free mini manuscript assessment. If you I've got fill in. So basically, if you follow the QR code, it goes to a link. 245 00:49:58.820 --> 00:50:17.780 Suzy K. Quinn: and you fill in that form and request a manuscript assessment, or you can email contact@kkawriting.com, and send your manuscript and request a free writing assessment. We also offer non disclosure notices, if you need one of those. But don't worry. We're not gonna still, you work, but we do have them. If you want. So you can request that before you send your manuscript in. 246 00:50:18.205 --> 00:50:22.930 Suzy K. Quinn: And Tom, that's me. Really needing to drink some water. Now, how are you doing. 247 00:50:23.547 --> 00:50:51.699 Tom Wilde: Not surprised, Susie. That was awesome. Thank you so much where my zoom emojis are but many, many rounds of applause. Thank you, Susie really, really useful. Some lovely messages in chat people Barbara saying she's hanging on on every word, which I think was the same for all of us. I I some real highlights to me, one in particular, when you talk at the end about it being a team effort, and I don't think we can reiterate that often enough. 248 00:50:52.068 --> 00:51:18.591 Tom Wilde: You know, if if very often feels like a solo pursuit, right? But you must rely on those, and, like you say the the best performers out there? It's never just them on their own. Is them with a team surrounding them. Support them every step of the way. And yeah, I I think I think you can. Can't say that enough again. Great comments. Thank you for everyone for for joining in the chat. We have got a couple of questions so 249 00:51:19.590 --> 00:51:38.280 Tom Wilde: someone asks, and I think with your background, Suzie, this will be great for you. What's the difference between commercial and upmarket fiction. I hear that if the book mentions some social themes it can be considered upmarket. What's the percentage of social themes that could be present in the book to categorize it as Upmarket. 250 00:51:38.935 --> 00:51:51.420 Tom Wilde: So basically wondering whether they can query agents representing up market fiction. In addition to querying commercial fiction agents. Is that something you can shed light on. 251 00:51:52.120 --> 00:51:57.529 Suzy K. Quinn: So let me get a bit clear on the question. So our market fiction are we talking about literary fiction? Do you think that's what that means? 252 00:51:57.530 --> 00:51:59.579 Tom Wilde: I think so. Yeah, I think so. 253 00:52:00.450 --> 00:52:04.919 Suzy K. Quinn: Okay? And the so the question is, could I, could you query agents with Upmarket? Which shouldn't. 254 00:52:04.920 --> 00:52:12.119 Tom Wilde: Yeah, representing up market fiction. In addition to querying those representing commercial fiction. 255 00:52:13.390 --> 00:52:13.850 Suzy K. Quinn: So. 256 00:52:13.850 --> 00:52:14.250 Tom Wilde: The topic. 257 00:52:14.250 --> 00:52:14.719 Suzy K. Quinn: So does. 258 00:52:14.720 --> 00:52:15.700 Tom Wilde: Today, but. 259 00:52:16.900 --> 00:52:39.339 Suzy K. Quinn: So basically, I'm assuming, whoever this lovely person to the question, I'm sorry I can't see the questions as I've got full screen. But so I assume you've got a manuscript that you can't quite categorize as commercial or literary. Not and it's sort of full somewhere between the 2, and you're wondering if you can. Query a commercial liter and also a a more literary dish agent with the same manuscript. Yes, you can. 260 00:52:39.830 --> 00:52:40.500 Suzy K. Quinn: Yeah. 261 00:52:41.530 --> 00:52:42.460 Suzy K. Quinn: right? 262 00:52:42.970 --> 00:52:47.845 Tom Wilde: That's great. I thanks for that Suzy and and someone else about 263 00:52:48.960 --> 00:52:53.400 Tom Wilde: How do you do? You have a recommended method of testing. If you're 264 00:52:53.510 --> 00:52:56.470 Tom Wilde: your one line, premise has legs. 265 00:52:57.470 --> 00:52:58.320 Suzy K. Quinn: Yes. 266 00:52:58.510 --> 00:52:59.989 Tom Wilde: How do you shape it? 267 00:52:59.990 --> 00:53:24.609 Suzy K. Quinn: Yes. So basically say, it's a really really good question. It's an excellent question. So I would say, probably don't ask friends, because friends are kind. And if you're talking about your book and saying, Oh, I'm writing a book is about this, they'll go. Oh, yeah, yeah, that sounds good. So probably the best thing is to ask professionals. Ask people within publishing if you can come across them, but also just ask strangers like Go on like Twitter or Facebook or something, and go in a forum. And just 268 00:53:24.660 --> 00:53:49.775 Suzy K. Quinn: put it, you know, this is the premise, and get Ruth this ruthless feedback. And just see how many. You know that you're always going to get people who hate you or have some sort of strong emotional reaction. But if 8 out of 10 people sound excited in in what they're writing back oh, and sound interested in the story and say, Yeah, I I'd want to read that. You know. You've you've probably got something good, but I guess the main thing is talking to people that aren't going to be too kind to you would be the the best way to test it. 269 00:53:50.980 --> 00:54:08.430 Tom Wilde: Fantastic advice. I just wanna mention this comment from Patricia. Because it really made me chuckle. This is the 1st time that someone has really drilled down and made it clear. The whack, your head, simple way to understand what makes a best seller obvious now that I need to better shape my book to meet audience expectations. 270 00:54:08.530 --> 00:54:09.390 Tom Wilde: I think that was. 271 00:54:09.390 --> 00:54:09.760 Suzy K. Quinn: Oh! 272 00:54:09.760 --> 00:54:21.015 Tom Wilde: Representative of a lot of the feedback. You're getting, Susie. So yeah, fantastic. I'm just looking to see there are a couple of last questions coming in, and we've got a couple of minutes left so one is asking around. 273 00:54:21.590 --> 00:54:31.009 Tom Wilde: the Mini manuscript review, how long is that offer available for Susie's so? Mara asked, because her draft is not yet finished, but will be by the end of the summer. 274 00:54:32.530 --> 00:54:43.129 Suzy K. Quinn: I think that's fine. It's a reasonably timeless offer. If you put pro writing aid in there, you'll be fine. Yeah, it's fine, but I mean. The only thing I would say is, if you're feeling brave, if it's like. 275 00:54:43.150 --> 00:54:51.160 Suzy K. Quinn: if your draft is pretty ready, you might want to send it over now, because you might get feedback. That helps you make the changes. If if you're sort of on like second or 3rd draft stage. 276 00:54:51.180 --> 00:55:01.650 Suzy K. Quinn: you you might get the that feedback. Now that says, okay. So when I get a redraft, I know to do this so that it might be a good idea to send it. Now, for that reason don't worry about your manuscript being sort of too polished. 277 00:55:01.660 --> 00:55:07.669 Suzy K. Quinn: because th that's the aim of it is to is to kind of give you the feedback to help you get better. Basically. 278 00:55:08.290 --> 00:55:36.570 Tom Wilde: Awesome. Great thanks, Susie. I have just added a few links into chat. One of them in particular. If you're happy to share your feedback. If you've got feedback about crime writers week, please click on the link there. You'll see it takes you through to a type form survey. We'd love to get feedback. We do 4 or 5 events like this year. So we'd love to get feedback on that and also links to the community and the place where you'll find with a hub, we call it, where you'll find the replays of Suzie's 279 00:55:36.670 --> 00:55:51.149 Tom Wilde: talk within the next kind of 40 HI think we're we're close to wrapping up, but a couple of also want to shout out. I can't remember who it was, but someone mentioned Andrea del Vertio, who is? Who was Leonardo da Vinci's mentor? So that's that's. 280 00:55:51.150 --> 00:55:52.519 Suzy K. Quinn: Oh, thank you. 281 00:55:53.330 --> 00:55:54.740 Suzy K. Quinn: I never remember that. 282 00:55:55.301 --> 00:55:59.809 Tom Wilde: I was looking busy looking up surnames for the phenomenon cause I I also struggle with 283 00:56:00.492 --> 00:56:27.770 Tom Wilde: I'll I'll come back to on that. I'll look at priority. It's got word explore that will help with that. And and on the personal. I just wanna say, thank you for your kind of love for prorating aid, and also that amongst the community listening today. You know, it's been great working with you, Susie, and I'm really looking forward also to seeing you speak next week at Sps live. I would imagine there are probably some people here today that will give me attending that if you don't know. Susie's 1 of the speakers 284 00:56:28.098 --> 00:56:53.089 Tom Wilde: in London next week, come along to and take part. I think there's also an online version you can watch. But I think we're we're we're close to the hour. So we'll wrap up there just with a a final Thank you, Susie. Thanks for all the time you've taken with putting that presentation together. And yeah, and thanks everybody for for being here to listen, and for all your lovely comments. 285 00:56:54.220 --> 00:57:10.419 Suzy K. Quinn: Oh, thanks so much. Shawn is an absolute pleasure. Really enjoy one. Thank you for for hosting it so pleasantly, and I will reiterate again, I really do love programmed. I think it's fantastic, and and everyone who hasn't got a subscription should, you know, up upgrade immediately, because it's excellent, it's well worth well worth doing. 286 00:57:10.970 --> 00:57:30.200 Tom Wilde: That's great. Okay, everybody. Don't forget. Your next session starts in just over an hour's time. And if you're hanging around for the whole day. You'll see me again later on today, where I'm talking to Tom Mcgee from Wopp. Another great session. And yeah, thank you for joining us for crime writers week and we'll see you soon. Bye, bye. 287 00:57:40.070 --> 00:57:42.409 Suzy K. Quinn: It's on. It's like, leave. 288 00:57:42.540 --> 00:57:43.070 Suzy K. Quinn: Yes. 289 00:57:43.070 --> 00:57:47.519 Tom Wilde: Is. That's fine, Susie. I think people just trickling out now. So 290 00:57:47.890 --> 00:57:57.279 Suzy K. Quinn: Okay, okay, sorry. That's a very unprofessional end to again. Oh, should I go now? Well, Hi, everyone. And then, yeah. So thank you so much, and take care. 291 00:57:57.280 --> 00:57:59.790 Tom Wilde: Yeah, lovely. I'll see you on the 292 00:58:00.150 --> 00:58:05.639 Tom Wilde: probably Monday, I think, Susie. And then for the speakers, dinner. 293 00:58:06.260 --> 00:58:07.890 Suzy K. Quinn: Yes, they say, yeah. 294 00:58:07.940 --> 00:58:09.120 Suzy K. Quinn: like brilliant good stuff. 295 00:58:09.120 --> 00:58:09.719 Tom Wilde: Thanks! Again, thanks! 296 00:58:09.720 --> 00:58:10.640 Suzy K. Quinn: So much fun. 297 00:58:10.760 --> 00:58:11.819 Suzy K. Quinn: Bye, bye.