In this special Book Blueprint episode, I welcome Dave Letterfly-Notar, a five-time published author with three memoirs and two guidebooks who takes readers into the traveling circus world through his passion for horsemanship, adventure, and artwork.

Dave started writing as catharsis 37 years ago, evolved into marketing essays for his art career, then, he was encouraged by professors who helped him craft his first book ten years ago in his mid-forties. Now he's completed his next manuscript about his relationship with a horse and their adventures together, professionally edited and ready, but he wants to publish through traditional publishing rather than self-publishing again.

My first advice for finding an agent is checking Publishers Weekly for reputable agents. The critical factor is finding an agent who specializes in your genre and subgenre.

Traditional publishing takes three to five years, even with an agent, so patience is essential. I also introduce the hybrid publisher option where authors maintain more creative control including choosing editors. Dave doesn't need an agent to submit to publishers, though agents shortcut the process by knowing which companies want specific book types.

The mindset shift Dave needs is keeping his animated, passionate storytelling approach, since that sells publishers. His advantage is understanding the publishing process as a seasoned professional, making him easier for publishers to work with.

I offer book coaching services for author support since promoting books is harder than writing them, and Dave's positive service-minded paradigm from his recovery journey 37 years ago drives his mission helping readers transform obstacles into growth.

Until next time, keep writing, dreaming, and creating—your book is waiting to be born!

Ready to write your authority-building book? Book a discovery call and take the next step to moving one step closer to writing and publishing your book!

Podcast Resources

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The opinions expressed on the show by the host or guests are those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the views of Unicorn Publishing Company. Unicorn Publishing Company, the host, guests, and affiliates are not responsible or liable for any decisions made by listeners or actions taken hereto based on the information discussed in this podcast. By listening to this podcast, you acknowledge and agree to release Unicorn Publishing Company, the host, affiliates, and guests from any liability.

Hey friends, this is Lynn Aliquidi Smarges back again for another episode of Publishing for Professionals. I am super excited today to have a guest on. Thanks for listening to today's episode. Today is a special book blueprint episode, one of my favorite types of episodes. But before we jump into today's episode, I want to give a big welcome back to my returning listeners. Thanks for joining me again for another week of Publishing for Professionals. And thanks for my new listeners. Welcome, welcome.

I'm so glad you stopped by to check out my podcast. Please make sure to hit the follow button to get publishing for professionals dropped right to your podcast player or your YouTube channel. Make sure you subscribe so that get every week's information for publishing for professionals. I have an incredible conversation lined up for you today. I'm joined by David Letterfly-Noter. He's a 5X published author with three memoirs and two guidebooks.

Dave Letterfly Noter takes readers deep into the colorful world of the traveling circus where passion for classic horsemanship living a life of adventure, creating beautiful artwork and the lessons learned while transforming obstacles into the stepping stones of growth. The author provides the gift of enlightenment while making sense out of chaos, one heartwarming story at a time. Dave has journeyed along the path of self-publishing and has been challenged with figuring out how to traditionally publish his next book,

So he's here today to ask questions about traditional publishing and the writing and publishing process to clarify his process and share his wins with us along his journey. Dave, thanks so much for joining us today. I can't wait to dive into your publishing journey.

I'm so happy to be here. Thank you, Lynn.

You're welcome. So let's start off by finding a little bit about you, Dave, because you are such an interesting individual. So let's start with, let's start with just like why you decided to get into writing books, because I know you were an artist first, but why did you decide to go from doing art, like graphic arts types things to writing?

Well, writing for me actually started as catharsis back about 37 years ago, and it evolved into marketing, marketing essays. And as I learned how to excel and evolve as my art career kept changing. And then I ended up becoming so filled with

encouragement, zeal, and excitement for this colorful life that I've been living. And I received encouragement from outside. Also, I started writing essays to tell these stories about what had happened during my turbulent background, not only with the circus, but especially with training horses and learning.

the painting skills that became the mainstay of all of my passion. And the next thing you know, I'm fascinated with the craft of writing. I'm taking classes and I'm hearing suggestions and I made friends with professors. And the next thing you know, I'm being encouraged to put together a collection of what I had already written and put it into the form of a book.

And the one professor took what I had and had it for a year and then came back and gave me an assignment. that what he had we had together, we put together a logical theme for several of these stories. And then he had we had gaps that I had to fill. And in another year, we had a book ready to publish. And that was 10 years ago.

Wow, that is incredible. That's a great story. And so you've got five books that you've already published and you are not like a typical, you're not like myself. You didn't start this career early in your life. me, how old were you when you started writing books?

I was in my middle 40s when I started writing and it was just yet another creative outlet because I started, as I mentioned before, I started as a musician and then became predominantly an artist. And I think that creative people tend to be creative in all areas. And that's certainly my case with the exception of being creative in the kitchen.

Well, we can't be strong in all areas for sure. Awesome. So, David, tell us about your new upcoming book that you're looking for a traditional publisher to accept.

I have been on fire about this next manuscript and I got it completed. We had it professionally, developmentally edited by a professor in New York and it's ready. And what I want to do is reach a larger audience and the logical thing to do is to traditionally publish. And from what I understand so far, the task of entering into the process of

traditionally publishing is probably even more difficult than putting together a good book. So my questions and the kind of learner I am, I'm the kind of learner that I'd rather have some one-on-one with a high quality professional so that I can get the guidance that I need. And as soon as I have a handle on what it is, what kind of mindset I need to adopt,

then I can craft whatever it is that I need to provide so that the agent has the right kind of representation to take to a publisher. But it's all brand new to me. So my question has to do with beginning the process. And from what I understand, the process begins with finding an agent.

So my first question is, what is a guy like me gonna do? I'm looking for an agent.

Okay, so there's a couple things. just so fiction. And so I'm assuming your book is like a fiction or historical fiction.

It's another memoir.

Okay, so it's a nonfiction book. Okay, so you want to find an agent and I would say publishers weekly is a website where you can find agents. And typically those agents are pretty reputable. And I would always ask an agent for two references of people that they've worked with and and call those references right like because I know people sometimes ask for references but they never follow up.

Yeah, nine, yeah.

make sure you follow up with the references to make sure that they got good service and they did all the check boxes. So they communicated well, they didn't leave them hanging. And I would even say interview three to five agents for like pricing, find out what services they offer because everybody offers a little bit of a different service. And then also the other thing I would recommend if you are looking for an agent,

You definitely need to find an agent because like some specialize in nonfiction memoirs. Some specialize in like not like historical fiction. So you know, so you have to find an agent that specializes. You want to find an agent that specializes in nonfiction memoirs specifically. So if you can find an agent that specifically covers that niche, that would be your best bet because they're going to know the people to pitch it to better than someone who just does nonfiction in general. If that makes sense.

Now, how do I go about, I guess, isolating from the vast sea of agents, the perfect agent? My memoir includes my relationship with a horse in addition to the adventures that we were on. And there must be an audience for that kind of

genre.

yeah, my youngest daughter is a horse girl. There is definitely a horse audience out there. And so just kind of on a side note, one of the things I would recommend doing is to sell your book. Instead of going to like Barnes and Noble or the typical like bookstore things, I would go to like equestrian events. Since your memoir is about horses, you are gonna sell more books at an equestrian event, like that's open to the public that you can just buy and have a booth there.

you're going sell more books there than you are selling at Barnes and Noble or like any other types of bookstores because people there are interested in equestrian, right? They're interested in horses. So they're more likely to buy a memoir of a book that this talks about horses. So any type of equestrian events I would recommend for the marketing piece. but then getting back to your question, you may even find, you may even find a agent.

who loves horses. And if be gold because that perso understand your passion fo

Yes, that's hot. And that's exactly the kind of agent that I want to find.

Yeah, and you may have to because you're looking for someone that specific, you may have to look a little bit longer. So typically, just to let you know, David, because your other I know you have self published your other five books. So finding a traditional publisher and getting published with them typically takes three to five years. So it's a lot longer process. It's a much longer like, you know, journey for sure. So you'll need a lot more patience to do traditional publishing. And if you decide to get an agent and you don't

and you don't find a publisher who wants to take your work, then you can always still self-publish. Like it doesn't mean you can't self-publish your book. So you always have that alternate path of self-publishing if you don't find. And you can also look forward to a hybrid publisher. I don't know if you're familiar with hybrid publishers. Yeah. So a hybrid publisher, and I can connect you with a couple. A hybrid publisher is a publisher that you actually have more creative control over your work, which I like, I prefer.

No.

And a hybrid publisher, you have more creative control of your work. That's kind of the biggest advantage with them. They're better working with the author and not just really telling them like, hey, you're going to have this editor or whatever. So you have a lot more leeway with who you pick as editors and things like that with a hybrid publisher. And hybrid publishers, like traditional publishers, have their own little niche. some hybrid publishers do all romance books or whatever.

So we want to find you a hybrid publisher that is good for nonfiction and for memoirs like you have. I actually have one I can introduce you to. Yeah. And so you want to do a letter of query. And so do you have any questions about your letters of query?

Yes, and I have a question before then in regards to the hybrid publishers. Do they have the audience that the traditional big publishers have? They do. They have.

Yeah, so they have outlets and audiences and they can promote your book as well. mean, obviously the big five is the big five. I mean, they're kind of in the cloud. That's like the Ivy League, right? But a hybrid publisher is still going to do a, like, if it's a good hybrid publisher, they're going to know where to market your book and how to market your book effectively. And so the one that I'm thinking about introducing you to, I'm just not mentioning the name because I just don't want to, know, anyway, so.

The one I'm thinking about introducing you to is the biggest hybrid publisher in the United States, I think in North America anyway. And they do mostly 99 % nine fiction. and they do memoirs too. So I think they would be a good fit for you.

Do I need a query letter or an agent? Do I query the hybrid publisher?

Yeah, so you actually don't have to have an agent to query publishers. However, if you have an agent, it's easier because agents know people and they know which publishing companies take what types of books. And so that's where the agent kind of shortcuts you, right? They're kind of like a coach where they can be, okay, we want to query these because these publishers are going to be more attuned to your type of story that you want to put out. So that's the advantage of having an agent.

is that they know where to go. It's just you're using them for their knowledge basically. And then what was the other part of your question,

that has to do with putting together what kind of mindset do I need to have? I have to shift from being an author of, know, being a storyteller into the mindset of a, know, something that's totally strange to me. So what kind of mindset is gonna be end up being helpful as I...

as I tackle this process.

Oh, that is a great question. And we're actually at our break point right now. So we're going to take a quick break. But when I come back, I'm going to answer your question, Dave, on the mindset you're going to need to go in with a traditional publisher. So let's hang tight for just a minute and we'll be back in just 18 seconds.

Okay, thanks.

you

Hey friends and future authors, we are back with our Publishing for Professionals book blueprint episode. If you're finding this episode really great and valuable and you know a friend who is looking for a publisher, please share this episode with them so they can get the information and the knowledge they need to successfully publish their book. So Dave, you asked about mindset. So I would say keep the storytelling mindset because people love storytelling even if you're pitching.

because storytelling is the best way to sell somebody, right? Because you are a great storyteller. can tell just from talking to you on this episode, because you're very animated, you're very passionate, you understand what you're doing and you know the steps in the process. And I can tell all that from the way you talk. You're a very thoughtful person. So I know an agent and or a publisher is going to really appreciate that. And that you're also, you've already published five times. So you understand the publishing process.

which is also to your advantage if you want to find a publisher because it's much easier for a publisher to take on someone who understands the process, who's done it multiple times before and is kind of a seasoned professional like yourself. So I would say just keep what you're doing, but just know, just know you're to have to be more patient to find a publisher because typically it does take three to five years even with an agent. And so it is a bigger expense obviously to go with a publisher.

But I would say if you're pitching a hybrid publisher, try a query letter. And for those of you who are listening who don't know what a query letter is, it's basically a three page letter you're sending to a publisher saying, hey, this is my book and this is why I want you to accept it as a publisher and accept me as an author. And so to write that query letter, you don't need an agent to do that. And you don't need an agent to submit to a hybrid or a traditional publisher. It's just they give you some

they give you more information, but you can do that all on your own. And I would suggest, I would actually suggest trying it on your own first with a query letter and submitting it to some hybrid publishers to see if any of them like your book and say, yeah, this is definitely something we would love to publish first. And then if you don't have success there, which I feel like you will, but if you don't have success there, then I would say hire an agent and then move forward. But that might be a better,

it's going to be a better and B it will give you so some hybrid publishers. So a big five and you decide route, you already have exp publishers and you're not

Okay. That's like taking baby steps.

Right, exactly. Yep. Yeah. And so it'll get you a little practice of talking to them, like using their lingo. I would also recommend if you want someone to assist you with a query letter, there's a fabulous gal on YouTube. Her name is Alyssa Matessik. So it's A-L-Y-S-S-A-M, as in Mary, A-T-E-S-S-I-C.

And she is a fiction author, but she does assist people with their query letters. And I don't think you have to have a fiction book for her to assist you with a query letter because a query letter is a query letter. And so I believe she could assist you with writing a query letter. And she has worked for the big five. So she knows what publishers are looking for.

Great. That'll be very, very helpful.

Yeah. And so did you have any other questions about writing and publishing that I can answer for you, Dave?

Yes, I certainly do. I have heard all of this talk about having a platform and how an author is supposed to have a big platform in order to become considered valuable to a publishing company. I'm not sure if I have a big platform. I've got 3000 people that get my newsletter every two weeks and

but it's not necessarily author, it's more geared toward my audience that appreciates my artistic endeavors. And I do make contributions on a blog page and in Substack occasionally and those kinds of things. But exactly what would be a logical thing for me to do in regards to doing what I can to

develop a following, I guess you'd say.

Yeah, well, you already have a following because if you have 3000 people on your email list, that's a pretty substantial following. So typically, like a really big, a really big book publisher is going to look for 10,000 subscribers on your email list. They don't you don't always have to have that. But the thing with the big five is they're looking for you to market your book. And so that's why they want you to have a quote unquote big platform. And what that means is you have at least

Like 5,000 followers on a social platform and 10,000 people on your email list now There's there's ways you can increase that and I'm not going to go into all the details about that right now but One of the things you can do to increase your following is to get on sub stack and you can actually take your email You can take your email newsletters and reproduce them on sub stack and get a new following there I would also recommend doing lives at least once a week on sub stack because that also helps increase your sub stack

is your Substack audience, but building your Substack platform will help because there's a lot of people on there that talk about books and a lot of other writers. So you'll find a really good audience on Substack. If you're a writer, always recommend people like make sure you have a Substack and that you develop that. There's like your web page on Substack. can do a weekly, you can do a newsletter on Substack. And so I would suggest on the weeks you're not doing your email newsletter, do a Substack newsletter.

purpose anything that you've already used for your previous content so you don't have to make up new content. And that way it'll just make it easier for you to put content out there. And I would start talking about your book now, even though you don't have it. Because you want to build up that excitement about it. And then if you don't have like a landing page or a form, a signup form for people to sign up that are interested in your new book, I would make one of those on your email service, whatever that is.

And that way you can say, hey, this is my book and then talk about an aspect of it. Maybe you talk about a character and how you developed it. Maybe you talk about your book. So talk about an aspect of your book and then say, if you want to learn more about it, sign up on my newsletter and make sure you put your newsletter link at the bottom of that. then, and then talk about it on your live too. And just keep talking about your book to build, build audience on it. And I would also invite your email newsletter folks to your sub stack.

good.

Yeah, okay. What about?

What about platforms like LinkedIn or some of the other ones?

So LinkedIn is good if you were doing a business book. If you were doing a business book, would say definitely work on LinkedIn. But since you're not, would say, eh. TikTok is more for the younger crowd. if your book appeals to the 20 to 25, 18 to 25, or 16 to 25 crowd, TikTok's a good platform. Instagram can be helpful to put short reels on Instagram. But I would say probably YouTube would be better for you.

Okay, if you want to put And one of the things that you do a live video on sub

Mmm. Wow.

Okay. So it takes out a little bit of the work for you. You do have to go on YouTube and put a description underneath the video, but you don't have to sit there and like manually upload it. So you just have to make your settings so that it says, yes, just automatically post it to YouTube. And then that way, so have your YouTube channel, be your author YouTube channel. So you can have like a Dave Letterfly Notar YouTube channel or Dave Letterfly YouTube channel. And then your playlist can be your different books. like,

your playlists. So each book can have its own playlist and you can like make videos, talk about your books, put it in their own playlist so that people know like what book, you know, what, what each of your books are about and that'll help promote all of your books. so that's just an idea. If you want to go down that route.

That's it sounds to me like I'm in it for the long haul. Yes, such a thing as hiring a personal coach that I work with, you know, bi monthly or something so that I can get reminders and encouraged and and get it to get the get the boot in the butt whenever I need it.

Yes, actually, that's one of the services I do. do book coaching. And so we can talk about that after the episode. But yes, I can help you with that. I help a lot of clients with that all the time. Like I've got three people who I consistently coach every month on their books.

Okay, good. Yeah, because there's so much more to doing all this than just writing the book.

Yes, yeah, in the industry, it's funny. I don't know if you've heard the saying, it's like, when you finish writing your book, you're you're now starting to do the hard work. It is it's very hard to promote your book is there so many books out there. And it's you know, a lot of a lot of genres are saturated. So you have, you know, anyway, but I think with your personality and stuff, and your driving your passion, I know, I think you're going to be really successful because you you've got the right mindset to your very, you seem like a very positive person, Dave. And so I think

Yeah.

that you'll be really successful in your marketing campaigns.

good. Well, what drives me is the is the idea of being a positive influence to the reader.

So let's talk more about that. why would, why is that important to you?

It's kind of a mindset that was introduced as the result of the process of recovery that I began 37 years ago that provided an upgrade to the trajectory that I was on. And so today, I've just evolved into a completely service-minded

seeking ways to be a blessing to the world kind of a guy. And that's pretty much the theme of all of these books that I write. I want to become helpful to the other guy. The situation that I grew up in and then my response to it ended up spiraling me downhill to a bottom. But then at that bottom, I found a place to rebuild a life.

with a completely different paradigm. that's really without trying to sound like a preacher or anything, I just wanna do the grit and the guts and that kind of a message that occurred while I rebuilt this life that I enjoy. And I just wanna be a source of encouragement to other people today.

That's awesome. I can appreciate that because I also came from a very, very, really not good background. And so I've had to work for the past decade myself on rebuilding lots of things. Luckily, I did not fall into the path of addiction, but I'm really glad you came back from that. And that's a really hard path to come back from. So congratulations. And that's amazing. I don't know if I could have done that.

it's a gift.

Yeah, that's amazing. Well, Dave, know people are going to want to find out more about you. So for people on YouTube, you can see Dave's information right here. But for people that are listening to this on audio, Dave's tell people where they can find you and what books where sorry, where they can find you and the title of like two books that you like to share on the podcast today.

It's real easy to find me, find out about all that I do and all of my books at my website. It's real easy to remember letterfly.com that's L E T T E R F L Y letterfly.com and you'll get to read about nice myself being an artist and a speaker and an author and all kinds of other interesting things. And if you like horses,

you're gonna like what you read about my background with horsemanship, especially performing with the circus. I've had a very, very interesting life and it shows up in my book. And if you wanna read a good memoir, go to Amazon and look up Kinker, Kinker Circusing the 70s is an epic that will make you wish that you had lived a colorful life like this.

That's awesome. That's amazing. Well, Dave, this has been such a great, great, I know people got a lot of value out of your questions, but it's been such a great time getting to know you on this episode today. You seem like there's a really interesting person and it would be really fun to just kind of sit at a bar and have a drink with you or just like hang out for lunch or breakfast or coffee or whatever. But I really enjoyed having you on the show today. So thank you so much for making the time to come on Publishing for Professionals.

Thank you, Lynn. Thanks for having me.

Absolutely. All right, my friends to remember, if you are looking to write and publish your book, it's what I love to do for my clients. So make sure you visit me on my website at write for you dot me and click on get on my discovery call calendar today. Until next week, this is Lynn Aliquity reminding you to keep writing, keep dreaming and keep creating. Your book is waiting to be born.