Customer Reviews

Syndication Secrets: What No One Will Tell You!

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2 star:		(1)
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I was so incredibly disappointed in this book. Its content is so basic, it would be helpful only for those who want to write a column and have absolutely, positively no idea how to go about doing it. I'll sum up Jodie Lynn's total advice here: write a query letter and send it to the right person.

The rest of her 111 pages is pure fluff: Be prepared for rejection, have a good idea, learn from your mistakes, don't write in all caps in your email to an editor because it's considered shouting, yada yada. Even the example query letter (there was just one) was so lame. It was long, tedious and boring--despite her chapter instructing readers to make it jazzy, short and light. I'd have turned it down.

She also gives some dubious advice--she says to put a "TM" next to words or phrases you want to trademark. In fact, trademarking is a legal process that involves fees and filing paperwork.

Looking for anything of value to take away from this book, I turned to the mini 2-page chapter listing syndicate contact info hoping it could at least save me a few minutes of Googling. The very first one she lists, King Syndicates, is for comic artists, not writers. Le sigh.

For a $14 paperback, I expected a whole lot more.

However, I give this two stars because if you are starting from a completely blank slate, have never published anything in your life or have never queried an editor, then this will be good starter information.

As a pubished author, I hesitated writing a negative review of this book. I know the amount of time it takes to put a book together and I wanted to be respectful of a fellow author.

I won't blame the author solely for the final product. Her editor should have advised her on how to make this book stand behind the title - Syndication Secrets.

There are no secrets in this book. In fact, a quick Google search and one can find out the information contained in the book. The information she provided is so readily available that they are hardly secret and don't fall under the category "What No One Will Tell You."

Syndication Secrets provides nuts and bolts tips that anyone who wants to be syndicated has to have. The best parts of the book are the sample letters and other concrete examples of how to contact editors. After reading Syndication Secrets, you'll have the tools you need to get your column into newspapers.

Tim Bete
Director, Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop
University of Dayton
www.HumorWriters.org
www.TimBete.com

For anyone remotely interested in the idea of trying to syndicate a column, this book is a must. Lynn gives frank and detailed advice of every step in the process. As a young writer, I have learned through trial and error how important every step is in the pursuit to be published. Lynn not only covers everything - from query letters to interviews - she offers sage wisdom. Moreover, Lynn never talks down to the reader; we feel sad and happy for her as she recounts her own story. A quick-read guide that you can, and should, spend hours studying.

After reading Jodie Lynn's book I had a much better understanding of how syndication works. It is direct and to the point. It gave me tons of ideas and insight into what and how to do things. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in syndication.

Do you dream about getting your own syndicated column? Jodie Lynn doesn't pull any punches in this powerful book. She tells the truth. Just consider this opening to the first chapter, "Prepare yourself for rejection. It may even happen over and over. You can compare the feat of achieving syndication to that of a high school athlete going to play for a professional team. Something like one out of every 50,000 make it. Not only is that incredibly hard to swallow, but most syndicated columnist have other jobs just ot make ends meet because the syndicate takes at least 40-60 percent of the sales from their column." See that good news--and it's in the chapter with the first rule--Believe in what you have to say.

Yes, it's hard--but you have to know each of Jodie Lynn's Secrets to jump over the "hard" and achieve success. Step-by-step Lynn shows you how to persist and get the assignment when others have given up along the way. Throughout this little book, one principle shines--persist and never give up--never. In the busy world of syndication, you will need all of this encouragement that you can locate. This book is packed with encouragement and solid advice from someone who has been there--and achieved what she writes about.

If you have dreams of syndication, then you need to read--and re-read this book then doggedly follow each secret.

Syndication Secrets is *the* book to have if you are thinking of beginning a writing career and especially if you'd like to become syndicated. It's not for hot shots who know it all, or at least, think that they do, but for people like me and you, who need a guideline. One that has been proven to be successful. I have not decided to move forward with writing on the topic that I pretty much know is my best, Baby Clothing and Accessories, but when I do, I will go by Jodie Lynn's book to the "T."

Not all of us know the in's and out's of syndication, but after reading her book, I feel much stronger and more confident to use her proven and successful strategies in approaching the syndicates and/or the editors. KUDOS Jodie Lynn! Thanks for sharing your secrets!
Donna Bliss
Owner, My Miracle Baby.com
www.mymiraclebaby.com