Let’s Write Together

Books pick their authors.  If you are hearing the whisper of a book, drop everything and follow it.  Quit your day job?  Hell yeah.  If you surrender to it, if you allow yourself to be chosen, your writing will give you a hundred thousand times in return.

My work is to help you answer that call.  I am part creativity coach, part author maximizer, part writing therapist, craft master and brand builder.  I am here to give you the confidence, the resources, the know-how and the connections to get you on track so you have an agent-ready manuscript that can set the world on fire.

When I got my first book deal, I’d never taken a college writing course and never published anything.  I was out of work, terrified and totally in love with the idea of being a writer.  When I told people I was working on a novel, they would laugh and say, “You think you’re going to make a living from that?”

Book signing with one of my memoir writers, Kasey Mathews, and her fantastic literary agent, Dede Cummings. Yeah Kasey!! Her memoir Preemie is published by Hatherleigh, distributed by Random House and just won a 2014 Reader’s Choice Award!

Then, in a split second, one cold November day, my entire life changed.  The agent who had sold Memoirs of a Geisha and Cold Mountain sold my book to Scribner for six figures, foreign rights were coming, film options were on the way.  My writing dreams had suddenly come alive (for full story, visit my bio page). And in the years ahead, rather than forge ahead? I turned around and answered another call: I wanted to help new writers experience the sweetness of publishing success.

“Suzanne’s terrific sense of humor, constant support, clarity of thinking, and amazing ability to discern a clear and compelling narrative from our tangled stories was the driving force of our book.” ~Lisa Lorimer, PhD, Brattleboro, VT. Author of: Dealing With the Tough Stuff.

Every author you admire was just like you once upon a time.  Chances are, they didn’t know anyone in publishing, they had a dream and a prayer and no clear path to getting their book finished.  They were waiting for that break-through moment, that helping hand.  When done alone, writing can feel like a wilderness.  You need a map and a guide.  A kind, gentle, supportive, cheerleader who knows her stuff and can get you where you really want to go.  From that first idea to the publicity beyond publication, it helps to have someone shining the light forward.

“I knew I wanted to write a book, I felt passionate about what I wanted to share with the world, but I didn’t have a clear pathway there.  After one power hour with Suzanne (that lasted three hours!) she identified my dream agent, helped me understand that my brand was a bestselling title, and showed me a clear path to not just building my book, but building a series of books that will make my business into an enterprise.  One week later, after never having published anything before, she helped me get my first articles into two of the best media outlets on the web.  I am already starting to share my message with the world!”  ~Kelly Skinner, MA, founder Flawless Yoga and Wellness.

Together we won’t just build your book, we will build your career.  We will dream up the best life you can imagine as a writer and make that vision a reality.  I like to call books dancing orders from the divine.  We will download that divinity.  Together we brainstorm, create and build the work up to make the magic happen.  After working in this way, writers have not only watched their books go to auction and gotten six figure deals, they’ve gotten calls from New York Times op ed editors, been on CBS, NBC and ABC affiliates, seen themselves appear in Forbes, USA Today, and on the Jane Pauley show. What’s the secret to all this success? It’s in that small whispered voice you hear inside and learning how to draw that baby out and really listen to it!

“Suzanne and I worked together in fantastic bursts of creative energy, and I learned the craft of not only writing and selling the book, but also branding myself as an author and building a platform.  Almost as soon as I finished my final draft, I was offered a contract and got my first book deal!” ~Jane Miller, Boulder Colorado.

How Can We Work Together?
For the last decade and a half I’ve been entrenched in the publishing industry in both building books, branding authors, moving them out into the world with top-level publicity campaigns, creating exceptional website copy and designing long and short book launches.  Now, whenever a writer I’ve never met before comes along, I like to say, “What if I was your genie in the bottle–and you had as many wishes for your writing as you like?”  Below are some of the ways I can be your genie:

Full Manuscript Read with In-Depth Summary:  You’ve done it!  You’re finished!!  You put your vision on a page, it took endless hours of alone time while your family, your job and sleep waited.  Now what?  You need some help, someone to tell you what works, how good it is, what the next steps are, an industry mentor to jump on your vision and deliver it to the agent’s hands, the bookstore shelf.  This is an extremely fragile time.  You want someone who has your best interests at heart, can meet the work on its own terms and knows how to shift it in ways that won’t hurt the vision. Together let’s get this baby off the ground so it can move lives.  Full manuscript reads depend on length of the work. Email me if you have a baby in the oven: suzannekingsbury@suzannekingsbury.net

How to adequately express what makes Suzanne a superb writing coach?  She’s passionate, intelligent, skilled, insightful…clear-sighted and objective, yet keenly empathetic to what it takes to be a writer.  I am convinced that having the great good fortune to work with Suzanne, especially early in my own efforts toward publication, not only improved my writing, but gave me the encouragement to keep at it.
~Elisa Paige, Dallas, Texas, repped by Ethan Ellenberg and author of: The Time Series.

Novice Master Class Intensive:  For new writers.  This is the fast track to the best book you can write.  You may have an idea but are not sure where to start. You have some pages but haven’t yet finished a full manuscript.  In an unprecedented approach to creating great writing, you and I will focus on your strengths and talents and let the rest drop away.  The novice master class includes power hours dedicated to where you want to go.  Blasting through limitations, we find the bestseller within and sculpt and structure your book so it has a chance to be the apple of a top agent’s eye.  No matter if you are a blog writer or working on the next great American novel, whether you have never written anything in your life or are writing a memoir that started when you were a child, you and I are going to set fire to the page.  Tell me all about your book: suzannekingsbury@suzannekingsbury.net

“I came to Suzanne with hundreds of pages of material written over 30+ years. Within minutes her skill as a teacher and editor surfaced and I knew I had found a master who would take my hand and help me through the process.  The experience of traveling this path with Suzanne has been extraordinary.  We just finished writing a top notch proposal, and I now have huge agent interest in my book.” ~Bob Litwin, New York

Advanced Master Class Intensive: You have already written your book, have a draft on hand, and want a surefire route to a great agent, a publishing deal, movie rights.  But first you need an advanced edit that can polish the work and make it worthy of publication.  You may need a fierce query, contacts in the field to help you get representation.  If you are a non-fiction writer, you need a powerful proposal that will make agents pick up the phone, and a platform that can help jump start your new career.  I work one-on-one on a master class level with writers of any genre, CEO’s, entrepreneurs, holistic health practitioners, therapists and anyone else who has a book in hand and needs help polishing and selling it.  Advanced Master Classes are intense and powerful and involve face-to-face time to build the book.  For non-fiction writers it includes help with a top-selling proposal and the most effective way to getting major media publicity without having to hire a publicist.  If you’d like to move forward, let’s chat: suzannekingsbury@suzannekingsbury.net

Proposal Building Program for Non-fiction Authors:  If you are working on a non-fiction book and want to sell big, you need a powerful book proposal that meets industry standards, reads like a business plan and blows the socks off the publishing industry.  Proposals are overwhelming, it’s hard to know where to start and what the secret formula is for getting seen.  Working on the proposal together can save you months of time and can be the difference between your book going to auction and stalling in the slush pile.  Proposal building includes a fantastic query and identifying a list of top agents perfect for your book.  The cost of proposal building is dependent on your goals and the scope of your project.  To find out how we can get your proposal into tip top shape and find you a really strong agent for your project, please email me at suzannekingsbury@suzannekingsbury.net

“…climb aboard the good ship Sweetness, and let Suzanne skipper your manuscript to places it has always wanted and deserved to go.”  ~Tom Pope, California, author of the novel, The Trouble with Wisdom

Publicity, Branding and Platform-building Master Class for Writers Who Want to Be Bestsellers: Writers often go into the wild wilderness of publication hoping their publishing house will help them create buzz.  While publishing houses are great at distribution, their funding for publicity has gone down in the past few years.  Outside publicity firms have very little experience or knowledge of how to sell a book or create lasting social media buzz for authors.  The happy fact is: the insider’s knowledge of book publicity is right at your fingertips.  There’s a proven formula for publicity success that can save you tons of time and lots of money.  Together we can work with that formula and harness the power of your book.  By identifying your audience and creating hooks and pitches that draw attention, we’ll construct a platform-building campaign that moves you into the spotlight.  My publicity and branding campaigns for authors have gotten them into major media outlets including CBS, NBC, ABC, Forbes.com, Glamour, AARP, the Boston Globe and many more…We will set up a press packet that will get you seen, and if you already have a pub date, we’ll make sure you have a long and short plan for your launch.  We can also create fantastic copy for your website that builds your audience.  In short, we’ll make sure you stay relevant and are never lost in the crowd.  If you think you’re ready to start a publicity and branding fire, give me a holler: suzannekingsbury@suzannekingsbury.net

Therapeutic Care for Writers:  With therapeutic care, we break through blocks and help you fly on the page.  The stumbling blocks that trip writers up can feel maddening, debilitating and demoralizing.  Why aren’t I writing?  Why is there never enough time to do what I really want to do?  I really want to write this book, I just can’t make myself do it.  Everyone else if flying in their careers, I feel like I’m sitting still.  Breaking through blocks is one of the biggest steps a writer can take in moving toward the vision of who she wants to be in the world.  When we work together around your relationship with the blank page, we open a treasure chest that might contain anything from childhood fears and former relationships to fragility around failing or rejection.  In therapeutic care, you receive a combination of deep inquiry and profound nurturing so that you can begin to feel the sweetness of your unique creative genius and fly into your best vision of yourself.  Sessions can range from 90 minutes to a weekend intensive and include charting your career course and some powerful resources to get you there.  Beware: writers who sign up for therapeutic care sessions often experience dramatic (but beautiful!) shifts in their lives both on and off the page.  In-person sessions include Thai head massage and Reiki.  Please contact me if you feel you want to fly: suzannekingsbury@suzannekingsbury.net

“Suzanne and I met when I signed up for one of her retreats…over the next few years, she passed me the tools of the craft and helped me see where my innate talent was.  The memoir I built just got picked up by one of the biggest agents in New York!” ~Mary Okoye, Tucson, Arizona

Retreat Your Way to the Book of Your Dreams:  One of the absolutely best ways for you and I to work together is for you to come with me on a salon-style writing retreat where we spend four uninterrupted days focusing on your writing, breathing life into your story and giving you the attention you deserve as a writer.  Come away with me and a small group of writers to be massaged, pampered, fed and supported.  At retreat we push past your creative limits and make your writing dreams come alive.  These retreats include deep guided meditations, a body worker on staff to help you feel held and supported in the body and tons of writing and sharing your work with an encouraging audience.  If you are interested, come visit the retreat page: suzannekingsbury.net/writing-retreats/

Not Sure What You Need?  There are a thousand ways to work together from killer website copy, to blog writing and beyond that might not quite be on this list.  Drop me a line telling me your story, and I will respond within the week.  Can’t wait to hear from you:  suzannekingsbury@suzannekingsbury.net.