Why Your Perfect Manuscript Isn't Enough And What to Do About It with Author Tamara Miller

Tamara Miller's debut thriller INTO THE FALL has launched her career with a two-book publishing contract. 

But her path from government policy analyst to published author wasn't built on talent alone. 

It was strategic business thinking that made the difference. 

In this episode, Tamara Miller reveals the approach that got her agent's immediate attention and explains why treating your query like a business proposal changes everything. 

She also shares some immersive writing techniques that keep readers turning pages. 

Whether you're struggling with submissions or wondering how to make your manuscript stand out, this episode’s practical insights will shift how you think about the publishing game.

What You'll Learn:

• Why query letters must be business proposals first, pitches second
• The "equation" for writing immersive scenes that hook agents instantly
• How to research and position your book for commercial success

Click here to learn more about Tamara Miller

Guest Bio: Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tamara L. Miller earned her PhD in Canadian history before embarking on a career working for the federal government. Miller began as a doe-eyed policy analyst and eventually moved into an executive role with the Government of Canada. She later left public service, older and perhaps a little wiser, to become a writer. Tamara is past president of Ottawa Independent Writers and has written several articles published online by the likes of CBC and Ottawa Life Magazine. Into the Fall is her first novel.

Over the years, the author has called many Canadian cities home but now lives in Ottawa with her family and two long-suffering cats. She’s always been fascinated by the raw beauty of the wilder places in the world and escapes to them whenever possible.

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Transcript

David Gwyn: 0:00

So congrats on into the fall. Can you tell us what this story's about?

Tamara Miller: 0:05

Sure. At its heart, it's, it's the story of a marriage that meets the wilderness. I would say. Sarah Anderson is camping with her family. And they take this trip at a period in their marriage where they're looking for something to help save the marriage. But as you all know, the wilderness contest everything. And it does so in this case because when she wakes up, her husband Matthew has disappeared and left her with two kids stranded in the Canadian wilderness with no way out. And so the rest of the novel is an unfolding of her search for Matthew. And as she digs deeper into his past and where he may have disappeared, she learned secrets about not only his past, but as well secrets come to light about her own slightly tortured soul, I guess you could say.

David Gwyn: 1:03

Yeah, that's a good, that's a good summary. I, I like that. And so talk a little bit about where this story came from, how you got the idea of the story. Are you, are you a a Canadian wilderness person?

Tamara Miller: 1:12

I am,

David Gwyn: 1:13

yeah.

Tamara Miller: 1:14

I am. So yeah. I've adored the outdoors ever since you know, most of my adult life I've spent time camping, canoeing, hiking. In the wilderness. And I am from Canada. I live in Canada. So I've explored various facets of, of this country. But the idea for this book came about, oh, long before the idea of actually writing a novel ever came to light. I was literally in a very similar situation, not that my husband disappeared, he's okay. It's all fine. But I woke up early one morning. We were on a canoe camping trip, and my kids were little around the same ages as the kids in, into the fall. And I, it was quiet morning, calm lake. Beautiful. And I don't know if you've ever been up up here on the Canadian Shield, but there's granite. Cliffs that kind of gently go into the water. There's loons calling. It's, you know it looks like a group of seven painting again, Canadian reference. But it's pretty beautiful. It's pretty calming. But this thought popped into my head that what if. My husband wasn't here. What if suddenly I, you know, I woke up and he wasn't here to help. Because you think of all the, there's a lot of rigmarole that goes into camping and particularly canoeing, and it's hard to do with two people especially when you have kids. That basically brought me into the first scene of, into the fall. That opening chapter was almost written at least in my head, sitting on that rock. And then it just built from there. But I will say it took me years to get there. But that was sort of the, the, the kickoff for this.

David Gwyn: 2:44

Yeah, that, that's very cool. And, and can you talk through a little bit of that kind of circuitous process? Going from that idea, standing on, on the beach, looking at the water all the way to now you're in publication mode. How did you go from idea to first draft, let's say?

Tamara Miller: 3:02

Well, I'd always written some of it, like my background is in history. I'd written history. I worked for governments working as a, as a policy analyst for years. And then when I left government, I retired from governments. And I'm gonna say I retired early. The gray hair may fool you, but I did retire early. And I knew I knew how to write. History, and I knew how to write a mean briefing note, but fiction was something very, very different. And of course, like most writers, I'd been a lifelong reader. And so my first step was really to start learning how to write fiction. I, and that comes in a variety of ways. I took workshops, I took classes, I I practice, practice, practice. You know, you write. I found writing groups. I found writing peers. I joined and eventually became the president of Ottawa Independent Writers. And, you know, I attended workshops. I really worked on developing my craft because as much as I loved fiction and as much as parts of it are an art, there's also a learning curve. There's also a fundamental structure. There's a lot to learn when it comes to writing fiction. And then when I felt that I had the building blocks I needed, that's when I started working on on a novel. And through that process, I also learned that I am a very bad short story writer. So it had to be a novel or it wasn't gonna be anything. And quite frankly, when I, when I started, I just told myself, you know, my goal is to write something that I think is worth reading. And then as often happens in life, okay, you've achieved that goal. Now what's the next one I wanna try working towards.

David Gwyn: 4:41

Yeah.

Tamara Miller: 4:41

And then I eventually found my way to Lori.

David Gwyn: 4:44

Yeah. Yeah. That's really cool. And, and we were, we were talking before we were recording here, I, I had the opportunity to talk to, to Lori as well who's your, who's your literary agent. And she had a ton of really like. Glowing things to say about, about you and your writing and, and the work that, that you did. And I, I think one of the things that came up in that conversation, which, which I think is really interesting, is how much she. Really felt immersed by your opening pages and just kind of immediately were you, she was brought into the world that you were creating. Is that something that you find that you just naturally are able to do or is that something that took a lot of refinement over over the course of a few drafts?

Tamara Miller: 5:24

I definitely had to learn how to, to write that way. I, I think I've always been drawn to fiction that that is that way. I think when people have said that, it's, it is very immersive, it's very descriptive. There's a bit of a, a, for lack of a better term, an equation because you want it to be descriptive, but not so descriptive that people start to get bored. You wanna pick out those little details that someone is, you know, they're sitting in their living room or they're, you know, sitting at their kitchen table and there's this little detail that allows them to drop into the scene and, and sit. Beside your characters. And sometimes it can be something as simple as a blue balloon or something very simple, but very present and very relatable. And so I think that's what I spend a lot of time doing when I'm writing. You know, you'll start with the description and the whole adage that less is more. I really spend a lot of time sort of working on what are those details that really matter that will really, really connect with a reader and bring them into the story. Make them feel present, but not bore them. You, you don't like, as much as we all sing the accolades of, of Charles Dickens, that kind of writing can go on for a long time. And I never want my readers to feel like they gotta skip a few pages because it's just getting too much.

David Gwyn: 6:43

Yeah.

Tamara Miller: 6:44

So it's about that. Plus, I mean, I was writing about a part of the world that I actually. Really adore, and so it's a bit easier to sort of slip into to that admiration in the tone of the writing as well.

David Gwyn: 6:56

Yeah, no, that, that makes a lot of sense. And, and it's, it's funny as you're just talking about your process, I feel like I noticed that without noticing it, and now I'm like, thinking back to, to the work that you did. I'm like, oh wait. Yeah, you did use that kind of style of. Really, really tight. Kind of like if you're thinking about it like a camera, like tight camera lens on like a few small, little important details that then when you zoom out, I think you're right. It has that effect of making me feel like I'm there because I'm not just picturing on a macro level the scene, you know, hotel room. Lake, whatever it is. Like it's a, there's these like very, very small pinprick focus in a lot of ways on what, on what's happening in the scene. And I think it does, I think that is I like the word you used equation for, for how to pull something like that off. If, if only it was a math equation, So I'm curious, kind of shift gears a little bit and talk about the businessy side of writing as, as a debut author who's had a ton of success, I mean. I think like 22,000 reviews on Amazon. I mean, that's phenomenal. Can you talk about what was your process?'Cause obviously, you know, writing is a, is a creative art and then you've gotta think also of the business side of it. Did you think about them in separate, like how, what was your process like, thinking about not just your writing life, but also your, your kind of career as a published author?

Tamara Miller: 8:18

Well, yeah, that's a good question. When I was writing, I wasn't really thinking about the business end yet because, you know, you're told repeatedly as a writer, the idea of of publishing is, is like it's competitive and it's hard and, you know, you gotta be in for the long haul. And, and so you kind of steal yourself for the fact that, you know, this might not happen. I'm, I'm gonna try because it's something I wanna do. It's a dream. I'm gonna push towards it, but. Maybe I'm too much of a pragmatist, but it may never happen. And, and I need to accept that. And so I really didn't start thinking about the business side of things until I had the manuscript and then it was, okay. The next step in all this is pitching and sort of going through how do I wanna get it out into the world? Do I wanna self-publish? Do I wanna go through an agent? Do I wanna go directly to the publishing houses? So I had to do a little bit of thinking about who I am as a person and what I'm capable of and what I'm prepared to do for this. And I came very quickly to agent because I did not know the business. I did not have the wherewithal or, or quite frankly, the tools to learn enough about the business to, to really push this forward. I had no connections. So I quickly went to the agent route and then, you know, you kind of do your research, you do your research in terms of your agent, but also in terms of what is it you're getting your yourself into and, and, you know, you refer to it as business and, and it very much is a business relationship. And that's the important thing, like even the query letter has to be a business letter above all else. Yes, you have to have a good pitch. Yes, you have to have good taglines. Yes, you have to have good comps, but. You're really trying to convince someone to go into business with you. And so you, I kind of approach that the, the query process in that way, but I'm still learning about the business of publishing. It's a bit of a black box. You have to kind of be accepted in before that they'll open a lit little bit. And it's interesting because I've recently, through, through a writer's organization here. I recently did a, a, a little seminar on how to query and how to get your manuscript ready for querying. Mm-hmm. Because so many writers think that, oh, I just have to have a really good book. But you could have the most phenomenal book in the world if you don't approach it with that business lens when you put it out there. It's not gonna go where you probably want it to go.

David Gwyn: 10:45

Yeah. Yeah. And I think, I think it's, it's interesting too because when when I talked to Lori your agent earlier, one of the things that she talked about was not just your manuscript, but also your query letter and how your query letter for her ticked off all the boxes of the things that she was looking for. And I think that goes kind of to your point where that's the query letters, the business side and the right, the manuscript is the writing side. And like they blur certainly. The, the lines between those are, are blurred, but I think you're a testament to somebody who did the work to ensure that you're putting your best foot forward. And not just in your writing, but also to show that you are, you know knowledgeable about the industry and about the agent that you're pitching. Which, which is really important. What's, what's been kind of the, maybe the most surprising part of being a debut author?

Tamara Miller: 11:32

Well, I've been really lucky in that my publisher is Thomas and Mercer, and they are a full, like, they're a publishing house just like the Big Five, but they're owned by Amazon. And so what that has meant for me is that as a debut author, I kind of have them might of Amazon marketing behind me. And so it also helped that I was selected for Amazon First Reads in January. So it just sort of took off from there. So that has been really shocking as a debut. I keep, I keep joking a little bit. Like when I first started this venture, I thought that I might get picked up by a little Canadian press and maybe I'd sell a couple hundred copies. So what has been achieved so far with this debut is like, so beyond what I had allowed myself to hope for. That I, I joke that it's, it's kind of all gravy in many ways, but the problem is, is once you get there, then you kind of wanna continue. You wanna be able to keep delivering. Yeah. You want to keep the the book going. And, and I have been lucky that I've met with some production companies that are interested in optioning. Wow. So that will hopefully provide a little bit more a little bit more attention to the book. We'll see what happens in the long run.

David Gwyn: 12:51

Yeah, no, I love that mindset. I think that mindset's really important where you wrote this, especially the first draft, at least you wrote it for yourself. I think that's important, you know, to write something that you feel really drawn to and you would like to read and then and then kind of have, the belief that I just want this to be something that some people are gonna like. I think sometimes it becomes. A lot of writers like, I, you know, I want it to be this and this, this, and like, that's too big. That's like exhausting to think about and I think you're trying to plea, you know, if you're trying to please too many people, that can be, I imagine, very paralyzing. And I think for you kind of going through those stages of, I'm just gonna write this for me, and they're like, okay, I enjoy this. Like it's good enough that maybe, you know, I can write it for somebody else. Like let me put in a few things here and there to meet genre expectations or that something, make it a little more commercial. For some people it might be like. Cutting some words or adding some words, right? Like that's, you know, to meet the word count requirements. But doing that and, and then getting into a position where you know, you can have the type of success you had is, is I think really a testament to that kind of step-by-step mindset that you had which I think is really, really important. And so kind of to go right off of that, which is what are you working on now? What's next for you?

Tamara Miller: 14:04

Well, I was really lucky that the contract I have was a two book contract. I will tell you, there's apparently, which nobody told me before I started this, but apparently it's very common for the second book to be tougher than the first, because with the first book, you have all the time in the world and no expectations, and you can, you know, sort of do what you want. But the second book, you have a deadline.. And you have expectations to meet. So I am pleased to say that I delivered my manuscript to my editor a couple weeks ago.

David Gwyn: 14:35

Congrats.

Tamara Miller: 14:36

So, and she likes it, which is even better., So, yeah. So I'll be heading into revisions for my second book. It is completely different from the first one, different characters still domestic thriller genre, But it's different, different characters, different part of the world, although still Canada, because. I dunno. Write what you know. Right. Plus I think there's always a fascination with the Canadian wilderness. Lots of people share it. And, and so some of my writing is driven by the fact. Years ago I I was in the Canadian Rockies and I overheard someone on the phone who an American, talking to someone back home presumably saying that like just. Talking about the accolades and how beautiful it was and, and how wild it was. And they said, you know, it's, it's even more wild than our Rockies. And I kept thinking it's the same chain of mountains, but there is a fascination with the Canadian wilderness that seems to do well in markets outside of Canada So the second book is definitely setting Canada and and it's similar. I'll give you a little inside peek that someone goes missing. And and it still happens within a family and the trauma that the family goes through

David Gwyn: 15:47

Yeah. Very cool. Well, this has been so much fun. I, I really appreciate you taking the time to chat. My last question for you is just where can people find you? Where can people look you up?

Tamara Miller: 15:56

Well, you can check on my website. It's by tomorrow, miller.com. So pretty simple. And I'm also on Instagram and and Facebook. So Instagram is at TL Miller 2018.

David Gwyn: 16:09

and I'll link to some of that stuff below to quick access. If, if you're listening, check that out. Cool. So thanks again for taking the time to chat.

Tamara Miller: 16:16

Thanks so much.