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Imagine a Door: A Writer's Guide to Unlocking Your Story, Choosing a Publishing Path, and Honoring the Creative Journey

Imagine a Door: A Writer's Guide to Unlocking Your Story, Choosing a Publishing Path, and Honoring the Creative Journey

          
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Awards Winning
2023 | Regional Arts and Culture Council Grant
2021 | Oregon Literary Fellowship for Publishing
2018 | Scholarship to Yale Publishing Course
2014 | Oregon Literary Fellowship for Publishing
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About the Book

If you want to get your manuscript published, read this book. There's no secret handshake or golden key in these pages, but Imagine a Door offers a more equitable and empowering prize: information delivered with gentleness. Author and publisher Laura Stanfill started working on this project in 2016, ultimately interviewing more than seventy-five authors and industry experts, including Wendy Chin-Tanner, Tove Danovich, Omar El Akkad, Erin Harris, Ari Honarvar, Juhea Kim, Dan Lazar, Fonda Lee, Emme Lund, Daniel A. Olivas, Rosanne Parry, Keith Rosson, Amy Stewart, Sonja Thomas, Addie Tsai, and Lidia Yuknavitch. Is a writing routine worthwhile? How do you pinpoint the why behind your storytelling? What exactly is distribution? Can we reframe success in a less capitalistic way than defining it by sales numbers? While prioritizing genuine community over platform building, Imagine a Door intersperses case studies, sidebars, and checklists with personal stories about writing, revising, and the emotional complexities of sending your work into the world. Foreword by Beth Kephart, author of Handling the Truth.

Table of Contents:
FOREWORD / 12 IMAGINE A DOOR / 15 ABOUT THIS BOOK / 21 BEGIN / 25 CHOOSE YOUR WORD / 26 When Nonwriters Ask Questions / 30 PRACTICE MAKES PROGRESS / 33 TIME MANAGEMENT / 40 Trick Yourself / 43 THE SECRET / 46 READ WITH ABANDON / 50 CASE STUDY #1: Thrillers and Mysteries / 54 PINPOINT YOUR WHY / 57 What’s Your Why? / 64 THE FIFTY-FIRST PAGE TEST / 66 FIRST READER / 70 VOICE / 75 I’M AGAINST APPROPRIATION / 88 CASE STUDY #2: Sensitivity Readers / 95 Interrogate Your Idea / 97 PROGRESS IS PERSONAL / 99 KEEP TRACK / 107 CASE STUDY #3: Thank Your Sources / 110 NOW . . . / 116 COMMUNITY / 119 BELONGING / 120 THE COMPARISON TRAP / 126 THE FAVOR ECONOMY / 134 WRITING GROUPS / 139 CASE STUDY #4: Finding Your People / 142 What to Consider / 146 VISIT THE LIBRARY / 148 SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE / 152 Bookstore Etiquette / 158 THE DIY APPROACH / 164 CASE STUDY #5: Small Press Champion / 166 More Ways to Find Friends / 168 BECOMING A PUBLISHER / 171 SUCCESS AS AN IMAGE / 180 Online Etiquette / 186 THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE PAID REVIEW / 191 PAYING FOR AWARDS / 197 CONFERENCES AND COMMUNITY / 199 Conference Checklist / 200 BY THE NUMBERS / 202 CASE STUDY #6: Traveling to Sell / 207 HARD TRUTHS / 212 FINDING A GOOD BALANCE / 216 PUBLISHING PATHS / 219 THE DREAM / 220 REMEMBER, IT’S ART / 236 CASE STUDY #7: I’m Done / 239 AGENT OR PUBLISHER? / 244 AGENTS / 249 BIG FIVE  / 257 CASE STUDY #8: A Leg in the Door / 264 SMALL PRESS TYPES / 276 UNIVERSITY PRESSES / 295 HYBRID AND SELF-PUBLISHING / 301 Who’s an Expert? / 308 DISTRIBUTION / 311 FULL SERVICE / 321 What to ask a publisher with distribution / 327 NO-FRILLS AND FULFILLMENT / 329 What to ask a publisher with no-frills distribution or fulfillment / 333 PRINT ON DEMAND / 334 What to ask a print-on-demand publisher / 342 Printing Galleys / 343 SELF DISTRIBUTION / 345 What to ask a self-distributing publisher / 347 CASE STUDY #9: Forest Avenue’s Distribution Journey / 348 TELLING PRESSES APART / 352 CASE STUDY #11: Making the Ask / 356 WHEN PRESSES FOLD / 361 DECISION TIME / 364 SAYING YES TO THE YES! / 367 YOUR PART IN PROMOTION / 370 CASE STUDY #10: The Cost of Events / 373 RETURNS VERSUS SALES / 376 Sales Data without Details / 380 QUERYING / 383 READY? SET? / 384 CASE STUDY #12: To Revise or Not? / 391 Querying Too Early graphic / 398 HOW DO YOU FIND A MATCH? / 400 AIM FOR THE MAYBE / 403 TITLES / 405 Title Assessment / 409 SHALL I COMPARE THEE . . . / 411 Make Your List / 414 YOUR HOOK / 417 APPROPRIATE LENGTH / 420 AUDIENCE AND PLATFORM (SIGH) / 424 MORE QUERY INSIGHTS / 432 WRITE YOUR LETTER / 437 A Basic Query Letter / 440 RED (LETTER) FLAGS / 443 VERBAL PITCHES / 451 Conference Etiquette / 453 PROPOSALS / 456 FIRST PAGES / 460 Write Your Yes / 466 HOPES IN A PILE / 467 JUST BECAUSE YOU FINISHED . . . / 472 Allow for Your Worries / 476 REJECTION RESILIENCE / 478 REACTING TO FEEDBACK / 481 WHEN CRAFT GETS IN THE WAY / 487 CASE STUDY #13: The Story of the Hundred Promises /489 THE NO-RESPONSE NO / 493 CALLING IT / 496 ACCEPTED! / 500 BEGIN AGAIN / 503 Acknowledgments / 509 About the Author / 512 READERS’ GUIDE / TK INDEX / TK


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Product Details
  • ISBN-13: 9781942436652
  • Publisher: Forest Avenue Press
  • Publisher Imprint: Forest Avenue Press
  • Height: 228 mm
  • No of Pages: 518
  • Sub Title: A Writer's Guide to Unlocking Your Story, Choosing a Publishing Path, and Honoring the Creative Journey
  • ISBN-10: 1942436653
  • Publisher Date: 29 Apr 2025
  • Binding: Paperback
  • Language: English
  • Returnable: Y
  • Width: 152 mm


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