Author Insights: What sets an author apart from the pack when they submit a manuscript to a publisher?

L. J. Bonham: Every editor I know says a book must grab them with the first word, sentence, and paragraph. If it doesn’t, then it goes into the burn pile. Without a great hook, even a great story will get rejected.

AI: Why?

LJB: The digital age inundates people with drivel by the truck load. It streams in on their smart phones, tablets, lap tops, TV, radio, and soon their glasses. This changed the market into a mass of overstimulated, short attention span customers. Anything new has less than ten seconds to grab their attention before they move onto the next shinny object in their view. An author must break through that ten second filter with immediate, compelling words that evoke a deep emotional reaction and yank the reader into their story. If you fail, that reader is gone forever.

AI: Don’t some readers like a buildup to the action, perhaps during the first page or two? Doesn’t that stimulate their curiosity?

LJB: There may have been a time when that was the case, but that era is dead and buried. People just don’t have the time or mental space now. Publishers are in business to sell books for a profit and they know what their customers want. If you, the author, don’t give the publisher what they are looking for they will find another product supplier. It’s just simple business.

AI: There’s plenty of commercial fiction, even best sellers, with weak beginnings, how do you explain those successes?

LJB: Granted some authors get away with it, aided and abetted by publishers, but they often have an established readership and trudge along with good sales despite lazy beginnings. I’m talking about novice authors who want to breakthrough with their first novel or story. Come out swinging or stay home.